#and she keeps going 'but a lot of the designs are a lot cheaper like only 50k' okay well not doing it is free.

[foxcassius]

katie and the other girl teacher at the school keep trying to convince me to get into the habit of spending 100,000 won every month and a half on getting my nails done and like. i simply dont want to do that.

[heejinkwan]

[ STELLARS — a guide to astella’s fandom . ]

WHAT ARE STELLARS ? ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ stellars is the name given to the fanbase of kpop idol astella , the name was given to fans on january 10th , 2022 – three months after her debut . the fanbase is known for being fairly nice to get along with , only getting rowdy when it’s time to ‘ defend heejin ‘ . they’re very loyal , quite literally known for getting astella out of ‘ nugudom ‘ , convinced her company to have her perform at coachella , although she didn’t headline , it was still an amazing achievement for her . they even have their own community on twitter (x) , called stellars!

THE OFFICIAL STELLARS COLOURS ! ... the official colours for stellar are the swan ( #FCD417 ) , the sun ( #FF709C ) &&. the cyclop ( #FE8650 ) . each color is meant to represent astella’s growth ; her time in promise being the swan , first year as a soloist being the sun , and the cyclop being her revenge (reputation) era , the one she’s currently in .

THE OFFICIAL STELLAR LIGHTSTICK ( insp. venusvity ) ! ... THE FIRST lightstick , also known as the stellabong , was the very first light stick that dropped 2 months after astella’s initial debut in 2021 and came free with the physical album copy . stellars absolutely loved the design of the lightstick , it’s chargeable and can change into three different colors when you press the button , it is still available on astella’s website to this day .

THE ORIGINAL lightstick was released a month after the stellabong , it’s the only lightstick that stellars have where there is a handle. it’s known to be the least favorite light stick out of the the generations , although it is still used when astella performs on inkigayo or music bank , this really played into the mermaid feel a little bit , her international fans aren’t very fond of it , but her korean fans like it . the current retail price is $34 USD ( ₩45,307 ) , although as of 2024 it isn’t bought as much . however , at concerts astella still uses it whenever she can!

THE LATEST stellabong was release early june 2022 , just in time for astella’s performance at lollapalooza paris , replacing the previous one after a year run to mark the start of the ‘ revenge era ’ . simply being a modified version of the first gen stellabong , fans enjoyed improved shaping and quality , they definitely think this one is the best lightstick out of all three , it looks pretty , and just like the first one can change colors! the current retail price is 65$ USD ( ₩86,617 ) , astella likes to keep the prices of the lightstick’s in range so that most of her fans are able to afford it . but , there are still resellers in the fandom who either sell the lightstick for more or a cheaper price .

WHAT IS STELLARS FAVORITE ERA? ... NOBODY KNOWS is the most popular era out of all of astella’s comebacks so far , she gained tons of fans during this era and going viral almost every day thanks to her beauty . in a fan vote , 50.5% of stellars said they liked this era the best . ever since this era started , stellars started to get the ‘ stellars are so toxic ‘ treatment , they don’t care , they obviously act the way they do because of all the things heejin has been through . she also is active a lot on bubble and instagram threads , where she talks abiht things behind the scenes .

SUGARCOAT comes second in terms of popularity , having been voted by 45.1% of fans . most of this popularity stems from the fact that she just got out of her contract with her old company , almost getting blacklisted , and her name being infamous for the amount of months she was gone , a lot of the streams from this song , which garnered over 70 million views , came from people hate watching , wanting to see what’s all the hype about , but they ended up loving the song . before nobody knows became the best era in stellars eyes , sugarcoat was their roman empire .

QUEENDOM , is in third place , with a whopping 5.05% , queendom was the era of heejin being in promise , stellars don’t even want to talk about astella being the group . a lot of them like to pretend she was never in the group and was always a soloist after finding out in the lawsuit she made against her old company of the way she was treated , stellars don’t hold anything against the girls! a lot of them are still fans of them , they just won’t hesistate to hate on the company , a lot of ‘ toxic stellars ‘ would berate the members , saying they should’ve said something about her mistreatment but seeing how they really had no power stellars understand why the girls didn’t say anything . but it is thought to be known that the members still support her and astella does the same .

very much inspired by @mvneaten btw! it’s this post!

[inposterumcumgaudio]

I was rewatching some old Letsplays on We Happy Few, and I noticed that a few commented on how the Protagonist only take Strawberry (I'm pretty sure the Wellies take all three). And I realize this is hinted at in the first act where Arthur goes to the Labs for Cod Liver Oil, there's a couple notes before the fight with the Bobby that states Sally created Strawberry. In the game, Sally is the better Chemist, compared to Verloc who is hyperfocused on a Permanent Solution. In the 'We All Fall Down' DLC, the workers at the Labs start a riot over wanting Sally back, which implies she was a better boss and more efficient. Anyways, I'm like 98% sure this is Canon, but I am curious to read your take on it if you have one, I know it's just a small thing but the grip We Happy Few on me is iron strong. Anyways, I've always been curious on Victoria and Sally's relationship. Does Victoria know her dad is taking advantage of the local chemist? I can't imagine she would know, I feel like she'd be repulsed by that.

You don't have to answer any of this, I just like to rant about this underrated game.

Not only will I answer this, I'm gonna do so in parts so I can cover all the topics you're asking about in some detail, starting with the prevalence of preference for Strawberry.

Functionally, this is because they made one first-person animation for using the Joy Booth that all protagonist characters share between them and that animation always draws from the third canister. If you play the Night Watch mode, you'll note that the Strawberry canister has been replaced by a Blackberry one. It's much easier and cheaper to change the texture on the Joy Booth model than it is to make two additional animations for the other two flavors.

But you also only ever find Strawberry Joy out in the world, indicating that most Wellies share this preference for Strawberry.

This is, I think, a result of a concerted effort on the part of the Executive Committee to push the populace to switch flavors. I also think this is the start, or at least the exacerbation, of a lot of the problems in Wellington Wells.

'Cause see, the original Joy formula used for the Chocolate and Vanilla flavors was invented in 1953. That means that by '64, the town has been on Joy for nine years now. But the problems with food production couldn't possibly have started then or the town would have starved ages ago. That change, the preference for growing pretty flowers in their leftover victory gardens over ruddy little vegetables that aren't much to look at? That's gotta be more recent or the effects would have been felt sooner. But, it also can't have been too recent (as recent as Sally's departure from Haworth Labs) or there would still be enough stores and active gardens started earlier in the current year to keep the town going. Strawberry was developed in 1962, available two years thus far, which makes its introduction the much more likely culprit for the change in Wellie gardening priorities.

I also think the integration of Strawberry into the choices available resulted in more frequent cases of Joy rejection, such that the town had to further relinquish Eel Pie Holm to the increased Downer population (having already designated Barrow Holm as the dump for troublesome members of society at Joy's initial introduction before the problem really started getting out of hand). Mixing flavors is not recommended, due to the difference in compound and interactions between them. Most people were probably able to switch relatively well, but there's always some for whom side effects are most severe.

Despite the problems Strawberry introduced (which they probably couldn't have forseen anyway), the Executive Committee had to push the new flavor because the raw materials for making the original formula - leftover German "goodies" - have a finite supply without any trade over the bridge. Eventually, they will simply not have the ingredients to make Chocolate or Vanilla.

Unfortunately, due to the toxic bi-product of Strawberry Joy production that causes food to rot on the stem, fungus to mutate, and the resultant plague from exposure to its spores, they'll not have poppies, bufotoxin, or liberty caps - the key ingredients in Strawberry - for much longer either.

It's a lot of kicking the can down the road.

Anyway, I'm getting away from the point. Why is Strawberry preferred?

Because it was marketed to be.

You will note in the game that you only ever see posters and other marketing materials for two flavors of Joy: Strawberry and the upcoming Coconut.

Sally mentions that there was an annoying jingle for Chocolate in the past, so that tells us there was marketing for the original flavors when Joy was first introduced. Even here though, you can see that the shift is already beginning, that the Executive Committee is building hype for Coconut and will stop promoting Strawberry once it's available.

(As a side tangent, since I don't know when else I'll get to mention it, I also believe that the original formula was given two flavors - that is, there is no appreciable difference between Chocolate and Vanilla - as a psychological trick to make early adoption more complete. With only one flavor, the question is if you will take it or not? With two flavors, the question becomes which one are you?)

Since the problem of Joy is always limited materials, shifting promotion is done with the knowledge that the old flavors will need to remain in production for people with genuine preference, but that most Wellies (since the culture is very conformist) can be convinced to switch to the hip new thing to preserve those older flavors for as long as possible.

And I expect that Strawberry was promoted as the flavor to take if you want to be a cool kid. It's the preferred flavor of Nick Lightbearer, even described as his muse. It's the only flavor you'll find all the town's most beautiful people taking at the Design Centre. You don't need color television to know when Uncle Jack pops his Joy on screen, his pills are pink.

But beyond that, I think it was also implied to be a patriotic duty to at least try the new flavor. Victoria takes Strawberry Joy, often and publicly, as a signal of leadership to the townspeople. It is a gesture of civic pride, particularly pride in Wellington Wells' spirit of scientific advancement, to immediately adopt the latest innovations with complete trust.

However, it should come to no surprise that trust is not well placed...

