#mobile residences available

[wiisagi-maiingan]

I love tornado survival guides. "Shelter in a basement or interior room without any windows. But if you're in a mobile home, just fucking die I guess lol"

[spookygibberish]

Funeralworms comprise a genus of Juggernaut characterized by a heavily-built, serpentine form, the absence of eyes, a single pair of broad, paddle-like forelimbs, and a prominent array of individually articulated, crushing jaws. They are employed in the disposal of organic materials, the production of high quality fertilizer, and the reclamation of Ibis tissue from corpses. The latter function earning them a central role in Bibat funeral rites, hence the name.

In Bibat, it is believed that Ibis tissue, while a powerful creative force in life, is equally capable of corruption, especially when touched by death. It is therefor not adequate to bury the Ibistouched, since Ibis tissue, if allowed to decompose, has the potential to render the earth fallow and breed illness. By consuming the Ibistouched dead, Funeralworms collect the Ibis tissue from the flesh, freeing it from corruption, purifying it, and accumulating it in their bodies to be returned to the Oracle System. It is mandatory that the corpses of all dagnyds, Sansin, Thrones and Throne-children both headless and unbodied alike, be fed to the Funeralworm. This is not a necessary funeral rite for those who are not Ibistouched, but the devout often choose to have it preformed upon their death. If a funeralworm is not available, cremation is an acceptable alternative.

Funeralworms are semi-aquatic dagnyds that reside entirely in special pools (bymūt)constructed for their housing. At their least elaborate, bymūt are little more than shallow ponds dug into clay soil, but they are often encircled by a low, stone fence with an offering platform at one end, and a chamber for dung collection at the other. These pools are usually located several kilometers from areas of habitation, although many larger cities have grown to encircle bymūt that were originally constructed a more acceptable distance away. These tend to be the most elaborate of their kind, ending up with bespoke temple complexes erected around them. As the functions of the Funeralworm are deeply linked to Bibat customs, their husbandry is entirely handled by Sansin, though the service they offer is a public one.

The design of the bymūt is necessary for the survival of fully mature funeralworms, who are not only so large as to be incapable of freely moving over dry land, but risk being crushed beneath their own weight without the support of water. Newborn funeralworms, at about a meter and a half in length, are the most mobile of their kind, and often attempt to escape their bymūt to explore. This is usually permitted (with supervision), as such young individuals have limited processing capacity, and rarely exist in a context where the sole burden of waste management relies on them. Many Sansin are sympathetic to the plight of the Funeralworm, and see little purpose in restricting the movement of a creature which never approaches agile at any age, and for most of its decades long life will be confined to a single small pool.

Despite a life spent entirely in water, Funeralworms are entirely air-breathing, and are not particularly good swimmers. They are protected from flooding by the high fat content of their bodies, which renders them buoyant and unlikely to drown. The greatest risk floods pose is temptation. Rising water allows Funeralworms the opportunity to travel freely from their bymūt, and many die after becoming stranded once the water level recedes, especially those which are particularly old and heavy.

[reasonsforhope]

Paywall-free version

On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, what began as a fringe experiment has quickly become central to the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness. To Justin Tyler Jr., it is home.

Mr. Tyler, 41, lives in Community First! Village, which aims to be a model of permanent affordable housing for people who are chronically homeless. In the fall of 2022, he joined nearly 400 residents of the village, moving into one of its typical digs: a 200-square-foot, one-room tiny house furnished with a kitchenette, a bed and a recliner.

The village is a self-contained, 51-acre community in a sparsely populated area just outside Austin. Stepping onto its grounds feels like entering another realm.

Eclectic tiny homes are clustered around shared outdoor kitchens, and neat rows of recreational vehicles and manufactured homes line looping cul-de-sacs.

There are chicken coops, two vegetable gardens, a convenience store, art and jewelry studios, a medical clinic and a chapel.

Roads run throughout, but residents mainly get around on foot or on an eight-passenger golf cart that makes regular stops around the property.

Mr. Tyler chose a home with a cobalt-blue door and a small patio in the oldest part of the village, where residents’ cactus and rock gardens created a “funky, hippie vibe” that appealed to him. He arrived in rough shape, struggling with alcoholism, his feet inflamed by gout, with severe back pain from nearly 10 years of sleeping in public parks, in vehicles and on street benches.

At first, he kept to himself. He locked his door and slept. He visited the clinic and started taking medication. After a month or so, he ventured out to meet his neighbors.

“For a while there, I just didn’t want to be seen and known,” he said. “Now I prefer it.”

Between communal meals and movie screenings, Mr. Tyler also works at the village, preparing homes for the dozen or more people who move there each month.

In the next few years, Community First is poised to grow to nearly 2,000 homes across three locations, which would make it by far the nation’s largest project of this kind, big enough to permanently house about half of Austin’s chronically homeless population.

Tiny-home villages for people who have been homeless have existed on a small scale for several decades, but have recently become a popular approach to addressing surging homelessness. Since 2019, the number of these villages across the country has nearly quadrupled, to 124 from 34, with dozens more coming, according to a census by Yetimoni Kpeebi, a researcher at Missouri State University.

Mandy Chapman Semple, a consultant who has helped cities like Houston transform their homelessness systems, said the growth of these villages reflects a need to replace inexpensive housing that was once widely available in the form of mobile home parks and single room occupancy units, and is rapidly being lost. But she said they are a highly imperfect solution.

“I think where we’re challenged is that ‘tiny home’ has taken on a spectrum of definitions,” said Chapman Semple. Many of those definitions fall short of housing standards, often lacking basic amenities like heat and indoor plumbing, which she said limits their ability to meet the needs of the population they intend to serve.

But Community First is pushing the tiny home model to a much larger scale. While most of its homes lack bathrooms and kitchens, its leaders see that as a necessary trade-off to be able to creatively and affordably house the growing number of people living on Austin’s streets. And unlike most other villages, many of which provide temporary emergency shelter in structures that can resemble tool sheds, Community First has been thoughtfully designed with homey spaces where people with some of the highest needs can stay for good. No other tiny home village has attempted to permanently house as many people.

Austin’s homelessness rate has been rapidly worsening, and the city’s response has whipped back and forth... In October [2023], the official estimate put the number of people living without shelter at 5,530, a 125 percent increase from two years earlier. Some of that rise is the result of better outreach, but officials acknowledged that more people have become homeless. City leaders vowed to build more housing, but that effort has been slowed by construction delays and resistance from residents.

Meanwhile, outside the city limits, Community First has been building fast. [Note from below the read more: It's outside city limits because the lack of zoning laws keeps more well-off Austin residents from blocking the project, as they did earlier attempts to build inside the city.] In a mere eight years, this once-modest project has grown into a sprawling community that the city is turning to as a desperately needed source of affordable housing. The village has now drawn hundreds of millions of dollars from public and private sources and given rise to similar initiatives across the country.

This rapid growth has come despite significant challenges. And some question whether a community on the outskirts of town with relaxed housing standards is a suitable way to meet the needs of people coming out of chronic homelessness. The next few years will be a test of whether these issues will be addressed or amplified as the village expands to five times its current size.

-via New York Times, January 8, 2024. Article continues below (at length!)

The community versus Community First

For Alan Graham, the expansion of Community First is just the latest stage in a long-evolving project. In the late 1990s, Mr. Graham, then a real estate developer, attended a Catholic men’s retreat that deepened his faith and inspired him to get more involved with his church. Soon after, he began delivering meals as a church volunteer to people living on Austin’s streets.

In 1998, Mr. Graham, now 67, became a founder of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a nonprofit that has since amassed a fleet of vehicles that make daily rounds to deliver food and clothing to Austin’s homeless...

Talking to people like Mr. Johnston [a homeless Austin resident who Graham had befriended], Mr. Graham came to feel that housing alone was not enough for people who had been chronically homeless, the official term for those who have been homeless for years or repeatedly and have physical or mental disabilities, including substance-use disorders. About a third of the homeless population fits this description, and they are often estranged from family and other networks.

In 2006, Mr. Graham pitched an idea to Austin’s mayor: Create an R.V. park for people coming out of chronic homelessness. It would have about 150 homes, supportive services and easy access to public transportation. Most importantly, it would help to replace the “profound, catastrophic loss of family” he believed was at the root of the problem with a close-knit and supportive community.

The City Council voted unanimously in 2008 to lease Mr. Graham a 17-acre plot of city-owned land to make his vision a reality. Getting the council members on board, he said, turned out to be the easy part.

When residents near the intended site learned of the plan, they were outraged. They feared the development would reduce their property values and invite crime. One meeting to discuss the plan with the neighborhood grew so heated that Mr. Graham was escorted to his car by the police. Not a single one of the 52 community members in attendance voted in favor of the project.

After plans for the city-owned lot fell apart and other proposed locations faced similar resistance, Mr. Graham gave up on trying to build the development within city limits.

In 2012, he instead acquired a plot of land in a part of Travis County just northeast of Austin. It was far from public transportation and other services, but it had one big advantage: The county’s lack of zoning laws limited the power of neighbors to stop it.

Mr. Graham raised $20 million and began to build. In late 2015, Mr. Johnston left the R.V. park he had been living in and became the second person to move into the new village. It grew rapidly. In just two years, Mr. Graham bought an adjacent property, nearly doubling the village’s size to 51 acres and making room for hundreds more residents.

And then in the fall of 2022, he broke ground on the largest expansion yet: Adding two more sites to the village, expanding it by 127 acres to include nearly 2,000 homes.

“No one ever really did what they first did, and no one’s ever done what they’re about to do,” said Mark Hilbelink, the director of Sunrise Navigation Center, Austin’s largest homeless-services provider. “So there’s a little bit of excitement but also probably a little bit of trepidation about, ‘How do we do this right?’”

What it takes to make a village

Since he moved into Community First eight years ago, Mr. Johnston has found the stability that eluded him for so long. Most mornings, he wakes up early in his R.V., feeds his scruffy adopted terrier, Amos, and walks a few minutes down a quiet road to the village garden, where neat rows of carrots, leeks, beets and arugula await his attention.

Mr. Johnston worked in fast-food restaurants for most of his life, but he learned how to garden at the village. He now works full time cultivating produce for a weekly market that is free to residents.

“Once I got here, I said, This is where I’m going to spend pretty much my entire life now,” Mr. Johnston said.

Everyone at the village pays rent, which averages about $385 a month. The tiny homes that make up two-thirds of the dwellings go for slightly lower, but have no indoor plumbing; their residents use communal bathhouses and kitchens. The rest of the units are R.V.s and manufactured homes with their own bathrooms and kitchens.

Like Mr. Johnston, many residents have jobs in the village, created to offer residents flexible opportunities to earn some income. Last year, they earned a combined $1.5 million working as gardeners, landscapers, custodians, artists, jewelry makers and more, paid out by Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

Ute Dittemer, 66, faced a daily struggle for survival during a decade on the streets before moving into Community First five years ago with her husband. Now she supports herself by painting and molding figures out of clay at the village art house, augmented by her husband’s $800 monthly retirement income. A few years ago, a clay chess set she made sold for $10,000 at an auction. She used the money to buy her first car.

“I’m glad that we are not in a low-income-housing apartment complex,” she said. “We’ve got all this green out here, air to breathe.”

A small number of residents have jobs off-site, and a city bus makes hourly stops at the village 13 times a day to help people commute into town.

But about four out of five residents live on government benefits like disability or Social Security. Their incomes average $900 a month, making even tiny homes impossible to afford without help, Mr. Graham said.

“Essentially 100 percent of the people that move into this village will have to be subsidized for the rest of their lives,” he said.

For about $25,000 a year, Mr. Graham’s organization subsidizes one person’s housing at the village. (Services like primary health care and addiction counseling are provided by other organizations.) So far, that has been paid for entirely by private donations and in small part from collecting rent.

This would not be possible, Mr. Graham said, without a highly successful fund-raising operation that taps big Austin philanthropists. To build the next two expansions, Mr. Graham set a $225 million fund-raising goal, about $150 million of which has already been obtained from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the founder of the Patrón Spirits Company, Hill Country Bible Church and others.

