#it's set up with laa

[crossdressingdeath]

I love how I start playing DAO again for the first time in ages and immediately get hit with combat lag so bad that my spells don't land until after combat finishes. I have never had combat lag before. Are you sulking, DAO? Are you sulking because I stopped obsessing over Dragon Age to play a different fantasy RPG? I'm going back to BG3 if you don't sort your shit out, DAO.

[dontopenfairies]

It’s only Alfie, Pat, and Damian in the house tonight, sitting around the coffee table playing board games and eating chips and salsa.

“Your turn,” says Alfie to Damian, interrupting himself halfway through his sentence with a huge fart.

“I think Alfie just sharted his pull-up,” says Damian, setting down the dice. “I call changing him.”

“Sure.” Pat shrugs. He never really cares about changing Alfie.

“It’s that artichoke dip you made,” protests Alfie as Damian gently guided his torso to the floor with large, muscular hands. “It always makes me gassy.”

Damian likes to change Alfie on his back, tearing his pull-up open like it’s a regular diaper with tabs. “There’s a pull-up on the couch,” he tells Pat. “Pass me that and that thing of wet wipes. Thanks. He basically shit himself.”

“Did not,” says Alfie.

“You are sooo mouthy tonight,” says Damian, holding Alfie’s legs up with one hand while he wipes his ass. “You wouldn’t be like this if Laaai-laa were here, would you?”

Alfie shakes his head, face growing warm.

“Hahaha.” Damian balls up the wipes inside of Alfie’s used pull-up and pulling the new one on over his ankles. “Put your little ass in the air. Nice.” He slides the clean pull-up all the way up and stands up to go throw away the used one and wash his hands in the bathroom, leaving Alfie to struggle to his feet by himself and pull on his pants.

“I seriously think I figured this out while you guys were fucking around,” says Pat, grabbing a chip and plunging it into the salsa. “I’m definitely winning this time.”

[cryptidsofwakemoor]

Chapter 10 - Paranoia

"You... are one of OUR products, Matchstick. Don't forget that."

~*~

Mystic

Tikki works on her own omelet in comfortable silence, letting her guest relax by the fire while she filled her own egg patty with her additions of choice. Once her folded egg taco was on the plate, she drizzled some kind of red liquid over top of it, and took up those metal tools he could never quite understand the purpose of. Lifting her plate, she goes to sit at the couch, and- uses the tiny knife and spoked thing to poke and cut her omelet, eating it off the utensils.

Oh. That’s what they were for. She didn’t need to get food on her hands at all.

…

“Have you been on the streets your whole life?” Tikki asks, quiet.

Spooky

He looks up from watching her cut the omelet and poke it with the pronged thing, before frowning a little and shaking his head no.

No, being on the streets was a relatively new thing for him. In a way, he had kind of lucked out that adaptability was part of his training, otherwise he may not've survived very long, but... This probably wasn't what they had in mind while training him. It was more for use in battle.

He glances down at the floor in front of him, wishing he still had the snow and stick to help him explain things. The best thing he could do for now, though, was try and sum up everything he could into one word, and force it out of his uncooperative throat.

"L.. ll- laa... b," he rasps, looking back at her.

Mystic

Tikki, who had been mid-bite of her own omelet, chokes on the piece of food. She has to pound on her chest for a second before the food is dislodged, and she can breathe again.

In just one word, that was- quite a bit of information to swallow. Just like her omelet.

"I'm- hkf- sorry," Tikki apologizes, rubbing at her throat for a moment. "You- wh- but- how-? You came from a lab? Excuse me? As in- wait-"

She frowns, staring into space. He can see it in her eyes- she was putting together a lot of puzzle pieces. She sets aside the plate, losing her appetite in this moment.

"...that- suddenly a lot of things make sense. But- why were you in a lab?"

Spooky

He looked alarmed when she choked on her food, but once she'd dealt with that enough to ask him more questions, he ducked his head slightly and slid his hand over the nape of his neck. He gave a small shrug, mainly because he didn't know how he'd got there. He couldn't really remember being anywhere else, leading him to think that maybe he was born there…? Though there were some things he could just barely recall that seemed to contradict that.

He knew what trees were, before he’d even escaped. They'd never let him outside, not once, but he could picture outside, sometimes in dreams... And there were other things, too. Faded voices and shapes, and strong emotions attached that left him feeling lost, scared, and like he'd been hollowed out whenever he thought about it too hard.

So usually, he didn't.

All he had for an answer as to why he was there was what they were developing him for.

"...w... wepn," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact and looking back at the burning fireplace.

Mystic

...There's a long pause.

Even though he wasn't facing her, he could feel her eyes boring into him. Analyzing.

Behind his back, the scales on the back of Tikki's arm start to stand on end. She clasps at her forearms with her hands, clenching her jaw as she wills the beast back into the depths, forcing the scales back down.

The thought, and all the implications it carried, made her so, so angry. But she just got back to normal from a shift- if she let it happen again so soon, it would exhaust her. She'd be so depleted of energy that she wouldn't want to move for a week, and she wasn't in a position to let that happen anymore.

"...Okay," she says, finally. A brief, forceful exhale as she quells her outrage for his sake. "I see why you ran away, now."

Tikki puts her chin in one hand, thinking. Then her eyes flick to the door. Then back to him in worry.

"...Am I gonna get in trouble with the law or something if someone finds out you're in my house? Are YOU in trouble with whoever you ran from?"

Not that she was particularly bothered by the idea of someone reprehensible showing up at the door. She'd welcome the opportunity to feed someone a knuckle sandwich and have it be sweet justice. But not at the cost of somebody else being put in danger.

Spooky

Feeling her staring, he glanced back at her, worried he'd made her angry at him. He could sense the tension, and his eyes turned downwards as he fidgeted with his hands.

Her questions didn't assuage his nerves any, either... because he had, if only for a brief time due to the distractions and curious things in this house, forgotten he was being hunted.

He was hesitant to answer, worried that confirming this fact would get him thrown out. Tikki was nice, but to get involved in anything like this seemed like too much to ask of anyone.

He didn't know what this 'law' was, but he knew the Aria Corporation was big, and they had a lot of resources. Hell, their damn logo still haunted him whenever he sneaked into town, never truly letting him forget that he wasn't safe.

...It wasn't fair not to tell her, though. To not at least try and warn her about what she was getting into if she let him stay in her home.

Looking conflicted, he finally nodded. Setting aside his disc, he reached down and tried to trace a shape on the rug with his finger, but it wasn't very clear.

Mystic

A long, sad sigh.

"...ok. I figured."

Tikki glances at the rug, leaning to see what he was drawing- but she couldn't make anything out from here. Hm. Maybe he was just doodling from the stress. She did sorta put him on the spot, all of the sudden.

"...well, I'm not going to just let you freeze to death in the snow," she says, frowning. "And whoever uses a kid test subject for scientific experiments is super fucked up, I'll tell you that."

Standing up from the couch, she moves to sit on the rug next to him, scooting a bit closer so she's near enough for expression of comfort, but just at the edge of his personal space. She looks down at the carpet as she talks, idly trying to decipher his finger-drawing on the floor.

"I don't have much to offer, Sticks. I do have a roof, and food, sometimes. I don't make a lot of money, and I'm dealing with my own demons- but I'd still like to help you, somehow. If you want it?"

Spooky

He doesn't seem able to get the tracing of his finger across, so he stops. The best that could be deciphered from it was that he seemed to be writing an 'A' for part of it. If he was trying to make a word, though, the rest of the scrawl was incomprehensible. There didn't seem to be any other letters, and even the A was kind of questionable.

He looked unsure at her offer, not because he was keen on turning his figurative nose up at it though. Moreso, he was worried. She already had stress from turning into the silver beast, and didn't have much money, and... he didn't know what 'demons' were, but that didn't sound good either.

...

But at the same time, he didn't wanna go back to taking his chances in that hole in the ground. Not after he knew what being in a warm house on a soft rug, with not one but TWO blankets was like.

His eyes searched her expression. She really did seem to want to help...

He hugged his pillow close and gave a little nod, before resting his chin on it.

Mystic

He feels more than sees her hand clasp onto his shoulder, squeezing once in reassurance before letting go.

"Okay," she says, offering him a little smile. "I'll do what I can."

Tikki leans back to the couch again, and takes her plate with the half-eaten omelet. She sets it on the carpet and slides it over to him, letting it rest by his knee.

"Here- you can have the rest of mine. I wasn't very hungry, anyway."

A lie. Shifting consumed a lot of calories she had to replenish, which she had every intention of doing so later when he was asleep or something. But right now, she lost her appetite. At least this way the food wouldn't go to waste.

