#i'm sure i could come up with some better examples if i did a proper lit search

[corys-clutter]

@jascurka in response to your tags, just in case you're still looking for anything like that, a couple of things sprung to mind about artists who use medical imagery in their art:

Jane Dixon's Evidence of Doubt - http://www.janedixon.net/evidence.html

Dixon made up imaginary organic parts and presented them as scientific images

Susan Aldworth's Transience and Passing Thoughts - https://www.google.com/search?q=transience+and+passing+thoughts+susan+aldworth&tbm=isch

Transience was etchings made from a real human brain with Parkinson's

Passing Thoughts was photographic prints from the same brain

Realisation

the collections from these artists were exhibited at the Fitzwilliam in an exhibition called Realisation, there's an interesting essay about it available on Aldworth's website (which appears to be down, so here's a link to an archived version) - https://web.archive.org/web/20230322033646/https://susanaldworth.com/essays-and-radio/realisation/

there's also this interview with Aldworth which is really interesting - https://web.archive.org/web/20230322023431/https://susanaldworth.com/essays-and-radio/transience-and-passing-thoughts/

I feel like the only person not tempted to use ChatGPT like it doesn’t even occur to me as an option

[curio-queries]

ARE YOU SURE?!

Episode 4 production Notes

Again, I genuinely didn't think I'd have anything to say at this point about this episode. I had such a good time the first time I watched it, just smiling the whole way through. There is one thing that did stick in my brain a little bit though so here I am again with another post.

Episode Break Points

We honestly can't be making any final conclusions at this point but there is starting to emerge a picture of how the production team approached the development of this show as an episodic release. The question that was rattling around my brain after watching episode 4 was how they are choosing their cut points between episodes. We really only have three data points right now which is not enough to definitively identify their intent but it does start to paint the picture a little bit. Sometimes, the break point is beyond obvious, like cutting ep.2 at the end of the USA trip. But when there's not a definitive line, a choice has to be made when to bring one episode to a close and start another.

Some shows use the changing of the day as a break point but that's not necessarily always the best choice to make for the narrative of the show. For example, the break between eps 1 and 2 is in the morning after JK has his coffee and makes the stone tower. This better served the momentum of the episode and wrapped up the story beat of JM's rough night. Ep 2 then starts on a high note with JK's motorbike ride. In my opinion, this was an excellent choice as we close ep.1 feeling all cozy and ep.2 begins with a little bit of excitement.

A Look Back

So why am I bringing this up now? It's because I was so confused as the choice of when to break these two episodes. I don't know if I've decided if it was good/bad/somewhere-in-between but I absolutely was not expecting Episode 4 to start the way it did. Ep 3 ends at the Go Karts and feels like a complete story beat. While ep 4 starts with the drive to the Omakase.

To me, it feels like we're picking up on the last remains of the previous episode and not starting a new section. Which is honestly, kind of counterintuitive. Why would it feel like that? They're literally on their way to the next activity. I suspect it has more to do with the tonal momentum. The guys are still coming down from all of the energy they expended from Rock Climbing and racing and are having a well-deserved relaxing drive. Even the brief moments we see of JK on the motorbike are quite chill. (mostly because there's not really a great way to get action footage on a bike in the dark lol).

So...to see if I could support my suspicion, or if I was just bringing something else into my viewing experience, I decided to rewatch the whole series so far and rank every story beat on a scale for how energetic/intense I felt the narrative was supporting.

A couple of notes before you judge my rankings:

This data is the very definition of subjective. if I redid this same exercise even the next day, I'm sure I would disagree with myself on certain rankings so you certainly don't have to agree with my rankings.

If a storybeat had a noticeable tonal shift, I entered it twice and included both rankings. If it just varied a bit, I entered a ranking more representative of the scene as a whole.

This won't be reflective of the time occupied by each story beat. Some sections are longer than others but with sustained energy so it doesn't translate in this visual representation how much of an impact on the overall tone of the episode any one of these are.

I also added a star at the end of each episode of my median scores. I feel that this was a better representation of the overall tone of each episode rather than an average but that's just my personal view on this teeny dataset. Please don't come for me analytics folks! This is just a post for funzies, not proper analysis!

So What?

The point was curious about is in the gap between eps 3 & 4. Everywhere else there's a pretty clear shift in the start and end of the energy but that gap looks like it was just a step that was missed in what could have been a continual episode.

Here are the runtimes of each episode so far:

USA: 56 min

USA: 72 Min

Jeju: 56 min

Jeju: 70 min

I don't have any conclusions about why it was done this way other than they felt the tonal break was the sacrifice for keeping the Omakase story line in tact. Which honestly, I agree. There would have been time to include the drive in the previous episode but it would have left us on an unfinished storybeat. This is one of the reasons that we never get footage of the members return trip from their travel shows. Bon Voyage ends every episode with the members remarking on the trip overall. Even though we know they have to return home, we don't see it because that would start to build energy for whatever they're doing next and not the story of their trip.

Even in ITS1 when the members do return home in the middle, we see them packing up and getting in the cars but the episode ends before they really start traveling. (Actually it ends before they even let Jin in the car so they're definitely not on their way yet!)

Commercials?

I have a question for anyone that's watching this with ads. I don't really watch streaming content so I'm curious, do the ad breaks just randomly occur? Or does it seem like they're intentionally scheduled? Building story breaks for commercials was a huge focus of legacy tv and I'd be interested to learn more about how streaming services are incorporating it (not enough to not have commercials though, I get insta-rage when the content I'm consuming is interrupted lol). I vaguely remember getting frustrated when I was attempting to watch something at my parent's over the holidays but I don't recall if it seemed structured or not.

That's it. That's all I've got to say right now. We're definitely getting a lot more to the story of this show and I'm absolutely loving it. I'm going to be away for a bit next week and I honestly don't know when I'll fit in watching episode 5 but I'm very much looking forward to it!

If you've seen this post and are interested in some more of my thoughts on Are You Sure, here's a link to my AYS MasterList. Still can't believe I've rambled so much about this show but it's been fun! Thanks to everyone that's been rambling with me!

[acourtofthought]

I don't know if I'm being petty, but I like to think that some of Elain's actions toward Azriel are just foreshadowing for Elucien's dynamic. For example, Lucien is very thoughtful about his choices for Elain's gifts, and Elain is invested in the presents she gives to others, including Azriel, even if it's in the form of a prank. This makes me think that receiving gifts will be one of their main love languages.

The scene where Elain called Azriel's scars beautiful could mean that if Lucien still holds any insecurities regarding his scars, it'd be no problem at all for his mate to help him realize how gorgeous he is, inside and out.

And, most of all, the theme of choice would fit so much better in an Elucien romance. I mean, Azriel isn't the one banned from two courts, prohibited to see his mother, exiled in a strange land, the one who has only two humans (who will die in a few decades compared to a fae immortal life) as his only friends, and he's definitely not the one being ignored by his mate and fearful of her rejection. If there's a character who deserves (plot-wise) to be chosen, it's definitely Lucien.

Besides, it would make so much sense with Elain's and Lucien's characters and with the development of their relationship. The fact that Lucien respects her time and space (or his passivity, as some like to call it) allows Elain to make the choice of pursuing the bond when she feels comfortable and secure enough. She'd also have more agency than her sisters in the beginning of their relationships.

But these are just thoughts.

Thank you for your blog and your theories and thoughts. You make me feel hopeful not only for an Elucien's endgame, but also that they really have the chance to get the next book. You have been a light in the end of this three-years-length tunnel.

P.S. I also have a guess that the announcement will be on May 1st. Hope we are right!

Also, the scene where Elain called Az's scars pretty could actually have been Elain calling his siphons pretty because Feyre wasn't sure what she was looking at.

However, I do agree that Elain is going to find Lucien's face devastatingly handsome and the reason for that kind of ties into her mother. Which sounds weird but I'll try to explain.

Her mother made assumptions about her, that she did not dream beyond her pretty dresses and gardens and that she would marry for love and "beauty". So of course, Elain tried to follow those expectations, getting engaged to exactly who her mother would have imagined for her.

I know Elain loved Graysen and probably found him handsome but he seems cookie cutter. Even Feyre said, he was sort of the human ideal of a lord come to sweep a maiden off her feet.

Lucien's face isn't perfect. He's handsome no doubt but he has long hair (no proper mother would approve of that), a scar running down his face and his eye. He is not the image of a baby faced Lord set to inherit his fathers estate someday. He's cruelly beautiful and looks dangerous and, we're all human here, that's going to thrill the "good girls" which everyone assumes Elain to be. Graysen is the kind of guy you have missionary sex with while the lights are out. Lucien is the kind of guy you are willing to do anything, anywhere with and that's probably a bit overwhelming for Elain given her upbringing. Right now, she's still stuck in the past, how she was raised, the kind of guy her mother proclaimed she would marry rather than embracing what lights her up like a pinball machine but I have no doubt once she does break free she's going to make sure he knows exactly how appealing she finds him because of the scars, the hair, the eye. Because of how it all comes together.

And I agree regarding the gifts! I think we see bits of Elain's personality around members of the IC but she never fully blooms, it's like a quick flash then it's gone. I could see Elain and Lucien teasing one another on regular days, silly gifts, sweet little gifts, but the important days I think will be when they reserve the really thoughtful, heartfelt gifts for.

With choice, I wonder if it's so much about that as fight.

(that sounds weird too but I wasn't sure how to word it).

What I mean by that is Lucien was chosen by Jesminda. He was chosen by Tamlin. He was chosen by many friends of which we're told he has many. He was chosen by the LoA as her favorite son. The problem is nobody fought to keep him.

