#Mostly need to work on fundamentals rn

[prismaticutie]

I've been watching a lot of Omega Strikers guide videos lately and the one thing all of them have in common is that every single one of them highlights the importance of "just have fun".

That's something people say all the time, about any game. But there was one guide I watched yesterday, and in addition to giving that tip, also mentioned the importance of not being toxic and blaming your losses on your teammates.

This is genuinely the most helpful tip of all time. Like this guide really grilled into me just how horrible having that toxic mentality is. The full first minute of the video was dedicated to that. He also talked about how being toxic and playing w that mentality actively makes you worse at the game, period. Full stop. And he explained the reasoning for that as well.

I've heard this said and yeah I believe it as well, but this was the first time I'd ever had it thoroughly explained to me. It really put things into perspective for me.

Hoping I can improve at both Omega Strikers and Splatoon by keeping this in mind 👍

[world-of-wales]

The Indian PM is asking for votes in the upcoming election by saying that voters shouldn't support the opposition leaders coz they eat........Non-vegetarian food.......

This isn't him relating environment problems and veganism/vegetarianism, but rather him campaigning that in a secular country only his party is the best because they follow the moral and vegetarian majority religion. Which is funny in itself since, except for North India, the rest of the Hindus in other parts consume all kinds of non vegetarian food items.

And to most people outside India, this vegetarian vs non-veg debate might seem foolish, but here it is proving to be the main election agenda now. A lot of people may think oh he's advocating for being vegetarian, that's great. But unfortunately not in this case coz his party which is filled with upper caste Hindus mostly use this argument of food choices to demonize minority communities in the country, they deny protein to poor children in the meals provided to them by the state in public schools, their supporters go and harass & have in many cases k-worded innocent people in name of 'Cow protection', force butchers who come from low income backgrounds to shut down their stores making them unable to earn even the meagre ammount that they do etc etc. So veg/non-veg in the case of Indian elections rn is so much more than just a debate on dietary choices.

So, no talks of education, health, economy, jobs etc this election season but rather cheap and completely nonsense topics during campaigning. And I wish I could call it satire, but unfortunately this is what the so-called largest democracy has come to.

This issue is just the tip of the iceberg of all the things that need to be changed in this country to take it back to where it was before this train wreck that the past decade has been and to start rebuilding it brick by brick.

The reason I'm posting this today is that, I want to request anyone who's eligible to vote in India to PLEASE GO VOTE! exercise ur right. Don't let anyone tell you that your voice doesn't matter coz it does. And it's never been more essential for you to make use of Article 326 and cast your vote. It is ur fundamental right.

I don't think there could be a more appropriate time to ask you for this, as it is the 133rd birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar today, the father of the Constitution. The man who fought all his life to make sure everyone in his country had democratic fundamental rights. He gave you that Constitution that protects you and your interests and rights. The tip of his pen changed the world you live in today for the better. So please don't let that the sacrifices made by him or of all those in the Constituent Assembly, of all those who came before you go to waste. They gave this country their all, so you could have all the freedoms that you do today. They gave you a constitution based on liberty, equality, fraternity, secularism, socio-economic democracy etc to protect you, the citizens. And now, as these rights slowly get encroached upon, it is more important than ever before for you to assert these rights.

Go read the election manifestos of the parties and learn about the candidates fighting elections from ur constituency. Please make an informed choice. Don't go and vote for people on the basis of religion, caste, etc. Go and vote for that person who actually talks about the on ground issues you face, who has plans to make ur life, and the society you live in better. Who promises to give you the basic rights that you deserve, someone who promises not to infringe upon the fundamental rights as enshrined in the constitution, the one who talks about creating better employment, creating a robust health system, making sure every child in this country has access to quality education, someone who wants to create a safe space for women not just out in the world but also in the private sphere, someone who promises to work towards dealing with the problems of inflation & other economic problems you face, someone who wants to work towards dealing with the vast enomic disparities that exist across the board. Someone who wants to work towards providing safeguards for the most vulnerable people and communities, etc etc.

Go on the website of the election commission, check out the dates of vote casting in your area, mark that date, wake up that morning take ur voter id card and please go push a button on the machine at the particular booth you fall under.

Don't let people tell you that you are young, you don't know what you need, you shouldn't be jumping into political discourse, don't let them discourage you from exercising the most important right the constitution has given you. TRUST ME, YOU DO KNOW WHAT YOU NEED, POLITICS AFFECTS YOU TOO, THE GOVERNMENT POLICIES AFFECT YOU TOO, SO YOUR VOICE IS JUST AS IMPORTANT IN THESE UPCOMING ELECTIONS AS THAT OF THE OTHERS!

YOUR VOTE MATTERS. IT'S NEVER MATTERED MORE!

[turnupthestrobe]

feels weird to post something personal especially since i'm just doing halloween stuff rn and don't do personal posts in general but this is something i wrote and have been sharing

Apologies in advance for sharing a long, personal post on social media, but I’ve been trying to figure out how to share some of this for a while, and Rosh Hashanah felt like an appropriate moment to do that, separate from the political implications that even just acknowledging my Judaism carries these days (for the record, I am wholeheartedly pro-Palestine and have no personal or spiritual connection whatsoever with Israel).

Over the past few years I have had to deal with a number of physical and mental health issues and that has been a really dominant theme in my life and also a big part of my self-identity, in large part because I’ve mostly had to deal with all these things alone, without much of support system or community, which is itself a byproduct of some of the things I’ve been working on. I have this whole story and reconciling what went on before I tried to kill myself at the beginning of 2022 with the recovery that has occurred after has been an ongoing process. 

This is all a roundabout way of, first off, apologizing to anyone who’s had to deal with me as a “sick person,” whether it’s been me talking about my issues too much or being unreliable because of these things, or pretty much any of my behavior prior to early 2022- there was a long period of time I was taking medications that were having an adverse affect of my mental health, and that, along with undiagnosed health issues, was sort of my whole life since I became an adult, and realistically probably before that as well.  Part of this is that I don’t always know what I can or should share with people or what I can ask from them so sometimes I either set more boundaries than I need to or conversely try to force closeness when I should be reading the signals that this isn’t wanted or welcome. I have always struggled with forming and maintaining close relationships with other people and in retrospect I am mortified with some of the ways this difficulty has manifested over the years. 

