#i'll probably make like 8 sets to sell

[antidotesprout]

Ok, updated the hat pattern when working on Ingo and it looks a lot more proportional! I'll be remaking Emmet's, but I GOT MY TINY BOYS 🥲💖💖💖💖

[danieyells]

hi there,

thank you so much for all the voicelines you post !! if it’s okay, can i request subaru’s ?

thank you again !

You're welcome! At some point I might go back and put in the ones I leave out because they don't appeal to me as much lol but since i always end up posting 99% of them anyway I think it's enough for most people hahaha. It's all of them now! Sorry for the delay.

I WAS GONNA OMIT ONE OR TWO BECAUSE OF SPOILERS but eh i'll just warm for like. extra spoilers. since after doing more code peeking it wasn't the spoiler i thought it was. SUBARU IS A SWEETIE THOUGH. I also read Subaru's chats which were put in the code recently and. Man this guy needs anxiety meds. I have a small guess as to what his stigma is, but we'll learn in a few days anyway.

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting. It's wonderful to see you again."

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"It looks like there's a notice for you. I'd be happy to go pick it up for you if you've got your hands full. Oh, forgive me if I'm overstepping."

oh no he's anxious about helping--

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"I really am so lucky to be surrounded by so many kind people like you."

"I never thought I'd get the chance to enjoy the lifestyle of a student until I came to Darkwick. Every day truly is fulfilling here."

it feels like subaru is like. . .the only one who actually enjoys school life here. . .or who really enjoys being here period lmao. . . .

"You think I'm always smiling? Ha ha, I hear that a lot. It just happens when I'm around all of you."

"I may be the captain, but it's just in name. I think Haku is much better suited for the job than me."

"I've been working since I was four, so people often said I was mature for my age. But the truth is, I've still got a lot to learn."

that makes two characters whose parents have essentially been keeping them from normal life and normal childhood for work reasons since they were four year olds. . . .

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"I tend to just have hot water for breakfast. I know it would be better for me to eat a proper meal, but it's just so much effort."

DO WE REALLY HAVE TO START WITH "I NEED THE GHOULS TO EAT PROPER FUCKIN MEALS". . . .

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I'm sorry I'm so late. The campus is so crowded I can never manage to walk in a straight line, so it always takes me longer than I think. Silly, isn't it?"

baby you're hardly the first person i've met with anxiety about crowds. you're fine.

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"What would I do without Haku's help? Hotarubi would be a mess without him."

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I wonder if I should apply early to take out any common artifacts I might need for this mission. I'll ask Haku what he thinks..."

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Ah!  You surprised me there... I just got back from a small errand. Do you need something?"

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Ever since I was a child, the performing arts were my only focus. Maybe that's why people always say my mannerisms are so peculiar. It bothers you too, doesn't it?"

poor boy doesn't know how to act if he isn't acting. . .he doesn't know how to exist off-script. . .no wonder he made a deal with a demon. it's probably the first thing he's ever done for himself.

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I'd like to go to the cafeteria, but the line is always so long. I feel bad taking time to choose while people are waiting behind me. The bar of entry feels a little high."

i am once again suggesting subaru get anxiety meds. hell go to sinnostra and get some weed, i bet they sell that. i hear it can help.

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I'm just about to go and meet a friend. I hate to inconvenience you like this, but if it's something urgent, could you speak to Haku about it instead?"

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"What am I going to do? We're supposed to be meeting up in an hour... If I cancel now, they'll hate me..."

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Whew... I'll walk you back to your house, {PC}. Oh, it's no problem at all, I assure you! I wanted some fresh air anyway."

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"I have an Anomalous Ecology test coming up. It's such a fascinating subject, I couldn't help but stay up all night studying. Now I'm a little sleep-deprived."

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I'm going to stretch my legs a little. I might not have a show to practice for right now, but I need to keep putting myself through my paces. I'll get rusty otherwise."

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I'm sorry my phone's been making so much noise. I recently downloaded an app by mistake, and it won't stop sending me notifications..."

awww he's also technologically incompetent. . .poor guy was probably raised with such a heavy focus on his career he just. never needed a smartphone. anyone he needed to contact or who needed to contact him was probably always very close by. it sounds like he didn't even properly go to school before going to Darkwick. Somebody please take this boy on a walk. like anywhere. take him to a library. buy him a churro. can sho make churros? this is somebody who's never had any sort of normal social experience and sees how different he is and wishes it weren't the case, unlike Ritsu who assumes everyone else is like him, i think he'd like to have some more Experiences.

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"... ...Oh! Hello, {PC}—I didn't even notice you there. My mind was somewhere else."

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"Good morning! Sorry? My hair's messy? You're right, it's sticking right up at the front... That's embarrassing. I'll fix it right away."

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I usually have lunch in the dormitory. I do eat on the terrace with Lyca every now and then, but he seems so busy these days..."

Lyca is one of the members of Obscuary, btw! Seems like he and Subaru are friends.

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"I didn't take you for a night owl, {PC}. Since you're here, I suppose I'll stay up a little longer. You're sure you're okay? You're not sleepy?"

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Do you visit Sinostra very often, {PC}? I see... Oh, no reason. I was just making conversation. Ha ha."

why do you ask that. . .a certain mafioso captain wouldn't happen to be suspicious of you would he. . .or maybe you owe them money. . .or maybe you used to be part of Sinostra and moved to Hotarubi. . . .

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"It's getting late, {PC}. How about we finish this tomorrow? Thank you for keeping me company all this time."

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to come all the way to my room to wake me up—I'd feel terrible. I do very much appreciate the thought, though."

it's okay buddy jin already makes them do it, one more pit stop won't hurt.

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Oh, hello, {PC}. Sorry, I was actually just on my way out. I should be back by evening—do you mind if we speak then?"

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Lyca has seen my message, so why hasn't he responded to it? I hope nothing bad has happened to him..."

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Lyca will adapt well to human society, I'm sure of it. I'm so relieved that Darkwick chose to trust him. I can't thank you enough for your help."

he really likes Lyca huh? that is his dog.

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"You can't sleep? Then let me tell you some stories. Legend has it that evil spirits appear once you've told a hundred. Now, what number was I up to..."

BOY IS TRYNA GET YOUR ASS HAUNTED.

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"I don't want to seem like I'm testing you, I just... I get really anxious sometimes... I'm sorry. I'm being weird, aren't I?"

he's the type to ask 'are you sure you love me? are you sure you wanna be with me?' after you get married and move in together and own a house and have two kids with another on the way. he's the hyper anxious 'i'm sorry we disagreed about our favorite colors do you hate me?' friend(affectionate) I wonder though, is he apologizing for seeming like he's testing you because he's using his stigma to see what you've been up to or something. . .? Probably not lol it's more likely he just keeps asking if you like him

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"There is no time like spring. Everyone seems more relaxed this time of year. It's reassuring to see."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"I have some sakura mochi. I was just about to prepare some tea to go with it—would you like to join me?"

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"They have no control over whether they bloom, and yet they get made a spectacle of nonetheless... Oh, sorry—I was talking about the cherry blossoms."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"There are many different flowers growing in Hotarubi, but I think the wisteria are my favorites. This is the best time to see them, so you should take a walk around."

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"Hot today, isn't it? It's always raining in Hotarubi, so it does provide a little escape from the blazing summer sun, but... Ha ha. It is very humid, isn't it?"

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Summer makes me think of the ghost story Yotsuya Kaidan. The scene where Oiwa becomes hysterical, having realized her her face has been disfigured— incredible."

Yotsuya Kaidan is one of the best known japanese ghost stories! It's extremely violent, so read the summary at your discretion. The scene in question has Oiwa shown her reflection by her sister's boss to see that the cream she was given by a woman who was in love with her husband was actually some sort of poison that instantly scarred her face. She grabs a sword and goes to kill her, only for her to accidentally slit her own throat.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Hotarubi House holds regular festivals during the summer months. If you need a yukata to wear, I'd be happy to pick one out for you."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"I don't mind scary stories, but when that biwa in the tea room started playing by itself, it did make me jump a little..."

slight spoiler, although you can probably figure it out from this but. . .Zenji is a ghost. Subaru currently can't actually see him or hear his voice. . .only Haku, the pc, and, perhaps not so oddly, Towa can afair. All of his youtube content doesn't have him or his voice in it because he can't be recorded by cameras. So Subaru doesn't realize that the biwa playing on its own is actually Zenji playing the biwa.

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"The air has gotten crisper, and the leaves are changing color. I know it's only natural for the seasons to shift, so why does it make my heart ache so much?"

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Oh, these? They're some chestnuts I found. I know—I should give them to Sho. I'm sure he'll be able to make something delicious with them."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"That's another kuchikiri tea ceremony under my belt. It's an annual tradition where one cuts open a tea jar to reveal the tea that was preserved from the first harvest."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"On long autumn nights when the moon is shining beautifully in the sky, it's hard to resist taking a walk outside. Don't stay out until too late though, {PC}."

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"...Oh, {PC}. Good morning... I had a hard time getting up today. It must be the cold... Ha ha. Not very captain-like, is it?"

Jin, Taiga, and Ed are all prone to not getting out of bed. and Yuri falls asleep on operating tables when he has down time. Trust me Subaru you are perfectly captain-like.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Today, I'm going to order ingredients from one of my favorite stores so we can all make negima—tuna and scallion—hot pot together. Please, do join us."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"It's cold out today. I was just thinking about lighting the fire. Would you like to come and warm up with me?"

oh subaru you don't even know how that sounds

(between 8pm and 5am)

"People say winter makes you want to snuggle up with someone, but I find that a good blanket does a much better job."

i agree that blankets are much easier to manage than people lol. probably warmer too.

His birthday: (February 20th)

"A present? For me? Thank you... I didn't expect you to do anything for my birthday, so I'm a little caught off guard. I really appreciate it."

Your birthday:

"Um... Happy birthday.  I really hope this year will be a wonderful one for you."

New Years: (January 1st)

"Happy New Year. I hope I can depend on your guidance and support again this year."

