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aethesfaelibrarae · 20 days ago

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(holy shit was I not expecting anyone to like that previous Mouthwashing post—but thank you, genuinely for reading it and this one)

The Mouthwashing brain worms speak to me again—let's talk about hierarchy and caste and the implications in Mouthwashing one more time.

Say what you will about Jimothy's cowardly ass: he's not an idiot. The apathy of the crew is, at least, in part maintained by the top of the ladder: Curly and Pony Express.

Curly starts the game at the top of the ladder, able to help out a guy he perceives in a rough spot with a snap of his fingers, able to control how much sugar anyone got.. Able to control the food, the medicine, the weapons. Curly isn't the sort of person to abuse his power.

But he also isn't the type to use it.

Next up is Jaundice. His second in command, his (traitorous backstabber) right hand man. We'll get back to him.

No, who come next in this hierarchy can be debated—is Daisuke for his youth and potential or is it Swansea for his seniority? It could be both, depending upon the lens of examination. When the chips are down.. Or when they're still able to make a bet?

I'm going with Swansea, simply because of the fact that both Curly and Catastrophic Jameson's headass respect him. Neither of them really correct or step in to ask about his behavior with Daisuke, Jaundiced is more than happy to leave the room alone until it stands in his way and up until the chase sequence is largely unwilling to get into physical altercation.

Daisuke is next on the rung—an intern getting his due hazing. Young, plucky, clumsy, the aimless silver spooned baby of the crew. He wants to be liked by people in the higher rungs and he trusts in their authority. To his own detriment. But for the most part, he's neither too high for the responsibility or too low to really suffer in forced silence. He's protected.

Anya is not. As the sole woman of the crew, soft-spoken, heavily pregnant and forced to entertain her abuser's delusions of grandeur with the wreckage evidence of how far he's willing to go to get rid of her, rinse his mouth of her, all around them.. She starts the game on the bottom of the ladder—ignored, talked over, dismissed. People's—Curly and Catastrophe Jim—eyes skip over her without thinking. It's easy to dismiss her. Empathy is extended to her as an afterthought. Her death an inevitable tragedy. Because either way of framing it, without access to the ax or the gun, the ship was Jimothy's way of shutting her up for good and she knows it. In my previous post, I touched on the difference between the situations that Anya and Curly find themselves and in all honesty, it's defined by who finds themself at the bottom of the rung when Mr. J finds himself a way to the top.

And who else would it be but our resident golden boy himself, Captain Enablement—I mean, Curly. Now that he's completely disabled, useless and helpless.. He finds himself in a position even worse than Anya's. Both of them taking on the brunt of Jimmy's worldview—he's gotten way more than he bargained for from Anya and besides, she was a means to an end. At the moment of the assault, she was an object, the lower rung of the perceived ladder. It wasn't his fault, just look at her—And afterwards.. Well, this whole thing could also be framed as spite. Sneaking behind the golden boy's back and "stealing his girl" or whatever, maybe he knew that he'd be caught and wanted to see something other than Curly's gentle understanding. He wants more. And in direct opposite to Anya, Curly is the center of his world. The spindle upon which Jaundice's last steadily fraying thread of sanity spins. And what an awful place it is to be. He gets front row seats to hindsight truly becoming 20/20 vision when it's a barrel of shotgun—and you're jealous of the fact that it's not aimed at you. He suffers being consumed and thus consuming himself. Looking into why didn't Jimothy just cut up any of the others is a fascinating exercise. By the time he starts eating Curly, this is not the first time he's imagined Curly in the place of food—of nourishment. He imagines him in the place of cake—even the way that he cuts a part of Curly's leg is reminiscent of the way that Curly cuts into the cake. (yes, what the heck Curls but then again, gelatin probably feels weird to cut). Eating someone is often a taboo form of intimacy in media like Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain or Tokyo Ghoul..Listen. There's a reason why vore is popular.—it's the most violent type of intimacy.

It's the only type of intimacy Jimmy engages with on screen and yet—There's an equally fascinating intimacy in consuming yourself. And even that is ruined.. Being forced to eat your bile-covered offal again and again and again.. A memory that would scar on its own. But. With the implications of this being the one type of intimacy that Jimmy feels comfortable sharing combined with what the game says about rape culture have "good" men protect and enable their friends.. There's another angle of their friendship there.

Jimmy loves Curly as much as he hates him. He wants him to suffer. He wants him to live. He wants him dead. Who is saying I hope this hurts?

The hierarchy traps them in so many ways—and the first time we see it for what it is is with Curly. Not Jimmy. From Curly's perspective, we see him unfocused and exhausted and Anya offers him a helping ear and he can't accept it. He's the Captain. He can't be seen asking his subordinate for help. Jimmy was removed from the hierarchy in Curly's eyes. Maybe even at the same spot. Co-captains. Two peas in a pod—except one is a festering open wound and the other has his eyes tightly closed, quietly muttering he can fix it if he just gets a little bit more time.. Can't tell the difference between who's who?

Top or bottom of the hierarchy—awful and isolating for two men who claim to take responsibility. Both have some level of inferiority complex—a complex that I'd argue is the becoming the bread and butter of modern day society but is steadily starting to show the signs of where it's been baked into the perceptions of being a man—there is the fear of someone bigger, better and more capable of you.. But there's also that small quiet part that gets told men don't cry that desperately, desperately, wants to have no choice. Almost takes comfort in the idea of someone better than you.

And everyone in between their rungs gets crushed as collateral.

In a caste made by white supremacy, white able-bodied young men who meet societal standards for being in their prime are at the top. Old enough to know better, young enough to play stupid have potential. Just look at all our promising young rapists men with their whole lives ahead of them.

On a ship like the Tulpar, that hierarchy gets a necessary edge—the Captain is the most useful person aboard the ship, the most needed. The man of the proverbial house. The co-captain is like being called vice president—made only as important as the person in that role can make it. Otherwise it's a hollow consolation prize. And Jimothy can't work an honest day in his life. So it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Then would be the nurse but.. It's a feminine job, a pink collar job through and through. If Anya had been a man, the jokes would have been targeted at her masculinity but as she is a woman, the role and her usefulness to the crew are invisible necessities. The quiet labor and genius that keeps great men going. I think people underestimate how much work goes into even passing the N-CLEX to become an RN. Anya was trying to get into medical school—she studied the human body extensively and in all honesty, the way that I've read it is (especially with the context clues of her being overlooked continuously) she just wasn't important enough to help out. Medical textbooks are expensive on their own and tests can be upwards of 2,000 dollars (my sources: my mom had to take the N-CLEX 3 times when I was much younger and the financial strain was ridiculous especially if you want to get in on a study group).. And Anya clearly worked for that goal. You don't throw that kind of money at anything else but the goal—the one you could just swear would make it all worth it. Maybe if she was Doctor Anya, the crew would've treated her better.. Her usefulness cemented and people would question how such a nervous woman made it through medical school.. Maybe it would have made Jimmy worse. There's nothing hollow about being a doctor after all.

But Anya is Anya and so Swansea, the mechanic is useful. He keeps the ship going and Daisuke in line. Bitter Knowledge and the Dog Days of Youth.

Wasted Potential (double entendre) and Boundless, Wasting Potential.

Immediately useful and eager to be useful.

Then there's Post-Crash Curly. And I must stress, your usefulness is not your value as a person. But then again, where would ableism find its footing save for such a sad hierarchy? And let's call a spade a spade, once Curly loses his ability to interact with the world as he once did, his skin literally peeled open to expose the soft inner flesh to the cruelty of the world, his small bit of usefulness as a Captain gone.. Most people on the ship act accordingly. Daisuke and Swansea, their places on the ladder's rung unchanged fairly quickly become enured to Curly's cries of pain. Anya, the closest to the his newfound rung.. Continues to care for him, unable to free him as he was unable to free her. Jimmy is all too happy to grind his boot in Curly's face as many times as he can. Until he feels better.

But he won't. He can't.

The game touches on the haves vs the have-nots a lot as well as the creeping sense of human work becoming obsolete, that body horror in being made useless by your own complicity but where it absolutely shines in Jimmy and Swansea—especially Swansea's final speech—is the messaging about the never-ending demand for more, for greener pastures leaving you hollow and bitter. Curly seemed well-aware of Swansea's thought process and leaves him be but internally agrees and fears that ending if he stays in the Captaincy for too much longer.

And that's where I think Jimmy really thinks it was a win-win for him and Curly. He truly doesn't think of the pain that Curly must find himself in, worsened by the constant beatings and continual medical assault. He doesn't think about it as anything more than Curly being a nuisance. One more way that Curly just didn't trust him not to fuck up his eyes eternally trapped in the cold hate and fear as he watches Jimmy proceed to ruin the one thing he took pride in as the metaphorical man of the house: keeping the crew safe.

Jimmy thinks of himself as the son who stayed faithful, worked himself to the bone, only to receive scraps while his undeserving brother is celebrated and lauded.

Within the hierarchy, the system is only as "good" as who remains on top. And "good" people, blindly faithful and eternally forgiving, aren't ruthless enough to stay up there for long.

Jimmy's not a good person but he's not stupid. And he's very ruthless. While there may have been somewhat of a hierarchical situation before he joined the crew, it's clear from his conversations with Anya, Curly valued a more lateral role system as he felt trapped in Pony Express's all-consuming ladder over Jimmy's rigid rungs of better and worse.

But over and over, he isolated the crew to their sectors. Over and over, he demeaned Anya, insulted her and Curly. Leaned into the insults of Daisuke. Left Swansea alone for the most part.

Anya, as much as it pains me to admit this, could have worked with Swansea earlier. But would that have worked? What about Daisuke—the younger version of Curly's eternal optimistic "I've never seen the dead pixel" attitude? The isolation absolutely worked. There's no imagining a world in which it doesn't work unless you imagine the crew as better than they are.

And that's just one more tragedy we can't rinse out of mouths with mouthwash.

#creative writing #anya mouthwashing #curly mouthwashing #jimmy mouthwashing #i'm sorry #He was mentioned #daisuke mouthwashing #swansea mouthwashing #More brainworms #character analysis

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doing-something-unholy · 4 months ago

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The basics of care for Catholic Priests

(this probably won't read as horny to anyone who isn't into a very specific kind of casual degradation and objectification ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Most people are familiar with Priests as collectively church-owned working class pets, but they can make wonderful single-owner pets as well! Here you'll find some of the basics of caring for these unique creatures.

Appearance

Priests are usually known for having black coats, with high contrast white markings around their necks known as a "collar." A few different morphs do exist however! Mostly these consist of small markings in either gold, red, or a liturgical color, but one morph includes a bright red coat known as a "cardinal."

Curiously, both young and very old priests tend towards white coats. The priest pups are referred to as "seminarians," and they grow in dark coloration as they get older. Very old priests slowly get lighter with age, eventually ending up with white coats. Priests from tropical environments may also have white coats at any age!

A healthy priest's markings, especially the collar, should be in high contrast with a deep, saturated black coat. Dull, or desaturated colors can be a sign of chronic stress or illness. No need to panic however, sometimes it is as simple a fix as a vitamin supplement at meal times. You should consult a vet to find out.

Diet

Communion wafers of course! But mostly as treats, priests love them but they have surprisingly little nutritional value. All forms of bread or crackers are acceptable (though your milage may vary with a picky eater) and any kind of grapes. Many enjoy other fruits as well. Priests are capable of eating meat, especially fish for lent, but often prefer it only for special occasions. They often will refuse large meals entirely during lent, which can be concerning for beginner owners, but this is normal behavior. Try breaking it up into snacks throughout the day if you're concerned about your priest not eating enough. Often times pets will lose track of how many snacks they've had and eat regularly.

Priests need access to fresh holy water. Contrary to popular belief, it is easily made at home, although some picky pets may prefer the kind found in churches. Priests are capable of injesting weak alcohol like wine with no problems, anything higher than around 20% may cause some illnesses over time. Wine is actually an important enrichment treat for them, in the same vein as wafers, it allows them to follow their natural behaviors.

