#story liveblog

[defilerwyrm]

There’s this guy in town who owns this little house, and a while back he rescued a street dog that was going to get put down. Turned out she was pregnant.

Problem is, he has mental health & drug issues and couldn’t afford to get them all spayed & neutered, so now there are 6 grown bitches with 15 puppies total, and they’ve dug under his fence in multiple places but he can’t afford to fix it so they go roaming all around town. (When I say can’t afford it, I mean his house is currently running on a generator because he can’t afford his electric bill.) He’s also a day laborer so he cannot take multiple full days off work to take them to the vet an hour away. He’s in a really rough spot.

He’s not a bad person. He’s just overwhelmed.

And this little conservative town with 6 churches for 300 people, have they tried to help their neighbor? Have they adopted the puppies he’s been trying to give away? Have they offered resources?

NOPE! All they wanna do is talk shit about him and complain about the dogs but never lift a finger of their own. And they come to his house to yell at him and cuss him out about the dogs, which does not exactly engender in him a cooperative attitude, as you might imagine.

So after a while of this going on, my mom gets fed up with all the NIMBY bullshit and starts talking to the guy, because she’s done animal rescue for 20-odd years and has Connections. He’s resistant at first, but when he realizes she’s not being an asshole to him on account of his addiction or the dogs, he decides to let her help.

She gets to work organizing and networking. Finds a non-profit that will cover vaccinations, spay/neuter, and flea treatments for all the dogs. Talks the next-door neighbor into paying for materials to fix the fence, since this guy can do the work of it himself. Gets him in touch with another non-profit that will adopt out the adult dogs.

Less than 2 weeks after she decided to do something, all puppies have been to the vet, 10 puppies and 4 adult dogs have been adopted out, and the second non-profit is coming by next week to pick up the remaining 7 dogs to ship them out for adoption.

I’ve learned a lot of things from my mom—some good, some bad—but I think the most important positive message she lives as an example of is this: sometimes, when something needs done and no one else is willing, you gotta stand up and say “I’ll do it.”

[lemonycranberries]

"No, I know they would be [supportive]! Honestly, I... I just can't be bothered to give everyone a vocab lesson" IS SO FUCKING REAL AAAHSJAHJHJHISJHJHK

[wanderingandfound]

Friends at the Table 2015: What if Han Solo used to be Beyoncé?

Friends at the Table 2025: What if Han Solo wanted to be Gandalf?

[ahalliance]

the meta-ness attached to grian this season is crazy…. Ren starting a murder crew with the explicit goal of killing the one who ‘started this all/puts them all through this every Tuesday’

[quinn-of-aebradore]

“But Matt, it’s Critmas!”

“Ah, but it’s German Critmas.”

[edenprime]

One of the strongest points of Mass Effect, if not the strongest, is just how well written the characters are. From Shepard, to the squad, to the side characters like Anderson and Bakara, to barely-there NPCs like Ereba and Charr the lovers, Etarn Tiro the enthusiastic turian merchant, Kargesh the krogan who wanted a fish, Lia'Vael, the quarian who gets falsely accused of theft, and the Salarian who wants to buy a memento to his asari lover to remember him by once he's dead.

I feel like so many of them are memorable, and they all serve a purpose to the overall world building. The krogan show that they are not the violent thugs the galaxy has made them out to be. The salarian shows the struggle born out of building relationships with people of a species with a life expectancy so beyond your own. Lia'Vael illustrates what Tali says about the quarians being treated like second class citizens. Those small little side quests have a meaning and a purpose, it doesnt feel like they are Just There, and they add more to the lore of them game to those who care about that stuff.

[protect-namine]

this is so funny. this is how we get a "dance track that's not a tearjerker (lie)" song

[ying-doodles]

// novel spoilers (side story 1 / chp 403)

No but wait. Hold up. You're telling me that Javier wished for Lloyd to change and almost immediately Suho was sent into Lloyd's body?? Suho was literally sent to the world of 'Knight of Blood and Iron' for Javier?? ... If that's not the most romantic shxt I've ever heard of in my life?! Talk about destined soulmates!! Σ(°ロ°)!!

Okay but also why are they literally this meme:

[thewertsearch]

Curt manners. Egregious womanizing. Murdering the help. Casual arson. [o] Even atrocious candy bowl etiquette. But it is the desecration of a priceless timepiece where I must draw the line. I'm afraid I must now insist that you take your beating quite personally.

The man's beating Slick's ass to the ground with Homestuck itself. I’ve been waiting to see how Scratch himself would mix it up, and it was absolutely worth the wait. The guy’s got style.

Not the Scotty Dogs!

Alright, Doc, I can excuse causing the apocalypse, but I have to draw the line somewhere. You're going straight the fuck down to G-tier.

EB: hello? EB: you didn't fly off to fight jack yet, did you? […] EB: anyway, all that stuff you said sounds fun to me, i have hells of the cage flicks in my library. EB: i do not even care that you're an alien! you see, cage is the universal constant which unites us all. EB: well… […] EB: i will look forward to your message in the future. […] AG: OH MY FUCKING HELL, THIS IS SO INSANELY AWKWARD AND SAD.

