#i really love (like actually) how several people have come to me directly for my thoughts 😳 like thank you for caring!!

[districtunrest]

How are you feeling about the excerpt!!

feeling okay! no change, really. so far it reads and is paced how I thought it would be: like every other Haymitch's Games fic, lol. but that's not necessarily a bad thing - like how else is SC supposed to do it? just makes me wonder once again if this is really the best POV and time frame to add to the world 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am surprised at how young Haymitch is. like he *just* turned 16 - younger than Katniss! he might even be a grade below her in the first book, depending on where they split that up? but anyway, that's already a bit of new info that better informs his character but isn't crucial for us to know if that makes sense? it doesn't ruin anything for me that I pegged him somewhere in March and here it's actually July 4th. it's just, now March is wrong. and it lets me know even his birthday will be a point of angst for him - because nothing in his life can be good. :/

Lenore Dove seems to be Covey, and they go into the woods, so we'll see how that goes and how many parallels are drawn there. it might get annoying and become what I was glad TBOSAS wasn't for the most part. or it might be really good! we shall see. 👀

@lasthaysileeshipper did point out in our dm's how that 'butt' should have been 'ass' which I find really amusing. maybe Haymitch won't curse like a sailor and push the YA limit, lmao

what did you think??

[ceoofglytchell]

Safe Haven

Summary: While Aemond searches for comfort with Madame Sylvi, the older brother has long chosen you, one of the Madame’s more expensive girls, to be the shoulder he cries on.

Pairing: Aegon II Targaryen x Brothel worker!Reader

Word count: 3127 words

Warnings: hurt/comfort, making out, brief nudity, brief smut, allusions to past smut, mention of sex work, mention of the death of a child, he’s kinda dependent on you, no mention of Y/N

Notes: I just wanted to thank you all for the positive reactions to my first fanfic! I could never have imagined people would actually read and like the stuff I write and I am very grateful for that. Also I would like to thank @danytar for supporting me ever since I started this blog, love ya! Anyways, here’s another one for you! 💛

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“Look, it's the king!”

You looked up from the cup of wine that you had been holding for some time, staring into the dark red liquid, hoping that tonight you would just have to sit there and look pretty for the men coming by to get rid of their loneliness for an hour or so.

While you were grateful for your job, as it meant you wouldn’t have to live a miserable life on the dirty streets of King’s Landing, there were times when you wished you were someone else.

A lady from a rich house, a princess, a queen...

However, those were nothing more but daydreams and besides, you didn't really want to carry the burdens of royal life on your shoulders. Not when you had heard for many years how much they plagued a certain silver haired prince who came to you ever since he saw you dancing for some men once in Sylvi's fine establishment. It had been several years ago and at first he had actually only come to you to have someone to drink with. A little later, he had begun to open up to you and then you often dried his tears and held him in your arms whenever his grandfather and mother once again frightened him with the thought that he would have to wear the crown one day.

It had been two weeks since he had last been with you. The poor boy had stumbled into the brothel in the middle of the night, completely drunk, bumped into people and started a fight because he had thought you were taking care of another client, the thought of which he could not stand, which had not been true, as you had simply taken a small break. You had barely run into the room after you had been told he had come when he had already thrown himself directly into your arms and buried his face in your hair while sobbing bitterly.

The very next day, you and many other people had been dragged into the dragon pit to watch Aegon being crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms in front of everyone, and that moment your heart had broken for him, knowing how much he had never wanted that title.

Now, some time later, he was standing in the doorway again, his two friends Martyn and Leon were standing not far behind him and a young man with raven-black hair was also there, but you didn't recognize him and he seemed to be a little unwell. Aegon also seemed drunk, very drunk actually, as he was slurring his words and could hardly walk in a straight line, but when he spotted you on the opposite side of the room, a broad grin formed on his handsome face.

"My love!" he called loudly and stumbled past a couple, who seemed lost in a passionate dance, and ran up a small staircase to where you and some other girls were sitting on the sofas and talking to pass the time. His friends followed him cautiously, knowing how infatuated he was with you.

You quickly placed your golden cup of wine on the side table, stood up and approached him just to make sure he wouldn't trip and embarrass himself in front of all these people. He was the king after all and you knew some who already saw him as weak and incapable of ruling, which you wanted to shield him from. You knew what he had been through recently and it had only been a matter of time before he came back to you.

There was just one small problem... his brother had also come through the doors not too long ago and he had not left yet.

So you had two things to worry about that night: Aegon and not accidentally stumbling over Aemond.

As soon as you got close enough, Aegon wrapped his arms around your smaller frame and held you tightly against him, as if to make sure you wouldn't vanish into thin air. You have been his safe haven for quite some time now, and your mere presence did wonders for his troubled soul, your smile a balm for his heavy heart. Your long, wavy hair smelled of roses, and your body, wrapped in green satin robes, clung to his so perfectly that for a moment he thought you had melted into one. Aegon wanted nothing more than you and your closeness, which was why he had come here that evening. He had wanted to see you.

"I missed you," Aegon murmured into your hair, his fingers digging into the fabric of your robes over your hips to feel your warmth. But he would prefer it if you weren't wearing any clothes at all so he could feel your soft skin under his fingers instead. You didn't even have to do anything together, he just wanted to be close to you.

"I missed you too, Your Grace."

"Don't call me that," he grumbled into your shoulder and instinctively hugged you tighter. He came to you to feel free and forget some of the burdens that weighed on his shoulders, not for you to remind him who he was and that he wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be in the council chambers, talking to his council about the next steps of the war or just doing something, but instead he sought comfort from you - a whore.

"My Darling? Sweetling? Precious?" you joked playfully instead, while stroking his back with your gentle hands. You had used all of these names with him before, but he had never admitted which one was his favorite or whether he found them all to be terrible. However, you always thought he liked them better than some respectful noble title that he didn't want to wear anyway.

One of his friends, Martyn, cleared his throat and patted the young black-haired man on the shoulders, as if to tell his king that there was still something to do before he could devote himself to his own satisfaction.

His head shot up again immediately, which messed up his silver hair a little, which was not a very unusual sight for him, and he put an arm protectively around your waist, while he looked right back at his drinking companions. "Right, right. Dove, we are looking for the madam. This young lad here needs bedding in, gently. I thought she was the perfect choice, don’t you agree?”

Your lover wanted to go with you in the direction of the private rooms, but you managed to hold him back by the arm, whereupon he clumsily bumped back into you in his drunken state, but you were already used to that.

"Madame Sylvi is busy right now."

Aegon opened his mouth to reply, but thank the gods he was a little slower in his movements and reactions at the moment due to the influence of wine.

"However, I know someone else who would treat the boy well." You only had to snap your fingers once and one of the girls you had been sitting with on the sofas earlier came running over and quickly grabbed the boy's hand. She was a little younger than you, pretty, and talented. In your eyes, that was certainly better than interrupting the madam right now, especially considering who she was with in this very moment.

"You heard the woman. Go on, get going. And have fun!" Aegon called after the squire as he was being dragged into one of the back rooms by the whore you had called to help, whereupon he burst into loud, drunken laughter. You just rolled your eyes and shook your head, but a small glint within your gaze revealed how much you truly cared for the king no how much he meant to you.

It wasn't just the sack of gold he gave you after every night, or the sex that was important to you, but rather everything about him. You loved his loud laugh, the way he constantly sought your closeness, his urge to always touch you, you loved his jests just as much as the moments when he showed you how vulnerable and broken he truly was, when he just leaned on your shoulder and cried and you stroked his back and told him how good he was being and that he would always be enough for you. That was what you loved. You loved him.

"And what are we two going to do now?" you asked him, amused, to which he simply grabbed your hand in response and started to pull you along, while he didn't even look back at his friends, since you were everything that mattered to him. You were the only one who could ease his hidden pain.

Since he came here again and again especially for you, he knew his way around here like few other and knew exactly where the little alcoves were where two people could make themselves comfortable, be alone and spend time together. Luckily for the both of you, one at the beginning of the corridor had just become free, so you wouldn't run into a certain other Targaryen. You did not want an argument, not now.

As soon as Aegon had shut the curtain behind you both, he sighed and fell onto the soft mattress while you moved to lit the candles to make the atmosphere a little more pleasant. It smelled of candle wax and fire, but also of various perfumes and other fragrant oils that the previous guests had probably used before they had left again. You already knew that the hour he would spend with you would be either very nice or very heartbreaking. After all, you hadn't seen each other for two weeks and he certainly had much to talk about. You, on the other hand, could mostly only tell him the same stories about overzealous customers and strange preferences that the other women had told you about. Those talks didn't bore him, because he was sure that he would always be happy as long as you were with him.

For a moment you considered taking off your clothes and pulling him into your lap, but you decided against it when you saw that he was just staring into one direction, his good mood evaporating like a pile of ashes in the wind. You knew that look and it was usually never a good sign. He needed you. Now perhaps more than ever.

"Aegon?" you asked carefully and sat down next to him on the white sheets, which were a bit out of order and had stains in some places that you didn't want to think about too long.

