#for as much of an absolute shitshow this week has been for me

[abysskeeper]

“Talking to the mirror say, ‘Save your breath Half your life you've been hooked on death’“

Just like...yeah. Yeah alright.

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Ring of Rage? More Like Ring of Engage

The thing is, Tim didn't mean to put it on. He was just kind of playing with it to keep his hands busy while he was thinking about the recent murder case. GCPD had their hands full with the serial robbers that didn't rank high enough to catch Batman's attention, and Tim never had a problem with helping the police if he had time.

And the ring was a perfect fidget toy, if he is being honest. Small and plain enough not to distract him, but the round stone in the middle was loosely attached, making it able to spin inside the frame. Which is what he did, again and again, like those fidget spinners.

Of course, he was just destined to drop it sooner or later. And then, when he reached under the table to pick it up, his finger caught inside the ring, and, well.

The ring was now firmly on his finger.

The problem was that he couldn't take it off.

It wasn't stuck, at least not in the general sense of it - Tim could easily spin it around, and it wasn't tight. But it wasn't loose either, and as soon as he tried to move it past the knuckle, the ring heavily disagreed, almost like shrinking down and absolutely refusing to be detached.

Barbara suggested soap, which didn't work. Dick tried for a more mechanical approach, first with pliers and then with a laser, which the ring resisted with no effort. Cass, who was actually the one who brought the damned thing into the Cave after one of her adventures in Hong Kong, just smiled and shrugged, which was of no help either. Damian offered to cut the finger off, which probably would have helped, but Tim rather liked all his limbs attached.

Bruce called Constantine. The magician took one look at the ring, barked a humorless laugh, and pat Tim on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Congrats, mate," he said, a wry smile on his lips, "I hope you file for divorce."

Although, while all the rest of the Bats and Birds devolved into fits of hysterical laughter (Steph), indignant sputtering (Damian), and cries of outrage (everyone else sans Alfred, who was pointedly unimpressed), Tim couldn't even bring himself to be surprised. Really, his life had been a shitshow since he was around ten. It's not like he didn't expect himself to be accidentally married to some otherworldly magical creature by this point.

The worst part - worse than the actual engagement, that is - was that Constantine couldn't exactly tell them who the spouse was.

What he did say was that the Ring belonged to the King of Infinite Realms, Keeper of Unseen Worlds, and Eyes of Universe. But those were only titles, and, as John Constantine begrudgingly admitted, there has been a change in the management recently, so no one really knew what the new almighty monarch looked like or what they were, much less their whereabouts.

"You can't blame me for not being keen to find out, though," John said, wincing, "The last one was a bloody tyrant, and the Realms operate under the right of conquest rule."

At least, the mage assured them that since the being had not yet come to collect their shiny new spouse, they might never show up at all. The Ring has been lost for ages after all, so maybe the King didn't even remember having one. Or, the previous King didn't, and the new one didn't know about or didn't care.

The first week after the incident, they spent anxiously researching and worrying. Bruce even went as far as making Tim wear a tracker at all times, which was not great, but he did appreciate the gesture. Kind of.

After the first month with no sign of any changes, the worry started to abate. In half a year, most of the family stopped trying to keep an eye on Tim at all times lest he suddenly disappeared. Two years later, even Tim himself treated the Ring as a natural part of his daily life. The stone inside was still a great fidget toy, engagement or not.

Three years, one month, and five days after Tim first put the Ring on his finger, when the world was falling apart and breaking in front of him and there was not a single thing he could do to stop it anymore, Tim pressed his lips to the cold, dark strip of unknown metal on his finger.

"Whoever you are, I don't even care, please," he whispered in a useless prayer, his voice hoarse and his throat dry, "please, help."

And the world came to a stop with a short, amused chuckle.

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask."

[part 2 ->]

[dicktat]

since you're like thee designated Hakon lover in this fandom (/pos) , I was wondering if you could explain his backstory a bit? I'm a new fan and just so confused by his motives

sorry if this is annoying! 😭

Hi!!! Sorry this literally took forever I spent the entire week tinkering with this piece because I would love answering this for you🥺🥺🥺so here’s my comprehensive character analysis on Hakon tho fair warning it’s mostly personal thoughts but I hope you enjoy anyway! Welcome to my absolutely normal and not at all freaky overanalyzing autistic nonsense and definitely filled with all the psychology major knowledge I possess and not what came up on an acid trip

So it all begins here, the man who saved you from the gallows and spared you a life, the whore, the conspirator, the saint. Who is he and what makes him what he is? I’d love to take a crack at it.

Maybe we should start from his flashbacks. I always headcanonned him to be a bit of a nebulous figure, possibly grew up with an unfunctioning household, explains why his marital life is a shitshow. Either learned to be promiscuous from his parents or the other way around, extremely religious ridden family that pushed him to be a helpless romantic horndog. He’s free spirited, as seen from the way he explains his past life, 4 wives, countless partners, the way he met his buddy for life in the military and went broke for his disobedience(he’s probably super rebellious when he’s young), became a taxi driver (yet another free spirited job) and a Nightrunner. We don’t know much about his past but we can probably speculate. For me I kind of like the idea of a young punk player with a vision of helping others, probably once an idealist, but still extremely empathic and caring.

(totally random but here's an old drawing of young Hakon with pretty long hair)

Then the fall happened and everything turned to shit, from what we can gather he defected to the renegades not long after the Nightrunner disbanded, and that's where his suffering all begins. We know he probably was kind of mistreated under Walt's command, you know, the whole renegades not listening to his orders and turning on him thing?

He probably learned to take it laying down, from the way he easily submits everytime Aiden uses force on him, surrendering himself at the hideout and the church typical reaction of an abuse victim but we're not gonna unpack that. We obviously can't say for sure what happened in those years that made him who he is, from a passionate "remember when we used to help others" and romantic youth to...dare some say...villain?

No. I do not believe he’s inherently evil and I think people saying he’s irredeemable is wrong. He’s manipulative, calculated and morally grey, but none of that is without a reason. He lies, deceives and betrays to protect, not just for the ones he love but for himself. See I happen to study a bit of this kind of personality and I can safely conclude he’s doing everything outta FEAR. He’s afraid of loosing his loved ones and that’s why he turned to his enemy, he’s afraid of death so he does whatever to survive, he’s afraid of intimacy so he puts on a deceptive disguise of a playful bastard so he can drown out the voices when he’s terrified and alone.

