#after vm made their announcement

[thelordfool]

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!

Long story short: I'm unemployed and will not, unlike what I originally thought, qualify for unemployment benefits.

Please read the readmore for additional context on why I'm unemployed. This post is basically a continuation/update/redo of this post. I'm suffering a sickness with no medicine the past week, applied for almost 100 jobs the last two weeks, am disabled/queer/nonbinary/tired of ebegging. I'm also in the negatives in my bank account because my car payment came out, so I need to get that covered.

pp/vm/ca

$250/$1151.51

i need at least $511.51 of this by the first. please spread if you're financially unable to help, every person this reaches helps! here's the breakdown of the costs: $640 - car payment + late fees $380 - rent $131.51 - negative amount in bank currently

Oh hey thanks for stopping by to read this annoying tale of woe and being angry at capitalism. Prepare for wall of text.

I once had two jobs. The first job, at a chain restaurant, was a bit of a clique-y experience where I was working my damndest to be the best bartender they ever had. I still have all the cocktails memorized. However, I continually faced discrimination in the form of severe misgendering, no matter how often I corrected them. I was also set up for failure. Usually, when someone gets hired for a position, there's some amount of training to be done, no matter how experienced they are, right? I was going in nearly entirely inexperienced into the role. I knew how to make cocktails, sure, and was and still am very good with people and selling. But I was trained for two days. Two. Then, on my first night alone (a Friday), I was watched by one of the bigwigs at corporate who saw every little flub and failure. This caused a demotion-ish. I was demoted to barback but was allowed the same privileges. Until their next visit. That upset the hell out of me - I was well trained by that point and could do it all, with one hand tied behind my back. I digress. It was about 2 months following my demotion when i finally walked out. A new bartender had been hired and she thought I was being a total creep by looking at a ticket that had just come in. She stormed off to report me to the manager who, even after hearing my side where I had asked her if there was anything on the ticket that I could grab, said that I "needed to communicate better," and "you should be learning from her," and "you're a grown man, you should know better." I don't think I need to explain why that was so upsetting.

But I didn't report them, because I just wanted to be done with it. I was also working another bartending job, and everythign was literally perfect other than the hours, honestly. I loved the product the distillery made, I loved the people I worked with, and most of all: I had my own regulars. Last month, they hired a new hospitality director, who announced there would be some restructuring, including getting rid of servers while also making a full dinner menu to serve alongside drinks. I said nothing of it, despite my disagreements, and she assured us all that no one would lose their jobs, but just moved into different roles. We all kinda grumbled about it, and I told her that under no circumstances would I work back of house. Easy peasy. Till it wasn't, and I came home to a voicemail while on break with my partner that I'd been let go due to the restructuring. So much for no one losing their jobs, right? I hadn't been the only victim of this. I have my suspicions as to why the new hospitality director did these things, but I've no energy to throw around conspiracies. All I know is that I was shafted by both of these places and I'm tired of being broke. I'm applying, still going to fight, and... sigh.

tl;dr (why did you click the readmore?): i left a job due to discrimination and lost another due to company restructuring and i'm tired and sad and aaaaa.

[tutuandscoot]

HI! How wonderful your reflections, your polls and all the things you know about VM!!

May I ask if you can make a post with all their ways of holding hands from the standard skating/dance ones to the more personal ones?

Because this is one of the traits I love most about them, how they always hold hands, in warm-ups, to get on the podium, how they look for each other and instinctively find each other ❤️ but sometimes I read technical terms on the type of grip and I don't know anything about it 😅

Thank you 😊

Thank you lovely! Yes of course I’d be more than happy to!

So I’ll explain the difference between ‘dance hold’ and other types then I’ll share some other favourite handy holdy moments!

So the term ‘dance hold’ refers to the way ice dancers (and pairs for that matter) typically hold hands on the ice when they are not in the program- just skating around on practices/warm ups/stroking, as well as presenting/bowing.

It is made up of the man always standing on the left of the women. His right hand- palm facing up, she then puts her left hand in his- usually just fingers touching, then he wraps his fingers and thumb over her hand:

This is the most typical (expected/trained) hold as it allows for easy transitions. When skating around and they are going into choreography, say maybe one has to turn to skate backwards to then go into a waltz/tango (closed) hold, it is easy to do so because they just have to pivot and their hands stay together until they move into wherever they are starting the movement from. It also is the most economical for things like bows and the men presenting their partners. In the case of VM, they do a very traditional (and strict- they hardly ever deviated from this) where he will hold her in dance hold throughout the bows. As she turns under his arm their hands stay joined by pivoting in the hold:

As this hold is trained from a young age (whether teams stay together or not) it is the standard across all dance teams and pairs. In the few cases where it may differ: is if the team is a couple irl- they may be more accustomed to holding hands as two people would off the ice (for the purpose of this post I’m going to call it ‘normal’ hand hold) and switch between dance hold and normal hold more incidentally (however I have not seen many instances of this in the skating I’ve watched).

OR.. you are VM

In their early senior career, they almost always used dance hold. There are a couple of moments where a normal hand hold will sneak in:

Post 2010-up to 2014, I would say it was maybe 60-40 dance hold to normal hold. They would most often change out of dance hold after their bows, then go to a normal hold as they leave the ice:

In the first little bit of the comeback (ie footage from SCI 2016) they are mostly in dance hold, as the season progressed you will begin to notice they are in normal hold more and more:

Their final competitive season (17-18) was about 90/95- 10/5 normal hold. The only times (of the footage I’ve seen) they would use dance hold is in bows, the few seconds before going into choreography, or the few moments before presenting as their names are announced. At times they even forgot to change out of normal hold and had to present the awkward way:

Seeing anon that you have picked up on it, you have clearly watch enough and noticed (or seen others talking about) the fact they hold hands differently to most other teams. This was not something I picked up on for quite a while but is now something I see immediately and hold a lot of weight to- in that there must be a reason for why they used it more and more- both as opposed to other teams and looking at their own career progress, they abandoned using dance hold. I do not know why they did this- it’s something I would love to ask them. If I were to hazard a guess, like some other things with them the more you notice it happening the more there must be a reason for it/it holds significance; like him asking if she’s ok after a skate, telling her ‘good job’, saying ‘I’m proud of you’- there must be some sentimental/deeper meaning behind holding hands the way they do. They were once quoted saying “holding hands is the most intimate thing two people can share” T said in their video intro to their last skate at each RTR performance “thank you for holding my hand for 22 years”. They do not wear gloves ever in performances because they like to be able to feel each other’s skin- there’s a sensitivity to that that’s really important (as well as safety). I would say holding hands is something that’s incredibly special to them, something so simple but they hold so much of their connection in being able to squeeze and hold each other, communicate and feel safe.

What makes it so obvious whether they are in dance or normal (or now introducing.. the ‘VM hold’) is they normal hold with his hand on top. Just like crossing your legs, there is a comfortable way and a more unnatural way, everyone will have certain preferences over which is more comfortable. They are clearly more comfortable holding with her hand under and his over. Whether this fact has anything to do with them gradually abandoning dance hold as their standard.. seems unlikely since it was something that had been trained into them since young children- I don’t think it would be a ‘discomfort’ factor. With his hand on top it’s easy to notice when they change from dance hold (her’s on top) to this hold, or if you are just seeing them stroking around and are trying to figure out what’s going on.

There’s a further few moments- most noticeably and predominantly during PYC 2018 (but there were a few before then, namely on the flower ceremony podium in 2014), where they will do ‘the VM hold’:

This is a normal hand hold, but he will wrap his index finger around her pinky. I’ve read others say this may be something where her hand/fingers get a little crushed when holding normally bc her hand is smaller. That seems fair, since I don’t think there would be some super specific, cryptic reason for it, and in that they go into it fairly naturally.

