#also they bring their instruments everywhere because i said so?

[zan0tix]

JAKE AND TRANSFEMININITY: PART 1

IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THIS im gona make a series of posts about jake because. Im crazy and i like writing (will also help me with writing my scripts bc im bad at doing that but im good at yapping on social media lol)

This first post will be about Grandpa Harley because yknow he was the foundation for Jakes text later.

(Take these with a grain of salt bc this is skaianet archive stuff) but Its stated over and over that HIC in both universes Despised Jake because he was a boy and saw him as an annoyance. (The reason he is even named Jake is because HIC just swapped a letter from Jane to make a male name) and this started a pattern of jake being waved off and disregarded.

Already day fucking one as a baby Jake isnt doing gender right😭 his name is a reminder that he isnt what people want him to be.

So he left home and sought off to find adventure at age 13. His shitty home-life already left him with a fraught relationship to his autonomy and control over his life (Again skaianet archives grab that Salt) But he gets groomed and taken advantage of by an older man. I believe this only further Jakes feelings of helplessness and desire to exert power over something.

Grandpa harley would then proceed to try so hard to embody the Old most admirable western masculine archetype to a T. The wealthy globe trotting adventurer/entrepreneur/inventor with female lovers galore and nothing tying him down! A mans man who isnt afraid to get his hands dirty, wrestle a few animals. Wield violence to exert power and control (hunting animals) I see this as his outlet to exert autonomy and establish an Identity for himself but its at the expense of innocent lives. But its how you are seen as successful and powerful living under patriarchy and imperial capitalism.

Though while being this stereotype of old timey masculinity, he has this fascination with a specific brand of femininity. A delicately composed vision, a photoshoot, a performance. Something unachievable.

Its something he brings everywhere he goes. The blue ladies photos and imagery litter both his Hauntswitch house and Jades island house juxtaposing all of his Trophies (taxidermied animals that he obtained through overtly violent masculine means) With his self titled “Beauties/Daughters of Eclectica” (IF THAT ISNT THE MOST OLD GAY MAN THING YOUVE EVER READ. BUT ANYWAY)

Hussie always describes it as “Haha old man jake is horny for blue ladies” but i think the fact he views them as aspirational figures, and holds them in such high regard, Telling Jade that She should aspire to be like them and maybe one day she could take a place amongst them in their elegance and beauty I believe was him projecting; where he believes he isnt able to emulate them because he is a man so he tells jade to instead. (then we see teen jake who is living in more progressive times with his blue lady equivalents and he Directly attempts to Emulate them)

I think theres something more happening here guys nerm..

A. Claire was a Ballerina, A performer of a very traditionally feminine art that is calculated, asking for pin point accuracy with your body as the instrument. The fact he was her “Biggest fan” I assume he went to see alot of her performances and greatly admired her for her beauty and performance skills.

Ive said it before but I dont think he was attracted to her sexually, I think he wished he could be what she was. Embody a finely tuned image of femininity he was barred from ever exploring, so he was drawn to women who could do what he couldnt. And i believe he conflated his gender envy with attraction (teen jake does this too really hard but well get there later) because they didnt have the terms for gender envy or anything back then. Jake grew up in the 1920s. I assume he believed his feelings were average hetero attraction and not something deeper.

I feel like its an elaborate gag that Jake made himself into a straight up Caricature of the burly gruff Adventurer Man. His houses are overflowing with hunting trophies and weaponry like hes over compensating Its insanely comical when you know Really on the inside hes a gay man with a great affection and identification with the effeminate and is actually really loud about it but everyone brushes it off as “Haha what a kooky old geezer!” OBVIOUSLY ALL OF THIS FUNNY. Homestuck is a tragicomedy, everything is simultaneously one huge elaborate gag but also offering commentary on what its pointing and laughing at, in this case its cisheteronormativity (thats the same for an ungodly amount of cases with this work)

I find it tragic, poetic, and endlessly hilarious that his final moments were spent Roleplaying Heterosexuality with a doll He dressed up and put makeup on; made with his image of femininity, and he dies by his own gun, the same kind of weapons that he used to exert violence upon innocent animals in attempt to posture his masculine persona. The ones he arrived to earth with, he was pushed and destined to embody this image of masculinity because of the world he was sent to and the connotations of violence instilled into those weapons by society and reality by Lord English; a being his alt universe self played a great part in shaping. Who too wields a Gun as one of his signature weapons.

Blows smoke off the red hot irony pistols! 😉

PART 2 WILL COME SOON (will add link when it does)

[moonbyulsstuff]

Soo could I request a Yakuza (yansim) x male reader?

M!reader is Rybarus older brother, and one day ayanos busy/sick (you get to pick) and M!reader has to bring one of the students they picked for the ransom to him (the Yakuza got notified before hand, if you pick that she's busy than Rybaru informs the Yakuza the day before)

M!reader is described as naturally handsome/beautiful, oh and m!reader can be kinda flirty and he usually wears clothes with boob windows, you can pick if the also has the "love sick dom" that the Aishi family has.

Oh~ I'm All Yours Darlin'

Male Reader

Requested

Masterlist

Request Rules

Now, I know the Yakuza doesn't have a official name yet so I made one up just for him. His name is Kenji.

Kenji waited in the back alley as usual, he was waiting for Ryoba but apparently she couldn't come because her daughter, Ayano became sick. So her older brother would be the one to come.

He inhaled the cigarette and blew it, waiting for the man. Then he heard footsteps step into the alleyway as he turned and saw a man, he squinted his eyes and he could see the resemble between the man and Ryoba. He walked away from the wall and looked at him.

"I guess you are... Ryoba older brother..? I presume.."

Kenji asked as the man let out a deep chuckle and nodded, surprising Kenji. He had a small smirk that could resemble Ryoba sweet but sinister smile. "Yes, I'm Ryoba older broher, and Ayano uncle. My name is [Name] Aishi, Kenji right?" He said as he put the huge instrument box down.

He nodded as he approached [Name]. "I guess the girl is inside, right?" Kenji asked looking at the instrument box, [Name] nodded while Kenji took the time to get a good look at the man in front of him.

He had the usual dark hair with black blank eyes, and with a smirk. He was wearing a black buttoned shirt that had two unbuttoned shirts that showed off his chest with black matching formal pants and dress shoes, with looks like that, he could have girls or men falling over his feet.

[Name] noticed that Kenji was staring at him as he let out a deep chuckle and leaned close to Kenji face catching him off guard. "Admiring the view, perhaps?" [Name] teased as Kenji rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Just taking a good look, nothing all."

[Name] just laughed as he licked his lips while staring at Kenji. "You sure? Just taking a good look and not admiring the view at least?" He teased Kenji who scoffed and rolled eyes.

"Don't get your ego a bit too much."

Ever since that day, Kenji has seen [Name] everywhere he goes. To the park, on his way to a meeting, just everywhere. It was creeping Kenji out, which was a weird thing especially for a man who is the leader of a yakuza.

"You keep following me everywhere." Kenji said to [Name] who was still smirking even after Kenji caught him in the bathroom of his own house. "Even in my house, how did you even know where I live?" Kenji said, growing annoyance.

"A secret~"

[Name] winked as he immediately pinned Kenji against the bathroom, towering over Kenji at the process. "Sorry darling, you are just too cute~ Ever since the day we met, I can't keep you out of my mind." [Name] said, blush across his face and lovesick eyes.

Kenji eyes widened as he saw the look on [Name], he scoffed and immediately kicked [Name] in the calf causing him to yelp and kneel down in the ground. "You're a creep you know that right? Following me and sneaking inside my own house, I could kill you right now if I wanted to." Kenji said gripping [Name] hair.

But the look on [Name] face caught Kenji off guard, he was panting heavily and the blush on his face grew and the lovesick eyes he held didn't disappear. "Yes, you can kick, scream, and even spit at me. Do whatever you want with me." [Name] said as Kenji was creeped out but something ignited inside of him.

The way [Name] was pleading and the look on his face really ignited something inside of Kenji, his grip on [Name] hair tightened causing [Name] to groan.

"Wow... you really are something huh.." Kenji said as he let go of his hair and tilted [Name] chin as he looked at Kenji like he was some sort of god. "I guess... I could keep you around.." [Name] face lightened as his eyes turned bright of love.

