#The cannery

[artbyblastweave]

Another thing I found odd about Fallout 4's writing is that when you first encounter Nick Valentine, you meet him in the middle of a showdown with Skinny Malone, a gangster who's written as a habitual opponent of his, someone who he's been playing cops-and-robbers with for years. This is most likely an attempt to shore up the impression of Nick as the Quintessential Noir Detective- you've blundered into the middle of an episode of the Nick Valentine Show, he does stuff like this all the time. But the thing is that Fallout- and east-coast Fallout in particular- is a setting that has a hard time plausibly giving rise to a friendly-enemy cops-and-robbers dynamic, for basically the same reason that Marvel has always had a hard time establishing a persistent rogues gallery for Frank Castle.

[kingpins-and-revolutions]

"Someone Just Volunteered" screenshot breakdown

Since everybody liked my last screenshot analysis of Silco, let's jump all the way back to our first glimpse at Crime Dad alongside Dr. Malpractice

The experiment's end result:

He looks like he finds it rather unpleasant, hm? Despite being a violent and ruthless man, he doesn't seem to take well to expected deaths in a closed, scientific environment.

Initial surprise at the outcome, then with his darting eyes, I'd argue horror and analysis of the information/results

He startles ever so slightly when Singed asks if he has a subject in mind, almost negligible in movement. His shoulder raise slightly, his expression slides from shocked to pensive as he considers his options.

And when he figured out the volunteer?

Ugh, that smirk!

And this is all over the course of 9 seconds!

I love this show. Also these men are horrible, and tbh good for them.

[kyndaris]

Fourth Time's the Charm?

Dating, as many people know, is hard. There have been many a person I've chatted to on Hinge where the conversations stalls before the first date. Other times, it's at the very first meeting where I know me and the potential future life partner won't be compatible. And, on the odd occasion, it's the second date where it all falls apart. But what blows my mind is that I can count on one hand how many have reached the third date before calling it quits and ghosting me on whichever app we're chatting on. Clearly, I'm not someone who is easy to date. Which is...fair.

But with Dikottir, we've managed to reach the elusive 'fourth' date. Although, I do find it hard to classify it as a date. Primarily because I only arranged for a meet-up so I could offload souvenirs I'd purchased for Dikottir while overseas.

For context, during my trip to South Korea and Japan, Dikottir and I had remained chatting in the vague sense I'd told him of some of my adventures (a little tit for tat as he's often just sent me dog photos). While I was in Nagasaki, he mentioned that castellas were a much prized treat and that I ought to try one.

Which, of course I did (one point I'd like to emphasise here though, is that bleachpanda and I did try a castella even before Dikottir mentioned it).

As I was sightseeing across the city, bleachpanda and I would often stumble upon many a souvenir shop selling all types of merchandise. Many featured Nagasaki's unique food, such as the aforementioned castella, but there were also champon noodles and pork belly buns, as acrylic charms or as figurines.

So, given where our conversation had led, I, of course, picked up two charms I thought Dikottir might appreciate.

The minor offering was later augmented with a Hufflepuff keyring. Why Hufflepuff you may ask? Well, in Dikottir's own words he was a proud badger who loves food. And given Hufflepuff is located right next to the kitchens, he was all in to giving the oft overlooked Hogwarts House some much needed love.

Anyways, the two of us arranged for a meetup at a dessert bar in the suburb of Zetland where I could hand off the charms I got him and then be off on my merry way for the rest of the day. Sure, we'd eat a cake and maybe get a drink but this wasn't supposed to be a long engagement like my previous dates with Dikottir.

This time round though, Dikottir was the first to arrive. As I rocked up to the cosy cafe, I noted Dikottir on his phone, waiting outside. With a quick greeting, we headed inside to make our orders and sit around eating cake.

And it was a good catch-up.

As always, we chatted about things in our lives and the current issues plaguing society. You know, the deep meaningful conversations one might have with people you might still don't know super well but are slowly acclimatising oneself to as time goes on.

It's certainly better than being talked at about some niche aspect of a popular video game (which, don't get me wrong, I love video games. A majority of my posts are about the video games I play but when people start bending my ear for a month about what they did in the multiplayer for Mass Effect 3 and how they'd ripped the geth to shreds in very intricate detail, my attention does begin to wander).

Dikottir and I talked and ate cake until about 1 PM. But when I thought we would be parting ways, Dikottir surprised me by suggesting lunch at The Cannery, a local place that was just a ten minute walk away in the suburb of Rosebery.

Since I didn't have anything too pressing, given this was the weekend after the Easter long weekend (and I'd come from a roadtrip with the family up to Port Macquarie to visit a family friend), I had plenty of time on my hands. So, off we went, although our conversation slowly turned towards mental health and the people we happened to encounter in our lives struggling with their grasp on reality. His was a friend and ex-coworker while mine was an old high school friend I no longer associated with.