Support goes beyond monetary donations. A large land grant came from the philanthropic arm of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin-based cinema chain, donated an outdoor amphitheater for movie screenings. Top architectural firms competed for the chance to design energy-efficient tiny homes free of charge. And every week, hundreds of volunteers come to help with landscaping and gardening or to serve free meals.

Around 55 residents, including 15 children, live in the village as “missionals” — unpaid neighbors generally motivated by their Christian faith to be part of the community.

All missionals undergo a monthslong “discernment process” before they can move in. They pay to live in R.V.s and manufactured homes distinguished by an “M” in the front window. Their presence in the community is meant to guard against the pitfalls of concentrated poverty and trauma.

“Missionals are our guardian angels,” said Blair Racine, a 69-year-old resident with a white beard that hangs to his chest. “They’re people we can always call. They’re always there for us.”

After moving into the village in 2018, Mr. Racine spent two years isolated in his R.V. because of a painful eye condition. But after an effective treatment, he became so social that he was nicknamed the Mayor. Missional residents drive him to get his medication once a week, he said. To their children he is Uncle Blair.

Though the village is open to people of any religious background, it is run by Christians, and public spaces are adorned with paintings of Jesus on the cross and other biblical scenes. The application to live in the community outlines a set of “core values” that refer to God and the Bible. But Mr. Graham said there is no proselytizing and people do not have to be sober or seek treatment to live there.

Mr. Graham lives in a 399-square-foot manufactured home in the middle of the village with his wife, Tricia Graham, who works as the community’s “head of neighbor care.” He said they do not have any illusions about solving the underlying mental-health and substance-use problems many residents live with, and that is not their goal.

“This is absolutely not nirvana,” Mr. Graham said. “And we want people to understand the beauty and the complexity of what we do. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on the face of the planet than right here in the middle of this, but you’re not fixing these things.” ...

From an experiment to a model

Community First has already inspired spinoffs, with some tweaks. In 2018, Nate Schlueter, who previously worked with the village’s jobs program, opened Eden Village in his hometown, Springfield, Mo. Unlike in Community First, every home in Eden Village is identical and has its own bathroom and kitchen. Mr. Schlueter’s model has spread to 12 different cities with every village limited to 50 homes or fewer.

“Not every city is Austin, Texas,” Mr. Schlueter said. “We don’t want to build a large-scale village. And if the root cause of homelessness is a loss of family, and community is something that can duplicate that safety net to some extent, to have smaller villages to me seemed like a stronger community safety net. Everybody would know each other.”

The rapid growth of Community First has challenged that ideal. In recent years, some of the original missional residents and staff members have left, finding it harder to support the number of people moving into the village. Steven Hebbard, who lived and worked at the village since its inception, left in 2019 when he said it shifted from a “tiny-town dynamic” where he knew everyone’s name to something that felt more like a city, straining the supportive culture that helped people succeed.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes said more staff members had recently been hired to help new residents adjust, but Mr. Graham noted that there was a limit to what any housing provider could do without violating people’s privacy and autonomy.

Despite these concerns, the organization, which had been run entirely on private money, has recently drawn public support. In January 2023, Travis County gave Mobile Loaves and Fishes $35 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to build 640 units as part of its expansion.

Then four months later came a significant surprise: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the use of federal housing vouchers, which subsidize part or all of a low-income resident’s rent, for the village’s tiny homes. This will make running the village much more financially sustainable, Mr. Graham said, and may make it a more replicable blueprint for other places.

“That’s a big deal for us, and it’s a big deal on a national basis,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s a recognition that this model, managed the way that this model is, has a role in the system.”

Usually, the government considers homes without indoor plumbing to be substandard, but, in this case, it made an exception by applying the housing standards it uses for single-room-occupancy units. The village still did not meet the required ratio of bathrooms per person, but at the request of Travis County and the City of Austin’s housing officials, who cited Austin’s “severe lack of affordable housing” that made it impossible for some homeless people with vouchers to find anywhere else to live, HUD waived its usual requirements.

In the waiver, a HUD staffer wrote that Mr. Graham told HUD officials over the phone that the proportion of in-unit bathrooms “has not been an issue.” But in conversations with The Times, other homeless-service providers in Austin and some village residents said the lack of in-unit bathrooms is one of the biggest problems people have with living there. It also makes the villages less accessible to people with certain disabilities and health issues that are relatively common among the chronically homeless....

Mr. Graham said that with a doctor’s note, people could secure an R.V. or manufactured home at the village, although those are in short supply and have a long waiting list. He said the village’s use of tiny homes allowed them to build at a fraction of the usual cost when few other options existed, and helps ensure residents aren’t isolated in their units, reinforcing the village’s communal ethos.

“If somebody wants to live in a tiny home they ought to have the choice,” Mr. Graham said, “and if they are poor we ought to respect their civil right to live in that place and be subsidized to live there.” But he conceded that for some people, “this might not be the model.”

“Nobody can be everything for everyone,” he said.

By the spring of 2025, Mr. Graham hopes to begin moving people into the next phase of the village, across the street from the current property. The darker visions some once predicted of an impoverished community on the outskirts of town overtaken by drugs and violence have not come to pass. Instead, the village has permanently housed hundreds of people and earned the approval and financial backing of the city, the county and the federal government. But for the model to truly meet the scale of the challenge in Austin and beyond, Chapman Semple said, the compromises that led to Community First in its current incarnation will have to be reckoned with.

“We can build smaller villages that can be fully integrated into the community, that can have access to amenities within the community that we all need to live, including jobs and groceries,” Chapman Semple said. “If it’s a wonderful model then we should be embracing and fighting for its inclusion within our community.”

-via New York Times, January 8, 2024

[andrevasims]

Pretersolaria Institute: CC-Free Uni & Individual Lots

Eventually I want to share the entirety of Rhyolite Valley, but it's a bit hairy with the 47 sims & CC hood deco & the garbage data I let seep in while playing (so I'd have to remake all of that before sharing).

I thought I'd "practice" the process of remaking the hood by starting a little smaller: The uni subhood. Since I only made a handful of sims for it (which are not included... yet) and it works aesthetically without CC hood deco. Sounds simple, right? Weelllll it took about a week of near daily effort to actually do. Makes the prospect of doing the actual hood soooo much more exciting lol /s

Anyway, that's what this is: A new university subhood template that's CLEAN & EMPTY. As a bonus (or if you just don't like the subhood), I've also included individual lot packages for every lot in the subhood to use wherever you want.

The "gimmick" of this hood is that Rhyolite Valley, and by extension Pretersolaria Institute, is entirely self-sufficient & cobbled together by the local residents. Which means there's no indoor plumbing lol.

That also means simply sitting down at a computer to write a term paper isn't as easy as a regular uni. Students have to go to THE BOOKMOBILE to access computers. Same goes for the skill building required for each semester/major. You have to venture out to the relevant community lot to find the means for skill building.

I've included in the uni's photo album & the lot descriptions which skills are available to build on each lot. It'll say "+Cooking" or whatever skill(s) the lot can provide based on the objects it has.

— WHERE/HOW TO INSTALL: —————————

Place the "PRTR" folder in its entirety in the "Program Files > EA GAMES > The Sims 2 University > TSData > Res > NeighborhoodTemplate" directory. Or whatever equivalent location you have for a TS2 University folder in the Program Files section.

Mootilda's Subhood Selection Mod is required to see additional universities below the main 3 pre-made ones.

You can then select Pretersolaria Institute in the list of options when creating a new uni subhood in a neighborhood.

— UNI SUBHOOD LOT INFO: ——————————

• Dorms: 1 (Klaatu Mobile Park)

6br / 5ba | Value: §20,444 | Size: 30 x 20

• Residential: 3 (Fulquard, Mushnick, & Burson Shack)

1br / 1ba | Value: §3,816-§3,862 | Size: 10 x 10

• Greek House: 1 (Tobor Testing Bureau)

10br / 10ba | Value: §30,363 | Size: 30 x 20

• Community: 6 (Wiploc Amphitheatre, THE BOOKMOBILE, Ikron Confectioneries, Zarkov Training Center, Big Heart Dude, Krelboined Horticulture)

• Secret Society: 1 (Temple of Laganaphyllis)

Value: §56,035 | Size: 20 x 20 | Zone: Community (individual version)

— NOTES: ———————————————————

• On 2 lots (Big Heart Dude & Wiploc Amphitheatre), I used the Seasons Music career reward The Rock Hammer for speaker deco. I used MoveObjects to delete the guitar but keep the speakers.

It's possible that either A. The guitars will respawn when you move the lot in the hood, or B. Sims will attempt to play the guitar and complain about being blocked (because I purposely blocked them).

If the guitars respawn, open the lot in Buy/Build mode and with MoveObjects On use the sledgehammer tool to remove the guitar.

If sims are complaining about not being able to reach the guitar, well they're not supposed to be able to lol. If hearing them complain is annoying, you can either use this mod that makes them stop yelling when something blocks them and leaves only the thought bubble, or delete the whole object.

• The Wiploc Amphitheatre may also have some glitchy-looking ground that you can see in neighborhood view when the camera moves. This is because I shortened the lot with Lot Adjuster. I don't know how to make it stop doing that, because I've transferred the lot to other hoods, packaged the lot, Lot Cleaner'd it, Lot Compressor'd it, moved it to the Lots & Houses Bin, etc. and it has never stopped looking like that. So again if that annoys you, remove the lot I guess?

• Please let me know if there are any additional problems.

I've never done this before specifically with a uni subhood, so it's very likely I messed up somewhere.

Additional Interior/Detail Pictures

DOWNLOAD UNI SUBHOOD: SFS | MF

DOWNLOAD INDIVIDUAL LOTS: SFS | MF

[djuvlipen]

Every hour, a woman in Afghanistan loses her life during childbirth

It was midnight when another wave of pain struck. Begum, 35, thought it was finally time for her child to be born, but there were no signs of the baby coming.

“I woke my husband and told him to get a car to go to a hospital. He rented one from our neighbours,” Begum said.

The mother of four travelled while in labour from Ridkhord area in Badakhshan’s Zibak district to the Shahid Ustad Burhanuddin Rabbani Hospital in the provincial capital Faizabad.

Her fifth child, struggling to be born, did not survive the journey.

Begum lived, but many mothers in similar circumstances do not.

Abdullah is currently waiting to hear if his wife will survive their child’s birth.

He and his wife, residents of the province’s Yafta-e-Bala area, came on foot to the central hospital in Faizabad when their baby was due to be born.

“In Yaftal-e-Bala, there are four health centres. However, because of inadequate medical facilities and no doctor available, we had to walk for four or five hours to Faizabad for delivery,” Abdullah said.

“We encountered many challenges along the way, but I couldn’t do much until we reached the hospital.”

Doctors said that because his wife had walked a long distance, it led to severe bleeding and possibly harmed the baby in the womb.

“The mother’s condition is not good and there is little hope for the baby to survive,” Abdullah said doctors told him.

Afghanistan’s deadly statistics for mothers

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report, each day 24 mothers and 167 newborns in Afghanistan lose their lives due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

It’s the highest rate in the world.

“The condition of mothers is highly alarming, particularly for those who travel from remote areas and cover long distances,” a specialist at the Shahid Ustad Burhanuddin Rabbani Hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Having worked in Badakhshan for 22 years, the doctor said that the shortage of healthcare services, especially in remote areas, leads to significant health risks for women.

He recalled a patient who arrived at the hospital from Darwaz district about a month ago after travelling for three days.

“Due to the long journey, the patient’s womb had ruptured along the way, leading to the loss of the baby. The doctors only managed to save the mother’s life with great difficulty,” he said.

Discrimination leading to more deaths

There are concerns the situation is only getting worse as the Taliban place more restrictions on women’s mobility and access to support, and the weakened economy sees healthcare facilities struggle to deliver services.

The WHO reported that in 2023, about 428 health centres were closed because of budget constraints.

Dr Suraya Dalil, WHO’s Director of the Special Programe for Primary Health Care and former Minister of Health in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2014, said that Afghanistan has become one of the most perilous countries for mothers due to insufficient healthcare resources.

Dr Dalil told Rukhshana Media that the Taliban’s discriminatory policies make women more vulnerable in accessing healthcare.