See this is where I bring out the hottest take of the fandom yet. I think his motivation has always been LOVE, but he always ends up doing the worst thing. He loved Lawan, He loved his unborn child, He probably loved Aiden (platonically or romantically it doesn’t matter) too. But the results? Lawan resented him for ten years and he’s deemed a fraud by everyone he ever loved, his child never got to see the beauty of the world and worst of all he of all people hurt Aiden the most. I think it’s both ironic and poetic that his feelings for his loved ones became his biggest enemy and is the very reason he suffers. He’s creating all the tragedies of his life because he’s a lover first thinker second. If you know a little about MBTI (it’s okay if you don’t you can skip this part) you’d see his extremely obvious ENFJ personality.

Everything he does is outta love (Fe) and intuition (Ni), which is not to say he’s literally mother Teresa because this bitch is complex!!! And with his inferior logical thinking (Ti) he’s kind of dumb at times, because what do you mean this bitch went on ten years without at least sending Frank a message explaining everything.

But the worst thing about him is that he is disordered. None of his motivation is pure and that’s his greatest bane. He’s good but not upfront enough to be honest with the person who he saved, he’s evil but not calloused enough to kill the pilgrim at the bazaar, he’s brave enough to carry all the burdens on himself for ten years but so much of a coward he’s terrified of losing anyone for five minutes. If he was cynical like Waltz he would’ve taken the key and killed Aiden when he was unconscious, if he was a paragon of virtue like Frank he would’ve done everything to ensure the pilgrim is safe. But he’s neither. And that makes his position so much more tragic considering his current reputation, the most deplorable Nightrunner to ever exist and the Saint of all renegades.

And he’s always been just that. His disorderly morals and ambiguous stance in alliance forces him to make decisions that he probably regrets, he’s always in some kind of moral dilemma. Chose between allowing all his friends to die at the VNC tower or risk his reputation and bail, chose between his loved one getting killed by Waltz or become his personal slave for ten years, chose between killing his new found trusting partner or his ticket to a safer life outside the walls.

He’s always hesitant, hell, I doubt he even knows what he wants and always contradicting his words. From the church fight alone he said both "we're not friends, never were" and "consider this a divorce". Is that something a person says if he truly wants you dead? And him immediately ceasing to fight after you initiated understanding is also just him being unsure about his decisions and showing he probably didn't want to do this. Again I'm not downplaying what he did. He's a dick. But not entirely.

I think it's obvious the game doesn't want you to see him as the villain. From all the hints of him not being as bad as others made him to be to Frank being an unreliable narrator(and calling him Satan himself), the game introduced him as something far more malicious than what he really is, and it's from analyzing his actions and motivations that we see he's probably not horrible.

Remember the mural at one of the old houses in Trinity?

Yeah it's a reference missed by many, but I think it truly encapsulates what he is. Not Satan himself or a savior, but rather once an angelic figure turned unsavory. The fallen Nightrunner haunted by guilt and remorse.

I think Lawan's route of killing him really insinuates the point most, from seeing him as the root of all evils to finally putting him under and her only comment is all this time of hunting the devil down, "he just looks...vulnerable".

I am actually so glad you asked this. I’ve seen people argue about it all the time. He’s an extremely complicated character and I think it’s such an injustice to his writing if the audience were to label him “good” or “evil”. He’s well written because he’s ambiguous. And I love to interpret what he is like.

Also my apologies for the crazy essay I wish this satisfied your question and you’re so welcome to ask more. Again there might be some biases in there because I am passionate about his character (also stoopppppppp wdym I’m the certified Hakon lover/pos) thank you for reading this and I hope this fandom treats you well🥰🥰🥰

[frikatilhi]

good morning, is sad bojere bitches working hours yet? Is the office open? *banging on a door✊️*

I keep thinking about that "Bojan where are you send me something!"... What if the calls really stopped and it's been not a week but a month or more? The last time they tried to make a call something was always in a way on both ends so they just said they'll try again next time, but without fixing a date. And Jere tried sending couple of memes but Bojan was busy recording so he replied only much later and only a reaction... And now it feels to Jere like he might be bothering him so he's trying not to reach out anymore 😭 but he's missing Bojan so much especially now with all the shit that gone down and all the anniversaries 😭😭 he's thinking "of course Bojan doesn't need someone who keeps landing in a mess, it's been a year anyway he's much younger and much prettier it's okay if he has to move on" 😭😭😭 but Jere is waiting of course, grabbing his phone at every vibration... hoping it's him this time... Maybe he can even make the trip to Slovenia happen this year instead of next year... will it be too late? will Bojan even want him there? *Jere's voice inside his head* 😭😭😭😭

Come on in, we're open for business!

*reads the rest*

HEY NOW WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT---

I absolutely refuse to accept this, but let's say for the sake of the argument that meanwhile, on Bojan's side, he's missing Jere like crazy but since he's left him on read too many times now he doesn't know what to say, and he doens't go on insta or twitter so he doesn't even know everything that's going on... But then they post the new song online and watch the esc final and it hits him how it's the anniversary of everything, and this time Jere is there without him, and it seems like such a shitshow, is he holding up okay???

And he finally picks up the phone and calls and they talk all through the night, about everything, and Bojan says Jere's doing so well despite everything and it'll all be alright and I'm with you no matter what, okay??

And Jere says that his fall tour dates are published soon and there's a Ljubljana date there with a few spare days around it, and if Bojan's up for it he could maybe show him around..?

And Bojan pretends to think about it, I dunno man I might be busy??

To which Jere says he's a little shit and smells like it too and all is well the end

[fiveht]

hello, again!! i am once more thinking about disarm and i was reading some of your answers about it and ugh i’m so obsessed it’s not even funny

but anyway if there’s something you wanna rant about those two, or if there’s a little snippet you’d like to share, consider this ask your sign to ramble away, please and thanks xx

Hi! You sent this like over a week ago and I've been struggling to think of an adequate answer, mostly because I've been spending ALL my mental energy on finishing the sequel to Disarm, which is their cute lil Christmas together. (If you consider absolute gutter filth to be cute, that is.)

The good news is, the sequel is now written! I'm planning to start posting in early November, to give my beautifully supportive beta/muse/bestie @sadbookboys time to wade through what is likely to be a grammatical and structural shitshow. The thing is over 50k words, and there's SO MUCH PORN. 

