#idk i may delete this post

[moonmaidensblessing]

BioShock x Mad Men AU pt. 1

The Characters:

Betty Draper is the wife of handsome, charismatic yet troubled Don Draper, the protagonist of the TV series, Mad Men. Set in the 1960s, Betty Draper is thought of as the perfect, beautiful housewife. 

Mary Winslow is my headcanon name for Jasmine Jolene. In this AU, she never took on an alias to join the world of performance. Instead, her husband, Avery Jones (OC), convinces her to settle down in surburbia and start a go at having a family. Turning her back on a wealthy suitor (Andrew Ryan), she agrees to marry Avery and give up her dreams of stardom in exchange for a life more like her own mother had. She seeks peace and happiness from this move. The opposite seems to occur.

This is only part one, if I even continue it, and it will most likely feature more characters. I had a nice emotional carthsis from writing this, as I focused on an area of life I’m struggling with and just ran with it. Share your thoughts, if you like. I just ask you to be kind about it. :)

Heads up: views expressed by characters are not always reflective of my personal views. I try to write in character, take what I interpret from their canon media as their POV. Just FYI. 

“Oh, Betty!” 

The tone was pitiful--- such sorrow, a dove crushed, desperate to seek flight to safety. She fell through the door, eyes twinkling with tears that were pure sadness, a drunkenness in her clumsy motions that were usually so graceful. 

Her friend noticed it; her lips set hard, blue eyes icy. But there was a hint of genuine concern beneath it all. She didn’t block the other woman from entry, a hand that came up to support her before she stumbled into the umbrella stand. 

“Mary, what on earth-? What’s happened?” Betty sputtered, bringing up her other hand to steady the woman. Tears rolled free, watery streaks of mascara that tarnished the usually pristine and perfect face, a face Betty had often envied with quiet resentment. A perverse enjoyment nestled within Betty at seeing her friend, Mary, like this. But it was cloaked underneath her concern, which she played up in her expression that studied the other openly. 

“Oh, Betty... Oh, god... I---”

Mary, a beautiful, bubbly blonde with the demeanor of a doe, looked like a wounded creature, seeming to only be held up by the woman she came to visit. Betty was much like Mary, a beautiful, young blonde, and yet there was something icy underneath those eyes, something unsatisfied and angry. A crack in porcelain, as Mary often pondered to herself. Nothing in her had the strength to question her friend. She was so desperate for help that she would throw herself to anyone’s mercy for comfort. Betty was the first person she thought to seek out. Betty, who was beautiful, in control, with a perfect life and beautiful family. Betty would know what to do. Betty would help her. 

“Mary, what’s the matter? Here, come into the living room. I’ll get you some coffee.”

Mary could’ve sobbed, knowing her friend realized she had been drinking. Mary was often so embarrassed when she wasn’t able to hide it and didn't try to make it apparent. She liked to think she had too much self respect, but she was such a mess that she had been drinking since the early morning. Had she even stopped from last night? She covered her face in shame. A pitiful, little noise left her throat, a whimper of agony. 

Betty held Mary's arms, loosened her grip as she could tell the other woman wasn’t going to fall out on the floor. That was the last thing she needed. She guided the crying woman into the living room, a colorful, sunny room freshly redecorated. She was glad the kids weren’t home. What a mess, she bitterly thought. She was sure Don wouldn’t be coming home soon, either. She didn’t like how Don smiled at Mary. It made her furious, yet she tried to calm her mind as she focused again on Mary in her current, sorrowful state. 

“Mary, what’s wrong?” She implored, a bite to her voice that she tried to play into a firm, motherly concern. 

Mary peered back at Betty with pools of vulnerable pain. The last several days shot through her drunken mind like a bolt of lightning. The cheating, the lying, the fighting. Fresh tears pooled up in her eyes, falling free as she covered her face again. 

“Oh, Betty... It’s.. Avery! God, he---!”

Already, Betty knew it had something to do with Mary’s husband. Mary was a flirt. Mary was too pretty and stupid for her own good. Of course she encouraged her husband into cheating on her. That had to be it! She felt a strange relief knowing it wasn’t just her....

“What, Mary? What did Avery do?” Betty felt like she was coaxing a child into admitting a problem. While there was a part of her that understood Mary, another didn’t like to be forced into taking on the woman’s issues like this. Betty had her own problems. Couldn’t Mary keep all this to herself like everyone else did? A sense of superiority came to her from this. Betty, the stronger woman. Betty, the one who could stay in control, or at least appear like she was. 