The same with Elain. She was chosen by Graysen, she was "chosen" by Azriel, she was chosen by the chef and servants who wanted to do nice things for her, she was chosen by her many friends. But, none of them fought for her either. When things got hard they walked away.

Lucien and Elain are parallel in that they're just accepting life as it happens to them, trying to accept that when one door closes (to their dismay) and another opens, they roll with it even if they're not happy. They haven't learned to fight for themselves, possibly because they are used to not being fought for and as a result they try not to ask for much because they realize how expendable they are to others.

But in their book, I think they'll push past that to fight for what they do want and they will fight for one another. Lucien has been doing that so far when it comes to Elain. He is the one person who despite the odds did not walk away from her. Graysen gave up after Elain was turned. Az gave up easily, moved right onto feeling calm because of another female, admiring another female, thinking of another females eyes light up, even though Elain was probably upset after his rejection for the simple fact that any rejection hurts. But Lucien though he hasn't pushed her, has quietly fought for her for two years, by showing that he is still loyal to her and only her. And I imagine we'll also see Elain begin to fight for Lucien. Fighting against those who have wronged him, fighting for him to understand that he's not guilty for Jesminda's death or what happened to Feyre, etc.

Your last paragraph before the P.S. (May 1, May 1!!!) was so incredibly sweet and I wish I had better words to thank you for it.

I hope you have a fantastic day and I appreciate your message!

[demifiendcruithne]

today on digital devil saga 2 is criminally under-researched (aka crui is a nerd about a 20 year old game)

so i finally got the impulse/opportunity to test out something i've been suspecting for a while but have never seen any documentation on: dds2 has some form of STAB* mechanic with elemental spells for playable characters, based on their associated element (the one they resist + the one their unique gun combos use)

*for non-pokemon folk: STAB == same-type attack bonus. so for example, a chimecho (psychic type pokemon) using extrasensory (psychic type move) will deal more damage than a non-psychic-type pokemon with the same special attack against the same target

i have more tests i intend to make when i have spoons (i'm just grinding mantras for the superboss and noticed it while fighting wild narasimha because that hecker disables my berserker ring), but so far i've tested with my three active characters fulfilling the following:

are fighting the exact same narasimha who has no elemental weakness/resistance/etc (savestates were used and run multiple times; the rng is not fixed until a move is actually used, so i could get multiple data points quickly by making a new savestate every time i loaded it to advance the rng)

have 99 magic

are level 99

have no elemental boost or amp skills equipped

have no rings equipped that may affect damage, outside of boosting magic stat to 99 for consistency

use two different dynes; one of their associated element, and one not. the former consistently did more, and with repeated runs i cannot write it off as damage range.

under cut: many images; by virtue of being in endgame, these will have some spoilers for endgame in plain sight. if you're reading this and haven't gotten to the final dungeon, i highly recommend you go do that and come back later. once you've reached the final dungeon, you're safe to check it out.

(but seriously - i can't stop you, but i highly recommend actually. playing this game first. it's great)

if you're reading this, you've either gotten to the final dungeon or don't care about spoilers; in case of the latter, i'll do a quick explanation of our last party member momentarily. i have been a little misleading because they are. very much a BIG spoiler. but first - gale resists force, and does more damage with zandyne than bufudyne; likewise argilla with earth/teradyne/ziodyne.

(bufudyne was a random pick for gale because i had only five for omoikane reasons, but in hindsight it was a good one...)

now - for those unaware, this last party member's name is seraph. they're a fusion of two other party members both of said party members were associated with/resisted ice, and i'm near-certain that they also got the boost to bufu spells (i can check this at some point, i have a backup save right before endgame) the same way gale and argilla do.

but what's seraph's elemental affinities? no weaknesses, no resistances. so what does this mean here?

extra screenshots because the first agidyne was a high roll - literally the highest i've seen on a non-stab unboosted dyne against a narasimha. yet it's still clearly estranged from gale's zandyne and argilla's teradyne.

the other part? seraph's bufudyne does the same as gale's, and the same as argilla's ziodyne and their own agidyne, the same as expected without stab.

i'm not sure what else to say about this thus far besides putting a list of further tests to do eventually / get proper data for:

100s of attempts so it can be statistically analysed better. easy to code the data collection into seraph (my helper program, named after this seraph because. yeah), possibly more difficult to analyse but my partner got me into this game he can deal with the consequences (being asked to do data stuff) :v

including cielo and heat as well, probably after i beat satan and grind them up as a victory lap (in the mantras sense not the internment facility sense)

earlier save reloads for data for serph, sera, and roland - i doubt they'd be any different, but regardless

other elemental spells - both the basic and -la levels, the ma-s, the maxed out mantra ones, and the dances. is the boost approximately consistent?

does it affect combos? i believe it doesn't, same as amp skills and the like (and because i feel like i would have noticed by now), but will get data for both participants initiating

does it affect items? i feel like that's unlikely, but worth trying

is there a 'reverse-stab' for someone's weakness? i don't think so, but i'll get the data for free and if there's a trend i just got to test the ailment damagers for cielo

likewise, is the elemental boost innate like the gun combo elements? almost certainly. but it would be funny if equipping x resist made your x do more damage. and also not really that helpful?

does seraph get a boost on almighty? my first instinct would be yes, purely because of seraph's gun combo doing almighty damage; it's near-useless if you got reincarnate but still worth checking. and if so, does ragnarok behave differently from megido+/last word?

on that note, does seraph resist almighty? i... wouldn't be surprised - status only says no weakness, not no resistance, but almighty resistance tends to be invisible anyway (looking at you, devil survivor 2 that shows everything else) (you're fine just using as an example)

that would be a lot harder to test but if i get a party of seraph / someone with dragon ring / someone else with all maxed stats and just find something with megido+

anything else i might have forgotten

if you hack pyriphlegethon onto heat does it do more damage. i don't think i can test this one but i would. honestly be curious

but yeah. this is pretty cool, maybe i'll check for it in dds1 as well. if anyone else checks any of this out and makes a writeup or anything please ping me i have autistic hyperfocused on jrpg mechanics for over two decades :v

[sjsmith56]

Answers - A Private Man, Chapter 8

Summary: Bucky gets a warning from a surprising source. Tracey officially makes the decision to move in with Bucky and Rebecca.

Length: 4.2K

Characters: Bucky, Rebecca, Tracey, Matt Murdock, John Walker

Warnings: Bucky feeling paranoid (with reason).

Author notes: This story was originally written around the time of the Thunderbolts movie announcement. For the purposes of this story pretend not to have much of an idea of the purpose of the team (even less than what we know now). I'm not familiar enough with the comic book story of that group but Marvel doesn't really seem to be following that anyways.  I can tell you that the threat of Ross and Fontaine will hang over Bucky, Tracey, and Rebecca by appearing in future chapters.  Since this book already doesn't follow canon, in that it deviates from Falcon and the Winter Soldier storyline (Bucky living with his sister in Brooklyn) it may just deviate from putting him in the Thunderbolts.  You'll just have to keep reading to find out for sure.

<<Chapter 7

Tracey came for dinner that Monday evening and they all sat outside after in the warm evening, under the glow of the fairy lights, listening to a mixture of crooners and instrumentals from the 1940s through to current day.  Bucky brought up Tracey moving in with them and Rebecca agreed that she would like that. 

"I'll clear out some of the basement," said Bucky.  "We can make room for Tracey's things down there then go through everything and sell what we don't want to keep.  Does that sound alright to both of you?"

"We could have a yard sale," said Rebecca.  "I'm sure I have some old things down there that would sell.  What do they call it now ... retro or vintage furniture?"

"I couldn't ask you to do that," insisted Tracey.  "It is your house."

"And Bucky's," stated Rebecca.  "If it's in the basement I likely haven't used it for years.  Better it go to someone who will use it and enjoy it.  We can put the money towards something else, like a new roof or something."

"What's wrong with the roof?" he asked.  "I was just up there a few weeks ago.  It looked alright."

"It was just an example," replied his sister, rolling her eyes a little bit.  "You never know what will come up.  You'll bring Alley Cat with you, won't you Tracey?"

"Absolutely," she replied.  They were all quiet for a moment.  "Did you hear from Matt Murdock?"

"Yeah, they still won't give him an answer," said Bucky.  "I've been thinking of phoning Colonel Rhodes.  He's still with the Department of Defence, and has been trying to get the Avengers formally reinstated.  He might be able to find out if it's the Army that filed an objection."

The others thought that was a good idea.  When it was bedtime for Rebecca, Bucky carried her into the bathroom, where Tracey helped her then dressed her for bed.  He carried her to bed, read her another bedtime story from the book that Tracey bought them then tucked Rebecca in before kissing her goodnight.  Out in the hallway he put his arms around Tracey.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to stay but I think you want an uninterrupted sleep tonight," he smiled.  "I could do with a proper sleep myself."

"Is my fatigue that obvious?" she asked, jokingly.  "You don't mind, do you?  We could make plans for me to stay over Friday and Saturday, as long as you don't mind if I bring Alley Cat with me.  I hate imposing on my neighbour to look after him.  He tends to use it as an excuse to ask me out."

Bucky's eyebrows raised.  "I have competition?" Pulling Tracey closer, he kissed her sensuously, while running his hands down her back.  "Do I have anything to worry about?"

She shook her head slowly while looking him in the eye.  "He's rather creepy but he does try to be helpful.  So, I'm safe to give my notice to vacate my apartment at the end of next month?"

"Uh huh," he replied.  "How big is your bed?"

"Queen size, bigger than yours," she said, with a smile.  "We could always buy a king size.  I think it would fit in that room."

"Queen size is good enough for a while," answered Bucky.  "Don't want to have too far to reach for you."

