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mookymilksims · 6 months

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ULTIMATE Realistic Family Gameplay Guide

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Hello, everyone. I ran a poll on my channel for you all to decide on which realism guide you'd like to see next and Family Gameplay won. While I'm aware there are hundreds of family gameplay guides out there, and you'll probably have most of these mods already installed, what I think I can offer different are fixes to the EA code, and expansions on gameplay mechanics already included in the game, as well as a masterlist that has been extensively playtested for the last 6-7 years (still testing the newer mods though!). These mods have been run through Delphy's Dashboard, and have even caught conflicts and corrected that Delphy's couldn't catch.

We will break this guide down in simpler sections.

Children can series.

XML's, Tweaks, Tunings (Non-scripts). Special section for fixes.

Scripts and scripted objects.

This guide is also aimed at overall family play. I do not just think of new interactions for babies, toddlers, children, and teens. I also consider the parents. I've included mods for parents in different roleplay scenarios, as well as, single adults looking to create a family, so we will focus on some mods that can promote the family before the family is made.

I will also included a personal recommended list of lots you'd want to include in any world you play in for an ultimate family play experience.

Now that that's out of the way:

This can be followed alongside the youtube guide, we've got a lot of mods to get through so let's jump straight into it.

Children Can Series:

We will start with the most intricate install process. There are many children can mods. And many mods that conflict with each other. I caught all of them through Delphy's Dashboard, so you will only install the mods highlighted in this guide for the most optimal and conflict free experience. These mods are self explanatory but I'm going to explain why you want them at the end of this section.

CamKitty - Children can werewolf hunt.

kls77 - children can repair, tinker, and upgrade.

kls77 - children can time travel.

Bluegentsu - Children can use fortune cookie maker

Jonha - Children can use urinals.

Kap Children can series:

ONLY DOWNLOAD THESE MODS FOR COMPATIBILITY

can call services can check skills can cut and trans gems and ingots can do laundry can get mail can make nectar can read skillbook music can use sketchbook

OEM Children can series:

ONLY DOWNLOAD THESE MODS FOR COMPATIBILITY

can air guitar can chess can conjure apple no auto can feed cowplant (only if you have store cow plant) can hack can magic mirror can mermaid eat can microwave can neat trait clean house can photos-phonesmart can post forum can practice speech mirror can practice speech vanity dresser can solve hard problems

All of these mods enable features already in the game that children were unable to do. Each of these small mods brings back playability with children in very big ways. This also makes children much more independent so you won't always need an adult or teen around to take care of them. For example, children can now order pizza on the phone, or microwave food, instead of needing adults to always cook for them. You can roleplay more chores with children by allowing them to do laundry, this can also be roleplayed in a scenario where a parent isn't very consistent and the child has to be. This could create amazing stories for your gameplay. Without these mods, playing with children feels so much more restrictive. They feel like cute dolls you just send to school and forget about for a couple of hours. Allowing them more agency and free will for my gameplay allowed me to immerse myself more in their child years.

We are now going to focus on XML's, tweaks, and Tunings. These are all non scripts. This is also where I will include fixes. These are very lightweight mods that change what is already in the game and do not create gameplay lag.

Adoption Costs 5 k - I made adoption more expansive because I wanted to be able to feel this decision in game. Adoption isn't neccassarily free in real life. Between the paperwork, meetings, travel, and transitioning the children into your life this can obviously be very expensive. So this mod helps me roleplay this aspect of real life.

Arcade claw machine tweaks - Family fun center version. Arcades are extremely important for my family playthrough's, as it's one of the lots where I can put plenty of interactive objects for all ages. Including a little playpen for toddlers, that won't be out of place. This can also double as a traditional birthday party lot, with closed off rooms. From time to time I like to bring my families to these lots when I want them all to get out of the house together. So with this mod, it tweaks the prizes you can win from the claw machines, increasing your chances of winning a ton more stuff.

BlueGentsu

5% chance of teen mood swings - Makes the mood swings feel a lot more impactful when they happen instead of every other day. This is especially helpful for those who play on longer lifespans.

Skates - all enabled for pregnancy - does just as it says, pregnant sims should be allowed to have a little more fun.

No blowhorns noisemakers at Age ups - It's just annoying and buggy, so removing it altogether optimizes age transitions. This also makes the event seem a bit more realistic, while everyone just cheers and laughs instead.

Toddler's can turn off stereo - Combined with my NRAAS GoHere settings, which allows for inactive daycares to be possible, sometimes when a daycare staff puts your sims down to sleep, they won't turn off the stereo so you as the toddler will have to autonomously do it so they can peacefully take their nap.

Boarding school is expensive - Again, this is so the decision feels a lot more impactful in game. This can also be roleplayed as sending your child to private school when in a wealthy family, so the prices also make more sense for this.

Maid Costs 200 - As the title says maids will be slightly more expensive, this adds up everyday, and is for the purpose of this decision feeling more impactful. It didn't make sense for my poorer families to be able to afford a maid so this is a mod catered more towards upper middle class to wealthy families. I also combine maids with a butler as well, to give a more regal feel to the wealth your sims have obtained.

No Graduation - This is optional, if you use UC mod. This eliminates the graduation ceremony altogether, for those like myself who like to roleplay this event in game instead. By simply throwing a party on a fancy lot with formal attire.

Not just teens can prank call - Just made more sense to have this option available for everyone.

Student Services Booth mod unlocked - This can be used on High school lots as well. Especially when you turn on Summer Vacations, and send kids back to school the first day of Fall. Also, for roleplay Uni scouting events, so sim families can have a more immersive experience of browsing possible universities sims can be sent to.

More Festival Ticket Rewards - BG, SN, UNI version. Just like the claw machine this adds more rewards to win on festival lots. Makes working for the tickets more impactful.

No Auto tell ghost stories - This interaction has always annoyed me as it happens anywhere at any time. I like to plan activities almost like an itinerary when sending my sims to do longer events like vacations or simple camping trips in their homeworld. So specifically for camping, telling a ghost story with the family is a very fun activity to do at night before everyone goes to sleep around a campfire. It is where this interaction makes the most sense for me to use and leaves me excited to actually use it.

Studying is easier - I always thought the study rates of performance were super unbalanced. As I don't have sims study often when in Unni unless it makes sense for their character. And so this leaves an incentive to actually study during their free time outside of class as it brings more of a reward when it is done. However, the default rates of studying was too slow and easily took up all of my sims days. So I wanted to be able to study and be rewarded for that, while also having more time in my sims days to do things. So now I can study less often, throughout the week without the stress. I am including this in the family gameplay guide because your teens can actually study together in your homeworld which doesn't do anything for their school performance but does a lot of roleplaying study groups, since I have a homework mod that only takes 15 minutes to complete.

TwoFT Mama -

Auto Potty Training - does just as it says, this mostly helps townies, but for active households to do this on their own leaves you as the player feeling more immersed.

Better grades - Lowers the grade requirements making school a little easier. This is so while playing with UC it leaves teens and children more time to interact with each other outside of working on interactive objects.

Faster homework minutes - Reduces homework times to 15 minutes, saves up much more time in my child and teen sims days.

Fixes:

This is a smaller section for the non scripts, where I consider these mods to be complete fixes to existing EA gameplay that all the patch updates missed.

Auto Romance YA-Elder Propose going steady - This is a lightweight alternative to the NPC Romance script mod by YolkSims. While the mod was completely rebuilt from the ground up to be much more optimized, I went on a journey to find replacements to my current scripts folder that delivered what I was looking for. I found this mod. While this can go all the way up into Getting divorced. I stopped at going steady because with the Supreme AI mod sims can autonomously break up if they aren't on the best terms. This may also include divorcing, but so far it hasn't been too intrusive. Combined with the simler90 mod which includes attraction fixes, this makes romance a lot more fluid, performance friendly, autonomous, chaotic, but also predictable, aids in roleplaying, and is overall a great fix for townies and creating families with active households.

Read to sleep fix - A patch broke this interaction, so Danjaley fixes it. Without realizing it, you have another immersive gameplay mechanic for toddlers in the game. This interaction is very cute and I wouldn't believe it wasn't a mod, so I'm very happy this interaction was fixed.

Midlife Crisis Always - Adult life stages can be quite boring and monotonous. I play lifespans so long that when this event happens it's like a milestone for me. I think of it as a mini game, and try to fix everything that happens afterwards once my sim comes to their senses.

MissPat Better Playdates - Just as you may have saw in my Supreme AI playtest video, Townies will autonomously call and ask for playdates if both families have children and younger in their household. This was an EA feature, but it also got broken. This makes interacting with other families more immersive, and making children and toddlers friends much more realistic and natural in the game. For those who like to roleplay life long best friends in the game, especially.

TwoFtMama

Birthday Cakes don't catch fire - These fires are annoying and I use other mods that can cause chaotic fires randomly but REASONABLY in game.

No Curfew period - This is the only curfew remover mod that doesn't break changing clothes and dresser interactions in my game. I always thought the curfew mechanic in the game was a bit too much. Police officers wouldn't know where every single child or teen was at in the world. And sometimes, I like to take my teen and child sims out late for family events, teens on late dates, etc. With curfews enabled, police would still arrest them and bring them home, even though the parents were with them, then would have to wait for the parent to get all the way back home just to yell at them for being out late. This obviously made no sense. Combined with a punishment scripts mod, I can user direct punishments for things like this instead for a much more roleplaying and immersive experience.

Teens can take unpaid days off - This mod also made more sense and should've been included in EA features. Teens call off from work, and quite often might I add. So it helps me roleplay a more realistic teen lifestyle in game.

Now for the Final section we are going to focus on Scripts. Scripts typically do not conflict with each other but for this list some of them did. The compatibility patches and versions have been included so you don't have to worry. This is where most of you will probably already have these mods, but hopefully I introduce you to some bangers you never heard of before.

We are going to go by creator and then from A-Z for the misc scripts.

Arsil

Do Homework With - Adds the ability to do your homework with other sims the same age as your children and teens. This can make study groups more immersive, as getting homework done together will actually improve school performance the next day, but can be doubled with the UNI study together interaction the roleplay a longer study session period. These can be done in the home or the Library, which allows me to get more usage out of my Library lots and make a Kid/Teen section which is always fun.

Toddler Extra Activities - Adds a bunch of cute new interactions that toddlers can do like playing in puddles, mud, sand, eating snow, dancing, and even drawing on the walls if they have crayons in their inventory.

Arsil Futons - This is for more eastern themed family plays, but you can alternatively use these if you have a poor sim in the big city who can't even afford a bed. I typically transmogrify deco beds on the floor into this script object in game, you get a lot of creative and really fun gameplay out of this. But I wanted to toss this in here for my eastern simmers, if you don't already know about this, or you'd like to play an Asian household and make your gameplay a little more realistic. I'm definitely excited to rebuild my Korean themed Uni world I had before with these beds!

