#i feel that on a maximum laziness level

[pibsboots]

I've always had chronic fatigue. I remember being twelve, and an adult mentioned how I couldn't possibly know how tired they felt because adulthood brought levels of exhaustion I couldn't imagine. I thought about that for days in fear, because I couldn't remember the last time I didn't feel tired.

Eventually I came to terms with the fact that I was just tired, and I couldn't do as many things as everyone else. People called me lazy, and I knew that wasn't true, but there's only so many times you can say "I'm tired" before people think it's an excuse. I don't blame them. When a teenager does 20 hours of extracurriculars every week and only says "I'm too tired" when you ask them to do the dishes, it's natural to think it's an excuse. At some point, I started to think the same thing.

It didn't matter that I could barely sit up. It was probably all in my head, and if I really wanted to, I could do it.

When I learned the name for it, chronic fatigue, I thought wow, people that have that must be miserable, because I am always tired and I cannot imagine what it would feel like if it were worse.

Spoiler alert, if you've been tired for a decade, it's probably chronic fatigue.

Once I figured that out though, I thought of my energy as the same as everyone else's, just smaller in quantity. And that might be true for some people, but I've figured out recently that it absolutely isn't true for me.

I used to be like wow I have so much energy today I can do this whole list for sure! And then I'd do the dishes and have to lay down for 2 hours. Then I'd think I must gave misjudged that, I didn't have as much energy as I thought.

But the thing is - I did have enough energy for more tasks, I just didn't go about them properly.

With chronic fatigue, your maximum energy is obviously much smaller than the average person's. Doing the dishes for you might use up the same percentage of energy that it takes to do all the daily chores for someone else.

If someone without chronic fatigue was to do all the daily chores, they would take breaks. Because otherwise, they're sprinting a marathon for no reason and it would take way more energy than necessary. We have to do the same.

Put the cups in the dishwasher, take a break. Put the bowls in, take a break. So on and so forth. This may mean taking breaks every 2-5 minutes but afterwards, you get to not feel like you've run a marathon while carrying 4 people on your back.

Today, I had a moderate amount of energy. Under my old system of go till you drop, I probably could have done most of the dishes and wiped off the counter and then been dead to the world for the rest of the day.

Under the new system, I scooped litter boxes, cleaned out the fridge, took the trash out, cleaned the stove, and wiped off the counter and did all the dishes. And after all that, I still had it in me to make a simple dinner, unload the dishwasher, and tidy the kitchen.

It was complete and utter insanity. Just because I sat down whenever I felt myself getting more tired than I already was.

All this to say, take fucking breaks. It's time to unlearn the ceaseless productivity bullshit that capitalism has shoved down our throats. Its actively counterproductive. Just sit down. Drink some water. Rest your body when it needs to rest.

There will still be days where there is nothing to do but rest, and days where half a load of dishes is absolutely the most I can do. But this method has really helped me minimize those, which is so incredibly relieving.

[dead-lights]

pathfinder -> tess the psychic, keisha the oracle, flora the sorcerer, ethren the wizard, and maria the druid

i was feeling nostalgic about my old tabletop group and couldn't sleep last night, so I made pathfinder versions of some premades. ADHD is giving me some trouble today and i forgot to take my meds until it was too late, so i got a little carried away while i was supposed to be doing other stuff >.>

This isn't really a workable party - aside from Maria they are all extremely squishy - but my partner is willing to DMan adventure with them, or at least a few encounters. tabletop groups are fun, but we do really enjoy just having him DM while I play multiple characters.

seriously this party definitely needs stronker friends tho just oh dear. A psychic, an oracle, a sorcerer, a wizard and a druid??? Tess, Flora, and Ethren are untrained in all armor, Keisha is only trained in light armor, and Maria is a good and loyal friend who would never abandon her party even though her medium armor and larger health pool might otherwise save her. They're all super dead, is my point.

very long under the cut - just me copypastoing parts of the rulebooks with info about their character builds. i might post actual character sheets later idk i'm kinda lazy and haven't filled out anything past level 1 for them.

tess // half-elf psychic (the one who sets shit on fire with her brain)

background: magical experiment (resistant skin)

At some point in your life, powerful people performed magical experiments on you that changed you permanently. You still bear the marks, as well as the abilities. The experiments rendered your skin tougher and resilient to cold and fire damage.

idea here being that Tess was badly injured in a potion making accident, and received an experimental healing procedure to save her life. hence the lack of eyebrows and vampire skin.

class: psychic

You rely on your collection of psychic cantrips as a mainstay, choosing where and when to amplify them for maximum effect. You weave your more conventional spells into the fray where more complex magic is needed, unleashing your mind's full potential in a blaze of power when the time is right.

you can play psychics as either an int- or charisma-based class. i went with int for Tess to represent her genius trait. i don't like dealing with spell slots, so I tend to favor cantrip-focused casters like psychics or dnd warlocks rather than idk wizards.

conscious mind: the oscillating wave

At the heart of all things is energy. Though it may change its form or resting place, it is eternal, fundamental, the purest of building blocks. Your powers let you shift energy - either concentrating it in a single point to explosive end or freezing objects by plundering it away - in an endless oscillation of temperature.

translation: her whole thing is setting shit on fire. also ice. very untamed of her.

subconscious mind: precise discipline

Determine intended outcome. Align thoughts. Identify and resolve distractions. Manifest. Intentional focus is the key to unleashing your abilities, whether that's because your power naturally tends to precise, discrete effects, or because you've adopted strict discipline to ensure your mind can change the world only when you intend it to. Your thought components are calculations you make to determine the forces you need to call upon. Perhaps you mentally weigh the mass of an object against the force of gravity to levitate it or you might determine exactly how much energy is needed for an object to combust. Calculation components tend to impart ordered visual and auditory effects to your spell manifestation, such as regular tessellations of light, mathematical spirals, or harmonic tones.

this is meant to capture her perfectionist trait. i also gave her the "natural ambition" feat just for good measure.

some spells associated with the oscillating wave go from powerful to devastating if you can cast them at melee range, replacing d4s with d6s and d10s with d12s. Psychics are squishy as fuck and there's only so much I can do to mitigate that, but I'm working on a build or strategy that will make at least occasional melee attacks feasible bc tess deserves to burn the world to the ground if that's what her heart wants :D

keisha // human oracle (the one who can kinda temporarily turn people into werewolves once she hits level 10, ish)

background: false medium

There are people in this world who possess the ability to pierce the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead, allowing them to communicate with spirits. You… are not one of them. But you know enough about the occult, as well as cold reading tricks and various practices from local religions, to scam your way into people’s coinpurses. Unlike a through-and-through charlatan, there’s some real occult methodology behind your flimflam, but that’s likely cold comfort to the people you swindle. Whether you decided to take a more righteous path, were caught and pledged to make it right, or still slip in a few “séances” between adventures, you’ve taken to an adventuring lifestyle as you move from place to place.

the idea of Keisha as a grifter-truned-oracle is very appealing to me. while she does have powers now, they have nothing to do with contacting the dead - she's more fortune teller than medium. doubt that will stop her running séances to earn a quick buck tho.

class: oracle

Your conduit to divine power eschews the traditional channels of prayer and servitude—you instead glean sacred truths and great mysteries embodied in overarching concepts, whether because you perceive the common ground across multiple deities or circumvent their power entirely. You explore one of these mysteries and draw upon its power to cast miraculous spells, but that power comes with a terrible price: a curse that grows stronger the more you draw upon it, which you might uphold as an instrument of the divine or view as punishment from the gods.

mystery: cosmos

Celestial bodies great and small exert influence on you, giving you sublime cosmic power. Perhaps you see the glittering stars as a divine blessing, or perhaps you feel drawn to the infinitely dark spaces between. You might uphold deities who represent the sun and the moon— or you might draw power from dark entities from beyond the stars.

curse of the sky's call

Your body is drawn toward the heavens, making you lighter and less substantial than you should be. Your eyes glow with starry light, and your hair and clothing float and drift around you.

flora // changeling sorcerer (the one with the asshole mom)

I think making her the daughter of a blood hag is a good alternative to making her a vampire. she could always take the vampire dedication at a higher level, but i like her as a changeling hanging with Tess and Keisha.

background: magical misfit

You don’t understand folks who claim that magical talent is some sort of burden or great responsibility; you’ve always used your magic to cause trouble and to escape the consequences. Whether becoming an adventurer is your attempt to make amends or just a new way to make some mischief, you’re excited to see where it takes you, and you still delight in using your skills to get out of trouble.

class: sorcerer

You didn’t choose to become a spellcaster—you were born one. There’s magic in your blood. Self-reflection and study allow you to refine your inherent magical skills and unlock new, more powerful abilities. The power in your blood carries a risk, however, and you constantly face the choice of whether you’ll rise to become a master spellcaster or fall into destruction.

heritage: changeling // bloodline: hag

Your mother was a hag. Your eyes' heterochromia is the most obvious signifier of this parentage, but you likely also have a slighter build, paler skin, and darker hair than most members of your other parent’s ancestry. You gain the changeling trait. You also gain low-light vision, or you gain darkvision if your ancestry already has low light vision.

ancestry: veil may

Born of a blood hag, a fiery blood drinker hidden behind a false skin, you have one blood-red eye and the ability to slough off your appearance in an instant.

