#I hate duty finders

[joiedecombat]

Who did you take with you into Sastasha, or did you enter alone? Did you try to subdue all the pirates, or sneak past them when possible, or something else? Did you find and free the slaves locked up in the side caves? Did you have an opinion on the cowardly captain? The sahagin ambush?

Raine went with a trio of other equally fresh adventurers - though she'd taken on a number of challenges, this particular mission seemed a little big for her to handle on her own.

They made it through the wavekin in the outer cavern and found the hidden entrance all right, but things got sticky once they were inside. Raine and the casters tried to sneak past the pirates when they could, but they weren't very good at it, and the marauder helped nothing by being inclined to attack on sight.

Basically there was a lot of panicked, disorganized running around for a bit there.

That changed when they blundered into the Hole and found the people being held captive.

Raine had, honestly, been pretty sheltered before she came to Eorzea. Meeting those women, and realizing what they'd been through, was a rude awakening for her, and it definitely changed the tone of the expedition. It drove her to step forward and to some extent take charge of the party - as she saw it, their priority now had to be getting the captives out safely, and making sure any others held elsewhere in the caves were freed.

From that point forward they were much more unified as a group, and the rest of the mission went pretty smoothly.

Raine was fully disgusted with the pirates in general and Madison in particular. Any mercy she might have felt toward any of them vanished upon reaching the Hole. Her first encounter with a sahagin was a bit of a shock, but it was mostly overshadowed by the much closer-to-home ugliness of what the pirates had been doing.

She's still slightly bewildered to have inherited his parrot somehow... but that's from a much later adventure.

[nihilistikal]

// RATTLES DUTY FINDER

Come on I just wanna finish this DLC at last ffs......

[just-pug-things]

Happy 5 years of Just PUG Things! Five years of comics about mishaps and mayhem in FFXIV Duty/Party Finder :)

This comic series started off as my FFXIV diary, but I like to think over the years it's become something more than that. The greatest joys I've had drawing this comic is reading the comments where people have shared the same or similar experiences playing this wonderful game, sometimes in languages I don't know.

Just PUG Things has always been about love for playing the game and love for the people who share this world, misadventures and all. In a world in which hate and harassment are increasingly elevated and hope and happiness buried, this is my torch to bring light to the darkness.

To all my queer brethren and especially trans folk (who have been really Going Through It), love is love and one day our right to live will not be a debate.

And if you'd like to support the comic, here's some links below. My website hosts my comic for FREE and is the best place to easily read Just PUG Things. www.nyansarts.com/justpugthings/

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Thank you everyone who has supported my comics and thank you everyone who has enjoyed my comics over the years. Here's to another year of Just PUG Things! See y'all in DF :)

[ffxiv-krhistia]

Things we'd like to see more of on FFXIV (or less depending on the thing)

People playing the things we were talked into doing because "it's the right thing to do" - and NOT because it's the right thing to do, but because failing and wiping is a form of learning.

So IN THAT, we've noticed nobody queues for anything SHB and above, everyone's PF unsyncing. Like literally unrestricted unsyncing MSQ content.

I could understand the 5.3 trial, and I VALIDLY get fears of wiping- but damnit - if an Autistic/ADHD/DID/CPTSD person like myself can re-clear without carrying LATER ON - getting carried on ECHO/Level Sync NORMAL content -- you can make effort, it's OK!

I'm not saying this in a TOXIC "EVERYONE HAS TO DO THE HARD SHIT" - i'm not saying go do extremes, i'm not saying become week 1 clear.

What i'm saying is: Only reason I unsycned a bunch of ARR/HW content for shits and giggles with my partner was? I'd already done it, they'd done it on an alt.. and when we'd done it on Dynamis, we'd gotten toxic responses if we didn't remember mechanics..

Thing is: I'm not even asking you to STUDY mechs, i'm asking you to ENJOY the actual mechanics as part of the story - MSQ content the mechanics aren't just "DUNGEON MECHS" this is a story based MMORPG, and while i'm sure WoW is - Carrying people in dungeons isn't toxic.

IF YOU unsync basic content, you won't learn later on. This is why a whole generation of us in FFXIV don't know how to do Bahamut synced, because nobody wants to sync it with us.

You do you, i'm not shaming you for being scared of the content. I get it. I just cleared Heroes Gauntlet for likely the 2nd or 3rd time since playing SHB, and I am learning sage - I am extremely on edge when I have to wipe 5 + times.

But I would NEVER have wanted to unsync that, because I would miss key information about the storyline, (the first time that is) due to how the dungeon is set up.

Sure that one's HARD and i get POST content is harder than main. I Beleive in you. You got this. And if anyone on Dynamis bites you for not knowing Porta Decumana mechs...

Remind them: Not all of us had to queue for Porta after 6.1, and not all of us do our roulettes. I've gone THROUGH Dawntrail, but I have to admit "clearing" is different than being CARRIED by half your FC lol.

And there in itself: You CAN BE CARRIED by wonderful caring people in this game.

I'm in an FC with a bunch of savage raiders, nerds and twitch streamers - some of them somewhat famous and some of them like myself are bottom barrel lol.

We've all watched our FC leaders try and clear savage raids with Llamatodd...

If I can clear Heroes Gauntlet by wiping 10+ times with a caring party that came from Duty Finder...

Then I urge you to take up the strength, even if you do it unsync ONCE and then do it again later synced.. Learn the story, learn the mechs because of the story - don't just "STUDY" Them for some tier list..

The mechs sometimes really do have to do with the story.

And again, just like any thing: I'm saying this from a teaching, and caring perspective. I am not intending to be abelist in any format, if you NEED to unsync for any reason, i'm sure you have a valid one - but please if you're able to: do it synced.