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"Chocolate? Oh, It's Valentine's Day, isn't it? Does that mean these are for me...?"

nah i just wanted you to look at them. YES THEY ARE FOR YOU BBY. why would you be showing him chocolate if it wasn't for him! On any day, not just valentine's day!!

White Day: (March 14th)

"These are for you, {PC}. I put in a special order for monaka from my favorite confectioner in Ginza. They're wafers filled with bean jam—I hope you like them."

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"Earlier, Haku told me he was switching houses. It gave me a real shock— I'm very relieved that it wasn't true..."

i bet subaru made the most scared kicked puppy face and started apologizing for being such an awful captain and blamed himself for that haku would go to a different house and haku had to quickly explain it was just a prank for fear that subaru might burst into tears.

Halloween: (October 31st)

"Happy Halloween. I know it's nothing special, but I've prepared some treats for the occasion. Oh... But you're more than welcome to play a trick instead."

please don't trick him. april fool's day was hard enough for him.

Christmas: (December 25th)

"Merry Christmas. We already have our New Year decorations up in Hotarubi, so it has a real east-meets-west atmosphere now. I hope everyone is okay with it..."

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"Everyone seems busy at the moment. Maybe I should use this opportunity to tidy the garden..."

(13 affinity and above)

"{PC}? Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just worried because you were so quiet..."

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"You're back... I'm so relieved. I was worried I'd done something to make you feel uncomfortable..."

this man shakes like a chihuahua 24/7. like you can taste the anxiety coming off of him. i love him. he's so pathetic(affectionate). i wanna squeeze his hand reassuringly and tell him everything's gonna be okay. i wanna hug him and pat his head. i wanna take him places so he learns more about the world outside of working. i wanna watch him do schoolwork excitedly because he's never really gone to school before and it's a new and exciting experience. i want him to experience the most mundane aspects of life with wonder.

good boy. yeah. get him anxiety meds /nodnod

[forbiddenmoss]

Part 2

2 hours.

What to do for 2 hours that doesn't lead to worrying about a possible pregnancy.

Feed the chickens. Ah yes the cute little chickens. There is Alice and Gertrude pecking away happily and there is Henrietta proudly showing off her first chicks. Such a good mama hen the motherly instinct came naturally.

Are these maternal instincts? Broodiness? Is this a sign I'm pregnant and I should just sell the farm and run back to the city get on my knees and beg joja for my old life back?

Breathing becomes a challenge like their lungs are being crushed by the possible responsibility. What if it's positive? What if I can't do it? Was the farm a mistake? What if it was all a mistake? With each thought their breathing gets shallower. Faster. Why is everything so bright? So loud? So much?

Their thoughts get interrupted by a leg nudge. Miso. He rubbed against their legs making little chirps for attention. And who are they to refuse miso head scratches? His fur was soft and quite warm from the morning sun. He had changed so much since Marnie first brought him to the farm. He was tiny so small so scared he just hid under the bed for the first couple days. But with time and patience and alot of fresh caught fish he changed he grew now he was like an old friend who slept on there bed and brought them dead birds. They came along way.

The chickens were all happily clucking away. The farm was coming together (thanks to robin) and while it was a slow start they were making a small profit.

It might not be easy but it's not impossible.

You've got this.

8:30 time to walk over to Harvey's. The day was irritating beautiful. Like the beginning of some romance and they were off to meet the love of there life. Well not today. Probably not tomorrow. Today's plan was to go to the doctors, find out if they are pregnant. If they are not off to the saloon to celebrate. If they are PANIC. But it would be negative they were completely over reacting... They had to be.

They were nearly knocked off their feet as they walked face first into Shane who barely responded.

"you better watch where you're going" was all he muttered before walking off like they didn't exist. But that was Shane. Marnie had say not to take it personally but it's hard not to. Leah and Elliot have their little creative group they aren't a part of, Sebastian, Abigail and Sam were nice but it felt out of politeness, Hailey is in a mood over something they done (what it was no one seems to sure), Emily is sweet but they rarely see each other, same with maru, penny doesn't really talk much which just leaves Harvey who they've rarely spoken to but is now the first person to find out they are pregnant. Or they are not pregnant.

Well the clock struck 9:00. The doctors is open.

Luckily the doctors was empty. Maru must not be working today. Harvey was quite chipper happily sorting through papers. When he noticed the farmer and smiled.

"oh hello hello I've been meaning to see you about a check up. I do it with my new patients I'll be a moment just setting u-"

"ithinkimpregnat" it came out quite fast and quite to the point but no point wasting time.

That caught Harvey off guard he stared at them in surprise before quickly composing himself. " O-k ..." Clears throat "ok we can find out for definite have you done an at home test?"

"n-no I'd need to order one from Pierre he doesn't stock medical things and joja mart has them but..." The reality started to sink in again.

"ah yes those tests aren't very reliable they are known for false negatives. If you pop in the back room we can find out the test doesn't take to long"

He gestures to the door leading the way. Through the door. Walk through the door. why is this so difficult need to find out. Today. But what if-

"hey" Harvey's voice snapped them out of it his facial expression soft, gentle he looked so understanding. "If this is to soon we can wait it doesn't have to be today. It's ok take a breath take your time"

Deep breath

"no. I need to know. I'm ready"

[lostlegendaerie]

Fuck it! US Private Student Loans Guide!

DISCLAIMER: while I have worked in private loans specifically for five+ years, this isn't ‘financial’ advice and is just a heavily summarized guide on how to navigate them. Yes, these loans suck, but complain to your legislators not me. I’m just trying to help you know what you’re doing. Additional info for each section is under the cut!

1) Who are you and who are all the companies constantly running around with my money?

I work in loan SERVICING, which is basically the billing department. If you’ve got a new company asking you for money, it's probably a new servicer and your debt is still owned by the bank. We enforce the terms in the promissory note, the document you sign telling the bank “yeah I'll play by your rules if you give me the money.” If your loan defaults, you’ll get contacted by a third (fourth?) party, but how that works is beyond my wheelhouse. The bank or your servicer should be able to confirm what happens in case of default.

2) What am I looking for in a ‘good’ loan?

Generally, you’re going to want SIMPLE instead of compound interest, a FIXED RATE opposed to a variable one, and you’ll want to go for FULL DEFERMENT while in school and make manual payments when you can. Also ask up front about stuff like if disability forgiveness or co-signer release (getting your parents off it) is offered.

3) This loan sucks! How do I make it better?

Student loans are NOTORIOUSLY hard to get out of, unfortunately. If the interest rate/payment relief options suck, you can try to REFINANCE where you take out a new loan to pay off the old one. This gives you a new promissory note, interest rate, and terms/conditions. If you’re trying to erase the debt entirely, ask for the promissory note (if they can't provide a copy, we have to forgive the debt. I've only seen this happen ONCE.) or try to go through social security disability.

DO NOT USE FREEDOM DEBT RELIEF OR OTHER SERVICES. DO NOT. THEY ARE SCAMS.

More in depth information for each point!

1) Lenders and Servicers

The lender is the person who provides the funds in the debt - the bank who pays the school or the hospital or the home contractor fixing your sink. The servicer is the company that is your point of contact when you need to make payments, ask for payment relief, or otherwise manage the loan that exists. Think of us as the mechanic (we keep the car running) where the bank is the manufacturer (they make the car). Some different servicers are SoFi, Zuntafi, Great Lakes, Nelnet and Firstmark Services; their names will be on the billing statements. Some different banks are Citizens, US Bank, NorthStar; their names will be on the promissory note and the disclosures.

Sometimes banks do sell the debt, however! A couple years ago Wells Fargo sold an enormous chunk of their loans off somewhere (an investment group, maybe?) but! The promissory note will still be the EXACT same if your debt gets sold. You’ll only get a new promissory note if you refinance the loan yourself.

2a) Interest Accrual and Rates

Interest is how banks profit off the loans they give out and/or ‘ensure they don't end up with a loss if the loan defaults’. (It's profit.) Most, but not all, loans calculate interest with the simple daily interest formula, shown below:

[(Current loan balance) x (interest rate)] divided by 365

If your loan’s balance is $10,000 and your interest rate is 6% you’ll be charged $1.64 each day. SIMPLE INTEREST means that this interest just kind of floats around on the account until a payment comes in and pays it off, where COMPOUND adds that interest to the balance at the end of the month/day/whatever. Compound charges you more over the life of the loan.

FIXED INTEREST is a set percent that doesn't change, where VARIABLE will change usually based on whatever the economy is doing. There’s a minimum and maximum value to the variable interest rates, so if you’re doing a variable ASK WHAT THE MINS AND MAXES ARE. A fixed rate might be 8% and a variable might be 3.25% the day you take it out, but that variable could have a maximum interest rate of 25% so be VERY, VERY CAREFUL. If you get stuck in a real bad variable interest rate, your best solution is probably a refinance.

2b) Deferment and Payment Allocation

So interest is gonna be accruing on your loan from the day the money leaves the bank. Sucks. And you may not be able to make payments while you're in school, so opting to DEFER your payments will stop them from billing you so you can skip a month or whatever without penalty. At the END of that deferment, though, whatever interest that accrued will be added to your current balance. If we use the example from above (10k loan with 1.64 daily interest) four years of school will add $2,400 to your balance and then your daily interest will jump up to $2.03 a day.

Solution? Make payments of what you can while you’re in school to chip away at that floating interest. Usually when you make a payment, it’s gonna go towards the interest first and then the rest drops the balance. (E.g. if you make a $20.00 payment ten days after your loan is disbursed, $16.40 will go towards interest and $3.60 towards your 10k balance). There is NO PENALTY for making extra payments or making early payments, but it might make your bills look a little weird if you’re being billed each month for just the interest.

3) Why are these loans so horrible? Can’t I find anything to help me?

Blame Reagan and the republicans who enabled him.

No, but really. The problem with these loans is that those promissory notes are VERY legally binding and have lots of fine print in there designed to make it as hard as possible for someone to skimp out on their debt without having their credit score decimated. Some lenders might even dip into your paychecks if you're crazy behind or default; again, that's not my wheelhouse and I've only maybe seen that once. Your best bet is just to pay it off as fast as possible (again, no penalty for paying the loan off early) or refinance into better terms.