Second, and more important, I wanted to share that I’ve been doing the work to shift my mentality away from being a sick and disabled person and regretting all the time I lost while I was figuring that out to being more present and finding an identity for myself outside of being sick, anxious and depressed. For the first time ever I’m figuring out who I am independently of my “problems” and also learning how to be a functioning adult human without using illness as crutch to fall back on. By virtue of living with some of these things for so long I’ve become very defensive and self-involved about a lot of things, and part of my recovery has been learning how to be more open and less self-centered and also trying to understand how much space I deserve to take up in this world. Before I would have said none of very little. Now, maybe a little bit more?

In 2022, I chose to live even though I wanted, on a deep and fundamental level, to die. Now, two years later, I’m reaffirming my commitment to being alive and starting to think about what it might be like to not only be alive, but also be healthy and, hopefully in the long run, happy. Thanks to those of you who have stuck by throughout all of this. You are small in number but great in patience, generosity and understanding. I have no idea why anyone would put up with me. I don’t even put up with my own bullshit- if I weren’t me I would have written myself off years ago. So thank you and just know I’ve really been doing the work these past few years and continue to be committed to figuring out all the things I fucked up for so long. 

[cabeswaterdrowned]

need to know about any and all aftg fics you’ve got in the works please and thank you

because I’m not hyperfixating on it rn / have been kind of taking a break from this fandom I haven’t been actively working on or thinking about either of these since like, fall 2023. But:

•Kevin wip. — what I wrote so far is kind of a Drabble but it’s mostly pre canon focused on his grief over Kayleigh, also there’s some pre canon Kandrew in there.

•wanna be the power ballad that (lifts you up and holds you down) — the first chapter of this is on my ao3 (nazyalenskys) and it was originally meant to be 3 chapters but I never finished the second.. I posted it in 2022 so if I ever finish like I said will probably rewrite the one that’s published. But it was kind of a response fic to one of my favorite kandrew fics which I will link later, but the premise of that is essentially the Moriyamas freak Kevin out before his first pro game and a sort of Kandrew comfort sex hook up takes place with Neil’s consent, and I wanted to write a Kandreil navigating the aftermath of that type of scenario. The chapter I wrote was mostly a lot of Andrew introspection and a convo between him and Neil about it, the second chapter I started but didn’t get too far with was going to be entirely an Andrew and Betsy session, and the third was going to be him going to visit Kevin for the first time after this happened. So set of for post canon Kandreil but I was going to focus mostly on Andrew’s feelings and the Kandrew side of it (Kandrew is my favorite Aftg ship if you didn’t know, I love Andreil a lot too they’re definitely my favorite canon mlm ship in any media and I love their arc but Kandrew was what I generally went for when it came to exploring dynamics, they compel me for a lot of the same reasons Adansey do in terms of the divorced energy and the class divide and the fundamental miscommunication that’s interesting rather than annoying, and two chars with control issues as trauma responses having symptoms at each other, and characters desiring autonomy but also being codependently devoted to each other in ways that contradict that… yeah (I totally get the Ronsey-Kandrew and Adansey-Kevneil parallels that are commonly talked about but like. Kandrew-Adansey is real 2 me). • this isn’t really a wip but I did want to mention that I actually first wrote fanfiction on a different ao3 account and started during quarantine, and Aftg was my quarantine hyperfixation (with Community and Legacies which I also wrote for) so I wrote quite a bit at that time that’s floating around but most of it I’m content to never continue with, but there is One I might go back to at some point and it’s this Renee centric fic with some Renee x Dan called Sweet Fascination that was originally meant to be the first in a series about Renee in high school. At some point I might rewrite and repost that fic on my current acc and continue that as a kind of series of introspective one shots. Ty! (Send me a title of a WIP and I’ll tell you something about it)

[rollercoasterwords]

i'm currently rereading thtf rn, and in one of the author's notes at the end of the chapter you said that you think voldemort wasn't a good villain. i agree with you on that 100%, and i'd really like to hear all your thoughts on why you think that way.

fun question!!! i am happy 2 discuss w the caveat of course that this is all my subjective opinion etc etc

i feel like the reasons i don't think voldemort is a "good" villain (in terms of storytelling) can sort of be broken into 2 main things

1: voldemort as a character

so by this i mean, without looking at the broader story or wizarding society + how voldemort's character functions like...narratively within the story, just looking at the character itself. characterwise i think voldemort is just....pretty flat.

like, from the way dumbledore describes voldemort as a child, we're basically supposed to view him as a character who has always been fundamentally evil, like he was "born bad." sure, there's some gesturing towards society with the tragic backstory w his parents, growing up in an orphanage, hating his dad, etc. but none of that is fully fleshed out in a way that indicates voldemort might have been good if his circumstances had been different; instead, it's mostly just used to explain why he hates muggles so much. but he's portrayed as sadistic and manipulative from the time he's a child, a kid who has always wanted power and just continues to seek power his entire life. this is just....a boring character, in my opinion. tautological evil doesn't really give us anything to think about, anything to question, anything to pull from the story and relate to real life--because in real life, people aren't just born evil, y'know?

and obviously people can say "oh well it's a kids' story of course it's gonna be simple and black + white when it comes to good + evil!" but honestly i just don't buy that argument. i've encountered plenty of kids' media that is not so boring and black + white with its portrayals of good vs evil (animorphs comes immediately to mind). so! to me it still just feels like a flat + boring character.

