#anyway the dude sounds like a complete tool

[mcbitchtits]

so i was keeping an eye out for anyone discussing the carbon fiber since structurally that seems like such a bad decision (but i am not a boat engineer). (i should make it clear, my impression from the one composites class i took is if you don't have an EXTREMELY SPECIFIC AND GOOD reason to be using carbon fiber, it's probably just an Expensive Material Rich Buyer Tax.) found this thread with a little more info about why the hull was composites:

what happened? well when carbon fiber fails it doesn't graciously deform, it just goes straight critical failure. why you would ever think there would be time to ascend AT ALL at ANY SORT OF SUPERHUMAN DEPTH WHATSOEVER is beyond me. (because he kept firing his engineers who disagreed with him, is the real answer. but.) (not that, like, a deformable material wouldn't also immediately cut right into critical failure at that depth; but you might have a little more time to go from sensing a potential problem to death by implosion. or possibly more reusability, idk.)

anyway, from that composites article about it:

yeah dude. sure. you'll have time to recover and avoid failure. you definitely don't need all that safety factor you call "waste"

do read the composites article if you're interested. it's like a horror story itself tbh

[dangermousie]

I really loved the first six episodes of AJTL. It feels adult in a way too few cdramas do nowadays. The protagonists are (sometimes sociopathic, weird) adults and the narrative is adult and the humor and darkness are both adult. Now, I don't mean this is some sort of meditation on the human condition like Royal Nirvana or NiF or Three Kingdoms, but the situations and characters are of a nature you wouldn't usually see in youth-oriented stuff nowadays - whether it's the fact that our FL just wants to ML for stud so she can have a baby with good genetics and no family ties or the fact that literally every politician in this is a complete scumbag.

I actually love that our FL isn't just the most terrifying mofo in the narrative full of killers but that she is a bona fide borderline sociopath who has no understanding of boundaries or proper behavior or consent or even any sort of flirtation let alone a deeper feeling. She's been a killer since childhood; what normal does she have? The fact that she's managed to have any sort of emotions left is a miracle.

So her deciding she needs a child because her benefactor told her she should as a dying wish and picking a sperm donor in our ML because he's suitable, all with about as much understanding of relationships as an alien - she doesn't want ML because she fancies him, she doesn't want a child to love. It's basically a weird duty thing. It all makes sense.

It's a wonderful gender reversal, with FL the goal-oriented, robotic psycho and ML going "but wait a minute, feelings, also no way, no how." His realization as to how crazy she is, is something else.

Look how she explains it, as if it's the most logical business transaction - your genetic material is great, you are not married so nobody will be hurt, if you die on this mission you will have someone to carry on your lineage, you are scheming so if a kid takes after you and is scheming, it's good. None of it will seduce a man in the least, let alone anything further. But I think in a way it's a weird mark of respect where she's not trying to lie but put all her cards on the table. But also - it shows how far from normal she is that she doesn't even realize how insane it sounds to anyone. He may be a spy but his life has been pretty different than hers; he's got friends and he had family - he is a fairly functional dude. She doesn't have any relationship, and the closest she had was weird stubs...

Like - she is acting like an alien...

Yeah, I don't think psychotic rose through the ranks assassins are big on consent.

She's bona fide nuts and I love that for once we have an unhinged FL. But one of the things I love so is that you slowly see her melt a little around the edges, if barely, because he keeps treating her as a proper lady however murdery and crazy she gets - she was an assassin and then she was a spy-whore, she's basically never been treated as a proper person instead of a tool, except possibly by the dowager and that was a long time ago. No wonder she gets drawn in - like she did by his decency in that rooftop speech scene. It's such a great reversal!

Like she genuinely doesn't get why he doesn't jump at the offer.

I really do love the ML who'd be the unhinged one in any other drama but here he's the sane one. And also his angry decency is mmmm.

I don't usually have fantasy casts for characters; there are very few exceptions - CFY and LYX for the mains of 2ha, Chen Kun for the ML of Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir, SZE for Prisoner of Beauty (alas), but LYN is on that short list - he's 100% my fan cast for Yuwu's Mo Xi and stuff like this gives me mad MX vibes:

I mean...

Anyway, this drama is awesome!

PS also the way secrets don't get dragged out. ML knows her true identity and we are long moving on to other stuff, hooray!

[exeggcute]

Can you please tell me what story points are I hear about them from tech dudes they sound so scary

oh yes lmao. let me answer this publicly so everyone can learn...

in software development there's a work allocation philosophy called agile that everyone either does or tries to do. some people just "do" agile and some people will tell you that agile is a vibe and you can only "do" subsets of it like scrum or kanban or whatever. many people use these terms interchangably and many places end up doing an unholy patchwork of various agile frameworks and hoping for the best.

(or they don't actually do agile at all but adopt agile tools and terminology anyway because that's the shit everyone knows how to use. Big Atlassian has us in their grip...)

in (some) agile work planning, each team divides their session into sprints, which is a fixed length of time for which you pre-determine what you'll be working on and any new tasks won't get picked up or really even looked at until the next sprints. from what I've seen these are usually two-ish weeks but can definitely be more or less. at the end of your sprint, you'll ideally be done with all of the work you were assigned and then get new things to work on for the next sprint.

each unit of work is broken into a story, which is supposed to be a whole anthropomorphized "user story" and not just a unit of work but I've never worked somewhere that adhered to this. sometimes people call them a ticket or an issue instead. it kinda depends on the tool you're using. right now we use a not-jira tool that calls them stories, so to us they're stories! but they're basically just bite-sized work assignments.

each story gets an estimate of how much effort you think it'll take to complete it. (not time, just effort. these are supposed to be different but no one has ever explained how in a way that's satisfied me.) those are your story points. so when you do your sprint planning every <x> weeks, you or your boss or your scrum master or whoever allocates work based on the point total of your stories. let's say that you're usually trying to hit 30-ish story points or so; you might pull in a 13, an 8, a 5, and four 1s for that sprint based on which stories are outstanding. but the next sprint might be two 8s, a 5, three 3s, and a 2.

also I love (and am mystified by??) how these tech dudes are apparently just coming to you to complain about their sprint planning all the time. but I understand. it's rough out here.

[im-no-jedi]

TBB headcanons: Physical and Mental Traits

I was originally gonna break these posts up by character, but it’s more fun just categorizing everything (plus I get to make more posts this way hehe)

anyway! here are some traits I believe each of the boys have:

Hunter

Oldest of the og four (CT 9901) 

All of his senses are heightened, which makes him more sensitive to things (smells, sounds, touch, etc) but he’s REALLY good at hiding it

Occasionally experiences sensory overload, but has several techniques to keep himself calm (stimming with his knife, meditation, isolation, listening to music, conversing with one of his bros or Omega) 

Is autistic, but is good at masking it most of the time 

Very, very rarely experiences panic attacks from overstimulation (happened mostly as a child, has only happened once during the war) 

Has a high level of tolerance for pain, despite his heightened senses (mostly is just good at hiding it though)

Has a scar over his left eyebrow that he got due to accidentally cutting himself with a knife when he was younger (he has perfectionist issues because of this); has other various scars all over his body (main ones being on his left pectoral from getting shot by Cad Bane, and slight burn marks on the palm of his right hand from the Zygerrian whip)

Fairly introverted; he likes his solitude but gets lonely at times and can NOT be away from the squad for too long or he’ll go crazy

Tech

Second oldest of the og four (CT 9902) 

Retains information the first time it’s told/explained to him (the recording thing is literally just a hobby, he doesn’t need it LOL)

Obsessively researches things in his free time 

Basically blind without his goggles; he’s semi colorblind, which is why the lens are tinted

Is very autistic 

Stims with his tools 

Has an average level of tolerance for pain, doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it and straight up ignores it most of the time (“I pretend I do not see it”)

Has a few scars on his hands from tinkering, but are mostly healed (lotion works wonders my dudes)

Completely introverted, please leave him alone thanks

Wrecker

Second youngest of the og four (CT 9903) 

Is constantly hungry because of his size and high metabolism 

Gets muscle aches if he goes too long without being active 

Has ADHD and autism 

Stims via working out or playing with Lula (or any of Omega’s other toys when she’s not playing with them)

Has a low level of tolerance for pain, but tries to act otherwise (and does a terrible job at it LOL)

Got his face scar on their first mission ever, doesn’t regret it and thinks it makes him look cooler 

Has various scars all over his body, as well as stretch marks from growing so big so quickly

Very extroverted, gets lonely easily

Crosshair

Youngest of the og four (CT 9904) 

Gets frequent headaches because of his superior vision (which is why getting the Order 66 headaches didn’t seem out of the ordinary to him) 

Gets sore limbs sometimes, especially his legs, from how long they are 

Is autistic 

Stims by chewing on his toothpicks 

Has an average level of tolerance for pain but is really good at hiding it

Has a few minor scars on his body but mostly stretch marks from growing so tall so quickly

Very introverted, but gets lonely at times (and will NEVER admit it)

Echo

Oldest of the entire group overall

Suffers from “ghost limbs” with his scomp arm and legs sometimes 

Will get eye twitches sometimes from his brain “short-circuiting” 

Makes jokes about his disabilities to cope (“you wouldn’t hurt a disabled man, would you?”) 