Arsil Napping Mats - These work exactly like the futons except for toddlers. It's honestly so cute. Outside of the crib and Olomaya's toddler beds, this is just another super cute way for Toddler's to fall asleep. The crib always seemed way too overbearing, and for those who roleplay toddlers aging but not yet into children, these other various options would serve you a lot better. Now for these mats specifically, I typically like using them in my inactive Daycare lots, but from time to time I'll use them in my active household's living rooms or play room, just in case I don't always feel like bringing the Toddler to another floor to fall asleep.

Arsil Low Dinner Table - Another really awesome mod for those who want to be able to roleplay better with eastern households. I always have so much fun with these tables and chairs, I've even converted some myself. One of my favorite general things to do is set the chair up in front of a TV and direct my sims to play video games. So they will be sitting on the floor and playing video games and it always looks super cute, so much nostalgia!

Arsil Limbo Mod - For the same reason I removed the autonomous ghost telling interaction, is why I use this limbo mod. Another activity for sims to do at various different parties. It's one of my favorite little events to host during a birthday party. It's seriously so cute!

FloTheory

Pay For This - Adds a mechanic where every time you change your baby and toddler diapers and give them a bottle of milk you will be charged 5 simoleons. It's such an awesome addition because when you think about it, diapers and milk should add up in real life. However, combined with the other mods in this guide, if you change their diapers and give them a bath using the store object, or give them a bath using The Sweet Simmer's mod, you won't pay for anything then. Which makes sense, sometimes you can roleplay already having diapers in supply. As well as Olomaya's toddler snacks and meals, you would shop for groceries and make the toddler whatever you have available in your fridge, but actually feeding the child those meals won't cost 5 simoleans because you already paid for the ingredients. So this interaction fixes the lack of realism with EA's diaper and bottle interaction. I find myself using all 3 mods at random, and it's always so fun.

Wedding Inactives - Adds the ability to have two sims in a relationship that your sims are friends with, to get engaged, and you can set their wedding party as well. This can give romantic stories with townies more user control. Since we are using tuning mods to make romance more autonomous, and stopped at going steady, eventually SP will push those sims to get married, but you can not only speed things up whenever you'd like, but you can also attend their wedding in the same way they attended yours! This gives the user another way to experience going to a party instead of hosting one like LN introduced. Idk about you guys but I love also feeling like a townie/NPC sometimes, it immerses me much further into my gameplay!

Weight Gain - Adds a random percentage of weight gain for pregnant sims during and after they give birth. Women's bodies are absolutley beautiful especially after giving birth, I always hear about those mommy curves that finally come in for so many women, while you can choose to go to the gym and work this mommy weight off, I imagine myself keeping it probably for most of my playthrough's. It's just always made sense that this should happen, our bodies can change forever after giving birth and so I'd like to roleplay that kind of wholesome realism in game, too.

GameFreak

Advice interaction - Adds a new social interaction with custom moodlets when you can ask for and give advice. There are several different kinds of advice you can give, with many random prompts, and a reasonably timed moodlet that you'll get after the interaction. While this can be applied to general gameplay mods, I'm including this in the family gameplay because there are just way too many roleplay oppurtunities you can have with this one. Siblings or parents giving romantic, career, etc advice. Friends, lovers, maybe a lover asking for romantic advice on how to sweep your sim off their feet? It adds a lot more roleplaying elements that can really help you the player put a story together. I've always had a gameplay style where I generally know what I'd like to happen but I go with the gameplay and can change the plot at will, so the gameplay has to reflect many more possibilities.

Smartphone Dating - Is a smaller mod that just adds the dating app from the computer onto your phone. I personally love to roleplay like this is Tinder for my sims. I always felt the dating app should also be available on sims phones like in real life, and it gives us some things to do when out and about or bored at home!

JunJay

Everyone Clip coupons - This, again, should've been available in the game already, it can be quite fun to shop smarter, even if you aren't poor per say but money is getting kind of tight. I know large families that do pretty well still love using coupons so I've included this mod.

Online Center - Adds a brand new scripting interaction to the PC which makes so much more sense. You can shop online for groceries, books, pets, relics, bots, consignment, potions, etc. You can check weekly events, which means you can disable the newspaper and still get those benefits. Read E-sim news. And probably my favorite, there is a new Simbook (Facebook) feature! Your sim will basically scan their timeline and comment on other townies simbook's, and you'll actually get slight relationship increases with random sims you already know, and you can even meet sims you haven't met already through this feature as well.

Study Skills Online - Adds another interaction to the online center where you can study any and all skills. Instead of having to go out and buy the things you can study them for free right from your pc at home. I typically use this interaction for my teen sims to improve their basic school skills as an extra layer of work for them to do for school. Outside of studying, creating books titled their class projects and etc.

Lizcandor

Potty Training - Adds a new interaction for toddlers to play in the toilet and use it instead of always using their potty training potty.

Independence GoHere Compatible - Adds the ability for toddler's to use stairs! Always exciting! But you'll have to keep an eye on those little rascals a bit more, which is always more realistic!

Mintbeehry

Mint Makeup - Adds a new interaction for children and toddler's to play with makeup. And some very silly makeup masks that will go over the kid's face when done. I used to play with my mom's makeup all the time so it brings back memories for me, I think it's a super cute interaction for you to experience with your sims families!

Fidget Spinner - Adds an interactive fidget spinner object that can go into your sims inventory and taken out and be played with for a couple seconds. I think these are super cute for kids to win at festivals and arcade lots so I included it as it can be combined with savvier seller mod to actually shop for it on these lots.

MonocoDoll

Remove Shoes - Another really great eastern culture gameplay mechanic or just for your more cleanly families with a mud room. Either way, you'll have plenty of fun with this mod installed for realism.

Government assistance - Adds just what it states for your sims. EBT, health insurance, Child support. It's super realistic and adds so much more depth and mechanic to your gameplay. You'll actually be able to roleplay your poor families without having to get creative. Make a side chick a baby mama to a wealthy sim who cheated on his wife, etc. Tell some crazy stories, this mod will certainly help you with all of those scenarios.

Olomaya

Hang out, Children and teens - Adds an interaction where children and teens sims will sit down on the ground and talk, laugh, etc. It increases their relationships, and can be quite a large group. I used to have the all ages version, but I think seeing teens and kids sit on the floor faired out much better in my gameplay than seeing adults. Pick which ever version you'd like, though.

Toddler Bed - Adds a functional single bed for toddlers to the game! I've planned to convert many sims 4 toddlers beds using this scripted object so we have some more variety, but for now the options available for it are so adorable. It's got one bug, where you can only enter the bed from the left side I believe, but other than that it's a much needed mod for more realism, especially for those toddlers that just turn 3 and 4 in your game.

Activity Table - Adds a crafting option, and serve snack option to the activity table. The crafting increases the painting skills but uses glitter as a prop instead. For toddler's and children, so they can both play and eat snacks at the table!

Coloring Book - Adds functional coloring books that are portable!

Smoking - Fixes Cmoney's smoking mod, optimizes the scripts, fixes the animations, adds a sitting animation, moodlets work much better, adds new custom moodlets. Also adds a vape. But most excited, this adds the ability for teens to buy fake ID's for tobacco products. I also use the fake ID's to roleplay my teen sims getting into bars and clubs. As they can actually order from the bar, I like to imagine they were able to slip passed security.

Student council - Adds a really fun almost mini-game interaction to a new student council option for teens in high school. And a new interactive board. It may not be everyone's flavor but it makes highschools a little more interactive outside of UC. See also PheobeJay's cheerleading mod for another interactive mechanic for teens and YA in UNI!

The Sweet Simmer

This is where most of you probably have these mods, so let's just do a basic checklist of all the mods you do or don't have.

Animation World

Children Can care for their little siblings

Family Kiss

Biggest Little Mod for Toddlers

Children and Toddlers can follow

Toys Are More Fun

Peek-A-Boo and Hug Toddlers

Toddlers can ride rocking rider

Replaced child hug

Toddlers can pick up easter eggs

Toddlers can sit on couches and chairs

Toddler can ask for things

Toddlers can catch butterflies and pick flowers

Outdoor activities for Toddlers

Toddlers can sit on sims laps

Toddlers can learn to walk alone

More Baby Interactions

More Toddler Interactions

Functional Baby Carrier

Pick Up Toddler Fixes

More Pregnancy Interactions

So obviously all of these mods MASSIVELY Overhaul family gameplay with babies, toddlers, and children in the game. Not only does it fix EA mechanics, but it also compliments and expands existing mechanics, and then adds even more. You'll probably never go back to regular family gameplay again after these mods. You might only have a couple so consider getting all of these mods listed above!

Twinsimming

Acne Mod - Adds acne to the game, and can randomly have break outs. This suits this theme mods list as puberty can be quite strange. This also effects adults though, and adults still get acne. I mean not me really but y'all be easy.

Dirty Laundry - Again, I think cleaning and have a family just goes hand in hand. This mod adds more custom moodlets the longer you go without washing your clothes. It's how it should've been in the game, to really incentivize you to get that laundry done.

Growing Pains - Is a great addition to family play. Whenever anything significant sad or angry happens to children and teens they will go through a time in their life that will deeply affect them (almost traumatize them in a way). Divorce and breakups, etc. It makes what story you tell with those sims more impactful on their lives.

New Scholarships - Adds new scholarships to the game, I also consider UNI to be an integrated part of Family life in the Sims 3. I love going off to Uni with my sims I watched grow up since birth. This mod just adds more ways they could get in to those Universities.

Tooth Fairy - Is a cute little mod that adds a tooth losing mechanic, it feels like it always should've been there. With custom moodlets that will make you know your kid sim is growing up.

Now we are going to move onto misc Family gameplay mods, these are from various creators where I don't have more than one of their mods installed!

All Adults carry - This is a mod that allows all adults to carry children. It was originally a feature in the sims 3 with the firefighter career, but Puddingface made it possible for all adults to pick up and carry kids. This adds another roleplay element, as sometimes I like to direct my parents to carry their rowdy kids to bed if they aren't listening and staying asleep.

Clean House for Everyone - This mod just makes the ability to clean the house for everyone. Originally this mechanic was only avilable for neat sims, but I find I have neat sims without the trait, and slobby sims who eventually wake up and want to get their house together. So it's a pretty convenient mod. The sims will autonomously be directed to every dirty object in the lot and clean it all up. This is pretty useful for those larger family homes who can't afford a maid or a butler or can, and you don't want to sacrifice a trait slot just to be able to clean your house.

Cherry Toddler interactions - This is another script mod that adds some pretty fun interactions into the game that combined with all the other scripted toddler interactions makes the game an abundance of choices you can do more with toddlers. Things like talking with another toddler, exploring around, having a bottle to themselves, and even eating pet food from their bowl.

Ferris Wheel - This adds a new scripted object ferris wheel, you can actually ride it. Combined with all the other store content geared towards festival lots (roller coaster, carousel) this is another really fun object for your family's to go crazy on in game. It adds a custom moodlet once you've finished and it's super cute.