[putschki1969]

Hi there,

you mentioned earlier that Keiko have luxurious live and her family are well off. im curious whe is this information come from? did she ever mentioned this in an interview ? or are any of her family member also someone famous ? eg; business man / celebrities / etc ?

Hello there!

Keiko never explicitly talks about any specifics regarding her family or their financial status and there's a good reason for it. In the very early stages of Keiko's career (around two decades ago), some fans have discovered that members of her family are quite active in regional politics (an activity that can typically only be taken up if you have some substantial funds available). Naturally, it is in everyone's best interest to keep Keiko's work in the entertainment industry strictly separated from any political activities which is why you'll never get any official statements from Keiko in that regard. That's also why the fandom as a whole is pretty hush-hush about it and why I will not be going into further details here. ❗It is important to be respectful and to keep those things private.❗ But you can imagine that this sort of background affords Keiko certain privileges.

From circumstantial evidence alone, everyone with eyes can guess that Keiko has always led the lifestyle of someone who is financially well-off.

She is constantly decked out in extremely expensive designer clothes/bags/accessories. If you follow my Twitter account where I post my Kalafina fashion finds, you'll know that most of her stuff costs several thousand dollars.

Whenever she has a new hobby, she goes all-in and tends to buy some of the most expensive products on the market (see for example her road-bike era or more recently, her acoustic guitar era).

I'm not going to delve into all of her regular beauty treatments because that's something most self-respecting Japanese women would choose to invest in regardless of their financial status but suffice it to say, an average office worker with a decent salary would not be going to all those fancy places that Keiko frequents (there are much cheaper options out there!).

Then we have Keiko's living arrangements. Presumably, she lives alone in her own place somewhere in the city center which would already make it very expensive. She is able to sing and play the guitar in the middle of the night which is rarely possible unless the apartment is super modern and high-end.

Generally, she doesn't seem to struggle a lot when it comes to connections within the industry. From what we can tell, she has had no issues signing up with a reputable label and agency (something Hikaru struggled with a lot and Wakana might have too if she hadn't decided to stay with Space Craft). Usually, that's a sign that sizable amounts of money are involved but who knows...

The fact that she felt confident enough to apply for the registered trademark of "Kalafina" back in the day could also be an indicator for Keiko being well-off. The legal representation alone must have been quite expensive.

Additionally, Keiko has made some vague references here and there which would suggest a wealthy background (please note that these are just some examples).

She has mentioned small things like playing tennis and golf with her parents on a regular basis. In case you didn't know, those are rich people sports, especially if you use your own equipment (which Keiko does).

The way she spent her hiatus after the breakup is also quite telling. Inspired by one of her relatives, she randomly decided to go to Kimono school to get a diploma. Sufficient funds are required for a school like that and I would assume that most people who attend will probably come from a more "sophisticated" background.

When talking about her super early days in the music industry, Keiko has made no secret about the fact that it has never really been about passion or necessity. She didn't start out as a singer because she felt she had to, it was more of a spontaneous whim. Again, a luxury usually only afforded to privileged people. Back then, singing was something she moderately enjoyed and could casually pursue, something that separated her from her older sister and something that more or less served as the spoiled/rich-kid version of a rebellion against overbearing parents. We get a bit of "rebel"-Keiko in this interview here. I would say that this is the behaviour of someone who doesn't have many worries in life, at least not when it comes to financial matters.

[interpol-by-design]

Fuck it, I'm bored waiting for a delivery and my boss is getting on my case. Let's learn about eyeshadow!

The first thing you need to learn is that designer eyeshadow palletes? They're not a scam, but they're not exactly recommended, either. They're largely made for people with disposable income who want to be trendy, which isn't everyone. It's just a single demographic. Designer palletes are specially selected by people who are on top of the trends, who are on top of the latest colors, who are going to specifically pick precise shades that look good on a broad range of people, wearing a broad range of clothes.

Let me be blunt. I'm Kalosian, and while I love my home? We do have a classism issue. And I think part of addressing that is saying, in a neutral way, that not everyone has the same budget or the same options when it comes to cosmetics. Hell, my girlfriend grew up in a small town, so her foundation choices were pretty limited because they straight up weren't able to stock enough variety to suit her. She was between shades, and had to get creative with mixing foundation up to match her skin tone every time.

Anyways. If you want to start experimenting with eyeshadow, start with a drugstore pallete, something with a large selection! You can get two dozen or so colors to play around with, and while you may not have a lot of each one, that's okay. You're still learning. And it's okay if you run out quicker, because you're still figuring out what you like and what looks good on you.

Oh! And get good quality brushes. Start out with maybe one good brush that you like and take care of, and then, as you learn more techniques, you can continue investing in more. I get mine online from Lumiose Moon, which has actually started branching out into making paintbrushes now! Check out their beginner friendly section, that's the code for working on a budget, and make sure you use the half off shipping coupon. You can get the shipping a lot cheaper if you're willing to wait, too. They're super good about coupons, trust me. I'm a bit of a brand whore for them, to be honest, but frankly? Their budget options are nice and they let you scale up.

Why do you need good brushes? Because a good brush will pick up more pigment, frankly. You'll get better, more visible results, and more even blending if you're working with high quality equipment.

Anyways, the delivery I'm waiting for right now? See, I don't get individual palletes anymore. I just, once a year, buy myself refills for the Book of Eyeshadow, which is a full spectrum pallete with hundreds of colors. The casing folds up super nicely to fit in my bag, and all my colors are accessible in one place. I would absolutely, if you've gotten past the first step and want to get serious about makeup art, advise you to check online for a large pallete. You'll want to look for something that has both rainbow and nude shades, I keep mine separate but I know my girlfriend likes to mix them.

Oh shit, I think that's it now. Happy makeup times or something, remember that you're doing this as an art form and if you feel ugly without makeup, look into body dysmorphia! Bye for now!

[ladylooch]

Soft Thoughts Sunday - Nico & Lexi

Second request: Nico/Lexi- (before officially dating) after a really hard day at work, the last thing Lexi was expecting was Nico to catch her in the mail room, and notices her mood and won’t let her be alone until he sees her smile 🥰

Nico is sitting in his apartment, watching TV mindlessly when he takes a casual glance at his watch. Oh shit! He is late for heading to the mailroom to see if Lexi… or himself… has mail. He launches off the couch, grabbing his keys after stuffing his feet into his Adidas sandals. Downstairs, He puts his hands on the door, then pauses when he sees Lexi sitting on the floor. Her back is against the bank of mailboxes, head tilted back with obvious tear streaks down her cheeks.

His eyebrows furrow in concern and he wonders what he should do. He wants to comfort her, but maybe she wants space? She tilts her head back forward, putting her hands over her face completely as she sobs. Nope, he’s gotta go in.

“Hey.” Nico announces his presence right away. Lexi jumps in surprise. 

“Oh, Nico, hey.” She scrambles to her feet. She has her mail in her hands as she turns away from him to wipe her tears. It doesn’t matter because he already saw them and her eyes are pink, red rimmed with watery shine to them. In her hand is the similar notice he got via email that rent is increasing by 10% next year.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am just… feeling really stressed about money.” She looks at Nico like he can’t possibly understand what that means. “Go to nursing school I said…” She trails off. “Didn’t pay as good as I thought it would.” 

“Can I do anything?” He asks, hating the way her shoulders sink in, shortening her frame under the weight of her inner thoughts.

“Um…” She looks at the floor, sniffling. She brings her pointer finger up, pressing the tip to a tear to gather it off her face. “No.”

“Are you sure? I give really great hugs… and this sweatshirt is thick like a towel… It can handle a lot. Very absorbent.” 

“That sweatshirt looks more than my rent.” She chuckles, scanning it, noting the designer logos. It is, but he’s not going to tell her that.

“No, I got it thrifting.” He shakes his head, opening his arms. 

She hesitates, looking up into his face shyly. Then she steps forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. Nico practically passes out at how good it feels to hold her. He carefully breathes in, taking in the scent of her flowery perfume. He wants to put his nose into the part of her hair, close his eyes and get lost in this. But he shouldn’t. Instead, he holds her comfortingly, rubbing her back over her rain jacket. Lexi begins to cry again at his sympathy. It’s been so long since she’s been held like this... genuinely without motive or wandering hands from the other person.

“Thank you.” Lexi whispers, releasing her grip on his back.

Nico wants to offer her money, but he won’t. Instead, he goes back to his apartment and pays her rent for the rest of the year, asking for anonymity from the management company. He knows that isn't actually going to work. He isn’t surprised to see her the next morning, knocking at his apartment door as he is getting ready for morning skate.

She stares silently at him when he opens the door.

“Why?” She finally asks.

“Because sometimes we just need a break.” 

“I don’t… know what to say. I can’t give anything in return.”

“I don’t need anything.” He gestures around to the apartment and his luxurious life in general. “Just keep saving kids’ lives.” 

“Neeks…” She looks down, then reaches out to grab his hand by his thigh. It’s the first time she’s called him by a nickname and his heart swells in happiness. Damn, he is so into her. “Seriously, thank you.” He sees the tears in her eyes again and he clears his throat. Selfishly, he did it for himself. He knows the first way to save money is to move somewhere cheaper and he can’t have that. He needs their daily interactions like breath.