2: voldemort as a figural evil

a lot of what i have to say here can be summed up in this quote from harry potter and the leaky genre:

"And herein lies the true fantasy in Harry Potter: that systemic dysfunction can be destroyed because it has been artificially projected onto, and reduced to, one locus: the person of Voldemort."

rao talks about this in his essay very succintly, but basically--in the harry potter universe + the overarching narrative of the story, voldemort functions as a figural symbol onto which all of the systemic issues of wizarding society can be projected + neatly defeated in one fell swoop. throughout the series, we see an abundance of systemic flaws + oppression in the wizarding world, all of which are deeply ingrained and none of which can be boiled down to one single person's individual intent. and yet, voldemort becomes the symbol for Everything That's Wrong, and we are led to believe that if harry potter can just triumph over Evil, then everything will be fixed.

essentially, voldemort becomes a political sleight of hand. our eyes are drawn away from the systemic issues that need to be uprooted and overhauled, and we're so busy watching harry potter embark on his quest to defeat The Bad Guy that by the time the dust settles we're supposed to be satisfied with our nice little happy ending, rather than questioning why harry potter would become a wizard cop working for the ministry of magic when that institution was shown to be fundamentally flawed throughout the course of the series.

this representation of evil is very much rooted in jkr's conservative politics + worldview, and it's something that you'll find throughout a lot of political rhetoric--the idea that there is a specific outside figure or group who is the Source of Evil and a Threat to Good (read: our pre-existing institutions + society), and so we need to focus all our energy on destroying The Bad Guy rather than taking a look at our own flawed institutions and overturning existing oppressive structures. all in all, it's a type of evil/villainy that i do not find compelling in storytelling and that i think is actively bad because of the political narrative it perpetuates. and so that's what i'm getting at when i say that i don't think voldemort is a "good" villain!

[phoebehalliwell]

I mean, if you want gossip, welcome to my tale of questionable decisions! Let me set the scene for you. The relevant players are me, my female friend, and a guy who we've both been befriending. (The setting, mostly irrelevant but must be added to emphasize the Questionable Decisions of this tale is a church group. As in we're all in the same church group. What the fuck at me) Anyways, friend has gotten some flirty signals from guy and is interested but not willing to do anything unless he's explicitly into her.

Meanwhile, I end up becoming closer friends with this guy bc we went to an arcade a weekend night, accidentally had too much, and then had a full on breakdown on how my ex bf almost definitely sexually assaulted me. The guy (nice guy not ex bf, he has no more relevance to this story besides my ~trauma~) ends up hanging out with me a few more days, in part bc I am Not Handling this well. (ha ha, i'm repressing it atm again, this seems like a better idea!) We end up being better friends tho, and I find out that he is into my friend which great!

Issue is that my hormones are fucking stupid as hell and I. haven't even kissed anyone since said ex bf and guy friend is nice to me and I am reasonably sure won't be weird about it. So basically: we ended up making out on my couch. for a while. Additional context: I outright told him beforehand that I didn't want a relationship with him and this would be a one-time thing that I would almost definitely never bring up again. Which: not wrong. He's a great friend and I like hanging out with him but we're fundamentally incompatible and I'm just not into him that way. (Seriously, the entire thought process on my end is that he has proven multiple times that he won't hurt me, will stop if I ask, and is chill enough that it won't need to become a thing.)

He had to leave after a while, because y'know time and I basically talked him into asking out my friend. So please, imagine this scenario. Me and him, having just spent two hours making out on my couch with the full understanding this was a one-time thing, now standing on my porch at midnight as I try to talk him into asking her out while he expresses doubt that she's into him. I've done it tho and he's gonna ask her out tomorrow. This is the current situation as of fifteen minutes ago.

My expectation is frankly that while we may talk about it in the future, bc he is currently only person alive who knows about my trauma, it will never happen again. (Like I said: I'm really not into him like that.) Admittedly, not totally sure on what'll happen with him and her but a legit possibility that they end up going out (and he's already promised me to not tell anyone about it, which he won't bc of who he is as a person) and it going well. Honestly, idk if I really need advice bc I do legitimately think that this will work out fine for everyone but may I get an f in the chat for what the fuck was I thinking. Any advice about the situation will be gladly accepted tho! (Also anything about dealing with said trauma bc like I said. I am. not handling it v well oof.)

The most ironic thing about fucking all this is that I am normally the most drama-free, chill person ever and never get into trouble and then I did this. To repeat: what the fuck at me!

legendary behavior on your part honestly like. like?? idk i'm with you i think this could turn out fine maybe. like obvs there are good odds it doesn't but like. ❤️❤️❤️❤️. like aint nobody gotta know like first off i totally believe in like the principle of making out with your friends. granted i rarely do it for like two hours with the homies but like making out for two hours with someone that you're into is also like not that weird of a thing either imo like making out with someone at the club!! you guys are both just there it's both just vibes like!! idk it's normal!!! i feel sooo hashtag phoebecoded rn i do feel like this is incredibly dumb advice but im also hashtag team you. i think this is gna be fine. but also yeah like really don't let her know. like. that's just business between y'alls just silly haha business and it's like if you get it you get it but if you don't it's really confusing and hurtful bc it's harder to get it if you already like the guy you get what i'm saying. but yeah. hope things work out for your friend and homeboy. homeboy sounds chill. also they're both so relatable for refusing to do anything until they know for sure it's reciprocated the amount of the times i have had to hold my homies at gunpoint (and vice versa!) to ask out the guy who clearly likes them... well it's a modern (?? or not idk i'm not old) rite of passage. wishing u all luck. keep me posted im nosy owo.

[ragesin]

outlines of au verses i need to flesh out more ft. other interests outside of nnt. his canon largely remains the same but it's often so far back in his past it's not often relevant to current events.

hsr - a divergence of the division impact verse. keeps his criminal roots and was picked up by elio and sam after the planet he was living on with a underwent a stellaron disaster that led to his halovian partner - the most recent elizabeth incarnation - becoming an emanator of the abundance and being separated. his memory's spotty from the time spent dying repeatedly on end in the vacuum of space after merlin's spell partially succeeded and he's not a fan of fate at all, but he still puts stock into prophecies, especially if it guarantees an end to his curse and his father. he gets placed on the express a few months prior to the trailblazer joining and keeps an eye on them, subtly ensuring the script stays on track.

kh - the demons (specifically meliodas) adopted kairi after she got blasted there following the fall of radiant garden who is like a brother/father figure to her. she has a lot of light but she isn't a goddess and feels weirdly fundamental, which is strange and worth keeping an eye on but she never did age much through the 150 or so years she spent there, aging only about 2 years at a crawl (universal time zones, it's out of sync with the rest and time is much faster in this world, not that the demons outside of dk know this) until she was swept out of the demon realm to destiny islands. the king had gowther install a failsafe that would lock her memories, rendering specific details meaningless and blurring them until she came in contact with meliodas or zeldris again. meliodas and kairi eventually run into each again when kairi starts traveling around kh3/post kh3 .