So here's just a little detail to lead us into the 13 days of Christmas (and check here for an actual snippet if you're interested!)

Remus started buying Christmas gifts for Sirius the day after their first kiss. They hadn't discussed Christmas yet, they hadn't even had sex, but Remus was consumed by the urge to buy Sirius something pretty, and he was going to make sure he could see him over the holidays, even if it was just long enough to give him a present. And then another day went by, and he bought something else. And then again, and again, and again… when it comes to his baby, Remus has more money than sense. He's never wanted to spoil someone before, and he doesn't see any reason to limit himself when he can afford it and Sirius clearly deserves it. So he had about a dozen presents already purchased before he asked Sirius if he wanted to spend Christmas together. And then Sirius said yes, and Remus went out and bought like six more things. He got a bunch of them wrapped at the mall, and hastily shoved the rest into gift bags and piled them all into a guest room closet where he knew they'd be safe from Rieka's scrutiny.

Sirius, on the other hand, has never actually celebrated Christmas, not in any real way. The Blacks would go to mass on Christmas Eve, and his parents would have a horrible, stuffy party for their horrible, stuffy friends, and Sirius and Regulus were forced to wear ill-fitting suits and stand in the corner being seen and not heard. And those are the positive Christmas memories. If he managed to skate through it completely ignored, it was a win. So Remus asking to spend the holidays with him came completely out of left field, and when Remus says he wants to spoil him, all Sirius is expecting is like, home cooked meals and lots of sex. (He's going to get those things too, he's just also going to get an absolutely disgusting number of extravagant gifts to go with it.)

Thank you so much for the ask, and sorry it took so long for me to respond! Stay tuned, I'm aiming to post chapter one of Christmas on November 6. ❤️

[jyndor]

lbr star wars has had shitty writing always. it's always been messy. it's always been imperfect. the quality dip between s2 and s3 of the mandalorian is so widely discussed but it came after a real dip in quality after s1 so let's not act as if the acolyte having problems is the reason it got canceled.

the acolyte has real problems but yall still show up for equally messy projects if they are about the same characters that we have seen over and over again, and those projects have the space and room to be imperfect. I'm not saying star wars fans don't always criticize every project ever because of course we do, but the way that people spoke about the acolyte... as someone who didn't have time to watch until like last week, I expected an absolute shitshow and I got a good show with some structural issues but mainly good bones.

and yes, star wars fatigue is REAL but people showed up for the ahsoka show, for the kenobi show, for mando, for the bad batch, and even for boba fett. all of which have episodes that are as bad as anything in the acolyte, if not worse.

but andor? the most well-written, well-acted star wars anything I've ever seen??? okay so it's not about jedi and space wizards and shit, but it's extremely star wars. but okay it's meant for a more adult audience so of course it isn't going to have the numbers that mando gets. sure, fine - but when it was announced, there was so much immediate disinterest and confusion amongst alleged star wars fans who I REMEMBER loving rogue one, saying shit like "who asked for this" and "who cares about cassian" and a lot of them ate crow when the show that was aimed at the one big critique of rogue one (that the characters didn't have enough time to develop) turned out to be as good as the big prestige shows from hbo etc.

but even then who gets the most attention from fans? the white core world-coded (ie: us american and british accented) characters. meanwhile, even after delivering one of the finest performances in star wars history (and somehow maintaining a balance of being the lead actor with all of the presence required for that, and also being an excellent supporting presence when other actors have their moments to shine) people have the audacity to say diego luna, who put so much into this project, is a weak part of the show or cassian is irrelevant or whatever BITCH-

and diego luna is a white latino. us american audiences racialize all latinos as non-white or conditionally white, and ~it just so happens~ his show - which should have been a massive hit with most star wars fans tbh - had a smaller audience for a STAR WAR. and we had to beg people to just give it a shot - we had to beg people who ALLEGEDLY care about diversity and queer rep and good stories to watch it. canon queen wlw! and not a peep from the people who will ship any two women characters who look at each other for a long moment. I mean, same but COME ON???

now the acolyte is not andor, but it doesn't have to be andor - it needs to be itself. and it is! it's not perfect but why the fuck does a star war need to be perfect? star wars have never been perfect, fuck the prequels are still a mess idc what you people my age think they're Not Good. but you and I have Made Them Good because they have good bones and there is a lot there to work with.

the acolyte is WORLDS better than the phantom menace and attack of the clones in terms of writing. it has some structure issues and could have used a couple more episodes to delve more deeply into the characters' motivations. but the acting? 10000% better and you won't convince me otherwise.

you know what? I have major problems with cassian's characterization in andor. I don't think it is consistent with who cassian was written to have been as a youth in rogue one. but I'm not gonna throw in with reactionary cunts who hate the show because it has the audacity to be led by a mexican actor. when I've criticized andor, I've done it in support of andor ALWAYS. meanwhile these freak ass pro-jedi types who essentially call any critique of jedi (individual or institutionally) genocide apologia while basically denying irl genocide -

these types are so offended by a show making the most tepid observations about how jedi are people and like all people are not infallible even if they are well intentioned, but that also the dark side of the force does harm the force user, that you joined in on the reactionary bashing of a show led by a NON BINARY BLACK ACTRESS and a very, very diverse cast.

meanwhile, this is a show that probably was going to end with the dark side being a danger to everyone since imo that's clearly where they were going but now we will never know.

and the thing is that you are not to blame for lucasfilm capitalisming! I have been so busy this summer that I couldn't find the time to watch until a couple weeks ago. but lbr this fanbase shows up endlessly for white mediocrity by filoni, frankly even by lucas himself. lucasfilm has never stood up for its actors of color when they've been harassed by reactionary elements of the fandom.

you want an old republic project? good luck. good luck getting new and interesting star wars projects. it'll just be more of the same. and they'll be the same quality because lucasfilm doesn't have to put the work in when its a fandom fave - see boba fett, see obi wan. they can ride on nostalgia forever, but the numbers will continue to fall over time until there's nothing left.

[terraliensvent]

Ok civ's response is honestly kinda funny, I should've known only someone equally as delusional could go along with coy's bullshit all this time.

https://toyhou.se/~bulletins/2068868.update

Image link in case it gets deleted: https://imgur.com/a/lDxBSoT

As another unemployed artist the fact they think terra staff "ruined their income" when not only are they absolutely popular enough to make money off their art. They also have coy's audience backing them as well, so this claim is extremely laughable to me. Try having no audience at all and not having a community made up of big spenders from cs communities, then maybe we'll feel a little sympathy.