You're an amazing WoL. I would hate to see you miss out <3

~ Khit'li L'ocar Crystal/Goblin Resident Lvl 100 Floor Samurai Lvl 92 Sage, Lvl 84 Vpr. Sasshat Crafter who WILL SCREECH if you zoom to the marketboard like their partner and buy crap before we can craft it for you. (Sadly i'm too low to be in Kiba Corp lol)

Edit: I'm now level 100 Sage. Several Crafters are level 100. Getting married in game to @cidolfus-garlond sept 27 2024 4pm PDT (After party starts at 6pm, i think i posted it on this blog or something i'll mention it gain before the time if y'all see this XD subathon and prizes on my twitch :D)

[stitchandani]

Story:

Stitch and Ani The Missing Necklace (Excerpts) Two scenes from a full "episode" oneshot featuring mainly Mason. Mason has lost a shark's-tooth necklace, sent to him by his biological father, and with Finder off-island on a big job, the Pelekai family must help him find it on their own! Written by Doverstar. Read below.

Masani Scraps

The Missing Necklace

For a moment, Mason glowered at the shell in his hand. Then his fingers tightened around it, and he threw it as hard as he could into the sea. It didn’t go very far, and the splash was too small. He wanted to make more noise. He wanted to punch someone. He wanted, maybe for the first time, to be like Stitch and bite something. It was no use. Kai had already given up, and so had Maya and David. And without that little red anteater on duty, Mason knew there wasn’t any real hope. He’d never find it; he’d never ever see his necklace again. His stupid eyes were stinging. Stupid eyes. Stupid beach. Stupid necklace. He swiped the back of a wrist across his nose, sniffling, glad nobody was around to notice. Or tell him to get a Kleenex. When he turned away from the waves, intending to head back home, hating the sunset more with every passing second, Mason had to stop.

Ani was standing a short distance away, half bent over, scanning the sand. There was a layer of intense concentration all over her. The wind kept kicking up her hair, and Mason watched her push it fussily away, ignoring it as it got into her mouth and eyes. No Kai, no Uncle David. No blue alien furball. Not even a surfer in the distance. Apart from the two of them, the shore was empty. Why was she still here?

Then Ani glanced up. Before he could look away or turn around so she wouldn’t see his face, she waved hard. “Don’t worry, Mason!” she called. “We’ll find it!” Mason felt the pressure in his throat build, hurting. Making him angrier. “No we won’t.”

“Huh?” Ani was back to looking at the ground, shouting over the ocean spray. Mason found himself storming up to give her a great big shove. It felt good to shove something. “Just go home!” Ani staggered a step or two and stared at him. Maybe she was surprised because this time, there was no Stitch or Lilo or long noodle great-uncle guy to defend her. Or Kai to laugh at her. “But—” “Go away!” Mason felt his fingers digging hard into his own palms. “Go home! Leave me alone!” “It’s okay. It’s still light out,” Ani began again, as if he hadn’t spoken. “Look, see? The sun’s still here! We can—”

“There is no we!” Mason snapped. He was breathing too fast. “It’s my necklace, and I don’t—I don’t even want it anymore!” “But—Mason—” “And I definitely don’t want your help, anyways, so just get lost, Maggot Breath!”

He gave her another shove, this time so angrily that Ani sat down hard in the sand, hands flying out behind her to catch herself. As she looked at him with her huge brown eyes, Mason marched past her with a second loud, wet sniff he couldn’t contain, heading up the beach.

Up the beach. Faster, louder. Kicking up dirt, stomping with every step. Back through the woods, back into town. Back to Mrs. Bridge’s house to eat toast for dinner, probably, and maybe throw the toaster out the window, just because pushing Kai’s cringy cousin hadn’t been enough to get rid of the aching in his chest. He felt like there was a rocket inside him, getting ready for liftoff, but the engine was taking too long to explode.

Stupid necklace. Stupid shark’s tooth. Stupid Ani. Stupid beach. Stupid sunset. Stupid, stupid, stupid—

What was really stupid was the face that Ani had made when he shoved her. What was really stupid was that she thought he even cared about the necklace, because he didn’t. He didn’t at all. And what was even stupider than that was his dad, and how he’d bought something as tiny as a necklace, which was so easily lost on a big crazy island like this.

Why hadn’t Dad bought something bigger? And why was this the only thing he ever gave Mason? Why was it so tiny, why did it make Mason feel tiny too? It was a shark’s tooth. Sharks weren’t tiny.

Mason slammed the screen door when he got inside Mrs. Bridge’s, and he knocked his elbow against the handle when it came swinging back, like he always did. He always knocked his elbow. But for some reason, this time he was crying. He was holding his elbow, and crying in the middle of the hallway, and it echoed in the empty house. He was actually crying. That was the stupidest thing of all.

At 10 o’clock, Mrs. Bridge came home. Mason had been lying with his back to the door on the couch, and he didn’t stir when she came in. He didn’t stir when she put the green throw blanket over him, and he didn’t stir when she went to her own bedroom to change. He wasn’t asleep, but she didn’t need to know that. He didn’t like it when she yawned and asked him if he’d eaten and tried to keep her eyes open when he answered. He didn’t like it when she didn’t do that, either, which was confusing, but it didn’t matter. He very especially didn’t want any of it tonight. As soon as he heard her bathroom door close, Mason opened his eyes. He could hear something else—footsteps—running footsteps, right outside. Nobody ever came over here. Not even Kai—there was no need; Mason made sure to be awake first, visiting first, going to find him first. Had Mrs. Bridge been followed? Was it a stalker? Or a secret agent? Or Cobra Bubbles—he was kind of both.

