#that'll REALLY mess up future generations

[edwardslostalchemy]

You know how in algebra, they teach you to manipulate formulas so you can work backwards and get the answer if you have the variables to work with? Like you use the formula as is and you get the answer; you manipulate the formula to isolate x and you use what you have to find the answer. Well in food service math, it doesn't really work like that. There is always one extra step before you can do anything. You have to do that one step before you can continue the rest of your calculations. It would be nice if that extra step was the same for every formula and that way, it would be consistent. But NO, not in food service. The extra step at the beginning is different for every calculation, and if you think you can manipulate the formula to work backwards and think it's simple, you are incorrect and you WILL get the wrong answer. Food service is the bane of my existence and I'm doing my best to crack it so I don't struggle with this on my test. It is absolute garbage math. Dietitians pulled this out of their butts and called it math, and they made it everyone else's problem, too. Thanks, I hate it.

[brianlesshetaliawritings]

Can you do yandere canada and russia after they stop their darling from escape with a bit of violence like broken bone? Like how they treat y/n after that

Yandere Canada and Russia after breaking his darling's leg. (to stop them escaping)

would it be bad to say im excited to write this? idk. i got to thinking and decided i'll go with a broken leg if ya don't mind, sorry. also, sorry again for taking so long. and also like, sorry if this sucks ass??.. i didnt pass writing class if you can tell. but uhh.. ya, this is probably really bad so im sorry. :( another note: I JUST FUCKING REALIZED THAT THIS WAS PROBABLY A REQUEST FOR AFTERWARDS OH MY GOD IM STUPID I WAS GONNA WRITE THE WHOLE PROCESS AND SHIT😭 I NEVER READ SHIT ALL THE WAY ISTG

tw: violence, broken bones, abuse, force feeding, similar stuff

!! yandere content. if you can't handle any behavior possibly seen in a yandere please don't read this. !! (example; obsessive, stalkery, possessive, violent, or generally horrid behaviour.)

Canada

Canada honestly hated having to do this, but he really felt like he had to. That and he was just really pissed. Like a lot. Like screaming, hitting, and punching type pissed. But, again, doesn't like seeing you hurt.

After he absolutely destroyed your lower calf and beat you for a while he spent a minute staring at you, a bit in a daze, until eventually suddenly snapping out it and quickly bringing you home to properly care for the damage he has afflicted upon you.

He was way gentle afterwards, bandaging and disinfecting the wounds with much care and as thuroughly as possible. Though, it was clear he wasn't just going to let this off the hook with the way he decided to directly tie you to a hook on the wall, with very little wiggle room and no way to move more than maybe a foot.

Your progress in all the freedom you acquired was not only reset, but even worse than where you first got here. It's uncomfortable, even with the pilow he provided you. You're no longer allowed to have your hands free in general, and he has to feed you instead of letting you do it yourself. When you need to use the restroom you have two minutes in there until he starts asking what you're doing in there.

It wasn't really all that painful though outside of the ache of the previous abuse he made you endure. That and the occasional ache from the limitted positions you have at your disposal, don't worry though. Every three days he'll switch your spot so you'll at the very least have a different view to look at. In general, he isn't the worst to have, but definitely not the quickest to forget. You'll be stuck doing this for another month or two before he even considers giving you the slightest of freedoms.

Russia

Ivan is not nearly as lenient as Canada. Hell, after he beats the life out of you, probably breaking more than just your leg, he decides to lock you up in the basement—the cold, empty basement. He drags you to the stairs, shoves you down, and locks the door before ditching you for the next day or so.

Eventually, though, he returns, purely to ensure you don't die. You've been bad, but he'd never want you dead. It would be a lonely world without you by his side. His hands roughly push you around as he wraps you up in bandages and drenches your wounds, rubbing the stuff off with a washcloth afterward. He forces you to be tied up in a position where the majority of your bones will heal correctly, besides the leg. If the leg is messed up, that'll make any future attempts all the harder for you, which is what he wants.

Once he's done with that, it'll be another two days. No food, no water, no warmth, no him. Just sitting in the basement without pain medicine, starving, perhaps freezing, as he does nothing to help you with frostbite or hypothermia. Though, as expected, he returns yet again, and this time with food. The force-feeding will be rough, and you'll likely choke a couple of times, but honestly, it's better than you having been starving earlier.

This will be your life for two or so weeks, rotting in the basement, with your only human interaction being when you need to eat or maybe even for the restroom. The good news, though, is that Russia isn't a very patient man. Even if he's frustrated, he misses you a lot. So you'll be freed rather quickly compared to Canada, funny enough. Or at least, freed from the basement, that is.

Don't take this as him forgetting, though. Oh no, he remembers. You're only this lucky because he loves you, okay? You'll never know any of the freedoms you might've had in the past, and you're pretty much stuck with being tied or trapped for the rest of your miserable life. The only thing that'll really change is just the quality of how he'll treat you, the comfort in which you'll be provided, and your setting. So have fun, dear reader, and good luck. You'll need it.

[nunca205s-art-gallery]

[Enters the room pushing a mobile white board full of words, drawings and sticky notes.]

Ok, so. I've been working on something for the past few days... It's a Gravity Falls AU I called "The magic of sight AU" and this is the premise: "Stan gains the hability to predict the future when he has been around 4 years in the streets by a spanish witch in Colombia."

But before I say anything else, I'll show you the last drawing I made about it.

Ok, this will be a semi-long post explaining the base that I have planned already (because I'm a lunatic and I've made three alternate timelines for this AU, but I'll make a separate post about that).

How does it work?

Thanks to what is technically a curse Stan gets suddens glimpses of the future. It usually has to do with him, but sometimes he sees other things (that he can take advantage of, like, a lottery number or someone hiding something valuable somewhere he's close to, etc). The info is always useful, one way or another, but it can be misinterpreted (or acted bad upon). They can be about immediate danger or something that'll cause a chain reaction that'll affect him (negatively) in weeks/months.

His first vision was about being run over by a car two days after getting the power.

When he gets the visions his pupils shrink like crazy and a mark appears on his chest.

(This one's the mark. It doesn't glow, it looks more like a tattoo than anything.)

At first it was very noticeable that he was getting a vision by the way he acted right after. But with time you wouldn't be able to tell if not for the eyes and mark.

– Some fun-facts:

Every time he tried to end it all he got a vision about his next happier time. (That, or the poor disturbed soul that would find his body.)

He got the ability right when he got to Colombia (it hadn't been even a month). The witch gave him that power because he helped her with something and she saw how miserable he was.

This ability has saved his life more than once, but it has also put him in danger (better don't think about that cult he started).

• STORYLINE

After he finds out he's been blessed he's kind of in denial and thinks nothing of it. But after it happens a few times with insignificant stuff, and then wins the lottery (not much, maybe like 500 dollars from a scrape) he finally accepts that maybe something's up.

After that he tries to "control" it for a bit, but quickly realises that it is at random.

He's already a bit involved in iykyk (drogs), but thanks to his new power he manages to avoid bad people's attention.

After some time he lets himself get carried away thinking that he's untouchable. That's when he hits his head against a wall (metaphorically). He misinterpretes the vision and fucks up in a deal, making someone important mad at him (not Rico though). He has to flee and hide for a bit.