“He- He...! God... He’s gone, Betty! He’s left me!” A burst of sobs left Mary as she folded over herself. The whole world felt like it was ending for Mary. Maybe it was the vodka of Avery’s she had chugged like water before walking over in the early morning, but she felt like she was falling, twisting, in a cold, empty void. Dizzy, detached, like a bird falling out of the air. “Betty! Oh, what do I do? He’s left me!”

Betty remembered Avery Jones, Mary’s husband. A failed musician with a hard, intense face and broad shoulders, eyes that shined like a torch. He had sandy blonde hair that complimented his red-toned skin, always wore button-ups with his sleeves rolled up. Betty knew, from Mary’s own confession, how resentful he was that he never made it as a trumpet player, forced into an office job to support Mary in their cute, well-kept, little home down the street from Betty and her own family.

Avery wasn’t as good-looking as Mary was, despite her plain name. Mary was as beautiful as Marilyn Monroe or Grace Kelly, which filled Betty with her cruel, cold envy. If Betty was Grace, then Mary was certainly Marilyn. Betty, who used to be a model, was no longer the lone, beautiful blonde on the block. Betty, who wanted desperately to recall her worth in her beauty, felt threatened by Mary, who seemed oblivious to her own looks. At least, she acted like she didn’t own a mirror. Childless, she was a threat to every family in the neighborhood, her giggles and sugary words for everyone’s husbands that made many of the women dislike her. But Betty stuck by her. Why? Well, it made her look quite saintly at least. 

She summoned her voice up from her thoughts, “Oh, no. Mary, I’m so sorry.” 

Of course, this brought fresh pelts of sobbing from Mary who stayed curled over like a wounded animal, seeking shelter within herself. Mary shook her messy, blonde-haired head, knowing full well that she must seem a fool, smudging her perfect makeup, her unbrushed curls frizzy and wild. Maybe she was crazy for doing it, coming here to talk to someone, anyone, looking like she did, acting like she did. A ruined idol, something beautiful crashing to the floor and breaking into a million pieces. All she could feel was pain and sorrow. 

Through her sobbing, she choked, “What am I going to do? What do I do?!” The questions ricocheted all throughout her mind like shards of metal, wild debris tearing its way through. She felt Betty’s slender hand on her back, gentle as could be. This was what she wanted, something gentle after so long suffering the wild, angry behavior of her husband. She knew Betty was a sweet, put-together woman, someone she could rely on, someone she could lean on in this chaotic time of crisis. Mary responded to this touch, this comfort, by sitting up, revealing her tear-streaked, red face, splotchy and trailed black from her eyes, red smudged the shape of her trembling mouth. 

She looked like a terror, Betty thought to herself as she went to offer a tissue. She almost wished she could take a picture to show the other women in the neighborhood. Francine would eat this up with a spoon. It was perverse, for sure, but Betty couldn’t help it. Mary looked unlike anything she’d seen before, a woman in ruins, and, after being the hot talk of the town since moving in, seeing her in this state was sickeningly pleasing. The word would get around, certainly. It might make Mary’s situation worse, but everyone would know soon enough. Especially if Avery didn’t come back, which Betty figured he wouldn’t. Mary had to know the way she acted would eventually drive him away. A woman doesn’t flirt and coo and simper at every man in the neighborhood and expect her husband not to catch wind. She almost felt bad for Avery, remembering the way Mary paraded around in those tight shirts and pencil skirts and those body-hugging dresses that left nothing at all to the imagination. During the summer, Mary was spotted in her front yard in a bikini even Mamie Van Doren would’ve felt was too much, sunbathing and pawing through some book. Betty wanted to say, “Of course he did. What did you expect?” But, instead, she offered,

“Poor Mary. What happened? Why did he leave?” Now pleased, her tone was softer and reassuring, but it was certainly artificial. If anything, it was more tinged with her genuine curiosity as to what precisely happened. She wanted to know the fine details. Maybe she could learn a thing or two…

Mary sniffled and wiped her eyes, head rolling from the liquor. She felt like this all could’ve been a dream. Maybe it was. Maybe, with desperate hope, Mary was still in bed and all this was some wild fancy weaved together in her head. It would be nice if she could wake up and all of this not be true, not be real. But it was. She knew this as she thought back over what had happened last night. Through the haze of her drunkenness, she remembered what happened, but she tried to keep herself composed long enough to spit the story out to Betty.