They kissed again and Bucky walked her out to her car, kissed her once more, then watched from the street as she drove into the night. 

"Nice looking girlfriend," said a man's voice and Bucky turned towards it, seeing a man leaning against the light post and smoking a cigarette.

"Do I know you?" asked Bucky, his senses alerted.

"Just stopped for a smoke," said the man.  "Didn't want to interrupt you kissing your girlfriend."

Even in the dark Bucky could see the tells for someone lying.  "You live near here?" he asked.

"Next street over.  My wife thinks I've quit smoking so I walk around the block and have it over here."

"Funny, I've never noticed you before," replied Bucky.

"That's because you usually take off at this time," said the man, a little too casually.  "Figured you work night shift or something."

"No, you misunderstand me," said Bucky, standing square to the man.  "I mean I'm an observant guy and I've never seen you walking around this neighbourhood, never smelled anyone smoking the type of cigarette you're smoking.  So, either you're lying about being a neighbour, or this is your first time watching my house.  Which is it?"

The man smirked.  "Wow, you're paranoid," he replied, then he threw his cigarette down onto the sidewalk and crushed it under his shoe.  "I guess I'm going home.  You have a nice night."

Bucky watched as the man walked away, making sure he was out of sight before he picked up the crushed cigarette with his left hand.  He brought it into the house and laid it on a tissue.  Then he placed a phone call.

"Matt? It's Bucky.  I just caught a strange guy outside on the sidewalk smoking.  He says he lives in the neighbourhood but I've never seen him and I don't know many guys living in Brooklyn smoking a Japanese brand."  Bucky was silent for a moment.  "Okay, I'll put it in a plastic bag.  I'm not being paranoid but everything about this guy made my senses alert, you know?"

He said goodbye and pulled a sandwich bag out of the pantry, then picked up the butt and put it inside the bag.  After he turned off the lights he looked out the window cutout on the door, making sure he was in the shadow.  A few minutes after he started looking the man came back, leaned against the lamp post, lit up another cigarette, then watched the house.  Stepping away slowly, Bucky looked at the plastic bag in his hand and went into the bathroom.  He pulled out the box of Rebecca's adult diapers and placed the bag in the bottom, sliding it in between a couple of them.  Then he changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt, picked up a pillow from his bed and came out to the living room, lying on the couch.  Pulling a throw blanket on top he laid there watching the door until he fell asleep.

He was awakened during the night by sounds outside.  Looking through the cutout window he couldn't see anything but did notice several intact cigarettes scattered on the road, visible in the streetlight's glow.  For about 15 minutes he watched but he didn't notice any movement and eventually returned to the couch, falling asleep quickly. 

His phone woke him up at 5:45 am and he opened the door to get the newspaper, left on the front sidewalk.  The cigarettes were all gone but he noticed several drops of blood that seemed to lead away from the house.  Kneeling down to get a better look at the blood he saw an intact cigarette under a bush on their neighbour's property.  Extending his left hand he picked it up, confirming it as the same brand as the crushed one from the previous night.  There was also a faint scent of aftershave, something that he had smelled before but he couldn't place where.

"Interesting," he said out loud, then looked all around but he was alone on the street. 

Returning to the house he started up the coffee, put the intact cigarette in another sandwich bag, and made his breakfast.  Sitting at the table when it was ready he ate and read the newspaper.  It contained much the same news as it always did except for a couple of things that caught his eye.  The first was a news article about a masked vigilante taking on certain elements of the criminal underworld.  Police were reluctant to call him a criminal himself as he had often deposited individuals onto the front steps of certain precincts with a note detailing their crimes.  The second article that got his attention was buried deep in one of the sections announcing the appointment of a new CIA director.  Her name was Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and it had her picture.  He recognized her as John Walker's employer, and as someone who had apparently tried to have Clint Barton killed by Yelena Belova, according to Sam.

He texted a note about the second news article to Foggy Nelson, wondering if Fontaine might be the one who filed an objection.   After finishing his breakfast he got dressed, retrieved the crushed and intact cigarettes, put them in his jacket pocket, and waited for Kalyna to arrive for her shift of looking after Rebecca.  As soon as she did he headed towards the docks, clocked in, and met with the other supervisors to go over the ships expected to dock that day, their manifests, and which crews would be assigned to which ships.  It was a busy day broken only by the sight of Matt Murdock waiting for Bucky as he came out of the security gate to grab some lunch at a nearby café.  His appearance was expected as he wanted to "see" the crushed cigarette Bucky picked up the night before. 

"Hi," said Bucky, noticing some cuts and bruises on Matt's face.  "What happened to you?"

A small grimace flickered across the lawyer's face. 

"Walked into some low hanging branches," he replied.  "Really did a number on my face."

Bucky hummed.  "You want something to eat?" he asked.  "My treat."

"Thanks, just coffee," said Matt.  "You go ahead."

They sat at a table and Bucky ordered coffee for both of them plus a double order of a club sandwich and fries for himself.  While they waited he pulled out the two baggies and put the one with the crushed butt in Matt's hands.

Murdock opened it and smelled the tobacco.

"It does smell different," he commented. "Was that the clue that something was up?"

"Partially," said Bucky.  "In my previous occupation I did a lot of surveillance, watching people.  Got to read them very well.  He had tells that he was lying.  The cigarettes were odd for a westerner to smoke unless he had spent time working in Japan especially with the Yakuza as each clan has their favourite brand.  Don't ask me how I know that.  He came back after I sent him on his way.  Then during the night I heard what sounded like a scuffle.  He was gone but his cigarettes were scattered.  When I got up in the morning they were gone as well except for this single one that was under a bush.  There were blood drops on the sidewalk as well as a faint scent of aftershave in the air, similar to what you're wearing."

He placed the second bag in Murdock's hand then watched him intently, noting his reaction.  A small smile crossed the lawyers's lips.

"Busted," he said in a voice so low that only Bucky would hear him.

"You're him," said Bucky, in an equally low voice.  "Your secret's safe with me, although I'm curious how a blind man's senses are on extreme overdrive.  Did he tell you anything?"

"Hired by untraceable text.  Money transferred from a secret account.  He was only to watch you, not interact.  I think they're trying to establish your routine so they can take you at some point."

"Strange this happens just as the CIA gets a new director," stated Bucky.  "Sometimes a coincidence isn't."

"My thoughts also," said Murdock, taking a sip.  "Watch your back.  They might try something with your sister or Tracey."

"She's moving in," stated Bucky.  "I can handle anyone that comes at me here or in transit but if they threaten Rebecca or Tracey I'll likely go overboard."

"Understood," said Murdock, finishing his coffee and preparing to leave.

"Matt," said Bucky.  "Come to me if you get hurt.  I have unique field medical experience.  There are ways to speed up healing.  I have your six if it comes to that."

"I appreciate the offer," said the lawyer and he extended his hand.

Bucky shook it.  His food was delivered a minute later and he enjoyed every last bite.

Friday

The crew of dockworkers under Bucky's supervision finished unloading the cargo ship just before quitting time. He still had some paperwork to finish up and returned to the office to do it.  By the time he was done the place was deserted, as the night crew were yet to arrive.  Once they came on it would get busy while they began organizing the shipping containers to load the ship for the return journey across the Atlantic.  As he signed off on the last of his paperwork Bucky stretched and stopped at the dock manager's office.

"I'm off, Rick," he said to the burly man who would stay for another couple of hours finishing his own paperwork.

"Nice work this week, Buck," he said.  "I'm glad to have you on as a supervisor.  The crew respects you.  How different is it from when you worked here in the 30s and 40s?"

"Well, we didn't have the nice forklifts then," said Bucky.  "It was a lot more back breaking.  We had cranes but not these heavy duty ones that can pick up an entire shipping container.  Everything was on pallets.  Still the same goal; get it loaded and unloaded as quickly as possible."

Rick smirked then wished Bucky a good weekend.  He went to his locker, put his jacket on and checked his phone.  Tracey was already over at the house.  He smiled, considering himself a lucky man, then texted that he was just leaving and would be there shortly.  Waving at the security guard he left the secure part of the dock facility and began the walk home.  An SUV at the side of the road drew his attention to the presence of an individual in it and he slowed up, his curiosity heightened.  The person in the driver's seat got out and turned to face him.

"Get in, I'll give you a ride home," said John Walker, the last person he expected to see waiting for him.  "We need to talk."

"No offence, John, but there's been some weird shit going on for a while," replied Bucky.  "You'll have to forgive me for not trusting you."

The man sighed.  "I get it.  You have my word I'm taking you straight home."

Bucky took a moment to consider and made the decision to go with Walker.  He got into the front seat and buckled himself in.

"So, what do we need to talk about?" asked Bucky.

"The people who ordered your arrest, for starters," said Walker.  "I had nothing to do with it.  As far as I'm concerned you've paid your debt to society and deserve to be left alone but I'm in a minority."

"Fontaine was behind it?" asked Bucky.

"It was her great idea," said Walker, sarcastically.  "But she is being pushed by someone else.  Thaddeus Ross."

Bucky's lip curled.  "Why does he want me arrested?  I was pardoned by the President himself.  Can't he leave well enough alone?"

"You don't understand," said Walker.  "They don't want you in prison.  They want you working for them and they want you to do for them what you did for HYDRA."

Bucky didn't know what to say as he was suddenly very angry.  It took a few minutes for him to get his emotions under control.  "I don't kill."

"I told them," stated Walker.  "Said you're not the Winter Soldier anymore.  Ross just laughed.  Said once a killer, always a killer."

"So why are you telling me this?" asked Bucky.  "It's not like we're good friends or anything."

