#and they only posted a listing to *seem* like they're hiring

[delta-lethonomia]

welp the news of 2025 so far:

good news: I signed up for the first in a series of art classes. Fingers crossed I get good and someday muster the courage to draw and post some Tav/Astarion/BG3-related artwork this year

bad news: I was hoping to get a job working for the city and the new mayor immediately instituted a hiring freeze. Fuck me I guess 🫠

[robin-evry]

Oooooohhhhh saw the robin yuu post, now how about a traveler yuu more specifically a lumine yuu that gets isekaied to twst?

Sure thing, ask and you shall receive

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐑!𝐘𝐔𝐔 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐖𝐒𝐓☀️🌙

A traveler from another world who had their only kin taken away, forcing them to embark on a journey to find The Seven.

NRC unofficial errand runner, traveler!yuu will accept any task or any errand as long as it comes with a price or it comes from the good of their hearts.

Academically traveler!yuu would be pretty much an average student, their grades are not bad as well not the top of the class, just basically in the middle.

Don't underestimate or try to downgrade them, by far one of the most powerful or not the most powerful and skilled warriors in NRC, Lilia admits himself saying that traveler!Yuu is not someone you should underestimate, he could tell they are a warrior even more skilled than him, sebek of course rejects this idea and challenges them and loses badly after a few seconds.

It's unclear whether or not traveler!Yuu is a human or not because they're not originally from this world. Many students have debates whether they are or not and when asking them what they are, they always shrug it off and continue on their business. Their age is also a mystery do they carry the appearance of a young adult their age has suppressed a human And there's a popular rumor that they are older than Lilia himself like a thousand years older than him.

During the dwarf mine cave moment with the ink monster chasing behind them and their friends to get the stone, traveler!Yuu summons their sword and strikes it down with ease.

Traveler!Yuu have the unique ability to use as well to copy peoples magic by just touching the person as well observing small amounts of mana from people but it usually causes no harms to anybody, they use Carter's unique magic by accidentally bumping into him during lunch, as well the ability to purify things from blot.

They are on a journey of looking for their sibling who they got separated from in this world. Lilia seems to know about them since during his youth he mentioned a person similar to traveler!yuu as well in the text book mention about a strong warrior and by far having abilities suppressing anyone in this world dating back a few hundred years ago.

Works at mostro lounge as a part time job, but Azul has been trying to convince them to work full time, bro is so desperate to hire them. During work hours Traveler!yuu will help Floyd clean the place or as well run some errands with jade.

Very popular in NRC, other than their title of being errands runner. They are very popular in school for being one NRC most trustworthy student and friends. They go gargoyle exploring with malleus, sword training with sebek and silver, help paint the roses with Carter, etc. traveler!Yuu is a trustworthy companion in NRC.

Tales are told across the world many adventures and accomplishments of a powerful and courageous hero that once passed in this world, that looks identical to them but suddenly disappears and their whereabouts is unknown ( their sibling )

The first years are usually people they talk about their adventures, traveler!Yuu is also pretty smug after listing all their accomplishments like aiding in the defeat of an ancient sea god during one of their adventures and the first years jaw drop the floor meanwhile their 😏

Trey, Jamil and them would cook together occasionally once a week, traveler!yuu would start to learn exotic delicacy from Jamil and learn how to bake sweets with trey. Even tho they do have some ups and downs in their skill but they are learning.

Jamil and traveler!yuu originally get along with each other, whether or not Jamil is too busy dealing with kalim he will ask traveler!yuu to do the errands for him, he started to abuse this ability more often asking them to run errands because he doesn't feel like it, but was asked to stop by grim because traveler!yuu has become more exhausted.

Grim asks Crowley to tell the entire school to stop relying on traveler!yuu so much it has become a burden towards. Grim cannot stand his favourite henchman coming back home exhausted and drained it's now officially forbidden to ask for traveler!yuu to run your errands. Vil also personally asks travelers!yuu to stop students doing other people's work since it's their own responsibility not them. Pomifiore has already established this rule because vil realized his dorm started to slack off and have more free time. And if there was anyone that is persistent on having traveler!yuu to help them, they will stop by rook and him.

Crowley was also devastated by this decree because he was also using them but look his precious student is tired of Always helping other people he has no choice so he put up the decree, how gracious and kind hearted man he is meanwhile grim looking at him with a 😒

Everybody in the school knows that traveler!Yuu is by far from being weak, they possessed stamina that suppress most of the students as well skilled in hand to hand combat. Not to mention their unique ability to copy and absorb magic. Not to mention their physical abilities also suppress some non-human abilities. During flight classes instead of using brooms traveler!yuu occasionally use their wings to fly around ( their wings during the game's first cutscenes ) it's pretty for them to pop up their wings tho only a few students have only seen them. During free times epel is approved to be trained by them in hand to hand combat by traveler!yuu.

Some troublemakers once challenge traveler!yuu on a spar but lose to them in a blink of an eye, very respected by the savanaclaw dorm every time when traveler!yuu walk by them, they will greet them with respect like a leader. Occasionally also have spars with the savanaclaw students including jack meanwhile Leona and ruggie watch from the side, ruggie has been teasing about Leona getting on a spar with them but he will shrug it off excusing himself saying he doesn't have the time, deep down Leona knows he will be out best by traveler!yuu but He also started to suspect them to have the potential of taking down malleus which he hopes one day will happen.

Some students started to suspect that they might be aliens that are similar to arch angels but it's unclear, many students Described traveler!yuu is very symbolic to a star, they will shine light upon those who need their guidance and they shine eternally bright in the night sky similar to how traveler!yuu shine bright in NRC.

It's unclear why they are still at twst, but it's related to finding their sibling who they lost during one of their explorations together. And by far their search has been non stop and after their graduation from NRC whenever or not their planning on graduating or dropping out Traveler!Yuu is planning on traveling the world of twst to find traces of their missing siblings.

[sir-adamus]

You know it’s funny to me that crwby is getting shit on for promising there’ll be an update but please have patience bc I’m just sitting here thinking how that video cost them money to produce. So did the holiday recipe videos. Now I’m sure they didn’t break the bank or anything. They were all filmed on the same day it seems but still crew had to be hired Arryn was flown out to be on location for it. They are actively spending money on something which let’s be honest. Could’ve been a tweet. Would people prefer radio silence? I don’t get it. Arcane a show with an exponentially higher budget and much larger crew working on it took YEARS to produce and didn’t have the hurdle of the company that produced it being shut down and the IP rights being transferred to a new entity. It’s so tiring that RWBY can’t do anything and be judged fairly for it.

yeah like - they would've been recording for hours for all that, with the cooking stuff, crafts, then the holiday messages and then this most recent one

but they're getting shit on for. not releasing the new season already, apparently. when it hasn't even been a year since RT shut down and Viz has only had the rights for, what, 7 months? and there's so much behind the scenes work that would have to go into just sorting out the acquisition let alone getting stuff back into pre-production - i'd say i refuse to believe that it's an inability to understand that animation takes time, but i'd be lying, as in among this crowd of dipshits was that one clown who harrassed Kerry on twitter during the delays of the last few chapters of volume 8 because of the cold snap in Texas where people were at very real risk of freezing to death in their own homes

because he thought the CRWBY were being 'lazy' and that the episodes should've been finished already (as post-production is something these clowns refused to understand)

not because he cares about the show, i have to add, no. this dipshit needed the episodes to come out so he could continue his 'rewrite'*. the lack of human decency or any concept of how much goes into making an animated show that we do see among the negative crowd was really exemplified by that asshole

*not a rewrite, not even a fanfic - it was just a list of stuff happening. not even specific stuff, like "x character says cool one-liner" levels of nothingburger

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Thank you for answering my Origins Dragon!Marinette and Turtle!Adrien question! Please don’t worry about disagreeing with the idea; I asked for YOUR opinion and analysis on why it would OR wouldn’t work, and that’s what I got. 😌 It also made me consider meta and in-show stuff that I hadn’t before, which is cool. You mentioned wanting all of the Kwamis to be part of some sort of set of two or more, and I’d love to hear what those sets are in your head going down the full Chinese Miracle Box list and why you’d pair them together with consideration towards both the Kwami themselves and their Powers.