“Oh, he was so angry! It was horrible! He had been drinking, I could smell it on him, and he was so very angry…” She fought the want to sob, the emotion that welled up from that statement, fresh pain like a torn wound. “He.. he was yelling at me, calling me names… I won’t tell you what he said exactly, but it was terrible… He was threatening me. I thought he was going to hit me. He was waving his fist around, emphasizing each word like he wanted to hit me each time.” This time she couldn’t resist getting a little choked up at the memory, how terrified she had been, frozen in place until he got too close, then taking flight across the room, behind the sofa, against the wall. “He got angrier every time I got away from him, then he’d throw something, vases, records, my mother’s lamp…” 

“That’s what I heard last night…” Betty uttered, looking away in recollection before affirming, “I thought it might’ve been some alley cats fighting.” 

Mary shook her head, taking Betty’s hand while she dabbed at her eyes, lip quivering. This silently surprised Betty, but she didn’t pull away as Mary went on, “No, it was him. He was crashing everything like he wanted to bring the place down. I told him I would call the cops if he didn’t stop it!” Still, fresh as a wound, the horror replayed itself in her eyes, a heavy drunk swinging and swearing and shouting, threatening to kill her, to ring her neck until the eyes popped out of her head. Betty could almost see it herself, the tension that feels like it’s going to crush you, can’t breathe, heart flying like it wants to escape, when the hands touch you like you’d never believe it, like it never could’ve happened. His anger, his hands pushing you hard away. Feeling like you could throw up because he’s never looked like that before, looked at you like that before. Suddenly, everything changes. Happiness gets harder and harder to bring back. He’s different. Or, maybe he had always been that way. 

A softening began to undo the icy defense, and Betty couldn’t help but squeeze the woman’s hand. She understood. She knew what it felt like. She knew. 

“Oh, Betty…” Mary whimpered, returning the gesture and, with a bit of effort, turned her eyes elsewhere. It brought a great comfort to Mary to see the earnestness in Betty’s stare. She suspected Betty would understand her situation, as she wondered just how perfect everything truly was at home. Betty’s husband was rumored to be taking long hours at work, staying out of town, very rarely was he seen at home unless there was some event going on. Some thought it was truly just his work, but others had different ideas. 

Both hands took Betty’s. Mary felt like her heart was breaking and would fall out of her chest. Part of her wished it could, so the agony of it all would be over. Betty’s hands were soft, small, with pretty, well-manicured nails like little pink pearls.There were a few moments where both women were one in their emotion; such wounds their men could leave and then, like nothing, run away. To be left alone, confused, hurt, afraid. Yes, it was like a weighted veil draped over them both, obscuring the world, inside and out, lost and isolated from everyone else. The secret they carried, the darkest parts to always lurk like devils inside. Keep them quiet and try to keep moving. 

Betty blinked hard, frowning, cleared her throat and took her hands away. She stood up, a floating white thing in frills and lace and shiny, candy shoes. She looked like she had walked off the set of a fashion shoot, like the girls in Harper’s Bazaar. Mary wished she could achieve that fresh, wholesome, girl-next-door appearance like Betty did. Mary wondered if men hounded Betty the same way they did her. Did they look at Betty and see the cold goddess, the untouchable beauty? Were they more like followers, devotees, worshippers? She hoped so. Mary was used to wolves. Mary more often felt like something to be unwrapped and devoured. 

Mary looked down, wiped her eyes of tears, wanting all of this to be over. Betty lingered only a fraction of a second before she headed for the bright, little kitchen with a murmur of, “Let me get you some coffee…” 

[fussystreetlight]

If you're in the Twisted Wonderland fandom, please block twstcallouts. They're an anti run blog that encourages people to send in blogs that post "problematic" things ostensibly so people "know who (are pedos) to block". I'm not encouraging harassment but this blog is even if they're not aware of it.

[wanderer-clarisse]

if you saw me accidentally post something no you didnt :) instead here's a sneak peak on a short comic I'm working on about Finrod

[please-let-this-work-oh-my-god]

One thing I find very interesting, as a learner of German, is Isolde's usage of du when speaking to Kakania. In German, there are three main second person pronouns: du, ihr and Sie. The first two are mainly used in informal and casual settings or when talking to people you're close with (with du being singular and ihr being plural sorta similar to english's y'all) while Sie is used in more formal situations (or situations which require some form of formality) such as talking to strangers, customer service or when you're talking to a doctor/patient. Kakania abides by this and uses Sie when talking to Isolde (such as in her speech at the end of chapter 6) but interestingly, Isolde doesn't reciprocate this and instead uses du when conversing with Kakania in German.