"Come here, I need you," the king murmured and tugged at the ends of your robe, whereupon you chuckled and dropped down next to him on the round bed and immediately wrapped your arms around him and buried your head in the crook of his neck.

"I wish I could have been there for you. That night."

You knew the night he lost his son was a difficult subject and probably not what he wanted to talk about, or what he had come to you for, but you couldn't hold that thought back any longer. The other girls had told you how he had all the rat catchers hanged the next day and how hard it had been to watch the little prince's funeral march. You hadn't been there because you had things to do, but you weren't sure you would have watched it voluntarily either, because the regret would probably have eaten you alive.

All the time he spent with you, he could have spent with his children, but he was probably aware of that as well. But the regret didn't change his feelings for you, and you both knew that he would come back again and again and again. Sometimes you really believed he was as dependent on you as he was on dornish wine.

"They wanted Aemond, did you know that? It was supposed to be revenge for Rhaenyra's dead son, but because he wasn't there... because he wasn't there, they murdered my little son in his bed."

His grip on your waist tightened and you knew from his voice alone that he was close to tears, if they weren't already shining in his eyes. You would weep too if your child had been murdered, but you did not have one. A bastard would only hinder you from your work and you didn't want to lose your only source of livelihood, even if the thought of being a mother was one that often crossed your mind.

Especially if he would be the father...

"It's my brother's fault. It's all, all his fault. If it had not been for him, I would be far away from all this in the free cities or gods know where! I would not be king and my boy would still be alive!"

Aegon was sobbing now and you couldn't do anything but wrap your arms around him even more and listen to him speak, because if he didn't tell you, who else would listen to his thoughts? Certainly not his mother, not his brother anymore either, he rarely spoke to his sister-wife anyway and thus he only had you. You were the only one who always listened to him and who was always honest.

He wished he could have married you... You two could have lived a simple, beautiful life far away from King’s Landing, outside of Westeros. But neither of you were granted such a life. He was the king and you were just the whore he loved.

"Don't you have anything to say, love?"

You looked up from his shoulder and leaned over him so you could see his sad amethyst colored eyes and the tear that slowly made its way down his cheek, leaving a trail of wetness behind on his pale skin. You felt a brief urge to brush it away, but instead you let it fall and watched as the tear fell onto the velvet pillow that lay beneath his head, leaving a tiny black stain that would disappear in a matter of minutes. No one would ever know what you and the king did behind the curtain, but you knew that if you happened to be mentioned later on, history would describe you as nothing more than his mere mistress. Perhaps in this case you wanted to be forgotten entirely, for no writing would ever do justice to what you two had together.

The bond that bound you to each other was strong, but no one would ever know about it.

"What can I say, darling? There is nothing I can say except that I am deeply sorry, and I already did."

"Then don't say anything. Show me." As much as he tried to make it sound like a suggestion, it was a command. But you loved him too much to tell him that this was not the right way and that you were not exactly good for him. He wouldn't listen to you anyway. Two days later and he would be at your doorstep again. That's how it had always been and that's how it always would be. You would get gold for your efforts and he would kiss you goodbye and leave.

As always, you obeyed him and connected your lips with his. Two weeks without you had been too much for him. Aegon moaned into the kiss and pulled you closer to him, as close as humanly possible so that he could feel every feminine curve of your body pressed against his even though you were both still wearing your clothes.

Normally this would be the moment when he would turn you onto your back and rip those sheer robes from your body, but this time he did nothing of the sort and gave you full control.

Your tongue found its way into his mouth and you could still taste the heavy wine that was clouding his senses on his own tongue and it was clear that he had probably drunk a lot of before he had set foot in this establishment again, which you couldn't blame him for. If you had been in his place, you would probably have thrown yourself off one of the balconies of the Red Keep long ago, but he was stronger than that.

You kissed him desperately, pouring every emotion you had ever felt for him into that one kiss and he let it happen and he lost himself in it, he lost himself in you.

You managed to numb his senses better than anyone in the known world and perhaps that was another reason why he always found his way back to you in the end. But you let him in every time, which told him that you must feel for him too.

There were moments when he couldn't help but wonder if you were real. Not whether you existed, because he knew very well that you did, no, whether your affection for him was really genuine. Your smile, your laughter, the way you always sought his closeness whenever he was with you, and how gently you treated him all gave him the hope that you actually felt the same as he did, but he would probably never be sure. After all, you never refused his gold. Probably only then would he be sure that it was real.

Your gentle hands slowly brushed his coat from his shoulders and worked on the clasps of his tunic, believing that this was exactly what he wanted, because after all, he hadn't told you anything except that you should show him what you couldn't with words.

A short time later, you were both completely undressed and you moved your hips against his in a way that made his eyes flutter shut and left him gasping for air and groaning your name in pure bliss.

Fucking, alcohol and you were the only things that could distract him from being king or from wondering when the next time would be the stranger's shadow would fall upon his family and who it would be. It just couldn’t be you. If he lost you... he wouldn't know what to do.

Aegon was aware that none of this was good for him and that he should have stopped coming back to you years ago, but when you lay in his arms again a little later, breathing heavily, a light layer of sweat on your body and a happy, radiant smile on your face, he knew that no matter what happened, he would never let you go. You would always be with him, although unfortunately not as his wife, but he couldn't help his feelings and he wouldn't hide them from you.

"I love you," he whispered to you, his hand stroking your side soothingly and his head resting against yours.

"I love you too, Aegon."

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[thebibliosphere]

I love how transparent you are about what its like to be a self published author in this day and age, and i was just wondering if there was a difference on your side between amazon ebook/paperback and audible - and also if Scribd is any better, because i use it as an alternative to amazon whenever possible (and whenever the library doesnt own a copy of whatever im looking for) is it functionally all the same? What is best for you?

Thank you!

I actually did a huge long post a while back when I got the audiobooks produced and uploaded to various platforms. I included Scribd in the breakdown after people falsely claim that Scrib is better for authors than Amazon/Libraries.

A lot of people were not happy when I burst that particular bubble by showing that Scribd paid me 97 cents out of the 19.99 price tag. Which is less than what Audible paid me.

Now, obviously, Scribd is different because it's a subscription service, and you’re paying for access to multiple things with that subscription. But saying it is better than libraries is just false because I also showed the numbers for that, and my income from libraries was several times higher than both Scribd and Amazon combined (for audio), which is why authors are always begging people to request their work in libraries.

Libraries pay us better and are usually free. Not always. I know it depends heavily on the country, but for most of my English-speaking audience, that is the case.

Now, this is not to say people shouldn’t use services like Scribd. If Scribd is what you can afford and it gives you access to things your library can’t fantastic. Please continue to access our work through that legal option. I would much rather earn 97 cents than zero.

But uh, yeah, Amazon pays me more than Scrib for digital stuff and I really don’t like when people who aren’t on the author side spread misinformation and frame it as some more “gotcha.”

The sad truth is Most retailers pay us the same or within the same royalty range. The difference I earn between Kobo vs Kindle is literal pennies with Amazon coming out on top. I make my work available on multiple platforms to give people options, but unless you’re buying directly from my personal storefront, it's all roughly the same.

I do actually earn more from Amazon paperbacks than I do any other retailers (for self-pub, paperbacks are a flat rate regardless of how much a retailer is charging), but the difference is about ten cents, so I always tell people to buy from wherever is best for them.

I like bookshop.org because they give some of the profit on their end to indie bookstores. Same with libro.fm for audio.

Audiobooks are just a whole fucking nightmare. Audible sets your price point for you and takes 80% of your royalties. And because Audible does that, I have to then use that price tag on all other platforms or risk being fucked by the algorithm gods. Other audio retailers take about 60-70% in royalties, most of them veering toward 70%.

As we say in radical acceptance therapy, it is what it is—fucking end-stage monopoly driven capitalism.

Now, speaking personally, when it comes to digital media, I earn the most royalties from my Payhip store where I keep 90% of my income.

That's the best place for me.

It's also why it's worth looking up an author you like to see if they have their own storefront. It doesn't help our sales rankings or put us on any bestseller lists, but frankly after launch week, who cares. I’ll take being able to feed me and my dog.

I hope that helps!

[paper-mario-wiki]

Shangri-La Frontier mid-season review

This is by far the best fake video game I've ever seen written in fiction.

Most MMO-centric isekai stories have trouble with providing accurate and realistic depictions of the complexities and minutia that give MMOs the allure they have. I've seen so much handwavey bullshit tacked onto fake-games that introduce unrealistically overlooked mechanics for reasons like giving the protag immense power just because they're the protag and the story is about them. A good example of this is another MMO Isekai airing this season, "A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life", wherein the main character becomes extremely rich, powerful, and famous by episode 2 because he stumbled into a stealth archer playstyle, a build which apparently no human in that universe had ever conceived of before, and then making a fortune by selling basic potions to everyone after NPCs stopped selling them (another thing he was uniquely able to do because not a single other player had the forethought to spec into alchemy). These lesser, dime-a-dozen isekai add up to be boring fantasy strories with gaming elements clumsily put in so that the author can demonstrate how powerful the world's inhabitants are by showing their stat allocation screen instead of, say, explaining anything about what they do that's so uniquely powerful and how they figured it out. Ya know, stuff you'd hope to hear about from any competent story.