"No, but I do owe you something," he replied as he pulled up in front of Bucky's house.  "I never should have taken the serum.  I thought it would make it easier to do what I do but it's so easy to lose control and I'm terrified I'll do to someone what I did to that Flag Smasher, as much as I felt justified at the time.  I never realized why you kept yourself restrained.  I get it now.  You do it so you don't become a monster.  I was cocky when they gave me the shield but I didn't deserve it.  Sam was Steve Roger's choice and I know why.  He's a much more honourable man than I'll ever be."  He took a frustrated breath before continuing.  "They're still considering their options to force you to work for them.  Expect them to get dirty.  At some point they may ask me to come after you and I won't have much choice to say no.  They know things about me, things I did in the heat of battle.  It's why I still work for Val."

Bucky nodded in understanding at this unloading of emotions coming out of Walker.  "They have you over a barrel, in other words.  I appreciate the heads up, John.  I do.  But I won't be forced into killing again, for no one.  Do they know you're here, talking to me?"

"Sort of.  I said I could probably convince you but I just said that so I could warn you.  I'll tell them you turned me down, which you did.  Whatever they ask me to do personally, I won't hurt your sister or your girlfriend.  I won't cross that line but it doesn't mean they won't find someone who will.  Watch your back and tell Sam to watch his.  They're also the ones behind the campaign to defund the Avengers."

Walker stuck his hand out and Bucky looked at it for a moment then shook it.  It took guts for John Walker to tell him this to his face.  Perhaps their cooperation against the Flag Smashers in New York had changed him enough to try to walk a straighter path.  Regardless, he had answers now and with answers perhaps he could find the right ammunition to fight Ross and Fontaine.  He got out and Walker raised a hand to his forehead before driving off.  Bucky watched him until he was out of sight.  The door to the house opened, revealing Tracey waiting for him.  God, she was beautiful; his own angel.  He felt a warmth deep in his core at the thought of them in bed later. 

"Who was that?" she asked.

"John Walker," he replied, debating at first whether he should tell her more.  "I'll tell the rest inside.  You and Rebecca both need to hear what he told me.  I'm going to get Sam, Matt and Colonel Rhodes on the phone as well.  We may have a fight on our hands."

Ten minutes later he finished telling them everything Walker told him.  No one said anything then Matt's voice came over the phone speaker.

"Well, I guess we need to do some deep digging.  There has to be something these two have done that we can use against them."

"I don't know," said Rhodes.  "Ross was Secretary of State for President Ellis.  That's a lot of political power and he would have been thoroughly vetted before being offered the position."

"That's true, but he was also in charge of the super soldier project involving Bruce Banner, right?" said Matt.  "I've done some homework already as I wondered if he was behind your payout being delayed.  What if he made overtures to HYDRA at that time to get their intel?  He might have even known about you, Bucky.  One of my sources speculated that SHIELD was able to unthaw Steve Rogers successfully because they had access to how HYDRA took you out of cryostasis without mentioning you by name."  Bucky breathed heavily when he heard that but didn't respond.  "Let me do some digging.  There has to be someone somewhere who knows something."

"Try Helmut Zemo," said Bucky.  "He's the one who framed me but he also decrypted more HYDRA files than anyone.  You might have a hard time getting hold of him as he's in the Raft now.  His right hand man is an old guy named Oeznik.  As for Val, she's not clean, I know that much.  I wouldn't be surprised if she blackmailed her way into her position."

"She was married to a guy named Everett Ross," said Rhodes.  "Had him arrested recently but he was "kidnapped" on his way into custody.  Rumour has it that the Wakandans have him."

"I'm not sure he'll help either," said Bucky.  "He was the Deputy Commander of the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre when I was taken into custody.  Sharon Carter worked for him and she helped us.  Maybe she knows something."

There was silence until Rhodes spoke.  "Buck, she's dropped out of sight.  In fact, she might be one of the targets that the CIA wants eliminated.   There's a rumour she's back in Madripoor."

"I can go there," offered Sam.  "But it would be dangerous for me."

"I could go with you," said Bucky, an offer that was met with a resounding no from both Rhodes and Matt.

"If you try to leave the country you'll just give Fontaine and Ross fuel to take you into custody," said Matt.  "You need to keep doing what you've done for the past year.  Go to work, look after your family, and stay out of trouble as much as possible."

Everyone agreed with that plan and Bucky accepted their reasoning.  For a man who had been an asset used to track down and kill HYDRA's enemies he felt somewhat helpless but he also knew that he was walking a very public tightrope.  Ross and Fontaine had resources to take him down and the last thing he needed to do was make it easy for them.  After the others hung up he sat back on the couch with his arm on the back of the sofa. 

"So how was your day?" he asked Rebecca and Tracey in an understated tone.

Rebecca had a gleam in her eye while Tracey went to the bedroom.  She came out with a walker, positioning it in front of the older woman.  Grasping the handles Rebecca raised herself and walked around the coffee table towards Bucky.  Slowly she turned around then sat down next to him, looking at him triumphantly.

"After my physiotherapy session yesterday Melinda put in for a walker," she said.  "It was delivered today, during Marie's visit.  She was so excited that she showed me herself how to use it.  She's trying to expedite that ramp."

Smiling, he put his arm around Rebecca's shoulders.  It was gratifying to see her walking.  Having mobility would help her feel better and less helpless.  There was a meow sound and Alley Cat suddenly jumped up onto the couch, settling down on Rebecca's lap.

"You brought him," said Bucky to Tracey.

"I guess he was exploring the house while we were on the phone," she said.  "I put his litter box in the basement.  You did a good job clearing space for my things.  I could add some things to the yard sale."

"You don't have to sell your stuff," said Bucky.

"I'm going to be part of the household, aren't I?" she asked, with a soft smile. 

"Yes, you are," answered Rebecca firmly, reaching across Bucky to grasp Tracey's hand.  "You can add whatever you want to it.  We're in this together now."

Bucky put his arms out to both sides and drew both women in close, kissing each of them on the sides of their heads.  Rebecca getting stronger and Tracey moving in were both important milestones for him.  The year before he first met Tracey had been hard and while he had no regrets about devoting his life to taking care of his sister the commitment had taken its toll on him emotionally and socially.  Just having another person to share even part of the load was a big weight off of his shoulders.  In many ways, it was close to the life he someday envisioned for himself before he went to war.  A home, a wife and family, perhaps looking after his parents as they aged.  So much had been denied to him and now it seemed he was finally getting that life, bit by precious bit.  There was no way he was going to give that up for the likes of Fontaine and Ross.

Part 9>>

Series Masterlist

Please support the author by reblogging.

[lovethatmakingcoffee]

i think there are a lot of contradictions with the forever stuff going on and just frankly, a lot of questions that need to be answered if anything is to be resolved. And not just on Forever's part. I want the reason and name of the anonymous user who started this. Because u better show your face and explain why you began this, because the person on the other side is out in the open for the world to jump on. If u r accusing someone of something like this, it feels a bit cowardice to hide behind your username. These are serious accusations after all. Whether true or not.

I know people might disagree, but for too long these users have hid behind anonymity and threatened/ruined people's lives. Just thinking about swatting alone for example and how those callers are never caught and tried.

Next question, is if there is a victim, a real victim, where do they stand in this? They do not have to come forward, but why is it this random twitter user name talking and not the victim?

How did this user acquire over 900 deleted tweets? That's the number, right? Why were they searching for it? What are their intentions?

If this was resolved 8 years ago, why is it being brought up again? I assume Forever is taking some steps back in this situation in order to calm down and handle this properly, so it will be a while for us to see his proper response. I don't know if the original apology exists, of it was in video format or another one of those supposed 900 texts, but perhaps a refresher on the previous drama is required.

And lastly, I do wonder if quackity and admins knew. I would hope they would have done thorough background checks on every qsmp member and at least received explanations in case things like this came up, and this type of drama appeared on the qsmp. I wonder what their tactical response will be for this.

I do think it's unwise, to kick Forever to the curb, because no matter the legitimacy of these tweets, this type of stuff is bound to be targeted everyone else's way too. I'm sure Forever is not the only own with an alleged sketchy past. Not that I believe he really did anything physical with this continuously changing aged underage girl. She's 14 one minute (which is very convenient for this story that she just meets the age of consent in Brazil and is so young that of course it would anger all of the internet) and 16 the next. Both is bad, but the number keeps changing making me question it's accuracy at all.

I just hope people are asking questions instead of deciding right away. Especially the intentions and legitimacy of this random twitter user.

Know, I could be completely wrong in the end. But please, question this. I'm quite frankly very tired at all these artists and content creators being burned at the pyre the moment the first person yells witch. It's too mob mentality.

[littlecrittereli]

It's been a long time since I watched Wild Kratts but I didn't even know he had a fandom, I'm so happy, and your story made my dream come true, I would love to create a story like you, but I'm not very good at writing stories What tips would you give to a beginner <3

I don't consider myself a super great author to be honest, I'm much more confident in my illustrations! But as someone who is completely self taught: here are some tips I use when I write my stories! (these may not apply to everyone, but they do help me) Outlines

If I'm writing a plot-based story I make an outline of all the major plot points I want to make and separate them into chapters. I reference this outline when I'm writing a chapter and it helps me meet all my "goals" for that particular chapter! Of course you can be flexible with this. Say one of your plot points dragged out a little too long and you want to save something for the next chapter, you can adjust your outline as you go! Sometimes your idea will change as you write it, and that's okay! revise your outline accordingly. For me, it's handy so I don't end up spiralling completely off the path I intended and lose the conclusion I wanted to have. Here's an example of the outline for my Reprogrammed AU. (Only chapters 1-5 to prevent spoilers for unreleased chapters)

as you can see, it doesn't have to be super formal. This is literally just in my notes app. As long as you can understand and follow your ideas, that's all that matters.

