#anyway I'm very kind that's what counts

[zoueriemandzijnopmars]

I was a teaching assistant last period and I got called very kind in the evaluation <3

[technically-human]

Part two of the reverse verse is here! The reverse boys meet the original boys. They're not really getting along as well as I had hoped...

Again, this was a commission for @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are and they asked for angst/funny vibes... I think it's mostly just angst though. Oh, well...

Part one

[thedreadvampy]

sometimes I forget that my experience has been. um. not 'your experiences are not universal' vibes but more like 'your experiences are EXTREMELY atypical'

[thebramblewood]

Read an exclusive excerpt of "Chapter 5: The Mysterious Cal and Lily" from Tangled Vines: A Complete Investigation of the Vatore Disappearances, the bestselling phenomenon sweeping Sim Nation!

The advent of the Roaring '20s put a new city on the map. Prohibition was in full swing across the nation (though often loosely and selectively enforced), but citizens were more eager than ever to revel in excess. Producers of alcoholic beverages (including the Vatore family itself, having swiftly resumed business operations despite the loss of its future inheritors) transitioned to an outward emphasis on medical spirits while moving recreational production underground. Equally clandestine speakeasys began cropping up by the dozens, but one city's winding sidewalks, grimy storefronts, and labyrinthine system of underground tunnels made it particularly well-suited to hosting these secret locales. Soon enough, San Myshuno was the pinnacle of glitz, glamor, and elegant debauchery. All who attended a party wanted to be seen. Curiously, though, two of the names most often uncovered in tabloid archives, Cal and Lily, seemed to fully avoid the increasingly ubiquitous flash of the camera. While other frequenters of the speakeasy circuit often found their grainy black and white faces in print, providing endless fodder for the burgeoning gossip rag industry, this pair remained elusive, which of course sold even more papers. Fellow partygoers pitched first-hand accounts to the highest bidders, and readers clung onto every salacious word. Lily and Cal were always observed to arrive together, but she would soon make a beeline for the gramophone while he settled in at the bar. Nearly every report calls Lily an exquisite beauty with an almost supernatural ability for drawing men into her orbit. In some instances, partygoers describe a herd of suitors nearly erupting into fisticuffs as they competed for her attention. It is impossible to say how many of these accounts are exaggerated or even fabricated. Nevertheless, it is clear she was quite the force. At the end of the night, she would leave with her chosen companion, stupefied by his stroke of good luck, on her arm. Meanwhile, Cal would watch listlessly from a distance, nursing a glass of whiskey he was never observed to actually drink. The relationship between the two was unclear, as was his reason for accompanying her, as he seemed to have little interest in the raucousness surrounding him. He rarely engaged with other guests or even Lily herself, though there is at least one report of an argument in which he seemed with little success to be dissuading her from leaving with yet another man. One cannot help but draw parallels to a certain set of siblings with suspiciously similar names. Despite being younger, Caleb Vatore was always said to be protective over his sister Lilith's interests, even if she rarely heeded his advice. Digging into the newspaper archives at Myshuno Meadows Library unearths several more disturbing accounts. Increasingly, there were whispers that the men Lily seduced completely vanished from San Myshuno society after coming into contact with her. While there was a small spike in unsolved murder cases at the time, a concrete connection between the victims and the mysterious Lily cannot be made. In one story, which admittedly reads like a hallucinatory drug trip, Lily is described as a succubus with glowing red eyes and sharp blood-stained teeth. This account was clearly dismissed, for its revelations were never entertained further. All at once, the champagne and glitter dissolved into a more sober era, and these socialites vanished from public life just as swiftly. In isolation, similarities between Cal and Lily and the disappeared Vatore siblings may seem like mere coincidences. In truth, it cannot even be proven that they existed. No official records matching either individual have been discovered. One could argue that they were works of fiction concocted to boost sales or composites drawn from several individuals. However, considered alongside the evidence to be presented in later chapters, the theory that this duo and the Vatores are one and the same becomes too tantalizingly probable to dismiss.

[vaguely-concerned]

just going about my day idly contemplating how some of the ways hawke can interact with a romanced anders are not at all unlike how they interact with leandra (and a bit of carver too, especially with a purple hawke), and then thought about my hawke in the timeline where he romances anders and was hit straight in the face with 'was he ever actually in love, or was he just desperately trying to renegotiate with his mother's ghost in any way he could' and now i need to lie down. this is the power of dragon age 2

[dw-flagler]

funny how much victoria places squarely on the shoulders of tattletale. she COULD HAVE STOPPED THE ENDBRINGERS AT ANY TIME but she DIDN’T just so that leviathan could KILL MY FAMILY. honey you sound insane.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent game related things .. hrmm...

[iceeericeee]

I wonder how many tags i can add on to this

[unproduciblesmackdown]

maybe bsol is that time jen tepper mentions when she was so upset about a review of a show of joe's that she broke a glass (&/or threw it out a window)

[is-this-tf]

If I’m actually into people transforming into anime characters can I still say I’m into TF or is transforming into animal/beasts a prerequisite

You can TF into anything, even a place!

[sysig]

Hunger Pangs (Patreon)

[ruvviks]

i have been enabled by my dearly beloved @steelport to write a blorbo post about the latest addition to bones' extended cyberpunk blorboverse so without further ado, Dilf Time >:^)

Ambrose Hawthorne is an important asset at Arasaka Security. As of 2077, he has 22 years of experience under his belt, having worked for the corporation since age 23; though his career path has taken some unexpected turns further down the line.

Ambrose spent ten years working for Internal Affairs. He mostly provided security to existing Arasaka facilities in Night City and occasionally oversaw business affairs on location or did some bodyguard work on the side. After a heroic solo takedown of a group of ex-Arasaka hitmen holding an entire division hostage, he kickstarted his career at Special Ops.