Housing

Anything that mimics it's natural habitat works, luckily churches come in a variety of ways! Priests are safe to allow full range of you home but having a dedicated room or partitioned space specifically designed for them is very rewarding for both you and your pet. Stone and wood facades are preferred, as are stained glass coverings over windows. Have an altar space available for your pet, and allow them to maintain it themselves. Priests naturally like to maintain an altar and their church space. Provide clean cloth in both white and the appropriate liturgical color. Real altar sets can be expensive, but any kind of durable cups and plates will work. Your pet may prefer different materials, but typically wood, pewter, or brass is used. Observe the decorations in churches and add as much as you'd like! It is not recommended to use real candles without supervision, you may provide them while someone is home and switch to battery powered lights while away.

Behavior

Priests are surprisingly intelligent, being a working breed means that they take well to structure and training. Priests have a wide range in personalities, but tend to be reserved, neat, and polite, especially around strangers. They tend to be early risers, but some can be persuaded to sleep in and begin their rituals later in the day. Priests love a structured routine, and will often become upset by interruptions that don't allow for them to perform their usual rituals. Typically they will play act at least one “mass” a day, and love to see their owners participate. They will also frequently “pray”, making repeated vocalizations and playing with beads (be sure to provide some!)

They may also exhibit a few behaviors that might greatly concern new owners. “Guilty” behaviors are normal and common for priests, and may include increased “prayer” both in frequency or intensity, skipping large meals, or putting themselves in uncomfortable situations. Some priests may also self-flagellate, but this too is normal as long as it does not cause lasting harm. Excessive “guilty” behavior may indicate a stressful environment, so look out for potential causes like broken altar pieces, missing communion wafers, or even engaging in too much “sin”. Your pet will have a strong sense of morality, and will certainly let you know about it! Priests often have strict internal rules, but they will frequently accept new ones from their owner with training. You may have to correct your pet's internal rules if they have deemed something you normally do as “sinful”. Luckily they respond well to firm training and positive reinforcement.

These little guys are extremely unique pets, and make a great addition to the home for owners willing to put in the time for them! Please do further research and consider if owning a Catholic Priest is right for you.

#priest husbandry #priest kink #hierophilia #heirophilia #pet pl4y #please feel free to “yes and” or even “um actually” this!!#audience participation encouraged! lol #father speaks

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sgiandubh · 9 months ago

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Offer and demand

For comparison purposes, kindly find below what a devoted Ozzie fan will have to be prepared to pay for a pic with one or several of the participants to the Hublander Australia 'A Visit to The Highlands' event, this week-end, in Sydney and Melbourne:

On top of that, there is an extra option I have never seen for European events (and correct me if I am wrong). You can buy signed personal items and autographed pics for somebody who cannot attend (personal items cost a little extra, no idea why). Here is an example, for S:

Just to have an idea, remember (I will always LOL at this word, from now on, and that's really a shame, because I use it a LOT, irl) these are the prices in Australian dollars. A pic with S would cost you around 115 euros or 125 USD and the most expensive group pic would lighten your purse by around 360 USD or 333 euros.

All this, like for the Paris Landcon, are on top of what you pay for access and the rest of the side gigs, depending of your tier of choice. Those can set you anywhere from 200 Australian dollars for the standard entry ticket to 1800 Australian dollars for the Platinum Tier, where I hope S will pour you a dram or something - nope, not really, that was really a cheap joke, forget about it. You do the math, it's easy.

If you take the time to compare with the Paris Landcon, the discrepancies are clear. The Australian Lollapalooza easily costs the double. But before you screech and wail, do remember two things:

Prices in Australia and France are not really the same. Same goes for the disposable wages of the people buying these tickets. Same goes for the logistical costs (venue rent, talent accommodation and fee, insurance - very important!, other administrative expenditures like legal costs: never forget these people also sell licensed merchandise, which comes at an extra cost itself, etc).

Also, event organization is a business in itself. There is a market and a pool of potential clients for this type of business. Demand and offer meet (or should do so) on that market and the result of this encounter of sorts should reasonably reflect what the people are willing to pay for whatever you peddle around, from bagels to Scottish fantasies. Too expensive - nobody will come. Too cheap - the talent you hope to attract would, in all likelihood, not show up, especially if it takes 10 to 20 hours of flight to get there.

Now add to this the need to satisfy just about everyone in the room. The simple need to make sure that the person who paid 200 dollars for the basic ticket would not feel left behind those who paid nine times (yes, nine times, for Australia, land of plenty) more. That is not an easy task and those figures you have seen are not what you may think they do represent, on face value.

Last, but not least, a wee secret: the bulk of the talent's fee comes from those autographed pics you bought extra, the Q&A sessions and the Platinum Meet and Greets - isn't that a strange form of Marxist distribution circuit (but I digress, forgive the scholar). The rest is probably going to cover operational costs.

Nobody robbed you. Nobody forced you or hypnotized you. You will meet the real people, not some denizen of Abuja who pretends he is Mr. Blue Eyes. And S will not get richer after Melbourne, only more tired.

You're welcome.

PS: merci à toi; chérie, pour l'info and also a heartfelt thank you to you, New Friend on the Block. You know who you are! 😘😘😘😘❤️❤️❤️

[Edit]: @joey-baby tells me the Oz fans can buy the recording of both days. That is a local exclusive and I surely hope we'd see some of it in here. Thank you! 🙌

#fandom #shitshow

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deirdra-hearts-nadia · 1 year ago

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I've been thinking about the fandom for The Arcana, and I have come to the conclusion that it's weird as hell. In my 20+ years participating in online fandom spaces, I've never seen a fandom quite like this one. I've seen drama, sure, but the core of most fandoms is a large community of people who love the same media and come together to celebrate it.

The Arcana fandom is not like that. From the very beginning we're more fractured, more factional, more fragile than most. You just have to look around at all the posts lamenting the death of the fandom every 2 weeks to see that something is really wrong here.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the canon. I am not saying this to criticize The Arcana, the devs, Dorian, or my fellow fans. I have just noticed that, as a piece of media, this game occupies a very unique space that is reflected in the way its fans interact with canon and with each other.

Welcome to the TED talk ain't none of y'all asked for.

Part of what makes this fandom unique is the evolution of fandom as a whole in the face of new types of media. As gaming becomes more mainstream and games themselves become more complex, the way we engage has necessarily changed in response.

Books/ movies/ shows are slightly more static in terms of canon than video games; canon is what it is and how you interact with what is there is largely to do with who you are. Everyone has the same base material to engage with, and that results in a certain amount of constancy. You can't interact with The Princess Bride in a way that changes the movie, only in ways that change your own perception. There isn't a whole lot of room for OCs without rewriting canon, so fans tend to consume OC-based fiction and art with the assumption that it's likely to be self-insert wish fulfillment fantasy time. That isn't always true, but there is a reason the term Mary Sue was coined.

Otome games and other choice-based video games make a very different fan environment, because the way you interact with canon is completely different. You have to build a character in order to interact with the story, and your choices directly impact your experience of canon.

But most western choice-based games are in the context of a larger RPG universe, e.g. Fallout or Dragon Age. There is a lot more to the story than the romance plot and so there's a lot more world to experience, contextualize, and build upon. There's certainly plenty of unhinged ShepxGarrus erotica, but there's also an abundance of fanworks that engage with the plot, the worldbuilding, and the canon characters with relatively little of the player's character needing to be on the page at all.

By contrast, most otome games that make it to English-speaking fandom spaces are Japanese. The romance is the point, but we also start from a place of wariness of our fellow fans. Because there's a huge difference between "harmless weeb" and "orientalist fetishizing creepo," and you know going in that both ends of the spectrum are possible, there is an amount of caution. We curate our space, looking for the creators who align with our expectations and values before we ever begin to interact.

The Arcana falls in a very unique and odd space because it is an otome, but made by Americans, with an attempt at a diverse fantasy cast. It's intended to be for American/ English-speaking audiences and is marketed as such. But making a romance game in America is challenging. Our way of approaching online media, especially smartphone-accessible media, is super fucked up, right? We are constantly trapped between the dichotomies of moral duty (Must Protect The Children) versus appealing to the customer base (Boom Anime Babes with Tig Ol Bitties). Because this is a mobile game, the developers can't make money if the game is removed from the app store, so they want it to be rated teen at the most. But the enticing bit, the thing that captures a potential fan's attention, is the flirtation and sexy implications. So from the jump they're in a weird space purely because they chose to make a mobile game instead of an indie video game released on Steam or similar.

So now you have an inherently split audience: mature adults who know they're getting into a potentially explicit romance game, and young adults/teens who have grown up in a more insulated internet culture where normal words are replaced with Orwellian doublespeak, like "unalive" and "spicy time".

THEN you add in the fact that the developers tried to build a diverse fantasy world, which is a fantastic idea both from an inclusionary standpoint and a broader audience standpoint. But because they didn't employ any actual sensitivity readers (did they think they didn't need them because fantasy can't have racism? Did they justify it as not being in the budget? Would love to know what's going on there) they fell right into a lot of the classic traps. We've been over these time and again, so I won't get into them here. Suffice to say, there has been Discourse. The presence of those issues means that more experienced fans will see those things and call them out, and that criticism causes even more of a split: the zealous apologists versus the critics. And critics can fall into two further categories: those who love the canon and want to see it do better, and the bitches who just love having something to bitch about.

Unfortunately, this combination means that there are inherently factions to this fandom, with staunchly opposed approaches to the media. So even before you enter a fandom space, it's already wildly fractured simply because of the nature of base canon.

THEN add to that the fact that this game is a dating sim. And to engage with a dating sim, you have to build a character and make choices based on that character. Some people will approach this work as storytelling, and some will approach it as an escapist expression of self. Neither of these ways of engaging with canon is wrong. Enjoying a dating sim as Me But Better is fun and completely valid! Engaging with a dating sim as a storyteller collaborating with the developers is fun and completely valid! But the two approaches are opposed in purpose, and that can make it difficult for the two types of fans to engage with one another's work.

Storytellers will well and truly invest in building a character. They may even build out communities, countries, cultures, and languages to make their world all the richer. They are investing hours of blood, sweat, and tears into Their Craft, pouring themselves into an opus of quality fanwork. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to big feelings. Fan artists and writers may feel underappreciated if all they get out of their hard work is 2 likes and a gif of a wolf making AWOOGA eyes. They may feel that critique of their work is unwarranted, or that there's no point creating if no one will engage.

The romantics will engage with canon and fanwork from the perspective that "this is my fantasy romance time". Their OC isn't so much Original Character as Optimized Characteristics--that is, their perfect self. They are here for wish fulfillment fun times in the relative privacy and anonymity of the internet, and good for them! But that may mean that criticism of canon or their fan work feels excessively personal--it is very hard to detach the ego from the OC when that OC is a projection of your best self. They may view any critique as a personal attack as opposed to a good-faith attempt at engagement or conversation. This can lead to defensiveness, or to leaving the fandom outright if it feels too hostile.

Unfortunately all of these factions cause rifts in the community. This sometimes turns into fandom vigilantism, where people begin to see any fan who doesn't wholeheartedly agree with them as an enemy. I've seen friends experience bullying and cruelty over their OCs and their art. I've seen predators use the isolated nature of the fandom to further isolate and prey upon already vulnerable individuals. I've seen some really shitty stuff.

But I have also seen beautiful community flourish. I've made friends who feel more like family than my actual relatives. I've seen people work through struggles and overcome deliberate attempts to tear us apart, finding forgiveness and friendship along the way. I've seen myself and others grow because of the community and inspiration we found here. And I saw all of that because I found my people. And I hope, Arcana fandom, that the rest of you can find your people too.

#the arcana #oops i did a ted talk #fandom discourse #the arcana fandom

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confiscatedpeaches · 5 months ago

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Night of Fireworks - Danny Johnson x !femReader - Pt 1

Minors DNI, Reader is assumed to be 18+/21+ due to drug and alcohol use.

Who knew a chance encounter with a stranger at a 4th of July party would haunt you forever. By begging you to attend, your bestfriend unknowingly sealed your fate.