(Post this ask is referring to)

Oh good, I'm glad that you found it useful and not discouraging!

Talking about how to pair the Kwamis is a little tricky because of an issue that I've discussed before. That issue being that the "Chinese" miracle box seems to be about as Chinese as fortune cookies. That makes me uncomfortable because - as far as I'm aware - the Chinese zodiac is a major part of Chinese beliefs and traditions. As such, I personally feel like the box should reflect those beliefs and traditions, but I also don't know those beliefs and traditions, so I can't tell you how I'd effectively group the zodiac Kwamis in order to honor their cultural origins. I can't even be sure if my criticism is valid or just me being overly cautious!

In an ideal world where I had money to invest in this sort of thing, I'd hire a cultural consultant to work with me to design a Chinese miracle box that feels Chinese (or to tell me that I'm overthinking this and to just do whatever I want). Assuming that I'm not overreacting, this would probably mean redesigning a lot of the powers and looks so that they honor Chinese lore and not Western lore.

For example, one thing that I know for sure is that black cats are not unlucky in China. They're actually symbols of good luck (all cats are), so a Chinese box would not have the implied good luck/bad luck thing that we get with Ladybug and Chat Noir. My limited research has also raised some doubts about ladybugs being a go-to symbol of good luck or creation in China, but I'm a lot less confident about that one being a bad choice as the association may exist. I couldn't find anything definitive one way or the other. This leads me to think that, if the association exists, then it's probably a bit obscure, meaning that a Chinese box would probably go with a different animal if we were trying to be culturally accurate to what a Chinese-inspired box would really look like.

I can say with reasonable certainty that Creation is associated with the masculine yang and Destruction is associated with the feminine yin, so Tikki should possibly feel masculine to feminine Plagg. At the very least, their spots in the miracle box should probably be reversed with Plagg in the black and Tikki in the white since yin is black and yang is white?

[Image Description: center of the original miracle box showing that ladybug earrings are placed in the black part of the yin yang symbol while the black cat ring is in the white]

I also known that white rabbits being associated with time, watches, and umbrellas comes from Alice in Wonderland and not China. Are you starting to see why I'm doubting the cultural accuracy of the miracle box?

The alternate way to approach this is to remove the possible issue of Chinese culture being treated as "mystical" or nothing more than ornamentation by making the Chinese miracle box into the miracle box of no specified culture. Since that's kind of what the box already is in terms of deeper meanings and cultural ties, I think we can go that route for this discussion since we have taken a moment to acknowledge the potential issues with the box's existing design and why that's leading me to take this route as - to me - this seems to be the only way to stick to canon's lore while avoiding potential further insults to Chinese culture.

If we went to my ideal extremes with this approach, we'd actually massively cut down the number of miraculous in the box because I think that there are way too many miraculous! Who needs nineteen "unique" powers to arm and fight one villain? This is extra true since there's no real theme to the miraculous beyond the initial setup of Creation/Destruction + five random powers followed by the addition twelve more random powers with no clear ties to any culture or theme other than the look of the Kwamis that grant the powers.

But that's getting real extreme, so for this ask, we won't go there. Instead, I'll talk about some general ideas for grouping the powers that we already have and some ideas for how you could fix the randomness of our current powers to make them feel like they make sense.

To start, I love the fact that our two main heroes are supposed to be a pair power wise. That's a lovely way to approach your lore and is why I think that they should have grouped the other miraculous, too. Why are Creation and Destruction the only set? Why aren't the others in any sort of group? Why do these miraculous have the powers they do? What ties them to this box and not another box?

There are a few ways to approach pairing the other miraculous. You can come at it from a theme perspective such as the fact that both the snake and the rabbit are all about time. You can also look for opposites such as the turtle being all about defense and the dragon being more about offense. You can even go more broad and say that a given group of miraculous is all aspects of one type of power such as the peacock, the goat, and the ladybug all feeling like aspects of creation. There's really no clear way to go about this because the current powers are so freaking random!

When I approach this stuff, I don't just come up with powers. I come up with the lore and let that help guide the powers or I shape the lore around the powers I want to use until both things make sense. For example, it makes sense that Creation would have some magical being guiding it. It also makes sense that Creation would either create Destruction for balance or that they both popped into existence together so that there was always a balance. Once you have that, you say, "Okay, what other Forces would these two want in order to help guide the universe? What can't they do or what do they do consistently enough that they might want to hand it off?"

Going from there, you start to come up with ideas like maybe they wanted Time to have a physical embodiment so that they could get some guidance on the long term effects of the things that they were making, so that's Fluff coming online. But Time is a lot and they liked their balance, so maybe Sass was brought online too in order to balance Fluff with Fluff being focused on what was and what could be while Sass is focused on what is, thereby giving Fluff someone to ground her. Or maybe you even add in a third Kwami to be some sort of historian who remembers the past while Fluff is the future and Sass is the now.

Another thought path is that most things are not pure Creation or pure Destruction. You must destroy to create. When you make bread, yeast consumes sugar to create air bubbles. Creation and Destruction working together. So maybe Tikki and Plagg wanted to make "children" who could do what they couldn't do solo and that's how we got the peacock?

No matter how you go about this, I really don't think that there's a great way to explain/group all nineteen miraculous, especially if you add in the eagle and Fei's wacky prodigious with it's animal abilities. It's just too random! But I do think that there's a lot of potential in strong subsets of the ones we get in canon, especially if you're allowed to edit the powers or the Forces a bit to make them fit their supposed Force or granted power better. I've talked before about how I'd mess with Lucky Charm to remove the odd Luck association and focus on Creation and that's what I'd do with most of the miraculous because, right now, most of them don't make much sense.

For example, Ziggy - the goat - is supposed to be the Kwami of Passion and that somehow gives the power to create anything you want? I know creatives are passionate, but that still doesn't fit in my mind. It would make more sense for this to be an inspiration power like the pig or for the Force to change to Creation and Ziggy is just a lesser ladybug for some reason? And Stompp - the Ox - is Determination, but I'd actually label his shield power as an aspect of Protection, making him in some sort of pairing with the turtle. Self defense verses defense of others?

In short, the canon lore is a disaster that needs major work to feel solid which leads to lots of paths for fixing the mess. In my opinion, the best way to go about fixing it is to take the element that worked best - the Creation/Destruction pairing - and expand that out to make strong, logical lore for the other Kwamis and their associated powers. Lore that probably won't be rooted in any one culture because no culture seems to be a solid match for the lore that canon is using, which is only concerning because of the current obvious associations with China and that's not even touching on the whole Tibetan monks + Chinese culture issue. Go check out the post I linked at the start for my thoughts on that which basically sum up to, "I am not even remotely qualified to talk about this one, but it seems like a terrible idea."

(Once again, reminder that I'm not Chinese or otherwise deeply informed on Chinese culture. I'm just a person who tries her best to respect other cultures and the miracle box sets off a lot of warning bells for me. Those warning bells could always be a false positive, so you shouldn't take my thoughts as some sort of final say on this topic. Please feel free to look into this on your own and form your own opinions.

If you are Chinese or otherwise educated in these topics, then please feel free to reblog this or send an ask giving me some additional context as I really do love learning about this stuff, but it's near impossible to research! I spent a good hour talking to a local librarian trying to find books or articles in our library that talked about the Chinese zodiac from an academic perspective and we found nothing. I've got a few interlibrary loan requests out to academic libraries in our library network though and I'll follow up on this if those books end up having information that adds to the discussion.)

