#barry is built different we get it

[iamtherlan]

Let's get into a massive deep dive into developing S.A.M - The Strong Arm Machine from Jetpack Joyride!

We wanted to add something that kept people engaged with the game, and kept the game relevant in a sea of "runner" games. We also wanted to own the game ourselves - this was the first big update from a new team taking over from the original "Ninja Pack" group.

Our first attempt was to build into - what was all this stuff was actually for? So the thought was an agent that you had to knock over and get their briefcase. This is a quick mockup I made.

And here's the prototype!

And.. it's not very fun! Kind of boring to deal with. So.. let's try something different!

What about a Sonic styled Egg-O-Matic? Looks more fun, but doesn't feel right. Barry smashing his face into it doesn't look right - especially when the game is about avoiding things.

So then we asked - what's the COOLEST thing we could do? What about a Scientist police squad? You have to avoid the rockets, while hitting the squad. Okay, but still felt a bit meh, and not great for smaller phones.

What about.. a T-Rex chase, Jurassic Park style? A quick mockup I had done.

In this case, a T-Rex would be behind you, and you're trying to destroy it with missiles. But avoiding missiles is super difficult.

What about... A Mega Barry? Some kind of Rock, Paper system mechanism? Eh, too complicated.

Let's simplify! What if you were in a giant robot that you need to shield? Some mockups I made using Metal Slug sprites.

And here's a prototype! Marvel Vs. Capcom Cap shield and T-Rex fit in well. It's a new Jetpack Joyride mechanic - you have to hit everything, rather than avoid! We have our mechanic!

Some concepts. First it was a big Barry, but why would the scientists make this? Something more menacing, more "Legitimate Industries".

An early version with a fire cannon instead, but it didn't really fit either. Needed to be a shield!

Let's talk about the S.A.M building sequence! We wanted to make sure that this felt epic, so it's built in 3 different sections!

S.A.M has 21 pieces in all, and a lot of destructibility. I feel for the people now who make skins for him!

And here's a bit of final gameplay! Big robot, bashing through stuff. He's got 3 hits to him, which makes him very useful, and hopefully get you back every day to play him again!

Using S.A.M means you got a daily challenge! Collect 5 and get a unique piece of clothing!

We added 16 new costumes at the time - so 32 unique pieces. To collect them all means playing for 160 days! That'd be great retention! Plus you could buy a present directly, which increased our spending too!

One of the fun things about S.A.M is his name. In other languages, we made sure his name also also used the S.A.M code.

How did this go? Huge! Our retention went up by 10%, and people loved it! It was a great addition to the game, and has been expanded upon a lot since.

And that was S.A.M!

[susaken456]

Kris and Barry's dynamic is so interesting and I think it was very intentional from the writers putting these two morally opposing characters together. I adore Barry for many reasons and Kris is such a well-executed antagonist, I could write about them for pages and pages.

I think what makes Kris so enjoyable for me is that she's not an over-the-top antagonist. She ignores chances to be overly villainous, she doesn't make morally-gray choices just because, because she has her own reasons that seem logical to her. It's heavily implied that she has experienced harsh situations, so her pragmatic philosophy probably stems from that same pragmatism having previously worked out for her.

But Kris's downfall doesn't come from that, but from her stubbornness. She's unable to adapt to a new context because that'd mean changing her plan, and that'd imply she'd had lost control. This one post analizes this aspect very well.

She never falters: not when her ship is destroyed, not when Terrence dies; and even when they go off against Hollow she still goes straight to the escape shuttle, ignoring the Demeter crew.

It’s also interesting how Barry ends up being the complete opposite of her, despite her constantly manipulating and keeping him in line. He's very receptive of Vesta since the start, and though his curiosity and naïvitee can get the better of him sometimes, he’s still well-meaning at the end of the day. In contrast, we have Kris, the only human shown killing a creature without any real incentive (the little bug thing she finds when they’re about to climb solo in episode 9).

Unlike Kris, he builds a genuine bond with Azi. He listens to her talk about Mia, just like she listened to his climbing tips. It's a moment where they clearly show respect for each other’s input, a stark contrast to Kris’s inconsiderate commands.

However, I don't think Kris entirely lacks empathy. She's visibly hurt when Terrence dies and she seems regretful over “having to" leave Barry behind. But she also doesn't care to acknowledge Terrence’s death and she still leaves Barry and everyone else behind with what she knows is a dangerous creature. She doesn't care in a way that counts, so no one but her could know if she genuinely does care.

At the boiling point, Kris and Barry follow strikingly different courses of action.

 Barry defies Kris’s control after seeing the crew is still alive. He cares about saving them because Azi, a person he’s built a bond with, also cares about them. Kris didn’t build such a bond, so how could she see any value in them? Realizing she can't control Barry like she did anymore, she deceives him and closes the door behind him, locking him out without hesitation.

When Barry realizes Kris is leaving, he goes back and begs her to let him in. He still cares about her, and it shows to a heartbreaking point while Kris doesn't even spare a glance when he’s there.

After such a tragic experience, Barry ends up in a community of people who genuinely care about others, one in which he’s obviously thriving better than during the time we see him with Kris.

And Kris? She’s dehydrated in the stranded shuttle, and finds herself in a situation where she needs to depend on total strangers; an inversion of the same thing she did to the Demeter crew. She can only pray they have the compassion she did not.

[captn3]

okay, here we go. it isnt a dj set, its a record player. oddly enough, its a reward from the singleplayer campaign. looks at the two closer they might not be the same objects but still thought id add this personally i also think these are hotlantis items cause of how.. out of place and bright they are compared to the rest of the scenery and palette of the dlc. but its confusing that the first box in the first image has what looks like the octarian tentacle mem cake. why is that there next to all these little cute decorations. if we get any of these in a future season catalog ill freak out (also, its possible these items may look big because of how background environments work in splatoon. probably for visibility reasons, things in the background are a lot bigger than they actually would be. this goes for multiplayer maps, singleplayer maps, and even the main plazas/cities)

Hey so I have a nagging suspicion that these items are being made for Hotlantis. Like why would the trailer have such a prominent shot of these things being made/packaged? Although none of these items shown are actually purchasable in-game (I've checked the entire list), these are way too miscellaneous to be anything else besides locker decorations. I have no idea why they are so big, but then again, a huge chunk of these locker decorations are smaller "replicas" of in-game objects. This might also tie into the pollution themes of this dlc as these are most certainly massed produced toys with plastic packaging (cuz y'know, that and a lot of carbon emissions). We might actually see Barry C themself as a side character at least if this is what they're actually up to while letting Harmony work at their store.

[screamlet]

"old school" comfort fic recs

tagged by @liminalmemories21 and @rcmclachlan

What are your old school comfort fics? The ones from fandoms that haven't been active in yeeeaaars, but you've read so many times you can practically quote them.

big big BIG caveat: lol. these are not old school fandoms, as such, but the truly old school ones i grew up with died with livejournal and del.icio.us. however!!! all these fics are 5-10 (or more) years old and that's about as old school as my bookmarks get.

i don't have tumblr usernames for these authors, but if they're around let them know? or don't!

fandoms covered: bts, check please, hockey rpf [all archive locked], star trek (aos and rpf), and the untamed

---

BTS happy that we met each other (jinkook, @/fictionalmissp, @/pearlowrites)

Jungkook is trying to adjust to life after military service. Seokjin is dealing with his recent divorce and being a dad. Everyone is trying their best.

someday we'll know (rapline ot3, @/fadetomorrow)

Six years ago, Hoseok walked away from Big Hit and an opportunity to debut as part of an idol group. He's worked hard to build a name for himself halfway across the world when he and the people he left behind collide again.

rivers and roads (til i reach you) (namseok, @/undercoverjikooks)

Namjoon is a lonely, anxious businessman who finds comfort and peace in sex worker slash grocery store clerk Hoseok, who's convinced that he's only worth leaving.

Should Never Fall So Easily (namseok, @/murderoustannie)

It’s not that Namjoon sleep-walked into his relationship with Hoseok, exactly. Mostly because that would imply a total lack of pain and embarrassment, giving the whole ordeal a dream-like quality to it that Namjoon doesn’t think it deserves. But if you asked Namjoon how it happened, exactly, he would have a hard time pin-pointing it.

---

CHECK PLEASE! for all of the perfect things that i doubt (series) (kent parson centric, mostly kent parson/omc, @/idrilka)

and in that series: no lightning, just thunder (kent parson/omc)

At thirty-five, Kent wins his fourth Stanley Cup. Two months later, he retires from the NHL.

Lord, What a Difference a Day Makes (kent parson/alexei mashkov, @/coffeestars)

Kent time travels (he thinks; it’s either that or he’s gone off the deep end once and for all), gets married to some Russian guy built like a tree, acquires two children, one of whom isn’t even his, freaks out, and grows up. In that order.

