#The Private Apartments

[thehappyscavenger]

Books Read May 2024

Asylum by André Alexis

I'm a huge Alexis fan but this was a flop of a book and the description makes it sound like a political thriller. While concerned with politics it's more interested in a philosophical sense about morality like all of Alexis' works. Absolutely brilliant. Loved it.

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

Normally I am skeptical about popular books but this was an incredibly well written darkly funny novel that is weird and fuck. About a transcriptionist having a mid-life crisis who becomes obsessed with one of the clients of the quasi therapist she transcribes for. Funny, weird, engagins.

The Private Apartments by Idman Nur Omar

This was the 1st of the Danuta Gleed nominees (short story prize) I read this month. This book is a very focused, well constructed collection that I could also see being marketed as a novel (it very much is a collection, but I've seen loosely linked stories like this marketed as novels). Set in different cities across roughly 30 years, the collection focuses on slice of life stories about Somali immigrants, with some characters briefly re-occuring. Very understated in a way that wasn't for me but I can see why someone would love this.

Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante

2nd Danuta Gleeder: I thought this would be more my style (unlinked short stories with speculative themes) but tbh I struggled with it too. I didn't hate it at all, just didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The best story was the first one. The story ends with some longish novella like stories which were not for me.

Anecdotes by Kathryn Mockler

3rd Danuta Gleeder: Okay this one WAS for me and my favourite of the three short story collections I read. Anecdotes is a weird hodge podge: divided into 4 sections it features unconnected short stories, connected short stories about a girl with a disfigurement; a brief interlude, and a section of fable like stories about the Future and the Past who are locked in an unhealthy relationship and are always battling it out. Mockler's writing is short, sharp, and her endings punchy and twisty often make you reconsider everything that came before. Very satisfying.

[pencilscratchins]

i have reached the part of the steddie hyperfixation where i make them domesticated men in their 50s. having a blast! (twitter) [ID in ALT text]

[hobgoblinbard]

Some tragic eldritch gays for you, as a treat

[shopwitchvamp]

Witch Vamp is MARRIED

It's official, as of 7/28/24 Witch Vamp's business partners @jessdean & @themikeydeano are also partners for life 😎

[generic-sonic-fan]

Omega assigns "FAVORITE MEATBAG STATUS" to whoever does something that he likes and you better believe that Rouge and Shadow compete tooth and fucking nail for it.

[jesuis-assez]

↠ Tim & Lucy ↳ 2x10 - The Dark Side

[whimsys-malevolent-brainrot]

oh god im so ill. there was a vote on patreon for arthur’s response to kayne in part 20-

"Why are you so different, Arthur? No wrong answers here!"

Top voted comment: “You're asking the wrong question; the thing that makes Arthur special is not what saved him. The reason Arthur survived upon opening the book is us. His gut feeling, his spiritual advisors; just like John protected his sanity simply by being there, so did we. We're invested in his survival (well, most of us), and we're nudging him to make the decisions that will protect him and John. But the reason Arthur is special? It's that he's so very human. His stubbornness, his compassion, his unthinkable mistakes. We can only nudge, make the big decisions—Arthur makes decisions every moment of his life by virtue of being human. We didn’t make Arthur who he is, and we didn’t keep him sane. If Arthur gave up, if Arthur wasn’t Arthur, there’d be nothing we could do. If Arthur hadn’t been so stubbornly, beautifully human, then a fragment of a god would never have realized all he could be. He would have no desire to stay separate from his other half, to protect the meat suit he was walking around in. So that’s my answer, as one of those advisors. But we can't put the words into Arthur's mouth, because we don't control him. We can only try to understand him from what little we've seen of his life, and try to protect him because we've come to care for him too. Let Arthur answer.”

[kithj]

i've been playing veilguard lately and i have to say the dialogue in this game is some of the most frustrating i think i've ever seen in a choice RPG like this. Rook is locked as a friendlier character, which isn't a problem, but this lock out has resulted in a lot of the dialogue lacking in variation.

i chose the "Block it out" option here only for my Rook to say "Block it out. You're safe" but "You're safe" was already its own separate option-- this isn't how you write dialogue choices. again, i don't have an issue with Rook being friendly, but you shouldn't railroad players into certain dialogue.

if they wanted "You're safe" to be the common/reconvening dialogue, then it shouldn't have been made a choice at all. the wheel could have been something like this:

nice: "I'm right here with you."

aggressive: "Block it out."

panicked/confused: "Shit. Talk to me. Please."

-> all reconvene at "You're safe."

and this is a repeated problem. i've favored the aggressive options this entire time (which aren't really aggressive to begin with) but Rook will almost always still wind up saying the nice option instead. another example is early on:

again i chose the more aggressive "Maybe you should have" choice only for Rook to say something along the lines of "Maybe you should have [...] But we have to support each other now." (it's been a minute since i played this part so it may not be exactly word for word but i remember even then at the start of the game being annoyed that she still worked her way back around to saying option 1)

it's not that Rook is friendly, it's that she's literally saying dialogue options that i did not pick. it's fine for there to be a common dialogue repeated across choices/flavor texts, but not when it's the literal choice text itself. it feels like i'm being railroaded with every dialogue.