Fic takes place in Roseville, Florida, 1993 in an AU where The Entity doesn't exist/pick Danny. Attempting to stay true to 1993, but I'm absolutely using two-way pagers (invented in 1995) for convenience.

Reader's physical description is provided, but feel free to change any info about the reader to suit your needs.

TW: Weed use, alcohol use, stalking, voyeurism, love interest is a literal serial killer, vulgarity, theft, mild smutty descriptions, use of puppy as a pet name, masturbation, reader is implied to be a virgin but isn't important to plot.

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June 27, 1993 - Roseville, FL - 4:15 PM Just moved to this podunk town and yet it's already showing promise. No need to kill yet; job interview in two weeks. Waitress at T's Diner, seen at morning shift 9:45 am. Female, early to mid-20s, slightly above average height, naturally dirty blonde hair box dyed to a dark mousy brown (roots are showing). Wallflower type, small friend group, lives alone, rarely calls parents. Quiet neighborhood with backyard against pond & woods. Easy access; likely highly vulnerable. Smokes weed, reads occasionally, music lover. Makes an adorable face when frustrated, sad puppy vibes. ***Attending 4th of July party at 302 Oleander Drive at 9pm with co-worker Hailey Daye.

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Frat Party | 302 Oleander Drive | 11:45 PM:

You shut the bathroom door behind you, muffling music and other loud party bullshit. Dark and damp, but surprisingly clean. The only reason you even came to this party was because your bestfriend Hailey practically got down on her knees and begged you to go. The private firework show and free booze was nice, but this just isn't really your scene.

You lift your bag to check for a joint and lighter. Next to your pager you spot your trusty red zippo lighter a pill bottle. The lighter was a gift from someone special you don't talk to anymore, but you couldn't let them go just yet. Engraved on the side of the lighter was a message that read "KISS: keep it simple, stupid!" Inside the pill bottle was a carefully made joint packed with kief and a hybrid mix you got from your dealer.

The desire to smoke drags you out of the bathroom and towards where you last saw Hailey with her new boy-toy. Creeping around the drunk passed out teenagers, empty red solo cups, and shoes, you find your way to the kitchen. It's less crowded, only five or so people and many empty pizza boxes. Hailey smiles and nurses a soda from across the room. Her boyfriend in the middle of a genuinely hilarious drug-fueled rant about something sports related. Can't tell what sport though, dude is smashed. At least he's passionate about something. She looks over at you, and you saunter over.

"Hey, I'm gonna head out for a smoke and walk home after if you wanna join me." You say.

"Sorry babe I'd love to, but I promised to be a DD and I'm not leaving for a few hours."

"I think I'll just go by myself then, it's only a few blocks."

With that she gives you a hug and a quick "be safe" before you walk away. Weaving to the back door, you step into the damp night. Loud music vibrating through the concrete beneath you. Fireflies swirl in the distance. Closing your eyes as a light breeze rolls in; a welcome break from the smothering July air. A moment of calm before the storm.

"Hey, can I borrow a lighter?"

You turn, shocked and annoyed to find somebody else in the humid Floridian abyss.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you," he says with a disarming laugh.

The shadowy figure lights up his pager providing a brief but faint view of his face. His teeth reveal a soft friendly smile.

"Ha, no worries. Here."

Offering your lighter, he takes it to light a joint of his own. His hands spark into existence in the light of the flame. Strong, but well manicured fingers with a couple ink stains. Something about him makes the air thick and heavy like mud.

"Parties not really your thing huh?" He asks, the cherry of his joint bobbing your way.

"Oh..! Honestly, no. I mean I can't complain, it's been pretty good so far."

A series of loud bangs pulls your attention from the stranger. From above loud pops of red, white, & blue flutter and invade the sky. A swarm of yellow sparklers overtaking them. A blue light fires above the rest, only to be overshadowed by a red one.

You turn to continue speaking with the mysterious stoner, but you're met with an empty patch of grass. White rage hits you. That fucker stole your lighter! You consider staying and hunting for that jerk, but you're just too tired for this. You yank out your pager and send a message to Hailey.

Shoving it into your bag, you pop a tape in your portable cassette player and begin angrily walking home. Your wired headset blocking out the rest of the party sounds. Mumbling the words to a Cake song as you walk.

I want to love you madly I want to love you, love you Love you madly

After a few blocks, you check your pager. To your surprise, a message from Hailey sits in your inbox.

Between the booze and frustration you struggled to recall any remarkable details about him. You text Hailey back.

She responds instantly.

____________________________________________

July 5, 1993 | 1703 Oleander Drive | 12 AM:

Stepping up to the front door of your apartment, you stick in the keys and walk inside. It's dark, which was to be expected. Dropping your bag onto the floor. Flicking on the light, you notice everything is slightly less messy than you left it. A couple to-go boxes remain, but the dishes look freshly washed. A thick smell of cheap cologne hangs in the air. You shake your head. This is crazy, who would break in just to do the dishes? It's been a long night, surely you must've done them this morning during your high-as-a-kite cleaning binge. The smell must be from a neighbor or something.

You walk into the tiny kitchen (ignoring the freaky squeaky clean dishes) and open a drawer to get another lighter. It's not the lighter you want, but it's the lighter you have.

Pulling out the joint, you unlock the back door to your balcony. It's a small balcony, only able to fit a small chair and a side table, but you couldn't complain. At least nobody complains about the smell of weed. Being up against the woods was a blessing. Private and safe. After sitting down you light your joint. Music getting better and better with each inhalation.

____________________________________________

July 5, 1993 - 1703 Oleander Drive - 12:15 AM Took a big risk. Poor little puppy lost her precious lighter. Stole it just to annoy her. She looked so fussy and angry when she couldn't find me, even though I was less than 20ft away. Priceless; couldn't snap a pic as the flash would've given me away. I'll have to create another opportunity in the future. Fortunately, it was dark enough to remain unidentifiable & invisible. A cloudy night does a lot to hide a person. Although if she had remembered anything about me, it would be easy enough to pack up and leave now. Nobody knows me yet. My own desires and excitement are making me too bold. Stay calm and stick to the plan. 12:16 AM. She's smoking on her balcony, as per usual. One-hit-wonder over here coughs every other hit; she should really switch to edibles. The need to interact with her is growing stronger. Can't believe she didn't make a bigger deal out of those dishes. While I was inside I couldn't resist the urge to wipe lipstick off of her glass using my gloves just to put it to my lips for a taste. It tasted like chapstick, too far gone to have retained her scent. The disappointment only fueled my desire for her. My attraction towards her is ruining everything; this is supposed to be a test run. I suppose this is more of a Danny design than a Ghostface one. I wanted to steal one of her panties, but they were all clean and worthless to me in that state. My hand isn't doing it for me anymore, I need my cum to mix with her fresh slick in those cotton undies. I'm gonna make this bitch fuckin' scream when she cums on my cock. 1:12 AM. She's touching herself again, but she's still unsuccessful. Stupid whore can't even find her own clit. Don't worry puppy, I'll find it for you. Vibrator can't replace what you really need huh? Went through her phone book and journal, no known boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, or any ex-anything for that matter. Could she be a virgin? The thought makes my cock twitch.

____________________________________________

NOTES:

Sorry for the lack of real smut, but Danny has to take his time with you. So be fucking patient, you wanna be a good girl right? Act like one.

This is my first Danny x reader fic, so please let me know what you'd like to see in the future!

The song the reader sings is Love You Madly by Cake.

#Danny delulu club #dbd #dbd ghostface #danny jed olsen johnson #dbd fanart #dead by daylight #ghostface #dbd danny johnson #danny johnson #danny johnson x reader #jed olsen x reader #dbd ghostface x reader #stalking fantasy #cnc stalking

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ceoandslutler · 6 months ago

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have you heard kuro dubbed in any language other than english? or in any other asian language other than korean or chinese? well i found a persian one and it's so fucking bad that it's hilarious.

(also stay tuned to find out why the persian dub of kuroshitsuji being so bad has directly to do with anti-shipping sentiment and puritanism)

i would like to politely invite anyone who's ethnically from/lives in/speaks the language of a country with an ultraconservative government to contribute to this post if they know a dub of kuro (fandub or licenced by a company) in their language to contribute to this post (agree or disagree that policing media causes a drop in its quality and accessibility in other countries) but let's keep it civil. if you are not from a country like this but have something to say, feel free to add anything on, the conversation is open to all :)

so i just heard the homemade persian dub of kuro's first ep made by some young people who sound like they're in uni (probs 18-23 yr olds), tears have been flowing from my eyes for the past 20 mins

(link under the cut)

to save time, go watch the bits i linked below or just laugh at the whole thing (full link) but don't blame these kids for being awful at this or just skip to the end of the post. as i said, there is a reason this dub is so bad and no official dub exists and it has to do with... anti subculture?!?*

but first, the funny stuff

ciel's voice is awful but just listen to the goofy dub laugh seb's va did at the start I'M FUCKING SOBBING (00:15-00:35), and also not ciel's va MOANING after the op song (2:35) ??? i REPEAT the woman who VA'd ciel was fucking MOANING, the YAWN was the worst part, dub team shotacons???

also SHEEL FANTOMHAYO?? THE KID'S NAME WAS DUBBED AS SHEEL FANTOMHAYO. (refer to 6:30 in the video linked)

now this isn't because we lack a 's' in our language (my alias is literally a persian name meaning shadow aka ✦sayé✦), we've just transliterated it as shiyel, but SHEEL???

the other guy calls him fantomhayo too (8:25) and the fantomhayo condition strikes again with sebastian's va talking about the fantomhayo hospitality at 12:40 ish in the video.

this is particularly bizarre because we do have a V in persian, please guys, use it!

please note: i have nothing but good things to say about finny's va... the way the va says "sebaastiyaan!" (12:43) is so cute <3

at 13:00, we get this golden crumb "meyrin... oh meyrin" from this college aged dude doing sebastian (who is SO lost) then he proceeded to say in persian "i beg you, ON MY LIFE, just pour the fucking wine in the glass and walk away" save me from the bad dub, ono daisuke, save me...

the furnace scene is just gold (18:50 onward is comical, the scream at the end... priceless), these people deserve an award, im tempted to do subs on this whole video because the translation is so wrong yet absolutely too hilarious to leave untranslated. also, i like how you can hear other people talking in the background constantly, they didn't even bother finding a quiet room 😭😭

finally i translated some of the best comments under the vid (everyone fuckin hated it 😭)

..tldr: irani/persian speaking netizens are brutal. but also, it shows that persian speakers are used to quality dubbing, otherwise this wouldn't be so offensive. if we were used to badly done dubs, the comments wouldn't look like this. many famous kdramas and jdramas and indian/turkish films have been dubbed. animated movies e.g. disney films and most commonly 70-80s anime have huge followings in iran and were dubbed extraordinarily well. in fact, in iran, many of our own films are dubbed especially if the original footage did not capture the audio well enough/the director was unhappy with the actor's delivery and it's usually hard to tell if this has happened because it's done very well. shockingly, dub is more popular than sub. so why does kuro not have an official dub? why is the fandub so bad???

