#good thing I've had all my vaccines recently

[ygtahoy]

Cough syrup should count as a crime against humanity.

[reasonsforhope]

I'm sorry I'm sending so many asks. I've been struggling like this for a year now, and it's barely gotten easier, but you've often been a good help with my anxiety. I really appreciate everything you do. It's hard to have hope.

I've had a really bad moment again recently. I have to be honest, the worst thing, that makes me the most anxious out of everything else, is COVID. Because it feels like nobody is paying attention, and that there is no good news. There is never any good news. COVID is always the catalyst for the worst of my anxious slumps. It's really bad. COVID is very, very scary. If you somehow have anything for that, I'd be thankful. Often I've only been able to set my heart on nasal vaccines, or next gen vaccines in general, but they're not going fast enough whatsoever.

I'm sorry, again. I don't want to try and treat you like a therapist. I just trust you. If this is too overwhelming, you can just delete it, but if you do, I'd like to know. Just so I'm not waiting for it to be answered.

I just ravaged through someone's doomy collapse blog, again, after stumbling on it in my rising anxiousness, and it was not good. I think I'm clearly too open-minded of a person to some degree, and I feel so pulled around by information that I see. I don't want to be placated, out of the loop, or lied to, but I don't want to feel hopelessly depressed. Everything is too complex. I feel like I've been through this maze, top to bottom, over and over again, and again. I just wish I knew how much truth their words held, or anyone else's words held.

And I wish we were all masking, at the very least. I'm holding myself back from swearing. I don't know if you'd have a good way to counteract general "collapse" thoughts, either. But that's also a thing.

<3 I'm touched by your trust.

I just found some good news about COVID - the first genuinely good covid-related news article I've seen in a while, instead of all of the "ah but young abled people are fine!" bs - and remembered this ask.

"As new varieties of the coronavirus took center stage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the odds of developing long COVID dropped. Those who were vaccinated against the virus saw the biggest plunge over time.

For every 1,000 unvaccinated people, 104 developed long COVID up to one year after an infection during the pre-delta phase of the pandemic. That fell to 95 per 1,000 during the delta variant’s era and 78 during omicron’s reign. Among vaccinated people, just 53 out of 1,000 developed long COVID up to a year after infection during delta and only 35 during omicron, researchers report July 17 [2024] in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System data looked at people who had a COVID infection from March of 2020 — the month the pandemic began — to the end of January in 2022. The researchers, from the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, compared the rates of long COVID during three phases of the pandemic among those who had and had not gotten vaccinated...

A comparison of omicron infections with infections from prior eras found that 72 percent of the drop in the long COVID rate during omicron was attributable to vaccines. The remainder was due to changes in the virus and improvements in medical care and the use of antiviral treatments during the omicron phase.

Even with the steep decline in the occurrence of long COVID for vaccinated people, there is still a risk, the researchers write. With “the large numbers of ongoing new infections and reinfections, and the poor uptake of vaccination,” they continue, this “may translate into a high number of persons” with long COVID."

-via ScienceNews, July 17, 2024

--

Masking continues to be important. The virus continues to be a problem. But especially given the decline in masking, I'm really encouraged to see this news. Because long covid IS scary. And I'll take any good news on this front that I can get.

It's especially encouraging because it shows how much staying on top of your vaccinations really does matter and really can prevent long covid.

I'm also really hopeful (though I don't have a related background and have no idea how realistic my hopes are) that this trend has been continuing past the end of the study (2022).

[exeggcute]

the internet and Tumblr in general was already full of shut ins with anxiety and COVID has obviously transformed many of them into hypochondriac agoraphobes who are well trained on moralizing lol. there are people who still think we should never have ended lockdown and that it somehow had no negative social or economic impacts, or at least that the economy is fake enough that those impacts weren't really real

lol yeah. answering this in daylight hours I feel like I should preface it with a note about how I've been masking consistently for four years straight (and have only recently started easing up in certain situations), have lost respect for and/or ended friendships with people who were doing reckless shit during the height of the pandemic, all that. god knows I have an anxious hypochondriac shut-in streak lol. but if the bitch with contamination OCD who's been doing the "disinfect your phone when you get home" thing for years and years before covid and who has literal nightmares about people wearing shoes in my house is like hey guys I think you might be exaggerating some of this just a bit. well. imagine how literally anyone else is gonna feel...

also for reference the thing that got me on this soapbox was an article I saw shared on bluesky about how san francisco is currently experiencing "the highest covid wastewater rates ever measured," which immediately sounded off to me, so I read the damn article, and what it actually seemed to be saying was that there's a summer spike in CA right now same as there's been for the last several summers, and SF currently has a higher rate than any other region in CA at the moment. (the article was legit poorly written to the point where it was hard to tell, but a different wastewater graph someone pulled up seemed to corroborate my reading of this. the current spike is still a fraction of pre-vaccine spikes.)

which, like, is useful information even without the embellishment! I would appreciate knowing that so I could adjust my behavior accordingly. and I'd like to believe that your average person who's receptive to stuff would also take the truth in good stride. so why do we have to fucking lie about it lol.

and to some extent I really do get the impulse to catastrophize because there's no way around it: we super duper fucked up the initial covid response. many individuals were callous and most institutions failed to protect us. but at the same time (1) barn door situation and (2) I don't think exaggerating risks now does anything to compensate for the downplayed risks being peddled to us for the last several years. it's more than fair to celebrate wins when they come (all the new tools in our anti-covid toolbelt, improved case/death rates) without erasing the many many losses up to this point.

still gonna wear a mask on airplanes and shit for the rest of my life though. I'm glad that's an iota more socially acceptable now (and jealous of places where it's already been the norm this whole time) because people are fucking nasty!!!

[mountainmaven]

Just some random thoughts as I know I haven't been very active on here in recent months.

I'm still enjoying volunteering at the library - however I am trying to protect my time a bit more and really limit the days/hours I'm there. Because as of this past Saturday, since March I've volunteered 380 hours. I'm still hoping that it will turn into a paying job next year (I think I'm still hoping for that - it's a little complicated). But we'll see.

My Little Free Library hasn't seen any activity in months but I still update it regularly. I guess I grossly overestimated how much my little community would use it. Honestly since volunteering at the library I should have known better because most of our activity comes from people who don't live up here. Oh well. It's okay, I still like seeing the little library on my property every day.