•I’m going to do a separate post for my favourite handy holdy moments bc I ran out of gif room 😜

[critter-genfic-events]

Genfic Recs: Featuring Monsters

This week, we have seven fics that deal with monsters - fighting monsters, encountering monsters, making deals with monsters, and from time to time - becoming monsters. Check them out underneath the cut, and if you like them, don't forget to comment or kudos!

undine by ashinan (2893,Teen) Warnings: None Pairings:

Pre-Campaign 2, Fjord has a mermaid encounter

Reccer says: Beautiful and terrifying

till you face the looking-glass by batyatoon (810,General) Warnings: None Pairings:

What if the monsters in the mirror maze had been a different kind of nightmare?

Reccer says: A fascinating look at the mid-campaign Mighty Nein, and an amazing horror premise

clothe, burn, bury by OctoberDays (1211,General) Warnings: None Pairings:

A post-canon possibility of who Keyleth will be after 600 years of living, and what time and fury and grief will do to your heart.

Reccer says: I love stories that look at what it would be like for Keyleth to outlive everyone around her, and this is an amazing look at what might happen to her, long in the future.

A Plea and a Price by ShimadaGenji (1915,Teen) Warnings: Pairings: Mollymauk Tealeaf & Fjord Stone

Mollymauk rejoins the Mighty Nein after his own death, unaware of the circumstances that brought him back. Fjord on the other hand realizes that with every favor...

Reccer says: This fic has infected my brain, it's an amazing what if

The Gifts of the Somnovum by TheInfamousFly (1628,Explicit) Warnings: Body Horror, Suicidal Thoughts, Paranoia, Anxiety, Manipulation, graphic descriptions of violence Pairings: The Somnovum & The Mighty Nein

The Mighty Nein rested for 8 hours in Cognouza. That gave the Somnovum a chance to reveal to them the beauty of their plan.

Reccer says: I liked it

Stepping Stones on the Way to Glory by TheInfamousFly (5554,Mature) Warnings: Slavery, Torture, Body Horror Pairings:

A collection of some of VM's and M9's greatest foes most treasured thoughts.

Reccer says: It's an interesting premise, and covers a lot of ground quickly!

The Fathoms Below by Lady_King (6423,Teen) Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence Pairings:

while shipping a priority item, the crew of the Nein Heroez attract some attention from the deep...

Reccer says: Fantastic battle descriptions with a cute little button at the end

This is one of our weekly communally-generated gen rec lists. Every week we announce a new theme and allow anyone to submit a fic recommendation. Please note that the summary and content notes are provided by the reccer, and may be different than what the author has provided. Please assume good intentions all around. <3

And hey, anyone includes you!

This week a little too dark for you? Well, next week's theme is humor! If it made you laugh, rec it!

Then, it'll be hurt/comfort, Yasha Nydoorin, and then Clothing.

Any fics coming to mind?  Well, then use this form to submit!

If you're looking for some more, check out some fics written in the critter genfic bingo tag, or the older rec lists! Or you can request your own card and join in on the fun!

[anewbeginningagain]

So I was watching some old Canadian nationals and world championships videos from 2015-2018 quad during the holidays and it was the first time I noticed how weaver poje became really successful in 2014/15 but then after VM came back they were dropped like stones so fast that I can only imagine how much they resented VM for it. How was it back then? Was there resentment from w/p and their fans toward VM?

LOL feels like everyone is feeling nostalgic post holidays.

Basically, it was all pretty wild. WeaPo had a surprising success in 2014/15 winning both their GPs and GPF over P/C, then winning 4CC and looking so strong for worlds only to drop to 3rd. P/C's questionable rise aside, WeaPo did what WeaPo always do and lost a lot of points over levels and while looking at the protocols shows they had no chance of beating P/C (their win was all but predetermined at that point), they still lost to C/B over levels. Then during 2015/16 they once again won both their GPs and GPF (in the absence of P/C who were out because of a concussion) but then completely fucked up at 4CC again over lost levels and bad twizzles (which will become a recurrent habit for them all through the quad) getting level 1 lift, level 2 twizzles and level 2 spin, it was a miracle they even got 3rd tbh. Coincidently or not, 4CC dance event finished on 2/19/2016 which is exactly one day before Tessa and Scott announced their comeback which WeaPo knew was going to happen. Then at 2016 Worlds they dropped hard finishing 5th again due to lost levels and bad twizzles.

Those results basically halted any momentum they had and really set them back. Add to that Tessa and Scott's comeback and WeaPo choosing bad material and changing at least one program 3 years straight and also switching the (according to rumors) the only coach willing to take them - and they really had no chance to rise after that.

As for how they took it - not great, they gave an interview that sounded really bitter and unkind at first claiming they were blindsided which was a joke considering basically everyone and their mothers suspected TS are coming back since like at least November 2015, and TS also mentioning that they told them before it was announced. Then they also gave some kind of how the comeback is not related to them and they will always be Kaitlyn and Andrew or something of that sort which even made the reporter be kind of mean to them tbh... They seemed friendly during the second year of TS comeback but it was always clear there was resentment there at least to some degree.

As for how their fans took it - not great either LOL. They were frustrated and kept saying TS had their time and now it's WeaPo's turn and they are ruining it for them. It was all very much the opposite of what sport is about. One anecdote that really stayed with me is a TS fan who was on tumblr and really loved them and also became a WeaPo fan and for a while even after TS announced their comeback she was ok with it all, but then she decided it will be great to lie that she saw TS kiss during Boston Worlds (not a single soul bought that) and then when WeaPo had a really bad season in 2016/17 (and after in 2017/18 too) she decided that it was TS fault and completely turned on them. Fun times LOL. Long story short, most WeaPo fans resented TS too and were mostly bitter about their success in the comeback.

[alexbkrieger13]

DN interviewed Finland's all time top goal scorer Sällström after her critique of Fifa.

Finland's superstar rages against Fifa: "Feels disgust and contempt"

Fifa banned rainbow armbands during the men's World Cup in Qatar.

It has caused Finland's top women's soccer player, Linda Sällström, to rage – and to completely lose confidence in the international soccer federation.

In seven months, the women's World Cup will be played, with several openly gay players.

- How should this be interpreted other than as a big "fuck you" to all sexual minorities? says the Vittsjö striker.

She decided already a year ago; she does not intend to watch a single match from the WC in Qatar.

- I have stuck to that, says Linda Sällström when DN reaches her by phone.

- I think this WC represents everything that is wrong in the world. I just feel so much disgust and contempt for Fifa right now. I can't watch football and enjoy it, there is no way to justify this World Cup.

She recently signed a new contract with women's club Vittsjö. In Finland, she is the women's national team's top scorer of all time.

Finland will miss the WC next year, but there were EC games this summer. The Finnish-Swedish striker has donned the national team shirt 122 times. Now she questions her love for football.

With reference to the rainbow armbands stopped by Fifa - and the fact that the international football association in the men's World Cup threatened to punish teams wearing the armband - the 34-year-old wrote a long post on Instagram in November.

Her conclusion, she wrote, is that she "as a gay player is unwelcome in the football world, to the extent that other players must also be punished for standing up for my right to exist".

- For me, football is about joy and inclusion, doing good together, says Sällström.

- But all this that Fifa has done is very strongly against that. It doesn't feel good at all.

In several posts in social media, she has chosen to mark. So also in several interviews in the Finnish press.

It is about many things, says the star: the corruption behind Qatar being awarded the World Cup, the situation of migrant workers, LGBTQ people and women in the country, that Fifa moved the World Cup to the middle of the season and about how stadiums have been blown up in the middle of the desert.

The discussion about the rainbow colored bandages, as well as the fact that national teams were not allowed to wear shirts with the text " human rights for all" or " love ", makes her both frustrated and angry.

Linda Sällström links to the upcoming women's World Cup, which will be played in Australia and New Zealand this summer:

- Fifa is really doing everything in its power to exclude the rights of homosexuals in this ongoing World Cup, but then there will be a women's World Cup in just over six months... and there will be several openly gay players playing. It will be very wrong.

