#I wasn't trying to be difficult. it was just the quickest way to the ground

[pangur-and-grim]

remembering that weight lifting class where the coach said "lower yourself to the ground, there is no wrong way to do this" and so I rag-dolled and let my body drop, and then he paused and said "that is the only wrong way to do this."

[tvckerwash]

thoughts on ct's fighting style and her position in pfl because I can (utc bc it's long lol):

okay so I like to jokingly refer to myself as THE wash meta/analysis guy, but I also absolutely love ct if anyone wasn't aware (she's my 2nd fav character behind wash if you couldn't tell lol), but as much as I love her it's honestly pretty difficult to write any sort of 'objective' meta or analysis posts about her because we don't know shit about her. so while this is meant to be a companion piece of sorts to this wash post, I just wanted to make it clear that a lot of this post is going to be based around my personal interpretation of ct (though I will try and be as objective as possible where I can be).

so much like wash, I think ct is also fairly unique among the freelancers for a few different reasons. one of them is that she's one of the few freelancers to wear a unique set of armor instead of the usual mark iv, and I think that ct's armor can actually tell us quite a bit about her skill set and what kind of role she possibly held. ct wears the eod helmet and chest which is primarily designed for protection from explosives, but when it comes to ct the more important information is that the eod armor was designed with less available grabbing surface than other armor variants. she also wears the scout shoulders, which is a variant that is focused on stealth capabilities.

from this information, we can easily deduce that ct's skill set primarily revolves around be slippery and sneaky, and when paired with what we see in the show it's pretty clear that ct is an intelligence operative. I think that ct is specifically a cyber operations specialist, and that prior to being recruited for freelancer she worked in ONI's section one (the actual intelligence gathering sector of ONI that is used by other UNSC branches).

another unique aspect about ct is that she is the only freelancer to consistently arm herself very lightly, with her primary weapon(s) of choice being two M6G magnums, and her other weapon(s) being two combat knives. this goes inline with what I've said above, and due to how lightly she arms herself I believe that ct generally isn't involved in any heavy combat scenarios. this point is supported by team b's failure to retrieve the briefcase with the access code during the heist in s9 (seriously, who tf thought it was a good idea to put 2 snipers and an intelligence operative all together as one team for a smash and grab retrieval mission??).

now to actually break down the whole 1.5 fights ct has in s10, I think that she probably somewhat shares wash's more grounded and pragmatic approach to combat as a whole, with the exception of her preference for duel wielding (which I personally headcanon is a thing she chooses to do because it makes her feel like an action/spy movie protagonist).

in both of her fight scenes ct seems to rely very heavily on her ability to plan ahead and get the jump on her opponents to take them by surprise (dropping from the ceiling to take out the two marines when she met up with the innie leader in the scrap yard, and using her armor enhancement to conceal her real position which allowed her to pin tex's arm behind her back), and I think it's safe to say that she probably isn't the kind of cqc fighter than can mow people down left and right like carolina can.

as mentioned above, I think ct's main goal is to take her opponents out in the quickest, quietest, and most efficient ways possible, much like a spy or an assassin, and while her loadout is great when she is in ideal circumstances where she's able to sneak around and avoid unnecessary combat, I don't think it's very good when it comes to drawn out encounters. we see this in her fight against tex and carolina, as while she handled herself pretty well it seemed like the longer the fight lasted the sloppier ct ended up getting, and eventually she made enough minor mistakes that carolina was able to knock her off her feet and disarm her in a single move, and tex, who was now aware of ct's armor enhancement, was able to cut her down.

[spoops-screams]

Hello) I accidentally saw your idea about the awareness of the Arcana characters that they are part of the game, and that's amasing! Can I ask you about the second part (with Muriel, Julian and Portia, or how they try to contact the player)? I don't know English well, if I explained it incomprehensibly - please don't judge me harshly ^^"

| Becoming self aware [ Part 2 ]

Character(s): Muriel, Julien Devorak and Portia Devorak

TW: Unreality, questioning of one's sanity, insecurity, self doubt, Alcohol, self hatred, obsessive mindset

Notes: Gender neutral MC || Don't worry, your English was absolutely perfect and thank you for the request! 💕 || Part one is here

Julian

He is perhaps... the quickest to fall apart

You'd given him affection and attention that he had been craving for so long, made him feel like he was more than just his mistakes and accusations and in the end-

In the end, it wasn't even really you

Perhaps it the amount that he had started drinking upon the realisation, drowning himself in bottle after bottle of whatever he could get his hands on before Portia found him, or perhaps it was simply the hatred that he felt towards himself for being so weak as to want for the attention of someone that he could never reach but he finds himself clinging to you

More accurately, the husk, the puppet, that represented you

He envisions you in his head as he speaks to them. How did you look? What did your voice really sound like? Did you really care for him as much as your representation showed that you did?

