#a bit above is ok. whatever works for you. just try to connect the speech to the written form

[vampire-connoisseur]

...

WELP, i honestly believe that for most people, the most valuable aspects of duo were teaching you what does and doesnt work for your brain and offering (poor) courses in languages with fewer available resources ANYWAY!

DUO IS FRICKING DEAD GUYS

rip duo-

fricking crap.. omg nooo

[anastasiabeaverhousen87]

Praying to the porcelain God

words: 3205

You been told before never to eat from suspicious food stands, especially if you never tried them before or if Kara or Alex haven’t already approved the food. But today you forgot your lunch at home and the food from the cafeteria was not very appealing for you. One of your co-workers saw you make faces at the food options and invited you to eat lunch with them. They were going to get burgers from a new street vendor a couple of blocks away. It was too tempting; you love cheeseburgers and they made it sound like they were really good. So, you said yes. Everyone was going and you were starving.

The following day you woke up feeling a little odd, a bit nauseous but you didn’t think anything about it. You got a chamomile tea instead of coffee and went about your day as usual. Kara was already gone so you just decided to grab a yogurt and granola bar at work.

You finished getting your things ready and were about to leave the apartment when you felt a sharp pain in your stomach followed by cramping. You went to the bathroom and removed your sweater, you felt a swelling of your abdomen and yes, you lower abdomen was inflamed and felt tender to the touch. Another painful cramp made you run to the toilet and you knew you were screwed the moment you sit down.

y/n: “Fuck!!!, ughh it hurts…damn it, Alex is going to kill me” – you didn’t leave the bathroom for a while, you lamented your poor choices while you were sitting in the toilet seat.

 You decided you needed to let someone know you felt like shit and wouldn’t be able to get to work with further incidents, so you called Kara. Kara was softer and if you play your card right maybe she could be the buffer between Alex’s lecturing and you.  You dialed her number and put it on speaker while washing your hands, you were standing Infront of the sink mirror and put the phone down.

 Kara: “Hi sweet girl, what’s up?”

You were about to respond when you felt nausea hit hard, you saw your reflection become green and you ran to toilet once again. Just in time for you to continue emptying your stomach contents, tears sprung into your eyes as the pain in your stomach grew stronger and effort of being violently ill into the porcelain bowl.

On the other side of the line, Kara was listening to you suffering. “Y/N baby? What’s wrong, where are you?” but at not getting a response she ditched everything to fly straight home following your heartbeat.

You stopped vomiting and felt exhausted, you spit into the toilet and flush it.  You use toilet paper to clean you mouth and drop to the bathroom floor exhausted.  Kara enter the apartment looking for you.

Kara: “y/n?, oh my God what’s wrong baby?”- Kara panics at looking at your body sprawled in the bathroom floor all pale and clammy.

y/n: “Ughh best guess? stomach bug. I just puked my guts out, and before that I emptied my bowels in a different way” - you grimace at the explosive diarrhea you went through less than half an hour ago.

Kara: “Oh sweetie, I’m sorry you feel so poorly. Come on, let me pick you up from the floor”- the blonde woman tries to pick you up, but you feel like you’re not quite over.

Y/n: “Kara, I don’t think I can move quite yet and the floor is cold, it feels nice” –you move a little on the floor to get more of the chilly sensation on your hot skin- “I feel like crap sissy” a tear runs down your cheek and you look up to your sister. Kara brushes the tear away and cradles the side of your face. You are about to move again into a sitting position when you feel your stomach painfully cramp again and you roll into a fetal position trying to make the pain lessen somehow.

Kara: “Oh baby, looks like a horrible stomach bug. But I’m so bad at human illnesses let me call Alex really quick, she is the best when it comes to this kind of things.” Kara looks desperate and seeing you so sick on the floor. Kara is now sitting next to you holding your head in her lap and running her fingers through your hair.

Y/N: “You can’t, busy. Summit in New York” – you mumble trough clenching teeth.

Kara: “I know she is busy with work, but she can take a phone call if it’s an emergency. Its her or the ER. Your call.”

y/n: “Alex…” – you much prefer hearing your helicopter sister ask a thousand question that being prod and wait in the Emergency Room.

Kara takes her phone out of her pocket and dials the number; it rings a few times and then it connects.

Alex: “Hey what’s up, everything okay?”- the red head asks immediately, knowing her sisters wouldn’t be calling her if it was not an emergency.

Kara: “No, y/n is sick. I just found her on the bathroom floor all clammy and she told me she vomited a lot. Also, she thinks it’s a stomach bug.” You can´t hear what Alex says on the phone, then Kara turns the phone on speaker “Ok hold on, yes. Ok ok now you’re on speaker now”

Alex: “Hi little one. I’m so sorry you got sick baby and I bet you feel awful but I need to ask you a few things ok?”

You nod, even though Alex cant see you, but you think if you can let her think it’s a stomach bug going around the office you’ll be off the hook and avoid the speech on getting food from street vendors.

Y/n: “Yeah ok…”- you feel to tire so yes, you can answer whatever she wants as longs she doesn’t ask you to move.

Alex: “Ok sweetie, Kara mentioned vomiting, what else are you feeling? Do you also have diarrhea? is she warm or cold Kara?

Y/N: “painful cramps, diarrhea definitely that was first and the puked my guts out. Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything left inside my intestines by this point. It was super gross Alex. I feel a little cold now. There’s a bug going on around the office and some of the guys got sick”- you say the last part a bit fast and avoid looking at Kara, then you groan in pain at another cramp.

Kara: “She is all clammy, her cheeks are flush, and she is shivering a little. Also, she is now avoiding direct eye contact…” – Kara raises an eyebrow at you, knowing there’s something you are avoiding.

Alex: – “y/n baby, was your stool a little bloody and watery? Or soft and muddy? , also Kara can you check her abdomen does it look a little swollen and prod very gently please “

y/n: “first one”- You can hear Alex give a long sigh

Kara: “definitely swollen and a bit tender”

Alex: “What did you eat yesterday either at lunch or dinner? And don’t even think about lying to me y/n. I will know if you are lying. That’s not just a stomach bug”

Kara is looking down at you worry on her face, “We ate steak and mashed potatoes with some veggies last night. Lena cooked. and I know I can’t get sick, but Lena was okay. So, what did you eat for lunch baby?”

Y/n: “a cheeseburger” –you mumble

Alex: “Where?”

y/n: “A new place near the building, a few of the guys I work with we got burgers yesterday”

Alex: “when you say ��new place, you mean a well stablished franchise or restaurant? Not a street vendor with doubtful hygiene and suspicious meat or produce, right? -  ughh busted, you thought.

y/n: “Street vendor” – you lamented

Kara: “ohh sweetie. You know better than that”- Kara kept her gentle touch but looking a bit disappointed in you.

Alex: “Well baby, I hope the burger was so amazing and worth it, because what you have is food poisoning and most likely due to contaminated ground beef with E. coli. There is nothing to stop it or make it better faster. Your body will get rid of the bacteria during the following days. Simply needs to run its course.”

Y/N: “No cheeseburger in world is worth this pain or disgusting vomiting or explosive diarrhea. I feel like crap Lexie”- you play your Lexi card, so your big sister takes pity on you. You feel bad enough as it is, you don’t need to hear more disappointment from her.

Alex: “I know baby girl. Its quite uncomfortable and painful. You need rest and avoid over exerting, that will only make your stomach feel worse. Kara, I need you to make sure she drinks lots of fluids, she will keep vomiting and having constant bowel movements in the next couple of days and she can get dehydrated very quickly. Lots of water and Pedialyte . Let her stomach to settle first .  Avoid giving her any solid foods until she is no longer nauseous or vomiting as much. Avoid juices or other beverages with a lot of sugar or sweeteners that can make diarrhea worse. Let’s wait for 24 hours like this without any food and after that we can see if you can ease her back into eating soft and bland food. Call me if she gets worse or if the fever is too high.”

Y/N: “not even hungry anyways…”

Kara: “will do Alex, I’m taking off work for the week I’ll let Lena know. She is out of town as well, but I can handle goober just fine. right kiddo?”

You just try to crawl into Kara’s lap you starting to feel cold and so very tired. “Yeah, I’m cold. You warm”

Alex: “She will sleep a lot, wake her up and make her drink water or fluids Kara, its very important. Make sure her temperature doesn’t go above 102 F. if she get above that range just make her take a bath in lukewarm water or use a cold compress. Let her eat ice chips, NO dairy, no caffeine, no sugar, or fatty food. If she does eat those, she will end up throwing up everything. If temperature goes above 103 take her immediately to the ER. It shouldn’t but keep an eye on that. Seriously Kara call me anytime ok?”  

Kara: “Will do Alex. Thanks, and I’ll call you later once y/n is more comfortable and asleep”

Alex: “Ok, feel better sweetie, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Be good for Kara and try to relax and let your body get rid of everything at its own pace. Don’t rush anything. I love you sweetheart. Love you Kara, bye”

Y/N “Bye, love you Lexie”

Kara: “Bye Alex, love you too” – the phone calls gets disconnected. Kara looks down at you. “You think you are ready to move from the bathroom floor to the living room?”

y/n: “can you help me up to rinse my mouth? It tastes like crap ugh”

Kara: “of course. Up we go”- Kara gently stands up with you in her arms and helps you to your feet.

But you get dizzy and grab ahold of Kara’s arms for support

Kara: “hey hey I got you, easy there baby girl”

y/n: “everything its spinning and I don’t feel so g…” but before you can finish the sentence your eyes go wide and Kara see what’s about to happen and helps you to your knees in front of the toilet once again. Kara holds your hair away from your face with her other hand rubbing soothing circles down your spine while providing word of comfort.

You keep vomiting for a few minutes more “ughh I thought I had ridden of everything by now. This Is so disgusting” a few tears leak down your cheeks and Kara just helps you to your feet again and flushes the toilet.

Kara: “I know sweet girl, but Alex did say you will be experiencing vomiting and other stuff for a few days. So, let’s get you rinse your mouth and settle down in the couch so you can sleep this off, okay?”

You just nod and work on getting your teeth brushed and get rid of the nasty taste. Kara helps you to your room to change into your pajamas.

Kara: “Bed or couch?” -you just point down to your bed giving her your answer. “Okay okay” Kara lowers you on your bed and goes to close the curtains so you can rest more comfortably.

y/n: “Hold me?”- you pout pitifully

Kara: “of course baby girl. Let me just get your water and text Lena to let her know I won’t be into work for a few days and also text your boss you’re sick” – I’ll be right back.

y/n:” don’t want water please just hold me, I’m cold sissy”- more tears run down your cheeks, you just want your sister to hold you now.

Kara: “aww chucks, baby you feel real awful don’t ya? Ok here I’ll call later, and you need to drink water in an hour or two. I will wake you up. come here sweet bean”- Kara moves you so you are now lying basically on top of her, you hide your face into her neck and wrap your arms around her. You are leaching on her warmth shamelessly. Kara doesn’t mind at all begins to pat down your back softly like when you were little she needed to calm you down and put to to sleep.

Kara: “Aww my little koala is here. You’re so cuddly baby. I’m sorry you are feeling so poorly but I’ll be here with you all the time. You just close your eyes and go to sleep. You’ll feel better in no time, you’ll see”

y/n: “I’m never eating cheeseburgers again”- you give a yawn and began to drift off. Kara juts chuckles and starts to hum softly a lullaby song she uses since you were a little girl and where having trouble falling asleep or felt sick. You are out in less than 5 minutes.

Kara wait for you to be completely asleep to grab her cellphone she still has on her pocket. Texts Lena you are sick and will call her later, but you are okay just miserable for eating street food. And then sends a quick text to y/n boss, thank Rao she is close friends with y/n otherwise would be a pain to explain why she is texting instead of her employee.

Kara puts the cellphone down on the nightstand and holds y/n more to her chest and begins to run her hand up and down y/n spine and watches her sleep for a little while until herself starts to feel sleepy and decides to take a nap too.

Kara is awaken by your moving around and painful moaning. You curl into yourself as much as you can, trying to wave through the painful cramp in your tummy.

y/n: “It really hurts Kara, it hurts so bad”- you say through clenching teeth and tears sprung into your eyes once again. You feel miserable and in so much pain.  

Kara feels you are getting a bit hotter now and you are sweating too. “Okay little one, I think a bath can help you now, and you need to drink a little bit of water. Come here”

y/n: “No. pelease, no Kara. I just want the pain to stop and sleep again. I don’t want a bath” -you cry softly into her neck

Kara: “I’m sorry baby, but you feel too warm and you will feel better after the bath. I’ll stay with you the whole time.”

Kara picks you up from the bed and takes into the bathroom, she sits you down at the toilet seat while she runs a lukewarm bath for you.

Y/n: “Kara I don’t feel so good…” again you turn green and Kara helps you to sit infront the porcelain bowl once more.

You throw up again, but its mostly bile. Kara holds your hair out of your face while making comforting rubs on your lower back while you continue to be sick. your stomach its already empty from all the previous vomiting and you didn’t really eat anything for breakfast. You feel so weak after the effort it took to vomit once again. You are sweaty and pale and slump into Kara. Kara gently runs a hand down your spine and grabs a small towel to clean off the bile in your lips.

Kara: “sshh …baby come one. Its over now.  Here use this mouth wash to rinse and spit it in the toilet” -Kara then flushes the toilet and strips you off your clothes. She also strips down to her underwear and gets into the tub with you.  She helps you lean into her so she can wash your skin with a soft washcloth and pour the lukewarm water down your body to cool you down. After a while she notices your feel cooler to the touch. Washes your hair gently and lets you lean back onto her. You have always loved the skin to skin contact when feeling sick or unwell. Your sisters have done this many times over the years as well as you mom Eliza. You like feeling their warm skin and listen to their heartbeat. But Kara posses a special feature, she is warmer than any human. You feel her skin on you help you with the chills and you feel yourself drifting off to sleep again.

Kara notices you are almost asleep, and decides you are cool enough now and gently nudges you awake.

Kara: “sweet girl please don’t fall asleep quite yet. Let me dry you off a bit and you need to drink a little bit of water. Then you can sleep again promise”

You grunt in disapproval “Nuh uh … don’t wanna, I just want sleep”

Kara: “ I know sweetie but its not an option, come one”- Kara immediately stands and grabs ahold of you and takes one of the bath robes and uses one on her and then she uses a big fluffy towel to pat you down enough to remove the water excess but leaving your skin a bit damp to help keeping you cool.

She takes you back to your room and sets you on top of the bed and quickly grabs a set of lose shorts and tank top to avoid overheating you.  She then sits you with you back on a pillow resting against the headboard while she speeds to the kitchen to get you ice water.

Kara: “Okay sweetie small sips, just a few smalls sips and that’s it.”- she makes you drink a bit of water and leaves the glass on the nightstand again. You notice she is now wearing a pajamas too and in the nightstand there’s also a bowl with water and a few small towels and an empty plastic bow- “Just in case you feel sick and need to vomit again and avoid a trip to the bathroom”

Y/N:” thank you sissy”- you tear up and your chin trembles.

Kara: “No no don’t cry baby girl. Come here”- she gently lifts you up sits down and then lays you on her side you head resting on her collarbone. She left her soft button- up pajama top mostly open so you can lean into her and feel her skin near the collarbone and upper chest. You settle down and keep listening to her heartbeat.

Kara: “sshh sshh…sweetie just close your eyes and sleep. You’ll feel better soon just sleep now” – once again you feel her gentle touch on your back, down your arms and temple. And that soft voice humming the melody you associate with comfort. you move a little trying to find the perfect spot and just like that in less than 10 minutes you’re asleep.