I'm still working out regularly and feeling so good, and getting strong. I had taken up running in the early summer but had to take a break due to IT band issues that were affecting my knee. But since I've been getting regular massages that has been helping. (so yeah I've started getting massages - the therapist comes to the house - it's SO great!). I hope to start up running again soon. I just need to do it. I honestly never thought I'd enjoy running but even at 56 you can start new things and find out you really like them!

I've also started doing some reiki healing and that's amazing too. I have another session this weekend.

We got our updated flu and COVID vaccine boosters this past Sunday and yesterday I was exhausted. I felt fine, no other symptoms other than an achy arm - but no sick feeling, no headache, no tummy issues - nothing. Just so exhausted that I ended up taking a nap that lasted somewhere between 3 and 4 hours. I have no idea, because I don't know when I fell asleep exactly. I just know I saw the clock at 10:48 AM, next thing I knew my youngest daughter was calling me and it was 3:11 PM.

My spiritual practice is really feeling so natural now, and I love that it's a part of my every day life.

I've started doing art again and that feels wonderful - I don't stress if I'm not doing art every day or whatever, I just let it flow naturally and that's so freeing. Obviously if I was making art to make a living that would be different, but this is just a lovely hobby for me and I'm finally treating it like such.

Reading has been a bit difficult lately, I'm not sure if it's just that my time is being used so differently now that it's harder for me to focus on reading. It doesn't help that I've had a lot of duds lately when it comes to books LOL. But I keep trying and I guess that's what matters right? Again no pressure associated with it and not stressing about it.

I know the world is a massive dumpster fire lately but I can't stress enough the importance of unplugging every now and then and just living your life and doing things you enjoy, and ignoring world events for a bit.

I hope all of you are well, and that you have things in your life that make you feel alive, and happy.

[myowndesertplaces]

About Sam being public about his diagnosis. I had no idea people without a cervix could get a HPV vaccine or needed to. I heard about the vaccine as something for women because women can get cancer. I literally learned it caused cancer in men when Sam explained he had cancer caused by HPV.

And there’s been a lot of stigma around the vaccine. My aunty got it for my cousin and I as soon as it was available, we were in middle school/high school ages. And there was this taboo that you shouldn’t get it cause it would encourage sexual activity. But like my aunt, a thyroid cancer survivor who had cancer as a teen, was like no any thing that prevents cancer, that prevents you from getting sick, you’re getting the vaccine. Even if you’re not having sex right now, you’re gonna be protected.

And I hope that people who may not have known they could or should get the HPV vaccine know now. I told my AMAB non-binary partner they should get it because I suspect no one ever talked to them about it or suggested it.

I appreciate Sam so much for raising awareness by sharing such a person and stigmatized diagnosis.

Yes, exactly this! I had a colleague a few years ago that did not want to get her teenage sons vaccinated for HPV because she didn't know why it would help them. Sadly, I don't believe their pediatrician explained it very well.

Honestly, I wish it had been available when I was younger, but like Sam, I was past the age limit. They only recently increased the age limit to 45, so i do qualify now, but it's a bit too late. If you're negative, and you fall in the age gap, I think it's smart to get.

(It's also good to know not all versions of HPV cause cancer. I think you can still get vaccinated against the bad ones if you already have other versions of it, but I'm not entirely sure. That's a good question for a doctor. I've been trying to figure it out myself.)

Sam sharing his story will prevent cancer and deaths. It's incredibly brave to put yourself out there for the greater good.

[ohmygillygoshoppler]

what are.... your headcannons for Epsilon and his people?? Ad Francis too??

oooooh! OOOOOOH! FINALLY!!! MY THEORIES!!! IVE BEEN DYING TO SHARE MY THEORIES!!!

loooooooooong post lmao. Heads up-

Okay okay okay, so I had a few questions about these people when I first started watching the show a gazillion years ago; like how many more of The People are there? How do their numbers work? Are they all clones, or just the Epsilons? How do they do what they do in their universe? Who the fuck do they work for? And why are things the way they are?

I have more questions than answers, but I will say that brainstorming about it has been so much fun~ So lemme just break this down as best as I can-

I personally headcannon that only the Epsilons are cloned from each other, every other agent is someone they either recruited through traditional means, taken from childhood or from birth, or cajoled into service as a form of punishment. We all know how easy it would be to pluck a few promising young birds from some orphanage somewhere; unnoticeable, unwanted, and untraceable to the masses, an organization like The People would jump on the opportunity, I think.

Okay, now for my individual agents, I have only a few things I've actually put to pen about them. Don't you just love having blank slate character to project all of your bullshit onto? I do!

Firstly, I have Irene which i'll be real, she's my fave Green Man to draw. She's.... so pretty... To me....

Her stoicism is linked directly to her environment. When she's on the clock, she one of the most precise, cunning, cutthroat agents around. But the split second she has the okay to relax, she's relaxed.

Her detail is a saboteur, so she is the one disarming traps, disabling security systems and breaking shit up so she and her People can get their jobs done. That being said, she likes to tinker, and can make even the nastiest, most beaten up and abandoned forest can come back to life-

She is insightful, observant and sometimes even playful. She just hides it under a perpetual frown. I was also thinking she would have some affectionate feelings toward Francis, as she's known him all his life , and adored Simone. I imagine Irene and Francis are kind of like siblings with a huge age gap.

Next up, my man Io, a former Hunter who since kicks it with The People after an incident in the 90's. He, along with Epsilon and Simone worked with the Secret Scientists to create a vaccine against lycanthropy. He's been an invaluable asset to The People ever since.

Io has special knowledge on medicine and even alchemy, occasionally making passing remarks about an old colleague that could turn wood chips to gold shavings. He also has a vast knowledge in matters of supernatural sicknesses and possessions. He has a bit of a morbid fascination with it, even going as far as to try and give himself pestilences only for the sake of further research.

I think he'd be pretty neutral about Francis, seeing as how it's not ease accepting some kid to be your new boss. At the same time, he knows where he is, so Io does what he can to keep their relationship strictly professional. However, in light of... recent events, he may be spending more one on one time with his fellow agents; more so than he's used to. We might learn more about him later...

And now WOOOOOOO, GRANDPAAA!!! LETS GOOOOOO!!!!! No, but for real, Agent Rohan is the oldest agent here, pushing 65, and he's still out here taking orders from Epsilon and making moves with The People, all the while fighting vampires, befriending warewolves, tricking the fae and dealing with alien incursions of every sort. He's up there in "Spooky Levels of Competence" with Simone and Grandpa Max, like, this man has seen some shit.

Rohan likes hunting, fishing, shooting, and camping out in the middle or asscrack nowhere. You know, old man stuff. He's the good kind of Boomer, ya know?