Icarus Scolding - This adds a new scripted mechanic where you can user direct punishments to your child and teen sims now. This is what I meant earlier with the removal of the curfew mod. If you still want to catch your teens sneaking out it can actually make more sense. Now you can do all sorts of things for your stories and gameplay. Kid didn't clean up their room like you asked? Send them to the wall. Not doing their homework? Ground them from all electronics. You get it.

Lyralei Journal - Not quite like the other journal mod, your sims won't actually write anything to publish like with buzz's notebook mod. But they will get custom moodlets after writing a passage. I like to roleplay this as a diary for my sims and also sometimes extra homework for other classes they take. You'll get random whimsical prompts after they finish writing and you can only imagine what triggered that response from your sims (it's random so get creative). You can also hide the journal, and a new interaction where a sim can ask what you wrote. It's very cute and certainly worth the install.

Fairy Tale Books - adds more fairytale books to the game. Classic ones from real life. They are classified as children's books so you can read them to your kids at night. Makes a more relatable childhood experience for us simmers out there!

Mingos Option b - This adds basically an abortion pill to the game. You take it after suspecting your sim of being pregnant. While you can get an abortion for the enhanced hospitals mod this mod adds a CVS like experience where you can buy the pills from the grocery stores yourself or pretending you got a prescription to terminate a pregnancy. So it makes 2 ways you can get an abortion in game. I'm aware that some more mods that will eventually do this are currently being developed for the game, so this one might not stay in my mods folder after extensively reading through those future mods if or when it includes them. But for now, I think it's a great realistic addition for your gameplay.

Nona Breastfeed Baby - Adds the ability to breastfeed the baby. That's all. It's really cute and realistic, it's an older mod so you might not have heard of it.

I know I've already included a Lyralei mod but the Randomizer mod is a big game changer that shouldn't be ignored. It adds way too much random EA prompt mechanics that actually impact your gameplay and story. I've got all the modules. Things like combatting rumors. Giving Advice. Getting Sick. Power and water outages. Work and School related triggers and many many more.

Zoeoe Buzzler Scribbling Pad Fixed - This is an essential fix and script optimization to this older and most adored scribbling pad mod. This works like typing/writing on the pc except you'll write in the journal and it's portable so you can do it from anywhere. I love having my working and school sims get the most use out of this. You can also use this to replace the writing pc interaction if you're playing in an older time period that didn't have computers.

Ok! Awesome! So we got through all the family gameplay mods! Now when you stick around to the end of the video I can showcase to you what all of these mods combined are going to look like in your game! We won't get through everything because there are simply WAY too many scenarios to show and we would be here all day. So I'm just going to show you how a general gameplay session would go instead!

And just as promised I'm going to recommend you a list of lots you're going to want to have in any world to get the most out of your family gameplay!

The EP's we can combine in this Theme are Seasons, UNI (although this will be in another world entirely so don't worry about this one too much), Generations, Pets, Island Paradise, and Late Night. This is the ultimate pack arsenal combined that gives you so many more features and interaction for your Family gameplay. You do not have to disable all of the other packs, you're simply going to focus on the content and lots given by these EP's in the world you chose to play your family in. Also consider adding all of the premium store content you don't need the full sets, just the functional objects.

Arcade lot - For family events and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Dive bar - for singles to meet and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Sports bar - for guys nights or date nights. Bachelor parties. Friends meetups.

1 Dance club - for singles and date nights and girls nights. Bachelorette parties. Friends meetups.

1 Gym - Consider adding a playpen to a toddler/child care section for those busy parents. Friends meetups.

1 Library - Consider adding a toddler playpen section, a child and teen section for homework, and a computer lab. Friends meetups.

1 church - This can double as your opened Masoleum RH, and a pretty place to get married. Friends meetups.

1 functional Movie Theater - Does not need the Theater RH rug. Use the premium store content. For family events and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Consignment store - With savvier seller objects to buy cc deco and furniture. I use this to roleplay changing around my bedrooms for when my sims age up. I don't put everything I have in the store obviously, but I do buy some things to include in the build.

1 Bistro - Open up the RH and use Ani's Business as Unusual set. For singles, family events, and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Diner - Same as above, more afforable and relaxed eaterie. You don't have to open up every RH, but you should focus on the ones your active family will be working in and going to school. So for schools, that would be 1 elementary and 1 high school.

1 outdoor picnic/camping lot - For in home vacations, family events, and date nights. Friends meetups.

1-4 festival lot - Could be broken up into several throughout your town, one for each season. This makes these lots more optimized and you can decorate more cc into these seasonal themed lots without worrying about overloading the lot and crashing during season transitions. For family events, singles, date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Pool lot - For everyone, and parties.

1 Fancy banquet lot - Can double as an exclusive lounge, for wealthy family events and fancy parties, can also add casino objects.

1 big park - with a playground.

1 small park - with another playground and cat and dog park.

1 pet store - using store content.

1 pet clinic - Using ATS3 pet clinic set, Pet Vet career, and a second hospital RH combined with Pet diseases mod to make the lot functional, and also adding UC.

1 art gallery - consider adding an easel room for art class, a mini winery (for paint and sip date nights), and a savvier seller gift shop, to gift to your date or friends or for yourself.

1 Fishing spot, with rentable IP boats - For those fishing trips you'll take with your kids and make memories. You can also add this lot to your vacation worlds instead.

1 CoffeeHouse or Java Hut - For singles, Friends, dates during the day. Teens and parents.

1 Laundromat - For families without the laundry objects in their home.

1 Opened up Spa - With store and script objects combined for a more luxorious experience and extra custom moodlets.

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grits-galraisedinthesouth · 26 days

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"Miserable Prince Harry wants his old life back & is planning a royal return after crapping all over his family."

After years trashing the Royal Family, Prince Harry is reportedly working on at least a partial comeback:

According to a report from The Daily Mail, Harry has become dissatisfied with life as an American Hollywood liberal and is consulting experts on how he can rehabilitate his image in Britain and the wider world.

The Mail reported: Prince Harry has sought advice from trusted former aides in Britain on how to mastermind a return from exile in the United States, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Sources said the Duke of Sussex is consulting people ‘from his old life’ as a working royal after allegedly growing dissatisfied with advice from American-based image experts.

The overtures signify the first stage in a strategy to ‘rehabilitate’ Harry that would involve him spending more time in the UK to repair his relationship with his father and potentially initiate a partial return to the royal fold.

Sources stressed that Harry and Meghan, who have spent the past four years living in self-imposed exile in California with their two children, are not seeking a permanent return.

This newspaper can also reveal that the couple have parted company with yet another American PR adviser. Christine Weil Schirmer joined the Sussexes in 2020 as head of communications but left quietly late last year.

Since marrying Meghan Markle in 2018, Harry has given up his duties as a working royal and has sought to build a life in California dedicated to left-wing advocacy and making huge sums of money.

Among Harry’s various projects have included a Netflix documentary series where he and Meghan dished the dirt about their supposed mistreatment by the Royal Family and a memoir in which he trashed his family members and complained about the struggles he faced growing up in the limelight.

While details of Harry’s plans for a return to the royal fold have not been revealed, it remains unclear whether his family members would forgive him for his betrayal and allow his return.

The state of Harry’s fractured relationship with his brother, Prince William, was once again underlined this week following reports that the two men had “kept their distance” from one another while attending a funeral service for Lord Robert Fellowes, the brother-in-law of their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

youtube

#spare us #like a spare #megxit #Youtube #bad blood

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katieaki · 3 months

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So, you’re interested in jumping into Pony Express but aren’t sure where to start/feel daunted by the undertaking/are freaked out about missing lore & context? Pony Express is intended to be a completely standalone work with no knowledge of my prior work necessary for enjoyment, but it has been rolling for quite a while now! Here’s some info to help you orient yourself! 💫 I recommend looking at this guide on desktop as the mobile version collapses the bullet points in a strange way.

✨ Here’s the absolute most basic summary:

Lou Primrose (30 years old, 5'0", illiterate, hardworking, 3x rodeo champion) is a rider for the Pony Express, the Wasteland's mail service. Lou has agreed to transport an unusual package from the middle of the Wasteland to the nearly uninhabited coast: a glamorous redhead named Holliday Bell. A case of mistaken identity sees Lou brutalized and disabled by religious assassin from the church of Johnny Knives (god of death) Reckoning "Artie" Tehachapi, who attempts to atone for her wrongdoing by serving Lou until she's healed. Together (for better or worse) the three of them head toward the ocean through unknown and dangerous territory.

This work is erotic in nature 🔞 with some violence and survival-type gore.

✨ If you’re totally new here, you might have some questions. Here’s a super quick primer under the cut!

What’s up with The Wasteland?

The Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic, non-dystopian society in the former American southwest. It has been several generations since the civilization Before (that’s us, or maybe like... our grandparents) was decimated. Nobody is particularly interested in the whys or hows of the collapse, though it seems that environmental disaster & earthquakes were the main factor.

It’s a series of towns, shrines, convents, and monasteries. Quite a lot of it is in repurposed buildings from Before (imagine Route 66-style gas stations, diners, and motels, all heavily repaired) and some of it is kind of ramshackle old-west-y new builds.

God of Death, religious assassins, churches– what’s up with all that? I’m afraid, sounds lore-y.

Wasteland society is heavily structured around the two churches of the gods of life & sorrow (The Listening Lady) and death & justice (Johnny Knives), who are married, immortal, and absolutely real. They live apart from the mortals, but they do live in the Wasteland with them. The Listening Lady’s church is responsible for basically every aspect of Wasteland life. Listening Church shrines and convents are also the Wasteland’s official or de facto orphanages, pantries, farms, hospitals, therapists, inns, textile mills, wedding venues, and basically everything else you need to keep a society functioning. Listening Church acolytes may have a huge variety of occupations, from the extremely down-to-earth (midwifery and laundry etc) to the real Weird and Churchy (doing rituals and divination etc). Many of them take a vow of silence in honor of The Listening Lady. The church of Johnny Knives is much smaller and much more specialized. Knife Church disciples are assassins whose sacred duty is to kill those who need killing, as judged by god.

You don’t really need to get INTO this, though. What you need to know is: Listening Church acolytes are generally warm and kind and in caregiver- or artisan-type roles. Knife Church disciples are peacekeepers & generally a little scary, but are also working toward the public good– kind, but not necessarily nice.

I know the concept of gods and disciples invokes the image of like, robes and shit, but that is NOT how it is! Listening Church acolytes tend toward chiffon and midcentury-lingerie-as-outwear looks and/or country western workwear, depending. Knife Church disciples nearly invariably have sort of a greaser/biker/leather daddy thing going on. They all talk about the gods like they’re their parents and their bosses, which they are. I think it’s kind of more normal than you might be expecting.

So there’s like, magic?

According to the Wastelanders, yes. You don’t need to worry too much about any of that. Just let them do their things.

And everyone is in a church?

Almost everyone interacts with Listening Church in some way, very few interact with Knife Church in any way, but most people in the Wasteland are ‘civilians’ (that is to say, not working for either church).

And they’re all lesbians? How do they have babies??