[all-pacas]

house live-ish blogging: socratic method

lowkey if i were to make a list of my top ten episodes, this one would be up there. good mix of actual case/medicine and character beats, all the team is highlighted, we get to see house bond with the patient and her son more than usual, and the actor of the patient does an honestly great job portraying her… i guess it's not schizophrenia, but she really goes in on the presentation. oh. and the Spaghetti Sauce Shirt

chase why are you like this. why do you dress in the worst clothes

foreman is once again dipping into his role as Team Skeptic, first not getting why house is on the case and then asking someone else about it. i think this is the first time chase gets to be the House Whisperer, though, which is interesting given how this is lowkey a Chase Episode.

love foreman immediately going from chase to wilson to ask the same thing lol. he REALLY doesn't get house showing an interest in someone

i talked a bit in the post for the last episode about how i don't quite buy the hameron scene over the christmas present there (namely: there's nothing to set up why cameron is suddenly going out of her way in this loaded manner, or why house is implied to reciprocate with a gift). however, this episode makes much more sense to me as a launching point for the Crush Era: cameron finding house's birthday and wanting to celebrate it on his behalf, and getting increasingly wrapped up in him not remembering it/not caring -- that's good, because it's very cameron. she wants to be the one to make it matter, the one to make sure house is celebrated and special, and it doesn't occur to her or seem to matter that house really doesn't seem to care much. house for his part seems bemused, but doesn't abruptly reciprocate or act strangely about it. it establishes the sort of push-pull they have in s1 that is occasionally pretty well done: cameron is very good at seeing that house's facade is a facade, and often tries to push through it and refuses to engage with his bullshit; house is curious and occasionally receptive… but cameron also over-reads him and thinks he's just waiting to reveal his soft gooey center (to her), and so she pushes too hard or dismisses real parts of him in that pursuit. which i know i will talk about later. i honestly do find this dynamic fascinating, if doomed to never achieve even an inch of liftoff.

i think this is the first episode of foreman's… lack of bedside manner, lol. he drugs the patient because she (in the midst of a psychotic episode) spit on him; he's angry and he's offended and that's fair, but he kind of takes it out on her, yeah? it's a minor shade of things to come: arrogance is gonna be his Thing.

"i hired you. you work for me." if it wasn't already obvious house liked this kid, house letting him get away with that one is a real big clue lol

the cameron chase "that was fast… did you promise to date the entire lab?" "no, i save that for emergencies" is a cute little exchange. i miss when they were just buddies who kept joking around in an oddly flirty way. like. they're not flirting. cameron is not at all interested and chase is… only vaguely at most. but for real, chase makes so many little comments about her looks or dateability or people flirting with her lol. it's either a baby crush or he's a very weird wingman

"why not scurvy, or the plague?" "gee, i wish my idea were as cool and with it as yours" this house-chase exchange always makes me laugh because within about a year, house will treat scurvy AND the plague

chase really not wanting house's theory to be right… who are you

i've talked before and i will talk forever about the way this episode suggest chase was luke when he was a kid: keeping lists and organized and laying out his mother's clothes and trying to control his way into fixing her. he wasn't passive, he wasn't hand's off, he didn't give up: he was probably doing everything he could until the end. if he didn't already have reason to hate her and resent her, that's a very good one: he didn't just watch her die, he did everything and watched her refuse or fail (or just be sicker than his teenage self could handle); no wonder he came away from his entire upbringing with an outlook of "i refuse to care about anyone or anything," despite how bad he is at just that. but it's fascinating too because outwardly, chase has such a slacker reputation: he's a bit lazy, he's very unambitious, he naps and flirts and doesn't work very hard (one of the main reasons foreman at least resents him) - but he wasn't always like that. (i've joked about it before, i'll say it again: i bet his retcon sister has such a different take on him. can absolutely picture her describing him to cameron as so bossy and uptight and wound up and foreman-ish and cameron just being like ???? chase ????)

"yeah, right. i'm rich, i couldn't possibly understand what this kid is going through --" oddly, i think this is actually the first time the show calls chase a rich kid. i guess the "his dad made a phone call" was a big hint, but it really doesn't come up as often as it kind of feels like it ought to

also rip foreman. i think his asking if chase has experience with alcoholism is like. the first and maybe last time he ever tries to reach out to chase with empathy lmao. chase totally blows him off, so i get why he didn't keep it up, but it's so funny to me. i love their mutual disdain for one another, and i guess you could argue this is where it started.

hilarious/Fascinating that cameron apparently ran to cuddy about house's birthday. why?? what was she trying to accomplish?? Fascinating.

i love this cuddy scene though. she starts off teasing house about his birthday, but house is acting squirrely and she immediately realizes something else is up and even figures out what. cuddy doesn't get the credit she deserves tbh — maybe she's not medically as sharp as the others, but her perception/management/people skills are top notch. love to see her winning

chase's weirdly strong reaction to luke being 15 makes so much more, and worse, sense when you remember that was his age when he became his mom's primary caretaker :))))

they suggest wilson's as a diagnosis a lot in future episodes, which makes it very funny that everyone acts like it's so rare and weird and hard to remember in this one. i mean, it makes perfect sense: they saw it once and know what to look for now. but it's funny to watch them try and remember the name

rip chase watching the kid and his now healthy mother reunite and go live their lives together <3 could never be you

[inheartofwinter]

DRARRY FIC REC

Drarry x Fandom

I have made many fic rec lists, almost always at someone's request, although I don't often post them publicly. However, there are fic rec lists I compiled simply because I like a particular troupe. I often keep copies of these lists in the notes in my phone so that I can respond quickly to a request for fic recs. Long story short, the notes pile up and now I need to delete some before I can't find anything anymore. But I don't want to just let those rec lists disappear, so I decided to share them.

The list I want to share with you today is Drarry fics in which fandom plays an important role.

- Draco Potter and the Day the World Ended (G; 3,2k) by gracefully_slytherin

Draco Potter (nee Malfoy) was known for many things.

He was a Death Eater who was acquitted of all his war crimes; he was the first Mind Healer that St. Mungo's had hired; he was the Savior of the Wizarding World's husband; and he was the popular fanfiction author sassysnakeprince on Archive of Our Own.

And life was peaceful until his beloved fanfiction website stopped working overnight. The world, it seemed, had chosen to die that day.

I'm pretty sure this is a very relatable story to many of us 🤣

- Pass the Chocolate (T; 1,6k) by @romaine2424

Harry writes a fanfic for Draco, but it doesn’t quite work out the way he planned.

- Pass the Ogden's (T; 660) by @romaine2424

Harry has the blues about h/d fandom. He thinks they're getting old.

This story is a continuation of 'Pass the Chocolate'. Once again, Harry is having problems with fandom and Draco tries to help.

- The True Veela Story (PG; 700) by Faith Wood

Draco is a veela. He has to mate with Harry or die. Naturally, he chooses to die.

- Harry Discovers Slash (E; 907) by @astolat

The obligatory the-characters-learn-about-slash story. (Harry/Draco)

- Draco Malfoy: Fangirl ( M; 3,7k) by pir8fancier

Harry discovers that Draco is a fangirl.

- Fanboy series (?; 2k) by scudeliwu

Draco is caught coming back from a fan-convention.

- Draco Malfoy is a Stupid Wanker (M; 6,8k) by @emmagrant01

During the course of HBP, Romilda Vane's crush on Harry Potter evolves into a slashy obsession with Harry and Draco. (Harry/Draco, if only in Romilda's mind...)

I would love it if you can spare some time to check these fics out and leave kudos to the authors. Honestly, some of these are so underrated even though they are so good.

Anyway, have fun reading!

[roboticnebula]

✨Incomplete/In progress✨ Halbarry fic recs

I've been meaning to do this for a while and finally took the time! This is a list of some of my absolute favorite Halbarry fics on AO3, with a twist: all of the are in progress/ none of these are complete (yet? or never to be? who knows, that's half the fun).

These are only the ones I reread recently, but there are sooo many good ones out there. I sometimes like to filter with "works in progress only" and it's always a good time, I highly recommend it. Also if you have a WIP you like, feel free to drop a link my way. Happy reading!!

Acinonyx Juniper by ceeloilights

Love me a post-apocalyptic story where people find each other and fall in love. Very visceral writing and I really enjoy Hal and Barry's portrayals.

After 7 years of a mysterious virus outbreak, ex-Air Force pilot and scientist-hating Hal Jordan wants to reconcile with his family but ends up meeting government scientist and military-repelled Barry Allen, who leads a double life. These two, along with their ragtag team of survivors, have to find their way through a post-apocalyptic world, learning how to survive, grieve, cope, forgive, and love, all the while the government and cults try to get their asses.

What an Earl wants by finalfrontierpioneer

Your honor, they are in love. There is fencing, and a kiss on a boat. 10/10.

Barry is new to the upper echelons of polite society. Hal offers to teach him everything he needs to know in order to fit in, and it blooms into a romance neither of them expected.

Steal Your Skin by ChocolateTeapots

We're in October, the perfect time to check this out. I love the blend of GL lore with the supernatural, and Hal being a monster hunter promises shenanigans.