This is super fascinating to me because it implies different levels of closeness within their relationship. Isolde's usage of du implies a level of closeness and intimacy to Kakania as Isolde herself saw Kakania as a close friend (most likely due to the fact that Kakania was once of the few people in Vienna who actually sympathized with her and saw her as a human being) but Kakania's siezen suggests a certain level of estrangement or distance between her and Isolde. Of course. this could just be her maintaining her professionalism as doctors normally use Sie when talking to patients but with how things turned out after chapters 6 and 7, I'd like to think this goes deeper than just formality standards.

[katnissmellarkkk]

Only a couple more posts like this and then I’ll leave y’all alone but… I don’t know how to explain or articulate it properly but there is something I’ve never picked up on before that I suddenly caught when re-reading Mockingjay.

These two moments… when you compare and contrast them…

Gale’s touch and taste and heat remind me that at least my body’s still alive, and for the moment it’s a welcome feeling. I empty my mind and let the sensations run through my flesh, happy to lose myself. When Gale pulls away slightly, I move forward to close the gap, but I feel his hand under my chin. “Katniss,” he says. The instant I open my eyes, the world seems disjointed. This is not our woods or our mountains or our way. My hand automatically goes to the scar on my left temple, which I associate with confusion. “Now kiss me.” Bewildered, unblinking, I stand there while he leans in and presses his lips to mine briefly. He examines my face closely. “What’s going on in your head?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper back.

she says here she’s (somewhat passively) giving gale all that she withheld from him (when peeta, in her mind, was still a possibility) and thinks at least kissing him makes her feel somewhat alive, but even during the kiss she’s not present or focused on gale, and he catches onto that. but the portion highlighted is the important part of this scene. she is startled back into reality when gale calls her name and her awakening is the realization that this isn’t their way. she doesn’t even say “this isn’t my way” (as in, kissing isn’t something she does unless on camera for a show). and she doesn’t say “this isn’t our woods or our mountains or our home” (as in, this place is unfamiliar and strange and scary and that’s what’s disjointing her). no, she says “this isn’t our way”. because this isn’t what she does with gale. kissing gale feels alien and wrong in her heart. even with peeta out of the picture.

and then the second passage from later down the line in mockingjay:

Like the mutts. Like a rabid beast bent on ripping my throat out. And here, finally here in this place, in these circumstances, I will really have to kill him. And Snow will win. Hot, bitter hatred courses through me. Snow has won too much already today.

It’s a long shot, it’s suicide maybe, but I do the only thing I can think of. I lean in and kiss Peeta full on the mouth. His whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to his until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up his wrists to clasp his. “Don’t let him take you from me.”

peeta, who she claims to have given up on, is begging to be left behind. how many times has she claimed throughout this book that she wishes he was dead (either to end his suffering or to end her own)? and right here, she has just blown up the halo to mercifully kill finnick. she is so desensitized to death by this point. and she thinks she’s so desensitized to peeta. she doesn’t even want to consider he still is peeta. but here, when she has every reason to put him (and herself) out of his misery, she instead turns to kissing him. why? why would you kiss the monster who is actively fighting to not murder you with his bare hands? why would you kiss the boy you called a mutt? the one who you have already done your best to let go of? why would that even cross your mind as a last ditch effort?

because kissing peeta isn’t disjointing and it’s not something she only did for the cameras and it’s certainly not something she’s only doing passively. she’s kissing peeta to remind him who he is. to remind herself who he is to her. she’s tried so hard to stop caring for him, to sever the cord between the two of them, but in this moment she just can’t. she kisses him and says “don’t let him take you from me”.

because the act of kissing actually is their way.