Get a Beta Reader!

I do not actually have a beta reader currently, but sending your writings to someone to proofread is one of the best ways to get genuine feedback. Try to find someone who is also pretty educated on proper grammar. I learned more about proper formatting from a fanfiction beta reader than I did in school im so fr. At the very least, make sure this person is comfortable with giving you constructive criticism. If something reads a little awkward or if a plot point doesn't make much sense/could be solved with an easier method, it's a lot easier for someone to point out when they didn't write the piece.

Study fanfictions/books you enjoy

Honestly... just reading a lot has made me a better writer. You will begin to notice the way authors describe certain feelings or environments, and that can give you insight on how to go about writing your own ideas. If I find an author I really like, I will try to dissect WHY I like them so much. Is it their accurate characterization? Do they describe emotions well? Are their plots engaging? Is their dialogue interesting? Find out what makes their writing so interesting so you can incorporate those traits into your own story. This goes for the way they format their writing as well. For example, I've found I prefer when chapters are around 1k-5k words. Really short chapters can make the story seem choppy when the reader has to constantly click to the next page, it kinda breaks the immersion of the story. Instead I try to use chapter breaks as interesting pausing points for suspense. I love it when authors leave their chapter on a slightly unfinished note. So I'm curious for the next chapter, but also I feel fulfilled with what I've read so far. And I've discovered this by analyzing the stories I enjoy!

And the most important advice I can give.... PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!

Writing is similar to drawing in the sense that in order to learn, you must DO it. You have to make the shitty stuff before you find out how to make it better! It's honestly just part of the creative process. I still have some short stories I wrote back when I was a preteen and ITS BAD LOL but I needed to go through that in order to learn and grow and be more confident in my storytelling capabilities. And just like illustrations, everyone starts at a different place and everyone's process is different. SO BE PATIENT AND DON'T GIVE UP! Write that story! Even if it's bad, who cares?! You wrote something! And next time, you will write something even better!

[fatuismooches]

ITS 💌 ANON!! as per usual i come to you with a headcanon at ungodly hours of the night in my time. i’ve been playing too much honkai star rail…BUT!! fluff and angst combo again 🏃 ure the best :(( pls don’t follow my example and get proper rest !! thanks for always being cool hehe

Dottore making a medicine that actually does work!! you can move around like normal, no longer as tired, and ofcourse- Dottore is thrilled. He’s done it, he kisses them and he takes reader everywhere, every single place he wanted to- he checked everything, they were fine…until suddenly, they fainted and he basically finds out that the medicine could only make everything good for a short amount of time before putting reader in the most excruciating pain possible after, so sadly, zandik curses himself and gets back to work :(( he dosent care about the sacrifices, he dosent care what he has to give and what gets taken away as long as you don’t. He’s a committed man and he’s committed for until after life. Literally will reincarnate with you if he can because he will *not* let go.

TO THE FLUFF THOUGH! zandik taking atleast 1 hour everyday to do something that you like because he realizes that you miss him (and he misses you too). At first he was wary because he wanted to ensure that he could get you cured as soon as possible, but he couldn’t handle it if you were all sad and gloomy either. He didn’t want you to think of yourself as a burden and god forbid, you try to leave again (referring to that one ask where reader leaves bc they feel like a burden,, in feel like he’s be so damn scared…even if he won’t admit it). So reading you a book? sure, just be prepared for many side comments if it’s some cheesy romance novel or him reading a textbook. Drawing? hell, he’ll draw an anatomical heart with you holding it! Cuddling? he’ll wrap you up in his fluffy coat and hug you as much as you want.

- 💌 anon

AWW ILYY 💌 ANON!! Hehe I am trying my best to go to sleep earlier... it's a work in progress. Also i feel you on the HSR brainrot but I'm TBL 57, have no good artifacts since I haven't farmed, and stuck on the deer boss fight ��� i gotta get on the grind soon 😫🫠 But you better get proper rest too!!! Or else- 💖💖

NOOO THE FLUFF GETS IMMEDIATELY WIPED AWAY TO ANGST- I can't imagine the sheer happiness you two would feel. Reader, of course, would be absolutely elated and very plainly show how delighted they are. You're running, hopping, Dottore even twirls you around and you do a pretty little spin as you fall back into his arms. You're so happy, you haven't smiled or laughed this much in ages. Dottore, as usual, doesn't show nearly as much emotion as you, but don't let that fool you. Internally, he's feeling something he has never felt before, so foreign that normally he'd be trying to get rid of it but this time he knows exactly why he's having this feeling. Thrilled, excited, proud, enthusiastic, words that could not even begin to fully describe this feeling. Centuries of work finally paid off, never to have to be repeated again. To see you so purely happy, makes him look forward to things going back to how they once were. Oh, how much fun you'd have joining him as his assistant again. The whole atmosphere and feelings of the clones in the lab are in sync for once.

Except... it all comes crashing down. Literally. When you collapse in his arms with ragged breaths, skin searing to the touch, actual tears begin to form from how badly it hurts. Immediately the mood from early deflates as he rushes to get you back to normal and ease your suffering </3 To have something he desires right in his hands, just to be snatched away from him with no warning is something he's never experienced before. He is a scholar, possibly one of the most intelligent beings in Teyvat. Such a thing shouldn't have happened to him. But it did, and he has to start over. He probably killed some people to blow off steam. No remorse. Just anger.

Sigh sigh I LOVE THIS SM. Normally, he'd scoff if it was any other activity. Especially when it's boring meetings. A whole hour? For nonsense? He finds it meaningless. His 24 hours are spent doing important things. Important things being research, experiments, notes... and you, of course. You're right, when Dottore has a goal or something he wants to reach, he just throws himself into it. No breaks, nothing, he just wants to make progress, progress, progress. Especially when it's you on the line. He'll refuse any and all contact. But he's come to realize your state deteriorates even more if your needs are not met by him. Not to mention the clones are sending messages to each other internally about how sad you are, which he decides he overhears way too frequently </3 So he knows he has to put a stop into it. (And yes, that ask was sad as hell, I still think about it 😭🥺)

Love how we agree he's a pro at drawing anatomical stuff hehe. You cut out the hearts he draws and put them on your walls or something ;( And also AHHHH THE FLUFFY COAT CUDDLING... No words can describe how much I love that scenario. It's so cute to think about both of you wearing it at the same time... you're on his lap, he's wearing the coat but it's swallowing your whole body up anyway since it's wrapped around, the fluff tickling your face!! <3 The book is in your hand, you both take turns reading it but Dottore interrupts whenever something dumb is said or done. Oh.. but you end up falling asleep since his voice is so relaxing and his chest is so comfy..

Ughhh eternal lovers with Dottore is hitting me right now ;( Especially when you talked about his commitment... hell yes this crazy doctor will not bat an eye at anyone else besides you it doesn't matter how long it's been. For you he has no limits. He always be intrigued and into this person who managed to worm their way into his cruel cold heart...

[lacrimosathedark]

Alright Hazbin Fandom. Let's talk about AI.

AI is always a grey area, especially with how new it is and how slow protections are to being instated.

I initially listened to "[character] sings [song]" type AI covers because to me it felt like auditory fanfiction, and it being character-specific and not person-specific gave it a level of distance. But fanfiction has specific legal protections where AI as of now does not. For example, you can't make money off of someone else's IP. There aren't solidly such protections for AI.

I never listened to covers involving Loona because I knew Erika Lindbeck has expressed not liking her voice used for AI. I stopped listening altogether because Amir Talai expressed he did not like the AI covers with his likeness and the majority was Alastor, so I stopped out of respect for him.

My mind also initially compared it to Vocaloids and other synth voices, but the difference is those voices were recorded for the purpose of writing and covering music. The actors knew what they were signing up for and were compensated.

There has been a major issue in the Hazbin fandom of not just AI covers, but using AI to speak as characters and making money off of it, with the express DISAPPROVAL of the voices they're stealing. And this is NOT OKAY. That is so many levels of theft and disrespect it's astonishing.

Look, you aren't evil if you've ever enjoyed an AI cover. I know a lot of us have seen and enjoyed the AI cover of "Your Stupid Face". But you should be aware, from here on out, that as long as you are using AI for this purpose, especially if you're posting it, even more if you are making money off of it, that is both not okay and could also get you sued.

I'm not joking.

Stop supporting the use of AI voices, at least until there are proper protections in place. Do not make and share them. Do not listen to them. Report them if you can.

And if you REALLY love the "[character] sings [song]" type covers, support people who actually sing as the characters!!! Fan songs and fan covers are usually much better quality anyways, and you're supporting actual artists!

I'll even give you some to start you off.

Silva Hound writes music for Hellaverse projects now, but they also did fansongs (and Addict) between the pilot and series. "Radio Play" is a personal favorite of mine I listened to on repeat, but other bangers include "Royal Flush" (with Mick Lauer, Husk's OG VA), Redemption Arc (with Elsie Lovelock, Charlie's OG VA), and Vox's Interlude.

PARANOiD DJ is THE guy for this stuff. He made a bunch of old fan songs and a couple of covers himself, and has also made songs WITH cast members, Krystal LaPorte, Edward Bosco, and Michael Kovach. I'm sure you've heard "Smile Like You Mean It" and "Use Me Up" and the Angel & Vox version of "Valentino". That's this guy. And there's so much more. Seriously, check this guy out.

MilkkyMelodies isn't usually my taste, but she's pretty prolific atm and she's done quite a few fansongs, some of which are other character rewrites of songs from the show, like Stayed Gone for Lute and Lilith, Hell's Greatest Mom for Lilith and Rosie, Poison for Emily, Respectless for Vaggie and Lute, there's a lot. She's one to give a try at the very least.