There was a rattling knock at the front door. Mason scrambled off the couch to open it before Mrs. Bridge could hear a second knock. He wanted to be the first one to see the secret agent. It wasn’t a secret agent. It was Ani. Ani had only been here once; how had she found it again? And she was alone—she was never alone. Where was her ugly blue bodyguard? Or her mom, or anybody? “What do you want?” he spat out, and he realized his throat was sore. She was standing on the stoop, covered in sand. Smiling. There was a cut on her wrist, and the ends of her hair were wet. And she was holding up his shark-tooth necklace. Mason’s mouth went slack. The shark’s tooth was fake and shiny in the moonlight, turning slightly in the island breeze. The twine cable was darker near the tooth, like it was wet, too, and maybe Ani had washed it off. He didn’t know what to do. Because he wasn’t moving or saying anything, Ani took his hand and pulled it into a cupped position so she could drop the necklace into it. Like she didn’t even mind the cooties. “It was on the rocks,” she explained, and when she spoke it seemed like her throat must hurt too. “I think a crab took it. They probably didn’t know it was special.” Mason blinked at the necklace. The rocket ship inside him was disappearing, as if somebody was taking it apart so it couldn’t stall anymore. So his chest could stop aching. He looked from the necklace to Ani and paused, noticing something running down her arm. “How come you’re bleeding?” he asked numbly. “Oh. The rocks did that.” Ani twisted her arm around to look at the cut. “Ow, cool!” It was cool. “We have glow-in-the-dark Band-Aids,” he said, practically mumbling. “No thanks!” She was hopping, very lightly, on her toes. Up, down, up, down, and swinging her arms even though one of them was hurt. “I wanna show Stitch.” Then there didn’t seem to be anything else to say. Except— “Hey—I said I didn’t want it, y’know.” “I know.” “So why’d you keep looking?” Ani swung her arms harder, further behind her back this time. “Because you were lying. Because it’s from your dad.” Mason scowled, but before he could argue, she went on. “And if it was me and it was my necklace from my dad, I would want it back. Even if I had to fight a million crabs. That’s all.”

He blinked at her in the dark. She smelled like salt and stinky seaweed. And she’d dug around in the sand and cut her wrist on the big black rocks to find his necklace. In the dark. After he pushed her down. And called her Maggot Breath again. Did she want him to say he was sorry? “I don’t owe you now,” he warned her, eyebrows drawing together. “Nope.” Ani waved brightly, backing away down the steps. “Well—I have to go home. Bye, Mason!”

And she jogged off down the hill, into the woods, like she’d been waiting to run again. Mason watched until he couldn’t see her anymore, and even after she was gone, he stood staring at the place he’d last seen her for a long time. Holding the necklace.

[xenodile]

god I really want to like Relink more, but CyGames has no fucking clue how to make an action game. This shit is awful, they want everything to be a fucking ten thousand hour MMO grind, I hate it so much.

Enemies that aren't fun to fight, bosses that have like 15 to 45 second stretches where you just can't play the game, rankings that care more about stats than your ability to actually play the game, a fucking randomized quick play option that crunches your stats to the "appropriate level" like a fucking MMO duty finder and punishes you for not playing online, universal defensive tools that are bad to use and have to be unlocked per character, who the fuck decided to put all this IN AN ACTION GAME

My opinion of this game actively gets worse the more I play it, like I was gonna be generous and give it like an 7 out of 10 when I first finished the main story it but I'm moving toward like a 5 in the post game.

[plumsaffron]

rewatching chameleon made me realize that Marinette was being a bit too extra with her coping and seething. someone changes her seat to sit next to her crush. seething. she could literally sit next to lila if she want to convince her to stop lying. she fucking refuses because "she's a liar!!! I don't befriend them!!!" despite being one of them hersELF. lila is doing absolutely nothing to marinette. "guyz she's a manipulative bitch guys did you know she lied about being ladybug's best friend. guys you have to believe me she is evil". what did lila do to you? use the names of famous personalities YOU know personally. use that so that she can get closer to your crush. and that shit completely backfired.

did you know. you are a liar. alya is a liar. even adrien had lied. literally everyone at some point has.

and I noticed something at the end of the episode. ladybug had locked Lila in a shell and told her "we should be friends, not enemies". This could possibly be how Marinette had felt when she said that to her. Lila probably wanted her to not be a problem or something, but Mari was literally silenced, and muffled, like the shell. this shit is ride or die. Marinette was legitimately asking for the War to happen, thinking it would be a revolution

this is why lilanette canon. both hate each other so much. both see the other as a rival in a personal way. also lukadrien canon because both of them them were pushover rebounds

also thomas wants us to hate lila as much as possible, so he puts us at marinette's position in later episodes, making lila do evil shit such as framing, theft, harrassment, to the point it kinda actually warped the tone of the series. which also means lilanette canon. i rest my case

dang. You hit Adrien and Luka with the pushover rebounds. AHAHAHAHAHA.

But yeah Marinette is really bizarre.

You expect her to be above minuscule common things due to her saving Paris from Hawkmoth or think like hey maybe I shouldn't cause something Hawkmoth can feed off. Once she feels inferior to a person that has a liking to her lust, she's out to do whatever it takes by any means to end what she views as an interloper (oh how this makes season 5 age well in this case).

Volpina pretty much explains I fear Lila is better than me in every way and will take Adrien. Heck she even goes out her way to find a flaw of Volpina. It's in her face that she just wanted to see a fault (just like earlier to be HAH). And then you're later like I was wrong please accept my apology after being all that. Bruh she couldn't even handle Volpina taking charge, all I MUST LEAD YOU ALL. I don't get why some find it hard to understand why Lila should not be forgiving to Ladybug. Now on with Lila in heroes day Catalyst of S2 video chat, you already have Marinette going out her way to try to expose Lila. Oh and it's the second video chat to the class (the first was never shown but still...). Again Marinette's thirst of being a Lila Flaw finder.

Then in season 2-3 is I fell below Kagami need to find something wrong with her or she'll ruin my dream with Adrien. 3 also is just I must stop Lila despite Adrien Alya and Tikki's words because I don't believe in Adrien and my friends or I think everything Lila says is false. Adrien likes you more bruh. But to Her it's her duty to expose Lila, I can't leave Rossi alone. I think you're a joke Lila but I'm still gonna snoop upon you. Heck Nino told her snooping ain't cool in Chameleon. And nearing the end of Chameleon lecture Ladybug gave to Lila made my chuckle.

"You don't have to lie and pretend to be something you're not. People will like you for just being yourself."

Like What? Does Ladybug even remember herself or listen to herself? I guess I can only say you must be a super hero to ignore my speech to you but still. Marinette still just doesn't know she should stop talking about her lying. She knows darn well Lila doesn't like being labeled or referred as such from earlier and as Marinette lives a double life should be extra award but yet she'll proceed labeling her or being a nuisance.

*Breaks to S4 briefly*

Anytime Lila could just do the same to Marinette. Oh Marinette you're such a klutz LOL. Marinette please stop slipping and falling. Marinette why are you staggering and fumbling around Adrien. Heh she could have called out Marinette in Guilt Trip as she can see that Marinette is mad distracted fawning for Adrien. Oh Marinette why are you lying. Shame on you (Marinette explodes in anger ahahahaha).