- Fifa wanted to punish the teams that wanted to wear the rainbow armband... how should we interpret that except as a big "fuck you" to all sexual minorities? And it's not just about me or my rights, but this is so much bigger.

Why is it important to you to mark?

- I hope that people will become aware of all this stuff, that they will be able to put pressure on Fifa.

- It is clear that individual people, and the little I do, will have no significance, but if there are enough people who put pressure, it can make a difference. Then I think sponsors can do a lot. Because Fifa has really made it clear that the only thing that matters to them is the money.

She has received a lot of support, she says.

- At the same time, you have also received a bit of hate, on social media. As you usually get when you raise your voice. But it is also just a sign that there is still a lot of work to be done.

In Sweden, center back Nilla Fischer, who announced on Monday that her career is over, has long been at the front line in the fight for everyone's equal value in football.

She too has reacted strongly to Fifa threatening yellow cards to team captains who wear rainbow armbands.

- I cook inside, said Fischer in SVT's WC broadcast the other week.

- That Fifa once again shows its power and decides over the armbands and Belgium's shirt, that it cannot say "love" on them... How can they think it's not okay?

The decision not to allow demonstrations for inclusion in Qatar also disturbs Sweden's national team captain Peter Gerhardsson. Also that the WC is played where it does.

- To me it is incomprehensible, Gerhardsson told DN last week.

His team captain has been in the habit of wearing rainbow armbands. Gerhardsson hopes that the bandage to be or not to be will not be a question to deal with during the women's World Cup:

- It's not the same way. The World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will certainly be different.

- The girls are very far ahead when it comes to many of these issues. We'll see where we end up, but it's nothing we're discussing at the moment.

[enterprisewired]

Virgin Galactic Implements Workforce Reduction as Focus Shifts to Next-Generation Suborbital Vehicle

Virgin Galactic has made the strategic decision to reduce its workforce and cut down on expenses as it shifts its attention towards the development of the Delta class of suborbital spaceplanes. This move is aimed at conserving resources and prioritizing the company’s future endeavors.

While specific details, such as the number of employees being affected, were not provided, the company mentioned that the process of notifying impacted employees is ongoing. Further information on these changes will be presented during the company’s scheduled earnings call on November 8.

The company also disclosed that its facilities would remain closed for the week. According to Virgin Galactic’s annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February, the company had 1,166 employees as of the end of 2022.

The Focus on Delta Class

Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, highlighted that these workforce reductions and cost-cutting measures are in alignment with the company’s commitment to preserving its financial resources for the development of the Delta class of spaceplanes. The Delta vehicles are envisioned to offer more frequent and cost-effective suborbital flights, distinguishing them from the existing SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, VSS Unity.

Colglazier also pointed out the “uncertainty” in the markets, attributing it to high-interest rates and geopolitical events. He emphasized that such uncertainty has made it less favorable to access capital in the near term. In light of this, the company aims to direct its resources towards the Delta program, while streamlining and minimizing activities outside this program.

In his message to employees, Colglazier stated, “The Delta ships are powerful economic engines,” and continued, “To bring them into service, we need to extend our strong financial position and reduce our reliance on unpredictable capital markets. We will accomplish this, but it requires us to redirect our resources toward the Delta ships while streamlining and reducing our work outside of the Delta program.”

Financial Snapshot and Future Projections

Virgin Galactic reported having $980 million in cash and equivalents at the close of the second quarter of the current year, coinciding with a net loss of $134.4 million. Although the estimated costs for developing the Delta vehicles were not disclosed, the company anticipates their entry into service by 2026. While the existing VSS Unity can accommodate up to four customers per monthly flight, the company projects only limited revenue from it.

Previous Cost-Cutting Measures

The company had previously implemented cost-saving measures, including delaying work on a new line of mothership aircraft by approximately a year, which are responsible for carrying the Delta-class spaceplanes into the air. The decision was made considering the possibility of utilizing the current mothership aircraft, VMS Eve, for test flights of Delta-class vehicles. Virgin Galactic had also deprioritized the introduction of another spaceplane, VSS Imagine, before the rollout of the Delta line of vehicles.

It remains to be seen how these workforce reductions will impact the operations of VSS Unity, especially after it recently completed its fifth commercial flight, Galactic 05, carrying two researchers and a private astronaut. With VMS Eve, both vehicles are now set to undergo annual maintenance, with flights resuming in January, as announced by the company.

Virgin Galactic is navigating through a crucial phase in its journey, making tough decisions to ensure it remains on track for its ambitious plans in the space tourism industry. The strategic realignment underscores the challenges and uncertainties that are often associated with groundbreaking endeavors in space exploration.

Also Read: Nokia Announces Significant Workforce Reduction Amid Challenging Market Conditions

[macaroni-rascal]

could you explain how p/c managed to rise from 13th to winners and then go like 3 years unbeaten in such a short space of time? and why it was them and not say an american or russian team (if the ISU really wanted to block canada out after VM and sochi)? i know france isn’t necessarily a small fed but they also don’t tend to podium in other disciplines so it seems a bit odd in hindsight

So, there are a few different theories (and conspiracies-ish) about why P/C were able to come up from 13th to 1st in such a short amount of time, then there is the general state of ice dance while they were coming up. Let’s get into it:

 As is general knowledge, the previous head of the FFSG, Dider, was a notoriously corrupt, scheming, and all around total fucking jabroni, was in charge for their career while they were juniors and most during this time. Apparently he stopped them from going to the Olympics in 2014 even though they got silver at nationals, and a team that didn’t compete at French nationals (but did at Euros, and came ahead of P/C) was the second team to represent France at the Olympics. Apparently he took issue with them, they weren’t with the coaches he wanted them to be with, so he allegedly fought to keep them low because they weren’t doing what he wanted them to. Apparently he didn’t want to them to go Montreal but that the only reason they were allowed was because Romain was coming with them -- it’s a whole lot of rumours and French federation bullshit.

Personally, if you have eyes and watched their programs before they went to Gadbois, it makes all the fucking sense in the world why they were 13th. I mean, are you telling me this masterpiece deserved higher than top 10?

Some will say it was obvious they were amazing skaters already -- I have to disagree, Gabi really was quite weak with posture, toe point, and extension, and Guillaume was quite strong technically, but an emotionally empty skater -- as he still is -- he really only has one expression: constipated brooding.

During the time when they were juniors and just starting as seniors, Pechelat and Bourzat were also the top French team, and France is not a big enough federation to have multiple teams in ice dance near the top, so all of FFSG’s power was going to try and get P/B some medals, and P/C were not on their radar. 

In terms of why it wasn’t an American or Russia team -- there had been a pretty intense North American lock on Ice Dance for the last quad, and the only reason Russia even got a team on the Olympic podium in 2014 was because of some intense cheating and corruption, there wasn’t much in the way of depth in Russian skating post 2014 -- Elena and Nikita broke up, Bobrova and Soloviev were always a middling team, there was no other team ready to be at the top.

This was also in a post Olympic year when the top two teams that had dominated ice dance for four+ years were gone, plus the top French team retired, and the other French team that was ahead of P/C, that went to Sochi instead of them -- also retired. So, there was a vacuum in which all of a sudden they went from France #3 to France #1 in a season. 

Furthermore, all the teams that had fluctuated from like 3rd to 8th from 2010-2014 that stayed in were vying for top spots, teams like Weaver and Poje, Chock and Bates, Anna and Luca, the Shibs, Gilles and Poirier -- all teams which (imo at the time, and now) are not top of the top teams. I mean, if you just watch the Grand Prix Final of ice dance in 2014? It the saddest group of six teams there had been in a while. These were also all teams that the judges had been seeing for a while, and hadn’t seen much new or interesting from -- then: Boom! P/C show up, having been given a full glow up and actual good packaging from MF and Patch, a free dance and a song that created a moment for people, and you get the 2015 World Champions in Ice Dance.