I gave Flora the self-assured, genius, and mean traits in-game, so for this I put her in a charisma-focused class and boosted her int score, as well as giving her some mean spells. I played a smart warlock focused around intimidation in my last dnd campaign and think that sort of playstyle would work really well for her.

ethren // human wizard (the one with a real job)

class: wizard

You are an eternal student of the secrets of the universe, using your mastery of magic to cast powerful spells. You treat magic like a science, cross-referencing the latest texts on practical spellcraft with ancient tomes to discover and understand arcane magic. Yet magical theory is vast, and there's no way you can study it all. Most wizards learn through formal schooling, with their curriculum informing a specific rubric, although particularly driven researchers sometimes piece together their own theories.

arcane school: civic wizardry

You've learned that the fruits of arcane studies—like any other field—should ultimately help the common citizen. You’ve learned the humble art of construction, of finding lost people and things, of moving speedily among buildings and moats—yet these same arts can be turned to demolition, and the constructs you animate to build bridges can just as easily tear them down.

the civic wizardry thing comes from some specific headcanons I have about ethren - namely, that he was involved with the building of the tunnels under Forgotten Hollow/Glimmerbrook/Moonwood.

i'm strongly considering rebuilding him as a druid - i really like the association of mischief/charisma, untamed/intelligence, and practical/wisdom, so I don't love having him in an int-based class. i can have him kinda multiclass to let him keep some of the civic wizardry stuff. that would also let me rebuild Maria as a witch, since he could take over healing duty.

maria // human druid (the one who gets to wear real armor)

characters can become werewolves starting at level 2, but I think Maria would spend a little more time as just a spellcaster before taking that step - I thought about making her the oracle rather than Keisha because of the lunar aspects of Keisha's mystery, but decided against it because I don't want maria in a charisma-centric class. if i decide to redo Ethren as a druid, i will probably make Maria a witch instead - it's an intelligence-based class that focuses on the use of a familiar, so it seems kinda perfect for her as a familiar-owning untamed spellcaster. I'm not unhappy with her as a druid, though, and she can get a familiar like that too. and i like seeing her in scale mail!

class: druid

The power of nature is impossible to resist. It can bring ruin to the stoutest fortress in minutes, reducing even the mightiest works to rubble, burning them to ash, burying them beneath an avalanche of snow, or drowning them beneath the waves. It can provide endless bounty and breathtaking splendor to those who respect it - and an agonizing death to those who take it too lightly. You are one of those who hear nature's call. You stand in awe of the majesty of its power and give yourself over to its service.

druidic order: untamed

The uncontrollable call of the natural world courses through your body. You might have been raised by a wild animal, or you might have come to reject the artifices of cities after growing up in one. Now, primal magic grants you the ability to wear the form of an untamed creature.

background: astrologer

Astrologers look to the stars for signs and portents, using their positions in the heavens to chart courses for those living beneath them. As the celestial spheres move, so does fate itself. You studied the stars and learned to divine your path based on their guidance. Whether the stars directly called you to a life of adventure or you use the stars to guide your wanderlust, you're living out the stars' guidance in a life of adventure.

the astrology thing ties in with her mooncaster stuff. dnd druids have the option of the circle of the moon subclass, which I do like better than the untamed order she joined here, but ya know - this is pathfinder, she gets pathfinder powers.

[redjennies]

having a couple thousand followers on tumblr is wild because like even subtracting for inactive blogs, people who won't be on during that time of day, pornbots I'm too lazy to comb through and block, and the like, if you were like "Tess you gotta go out there on stage and make your dumb little jokes in front of 2000 people." like yeah, I'd do it because my shame levels are always operating at maximum capacity to the point where I no longer feel it but I'd understand that like I'm performing in front of an audience and feel the weight of that pressure.

meanwhile, I get on here and post some shit like "I would let sovereign spaw the mushroom king from bg3 hit it from behind until I see the face of god." like I'm just talking to myself alone in my room.

[lilllithdraagon]

PART 1: Expectations going into the game

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE THE VEILGUARD. READ AT OWN RISK.

Main Post Link

(Lunadys) Let’s start off by being honest about what our expectations were. It’s Bioware. (Adromeda ... Anthem *cough cough*) I just wanted a game that wasn’t going to crash on install and a story that was at least palatable. I play Bethesda games, I’m wasn’t asking for the moon. I hoped beyond hope that they wouldn’t just kill off Solas in a lazy hollywood/disney style ‘redemption’ arc.

(Lillithdraagon) This game has been in development hell for a decade. EA has clearly been fucking with things behind the scenes. Hell, at one point Veilguard was going to be a fucking mmo. Then there were the layoffs and a whole lot of drama I don’t want to get into, but needless to say, I was worried. I don’t know what I really expected out of the game. For all I pretended I was excited I was scared they would completely drop the ball. I had a dwindling hope that stubbornly refused to die that they would do Solas’ story justice. He is a morally gray character and whether you see him as a hero, a villain, or like me; something in between, you cannot deny that this game was always going to be centered around him. That much, I knew for certain.

(Lunadys) Gods to be in the room when their NDA’s expire.

(Lillith) So the gameplay trailer released and I watched it with bated breath. It was more than I could have hoped. The vibes were right. I loved the art style. And Minrathous blew me away. I’ll admit at that point I started vibrating with excitement. And that feeling didn’t go away until I had the game in my hands. I had pre-ordered the game. Downloaded it on my shitty Australian internet at 2am when it dropped and played it on release day for 18hrs. I was awake for 38hrs total that day. Then I finished the whole game in a week. So yeah. It was fucking good.

(Lunadys) Let’s try to break this down in a way you guys can read it without having an aneurysm going forward.

The tutorial and the rest of the game are 2 separate games. You’re funneled through the opening sequence with all this action, with in depth interactions with your companions, there’s a narrative playing out and you’re right there in the thick of it. It FEELS like Dragon Age has had some sort of awakening and you’re about to be in for the ride of your life.

Then... it’s just God of War 2018. You break pots to get health back. Rolling into crates is never even mentioned as weird by a single character in game. Not even in Nevarra or the Merchant districts of Dock Town. NPCs are pretty much static. There is no movement on the city streets. Your companions all but solve the puzzles for you as soon as you find them... gee thanks Bellara. Enemy encounters respawn for maximum grind-ability. You feel railroaded like you do in DA2.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but seeing a place in the distance and thinking ‘wow that’s so cool, I can’t wait to go there’ and then leaving that mission area and never returning feels... empty. It feels like you’re playing a video game. Arcade style. There is a level of immersion that is just broken. And yes. It is a video game. I understand that. So for as much as it leaves me with a hollow sense of meh, it’s not the end of the world.

This does bring us to our next point however.

[ennysimmer]

I won't play the new households in Neptune Hills until the end of the rotation, but here's a sneak peek of them :>

All of them have 100000+ simoleons in their household funds. Since they have a lot of money they will pay less in taxes and they can't donate any of their current household funds to build the university or any community lots. Otherwise, this would feel very cheaty xD They can however use their money to start their own businesses, but I'll try to limit it to one business per household unless they buy already existing businesses.

I'll probably come up with more rules as I go but this is all for now x)

West household

Liam West Personality: outgoing, lazy Traits: excitable, heavy sleeper, party animal, handy Aspiration: romance Gender preference: female LTW: woohoo 20 sims Career: owner of the bank & career services in Neptune

Liam's house was inspired by this build by SimsArch on Modthesims.

Sharpe household

Autumn Sharpe Personality: neat, lazy, nice Traits: green thumb, handy, neurotic, hydrophobic Aspiration: family Gender preference: female LTW: graduate 3 children from college Career: owner of the florist's shop in Neptune

Autumn's house in an old build I did for Florence Delarosa in Pleasantview. Obviously inspired by the condos xD I thought it would be perfect for Autumn. She's rich but she doesn't really like flaunting her wealth as much as the other households and she's a florist just like Florence.