And that's mostly how he spends the next few years, he manages to live comfortable for a while, amassing money and meeting people, sometimes the good ones others the bad ones. Then something happens and he has to leave, sometimes he can take his money with him, others he can't (cuz he had to use it to pay back to someone, or to escape).

Most of the times things go wrong because he misinterpreted a vision, but it also is because there was nothing he could really do.

One time he got involved in some messy stuff (houman traffic) by mistake, and the only way he found out he was taking kids to somewhere horrible was thanks to, you guessed it, his power. He called in some favours and got the kids to a safe place, then he ran away from South America for good (he just crossed someone really powerful), but not before tipping off the police about that particular gang, with luck that mess would distract them from him getting back to the US, and if the universe feels generous, get them in jail for a while. Even though if it probably meant that they would look after him after they sort everything out (they did).

After some time back in the US he, unintentionally, really, joined/reformed a cult (it was more like a bunch of people adored him cuz of his power). It started because he decided to help someone after getting a vision, and then he realised he had just saved someone important in the weird church of a small town (practically everyone in there was involved in some dark stuff already thanks to that church). He got invited, and since he was on hiding he thought that this could be a good hiding spot for a while (and he was offered a high position in the "church").

He realised pretty quickly that something was off, but it took him longer to realise what exactly (he knew he was in some kind of cult, but not how bad it really was). And when, a year and a month after he joined, he came across some kind of basement destined for very disturbing rituals he flew the hell out of there the same night. (And he obviously called the cops on them.)

(They hadn't proposed him to join them yet cuz he was a newbie, he had to have at least five years of experience in the church to join the heavy rituals.)

After he got involved the church, he started using his visions to maintain his status, everyone there started seeing him as some kind of Messiah. So they respected him a lot, that's one of the main reasons he didn't leave earlier.

(He may or may not have eaten human meat on his time here. If he has, he has no idea.)

After that he went form place to place, amassing money again. But this time he kept himself away from the drugs stuff (at least for a good while). He mainly went to fight rings to bet or participate in illegal boxing fights.

He pulled some more scams, this time on individual people instead of making products. He learned his lesson.

He was living good, or as good as one can. But then he mistakenly interpreted a vision and fucked up big. The guys he crossed back in South America had send a few people after him after they escaped out of prison and managed to regroup. And they found him.

He almost dies and had to lay low again for a good while. He was almost out of money when Ford asked for his help.

He got there, and before he knocks on the door he gets a vision of Ford getting sucked into the portal. He doesn't know what the hell that means, but he says to himself that he has to keep his cool and, even though he doesn't understand how the hell that vision could happen, he'll try to make it not happen.

He can't keep his cool. It's hearing Ford send him away and crash out.

The fight goes the same until Stan sees the open portal. He gets a flashback to the vision (but not a vision) and stops mid speech. Ford realises that the portal is open and goes to close it, he trips (cuz mf is fucking sleep deprived) causing him to start getting pulled. And Stan tries to save him.

–—–—–—–—–

Aaaand, the would be all for now. I'll post the timelines tomorrow, because I'm falling asleep as I write.

Also, here, have some drawings I made.

(I made the little doodles in class, just so you know how obsessed I've been.)

[max1461]

I guess...

I've made some posts criticizing the mindset/priorities of "tech people" recently, and I think I've been a little bit unfair. I hope it's clear by now that I don't have an inherent problem with people who value different things than me. But I guess I'm just a bit salty about this, for probably a couple of reasons.

I used to consider myself a "tech person", when I was a lot younger. As a kid/early teen (in the 2000s) I started learning to code, and I wanted to either be a game dev or a penetration tester when I got older. I spent a lot of my time in online tech spaces, of various sorts. And I remember a different tech culture. I remember a culture that was... what's the word, mischievous? Unruly? People who wanted to take things apart and put them back together again, people who wanted to break things and reverse engineer things just to prove that they could, people who valued, I don't know what to call it, fucking around? And people who did not want to be told what to do. That old(er) tech culture is where I learned most of my left-libertarian sensibilities in the first place. I guess it was "hacker culture", in the very broadest sense of that term.

But the "tech culture" I see today, even from people my age and of my approximate politics, is just not the same? It's so fucking self-serious. It's not playful, it's not rebellious. It's about Changing The World (i.e. reshaping the world in the image of tech people). That's what I dislike about it so strongly. It's big, it's universalizing. It's not "I don't want the Man to mess with me", it's "I want to invent the new thingamabob that'll reshape everyone's life in five years". Not that doing that is necessarily bad, but aspiring to it is... I don't know, troubling to me?

And here's where I have to talk about rationalism, because rationalism (I don't want to generalize unfairly, but let's just say... in a lot of cases) epitomizes this attitude to me more than anything else. This self-seriousness so extreme that it almost feels religiously-inflected. It's about the whole future light cone, it's about optimizing the timeline. I just, it makes me fucking uncomfortable to be around that kind of talk!

[This post, by the way, was prompted by the recent statements of Balaji Srinivasan, which are another prime example of the shit I am talking about]

And, look. I want this post to be understood as basically personal in nature. Whatever my political or object-level disagreements with Yudkowsky, Alexander, Srinivasan, or any others may be, I don't need to articulate those disagreements with an attack on their Weltanschauung. I think it is valuable that people with many different sensibilities exist in the world, and I think, like most any other, the sort of grandiose and zealous sensibility represented by the 2020s tech-adjacent intelligentsia probably provides worthwhile perspective in various domains. But I can't help resent it a bit, because it's pretty much as far as possible from my sensibility, and I feel like I just can't get away from it! It keeps showing up in places that I'm trying to spend my time!

Ah well. I know this was fairly critical, and if you're a big rationalist light cone type of person, I... am sorry for being so critical. I really do support you in Doing Your Thing, at the end of the day. I just wish the general set of attitudes I see from that crowd could maybe be a bit less totalizing, and a bit more friendly to other sorts of people pursuing other things under other auspices. I don't know.

Now that I've said my piece, I'll try to be less passive aggressive in various posts.

[drops-of-moonlights]

I found some oldass Winx OCs, like from 2016 old back when I did everything on pixel bases, and I wanted to retouch them once more! especially since on god their designs were so plain lmao. They are:

Brook, Fairy of Liquid Moonlight (Solaria)

Crown Princess Aura, Fairy of Frozen Lights (Solaria, Brella fankid)

Lina, Fairy of Golden Flames (Hoggar)

Delia, Fairy of the Dragon's Heart (Eraklyon, originally a Skoom fankid hence her title)

Lisandro, Fairy of Storms (Andros)

Callisto, Fairy of Foliage (Earth)

Sadly I never really built them up much as characters so at most I can only give like short sentences for each of them lol.

Brook is the leader, Aura's bff, the kind of friend that'll tell you "you are such a stupid bastard" as they make you soup when you're sick. Generally nice to be around until his UM ACKSHUALLY instincts override his common sense. (Originally the OC was a girl named Maya, but I have 5 other OCs with that name and water powers so now he's a dude.)

Aura is still a Brella kid meaning she has Stella's sometimes-overinflated ego with Brandon's natural charisma, aka she's a menace. She's very outdoorsy and competitive making her butt heads with Lina often.

Lina's will make most things a competition for the fun of it and to mess with Aura. Other than that she's a kind girl with a savior complex the size of the sun and a passion for sculpting just as big, wanting to live off her art in the future.