“There is a regime in Afghanistan that systematically discriminates against women. For instance, a few months ago, a directive was sent to the central hospital in Ghazni province stating that women without a male companion would not receive treatment,” she said.

“Similarly, in Herat, a directive was issued prohibiting ultrasound services for women at the central hospital.”

She said that ultrasound examinations are crucial for diagnosis and timely treatment decisions, services that have unfortunately been restricted for women.

Recently, the Taliban supreme leader issued an order for all female employees to receive a reduced monthly salary.

“Recently, we’ve witnessed female employees being allocated a monthly salary of only 5,000 afghanis (US$70), disregarding their rank, experience, and job responsibilities solely because they are women. This is systemic discrimination,” she said.

“The impact of the Taliban’s actions on women extends beyond just health issues. It has multidimensional implications.”

Health professionals strike over reduced salaries

This month several doctors, nurses, and midwives in Kabul hospitals staged a strike in protest of this decision by the Taliban leadership.

At least four female doctors and staff from hospitals such as Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan, Shaikh Zahid, and Sehat-e-Tefl, speaking to Rukhshana Media,  said they cannot meet their basic living needs with the salary recently set by the Taliban for all female employees.

Homa*, a physician at Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan hospital, said their protest lasted only three hours after the hospital’s Taliban-appointed director dispersed them with threats.

Orphaned children left to raise each other

Hanifa, 21, a resident of Sarjai area of Panjab district of Bamyan province now takes care of her two younger sisters and two younger brothers after the death of their mother.

She said that there are no clinics in their village or nearby areas, which is why her mother had to give birth at home.

“My poor mother cried in pain, clutching her back, yet she continued to bake bread. With my father and two brothers away working on farmlands, there was no man at home. My mother, assisted by our neighbor, who was a local woman, gave birth at home,” she said.

“She always delivered her children at home and was used to it, but this time, one of the twins didn’t come out, and her bleeding was so severe that the entire house was stained with blood.

“After giving birth, my mother survived only two hours. Despite our efforts, we couldn’t deliver the second twin because there was no accessible vehicle, and my father wasn’t home to help us.

“When my mother realized her bleeding wouldn’t stop, she urged us to take good care of her daughter, who was a baby girl. She remained conscious for two hours, growing weaker with each passing moment until she eventually lost consciousness.”

Karima Sadiq* a gynecologist specializing in obstetrics in remote areas, said stories like these are increasingly common.

“Sadly, since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, I have witnessed a rise in maternal deaths during childbirth, particularly in villages and districts. Every 24 hours, 24 to 26 mothers are losing their lives during childbirth, highlighting a disturbingly high maternal mortality rate.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently reported that one-third of women in Afghanistan give birth without access to essential healthcare facilities, and only around 67 percent of deliveries in Afghanistan are supervised by healthcare professionals.

According to UNICEF’s report, it is recommended that pregnant women visit a doctor at least four times before delivery, but only a third of women in Afghanistan adhere to this recommendation.

UNICEF stated that that if a mother gives birth outside of a healthcare facility and without access to a skilled health professional, her life is significantly endangered.

Note*: Names are changed due to security reasons.

[twstfanblog]

*~Toddler Chronicles-3rd Years PT.1~*

A/N: I have no excuses. I've just been hoarding my writing and trying to stack finished stories and post them out when I have depressive episodes—just to make sure I have something for you all! So anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy this part. The series is going to be so full of cute baby shenanigans that you'll have a toothache. Thank you again to @bun-lapin for letting me use their wonderful OCs! They are so fun to chew on... Word Count: 6.3K Pairings: Alluded Ruggie/Leona Warnings: Needles, Children, Me typing out a country accent, Google translate french

Starter, Pt 1

Ruggie had only felt fear so strongly he could taste it twice in his life. The first was when he was five and awoke in his hut with his grandma nowhere in sight. The second was when he was twelve and a drunk man had gripped at his arm to the point it bruised him for days.

And now he can say he's tasted fear three times. The third being he realized the second prince of the Savanna had been turned into a four-year-old and was missing. Anyone left in Savanaclaw that weekend morning was out and searching, using every nose and ear in the dorm to hunt down their missing leader.

Ruggie had to stop after an hour, his panicked breathing pulling in the scent of his search party more than the sandy flora he was looking for. He stood to the side, his head in his hands while his thoughts raced on what could have befallen the defenseless toddler that a pack couldn't find him.

“Ruggie!”

He looks up, not even trying to hide the tears pooling in his eyes. A rhino beastman, a third-year who heard Leona was missing and the pure distress in Ruggie’s voice quickly helped mobilize the dorm, stood before him. He shook his head, “We've searched the gardens side to side, we've got teams combing the woods. The school and coliseum are next for the beta teams, but we haven’t found anything.”

Ruggie’s sigh was ragged, dropping his head back down to grip at his hair in frustration. Dropping to the ground in a squat as he started to rock in a self-soothing motion. 

The third-year sighed along with him, folding his arms as he looked out to the campus, “The ‘Emergency Protocol’ for a lost member is normally Rook…but you said he was four, too, right?”

“Yeah…”

“...” He tilted his head, a questioning sneer showing his teeth, “Why are they four?”

“If I fucking knew, do you think I would be five steps away from a heart attack?”

“Okay…geeze…” The third-year turns around hearing someone call his name. With a nod to them, he turns back to Ruggie, “Cool your head. You know Leona best and you're in charge when he's not available. If anyone could figure out where he went it'll be you.”

As the other beastman left, Ruggie was left to calm himself. Once he could breathe without the laborious tug of his own nerves, he really thought. Leona had very key areas he went to, all secluded away from others as he was always more comfortable alone. But those areas were also easily accessible, a factor that the possibly scared four-year-old no doubt didn't care for.

Away from others, carefully hidden, familiar…

Ruggie’s eyes snapped open, jumping from his position and bolting back to the empty dorm. His hands braced against one of the open-air window sills, hopping through it with ease as he sprinted into the faux savanna their dorm resided in.

In his first year, before they had started their situationship deal, Ruggie remembers waking up in the middle of the night. Nothing serious, just thirsty, so he left his room. But on his way to the kitchen, he saw Leona outside of the dorm's walls and walking into the fields of scattered vegetation and rocks. Ruggie never asked where he was going, but that memory was enough to tell him Leona had more places to hide than he thought.

Tracking Leona became almost laughably easy once he was far enough from the dorm, after a while the only smell was Leona in the magically sterile lands. A scent he followed to a small cave, the opening semi-hidden from view by a large rock resting in front of the opening and the amount of weeds growing from the top. Brushing the strands of grass aside he bit his tongue to hold in the urge to bark out laughs at the scene before him.

It was a pretty sweet setup, by Ruggie’s standards. A large rug had been laid out on the ground, softening the area while also keeping the dirt trapped underneath it. There was a low table at the center of space, the remnants of a quick meal by way of multiple snack wrappers and an empty juice bottle. But the best thing was the ‘bed’. A pile of old blankets and pillows all pressed into the corner, a tiny mass with reddish brown hair swimming in a daishiki resting on it. As always, Leona slept with his back to the entrance, laying in a curled up ball with his tail laid out behind him.

Ruggie stepped into the area as slowly as he could. Yeah, Leona was four, but he was still Leona. And Ruggie did not want to see what the potentially scared toddler could do to him in an enclosed space. He couldn't stop the swear he mutters, seeing a single tiny ear suddenly flick around and point toward him. He sunk to his knees, hands held up in a motion of surrender as Leona slowly woke up, “Hey…hey there, bud. You ok?”

The kid turned, a big green eye full of distrust peering at Ruggie as if daring him to move. Before long Leona had moved to fully face Ruggie, sniffing the air a few times before narrowing his eyes and wrinkling his nose, “You smell like the sheets in that room…”

Nodding, Ruggie tries to walk on his knees, one step for every few seconds to not startle the toddler, “Yeah. I do your laundry, it smells like me sometimes. I'm Ruggie, I…I take care of you here.”

Leona did not look pleased in the slightest that Ruggie was getting closer, but made no move past the adorable sneer, “Where's here? If you're trying to get money you picked the wrong kid.”

Ruggie didn't know if that was the inkling of something terribly sad or if Leona was actively threatening him and he didn't care to find out. He chuckles, one-half hobble of a step makeing Leona tense up, his poker face pinching together as he struggles to hold it together. Ruggie takes two knee steps back.

“I'm not dangerous. Hell, I think you'd wipe the floor with me anyway. I haven't had breakfast yet.”

Leona eased, his face slowly morphing into a pout and placing his tiny hands onto his stomach as he looked to the side, “I haven't either…”

Ruggie chuckles, eyes looking to the table and the empty wrappers, “You haven't?” He snorts at the little growl of a huff Leona lets out. He turns back to the kid, his smile turning soft as he held a hand out, “How about we get out of here and I make you some food? You can call Kipaji and we can go from there…”

“Kifaji…?”

Name dropping the aid was the right move, Leona's eyes lighting up at the familiar name before he schools his expression again. He wrings the edge of the now oversized sleep shirt in a show of nervousness. Sniffing the air, Leona wasn't able to smell anything pointing toward malice from the hyena. If anything it calmed him in a sense, the scent of something sweet with the earthy smell of dandelions, the same smell clinging to the fibers of the room he woke up in. 

Ruggie kept his hand outstretched, breathing in relief when Leona finally walked closer and grabbed at his fingers with both of his hands. the sophomore stands, his scrawny hand wrapping securely around one of Leona's, “Let's get you a good meal then. You're so tiny; I gotta make sure you're well-fed!”

Leona pouts, following as the older boy guides them out of the little sanctuary, “I'm not that small for my age…”

Epel sighed, placing two plates down in front of the toddlers, “Here. Some nice and filling breakfast. Y'all want somethin’ to drink?”

Vil looked up, the long sleeves of his button-up pajamas neatly cuffed to allow his hands to be free of the fabric. He tilted his head, purple eyes curious, “You talk weird…Can I have peach juice?” he looked to his plate, smiling as he took notice of the gold swirls along the rim.

“...” Epel sighed, quirking his lip as he rolled his eyes. He couldn't smack the little bugger across the back of his head, he was four, he was going to say whatever was on his mind. 

While Vil started to eat his breakfast, buttered toast and cut-up fruit just as he had requested, Rook was pouting, poking at his food in mild confusion.

“Rook?” The child snaps up, looking to Epel at the sound of his name, “Ya okay bud? Do ya not like ya food?”

“...” Rook pouted, eyebrows pinching together before he turned to Vil. He patted Vil on his shoulder, calling him to lean closer to whisper into his ear.

Vil hummed, nodding and swallowing his food before looking at Epel, “You got his food wrong.”

“Ah…how!?” Epel gestured to the bell pepper omelet on Rook's plate, “You said he wanted eggs and bell pepper! Did he want them raw!?”

“Don't yell at me!” Vil huffed, his tiny nose scrunched up as he slapped his hand to the table, “He told me you made it weird. You're the big kid, you should know what little kids need.”

Epel rolled his eyes so hard he nearly fell. Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose to calm himself down before speaking to Rook, “What's wrong with it? What'd ah get wrong?”

Rook only looked at him confused, blinking a few times before mumbling a few words to Vil. The other blonde perked up again, swallowing his food before he responded in stilted Florian. Epel watched the back and forth, eyes following and wondering why…they were speaking in the other other language…

Vil nodded after a while, turning to Epel, “You made it wrong.”

“What did ah make wrong?” How could such a cute kid be so annoying in this small amount of time?

Sighing, Vil gestured to the omelet on Rook's plate, the other child finally picking at the food to eat it in tiny bites, ���His food! You made it wrong!”

Epel gestured to the plate almost in a hysterical fashion, “Ya said he wanted eggs and peppers!?”

The pout Vil pulls is cute, Epel can't lie. But the glare he gave him was all too familiar to the disapproving stare of his 18-year-old self, “That's what he said he wanted! That…Rook, qu'est-ce que tu voulais?” *

“Shakshuka! Mon papa le fait pour moi, mon frère et ma sœur. Il n'y a pas des tomates…”

Nodding, Vil passed over a few chunks of his fruit medley to Rook, turning to glare at Epel, “You forgot the tomatoes.”