“It’s nothing.” He shrugs.

“It’s everything.” They share a look before Nico shifts uncomfortably from her appreciation. 

“Ah, I’m about to head out. You okay to wait for a second?”

“I’d love to.” She confirms.

Nico takes another few minutes, hustling around to grab his stuff before he meets Lexi back at the door. She smiles at him, taking her eyes off the picture of him and Emma by the front door.

“My sister.” He tells her. “You’d like her.”

“I’ve seen you with her before.” Nico and Lexi walk out of his apartment. He shuts the door and locks it behind them. “Thought she was someone… else.” Lexi widens her eyes.

“I don’t have anyone else. Just me.” 

“Not for long, I’m sure.. What with your absorbent, thrift store sweatshirts and all.”

“You willing to give me a recommendation?” He asks as they step into the elevator together.

“Maybe, you have someone in mind? Could send them a text.”

Nico shakes his head no, but he finds himself picturing her as he does it.

[simulation-machine]

SIMS RELATED PROJECTS/UPDATES

My spring break is coming up in a week and holy crap do I have plans on plans on plans, especially since my summer is gonna be full of school + internship + HOPEFULLY friggin' graduating with a BA in Psychology so that I can start applying to grad schools.

Read more iffin' you'd like! It's long! Here's a picture of my golden retriever napping on her brother's food bowl to entice/entertain you:

god she is so precious i would literally kill for her

GOAL 1: MASTER GSHADE/ReSHADE

I know that some people are sticklers for this but my thing is that I had no gee-dee clue what I was doing with ReShade, whereas Gshade just kinda clicked and worked for me? That said I have a bunch of resources for learning ReShade so I might end up moving back to it at some point.

My main issue is figuring out the order of all the different effects. It obviously matters, I'm sure people smarter than me have tried to use presets only to be like "why tf does this look absolutely nothing like the baller screenshots this one cool Simblr has?" Annnd it turns out it's order + remembering to turn off certain graphic settings. Also photoshop, but that's gonna take a lot longer for me to figure out lol.

Like I'd been struggling to figure out why @gunthermunch's gorgeous Lithium preset wasn't looking as sexy as it did before annnnd it's because I forgot to turn Edge Smoothing off when switching to it. Jesus wept at how dippy I am sometimes.

Eventually, what I would like to do is maybe make my own preset at some point? I would be kind enough to show the effect order too if I did so. But this requires so, so much more shader knowledge than I currently have.

FUN FACT: My first ever degree was in art, I even went to a very fancy and private art school (School of the Art Institute of Chicago if you're curious)- I dropped out after one semester because uhhh that shit is expensive. Ended up finishing my degree at a much cheaper location in MN. That said, my art was 100% analog and 2D, and it turns out it did not translate super well into trying my hand at graphic art.

It's funny because I've been gifted really neat stuff for graphic art (like a really nice Wacom tablet and Adobe subscriptions), like people just expected my mixed-media ass would know what to do with it. NOPE! But yeah, Sims is sort of my excuse to try my hand at this stuff again, especially since I have a bit more energy now that my soul is not regularly being drained out of my body by customer service and tech support jobs.

GOAL 2: GET CRACKIN' ON ANOTHER DOOR

This one is hard because I am only on Gen 2 of the Orsons and it's sort of hard to justify starting up another story while that one is less than 1/5 of the way done.

THAT SAID, I don't plan on posting Another Door until I have a decent chunk of it done. Since it's not a casual gameplay story nor a legacy challenge, I plan on editing the bajeez out of the screenshots for it, really honing in on the aesthetic. I want it to look and feel very different from my random legacy challenge.

Fortunately, this story has been fucking up my sleep schedule for *months* now and I have a lot of the writing for it done. The hard part is translating that into the Sims, making sure I get the right poses and stuff, maybe even learning how to make some super easy CC (like, posters and stuff), and stuff related to GOAL 1 above.

What I'm saying is that it's going to take a bit. But I'm super serious about sharing it because it's my obsession and honestly the first time a story of my own design has possessed me in literal years.

Also, I want to make sure I have a significant backlog of the Orsons before I start seriously simming for it, because I don't want to screw over my favorite little pixel babies. This legacy challenge is going to be the one, I have done so much to keep my save files to keep it safe from harm (ask me how many backups I have of the save files. JK don't, the number is frankly silly).

GOAL 3: START YET ANOTHER MASSIVE CC PURGE

Y'all, my CC folder for this game is honestly an embarrassment. I go so hard on CC shopping because this community is stupid-talented and I like giving my pixel babies nice things and cool looks. When I'm bored and not quite in the mood for gameplay, I just like making neat-looking sims that I do absolutely nothing with because I love fucking around in CAS.

I have built my own PCs since I was 17 years old, and when I first built COMPUTERMACHINE (current rig) back in the autumn of 2018, it was with the goal that it would run Sims 4 flawlessly no matter what I did to it. It's got ridiculous amounts of RAM, I religiously update parts for it. And to be fair, even with the current 6,907,907,890 TB of CC I have atm it runs better than Sims 3 ever had with a measly 50 GB of CC.

But for me, it comes down to finding all the stuff I wanna use. Making myself get rid of the stuff I don't wanna use. Straight up yeeting the CC that I thought was going to look incredible that uh, didn't deliver.

I do CAS CC purges about once a year but have literally never done it for Build & Buy stuff, because OMG some of this shit I've had since 2014. Like when Sims 4 first came out. YIKES. My CAS CC obsession is notable but it's honestly nothing compared to my Build & Buy. Even before For Rent made building lots slow af, my PC was starting to take a solid minute to switch to different buy categories.

It would take a long af time so I want to make sure I have a bunch of content in the queue before I do it. It's gonna be a whole ass thing and be so, so boring to do. So I'm putting it off for when I have a ton of time to do it. Like, oh, my entire Spring Break?

GOAL 4: MAKE A FRIGGIN' RESOURCES LIST ALREADY

This would obviously need to wait until after GOAL 3 is completed, but I wanna make sure the awesome creators whose stuff I use get credit, and that people know where they can grab neat stuff. It would include not only CC but mods, Gshade/ReShade presets, and maybe even lots and sims I've downloaded from the gallery?

(Since I am super anti-paywall and very unapologetic and rude about it, I will also share where one could perhaps get some of these CCs without paying some dip a Trenta Starbucks Unicorn Frappucino amount of $$$)

It's ambitious as hell because *gestures vaguely at GOAL 3* but it would make things like doing WCIF asks and lookbooks so much easier.

Somewhat relatedly, I wanna make a navigation post, especially once Another Door starts getting posted. That story is gonna be a bit huge with multiple arcs that take place over the course of like, 14 years. Plus once the Orsons get to the 4th+ generation, it would be easier to track things down.

IN CONCLUSION...

I have been having so much fun sharing my silly little Sim adventures on Tumblr, so much more than I ever thought I would! You all have been so great to me, and all of this stuff is sort of a way for me to repay that. Ever since I stopped being able to be artistically creative ever since a really nasty depressive spell in 2017, Sims has been my #1 artistic outlet. And having people who are even somewhat entertained by my pixels is incredibly motivating.

Basically, if you read all of this, DAMN would you have been a rad livejournal follower of mine circa 2007. On the seriousness, however, thank you all so much for being rad and encouraging and sweet. I promise to do you all, if not proud, then at the very least not disappointed.

Time to hit the bong and take some pictures of Lou and Tatertot before taking my IRL doggos on a walk~

[givehimthemedicine]

WTF is with the locks on El's door in the lab?

Season 1.

best screens I can recall of both sides of El's door.

this door locks with a deadbolt. bit fuzzy to say with 100% certainty that that's a turn lever on the inside, but it looks like a lever to me. meaning El can lock her door if she wants to. but that's a cruel illusion of security, given that all the people she'd want to keep out are the ones with the keys.

the only keyless people this might protect El from are her brothers and sisters. ah, but this is post-massacre. she has none.

the only scenario I can imagine El's deadbolt lever being for is when Brenner feels like manipulatively playing nice and honoring a locked door that she knows he could open. she probably never bothers locking it though. it's just like the illusion of choice when he asks "is that okay?" about going in the bath, and she says yes.

there's also a barrel slide lock. that's this type of thing. it's on the outside of the door.

"it's an extra layer of security" is it though? if you're scared the kid's gonna undo the deadbolt with telekinesis, the little slide lock is much more easily undone.

this must be in place for some imagined scenario when staff needs to lock El in but doesn't have the key in hand?

no wait this gets stranger

Season 4. now WTF is going on here:

again, there's a barrel slide lock. but this time it's on the inside of the door, for El's use. the door swings inward, so a decent shove could break this off, but it's still actually kind of a more honest lock being afforded to El than the s1 deadbolt.

scenario: staff wants the door open, El doesn't. but again, she would probably be too afraid of the consequences to ever actually try this.

and then again, we've also got a deadbolt. but it's a double cylinder deadbolt. what's that?

quick lesson on deadbolts: you've got your single cylinder and your double cylinder types.

single is the kind you're familiar with. you unlock it with a key from the outside, and on the inside is a lever you lock it with. this is the kind I think El has in s1.

double means it's just key holes on both sides, no lever. so basically the door is deadbolted independently from both sides. in order to open the door, both must be unlocked. unlocking it from just one side or the other doesn't work - it has to be unlocked, with keys, from both sides. two-man concept mandatory.

so I ask you. why are there double cylinder deadbolts on the lab kids' doors.

the kids don't have keys.

that dinky little toilet stall barrel lock, that's for El. not the deadbolt. the deadbolt is for staff.

lemme say that again. these doors are able to be locked by a staff member who is inside the room.

lemme make sure we're all getting this. these double deadbolts were installed, at greater expense, to ENSURE at least one of the following scenarios could happen:

a staff member can be inside the room with the kid and lock the inner lock to prevent the door being opened from the outside, even by other staff.

staff on the outside can prevent someone on the inside from opening the door, even if the inside person has a key.