Moyo household (married)

Farai Moyo (left) Personality: shy, playful, nice Traits: over-emotional, great kisser, friendly, clumsy Aspiration: knowledge Gender preference: female LTW: reach maximum enthusiasm in 5 hobbies Career: owner of Neptune Health Center

Martha Moyo (right) Personality: outgoing, grouchy Traits: irresistible, hot-headed, ambitious, charismatic Aspiration: popularity Gender preference: male LTW: reach the top of the politics career and become the mayor of Neptune Career: politics, maybe

The Moyo household is the second richest family in Neptune Hills, so they live in a ridiculously big mansion. I don't love how the house turned out so that's why I'm showing it from this weird angle x)

Adusei household

Kwame Adusei Personality: sloppy, shy, active, playful, nice Traits: unflirty, dare-devil, bookworm, loves to swim Aspiration: family Gender preference: female LTW: reach the top of the law enforcement career Career: law enforcement, probably

Kwame's house was inspired by this build by Sims Cocooning on Parsimonious. The 2-story window is just temporary until I find something more fitting for the house x)

Barrymore household (twins)

Bella Barrymore (left) Personality: outgoing, serious, nice Traits: party animal, hydrophobic, neurotic, insane Aspiration: popularity Gender preference: male LTW: reach top of the dance career Career: politics or starting a dance studio

Billy Barrymore (right) Personality: sloppy, outgoing, active, serious, nice Traits: natural cook, loves the outdoors, hydrophobic, unlucky Aspiration: popularity Gender preference: female LTW: own top leveled business + max all three badges Career: music or starting his own business

Their house was inspired by this build by sarah*rose on Modthesims.

Landgraab household (married)

Bill Landgraab (left) Personality: neat, outgoing, active, serious, grouchy Traits: snob, ambitious, social butterfly, neat Aspiration: popularity Gender preference: female LTW: reach the top of the military career Career: business

Fiona Landgraab (right) Personality: neat, outgoing, serious, grouchy Traits: snob, neat, ambitious, flirty Aspiration: fortune Gender preference: male LTW: reach the top of the dance career Career: haven't decided. business or criminal?

I tried to come up with something similar to the name Landgraab. I also considered using the Swedish version Markövertag, but ultimately I decided to go with Landgraab. It's so... iconic xD This is in an alternate universe though, they have no relations to Malcolm, Nancy, or Geoffrey.

[perpetualexistence]

An Appetite for Knowledge: An Intellect Devourer Noah AU

So, based on me watching clips of Baldur's Gate 3 and @total-drama-brainrot's false hydra Heather post, I couldn't help but think to myself: 'Why should Heather be the only one who's a DnD monster?'

Hence me making an AU where Noah's an Intellect Devourer. If you know what it is, you know EXACTLY what kind of horrifying implications that has. Though the name itself is also an explanation of what one is.

I've made a whole horror one-shot showing those implications that you can check out here! I highly encourage you to read it first for maximum suspense before reading on where I fully explain what Noah's deal is.

Also, the first pic you're going to see if of a brain with legs so keep that in mind for the kind of tone this AU's going for.

Noah's one of these little scamps:

Intellect devourers are squishy little guys whose whole purpose is someone unlucky enough to cross their path, use psychic attacks to paralyze them, and then consume their mind and memories. They replace the mind they just ate with themselves, and now have a body to use to lure people towards mind flayers.

They can crawl out of their new bodies at will, or else be forced into leaving through certain protection spells. But there is no getting the original person/brain back short of performing a literal miracle.

Typically they work on orders from the hivemind they're a part of. Without orders, they'll be skittering about either following the last thing they were told or keeping themselves alive.

That's the situation that a certain baby intellect devourer finds itself in. The hivemind that it was once a part of got destroyed by an adventuring party. But they failed to do it properly. Rather than killing everything connected to the hivemind at once, they only severed the connection from the main brain to everything else. They had no way of knowing it at the time, so everyone thought the problem was dealt with.

Leaving strays such as this creature without a name to fend for themselves. It's smaller than the rest, and knows staying with a group will make it more likely to be noticed by adventurers that want it dead, so it scampers off on its own to find a body it can safely hide in.

It finds a small child all alone on his way to wizard school, takes over, and names himself Noah. He was lucky to find himself a child genius that's effectively a 3rd level wizard. He's got access to a spell known as Nystul's Magic Aura that lets him still appear as human through magical means unless someone really tries pressing him with magic. Eventually, he'll also get access to Nondetection that'll prevent others from targeting him with spells to find out what he is without first dismantling Nondetection.

Combine the fact that this is the kid's first time in a new country, nobody has any context of knowing that Noah's acting weird. He's hard to detect, and he'll only get worse as he learns more magic.

Luckily for everyone, Noah's lazy thanks to how spoiled he's been with the body he's managed to snag. He also isn't required to kill anyone thanks to a hivemind.

He's fairly content with only snagging as much intelligence with others as he needs. After all, if dead bodies start piling up in a wizard school, life is going to be a lot more difficult for him.

He just needs to be within 10 feet of a person in order to feed from them. He can unleash a mild psychic attack to steal some of their knowledge, but for them it feels more like a headache. His favorite feeding ground is the library. It's easy enough to believe studying and stress are causing a headache and making it hard to remember something rather than an intellect devourer feeding on the knowledge you're trying to learn.

Plus, Noah rather likes reading. Before he got into his human body he couldn't see in the traditional sense. He could only sense things around him, and detect anything with intelligence from 300 ft away. Any knowledge he got had to be stolen. So now that he has the opportunity to learn that doesn't require him putting the work of stealing it from someone else? Of course he's going to take it.

He is capable of a more powerful psychic attack to incapacitate someone, but that's harder to hide. He never plans to use that unless his life was seriously in danger.

He also surrounds himself with people who are physically stronger than him to make up for his own lack of physical prowess. Hence him sticking with Owen, Izzy, and Eva. The wizard school he goes to is either really near or partners with other nearby adventuring school, which is how he meets them.

Does he truly cares about them, or does he just keep them around because they're useful to him?

It's hard to say. He was also the kid-equivalent of an Intellect Devourer when he possessed his first human, who also happened to be a kid. He was cut off from a collective before he was fully formed., Most of his personality is heavily influenced on the kid.

He actually understands what empathy and morality are, which are more than what most of his kind can say. But they make him uncomfortable, so he's much happier to just not think about it. He just knows he likes having his chubby buddy and Team E-scope around, and he's go no reason to feed on them. The only one smart enough for his palette is Izzy, and she's tinged with crazy so he's Not Touching That.

He won't feed on Alejandro either, but that's for a different reason. Alejandro's certainly smart enough to be on the menu. It makes it even tastier that he's got cunning. He's smart enough to figure out that Noah's more powerful than he looks/is hiding something. He's dangerous to be near, but Noah still will.

After all, Noah's got to have a backup plan if anything happens to his current host. He'd lose his ability to cast spells like before, but he'd gain a stronger body, and one with money to boot.

Still, Alejandro's nice company for now, so there's no need to be hasty with the emergency murder plan.

Noah's eventual plan is to be a part of the adventuring party that Owen and Izzy are trying to create with him, Eva, and Alejandro (and possibly Tyler because Team CIRRRRH shall live forevermore in my AUs).

He can travel around, sampling knowledge from across the continent. When they do need to fight monsters for the sake of 'doing good' and getting paid, everyone else can take the hits while he casts magic from the back while remaining unharmed. No one will ever be the wiser.

This isn't going to go exactly how Noah wants because somehow everyone else is going to find out about Noah being an Intellect Devourer.

I'm currently torn between two ways of it happening: Someone is casting Protection from Evil and Good on the whole party and Noah isn't able to get out of it, forcing him out of his body.

Or they get caught by something else (possibly mind flayers), and are put in separate cells. Noah scurries out of his human body in order to get out, consume and possess one of their captors to release them all, and then gets caught by the others when he tries to scurry back into his body.

Either way, it's not going to be fun for everyone else to grapple with the fact that the scrawny little nerd they know has killed, and has no problem with killing again if he thinks he needs to.

[skylarbee]

https://www.tumblr.com/shit-talk-turner/735266502098468864/guys-about-the-louise-footage-from-dublin-i-was

Oh Christ, I don't know how true this is but I fear that sooner or later it will happen, I feel it unfortunately

look, she talks a lot of bullshit all the time and tries super hard to make it seem like her life is perfect. her insta posts and stories about alex are beyond the maximum levels of cringe. and when someone tries this hard to convince everyone that she's this happy in her relationship and tries to show everyone that her boyfriend is THE best boyfriend and keeps talking about how much they love each other... we all know that things are really not looking that good. there would be no reason to feel that offended after a hate comment or two and have a breakdown on her stories if she was 100% confident that she's loved beyond limits and her relationship is perfectly stable and ready to take the next step. she throws fits about some teenage girls writing comments and doesn't even acknowledge "paparazzis invading their privacy". her whole life revolves around alex, of course she says things like these to keep fans engaged. besides, we know how jealous she is of miles, of course she'd say that in dublin. we shouldn't trust a word she says.

i get that you're worried and knowing that they've been together for quite a while, alex might've gotten lazy and too comfortable and not be bothered to try to find someone new. it's what men do, and at 55 they cry about their wives and kids because they realise this is not the life they wanted at all.

i don't think we should panic about anything she says. if something major does happen, i at least hope that fans that looked past her mistakes, won't look past the fact that she chose to be neutral (and make this too about herself) regarding a subject which is 1000x more important than her pathetic relationship and the scenarios she creates in her head. and will also think about what kind of man they are the fans of if he chooses to be with someone as horrible as her. free palestine and fuck deloulou :)

[dominusrerehepf]

Traveler Rework

Despite their honorable status of a 5* character, the Traveler is currently at the level of rather unpopular 4* characters in terms of relevance, not counting the Dendro-element. It’s easy to understand why: if the standard character is already good, why do you need to get others? But even taking this into account, they must be worthy of being called a 5* Legendary. Let's look at the specific problems of each element, what are they and what should be improved so that the character become comfortable enough to play with.