Tikki stands up, stretching her shoulders and wiggling her webbed toes.

"I don't know a lot about you, and that's fine- you don't have to share what you don't want to." Tikki scratches behind her head, starting back towards the kitchen to start cleaning. "Just let me know how I can best help you, alright?"

Spooky

He looked from the offered omelet half to her, before he picked it up with his hand and stuffed it in his mouth, licking the remaining red sauce off his fingers. This had a different taste than his, but was still good!

He didn't seem as keen to get up, covered in fluffy blankets as he was. While he wasn't full, his stomach was no longer empty, and going from being outside in the snow with almost no clothes for most of the day to taking a hot bath and sitting all bundled up next to a roaring fireplace... Sleepiness was definitely setting in, and his eyelids drooped.

He nodded in response to her, rubbing at one of his eyes with the palm of his hand.

"Th... thanks," he said, straining to try and be louder since she had walked back to the kitchen. Oof, probably wasn't the best idea. Fuck, he wished he could figure out how to fix his broken voice. It'd been a long time since he'd heard what it sounds like normally, but he knew it wasn't supposed to sound like this.

Mystic

Tikki glances back in his direction at the sound of the voice crack. Ouch. That sounded very unpleasant. Did speaking cause him pain? Maybe his throat was damaged from... whatever happened to him in the 'lab'.

She tried not to think about it. He wasn't there, now.

"It's no trouble," she says, offering another smile as she removes the pan to wash it. "Nobody should have to live on the street- especially not kids."

In the background, Tikki quietly goes about making some hot apple cider. It was just a cheap packet mix, but it was easy, and fast. The water boils gently on the stove while she cleans up the containers of omelet fillings, and puts away all the washed dishes once she'd dried them with a kitchen towel.

She is left to ponder in silence for a while. He'd never seen silverware, didn't know how to feed or take care of himself. Laboratories that tested on humans- at least, he might be human, she really wasn't sure- evidently still existed, and were doing shady shit like turning children into weapons. That was the most she could ascertain from his broken speech and limited information. Whoever was responsible, they were probably out looking for this kid. And if she was caught with him in custody, if she was lucky, she'd be left alone- but he would no doubt be taken back to whatever hell he endured.

She had seen the rocky injuries all over his back. She couldn't begin to comprehend what would cause that. It looked a little better after he was able to bathe, but there was still a substantial amount of rock crust covering his spine. She was hesitant to touch it, or ask about it in case it was sensitive.

Steam hisses from the kettle, and she turns off the stove burner. Water is poured into mugs, and Tikki shakes out the cider mix into the mugs, pouring honey into both. Stirring them with spoons, she walks back out into the living room to check on him.

"I've got hot cider, for your throat," she says, rounding the couch.

Spooky

He looked like he'd gone into almost a kind of sleepy trance, watching the flames dance on the logs...

But he perked back up a little when Tikki returned with- Oh! He'd seen these before, sometimes he would see people at the lab walking or standing around with these little handled cylinders in their hands, usually in the hallways when he was being transported to another area. He never knew what was in them, but they had a nice smell...

These smelled good too, but in a different way. When Tikki handed one over to him, he took it and held it in both hands, peering down at the unfamiliar drink. Unsure how to proceed, he dipped his tongue into it to give it a taste.

Mystic

The immediate taste was sweet, with a hint of spice that wasn't quite the same as the red thing he ate earlier. What did Tikki call it? 'Pepper'? This was different. It was hot, though, and the little bit he managed to swallow off his own tongue actually soothed his aching throat a little, more than water had up until this point.

Tikki, seeing this, chuckles into her own mug that she had just lifted to her face.

"Okay, that was pretty cute," she says, snickering. "And you have a lava tongue?? Weird, and cool. But yeah- you drink it like this."

Tikki demonstrates, holding the mug in her hands up to her chin and tipping it back a little, taking a gulp of the liquid inside before tipping it back down, swallowing with a satisfied exhale.

"It has honey in it, which is a natural remedy for throat problems," she explains, sipping more of her own drink before continuing. "I've had to use it before when shifting damaged my voice for a day or two. Should help, I think. And if it gets too cold, you can always reheat it."

Spooky

He flushed with a faint glow at her comments, but did his best to mimic the demonstration, slowly tipping and attempting a sip with a noisy slurp.

...Holy shit! A way to drink without getting it all over himself! He looked down at the mug with big eyes full of wonder. This was awesome!

He was quick to drink the rest of it down, steam spilling from his mouth when he lowered the mug and exhaled afterwards. The honey coated his throat, making it feel less sore after his attempts to talk. His glowing tongue poked out again, licking his lips.

Mystic

Another chuckle from Tikki.

"I mean this in the best way- you're like a big puppy," she jokes, watching the steam puff up towards her ceiling. "A lanky, fire-breathing puppy."

Sipping her cider, she sighs, getting up from the carpet one last time.

"You look ready to pass out, so I'm going to let you rest. You can use the couch, or stay on the carpet, whatever you feel like- sleep well, Sticks."

And with that, she walks off to the rest of her house, presumably to wind down for the rest of her afternoon. It wasn't far past midday, but she'd had an exhausting morning, and she figured he did as well.

Spooky

His expression briefly turned to confusion as he tried to figure out what a puppy was, but he shrugged it off, setting down the now empty mug. He was very sleepy, and probably would've been content to just sleep next to the fireplace, though without anything to prop him up he kept slowly listing to the side until he'd jerk back upright with a start.

He let out a tired grumble and crawled like a blankety slug across the floor until he was at the couch, where he leaned back against the side of it. It was definitely softer than the dirt had been, and the blankets added extra cushioning. Hugging the pillow close, he curled up and rested his head on it, so cozy that he drifted off in no time.

...

"You really thought you could just leave... Didn't you?"

His eyes shot open at the familiar cold voice of the ponytailed man, Dr. Rainer... but he didn't see him anywhere when he looked around the living room. It was nighttime now and the fireplace had gone out, bathing the room in darkness, and any warmth seemed to have been sucked out of the house along with it.

Then, a red dot appeared in the window. Followed by another, then another, and they continued to multiply until they were peering in through every window, swarming, a buzzing sound reverberating off the walls and leaving him rattled. Drones.

With a smash of glass they set upon him, giving him barely even any time to stand before they were already on him, a writhing mass of buzzing motors and claw arms, reaching and scratching and grabbing. He managed to fight back, blasting them with fire and setting his fists crunching into metal when they got too close, but there were always more to take their place.

"No matter where you scurry off to, you can never truly abandon your purpose. You know that, don't you?"

Metal parts crunched underfoot as he continued to doggedly fight against a neverending onslaught, pouring in through the windows like wasps from a nest.

Suddenly, another piercing pain lanced through the back of his neck, near the base of his skull, his vision blurring and going white for a few moments as he was brought to his hands and knees.

When he opened his eyes again, the drones were gone, and the room was quiet... But as he remained there, trying to catch his breath, he realized something very quickly. He couldn't move.

"Stand."

To his dawning horror, he stood up. Without trying to. His body was moving without his input. His eyes wouldn't even budge when he tried to look around.

"You... are one of OUR products, Matchstick. Don't forget that. Now... Destroy."

NO!

It was too late. Fire sparked and climbed up his limbs, engulfing his body in flames that started to catch on the floor around him. He raised his arms and sent blasts of fireballs careening around him, smashing walls and furniture, anything not annihilated on impact would perish in the blaze... The walls buckled in the inferno. Chunks of ceiling fell. This house was done for, and everyone in it, including Tikki.

And as he distantly heard her screams, he felt...

nothing.

-!!!

Heart hammering in his chest, his eyes opened for real this time and he sat bolt upright with a gasp, prompting a coughing fit. Smoke spiraling out of his mouth, he tried to catch his breath and regain his bearings.

Mystic

The house is quiet. Besides his panting breaths and his heart trying to decide if it wanted to break his ribcage and escape, there was no sound beyond the distant hum of the heater in the walls. The fire- which appeared to have had an extra log placed on it at some point- had burned low until all that was left were charred husks, and a pile of glowing embers. It produced only a faint pop and hiss, along with the lightest aura of remaining warmth.

The house is dark. Just like in his nightmare- but there's no voice to taunt him in the shadows. The windows, which had been an open view out into the world, were covered by thick drawn curtains. Nothing could see inside, not even the searching cameras of the drones he knew were looking for him out in the city. No light is leaking past the borders of those curtains, either. He'd passed out somewhere around noon. Had he slept so long that it was nighttime?

The house is empty. Tikki is nowhere to be seen. A door at the far end of the corridor across the living room is shut. Perhaps she was there, or perhaps she left.