Caleb Hyles does mostly rock/metal versions of songs, but he's also made some fansongs and fancovers. He wrote "Wash it Clean", a Lucifer song, he's covered Karma (that Jojo Siwa song that has no right to be as funky as it is) as Angel Dust, and he and a few others did a Hazbin version of "Hell's Coming With Me", that big Poor Man's Poison song that was everywhere, yknow "I am the righteous hand of God and I am the Devil that you forgot" that one.

McGwire has a few fan songs, though I admittedly have only listened to one, but that one is a fucking BANGER and it's "Welcome to Hell", a Husk song. It's SO GOOD.

And there's probably more but this post is already long.

But THESE are the people you should be supporting, not people stealing other people's voices.

And hey, if none of this gets through? Have you seen The Little Mermaid? Remember, no matter how fab she was, Ursula was the villain. And even she had the owner of the voice she stole sign a contract. None of yall have contracts with these actors and no right to their voices.

Feel free to reblog with any other fan artists you may know so we can get them more traction and support than people who don't know what boundaries are.

[jigschosai]

The Dawntrail Review no one asked for

Lots of spoilers ahead, you've been warned.

Initially after I finished Dawntrail I had to write a short piece featuring Jigs and Nashmeira to help convey how hard it hit me, and at the time that's what I needed. Now with a bit of time and space behind me I'm in the mood to toss out my 2 cents about the expansion as a whole.

I liked it - a lot. And I feel it was really well done, and generally an improvement over everything previously.

I'm not going to rehash the entire plot, because if you're reading this then you likely know it already. But I did want to touch on a few key things that I think really set it apart.

The first was for the bulk of it, we weren't the main character. It wasn’t about the WoL, though we do see things from their perspective, it was about Wuk. It was about how she matured from a goofy sheltered kid with a skewed view of the world into a leader you could be kind of proud of. In some ways it mimicked Lyse and Stormblood, but I felt the execution was a lot better because when we got to the end we weren’t blindsided by someone being put in charge where it made little sense. Wuk earned it (as did Koana).

From a broader perspective it did something else that was really needed after Endwalker. It made the WoL’s power moot. Sure we could punt Bakool Ja Ja and Zarool Ja into next week – but really, it wasn’t our fight, or our place to do so. And while I’m never a fan of playing a different character such as when you play Wuk versus Bakool Ja Ja, I easily understood why I needed to. It wasn’t an irritation like some many times before. Ok, not as much of an irritation.

In a game like FFXIV, power creep is always going to be an issue over the long term. You want players to feel like they’re getting more powerful, but over time the threats get more and more absurd when you take a step back. For example, where was Meteion when everything else was going on up until Shadowbringers? By making the bulk of the story about Wuk, it avoided a lot of the power creep problem. We didn’t need to have a giant villain come out of the blue that didn’t make a lot of sense, which was one of my primary complaints about Endwalker. Yes it was great to see everybody again for the finale, but it never felt like a proper ending the way Shadowbringers did. It felt like an epilogue, a snippet of story to remind you of the characters that are not going to be back, along with a villain that really didn’t matter.

And a quick side note as I’m about to move on from Wuk. I’ve seen a bunch of complaints about her voice actress, and I don’t get it. The delivery always seemed fine to me, not that I have the most discerning ear. I can’t remember any point where I felt the voice was way off from how Wuk was acting or appearing. On top of that it was great to finally here some non-English accent voices, which helps with the diversity of the world.

Loosely that brings us to the trip with Erenville back to his home as we got what we wanted, a pass through that big door. This was probably the slowest the game was for me, but it still wasn’t bad by a long shot. In other expansions this lull hit hard because I kept feeling like “The world is ending! Get to the point already!” This, the “big stuff” so far as we knew was over. So doing a quick little adventure in a wild west type town wasn’t bad, it was something to do as we wandered around. This break was welcome, and it made sense. We weren’t waiting to get back to the main plot, we were waiting to see what it was, which is much easier to deal with.

Then we get to Solution Nine! Finally, a spot in FFXIV where the modern clothing we’ve had for ages looks like it fits in. The FF series has always been neat to me because of how it mixes magic and technology so well. There are variations, and a couple things that do it better (coughXenogearscough) but the way the cyberpunk theme was worked into the game went pretty well. Perfect, no, I feel time travel is always a bit sketchy, but good enough. I haven’t enjoyed running around a city this much since the Crystal Tower in Shadowbringers.

The only part I couldn’t figure out in this section was Galool Ja. I imagine there’s a side quest I haven’t done that explains it, but the fact he was around at all is a bit confusing to me. It almost felt like he was the time travel in Endwalker where “oops, we wrote ourselves into a corner.” But if I dig around a bit I may find it better thought out.

Finally – Living Memory. To say this part hit me like a train is understating it severely. Turning off each section and having it so final was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in a game (different kind of hard than Elden Ring). Knowing that inevitably we’d turn off Cahciua’s section and she’d be gone too was rough for some very personal reasons. But I think anyone who had to deal with losing a loved one to a terminal illness probably has a good idea why. You always want one more adventure, one more meal, one more day. But inevitably, it all has to come to an end. My biggest complaint is there was not a proper hug between Erenville and Cahciua; but I know there’s some level of projection on my part going on there.

That brings me to our v-tuber-esque villainess Sphene. I mean the v-tuber-esque as a compliment, love many of the designs out there and Sphene, even though she is not a v-tuber, is no exception. As the big-bad, I feel like she’s a step behind Emet, but they got her right. You’re brought along with her to understand her, and just like with Emet, see you’re on two opposite sides of something and there is not middle ground to meet in. It’s the WoL’s way, or a way that stands against everything the WoL stands for. Just like with Emet, conflict is inevitable, despite how long it was put off and how much the WoL (and the player) has come to understand them.

Those kinds of villains make me think about the WoL, and their place in the grand scheme of things. Will there come a point where we’re the villain? Where like Emet and Sphene, we’re doing everything we can to protect our people, and doing so at the expense of others? So far we’ve largely been spared that (maybe don’t ask Garlemald). And at the end we get our special Azem inter-dimensional sippy-cup. And I think that is a good way to setup for the future where everything on our star is fairly well settled, and we can start exploring others. Maybe even properly revisit the first.

Lastly the upgrade to the difficulty is largely welcome. I’m a bit slow and have had a tough time figuring out some of the mechanics in a timely manner, but it’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed having to toss out clemency and cover far more routinely. The content is a lot more engaging and a bit harder to blindly memorize which makes doing roulettes routinely less of a mindless chore.

I know I’m in the minority, but this is my favorite expansion so far. It made up a lot of short comings some of the other expansions had, and I’m way more excited for future expansions than I was about Dawntrail. I feel like the more technical sides of the writing (e.g. avoiding power creep), and the pacing of the story (e.g. lulls when they’re a good fit) has improved a lot. It’s going to be interesting to see how things change in the future.

[pomrania]

Bernie's Gods (working title)

"2. the god of war died in a bizarre trebuchet accident several decades previously; a coalition of other gods have been playing Weekend at Bernie’s with their priesthood ever since, doing their best to answer their prayers with variable plausibility and success." ~ @prokopetz, "Standard fantasy RPG pantheon, except"

This is just me getting my thoughts written down and out there; actual presentation will come later.

The base concept is that you play as the gods who are "filling in" for the dead god, doing the best they can, within their own domains. Think "trying to do a job, with the tools and skills for a completely different job". There's no state of "failure" here, as the opinions of mortals don't matter; rather, it's judged on style by other gods.

By default, the dead god is the god of war, and the setting is somewhere between Mythological Ancient Greece and Fantasy Medieval Europe. If you're doing something different, that needs to be clarified at the beginning of play.

I'm writing this with the concept that there's no GM (which I'm pretty sure is workable as I've had the idea for working it, for a while), and also that nobody has a specific character they're playing (which I'm less sure about, but it's the cornerstone for the rest of the concept which came to me last night, and without it I wouldn't have a full game idea).

As the first or second thing to set up before the game, everyone writes down two things that the dead god is asked for or about. (Proper term is yet to come; something like prayer or petition or request. Also yet to come is stuff an talks about what kind of stuff that could be.) One of those things gets given to the person on their left, and the other gets given to the person on their right. This is what I'm doing instead of "having a GM"; the "problem setup" is distributed; if you'd want to have a set GM, then just disregard this part.

As the second or first thing to set up before the game, work out what gods -- or more specifically, what domains -- will be active here, and write out a numbered list of them, such that one can easily be selected randomly. (Yet to do: write up some examples.) My current thought is that there should be fewer of them, than there are people playing the game, but that's subject to change upon examination.

So, at the start, once things have been set up, there's a list of the involved domains that can be rolled on (or number-generated, but I'm just going to say "roll"), and everyone has two 'prompts' from two different people.

Play begins, and it's the same for each person's turn ('turn order' doesn't really matter so I'm not going to get into it here). You look at the written thingers you were given, and pick one (or pick the remaining one if you've only one left). That's the thing you have to do. Then you roll on the list to see which god you're acting as. ('God-selection' is done randomly and independently, which means there's a chance that not all of them will be acting the same number of times. This is… not quite 'intentional', but once I realized it I was like 'oh yeah this works, and I like it better than making sure it's equal'.) If you have questions about the 'request', you ask the person on the opposite side of you from where it came from; that is, the one who did NOT write it.

So you have the thing you need to respond to, and you have the domain your powers are in. Come up with how you're going to respond to it, given the stuff you have access to.