Shangri-La Frontier is a breath of fresh air for anyone who, like me, is sick of authors ignoring the things that actually make video games compelling in service of creating a stock-standard narratives in fantasy worlds because it allows them to get away with bullshit. I've always found it very convenient that many isekai narratives indulge in things like chattel slavery, because it's societally normal enough for the protag to purchase a beautiful, vulnerable girl to add to his harem (dont worry, she is always inexplicably in love with him no matter what because he's SUCH a kind master). And it never really seems to go anywhere. Because the Video Game Isekai, while an interesting premise in theory, is more often than not used exclusively as a means to simplify the structure of a world's power scaling to abide by an arbitrary set of omnipresent universal rules (e.g. what people who have never cared to look into game development think of video games). This anime, by comparison, is VERY clearly authored by someone who plays a LOT of games.

Every piece of logic used to drive the plot forward, so far, is congruent to a real-world example of video game conventions, and I'm not just talking about levelling up and selling monster parts. Story elements that I've rarely (if ever) seen explored in other isekai are ever-present and genuinely clever and amusingly introduced. My favorite example of this so far has been the way the protagonist has been able to go head to head with so many overlevelled foes in the first 9 episodes. The story of course makes note of how good of a gamer Sanraku (our hero) is, but much like in real life games, being super duper good at dodging attacks doesn't really make up for a 70 level gap in items and learned skills. For that reason, he gets his ass whooped more often than he actually outsmarts others (so far he hasn't beaten a single player in pvp). So how is he getting out of these situations without dying so frequently? Simple: he got access to a later area too early relative to his level (sequence break) and got access to a high level follower NPC that's been carrying him. This is something he acknowledges directly several times, specifically using words like "Emul has been hard-carrying me for a while." This, to me, is extraordinarily meaningful. That's something you can exploit in Skyrim, man. That's REALISTIC CHEESE STRATS. The excitement and wonder I find in this show doesn't come from watching the protag do something unexpected, but by watching him do something that I would think to do.

This knowledge the author has demonstrated regarding modern gaming culture extends further into the actual realistic nature of game design and community. The story exists in a reality where full-dive VRMMOs are the be-all-end-all of gaming, and given the prohibitively expensive nature of developing and designing expansive, immersive worlds, most games are pretty shit. It's been hinted at so far that this is due to a monopolistic megacorp which is one of the only entities rich and powerful enough to make a good game (the game in question being the one that shares the title of the anime), but so far the strife of the characters have been pretty centralized to the happenings of the game world and its politics. By the way, lets talk about the game world's player base politics, which I'm also quite pleased with. It exists in the form of guilds and clans who struggle for power not by participating in seemingly random pvp with other powerful players to see who is the most epic and badass warrior (again, like many contemporary isekai typically opt for), but by gaining actual realistic support from a fictional playerbase with realistic desires and playstyles. Some guilds are interested in lore, some gather for alliance and boss raids, some for things like animal husbandry, and (naturally) at least one is dedicated to trolling and PKing. Each of these factions, through the very little that we've seen of them so far, communicate on forums and only know as much as is reasonable for them to know. The only reason they give a shit about the protagonist at all is because he gained access to a high-level unique scenario quest that they want information on how to access, and the only reason word of that got out in the first place was because someone posted a screenshot of him with a unique NPC onto a forum, asking about it as "where can i find this pet summon, its super cute!" That's real. That's video games, baby.

I like this show a lot so far. I like that it cares about video games, but I also like its writing. I like the main character and how hes less of an ultra badass super cool guy, and more of an earnest challenge-run lets player. Like, a lot of his dialogue straight up sounds strikingly similar to Japanese youtubers. And he's naturally always quick to point out inconsistencies in the game world's logic. I ALSO really like his community of pals from a janky old fighting game, and I ADORE the girl from his school who has a crush on him and also just so happens to be an exceptionally high level player from a top clan, and how she had to spend 9 episodes working up the courage to send him a friend request. I love that so, so much, dude.

I highly recommend this show if you're into a single thing I've mentioned. The animation is great. The world is beautiful. The character design is immaculate. And I'm looking forward to watching it continue.

[grison-in-space]

Hello!

Since my elderly cat just died, I’m starting to bat around the idea of seriously training an at-home service cat. Pesterbot, routine nudges, maybe as much grounding pressure as they can give me (time for a big fluffy boy?), and if they pick up on med-alert cues, great.

I’ve chatted with the local rescue already - I figure I want one cat whose early life and temperament have set them up for secure attachment and assertiveness, and another to be a buddy for them, ok if they’re more skittish of humans. Ideally ~6-8 mo so the adult personality has started to show but I still have some relatively early socialization window.

Any thoughts on rescue vs breeder, breed, how to look for a breeder who *actually* values temperament and health, the odds of known ancestors and a known-good early life making that much of a difference? I’m liking the look of the forest cats (especially NFCs and Siberians) but also, $$$$ (though with a purebred cost is probably just something to plan for)? Or anything I’m missing in thinking through this?

No, I think you've hit just about everything that occurs to me. With a purebred cat(s), you're dealing with a history of selection that might be a little curtailed, which means you'll want to look for genetic disorders known to run in that line of cats and also that you will want to cross-reference opinions from multiple people in the breed if you can. With a rescue cat, you're looking at a whole lot of unknowns that can be really hard to predict, especially with respect to temperament at maturity.

I am not sure that NFCs or Siberians are the best temperamental range for that kind of work, though: you want an opinionated and socially oriented cat, and my understanding of the reputation of the forest cats is that they're like... slightly more active Ragdolls? I'd ping in @pangur-and-grim and @followthebluebell for assessments of breed temperaments. You're also going to want a relatively active cat who is interested in watching what you're doing and responding to your environment: remember, you'd be paying this cat to come interact with you when you're stuck / when an alarm goes off, and you'll have the most success with that if your cat likes thinking and moving with you.

This is also the sort of cat my spouse and I like best--active, bold, interested in interaction, easily bored--and we've been eyeing up some potential purebred options as well as considering rescue after, well, my last rescue kitten developed severe pica at around six months. That's less likely to happen to you with a 6-9mo adolescent kitten--I got Arthur at 10 weeks and he was obviously neurodivergent in some way by then, if only by virtue of his blindness--but it was pretty catastrophic for his ability to have unfettered access to me, for example.

From my perspective, the biggest benefit of purebred cats are that a lot of the cat breeds have selected clearly for specific ranges of temperament over time. It's definitely going to be easier to find someone else going "a bossy, energetic cat who wants to be Interacting With You frequently? boy howdy, I'd love that!" among the ranks of, well, Serious Cat People.... which includes a lot of cat breeders, but not a ton of cat owners. A lot of people seem to pick cats based on color, proximity, and kitten cuteness, which still blows my mind a bit coming from dogs!

I can tell you straight up that the best way to pick a rescue cat by temperament is to (ideally) aim for a foster based rescue, contact an adoption coordinator directly, and explain that you are looking for a cat based on personality rather than based on looks, that you're looking for a fairly high-demand cat, and ask them if any candidates come to mind. (My experience is that not caring about appearance and being open to cats which are not very young kittens motivates those coordinators to think of their favorite individual cats to suggest.)

You could also look for local cat trainers in your area--a specialty that is getting increasingly popular! look near veterinary behaviorists or cat-only vets--and see if they have recommendations, since they probably have a lot of experience with high-demand cats and people who invest a lot into their cats in your area. Basically, find yourself a way to talk to people who have interacted with a lot of the cats locally up for adoption, especially because the ideal temperament for a service cat is not necessarily going to be everyone else's cup of tea for a pet cat.

I can tell you that a big chunk of the people I have found actively breeding for that kind of temperament are involved with the various wildcat cross breeds, particularly Bengals (which is where I'd start rather than Savannahs or Chausies, personally: it's easier to find F5+ individuals, especially if you're looking for people who are really interested in breeding for trainability). My sense with the purebreds based on my reading is that Abyssinians or, if you can find them, Havana Browns might also be worth a look.

Consider if and when approaching a breeder or rescue: what are you going to do if one or both potential cats wash out of service work? Would you rehome them and try again? (To whom?) Would you keep them as ESAs and add a third cat? The natural concern that a lot of people will have about being approached for a service animal, especially one like a cat, is "what happens if it doesn't work out?" I think your plan is to go "well then I still have pet cats," but that should be clear to your potential cat sources, too.

But anyway, that's why I tagged Greer and Bluebell: both of them have way more personal experience with cat breeders and purebred cats than I do, and I think they'd be good resources if you want to aim in a more purpose-bred direction.

[nyaskitten]

EDIT: THIS POST IS INACCURATE !!!

I made the assumption Olive was editing the wiki articles, and while that's a very logical conclusion to reach, it was actually someone who shares the same viewpoints as them!!! Anything including the wiki articles and Olive's involvement is wrong and that's my bad!!!