ff - sexy concept: meliodas as diabolos. well, depending on the game his summonable incarnation can be a dragonoid like a bahamut but most of the time he's the demon diabolos. something something chaos originating from the void like cloud of darkness so he's tangentially always been a voidsent. he has his humanoid form but he also has the eldritch demon of darkness, dream walking, nightmares and "granting wishes". it's specifically remake/rebirth rn since i'm playing through it and he hangs with johnny after meeting the guy on his way out from midgar. he sighs as his friend is conned into getting the rundown shack but he helps with it. he can "join" the party after the costa del sol quests.

zelda - mel reacquired his demon king power some time after most of the sins had passed away, but did not take on the title itself and decided to watch the events of the world unfold from the background. he was taken aback when he returned from the sealed off demon realm one day to find the world had undergone an extinction level event. the other realms were mostly intact but now there were some beings about calling themselves deities and reconstructing the dead, fractured world anew. he watched them work, calling themselves 'goddesses'. he watched them leave, never truly deigning to return to the "hyrule" they built. he watched another entity "hylia" guard the will the previous three left behind. he watched others, self appointed demon kings, surged out of the demon realm to seek that will and subsequently fail. it was not his quarrel, so he watches and lets the fools reap what they sow when destruction finds them in the end. he watches and watches and watches history unfold. he has all the time in the world. at least the show bores him only sometimes.

[travel-nurse]

The Role Of Travel Nurses in Rural Healthcare

Rural communities across the United States faces a fundamental challenge: ensuring access to quality health care. These areas are facing an acute shortage of qualified nurses, leaving hospitals and clinics struggling to meet the needs of their patients. 

This is where travel nurses emerge as important people in bridging the gap and providing needed care. So today through this article we are going to learn the role of travel nurses in rural healthcare in the USA. Let’s set go!

They fulfill the requirements & demand

Travel Nurses are RNs who choose to complete temporary assignments in the healthcare sector across the country. Unlike those who get permanent positions in hospitals and clinics, they work as a travel nurse who can travel and work with flexibility. These wanderlust nurses coupled with their skillsets and experience, make them perfectly suited to address the staffing shortages in rural settings. 

Being experience and expertise in rural areas

Rural hospitals often need more resources compared to urban hospitals in terms of salaries and benefits. The benefits can make it challenging to attract and retain permanent staff in the healthcare sector. Travel nurses often come equipped with specialized training and extensive experience in various areas, such as critical care, emergency medicine, and pediatrics. They bring valuable experience to rural areas and ensure that the patient can receive high-quality medical and patient care even in unprivileged areas. 

Beyond fill the gap

The impact of travel nurses is extending each day, they are much in demand in the US healthcare sector, mostly in the rural areas. Their presence in the rural areas is not just the fill the gap but beyond, let’s learn how: 

Boost morale and knowledge sharing: Collaborating with local staff and communicate with them, travel nurses can share their knowledge and best practices with other staff members also educate people. They also help to fostering a positive learning environment and uplifting the team's overall morale.

Contribute to the local economy: Being a temporary residents, the travel nurses can contribute to the local economy by renting housing, shopping at local stores, and engaging with small businesses easily in the rural areas.

Promote health and wellness: Many travel nurses actively participate in community outreach programs, educating residents about preventive healthcare and promoting healthy living practices, this way they can help residence to gain knowledge about their health.

Challenged they face along with the opportunity they 

As travel nurses are the crucial in rural healthcare but coming with opportunities, challenges are always on the way. They have to pass their knowledge to other nurses and healthcare professional to ensure the smooth process going forward. The short term training required careful planning and coordination. However, these challenges are far outweighed by the opportunities travel nurses present.

Wrapping up 

Travel nurses are the backbone of rural healthcare, ensuring that patients in underserved communities have access to the care they deserve. Their flexibility, diverse skillsets, and willingness to serve in remote locations make them invaluable assets in the fight for equitable access to healthcare across the nation. By acknowledging their contributions and fostering supportive work environments, we can further leverage the potential of travel nurses to strengthen the future of rural healthcare.

If you are the one who is seeking for the job as a travel nurse- MedCadre travel nurse staffing agency can help you. We have a list of 1000+ jobs as a travel nurse in the USA. You just need to drop us your CV so we can check your profile, along with your requirement, so we can help to find the right travel nurse job that matches your requirements perfectly.

[emeto-secret-agent]

Not a request but what do you think of a Swap AU where Florian is a mostly healthy prince while Celia is a still talented but sickly maid whose constantly rushing to the latrines but Florian keeps her around out of concern and to help her support her mother? What would that be like and how much would this affect "canon" dynamics?

Oh. My. God. Anon, you’re a genius.

First of all a productive Florian getting stuff done? Unbelievable. Unheard of. The shock of the court.

Okay but seriously, he’d be so much more productive, but not in paperwork, more like, getting more involved in the kingdom’s matters in a way that he can’t do now from behind his desk. Going a lot more out, attending balls and meetings even outside his country, would significantly affect his confidence. In our current dynamic (henceforth og timeline) a lot of Florian’s personality is dependent on his fear of losing control and becoming a failure, but these wouldn't matter right now. He’d be so much more confident and arrogant this way, as we take away his need to be humble about his position, his responsibilities, and overall about his life. He’d get a lot more physical too (not burdened with sickness that much) and Florian’s focus would move from the pace of diplomacy into warfare. Of course, this wouldn’t make him a blood-lusted king, but if negotiation isn’t working, he wouldn’t be afraid to solve it with violence. I think he’d be more of a knight-king, than the soft, diplomatic one that he’s going to turn into in the og timeline.

And Celia? Gosh, she’d be such an awkward, flustered mess all the time. That calm composition that she always wears would disappear so fast when she has to excuse herself to the chambers all the time while she tries to nurse others. She’s so lucky that she’s still talented, otherwise who’d trust a maid who can’t stay healthy for her own good? She’d be so much more submissive too, letting the sicknesses treat her like a sadist lover, and even enjoying it. I can see her turning fundamentally more sexual, leaning into the pathetic but hot maid of the prince category. Celia also would have to be more grateful to Florian, since she wouldn’t see him that often, but he still keeps her in his favor. Of course, this would mean more sexual composition for the prince, who gets a fast liking to this pathetic and ‘easy’ lover situationship they get going.