Sighing once again, Epel braced against the table and leaned closer to Rook, “Lil guy, ‘ou're gonna need to communicate with me. What is Shakshuka?”

Rook blinked his two big green eyes, tilting his to side as he gave Epel a look of pure confusion.

Vil leaned past Rook, cupping his mouth with both hands to loudly whisper, “I don't think he knows Common yet…”

“...”

Oh, that…that was bad. Epel forgot that Rook was one of the younger third-years; most kids didn't start learning the worldly language of Common until they were around four or prepping to enter the school system. He could make the assumption that the other third-years had at least started their introductory lessons, allowing the school's translation charm to be properly activated for them still.

Epel looked to Vil, trying to keep himself from looking concerned, “Wait, why? He should at least know a few words by now?”

Another brief conversation in Florian between the toddlers, Vil turning to Epel, “He said his mommy said he wasn't getting lessons until he was five.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Epel breathed out. A new annoyance to this pile of nonsense that has become his school life.

Crewel sighed, leaned over his desk as though it was the only thing keeping him up. brushing his hair from his eyes he looked at the group of students and toddlers gathered in his homeroom. The toddlers all dressed in makeshift clothing of oversized shirts, socks, and magically resized shoes.

Riddle stood behind his two turned juniors, eyes watching them like a hawk. His gray pupils moving back and forth to make sure neither child was acting out. A helicopter guardian move that proved unnecessary since both children were sharing a chair and crowded against each other, looking with wide eyes at whatever was on Cater’s phone.

Ruggie stood still with a blank expression, for a second Crewel had feared that the Savanaclaw students hadn't managed to find Leona. Only to see tiny hands creep from behind Ruggie’s head to tug at the corners of his mouth. An equally tiny face peeking from Ruggie’s shoulder and demanding to know when he was going to be fed again.

Epel sat in a chair, eyes glaring straight ahead in purely concealed annoyance. In his lap was Vil, the toddler quietly whispering in a harsh tone as he held and picked at Epel's nails. Clearly scolding him for having dirt under his nails and the small nicks on his fingers. In contrast, Rook was comfortably seated on Epel's shoulders. The other child smiling and having fun messing with the freshman’s hair by running his hands through it and trying to pull it into pigtails.

Ortho was the calmest, Idia practically swimming in his standard hoodie from Ortho's arms. The junior's long hair had shortened dramatically, now a fluffy halo of blue flames compared to the tail it was before. He sat curled into Ortho's arms, his mouth covered by his hoodie sleeve as he nervously glanced around the room and chewed on the fabric.

The most contrasted pair were Malleus and Lilia. While Mallues stood on the ground, holding onto a folded over Sebek's hand and calm, Lilia…

Silver held the still hissing and yowling child by the arms and as far away from his body as possible. The long-haired bat fae was kicking and squirming, nearly fighting for his life to escape Silver's hold. Though from how he kept angling his head and biting into the fabric of the shirt, Crewel could only think it was also a demand to be freed from the prison called clothing.

Crewel groans, covering his face with both his hands. Soon Hui-Yan enters the room, looking annoyed as she tips her head toward Crewel in greeting, “I’ve alerted the other teachers, no one else seems to be affected so I believe it was just this group affected…”

“Uh…” Ruggie reached up, Finally pulling Leona's hands off of his face and moving to hold the toddler to his front, “So…I know they have these meetings every now and again. I help Leona make stuff for them sometimes. That's most likely where they got spelled or dosed…”

Riddle hummed, eyes still locked on his unbothered charges, “A potion makes the most sense…it would explain the delayed reaction more than a spell-Cater, don’t you dare open that message!” He reaches down, pulling the phone away from Cater’s little hands and ignoring his and Trey’s whining.

“...” Crewel sighed again, reminding himself that he had a bottle of scotch calling his name once this whole event was settled, “What potion even does this…? Bucchi, do you have any idea how they could have dosed?”

“Leona was making a big fuss last night on Malleus fuc-” He nearly bit his tongue, closing his mouth as nearly everyone’s eyes snapped to him, basically daring him to finish his sentence, “...He said Malleus messed up the drink mix he brought and it tasted bad…”

Silver sighed, trying his best to rework his hold on Lilia as the child managed to wiggle one of his arms free from his hand, “I remember…Kalim came over a day or so ago with various syrups and sodas…Malleus just said they were mixing things for fun but it must have been for this meeting- Ow.” He groaned frowning at the growling child digging his fangs into his hand, “Please, stop biting me…”

“I don’t think Kalim al Asim would bring anything that contained magical properties. So that leaves the Scarabia and the Diasomnia dorm as the prime location for a third-party to slip something into the beverage.” Ortho nodded at his reasoning, giving his brother a worried glance, “My most present concern is what could have done this. It was strong enough to effect full-blooded fae but weak enough to humans to ‘deage’ them  both to the same age.”

“...No?” Sebek spoke quietly, eyes glancing between Malleus in his arms and Lilia wrapped around Silver's arm and biting into his wrist, “They're…they're not. Waka-sama! Do you know how old you are?”

Malleus had only jumped a bit at the sudden volume increase that was Sebek’s voice before calming back down, “I'm forty…”

“...”

Crewel pinched the bridge of his nose, counting back in his head to calm his rising blood pressure. He grabbed his phone with one hand, texting Oster as he searched in his other coat pocket, “I’ll need to do some tests to determine what’s in their systems. Not to mention just making sure it’s not actively hurting them…”

Epel spoke up, Vil moving from his hands to poking and pulling at his face claiming he was going to get wrinkles if he kept glaring, “How are you gonna test it?”

“Blood sample.” Crewel then pulled what they could only conceive as the biggest-looking syringe any of them had ever seen. Silver and Sebek both only seeing one of such style in the valley since it seemed more modern needles weren’t so…comically terrifying.

…

Every child once in a relative calm had started to sob the second the syringe was brought out, each wailing and struggling to escape the room or their guardians' hold once they realized they were going to be stuck with the insanely scary needle.

Silver was fighting to keep Lilia from kicking him in the throat in his efforts to break free of his hold. Sebek wasn’t any better as Malleus whimpered and whined, the lights flickering the more distressed he became as the clouds darkened outside. Ruggie had Leona on his head, the child hissing and trying to tug Ruggie by the ears to demand he turn around to leave the room. Epel and Riddle had it the worst. Both of the smaller boys tried to strong-arm two wailing toddlers from flinging themselves to the ground.

Riddle yells, face red both from overexertion and rage, “Why do you have a sterile syringe in your coat pocket!?”

“Don’t you bark at me, Rosehearts! I’ll keep what I need to deal with you lot of rowdy puppies!” The teacher groaned, the sound of wailing children something he had no desire to ever hear. 

Hui-Yan was no better as the woman stood almost frozen beside him with her eyes jumping from one crying kid to the other. She leaned over, eyes glancing to Crewel’s phone to see what he had texted the other science teacher, “Is Oster bringing more syringes or are you going to draw from each of them?”

“... I'm not using the same needle on all of them Hui-Yan.”

“Okay.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I just assumed that’s what you’d do.”

“Why-”

“Um!”

Crewel and Hui-Yan look in surprise. The voice was squeakier but Idia was clearly the child to speak out. He was making direct eye contact, pulling his face from his sleeve and nodding his head.

“I can go first! To show them it’s not scary.”

“O-oh…Thank you, Idia…?” Both teachers glanced at each other, almost asking if they had heard the same thing. Idia as an 18-year-old was not brave, loud, nor as considerate as his toddler counterpart. While very helpful, it was simply jarring…

Crewel pulled out his crop, starting to cast a few spells on the syringe in hand, “Another teacher is coming with more supplies so I can safely get a sample from each of you. You’ll get one of those needles since I have this one for Malleus or Lilia. Modern syringes are made from steel which, if you puppies have been doing your science homework, is a mixture of iron and carbon.” He held up the syringe again, eye twitching at the increased wailing of the children, “I have a few vintage syringes that are still functional that were made with silver. A few cleaning spells and they’ll be safe to use for the fae…”

Oster bursts in, a bag slung over her shoulder as she huffed and puffed, “I’ve come with the items!”

“Perfect timing. Please prep the baby Shroud to draw blood and prep yourself to potentially fight several children…” Crewel pulled out the single-use bags of syringes, looking each over before he started to prep the second vintage syringe.

Rook peaked from under Epel's arm, watching as Idia let Ortho and Oster maneuver his jacket around to show his arm. He whimpered louder, watching the teacher wipe at the other boy's arm with a cotton ball that stained his skin orange, “Vous ne savez pas ce qu'est un tir? Ils font mal et font peur!” **

Idia looked down, eyebrows creased together in confusion, “Wha…?”

Ortho hums, gaining Idia’s attention, “He’s speaking Florian.”

“Oh…” Idia turned back to Rook, shaking his head at the terrified child, “I don’t speak Florian…”

“Scary! He’s saying shots are scary!” Vil wailed, struggling and twisting his arm in Epel’s hold while Rook started to do the same with his other side.

“Oh…Well. I get shots a lot, so I’m used to them.” Idia gains a fearful expression seeing both Oster and Crewel give the needles a final check over, “Yeah, it feels like a pinch but then you get a sucker!”

Malleus stopped his whimpering, shyly peaking from a fretting Sebek’s shoulder. He sniffled, looking over to Idia, “What…what is a sucker?”

“...A sucker?” Idia responded, looking just as confused. How did anyone not know what a sucker was…?

Sebek spoke up, patting Malleus on the back in an effort to calm him more, “It’s a confection; like the honey drops given out at the spring festival! Once you have the test done, you will receive a sucker as your payment for your bravery!”

“...” Malleus looked over to Crewel, the man realizing he was being watched and stiffly held the syringe up. Turning back to Sebek, Malleus nodded his head in a determined manner, “...I want a honey drop…”

“I will ensure you have as many honeydrops as you can stomach, Waka-sama!”

Two of the eight children pacified by the promise of candy, Riddle and Epel took notice and decided it was their best bet.

Riddle managed to kneel down, almost being pulled over by the two struggling toddlers, “Trey, Cater, you can have sweets if you both allow the nice teacher to get a blood test-”

Trey all but wept, the fight slowly leaving him after nearly two minutes of tugging against Riddle’s grip, “I want my moooooooom…!”

Vil cried out, much angrier and still fighting to be released from under Epel’s arm, “I want my lawyer!”

It took another five or so minutes for every child to be calmed and pricked. Trey demanded to call his mother and father once he had his blood drawn and his sucker firm in hand. Cater completely rejected the idea of candy, pitching an even bigger fit at the idea he would be force-fed the sucker after he had his blood taken. Riddle had to promise not only on his life but his favorite color that Cater would be the one allowed to pick what they all had for lunch that day.

Vil had nearly screamed himself hoarse when Crewel approached him with the needle, completely falling into tears on the ground and forcing Epel to fully console the child. It took a promise of as much frozen yogurt as he wanted for dessert and to swear he hadn't been kidnapped by crazy fans of his father. The other blonde toddler had helped Epel explain to Rook that they needed to take a bit of blood to make sure he was healthy. Though he didn't look happy about it, he gained his sucker by holding Vil's hand and closing both of his eyes tight.

Malleus had allowed Oster to stick him with the needle, hiding in Sebek's shoulder and whimpering. The first-year nearly making the woman break the needle off under the toddler's skin, yelling at her that she had taken enough blood when the sample had barely reached the first measurement mark. Lilia fought tooth and nail, never having seen a syringe and thinking it to be a weapon of sorts. It took both Silver and Hui-Yan distracting the child with the promised bright green sucker, allowing Crewel to gather his sample the moment Lilia had let his guard down, barely moving away to avoid razor-sharp baby teeth.

Leona refused and no promise of candy nor food nor any activity Ruggie could think up was accepted. In the end it took Ruggie holding the little prince in a body lock with both his legs and an arm. His last appendage helping Oster by holding Leona's arm still as he hissed and yowled. Once released the first thing the prince did was turn around and lunge at Ruggie, biting down hard on the hyena’s ear and had yet to let go.