Or better yet maybe if you and coy contributed an ounce of effort beyond being greedy assholes you'd still be able to make money off the species. But no, clearly they never learn their fucking lesson because every single species they've made eventually gets ruined because of their insistence on running the species according to how much money they can make.

It's genuinely hilarious to me that they both actually think they're the victims in this situation because terra staff finally put their foots down and said they can't keep using the species for money. Go get a damn job if you're that desperate and stop taking advantage of the people who want to actually enjoy the species and especially stop causing issues for the terra staff team who are actually fucking trying despite all the bullshit they've had to go through because of you both.

I'm so tired of them and entitled greedy cs owners in general, I couldn't fathom being this self centered honestly it's sad.

post related

bulletin link

yeah i think im gonna call bullshit on this, lets do a little dissection here

" What they didn't mention was how they banned both coy and myself (even though I had nothing to do with the deletion of the pets/left the conversation civilly before that was discussed), "

even if civ had nothing to do with deleting the pets, i would argue terra staff made the right choice in banning them. what coy did is equivalent to vandalism and can cause further problems if there are issues with code and such. furthermore, wouldnt it make sense to ban civ as well if theyre closely associated and have the power on the account to do more vandalism? civ you werent doing shit for the species other than farting out adopts every week, youll live.

 "..refused to negotiate with us, did not include us in the original discussion about OUR OWN TERMS that were agreed on when we left ownership, and the new owner was unwilling to participate in the discussion originally."

i am SO curious to see what actually went on in staff chat. the conclusion im personally drawing here is that the original discussion occurred in a staff-only chat (somewhere where civ and coy wouldnt be because theyre NOT FUCKING STAFF) and then when the final agreement was reached, they came to civ and coy. maybe they could have gone differently about it but honestly, knwoing now that civ and coy have continually shut down any sort of discussion like this due to their greed (cough cough THIS whole debacle) im not surprised they wouldnt be asked for their two cents.

"Both sides have made mistakes; but the terra staff refused to acknowledge their dishonest and disrespectful actions that led up to this. Had they been willing to compromise and talk to us, this wouldn't have happened. "

again i am just not willing to believe this when civ and coy have a history of being shitty to staff (shall i bring back the receipts?), when cal(tycho) has a history of being a good owner even after the enormous shitshow of what you put him through, when, after you two finally fucked off, things are actually being MOVED FORWARD in the species (like trait guides, new items to allow lim traits, new site assets, all within a timeframe of like. two months. civ and coy had the species for over a fucking year and did nothing. just some food for thought)

like im not going to believe you unless you give adequate proof in the form of screenshots or something. but they probably wouldnt do that because it would most likely show current staff being totally reasonable and you two shitting your diapers over it.

"They silenced me and put their foot down, ruining my source of income as a disabled unemployed artist."

hmm lets crunch some numbers here

you have seven terra adopts that are on your most recent designs tab. presumably you are allowed to keep the money from that because it happened before everything went down

now a lot of these are pretty pricey, the first in the list is $300

however if you go through the rest of their recent designs its all little chibi stuff for around ~$20. that could be a defense for the "wah wah you stole my one source of income" if it werent for the fact these designs almost never go unsold, they have chibi slots open for $45, and they also have fucking isopups to ride the coattails off of. like you will be fine, you have many ways to make money off of your art as opposed to some 10 follower account. this is pop artist bitching at its finest.

and again, it is THEIR FAULT they dont have terra income anymore. how in the world is it fair for them to have more money opportunities than people actively working on the species just because they slapped their names on it.

finally lets do a funny little comment showcase!

people keep equating the old staff team to the new staff team. lets talk about bear, lets talk about kea, lets talk about fucking coy. thats the staff YOU employed, not the people trying to throw together the pieces. you want to again, absolve yourself of all responsibility acting like it wasnt YOUR FRIENDS that YOU picked for the staff team that was causing problems. bear literally caused the first downfall of the species (architechals) and YOUR staff are the ones who ran with it and decided to be petty and immature and make knockoffs. i swear to god this reminds me of people saying shit like "the economy was better under x president!" when the current president inherits the economy of the previous one

jesse please do everyone a favor and just shut up for once, you only care as long as you can profit off of the situation, your wording is so stupid i genuinely lost braincells. civ and coy absolutely do have the means to make money off their art, far more than other people, and the issue with the situation is that theyre making more money off the species than the people actually putting in work to maintain the fucking species, the agreement according to tycho would have STILL allowed them to make more than terra staff but they were too greedy and stupid to just shut up. and to make an ableism argument really just makes me want to bash my head into a wall. civ is not some poor discarded puppy "thrown out in the rain," they have the ability to make a lot more fucking money than most others can off of art, and not to mention they have the ability to use the fans of those they have connections with, like coy or even fucking kea

but in all seriousness, its SO fucking funny to me how theyre acting like civ and coy are some fucking marytrs for terraliens, like they were working sleepless nights to do the best they could each and every day hoping and praying they could make it!! please be fucking for real. again, that species did not even have TRAIT GUIDES for the full calendar year after it was created because civ and coy just didnt give enough of a fuck to do it. listen im gonna ride or die for new staff right now because there is TANGIBLE EVIDENCE of them actually going above and beyond anything ever done under civ and coy. compare #staff-wips from civ and coys reign to now. before, all you would see is adopts. thats it. nothing else just adopts. now, within the course of three months, new staff have come up with unique events, had lore writer, mod, and OA applications, released a new set of forageables THAT GIVE REWARDS, entirely revamped one of the forage areas with plans to do the rest, held the myo compensation event (a feat in and of itself), show CONTINUAL wips of shit actually important to the species (like new items), take in community input, and again, above all else, FINALLY put out trait guides. id say theyre doing fucking leagues more work than civ and coy ever did.

and this is just fucking laughable. ive already made all my arguments, you can see the types of people we are dealing with here. calling jealousy is absurd and downright hilarious

their fanbases need to wake tf up because these people love to victimize themselves and misconstrue shit all day long

[princimutasays]

I got covid twice. The first time was in august 2022 and the second right at the end of 2023. Now I find myself suffering with migraines I never had before that hit at least twice a week and often leave me with nausea and impaired vision for hours.