Let's start with general things and then move on to each element specifically.

The very first thing that should be changed in Travelers' skills is to stop resetting the level of normal attacks with every new element. The name may change, but the level itself remains the same as when you leveled up the skill for the first time. Even from a logical point of view, this reset is meaningless. It would be justified, If with every new element came a new fighting style, but with the same one it simply looks absurd. (If this ever happens, return the spent materials, please, or just the same amount in mora equivalent)

Secondly, it’s burst costs. Make them all 60pt, like Anemo and Geo ones.

Now let's move on to skills. The order will be as follows: starting with the elements in which minimal changes are needed, and progressively to those most in need of change.

Dendro and Electro are quite good; if bult correctly, Traveler can act as a worthy support for different teamcomps. Electro is largely unpopular only because there are too many good alternatives. The only things that could be improved are the values of the restored energy using the “Amulets of Abundance” of the Electro-traveler - From 3-4 to 6-8 energy/amulet at maximum skill levels (9-10).

Anemo

The very first element that helped many beginners at the very start of the game.

In general, all skills and passives are good, except for the elemental burst.

The "Gust Surge" has one unpleasant feature - it flies in a straight line, often carrying enemies far away, and deals minimal damage to resistant enemies, as it most often flies past them.

How I suggest to fix this:

Let tornado move for a while and then stop in place, continuing the action. Thus, when burst is launched into a cluster of enemies, it will suck in all the light ones, but at the same time cause sufficient damage to more resistant targets.

Geo

The second element in Traveler's possession and one of the most ignored.

One of the biggest problems is the "barrels" created by Starfell Sword. They block not only damage, but also the movement of characters, especially when they are placed too close in the heat of battle.

I have a suggestion on what to do with this: let the passive skill “Frenzied Rockslide” deal damage not only to enemies, but also be capable of destroying “barrels” when it hits them. Together with the second constellation, this will create a fairly effective combination with good amount of geo-damage.

The second problem is elemental burst. The wall pushes enemies away, which is not always good. What you can do here: push enemies inside of the area instead. There is nothing better for a close-combatant than enemies within hand's reach, that can't escape, or for ranger to have enemies contained in one place.

Hydro

The newest and, alas, the most disappointing element. This happened for two reasons: first, there were already enough good, and even great, hydro-characters in the game and at the time of Fontaine’s release, and second, because the skills were very poorly developed and provide few advantages to the player. After dendro, hydro feels really lazy and inspired. So, let's begin: Firstly, Elemental burst. It's even more useless than Anemo one, because its entire essence comes down to dealing hydro damage. No buffs, no debuffs, no control. Just a bubble that deals damage, and also requires C2 to float a little slower.

There is a solution, but it is so labor-intensive that, most likely, no one will do it (although all solutions, except those related to numbers, are exactly like this): Let the bubble spin around the active character, dealing hydro damage. (Preferably in such an orbit that doesn't block the view).

In this case, the 2nd constellation can be changed: “Increases the duration of the skill by 3 seconds and when hitting enemies, reduces the hydro-resistance of enemies by 30%.” Hydro damage + hydro status on enemies + debuff = big win.

Secondly - Elemental skill cooldown. This problem affects not only Traveler, but also Lynette - due to arkhe, their tap and hold skill variants have the same cooldown - 10 and 13 seconds respectively. As the arkhe-aligned attacks of other characters show, such dependence is quite useless. There is Charlotte, who has a Pneuma on charged attack, that has a certain cooldown, while not blocking the cast of further charged attacks. Therefore, why not decouple one cooldown from the other and make separate cooldowns for tap and hold: 5 and 10, 7 and 13 seconds respectively, for example, but keep the arkhe cooldown at 10 and 13 seconds.

That's all I have to say. If you have anything to add or argue about, feel free to comment. Thanks for reading!

P.S. What other platform can I post this material?

[mielmoto]

Obligatory Xig for the rating meme B)

Drop me a character name and I’ll reveal my muse’s heart... | (accepting)

💔 Non-existent || 💗 Very low || 💗💗 A little || 💗💗💗 Hopeful || 💗💗💗💗 High || 💗💗💗💗💗 Maximum

dreamysigh.sfx

VISUAL ATTRACTIVENESS: 💗💗💗💗💗 (purely aesthetic appreciation of looks)

wa wa wi wa. wa wa wooby. hummina hummina boi-oi-oing, and all that jazz. he's so sexy, what do you even want me to say here. It's fair to say that Honey doesn't struggle to find visually attractive qualities in most people, but everything about Xig is so striking at a glance that she'd have to fight to find something she'd call unattractive about him. She's very drawn to uniqueness, to features which stand out—so a tall, built, golden-eyed goth cowboy with flowing, black-and-white striped locks and bone structure you could cut yourself on? The scar(s), the eyepatch, taking an already handsome man into the realm of 'mysterious storybook rogue with a colored past'? gods have mercy. He's such a treat on the eyes. (also: huge respect for having a defined color scheme. we always stan the girlies with a Brand).

FRIENDSHIP LEVEL: 💗💗/ +💗 (how close a friend they consider them)

On the lower side not because of any dislike or disinterest, but from the sense that I think they keep their 'relationship'—their interactions, as a whole—pretty casual. They feel, to me, like a pair who would continue crossing paths with one another and sharing a drink when they do, or sending a lazy 'whatcha up to?' message out of the blue on an otherwise unclaimed evening to come together and enjoy a bit of company on the down-low, but I don't know that they seek each other out much more than that, and neither one's exactly bearing their heart to the other and getting into the deeper trawls of what it means to be really close friends... but, then again, maybe the casual nature and relative anonymity does lend them just enough levity to talk (vaguely) about slightly heavier things on their mind, with the comfort that neither one is going to be too deeply affected by it going forward. someone to commiserate with, but ultimately, not dwell on too much after the fact.

SEXUAL DESIRE: 💗💗💗💗 (...you know ( ͡°ᴥ ͡°) )

😌...y'know what they say about saving horses, and all that.

honey vc: he looks like someone who would, respectfully, manhandle me the way i deserve.

ROMANTIC INTENT: 💔 (hoping for a romantic relationship)

It ain't like that. Nothing's impossible, but they're maybe a touch past amiable acquaintances at this point—anything really substantial potentially coming to bloom isn't even planted as a seed in her pretty little head, at this point.

[definitelynotplanetfall]

How do other countries do history education?

I know I'm doing the cringe thing but Americans are basically not taught about israel in school, at all. If it comes up it'll likely be in the context of literature class, not history.

Do you split up history classes over multiple years? Because the thing about history class is that it's just mostly a huge number of raw facts to remember. It's not like math where if you know certain procedures you can re-derive things you've forgotten; pretty much any such proposed rule of history is likely to be bunk.

So if you take the number of years of history you have to teach times the detail level you're aiming for times the size of the region you're trying to study, you have an estimate (in vague terms, I don't think you can necessarily get an objective number but you can certainly do simple mathematical reasoning on vague variables) for Total History Facts. And then depending on the age of your students and pedagogical methods and probably other factors, you have a Maximum Facts Per Year. You can use these values to determine the level of detail that allows you to cover your desired subject matter within a school year. If this level of detail is unacceptably low, make the full history education take more years and solve for the detail level again.

And someone - teachers, standards writers, textbook writers, whoever - consistently sets the target detail level such that it's impossible for a given US history class to get past the civil war, or they realize they're going too slow and do a really slipshod tour of the events most pertinent to any understanding of the modern world after a really detail-heavy examination of the differences between the 13 colonies. World history is even worse, I don't even remember how far we got because everyone's brain was leaking out their ears by the end but we absolutely did not make it to the present day. World History was the only class where I failed the AP exam, because it's world fucking history dumbass, you can't teach all of it in a year!

And then, of course, when you get to your next history class they just start over from the beginning at a higher level of detail that also peters out around the Civil War, so you never actually learn anything about the 20th century.

So the options are

a) it's actually exactly like this everywhere. (plausible tbh. there is simply a lot of history.)

b) american students are uniquely lazy and stupid. (seems pretty unlikely, and also the failure is pretty consistent - you could argue that even if student ability is the limiting factor, if it happens this reliably it's educators' responsibility to just make the curriculum easier)

c) american educators are uniquely incompetent. (this is less of a judgement against teachers than it sounds like, it could be that they are ordered to do things in a way that sucks by higher ups and there is no mechanism to inform the decisionmakers that anything is wrong. I don't know if the education system is uniquely dysfunctional but it certainly is dysfunctional at all.)

d) some kind of fucking conspiracy or something. (This doesn't seem likely because who could possibly benefit from this particular problem that wouldn't benefit even more from schools dispensing explicit propaganda about events in the 20th century.)