Alright fellas, I guess we did it. We have reached the tipping point. I'm going to dedicate this post to calling out one specific person, @olivescales3, and their very toxic behavior. This post will be a bit messy, and I do apologize in advance, I'm writing this from the perspective of a Ninjago fan who also thinks beyond just the petty fandom stuff, what they're doing is just not cool.

I will clarify, I do not make this post for petty fandom drama, I make this to better spread awareness on some of the bullshit they're doing, so you can look out for and understand that they're bullshitting. Without further ado, I think we should just get into it.

So, what have they done?

Now, I should say while there is no 100000% concrete link between hyenabro and olivescales, I think based on their talking points (as well and the information I've recieved from friends in the Chima fandom, who have a bunch of prior experience with them,) it's safe to make this assumption!

So, what has olivescales DONE in this case? Simple, they've vandalized the Chima wiki on NUMEROUS occasions, even after several different people have revised their revisions, so as to discredit any conenctions between Dragons Rising and Chima.

(Green is their edits, red is the ones prior to theirs, I found this while going through their contributions section on their Fandom account, HyenaBro119)

As seen here, they have (under the username HyenaBro119) edited the pages for Chima AND the Forever Rock (I have two similar screenshots of essentially the same thing, one was from the Forever Rock article, the other was from Chima) and claimed Ninjago's lore to be some alternate universe. To further validate it, they write "Ras' visit to," but Ras NEVER claimed to have VISITED these locations, just that he knows them. They also claim the Forever Rock was destroyed, a blatant lie. Only a small section of rock on the Forever Rock was actually destroyed, not the whole thing.

Now, you're gonna ask "but Raine, how can you 100000% say it's them?" and I will cite common sense. While I cannot directly tie Olive to hyena, I CAN say their wording is SO very similar.

Both Hyena and Olive call DR "a parallel/alternate universe," and again, claim Forever Rock was destroyed, WHICH IS A FULL ON LIE. They're so adamant to protect "the sanctity of Chima's pre-established, set-in-stone lore" that they can't stop to think maybe, JUST MAYBE, sometimes a story can get new lore which can ALSO be canon!

I'd also love to share this HILARIOUS screenshot of one of their many posts, which not only backs up what I'm saying, but it's like damn they really set themself up huh!

Gee I wonder why you feel alone! Maybe it's because you are! Maybe it's because you're lying and making shit up to prove yourself right! No one is as big of a hater as you!

The also LOVE saying Ninjago cannot do anything with Chima unless they get express permission from the creator of Chima, some guy named John Derevlany, but oh man what's this I see before me?

CO-CREATOR? Oh but Olive, I thought he was the CREATOR of Chima, not CO-creator... ALSO Lego owns the rights to Chima, and Ninjago, and every other theme, as said by Doc himself! If anything he wasn't really dodging the question, just giving a vague answer, because he doesn't know much about the old contracts!

From what he said, it's clear that if they wanted to use anything from the other themes, they'd have to consult folks over at LEGO, not John Derevlany or Tommy A.!

Now here's the THING, I GET where they're coming from, it CAN be annoying to have people only care about a thing you like in relation to something else, but when you're going out of your way to argue that none of it can be canon and it's all an alternate universe it's like... god it's so sad and pathetic really.

Their lies and BS don't even end there with the wiki shit, because I have THIS glorious gem.

A) They bring up that the Ninjago folk do not know who the Phoenixes are which is like, okay??? Why the fuck are they gonna know about how another universe was created??? That's like if someone told me I don't exist in the same universe as my glasses because I have no clue who made them, that is to say, that's stupid as FUCK to say!

B) OH they say something REAAALLL funny ohohohho I am actually dying. Olive says the Phoenix icon "appeared in a Ninjago episode" and "Ninjago tends to reuse assets." Yep, NINJAGO is the one who reused the phoenix symbol, mhm. The symbol that was made in 2011 for NINJAGO, which cameoed in CHIMA in 2014, was actually just an asset reuse by Ninjago. I feel like this actually goes to show how desparate they are to feel right and validated, because this? This a lie! Ninjago made the symbol, and because Tommy A. is co-creator to both, he wanted to slip in a neat Ninjago reference, so he slipped in the Phoenix symbol Nya uses for the Phoenix tribe, not the other way around!

Another REALLY funny thing they did, aside from the wiki and Phoenix symbol shit, was this hilarious attempt at being right!

Yes, the compared the WOLF Masks to BATman's cowl, and did a horribly rough comparison illustration that very much does not make sense. If you actually compared them side by side, the only similarities would be they're both angry animal themed mask with pointy ears, which does NOT go very far in the long run. The foreheads they drew aren't even the same fucking shape lol.

OH ANS WE CANNOT FORGET THIS ONE! Their using a post about the Palestinian genocide and boycotting Lego in order to complain about Ninjago.

They claim Ninjago is produced by Lego, unlike other Lego shows, which is an EXTREMELY bullshit fucking claim. Just like Chima and Nexo Knights, Ninjago is produced by Lego, it's not JUST Ninjago produced by Lego, they are all Canadian-Danish CGI action shows, and they're all known to have Tommy Andreasen involved in the creation of them.

They're using a post about boycotting for the sake of innocent people DYING to complain about a lego ninja show for... killing evil people? It doesn't glorify war, the worst it does in regards to war is like not address how fucked up it can be in regards to the Serpentine War, but that's like it. I think it's so funny they want to single out Ninjago as if it's the only TV series where villains die for trying to conquer/destroy the world.

So, what do I want the takeaway from this post to be? What do I want you to get from it? I don't really know anymore, I just don't want Olive's horrendously toxic behaviors, and straight up lies to stop. If anything I think it's beautiful that Ninjago is making others interested in revisiting Chima again, stop being such a fucking hater dude. They act like Chima is some holy grail of Lego, the greatest thing since bread, but it, just like Ninjago, Dreamzzz, Hidden Side, and Nexo Knights, have Tommy in creative roles.

To act like Chima is somehow greater than is to place it on an unrealistic pedestal as if it's a godsend, when in reality it was co-created by Tommy Fucking Andreasen.

If you read through all of this, I do THOROUGHLY appreciate it, I didn't mean for this post to descend into an angry ramble but ehhh yk how it is. And Olive, if you see this, please, just stop with the bullshit.

[ashkabbom]

Can you please write quiet gn/male reader cuddling with Shinso and Monoma (both together)? Like they (mostly Monoma) be ranting about whatever and he/they wants the two to shut up and cuddle him/them.

A/n: In my defense, it took me a while to get back to Tumblr in general, because I actually went looking for a job, I started drawing again and school took up my time. That's why I'm taking advantage of this Sunday :> And this one ended up shorter than what I normally write because I didn't really know how to elaborate on this story.

I made a GN!Reader so I hope there is no problem, so much so that in the end the reader did not say any sentence and his gender/pronouns are not mentioned at any time.

Bedtime, no arguments.

→Shinso x Monoma x GN!Reader

Your night was peaceful… or at least it should have been, because FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

You just wanted a moment of peace, something simple, like resting next to Shinso and Monoma without having to listen to a barrage of endless arguments. But of course, Monoma didn't make it easy.

You love him, obviously, but like this... Yes, Monoma, we understand that you Class B people have the spotlight stolen constantly, now go to bed, tomorrow is another day with a new beginning.

"I'm telling you two! Shinso, it's completely unfair! Class A gets all the attention, while we in Class B are left out!" Monoma gestured exaggeratedly, wanting to strongly prove his point.

Shinso sighed, throwing his head back. "We've talked about this before." He replied without much enthusiasm or beating around the bush. "Several times."

You, sitting between the two, just watching the clash, the spectacle, happen again.

You had a wish and hoped that any cosmic entity and mercy would hear your prayers. Your wish? Simple and obvious: a little silence and affection. But asking for it directly? Hard to happen.

Not because you were embarrassed or anything, but because Monoma would continue to debate until the next era, and Shinso, even though bored, would still respond from time to time. This cycle was interesting at times, but it also sucked when you were tired.

But you wouldn't give up on this war, you wouldn't lose this time. They could have won several battles, but in the end you would be the one who would come out victorious in this war. Then, without warning, you decided to act. You pulled them both in one quick, forceful movement, and laid down on top of them, nestling between them without caring about their complaints.

"W-What?!" Monoma widened his eyes, clearly unprepared for the sudden attack and invasion of personal space.

Shinso blinked, but soon relaxed, accepting the change without question. "Finally, something useful." He muttered, running his fingers through your hair absently.

"H-hey, you can't just use us as a pillow to escape the conversation!" Monoma argued against it, but didn't move away. On the contrary, he looked a little hesitant, his cheeks flushed.

You mumbled something incomprehensible, probably telling him to shut up, only snuggling closer. Monoma opened his mouth to continue complaining, but decided against it. Sighing dramatically, he crossed his arms. "Hmf. That's unfair… but just this once."

Shinso smirked, running his fingers through his hair. "Great tactic. Totally effective." And finally, silence and coziness took over the moment. You could finally rest with your boyfriends.