The first time I had it was an absolute shitshow. Sometimes the coughing was so severe I really thought I was going to faint for the luck of oxigen. My mom caught it too and she got so immunocompromised that the pre-existing cancer she had on her skin entered her blood and she had to undergo chemotherapy. I swore to be careful, I did not want to live through THAT ever again.

I've been masking at work, on the train, every time I had to be in a crowd. My parents have been very careful too and I'm so happy that we've all decided to try to be safe as much as we could.

My boyfriend, though he's less rigorous about masking, has been supportive and he's tested everytime we were to be together. Sometimes, I wish he could be more careful though. This matter has been the cause of many quarrels between us: he's still too concerned about what people think of him and this is what caused my second infection.

In fact, I got it again - from him - when he came back home after a week abroad for work. He had *mild* symptoms but he had never experienced it so he could not read the signs. He had low fever, coughing, headache and all the rest but he tested negative. It was december so we thought "it must be the flu". It wasn't the flu. It was Covid. And I knew it as soon I felt the first symptoms. I recognised them from the first time. I tested and SBAM, mine was VERY positive. He tested again then, and he was positive too. That's when we discovered that you could have all the symptoms and still be negative for a while. But it was too late.

I was VERY angry, because we've been trying VERY HARD and my mom had just finished her last round of chemotherapy and I was terrified she would catch it. But we acted fast, I isolated, we used masks, I used alcohol on everything I had to touch and my parents got through it unscathed. Phewww...

Two months later, they both tested positive. They always wore a mask when they were with other people but after months and months lived between our home and the hospital they had decided to go on a little vacation. We don't know how or where or from whom they cought it; probably in an elevator or by touching something. But they got it and they came home as soon as my dad started showing symptoms. I decided to work from home that following week (thank God I could) and I helped them through it without catching anything. Probably I was still "immunised" after the last time.

They had all the usual symptoms and after a week they started getting better. Still, my dad lived with not-so-occasional coughing fits for at least a month after that and my mom...well, let's hope we don't have any other surprise this time.

Now I have migraines so strong I have to sit still on my bed in the dark for hours with nausea and sometimes aurea. My dad's memory is shit. He forgets everything after five minutes and we have to repeat things over and over and sometimes it's not enough. I know that many studies show that Covid can accelerate many degenerative illnesses and I know that my father's family has an history of Alzheimer and dementia. I hope his symptoms are just temporary but I'm scared they're could not be.

My friend's dad had an heart attack after catching covid for the second time. My friend developed myalgia after her third. A family friend still has not recovered her taste after 3 years. A colleague stayed home for 6 months because her Covid infection caused a severe trigeminal nerve inflammation. Another is battling with pneumonia and we don't know when she will be back.

Every single day we have new studies that denounce the effect of Covid on our bodies, our brains, our cardiovascular system, our health. Long Covid is very much real and very much dangerous and I don't know how long we have to wait before governments start to take it seriously.

I'm tired and I'm scared and I'm still one of the few people I know that uses masks and tries to stear clear of this awful virus. I've seen its effects on me, on my mom, on my family, on my friends and collegues. I've seen them on Olypmic athletes and Influencers and actors and singers. We see people die every day, young, healthy people.

We've forced disabled people to stay home for years and years because we don't seem to be able (or want) to create a safe space for them, not even in school, not even in hospitals. How is this acceptable? How is this okay in 2024?

We need clean air. We need real information. We need truth. And we need people to start to listen to us before it's too late. And we need ventilators, air purifier in our schools and in our hospitals. We need to prioritise our health and the health of our children and our elders.

Please, please, please. Covid still kills people , though nobody talks about it. Not talking about it won't save us. Only being informed and kind and caring about our communities will.

[romanstheory]

Shot for me a Jey Uso one shot

Warnings: Smut, language, oral sex (male receiving), drinking, jey x fem

Word count: 730

18+

“Fuck!” I snarl through my teeth, feeling myself inching closer and closer to climax. Our bodies collided together with a force like no other. Jey was behind me, gripping my hips, guiding my plump ass onto him over and over again until we both released. I don’t know what to call our relationship, but I know I don’t want it to stop. He wiped me down and we both laid in bed next to each other, breathing heavily. We make our way to the shower, something he always loved but this time it was different. Something was off with him.

“What’s on your mind” I ask Jey softly while the water runs down his toned body. He sighs heavily “this whole Roman and Jimmy thing really has me fucked up” Jey replies heavily. Roman and Jimmy have been going at it for weeks now, the whole family is falling apart and Jey is in the middle. There’s nothing I can say so I rest my head on his chest and let the water run down our almost intertwined bodies while we finish up our shower.

The next night after another stressful live show a few superstars are throwing a party at their air bnb. I figure Jey can use some liquid relaxation to ease his mind of the absolute shitshow that is his family right now. Jey gets tied up listening to Jimmy rant about their unruly cousin, Roman and we arrive at the party fashionably late…. Per usual. We walk in greeted by the loud roar of a room full of drunk WWE superstars. Jey and I look at each other “welp, I guess we gotta catch up then huh” I say chuckling.

I pour us our first shot. “Woo!” Jey screams in a high pitch voice, curling up his face “that’s what shit!”. I take mine, puckering my lips afterwards. “Maybe a chaser next time baby” Jey teases as he slaps my ass. The night rolls on and we have several more shots, some might say too many. I’m talking to a few superstars when I happen to look over at Jey, he’s giving me the look. That I’m ready to rip you out of your drawls look. Like a lion ready to pounce on their prey. “Could you….. excuse me for a sec?” I ask while inching my way towards Jey. I grab his hand, not saying a word guiding him back to an empty room.

“You know you fine as hell right” Jey says as the smell of liquor escapes his lips. “Oh I know” I tease. I lightly push him onto the bed, then unbuckle his pants and pull them down. I’m greeted immediately by his member, already happy to see me. I spit on it, guiding my hands up and down his shaft before taking in as much of it into my throat as I can. I massage his balls while I bob my head up and down. “Oh shit” Jey moans “oh my god”. He places his hand on my head and I take more of him into my mouth.

I hear him groan one last time before he releases into my mouth. I swallow every drop before sitting up. He quickly grabs me, almost ripping my tiny shorts off of me. He throws me on my back, hovering over me. He kisses and sucks on my neck, us both craving more of each other. “You ready?” He says with a deep lustful voice. I nod my head, I’m more than ready, I was craving him. He slides into me, groaning like he was longing for my body. He swirled his finger around my now swollen clit while he stroked in and out with perfect speed.