They’re not ALL lesbians, but basically all our POV characters are & it’s a very lesbian-heavy society. There are many ways that two women may have children, including biological. You got this, I know you do.

And everyone is blue?

Yeah, but it doesn’t really come up.

Why?

Because I liked drawing them with the sky blue posca paint marker when I began this body of work.

Ok. What’s up with Lou?

Louetta “Lou” Primrose is a rider for the Pony Express– she’s a Wasteland mailman. Her job is basically her whole life. She’s been working since she was ten years old, working for the Pony Express since she was 14. After receiving a romantic rejection from Venus, the dance hall girl she’s in love with, Lou agrees to take a strange red-headed woman, Holliday Bell, to the (allegedly) uninhabited coast, where Holliday’s wife is (allegedly) waiting for her.

Lou is dedicated, practical, and hard-working, but also hot-headed, frequently mean, a little self-conscious, and ‘a rambling man,’ never in one place for long. She’s markedly not religious among other Wastelanders (so is a great pov character for you if you’re new to al this!). Her greatest achievement has been winning the main event at the Wasteland’s biggest horse games three years in a row, unseating the previous champion. Nobody else really cares that much.

What’s up with Holliday?

Holliday Bell is an elegant and mysterious woman who showed up to Lou’s post office with stamps pinned to her blouse, claiming she’d mailed herself there from a town hundreds of miles away. She is asking Lou, who works at the most westerly post office in Wasteland, to finish the delivery by bringing her way out to the coast where she claims her wife, a pearl diver, is waiting for her.

Holliday is strange. From the beginning, Lou feels put off by her personality, which is both abrasive and seemingly rehearsed. She can be unspeakably cutting and is obviously hiding a big secret.

What’s up with Artie?

Reckoning “RT” “Artie” Tehachapi is the Knife Church disciple who, after a series of lies and miscommunications spanning several parties across the Wasteland, is sent to apprehend Lou, who she thinks has kidnapped Holliday. She breaks Lou’s wrist and dislocates her shoulder in their first altercation before she learns that Lou is an innocent party in all of this. Deeply ashamed of her actions, she vows to serve Lou until they make it back to civilization.

Artie is upbeat and optimistic, especially for Knife Church, but her guilt at her transgressions against Lou & eagerness to make up for them have left her in a kind of anxiety spiral. She’s the only one who has any real survival skills and continually works herself to the last drop, and then works herself a few drops more. When her big, horrible, deep, dark secret is revealed, her mental state continues to deteriorate.

What’s up with Venus? We haven’t seen her in a while?/Who’s the one-armed smokeshow?

Venus is Lou’s love interest, the girl she left behind in Hereafter. We haven’t seen her in a while because she, wisely, stayed there while Lou went off on her extremely inadvisable mission.

Venus of the Wastes is a dime-a-dance girl/saloon girl/sex worker who lives in Hereafter. She is Lou’s friend and Lou is both in love with her and her best client. Just before Lou left to deliver Holliday, she admitted to Venus that she was in love with her. Venus is, at least, very fond of Lou.

✨ Ok, but this is a lot! Where do I start??

If you’re looking to hop in on the story in progress, I’ve made summaries of part 1 , part 2 , and part 3 as we have gone on. I’ll update this with part 4 when we finish it.

If you’re a completionist, the links above have epub & pdf files of the full text of each part. Here’s where part 4 begins, until we finish that part and I post it all together. You can find the rest of part 4 by scrolling backwards through the collection. I will also attach pdfs & epubs of all the full text to this post on my patreon!

If you’re a completionist completionist & you want it ALL, here’s everything and the chronological order in which they occur in-universe. Again, Pony Express is meant to be able to stand on its own two feet without any of the rest of this, but it might be fun for you to read the rest. The first three here are kind of a series, but Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame and Bloodied on Arrival could both be read independently. Care and Keeping probably needs those two to support it, unless you’re happy just jumping in and figuring stuff out via context. It’s Artie’s backstory, but it’s not necessary for you to read to make Pony Express make sense. It’ll just give you a little more dramatic irony etc.

Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame - a novella about Hero Sasaki, a novice acolyte at the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life & sorrow) who has been tasked with delivering a package to an anchorite from her church. Frances is a disgraced assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who has been tasked with escorting her. Through trials of the road, emergency first aid, prayer, ritual (blood and otherwise), a little sex, and a lot of tears, they find love exactly where they should've expected it in the first place.

Bloodied on Arrival - a novel about Nuisance (and Hero), a road-weary assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who finds herself and her new cat taking refuge at a companionship shrine run by a beautiful older widow, Hero, of the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life and sorrow). The two can't deny their immediate connection and aim for a rewarding one-night stand, but things don't go as planned.

Care and Keeping - a work in progress novel(?) about Hero and Nuisance and their new adopted feral child, Artie, a little girl who has known nothing but abuse, pain, and starvation who believes it’s her sacred mission to join Knife Church. Nuisance agrees to train her to join the church in a bid to keep her from it for as long as possible. This is a kind of coming-of-age story for Artie and a becoming parents story for Hero & Nuisance.

Pony Express - A work in progress novel about Lou (also featuring Artie) - see synopsis at beginning of post.

The novel/las are available for purchase on my Patreon for $5 or for pay-what-you-want $5+ on Gumroad. If you find you can’t afford that, but want to read it, please let me know! DM me wherever or email me at missluckycatknives (at) gmail (dot) com I’m happy to make my work accessible to you. All Pony Express and Care and Keeping are free as I work on them.

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stardewremixed · 8 months

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Pierre gets so much flak...

...for being a bad shopkeeper

...for taking credit for your produce

...for being a bad husband.

BUT...

He really doesn't deserve all of it.

Let's break this down.

He is a small businessowner in a small community, struggling to compete against the BIG CORPORATE store, Joja. He has to get his products from somewhere and he is proud to be locally sourced (and you willing participate in this system as the Farmer unless you chose another route). Keep in mind. The man goes around to collect things from bins between when you go to bed and 6am. And he still gets up and runs his business the next day. I want to know when he sleeps, poor dude. (EDIT: My bad... I skipped the intro on my last few playthroughs and forgot it is Lewis who collects your stuff. Then again, Lewis could be getting a cut of whatever he "sells" to Pierre or he could be stealing from your profits, which just further proves the Mayor's shady side). Also, I think it's completely normal/natural to be proud of his little shop. He's worked hard unlike... *cough cough* Mayor Lewis, I'm looking at you.

I'm not a small business owner, but I am friends with a few. Running a business is hard, especially when you don't have much help. Abigail is pretty focused on her own stuff, and Caroline hosts fitness classes, but otherwise, she is a stay-at-home mom/housewife and takes long walks (to stare at nothing, mind you). They could be a bit more grateful or pitch in a little more. He seems to have an exclusive contract (except for the Grange Day event/Night Market) to sell at festivals, outside his normal hours, which is a good way for him to make extra cash. He probably needs it to keep up on his property taxes (home/business) and all the other business expenses, and let's be honest, keep Abigail/Caroline comfortable.

He doesn't have other employees, which is actually semi-believable in a town this size. This means that Pierre has to do all the work: find the merchandise, write up contracts, collect the merch, display the merch, ring up sales, pay taxes, manage the books, maintenance/ repairs, and the marketing (via the mail, what little he can, and direct mailings aren't cheap; this I know from working at a small company IRL). I'm probably forgetting an overhead expense. Small businessowners/people who work for themselves often do end up putting in more time/more effort than other types of workers... because they HAVE to. There's no one else to do it. It's long grueling hours, often a thankless job, and when you're competing against a bigger business, it is that much harder. No wonder the guy closes on Wednesdays. He deserves a day off, people.

And at least he is working to provide for his family and a service to the community.

(What are you doing, Mayor? Making statues of yourself???)

#stardew valley rant #sdv pierre #stardewremixed #sdv abigail #sdv caroline #sdv lewis

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sonic-adventure-3 · 2 years

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more-or-less finished my sonic ocs, carrion the cat and squabble the pigeon! they’re part of a trio of freelance postmen/hitmen

+ alt reference, doodles, and more under the cut

jacketless when off-duty + their bases. their colourations are based on karpati cats and lahore pigeons, respectively, though ability-wise squabble is actually a homing pigeon. side note; do you know how many pigeon breeds there are? there are a truly insane amount and some of them are so fucking wild to look at. highly recommend looking up fancy pigeons

concept sketches + two carrion sillies. i had a pretty solid idea of what i wanted for carrion, but the only thing i knew about squabble was her name and species for the squab pun, until i doodled a design and was instantly captivated. i just had to stick with the newsie-amelia aerheart cosplay-ema skye-razputin thing she had going on

i think the squabble in the very upper lefthand corner is the cutest thing i’ve ever drawn in my life

various things about them i should mention:

i’ve yet to design these, but they all have mailbags as part of their uniform, and squabble has a pair of heavily modified skate type extreme gear that have wing accessories like the ones on her head as a reference to hermes, messenger of the gods. also they have a plane. a mail plane? still working on that

not set in stone yet but carrion is abt 16-17 and squabble is 11-13

carrion is a trained assassin, born into it, skilled in close quarters combat, they’re proficient in all kinds of weapons including firearms, they also really like knives and keep a collection of all sorts. she’s probably a cat. they don’t speak all that much. incredibly skilled at many things, especially combat related. skilled tactician but doesn’t care to tell anyone anything anytime so they suck as a leader. just generally doesn’t care to say anything. carefree and more-or-less easygoing; they’re just kinda vibing 90% of the time. perma-blep. poker-faced, will do everything with the same blep expression. very protective of the ones he loves, cares about squabble more than everything else in the world, would and has killed for her. will play along with any bit. ultimately: he stays silly

squabble is an untrained pilot, scout, and mechanic, as well as an enthusiast of mail delivery and explosives. she really really likes explosives. has killed before and will kill again, carrion and rig aren’t completely sure she knows that they’re assassins—she does, she just has such a completely out of whack sense of morality and common sense that it’s hard to tell. she has an infectious joy for life that creeps into everyone around her. she’s the beating heart of the trio, and the one who came up with the idea of the matching jackets. is a homing pigeon, has magnetoreception, and therefore makes an excellent navigator and scout. she always knows the way back home, and her home is with the other two. has a completely out of whack sense of danger, is something of a thrill-seeker, but real serious danger she is very acute to. is a mechanic, but not quite an engineer; she repairs, maintains, and makes heavily illegal modifications to machinery, but she doesn’t build her own completely original designs and tends to stay away from electronics. comes off as a little klutzy bust she’s rather proficient in various things.

the third of their trio who is now designed and named rig is a sniper. she’s a fair amount older than the other two, somewhere around 22-24 i’m thinking? the delivery service was just euphemistic for their assassination services before the other two walked into her life. doesn’t pay taxes

chaotix-like in many ways

they’re a weird non-traditional colleague-family. they’re family-ish :] they love and care about each other, despite it all :] THEYRE FAMBLY!!!!!

they fully do kill people, but also a good portion of their hit missions tend to be for robots or to cause non-lethal commotions instead of straight up assassinations

they have a reputation for this and often take on odd jobs that very loosely fit their job descriptions

they get super suspicious job requests like ‘please “retrieve” “my” ““parcel”” from this heavily secured gun base and deliver it to this super secret off-grid address xoxo~’ and fully deliver on them

thank you for reading about my sillies! i’m bad at talking about ocs cause i never can tell what’s interesting or what i’ve shared, but i like thinking about them a lot :]

#i’m still hashing out a lot of details. many things i’ve yet to design or think about sufficiently #but i like talking about them #thank you very much for the feedback yesterday! it really helped!#my art #doodles #oc posting #ocs #squabble the pigeon #carrion the cat #sonic ocs #sonic oc #sth #tiny sonic cameo in there too lmao #i feel like the whole assassin thing is barely necessary but also i really like assassins #and what’s the point of sonic ocs if not to indulge in the things you like wholeheartedly?#deadeye delivery

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pumpkincurryelote · 8 months

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Furthering the world-building thought experiment of Midwives as an independent organization or governing body in a stateless/moneyless world: Imagine their purview extending not just to birth, but to abortion, women's health, women's history, and women's liberation by force where necessary up to and including the execution of rapists. Exclusively female membership, living in facilities akin to non-religious convents. In fact the most powerful of any large organization. How their services/protection might be engaged would vary depending on region. If this be a post-patriarchy world, they would be the first line of defense against the resurgence of said disease.

