#and it's all been Necessary Items and things but also it's just very difficult

[ourceliumnetwork]

tomorrow pakige

[dresshistorynerd]

Sewing 1890s Day Dress in Doll Scale

I went slightly overboard with this second historical doll project. Here's my first one. The style is from around 1897 and more of a middle class style. As with my first doll outfit, I tried to stick to historical methods as much as possible, but the scale forced me to do some deviations. I hand-sew everything though sewing machine was already widely used, because in this scale it's easier to control the stitch, there's not that much to sew anyway and also I just really like hand-sewing. Here's all the items I made. As said, I went a little overboard. One thing that's missing is the corset cover, but the layers of fabric were creating enough bulk on the waist as is so I decided to not make one.

This time I decided to try repainting the face. I don't have any doll customization materials, so I used acrylics. After couple of attempts I got decent results. Acrylics can't make as smooth and delicate finish as pastels, pencils and gouache, which can be used on vinyl with basing sprays, and I'm not experienced with painting small details on 3D objects, so it's a bit smudged at points, especially with the other eye. I aimed for 1890s very neutral make up and the type of expression that was popular in fashion plates and other illustrations.

Undergarments

Combinations and stockings

The combinations are split crotch as they were in the period. They are from thin cotton voile I have a lot of and is very appropriate. I didn't have really tiny enough lace for this, so it's kinda bulky, but I think it's okay enough. The stockings are cotton knit, which fits well. The garters are not actually necessary for this doll since her legs are rubbery.

Corset

I made the corset from a firm-ish linen and satin rayon pretending to be silk as the fashion fabric. The stitching of the boning channels is not super neat, this fabric is very unforgiving, I didn't have exactly matching thread and the scale made it very difficult. I of course didn't have tiny busk, so I used small hooks, sewed thread loops for them and used narrow metal wire for the edges. I think it looks surprisingly right on the outside. I used the same wire as the boning to reinforce the lacing on the back. I didn't actually use boning elsewhere but the tightly packed linen edges in the boning channels kinda work like lighter boning. I think it keeps the shape pretty ways even with just that. I stitched cotton tape inside to shape the corset further. I also didn't have tiny metal eyelets so I hand-sewed the lacing holes.

Bustle pad

The bustle pad is from linen and stuffed with tiny cabbage.

Petticoat

The petticoat is from the same cotton as the combinations.

Outer wear

Skirt

The fabric is cotton half-panama. It's pretty thin, but firm. I would have liked to use a woven wool, but I didn't have any that's thin enough to work in this scale. I think this cotton looks close enough in this scale to a wool with a tight weave, so I'm imagining it's that. My problem was that the cotton was white, but I wanted light brown. I wasn't going to buy any fabric for this, so I did the reasonable thing and dyed it with red onion peals (I've been doing natural dye experiments so this worked well for me).

Shirtwaist

The shirtwaist is from the same cotton as the undergarments. Yes, I dyed it too. I didn't have thin enough cotton in a color that would fit with the skirt and the purple bow, so I dyed it light blue with fabric color. Since I already went the trouble of dyeing I decided I might as well make a small flower print to it since that was popular in the era. I didn't want it to jump out too much but the lighting makes it even less visible. I made it with a white fabric pen. The collar and cuffs are reinforced with linen. I also sewed small stick-like beads to the cuffs on both sides, so one acts as a button (I sewed a buttonhole too) and the other makes it look like they are cufflinks. The bow is from the same fabric as the corset and the belt is sewn from the same cotton as the shirtwaist. The buckle is from a barbie belt.

Waistcoat

The waistcoat is from the same fabric as the skirt, thought the lapels and the back are from another satin rayon. I tailored the front panels and the lapels by stitching the linen interlining with tailor's stitches (I don't remember if that's the correct word in English) into shape. There is some wonkiness on one side of the hemline for some reason.

Boots

I made the slightly insane decision to make the shoes fully from leather, like they would have been in the period. I had an old broken leather wallet I had saved in case I needed some leather scarps. It has fairly thin leather, so it was workable here. It's light brown though, so I used black shoe polish to darken it. I wanted black or very dark brown shoes. I stacked the heels from glue and leather pieces and carved them into the right shape and sewed the shoe itself to leather shaped as the sole and glued it to the heeled and shaped sole. After I had shaped the shoes and the heels as much as I could I painted the heels black.

[sayruq]

Hi world, it’s Eman Please read this as if I’m a member of your family, may be your sister , daughter or a friend and as if my family who’s under death now is yours.Today, I reach out with a heavy heart and a place for your kindness and support . I am not just seeking to fundraise. I am seeking to save the lives of my beloved family members who are currently trapped in a nightmare. All of whom depend on your generosity to escape Gaza Strip to Egypt , get the medical help needed and begin a new life where we are seeking safety. This is me Eman

My name is Eman , a girl in her thirties (39- years old) and a computer science graduate .Iam speaking from the heart of Gaza, a place that was once vibrant with life and has now become painfully marked by the effects of wars that spared no war. I live with my mother, Etemad (60 years old ) and my father, Saed (70 years old . My mother and my father

My sister Khaleda is ( 41 years old ) She has four children. Three sons .Saed ,3 years old. Abdul Rahman, 5 years old ,and Adam, 9 years old .Her daughter, Lyan, is (4 years old) .

Khaleda's Children

Iam suffering of one of the most common generic disorders which is thalassaemia. It’s so tiring and difficult disease. And due to the war, I lack medical care and treatments. My health is getting worse and deteriorating as treatment became insufficient. Iam in need to plasma exchange regularly ,the thing that my family find so difficult because of blockage and destruction of hospitals , in addition to the risks of going out our shelters every day as the bombs everywhere . My family deserve the opportunity to live a full life. I can’t bear the thought of losing any member of them.

My father, Saed, is suffering from heart disease .He has blockage of the heart arteries . Doctors advised him not to expose himself to the news and events that affect his mental and physical health. He urgently needs to undergo the necessary tests and surgery.

My mother, Etemad, has chronic diseases (blood pressure and diabetes ) . She needs regular follow up and medical treatment .She is struggling to obtain the necessary medications , waiting too long in clinics for subpar alternatives if found.

My family and I were very close knit enjoying simple pleasure and cherishing moment together. Now all that remains are memories scattered among the rubble of our destroyed home in Gaza. We witnessed death with our own eyes and were forced to flee our home in fear of our lives .During this time , we also received the news of the deaths of several relatives and friends due to indiscriminate bombardments. Now, I find Myself with my family displaced in a plastic tent in Al-Zawaydah , our last refuge, living inhuman conditions and enduring unimaginable hardships along the way.