---

HOCKEY RPF

double digging for the successful transplant of organic cultivars (michael latta/tom wilson, @/rest)

Tom likes working with his hands, but it is a solitary life. He would much prefer to be married. Leaving and settling elsewhere is his surest chance for having that. (aka "The Space Western Mail Order Bride AU")

love on a deposit of frozen pleistocene carbon (nicklas backstrom/alex ovechkin, @/saintsideways)

Sasha is the only person to have lasted more than a year at Wrest Island Arctic Research Station, except, of course, for Dr. Bäckström. Or: Sasha's head over heels, in a slightly more than figurative sense.

human resources (nicklas backstrom/alex ovechkin, @/babygotbackstrom)

Sasha knows he's going to marry the angel who works in the finance department.

i want to belong here (sidney crosby/evgeni malkin, @/cathedralhearts)

“Can I come to Russia with you?” Zhenya’s brain fritzes out for a second. “Sorry?” he asks, thinking he’s misheard. Years of pining can do that to a person -- make you believe that the object of your affections wants something more than they really do. Sid’s gone bright pink and is staring at the floor, so maybe it’s not pining-induced insanity. Sanja will be pleased.

the light through the windowpane (tyson barrie/gabe landeskog, @/underwaternow)

or, the one where Gabe and Tyson fall in love, break up, Gabe gets married, Tyson falls apart a little, they don't speak to each other for awhile, and then they finally make up. colloquially referred to as “sad fic” but there's very much a happy ending

Big Horny's Guide to Finding Love (and Then Some) for the Modern Man (erik johnson/nate mackinnon, @/venvephe)

ExtraJuicy 🍑🍑💦 Both sporty and spicy. Not a horse girl, but likes to ride. Have a sense of humor and we’ll see where it goes. “Is that Grindr?” Gabe gasps out, and EJ elbows him deftly in the side as several heads swivel in their direction. Fucking Gabe and his big forehead and bigger mouth. “Erik Robert Johnson, have you learned how to sext?”

---

STAR TREK (REBOOT) strive seek find yield (aka SPOCTORIA) (kirk/spock, @waldorph)

Spock is heir to the Federation throne, Jim is Prince of America because his fucking brother abdicated, and the Klingons are on the verge of blowing shit up--a love story.

---

STAR TREK (RPF) merry bachelors (chris pine/zachary quinto, @/therumjournals)

Ten years from now, Zach reads a promising script. (Aka Chris and Zach make a movie about Cary Grant and Randolph Scott)

chris, nicky, and the nanny (chris pine/zachary quinto, @/thedanveresque)

Chris hires a hipster manny for his son Nicky.

---

THE UNTAMED all the time in the world to get it right (series) (lwj/wwx, @/belle_abroad)

on a rainy morning wei ying, debut novelist, ducks into lan zhan's bookstore, the quiet room, and never leaves. (lan zhan's heart. he leaves the store, a couple of times.)

[kob131]

Lily Orchard and Pokemon: Gen 4

Yay, we get to hear Lily bitch more from now on.

"Gen 4 runs like shit because the game is trying to process 3D graphics all the time, like with battle transitions, health bars and movement!"

Then how the fuck do you explain Platinum, which ended up fixing all these issues then?

"Also I'm modding the game to remove the FPS cap and give myself a Ralts as the starter-"

W-w-wait, what?!

Why the fuck are you modding the games...in a retrospective all about looking back at the games as they hold up? Your complaints and footage WON'T line up, thus weakening your arguments!

Also, I don't give a fuck about how much you like Gardevoir. Ralts doesn't get an attacking move until Level 6. Starters start at Level 5. And Ralts is INTENTIONALLY weak to compensate for how strong it is fully evolved. Modding in a Ralts WILL affect your gameplay because the games aren't built for that.

For fuck's sake- USE A DIFFERENT TEAM!

"I encourage Barry to try and jump over the grass because I wanna see him get mauled by a Bidoof-"

Wait a minute. Was-was that fucking Peanut Butter from Pokemon Rusty?

...Oh great, Lily Orchard is probably taking her takes from Dorkly. That explains a lot.

"Well Ralts doesn't get an attacking move so I 'threw the match-'"

Sounding pretty salty there, Lily. Maybe you should try diversifying your teams and actually ENGAGE with the Pokemon by using a damn starter.

"I'm getting stopped all this time like a small child in a brony conve-"

I will call Taka in here to maul you, Lily. You were kicked out, deal with it.

"Uh oh! My Ralts is worse than a Magikarp! Whoopsie!"

Keep this in mind. It will be important later.

"Oh no! It takes a whole minute and ten seconds for me to get through an encounter with Team Galactic! TOO LONG!"

Speaking as someone who has played every Gen of Pokemon...as well as playing a few games with Pokemon's older, edgy brother SMT- You are making mountains out of mole hills Lily.

Games, especially RPGs given how they don't tend to be very interactive games, tell stories to stimulate the player's brain. This requires time, Lily. I know that you like being lulled into a silent stupor as evidenced by your love of Team Aqua/Magma and later Lysandre (No I am not joking) but most ACTUAL people like having some kind of engagement with the game. Pokemon, even at it's most verbose, is fucking SMALL POTATOES compared to your usual JRPG.

I brought up SMT for a reason Lily- that series compensates for having a less engaging battle system than Pokemon's by having a more robust story. If you played any SMT, even one like Nocturne- your brain would likely shut down.

JRPGs like having stories. You signed up for this with Pokemon. Now judge it accordingly.

"People gas up Cyrus as one of the best villains-!"

No they don't. They gas TEAM GALACTIC as one of the best villains because they fuck with the fundamental forces of existence, giving them an air of a series threat. I don't agree, I like Cyrus for being the only one with a reason for doing what he's doing. But people usually like him for the stuff OUTSIDE his home game.

"Reading Pokemon stories is just like watching subbed anime: reading the most inane bullshit!"

... Lily, you hate anything anime, don't you?

"Sinnoh ugly because grey and mud and forest gross!"

... 1- Lily, you literally show a grey tiled route being dyed orange in evening light.

2- Yes Lily. Mountainious regions and marshlands have mud and rocks.

And 3- The forest looks dark and damp because that's a fucking FOREST. If you paid attention the BGM in the previous forests, you'd notice that is what the developers intend the forest areas to be like. You basically just said ''the previous three gens completely failed at their jobs!'

*Lily proceeds to have a fake existential nightmare about Pokemon and Youtube*

Cool Lily. Too bad you mention these minor things and not...you know...the strewn path of broken lives you've left in your wake on this planet.

Could have had some kind of respect for you.

"Pokemon games hold your hand like a creepy uncle with a MLP collec-"

@takashi0 get in here! Lily's being an ass about bronies again!

"Oh my god! So many forced tutorials! Why won't they let me skip everything like the Underground tutorial! POKEMON BAD!"

Lily, the reason why the game won't let you skip the Bike is because you NEED it to progress the game and it gives you an improved movement option. It also won't let you skip the Egg tutorial because Pokemon breeding is necessary for getting certain Pokemon or helping you get certain Pokemon (like multiple starters). And this is why you can't skip the catching tutorial: you'd just be throwing Pokeballs at random and failing constantly.

These are necessary aspects of the game. A game for kids who may have never played a Pokemon game before. Deal with it.

"I don't know why I'm here, I just keep ignoring the dialogue."

So you talk about the story being ass...while acknowledging that you aren't paying attention to said story...

Like, I know that Lily is implying she's long since gone through the game and experienced the story, hates it and is now skipping over it but you are now making a retrospective of the games. Now would be a good time to pay attention and possible reconsider your stance.

"HMs are so cool! You can use your Pokemon to transverse the region! People are so dumb for bitching about them. You have 24 moveslots, just set aside some and forget coverage, dumbbnuts!"

So what you're saying is that we should have random required HMs in Pokemon Gyms to challenge them properly? You know, like Chuck's Gym? That you couldn't complete without backtracking?

Or that maybe we should have moves like Cut, Rock Smash, Flash, Whirlpool and Defog (which you basically call useless) be necessary! After all, who cares about player expression? It's just 20.8% of your moveslots!

... This is why you use your BRAIN Lily.

"You need to adapt to roadblocks, you useless clowns!"

Remember this, it will be important later.

"Archie and Maxie were charmingly stupid but Cyrus is completely crazy!"

A- That's intentional with Cyrus and UNINTENTIONAL with your favs.

And B- You outright emphasized that they were gonna blow up a volcano to try and expand water/land for Pokemon. How is THAT not crazy?

"Barry demands yet ANOTHER Battle-"

It's the fourth fucking battle Lily. Just because you cut yourself anytime a rival shows up doesn't make it excessive.

"*another 'cobs bad' joke*-"

Yeah yeah, you want cops gone because your abuse victims keep calling them on you and you have a bad experience with them.

Move on.

"Hey I'm not a cop, it's not unethical if I go on a rampage-"

You REALLY don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?

"Cyrus can no be cult leader, HE HAVE NO MOTIVE OR PESONALLITY!"

...

"Fellow members of Team Galactic! Hear me! My name, as I appear to you today, is Cyrus. This world of ours is a crude one. In a word, it is incomplete. It has been, and always will be, a struggle to survive in this world. We humans and Pokémon are likewise incomplete. Because we are all so lacking, we fight, we maim... It is ugly. I hate the incompleteness. That we are all incomplete, I hate it with my entire body and being. The world should be complete. The world must change. Then, who will change it? Me, Cyrus. And Team Galactic. Yes, all of you. Together we pored over myths and exposed their secrets. Together we captured legendary Pokémon. And now, Team Galactic has obtained the energy to change the world! The power of dreams is within our grasp! Understand it, fellow members! My long-held dreamworld is on the verge of becoming reality. All those headed to Mt. Coronet, and those who remain here... Though our missions may differ, our hearts beat as one. Let there be glory for Team Galactic!"