Delia was originally a Skoom kid but now she's just a random Eraklian girl. Sweet and kind, the girl takes no shit from everyone and can and WILL beat you up if you wrong her or her friends. Has a bad habit of getting into other people's shit to try to fix the situation.

Lisandro is the kind of guy that works out because it's fun and nothing else. Just as competitive as Aura (meaning he's also a target of Lina's shenanigans) but unlike her he's very aware of his flaws and that fucks him up a bit. Is also an indie singer.

Callisto is a really really kind and sweet girl with a fucking morbid sense of humor, that loves messing with people with Terrifying Plant Facts™. Other than that she's the capital-G Gamer of the group in both the good and bad sense of the word. She plays 5 MMORPGs at once someone save her from herself.

[it-was-funeral-grey]

Heavy (Al Haitham x F!Reader)

Prelude Part 1

Summary: Being the ACTING grand sage is hard. He's cracking, and he knows it.

Warnings: Vulgarities, very stressed al haitham, unhealthy living habits, bros shouldering the weight of a nation, SPOILERS FOR SUMERU AND EVENTUALLY AL HAITHAM'S LORE

Word count: <610 words

Inspired by: -

Author's note: just wanted to explore more about Al Haitham's time as the acting grand sage. As much as he's capable and stuff, he's only human. There's no way he could have done the job without stress, especially since he's used to his simple job as a scribe.

Please give criticism! Also, if i missed any warnings, do tell me so i can add them!

Al Haitham hasn't cried in years. But he's coming really close to it now.

He hasn't slept in days. He hasn't eaten since yesterday. He's at his bloody limit. But the papers and reports and proposals and notices just keep coming.

It never ends. Everything needs to be done NOW. Everything needs reviewing. Everything needs immediate attention. And it's not like he can delegate these tasks to anyone else. No one knows how to do them.

Azar and those traitors had pretty much micro-managed everything. They were so obsessed with having absolute control that they didn't let their subordinates make any decisions. Even the people under the imprisoned sages' command were too reliant on their sage's leadership. So when their sage was imprisoned, they followed Azar's commands blindly, falling victim to the traitor's control freak tendencies.

Which is why now that Azar and his goons are gone, no one knows what to do or who to report to anymore. And since the imprisoned sages are now bedridden in Bimarstan, everyone turns to him.

Everyone is asking him for instructions he knows he's not qualified to give. Everyone is asking him how to do things that he knows he does not know how to do. Everyone is talking to him all the time. He doesn't get a second of peace.

He needs to establish a new chain of command. One that won't break so easily in the future. He needs to set up the selection process for the new sages and the new grand sage. But he can't do all those things when he's currently being swarmed in other matters that should be done by someone else.

Seriously. Fuck those traitors, and fuck Azar's stiff-ass chair in particular.

Al Haitham is so damn tired. Yes, he keeps to office hours- but only so he can get a moment of solitude while he rushes back home to continue pouring over work- something he has NEVER had to do as a scribe. He's working around the clock, desperately trying to get everything in order before the next day.

But every time he drags himself back into the office the following morning, it's an unthinkable new mess. Instructions he had given the day before are lost. People quit or threaten to. He'll spend the entire day trying to resolve it. Then he'll rush home, finish leftover work, and try to predict and pre-solve tomorrow's mess.

It's a vicious cycle that'll kill him eventually. Every day is a test of how much pressure and steps he can take without stumbling. He barely has any time to himself. Everyone is demanding things from him that he can't deliver. The stress is getting to him. The lack of sleep is getting to him. Everything is getting to him.

He's starting every day in fear that he'll slip up. Not that he can let it show. He's supposed to be the nation's beacon of light in these trying times. He's supposed to lead the way. If he slips up now, Sumeru will fall into a state of disarray and may not be able to recover for generations to come. Lives will be upturned. Chaos will ensue. Which will mean more work for him, more stress and more sleepless nights.

The weight of a nation is on his shoulders, and he can't share it with anyone.

He's exhausted. He's scared. He's not religious, but he's begging the archons for assistance. That's how desperate he is.

He's just one guy. He can't do this all on his own.

But not even Lesser Lord Kusanali can help him. No one can.

Or so he thought.

Join the Taglist!

[demonicnarwhale]

Thank youuuuuu @sundogmaniac !!!!!!!

OAUGHHHH OOOH OH OH HEHEHE OK YES!! ok ok ok so i know i said i'll post it and yadda but! but that'll take for AGES! So quickly!!!

Note, as will be mentioned, I never really thought about religion in depth for Prospit or Derse. So if this comes off as me trying to be a magician and pull shit out of thin air... :) i hope it's entertaining!

Religion, alright, I honestly don't quite know how strong religion is! Like how much of a hold on society does it have? Of course bishops are a thing, but so far, they're a bit like representational figures depending on that individual (1) (a hint of leadership) on either planets (like Prospit and Derse). I've never really managed to really think about Prospit being religious moreso Derse. WhICH i know, I know fucking dumb considering Derse is about skepticism and rebellion (hA! try keep a religious theme or thingy afloat with that)

told myself i wouldn't go off and post these freaks yet but here I go. (1) CC here (while being a Dersite) is noted as a "religious" leader. However he's not really like, "human" religious or strict with it (as in he doesn't follow the same "code" as actual priests/clergymen). He's kind of there to give some words here and there, mainly keep individuals from trying to rebel against the BQ on Derse. (since he's not on Skaia, his ass would fucking leave). Also i only put him here because I haven't started on my Prospit monk/shinshoku whoopsies

There are some individuals that are more, "faithful" to our depictions of priests and religious figures like the whole "Oh love thy neighbor! Biblestuck this! Worship this figure" and etc. But there's no set in stone figure they worship. Like there's no JC that got nailed (cackles) or like mono/polytheistic or animistic practices that MUST be followed. I think the horrorterrors like Feferi's Gigglybob (my ass ain't spelling) are considered not really as gods or demons by Dersites but like creatures that only some carapaces are willing to listen to. Like yes, they are referred to as the "outer gods" but they're not entirely feared or revered as (stated before but i am redundant) not all carapaces on Derse give a shit. Like you're either getting your ass flung to Skaia or you're working to keep your kingdom planet from kinda just crumbling or going stale??? So it's like, they're there, but not all are going to be like "ah yes outer gods!"

So Prospit is a bit the same, but they just really don't have any figure(s) to turn to. They're located closest to Skaia so sometimes some of those future seeing clouds pop up every now and then. And sure, some will go "oh that's uh the God of the Clouds

trying to converse with us!". But like Derse, there's usually a specific set of carapaces that are assigned/bestowed roles or jobs that interact with these. Like HK's role of being able to make sense of what's being shown (since it's like fragments the clouds will reveal, all random moments in time so have fun with that mess". So not entirely religious-religious! but there's something there?