We’re currently sleeping on the ground in a tent that does not protect us from the heat of summer or the cold of winter . We are located there ,with no access to essential items like clean drinking water , electricity , healthy food and cooking gas .Death and destruction followed us everywhere , Our home was bombed and bulldozed and our hopes and dreams were shattered along with it .We are enduring a suffering that is beyond anything you can imagine. Me with my family are in a very critical situation in tents .Tasks are divided among us to sustain ourselves. My father fetches water if ever found from a distant area early every morning. My mother cooks and washes our clothes using traditional methods .This is why we are asking for your help, as we are still in danger in South Gaza and can’t receive the medical care needed. Our new life in tents

Since the beginning of Israel’s assault on Gaza, we were forced to evacuate several times leaving behind our home and the future we had been working towards. Walking without carrying our personal belongings, our clothes or even money in search of a safe place until we managed to escape to the south of Gaza Strip .

Gaza, a place that I call home has been transformed into a landscape of destructions and despair . The reality we live in is one of the constant fear, where the sounds of explosions drown out the dreams and aspirations of its people .In what seems like an instant , everything my family and I held there had been ripped away by the chaos of war . A side of our suffering in tents

This campaign is not just about escaping Gaza. It’s about reclaiming a future where my family can live without the shadow of fear , where we can get the medical care and treatment needed and where we can once again embrace the joys of life without grief . The price of leaving Gaza is high and far beyond my family means. so I have initiated this fundraising campaign to urgently gather funds to help my family leave Gaza as soon as possible. The funds collected will be carefully allocated for the following purposes: Firstly , it will contribute to providing a safe passage to Egypt , which is a vital step for the family’s safety. Secondly: covering the medical treatment. Costs and medications for me , my father and my mother . In addition to the need for comprehensive examinations in Egypt to ensure our safety after the war. Thirdly : the funds will be allocated to provide temporary accommodation for the family in Egypt, giving them stability and the opportunity to explore the best path for their future . Finally , it will cover initial living expenses in Egypt granting the family the time and space needed to relax and rebuild their lives after the ordeal of the genocide in Gaza .

Eman's family has only raised $610 USD out of $50,000 goal. Please support the family by sharing. Donate if you can

[nakoayas]

Yumeshiro Aya | Profusion of 110 Flowers (from GRAPH 2024 July)

Learning about the beauty of musumeyaku in various perspectives.

PLAY

— Recently, I've been paying more attention on how to rest fully on my rest days. I can play on my "play days", but I realized that's not the main way I spend those days now. I'm spending more energy on stage and in rehearsals in a day than I did in the past, so I won't be working too much on my rest days. During the break after the Tokyo performances are finished, I'd go to Disneyland or go on vacation in Paris, or sometimes go back to my family home. Since I don't have much time in rehearsals to take care of my dogs Hana-chan and Yuki-chan, I'd take them out on a walk on my days off.

RELAX

— I like to take my dogs out and go for a drive, and realized once again how much I like seeing nature. I like seeing architecture too, but when I see places with greenery and the sunset, I'd feel especially moved by the scenery. And it's been my daily routine for 5 years that I write in my diary every morning. When I wake up, (writing my diary) prepares myself, and it gives me a refreshed feeling (to start the day.)

KNOWLEDGE

— As I was learning about The Rose of Versailles, I went to France for vacation. I didn't have much opportunity to play aristocratic roles in the past so I didn't have much knowledge (on this status of class), but as I delved into learning Marie Antoinette, I found it very interesting. I've researched all that I can, and realized that perhaps the intrinsic human sides of her remain unchanged, and there are many things I can relate to her. Now I'm rehearsing for the performance Romanesque Mask, a story of aristocrats after the French Revolution, and there've been many stories of the socialites of the time and it's fascinating to see various portrayals (of such lifestyle) in movies. I jot down notes for what I've researched, and it was fun to learn about this history.

BEAUTY

— I have a skincare routine. Every morning and every night, it's an indispensable step to use the steamer and facial beauty devices. I don't take supplements every day, but it depends on each day. I'll use facial wash, softening beauty, anti-dullness, facial scrub… and 5 other of those products and use them distinctively. And also before I sleep, I'll definitely use the hair straightening iron. By straightening the hair, it curls naturally when I wake up in the morning.

HEALTH

— I catch colds easily, so health is really an important task for me… I really want to enhance my sleeping quality and have been searching desperately, so if there are recommendations, please tell me about it (LOL). This year, I want to change to a new set of silk sheets for my bed! Besides, I don't watch television a lot at night, and I keep my lights dim in my room. I also tend not to look at my smartphone (at night). I only watch Youtube to receive information on beauty care, but I think the algorithm is too much for me. It's difficult to just receive the necessary information I need, and to learn what I really need to face for myself, I'm starting to do more digital detox.

FASHION

— It's not just particularly for offstage times, but I want to be comfortable in what I wear. When I'm working, I'd wear mostly items of my troupe color (green) and fashion styles that suit my role. I'll go shopping, and sometimes buy exactly how the coordinated styles are shown on display (LOL). When I see some flower-patterned or checkered fashion that definitely do not go together, I'd think "I'll buy both!". For portrait photos in the future, I'd like to challenge things I haven't used in the past for photoshoots, or taking photos with things I'm unfamiliar with.

MEMORY

— Even for the books I read to create my role, I'll be writing it down to remember it, and I'm the type to annotate my script. But before I begin performing, I want to read the script once more and treat it as completely new. It's a definite step that I use a dryer and erase my notes I've written with my Frixon pen, and restart (studying the script) from the beginning. Also, even though I understand the role I'm playing, to embody the role, I want to always know how my mentality is doing, so I'd also note down what I'm thinking or what I'm worried about. Also in my 5-year diary, I'd be able to look back on the past 1 year whether I've improved or performed worse, so I recommend this method to underclassmen who are also concerned with their troubles. Because writing down (all of these) helps you to take care of yourself internally.

BONUS!!

First picture bubble:

"with (Aisora) Minami who came to visit the photoshoot"

Second picture bubble:

"a challenge to wear the bustier that brings an impact"

Scanned from my personal collection and graciously translated by @yuzukahibiscus ♥️

[nogacheloveka-blog]

The Bad Sanses somehow ended up in the Backrooms. №6

<-Switch to Russian ver.

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This is the translation of the another post from Russian to English. I understand English, but it is very difficult for me to write in English, so I asked chat GPT to help me. I have corrected some parts, but there still may be mistakes.

Heh, Killer found his lost family. I thought it was funny to depict him like that. To gather information, I use both English and Russian wikis on Backrooms. Level 2.1 is in the Russian version, but for some reason it's not in the English one. I won't be too accurate with the canon and will even take liberties with it. It's quite confusing and I don't want to get too tangled up in it, since my story isn't serious. I'm just having fun.