"You might be worth keeping around."

Sorry that I haven't posted awhile HAHAHHA, school has been hectic but now that school is over. I will get back to posting the requests people have sent me... for like.. last year and last last year.. I have been slacking off...

[bearieio]

ellie w. hcs :3

bc im seeing them everywhere and i need to put in my 2¢. thank you. (also not proofread :P)

⋆ biggest hayley kiyoko fan for like 3 years (the intro to ‘girls like girls’ was her ringtone when she was 14). would beg joel to take her to random record stores that they passed by just to see if they had any hayley kiyoko cds.

⋆ because of joel, she listens to a lot of 70s-90s dad rock. 

⋆ can’t drive for shit. like literally she’s not allowed to drive without her glasses

⋆ she needs glasses btw. she doesn’t wear them because she’s already too much of a loser. but when she does where them, you tease her endlessly about them. 

⋆ can and will sleep on the floor whenever prompted. no blankets, no pillows needed. just her and the floor.

⋆ isn’t allowed to drink any sort of energy drinks on account of a previous incident that had to do with about 3 cans of redbull and 2 large cans of the ‘Java Monster.’

⋆ isn’t allowed to own small pets (like gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc.) because she’d definitely forget about them. 

⋆ owns big dogs. great danes, newfoundlands, irish wolfhounds, mastiffs, st bernards, YOU NAME IT, SHE HAS IT (or has had it)

⋆ when she’s older, i feel like she’d be like one of those white people who has 192793999 dogs for no reason 

⋆ since her mannerisms are so much like joels, you guys argue playfully all the time about how things should be done, often bringing others into it too. 

“jesse, tell her!” he flips her phone screen around to reveal a very tired jesse, “it’s 1AM, ellie-“ 

“TELL HER!” 

⋆ i feel like at random times, she’ll just grab your boob(s). i don’t know why and you’ve never said anything about it, so she hasn’t stopped…… very handsy….

⋆ audibly goes “honk honk!” almost every time she gives ‘em a squeeze.

⋆ she’s a really sloppy kisser. not like boy-sloppy, but like the hot, messy, girl sloppy bc that sounds better and honestly i think her kisses would be the best.

⋆ she was one of those kids who’d eat dirt and find bugs all the time

because of this, she’s the designated bug killer/bug-getter-outter…. idk

⋆ she’s the worst drunk you know.

like literally sssoooooooooo messy oh my god. but you love her nonetheless :)

she’s soo clingy, and, touchy (like more than usual), but also much more emotional and sensitive than usual when she’s drunk or when she’s sick.

⋆ ellie tends to be quite difficult when she’s sick. BUT! you make it work bc you love her and she loves you :>

when you bring ellie her favorite drink from her favorite coffee shop, you literally have to fight her to be able to get out the front door. when you get up to serve her lunch, you’ve got to peel her off of you because she refuses to let you leave her side. when you go and get the medicine she says she doesn’t need…. you guessed it, she fights for you to stay in bed next to her.

“babe, what if i die right here, when you leave- like- BABE PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME-“ she bewails, crossing her arms and huffing at the sight of you leaving her.

⋆ when you catch her playing her guitar, she sometimes gets all shy and plays the wrong chords n stuff. 

“don’t LOOK! >:(” she says, gripping the body of her guitar, glaring in your direction.

“oh!- okay” you say, throwing your hands up in a playful manner, giggling. 

⋆ but the times where she’s not shy about playing in front of you, she’ll ask you if you want to play.

“do you uh- maybe wanna play? i could teach you” she suggests, gesturing toward the stringed instrument.

but then after, she’d tease you about your finger placement :(

“i said the fourth fret, girl, not the second, or, the third!” she says, in between laughs.

“well fourth from the top or the bottom?!” you scoffed, looking at her, still puzzled.

she knows your trying your best but it’s still fun to poke at you when she can >:)

constructive criticism is appreciated !!!

[ffaelix]

obsessed with the batfam and skyrim, so here’s who they’d play as and how that would go:

bruce – imperial bruce is 100% picking imperial. he’s got some elaborate backstory about being a noble general or strategist trying to bring balance to skyrim. the civil war questline? yeah, he’s leading the imperials to victory. also, he’s spending way too much time perfecting his alchemy and enchanting. his playthrough is methodical, overthought, and probably takes six real-world months.

dick – wood elf (bosmer) dick’s going bosmer because he loves sneaking through forests, sniping enemies with a bow, and avoiding heavy armor—but he’s also leaning into being a bard. he’s probably charming every npc he meets, playing instruments, and giving his dragonborn a whole backstory as a traveling storyteller. he’s siding with the stormcloaks, not for any deep reason, but because he likes the blue costume. also, you know he’s adopting every random npc follower he finds and pretending they’re part of his merry band.

jason – orc jason's going orc because he thinks they look the coolest and because he knows orc is the most overpowered race to play as. with two-handed weapons, heavy armor, and berserker rage, he’s unstoppable. his approach? smash first, ask questions never. he’s storming into bandit hideouts, wiping everyone out, and looting like a maniac. also, he’s destroying the dark brotherhood instead of joining it, just because he can.

cass – khajiit cass picks khajiit for stealth perks and becomes a sneaky assassin queen. she’s all daggers and silent takedowns, probably speedrunning the dark brotherhood questline without getting caught once. she skips dialogue, avoids side quests, and somehow finishes the main quest in record time.

tim – high elf (altmer) tim’s not just playing skyrim—he’s modding it to make it even harder. master difficulty, absurd enchantments, and hours spent in menus. he’s doing every quest, collecting every book, and building a lore-perfect house in solitude. his playthrough is less of a game and more of a research project.

damian – imperial damian picks imperial like bruce because he idolizes his dad but would never admit it. he’s siding with the imperials because "ulfric is an incompetent brute" and would lecture everyone about how their character builds are inferior. unlike bruce, though, he’s dual-wielding swords and charging headfirst into everything. also, he’s doing every daedric quest because power = perfection.

how they’d play:

jason: so i killed the jarl of whiterun because i was bored. bruce: what? why? jason: he called me a milk-drinker. not letting that slide. tim: you just broke your entire game. you can’t progress now. jason: whatever, i’ll just join the dark brotherhood and kill everyone else too. cass: jarl balgruuf doesn’t even say ‘milk-drinker.’ jason: i modded the game so he did. i wanted a reason.

.

tim: if i side with the imperials, am i enabling systemic oppression? but if i side with the stormcloaks, i’m supporting racism. there’s no winning. dick: tim, it’s a game. just pick one. tim: no, i need to read every book in skyrim first to understand the full context. bruce: [nods approvingly.] jason: or you could just shout people off cliffs. that’s what i do. tim: that’s morally irresponsible. cass: i like fus ro dah. tim: not helping.

.

damian: why are you wasting points on archery, grayson? it’s inefficient. dick: because it’s fun? damian: this isn’t about fun. it’s about building the optimal dragonborn. you’ve already failed. jason: says the guy who ran face-first into a dragon and died five times. damian: that was a tactical experiment. tim: no, you refused to use potions because you said they were ‘beneath you.’ damian: father agrees. right, father? bruce: …i always carry potions. damian: [offended silence.]

.

cass: done. bruce: what? cass: main quest. finished. tim: you started two hours ago. cass: skip dialogue. sneak everywhere. no distractions.

.

jason: ugh, i accidentally fus-ro-dah’d a chicken again, now the entire town is trying to kill me. tim: why do you keep doing that? jason: it’s instinct at this point. cass: sneak past guards. jason: why sneak when i can punch my way out? (ten minutes later, jason’s running naked through whiterun because he refused to pay his bounty.)

.

damian: dick, why are you using an orcish bow when you have access to elven weapons? dick: because it looks cooler? damian: you’re an embarrassment to this game. jason: you know he’s got, like, 3000 pieces of cheese in his inventory, right? damian: excuse me? dick: cheese heals health. don’t knock my tactics.

.

dick: this is my new best friend, sven. damian: that bard in riverwood? he’s useless. dick: he’s got dreams, damian. i’m helping him live them. (later, sven dies in a dragon attack, and dick spends real-world hours reloading saves to keep him alive.)

[rita-repulsa-ke]

Death on drums

Agatha was having so much fun.