Grm I don't know much about religion in general lol even though my dumbass fucking took religious themed classes (writing and oral inensive credits) but I'll be damned if I get smited. So basically!!!! Religion on both Prospit and Derse (whatever it may be) is very, representational? I don't know the specific word to use, but it's more focused on the individuals (mainly Bishops) that are used as "lesser leaders" for society. They're essentially like the royal family lol, like no serious political power but more power to set an example for/somewhat influence society to follow? Groaugh liKE! There's some hints of animism(?) that influence stuff in society, but it's really being able to see or have an actual living proof/being be the main source of religion? gooaug LIKEEEEE I think! they're both leaning towards folklorism rather than mainly religion-based??? So there's probably some astronomical being/creature??? more mythology/folklore based.

my ass thinking about the whole "Ah yes! Politics vs Religion, when and which should have more power over what. What context and GET OUT OF MY HEAD" sorry im shit at explaining and answering and my mind is trying very hard to think of something that makes sense but isn't too human-society focused.

SO so so more of a wrap-wrap-wrap up with a pretty bow:

I think! (or try to think) that both kingdoms are more folklorism leaning for a form how they worship or practice with a religion-esque feel. Like through performative arts (Prospit = theatrical/plays and Derse = choir/organized like). But goog ol' religion themes, motifs, concepts like gaoaugh architecture (sorry i simply cannot help myself) is like, society's outline? The whole yeah there's the big honcho pope-like mf then the rest, so it really is like a structure based part. Both do influence society in any manner the individual wants it to.

Also! icons, ehhh? (i just have no real ideas on any figures that can serve as religious beings? maybe those astronomical beings/creatures???) but perhaps those icons can be of bishops like how in the Medieval, there's this stained glass in Chartres Cathedral the one showing St. Lubin/Leobinus which is like, not a well-known saint but he was a local favorite, mainly with the wine making guild. (I know, technically isn't an icon but shhh) So like, icons don't need to be big well-known religious(?) context figures. (I will explain more with examples of gargoyles and grotesques for (Derse focused) architecture.)

Also, I do apologize if this comes off as like, Christian or Catholic(?) leaning with the theme of religion, it's mainly due to me taking an Art History Course on the Medieval and of course the Medieval wasn't a "strictly" religious or prude time (as there's a good chunk of uh risqué or bodily humorous art. The Gothics kinda just shunned that aspect in more favor of "Oh they were so pious! With their innocent/pure depictions of love/courtship!") but it's just me going "Oh yeah haha Derse and Prospit have a (Western-European) Medieval theme! And since this was a very off the top of my head thinking explanation/answer, I will think over this some more and probably fix it up here and there.

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

Hi! This is anon from the other day who was asking about outlining! First of all, thanks so much for your input! It was really helpful and I finally have an ok outline- at least in my opinion! Just wondering if you have anymore advice on outling in general- My fics going to be a longer one- looking at average novel length here for everything I want to shove in it. Have a good day! :D

Hello, dear anon! I am always happy to give advice (though the quality of it may be lacking, as I speak from personal experience rather than professional study).

If you're looking for some more advice (writing wise), I would suggest making sure that you don't spend too much time obsessing over any one chapter, especially as you're just starting out on such a long project. Not that you can't edit, but I've seen so many new writers (how new are you at writing? That may change my future advice, if you ask for it) edit and edit and edit their first chapters without ever moving onto the second because they're trying to get it perfect. I'm on a writing exchange platform on Reddit (Writers Helping Writers), and I had one kid send me his first chapter no more than seven times to review the different versions, because he couldn't get down the details of how he wanted that inciting scene to go. It's been like 3? months, and he just sent me an eighth version the other day, and I had to tell him that I wasn't gonna give (the same) feedback on the chapter anymore XD

Especially if you're going to be doing a long fic, new things you'll want to add to different sections will pop up as you go. You just have to accommodate for ideas as they come up rather than try to preemptively pin them all down, and I'm saying this as the person known as being super super detailed with crazy outlines, apparently. You have to be a bit flexible--the story will take you places that you didn't expect to go, and you'll have to go back and fix details and revise many many times.

Specifically for outlining, however, I am a very visual person, so I have drawings, diagrams, and I also have a corkboard with all my chapter "sections" on sticky notes, with string connecting big subplots (I've actually taken these all down right now, and the only one's up are concluded subplots XD Arc 2 is a mess rn). You'll just have to play around and see what works for you, when it comes to that. Have you seen the train station model for subplots? I'm not sure if that's exactly what it's called, because googling it gets nothing, but when I started writing years and years ago there was one for the Hunger Games going around XD Basically, deciding which subplots will be advanced in which scenes, and tracking them through the story that similar to a system of subway rails, with each chapter being a stop that only some of the trains (subplots) will stop at. It gives you the opportunity to visually make sure that you give each the amount of screentime they deserve and also remember to give them a satisfying conclusion that's going in the same direction, to extend the metaphor, as the main plot.

It's great that you have an outline already, as that'll cut down on those revisions that I mentioned earlier a lot! And you're going for NOVEL LENGTH? Wow, good luck, and as I said before, please message me when you get around to posting that! Feel free to message me if you need anything, whether that be talking through plot points or my specific processes for anything.

You have a good day yourself, my dear writing anon!

[megidoreyn]

Hihi! For the ask meme, perhaps 4, 8 and 14?

Hey there! Aw, thank you for the questions! It's super rare to get asks like these, so it really made my day! 😇🙏

⭐️4. What defines your artistic style?

That's a good question!🤔 (Especially since I don't know how others might perceive my art!) Due to my own visual agnosia as well, it skews my perception of my own works... So I actually end up disliking the grand majority of the things I create tbh🤣 It's hard for me to become cognizant of any strengths due to the weaknesses being highlighted (in my skewed POV) sometimes! But from the comments I have kindly received before, I would say that my art is defined by: clean/polished lineart, round/"squishy" chibis, warm colors, and "an aura of softness/tenderness"! Truthfully, I would love to be known for having a well-rounded and versatile style! As in: switching from a dynamic + appealing full-body style to a charming chibi style with precision and confidence!💪 And in general: I'd like to be known for drawing handsome faces on full-body characters instead of only having a "cute" style tbh LOL

⭐️8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Oh man…For a self-critic, this is a tough yet great question too!!😂--There's usually elements of a picture I enjoy working on VS how the overall picture eventually turns out! But looking back at everything I've posted publicly so far on twitter from 2022-2023…I think it'd have to be these! ↓

And a special shout out to this Walter-Lucifer pseudo-fiend character turnaround sheet that started off as a "haha just messing around :^)" sketch but then quickly turned serious 2 days later LOL. I did like incorporating SMT4 Lucifer's Phase 2 wings on him, since the in-game design includes this gradient on the wings too. 😇🙏

⭐️14.What do you like drawing the most?

As a surprise to no one, my favorite thing to draw would be WalterJonathan---both the pairing and the individual characters LOL. There's actually a personal reason for this, but maybe that'll be a story for another time! Whether or not the majority of these (finished/ polished) sketches will ever see the light of day is also to be determined in the future...😂 Despite these canon Satan Husbands going through the many unspeakable horrors they suffer within base SMT4 + SMT4 Apoc's canon (and even the duology of the SMT4 manga's canon too!), I'll always prefer to draw them being sweet with each other...🥺 To at least give them a single soft moment of reprieve that they deserve...!😭🙏

↑ I also enjoy drawing the details of the SMT4 samurai coat/uniform! As well as other things and details like: 💙the SMT protags' COMPs + SMT4 Gauntlet 💙Clothing folds 💙Side profiles 💙Backside angles 💙Painting hair 💙Drawing hands 💙Dynamic chibis + dynamic body language in general (that convey a character's personality)

…and probably some more things I'm forgetting LOL.