"it's the latter, this must just be a security measure to prevent the kids from getting out even if they were to steal a key from staff" I mean sure, but why not just not have a plain old lock-from-the-outside-only style door? that's a lot cheaper and simpler.

like this, the isolation room - no latch, no keyhole, no nothing.

if the the kids' room doors aren't designed like this, (and they aren't,) it's because Brenner wants to be able to go in their rooms with them and lock the door.

"it doesn't have to be so nefarious - they probably only ever kept one side at a time locked, so when staff goes inside they can lock the inside one instead of the outside one, that way the door is always secure so the kid can't escape even if they incapacitate the guy" but if the kid incapacitates the guy, then all they have to do is take the key off his belt. that's just a one-way lock with extra steps.

like. if somebody can think of a scenario that doesn't involve Brenner wanting the ability to lock himself in a bedroom with a kid. I'm all ears. I'm begging you.

to put this chronologically:

sometime after the massacre, HNL:

took away El's ability to barrel-lock her door from the inside

gave staff the ability to barrel-lock El's door from the outside

took away staff's ability to deadbolt El's door from the inside

gave El the ability to latch her own deadbolt (uselessly)

note that El's s1 and s4 lab rooms aren't the exact same room with the locks changed, they're different rooms in different hallways, maybe on a different floor, maybe in a different timeline. but regardless, Brenner is the boss and those locks are however he wants them to be.

how about other locks in the lab?

infirmary has double deadbolt with a barrel on the inside. same with the test room where Henry gets zapped. same with the broom closet.

same, I think, with the Rainbow Room's single doors.

but then the double doors into the Rainbow Room don't have deadbolts at all. on either side. plain pull handles on the inside, blank push plates on the outside.

the thing at the top middle on the outside must be an electronic lock.

because that's the only thing I see that could be a locking mechanism on the double doors where El swipes Henry's keycard. however the RR doors don't have a swipe next to them. so the RR double doorway is controlled electronically, but from elsewhere. why?

(so it's possible the kids' doors may also be remotely, electronically locked, as they have no individual swipes either)

why does the lab use electronic keycards for some doorways and deadbolts for others?

"something must have happened to the power," that one kid says. maybe the deadbolts are just manual security in case power is lost. k so then why don't the double doors have deadbolts as well as electronic locks?

the kids' deadbolts appear to be retracted at the time of the massacre. why would someone need to blow the doors off their hinges if they're unlocked?

Eighteen(?)'s deadbolt being retracted is consistent with El being able to leave her room the first time she wakes up in NINA, and indicates that the kids' doors are, at least sometimes, kept completely unlocked. "look who finally decided to join us" suggests this is commonplace.

but then Two is like "you shouldn't be wandering the halls, it's against the rules". so maybe they're allowed to travel as they please between their rooms and the RR. at least at some times of day.

and this is all only if NINA is an accurate representation of everyday lab operations. which it might not be.

now on to keys: I think they gave orderlies keys after the massacre?

pre-massacre orderlies all carry keycards, but I can't find metal keys on any of them. pre-massacre Brenner carries both keycard and metal keys (the only time I see them is when he locks the door they drag Henry out of, it's not very screenshottable).

post-massacre orderlies carry both keycards and metal keys.

also do we wanna talk about the move to short sleeves? is the building warmer now?

Henry analysts, yall have been over every frame of this, am I forgetting any keys on s4 orderlies?

anyway here's El defeating every kind of lock that was ever on her door. so the only lock that really ever kept those kids in was fear of Brenner.

[little-pup-prince]

🧸🪀little Jill Valentine headcanons ○°♡ 🛍🎀

• she has her polly pocket collection from childhood and sometimes adds onto it. they were stored in a shoebox until a caregiver/ friend convinced her to buy them a plastic one

• as a kid she was allowed a lot of tv-time so she could keep up with all kinds of shows. her childhood favorites were scooby-doo, road runner, jabberjaw, josie and the pussycats, the addams family and the pink panther. later when she found out her beloved toy line (polly pocket) got a cartoon, she was extatic and of course kept up with the new releases of episodes.

• likes to have these shows on a physical carrier, either on dvd or via other methods. it makes her feel safe. the arrival of streaming services and the sites that update entire series that may have otherwise be very hard to watch, never mind get a physical copy of them, felt like a blessing. no obscure times to stay up late when the tv channel decided to play the episodes due to low view rates or rushing home to record them.

• the rise of 3d animated movies were a time when she frequented the cinemas. tried to watch everything on the date of release. (chris sometimes accompanied her, his fave was shrek for sure. he didn't mind talking about and analysing them as it provided a little break from his everyday life.) they just got to watch madagascar before going on a mission in revelations 1 and after the events of re5 upon learning these movies got sequels the first thing she requested was them and a tv in her recovery room.

• finds working with beads calming. makes friendship bracelets and her room is decorated with bead animals that get more intricate in their design by time. gave origami a try, but enjoys more durable material. sometimes makes trinkets from polymer clay. at first she just wanted to create something from a show that hasn't got a lot of merch. her phone definitely got some of these figurines as charms.

• as an adult she really grew fond of barbie movies and monster high. probably made some stop motion dance videos of the dolls. also designed some of her own characters and sewn the clothes for them. her friends/cg bought a big dollhouse for them too.

• likes all kinds of games. she almost always wins even regressed. gets really happy and giggly when it happens.

• definitely read the lord of the rings and hobbit series. later it became something to bond over with her teammates for example.

• tw food • when visiting a fast food place she always buys the kids meal, and honestly noone bats an eye. it's cheaper and sometimes her friends too are interested in the toy. a comfort food for her is fairy bread and cinnamon toast. when at home she drinks out of a sippy cup.

• tw trauma • after the events of re5, she regresses a lot more and it's more sad and involuntarily than before. she took up playing with dolls like the baby born line and gardening. they ground her and make her feel capable of caring again and help her believe that she won't hurt her loved ones again.

• at the peak of flash games she somehow got chris into gaming. on girlsgogames. he could really get invested, especially in those, where the story kind of progressed. to this day there are some that stuck with her, because they were ahead of their time. also they laughed a lot at trollface games.

• doesn't like to have a curfew, and her cg probably just lets it pass. tho, she wants to do all these night activities like putting away the toys and vrushing teeth together with them and doesn't mind if they go to sleep earlier.

• she definitely wants to invite her cg to play eith the barbie and monster high dolls, but doesn't let them touch the polly pocket collection at first, since that may be the only thing left from her childhood.

• likes to play with wigs and accessories, dressing up as some of the movie characters, but in her daily life too, sneaks in cutesy accessories.

[advocatingpeanut]

Modest Swimsuits

Some websites to look up if you want to buy a modest swimsuit this second half of summer. Aka if the humidity lets down enough to finally go swimming.

Shein $

[Image ID: A plus size model wearing a dark blue/teal top with a 3/4 zipper that covers her tummy, shoulders, and flares out at the bottom to cover her rear, and in the same color, a pair of fitted shorts that go to her knees.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

Super cheap in price! Especially compared to what you'd pay at a store.

If you've got wide hips like me you'll need to go into the plus size or curvy section. Otherwise, items will only go up to size 12. Everything from bikini to burkini.

Modlilly $-$$

[Image ID: A blonde and tan model wearing a tankini with a watercolor/wavy design in dark brown, light brown/beige, gold, and blue/green. She is also wearing a pair of dark brown short shorts.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

This one was definitely in my top three when was choosing which one to get. Very pretty!

Lots of really cool designs and colors, something I didn't necessarily find in the plus size section on Shein. Lots of tankinis.

Modanisa $$

[Image ID: A tall and slender model wearing dark blue undershirt, loose pants, and swim hijab and over it a white and dark blue swim dress with a leaf pattern that has a high neck, covers her shoulders, and goes down to just below her knees.

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

This is one of their more expensive swimsuits. Keep in mind there are many as low as $30.

A TON of swimsuits offering half or full coverage. Mostly full. There are a lot of reviews online too.

Sea Secret $$-$$$

[Image ID: A screenshot of Sea Secret's web page, specifically showing their Galaxy swimsuit dress, which is splotches of black, pink, green, and blue. It comes with black or navy blue leggings and a fabric swim cap/head covering in the same colors as the dress.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

You can shop by body shape! I repeat, you can shop by body shape! I love it. As a pear girlie (wide hips, narrow bust) this is great. 2 and 3 piece swim dress sets with capris and cap which cover collarbone, elbows, and knees according to the Judaic laws of modesty (Tznuit). With shipping, think around $100+

Lanuuk $$-$$$

[Image ID: A more fair-skinned model wears a light powder blue bikini with high-waisted bottoms and a top that has thick straps and provides full coverage of the breasts.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

Lol she is more fair skinned than the other models, but there are folks way more pale than her. I should know. I practically glow when I go out into the sun!