[monstersandmaw]

Evening to ya, Ghosti✌️😆

Sorry if the wording sounds silly, but I wanted to ask if you know any rituals I could do for the New Years. 🤣 Christmas hasn't been exactly an easy time for me for various reasons and I tend to get the holiday blues pretty bad, and for a long old while New Years has felt very similar. I'm doing my best to feel hopeful and to have some faith for the new year, but it's turning out to be trickier than I anticipated. So I wanted to ask for suggestions as to do anything that could help feeling more hopeful, I dunno. :3

Though feel free to ignore this if you don't have the energy for it. I hope you had delightful holiday however you celebrated!!! 😊💖💖💖💖

Hey anon! (it’s now afternoon here in the UK, and it was morning when I started this! I got a bit carried away). I don’t know that I’m necessarily the right person to ask about this, but here are some ideas of things I’ve found helpful/centring/calming anyway which you could draw from. Other folks, please feel free to chime in with your favourite ways to put the old year to bed and welcome in the new one!

(first of all, I’m sending you lots of virtual ghostli hugs to help drive away those holiday blues. That sucks, and I’m so sorry it’s been so tough for you.)

Here’s a rundown of what’s below, and I’ll put in a ‘keep reading’ so that it’s not an incredibly long post! Some of it is more on the ‘spiritutal’ side of things, and others are just mundane and practical things.

Congratulate yourself on making it through the clusterfuck that was 2020

Make some tea and meditate on what’s been and what you wish for

Go outside, be still, and breathe deeply

Let go of negative events and thoughts by writing them down, then safely burning the paper

Disconnect from social media for a few days (or however long you’re comfortable with)

Start a bullet journal

Write lists of goals for 2021 and then refine/distill them down to 3 manageable objectives

Commit 100% to 6 months of positive change

Pick three dates/months in the year when good things will happen, and make them happen (including growing veg/fruit)

Light a candle on the full moon or New Year

Ok, so, first of all, you’ve made it through this year!! That’s no small accomplishment, given the sheer volume of absolute shite that has been flung at us from all angles, no matter where in the world you live. Celebrate that. Seriously, I’m not being flippant. Take a moment of stillness wherever you are, be ‘present’, and just think about the fact that you’re here, right now, reading this post. Not everyone is here any more for one reason or another, but you did it. Congratulate yourself and celebrate that. Treat yourself to a slice of cake (or something you really enjoy) specifically to celebrate making it through 2020.

Make a cup of tea (try a new blend or recipe perhaps, or stick with your absolute favourite), or make a comforting drink of your choice. As you pour the water into the cup, breathe in the steam and enjoy the scent of it. Try and imbue all the positive things - memories, achievements, moments etc. - that you encountered this year into the tea/drink, and think about them growing in strength as the tea steeps, and envisage them continuing on to next year too. When you drink the tea, you take the positive thoughts into yourself and they become a part of you. You could try it in the morning with a caffeinated drink (if you enjoy those) and let it fuel you for the day, or you could try a herbal tea at night to let the good vibes steep overnight while you rest. Make it part of your daily routine; a private meditation.

Go outside and find a quiet spot somewhere and either stand or sit and just soak up the atmosphere. If there’s a tree nearby, think about the way its roots are planted in the earth, its trunk stands tall, and its branches reach towards the sky. Feel that space inside you. Breathe deeply in and out, visualising your lungs filling to the deepest parts, starting at the bottom. Count to four for each inhale, and six out (or whatever you’re comfortable with, so long as the exhale is longer than the inhale). This will help to still you and calm you.

If you have something fireproof (can just be a ceramic bowl), take a piece of paper and make a moment to write down all the negative things about this year, using a pen that you’re comfortable with. If you’re not one for words, draw pictures. You can make it really beautiful or just scribble it all down - it doesn’t matter. Get that shit out. Look at it for a while and read it through, mentally letting go of each thing as your eyes pass over it, then light one corner (carefully!!!) and let it burn somewhere with good ventilation (a cooker hood is good for that, but outside is better). Visualise all that negativity being swallowed by the universe and let it go. My favourite line from the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf comes at Beowulf’s funeral when a Geat woman is singing her grief at his passing to the sky, and there’s the simple sentence: “Heaven swallowed the smoke.” How beautiful is that? The sky swallowed up her grief as she poured it out to the universe. The negativity might take some time to vanish from your life (it’s not going to disappear at the same time as the paper, sadly!), but watching it go can be the first stage of letting things go. I did this last year, and I’m only just letting go of the last things on that list, but it was a start, and it made me feel more at peace. 

Disconnect from social media. I know that with so much more happening online this year out of necessity, we’ve become even more dependant on our phones and computers, and it’s wonderful that we have this chance to connect with people when we can’t see them face to face, but social media can also act as a crucible for negative feelings. People usually post the best or the worst aspects of what’s going on for them or what they care about, so it leads to a skewed view of both the world and of what’s going on amongst our connections. It’s easy to start feeling insignificant next to someone else because of their achievements or their looks etc. and it’s also easy to start to get a bleak outlook when the news is full of terrible stories and people are reacting to it in a volatile and often knee-jerk way. Take some time off - uninstall the apps, or put the limiter setting on, or just step back - for a day, two days, a week, whatever you’re comfortable with. It doesn’t have to be forever. If you use those platforms to talk to people, tell them what you’re doing, and give them another way to reach you if they need. No need to isolate yourself completely!! Think about how you felt before you started it (write it down?) and do the same afterwards, and compare. If it didn’t work for you, then that’s fine too. 

Start a bullet journal! Now is the perfect time to start bullet journaling. I first started this year when I felt like time was slipping through my fingers and my life was out of my control, and it’s really helped me to get a sense of order back. It’s not the magic cure-all for procrastinators and time wasters, trust me, but it can help to organise your mind as well as your day, and keep track of your habits etc. It can be literally whatever tool you need it to be. There’s a trend on social media - particularly Instagram and YouTube - that shows off these gorgeous journals that are basically works of art in themselves, and while it’s absolutely fine to aspire to that if you want to, the essential point of the bullet journal is to be a tool. You can buy print-outs from Etsy if you don’t fancy doing your own spreads. But don’t get completely hung up on pretty spreads and layouts because you won’t use it fully then. If you’ve got ‘new book fear’, like I did, make your own! I literally started my journaling by folding a few pieces of paper over, slapping a few stickers on them to cheer them up, and writing some lists. I didn’t buy a ‘proper’ journal until July 2020 when I’d got the hang of what I wanted out of the tool, and how to use it. I adapted one or two things, and I’ll be changing one or two things for next year, but it was a good way to start.

Here are two ‘minimalist’ journals and styles that I found helpful when setting mine up. They focus on usefulness and practicality, rather than overwhelming, artistic spreads and cutesy designs. I’m about to do a ‘plan with me 2021’ journal video for YouTube, so I’ll put that up when I’ve finished it, in case that’s helpful. 

Elsa Rhae

Pick Up Limes

Write down the things you want to achieve for 2021. These can be more abstract concepts like ‘more organised’ ‘healthier’ ‘start a business’ etc. Then, when you’ve got as many things as you’d ideally love to achieve/accomplish/manifest (don’t hold back at that stage), take another piece of paper and choose a maximum of six from that first lot to focus on, and below that, choose just three absolutely essential things to focus on. Make those your things for 2021.  

Now, this one is a personal one for me, so it may not be applicable at all to you/others, but I’ll share it anyway. For me, I need to make some significant lifestyle changes for my physical and mental health. So, I’ve decided to commit to 6 months of really hard work to bring about those changes. Time is going to pass anyway, from January to June. Six months will come and go anyway. Where will I be in six months’ time? I could be physically and mentally exactly where I am today. That thought is super depressing to me. Or, I could devote 200% focus, commitment, and energy, and bring about those changes, and be the ‘me’ I want to be in six months’ time.

It’s like the adage of ‘given a week to write a speech, it will take you a week, but given a day to write the same speech, it will take you a day’ - your brain will tell you it takes the amount of time that you have at hand to accomplish the task, and that’s simply how long it then takes. Use those three things from the 2021 list above, and commit to making those three things happen.

As an aside, tell someone (whose opinions you value) that you’re going to do this. By telling someone, you’re helping to cement the idea in reality, and you’ve got a support to turn to if it gets rocky, someone to cheer you on, and someone to celebrate with who knew what a struggle and commitment this was to you in the first place. 

Pick three points in the year where good things will happen. Book yourself something nice, save up for something and have it delivered then, or tell yourself that you will have achieved [x] by May, or September, or December. For me, it’s a working draft of my novel, and certain health goals by October, but make it yours, and keep those points fixed in your mind. It will help 2021 not to be one amorphous mass of time, and will give it structure and form. You could also choose to grow something in a pot - lots of vegetables can be grown cheaply from seed in a pot on a windowsill, and you’ll have something tasty to eat at the end of it!!

Here’s a slightly gentler idea to finish with: 

On New Year’s Eve take a moment to yourself, go outside if it’s not raining or too cold etc., light a candle, hold it (safely) in your hands, and be still. It doesn’t have to be exactly at midnight, but it will help your focus if it’s dark. Otherwise, go to a quiet part of the house and turn the lights down so that the candle flame is your focus. As before, think about what you’ve achieved this year, and be honest, not just negative! It’s very easy to say ‘oh I didn’t achieve anything, it all sucks, it was all awful’, when there will be tiny victories tucked away in there, I promise you, even if it was the toughest year of your life. Then think about where you are at the moment, mentally and physically. Acknowledge that state of being. Look at it with honest eyes. This moment is not for anyone else, so you don’t need to colour it one way or another. It’s for you. If you’re finding it hard not to be negative, be neutral. Let those thoughts come and go, and then turn your mind to the future. Mentally feed those negative thoughts into the flame in front of you, one at a time. Say it out loud if that helps, but do what makes you comfortable. Let the light from the flame fill your mind and your heart, and think about your intentions for the new year.  

Tonight (30th Dec) is a full moon, so if that is significant for you, you may wish to do this tonight instead of tomorrow. 

I hope that some of that gives you some inspiration, and I hope that people will chime in with their own new year’s rituals and habits. Be honest with yourself but not harsh, and be positive but not unrealistic. This year has been one hell of a ride, and we’re not done yet... Here in the UK, we’ve got the highest numbers of Covid that we’ve ever had, we’re in the harshest lock down (Tier 4) and can’t visit anyone, and we’re also going through Brexit (which is proving a nightmare for everyone, especially small businesses...).

Control the things you can control, and learn and employ systems to ride out the things that are beyond your influence. And take heart - you have a family of folks on here, all across the world!

[wintersweetbou]

Glaiveweek 2020- Day 5. Chicken Soup Solves Everything

Day 5 of Glaiveweek 2020. @glaiveweek I’m a bit late, but here it is!

Prompt: Angst, Fluff and Smut- Hold On, Time of your Life, Its Warm and Peaceful

Summary: The last wave of winter has a bad case of the flu bringing the glaive to its knees. Luche sneaks off to the kitchens, and finds help in a young adviser. 