A hand flies quickly to the back of his neck-

-and he feels nothing. No robotic devices, no grasping claw-like limbs, no collar, and no needle stabbing into his skin. All that he finds is... the pre-existing injection site, that had long since healed over.

He was alone with his blankets and his pillow, a dying fire in the fireplace, and the lingering terror of the nightmare.

Spooky

Despite the realization that it had been a bad dream, and that there were no threats in sight, he still felt almost afraid to move for a while. He pulled the blankets up around him like it was a barrier, camouflage to hide him from whatever lurked through his imagination.

Still, he couldn't go back to sleep. Not without making sure everything was okay... So holding the pillow and clutching one of the blankets around him, he got up and checked the perimeter, wandering through the living room and down the hall, peeking in through the doors just to be safe.

Mystic

…So far, everything seemed to be clear.

The kitchen still smelled like the food Tikki made earlier - ‘om-lets’, or something. The burners in the stove were off, and all the dishes had been cleaned and returned to their rightful places.

The living room was the same. The book he picked up still sat haphazardly on the stack when he set it aside. The fire was still dying, the firewood stack neatly piled.

The windows were unshattered; no glass or broken drones littered the floor from his imagined combat. Peeking beyond the curtains showed a gentle fall of snow from the sky, and a dark, starless night filled with clouds.

…

Paying close attention to the house let him notice a few things. The scratches from the driveway were present here, too- they had been spackled and repaired wherever possible, but the signs of wear persisted. Wooden furniture was bent or scored in places, as if something big had clumsily scraped by it. These must be the signs of whenever Tikki transforms against her will, identical to what he found outside. This was a small abode to contain the oversized- whatever it is she turns into.

The door at the end of the hall has the most prominent damage, where the frame is buckled up and outward in a couple places, and the hinges had been repaired multiple times.

What did she say again? ’Shifting outside sucks because she can’t fit through the door,’ or something.

…There’s a faint buzzing sound coming from the door. She was probably asleep, oblivious to his nighttime panic.

Spooky

The sound was sort of like the breathing noises she made while asleep as the silver beast, but smaller... It wasn't like the buzz of drones, this was far less harsh and only happened at intervals instead of continuously. Still, just in case, he listened for a bit, before gathering up the nerve to open the door just a crack and peek inside.

Mystic

The inside of Tikki’s room was also dark, all lights in the room turned off save for a single lamp in the shape of a spiny fish plugged into a wall socket. There were more plants in hanging pots, some with flowers that wafted a sweet scent. A fan overhead spun in a slow circle. Against one wall was a tank full of water, plants, pebbles, and several small fish that flitted about once the light from his eyes was upon them. A filter hummed quietly on the tank, the only other notable sound in the room.

On the bed was Tikki, fast asleep. She was haphazardly wrapped in a thick blanket of her own, and what was visible of her arms and legs was covered in some sort of cloth outfit with more fish stitched onto it. She had a book open next to her on the bed. Thin red lines on the sides of her neck produced the buzzing sound he’d been hearing, every time she breathes. Was that how she snores?

The fish in the tank all swim at once towards the corner nearest the bed, swimming frantically at the tank glass.

Tikki grunts, her snore sputtering as she reaches up and rubs at her face with one hand. Moving to sit up, she looks first towards the tank. A pause, ear fins twitching, before she looks towards the door. The mermaid squints, her eyes reflecting the light from the doorway as she sleepily processes.

”Nghf- Sticks…? I see… your eyes glowing.”

Spooky

The glowing eyes peering from the doorway glance to the side self-consciously and duck behind the door, though after a few moments, one came peeking back into view.

Yeah, she'd seen him, there was no point hiding. The door opened more and he stood in the threshold, huddled in his blanket, his tallness diminished in appearance somewhat by his nervous, slumped posture. He squeezed his pillow underneath his arm.

"S... sorry," he whispered, barely loud enough to be heard over the fish tank filter. "Checking... if safe." The honey must have helped somewhat, that was the most talking he'd managed in one go since they'd met!

Mystic

There's a pause as Tikki's sleepy brain works its way through what he just said.

"Oh..." she mumbles, yawning- and revealing a mouth absolutely full of sharp teeth. "It's... ok, Sticks. It's just you, me, and the guppies... they started yellin' the moment you-" another yawn "-opened the door."

She rubs at her face again, this time with both hands.

"You gonna- be ok...? Can you go back- to sleep...?"

Spooky

Guppies? He looked at the fish in the tank, though he hadn't heard them make any noise, let alone yell. He blinked, but turned his attention back to Tikki.

He nodded, but it was clear by how he was carrying himself that he was hesitant to go back to sleep. He was still tired, but fear had put him in a state of alertness despite that. Backing up from the door, he turned to go back down the hall. Maybe if he couldn't sleep, he could at least keep watch...

Mystic

"Wait."

Tikki grunts, scooting to the edge of her bed and rolling her legs over the side. She adjusts the sleeves of her colorful cloth attire, and digs around in her blankets. She removes something lumpy and plush from the bundle of blankets, standing up to approach the door.

"Here," Tikki says, holding out the object to him. "Holding this helped me relax when I first started living on land instead of the sea."

It was a stuffed lizard of some sort, but it had tiny plush spines on its back and a little pair of plush wings. Fabric fangs poked out of a sewn mouth underneath tiny black bead eyes.

"His name is Slithers. Maybe he'll help you feel safe, too."

Spooky

His glowing eyes blinked in the dark like two half-covered spotlights as he picked up the little soft... creature? He didn't know what it was, but it didn't seem to be alive. It appeared to be made out of the same kind of soft stuff the pillow was. The fabric that made up its plush hide had some kind of a spotted pattern that glimmered in the light of his eyes, like scales. Whatever this fake creature was, its appearance was endearing, and he smiled a little despite his anxiety.

He nestled it between the pillow and his body and gave a little nod to Tikki in thanks.

As he made his way back to the couch, he thought about what Tikki had said. She used to live in the sea... But what was that, exactly? A different town? He wondered how often she had to move. She had to hide too, right? If people found him scary to look at, they would absolutely find the silver beast to be scarier...

Getting to the couch, he took another look around the room. Still all clear. He was about to settle back down where he'd been before, when he stopped, noticing how his hand sunk down on the cushion of the couch when he started to kneel down on the rug. His eyes widened, and he squished the cushion with his hand.

This thing had pillows on it!

He got back up, and almost as if he wasn't sure if he was allowed to do this or not, he cautiously sat on the couch instead, curling up in the crook of the couch's arm. It felt like he had more defenses this way, being in a corner- and it was a very soft and squishy corner. It was like he was gonna sink into it, but he didn't- not enough to be alarming, anyway. This was a good spot...

Snuggling down in the blankets all curled up and hugging his legs, with the pillow and plush sandwiched between the front of his torso and the back of his thighs, he sat there in quiet comfort until he finally began to doze off again...

Mystic

...This time, he's unbothered by nightmares, or even dreams. The comforting blackness of exhaustion envelops him, and for now, he's allowed to sleep in the peaceful silence of nothingness.

~*~

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[megamuscle885-blog]

TW: Suicide mention. Worm Spoilers.

Reprising my Neil Cicierega post from before about how "Mullet with Butterfly Wings" is a skitter/scurry/chitter song.

Crocodile Chop is a Gold Morning song. The lyrics are all very slurred and drunken. She's lurching around. Amy's hands on her as she "Wake(s) up!". "Why'd you leave the keys on the table?" Who's just leaving Amy alone with Taylor. They had to know she was going to do something drastic. Lisa should've, and that's the tragedy isn't it? "Here you go and create another fable." The myth, making Taylor into a weapon. Maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but this is supposed to be a fun little post anyway, it's not too serious.

Except "I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide." is just a dead on, straight between the eyes, punch to the forehead shining example of Taylor Hebert's character in this moment.

The scream for Fathers feels a little bit like Taylor's frustrations with Danny, and maybe a little bit of QA (who is currently in the driver's seat) might be feeling a little forsaken by her father Scion herself in this moment? "Father into your hands I commend my spirit." and the whole section there, is SOAD directly lifting words from Jesus' crucifixion. This one's not a particularly deep take from me, but you can see Jesus' crucifixion as a kind of self-righteous suicide, huh? And Taylor is also putting herself on the line, as usual, and sacrificing any other kind of future she may have had for herself in favor of the greater good, and the unity of humanity. It's a consistent, doomed worldview she's held ever since "Cut Ties, I'm Sorry." entered the picture. She put the Undersiders aside. She spent more time with the Chicago Wards than them, and her time with them wasn't even worth mentioning in the text. She sets them aside too. She trains Golem because they have a shared enemy, but there's nothing else there. There can be nothing else there when she has to go die on the cross, unknowingly, but still. The Simurgh, Contessa and Dinah all conspiring to put her in the right place at the right time.