*Back to S3 and to S4*.

Then she's like I give up cause Kagami actually did nothing wrong. Oh and I realized I was the issue and was so wrong. And it's best for Adrien. I'm gonna be with Luka now. Kagami can be with Adrien and should be together even if they broke up. She can't handle seeing Lila winning or being in control. She loathes it (oof puts a smile on my face after season 3 still).

Doesn't Marinette have better things todo that obsess over Lila? Gets angry or offended at retaliation. Retaliation = you are on the same field as Hawkmoth.

Marinette and a lot of the miraculous fandom hold hands hating Lila but mostly that only stems really from a generic common trait they almost to all share that Lila does. They probably upset because they put a fanfiction of why they expected Volpina to be like of probably a goodie two shoes to bond between Ladybug and Chat Noir but things weren't as they framed at first sight when released.

I'll end this with the funny

Reminder that there's like 2 weeks left of school and she won't have to see those 2 scrubs again for awhile (unless they decide to visit her home nearby or park to troll). And next episode, Marinette (with Sabrina) finally takes her down in a horrible plan set up fashion (It's all kinds of wrong. It really is and a lot are weirdly happy over it like over a million). What makes it worse is that speech she gave to Hoaxer for the previous episode. Also reinforcing she learned nothing of previouses and thus put Sabrina in possible danger. Ladybug/Marinette can't see anything. She doesn't get it.

She basically just asking for her life to be Cataclysmed.

Flairmidable swiping the miraculousesto do an exchange with Gabriel pales in comparision to Marinette/Ladybug's boundless disgust at Lila's existence.

I wonder if she'll surpass Lila Rossi and Gabriel Agreste. Maybe she did lol.

It's so romantic ahahha.

All because

is too hard for Marinette.

[banannabethchase]

14D or 14H (setting not super important) with taz/claudio, both of them being bald and all

Headband

~

14) "You took my headband, you little shit!" D) Teachers AU V why was this easy to write

~

Claudio’s digging through the lost and found, ready to go out to do recess duty save for his ear warming headband.

“You should invest in a hat,” Moxley calls, grinning as he leans against his classroom door. “Cover that big ol’ bald head.”

“Get – stop that,” Claudio demands. “You’re nearly as bald as me now.”

“Not yet,” Mox says.

“Did you take my hat?” Claudio demands. Another minute and he’ll be late, and his third graders will make him do burpees with them. He doesn’t hate burpees. He hates burpees in front of judgmental third graders who throw his affirmations back in his pace.

And that’s when the assistant principal, Mr. Taz, walks by.

“You took my headband you little sh – hello, Aria, didn’t expect to see you inside!” He fixes his glare at Mr. Taz over his tiny blonde student’s head.

“I’m going to the bathroom!” Aria says, beaming.

“Good, good,” Claudio says, too distracted as she pats Aria on her shoulder. “Mr. Taz! You know that’s mine! Everyone knows that’s my headband!”

“Finders keepers, Castagnoli,” Mr. Taz says. “Keep track of your things when you’re in the teacher’s lounge and wouldn’t have this problem.”

“Aria,” he says, high fiving the pocket sized student’s neon pink gloved hands, “I have to go steal my headband back from Mr. Taz. You understand.”

Claudio can hear Moxley laughing in the background, but he doesn’t care. He will regain his headband. And he will do it in front of dozens of judgmental third graders.

[gmax]

i hate to paint an unfortunate picture of crystal as a dc but i do love going into crystal duty finder and being top dps while sloshed and half asleep

[tieflingbi]

i think one of my least favourite things about ffxiv that i keep encountering is that they will put you through the most intense, high-stakes story parts and then you come out of the cutscene, pumped to get out there and save the world or whatever and it's like. haha you thought!!! duty finder queue for 20 mins bitch.

like it really disrupts the flow of the narrative and i hate that personally

[ignitiveifynovelcafe]

The Star- Wheel of Fortune Tarina Anthology Episodes 1-3 are always FREE

The year is 1300 Tarocco. Estrella has been a slave since she was four and her village was destroyed. Now, whether she likes it or not, she is on a path that is about to split. Will she take the road that gives her a family and love? Or will she risk it all to give her people a life free from the fear of the Dragon Hunters?

5 STAR Review: This story is part of a shared Tarot world. Search 'Tarina Anthologies' to find more amazing stories set in this Tarot world of Tarocco.

Episode 1

“Stella! Stella! you stupid girl, where are you? All day your head has been in the clouds with the dragons. I will teach you a lesson for shirking your duties again.” Hiding between the hut and the rocky mountain face, I hold my breath till I hear my handler pass on the other side of the thin canvas wall.

When I was around four years old, my village was destroyed by a gigantic mustard yellow dragon intent on using my village for food, so they say. I do not remember the day itself, but my handler Reyes has told me a story that changes and gets more fantastical every time he tells it. In his story, a terrifying dragon the size of a mountain ate every person in my town except me.

He says that when he came into Lixius, dwellings were on fire, body parts littered the streets, and heads were strung up across the village gateway. He says the dragon was circling in the sky and the clan scared it off. Once he investigated and searched for survivors to save, he found me hiding in the back of a pantry under a sack of flour. Now if you believe Reyes really did anything to help someone else selflessly, I have an ocean in the middle of the desert to sell you. Reyes is more than just my handler. He is my owner. His motto is finders’ keepers, losers’ weepers. When he ‘rescued’ me, the way he explains my capture, I officially became his property. To him, he took me and raised me, so now I am indebted to him and his clan of dragon hunters.

No one survived from my village, so there is no one that knows who I really am. I am not sure how old I am, but I have been with the clan for seventeen years and he saw my birth certificate. He said I was four when I was taken, plus the years I have been here. I should be around 21 years old now, but unless he gives me my birth certificate, I will never know for sure.

Lixius, my village, was a small city on the border of Cel’wap and Bladwar, twenty miles north of Nershitel. The Wyndye, a clan of dragon hunters, travel up and down the border of Irriz Dhu Wastes, the home of the dragons. They say they patrol to protect Bladwar from the beasts, but the reality is they loot villages unfortunate like mine to have had a run in with a dragon.