Monster hunter Hal Jordan is out to confront the friend who betrayed him. When he gets the chance for one last, simple hunt, he takes it and won't be deterred by a troublesome werewolf who refuses to let Hal's spectres stay buried.

Every man must build a life (and someday watch it leave) by jcp_sob_rjl_lmep

Slow burn recovery, and Halbarry + Wally family. I am on the edge of my seat when reading.

When Hal and Barry set off on their honeymoon in space, it's supposed to take a month. Six weeks, maybe, at the most. No one anticipates their return two years later. Thought to be dead, their return should be joyful, but they're obviously deeply traumatised by the time away that neither of them is willing to elaborate on. The road to recovery is difficult and riddled with obstacles that, at times, seem unsurpassable. But anything is possible when they have each other, even the slow revelation that they might never be heroes again.

Wondering where the lions are by magnetocent

Getting together, historical AU set in the 1970s. There's grief, there's loneliness but also there's love and anyways this one made me cry for all the right reasons.

Hal comes back from his cross country trip with oliver to what is possibly the most emotionally complicated year of his life. Following hal and barry's budding relationship, from 1977-1979.

Catching You by SweetApples02

Racetrack racing but with wings! I keep re-reading the scene where Barry falls because it's mesmerizing.

Racefliers, athletes who compete against the worlds best and fastest fliers for a chance of being the once in four years champion.

Barry Allen, a name that Hal only knew from his friend’s mouth as Ollie raved about the champion title and the influence “Flash” carried over fans. The racer didn’t have any significance to Hal though, at least until Ollie convinced Hal to help him vandalize the Flash track insignia the day before the first race of the year during a drunken night.

Catchers, fliers hired to catch racers in distress. The same position that Hal was forced to pretend to be in when he awoke the next day in the stadium.

Waiting out the event out of moral obligation, Hal found himself in another pickle. A collision sending the Flash crashing down- and taking Hal with him when the vandalizer turned Catcher attempted to catch him.

The legalities afterwards continued the problem. Video footage and Hal’s witness to the collision bringing a discovery that it wasn’t just an accident, but the coverup of Hal’s involvement could turn his statements futile at any turn.

And the budding looks and quiet conversations between him and the recovering champion was a whole new problem by itself.

[artsekey]

I'm not super into Lackadaisy, but I am super into animation, and...

How are they planning to finance an entire season with just 1,000,000?

(Everything below assumes that they're aiming for episodes that are comparable to the pilot & that they plan on fully financing the season with solely the donations on Backerkit. It's likely they have additional financing through merchandising, the pilot, and/or Iron Circus's other projects, but since that information is not available, I'll go off of what I know. Additionally, production management and budgeting are extremely project dependent, so the "averages" listed below may be far off what the PM on Lackadaisy's got quoted.)

[EDIT: It’s been brought to my attention that the episodes are 10-12 minutes long, which means it’s MUCH more doable than I was expecting! They budgeted for a lean (but doable!!!) production. Thank you to those who clarified! I’ll leave this post as-is for those interested, but read it knowing they’re considering roughly half the time I used to calculate everything below!]

Quick preface as to why I wanted to talk about this and Why I Feel I May Have Valuable Things To Say: I'm an indie filmmaker and professor of animation, production management, and VFX. I'm not trying to call out the company or the production because-- and I cannot say this enough-- I truly do not know what's happening on the back end. Every production is wildly different. Their original goal was 125,000, with 45% going to animation-- that includes rough, cleanup, & color. That means that for a ~27 minute animated episode, they've got $56,250. If we collect all facets of production together-- story, layout, animation, compositing, and editing-- we wind up with a grand total of $82,500. Even if we estimate at the lowest average production cost of $8,000 a minute, this budget would account for ~11 minutes of animation.

An animator's average hourly rate is ~$36. With the outlined budget, the Lackadaisy production would be able to afford ~1562 hours of animator manpower. Let's assume (for the sake of this discussion) they'll split that over at least four animators, leaving us with about 10 weeks of full-time work (~390 hrs per person) for four people.

Now this may seem like a lot of time, but as far as I can tell, the pilot was largely animated frame-by-frame without the use of 2D rigging. This means every frame needs to go through roughs, then cleanup, then color, then composite. Every frame you see on-screen has been worked over at least four times-- six if you count layout and story. Ten weeks is simply not enough time to finish 27 minutes of 2D animation.

Now, I know what you might be thinking; Artsekey, they never said their production period was ten weeks! And you're right! However, that's how much production time they can afford. Whether it's split over 20 weeks or a year, they only have enough money to pay their animators for 1562 hours of labor.... if they're paying them a competitive hourly wage. To be completely clear, I am not insinuating that they're low-balling their animators; there're a dozen unknown factors that play into this, such as:

The level of animator they're hiring (an apprentice animator may make ~$17-$23 an hour whereas an experienced pro may make ~$43-$45.)

Whether they're actually hiring animators as opposed to contracting animators (I assume their model is likely relying on the latter based on the fact that I'm seeing a lot of animators that worked on 1-3 shots). They may be doing single-sum deliverable based contracts rather than hourly.

The use of tools like EBsynth (which is listed among the programs they're using) and smart frame management (which they're definitely doing!). This can, if used properly, cut down on the number of in-betweens animators need to get done.

The amount of money the studio is planning to re-invest on their end. The goal on backerkit may just account for the additional funds the studio needs to enter production, meaning their budget may be far larger than what's listed. However, if this were the case, I'd hope they'd disclose it! If I were considering backing the project, knowing that the studio was going to be buying in would increase my faith in the fundraiser.

Obviously, the team loves animation. It shows through in the pilot, and I think that it's clear in their mission statement that they stand against the exploitation of animators. But... I also know that indie production is like trying to wring water out of a log. I'd personally like a more comprehensive breakdown of their expenditures not because I think there's anything suspicious happening behind the scenes, but because as someone who teaches production management for animation and who has an interest in indie production specifically, I'm wondering what choices they're making to stretch their funds.

And what about sound?

While I'm not an expert in audio design, I do live with a professional voice actress/audio engineer, and she had a few thoughts I'd like to share.

At their original goal, roughly ~12500 was set aside for:

Sound Design

Music Composition

Voice Acting

Now, I can only refer to my own experiences as an indie filmmaker regarding price, but the rate I received-- from friends-- for sound design was roughly ~325 per minute, and this was a very, very good deal for what I personally needed. The audio engineer can be responsible for collecting and/or recording foley, or the sound effects you hear in film. This can be expensive and time consuming. They're also responsible for editing all the foley, music, and voice acting together in a way that feels seamless. If we were going off the rate I was given (which was very reasonable given the amount of work that needed to be done), ~27 minutes of full foley, complex sound design, and mixing would run about ~8,000. This number could fluctuate significantly depending on whether they need the sound designers to create the foley, get some ADR in, or just mix the audio, but let's assume that Lackadaisy has a pre-existing foley library and that the price falls in a lower range of ~5,000.

Music's a complete wild-card. In my experience, most composers charge per-minute, and most of the indie composers I've worked with were at a rate of ~$100 per minute of music. That'll land at a nice $2,700.

Now where my friend got particularly heated was the rate for the voice actors. As a voice actress herself, she was floored that the budget for voice was so low-- particularly because the project's pilot pulled industry voices like ProZD. Obviously, the price for voice can vary wildly based on how many lines an actor has, their experience as a voice actor, their personal terms, ect. The cast for the pilot included 11 credited actors. I can't assume their rates or whether they charge a fee to even get in the booth (my roomate charges $100 flat at the start of a session), but if my other estimates are in the right ballpark, their goal budget accounts for roughly ~500 per VA (and it's extremely unlikely that it's divided equally for obvious (and logical) reasons). Honestly, for a full episode of animation, that's... about average. But average in the voice-acting community doesn't necessarily mean good. Voice actors are notoriously underpaid, and-- as previously mentioned-- bigger names with more lines are going to be taking in more of that pay-pool.

And, of course, the Production Managers.