Rio watched with a mix of frustration and delight as the woman she loved belted out some seventies covers of her murder ballad, arms spread wide, playing to her invisible audience.

She had not realized until then how much she’d missed Agatha singing. It had been a constant on the road in the days when they traveled together, Agatha always picking up new songs everywhere they went or simply making up her own.

“You’re welcome to join in,” she told Rio once, early on in their relationship.

Rio had only shaken her head. “I like listening to you,” she answered, already well on her way to realizing how madly in love she was with this beautiful, irritating witch.

She had more-than-liked it, Agatha’s voice raised in song on a road in the middle of winter, her breath puffing out in the cold air. She’d never had much of an opinion on music before, but now—

“That’s beautiful,” she said and then regretted it, because Agatha stopped.

She expected a cocky grin of the sort she would have gotten if she’d complimented Agatha’s skill at magic or in bed, but instead, Agatha looked away and gave a small shrug. “Passes the time.”

“Keep going.”

“We should focus on—“

“Agatha, keep going. I want to hear it.”

“Demanding,” the other woman complained, but Rio knew she wasn’t upset, Agatha loved showing off. And she had picked the song back up and it had, indeed, been a lovely way to pass the time.

Once she’d tried singing to Agatha, when the other woman had been fighting a bout of miserable illness.

“You’re terrible at that,” Agatha said, laughing weakly with her head in Rio’s lap. “Who knew Death was tone-deaf?”

Rio only rolled her eyes, preening Agatha’s hair. “…Don’t stop,” Agatha instructed. “It’s nice anyway.”

When she’d been feeling better, she’d tried to teach Rio, but Agatha was a terrible, impatient teacher at the best of times and Rio did not appreciate being condescended to, so after a couple of fights about it, they’d both given it up as a bad idea.

And then Rio had watched from the shadows as Agatha taught Nicky to sing, laughing at his mistakes, praising his natural ear, delighting in making up silly little songs with him.

She’d watched as Agatha weaponized one of those silly little songs, turned it into a lure for her hunger for power and also a hook to hang her grief on, a song sung by an innocent turned to single-minded, deadly purpose. She’d watched Agatha kill with that song again and again, gathered and guided the souls Agatha left behind.

Now Rio played the drums to fight a curse in someone’s fantasy of a place that never existed, listening to Agatha sing like all of their lives depended on it. And drums were a good choice, she liked having an instrument she could hit, because there was Agatha, a few feet away, and she was—

She was so beautiful. Her voice, of course, but also her, showing off, getting into it, secretly having fun. Agatha, enjoying herself as she hadn’t in centuries prior, when her song and voice had only been a means to an end.

Agatha, who had manipulated her only a few moments ago, teased her with promises of peace and one last, big adventure, and then thrown it in her face like she always did, playing with Rio for her own sadistic pleasure.

Rio was going to kill her.

Rio wanted, so badly, to kiss her.

Instead, she played the drums and didn’t point out what a terrible farce this whole thing was, didn’t try and stop whatever game Agatha was playing this time, didn’t take her knife and take what was hers here and now. She let it play out, play on, because she hadn’t gotten to see Agatha have this much fun in centuries and she couldn’t bring herself to ruin her beloved’s last big show. She would be content with watching and waiting until they reached the road’s inevitable end.

Want to read something else? Try the many husbands of Agatha Harkness for Agatha being a complete pain or the Ritual of the Rose for post-show shenanigans

[chimerinshine]

Okay- since i already made a post of the Boogeyman why not the Sandman? His episode was titled as "Mr. Sandman Bring Me A Dream" [S1E7]

SANDMAN

•Sandman has a lot of relatives like they everywhere just like the Boogeyman too. There's good, bad includes neutral

•He's a Greek but multi-linguistic

•This boi has a high IQ than others he just keep it to himself

•He's multi-talented

•Very Creative in many ways

•Great at Arts

•He's Introvert but also can be an extrovert sometimes

•He's an egoist and he knows it sometime he even came to think how to fix himself

•Sometimes when his egoist side came in he just forgetting others importance

•Besides of being egoist he also Paranoid. What kind of Paranoia? Well he just thinks that people bullies him a lot or make fun of him or discriminate and jugde him and also thinking the war will come anytime (poor guy) leading him in a trust issues on others. It was effect of his emotional trauma back at his past

•He is connected to the Good Team (Dovies) at the Night Game episode (most was his relatives)

•Every 500 years Good team (Dovies) and Evil Team (Scorpions) always have a war in earth and Sandman was one of the Good Team seeing the war he became stressed and that's where he develop paranoia. And also anxious that the war in earth will happened again

•When he said, he said it. He is very determined on his beliefs and ways so yeah don't even try say anything to him

•He is lonesome

•He love Classical musics or musical theatres

•He prefer a quiet and nature places rather be in the party and be loud

•His hearings are sensitive

•When he is angry he can make a whistling wind noise (similar to a growl)

•His eyes might be pure yellow but when he make strong emotions he has a visible yellow light pupil

•At the darkness his eyes glows in white or yellow

•His eyes is Tapetum Lucidum is a condition same things with nocturnal animals (owls, cats etc..) which their eyes glows in darkness or the light reflects to their eyes like a mirror

•His favorite instrument is a flute

•His blow pipe was just not a blow pipe is a flute that he always use to play and cope his sadness with

•He's a poofer even though he was busy and doing something he knows when you going to attack or come near at him and POOF he's gone

•He can put other supernatural creatures to sleep but some of the Class 7's he cannot

•He is 8 ft tall in height

•Compare to all bad guys he is a nicest boi he just didn't mean to be rude sometimes or be an egoist

•He has a lack of knowledge about mortality he put people to sleep for 500 years and thinking that once they wake they'll be thankful but he never came to think that he is an immortal and can live forever while people aren't

•When you touch him his skin is cold

•So does he breath? *inhales* No..

•He love robes, if you he has a closet then that's probably full of collections and different types of robes and cloaks and each cloaks has days and time

•If he ever met a Sandman like him or dream maker such as (Dream, Sandy, etc..) then he'll be impress yet don't trust them

•If someone going to give him some give or letters he'll just stare it for like hours and thinking if he will accept or not or trust this person or soul and after that he just gonna leave it somewhere and lose interest opening it

•He is cranky

•He might be peaceful but he's great at fighting

•Morpheus (God of Dream) was his ancestor

•He love children because they are sweet and innocent and creative in thinking things it just warms his heart but when it calms to adults he is different

•Samhain & Him are friends as long as Samhain didn't know that he wanted to protect humanity instead make them suffer

•He's talkative when he needs to tell his reason or happy or excited or angry

•Do you think Skinny Arms don't take too much strength? Well i don't think so cause he can punch things and break them and flew them in the air. We can also see in his episode that when he punched one of the stone gargoyle's head from the building it came off

•He has a very high self defense thing so yeah don't even try to harm him in physical or emotional way

•He can show himself and communicate in dreams (just like a phone communication thing)

•He love to read books of stories if he had a child with him he telling them and also he knits like a lot of dream catcher came in differents styles and colors

•Putting trust on him is a hard one so yes better try the best and never give up

•He is star gazer he love to lay down at the flower fields or just plain fields and stargaze

•He love astronomy and knows a lot of things about astronomy

•Boogey always mocks & make fun of him since he can't put him to sleep he putting a strong force in his sand balls and throws at him and explodes it doesn't harm Boogey but sure it flies him off

•When someone get hurt by him or right in front of him he pretends he never worries and show no emotion and saying they were idiots but after seconds he started to be more worried and ask if they are okay

•He can create dust clouds and can ride and lay on them

•He even have thoughts or afraid that he has an evil version of him which a monster and took eyes of people

[bekolxeram]

On modern technology and air disaster in fiction

I've already written about how dated the Airport 1975 plot would be just for its sexism, but we also have smartphones and internet everywhere now, so a lot of the obstacles in the film don't work anymore in 2024.

Nancy the flight attendant in the film had to rely on radio communication and verbal instruction, but Athena can call 911 or anyone else on the ground. Don't worry about cell service, most airliners have wifi onboard, you can stream a whole Netflix series in HD over the Pacific Ocean. If at least one of the autopilots is indeed able to keep the plane in the air, whatever flight instructor or engineer on the ground can simply send pictures and/or videos to tell Athena which buttons to press.