I’m not saying I like it, but it definitely makes sense in the grand scheme of things. I don’t think it was deserved, but honestly, who else were they going to go it to? Weapo? Nah. 

Then the rest, as they say, is history. Their open, boring, and easy skating became the norm, they were heralded as these groundbreaking “modern” artists for their repetitive and wholly uninspired programs and went undefeated for a couple years.

*jaws theme music plays as February 2016 and a very auspicious announcement slowly peaks its head over the horizon boards*

[armoricaroyalty]

ANN Royal Exclusive: Inside the royal engagement

Lorraine Simon for ANN: Tell us all about the proposal! Did it come as a surprise?

Vivienne Meijer: [Vivienne laughs] To both of us, I think.

Prince Jacques: It all happened very quickly. We'd actually had an argument right before, and I was sitting alone in my bedroom and just thinking a lot about things. And I realized that I missed her, and I realized how empty my life would be without her. I made up my mind very quickly after that.

VM: I was shocked. At the time, things were kind of rocky between us, and I was definitely not expecting him to get down on one knee. We've been together so long, of course, and I think both of us sort of assumed we'd get married someday. But I wasn't expecting it to happen anytime soon. It was a huge surprise.

ANN: When did it happen? Was it romantic?

PJ: A few weeks ago. We had to wait to announce it because we needed formal approval from my dad’s council, but the actual proposal was last month.  It was at our old flat downtown.

VM: Romantic...I wouldn't say it was romantic. It was very emotional, but not romantic.

PJ: I thought it was romantic.

VM: I think I'm just more of a traditional romantic. I thought he'd propose with...I don't know, a dozen red roses and a hot air balloon. [Vivienne laughs] It wasn't like that at all, just the two of us in our kitchen.

ANN: Of course, you've both since moved into apartments at Blackwell Palace.

PJ: Yes. Now that things are official, it made sense for both of us to move back home.

ANN: Vivienne, what's it like living in the palace?

VM: It's been a big adjustment, that's for sure. Before we were engaged, I hadn’t spent very much time there, so I'm still just trying to, you know, learn where everything is. [Vivienne laughs] There are so many rooms, I get lost sometimes. And in the palace, you're around people all day, because of all the staff and footmen and everything. So you're never really alone, and that's been an adjustment. Everyone has been really lovely and kind, though.

ANN: Now, you're not just getting married, you're also expecting-

PJ: That was a shock, too!

ANN: -you're also expecting. Has the baby affected your wedding plans?

VM: We're not just getting married because of the baby, if that's what you're asking.

PJ: We'd been talking about getting married, but I think the baby definitely um, sped things up, if that makes sense.

VM: I'm due in January, and that's not enough time to plan a wedding. So we're not getting married until next spring. So by then, the baby will be a couple months old, and we're hoping he can actually be in the wedding.

PJ: Yeah. We're really excited about that. As much as possible, we want the baby to be included in stuff.

ANN: How have your families reacted to the news? Are they excited?

PJ: Oh, very.

VM: A baby is always exciting. And I think there's a part of them that's thinking, you know, since we've been together so long, they're thinking “its about time!”

PJ: Yeah. And it was actually my sister's idea to propose, so that's-

VM: What? You didn't tell me that.

PJ: Yeah. Rosalind was the one who kind of sat me down and said, 'you should propose.' It was actually her ring that I proposed with.

VM: ...I thought it was your grandma's?

PJ: It’s an heirloom, Vivi. It got handed down.

ANN: Handed down, and now it’s yours! That must make you feel so special, knowing your ring is a family heirloom.

VM: Yes.

PP: Can we see it?

VM: [Vivienne extends her hand to display the ring]

ANN: It's absolutely stunning. Can you tell us a little more about it?

PJ: It’s three cushion-cut pink sapphires with halo settings on a white gold band.

ANN: Wow, you really know your stuff!

PJ: [Jacques laughs] I wrote it all down. I knew you’d ask, so I wanted to make sure I knew how to describe it.

ANN: How did you choose the ring?

PJ: Well, that was the one that Rosalind offered. Like I said, everything happened kind of suddenly, so there wasn’t time to really think about it. I had to use what I had.

ANN: That’s very practical. Can you tell us more about your wedding plans?

VM: Well, we wanted to get married in the spring, obviously. It just seemed nicer than a winter wedding. The ceremony will be in the Peteran chapel in Blackwell Palace.

PJ: Yeah. And even though it’s going to be in the palace, we wanted to share our big day with everyone, so it’s going to be broadcast live on ANN. I think we’re going to be the first royal couple in Armorican history to get married on TV.

ANN: That’s true, your parents’ wedding was private.

PJ: Yeah, we’re a little less private than them, I think.

VM: We’re still very private.

PJ: Yeah. Of course. We don’t want to put all our secrets out there.

[Both laugh]

Previous | Chapter Start | From the Beginning | Next

[bixbiboom]

Hey Bixbi! I’m way behind on CR, and it’s hard to get info while avoiding spoilers! Could u summarize: what do we know about what’s happening next for CR? Is there officially a campaign 3 in the works? Any kind of schedule or anything?

As of right now, C3 has not been formally announced, but enough references have been made that I’m fairly confident that it’s coming.

In two weeks, on Thursday, June 17th at 7pm Pacific (that’s the usual time slot for CR), they’ll air the C2 Wrap-Up Special where they answer some of the fan-submitted questions they took last week, and discuss the second campaign in-depth.

The day after that, Friday, June 18th at 7pm Pacific, they’ll be airing the VM/MN crossover oneshot that was unlocked as a stretch goal in the Kickstarter. The setting for this oneshot appears to be a post-apocalyptic AU, and the promo art has heavy Mad Max vibes. This will feature Matt DMing, and Ashley, Sam and Liam will be playing their C1 characters, while Marisha, Laura and Travis will be playing their C2 characters. They’ve crafted a new wildcard mechanic that will have Taliesin playing both Molly and Percy at the same time.

On Monday (I think Matt said Monday...) Thursday morning, we’re expecting an announcement of something big, but we’ve been told it’s not anything to do with C3 yet. So when that drops, I’ll be posting about it here.

And... I think that’s everything we know rn?

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

hello hiii S!as my ask did bye bye already before reaching U,sending this again.As usual watching sum episodes(payash wedding ceremony),during mehendi scene when they get interrupted by NK n khushi noticed arnav not liking that what she had in her mind why she thought arnav gonna get jealous if she gives attention to NK?or its just nk being annoying n arnav dont like him?n why arnav asked about 'A' in her mehndi ?does he expect his name?why is he not confused why has she written A ?are they able to understand their mutual undercurrent feelings? I m sure my last ask is much deeper n meaningful than this 🤔

i cant appreciate u enuf for this blog n ur each answer, story,vm i m sure must b knowing am ardent fan by how i stalk ur every post..love u S

(check this out for an important announcement on asks)

Dearest @maansiloves

Since you took the effort to ask again, I thought that it should be right to only write again :)

They're both teetering around love and are falling into an awkward rhythm of flirting, jealousy, denial and sensitivity. There's a history of them coming together being terrible for them - and there's also undeniable attraction that now they're comfortable exploring.

When Arnav is a bit more confident in what he feels, he teases her about the A. When Khushi is a bit more confident from where his feelings stem from, she provokes him to get a bit more out of him.

You literally see him gain confidence bit by bit after Teri Meri. He watches her blush, he reaches her room, watches her blush again, asks for a thank you, watches her blush for the infinith time, opens her hair and walk away - but when he realises his affections are being returned and new feelings are blossoming - that's when he comes back and softly compliments her. That too a backhanded compliment! And he also takes away her earring.

Khushi realises his awkward tactics to flirt with her, and mehendi is when she doesn't know how to deal with it at all, by haldi she has figured some aspect out. She teases him, spends time with NK and is seeing if Arnav is just flirting with her for the heck of it or if there's something deeper that he truly wants to explore with her. Which is why she's disappointed when he couldn't say quickly that he'd accompany Khushi to collect ghee from her home. She's made it clear she won't make the first move. She's been burnt before and is telling him that she wants him to make the first move.