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING

*IMPORTANT: an anime like this is not allowed to be legally dubbed by studios in iran because iran is under an islamic theocracy (the islamic republic) and all media that promotes devil worshipping and blasphemy is banned, homosexuality is too (anyone can tell kuro has homoerotic undertones, the homophobic heads of media would never let this queer gothic romance through). oh and trans people are "allowed" on TV but only if they're not vulgar/explicit (not even then, half the time) & grelle would not make it into the anime AT ALL. even if we ignore all the devil worshipping and queerness, sex is banned too (as well as lewd appearances of women), so season 1/2 & boc would never make it. oh and alcohol, bom would never make it. oh and also, women's empowerment is banned too so boa would never make it. when will it end? will someday everything be banned? sure looks like it. but isn't this what anti shippers want? i mean kuro IS problematic media, it never condemns people for having sex or partaking in drinks, not even murder is condemned.

moving on, the subtitled version of the episodes are very well done for what they are but it's still not good, you won't understand what's going on properly. meanings are lost. a dub is much more accessible to those who can't read subs and generally a necessary option. people NEED dubs. don't get me wrong, the iranian fansub team are dedicated however subs are much easier for fans to do than dubbing. as you heard, kuro's persian fandub was frankly terrible. these kids didn't even know how to pronounce ciel's name and it's NOT because of the language barrier, my theory is that because the internet access is so limited, they had to figure out how to pronounce ciel's name purely from the japanese original or another lang dub and had no access to the eng dub. as you can see, they are not able to follow the mouth movements either (don't have editing software); i assume the internet restrictions targeted streaming platforms w the dub on it (because the government wants to CONTROL what media people consume) so they had to figure everything out from japanese or another language, (they probably used another fandub to translate since the ed seems to credit the eng vas while they can never be heard in the bg) which is not easy. unfortunately english is taught in schools around the world not japanese so the dubbers' translation was quite honestly terrible- after all, they had no official script to base their translation off. BUT if a professional dubbing studio (e.g. iran's glory entertainment) got their hands on kuro, it'd probably be dubbed very well. if mehrdad raissi, CEO of glory, was on for seb's role, it would be glorious (pun intended). if he did flynn rider well, he can do sebs well too. but that studio often has their shows played on state televisions and the last thing they want is to get blacklisted and arrested for dubbing the gay demon butler anime. please do not take this fandub as representing all persian-language dubs. and remember, kuro itself is banned for being problematic media in counties like iran... no sebaciel needed (although anyone can definitely see the gay undertones to the story from a cover alone).

if you want to ban people from shipping things or making fan works that are problematic... soon you'll have to get rid of problematic media in general. and already, antis sound like the media people in charge under a dictatorship. "violence is okay, murder is okay but s-sex?!? women in scandalous clothing!!! oh good heavens..!" this is the kind of mindset which leads people down the rabbit hole of "this is problematic!! let's ban it!!!" until there's nothing left, a slippery slope. imagine this was the english dub of kuro. imagine it was banned in western countries and a team of young'uns had to gang up and make their own dub using only the japanese raws. imagine problematic media like kuro wasn't picked up the west because it's "shota" and that's bad. we'd be stuck looking at the same sanitised stuff and if we wanted to watch kuro, our options would be trash dubs (no offense) like this one. pretty scary to think this could be the state of the english dub if puritanism was as bad here as it is in countries like iran. policing media and deciding what creators should or shouldn't create will take you to the side of theocratic dictatorships and you will fall into alt right puritan lunacy, fanpoll are about as woke as a dictatorship, remember that.

don't sound like this:

NEVER sound like this.

it is clear that conditional freedom is no freedom at all. there should be zero criteria to the media we want to create, no religion or purity culture to it. just be media literate. let nobody control what you want to create or consume! (or you'll end up in a world where the media that is deemed "problematic" is maintained but only through underground circles, losing quality and accessibility day by day, until these channels are shut down too and only a sanitised husk of options for media consumption remain)

#mentioned of sebaciel #mention of anti shipping #mention of pro shipping #mention of religion #kuroshitsuji #syshitposts #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #finnian #kuroshitpost #black butler #syanalyses #discourse adjacent #grell sutcliffe #grelle sutcliff

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electrikworm · 1 month ago

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What Lies Within: Part 2

Part 1

Relationships: Echo & Hunter & Omega & Tech & Wrecker, Echo & OC

Content Warnings: Parasites, Discussion of Death, Discussion of Suicide (very little in this part)

Summary:

On Volnaryl's surface, the search for a cure for Omega's state commences. Only, of course nothing can ever be easy for the Batch. The only luck they have is a helpful stranger they meet along the way.

Written for day 20 of @ailesswhumptober Stranger to Caretaker

Word count: 6,064

Read on Ao3

They've been searching for hours already, almost seven by the time Echo checks, and have come up with nothing. They left the ship in civilian clothes, not wanting to draw any negative attention, all still carrying at least one concealed weapon. On the ship, Omega insisted she be allowed to walk on the planet, but when she struggled to even stand to get in a fresh change of clothes, she admitted that walking wasn't in the cards currently.

Wrecker's been carrying her the entire time, wrapped in a blanket. Tech picked the city they landed in, reasoning that they're most likely to have the cure easily accessible, as the parasite is frequent in the area. Taking Omega to a doctor is out of the question. They change ridiculous amounts of credits and ask too many questions. But finding a more discreet method isn't exactly easy. Most civilians aren't too eager to talk to scarred and tattooed people about alternative medical options, many ignoring them or walking away faster. The first bit of useful info they got was someone telling them that they "won't find that in the centre", directing them to an outer ring of the city. Only problem being, the new area has no large enough spaces to park a ship legally and public transport there is expensive, forcing them to walk. They'd asked people on the way there as well, all responses being unhelpful. Most people asked if they'd seen a doctor already. Time continued to be wasted in the outer ring of the city, making each one of them feel on edge. That's when they were finally directed to a medical establishment not regulated by the local law, a place that sells medicine without prescriptions or the presence of a doctor. The place is shifty, so they hesitate to discuss a plan of action before entering. It's decided that Wrecker and Omega will stay outside, while the rest of them enter. The heavy scent of smoke clings to the inside of the building, walls stained by age. An attempt has been made to cover the smell with a sharp perfume, only resulting in making the smell even less bearable. It's like burning the inside of Echo's nose, it's so strong.

The lighting fixtures flicker and hum, spilling cold light across the room. The room is near empty, except for long dead plant in a pot in one corner and a counter at the end of it. A human woman stands behind it, grinning as they enter, cigarette perched between her lips lazily. She's middle aged, if the lines on her face are anything to go by, blond hair kept at shoulder length.

There's a faded print of a logo on her shirt, one Echo doesn't recognize. Echo has little experience with people wearing make up, but the kind the woman is wearing seems to be a slight shade too dark, causing there to be a stark difference between the skin on her neck and face. She taps her manicured nails on the counter as they approach, leaning across it slightly. "What can I do for you?" she grins, taking the cigarette from her mouth and exhaling smoke in their direction. "The Alloyan worm, do you have a cure for it?" Tech states. "Manners, doll," the woman says, taking another drag from her cigarette. "How 'bout you greet me first?" Echo can tell that Tech wants to point out that she didn't greet them first either, but doesn't bother to remind Tech to keep on track. It's clear that Tech is focused. "Hello," he says, deadpan. "Is the cure for the Alloyan worm an item you sell?" She leans back, tapping her chin as she thinks. Or pretends to at least. "Are you aware how hard that stuff's to come by?" "We're very aware," Hunter hisses, stepping up to the counter and placing his hands on it. Echo almost warns him not to. This place doesn't exactly look sanitary. It's unbelievable that they're being forced to get medication for Omega from such an untrustworthy establishment. The woman raises her hands in mock surrender, letting the cigarette dangle from her lips again. "Keep your bandana on, big guy," she laughs, "no need to get snippy with me. The way you're actin', you're staring to make me think you got the parasite." To Hunter's credit, he doesn't react to the her words. The vendor watches them closely, leaning to look past them and through the glass door leading out. Echo can see Wrecker sitting with his back to the door, mess of blond hair resting on his shoulder. "You know," she says, eyes flicking between the three of them, "perhaps I'd be more inclined to remember whether I got what you want or not if you were friendlier. Smile a little, you'd look better if you did." Anger boils in Echo's chest. He can see Hunter's face scrunching up in response too. During the war, Echo came in contact with meany unpleasant natborns, ones that saw themselves as better than clones. After all, clones weren't legally human. But this woman hadn't even clocked them as clones and was treating them like this. But this has been their only hope all day, so hesitantly, Echo does smile. Tech and Hunter follow his lead, forcing out unnatural, strained smiles. The vendor laughs.

“See? Was that really that hard?” she says, leaning across the counter again. She stares at them, grinning, for a long while before sighing. “Alright, fine, I've got it.”

It's like Echo can truly breath for the first time since they learned of Omega's state.

“It won't be cheap,” she says, stating something they all already knew. They don't have much on them, but they've brought all the emergency credits they've had put aside. Those were saved for something like this, something going very wrong.

Though they'd had to take parts of it already to cover the cost of food after paying for fuel,there was still a decent amount left. A little over a thousand credits, if Echo's remembering right.

“We know,” Tech tells her.

"That'll be forty-thousand credits then," she says, extending her hand like anyone just has that amount on their person. "I'll take both republic and imperial," she continues like she's doing them a favour. "You want forty-thousand credits for one dose of this medication?" Echo asks. They barely have a fraction of that. What ever the medications made from, Echo doubts it can actually be that expensive. She's trying to take them for all they've got. "Well, you might need a second dose," she says, scratching at a chip in the counter disinterestedly. "Never know with these parasites, sometimes they stick around. I'd have to charge you double for that though." "We're not paying that," Echo states. "I know it's not worth that much either. Lower the price or we're leaving." Echo knows it's a long shot, but he has to try. If they get the price low enough, maybe they can make enough money quickly to meet it. This has been their only hope so far. The vendor laughs. "Oh sweetheart, you forget that I'm running a business, not a charity," she says as she flicks ashes from her cigarette on to the counter. "I don't care if that kid outside dies, kids die every day. Not my problem."

She points past them to the door, where Wrecker's sitting. Echo had a feeling she'd connected the dots on who's the one in need of the medication. That only makes them larger targets for the scam she's running. Hunter leans forward and Echo is immediately left with a bad feeling. He grabs Hunter's arm just before he raises it to do something stupid. He gives him a warning look, Hunter thankfully giving in, shoulders sagging as he lets his arm hang. "The price is unreasonable. We could get the medicine for a lot less elsewhere," Tech states. The vendor laughs again. "Sure, a licensed medic will charge you less. But they also charge for the care they provide and they ask questions," she clicks her tongue. "And judging by the fact that you're here in the first place, you don't want questions asked. Four strange, scarred and tattooed men, travelling with a small kid. That really does raise some questions.

My prices reflect my willingness to close my eyes to these things. And for the cure to work, you've got to get it fresh. That raises the price even further." She pauses, smiling as she looks at each of them. Nobody says anything. Echo's not sure what he can say, what he can do. "You gotta ask yourself: how much is the life of that kid worth to you?" She pauses again, waiting for something. "So, you gonna pay up?" "We don't have that kind of money," Hunter huffs, grinding his teeth. Out of habit, Echo almost reminds him to stop. "Shame," the vendor shrugs. "Guess you'll have to find a way to get that much or let the kid die." Hunter's about to say something rash, so Echo grabs his sleeve and starts dragging him away from the counter. "We're leaving." He almost thinks Tech isn't going to move, until he thankfully follows his brothers as they walk back to the door. They're almost out of the building when the vendor calls after them. "You know, if you have at least some credits on you, you could buy some pain relief. Kids gonna die either way, might as well make the process of having your insides eaten a little more bearable." She's still grinning, Echo realizes as he turns, increasing the disgust he feels for this person even more. Faster than Echo can stop him, Tech's drawn one of his blasters, pointing it across the room, right at the vendor's head. She doesn't seem very bothered. Echo quickly grabs Tech's arm, pushing it back down and taking the blaster from him. "No," Echo hisses. "Last thing we need is getting arrested." Though there's no way the vendor heard his words, she still laughs. "Get out of here and take the two outside with you! They're bad for business," the vendor calls after them. Neither Tech nor Hunter react this time. Echo drags his kih'vode out of the disgusting establishment. If Hunter hadn't slammed the door behind them, Echo would have. Wrecker flinches at the loud noise, turning to look up at his three older brothers. "Please tell me you slammed the door cause things went well," he says, the fact that he knows that's not the truth written in every line of his pinched expression. Echo shakes his head and Wrecker looks away from him, focusing on their sister again.