Has PTSD, mostly from what happened after the Citadel explosion 

Distracts himself from the Horrors™ by running ship diagnostics and rereading manuals (which he already liked doing, of course)

Has an average level of tolerance for pain and likes to hide it behind his jokes (“tis but a flesh wound!”)

Has some scars all over his body from the Citadel explosion and his implants

Big extrovert, HATES being alone, please don’t leave him alone OMG

[02cm]

Free! S1 + CD dramas > Starting Days/High Speed! = The Final Stroke > Take Your Marks.

Both S2 and S3 were remade in movies, and still...

> S2 didn't deliver, at least not what it was obvious they were intending to when they introduced it to us. They made Rin the cause behind Haru and Sousuke's beef but I don't like how he remains oblivious about everything. I love the joke there's between the seiyuus about he being the oblivious heroine... but they didn't need to go that far, lol.

> S3 was like a spin-off about Ikuya; even Haru (you know, the protagonist) was mostly a tool for Ikuya's and his relationship with Hiyori's development 🤌

And yet, Rin IS -once again- the cause behind Haru and -this time- Ikuya's "beef"... and, once again, they didn't have the balls to make the characters talk about it openly (because in this metaphor where Ikuya is ~The Little Mermaid~ and felt abandoned by Haru, ~The Prince~... that can only mean that Rin is ~The Princess~ "the prince" falls for and makes him disregard "the little mermaid" completely, given that Haru forgot about his promise with Ikuya and everything else after what happened with Rin, and he's all Rin Rin Rin when it comes to swimming and not only that 👀). Utsumi never hid this fact.

Instead, they throw hints here and there; flashbacks of Haru's state after everything that happened with Rin are everywhere (and it's in the fact that they made Haru have an "I'm not swimming with Rin anymore??" crisis 3 times + 1 chill version in Take Your Marks) as a reminder of that being the reason behind all this drama, even if it wasn't on purpose... they're there as a reminder of Haru having Rin as his driving force (I never updated this set but there are more scenes like these after S2). So, of course he'd just forget about Ikuya (I mean, ignoring that this plot is an afterthought in itself, it still works like this).

And don't let me start on the whole "hero" thing and how Haru and Rin are each other's -as Zakki said himself- but they also didn't go deep into it because it would keep adding more and more to harurin and harurin only; and, at this point... they did it well enough since S1 anyways.

SO. S3 didn't deliver either.

---

I won't pretend I don't love all those hints, tho... I love Rin being the root of everything what's important to Haru (I'm not saying that even it was thanks to him that he learned to cherish his friends and enjoy having relays with them, but that's exactly what happened; so, if you like Haru's relationship with any other character, you should appreciate the effect that Matsuoka Rin had on him... not for nothing, he changed how he used to see things... that's why there's even a melody called You Changed My Life and the impact of it is BIG when it comes to the way he started treating the others).

... I guess that it's the reason why, as weird as it sounds, I'm ok with both seasons. They mostly bored me, but that's it. The truth is that I'm more than content with Free! as a whole. And, while I was writing this, I felt like putting a lot of links because there's so much material! I had to restrain myself, lmao. But just to add one more:

Since I talked mostly about S3, I was thinking how I'll always find ironic that Ikuya was originally the character that made Haru realize the way he was actually feeling about Rin leaving... In High Speed!, it was Haru the one feeling abandoned by Rin's departure, but he wouldn't realize until he witnessed Ikuya reaproching Satomi she was "leaving him". Not only this scene presents a parallel with Haru's situation with Rin, but he thinks: "This is that rumored ‘lover’s quarrel’ thing. One shouldn’t interfere." ??? loool. It's almost subliminal...

Here's the whole excerpt: x

It's a shame it didn't make into Free! but, of course, it's more of the same I mentioned before. This is, after all, an spokon, right? *wink wink*

All these are about sportsmanship and dudes being dudes

[centrally-unplanned]

How much do you know about Dien Bien Phu? I, as a typical American, know almost nothing except that it was a major French disaster, that eventually led to the American Vietnam war. However, i fell into a YoutTube rabbit hole, and it changed my perspective. I think it was one of the most impressive marvels of combat logistics, planning, and ingenuity in military history.

The French made some major blunders, but i think it's important to un derstand why they put a major airstrip in a valley surrounded by mountains: The French Foreign Legion considered it a complete impossibility that the Vietnamese could put artillery on the mountains. From that persepctive, the fortress at Dien Bien Phu was an amazing idea. A well-supplied forward air base that is basically impregnable allows you to completely dominant the war. The French could have operated with impunity. The battle-hardened French military and engineers were absolutely certain that no one could move artillery up to the rim of the bowl - at least without modern equipment. Its not like these were guys fresh out of the academy, these dudes built the Maginot line, they fought a full-scale modern war, they were phenomenal engineers. They climbed the Alps, the fought in Fortress Europa. They knew their business. They were safe in their elevated bowl.

Instead, those hard little fuckers in the pajamas pulled post-WW2 field artillery pieces and modern AA batteries up mountains with their bare hands and some effing ropes. They did the impossible. They proved, once again, that wars are won by planning, logistics, and hard fucking work. Bravery is great. Genius is great. Strategic and tactical mastery of excellent skills. But being a good logistician and being willing to dig forever will win more wars than anything.

That, and SPEED. The moment the French extended themselves too far, the Viet Minh were ready. They exploited the advantage lighting fast.

I am just so impressed by the Viet Minh achievement at Dien Bien Phu, and would love to find more information on their side of things. Just incredible what they did.

Sounds like you know more than me! You can just make this your own reblog you know, no need to bury your essay in the illusion of the ask ^_^ We like essays here!

For my own thoughts I know some, I guess I can share a few:

-Okay, bear with me; there is a Malcom Gladwell essay about the Full Court Press strategy in college basketball from 2009 (absolutely *chef kiss* start here) which digs into the "effort vs ability" paradigm. Now Gladwell is as always full of shit, don't listen to him on the object level question of how effective the FCP strat is, but the paradigm is a good theoretical tool - that in a lot of places you don't expect, effort can substitute for a lack of ability and close disparities. In the essay he discusses T. E. Lawrence's attack on the city of Aqaba (which he overly credits to Lawrence over Auda Abu Tayi or the other British advisor, Stewart Newcombe, but w/e), which was heavily defended on the coast but its artillery batteries didn't cover the desert in the rear - why would it, its hundreds of miles of barren wasteland. The insight of the Arab Revolt forces barely counts as an insight until you see it the right way - just cross it anyway! The enemy has a greater 'ability' in firepower, which can cover a dozen approaches, but not all of them - so if you ignore the gigantic human cost of crossing the desert, you obviously attack the weak point. They just didn't conceive of enemy willing to essentially suffer that much, the Arab Revolt's true strength was apply effort in quantities the Ottomans were unwilling to consider. Dien Bien Phu is the same - the French were essentially correct that hand-dragging artillery pieces into the mountain ridges was virtually impossible, the British or the Chinese wouldn't have done it. Insurgencies are built on the principle of effort overcoming ability, though - if they had the ability they wouldn't be the insurgency. These are the gaps that insurgencies hunt for, where the enemy treats you like a 'normal' army and assumes you wont simply grind away at the problem. Dien Bien Phu is the moment where that gap emerged, and the Vietminh were ready for it.