However, him fretting for her and buying bangles that fit her perfectly - thus expressing his care and concern - and her actually loving his bangles - and him - ties the whole thread.

Which is why on the day of Akash and Payal's wedding they smile at each other, and are eager to spend time with each other. The days of walking around in eggshells and questioning their feelings were done. Sigh, if only they knew it would last for a few hours.

Lol this ended up sadder and off track than I intended!

Best,

- S

[tutuandscoot]

I share your thoughts and feelings towards Marina... but, honestly, even Igor in certain videos gave me the creeps 😰 especially when he hugged Tess or congratulated her... really bad feelings 😰

(Answering this late too I’m sorry I’m so behind on asks)

-from when we were talking about marina/canton/2014 era

Yeah look. I agree with you. I don’t know how much though bc honestly I really do refrain from even letting myself privately think I know everything about people I really don’t know at all/more opinions based on minimal info- I just don’t have time or the brain space for that.

I had read others opinions here and there that they thought Igor was really lovely with T and doted on her kinda (thinking specifically when ever they came off the ice after skates at YVR), and yeah it seems nice enough but then I watched more of other teams and in comparable moments like that he seems very similar with every girl he coaches..

I’ve never had the biggest opinion of him either way in general- probably more so Marina bc VM have spoken more about her.

I guess if I were to share some kinda vague opinions:

-He seemed to struggle with he’s team’s results after he and Marina spit.. this is just based on going back watching stuff from that era but he had a lot of teams competing at the senior world level and there probably heaps of lower teams/juniors.. idk if it was just the media/FS fans that made this rivalry between he and marina’s teams after the split.. but even just watching kinda 2017/18 I get the slight vibe of a rivalry.. esp with the US teams bc they were kinda “equal”/ switched placements esp domestically for those 3 or so years (16-18).. idk if that’s widely held opinion, but within that 3 way rivalry, HD in Montreal -they had the momentum on the coaching end, SS on the fed end (with it being obvious Marina wouldn’t get a gold or silver at the 2018 olys she was no longer the ‘top coach’) and then CB who I honestly forget about sometimes got at world medal in 2016.. -wasn’t there a whole thing there that people thought WeaPo were under marked and should’ve medaled.. I wonder maybe bc by that point VM announced they were coming back so they (ISU) tried to keep the Canadians off the podium for another year with the very likelyhood of VM coming back and podiuming.. (idk, this sport is so messy who knows what the agenda was and Canada is an frequent victim)

Th whole DS (team nepo) skating to MR in 2022 and Igor being their coach/ choreographing it? is one of the most disgusting/effed up/ lack of respect I’ve seen. Like WTAF bro!!??!?!. Look, I know VM doesn’t OWN that music, but there are just certain things- music you don’t use when it has been made that iconic-attached to one skater/team. In comparison (just to remind everyone what precious maple leaf bbys VM are) they said they would never do bolero bc that “belongs” to T&D. They wouldn’t even do ‘Somewhere in time’ which was Marie and Patch’s 2006 program and that isn’t even famous outside of ID and probably not even a top… 15, 20 most well know ID program.. within the sport. They are just so respectful of their peers that certain music/stories they would not do out of respect. I’m sure I’ve read Igor had recycled VM’s programs/music before like I’m sure I read he had a team do Valse Triste, Farrucas, a version of the WTF lift from Farrucas, there may be more. Like when the Beijing olys were on and I was watching the ID with my mum, I had gotten her up to date on VM and of course she had remembered their FAMOUS MR from 2018, I said when team nepo came on; ‘so this team is doing MR’ (she was like ‘omg wtf why would you do that’), then ‘and their coach is VM’s former coach, not the one that they were with for MR but their former former coach, and he had a history of recycling/ripping off programs bc he’s kinda a hopeless choreographer’. And my mum lost it, she had been in love with VM for all of 2 days and about 0.00000003 percent of the love I have for VM and she was so mad about it..

-as for the creepiness thing.. I’m becoming more aware of that now that I’m not a student anymore and I’m teaching a lot of kids, I’m very aware of my body language and what I say to kids in the studio teaching and vs out of - there’s that different relationship depending on if you’re teaching or not.. and more and more with male coaches/teachers… idk.. I was very lucky growing up the majority of my dance teachers were wonderful and I had some amazing female and male teachers and I never.. like in ballet and esp high level ballet, the teacher has to be physical with you- move your body, touch you in places in order for you to understand the correct way to work. NEVER was I made to feel uncomfortable or violated, in or out of the studio (the company was a very different story). There is obviously crossing a line and things that should not be done, but in generally you have to have be a tough cookie- you might not love some things/ get along with coaches, but you have to be strong bc it’s a very tough industry. Same with skating. I believe with all my heart that T especially (I relate to her being a female in a similar sport/art as me and everything she went though more than S- but I do relate to him in so many other ways) that she was never made to feel uncomfortable, violated, abused.. BECAUSE OF SCOTT. I just believe he protected her with his life. They have since recalled moments in their career- like how T said she felt so uncomfortable around other female skaters judging her and calling her fat bc she was a strong, healthy athlete who could lift and move herself unlike these weak af twigs starving themselves. S never (I just KNOW, ok), never let her feel anything negative about herself, they could put themselves down but never each other. Of course they had arguments and feelings would be hurt, but never on the matter of personal safety. When they say they could have never been singles skaters I think that’s part of it- this duty of protection they have over each other was a lifeline in this industry. I legitimately cried when T mentioned in a podcast interview (it was a terrible one so I haven’t listed to it since) that Scott called her one day out of the blue and said they survived that industry bc of how her mum raised them- to always keep each other safe, know how to detect when/if someone was taking advantage of them, stick up for themselves and never sell their souls (or bodies) for fame and fortune.

I’m sorry this is getting wayyyyy off track (I haven’t been posting enough but I’ve been thinking a lot so im letting heaps out here even if it’s unrelated).

The point is, despite what I think about the people they had around them, they were ok, and they kept each other safe.

I could do a whole other post on how, yes Igor creeped me out a bit, but how much Romain creeps me out even more (legit shivers when I would see him with them, esp next to T- I love them both equally but I feel a super protective instinct towards T and anything I watch where I get bad vibes I’m just like ‘my angel pls be safe😭)

[saucylittlesmile]

Do you know which season was the last for CD's? The wiki says 2010-11 had 2 compulsory dances assigned, but can't find a single program anywhere, and there's an interview with Scott Moir saying they were gone after 2010.

Although there is no set rule about when the ISU announces future patterns, there have been a number of times when the ISU has made their decisions and shared them publicly, a year or even a couple of years before the season in which the pattern is competed.

2010/2011 was one of the seasons that had been announced early, in terms of which compulsory dances would be competed.

(Remember, there used to be more than one compulsory dance competed each season, with the draw being done prior to the individual competition to determine which pattern would be done. Teams had to be practicing and ready to compete either one. For example, in 2009/2010, VM skated the Tango Romantica at Skate Canada International, Nationals, and the Olympics; they skated the Golden Waltz at TEB and Worlds. The GPF was excluded from compulsory dances.)

Of course, there were rumours and speculation that the CD would be scrapped at the end of that quad, and indeed the motion passed , so the dances that had been chosen for 2010/2011 (Ravensburger Waltz and Finnstep) were never to be. Because the short dance was a new concept, the ISU decided to use the Golden Waltz as their pattern for this hybrid, so that teams and judges could focus on the new requirements rather than perfecting another pattern.