At first, they would be a perfect match, the more confident and controlling Florian, and the submissive but sensual Celia, who gets to have a kinky lover, and also financial help for her mother. But this is all they could have got. Without Florian actually depending on her, and developing *that* deep of a connection, they would never break out of the lover situation and would just become a famous king and maid lover situation in history. Florian would get married and he’d find an excellent husband for Celia too, but it would be an open secret, that Celia’s kids were never her husbands.

I think they would be quite happy like this for a while. Florian gets his emotional and sexual needs fulfilled, while Celia and her mother get a stable life in the court, and the king himself fulfills her sexual fantasies. That is while Florian is alive. I said that he’d like to go to war, didn’t I? So yeah, that man would get himself killed in a battle that is for sure. If they’re lucky, he has legitimate children from the queen, and Celia’s bastard kids wouldn’t want to fight for the throne. If they’re not, well… Celia’s only option is to go to her husband’s land (that is if he didn’t also die in the battle) and pray, that the nobles don’t kill her children in a fight for the throne.

Sooo yea. I love this dynamic though, so thank you Anon for making me think about this! It's such an exciting concept, and I love thinking about Florian’s and Celia’s personalities in a bit different way.

If I had time, I’d say that feel free to send in requests with this Swap AU but sadly I’m glad I can stay alive next to uni rn,,, So maybe someday! I’ll get to go back to writing and we’ll explore more of this too~

[spidine]

Honestly torn up on which of the Skill pitches I like most. There are a lot I like about each but then there also the gripes. Lemme get into them

I also really wish the skills weren’t so utility focused. I don’t think the game needs anymore utility. I’d rather have fun skills to train that are useless than really useful skills that are boring to train (and potentially make so much utility that they make other skills more boring). But I think the osrs team knows this and will balance around it best they can.

Taming has very strong appeal, a persistent animal companion would be a very cool system with a ton of upsides. Problem is all the potential headaches; having the right pet for a given activity, in game area becoming twice as crowded from people having companions. Like if they found a way to make it so having a pet isn’t totally meta defining and the game screen doesn’t get overloaded with player companions I could see myself voting for this one but rn it mostly seems like a lot of work for a few new tools.

Sailing obviously just…. Has so much being promised with it, like brand new in engine mechanics and zones. Mostly this one tempts me cause I wanna go to cool new places in the game world. The biggest horror is adding a moving vehicle to the game engine, and I don’t think players will like the reality of what that would look like in game because every dumb ass content creator’s mind has been running wild with this. I’m sure it’ll be better than bone voyage sailing but this seems like it would take the longest of any skill to make, and most of that work would hardly even be the skill itself. The jagex pitch just mentions “activities at sea” which are too vague for me, I know they gotta keep it top level at this stage but I need someone to walk through an actual gameplay loop so I know what’s in mind. To me finding new fishing spots isn’t sailing, it’s fishing on a boat, and fighting sea monsters is combat on a boat.

I think this sketch on the pitch gives me the most hope for what it could be. Like Sailing itself could be interactive and challenging like in Sea of Thieves, and through that sort of performance reaching a destination despite all the obstacles getting experience would make sense and feel rewarding. Also pirate content is fun.

Shamanism feels really compelling to me. As a skiller who wants to see more growth in the field ai think totems could work well in place of skilling prayers since they’d have no associated stats and would work off set durations. They could also have the added limitation of only working as long as you stay in the area they’re placed. But that’s conjecture since they haven’t decided on what totems do yet. I think the spirit world stuff sounds cool but otherwise the means of training could use more work. Also the Augment system would be a real non-starter I think. Like if it’s straight up wow style enchanting that’s an AWFUL idea, gear should be quickly recognizable and adding extra layers of buffing and imbuing gear is anti-fun. The only thing that would make like Augmenting is if it fundamentally changed the piece of gear, including visuals, but then that doesn’t seem like a specific skill would be needed to do that.

This stage is largely about the fantasy of the skills with more details later. So right now based on that I think I like sailing best with shamanisn close second and taming a further back third.

BUT

Here’s my bold idea….

Combine Taming and Shaman.

Hear me out.

While companions everywhere could be a pain in the overworld, what if you had a pet intended to help you traverse the spirit world. Instead of a tamed companion you could attune to a spirit guide, which would be a helpful companion in the spirit world. And doing certain tasks with the spirit guide could yield shaman xp.

THINK ABOUT IT.

[bbmyungho]

s. coups as your boyfriend

confession

he feels like he's gonna throw up ong

he's pretty shy and timid at first but when he realizes you aren't like,,, repulsed or turning him down or whatever he instantly gains so much confidence

tries to act like he wasn't just quivering in his boots lmao

already has like your first three dates planned out in his head before you even finish accepting he's so ready

dates, skinship, etc.

mostly just cute, low effort dates

it's not that you're not worth the effort, it's that jeonghan's rubbed off on him too much and now he's fundamentally much lazier and laidback than he used to be

i think to him, a date's a date either way; he's a simple guy with simple needs and you are the need y'know

of course he'll treat you out on occasion or plan something really elaborate for you, but for the most part, i think it'll be more casual

i think he really loves skinship but is really uncomfortable showing it, at least at first

he likes to rub your head or shoulders, cuddle you, etc etc

he just likes to take care of you in every way he can possibly think of, even in the small physical shows of affection he makes

he's constantly thinking about your comfort and how he can make you feel less tense

i don't think you two talk much tho

like, you talk about your days and all that small casual stuff, but a lot of the times, words aren't needed

you just work together, like two sides of the same coin

you're always free to vent to each other or go off on a tangent on the rare occasion that you feel the need, but i think your relationship would ideally be based in a more quiet and comforting sense than a constant communication and exploration one

the type of bf to tie your shoes for you or like put his jacket down so you don’t have to sit in the grass or walk in a puddle </3 (this thought is literally what made me write this rn)

he’s literally your biggest fan and you are his :(

arguments

what can i say, he’s a leo

plus we just know already that cheol is NOT averse to some controversy

he’s very stubborn, opinionated, and has a pretty good amount of pride in him

i think that he’s the type to like walk out and go to the dorms

he’ll come back and work it out later ofc but like in the moment he feels scattered and he doesn’t want to say something the wrong way and unintentionally hurt you

he does feel sorry whenever you two argue (like more than the average person y’know) tho, so i imagine he’ll be very touchy and comforting after arguments to try and make up for it

overall rating: 10/fucking 10, PLS, PLS GIVE ME A CHANCE (no but fr he’s just a really loving and comforting boyfriend and he has so much love to give)