Shaking through a couple more rooms and turning into random corners, the group began to hear the sound of working machinery. Since there were no other landmarks, it was decided to follow the noise. Along the way, they encountered more strange inscriptions and drawings on the walls. Some were particularly interesting, and Dust even wrote them down in his notebook . It seems he gets some pleasure from working with paper and pen. Especially since the previous owner kept notes sloppily and confusingly, making it not always clear what was a note for later words and what was just random phrases or a list of necessary items (shopping list?). He also constantly mentioned other people, which sent shivers down their spines.

Apparently, people mainly lived in the Hub and in small numbers in some other levels and locations.

To get to the Hub, enter the Konami code at the entrance to level 1. You can also accidentally get there through doors on other levels.

Did this mean that the locals also mess around with files? What a headache .

The group decided to avoid people for as long as possible. Of course, Error wasn't particularly worried: he was capable of destroying AUs that were sometimes entirely made up of people. (Nightmare knew that sometimes it required several regenerations in the Anti-Void, but decided to keep that knowledge to himself) .

As they made their way to the rumbling machines, the Bad Guys noticed that the temperature of the air began to change: rising sharply above Hotland and then dropping to the coolness of Snowdin. Of course, for their magic bodies, this didn't pose any harm, but they had never seen such jumps in the atmosphere before. But it seemed to be a distinctive feature of the level they were moving through.

In one of the dark locked rooms, they came across a new type of creature. Their aura seemed quite familiar . They were clearly strange distorted monsters from the underground. Perhaps Snowdin's dogs or something similar. They didn't attack, but constantly wanted to approach and sniff, which made Error swear.

These speechless creatures got along well with Nightmare, through whose ability to suppress and ignite emotions, they could communicate with them in a way, instilling the necessary direction of thoughts and receiving an emotional response. Here, the Keeper of Negativity was in his element. It was only annoying that he couldn't feed on them: Smilers simply reacted to external irritants and were slightly smarter than amoebas.

However, according to records , these monsters willingly attacked humans, and humans were terrified of them. Dust immediately set about correcting the record about them.

Smilers Nasty things, but I've been lucky enough to avoid them so far. They say there's another nest besides the Hive with these creatures alien to our world. Researchers seem to suspect that they're really from another planet. Tips : - Maintain eye contact and slowly back away. - Be quiet and don't make loud noises. - Use Smiler Repellent. - Turn off all light sources you're equipped with. Prohibitions: - Panic and run away from the Smiler if it hasn't started chasing you. - Make loud noises.- Leave your light sources on. -------------- *are safe and friendly like dogs. Killer fit in well with their pack. They love light and seem to eat it somehow. Not so strange, after all, photons do exist.

They continued on with their entourage.

From the hot spots of level 2, you can get to 2.1 (nothing interesting, leads to level 3). Some doors here lead to level 3. A strange colorful curved door leads to 283 (DAMNED CLOWN HELL).

No one wanted to go to "Clown Hell", even though the notebook compiler had been wrong about the danger level of various phenomena more than once. But if the locations of this place were called "levels," then to get out of here, they had to go through all of them, right? It sounds logical.

The group still managed to get to level 3. Although it wasn't without problems. The notes spoke of two paths: accidentally through doors and through hot areas. They seemed to have used both at the same time.

Finding a place with high temperature or doors wasn't that difficult thanks to the group's overall number, along with the Smilers . Error preferred to simply stretch threads in all directions for some reason ( He won't get his glasses in this company ) . Then it was a simple routine of opening doors in the found "hot spots." Smilers couldn't open doors themselves, so it turned out to be impossible to entrust this to them.

During these searches, they found some office paper and a few spare pens for Dust. It seems he and Cross started communicating better with each other, working with the notebook and supplementing it with their observations.

Killer entertained himself by drawing various indecencies on the walls with the help of several aerosol paint cans. Horror also drew on the walls, but his actions were more practical and consisted of leaving marks on explored doors. Essentially, they were doing the same job, just in different ways.

Finally, behind one of the doors, there was a corridor of dusty brick, similar to the many Ruins of underground dungeons they had visited. Error confirmed that this was a transition to another level. He still didn't understand how to predict where they would end up, except through visual inspection of the passage. Along with his complete helplessness during his Loadings between locations, this drove him crazy. He had extremely high demands on himself. The only thing that slightly comforted his wounded pride in such moments was the hope and need for the gaze of others looking at him with a question.

Nightmare belongs to Jokublog Killer belongs to RahafWabas Dust belongs to Ask-DustTale Horror belongs to Sour-Apple-Studios Error belongs to CrayonQueen Cross belongs to JakeiArtwork

[jacqcrisis]

*sweating* okay I'll talk about one bg3 AU idea with Ronan. It's is a pre-game, no Absolute one where Astarion devises a method of escape from Cazador on his own. He's been let off a lease just a slight amount due to Cazador's planning for the upcoming ritual so he gathers a few necessary items in secret, most notably a extra strong charm potion and a rod of teleportation that'll take him to a predetermined place hundreds of miles from Baldurs Gate.

It takes the right night, but at one of Cazador's balls, Astarion manages to charm another full vampire into giving up their blood, freeing him of his spawn status. This reprieve last only for a moment as Cazador realizes what has happened immediately and tries to capture his ex spawn. In the scuffle, Astarion turns into a bat for the first time, gets greviously wounded, but manages to activate the rod and get outta dodge as he is transported across the continent in a terrible state, but free nonetheless.

On a dark, lonely dirt path up the mountains with a horse the size of a small house, Ronan makes his way back to the temple of Bahamut he calls home, eager to get back to his bed and the temple's cats after a few weeks of being out in the local villages on cleric duty. As he gets closer, a strange rustling in a bush alerts him to a severely injured bat struggling to fly or even walk. One of its wings is torn to shreds and it's got a gash down the side of it and predictably it screeches at Ronan as he picks it up.

Curiously, his usual healing capabilities do nothing for the poor thing, and, unable to just leave the critter to die a slow death, the dragonborn bundles it up in his robes and hurries on home to care for it. He cleans it, patches up what he can, feeds the thing some of his own blood, and makes a little nest for it in his drawer, determined to see it better. At no point, does he suspect anything is off about this stressed, oddly white bat.

When finally left alone as the sun is beginning to come up in the relatively safety of a claustrophobic yet cozy bedside drawer, Astarion realizes three things. 1) Cazador did something to his natural regeneration as his wounds are not healing as swift as they should. 2) He also did something to Astarion's ability to shift back into a person, leaving his stuck in this small, animalistic form for gods only know how long. 3) He went from the hell that was Cazador's palace to now being neck deep in clerics, priests, and paladins for a justice and good aligned god who would no doubt stamp his little bat head flat if they figured out what he was.