I squealed and moaned with pleasure as his strokes got faster. The loud music in the other room drowned out my loud whaling. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck” I moan loudly. “Cum for me” Jey growls, looking deep into my eyes “look at me when you do. Let me see it” He demands. I gasp loudly before reaching my climax, looking him right in the eye just as he told me to. “Ugh fuck!” Jey roars as he also reached his climax. We clean ourselves up, deciding to leave the party all together. It served its purpose I guess.

[metaphoricgibberish]

I’m having a really shit time

I know none of you give a fuck about my personal life, but honestly i’m just putting this here because I need to expel it and it’s too long for fucking twitter and i’ve already ranted enough to my friends.

I’m so fucking tired. I’m so fucking burnt out it’s honestly a miracle I haven’t been checked in somewhere yet. I’ve had a lot of bad years. I’ve survived a lot. But honestly I think this past year has been one of my worst, surely in the bottom five.

My health and anxiety have been a huge part of that. I’ve dealt with panic attacks since I was a teenager, but i’ve had more in the last year than I have over the rest of my years combined. I’m wearing a fucking heart monitor as I type this for fuck’s sake…

Work is truly the biggest trigger. I started working at frog design at the end of 2019, and I thought, truly thought, that I could stay there for the rest of my career. I loved it, I loved the people, I loved the work, I loved being surrounded by creativity and innovation and real fucking work that actually matters. But when frog got bought out by Capgemini in 2021 everything went to shit. I haven’t had a raise in three years. I make less than 30 dollars an hour, and I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I’ve been poor my whole life, this isn’t new to me, but with the amount of responsibility i’ve taken on, the amount of work i’ve put in, it is fucking despicable that I make as little as I do.

When I started at frog, I was an office coordinator. Now, not only am I still that, i’m also the event manager, as well as a part of the facilities team that manages the entire west coast. I step up whenever and wherever I can and I am given nothing in response to that effort. I managed the move of three offices into one giant space that capgemini and all its fucking subsidiaries are now required to work within together and I got absolutely zero credit for it.

There’s this fuck that I work with, this misogynistic shell of a man, who every day talks to and treats me like garbage. He’s undermined me, spoken to me like I am a child, blatantly told me that I am “far too down in the hierarchy of this company” to be able to talk to certain people. Meanwhile, this man pulls me into conference rooms multiple times a day to ask me to speak with frog management because he “can’t do it himself”. I held a pride event a couple weeks ago, part of which involved me doing an informative talk about the different pride flags, and he had the audacity (as an openly gay man) to shout out obscene and offensive stereotypes while I was trying to educate the rest of my colleagues. I don’t know what to do. I know that if I escalate this (which I can only do through HR as my manager is an incompetent moron who only calls me to bitch about her boyfriend) it will only make my situation worse. This man is an executive assistant to an asshole just as pompous as himself, and yet he somehow thinks he has jurisdiction over the entire office.

I have the biggest event of my career tomorrow. 500 external attendees. I’ve tried to manage the entire thing myself, but with the rest of my workload, I can only do so much. I know that it’s going to be a shitshow, and at this point, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Three weeks ago I worked seven hours overtime (at another event I managed with over 200 external attendees) and I did not get paid for a single minute of it. The same will be the case tomorrow.

All this is to say i’m tired. I’m so fucking tired I don’t know how I manage to wake up in the morning. To anyone in a similar position: I see you, I appreciate you, I recognize you.

I don’t think anyone is reading at this point, but if you somehow are, thank you. That’s more than can be said for anyone in my life outside of my therapist (god bless you Colleen).

[general--winter]

May I please request headcanons for Sae Niijima falling in love with a fellow lawyer who used to be a cop and seeing them defend themselves against a violent client?

author's note: Ooooo this is a good one!! I had a lot of ideas for this one, but the end result is what I ended up running with. Sae's a pretty complex character, so I hope I didn't do anything extremely wrong with her. I just thought about how she would act in this situation based on my memory of her from the game. This is also based around post-P5 Sae. Enjoy everyone!

rating: teen

fandom: persona 5

pairings: sae niijima x gn!reader

word count: 666

warnings: physical assault, explicit language

summary: Sae's struggles with falling for her cop-turned-lawyer coworker.

Sae was currently engrossed in her podcast as she strode out of her office building two hours late, as usual. Work piled up too much and it was essentially expected that she would take unpaid overtime. Rush hour was in full swing, and taking the train home would be an absolute nightmare, so she was steeling herself for the journey, which would consist of standing on her heels for an hour and a half in a rocking train.

Before she could leave, however, a commotion broke out in the lobby. Through her headphones she sensed someone yelling obscenities. “You god-damn, good-for-nothing attorney! Gonna get me fucking life if you keep up this shitshow,” she caught after pulling one bud out. Her head would whip around to see you, standing with your back rod straight, hands behind your back, while the client was detained by their prison security escorts, spitting in your face with their words. They had it handled, so Sae figured she would leave and make sure you were okay later over text, as you two were acquaintances. The next move of the client kept her gaze glued, though.

She saw the client break free from the hold of the security officers and make a run for you as she turned around to depart. Her entire body tensed up, ready to make a run for it if they were in fact dangerous. But before Sae could process anything, you had stepped to the side, grabbed your assailant’s wrists, and pinned them down with your knee to the tile floor face-down. It looked like a move straight out of Makoto’s toolkit.

Sae would be almost awestruck at this. I think she would genuinely believe that someone who can defend themselves in such a calm and collected manner is pretty… cool. Her demeanor would never give this away, though. Maybe just a raise of her eyebrow.

“Can I get a pair of handcuffs?” you would ask in a quiet voice of the guards. “Preferably a pair they won’t break out of.”

At this point, Sae would turn to leave, her heart thumping oddly. Sure, you two were friends. She knew you used to be a cop, so that move you pulled was probably just standard stuff for you. But it made her heart flutter. Why? She figured your effortless protective actions may have awakened some sort of attraction in her. This was a pointless feeling. You two would remain friends. No ifs, ands, or buts. Sae has no time for frivolous pursuits.

Every day after, however, Sae would find herself losing her composure around you. Stumbling over legal jargon that she has studied for years, spilling a cup of coffee on the floor of the office, just… uncharacteristic mistake. You would ask Sae if she was alright after a week of this. Her response would be a curt “I’m fine.” Maybe she would continue the conversation to ask you about open cases that you two were collaborating on.