[tundrainafrica]

Hey! I hope you're well. I started watching AOT and realized that levihan was a ship. And after reading the manga Ive come to the conclusion that they were more than friends if not just friends. Mostly because I saw Levi act with Isabella, a friend and a sister of sorts even Farlan. But with Hange he was just different. And thats what made me feel maybe it really was something more. He was a different Levi with her. All the teasing and the overprotectiveness, the unnecessary sass and hostility sometimes, but that makes me wonder WHY? Why was he like this towards her? And when was the moment he fell for her or decided to befriend her that way that yes I will tease this person from now on. At first I thought its because of how they met maybe but their first meeting was so sweet. Hange seemed impressed by him and he even thanked her for her compliments. I didnt think their interaction would lead to something like this. So what are your thoughts because I wonder alot on this. Over what would have attracted Levi to hange. My sister also watched it and she theorizes that its Levi who liked her and Hange was too much in love with titans to notice. Also can someone pls tell me why Levi looks at her that way in aot 4 when hange meets the kids with him and says if they dont understand us we'll meet them and teach them. Like. What happened?

Anon,

This is such an interesting ask. Apologies for taking my sweet time with this. I’m currently a mess rn, (as if I’m not everyday but I try).

All the teasing and the overprotectiveness, the unnecessary sass and hostility sometimes, but that makes me wonder WHY? Why was he like this towards her?

Okay this is actually an easy question to answer and I’m pretty sure this has been touched upon already in multiple children’s and young adult books.

There are certain people when faced with attraction or first love who tend to clam up while still inexperienced. Attraction for people who aren't used to it tends to feel like frustration or a certain need to get someone’s attention and because of that, some people release it as unnecessary sass or hostility towards someone.

I mean it’s been mentioned countless times before that the opposite of love isn’t hate. It's apathy. Love and hate aren’t so different from each other because whether you love or hate someone, that person takes up brain space, that person has power over their haters and their lovers.

That’s why I think, if this is the first time Levi particularly felt attracted to someone, to Hange, maybe he would end up manifesting those types of emotions like he did in the initial parts of the story. He wouldn’t know if it’s attraction yet, he wouldn’t even think it was this need to make friends with her.

Maybe he ended up letting it out as just some sort of whack way because it was his first time feeling that way for someone and the only important thing is he did get her attention and he did get to talk to her.

I wrote about this in my fic Passion Project.

What are your thoughts because I wonder alot on this. Over what would have attracted Levi to hange.

There are multiple reasons why Levi would be attracted to Hange.

She was the first person in the underground to approach him, Isabel and Farlan and actually treat them like people

They ended up working closely together. They’re stationed nearby and this is a convenient place for a friendship to bloom, maybe even a romance with the right circumstances.

Hange is extremely laid back, I honestly think that even if their personalities did clash, she ended up pulling Levi out of his shell somehow by challenging his own values.

The fact that they are forced to work closely with each other while being complete opposites with a different sets off values gave them a good setting to build something. At the same time they have a similar set of fundamental beliefs and paired with clashing personalities actually gives them a really good grounds for a romance to develop because they each constantly have someone challenging their values and beliefs in all fronts but at the same time, when they dig deep enough, they realize they're not so different.

Number four is pretty much my favorite way to explore Levihan romances and is one of the reasons I prefer it more than other pairings. I prefer seeing relationships where people are forced to work together and change, adjust and grow in the process of getting to know each other since their beliefs and their personalities are constantly challenged.

And why did Levi stare at Hange like that when she suggested they go to Marley? ;)

Well, they were the only vets left, they are forced to work more closely together. They only have each other. I’m 99% sure their relationship has developed at that time. Romantically or Platonically? That’s up to the reader but either way, I think their relationship experienced substantial growth during that time.

[heliosoll]

Can you explain how you work with aphrodite and apollo while using the law of assumption? i wanna start working with deities again. do you leave offerings? do you believe in spirits and guides and signs? i let it go after starting up my blog and finding out about loa, but your post is making me want to go back and start again. :)

Hi!

So, everything about how I use the law is exactly the same as others! I just also work with Apollo and Aphrodite. I'm still very new at this whole polytheistic hellenism thing so I'm not gonna be great help when it comes to working with Gods in general but!

I mostly work with Apollo! He's the first God that stood out to me and seemed interested in working with me. I chose to work with Aphrodite as well because I really like her and I wanted to learn to love myself more. When it comes to offerings, I honestly often forget. Most of my offerings are food or lighting candles. I also listen to music a lot and I try to include Apollo whenever I can! There are some genres and artists that he likes more (from the stuff I listen to) so I also try to listen to that stuff more. Basically for Apollo, most of my offerings are food, candles, music, art, and learning new things!

For Aphrodite... it's worse :( I have such a hard time remembering to give offerings in the first place and since she's not my "main" God, I forget about her even more 😭 My offerings for her typically come in the form of taking care of myself and loving myself! Like doing my skincare routine because it makes me feel better even though I don't have to do it. Wearing my favorite perfumes instead of trying to "save them" for special occasions! Listening to my "rich bitch" playlist cause it makes me feel good. You get the point!

But because of the law, I mostly see offerings as like... presents? I don't see them as me trying to give them things so they like me or help me ya know? I think of offerings like presents to friends!

I don't really know if I believe in signs or spirit guides. Again, it would be real if I assumed it to be but honestly? I don't really have a need for them so I kind of don't! There are definitely times when I'll see something that's associated with Apollo and I'll think... you trying to communicate rn? Like a couple of days ago I saw these huge ravens and I knew that it was him! I don't really see these "signs" as anything big though - just him basically going "what's up" and reminding me that he's there (he likes to do that ajldghldga).