And I get it. I really do. I hate how we’ve made so many incredibly important things in our society locked behind a paywall that charges poor people more to climb than the rich. But if you’ve made it this far, please don't turn your anger at me for not giving you the answers you want. The best I can do is vote for people who are willing to crack down on predatory lending, keep fighting for student loan forgiveness… and at my own job, make sure that my coworkers aren't making mistakes.

If you have a more specific question, I can try to answer as best I can without breaking any information privacy laws. And take care, okay? You are never fighting alone.

[wistfulnightingale]

The Metatron's Second Coming ("I will not Hesitate to Mock you!")

Part 2 of 8 in the Chess Moves Theory Set by @wistfulnightingale

As I've been pondering the Final Fifteen (and connected scenes, not like I'm obsessed or anything. Really, I'm fine...!), the scene with the Metatron in the coffee shop that day kept making my brain twitch. Everything about the Metatron appears normal, but is it too normal? Meanwhile, Nina initially acts out of character. Even for a woman who spent the night battling demons from Hell.

The Metatron is from Heaven.  Yet he knew what to order, fairly quickly, and under pressure from a rudely impatient person. How? The archangels don't understand books or sushi or matchboxes or human love or needs or relationships or wanting to keep one's original children... When the Metatron pretends to take an interest in Muriel's book (Yep. Pretends. I'll die on that hill), the Metatron doesn't ask them, "What's that you're reading?" -- he asks, "What's that you're holding?" Heavenly beings are unfamiliar with earthly objects or customs, unless they purposefully learn about it.

"Order accurately and fast... I will not hesitate to mock you if I don't like your order."

It's a comic moment, but it's out of character for Nina, IF it's unprovoked. Yes, she hasn’t slept in 30 hours and was fighting demons most of that surreal night, so it seems reasonable that she might explode.  But this is Nina.  Nina remembers people by their coffee order.  Nina is a practical business woman. 

Why would Nina, who had tidily set her emotions aside and started her workday, now suddenly be inexplicably rude to a new customer, a well-dressed man who appears to have significant funds and could possibly become a regular? Threatening to mock customers is not a sound business model, even on an Extremely Bad Day.

Bear with me, I'm about to propose something radical. But it certainly gives us something to talk about as we wait for the final story!

I think that the Metatron was in the coffee shop the previous day. Learning about the complicated human ritual of buying a coffee. And ingesting his first sample of human consumables.

Here's why...

As we get to know Nina, we learn that she is private, rather guarded, and blunt. She is also incredibly practical and dedicated to running her business smoothly and efficiently. Even when briefly socializing, she is wiping tables, or signaling a "six shots expresso, big cup" order with gestures. Her coffee business is about earning a living. Nina didn’t understand Maggie’s sentimental attachment to a store that can’t sell anything. When dramatic issues with Lindsay happen during work hours, Nina sets boundaries but keeps herself from snapping at customers, even when Mrs. Sandwich criticizes her.

The morning after the demon attack, Nina had already shifted into business mode -- she was late, people need their coffee. She shuts off consideration of the bizarre night, and is prepping and planning. She calmly started putting down chairs, and knew exactly what milks she needed Maggie to pick up. Maggie returns promptly, and everything is well under control before the Metatron's turn in line.

The Metatron is a very intelligent Heavenly being, but we've seen that he has no concern for, nor interest in, humanity. He doesn't know human ways, and when he speaks, he fills his sentences with British posh slang as if he just took a crash course from a travel brochure! And he was just in a bookstore, but doesn't know what a book is. (Probably because he doesn't see it as important.)

How does he know how to put together a coffee order, from the multitudes of choices, for the very first time? He understands the difference between an expresso, a frappuccino, a cappuccino and a latte? Caffeinated or Decaf? To select whole milk, nonfat milk, almond milk, oat milk...? Cold, or steamed? Nondairy sweet cream? Heavy cream? Half and Half? Would you like whipped cream on that? And, by the way, how many syrups are on the "Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death" selection list?

(****Also, have you ever been with an older person the first time they visit a coffee shop? It takes time to figure it all out...!)

"Order accurately and fast... I will not hesitate to mock you if I don't like your order."

The VOICE OF GOD puts his hands up in surrender and says, "Yes, I quite understand." He's okay with this? Why? I suspect that when he came in yesterday (in Episode 5) he had NO IDEA how to order, and would have held up the line looking at the many, many choices.

I can imagine it! The first time the Metatron showed up, Nina walks back in the shop after her conversation with Crowley. She doesn't like thinking so much about Lindsay during work hours, and she's trying to refocus. It's important to her to keep the line moving. Meanwhile, this posh fellow comes in with no clue what he wants, asking ridiculous questions and ordering things that don’t make sense together and that means he’s taking Forever and Holding Up The Line.  

The next day (Episode 6), she’s again trying to just FOCUS and run her shop, and NOT think anymore about battling demons all night, but here he is again, this upper class elderly sophisticate-wanna-be, about to mess up her morning and put her even FURTHER behind and if he asks for something STUPID AGAIN,  SHE. WILL. MOCK. HIM…!!!

This time, however, he places a reasonable order, quickly and sensibly.  So Nina quickly calms down, and can even tolerate it when he asks such an odd question.  “They don’t ever ask for death, no.”   Nina can bear with a customer who is strange, and can be polite (even if blunt) to someone who says odd things.  

But DON’T. HOLD. UP. HER. LINE. 

I think this idea, on it's own, is worth considering. I hope you might think so, too. It's at least a question worth asking.

..........

Now, please, breathe deeply, and please don't hate me.

I broke down the Episode 5 scene outside the coffee shop with dozens of screenshots, lightening, brightening, and posting only the best in another post, The Metatron Misdirection. There's a guy wearing an orange shirt moving around inside the shop, behind Nina. There's also a guy with white hair and a dark overcoat. In the scene photos, he seems to be talking to the orange-shirt man before taking his place in line. I think it's the Metatron. Perhaps he's asking the orange-shirt guy for advice about how coffee orders work. (See my Part 1, The Metatron Misdirection, for lots and lots of detail to back up my absolutely bonkers idea!)

I think it was a Time Misdirection, across 2 episodes. (See Misdirection in Magic, a Masterclass article.) The most significant part of the magic trick happens before we start looking for the trick. If we wondered at all about Nina's outburst, it wouldn't occur to us to look for the answer in the previous episode. We didn't think the Metatron was there yet! (inside, on the right, in line behind the orange-shirt guy!)

I reeeeeeeally wouldn't expect you to believe this, just from one photo. I'd be grateful if you'd check out my other post with all the details before you come at me, please please please (she implores🥺). (And you might especially like #8, Aziraphale's Jubilant Smile!)

😊

If you'd like to see more of my ideas/meta-theories about the stuff I think is radically interconnected to the Final Fifteen, please check out the other parts of my Chess Moves Theory Set at @wistfulnightingale for the full picture of what I think might be happening for our Ineffables.

Thanks for coming with me on this crazy ride!

The 8 Chess Moves MetaTheory Set:

1 - The Metatron Misdirection

2 - The Metatron's Second Coming

3 - Ineffables in Check

4 - A Hefty Jigger of Death

5 - Nothing Lasts Forever

6 - The Circle Kiss Theory

7 - The Nightingale DID Sing

8 - Aziraphale's Jubilant Smile (Not the crazy elevator grin)

Also: The Chess Moves Theory Set, Why Chess & Magic?

[mellybouboulove]

My guardian angel🤍𓆩♡𓆪☁️

Chapter 9

Plot summary: Drug Dealer Ellie Williams X OFC slowburn fic, out of universe and takes place in college, set in the 2000s. Smut content to come.

previous: Chapter 8 next: soon

a.n : sorry for the absence guys I've been struggling with my mom's trial for robbery while also dealing with my final exam weeks it's been a tough time :/ I hope i'll be able to be more active from now on <33 thanks for the support the first chapter has been blowing up don't hesitate to share it if you enjoy it and submit your suggestions :)

Tags: #wlw #sapphic #drugdealer!ellie #modern!ellie #tlou #slowburn #smut #fluff #tlouau #au #modernau #drugs

CHAPTER 9

It was a lonely Monday at Ellie's appartement; I was getting bored and lazy about everything. I decided to turn the tv on when this report on the devastating effects of drugs in working-class neighbourhoods started playing, all those lives ruined and lost because of what my girlfriend had to sell to make a living.

It didn't make me feel anything to see these consequences, all I could think of at this exact moment was the long list of reasons why users are ready to pay so much, firstly for their emotional fragility and then for all the recreational effects I needed so badly.

 The last couple weeks, her flat became like an open house, several times a day her colleagues would come hide the bags and take them away. Ellie acted as if everything was normal and usual, she thought I was too stupid to realize what was going on around me. I gradually came to understand what I was up against when I went out with a drug dealer, the secrecy, the lies, always waiting for a message from her 'work' or some bad news related to it. I never tried to talk to her about it in anticipation of our first conflict, our first real problem as a couple, I wanted our relationship to remain purely perfect for as long as possible.

 Earlier in the day Ellie was unreachable, on my way to her house I saw 3 police cars leaving her building, worried sick and still without any news I spent about 2 hours waiting for her on her doorstep. When she arrived, she only told me she didn't have time to talk and took 3 bags full of drugs, probably to hide them somewhere else. I was still waiting for her to come back home. 

The report continued to run in the background, with a journalist depicting the virtues of cocaine. If I'm going to be forced into the world of drugs, I might as well not fall victim to it entirely and enjoy it, after all I deserve it. For the first time I allowed myself to go through Ellie's things looking for drugs, in fact me going through her things was the first problem of this situation but as long as she didn't find out I could pretend it didn't happen. It was the only thing left for me to do, I was getting crazy in this apartment. It would be stupid not to take the opportunity seeing everyone leaving huge bags full of what I was craving.