-

"But, I must say... You are a remarkable specimen. Those Pokémon have nothing to do with you, do they? But still you come to rescue them out of pity? Such pitifully useless emotions... It's illogical and irrational. Pity and compassion are products of the weak and faulty human heart. You were compelled to come here by such vacuous sentimentality! I will make you regret paying heed to your heart!"

Perhaps pay attention to the fucking dialogue, Lily. Because these are pretty blunt and obvious examples. Cyrus appeals to people feeling that the world is harsh and unfair, promising them a bright tomorrow if they listen to him. Then he explains how he believes emotions have caused these problems so he wishes to erase them.

"Oh really Looker? You think I'm so dumb that-"

Lily, you just got done humiliating yourself by being outsmarted by a children's game and will continue that streak throughout this video.

Yes, you are that dumb.

"Cyrus has double the dialogue Maxie and Archie have in these games but it is so stilted and devoid of personality! Archie and Maxie are SOO much better by being stupid and trying to better the world-!"

Lily, those guys were not intended on being stupid. They were intended to be well intentioned extremists. They seem stupid because the games made their acts so dumb that the intentions are overshadowed by their stupidity.

Cyrus does more than try to be evil, you can tell from comparing his dialogue to Giovanni's-

"Blast it all! You ruined our plans for Silph! But Team Rocket will never fall! <Player>, never forget that all Pokémon exist for Team Rocket! I must go, but I shall return!"

And his so-called 'stilted' dialogue would probably fit a man who is OPENLY TRYING TO RID THE WORLD OF EMOTION. If your assessment is correct- that would be good writing.

Archie and Maxie are badly written. You are praising bad writing over good writing.

"Platnium has gotten away from the feeling of adventure that makes Pokemon good-"

You know what helps with a sense of adventure Lily?

A story. Something to give structure and stimulation to the player.

You praised one of the dullest games in the series in Emerald and are going to praise THE dullest game in the series. All while demonizing the games that actually stimulate.

You're full of shit.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Was curious if you have any interesting information on L’Hospitalet de Llobregat?

I moved about a year ago, and I am about to sign up for my first Catalan class with the CNL soon. Since I do not speak Catalan yet and have limited Spanish, a lot of information I come across for my new home is not accessible to me.

Thank you in advance, and for you write on here in general. It is a great resource.

Thank you! And best wishes for the course with CNL, I hope you enjoy it!

L'Hospitalet de Llobregat is the 2nd most populated city in Catalonia and has the most densely-populated neighbourhood in all of Europe (Torrassa and Collblanc neighbourhoods). I'll shorten it to L'H from now on.

There's archaeological evidence of population in what nowadays in L'H since the Paleolithic (hunter-gatherer communities in the Prehistory), Ancient Iberian (the indigenous people who lived here before the Roman invasion), and the Roman era.

Ancient Roman head of Medusa known as "Medusa de Provençana", found in an excavation next to the Santa Eulàlia de Provençana church in L'H. Nowadays it's exhibited in the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, Barcelona.

The origin of the city as we know it now dates back to the Middle Ages. It originated as two entities: the older Provençana (which we have written records of since around the year 900, and was found around Sta Eulàlia de Provençana) and the later Hospital de la Torre Blanca ("Hospital of the White Tower", from around the year 1100, what is now barri del Centre). The second one was a hospital not in our modern sense of a place to take care of the ill, it was a house for helping poor and homeless people, probably founded by the Knights Hospitaller. It grew in population and ended up becoming more important than Provençana, and eventually the name that designated the whole area was changed from Provençana to L'Hospitalet (meaning "The Little Hospital" in Catalan).

But throughout all of these centuries, L'H was a very rural town with a small population (as an example, it had about 900 inhabitants in the year 1815). The population grew when an irrigation canal was built that allowed the fields to be way more productive, reaching 5,000 inhabitants around the year 1900. But the population boom came in the 1960s and 1970s, during the Francoist dictatorship, when many immigrants from different rural parts of Spain moved to the big cities to work in the industry. That's when the areas around Barcelona were quickly built up in these massive apartment blocks to make the "bedroom cities" from where the newly-arrived workers commuted to work every day. The population boom was so huge that it explains why L'H is the 2nd biggest city in Catalonia and so densely populated.

Carrer de la Florida in 1956 vs 2024. (L'H city archive / Google Maps).

Carrer de la Renclusa, 84, in 1955 vs 2024. (L'H city archive / Google Maps).

Carrer de la Mina, 19, in 1956 vs 2024. (L'H city archive / Google Maps).

Avinguda del Torrent, 78, in 1956 vs 2024. (L'H city archive / Google Maps).

These "bedroom cities" had been built so quickly, that they didn't have any services. The inhabitants had to fight for all the services they have, which created a strong sense of pride that still continues nowadays.

As another note, one of the most famous maquis (anti-Francoism guerrilla fighters) was from L'H: Quico Sabaté. You can read about him on Wikipedia here. Another famous person from L'H is Ferran Adrià, one of the most famous chefs in the whole world.

I hope this was interesting, and I hope you can make the most of the Catalan classes, it will surely help you understand the country more and get better perspectives for a job.

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

Mars in Capricorn🧨

I feel like this placement is such a flex, and I’m really, really jealous of it. These women literally get men who can provide for them and a lot of the time older men that are due to Capricorn being the father the older man figure in life and the attraction to older men and probably a lot of thme having issues., all these women at one born in their life of being with an older man, and is the man you’re attracted to, I mean let’s go to Anna Nicole Smith, Howard James Marshall, who is literally a billionaire, met her at the strip club, not saying all these women are gold diggers, but they like to have a bag and they can get back, and they get provided for, and I feel like every woman has that right to be provided for man. I generally do maybe it’s because I’m an Earth and I have in the 10th., I’m honestly like go get what you want, I mean Anna and her husband had an arrangement together, imagine them leaving together he probably would’ve had a heart attack, they had an arrangement and his son didn’t like it, but this man was a billionaire and he wanted a sexy woman on his own and he better than Nicole Smith one of the most beautiful women in the world if not the beautiful.

Then we come to Amber Hood who wanted to make us start in Hollywood for a long time and I believe you went for a party to try and find that way they either are both of these things or one or the other they can fuck their way to the top, now I look at Madison a bit of a side but I still love her, taste older and old before that time, this is why they are attracted to this kind of man. They have serious issues which we found out with Austin this case I don’t know if her dad was very close with Johnny, but we don’t know the relationship completely between the dad and her., but she got something with Elon Musk go ahead like men before too long and it’s not Elon Musk Twitter Elon Musk people in the blind item, the world will agree that Elon and Amber were each other soulmates. Don’t worry Elon features twice in this post. Look at him and Grimes. Anyway, going back to Amber and her child, a lot of people agree that Amber‘s child is with Elon because she had her ex frozen when they were together, supposedly allegedly. But Grimes has had a long relationship with Elon also, and a lot of Elon‘s girls start with Bruno and then go blood, but I think Elon likes a crazy man, a pixie girl, the edge of them, and that they could ruin them any time.

On the list is a very sad one Aaliyah and her relationship with R. Kelly and Name – who are both a lot older than her but Dame was a lot closer in age or Kelly obviously did some very inappropriate stuff really and the creep met her when she was 12 through her uncle which makes it even sadder Barry Hanson, an Aaliyah was a Capricorn sun as well and very, she had that hook up with a dad as she’s on but I’m jealous of the situation with the money and being built up by a man and having a man that looks after you let’s be honest don’t we all want? We don’t come on. How nice would it be for a?, And look after you and you didn’t have to worry about a thing., obviously this placement shows up in different ways, like I said with Aaliyah she was vulnerable and it naturally came into her life, I wish Amber feel it was more sort out the same with Anna.

Lindsay Lohan, who moved to Dubai and has had the most, who dated her maybe apart from Leonardo DiCaprio and Warren? Beatty, the oldest profession goes on in the world. She said she moved out there because of the paparazzi hounding her, but I think it was more, away from that too, but also to get towards men with money; Lindsey allegedly has attended to like stealing as well, even though she’s rich, shoplifting or lifting is a rush, another addiction?

I can’t think of the exceptionally massive age group she said, but I’m sure she has some we don’t know of. Samantha Ronson, who I feel is at least 10 years older than her,.

Holly Madison, holy Madison had a relationship with you. She was in the Playboy mansion, and she became the number one girlfriend. Do you see what I mean and the Playboy secrets? Many of Hughes's friends have said that she loved it at the time, and then she became the opposite, and now she does a podcast talking about Playboy. She hasn’t stepped away from it, so she is still making money from it to some degree. If you, Hefner, I’m saying that that’s bad. I’m just saying the obvious.

Traumatized for many years, I’ve noticed with these people, we don’t see dad at all in their lives. Actually, if I think of all these people, maybe Michael Lohan and, of course, Lindsey are going to have daddy issues with a man like that. A

Drew Barrymore, Barrymore may not, have been with older people, but she went out with Eric out of Hole and hung around with Courtney Love when she was literally just, she was also partying in Studio 54 when she was very very young, hanging around with people much older than her, and doing drugs and very young age. Around these people had died she had a very trauma, he was a drug addict and an alcoholic, was famous and become lineage of famous people in Hollywood.