I think the biggest "sign" I got from any God was when I essentially asked Apollo to appear in my dreams so that I knew he was actually real. This was years ago! That night I had a dream of him and Dionysus drinking beer at a tavern. It was actually really sweet because neither of them were "facing" me or trying to communicate with me. Apollo knew that that would freak me out and so he just... appeared in the most normal but still not normal for me scenario he could think of. (And he knew that Dionysus was one of the only other Gods I knew about and felt comfortable with at the time!)

The thing about religion and loa is that again, some religions just don't mesh well with the law. To me, the law and shifting are completely natural things that we've been doing since we started perceiving the 3D. For any of them to disagree with the law would be like them disagreeing with the fundamentals of human nature. They really just help me when it comes to mental health and remembering to take care of myself!

(also! it's totally okay if not but may i ask which god(s) you worked with back then? i've seriously been considering adding ares to the mix but i'm not sure yet!)

[ursie]

Aight this is just a question. Why do you hate ao3/the ppl who donate so much? (This is not me coming for you. Just generaly curious)

Well there’s a lot of reasons from how they’ve reportedly treated some of their “employees” to the fact that tbh the donation thing is probably a scam they make over 4 times what they need and ask for it every couple months like. Some things are just objectively fishy I’m sorry and let’s be clear there are numerous posts specifically about their business practices and the issues w their donations drives honestly there’s some in my a*3 tag but I don’t remember the exact numbers and I’m on mobile so you’ll just have to go through my tag to find the posts about that. It’s not that I don’t use it but consumers are the ones that need to hold a product accountable and giving money w/o asking for improvements (literally everyone wants) to the site is like. Objectively dumb like it’s not a*3 antis criticizing the site it’s normal people many of whom literally use it for their own works-and let’s be honest here asking them for some basic guidelines and regulations (like literally every site on earth) isn’t gonna kill anyone just maybe remove the cp in a rpf for a start like..but also there’s literally a worldwide pandemic, you see peoples go fund mes every five seconds, just in America alone there’s everything from the anti trans legislature to the extreme poverty and toll on reservation communities rn and like people are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars past what the site needs instead and tbh there is something fundamentally immoral and self centered in thinking your entertainment and hobbies deserve more money than like the last mutual aide post you scrolled past. It’s a question of inherently flawed priorities to say the least. Also if the argument is supporting the author a*3 doesn’t support them. They’ll remove and ban you if you link any way to financially support you. If you want to support writers many have mutual aid posts up rn but people don’t really want to do that. They want to support a brand and that brand is a*3 honestly the way this discussion goes is just stan psychology 101 and it went from genuine arguments to people building a personality out of supporting their fav interest and the people who’ve spent years explaining things that are googleable and some of it is just common sense are just kinda tired of repeating the same info. So now it’s if you do this (with all the info on why it’s bad out there and been out there for years) die or literally dozens and dozens of instead of donating to a*3 donate to me directly. (I’m the former here.). I know my answer was mostly a tangent but I’m in pain and typing is hard so this is the best you’re gonna get I suggest going through my a*3 tag or the ops of the posts in that tag. At the end of the day literally all the information is out there and the main reason I and other “antis” (ig) hate this is because we’ve been having this discussion for going on what. 10 years.

If any of my besties has anything to add pls do 💕

[awed-frog]

Hey, I saw your post about unschooling and have a question. I'm training to be a teacher and enjoy it an awful lot. I have a great deal of respect for the profession and think it's an important job but have seen a number of Americans share horror stories about school- how they wake up in cold sweat in the middle of the summer holidays 17 years after leaving school thinking they'd forgotten to do their homework, talking about how school has no merits but to prepare children for a life of /1

work under capitalism and that fear is the underlying mechanism which makes the whole operation work and the school to prison pipeline. Now, I don't dispute that there are things we could do differently. (I also have no affiliation to the US and think of it mostly as a failed state but that's a separate issue.) But? am I insane to think that free and compulsory schooling is a good thing? Cause it's the only way to get mass literacy and therefore... access to art, critical thinking, history....

Hi, first of all kudos for training as a teacher! What a great job, congrats!

As for your question, yeah - it’s a complicated issue, and the one system I know well is my own, so I can only offer a half-assed opinion here, but if you’re insane, then so am I, because compulsory education for a number of years (ideally up to sixteen)? Yeah, that’s definitely the way forward.

Now, obviously there are some parents out there who want to (or need to) homeschool and do a great job, but I believe that’s a very small minority, and that homeschooling should still be monitored in some way to check that kids are okay and are actually learning something.

Beyond the obvious, which is access to basic literacy, I believe there are two big reasons why good, free and compulsory education is absolutely fundamental:

It shows kids their family is not the entire world and the way they do things at home is not universal. For lucky kids, this ‘simply’ means learning more about others, discovering other point of views, and learning to relate to different people; but for unlucky kids, it’s 100% necessary to get them in contact with the outside world so they can see what their parents do is not normal and hopefully teachers can also realize those kids need help. The idea a random adult (because if you have biological children, you’re literally that: a random adult, nobody ever checked to see if you’re fit to raise kids, and in some countries nobody asks if you need help either) can keep a child at home for eighteen years or more, strictly control their access to the outside world, and tell them whatever about anything...that’s terrifying, tbh, and 99% of the time people who actively want to do this do not have their child’s wellbeing in mind.

Another thing is that even in superficially non-abusive situations, the decision not to follow a normal curriculum can have devastating consequences. As flawed as it can be, school is meant to give you an idea of all the things you can possibly learn and help you understand what it is you’re good at and interested in. But as an unsupervised parent/teacher, or - even worse - an unsupervised faith-based school, you get to decide from the start what matters and what doesn’t, what a kid should be learning and what should be ignored. In the long run, what this means is that you’re making it more difficult for your child to leave you - and I mean, this is difficult for any parent but something every child must at some point do. So a homeschooled kid, or someone who grew up in a strict religious or ideological web, ends up being 100% dependent on his family or community for a job. If you’re taught no literature, no math, no basic science (and if you’re told universities are sinful, or government propaganda, or not for the likes of you) - how the hell are you going to survive in the world without your family? So this is a subtler form of abuse, but abuse nonetheless. And public school, for all its faults, gives a fighting chance to every kid to have the life he actually wants, and not the one his parents chose for him. 