My job in the clan is to clean up after the members, cook, and do as I am told. I am normally punished, so this time will be no different. The hunters are mainly male, but none force themselves on me since Tajia. He was a new hunter a couple of years ago that fancied young girls. Reyes hung him from a tree because he touched his property. I was beaten for allegedly tempting Tajia and forced to dig a hole to bury him in.

The days drag on, but it is my nights I look forward to. Every night in my dreams, I am a beautiful clay colored dragon with large wings. I fly above the clouds, swooping and diving through the invisible air currents. I have a clan of my own in Draconian with friends and a family that loves me.

“There you are you little bitch.” Shit, I lost track of him. He must have double backed to confuse me. With the walls being thin clay lined cloth, he cut his way into my hiding place. This beating promises to be worse than the rest. He hates when I hide, but it is the only way I can get a break from the constant work.

“Reyes, you said I could take 3 breaks this week, and this is my first one.” Fuming, he pulls me through the too small slit, scraping my threadbare clothes. He throws me to the ground and charges me. I get into a fetal position waiting for the beating I know will hurt. Nothing happened and I sit up to see him smiling at me and that was my first red flag. He nodded and someone secured my hands behind my back with a rope.

“Nope, not this time, Stella. My clan has supported you for over seventeen years. I think it is time you pay them back for their kindness.” Hanson, a man a year or two older than me, pulls me up and drags me toward the campfire circle where I make food and the clan gathers. Reyes beats me whenever he feels the need, but no one else may touch me usually. Whatever they have planned for me is going to hurt, bad.

LINKS:

[fhakizi322]

Assignment #1

For assignment #1, I chose this blog post to be about option #5, “Write an analysis using a theoretical perspective of your choice that examines and deconstructs a military recruiting commercial.”. The specific commercial I am deconstructing is titled “What’s Your Warrior”. “What’s Your Warrior”, is an ad that is 60 seconds, and when I had been bombarded with it a couple of years ago unskippable (my second least favorite ad, only losing to pop-up ones). I think a disclaimer is needed here, as the military is often a point of contention among people in the US. I greatly respect most military personnel and am thankful for their service. That being said, I really hate how often military-based ads are shoved down my throat. I get an email twice a semester from a recruiter for the National Guard of both Maine and New Hampshire. Attempts of marking them as spam has been futile; email-based marketing…both a gift and a nightmare I suppose.

This ad is pretty straightforward and is admittedly one of my favorites when I choose to ignore the fact that being a military personnel is being compared to being a video game character. It starts off with a character selection screen, with 5 different semi-illuminated individuals in a circle looking outwardly. The clearest individual is then fully illuminated, revealing them to be a pilot as their visor goes down to cover their eyes followed by a zoom-in and 2 mini helicopters flying through the visor of the pilot, which leads to a scene change where we follow the helicopters through a mountain-based terrain. There is a small dust storm, which then leads us to another scene change, this time showing the process of cell splitting, and doing a zoom out, reviling the one doing the cell splitting is a black man biochemist. The sandstorm reappears, and we are then shown a sniper on the field.

There is a much wider zoom-out, revealing a white woman (probably, there was some glitching so it was hard to tell). It then zooms into her glitched face, showing two people near a vehicle that has a signal finder dish plate, one male, and one female, and there is a beam of light coming from the signal finder dish plate, which shows us the Earth. We then see a bunch of deployed parachutes after a couple of seconds of the Earth zooming out, and a person watching from the ground. A parachute is being closed and that is used to return us back to the semi-illuminated background we had seen at the very beginning of the ad, and a quick scene of each individual that had been shown in the ad at some point in time, and then them back to the circular position, with more lights being added showing that we had been seeing a portion of a battlefield and a wide zoom out to show many individuals on the ground as well.

All things considered, this was a pretty well-done job by the DDB advertising firm that made this ad. They did so well in fact, “(they)won the Army’s marketing account, a contract worth $4 billion over the next 10 years.” (Tiron, 2019) Additionally, if you were to look at the comment section of the ad, people are praising it, specifically that it is better than the “Emma” advertisement, an ad that was part of a campaign titled “The Calling” which focused on a woman who was raised by her moms. This ad was received very poorly, with 13,952 likes, but 406,268 dislikes… Admittedly, this is one of the examples of when an attempt at “diversity marketing” goes wrong. No one really cared about Emma and her moms, or David who appears to be Hispanic. I had to specifically search “The Calling” in order to find Rickie, Janeen, and Jennifer’s ads because they didn’t have as many views.

“What’s Your Warrior” on the hand wasn’t seen as divisive, “or too woke”. It was simple and showed that there was more than just shooting involved in the military (although the way many have compared it to a Call of Duty or Metal Gear Solid is not lost on me)but there is a multitude of other potential jobs. The people holding those jobs just so happened to have some diversity.

The military has a problem; there aren’t that many of the new adult generation that qualifies to be a part of the army. Sure, if you saw this statistic that is on the Army University Press website, “Post-millennials (also known as Generation Z or Gen Z), born from 1996 to the present, now constitute nearly 90% of the Army’s active duty junior enlisted and nearly 35% of all junior officers (Defense Manpower Data Center, 2018, p. 29.)” you’d think this is a decent number. However, “Among people aged 17 to 24, 70%, or 24 million out of 34 million, are ineligible to join the military, because of obesity, a lack of high school diplomas, or having a criminal record, according to 2017 Pentagon data.”(Tiron, 2019) So they have been forced to resort to this; a video game-esque sequence that I discovered recently actually has 11 different iterations.

They are falling short in terms of recruitment numbers, and have been since 2016, and so in order to reach the 30% of the Gen Z population that actually qualifies, they have to reach out as most of the Gen Z population as possible. “87% of Generation Z…(play)video games on smartphones, gaming consoles, and computers at least weekly if not daily.”(Westcott, Arbanas, 2021) I could have sworn that video games were the reason behind mass shootings according to some people but I guess it brings together most of Gen Z and a decent chunk of Millennials (83%), and Gen X(79%).