In Airport 1975, you can see a third flight crew member working behind the two pilots:

That's the flight engineer, his job is to monitor and operate the complex systems on a giant plane. You don't see them anymore in the modern days, because their job has been replaced by computers.

Alan Murdock, after he tethered into the cockpit said he couldn't tell which systems were working as so many of the instruments were damaged. I can see why it was the case in the 70s, with the flight engineer dead no less.

This is the cockpit of an old 747, you see how many analog gages are there? Now, this is an A330, the one Athena is supposed to be flying on:

All the instruments have been replaced by screens and buttons. You see the two screens in the middle? They are the displays for a system called ECAM. It tells you exactly what is wrong with the aircraft and all the steps to resolve the problems. The Boeing version of this system (EICAS) only shows you the issues, you have to pull out relevant checklist on your own, but this Airbus system lists out exactly what you need to do. Athena can absolutely snap a picture of the ECAM screens and send it to someone knowledgeable on the ground. They will tell her what to do.

In fact, that's probably the reason why you don't really see an Airbus aircraft in an air disaster film. If it's a Boeing, at least you can show the pilots grabbing onto the yoke, fighting for their lives.

You don't really fly an Airbus with your hands... You fly it with your wrist. It just looks so anti-climatic.

There was a Qantas A380 in 2010 with an uncontained engine failure that severely damaged one of its wings. That rendered a lot of flight control surfaces inoperable, more than 80 ECAM messages popped up, so what did the pilots do? Hand fly the plane like an ace and heroically bring it down to safety? Nah, the captain did manually try to keep the aircraft stable, but the first officer just pulled out a keyboard and typed away. He had to deal with all the ECAM messages before they could turn back to the nearest airport. He was just there typing for an hour. To a pilot or an avgeek who understands how bad the situation was, it would be very suspenseful, but to a casual viewer looking for some air disaster flicks, that would be super boring.

Finally, and most importantly, modern airliners basically have the ability to land themselves, if the wind condition and the destination airport has the technology for it. Tom Scott has been talked through a successful landing in a 737 simulator before. I assume it would be even less challenging on an Airbus. If the conditions permit, you can land it without touching anything, in 0 visibility.

Of course there're going to be damages to Athena's plane preventing it from flying normally, in order to play up drama. Well, she may not land it that smoothly, but comparing to the 70s, aviation technology has come such a long way that she can probably get it on the ground in one piece.

[gamerbearmira]

More resident Evil stuff!

Antonio 1000% tries to follow Mirable everywhere she goes! And as much as Mirable would love to bring him to the meeting she doesn't want to expose him to Miranda anymore than she has too she's the most protective of Antonio because of his age(it also helps that his adorable and is the sweetest little boy ever) he does follow her everywhere in the house and if she's taking a trip to the village or the orphanage he joins her 9 times out of 10. The only time his not allowed to follow her is when shes going down to her lab in the house or when she's going to a religious service in town.

Of course I have Bruno! in my universe a little bit after Mirabel went missing he came out of the walls to try and help find her he helped with the search and after 4 months when they called off the search because it was clear she wasn't in the area he kept trying to have visions but he just kept seeing the black mold and he couldn't make sense of it. He did keep the original vision hidden in fact before he came back he snuck into his old room and found it and completely destroyed his old vision so no one would know(he was still scared of Alma's reaction.) he also refused to tell what was in the old vision that made him leave.

Mirable tries to keep her family away from the religious aspect of the village she's uncomfortable with the fact that she's worshiped and the whole cult that is the village. Of course the family does find out and they're all very uncomfortable with the idea of Mirable being worshiped and the fact that they are viewed as higher beings by the townsfolk because of the relationship they have with Mirable.

Miranda isn't always punishing Mirable, in fact Maribel out of all of the Lords gets the least amount of punishments the difference is that Mirabel's punishments in comparison to the other Lords are much more severe because more is expected out of her. Miranda actually often tries to force weird little dinners/lunches or tea parties onto Mirabel as well as getting her the odd gift of needles,instruments,paints/art supplies and oddly enough toys still, she views mirabel as younger than she is. Mirable gives the toys to the orphanage and then later Antonio after cleaning them (they sat in a bucket of disinfected for days almost a week then were scrub down).

I haven't actually thought about where Miranda made Mirable experiment on each family member and how that would physically affect them. All I know is that they wouldn't have too many mutations because the miracle protects them from it but in return for that their powers act pretty wonky like sometimes they'll work sometimes they won't and it's kind of up in the air when they do and when they don't. I think she might have made Mirable experiment on dolores's ears and maybe her mother's hands but everyone else I'm not entirely sure. I would actually like your opinion on that matter I do like the idea of Antonio and his eye.

Alcina has invited Mirable and her entire family to the castle for visits, let's just say it was very tense the first time that they actually did go to visit. The sisters were glaring at all of the family the entire time and being pretty passive aggressive/borderline threatening with the family and kinda possessive of Mirable. Alcina was being nicer in comparison she was also glaring though but not at the entire family just at Julieta she was being less passive aggressive but still passive aggressive but she wasn't being borderline threatening and was acting less possessive of Mirabel then the girls were though that was because she was restraining herself. They all were of course constantly calling the men in the family "man things" though they were a little bit nicer than they would have normally been and said that "they didn't seem to be as pest like most men".

MORE RESIDENT EVIL💪💪

Glad Antonio follows Mirabel around, and it’s understandable why she wouldn’t bring him to meetings. Even for how much he begs, she still says no. She’s just not willing to take that risk 😭 also Mirabel keeping her family away from all that worshipping stuff is. So true because Miranda is CRAZY and honestly the service are probably really weird, knowing Resident Evil 😭

ALSO BRUNOOOOO LETS GOOOO 🌚🌚 him coming back to look for her, nice to see he cares so much <333 I feel bad that he couldn’t find her with the vision, I mean yeah, it was hinting her location, but like. He don’t know what the black mold is or where it is 🤠 the fact that he tried though is what counts.

Even if Miranda doesn’t punish her. If THAT is tamed, I feel bad and wonder what the others go through (besides what’s seen in the of game). Her viewing Mirabel as younger than she really is terrible like dawg she is??? 15. 16. Wrap it up 💀💀 but at least the gifts go to some use (after some through cleaning). And Alcina and her daughters need to take it down a notch 🌚 I understand that they are attached to her, but I feel like they haven’t realized they haven’t noticed that Mirabel prefers her family, even if she still does like them to some extent. Rip to the guys of the family 🧌 though I always found it funny with Lady D and her daughters called Ethan "man-thing". Idk why 💀

AS FOR THE EXPERIMENTS UHHHHH. Ok I'll try but feel free to switch it up, these are just suggestions/ideas <333

Ok so obviously Antonio was on his eye. Originally it was his mouth, but the black mold spread to his eye, rendering it essentially useless. Camilo, it really didn't affect him appearance wise, but by far, his gift is ALL out of wack, the worst of the family. He cannot control it, and if he tries to use it, he just?? Turns into something not very pleasant to look at. Kinda painful for him as well; the only thing I'd say he could turn into, ironically, is a Lycan, anything human will just. Look like a balck mold vicitim 👺 Dolores' ears kinda always have this ringing sound, and while she can still hear pretty far, it's just overall not a pleasant experience.

Isabela, quite literally, has vines wrapping around her. Like they are digging into her skin, and she can adjust them and they can move, but they never go away. Luisa's isn't as bad, but the nerves in her arm were taken over by the black mold, and she's kinda in constant pain, so she doesn't use her gift nearly as often; in her arms, you can see where the black mold took over her nerves 😭😭

Julieta's hands were experimented on; told by Miranda to Mirabel to do specifically. She wanted to fugure out if her gift could be taken, and if it could be used to revive people. Well, Julieta had a really BAD reaction to the mold, really bad, and her hands started to burn. They, on a day to day basis, will spontaneously combust at any given point, except when she's asleep. Her hands always look burned, and no matter how much of her own food she eats, it never really goes away. Pepa has a constant cloud, even when she's happy. It's not always thundering, so she never knows when lightning will strike; 9 times out 10, it'll strike her, so she has a lot of lightning scars, and the black mold prevents her from dying; her hair has started to turn white. Bruno's eyes were experimented on, and now he's kinda in this perpetual state of seeing the future (and sometimes the past??? Maybe). His eyes are always glowing and he gets bad migraines. His vision is actually hindered a bit and everything he sees has a green hue around it 🗿

Miranda didn't care too much about the husbands because they didn't have a gift, but you know. Agustín got punished because he was yelling and trying to argue with Miranda; he was experimented on, but it didn't really effect him appearance wise. Felíx actually had some reaction to the mold, but mentally it made him really jumpy, and he's just not as happy as he used to be, though he does try to be optimistic, and is still just as protective.