So, yeah, I would change a lot about schools and as a hormonal new mom I’m daydreaming about homeschooling my kid in a darling little home-made classroom full of kittens and terraria (and hopefully move to the country and raise goats and forget about society entirely, because look at this mess), but I still believe compulsory education protects children and helps children to develop their full potential. This is why it’s so infuriating to see American Manichaeism at work on this issue - how the reaction to a bad system is homeschooling, unschooling, religious schools, and not teaching kids at all (I know I mention this, like, once a week, but I’m still shocked by this new idea Black kids shouldn’t learn math because math is now violence or something). Bad systems need fixing, but the very opposite of a bad system is not necessarily a good system. And what’s dangerous rn is that social media are connecting all sort of extremists to one another, so a common response to those unschooling problems I keep seeing are more insane parents chirping ‘Oh, don’t worry, my son is 14 and doesn’t know the days of the week! Just plays COD 24/7, but it’s fine! He will learn the alphabet when he’s ready!’ and that’s terrifying, it’s honestly so easy to fall into a hole these days and just keep falling, I was talking about this the other day with my partner and how I truly miss the days we had facts, you know?, real facts you could base an opinion on and have an argument about, whereas now 90% of the heated discussions I have with people is just us throwing links at each other and if you want to believe kids are better off living upside down inside a giant teacup, I’m sure you can find an ‘expert’ who’ll support that view and statistics you can use and entire communities offering tips on how to build giant teacups and ‘My toddler loves his teacup! Here is how to customize it so it won’t look girly!’ and my God. 

(Man I hope we’ll all be alright, what a dystopic timeline this is turning out to be.)

Anyway never mind all this noise, you’re doing the Lord’s work doing something you’re passionate about and helps people to boot - my only advice would be, remember to listen to kids who have trouble with school because very often teachers are people who loved school, so it’s important to understand what ‘bad students’ go through and take the time to help them as much as possible. But really, that’s it. Getting rid of formal education helps no one but billionaires and profiteers and bad, bad people. 

[bestworstcase]

i feel like a lot of people just won't give cassandra agency in what happens to her in their content. and i like the ending of the show because cassandra can go where she wants, and also it's a bit of an acknowledgement that the way corona treated her wasn't good enough. and that hypothetically if, in the future, someone else with the same grief as cassandra lived in corona, they wouldn't be treated much better than she was. i wish they could've done more to show corona actually changing for the better

mhm i’d agree. and i can’t even really hold that against the fans because. it’s not like tts gave cassandra any agency either. & like - 

ok bitter snow talk real quick. two things that are very important to me with bitter snow and my tts fanfic in general is 1. i want cassandra to have agency in her own story arc and 2. i want zhan tiri to have some complexity and depth of character. and what i’m finding both with bitter snow and with the outlining i’m doing for BISA rn is that it’s very easy to have those two things together but it’s really hard to have those two things together and keep rapunzel in the spotlight; and this is not a problem for me because i feel like rapunzel makes for a more interesting major supporting character than a protagonist anyway, but i think for a lot of folks who are writing cass-centric fic that isn’t the case and they want rapunzel to have a starring role! and certainly in cassunzel fic specifically rapunzel is of course going to be a protagonist or a deuteragonist. 

taking zhan tiri out of the equation or just using her as a canon-esque villain with little depth makes it easier of course, but even like - unless we are like fully and completely stepping outside of canon into total AU territory, where anything goes - any time you’re working within the approximate boundaries of canon-adjacent there is, i think, this tension between giving cassandra agency in the narrative and keeping rapunzel in focus at its center. mostly this is because cassandra’s lack of agency in s1-s2 is the keystone of her entire character arc and any time you start messing with something that fundamental to the story it’s fucking hard. and then on top of that with rapunzel being a princess and cassandra being her servant and beholden to her at all times there is a certain amount of cassandra’s lack of agency just being baked in. 

using bitter snow as an example, cassandra has much more agency as a character in benighted than she does in tts s1 - but she gains that agency by leaving rapunzel behind. and now of course in moonless air things between her and rapunzel are so complicated and fractious because a lot of the things cassandra did in benighted to just be somewhat in control of her own life legitimately did harm rapunzel, directly or indirectly, and not just in the sense of hurting rapunzel’s feelings. benighted was hideously traumatic for rapunzel and cassandra’s decisions played a significant role in causing that! but at the same time the decisions cassandra made were the ones she needed to make for herself, because to do otherwise would be unbearable. their needs are kind of. diametrically opposed

& like obv bitter snow is, on account of being a saporian!cass au, more extreme in this regard than the average tts fic or premise would naturally be, because your typical canon-adjacent cassandra does not have that intense need to escape corona in s1, nor does she have the clear shot to radicalization against corona that bitter snow cass has. but the general shape of the dynamic still applies: in order to have agency, cassandra must leave corona and unless rapunzel sheds her power over cassandra’s life and comes with her? that means cassandra having agency demands separation from rapunzel. but in a cass-centric fic giving cass that separation from rapunzel means like - does the narrative just leave rapunzel behind? do we do a split pov where there’s long long long sections of the story where these characters don’t interact and it’s essentially two separate narratives running in parallel, maybe with letters back and forth? and if this is a fic where cassunzel is the endgame you then need to also navigate cass coming back, and how to reintegrate her narrative with rapunzel’s, and that’s hard to do too. 

so it’s like - intrinsically, i think the way these characters are set up in relation to each other in canon makes it structurally very difficult to have a fic where cassandra has real agency in the narrative and rapunzel is still a protag/deuteragonist, and if the fic is cassunzel that’s hard mode because you need to figure out this balance while also developing the romance between these characters! 

it’s a lot easier to just kinda... ignore all this in favor of either making rapunzel better in her treatment of cass or making cass more comfortable in her canon-adjacent relationship with rapunzel, or both, which is the route a lot of cassunzel fics take. and jksdf like again that’s fine because at the end of the day fanfic is about entertainment and fic writers are out to have fun and - i think i am in the minority of fic writers in that i enjoy finagling with this sort of thing and like mucking around with the nuts and bolts of breaking someone else’s story down to tell that story again but differently and more tuned to my personal taste.