Nonetheless, it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth; life isn’t a game, much less the military! This might have reached the eyes of the ones the military targeted, but it raises some ethical concerns. At least the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley is honest about what is at stake, ““When you join the Army, you are not joining the Boy Scouts. You are joining an organization that goes out and engages with the enemies of our country. There are reasons why 70-or-80% of the casualties end up being Army casualties and Army infantry casualties because that’s what we do.”” (Trion, 2019). Nonetheless, this is a wonderful ad, regardless of the moral dilemma it can create.

Works Cited

Hanks, Roland. “What Soldiers Want: The Gen Z Perspective.” Army University Press, 28 Feb. 2022, https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/Archives/2022/February/What-Soldiers-Want/#:~:text=Post%2Dmillennials%20(also%20known%20as,Data%20Center%2C%202018%2C%20p.

Trion, Roxana. “'What's Your Warrior?': Army Looks Past Combat to Sign up Teens.” Bloomberg Government, 4 Nov. 2019, https://about.bgov.com/news/whats-your-warrior-army-looks-past-combat-to-sign-up-teens/.

Westcott, Kevin, and Jana Arbanas. “Commentary: Gen Z Gamers Could Shake up the Media and Entertainment Industries.” Fortune, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2021, https://fortune.com/2021/04/19/gen-z-gamers-video-games-media-entertainment-outlook-changes-future/.

[houseofboness]

PROLOGUE: BELLA BENEVOLENCE

“We should stop,” Bella pulled her horse to a stop at the first hint of rain. “We can go no further.” The world around them spoke of dusk, the sun hidden behind grey rolling clouds.

“And why is that, Sister Benevolence?” Indigar asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He halted beside her, adjusting his posture on the horse. “I do not see Light’s gate yet, do you?” The commanding father looked around him in mockery, trying to spot the village that wasn’t there. The woods spread all around them, tree of all kind with crowns blighted by the autumn’s air.

“The horses need rest, and so do we.” Bella dismounted, brushing her horse gently. “We have been riding since midday, and dusk is upon us.” She took a cluster of herbs and fed it to the horse.

“And I recall to have told you, Sister Benevolence.” She hated the way he spoke her name, her last name. “We will rest when we enter the village, and not a moment before that.” Indigar was a father in the light, and their commander. Bella was the only sister in the party, the other four brothers in the light stopped behind them, watching them silently.

“It’s not just me who is tired, father.” He wasn’t her birth father, but a spiritual one, a father in the light, their faith. “Look at them,” she pointed at her brothers in the light. “Do they look like they can ride for long? The horses too?”

“She’s right, father.” Brother Kaid spoke with hesitation as if afraid to offend. “The village is still leagues away, and I smell rain.”

“We can reach it come midnight if we pushed the horses.” Another brother, Kelb, voiced his thoughts. “And I doubt we can find our way to the village; the night is dark after all.”

“Like every other night,” Indigar glanced at the man silently for a long while, watching him with pale eyes that seemed to be shrinking with every passing moment. Kaid was sweating, Bella noticed, and when she was about to speak her mind again, Indigar cut he off, speaking to everyone but her: “I don’t recall you being the commanding brother of this party, so keep your opinions to yourself, and speak only when I ask you. And you two are included.” He then faced Bella and clicked his tongue, leading his horse away from her. “If you, and you alone, want to rest, then please, sister, by all means do take the rest. But I cannot do that, neither do they. We have a job at hand, and we must hurry.”

“But father,” Kelb raised his voice, but Indigar snapped at him, his voice a whip cracking in the air. “Remember who you are, and why you are here.” He spat. “She is high born, unlike you, and I highly doubt that Saint Benevolence would watch as his daughter burns at the stake for abandoning her duty. You might join her if you want, but you better pray I find you first, when the task is done, before the witch finders do.”

Indigar did not wait for them to answer, he kicked his horse and rode down the path amidst the towering blighted trees of the forest of light. Bella could only curse him under her breath as she followed close behind. She thought about stopping and continuing the journey on her own pace, after all who is going to speak against her? She was the daughter of a saint, and not just any saint, and as for them? They were peasants and common men, Indigar too, but she was not the one in command. Yet she did not dare stay behind, alone.

Indigar was a father in the light, and she was but a sister, freshly sworn to forever follow the path of light. And even though he was in charge, he could not command her to do anything, unlike the others. But Bella followed him despite her dispute. She will be left alone if she were to stay behind, she knew, and none of them would dare go against the father. A few more years. Just a few and I will be in command. Bella bit her lips at the thought. The path of light was long and harsh on the heart, yet it was warm and bright, a weapon against the dark that haunted her dreams, against the shadows in her nightmares. Bella hated the dark from the moment she opened her eyes to the world. She hated the night and the solitude that came with it. And night was upon them, slowly washing the final light of dusk away.

The rest followed out of fear; No man or woman craves being in the wrong side of a witch hunt, not for doing something foolish as disobeying orders, even if the orders were without reason. Bella had seen what the witch finders could do to a man, her father, her true father, made her see the fates of all those who abandoned the path of the light. He wanted her to fear the light, to stand brave before the darkness that swarmed the world. Just a few more years. She prayed as the final rays of dusk vanished behind the pale mountains west.

Night swiftly took over the forest of light, drowning it in its shadows. The horses came to a sudden halt at Indigar’s command, and when Bella thought he came to his senses, he raised his hand above his horse and small sparks of light escaped his skin, looking like fireflies in the night. The small glowing sparks gathered around, forming a floating orb that shined through the trees, illuminating the road ahead, enough to keep them going. But it was still not enough. Two of the other brothers took lanterns strapped to their saddles and lit them up with a spark, hanging them around their horses’ necks. They could barely use light out of their faith, unlike what Indigar was doing, Bella knew.

They rode and stopped again when Kaid’s horse fell suddenly with a shrieking neigh, sending his rider off the saddle. The horse’s head was a bloody mess when it raised its head, it then kicked and neighed and died when Kaid was on his feet spitting grass, ranting a flurry of curses at the dead animal.

“What is it?” Indigar asked as mist slowly crawled out of the dark.

“Missed a step or something, hit its head with this fucking rock.” Kaid kicked both the rock and the horse, cursing.