[r2y9s]

[Sherlock Holmes]

what if that one scene from tplosh but i make it Actually Gay

[comic-sans-chan]

cursed modern human garashir au where ds9 is an old ruined resort that was built by some evil rich motherfuckers years ago and was recently seized back by the native people whose land and economy it had destroyed. it's since been converted into an affordable apartment complex sort of situation (just... with a pool, bar, restaraunts, spa and tennis court built into it lol) and is run by sisko and kira. since it is rundown, odo gets hired back on to keep kids from further vandalizing it and o'brien's team gets hired on from the nonprofit organization sisko works for to fix the place up best he can. dukat is the old overseer of the property who drops by sometimes to remind them he and his hospitality business still exist, and my, what a fine job they’ve done renovating the place! it’s actually nice again. sure would be a shame if someone bought the property out from under them (lmao jk kardasi hospitality and starfleet are friends! no hard feelings. they should collaborate on some future projects, actually).

garak's a sad bitch who just lost his amazing morally dubious nepotism career at obsidian corp. (which absorbed kardasi hospitality) and moved into the complex just for the comfortingly familiar architecture. even tho he's not on the payroll for his (secret) dad's evil exploitative company anymore he's still vital to its continued efficiency and is an absolute sucker who still does unpaid shady work for them from time to time. so no one in the complex likes him, but also he's a very pleasant and fastidious queer man who pays his rent on time and has completely taken over the laundry room, to the benefit of everyone, because all the machines actually work now, it's always tidy, and there's a variety of forever-stocked detergents and soaps available, plus an iron?? there was not an iron before garak moved in. which is how it eventually becomes public knowledge that garak has an online tailoring and fashion design business, and he's actually pretty good at restoring clothes that get fucked by the washing machine or eaten by rats, soooo. yeah. they let him stick around.

meanwhile julian's a hot doctor who works at the local hospital and is absolutely buried in student debt that he refuses to let his moderately-wealthy family help him with because they're awful people who had him on illegal drugs without his knowledge since he was a little kid. they were afraid he had something wrong with him, apparently. he was too far behind in his class or w/e. they couldn't handle having a kid with special needs, so they pumped him full of dangerous experimental stimulants. only reason he found out is because he snuck off somewhere to start transitioning and had some tests done that revealed all the crazy shit in his system. he's insanely lucky he didn't end up in the hospital with seizures or fall into a coma or worse. not to mention his parents still dead-name him left and right over a decade later. it's a whole mess and a huge secret, because he technically has a history with illegal drug abuse, and it's a partially ongoing history because going cold turkey off drugs he's been on since he was six is Not A Good Idea, so??? fuck his life, actually. he lives in the apartment just down the hall from garak's. 

garak hates the country his dad's company expanded into and would like nothing better than to move back home, but it's not really logistically possible. especially since everyone there hates him cuz his (secret) dad's company is a mega-corporation that's completely taken over everything p much and is a complete monopoly nightmare, and he did... kinda... work there for decades. no one would hire him if he went back. it would be an extreme conflict of interest, since everyone wants to stay on tain's good side, including garak. but starfleet is interested in him, so he does some begrudging contract work for them sometimes, but he really has no desire to join them. he just wants to resume his old career and reclaim his assets.

julian's hospital is owned by starfleet, tho. his scholarship into medical school was also from starfleet, in fact--they're the only reason he was able to (sort of) afford becoming a doctor at all. so he's a big fan, even tho they are pretty hardcore anti-drugs in a way that's made him have to forge medical records and risk serious legal charges and prison time. julian comes across as a squeaky clean medical professional and an adorable idiot, but he's intimately familiar with back-alley dealings. which is kind of how he ends up helping garak with his drug addiction, and keeps said addiction off the record.

but basically, how it begins is julian likes to support the local restaurants in the complex and garak finds him there and thinks he's gorgeous, and it proceeds as expected. they fuck nasty and become codependent. ten years later, julian lives in a modest house with garak in his home country and garak irons all his old university hoodies.

[leviiackrman]

SIMS 4 OC BUILDS: Saitama Loft

Finally got my builds sorted and photographed! First up is my first build, Ms Enatsu’s apartment with her boyf Katsuki! The ‘house’ is what their flat would look like in an apartment building but I’ve made it more livable in the sims lmao.

Lookbooks: Ackermans || Rikihisas || Enatsu || Kyutoku || Olalias || Hatakes || ATLA || Ginnivan || Ishimoto

Tag list (ask to be added or removed): @carrionsflower @statichvm @risingsh0t @simonxriley @tommyarashikage @kanos @bbrocklesnar @confidentandgood @unholymilf @florbelles @thedeadthree @shellibisshe @roofgeese @aezyrraeshh @faerune @tekehu @jackiesarch @minaharkers @sergeiravenov @carlosoliveiraa @rosenfey @greenecreek @queennymeria @heroofpenamstan @alexxmason @tethrras @jamessunderlandgf @a-treides @solasan @bigbywlf @delzinrowe @fenharel @imogenkol

[phoenixyfriend]

I don't love capitalism. This is known.

But every time I think about the company doing High Speed Rail along a specific set of Florida cities, I do feel respect.

Like yeah. That WAS a good choice. Go you.

[chiscribbs]

This poll will only be active for 1 day, so make a decision quickly!!

(Note: What you choose will determine what direction the next part of the story will take...however, there's no guarantee that Leo won't just decide to do his own thing after that. He's unpredictable sometimes.)

[Comic for context]

[sunmoontruth-stiles]

I need a completely rewritten teen wolf series with Derek Hale as the main character. I think it would heal me.

[atlasparrichada]

La Carla CRÜ Barcelona, Spain, 2020

[mrblazeflappybird]

Fem!Nyx Fanart

IGNORE THE BAD PROPORTIONS I HAVENT DRAWN FOR AGES AND THIS IS THE BEST I'VE DRAWN FOR MONTHS 😭😭

Fanart of Nyx from @asksintheapartment (made by @maple-leifarts - HERE YOU GO BESTIE HAVE SOME ART <33/p)