Farmers would be second most powerful. As permaculturists in a world where everything is locally sourced, and they would be responsible for protecting biodiversity of both flora and fauna in their biomes. There is no mass production of anything in this model. Wild animals are respected members of the community alongside domesticated ones. They monitor and survey the land, on guard for outbreaks and potential disasters, tending the food forests and keeping the biome healthy. They deliver non-human medical care to every creature in the land. Their voices are heard first on the floor of any development project and they can set hard boundaries or veto projects outright. While not explicitly stated to be female only, females would nonetheless outperform males in this field. Even in hunting.

Next up is Libraries. Librarians collect, organize, and administer all manner of public resource, not just books. Knowledge, tools, furniture, clothes, technology, seeds, genetic material, whatever is needful. They keep mundane records of everyone in their community, and community members can deposit personal logs for safekeeping here. Indeed anything the community deems of utmost value may be stored here. Every library is built to withstand assault, and to protect its contents-- a last resort lockdown would fully seal the library from the outside world for 100 years, killing anyone inside. The identities of chief librarians with access to sensitive collections (and the ability to lock their library down) are shrouded in secrecy. Field librarians go out on expeditions to collect data, specimens, etc where permitted by a region's Farmers (and always with a Farmer in attendance).

Hospitals are fourth, and we all know what they're supposed to do. Universities are arguably fifth, and bosom buddies with Libraries. Universities would be the only "large cities" you ever see, and are major transportation hubs. Any large scale project happens here-- rocket to the moon large. Trains occupy this status bracket as well, being the main arteries of civilization/transportation. Ocean cargo could be an extension or a symbiotic relationship.

Of equal influence are Mail and Sanitation. The postal service delivers through whatever means necessary. Any interference with another person's mail results in brutal application of force. No matter how isolated or alone you think you are, the post service will find you. If anybody at all sends you a message, you WILL receive it. They're the best trackers in the world. Many have working dogs as companions. Some have birds. All of them tend to be loners unless someone has done them dirty or behaves dishonorably.

Sanitation encompasses recycling/repurposing of non-compostable goods, composting itself (composting toilets are the norm), janitorial work, pandemic/outbreak containment, and burials (where applicable). If there's a landfill or old oil spill that needs remediation, they're there. Many have skill in repairs/fabrication, and choose this life to have first pick of scavenged parts. Many are also skilled at soapmaking, extractions (Greek oregano, eucalyptus, wintergreen, etc.), and distillation (vinegar).

#radblr #radfem safe #solarpunk #anti capitalism

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theworldoffostering · 8 months

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The director of special education did not show up to our IEP this week. It made the meeting a whole lot less contentious. It didn’t hurt that they assigned a much more experienced teacher to DS and our advocate showed up and kept everyone in line. Should it take that much work/effort/stress? Absolutely not! I will never understand how anyone is getting services if we cannot with all of the privileges we have personally been afforded.

DH and I talked to Ms. 6 this week. It could be worse, but it’s not great. She bought herself a car or someone else did, but it seems no one cares if she has insurance (legally required). I told her to call and get some quotes. She has not.

She has a boyfriend she met online that no one has vetted. He’s older (no idea how much older) as he has his own place. He lives three hours away in a neighboring state, but Ms. 6 couldn’t remember which city he lives in. She goes to see him on the weekends despite the fact that no one has met him or vetted him. It’s killing me! She was very vague on the details regarding what he does for a living.

Her car seems some basic repairs. Her grandpa has been a semi truck driver for decades. Hasn’t helped her with the repairs. Boyfriend is maybe some kind of mechanic but is unable to help with repairs. Mom is driving Ms. 6’s uninsured car and teaching Ms. 6 how to do donuts in it.

Ms. 6 said she applied to a PA program. When I pointed out that the PA program she applied for is a masters program (aren’t they all?) that cost $109k for the 28 month program, she seemed shocked and unimpressed. I did do a conference call with her and the high school this week to try to sort out her graduation.

Ms. 6 had knee surgery last week. I offered to be available and make the three hour drive to take her. She said her mom was taking her. The night before surgery her mom said she had to work and couldn’t take her. Grandma said she couldn’t take her because she had already take a sick day that week. Mom’s BF drove her, but apparently doesn’t like hospitals so he didn’t sit in the room and wait for Ms. 6 to be taken back to surgery. Surgery was pushed back several hours. Now mom doesn’t want to take her to the post-op appointment because the dogs have a vet appointment.

Post surgery, Ms. 6 was prescribed narcotics. Mom is an addict. Is she currently using? I have no idea but she used for at least a decade and has a conviction for cooking meth with the intent to sell. Kids were removed for many reasons including heroin use. Ms. 6 said the “oxy” isn’t managing her pain so she asked the nurse for something else AND an oxy refill. The pharmacist wouldn’t give both to mom. Mom told Ms. 6 it’s because they don’t have the same last name. I pointed out that I also don’t share the same last name as anyone in our family, and we were also recently denied a narcotic at the pharmacy. It is clear that no one that she has contact with lives in their thinking brains—they are all convinced that they are victims of one system or another.

Ms. 6 also quit her job. She said it was because they were making her do too much work.

Ms. 6 really wants contact with the other kids, particularly NB at this point. We have withheld that so far but can’t really articulate why. I think because it doesn’t feel healthy or good, and things don’t necessarily feel stable with her between DH and myself and her. I’ve talked to her a handful of times in the past month which are the first times I’ve spoken to her since she left in August. Anyone have experience in this area? Is it wrong for us to feel it out as parents before we open that relationship back up to siblings? It’s not my intention to use them as pawns, but it probably feels that way to Ms. 6. The kids here have not asked to see her, and DS and DD are actively continuing to say that they don’t want to have contact.

I’m trying to be something for her but that all feels very temporary and complicated right now. I sent her a small care package today via mail and am going to offer up some services for her like connecting her with colleges, but am trying to hold tight to a lot of boundaries at this point.

#this was foster care #adoption #parenting is hard

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ominous-feychild · 2 months

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So one of the other Tapas writers rambled about armor in the medieval world in the Tapas discord server, and I figured I should share it with you all because it's some really good stuff!

So depending on the type of armor, how you'd process it for reuse varies pretty heavily. Mail, for instance, is fairly easy to resize for someone else because you can add or remove links fairly easily. Same goes for repairs. A good thrust can bust through even riveted mail, but the damaged links can be replaced easily enough. Well, I say fairly easily. It's a pain in the ass to work with. But it's still cheaper on the whole than plate armor, and it's far more likely that someone who isn't a member of the nobility can get their hands on it. Plate armor can range from a simple cuirass to a full set. A full set is usually bespoke to the person, so you probably wouldn't try to steal the whole thing. It would take ages to remove it from a corpse, and if they ended up dead whilst wearing it, the stuff probably isn't worth the effort to begin with. A chestplate or helmet that's been stoved in by a warhammer isn't exactly a candidate for the "it'll buff out" treatment. Then there's the fact that the previous owner's family might reasonably expect this expensive and time consuming investment of theirs to be returned with the freshly minted corpse. So, take the good bits that you can get off in a hurry, but stripping the whole set is ill advised. You expect a helmet to go missing, but if someone's taking the time to remove, say, the codpiece, there will be questions. Recycling any sort of armor into weapons is probably not the best of ideas. The steel you'd want to use for armor is different than the steel you'd want to use for swords. Swords, especially around Europe, North Africa, etc, were typically through hardened and made to be flexible. Armor needs to be more rigid, so it would go through a different heat treat process and would need different carbon content. Not that medieval smiths knew what carbon was, exactly, but they had their own ways of grading steel. It can be done, but there are a lot of things that can be done that you wouldn't necessarily want to. I can, if I was so inclined, go to the shooting range in a tactical maid outfit. That doesn't mean it's a good idea. Full plate would be the equivalent to rocking up to battle in an M1 Abrams. Cool as hell, but waaaay to expensive for the average man at arms. Just about everyone would have a helmet of some kind, and there were all kinds of variations on armor that were more affordable to peasants pressed into military service. Gambesons, as you mentioned, were surprisingly effective. They could be augmented in a lot of useful ways, too. If you want a really good reference for historical arms and armor, there's an anime called Maria the Virgin Witch that gets a lot of stuff right. Not only in terms of styles and types, but how it was used and how one might reasonably expect to fight against it.

This all was written by Rusty! He's a great writer and has a whole bunch of novels out if any of you guys want to check it out!

(You guys should totally reblog this to help those who could use this information to see this <3)

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survivalist-anon · 5 months

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Log 18 prt2: The Magical world of Conspiracy theorists

After an hour so, we head to the car and....see a mail man? A conspicuously large mail man, with wires coming out of his head and connecting to his shoulders. It didn't help he was wearing onlya hat to cover it up and it still looked uncanny from a distance.

The two of us watched as this was clearly another covert Astartes simply placing a package in the now yellow mailbox.

"Oi! What in blazes are ye doin?", Fjord shouted from across the driveway.

The "mailman" just looked at him, "....I am performing my duties as a postal service officer! Nothing to see here citizens of the United States of America.", this clearly was the worst possible acting I have ever seen.

"Hey it's ok! Aldercon knows us!", reassuring him felt strange considering he should have known us.

He stared at us, not really sure what to do. "I do not know who this "Aldercon" is.", now this was getting strange.

I walked up to him and wondered what was going on. "Hey ugh,-", I look at his name tag and it was a generic name, likely because it he wanted to disguise himself, "ugh...Joe....what's going on?", I could see he was looking a little high strung.