Alma, I'm actually not sure??? Miranda probably doesn't like her very much, Alma is always picking fights, verbally anyway, and Alma will often be caught just glaring at her. She was experimented on but. Idk, maybe on Miranda and Mirabel know how it truly affected her, physically. Unless you or someone else has an idea LMAOOO

I LOVE THIS AU AND I LOVE RESIDENT EVIL❗❗❗🙏🙏 probably gonna do art of whatever the next ask is (if you have one)

Also. If you have any writing ideas I'd totally love to write a snippet or something <33

[divine-misfortune]

Mushy May, day 5. Personal grooming.

Rating: Everyone

Pairing: Rain & Copia

Words: 693

Summary: Personal upkeep can slip through the cracks when there’s so much thrust onto someone at once. The Cardinal does what he can to make it easier.

“Sit.” 

Rain could have curled in on himself from the sharp edge of the Cardinal’s tone but instead he slunk into the bathroom and sat himself on the seemingly precarious wooden stool in the middle of the room. It creaked under his weight. He folded his hands in his lap and subtly began to pick at a loose thread on his knee.

“You don’t need to-“ he started to whisper, throat dry. 

“Ah, but I do, pioggia…I can’t have my ghouls walking around in such disarray. It reflects poorly on me, but also you seem to be in need of the help.” 

Needles of cold shame pricked up his spine as Copia attempted to run his fingers through the water ghoul’s hair. A sharp tug on his scalp earns a wince as the man snags against a knot. Copia makes a soft and apologetic sound. In the mirror, Rain could see his brow furrow as he assessed the rats nest in front of him. 

It was the burn of humiliation in his cheeks that dragged Rain’s gaze to the tile floor. 

The time he’d spent topside had not been easy. He was run ragged, pulled every which way. Everywhere he looked, there was a new expectation to meet. The poor water ghoul was dead on his feet before the days could even come to a conclusion. It was exhausting, it was scary, and he couldn’t keep up. 

To say he felt inadequate was an understatement, the space he’d been set to fill was impossibly big despite the previous bassist being, well…Not very big. It was daunting. He wanted to crawl back to the pits and stay there where he couldn’t prove to be a disappointment. Most nights, he could barely bring himself to eat his dinner. Trying to care for himself was the last thing on his mind. It was all precious time he could be using to learn the instrument they’d thrust upon him. 

“I’ve noticed” Copia began as he retrieved something from the cabinet above the toilet “you haven’t been very present, during practice, meals, mass.” Rain braced himself for a lecture, a warning. “This has been hard on you, no?” 

“This?”

“Your summoning, your new place,” the man gestured vaguely with one hand as he returned to the place behind him. Rain looked up at the mirror to watch Copia. “There is much to adjust to, I know. Take me for instance, this is all new to me as well.” He took a comb and began to work at a particular knot in his hair as gently as he could, Rain knew it wouldn’t be pleasant. “I cannot say this has come easy to me either.”

“But you make it look…I don’t know, like, easy.” Rain said through grit teeth as Copia tugged a little too hard.

“I will let you in on a secret, ghoul…It’s all pretending. None of this is easy. You never got to see any of the Papa’s in their prime, but they left quite the shoes to fill. I could never hope to be them, so I instead hope to be me.”

“I don’t - Fuck! Ow!” He yelped and jerked away, reaching to rub at his poor abused scalp. “I don’t get why you’re telling me this.” 

“Because, we are both confused of our place here and that’s okay. But I’m afraid that allowing yourself to fall into despair because of that fact, is not. It won’t always be this formidable, and if it is, it is not something you have to stomach in silence.”

Rain ran his tongue over the inside of his teeth and looked back down to his hands. Copia’s eyes were kind, his voice was genuine, and he didn’t know what to make of it.

“You trust me, don’t you?”

“I mean…Yeah but,”

“Then continue to trust me. You must only have faith in Satanas, me, and yourself or none of it means a thing. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Cardinal.” 

“Very good, now sit still. This is…” He gave another tug at a snag, “going to take some time.” 

[iapetusneume]

For the fanfic end of year asks - 3 and 19!

(I am terribly late shhhhh)

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

I was proud of many things, but this is my favorite: from the third chapter of Shared Compliance:

The wounds sustained in the training cages by many of their brothers over the past several days were a bit more severe than they tended to be. Meros shrugged. “We’ve been too long without engaging in the field. They’re getting restless, and that manifests in different ways.”

“Keeps you busy, at least,” Kano said.

“The blessing and the curse of it,” Meros said. “An apothecary wishes they had no work to do.”

“You need to keep your skills sharp, too,” Kano said.

Meros took a towel and dried his hands, paying particular attention to the spaces between his fingers. “Until we get too complacent, I guess I will have to settle for overzealous brothers who haven’t found their art calling yet.”

Kano chuckled. “Speaking of which, how is that song coming along?”

Satisfied that his hands were dry enough, Meros reached for the hand balm he kept in his station, rubbing the balm into his knuckles and tips of his fingers. “I’m satisfied with the first half, but… I don’t know what’s missing. I’m tempted to table it and work on something else.”

“Maybe you need a different instrument?”

“I’ve considered it.”

"You should bring it to the attention of the forum," Kano said. "I'm not sure why you're so hesitant to do so."

The musical forum that Meros was a part of had temporarily merged with one aboard the Red Tear while the Hermia was in dry dock. He had been delighted for the 9th Company to be temporarily brought aboard the Primarch's flagship while the repairs were in process, because it meant he could see Kano on a regular basis.

But it also meant that the very best of the Blood Angels were aboard the ship, and ever-present from everywhere from the training cages to the art forums.

"Unlike you," Meros said, "I am not used to such august company on a regular basis."

"Perhaps," Kano said, "but there are plenty of other ships in the fleet who could have taken you in. This is an honor for the 9th Company, and you are a central part to their success."

A blush dusted Meros' pale features. "Kano," he said, "are you trying to inflate my ego?"

"I'm hoping to draw a map to your courage," he said with a small smile. "You do not shrink in the face of the enemies of the Imperium. You can ask your brothers their opinion on your art."

Meros put his hand balm back, continuing to rub it in as he spoke. "...I will take your suggestion under advisement."

"I feel like that's the best I can hope for, at the moment."

19. any new fics to start next year

So, I am trying extremely hard to finish most of my WIPs before going into any of my other plans. Basically, I have My Big Project (The Great Angel's Court, a series of fics set in the same AU, the current big WIP in that being Shared Compliance), two giftfics that became katamaris and I still haven't finished (Unyielding/Concede, Alar Aladi), and a project from first getting into fandom that is just faaar overdue (The Backup Plan). I am determined to finish Unyielding, Concede, Alar Aladi, and The Backup Plan this year. I would be absolutely shocked if I finished Shared Compliance this year. I want to make a lot of progress on it, too, but I don't forsee finishing it this year.

THAT SAID

I really really want to start a Great Angel's Court fic called Proof of Concept. Part of the point of The Great Angel's Court is to ask the question: what if the primarchs actually had the chance to talk more?

In this situation, it's shortly after the fallout of Primarch II being deleted from the other primarchs' memories. It will start with the Lion and Fulgrim, but it will also have Roboute and Perturabo, and Mortarion and Konrad.

I'm really interested in playing with the idea of what the sudden loss of memories look like, and trying to grapple with the hole that forms. To know that something has been cut away, but can't figure out what it was. They all deal with it differently. And... because they get some support, perhaps it doesn't become the dumpster fire it could be.

But I should really finish my other stuff first

[kisaraslover]

Do you think Kisara has any hobbies besides sitting in Kaiba's lap?