Idia had watched it all, comfortable and snug in Ortho's arms with his star-covered bandaid and already blue sucker-stained mouth, “Bunch of babies…”

A botched potion was the answer. From the trace of ingredients found, Crewel and Oster were able to conclude the original potion was a magic reduction syrup. A rare concoction, but commonly prescribed for younger children with high levels of magic and no proper training. A potion that Oster had started to make once she and Crewel realized the children would possibly need it, Malleus mostly…

The main deviation was the substitution of moon crystals for moon petals. An ingredient commonly found in high-quality beauty creams for rejuvenating purposes. Both Crewel and Oster recognizing it from their own beauty night creams. Not harmful, but, it did manage to turn the recipients four. Luckily the potion would only last for a week or so, two tops.

Crewel had tasked Hui-Yan to do what she did best, hunting down students. Someone had planned to potentially poison multiple students and it was an act that would not slide, even by Night Raven standards. But, until the culprits were caught, there wasn't much any of them could do but make sure their new tiny charges were comfortable.

With promise of properly sized clothing and other necessities to be delivered, everyone took their respective toddlers back to their dorms.

Riddle sighed, a pouting Cater holding onto two of his fingers and a still sniffling Trey clutched in his free arm. Walking back to Heartslabyul was a chore and his workload would only grow as the days went on. While aid would be coming in the form physical items, Cater and Trey were pillars of the dorm, emotional support for many a student and Riddle's closest aids. He was aware he'd lose them once they went off to their internships, but to have it happen only a few weeks into this repeat year was cruel. Even if it was only for at most two weeks, Ace and Deuce were not ready for the task of filling their juniors roles yet…

As he entered the dorm's lounge area, he made eye contact with Ace. The redhead freshman sitting on a couch opposite Deuce while the other muttered quietly.

“Wow…they're still four, huh? I would have thought Crewel-Sensei would give them something to make them older again…” Ace stood from his seat, walking closer and raising an eyebrow. Both at Trey whining into Riddle's shoulder and the foul little pout Cater was giving him, “What's their deals?”

“Shots. Suffice to say, neither were too happy about it…” While he was able to guide Cater toward Ace, the smaller redhand's pout lessening when he was picked up, Trey had simply refused to detach from Riddle.

Deuce smiled soft, poking at Trey's back, “Hey, lil guy. Nothing to be afraid of, we're all pretty familiar with each other when you're older.”

Trey merely shook his head, not moving from Riddle's shoulder.

Sighing, Riddle did his best to shuffle Trey in hopes of moving his weight in his quickly tiring arms, “It was a very emotional morning for everyone. Maybe a nap is in order for them, at least until lunch…”

Ace takes notice of Cater in his arms. At the mention of lunch, the toddler seemed to be on the verge of tears the longer Riddle spoke on sleeping arrangements instead of the actual meal time.He bounced the toddler lightly in his arms, gaining his attention before doing a stage whisper to gain everyone's attention, “Hey. Why are you so mad?”

Cater puffed his cheeks out, sending a glare over to Riddle before whispering back to Ace in a harsh tone, “He lied about letting me pick lunch. He didn't say I could pick…”

Ace gasped, looking toward a confused Riddle scandalized, “Housewarden! Shame on you! Did you promise Cater could pick lunch? And you go back on your word? Shame! Jail! Jail for one thousand years!”

Deuce turned to Riddle, frowning himself at the slight, “Rosehearts-senpai…”

“I-! Cater is still allowed to pick lunch!? I didn't say he wasn't? I only gave the opinion that they should have a nap beforehand. It was a very busy morning.”

Cater’s demeanor changed, his eyes widen in amazement and moving away from curling against Ace, “You mean it? I can still pick what's for lunch?”

Riddle softened, smiling at the clearly excited toddler, “Of course you can, Cater-CATER, DON'T JUMP!”

Calm had fled quickly, Cater managing to slip out of Ace's relaxed hold and hit the ground running. His little legs zooming him out of the room before any of them realized he was running.

Deuce was the first to sprint after the child, “Diamond-Senpai! Where are you going!?”

“To pick lunch!”

Ace and Riddle rushed after them both, Riddle still carrying Trey in his tired arms, “Cater, lunch isn't for hours!”

Cater demanded to pick lunch, only then would he even entertain the idea of a nap. So Riddle, Ace, and Deuce all walked along the kitchen. Following behind a far too excited toddler as he looked around the curvy space looking for something to eat.

Trey had finally calmed down, pulling himself from Riddle's shoulder to look around the kitchen himself. Luckily he was distracted enough for Riddle to hand him off to Deuce, finally giving his arms a break.

Riddle watched from a stool, Deuce carrying and holding Trey up to cabinets and various items of the kitchen for closer looks. Ace was following behind Cater, laughing whenever the child opened a cabinet below only to be greeted with pots and pans instead of the food he was expecting.

But soon, Cater found actual food in the cabinets he could reach. The redheaded toddler proudly presenting an unopened jar of tomato sauce to Riddle, “This! I want this for lunch!”

Riddle looked at the jar, knowing the sauce was healthy enough but…, “Just the sauce?”

“Yes.”

“No. You're not just eating sauce for lunch.”

“...” Cater’s face started to flush, tears welling up in his eyes before he started to stomp his feet, “No! You said! You said I could pick! You promised!”

“I did promise, but sauce isn't lunch. You need to pick something else.”

“Nooooooo!” Cater had fallen back onto his bottom, shaking his head and nearly throwing the glass jar to the ground in fury before Ace kneeled down. The now older redhead trying to both calm and reason with the child.

“H-hey. It's ok. We can find something other than sauce for lunch-”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!”

Deuce had appeared, still holding Trey at an arms length while the toddler held out a box of dry spaghetti  pasta. Trey shook the box, gaining Cater’s focus before he shook it again.

“We can have sauce and noodles! Then you can have a lot of sauce with them.”

“...” Cater seemed to weigh his options, casting a pout at Riddle who remained seated in his chair but was unable to look at the upset toddler for long, “I want a lot of sauce on my noodles…”

“...” Riddle knew they had some chicken in the fridge, Trey had wanted to try to teach a few dorm members proper breading techniques, “Yes. A pasta is a wonderful idea for lunch. You're both very smart boys. Cater’s sauce will help make the perfect food for lunch.”

The praise was more than enough to dry Cater’s tears, the toddler holding the jar tight in his hands as he smiled.

Ace, Deuce and Cater walked around the kitchen, both of the freshmen taking turns lifting the toddler to see into the upper cabinets. Riddle sighed, a weight settling into his chest. Children were…so emotionally fragile. A part of him feared this was another avenue of his life that his upbringing failed to prepare him for. Feeling a tug on the top of his boots, the housewarden looked down to Trey, the once content toddler now looking unsure and back on the verge of tears,

“Can I call my mom now? You promised…”

“...” Brief panic gripped his heart, a bead of sweat forming at his temple before he smiled at Trey, “S-sure. Just one moment…”

Riddle pulled out his phone, looking at the personal content number of Mrs. Clover, a number that was routinely deleted and re-added before and after every school break. He gulped, clicking on the icon for a video call and waiting.

The line had rung only a few moments before a middle-aged woman with cropped black hair appeared on screen, she blinked at the camera with warm honey eyes before a wide smile took over her face, “Oh! Riddle, hello, lovely. How are you? You don’t normally call. Oh! While I have you on the line, can you tell Trey I tried to call him this morning but his phone kept going to voicemail?”

“...About that…” Riddle smiled nervously, making brief eye contact with a very excited looking Trey at the sound of his mother’s voice, “Something happened today and…Well…” Riddle turned his phone around, doing his best to keep Trey in frame of the camera.

The sound of pans falling from over the phone was loud and as disastrous as Riddle feared it to be. Instead, Trey beamed, waving with both his arms and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Hi, mommy! I got shots today and was really brave!” Trey moved closer to the screen, holding up his unopened sucker for his mom to view, “I got a sucker. I think it’s strawberry. I can tell because it’s pink but still red. So it’s not cherry. I can tell!”

Riddle could hear how frazzled Mrs.Clover was, the woman stuttering over her words, “Oh, how amazing, Trey! You’ve gotten so good at telling flavors, haven’t you? Um…B-be a good boy for mommy and be nice to Riddle okay? He’s gonna look after you for a bit, okay?”

“Okay, mommy! I’ll be good!”

“Trey!”

Riddle and Trey looked over, Cater now on Deuce’s shoulders and looking into a cabinet with an expression of wonder, “There’s more pasta shapes in here!”

“I wanna see!” Trey had dashed over, only to stop and double back to wave to the camera one more time, “Bye, mommy!”

“Bye, sweetie~...” Once Trey had ran off, being picked up by Ace to look into the cabinet, Mrs.Clover whispered, “Riddle, what happened to my son?”

Riddle turned the camera back to himself, whispering low as to not gain anyone’s attention, “There was a situation involving a misbrewed potion being slipped to a group of juniors and Trey was unfortunately a part of it. Bloodwork was taken and there’s no harm being done from the potion. They’re simply…four for the next few weeks.”

Mrs.Clover stood with her mouth lightly agape, giving Riddle a hard stare that lasted so long her husband had called out to her in mild confusion and concern. She shook her head, blinking herself back before turning around. She said a few words that Riddle couldn’t make out before facing him again, “We’ll get our ducks in a row over here. By…By Sunday we should have everything all set to close down for the week to come help you boys out.”

“Mrs.Clover, I couldn’t possibly ask-”

“Well, you aren’t, I’m offering, Riddle. You said a group got turned right? You boys over there are still just kids. My husband and I will be there to take the load off of you from watching them. Plus, it’ll be nice you know? We missed so much of Trey’s childhood…It’s not permanent but it’d be nice to have more pictures of him from when he was small…”

“...” Riddle huffed, looking to the side, “That would be helpful…I will have plenty of paperwork to handle now that Trey and Cater are indisposed…”

“I’ll call you later tonight! I can help you get Trey settled into bed. You should think of calling Cater’s parents, too. Bye, Riddle. Talk more later, okay?”

“Understand. Farewell and a good afternoon to you Mrs.Clover.”

Once the call had ended, Riddle thought over her words. It may be helpful for the others dealing with toddlers to have a week break from tending to them. Humming under his breath, he sends a message to Ortho, wondering what the android though of the idea of alerting the turned junior’s families…

Translations!

*V: Rook, what did you want? R: My papa does it for me, my brother and my sister. There are no tomatoes

**R: Don't know what a shot is? They hurt and are scary!

[weaselle]

Let's dream. These are the things i think should be provided to the public for free

Food Centers:

it's not fancy and there's not a high variety, heck it's basically just rice, beans, some fruit juice, and the vegetable of the month, but you can go to any food center and get, for free, the baseline nutrition you need for staying alive and healthy. This food is available, for free, in any amount, in both raw and cooked forms, as Food Centers are both storage and cooking facilities. Some diet alternatives are made available for those with, for example, allergies or food related mental issues, tho this may require registering with whatever Food Center you plan on visiting ahead of time. And of course baby formula, baby food, and clean water.

Public Hospitals:

And yes this includes ALL medical treatments physical or mental. Any person, at any time, for any reason, can walk into a Public Hospital and receive the best medical care available. No paperwork (i mean they do keep your medical records on file etc but there is no paperwork for the patient to fill out). No hoops, no proving anything, no barriers to entry, nothing -- you enter a hospital, you receive medical care, period. Medical transport and mobile medical staff available as needed. Unlike with food, there is no "free tier" because anything less than the best medical treatment available is a crime against humanity. Possibly publicly available bathing facilities attached.

Public Housing:

Government built apartment complexes, first come first served, if it's empty you can move in. All you have to do is register, so that you don't go on a trip and have people move in because the place seemed empty. Probably some regulations like you can't register for more than one permanent residence, maximum of bedrooms equal to the number of people registered plus one, but you can have a temporary second apartment on a weekly basis, subject to availability - so like, you can go on a trip for a week, and then extend the trip by a week, and then maybe you want to extend a third week and you get told sorry there are now people waiting for a permanent residence in this area, temp residence at this location is no longer available until new housing units are completed. Something like that.