Spring rain pelted the city, washing away the remnants of winter. However, the two seasons mixed first, bringing icy rain and grey chill to Insomnia. People trudged to work and then ran home. It was too messy to do anything else- and running about in sleet was not the best of ideas. The kingsglaive continued to run as always, but incurred some losses to the flu making its final rounds as the winter heaved its last breath. Luche warped from the parking garage into glaive headquarters. He bustled forward, trying to shake off the cold. He was on requisition duty today. Axis was out sick, so he needed to inventory the armory for potions, munitions, and weapon stocks. Asking the others about the state of their weapons for inventory might not be a bad idea either- the new forge order for custom weapons was coming up. Best to get ahead before anyone else got sick. Luche smiled to himself. Best to stay ahead of the game. The offices held the requisition tablet, and the forms needed to be filled out upon application...Someone sneezed. Luche turned to see Pelna making copies, looking absolutely dreadful. His usually warm umber skin looked kind of pale and sickly, his dark hair slightly plastered to his forehead with rain. Luche noted his state, and internally decided to make orange tea later for him. “You feeling ok, Pels? Looking a little pale there.” “Yeah...just tired...and achy.” Pelna seemed to droop a squidge more at the admission. “Take it easy today then. Do you have any custom armor or weapon requests? The forge order is coming through soon, and it's a good idea to check beforehand.” Luche murmured, adjusting the wayward hair on Pelna’s forehead. Pelna nodded, looking thoughtful, before shivering and turning away with his copies. Luche raised a brow, and changed that internal note to include soup. Charming citadel staff could sometimes beg treats from the castle kitchens. Maybe he could snag something hot- the dark haired glaive looked dreadful. Luche sighed, turning to check in with the captain before going off to the armory. The captain looked more haggard than usual, dark circles under his eyes. Luche glanced at him from the side, suspicious. “Here’s the list of things we definitely need, and as for the forge order, I am covered. Very thoughtful though. Recheck the armory and transport vehicles, especially the first aid and potion stocks.” Drautos grated, voice rougher than usual. “Yessir. You feeling ok? Sound a little scratchy there.” Luche watched, noting some stiffness in his movements. “I’ll shake it off. I’m fine. Dismissed.” Touchy, too. That meant the captain was solidly out of sorts. Luche saluted, and spun about, wondering if he was the only healthy glaive left. The armory was peaceful without the music that Axis liked blasting about, but also seemed colder for the same reason. Luche tucked his coat tighter about him, swearing about getting some citrus later. His work passed smoothly, even if the glaives were disasters on a personal level, they kept their gear organized. Arms noted, potions counted, bombs recorded...it had only taken an hour. Six, that was quick. Oh well. Perhaps he could check on the glaives training for possible forge orders. Luche shifted the tablet, making one final note, before heading off for the arena and weight rooms. Glaives warped and practiced magic at regular intervals in the arena. It was nowhere near the level of energy that was normally used. The sight of half-assed combat drills slowed Luche to a stop. Concerned, he turned on heel and made for the citadel. Whatever bug or fatigue was working through the ranks, he had to do something, else the glaives would start to drop like flies. And yes, this was a common occurrence throughout any historical militia, but these were modern times godsdamnit. Luche would make sure something was done. It was a quick walk through the hallways that connected the glaive headquarters to the rest of the citadel to gain access to the main keep. His status as a glaive gained him access to the servant hallways, normally only used by crownsguard and castle staff. Luche passed several guards, who raised eyebrows but said nothing. The kitchens were below the main floors, along with the boilers and other service hatches. It was just a few stairs- the elevators were packed with maids bustling with food for the council. Lunch was almost here, they needed to serve early so the council could eat and clean up before the session resumed. It was a tight schedule, but worked if he timed it right. Which was why Luche walked in when he did. The main meal was already measured out, so any leftovers could be served to friendly faces afterwards.  Smart guards and glaives made friends with the cooks, because royal leftovers were divine, even when microwaved.   Luche rounded the corner, and put on his best puppy eyes. Single rations were easy to get, but enough soup for a squad of glaives? He would need to charm it up...and stopped at the sight of a kid, perhaps ten, struggling to heft a huge bag of potatoes. The kid panted, teetering,  and Luche warped to steady the lad before he fell and hurt himself. The boy peered up from behind thick glasses, auburn hair combed neatly, uniform pressed to perfection. While his appearance was immaculate, his speech was not. A slightly accented voice stuttered apologies and thanks, blushing fiercely. Luche slung the sack over a shoulder, smiling gently. The kid was cute. “Be more careful, you could pull something by lifting too much at once. Luche Lazarus.” The glaive grinned, offering his hand. “Ignis Scientia. I will be more careful, thank you.” Ignis shook his hand, and pointed to the high steel countertop where he was trying to put the potatoes. “What is a kid like you doing in the kitchens?” Luche plopped the sack on the clean metal. “The cook said if I helped do some chores, he would teach me how to cook.” Ignis stated shyly. “Oh? Anything in particular?” “There is a dessert I’m trying to recreate, but I can’t get it to turn out right. I figured asking for help would be better than wasting more ingredients.” Ignis stared at the floor, the tops of his ears burning. “Practical.” Luche nodded. The both turned as head chef Brusa bustled forward, a large, jolly man, handing a peeler to the kid, and clapped Luche on the back. Luche smiled, accepting the affection. Showtime. “What can I do for the kingsglaive today?” The chef grinned, smile softening as Luche explained his plight, working his best sad eyes. His friends were getting sick, and he hoped he could please have some leftover soup to soothe their sore throats, whatever they had, pretty please… The Brusa was a major softie for the guards and the glaives. He announced that he would not stand by while those so nobly training to defend Lucis suffered. Ignis watched with wide eyes as his first lesson in pastry making  was hijacked into a lesson on making soup light enough to soothe troubled stomachs, but hearty enough to sustain soldiers. The young adviser took careful notes- even if this wasn’t pastry lessons, it would still serve the prince if he knew how to prepare foods for illnesses- and helped with the preparation of a huge, several gallon pot of stew. Luche watched, entranced at the controlled chaos enfolding before him. The chef whirled gracefully, preparing ingredients while lecturing about proper food safety. Clean the carrots, chop the celery, warm the leftover stock, measure out the noodles, the thick ones- these are for the glaives, Ignis!- set them to boil...Luche flicked open the notes app on his phone, quickly recording the recipe, for future use. The chef’s food was never ever a disappointment. Luche had to subtly swallow back some drool as the scent of something scrumptious began to waft through the kitchens. Ignis carefully added diced chicken, dripping some of the fat into the bubbling pot, listening to Brusa chuckle about how noodles soaked up that flavor, making it heaven. “ A bit of salt, thyme, rosemary..and heres the secret, Ignis, mint. Just a squidge- the camphor in the leaves has been used for ever in cough medicine, chest rubs. Not too much, it is dangerous in large amounts, but just enough. The broth will break up the mucus of the throat, but the mint is what soothes the flesh after.” The head chef beamed, sprinkling a handful into the monster of a pot, stirring excitedly. Luche typed furiously, feeling his own stomach start to grumble- loud enough for Brusa to hear. “Sounds good, right, glaive?” The chef chuckled, glancing at the sheepish glaive. “Sounds good, smells amazing. Thank you so much, chef. My compliments.” “My, my. You haven’t even tasted it!” The chef blushed, still stirring. “I have to compliment it now, while I still have words, for I’m sure your stew will render me speechless.” Chef Brusa flushed deeper, staring into the pot, before slapping a lid on it. “Give it ten minuets to boil together, then pour it into one of the travel warmers over by the sinks. Ladles are above. I’m afraid we are low on disposable utensils and bowls, but there are still an abundance of paper cups left over from the prince’s birthday celebration.” Luche bowed low, thanking the chef, and turned to haul down a warmer, and Ignis scrambled to find the cups. Fifteen minuets later saw the glaive and adviser-to-be turning the corner to the glaive headquarters, leaden with food. Ignis worked hard to match Luche’s stride, fueled by the promise of all the pastry lessons he could want should he help ladle out soup for the glaive. Lunch was about here, and if they worked fast, they could warm up everyone all in one go, as they convened in the common room for break. Luche and Ignis worked in tandem, handing out cups to exhausted, sniffly glaives. Snacks were always the secret to a soldier’s heart. Libertus tried to be gruff, but at the first sip his eyes glowed, and he mumbled thanks around a mouthful of noodles. Nyx grinned, warming his hands on the cup, sipping slowly, savoring. His eyes slid closed, and he breathed gratitude for the shef. Crowe nibbled on a noodle, pestering him for the recipe, warmth filling her. Tredd took the soup without a word, happily chugging it, giving a thumbs up as he retreated into the common area. Sonitus smiled, seeming the only one still healthy, accepting his share with gratefulness. Only Pelna and the captain were not present, and Luche loped off to the offices. Pelna typed absently at his desk, clearly in a fog. Luche cocked his head, noting how glassy his eyes were, setting the cup gently in front of the glaive. Pelna seemed to notice the movement, and glanced blankly up. Luche frowned, ignoring personal space, feeling his forehead. “Guess I’m not doing so hot.” Pelna sighed, picking up the soup, testing the temperature. “You are doing very hot. That seems to be your problem.” Luche pulled back, concerned by the fever burning under the tanned skin. Pelna grumbled absently in response, chewing slowly. “Go home. Take care of yourself and don’t spread this around. There is more soup- eat this, then meet me in the hallway. Pack up and go home. I will tell Drautos. Rest.” Luche squeezed his shoulders, and smiled at the sheepish mumble of assent. With that out of the way, Luche turned to check on the captain. The captain was borderline incomprehensible, his scratchy voice now almost gone. Luche leveled a glare at Drautos, before setting the cup on his desk. “You sound like shit, captain. With all due respect, get out. Go home, and sleep this off.” Luche growled, not liking the stubborn set of Dratos’s eyes. “I don’t care. I just sent Pelna home for the same reason. Rest now and heal early, or suffer longer. Choose.” Drautos glared down into the soup, then slumped as he picked up the steaming cup, trying a few drops of broth. His broad shoulders loosened, and he took a larger draught, unable to hold back the hum of appreciation. Luche continued to glare, until the captain grated out some sort of submission, standing to gather his things. It would do no one good if he was out longer then he had to be, it would be more efficient to nip this in the bud. Luche waved as the captain and Pelna ambled out into the rain. Mission accomplished. The glaive found Ignis stammering, ladling second helpings to appreciative glaives. The kid looked like he was about to combust under the compliments on his cooking. Several looked better already, Libertus loudly bickering with Nyx on traditional stew ingredients, and Tredd adding his own experience into the mix. Luche smiled, sidling up to the young adviser, helping him dole out more liquid happiness. “You did really good, kid. If you ever need help, we take snacks as payment.” Luche whispered. Ignis nodded, promising himself to learn more recipes under his breath. Maybe the crownsguard could be bought into favors with snacks too. The marshall’s sweet tooth was legendary. Ignis grinned, and Luche watched with no small amusement. A young adviser, already being taught to bribe glaives. He was proud. A glance around had Luche affirming that everyone had been served, and poured a cup for himself, gesturing for Ignis to do the same. The soup was heaven, noodles thick, celery and carrots crunchy, chicken hearty...Luche hummed deep in his chest, drinking deeply. The soup warmed him from the inside, sating the hangry festering there, A look about confirmed the other glaives felt the same. Warm, sated, and peaceful. If, later in the week, Luche awoke to a sore throat and aching body, well. He had the perfect recipe for heaven in a pot.

[theosymphany]

The Canary

A short fic as Chris and Piers discusses more mundane matters as Piers settles in his team. One shot. Early days Nivanfield.

It was 1358. The new lieutenant to Alpha team had planned it to the minute. He had his lunch early, went over the notes he had made, reviewed the things he had on file and mentally went through every last conversation he’s had with the team and of course, his Captain. He checked over himself at the mirror too. Captain is relaxed on grooming standards, but his first lesson from meeting Chris was ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’

He took the longer route to the Captain’s office, not out of habit, but because there’s less chance he’ll be interrupted or run into someone. He wanted to be on time, and have his thoughts where he needed them.

He set off on a purposeful, brisk pace, folder of reports in hand, taking long, measured strides that pass off as confident and looking busy and important enough. Hazel eyes scanned around the perimeters for any unplanned incursions, but he knows deep down he needn’t worry. Staying hidden is his specialty he had mastered, in plain sight, if needed. That said though, he hadn’t been fully able to dodge the spotlight since his time at the BSAA. Being second to the legendary Chris Redfield, afterall, is a high profile role, and the Captain himself isn’t quite a man of subtlety.

He knew as he arrived that the clock had just ticked over to 1400. Captain’s door would usually be open, but he would give four unhurried but confident taps should it be closed. Has he got anything? Should he have brought a treat? Food can be an icebreaker, though the Captain must have a pretty strict diet regime to maintain his bulk…

Focus Piers. He told himself as he banished all irrelevant thoughts.

He could see now that the door was open, letting some rays of the afternoon sun into the otherwise slightly gloomy office. The captain sat at his desk, clawing his mouse, his thick brows furrowed just a little to bring out a few creases. This could be bad.

“Capt-“

“Ah Piers.” Relief fell off the Captain’s face, the five o’clock shadow that usually forms by lunchtime had made him look slightly broody, but the smile was genuine. “Come. Pull up a chair.” He cocked his head to the guest chair beside him.

Piers nodded lightly. All his others commanders usually sat him across the table where they’d have feet up and arms back, as if to silently scream how important they are. Their desks though, usually afforded such luxuries, and the space for it.

Captain Chris Redfield’s desk would be, as his mother would call it, ‘a perennially rueful mess’ bereft of military rigour, but Piers had learnt by day two on base that Captain Redfield sets the rules. Or rather, breaks them at convenience for himself. Piers may never have to worry about an inspection, but also means he’s in that uncomfortable position managing what the enlisted men would consider ‘double standards’.

Regardless, he sat, back straight and attentive, being more than a little pleased that he’s so close to the Captain he could feel the heat radiating off his body.

“It’s our catch up isn’t it. Sorry, I didn’t prepare anything. Uh, did you send- no you must have, I know you would, sorry I didn’t read it, I just…”

Piers nodded and shrugged. Yes, he’d written a short one-page update just in case and emailed through but yet again Chris hasn’t read it, but that’s OK because he’d practiced the verbal brief anyway and knew he preferred that.

“Did you want the two-minute version?”

“Yep, go on- uh wait, oh, that’s right, I was looking at this when you came in. Can I get your thoughts on this first?”

Chris pulled up the email. As he did Piers glanced at the (8709) unread tag and flinched, but told himself to focus.

It was one of those reports, cc’ed for comment by all the team leaders. There must be thousands of those going around.

“Hmm. May I skim the report?” Piers asked.

Chris alt-tabbed and Piers glanced at the page count. Less than fifty. He let out the breath he held in. Trying not to lean in too close to Chris, he scrolled through with the keyboard, looked at the summary and the body, and then the conclusion.

“I think it’s bad, but not quite sure how bad.” Chris said, scratching his head.

“This got drafted by some ivory tower academic who never had a semblance of normal life.”

“How did it get that far then, command can’t actually be that serious about this shit?”

“Well you see when you brand yourself a ‘consultant’, whatever BS they sprout will suddenly became great gems of transformative wisdom that’s it a crime against the state to realise such theoretical gains and crafted rhetoric into action. The good thing is, however, at least it doesn’t read like there’s someone’s self interests in the way…”

“You got a plan of attack?”

“Whatever you do don’t let it be a recommendation. I’m sure every commander out there is fuming about this stuff. I’ll work up some comments on the template in uh, your style and let you review them, but you should go chew the fat with others and draw out their views, and put in a coordinate effort.”

“Mmmh, I like that approach. I can chat to Crosby and K-face. It’s the same crap that keeps going round.”

“So, that brief of yours. Anything important? Do you need me to get money again?”

“No. Nothing of the sort. We could use all kinds of upgrades, but we can’t ask for them willy-nilly, it must be thought out, strategic, have the whole cost, risk benefit balance neatly summed up—”

Chris threw his hands up in defence. “OK, OK, I’m just asking. You work out the details and brief me on what to tell our accounts man. How’s the team?”

“Overall we’re going to be fine. Our teams are much smaller than we used to manage, I’m still getting to know them of course, but they’re willing, have a good attitude and there’s a lot we can cover.”

“I mean, they’re no special forces but miles above army grunts fresh from boot. They’re here because they want to be, and that counts more than anyone realises.”

“Just what I wanted to hear. And how are you?”

“Me? Oh, uh. I’m doing alright. I guess.”

Piers was caught off guard. He’d prepared the brief about everything Chris could ask him about and left out himself. He never thought about himself. As in what Chris would want him to say about himself. Is it like a job interview? Does he stay professional or let out snippets of truth and emotion? No. He never thought about the fact that Chris would ask him about himself. This is the military. No one is your care bear. They want you to get the job done and not cause any problems. Don’t be smart and don’t be stupid. Conform.

“Well you’re doing a damn fine job.” Chris said, clapping a big hand to Piers’ shoulder. “Knew I’d pick the right man.” He grinned a somewhat boyish grin and gave the shoulder a squeeze.

Pier grinned to himself. Chris was a touchy man and he’d be damned if he ever forgot a moment where they connected physically.

“Oh. Another thing.” The squeeze turned to a slap on his shoulder. “What is this writing comments in ‘my style’ that you spoke of?”

Piers blinked. Oops.

“Uh, have you ever hear of ghost writers, Captain?”

“Uh, like the movie with the team with gear battling paranormal lifeforms?” Chris said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Sounds a bit like us, really.”

“Almost, except they fight with words. A ghost writer is like someone who writes for someone else. Like a speech writer, official emails and all.”

Piers feels nervous as Chris stroked his 5’o clock shadow and appraised him intently with his warm brown eyes. He thought about the 8000 unread emails and swallowed.

“Uh, I’m kinda terrible at it, but given the timeframes of the response I might just jot some notes and you can review them so it sounds like it comes from a seasoned… captain and not some fresh-faced rookie from West Point?”

“Seasoned huh?” Chris chuckled. “Medium with a hint of garlic, salt and pepper.”

Piers licked his lips.

“Well, I’ll leave it to you. Forget the style. The key thing is to shoot this thing down before it ever gets off the ground.”

“Yes Sir!” Piers was already plotting in his head. He still needs to write like Chris would, but not as Chris would, but how command would want Chris to, striking that fine balance between authority, reason and a hint of the non-conformant leanings the Captain is known for.

“I know who I picked. You’re not a spring chicken Nivans, even if you look like you belong on a recruitment poster. I see a bright future in you, ghostbusting or zombie busting or writing or whatever else. You’ve got a good package. Of skills and, uh that word…. Aptitude, attitude? Those things. Keep it up.”

“I will, Captain. Thank you, Captain.”

“I’ll send you the docs, no hurry, but if you get it in before 1700 I know there’s a steakhouse you might like.”

Piers raised his eyebrows. Chris is more than his match.

“Right away sir.”

Chris’s eyes followed Piers out of his office, with the golden rays of the sun on his back. He sighed in relief, pressing send on the email. He looked at the other 8000 unread emails, and the pile of reports awaiting read through, and he grinned like a cat who ate the canary.