"Handler, Aldercon has requested extra vigilance around 50 miles around perimeter of the area and within the confines of the town. Do not fret, this is merely a simple sweep.", he gives me a wink. "Also, here. Supplies for repairs, all the necessary tools for tracking and recording any information and medical ointment.". He hands me THE most heaviest medium sized box.

"Oof! Thanks, I'll put this inside. Have a great day.", I nodded to him as he left into his..... postal truck. Which was literally a large military van with a stolen plated side of a real postal truck.

As he drives off, I wondered as to how nobody has figured out about these guys.

I can tell they knew what to do in terms of espionage and disguises, but it was the equivalent of wearing a groucho marx mustache or the Clark Kent effect....it was obvious but it somehow worked.

Fjord walked up with same level of confusion, ".....I could see his bloody metal hand too....dumb bastard.".

"Wait he had a what??", I literally didn't notice.

Driving downtown once again, I stop by the same coffee shop from a few days ago. From the driver seat, I could see Benedict sitting with his crew again.

"Fjord, follow me, theres someone I want you to meet.", I point to Benedict and his eyes lock on.

"Ah, who is that, another handler?", he scratches his sideburns.

"Nope. This is....an ex-bigfoot hunter.....now he hunts Astartes...or at least he hunts for footage of Astartes.", I turn to see him with a puzzled look on his face.

"... footage? Is that not.... something Aldercon wants to avoid?", he groaned.

"Yep. We're going to see how much he knows... And how much she can tell who is human and who is an Astartes.", he was connected the dots after my statement.

"ah, yes.", as we both leave the car, we enter the coffee shop as if we're getting something.

I turn to Benedict looking at me from the table with that smug yet charmingly dubious grin.

Something tells me....I'm going to have a rather interesting surprise. "So, Fjord, I know we just had some breakfast at home but would you like a snack?", i could see he was sniffing the air and enjoying the smell of the shop.

"Oh no thank you lass. Although everything does smell a bit different. I don't smell the musky reek of corpse starch anywhere.", he crooned a bit.

I... don't want to know what corpse starch is....

"Ah! Miss Drake! A fine pleasure to see you once more.", Benedict announced from his usual table at the right side of the shop. "I see you have a... compadre with you?", he placed his fingers together to act coy.

"Oh Hey Benny.", I joked.

He's grin turned into a small annoyed scowl, "Do not call me Benny.", he pointed.

He than glanced on to Fjord, and gave a huge smile. "COME! Why don't you sit with us. We were just discussing our latest find! I call it, 'the Red legion marine'...", as me and Fjord make a seat for ourselves as best as week could, I could hear the creaking of wood from Fjord's chair.

I was seated on a metal chair, "ugh, you want to switch?", I ask.

Fjord having reconsidering the possible fragility of his seat struggling to handle his bare armorless weight, "ugh...I believe that would be a wise choice."

We make a quick switch.

Benedict was watching us intently, "now....these....are top secret.", he slid a set of four photos, they were of that fast moving marine from the wild cam footage. "I'm... certain you're familiar with this specimen?", I had to come up a bluff.

"...oh wow, ugh, that's absolutely horrifying....but the guys back at the reserve haven't seen this one....yet ....", it wasn't the best lie, mostly because in the past I've people like Benedict walking around the area with the same set of cameras.

Fjord glanced over and made a rather brute observation, "......that's a WordBearer.", he pointed to the symbol on his pauldron, "he has no real allegiance to the Black Legion either....in fact factions have a tough time tolerating each other.".

I give him hard stare. Now that he just stated everything he just said, Benedict may start to suspect on who or in this case what he is....

Fjord, shot me a glance and realized what he had just let slip out, "oh but of course I could just be wrong....I ugh...read it in a book.".

This just made the whole situation almost just as worse, considering that implies somebody wrote a book about Marines.

I can see that the look on Benedict's face along with the rest of his crew we're looking at Fjord with mild suspicion.

"hmmm..... Melissa, care to site what urm....I do believe you haven't introduced yourself to us...", he motions to Fjord.

"Oh, my name is Fjord... I'm very new in town.", giving a smile.

The look of the gang started to go from suspicion to surprise.

"Woah, sweet fangs. Where did you get them done? I've been thinking about doing a set myself but they're expensive as hell", the one I assume is Melissa spoke.

Fjord, understandably having no idea how to answer that again puts us in a deeper hole, "oh they're natural lass, they started to grow when I began my process.".

I give him a little nudge on his leg, "He ugh, did hormone therapy, yeah he was born with a very rare condition and when he was young he started doing this hormone treatment that helped him be a little more physically better... It's just a side effects is hair growth and....teeth growth.", I tried, and most likely I'm failing as much as Fjord is.

Benedict on the other hand was now glaring at the both of us with increased suspicion, "Hmmm..............I have never HEARD of such a thing."

"Actually that sounds cool. Oh my name is Charles McHines by the way.", the beef farmer reached out to shake both of her hands.

After he shook mine, he then as he shook Fjord's, he could see his hand was twice the size of his own. "WOAH, now that's a handshake!".

However what worried me was that Steven, an old peer from highschool, wasn't too surprised.

"Oh and Fjord, this is Steven, I want to highschool with him.", Steven in his usual weird kid self gave Fjord something he liked to call, "The flimsy hand", as a way to determine the personality of those he meets. There's no basis to this handshake, but it is funny to watch as many people get uncomfortable shaking you as possible.

Fjord sort of looks at the hand and tilts his head, gives him an equally flimsy shake of his finger, not wanting to crush his hand.

"...hmm.... bro's got it.", Steven ominously croaks.

"....got...what?", Fjord asked.

"Steven please don't, he's not going to get the joke.", I knew what was coming.

"Bros got....DA BEEEEEEAAAAAANS.", Stevens level of absurdist humor unfortunately is not universal no matter how funny it is to most other people within his circle of Friends

Fjord on the other hand was actively confused. "....what beans? Lorey what beans does this man speak of?".

I lean close to his ear and whisper, "sometimes we call animal paws 'beans' to be affectionate or something.", Fjord just stares at me and then stares at Steven.

"....ok...you have.......rooooots.", and I rather light hearted tone.

Steven has absolutely no idea what did he mean by this but he was just chuffed to hear that Fjord has... Somehow accepted his invitation for friendship.

"wait what does Roots mean in this?", I ask.

He leans to my ear, "I just made it up, your highschool friend scares me. I can't tell what he's thinking.", he cautiously looks at Steven who is now just wiggling and being silly in the seat.

The whole situation was weird but whimsical at the same time, meanwhile Benedict was starting to lose his sense of humor as the seconds go by. "EkEHM....your .... Professional opinion...Lorey?".

"oh I'm sorry, I lost the plot a little bit over there.... But ugh.... I think I have seen this one in one of our wildlife cameras but I'm not certain if it's the same one.... I would really hate it to be another one". I tried my best to be as vague as possible to see how far these guys have done their investigations.

Melissa looks at me and then Fjord, "well you see, me and Benedict have been doing our fair share of hiking as of lately and actually I have collected-", she takes out a small box from under the table, "-some of the things he's been leaving behind! It looks metal as fuck though.", she said opens up the box to show little creepy relics and bits. Stuff that you would imagine people who perform satanic witchcraft or something a lot closer to dark religion would be doing.

I for one am surprisingly shock that someone of her subculture would even dare be so foolish has to even pick it up to begin. If it's a weird creepy thing that somebody made from the bits of the forest that is in the forest, you leave it there and go about your merry way, you don't just pick it up.

"Melissa, I'm not certain if you believe in witchcraft or not but don't you think that this is a bad idea to just pick up what he leaves behind? I mean what if it's cursed.", I dryly ask.

"oh don't worry your little head, I work with this kind of stuff all the time. The only thing I know is that the best way to diffuse dark magic is it a little holy water.", she then on ironically takes out a spray bottle with the words 'holy water', "I had the pastor bless it.", either she knew exactly what she was doing or maybe she is just soaked everything in regular water.

"aye lass, messing with those is dangerous! It could corrupt your soul! WordBearers are tricky bastards!", he then takes a closer look at some of the items and notices that what should have been covered in sigils and blood, now look like they were washed clean. "Ugh?", picks one of the items up and start smelling it. "Why does half of this stuff smell like flowers???".

I didn't pick one up and I start to realize, it smells like Rosemary, bay leafs and basil. "Oh I get it, you did a lot more than just spray it with holy water didn't you...".

I was under the suspicion she knew what she was doing, although to Fjord's displeasure, she was a wiccan.

"yep. I knew there was dark magic when I saw the look of the guy, so I just decided to bring my 'cleaning supplies' and boom! Dark aura no more.", although she's a little bit cliche, I do have to respect somebody who knows how to properly perform all of this.

"yes Melissa took some soap and leaves and that stupid holy water that I'm certain that a Pope has to bless and not some random Pastor from Oregon.... And just washed off the evidence! We could have proven that these marines are actively out there hunting people!", Benedict looked at Melissa with frustration.

"like as if I'm going to take it to the cops, I was going to take it to one of the native reserves around here to investigate if anyone has seen this marine.", she responded.

"oh you were going to take it to us then?", I asked.

"no, to be honest I have no idea who to talk to about this. It's not like as if they're going to take somebody who brought in a bunch of creepy sticks and animal bones macably put together and some weird demonic ritual seriously.", she said with a sigh.

As much as these guys obviously had a lot of time in their hands to the point they would rather risk their lives just to get footage of a Space Marine in the wild, I couldn't help but feel bad or how much exposure they were putting themselves through. I'm wondering by this point if I can just convince Aldercon to let them help.

"hey Fjord, do you think we should go and ask-", he shook his head before I could finish my statement.

"-ask whom?", Benedict stared with anticipation at me. "You wouldn't happen to be holding out on some essential information? Miss Drake? Because I assure you, with your insider information and our resources-", gets up from his seat,"-we will prove to the world that not only these marines live among us..... BUT PLAN ON TAKING OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE! They plan on harvesting our DNA in order to make more Marines! Creating an army do battle against the lizard people of Los Angeles and the government slaves in Washington! For you see Lorey, they are here to help us fight against the planetary conspiracy of creating a world order between slave all of humanity!", he says this with the reverence of somebody who has discovered a great revelation. As he looks outside the window to dramatically look at the world he's so adamantly believes in danger due to this very specific reason, I can't help but feel more embarrassed at this point.

Mostly because of how on Earth did not only I get into this mess, but these guys who I can only sum up as the heavily discounted Scooby-Doo gang, have become associated with me and Fjord.

By this point, the both of us probably were Scrappy and Scooby in this situation, completely lost in the insanity of it.

"...ugh... Benedict I don't want to hurt your feelings but that is the most insane shit I have ever heard.", I coldly respond to him.

"see I told you that one wasn't going to work.", Melissa chuckled.

"WOULD YOU QUIT BUSTING MY BALLS.", Benedict frustratingly turns around what gave Melissa with a annoyed glare.