And he's still just a chill Old Man who just wants to retire to a secluded cabin in the woods with his Dog (not a dog, not a dog-) and live out his sunset years like a regular American man.

Fuck you, I know Agent Mccabe divorced his ass (they were never married lmao) but sometimes when they're together it feels like nothing's changed. Then they look into each other's eyes and remember how they've hurt each other oh fuck-

Epsilon is an extremely reserved and extremely stifled man, so much so that he stifles everyone around him. He believes that order and routine are the ways to maintain a safe and normal lifestyle, and so many times he is proven right. So much so he allowed himself to be tricked into letting his dearest friend leave for outer space.

He is a, "By any means necessary," type of man to a fault. Ruthless, calculating, and by any sense of the word, the Perfect Agent. Nothing phases him, it seems. However, there is something there, a reason he instills instant obedience and zero hesitation, and I think we can all find that out... together....

Here cooooomes the boyyy~ 💖✨✨ my boy, my baby; Francis.

Hahahaaaa, this one thing soooo highly of himself, hahahahaa~~ Ohhh, thats so cute. I love him for that. I will break him. He will know humility.

You know what happens when someone with no moral compass is thrown into the most fucked up situation? They find that compass, and they fucking use it. The boy must learn, and there wasn't enough time in the show to teach him. Now's my chance-

Speaking of, his Foolhardy Father taught him that thinking for himself was the wrong thing to do, and after Morrigan, he has to start thinking out of the box because there was never a protocol for this...

Also..... I know the fact he's a clone hurts him, like, we saw that shit in The Unblinking Eye, fuckin he hates following Epsilon's orders but what the fuck else is he gonna do? What else is there, this is what he was made for, right? He seems like the perfect guy for a character arc, and it kills me that he didn't get one.

I want him to learn to be his own person. Kinda want em all to figure out what their lives are, since they could all be butchered at any moment and only their killers would mourn them.

Speaking of Killers....

Miss Morrigan Monroe

"Whaaaaat?!?!" I heard you gawking, "Your Evil Bitch™ is with The People?!?! How???" And I'll give you the diss-

next post, this bitch is already so long. But just know, she knew the OG Epsilon and they fucking DO NOT VIBE.

She is hundreds of years old, has profound beef, and the shits on site, so sorry Epsilon. That's what you get for the sins of your father, Get fucked, I guess.

I know she's bad, but she's meant to be vapid, petty, recalcitrant, repugnant and deranged, mean and clever and scary beyond all reason- You know, the perfect woman, lmao. (I dont AT ALL condone the shit shes done or is gonna do but like, its gonna be nasty 😈😈😈😈)

[fbwzoo]

Dog & cat updates!

Emma: is now actively asking for and enjoying pets almost daily from me and Jack! She occasionally enjoys pets from Joel & Arte as well. I've been starting to touch her legs and paws a bit more too, but without pushing too hard. We're going to see about having her sedated for her upcoming exam so it'll be less stressful & we can get all the things done - she needs a vaccine, plus nail trim and teeth check.

Oh, and she's basically finished potty training herself! She goes out both dog doors on her own now, though she still waits on us to let them out when we're home. But basically no accidents when we're gone now!

Addy: We've had her in weekly swim lessons at a local indoor dog pool for about 2 months now. She's doing so good with it!! She still doesn't entirely like it, but she cooperates, and we're pretty certain it's really been helping her legs. She really stretches them out well in the water, and even with a couple wipe-outs in that time frame, she hasn't been as sore or hurt herself in them. Joel & I have set up a schedule to get back to dog walks now that it's cooled off again, so I'll be able to observe her more then too.

Spring: Nothing new with the boy. He's still a good boy, good brother, and he's happy to just chill with everyone and go with the flow. He's such a good dog!

Phoebe: FAT. 😫 I slacked off a lot on monitoring cat food for the summer and ooof, it shows. They've both put on weight, but especially Phoebe. I'm getting back on track with that now & anxious about getting scolded by their vet. We were supposed to go the opposite direction with this after their last vet visit... sigh. Plus side, she's really not had any asthma attacks recently. Also she randomly decided Joel got Bebe Time??? That's the first time she's done it with someone besides me in 3 years!

Shilo: DECIDED TO SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF US & HIMSELF LAST WEEK. We had a plumber over to fix the washer. He was thought to be hiding, but not directly located, so when he got scared by the plumber going to the basement, he panicked, couldn't get into the main house, and ran out the garage door. He was out for around 15 hours, we're pretty sure he found a hiding spot and hunkered down. But stressed the hell out of the whole house for that whole afternoon/night. I slept on the couch and we left the run doors open, and I blocked Phoebe in my room so the dog doors could be left open too. I got up a couple times to go out and call for him. Around 3:30, I woke up, thinking I heard him. Called his name, he answered, and turned out to be on the back of the couch next to me. RELIEF.

He has a couple scratches on his head, which isn't a big surprise given the number of outside cats on our street, but he's otherwise fine. He hid in my closet for the first two days except for when I was home & in my room. Very mama's boy. But he's been recovering from the stress & settling back in now over the weekend. We're still watching him very closely for this next week or two, as he's had a stress cystitis episode once before & we're expecting he very well may do so from this too.

[iturmom]

i've had a rough day. i made a new kitty friend just a few days ago. he's so sweet and friendly. he's talkative. but this morning he was being playful and he bit me a little too hard. he did break skin but it's the tiniest little nibble, only even one of his fangs broke skin and it was barely to the point that i wasn't even sure he did. but he's a stray, i'm sure of it bc his ear fungus and the sores on his body.

so i spent the whole day making phone calls trying to figure out what to do so i finally got through to the rabies nurse at the city health department and he told me of course to either get a rabies vaccine or call animal control so they could monitor him for 10 days. i can't afford to go to the er when i'm pretty sure he doesn't have rabies cause he doesn't seem at all rabid and i don't know if i can monitor him myself for 10 days bc i don't know when i'm moving but it seems like less than 10 days and he's a stray how would i know if he just didn't show up one day? i'm moving soon so i can't spend all day outside looking for him i'll need to pack and clean. and i've got other stuff going on too. i wanted to spend today preparing for halloween and cleaning and cooking food so that i didn't eat too much of the food for tomorrow and i wanted to make more food for tomorrow. and i wanted to hang out and watch spoooy stuff. but i couldn't think about anything else until i found a solution, so spent all day googling and making calls.