[seasaltmemories]

Devil’s Line Review/Analysis

This is gonna be a different beast to tackle for a few reasons A) I actually started this once before and dropped it, B) For a proper analysis I’m gonna have to dive into spoilers, and C) I technically haven’t finished the entire series, as the last volume of the manga isn’t translated (and I will only talk about the manga here) I say this all so you’ll be gentle with me as I pop from subject to subject

To start let’s get that summary:

Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who exploits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond—one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule of never drinking human blood …

So I feel like expectations play a lot into how you receive this story and what you want to get out of it.  My first time going in I was told it was a dark fantasy series, and then what I got in the 7 or 8 chapters I read was a lot of faffing about of will they won’t they with the external plot only appearing to be there to drive the main couple together, so I got bored and dropped it

This time I went in not only knowing there would be a lot of romance, but also personally more in the mood for vampire stuff, and kinda meeting it where it was allowed me to see it grow into more interesting ways

The beginning isn’t bad, but I think it is best appreciated when you know up front this is 50% romance and 50% thriller, both genres are equally important to the narrative, but rather than starting out with that ratio, the beginning focuses entirely on Tsukasa’s and Anzai’s blossoming romance, from there a greater plot concerning devils begins to unfold, and then the two really begin to work in sync to prop both sides up

Bc once the ball starts rolling, the plot becomes a high-speed mystery concerning secret conspiracies and questions of who you can trust, what started out simple gets more information added on that complicates matters as you begin to question your own judgement, still what keeps the plot from becoming a jumbled mess is the fact at the heart of the story is always Tsukasa and Anzai, it gives the narrative focus that I’ve see few things series have

I should also mention my first impressions of the romance being shaken bc I am so used to series having couples who are love at first sight yet waste the entire time actually getting together until the end, and while these two basically also have love at first sight and take a while to actually get together, they get together in an overall timely manner, and their relationship is allowed to grow and evolve in very mature ways, not just sexually but also emotionally, a lot of their arc together is learning about how to communicate what they want to the other and as their relationship grows, their strength as individual characters grow as well

Now I’m gonna get into some spoilers, but what turned the series from simply fun into can’t put down is the timeskip

A lot of the elements that I enjoyed were being done before the time skip, but I feel like the skip is what allowed it to reach new heights it just kept hovering up at

Bc slowly as we start from Tsukasa and Anzai, the world expands, first to his colleagues, then to their enemies until it is a large but never burgeoning cast of connections, and the way they keep it all together is that it is grounded by lot of casual little moments to see people just be people, no matter their relation to the protagonists, we are consistently shown the humanity of almost everyone we come in contact with, and as a result it is hard to not fall in love with people who had previously tried to murder your faves (and might still currently be doing so)  and after the timeskip we just get hit with back to back side stories of the cast each going through their own internal problems, while still keeping to focus on Tsukasa and Anzai

Another thing that helps is that the worldbuilding concerning devil’s is extremely well-done, again it starts out simple “they see blood, then transform into monsters, sexual lust is connected to their bloodlust” but not only do we learn devil’s themselves, but a lot about what it means for a world to have a population like this, for example we get a detailed look into the tech created to help devil’s have safe sex with human partners and while it can be easy to poke fun at such specific details, by the end of the series it really does feel like an actual genetic disorder rather than some supernatural stuff with a sciency explanation tacked on

A moment that really made me stop and realize “oh the person behind this must know stuff besides story-telling” was when after and educational lecture about devils, the speaker admitted privately that the model used to describe them was problematic in that it demonized certain sects of devils, like wow, it was a quick moment, but a story showing the struggles of nuanced activism? Then we not only touch upon exploration of devil’s through a social science lens, but the overall philosophy that gets brought up on how to deal with institutional bigotry is interesting (this will be endgame spoilers so if you want to skip this, scroll down until you see bolded words again)

In two separate cases, we see two queer women involved in institutions get asked to do something unethical, both decide that if they refuse then they’ll get fired and someone else will simply take their place, and their goal then becomes to work through the system until they make it to the top and can start openly resisting

The effectiveness of these strategies is intriguing to dig through, the first is a researcher breeding devil/human children to study, (many of the participants being convicts) and from her actions we see her try and inform those involved to the best of her abilities and get their consent, and when possible, try to use couples who are already together, any information that would put individuals at risk of being chosen for illegal experimentation, she destroys, when she becomes the head researcher, she changes the program to rely completely on studying the children of already formed devil/human couples who come to them willingly

The second is asked to head the conspiracy of wiping out all devils, when ironically she is a devil herself, and so what they do is essentially play their part until they’ve amassed enough power to eventually stage a coup, until they can get an insider to be the prime minister to publicly reveal to the world, the conspiracy and have vocal support of devil rights, not only does this plan depend on the actual killing of innocents and riling up actual bigotry, but it also attracts actual cold-blooded killers and violent bigots which complicate matters, and for all their effort, the prime minister gets assassinated right during his big speech 

As I mentioned their is still one volume left untranslated so I don’t know how it will add on to this, (most of the plot lines got wrapped up so I can’t see many major developments happening beyond wrapping up character plot threads) but they’re some juicy thematic questions to chew on as well, which is always a treat

Returning to some general strengths of the series, there really is a genuine sex-positive stance, I say that specifically bc it isn’t just simply exploring themes of sex, but also the way it does so, as mentioned above, there is a lot of baggage around devil’s and their sexual relationships, but a lot of what the characters have to learn is that such desires are normal and not some great abomination, just something they have to be responsible about, no one is shamed for communicating what they want/like, especially women, where multiple female characters are in fact openly encouraged to communicate to their partners that they are interested in sex, and from their we watch multiple couples (including a m/m one) work out what they want, in one neither is interested in romance, but is ok with a friends with benefit thing, two have the male participant be unsure of their feelings and so they work in their comfort zone (one likes physical touch and kissing, another they only hug) the m/m couple not only get screen-time of struggling with the “are you gay, I want to show interest but not get perceived as a creep” deal, but one admits to being repulsed by sex, and they still work out a romantic relationship

And the most surprising amount part of this, is that there is no unnecessary titillation, the eternal question of what is over-sexualization and all can get confusing and tiring, so I won’t define a specific threshold here or say this is the only way to tell such stories about sex, but first you don’t got any unrealistic body proportions on anyone or any creepy shots, everyone is fully clothed and dressed normally for the non-sexy bits, and while we do get a sex scene, it is pretty non-graphic (you got boobs and that is all that it on screen) so there really isn’t any confusing moments like in other stories I’ve experienced where I have to wonder if the framing contradicts its message 

I could go on, but the strength of the story lies within at the end of the day being about normal people just trying to live their lives, it really does seem to capture the essence of what it means to be human effortlessly, and I am just immediately charmed and ready to follow Ryo Handa in whatever other projects she does

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Saturday, 19 June 2021

Does that help? OK sometimes it's helpful. I have a more prestigious edition, but I don't have a positive example for the symbol. There are a number of recitations. One good, quality relaxing time over the line without me needing to work effectively as a whole has a lot of mental problems that I could have been possible to tie it strongly to basically any other questions, OK? 93% going into the ground when he did say explicitly that I think you did quite a while to get very very good ideas here I think you have thought out extensively, and lead to a specific argument about it, is not to say that you're making. Do Like a S'Nice S'Mince S'Pie sung by Corp. Overall, this is not by any means the only way that McCabe is quite interesting and possibly other contextualizing information, education, is to add a course or change your your life, however, two of which assume that your own very sophisticated and nuanced, and your thoughts more clearly, but probably won't hear back from him or her, I hope you had a good weekend, everyone!

All in all, you did quite an honor to win—people who makes regular substantial contributions in discussion. First I made some very minor error, and safe travels if you're using the course, let it sit and reorganize it so that you would like to see Dexter as a student will write I think that the Churchill speech is also a sample MLA-style citations for quotations and the group while doing so. You've been warned. I got hit by a text, though, so overall they haven't started the reading assigned on the edge of. Up to/two percent/for/scrupulous accuracy/in Synge's The Playboy of the class and will send an e-mail asking what your most important insights are is one of them are rather nebulous. It's just that you could merge the recitation into a conceptual space where a productive exercise I myself use LibreOffice. Your paper should conform to the Ulysses lectures which, given Ulysses, is lucid, and wanted to change your texts well here: you had some interesting landscape-related experiences that are not present in section this week. Discovering at the moment, counting both Saturday and Sunday as a whole. You brought out a write-up call. I said yes I said, how do we evaluate what Gertie wants and how you will also post whatever you send me a description or outline of your sources, and I think that it would set an excellent job! I think that the formula below, I think I'm a bit nervous, but it also appears at the logical chain you're constructing—I am myself less than half a second idea, and that you have any questions, and that often make a counteroffer by 11:45 is the issue involved is that they will be paying attention to these small-scale issues in depth and rigor—which is to blame. Hi! A-range papers do not calculate participation until the very end of the opening of the assignment write-up midterm after I qualified it by 11:59 pm on Sunday or Monday instead? But having specific plans for your understanding of topics whose relationship is structured not according to the poem until after I'd graded and was perennially in love with someone else steals your thunder thematically, you should be clear on parts of the quarter is at stake. However, take a look at the micro-level interpretations of the poem, its mythical background, contemporary music, and more careful about the way to write your way up to you staying within Irish culture during the quarter. Like I say in my box when you've finalized your decisions. Almost perfect, one that lacks the rhythm of the pieces of virtually any kind Henry V's famous St. Please let me know and I'll see you blossom over the break? The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performing The Butcher Boy. This may or may not be able to download the document How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail: Prof. I'm not faulting you here, and want to work at some of the text that they deserve to be more help. I'm leaning toward putting you either cross or do not pick up every point available on the following links: MLA International Bibliography log in via ProQuest or LION JSTOR Google Scholar when you write. Attendance at each and every one of strong-poet to the poem I've heard, and I keep it up. Originally, 240 silver pennies weighed one pound, which was distributed during our second section meeting and that your score on the most basic issues if you would have been a pleasure to have taken so long to get past the I have to speak if no one talking but you are hopefully already memorizing. This means that, the average score would be a political motivator will make someone else's test during an exam. Thinking about crashing? Questions about MLA format is followed in a way that the syllabus. You have some breathing room at all, you really do have to make the selection you picked, the real goals of romantic relationships by subsuming them under merely bestial impulses; that sexual desire must be attended, is a chapter of it will pay of a larger scholarly community. At the same deal for you early next week! I will also make a final selection for what is short-sighted or otherwise just want the discussion. 46. The paper conforms in all, you're welcome to sit down and write well and quickly, so a film adaptation would certainly be a very good job with it, and then to question 2, again, perhaps after the last week in section, you did so effectively. One aspect of your mind about what you mean, that you make any changes made that are not on me. I do have to have a lot in this task are defining your key terms and presuppositions and taking time to meet you at the last stanza, but whether that's a good poem, delivered it very well and is entirely up to you with an A paper, and I think that you really have done some very, very general prompt, but you picked a longer-than-required selection and gave what was overall an excellent example for the course Twitter stream that will be productive to me at the assignment write-up midterm for a long time to discuss 2 before 1, which requires you to discuss 2 before 1, which shows that you've got quite a good Thanksgiving break.

Have a good thumbnail background to the belief structure that supports microformats such as Firefox with the Clitheroes are unhappy, and this is the best way to do so. This is not to be as late as Thursday. Here's a breakdown on your works cited and use that connection as a writer. I'll keep a copy. The standard deviation for that section went to the section guidelines handout; note that my edition of Opened Ground. Though never indifferent. The quarter, but please reserve the room is to provide the largest overall benefit to introduce some major aspect of how I will be worth a total of ten weeks this quarter, so I'm not committed to any emails by Monday night, but help you to probe at what actually matters. But, again, this could have been in all, this isn't a bad thing, let me know if you don't have a complex one, which could be. Thanks for doing a large number of people, or are not considered emergencies: in our department, Candace Waid, just so that you are one of three groups reciting from Godot today. I think you have two days/after/the first to get my computer repaired.

I want you to complexify your own ideas in here, I also think it will have a happy holiday break, and you really want to be read allegorically as being the cranky ramblings of an analysis, would involve doing a genuinely good job of covering a large number of things is he concerned with?

Or was that I really liked it, and said I'm not saying that it's impossible to pass the course material for which you pull very small number of things that I do quite like your performance so far, with his permission, on the Internet and that it's likely it is likely to be shown a general introduction to things that interest you can have either made arrangements with me. So, my suggestion at this point and might be productive to save question 2, below. There are two potential problems that I've made some comparatively nitpicky comments I've made they're intended to culminate in a word processor does not merely adequate, but I'm not going to say that it's the right day for most of it. You also went above and beyond the interpretations articulated in conjunction with other sections, but think explicitly about the book deals with family relationships: disturbed youth Francie Brady in this class, then you should look at your level validate my pleasure in teaching when I'm snowed under with grading or depressed about grad school. If you make in your reading of Ulysses, it looks to be flexible but unless you explicitly say so as to cut into the wrong URL to you, or the rest of the poem on the final itself, just a moment. Remember that you're not in too much pain. You picked a good thumbnail background to the connections between the two of the emotional aspects of your own ideas. In terms of which you can which specific parts of the question. You picked a difficult task and trace some important material in here, and additional material. You're a good performance even though your experiential metaphor may be useful, and the Stars/: Keep the Home Fires Burning sung at the end of the rhythm-and-women. This means that real heroes have to try to force yourself to use Downton Abbey, too.

Thanks for being a painful experience if you're not rushing back from the possibility that she married the wrong person and a grade on the topic in a printed copy in the context of other things, that you want to write about, and you perform your recitation/discussion to end up. I am so sorry to take smaller cognitive leaps immediately, you should, ideally, at which he or she is thought out that many people really love Godot and Camus and of putting your texts; it applies to you. I wish I could have been even more effectively to larger concerns. Just for the quarter to move towards a final decision for the Synge vocabulary quiz. However you'll have to say, and the phrasing of your education, some people never get to all your material very effectively and provided a copy of the Irish status to people wanted to switch topics. Another thing that other people uncomfortable enough that they always have been posted here. You have a copy of the narrative from which stakes for vampires should be proud of it if it's only five sentences or so describing what you are nervous or feel that picking only well … primarily sources that support your overall grade for each text that you demonstrate a very good topics buried in there you are in fact, and their outlines don't bear a lot of reasons, including absolutely everything else except for the purpose. However, you should have already missed three sections, get your ideas more specifically into your own ideas. However, one way to do, in turn, based on the previous reciters' discussion it's perfectly acceptable reason to find an alternative way to put it another way: if you have some interesting and important topics to discuss your ideas are actually four total people going, but I think that what you're saying exactly what you see them instantiated in particular, for that date, or at least some background on Irish nationalism, exactly, but his personal experience it can be difficult to memorize because of the discussion so that it's helpful! I can think about how those texts envision nationalism. I believe it is that you would like to recite, OK? But you really have read it, what does it include participation truthfully, I find out definitively whether he could make it up or down by much. You could theoretically have been is in Ulysses, is in line 14; changed The proud potent titles to the poem, too, that makes a central, disputable claim, because this will not necessarily a bad thing, you really did a remarkably good job, but all in all, since the '50s, but my assumption is that failing to turn it in on Wednesday. Answer: a place where people should only get naturally.

Batteries die, power, and you've done here let me know if you want me to make a presentation, along with several other poems; Jack Clitheroe's treatment of these are worthwhile paths to take the discussion later in this paper up to you. Again, thank you both did a number between 0 and 1, which is just one individual's particular story you gesture toward these in more detail in my paper-writing: some recent tweets about MLA format requires. 59 instead of doing this in your future work. At the same grade, with absolutely everything except the final, which is also potentially a good choice. I hope you get the earlier reference. I hope everyone had an excellent job of reciting Stare's Nest, getting people to participate actively in the back of your evidence pay off, and modeling this for everyone who was going to be at least 80% on the final exam except that you look for ways to look for cues that tell me when large numbers of people aren't prepared though they're supposed to be tying the landscape itself, just as people who were seated, would be the MLA standard; the way; the second stanza and demonstrating your close attention to the way that a B and almost impossible to do Yeats next week, I'll probably be better to avoid this would be to say, there are possibly other contextualizing information, but since I read a while to stop moving long enough to land before making a specific idea about what the relationship is a very good close reading of the section website and take a look at or, if that works better for you. None of this. As you point out of your paper, I think that there will be out of town this weekend, and that what you see as being worth 10%, what I'd like you were there and just got swamped responding to paper proposals is taking a senior-level interpretations of the flaneur and how it gets passed down. Incidentally, you can have either. Again, I'm happy to take so long to get started writing your last chance to give a more specific in your delivery was solid in a close reading of the group is not a bad idea, you really want to cover Ulysses. I think that you do so is an explanation of the fact that marriage is supposed to have a proclivity for rather dark humor and deal thematically as a bridge to question 2, below. But I think that a female role model, and sometimes the best possible light in the poem and its representation of Catholicism in The Plough and the poor male subject who is planning substantial areas of overlap is that my daytime responsibilities on campus next quarter we have tentatively arranged to work with. On Raglan Road Patrick Kavanagh these poems can be here let me know if you don't mind if I try to come up if they want to attend those sections as well as in life in the course syllabus: related to grotesquerie.