We have the Olsen, and talk about Mary Kate Olsen, with Oliviar, They had a huge age gap. She even looked like one of his children she was even shorter than one of his children. I, it looked really creepy another person who’s not in the college here is Amanda Bynes and we know what happened there., know quiet on set .

And then, obviously you have Catherine Jones he’s been with Michael Douglas like forever , obviously many decades older than her. I just think it’s a placement I’d like to brag about it obviously has its , have my mars in the 10th house , and let’s talk about men with this placement Brad Pitt , Shia LaBeouf , and how they all a bit dodgy , and I’ve been all over the place with women

. Who allegedly did stuff with Michael Bay who is very abusive?, To her and they fell out., very casting couch,

[mariacallous]

A week after its algorithms advised people to eat rocks and put glue on pizza, Google admitted Thursday that it needed to make adjustments to its bold new generative AI search feature. The episode highlights the risks of Google’s aggressive drive to commercialize generative AI—and also the treacherous and fundamental limitations of that technology.

Google’s AI Overviews feature draws on Gemini, a large language model like the one behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to generate written answers to some search queries by summarizing information found online. The current AI boom is built around LLMs’ impressive fluency with text, but the software can also use that facility to put a convincing gloss on untruths or errors. Using the technology to summarize online information promises can make search results easier to digest, but it is hazardous when online sources are contractionary or when people may use the information to make important decisions.

“You can get a quick snappy prototype now fairly quickly with an LLM, but to actually make it so that it doesn't tell you to eat rocks takes a lot of work,” says Richard Socher, who made key contributions to AI for language as a researcher and, in late 2021, launched an AI-centric search engine called You.com.

Socher says wrangling LLMs takes considerable effort because the underlying technology has no real understanding of the world and because the web is riddled with untrustworthy information. “In some cases it is better to actually not just give you an answer, or to show you multiple different viewpoints,” he says.

Google’s head of search Liz Reid said in the company’s blog post late Thursday that it did extensive testing ahead of launching AI Overviews. But she added that errors like the rock eating and glue pizza examples—in which Google’s algorithms pulled information from a satirical article and jocular Reddit comment, respectively—had prompted additional changes. They include better detection of “nonsensical queries,” Google says, and making the system rely less heavily on user-generated content.

You.com routinely avoids the kinds of errors displayed by Google’s AI Overviews, Socher says, because his company developed about a dozen tricks to keep LLMs from misbehaving when used for search.

“We are more accurate because we put a lot of resources into being more accurate,” Socher says. Among other things, You.com uses a custom-built web index designed to help LLMs steer clear of incorrect information. It also selects from multiple different LLMs to answer specific queries, and it uses a citation mechanism that can explain when sources are contradictory. Still, getting AI search right is tricky. WIRED found on Friday that You.com failed to correctly answer a query that has been known to trip up other AI systems, stating that “based on the information available, there are no African nations whose names start with the letter ‘K.’” In previous tests, it had aced the query.

Google’s generative AI upgrade to its most widely used and lucrative product is part of a tech-industry-wide reboot inspired by OpenAI’s release of the chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022. A couple of months after ChatGPT debuted, Microsoft, a key partner of OpenAI, used its technology to upgrade its also-ran search engine Bing. The upgraded Bing was beset by AI-generated errors and odd behavior, but the company’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that the move was designed to challenge Google, saying “I want people to know we made them dance.”

Some experts feel that Google rushed its AI upgrade. “I’m surprised they launched it as it is for as many queries—medical, financial queries—I thought they’d be more careful,” says Barry Schwartz, news editor at Search Engine Land, a publication that tracks the search industry. The company should have better anticipated that some people would intentionally try to trip up AI Overviews, he adds. “Google has to be smart about that,” Schwartz says, especially when they're showing the results as default on their most valuable product.

Lily Ray, a search engine optimization consultant, was for a year a beta tester of the prototype that preceded AI Overviews, which Google called Search Generative Experience. She says she was unsurprised to see the errors that appeared last week given how the previous version tended to go awry. “I think it’s virtually impossible for it to always get everything right,” Ray says. “That’s the nature of AI.”

Even if blatant errors like suggesting people eat rocks become less common, AI search can fail in other ways. Ray has documented more subtle problems with AI Overviews, including summaries that sometimes draw on poor sources such as sites that are from another region or even defunct websites—something she says could provide less useful information to users who are hunting for product recommendations, for instance. Those who work on optimizing content for Google’s Search algorithm are still trying to understand what’s going on. “Within our industry right now, the level of confusion is on the charts,” she says.

Even if industry experts and consumers get more familiar with how the new Google search behaves, don’t expect it to stop making mistakes. Daniel Griffin, a search consultant and researcher who is developing tools to make it easy to compare different AI-powered search services, says that Google faced similar problems when it launched Featured Snippets, which answered queries with text quoted from websites, in 2014.

Griffin says he expects Google to iron out some of the most glaring problems with AI Overviews, but that it’s important to remember no one has solved the problem of LLMs failing to grasp what is true, or their tendency to fabricate information. “It’s not just a problem with AI,” he says. “It’s the web, it’s the world. There’s not really a truth, necessarily.”

[fromashesweriseuphiddenones]

🐺🦇

Jamie Ella Tundra

Works at Lush and Luscious Bagels, which is owned by Maria Auditore.

Her birthday is June 23rd 1995 (which is mine)

She's 5' nothing (like me) and 158lbs (my last weight in) she has pale white skin, short brown hair (sometimes styled into a low fade mohawk nothing crazy), and blue eyes.

She is Irish, Scottish, Norse and Greek. She is also descended from Odysseus, Briad McTir, Roderick MacLeod, and Harold Fairhair.

She is currently 29 years old. She is four years older than Desmond.

She is an archer, a Warrior, a Warrior of the Mind, and a massive geek.

She has a decent Nerf arsenal.

She plays Assassin's Creed, Dungeons and Dragons, Dragon Age, Spyro, and numerous other games.

She is a Trekkie but also a casual fan of Star-Wars.

She is a cosplayer.

She speaks Galiec (Irish and Scottish), Norse, and Greek fluently.

Extra facts pertaining to Blood of Kings

She has been adopted by Barry and Cassidy Finnegan.

Rebecca Crane is an honorary Big Sister to her since she helped take care of her. Shaun Hastings is the big brother in law and a dear friend for taking the time to compliment her outfit and engage with her. (@snowmasscourier this one is for you)

Jamie has recently gained Eagle Vision.

Jamie also has an ability known as Quick Thought. This is persevered as time slows down allowing for adjustments to her actions. She also communicates to Athena this way.

She was trained by Athena, Hermes and Ares themselves in the art of combat. She hasn't yet been able to make contact with Irish, Scottish or Norse gods and goddesses.

Desmond Perseus Miles (my head canon middle name for Desmond)

Was working at Bad Weather but was fired for not existing. (Weird and stupid)

Now works for Giovanni Auditore's Security Firm.

We all know his birthday March 13th 1987

He is six feet tall (manuel, in game data, and guide book all say this.) he's 170lbs (the different weights mentioned though make sense that over the course of the first game he'd lose weight.) He has tanned skin reflecting his mixed heritage. He has short brown hair that curls slightly and has brown eyes.

I will say this again:

FROM WILLIAM MILES DESMOND GETS EZIO AUDITORE, EDWARD JAMES KENWAY, HAYTHAM EDWARD KENWAY AND RATHNHTONKE:TON

FROM HIS MOTHER HE GETS ALTAÏR

(You don't understand how much that pisses me off that the fandom still thinks Ezio is descended from Altaïr. He is not! Not in the slightest. That line about grandfather, he was referring to Dominco not Altaïr)

So yeah Desmond is Syrian, European (still unknown where exactly Maud was from), Italian, Welsh, English, and Kanien'kehá:ka.

Extra facts pertaining to Blood of Kings

Desmond is very supportive of Jamie.

Even though he only knew her for a few hours, he gave her a permanent place to live when he learned she was living in her car.

That same night she had a nightmare and went to Desmond's room sneaking into his bed.

Desmond was brought back to life when Layla activated the Yigydrasil device, and was with Edward, Haytham and Ratohnhaké:ton. He met Ezio and Altaïr later and Ezio was shocked by the tackling hug Desmond gave him along with the tears of joy to see his favorite ancestor (ouch Desmond in front of the other four)

Desmond is an amputaue, with a state of the art prosthesis (thank you @fishblade-koi for this head canon) which was built by Leonardo Da Vinci.

As of March 16th 2025 Desmond Miles is now the Assassin Global Mentor replacing William Miles.

[this-house-is-bitchin]

If that scares you, I can’t imagine how you’re going to feel when you open up these doors and let me out.

Hello, my name is Hartley Rathaway. I have to say, I’m quite surprised anyone’s here. Well, since you are, and since you asked, here’s my irritating life story so far.

I grew up rich, influential, and spoiled. My parents, Osgood and Rachel Rathaway, are terrible people, so set in their ways they’d kick their own son out for being gay. Which they did. Not huge fans of boykissers, I have to say. Anyway, I hate them, and all they stand for. They run Rathaway Industries, which I tried to take down a while ago, but the Flash stopped me.

After I was kicked into the streets like trash, my life, my chance at success, and my reputation as a scientist shoved into the dirt, I clawed my way back up. I met Dr. Harrison Wells, or who I believed him to be. At the time, my personal idol. He became my mentor, my teacher. I was his favorite, and I was used to being teacher’s favorites. I was a prodigy. I am a genius.