And now he's stuck here until at the very least he can fly again. With this weird over-grown salamander. Astarion, of course, hates this.

Lucky for him, Ronan is a good caretaker. He never opens the drawer until well after nightfall, having his own late night schedule. He feeds his bat both blood let from the goats and pigs around the temple and his own. He keeps the bat's injuries clean and well bandaged and keeps the temple's cats away from it. He does his nightly duties with the bat tucked into his robes so it can get outside, and cares not if the critter scurries around his face or hangs off his horns and spikes, seemingly enamored with this new little animal in his life.

This goes on for a few weeks, and when Astarion is fully healed and whatever suppressive magic that kept him in that form wears off, he is free to fly away. And he does, spending that first night hunting his own food in his actual body and feeling like an entirely new person. But then he comes back to the temple, flaps back into his drawer as a bat to snooze the day away.

After everything he's been through, all the trials, all the torture, all the abuse, all the starvation, being in a place that is safe and warm where blood is easy to acquire and he is protected from his master who is no doubt still looking for him... well, it's a difficult thing to leave. And Ronan seemed delighted when his bat sailed back through his window at dawn to scrabble back into his drawer nest. Astarion has had a difficult life, and this is like a vacation, with the trade off being a bat.

He'll leave... eventually. Maybe next week. When he has a plan and a direction to go in and the novelty of having his wings spread out on the dragonborn's warm chest as Ronan reads aloud and scratches behind his ears wears off.

There's a lot more. Like so much. Obviously. Astarion develops a little crush on Ronan eventually, accidentally reveals himself, shenanigans ensue, vampires are annoying to clerics who are very conflicted their pet bat is a hot vampire elf, spawn and werewolves come looking for Astarion, love is fallen into despite both parties reluctance, there a couple of nights of 'accidental passion', and in the end Ronan convinces the silver dragon who is the defacto lead priest of the temple that there's a great injustice happening in Baldur’s Gate in the form of a big ole nest of vampires that they need to clear out. And Ronan and Astarion finally admit to being in love and they go off together to find a sun allergy cure.

Anyways. I like it a lot. It's cozy and sweet and stupidly drawn out like 70% of the stuff I like to write.

[z00lea]

What are your suggestions on starting commissions? What forms of payment, how you interact with customers yada.

I've been thinking (a dangerous past time) and it's an idea I've been toying with but never knew how to approach...

Tehe :3

Hello!

This might be a little long so I'll add a cut here, everything will be under it ^w^

Before anything else,

Make a TOS

Set prices and what different types of commissions you take

Set approximate turnaround times

Determine an amount of slots you can take per time

You'll want to open slots only when everything is organized, its easier on you and on clients!

I personally take commissions thru Ko-fi, you can link paypal and stripe there, so payments can be made with those (Ko-fi doesn't take any fees from your sales!)

Also on Ko-fi, you can make separate listings for each type of art you offer:

It makes life a lot easier, you can change listings at any time or archive ones you aren't currently offering

While you can make it so each listing has their own slot amount, you can also set an universal amount:

And on Ko-fi still, you can add your TOS directly to all your commission listings so that people will have to accept it before going thru with payment

So you won't have to worry about linking anyone to Carrd and such for them to have those terms available :D

Interacting with customers is very intuitive, people will message you most times asking about availability, present you the general idea and then you can redirect them to payment

If they are commissioning you via Ko-fi, they can attach files and text to their order (so reference sheets, pinboards and anything else you might request of them)

It doesn't have to be long elaborate formal conversations, and usually it isn't (unless there is more to a character or setting that might be necessary to the piece)

I recommend you keep the clients updated as you work on their art, send sketches and such (watermarked) for them to know how things are going and also to make sure you both agree on how it is looking

^ For this reason I also recommend you include on your TOS how many changes are included in the price and in which stage

For the commissions itself this is probably enough to get you started, the most difficult part truly is just advertising

You'll need to be loud about it, make sure to repost/reblog/retweet your commissions with certain frequency so it doesn't go unnoticed and so that new people can see them, remind your followers when you have slots open, post art examples every once in a while with the links to your comms, set a Ko-fi commission banner so that when you link those they'll look appealing.

Some people also advertise on discord servers, I have never had luck there so I have no experience to talk from, most of my commissions come from twitter and FurAffinity.

I THINK THATS IT, good luck and feel free to dm me if you need any help setting it up! :D

[anarcho-masochist]

Do you know what sucks? All of the mental hospitals near me. I've only been to one good mental hospital in my entire life and it is really far away. Why do all of the nearby mental hospitals have to be downright terrible? It wouldn't even be difficult to do a better job than half these places. Yeah, some people will always hate mental hospitals because they are restrictive, but there are some serious issues that are extremely avoidable.

Don't hire staff that hate mentally ill people. Also, treat patients like actual people and not like you're babysitting someone's problem child violent criminal drug addict horror movie psychopath pit bull puppy with a bite history and no ability to think who definitely caused their own problems anyway and should probably just be incarcerated or put down or else they'll just continue to be both an inconvenience and Scary.

If you confiscate a patient's belongings and say you will return them when the patient gets discharged, do so and keep track of the items, do not throw them away.

Provide food options without ingredients that commonly trigger allergies. (The last mental hospital I went to had no gluten-free options for probably 2/3 of the meals so I ended up barely eating. Usually, the only GF option was salad or fruit and even their salads had croutons already mixed in and soggy enough that even if you picked them out, the cross-contamination was significant. The only protein source was meat and 100% of it was breaded. I wish this was hyperbole.)

If you have to deal with a situation where a patient is being violent: 1. attempt to de-escalate and only resort to force when absolutely necessary 2. do not insult or yell at the patient 3. do not insult or yell at a different patient with PTSD who had a panic attack after the first patient threw a chair at them 4. do not punish a third patient by taking away their media time because they intervened and successfully calmed down both the first and second patient.

Do not sexually harass trans minors. Do not subject a 16-year-old transmasc patient to a "cavity search" and then lie about it when the other patients confront you because the kid brought it up and after discussion, none of the cis or adult patients had to do anything like that but the trans AFAB minors (there were two) both faced some form of sexual harassment. Do not revoke phone privileges to the (several) patients who suggested a lawsuit. Do not take down the patients' rights poster in the hallway. Do not lie to patients about their rights. Do not threaten to out patients to their transphobic and abusive parents if they try to report the hospital. Do not give the patients who suggested a lawsuit smug looks for the entire next week as if you are superior because the patients backed down due to the victims not wanting to come forward about it anymore because they had no solid proof and, for one of them, because his parents would hurt him if they found out, which they would.

You would think this would be common sense, and yet, there are no mental hospitals within two hours of my house that haven't done at least one of these things.