Well i like to look at established Kisara to draw out more traits so first things first is the dragonic nature. I think Kisara deeply enjoys nature and solitude and sitting in the sun. I dont mean this like camping either, from ancient Egypt we see Kisara already has unusual resistance to exposure to elements, with something godly in her veins so i think she might be really zen watching birds to flowers to the sky and basking her place in all this. We all have a passing moments of "everything IS everywhere all at once, all is one, one is all" but i think it would be a constant presence in her. she swings between "oblivious to life weird ass woman" and "enlightened higher being" VIOLENTLY. Meditating would be grounding to her, in the opposite way to all other people meditating.

and then music. dragons are a kind of bird <3 dont look that up. i think Kisara has an uncanny aptness when it comes to music. one of those people who can pick up any instrument and play a simple tune on it. i dont think she has a remarkable singing voice at all though. embodies "people sing because they want to not because they are good at it" hums gently music she likes. if she tries to seriously sing along to a difficult song her voice cracks loserly. she laughs and continues yknow? its still Seto's favorite and if he catches sound of her humming before entering a room, he waits outside to listen for a couple secs. its his secret no one needs to know shhhh. ALSO the fic Paper Roses has piano player Kisara and the romance is served so well by Kisara giggling while placing Seto's hands on the right keys so.

making things with your hand is a very grounding practice for anyone struggling to stay in the moment and stay present and i just cant move past these very artistic but expensive looking hobbies from youtube shorts -tries not to cry about capitalism locking the public out of arts- so after getting that Kaiba Money she'd just go "i always wanted to try glass art btw" and seto goes "?????. thats. alright ok. go for it"

im really conflicted on many "hobbies" and what makes them hobbies but if we work with the basis "how you spend your day is how you spend your life" i think she'd really be the least online person. the activies above WOULD be very frequent but i think Kisara spends her most days, ironically enough, socializing. she'd be talking to employees (important business) or talking to employees (just chatting lol) out with friends of all kinds and trades, Mokuba and his friends or Seto and HIS friends, or most surreal one, Seto and HER friends. shes the kind of awkward person who listens more than they speak, with her own charms and difficulties, thankfully when you try enough you can find people you can get along with. very endearing on the line of strange, bringing out peoples protective sides which is why she would gather Mom Friends and Bossy Bitches and Protective Eldest Siblings faster than you can say her name. while i characterize both Kisara and Seto as kind of introverted, i think Kisara would be charged with a thirst to know and understand humanity (both result of godly roots and alienated youth) so if her luck turned around after meeting Seto i think she'd build quite the social circle, not even realizing how many people shes getting close to at first. Seto's socializing would be more acknowledging part of healing means creating support systems, opening up to people -to whatever extent he can- surrounding himself with people who he cares about and who care about him in return, and definitely less easier than her collecting friends.

SO YEAH! sorry for the LONG ASS reply, i think Kisara is adopted by many Extroverts and on the time off she goes into her workshop does fuck all (DEF made a wooden dildo to see Seto's reaction. mokuba laughed his ass off thinking it would perplex him. he took one look at it and said its a pathetic cock and he could nude model for her. no ones laughing now.....)

[hydrochloric-hugs]

Chapter 2

They meet muahahaha *cringes* I'm gonna cry

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: food mention, general fear times, g/t. Additionally, while not shown in this chapter, this story will probably have non-sexual vore down the line.

Devon snorted.  He was trying to sleep, he just was, but there was this annoying blaring sound… wait-

He jumped up in his bed, instinctively reaching for his phone and swiping his finger across it until blessed silence.  Christ, he should really get a more pleasant alarm.  He took his phone and stretched before bringing it to his face. 7:30 am.

He groaned but stood, tossing the covers and not even pretending to make his bed.  His morning dragged until finally he had his coffee and sat down at his kitchen table, biology textbook open to a section on fish eyes.  Thrilling.

But no more procrastination, Devon had to have this book half memorized by the end of the week, and it was better than his last semester's coverage of genetics.  He shuddered at the memory.  He was seeing punnett squares everywhere for three days.

No, Devon mused, this is much better to read for hours.

-

Beck pumped his fist in the air. “Just when I lost hope!” He said to himself.  Most had cleared the vent, a couple just finishing negotiations.  Beck paid them no mind, for his prize sat in front of him.  He had been eyeing a new tool Mabel had designed, a variation on an archaic instrument of foraging, the hook and string.  It could dig into most any slight crack or imperfection on a surface, especially when properly sharpened.  Very useful in Tallulah's time and in his, but Mabel had something incredible.

He picked up his shiny new toy with reverence.  He'd say it looked like a crossbow if he'd ever seen one, an elastic band stretched by a bowed toothpick with a sort of cardboard barrel giving way to a molded handle.  The idea was to load the hook pulling the string back until it was caught on a small indent that could be pushed up by a mechanism attached to the handle.  The string would unravel from a spoke just beneath the barrel.

Beck ran his finger carefully along the metal of the four-pronged hook, safely secured in place by a second mechanism with a small crank at the top back of the device.  Mabel had originally made it to help her partner on foraging trips since their arms weren't as strong as they used to be, and they had no one younger in the colony.  Once everyone got one who needed one, however, the device proved useful to anyone foraging, arthritic or not.

Beck had never asked, not for lack of desire, but because he wanted to give something in return, even if Mabel asked for nothing.  So, he went on a daring journey into the nearest apartment to his home and bagged precious materials: extra soft cloth and sweet treats.  Things humans usually notice missing, things they're most likely to punish him for messing with.  It wasn't the most important or dangerous act, but one he at least felt equated the grappling hook in utility for her.  Technically the paper clips he also picked up the day before were most useful, but they were easy pickings from humans.  Mabel had an insatiable sweet tooth.

As the thrill of the exchange waned, however, he felt a certain emptiness coming on.  Andre had gotten cat whiskers for their partner, Mabel and told him.  Cat whiskers.  Beck had never even seen a cat in real life, let alone steal something off of one.  He only ever snuck around at the dead of night, scrambling for whatever scraps he felt like he could use.

He looked down at his grappling hook, tightened his hand around the trigger.  Tonight would be different.  No, today would be different.  He'd even go alone.

He packed his things, not even saying goodbye to the final barterers as he exited.

Once he brought something incredible, something they'd never seen, he will have earned his place, and everyone would think highly of him.  He'd give them something to be talking about for years to come.  He adjusted his pack strap, feeling the weight of the hook.  He had never felt so sure.

-

Classical music twinkled across the kitchen to where the forager stood on two shaky legs, peering over a cabinet ledge.  Tallulah is going to kill me.

The human was slumped over a book, head down, torso slowly shrinking and expanding.  Of course Beck would choose to do this while the occupant was home, and in the kitchen no less.  But Beck had to do something.  He'd been stuck the amateur that the community took care of for two years, he couldn't keep doing this.  He couldn't take it any longer.

Squeezing his eyes shut and imagining his prize, he took deep breaths.  I can do this.  Beck knew his goal the second he saw it: the book.  Taking a textbook scrap from right under a human's nose, literally?  They'd be talking about him for years.

The human snorted, started to snore.  Beck held his breath.  If I live to tell the tale, that is.

The breathing steadied, and Beck checked his route.  I'll stab my old hook into that crack, rappel down onto the counter, get my hook back, and hide behind the coffee maker.  Then I'll use my grappling hook to make a line from there to the table.  I can hide under the table with my hook if he wakes up then.  I can climb back with the paper I my mouth, climb back up, and start drafting my memoir!

The plan was foolproof, or as Tallulah would say, Beckproof.  He imagined her face (a while) after he got back, bursting with pride, never worrying about him again, and dug his hook in.

-

Devon bolted awake at the sound of ripping.  Had he slid and torn a page?  He was just resting his eyes while waiting for the coffee to kick in.  He rubbed his eyes and looked down.  He couldn’t get his deposit back if-

He froze.

A tiny man no bigger than the width of his palm was holding a corner of his text book off to the side, its hypotenuse shredded off.  It was staring back up at him, mouth agape.  His eyes were wide, and they darted to the side.  Suddenly, he was running for the edge of the table, page abandoned.