Of course you did! You were more wonderful than the husk that he had previously come to love and care for. Better in every way. You wouldn't lie to him, through the husk or otherwise

In the back of his mind, he doesn't trust himself to seek the real you out. It's much too terrifying, the possibility that you might not care for him as the apprentice that he saw did but he clings to what he can of you at a safe distance. Your husk is you, it's all he needs

Portia

No. It's simple as that

She refuses to believe it

Normally she's one to be open minded, accepting of most but she knows her limits. She knows where the point is that she simply wouldn't be able to take another blow and this is one of the times where she won't push it. She doesn't want to push it

Her brother is already a mess that she struggles to reach out to and take care of when he already makes it so difficult, she feels alone oh so often even with the people she's close to around her

She feels that she needs to make the most of everything but always feels like there's something she's losing out on, she can't handle another loss, another thing she can't keep a hold on

After Lucio's death, there's been so much to do

She feels responsible for so much and you coming into her life gave her a sense of stability against that worry that she isn't doing enough that she hides so well

You've made her happier, more relaxed

So just let her have this one thing. Let her keep one of the few things that keep her happy and grounded. She needs something to keep the sense of normalcy that she's been missing for so long

Muriel

He almost feels as though he expected it

Not this scenario exactly, not by any means but more the realisation that rarely does anyone ever truly stay. Even the apprentice that he sees isn't really you; you who are too far away to ever truly be near him

His typical reclusive habits amplify as he attempts to avoid seeing you. He'd foolishly thought that he could allow himself to hope and now look where he is now

He comes to terms with it easily but the thought of being near the apprentice, the husk that represents you, it almost disgusts him but perhaps it's a punishment of sorts. Look at him, accepting your affections as if he didn't know that something was bound to go wrong. It must have been his own fault

You had no reason to stay in this world of his

He knew many that would prefer to be in a world where what was happening where he existed was nothing more than fiction. A plague, a murder, things most would want to avoid so why would you be any different?

He can't even stand the sight of your fake form without hatred, for him or you he doesn't know, begins to plague his mind. But the game doesn't know that. It isn't unusual for him to act so introverted so maybe there really is nothing wrong

Tags: @rurifangirl

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[happyhealthycats]

Thank you for your recent advice on puzzle feeders! The website you linked to made me realize that the reason my cat wasn't interested in the puzzle feeder I got her was because it's one considered more difficult to get the hang of. (Funnily, my newer kitten caught on immediately despite never having used a puzzle feeder before. Now the older one likes to watch the kitten use it and eat some of the food she knocks down.) Could you talk a bit about the experiences you've had with puzzle feeders?

That site was linked to me ages ago (if you were the one to link me, you rock! I use it all the time!). Those puzzle feeders are SO great but there’s almost no information about level of difficulty or how to introduce your cats to them. I’m so glad you got yours figured out!

For me, it started when we adopted Heimdall and he was 25 lbs of FLUB. We obviously had to get his weight under control, but we were up in the air with options. So we figured getting him a puzzle feeder would slow down his feeding and spread it out over the day. We got him a little ball with an adjustable hole that spits out treats, or in our case, food. We used it in between his “main meals”, while still cutting down on his amount of food.

It was GREAT.

At first.

Admittedly, there was nothing wrong with the puzzle feeder. It was user error (me). Because Heimdall figured out one quick fix. He pushed the ball into a corner, where the ball was stuck, and he just spun it around until it was empty. Took maybe 15 minutes. Not the all-night fix that my husband and I had been looking for.

And then he found out a faster way to “solve” it.

We were living in a second floor apartment. Entrance was on the ground floor. Stairs led up to the apartment but was all contained in the apartment unit. Heimdall never went down there. Way too much work. Unless someone left a particularly smelly pair of shoes for him to make sweet love to.

But he pushed the little plastic puzzle feeder down the stairs.

So at 2 AM my husband and I hear something bouncing down the stairs of the apartment, then a sort of crash, followed by the sound of scattering kibble, and then the THUNDEROUS footsteps of an overweight cat-marshmallow hybrid ZOOMING down the stairs to inhale his spoils.

So he learned the quickest way to get to that. Any time we’d try it again, it immediately went down the stairs, popped open, and betrayed us. Needless to say, that particular puzzle was no longer an option.

Then there was the time I got the tower puzzle. The cats had to knock their food down through different holes, using their paws for finer motor skills, and the food was dispensed in a little dish around the bottom.

That one worked until Heimdall body-checked it like the NHL was paying him and BROKE it.

Now we have a sort of tray with 5 different puzzle options. There are different difficulties, and each of our cats seems to prefer a different one so they can play to their strengths. Since their feeding schedule is pretty set in stone, we use it as an attention grabber. If there’s food in that puzzle, they will not even GO in the kitchen. Which makes cooking a lot easier.

It can’t be knocked over, or pushed. It stays where it is, and the cats have to do the thing the product intends or else they don’t get the food. No moving parts. There are harder parts for the cats who can take the challenge, and easier parts for when they’re not really feeling it.