-The other point is to downplay this a bit, in that whenever you see a stellar victory you should always look at the other perspective; if it happened, maybe it wasn't that low odds. The French in Vietnam were a classic case of War Without Strategy - after WW2 France was a broken state being built from the ground up, America had ruthlessly pushed the Western European powers into paring back their imperial ambitions, and the domestic populace was sketchy in its support at best. France had set up the State of Vietnam as a quasi-free nation, something they did have hopes for in the 1940's but by 1954 its lack of viability was on the wall, yet France could not diplomatically admit to that fact. As such into the 1950's France had minimal strategy - French commanders were simply aiming to not-lose and save face for their eventual return to Europe.

Individual ideas would bubble up - like the idea behind Dien Bien Phu, baiting the Vietminh into taking huge casualties attacking it as part of the "hedgehog" strategy a la Na San in 1952. But notice how this...isn't a strategy? If *inflicting casualties* was gonna win France the war it would have been over 5 years ago. It has a hint of a strategy, sure, but in the main its an idea born of the fact that France was unwilling to commit the resources needed to actually have a chance of winning, but was unwilling to admit defeat, and was filling the gap with hail mary's.

The fact that the Vietminh had already fought a similar battle at Na San, lost, and was able to learn lessons for when France offered a repeat is telling; their victory is maybe not that surprising in this light. France could afford few defeats and had no capacity to end the war, the Vietnamese could afford endless defeats and were bent on fighting for the long haul. Of course such a grind would eventually, probabilistically, tip in Vietnam's favour and hand them the victory they needed; in a sense France was hoping for just that, an excuse to withdraw. Dien Bien Phu is the logical culmination of the politico-strategic balance of the two forces.

[latenightgasstationwalk]

I’m so Fucking proud of myself for getting to this point with guitar. It’s hard to explain but before I started pursuing music I had no creative hobbies what-so-ever and my father had no trouble reminding me of that every fucking day. Me and my dad pretty much hated each other my entire childhood. It was actually music that turned our relationship around. the second I took an interest in music his approach to me as a person completely changed. So that’s benefit to music #1 for me as it provided an olive branch to my father and made us mend some bridges that I genuinely thought would be charred for life. But lately I’ve been making a lot of strides that I think I’ve been waiting for since I started. I’ve pretty much stopped using tablature all together and started learning everything by ear, which I never thought I’d do, I hear music totally differently now. I hear a new song and if I like it I play it on repeat over and over again so I can preform this kind of mental autopsy of the song one instrument at a time and try to deduce who’s doing what and what chords and scales and progressions and time signatures are being used, paying attention to the “theory” aspect of every song that plays within earshot, which is something I never intended to learn or care about.

Like that Fucking lighthouse song I was talking about yesterday, I looked up some tabs and they were ass, watched a little YouTube tutorial and it sounded right but the guy was playing it in a weirdly complicated and annoying way (dudes in drop D to play a song in the key of E minor with a D Em G progression. Like why) so I said fuck it and played it on my phone and just picked out the chords how I thought they’d sound, I don’t wana brag or speak to soon, but Im very happy with how my versions coming along compared to the others I’ve seen floating around. Im excited to show y’all when it’s done >:)

Anyway. Just a self serving vanity post, glad I got into music, glad I worked hard at it for over a decade, proud of myself for not only sticking with it but trying as hard as I do every day to get better. I have no intention of ever “making music” in any capacity other than what I’m doing now. Just fun little videos that I can look back on years from now and say “damn I killed it, look at how young I was, I was handsome” it’s my version of a family photo album I guess. Looking forward to what comes next for me. I’m currently obsessed with blue grass music which is really Fucking weird considering my musical roots are comprised of bands like nirvana, rage against the machine, tool, queens of the Stone Age ect. Ect. But I’m excited to see where I’ll be in a couple years.

If you find yourself thinking that you have too much free time and want a hobby I seriously can’t recommend guitar enough. I feel like it’s an obvious hobby so most people don’t bother, or convince themselves that they “can’t do it”, but I assure you, you can. You don’t have to practice every day. You don’t even have to practice! I don’t think I’ve ever once in my life sat down with a guitar with the intent of practicing. I just pick it up when I want too and play whatever comes out. It’s never gotten old, it’s never steered me wrong, I come out of a one hour guitar session feeling like a brand new man. Like I got all the poison out. I genuinely feel it’s the thing I was born to do. But I have no intention of ever making a dollar from it, nor do I think I would if I tried, as one of my most influential guitarists once said: “when you expect anything from music, you expect too much, do it for you. Do it because you love it. If it’s meant to be the rest will come”

So that’s what I’m doing. Playing fun stuff every day, paying attention to my improvements, encouraging myself to do a little better every time I pick it up. And forever remaining hopelessly dependent on the 6 strings.

Thank you for reading♥️

[mothlegs]

eurgh

dreamt basil abused me :/ or dreamt that i dreamt it? idk. it was all the same as before. i was still finding ways to take all the blame so he wouldn't have to change or ever be in the wrong

and like. i definitely did suck severely but so did he and i was the only one taking any kind of responsibility, just like irl

gehh. stupid dream

it was like. he left a message for me on amino that he was going to sleep and i should put that in my discord status and we'd talk in the morning? and cause i'm still a stupid loyal dog i did that. his profile picture was blue and his username started with knee ..??

but. in the dream i dreamt he sexually assaulted and i think physically abused me too? i was talking to someone about it, about how my real vision/memories had high contrast and the dream ones were the same just in grey. i wondered if it wasn't just a dream (i know it is irl since i never met him in person)

we fought, physically, for a while. think there was glass and knives involved. i triggered him on purpose and accused him of race faking and faking being jewish? which? irl he is white and Not jewish? i was doing it just to hurt him, i said that to the other person later, and it felt like this big revelation that would fix everything. i used to have those all the time, i'd realise something that could he viewed as being my fault and i'd immediately do everything i could to change, because he wouldn't change and i somehow thought that if i just did everything, that would make him care about me, would make him stop hurting me. god damn stupid i was

other dream stuff. i was friends with this guy whose brother was intellectually disabled? and it was the brothers birthday so i was invited. not a lotta other people were, just a few kids his age (6-8 idk)

they were like. rich.? and somehow i ended up. erughh just remembered what happened next. i somehow ended up babysitting the kid, his? her? idk im saying his- his name was tay, and he also had some movement related disabilities and i think food related ones too

i got along w this kid really well, he used AAC and even at the party i seemed to be the one including him the most?? like we were considering going to some place and i was the only one who actually Asked tay if he wanted to go or if he was ok with us going without him

but anyways. uhh something. Weird. happened. there was a Dude. outside. who was. imitating me.? like... trying to copy how i look. it was really freaky

i told tay to know what i looked like n stuff and to not ever trust that other guy, and then i went down to i guess fight him

and Fight Him I Sure Did. he had some kinda sharp weapon and i had. something. some kinds tools idk what they were

he managed to cut me once and *i* managed to stab him through the mouth into his head. at an angle where every time he moved, he crushed his skull further. the sound was so disgusting, i couldnt look at it and he wouldnt stop

i was screaming for help and some woman came over, said something about hannah, andd. idk i guess that was okay then

i went back in the house and tried to make food but i cant cook so it went bad. tay was sitting on the counter trying to guide me buy man i am Bad

then his dad came home and was like. i told you i put food in the fridge. and i jus OH. I. COMPLETELY FORGOT. SORRY. and he said it was fine blehbleh

i told him about the weird dude (really unsettling and scary the entire time something was Wrong with him) and he got kinda Hh and said something about hannah too, but also that we couldnt talk here. i understood, the walls had eyes, metaphorically.

aaand that was p much it. think thats all i remember. i kinda miss tay and also his brother they were cool. feel like i dreamt more but i forgot u.u