so i ended up calling animal control and that was a mess. the guy had me try to put the cat in a cage instead of trapping him with bait. he scratched me up good and i was so scared that he wouldn't trust me anymore but he came right back to me and he was all over me and it killed me when he nibbled me not once but twice bc he was so gentle when he nibbled so so gentle feather light nibbles barely there. and i was sobbing bc if he had just bit me that gently in the first place then today would have gone so much better for both of us! so then the guy finally brought out the live trap and the wet food. the poor kitty freaked out in the trap poor thing poor little guy.

the whole ordeal took an hour and a half of agony. i sobbed on the phone to my partner scared they might put him down and just about the trauma it caused him and how if he had just been so gentle the first time! i probably drove him crazy saying that over and over. but the animal control guy told me they won't put him down, and he even said he would request that they trap and release him without me even asking! so hopefully he'll just bounce back from the trauma. my partner made me get off the phone cause we have a big day tomorrow of going to the clinic (i can still go to the one at the homeless shelter for free for another year) since the rabies nurse at the health department said i should get antibiotics they can do that much at the clinic and maybe they might even have some resources for a rabies vaccine surely not at the clinic but maybe they can help me somehow wishful thinking. and then after the clinic we're going to celebrate halloween at my place so big day he forced me off the phone cause i was still hysterical. but he actually texted me back for a while which he never does when we get off the phone for the night. but i was still texting after he finished responding and i finally gave him the good news which i'm not sure that he was totally aware of cause he only heard my side of the conversation when i was on the phone with him while talking to the animal control guy, so i put into plain words how he said he'd request tnr and the hopeful declaration that maybe he'll just bounce back from the trauma before too long. and then i realized. i told my partner i was going to take him to meet the kitty tomorrow morning when he came over for halloween. but now he won't get to meet the kitty bc i'll certainly be moved before the kitty gets released.

and then i smoked a cigarette that i found on the ground recently. i haven't smoked a cigarette in over a year and at that point it was already rare that i smoked. that realization really made an already brutal day even worse. it like punched me in the face.

[corazondefae]

9-18-24: Processing

I got vaxxed twice today! Woo!

It was my first time ever getting the flu vaccine and I got the new COVID vaccine as well! I'm both hoping I have side effects so I can call out tomorrow and hoping I don't so I don't have to call out tomorrow because I need money...

I had therapy earlier today and it really got me thinking about how much my mental health truly affects my every day life.

My nervous system is trying to heal itself. I'm no longer in an environment where I have to be on edge 24/7. I'm not going into details but a year ago I experienced something very traumatic. I witnessed violence within my family and I had to keep it together as there were young kids in the house at the time.

This experience truly shattered my world. Even now, I don't know how I got through it and I'm still processing everything that happened. I took two days off of work and then went back. Sure, I was depressed and everybody could see, but I was working to distract myself from my terrible home life. Now that I've moved out with my husband I'm learning how to live instead of survive.

I'm in the process of getting an official PTSD diagnosis, which is wild to say. I always felt like I never went through "enough trauma" (whatever that means) in order to officially be diagnosed. Yes, I've experienced traumatic events in my life, but surely that doesn't mean I have PTSD...right? (Wrong!)

I'm also processing my feelings towards referring to myself as disabled. Physically, I'm mostly fine. However, my mental health really does affect my every day life and I never noticed it until recently.

My mental health has greatly impacted my nervous system, daily functioning, relationships with others, and ability to do essential tasks such as showering, going to work, completing my associate's, taking care of myself.

---

Lets go through some things my mental illnesses do for me, shall we?:

OCD - Makes me anxious every waking moment due to constant intrusive thoughts, avoidance of certain places or actions (ex: eating) due to fear of my intrusive thoughts becoming reality, avoidance of loved ones if they are dealing with something that triggers my OCD, spending up to hours cleaning and washing anything I've deemed "contaminated" (especially my hands), constant reassurance-seeking in intentional and unintentional ways all the time, a few times I've started spiraling and almost started to believe I was hallucinating an entirely different reality to the "real" one

PTSD - Anxiety in my home to the point I was taking Melatonin every night so I could leave as soon as possible in the morning, constantly being on edge to the point where the TV being too loud made me drop everything so I could check it was just the TV and not people screaming at each other, remembering traumatic situations so many times, actively triggers my OCD as well so I have obsessions related to my trauma, too anxious to do tasks even in a safe environment because I'm afraid that one day something terrible will happen which leaves me depressed as well, constant stress since the situation was never resolved, constant guilt, I still shake and my voice wavers when I talk about it

PMDD - THE IRRITABILITY AND RAGE OH MY!, constantly talking myself off the edge while in the middle of my workday, work ethic goes down significantly due to how miserable I feel, short but terrible depressive episodes starting around two weeks before my cycle, getting angry at others for no reason to the point I can't recognize myself sometimes (luckily I'm pretty good at keeping the anger in), not having motivation to do anything, have to leave work early sometimes which has wrecked my PTO

---

I think I needed to write that down so I don't feel like I'm overreacting. My pain is valid. My mental pain is valid. And it would still be valid if it didn't significantly alter my life.

I'm doing all that I can to be better. I am so much better than I was and I want to be better than I am now. But I need to allow myself to wallow in my pain as well. I cannot let it consume me but I cannot cage it either. I guess that's what I'm doing right now.

---

Other than that, today has been less productive than I wanted it to be! I still need to go grocery shopping. Too late to do that today :(

I tried doing my nails today but I tried a new method and it did NOT work out well! I'll try again on my next day off.

I leave you all with my latest obsession: Sabrina Carpenter

[kenobster]

3, 18 and 29 please <3333

From AO3 Wrapped [Writers' Edition]

Thank you for the ask, anon! ^_^

#3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

I hate to be a cliche of myself again, but Five Peggats Each. (And this includes all things I've ever written in my life actually :D). There's a few reasons for it, I think. One, it's like HUGELY within my comfort zone. The limited setting, the noncon, the tropes of the characters themselves. This is the type of story I have the most practice with, so it naturally comes easier and in better quality I think? Two, how, despite it being a comfort zone, I've used this fic as kind of a sandbox to experiment a lot of different writing techniques. For example, this is the most POVs I've ever written in a single fandom, let alone a single story (which usually stays around 1-2). For other examples, like, I've tried to be really mindful about metaphors/prose and how they can twist reality (like that time I spent like 8 hours researching in-universe Star Wars bands & instruments just so I could write one paragraph lmao)... or even how I recently tried to use second person POV to give the reader the same disassociation/discomfort/dysphoria that Anakin was feeling after regaining use of the Force. These experiments were all really hard to pull off, and I'm proud of myself for attempting them. And three, how I've allowed 5PE to be a project that can take as long as I want it to take to finish, so long as I do finish it. So on one hand, it's been a really good exercise in self-discipline & practice in maintaining my passion for the story, despite the constant barrage of shiny new plot bunnies. And on the other hand, the lack of a time pressure allows me to really spend time on the quality of every single line (excepting human mistakes & typos of course lmfao), while also not letting that perfectionism stand in the way of progress. It's really helped me become more confident in storycrafting from beginning to end, in a way I've never really felt in my old fandom or writing. On top of all that, it's the only fic that I can actually read after posting updates without feeling like it's exfoliating my entire body to do so lol. I actually enjoy reading it sometimes. So that's nice.