[oddsandends58exe]

hiii i ^^~ i saw that odds works for dr.kondraki, and I wondered how they interact w/ each other, bc odds looks kind of silly? eh?

hi anon who has been waiting a year or so for an answer! I hope you're reading this!

!!! OOC + OC x CANON WARNING !!!

I think that Odds and Kondraki's relationship can be divided into several stages. Specifically in this post I'll be describing the very beginning.

When Odds has to interact with people she doesn't know, she tries to get as much information about them as possible so she knows what to expect. It was the same with Kondraki. Not directly asking people about him, of course, since most of the time she's too afraid to interact with others. So, after hearing rumors about him, Odds decided to herself that she and Ben had some things in common. She was still wary of him, however. Well uh..... she always wary of most people

Kondraki, on the other hand, initially treated her the same way he treats other mmmm let's say "low value" employees. He didn't really care for that much. At first, she actually kind of annoyed him a little bit. Fun fact, but for a while Ben thought she was a furry and that her dog ears and tail were fake. But then he found out they were real and felt embarrassed of himself a little....... Anyway, eventually he got used to the Odds to his own surprise. Somehow, amazingly, she managed not to get on his nerves. It turned out he could even have an interesting conversation with her about some stuff. She also likes his sense of humor, and he likes hers. Benjamin seemed as if Odds had always supported him in everything. Even in some crazy things, which was a little weird even for him.

What he didn't know yet was that Odds was actually very much in love with him. As I said before, she felt from the beginning that they had a lot of things in common. And, as I said in one of my earlier post, because of her personality disorder, she began to idealize Ben too much, virtually ignoring his flaws. At some point he had come to mean everything to Odds, and she was glad that she and Ben had found common ground and that they could at least be called friends. But something told her that they wouldn't get any further than that. Odds was too afraid to take a step further, thinking it would make things worse.

...I know that doesn't sound very healthy for Odds but trust me it will get better later on

[laserbeamss]

okay i know im like half a year too early to mention anything about this topic and also tumblr is raving mad about this topic and no one is actually gonna read this but. i read shakespeare's julius caesar for the first time yesterday and i need to be a pretentious fucker for a while. look the one thing i'm glad that tumblr agrees with me about is that the assassination of caesar was incredibly homoerotic like i felt like a madman for thinking that but then i discovered thousands of strangers on the internet are backing me up and i felt better.

i'm talking about the play version of events, not the historical version, by the way; though i will talk about the historical version shortly.

shakespeare really knows how to write his tragedies. that play has not left my mind since i finished reading it, which was, by the way, in one sitting about 24 hours ago. my mind has not stopped thinking about that play for an entire day and i am sure it will continue to do so in the near future.

i love the contrast between the ways caesar himself is portrayed. to some, he is a dead man walking. to some, he is the very anchor of society: the north star. to some, he is just a man, who needs to come home and rest sometimes. to himself, he is a mixture of all of those, but he only ever expresses one of those roles, because he is the dictator of rome, in his eyes, he is the rightful king, the one who has led and will continue to lead rome to glory for years to come, and there was no point in heeding the word of anyone else.

my favourite character, is, quite predictably, brutus. "not that i loved caesar less, but that i loved rome more" okay so what if i cried. (i somewhat shamelessly will admit that i have shed tears over this. as i said, the man knows how to write his tragedies.) on one hand, caesar is brutus' friend, the one who had elected him praetor of rome (i know it isn't directly mentioned in the play that caesar made brutus praetor but he is referred to as praetor and since historically caesar was indeed the one to elect brutus praetor, i think it is safe to assume the same within the context of the play), the one who had pardoned him after he sided with caesar's enemy pompey, the one whom he admitted several times that he loved. on the other hand, brutus was raised to bring honour to his family's name via bringing honour to rome; and thought himself morally righteous when he considered that he wasn't above betraying his friend to end a tyrranical rule, even if it meant allying himself with others who wanted to murder caesar for their own selfish gains. and after following through with what he perceived to be his utmost duty to his country, and his people, and his family, and himself, he is haunted by the ghost of his close friend, something which drives him into the point of his own sword.

betrayals have a special place in my heart because they are so entangled deep in conflicting emotions. to betray one is almost always to stand behind another, but inherently betrayals of others are also betrayals to yourself; there must have been a reason the betrayal was a betrayal and not a simple act of violence. because acts of violence can happen by anyone's hand, but betrayals can only happen by those who are most trusted.

cassius, that motherfucker. i feel the same way towards him as i felt toward lord henry wotton in the picture of dorian gray. egging my favourite character on to go against his homoerotic bestie, like fuck that.

i think i am most fascinated by how i do not know what i would have done if i was in brutus' place. would i have done what he has, plotted against and murdered my best friend who trusted me most, who dedicated his last words to me, who admitted defeat solely when it became apparent to him that i was among the conspirators? or would i have lived with the guilt of perpetuating tyrrany and lived with the guilt of, what in my conscience would have been, subjecting future generations of romans to suffer under a dictatorship, just to be able to greet my friend every day and not be haunted by what i have brought on against him?

that caesar truly did not expect brutus to be among the conspirators breaks my heart. that brutus acted out of duty and moral obligation only to fail miserably after having murdered his friend breaks my heart.

in my mind, these two got reincarnated somehow, in a calmer generation, and talked things through, and rode off together into the sunset.

i didn't ever think i would get so emotional over two dudes from a shakespeare play based on historical events that happened over two millenia ago but here we are. they make me want to cry like a baby.

but onto some actual history.

i'll start of with some nitpicking. when caesar is referred to as julius in the play, i physically cringed. as i cringe whenever anyone else assumes his first name to be julius. caesar's full name was gaius julius caesar (or caivs ivlivs caesar, if you will). caesar was the name with which 99% of people would have refered to him, as it was is cognomen, the name that was supposed to distinguish you from everyone else in roman society, and the one formally used to refer to you. if one were close to caesar, one would have called him gaius, which was his praenomen, of which there were only about twelve to choose from. julius, on the other hand, was his nomen, or the name passed down based on which clan he was decended from, in his case the julii. no one actually used the nomen to refer to anyone, as many, many men could be not in the least bit related anymore and yet share the same nomen. it would simply have been too confusing.

now, some common knowledge. "et tu, brute?" was never really uttered by caesar. the two most popular theories as to what caesar said after having been stabbed is that he either said nothing at all, which is what ancient scholars generally agreed upon, although it was expected of him to say something as he was expected to leave behind a legacy. some think he said "you too, child." in greek. initially, this may seem like it is a question that holds essentially the same meaning as "et tu, brute?": one of shocked betrayal, of the question of how even someone as close to caesar as brutus could do this to him. but it is more likely that it was instead a statement, and indeed the shortened version of a common roman proverb, essentially meaning "what goes around comes around". so what caesar would have meant by that is you too will meet your demise in a similar fashion, just you wait. which is very interesting to me

i think the historical relationship of caesar and brutus is very interesting (putting aside my homoerotic intepretation of the shakespeare characters for a moment). brutus' mother was a long-time mistress of caesar, and ancient scholars talked of a rumour that brutus was actually caesar's son, though they were sceptical, and modern historians also generally disagree with this. however, it is true that they were reported to have an affectionate relationship, caesar essentially teaching brutus all he knew like a father would to a son; brutus was raised by his uncle after his father was killed by pompey (also known as pompey the great), so he initially sided with caesar. however, already then, he saw how caesar was becoming overzealous and decided to switch sides and support pompey in the civil war. however, pompey was defeated by caesar in the battle of pharsalus, after which brutus was taken prisoner and eventually pardoned by caesar, granting him the ability to then build his political life in the roman senate. after that, he became one of caesar's closest friends and advisors, even being promoted to be the praetor and then proconsul of rome.

anyway, if you made it this far, have a knife (to stock up for the ides of march). take your pick: 🔪🗡⚔🪒

[anne20055]

i just finished watching Date Night With Dan And Phil for like the 5th time and now that we’ve all had the time to ponder and digest it, i’m going to give my thoughts

im not even going to touch on the title. they’ve clickbaited worse.