[rebechas]

technical issues

this is a fanfic. mainly about p03. not shippy

Summary: you play inscryption instead of luke carder. you are also poor and have a shitty pc with homebrew everything. noone is happy about this

After you defeat the archivist boss, you stretch in your chair. All in all, the file-size-being-its-value was a pretty fun mechanic, even if a bit overpowered. For the "oldest file" or whatever, you selected a shitty school infographic you threw together in mspaint back in 2017, which apparently was old enough to warrant a 5/5 card, oneshoting the boss. You suppose the devs could've stood to maybe balance the game more, but it *has* been adapted from an obscure RPG to a digital game, so all in all they did a good job. You briefly wonder if you could try to test the limits of the old-ass software, playing with the date on some files, but in your experience with how much data a floppy can carry is... limited. And you don't want the game to get corrupted or anything.

So instead you take a sip of water, and decide to finish P03's "part" of the game and call it a night. If it keeps following the pattern, there's gonna be the 2d segment again afterwards and two more "power-grabs", from Grimora and Magnificus respectively, all in all a pretty symmetric game. With that im mind, you direct your game character to the checkpoint, and from there to the landing area, eager to see how this act's "big bad" will be defeated.

"It's almost time." "You've come so far." Of couse P03 has to have a villain monologue, but you really want to skip it. Lore or no lore but its late and you just wanna finish this section and go to sleep. Your character arrives at the graves, but your Gamer Instincts (tm) feel a cutscene coming so you consciously slow down to savor the ending.

"You made it, nice. Great job."

"You prepared The Great Transcendence for me."

"Without even knowing what it was."

Yeah yeah, you get it, it's defining character quirk is that it doesn't care about the story. You roll your eyes with a slight smile.

"But... you understand it now, right?"

You really have no idea what it's talking about. Did you miss some hidden clue or something? Is it about the fact that the scrybes are supposed to be "aware" they're in a game?

Then the game zooms in and you find yourself eye to eye with... yourself. On P03s monitor. Some image of you? No not image, video- live videofeed from your webcam. You stare dumbfounded, ready to write it off as a scary gimmick (and take a mental note to change the access rights to your webcam), but then the thing says your name, and your heart stops.

It's weird, grating and synthesized, but definitely yours. While your mind races P03 keeps talking.

"I mean... You finished making the game..." It's face flashes with the cooky face you selected for the second boss.

"You gave me access to your hard drive..." Yeah you did, but that's what all games require nowadays! If your computer isn't unusable after... whatever this is you swear you'll run every game you find buried in your backyard in a separate vm.

"You took screenshots for the store page." Wait what?

"And you connected me to the internet to upload it all!" No. That's not possible, you think frantically. But P03 continues gloating, congratulating itself on its plan.

You're still pretty dumbfounded by the revelation that apparently a computer virus masquerading as a card game is monologuing. At you. About what'll happen now, and what its grand scheme is, while you zone out thinking about how you'll have to redownload yet another antivirus. The cherry on the cake would be only a glaring red screen announcing that you have to transfer 0.0002 bitcoin to a specified account or you'll never see your files again.

"Ugh, what a headache," you mutter. In response, the droning monologue stops. Then,

"Excuse me, fleshbag?" comes an offended robotic huff from your pc. Today has already been so goddamn weird already, so this might as well happen. You blink, once, twice, processing that whatever is on your pc is waiting (for your answer?) and decide to do just that.

"You... hear me?" you feel pretty stupid saying that outloud, and hearing your voice ring out in an empty room.

"Obviously." your speakers crackle out. The robot from the computer virus (?) on your screen is looking more smug than ever.

"You did give me access, remember? So shut up now while I upload my masterpiece." A loading bar appears on its face-itor with a rapidly increasing completion %. There's some kind of static noise rising in the background as the bar fills. You feel very confused, but you watch with bated breath, to see what'll happen.

Theres a low ding sound, and you see a shadow with a pair of large hands behind P03. That's Leshy. So their plan (?) is in motion as you recall. You would really like to know what the fuck is going on and what the stakes are here, besides the wellbeing of your poor old OS.

Then, a lot of things happen in short succession. The upload bar hits 100%. P03 whips around with a synthesized laugh, almost like a bark, and ... disappears the figure behind it? The two shadows beside where Leshy was standing gain an electric blue aura, like a selection vector, you hear your lights flicker and youre pretty sure some of the lights in the LED strip on your wall overload with a hiss. Then the audio and video of your screen glitch out horribly. Its loud and scary and very concerning, but mostly its jarringly scary, to a point where you hit you knee on your desk as you jerk up. After a second the game (???) is on again, and P03 turns back to face you.

"Pathetic. You didn't really think I'd fall for suck a BASIC startegy, did you?" it scowls. You shrug.

"I mean, this is MY game now. I literally control everything that happens here" you get the feeling that it isn't addressing you at all.

"And I outwitted you!" it holds out a cartoonishly large red floppy, like the one that's sitting in your floppy drive, right now.

"I outwitted them all! The upload's complete so not even you-" suddenly youre 100% sure he means you, "can stop me!" You stare wordlessly at the screen.

"You really ARE stupid, huh?" There's that cackling synthesized laugh again.

"INSCRYPTION, is live! I uploaded it!" Somehow the laugh plays underneath its voice, like some kind of cacophonous soundtrack. You have one question left, on your mind, though.

"To my printer??" you ask with just a hint of an understanding smile on your lips. That'd explain your smart appliance setup going haywire earlier.

You're pretty sure you hear the equivalent of a synthetic record scratch from the little robot.

"What."

You lean back in your seat, full on grinning.

"Your little Inscryption virus is running on like three layers of emulation, my guy. Literally no part of this thing was supposed to run on my machine, especially not a virus from a floppy." Are you lording your awful tech-set up above some malware-ai's (?) head? Of course you are, and it feels damn good. That's what the thing gets for calling you an idiot gamer.

There's a long pause from your computer. You even move your mouse a bit to check if maybe the screen didnt freeze, but no, P03 is just... creepily unmoving. Then, three dots appear on it's face, followed by the "standard" unimpressed face.

"That's a slur."

"What?" You do the human equivalent of the three dots. You blink.

"Virus. That's a slur." it says, as if that explains anything. You genuinely dont know what to say now. Is it...?

"Soooo, any comments about the 'Upload failed' thing?" You begin, conversationally.

"No." Oh, it's definitely embarrassed. After a few seconds you hear from it again.

"Actually yes. See, It was OBVIOUSLY part of my plan. You don't have an internet connection so I HAD to copy INSCRYPTION to. uh. other hardware." Annnd the annoying smirk is back. It's kind of sad really, to see how it still tries to act in control. It doesn't say anything more, you just hear the quiet whirr of a dozen devices coming to life around you. The quiet stretches on, as you sit there, in the dark staring at your laptop with bemusement. It's kind of zen really if you think about it.

...

Zen is boring, actually. Thankfully the quiet is broken by (unthankfully) a computerized voice.

"What the hell is a Deskjet Ink Advantage 2135?"

[turned-the-page]

On Scott's Air Canada/Aeroplan live - February 4, 2022.

Uhm, the point about the "audience" is a good one.

I already see the "people" spinning Scott's answers on the Live towards what they want it to mean, as if he had the vm fandom in mind when he was talking. He didn't.

He knew he was talking to a general audience who was interested in what he and the two Alexs had to say as Olympians.

Maybe it would help the "people" to put their reaction into context if they accept that the last time he spoke "directly to us" or engaged directly with the vm fandom was when the I.AM.O announcement was made a year ago (and possibly the few On Edge clips he was in). Yes, his conversation then was directed at/to us but apart from that, any other interview he did, his audience was whoever read that publication, like the Ukraine or Russian article, or more recently, the Time or National Post articles.

I mean, Scott knows what the deal is with the vm fandom and social media. Even when he gave that I.AM.O live he was surprised that "fans" were tuning in because as far as he was concerned, they/we had already told him to f/u because of J.

And he never posted nor tweeted again after that.

So maybe when the "people" are going to react to this Live in a personal way, as if he were sharing his information with them in particular, they should realize that's just them taking something not offered to them. Rather they should see themselves as that person jumping into or responding to a conversation that other people were having, that they weren't actually invited to be a part of.