Information.

This is basically free school (through college) but i call it Information because I believe internet access and libraries, and press/public broadcasting also belong on this list

Clothing:

It isn't high fashion, it might be little more than socks, shoes, blankets, and government issued jumpsuits in hot and cold weather variants, but nobody is going to be left without clothing if they need it. Probably a small distribution center attached to each Food Center. People often forget about this one, but it's important.

Public Transportation:

what it says on the tin. Comprehensive, networked, including something like a (free) taxi program attached to train depots servicing rural areas that lack infrastructure or population density for even busses (so like, there might not be a train station in Lewistown Montana, but you can still get transported to Billings and catch a train)

BUT HOW WILL WE PROVIDE / PAY FOR THESE THINGS?

glad you asked

first of all there will still be taxes, because there will still be jobs, because almost nobody is going to want to wear the government issued jumpsuits and eat nothing but rice and beans. These things will keep you alive and healthy, but almost everyone is going to want their favorite foods and to be dressed fashionably, etc etc etc. You'll have hobbies you want to pay for, you'll have special dates you want to go on, people will want to live in their dream home... humanity is going to WANT THINGS, and so there will still be work and pay and money and taxes. There will even still be rich people and poor people if economic ladders are your kink, it's just now nobody will ever die of being poor. And if this is what we're getting, i do not care if the taxes are at like 65%, as long as the wealthy and the corporations are paying it too, but let's try to get it done for 50% for easy math. And we don't have to do all that complicated shit about this person should only pay less than that because they are poor or whatever, because a person could have zero money and still be basically ok. Just. 50% across the board.

BUT ALSO. We have resources. Do you know who owns all the offshore oil? Do you know who owns all the national forests that get logged for wood? We do. It's pubic property that our government leases to private companies to sell us back our own stuff. So maybe we should handle our resources differently.

AND. Labor. I've written about this before, but, i say instead of the unending argument about military spending, we increase the military budget, but we use them as a public work force here at home. Only about 10% of the US military is combat personnel. The other 90ish percent have jobs like Forklift Operator, Computer Engineer, Doctor, Mechanic, etc. So let them have some more funding, and let's get them building our government housing and staffing our Food Centers etc.

And sure, it probably wouldn't work perfectly, it would need constant management and innovation to continue to function. But it's not like our current system is working very well, right? Current system sucks so much that in Chicago alone every year senior citizens die because they have to choose between freezing or paying for their medicine. So we don't really have anything to lose. I mean most of us don't anyway. Might take some pitchforks and torches to convince the corporate oligarchy, the political puppets and their billionaire puppeteers.

oh, and

[thatswhywelovegermany]

As every second Thursday in September, the disaster warning systems in Germany are tested today, September 12, 2024, at 11:00. Most notably, the test warning will be sent out to mobile phones via cell broadcast, which are supposed to sound an alarm signal. Where available, sirens will sound. Radio and TV will interrupt their programs snd announce the test warning.

The test warning will be canceled at 11:45. A cancellation notice via cell broadcast is not yet implemented.

A nationwide survey about the effectiveness of the warning will be available under the address www.warntag-umfrage.de, where residents are asked how, when, and how well perceivable the warning occurred.

The effectiveness of the warning system has been improved significantly after disappointing results of the first test run in 2020, which relied on a custom-made German system. The tests in their current form, now using cell broadcast as a reliable and pre-configured app on every smartphone, were first introduced after the flood disaster in the Ahr valley, during which most of the population didn't receive any warning and were surprised by the flood – sometimes with fatal consequences.

[sidequestzone]

Review: Neko Can Dream Delivers a Bittersweet Nostalgic Treat

Neko Can Dream is a nonviolent, narrative-focused Game Boy-style adventure game available on both mobile platforms and in a physical cartridge for the Game Boy itself. Players take on the role of a cat-eared young woman who wakes to find herself in a strange city. An avian yakitori restaurant owner offers her a job, asking her to capture and can the dreams of the city’s sleeping residents. In…

[anim-ttrpgs]

Hey I know you’ve probably said or before. But what’re some of the playable Supernatural folk in ANIM.

Firstly, just to be clear, A.N.I.M. is the design team, while Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the TTRPG currently in its final week of crowdfunding (ends 2:00 PM CST on Friday May 10th)

As for the supernatural folk, even though most PCs in Eureka end up being mundane, there’s quite a lot of options for supernatural characters, which we have talked about before, but we never miss a chance to talk about them again!

This will be a brief overview that will barely even scratch the surface of the depth and nuance we’ve written in to most of these abilities. If you’re interested in learning more, why don’t you just download the fully playable, free prerelease version of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook available on our website and our itch.io page, and go to Chapter 8!

There are ten of what we call “Mage traits.” A “mage” in Eureka is something you could think of as kind of like an X-man. They are otherwise normal people except for one single inexplicable power. Some of these include pyrokinesis, telekinesis, lightning powers, supernatural speed, supernatural beauty, and even the option to play a “psychic detective” who can receive clairvoyant revelations based on clues.

These powers tend to come with few if any downsides, besides the fact that the character can only have at-most one of them. There is also a slight investigation point penalty.

Then, there’s the playable monsters, of which there are five, each of which is fleshed out to the point that they are entirely unique gameplay experiences.

First up is the vampire.

Playing a vampire is a unique challenge because of their rather large list of weaknesses they must contend with in everyday life. The sun, while not instantly lethal like in Hollywood vampire movies, does strip them of all their powers, and they must contend with a compulsion to count large numbers of small objects, an unwillingness to enter private residences uninvited, difficulty crossing bodies of running water, an aversion to garlic, and more! They must of course also drink human blood to keep their Composure up, as they do not gain Composure from eating or sleeping.

These weaknesses are more than made up for by incredible stealth, combat, and mobility options. They can move nearly silently, travel through shadows as if by teleportation, are superhumanly strong, nearly unkillable, can walk effortlessly on sheer surfaces and ceilings, and can “remanifest” into a variety of forms, such as the classic bat, a wolf, an enormous monstrous bat form, and even mist! There’s also a religious angle with them but that is too complicated to get into with just a brief overview.

Next up, the wolfman.

The wolfman is like a Hollywood werewolf. They can transform from a mundane human to an anthropomorphic wolf(however you choose to interpret that) or a very large regular wolf. In either wolf form, they can only be permanently killed by decapitation or by silver weaponry.

My favorite thing about them is the fact that they transform involuntarily on the night of the full moon, or when they hit 0 Composure. In this state, they will rampage uncontrollably, attempting to devour just about anything that moves for a period of time. The fact that it can come out at the worst of times is so awesome it makes me super excited to hear about in future sessions.

Then there is the witch.

The witch is actually a regular human and has no supernatural weaknesses except for the fact that their powerful witchcraft takes more of a toll on their body than the supernatural powers of other playable monsters.

The first thing a witch can do is place a variety of terrible curses on people, a few examples of which include turning them to stone, putting them in a supernatural slumber, or turning them into animals.

The other thing witches can do is cycle throughout all the different Mage traits. They can only have one at a time, but if a Mage trait exists in the rulebook, they can have that trait when they need it, which basically represents their ability to cast a wide variety of different spells in addition to those curses.

My actual favorite thing about the witch though is their ability to enchant certain objects to make them fly, which is not limited to just broomsticks, although broomsticks are of course a classic.

Then there is the fairy.

The fairy was a tough one to translate into Eureka because of the sheer number of different things attributed to fairies in historical folklore. We had to come up with a sort of “generic fairy” that gets the gist of fairies across while leaving room for a player to get way more specific if they are so inclined.

The fairy shares the witch’s ability to place curses on people and cast a variety of different spells, but also can take pieces of people’s identity, such as their names, and/or spirit them away to the fairy world, from which they may never return.

This is offset by the fact that they cannot lie, as well as a few other folkloric fairy weaknesses.

Finally, one of the fan favorites, the thing from beyond.

(Fanart by @umbraldame)

The thing from beyond is kinda like if you wanted to play as something inspired by The Blob and The Thing.

Imagine a color-changing “blanket” of flesh and teeth that can fold itself up into the shape of a human, change colors to mimic the right colors including clothing, and mimic human speech. It wants to be your friend, and eat you, which, to it are not mutually exclusive.

The thing from beyond can do anything a thin blanket of flesh could do when unfolded, such as squeeze under doors or camouflage themselves against surfaces, and also fold themselves up to mimic just about anything, including specific humans. They tend to have a default human persona, but can get very specific with their mimicry if they want, which gets easier the more of that specific person they have ingested. A small sample of blood or hair could give a bonus, but eating the entire person makes mimicking them effortless.

Eating a person also allows them to absorb bits of their memories, which means they can get to know bits of what their meal knows, which is represented in mechanics by them getting bonus investigation points for the duration that they are digesting their latest victim. If the victim knew anything about the current case they are investigating, that means even more investigation points.

Here’s a fan comic about that, if you’d like to see it in action.

And here’s a post about the themes of monstrousness in Eureka if you’re interested.

You can play as all of these things and more in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which is in its final week of kickstarting right now! Crowdfunding closes at 2:00 PM CST on Friday May 10th, so lock in your copy now while you still can!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[dreamcast641]

SCP OC: Claire Ekaterina Makarova

I decided to make an actual detailed post about Claire, finally. I created her in august 2018 and I got a lot of time to develop here and I'm really, really satisfied of how she turned out to be.

--------------------------------------------------------

GENERAL INFORMATIONS:

Full Name: Claire Ekaterina Makarova

Aliases/nicknames: Stoat (callsign), shortie, shortstack

Age: 26-30 years old

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/her

Sexual orientation: Demiromantic/demisexual and pansexual

Date of birth:November 2nd

Place of birth: Unknown but it's somewhere in the USA

Current residence: site 5c

Nationality: American with slavic origins

Spoken Languages: American English (main), Russian ( ONLY with her dad) and American sign language (ASL)

Affiliations/organizations: SCP foundation

Occupation: Mobile Task force Beta-7 ''Maz hatters'' operator, virologist/biologist when not on field, ISD (internal security department) agent.

Rank: unknown

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

APPEARANCE

BUILD: A bit chubby

— Claire is a buxom woman who has curves all over her body, wide hips and a slight bit of fat in her tummy.

— She particularly cares about her image, especially when it comes to taking care of her body.She trains regularly in the small gym made available by the site 5c, focusing on arms and legs, parts of the body that are fundamental to her for work. It takes muscle to hold a rifle that weighs almost half her weight on her so as not to wobble on the recoil.

-----

SCARS: All over her body

— Claire has many, if not too many, wounds all over her body. From cuts to bruises to burns and even gunshot wounds.

— Her little patient behavior and her indifference has led her over the years to participate in many fights, whether they are initiated by her or are part of her job, when it comes to fighting she has always been in the front row. Not caring about the size and danger of whoever is in front of her. This has led Claire to have countless wounds on her body, many of them being stab wounds, a gunshot on her right shoulder, a large burn on her left shoulder and as many bruises..

------

VOICE: silvery/soft spoken

— slow spoken and not too high voice but at times decisive when needed.

— It's almost as if her voice doesn't match her body. With her character like hers, those around her expect an annoying redundant high-pitched voice to split the eardrums. Hers is an almost calm voice, not too high and maternal.

-----

EYES: Grey/blue

— blue eyes so undersaturated they look gray.

— she inherited light eyes from both parents, but the mother's gene seemed to dominate between the two. Both have blue eyes but Claire's are less saturated, almost gray as opposed to her mother's, blue as ice

-------

FASHION: casual

— casual, doesn't really care for fashion.

— When she's not working, claire usually wears the first thing she finds in her closet, preferring loose-fitting clothes that don't show too much of her body shapes.

------------

More about her aspect:

-Claire has mixed vitiligo all over her body. It started when she was just 5 to 6 years old and it spreaded everywhere;

-Her vitiligo not only affected her skin but also her hair, eyelashes and eyebrow;

-She is only 5'1 ft or 154 cm in height.