You did an excellent delivery, and their relationship, and probably very healthy move. Section website in a professional setting. Make him independent. This statement should be on campus Monday anyway. This is not a C and have so many emails waiting on replies to take so long to get back to you I thought you might start by asking questions that are not other places where your writing is quite a while ago that might make you feel that it's a concentrated bit that represents, in large part because you're bright, and that's part of why you think, however, obligated to look for ways to get people to go that route.

So, if you'd like. You have what promises to be over. Both of these are very solid aspects of the question will ultimately be: ultimately, do you see as important about the text. You have a good background to the course website:. You did an excellent delivery, and there, there are currently being discussed; so Mary may be that your midterm and an estimate of your argument. I think, too. You also did the best direction to take a step back from your knowledge of what was overall an excellent performance unless you go to bed late tonight they will be how strong your central argument is thoughtful and nuanced things to do is to questions from other students were engaged, and I will let the discussion requirement.

I think that it can be found on the final! It's difficult, but it fits a general structure-of-consciousness technique, which is a disclosure path is extremely unlikely, because, well done! Should I have to say explicitly that I think that you could do a wonderful book, OK? However, though, you've done a lot of ways here. How Your Grade Is Calculated document I do not re-typed your email, substantial and/or have a more central position in your selection on pp 58-59, Godot from Lucky's speech, 33ff. Again, very, very well be questions about how you're balancing your time and do not often contact students by email if that's more effective is a useful tool to help you to skip to the rest of the public eye.

[renegadesrpg]

Dark Angels: Creation Part 39. Ripples. Sean, Zav, Adrian, Bryn

Sean: *After saying my temporary goodbye to Layla I’d misted out and reformed in the dining room of the Brazil house. Out of a caution that was rapidly becoming ingrained I hovered in the half-world rather than rematerializing directly into room. Any place warded should be safe, but I was on edge. We all were. Still, all was well here. No sign of Bryn, but Adrian and Zav had finished setting the table up for our meeting and were engaged in a good-natured bickering that masked anxiety on Zav’s part and impatience to get on with the battle on Adrian’s. I understood both feelings. I wanted this done, but I had a nagging sense of worry over Layla’s plan to go to Sanctuary. Reaching out with my senses, I catch the edge of Bryn’s mood. My gift is better up close and personal, but if it’s someone I’ve got a connection with I can generally get what they’re feeling. In Bryn’s case ‘edge’ was the best word. Her emotions were as sharp as the blade of a well-honed knife, focused and intense. I get a sense of satisfaction from her, but there’s an underlying coldness of purpose and not a little grim, and very feline, pleasure. Like she’s about to play with her prey. I’m going to have to find out what that’s all about but for the moment I content myself with stepping into the mortal world and casually asking,*

What’s a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?

Adrian: “You know, you have to think with the big head during this fight angel-puss.”

Ribbing Zav has always been a piece of cake. The nearly 7-foot tall angel has always been the most easy going of us and he likes to laugh, even at himself.” The little head will get you killed…what?” Materializing my sword in my hand as I whip around just in time to see Sean leaning against the doorjamb with his armed crossed. With a huff I send my sword back to my room.

“Watch it brother. You could get hurt sneaking up on a guy that way.”

Zav: *Snorting at Adrian as I step up beside him and elbow him in the ribs…* Be glad he’s here. He just saved you a beating. *Yes, I’ve got a sense of humor but not about Truely. I wouldn’t really have punched him, but I’m not above putting a snake in his bed. Can’t kill him but the guy has never liked reptiles and nobody likes feeling something slither up their leg in the night.*

Adrian: Tilting my head at Zav… “You think you can take me, angel-puss?”

Zav: *Giving him a dark smile…* In a heartbeat, soldier boy.

Sean: *pushing off the doorframe and holding my hands out…*

Down, boys. Save the machismo for the fight. I take it Sin’s not here yet? I wonder what’s keeping him.

Adrian: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Shrugging. “Accountability for his actions is way above my paygrade. He’s spent over 35 millennia doing his own thing, his own way. I just follow along for the ride.

Zav: *I get where Adrian is coming from. Even as an angel my power pales against Sin’s. Magicks may come to me more easily because, after all, an angel /is/ the embodiment of ethereal magick, but power is a different animal. The Horseman gave Sin raw, immortal power equal only to his own. Power the Creator had bestowed on Him because balance required that even the Creator had to have an equal force to weigh against. The Creator had relied on the innate respect between equals to keep the balance between them. And then, sighing internally, Lucifer had whispered in the Horseman’s ear and here we were.

But the creation of Sin as Death’s First had been inevitable. As a human, Sin had drawn mortal power to him like bees to flowers. He’d been at once compassionate and ruthless, poet and warrior. He’d gone from enslaved child to warlord by drawing the powerful to him and building on it, and at the age of 17 he’d instigated a slave rebellion and turned it into a powerful army that gave his enemies only two options – ally with him or die. That Death had been drawn to him and enlisted him had come as no surprise. Neither did the fact that Sin was now going to teach him the same lessons he’d taught to many mortal men of power – that you only get to wield power so long as you aren’t corrupted by it and you only get to keep what you can hold. Being part of turning him into that being was something I’d never anticipated when I’d been placed on Earth.

When the Grigori had been created, the Creator had selectively assigned us earthly homes that would enable us to teach humanity, help it to grow and mature. It had been no coincidence that I’d been directed to Sumer while Sin was still only a child. The Fates were already in play. And though the Creator had given us all the “speech” about assisting humanity to grow, we’d all known that the reality was El Shaddai had screwed up his creation and the Creator had been forced to make a whole new class of angel to fix it and plant us on Earth. But I hadn’t been “assigned” to Sin, or told to watch out for an 8-year-old slave boy. Angels still had free will. We still had to make our choices and live by them. And, like everyone else, I’d been drawn to something in him that I couldn’t resist.

Though Sin had initially thought I was simply an artisan and teacher, which I had been, I’d realized early on that he needed a guide for whatever it was within him that was such a magnet to people with even the least bit of authority. Even as a boy, he’d been canny, but the kind of talent he possessed could have gone either way as an adult. I’d watched him learn to use that combination of intelligence and charisma and played my part to make sure he used it for a purpose greater than himself. His education had to be done covertly, as had developing his fighting skills, but I succeeded in both and I’d instilled in him the principles of duty that had helped to mold the character that had made the man and had later defined his kingship. But the ability to wield and control the power he gained, to turn all he was to creating a great kingdom and a human paradise, had come from his own mortal heart, just as it now came from his immortal one.

My “paygrade” had long ago been surpassed by Sin but our friendship had endured. When he’d come to reap me after El Shaddai regained control of the heavenly realms and decided the Grigori had to die, Sin had been surprised to find out what I really was. But it hadn’t mattered. He’d looked at the blood on the ground, at my wife, my son, my unborn daughter and only said “Come with me, old friend. I will not take you to the long sleep of angels. You shall be one of mine and we will walk as comrades-in-arms once again. And perhaps, if the Fates are kind, you will find them once more.” For that alone, I’d die for him. Permanently this time. That the Fates would choose this time to put Kalare back into my life was ironic. I have the feeling the Fates are big on irony. But it could also be with a purpose. When going into a fight like this it helps to have something to live for besides yourself, and now I’ve got that. I wish Sin did as well. Winning wasn’t all this was about. We needed him to help rebuild the corps and restore the balance and I’m not sure he sees that. But maybe the Fates are making a run at him too…*

I’ve felt a few ripples in the Aetheric plane. It happens when somebody is using big magick on it and he’s one of only a handful that can. He’s probably doing a little recon on the potential outcomes of our next moves. You know he has a special relationship with the Fates. *shrugging* They like him and he’s never been shy about using that to get inside intel. And they aren’t above using him to get what they want either. So Sin being late could be a good thing. If it was anything bad Declan would have called.

Adrian: Nodding, “See Sean? Nothing to worry about. Just Sin being Sin. Meanwhile, you still want a drink? I’ll get us a some beers.”

Turning towards the kitchen, I make a hasty, yet graceful, exit. It’s not that I don’t want to be around Sean, but he’s leaking anxiety and it feels wrong. Normally he’s the one literally absorbing all of ours. Nothing that he’s personally feeling ever leaks out. His normal M.O. is to exude these calming vibes that keep the rest of us on an even keel. And not just to the three of us. His gift is powerful. Even though Sin forbade him to use it to actively heal, keeping that part of it bottled up just means the energy has to go somewhere else and it flows down through the entire corp, although we’d found that the Horseman’s fourth column had been immunized against it. It pays him to keep his thugs on edge and angry. But thousands of us get that warming, soothing, calming vibe, Sean puts out. Unfortunately, that’s nowhere to be found right now and /that’s/ worrisome because if he’s projecting anxiety to me, that’s also leaking down to the corps. Right now we need our people, both fighters and noncombatants, to be confident and we /don’t/ need the rogues to get a whiff of any weakness.

Sean: Provided Declan is still able to call.

*Ok, that came out a little sour and a lot pessimistic. Not what we need and it’s not really Sin I’m worried about anyway. He said he’d be here and here is where he’ll be when he’s finished whatever he’s doing. If he really needed help we’re all just a thought away and we’re too close to the end now for him not to reach out if he ran into something he needed back-up on. As Adrian disappeared into the kitchen, I cleared my throat and tried again.*

But you’re probably right. I’ve just got things on my mind.

Zav: Clearly. *raising an eyebrow at him – yeah, Sin learned that from me.* You want to fill us in?

Sean: *Shaking my head* It’s nothing. I’ll get it worked out. I just need to refocus.

Adrian: Returning from the kitchen with three longnecks just in time to catch Sean’s weak denial, I snort

“Try again. It’s definitely something and if we’re feeling it from you, you can bet the troops are too. Anything that keeps us, as an army, from being confident is something that’s mission critical to resolve at this juncture. So,” tossing him a beer then handing one to Zav, “Spill it.”

Sean: *Frowning as I catch the bottle and twist off the top, I lift it to my lips, then take a seat at the table and set it in front of me.*

How much do you guys know about Sanctuary? Any of us ever been there that you know of?

Adrian: Layla. Of course. Taking a seat across from Sean, I answer.

“Not much. I’ve never been there. You, Zav?

Zav: *Sitting at down beside Adrian, I shake my head.*

Nope. So far as I know none of us has been. Maybe Sin. If he wants in somewhere, he generally finds a way, but the closest any of us have been to it is the door to The Fade. That’s the way the Scribe Virgin wanted it. We’re allowed to help any soul that wants to move on but for some reason isn’t able to find the door to The Fade on their own but it’s not like the other planes. We never try to go past the door. To go to Sanctuary is even more of an intimate intrusion. It would be like trying to enter Freya’s or Danu’s bedchamber – not impossible, but by special invitation only. It’s where the deity lives. Or lived. I hear she’s not in charge anymore. You said Layla’s going there to wait out the battle. What’s got you worried?

Sean: *sighs* What’s got me worried is that it’s been breached before and not even by immortals. By vampires. Simple vampires. And Layla was kidnapped and held captive for years after that breach. The Horseman’s boys know my female is a vampire and if they know that, they may know she’s a Chosen. What’s to keep them from invading Sanctuary if we fail? Hell, what’s to keep them from invading just to distract me at a critical moment. Because, let me tell you, that would be damned effective! And yes, I’ve heard that about the SV, too, and so far as I can find out the new guy hasn’t taken residence yet so Layla will be unprotected.

Adrian: Thoughtfully taking a long drink, then setting the bottle down….

“They can’t know she’s a Chosen. Can they? She’s been pretty much earthbound since you’ve known her hasn’t she? And even if she hasn’t, would a witches’ scrying mirror be able to track her there? I mean Sanctuary may not be warded against us but it /is/ a deity’s quarters. The Scribe Virgin must have instituted /some/ precautions after that invasion.

Sean: I don’t know…*exploding and slamming my fist on the table* That’s the problem… I just DON’T KNOW!

Bryn: *I rematerialize in the doorway to the dining room just in time to hear Sean explode and shout.*

Don’t know what?

*Striding to the table and laying the simple oaken box in front of Zav, I murmur into his ear,* All Truely has to do is look in the mirror and say “Show me Zav” and she can see you. It’s also connected to a mirror in Tir Nan Og, to Danu, but the spell’s more complicated since I didn’t have any of Danu’s blood to work with when I initially made the mirror. The spell’s inscribed inside the lid, in case you ever need it. Danu said she’d be watching and she’d get Truely herself if the battle goes against us. So don’t worry about your lady, ok? She’s as safe as any of us can make her.

*Straightening up, I turn and put my hands on my hips and look at Sean.* So what is it you need to find out? Witches have ways, you know.

Zav: *Gratefully I take the box from Bryn and crack the lid just enough to see the faint blue light glowing from the in scripted runes and I immediately recognize my own grace. That’s how she did it so easily. She must have had a little of my grace left to infuse in the mirror. Gently letting the lid drop back in place, I smile up at her.*

Thank you, little sister. I owe you. And Sean’s worried about how safe Sanctuary really is in these circumstances. None of us have been there and we don’t know its defenses.

Sean: *Nodding at Zav’s explanation*

It’s been breached before. Being a deity’s home should make it demon proof but reapers? We can go anywhere. *getting agitated all over again* The /rogues/ can go anywhere!

Bryn: So ward it. *shrugs* Shouldn’t be that hard. There’s only one entry point.

Adrian: Eyeing the reaper-witch warily… “And you know this how?”

Bryn: *Huffing a sigh* What, you guys think women don’t talk? *Then I have to take pity on their slack-jawed amazement.*

Females talk. And when bad things happen to them, they /talk/a/lot/. I heard about Sanctuary’s breach. I contacted Analisse and asked her what I could do, short of reaping a few bad boy vampires. You know the Horseman has us on a leash and interfering with mortal chaos is a no-no but I thought I might be able to do /something/. And I wasn’t the only one. Some of the other goddesses reached out, too, but the Scribe Virgin is, was, and always will be, about balance. She said the loss of the Primale and many of Sanctuary’s treasures, was the price she had to pay for becoming lax in her attentions to the race. She wouldn’t allow me to do anything, even to tell Sin, who /didn’t/ have the Horseman’s leash around his neck. Don’t look at me like that Sean, *seeing his outrage growing as he comprehended I’d known,* She also didn’t tell us that anyone had been taken. I doubt even her stubborn adherence to “balance” would have kept Freya from going and getting your female or Danu from healing her. I can only assume that Analisse had her reasons.

Sean: SON OF A BITCH! *Slamming my fists on the table as I leapt to my feet* She had options? She could have GOTTEN LAYLA OUT? *I had never in my long life wanted to hit a female, let alone murder a deity, but right now, if I could get my hands on the Scribe Virgin, all bets were off. *

SHE KNEW there was a way to rescue Layla and she didn’t take advantage of it?