The pained expression that crosses his face matches how Echo feels perfectly. Omega has been growing steadily less aware of her surroundings in the hours they've been out. By now she's fighting against Wrecker's grip weakly. He's trying to calm her with soft words, carefully stoking her hair, damp with sweat by now, with one hand as she writhes. "You'll never believe how much that shabuir asked from us," Hunter sighs, sounding close to tears as he drops himself down next to Wrecker, resting his face in his hands before leaning on his little brother. Worry in his eyes, Wrecker glances up at Tech and Echo. "Forty-thousand credits," Echo says. Somehow, Wrecker's expression manages to fall further. "You've got to be joking," he mutters, voice small. "Wish I were, vod'ika," Echo sighs.

"Forty-thousand?" Wrecker repeats, looking lost as he absent-mindedly brushes some of Omega's hair out of her face. "Can- Can we make that much in time?" Wrecker doesn't say it directly, doesn't ask "Can we make that much before Omega dies?", but those words are there in the way he speaks. "I don't know," Hunter sighs, only taking his face from his hands to see to Omega. She's writhing in Wrecker's arms, seemingly deaf to all his quiet attempts to calm her. Hunter putting a hand on her shoulder, still wrapped in the blanket, goes ignored as well. "What if we sell our gear?" Wrecker suggests, looking hopefully between his vode. "That's worth a lot of money and so are our weapons." Tech nods, sitting on Wrecker's other side. His eyes don't leave Omega's scrunched up face. "I can dismantle parts of the Marauder and sell those as well," he adds. Echo sighs. As good as having hope is, he's got to be the cynic in this situation. "And who's going to buy used armor and parts of a ship that has seen better days for forty-thousand credits?" He hates the way his brother's expressions drop back to despair at his words. Exhaustion weighs heavily on the way they hold themselves. None of them really slept the previous night, no one's eaten a real meal in days, they've been taking mission after mission to try and cover costs.

And now this. Echo knows they've got to be realistic, but having to be the one to remind his brothers of this hurts. "What if we just take it?" Wrecker says under his breath after looking around. Not acting suspicious isn't one of his talents. "In broad daylight? Do you want to get arrested?" Hunter hisses, like he wasn't going to get into a fist fight with the vendor just moments ago. "That's a last resort," Echo adds, already planing possibly breaking into the establishment himself. If they wait for it to get darker and only send one of them, the risk would be minimized. He doesn't say anything out loud, not wanting his brothers to get ideas. It's his idea, so Echo would be the one taking the risks.

"Would being arrested really be such a bad thing?" Tech mumbles, looking anywhere but his vode.

“What?” Echo asks, not bothering to form a full sentence. The statement sounds completely stupid, but Echo knows better than to jump to conclusions. He'll wait for Tech to explain.

Hunter doesn't seem to share the notion, or, he at least has more energy left to object. “We'll be in the Empire's hands in no time if we're arrested!” Hunter whisper shouts.

“Precisely,” Tech continues. “The Empire needs Omega alive. They will have her treated.”

“We can't do that to her, Tech,” Wrecker says. He looks close to tears.

“I don't want to either, but in the hands of the Empire is better than dead.” Tech's eyes are focused on his hands as he wrings them.

Tech does have a point, even if Echo loathes to admit it. There's no saying what the Empire will do to Omega, but they want her alive. Doesn't make the thought any less painful. Echo would have rather died than go back to the Techno Union, making that kind of decision for Omega isn't something he wants to do.

“That's the absolute last resort,” Echo says. His brothers nod in response. Even this movement looks tired.

Hunter pushes himself off the floor. “We have to do something, find a different option, or a way to make the credits we need,” he says, turning to pull Tech up off the floor as well. Wrecker follows, a little slower than expected. Echo has a feeling the rough night didn't do Wrecker's back any favours.

Echo takes a step backwards, about to suggest they split their efforts when he bumps into something, someone. Instinct has him turn to the new arrival fast, almost hitting them. The person is lucky enough to step back just before taking Echo's scomp to the face.

A Weequay, gray-brown skin worn and back bent with age, faces Echo, leaned on a cane with one hand, lifting the other either defensively or in greeting. Her teeth and smile are crooked and her hair, gray and gathered into single strands by dark red cloth, sway as she shifts on her feet.

“Didn't mean to spook you,” she says, dark eyes focused intently on Echo's face. It's like she can look right through his physical form, gazing deep into his thoughts. Echo takes a cautious step backwards.

“Apologies for almost hitting you, ma'am,” Echo says loud and clearly. She doesn't keep walking like Echo expects her to. She stands there, looking at each member of their group closely, one after the other.

Omega takes that moment of silence to start thrashing and screaming. No matter how she twist her head, she can't get a good hold of Wrecker's shoulder with her teeth. Echo almost forgets about the old woman, worry for Omega taking over completely.

“Ad'ika,” Wrecker almost whispers, “it's alright, we've got you.”

Echo can feel the heat radiating off her body even through layers of clothes and blanket. If the aggression gets any worse, they'll have to sedate her again. As awful it is to see her so still, at least she can't feel the pain when she's under.

Suddenly, Echo is forced to take a step to the side. The Weequay pushed herself between him and Hunter, looking at Omega closely. Her hand stops just shy of touching her. Echo can feel the tension radiating off of his brothers, ready to react if she'd do anything they don't like.

Not that Echo reacted any different, prepared to draw his blaster if needed.

“She's got the suicide worm, doesn't she?” she asks, looking between the older members of the batch. She must have easily matched Echo's height when she was younger, possibly exceeding it at some point.

Wrecker steps back, holding Omega a little tighter. “You know where we can find a cure?”

The Weequay scoffs. “You won't find anything sensible in the city. Between the doctors and resellers,” she jabs her finger in the direction of the building Echo, Tech and Hunter were in, “there's not a single place that won't rip you off.”

“Great,” Hunter huffs with enough sarcasm to almost make Echo think Crosshair's back with them.

“Do you know of any establishment that can aid her at a halfway decent price?” Tech asks. “We have credits, simply not...” Tech's voice tapers off the longer he speaks. It's unusual to see him this uncertain.

“Not forty-thousand,” Wrecker finishes for him.

“I'll do it for free,” the Weequay announces with a lopsided smile. Echo narrows his eyes.

That sounds far too good to be true, suspiciously so. He exchanges looks with his brothers. She doesn't know them, why would she offer her help for no compensation?

“You're just going to help us, without asking anything in return?” Echo asks, keeping his voice neutral. This feels like a trap.

“Well,” she says, extending the word as she one-handedly brushes the wrapped strands of hair that have fallen forward onto her chest back over her shoulder, “I'll need you to find what I need to do it.”

That's more along the lines of what Echo expected, except, she still doesn't gain anything from this exchange.

“Can we discuss something in private?” Hunter asks. Nodding, the woman backs of a little further.

“This is highly suspect,” Tech says. “She will likely spring a cost on us at a later point, if she even knows how to help Omega in the first place.”

Hunter nods. “Or she knows the Empire wants us and is going to sell us out.”

“Do we have a choice though?” Wrecker asks, looking down at the struggling Omega. She's being relatively quiet now, but is still trying to bite Wrecker.

“We might not,” Echo says. As suspicious as the offer is, they're far from swimming in options.

Hunter closes his eyes, rubbing at his temple. Echo's certain he has a migraine coming up. “I say we go along with her. But, first sign of bad intentions or hostility, we're out of there, alright?”

Echo nods immediately, Wrecker and Tech doing the same moments later. Omega's only been getting worse, they have to try anything they can. They'll regret it later if they don't.

“We accept your offer,” Hunter announces.

“Good choice,” the Weequay says, “follow me.” Not waiting, she turns and begins to walk off. For an elderly woman with a heavy limp, she's surprisingly fast. They have to hurry to keep up with her.

She leads them further out of the outer ring of the city, buildings becoming further and further spaced out, sometimes with gardens or planted areas between them.

“I'm Tas,” the Weequay tells them after minutes of silence, only broken by Omega's pained or agitated noises. No one responds for a moment, everyone likely asking themselves the same question Echo is considering; whether trusting this woman with their real names is a good idea or not.

“I'm Echo,” he says after a while, watching Tas' reaction closely. She just smiles, so Hunter introduces the rest of the squad.

“Funny names,” Tas says, “though I've certainly heard weirder.”

The house Tas leads them to is on the small side, nestled in the shadow of a tall tree covered in large leaves. The inside is surprisingly cozy, walls and furniture all in warm, rich colours, air smelling of herbs.

Tas urges Tech and Hunter to help her set up a bed for Omega in the living area that connects to the kitchen. Echo watches them closely, sticking near Wrecker during the process.

He's pleased to note the mattress and bedding look and, upon closer inspection, smell clean. Echo's never particularly comfortable being in a strangers personal space. It's unpredictable. Still, at least Tas seems to be keeping her space well maintained.

Wrecker's extremely reluctant to let go of Omega, hesitating for a long while before placing her down on the bed that had been arranged. She still struggles, but it's gotten weaker and weaker. It's concerning.

Wrecker rearranges the way Omega is laying multiple times and brushes the hair out of her face before finally getting up from the floor. They stand close to her as they listen to Tas explain what she needs.

“It's the root of a tree, hard to miss. It's the only one with black bark. It also smells pretty strong, sharp and acidic,” she explains.

Tech takes notes as she speaks. “Did we not pass a tree like that, more towards the centre of the city?” he asks, not looking up from his datapad.

Echo remembers seeing it, tall and imposing among the various houses and factories. Even in the stress of the situation he noted that it was strangely pretty with it's dark trunk and pale green leaves. He remembers the smell too. He'd assumes it came from industry work in the area, not the plant.

“Things aren't that simple,” Tas answers. “That tree used to be an important part of the community, until some rich asshole decided that, since it grew on the edge of his property, it and it's roots belong to him.

That's where every medical institute in the city gets it from. There's a few other of the species large enough to bare roots in the size we need, one maybe an hours walk away from here. I can give you the directions.”

“Will she last that long?” Wrecker says, not taking his eyes off Omega.

“You've got time,” Tas says. “The way to the tree isn't all that easy, the forest around here is quite wild. But you four seem capable and you've got blasters, I'm certain you'll manage just fine.”

Echo just about manages to hide his surprise at the the fact that Tas noticed that they're armed.

Tas goes further into detail, both about locating the plant and the root they need. Tech collects what she says, finds some additional information as well. When they discuss the last pieces of the plan, Echo announces that he'll stay with Omega.

His brothers try to object, volunteering themselves to stay instead, but Echo quickly shuts them down.

With his brother's gone, Echo crouches at Omega's side in awkward silence. Small talk isn't his thing, especially not with a stranger whilst Omega is dying.

“For karks sake,” Tas exclaims, “sit down before you hurt your knees.” She gestures at the cushions placed around the low table placed in the centre of an intricate carpet in her living room. The mattress Omega is on has been placed close to it, so Echo could comfortably sit there whilst staying at her side. Still Echo hesitates.

“I don't have knees,” he says matter-of-factly.

Tas sighs, a chuckle escaping her. She looks at Echo's legs closer. “Your thighs then. You look tired.”

Echo is exhausted, but won't admit that to a stranger. He sits down on the cushion closest to Omega. She's weakly shaking her head.

“She needs to eat,” Tas says, dropping a package of something on the table. It's a packet of instant soup. “Can she eat that? I will make something better later, but she just needs something fast to get her out of this state.”

Echo nods in response to her question. He doesn't know the brand, but they had something similar stocked on the Marauder. They ate it recently to avoid having to spend credits on food.

Tas brings hot water, a bowl and spoon out, letting Echo prepare the soup himself. She's caught on to his mistrust, though Echo appreciates how she's handling it.

Echo's stomach clenches with hunger as he stirs the powder into the hot water, the smell almost overwhelming. Like his exhaustion, he pushes that sensation aside as well.

Tas helps Echo manoeuvrer Omega into his lap, where she lays propped against his chest. Since Omega's still fussing, Tas gives Echo a towel to keep the mess in check. He drapes it over his scomp, using his other hand to feed Omega.

She fights against Echo at first, making it difficult to get any of the soup into her mouth. Echo pleads with her quietly, trying to get though to her enough to make her accept the food. In her semi-conscious state, he doubts she can hear him, but after a while, she holds still, accepting the food.

Omega even manages to sit up a little, leaning forward to follow the spoon each time Echo goes to refill it with soup.