[mariska]

got my income for the month the other day and after 6+ months of not being able to make digital art the way i'm used to with my specific accessibility needs because of physical health symptoms with my hands, i was finally able to buy myself a new Paint Tool Sai license today, since a little while back i successfully installed an optional Windows 10 operating system on my Macbook (Sai doesn't run on Mac, at least not Version 1 which is what i need and have been using for over a decade) that i can switch back and forth between whenever and i am so so so so happy and relieved about it and so fucking excited to get to draw digital lines the way im used to drawing them after trying so many other similar programs and failing to find anything that worked exactly the same as Sai's basic built-in pen stabilizer 😭😭😭😭😭😭

i was able to quickly test out my (also ancient lol) art tablet with it and make sure everything works and it doesnt lag or anything like that and its perfect its exactly like i've always used it, i remembered which pen stabilization number setting i've been using for years and like.

dude. i know i sound dramatic right now LMAO but i CANNOT sketch or draw properly on traditional paper or sketchpads anywhere near what i can do in Sai because of all my tremors and shakiness and sudden muscle movements that make accidental lines and all that. and when i drew just one regular brush stroke in Sai and felt it move like im used to and got that super smooth sensation of 'pretty much just drawing like im holding a pencil/pen but with the shakiness of my lines improved'....almost cried a lil not gonna lie fjsgdgsgdhsgshf its been so many months and i've put so much mental energy into researching how to do that whole windows installation on my 2012 era macbook and somehow did that without completely messing it up and then having to wait until a month where i have enough extra money to buy the official version (Sai is so important 2 me and the most accessible digital art program i've ever used for my specific hand problems and i've used it for so long that i am only comfortable using the officially licensed version of it, yknow?) and also theres just something so nice about finally being able to use it again a few days before my birthday even though that timing wasn't on purpose...

AHHHHH im just so relieved. i feel like im free to just be able to make sketch pages and draw stuff whenever i have free time to and i have an idea in my head again and i havent felt that in so long and it was making my depression so much worse....and also because i've been doing my best to adapt to the similar but different settings in Clip Studio Paint, i have 2 really nice digital art programs with a lot of cool and useful features between the both of them now that i can use to like, mix and match with my art!! which is awesome!! i think Clip will mostly be used by me now for more graphic design type projects since Sai's always been my core art program, but i'd love to experiment with drawing/sketching/painting pieces in Sai and then plopping them into Clip and adding some extra fun effects or background elements or even just easier to repeat patterns with its' huge free-to-use resource library for like stamps and texture effects and more photoshop-y things like that.

ANYWAYS!! im just rambling to myself because im so happy and relieved to have My Art Program back so i thought i would share since its rare for me to feel as happy and excited and get some sense of normalcy back in any capacity these days, being immunocompromised and stuck in my house as long as i have been the past 3 years and counting. it has been a good amount of time since i've felt like i have A Victory To Celebrate and i hope that feeling lingers as long as it can 🥹✌️

[nlerb]

I feel like I'm in the process of orchestrating a highly elaborate sociological experiment on myself like i have never felt as autistic as I do right now sorry. I feel like it's a 50/50 split between days where I feel kinda confident and feel like I can get started, and days where it's like idk if I can do this like I feel like a screengrab of an anime character where they're like going insane and it's super zoomed in between their eyes. I think the cognitive dissonance that happens when I am trying to work through the issues I set out to when I started in this environment where I have no support and in fact everyones actions are in fact counter to what I'm trying to do is just like too much for me to take and actually make good work. I feel like I'm doing everything completely by myself and I just can't function that way and it feels like the walls are closing in bc at the end of all this shit I have to like present to people about it and like display my work. And leading up to this I'd been putting so much stock in it as like a release valve for all the shit I was like fucking bearing witness to but there's no release it feels like it's just like building up more and more and it's about to blow dude. And within all that idek if the thesis of what I was originally trying to say is even like sound anymore. Like I'm basically trying to fucking. confront this enormous fucking problem singularly and by myself and say something prescient about it. When I knowwww the way to actually do something about it is to connect with an org and organize about it. Like when it came to going to the admin about making the studio more accessible I knew I needed more ppl behind me than just me and I asked anyway and they were like no sorry we aren't doing that. Like individually none of us are empowered to do anything about this it's about collectivity and community, that's where we have power. I think maybe in order to make this work with any sense of integrity or like weight behind it I need to actually build something collectively first or else it's just hollow. Or at the very least it's just way too fucking difficult to take on by myself. Like I feel so on edge all the fucking time I feel surrounded. Jeeeesus Christ dude. So from there it's like should I just completely switch gears and come up with something else? I feel like it's either that or leave. Or muscle through and barely show up to the studio bc the feedback loop I've created for myself at this point is just pure dread and idk if I can keep it up much longer. And part of me feels like it would be giving up to postpone this project that I really believe in in a lot of ways. But also I know it's important to know when to quit. Like it's not that I'm not good enough to do it it's that I just don't have to tools right now so I think I gotta cut my losses. And make work about like perfumes. Or some shit. like maybe I don't have to have the whole fucking world on my shoulders and there are no easy answers. But also no matter what even if I didn't make anything I think I will have gained the lesson of realizing that no matter what I gotta start actually organizing and working with ppl who are already doing the work. Like I think even though this fucking sucks and feels bad and is embarrassing right now this is actually a really fuckin important experience

[crystalelemental]

Of course I'm going to sweep with my girl. I have to. I absolutely have to.

General Overview I usually give all information up front here, but in the interest of time, I'm going to hold off and make a reveal of something as I found out about it during testing. The short is, despite initial appearances, Liza actually functions well in Gauntlet, and doesn't need speed buffs. That sounds insane, given her 4-bar spam, but it's true. In fact, there are methods of completely ignoring gauge, while bypassing entire phases of the fight with the right sustain and setup.

That's your trade. Liza can spam her DPS and aim for the biggest sync, but does so with gauge control via someone like Skyla. Like most 4-bar spams, Liza's DPS is not so exceptional that she gets away without some defensive backbone, so using Skyla with her in Tornadus was demanded over the eggmon hope I had going in. Her flexibility is in giving up on the speed buffs for full bulk, and playing in an entirely different way.

Vs. Tapu Bulu Weak to Flying, this dude got iced. Eggmon was Scyther for speed, and saving Liza a turn of setup.

Vs. Tornadus Tornadus is a bitch, I hate Self Cleanse so much. Skyla had to be used over an eggmon, even Surge couldn't save Scyther. Or Arbok. Or anyone really.

Vs. Terrakion Terrakion is spooky, but not too hard to handle when you have a more defensive support like Skyla. Everyone takes Earthquake a lot easier. Flinch is still very necessary, though.

Vs. Cobalion Skyla beats this easier than most, given its primarily physical, single-target moveset.

Vs. Azelf Azelf is tricky, and this at least started the revelation. Azelf's problem is that it has physical damage reduction to the tune of 50% in the first half of each HP bar, rendering Liza's DPS spam useless. The plus side is, her sync is strong enough to push to halfway points, where Giga Impact can finish the job, pending the Iron Defense boosts also give +2 moves up next. You can see it there, but it gets ridiculous. It's also what we call foreshadowing.

Vs. Uxie Uxie was a bad idea, I don't know why I went back to eggmons, this was so spooky. Thank god Liza operates with +6 defense, that Zen Headbutt would've killed us.

Vs. Latias I hate this fight. I tried this with Grimsley, I really did, but he sucks so bad he can't tank anything. Absolutely useless clown man, you have +6 evasion! How did you never once dodge? Liza has the damage to handle it, but apparently you're just way better off debuffing.

Vs. Regirock And now, the reveal. Near the end of the first phase, Regirock threw up Crit Shield because Blue failed to flinch, like an idiot. Related, Blue is Rock weak, so bar 2 Rock Slide is a guaranteed kill if he doesn't flinch right there. So that's fun. Anyway. Because of this missed flinch, I already had +2 moves up next, and grumbled about not losing that, or risking shifting to Bar 2 while crit shield was still active. So I kept using Iron Defense. And this time I caught the trick.