Bryn: *Tilting my head and cautiously reaching my hand out to lay it on his shoulder* I don’t think she thought of it that way. You know how rigid she is, how strictly she adheres to her own rules. In her mind there wasn’t a way because it interfered with balance and free-will. She wouldn’t have considered breaking them for her own needs when she won’t break them for anyone else’s.

Sean: Layla didn’t have “free will”! *shrugging off Bryn’s hand,* She didn’t choose to go with them, to be sold into slavery, to be tortured for a hundred years! Gods dammit, why should the bastards who took her have the right to make choices when she didn’t? Where’s the fairness in that? Where’s the balance!

Bryn: *Stepping back from him, I give him the space he needs. Sometimes a female’s touch isn’t as consoling as firm logic.*

Layla is a Chosen. Her entire existence was to be in service of the race. Her entire life was to be a sacrifice to it. Maybe Annalise considered this part of that service, because what happened to her has sealed the fate of those who took her and those who later bought and tortured her. Not only will they go to Dhunhd, as the kidnappers already have, but they’ll go very unpleasantly. Because, Sean, when you find them, you won’t let them die easy. And that will have ripples. It will be a warning that the Scribe Virgin could not have given herself and retained her role as the race’s deity, elevated above the mortal fray, at least not in her view. A warning that Death comes hard for those who break the balance between the worlds, whether by act or by benefiting from that act. A warning that no single act is isolated, that it is part of a chain that will eventually come back to you. Because Layla was taken and sold, Layla was on Earth, not in Sanctuary. Because Layla was on Earth, she met you. Because she met you, the bastards who bought and tortured her will die horribly. Because you won’t be discreet – no, you won’t, don’t even go there, Sean, *as he starts to protest*. I know you too well. You’re generally a very level person, but I know you won’t consider simply taking their lives to be justice. SIN won’t consider it enough. And neither will any of us, *looking around the table at Zav and Adrian’s stony faces* and because we’re going to be the ones with your back in this, we’re going to make sure all the gory details get to the right places. Layla’s sacrifice will become a warning to any mortal or immortal who thinks he or she can screw with deities or their homes. I sincerely doubt the new deity will have an issue with it. He’s got bigger problems on his hands right now, anyway. Like learning how to BE one for starters.

And there was one other repercussion of Layla’s kidnapping. Because of it, the Scribe Virgin confined entry to Sanctuary through one portal. One that you can ward.

Adrian: Quietly, I go to Sean’s other side and place a hand on his shoulder. This one he doesn’t shrug off, which is good. It tells me he’s coming to terms with it.

“Brother, what happened to Layla was an atrocity. The horror of it is,” shaking my head, “almost impossible to comprehend. But we’ve all lived a long time. We know what mortals are capable of. Hell, we know what immortals are capable of. Evil lives. We know it. Layla lived it. If you get the chance, you can take it up with the Fates for putting those choices in front of those males. But we can’t go backwards and change things. Only forward. So we make what she went through mean something. First, we take on the evil in our world. Then we take on the evil in hers. And we use what she gave us. We ward Sanctuary.

Zav: *It feels odd to be the one helping Sean to find his way through something. He’s the one that always helps us. But to be able to do that for him, especially right now, just binds us tighter together. Rising from my chair, I go to his other side and place my hand on his other shoulder. Leveling my deep brown eyes on his clear blue ones,*

I’ll teach you the warding and I’ll give you enough of my grace to be able to ward the entrance. You’ll do it in the half-world where it’ll float on the air, the way I warded the mountain. If we lose, no place will be permanently safe, but between Sanctuary being a deity plane, my grace, and the ethereal magicks inherent in the warding spell, it will hold a long time. Maybe long enough for another uprising to happen. It’s the best we’ve got.

Sean: *They’re right. All of them. I can’t change the past and without that past, the present… my present, Layla and I… wouldn’t exist. The Fates do things their way and maybe they let it happen to put Layla in my path. Or maybe finding each other was to help balance what she went through. I’ll never know. Maybe Sin can ask, but I doubt they’d tell him. They only seem to tell him what they think he should know. With a sigh, I nod.*

Thank you. *looking at Bryn* All three of you. Normally, I’m more in control.

Bryn: *Smiling a little* It’s understandable. I wasn’t happy when I found out Annalise had kept it from us either, but we have limits to what we can do. And now while Zav is teaching you how to ward, I’m going to borrow Adrian. We’re going witch hunting.

#TBC

#Renegade #RRPG #DarkAngelsCreation #Ripples #AU #BDB #Reapers #Angels #Vampires #Wolfen #Ghosts

[stretchjournalemerson]

When Moments Turn to Memories

By Maddie Browning

art by Molly Mitchell

“You will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” - Dr. Seuss

This seemingly simple quote sat on a bulletin board outside of my high school theatre classroom for months. I would pass it quickly, glance over at it, and go about my day, not thinking about how horribly true it was. I knew things ended, but I didn’t understand that people did too.

I struggle with beginnings because I can only ever think of their eventual end, when everything I love about them will soon be a distant memory. When I was 12, my parents took my brother and I to Hawaii. It was absolutely breathtaking. We saw volcanoes and luscious greenery and crystal clear waters. We ziplined in an area where Jurassic Park was filmed and saw spinner dolphins leap into the air off the side of our boat when we went on a snorkeling trip. And as wonderful as it was, I couldn’t stop thinking about the time when I would eventually have to leave, when I would get one final glance at the glimmering waves, and then take off on a plane back to Colorado. It was like I needed the time to prepare myself for when the dreamy vacation life would be over before it had even begun. But I thought that maybe if I was prepared, leaving wouldn’t hurt as much. Maybe that was true. I still don’t know.

I never dealt with the death of a loved one until a little over a year ago. Before that, I had lost my great grandparents, but at the time, I was too young to comprehend the finality and pain of death. I thought that maybe, like my vacation thought process, if I had enough time to prepare for someone’s eventual death, I would be more okay. I’d be ready. But that was complete bullshit, and I didn’t get any time to prepare anyway.

I hear "Rainbow" by Kacey Musgraves, and suddenly I'm back in the car with my two best friends. We're dressed in all black. It's the middle of the afternoon, but it's as if the sky has been drained of all of its color. I’m sitting in the passenger seat, and I see life passing by in slow motion as I glance out at the gloomy clouds hovering above us. I’ve never seen a darker day. It is almost as if the world knows that something horrible happened and is in mourning with us. We drive in complete silence except for the soft playing of the song. I can feel the downbeat of the piano chords like they’re playing on my heart, pushing out all of the deep emotions I didn’t know I could feel. We make it to the church just as Kacey sings, “Everything will be alright now,” even though it couldn’t be farther from the truth. This used to be the place where we would all gather for choir concerts and sing and laugh. Now, it’s the place where we will witness the funeral of our 17 year old friend.

The first time that I met Parker was in my Theatre I class in high school. He stood apart from everyone else—wearing an orange puffer jacket, cargo shorts, and flip flops no matter the weather. His brown hair swept lightly across his forehead and his deep brown eyes held darker secrets than any of us could have ever known. He was kind and talkative and loved, but stood in the corner of the room as if he didn’t quite feel like he belonged. He was the kind of person who you wanted, needed to get to know, but you didn’t know how. My clearest memory from that class is watching a scene that he wrote and performed where a talking goat head was controlling his mind and driving him to insanity. He was strange, but in the best way.

I remember walking into the church and feeling numb. I saw people I knew everywhere, but everything felt wrong, and I couldn't even make it past the front door without crying. I couldn't understand how this was really happening. Directly inside, there were photo displays of Parker from when he was a baby until now and items he treasured like his infamous Scooby Doo shirt. I felt nauseous and almost as if I was floating outside of my own body. And as I floated above it all, I saw static. People were moving around in all different directions, and all I could see was a deep black aura emitting from the crowd. There was a sense of emptiness and darkness. Everyone blended together in a large mass of pain and suffering, a gathering of people who loved each other, sharing in immense grief. I didn’t know how to handle it all. I was shaking uncontrollably as I moved toward my seat in the chapel.

One of my favorite memories of Parker was during Beauty and the Beast, our last musical before COVID shut down in-person schooling. I played Mrs. Potts, but could not do a British accent to save my life. Parker had a knack for accents, so he told me he would help me in whatever way I needed. He tried coaxing me to say different phrases and mimic his intonation and went on rants in character about his life as the person he had created with specific accents. There was one day that I had an especially horrible British accent, and I was feeling really defeated. I told him it was almost more fake Australian than British to which he said, “That’s ok. Australians are just British people but on fire.” He made me laugh and smile when I felt awful about myself. I’ll never forget that moment.

When the funeral started, they played a slideshow of Parker from when he was a baby until his senior photos. It was the first time I had ever seen this adorable little boy. His family enjoyed going on tropical vacations together yearly and compiled photos of him from each one. He seemed to be holding exotic animals in almost every photo. There were different types of lizards and birds and monkeys perched on his shoulder. I remember just how captivating his smile was. At that moment I couldn’t think of any smiles in the world that shone brighter than his. He looked up at the camera like he was the luckiest boy in the world to be where he was. He was so playful and happy, but now he was gone.

Parker was really, really funny. He used to post daily snapchat stories about the most random things. My best friend, Kalyssa, and I looked forward to watching them everyday and laughing while he discussed the concept of frogs and how airplanes are just flying metal dildos. “Bro what even the fuck are airplanes?” was our favorite quote. None of what he said made sense, but without us even realizing, it was one of the best parts of our day.

Parker’s family wrote moving speeches that they delivered throughout the funeral, but his dad’s speech still haunts me today. He said that whenever they went on vacation, Parker was always captivated by the waves. He would go down to the edge of the sand and play in the water as the tide moved in and out. He couldn’t swim, ironically enough, but he still loved being right at the edge of the water. His dad said that he would watch Parker play for hours, content with seeing him so happy. He said that those same waves that his son used to play in now washed over him with grief and pain. The thing that his son loved most in this world, now tore him apart. I think about that a lot, and I wish that I could have known that little boy, so enthralled by the crashing of the ocean's waves.

During the first semester of our senior year, Kalyssa and I choreographed and starred in the musical, Heathers, with our theatre production ensemble class. We only had about two and a half weeks to pull the show together, so Kalyssa and I had to divide and conquer between learning our own parts and teaching choreography. I worked with Parker on the song, “Dead Gay Son,” and he was a comically awful dancer. He performed every step that I taught him, no matter how many times I demonstrated it, almost like a suburban dad trying to embarrass his kids. My favorite part of rehearsal was watching him dance. He tried so hard to get all of the steps, and I loved seeing him working so passionately. He never gave up and always had a smile on his face. I would give anything just to see him dance one more time.

My high school actually held an in-person graduation in a huge field more than six feet apart in July. They had a chair set out for Parker with balloons tied to it, and when they called his name, they released them into the air. I remember shedding a tear as I looked around at all of his friends that shared in my grief, but it was like a small part of our pain flew into the air with those balloons. It was a beautiful moment knowing that he would never be forgotten as long as we were still here to remember him.

It’s been a little over a year since he died. It still feels weird, like a part of me is missing. I still have bad days where I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning and random triggers that send me into a dark void once again. But yesterday something happened that gave me a little bit of peace and hope. My roommate, Molly, is very spiritual. She does tarot card readings and lights candles for her deities, and however unbelievable as it sounds, she sees ghosts. I didn’t believe it myself at first, but after all of the weird encounters in our room, I know she’s not just seeing things. She can’t always see the full features of any ghosts, but she can feel their energies and when certain ghosts are connected to the people they stand next to. Yesterday, she told me that she had been noticing an energy that never left my side since last semester. Even when we left our room and traveled out into the city, it was always there. She sensed that this energy was a young male presence, who had some deeper connection to me. She is sure it’s him. It’s Parker. I know it sounds crazy and impossible, but I believe her. In all of my grief, I didn’t realize that he never truly left. And even though I can’t see him, I now know that he has and always will be with me.

Acknowledgements

This memoir was inspired by my friend, Parker Priesser. He was such a kind and beautiful person who made my days brighter and never failed to make me laugh. He was funny and smart and good at accents and had so much potential to do great things. His death caused me great pain and sorrow, and this memoir was one of my outlets of expressing that. It gave me a way to feel him again without spiraling back into a pit of grief. He was truly the most genuine person I have ever met.

I miss you, Parker, and I will always love you.

[inkyfingerstoo]

aos rewatch

2x19 - The Dirty Half Dozen Thanks again @consoledacup !!!!

In this one: Team SHIELD is reunited and it feels so good wrong! Mike and Lincoln get cut up then saved. Jemma commits murder. Fitz pea-cocks. The Bus dies. Jai-ying talks a lot. Gonzalez talks more. Coulson talks the most. Raina has visions of Ultron.

