#I was otherwise very careful with them

[quantomeno]

This reminds me of a story:

When I was a kid my family and I went to Thailand for a holiday and for whatever reason I decided to bring the DS lite (I say 'the' DS lite because at this point my siblings and I each had our own DSis but the DS lite was shared because we had an R4 card which only worked on it, so we would all use it to play the games only on it, and this is probably why I chose to bring it specifically rather than my DSi). I didn't use it much (because, well, why would you play video games when you can swim in the pool? I still kick myself for bringing it to Thailand because it was so pointless but I was a kid and it seemed like a good idea to have something to play if I got bored for whatever reason).

On the way home, for whatever reason some security woman at the Thai airport opened up my luggage and was poking around in it (I don't know if it was just some random search or what but I think it was just random) and she takes out my DS and looks at it. But the thing is, she's wearing like disposable gloves and the DS lite has a glossy exterior. It's slippery already and with the gloves it'd be worse and the device slips out of her hands and hits the hard airport floor. We get a bit 'oh, hey!' with her and she's clearly embarrassed and stuff and we just pack up the suitcase again and move on (it was kind of funny in that the search ended so quickly because it didn't seem she was done yet, but I think she wanted it to be over after that kerfuffle). Anyway, checking it later, the DS was broken on the right side, at the hinge bit, but it was just the plastic bit around the hinge that held it in place. So it was a little loose, but it was still held in place.

So OK, no big deal.

But as time wore on, it got looser and looser, until the screen would go kind of red if you moved it too much. But it was OK, if you just jiggled it a bit eventually it'd sort itself out.

But then as time wore on further, it got worse and worse and worse. Now it's permanently red.

Which was a shame, because of the R4 thing. We had a number of games only on there.

But then one day we found a second hand DS lite in an op shop and so we bought it. And that one worked pretty well, except its microphone was broken.

OK not many games use the microphone, right? But one of the games we really loved on the R4 was Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and in the final case you have the ability to test for fingerprints, which requires you to blow away the dust. Which would be ok because normally you can just exit the fingerprint test thing, save, move the R4 to the old DS and then use that one's microphone (and just deal with the bad screen for that moment), save after that and return to the better DS.

But the thing is the first time you do it, there's a tutorial you can't skip or exit, so you can't do this and my younger sibling had to restart the game from quite a while back (and I had to replay the sections up to that point for them) and yeah. It was bad enough to consider getting another DS lite.

Also WarrioWare Touched uses the microphone and we had that on the R4 too.

(Hotel Dusk: Room 215 also allows you to use the mic and we had it on the R4, and I got to the point in the game where you can use it and I was like no... I can't do this puzzle. But then I tapped the screen instead and I realised the mic is a red herring and it actually makes you fail the puzzle so yeah, it actually wasn't needed)

Anyway, so we bought a third DS lite online. This one works fully.

We also wanted to see if we could swap the microphones of the old ones to get an extra fully functional DS, but it seemed like it'd be too hard.

The other DSes we own are all in good nick and we are ultra careful with them now. There is a bit of poor connections or whatever on the LR buttons with some, and the volume switch of the 2nd DS Lite was also dodgy, and our 3DS' coating is peeling and the circle pad's rubber thing came off, but in terms of serious, game-ruining damage, they're fine.

Anyway, moral of the story is don't take your DS overseas.

if multiple parts are broken just click the first one you noticed!

[signorcerullo]

Mal's Avatar: The Last Airbender rewatch: The beach 3.05

[wyvernity]

sss day my favorite national holiday WOOOOHHHH

bonus

[dykedvonte]

I think it’s so ironic that the Pony Express escapes a lot if not all blame in discussion. I can’t even say I am excused from it but it’s just how hard people circle back to the characters alone without considering the environment they were made to be in.

Why would they design a ship where only two of the rooms lock? Not the bathroom? Not the sleeping quarters? We assume that all the companies in the universe are this shallow and careless to their workers but we explicitly know the Pony Express in extra vile. They are fed processed slop pack they can’t even really cook and the ration of those pack is meager at best. They hired and made people with a plethora of conflicting demeanors and beliefs work together on a mission where cohesion is important if not an outright necessity and punish them for not being happy about it. There’s no social protocols, not chain of command other than Captain’s word/choice and the only way to enforce that is with a literal firearm. They don’t allow them to celebrate freely and even took away leisure activities that would make them less stir crazy. They are only allowed a few hours of sleep despite their being no other real responsibilities or work on the ship, no matter the position or its importance. With any crew, with any level of synergy, this was a powder keg waiting for a spark.

I’m not saying characters that made mistakes didn’t make huge ones, but I think part of the horror is that at least for some (this is targeting Jimathan) those mistakes are partly made by a force of the hand. There’s a running theme of lack of choice and being forced into something and the very nature of how The Pony Express expected them to function plays a big part.