A new division was created within Special Ops, focused entirely on managing and monitoring ex-Arasaka people and rogue employees. They worked together closely with Internal Affairs as well to keep an eye on current employees to step in at the earliest sign of insubordinate behavior (the same kind of methods which, many years later, got Vitali and his boss fired after the latter ordered him to kill Susan Abernathy).

Ambrose himself was sent out into the field to deal with rogue employees and dangerous ex-Arasaka individuals; this caused him to rapidly become known as “the Reaper” on Arasaka grounds and within other Megacorporation circles. Ambrose believed he was contributing to the safety of the public; yet later it turned out he was mostly keeping Arasaka’s business safe and secured, preventing scandals from leaking to the public, and tying up loose ends.

While once dedicated to the cause, Ambrose started losing his spark rather quickly the less “human” people began treating him; he was seen as nothing but a pawn in a large game of chess, tossed around to wherever he was needed to keep Arasaka at the top of the charts; his reputation preceded him and people feared him more than they wanted to get to know him to the point he became a very lonely man over the span of his eight years at Special Ops. On top of that, his body could no longer keep up with his constant injuries and several cybernetic enhancements later he found himself battling early stages of cyberpsychosis.

Ultimately, above described events led to his retirement from Special Ops at the age of 41; following a devastating ex-Arasaka cyberpsycho attack, Ambrose needed to have his spine replaced by cyberware after shielding a young girl from an incoming attack. After his slow recovery, he turned to Mission Oversight and adopted the girl, Rei, as his daughter.

Four years into Mission Oversight, Ambrose knows his time at his simple and boring desk job is running out. Arasaka wants him back in the field, more than anything now that their new program- which he would have been one of the test subjects of, had he not retired from Special Ops- is showing serious cracks with rogue assets running around freely. Ambrose does not want to go back into the field, knowing he’s at risk of falling back into cyberpsychosis; Rei is not independent yet and with nowhere else to go for her he doesn’t want to risk her ending up all alone a second time, and he doesn’t want her to fall into Arasaka’s hands either.

Following the escape of not one but two of Arasaka’s assets, Ambrose is put back at the top of Special Ops and is forced to lead the operation to get the assets back.

– SOME ADDITIONAL FACTS BECAUSE I CAN’T SHUT UP.

Ambrose has a pink cybernetic eye, with a heart shaped pupil! It’s outdated but very reliable Kiroshi tech and he refuses to get it replaced with something more modern, liking the almost retro-y look of the additional outer plating and visible bolts around his eye socket and temple.

That being said, he is a bit of a boomer sometimes when it comes to the latest technology. His own cyberware is all from older generations and despite working for Arasaka, he’s got a very modest little apartment with Rei with the single most ancient electronics you can find in the entire city. His dishwasher is essentially prehistoric.

Another interesting piece of cyberware would be the skeleton-like segments covering the fingers of his right hand, his knuckles and the back of his hand. On top of it just looking neat as fuck, he can punch people harder with it AND it doubles as some sort of stabilizer. His right hand is very unstable as a result of trauma from an incident in his past and the cyberware helps him keep this under control more.

Ambrose has a couple of tattoos: a scythe on his inner left wrist which he later added a bunch of flowers to, Rei’s name on his inner right wrist, a butterfly behind his ear, and an intricate tattoo of all sorts of nature elements covering his left side and his left thigh.

He and Rei live in the south of Santo Domingo, near the dam. Because of corporate drilling and other work done on and around the dam, they have to deal with regular power outages. Their apartment is decorated with a bunch of battery powered lights as a result.

Ambrose has been single for most of his life. He messed around in college a little bit but most of that died down rather quickly when he started working for Arasaka and he’s not really had the time for dating ever since. Adopting Rei was mostly an impulsive decision; but it is simultaneously the best decision he has made in his entire life and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

[mansplainmanipulatemalewife]

I keep being genuinely surprised when I see other people play disco and get frustrated that people are so reluctant to cooperate I get stonewalled by Elizabeth and I’m like go girl give us nothing

[omarwolaeth]

Might be strange sounding, but the card reveals/banlists always come in 2 different perspectives for me, irrelevant of which banlist I'm playing under; because I write fics, I have to contend with the banlist at times (a majority of the time it's based on the sort of half-tcg, half-ocg Master Duel banlist with Anime Specific Additions.)

So when new cards come out I have to judge them not only by what I can figure out from their effects and traits (combined with what's currently meta, and if there's anything that wants to play the new cards, whilst being mindful of banlist differences), I also have the joy of internally discussing the value of a deck when its in a fictional setting.

I don't think anyone normally thinks about if a deck's theme is strong enough to tie a character to it, let alone if a deck's theme is too strong and tying a character to it is like Akihiko Sanada's obsession with protein in anything that isn't mainline persona (Like the Q games.)

Also makes engines less appealing.

[gods-no-longer-tread-here]

doctor: wow you lost 5 pounds in the past month! was that on purpose?

me, remembering how I've simply Not Been Eating out of stress, depression, and fear of gaining weight, because the fact that I'm too fat for Uterus Yeeting (apparently) means I will have to keep suffering the legitimately crippling gender dysphoria of periods and all the severe depression, anxiety, and self-loathing that comes with it until I lose 30lbs, and also I stopped taking my antidepressants because What's The Fucking Point if I'm just going to be stuck with this bit of anatomy so the weight gain side effects are probably on hold too: (internally) I will fucking bite you.

me externally: nope! :)

[running-in-the-dark]

I'm pretty sure I can never let myself have any kind of surgery that isn't absolutely necessary ever again and it really kind of sucks