Firstly, despite this going against everything i say on here, id like to address the “this was an incredible video; they looked so happy” vs. “they were so uncomfortable; Relatable should have never made them do that” discourse, cause i haven’t really seen anyone have the same take as i do

i think that for at least the beginning of the video, they seemed a bit uncomfortable, and got better as they went on, but not for the same reason as everyone else. i also think this uncomfortability was mixed in with excitement, kind of like the incoherent videos, especially the first one, but going a bit deeper than just that. i think they felt a bit weird at the start cause they’ve never directly used the words “couple” or “partner” in a video before. they’ve gotten close several times, like dan saying “…and this is the divorce” in one of the stereo livestreams (i forgot which one) as well as the “Phivorce” segment in “Top Dan Memes of 2022”, and dan saying “his and hises joint shitties” then phil saying “ours actually face each other” in the “Dan and Phil React to Phan Memes 2”, but they’ve never said any words about each other that give absolutely no plausible deniability, even if they were just reading the game box/cards, which can obviously make them a bit uncomfortable.

there’s two main times that kind of jump out that they might be a little out of their comfort zone, both at the very beginning, both coming from dan, which is kinda suprising, given the fact that he’s always been a bit more open than phil has ever since they came out, but that’s a conversation for another day.

the first one was when after phil said his signature “Hello Dan And Phil Games ____!”, dan said “Here, at dan and phil games….”, and it almost sounded like a disclaimer. (it also reminded me of the “apology” which was i loved). as well as that, dan seemed to be laughing at himself and shaking his head while phil was doing the intro phrase, as if to hype himself up with what was to come. THAT BEING SAID, i’m really glad they kept this part in, cause it was hilarious, and even though they seemed a little weird, they also seemed excited.

the second and probably more obvious time, was when dan was reading the box, “‘The Ultimate Date Night Game: For Couples’”, specifically during the “For Couples” part, dan was blinking, laughing, and was looking at the camera in a way that was like “yeah, i know exactly how that sounded”. BUT AGAIN, this is not a bad thing. they were just as happy to be doing this as they were scared.

i think the initial weirdness wore off pretty quickly and they got to just having fun, but i think the reason why so many people were saying that it was like that the whole time was because it was at the very beginning, so they just assumed it’d be the vibe the whole way through and didn’t think much of it.

despite the slight uncomfortableness at the beginning, i think that the people who are saying that Relatable was forcing them to do it are kind of underestimating dan and phil’s ability to say no. i understand that in the past they’ve done stuff they haven’t wanted to before and were forced into things that they didn’t want to do, but this is the new era. they’re old. they’re gay. phil can say fuck. they’ve got no more fucks to give. i doubt they’d have trouble saying no. yes, relatable gave them the game to play, but i garantee you, if they didn’t want to play it on at least some level, they wouldn’t have played it. it’s not like relatable is that big of a brand for them anyway. it’s big, sure, but we all know nord vpn and dragon city will always be first. even during the second incoherent video, dan says “we have so much to lose…and very little to gain for filming this video”, and while of course it was a joke, it’s still that little bit saying that yeah we’re sponsored by these people, but it’s really not that big of a deal.

next up, the thumbnail. it is rare when a thumbnail change makes me happy instead of just annoyed. i’m not saying i don’t like that they (phil) changes the thumbnail a lot, but id just…rather not.

but this change could not have been better. i genuinely do not know of a single recent, or even non recent video thumbnail that has absolutely 0 editing. the muckbang doesn’t really look edited, but they very clearly posed, and i wouldn’t be suprised if they did something to it. but even if they didn’t, it’s still clear that this thumbnail was different.

it’s so chilled out and relaxed compared to anything they’ve done before. it was almost like a snapshot of an actual date. it reminds me of a thumbnail that a “third wheeling dan and phil moments” compilation video would use and i love it so so so much. it’s such a nice change of pace and i really hope they keep this vibe going

i think that’s about everything; if anyone agrees or disagrees with me, please tell me!! i’d love to have a conversation :) any kind of “controversial” dnp related opinion that anyone might have is always open to share with me!! even if i don’t completely agree, i will never discourage you for thinking one way or another. this is a safe place for everyone’s thoughts and i’d love for anyone to talk, no matter if you are on marriage hill, or if you think they’re platonic, please tell me! the only thing i will not accept is people bringing down other people’s opinions. they are not hurting you, so you should not be hurting them.

if you’ve read this far, i’m actually in love with you ❤️❤️

[eveningspirit]

This is a continuation of my response to this ask:

I really dislike the black and white approach I see a lot of people taking when it comes to the Langdon storyline. People seem to be writing him off as simply a no good thief who set out to harm patients, with no wiggle room to even entertain the idea that addiction is a disease and him stealing is a symptom of that. What he did is not acceptable and we know that but it’s also not as simple as “His career is over, he’s done for, good riddance”

The first part, an analysis of "what did Langdon actually steal" (which, mind you, may be proven wrong in any of the remaining four episodes), is linked.

In this essay I shall tackle the concept of "addiction as a disease".

It's a great concept. It is a concept that we not only should consider in fiction, but in real life also. People who are addicted to substances, gambling, watching tv shows (what? 0.0), whathaveyou, should not be considered criminals. Or even bad people. They are ill. They need treatment.

I don't have any personal experience with addiction of any loved one, or... um... myself? I guess? So this is mostly theoretical musing.

I imagine that a person whose loved one, a parent for example, was/is an addict, may have very complicated feelings toward that loved one. It may be love and worry, love and hate, but it may also be just hate. That's normal, that's okay. I want to say this, because in my very theoretical apprach to addiction as a disease, whenever I might say "we should do this", "do that", "help"--I mean WE as a society. Not we, the people who are directly affected by the addict's behavior.

Also. The Pitt is a tv show, and Langdon is a fictional character. It's not real life. Let's remember that.

Now. Let's dive in.

I was deeply hurt by the many comparisons between John Carter's treatment by his peers in ER (twenty-five years ago) and Langdon's treatment in The Pitt. People making those gifsets were calling them "parallells"--only because Noah Wyle is in both scenes. But to me, they read as "contrsts", because of how the accused addict is treated.

How did the show made twenty-five years ago do it better?

I know that we still have several episodes to go in this season, so this storyline may yet become something extraordinary. And maybe that pain I experienced as Langdon's fan is neccessary.

But the problem is, many viewers read what's on screen literally. Langdon lied. Langdon stole. Langdon failed.. who? us? Robby? disappointed us, deserved what he got and worse. To quote one reviewer: "An ER doctor working while being a junkie is purely demonic and disgraceful" (I'm not linking because I don't want to give them traffic). Uh. What?

Let's remember we're seeing this Day in The Pitt through Robby's eyes. He's an unreliable narrator. We don't know what's going on with Langdon. And even based on what we do know--doesn't he deserve some compassion?

I was hurt by Robby ignoring Langdon's calls all hour. Perhaps even more hurt by Dana's, "Dude, you gotta stop calling me!" They rejected him, full stop. Now, I don't know their relationships in this ED. Maybe they are only co-workers and nothing beyond that. But.

Dana was the only person Frank actually shared anything personal with. He talks to everybody, he's funny (some of you may disagree, that's okay), he seems open and talkative, and he sees what's bothering others and gets them to talk (sometimes). But the only truly personal beats, the only personal information we get of him throughout the day--are through Dana. Also, he asks Robby whether they are friends. So I'd say, those are the two people he's close with. The two people he trusts. And they reject him.

So, most of the audience rejects him too.

And maybe that's the point (like my feeling hurt). Maybe this will serve a purpose of reminding the audience that this is not the right way to treat an addict. I'm not saying I think Langdon will overdose and then Robby will feel guilty. This would not be a good lesson for the audience.

No. I think they should bring Langdon back. Have a conversation with him. Show him care and support. Show him the way out of this--through rehab, through therapy, through whatever is needed. Help him get treatment for the disease he has.

Essentially--do the same thing ER did twenty-five years ago. Only do it over the course of six episodes instead of one. Which in itself means they will be doing it better.

(one more part should be written, about what consequences Langdon will / should be facing)

[rivetgoth]

hi do you have any music recs for somebody who's trapped in the industrial rock/metal (kmfdm, nin, etc) cycle and wants to explore more lesser known and weird industrial artists?

Yesssss of course! I’ll try to list some artists I think would directly interest you based on your liking industrial rock. Hopefully this isn’t too much, for each band I’ll link a song from an album I’d recommend starting with :) I’m also not sure how much you know BEYOND the two bands you listed so if these are really obvious and you already know them I’m sorry 😭🙏

My immediate biased answer right now is Foetus because I’ve been obsessed recently. If you like the rock elements of industrial rock I genuinely think Foetus is perfectly accessible but he’s also so deranged and theatrical. Raymond Watts of KMFDM would collaborate with him and honestly once you get into Foetus you realize how much of Raymond’s early stuff is just directly taking inspo lol. Check out the album Nail.

I don’t know from the list you gave if you listen to Skinny Puppy or not, if you don’t you definitely should though. Incredibly important to the formation of what would become industrial rock and also my favorite band of all time. Trent even directly sampled the Skuppy song “Dig It” for “Down In It.” I’d specifically recommend checking out The Process (the most industrial rock of their discography) or Rabies (the most metal—they collaborated with Al Jourgensen of Ministry for it!) to start in your case.

The cool thing with industrial is so many of the older bands are all connected once you go back a bit, so if you find yourself liking a certain artist you can start exploring who they’ve worked with and a whole world of music opens up to you. Two early Skinny Puppy collaborators are The Legendary Pink Dots and Severed Heads. Both of those are also all time favorites and they can really shift your sense of what industrial music is and means because they sound very different from what industrial would become over time. Both formed between 1979-1980. Two favorites from them (off albums that I think are the best starting points!):

Going back a bit further, for the early pioneers I think you’d enjoy Einstürzende Neubauten and Cabaret Voltaire. Both of them were involved from the very beginning of the development of the genre and everything that came after them is in part thanks to them (as well as the other pioneers, but I’m trying not to overwhelm and I think these guys are really good starting points). You can really hear their influence if you trace the progression of the genre from them to the bands they worked with. Start with Neubauten’s Haus Der Lüge since that’s their most well known, & I’d say Cabaret Voltaire’s Code is a good balance between their very experimental early stuff and their most synthpop later stuff.