“Woah!”  Devon instinctively threw his hands around the figure.  The little guy’s inertia carried him, making him run into Devon’s hands and fall back.  The human closed his hands gently when he saw the creature jump up and try to climb his palm.  It was a strange sensation, moreso when the visitor started thrashing around in apparent distress.

That made Devon pause.  Was he hurt?  He parted his wrists, lowering his head for a better view.

“I-I’m sorry!” It can talk?!   Devon gasped.  The tiny being was cowering in his fingers, covering his head with trembling hands.  He looked just like a human, seemed to have the intelligence of one, but was only a few inches tall!  This was paradoxical!

“...What the hell was in my coffee?”  Devon mused, looking away for a moment.

“Ple-ease,” Devon’s attention snapped to the humanoid.  He squeaked, flinching. “I’ll do a-anything, just don’t hurt me!”

“What?”  Devon furrowed his brow. “No, no, I don’t want to harm you, did I a second ago?”  He tried to scan the man for injuries, but the way he was folded in on himself made it impossible.  Unsure of what else to do, he slowly pulled one of his hands back to his chest, slouching down further.  Hesitantly, he moved his remaining hand to be in front of the man and held out his index finger. “I’m sorry if I did.”

It took a bit of them sitting there awkwardly before the man looked up from his arms.  He was still shaking, and Devon frowned at the tears falling from his cheeks.  “Are you okay, little guy?”

He startled at the voice, but didn’t run.  Finally, “I-I’m okay…”

Devon sighed. “I’m glad.”  He remembered his finger was weakly pointed at the being and lightly coughed, folding it into his chest again. “Sorry for scaring you, uh…”  He glanced back at his damaged book. “I don’t suppose you’re magic and can put the page back like it was?”

The being followed his eyes and tensed again, started to pant. “I-I’m sorry, I can’t fix it, I’m really sorry!”

“It’s okay!” Devon smiled calmingly, “did you, uh, fall… on it?”

His breath picked up and tears gathered in his eyes again.

“Nevermind, it’s okay!”  He held his hands up in hopes to placate the poor thing but the man collapsed back into a ball with a yelp.  Devon tried to move in to comfort him, but his effort was only met with apologetic whimpers he couldn’t even really make out.

“Okay, uhhh…”  He bit his lip.  “Maybe we can start over.”  He straightened up only a little, nervously smiling.  “My name is Devon, what is your name?”  The miniature man continued to shiver. “If you…want.  You don’t have to, uh, give your name.  I guess.”

A beat.

“Well, uh, I was just listening to Mozart!”  He nodded his head at his phone. “Do you like…Mozart?”  Do you even know who that is?  He kicked himself.  One semester without roommates and all his social skills just–boom–out the window!  “Maybe you’d like some food?”

He saw the man perk up a little, just a flash of eye contact.

“I can get some food for you!  I, uh, don’t have much, but maybe you’d like some ramen?  Noodles?  Do you… know what that is?”

Despite Devon’s sputtering, he answered. “Are you sure?”

Devon grinned. “Yeah, uh, it’ll take a second, though, and I’ll have to move around a bit to get it.  I don’t want to scare you, buddy.”

That got him to uncurl himself just slightly. “Y-You don’t?”

“No, of course not.  I promise.”  He shuffled his feet under him. “Can I, uh, stand up and make the ramen?”

His breathing picked up and Devon froze. “Wh-What if I w-wanna leave?  Would you le-let me go?”

Devon’s expression turned quizzical.  “Absolutely.  Do you have some way down?  I could carry you if you want, but I have a feeling you’d rather go on your own.”

The man looked as if Devon had sprouted another head.

“Was was that the, uh, wrong answer?”

Without answering, he sat up, hugging his arms around himself.  His eyes bounced around the table top, and he seemed to be chewing his lip.  He said a word, but it was too small.

“I’m super sorry, but I didn’t catch that.”  Devon resigned himself to sit there for eternity until the person spoke up again.

“Beck,” he said, meeting his eyes with only a little terror, “my name is Beck.”

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

This is probably a dumb or unanswerable question but your answer about George's songwriting has me thinking about it again and I really do want to know. I understand intellectually the where the line is between songwriting and arranging in terms of labor, but I don't really understand how they can be different skill sets? Isn't part of writing a song figuring out how all the pieces fit together? To me it sounds like writing without arranging would be similar to writing beautiful sentences without being able to construct a paragraph?

Preface: I kind of misread your question at first so sorry for saying some things you probably already know, just find this fun to talk about :( I love the journey of creating art!!!

Most songwriting happens with a single instrument at hand or even none. It generally involves coming up with the main melody, the words, the chords, and perhaps something like a guitar solo. Cause of this it doesn't involve much imagining because one can as a single person create the song on its own, and many great songs are strong even when stripped to their bare bones – not all, some songs live off their arrangement which is fine! I think this is true for a lot of pop music nowadays tbh.

Take the Esher demo of While My Guitar Gently Weeps! It's great and shows incredible skill in lyricism and melody building, it transitions from minor to major absolutely beautifully and would be performable just like this.

The song is fully written here, apart from a few lyrical changes. We have the full structure, all the chords, and a basic idea for a descending bassline, which I'd say toes the line between arrangement and songwriting.

Arranging is mapping out every other instrument in detail, the vocal harmonies, studio effects you might want to use, possibly even how loud everything is. It's much more holistic and multi-disciplinary I'd say, requires knowledge of instruments one might not play or requires cooperation between instrumentalists. It's also a lot more free I'd say. There's more types of sound than types of melodies in our music, I'd say (that might differ from something like classical Indian music which uses multiple tunings and uses microtones more liberally, while generally keeping to a specific set of instruments afaik)*

*feel free to correct me on this if you know more.

That brings us to the final version of the song:

Now we've added a piano intro, we've figured out the percussion, we've brought in backing vocals in some places (but not everywhere!), the bass has a full fledged part, the rhythm guitar isn't the same as in the Esher demo. Balancing all these pieces together is, I'd say, entirely different from matching lyrics to melodies and chords.

Sometimes the writing and arranging happen simultaneously, which can blur the lines a bit, but they're very distinct skills IMO. It's what distinguishes the songwriter from the producer profession nowadays (less so in the 60s I think, and it's different with bands anyways, think more of modern pop solo songs here).

Two more fun before (pre-arranging) and afters (post-arranging) below the cut:

(skip to 0:43) The lyrics were still incomplete at this stage. The producers are actually shouting production/arrangement ideas live which is cool!

The final version has a completely different flow and a distinctive minimalist electro sound, which isn't discernible from Taylor's initial song. The instrumental is quite masterfully arranged to build tension throughout the song, making the background chords slowly get louder throughout the second verse, using ad libs in the final chorus.

That being said the song still sounds great with just her and a guitar.

Another interesting example: Real Love

John did do a fair amount of his own arranging in this version – his piano part is fully developed and he recorded a simple tambourine. Still, this is incomparable to what Paul, George and Ringo would eventually do with it:

John is the sole credited writer of this song, yet obviously he had no hand in its final arrangement, though his piano playing definitely guided the other three.

Would John have done the same with it? Who knows. Would it have been as good? Who knows.

[wellingtonwellsdaily]

Famous Britons!

Good day, my lovely Wellingtons! It’s Uncle Jack here, and I’m positively thrilled to bring you another installment of Famous Britons! Have you taken your Joy today? I do hope so, because we’re about to embark on a delightful journey through the life of one of Britain’s most celebrated figures. So, sit back, relax, and let’s dive into the inspiring story of a truly remarkable Briton.

Today, we’re shining a spotlight on none other than Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest minds our fair isle has ever produced. Born in 1642 in a little village called Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, young Isaac was a curious lad from the start. He was fascinated by the world around him, always asking questions, always seeking to understand how things worked. It was this curiosity that would one day lead him to some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in the history of science.

You’ve all heard the story of the apple, haven’t you? Well, legend has it that one day, as Isaac was sitting in his garden, he saw an apple fall from a tree. Most people would have simply thought, ‘Oh, there goes an apple,’ but not young Isaac. He wondered, ‘Why did that apple fall straight down? Why didn’t it go sideways, or even up?’ And with that simple question, he began to ponder the mysteries of gravity.