[eskroto]

I redrew some old designs I had for the raisins in HP (Old concept)

[azrail-has-a-vendetta]

do you ever think that Epic Odysseus spends a good deal of time trying to be extra “greet the world with open arms” after the war because he can’t look at the world the same way when there is a crying in his ears? He sees the blood streaming down the giants face and all he can see is the crushed and bloody and small body? That every time he thinks of his son, his tiny heart beating in his arms, he hears the heartbeat that rang in his ears as he held a swaddle of cloth over a wall, trying not to think about what lay inside? As he spare another life he thinks about the one he didn’t? As they sail through the underworld there is a form the swirls along side the others, one that he purposefully doesn’t acknowledge, a tiny thing wailing and oh gods it sounds like his son. And then he stops, he decides to “be the monster” and he stops holding the infant, he finally drops it and the blood on his hands is brighter and it won’t come off and he can’t touch his son cause he might drop him too. But Telemachus isn’t a baby, the crying sound is just in his head, besides Odysseus couldn’t hold his son like that anymore. Odysseus is a different man, and stopped trying to balance the universe by saving another when he already has so much blood on his hands. What is another drop going to do?

or are you normal?

[dieselocelot]

no art ideas. redraw film stuff time

[daeyumi]

gonna try to queue up the rest of my old art that i haven’t posted here yet, i realize i’ve been kind of generally absent from social media here & haven’t had any new art to post recently 😭

tbh i’ve been working rly hard on an animatic for my zelda au cycle of the stars, i may not finish til late next month cuz i’m gonna be rly busy for the next few weeks but look forward to it!

anyways new (old) art posts incoming, first one should be up in a few mins

[tetedurfarm]

so i been thinkin

this blog has been rabbits only with very little discussion of my day to day for many years, and my other occasional farm-related posts i usually just put on my main. but lately i've been kinda wanting a more farm-specific blog to share more of what goes on out here and other projects i'm doing and i'm curious if you guys would like to see those posts here, or if you'd prefer if i kept this blog to just rabbits?

[lesbiancarat]

want to give my two cents on the AI usage in the maestro trailer--

i think seventeen doing a whole concept that is anti-AI is very cool, especially as creatives themselves i think it's good that they're speaking up against it and i hope it gets more ppl talking about the issue. i also understand on a surface level the artistic choice (whether it was made by the members, the mv director, or whoever else), to directly use AI in contrast to real, human-made visuals and music in order to criticize it. i also appreciate that they clearly stated the intention of the use of AI at the beginning of the video

however, although i understand it to an extent, i do not agree with the choice to use AI to critique AI. one of the main ethical concerns with generative AI is that it is trained on other artists' work without their knowledge, consent, or compensation. and even when AI generated images are being used to critique AI, it still does not negate this particular ethical concern

the use of AI to critique also does not negate the fact that this is work that could have been done by an actual artist. i have seen some people argue that it's okay in this context because it's a critique specifically about AI, and it is content that never would have been done by a real artist anyway because it doesn't make sense for the story they're trying to tell. but i disagree. i think you can still tell the exact same story without using AI

and in fact, i would argue that it would make the anti-AI message stronger if they HAD paid an artist to draw/animate the scenes that are supposed to represent AI generated images. wouldn't it just be proof that humans can create images that are just as bad and nonsensical and soulless as AI, but that AI can't replicate the creativity and beauty and basic fucking anatomy that's in human-made art?

it feels very obvious this was not just a way to cut corners and costs like a lot of scummy people are using AI for. ultimately it was a very intentional creative decision, i just personally think it was a very poor one. and even if some ethical considerations were taken into account before this decision, i certainly don't think all of them were. at the very least i feel like the decision undermines the message they want to convey

i would also like to recognize that i myself am not an artist, and i have seen some artists that are totally on board with the use of AI in this specific context, so clearly this is not a topic that is cut and dry. but generative AI is still new, and i think it's important to keep having these conversations

[web-novel-polls]

I know it's been, like, over half a year, and I probably shouldn't be concerned with it anymore, but I think what bugs me so badly about people being so self-righteous about Jiang Cheng "being homophobic" in the Aroace Spec Character Tournament is that directly correlates to actual experiences and interactions I see within the LGBTQIA+ community. It's so close to the fear and shame that leads to the question of, "how much of comfortability and well-being do I have to give up to live within an amatonormative world? At what point do I speak up about my own repulsion? Do I ever?Why am I the always the one who has to change?"

I can't help but come back to that AITA about an aro and/or ace GSA member who was shamed and called homophobic by what should be their own community for the simple crime of looking away from PDA. Their club advisor who acted like they were the problem because it's "supposed to be a safe space for the other kids" but not really answering whether it's also supposed to be a safe space for the submitter. How aroace people are "included" until they're uncomfortable or don't want to talk about sex or romance. How sex and romance repulsed aroaces are never allowed to show repulsion, or they're prudes, homophobic, ruining the fun. Why is someone being uneasy something THEY have to apologize for? Why is it an attack, if not to protect the amatonormative idea that anyone who is personally unsatisfied, uncomfortable, rejecting of love and sex is somehow lesser or hostile to love and sex itself? How aroace are we allowed to be before we become "problematic"?