Of course I do think it’s worth checking out Throbbing Gristle if you haven’t. They’re the OG OGs that actually named the genre and everything. They are significantly less accessible and might not as quickly be your thing but imo they are worth knowing about so you can really hear where it all comes from. Maybe this is just my own preference but I feel like going back through the history and watching the progression and evolution of all of this was a huge part of what made me fully fall in love with the industrial genre and all of its weirdness. It made it feel like such a full and lively subculture of so many different people taking direct inspiration from each other over the years. Coil and SPK as well.

(SPK has very little on Spotify so a Bandcamp link it’ll be, and I’d recommend starting with Coil’s Horse Rotorvator which is not on Spotify but IS on YouTube, though one of the songs IS on Spotify…. lol)

What I basically gave you is a very very quick descent from 90s industrial rock to the beginning of the genre, obviously give or take a couple hundred bands lmao. I guess to me the best thing to do when you’re looking into these genres is to get deeper into the history of ‘em. There’s nothing wrong with preferring bands like NIN or KMFDM to bands like SPK and Throbbing Gristle, but I think it can really deepen your relationship to the former to at least know about the latter and what they sounded like and were doing.

I’m out of song links I’m allowed for a single post but I’ll also share a handful of other bands you can check out:

Nocturnal Emissions (start with Viral Shedding)

Fad Gadget (start with Fireside Favorites; Tovey was influential for both industrial and goth!)

Babyland (I’ve just recently been listening to them more, check out You Suck Crap)

Lead Into Gold (the solo project of Ministry’s Paul Barker, extremely good both old and new material, check out The Sun Behind the Sun)

If you haven’t yet just in general check out Wax Trax! Records because NIN and KMFDM were directly working with all those guys and that label put out some of the greatest music of all time. Ministry I assume you know if you like industrial metal but you gotta listen through Ministry’s discography starting from Twitch to Filth Pig, Revolting Cocks’ first two albums, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Die Warzau, they’re not actually Wax Trax! but Electric Hellfire Club… etc. That’s obviously a lot of names and might be a bit more overwhelming but just starting with one and going thru who each band member has worked with will open up a MASSIVE world of music.

Umm or disregard all that and if you truly want weird music just listen to Caroliner.

^picture of their stageshow

[thebaldursmouthgazette]

Hello! I deeply enjoy your write-ups. Would you like to talk about the criticisms you have of DA:I that are not applicable to DA:TV (i.e. the issues DA:I had that DA:TV fixed/avoided running into)? I'm genuinely curious to hear your opinion because I've also been thinking that DA:TV fixed what it could of DA:I issues but my list is probably incomplete.

So, would love to hear what you think? Thank you in advance!

In no particular order and of varying severity (and also probably not exhaustive):

- much better stakes and pacing.

- no endless filler that you have to complete to move on

- companions feel like people who have a life outside of you instead of employees who only ever really talk to the player character

- the villains felt like actual villains who were doing stuff and had a plan. They felt like evil gods. Corypheus was like. Barely even there.

- characters are mostly voiced by VAs that represent them. Eg Maevaris is voiced by a trans woman, not a man putting on a high voice. Nb characters are voiced by nb actors. Asian characters are voiced by Asian characters. Etc. In inquisition, krem was voiced by a woman putting on a voice.

- Felt like thedas. Inquisition did not feel like thedas to me. I felt like I was being told I was in thedas, but nothing felt right. We even went to locations we visited in origins, but no effort was put into making them feel the same. In veilguard, I felt like I was in thedas. A thedas 20 years out from origins, but still thedas.

- better lighting in character creator. And eyebrows that weren’t shit. And hair that wasn’t shit.

- we didn’t have to do a massive fetch quest to specialise our class. We could just do it

- no endless fetch quests in general. The world is ending, why is the inquisitor collecting elfroot

- much better balance of background vs character creation. I think this is as close to origin quests as we were ever gonna get again and it worked great. The inquisitor felt like no matter their background you’d just been dropped into a one size fits all story. The only real difference in backgrounds was how racist people were to you. You had a handful of letters and war table missions with people related to your background, but that’s it. In veilguard each faction had a different way of meeting varric and getting to where they were. You directly meet people from your characters background, and the events that led you to meet Varric come up. You talk about your background with others, repeatedly.

- all companions get involved on important missions. In inquisition there were big battles and most of your team just chilled at skyhold. In veilguard, everyone joins you on the big quests.

[shybunnyminju]

can you make a one shot of illit's moka × fem reader

autumn in our park (Sakai Moka x fem reader)

illit⠀୨୧ genre fluff pairing no idol! sakai moka x fem reader word count 705 warnings none, sometimes i used translater. autor note is a really short but i hope you like it. <3

Orange-colored leaves were falling that Sunday afternoon, blanketing the park they both knew like the back of their hands. These were the same trees that once witnessed two young women exchanging glances, sharing a sense of longing and a strange familiarity, even though they had never met before.

It felt like a scene from a movie: the two of them, standing there in the middle of the park, frozen, gazing at each other as if time itself had stopped, as if they were the only two people in the world. Neither knew quite how to begin a conversation. But gathering a quiet courage, you found the words to break the silence, hoping to catch her attention.

"Sorry to interrupt," you said softly, trying to mask the interest in your voice. "But I really love your outfit. Can I ask… where’s your jacket from?"

She was wearing a black jacket over a pink sweater that paired perfectly with her black skirt and matching boots. A bag hung from her shoulder, and in her hands, she held several brightly colored folders. Her slightly wavy hair fell over her small shoulders, moving gently in the afternoon breeze.

“Oh… it’s from Acne Studios,” she said with a shy smile, her gaze drifting over you, lingering just a second longer than you expected. “You look really lovely too…” She glanced away, a faint blush dusting her cheeks.

There was a warmth in her voice that you hadn’t anticipated, and it sparked a quiet confidence in you. Gathering courage, you decided to say what had been on your mind since the moment you saw her. “To be honest… it’s not just your outfit. I feel like there’s something familiar about you. Have we met before?”

The question was out before you could stop yourself, and you immediately felt your cheeks redden. You braced yourself for an awkward silence, regretting the impulse as soon as the words had left your mouth. But it was too late now.

She looked at you with a hint of surprise, her brows furrowing slightly in confusion. That small hesitation made your heart pound. Had you just made things awkward? You could almost feel the ground beneath you, hoping it might somehow open up and save you from this embarrassment. But to your surprise, a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Actually… I was going to ask you the same thing,” she said softly, meeting your eyes. “But I’m almost sure I haven’t seen you before.” There was a warmth in her smile that made you think, just maybe, you hadn’t completely embarrassed yourself.

Her response gave you a burst of courage. You took a deep breath, reminding yourself that chances like this didn’t come often. “Would you… maybe give me your number?” The words felt tentative, but you pressed on, forcing yourself to look directly at her. “I mean, you’re really pretty, and… even though I don’t know you, I’d love to see you again sometime.”

She looked at you with a kind of gentle surprise, and then a genuine smile spread across her face. “Sure, my number is 81-3-XX-XXXX-X.” You fumbled for your phone, entering the number with a quickness that you hoped didn’t betray how nervous you felt. She adjusted the colorful folders in her arms, still smiling as she watched you.

You wanted to say something else, something that might keep this moment from ending. The trees swayed gently above you, their autumn leaves falling like soft confetti around the two of you. It felt surreal, like the world had slowed just for this instant, as if nature itself were holding its breath in anticipation.

But then, just as quickly as it had begun, the moment was over. She offered you one last smile, and as she walked away, you watched her go, replaying every second of the interaction in your mind.

At least, that’s how you wished it had gone. In reality, you had simply stood there, too shy to say a word, letting her pass by without ever knowing how you felt. You could only watch her silhouette disappear down the path, lost in the daydream of what could have been—if only you’d been brave enough to speak.

[thelawfulchaotic]

This is a summary of how court cases go. Partly inspired from posts about recent events that show me just how much the general public doesn't know about what happens after arrest and before prison (or acquittal).

Warning: Much of this is specific to my state. Not even just my country: my state! I've tried here and there to mention other ways things are done, but I have almost ten years of experience in this one and approximately zero in any other.

Part 1: How Cases Begin/"Investigation"

One question seems to come up a lot in true crime cases. That question is: why are the police so bad at this? Why didn't they canvass the scene? Why didn't they get witnesses? Why didn't they (insert incredibly basic investigative step here)?

Sorry to bust your bubble, but police rarely do any actual investigating. Cases most commonly begin in the following ways.

1: Case directly reported to police. There are several different types of this. The most common two are via 911 call and via citizen report (i.e., coming into the police station to report a crime). However, in recent years, we've seen the rise of automated reporting of certain crimes via social media companies, most famously with regards to child sex abuse material. The police will simply get a report that x IP address accessed/shared/downloaded Y image at Z time.