I knew that drugs were everywhere in her place, she'd left the bags at her colleagues’  but I know that she has to keep some on her in case of an urgent need from a client. Sometimes she was keeping it hidden in her alarm clock, sometimes it was in her guitar or any kind of personal matter that she hoped no-one would think of. At first I headed for her office, nothing to report. In her pillow were small transparent bags of heart-shaped pills whose dosage I didn't know so I decided not to take the risk. After spending the afternoon looking into her belongings, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ellie wasn't hiding anything from me, no trace of other girls or anything I wasn't already aware of. I ended up finding powder behind a piece of furniture. I didn't know what it was either but I was so desperate and tired from my little investigation that I decided to take some of it.

I felt something very strong take hold of me, I had never felt such effects before, a wave of energy overwhelmed me and I could not stand still. The guilt of having relapsed, of having gone through Ellie's things, of not being able to recover a normal life since that stupid accident, my anger at Ellie’s job for polluting my life and our relationship, all these thoughts swirled around in my head and increased tenfold. 

Finally she came in:

- Ellie wtf where were you ?? I was worried sick, I stayed there all day waiting for you can’t you answer your goddamn phone for once?? I left you hundreds of text messages. Are you serious? - Relax babe I got us chinese food and a good movie for tonight. Let’s chill a little. I'm so tired. 

I was shocked by her behavior, pretending like it was a normal day while I spent it alone getting crazy in between these four walls. I felt the anger boiling in my veins, it was just a matter of time until I exploded. I stood still, watching in disbelief trying to contain myself. At least I thought that’s what I was doing but my body was all tensed up, I was shaking, clenching my fists really hard and digging my nails as deep as I could in the palms of hands; I felt my body heat rise up in a second, my cheeks were burning. 

Ellie was in her room to change into more comfortable clothes, I heard her movements, she was making a lot of noise, moving her stuff around as if she was looking for something, just the same noises I made all day while looking for her drug. 

I still couldn’t move except for shaking and digging my nails deeper when I heard firm loud footsteps coming near me. 

- Maya wtf did you do ?? Are you fucking serious ? Looking into my stuff really?? For what huh? Were you looking for drugs maybe? I can’t believe you, you're so pathetic, I trusted you, I’m out of the house just one day and you go around all my personal belongings without any shame, not even tryna hide it leaving all the mess ?? 

As she was arguing with me I felt a wave of adrenaline hit me and started screaming at her face, my body finally allowing me to move again but without me being in control of anything. 

- I fucking hate you you’re a worthless bitch you’re never here your stupid job is ruining everything I hate you leaving me dying in this fuck ass apartment of yours while you’re out there doing god knows what you’re leaving drugs everywhere in house of course i’m gonna take it im sure you left it here on purpose, tempting me for me to take it so I can just die because you don’t give a fuck you just wanna get rid of me. Didn’t think I would manage to get sober in the first place huh?? But that was the deal if I was sober we could date now you’re stuck with me you needed to get rid of me that’s what you wanted. 

As I was talking, without even realizing it I started pushing furniture to the ground and throwing anything I could catch at her face. She was just standing there doing nothing which only infuriated me more. 

- CAN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING??! CAN’T YOU FUCKING REACT FOR ONCE?? You’re such a useless stupid whore you’re lucky you have me, no one wants you you’d be all alone if this wasn’t for me.

Without saying anything, she went back to her room and I could hear the same sounds of her looking through her stuff again. I then saw her coming back with her backpack. She took a box in a shelf and got a bunch of drugs out of it and dug it into her pocket. She zipped her jacket up and looked at me. 

- Eat the food while it’s hot, there’s no drugs in the house anymore so don’t waste your time making a mess in the remaining rooms. I’m not talking to you when you’re like that. 

Before I even had the time to process her words, I heard the door closing behind her and the sound of her car’s motor driving away as I stood still in the same place. I stayed alone in her apartment crying wondering if everything that had just happened was real.

[spectrechosts]

Engine Maintenance

What if spaceships were powered by fucking machines? This is a viable technology probably.

Kim drags her torrented romances onto her second monitor, and clicks on the angry red call notification buzzing at her.

"Cap'n." She says, still side-eyeing her show.

"We aren't going fast enough." Says the Captain, leaving her to infer her request.

Kim sighs and alt-tabs to the readouts she's actually supposed to be keeping an eye on.

"She's outputting at 7.3, I don't know how much faster you want." She says, tabbing away just as quickly.

"She's pushed 8 before."

"Not without crashing. You want us dead in the water for a .7 increase?"

"Replacement's already out of bed, and I know how logarithmic scales work. Wring what you can out of her and next shift will come in for the swap. Go." The Captain says, and hangs up on her.

Kim sighs and pauses her show, shunting it off to the terminal in her room before inspecting the engine readouts again. The machine says that it can push output up to 7.6 points by overloading the core, but-

Sexual energy reactors are finicky at the best of times. Even after billions of credits poured into R&D to make some of the most efficient fucking machines known to man, even after the years of training cores go through, there are a lot of variables.

Kim cleans herself up in the mirror. Fusses her hair into sexy unkempt mechanic as opposed to regular unkempt mechanic. Undoes her jumpsuit's zipper enough to show off the goods in a low cut tank top.

The reactors are finely tuned to the cores, monitoring suites doing thousands of checks a second to adjust to their needs. They're ruthlessly efficient, kept at maximum settings; They shut off, if the core can't take anymore, but if you don't surpass what it says their maximum is they'll keep the core right below that limit for their entire eight hour shift. They can even weigh the boost from letting them orgasm against how much it'll need to slow down afterwards to prevent a shutdown.

And then of course there's the overload sequence. Punch in the override and it'll just squeeze all the power it can out of the core, massive computer banks dedicating all their power to calculating the most efficient way to make them cum their brains out, ability to continue going afterwards be damned.

She lazily types in the code, confirms it, and sets it on a slight delay.

There are limits, though. The profound depravity of ships that run on sex power meant that the tech faced a lot of pushback. One result of which is that they can't legally be rigged up with direct brain links. The documentation still insists that they're the absolute best thing for harvesting sexual energy (you know, until they want to sell you the next model), but there's anecdotal, completely unfounded evidence that when working with a core that didn't sign up because they're hot for the unyielding perfection of cold, sleek metal, silly things like a real human connection can bump output by a good 0.5 points.

She keys in the door code, and enters the reactor chamber.

"Warning. External stimuli can interfere with reactor output." Warns an artificial voice, that Kim silences via the built-in terminal. She punches in a few more commands, and the sensory helmet attached to Riley hisses and detaches.

"Whuh?" She mumbles, disoriented.

"Hey babygirl." Kim says, as the overload sequence starts. "Are you ready to be good for me?"

Riley's eyes go wide as the machine changes gears; blunt silicone-capped vibrator wands, electrodes, grasping robotic arms- all ramping up to an irresistible intensity.

"WAit, wait I can't, I'll crash, I'll craaaA-" She whines, bucking against her restraints into the thrumming wand.

"Good." Kim says, in the dismissive, clinical way she knows will drive her wild. "I'm going to wring you out for everything you're worth, babygirl."

Riley lets out a loud, sharp moan, her legs shaking. The machine is very very good at what it does. She's already ticked over to 7.4, there's only a few short moments for Kim to weave her way into the tangle of wires and arms, to grip her cheeks and kiss her neck and growl "Don't cum until I give you permission."

Yellow warning notifications for unexpected behavior begin popping up on the various monitors decorating the engine room, because the reactor didn't tell her not to cum so why isn't she, try harder I guess. Riley squeals, her voice rising in pitch as it becomes harder and harder for her to try and fight her impending climax, until Kim shoves her fingers into her mouth to silence her.

"Do you want the whole crew to hear what a slut you are?" She asks, and she feels the ship lurch forward as Riley's control slips and she's brought to her messy, violent peak.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kim sees power output hitting 8.2 points.

How's that for fast enough?

It stays there for a good few seconds, until the overstimulation is too much and output plummets; all the monitors flash red warnings and the machinery winds down and disengages, releasing a shaking Riley into her arms.

"S-Sorry Mistress, I'm sorry-" She babbles as Kim strokes her hair.

"No, you did so good! My good girl."

"I disobeyed. I-I didn't have permission."

"It's okay, it was a lot." Kim murmurs. "You liked the thing about everyone hearing what a slut you are?"

Riley shivers.

"So much, holy shit."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Riley takes a few panting breaths nuzzled into Kim's chest before peeking at the readout screens.

"Eight-point-two???" She asks, stunned. "What the fuck are we trying to do?"

"Cap'n got notified her new model kit came in, wants to pick it up ASAP."

"Fuck me."

"Mhm." Kim agrees. "Be glad you're not on second shift, we're a ways out yet."

"God. Carry me out of here before she tries to put me back in."

[mxxnlightwriting]

Writemas 2024 Day 8

Thanks to @agirlandherquill for hosting this wonderful event!

Tari’s Note: Here we are for Day 8! Today's part was a bit more challenging to write given the prompts and how the story is going but I think I figured it out, which I'm very happy with! I hope you enjoy reading it! I have a masterlist for this challenge if you want to read this story from the beginning! Please excuse any typos and continuity errors! Thanks for understanding.

Prompt(s): "I need more. I deserve more." and a windowless room Synopsis: Emily receives a phone call that derails the good atmosphere around the dinner she's sharing with Rae. Genre/age group: adult contemporary sapphic romance Word Count: 1.1k

Dinner was already underway and the tense atmosphere from earlier had been replaced by something lighter that was only intensified by the glasses of wine Emily and Rae were having. It was red wine—Emily's favourite—and she was glad she had someone to share it with tonight.

"You know," Rae said as she helped her set the table in the dining room, "I'm glad we're doing this."

Emily couldn't agree more. Whereas before Rae's presence stood out like a sore thumb, now it blended in with their surroundings, adding to the familiarity and comfort of the cabin. Besides, Emily was glad for their talk. Their issues weren't resolved, but at least they were willing to work through them, even if none of them knew what that exactly meant.

She was just happy to have Rae back in her life, even if it was in this quiet manner they were now sharing, one where they were distant friends who shared a close past.

From the coffee table, Emily's phone rang. She glanced in its direction but ignored it, finishing the task at hand instead. She knew who was calling her, and right now, she wasn't in the mood to talk with her sister.