My read of SOAD's lyrics seem focused on the 'right to die', about how nobody truly deserves to die, but we all will die, but there are some people who are condemned regardless of their circumstances for the method of their death. Serj Tankian brings up his potential for dying in a drug overdose as his example of someone dying in a shameful way, and therefore 'deserving' to die. (This is just me paraphrasing the wikipedia entry I'm not uncovering new ground here lol). There's also the very literal Angel-like being hovering over the battlefield to consider.

Choosing how you go out is more than some people get. Except Taylor doesn't get to choose how she goes out in the end, does she? Taylor doesn't really have a choice here. The Simurgh chooses. Dinah chooses. Contessa chooses. That little static burst as the song fades out to "Transmission" (a little bit where a numbers radio is played interspersed with the introductory rift from David Bowie's Space Oddity) sounds like her turning her head to see Contessa sitting there with her gun in her hand.

All of this is set to Elton John's Crocodile Rock, which I haven't really listened to enough to have thoughts on it. I don't really have any deep takes on his side of the mashup, other than the fact that the piano and Serj's "Die" is pitch shifted to Elton's "laa, la-la-la-la-laa" making it very unsettling.

I've been listening to too much of Neil's music while driving to work and it's starting to mix together with all of the other brain worms, creating intricate mental AMVs, and it shows.

[eretzyisrael]

Keeping this colourful Jewish language alive

Most people are familiar with Jewish languages like Ladino and Yiddish, but there are many more Jewish languages that are spoken throughout the world. Writing in Alma, Vicky Sweiry Tsur  grew up in a home where Baghdadi Judeo-Arabic was spoken by grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles. She has been collecting words and expressions in the dialect. Here are her top ten:

/>A letter written by the Chief Rabbi of Baghdad in Judeo-Arabic using a script called Hetzi-Kalmus

1. Wakka mazzalem (May their luck run out)

Let’s start off with a relatively mild insult! This one is quite straightforward. Someone is doing something bad and you want them to stop. As so much of Middle Eastern culture stems from the idea of the evil eye and luck, it figures that somewhere along the way we might want someone’s luck to run out.

2. Asht eedak (May your hands be blessed)

You would say this as a compliment to the person who cooked the food you are enjoying. Once you have taken a bite and discovered that it’s oh so good, you ask God to bless the hands that made it. When you think about it, languages that don’t have this phrase are severely lacking.

3. Bil a’eefi (In good health)

You say this when someone is wearing new clothes, enjoying the food you have prepared or admiring a gift you gave them. It could also be the response to asht eedak. It’s full of love for those close to us. We want them to continue to be able to enjoy this and other things in the best of health. Amen v’Amen!

4. Ayouni (My eyes)

When you use this word, you aren’t literally talking about your own eyes. It’s used as a term of endearment. It’s as if you are saying, “You are as precious to me as my eyes.” I remember it being said to me when I was little, and now I say it to my kids.

5. Wayhid kayinfikh il lakhi (One person flatters the other)

I love this one! It is used to describe two or more fools who flatter each other. Each fool believes the other’s words and so they believe themselves to be wise. I’m sure many of you have encountered incompetents to whom this applies! I know I have!

6. Lesh la? (Why not?) Khutrush? (What for?)

My sister and I joke that for our grandmother Aziza, of blessed memory, these two phrases went together. It seemed like anytime we suggested something to her, she would answer with one of the two. /> “Do you want to go shopping?” “Lesh la!” /> “Do you want to go shopping?” “Khutrush?”

7. Esh in’sawi? (What can be done?)

This phrase is for when you resign yourself to accept that something is not quite as you would like it to be. This is how it is. I have no control over this situation. What can I do?

8. Skitti u’Khalia (Be quiet and leave it!)

If someone is talking about something bad that might happen, it is shut down by this phrase. The deeply superstitious Baghdadi Jews believed that you could set the evil eye in motion just by vocalizing something bad. Don’t even talk about it because you might make it happen.

9. Bas baqqa! (Enough already!)

You know when someone just goes on and on about something? When someone is moaning non-stop about a predicament that really doesn’t seem that bad? When the kids are fighting over the remote control? That’s when this one comes in handy! It’s short, sharp and to the point.

10. Dakh mookhak oo laa-bit nafsak (May your brains get tired and your tummy feel queasy)

This is pure poetry! I can’t say I use it much because it’s not one that comes to my mind at the right times, but I wish I did. It’s the sort of curse that can only be said in this wonderfully expressive language.

Read article in full

Blessings and curses of Judeo-Arabic

More about Judeo-Arabic

[tacticalspider]

olduvai, olduvai, what happened? / the cycles of time?

i'm growing older in my body / in my mind's eye, i'm always young

(image description in alt and under cut; reference pic under cut)

image description: this is long sorry. i redrew a picture of ray toro and his two sons to be teletubbies. the original picture was taken during the reunion tour and is of ray kneeling at the edge of this little stage offshooting from the big stage. he's doing a really awesome solo and his hair is flying everywhere so that it kind of looks like a halo, and his two young kids are on the ground, standing at the edge of the stage and sort of clambering up towards him. the picture was taken by his wife and it's really beautiful. anyway, so my picture has pretty much the same set up, but i drew it in colored pencil and pen on a page from my dad's thesis, which was on an endangered Nicaraguan language called Ulwa and the scaling is kind of fucked because I'm still learning how to actually draw. in my picture, ray is laa laa, the yellow teletubby, but that's only visible through his yellow hands and arms and the yellow curling antenna mixed in with his hair. i tried to add yellow bits to his hair, which is long, brown, and curly, but i'm not sure how well it worked. i made him wear a blue-grey iron maiden shirt, just because i'm pretty sure i saw him wear and iron maiden shirt on the internet once and that seemed like a decent color. he's also wearing dark brown jeans and brown boots and his guitar is meant to be a dark, reddish-brown. on his left is the crowd, which is a scribbly dark brown mass, and on his right is a big stage light, which has a yellow glow that spreads out behind him. in the upper right corner, the word "olduvai" is written in yellow-brown letters with a turquoise outline and a font that's meant to look sort of like important penmanship from the eighteenth century, because i think it looks cool. next to "olduvai" it says "life cycles endlessly on." these are lyrics from "olduvai," which is a song Ray wrote solo and I really like. his kids are the teletubbies ru-ru and umby pumby, and they are orange and dark yellow respectively. ru-ru has turquoise headphones on, an orange antenna that's basically just a nub, and his yellow shirt says "tubby custard" on the back. umby pumby's headphones are dark pink. it's a pretty cool picture. end id.

reference:

[janekestrel]

So You Want to Play Dragon Age: Origins in 2024 

I have recently gone through the semi-grueling ordeal of trying to get this almost fifteen year old game to work on my PC, and after writing up a list for my friend of all the mods I used to make it functional, I was informed that the tumblr population may have a use for this information as well! This game, while very Of Its Time (2009), is one of my favorites. It is full of great characters and has a lot of heart, and it is still important to the story and lore of Dragon Age overall. I think it's worth your time! So if you care about the story arc of this game series and have the opportunity to play this one (especially with Veilguard officially existing and theoretically coming out soon), I strongly recommend it.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an expert on modding and I will almost definitely not be able to help you troubleshoot anything if you run into any problems. This post is just compiling the information and links I collected while on my journey to get this game playable on my PC. Most, if not all, of these links come with access to forums where you can ask for help from people who will be able to provide it, and that is where I recommend you look for answers! This game is old enough that almost every problem that is possible to run into has been experienced by someone else, so it's very likely that reading through the forum posts will get you the info you need.

Level 0: I just want this old ass game to work on my modern computer. I do not wish to install any mods, I am just here for the story and I don’t care what the game looks like while I play it.

To avoid the game crashing pretty much constantly, particularly any time you’re in a location with a lot of NPCs (so, any town), you will need to change your graphics settings to Very Low. It will look like dogshit. Most eye colors will not be visible and armor will be weird and glossy and in general the world will look like it hasn’t finished loading. But it should work.

HOWEVER: you may still run into various game breaking bugs and other issues that can be resolved by a mod in the next section, so be aware of that.

ADDITIONALLY: When I first opened my game after installing it, it looked extra shitty because it was defaulting to 800x600 resolution for some reason. It does not seem to be great at detecting monitor settings without help. Go into the game's settings and make sure the resolution is set to whatever your monitor is. This might seem obvious, but I wanted to mention it just in case.