I built my life back up. Scrounged what money I had to rent in a shitty apartment complex, just until I climbed the ranks. Which I did. I upgraded and bought myself a studio, a space big enough for me to live and work. Work was my life, not just a passion or my job. I had no time to be nice to anyone.

Together, we made the particle accelerator. I was so proud of my work. Really. That is…until I discovered that Dr. Wells was going to turn it on, even thought it wasn’t ready yet. I told him it was dangerous, I tried to warn him. But that bastard fired me. Took my rebuilt life that I had just gained from me. He silenced me.

After the accelerator exploded, I gained clarity for the first time in a long time. I became a metahuman, like so many others in Central City. I could now sream at pitches only dogs could hear, and manipulate sound waves to my will. And I’ll admit, I abused this power for a while. Used it to try and get revenge on those I believed had wronged me, that owed me pain and suffering. Wells, Flash…Cisco.

But I also found love. I fell for a tall handsome man, and it was wonderful. We sacrificed our lives for each other, and we both got hurt, but we were there for each other. Roderick.

Unfortunately, we ended up going our separate ways. After all the trauma we’d both experienced, and the years we lost together after the accident, the differences became too great. But I’ll always be forever grateful to Team Flash for saving his life. Now I work with them, I fight alongside them. As Pied Piper. Caitlin says I’m healing, but what does she know, she’s a sap. Although, I might be…finding love again.

Through thick and thin, I’d choose them again. After everything I’ve been through, I couldn’t ask for better friends, who treat me like a real person, and not a freak. Either way, I, Hartley Rathaway, of sound mind and body, am for sure the smartest one on the team.

Name: Hartley Rathaway

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Significant Other: Cisco Ramon - @this-house-is-bitchin

Sexuality: Gay

Family: Osgood Rathaway, Rachel Rathaway

Friends: Caitlin Snow, Frost, Barry Allen, Allegra Garcia, Chester P. Runk, Joe West, Wally West, Cecile Horton, Iris West-Allen, Ralph Dibny, Julian Albert, Nora West-Allen, Bart West-Allen

Occupation: Mechanical Engineer/Scientist/Hero at STAR Labs/Owner of the Krakatoa Club

Alias: Pied Piper

Abilities: Sonic Screech, Soundwave Manipulation

Favorite drink at CC Jitters: Vibeaccino

Status: Genius, Prodigy, Superhero

Insecurities: Failing to save his loved ones, failing to be the smartest in the room

Species: Metahuman

Looks: Tamed brown hair, brown eyes, black glasses, white, slightly short

Favorite song for karaoke: Doesn’t like to sing

Loves/Likes: Cisco, tech, staying in, cooking, learning, traveling

Hates: Being lied to, being gaslit, being locked up, his parents, singing

Personality: Egotistical, sarcastic, prideful, uncooperative, snappy, thoughtful, flirty, intelligent, creative

[fandomsnstuff]

Consider: twosun didn't have snow. Anywhere. At all. They didn't even have a concept of it. They don't know what it is. Anyway, it's day 26 of @taznovembercelebration and im a canadian who tried to write people who've never seen snow before

Day 26: wonder

The IPRE crew is very happy that their plan worked and they've successfully hidden from the Hunger. What they didn't plan for, was how cold Faerun could get and the not-rain falling from the sky.

Read it on AO3

After they deploy the relics in what they hope to be the final cycle, the IPRE crew waits with bated breath for the Hunger. But the scouts never come. Days pass, then weeks, then months, and the sky never darkens unnaturally, revealing countless white eyes opening up to find them.

As those months pass, they find that the days shorten and the air cools. As people built for a world with two suns, this poses a bit of a problem. Sure, they spent certain cycles in colder and darker climates, but that doesn't mean they enjoyed it. One year just isn't enough time to adapt to that. So they make do. Sweaters and blankets are plentiful, and when the cold gets bad enough that the ship's heating system can't seem to break through it, they all pile up in the living room. Body heat is crucial for survival. Not to mention that Magnus is simply a furnace of a man.

He's the one who seems to be able to function the best. He has to wear a shirt (or a few), much to his chagrin, but he still gets up every morning and dutifully goes for a run.

One morning, he extracts himself from the pile of bodies on top of him, and everyone shuffles in to fill the space he left. He's barely gone for a few minutes when he comes back and excitedly says, “guys, get up! You gotta see this!”

There are some grumblings about having to leave the nice warm sleep pile to go to the cold outdoors, but they comply. When they get outside, though, the grumblings stop as they all stand in awed silence.

Davenport had landed the cloaked ship in a field just outside a nearby town. That town, the field, and everything else, is now coated in a thick layer of white… stuff. And small bits of it fall from the sky. Magnus runs out onto it, and it crunches under his feet, leaving footprints behind. He turns back to them and holds his arms out, “isn't it great?!”

“It's beautiful,” Lucretia says. The sun peeks through the soft grey clouds and it sparkles. She breathes out, “woah.”

Lup steps out into it and holds out her hand. Some of the little bits land on her hand, and stay there a moment before melting away. She crouches and scoops some up off the ground, crushing it in her hand. Some falls back to the ground and some melts away. She wipes her hand off on her pants. “It's like the cold sand from, what was it? 45?”

“42,” Lucretia says, “but I don't remember it falling from the sky. Or melting.” She holds her hand out too, and watches the bits melt. “It's water.”

“So it's raining ice,” Taako pulls his obscene amount of blankets tighter around himself, “peachy.”

“I don't think it's ice,” Barry says, “this isn't one solid piece.” He examines the bits that have collected on the sleeve of his sweater, “it's like it's crystallised.”

“Maybe I can go into town and talk to someone,” Magnus says, “they'll probably know what's up with this. Maybe we can get some better gear, because I don't know about you guys, but my shoes and socks got wet the moment I stepped out here.”

“I'll go with you,” Lucretia says, “just give me two minutes to put real clothes on.”

Not long after, they're crossing the field together.

“You weren't kidding about the wet shoes,” she says.

“I even changed my socks while you were getting dressed and put on different shoes, and my feet are still wet.”

“Well Taako promised us soup when we got back, so I think that'll keep me–” she cuts herself off with a yelp as her feet hit harder ground and fly out from under her. Magnus catches her before she cracks her head open on the cobblestone. “Now that,” she says, getting back on her feet, “is ice.”

“No kidding,” Magnus links her arm in his and they make their way (carefully) into the streets, “the last thing we want to do is lose you when we've only just begun the rest of our lives.”

She squeezes his arm. “We won't be perpetually in our early 20s anymore.”

“I'll finally be able to fully develop my frontal cortex.”

All through town, there are children playing in the cold snow, and people walking briskly down the street. Lucretia and Magnus are wearing the most layers out of anyone. Lucretia spots a café on the opposite side of the street. “Let's go in there,” she says, nodding in its direction, “the air out here is making my face hurt.”

They cross the street as quickly as they dare, and sigh with relief as the warmth of the indoors and the smell of fresh baked goods hits them. They walk up to the counter, where a young woman is placing a tray of croissants into the display.

“Awfully cold out there,” Magnus says, turning on his rustic charm.

The woman looks up at them, amused. “Newcomers?”

“You could say that.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Trust me, if you think this is cold, you haven't seen anything yet.”

Both of their faces drop. “It gets worse?” Lucretia asks.

“Oh, yeah.” She gestures to the window, “you actually can't get snow if it's too cold. That's when you get freezing rain and everything's covered in a layer of ice.”

They both just stare at her, dumbfounded. Their home plane had nothing like this. It didn't get this cold, and it certainly didn't have “snow” and rain that covered everything in ice. The young woman smiles pleasantly, “so what can I get you?”

They glance at each other. Magnus says, “directions to somewhere warmer, maybe?”

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes-Chapter 21

Fandom: Supergirl

Characters: Kara Danvers, Clark Kent, Samantha Arias, Lena Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Ruby Arias, Oliver Queen, John Stewart, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onnz, Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Damian Wayne, Felicity Smoak, Streaky the Supercat, Martha Kent, Selina Kyle, Talia Al Ghul, Lucius Fox

Summary: What if superheroes had to pay a property damage tax every time they had a fight in the city?

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20

Bruce rolled his eyes as he listened to the board members arguing in the background over the phone while he talked to his CFO Lucius Fox. They were trying to push a vote on expanding Wayne Enterprise to Canada. Most were for it. They just couldn’t agree on where the corporate headquarters should be. The places being thrown around were Toronto, Quebec City, Halifax, and Vancouver. Bruce honestly didn’t care about where they built, but his board members fought back that it was all about location, location, location. 

Lucius sighed and said, “If it wasn’t for the fact that you pay me handsomely for this bullshit, I would have bailed on these idiots an hour ago.”

Bruce smirked and asked, “So it isn’t the box seat passes that I got you for the Giants’ games for the rest of the season?”

Lucius chuckled and said, “Oh, that definitely took the edge off.” Lucias paused for a moment and said, “What exactly do you want me to do with this stalemate they have about Canada? We tried holding a vote but ended up with equal votes for all the cities.”

Bruce rubbed his head for a moment and said, “Have one of the associates make out a proposal for the mayor of each of those respective cities. We know what we can offer in terms of job opportunities and increasing value to the city. See what the representatives can offer us in terms of tax breaks and things of that nature. Whoever offers us the best benefits is the one we go with.”