"Shouldn't you pick that up?" Rae asked. "It's probably important."

"It's Chloe," Emily said, offering Rae a small smile. "She probably wants updates on what I'm doing around here."

Rae nodded and returned to the kitchen as Emily's phone rang again, its sound drilling into her head. She went to her coffee table and grabbed it, staring at her sister's smiling photo and name displayed on her phone screen.

She took a deep breath and accepted the call.

"Took you long enough!" Chloe said, exasperated as always. "What were you doing?"

"Cooking dinner," Emily replied. "And I have guests over so—"

"Oh. That's a bad idea, though."

"Why is it a bad idea?"

Emily glanced in the kitchen's direction as Rae walked towards the dining table carrying one plate in each hand. She had a small smile on her lips as she put them down, nodding to herself before her eyes found Emily, concern coating her features.

"Well, I called a real estate agent this morning and they're going to see the cabin tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow?" Emily asked, her eyes snapping to the lit porch outside as freckles of snow covered every surface on display. She probably hadn't heard her sister properly. "What do you mean you called a real estate agent? I told you—"

"We're selling that cabin, Emily," Chloe said, her voice cold. "Dad wants to sell it. I want to sell it. Mom will also be on board, especially after she knows how much it'll be worth if the sale goes through. It's good money. Life-changing money."

"I don't care about that," Emily said. She collapsed on the couch, massaging her temples. "Besides, I can't get the cabin ready for the real estate agent by tomorrow. I haven't been in the attic yet. I was waiting for you to help me sort everything in there."

"I already told you I don't have time to go there. You have to do it yourself. Just try to make it look presentable, I don't know. I'll text you the details. They'll be there by ten so make sure you're awake before then."

"And if I'm not?" Emily asked. "I want to keep this cabin. I've been clear since the beginning that we shouldn't sell it. It was his favourite place." It's my favourite place, Emily thought, but didn't say.

Chloe sighed. "We've been over this already. We're selling it. Stop being so difficult about all this."

"Well, I need more time. I deserve more—"

"We can't always have what we want, Emily. Now, be an adult and show the property to the man tomorrow. I'll call you around midday for updates. Don't screw this up for me."

Chloe hung up, leaving Emily with her phone pressed against her ear, her throat closing with frustration and unsaid words. She dropped her phone on the coffee table and stood, turning to find Rae leaning on the wall with crossed arms. From her sad eyes, Emily knew she had heard everything.

"It was Chloe," Emily said. "A real estate agent is coming tomorrow to assess the property and the house."

Rae nodded. "I overheard. Sorry about that, by the way."

"It's fine." Emily dismissed her comment with a wave of a hand and they walked towards the dinner table. "I just don't know how I'm going to pull it off, honestly. I still haven't stepped into the attic, and I need to get it ready for tomorrow."

They sat by the table and after Emily poured each of them a glass of wine, they enjoyed the meal she had prepared in silence. Rae hummed at the food and pointed at it in approval. That made Emily's cheeks warm up, and she couldn't help but smile at Rae whenever she found something nice to say about the food.

"I could help you with the attic tonight," Rae said. "I mean, I've had wine, so I won't be driving any time soon, and it's also snowing a lot, so I could help you. If you want."

Rae faced her plate, avoiding looking directly at Emily. The attic was probably just as a big deal to Emily as it was to Rae. They had shared their first kiss there, they had confessed their feelings for one another there. It had always been their safe place in this cabin, especially when Emily's family was around town. That windowless place knew all their secrets, it had witnessed so many of their shared moments.

"You know you don't have to do this, right? You can just be a guest and enjoy the TV and then go to sleep in the guest bedroom and leave in the morning."

"It's clear you don't want to do it by yourself, and I'd also grow restless with nothing to do. Besides, it could be fun. Or embarrassing. Or both." She offered Emily a small smile. "There's a lot of good in that space. In a way, this might be my last chance to be in it. I guess a part of me also wants to say goodbye."

Emily nodded and sipped her wine. She didn't want to say goodbye to this cabin, to this place, but this was a battle she wasn't going to win. Her sister was set in her ways, and she had the upper hand already. Emily was never someone whose opinion really mattered to her family.

Maybe it was best if she said goodbye too. She reached for Rae's hand and rested hers on top of it, squeezing it. "Thanks," she said when Rae glanced at her, "for doing this with me."

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© mxxnlightwriting 2024 All Rights Reserved. Copying, reposting, translating and/or modifications of my work are strictly prohibited.

[sassyshoe]

So I was looking on Zillow for houses in our town and our house has been posted there for NINE days. So clearly my parents knew about it a lot longer than I thought....

My sister recently got a camper and now my parents are looking into them, if I have to share a one bedroom camper with two adults and nine not potty trained animals I'll kms. My brother said I could go live with him if worse comes to worse, and my mom was offended and my dad didn't even acknowledge me lol... It'd be nice to live with them, they'd treat me a lot more fair, not make me take care of an entire house, nine pets, and two full grown adults 💀 they'd probably have me do things like keep my room clean, dishes, laundry, basic things yk? They are also much nicer and calmer people, so I don't think they'd yell at me much. Plus they are neighbors with my best friend so I'd get to see them super often!

It's just crazy how much my life is about to change no matter what direction we take, because like we have lived in this house for ten years and as much as I fantasize moving from this hellhole I could never really imagine living somewhere else?? Because no way we are keeping this house unless some sort of miracle happens, and I don't think we could afford to move move. So like I'm curious what's going to happen?

Also my parents make me so mad. Last night they spent $35 on dinner, night before they spent about the same amount. Pork chops at Walmart are $8, a frozen pizza is like $8?? The food in our fridge is free... We could've added that to our moving funds but no 😐 my mom also spent $5 to get a digital currency on her game?? Like is now really the time for that....

Anyways, tomorrow we find out what we can do to keep this house, it would make way more sense for us to move. It'd be the same amount and we'd get a clean and unbroken house lol. I'm hoping we either move into a house or I move into my brother's house and they get like a camper or something... It'd be weird not seeing my parents daily, like not being able to pop into their rooms whenever, but I mean I also wouldn't have to deal with all the fighting, and the way they treat me... Plus it'd probably relieve some financial burdens from them...

But yeah I fell like a good place to start is my parents selling all their junk... Both of my parents are collectors, as much as it sucks they can sell some of that stuff, we don't use our kitchen table, we all just eat in our rooms so that can go, we don't use our entertainment center apart from a catch all area so they could sell that? My mom has things she hasn't even opened yet (not in a in-box collector way, in a I don't really care about these things so they are in the corner collecting dust way), In also have things I can part with, vintage Barbies and rare dolls, sets of books, lps, etc...

I love my parents but they are so stupid financially, and like if we did sell this stuff they would just use it to eat out again instead of putting it towards funds....

Anywho, I'll keep y'all updated as we find out more 💪 curious to see how the next few months will affect my mental health (living in a nice house, or with my brother=flourishing mentally)(living in the same house, in a car or camper=might d!e)

[polin-erospsyche]

Alright! Let’s talk about those rumours for part 2. First I'll preface by saying these are rumours, nothing has been confirmed, so let's all breathe before we jump to conclusions.

So rumours come from an article are circulating and people have been speculating that he will go back to the brothels or that he will (in whatever way) look at someone else. So here is my TED talk as to why this would be worst writing decision they could ever make and thus will probably not happen unless they want to intentionally shoot themselves in the foot.

So from what I know from spoilers and such, part 2 mirror part 1, just things are more ramped up and the stakes are higher. So far they seem to have the same beats at the same place. Episode 5 sets things out, episode 6 is fun and games until it all comes to a grinding halt when Colin learns of Pen’s identity so episode 7 is dealing with the fallout of that and episode 8 is the resolution. Seems to me like the Lady Whistledown reveal beat is paralleling their first kiss beat. Episode 3 now for me was the most chaotic, because what do you mean they kiss each other like that and it takes them two whole episodes to get their shit together? Ah yes, it’s all the awkwardness and lack of clear communication. Now if in ep7, he thinks of being unfaithful at any point it would mirror him going back to the brothel in ep 3 and honestly I would personally feel like it is lazy writing (not that the writing is stellar by any stretch of the imagination to start with).

So let's get into ALL the reasons why Colin cheating on Pen in ANY way is like the worst writing decision (tbh I can't even believe I wrote out that sentence).

This is a romance show, catered I'm guessing to a large female audience and in which they sell us the male lead as the epitome of "down bad crying at the gym" as soon as they realise they have feelings for their counterpart. Colin, from what I understand, represents this more than any of them. So not only would that decision be so incredibly out of character, it would also essentially ruin the Bridgerton experience and what we're paying for. There is literally no realities out there where cheating would ever be perceived as sexy or attractive. It would be drama for the sake of drama and it would be badly handled drama because they'd only have 1 episode to save the thing and make us believe in their love story again.

It would kill their male lead. And that is just laughable. A romance show building up their romantic leads, having to deal with backlash, having to deal with an audience which they know is already, even before the season started, angry at Colin, only to kill him in the second to last episode. I'm sorry but this is just plain stupid and it's not selling me a romance show, maybe a drama show at best. I was the first one jumping at defending Colin when the first rumours of brothels came out before part 1, defending intimacy and the difference between those and his scenes with Pen. I was in fact correct. But this? In part 2? When a lot of people are still dissing on Colin? It's character and season suicide. No one, not the fans nor the general audience would ever forgive him.

It would be against everything they have sold us so far. They’ve been selling us something incredibly romantic and swoon worthy. This choice would be the complete opposite of those things. It would make no sense whatsoever. So unless they find it incredibly amusing to sell us something and giving us the opposite of what they have tried so hard and spent so much money on building up, it's not happening.