Probably not worth it to try to look for farther away hospitals I haven't been to before considering that they're very unlikely to help anyway.

[cinnagall]

☆Welcome To My Gyaru Blog☆

♡ Intro ♡

Hiiiiiiii! My name is Jax, I’m 23 years old and from NYC! I’ve been gal for almost 2 years now. I don’t consider myself a vet gal by any means (obviously) but I’d like to believe that I have a good basis in the style and makeup! I don’t think my blog posts will be very formal at first but I want a space to share my opinions and document my journey.

I found gyaru and J-fashion through early Tumblr (around 2013/2014), and then rediscovered it in 2020 and fell in love with it all over again. I love gal because of how much tan skin is appreciated! Japanese gals created a space in a colorist society where you could say “I LOVE your tan skin!” I think that’s pretty amazing!!! I also love how gyaru as a style is very hyperfeminine but with a twist. Since becoming a gal, I have learned to care much less what people think. I’m not afraid to express myself or dress in a way that other people might not like. I am unapologetically myself and I partially have gal to thank for that! At first I was really inspired by Ganguro/Old School, I loved how early gals pulled inspiration from Western fashion trends, especially African American Y2K fashion. Though, I should acknowledge that there is a conversation to be had about appreciation vs appropriation, which I might talk about in a later post.

🌺FAQ🌺

I’ll answer some FAQ that gals get so you guys can understand a bit more about my personal philosophies on the style:

💄 Do you need makeup to be gal?

Yes, there are many, MANY different styles of gyaru makeup and all of them are valid, but the only thing that has stayed consistent across gyaru “substyles” is the makeup (and hairstyling/nails), but the defining feature of gal is the makeup. This is a sentiment that has been echoed in both the Gaijin and Japanese gal communities. You don’t need to wear heavy yamanba makeup every single day, it’s understandable that some days you might not have time or energy to do your hair, money to do your nails, ect. The important part is that you do these things as much as possible as well as incorporating gal into your life in other ways!

🌺Can you be gal if you’re white or not asian?

Yes, anybody can be gal!

👛Do you need brand to be gal?

NO. Even the most well known gaijin gals own Western fast fashion brands. A lot of similar items to the ones Japanese gals wore can be found second hand or in your local mall. Obviously, finding a dupe for an item can be difficult if that item has a specific print like the Alba Rosa coat and some MA*RS sets (though Shein did have a MA*RS dupe dress last year), but other than that a lot of gal outfits are easily replicable. Magazine scans are going to be your best friend if you wanna get the style right, it is much easier to get the gal look you want when you have a clear basis/inspiration for the coords and makeup you wanna wear. Also, simply owning brand is not enough to put together a good outfit, a lot of people who wear a lot of brand lack inspiration and originality. I am not anti-brand by any means. I have a huge list of brand items I want, and I even ordered my first brand piece recently (a MA*RS handbag). But it’s just not necessary, and some brands are essentially the equivalent of Japanese Charlotte Russe or Forever 21. The brands are still fast fashion and a lot of second hand brand items are falling apart, smell, have stains, ect. Don’t stress about brand unless you really want it! It took me almost two years to buy my first piece, you’ll be okay without it! Learning HOW to style, is a lot more important than WHAT you style. A good gal can make almost anything gal, but “bad” gal can end up making anything, even brand, look cheap and tacky.

(hint, hint: a lot of it honestly is and that’s why styling really matters)

Substyles I’m currently into and why!:

🦋Agejo🦋:

So, when you think of agejo, it probably looks something like this:

This specific type of agejo is what tends to be most represented on Google and Pinterest. Newbies to the style might think that pink, black, cheetah print, lace stockings, and big hair is all there is to the style. But boy would you be wrong!!!

Look at some of these scans from Ageha, most of these are from 2008-2012. Look at how many different types of agejo are represented! Of course the iconic pink and black MA*RS sets can be found in some spreads, but they’re much less common than most gals think!

See how different the above images are? Agejo literally translates to “butterfly lady”, so in a lot of Ageha editions, especially in the spreads for more formal dresses, you will see a lot of butterfly motifs! Isn’t it crazy that the style that has butterfly in the name, yet it isn’t commonly associated with butterflies at all? I also learned from my friend Haruka (@otknoharuka on Instagram) that in Japan, Agejo is considered a style under the Hime umbrella. It actually makes a lot of sense if you’ve seen a lot of ageha scans.

I know, technically you can argue that some of the outfits in these scans could be considered another substyle. But let’s just remember that substyles aren’t real and they’re something Western gals came up with to make sense of the scans/information that was available to them at the time!

I really started understanding this style more when I started to religiously scour Ageha scans. At first I was an Egg girl all the way but I’m glad I actually took the time to read other magazines. Egg is iconic but it’s far from all there is in terms of gyaru magazine inspiration. I totally fell in love with this substyle when I finally tried out the softer, more dolly makeup look that’s common in Ageha magazine (example below). It suits my features so much better than the harsher gal make I used to do.

An early attempt of mine at Agejo/Ageha inspired makeup:

A more recent attempt:

🐆Banba🐆:

Personally I’ve never been into more “out there” styles like ya/manba. I don’t think they really suit me, and it’s just generally not the gyaru vibe I’m looking for. But Banba has recently been resonating with me recently. If you don’t know, the term banba comes from combining “barbie” and “manba.” It’s a more toned down and hyper feminine version of manba. I also find that it’s more beginner-friendly than some other substyles (in terms of coords).

A lot of the outfits are composed of muted colors, tans/browns, black, white, and animal prints. These are all items that are very easy to find, it’s just a matter of learning how to style them! I also love how glittery the makeup is, and the nails are to die for. I’ve actually been teaching myself how to make nails and a big part of it is because I don’t feel complete without them, especially when doing styles like this!!

Some banba inspo I’ve pulled from recently:

Some recent attempts of mine:

I’m going to end this blog post here!! I had a lot of fun making it and I’m excited to do more posts in the future!! I think my next post will be a unpopular gyaru opinions post, might rial some people up but in classic gal fashion I simply do not give a fuck.

I hope you’re having an amazing day wherever you are!!

TT & IG - @cinnagal

☆じゃあね☆,

ジャックス

[xris05]

Wooo! Geography and sustainability and stuff and stuff

When, in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one student to take upon themselves the burden of writing a very long (not really all that) academic post on a website they barely know how to use because said website was recommended to them by their actual genuine university as a blog website for an assignment.

And then said student forgets to do the assignment, falls deliriously ill, and is now finally getting round to it hilariously late and because all of their other assignments seem so, so much more difficult and mentally strenuous to do on a day where they really do not want to have to deal with that.