[I'm aware this is an emotional reaction for this specific instance. Don't be weird. Don't be a dick. Don't be aroace-phobic. Do be gay and aro and ace and trans and-]

[sillylilneurodivergent]

Me because Descendants really had to hit us with “It’s what Carlos would’ve wanted”

R.I.P Cameron Boyce💗🕊️

(might delete this later)

[svtskneecaps]

a list of timestamps, for no reason :)

thesis statement : No, what blue did tonight and what red did the last two nights are not the same.

disclaimer: this is not a judgement of right / wrong, this is a glorified compare and contrast paper.

a TL;DR is available at the top, immediately following the keep reading link (which i hope, for your sake, is still there).

for each vod i have compiled the time stamps first, and then under the heading "notably" have compiled and compared them.

this is the most toxic i will allow myself to be.

TL;DR:

Blue team on Day 4 took 2 seconds from first task claimed to last. Red team on Day 2 took 5 minutes 14 seconds from first task claimed to last, and on Day 3 took 42 seconds.

Blue team on Day 4 was vulnerable in the area for 2 seconds before claiming their last task. Red team on Day 2 was vulnerable in the area for 8 minutes 31 seconds, and on Day 3 was vulnerable for 12 minutes 10 seconds.

The time blue team spent getting situated before logging out in global is not counted in this as being vulnerable because it is not a viable strategy for an entertainer to waste 4 hours of their limited time camping global to ensure no one is logging out.

Red team claimed their first global task on Day 3 with 13 minutes until the server closed. On Day 4, Etoiles and Roier arrived to stop blue team from applying the same strategy with 15 minutes until the server closed.

Blue team's actions on Day 4 did not leave them open to any reasonable retaliation efforts once Tubbo logged out. The moment he logged back in, the tasks were as good as complete. Unless another content creator metagamed, they would not be able to stop him.

Red team's actions on Day 2 and Day 3 did leave them open to retaliation. They were not fast, they often did not have the items they needed crafted in advance and spent time in sight of the global task dome crafting the items. If a team had been waiting for them to try this at the global task dome as Etoiles and Roier did for Blue team, that team could entirely have succeeded in killing them or ruining their plans.

The global tasks on Day 4 were already functionally blue's 4 hours before they were claimed. Even if the disaster hadn't affected global, the way it was supposed to, the only thing left would have been revenge. There was no preventing it once Tubbo logged out.

The global tasks on Day 2 were open to reclamation for an hour after red team claimed them. By Day 3 blue team was aware of red's strategy and had a full 12 minutes (at a predictable time! see below) in which they could have attacked red and stopped them.

What blue and red team did was not the same.

Below are the time stamps I used to get this data and draw these conclusions. I've included links to vods for verification purposes. These links are not future proofed.

November 7th, 2023: Day 4 of Purgatory

TubboLIVE's VOD:

1:47:20 : Tubbo logs out of the server, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. He has 15 minutes 32 seconds of server time remaining.

5:50:23 : It is 3:48:52 am in Tubbo's time zone. Tubbo shows the clock on his screen. There are 11 minutes and 8 seconds until the server closes.

5:50:49 : Tubbo loads in, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. It is 3:49:41 am. This is the first moment the game is visible on his screen. He has 15 minutes 03 seconds of server time remaining.

5:50:50 : Tubbo claims the first of the global tasks.

5:50:51 : Tubbo claims the last of the global tasks. It is 3:49:43 am.

Notably:

Functionally, tubbo was standing behind the blue NPC, invincible, for 4 hours 3 minutes and 3 seconds

There is a 29 second period of server time that I can't account for.

The total time it took for tubbo to claim every global task after loading in is 2 seconds.

The cooldown for every global task before it can be reclaimed is 10 minutes. In this case these ten minutes started at 3:49:42 and 3:49:43 am. The first moment any of these claimed global tasks can be reclaimed is 3:59:42 am, with 18 seconds until the server closes.

Etoiles's VOD:

4:56:08 : With some leniency, this is the first clear view of the blue "contracts" NPC and the spot Tubbo is "standing" shown on Etoiles's stream.