Liza gets Free Moves every application, even if you're spamming Iron Defense. Liza doesn't need more gauges, because she won't touch them as you build up power. With a disruption bot beside her, Liza is able to stack moves up next for an explosive finish, that can, in some situations, clear the entire HP bar. Meaning, a finisher on bar 1 with sync, into a +10 moves up Giga Impact, clears multiple issues at once. I was too deep into this to back out, but in retrospect, Whitney is like her best partner, in both iterations. Base Whitney has Defense Crush 4 on grid as well as flinch and paralysis for Gauntlet disruption, while Winter Whitney has comparable flinch and AoE defense debuffing per attack, or the speed boosting Liza needs to spam DPS. The tradeoff is, flinch and disruption in general becomes highly important, so flinch and sleep chaining strats are Liza's best friend. These are relatively rare tools, but they're devastating when effective.

Vs. Entei Putting concept to practice, I then partnered her with BP Morty, who has an easy flinch rate for like no gauge, and the ability to buff team defenses, as well as Potion in the back. The results were wonderful. Sure enough, Liza easily handles the stage when disruption can be employed. Stacking these moves up effects works really, really well in Gauntlet.

Vs. Moltres Unfortunately, I did not feel like messing around with Moltres so we're back to Winona as the disruption bot. But the fun here is that employing this tactic can bypass mid-phase weather transitions. With Winona, that means her three are sufficient, even without a Tech nuke. It might mean, if sync and move can deal enough with -6 defense, that a 2MP weather Eggmon can succeed with Liza. I am just way too tired to deal with that right now.

[straycatboogie]

2023/05/09 English

BGM: Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now

Today I had to face the fact how old I am. This morning everyone talked about their ages so I confessed mine as "today I will be 48", then they got surprised. It seems that there must be many younger people who try to use this kind of chat tools to learn English and Japanese. Or primarily, there must be many younger people who enjoy using Discord to entertain themselves with games and movies. Anyway, according to such young users, I am truly a veteran or old dude. It shocked me a lot although we have to experience that process of getting old actually. I guess that people who are 50 years old might work at their important position at any workplace. They can also have built their families firmly and think about their ending lives. At least, they would never be like me who enjoy everyday loosely with reading and learning English. Oh my, what a wonderful life.

Today a person praised my English. But...I don't think that it is OK about my English. I am, instead of that, beaten by the fact that I can never complete my learning. However I do my effort not to make mistakes, I finally make them a lot... Ah, I started learning English from my 13, and I even learned English literature at a university because I had an interest in becoming a translator. But, even though I have lived through that 30 years process (of course, I have to see that there is a long blank in that process), I can't proud of the progress of my English. A person I respect said to me "Your English gets more polished every day". But I can't judge if it is true or not by myself. I just try to learn English by using it in my daily life as "back to the basic". I believe that steady efforts enable me go forward. If I can use Japanese expressions, then it would be described as "muddy" or "earth" efforts, really uncool ones to bring myself up.

I am not so wise that I can never write great opinions like any commentators or critics. But I guess that my poor English through this "tough" career might come from the reason why I don't have any chances to use it.  English is not to do a solo study. It won't be completed by oneself alone. It will be improved by communicating with other people because that is the meaning of a "communication tool"... this might sound difficult, but if I write this simply then it would be like this. I had to use English by writing and speaking more actually at schools or my real life. It wouldn't end that the education system in Japan must be terrible I guess. Even if it is right, I have to accept that I had a certain shyness that stopped me to try to use English as "although being fluent in English is cool, I don't want to make mistakes because I don't want to be embarrassed". I must need a courage to "crush" the shell of my mind to "grasp" the chances to use English. Even now, I need that courage.

And now... next July I will become 48. But, following the great Ango Sakaguchi, a Japanese novelist, who wrote as "recently, I started thinking that everyone can become older than any adults at a period of their life", I think that people can become "younger than children" even they are at their midlife. As this current me. Once, when I was a student, I had the 48 years old person as "completed adults". Being mature people, and living with calm minds steadily and quietly. But, now I find that I am really far from that kind of "completing". Everyday I am running between masterpieces of books and music, and following charming female users on Discord greedily. But as I wrote yesterday, that must be the meaning of the expression "C'est La Vie". I want to become a person like Charles Bukowski. Like him, I want to become a "troublesome" old person. To be an eternal rolling stone, a neo "yankee" (in Japanese, this word has a meaning of "outsider").

[silverskye13]

"I'm telling you Doc, one minute we're just talking and making dye, and everything is normal, and then suddenly the sky turns black and a fell wind picks up-- it was scary!"

"Mm-hmm."

"And then get this my dude, Wels's voice gets all twisted and sinister, and he starts quoting the Red King. He wasn't even in Third Life!"

"Sounds spooky - hold this please?"

Ren took hold of the wrench Doc offered to him begrudgingly. He'd been busy pacing and talking and now he was being forced to stand still. Not that he was nervous, or needed the nervous habit of pacing in circles. It's just… well it sure made talking about this easier. It made it feel a little less like he was talking about problems and more like he was just… talking. Which was silly anyway since he wasn’t talking about problems, not really. This wasn’t a problem. It was just one weird, unsettling thing that happened. That was Hermitcraft for you. Weird unsettling things happened all the time, and normally they just ran off his shoulders like water. This shouldn’t be bothering him - it wasn’t bothering him. He was absolutely, completely unbothered. So he was perfectly fine to stand there holding Doc’s wrench, waiting patiently to hand it back to him.

“Was that all that happened?” Doc prompted him from the underside of the redstone machine he was working on. Ren had been too definitely-not-unsettled to ask him what it was. It seemed to be on the more mundane side of Doc’s contraptions. 

“Oh, well Welsknight’s voice sounded kinda funny.”

“Funny like haha funny, or funny like my-friend-just-got-possessed funny?”

“Definitely the second one.”

“Was The Entity nearby?”

“Doc.”

“What?” Ren couldn’t see Doc’s expression underneath the piston structure Doc was working under, but he could recognize the smile in his voice. “It’s not like possession is exactly new around here. Me and you spent ahm… two weeks? Possessed? Last season.”

“Right.”

“And then you and Grimdog were very possession-y.”

“Well… yeah I guess.”

Doc’s hand emerged from the machine, and Ren handed him back the wrench. A loud bang reverberated from underneath Doc’s machine where he banged it against something, and Ren ducked down to make sure nothing was broken. The banging came again, more insistent this time.  Ren chuckled. “You’ve got a hammer, my dude.”

“Why use a hammer when a wrench will work just fine?”

“Doc, you’re insane.” Ren shook his head chastisingly, as if Doc could see it beneath the mechanics. "Give me the dang wrench."

The wrench came sliding out from underneath the machine with a long metallic ring. “The hammer is in the--”

“I know where your toolbox is, brother.” Ren rolled his eyes and grabbed up the wrench. It was one of the long ones he’d seen people in cartoons use as weapons, and as such was much heavier than he figured it would be when he picked it up. Ren hefted it onto his shoulder with a grunt, marveled for a moment about how in the world Doc had pushed it out to him so easily, and meandered over to Doc’s toolbox. He dropped the wrench and shuffled through the tools, frowning in quiet puzzlement when no hammer magically appeared on the workbench anywhere.

“The hammer is in the kitchen,” Doc called, his voice grinning. 

“Why is it in the kitchen?”

“D’you ever just get the desire to know how the microwave works?”

“So you took a hammer to it?”

There was a pause that matched the convenient length for a shrug. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Well now I know why you keep asking when the next braai is,” Ren sighed. “I’ll be right back.”

Doc’s laughter followed him into the house, where the closed walls cut it off abruptly. It was a nice build, one of Doc’s ecopunk prototypes, and the sandstone walls felt warm with seeping sunlight. Ren passed the long mirror on the way to the kitchen, giving his reflection a sidelong glance as he walked. Once, one of Doc’s prototype machines had caught fire while he was taking a break to make some lunch. The machine had been ruined, as had several hours of work on a uniquely diagonaled roof. Ever since then, if his house had a connecting workshop, Doc put in a set of mirrors that let him look into the workshop. Ren thought it was kinda creepy in a vaguely superstitious way. Being able to see so much of the house meant no corner was truly blind, and therefore everything could be a threat if you squinted at it hard enough. He was waiting for the day he’d walk in from Doc’s workshop only to see that six rooms over some axe-wielding murderer was spying on him. 