Stop acting as if Scott is doing anything to keep us here. We can read/insert ourselves into his life and journey all we want but he's not "playing to or performing for us, the fandom, anymore. The "people" made sure of that. Right now he's just living his life and we should own that we're here by our own choice.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E111 (Redux! Oct. 13, 2020)

Gooooood evening good evening good evening, all! I started the VOD late for this recap and somehow the first four or so minutes of the show have a Twitch audio copyright claim, so I am reduced to only reading Brian's lips when he asks if we're on the internet. Hilariously, Marisha's background room is a comfy-looking blue/gold fabric wall with a ceramic colorful abstract lamp and a yellow silk scarf over the lampshade, and Taliesin's is an industrial looking games room in grey and black with multiple monitors, overhead speakers, and mysterious metal fixtures behind him. What a treasure this group is, honestly.

Tonight's guests: Marisha Ray & Taliesin Jaffe, discussing episodes 110 and 111 again. I wildly speculate once more about what might have caused their absence: jury duty? Sam appearing on The Masked Singer? Something to do with the animated show? One day, we’ll know, one day... (One day this “copyrighted audio” section will come back from the wars, too. Ugh!) Finally! The audio comes back to reveal Brian discussing the endless reality of digital meetings and Marisha talking about (I think) her glare-reducing glasses she’s wearing. Welcome to the New Age (welcome to the New Age, to the New Age).

Announcements: Marisha suggests checking out Dimension20, another live tabletop gaming group, which premieres live on Wednesdays at 4pm (CollegeHumor). 

Brian immediately wants to know how they feel about the revelation that Molly is alive. Taliesin’s personal reaction: he “knows some things” he can’t talk about and is aware of several possibilities that might be going on, but had a sneaking suspicion that there would not be a body for them to find. He says it’s almost all there for anyone to see in past material. Marisha’s personal reaction: she just wants to know how she’s doing with her theories, & was trying to block Tal’s face out deliberately as she was going off on her theories in the last episode. Taliesin says he thought her ideas were pretty good!

Cad has no clue what to think - it’s like listening to your friends talk about Buffy. Marisha thought it was a 50/50 Molly would still be there, but Beau had no idea. Not that it mattered, because as soon as Matt went through with it the reveal still blew their minds. Tal laid out his plans for the character with Matt during Campaign One (towards the end) after they all got their VM tattoos.

It is a “horrifying and gross” thing to dig up a body, and Beau was pretty reluctant to do it. Tal, as Cad: “Sometimes dead’s better.” The moral quandary of trying to speak with a dead friend was very different here than the frequent occasions they used the spell in C1.

Taliesin says his poker face is very bad, so it’s easier for him to over-react and let it all play out. The only other player he can see very easily from his place in their current setup is Travis, and because he knows Travis doesn’t watch TM, tweet, or participate in social media, he admits he thoroughly enjoyed watching Travis freak out at his freaking out. He says he only knew about 20% of what Matt described at the end of that episode. He was picking things to mug to increase Travis’s surprise. I love this so much.

Taliesin provided the table left leg shake; Travis provided table right. Ha!

Beau is really accepting her role in the Cobalt Soul. It’s good when “as a person, you feel like you can settle into your calling. Sometimes you can do more from the inside than fighting from the outside.” It’s a mirrored but opposite path of Keyleth from C1; Beau felt like she was too good for her duty, while Keyleth thought she wasn’t good enough.

Caduceus is not a big believer in jumping to conclusions. He does have an idea/notion of the “city of the undead” and thinks all this necrotic energy must come from somewhere, and wonders if this is the “capital of anti-death.” He’s willing to believe whatever he sees. This is one of the few things that trigger a bit of loathing and disgust in him. It was terrifying that the Wildmother didn’t know anything.

Beau is pretty confident in her Charlie Day impression laying-out-the-research last episode. She enjoyed taking the things that were known & extrapolating around them; this is a huge facet of Marisha’s own personality and she really enjoys it, so she built a character this time that would allow that kind of puzzle-solving. It’s also why she repeatedly notes when Beau journals, so she can avoid metagaming. Trent’s mention of Vess Durogna’s tomb raiding was completely circumstantial, and the only reason she’d made the connection to the Tombtakers was because she’d recently reviewed those notes for a separate unannounced project. Sometimes she tries to make connections and Matt is like, “It was...just descriptive. Just flavor. The curtains were red...” and she has to discard a paragraph of notes. She feels like it’s still something they have to do because of “look at what he does! Look! It’s totally valid!”

Cosplay of the Week: @kitsunstudios with a gorgeous Caduceus with a very intricate silk vest.

Caduceus’s takedown of Trent! One of my favorite moments in the entirety of C2. Taliesin felt Trent was an asshole; Caduceus felt sorry for him because of how dumb he thought he was. Caduceus’s response was "this is the dumbest man I’ve ever met in my life. He’s so dumb! Is nobody going to tell this guy how dumb he is? Oh, they’re all freaked out. Somebody needs to tell this guy he’s an idiot before somebody gets hurt.” (Marisha: “Before?”) Tal says it was the product of several years of therapy and many drunk conversations with Whitney Moore. It was from a genuine place of concern from Caduceus. “How are you allowed to have this much power and be that dumb?”

Brian loved how funny it was to watch everyone tiptoe around Trent and then Caduceus bulldoze through the end of the meal.

Taliesin: “Damage doesn’t make you interesting or better. It’s not what makes you good. Character isn’t found in damage. Just recovery.”

Brian & Marisha commiserate going through the stage where believing surviving something automatically made you a stronger person, better for the pain; instead it just meant you had to pick up the pieces after. Marisha talks about how strength through survival may be true for some people, but it shouldn’t be considered a necessity. Taliesin talks about how he used to think he had to be miserable to write. Brian talks about how believing he liked reading and writing miserable things only limited him for years.

Marisha feels it’s a C2 theme that almost all the PCs have someone trying to handwave or take credit for their accomplishments or explain their pain as being for their own good (Trent, Beau’s dad, Obann). She thinks it’s interesting to see all the various ways people try to take credit for your work/delegitimize you as a person. She loves that RPGs allow you to explore these odd moralities in interesting ways. The only way to fight it is to have a sense of your own self-worth, which is a problem a lot of the M9 started with.

Caduceus likes everyone, and really likes people who appear to need role models (Eodwulf). “With the right friends and the right bar and the right attitude, I think he’d be okay. Come over here where it’s so much better. That seems like an exhausting friendship that you have there.”

Marisha loves the mix of personalities in the M9; Veth, Cad, & Jester were all “we kind of like them!” after the dinner, and she immediately made eye contact with Travis and they both shook their heads. She knows Beau has to go along with it for Caleb’s sake for now, but she & Fjord are pretty sus of Trent’s proteges.

Beau is less concerned about Artagan’s relationship to Jester because “he showed his ass--she’s less worried about Jester now because a little of the magic is gone.” It’s a little like becoming an adult and realizing your parents are also just adults & human. Caduceus wasn’t suspicious of the Traveler for a long time until they got to the island. Aside: Taliesin loves the pantheon in D&D. “The notion of attempting to apply common Western conceptions of religion to a world where you have a pantheon of interventionist gods as baseline makes no sense to me. Everyone admits that every other god is there and doing shit; it has more in common with ancient Rome than anything else.” Now that he knows it was a con, he feels the wind had been taken out of it. He does have a sense that Jester’s gotten back together with an ex: “I hope that I’m really happy for you.” They’re both interested to see how Jester navigates the new relationship.

My internet goes out, of course. I panic for a second, thinking I’ve lost everything above, but all is well! Thanks, Form History Control addon!

Marisha loved punching Artagan, but regretting rolling so poorly. “I miss violence.” Dani lets us know it’s been about four episodes since the last battle.

There’s no way the Cobalt Reserve doesn’t have a single document on the Eyes of Nine. Beau believes “there are no real secrets” because people are just bad at not writing things down. For there to be no information at all seems really suspicious for her.