[honig-dachs]

there it is

[stellar-collective]

Feel free to take this time on this request. /gen

Since your Phoenix can come back from the dead, I wonder if you can draw Reginald's reaction to finding out about Phoenix's multiple deaths.

(How he finds out is up to you. But if you want an idea: Zoraxis memory reading machine upon Phoenix getting captured.)

rule number one of being a handler: never, ever panic in front of the agent. if you stay frosty, then they won’t panic either. Reginald is going to hang on to these feelings and quietly have a crisis once they’re safely back at base, where Phoenix will never know.

[aethersflood]

Just don't say I didn't warn you. You're Cid now, and if anything happens to him, we're finished.

[quinn-pop]

mtdd week day 5 - au

idol au moment yayyy. they have history

[dxxtruction]

Louis' "You're boring!" Could mean so many things, but I think what's most apparent about that line is that Armand takes no initiative just for himself. He's not really anybody, because he never goes out and finds himself or gets attached to anyone but Louis. Without Louis as his guide he's literally just sitting on a couch picking lint! That's the thing.

He orbits constantly around what would make Louis happy, and never really fully going what would make me happy? Ultimately that drive to please Louis is what drives him to torturing Daniel, not so much that he'd care to just do it. Ultimately, not giving proper care to Louis is just a way to make sure Louis knows he has to orbit around him as well, with shoving Lestat onto him just that other nail on the coffin. So, even if he fails to figure out how to make Louis happy with him, he still knows what Armand is good for, and better than.

That dependency is what drives Armand's abuse. It really just comes down to that. Armand doesn't even realize how suffocated he is by his own dependency. This is just how life is to him. (It shouldn't be lost either that dependency is a theme considering this episode also deals with addiction).

Daniel's fascinating because he's just so driven to be somebody. He's largely independent, he seeks things because he wants them. It's his drug to poke and prod at all the things that he shouldn't. Daniel's exciting because he lets Louis in to something different, lets him in to all this potential in another person that he can also do the same with for himself. It's a real connection. A two way street. It's easy to tell how Armand can be smothering then because he's never introducing him to anything really new, and most the ways both of them connect are all painful and traumatic. It's never just fun because there's always that layer of that pain. Fun died with Claudia.

50 years on they've gotten to a lot better place, both of them, but it's still that same shit. No seriously, "How is this any different from last time, Louis?"

Well... Because Armand's going to be, at the very least, making one [1] decision only for himself - and that's to hold power over Daniel's life. Fucking sick foreshadowing.

They aren't driving each other to the brink anymore but "The vampire is bored" STILL. Maybe it's even worse, despite being in better places, because Louis' sort of just been defeated by it. (I mean, can he even really leave this either?). He's accepting the dependancy cause he kind of has to. He'd literally ended up letting all the enjoyment be up where he can't reach [The book shelves]. Armand so desperately wants Louis happiness but what really ends up happening is that Louis ends up having to give Armand all his own. He's got no one or anything else to get it from. But like an iPad and an over the top eating ritual. Two extremes of what's just more lint picking.

This whole relationship is one I find just tragic inside and out. You have to just pity it, really. There's ways in which you can find yourself feeling bad for both of them. But you can only really be mad at Armand for any of it. Armand, who isn't even 'free' in any sense, having so little concept of his own independence, but is at the same time so controlling over other's. It's a tragic cycle. It's an infuriating one.

Louis at least has the mind to know when enough is enough. If just needing that extra push to get there. Armand's too scared of it being over to even try.

[daynascullys]

shoutout to everyone who follows this blog. not just mutuals—everyone following this blog. people whose urls I recognize and whose names I know because I see them in my notes so often. people who regularly reblog things, who like my personal meltdown posts, who comment encouraging things. or who follow me in spite of those things out of love for whatever content it is I’m sharing. it’s truly so special to me that someone would stumble across a post or come look through my blog and decide to follow me. thank you for caring enough to follow. ♥️

[smile-files]

a happy-go-lucky darling who also happens to possess a lust for blood... being a magical girl gives her the best of both worlds!

[malenjoyer]

"In 2023, I was really into the whole thing where Damian has a supportive older brother that wanted to support his growth."

Aaa an end of an era but thank you for the art that spawned in that year! I started reading Dick and Damian comics because of your art of them, and now suddenly I'm a comic collector!

HOLD UP I STILL LIKE THEMMM 😭 it’s just the more I read Damian comics the more I feel like…

Dick was really important for the beginning foundation of him settling into the family. Damian has been in for the family for a while and I kind of want to see him grow outside of the bat family. So I do still see dick being supportive but more of in the background? It’s like when you watch a baby bird safely take it’s first flight out of the nest. After watching them for a while during their baby steps, you feel safe letting them explore on their own.