This feels like a really obvious problem with a really obvious solution (more history classes, less total facts per class), everyone who has taken or taught a history class experiences this, and afaict this is not just a mistake that new history teachers make that they calibrate for after teaching for a while. This is EVERYONE'S experience of history classes in the US, it's kind of an open secret, and pretty much nobody ever fucking does anything about it or even mentions it as a thing it might be possible or desirable to do things about.

[a-world-of-whimsy-5]

Hi! Could I please request Mairon x reader with the prompts: “i promise I’ll be good” and “i wanna fuck you right against the glass so everyone can see how good you take it” with the spicy level of 🔥🔥🔥 or whatever the maximum is?

Maximum, you say. Alrighty then.

*Cracks knuckles*

“In the office”

Pairing: Modern Mairon x Fem. reader (human | second person POV)

Themes: Smut

Warnings: Kissing | Fingering | Dirty Talk | Public sex | Explicit language | Penetrative sex | Cream pie

Word Count: 1.9K words

Summary: Disturbing Mairon while he’s busy leads to other things.

Rating:  🔥🔥🔥 | Minors DNI | 18+

Want to be tagged? Want to know the rules? Read all here.

Mairon had been working late again. He had to finish a report before a meeting at the end of the week. He was stressed. It showed in his narrowed eyes, in how he kept rubbing his temples. This meeting and the sheer importance of it all had been gnawing at him and driving him to distraction. Even the figures in the papers he held in his hands started to swim before his eyes. He needed a break, a chance to get some of the tension out of him, but he did not know how to do it. After what seemed like hours, the opportunity to do so presented itself with a knock on his office door. 

"Come in," he said with impatience. Words and numbers were now starting to blur together. He took it as a sign to stop.

You peeked in, not at all surprised by his reaction. Mairon became the world's biggest grouch when he was stressed out and frustrated. 

"Bad night?" You said and slipped in, closing the door behind you.

"Bad everything." Mairon groaned and ran his hands through his hair, messing it all up. "These reports are going to be the death of me."

You crossed the length of Mairon's office, your heels clicking against the floor. You moved behind him and threw your arms over his shoulders. Mairon was in desperate need of a distraction—something to take his mind off of work. 

"Can I help?" You purred and nuzzled his neck. His skin still smelled of aftershave. "I would love to help."

Mairon's body tingled. When you ran your lips over his earlobe, he shivered. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was good. What you were doing to him was so good. His hand brushed against a paper, and his eyes flew wide open. 

"I need to finish this." Mairon picked up the report again while you were busy undoing the knot of his tie. "Can you wait?"

"No." A sense of mischief came over you. It was nine, and the building was nearly empty. The floor of Mairon's offices was desolate. There was no one to see or hear or disturb either of you. And how that gave you ideas! "I can't wait. And you are stressed out. Let me take care of you."

Your offer would have been music to his ears another time and welcomed with eager hands. Mairon wanted to take a rain check and finish his work. 

"As much as I love your offer," he said, "I must finish this. Can you wait, babe?"

"I said no." Determined, you loosened his tie and let it fall to the floor. His shirt had to follow. One by one, a button came undone under your fingers. You made slow work of drawing his shirt out of the way. "And I will not wait. It's clear you're stressed and need some relief. Let me help."

Mairon shivered when cool air danced over his exposed skin. He moaned, the sound low in his throat, when your hands glided down his exposed torso. He wanted to say yes and let you help him forget work for a moment. But the meeting-

"I can't." He pulled away and tried to focus. The feeling of your hands running down his chest made it difficult for him to do so. "I need to work."

"Please!" You whined softly and pouted when he turned to look at you. "Please let me help. Please. Please. Please."

Mairon chuckled and shook his head. "I said no, precious. Now let me work, or you will make me mad."

You ignored him and nibbled his earlobe again, your finger tracing a lazy line around his nipple. He trembled, and the file in his hand fell to the table. His muscles quivered beneath your fingers. When you pinched not too gently, he growled and rose with a start. His work can wait. He, on the other hand, could not. 

"Determined little thing, aren't you?" Mairon pushed his chair out of the way. You grinned and backed away, not stopping until he had you up against the window. 

"Yes." You tilted your chin at him defiantly. His golden eyes burned with need, and you wanted to stoke those flames more. "Yes, I am. Now what are you going to do about it?"

Mairon inched his way closer until he had you caged between him and the glass. The surface was smooth but cold. You felt it through your clothes. He leaned in and whispered, "I wanna fuck you right against the glass so everyone can see how good you take it."

You hummed softly and looked up at him. Mairon was serious. You swallowed and looked over your shoulder. There were buildings all over. Most of them had windows with the blinds up. Those walking into empty offices will see everything Mairon was doing to you. The thought frightened you. At the same time, you found the concept of being seen very, very thrilling. 

"What's stopping you then?" You challenged him. 

Mairon grinned triumphantly. "Eager. I like it. First, I must remind you what happens when you disturb me and refuse to let me finish my work. Go over to the table and bend over."

It was an order and not a request. You eyed the table, fully aware of what was about to happen. Mairon harrumphed and rolled up his sleeves.

"Do not make me wait, precious," he growled in warning. "Go on."

Heat pooled in your core, and you flushed despite yourself. Giddy anticipation took root and grew when you nodded and willingly went over to the table. You bent over the table and propped yourself on your hands. Mairon came over, slowly and deliberately. His hand glided up your thigh when he reached you.

"Those jeans do look good on you," he said approvingly, eyeing how the fabric clung to your legs and revealed just as much as it concealed. "Now. Are you ready?"

You readied yourself. "Yes."

"How many?"

"Four."

A large hand glided over your thigh again. "Count each one out for me." 

You counted out each strike to your ass. Each spank sent a jolt shooting through you. Your breath hitched, and his name rolled off your lips in a whisper. Mairon heard it. His name. Just his. It was enough to make him hard. 

"On the table." Mairon unfastened his belt and flung it to the floor. The buckle clanged when it hit the ground. He swept his reports and papers to the side, paying no mind to those that fell to the ground with a flutter. "And get out of those jeans. Now."

You slipped out of your shoes and shimmied out of your jeans. Before you could do anything else, Mairon closed the distance and crushed your lips with his. Hands that were hungry and demanding were all over you. Lips that were desperate and greedy kissed you until you were a trembling mess beneath him. Mairon shoved his hand down the band of your panties and yanked. The silken whisps tore apart and allowed him to touch you even more. You moaned into his kiss when he cupped you and toyed with your clit. 

"Wet for me already." Mairon groaned when your legs slid open and hooked around his hips. The tip of his tongue flicked against yours each time he kissed you. You threw your arms around his shoulders, your nail digging into the cotton of his shirt when his thumb slid inside you. Mairon's breath was hot against your cheek. His free hand hooked around your waist, holding you close to him. The feeling of his thumb moving in slow, rhythmic thrusts and creating delicious friction was enough to make you hum softly. Your muscles started to coil. The room grew hot and cozy, and your breath grew ragged.

Mairon abruptly pulled away. His eyes had darkened with lust. He slipped out of his shirt and threw it to the ground, his eyes on you the entire time.

"Why did you stop?" you huffed impatiently. The abrupt loss of contact left you feeling bereft. You craved the warmth of Mairon's body, with his mouth opening over yours and leaving you breathless. You yearned to have him inside you again. Your body practically demanded it. Mairon merely chuckled. 

"You think I was just going to stop at the spanking?" He tsked and shook his head. "Oh, precious, I'm just getting started."

Your whine ceased when his lips sought yours once more. His kiss was hard and left your lips bruised. He moaned deep and ragged when your nails dug into your skin. 

"You disturbed me," he whispered between kisses. "I should just send you home and not indulge you for a few days."

"Please don't do that," you said in protest. "I promise I'll be good."

You were so caught up in his kissing that you barely heard the sound of a zip coming undone and clothes rustling. Mairon slipped off his shoes and entered you without warning, moaning when your sigh poured into his mouth. 

"Begging already?" He grinned and kissed you until he heard nothing but mewls and whimpers. "Then tell me how badly you want me to fuck you."

You could barely get a word in between his kisses. "I want you to fuck me hard, baby. Please."

"Is that what you want?" Mairon rubbed his nose against your hair. The sweet, clean scent of it felt so good. "For me to fuck you hard?"

"Yes," you whimpered. His hands snuck under your top and traced lines up and down your spine. The tingles you felt made you shudder. "That's what I want."

Mairon kissed you and lifted you in one swift move. You held on to him, gasping when the cold surface of a glass window rubbed up against your back. He looked over your shoulder, scanning the windows in the surrounding buildings. The offices were empty, but he had to be quick. 

"Tell me how much you love it when I fuck you." Mairon held onto you, his thrusts as erratic as his breathing. 