The mirrors did, however, show Ren where the hammer was in the kitchen, along with the rather sad looking scraps of Doc’s microwave. Ren let out a disdainful tsk! at the mess on the counter, shrugged, and made his way back towards the workshop. He passed one mirror that glanced between the kitchen, the living room, and the workshop, and eyed it suspiciously, searching the corners of Doc’s house. He walked out of its view, then passed in front of the long mirror facing Doc’s workshop.

Ren froze.

The reflection he was looking at wasn’t him. 

Or, well, it was him, but it was a him that was a few inches taller with gray skin and cheekbones gaunt and sharp enough to sharpen a knife on. He was giving a tight-lipped scowl, even though Ren could definitely feel his jaw hanging open. The mirrored image of himself had its ears pinned back much like Ren’s, but their backward turn much more reflected the bristling of an angry wolf, and much less his own startled-dog response. There was a mantle of fur around his shoulders, a vicious ax scar still bleeding in places on his neck, and his crown, an unpolished and ruddy gold, sunk into his face just beneath his eyes, blinding him. The twisted metal was so tight where it rested, beads of blood trickled down the bridge of his nose and where the crown dug into his temples. 

Ren, understandably, gaped at the reflection peering back at him. His heart jumped in his chest, and the hair on the back of his neck bristled. The fur on the mantled cloak bristled in tandem. Ren blinked, and he swallowed, and watched his adam’s apple bob just above the ax scar.

“D… Doc?” Ren stammered, his throat suddenly dry. His reflection mirrored him perfectly, as it should, and the teeth of his reflection looked filed to points. “Wh… what the hell is up with your mirrors, dude?”

Ren slowly leaned away from the mirror, looking around the corner to the one he’d passed in the kitchen. His reflection there was perfectly normal, if not a little pale from the scare. Ren leaned back again, and the mirror in front of him was unchanged -- twisted golden crown and all. Ren squinted - a motion he could only see his reflection mirror in the way his nose scrunched and the crown sank on his brown - and he hesitantly held up his hand. The claws mirrored back at him were just as vicious as the teeth, fingertips coated in blood like he was fresh off of slaughtering something.

“Jeez.”

The word sounded weird when his reflection looked so intimidating. He reached his hand forward to touch the glass. The hand that mirrored his moved to match - and then lurched forward. Ren’s startled gasp smothered in his throat as the bloody hand reached through the mirror to wrap around his throat. It dragged him towards the mirror, and in his rush to brace himself against the mirror’s frame, he dropped the hammer with a loud clatter.

“What’s the matter, laddie,” The Red King growled, “I’ve not scared ye, have I?”

Ren wanted to quip something back, but his mind had gone blank in the wake of a wave of fear - and the knuckle of The Red King’s thumb was currently braced against his windpipe, making it incredibly hard to breathe. He pulled Ren closer to the mirror, like he intended to pull him inside, or crush him against the glass, or whatever it was evil doubles grabbing you through a mirror did once they’d grabbed you. Ren’s arms shook as he tried to pull away, but it felt like trying to drag a wall. The Red King’s grip was a vice, and he held Ren undaunted.

“I find it funny, ye have yer Wels speak my likeness and yet yer still surprised when I answer your call.” Their faces were so close, Ren should be able to feel The Red King’s breath on his face, but he can’t. It’s a dumb thing to notice, especially when he should be focusing on breathing, or breaking free, or any other number of more important things, but that’s what his frantic mind latches onto. The glass doesn’t even fog when The Red King speaks, even though Ren can feel the growl of his voice in the center of his chest. “Ye would have known of me soon enough. I am not a coward who waits on his enemy to strike first. I have tasted death once lad, and I will not taste it again o’er the likes of ye.”

Ren wheezes a breath and tries to stammer something. Something along the lines of I don’t know what you’re talking about or this doesn’t seem like a fair fight or let’s talk about this but he can’t breathe past The Red King’s grip hardly at all. Spots are starting to swim in his vision like fireflies, and he can hear his heartbeat in his ears and feel it harsh against The Red King’s grip, and his arms are starting to feel like rubber.

Doc’s hand, the angry-looking redstone and metal one, clamped down on The Red King’s wrist. His breath was a hiss, as was every gear and servo and circuit in his arm as he said, “Let him go, and I won’t snap your arm in half.”

Ren’s vision was swimming, more phosphorescent dots than vision, but he could still see enough to watch The Red King grin.

“Ye always did surround yerself with strong people, Ren. Stronger than ye ever were.”

The Red King pulled, and one of Ren’s arms buckled, and his face pressed dangerously close to the mirror before Doc managed to recover and pull back. He braced his shoulder against the wall and swore.

“But ye made me stronger, didn’t ye laddie? Strong enough to fight yer battles for ye. Strong enough to live, so ye could die and abandon yer army to their fate.”

Ren’s head was swimming. He managed to grunt through gritted teeth, “Doc-- the glass--!”

His vision swam dark and his grip slipped at the same time the mirror shattered. The hand on his throat vanished, and Ren gasped in a breath of air that was nearly kicked out of him again as he and Doc fell backwards. They landed heavy against the wall behind them and slumped to the floor, Ren cushioned against Doc the whole way down as he focused on gasping and breathing. His vision cleared of its dancing lights, but the phantom of the grip on his neck ached. In front of him, the mirror dripped red down its fractured surface, and Ren was scared for a moment that The Red King had found some horrific way to crawl through the cracks. Until he realized Doc’s hand wrapped around him, the organic one, the one he’d used to punch the mirror, was bleeding from a dozen fresh cuts.

“I meant - gasp - I meant th-the hammer - gasp - m-my dude.”

“Ah,” Doc said flatly, flexing his hand. Something popped worryingly, and Ren figured it was broken somewhere. “I panicked.”

“That’s… fair.”

“Out of all the hels,” Doc gulped shakily, “yours had to be the one stronger than my redstone arm. I was saving that line for something badass.”

Ren laughed, and it wheezed in a ragged mess through his sore throat. “It was still kind of badass.”

“It wasn’t, but thanks.”

Ren slipped his arms around Doc’s chest, because he kind of needed a hug right now and they were already halfway there anyway, what with him landing basically in Doc’s lap. He was trying not to hyperventilate, because the panic was starting to set in, and he thought it was already hard enough to breathe anyway. One of the shards of the broken mirror was dangerously close to his foot, and Ren kicked it away, suddenly scared The Red King would find a way to crawl out of it. Doc hugged him back with all the fervor of someone who was thinking way too hard about what might have happened if he’d been a few seconds slower coming down the hallway.

When they recovered, Doc took down all the mirrors in his house while Ren waited in the garage, trying not to glance his reflection in any of the windows.

[ @countthelions I've once again infected a good idea with my drama but this is inspired by your comments today ]

[heckinconfusedparade]

Wachowski Bros vs Dentist

When Sonic was first adopted and learned what a dentist was, he didn’t like it one bit. Someone prodding around his teeth? No. He won’t have it. But when he got in there, they were all so nice to him. AND he would get a toy if he got his teeth cleaned.

Thing is, he cannot sit still. He is constantly squirming around. When they gave him laughing gas for the first time, it was a whole new world for him. For once he felt calm and zen. He lays there motionless while the dentists do their thing. He’s the chillest hog around until the effects wear off. Then he’s back to normal business.

Tails has an on and off fear of the dentist. Sometimes he’s fine going in, and other times he’s too scared to even sit in the chair. He doesn’t like the feeling of the tools in his mouth. He sometimes has laughing gas if he’s having trouble sitting still. The feeling was weird at first, but once it kicked in, he was completely fine. He wasn’t scared anymore.

The very first time they took him in though, there was an incident. Tails is a victim of bullying. In his fear, he went into survival mode and started fighting back. Maddie and Tom felt terrible for the poor kit. He was so scared, but they had to get this done for him. After he calmed, they with Tails’ consent decided that for everyone’s safety, this lil dude would be sedated. He took the greatest nap he’s ever taken. When he woke up, Tails was higher than he could ever imagine being. He was seeing sounds and hearing colours. He had this O_O expression the entire ride home. Once he’s home, that’s when he starts speaking. He started asking questions like “what does water taste like?” And other shower thoughts. Sonic and Knuckles had a blast hearing this kid talk while absolutely zooted. Knuckles was angry they would do this to Tails, but once everything was explained, he wasn’t as angry anymore. Tails remembers nothing of that day.