#18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Answered here. :)

#29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year

Really hard one omg. If I have to choose something I've already posted on ao3, then it'd probably be one of these three: (1) in Five Peggats Each, the passage I also described above regarding Anakin's fever as it relates to the jizz band & cantina in chapter 6; the passage I put in the fic summary for Every Shadow, but the full version of it as written in chapter 2, not the abridged version in the summary; and (3) the opening paragraph of What Dead Things See.

But but but imo -trembles with excitement (I've been dying to show this, folks, what a good opportunity)- none of those passages even hold a candle to this thing that poured out of my brain one sleepless night at 2am for some unposted/unfinished oneshot:

For a moment, when he was nine years old, Anakin thought himself to be a whore. In an effort to scrub the slave out of him, the temple healers had pumped him full of vaccines and medications and water and food. He'd been lying on a brand new bed in a brand new room and counting the speeders whose lights flashed across the wall. That's when the memory burned. If they want you for your strength, his anma said, then they won't squander a second of it. Your back will ache and your feet will throb before the very first sunset. But Anakin's back wasn't aching and his feet didn’t throb. If they want you for your mind, they'll test your skills and put you to work, and they'd tested him, yes, but not his ability to steer the yoke of a podracer at the drop of a pin, nor his ability to disassemble and reassemble any gadget known to sentient life. They'd only studied the gaps in his knowledge and he'd had none of the answers and he'd seen the pity in their gazes. And if they feed you, said his anma, if they let you rest in a bed and say they'll take care of you, then the first chance you get, you must run. As fast as you can, as hard as you can, even if they activate your bomb. Because some fates, my love, are worse than death. You must always be wise enough to know that.  And Anakin, well fed and well rested, hadn't wanted to run fast or run hard or detonate his bomb. Anakin hadn't wanted to escape this new place that sang of plenty and of love and of home. So he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled through the darkened shared quarters until he found his new master's bed. Clammy, feverish, and half-asleep, Anakin crawled under the covers and felt around for his master's trousers. Obi-Wan awoke in an instant.  That night, they found no rest at all—rather, hours of conversation while Anakin shivered on the couch huddled in afghans and quilts and comforters and tried to explain that, yes, he knew he was free and he knew he was safe and he knew all he had to say was a word and he'd be taken wherever else he wanted by whomever else he wanted and that, no, Obi-Wan had never said or done anything to suggest such a thing was wanted and that if he ever did going forward, Anakin would tell him straight away, and that, yes, he understood the difference between a master and a Master and that, no, he didn't need to use a different word—because Obi-Wan didn't yet know that there are some things you learn with your mind but other things you learn with your body, and that there's no actual function in the branding of a slave because the brand is already burnt into a slave's mind, as crisply and as permanently, as a molten pattern pressed to flesh. As he kneels before his Master, Anakin decides that Palpatine would have liked the gift of a nine-year-old groping beneath the bed sheets better. It would have saved them all a lot of time.

I will finish this one day... Have about 3 scenes written, and just need to write 1.5 scenes more. But the above part stands pretty well on its own so hopefully you all enjoyed! ^_^

[kharmii]

In the area where I live there are really only a handful of people still wearing masks its either leftist teen pupils or Karen looking women. Leftism and all that nonsense really didn't take off in the area I live even if the greater country cares a lot about leftism.

At the very least they are easy to recognize and here and are rare to spot in the wild and even easier to avoid.

Personally I never caught the virus. And I highly doubt the vaccine helped with that. I am usually preferring to stay at home and I think I am one of those people being immune to this whole thing from the get-go (and I worked in retail for the majority of the time, working with young children who sprayed their sneezes all across the room when they were too young to have memorized sneeze etiquette.)

But this isn't about me it is about weirdos still wearing masks and I chuckle to myself each time I see them. Hon things are looking good right now and no mask can help you save brain cells since you all kick them out when you joined the leftist cult.

It is comforting to live in an area where most modern day leftism is rejected or ignored... Makes me feel like real life really only has a handful of lunatics advocating for this bs and common sense still has a big space there.

I hope in the upcoming years all this nonsense will eventually die out and we have a new nonsensical trend people do that is less harmful than the current one.

Only just recently did some of the hardcore mask people stop wearing them at work. There are still a few people around, and I mostly see them when I'm out shopping.

I never got Covid either, or if I did, it was so mild it was hardly noticeable. Some people reported losing their sense of smell for a few days or having a scratchiness in their throats. I had that a time or two. It might be a mix of genetic luck of the draw and goodish lifestyle choices. I don't always eat the best, but I stay physically fit. I don't smoke or drink.

The thing is...I'm not the same person irl that I am trolling on the internet. I'm actually sensitive and considerate, and some people have even misinterpreted me as being shy. Years ago, at work, someone released a baby raccoon caught in a trap crying for its mommy, and a bunch of people assumed it was me. I was like, "What?! I didn't even know it was there!" (If it was me, why wouldn't they assume I still had it stuffed in my shirt like MY BABY RACCOON NOW!!)

If the people I worked with were decent, I might have suffered wearing the mask for a bit when asked, even though it was stupid, pointless, and ineffective, and I don't like wasting my time with stupid, pointless crap, especially if it comes with an uncomfortable sensory experience. My job is physically demanding, and I can't have restricted breathing. Someone sitting at a desk all day might not be capable of understanding that.

When Covid hysteria first hit, I still had a committed stalker, and I was working around a bunch of low lives who'd cackle around me like hyenas. Almost every day, I'd have to listen to this nasty, nasty woman mutter under her breath, "Huhuhuhuhuhuhuh.....you can't make comedy like this up!" every time I'd get harassed by the stalker guy.