Cute designs, nice colors. Expensive, but they seems to be of good quality from the reviews. There a a lot of copycat designs on Shein for way cheaper.

Bazar Al Haya $$$

[Image ID: A woman with a darker skin tone wears a a swim hijab with an attached shawl that covers her shoulders and breasts. She also wears a mask that covers her mouth and nose. She has on a pair of loose swim pants in navy blue, same as the hijab/shawl. And a swimdress in a geometric design with white, pink, and mavy blue.]

Click HERE to get the swimsuit shown above.

They have a small selection of swimsuits that offer total coverage (including concealment of your curves, according to Islamic principles of modesty.) Mostly plain some have prints.

Does anyone else have any recommendations?

[sweetswesf]

Hello, everyone.

I had a good time with my mom. Despite what we’ve gone through, I put all that aside for the weekend and just tried to honor her the best I could so that she could enjoy her time and so that we could make a new memory. At the end she gave me some money and told me she would help me with rent so that I could stay in SF because it didn’t make sense for me to move back home if I needed to move back suddenly for a job.

At first I was like, “how sweet and naiive of her to think I’d get a job shortly after I move back” because I truly don’t know how long this unemployment time will be…

She saw what my day to day was like, and she felt sorry for me. She saw all the homelessness, my small space, heard about my lack of friendships and community here, how non-Black people just walk all over me on the street and don’t respect my space, and she knows I haven’t wanted to be here for a while, but she understands the smartest option at the moment is to just stay here…

I can say that I was really stressed this week. I didn’t have much motivation to do a lot of algorithms, but I still did what I could. I tried a few new food places out trying to fill a void. It helped a little bit, but with me being so conscious about every hour, calorie, and dollar, I’m not quite sure it was worth it. I went to a bakery that is usually really busy, but because I went while most people were at work, it was empty. The loneliness of that was just a reminder of my situation. The other place was in the financial district at lunch time. I didn’t plan to get there at lunch, but with public transportation and how slow I was moving that day, it ended up being at that time. I’m sure the people I saw working probably wish they had time off, but I was thinking “man, how nice would it be to have a job right now and not have to think you’re being irresponsible by eating $15 noodles you could have made for much cheaper…”

I’m continuing to pray and be hopeful for the best. I have to remind myself to keep studying, keep interviewing, keep trying, everyday. My Medi-Cal application STILL hasn’t been approved yet, and what’s better: they won’t answer their phones. I don’t want to go back to pay $700+ for health insurance.

I took SOOO many naps this week just exhausted from my mom’s visit. I did an interview. Interviewer was yawning and not paying attention. I would ask him questions, sometimes repetitively, but he wouldn’t respond to them. I guess he was tuning me out. One question in particular he didn’t respond to, so I continued with the design on that assumption, and he later corrected me on it. I had to remind him that I asked him about that and he didn’t say anything so that he wouldn’t give me negative feedback on that part, but once you call them out, it’s not a good look for you either 🤷🏾‍♀️. I asked for feedback and he told me he couldn’t give me any but that, “I definitely did some good things.” But the way he said that makes me think there were a lot of negatives.

There was some “okay” news for the role I’m hoping for and another person who referred me to a different role said she would bump the recruiter. I just hope I can stay focused, not forget what I have learned thus far, and not be so distracted by my circumstances so that I can get what I want.

I’m struggling with confidence and thinking about all the money I have spent during this time. Every day I wake up like wow, I’ve gone 9 months without a job…

The longest I’ve heard of someone going without a job is 2 years. With every passing day, I feel like I get less and less attractive to open positions and that doesn’t feel great, because I don’t want to settle for a position just to have something.

I won’t forget this time. It’s been traumatic. I still cry everyday.

I’m so emotionally sensitive as well. My mom bought me groceries after I had just bought groceries and it angered me. Just give me the money. I am not lacking in food. I probably am eating too much. I need money for rent and health care, primarily. It made me wonder if she didn’t trust me to spend the money she would give me wisely. She also bought me something that would give me more counter space and it frustrates me because it reminded me of how small and frustrating my counter space is and how I want to be in an apartment with more counter space. I also felt like that money she spent on that could have gone to rent or health care.

I told her how I felt. She understood. Just saying those words to her made me cry. I was frustrated and I was frustrated that I was frustrated. I felt ungrateful. She was trying to help and I was trying to dictate how she should help me. It also just reminded me of my situation again. I didn’t have this stress when I had a job. I didn’t have to have these hard conversations. I didn’t have to be so hyper-vigilant about every dollar.

I’m trying my best to stay calm and just focus on His promise for my life. And just appreciate things, no matter how “sweet” I used to have it. I have to believe that great is coming and that I’m going through this for a reason.

My little brother moved back to LA from Korea. He was there probably less than a month. I thought my mom knew he was on anti-depressant and anxiety meds when I saw them after I had his room cleaned. Apparently she didn’t know. Apparently when they went on their vacation to Arizona, he didn’t take his meds and my cousins told my mom that he was freaking out. Apparently, he didn’t take his meds on his trip to Japan and had a panic attack that my mom had to pay a $1k hospital bill for. Apparently, he wants to move to my grandmother’s house, the house I planned to move to if I had to move home.

My brain couldn’t process all of this and I just shook my head. I want my dream job real bad and healing for myself and my family.

With all this exhaustion, the thought of jumping right into a job fatigues me. Sure I could “take mini breaks” now, but how do I do that on a small budget without over consuming social media?

Speaking of which, I want to try next week to just consume less social media. If I need a break, I need to just walk around, open my Bible, close my eyes.

I wished one of my “friends” who stopped contacting me a happy birthday and offered to take her out. She said she felt really withdrawn. I haven’t heard from her since Monday. I feel that relationship has ended and I need to stop putting so much effort into maintaining it when she’s showed me so many signs that she’s done.

I was thinking about how Lil Wayne said he wanted to kill hisself after he was told he couldn’t rap anymore. I get it. If something you’re so passionate about gets taken away from you, you know you’ll be missing that thing forever and nothing short of God can replace that gratifying feeling. Not saying that it’s smart to consider that, but I don’t judge him for feeling that way. I could see why he felt that way. There is always a brighter day and reason to live and keep trying.

My mentor from my old team who’s been practice interviewing me hasn’t left my side. He’s remained encouraging, and consistently meets with me. I owe that man SO MUCH! I’m thinking about giving him $1k after I get a job, but he deserves SOOO much more than that.

I’m grateful for all the blessings and this time. I know more than what I want is coming and that I’m stronger than I think I am.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Gnawing is such a great decompression activity for dogs. It helps relieve tension, it’s low impact so they can do it when they’re sick or injured, it can be good for their teeth (if you are strict about what kind you get) and a chew toy doesn’t come with the added calories of a snuffle, lick mat or other food-based enrichment toy.

Mandana is very particular about what kind of chew toys she’ll use. She isn’t a power chewer but her all-time favorite is HARD. Like straight up metal. I tried to be careful and only give her things that were composite (as opposed to solid nylon) but she did end up getting a slab fracture on her molar last year.

When that happened I threw out any toy that was too hard or oddly shaped (like something that could create a wedge between her teeth or something her teeth could easily slip on). She used to chew several times a day, usually after training sessions and outings (recommended by my service dog academy). When I took away the harder toys she just stopped chewing all together. I went on a hunt for softer chew toys and was surprised to not find very many. We tried pretty much every one we could find and most of them she completely refused to use.

I was finally able to get her to start chewing again by using these two chew toys with cheese or peanut butter spread on top:

After she started chewing again she would occasionally pick up these three:

https://www.petsmart.com/featured-brands/top-paw/top-paw-boss-bonesandtrade-nylon-puppy-chew-dog-toy---3-pack-57573.html?cgid=5000260&fmethod=Browse

(^^^ the orange puppy one only)

I’m glad I was able to give her back that activity but she didn’t love any of them. Going into her surgery I knew she would need something to help her decompress, so here’s what I found:

ZEUS DUO

I haven’t seen her this excited about a chew toy since I took away her composite ones. They have all the features she enjoys. They have enticing shapes and flavors. The have a hard nylon core with durable textured rubber coating. There is another toy I’ve tried in the past that has an almost identical design (made by Nerf) however they were large & heavy and she didn’t even want to pick them up let alone chew on them. These toys have a much better shape and a variety of sizes. I’ve only had them for one day so I can’t speak on the durability. Mandana IS NOT a power chewer and a lot of reviews for this brand suggest power chewers will destroy these immediately, but if you have a picky chewer like me they might be worth the try.

And yes they are expensive. The price is comparable to Playology. The difference being that she actually likes these and will use them. One broken tooth cost us almost $2000 and would have been 5-7k had it cracked deeper. Extracting a tooth is a much cheaper option but we really didn’t want to do that for such a big tooth in a young dog. My point is that an $20 chew toy is a heck of a lot cheaper 🥲

On that note, a foreign object surgery is also thousands of dollars so keep that in mind when reading this post. All of the chew toys I’ve listed are easily broken apart by any dog that’s not a very moderate chewer so be careful and supervise your pups when they are chewing.