💙↑ edit: I forgot how much I like sketching out Pokemon as quick warm-ups + other critters like the MOTHER/Earthbound Mr.Saturns too! It's good practice in understanding different shapes.

Again, thank you so much for the questions!🙏 It was fun to answer these!

⭐️⭐️⭐️It's still 12/31 here in my neck of the woods, so I wish you and everyone reading this a Happy New Year as well!

[revelry-in-severity]

OKAY OKAY GET READY FOR A LONG ASK

THIS IS ASTRAL!! THIS IS HER DESIGN SO FAR, BUT I'LL PROBABLY REDRAW IT AND TWEAK SOME THINGS SOME TIME IN THE FUTURE. (got lazy and didn't shade, mb)

SHE'S HALF IMP/DEMON OR WHATEVER AND HALF HUMAN! I HOPE YOU LIKE HER!

Astral always had an interest in dark magic and the twisted minds behind it.

Imps were typically stereotyped and shunned while she was growing up, so she never really head a drive to stay away from lesser accepted magic.

She mingled among the darker side, learning, until one day she unexpectedly made a breakthrough in any aspect of time magic (you can choose if you'd like!) while messing around; a form of magic rarely practiced and preformed with an incredible amount of precaution due to the dangerous capabilities of it. Astral quickly became high ranking in the community and published a few powerful studies after this despite her mild age gap between her (now) peers. She had been lucky to "rise to power" at a time when higher-ups were getting a little younger.

Originally, she was a jack of all trades, but began to hone in on certain crafts and become generally skillful. Astral was generally revered (apart from critisism on her former immaturity and how she "got too powerful too early" because she wasn't very skilled yet), and had amazing access to everything that she wanted to learn thanks to her position in the community.

However, she realised later on that she did not have insight into normal magic's culture. Astral never really showed face in the normal magic communities until around when WxS started getting well-known. She needed to face society to properly reach the level of her peers, but regardless, she took it more like a fun, new adventure.

Because of her connections, some prestiged magicians that knew the witch from the dark magic scene and took her in, allowing her into high-ranking events to learn the culture.

A few keen eyes grew suspicious at first, as Astral had been very bashful about her integration. She had a substantial amount of knowledge, yes, but no known studies despite being at these gatherings.

Well, that's the first time her breakthrough came in handy. Someone was saved from a wrench in time due to her research, and felt indebted to her. Before they were lost for a few years, they meant to publish their studies on necromancy (the accepted, normal practices of it), but heard of Astral's escapades and felt they needed to help her.

So, now Astral is a mid-ranking normal, high-ranking dark magician that has hosted many influential dark magic experiments, being interested in the psychology of the twisted people behind the less ethical region of dark magic, and introducing more effective and ethical methods. Can't say she's the most moral herself though.

(I'll send how she's connected to the RPG AU in my next ask! I haven't fully thought it out yet and I'm a little busy, so I don't know how long that'll be.. but thx sm for letting me ramble!)

Little witchy girl!!! Awww sooo cute

For the time magic part, maybe a sort of possibility roulette? Minor enough in time magic as a whole but still decent enough to make an impact as even Rui isn't completely sure how he managed to reset a whole timeline just yet XD. She can sort of get the future possibilities people can take and influence them and as she gets upgraded has a higher chance for the influence to work in a possibility she wants

The WxS side quest possibilities as they meet her even though to her, she's on her own major quest! WxS are certainly not ones to shy away from other communities they think could need help.... or a big shake up

I'll be eagerly awaiting more :D

[napo-leo-art]

A-Z headcanons. There are many that make me curious, I hope you are in a writing mood. :)

For Gavin Green, Fluff, Touch, Yack

And for Levi Song, Escape, Question, Upcoming

Almost always haha, thank you for the questions! Sorry this took so long to answer. I'm going to put it under a read more since I think it's going to get long.

Fluff :: What hits their soft spot? Does anything them into emotional goo?

Gavin's soft spot is located directly under his best emotional defenses (his sarcasm and his charm). So basically, anytime he tries to do the fun, unbothered, dependable guy act and someone gives him a chance to just be genuine and open instead. (Mason happened to do this a lot in Wayhaven Book 3 haha)

Also: people who just generally find it in them to worry about him. He knows from experience that (unfortunately) it's very easy for him to get treated like a doormat.

Touch :: How do they handle contact? Is their personal bubble big?

Gavin's in a personally very neutral touch space for the majority of people- he doesn't mind people casually touching him even if they aren't particularly close. At the same time, he doesn't really pursue touch from people, and usually just lets them touch him first (friends or otherwise). He's kind of a master of teasing contact from partners/dates because he can usually hold off of it a lot longer than they can.

Yack :: What’s their favorite thing to talk about? What do they go on about?

LMAO I'm just deciding this now, but horror movies. Especially old horror movies or indie ones that are a bit weird. He doesn't scare easily and if people enjoy the topic, it's nice to hear their opinions or any little facts they know about whatever movies come up.

------

Escape :: What do they do to destress? How successful is it? Answered here! Question :: How often do they feel doubt? What topics are they defensive about?

Levi tries not to let doubt sink in at all, because he knows it can turn into something that spirals really fast. If he did let himself look into it more, he would get very defensive about the way that he treats the Rangers and anyone else in his life that he's pushed away. For example, making Herald his 'nemesis' when he hardly knew him, and then realizing how much shit he denied or outright ignored about Herald in favor of maintaining what he had already decided about him (like that he was an ignorant newbie, not a pretty smart and observant ex-vigilante and all that). Mostly because y'know, going down the path of realizing that everyone is a better person than he assumed they were is going to really mess up everything Levi has felt like he had to do (like deal with being a Re-Gene alone).

Upcoming :: How much do they think of the future? Do they make long-term plans?

Despite being a tactician, I don't think Levi really has a long-term plan? I think he's accepted that he's going to burn out eventually and he might as well burn as bright and hot as he can before he does. If he's able to take down a lot of people with him, that's all the better. He doesn't have a goal that he thinks will last, he's already accepted that he'll die young and he's just decided he wants a hand in controlling how that'll happen.

[pixelzombie]

Today, I've been thinking about who I am, how I identify, who I would ideally be. I have many resources and opportunities that could easily lead me to a life of satisfaction. Part of me thinks my incessant worry about the future will ensure its doom, part of me thinks I can't avoid doom unless I obsess over it and protect myself painstakingly. Thing is, I'm not even good at protecting myself when I have the blatant ability. I'm not even good at protecting myself when I know I'm being hurt and others are begging me to protect myself. Worrying is twice the torture, ignorance is bliss, go with the flow, etc. I finally got that paperwork done though, and I am going to try to start taking 5-HTP. I've seen really mixed reviews. I am desperate. I've also seen people on Reddit saying those who are affected by my ailments should steer clear, but my ailments are the reason I'm interested in this supplement in the first place. I've accepted that anything that'll help my mood and cognitive symptoms will surely make me a spooked out paranoid mess. I've been a chronic stoner for years despite the weed making many parts of my health decline. I often say I'd rather be crazy and happy than hyper-aware and miserable.