Lucius sighed and said, “This is why I wished you were here with us an hour ago. We could have ended the meeting in five minutes with an idea like that.”

Bruce chuckled and said, “I needed to be here for Damian. This is an important milestone for him.”

“Are you sure you are not using this as an excuse to get out of a board meeting? Disneyland was a weird choice, but I have seen you choose stranger places to avoid the Board.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and said, “Damian really did have a field trip for Disney. I wasn’t going to let him go by himself. The PTA already think I am an idiot and absentminded as it is….”

Lucius burst out laughing for a few minutes. 

Bruce narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s so funny?”

Lucius’ laugh started tapering off and said, “I’m sorry. I just never thought that you of all people would care what other people think. Imagine what your opposition in your second life would think.”

Bruce gave a deadpan stare and said, “Ha, Ha. Very funny.”

Lucius chuckled and said, “You know I’m kidding right?”

Bruce smiled coyly and said, “Sure you are.”

“Anyway, how is Damian taking to Disney? I’m sure it is different to the other eclectic things he has been exposed to in his childhood.”

Bruce sighed while rubbing the back of his head. He knew going to Disney would be a very foreign concept for his youngest, but he didn’t expect him to fight him the whole way. Or maybe it was wishful thinking. It would definitely explain the looks his other three boys gave him when he mentioned their trip. Dick and Jason just bursted out laughing at the suggestion and Tim started to do research into securing Damian an attorney in case he decided to burn the theme park down in vengeance. 

Bruce shook his head and said, “Damian hasn’t taken too kindly being here. He has already pressed the panic button he has twice to try to get Tim to pick him up since he is with the Titans this week in California. When that didn’t work, he tried to ditch me to go back to the main road to hitchhike before I caught up with him.”

“Considering his other antics are you really surprised by this?”

Bruce sighed and said, “My three older boys have already indicated the same thing. I just want him to have people his age to associate with.”

Bruce looked out the corner of his eye and noticed Lena coming back with several Dole Whips.

While looking at her thoughtfully, Bruce said, “Lucius, if there isn’t anything else, I am going to have to call you back after I get back to Gotham on Monday.”

“Okay, hope things go better with Damian this weekend.”

“You and me both,” muttered Bruce under his breath as he hung up the phone. 

He quickly changed his frown to a passive smile as Lena finally walked up to him. 

Lena smiled and said while handing him a Dole Whip, “Damian and Kara wanted some. I got some for you in case you wanted one as well.”

Bruce gave her a blank stare. He knew that Kara trusted her implicitly, but he still had some nagging thoughts about her. 

Lena chuckled nervously and said, “If you don’t want it, that is fine. I can just give it to Kara. She would probably be excited at the prospect of having two more.”

Bruce let out his charming smile which took Lena off guard for a moment. 

Bruce said, “I would actually like to try some. Some of my employees have talked wonders about this so I am curious if it lives up to all the hype.”

Bruce took the cup from Lena. He began to eat. His eyebrow went up in surprise. He knew that this was similar to ice cream but this is the best ice cream that he has had in a while.

Lena smirked and said, “I take it this means that it far exceeded your expectations.”

Bruce chuckled and said, “Definitely.”

They stood in weird silence with one other. Bruce could tell that Lena kept nervously looking around. Probably wish that Kara would come back as quickly as possible. Originally, Bruce thought about keeping silent until his son and Kara came back but then saw it as an opportunity to get to know the girl. Clark hadn’t been too keen on anyone approaching Lena. Several veiled threats were made if anyone did. If asked, he could use this as an innocent run-in, although he can hear it now from Clark accusing him that it was planned. 

He sighed and said, “Kara has said that you run a children’s hospital.”

Lena smiled and let out a sigh of relief and said, “Yes. I believe in the importance of getting children the best healthcare they could as possible no matter what the cost.”

“What caused you to want to focus on children’s health though?”

Lena looked up thoughtfully and said, “My niece Ruby inspired me actually. She was sick. Most doctors thought it was a cold or at most the flu and said with just over-the-counter medicine it would go away. However, she kept getting sicker and nothing was working. We went to doctor after doctor until one actually did their research and found out what was wrong with her and got her the treatment that she needed to get well. I don’t want any family to have to go through that. Being dismissed and thinking that your concerns aren’t valid. I wanted to have doctors look into everything instead of looking at what is most common. That is when I decided to scout for the best of the best in pediatrics and start my own hospital.”

Bruce gave her an insightful look. Many had regarded Lena using her hospital for nefarious purposes, but he has seen that the commercial that Kara and Lena did a couple of weeks back had changed the discourse around it. Now, more patients have been giving reviews and it has been overall positive. It was good to know that Lena created the hospital as a way to inspire change. Bruce was about to comment as such when he heard his phone ring again. He sighed and looked down and saw that Alfred was calling. He looked at Lena sheepishly and mouthed “One moment.”

Read the rest on AO3

[mrfandomwars]

As we get further away from WWII, DC Comics will have to explain why the JSA* exists and is probably still alive (even if retired) in the present day

*bc, if I recall correctly, they are often created bc of World War II, right?

so here are some solutions that DC (or fans, honestly) can and possibly will use - if they haven't used them already:

Different Earths Colliding - no need to explain why the JSA exists and was made during WWII if they are originally a different earth which was earlier in time!

Time Isn't Real - DC Comics refuse to acknowledge any dates beyond moth and day, at most, and time beyond what happened in the comics - so you will get 'my birthday is on March 6th' and '3 years after Bruce Wayne took up the cowl...'

Time Is Real, But I'm Not Telling You - The Earth operates under a different calendar, in the sense that only the event that is used to define the BCE and CE is different. So you can have people naming dates and years But it's completely different from our years, so for example: Damian could be born in the year 1903 because of this - Bonus Points: Vandal Savage (or any other immortal) is somehow related to the Event that is used, if he didn't outright cause it

Humans Live Longer, idk what to tell you - Suddenly humanity can live for more than 100 years at least!

JSA Is Just Built Different™️- Event happens with the JSA and they all live longer lives than normal humans, be it because they were in the area of a crazy scientist, being around Doctor Fate has Positive Side Effects, magic amulet, this one gem that they used to make a jewellery that every member was given secretly has a magical ability to prologue the health and life of whoever has it - someone could have become immortal with no side effects had they not split it up.

One Way Time Travel - Either by accident or on purpose, the JSA (and possibly people they care about, if DC/the writer is nice) ends up time travelling and can't go back to their correct time so they are stuck in present day and have to adapt

Regular Time Travel - Barry Allen found out how to time travel and now people tag along with him to interact with the JSA and bond with them - possibly accidentally starts a different timeline that will have to be handled or declared a 'branch' timeline.

[archvillain-fandom]

response to barry lyga’s un/edited

Not sure what this is. A book review, maybe. A creative writing exercise. The ramblings of a madwoman. Whatever it is, it had to be written.

We’re sitting in the backyard of my childhood home, on our butts, on the grass, on top of the hill. It’s not the backyard as it is now, years after we sold the house and the new owners remodeled it, but it’s not the backyard from my first memories. The treehouse that my dad built for me at age 10 is in the avocado tree, and the giant eucalyptus has been cut down. I stare at the stump, big enough for a little girl to use as a table for her dolls.

“Who am I?” my indefinite companion asks.

“You’re Kyle Camden,” I reply.

“Oh.” Kyle looks at his body, which is suddenly a lot clearer. “From Archvillain?”

“Sort of,” I say. “You’re a version of Kyle that I extrapolated from Archvillain. You’re close to the character that was written, but not exactly the same. You’re a subversion of the real thing.”

“There is no ‘real’ Kyle Camden,” Kyle says.

“Touché.”

“So what’s different about me?” he asks.

I sigh. “Who knows? Maybe you’re less snarky. Maybe you have more empathy. Maybe you’re really me, when I was twelve. Who knows?”

“You said ‘who knows’ twice in the last paragraph,” he points out.

“I’ll get it when I edit,” I shrug. “Or maybe I won’t edit this. His book is called ‘Unedited,’ after all.”

“It’s called ‘Edited,’ too,” Kyle says. “Doesn’t that mean you should edit?”

I sigh. “Don’t be a smartass.”

His eyes widen. “Wait, we can curse in this?”

“Sure,” I say. “This isn’t a Scholastic book. This is a blog post on a blog with fewer than fifty followers. Nobody’s going to care.”

He laughs, long and loud. “FUCK!” he yells. And then, not as loud, but just as exuberant, “Fuck, that felt good! I’ve been wanting to fucking swear since I was fucking created.”

I laugh too. “I’m glad I can offer you that much, at least.”

“After all I’ve given you?” he says dryly.

“Well, fuck, Kyle, don’t act all self-important now.”

“That’s the character,” he says. “That’s the original character.”

“I guess,” I say.

He furrows his brow. “If what you say is true, though… I’m not the original character. I’m an approximation, based on your interpretation. Which means that I clearly mean a lot to you. Which means that I’m not being self-important. So there!”

“You’re being a smartass again,” I say.

He shrugs wordlessly. We both stare at the eucalyptus stump.