"It... feels... so good..." You clung to him, caged between him and the glass. The soft sounds of his hips slapping against your thighs and your moans echoed. "You know I love it when you fuck me."

Mairon moaned when your cunt clenched around his cock, pulling him in deeper. "Are you close, precious?"

Your muscles started to coil again. You were close, so very close. "Yes," you breathed. "Yes, yes, yes."

"You can't cum," he ordered, his voice thick and hoarse. "Not until I tell you to."

You tried. Oh, how you tried. Your own body betrayed you in the end, your orgasm ripping through you before you could even blink. Mairon groaned and shivered when your cunt tightened around his cock.

"Fuck, that felt good," he whispered. "But you're going to do it again, do you hear me?"

Mairon didn't wait for your answer. He ground his hips against the insides of your thighs, his moans as loud as yours. He managed to keep his attention on you even as his body shook. The sight of you against his table, your eyes closed and your mouth open, was all it took to send him over. 

"Now," he breathed. "Cum for me now."

The world felt like it had stopped spinning when you came again, with your entire body feeling like it was drowning. You barely heard him grunt when he came. All you could feel was your own bliss. 

The world came into focus slowly when you blinked and opened your eyes. Mairon was still over you, shaking from exhaustion. Sweat glistened over his brow. He touched your cheek, his thumb tracing a line over your cheekbone. 

"Let's get cleaned up and go home," he said, helping you up. He had enough of working for one day. It was time he went home and spent more time with you. "I'm done with work."

Tags: @cilil @asianbutnotjapanese @fictionfordays @edensrose

[strawbakets]

Gray's Anatomy Legacy Challenge SIMS 4

MODS YOU NEED: Medical School Student Mod | Sims 4 – @ellesimsworld en Tumblr

IMPORTANT: The version of this mod is in spanish, if you do not understand spanish well or you are to lazy to translate, wait until original mod updates OR USE DOCTOR CAREER

Chief of Medicine Aspiration – Welcome to KiaraSims4Mods!

Illness Traits Bundle - The Sims 4 Mods - CurseForge

More Traits | Patreon

As a fan of Gray's Anatomy and TS4 myself, I thought a legacy challenge BASED on one of my fav shows would be a great Idea.

This legacy follows the life of your sim as a hospital intern and their adventures. The Legacy starts in 1955, here's the first generation.

(You can edit the other households and make the ambient more 50's like if you wish to!)

GENERATION 1: Meant to be (1955)

You have always loved medicine, well, maybe since the day your parents had an accident. You moved to your grandparent's home, and there, developed an obsession to know what happened to your parent's bodies that killed them, and slowly realized it was your aspiration in life, medicine.

Traits: Perfectionist, Loner, Genius

Career: Medical school student (Mod: Here)

(After becoming a fellow, join doctor career)

Aspiration: Chief of Medicine (Mod: Chief of Medicine Aspiration – Welcome to KiaraSims4Mods!)

Missions:

Complete all levels of Medical School Student career

Have 2 babies and marry at least 2 times, but end in divorce

Complete Logic, Writing, Handiness, and Research & Debate skills

After becoming a fellow, become a doctor and complete Chief of Medicine Aspiration

Have 3 best friends and no more, other people must either dislike you or feel neutral about you.

GENERATION 2: Heart & Soul (1976)

Your Mother has always thought you would never become a doctor, she was scared you wouldn't want to because she stayed at work late and you almost never saw her. But she was a good mother when she was there, and you loved her, and medicine. You just want to find true love, have a family, and be happy... But that would mean work less... What will you choose? Love or Medicine?

Traits: Cheerful, Genius, Romantic

Career: Medical school student (Mod: Here)

Aspiration: Big Happy Family

Missions:

Complete all levels of Medical School Student career

Complete Big Happy Family aspiration

Complete Parenting, Logic, Gardening, and Guitar skills

Complete the plants collection and make your children grow happily

Have more than 10 best friends

GENERATION 3: Heart & Soul (1976)

You grew up with a really dangerous illness, and you want to know more about it, and cure other people. So you became a doctor, and started to investigate about it. You started a research and started to write about it, becoming a bestseller author.

Traits: Chronically Ill (Mod Here), Warm hearted (Mod Here), Sincere (Mod Here)

Career: Medical school student (Mod: Here)

Aspiration: Bestselling Author

Missions:

Complete all levels of Medical School Student career

Complete Bestselling Author aspiration and write at least 10 books

Complete Logic, Writing, and Charisma skills

Marry a patient, save them and have only two child maximum

Die before becoming an elder

GENERATION 4: Against All Odds (1996)

From a young age, you witnessed firsthand the struggles of people dealing with chronic illnesses. Inspired by your parents and driven by a deep sense of empathy, you decided to specialize in pediatric medicine. You want to ensure that children receive the best care possible and grow up healthy despite any medical challenges. During your career, you conduct extensive research on abandoned babies and decide to dedicate your life to giving them a loving home. Your house becomes a sanctuary for abandoned kids, and you make it your mission to adopt more than 5 children, ensuring they all grow up in a nurturing environment.

Traits: Childish, Good, Ambitious

Career: Medical school student (Mod: Here)

Aspiration: Super Parent

Missions:

Complete all levels of Medical School Student career.

Complete Super Parent aspiration.

Complete Parenting, Logic, and Charisma skills.

Foster or adopt at least 5 children and raise them to successful young adults.

Marry a fellow doctor who shares your passion for pediatric care.

Host regular family gatherings to maintain strong family bonds and ensure all family members have good relationships with each other.

Make your house a home for all abandoned kids, providing them with love, stability, and support.

GENERATION 5: Shadows in the Night (2016)

Growing up in a house full of love and care wasn't enough to quiet the dark impulses inside you. Despite being surrounded by family and support, you always felt different. As you matured, these feelings grew stronger and more disturbing. You pursued a career in medicine, not out of a desire to help others, but to understand the human body in a much darker way. You live a double life, respected by day as a skilled surgeon, but driven by an insatiable urge to take lives by night.

Traits: Evil, Genius, Self-Assured

Career: Medical school student (Mod: Here)

Aspiration: Public Enemy

Missions:

Complete all levels of Medical School Student career.

Complete Public Enemy aspiration.

Complete Mischief, Logic, and Fitness skills.

Secretly kill at least 10 Sims without getting caught (use methods such as drowning, fire, or extreme emotions).

Maintain a façade of a perfect life: marry and have two children, ensuring your family and friends suspect nothing.

Befriend law enforcement officers to throw off suspicion and maintain your cover.

Keep a detailed journal of your "work" hidden in a secret room in your house.

[marsmulti]

Ships;

Going over the common ships for my muses and how I feel about them personally. Note: things can typically change with an individual portrayal, but these are my impressions from canon and how they relate to my portrayal. They are in random order...

Zuko

Zutara: I hate it. Sure, Zuko is easy and will be with just about anyone who likes him, but I just find this ship grosses me out in a way I can't articulate well. It feels disrespectful to Katara's feelings for Aang and I really like them.

Zuko/Mei: it was stupid when it happened and I'm glad they broke up.

Zuko/Jet: OTP

Zuko/Sokka: maybe maybe maybe

Zutoph: she seems young compared to him? Regardless of actual age, I don't really see it.

My fav ship for Zuko is a random crossover ship I write with my wife and it's with Elsa from "Frozen."

Sessomaru

S*ssr*n: big no.

S*ssinu: wtf no. Block me.

Sesskik: fucking no. Block me. Sesskag is the same level of ick.

Sesskagu: viable, but Kagura deserves better.

Sessomaru/Naraku: maybe maybe maybe.

My favorite ship for Sessomaru is no ship. Maybe a queer platonic partnership with SOMEBODY. A crossover or OC could work, but please keep in mind he is not interested in sex.

Anakin

Anidala: his queen, his BAE. OTP, even if they're so toxic I don't care I love them.

Obikin: get the fuck out. NOTP. Let them be complicated and platonic. I HC they are ridiculously intimate, but with zero sex or sexual energy. They shower together in a single stall and shave each other, but they don't see each other sexually and I will not write anything simple with them I refuse.

Anisoka: NO.

Vader/Sidious: now if you want a fucked up master apprentice ship, this is the one. Maximum bad vibes.

Anakin could have any kind of random romance with most people, so I won't list them all out individually. But Aayla comes to mind as someone he could have been close to and possibly had an experimental phase with. /Shrug.

Inuyasha

Inukag: I have mixed feelings about what we see in canon, but overall, I like them. Idk if I would wanna write this ship or not, it greatly depends on the Kagome.

Inukik: basically the same feeling as Inukag.

Inuyasha/Koga: top tier possibilities.

Inumir: maybe maybe maybe.

Inuyasha is also someone who could end up with just about anyone. I personally hate the whole soulmates crap, as it ends up feeling cheap and lazy and lacking in autonomy.

Link

Zelink: OTP

Link/Ganon: it could work in the right circumstances.

Link/Zelda/Ganon: OT3

Link/Mipha: sorry but no... They have no chemistry and Mipha has no character... I'll still give it a maybe though because individual portrayals may change my mind.