-So then when someone accused me of 'dehumanizing them' for not wearing the mask, I went off. I've been dehumanized constantly my entire life, -sometimes by my own family- and nobody has ever given the slightest damn. I don't want to hear about how (so-and-so) lives a cushy, pain-free life and still feels 'dehumanized' because they belong to some 'marginalized' group, or because someone around them isn't towing the line to follow some group-think political agenda.

Again, if I thought people would actually die if I personally didn't wear a mask, then I'd wear one. If I was surrounded by decent people who treated me well, then I'd wear one out of consideration for their anxiety. -But I'm surrounded by narrow-minded goobers, some of which clearly don't believe their own bullshit and only were doing it because they cared too much about what other people thought. A couple people might have even got the vaccine for that reason.

Side note: I'm feeling a smidge pissy today because someone started drama at work after a long period of peace. About once a month, I'll heat up fish in the break room, either salmon or rainbow trout over rice. Keep in mind, the break room isn't a place where people hang out. Workers will heat up their food, grab their drinks out of the fridge, then go off and eat somewhere else. The only time we had people hanging out in the break room was when we had the two office workers shirking their duties and going in there to hide.

Around Christmas, the stalker guy made some comment like, 'Someone didn't like how you heated up fish yesterday.'

I replied something like, 'Someone can fuck right on off...'

Now today, I get a note in my workstation saying, 'Stop heating up fish in the microwave. Signed: Everybody :-)

I hung it up on the wall with a reply, 'If you don't like it, get a job at McDonalds where the food smells good. I only eat fish once a month. Get a life.' *circles the word 'everybody'* 'Like I've ever cared.'

I can't count how many times I'd be surrounded by dirty rotten low life scumbags cackling around me with an attitude like, "Everybody has decided....(this and that) about you."

As if I'm going to be like, "What?! You mean 'everybody' has an issue with something I'm doing?! Well then, I guess I'd better goddamn well change!"

This is that impossible standard of perfection I'm always going on about. Nobody cares that I'll clean out the microwave every so often, or bring in plastic cutlery everybody is free to use, or that I'm one of the few people who puts napkins over my food when I heat it up, so food doesn't splatter all over the microwave. I heat food up every day (fish once a month, every other kind of food the rest of the month). Nobody notices or gives a damn about anything positive I do. They have to find something to pick a fight about, and it's always something that's not that big of a deal.

[telomeke]

TAG 9 PEOPLE YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER

Got tagged by the ever effervescent @waitmyturtles (on this post linked here). Thanks dearie! 💖

THREE SHIPS 🔹 It wasn't intentional but mine are the same as @waitmyturtles–

Pat and Pran

Kurosawa and Adachi

Togawa and Nozue.

FIRST SHIP 🔹 The legendary MaxTul.

LAST SONG 🔹 I can't just put one down here; my taste is eclectic and random, and just the last song will paint the wrong picture.

A selection paints a fuller picture (but it's still curious): Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson's "Symphony" (because it was playing in the gym, and the music video is a masterpiece of an LGBT short film that brings me to tears every time – do watch if you haven't yet. It's beautiful). Also Miley Cyrus' "Flowers", the MSP boys' "You've Got Ma Back" and Tilly Birds' "Just Being Friendly." Gonna mention Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" too because they both popped up on YouTube. And Adam Lambert's version of Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" because Tumblr decided to take a complaint about bots and set it to music (blogpost linked here).

LAST MOVIE 🔹 This one is way out of left field: Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 (the first Tamil movie I've watched in years, and it was SO GOOD). The book it's based on is also a classic. I'm not Tamil (or even of Indian ancestry) but the culture and language have a special place in my heart because of a childhood housekeeper/nanny who was more like family. Now thinking of watching RRR, but don't know if I will get around to it, because the energy in the clips seems a bit overwhelming. (Yes, I'm aware it's Telugu and not Tamil.) Prior to this – it was either Dune or Encanto (no hang on, maybe it was Everything Everywhere AAO; have been avoiding the cinema for a while since I couldn't get vaccinated earlier due to allergies and had to stay indoors quite a bit).

CURRENTLY READING 🔹 Don't hate on this – read the full explanation please – but with a tinge of guilt about the ethics of it all I'm re-reading a book about a certain boy wizard and his journey to self-actualization. Yes, I'm aware the author (whom I shall refrain from naming – like a Voldeuxmort) has in recent years fallen out of favor due to her views on trans issues, and is now a pariah among vast swathes of Tumblr, so please don't come at me, but I have my reasons.

When the books first came out I was fascinated by the world-building and concocted etymologies, but that's not the reason I'm re-reading. Thing is, I'm trying to learn another language (vastly different from the ones I do know) and the books are very useful for this. They have translations readily available in almost any language you could want, and I can cross-check any difficult bits with the English version, and I already know the story anyway. Plus there's lots of dialogue and the original author's style (or lack of it) isn't hugely literary – the prose is mostly functional, even pedestrian. And the plainness of the language helps when you're not ready (at learner level) for any leaps of linguistic trickery (except for the fantastical made-up bits, which you wouldn't need to learn anyway).

Also – and this is a big reason – my late mom loved these books, and they were the basis for a lot of shared memories for us. I remember watching the films with her and visiting the memorabilia stores too. They made her very happy, and this in turn made me happy. Mom also passed before any of the author's less savory views became public. So having them about reminds me of Mom a lot, back when things were simpler and without the current climate of nastiness.

So yes the books have become tarnished in my view, but the way I'm looking at it – these are books I already had even before the author's controversies broke to the surface, so it's not like I bought them recently and am indirectly supporting her here. I used to treasure these books for their imaginative content, rather less so now. There is still beauty in them, but they're also devalued in other ways. I'm not going to throw them out just yet (not right now anyway) – because for now they're also portkeys to happy memories and happier times.

I think of them like this – they're like the heirloom antiques passed down from generations before, but then you get them appraised and suddenly you find out they're not quite the precious artifacts you thought they were. But just because Mom's old clock or statue turned out to be a dud, it doesn't mean I can't use it as a doorstop or paperweight (or just another decorative tchotchke). You don't have to give it pride of place on the mantelpiece, but you can keep it for different uses that bring utility to your life in other ways. (And as always the other voice in my head is going "Yeaaah well, but that clock face has radium and the statue is flaking lead paint! You have a toxic doorstop that could kill the dog and that paperweight is also poisoning the worktable!" OK, valid points; just give me a little bit more time to figure this one out, please. 🤷‍♂️)

For now I'm using these books as functional learning aids, rather than throwing them out straightaway (it's better for the environment too, I tell myself). When my grief over Mom's passing fades (as it will, it must) maybe I can let them go of them then. 😥💖

CURRENTLY WATCHING 🔹 These shows:

Moonlight Chicken

My School President

Bad Buddy (always coming back to this one – but I watch my favorite bits on repeat, rather than going sequentially in full chrono)

The Amazing Race 34 (missed out on this when it first came out, so it's a binge watch now).