Here's the stuff I'm not so sure about; I mean I think it's a good idea, but I haven't had much time to turn it over in my head (I just got it last night before falling asleep) so I can't be sure. The other players then judge your idea based on three criteria (as follows), which determines the dice you have access to. By default, that's a d6 on each aspect, and I'm not sure if a tie should go to "default" or "non-default", but that's a problem for future write-ups of this thing.

Aspects to judge it on: a) does it directly respond to the thing you were given; b) does it involve your domain; c) does it feel like something the dead god would do, specifically that domain, plausibility. If your idea 'fits' an aspect, you get to roll a d8 instead of a d6; if it doesn't 'fit', you roll a d4. So like, if nobody had any strong feelings on what you were going to do, you'd roll 3d6; if it was all-around great or horrible you'd roll 3d8 or 3d4 respectively; and if some parts were good and other parts weren't so good, you'd roll three dice in various combinations of d4, d6, and d8. (This needs to be phrased better and also positioned better, because I think "what dice you might roll" should go ahead of "how you determine which dice to roll".)

Example. Let's say you were beseeched for victory in battle, and you're acting under the domain of "storm". You decide to send a lightning bolt to fry the enemy commander while they're in their tent. You are very much acting with the stuff you have as your domain (lightning bolt to the face), so that'd be one d8 from there; and it also very strongly and directly responds to the thing you were given ("lightning bolt to the face" is a pretty obvious message that someone up there doesn't want you to succeed), so that's another d8. However, it doesn't fit with what a god of war would do, there's no implication that it's "war" instead of "storms" that's mad at the enemy commander, so that's a d4. All total, you'd roll 2d8+d4.

Now, the dice themselves and what they mean. (Keep track of stuff from the results, but it's tracked per god, not per player.) Write down each Low; my current thought is that it's "each time you have either 1 or 2 showing as a result", but the numbers are still iffy so I'm putting it as Low instead of encoding a specific value. Note that the fewer sides a dice has, the greater your chance of getting a Low. This is considered the number of mess-ups that the god did. For the second thing to keep track of, I'm not so sure about this one, but I'm tentatively putting it as "the sum total of the dice rolled". So, if you were rolling 3d6 and your results were 1, 4, 6, you'd write down that you had one Low, and a sum total of 11.

Play would end once all the thingers have been used up, which here would be once everyone's gone twice. Look at the list of domains (where the results were tracked), and see which one has accumulated the most Lows; that god gets mocked for messing up so often. Then add up each sum total, and see who's accumulated the highest results throughout the game; that god gets praised for doing a good job. It's very possible for those to be the same god, because that's the one who got rolled to act the most often; this is intentional. And because of the disconnect between 'player' and 'character', I don't feel bad about exposing a character to mockery.

So, stuff to do for future versions, aside from "make everything neat and clear":

come up with a name for the stuff that gets written at start of play, for things to do

write something up about what kinds of things the above would be, drawing from both fantasy gaming and literature, and my "I read an article on it once" knowledge of historical polytheism

list examples of domains

find a better way to phrase the aspects that an idea gets judged on; possibly write up a thing on voting for that

[hekate1308]

Fictober #6, I'm Not Giving Up

Prompt: I'm Not Giving Up

Fandom: Death In Paradise

Pairing: Camille Bordey/Richard Poole

In the beginning, Camille would be the first to admit, she had hated working with Richard. He had seemed pedantic, rude and unlikeable, and in some ways, she would admit that he was… just… not the way she had thought. Yes, he did not quite understand social cues now and then, and he could be stubborn when running down a lead, but she had come to realize he also cared deeply about the victims and that each and every case should be wrapped up because it was his duty to do so.

And this was just another example.

Alice Morgan had been found dead a week ago on the beach, and there was almost nothing to go on. The tide had gotten to her before she had been found – really it was a miracle that she had not been swept away by the sea, which was undoubtedly what the murderer had wanted – there was little evidence, no reason why someone should murder her, nothing.

Camille had seen enough such cases over the course of her career to feel that it was hopeless, and was all but resigned to that fact.

Richard, as it turned out, not so much.

They had all gone home for the day. There was nothing to be done until they got the lab results back, although Camille was rather sure that that would lead to nothing, either, so she did it best not to think about it –

Until she’d realized she’d forgotten her wallet at the station because she’d had to reorganise her purse and her drawers (maman, when she told her alter, would make some comments about imitating a certain someone, but there would be enough interesting developments for her to deal with anyway) and quickly returned to grab it. And what she found was Richard still going through the evidence.

She glanced at her watch – close to ten pm. She had known he worked long hours, of course, just like she was aware that he found it difficult to sleep anyway with the weather (and she was trying, really trying, to get him to find a place with a proper AC, figuring he would not be so cranky if eh wasn’t so hot all the time).

Wondering if she should say something, then deciding that against all odds, they were friends, she cleared her throat as she stepped into the station. “Ricard, I didn’t know you were still here…”

He looked up and blinked, clearly needing a moment or two to recognize her, and she would have Eben worried if she ah dot come to understand him much better than she had at the beginning. He had simply been lost in thought and she just had to wait.

Then he asked, “Camille? Is there something you need?” as if he was not working late into the night.

“I just needed something from my desk, that is all…” after a moment or two she added “§I didn’t think anyone would still be here.”

“I told you before, in London we usually have two teams, so really, this is just me trying my best…”

And naturally he had not mentioned it to anyone because why would he. She suppressed a sigh than sat down at her desk. “Fine, let’s go over it again.”

“I – oh –“ he was clearly surprised “Camille, you don’t have to – I am sure you have plans – “

“As a matter of fact I don’t, and even if I had, why should you work away all alone?”

It was then that he shrugged and said quietly “I’m used to it.”

“Richard” she tried, “We really have to make sure we’re well-“

“I’m not giving up” he interrupted her stubbornly. The victim serves justice, and –“

And she realized that this was not about Richard being right, or proving himself better than the rest of the team, or anything else she would have assumed just after he had been transferred here.

No, this was simply about solving the case, giving the victim back whatever dignity they could have, and she raised a hand to quietly say, “Richard, I know.”

This interrupted him mid-rant and he looked at her, then nodded, as if he was shocked that she had agreed.

Then a groan made itself known and she raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t have dinner, did you?”

“I – “ he cleared his throat. “I figured this was more important –“

“It is important, but you need to keep up your strength.” She made a quick decision. “Come on, I can make you something quick at my place.”

He blushed. “Camille, I – just – It’s very kind of you, but – “

“No buts. Come on.” And against all odds, he followed her.

At least in later years, she didn’t have to tell him to come to dinner. Sending one of their children to fetch Dad usually did the trick.

[justdenys1]

Ok, so, I wanted to discuss this for a while. Recently it has been revealed that cancelled Crash 5 was going to be a crossover with Spyro, which devastated many people that it wouldn't happen. But personally for me, besides just being sad that there likely won't be a new crash game for a while, it just felt like nothing. Because personally, I just do not see Crash and Spyro being paired up as a good idea. Sure, MARKETING-wise these two franchises are similar, 3D platformers on playstation which were paired up for some reason, but beyond that - they have practically nothing in common. Although not really good examples, as by themselves these things are pretty trash, but the times they did crossover, it was pretty much JUST crash and spyro, nothing beyond them just meeting and that's it. Not the game where they throw molotovs at each other, not the TV show where crash was replaced with a lookalike, not the imaginators game where crash felt like a really separate part of the game, none of that made me think that it was a good idea to begin with. Same thing with Mario & Sonic actually, people THINK they want a proper crossover game, but in actuality nothing good would come out of it, since they're linked together with marketing and nothing more. But speaking of Sonic, I realized there IS a franchise that Crash IS actually pretty similar to, had similar history with different enough bits that make them contrast each other, with characters similar, yet unique. So I decided to make a list of all things that possibly could tie them together. Pretty much all I'm asking from people is to make more crossover art with them lmao. One thing I don't mention there tho is that orange and blue are opposites and work together better than orange and purple or blue and red.

[wytfut]

Covid is a live and well

As I stumble along thru life (thats everything, everyday).... last week I picked up covid for my very first time. Sigh..not a virgin any more...

No idea where/how/when..... but "boy howdy" I got it, and it hammered me.

Initially during the pandemic, I did due diligence by obeying the rules of engagement. Oh I wasn't good at it, but I did what I could. Even with my sloppy methods I didn't get it. Which in turn had me believing "I'm too good at this, to get it..." ..

.......

Information led us all to believe that the government had an SOP in place, and knew what they were talking about. Rules of engagement changed as much as Trumps advice to us all. Dr. Fauci the man in the know was whipped in public, .... his down fall being his speaking skills.

Examples in the early days sounded like a science fiction movie. I remember seeing a news interview with some guy, whos ends of his fingers had turned black (first and last time I had heard that example).

......

I knew several folks who lost their lives to this bug. So I realized it wasn't something to mess around with. Every loss was amazing, how quickly it took them. My 94 year old uncle was grading fields on Tuesday, and gone by Saturday (actual days don't matter now). It wasn't playing around, no matter what anyone believed .

Vac? no Vac? ..... covid really didn't care what your opinion was, she was random, and efficient

.....

I got all the covid vaccines. All of them.

Listened to many folks opinions about the vaccines. Good and Bad. I'll be honest, then and now, I still don't know if its the proper way to go with this battle. But I'll most likely continue... I don't have the answers..

The argument has been presented to all of us..... which is saying a couple of things. : Are we lemmings? and/or Is this natures way of culling the herd.

I think its applicable in theory.... just like the rules of engagement are in a sense "a theory".

......

Things I know:

It was horrible for 2 days. Something to the tune of influenza on steroids', with his big mean brother "fate" tagging along getting his kicks in. I'm on day 4-5 now, feeling pretty good, but on border of being contagious yet.