Now I think it’ll be incredibly angsty and with good reasons. He has every right to feel betrayed and cheated. The women he trusted and got vulnerable with and was honest with 1) hurt him badly, 2) didn’t dare show the same level of honesty. And that’s why it just doesn’t sit well with me that we get a reveal at the end of ep 6. We’re running out of time to deal with a lot of things and it will not help the choppy or rushed feeling of this season. And do I trust them to give us a scene where they have clear, honest, open communication? Not really no, because for some reason show runners think that a scene without drama is a boring scene. Although that conversation is really what is needed. So I know we’ll get an angry and incredibly hurt Colin. I’m hoping we’ll get arguments. Hell even a moment of doubt where the engagement is put on the line, because yes it would make sense for them to go « Do we keep going? Is it worth it? Are we going to work? ». The distance will add to the angst. And for something much bigger than them (the queen, the crown) to push them back together. And for Colin to decide that he will see this from her perspective and even if he doesn’t agree with it, she’s still Pen, and his Pen and she tried the best she could given the circumstances and that her actions, no matter what they might have been, still came from a place of love.

I’m ready to accept a lot from this season but cheating or god forbid someone spoke of rough sex is out of the question. It’s not them and it’s not what they’re selling us and it would be character and season suicide.

[phayz]

pleeease keep talking about toys...i think this is interesting and smth i've never thought too hard about but it makes sense and i like to hear your opinions on modern toys

(ask pertaining to this post)

holy shit okay !! i would love to ramble on so, i shall!

okay im no expert on toy sales history, this is all just observation from my life experiences and i'll try to keep each part i want to go over relatively short!

that being said lets start with a small one that i've personally noticed as a canadian: Kinder egg toys! i remember when they used to come with like 4-8+ pieces, and you needed the included step by step manual to assemble them. they would often come with sticker sheets to decorate them with, and they would often be articulated or be set on wheels or have some sort of fun or movement or general functionality to them:

dont those look awesome? wrapped in 2 kinds of chocolate, and for only like 2$! i remember they would come in all shapes and sizes, all sorts of animals and vehicles and sometimes freaky little abominations, as you can see above, and sometimes even puzzles! they were such a special treat as a kid.

but kinder eggs now? come with a maximum of like 3 pieces that just snap together (usually the front and back of the toy, and then the platform they stand on). and thats all they mostly are now, stiff toys that stand on platforms wahhooooo yippeee

idk just look at the quality difference from the old ones above compared to some of the new ones:

like..... these are..... nothing! literally nothing. just a figure snapped to a pole/platform and thats it! not very interesting for more than 3 minutes max.

now i know what you're thinking: "not ALL of the old kinder toys had to have been bangers" and you'd be right, some were lame as hell, but even the lame ones from before look more intricate than the ones we have now, like can you see what i mean, just detail-wise?

it just feels so cheap and shitty, i could go on and on but more is explained later. point is, it sucks.

anyway that's a very small example and we can move onto bigger and better ones, and maybe even one that everyone else might have noticed by now; McDonald's toys! remember when they were actually toys?

and not just stiff figurines?

(the minions franchise was like CRACK for companies who love making profit off of nothing but stiff rounded plastic. probably the cheapest form of "toy" i can think of)

and yeah, again, its not like there werent figurines back in the day too, there's ALWAYS been lame as hell mcdonalds toys, but looking among many modern mcdonalds toys, you dont see anything as cool as the old ones. literally every major modern movie/franchise right now is nothing but figurines. the most recent actually interactive mcd's toy ive seen is when they collabed with hasbro games

again, companies just seem to be pumping out quantities over quality.

but why?

well, for starters toys are becoming cheaper (both in price and quality) because prices have sky rocketed and stores are forced to only stock cheaper things, therefore the cheap things sell the most, and then more of them get made, and statistics get fucked, etc etc the cycle repeats.

but toy companies know one thing, and that's that things that are "cuter" always sell more. "cuter" being used with vitriol because their idea of 'cute' is 'more glitter and sparkles and rainbow colours and obnoxiousness' oh, and dont forget the huge soulless bug eyes on all of them!

i know that people love these things, but theyre so..... uncanny. their stare is piercing, their stance is so stiff, i always felt bad actually playing with the only one of these i had growing up, and not just because it freaked me out, it just genuinely didnt feel good to play with.

and i knoowwwww people are obsessed with these things, but come on, you have to admit theyre SO unoriginal! theyre just cookie cutter shapes!

these things are horrifying and, at best, belong on a shelf.

these "beany boos" are so woobified and almost feel like a flanderized version of a stuffed animal, and they've completely taken over "beanie babies", which were wonderful soft little things that actually had movement and weren't stiff to cuddle! I also feel like they're almost trying to copy what webkinz was, in a way, as some of those were stiff too (but still loveable and not burdened with an uncanny, vacant stare)

anyway this is getting insanely long and im sorry but i feel like im going insane every time i see new toys nowadays. the like.... "cuteification" of everything is driving me insane, and the fact that they are simply just lower quality than what we used to get, because of prices rising and causing easy-to-make things to become more and more popular.

examples to further prove these points:

extreme woobifying or "cuteification" by almost completely removing all horse anatomy in favour of thin limbs, heavy makeup eyes that are now on the front of her face, and modern influencer eyebrows. on a horse.

and the extreme-simplifying of toys can be seen quite well on those mini polly pocket sets!! see this one here?

almost allllll of those little plastic things could be rotated or rearranged or moved or fucked with in some manner, it was awesome. i loved these miniature houses they always came with so much shit. wanna guess what the newer ones look like?

you guessed it, like shit!!

man even beyblades used to come with like, all sorts of different pieces both metal and plastic alike, and you had to assemble them yourself and you could interchange pieces to obtain a different weight which would affect your attacks against other beyblades, etc etc:

and looking at them now? they seem to be mostly made of- yep, you guessed it, hard cheap plastic.

anyway holy shit i literally reached the 30 image limit on a single post tumblr really said thats ENOUGH !! i cant believe i just spent that long talking about the worlds most pointless thing but at any rate i hope you enjoyed it and i hope you see my vision. because like i said im not insanely knowledgeable on any of this in particular, but its hard not to notice the decline in quality of all of todays modern toys.

[siri-ike]

2500 hours of audio

Authers note: to be completely honest I forgot about this until I got a notification that someone rebloged it. So I guess have a part two.

Part 1

reasearch links: affects of isolation

Donnie's nice and accurate account of events in exact detail and order of occurrence, category 6: severe injuries and illnesses. Part 172: Leo's recovery from the prison dimension part 1.

"Mission log. I've managed to avoid the enemy for now"

"Enemy? He must be talking about Kraang."

playing hour 59.

"59? No, Shelldon. Rewind to the start."

If Donnie didn't know better, he'd say Leo had been listening to these himself. Even if we accept that he'd been stuck for a bare minimum of 2500 hours, assuming he hadn't talked to it the full week he had it before the prison dimension, and also assuming that he was talking to it 24/7 from capture to rescue. Which is unlikely, even for him.

104 days is just so hard to even comprehend.

Donnie looks over at Leo, sleeping peacefully.

"I'm... sorry you had to endure that, Nardo."

rewind complete.

"Play recording."

"Leo's notes: found some jewelry that fell into the sewer. Mostly, engagement rings, wedding rings, and class rings. None of them fit me, of course, so I'm gonna sell them for pizza money."

Click.

"Shelldon, skip to when he got sent to the prison dimension."

=]

Right, gotta reprogram his artificial intelligence.

"Fast forward 10 minutes."

He could probably get a solid 10 minutes of rambling in a week.

"I don't know how to lead. Raphs, the oldest, why couldn't he just stay leader? Or if it had to be someone else, why not pick April? She's just as good at rushing in without a plan. Maybe even better. Or Mikey, he can get anyone to like him. Remember when he got all the kids in the mystic library to follow him?" Leo shudders audibly. "Maybe I should just ask dad. Or maybe I should wait for Donnie to finish rebuilding Shelldon so I can ask him and then have him erase his own memory. Yeah, that's it. Don! Buddy! Tello. What's up?"

Click

"I remember this. He asked me about my progress rebuilding you. I thought he actually wanted to hear about the process of, ugh never mind, it's not important. Shelldon, fast forward 2 minutes."

Click.

"Leo's notes: Pick up 125 pizzas, any toppings."

Finally.

"Leo's notes: uhm, sorry I haven't talked in a while, things got really crazy for, I think it was a few days. Anyway, Kraang got bored of kicking my shell for so long. I could have sworn I'd be dead by now, but it's like no matter what he does to me, I can't die."

"OK, I've been fiddling with the wrist comm for a while, Donnie put a bunch of 8 bit games on it like frogger, snake, and pong. At least I'll have something to do. At least until I run out of battery... I definitely need it too, It's barely been, what 8, 9 hours? And I'm already talking to a photo."

Click.

Donnie looks up from sanitizing his surgical equipment (ok, so it's really Leos, but it's not like he's using it right now) to remark snidely

"As if I would make a machine that runs on batteries. These babies run by replenishing quartz energy converters. You just have to move it around to charge it. I got the idea from these old watches, you know just because an idea is old doesn't mean it can't be utilized by my extreme gen-"

He stops as he looks over at his unconscious brother.

"Some other time, perhaps."

setting reminder for "other time"

"Shelldon, disregard previous order."

reminder canceled

Donnie sits back down and presses a button on his console.

"Update. I beat snake. Turns out if you manage to make the snake fill the whole screen, the game just ends. And it only took me like- 178 hours according to the time log... I can't believe I've been playing snake nonstop for 178 hours. I'm not even tired or hungry. It makes sense kind of. I mean, they were in here for a thousand years, weren't they? Probably don't need food or sleep"

"Dear wrist comm, Kraang found me again. spent a couple hours getting thrown around, totaly ruined my frogger streak. I could have sworn he cracked your screen. Can things also not 'die' here?"

"I think I've been here for about 8 to 10 days. Hopefully, the next thing Don adds to the wrist comms is a clock. Maybe he's hearing this all the way back home. Are you? Are you listening in on me? Sneaky pancake."

"Kraang ruined my rock sculptures of you guys! Can you believe that? He's suck a jerk. We have an entire dimention! It's not like I go around breaking the stuff he makes. Even if he did make things, I wouldn't destroy it! I almost feel bad for the other two Kraang. I can't imagine having this guy as a brother."