So, here we are. A comically large wall of poorly grammatically structured text, talking about (drumroll please) geography! More specifically "Human" geography, or Urban Geography or whatever you want to call it. It's my chosen field of study (despite my best judgement) and I've been tasked by the powers that be, to create a blog to inform and educate the nebulously defined general public about ~exciting~ developments and "Gamechanging innovations" Now, to tell the truth, this was not a particularly easy thing for me to do, because quite frankly my chosen field of study isn't really one of those ones you'd associate with constant innovation and invention, at least in my mind, but thankfully the university provided a long list of various subjects we could look at and study and then report back unto you (the reader, stand in for the entire rest of the world) about.

Small issue there, was the vast vast majority of what we were offered as potential "Gamechanging innovations" either drove me to madness with boredom, or absolutely did not seem like they were exactly "Gamechanging" (could be worse, one of the ideas offered to another discipline was the hyperloop, which is quite frankly a stupid idea that is dead in the water and could have just been normal highspeed rail)

Take, for instance, "Autonomous vehicles". Yeah. Now, suffice to say there is issues with the concept of self driving vehicles, mostly about how the technology is not exactly safe right now, and well, that's just the start of the rabbit hole there. (and really, just build a train, tram or other preferred method of public transport)

There was another one, which look promising to my untrained eye, namely "The Internet of things" which I had no idea what it was, so doing what any self respecting academic in-training would do, I googled it. Apparently, the "Internet of Things" is the catch-all term for devices that exchange and communicate data over the internet.

I'm no expert, but at an initial reading, that did just seem to be most things these days, and was hardly groundbreaking or new, so I dug a bit deeper into the scholarly side of the ole internet for some answers. Thankfully, I found a very helpful little paper (linked here) which clarified, and I quote:

"The term Internet of Things generally refers to scenarios where network connectivity and computing capability extends to objects, sensors and everyday items not normally considered computers, allowing these devices to generate, exchange and consume data with minimal human intervention. There is, however, no single, universal definition."

So it's the smart fridges, the fancy new cars and all of that lovely stuff, which buzz all of their data and such onto other devices on the internet. Now, of course my immediate thought was that it means my everything is now spying on me, but I was quickly relieved to remember that that changes effectively nothing as I do in fact own a phone which already does that.

The main benefit that seems to be proposed by this is the fact that all of this data allows rather effective monitoring of things like emissions and water quality and power usage and potentially good ole agriculture and so on and so forth, which, yeah, I can see the uses, maybe, but I can also see the glaring potential privacy, legal and potential tech issues.

A lot of people may not like their cars telling some company about where they've been all the time, and how much gas they've used. That's fair and understandable. Not to mention, the data gathered could be wrong, or otherwise rendered useless, effectively poisoning the data-well if enough things go wrong, or are just falsely reported to the public.

(It's at this point that I realise, I don't exactly know if this is quite what the uni wanted me to write, but hey, at least it's honest)

Anyway, I've overstayed my welcome in rambling about all of these things, and will be back (later) to complain/ do my assignment more, have a lovely day and remember that if you ever think about revolutionizing public transport, ask yourself if a bus or train would do the same thing, better.

[abiteofhoney]

"Trying to describe a room and feel like I'm dying" Okay, so, rule of thumb, you only need to give a hint of things and are allowed to have audience fill in the rest - so only need to give the points that emphasize and push forward the story, no need to push yourself if it isn't fun. However, that being said, if you wanna give people a detailed vision of the room, i suggest giving stuff emotional emphasis and use a character as your conduit. If they are familiar with the room, have them recount memories over certain items while giving brief detail as their eyes skim over from one to the next. Or if they are unfamiliar, but it is welcoming overall, have them finding things similar to their tastes to settle into. If there is nothing familiar, have them be uncomfortable and have their mood reflect how unsettled they are.

this is good advice and i thank you for it! i do want to fully describe this room, maybe more detail than is “needed” (it is difficult and i’m a complainer at heart, but i am still having fun) (also, i put needed in quotes bc im not sure it’s needed to progress the story, but it’s necessary for characterization, in my opinion)

the specific scene im writing is: first, told in the pov of a very detail-oriented character. second, told from the pov of someone that has been focused on the concept of a house vs a home. third, this character’s first look at another character’s home space. so i do want it to be very insightful to the characters and contribute to building both of them as people.

a lot can be inferred from how someone decorates their personal space, in my opinion, and i want to explore that here. it is just difficult to pull it all together in a concise way, but i’m figuring it out, slowly but surely!

[dylanakamura]

Joe Pera Takes You To The Grocery Store

Breakdown

This isn’t a super in depth thematic analysis, just a breakdown of an episode I really like of Joe Pera and the details I think make it so great.

Opening/establishing shot 0-0:53

We get this small look into Joe’s neighborhood grocery store, a remarkably mundane store, nothing glamorous, but the music and direction brings the store to life. Not the brimming kind of life you get in a Disney film but a very real yet bright kind of life.

Joe’s introduction 0:53-1:44

Joe, like in most areas of life, has a well thought out philosophy on grocery shopping. It’s an “immersive theater experience” where we all play our parts as shoppers. It engages the senses in a familiar and comforting way that’s filled with all the same variables and goals but never plays out the same way twice. The role is fun yet challenging, something you could say about any walk of life.

Tackling the infinite options 1:44-4:03

The number of items in your average grocery store is unthinkably high and only keeps growing exponentially. That’s a lot to take in, so Joe has rules put in place to keep him in line. He has his three Yes’s, Should he eat this, Will he eat this, and Can he afford it, to keep himself within his budget of $70, which he writes out in a check to keep himself in check. You can think of these rules as part of his role as a shopper on top of giving Joe the necessary calories to fill his roles in the rest of his life. He draws the line himself to keep himself from “ruin” as he puts it.

Melskys 4:03-6:11

This section mostly focuses on Joe playing the role of a responsible neighbor and teacher to Sue and Nicole Melsky respectively, making small talk and inevitably listening to their issues, mainly Mike and his new Chicken diet which has been only causing issues. Joe tries to make the best of it for Sue but ends up just apologizing for Mike’s absurdity.

Samples 6:11-8:24

His next exchange is with Fred the sample guy, who’s job is to obviously sell samples. He convinces Joe to buy his Honey Ham, but Joe is always prepared with a $5 fun budget for purchases like this, keeping him flexible yet firm. Joe also tells us about how Fred was in jail for 14 years prior to the grocery store giving him a “second act,” which in my opinion makes him feel less like an annoying guy trying to sell a product and more like an entertainer wanting to bring joy to this experience.