“You know,” I say, finally breaking the silence, “I don’t think I ever used that stump as a table for my dolls. I think I just said that in the first paragraph to evoke memories of a rosy childhood, playing in the backyard without a care in the world. In real life, I think I was too anxious about getting my dolls dirty to take them outside.”

Kyle turns to look at me, but doesn’t say anything.

“Or maybe,” I continue, “I didn’t make that up. My sister convinced me to bring our dolls outside, and I went along with it to make her happy. I don’t remember.”

“You have a sister?” Kyle says.

“Younger,” I say. “Three and a half years apart.” I nod in the direction of the stump, at the bottom of the hill. “When that was a tree… the lowest branch was level with the second story of the house. It looked like a hundred feet up– maybe it was. My dad hung a rope swing from that branch. No fucking clue how he got it up there. But he hung a rope swing with a hundred feet of rope– well, there were two ropes holding up the swing, so I guess it was two hundred… hmm…”

“Focus,” Kyle snaps.

“Anyway,” I say. “My sister was a climber. Climbed everything vertical. And so she decided to climb the rope swing. There were no knots or anything, just straight rope. But she took her shoes off, rubbed dirt on her hands, and started climbing. She was seven or eight. And she climbed up, almost to the top. And she made eye contact with my mom, through the second-story window.”

“And then your mom screamed, and your sister panicked, and lost her grip, and fell to her death,” said Kyle.

“No,” I say. “My mom kept her cool, and ordered her to come down. My sister made her way back down the rope, endured a lecture, and is now a student at the same college that I went to.”

“That’s a bad ending,” Kyle tells me. “There’s no payoff. We learn nothing.”

“I have a fear of heights,” I tell him, although that seems kind of redundant. “Now you’ve learned that.”

“I don’t have that fear,” he grins. “I can fly.”

“I know.”

“It’s kind of weird that you have a fear of heights, but love a story about falling,” he says.

“Falling?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Archvillain is about falling.”

“What do you mean by that?” I ask, but he only shrugs.

I wait a moment, before I say, “You don’t sound like the real Kyle.”

“I told you, there is no real Kyle.”

“Original Kyle, then. The non-bastardized Kyle.”

“Maybe that’s because you’re writing me,” he says.

“Probably,” I agree.

He says nothing, and so I add, “The tree story is my running-in-front-of-a-car-to-get-an-action-figure story.”

He throws his hands up. “Oh, now we’re talking about the book!”

I shrug. “If you want, we can.”

“If I’m Kyle Camden, then I must be, in some way, partly Barry Lyga. And if I’m partly Barry Lyga, then I must want to know what you thought of his– my– book.”

“I think the part of you that’s me is placing much more weight on my opinion than the part of you that’s Barry Lyga really would.”

“Fuck, that’s confusing,” says Kyle.

“I got confused writing that sentence,” I say.

“But seriously, what did you think of the book?”

“It was…” I try to think of some adjective, and fail. “It was. It existed.”

“Seriously?” Kyle says in disbelief. “That’s all you’ve got? Aren’t you supposed to be a writer?”

“I’m a writer,” I say. “I never said I was a good writer.”

“‘It existed,’” Kyle mocks. “Wow. Put that on the cover of the second edition. ‘It existed,’ signed Amanda P———, owner of one of the most obsessive Tumblr blogs in existence. That’ll sell more copies.”

“It–“ I sigh. “Isn’t that a compliment? In a work of metafiction, where the characters are grappling with their existence, under an author-god grappling with his own creations, under the real author grappling with his publisher, isn’t it enough to say it existed?”

“No,” says Kyle.

“You’re infuriating,” I say.

“It’s why you like me,” he replies.

I exhale. “The truth is that I don’t get this book. But this book gets me. You follow?”

“No,” he says again.

“It’s just–“ I take a breath, and try again. “It’s just that when I read it, something clicked. Details lined up. It was like it was written for only me.”

“It wasn’t, though,” he says.

“No, you’re not getting it. I had like, a God moment. It was the same feeling that I had when I first read your book.”

“Didn’t you read my section in Unedited?” Kyle says. “God isn’t real. It’s a coherent 13-dimensional waveform–“

“Alright, I don’t feel like typing the whole rant out,” I say. “I get it. I’m not special.”

“Whatever details you thought ‘lined up’ were just coincidences. Common human experiences.”

“You’re starting to sound like Lyga’s Kyle again,”

I say.

“If you’re to be believed, that’s who I really am,” he says. “Or maybe your bastardization has stuck. Maybe, in his mind, a part of you has embedded itself in his conception of me.”

“Or maybe that’s just my ego talking,” I say.

“Maybe,” he says. “I think you have a bigger ego than he does. Which is saying something, considering he wrote a book where he’s both God and the Devil.”

I put my head in my hands. “Fuck this shit. Can’t we just go back to sitting in the backyard?”

“Sure,” says Kyle. “It’s nice here.”

We both sit.

We both sit.

We both sit.

I say, finally, “I did like the book.”

“You only read it to see me,” he says.

“Well, yeah, at first,” I say. “But then I couldn’t stop. Screwed up my whole day at work because I couldn’t get my mind off of it.”

“You work?” Kyle says.

“I’m twenty-two,” I say. “A college graduate. Of course I work.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a government drone,” I deadpan. Kyle chuckles. “I work for my city. For now, possibly forever.”

“It’s funny,” he says. “I never pictured you working.”

“You’re a fictional character,” I tell him. “You can’t picture anything.”

“I can picture as much as he can picture,” he says. “Or, well, as much as you can picture that he can picture.”

“Well, I was fourteen when I first read Archvillain,” I say. “I wasn’t even a babysitter back then. And now–“

“Now it’s been, like, eight years,” Kyle says.

“Nine, nearly.”

“Jesus. That’s a lot of time to be devoted to one book series.”

“I have other interests,” I say. “I have stories that are really mine.”

“But they’re not Archvillain,” says Kyle.

“Yeah,” I say. “I guess it ties back into that ‘first love’ theme.”

“A book series is not a first love,” Kyle says. “Enough of me is you that I know Archvillain was not your first love.”

“I had Archvillain before I had her,” I say.

“Her?” Kyle says. “You’re gay?”

“Bi,” I say. “Maybe. Or ace. Or gay. Or straight. Does it matter? I loved her the way Mike loved Phil. The way you love Mairi.”

“That’s not healthy,” he says.

“No,” I agree. “That’s why it ended.”

“Do you regret it?” Kyle asks.

“I hate her some days,” I say. “Most days. I hate myself for blowing it up, too. It was really my fault that it ended. If I hadn’t freaked out when she set a boundary, we’d still be friends.”

“You weren’t together?” he asks.

“Nah.”

“Damn.”

We sit, until Kyle says, “I’m gay too. I think.”

I laugh. “I was never sure whether Barry Lyga always intended you to be gay, or whether he just did that to make my teenage self happy.”

“Guess you’ll never know,” says Kyle.

“Guess I’ll never know,” I say. “Although, you and the Mad Mask…”

He groans. “It doesn’t matter. When the series ends, the young Mad Mask is hell-bent on revenge, and the old Mad Mask is lost to time. It’s not happening.”

“Then, you and Mike…”

“It’s not happening,” he says again.

“If I were writing the series…” I start.

“But you’re not!” he interrupts. “It’s not your series. It’ll never be yours.”

“And yet you’re partly me,” I say.

He looks down at his blue-gloved hands. “Yeah, well. Sometimes stuff sticks.”

“Yeah.” I pause, and then I say what’s been on my mind since I read Edited. “Do you think the email is based on me?”

“Email?” He furrows his brow. “What email?”

“In his book. George writes an email to Gayl Rybar, or maybe Barry Lyga, telling him how important his work is. That he kept him from killing himself, because of his writing.”

“I liked George,” mused Kyle. “When I met him.”

“When I was sixteen, I emailed Barry Lyga. I told him how important his work was. I didn’t say it kept me from killing myself, but that was what I was thinking. Do you think that part was based on me?”

Kyle frowns. “I doubt it. He probably gets a lot of teenage emails.”

“Maybe,” I say.

“I think it’s stupid to think that anything in that book is related to you. Maybe Barry Lyga put an Archvillain section in knowing that you’d enjoy it– maybe. But I think you’re just desperate for connection, as a new adult in a remote job, and are leaning back on your old favorite series for comfort.”

“Maybe,” I say again. “You sound like his Kyle.”

“I only sound like Lyga’s Kyle when I’m making you uncomfortable,” he says.

“Maybe,” I say, for the third time.

“You thought that email was written by George?” Kyle asks.

“When I read Edited, I did,” I say. “George is a fan of Gayl Rybar. It makes sense.”

“But he isn’t a fan in Unedited,” says Kyle. “So he can’t have written it, since Lyga wrote that book first.”

“Yeah, I guess I can’t really know,” I say. “It’s all fictional, anyway.”

“Never stopped you from wondering before.”

“You’re very aggravating,” I tell him.

He raises his hands in defense. “Hey, you’re the one writing me.”

I pick my legs up off the grass and hug my knees. “I can’t believe I’m twenty-two.”

“You’re young. Don’t complain about it,” Kyle says.

“You’re younger than me. You’re twelve.”

“I’ve been twelve since 2010. Technically, I’m older than you.”

“In Barry Lyga’s original outline of Archvillain–“

“Oh, shut up!” Kyle exclaims. “Nobody cares about that but you. There’s not going to be any more Archvillain– no books, no short stories, no cartoon. You need to get over it, and grow up.”