Link/Sidon: It just doesn't feel fair to Sidon. Link will break his heart.

It's very difficult to ship with Link. He hardly ever lets people in. You need to build up so much trust and communication with him and build up to it for maybe years or through different lifetimes idk. He also isn't interested in sex, so there is no seducing him. You have to win his heart.

Vash

Vashwood: OTP OTP!!!

Vashmeryl: GTFO. platonic love only. I viscerally hate this ship and no amount of canon divergence is gonna change how I feel.

Plantcest: NO GTFO. I don't have an issue with Knives taking advantage of Vash, but that's what it is. Vash could NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS be happy, comfortable, or satisfied with this and I hate to see abuse played as romance. Abuse as abuse, I have no issues with.

Vash/Frank Marlo: tbh that one episode in the 98 Trigun awakened this ship and I really like it a lot.

Vash is not easy to actually get close to, even though he is horny all the time and wants to have relationships more than anything, his fear keeps him away. He will come onto anyone relentlessly and then back out at the last minute.

Livio

Livio is aroace and only into platonic vibes.

Wolfwood is his best friend. He loves him.

Vash is someone he cares about, but can't really hang around easily.

[khodorkovskaya]

02.04.23

yesterday was a great day at the shop! there were lots of people and we made good money 🤑

other than that we've been receiving negative news one after another and it's been tough to handle emotionally. ive tried to distract myself but like the facts are there and im anxious...

my bestie came by the shop and we went to drink tea and then had a kebab at the place that's just opened next to the shop. we talked a lot about relationships and ive also been thinking about that kind of stuff ever since i bumped into B the other day.

if i think about it too much, relationships seem like a scam. what do you gain from being in a relationship with a man? what's in it for you? it feels like you're just gonna sacrifice yourself and act like a crazy person. in an ideal world id want a partner who complements me and my life, someone who really sees me and can understand me, someone i don't need to change for. but how can someone understand and see you to that level? you always have to change yourself to appeal to whoever you hang out with, be it friends or classmates or whatever. how can you find someone who is that perfect for you? and if the person is not perfect, is it even worth it?

my stepdad says i have a hygiene problem. and yeah... like i know that's not very slay of me but like ive been showering every two-three days ever since i left B and i have these weird discolouration spots on my skin now, yikes. it started off with me not wanting to see myself naked bc my naked body reminded me of him. and now im fine but ive gotten into the habit of not showering and it's not an easy habit to get out of frankly. bc honestly ive always hated looking after myself. washing my hair, bathing, using a loofah, shaving, having a skin care routine or whatever... i can't deal with the effort. the maximum i can do (or used to be able to do) is rinse myself in the shower once a day and that's it. and now i can't bring myself to do even that every day, yikes.

and it got me thinking, why do most people, as my stepdad claims, like taking care of themselves and their bodies and i don't. ive never shaved or wanted to shave. ive tried like using creams and scrubs and stuff but it was always so tedious, i don't know how people do it. makeup can be fun for a special occasion but i can't imagine how some girls do it every day. and taking care of my hair is the worst! and tbh i don't like being clean. i feel normal when im "dirty" and i can't explain why, it makes me feel most like myself. it got me thinking that for many sa survivors bad hygiene is a defense mechanism. maybe my lack of cleanliness is deeper than me just being lazy idk. bc everyone enjoys shower gels that smell like flowers and having shiny clean hair and smooth skin, so why don't i?

i thought about sex with B and funnily enough we got onto the topic with my bestie too. and idk, i feel weird about sex. i can't say that im asexual or hypersexual, but something about my sex drive and my relationship with sex has never felt normal. like im not chill about sex. maybe it's because i didn't have a healthy introduction to it, but then again, what does a healthy introduction to sex even look like? is it fooling around with a friend as a teenager and feeling safe and playful? is it waiting till marriage and trusting your partner with your life? is it progressive sex education at school where you're taught about different sexualities without shame? can you even be properly introduced to such an intimate thing in a healthy manner without shocking a part of yourself?

like... idk how to explain it. because sex is normal, it's a part of life, everyone has it. but yet it's so bizarre and doesn't logically go with anything else we do in life. why do i like things during sex that would usually repulse me? why are women submissive? why does sex resemble violence so much? why does it make you scream and cry and yet it feels good? it's so full of contradictions i really can't understand.

and my bestie and i compared our sexual experiences and found a lot of similarities. for example both of us had had moments where all of a sudden in the middle of sex our desire would just go away for no reason. like you're into it one moment and then the next everything is uninteresting and even repulsive and you don't want to do it anymore. where does that come from? also i remember with B id fantasise about him but the moment he'd want to have sex id just immediately stop being horny. why? didn't i want sex with him a minute ago?

and like, back to the contradictions of sex, it got me thinking that it's weird how the first ever sex was technically rape. and how apparently women scream during sex bc it's our primal instinct to cry for help during it. and men always fantasise about hitting women and strangling them and cnc is a big thing. and like... maybe the "original sin" wasn't eve eating the forbidden fruit and being punished for it by pain during childbirth for generations of women to come. maybe the "original sin" was eve getting raped and then now women have to deal with her trauma and convince themselves that sex is pleasurable.

and don't get me wrong, sex with B was good! and he'd always tell me that i wasn't like other girls because i was sexually healthy bc i could come easily and i wasn't coincée. but i think the issue was that im too sensitive for sex. like yes, i can come and feel pleasure and all of that, but i feel it too intensely. and sex as a concept feels super intense to me and i can't make peace with it because it's too much. it's too much stimulation, too many contradictions, too many feelings and instincts and it's just too complex for me to take in emotionally. like sometimes B and i would be having sex and id just like break down crying and shut down in the middle of it. and it felt good in a way. but it's too much for me, you know? maybe it was too much with B and now im recovering from it by not showering, who knows.

so idk. if i do end up finding the perfect partner for me, how would our sex life go? will i scream and cry like i did with B? will i make it into a competition with his exes like i did with B? will it make me feel terrible about my body like it did with B? will it feel like heaven like it did with B? or will it be healthy and calm and stable and peaceful and feel normal and safe?

[daemonduality]

Bang.

Something sharp rippled through her chest, just as the sharp tang of copper hit her taste buds. The pain from biting the inside of her cheek stings. She turned her hea-

One. 

-d to find the cop pointing a gun at her. 

Bang! 

Two.

She felt something sharp - bullet - pass right through her forehead as she fell over backwards a moment late. But not too late - the brief confusion in her assailer allowed her to scramble behind the guard desk, the only cover in the room.

Three.

“Huh. I was sure I got you that time."

He did. She’s only alive because of a quirk of her body - the same thing that saved her in the gas explosion years back. When she explained it to Levant, the other girl had called it Mercy Invincibility - the ability to become invulnerable for a few seconds after getting hurt. 

“So you must be the exorcist they sent to get me. Hopefully, you’ll be more entertaining than the last one.”

His footsteps approach with a lazy pace as she struggled to get her bearings. The cop...is the ghost? How? She’s sure the cop wasn’t being possessed before - it was the monk she originally suspected, protected from Scrying by the sutras on his person - if there was a person that she’d suspected, it would’ve been that monk and his suspicious actions. 

“So where’s that little girl who broke the door? Answer me, and I’ll promise you a swift death.”

Unless the monk was possessed before, and the ghost was forced to move bodies. Did Lils somehow injure him when she broke that door down, or was it the cop that shot the monk, and the ghost possessed him instead?

The period of invincibility is probably over by now: minimum of 3, maximum of 5 seconds. She bit the inside of her cheek again, ignoring the sting of pain and the sudden rush of footsteps. The man turned the corner just as she felt a comfortable weight - the Torn Notebook - appear in her hands.

Karmic Binding!

Karma materialized like colorful shining strings around the man before her eyes - visible only to her - wrapping and restraining his limbs and torso. But it wasn’t enough to prevent the man from leveling the gun between her eyes. 

Bang!

The uncomfortable sensation of yet another bullet passing through her head comes and goes. Visible confusion appears on the man’s face -

“Wha-” 

  just as she swung the Torn Notebook right through his head. 

Karmic Severing! 

An unholy shriek emerges from the cop’s mouth as the Notebook phases through the flesh - as the connections that bound the ghost to its body were cut right through. Struggling against its invisible bonds - it wasn’t enough! - it tries to level its weapon against you again, but she shoved the Torn Notebook through its chest first.

“Please go die already!” 

As if on command, the cop’s body collapses like a puppet with its strings cut, only held by the made-tangible connections it made in life.

A miasma immediately emerges from the corpse, engulfing her in darkness. But as soon as it did, the creature screams and retreats as if scalded. The pendulum around her neck glows with a bright violet light.

The ghost vanishes through the ceiling leaving her and the corpse of a cop behind. She feels her adrenaline-fueled strength leave her, and she too goes down to the ground, body plunging into a cold sweat. 

“Shit. Damn it. Son of a gun.”