FAVORITES

-Color: Black

-Food: Raw Salmon

-Drink: Chamomille with honey

-Song: Ecoute Cherie (vendredi sur Mer)

-Flower: Nightsky petunia

-Hairstyle: messy bun

------------------

PHOBIAS

-Autophobia: also called monophobia, isolophobia, or eremophobia, is the specific phobia or a morbid fear or dread of oneself or of being alone, isolated, abandoned, and ignored;

-athazagoraphobia: When a person has this condition, there is an extreme fear of being forgotten, or of not remembering someone or something. It may also include a fear of being ignored or replaced;

-Atychiphobia:is an intense fear of failure

-Arachnophobia: fear of spiders

-------------------------------------------------

PERSONALITY:

-Moral alignment: Chaotic Neutral

-Myers-Briggs: ENTJ-T

POSITIVE TRAITS

- Serious and efficient but also considerate in the role she covers inside the foundation walls: She makes everyone feel included in her squad no matter what. She is always willing to help them, no one is left behind.

-Observant...a bit too much. If there is something that her training with the ISD thought her is to be aware constantly of her sorroundings. No details is going unnoticed in her presence.

-Gentle and caring with close ones. She pours her heart with who she loves.

-Practical smart. Let's say that she is good at improvise when needed.

-Respected without using fear

NEGATIVE TRAITS

-Claire's past and experiences have led her to be inconsiderate of herself, and those closest to her tend to see it for how expressive she is, without needing her to be alone to show how she really feels. she is a woman with a thousand complexes, her self-esteem has been destroyed and under her feet. She can't be really sure about anything she does especially if it affects those around her too. She refuses any leadership position, unwilling to take responsibility for any deaths that may occur under her leadership.

-So low is her self-esteem that she can't even see the value of her life, risking it every day to protect others at the expense of her own. She has seen death right in her eyes so many times that she no longer fears it. She is not afraid to die but at the same time the idea of being forgotten and replaced, as she has already seen happen to her other deceased colleagues, puts a shiver down her spine.

-Claire gets heated pretty easily, leading her to not think straight when she is outraged.

-She tends to distance people from herself due to her trust issues. It really takes time for her to open up to someone.

-Absolute stubborn. Claire does not listen when she is convinced of something.

TRIVIA:

-She absolutely love when her friends makes hand-made stuff for her. She keep them like it's the most precious thing in the world;

-It happens that Claire goes for some days to negaseattle to visit her adopted brother Ira and helping him with the clone kids (check more on Raddagher's author page on the wiki);

-She has a yellow ringneck parrot named banana. He is her emotional support animal;

-BPD (bordeline personality disorder) that she is getting treated for and is under enough control for her to be operative;

-She loves reading almost everything especially if it's related to her job;

-One hell of a cook. She is very, very good in the kitchen;

-She smells like peaches and chocolate;

-Aggressive and very skilled in combat. Knife is her specialization;

-Uses stealth, skills and the enviroment over the strenght;

-Good swimmer, loves using water to her advantage in fights by drowning or exhausting people;

-Survivor's guilt.

SUMMARY OF HER STORY (STILL NOT SO DONE)

It is not known for certain where Claire and her twin brother Dmitry were born, it is only known that they came to light somewhere hidden in the United States of America.

Raised in the hostile environment of the foundation but with the loving care of their mother Mandy Ross, a former nurse in the US Navy. Their father? Locked in the same site where they were born, metal walls separating this potentially dangerous man due to the toxic, potentially lethal nature of his body.

In the early years of their lives, the twins immediately reveal themselves as curious troublemakers, always looking for other children like them to socialize with and will end up bonding closely with one of them in particular: Ira Watts, whom they will consider for life as a brother.

Mandy, for reasons still unknown to them, decides to leave them and the foundation to join the GOC. it was this event that unleashed in her an immense fear of abandonment. Left to their own devices, Claire was the one she had to mature early to take care of her two brothers.

At just 14, the three were separated by the foundation to be introduced to their respective careers.

While Dmitry continued his medical and psychiatric studies, Claire had to stay on that site with Ira to begin her training to join one of the mobile task forces.

''Mobile Task Forces (MTFs) are elite units comprised of personnel drawn from across the Foundation and are mobilized to deal with specific threats or situations that sometimes exceed the operational capacity or expertise of regular field personnel and — as their name suggests — may be relocated between facilities or locations as they are needed. Mobile Task Force personnel represent the "best of the best" of the Foundation.''

And with this clarification, let's say that the training Claire had to undergo was hard and exhausting. She pushed to her limits so many times by her serious and rigid mentor that she was assigned to reach high, real high expectations.

To be ''the best of the best'' she had to shed all of her blood and her will. She failed many times but thanks to this she also managed to learn from her mistakes and correct herself, perhaps becoming probably one of the best students on the site...if not for her rebelious behavior.

Training wasn't Claire's only focus in those years: she was studying biology and virology because of the task force she decided to join, the beta-7. Her knowledge will prove to be fundamental in the future.

Her training and studies ended as soon as they began. At just 22, claire was already serving as a member of mobile task force beta-7 at a different site.

During her years at the site, now with her brother Dmitry, the two were approached by a man from the Internal Security Department (ISD) who was determined to recruit them as they were loyal members of the foundation. The two naively accepted and it was that meeting and that assignment that led them to site 5c where they still reside nowdays.

SITE 5C STORY LINE

(coming soon)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Andrew Davis at Windy City Times:

As the Democratic National Convention (DNC) kicks off, Planned Parenthood is providing free vasectomies, medication abortion and emergency contraception from a mobile clinic parked just blocks from the convention on Aug. 19-20.  Continuing  Planned Parenthood’s mission to provide “care, no matter where,” procedures are available for patients who sign up in advance. According to a press release, “The mobile clinic is a demonstration of the possibilities when states like Illinois work to support, rather than restrict, access to affordable health care. Having the mobile clinic at the DNC is another way Planned Parenthood constantly works to expand services for Illinois residents and to address the influx of patients to Illinois as surrounding states continue to enact severe restrictions on reproductive care, including extreme abortion bans.”

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers (PPGR) is offering medication abortion, emergency contraception, and vasectomy services at its mobile clinic at the DNC in Chicago this week.

PPGR serves the eastern and southwestern parts of Missouri and Southern Illinois.

[plumpybread]

Hi, I've actually wondered something about Fonatine in your new Genshin Obesity AU. Since most of Fontaine's citizens are very obese, wouldn't that make it very difficult for them to do basic things like shower or dress themselves, or are there machines and different technologies to help them if they don't have manual help themselves. Also, who would be doing the more labor heavy jobs in Fontaine if most of the residents are obese, or do most workers just get switched out periodically. I have been a long-time fan and have loved your art. Keep it up!

Hello, thanks for the question!!

Technological advancements have played a key part on why Fontaine has gotten to the point it has. Machines now do almost all of the hard work available, and there's not that much reason for Fontainians to seek out exercise when everything they want is already served to them in a silver platter every single day.

Residents only really start to have issues with their size once they breach the Plump weight class, and it just grows in severity with the following classes. Luckily for them, mobility assisting machines are present in every household as a requirement due to the obviously high demand for a nation where almost half of all the men weigh over a metric ton of fat.

[hearted-anon]

Hello, how are you?💗 I just wanted to know if you could do a Lee Hyunjin and Ler Han

P.D. May Hyunjin suffer😈

In honour of the poll, I decided to write the loser instead of the winner.

Visuals

Words: 2360

Note: New style because mobile

T/w: Angst, bondage, rough tickling

Lee: Rap better

Ler: Dance better

Jisung could only describe what he was feeling as empty. His warm exterior dimmed to a cold, unstable interior as he closed the door to his room with a shaky breath. His knees sunk to the floor, feeling the decreasing temperature prick at him for his actions. His throat was completely dry, his eyes unrelenting without tears no matter how much he tried to let it out, crashing onto the floor with a heart that was wrecked with guilt.

“You’re nothing but a visual Hyunjin, face it already!” Han could distinctly remember the tense silence that followed, played back in his mind like a broken record that he desperately wanted to stop. The way Hyunjin’s eyes widened, covering up the pieces that were shattering beneath the scowl he had. He could even remember how a single tear fell from his eye after storming off, how Hyunjin didn’t even utter a word of response; he knew he had cut deep into a once healed wound. What he didn’t recall was what the fight was about, other than the fact he had completely torn his hyung’s heart into pieces.

“Ji? Open the door please.” The authoritative command from his leader rang shrill into his ears, a demand in tone but comforting to his pained body. Stumbling for the door, he swung it open lazily, refusing to meet eyes with the older. However, Chan was having none of it, pulling him back by his shoulders and forcing Jisung to meet his gaze. Eyes that were strict, disappointed and worried all at the same time struck through him, instantly bringing tears to his eyes. It felt wrong to cry, did it not? He had caused the damage, yet the waterworks were starting up for him, what about Hyunjin?

“You know what you’ve done, right? How badly you’ve hurt Hyunjin?” Chan whispered, not wanting to worsen the situation than it already has. Every second that passed cut deeper into Jisung’s already sunken heart, imagining what Hyunjin was doing. He couldn’t help but cry, couldn’t help but let himself feel the wrong that weighed heavy on his shoulders. The older pulled him into a comforting embrace, he can’t stand to see them all so upset. Cradling a hand through the younger’s hair, he felt his shirt stained with tears as broken sobs rang throughout the room, a trembling Han clinging onto him for dear life.

“I-I’m sorry…so sorry…” The ace repeated himself shakily, despite knowing that Chan wasn’t the person he should be apologising to. Rubbing soothing circles onto the younger’s back, the leader tried his very best to calm the roaring cries that came from the ace, all to no avail as his breakdown only came back stronger; thinking that Hyunjin was left all alone without comfort. The older could barely even move Jisung an inch off his shoulder, pathetic cries that rang throughout the room echoed loudly.

“If you wanna apologise, I could bring you to Hyunjin’s room…” Chan had never seen Han’s eyes light up so fast, instantly lifting his head from Chris’s now soaked shoulder. An eager nod came from the younger, glistening and pleading eyes that no one could ever resist following behind.

And that was how he ended up at Hyunjin’s front door to his room.

“H-Hyung?” Jisung’s voice echoed through the seemingly empty room of the artist that once resided, now dark and gloomy without a splash of colour in sight. The blinds were pulled down completely, making Han frown in the obvious poor state his room was in. Just then, he heard the sheets of the bed loudly ruffling, a shadowy figure of a ferret in plain sight.

“What, I know what I am, you going to rub in some more?” Hyunjin hissed from the bed, even from afar the younger could feel the daggers that stabbed into his heart from the glare he was sent. It pained his heart that throbbed when Hyunjin clearly thought that Jisung was here to rub salt into his open wound, but he couldn’t say there was wrong in what he thought; that made it hurt even more than it should’ve, didn’t it? A lump in Han���s throat formed as he contemplated what to do, he didn’t want to risk scaring Hyunjin away or making him aggressive, his heart sank in guilt in the quiet aircon that fulfilled his shameful expression in the darkness.

“Please, can we talk?” If he was allowed to, he’d go right on his hands and knees onto burning coal if it meant he would be given the chance to speak, feeling tears already welling back into his eyes; curse his stupid emotions tugging at his heartstrings, he felt so pathetic. Under Hyunjin’s gaze he was small, nothing but his prey and he knew that, the towering height difference noticeable as the older inhaled deeply, the fresh scent of his paints intoxicating him with its fumes. It was a battle between heaven and its oceans, a storming rage within the waves that the ones above couldn’t soothe, and he knew it well. However, the waves crashed calmly into the ocean, seeing the heaven’s frail wings that failed to flutter, inviting Jisung to sit next to him on the bed.

“Spit it out quickly if it’s something to insult me.” Hyunjin sighed, dropping his head into his elbows in defeat, knowing that he couldn’t resist the quokka’s charm. Jisung couldn’t believe what he was hearing from the artist, the fact that his first impression was thinking that he had come back just to pour more gasoline into the fire made his heart sting, but he knew he couldn’t blame the older, remembering their history. With tears once again falling from his face like a never ending waterfall, he pulled the ferret in for what felt like the tightest hug he ever gave, apologies tumbling from his mouth faster than the older could comprehend.