Freezer aisle 8:24-9:47

Joe has to keep his eyes away from the temptations of Ice Cream since he spent his fun budget on Fred’s Ham, something difficult since Joe loves his Ice Cream. A guilt also sets in about all the waste and negative factors that come with a grocery store always being stocked to the brim. He feels these conflicting emotions of comfort, awe, and waste as he hurries down the aisle. He doesn’t necessarily like it, but some things you just have to go with the flow of and participate in, and without the supermarket he’d miss it. He finally makes it out the other side to the checkout.

Checkout 9:46-10:32

As Joe checks out his total comes out to under his budget because of a sale he happened to miss. He’s been rewarded for playing his role just right. This miracle is part of the joy and excitement he gets from the supermarket experience. He sprints back to the Freezer Aisle and grabs a tub of Ice Cream, triumphant music plays as he runs, and his total jumps up to an exact $70.

Ending 10:32-End

Joe shares with us how nice it is he’ll be able to have a few scoops of Ice Cream tonight since today is his Birthday which he doesn’t like to make a big deal of. I really like this detail because it shows how well maintained and rewarding it is for Joe to hold himself accountable and never drown in deep seated desires besides simple pleasures. He looks to the mundane for excitement but keeps the big news to himself, never disappointing and always finding beauty in the simple things which is an aspect I really commend Joe for.

[true-blue-sonic]

remember the hilarious gameplay mechanic in 06 where as Silver you pick up a bunch of furniture and just pelt Sonic with it? I wish stuff like that was portrayed more in the media he appears in. Like I guess people won't appreciate having furniture destroyed, but all the errant rocks and boulders are free real estate. It's not like there's a low weight limit considering how he uses cars in generations. Like that scene where he was confronting Infinite? He's never really been the type to fist fight an enemy, they were in a jungle, pelt him with rocks

That fight with Infinite on the one hand is very nice because it showcases the fact Silver is incredibly brave and powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with a vicious villain who brought Sonic to his knees six months prior... and on the other hand, the game developers seemed to have completely forgotten Silver has Hurl Stuff At Other Stuff powers in that scene, because all he does is yeet himself at Infinite. It works in the end with the Phantom Ruby Prototype falling which helps save the Avatar in the finale, but come on, Silver! Fling that giant snake at Infinite, or something!! Freeze him in midair and go to town on him!!! It stands out even more because he does kind of do that latter thing in the Resistance's final stand against Infinite's clones. I can accept the concept that Infinite cannot be grasped and held by PK because of Virtual Reality or whatever, but it's never explicitly shown in Forces, so we'll probably never know.

Silver's powers generally are somewhat difficult to show to their full potential, because he's never really in a (gameplay) situation where it is necessary to showcase it. Like, in the Mario & Sonic games he can show it off a little bit in minigames, but that's hardly a situation wherein you need him to go and hurl half an IKEA warehouse's worth of items at someone. Nor can you really see his powers in other games and media he is in: Colours DS' showcase of his and Blaze's powers remains unseen other than a mention of 'fireworks' by Cubot, in TSR and the mobile games you never see him use his powers either iirc, Rivals 1 and 2 only make things confusing with ESP the telepathic power, the Sonic Channel stories are all but limited to Japanese audiences, and the IDW comics seem to be mostly kept to Americans. Thus, the only games that really show Silver's raw power are '06, and Generations as a peak. The fact that Silver in the past decade or so has simply not been playable/a boss in a mainline story game where the stakes are somewhat higher also does not help. I honestly think that is one reason why people might not be aware of just how insanely powerful Silver's PK is: if it is never shown, how can they know? But yeah, I fully agree with you that Silver's powers should be demonstrated more in the media he is in, and especially the fact he is kind of an OP curb-stomb-battler with them (afaik, you can defeat Sonic within ten seconds in their '06 boss battle if you play it right). Let Silver commence with egregious amounts of property damage that will make Sonic Unleashed jealous!

[putschki1969]

Hi Puts!

How are you? Hope everything’s good!

I’ve been reading your past tutorials on how to get tickets to Japanese lives (thank you for amazing coverage btw I was so confused!), because I want to apply for tickets for Kajiura’s 30th anniversary lives.

Applying for FC right now (filling in the form with address etc). I kind of understand Japanese as I studied it before(although it’s gotten a bit rusty), but I don’t have an address and telephone there. I do have a few not close friends/ friends of friends who are in Japan right now, but I’m not sure if they will be willing to help if it’s too much of a fuss (and I wouldn’t want to bother them so much anyway!).

So I wanted to ask, if for example, I ask a friend to enter their telephone and address, will it be a one-time confirmation and they won’t have to do anything except help me with phone confirmation? Or will they continue to receive notifications etc on their phone afterwards, and will it be more than one time confirmation? Do I also have to be connected to them real-time for verification because the time zone difference is three hours between where I live and Japan so might be difficult? 🥲

I’m debating whether I should do everything myself with a help of somebody for address and telephone or just use proxy service for a fuss-free option (but it’s a bit pricey for me).

Also, if it’s not hard for you, could you please advise me if they accept foreign card payments?

Thank you so much!

Best wishes!

Hi there! I am good, thank you!

For the fan club you do need a Japanese address and phone number, however, there is no need to confirm anything so you can just take any random phone number. You do receive the occasional item (e.g. membership card, fan club magazine, etc) from the fan club so the Japanese address must be legit. I use a service called Tenso. They provide you with a Japanese address (including a stock phone number) and they ship packages overseas. Please note that they cannot make registrations, payments or purchases for you.

All fan clubs associated with YK and Kalafina accept foreign credit cards as payment method so at the very least, you do not have to worry about that.

Please be aware though that joining the fan club is only the first step. Getting tickets is much harder. Once you are a fan club member, you can take part in the fan club exclusive ticket lottery. Those lotteries are always held by authorised ticket agencies and rarely by the fan clubs themselves. In most cases, tickets are distributed by "e+" or "Lawson Ticket" but in case of the upcoming YKL #18 tour, "Lawson" seems to be the preferred ticket agency. I mostly have experience with "e+", I haven't gotten a ticket via "Lawson" in ages and don't even know if my account is still working but I guess everything I know about "e+" also applies to "Lawson". But please take this stuff with a grain of salt, I am by no means an expert in the matter.

For a few years now, all those ticket sites have required a registration with a Japanese phone number. That wasn't the case back in the day. Thankfully, the verification process via SMS/call is a one-time thing. The number itself may be required for log-ins etc but no further verification is required. As long as you don't use the digital ticket service/mobile app your friend won't be bothered again. I cannot remember how exactly things worked when I first registered on "e+" but I am pretty sure I was connected with my Japanese acquaintance in real time. It may or may not have been necessary to enter a code...

I am afraid you will be hard-pressed to find a proxy service that still offers to apply for, purchase and pick up tickets in Japan. They pretty much stopped offering that service when it became much more difficult to get a Japanese phone number and when Japanese ticket sites started having a bunch of stricter requirements.