[reversemoon255]

NUMBER 57 Esis

This was an interesting pick-up. I got it because I thought the transforming sarcophagus/sphinx looked cool, but ended up being very charmed by the little robot it came with, despite my usual misgivings about sculpted female anatomy. It’s small, but well detailed and articulate. If they release another kit with this base body (that’s a bit cheaper), I’d like to try incorporating it into a custom Gunpla, akin to the Momokapool.

The Good: As I mentioned, despite her size, Esis is detailed and posable. She comes with several parts to swap out to give her a much more robotic appearance, and is designed to be modular with the rest of the NUMBER 57 kits.

The sphinx doesn’t have a base body like Esis, but is still a neat build that can transform without needing to come apart. You can also remove its head and combine Esis with it to give her centaur legs. And she also comes with a small bird that forms a backpack, meaning you get three small builds in this one set, as well as a ton of weapon accessories and a giant chair.

The Bad: You might want to tackle this one with a dab of glue. There are a decent number of parts that don’t solidly connect, like every blue part. And while the sphinx does transform, the crossed arms on its back get in the way a lot, meaning it isn’t always pleasant to pull off, and nothing tabs into place so it’s a bit loose. Oh, and she can’t sit in the chair without removing the back skirt.

The Details: I went pretty ham on the panel lining on everything, including the chair. I also painted Esis’ and her bird’s eyes green.

Overall, this was a kit I was very surprised by and excited about. While several of its connections can be weak, it’s nothing a little glue can’t fix, but the sheer amount of solid designs, individual builds, accessories, and modularity more than makes up for it. It’s definitely a line I’m going to keep my eyes on in the future.

[84reedsy]

The Mentorship, Part 8

The Mentorship

Characters: Curt Hennig/FemOC , Scott Hall/FemOC

Part 8 of ? (Parts not chapters, parts length varies)

Word Count: 3421

-----Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7----

Warnings/Considerations: Smut, Age Gap, Power Dynamics, Dirty Talk, swearing

_____________________________________

Brinkley enjoyed the promo tours they did around Chicago. She was mostly recognized by association, but she wasn't occasionally mobbed like a few of the others.  She watched them with their fans and they were all so kind and patient. Even Kevin brought out a benevolent side she wasn't sure his cockiness would allow. But then again he was a preening peacock with all the attention, specifically from females.

She noticed Scott and Curt paid a little extra attention to the kids. She found it sweet,  but then wondered if it might have had something to do with missing their own. 

She remembered what Curt was like in his home element and she felt a little bad for the first time. She probably should have felt this much sooner, but just as he'd said, life on the road tended to insulate you from reality.

Any thoughts of guilt were quickly squashed when she pictured Curt's face pressed between her thighs this morning. 

Brinkley was again invited to a party, this being held at Lex's place that he still had in Chicago. His main house was in Atlanta, but when it came to a free place to party, no one was very picky. 

Beer was a lot cheaper when bought in bulk versus a bar. The same went for hard liquor. Brinkley offered to go as a designated driver, the hangover from this morning still fresh in her memory.

She tried to mill around, but stayed near someone that traveled with them at all times. Everyone was feeling very friendly and touchy tonight.  She tried not to make a scene anytime someone got too frisky, but so far someone had stepped in. It didn't take much to redirect them to another party guest that was all too happy to be felt up.

She fared better in the back room off the kitchen where poker was being played in a room full of cigar smoke. She pulled up a chair to watch, Bret letting her look over his shoulder at his cards. 

“What do you think?” He asked, scooting his chair over a bit for her to sit next to him. 

She looked at his two cards and then at the flop cards on the table. He held a Heart flush draw with a King high.

“Wow. How is this even real,” she giggled a little as she whispered to him, “I'd call to see what everyone else does,”

He followed her advice and no one else raised.

The ace of hearts came next,  completing the flush and all but guaranteed Bret's win.

“Limp in,” she mumbled as he leaned back, he placed a small bet and it was immediately raised twice. He raised again and was called when Steve went all in.  

Bret's large chip stack was partially her doing and he slipped her a tip for her help . They tried to convince her to join the game, but she felt restless and walked back to the more rambunctious room. 

Voices rose from the din and clearly they were heated. The herd of people moved in the direction of the fighting. Why the Nasty Boys were here she didn't know,  but they were and they clearly had beef with the Outsiders. She'd heard this story enough to know that relations were tense.

She struggled past everyone. A few were trying to get between them and keep the peace for the sake of the party. It was clear Scott and Kevin had already had plenty to drink. Scott didn't resist getting in their face and pointing, his face scrunched as he laid out his best insults.

She reached for Scott’s balled up fist to try and keep it at bay while Page tried to talk sense to both men. Jerry's arm got in the way and he yanked his arm away from her, barely missing grazing her cheek.

“Get the fuck off of me, BITCH,” he nearly spat in her face. After that moment all hell broke loose. Page pushed her back out of the way as very real punches were being thrown. It shouldn’t have been attractive,  but seeing both Scott and Kevin fighting was very intriguing. 

It was odd to see real fighting after all this time of learning protective show fighting. This felt so raw and primal.

It didn't take long for Lex to show up and enough people to get between the four brawling men to put a stop to it. Both Jerry and Brian were booted from the house.  Kevin and Scott were still obviously energized by the provocation; still flexed and zero'd in. 

Drinks were offered as a distraction. Brinkley noticed a reddening spot on Scott’s cheek and touched his arm to get his attention. He jerked at first, adrenaline still dictating his reactions. Once he saw who it was, he softened a little.

She slipped her other hand around his taut forearm and pulled him gently to follow her

He did after being given a beer that he began drinking swiftly. On the way to the back deck, she grabbed ice and folded it in a towel.

Once alone on the deck, she sat him down in a lounge chair and sat on one of his knees, his legs splayed wide. She held his cheek running her thumb over the slightly bruising and puffed lump. He winced.

“That's what I thought,” she placed the ice pack gently against the welt before pressing down on it.  He hissed at the pressure but did not pull away.

“Not gonna let some prick talk to you like that,” he defended his actions.

“Hey, I'm not saying he didn't deserve what he got. But you don't want to ruin this pretty face, do you?” She could smell a heavy intoxication on him. His lazy gaze corroborated it.

“This ugly mug? Eh,” he took another drink.

“Nah, you're pretty,” she teased, “That's why you're their golden boy.” 

“I am not,” he wasn't too drunk to know he liked this kind of attention from her, “They just love me for my body,”

Brinkley liked him better sober, but there was definitely a playfulness to him at times when he was buzzed. She couldn’t help but giggle at his forced shy tone.

“Well, it's a pretty great body,” She moved the ice a bit to see if the swelling had stopped. It seemed to be helping a little, “Can’t blame them for that,”

“You really think I’m pretty?” His hand moved to her thigh, rubbing it gently. 

“You know I do,” She side eyed him knowingly, pressing the ice back to his cheekbone, “You know I’m wrapped around your little finger,” She narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

“Darlin’, I think you have that backwards,” His hand squeezed lightly, “You could have any guy here. And here you are out here dickin’ around with me,”

“Yeah,” She looked back towards the party, “But you keep things interesting,” She shrugged, “and when you aren’t being a royal dick to me, you’re a pretty good guy,” She tapped the end of his nose with her free hand. He stared up at her, his eyes a little more focused now and she saw there was no question that he wanted to kiss her again. 

“Too bad we’re not back at the hotel,” He murmured, “I still have your room key, you know,” His hand slid further up her thigh.

“That’s right, I guess you do,” She bit her lip as she was transfixed by his stare, “Why would you want to go back to the hotel with this rager of a party going on,” she asked coyly. 

“Because then I’d get to fuck you until you forgot any other man existed but me,” That softly thunderous tone immediately triggered her sexual core. It made her wonder if Lex had any bedrooms open upstairs. 

“Well…I wish we would have stayed there,” She knew she was speaking, but it was nearly out of body as Scott’s words painted sordid pictures in her mind. 

“There he is!” The door to the house opened and a group of large sized men nearly spilled out of it onto the deck, “Man, we thought you went after Saggs,” Kevin had ditched the small glasses and now clutched the neck of a bottle of whiskey in his large fist. 

“What’s going on out here, playing doctor?” Rick was barely coherent, but found his own joke hilarious. 

Brinkley let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes before looking back at Scott. 

“You know, your friends are a buzzkill,” she smiled though, shaking her head, “Hold this on here,” She replaced her hand on the ice pack with his, “Come find me when you’re ready to go,” She was not interested in hearing herself be the butt of about the next 50 sex-laced jokes. Curt leaned in the doorway, still pacing himself with slow drags of beer. 

“Looking pretty cozy out there,” He nudged her as she walked by.

“The guy stood up for me, the least I could do was make sure his face didn’t get all busted up. We do kind of need him tomorrow,” She looked back as more of the party spilled to the outside. 

“What??” Curt snapped his head back to look at her, wondering how she knew about his plan.

“Our match?” She looked at him quizzically, “You know…the one we trained for today?”

“Oh…yeah, the match,” He shook the shocked expression from his face and took another drink.

“Maybe we oughta get back, both of you are acting goofy tonight,” She laid her hand on his shoulder before walking away.