Who am I, though? It seems counterproductive to try to be a certain way, or to define myself rigidly. Although, I often get the feeling that I will just be a perpetual mess without strict guidelines to follow. Being myself, I have been tirelessly working on specific, goal-oriented guidelines to follow. I am horrible with keeping habits, and I get the feeling that if I can procure the perfect regimen then I will finally have my shit together. That looks different in my eyes than it does to the general public, I think. Having my shit together means being happily independent, keeping up with all the little moving parts of life like appointments and errands, have my chores done regularly, have my hygiene in good shape, have my eating habits under control, have satisfying leisure time, stay out of trouble. I want to be more easy going and confident. I reckon I'm tired of being the foolish, self-indulgent, neurotic, hysterical child I've been for so long. I almost feel like an entirely new person, and I'm realizing how grandiose and fucked up my perception of myself used to be. I was deeply insecure while feigning confidence and it showed. I was crude, loud, flashy, oblivious, and naive. I don't even know how I got to that point, or how I was so unaware, but I never want to let it happen again. Before all this realization, I didn't even realize you can "choose" your own friends. I guess I figured you were just always stuck with whoever took interest in you, I only recently realized that you can choose and curate your friend group to be made up of people who share your goals or interests, people who are on a similar maturity level to you, people who participate in the same cultures, people who you find mutual interest in, etc. When it was really hard for me to make friends, I was desperate, and the behaviors that stemmed from the desperation have locked me into situations that I never had to be in. Friends that didn't suit me or understand me, friends that saw me as an easy target, friends who made fun of me or ignored me. This is avoidable as long as I gatekeep myself way better. When I get back to school, I am going to be very selective with who I allow myself to spend a lot of time with. I am very done with anti-recovery culture, immature/childish people, people who are obsessed with social media, people who are snarky or rude, people who can't take accountability, people who sensationalize terrible things, people who are preoccupied with themselves, I'm done with making friends who can't keep up with me, who only talk about mental illness or constantly casually bring it up, who make excuses for their behavior, who don't self-reflect, who are passive-aggressive, who are insensitive, who lie, who view me as another or a novelty because of my ailments, who nitpick, etc. Just so amazed that I ever got to the point of having the types of friends I've had. The following feed on my instagram gives me insight for the horrible culture I've surrounded myself with. People who are refusing to move past their old ways of thinking. It's honestly a lot of diagnosis braggarts, and I guess I was attracted to that sort of thing as a kid because of my pretty damning diagnoses and the effect that has on a kid. I felt isolated, but online were hundreds of people going on and on and on about their diagnoses for "awareness" (Ha Ha) or whatever. Online, there were communities of people fighting over the rareness and seriousness of their own diagnoses. I fit right in with a rare and serious diagnosis. I entered the community, confident to spam about my mental health, but it was different. Eventually, in the community, I was either pestered about my diagnosis and put on a weird pedestal for it, constantly asked questions by people who were worried they had what I had (never even close. MAYBE once, but they usually apparently didn't even actually know the symptoms before they came to me about it) or, on the contrary, people just saw me as weird. Maybe even attention-seeking. I have even been accused of faking and self-diagnosing a couple times.

The community doesn't solely consist of mental illness lovers. There's a pretty even mix of drug addicts, fandom friends, straight-up histrionics, covert 4chan dwellers, and individuals I'd known in real life. I can't say it's a niche that doesn't technically suit me, right? Mental illness, fandom, 4chan... Yeah, sure. But, why would I want to be constantly surrounded by the actual worst parts of my personality. Why feed into that? WHY curate an online experience that validates and encourages the worst parts of my entire self? Exactly, I think instagram actually stunted my own development. I probably could've reached this progress point by the age of 15 if I didn't own an emo fan account at that very time. Anyway, this account is also an opportunity for me to curate a following list that supports the good aspects of myself and encourages me to be the best version of Me I could possibly be.

[hopeswriting]

hi. not to demand a bunch of labour from u that i'm not entitled to but i wasn't sure who else i knew to turn to on this. so i made a drawing for the khr fandom, and i wanted to make an ID to make it more easy accessible. the problem is that i do not have the experience to make one, or to make any of i do future art. therefore i though about you, who makes a lot of IDs and though that i could ask if you had any tips for how to make a good ID that will actually be beneficial to people who need it, that i can put to use to make my own content better.

again, if u lack time or inclination to sit down with this ask I wouldn't fault you, but however you end up doing i really admire your effort to the community and im thankful you took the time reading it.

hi, nonny! don't worry, i don't mind your question, and i'm happy to help you start on IDs as best as i can. quick disclaimer though: i still consider myself a beginner at those, so if i get anything wrong, anyone is welcome to correct me, and is even more welcome to advice nonny here better than i could!

okay so, here's the post that just so happened to be on my dash one day, and introduced me to IDs and the idea of making the internet a more accessible place in general. It has links to a lot of different resources I warmly recommend you to click through and read.

here are two comprehensive posts, this one and that one that walk you through starting making IDs as a beginner, and how to make them in a way that'll actually make whichever content it is for more accessible. they really gave me solid bases in IDs, and helped me feel confident enough I won't mess up too badly to take those first scary steps in starting to make IDs myself, so I hope they'll do the same for you.

this blog @ keplercryptids is known partly for their accessibility content. the faqs link in their bio as well as their pinned post have really good resources and posts about IDs, which I also warmly recommend you read through. they’re also welcome to questions about IDs if there's ever something you don't feel too confident about, and they're always super nice about it. they even have a discord server for people doing IDs, and to help other people doing IDs, and even to make IDs for other people if discord is your thing!

oh, and also, plain text! < this is a super helpful and comprehensive post about it, but if it's too much for now, just remember that IDs are the most accessible in plain text!

and that's pretty much how I started, nonny. after you learn about IDs and how to do them properly, it's all about practice, and learning from others doing IDs too by reading theirs, and picking up what you're lacking and what you can improve yourself on from them. and i know it can be scary because you don't want to mess up, but any ID is better than none even if it might not feel like it, and you'll get better at them by doing them, so please, just go for it! you can always edit them as you get better at them anyway, or other people will add what they think is missing from your IDs, and what I'm saying is that it won't be set in stone forever after you published them, so don't pressure yourself too much about needing to get them perfectly right away.

if it can help though, you're welcome to run your ID through me after writing it! and if you're comfortable coming off anon (i'd answer you privately then if you want), or comfortable showing me the drawing in question before anyone else, I can even help you write that ID.

and thank you for the acknowledgment! 🥺 like, i'm of course happy to do them because i want to do my part making the internet more accessible, but it's time and energy, and this past month especially i did quite a lot of IDs, so sometimes i just really need to hear it's appreciated. 💞

and likewise, nonny, i'm super happy and grateful you want to start doing IDs too! especially for the khr fandom which is, you know... lacking in this department to say the least lol. just let yourself start small, and you won't even realize when they'll start coming to you naturally.

hope this helped!

[babygirldennis]

This shit is fake bby!!!

Here she is.. My masterpost of all the dumb, illogical bits of info contained within these s15 “leaks” that make me fairly confident they are complete bullshit. It also includes my little tinhat theories that have absolutely no evidence.

I will be putting it all under a Readmore in case you don't want to risk it or if you simply Do Not Care

First up, I'd like to point out that these call sheets repeatedly give very detailed backstories to characters that have few lines which conveniently paints a picture of each episode's plot. And I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong, but after looking at other similar casting calls, they only ever include the demographic and necessary skills.