After easily finishing the bowl, Omega slumps against Echo. When he moves her back to the bed, he and Tas free her from being wrapped by the blanket, allowing Omega to lay a little more naturally. Echo holds her hand as she lays among the blankets quietly.

Tas clears the bowl and spoon from the table, only to bring them back with more hot water and a second packet of soup.

“I think she's sleeping now,” Echo says. “We should let her.”

Tas shakes her head. “It's for you.”

Echo looks up at Tas, eyeing her expression and stance. She seems sincere. “I don't need it.”

She laughs. “I could hear your stomach growling from across the room. You need to eat too.”

Had he been that obvious about his hunger? Echo cringes. Not wanting to look at Tas any longer, he focuses on the packet of soup on the table.

He'd love nothing more than to eat, but it feels wrong to do so. Omega is still suffering and the rest of his siblings are just as hungry as he is and they can't eat either. He shouldn't allow himself to eat until they can. Echo shakes his head.

“No point in punishing yourself,” Tas says. “You'll need the energy.”

Echo hesitates a little longer, then, feeling very selfish, reaches for the packet and prepares a second bowl of soup.

He eats quickly, not liking the fact he needs to let go of Omega's hand to do so. Tas actually warns him to slow down at one point, which he reluctantly does. It's the biggest quantity of food he's had in one go in days.

When he goes back to holding Omega's hand, the exhaustion is only made more noticeable by the warm liquid he consumed. He'd love to curl up next to Omega and fall asleep, but he won't let his guard down like that in an unfamiliar space.

Tas has been nothing but kind so far, though that means nothing in the long run. They've come in contact with a lot of liars recently.

Even if Echo feels better with the constant hunger dampened, looking at Omega still fills him with dread. They have a potential cure on the way, that's the best they've had so far.

Echo can't quiet the fear that grips him, the guilt. Why had he been walking so far away from Omega during the mission? If he'd stuck closer to her, maybe he could have prevented her from falling into the water at all.

Something being placed on the table makes Echo turn around. It's a tea pot, dark green with patterns craved into it. Tas places two cups next to it, serving the earthy green coloured liquid into them. She pushes one over to Echo.

Leaning down to it, he sniffs it cautiously. He doesn't entirely trust Tas, and even if he did, it doesn't hurt to check what it's smells like. Since Skako Minor, a whole host of things wreak havoc on Echo's digestion. He even found that certain things he used to like are unbearable to him now.

Just one of the many small way Techno Union forcibly ripped him from his life before. For a long time, Echo thought he'd never feel comfortable in his skin again, never feel like himself again.

The tea smells somewhat familiar, a bit like the stuff they occasionally have on the marauder, but less cheap. Carefully, Echo takes a sip. He's not surprised by any strange tastes, so he takes another.

“Why are you doing this?” he asks, watching Tas sit down on the opposite side of the table. She moves slowly, barely bending one of her legs.

“Cooking tea? Because consuming anything without boiling it first is a risk on this planet and because I enjoy it,” she says.

“I meant why you're helping us.”

“I've been a medic most of my life, hard habit to shake,” Tas answers, sipping her tea. “And I don't like letting people die when I could stop it from happening.”

It's a reasonable statement, one a kind person would make. Among the people Echo and his vode have been since their chips activated, the liars and criminals, those loyal to the empire, even common decency is a rarity, let alone kindness.

“But without asking anything in return?” Echo shoots back.

Tas sighs. “You don't have anything I want or need and everything I'll use to cure your kid I can get for free.” She places her cup on the dark wood surface of the table, running a finger around the rim. “I'm also glad for the company.”

Her voice and the way she looks across the table are as warm as the tea in Echo's hand, a soft smile on Tas' face. When Echo and his original batch were growing up on Kamino, 99 would wear almost exactly the same expression as he listened to their rambled recounts of their day.

But it's something that can be faked. If she's trying to fool them, Echo won't fall for it that easily.

“You noticed that we're armed and I'm aware of what we look like,” Echo continues. Omega and Tech are the only ones that aren't constantly assumed to be dangerous based on looks alone. “Aren't you worried about your safety?”

Tas' smile widens, showing off her crooked teeth.

“I don't think you're a threat and I've always been a good judge of character. And even if I am wrong, I know you won't harm me whilst there's a chance I could save your kid. You care about her too much to risk her well-being like that.” Tas empties her cup, refilling it immediately. “And if you kill me after, well, guess I just judged you wrong.”

She laughs loudly, voice cracking. It's infectious. Echo finding he has to smile as well.

With his own tea finished, Echo takes a moment to comm his brothers. It takes a few seconds for Hunter to answer.

“Yeah?,” he says, voice breathy.

“Are you making progress?”

“We're getting along fine,” Hunter answers, once again with a few seconds delay.

This wouldn't be the first time his kih'vode lied about something like this. Echo has to fight the urge to go after them to check they haven't gotten themselves into a mess they can't get out of. He'll take a chance on trusting Hunter's words, it's not like he can leave Omega alone.

Tas offers Echo more tea. He declines in favour of going back to holding Omega's hand. It's warm, damp with sweat.

Omega stirs a few minutes later, blinking slowly and failing to push herself upright. At first, nothing coherent leaves her mouth. Fragments of words are uttered between pained groans, none making any sense.

Echo lays his hand on Omega's forehead. His body temperature being consistently low since Skako Minor, she leans into the touch immediately.

“Echo?” Her voice is weak, hoarse from screaming. Omega can barely keep her eyes open as she looks up at Echo. “Hurts, please,” she forces out, teeth grit, tears in her eyes.

She grabs for Echo's hand with her second one, movement uncoordinated, curling up on her side further. Her knees are up as close to her chest as possible.

Echo, unable to do anything for his sister currently, turns to Tas, only to find her place on the opposite side of the table empty. Turning his head, Echo quickly spots her in the kitchen. Her back is turned to them, so Echo has a hard time seeing what she's up to. Tas isn't moving much, just standing there.

Echo almost calls to her, but a whimper from Omega draws his attention back to his vod'ika.

“It's alright,” Echo lies. “The other's will be back with a cure soon.” At least half of his statement should be true. If Tas hasn't lied to them.

Omega nods, trying to lift her head. Echo's just a little too far from her, so her head slides off his lap. Omega makes a sad noise when Echo takes his hand from her grip, but he only does so for as long as it takes to move closer to her.

He places one of the cushions on his lap, helping her rest on that. As soon as she's settled, Echo goes back to holding Omega's hand.

Tas returns with something in hand. It's made of dark blue fabric, decorated with tiny blue stars. It rustles when it's placed on the table, filled with lots of small, hard objects. Echo eyes it suspiciously.

“Don't look at it like that,” Tas huffs. “It's for her stomach, will help with the cramps. Bit like a heating pad,” she explains, pushing it across the table.

Displeased with having to let go of Omega again, Echo picks it up. The fabric is soft, two circles neatly sown together. The contents of the bag, beans or kernels of some sort by the way they shift in Echo's grip, are indeed warm.

Echo can't see a way how this could possibly harm Omega, so with a little gentle encouragement, he gets her to place it on her stomach.

Echo runs his thumb over the back of Omega's hand as he watcher her curl up again. It's agonizing to watch her like this, even if the tension eases from her shoulders a little now that heat his easing her discomfort somewhat.

It's an important job, staying with Omega, keeping her safe whilst the root is being located. Still, Echo is left doing nothing but watch her suffer as he waits. He's an ARC Trooper, outfitted for all kinds of though situations. But not this, not being able to do nothing truly useful as he waits for his brothers to return.

Omega's survival is a priority topped by nothing for each member of the squad, their new sister having wormed her way into their lives at incredible speed. The others will be doing everything in their power to get back to her with what is needed for the cure as fast as possible.

Still, Echo can't help but hope they're hurrying, that they'll make it in time. He's not sure he'll be able to stand watching Omega's state decline further.

#tbb #tbb wrecker #tbb omega #tbb tech #tbb hunter #tbb echo #tbb fanfiction #my writing #whump #ailesswhumptober2024

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melrosing · 11 months ago

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As your not a big fan of fantasy books in general. What drew you into loving asoiaf? What got you hooked?

now that I'm invested in asoiaf I do genuinely like the fantasy elements of the story, but the stuff that really pulled me in was the human drama and political intrigue etc. I love the character work, almost all of the POVs feel fully realised and subvert typical tropes in really interesting ways (imo). I like the inter-generational drama (the reasons I like succession are v similar to the reasons I like the Lannisters), like if I want to understand Jaime and Cersei and Tyrion I can look to Tywin, and if I want to understand Tywin I can look to Tytos, and if I was to understand Tytos I can look to Gerold, like it's a russian doll of intergenerational trauma what more could a girl want.

and on that note I really like the scope! GRRM obviously feels this need to account for all details minor and major, so that even with everything that's already on the page there's room to extrapolate so much more. i mean here I am writing who knows how many words about a fake 20-episode long robert's rebellion tv series lol like this all happened before the series even starts and yet I hardly need to make anything up bc there is so much to draw on just based on all the random little details we've got here and there from characters reflecting on the same events from different angles, and trying to piece together portraits of the people who died based on the recollections of those on the page who remember them..... it is so fun)

and yeah usually I prefer to read about that kind of thing on a smaller scale but the drama that plays out in AGOT is so engaging that upon initiation I didn't find it so much of a chore to keep track of all the various houses and lands etc in order to understand the full implications of each thing that happened - it felt like it was worth the effort. generally it's the 'keeping track' of it all that I find grating about fantasy bc I really want to just get on with the story rather than keep on top of a hundred magic systems and sub-species of pixie.

and obvs asoiaf is low fantasy rather than high fantasy, i.e. there aren't intricate systems to the magic and or complicated genus for each of the creatures, so that made it feel a lot more accessible for me as someone who just isn't very interested in those kinds of details. Dany's magic is made up as she goes along, it's never explained, and that's the same for pretty much all the fantastical elements - it's very show don't tell. and even though when you count it all up there are quite a lot of fantastical features and subplots, taken together with the rest of the story it's more like.... seasonings I wouldn't usually choose but ended up liking just fine in this overall dish lol

and finally asoiaf just really appealed to me from a fannish perspective! I really hate when you're trying to dig deeper with a work and you quickly start to realise that the writer(s) just weren't thinking that hard. it feels like striking concrete with a spade, like it's a one-sided conversation rather than something both the writer and the reader are participating in. I think some fans are perfectly fine with that and good for them - who cares if the author built the work to sustain your analysis if you're just having fun doing it - but for me it's a complete killjoy, I end up v frustrated and like the work isn't worth my time

so here's GRRM who is so fixated on the finer details that he's churned out a history book like 700 pages long and a bunch of short stories and also another history book just to add a bit more texture to the main story. and I don't have to worry about network input or co-writers or actors' intentions or whatever other external conflict or influence cos for better or worse it's all his story. and that just suits me better lol, it's one guy and his shitty computer, and me reading the shit he wrote with it. pure and simple living in the moment no phones in sight

also jaime and brienne are everything to me xo

#ask #like do i ever want him to finish the story but even still im like. god i love this shit

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luthsthings · 1 year ago

Text

A Sims 4 Horse Ranch* review, by a Simmer who's not all that into horses

* Software not final. Sponsored by EA.

First, many thanks to EA/Maxis for the early access! This was a treat for me, to get access to an early build to try out for a while, as I'm not exactly a high-profile streamer. Or a streamer at all. Or even a creator (though I'll upload a household I came to love to the Gallery when I get a chance!). But I do love this game! And I love that I can help more of you play it the way you want to. Anyway, the review…

What I liked!

The great range of build/buy! I'll get LOTS of use out of this. It complements some other packs well too.

There are lots of helpful rooms in build mode for fast stables and nectar-related spaces! As a non-builder who sometimes tries to build, I was really happy to have a premade horse stall for my lot.

[image: a pre-built stable room in Build mode]

There's lots of Teen–Elder clothing and hair, and I love the dirty clothes swatches. I'll get LOTS of use out of this pack's CAS! And it will go well with styles from some other packs, too.