A couple more hours passed and poker was the only thing that kept her boredom at bay. She was more than ready to go when the crowd started clearing out. She found both Curt and Scott on the back deck still, sitting now for the fact that standing was too precarious.

It took an army to load them into the car. Curt sprawled in the backseat, while Scott slouched in the front. She listened to instructions on how to get back to the hotel from someone she hoped was sober enough to know.

As she drove, Scott slumped over more until he lay out across the front bench seat, his head on her leg. 

“You boys, who’s the one babysitting now?” She joked to herself. 

If Kevin was back in the room, he didn’t answer the door. There was no other option but to take Scott back to their room. Curt took off his shoes and shirt, not managing any more before collapsing on the bed. 

“I guess I get to sleep with you tonight, after all,” Scott slurred,”Might take me a minute to get going,”

“Easy tiger,” She slipped his shirt off, more for selfish gratification than anything. She ran her hands along his hairy chest, “I want you at your best. I want everything you’ve got.” She slid her hands back down, one sliding across the front of his jeans. 

“If you’re trying to calm me down, it ain’t working,” He swayed a little now. 

“Let’s get you to bed,” she tried not to laugh at his state and helped him to the same bed Curt was in. He didn’t lay down for a moment before he was out. Chuckling to herself, she went to the other side and rolled Curt over partially, laying his arm over Scott’s chest. It wasn’t the best prank of all time, but she thought it would be funny to see them wake up like this. 

It couldn’t have worked out better. By the morning, they were nearly cuddling. Brinkley wished she had a camera, but the next best thing was to see if anyone else did. She scrambled out in the hallway knocking on doors, explaining why she needed one. Only Paul had one, but everyone wanted to see what it was she felt so compelled to document. 

As Curt and Scott woke up, feeling the effects of a hangover, they realized they were nearly on top of each other. They yanked themselves apart to raucous laughter and clapping. The flash of a polaroid went off and as their eyes adjusted back to normal, they both saw Brinkley standing there fanning the photo to make it develop faster. 

“Well good morning, boys!” She cooed, surrounded by her amused colleagues. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

“C’mon, you CAN’T still be butthurt about this morning,” Brinkley said as she got the silent treatment in the back of the car, “Curt you once set a dude’s car ON FIRE,” She couldn’t believe he was so sour after a very basic rib.

“Ha, that’s right, I did, didn’t I,” Curt recalled one of his more infamous ribs. 

“Ok, great for him, but what the hell did I do to you,” Scott slung his arm over the seat, slapping her knee. She feigned thinking before responding.

“Well, come to think of it, you haven’t done anything to me…yet,” she flirted back with him.

Curt scrunched his face at the obvious flirting, but did not comment on it. They must’ve been getting close on their own if they were openly bantering like this.

“Don’t count your chickens,” Scott warned playfully, “It’s another 30 minutes to the arena. I’ve crawled back there before to put you in your place,”

She didn’t, in fact, have to worry about him invading her space on the drive as in only 10 minutes they were at the arena. Brinkley was more excited than normal, tagging along with Curt, Scott, and Kevin as they went to discuss match details with the bosses. They had to sell pretty hard, but eventually were given a creative green light. 

There wasn’t much that these three would be told ‘no’ for. 

“I need a new outfit,” She pouted as she pulled out the four pieces she’d be cycling through, “But I don’t know what to order next,”

“Dump Hennig and come hang out with the Outsiders, get you a hot little number to match mine.” Scott teased, walking over to her. He pointed at the zippered top and the long tights, “Those. I like those the best.”

“Not the one from the other night?” She pulled the corset top string.

“Nah, too much work. The zipper is easier,” He mimicked yanking it down.

Curt glanced in their direction as he laced up his boots. He knew that his plan wouldn’t be as mortifying for her now, but he couldn’t complain. If she was more into it and comfortable with Scott, the less inhibitions she may have. He could think of a couple new things one or both of them could show her. 

As they stood in the staging area, Curt had to remind her to calm down and maintain their signature smug looks. He knew she was excited about getting more involved. When no one was looking, he laid a sharp smack on her ass, which got her attention. 

“Ow!” She bit her lip, still smiling, “Ok, ok!” she quit bouncing up and down. 

“That’s Daddy’s good girl” he leaned in to murmur in her ear. He could see her visibly shiver and it did the job, though now she definitely looked at him with fuck me eyes. The crowd would eat it up. Scott definitely would. 

Brinkley focused on the work, scowling at both Scott and Kevin as they made their way down, playing up the crowd. She stood in the ring, hands on her hips slightly behind Curt. Looking at Scott was difficult to do while remaining smug and snarky. His trunks seemed like so much less than usual. 

The match started with a typical lockup into an arm hold. Brinkley paced slowly on her side of the ring, occasionally slapping the apron. Kevin kept pacing a little closer to her, but would back off when she’d catch him. He looked mischievous and she kept her eye on him as much as possible. 

She slipped into the ring when her moment came and she executed a perfect drop toe hold on Scott while the referee was admonishing Kevin for appearing to try to interfere. Curt went over to aide in the argument as Scott stood, staring her down. She tried to slip back out, but he caught her by the ankle as practiced, dragging her around the ring a bit. After placing the kick and trying to scramble out again, he caught her by the wrist and slung her into the ropes. He caught her in the front carry and after playing to the crowd for a moment who booed him, he launched her over his head. 

She sold it well, looking dazed and rolling to her side to ‘recover’. Curt moved back into the match. Just as she was about to finish rolling out, Brinkley was pulled by her ankle away from the ring. She barely landed on her feet just as Kevin’s large frame bared down on her and planted a deep, heavy kiss on her. It was far more real than Page’s’ and much more invasive. He used his strength against her, pinning her to the ring apron. 

She managed to wriggle away laying a very real smack across his face. He looked a little stunned by it, but it did not wipe away his shit-eating grin. She didn’t have to fake the cross expression she shot at him. Curt leaned through the ropes and pointed at Kevin, improvising lines. Scott rolled him up for a two count, but set him up also for a fall away slam and the Outsider’s edge. 

Brinkley was livid as she kneeled next to Curt in the ring, Scott and Kevin celebrating. 

Once in the back, her face did not change. 

“Nice job, rook,” Kevin slapped her shoulder. 

“Don’t fucking touch me,” She shot him a look.

“What the fuck is your problem,” He looked amused at her anger, “Gotcha all worked up, did I?”

“We never agreed on that,” She still stared daggers at him,”In fact the whole reason we made up the rest of it was so that wouldn’t happen,”

“Oh calm down,” he brushed her off. It did not , in fact, calm her down.

“Fuck you, you cocky bitch,” She threw a bottle of water at him, hitting his shoulder. 

“Curt, you better get your kid in line,” Kevin said to him, but looked warningly at Brinkley. 

“Brinkley, chill,” Curt said, but turned back to Kevin, “But that was fucked up, Kev, you knew why we went downtown was to make her more legit,” 

Kevin rolled his eyes and waved them off and headed for the showers. 

“Did you know?” She shot at Scott, who looked surprised by it. 

“Me? No, he didn’t say anything to me about it,” He defended, “I just did what I knew we’d talked about,”

“Sure, you two are like this,” She held up her crossed fingers, “I’m so sure you didn’t fucking know,” 

“Why the fuck are you mad at me??” Scott pointed to his chest, bewildered by her attitude.

“You could have warned me!” She snapped at him. Scott and Curt exchanged quick, surprised looks. 

“I didn’t know? You expect me to fucking read his mind?” Scott wished she’d just calm down about it. What Kevin did was shitty, but he’d rather continue their banter from earlier, not gird his loins from a potential attack. 

“Yeah, right,” She zipped her bag shut aggressively, “I’ll be in the car,” She stomped out of the locker room. 

“What the fuck just happened??” Scott said, looking around as if he’d been blindsided. 

“I mean…I understand. She’s trying to be legit. Making every appearance a kissing angle isn’t going to do her any favors.” Curt watched the doorway where she left, “But I didn’t expect her to blow up like that.”

“Shit,” Scott rested his arms on his knees, remembering what was supposed to happen tonight, “Well that just fucks everything right up,”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. She’s got a couple hours to cool off,” Curt tried to smooth it over. 

“She pretty much just tried to bite my nuts off, I don’t think her mouth should be anywhere around this,” He motioned toward his pelvic area. 

“I still need to get her back,” Curt reminded him that this was retaliation, “Plus I have a sneaking suspicion that if you show up, she’ll come around pretty quick.” 

Scott looked toward the door, letting out a sigh as he unlaced his boots, “If you say so, Hennig, if you say so.”