Basically who in their right mind would write up casting calls that give away so many spoilers? Seems like that could cause and issue if they were leaked lol. But anyway that's my 1st point. But onto the actual content

So the conceit of this episode as a whole is that during the pandemic, the gang "gamed the system" and received three (3!) Loans to start businesses that went bankrupt. One of these businesses is implied to be the one started by dee and charlie who end up selling to Qanon shaman. Already this is so impossible baby.

1. We've already seen the gang try to get a loan and it didn't work. They don't have good ideas. Ur telling me, they managed to finagle 3 separate loans for 3 separate business ideas from an actual bank?

2. Maybe I just have bad reading comprehension but how does one have a business that is both fictitious and bankrupt?

3. If the customer is supposed to be Qanon shaman, an actual real life guy, why are the only descriptors white and male? They say he's shirtless so are they going to paint on all of the tattoos he has? And if so, doesn't that kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when charlie "throws in" the viking helmet? Why would he do that anyways? Sus.

Moving on

Alright this episode would fucking blow for obvious reasons but im going to refrain from looking at this through my gay dennis thruther lens because im biased.

Purely from a narrative standpoint, a woman hasn't been shown to be interested in dennis in nearly 5 years during the wade boggs episode. Ever since, every single woman he approaches has been actively creeped out by him. And now I'm supposed to believe that 3 "smart, passionate woman" (In Their Twenties!!!!!!) agreed to go on a date with him? And Anna even slept with him! Just because he what? Agreed with her? I'm not buyin it.

Plus the concept of this scenario lacks any potential for comedy. When iasip gets political, they always discuss a very specific topic using hyperbolic situations and flawed metaphors. If this is supposed to be a political episode, what ultimately lukewarm point would rob be trying to make here? So far we know they're ranting about

The patriarchy

Privilege

Socialism

No more personal responsibility(?)

The... nature of power in society(??)

How on earth would an episode like get approved? This shit sounds like a Ted talk. It sounds like it was written specifically to sound like a political episode so boring and pointless it would generate outrage and mile long essay posts from Tumblr users and reddit users alike. Almost like this one lol.

On a completely unrelated note, do not try and convince me that Frank "casual cock ring wearer" Reynolds is unable to perform.

Jeez this is getting out of hand fast. Let's move on

Ok now we're starting to getting into the Ireland of it all. Let me go on a bit of a tangent here about all this.. Now I thinq there are just 3 possibilities. Either this is all a publicity stunt and there is some truth to the Ireland rumors, the entire thing could be bogus from some weirdo fan (ps, if a fan did write this I want you to know I fucking hate you. You did this to me), or it is a publicity stunt but Ireland is just more bullshit.

I am going to assume it was a publicity stunt, otherwise I just wasted my entire evening and I can't have that kind of mentality rn. Additionally, I'm Going to tinhat here for a second and say that the Ireland rumors are true, but the details are different.

I say this because if they were going to do filming in Ireland, they probably figured that that information would be impossible to hide. In essence, my completely unfounded hypothesis is that this leak was their fucked up little way of controlling the situation while simultaneously messing with us.

Ok tangent is over, returning to the casting calls. From the looks of it, dee starts a "scam" acting class and has some very devoted students (Note that Tony was also the name of the porn shop owner. Seems weird!) Presumably after the gang replaces her with a monkey as the title suggests.

Honestly, there isn't too much here that's a red flag to me... seems like a nice little dee-centric episode that is the link to the Dublin angle. Assuming I am At All right, this could be a genuine plotline for Dee. However, the monkey could be a red herring and there could be a whole different side plot with the guys. who's to say. Next one!

Ah yes this is the dennis we all know and despise.. no red flags for me here really, I'm also running out of steam because idk if it shows, but I am majorly sleep deprived atm. Anyway I'm going to the next one

Okay this is where things start getting weird again ough a migraine just hit, anyway back to my earlier point about how casting calls would never contains major spoilers bc the people who see these wont be under any kind of NDA..

These ones reveal that bonnie dies. Again, that info wouldn't be in a casting call.

But also they suggest charlie has a irish penpal named Shelley who is his biological father. First off charlie is illiterate, although as pointed out by @undeadbreeze shelley could also be communicating in symbols. However, this scenario is still unbelievable to me for a couple reasons:

1. Bonnie's last name is Kelly obviously, and we know it's her maiden name because Jack's last name is also Kelly. But Shelley's last name is... also Kelly? In the context of this big ol hoax, it feels like it was written to show that look! his last name is the same as charlie's! That's how you know that's his dad! But It would be way too big of a coincidence if charlie's dad happened to have the same last name bonnie.

And 2. There's the whole mystery of charlie's long-lost sister from 'charlie got molested' but never any mention of a brother which according to this, shelley has been pretending to be his brother for years. And we all know how much rcg loves their continuity, it seems uncharacteristically lazy to just tack this on without any prior buildup.

And finally let me talk about mac for a second and specifically the line in gus's summary "both are gay men who are attracted to the priesthood for all the wrong reasons"

Iasip has commented on pedophilia in the priesthood many times in the past which leads me to believe that they are implying that mac is a pedophile? Please let me know if I completely misread the implications of that statement, but if not, then that is completely insane and one of the biggest indictators that this is fake. Mac is awful, just like everyone in the gang but he is definitely not a pedophile.

However even if i did completely misread that, it's still proof this is fake.. For all his faults, Rob put a surprising amount of care and effort into mac's coming-out. It hasn't been perfect, but Mfhp in particular firmly established that mac's faith is integral to his identity so Its unlikely that rob would throw all of that away for a cheap shot at priests.

Ok my brain is irradiated sludge at this point, but in conclusion. I hope that 1. I'm right, at least about it being fake (Otherwise damb that'll be so humiliating for me) And 2. This eases ur fears a bit. I don't want to lose all faith in future seasons bc I love iasip and miss the gang. If you read this far youre insane but I literally love you so goddamn much because I spent so so long tapping this out on my silly little phone

Please feel free to add on or message me your thoughts and opinions I need to know I'm not the only one who uhhh went a bit insane. And finally: whoever made these is a cunt. Mwah.

[kid-karoshi]

Death has no escape - Final Chapter

...Together, they hurried up the cellar stairs and sought shelter behind the house by a massive rock. Claudette began to do something to stop the bleeding. Ash had crouched down beside her. "Wait, you don't have to do this yourself. Let me help you." He hummed and tended to the wound extremely meticulously with the resources at hand. Until, in the last moment, he conjured up out of his back pocket another band-aid. He presented it like a trophy in front of her nose. This one was pink and had a thick print of a stupid looking bumblebee on it. At least this one seemed significantly fresher than the one he had given to Dwight. Responding to the questioning look, he gave a blunt attempt at flirtation, "There's more where that came from." Winking at her, already squeezing the tape tight. "Thanks for saving me, but wow...you could be my grandfather!" she snarked, leaning backwards while giving him a head-to-toe eye check. The grin fell off his face for a second upon that. "Ouch sweetie, I may have a bad knee, but I'm certainly not a grandpa. He gently placed his hand on hers and purred "Don't be sad, There was no future for us anyway." Claudette furrowed her forehead and withdrew her hand in disgust. "Come on sweetie, let's go save the others then."

art: @alexpdcl

They crept across the area in a crouched posture. Claudette grabbed his forearm after a while and pointed to a hill. "There." she whispered.