I'm not going to speak on this for too long, but the original budget held 8750 for the admin team. I assume admin includes their PMs, director, and leads (if they have enough specialization to need leads). Assuming it's just one PM and one director, they're pulling in ~4375 a person. For the duration of the project. There's no way that prepro, production, and post would take less than 8 months. Of everyone involved in a production, these roles are on-board from start to end, and it's simply not enough! PM's are absolutely critical to success!

Not to mention the editor!

In animation, the editor is the director's right-hand man, and is working to edit the storyboards, reels, scratch music, and the final cut. This role is also on the production from pre-to-post, and their original budget allows for.... $2,500. What? If I go extremely low on the hourly for the editor, you maybe get one part-time weeks' worth of work for several edits of a 27 minute episode. With most everything else I've talked about, I've mentioned there's a lot of wiggle room because of all the factors I simply don't know, but in no universe is $2,500 enough for this editing job. (Even at the current budget of 1,000,000, $4,000 an episode is super low.)

But, hey! They've got more money now!

Of course, all of these concerns go out the window when you consider that the team's already raised a whopping $953,000 (as of 7/31/23) with the fundraiser only up for five days... right?

Well... It certainly alleviates some of the strain, but their stretch goals were scope increases! This means that once they reach their 1,000,000 stretch goal, they're adding on four additional ~27 minute episodes. This increases the budget-per-episode to 200,000 (yay!), but that still leaves the project with about $7,400 to spend per-minute... which, in the world of animation, isn't much!

All in all, I think that the original goal of 125,000 -- if there was going to be minimal investment from the company-- was completely insufficient, and it would have been irresponsible to try to produce a 27 minute long pilot with that budget. At the same time, I imagine the PM/Admin team could reasonably expect a strong outpouring of support from the fans based on past success and low-balled the original goal. Now that they're near 1,000,000, I think- and hope - they'll be able to swing it.

If anyone has any insight into the production of the pilot (either because you worked on it or know someone who does), please feel free to add context to this post! Again, I am not trying to call out Iron Circus. I'm fascinated by indie production and have been following the successes and failures of crowdfunded animation since it started picking up, and while the goal for Lackadaisy raised some concerns for me up-front, I think they're making strategic choices based on hard data (that we the public are not privvy to). They've already done it once, so they should be able to do it again!

[roguekhajiit]

I recently fell for a job posting over the holidays that posted their job as full-time, will train, etc etc. I only wish I'd known then what I know now. It was a bait and switch.

The bait: It's full-time, with little to no experience needed, no special licenses or certifications needed. Will train and pay for certifications (CPR, First Aid) after hiring.

First red flag: The same day you have your first and only interview, you are asked to sign the new hire documents and go through orientation. You're hired on the spot.

Second red flag: The training is supposed to be 4 days of you driving/riding around with the trainer. It gets shrunk down to 2. The training boils down to the trainer, showing you how to push buttons in an app on a tablet and watching you drive for a day and a half.

Third red flag: All the other stuff you were supposed to be trained on; they ghost you on. It never happens. No CPR or first aid training ever takes place. They never approach you about it, and every time you ask about it, they dodge the question.

The Switch: Your 90 days is coming to an end, and they'll soon have to give you the raise you are owed.

Suddenly, they call you into the office a week before your 90 days is up, and they have a list of grievances against you; complaints from customers about your attitude and your driving. You're just not a good fit for the company, and they are going to have to let you go.

But they never once brought these concerns up to you over the past two and a half months. Every time you poked your head in the office to ask if they needed anything from you, they never bothered to mention these grievances then. But a week before your 90 days is up, there's this stack of complaints against you that just suddenly appeared, and none are specific. They're all generic; bad driving, bad attitude.

It's almost as if they just needed someone to fill in during the holidays while their regular drivers took their vacations and now that the holidays are over they no longer need you and want to issue you a termination letter while you're still within your 90 "probationary" period.

I've come to realize they did this because they knew if they listed the job as temporary, they would be less likely to receive applicants.

The worst part of the entire experience, though, has been how they have tried to twist this around to make it seem like it was my fault. My driving skills were to blame, and my attitude was to blame. Never mind that I consistently went above and beyond what a normal driver would do for the customers. From throwing down traction sand to make it safer for the customers to walk out of their own front doors, to helping them walk down their own steps. Never mind that I never once crashed or totaled the vehicles or caused damage to another person's property. Other drivers have more than once in the past two and a half months. Yet somehow, they worded it so that there was somehow fault with my driving and my attitude.

But in reality, they had me caught in a bait and switch the entire time, and they just no longer had any use for me. Don't fall for predatory employment tactics like I did. Protect yourselves. If they want to hire you on the spot but want you to subject yourself to any kind of probationary period with the promise of higher pay looming at the end for your "hard work and dedication," Walk away. It's not worth it.

[felixstudios]

Playground Swap AU!

This is an AU that swaps out which playgrounds the 16 managers from 1.3 reside in as well as trying to strike a balance between their own personality and the personality of the Cog they're swapping places with. Additionally, "gimmicks" {usually the cheat or power the manager is most known for} are swapped. Some job titles are swapped, while some are not- and that one was completely random just to add to the chaos of this AU.

Credit to the creation of this AU belongs in part to @peachymunmagenta for giving me the initial idea and I basically took it and ran off with it. They also came up with the TTC/AA swap!

This post is considered the "master list" of this AU. That means over time I will edit it to include links of extra information/lore made in other posts.

31. August, 2023

New Management Changes - Effective Immediately!

It has come to our attention that our newly hired managers have not had the expected outcome of getting rid of the Toons. While progress has been made in slowing them down, that isn't enough. We will be experimenting with new corporate structures that will move some of you to different districts to see if this helps the Toon problem. Some of you have also changed departments- if that is the case, contact your new boss for your new uniform within 24 hours of receiving this notice or else YOU'RE FIRED.

The new assignments are as follows:

1. Toontown Central & Acorn Acres

Swapped pairs: Buck/Chip and Spruce/Brian

Buck Ruffler, Acorn Acres Kudos Manager

Duck Shuffler, level 50 Cashbot

Fight concept

-Gains an override so that his last minute changes to projects become efficient and more beneficial to the company

-A little more serious, but he's still pretty out there.

-Buck's override is triggered if he spins his slots and rolls 777 {and will deactivate with another 777}. Additionally, his other slot outcomes have been changed while the printing stays the same.

-During an override, Buck would be very similar to Chip in canon in that he'd be monotone and incredibly hostile to Toons {but his speech impediment would still be there lol}. I feel like in a battle this would be reflected by Buck doing more damage, his slot outcomes changing to things that are way more negative for Toons {but also WAY more random}, the inability to receive a 'bust' outcome, and/or getting more slot rolls per turn.

Chip Revvington, Toontown Central Street Manager

Chainsaw Consultant, Level 5 Bossbot

-He leaves firing employees more up to chance than anything

-Despite being such a low level, since he's a manager he can fire any non-manager Cog. He just couldn't fire any managers that are above him, which is fine for the company since they don't want layoffs that high up their management chain

-Without his override anymore and also some of Buck's personality, he becomes quite friendly and even slightly outgoing. He even jokes about his chainsaw and how scary it looks when he's nothing like that

-Has WAY less cheats since he's literally the first manager now. It would still operate based on an RPM meter, but it'd be WAY more straightforward and forgiving... Something like +1K/turn regardless of what attacks are used, cheats draining all his RPM regardless of when it was used or how much he has, only having 2-3 cheats {and just one RPM meter}, and each cheat's trigger is easy to figure out or is literally said to players.