[zorilleerrant]

I like to think that Rose makes fake infomercials for all of her products, and has roped all of her family, friends, and neighbors into making them. which means, eventually, The Doctor gets tapped to star in one, where he gamely holds up toys and talks about their fantastic qualities. now he's pretty charismatic, and he loves teddy bears and all, so I think he'd get very enthusiastic about this, and become very popular all over the internet.

so we know he always calls himself The Doctor, even in contexts where it doesn't make sense, but in a channel of fake toy infomercials (with real handmade toys to buy) I don't think people would question it too much. they even get him to say "trust me, I'm The Doctor" and other catchphrases like that by leaving comments. he develops a cult following, and, owing to this, Rose puts him in even more videos and gets him to talk up all of her most popular products. she's doing great business out of all this.

one time, he tries to show off a talking bear. the bear says something normal, like "I love you", but it's advertised with the ability to email Rose your own audio files and she'll record them for the bear. except this one doesn't turn on immediately - so The Doctor has to sonic it better. works pretty quickly, the bear starts playing music, and he goes, see, what a fascinating product! which, of course, makes the bear very popular after the video goes viral. what else does it do? well it makes people want his sonic screwdriver.

now I don't think almost anyone thinks it's an actual device, they think he was just being funny, but it means that Rose gets to design a whole bunch of novelty penlights and they start selling really well, too. (just cheap bulk ones and she sculpts decorations onto them, well within her wheelhouse.) and The Doctor, by popular demand, starts using them to give the plushies 'checkups' and make sure they're all feeling their best.

so, because he does silly little skits like that, and he's called The Doctor, people think he's a toy doctor, and start sending in their dolls and bears and toy cars and everything to get patched up. Rose can do that easily; that's the same sewing, stuffing, painting, etc. that she's already been doing when she makes things by hand. maybe she learns some new techniques, which I think she'd be excited to try, but most things I think would be very quick repairs and send all the toys home happy and healthy. except it's odd that it's happening so much, because no one has put together that people think The Doctor is, like, The Toy Doctor yet.

but The Doctor has also noticed this influx of orders and is all, well, if people are going to be sending so many in anyway we might as well add a separate order form, and while we're at it let's make our own site, that'll be cheaper and more convenient. and Rose is all do you even know anyone who can make a website because all my friends are, no offense, kind of bad at it, and you shouldn't believe them when they say they know how. and The Doctor's like of course I know someone, it's Mickey.

and Mickey's like, oh sure, I'll do you a favor, and drops by the house to help set up Rose's website because he wants to install some design software for her to make it easier to do mockups and such, and he gets to explaining, and then The Doctor finally comes home, and at first Mickey's like, hey, and keeps explaining, but then he finally looks at The Doctor and he's like. why do you have a different face that's the same face that I thought you already didn't have anymore, and The Doctor has to explain.

and then Mickey's like. I thought you lived with Martha now and also what happened to the version of you who looks like me, did you just abandon Martha? and The Doctor's like. I don't think that part has happened for me yet it's probably yet another version of The Doctor who isn't really The Doctor but just looks exactly the same because that's happened really a lot of times now. or else it's a future version of me! and Mickey is like. right well enjoy your website

and then Rose asks Mickey to do infomercials for her toys and since Mickey thinks the toy monsters are really cool he's very enthusiastic about them and then his videos go viral too

also Mickey is the only one who realized why people think he's The Toy Doctor and has to explain about toy hospitals

[mysterious-prophetess]

Yesterday Afternoon-Evening, I watched the James Cameron Avatar 2 movie.

Spoiler free thoughts first:

It was fine.

I was expecting something trite but it was mostly fine.

It was WAY too long. Like, James, buddy, I know you’re one for “epic movies” but over THREE HOURS is just too much. There were times when I was checking my silenced phone to see what time it was so I could keep track of where we were in this movie.

Pacing was very stop-start.

I personally think this should have been a mini-series. Three episodes around an hour, or so, each and you’d have achieved much of the same effect. Or broke this into two films to be released back-to-back. Or, edited some of this monstrosity DOWN.

As we say in writing, kill your darlings, James.

The children characters were fine. I’ll touch more on them in the spoiler bit.

The fictionalized science was plausible but I do have a hole or two to poke into the plot/motivation of the bad guys I’ll save for the spoiler filled part.

It, of course, looked GORGEOUS. The music was also well done.

It was a well put together movie. I can see why it cost so damn much.

Rumor has it, it has to make 2 BILLION to break even.

idk that it will in this economy BUT it does have the fact that it’s mostly being shown in 3D to help bolster that number for the ticket sales and a lack of any sort of real competition.

I mean it’s Disney so I really DON’T care if it does.

So, Tl:Dr for this section—If you have the patience, this is a fine movie to see, and drop-dead gorgeous. Just don’t expect a masterpiece. This movie is a solid B+ (it earned a lot of extra credit from its visuals).

Spoilers ahead!

This movie really ran the gamut of rehashing movie one to Moby Dick IN SPACE.

Don’t get me wrong—when Pikon (Picon?) the lone space-killer-blue-whale showed up and kicked ass, it was pretty epic, but it was the most epic part of the movie and it took nearly three hours to get to that.

Of Jake and Ney’tiri’s four kids, only two really had any sort of personality: the second son Loaq and the adopted daughter Ki’ri (sp? Na’vi names are friggin’ weird). The youngest kid was just a kid. She really only acted as designated hostage most of the movie and she even complained about it when she got tied up, again.

The oldest brother was dutiful son and I was like 50% sure he was going to end up dying from the beginning.

Loaq reminded me the most of Jake—which was likely done on purpose with his writing.

Ki’ri—Grace’s biological child—was the most interesting character.

There is a way this is actually plausible. It’s a process called “parthenogenesis.” Parthenogenesis tends to happen in reptiles. Essentially, she is a clone of Grace’s avatar body.

It’s pretty damn obvious her other parent is Eyowa since she seems to be constantly surrounded by all sorts of critters and such and her whole glowing fish thing at the end of the movie.

The epilepsy thing sounds like it is going to either be a limit to what her body can handle or a side effect of being a clone offspring of Grace’s Avatar.

Loaq and his space-killer-blue-what friend were also an interesting part of the movie.

Of course where the film veers into Space Moby Dick is where I have a nitpick of the badguys.

In movie one, they wanted some rock with a stupid AF name “unobtainium.” In that case, it made sense they had to be there to get it because you can’t make more of a rock.

However, with them being after spermaceti-er I mean amoretia I have a bone or rather a brain to pick with them.

Instead of wasting money on a Aussi space Ahab, why don’t they use their seemingly miraculous cloning tech to just CLONE THE SPACE-KILLER-BLUE-WHALES. Or, better yet, JUST MAKE A BRAIN FROM TISSUE SAMPLES!

If we, in the current non-sci-fi tech level Earth are close to tissue cloning, then that lot capable of inter-stellar travel should be able to EASILY pull it off.

And if they can deal with Na’vi DNA to make human-alien hybrids, then they should be able to handle Space-Killer-Blue-Whales DNA.

Safer. Likely cheaper. Especially if it yields that anti-aging hormone.

Also, I didn’t think that in the year 2022 of our lord I’d be watching a movie with a SAVE THE WHALES message.

Second Bad-Guy nitpick—Why are they fucking around on a moon whose atmosphere is unbreathable to humankind and filled with forms of life HOSTILE to human when Mars is RIGHT next door, and doesn’t have angry native life forms (or any life at all).

Their tech means they’d have an easier time than we —at current tech levels— of Terraforming Mars and while humanity lives on Mars, they can also un-screw-up the Earth and also make cloud cities on equally unpopulated Venus and the unpopulated moons of Jupiter.

Likely, less time in transit, less time spent FIGHTING, and a better investment in the long run. These bad guys are just dumb and spiteful.

As for specific plot gripes: A good HOUR of this movie could have been removed since the kids who ended up kidnapped in the beginning (prompting Jake to move the family and lead to the movie 1 rehash section) end up kidnapped AGAIN at the climax with the addition of Water guy’s daughter.

As pretty as everything looked, a large part of this movie felt like padding.

Everything pre time-skip. Cut. Hell, everything pre-joining the Reef people. Cut it and use flash-backs to explain. Maybe in a nightmare sequence.

Do more montages for the adaptation to the Reef People way of life part and maybe show hints of Ney’tiri not adapting as well.

Just THREE FRIGGIN’ HOURS MAN. Too much!

I’d hate to see the extended cut.

Something that bothered me was, while Jake was lecturing his sons when he was scared to lose them he NEVER mentions his identical twin brother at all.

You know, the one whose semi-cloned body he’s walking around in, the one whose death led to him being on Pandora in the first place because they were Identical Twins? That twin? Not a mention.

Did James Cameron forget?

Maybe it bothered me because I’m a twin. It’s not something you forget.

We’re not even identical twins. We’re not even close.

My father had a twin sister.

I’m just saying. It was a plot point in Movie 1 and since Movie 2 was about family—largely—this seems like something Jake should have told his sons about.

Idk a “I’m rough on you because I had a brother and I lost him.” would have been nice.

Spider saving the hybrid clone of his bio-dad is a thing that may or may not bite everyone in the ass, but it shows that Spider is a good person. I do wish his character design didn’t have dreads, though.

As for Clone Quaritch and his blue-squad, I’ve actually read fanfictions that semi-predicted that so that was interesting to see.

If I was team bad-guy and I had access to DNA samples and shit from the old base, I’d clone JAKE and force him to fight himself. They had brain scans of Jake to synchronize him with the Avatar. They could sci-fi BS stuff and basically make a copy Jake.

I’m also going to call it now: Ki’ri is going to be some sort of chosen one. After all, she’s kind of Eyowa’s daughter.

Of course, this movie needs to NOT crater like a friggin’ pancake if the sequels are to happen at all.

So. Leaner plot. Less fluff. More action.