“Listen,” you would say. “I know that you’ve been acting strange around me since you watched me put that client’s face on the tile. Are you scared of me now?”

Sae would reply: “No, I’m not. If you intend on talking about this, please contact me after work hours.”

And that you would, calling her when you were free. Luckily, she would be as well, and you two would talk. Sae reassures you that she’s not afraid of you or anything, but you would need to really work the truth out of her. In a fit of frustration, she would yell that she was pretty flustered by that move and couldn’t stop thinking about you in a romantic way.

“Oh? That’s what it is. How about we go to an izakaya tomorrow after work then? Just the two of us.” Had you just asked her on a date? She would act reluctant to accept, but deep inside, she was elated to spend time with you alone outside of work.

[beepborpdoodledorp]

Another RE:Breach Update

Hey all, I'm back again with more info as to what the hell's been going on with RE:Breach lately. I'll try to keep it short but there is a lot to cover so bear with me.

So, I'll be honest, RE:Breach is not going how I planned. Not in terms of the story or anything, just the factors outside of it. I wanted to keep it a secret, but considering there's basically a 0% chance any of this will actually go the way I wanted it to I'll just reveal it now: the initial plan was to update the character renders, make chapter illustrations, and update the fic with the illustrations and fixed grammar/better sentence structure/etc. Then in November, for the fic's first anniversary, I would drop the official RE:Breach website that would compile the fics, the drawings, and some bonus stuff (wouldn't be removing the fics off AO3, just giving them another place to be read). Then I'd start dropping the sequel fics.

The new character renders are done; I started them in January, and didn't get them done until June. Then I started the chapter illustrations in July: out of the eighteen I had planned, I only got three done. Alongside that I wanted to get a head start with writing the sequel fics, so I started on the midquel, RE:Start, in about April or May or so (I think, I can't pinpoint exactly when I started writing). I literally just finished the third chapter yesterday after months of being stuck on it.

My work ethic is fucked, and it has been for a couple months now. I don't think it has to do with me still recovering from the writing marathon that was RE:Breach itself, I think I've just been hit with a depressive wave with how tired and demotivated I've been for the past few months. And everything that happened in my shitshow country in July didn't exactly help matters. And also my cat being sick and constantly needing to be shuffled to the vet the past week. That's fun.

I came into RE:Breach knowing that, with the sequels I had planned, this would be a multi-year-long endeavor. And I'm still planning on it - RE:Breach's sequels are still not canceled, I love the original game and the fic I've used to expand upon it too much to leave it behind, and the support for it has been so immense and amazing. But a part of me does regret jumping into it so suddenly, even if I did know what I was getting into: after Ruin released I just had a giant burst of creative energy I needed to get out, so I started writing RE:Breach with little planning and even less for the sequels. And, aside from basic outlines of what I want the sequels to be about and a few specific scenes, I still don't have much to go off of for them.

I know that all of these deadlines and the pressure that comes from them is really no one's fault but my own: no one's asking me to get the chapter illustrations and fic update out by a certain time, no one's asking me to get the website out by the anniversary, and no one's asking for the sequels to be out by a certain date. But considering it's now been six months since RE:Breach ended and I promised sequels, and I thought there would be sequels out by this point (the pride month prequel oneshot doesn't count I literally made that last minute because I had artist's block), I feel beyond icky that I'm still stuck polishing the first fic when I should've had it in the absolute best state it could be in when I first released it. 

TL;DR: RE:Breach is still alive, I am just going at the pace of a sloth that snorted molasses because depression is a little bitch and also all of the external factors in my life are going batshit too. I will complete everything I planned for RE:Breach even if it takes me a decade - which I really, really hope it won't.

[batz-surveys]

10.

Does it irritate you when people are late for things, or do you not really care? Oh no, I hate when people are late. It's not that hard to be on time.

Are you nervous about anything? I really want to call out tomorrow. Honestly, I want to do it to spend the day with my husband. It's been a few weeks since I've been able to spend a day with him and it's killing me, haha. But also, with everything that went on last week with my dad, I could use a mental health day. Is your bed against more than one of your walls? No, the head of it is just against one wall.

When was the last time someone chased you with a hose? I don't think that's ever happened before.

Have you ever burned yourself while taking something out of the oven? Yes. It sucks. Do you think seeing a gay/lesbian couple in public is gross? Yikes, no way. I love seeing love, no matter what the couple looks like. Have you ever made out in your room? Last time? Yes. I don't know, probably a couple weeks ago. I'm honestly not that big on the making out. I'm kind of a "we know this is going to happen, so let's just get to the good part" kind of woman, haha. Don’t you just hate running into people you know? YES. It's like 90% of my anxiety when I go to somewhere that I know will be busy. I've known a lot of people in my younger years, and I'm a completely different person than I was then, so running into anyone from my past is such a worry of mine. Who is the last person that disappointed you? Myself, I'm sure. Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Oh, I definitely have before. What are you going to have for dinner tonight? I had a peanut butter and pickle sandwich for dinner. Hey, don't knock it until you try it. Do you think the last person you kissed cares about you? I hope my husband cares about me! No, I'm kidding. I know he does. Have you ever sold your old clothes instead of donating them? Yeah, I used to have a Poshmark like...six, seven years ago. All my listings sold, and I made a little over $100.

Does your favorite mall have more than one floor? The department stores in it do. But not the mall itself. I mean, it barely has any stores left in it, haha. Do you have a crazy aunt? Nah. I think that's going to be me in the future though, haha. Do you like family get togethers? Sure. I don't dislike them as much as I used to. It depends on who is showing up, really. Have you ever been to an art museum? Yes.

Would you kiss the last guy/girl that texted you? Yes, I kiss him everyday. He's my hubby.

Have you ever injured yourself while you were under the influence of alcohol? Yes.

Will you talk to the person you love/like tonight? Yes, we live together.

Are you still with the person you fell hardest for? If not, do you ever miss them? Yes, I married him.

Do you think you’ll kiss someone tonight? My husband (sheesh, this is getting redundant) before we both turn over to go to sleep.

Have you ever kissed anyone with the last name Jones? Not to my knowledge.

Is it possible to be ‘in love’ with someone, if they don’t love you back? Absolutely.