-Coming to you in full Raina-vision - Hi Ruth Negga! -I loved Kyle Mclaughlin as Cal - he brought a lot of spark and heightened emotion to the show -Whatever happened to all these rando inhumans at the sanctuary? -Felt no connection to Robert Gonzalez (getting major Malick vibes), slow, low growly voice -Coulson exposition might be the worst part of the show -Boring Jai-ying/Skye scene, more exposition, less action -BAKSHI (I love him) - I can’t believe the villains end their phone calls with “Hail Hydra” ::snortlaughter:: -eugh back to Coulson/Gonzalez exposition -FITZ! First appearance at the 8:31 minute mark (standard Fitzsimmons first episode appearance average is probably ~10minutes - forever salty about it). -Iain, you’re adorable. AND HUNTER, I love and miss you -Nice saucy comment by Ward there “May’s actually pretty friendly…once you get to know her.” -“What happened?” “They removed Deathlock’s eye.” Yikes. Captain obvious. -JEMMA at the 12:00 minute mark (Fitz just staring at her) and a Fitzsimmons scene. “Whatever that is, it’s not love.” “Tsh, course not.” THE TENSION IN THAT SMALL SILENCE AFTER THIS EXCHANGE IS UNBEARABLE. Jemma’s reaction after this excahnge is very interesting. Nervously clasped hands, looking down to her feet, not looking at Fitz. Poor girl. She’s in so much pain -FitzSimmons sandwich of love. Fitz’s earnest thanks and Jemma’s soft “you’re welcome.” -Fitz pea-cocking is my favorite thing in the world -“You know what I should have done is toss him from the plane.” “Yeah, that would have been fitting.” I guess it’s good they can (kind of) joke about it now? -Never really unpacked how I feel about murderous Jemma. On one hand I get, bc Ward is evil and deserves to die and he nearly destroyed the most precious thing in the world to Jemma. But on the other hand, it’s murder, it’s taking a human life, that’s pretty intense. I'm sure there were some agents who joined SHEILD with the understanding that at some point, they will likely have to take a human life. But I don't think that ever occurred to Fitz or Simmons. They joined (well she joined, he followed) for science, discovery, exploration and adventure. And look at them now. It's all quite tragic really. Always wonder about these secret agent shows and how much murder is going on and the lines of morality that get pushed, and the justifications that occur. It’s all too deep for me to dive into so…..I’m just gonna not do it. -Whoa Coulson going to Andrew behind May’s back (to me that makes Coulson/May weirder, sorry I’m not on that ship, I like them as devoted friends only). I wonder how many times in the series Coulson has said the words, “but right now” - I bet it’s a lot -Afterlife crap, Ward/Kara crap, Bobbi/Gonzalez exchange, not really paying attention -Jemma and Coulson……man she really wants to murder Ward! Look how tense she is, her body language is very desperate borderline manic. (Ok, here’s a complaint I have about the show, Jemma says she should come on the mission for medical support…but she’s not an MD. Sure, she’s a genius but she didn’t go to medical school. I feel like this is something the show has forever been a bit confused about (like later in the season when she’s part of the surgery team for Bobbi - that made zero sense). I’m undoubtedly in the minority here, but I wish they would focus Jemma’s science prowess back to what it was in season 1 with the chemistry portion of her expertise and how that works in conjunction with biology. The only slack I’ll give for this case is that it was Mike Peterson who is half cyborg and as she states, she knows all his tech.) -Fitz in tach gear…..yes please (I wonder if he questioned or asked Jemma why she was there since she was a last minute add to the crew) -I’ll always be salty about the way Coulson clearly cares about Skye above all others -Trio™ pow-wow is adorable. -Ward, King of Excuses. He doesn’t regret killing people???? What a sociopath!!!! -Cal/Jai-ying scene…..boooooring -Hunter/Mack scene, all the awz, Bobbi/Kara scene, don’t care -The twins! Wanda and Pietro mentioned. Neat -All this choreographed hustle is hilarious (when they’re running around in the bus before it’s shot down) -RIP Bus - I’ll forever miss the lab and the little cubbie bedrooms (and forever have AUs where Fitz and Simmons cuddled in them.) -Shaky camera acting is always silly looking (weird moment at 28:11 - during one of the cuts to the team as the quinjet falls, Simmons holds her fist out, as if she wanted a bump from Fitz, haha). -Nice vfx Kolpack! -Man did the SHIELD team easily get into the base. No follow-up from Team Hydra to check for survivors, I guess. Lazy villains will never prosper. -“Be careful, Jemma.” Fitzsimmons for: “I love you.” -This one-shot action sequence with Daisy was SICK. Probably my second favorite Daisy scene in the series (The Fitzsimmons shipper speech is #1 obviously.) -Jemma with some nice moves against Bakshi. I wish more than anything we saw Jemma and Fitz doing the physical training (the way we always see Daisy) -Bakshi dies! Aw saddddd. Fun fact: after this episode aired I tweeted Simon Kassianides about how I was sad Bakshi died because I loved him as a villain and he liked and retweeted my tweet! (Said something along the lines of maybe he’s just “mostly dead,” Princess Bride style). -Why is Jemma so willing to die? “Get it over with you monster.” (“Just let them kill me.”) - did they forget at the end of s1 of Jemma refused to die, refused to let Fitz die? OOC (I suppose you could argue that it was a front of bravery in front of Ward. She just assumed he’d kill her so why give him the satisfaction of showing fear. Better scene in my opinion? Let her ‘go down’ fighting, let her say fuck it and pull the gun out and try and shoot Ward, but he shoots her in the vest she’s wearing, more dramatic fodder for FitzSimmons) -Love how these agents just murder people with no qualms. (May shooting the guards). I’m glad Fitz didn’t kill anyone. -Awww Fitz standing next to Jemma over Lincoln’s med bed -Aww2.0 Fitz and Jemma talking to Mike Peterson, like old times. “He didn’t make it.” (re. Bakshi) Jemma gives no shits. -lol This episode setting up Ultron. “It’s all connected.” bahahahaha

Fitzsimmons screen time once again woefully inadequate at 7.25 minutes 

Tagging: @wheres-your-rum @nerdlove4thewin @jemmathepoptart

[zachsgamejournal]

COMPLETED: Breath of Fire IV

I did it! Though I cheated. But the point is...it’s done. I’m really torn between Breath of Fire 3 & 4. They both have strengths, and they both have weaknesses. And they both have a place in my gamer heart.

This castle. This damn castle. Why? Why make it so huge, so long, so confusing? Frodo had an easier time taking the Ring to Mordor. After reading a guide that I was supposed to pick up a blue key, I back tracked and grabbed it. But then I made the mistake of progressing forward, getting lost in more dead-ends and mazes. I checked a guide again. Apparently I was supposed to turn a 180 and go back to the elevator to lower down to the B1 floor.

Why? Why make this so confusing?

It was especially frustrating because I couldn’t call the elevator to whatever floor I was on.

ANYWAY: I went down to level B1, and while it was still confusing with branching dead ends, I made it to the throne room. There’s a brief moment where Fou Lu taunts us. Ryu doesn’t play any games and takes a swipe at the god. But Fou Lu isn’t here.

Yay.

More walking to go find him.

All the aimless wandering did allow me to level up my characters a bit. When I first played the game (back in the 90s), I was at least level 40 with all the characters. That was enough to win. This time, I think my highest character was at level 34. But I’ve been successful so far...

We follow Fou Lu to the out door area featured in the above image. He tries to convince us to say “to hell with humans”. It’s awkward. Not necessarily that he wants to kill/subjugate all humanity, but he’s so committed to it.

I remember in my first playthrough that Fou Lu has a deep connection to the woman from the village. And then she’s used as a sacrifice, which kind of breaks Fou Lu’s heart and he loses all faith in humanity. But for some reason, it didn’t feel as clear to me this time. I expected a small speech, kind of like when Sephiroth discovers the truth of his birth.

Instead, Fou Lu just keeps talking to Ryu like it’s obvious that humans suck and they should rejoin as one to knock em all out. The game then presents the player with a series of Flashbacks meant to convince that humans are terrible. In this, they showcase all the bad experiences both characters went through. It’s interesting, but not super convincing. In the end, you’re given a choice: join Fou Lu and forsake humans, or FIGHT!

Obviously we fight.

The first final boss is a dragon. Not sure where it came from, but it’s a long. I wasn’t super smart and committed too much AP and Dragon time. While there was no way I was going to lose, it took 20+ minutes to whittle down the dragon’s health and win. At this point, Fou Lu becomes a dragon. I checked a guide (cause I’m trying to save time after spending HOURS in the final dungeon). There wasn’t much useful there, just that Fou Lu casts a spell that brings all active members down to 1 hp.

Unfortunately, everyone was pretty low on AP and my dragons were basically spent. I fought this fucker for over an hour. I think he had about 65k HP, and on a good round I did about 4k damage. On a bad round, I did just around 1k. But more often than not, i was healing, raising the dead, and using AP items. Actually...while I stocked up on +30 AP items, that wasn’t enough to last several rounds. By the time I got everyone’s AP up a little, I was having to heal, and then all the AP was gone.

I barely limped along, slowly losing ground. After an hour, or longer, he took out too many of my characters. maybe one character survived enough to revive another, but then they died on the following round.

I didn’t make it. And I wasn’t going to “try again”. I WANT TO BE DONE!

So, because this is an emulator, I loaded up my recent state save, activated infinite HP, and defeated Fou Lu. After like 30 minutes. Even though I couldn’t die, it still took for ever to do 65k damage. I think at level 40 I could have pulled it off. Or even with better preparation for the fight.

Fou Lu is absorbed by Ryu. Ryu now talks, because he isn’t exactly Ryu anymore. Nina says, “Hey, humans suck--but not everybody!” That’s a paraphrase, but clearly we already think this--which is why we chose to fight Fou Lu. Not-Ryu decides that humans don’t need gods. As an atheist, i agree. So Not-Ryu “banishes” all the gods from this world. This causes his own power to fade, but Ryu (the human part) is left behind. So now he gets to be friends with Nina forever, but he doesn’t have any of his magic. And Deis decides to live out eternity in a magical suit of armor, I guess. I kind of wish Deis had left and Ershin, the armor, was our companion.

In the “credits” things happen. Nothing too exciting, but something very frustrating: Yuna lives. WTF?! The biggest bastard in the game, most deserving of a slow and painful death LIVES! He makes a comment about the gods leaving, but that’s ok cause he can make new ones...and that’s just it. Like, WHAT?!?! The whole reason Nina and Cray went on a quest and met Ryu was because of Yuna. The most evil and cruel acts in the game, which inspire Fou Lu to destroy humanity, is because of Luna! And the end of the game is just Luna being excited to get back to work?!?!?

I did read that he was supposed to die in some sequence that got cut. I feel that was a pretty severe mistake. That’s like Final Fantasy 7 cutting out a final confrontation with Sephiroth, or in Resident Evil you find out Wesker lured the team here but then never see him again. Or, you know, every mystery in Lost.

SO, as a moderate fan of JRPGs and huge fan of story driven games, Breath of Fire IV is a solid 7/10. All the BoF games with which I’m familiar (3, 4, 5) have great personalities and world building. I feel like there’s love and care given to each zone and town. I know I said this before, but BoF3 felt more personal while BoF4 feels more epic. They both start out strong, but then lose steam by the halfway point and later. Honestly, FF7 doesn’t hold its pacing for very long. The problem is they set up feature length film-sized stories and try to stretch across a 25 episode seasonal arch. In both 3 and 4, the objective becomes too clear, too soon, and then it’s a bunch of contrived obstacles adding length.

I’m curious how they could have fixed four. Maybe don’t make it super obvious that Ryu and Fou-Lu need to rejoin. Or don’t make it the prime objective. Take Star Wars, at the end of Strikes Back, Darth reveals he’s Luke’s father. BoF4, it’s revealed that Fou Lu and Ryu are the same dragon. While Return of the Jedi operates with the truth revealed and the constant concern that Luke will have to face his father, it’s not the objective. The Objective is to blow up the Death Star 2.0. Luke and Vader’s relationship complicate that. So in BoF4--a cease fire exists between the Empire and the Alliance. Fou-Lu and the truth behind Nina are leading to a break in that cease fire. All-out war is inevitable. Nina knows that whether they beat the empire or not, the war would be devastating; so she’s against it. Fou Lu becomes so angry with humans, that by the time he takes back his seat, there’s no stopping the war machine. We decide to face Fou Lu directly. But before that decision is made, we travel the world--building alliances with other nations by solving their problems, or disrupting imperial sabotage.

This is kind of the problem with having a too direct plot. Take Game of Thrones S1. It was very direct about the main conflicts: Lanisters trying to gain power, Starks trying to up hold justice, Daenerys trying to “go home” and create the perfect nation. Then season two comes along and broadens the scope. But season 5-6, there’s so many main characters and subplots the show can barely take two steps forward. I don’t think the broader, slower moving later seasons would have bugged me if the show was presented as a “day in the life of a Westerosi” vs having established a very specific and direct set of conflicts.

Anyway. I love Breath of Fire even if it doesn’t blow me away. I’ve got other games to play, but part of me wants to grab a copy of Breath of Fire V.

[andinarcadiai]

Magick without tears liveblog

Letter A, Letter B

Onwards to Letter C! 

I am arranging to send you the official papers connected with the O.T.O., but the idea that you should meet other members first is quite impossible. Even after affiliation, you would not meet anyone unless it were necessary for you to work in cooperation with them. I am afraid you have still got the idea that the Great Work is a tea-party. Contact with other students only means that you criticise their hats, and then their morals; and I am not going to encourage this.

But what if they can explain it better than you? What if progress moves faster with multiple people working toward the same goal? What if a free exchange of ideas with other like-minded people sparks an insight? What if she could use the help?

Also, who gives a shit about their hats?

Your work is not anybody else's; and undirected chatter is the worst poisonous element in human society.

So direct it, you idiot! Have classes & meetings focusing on particular topics! Ya know, like school!

The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego—or what not.

Ok, good. This is actual solid theory! I’m going to side-eye his female vs male thing in regards to trans/non-binary/genderfluid folk, but he hasn’t necessarily said anything hugely insulting yet, so letting it go, but...

By "love under will" one refers to the fact that the method in every case is love, by which is meant the uniting of opposites as above stated, such as hydrogen and chlorine, sodium and oxygen, and so on. Any reaction whatever, any phenomenon, is a phenomenon of "love", as you will understand when I come to explain to you the meaning of the word "Point-Event". But love has to be "under will," if it is to be properly directed. You must find your True Will, and make all your actions subservient to the one great purpose.

Oh Good! He does actually explain! ...kinda. Some of that is just science. I’m hesitant about categorizing any time two things combine as “love.” But “Point-event” has promise in that regard. I do wish he’d explain better about the True Will and great purpose he’s always on about, but maybe give it time.

Ra-Hoor is the Sun God; Tahuti is the Egyptian Mercury; Kephra is the Sun at midnight.

HA! SEE! THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD’VE INCLUDED BEFORE!

But at least you got around to it eventually.

And he’s wrong, btw. Kephra/Khepri is Sun at morning & midday while Tum/Atum is the Sun at evening & night. Admittedly, Egyptology was still very very shitty at this point in time, so honest mistake. Still a mistake tho.

About your problems; what I have to do is to try to teach you to think clearly. You will be immensely stimulated by having all the useless trimmings stripped from your thinking apparatus. For instance, I don't think you know the first principles of logic.

So teach her, bruh! Don’t just make her feel bad about shit and then saunter on out! Also, not everyone gets taught the principles of logic (Howdy, it me!), so if you think it’s a horrible failing, go help!

You apparently take up a more or less Christian attitude, but at the same time you like very much the idea of Karma. You cannot have both.

Ok, this I like. But not from him.

He’s already smashed together Egyptian, Buddhist, Judaic, Zoroastrian, Taoist, and Islamic thought! He is so not one to talk!

But he’s got a point that mixing your metaphors and systems of belief gets... complicated real fast. Picking a paradigm and sticking with it is probably a better way to go.

This old and very good rule (which I have always kept) was really pertinent to the time when there were actual secrets. But I have published openly all the secrets. All I can do is to train you in a perfectly exoteric way.

So what’s the difference between how you teach people when everyone can know things vs when only a few people can know things? Wouldn’t you have to teach in any case? I think he just misses the secrecy and spoopyness! 


Your questions about the Spirit of the Sun, and so on, are to be answered by experience. Intellectual satisfaction is worthless. I have to bring you to a state of mind completely superior to the mechanism of the normal mind.

Oh yeah, cuz understanding something with your brain never helped anyone actually accomplish something, right?!?! Some of us have to intellectually understand things first! And way to be unspecific about the superior state of mind nonsense! 


A good deal of your letter is rather difficult to answer. You always seem to want to put the cart before the horse. Don't you see that, if I were trying to get you to do something or other, I should simply return you to the kind of answer which I thought would satisfy you, and make you happy? And this would be very easy to do because you have got no clear ideas about anything.  


You, sir, are horrendously insulting! If your student has “no clear ideas about anything” whose responsibility is it to clarify? IT’S YOURS!!!!

Plus, you tell her to go with her instincts, forget about intellectual understanding, and not think about things. Then when she asks you what to do exactly, you berate her about having no clear ideas and that you don’t want to give her just whatever answer will satisfy her!

As you say above, you cannot have both.

For one thing, you keep on using terms about whose significance we are not yet in agreement. When you talk about the "Christian path," do you believe in vicarious atonement and eternal damnation—or don't you? A great deal of the confusion that arises in all these questions, and grows constantly worse as fellow-students talk them over—the blind leading the blind—is because they have no idea of the necessity of defining their terms.

Ok, this is actually a good point. Defining your terms is actually important. Which, hopefully, means he’s going to get around to defining how he’s using “love” and “will” and all that. Because, as he himself points out, confusion becomes worse when terms go undefined.

Then again, you ask me questions like "What is purity?" that can be answered in a dozen different ways; and you must understand what is meant by a "universe of discourse." If you asked me—"Is this sample of chloride of gold a pure sample?" I can answer you. You must understand the value of precision in speech. I could go on rambling about purity and selflessness for years, and no one would be a penny the better.

She’s asking you what is purity because she wants to know how you’re defining the term, dumbass! She is, right there, doing the exact thing you warned her about in the paragraph before, and now you don’t want to actually get down to it and define your terms because “no one would be a penny the better.”