Hyunjin’s eyes widened, not expecting the sudden action as his hands froze in place, so did his entire body. He knew that Jisung’s lachrymose tears were dripping in guilt, but yet he couldn’t bring himself to say anything, his throat had run dry for words. Eventually as he swallowed his grudge, he pulled the younger in for a hug silently, his eyes brimming with tears as well as he embraced his own fear. It felt wrong, their puerile silence that lingered instead of talking things out, but it felt better than anything else. The seas had calmed their waves, now becoming calm tides that brushed against the shore gently as their pounding hearts came to a slow.

“Please, can I do something to make it up to you?” A breathless whisper caressed Hyunjin’s ear, desperate for forgiveness as he was, the older felt himself sigh at Jisung’s plan. He knew that Han’s ways of comfort were so fatuous it was rare he ever agreed, but seeing the puppy eyes he was being flashed with he couldn’t help but agree. Like a child who had gotten the present they wanted for Christmas, Jisung’s smile popped right back up, glistening eyes crinkling as he set his plan into action at last.

Now laying on his back against the cool sheets of his bed, he felt his arms being pulled up gently by the younger, tied against the bed frame with a leftover sweater that he was using to wipe his tears; too upset previously to even go outside to grab any tissue. Although the process was quite simple, the older felt himself being pestered with questions of concern from the younger every few seconds, puffed cheeks that were trying to ensure that Hyunjin was comfortable with everything; it was cute as much as annoying at times.

“What are we doing- HEHEY!” The ferret tried to question before fingers were rapidly squeezing his sides, blanking his thoughts out with a harsh crash as he squealed. The quokka immediately retracted his hands, a shy smile peeking upward at him as if he was innocent, earning a glare in his direction. Hesitantly, Jisung placed his trembling hands back onto Hyunjin’s sides, looking at him tentatively as his eyes sparkled under the dim lighting. With a lump in his throat, he knew what was happening, falling under the rapper’s charm was nothing new to him, nodding his head slowly in giving permission to proceed.

“You’re more than just a visual. And I’ll show it to you.” Hands slipped under his tank top onto his bare stomach, the ferret squeaking as nails scribbled and scratched the surface gently. Sweet giggles began to pour out from his mouth like a melody that soothed the younger’s ears, keeping up with the delicate touch as he leaned down to coo at the reddening cheeks he saw on the taller.

“Aren’t you just so cute? You see these muscles, hard work from all the dancing you do yea?” Jisung mumbled, squeezing his sides once harshly to earn a sharp shriek from Hyunjin before travelling to his ribs, tapping at the bones teasingly. The ferret giggled in giddy anticipation, shaking his head in a fruitless attempt to stop Jisung from his determination to tickle the older into pieces.

“Ji plehehease don’t! I-I’m behehegging- AHAHAH!” Hyunjin tried his very best to persuade Han not to go to town on his very hypersensitive body, even throwing in a nickname to sweeten the deal. But it was all in vain, narrowing eyes locking onto him like a target before fingers dug into his ribs aggressively, pressing into the flesh between the bones as they went up and down like an accordion. A shrill shriek was let out into the artist’s room before he bursted into high pitched laughter, digging his heels into the bed as he begged for release.

“Look at that laugh! It’s so precious, don’t ya think~? How about we give those vocals some more appreciation!” Jisung exclaimed enthusiastically, earning quite the objection from under him. Deep down, the younger couldn’t help but still feel the weight of his guilt pulling him down at the look of the older’s smiley expression, one that he himself had previously ruined. And now he was definitely going to put it back together.

“ARGHAHAHA! NOHO NO NO! JISUNG PLEHEHEASE!” The taller begged hopelessly, practically screaming his lungs out when the moment his eyes managed to get a peek through his boisterous laughter was met with the sight of Jisung’s head lowering towards his stomach. He twisted, pulled at the sweater, kicked out his legs on his plush bed, nothing worked to avoid the pair of soft lips that were about to descend onto his poor stomach. The shorter simply shot him a cheeky smile, diving his head under Hyunjin’s shirt before simply placing his lips there. No action, no breathing, just…living there; it got a scream from the older regardless.

“P-Please! Sungie h-have mercy!” The ferret whimpered as the fingers too, came to a slow stop, settling for drumming a rhythm onto his bare sides gently, teasingly to rile his nerves up, cruel. Even if Han couldn’t see it, he could practically feel the nervous gaze that bore through his soul as his warm breath grazed the older’s stomach, waiting like a predator about to pounce onto their prey. The muscles under him twitched and quivered in anticipation, soft giggles spilling from Hyunjin, the anxiety in him was not at all repressible with the delicate touches on his smooth skin.

“Who’s the cutest dancer? Who has a great English accent?” Jisung cooed, nuzzling his head into Jinnie’s stomach like he would with a baby. The silky hair that brushed along his stomach along with the stiff stubble that Jisung was adamant on not shaving, due to recording schedules being held back for break along his waist was too much overwhelming, Hyunjin letting out the loudest squeal he could muster before hollering with cackles, shaking his head rapidly from the sensations that quickly spread throughout his body.

“NAHAHAHA! I CAHAHAN’T! I CAHA- EEHAHAHAHA!” Hyunjin babbled mindlessly through his booming hysterics, words barely coherent anymore with the laughter that didn’t fail to interrupt him. It didn’t help when pesky fingers came to his hips, grabbing the bones aggressively before kneading it like pizza dough, sending the older into another frenzy. He felt Jisung take in a short breath, still writhing from the fingers that were dipped into his hollows like glue.

“I said, who’s the cutest dancer with the cute english accent?” The quokka repeated sternly, blowing another long and buzzing raspberry onto Hyunjin’s belly, earning another scream. He slammed his back against the bed, squirmed as much as he could, almost feeling the sweater tear a string or two from the sheer strength he was pulling at.

“MEHEHEHE! P-PLEASE I CAHAHAN’T!” The taller shrieked, followed by lots of repetitions of the word ‘me’, tears of mirth welling up in his eyes fairly quicker than Jisung thought, mentally noting to tell the older to get a thicker shirt. With reddened cheeks that spread to his ears and neck, tears that stained the pillows and a sweater that was pleading to break, Han let up with a soft smile, watching the mess he’s created of the older.

“Ahaha..ehehe..s-so ticklish..” Hyunjin snickered breathlessly, unable to help but stammer as his arms twitched from being untied, falling to his sides like jelly. Pulling himself out of the older’s shirt, the quokka climbed onto the ferret for a warm cuddle, arms wrapping around his waist as his head struggled to snuggle into the taller’s shoulder, earning a warm chuckle. Feeling his cheeks die down of their cherry red colour, he turned to face the younger with a wide smile of gratitude, silently intertwining their fingers in an unshared moment of tranquillity. They both knew no words needed to be shared, insecurities and guilt lifting off their shoulders at last as their eyes closed for slumber.

The next morning, lots of singing and feet tapping onto the wooden floor were heard, the duo finally having a peace of mind knowing that they will never feel as insecure with each other when they had found their puzzle piece; themselves.

[morbidology]

Sheree was a grade-one pupil at Rosebud Primary School and lived on South Road. According to her mother, Kerrie Greenhill, she was a very talkative and lively little girl; she said that she was her first born and was very special to her. While Sheree was exceptionally friendly, she still knew of stranger danger and would never speak to somebody that she didn’t know. In fact, Kerri had always told Sheree if a stranger approached her, to run to the nearest house for help.

That afternoon, Kerri handed Sheree money to pick up a litre of milk, a bottle of lemonade, meat pies and some cigarettes. She also handed her 50 cents to buy herself some sweets. As she left the home that afternoon, Sheree called out to her mother: “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, mum. I love you.” Unbeknownst to Kerri, this was the last time she would ever speak to her daughter.

Around an hour after Sheree left the milk bar with the groceries, the alarm was raised. A local resident discovered Sheree’s abandoned bicycle and groceries in the middle of Parkmore Avenue, a dirt road located just off the Nepean Highway, around 100 metres away from the milk bar. The man who found the bicycle placed it against a nearby tree and moments later, another local woman spotted the bicycle. This woman knew Sheree and her family and recognized it immediately as Sheree’s bicycle. The woman contacted Sheree’s other, Kerri Greenhill, who in turn called police to report her daughter missing.

Investigators would launch an extensive and exhaustive air and ground search for Sheree, mobilizing all available resources including sniffer dogs, state emergency services and country fire authority crews. They stopped motorists on the Nepean Highway and near the crime scene and handed them photographs of Sheree and asking them if they had seen her. In addition, over 100 volunteers assisted in the search for Sheree. They trudged through the surrounding woodland and combed the shoreline. However, the search turned up no evidence. It was if Sheree had vanished into thin air. Investigators wasted no time in announcing that they were extremely concerned for Sheree’s safety.

The following day, Sheree’s mother, Kerri, made a tearful plea on national television for her safe return. She said: “If someone has got her, bring her home – she has been through enough trauma. She lost her little brother last year from cot death. Please bring her home. We love her too much. Don’t hurt her, she’s only six.” Kerri also revealed that around two months earlier, somebody had attempted to abduct Sheree. She said that Sheree had been taken to school by a taxi one morning and on her way home, a man approached her as she cycled home alone. Kerri said that following the terrifying ordeal, Sheree hadn’t been allowed to cycle home alone for a while.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞:

[morkitten]

GIANT GORG BLU-RAY SUBTITLES

Recently, this wonderful 80s anime received a Blu-Ray HD release in Japan, but there are no English subtitles available for it. So I took it upon myself to rip the English DVD subtitles for Giant Gorg, run them through OCR transcription, fix line by line machine transcription mistakes, and re-time the whole thing to sync to the Blu-Ray rips online! To do that for 26 episodes was a big, often boring task, but if it makes anyone else watch and enjoy this series as much as I did, it's worth it, to me. Here's the link! Click on Keep Reading below if you wanna know more about this series before jumping in:

Giant Gorg was directed by the legendary Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, known as the character designer of the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Dirty Pair, and the director of the recent Gundam movie, Cucuruz Doan's Island, plus the creator of several manga, anime and film works like Gundam: The Origin, Arion, Jesus, Venus Wars, and many others.

Giant Gorg is kind of a precious baby of his that unfortunately never took off in popularity the way it deserved to. It's a wonderful series in the style of old adventure serials like Johnny Quest, about a boy named Yuu Tagami who, through a series of events, ends up joining/founding an exploration group to research the mysterious tropical island of New Austral, that is also on the aim of an evil corporation called GAIL, who'll do whatever it takes to claim the island and its secrets its exclusive property.

Yuu ends up finding and seemingly befriending a mysterious, ancient, and extremely powerful golem residing in the island, the titular GIANT GORG, deepening the mysteries of the land. The expedition group juggles surviving the island's natural and less-than-natural perils, managing internal conflicts, scraping by GAIL's assaults and dealing with other parties interested in the island for themselves. Plus, they now have to figure out just what the Giant Gorg is, if it can be relied on, and what is its intent. Whether this incredible being really is a Messenger of the Gods, some cataclysmic ancient weapon, or something else entirely. If I had to reduce it to something, it's old adventure serials mixed in with Mobile Suit Gundam and the Iron Giant. That's kind of what Giant Gorg is. The expedition group has a similar feeling to a much more scaled down White Base in Gundam, a group of people mostly barely related to one another forced into becoming a found family, relying on each other and surviving the strikes of a much bigger military force that's after them, with their own bureaucratic conflicts and machineries. Giant Gorg even has its own Char, in the form of Rod Balboa, a hotshot heir of GAIL that has been given control of its New Austral initiative. He's voiced by the same actor and everything!

What's truly great about GIANT GORG is how it creates a real, powerful sense of danger as stakes change and things escalate, both materially and emotionally. Characters feel like truly strong individuals that develop and peel out layers of complexity as the series goes on, and it tests your faith heavily in who they are and whether they'll do the right thing for themselves and the people they care for. There's such a great mix of excitement, sentimentalism, danger, discomfort, comedy, that makes this series feel like a truly all-encompassing and fullfilled Adventure.

So yeah, and the Blu-Ray looks fantastic, especially as someone who had to watch it originally in dim, blurry 420p resolution. So please give it a try!