How many times have you cried in the past week? Oh God, I can't even count how many times I lost it this past week. My dad was in the hospital, and I cried like every day until he came home. And then I cried tears of joy when I finally saw him outside of the hospital. If you can't tell, I really love my dad, haha.

If you could have one wish right now, what would it be? Honestly? That I was rich so I didn't have to work. I know that's completely selfish, but hey, it's my wish. If I could wish for more wishes, then I'd use them on the worldwide shitshow going on.

[girl4music]

So I’ve started Season 4 of ‘Angel the Series’ for the first time. I’ve got very low expectations so don’t worry about me. I can already tell by the first episode that the writing has gone wayward. Just that very last second with Cordy saying “God I am so bored”. A comedic moment on an ending scene is never good. At least not when it’s not supposed to be comedic.

I’ll be honest. I don’t really want to watch this season but I know if I don’t, I won’t understand much of the next season. Where the plot goes and where it ends up. And I know a lot of people love Season 5 of ‘AtS’ just like a lot of people love Season 5 of ‘BtVS’.

I will tell you what I do like about what I’ve seen so far - which is just the first episode; “Deep Down”.

A darker Wesley scrambling up the courage and will to locate Angel and save him and even giving him his blood to restore him to health. That was quite poetic. I definitely want to see where that goes so there’s one arc to look forward to. How that dynamic plays out.

I absolutely revelled in that scene between Angel and Connor and Angel finally putting him in his place for his destructive behaviour. I like that the naivety of “Mr. Dad” is gone because the way Connor is treating people that care about him is unacceptable - and no, I don’t just mean his father. Gun, Fred and Lorne too.

I also like that Lilah has finally taken control at Wolfram and Hart. She was always much smarter and more cunning than to be playing a minion to whatever male CEO of the week there was. Now they’re under her high-heeled boot. As it should be. As it should have been since Lindsey left and he warned her to get out. You know a great female villain isn’t a problem for me. And I have a feeling the “villain” part won’t remain now her feelings are complicated because of Wesley.

If nothing else - there’s still reason to continue watching even though I know the shitshow to come with who is arguably the only character that’s made this show something worth my time and attention.

I’m not necessarily worried about the plot or the characterization to be honest. Just how the writing handles them. Because I know that you can have the best concept, best set ups, best characters - but if the writing is poor - then it’s not going to matter anyway.

Like I said. My expectations are low. But somehow I feel I won’t be prepared for just how bad the writing is.

And I’ll say it now if it’s not clear.

I absolutely hate Connor.

[seekingthestars]

@it-begins-with-rain replied to your post “little floof has the best possible time at con,...”:

I'm so incredibly happy for you!!!!! I love how loved you are at that con, and it's absolutely the amount of loved you should be!!!! You are such a wonderful and kind and shining soul, and everyone can see it and everyone looks forward to it every single year! And your Flower Eevee is perfection itself and I'm so happy you managed to get the flowers done in time because they're PERFECT!!!!!!!! Just absolutely perfect!!! I'm so happy you had a few days to find yourself again and decompress after the shitshow that has been the last year, and i wish con was an entire week long for you to just bask in complete and utter blissful fun and recharge!

​SOBBING THANK U 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

i frequently feel like i'm Too Much at con sometimes, like my favorite guests would get annoyed at seeing me so much at all their panels/autograph sessions and asking for pics and stuff, but then they do things like call to me BY NAME in the hallways when i'm not even paying attention and haven't noticed them just to actually get me to notice them and say hi back, or ask me if i'm coming to their next show after each one that i go to, or share my ig posts to their stories thanking me BY NAME AGAIN for coming and specifically saying they were glad to see me again and i just cry and melt inside bc they are genuinely the sweetest they could possibly be to me and they certainly don't have to be but they ARE and it makes me feel SO warm 😭😭😭😭

ALSO THANK U FOR KIND WORDS ABOUT FLOWERY EEVEEEEE <3 so many people stopped me at con to tell me my dress was beautiful and so many people asked about it after they took pics and everyone was so impressed when i said i'd hand sewn them all on and said they looked like they were originally part of the dress which tbh is the highest compliment to me, thank u random con goers ilu so much

I ALSO WISH CON WAS AN ENTIRE WEEK LONG SO I COULD JUST BASK IN COMPLETE AND UTTER BLISSFUL FUN bc that's what con is for me every time and i need it fjeiaowfwae i at least sorta wish i'd somehow taken this entire week off after con LOL but the memories are good, the memories and the pictures will help take the edge off going back to work <3

[lovecanbesostrange]

The following comes from a place of love, this is not an anti-post or whatever hate-bullshit. No, quite the opposite. I have been a Jo Wilson defender, I have watched her develop and puzzled her story together, I saw (and still see) so much potential. But I'm at a point where I have to give up.

By now a part of me wishes she had adopted Luna and then taken all her money to fuck out off Grey-Sloan. Find another job in a small town, because she dreams up some cozy single-mom life there or find a private practice to work at for good enough pay with a reasonable schedule. Whatever.

The problem has always been that she was written for Alex first and foremost. She has been on this show since season 9. We are closing up S20 next week. Counting her medical storylines is a shitshow. They had no clue what do with her as an actual surgeon. Except telling us that she's good at it and then there was the fun period in time where she was like I-read-research-and-know-stuff.

Personal drama always mixes with patient stories, that's the whole concept. We learn about the character's flaws and strengths and personal history that way. But oh dear, is this not balanced out with Jo. They dropped the ball when they had so many good opportunities. And when Alex left (the only real option the writers had was to kill him and I understand why they didn't want to), everything got worse.

Of course Jo grew up, good for her. I don't exactly miss "I used to live in my car" every episode. But that is a thing that did happen and how did they not let Mika and Jo have scenes together? (What I wanted was for Jo to end up in the house and mention something about living there; they gave that joke to Bailey instead who only ever visited. Then again Bailey is also the one who took a street kid in, the one thing I hoped Alex/Jo would do, because that would have made sense. lol )

Shouldn't the whole switching-specialties story be exciting? How come it is absolutely not? Ugh. The absence of plastics and pediatrics has been felt so much. But she goes into OB, where we have a character, but oh wait she's on the other show and also barely works.

Watching your fav die is painful. But this feels worse. A slow, dragged out death of character, but the person is still there. (Don't get me wrong, in this age of tv, any actor willingly passing on a gig like this - the secure paycheck, working with people you know so well - is madness. I would cling to the job, no shade there.)