*(the blue NPC comes into view at 4:56:06 but whether Etoiles would have seen Tubbo there is dubious enough that I have opted for a later time stamp)

4:56:12 : Etoiles and Roier enter the global task dome. They are standing directly to the left of the red NPC; on the opposite side as the blue NPC. The spot Tubbo is "standing" is clearly visible on Etoiles's stream. Etoiles has 10 minutes 40 seconds of server time remaining. There are roughly 15 minutes and 30 seconds until the server closes*.

*(Time calculated roughly using Tubbo's log in message; this is not exact)

4:56:17 : Roier is standing in front of the blue "contracts" NPC.

4:58:03 : Without leaving global spawn, Etoiles disconnects to get a buffer on his time limit. Remembering that there is a disaster coming, he immediately re-logs to avoid the combat logging penalty. Roier does not disconnect during this time.

4:58:18 : The first frame of the game is visible after Etoiles relogs. Etoiles has 8 minutes 53 seconds of server time remaining.

4:58:45 : The quicksand disaster starts, affecting global spawn despite admins having informed Etoiles previously that disasters did not affect global spawn.

5:00:08 : The disaster ends.

5:01:17 : Tubbo logs in. There are roughly 10 minutes 11 seconds until the server closes.

Notably:

Roier is standing three blocks away from Tubbo's log-in point (effectively, three blocks away from Tubbo) at 5 minutes before Tubbo logs in.

Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn, Etoiles and Roier would have been able to initiate combat 5 minutes and 5 seconds earlier. Both had plenty of time on their server counters to participate in this combat, albeit Etoiles would have been kicked before server close. Roier would not be (source: Slime's vod, 2:45:05 and on. There is no disconnect message for Roier before the server is closed at roughly 2:45:08).

Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn when Etoiles and Roier arrived (at roughly 3:44:37 am in Tubbo's time zone, 15 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed), and had claimed all global missions at that time rather than risk dying in combat, the missions would have been able to be reclaimed at roughly 3:54:37 am, with about 5 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed. This is 5 minutes and 5 seconds more than the actual time.

November 5th, 2023 : Day 2 of Purgatory

This is the first day red has used this strategy.

Cellbit's VOD:

6:52:27 : Cellbit arrives at the plaza outside the global task dome (Carre is already here; he wasn't streaming so I don't know when he arrived).

6:52:49 : Cellbit enters the global task dome. He backtracks to the right of the global task dome, and sets up a crafting area to craft items for the tasks somewhat out of sight of the dome. He is 96 meters away from the dome.

6:55:34 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.

6:55:44 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (electrolytes). The cooldown is 10 minutes 41 seconds.

6:55:49 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (radiation medicine).

6:55:55 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (campfires).

6:56:04 : Cellbit leaves the global task dome and sets up a second crafting area to the right of the dome after losing the first. This area is in full view of the dome, and is roughly 61 meters away.

6:57:40 : Cellbit dumps every item in his inventory except for iron and minecarts and a shield into a chest (he is functionally defenseless).

6:58:18 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.

6:58:23 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (minecarts).

6:59:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (diamonds).

6:59:49 : Cellbit gets his sword out of the chest (he is no longer defenseless).

7:00:58 : Jaiden claims the last global task for red team (rails). The bananas task remains unclaimed.

7:01:01 : ElQuackity is visible outside the dome on Cellbit's stream for the first time. Cellbit chases him.

7:04:34 : Cellbit kills ElQuackity, putting red team in the lead.

7:48:07 : The server closes.

Notably:

Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 8 minutes 31 seconds.

Red team takes 5 minutes 14 seconds to claim their global tasks.

The cooldown on these global tasks leaves at minimum 36 minutes 28 seconds to reclaim, maximum 41 minutes 42 seconds to reclaim before server close.

If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 8 minute 31 second period, they would have seen the team and could have attacked or stopped them.

There is a 2 minute 9 second period where Cellbit literally does not have a weapon in his inventory.

If a team were to have come up to the dome while the red team was still crafting the global quest items, they could have attacked and prevented the team from crafting the items and forced them to retreat without claiming those goals.

November 6th, 2023 : Day 3 of Purgatory

This is the second day red has used this strategy.

Cellbit's VOD:

3:39:11 : Cellbit sees Bagi on the bridge to global. There are 24 minutes and 2 seconds until the server closes.