2: Traffic stop. The police saw a car committing a minor traffic violation (ran a red light, headlights out, failed to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, changed lanes without signalling, etc.) and they stopped it. They found a pretext or got "permission" to search the car from the driver (who likely did not really know they could refuse). Or they got a drug dog to run around the car. (Drug dogs are not nearly as accurate as people think they are; overwhelmingly drug dogs respond to the signals of their handler and not the presence of drugs. I can cite studies if requested.)

3: Narcotics investigation. This is a distant third, but worth mentioning because it's probably the most proactive that most police departments get on a regular basis. They will have undercover officers or informants do controlled buys of narcotics on video, meticulously documented before and after. They take a level of care with this type of investigation otherwise only really reserved for the most violent felonies.

This all isn't to say that cases can't come up any other way. Sometimes police departments really do just do long-term investigations of things. Mostly, I find, they spend so much time picking the low-hanging fruit (guy who had drugs on traffic stop, yelling drunk homeless person) that the more complex and complicated cases just get dropped.

—

What happens next?

Next, the police are supposed to investigate. Gather evidence? Talk to people?

This is going to be disappointing to many people as well, but police tend to do the absolute minimum necessary investigation to establish the case and get a conviction, then pass it over to the prosecution. This is even if there are leads and suspects they haven't cleared. They'll just leave that kind of thing out of the final report, unless the defense comes specifically nosing around.

Let me give a few specific examples.

Example 1: 911 call for assault and battery. Officers arrive to find that two brothers absolutely beat the ever-loving shit out of each other at grandma's funeral. Brother 2 has left. Brother 1 remains. The police talk to Brother 1, who has a broken nose. Brother 1 fully blames the aggression on Brother 2, claiming that Brother 2 attacked him unprovoked and broke his nose. Brother 2's wife backs him up. The police, having gotten two witnesses saying one version of events, bring a malicious wounding charge without ever having spoken to Brother 1. A different officer serves Brother 1's arrest warrant and does not interrogate him in any way.

This is not unusual. Once the officers have found enough to arrest one person, often the last thing they want to do is generate more work for themselves by then finding a reason the case isn't so simple and easy. That would mean they then have to talk to many more people, examine evidence, and make a decision as to who the "primary aggressor" was, which will require a judgment call. Meanwhile, their extra investigation has just made it easier for the defense to win at a trial later on, because now the defense has loads of helpful info. They helped the “bad guys” by doing their job better. Can y’all see why an officer wouldn’t even bother? Would just go on to the next easy case instead of staying late and tracking down another witness?

In my past assault and battery cases, it has been just about as common for officers to have spoken to both parties as it was for officers to have only spoken to one party.

Example 2: Reported Property Damage. Girlfriend walks into a police station and says "my boyfriend broke my phone." (In my jurisdiction, a person can just walk straight in front of a judge, swear that what they said was true, and the judge will issue an arrest warrant. This is not true in all jurisdictions and is in fact completely fucking buck wild.) Police ask her a couple questions, look at the phone, bring a warrant, it's done. Maybe they call the boyfriend and ask him what happened. This is most likely the extent of the investigation.

You notice both of these are incredibly low-effort cases that result in easy arrests and immediate prosecutions. Wow, could that help an officer’s statistics? Could it actually hurt his stats if he takes longer and does a better job?

–

Okay, what happens now? The police have a suspect, they (in theory) know what happened.

Next, police seek an arrest warrant.

This involves going before a judge and swearing that there's probable cause to believe that their suspect committed their crime as alleged.

1: The Affidavit. There are very few rules for what they can and can't say in these affidavits to get their search warrants. Police officers can attest/swear to things that other police officers saw, because of "imputed knowledge." They can quote witnesses. They can decline to identify informants, as long as they say that their informant has a history of being reliable. (They do not have to provide any evidence of that history.)

They don't have to include all the facts. They don't have to include facts that contradict their version of events. They're not supposed to lie, but sometimes these affidavits are not provided to defense counsel and are sealed, so the defense can't even find out later what they said. And they can shop around for judges who are the most friendly. If one judge says "no," they can try another.

On top of that, all they have to show is "probable cause." Nobody is willing to put a percentage likelihood on "probable cause," but places tend to agree to things like: if there are four guys in a car and you find drugs where all four could reach it, you have probable cause for all four. It's not that you probably did it. It's more than a suspicion that you did it. In my experience, "probable cause" means that there's literally any reason to believe that this person might have actually done this thing.

2: No-Knock Warrants. The media has made a big deal these days of no-knock warrants and nighttime "warrant service." These are when the police bust into someone's house without announcing themselves, at night, in order to take everyone by surprise. This is horrendously dangerous! And yet, police seem to crave it. They get really, really mad when anyone tries to take it away.

My jurisdiction banned arrest warrants after dark, but didn't do the same for search warrants. Guess when all search warrants seem to get served? Goddamn midnight, that's when.

Furthermore, police seem to be able to request exceptions to the no-knock, daytime only rules. Recently, I saw a case where that exception was granted for the following reason: "drugs can be consumed or sold with great speed so might not be there in the morning." Okay, cool, if that's a good enough reason to dispense with the knock-in-the-daytime requirement for one case, that means that literally every other drug case qualifies for dispensing with that requirement too.

3: When to serve the warrant? After business hours on a Friday, obviously. That means that the person they arrest will be in holding over the whole weekend before getting to see a judge on Monday. That's like forty-eight extra hours of jail time, in which they won't have a lawyer, for police to visit them and try and pressure them into confessing, or just intimidate them into feeling like shit.

4: What happens when warrant is served? The suspect is arrested in whatever they were wearing, sometimes allowed to grab phone and wallet but sometimes not for reasons I can't even attempt to explain, they are driven to the jail, and they are processed in. They then wait until they can see a judicial officer to hear about the question of bond. But that's the subject of the next post!

See tomorrow for information on bail, bond, pretrial supervision, counsel at first appearance, and why it all matters. Edit: Bail and pretrial post here.

[sleepanonymous]

Okay so. I have so many people to respond to and I promise I will, just not tonight. I wanted to give a quick update about the ritual below the cut (because I know some people like going in not knowing the setlist.) Again, typing this all on my phone so my apologies for heavy typos and any incoherence.

As a preface I just got back to my hotel, showered quickly, absolutely fucking sobbed in the shower for like two minutes, and I’m now eating uncle ben’s ready rice straight out of the bag because I don't have a fork or spoon. If that doesn’t scream hot mess idk what would.

First things first: the security/staff at Arizona Financial Theatre are all amazing. Literal fucking angels. Two of them hung out with us in line all day, letting us go inside to use the bathroom and refill water bottles and the guys at the barricade were so friendly and chatty and also handed out water. Literally everyone was so helpful and friendly and nice and they deserve all the good things in life.

Second: Empire State Bastard really wasn’t clicking with me until I saw them live. They’re an absolute vibe live plus the drummer and bassist are both babes. The band were constantly thanking us for showing up early and listening to them (tbh the venue was only half full until about 10 minutes before Sleep Token went on). Literally seemed like such humble and chill dudes.

Third!!! I almost don’t even know what to say about Sleep Token. There’s sooo much I could literally rant for hours but I also need to sleep so I can drive to Albuquerque in the morning. I recorded 5ish songs I think? Mostly the TPWBYT songs but I did get the summoning too. No idea if the footage is any good but we’ll see tomorrow. I made it a point not to have my phone out after finding out the setlist because there was no way in hell I was missing TNDNBTG live while on barricade. Maybe I should preface this next bit with I one hundred thousand present realize this sounds delusional of me, but everyone on the barricade had their phones out and Vessel fucking focused on me because of it. He was singing one of my favorite sleep token songs directly to me! There��s literally nowhere else he could have been looking! he was on the edge of the stage looking straight down at me and we were pointing at each other and I’m fucking dying reliving it because I was singing so horribly and cringy back at him. Like I’m so sorry vessel but my life was changing in that moment. I became a new woman the second you pointed at me.

I kept my phone away for the first several songs tbh and he kept coming back to stand in front of me but never made such heavy eye/mask contact (until Euclid). I actually almost feel like I disappointed him when I did pull my phone out to start recording because he practically avoided me after that. its actually why I decided not to record Euclid, though I knew it was coming and it was the song’s debut. AND IT FUCKING WORKED!! He came back around and was singing to me again, same stance, same obvious eye contact except this time I was literally Ugly Crying™️ at him. Tears were streaming, I had one hand holding onto the barricade for dear life, and the other clamped tightly around my mouth ugly crying. Even my buddies and the security were concerned that’s how bad it was.

In all honesty I can’t pretend that it wasn’t “scripted” like the band hadn’t planned every move on stage beforehand. They first and foremost are performers and Vessel literally sings to every girl on the barricade right in front of him. But it also felt so special and I feel so bad for breaking down like I did 😅🤣😭😫🫠

Okay I need to stop ranting, I’ve been up for 20 hours and this is most likely incoherent anyway. I love all of you and I hope everyone who’s able to get barricade this tour gets to experience the same thing I did🖤🖤🖤