Fjord was just absolutely entertained by the whole situation. ".... Well I do suppose they're here to protect humanity. But I don't know anything about any lizard xenos.", this is like the third time he practically puts a neon sign on his forehead saying "I am a Space Marine ".

Benedict turns to Fjord, feeling like as if his conspiracy theory was validated. "Is that so? Are the Space Marines human? Subhuman? Super human?", he means towards him.

Fjord by this point probably didn't want to give away anymore information, "ugh...I don't know. They could be mechanical for all I know.".

"hmmm robot space soldiers here to protect humanity from the forces of intergalactic darkness....sounds.... plausible... logical even.", you're just as glasses with his pinky. "Intriguing, but where are your sources Fjord???", dramatically again turns to him. By this point he was just prodding him for more information.

"Ben, seriously stop scaring the sexy werewolf guy, but seriously are a werewolf? Because your hair is crazy. I love it.", Melissa genuinely asked.

"ugh-", I interrupted Fjord before he could respond, "well look at the time we going to go and get some camping supplies. I've been planning on going on a trek up the mountain boarder for a while and I just remembered we needed a few extra camping gear. Right Fjord?", I ask him hoping he understood what I was doing.

"Oh right! We needed more...twine.", I'll have to commemorate his dedication to trying to be elaborate.

"....hmmmm... Perhaps you would also like this.", Benedict hands me a heavy duty toolbox, as he opens it up it is filled with extra camera gear for me to set up in the middle of the forest.

"wait you want me to put up cameras around the mountain range?", it was then I remembered why he tried to make friends with me in the first place. I was knowledgeable about the forested area enough to know where there could be more cameras.

"perhaps these would be a much better quality than the ones at your government facility, or perhaps a place just a few miles off of one of the campsites.... Specifically the one next to the mountain range?", he gives me this look knowing that if I refuse, he probably knew how to get me to do it.

".... First off I work with the state, second what if I say no?", this is probably a great chance to figure out what he knew. So far he's told me nothing but absolute insane conspiracy theories, surface level information one could only just look up online and a bunch of semi blurry photos.

From the standpoint of somebody who is doing reconnaissance, he barely knows anything.

"well if you say no, then I'm going to have to post on our online blog that there is an armorless space marine walking around with you, either pretending to be a normal person or someone else.", I was completely floored, I know there was enough information he could have deduced something but how did he figure it out so fast.

".... What are you talking about....", I looked a Fjord and he looks back at me. The both I was practically were caught.

"you know exactly what I'm talking about, Miss.Drake, for you see, just about 3 days ago, me and Steven we're hiking up that area in order to find more substantial evidence other than Melissa's silly box of rat bones!", the volume in his voice was starting to worry me.

"dude can you just lower down your voice a little bit, even if you don't want anyone to know what you're talking about, you sound kind of a little cringe.", Melissa spoke.

"yeah come on, we're here to ask for their help, why are you threatening them?", Charles responded.

"Ugh, well because if they don't agree to our demands then we we will have to push extreme measures in order to reveal the truth! Duh! Anyway, I know very well Fjord is likely a 'canis familiarus sapien' from the Orin's belt region of the galaxy, and that his race has made a deal with the Marines to also protect humanity.", again with the absolute confidence of what he thinks is true.

Fjord just stared at him, "I am a what lad?", he looked at him annoyed.

"You, are ....a space dog man!", handing me a file from a website that clearly just made conspiracy theories from all around the world showing a poorly drawn picture of a Wolfman and science fiction garb. "Sited around 1973 in Liverpool, England! This entity suddenly appeared in a grassy field, as a stumbled around attracting the attention of the village folk, he ran off into the forest never to be seen again! Then continued sightings occurred all the way towards the North of Sweden!", it was then he showed me another page from this file.... With a very familiar photo.

"Ugh, Benedict, that's Rupert D. McCainel. This man believed werewolves were real. Oh shit did you get this from his family website or something????", I couldn't honestly believe how stupid he really was to believe in half of this.

"ah, it's dat man from that book you showed me. Toke said he looked like Grimnar.", Fjord was looking at the picture again. Probably now wondering what on earth did this fat weirdo was talking about.

"Sir Rupert D. McCainel was an avid cryptobiologist far ahead of his time! And whom may I ask is this... Grimnar? An ancient Viking lord? Some unrecorded Legendary folk figure?", Benedict by this point was fishing Fjord.

Did he know what Fjord was?

"Ben, come on. Let's not interrogate a potential friend.", Melissa steaming him down. "Sorry about Ben, he's been a little excited ever since he found this concrete wall near the mountains. Seriously only you and Steven found that thing and haven't been able to find it since.".

Bingo. He knew about the Fort wall.

"Oh is it one of those 'abandoned staircases in the middle of the forest' things? I told you those were abandoned properties that built their stairs with much stronger material.", I sarcastically remark.

"Oh please. This was a professionally constructed concrete wall in the middle of the forest, freshly made and laid with equipment tires strooned about! Clearly a secret government facility is underway. This must mean that these marines are intelligent enough to use complex machinery such as forklifts. Mysterious indeed", Benedict remarked.

"Fjord, what do you think of all of this?", I ask worried if he has had any of his feelings somewhat heard about any of this.

"I'm still processing how am I a dog man... I mean I am flattered but I don't think anything that you said is correct lad. I for one, never heard of any Xenos like that.", he remarked. By this point he's probably been more severely disappointed yet somehow entertained.

"Hmmm, xenos you say?", Benedict continued.

"look Benedict we got to go now, we're a little behind schedule and I want to see if I can find some supplies for my next trip up the mountain. I'll lay those cameras for you, just as long as you stop harassing Fjord with all of this complete nonsense. He's not a space dog from some planning on the Orion's belt or anything.", I sternly respond. This whole conversation had begun to become extremely unhelpful.

"fine, but I will be expecting the footage after your trip is complete! Me and my cohorts will be eagerly awaiting such valuable evidence.", he I just as his glasses again.

".... Yeah just take your time, we're not in a rush to get any of it anyway. I hope you stay safe on your survival trip by the way.", Melissa politely wished.

"yeah sorry about the convo, Benedict could get a little bit too excited about his silly theories. We just want to take a closer look at these guys and see how they're like. I mean I heard there's one in Pennsylvania that acts like a superhero! Like Superman or something.", Charles so far has proven to be one of the more reasonable people amongst this crowd of conspiracy theorists along with Melissa who seems to be a reasonable person.

Steven is ...well Steven.

"we very much appreciate this meeting with all of you. You see like a humorous bunch, hopefully we see each other again.", Fjord surprisingly seemed rather ok with this whole silly ordeal.

"well it's been nice knowing you guys, hopefully we'll see each other around and I will bring back the camera footage. Just as long as you guys stay away from the camping areas around Pine Hills. Unfortunately, my boss James has told me that those areas will be prohibited for the summer due to some.... Extraneous and dangerous circumstances.", I give a polite not to all of them and I look to Benedict, "oh and Benny, please don't accuse people of being some random alien from outer space okay. Fjord's feeling were very hurt.", I jokingly reply.

Dude looks at me with a small look of confusion until he realizes what I am attempting to do, "Oh yes. Oh my poor wee and frail constitution, what would me own ma say if she had seen her own son so brutally hurt.", the hammy performance wasn't needed but I loved it.

Benedict however wasn't too pleased with being mocked. Especially by someone who's easily dwarfing him by a good foot and half. "hmmm indeed.... perhaps I had been insensitive. Good day to the both of you.", I swear if he had a fedora he would have tipped it.

The both of us get into the car, heading off to any outdoor activity store we could find.

I look to Fjord, who was slumped in his seat. "Fjord, are you ok? Look I wasn't expecting Ben to be so....stupid...I thought he was just dramatic.", I felt Benedict's comments were way out of line.

He was deep in though but he snapped out of it a little, "oh, don't worry lass. Nothing that fool said actually meant anything. In fact it was rather entertaining. But it's clear here on this planet, most mortal seem to be very unaware of what anything related to Xenos. But...there something I'm wondering.....HAVE you mortals come in contact with ...."dog-men"?", he chuckled a little thinking about it.

"ugh, no... honestly dog-men from space is genuinely something new to me. So...yeah....let's just say there's a lot of extremely bored people in the world....I'm sorry.", from what I've learned today, Fjord's world seems to have its own taboos and issues that I had no idea about.

His more stern look softened a little, "lass you have nothing to apologize for. Being part of the Vlka Fenryka, we tend to have some....remarks. Hmf, none of them bother me whatsoever. So....what shall we do with this?", he holds up the cameras the Benedict gave. "How 'bout we show him some real footage?", I could see he was giving that mischievous smile of his.

It was a contagious smile too, "I think....he would very much appreciate that actually.

End of Log 18 prt2

@kit-williams @barn-anon @egrets-not-regrets @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan @walking-natural-disaster @starfrost740 @squishyowl @sleepyfan-blog @lawnchair86

#space marine husbandry #warhammer 40k #space marine #survival log #space marines #space marine husbandry sentience #space wolves

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townpostin · 2 months

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Railway Service Resumes After Howrah-Mumbai Mail Accident

Track Repairs Completed, Operations Gradually Returning to Normal Rail operations resume post Howrah-Mumbai Mail accident near Potobeda. Damaged tracks repaired, undergoing safety tests. Trains initially running at reduced speeds for precautionary measures. JAMSHEDPUR – Railway authorities have successfully repaired the damaged tracks following the Howrah-Mumbai Mail train accident near Potobeda…

#जनजीवन #Chakradharpur Railway Division repairs #Howrah-Mumbai Mail accident #Indian Railways maintenance #Jharkhand train services #Life #post-accident railway operations #Potobeda village train derailment #railway infrastructure recovery #railway track restoration #Saraikela-Kharsawan railway updates #train safety measures

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houseofbrat · 1 year

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But their bills are astronomical. Just the upkeeping on the house alone, housekeepers, nannies, gardeners, cooks, repairs is costing them a few hundred thousand a month. Then there's the mortgage which costs another few hundred thousand. She's spending millions on PR even after getting dropped for being $2million in debt to Sunshine Sachs. The awards she's bought haven't come cheap either. The Gracie award is picking up clout on podcast land. But she has no projects at play that are actually generating money. She may be scrambling around trying to make an Archetypes 2, but she's not gonna get enough big names to interview and her name on its own sends people running for the hills. Spotify has yet to pick up another season though she's buying those awards to pitch hard. She has no source of future income (other than child support) and she's hustling. This is to say nothing of her legal fees, her personal assistants, her publicists, her agents, and (underpaying) the assholes she's got mailing out Starbucks cards at Archewell. I'm sure Doria's services don't come cheap either. I mean, a bunch of nothing isn't going to do itself. I personally think Doria blackmails her daughter by threatening to tell the truth about who she is and how she didn't grow up like a black girl from Compton, but instead had a more privileged upbring that 80% of US citizens, regardless of their color. Doria also probably knows Meghan's shadiest and most sordid maneuvers to get where she is. Doria stays silent in the background, but she's got stories to tell. And one wrong move from Meg, and they WON'T be the stories singing Meg's praises. That's my theory anyway.