Knuckles isn’t afraid at all. Tom and Maddie explained to him what would happen, and he was cool with it. If they trust them, he trusts them. He’s their best patient.

Knuckles does complain after though. He wishes to know why these guys are asking him questions while they got stuff in his mouth. He can’t answer! And small talk is terrible anyway. Eventually it goes on his file to just not have small talk with him. And he does get that toy after.

[cathey-winchester-666]

Mikey x Mechanic!Reader

Summary: A list of headcanons about Mikey's relationship with his mechanic. Gn!Reader (I didn't bother to read through, please let me know if I messed up the pronouns!!)

Warnings: Swearing, some violence, mentions of kidnapping??? (but it's just a joke), reader is a badass

How you first meet:

The first time you two meet, it is because he's somehow managed to damage his bike.

Like, to the point where all of the mechanics he goes to are like:

"Dude, this is unfixable"

"There's nothing I can do to help you now"

"I'm afraid you're just going to have to buy a new one"

And he' getting increasingly frustrated, but still refuses to give up

But then, one of them goes:

"Hey, I might know someone that can help"

And they give the address of this small, rundown shop in the middle of nowhere

At first they think it's deserted and they're ready to go back to that mechanic and give them a piece of their mind

But then the sound of a long string of cuss words comes from within

So Mickey and Draken go in further to investigate and find you,

Stuck head first inside the bonnet of the car

And they're both thinking:

"Seriously, this is the one supposed to help us."

But then they pull you out of the engine and turn you to face the bike, explaining the hopeless situation

You take one look and go:

"Yup! Sounds like challenge!"

And instantly get to work

Whilst working:

During the time that you're spent fixing the bike, Mikey is a constant visitor

And it hits a point where you hear footsteps and, without even looking up, you instantly go:

"No Mikey, I already told you, the bike isn't ready yet."

But the footsteps don't stop

And now all 5 feet of his badass blonde hair is breathing on your collarbone

"Mikey, I can't concentrate with you breathing down my neck like that."

"Right, sorry."

And he pulls away.

But only a little bit.

And now he's breathing on the back of your shoulder.

"Mikey!"

"Alright! Alright!"

He pulls away and goes to sit down on a stool so he can watch you work

His dark eyes follow every little move you make

He flinches every time the bike makes a sound it doesn't usually

And you have to sigh and reassure him that everything is fine

Constantly explaining what you're doing as you're working

Without even realising you're using smart engineering language that he doesn't even remotely understand

but he listens anyway because he's starting to like the sound of your voice

Sometimes Draken will come over and you'll get to use your proper engineering language because he's able to keep up with what you're saying

You'll also sometimes teach him some new stuff he didn't know before

He also helps out with the stuff that he does understand, so the process goes a lot faster

Mikey sits there all jealous because you two are getting along so well and you're really enthusiastic about whatever it is that you're talking about that he doesn't understand

He wants to stop you two but he also can't get involved in the conversation because he has no idea what you're talking about and he's trying to hide he's obvious jealousy

Draken 100% knows

Some nights, Mikey even stays at the workshop with you

There's a small couch in the corner of the garage that he sleeps on

You used to have to call Draken to come pick him up

Now, you just throw a spare blanket over his exhausted form

One night, you even brushed a piece of blond hair away from his face and his nose scrunched up very cutely before he leaned in slightly to your touch

Cue you having an absolute seizure over how cute this man is when he's all relaxed and passed out

Anywho

Whilst fixing the bike, there would definitely be moments when he would hop up and lean over your working space

You would look at him

Give a small smile and ask

"Do you want to give it a go?"

Cue the biggest, brightest, happiest smile on his face as he enthusiastically picks up the closest tool on hand

Which is often not even remotely the right one

And you fall even further as you try to explain, in the most basic terms humanly possible, how to go about fixing this area of the bike

When trouble comes a-knocking:

Being affiliated with the leader of the Toman gang

Trouble is naturally going to find you

Especially when news gets out that you're the only one capable of fixing the leader's most precious and prized possession

His bike

Luckily for you, you're a certified badass

The first group that came in looking for trouble was a rather small one

However, you know the kind of neighbourhood you live in

And you always do research on your clients so you know what you're getting yourself into

You knew this would happen

And you came prepared. ;)

So when they first rocked up at your door

You came at them, all guns blazing

You ever seen Home Alone (if not, I totally recommend)

Well, it was basically like that

T R A P S

All the classics

Hot iron in the face

Marbles and nails on the floor

Paint can to the head

Glue and feathers

And then the more deadly ones

Kerosene, oil or petrol (you work in a garage my dudes, there's never a short supply) and then once they're soaked, an innocent match has them screaming to get away

For this next one, you need a layout of the building

There is a second level, which is all but busted and destroyed, you've laid out planks along the ground of the second level and you know which parts are safe

Through the holes in the floor, you can drop all sorts of things

Hammers

Poles

Wrenches

Rats and mice

Childhood trauma

You name it

And if anyone makes it to the second level, chances are, they'll end up falling through the floor

If they realise where it is safe to stand, keep in mind, you're super ripped from working machinery all day every day

And you've been practicing where it's safe to stand on this roof for a fight for as long as you can remember

Moving up there is second nature to you, an instinct, if you will

But it's all completely new to them

And, if I hadn't mentioned it before, you're a badass

So, by the time Mikey and his crew rock up at the garage, ready to take on a small army,

You've already got the entire enemy gang on the floor crying and begging for mercy whilst you stand over them, confidently swinging a mallet with a menacing grin on your face

And Mikey finds himself falling for you, just that little bit more

Once the bike is finished:

Once you've finally finished the bike

Mikey is instantly at your side

And you take a step back as he slowly examines every little section of the bike

And he's in awe

Not just because it's a spitting image of the real thing

But because it still has all the memories

The scratch from when he and Draken thought it was a good idea to attempt riding in the forest

That one time he tried to flirt with a lady by leaning on his bike, and inevitably knocked it over

All those little things

And you'd managed to keep them

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK-"

God, it takes forever to finally shut him up

"So, how much do I owe you?"

You'd thought about your answer to this for a while and finally come to the conclusion of what you really wanted out of this

"Well that depends, how much are you willing to pay?"

"Anything. You can't put a price on this bike, I assure you."

"Well in that case."

With a final deep breath, you place a hand on your hip and cock it, pointing a finger at Mikey's face

"I'd like to work as your gang's permanent mechanic!"

His reply startles you

"You heard them, Pah-chin, the kidnapping is off."

There's an audible sigh from behind you and the mentioned male slumps out from the shadows, a felt bag and some rope in hand

"... and this is???"

You turn to ask Mikey

"Well it was going to be a kidnapping."

A dejected Pah-chin answers for the blonde

Bitch, I beg your pardon, it was going to be a what now

"You were planning to KiDnAp mE???"

"Welcome to Toman!"

He cheers as he wheels his fixed bike out of the shop

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

[hellsbellschime]

Why Will Dany Burn King’s Landing?

Although most fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones understandably aren't keen on revisiting the sloppy final season of the TV series, season 8 of the show is actually home to some of the most interesting indications of where the book series may or may not be going.

Season 8 was largely so confusing because the series was attempting to get across the finish line as fast as possible, but many of the messier aspects of the show were also clearly driven by the fact that Game of Thrones had already significantly deviated from the story that George RR Martin was trying to tell. So, when the time came for the TV series to end, the show had to push its characters into their decided endgames despite the fact that many alterations to their prior arcs now made those endings somewhat nonsensical.

George has already directly stated that the broad strokes of the ending will be the same in the books, but I think it stands to reason that the most controversial aspect of the series end, Daenerys' decision to burn King's Landing, will likely be significantly different within the books.

There are a lot of theories about how Dany's dark, or at least slightly darker, turn is going to go in the novels. Many fans unsuprisingly have come up with speculations that alleviate most of Dany's responsibility for the destruction of the city, but I think the notion that someone else will burn King's Landing or that Daenerys will burn the capitol by accident are extremely unlikely.