Spruce Campbell, Toontown Central Kudos Manager

Treekiller, Level 12 Cashbot

-He strategically steals paper and logs {along with other resources} from the Toons

-Although he still SEEMS to talk and act exactly the same as in canon, this is now just an act he puts on for the Toons so they don't realize how genius he actually is

-Becomes a little full of himself, but not to unreasonable standards. He just likes to boast about himself a lot

-In battle, his cheats would both be annoying like Brian's and use some of the resources he's been stealing

Brian {no last name}, Acorn Acres Street Manager

Prethinker, Level 24 Sellbot

-He just works on more projects than before but becomes a bit more outspoken

-Is now okay with admitting he made mistakes and doesn't hold it against himself very much

-His cheats now reflect the resources around him and have an underlying theme of wood and acorns

-Since he's also later in the game, his cheats are more complex and allow for his strategic prowess to truly shine

-A bit bolder than before, which sometimes backfires on him. This is especially true if he accidentally makes a miscalculation

2. Barnacle Boatyard & Ye Olde Toontowne

Swapped pairs: Misty/Prester and Mary/Holly

Misty Monsoon, Ye Olde Toontown Kudos Manager

Witch Hunter, Level 20 Lawbot

-She convinces large groups of people to have class action lawsuits

-Will send out anonymous letters to Cogs in an attempt to get them riled up against Toons and start a witch hunt against specific Toons {usually whichever one hurt her the most that week}

-Still very quiet, but now it's because she's incredibly bitter and jaded towards everyone and doesn't wanna talk to anyone

-Still has self esteem issues, but she buries this really deep so that way nobody knows about it

-If she does speak, it's usually something really vague. She prefers to do her mob collecting from the shadows so as not to trace it back to her

Prester Virgil, Barnacle Boatyard Kudos Manager

Rainmaker, Level 16 Lawbot

-He gains weather changing abilities, which he uses to cause disasters and convince the company they need to make insurance claims {or sometimes normal Cogs}

-Doesn't use... as many big words

-A bit more soft spoken, but still pretty obnoxious about things

Mary Anna, Ye Olde Toontowne Street Manager

Deep Diver, Level 10 Boardbot

-She's put her defenses up and does her deep searches with more bias and sass

-With bias now comes sometimes overlooking things or having a confirmation bias where things might not get as thoroughly checked

-Mary is now also a perfectionist trying to work through this flaw in her performance because it's causing her a lot of stress

Holly Grayelle, Barnacle Boatyard Street Manager

Gatekeeper, Level 7 Boardbot

-Does extensive research into pretty much anyone she or the company wants to interact with, hire, ETC. to determine if they're allowed to or not

-A little more mellowed out and not so bad of a perfectionist anymore, but she hasn't completely toned it down

-Quieter, but it's because instead of talking so much she's observing. This will inform future judgements she makes about others, for better or for worse

3. Daffodil Gardens & The Brrrgh

Swapped Pairs: Cathal/Flint and Ben/Cosmo

Cathal Bravecog, The Brrrgh Street Manager

Firestarter, Level 20 Bossbot

-He tries to help out his dad from The Brrrgh, but he just seems to always cause problems

-Very chill and laid back manager who outwardly doesn't show much reaction to his mistakes... at first.

-Over time {and in battle this would be reflected by entering different phases}, he becomes more and more insecure about it until he's clearly pretty anxious and worried. This results in more severe mistakes being made and so the cycle goes on and on

-Tries to get praise from his dad, but he's pretty sneaky around the subject

-He will gain Flint's fire abilities, and it does NOT mix well with his anatomy that's not built to take the heat

Flint Bonpyre, Daffodil Gardens Kudos Manager

Multislacker, Level 24 Sellbot

-Flint is 'burnt out' and doesn't have the emotional capacity to do much work. This would be literally represented by the flame on his head always being very weak

-Very quiet since he just doesn't have the energy to speak much

-Spends most of his time kinda staring off into space or only putting in just enough effort to not get fired

Benjamin Biggs, The Brrrgh Kudos Manager

Bellringer, Level 38 Sellbot

-He gets to have a mafia of his own and they go around "convincing" people to buy from COGS, Inc.

-Uses gossip and blackmail to control everything, basically

-Not really much for getting himself into trouble anymore and is WAY more interested on just finding dirt on anyone and everyone in case he encounters them at some point and needs to "persuade" them

-Instead of Satellite Investors, he has Bell Boys... lol

Cosmo Kupier, Daffodil Gardens Street Manager

Plutocrat, Level 13 Cashbot

-He uses the power of his money to create quite a bit of gossip. Money talks for him a lot

-Whether it's starting fake rumors, starting true rumors, or hearing gossip about somebody, he's paying for it

-While they no longer appear in battle, his Satellite Investors still help him out with a lot of stuff

-His cheats would still be ice themed, but they wouldn't be as extreme both due to not having a frozen office and for being earlier in the line

4. Mezzo Melodyland & Drowsy Dreamland

Swapped pairs: Belle/Tawney and Dave/Graham

Belle Dama, Drowsy Dreamland Street Manager

-She delegates her work to other Cogs and has to frequently nap due to her age

Mouthpiece, Level 30 Lawbot

Design concept

-One of her cheats would literally be not attacking for like 2-3 turns but in return she gains like 50-60% of her health back

-But even though she's old and a bit more frail, she's still got hands to throw. AKA she can do a lot of damage!

Tawney Esta, Mezzo Melodyland Street Manager:

Featherbedder, Level 16 Bossbot

-They do their work with less napping and delegation basically I guess

-Maybe more social

-I really didn't know what else to put here

Dave Brubot, Drowsy Dreamland Kudos Manager

Pacesetter, Level 66 Sellbot

-He basically does his show but like... really fast

-As a star performer, he sets ALL the trends, babe! Both in the company and even on social media!

-You thought he didn't slow dance before? Well now he REALLY doesn't slow dance

-Becomes more self-absorbed, leading to a lot of posters of himself being hung up around his lobby and his stage

Graham Payser, Mezzo Melodyland Kudos Manager

Major Player, Level 28 Bossbot

-He's slowed down a bit and replaced it with more drama!

-Think you can take on someone as beautiful, stunning, and perfect as him? Think again!

-Even without his signature speed to help him, he's still quite the formidable opponent who will use his strength and ranking in the company to his advantage

-Also WAY more into performing and showing off. Somehow. Because he wasn't already maxed out here.

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 30 - Daes Dae'mar

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Cairhien icon) In which that doesn't seem like a very good idea to me.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand’s patience grows thinner. There's been no word from the Illuminators about why only a single nightflower went off several nights ago, and they haven't even admitted that there was a fire. Rumours abound, but none close to the truth. Hurin is getting more formal with Rand every day they stay here, he seems to honestly believe that Rand is a Lord, and that he should prove that Shienar can be every bit as proper as Cairhien. It's annoying the hell out of Rand.

The innkeeper knocks, and gives Rand more invitations. There have been so many, Rand snatches them up without looking at them, and won't let Cuale tell him who they're from. Rand starts wondering aloud if Cuale was listening at the door before he knocked, and is thinking about how Cairhien is getting to him, when Hurin interrupts in absolute shock. The invitations are from Lord Barthanes, the High Seat of House Damodred, and from King Galldrian Riatin himself.

Rand says they go in the fire like the rest, unopened. If he accepts any invitation, the Cairhienin will read something into it and think he's part of someone else's plot. If he doesn't go, if he sends an answer or not, everyone is reading something into any of them. Whatever they make of him burning them, at least it's the same for all of them this way.

Hurin protests that to burn these means insult of the highest order. Everyone else was waiting to see Rand's allegiances, believing he must have powerful friends if he's willing to insult them by burning their invitations. If he burns these last two, they'll know he has nothing, and anyone could retaliate against his insult. Some of the houses are rumoured to hire assassins!

Loial suggests accepting both, but Hurin cuts in again. House Damodred held the throne of Cairhien until Laman lost it with the Aiel war.(1) They want it back. The King and house Riatin would crush them, if they weren't almost as powerful as he is, even now. Accepting both means they'll both assume he's plotting with the other, and they'll both try to kill him anyway.

Rand growls that if he only accepts one, they'll still assume he's allied with that house. He wishes he hadn't burned the first two, but it wouldn't make any difference, not really.(2) He says he'll be seen in the common room with both, still sealed, so nobody will know which invitation he'll accept. He can buy himself another day or two that way, and Ingtar can't be too far out now.

He goes to the common room, observing the parchment rolls conspicuously, then puts them back in his pocket and leaves with Loial. They discuss how Fain must be waiting outside the city with more Trollocs, they'd be attacked as soon as they got outside the city walls. Loial says it's a shame they couldn't get as far as Stedding Tsofu, Trollocs would never go into a stedding.

They arrive at the guardhouse, and someone in old Shienaran clothes leaves conspicuously as soon as Rand arrives.(3) Rand has an impatient exchange with the clerk, the same one he's dealt with for days on end, who keeps pretending he doesn't know what Rand is talking about, then gives negative answers without looking at any of his lists. Has Ingtar come? Ingtar who? Ingtar, of house Shinowa. No, nobody by that name. When he asks about Selene, and is told that not knowing her house makes it difficult to find her, Rand suggests that Caldevwhin could help him. The clerk insists Cal isn't here, despite Rand having seen him behind the clerk. Rand leaves in a grump.