The new Afro-textured hairs are a welcome recognition that the cowboy culture of the Old West was not a White culture — there were lots of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous cowboys and entrepreneurial women in the Old West!

I deeply appreciate the Indigenous content in build/buy, recipes, and CAS — I could see lots there in CAS, for example, that the Navajo people I saw and met in Utah and northern New Mexico (which is a part of the world I really want to go back to) wore IRL.

Lots range from fairly small (15 x 20) to quite large. I appreciate the range as someone who isn't a fan of building on large lots when I do build. There are horse practice areas in the land around some small lots, so you can still keep a horse there.

For Strangerville owners who love that landscape (which I do!), there's now somewhere for that valley, with its smaller population, to be "near". I can imagine that you'd drive up into a range from the new world and drop down into hidden Strangerville. Driving the other direction might take you to Oasis Springs.

The horse-riding and other horse animations are really detailed and fluid. They interact a lot with each other, too. I felt like parent and child horses recognized their relationship even.

[image: a mare lovingly nuzzling her foal]

The sheep and goats are endlessly adorable. Plus profitable! :D And they can sleep in your house!

The rabbithole adventure location out in the countryside has a very different gameplay than previous ones! And it has great sound effects -- play it with the volume up! It's hard to find, though. But it was nice to not need other tricks to get access. (I still have not done the secret places in Oasis Springs or the Outdoor Retreat pack!)

What I didn't like:

No new fridge, stove, bathtub, or toilet (I do like getting more of those!)

Very little boys' children's clothes. And no chaps for Children, even though they can ride and even though Toddlers got some

I would have liked a higher-tech/automated version of a nectar maker. However, this isn't a feature I care about much anyway.

You can't breed the mini goats and sheep, and there aren't even smaller baby ones. I'd have liked to have a full-on sheep farm. I like sheep. (I can practically see my husband glaring about how much I like sheep, even though he's waaaaay far away at the office right now.)

[image: a smiling, leaping mini-sheep, with a spotted goat behind it]

I definitely would never have found the countryside rabbithole without help, but maybe you will? If I could figure out how to do spoilers here, I would...

The horse-toy balls are a little… glowy? for my taste. They also weren't where I looked for them in the catalog, so you'll want to use search for them.

Cross-pack things?

I'd have liked to check out these before now, but with the pre-patch builds, that's not an option, and I'm always kind of busy when patches come out! For example ...

How do cats and dogs interact with horses, sheep, and goats?

Can horses be familiars for spellcasters?

Are there new Milestones?

Are there new Lifestyles?

Are there new Club rules, and are there enough of those?

This Simmer needs to know! (And eventually will.)

Neat things to know!

There's a rabbithole building in town where you can change or plan outfits like a dresser! And just off the main road in town there's a rabbithole building where you can buy goats, sheep, and groceries and other useful things, like horse age-up treats. I liked having an alternative way to buy these things and a whole new way to plan outfits. I'd be happy for more of that. If I can't go into a building, I might as well at least be able to pretend I can. As long as they don't end up being worlds stuffed with rabbitholes in place of gameplay (actually watching horse competition would have been nice!).

You can use a Community Board in town (or from B/B if you want one on your lot) to take local one-off jobs for money. Most need you to own a Horse or some sheep or goats. There are lots of ways to make money as a rancher without needing someone in the household to have a job. My relatives who are farmers will be seriously jealous.

Get to know that Crinkletop guy! He's very useful.

Bugs? Bugs!

Things to watch out for that were issues for me in the early-access build, which is NOT the release build, so hopefully it's a bit better:

Ranch dancing is EXTREMELY popular. You might want to not keep a radio at home until the new dancing has a mod to … moderate it. Or is tuned down by the devs. But I do like it when I'm in control!

[image: five Sims ranch dancing (line dancing) as a group, including two Don Lothario and Eliza Pancakes]

The beautiful stone fireplace was also very, very popular, and of course potentially deadly. Watch out for that.

Ranch hands are NOT reliable. They might stay really, really late. They might stop showing up after a couple days. They might forget the things you instructed them NOT to do the day before. They might be super into kicking the garbage bin over. Keep an eye on your ranch hand. At least until the day, someday, when they get fixed. I'm hoping this is also moddable for those of us on PC.

At one point I had a weird bug where my Sim decided she would NOT eat. The rest of the household could eat. Guests could eat. They could eat HER food. It was fixed by going to the world map and back into the household, so I didn't find out if she was going to just starve to death.

I couldn't find some of the new CAS at first because some men's outfits were under "jumpsuit" for no apparent reason. So, if you're looking for some cool outerwear, try "jumpsuits." Hopefully it was recategorized for the release build!

And that's it! I'm happy to answer questions!

#sims 4 horse ranch #the sims 4 horse ranch #ts4 horse ranch #sponsored by EA #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #simblr

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raspberrysmoon · 7 months ago

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RICHIE and jerries

oooo these are fun ones!!! yippee

richie is. dead. even moreso than ruth is. he hasnt got much else going on anymore

he spends his existence in a small bedroom with a tv and internet access, though he can't communicate outside of the black. he uses his afterlife to spend money he'd never had before on merch for animes he hadn't had time to watch in life

he's seen the starwars series a few more times, too. ruth likes his room as a way to escape the lights of her stage. she green of his room burns her eyes, just as the blue of her stage burns his.

they ignore the screaming.

jeri.

jeri has two jobs: her summer job at camp idonwannabang, and her full time job as a watcherworld employee.

her summers are spent trying to keep the campers alive. she's going grey in her 20s because of that place, though, she'd never leave. she doesn't know where the bodies are going. she doesn't want to. she looks away deliberately.

her life is spent at watcherworld, hanging out with kids and tending to rides. she's never figured she'd work in a themepark, but she cant even think about leaving without getting a migraine. she loves watcherworld.

jeri loves children. she wants nothing more than to help children. she figures, between camp and watcherworld, that she's doing the best she can. she'd never change it.

jerry... oh, jerry.

jerry is.... well, he's a cannibal. for this, the rest of this post has a trigger warning for talks of cannibalism, murder and general death.

jerry figured he shouldn't just... waste the children who die. and, jeri likes the meat in their favorite stew! it.. works out.

he doesn't know how this happened, or why it started. he doesn't remember. nothing else tastes very good to him anymore.

he spends hours at his desk in the winter, typing frantically to divert suspicion onto anyone that isn't him. for now, he's point his finger at the murrays. why do they live in the witchwood, he asks, if not to hide bodies? nobody has caught on yet. he won't let them.

(officer bailey at the hfpd did. he.. moved to clivesdale a few days later.)

jerry will not let something so good go to waste just because little jerrie doesn't like what the person did. he has better plans. one of those plans is to get rid of the people who look too close.

#cannibalism #cw cannibalism #tw cannibalism #boy jerry #richie lipschitz #girl jeri #alice answers asks !!#i curse the day #raspberry writes #mentions #officer bailey #poor guy

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wirewitchviolet · 7 months ago

Text

"They Don't Teach Kids About Computers These Days!"

I see variations on this a LOT these days. Sometimes it's people in their teens/early 20s being frustrated at how they're expected to know everything about computers, sometimes it's college professors straight up HORRIFIED when they realize they have students who don't have any understanding that their hard drive, a school's internal network, and on a public website are completely distinct places for a file to be located, and I kinda figure the weird stress a lot of people seem to have about the concept of getting a game and not having it just go into their Steam library specifically is a related issue.

Now on the one hand, obviously, I sympathize with this. I have a series of posts on this blog called How A Computer Works, because... I want to teach people about this stuff. (That's still ongoing by the way, I've just got a lot else going on and need to settle on the scope of the next lesson.) On the other hand, uh... I'm from the generation before the one that apparently has all the computer literacy problems, and nobody taught us this stuff in school... and the next generation up wouldn't possibly have had access. So was anyone taught how to use them?

Now I say "they didn't teach my generation how to use computers in school" but that isn't technically true. I see a lot of people call people my age "the Oregon Trail generation" when this topic comes up. Sort of on the edge of Gen X and Millennials, going through school in that window where Apple had really really pushed the Apple ][ on schools with big discounts. And they did have "computer classes" to learn how to do some things on those, but... that isn't really a transferable or relevant skill set.

Like, yeah, if you're below the age of let's say 30 or so as of when I'm writing this, the idea of what "a computer" is has been pretty stable for your whole life. You've got some sort of tower case, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and in that tower there's a bunch of RAM, a processor, video and sound cards of some sort, and a big ol' hard drive, and it's running Windows, MacOS, or some flavor of Unix going for the same basic look and functionality of those. It's generally assumed (more than it should be, some of us our poor) that a given person is going to have one in their home, any school is going to have a whole room full of them, libraries will have some too, and they are generally a part of your life. We can probably make the same sort of general assumption about IPhone/Android cellphones for the past what, 15 years or so too, while we're at it. They're ubiquitous enough that, especially in academic circles where they're kind of required professionally, people are going to assume you know them inside and out.

Prior to the mid-90s though? It was kind of a lawless frontier. Let's say you have a real young cool teacher who got way into computers at like 5 years old, and now they're 25 and they're your computer class teacher in the mid-90s. The computer they got way into as a kid? It would have been this.

That's not a component of it, that's the whole thing. A bank of switches for directly inputting binary values into memory addresses and some more switches for opcodes basically, and then some LEDs as your only output. Nothing about this is other than the benefits of fundamentally understanding some low level stuff is going to be useful at all in any sort of practical sense if you sit down a decade later with one of these.

This at least looks a bit more like a computer you'd see today, but to be clear, this has no mouse, no way to connect to the internet, which wasn't really a thing yet to begin with, and no hard drive, even. You did not install things on an Apple ][. You had every program on a big ol' floppy disk (the sort that were just a circle of magnetic film in a thick paper envelope basically and were, in fact, floppy), you would shove that in the disk drive before turning the machine on, it'd make a horrible stuttering knocking sound resetting the drive head, and just read whatever was on that right into memory and jump right on in to running Oregon Trail or a non-wysiwyg text editor (i.e. there's no making bold text appear on screen, you'd just have a big ugly tag on either side of your [BOLD>bold text<BOLD] like that). It was not unlike popping a cartridge or disc into an older video game console, except for the bit where if you wanted to save something you'd have to take the disk out while it was running and pop a blank one into the drive to save to.

So when I was a kid and I'd have my "computer class" it'd be walking into a room, sitting down with one of these, and having a teacher just as new to it as I was just reading out a list of instructions off a sheet like, "flip open the lock on the disk drive, take the disk out of the sleeve, make sure it says Logo Writer on it, slide it in with the label up and facing you, flip the lock back down, hit the power switch in the back of the machine..." We didn't learn anything about file management beyond "don't touch anything until the screen says it's done saving to the disk" because again, no hard drives. I guess there was a typing class? That's something, but really there's nothing to learn about typing that isn't where every key is and you only (but inevitably) learn that through practice.

Now, overlapping with this, I eventually got myself a used computer in the early 90s, very old at the time, but not as old as the ones at school. I had a proper black and white OG Mac. With a hard drive and a window-based operating system and everything. And... nobody taught me a damn thing about how that one worked. My mother just straight up did not touch a computer until something like 2001. I didn't really have any techie mentors. I just plugged it in and messed around and worked everything out. Same way I worked out what I was doing with older computers, mostly on my own at the local library, because that computer class wasn't much, and how I was totally left on my own to work out how to hook up every console I ever owned, which was slightly more involved at the time.

That forky bit in the middle was held in place with a pair of phillips headscrews. Had to keep the VCR and cable box in the right daisy chain order too.

Enough rambling about how old I am though. What's the actual disconnect here? How did my generation work out everything about computers without help but the next one down allegedly goes dear in the headlights if someone asks them to send them a file?