I can't envision a world where George RR Martin lets any of his main characters off the hook for the most destructive choice in the entire series, and frankly it has always been completely in character for Daenerys to justify any amount of devastation and destruction if it's in service of reclaiming the Iron Throne. And honestly, despite the fact that Game of Thrones retconned most of Dany's darkest book decisions and characteristics, even within the TV series itself, burning King's Landing was largely a logical extension of Dany's habit of killing anybody who gives even the slightest indication that they might not follow her.

However, it also seems undeniable that the burning of King's Landing is almost certainly going to come about due to different circumstances. And, it seems extremely likely that the omission of one significant character in the books, Young Griff, will be one of the key differences in the destruction of King's Landing and the entire Targaryen dynasty.

While I don't think Young Griff's non-Targaryen heritage is nearly as undeniable as many other fans do, one thing that seems very probable is that regardless of whether or not Aegon is really Aegon Targaryen, Daenerys will not believe that he is the long lost son of Rhaegar Targaryen.

Cersei becoming Dany's greatest rival never really made sense considering how few legitimate supporters she had. But on the other hand, someone like Young Griff, who has spent his entire life training to become the best king possible, seems like the kind of person who will likely win at least a significant amount of support among the lords of Westeros and the common people, who at this point would honestly prefer anyone other than Cersei anyway.

But, if Dany arrives in Westeros and there is a Targaryen who she doesn't believe is a Targaryen already sitting on the Iron Throne with the backing of a multitude of kingdoms as well as the common people, clearly she's going to be pissed. And obviously she's going to have a huge axe to grind with the boy who she believes has usurped her throne.

Dany has always been prone to violence to begin with, but now that she seems to have decided to go full fire and blood, it's not that difficult to figure out how she is likely going to handle Aegon the Sixth. But, I think that the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones may have already explained exactly how that is going to happen.

Like most fans, as soon as any information about the final season of Game of Thrones was released, I thought about what it could possibly be referring to or what it would mean. And one aspect of season 8 that seemed to not quite fit into anything within the rest of the series was the title of the episode "The Bells".

What initially interested me about that name was that not only was it the title for arguably the most important episode in the entire show, but that it referred to something that has a lot of thematic relevance within the books but that has been barely mentioned within the TV series. Bells are mentioned constantly in A Song of Ice and Fire, but they've only gotten a few nods within Game of Thrones. And I was even more surprised that, when the show actually aired, the ringing of the bells didn't seem to be hugely relevant to the episode itself either.

Yes, the bells do seem to trigger Dany's decision to burn the entire city down, but they aren't important before or after that, and when there are so many possible titles that are more connected to the series and the story, it still seems strange that "The Bells" was called "The Bells".

However, while bells are a bit of a perennial theme within A Song of Ice and Fire, I think one particular bell-themed subplot might be the exact history that is going to repeat itself when King's Landing burns to the ground, and I think that Daenerys might defeat Aegon in the second Battle of the Bells.

Jon Connington is another fantastic character who was completely omitted from the TV series, but it's interesting that the most fervent supporter of House Targaryen who was on the front lines fighting for Rhaegar in Robert's Rebellion seems to believe that the war wasn't actually lost in the Trident, but in Stoney Sept when Jon failed to root out Robert Baratheon.

JonCon's perspective on Rhaegar and on the entire war is undeniably warped, and in retrospect House Targaryen's dynasty was always destined to fail. Rhaegar may not have had the violent impulses of Aerys, but a dude who lets the entire realm devolve into chaos because he really needs to impregnate a teenager who is dubiously consenting at best was not going to bring peace and prosperity back to the realm. And in a broader sense, the Targaryen values of isolationism, superiority, subjugation, and consolidation of power seem to indicate that no matter what happened, as long as the Targaryens stuck to their beliefs then they were never going to hold on to the Seven Kingdoms.

But still, it seems incredibly important that Jon Connington believed that the Targaryens lost the Iron Throne in the Battle of the Bells, and it's even more important that he's almost certainly wrong. A Song of Ice and Fire has been pretty consistent in its portrayal of brutality. It has proven to be an effective tool in the short term, but it seems to have disastrous results in the long run. And, given that George RR Martin is an ardent pacifist, it's obvious that JonCon's belief that if he had only been crueler and more violent in Stoney Sept then the war would have been won for House Targaryen is a belief that is bound to be undermined.

The fact that Prince Aegon's greatest Westerosi supporter is so strong in this belief though seems to be an obvious setup for a clash in the future. It seems unlikely that the boy who Varys wanted to be the perfect king would be as brutal as someone like Tywin Lannister, and honestly, most people are not that violent nor do they believe that the only goal is winning no matter the cost.

But, it also seems to be a setup for a clash between Young Griff and Daenerys. After all, while most people wouldn't do absolutely anything to get what they believed was their birthright, Dany absolutely would. She internally justifies every action that she takes in service of getting the Iron Throne, and there doesn't seem to be a limit to the violence that she would excuse if it meant taking what she believes is rightfully hers.

The descriptions of the Battle of the Bells in Jon Connington's POV chapters are all very interesting, and it's telling that even in these few glimpses into his mind, this battle is so vitally important. But, Jon's memories are at their most interesting in the chapter "The Griffin Reborn," when he discusses his failings with Myles Toyne.

Jon tells himself that even Tywin Lannister couldn't have done anything more than what he did, but Toyne disagrees. Blackheart says “Lord Tywin would not have bothered with a search. He would have burned that town and every living creature in it. Men and boys, babes at the breast, noble knights and holy septons, pigs and whores, rats and rebels, he would have burned them all. When the fires guttered out and only ash and cinders remained, he would have sent his men in to find the bones of Robert Baratheon."

And while Myles is undoubtedly right that this is exactly what Tywin Lannister would have done, the particular description of the violence sounds undeniably Targaryen in nature. It literally sounds like fire and blood. And frankly, it sounds pretty close to what Daenerys did in Game of Thrones and is likely to do in King's Landing in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Conceptually, it's actually quite simple. Jon Connington will fight the Battle of the Bells once again, except this time he's going to be on the side of the new Robert Baratheon. If Young Griff is a remotely capable ruler who wins the hearts of the people, then it's entirely believable that the citizens of King's Landing would give him quarter when the dragon queen comes looking for him. And given Daenerys' typical patience level, it seems incredibly likely that Dany would just burn the traitors and find the bones of the usurper in the ashes.

Jon Connington has returned to Westeros operating under the belief that he is going to have to be tougher and more brutal to ensure that Young Griff ascends to the Iron Throne like Rhaegar never did, and to ensure that he's never overthrown like the Mad King was. So then, it would be a pretty perfect twist of fate if everything that Jon believes now winds up being proven wrong and he finds himself and the boy who he has vowed to defend to his last breath relying on the kindness of strangers to hide them from the Targaryen ruler and her armies who are searching for them.

And ironically, Jon will not do what he has set out to do, succeed for the son where he failed for the father, precisely because the enemy that he's facing now will be ready and willing to use the brutality that JonCon originally shied away from in Stoney Sept. If Young Griff and the elder Griffon were actually dealing with a rival who was similar to the younger Jon Connington, someone who wasn't willing to wreak havoc and destruction in order to find their enemy at all costs, then they might have a chance at at least surviving.  

But, because Dany is the type of person who serves up fire and blood to anyone she thinks even might be her enemy, any of King Aegon's protectors will be treated with the brutality that Jon currently believes is necessary to win, and Young Griff will be killed anyway. And of course, while Daenerys will almost certainly win the battle against Aegon the Sixth, her decision to be as violent and swift as possible in order to root out her enemies will also lead to her ultimate downfall and a truly irrevocable end to the Targaryen dynasty.

Thematically, the repetition of past mistakes, the false belief that great violence in service of a supposedly greater good is worthwhile, and the false belief that brutality is strength, all fits in well with A Song of Ice and Fire and George RR Martin's political point of view. But obviously, given that Aegon Targaryen, Jon Connington, and their entire branch of the story was omitted in Game of Thrones, none of this could have ever happened in the TV series. And perhaps the title of the penultimate episode was a subtle nod to the climax that the writers know will be coming in the books.