Rand talks with Loial on the way back to the inn, about how he's sick of Daes Dae'mar, and he's sick of having to pretend to be a Lord, and he's sick of being ta'veren. They close on the inn, and see a fire. They realize it's too close to their inn, and start running.

Sure enough, it's their inn on fire. And Hurin's nowhere to be seen. He wouldn't have left the... Rand and Loial rush in and up the stairs into the worst of the smoke. Hurin is in their room, a lump on his head the size of a plum. The horn is gone. Loial takes Hurin, saying that Rand can't carry Hurin while he crawls through the smoke again to avoid the hotter, thicker smoke at head level. Rand tells him to go then, he'll be right behind them.

The Ogier crawled into the hall with his burden, and Rand started after him. Then he stopped, staring back at the connecting door to his room. The banner was still in there. The banner of the Dragon. Let it burn, he thought, and an answering thought came as if he had heard Moiraine say it. Your life may depend on it. She’s still trying to use me. Your life may depend on it. Aes Sedai never lie.(4)

The other room is a mass of flame, when he kicks the door open. He finds his saddlebags in the wardrobe, banner conspicuously large in one side, not yet burning. He hesitates only a second, then grabs the bags and runs for it. He runs to Hurin and calls out for a Wisdom, a Wise Woman, anyone they call Mother somebody, who knows herbs and healing. A woman is just saying that she is a Reader, if that's what he means,(5) but there's nothing left for this one, something wrong in his head from that hit.

“Rand! It is you!”

Rand stared. It was Mat, leading his horse through the crowd, with his bow strung across his back. A Mat whose face was pale and drawn, but still Mat, and grinning, if weakly. And behind him came Perrin, his yellow eyes shining in the fire and earning as many looks as the blaze. And Ingtar, dismounting in a high-collared coat instead of armor, but still with his sword hilt sticking up over his shoulder. Rand felt a shiver run through him. “It’s too late,” he told them. “You came too late.” And he sat down in the street and began to laugh.

=====

(1) Damodred, huh? Like Moiraine? Like Taringail, the Caemlyn crew's shared father? Those are some curious connections. (2) And, who's to say the Pattern didn't need him to have access to the higher ups? Fate works in strange ways, especially when it's a story. (3) Who could that be? We know that everyone arrives at the end of the chapter, but why would someone have spotted Rand and left? (4) Is she trying to use you, Rand, or are you just unwilling to admit that she's trying to help you? What evidence do we have that she's trying to do anything but make it through the apocalypse with the world intact? Is she, perhaps, just a little influenced by the ancient order that preaches control above all else, and maybe she wasn't prepared to deal with the Dragon being a real person with his own desires and motivations (and cultural stubbornness, and prejudice against Aes Sedai)? And on the other side of the coin, what evidence do we have that Rand is doing anything but ta'veren-ing his way through this story without understanding how the world works or what he's going to need to be to be taken seriously by the world? (5) Different words for the role in the community in each region, just like different words to the songs. And, here, it seems a Reader (lol) may not have the cultural power that a Wisdom does in the Two Rivers. What might have influenced that over time? Little things, like the 2Rs being isolated enough to form a prejudice against Aes Sedai without meeting or knowing what they are meaning someone with a little power might have a slight advantage in proving her worth there, versus a place like Cairhien, where someone with the ability to channel might be found by a visiting Aes Sedai and recruited to the Tower, leaving fewer people with that advantage to politic. Well, that and there being royal stinkin families.

[the-everqueen]

fic author self-rec

@mehoymalloy tagged me to pick five of my own fics to recommend, pero i've only finished one for my current fandom, which is what most recent followers would be looking for. so! since the gf, who is much more prolific and better with words than me, has written so much for mansand, i thought i'd pick five of hers that i like the most and want other people to scream about. she's not on tumblr, but she's user stellersong on ao3.

shuddered at what they found when they stripped away the grace Dream, after the Wake. body horror, not in the usual viscera and gore sense, but the horror of being the newly (re)embodied anthropomorphic personification of the collective unconscious, when part of you had been a human child. this is required reading for everyone who wants Daniel!Dream coping with his new existence. also Delirium is a good big/little sister. (gen)

y me muero por volver, volver post-Wake Dream and Death get lunch in SF. both of them navigating around the shadow of Morpheus and who they've become. some of my favorite characterization of Death - you really get a sense of her as a person, her grief and kindness. also very good background worldbuilding for the Endless. (gen)

for just to suffer that hurt Desire's got wind of the developing relationship between their brother and his librarian. it's technically part of their function, after all. there's some fun timey-wimey things happening here with the alternate timelines presented in Overture. also frankly i think the gf is doing the only interesting things in this fandom with intertextual references: so many people are fixated on medieval studies, and meanwhile the Dreaming has every work that has ever existed or could have ever existed in the whole world, which is bigger than England. (*cough cough* Anglocentrism *cough*) this is part of the "endless revisions" series but imho you don't need to have read the previous fics to understand this one. (m/f, Dream/Lucienne, semi-background)

a pillar i am, upright this one is for all you horny Dream/Luce people. basically Lucienne has fun mentally tormenting Dream while they're both trapped in a work function. this fic also contains one quick reference to my guy, which frankly just makes me warm because i know the gf did that for me. (m/f, Dream/Lucienne)

unauthorized disclosure this is kind of cheating because i'm listed as a co-author (solo fic in progress, got heavily delayed by me finishing a phd and then hyperfixating on CocoRose). BUT it's not a swan fic-list without a monster au and werewolves are my soft spot. this one's the first in the "red moon" series: basically Lucienne gets hired as Dream's RA for a secret project to cure lycanthropy and things go sideways fast. i'm obsessed with how the gf describes so-called monstrous bodies - there's a brandon taylor essay about how no one in fiction occupies physical space anymore, and the gf is so good at bodies as devices/communicative structures/things that take up physical space. if you've ever gotten tired of fics where the characters seem to move for no reason besides as a dialogue tag (a thing i'm so guilty of in my own writing), you should read swan's fic to study how she uses movement.

this was insanely fun; thanks, Malloy! i always feel weird tagging people but if you follow me and want to talk about your fic, feel free to consider yourself tagged (and tag me so i can read it if i haven't!)

[darkenforcer]

permanent plotter / rship call !

YEAH OK... i'll finally post one of these!!!

give this a like and you'll be lawfully and contractually signing up for:

dms (more specifically an introductory one to ask if you have ideas, but it's totally fine if you don't have any yet! we can always figure it out as we go)

more ic ask memes! or dropping into your inbox for funsies

...just dash interactions in general

you can still like this post if we've already thrown ideas around abt our blorbos. bc ur epic

for types of relationships, you can find a handy-dandy list to get that creativity flowing below the cut:

friends. yuri can be an aloof dingus, but this is wayyy easier than one may think. whether or not he actually acknowledges it, he's on friendly terms with a lot of people since he likes good timez -- befriending him just comes with being the target of pranks and sass, that's all. join his ever-growing list of besties...... this can also extend to passing acquaintances, though! they can poke at each other like once a month & he'd be perfectly content.

found family. yuri has a habit of accidentally adopting rowdy kids (for better or worse, depending on who you ask). that is all. seriously, though, vespy heavily revolves arnd a found family, so of course i have a bias. it's common for him to take on a big brother role, but he's still on the younger side of adulthood and makes more than enough dumb decisions to deserve a scolding from older / more experienced folk.

mercenary-based stuff. since he's a sword-for-hire, it's totally possible for him to run into people during jobs! like an unlucky bystander, potential protégé, rival merc, employer, or even... the target!? *gasp*. anyway, the sky's the limit with this one, and it doesn't have to be limited to fight scenarios (murder-y stuff's the only thing off the table, like 99% of the time)! it could be fun.

enemies/rivals. having actual enemies takes wayyy too much energy, so he definitely won't be the one putting effort into making any (not on purpose, anyway). unless your muse is the one trying to beat him up, or if they're corrupt beyond saving, yuri'll probably just ignore them lol. rivalries are more likely, considering he's pretty darn competitive and battle-obsessed. not to mention all the teasing...

romance. hm. he'll flirt w/ ppl who seem interested and all that, but most of what he says comes from a place of banter. i have my own scientifically-based headcanons that make the idea of yuri + love messy as hell (sorry), though that's mostly because there haven't been any reasons for him to confront any of it yet. in other words, it's possible for a serious ship to happen, it'd just need planning and time. aside from that, go wild with the no-strings-attached stuff!