"Really? They're completely tired of living..." he hissed back at her. Dwight and Felix had chosen a generator on a hill as THE final workpiece. This one, however, was located not far from a mighty gate. "Okay little lady, you just run straight ahead and hide in the bushes over there, when the electric supply is up, your sweet ass will only worry about opening the gate, do we have an understanding?" Claudette was about to argue that she wasn't going to be talked to like that, but by that time Ash had already gained a few feet of ground. All she had left was an exhausted gasp. She froze in shock at the sound she heard afterwards. Right next to her, the air flickered and the gurgling monster passed her by. It was too late to tell those men what was happening.

"Hi girls, do you have a spot left for me?" fluttered Ash as he joined the others. The machine had already made good progress. There were still a few little things to do. "Busy." he grumbled with satisfaction. "Is Claudette all right?" enquired Dwight.

"Sure she is. I've got her patched up. She's fine and now let's get this done. At the end, I'll give each of you a piece of cake as a reward." Ash grinned broadly.

Dwight lifted his gaze, spied his girlfriend and tossed his arm from left to right very energetically but also extremely awkwardly. Claudette, on the other hand, frantically pointed in his direction, which he completely misunderstood, after that he pointed at Ash and with an outstretched thumb he responded to her. Then, without waiting for the next reaction, he quickly continued with the fixing. Felix, however, interrupted his work and spoke in a reproachful voice. "You arrogant son of a bitch, you knew that we were risking our asses out here while you were playing the hero. I know you for maybe ten minutes, but that's enough to see what a pathetic fraud you are, admit it, you're a chickenshit, you don't have a plan, you're just reacting to the circumstances around here! You may be able to fool the others but not me!" Dwight faintly looked back and forth between the two, convulsively trying not to provoke a short circuit. "Guys, uh, so I think you should discuss this later," he stammered. Ash, on the other hand, lowered his head and grumbled to the ground, "You seem to think you're a pretty big deal yourself. Do you think I chose to be the 'hero'? Evil always finds me, it is obsessed with me. There is nothing but death around me and that has been the reality for far too long. But what cheers me up anyway today is that your snooty life is also about to change," he chuckled darkly.

The chiming of the bell abruptly broke up their discussion. Dwight hopped to his feet and, with a cry of horror, he sprinted for the nearest shelter. As the ghostly figure revealed itself, the two men were still sitting at the machine, trying to crank it with their last ounce of strength. "Come on, come on, come on , damn it!" roared Felix "Get out of here!" screamed Ash at him, who also continued repairing. " Screw it! HHNGH!" groaned Felix as the killer's blade sped across his back, cutting the fibers of his designer suit, ripping open his flesh and severing some tendons of his scapula. At that moment, their eyes met. Ash snorted and lunged suddenly forward to knock Felix off the top of the hill and out of harm's way. As the killer, mesmerized detached the shredded skin from his blade, Ash sat right in front of him and plugged the last cable into the right connection. A shrilling sound was emitted and finally the exit gates had enough power to be opened. Claudette had taken position and immediately flipped the switch wich crackled electrifyingly. Dwight ran toward Felix and helped him up to drag him toward the exit gate. "NO! Ash is still up there!" he yelled painfully.

He was standing on top of the hill and noticed that the gate was already in the second phase, so it was going to burst open for the next few seconds. "Run, you fools!" he shouted. "... I've always wanted to say that, and now on to you, you ugly critter! Guess you think you're the greatest, huh?!" at this he bent his head back to stare brashly into the creature's face. The killer faced him with a growl, paused for a second, and to Ash's amazement, nodded in affirmation.

His eyes widened as he understood that he was now in serious trouble. He almost rolled himself over as he tried to make a run for it. At the same time, the exit gate sprang up with a loud clatter. His three teammates set out to leave this terror all behind. Beneath the great arches of the gate, Dwight and Claudette tried to heal the injured man, who was losing gallons of blood. Ash was running away " You better not let me find my shotgun...". That'll make you all get stale looking, you slowpoke! Then it's you who have to hide from ME! God have mercy on you, or whatever your kind is worshiping." He dragged the killer tauntingly behind him for a few more feet until he leapt through a boarded shack toward the exit. He turned his gaze to the others. At that very moment, his fate was sealed when his meniscus tore. And Ash knew it. *damn, not now the fucking knee!

The others screamed his name "Go!" He huffed as the enemy appeared behind him and cruelly struck him down with one hit. The wraith had gained in brutality and efficiency after the gate was opened, so it was practically impossible to avoid this curse. Felix felt terrible about the last words he had said to Ash. He wanted to undo everything he had said, but was dragged by his companions through the portal that prevented him from returning.

When Ash was picked up from the ground, badly injured, the pain seemed eerily familiar. After spending some time on his opponent's shoulder, he whispered in the killer's ear, "You could have just asked for my number, honey." who, visibly confused, dropped his victim right next to a hatch in the ground, from which a strange rumble and dark smoke rose. As the Killer was still reflecting on his feelings, the old man robbed himself into the dark abyss. Before he was closing the gate behind him, he raised his middle finger in the direction of the killer, who mournfully lowered his weapon.

Felix and the others, who had been running for quite a while, reached a campfire, at which they settled down. "We're safe here," Dwight said, and took Claudette in his arms. Felix flopped down and buried his fingers in his hair. Everyone was exhausted to the utmost and stared silently into the flames. The oppressive silence was accompanied by the crackling of the dry wood. Suddenly Felix recognized the outline of a figure looking through the flames.

"What are those long faces about?" interrupted Ash the melancholy. Three astonished pairs of eyes locked on the badly battered man, who magically pulled out a sugar-coated mess from his denim shirt.

"Look, there's no blood on that piece of cake," he sneered, before joining the others and shared it among the survivors.

[libertineangel]

To paraphrase the great Jolee Bindo, this period of mass societal upheaval isn't more dangerous or difficult than any other period of mass societal upheaval just because we're in it. Yes, if the worst outcomes come to pass the world's in for more than a few rough decades, but shit like this has happened many times before and people have made it through.

Sometimes the worst really has come to pass, dreadful things have happened and left scars that still hurt today, and far fewer people lived to see the end of the immediate crisis than deserved to, but if we do our best to work together to mitigate this damage we can make the future much better for those left after us than if we simply despair at the magnitude of the problem. The onset of open fascism timed with a deadly pandemic is the worst thing we've had to face since countless millions of lives were ruined by war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which was the worst thing since the horrendous Balkan conflicts, which were the worst thing since Reagan and the AIDS crisis - you get the picture. There has never been a period in human history where things were safe and comfortable for everyone, but we all persisted anyway, because what else is there to do?

You don't have to believe and hope that everything will work out perfectly and all these problems will be fixed, honestly that's just setting yourself up for a disappointment that'll make you feel even worse, what we need now is the belief and hope that by our own actions the world will be a little better for everyone else, particularly the future generations who'll have to make something of this mess. It might seem like there's not much point in trying because it's such an uphill struggle that gets worse every day, but what's the point in not trying? Any tiny contribution to the world is better than apathy.