CURRENTLY CONSUMING 🔹 Gluten-free fruitcake – I have one in the fridge being quickly depleted and two others stashed in the freezer awaiting their turn; a dear friend and relation is a great baker, and when we recently got together after a years-long break (kept apart by the pandemic), he gave me several of these delicious beauties because he knows how much I love them and covet quality baked goods that are also GF (not always easy to find). SO GOOD with hot coffee and Thai BL. Also munching on the odd slice of gourmet bak kwa from a secret source, plus arrowhead chips.

CURRENTLY CRAVING 🔹 Chicken rice because of Moonlight Chicken.

ONWARD TAGS 🔹 Would like to get to know you more: @miscellar, @colourme-feral, @theheightofdishonor, @airenyah, @crzshaly437, @dribs-and-drabbles, @gennianydots, @faillen, @bengiyo. Ah and @respectthepetty too! Oops, I've gone past nine. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

As always, no obligation to play! But fun if you do. 🥰

[zponds]

!!! SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION (more specifically, the extended version), DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO AND/OR READ THIS POST! SPOILER WARNING! !!!

Now I wanna say that Jurassic World Dominion is in my "OK" tier of movies. For one, I did like that Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcom got back together again. However, I can't deny and/or ignore that the movie has flaws and is underwhelming, with the most obvious flaw is that prehistoric-mutated locusts were the main threat rather than dinosaurs. BUT... recently, I began to think the locusts originally weren't going to be the main threat. Think about it, a lot of Dominion's production happened DURING the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. So with that in mind and all the restrictions put in place by the pandemic, that meant that the crew didn't have a lot of time, let alone group meetings, to implement a lot of good stuff into the movie, and as a result, they just went with the locusts as the easy way out.

But what if Universal halted Dominion's production for until the Covid vaccines were delivered worldwide in early 2021? If that was the case, more planning and production coulda have been done and Dominion coulda had more content, like during the rest of 2020, that coulda been the opportunity to make CGI models for more new dinosaur species like Hypsolophidon and Mussaurus (being two of several other new species). And it coulda also provided the opportunity for Steven Spielberg to bring David Koepp (the writer of the first two Jurassic movies) onboard to help in making the movie better. Not to mention that Jurassic World Dominion coulda had a runtime as long as James Cameron's Titanic (1997). And there's a good possibility that if this was the case, Dominion coulda been released in June 2023, as a way to celebrate the series's 30th anniversary, like how Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom was a way to celebrate the series's 25th anniversary in June 2018.

Now I do wanna say that out of the Jurassic World Dominion rewrite videos I've seen on YouTube, the one above (by RazorRex) is my favorite as it fixes a lot of problems and i personally see it as the closest thing to what coulda been if Universal halted Dominion's production until the vaccines came out. It also brings in another major component/plot point from the two books by Michael Crichton; the DX disease. Not to mention it perfectly explains all the fixed components of Dominion, it fixes a lot of the issues with the current film and gives things a more conclusive ending. And it even inspired me to help expand on this version of Jurassic World Dominion... not to steal ideas, but to add more flavor to them as i really love the ideas, and I’ll definitely be sure to give RazorRex (and Popp Culture too) credit for the ideas in the video above... and I even plan on making posts about what I'd add to this version to add more flavor. Now those posts on all this will come soon, so stay tuned.

[creature-wizard]

Am I in a cult ? If yes, is there a specific name to this kind of pipeline ? Is that some kind of domestic-abuse-survivor-to-antivax-wellness pipeline ?

Sorry for the massive ask, it's very long, I'm planning to talk to a therapist about that.

For context : I live outside of US, in Europe, english isn't my native language. I've spent my early years in a very religious christian environment, then teenhood in New Age type of environment (they say it's not New Age, but I don't see any differences with that, it's repackaged Eastern spiritualities and religions mixed with pseudo-science self-help wellness cure-for-all-sickness).

I think I might spend all my childhood and teenhood in a cult environment. Very isolated. Very us-vs-them, we're specia and they're borinfg, mindset.

Multiple trauma layered within each other, school, home, medical, family, youth movements, deaths, suicides, being forced to watch horrific stuff for "good benevolent samaritan savior" reasons, other horrific stuff happened.

I'm still in it. This situation got worse with time since 2020.

My parents keep saying they're not partaking in cult interactions, they're skeptical and free thinkers, wich makes me even more confused. I mean it's like they're in a cult but it doesn't look like a cult and they say it's not a cult.

I'm not sure about it since it doesn't look like what I've seen portrayed online and in movies.

We don't go to church, attend public events. The only information sources and interactions are on social medias like youtube. Politicians talking about pfizer and "big pharma corruptions" and how freedom patriots will save everyone. That kind of tropes. But apparently it's not social media because it doesn't look like Facebook or Instagram. I stopped doing that very recently, 2021-2022. Seriously it was so hard to quit this habit, I'm so glad I did it.

Every time I learn about post traumatic stress responses, new age psychology cults, wellness spiritual healing mlm marketing, cult behavior, codependent issues, white supremacy pure blood tropes, I get terrified because I relate a bit too well. I'm living in this ideological nightmare. I had similar experiences in a different context.

I've been fed all kind of conspiracy theories (they're not "conspiracists" just skeptical and free thinkers), spiritual "healing", "I choose what happened to me and I'm a special soul" kind of karma tropes, had forced exorcism on me while having a mental crisis because I had "bad spirits" controlling me, heard all the time about apocalypse scenarios where vaccinated people would die within a few months, heard horrific stories about covid vaccines side effects, red-pill "we live in a society and others are mindless NPCs" stories, I can't even describe all the things I've gone trough those last three years.

I'm still really scared of the idea of escaping this pipeline. I don't even know what exactly it is, how to escape this, what to expect and how to leave properly when my parents will learn about that. It feels like it's been all my life. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just me being "psychotic" like they say.

How do I make sure I'm not interpretating and making false assumptions ? Most of the time, I don't even know how to check my own stories, beliefs, opinions from actual facts. Am I in a cult or am I making things up ?

Thank you for reading to the end.