[braintapes]

man i know ive been reblogging a lot of posts abt how awful the job hunt is but truly. genuinely. the whole thing is just so utterly thoroughly completely fuckin Borked dude. fully just Does Not Work

job listings are either fake, scams, inaccurate to the role they want filled, poorly written, written by someone who doesn't know what the job is supposed to entail, are either way too short or way too long, and/or by and large don't include the actual information you actually for real actually NEED to know whether the job is worth your time to apply for, such as, i dunno, the salary. your actual everyday job duties and what you Actually need to perform them. an absurd amount go out of their way to specify just how able bodied you need to even Think about Breathing on the job listing (very) even when that's blatantly false because fuck anyone with a disability i suppose.

assuming some of the jobs are, in fact, real jobs that someone would like filled by a human person to perform a series of tasks, you still may not have a good selection. depending on location you could be out of luck for any halfway decent work. there's a billion positions open for things you Know you can't do. the jobs all seem to come in the following flavors: entry level (but you must have 1-2 years experience in this field) entry level (must have a masters degree a phd and 6-10 years experience) and entry level (must have 5 years experience and be willing to lift an entire house's weight in manual labor every single day with no break)

if you don't have experience having a job well. sucks to suck i guess!

but whatever. okay. find some promising (read: seemingly not fake/scam) listings. go to apply. upload a resume you spent hours poring over to make sure ATS wouldn't mangle it while also keeping it professional and with all the relevant information to make you look as good as possible to prospective employers. the company website then takes the resume you uploaded (in the correct format) and dumps it in the trash. manually write down all of the information in their little text boxes please! oh and also make an account with all your personal information to even have the privilege of getting to fill out this application. mandatory work history information required. fill out this questionnaire - just be sure not to step on the mines and answer a question Wrongly. "why do you want to work at this company?" write an essay for us detailing the most personal aspects of yourself. dont click the buttons that masquerade as offering accommodations and diversity inclusion because theyll actually just set all of this on fire if youre actually honest. grovel in our uncaring text boxes about how badly you want to be part of our team and how YOU can best serve US you worthless dog. slowly crawl your way out of the last circle of hell so you can be done with the application. click the last button. write the last bit of forced-smile text so your teeth dont feel like they're going to shatter apart anymore

wait for weeks. then for months only for a rejection long since youve moved on. assuming you get a response, as the standard now seems to be ghosting. repeat process again and again and again and AGAIN. endlessly. scraping and clawing and begging. youre not grovelling enough. youre not kneeling and cowering and pleading hard enough. the people in your life who Do have jobs cant seem to understand why youre so distressed by it all because, well, They got jobs so Why Can't You? repeat process. repeat process. repeat process.

on a rare occasion, get a response (!!) and make it to the interview stage (!!!!!) which as it turns out is not actually a discussion about the job and how youd fit into it but a vibes check where you prostrate yourself once again to the hiring manager and they decide if they personally like you enough as someone they'd want to hang out with on the weekends to let you in. high chance to fail this immediately if you are some kind of minority, but because they dont want to get in trouble for discrimination, they instead Make Up A Reason not to hire you which then makes it perfectly fine because you can't prove the real reason. browse through your email to see the other rejections. repeat process.

remember that for every application you send out youre competing with hundreds of other desperate people who just need some money to god damned Survive. try to go find advice and find that everything is so heavily weighted in favor of employers it might as well be a fucking black hole (which would be apt considering everyones applications magically disappear) so the only advice anyone can give is pithy little platitudes about how you should look and act and speak and dress and behave and make sure youre grovelling! have you tried grovelling!! are you doing that enough because if you arent well it really is your fault isnt it then!

god and like even if you GET a job it's still a shit job and there's still no ladder any more. there's no Progression it's just moving horizontally across various shit jobs. even the "easiest" jobs to get hired at, customer service jobs, retail, food service, etc, are so terrible you arent treated like a human being by basically anyone from customers to managers. you arent allowed to sit down. you need to grovel STILL. to your boss. to customers. constantly. for 10 dollars an hour, probably less depending on location. but you have to agree to work all their horrible shifts for 10 hours a day on your feet no sitting 2 15 minute breaks fuck man. fuck. FUCK. WHAT IS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO DO AT THIS POINT?????

[how-to-work]

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[izzy-b-hands]

I'm imagining a fundraising brainstorming session post Reunion/Big Talks Completed/Etc Dramatic Things

Whole crew, assembled on the deck, where Stede admits yeah so the whole money always on tap bc I'm rich thing? No longer a thing. We do actually have to Do Pirate Stuff for money now

Cut to Buttons talking cryptically abt how he knows of a list of Secret Pirate Tasks that will really earn good money-

Lucius interrupts to note that he's ninety percent sure Buttons just means dick pics (aka below the waist sketches of various poses and things that Lucius makes, has each person autograph, then sells for ridiculous amounts at random ports. Everyone absolutely makes up fake names for their signature on these, and that's half the fun tbh)

Which no one is against, but Lucius' wrist will need rest now and again what with all the dicks and other body parts (and the sketching of them) so there's got to be something else to do in addition to that

That's where I can't decide if they just go hog wild trying and even succeeding in raiding every ship they run across, setting up some sort of additional gigs (Roach offers baked goods but only if everyone takes shifts helping bake bc he should not have to do all that work alone and he's right and he should say it, Wee John suggests setting up a booth wherever they stop to offer sewing/darning/etc fabric repairs, Fang mentions Ye Olde Hot Topics are always hiring so if they stay near a safeish port for a week or two they could make some extra that way, Black Pete could absolutely make bank whittling things like I myself would be in line for something from him, etc)

or

or

some combination of all the above which gives the delightful moments of

'oh god our ship is being raided by these two terrors and their crew and wait. Wait. The guy holding a cleaver to my neck rn definitely sold me an amazing layer cake two ports back; hey, before u kill me can I pay to have one sent to my family with a note that I'm dead? Yeah? Okay, cool, someone get a pen or just write this in my blood on the deck i guess-'

And Roach would agree to it. Lucius would take down the address and write up the receipt (and the oh god im so sorry im dying at sea and leaving my family alone note to go with the cake) and they'd all be dividing up loot at the end as well as logging random sales made during the raid aksjdjfngg

And somehow they're still barely breaking even and if it weren't for Ed's previously earned funds (he starts sneaking personal financial tips into his pillow talk with Stede each night, and at first Stede hates it but then he's Pavlov'd into getting hard whenever Ed discusses budgeting, and that does make such conversation much more enjoyable for him at least)

like. they wouldn't be wholly Fucked, but it would be a much more nervous situation and everyone is just boggled that Stede doesn't seem to Get that.

But he's eager for all the side gig ideas at least, and even helps (aka he does his best, he's trying to learn how to do the work available to them, even if it isn't always the most amazing result aksndjf)

I like to think he'd eventually realise he has stuff he can offer too, like, maybe he's got a decent hand for fixing the binding of books (bc he's never trusted anyone other than himself, Ed, and the crew with his books tbh, and that v much includes repairs to them.)

Just. Lil guy, sitting by Wee John who's got a sewing project in hand that'll be picked up by end of day, and the same customer left one old much loved book with Stede to be fixed and it's his first customer and he Will Not Fuck This Up

and Frenchie and John are desperate not to giggle (with love) over how nervous he is as they chill beside him and sew away bc like

he's actively sweating with worry but his hands are moving and fixing and reglueing and whatnot with him barely even having to think abt it bc he's so used to doing this particular thing

He doesn't need to worry so much abt this particular thing! Their entire financial situation, yes, but this particular task he actually has some mastery over and everyone wants to see him acknowledge it!!! Not just for his self esteem but bc then he'll promo himself more and hopefully make more fucking money aksndkfng