[hhkdtn]

I get what you’re saying but as someone who always tries to give my character the saves the maximum amount of lives option and sees the point of escapist fiction, I also hated this game.

There were exactly zero choices that helped anyone. Playing through all the character stories saves most of the characters but that’s not an in game choice it’s just level grinding. While I haven’t done an intense play through I have not yet stumbled upon a single side quest where you make a character choice that does more than make someone feel better.

It really annoys the hell out of me because Lucanis tells you multiple times that he doesn’t think he can kill this god with a dagger, and instead of rook “it’s about the teamwork” having an option that listens, someone else has to pick up the slack and then die.

Meanwhile, Minrathos has a giant machine gun sky ship that could easily kill a dragon, and you have a member of the rebellion, a scout, and someone who stops enchantments. An old dragon age game would have had a line of questions that would have let a shadow dragon suggest they take over ship while rook protects Treviso. Maybe it would have gone worse, by giving the dragon more time to cause problems, but it let people choose.

On two points I completely agree, every loss that was supposed to be your fault felt completely hollow because you had no say in it, and it was equally ridiculous to try to feel any connection to a character that’s given no depth, no opinion, and no real choice.

TLDR: I don’t think the issue was safe spaces, I think the issue was EA being as lazy as possible with every choice.

So, full disclosure, I haven't been a Solas fan before.

I am now.

And that's because of Veilguard and the many, many ways in which I felt let down by this game.

The aspect that bothers me most is the reduction of nuance and complexity.

Rook's hero's cakewalk (because “journey” really isn't the right word) is a ready-made path that offers no deviation at all and never challenges the player in any meaningful way.

Sure, you can spend some time pondering the pros and cons of saving Treviso or Minrathous. Ultimately, it makes no difference. Rook does their best, they just can’t be in two places at once.

Same with the companion character arcs. What does it mean if you decide to you turn Emmrich into a lich? For the most part, it's idle musing. Indulgence. He’ll be happy either way, there are no real stakes. Yeah, your actions do have consequences, just not the sort of consequences that make a substantial difference. It’s the illusion of choice – reduced to cosmetics.

The problems with decisions that cost nothing is that they don’t feel like an accomplishment. They also don’t allow for character growth. Rook doesn’t change, they remain static. Even the section in the Fade where Rooks faces their regrets is easy and comparatively lightweight. Varric was killed by Solas, Harding resp. Davrin died in combat and either Bellara or Neve was abducted by Elgar’nan. It’s not like Rook’s decisions actually caused these events, it’s not like Rook actually failed through a choice they had to make that turned out to be the wrong one. Everyone was there willingly and volunteered to fight the good fight. Rook’s regrets are not about real guilt, they are about feeling sad and guilty. And that – it needs to be said – is not the same thing. At all.

At the same time, the story carefully avoids any kind of true ethical dilemma.

It's not even about the lack of mean or edgy dialogue options; that’s just a symptom. The cause is the writers’ unwillingness to let realism intrude in Rook’s fairytale – the lack of anything that would require Rook to compromise on morals, or fight temptation. Rook is never faced with any sort of moral conundrum, or allowed to act out any kind of vice that realistic characters have. In its straight-path simplicity, Rook's story is apparently written for children and people who remain child-like in their yearning for simple, uncontested truths.

Of all the sorts of conflicts that a story can offer, Veilguard carefully avoids the most realistic and (in my opinion) interesting ones: Character vs. self and character vs. society, aka, politics. The game firmly refuses to go there. To the point where it creates a completely unrealistic consensus on all sides that eliminates yet another sort of conflict: character vs. character.

If Rook and their companions would talk politics, they’d all be on the exact same side. In a two party state, they’d all cast the same vote.

I am sure that there are many players who feel comforted and reassured by that fact, who sincerely believe that this is how stories should be written. That stories should reflect the world not as it is but as they think it should be. But for everyone who likes their stories a little more realistic, that lack of meaningful interpersonal conflict, that lack of real diversity which comes not from appearance but from different cultures and opposing viewpoints amounts to a frankly cringe-worthy, artificial and juvenile surface-level interaction between characters. Or, to phrase it differently: the diversity remains skin-deep and doesn’t extend to the philosophical, and even in the few instances where it does, it shies away from the political.

Which means that the only conflicts that remain are the most boring and stereotypical ones: character vs. monsters resp. the supernatural, where all foes are evil in the blandest way (Supremacist Venatori! Fascist renegade qunari! Power-hungry necromancers!). These conflicts are resolved through exploring maps and endless, repetitive combat.

The only thing that brings a bit of nuance to the game is Solas’s story. And there is an element of character vs. character in Rook’s and Solas’s relationship, but the sad truth is that what could have been a fascinating mirrored character journey falls flat for all the reasons already explained – because where Solas is a character as layered and controversial as it gets, Rook is anything but.

Solas’s story shows how even people with the best intentions and the greatest integrity are ultimately broken by what life throws at them, both by the decisions that are forced upon them and the choices they make on their own. It shows how a prolonged war is always a sunk cost fallacy: I’ve gone this far, if I stop now, it was all for nothing.

Rook’s victories, on the other hand, come without a cost – both in terms of moral corruption and in accountability. The guilt Solas bears is real. The fight against the titans, followed by his war against the Evanuris, requires compromising his own morals, one day at a time, one century after another, he’s trying to save the world yet doomed to fail. Sacrificing the spirits to win a battle after the war has gone this far? Every single war leader around the globe would make the same decision. In fact, all of them do: They do sacrifice the lives of others if it will help them win, they do send soldies into the trenches to die, whether these soldiers want to or not, and they are rarely, if ever, truthful about the reasons why.

In a certain way, the story of the spirit of wisdom turned flesh is reminiscent of the biblical Fall of Man: the original sin. Solas has fallen, and he’s broken. In trying to heal the world, he’s trying to heal himself. The burden is too heavy, the responsibility to great, the knowledge that he is responsible for all of it too devastating. Solas’s greatest conflict is character vs. self. It has the potential to be great. In a way, it is. It’s the single redeeming quality that, depending on your interpretation of what went on behind the scenes, the writers managed to salvage from the original concept of Dreadwolf or the lone pillar that withstood all their attempts to bring it down.

Only sadly, infuriatingly, in the end, that fallen hero’s ending is put into the hands of a protagonist who judges him from the perspective of someone who has never even stumbled – not because they are wiser, braver, or kinder. No, just because the writers were gracious – or cowardly? – enough to never let them fail.

The game gives Rook a moral high ground which isn’t earned in the slightest because Rook never had to walk even a quarter of a mile in Solas’s shoes. They don’t know what they would have done in his stead, they have no idea what it actually means to see the sorry shape the world is in and know that it was your hands that shaped it. And even where Rook might actually be culpable – the interruption of Solas’s ritual that freed the remaining Evanuris – anyone is quick to assure Rook that it wasn’t their fault.

Whatever regrets Rook carries, they’re born from self-doubt and trauma response. Survivor’s guilt, mostly. When compared to Solas’s immense guilt, Rook’s regrets are, for lack of a better term, insignificant. That Rook manages to face them doesn’t mean that they are more truthful or emotionally mature, it just means that Rook’s story is a tale for children and Solas’s is not.

It’s not that I’m necessarily opposed to the idea that the player decides Solas’s fate through their actions. It’s the injustice of it all that bothers me: The player is led through a game that provides a safe space for their character, one that is devoid of any interpersonal conflict and any ethical quandary. Rooks succeeds through kindness and heroism and taking their companions on team bonding exercises.

As if Solas could have won the war against the Evanuris if he’d taken the time to take his companions on coffee dates.

The juxtaposition – Rook vs. Solas – fails, simply because of this deep divide. Rook’s story is detached from reality and yet Rook gets to be Solas’s judge, jury, and executioner. On what grounds?

As I said, right in the beginning, I haven’t been a Solas fan before. But by the end of Veilguard, I was firmly, irrevocably, Team Solas, just because I was so annoyed that the narrative put Rook in a position of moral superiority. I detested my own character. Jesus, what a goody two-shoes! I was rooting for Solas simply because his story was so much more: a genuine tragedy, a study in complexity. Rook, on the other hand, remains bland, snotty, unchanged. Untried.

The thing is, I don’t believe that my reaction was one the writers had intended. I strongly feel that they didn’t mean for me to pick up on their double standard, that they expected me to walk away fully satisfied, convinced that Rook and The Team were the Good Guys because they went on picnics and petted the griffon, their final victory well-earned and just. If only Solas had had a Team and taken care of their emotional needs – he could have taken down the Evanuris with nary a scratch!

It’s all so very disingenuous.

Rook and, by extension, the player exist in a bubble of sanitized content. That is clearly deliberate. The player is meant to like it there. (In that sense, it’s only logical that they changed the title from Dreadwolf to Veilguard.) And clearly, it does resonate with a certain kind of their player base: mostly with people, I think, who would like their real life to be a bubble too and whose only experience with moral corruption is when they find it in others.