“How far is the village?” Indigar asked, sighing loudly.

“Still far,” Kaid grabbed his bag from the dead horse and took a map, spreading it on the grass. “The village is three leagues away,” he pointed.

“Then we will continue,” Indigar spoke. “You will walk.”

“Yes, father.” He was clenching his jaw as he said, but he could not refuse the father.

Their pace slowed with Kaid following on foot, but not long after another horse fell as well, the lantern about his neck broke at the impact and flames rose against its head, bright white flames that spread to where the oil spilled.

“What happened?” Kelb killed the flame that ate his horse with his foot. “I saw no rocks about the path.”

“We should stop.” Bella urged again. “Something odd is happening.”

“Walk.” Indigar commanded, not bothering to look at his party.

Another horse fell and another soon after and Indigar kept on pushing forward. And then it was Bella’s, though she knew to jump when she felt her horse crumbling. There was no lantern to burn the mount, no rocks to make it fall, just mist thick enough to render their lanterns useless.

“By the light of dawn,” Indigar dismounted. “What is going on?”

I told you so. I told you! She wanted to scream at him, to shout at the father, but she kept her tongue sealed. It was a sin for a sister, or a brother in the light to raise their voice against a father, the same it was for a father to raise his voice against a saint or a paragon or a pope of the light. The consequences for her won’t be as harsh, but she still kept the words to herself.

“It’s no matter,” Indigar dismounted. “We will continue on foot.” He said, unsheathing his sword. His horse twitched when it saw the steel and it neighed when Indigar plunged it into its heart. “May you walk freely from now and ahead, may the lords above treat you kindly as you did us, may the lord of the morning treat you well.” He prayed into the horse’s ear as he slowly drove it to the ground.

We would have used it awhile, or released it into the world without killing it. Bella thought, watching the animal die silently.

Bella kept her hand on her sword as they walked through the forest of light. The air was cold, and the wind sharp when it blew, and it seldom did. Rain began to fall, slowly soaking them as they walked, and they dared not to make shelter against Indigar’s command.

Through the entire journey, she had not seen any animal, or heard them. The forest was silent, except for the wind and rain and the occasional conversations between the brothers. The words barely reached her, and when they did, she could not understand what they were talking about.

Trying to keep herself busy Bella tried to look beyond the light, the outlines of trees were faintly visible beyond the veil of Indigar’s light, and amidst them she felt something that forced her heart to halt. “Father,” Bella spoke softly, swallowing. Her skin grew hard beneath her white armor, and her grip on the pommel tightened.

“What is it?” Indigar’s eyes were glowing when he looked at her, as though flames burned within his pale eyes, white flames.

“Do you feel it?” Her words shook beneath her breath. “Beyond the light?”

“No.” He turned his head to look at the creature that watched them in the dark and whispered, “I see it.” The beast was following them silently, moving across the trees right beyond the reach of their light. Bella could not see its figure, but she could feel it watching her. Only Indigar could see it. The others were clueless, unable to even feel the danger lurking so closely.

“Don’t panic,” for the first time since they departed from Vatica, father Indigar spoke to her kindly. “Do not fear him, he will only feed upon you.”

“Him?” It was a man? No… She began sweating when she felt the creature beyond the light again. And for just a moment she felt a terrible dread within him, a deep hatred for the light. Bella felt her strength slipping from her body with every moment, and when she took her eyes off the thing, she began to breathe again. How can that thing be a man? She thought, wiping rain and sweat off her face.

“Ready yourself,” Indigar spoke coldly. “I hope you are as good as I think you are.” He gave the brothers a glance before sighing. “It’s too late for them.”

“Too late for what?” She asked but he did not answer. Indigar took a deep breath and released it before reaching for the orb that floated before him. And when he grabbed it, Bella knew to closed her eyes. She heard the orb explode when Indigar closed his fist, and air rushed in all directions, taking the forest by a heated storm. Her skin burned uncomfortably, and she heard the other servants cursing the light for blinding them. The falling rain flew away as the shockwave took place.

When Bella opened her eyes, she saw Indigar throwing a golden dagger at the creature, and when it hit the giant man, the dagger exploded in white flames and glowing particles. The earlier explosion of the orb made this side of the forest glowing; Night turned into day, and the day was dead when the bane roared his pain. The white flame lingered no more than a moment before dying at the touch of the monster that stalked them.

The bane was seven feet tall, his body entirely covered by a smoking black cloak that hid his figure. His face half hidden behind the hood of his cloak; Bella could see only his shimmering bloody eyes, and parts of his rotting face. The roar he let out stripped the forest from its sound in a domain of dread that spread deep into her heart. A dread that crippled her where she stood.

Indigar called forth more daggers out of his light as he prepared to fight the bane by himself. But how can he move at all? How can he attack and hurt that… that thing? Bella was paralyzed, she wanted to move, she wanted to help, but her body disobeyed her orders, shaking whenever she had the thought to move.

But how can there be a bane in the forest of light? In Pure? She could only watch as the bane stretched his arm above his head and out of his cloak. The arm was deformed, the flesh twisted and blackened and it oozed rotting blood that burned the grass upon contact. There was no sound, the world was dead, and only the bane could be heard; Bella knew that the other servants were still cursing their blindness, but she could not hear them, the domain was far too great to be broken by brothers in the light. Even Indigar, a father, lost his voice to the bane, yet he still could fight, unlike them.

Banes were creatures of the death, servants of the shadow and the occult. Their very existence was against the belief of the light, and they were all culled over a thousand years ago at the hand of the lord of the morning during the end of the first war of lords. Bella only knew about them from when her father forced her to read about the creatures of the dark so she could never look for anything but the light.

Indigar spoke a silent prayer into his sword and it burst aflame, covering the steel from hilt to point. The floating daggers danced around him brightly, awaiting to answer his command. And when the bane struck down with his twisted flesh, Indigar raised his sword against it, and the sound of the impact echoed across the silent domain. Bella knew that a steel sword was no good against a bane, she wanted to tell Indigar what she knew, but she was unable to even move a muscle, much less talk. Bella couldn’t even breathe properly, it felt as though her lungs couldn’t let too much air at once.