As for payment methods, I am not 100% sure about "Lawson Ticket" but I know for a fact that almost none of the official ticket agencies accept foreign credit cards so you do have to rely on someone in Japan to handle your payments (either by registering their card in your account or by paying at the convenience store). Lawson does accept foreign credit cards for fan club membership fees (Keiko's fan club is paid via Lawson) so that gives me a tiny bit of hope that their ticket service also accepts them but right now I have no way of checking. As I mentioned before, it's been many, many years since I have last used Lawson for tickets. I've actually just tried to log in with all my old info and it doesn't seem to work anymore *sighs* Might have something to do with the fact that when I first registered on Lawson, they didn't have that phone number verification requirement. No idea to be honest but I guess it's proof that I am struggling just as much as everyone else. Oh well, I am not planning to take part in the fan club lottery anyways since we don't know any details about the guest vocalists yet and they also haven't announced any of the additional performances. I need to know more before committing to anything. I am aiming to take part in the general lottery which will most likely have more ticket site options than Lawson. This way I can apply using my e+ account.

I don't know if this was helpful at all. This stuff is tricky for me as well so unless I actually go through the process of applying for a ticket, I can't really give any good advice.

Wishing you a ton of luck!

[noblehcart]

HC Dump: Gabby's kids edition

Ana's haphephobia is incredibly difficult for her to deal with on a daily basis and was a monumental herculean task for her to endure when more kids started staying with Gabby. Thanks to her trauma she can hardly stand people touching her with very few exceptions that she's learned to trust such as Gabby. With the younger kids she's been able to swallow it down for the necessary aspects because she rationalizes that they're children and of no threat/harm and that they do love her like a big sister/second mom. Anyone else however she avoids like the plague, especially men.

Mia has VOWED to ruin her father one day by becoming famous and successful. She has it planned out to the detail how it will happen and how she will announce their relationship and the proof of it before society and the press. She's even planned her revenge dress though everyone has tried to correct her on the term, but she refuses to budge because that is what it is. A dress for revenge and decimation on the man who destroyed a little girl. Pretty eyes aren't the only thing she inherited from Silas St. Claire since she wears spite equally as well.

Gabby is sorely tempted to kick Hayden out of the apartment, but not for bad reasons. She feels an enormous guilt about him dedicating so much to their ragtag family that she worries he's not setting up for his own life and future outside of them. She wants him to have his own life outside of family because one day the kids will be grown and gone and he needs to have his own life, dreams and future.

Lily doesn't know what she's going to do. Ever or when she grows up. Its a question she gets asked by adults all the time and she just sheepishly shrugs and half hides behind Gabby. She's a little girl with a genius intellect, but is terrified to use it after her experience with her last set of foster parents who just wanted her to be normal. Gabby tries to let Lily be Lily whether she wants to read fantasy books or science textbooks. More often than not though Lily's intellect is kept on the downlow for her to reveal herself- if she wants. The rule in the family however is that they don't push or diminish anyone's intellect in the house and that everyone helps everyone with homework. Sometimes though Lily will sit up early in the morning with Gabby as she balances the household accounts and bills and chirps in to help out.

Sophia lives in her own world where she is a princess and everything else is her kingdom. No one in the family has the heart to tell her otherwise as she is the only one in the family that still has that childhood innocence that was taken from all of them- aside from Victoria. Sophia is also obsessed with the Disney princess by the same name.

Every child in the family, except Nick, pitches in to help care for Victoria. Gabby, however, is mildly concerned that the twins, Noah and Erin, will use her as part of their science experiments and so they never get sole watch over the six month old. Of the entire family its Sophia and Victoria that get 'new' clothes because Mia makes them new sets because they're small and so its easier and cheaper with the little amount of fabric needed.

One of the best days of the year for the Christensen clan is when their local thrift store has their yearly 75% off sale and Gabby lets the kids pick out ten items of clothing or toys. They attack with a game plan as they head into the throng of people also there for the sale and divide and conquer.

Things Gabby is terrified of is having to give 'The Talk' to the younger boys in the household. She goes back and forth on asking Hayden to give the younger boys the conversation, but also worries that even he doesn't know quite the right way since he's only twenty-three himself.

All the girls in the Christensen clan have a means of self defense on them because they live in a rough neighborhood. Gabby has a taser, Ana has a high frequency alarm and a taser, Mia has pepper spray/high frequency alarm. Lily has a high frequency alarm/tracker along with Sophia who also has the alarm/tracker and a whistle. Victoria however has a small tracker/airtag that is always tucked into her pocket.

[noseblxxd]

[ i’ve been thinking about how is how bev’s brain has been effected since point lookout, with the whole missing bit of brain thing. i went into it a little bit in a resent ask, but here's some more details]

[ based on where the scar is in game, she probably lost a small part of her frontal lobe. this is the part of the brain responsible for things like problem solving and judgement, speech and language, voluntary muscle movement, memory and focus, all that stuff.

in game nothing happens to you, but if you had your noggin cut open and a little chunk got scooped out, there's no way you'd come out of that 100%

because of this bev has some neurological damage. outwardly the most obvious is partial facial paralysis, predominantly in her forehead and mouth on the right side of her face. her smile is a bit wider on the opposite side and her right eyebrow isn't as expressive as the left.

also to do with mouth movement, in the early months following her brain trauma, speaking was difficult. it's not necessary aphasia (a speaking disorder caused by brain damage) but she'll trip over her words or mumble unintentionally. in order to avoid this she'll sometimes speak a bit slower to make sure she's articulating and pronouncing her words correctly, otherwise she'll repeat the sentence back with certain words swapped out.

frontal lobe damage also effects general dexterity and constitution, so her balance isn't as good as it used to be. she's prone to losing her footing, or stumbling and falling in the worst case. by the time she enlists with the ncr she's much more stable on her feet, but fresh out of point lookout she was very much like a baby giraffe and would have to talk alongside a wall or rely on dogmeeat to keep her steady.

hand coordination can also be impacted by this type of brain damage, and something bev is still concerned about is her ability to fix up and hold objects. holding jamie as a new baby terrified her because she was worried about dropping him- that's actually why she started baby wearing. nowadays she has a easier time picking up and keeping items in her hands, but she'll frequently hold things with two hands to avoid dropping them, just in case.

lastly, and this is exacerbated by her mental health issues, her short term memory is pretty spotty. she'll forget if she completed a task or why she'd left or entered a room, so bev will often write notes or create checklists for herself during so make sure she gets work done throughout the day. directions and navigating are also a challenge, so in recent years she'd relied heavily on her Pip-Boy to get herself around the wasteland. ]