I glare at him. “Can I finish my fucking sentence?” He rolls his eyes, and I continue, “In the original outline, Kyle gets visited by his future self in Tomorrow Today. I was fifteen or sixteen when I learned that, and I thought, okay, how old is future Kyle? And I settled on twenty-two.”

“And now you’re twenty-two,” he finishes.

“Exactly. And I keep thinking of going back in time, of talking to my younger self. Of what I would say.”

“What would you say?”

“I don’t know. That it gets better? That I shouldn’t feel so guilty all the time? That I should keep writing? I doubt I’d listen. I doubt you’d listen to your older self, if that book had ever been written.”

“I think you’re thinking about this a little too much,” says Kyle.

“Okay, that definitely was the Lyga part of you.”

“You’re still writing me,” he says. “And I’m sure Barry Lyga, the real one, doesn’t see me as half him, half you. I’m all his, in his mind, and you’re a deranged fan who needs to find a hobby.”

I accept this. “You’re probably right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m a genius,” he says.

I smile. “I did kind of kidnap your series.”

“That’s a good way of putting it,” he says.

“I’m writing a book about that now,” I say. “Kidnapping. Murder. Real dark shit.”

“That’s a departure from the middle grade stuff.”

“Yeah, well,” I shrug. “You gotta write what you gotta write.”

“Like this piece?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, for a book review, we didn’t talk about the book that much,” Kyle says.

“Yeah, well, if he wants an actual review, he can look on Goodreads. Anyway, I’m going to call this a response, not a review.”

“Very English major of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Not a compliment.”

“If I was a real English major, I would know how to end this,” I say.

“There we are, tying back into the book!” Kyle exclaims.

“It wasn’t intentional. I think that endings are hard for everyone.”

“Oh,” says Kyle. “But it has to end sometime.”

“I guess it does,” I say. “How would you end it?”

“I’m guessing that people hailing me as a true hero isn’t an option?” he says. I shake my head. “I don’t know. Sitting here is nice. We could just keep doing that.”

“That’s a bad ending,” I say. “There’s no payoff. We learn nothing.”

He shrugs, for the final time. And we sit.

[crayonon]

🔥Flarecare🔥

Relations

Here’s the fated relationship post. Under the cut is all the relationship stuff between each and every “canon” Comet ship and why it will or won’t be in the comic. Here we go!

Cometcule

Doolly/Winternight: I feel like this has some potential. They’re both sort of introverted so maybe they can find some common ground in that area. Both would feel some kind of… jealousy for the other’s life? Polly would want nothing more than to be left alone and Doom wants to be seen as wanted by people. Strangely enough, opposites attract in this case. They will be the only married couple on the polycule, and will have a child.

Barruni/FactFiction: There is no chemistry, they will just be friends.

Pollarry/Northern Lights: Polly in this has little to no feelings for Barry. In this I feel like it’d be hard to imagine it having feelings for almost anyone. When it first got its TUC, it noticed how everyone started acting different. I imagine it was a school outcast before and didn’t really have the social skills for any friends. Until it got TUC, then everyone wanted to be its friend. After that, she had built a guarded personality, assuming that anyone who even liked or showed romantic interest in her just liked her because of base instincts, and in Barry’s case she was right. Barry’s infatuation just made her uncomfortable. There was one who didn’t like her, though…

Polluni/Kissmas Story: Uni was the only one who didn’t like her back at the hospital. At first she was confused about why. What did she ever do to her? But after a while, he realized that he almost forgot what it was like to actually have someone think negatively of him. Call him crazy, but it was… almost refreshing. His interest grew from there, and he decided to make a deal with Uni. They don’t bother her, she doesn’t bother them. Maybe after a while they can be acquainted. After a while, the feelings got stronger, but it wasn’t the cold. After the release, and after Polly gets their treatment (I’m gonna also be combining my Defrosted AU into this), they expected Uni to no longer be interested, but instead they marveled at the newfound softness and warmth of their fur, and the beautiful color that sprouted as a result of the treatment. It was all over at that point. They are dating, but they don’t have any children.

Doomi/Darkmagic: Maybe in another timeline where Doom wasn’t part of an organization where he had to kill ppl? But I can’t deny that I like the ship, so I’ll make it true for this AU. They are dating and they have a child.

Doomry/Labrat: No chemistry, plus they hate each other. Roommates. I don’t see it personally but I feel like their dynamic works better as a slow, cautious friendship rather than a romance. I’d like to think they’d start to be allies for each other as time goes on. Maybe it would later turn into a will they-won’t they situation? No kids in the end, either way.

Chem will not exist. Same goes for Ally, Eve, Sly, and Wendy. 2 kids :3

Outside Families

They will all be relegated to family friends and aunts, uncles, or auncles, and all of their relationships will be tweaked too

For one, all of Hemmie’s additional qpps are gone, it’s too much to keep track of, she’s only gonna be qpps with Carrie. But they won’t have a child.

Only Jay and Till will be together, since I feel like there would still be some raw spots in they and Carrie’s relationship. Miley will only be with Bec and Jandy will be dating Carrie.

Carrie will live with the 4 as a roommate and will be qpps with Uni. Funfi, Lovella, and Piñata will still be together, but there is no romantic connection between Puppy and Piñata. Mood and Rem are still together and have Maddie (renamed to Madge).

That might be all of them, and in total we cut down on 14 children!!

[panie-wanie-dean-bean]

HEY CULT AU QUESTION CAUSE I'M ALWAYS ROTATING THAT AU IN MY MIND:

Gonna be self indulgent and ask how they'd all be with a sadistic founder's child. How much pain and humiliation and degradation can each of them take? How much do each of them like to take?

Ohhhh, a very fun one. Before we start it is importaint to note that all of them would take a fucking bullet for you, this is more how much pain they like

Jack: Jack's a big fuckin guy and can take quite a few hits but he doesn't gain any real satisfaction from it? It's just not his thing, though if we're talking purely how much he could take before tapping out you could hit the guy with your car. Now, and he'd never fucking tell anyone this, if you call him your favorite little slut he'll make the cutest little moan in the back of his throat. He isn't cool with straight up degradation but when mixed with praise or possessiveness it gets him weak in the knees. He's seen as very family friendly within the town but behind closed doors with others in the harem he could get into it a bit. No Barry though, he knows the bastard's tricks

Rory: Rory is built a little different when it comes to pain. This is Jack's boyfriend we're talking about, whatever you got up your sleave he can take. He prefers "soft" pain? Like, pain delivered with praise and kisses. He thinks knives are very nice and would love if you drank some of his blood and might just cum if you kiss him with his blood on your lips. He can handle degradation if it's a joke but once he's in sub space he just can't handle it, he will cry in the not sexy way. He's the same as Jack with the "no outside" rule but is much more open and willing to be humiliated in front of the other harem members, but they still have to follow the no degradation rule

Jean: HIT. HIM. WITH. YOUR. CAR. Ok, not really, but motherfucker gives it a bit softer than he likes it so you can just go to town on him, no remorse. Aftercare with him has to be planed ahead of time and followed to the letter. He's cool with surprises in the bedroom but when you're taking care of him things have to be fully spelled out or he'll panic. You can say the meanest, filthiest shit to this man and he'll get hard, don't hold back. He don't do humiliation, sorry, he has a reputation to up hold and he can't have the others seeing him like that. Now, if you could get dommy Ian in the mix he'll do fucking anything, no other eyes though, period

Joseph: Another one that wants you to just fuckin kill him. Joseph is a little obsessed with your powers to heal people and really wants to see you kiss his heart and then put it back in his rib cage. He can do degradation but anything that would suggest you don't want him any more is off the table. He love love loves humiliation, just make this man your absolut bitch in front of the whole town and he'll beg for more

Bo: He's not that into pain himself, he sees it as a sign he's been bad and will fully dissociate. You can not call him a bad boy in any way while he's in puppy space he will have a panic attack. As for humiliation he can handle it so much as it doesn't really phase him? He walks around on all fours wearing your collar and leash he doesn't have human conceptions of what's appropriate

Nick: He does not sub very often and when he does he'd like to be taken care of so a lot of pain play is off the table. He's cool with lighter spanking, biting, and scratches. Aside from that he's just not very masochistic. He fucking loves degradation and humiliation though! He especially when you call him your filthy stalker and make him answer for stealing your shit. His favorite scene is where he stole your lipstick and you make him pull it out of his pocket and describe how he put it on thinking of your lips

Shaun: Oh he's all for pain but be warned it only makes him more feral. He likes to be roughed up as he fights back and tells you to stop as he bucks back against you. He loves when you tell him how degusting he is for getting off to being raped in the woods like this and how you're sure everyone in town can hear how much he loves your cock

Ian: He loves being beaten and bruised beyond belief but you have to let him cry it out after. It's not a sign he didn't like it, the release is just part of it for him and makes the experience complete. But yeah, use and abuse him with your toys, hands, words, even other harem members so long as you remind him how much you love him when he's crying into your shoulder

Barry: Barry doesn't sub, period, he's not big on pain either. Now, he will get hard if you tell him about all the fucked up shit you know he's been doing but that's more because he loves how it feeds his ego for being a shitty person. This man reviles in being an asshole so degradation doesn't really work on him. He'll just go "Aren't I just?" and walk off like nothing happened