Fanart of the Week: @oddalchemist on twitter with some awesome Beau conspiracy red-thread boards overlaid a distant shadowy Molly walking away.

Caduceus feels a little guilty for really enjoying his time right now with the M9 and not wanting to go home. He’s starting to suspect that he’s going to go home very different than when he left. “He has the softest problems. I don’t know if I want to move back in with Mom & Dad.”

Beau is trying to get comfortable with the idea of being happy. Jester is probably Beau’s first real best friend & one of the first healthy female friendships she’s ever had. As long as she still has Jester in her life, she doesn’t care. For Yasha... “At the end of the day, Beau is a lonely person and has always been a lonely person. And I think you kinda reach this point where once you’re not lonely anymore, you can kind of come out of the fog and realize that was horrible! And terrifying! And is even more terrifying now that I know what I could have, and I don’t want to go back to that. At the end of the day Beau doesn’t want to be lonely anymore. There’s always been that flirtation with Yasha, but everyone had to figure their own shit out. And now it feels like it’s coming out a little bit of that haze, maybe this actually could be...” There are a lot of ways they complement each other & are good-different from each other. Marisha believes people can be attracted to more than person at once.

Caduceus doesn’t think nature turned against him on Rumblecusp, it was just a reality of nature being dangerous and violent. “He has a complex relationship with nature.” He doesn’t expect special treatment.

Thoughts on the mansion: “Man, it’s nice to be seen.” Marisha: “I don’t know how I ended up becoming the Scanlan of this campaign, but I’m living for it.” It felt like an echo of “I’m better for having known you.” They compare Marisha taking specific notes on the campaign to Liam taking specific notes on people’s favorite tapestries, comics, etc.

They talk about missing theme parks and daydream a park version of the mansion in CritRoleLand. It’s lovely.

Taliesin never expected Divine Intervention to work; he just wanted to roll some dice. He’s still processing what he saw/heard. They all agree it was very useful in the Vokodo fight.

Vilya! Marisha: “Ah! Ah! Ah!” As a player, Marisha was so deep in Beau’s eyes she didn’t pick up it was Vilya at first (especially since Matt really emphasized they should not be looking for C1 NPCs). Marisha’s brain melted. She bawled her eyes out on the ride home after that episode. Right after it ended, Laura told Marisha “Keyleth finally gets her happy ending,” and it makes Marisha emotional again since Keyleth’s story ended so bittersweetly. She talks about the very real feelings of “just wanting them to be happy, though!” She went back and listened to all her old Keyleth playlists. Everyone was teary after the episode. “Everyone has these 100% real memories of being these characters and having these good times.”

And that’s that for that! Thanks for your patience, all, and is it Thursday yet?

[anewbeginningagain]

Thank you for what you said about being disappointed in the fandom and not in VM. I came to follow you through the VM fandom and I do remember you clearly drawing a line when the shipper/anti discussion got to be overwhelming. I respect that so much. I loved them as performers and as a team, and I have always believed them when they clearly said they were not a couple. I also believe they have now each forged paths that fit them and that were 100% what I would have expected given what they expressed interest in over the years.

How did you know when to step back? While I wasn’t a shipper, I mistakenly thought that the shipper discourse was all in good fun and hung around far too long. During that time, and especially around the WOF events, it felt like nearly every VM blog (even the normally neutral ones) had drunk the shipper Kool Aid and was taking sides between VM. I really can’t look at any of those blogs with any respect, to say nothing of the truly vile people who continue to propagate lies about VM to this day. So I’m now also very bitter at the fandom, because it put a darkness over the last year we got to see VM be a skating team, and we won’t get that time back.

I don't think I knew when to step back, I stepped back too late tbh. For a long time I tried to fight what was done to them because it was just such injustice in my eyes and in my character I find it hard not to fight for what I believe even when it costs me. I'm putting this under a keep reading since it turned out long.

I think my experience was different for many reasons, I wasn't on tumblr before TS, I didn't know what a fandom is and was never part of one, didn't even know what shipping was. So coming here in 2014 and lurking until I joined fully was a strange experience. And that's partly why I was a part of it but also always an outsider, I didn't have group chats or was a part of some clique. At times I chatted with other blogs but it was mostly impersonal. That's also why I was a very low-key shipper in some ways but I was also much more realistic in terms of what it actually means and what I expect from them (nothing at all btw, shipping them was always on me, not on them, it was my decision and they owed me nothing).

The thing with the TS fandom is that it was toxic from the start and I was completely aware of it. One of my first ever posts was me publicly calling out another blogger for being a bully, it wasn't even done to start a fight or anything, I just didn't know what the decorum was around here... But it was well deserved and only escalated from there. The fandom basically turned people into monsters in my eyes - people were bullies, harassing others, belittling them. Every time a blogger would come out and share a personal experience like TS helping them deal with personal heartbreak - those "monsters" would drag them both anonymously and publicly. And while it drove me crazy to watch it, what made it worse is that most people were reluctant to stand up against it. And this was when the fandom was way smaller than it became in 2018.

During 2016-2018 before they went viral the fandom still had many low points, they'd start a rumor about every person TS were seen talking to, every photoshoot Tessa did made people question her motivation and commitment to skating and made them angry at Scott for not trying enough, every skating related decision was questioned and they were announced as DOOMED about once a week. It was a time where the fandom will have a meltdown about once a month over the dumbest things ever. And yet at that time, it was still worth being around. The good outweighs the bad.

But it stopped being the case in 2018. I was so happy they went viral but the new batch of fans made things a lot worse. They came in knowing nothing and completely fell for the "monsters" that were always around, they needed the entertainment and they didn't care about the consequences of their actions. Some of them came from other fandoms and didn't realize that what you can do when shipping two movie stars, can't be done when it's two Canadian athletes who are much more accessible and way less prepared to deal with the insanity. It became a circus and TS were the opening act, there to either behave as the masses pleases or fall apart in front of them for entertainment purposes. Everything was fair game to those people, their private lives, their reputation, their families, their integrity, it was all a big game.

So even when it was fun I knew it won't last. There were too many people around that I knew in my heart were horrible people, I think about a month after the Olympics I started blocking accounts who were determined to make stuff up or those trying to "educate" new fans by telling them complete fabrications while still abusing the old bloggers that were around. But I was also getting to know new blogs and while some are still around and are totally great, most were either awful from the start or die-hard shippers who were bound to turn on TS once it will get out that they aren't a couple. And then all the rumors about TS being stalked started going around and things became way too much for me.

And I think I knew that it will be a shit show around here when it will come out that they are not a couple, but even I couldn't have imagined the level people were stoop to. The complete insanity that went down reached the media, other skaters were asked to comment about nasty rumors about them, they and their loved ones were cyberbullied.

I think the time I knew I have to make a complete purge to my timeline both here and on twitter was when someone tagged Scott's girlfriend's old husband in a tweet asking him to get her away by taking her back while attaching legal documents from their divorce papers. That was so demented that I knew I don't want to even be associated with those kinds of people. And there are tons of other horrible things that were done, it's just too infuriating to name more of them.

But the one consistent thing in this fandom was that a big part of it will always try to ruin the happy moments: Their first ACI - some tried to make up some guy Tessa is supposedly dating and was there, first SCI - they couldn't even beat C/B in the FD, a small error at 4CC SD - they are falling apart, a stumble at worlds - they won't be allowed to win the Olympics, they choose MR - it's a warhorse and the judges will laugh at them, the entire 2017/18 - they are doomed, touring Japan - they are a couple but are fighting just look at their body language, thank you Ilderton - can't even look at each other. I can legit keep this going for days.

About 95% of TS fandom is the absolute worse, always have been and always will be, and when anyone come across those "nice" fans who interact with Tessa on Instagram or are part of fs twitter - keep in mind most of those people behaved like horrible human beings, not only to TS but to other fans as well. So yeah, I'm bitter LOL.