"I ran into some people here. They looked somewhat human. Like the aliens in the first Jupiter Jim film: the 1968 classic Jupiter Jim's Atomic adventure in space. Before they had the budget for alien costumes or a full 20 minutes of film. So they just hired some college students and heavily contoured them. Exept the guys I met were also short. So, short. Like. Shorter than me, anyway, I'm gonna follow them to see what's up."

Click.

"That's strange I didn't pick up any other life signs. Check again."

the only signs of life picked up by Leo's wrist comm were his own and kraang

"They got a flying car, it looks so 60s. I half expect it to have lava lamp floors."

"Reminder: ask Donnie to make the floor in my room a lavalamp."

"Wait, no, a waterbed floor. That way, the whole floor is a bed."

"I got even closer, and they use 60s slang, too. Like daddyo, check and far out. I'm pretty sure I heard one of them say the word splitsville. I'm gonna try to talk to them. How do I look... yeah, like a homeless person, I know, I meant more like. Do I look approachable?... No, no raving loonatic is not my idea of approachable. Hang on."

"Ok, I dusted off my bandana, harness, and wrappings. Is this presentable enough?... too bad, cause it's the best we're gonna get."

Click

"Maybe it's a robot? Inorganic life wouldn't be detected on the scanners. That would explain why we can't hear a response. It's just communicating through text." Donnie denies.

"They call themselves Neutrinos. Their people are the original inhabitants of the prison dimension. Which means that somehow, they have been avoiding the Kraang for generations. Isn't that great, I'm not alone."

"Is there such a thing as interdimentional ethics?"

"If I had a nickel every time our world sent genocidal balls of over-chewed gum to the neutrinos dimention, I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice."

"It happened, I've officially survived a whole month in the prison dimension. Wooo." Leo says flatly. "Should have had the foresight to bring a cake, no; pizza... who am I kidding? If I had either, I would have eaten it by now."

"I met the Neutrinos again. Currently following their directions to a village inside a meteor. I can't wait to spend some time with people. I was about to start losing it."

"They've got everything here. Plants, technology, people, a religion. I guess those just pop up whenever you have a group of people living together."

"They're no teenage mutant ninja turtles, but it's a community. And if I'm being completely honest, I think I would even take the company of Meat Sweats right now over nothing."

"I guess this place isn't without strings attached. If I want to stay, I have to join a religious faction. I thought it was all one belief system, but it turns out there are three major ones and, like, 20 small ones. All of them want me on their side, and I suspect that whichever one I choose will try to use me to 'sort out' the others as they put it... but... I can't be alone again. I was alone for 36 days, and it was,-" Leo's voice breaks. "... I can't do that again." He stutters.

"Ok, what would Lou Jitsu do? Dad would probably pick the cannibalism faction. So I can rule that one out. What would Leo do?... I would pick the most powerful group because they've been offering me the most. I can't do that, I'm pretty sure they are evil. They wanted all neutrinos shorter than 3 feet to classify as property. That's like, almost half of them. The second most powerful is no better because they want all neutrinos who have antena to be executed. What is wrong with these people? What would Donnie do? The permanent social distancing faction. Eh, ruling that one out, too. Raph, probably the solving everything with love and snuggles faction. Nice but impractical against Kraang. Plus, their leader tried to make me assassinate the leaders of other factions so they might be messy. April would try to expose each of these dangerous liars, but it seems like everyone already knows they're corrupt. Mikey... he'd just take them over. I guess I could do that. I mean, I'm much bigger and stronger than all of them put together. No, then I would be ruling through force, and I've only lived here for 3 days. I can't decide what's best for them when they've survived well over a thousand years on their own. I think the best choice would be to leave. I can't be of any help here."

"Donnie! Time for breakfast!" Mikey shouts from outside the room

Click.

"I'll be right there"

"Was that Leo's voice? Is he awake?" He asks excitedly.

"No, just some recordings. Could you bring my dinner in here? I can't leave him alone."

"You look awful. Did you sleep? And, no, you can't have breakfast here because Draxum said he needs to look at your wounds." Mikey waves his arms around, showing off the new bandages and braces.

Donnie looks guiltily at Leo, still sleeping.

"I'll stay. I'll even snuggle him. He won't miss you a bit, " Mikey said teasingly, clearly trying to get a response.

And usually, that would get a rise out of him. But right now, Donnie doesn't want to be missed. He just doesn't want his brother to be alone anymore.

Donnie hasn't even left the room before Mikey's gotten all cuddly in bed with Leo. Turtle shells aren't exactly the softest blanket to wrap yourself in, but Leo probably wants to be touched way more than he wants to be comfortable. Besides, it's well past time for Donnie to get the cracks on this arm examined. Yeah, that's it. It's not like he's avoiding the other 2489 hours of Leo's mad ramblings.

"Hmn," Leo purrs,leaning into Mikeys affectionate embrace.

"I knew you'd appreciate a good cuddle 😘. Even if you sleep for a thousand years, I'll still hold you tight." A realization dawns on Mikeys face. "I might be dead by then, so you'll just be nuzzling a skeleton 🤭. But at that point, you really can't be picky."

good morning, donnatello. would you like to continue playing the recordings

"Shelldon, I'm Mikey. Donnie left the room."

do any of us truly leave the room

"What?"

playing recording

"Wait, no -"

"Nothing is real! All of it, it was a hallucination. The Neutrinos, the flying car, Barbara Walters, the village. It was just my imagination... is anything real? Is Kraang even real? Are you real?!"

"Leo?"

"IS THIS ALL THERE IS? Just wandering around forever, talking to myself, and making up others to talk to?"

"Leo," his voice fell flat this time.

"They're really not coming to save me. I probably told them not to. That sounds like me. But, I still thought. *sniff* This is so selfish. If they tried to get me out, they'd risk releasing Kraang. It's better this way. *sniff* They're better off without me. Sure, they'll be upset at first. But, then. Raph'll be less stressed, Donnie will be free to focus on his own projects instead of constantly building stuff I ask him to." He inhails unsteadily. "Someone else'll be team medic, probably Don or April, and they'll figure out that Mikey needs glasses. Real glasses. Which means he won't crash into stuff anymore because they'll actually deal with it instead of putting it off to avoid sneak attacks from doctor feelings, doctor delicate touch, and doctor positive." He sounds out of breath. "Dad finally won't have to deal with me either. He won't have to admit he was wrong to make me lead. And April can finally graduate without me constantly distracting her. *sniff* Th'this is b'better."

"Shelldon, stop the recording." Donnie says from the doorway.

"He, he," Mikey blubers out. "How long was he..." he's too mortified to finish.

"By this point, at least more than a month and 3 days. If we assume every 11 hours is another month. That means it would have taken 227 months to fill up the whole thing." Donnie pauses to see the horror in mikeys eyes. "That's 19 years."

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-07-22

There are many upsides to the city in the summer. But there's also the horrors.

Listening: I am (I think) almost but not quite done with Paradise Killer, a first-person detective game set on the extradimensional luxury island headquarters of an eldritch cult with a truly incredible soundtrack. A mix of city pop and vaporwave that really goes hard if you love the sound of the perfect imagined city. Here's "Knife and Crystal"

The entire Paradise Killer soundtrack is great, and in game each song has a little snippet of text to go with it, this one's is

The heat helps cook mysteries. People get weird in the heat. They get dangerous. Dangerous people create mysteries.

I'll write this up probably separately and it'll go in next week's monday, since I haven't called the trial yet and still have some snooping to do, but it really is a fantastic game. Try it, if you have the time, I got most of the way through it in about 8 hours.

This music sounds like a perfect summer day in the city we all wish we could be in, where there are exactly as many people around as you want, and you always stumble into what you need.

As a note, I think it is an interesting comparison to the Marielda soundtrack, which feels to me like a very different kind of summer city, a languorous city on the edge, an, overwhelmingly hot city, with only a few afternoon thunderstorms and passing clouds to break an almost oppressive heat. So you know, where I am now. I'll link the title song here too:

I mean the podcast helps sell it, but this would also fit into uh. The spanish civil war? Clarinet is like that sometimes.

God damn I have opinions on city-esque music huh.

Reading: Had a bit of a slump coming off of The Traitor Baru Cormorant but I finally picked up Monster and was immediately blindsided by the perspective change. Very interesting. The letter Baru receives from one of the other cryptarchs is making me go insane.

Watching: Movie night this week was RRR, which I have seen a couple times already but did get the joy of watching with some friends who had not seen it at all. There is so much going on, it turns out if you run out of making one movie you can just pivot to making another movie with the same guys and if you do that for long enough you have a three hour feature film.

RRR has lots of subtlety that can be debated but it is also so much fun to watch. It is up front and largely unironic in a way that is very refreshing because it is also done well. There are a lot of bad movies that are unironic and unfortunately that mostly hurts them because they can't deliver on their earnestness.

The thing that really stands out is that it knows how to hold a shot well. So many scenes in the movie just go on forever, whether that's the extended BFF montage or the torture scenes or the slow motion action, it just holds a shot in a way that feels obnoxious at times.

It helps that they're both impossibly hot.

Playing: I picked up a couple VR games in the steam sale to try and expands my horizons. One of those is The Utility Room, a fairly old VR experience based on a VR museum that's even older. Its age shows, it lacks a lot of the creature comforts of more modern games, but it is clever. It uses VR to put you in huge spaces in proximity to enormous objects that move way faster than anything like that does regularly for most people. It's a fun little experiment.

Also got Half Life: Alyx which I am really enjoying, I just got to the part where you get the flashlight which I assume means I'm about to get sosososo scared. VR so dramatically changes the way you think about interaction especially in games. Most obviously, this is a shooter, but in a normal shooter you shoot things by putting them in the middle of the screen and pressing "shoot" and then some HP is deducted. Here I am reminded that even when I handle real pistols I have a bad habit of raising the barrel a few degrees too high and I have to compensate for that. You have to fumble with magazines and rack the slide in the heat of panicked combat where you feel very much like a headcrab is about to tear your face off. It's great.