Cults in real life rarely look like the ones on TV, which are based more on conspiracy theories about cults. Real cults look like the kind of thing you're describing. You are absolutely in a cult; you're literally describing the same stuff I'm talking about when I write about the bullshit that New Agers/QAnons/Q Agers are into.

There are support groups for people in your shoes, including ReQovery and QAnon Casualties on Reddit.

Maybe some of my followers have more ideas?

[inwintersolitude]

- February 28th 2024 -

What were you doing one hour ago? Looking around online for house painting businesses. I want the crown moulding on the kitchen cabinets in the new house painted white to match the rest of the cabinets.

Where were your parents born? My mom was born in Delaware, and my dad was born in New Jersey.

Have you ever used public transportation to get to work? Yep, back when I was in college and working at the university airport, I took the bus there for the first year-ish that I worked there, until I bought my first car.

What do you miss the most from before Covid times? Not having to worry about catching it lol. Unfortunately I'm not able to get any further Covid vaccines because 2 out of the 4 boosters I've had so far gave me heart problems, and the most recent one gave me a full-on heart rhythm disorder that I need to take medication for long-term. It's been over a year since that last booster and I'm still not better. I'm very pro-vaccine, I'm just one of the very very few unlucky people to have a serious complication from it.  But thankfully I've never had Covid, I'm really hoping I simply have some sort of natural immunity to it.

What has been the best thing to happen to you in the past year? Traveling to Ireland last September/October with my husband, parents, brother, and sister-in-law.  And also my husband and I are currently buying a house which is super exciting.

Who do you have listed as emergency contacts in your phone? My husband, my brother, and my parents.

Are you prone to jealousy? Nope.

How did you get through the lowest point in your life? Loads of self-care, and the support of my husband.

Have you ever been someone's first love? Yep, my husband and I are each other's first loves.

Have you ever played frisbee golf? I played it once in gym class my freshman year of high school.  There was a huge park across the street from the school, and it had a frisbee golf course.

What is your favorite silly, feel-good movie? The Barbie movie lol.

How old were you when you got your first gaming console, and what kind was it? Around 8.  Nintendo 64.

Who in your family has the coolest job? My husband is an airline pilot, and as a former commercial pilot myself (non airline) of course I think that's cool. I also have a second cousin who's a boat captain up on Cape Cod. Oh and my brother's job is pretty neat too, he does anti-fraud investigation in the banking industry.

Is cereal technically a soup? Haha I suppose you could see it that way.

Have you found your first gray hairs yet Nope.

What is something that drains your energy really quickly? Socializing with anyone other than close family.  I'm a hardcore introvert, that shit wears me out so fast.

Did you parents teach you how to make a budget before you moved out on your own? Yep.  My parents are very financially savvy and they made sure to teach me all of that.

What is your favorite food to put gravy on? Roast turkey and stuffing.

Do you know anyone from Canada? Yep, one of my friends from flight school was from Canada. And my Great Grandy and Nana lived in Montréal for many years, but they weren't originally from there.

What's your opinion on astrology? It's unscientific rubbish.

Do you use TikTok? Nope.

What do you have going on the rest of the day? Hardly anything.  I'm going to have dinner soon, and then I need to wash my hair because I'm meeting my realtor and home inspector at the new house tomorrow and I don't want to look like a greasy hobo.

[chaosintheavenue]

A random guide to which of my various Fallout OCs have completed various quests, DLCs etc, since I know my storyline has become pretty convoluted in places!

-

New Vegas:

Who's the Courier?

That's Six!

Picrew link

He got shot by Benny, woke up in Goodsprings, and did all the things a Courier does along the Yes Man route up to the point of having all factions allied and prepared for Hoover Dam. But… he never made it back to Yes Man to announce that he was ready to kick things off.

Where is he now?

He's, um… in the Sierra Madre vault. RIP buddy.

So what happens with Hoover Dam?

Charlie takes over the NV quests from there!

Picrew link

She has Complicated Lore, so for the sake of this quick post, you can consider her to be reluctantly Legion-aligned and operating in a role roughly equivalent to that of a frumentarius. She still never gets involved with the Dam, but she does convince more factions to aid the Legion when the time comes, and happen to meet all of the NV companions along the way.

She also usually has another OC as a companion with her- Chel, Red and Brutus in that chronological order- but they tend to take less of an active role in the quests.

What about Old World Blues?

That was Violet!

She originated as a Van Buren OC and has played a few narrative roles in my overarching OC storyline, one of which was ending up in Big MT thanks to her constant misfortune.

She doesn't talk about what happened during her unintended excursion. Mobius is probably still alive, at least… I think?

And Lonesome Road?

That- very recently, in fact- was Vari!

(please ignore the fact that he's in the Villa here lol)

I haven't sat down and intentionally written up much of his lore yet, but he's a Cipher, and my brain is currently so gripped by them that I can all but guarantee he'll get more content soon lol.

Throughout the DLC, he had no idea what in general was going on or who Ulysses was (I've roughly decided that Vari somehow received Six's old Pip-Boy from Elijah, who must have removed it pre-vault sealing for some reason or other, but that'll require plenty more lore-bending I haven't gotten around to) and did end up being unable to pacify him.

Dead Money?

Well, that was Six, up to a point. Several other OCs have visited or passed near to the Sierra Madre, and Elijah no longer seems to be holed up there. Kinda just leaving him out there as a vague rogue element in the OCverse for now.

And Honest Hearts?

Does not take place as depicted in game, but a few characters have passed through the Zion Canyon area.

-

Fallout 76:

Who's the Resident?

That's Lara!

They're the character I briefly played as at initial launch, and suffice to say, they didn't get a whole lot done. I do have a vague story outline for their post-gameplay life which involves them getting involved with Raiders, but quest-wise they spent their days terrified of the new world around them and did very little aside from creating the Scorch vaccine.

Where are they now?

Frankly, I don't know exactly what became of them in lore. But they were active in 2102, and it's now 2298, so… it's not looking too good for them :/

So who's in Appalachia now?

That's Trin!

You've probably already seen her around these parts. Backstory-wise, she has partial Cipher ancestry, but is also reluctantly tied in with the BoS, and is somewhat Scorched thanks to drinking the Nuka-Cola vaccine a little too late (AKA, Complicated Lore). She's done most of the main questline (got stuck at Fort Defiance for hardware reasons, so she'll most likely never enter a silo or launch for herself) and the entirety of Wastelanders and Steel Dawn/Reign. Has both Beckett and Sofia staying at her CAMP (plus various OC companions, of course).