The white flame of the father spread into the bane’s arm, burning it, purifying it, cleansing it off all that was unholy, and it spread quickly into the rest of his body, engulfing him almost entirely. When the bane roared again, the flames began to die, flickering, but Indigar quickly sent his daggers into the creature, stopping the bane from roaring, and feeding the white flames when the daggers exploded.

Bella could finally breath when the bane staggered backwards, holding his burning face. Sound returned as well, and the brothers behind her were shouting My eyes. My eyes. Bella hit the ground, her legs gave up, her might vanished after truly feeling the dread of the situation they were in, and when she began to pray to the lords above, to the light inside her heart, Indigar’s voice answered her, albeit not kindly.

“Benevolence!” He was not as formal as he always was. “Get up and fight! Aren’t you the daughter of a saint? Show me what you are, NOW!” The steam of her breath lingered before her as she heard his words. Danger was upon them yet she found the time to give up? While Indigar was fighting a bane on his own? Fighting an amalgam of dread and death and disease?

Bella took her sword and pushed herself to her feet, praying all the while. When she took the blade out of its sheath, the steel burst aflame as well, and the runes carved into the white metal lit up and they sang faintly, a prayer to all those who cared to listen.

“Ahhhhh,” the bane moaned terribly, like a ghost trying to speak beyond the veil of sanity.

“You are where you do not belong,” Indigar said, carving more daggers from his light. Bella came to his side, fear still gripped her heart, but she wasn’t going to let him save her while she did nothing. She was not a princess in some tower, she a servant of the light, and the light will protect them, she hoped.

The moan turned to laughter, and the bane slowly turned around when the flames were gone, ripping the hood that hid his face. Bella wished to forget the moment he showed them his face, and for the first time she wished there was no light, for the face he showed them was a monster of its own. What she had though were eyes weren’t, but red flames burning within empty sockets, the bane had no nose but smooth rotting skin that coiled around a gaping hole of a mouth, a hole filled by sharp twisting fangs, black and bloody.

And worst of all was how he got the sword. The bane pushed his arm into the gaping hole and deep down his throat before pulling a bone sword covered in fat and flesh and rotten blood. But as he was dragging the sword out of his mouth, Indigar rushed the monster, stabbing him in the chest with his flaming sword. The daggers followed him, exploding into the bane’s body, erupting him in flames again, and this while, Indigar forced the white flames down the bane’s mouth and eyes, burning him from within.

The roar it let was sharp and deafening and it forced the father a few steps, leaving the sword stuck in the bane. But as Indigar was about to away, the bane swung his bone sword from within his mouth, splitting his head in half and slashing at the father. The bone sword was white as Bella’s as the two clanked midair. Bella’s felt herself numb when she managed to save Indigar, and instead of the sword tasting his flesh, Bella crashed into the father, falling into the ground.

The light from the earlier orb was slowly dimming; the day was turning to night again, and the fight was at its end. Indigar pushed Bella off before snatching her sword. His prayer burned brighter than hers, and he went to end the struggling bane where he lied, bloody and dying.

Is it over? Bella couldn’t believe what she had seen. The monster ripped his own face to kill one of them, and if she wasn’t there, if she wasn’t Indigar would have been dead. She sighed at the thought and slowly stood up, the bane was dead, killed by her sword, and his body was turning to smoke, vanishing as if it was never there.

When the light was at an end, when Bella thought that the danger was gone, when she looked at the other brothers to check on them they were all dead. Slaughtered silently like sheep. Their eyes pale and wide open, showing the horror of their last moments.

“Father…” Bella began but the world turned dark and silent. There no light any longer. There was no Indigar. There was no forest of light. There was just her and the bane that stood before her in his smoking cloak, looking at her with burning eyes that demanded obedience and silence.

“Lord… Of… the… morning…” She began a prayer. “Light… above…” She could not recognize her own voice, and could not remember the proper prayer to lit her steel aflame, but then again she had no blade, the sword was in Indigar’s hands, and he was nowhere to be seen.

“There is no light in here,” the bane spoke in a voice that stripped humanity from her heart. Her mind was beginning to shatter, to break, her sanity was burning away, her thoughts were twisting, and the only thing she felt was a deep burning feeling of loneliness. She found herself alone in the abyss, unable to move, unable to see a thing. And then the bane placed a hand over her shoulder, and her heart bled in the dark. “There is no light anywhere. Not in here, not out there. For your lord is dead, and you shall follow.”

“For the lord is dead, and I shall follow.”

The end.

[wolvesrain]

okay. some of this is a little outdated but here you go.

are a man who reads berserk, think guts would support you being mean (he wouldn't), you say mean things about dimitri from fire emblem, listen to 100 gecs, say "im baby" about yourself, british, beatles fans, post about call of duty yaoi, top gun fans, marvel fans, genshin fans, over 5'5", cilantro haters, main blasters in splatoon 2, bts fans, have ever killed me in splatoon (i hate you), don't like shinee (my friend loves them), have the same middle name(s) as me, genshin twink deniers, hate sephiroth, straight male au ra players, anyone i have played ffxiv with who is not my friend, anyone i have ever progged p3s in party finder with, are mean to people and think hello kitty would like you, you misuse the word himbo constantly, don't realize that czechoslovakia isn't a place anymore, have ever mistakenly called venom big boss, yakuza 3 hater, obsessed with griffith and doesn't care about casca (you must make at least one post about/including casca per every 3 griffith posts), have ever had a griffith icon, call any fictional women who isn't extremely feminine butch or masc and thinks actual butches are scary, tiktok users (except my friends), think yoshi p is going to love you back, make character genderbends where you change their entire appearance and gender expression, you think ogata has sex (no one wants to fuck him), you think ogata isn't gay, you dislike kiroranke, jjk fans, you kindate as nana characters, persona fans, burahkovsky shippers (unless you're normal about it), akiangel shippers. and geminis born in june i think you're toxic but you may interact with me anyways.

anyone wanna see the fake dni i made like 4 years ago (and have since edited)

[poieten-oikos]

NO THE FUCKING MINION FROM THE LAST DUNGEON DROPPED AND I ROLLED AN ELEVEN

[burger-goblin]

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