Level 1: I am willing to install two necessary mods because I want the game to both work and not look like dogshit.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO INSTALL: Large Address Aware + patch from this random Steam user. This is the thing that will tell your game to stop being so scared of the fact that it is no longer 2009 and it is installed on a computer with more than 2GB of RAM. For LAA to work with the Steam version of the game, it needed extra fiddling, so this very nice person pre-patched it and uploaded it with instructions on how to install it in this post: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233222451

If you do not have the game through Steam, you can get LAA and install instructions here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/large-address-aware.112556/

Ultimate DAO Fixpack  This fixes a bunch of random bugs and issues, of which there are many. I don’t even know what they are, because I installed this before I started playing and therefore have not encountered any of them. It's like a vaccine for your game. It's on Nexus, like most of the rest of these are, so you will need to make an account there to download it. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4689

Level 2: I am willing to install a few additional mods to improve the experience of playing the game.

Before I link any more of the mods, here is some very basic mod-related guidance that may be helpful to someone who is a complete beginner to modding this game:

Most of the following mods you will need to “install” in the override folder yourself (i.e. just copy them over to it); in my experience, the Nexus Vortex mod manager thing does not work 99% of the time with this game, so don't bother with it. I made a DAO Mods folder on my computer to keep the zip files in, then I unzipped them to the override folder here: Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override

If any of the mods say “install using DAUpdater” (the fixpack does, for example), that is an application you can find in the game's installation files, wherever you have those. (Steam users can easily get to these by right clicking the game in your Steam library and going to “manage > browse local files.”) It will be in the “bin_ship” folder. You should only have to associate the DAZIP file type with this application once--afterwards, you can just double click the mod file and it will open in DAUpdater.

If any of the mods say “Install using DAO Mod Manager,” that is here: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/277

The most important thing is to read the mod developer's instructions on how to install it. Don't assume everything will work the way other mods do. If you install it wrong, the mod will not work and could even cause weird or alarming side effects. Just trust me.

I strongly recommend these:

Mouse Cursors for 4K DAO This will give you options to make the cursor bigger. This is a good one just in general for accessibility reasons. The default one was tiny on my monitor and I kept losing sight of where it was, especially during combat. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/5167 Install location is in your game installation files under packages\Core\data\cursors - pick the size cursor you want and overwrite the original folder (and keep a copy of the original somewhere)

UI Mod - Readable Fonts and UI  Basically just makes everything bigger for higher res monitors (and for general accessibility) so you don’t have to squint at microscopic text on your screen. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/73

Level 3: I am willing to install even more mods if it will make the game look better.

There are a lot of these on Nexus to choose from, and not all of them are compatible with each other (which is important to remember and look into if you start installing a ton of mods). These are the ones I like that also play nice with each other:

Unique Face Textures for Companions  This mod preserves what the companions/important characters look like but improves their skin textures and makes their eyes clearer. Make sure you also copy the textures folder into the override folder along with the Companion Morphs folder, I forgot to do this at first and it made Alistair look very shiny and blurry. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4666

Dragon Age Redesigned  This is a huge mod full of graphic improvements to like every NPC. This mod comes with a pdf of instructions on how to install everything and is pretty easy to navigate. There are also versions of most of the companions as well, if you prefer this version of what they look like. (Some of those will require extra mods to install--the pdf will tell you what you need.) https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/686

Also potentially required for this one, depending on which version you pick: https://www.moddb.com/mods/tmp7704/downloads/tucked-hair

Level 4: I want cuter hair and armor choices for my character.

Another thing there are countless mods for, and if you’re getting this into it, I recommend going through Nexus and perusing on your own. These are the ones I was able to get to work on my computer with the other mods in this list installed:

Jenya’s Random Hairstyles: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4795

More Hairstyles: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/392

DA2 Grey Warden Armor: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/3258

Level 5: That is all fine but the game is still unplayable until I can bring my dog everywhere with me without sacrificing a companion slot.

You are right, which is why this is actually the most important mod on this list.

Extra Dog Slot  This lets you add your Mabari as a summon. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/664

Final notes: This is NOT in any way a conclusive list of DAO mods, there are obviously so many for this game and if you want to do more than this, knock yourself out! I just wanted to post this as a starter pack for these types of people:

1. Brand new player who just bought it on Steam for $2 or whatever it was and wants to play but is intimidated by the idea of modding it 2. Returning players who haven't played in forever/on a PC and want a place to start with mods that will get the game to work 3. Really anyone who wanted to play/replay this but when they started up a new game, it just started crashing over and over and it was making them really mad and annoyed so they gave up because they didn't know how to fix it

I have been every player on this list at one point or another and a post like this would have been really helpful to me.

Now go out there and have fun defeating the Archdemon, fellow Wardens 🫡

[astarionsilverbough]

Smth I really like abt both how Gale and halsin treat their relationships (and why I think the uh… tertouple? Is that a thing?) will work is that their approach to their partners is really just…

“I will turn all my soft parts to you, and my hard parts to the world, so you can take down your own walls and turn your soft parts to mine, and I will be the walls you’ve needed”

And they put effort into showing this, too, both of them letting star and Raphael take control in intimate settings and reacting calmly (more or less) when they lash out or get triggered or alarmed. AND they point anger at their abusers/traumas to prove they don’t need to keep up their own walls.

That’s my opinion anyhow

And I think star and Raphael will really benefit from having a relationship w someone that can genuinely understand the others experience

-LAA 💜

hi so you think u can come in here and drop something like

“I will turn all my soft parts to you, and my hard parts to the world, so you can take down your own walls and turn your soft parts to mine, and I will be the walls you’ve needed”

along with a stunning analysis of these characters in the dynamic i've put them in and then expect me to be FINE??????? BABE.

MY ANAL ANON.

I AM GOING TO BECOME THE JOKER.

[powdermelonkeg]

Assorted headcanons about my current Team Dragonborn:

Lydia Iron-Forged:

Former Companion, left after being invited into the Circle

Serious to a fault—a fan of deadpan humor, to the point where you often can’t tell if she’s actually joking

Older sister ran off to join the Stormcloaks, carries an amulet of Talos that was sent home shortly after

Can lift a werewolf if she really tries

Likes her mead with snowberries

The kind of drunk that laughs at everyone and everything. Tally thinks it’s an unsettling change

Practices, either with sparring or with forms, her swordplay just before dawn

Has a soft spot for horses, uses them as a litmus test—good people always take care of their animals

Can cook, mostly hunts for her own meals. Makes a good hearty stew

Sword is named “Stormblight,” enchanted with shocks. Was a gift from her father, bought off a Khajiit caravan

Has a scar on the back of her neck from a fight with a troll

Mikael used to pick on her when she was a little girl. Her sister taught her how to punch to break noses, and Mikael’s nose hasn’t been straight since. She’s the one woman he won’t flirt with

Bisexual, with a preference for Ysolda women

Kaidan (of Northwind):

Once had an affair with a young noblewoman named Isabel. She got engaged to the count of Bravil, so he tried stealing her away and was thrown in the dungeon for it. Paid the fine, was going to serve sentence (40 lashes), but Isabel got in the way of one and stopped the whole thing. She didn’t say anything else except to tell him to leave. She still has a scar on her cheek

A thrill-seeker, though won’t admit it. Takes vampire contracts for the rush of adrenaline

The tattoo on his face marks him as blood-kin to the Orcs

Has a faded lightning-pattern scar spread across his back, beneath the newer interrogation lashes. Rosalind gave it to him

Could learn a shout if he really, really tried for it. Not as easily as the LDB, but in a vastly shorter time than the Greybeards (as per the Akaviri Dossier). Would learn Aura Whisper (Laas Yah Nir) if given the chance

Can follow being read to much more easily than reading. Not that he can’t read, just prefers a voice—pages blend together after awhile

Very much a “hold my beer” kind of drunk. Don’t tell him he can’t do anything or try to show off in front of him

Does scrimshaw to burn extra stress, especially after a nightmare. Tries to make his work useful in some way (ie a horn, some cups, a knife, etc)

Sells his scrimshaw in between contracts

Gets tense and snappy from moon sugar withdrawal

Caryalind Thallery:

Wears gold lipstick when in town. It’s very subtle and usually only noticeable to fellow Altmer

Is a slow morning person—the kind to wake up early, but spend the next hour basking in morning sunlight in a silk robe with a coffee

Skyrim’s air is NOT good for his curly hair. Whenever he can manage it, he scrounges up some septims and stops by the caravans to see if there’s any orange oil in stock. He always smells faintly of oranges

Whenever Cary senses magicka, he immediately goes on high alert, even if it’s just Restoration

Cary got a handful of threatening/hateful letters as prince, and kept them, feeling terrible and not as if he should be allowed to throw them away. His friend back home (Termia) found them one day and convinced him to burn them with her

His hair is soft. Very soft. Feather-down soft. Yes, it’s natural

His calian (sphere of aetherquartz that denotes his place in Altmer society) is clear magicka blue, the size of a clementine, and has translucent etchings of his birthsign’s stars set in it. Sometimes he almost laughs at the irony

Taliesin (alias):

He used to write up letters on the field about things he’d seen to send to his sisters. Couriers were sparse, so sometimes he’d wind up sending 5 at once because he’d been holding on to them. He keeps them in his robe, next to his chest

He had a packet of letters on his person when the Talos Shrine incident happened. They got bled through

He still writes sometimes, even though he might never be able to send them

He once swiped the head Justiciar’s hood and pretended to be him to amuse his colleagues. Said justiciar walked in on it

He will judge you SO HARD if you eat dog meat. No it’s not the same as when he eats slaughterfish, slaughterfish at least have the decency not to slobber everywhere!