I feel like it’s very complex of a feeling and hard to draw. I still want to draw them sometimes but I really want it to be in a way that isn’t regressive to Damian’s character development. I don’t know if that’s something that makes sense.

I do have a plan on working on an animated video focusing on Damian that will have dick in it. It’s just a very ambitious goal that I need to build stamina for 😤 wait for me

[qoldenskies]

I like to imagine that after some time ccDonnie gets really into training with his bō and in training in general. He's such a solution orientated person I feel like it would get really unbearable for him to feel like he's the weakest and defenseless - after all isn't all of this his fault for being so dense that he could not tell that something was oh so obviously wrong with his brothers and for being so weak that he ended up getting so physically hurt? So really this is something he needs to fix again. Focusing too much on his tech has made him a liability and bad at reading his brothers, so he tries to balance tech and training more.

So I imagine that as an adult Donnie is quite a scary aggressive fighter - softshell turtles are quite aggressive in nature after all, precisely because of their softness - and appears quite distant and cold to outsiders. You would have to know him for quite some while and be really attentive to notice that at heart he is far more gentle mannered and soft, but the most important people in his life already know that.

Also!! I love it when in tmnt whump writers use turtle behaviours as therapy - like swimming being therapeutic. Maybe ccDonnie would also really enjoy swimming and letting his mind rest after all this?

I really liked the animatic!!!! And can't wait for the last chapter of cc! Sending love

honestly this is something i could see! combat is going to be a hard thing for donnie to go back to in particular even without his brothers because he's kind of conditioned himself to panic and do little, curl up in a ball and steel himself. and mixed with the final attack i think he's just going to have problems getting back into the environment and mindset

but like, when he does? i could definitely see some overcompensating going on. donnie gettting vicious out of fear of being helpless again. being triggered and seeing red, falling back hard on the urge to fight back that DID save his life. it stopped leo from slitting his throat and held raph off, really. its still frenzied and panicked but there's an edge of uncharacteristic anger there. he'd otherwise normally be very precise and tactical in his combat, and i do think it'd be a skill he would put a lot of focus on.

im unsure about socially though. i could see him giving off that energy because he would be quiet for SURE, and he always looks on edge and nervous (which can be interpreted as "fuck off" body language lmao) but donnie is hyperaware of other people and he always will be going forward. when he actually opens his mouth he'll be very appeasing, at first at least. i do think he'll be really nervous around new people and it'll make it hard for him to find new connections, but he'll actually be one of the better ones with that. leo will be nasty because of paranoia for a long time.

(also omg yeah i am a little envious because i would LOVE to meditate underwater ... just go under there for ages and chill ... need to project this urge onto him it sounds so calming)

[galactic-rhea]

Thoughts on Padmé x Anakin x Rex?

Padmé and Anakin are so mutually obssesed they would first have to check into that before trying to bring another person to their carefully-balanced-kind-of-damage or something it's going to explode.

Honestly it's a fun ship! But I don't have too many thoughts about them because when I consider them is usually in very low-stakes-fun-AU-scenarios.

And I'm actually a bit of a fan of Rexwalker myself! Athough I tend to like them more as very good buddies, the covering-for-you-dynamic it's so funny for them, lol It's also angsty and complicated because, y'know, the power-imbalance and unchecked trauma? Is funny that the clone that's actually a slave for the republic is the most normal if you bring him into the anidala romance circus.

Also shout out to @phoenixyfriend , she has a lot of rexanidala fics and recs for anyone interested reading this!

[yarrowleef]

I am actually (tentatively) intrigued by moonpaw's mind ghost. the idea of an entity that can make themselves look identical to you and appear to other cats (sometimes?) and maybe do nefarious things with your face is a fun spooky concept.

I don't know how long my intrigue will last, but it exists for the moment

[rileys-battlecats]

was trying to figure out why I feel so Wrong rn and I think it's because I didn't follow my usual daily routine like At All and now my brain is freaking out. woke up at a vastly different time, had entirely different tasks throughout the day, took a nap at a weird time (to make up for the fact I had about 3 hours of sleep last night), zero human contact for the past 15 hours, and ate different food from usual (various leftovers from social events/thanksgiving, instead of cooking for myself like normal). and before I really realized that these were all things that were Bad For My Brain I was just wandering around my house like "why do I feel like garbage?? I've literally been outside so much today my brain should be happy"

ANYWAY here's to me not remembering I have issues with unstructured living because my days have been so similar for the past 4ish years that I straight up Forgot that things being too different too fast makes me crazy ✌️