The medication Paxlovid seems to really work, but that dirty metal taste that is continuous, is wearing on my patience..... gag....

It truly does come on like severe allergies. I thought I had an allergy issue, as I had mowed a dry yard that very same day.

The fat guy in me, truly lost his appetite for 24 hours minimum.

I couldn't get warm one night. I couldn't get cool another. (I'm tired of flop sweat, so gross)

My Wife is my angel.... her real knowledge of this affliction most likely saved me a ton of grief. I so hope due to my nonattentive ways she doesn't get it from me....

I sincerely hope no one gets this from me.

I never lost my sense of taste or smell.

Here's an interesting one.... my legs quit hurting. Is it because I'm sitting around 24/7, is it covid reacting, is it the medication. Most likely my legs getting a rest.

......

My Wife unlike me, knows all the ins and outs of the rules of engagement of covid. I felt I too knew, but everything I knew was vague, and carried absolutely no weight in decisions. I depended on her to make all my decisions. And very happy I did.

Patti got covid just before Andy Latensers memorial service last December. I don't remember what grabbed her attention, but she felt she'd better test. And it was positive 2 times. She was very disappointed she couldn't attend the service. Amazingly, her symptoms were minimal at best. She didn't feel sick, and had nothing else other than a temperature.

As "they" say, it affects everyone differently. Many lives were lost that just didn't make sense, and others who you'd think for sure weren't going to make it.... it was a breeze. Makes no sense in this guys mind.

Just a guy being a guy, thinking he has out smarted life in general, ... but in reality doesn't know anything.

.....

best facts I could find:

you can be infected up to 14 days before showing signs

you can go back out in public 2 days after symptoms disappear or 2 clean tests.... basically 5 days after first symptoms

,,,

Looking at those 14 days.... I'm pretty much a home body, but wow, that was a lot of folks to look at. The morning before I realized I had it, I was at the geezers coffee, sitting tightly with a bunch of old guys. Laughing, telling stories, eating... not a care in the world. I most certainly hope none of them got covid. ....

I'd feel horrible....

[moontheoretist]

(Screenshots are from anime: Kyou kara Maou!)

If only modern anime had the same approach to pairings as the old ones, some of those anime would be so much better. I have no idea why isekai became synonymous with female harem, but sometimes those harems are so out of the blue there, just for the sake of being there, that you get the feeling that they serve no other purpose than to pander to young men, while the story suffers, because some male character has more chemistry with the protagonist but will never be allowed to be seen as proper possible love interest for no reason.

People who know me will probably know what I will say now. Yes, Tate no Yuusha is one of those stories. That story is so much better when the protagonist either doesn't have any love interest, or they're from a different world than the one Naofumi was summoned to, as the huge part of Tate no Yuusha story is the fight between worlds for survival that creates a perfect simulation of Romeo & Juliet trope. Especially if you look at L'Arc the disaster bi who couldn't even fulfil the one and only objective he was sent to Raphtalia's world for: killing Naofumi.

Naofumi's harem is so out there, that it could as well just not exist. It seriously works thematically better as a father with a bunch of kids trope rather than harem, especially now in season 3 when Naofumi literally has a gaggle of children in his village that he basically raises.

Raphtalia then fulfills the typical trope of a daughter that idolized her father so much that she wanted to marry him. Her infatuation didn't truly disappear when she grew up, mostly due to the fact that she did grow up so quickly as a demihuman that her feelings didn't have time to fade. Most little girls at some point grow out of idolizing their dad, but Raphtalia as a demihuman didn't have the same chance. And I'm not saying it to dig at Naofumi x Raphtalia shippers. I don't condemn any ship and never will. I'm just stating how I see the story and what I feel would work better for this particular setting than forced harem.

Second on my list of possible suitors for Naofumi, when we assume that he wants any suitors at all or is not aromantic (as aro protagonist is also something that I'd want to see more often) is Therese. Hell, it'd be great to see a canon polyamorous triad in an isekai setting tbh.

Another good example is Isekai Cheat Magician, where one of the protagonists - Rin Azuma has more chemistry with Myura than with the second protagonist that she supposedly has a crush on. And ok, sure, she was in love with him for years, so maybe it's not fair to take it away, but at the same time the romance seems unlikely as Taichi doesn't seem to harbor the same feelings and treats Rin more as if she was his sister than a possible girlfriend. Even if I created a poly couple here, it'd always feel to me as if Taichi was a third wheel.

More obvious example is SAO, where love between Kirito and Eugeo is expressed in symbols as well as Kirito's heartbreak at the end of the Alicization Arc, but doesn't strike the audience hard enough to admit that Kirito is truly bisexual and that he loved both Asuna and Eugeo. It's there if you look at it closely, but people still deny it and call me names when I bring up that both Asuna and Kirito are bisexual and that both loved a same-sex character that ultimately died later on. I feel that the story hits harder when you say it was about queer love, especially in Alicization, because then it'd mean that there was huge romance drama going on (Kirito > Eugeo > Alice > Kirito), where all protagonists' love is unrequited. It's the most tragic love triangle.

I also mentioned a manga before that I feel would benefit from it too. Hero in that story is just such a worrywart in regard to the protag.

I'm seriously starved for some good modern isekai with homo or bi male protagonist. I'm getting some w|w recently, but I feel like m|m will never come, as if w|w were easier to get than actual m|m here.

I'm not complaining. I just have this feeling that isekai is avoiding true m|m and instead is only providing us w|w, which tbh we were starved for and want more obviously, but give us some m|m too if you please.

[teddybeartoji]

dune part two babyy!!!!

i'll try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. as possible as a review can go i guess..... and as always this was a ramble and it's not really proofread my apologies my loves it's kinda late and my head hurts so this'll have to do!

THE SOUND WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOD OH MY FUCKING GOD MY EYES WERE ROLLING BACK INSIDE MY HEAD AFTER LIKE 10 SECONDS ALREADY that was great i loved it

but overall.... i definitely preferred the first one. i don't know maybe it was my own fault - that i was so excited and i might've gotten my hopes so far up but then again i really wasn't expecting anything......... i haven't read the book so i don't know the story and i avoided clips and trailers as much as i could. i guess the only expectation i had that it was gonna be mindblowing. it was okay. and it feels so weird to say it when all of the other reviews are so good lmao so yk i'm reminding us all that i am a simple Movie Watcher And I Know Nothing.

the difference between a good movie or a bad one for me is really simple for me. whether it makes me Feel something. anything. ok, not anything - boredom and annoyance don't really count here. dune part two kind of left me cold. yes, i got chills every once in a while but that was mostly because of the sound design and not because of whatever was happening on the screen.

chalamet had his moments. at the end at least. i thought he was great in the first one but this was kinda just meh. for the most part it just felt like he was there.... but he's literally the main character so that's not good lmao.

another thing that really threw me off was the non-existent chemistry between chalamet and zendaya. it's simply not there. but it's such a big part of the movie??????????? their first kiss was the biggest Meh of all time??????? well, actually pretty much all of their scenes were like that. "meh" isn't even a proper word but idk what else to use here i apologize. now that i'm thinking about it - i can't really give you an example of a good scene of theirs........ boo!

rebecca ferguson is great i love her but her part in this one wasn't too exciting either................... there really wasn't a single performance i feel like i should pluck out bc they were all just very mid. nothing special caught my eye and it's disappointing bc in the first one it's the complete opposite? oscar isaac is there, stellan skarsgård, dave bautista, jason mamoa???????, chalamet obviously, ferguson obviously - so where did all of that go in this one???

now i have two things that i wish had been a little different BUT but but there's a massive but here. neither of those things are villeneuve things. at all. so it's kind of stupid for me to even be bringing them up but am anyway. i wish there was more blood. sigh. pretty sure everyone that follows me already knows of my Bloodlust lmao but i really do think a few scenes would've been better, more effective with it. i'm not talking about blood splatter - it's not some crazy horror movie. i just wanted to see more of it. a pool of blood here and there. i mean the dead bodies were there. is that too much to ask for? maybe villeneuve is just going for the more realistic look...... but ahhh. there was a scene (not a big spoiler i promise) where a person is stabbed in the neck and even though the knife is left in there, there would still be blood coming out of it, no? or idk if he was a weirdo and his blood wouldn't have been red i just wanted SOMETHING to come out from there. it just looked kinda bland.

but since i am a villeneuve doesn't really do blood. in any of his films. it's always very little - mostly only the main characters get to have blood on them. paul (dune's mc) certainly had some on him in the end but LOOK IT JUST DIDN'T SATIATE MY THIRST AAAAAAAAAA it's whatever i guess i can't stay mad at him he's a god i love him

and the second thing, another thing he doesn't really do - fight scenes. here's a reminder that i very much love action movies and so i've seen enough of fight scenes to understand what makes one good and what makes one bad.... i wish he'd show the fights more. if a fight is all cut up - it feels incredibly fake. and that's exactly how the one-on-one fights were like in dune part two. very close-up and cut up. you can't see what's happening so it doesn't matter to you. if you can see more of their moves, you can kind of get more into it yourself but alas only seeing their upper bodies and their unamused faces doesn't really do that. scruntched eyebrows "grr i'm so angry". yeah, okay. show me your moves bitch boy i don't care about your face!!

perhaps i simply need to watch it again. maybe it'll be better the second time around but for now - it was a big big meh. it does feel weird to not be as not into it as everyone else seems to be. the good old rottentomatoes puts this on a whopping 95% while the first sits at a 83% and yk it just makes it seems that i'm really missing out on something lmao. if i do see it again and if the second watch actually changes something i will let you all know i can promise you that!!

very long story short - as an action buff and a villeneuve lover... this was kind of boring. sad emoji face. three stars out of five.