A decent cook, if only because he got tired of having to special request everything

Very intelligent. Not in the sense of book smarts (though he does have those), but he has an uncanny knack for reading the room and gauging reactions—part of it is to be of service to whatever his current task is (knowing when someone is about to run, playing good cop/bad cop with other agents) but the majority is because he had to learn how to read his father’s bad moods

Pays extremely close attention to how his friends react to others’ mistakes. Especially mistakes he has in common with them. What’s the difference between his past and Paarthurnax’s? Kaidan’s? Caryalind’s? Bonus points, this means you can gain his trust more effectively by treating people besides him well

His jokes and wit double as a litmus test. When he meets someone, it’s to test how much of a pain they are to get along with. Past that, it’s his subtle way of checking in; if someone who normally laughs at him is annoyed, or someone who’s usually annoyed doesn’t react, something’s wrong

Complains because it’s cathartic and misery loves company

Has a few dragon scales in his pocket once he starts traveling with the LDB. It’s to show his sisters if he ever sees them again

Accidentally acquired a taste for firebrand wine—Summerset cuisine is notoriously delicate, so drinking firebrand was the “cinnamon challenge” in the Solitude Thalmor ranks. Naturally he wanted to show off and one-up everyone

Like Kaidan, is a “hold my beer” kind of drunk. If the two get drunk together, they’ll keep one-upping each other until they either black out or are physically separated

Never learned how to swim because when he was little, his father deadpan-joked about maormer in the water kidnapping altmer that didn’t behave. He avoided deep water like the plague, then never remedied it when he got older

Calian is milky-rose quartz, big as a gooseberry. It got chipped once on the field; after repairing it, he’s padded its box with as much cotton as he can get

An absolute ace at card games, and decent at dice. Won his horse in a game of cards. Loves her to death and spoils her

Has a lovely voice but makes you earn it. Favorite song to sing is “Star-Eyed Bride of Alinor”

Very much an “I told you so” kind of person, takes it to the point of “Oh, I was right? What was I right about? Speak up, my pointy ears can’t detect your whispers of shame.”

[asma-al-husna]

Allah calls Himself Al-Malik— The King and Owner of Dominion— on five occasions in the Quran. He is the King, the owner and ruler of the whole creation. Al-Malik gives authority to whomever He wants in this world, and He has supreme authority and is ruled by no one!

The King, the Ruler, the Owner of Dominion

Malik, Maalik and Maleek all come from the root maa-laa-kaa, which points to three main meanings. The first main meaning is to have possession and ownership. The second is to have power and ability and the third main meaning is to control and have authority.

This root appears 206 times in the Quran in ten derived forms. Examples of these forms are malakat (“possess”), mulku (“dominion”) and al-malaa’ikatu (“the angels)”.

Linguistically malik refers to the attribute of mulk; which points to power and ability: They do not possess ability. [Quran 13:16] Mulk also means possession and ownership: To Him belongs the Ownership of the heavens and earth [Quran 2:107] as well as control and authority: O my people, sovereignty is yours today, [your being] dominant in the land. But who would protect us from the punishment of Allah if it came to us? [Quran 40:29] Al-Malik is simultaneously the Ultimate King, Ruler, and Owner of all beings.

Al-Malik Himself says: So high [above all] is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth . . . [Quran, 20:114] Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is exalting Allah , the Sovereign, the Pure, the Exalted in Might, the Wise . . . [Quran, 62:1] The Sovereign of mankind . . . [Quran, 114:2]

A breathtaking scene with the King

Describing an amazing and humbling moment on the Day of Judgment, the Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: Allah will grasp the earth and fold up the heavens with His Right Hand and proclaim, I Am the King! Where are the kings of the earth? Where are the tyrants? Where are the arrogant? [Al-Bukharee, Muslim] No one will speak and the kings and rulers of this world will be left with none of their “power.”

How can you live by this name?

1. Stay within the limits of Al-Malik.

Would you drive 60 mph while in a 30 mph zone when you know a camera is ready to record you and fine you accordingly? In your daily life keep reminding yourself to remain within the bounds set by Allah, al-Malik, your King, and imagine both His punishment and reward.

2. Don’t use the name Al-Malik.

The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam also said: The most despicable name to Allah is a person who calls himself the king of kings, while there are no owners except Allah [Al-Bukharee, Muslim]. The name Al-Malik belongs to Allah ‘azza wa jall only.

3. Be patient and be a king in the Hereafter.

The real sovereignty in this world for you is to strive for self-control. Don’t be a slave of money, fashion, or desire, but suppress your desires and constantly strive against the whims of your ego to please Al-Malik. As is beautifully quoted: Desire can turn kings into slaves and patience can turn slaves into kings! Recognize His ways of bestowing kingship: Say, O Allah, Possessor of sovereignty, You give kingdom to whom You will and take it away from whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent! [Quran, 3:26] So be patient in times of hardship and in striving to stay away from what is forbidden by Al-Malik and He will give you an eternal kingdom in the Hereafter in-sha-Allah.

4. Ask Al-Malik.

Whenever you feel disheartened tell yourself Allah ‘azza wa jall is your Malik and you are part of His Kingdom. He does whatever He wants [Quran 36:82] and when something “bad” happens to you, know this is from His wisdom and that no matter how impossible your situation or ambitions seem, you can always ask Him only for a way out. Nothing is impossible for Al-Malik.

5. Be just.

All kings and owners, just or unjust, are low compared to Al-Malik. You are responsible for whatever you have authority over, and you will be accountable for it. In reality you don’t own anything; it all belongs to Al-Malik. So be just to your spouses, children, and even animals, and remind yourself that you will be dealt with by the King on the Day of Judgement.

6. Humble yourself in heart and body.

Never be arrogant, and keep reminding yourself that you are an ‘abd (slave) of Al-Malik, no matter how rich or self-sufficient you might feel. Al-Malik reminds you of what your priority in your daily-life should be: Then High above all be Allah, the True King. [Quran 20:114] Be humble in your heart but also in your speech and appearance. Using foul language, speaking poorly of others, or having an arrogant body posture are not features of a believer who humbles himself or herself for Al-Malik— He sees you 24/7.

7. Praise Al-Malik.

The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, whoever says: la ilaha il Allahu waHadu, la shareeka lahu, lahul Mulk, wa lahul Hamdu, wa huwa ‘alaa kuli shayyin Qadeer -None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, alone, without partner, to Him belongs all sovereignty and praise, and He is over all things omnipotent- 100 times he will receive the reward of freeing ten slaves,one hundred hasanaat will be written for him and one hundred misdeeds will be washed away. He will be shielded from shaytan until the evening. No one will be able to present anything better than this except for someone who recited more than this. [Al-Bukharee, Muslim] The Prophet also used to say immediately following the witr prayer: Subhaan al-Malik al-Quddoos (Glory is to the King, the Holy) three times, and raising and extending his voice on the third time and then saying: Rabbil-malaa’ikati warroohi ( Lord of the angels and the spirit) [An-Nasaa’i].

O Allah, Al-Malik, we know that You are our only King and Owner. Help us in following Your commands and in being Your righteous slaves, and adorn us with patience and humility. Guide us in being just in all our daily affairs, and admit us to Your Kingdom of Paradise, ameen!

[calico-spiral]

Characters in Calico Spiral

I don't just do worldbuildy shit with this setting, I also have characters that I smack together like action figures in my brain. Here I am going to talk about them a bit now okay let's go.

The crew of the Finders Keepers

The Finders Keepers is an independent salvage vessel, the crew of which find themselves at the center of a bunch of dramatic interstellar bullshit when they find something belonging to an authoritarian interstellar superpower that everyone wants to get their hands on for one reason or another.