From that moment on, Isaac Newton was determined to uncover the secrets of the universe. He went on to develop his theory of gravity, explaining not just why apples fall to the ground, but also why the planets orbit the sun. His work on the laws of motion laid the foundation for modern physics, and his invention of calculus – a type of mathematics that allows us to understand change – has been instrumental in countless scientific advancements.

But Sir Isaac wasn’t just a man of science; he was also deeply interested in the nature of light and color. He conducted experiments with prisms, discovering that white light is actually made up of all the colors of the rainbow. This was a truly revolutionary idea at the time and changed the way we understand the world around us.

Despite all his incredible achievements, Sir Isaac Newton remained a humble man. He famously said, ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ This shows us that even the greatest minds are built on the work of those who came before them, and that collaboration and learning from others are key to achieving greatness.

Isaac Newton’s contributions to science and mathematics have left an indelible mark on the world. His work has shaped the way we understand the universe, and his legacy continues to inspire scientists, mathematicians, and curious minds everywhere.

So, my dear listeners, let’s take a moment to celebrate Sir Isaac Newton – a true genius, a pioneer of modern science, and a shining example of British brilliance. His story reminds us that with curiosity, perseverance, and a bit of imagination, we can all make discoveries that change the world.

Well, I'm afraid we've come to the end of our time! I do hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Sir Isaac Newton as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing his story with you. Until next time, keep asking questions, keep exploring, and always remember: happiness is a choice. Choose Joy!

[timeoverload]

I tried writing last night but I was way too tired and pissed off to do that. I didn't even want to eat dinner last night. I was angry yesterday about a lot of things.

I got to work and the morning team lead was there but he got sent home again by the health nurse. It's good that he left because he sounded horrible. I should have went in early but I was told that he was going to be there so it wasn't necessary. I had to scramble to finish opening decontam and get my stuff set up. My boss was in the department for a little while but then she disappeared when my other co-worker came in. She was not helpful at all while she was there either. I do care about my boss but I am very irritated with her right now. She told me she was going to take instruments down for sharpening and she had to go see how things were going in the basement. She said she wasn't going to be gone very long but she lied. I didn't see her again for hours. She disappears all the time and usually she doesn't communicate. She just tells us to call her if we need something but we still can't always rely on her to show up or do what she says she will do. One of the girls that works in sterile processing in the basement came up to ask if she could have a couple biological packs and some controls. She had been waiting on our boss to bring her some but she didn't hear anything for hours so she came to talk to me. Apparently the boss told her she was going to go help upstairs while she told me that she was going to be in the basement. I was so pissed because she lied to both of us and we were both drowning. I understand that she can't be everywhere at once but she was probably somewhere chatting with someone and drinking coffee because that's usually what she's doing when we can't find her. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if she hadn't told both of us that she was going to help us and then do nothing. I told her how many cases I had and she didn't really care whether I got breakfast or not. She had brought scotcheroos for my other co-workers birthday and she basically said that I would have to eat those if I got hungry. She didn't use those exact words but I think it's fucked up that she couldn't cover for me for 15 minutes so I could go eat. It was nice of her to bring some sweets but I just wanted some real food because I haven't been able to eat breakfast since Monday. She was the only person there that could help me and she knew that. Around noon she came in and asked if I wanted to eat lunch and of course I said yes. She asked my co-worker who comes in at noon to cover for me so that was helpful I guess. I was so hangry all morning. I was so hungry that I bought a sandwich even though I hate their sandwiches. My boss also changed the decontam shift schedule and she put herself in there from 11-12:30 but she didn't come back to the department until noon. My co-worker had been in decontam for 3 hours at that point because she didn't show up to relieve him and I felt bad for him. He was pissed when she finally popped her head through the window to ask him if he wanted her to come back there. He said he didn't want her back there and someone else came in to take over. She shouldn't have put herself on the schedule if she knew she wasn't going to be able to do it. I know she has been sick for a while and it sucks. I do feel bad for her and I want her to be healthy. I really think it's time for her to retire though. I don't think she can handle it anymore and I can tell her heart isn't in it because she used to be very passionate. She doesn't care like she used to. She has definitely changed a lot in 8 years. My whole morning was very chaotic yesterday. I got 23 pans done by myself before noon. They also opened a lot of other sets. It was a lot of work. I was wishing that I could clone myself. I feel like a robot because I do the same shit over and over again. I didn't cry but I wanted to. The afternoon was a little better because I didn't have to move as fast but the last case didn't get done until 4. I had so much stuff to do at the end of the day but I managed to get it done before 5 so that's good.

I left work feeling disgusted and nauseated due to all of the negative energy around me all day. I just wish that I felt like I could fit in. Some people are just so cold and unfriendly. I'm tired of people giving me dirty looks. I have never felt like I belonged there. It is a nightmare and I'm stressed out. I never thought I could develop PTSD from a job and I think it will haunt me even after I leave. I don't want to think about it anymore because I don't want to dwell on it all weekend. I had nightmares about it last night. I'm definitely not looking forward to next week.

I still feel like trash today and I am having horrible cramps too. I managed to get out of bed and get a couple groceries this morning so at least I have something to eat. I don't want to get up now and it sucks because I have so much shit to do. I slept a lot last night but I am still tired. I guess I woke up several times in a panic so that probably didn't help. I think I need to take a nap sometime and maybe I will feel better. I am very happy to be at home and I need to try to enjoy my day.

I hope everyone else is having a good day so far. :) 💖💖💖

[brewedblooms]

a eulogy that no one asked for.

How do you think a twelve year old would define a crush?

The word "love" for a twelve year old, whose socks are mostly mismatched, is a word to describe a familial affection or a kiss Snow White received to wake her up from food poisoning. While a "crush" is not too much, no exaggeration. A twelve year old me would define a crush as thinking your chest is way too small for your jumping heart every time the tip of his hair is visible among the crowd. Filling any empty space on your notebooks with hearts, and his initials, paired with your initials. Screaming at your parents to buy the green t-shirt from man section at the department store because you swore you saw him with the same exact one the other day. Paddling out your bike one afternoon 20 minutes away from your neighborhood only to see how his house looks like. Everything is your first time, everything makes you nauseous.

I had my first silly, twelve year old non-sense crush with the nicest kid at school. Man, I was lucky. He never been a jerk about it, though everybody would make fun of me. He texted back, he waved from across the soccer field, he said hi. It was pretty delicate, one single blow would probably traumatize me for as long I could remember because the whole process was there for me to learn. I began to "see" my reflection on the mirror, and Nikka Costa's First Love was my ultimate anthem. Everybody remembers their first crushes, and I definitely kept mine like it's an aged collectible—so precious, but since it's for a safekeeping I don't go back to it ever again. For years, and years, I never thought of that nice little boy in 6th grade who once gave me his water when I forgot to bring mine.

Until his obituary appears.

At this age, it is both an extreme optimism and being realistic to think it's still early to ponder about death. It could also be a false assumption, of course, because death occurs all the time in no chronological order. There are days where I could find myself thinking about deaths and its instruments—the afterlife, or the ones who get left behind—more than usual. The funny yet vicious thing is no matter how often you ponder about death or you definitely have the knowledge that every single living thing will eventually be buried underneath the earth, when it happens it's always caught you off guard. Too sudden, too soon. A sickly dark surprise no one seems aware of. Then, sometimes, the death of those people whose presence somehow leaves a mark in the timeline of your life, be it big or just a little dot, puts you in such confusion—Do I have the right to grieve? Do I have to mourn? Should I go to the funeral? I do feel something but I can't quite describe it. I was stunned. And of course I'm in no place to write a eulogy because we were practically strangers despite the fact that I have two diaries from when I was younger filled with scribbles about him. After all, I made up my mind, and I think I'm allowed to eulogize his twelve year old self version—the one that I used to know by heart.

I woke up this morning seeing they began to put your picture everywhere on social media—they mourned, though it was obvious most of them hadn't heard from you for quite awhile. I sent a prayer on your way last night, though it took me some time to process the news. I secretly hoped that you had grown into a decent human being, was an amazing father to your child, and your wife used to be the luckiest woman in the world. I prayed that your shadow would encourage them to get on their lives on ease, because the life you used to lead was glimmering with faith and love.

When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine, that all the world will be in love with night, and pay no worship to the garish sun. — William Shakespeare; Romeo and Juliet