3:39:49 : Cellbit enters the global dome, standing just to the right of where the red NPC is on November 7th.

3:40:24 : Cellbit exits the global dome to craft the water bottles needed for the global task.

3:42:58 : Cellbit crafts the final water bottle needed for the global task.

3:43:28 : Cellbit, Foolish, and Carre re-enter the global dome.

3:44:15 : Cellbit and Carre exit the global dome to inspect Bagi's body. Foolish exits the global dome to use the crafting table.

3:45:36 : Cellbit and Carre re-enter the global dome.

(There's a few more entrances and exits from the dome during the following period, though they stay within the area marked with Bagi's body, the global NPCs, and the crafting table as corners : Never much more than 61 meters away and never out of sight of the dome)

3:49:45 : Cellbit sends the message "hey guys we are about to deliver global tasks you should come!" There are 14 minutes and 18 seconds until the server closes.

3:50:39 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (tea leaves). There are 13 minutes and 26 seconds until the server closes.

3:50:59 : Carre claims one global task for red team (gas masks).

3:51:01 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (hot cocoa).

3:51:09 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (water bottles).

3:51:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (backpacks).

3:51:21 : Carre claims the last global task for red team (tea). There are 11 minutes and 52 seconds until the server closes.

4:03:13 : The server closes.

notably:

Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 11 minutes and 28 seconds before they turn in any global tasks.

Red team takes 42 seconds to turn in all of their global tasks.

The cooldown on the global tasks leaves at maximum 3 minutes 26 seconds of time to reclaim, and at minimum 1 minute and 52 seconds to reclaim.

If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 11 minute and 28 second period, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.

If a team were to have come up to the dome in the 3 minutes 47 seconds between red team arriving at the global dome and red team crafting all the water bottles for the global task, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.

[katnissmellarkkk]

you know, i had a thought while reading something that was actually anti-everlark 😭. for reference i don’t typically search these things out i just got curious and went through some tags. anyways.

one of the reasons stated that katniss should be with gale is because “they went through as much in mockingjay part one together as katniss and peeta went through together in the arena” …

and, even taking that statement at face value, i know majority of hunger games fans are aware that’s not true and that even if katniss and gale went through some things together in mockingjay (part one? i assume then the article was taking the movie over book canon?) it doesn’t equate all she went through with peeta, but i had a different thought when reading that statement…

i’ve never truly interpreted it as katniss going through anything with gale in mockingjay part one? gale never felt like katniss’ partner, despite the fact she referred to him as her hunting partner in probably all three books.

he may have been her hunting partner but he never came across as her actual partner in the events unfolding around them. not anywhere near in the way peeta was.

what i mean, because i worry i’m not being clear here, is throughout mockingjay, while peeta was off being tormented, katniss was lonely. she felt isolated. she felt helpless and angry and fearful and alone all at once. and even when gale was right beside her, helping her, like in district eight, it did not feel like this was their moment together. it did not feel like the things happening were happening to them together, as a unit, any more than it felt like the events unfolding were happening to katniss and finnick together, as a unit. did stuff occur that surely affected finnick? yes, obviously. but whenever big moments happened, it always felt like it was katniss’ solo moment, her solo character arc, her trauma and her pain and her growth, all on her own, as she was surrounded by other people. and gale was just another one of those people.

now yes, the first two books did have katniss going through trials and tribulations as the main character. the series was all her journey and her growth at the end of the day. but i cannot help but notice that with everything katniss would experience, she seemed to almost view peeta as an extension of her. not just in the arena either. everything she went through, everything that occurred, she narratively always brought peeta along with her. when something would happen, she almost always mentioned peeta in relation to it. she always included him in all her big moments. and even after he was hijacked, after she believed whatever existed between them was gone, she still did this. even somewhat unconsciously. katniss is the one who always told the reader that when something big was happening, it was happening to her and to peeta. that they were going through all these things together. and maybe that’s why she felt so isolated in the start of mockingjay.

because for whatever reason may be, she never shared this kind of connection to gale.

[warper-in-training]

Since Barbatos is a glitched soul, he doesn't fully "exist" in all realities unlike others and if he dies in one, he will disappear in everyone of them. this is something all "sentient" version of him know though, trying to keep the peace between themselves.

however... that does not mean that it's all chocolate and rainbows. only gods know the number of ruined realities and non-existing places created by one to torture the self, or to keep one from killing himself.