I also believe that I was right in December when I said Netflix is done with Meghan. The last thing left on their roster is The Heart of Invictus set to come out this summer, but I've heard it's being edited to focus on the athletes and occasionally Harry. I've even heard that they may trash a lot of last year's footage, wait until this year's Düsseldorf games, and film those, Harry's-Wife-Free. NF was reportedly unhappy with how the games suddenly focused on the ILBW, how she commandeered things, taking attention from the athletes and Harry, who's cause this is.

Remember that ridiculous kiss between her and Not-the-Heiry, and all her prancing around in couture (which she supposedly at least tried to bill to them) instead of wearing the standard issue festive polo and khakis/jeans, Well Netflix supposedly does and they supposedly don't like it. I always think of her sashaying around in Valentino while everyone else wore the Invictus clothing. It's such a stark comparison to how the other Royals function.

One of my favorite pictures of Wills and Kate is at the London Olympics. They're both wearing the clothing made for Olympics viewers, and in a rare show of affection, they are grabbing each other and smiling from ear to ear while staring downfield cheering Team Great Britain. They aren't eye fucking the cameras. They aren't wearing rictus grins and inserting themselves into ceremonies and celebrations where they don't belong. They're embracing, but their focus isn't on trying to make everyone believe how in love they are; their focus is on the games even as they embrace each other! They're dressed in their team colors focusing on THEIR TEAM. The result is one of the best pictures of them I've ever seen. The soon-to-be-ex Mrs.Mountbatten Windsor looks like a fool at everything she does because she refuses to accept it's not about her. She can scream at, abuse, and gaslight Harry all she wants to, blaming their status as the laughingstock of the world on him, but she's the one who looks ridiculous and unlike Harry, she's the one running around looking ridiculous wearing a million dollar wardrobe. I wish she'd get a clue but she's a narcissist, and she never will.

#reddit #rumors...conjecture #Money Money Money #real estate #Prince Harry #netflix #invictus games #Spotify #that dumb prince's stupid wife #narcissism on steroids

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talesofthedm · 1 year

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Shopping Trip (Pt. 1)

I want to write that one ballroom scene we never got because it's on my mind and that starts with a shopping trip, because we need fancy outfits before pissing off Gortash at his own event.

Not finished (hence part 1)

Contains spoilers for Act 3, and some references to Act 1 and 2

No i have not proofread this (or edited it)

Summary: Figaro the facemaker has had a very eventful past five minutes and he does not handle it well.

Word count: 1.6k (its short)

CW: Blood. Much blood. No combat, but it's the aftermath of one. Mentions of murder, cults, Astarion being a flirt for like 1 line.

Excerpt:

“No, that— just let me.” Astarion slung off his pack. “Gale, hold this.” The elf began rummaging through it, shoving bits and bobs in the wizard’s direction before he could even respond. Random blades, a balled-up piece of cloth that was more rag than shirt at this point, a sack of something inexplicably squishy, a severed head— “I think we forgot to deliver Nere.” There was a certain disinterest in Shadowheart’s voice that left Figaro somehow more concerned. “We can just mail him.” He tossed the severed head towards Karlach, taking pity on the poor wizard before the mountain of books and bits and useless knickknacks toppled over onto the floor. “That courier service owes us for getting rid of his cat problem.”

Freya dragged herself up from the floor, a deep gash along her side that certainly cut through deep muscles if not straight to the bone. The fire of her hair was nothing more than a ruddy brown with how much blood was caked through it. She pulled a large purse from her pack and slammed it onto the polished counter, leaving bloody handprints and a dripping trail. “How much for a rush job?”

Under normal circumstances, Figaro would scream at her and her friends for ruining his nice countertops, toss them out onto the street, and threaten to call the guards if they ever stepped foot in his shop again.

The twisted bodies lying on his polished hardwood floors reminded him that these were not, in fact, normal circumstances. He was trying not to stare at them, their bat-like faces and needle-like fangs lying beside the now charred corpse of a dwarf. If he hadn’t sipped the wine himself, if he hadn’t been forced to watch helplessly as the red dwarf unfurled his supply of saws and scalpels, if he hadn’t watched as the elf in front threw her body between Figaro and his would-be murderer with his own eyes, he would have never recognized the body as anything but an over-the-top decoration meant to scare children.

His extremities were still cold, buzzing in that sort of way it did when he would lean on his hand for too long while drawing new designs. No matter how he shook or massaged them, it would take years to get feeling back in the tips of his fingers.

But the elf woman in front of him only confirmed what he initially thought about her when she have blindly dived between him and the scalpel with her one question: this woman was mad. Completely, utterly, mad. Bleeding out on his floor, surrounded by a pile of bodies. He wasn’t sure what blood was hers or its or his or the dwarf’s or her companion’s.

To be honest, he wasn’t even sure if he still had a shopfront. What wasn’t burned to cinders was frozen solid, what wasn’t frozen solid was water and blood-logged, what wasn’t water and blood-logged was charred beyond repair. They were all mad, slinging spells left right and center as if this was some kind of fighting pit and not his entire livelihood.

What was strangest to him, though, was the woman kneeling in prayer. It was natural, he supposed, to try to find solace after such a harrowing event. But she wore armor the same as the rest of them, she brandished weapons more fearsome than that of the giant red tiefling beside her. She had flung around one of the changelings between her and her green companion with no more effort than one would play ping-pong! What could she be praying for?!

And then came the wash of light that emanated from her, cool and soothing both in color and feel. There was nothing on him to physically heal, but he watched as Freya stood straighter, her side stitching itself together as if nothing was ever wrong in the first place.

Astarion wiped his blades on the sides of hid armor, the bright red of the cloth doing absolutely nothing to hide it. He stepped over to Freya, taking her chin in his hand and pulling her to him before licking the layers of blood from her cheek. “You need a bath,” he responded to the non-question. She wasn’t even phased, accepting it with no more attention that an owner would give a pet.

They were all mad.

Freya reached up and removed a glove so she could tap the counter with the edge of her nail, directing the tailor back to the coin pouch. “Tonight. Archduke’s celebratory-coronation-whatever-it-is ball. How much?” He must have been paralyzed again. Yes, that was it. Someone had shoved a bottle of paralytic in his mouth and he couldn’t remember it. Why else would he be standing there, mouth gaping as pathetically as a caught fish. She reached up and closed it for him.

“I think we broke him,” Wyll whispered.

The simple statement was enough to snap him out of it, however. “There’s seven of you!” They all looked around, as if counting to confirm the statement, before nodding as if he was the fool. “You’re all insane!”

Freya’s response was to place another equally fat pouch beside the first. Figaro stared, dumbstruck. “I—I’ll see what I have on hand that can be fitted… Do you all know your measurements?” They all just stared blankly. Even Wyll, who had had almost monthly trips to this very shop as a youth, no longer knew the answer. Between his years banished and how unfamiliar his new body was, it was a mystery to him.

“Seriously?” Astarion threw his head back, groaning. “How do you all not know something so basic?!”

“I am one and a half blade’s long.”

“That’s not a measurement!”

“It is among the Gith. I can also provide it in arrows, if that is any easier.”

“I think we forgot to deliver Nere.” There was a certain disinterest in Shadowheart’s voice that left Figaro somehow more concerned.

“We can just mail him.” He tossed the severed head towards Karlach, taking pity on the poor wizard before the mountain of books and bits and useless knickknacks toppled over onto the floor. “That courier service owes us for getting rid of his cat problem.”

“Tressym. And her name is Tara!”

“She is cute, has a general air about her that says ‘I’m better than you’, and eats pigeons. That’s a cat.”

“So, you’re a cat?” Freya poked.

“Flattery will get you everywhere, dear, but we have more pressing matters at hand— hold this.” Astarion pulled a rather strange dagger from his pack, the blade like blown sea glass and the unmistakable iconography of Baahl expertly crafted into the ferrule. He placed it directly into Gale’s open hand.

“Is that the dagger? I told you I wasn’t touching the damn murder weapon!”

“I would never make sure your fingerprints are all over a weapon used to kill one of the most beloved priests in the city.” Next came out of the bag were the torn-up letters, the strands of delicate strands of beads, and the shining rings. A single one of them could buy out Figaro’s entire shop—no wonder the woman had thrown down bags of coin like nothing.

Finally, the white-haired elf gave a silent cheer. “Gale, buddy, put that stuff away for me, will you?” He stacked the now empty pack atop the giant pile in Gale’s arms and reached over the counter and handed a folded-up piece of paper to Figaro. “You’re going to want to double check the breast—”

“Why in the nine hells do you have everyone’s measurements?!” Wyll yelled.

“What do you mean breast?!” Shadowheart yelled at the same time.

“I’m not sure if I should be impressed or holding you at knifepoint,” Lae’zel added.

Astarion threw up his hands in defense. “We were in the Shadowlands, you all sleep like rocks, there was nothing to hunt, and I was bored. What did you expect me to do?”

“Read a book!” Wyll called to the heavens. “Like a normal person!”

“Not touch me in my sleep?!”

“You saw my collection,” Astarion waved to the now shrinking pile of books in Gale’s hands, each one meticulously being stowed away with the ghostly blue mage hand he had summoned. “I finished those in, like, one night. And I would never do that!”

“Without permission,” Freya added.

“Without permission!” he agreed. “Plus, it makes it easier to patch everyone’s clothes if I know what it is I am supposed to be patching.”

Figaro continued to stand, watching the odd collection of people bicker over something he considered so mundane. His sister (the golden child) was a tailor, his father (the bastard) was a tailor, and he (the rightful heir) was a tailor. He'd guess inseams and shoulder width at a glance when he was bored, and he assumed the elf in front of him could do the same.

“So, what, you were just randomly guessing at the size of my thighs while we were killing Myrkul?”

Figaro waved in their general direction, the last of his sanity snapping at the way it was said so bluntly, before pointing at each one individually. You’re all insane! You’re insane,” Freya. “You’re insane,” Karlach. “You’re insane,” Gale. “You’re especially insane—”

“I’m a vampire.” Astarion smiled, flashing the poor tailor his blood-stained fangs in the process. Figaro crumpled under his own weight, eyes rolling back in his head as he hit the ground with a thunk.

“Now look what you did,” Shadowheart scolded. “Now we have to wait.”

“We could always try his sister.”

“You,” she jabbed a finger in his chest. “Nearly tried to kill a man in there. I doubt she’d want us anywhere near that place again.”

“He was annoying me! It is not my fault Freya kept talking to him!”

“He was funny,” Freya retorted. “Mostly because he annoyed you.” Astarion just stood, pointing at Freya like a child placing blame.

“Annoying someone is not a reason to try to stab them.”

“Then what the hell have we been doing for the past month?!”

“I agree with the elf. That man would have been killed day one of training for simply speaking.”

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #balders gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #astarion #astarion x tav #karlach #shadowheart #lae'zel #bg3 gale #wyll ravengard #at some point there will be fluff #rn its just banter

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