Well first off I'm not at all willing to believe this isn't at least largely a sampling bias issue. Teachers see all the clueless kids, people asking online for help with things is more common than people spontaneously mentioning how everything is second-nature to them, etc. Two things stick out to me though as potential sources of the issue though:

First, holy crap are modern computers ever frail, sickly little things! I'm not even talking about unreliable hardware, but yeah, there's some shoddy builds out there. I mean there's so many software dependencies and auto-updating system files and stuff that looks for specific files in one and only one location, just crashing if they aren't there. Right now on this Windows 10 machine I've got this little outdoor temperature tracker down in the task bar which will frequently start rapidly fluttering between normal and a 50% offset every frame, and the whole bar becomes unresponsive, until I open the task manager (don't even have to do anything, just open it). No clue what's up with that. It was some system update. It also tries to serve me ads. Don't know if it's load-bearing. Roughly every other day I have to force-quit Steam webhelper. Not really sure what that's even for. Loading user reviews? Part of me wants to dig in and yank out all this buggy bloatware, but I genuinely don't know what files are loadbearing. This wasn't an issue on older computers. Again, screwing around with an old Apple ][, and old consoles and such, there wasn't anything I could really break experimenting around. It was all firmware ROM chips, RAM that cleared on power cycling, and disks which were mostly copy-protected or contained my own stuff. No way to cause any problem not fixed by power cycling.

Next, everything runs pretty smoothly and seemlessly these days (when working properly anyway). Files autosave every few seconds, never asking you where you actually want to save them to, things quietly connect to the internet in the background, accessing servers, harvesting your info. Resolutions change on their own. Hell emulators of older systems load themselves up when needed without asking. There's a bunch of stuff that used to be really involved that's basically invisible today. The joke about this being "a 3D print of the save icon" already doesn't work because how often do you even see a UI element for saving? When we still used disks regularly, they held next to nothing and would take like half a minute to read and write.

And don't even get me started on launchers and start menus and all that.

So... basically what I'm getting at here is if you feel like you never learned how to properly use a computer, go get your hands on an old computer and mess around. There's yard sales, there's nice safe runs in a browser emulators, hell there's kits to build your own. That or just look for someone wearing like a Mega Man T-shirt or playing a Madonna CD (hell maybe just any CD these days) and start politely asking questions, because again just because everyone who knows this stuff just had to work it out on our own doesn't mean you should have to.

#computers #education #technology used to move fast #yes i used to have a tv like that and it took two people to move if you ever needed to get back behind it or you'd just climb over the top

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wingsoverlagos · 6 months ago

Text

Lewisohn vs. Searle

Forget, for a moment, that I said I wouldn't clog up your dashboards with a million citation comparisons. I have found a quote that is so brazenly manipulated, I had to share it.

This quote is pulled from an interview of John Lennon conducted by Malcolm Searle on June 15, 1964, in Melbourne's Southern Cross Hotel. Lewisohn cites it twice (the other quote is below the cut - it's rephrased slightly, but the meaning is retained), and some kind soul uploaded it to YouTube.

Tune In 20-32 vs. interview by Malcolm Searle

Here's the quote as it appears in Tune In, a simple statement about John's immediate connection with Neil Aspinall:

It's a simple quote. Straightforward. In case the name "Neil" wasn't clear enough, Lewisohn emphasized that John was "talking about the Beatles' first and original full-time assistant."

This is incorrect. You can hear John's words at 7:52. Transcript [emphasis mine]:

Well, Neil – he’s our personal road manager, well he was in from the start. He went to school with Paul and George, and the other fellow, Derek, we’ve known for about a year, but he’s sort of one of those people that clicked soon as you meet him.

There's no room for error here. The person who John refers to as "one of those people that clicked as soon as you meet him" is Derek Taylor. Of his relationship with Neil, John simply says that Neil was around from the early days due to being a schoolmate of Paul and George. This is even more noteworthy when we look at how the rest of this paragraph in Tune In plays out:

There are no other citations for this paragraph - that footnote after "their protector" talks about Neil's relationship with the "road manager" title - so the only source we have here is a quote that's actually about Derek Taylor. For the record, I don't think Lewisohn needs to cite each of Neil Aspinall's personality traits, so long as they're established elsewhere in the book - if we have evidence of him being "sharp, blunt, mentally strong, bright, funny, opinionated, mouthy, loyal, honest" elsewhere in the book, that phrase can stand on its own.

But there are a few specific phrases here that do warrant a citation. First, that bit about Neil "[getting] along very well very quickly" with John, also with George, and "to a lesser extent" with Paul. That explicit differentiation of one of the core three from the others needs supporting evidence. So too does Lewisohn's assertion that "John made sure Neil was man enough to stand up to him." This isn't a nebulous claim, so why doesn't Lewisohn tell us how John "made sure" Neil was "man enough"? Surely he has evidence for that and isn't just spit-balling?

I'm not a Neil Aspinall expert--I know he kept to himself, mostly, and perhaps that led the people around him to be close-lipped about him in return. But surely someone this close to the Beatles, someone in the inner circle - surely the Beatles said something about him that's worth quoting, rather than a manipulated quote about Derek Taylor followed by a bunch of uncited editorialization?

Tune In 17-35 vs. interview by Malcolm Searle

Audio clip at 3:08. Transcript, emphasis added to quoted phrases:

Ringo we met in Hamburg. He was playing with another group, and, y’know, we thought we liked his style but we’d only just got up the other drummer so we couldn’t do anything about it, but when we got the chance, we did.

Unmarked omission, and the word order in the first sentence is re-arranged ("Ringo we met in Hamburg" vs "We met Ringo in Hamburg")

Sources:

Lewisohn M. 2013. The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In. New York (NY): Crown Archetype. [ebook]

Searle M. 1964 Jun 15. Intervista John Lennon in Australia con Malcom Searle. Uploaded 2019 Feb 9, 8:44. Accessed online 2024 May 14. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVpX7Xuz09I

#mark lewisohn #the beatles #tune in #lewi-sins #malcolm searle #john lennon #neil aspinall

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world-of-wales · 10 months ago

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It’s always events like these that can show both the best and worst of humanity, with lots of support coming in for the King, Catherine and the family… but conversely, the amount of vile comments under most news sites really make me sick. Interestingly, I don’t even care all that much about what Harry and Meghan’s cult have to say, because you just know already that they will make up the worst fake situations and run with it like it’s the truth. I’ve seen the most disgusting things from them. But again, it’s to be expected, and they just mindlessly hate everything about the royal family.

No, the worst for me is realising how entitled many Brits come across when they discuss the NHS, private healthcare and whether wealthy people are “entitled” to receive better healthcare, and that the royal family should be made to use the NHS exclusively (including waitlisting etc) as most people. I have tried to read all the tweets and comments where people actually share their stories of understaffed hospitals, long waiting lists leading to potentially avoidable deaths etc, and I truly have sympathy with them. But do they not realise how high the standard of care they receive is, especially for “free” (through tax) healthcare??? Look, I live in South Africa. Our private healthcare is really good (many expats say on par with Europe), but only around 20% of the population can afford it. The public health system on the other hand.. it’s the same quality doctors, but hospitals are SEVERELY understaffed, often overcrowded, lacking in resources, so that the care you often receive is really sub-par. When people complain about months-long wait lists for operations or procedures, again, I have sympathy, but also, for SA public healthcare, this means someone going to A&E waits literal hours for any sort of care at times. I live in a small town, and the closest hospital is a public one. There was an accident where a man accidentally severed his hand using a chainsaw, so they opted to taking him to the public hospital 30 mins away vs the private one 2hrs away, to get help quicker. He ended up in the waiting room, holding his severed hand, for over three hours and had not been helped AT ALL, when they decided to drive the further 1hr30 to the private hospital. Many people would jump at the chance for our public healthcare to be even in the vicinity as good as the NHS. And also, those who don’t have medical aid over here never begrudge those who have access to private healthcare. It’s more of a situation where if someone has access to that, rather use that than take up more resources that the public healthcare doesn’t have, even if there are benefits to using those systems for simpler situations (like regular checkups, prescription medication being really cheap or even free, but then there’s less for people who really need it). They seem to be completely lacking in empathy and ironically, completely unaware of their own privilege.

No I completely agree, a lot of things that you said are completely true for Indian Healthcare system too. Buy yk what these people do not realise that doctors and nurses themselves often encourage people who can afford private care to get private care to make sure those who only rely on public health services can get them as quick as possible especially if there's an emergency. My own dad has had had chats like this with his patients. We were just talking about it yesterday while on call because this exact thing came up when I was like why don't people understand how medical Healthcare works. It pisses me off so much, especially when some of the stuff people say isn't even accurate at all. The NHS though a fabulous institution, is deeply deeply flawed not because there's an issue with it per say but because of the utter mismagement by the the govt and nobody else's fault. The Tories in the past 13 years has run it to the ground, massively underfunded etc etc but even then it is a whole lot better than most countries around the globe like you said.

I'm not blaming the public because it isn't their fault at all that they are having to wait for even simple checkups let alone complex procedures which they need. It's not their fault that they've been dealt a shitty hand from the govt who'll rather do everything else than actually help those who they are supposed to represent. I completely and 100 percent empathize with them but blaming the problems the govt has created on somebody else who's having a health crisis no matter who they are isn't okay imo.

What all you said about SA is completely parallel to what happens in India word to word. It's horrific stories all around. My own dad has always said that even he wasn't himself aware of the dire situation that exists virtually everywhere else. Not saying that there aren't issues when it comes to the nhs for ordinary people, but that the standard of care people get through them might be flawed at times but is still a millions miles ahead of most places on Earth. He does say that he wasn't aware of the privilege he had as a kid or even as an adult until he actually started working outside of it. As a kid it was so easy for him to get a doctor if he was sick etc but working in his field all these years in places all across and even today in India makes him realise of how easy he and his family & those around them had compared to all this bs. One of his earliest patients when we moved to India was a kid of 10 or 11, it was supposed to be a normal operation right? Could be done in any of the places in their local community health centres but couldn't happen. Why? Because the govt sure has made the building but not put the actual staff and machinery in there. So they travelled from their village in central maharashtra to Bombay to get their child a fucking hernia removal which takes just an hour at most. And they didnt get it in the govt hospital even then because of several problems but through the ngo & hospital my dad works with. With this you can easily imagine the state of it all.

And I'm glad that I have seen people a lot of them medical professionals in the past 2 days who have been like it's good that they are going private not because they are rich and they should but because that will make sure no extra stress is put on an already crippled nhs. Now as for the issue of private Healthcare, I have always been against privatizing something as basic a human right as Healthcare for all and believe that it should be accessible to everyone regardless of where they come from or who they are. But also the reality i that we live in a world based on capitalism, so there is no way around the fact that as long as the prevailing economic structure exists, these disparities will also exist because they are a direct result of that. So blaming it on somebody who's already staying way from the public system to ensure she doesn't burden it doesn't seem to be great even if you think about it logically or emotionally. When it is the Govt who has been hell bent on making sure the nhs turns into the across the pond version of the disaster that the American health care system is.

Then they are also being like 14 days? Oh extra precautions cause of who she is. UMMM NO! Any doctor will tell you that's basically the normal time to have an hospital stay after a large incision there to make sure there's no further emergency situation and to avoid any infection or even ur stitches coming out. Abdominal surgery is no cakewalk and comes with significant risks so yah you do need to be extra extra cautious. Those assumptions honestly make me so fucking angry because if you don't know shit about medicine then kindly do us all a favour and stfu.

And I never ever ever will understand how any decent person can wish bad health, death etc on anybody else, someone whos done nothing to you. Like how does your own conscience allow that? You don't like someone? great you are entitled to your own opinion. But wishing harm to somebody just because of that is so so disgusting to me especially when that person has done nothing to you or anyone else ever except get married into a family you don't like. Even when PP and QEII passed away the vitriol and the I'm glad they are dead jokes were just out of my comprehension. And I do think it has a lot to do with the fact that over time the idea of anonymity on the internet has made us as a society this way, like who's gonna check you when you talk like this about someone online. And also imo, it's also become a thing where it makes you 'cool' to challenge everything you see around you online; not necessarily because you might also believe in it too but because it makes you different than all the other mere mortals around.

I had so much more to say but I realise how long it already is so �� I'm sorry for the length of it, I just couldn't stop myself.

#ash's asks #anons

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