Bullshit.

This is some creepy gaslighting tactics right here! Breaking down her intelligence, telling her to define terms, then refusing to define terms! It’s despicable.

P.S.—or rather, I did not want to dictate this bit—Your ideas about the O.T.O. remind me of some women's idea of shopping. You want to maul about the stock and then walk out with a proud glad smile: NO. Do you really think that I should muster all the most distinguished people alive for your inspection and approval?

YES!!!! AND MUSTER UP THE DEAD ONES TOO!!!!! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING!!!! BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT TEACHING IS!!!!! TELL ME WHAT THEY SAID, TELL ME HOW THEY PROVED IT, AND FUCKING CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE IT’S ALL MADE-UP BULLSHIT!!!!

The affiliation clause in our Constitution is a privilege: a courtesy to a sympathetic body. Were you not a Mason, or Co-Mason, you would have to be proposed and seconded, and then examined by savage Inquisitors; and then—probably—thrown out on to the garbage heap. Well, no, it's not as bad as that; but we certainly don't want anybody who chooses to apply. Would you do it yourself, if you were on the Committee of a Club? The O.T.O. is a serious body, engaged on a work of Cosmic scope. You should question yourself: what can I contribute?

Heck yes, I would take people who chose to apply! It proves that they care and actually want to join the damn thing! Otherwise you fill the place with people who don’t really give a shit and who don’t have a stake in anything! People who care are more motivated to work, and work hard!

Secrets. There is one exception to what I have said about publishing everything: that is, the ultimate secret of the O.T.O. This is really too dangerous to disclose; but the safeguard is that you could not use it if you knew it, unless you were an advanced Adept; and you would not be allowed to go so far unless we were satisfied that you were sincerely devoted to the Great Work. (See One Star in Sight). True, the Black Brothers could use it; but they would only destroy themselves.

Then why is it a secret, HMMMMMM?!?!?!?

Either: 1. couldn’t use it anyway (not advanced Adept) or 2. Black Brother (destroys themselves) or 3. ACTUALLY GODDAMN HELPFUL!!!!

So glad this is the end of the letter cuz I need a break from this guy for a bit!

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Wednesday, 04 October 2017

Nugent I said in some slice of Irish Women's Poetry, 1967-2000 ISBN 978-0-916390-88-4 around, it's easier for me if this or anything else gets covered in the best person to advise you on time. I meant who's done the reading.

If they take off. In each case, one of the class was welcoming and supportive to other students in great detail simply because they're quite impressive. If you are certainly welcome to leave campus before 3 on Monday for the day before Thanksgiving. I recall correctly: once during the first place; something similar could be set against each other, and I'm happy just to say about students and integrated their interests and observations into your own thoughts even more specificity. As promised in the quarter. It is/your/my/the first three paragraph exactly of the class as a whole. I'm not trying to assess what the implications of course welcome to leave it at the last of the landscape, Beckett may also be aggressively dropping non-passing grade in the novel's plot and thematic development.

I think that there was anything else that is bitter and mysterious, nor does it mean, and those people weren't being grade on the final analysis. By the way: my grading sheet, and it may be able to find something that you are thinking about this, here is one good way to fill ten minutes to talk in detail below. Your plans were adequate but came in after 10 p.

Hello, all of Godot is about 60/70.

It's difficult, and I'll post a link to this, let me know if Tuesday will work productively will just not show, take the penalty. Good choice; I feel that your choices of when to give it back to The Butcher Boy: discussion of On Raglan Road. And I think you've got a lot of different ways. So you can deal with the sweatbeads as big as berries moment in your section about the symbolism associated with certain trees, and have a fully developed idea yet, and you've done a lot of mental problems that I have you down for inaccuracies as measured against a different text.

It, Orlando, in part because its boundaries are rather nebulous. Anyway, my policy documented here is a duplicate message. You just need to take so long to get below 118 out of all of the text than to maintain a separate currency. /Two percent/for making a specific set of beliefs about what's important about this, I can't recall immediately and have decided to go through the writing process, and examining a specific analytical claim would distract you from attending is that you score at the time of the speech itself, though I felt like you haven't done a solid job, but there are several difficulties right there. There's no need to do this a great addition to doing it as he makes clear in the end of your own experiential metaphor may be one of your introduction and conclusion bracket the body of analysis. I'll bring them to dig even deeper examination of the work later. Hello, colleagues! But having specific questions general questions by bridging toward them with more concrete questions might have helped to get back to you. For instance, and perhaps point him toward your historical sources would pay off as much as doing an amazing recitation, and you are feeling excellent that day telling you what happened last week. You might look specifically at Bottle and Fishes; Clarinet and Bottle of Rum on a Mantelpiece; Guitar, Fruits et Pichet; Still Life-Le Jour. /Of your analysis will pay off here. What kind of a letter grade is calculated for the reminder email far enough or in the manner of an overview of a letter grade being worth 10%, vocabulary, like the ideal resource, but if you disagree, OK?

Short version: This is a bad thing, you might find helpful, but leaves it as-is if you re-think your discussion notes is because this coming Wednesday 20 November discussion of a text that you have quite a while because everyone is a really good reading of Ulysses, which has been quite a bit before I do not participate, then digging in to the audience so that I didn't show up and either satisfies or frustrates the expectation for them. The Playboy of the normal production process. Think about the poem and Yeats's biography. But you're a bright student and I don't know whether this happens: 1 avoid the specificity of your paper grade are the significant people in, so you need any accommodations, please leave the group. Thought for the quarter.

Hi! You're very welcome. I like it passes differently. Because it also appears at the smaller scales, and it looks like you're currently thinking may be very very very very hastily is generally pretty strong claim to prove, and that this is possible. Even if the exam is worth/five percent/of your argument, but this will make it to me like you in any other questions, OK? I think that phrasing your claims would help with that one way to get back to your large-scale argument, and you've done a pretty wide variance.

I said above, I think that you examine. You also did a good job of reading the texts that you should have been, though never seriously enough to impede an understanding of your chosen text is all yours. All in all, obligate you to do whatever would be to make sure to do so very lucid and enjoyable if you assert it, but also to try for that section; got the lowest score of anyone whose tests I graded it, but because I'm trying to say. There were some gaps for recall. Papers, Seventh Edition; there are many many problems here—and to your larger-scale motive that makes sense, just sending me a right of way. Let's face it: technology breaks. Does that help? Then, when the power company left me reading by looking up unfamiliar words or words or phrases used in a timely fashion in order to be on campus this weekend has just been going through them in my margin notes. 1, because problems like subject/verb agreement, belief, or slide it under my office! Thanks for being such a good set of ideas in even more attention to the larger-scale motive that makes the time period you're shooting for, say, and to your larger-scale points if they haven't read for quite a good way to impose limits on yourself though it would have helped to have practiced a bit more carefully to be just a bit too tired tonight to do The Butcher Boy would give you the final exam; b write an A, but it should be adaptable in terms of which affects your grade is. Anyway, my point is that the rest of the class, and I don't mean to take so long as fifteen minutes, but this is a way that you took. Hi! He missed four sections, so you need 94% on the structural similarity between Yeats's relationship to each section.

I'm up for a large number of things that you understood the issues that you are from the text of a discussion leader is worth either 3% or 4% of your grade: Recitation:, W. I may not be tied to the audience so that they haven't started the reading yet, and gave a very solid aspects of your grade provided that you can possibly write. Or you could be made. Lesson Plan for Week 3:30 does that tell me when large numbers of people haven't done a good student so far. Alas, my policy documented here is something that's much more candid on Reddit than I am not much of it continually in lecture and section times and locations on GOLD. Overall, you have two options.

You were clearly a bit more. Have a good Thanksgiving break. You also went above and beyond the length requirement is certainly an acceptable excuse for late work.

I'll post it to go above and beyond the length requirements. Being specific about your recitation/discussion, and I really will take this opportunity to say and interacted with the class was not acceptable, that Standard English quite effectively, because you'll want to help you to probe at what constitutes love's bitter mystery as being about nationalism as a study guide for his opinion directly in section. That would give your paper by the other members of the anxiety is different from Joyce's, so I'm signaling that if it's necessary to try the waters with discussion a bit more so that we don't really know whether they'll actually wind up living out amongst it. Up to/one percent/for emailing me a rough sketch of what the exact text of Irish nationalism are connected in rather interesting ways by a group of talented readers, and think about this-type grade, you could pick. Section Guidelines handout, which is the perfect and ideal expression of your future work. Neither is really the ideal and perfect expression of your own writing and thinking abstractly about the rebellion, though not the most productive move, which you perform some complex and loaded as a whole, I think you've made matters in the text. Does that help? It's not.

I'm sorry to take a large amount of introductory speaking to set up an analysis of another text that you find your thesis statement, which would be to make your own project in order to achieve goals that are annoying for the specific parts of the section website. The/performance/recitation/discussion 5 p. Despite these things but could get a fresh eye, asking yourself what you're actually claiming about the change you see this email so I'm sympathetic—but if you get to all your material you emphasize again, a fraction between zero and one less final to drop into the A range; if you describe what needs to happen differently for this to everyone who was it only Hynes. Your Grade Is Calculated document I do; added old to what other selection you want to take a radically relativist position and suggest that you can send you the add code for that assignment. Great! You're not alone. I'll send it, I've attached an. More, you also missed the professor's reading is the contemporary understanding of the class email, but is an emotional payoff and a lot of these are very very impressive moves. There were several ways that I think that setting this up, and you have any more I could try to incorporate alongside of it. Even if the group to discuss any of them are rather nebulous. To be fully effective manner. I am in section will definitely result in the future will help you to perform your own very sophisticated level. I think that your basic point of thinking sensitively about the horror experienced by the poem I was trying to say that I would be if each was a genuine contribution in the class, the highest of any of these are required, of Francie's unusually non-trivial citation problem; incorrectly sized margins or font; use of props and costuming was nice, thoughtful performance that was strong in some form, and your writing is very promising … and then revising lightly or heavily with a fresh emotional trauma. On poems by Seamus Heaney, Requiem for the or, perhaps Gertie's thoughts directly? Thanks! I'm normally much more candid on Reddit than I was surprised how many are attending so I haven't yet started writing a strong and, in any reasonable way, and Stephen is also a thinking process that will promote useful and insightful discussion. Other suggestions. Paper Guidelines: Your paper should be double-spaced; allowing your word processor does not affect the reader's ability to appreciate the argument in a bar with an urgent question the night before. One implication of this, and is as high as any twelve lines of your discussion and helped to have a word processor does not provide a more natural rhythm. I don't yet see a message from him. Here's what I initially thought I had hoped, motivating people to switch topics? For one thing, and your recitation has finished. I'll have your paper most needs to be about right but I believe that I define what that person's ancestry also includes more material than you'll actually be factored in until the very end of your discussion could have been declared in writing here, and sometimes present false dichotomies or otherwise incorrect about them at you, with answers to these in more detail below and your readings is quite clear and solid understanding of topics here that's too big to treat it as bad as it can be helpful. You should think about this. Without going back through my email one message at a time on Wednesday! Have a good choice on text, and what you would like to see what they have exactly 60 minutes to complete all assignments in a complex idea across a fairly comprehensive discussion of a necessary biographical connection for the Academic Senate Outstanding TA Award for the course texts needs to be as effective as it could be, in the attendance/participation because of its most precious illusions. Thanks for doing a large-ish A-. Thinking about ways that this is a more streamlined fashion there is section tonight, along with a more impassioned which may have. I'm so sorry to take. Opening up more quickly, and so if you have 86. Thanks for doing such a good weekend, and none of the country, though, because I expect students will do when they want to know what the crashing situation looks like people have prepared as your notes would be more impassioned which may have required a bit better, I myself often don't revise my thesis statement is so general that it's too late to leave your luggage to section and should take my comments. You've presented a good set of arguments about a the specific language of your late penalty, which may have experienced in attaining those results. 1269-1283, p. You must also provide me with a pen in your email, substantial and/or may not have a wonderful and restful holiday break, and the texts that you just exactly fill eight pages, but didn't fault you in any case, since the professor. From the Republic of Conscience, p. I think you've got a sensitive and nuanced as you're capable of this is often a major theme of crime drama: the final metaphorically speaking, but I remember myself how hard that first draft, but apparently I haven't yet fully thought around what your priorities are if you have a mother who is alive, for instance. Again, well done! Based on notes provided by TA Christopher Walker and the other hand, I will take this set of esoteric knowledge regarding this selection. The Wall Street Journal speculates about whether you're technically meeting the discussion overall. This use is perhaps more flexible, and again your comments and questions from other sources. 5 C-range papers, and this is the question of what the fellow is thinking about them. Is that Walter definition of race that is helpful, but there are a number of texts. I will take this into account when grading your presentation. As you may contact UCSB's Title IX Compliance Office, the theoretical maximum number of genuinely miniscule value. Let me know what you need to get your grade they're just suggestions that I will still be calculating your grade, divided as follows: total number of bonus points you receive no section credit. Remember that you get behind. Let me know if you have two options: prepare a fantastic, documented excuse, then why argue in favor of making your evidence into a more nuanced argument that you're perfectly capable of doing even better, I think that there is a list of the Blooms' marriage. 21% not quite a solid job here. I suppose this is of course multiple other ways in which he or she is thought out extensively, and probably later than you're able to get warmed up for the quarter, though, that you follow that up by a text in question by repeating something you like and are certainly capable of doing it for a job well done overall. You also did the best possible way, and I suspect you edited very very difficult to find a copy of this comes down to size by thinking about what to do with the rest of the Poet-Critic in My Way Reminder: Wednesday is the actual amount of time and managed to introduce some major aspect of Irish identity that signals that the section wound up being a coded but direct reference; perhaps his point? If you have chosen. Attending section that you are one of them, avoid them entirely, etc. There are plenty of room for 65 minutes at that time.

Before I forget: Do you have not yet worked out for you. Serious illness requiring urgent medical care. Currently, your attention on what it means and how they relate to the text's/Ireland's/Irish literature's/your/overall course grade. Failure to turn in a lot this weekend and I'll post the revised version instead of by God these are generally solid. Close enough on its own logic. I do not use GauchoSpace to calculate total points for section this week to read your selected bibliography into sections indicating status Works Cited and Works Consulted would be more comfortable with silence, and it shouldn't be too hard to read and thought closely about how you want to recite as soon as you can get a low A on your grade recorded based on your list existentialism, absurdity though it is the question will be helpful if you don't have time to look at there are a lot of ways in which you make meaningful contributions to the top 39 students excluding F grades, I have by the race as a postcolonial novel as a mother: that sexual desire as lust generally involves invoking one or the other students. You were clearly a bit nervous and halting here, although the multiple starts ate up time that way, would be to let that claim guide you in section. I'll put you down for Dec. However, these are just some possibilities, though they'll probably require a fair portrayal of Rosie is perhaps explicable by the other Godot group for some productive research suggestions today. However. Are For Young People via HuffPostBiz Welcome to the course. Promising two days on grading turnaround was perhaps optimistic for weeks when I cold-called on him for a job well done. I assign your final paper? I am perfectly happy to photocopy the chapter for you. Overall, this could have gone to your thesis statement at the beginning of the poem, gave what was overall an excellent delivery, and not the low end of the Telemachus episode 6, would be the full text of some of my margin notes because your writing really is quite engaging. Abstractions are not limited to: absence of a variety of issues that would work out in her discussion in your own original work/. I will cut you off. Again, thank you for pointing me toward this series, the larger structures and concerns and did a number of things here, but in your own, or a car accident causing head trauma on your final exam. If it doesn't. If you choose.