Whereas Dikottir's example had held ideas of grandiosity where they would move to the United States and their life would be rosy, mine is still struggling with self-induced psychosis (possibly an exaggeration on my part but every time I've been updated on their status, it seems they fall further down the rabbit hole). But in the end, the two of us agreed that there was no point in throwing ourselves in the figurative fire to try and rescue those threatening to self-destruct because of their maladaptive beliefs/ thought processes. Something that was reiterated to me by someone who works at a mental health clinic when I divulged a little of the details of my mentally ill ex-friend.

Do I sometimes feel guilty for stepping away?

Yes.

But even before they'd fully gone off the deep-end, I'd slowly started to resent them for not contributing enough to our house hunting needs and failing to offer any help as I did most of the work.

Our dynamic, unfortunately, didn't work. And I had always felt uncomfortable in how they'd previously put me on a pedestal. As if I was someone who could do no wrong. Even as I was struggling with my own familial relationships at the time!

Anyways, that's not something I want to go into just yet. If you want to read about the fallout in our friendship from a semi-vague viewpoint, look out for my posts in 2022.

After our grim discussion, Dikottir and I arrived at the Cannery. Given that it was lunch time, we had a quick look at the Saturday stalls and the goods they had on offer. Once we had looked through everything once, Dikottir and I stopped at Frenchies Bistro and Brewery where I got a prawn and lobster roll while Dikottir was satisfied with his plate of tortellini.

Some might consider it strange to have lunch right after chowing down on dessert, but it worked for us. Plus, the ambiance was nice, the company was great and there was no pressing need to hurry back home.

All in all, it was a much more relaxed date that I shared with Dikottir this fourth time round. Whether or not it will eventually lead to anything is still up in the air.

Dikottir is a nice enough fellow who has some very funny stories. And he's not so hyperfixated on only one topic. And much like Shrek, who came before him, he knows how to converse instead of making it completely one-sided. Plus, he also has a good job and hasn't shown me any red flags of an explosive temper that could lead to physical violence.

So, if we are talking about actual potential future partner prospects, Dikottir is one of the strongest contenders for my affections I've met. And we're still chatting!

And yet, I don't think I feel anything beyond possible friendship?

Dating as an asexual (who might be a closeted lesbian although my date with Eivor didn't see me catching feels, so maybe I truly am ace/ aro) is hard. I don't understand the lust most people have. And while I do get obsessive squishes (something Sorrengail - and fellow ace - mentioned once to me), I don't know if my brief bout of wanting to know more about a person will actually lead to romantic love like 'holding hands' and the much dreaded 'kissing.' On the other hand, since I'm trying to 'date,' many of these more natural things people just end up doing is on my mind and I wonder if my dates will actually try to hold my hand, etc. and how I'd react if they did.

While I don't think I would reject Dikottir if he did ask to hold my hand, I am somewhat touch averse. Something I made clear when Dikottir escorted me back to the train station and we said our goodbyes.

To be fair, Dikottir did ask if he could give me a hug and I did warn him I'm very bad at hugs, but he didn't seem to mind.

So maybe there's hope?

I certainly didn't 'get the creeps' after returning his hug.

Anyways, the future remains unwritten for the dating life of Kyndaris. Time will tell if I'll ever end up with anyone or if I'll just become a single mum seeking a sperm donation because the idea of having a kid is not instantly repulsive to me.

But suffering through childbirth does kinda terrify me. Especially when I've read horror stories about all the things that could go wrong.

[mired-in-halloween]

A poster for a Cinco de Mayo celebration in San Francisco in 1984. Artist: Réne Castro.

[q8qwertyuiop8p]

Places upscaled

[montereybayaquarium]

✨Seaside sea-renity on the summer solstice ✨

Gliding by the light, these pelicans shore are enjoying that extra sunlight.

You can often spot brown pelicans soaring just above the sea surface or sitting on breakwaters, jetties, and wharf pilings around the bay.

Stay fly and sea-labrate summer’s spectacular day in style with our peli-pals!

[doomedsisters]

if jinx doesnt blow that fuckass piece of shit bridge to hell in s2 omg literally nothing good has ever happened on there …. im sick of it

[crafteeauthor]

So based on the way he talks we can safely assume TCK has internet access in some capacity and there's no option for how that isn't hilarious. Does he have a smartphone magically stashed on his person? Is there some kind of shitty old household pc at the cannery? Has he just been hearing internet shit through the housecats this whole time?

[feet-of-clay]

Built in 1916, the Tallheo Cannery specialized in the canning of salmon. At it's height close to 300 people worked and lived here during the summer.

Located in the Bella Coola Valley

[jenjen4280]

Visited Monterey and hit the aquarium and Cannery Row (Dad’s a Steinbeck fan, so we took a lot of photos for him). Also hit the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, but alas, no vampires were found.

[disasterbiwriter]

nobody:

me, aloud to the void: Jess Mariano should have been into Steinbeck, not Hemingway

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[yuecrafter]

All Hail the Cat King! Loving the Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix. More designs and merch to come, including a very stylish butcher shop.

[technofinch]

it gets more tempting every day.....

[beauzos]

hey, tell me what your favorite book is if you have one. i'm dying to know because i feel like it tells you a lot about a person. i'll go first. my favorite book is The Grass Dancer