Priyanka Bannerjee (Priya for short) is the captain of the ship and the person mostly responsible for cobbling it together out of parts of other derelict spacecraft. She is mostly known for being three things: extremely good with technology, having a temper as short as her mean streak is wide, and being very bad at hiding the fact that she is a huge kink-fiend.

Wu Qi is Priyanka's girlfriend, and the sort of person you would want to pick up and throw in a dumpster if you had to spend five minutes with her in real life. Loud, almost gleefully obnoxious, immature, impulsive, and completely devoid of tact, it's anyone's guess what Priyanka sees in her. (The answer is that joke's on you, she's into that shit.)

Wu Rong is Qi's fraternal twin sister, as well as the ship's pilot, XO, navigator, and basically any other position that requires an ounce of responsibility. Despite being the tallest and most physically imposing member of the crew she is also the most quiet and reserved, and she almost never leaves the ship on a salvage mission due to the fact that EVA work gives her anxiety attacks. She's actually kind of a softy and a coward, except when she's piloting a ship.

The crew of the Phei-da-yo

The Phei-da-yo is a Mo'esh pirate vessel that mainly preys on Shining Ascendancy shipping and often docks at the orbital habitat that the Priyanka and the Wu twins live on.

Ip-Sing Fesh is the dreaded scourge of the Shining Ascendancy, immensely proud of the standing death warrant they've put on her head. (Never mind that the Ascendancy fucking hates her entire species and indiscriminately hands out death warrants to any Mo'esh captain they think even might be engaged in piracy.) Despite styling herself as a ruthless, bloodthirsty pirate, Ip-Sing can be shockingly altruistic to anyone who isn't affiliated with the Shining Ascendancy.

Trel-Nang Fahn is the Phei-da-yo's Moe'sh equivalent of a First Mate, and the only male on the crew. In this capacity he often tries to be a steadying voice of reason to temper Ip-Sing's worst moments of hotheaded impulsiveness, despite usually being ignored.

Mim-Yek Kanh is the Phei-da-yo's pilot and navigator.

Clat-Yek Kanh is Mim-Yek's younger sister and the ship's communications officer. She mostly handles non-piracy-related comms, since Ip-Sing likes to demand surrenders and issue threats herself.

Lin-Fal Pyo is the Phei-da-yo's weapons officer.

Lum-Teng Soi is the Phei-da-yo's chief engineer and by far the friendliest member of its crew.

Kyuudz is a Dzvruubgh engineer and the only non-Mo'esh member of the Phei-da-yo's crew. Being a Dzvruubgh his thought processes can be a bit odd to others, and he sometimes doesn't seem to realize he's on a pirate ship at all.

Other various characters

Iola sal Dannan is a cyborg bounty hunter from Sundaraam. After being horribly maimed in a terrorist attack as a child, she's basically forced to work as a corporate thug in order to pay for the cybernetic enhancements she literally cannot live without and could never afford to pay for otherwise. Since she's a good person with a strong moral compass, she is not happy about this arrangement. When I first created her she was human, but lately I've been leaning towards her being a Kran.

Ruunk Tsaang Laa is a Vrann warship captain employed with an anti-pirate mercenary outfit. He is as morally upstanding as he is terrifying to be around for anyone who isn't used to dealing with his species.

Pakhet-tai-Ghreendahal sen Pamutarl-Shusurama Savi Sefkhet is a Dhugarl pirate with a massive hate-boner for Ip-Sing Fesh, ever since the latter's unprovoked attack on her ship, the Paralyzing Kings, on the incorrect assumption that she and her crew were slave traders. (While Pakhet-tai-Ghreendahal does take slaves, she treats those on her crew well and looks down upon enslaving others for profit.)

Narshahl-san-Kreekharzan ben Tarsun Sulareen ben Joneronda-Khartobanno Harsk Tehva Merletakk is the Paralyzing Kings' First Mate. His name is long.

Iigo is an Au'bei/Dhugarl halfbreed on Pakhet-tai-Ghreendahal's crew. Due to coming from an Au'bei colony world where halfbreeds are heavily discriminated against, she grew up with a massive chip on her shoulder and a host of crippling insecurities that she hides behind a mask of blustery confidence.

Vaank Suun Puaa is a Vrann pirate on Pakhet-tai-Ghreendahal's crew and Iigo's BFF.

Tan-Yek Gran is a Mo'esh ship captain to whom Ip-Sing is still technically betrothed, and with whom she wants nothing to do. This just makes him even more determined to track her down and add her to his harem, drawn by the allure of the one that got away.

There are more, but I'm still thinking over whether or not I want to bring them over to this version of the setting. I may or may not talk about them in one or more future posts.

[laalaaisqueen]

I think I accidentally wrote a new story-this wasn't supposed to be a 4 minute read

The chainsaw felt suddenly heavy in his hands. At least it didn't land on his feet. He breathes heavily staring at Po's corpse and the hair he lost in his fight with her. It's still fairly long, so he won't complain much.

His pale eyes pan over to where he saw Noo-Noo last and emitted a surprise noise.

Did he escape while Guardian was distracted with Po's huge spider form? Or maybe the half bot never intended on taking Po with him.

He opens his mouth to ask Laa-Laa (she had been standing back, yelling at him to just run into the station) if she saw where Noo-Noo went.

But instead he screamed in surprise.

This was due to a sharp pain hitting his back, his hoodie was pretty old and worn out so it didn't protect much from whatever entered his back.

There was little he could do to stop the person from shoving him forward. Due to how tired his body is from the fight.

He dropped the chainsaw so he could try to catch himself on the dirt.

The hat went flying off his head.

They continued to hit him with the sharp object. Guardian's leg tried to kick at the person but a different kind of pain shot through his body when a hand roughly grabbed his antenna.

"OW! FUCK!" He never usually swore but surely this was a reason.

They smacked his head on the ground for several moments while he struggled but the pain in his head made it hard to focus.

For fucks sake, why won't he die?!

The yellow Teletubby lets him roll over, he insultingly looked shocked. His nose bleeding from when she was smacking his face against the ground.

Does he really expect me to be okay with him killing one of my friends?

Laa-Laa stabs his throat with her sharped rock that she had been holding onto the whole time. She truly wasn't intended to kill him at any point when they left the Outskirts.

But that changed.

She stabbed him repeatedly in the chest while her mind raced.

I'm literally killing a Teletubby.

I don't need him anymore.

She tightens her jaw and tries to push away the feeling that rose up at that thought. A light sense of relief climbs up her shoulders once she notices he's stopped moving.

Laa-Laa backs off from his body, heavily breathing, her hands shaky. Her vision going blurry with tears, she felt like she was going to...faint.

Anne didn't know what to expect at the station, it took forever for them to leave due to Miles insisting he needed to find his one-in-kind boots, but two-technically three-bodies.

"...Is that a fucking spider?" To be fair, the red body was the most obvious due to how huge it is.

Anne cautiously approaches the other two. She didn't need to look too closely to see if the dirty looking form was alive. Very clearly dead.

But she could tell the yellow form is breathing, just passed out. She picked up her unconscious body in one arm and only then noticed the bloody weapon.

It could be possible she is the reason why this guy is dead. It's not easy at all to tell what the motive would be. The only way to find out is questioning.

She walks back towards the other soldiers.

"What about the other one ma'am?" One of them was most likely eyeing the dead one, though unclear through the helmet.

"His throat and chest is bleeding, he ain't alive." She sets the passed out Tubby inside the helicopter. "This one seems to be the only survivor here." She doesn't bother mentioning the sharp rock.

A green blur rushes past her into a seat. "We need to get the Fucking out of here." Miles huffed and puffed as if he ran ten circles around the base.

"Why, is the spider actually alive?"

Conor follows behind, though not small enough to be a blur. "There's no time to explain, we'll be dead if we stay here."

Anne was baffled at what was making these two run so fast but Conor being worried about looming death convinced her to get into the front seat. The others climb in, a bit confused at the situation.

That is until they were high in the sky, looking down at tiny creatures stumbling over the hills.

"Come on you two, you're scared of tiny monsters?"

"Perhaps you missed the amount of tiny monsters?!"

"I passed math, I can see 'em just fine."

[streets-in-paradise]

We're Best Friends as Friends should be

Cult of Chucky oneshot

Characters: Andy Barclay, Chucky

Warnings: Constant exposing to silly children shows used as some sort of phiscological torture method.

Summary: Andy accidentally discovers an alternative method to avenge his destroyed childhood. For most of the time he had been playing with Chucky in the bloody way he was taught by him, but he had still left to try making him suffer in the way of a child.