You also get the sheer physicality of the environment. Valve did not skimp on this game, it's not a little demo or a toy, it's a whole-ass game, and they made sure that almost anything reasonable you can think to do works. You just reach out, you can move barrels by grabbing the rim and rolling them, you can open boxes, you can smash crates. You have a really smart gravity grabber system that makes interacting with the environment less arduous, and some very intelligent use of the fact that you have to switch what's in your hand to make you feel endangered any time you have to put your pistol away to hack a circuit or move an object.

Making: Disastrous burfee making misadventure when a friend said she had been wanting to make burfee and I invited her over. Got mixed up while trying to host and cook simultaneously and didn't boil the syrup long enough, resulting in liquid burfee that did not ever set up into something usable. Salvaged haphazardly with some dessicated coconut to form a structural mesh, but it was not good. Syrup is the most important and least fixable part of a burfee recipe, you really just have to learn to eyeball it to make sure it's right before you continue. Learn from my mistake. Make sure your bubbles are stacking to know you've driven off enough water.

Tools and Equipment: Thin, fine cotton sheets are a great way to avoid messing up pillows if you aren't able to wash your hair as regularly as you'd like, or if you just don't like generic grease build-up. You can keep so many of them on hand and toss them in for washing every couple days.

I didn't have hot water this week because of the annual maintenance cycle, so. You know.

[socialjust-ish]

yo, I see you’re making an effort to do more original posts. Any opinions on YGO, either the story or the game?

Assuming YGO is short for Yu-Gi-Oh , because I am not up to date on the day's acronyms:

Out of all the early 2000's anime-adaptations-created-to-sell-something-to-children genre I think the game of Yu-Gi-Oh did the best at making you feel like it was "real."

Obviously not the giant holographic monsters, but the "heart of the cards" specifically.

When I was a kid (probably 8 years old) this was the hot card game on the playground. But most of us didn't know how to actually play the game. The TV show had a modified rule set and we played by those rules (i.e., much lower life points, I think how summons and sacrifices worked were slightly different, etc.). The most important rule change was that we did not have size limits to our decks. Kids would basically just carry around their entire collection and draw from it. But, we were also 8 years old, so the decks were basically just every booster pack mushed into a pile - there was no strategy aside from "draw your strongest card first".

But because it was a card game with a lot of randomness, and that was made all the more extreme by the giant decks kids played with, there were very rare moments that felt like we had tapped into the Heart of the Cards.

I'll give you an example: I was playing a round with my best friend at the time. He was consistently better than me at the game and I don't think I'd ever won against him. We're both low on life points, he has a monster with something like ~2,500 points. I have one with something like ~2,000 points. It's my turn. I have nothing in my hand that can win this for me, but I get to draw a card. I have no way of summoning a monster that can beat him - in my hand or in my deck - but I do know that i have this card in there somewhere:

And, again, my deck is probably about 200 cards so the odds of getting this are much lower than the 1/40 a normal deck would have.

But I hope. And I draw. And it comes up. I equip it on my monster, gain an extra 1000 ATK (I have no idea if this was a legal move, but that's how we interpreted this card on the playground) and destroyed my friend's monster, winning the game.

I have never felt more like a champion duelist than in that moment.

And I don't think that's something you could really get with Pokemon or Digimon or whatever. Because those games were usually videogames and not card games (I know they both had card games, but at my school at least they were videogame properties with anime adaptations, the card games were not played) there was a lot less of that. You had to follow the games' built-in rules and those rules didn't let you encourage Pikachu to hold on with just 1 HP, look back at you, and then fire off a super turbo critical hit to win the title of Pokemon champion. And if you did happen to get some kind of crazy luck it often felt less like you did something to earn that, and more like the game was just programmed to let it happen.

But with Yu-Gi-Oh card games, children felt like they could change fate itself.

So, I think it was an extremely fun game to play.

Also, this is not a new observation, but the Shadow Realm is way cooler than the original anime's "they just die" story.

[bluntblade]

Thanks very much for the tag @sinvulkt - here we go...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

71 as of just last weekend.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

484,157

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Star Wars (and that mostly Sequel Trilogy, though I written some High Republic and a little Original Trilogy and Clone Wars), Horizon: Zero Dawn/Forbidden West and The Horus Heresy (WH40K)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Fire Hawk, Snow Thrush (Horizon Zero Dawn/The Frozen Wilds)

Episode IX: Resurgence and Reckoning (Star Wars Sequels)

Rex's Ruminations (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)

In the Footsteps of a Death Seeker (Horizon Zero Dawn/The Frozen Wilds)

Treat it like a Duel (The Horus Heresy)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

If I get a comment then yes, I absolutely respond. They're relatively sparse for me, so I appreciate them very much.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Angstiest ending, you say. I'm kind of bad at sitting in a bad feeli- no, I tell a lie. It's absolutely A Fine Officer, A Good Soldier. Captain Appo locked inside his own head by the Order 66 programming, watching helplessly as his body advances on the Jedi Temple with a blaster in his hands...

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'd say my Episode IX but there is a big sad beat toward the happy ending, so really Fire Hawk, Snow Thrush carries the day here.

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

Luckily no. My shipping choices and maybe other elements make my fics pretty niche, but that also means that I'm not involved in shipping drama, and I don't seem to enrage anyone to the point of leaving angry comments.

9. Do you write smut?

You won't find any under this moniker, that's all I'll say.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I don't presently, although, a year after everyone seemed to be drawing Spider-loys there is a full-on "Horizon characters as Marvel comics superheroes" AU running riot in my head (with Aloy dating Ikrie, who's X-23 Wolverine, Talanah as Hawkeye, Erend Odinsson, Helis as Venom and Regalla as the Prowler). If I ever free up the spare brainpower... maybe that'll happen.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. It was one of those "steal fics to sell" trawls and it was very odd.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I haven't, but if anyone would like to, please drop me a message.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Not since my time in the Brotherhood of the Lost "alternate Horus Heresy" AU project, and that was fairly sparse too. I like collaborating more broadly, but when it comes to the writing itself, I prefer to fly solo.

14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

Rey/Kaydel in Star Wars, and Aloy/Ikrie in Horizon. I can't choose between those two.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Probably one of my Sequels-era fics, set between The Last Jedi and Resurgence and Reckoning. I have some WIPs that threaten to be very plotty and I just don't have as much spare time as I used to. Also I have some OC apprentices for Rey and Finn, whose stories I really want to begin telling and promise to let me move the older characters forward as well.

16. What’s your writing strengths?

Probably my action writing. I read a lot of action and films and tv influence my prose a lot. I think a lot about rhythm, dynamics and all that stuff, and I just enjoy it, which probably helps.

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

Mystery? I'm yet to really try to write one tbh, but I look at something like Glass Onion or Silo and just struggle to imagine coiling my brain into those shapes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've only used it the once, I think, and very much for comic effect. It depends very much on how long a scene is, and how much I want to emphasise a language gap.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Horus Heresy

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Err. Arrgh. I really can't answer that. But I am very proud of my recent Star Wars: Lost Stars one, so let's say Stars' Flight.

Not tagging, but feel free to run with this :D

[readwing]

Anyways, here's the books I read last year (that weren't manga or cookbooks)-

The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sister, Kjell Ola Dahl (#......like 7 or 8 in the Oslo Detective series)

American Prometheus (Oppenheimer biography), Kai Bird

Matilda, Roald Dahl

Blackmail and Bibingka, Mia P. Manansala (#3 in Tita Rosie's Kitchen)

Homicide and Halo-Halo, Mia P. Manansala (#2 in Tita Rosie's Kitchen)

The Moving Finger (Miss Marple #4), Agatha Christie

The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood

Ymir, Rich Larson

I'm not sure how to put these in an order of what I liked the most because I read them for different reasons so I'll just do a drive by:

Ymir - Started with the pedal to the floorboards and did not let up one bit. One of my favorite flavors of sci-fi is when the narrative is unabashedly About Somewhere Else. Loved how the protagonist could not move through the story without somehow cutting everyone around him, and I loved the traumatic, unresolved tension between him and his brother. Probably my favorite book by vibes alone

Sister - I adore the Oslo Detective series, for reasons that possibly scratch my brain and my brain alone. It's so dry and uninterested in selling you melodrama. I want to study the way this guy writes his interview scenes; they are the main way the detective work gets done and they work so fluidly. They never slow down the pace to make sure you're keeping up. This was a particularly fun installment, seeing one of the lead two detectives on his own doing PI work after having quit, although the cases took brutal turns.

The Moving Finger - Loved it. Love how AC is just out there inventing characters whole cloth that you'll never meet again, but as soon as you meet them you're like 'oh, wow, you're not just a character you're like a full ass person.' I loved this installment in particularly because the dynamics between the characters were just so fascinating?? Once again, I've yet to correctly guess an AC mystery. Better luck next time.

Matilda - read it for a fic I am writing. Spent most of it getting big feelings and marveling at how completely fucking accurate the live action Mara Wilson movie was. Like there were entire scenes where I was like 'this is the movie, this is exactly what happened in the fucking movie.' Great book, but also wow that movie was a wonderfully accurate adaptation.

American Prometheus - Two things I like in a biography: research and calling out when the research didn't yield anything and/or yielded contradictory records. While I struggled to get through the political back half, particularly the bits leading up to the trial, this book was an interesting look on the development of scientific ethics in the twentieth century and on how today's scientific community today is still shaped by the political machinations of the past.

Both of the Tita Rosie's Kitchen books - it's a food-themed setting for a murder mystery book (which is like it's own genre now, which is cool). Relatively easy read. I think the author is still growing into herself, but one thing that she does well is mystery-plotting. Another thing is food descriptions.

The Love Hypothesis - Mainly read it because I owned a copy. It was... probably more enjoyable for people who like romance. Given that it is a romance book. But I do try to read a bit of everything, because I think each genre has something to bring to the table story-wise. This one had some very nice getting-to-know-you moments between the characters, who had good chemistry, but I think where it was weakest was in giving similar moments to the side characters, who often felt one dimensional. The story beats about feminism and institutional unfairness could've been less heavy-handed. For something that was relevant to the plot, it often felt like the author knew they were supposed to say something about it but couldn't figure out how to say it in a way that hadn't been parroted before, which is a shame because the scenes where the protagonist actually had to deal with those issues played well.