It's honestly a good thing that Vriska's already out of the picture. It'd really suck to watch someone read through a bunch of embarrassing texts you wrote, while you were awkwardly coming to terms with the fact that you're down bad for an alien.

That'd really suck, wouldn't it?

Wouldn't it, Vriska?

It’s actually pretty interesting that Scratch fights like a brawler, since he really doesn't feel like the type to get his hands dirty. Maybe he's not quite as prim and proper as he makes himself out to be.

As for Slick, I’m just impressed at his constitution. He just took a blow that essentially tore a phone directory in two, and he's still on his feet.

...well, I might be counting my chickens before they're hatched, actually. Let's check in on him in a couple of pages.

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

"Jason was the happy robin" this, "jason was the angry robin" that. Let's all be fully honest here Jason was the lonely robin

[discoonthegrass]

Watched The Search for Spock for the first time the other day, and wow this movie is such a tragic love story I’m in awe:

Kirk reflects in his personal log that he feels very uneasy, like a home without the children except even more empty (basically implying that even his “spouse” is gone)

Jim feels that he’s left the noblest part of himself (Spock is a part of him apparently) on the new planet

Sarek automatically assuming that Kirk holds Spock’s katra (why would he assume that if they were just friends)

“Your son meant more to me than you could know. I would’ve given my life if it could’ve saved his.”

Sarek essentially forcing Kirk to relive the worst possible moment of his life, and Kirk tearing up all over again

Jim saying he has a responsibility to Spock’s eternal soul “as surely as if it was his own” (if this isn’t admitting they’re soulmates idk what is)

Jim directly being told that if he goes through with this, he will never sit in the captain’s chair again which has always been shown as the most important thing to him, yet he completely ignores that and goes to warp speed because now nothing matters more than getting Spock’s soul to its resting place

Even in the middle of an intense confrontation with the Klingons, Jim’s face still betrays his hope and joy after he hears about the “Vulcan scientist [he’s] acquainted with”

Jim BLOWS UP the Enterprise instead of surrendering to the Klingons because he can’t give up on saving Spock now, and barely even mourns since he’s already lost someone more important

Jim demanding that Spock get beamed up and the Klingon captain refusing because he can tell how much Jim wants it/cares for Spock

Jim immediately rushing to Spock’s unconscious body and shielding it with his own, draping Spock’s body over himself in a protective “white knight” stance

Unlike everyone else, Jim is restless during the fal-tor-pan, wanting to be with Spock but being prevented from doing so and resorting to pacing instead

Jim not even asking about how Bones is faring but immediately wondering about Spock

“I had to do [it]. If I hadn’t tried, the cost would’ve been my soul.”

Sarek even points out that Jim paid with his ship and his son, but Jim genuinely feels it was worth it

Spock, having just been revived, is supposed to leave to get healed but is compelled to turn back — he cannot recognize any of them (not even McCoy who he literally cohabitated in the same body with) except Jim

Spock asking why Jim came back for him, and Jim responding “because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many” (the reverse of the Vulcan philosophy—he’s saying it was illogical but he needed Spock back and Spock too needed him)

Spock parroting the “I have been and always shall be your friend” line, then finally identifying him as “Jim”

Jim’s face melts into the biggest smile ever seen on his face, even as he’s tearing up from joy

Suffice to say, I love this movie and will be considering it a romance with a side of action from now on.

[arthursfuckinghat]

This might sound really odd but meeting Roger Clark has weirdly helped with the underlying grief you have for Arthur and his story like naw Arthur's not dead I met him the other day he's fine dw

[secriden]

a;sldfjasldfSLJFSDFLSDFJ no but really Style is SO fucking smart about knowing exactly how to wrap Asian aunties around his finger. Like. You don't understand. This is a MASTER at work! *O*

SEE!!!?! I FUCKING I KNEW IT!!!!

[agnesandhilda]

watched a (pirated) mr. birchum episode out of curiosity and in it the asshole conservative protagonist has a homoerotic daydream about the other teacher who's a stand in for the ""woke left"" that he hates, which is the opener for the episode and is also never referred to again, gets his sleeve caught in a machine in his woodshop at work and spends days contemplating his life and regrets while he's trapped (or so he thinks). this montage includes how he met his current wife who he doesn't respect and who isn't honest with him (the b-plot expands on this), how his ex-partner left him after coming out as a lesbian and was repulsed after he tried to persuade her to stay with him, reasoning that her being queer meant they could just share a girlfriend now (that was not what it meant), and culminating in a marlboro man-esque image of commercialized rugged usamerican masculinity telling him to chew his own arm off to escape, before one of his students comes along and frees him by just cutting off his sleeve. all that and he thought to chew his own arm off before he considered just tearing his sleeve. and it's all played as a comedy. fever dream episode

[carmen-in-space]

exile arc hurts so much BECAUSE of the stupid fun they're having right now. there's pain and suffering. but in the moment. they're having a good time. it will go back to pain. but there were good parts too

[wanderingandfound]

Wait wait wait, in addition to making another podcast about the links between memory, identity, and personhood, Gabriel Urbina is making another podcast that ends on Christmas Day.