Note: Inspired by this post i saw and couldn't let go lol

Tags: @losersclubisms @series-thoughts I apologise to both of you in advance for this nonsense lol

Chucky loved to talk and his captor needed someone to talk to. Not all their conversations had to end in torture sessions, despite many eventually would, but Andy was learning a lot about him whenever he would let him talk. For instance, his complete ignorance of the lore of the Good Guy show lead him to an enlightening realization.

He had no idea about the very same thing he used to destroy his life and that had been never used against him. Chucky endured the physical damage knowing he had the upper hand in the mental, breaking the already broken child living in the memories of the sick man he had become.

Not for long, little Andy was going to have his turn to break him when his adult version would try his tools on him. The doll was forced to endure hours of watching episodes of the show he ruined for him along with his childhood over and over. Andy would set things very carefully so he would have no choice but to stare at the screen, often leaving him for hours. The goal was making that the song would become a trigger, just like it happened to him after Chucky came to his life.

The results were surprising and he continued experimenting, soon starting to switch shows. Most didn't even come from his childhood memories, but were considerably more annoying to the adult eye than the Good Guy show ever was. Andy wanted to make sure Chucky wouldn't get a single instant to be comfortable, even if he wouldn't be actively harming him at the time.

It didn't take him long to discover the one Chucky ended up hating the most.

" Ehh - Hoo!" He macabrely saluted the doll head. " Want some more? "

The screen was still displaying an endless cycle of Telletubies when he removed the gag.

" FUCK YOU, ANDY!!" Was the enraged answer his tease obtained. " IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL TORTURE? BE A MAN AND GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY, YOU PATHETIC LITTLE SHIT!"

Andy chuckled to himself, aware that he was just trying to provoke him into turning it off.

" ... But that would give you a distraction and that is exactly what you want. " He recalled, merciless. " Admit it, Chucky. You can't stand it anymore. You would prefer I would be burning you alive to keep watching."

" I'm getting used to it. Tinky Winky is a dumbass and Dipsy wakes up every morning choosing chaos. " The doll attempted to deny the obvious out of pride. " Laa-Laa is a bossy bitch and that whinny little shit of Po should be thrown off the cliff."

Andy gave him a skeptical smirk and pretended to carry on with his day careless for him, what made Chucky more impatient.

" I get it, when you were a kid I made you believe life with me was gonna be like Barney and I gave you Annabelle. Is that what this is about? Push down my throat all the lies i told you? "

The unexpected comment made the man stop in his tracks.

" Don't worry, Chuck! You are still on time to make it up. We are going to be the best of friends, just like you promised. "

It was a strongly ironical tease and it was about to get even more ironical.

" I love you, you love me. We are a happy family. " Andy began to sing." With a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you. Won't you say you love me too? "

On top of the uncomfortable time he was making him go through, Andy also wanted to ironically humilliate him and he was not going to allow it.

" Don't you fucking dare." Chucky warned, cutting him off. " Bring the flamethrower, I'm not gonna do that shit."

" I could bring noise cancelling headphones. " His captor warned. " Telletubies is all you are going to hear for the rest of the day ..."

If he could be honest, Chucky would rather be killed. Since that was not an option, he just kept an initial silence intending to conserve his pride.

" C'mon Chucky! " Andy insisted, in a tone that resembled a little bit to the children he once meet. " It's your line."

He didn't have much of a choice, not at that point, and the disgust in his face perfectly matched his dark singing.

" I love you, you love me. We're best friends like friends should be ..."

[benisasoftboi]

I recently purchased the Teletubbies' official Pride tank top, and it is the funniest thing I own. I do think it's a pretty naked example of rainbow capitalism - the slogan 'Big Hugs Big Love' is neither obviously Pride themed, nor even obviously Teletubbies themed, almost as though it was deliberately designed to not be easily associated with their brand if seen by homophobes in public - so I do feel that I may have contributed to something bad here, but it delights me so much to tell people what, exactly, it is that I am wearing. It's just so bizarre that this brand even has Pride merch.

Although, of course, the Teletubbies do have a long history of being associated with gay people. There have been little incidents, like the Talking Po doll that sounds like its calling you a slur, but the most famous is of course the accusations of Tinky Winky's homosexuality during the late 90s. Tinky Winky is purple, and carries a purse, and has a triangle antenna, which were all seen as signs of the gay agenda by conservative pundits. This was of course denied because it was the 90s, and it was a children's show, and also all of the Teletubbies were meant to be little babies themselves. However, in the modern day, the story is very different - Teletubbies has clearly become more comfortable associating itself with LGBT people, and also the Teletubbies are now canonically grown-ups. We know this because in 2021, the official Teletubbies Twitter account took a break from astrology posts to let us know that the Teletubbies are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including pictures of the vaccine cards. Setting aside the strangeness of their second vaccine dates being two weeks in the future from time of posting, and also written American-style despite the Teletubbies being British, these cards importantly provided us with the Teletubbies birthday - February 2, 2003. This is, admittedly, also very strange, as 2003 was after the show's original run ended, but it does indicate the Teletubbies are legally adults, and thus, speculating about their sexualities is now on the table.

The Twitter account has never outright stated that Tinky Winky is gay, but they've heavily implied it (for example, saying he was 'Born This Way' in a tweet at Lady Gaga - one of many unsolicited tweets they've made at various pop stars - or a screenshot of his AOL status mentioning how fabulous he is). They also once suggested that Po and Laa Laa are dating, which, if true, would make Dipsy the only straight one. This makes sense to me, as Dipsy's always had issues with toxic masculinity. I had the Teletubbies CD-ROM game as a kid, and in the rolling game (where you had the Teletubbies roll down a hill and bump into various objects to trigger cut scenes), if Dipsy rolled into the pink skirt, he would act disgusted by it and run away. None of the others objected in this way, and would simply wear the skirt and do a little dance - including Tinky Winky. Going by Twitter now, though, Dipsy seems like a really firm ally to his friends, so I think he may have left that issue in 2006, and all the better for it, I say.

Also, I couldn't find a place to mention this, but Noo Noo uses they/them pronouns.

[averagemorrowindenjoyer]

I Can't Find It! (Laa-Laa/Dipsy)

Dipsy gasped when a sudden gust of wind made his hat fly off his head.

"My hat!" He whipped around and tried to catch it.

Laa-Laa glanced behind her. "What happened?" She asked. "Ugh, the wind made my hat fall off!" Dipsy groaned. He looked around the hill, but his hat was already gone.

"I'll help you find it." Laa-Laa patted his back reassuringly. "Thanks." Dipsy sighed.

Laa-Laa walked down the hill, assuming the hat must've been dragged down to the forest, where the wind was blowing. She moved hair out of her face.

He really needs to be more careful with his hat. Laa-Laa quickly looked through the forest.

When she realized it wasn't there, she went back up the hill."I can't find it!" She shouted, half-way up the hill.

Dipsy looked over to her, a deep frown on his face. "Can you double check?" He asked. "I don't think it's there." Laa-Laa shook her head. "It's getting dark. We'll find it in the morning." She looked up at the sky. It was turning into a dark blue.

"Alright.." Dipsy sighed.

---

It was the next morning, and both Laa-Laa and Dipsy were up looking for his hat.

"Oh, hey! Dipsy! I found it!" Laa-Laa shouted.

Dipsy immediately snapped his head in her direction. "Really!?" A smile snuck onto his face. Laa-Laa waved Dipsy's hat in the air. Dipsy ran up to her and grabbed the hat, setting it on his head.

"Thanks, Laa!" He gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome." Laa-Laa smiled at him.

[clowndotgay]

Hi! Would it be possible for you to make a rendered height chart of all the managers? Either from shortest to tallest, or tallest to shortest? It would be amazing if the litigation team, B.O.D., and LAA, Derrickman, and Winston, and High Roller could be included as well.

i could! but there wouldn't be much of a point! you might've noticed playing Toontown before that every cog shares one of three (technically six (okay, technically like, nine, not counting skelecogs and dpt bosses)) body types, and that's true for the models too. there's a set of base bodies, and then there's a bunch of head models - those are essentially what the "character" models are.

the game then makes the model overall larger or smaller dependent on the cogs size - which is a number that i'm not able to see (and if i can, no clue where it is). there's a height chart on the wiki that's made by stiching the cog gallery images together, and that's the closest you'll get! (some cogs here are slightly different heights than they are in game - obvs the department bosses, but also some cogs are just generally slightly off.)

to get my models to the right height, i just plop this image behind them, line it up, and then size their model until it looks like the image. there might be an easier way, but that's how i do it! i use buck as the baseline cog, so he's scaled to exactly 1.0.