#the people who say this game is easy must not have found this area

[foxstens]

every game needs to have an area that’s just Pain

[blazescompendium]

Blaze's Compendium Entry #8:Explaining the Origin of ShikiOuji

Note: This post was originally published in April 2024. However, since it is a complete research and dive into this monster, I figured out i could just repost it as a Compendium entry.

As always:

Warning: Faith and religion are important real life topics, that tackles the culture and way of life of millions of real life people. It is a cultural expression, and must be respected by all means. Here, we use a video-game ( some times) and other media series only to ignite the flame of learning about the matter, using its art when well depicted, but we do this with all due respect to the cultures we talk here, grounded by real life sources, cultures and people. And i mean this with respect. Hope you all enjoy.

I am sure that, if you played any Megaten game in the last 20 years or so, you ended up seeing this paper dude. His name is always stated as Shiki-Ouji, and he once shared the same design with the Demon called Shikigami.

The weird thing is that when researching Shikigami on my studies, I never found anything about this one so i put some detective work to find out about the origins of Shikiouji, the (yet another) dude who often repels physical damage in Megaten.

The creature is described in many of the series compendium as a powerful Shikigami, that only the most powerful Onmyoji could summon, and they have a vicious temperament.

When we talk about Shikigami, the first thing that comes to mind are paper dolls. This is no surprise, since Shikigami are summons Onmyoji binds to paper dolls or talismans, so they could interact with the physical world. This is also because paper is a very easy material to destroy, if things go south. Onmyoji are the equivalent of western sorcerer, that followed the Onmyōdō, a esoteric cosmology. It started in the 6th century in Japan as a divination practice, and evolved from there. I won't go into detail, because this is meant to be a short post. But materials about this practice are abundant on the internet.

The main concept concerning us here is the Shikigami. These are basically some kind of familiar, a spirit or demon if you want, the sorcerer could conjure to protect him or do his biding. The Cultural Alliance Brazil- Japan, which i already mentioned in other posts, states that:

''Shikigami can be Oni or demons, that should serve and protect an Onmyoji. Your abilities would be determined by the abilities of his master.

A Shikigami could assume the form of small animals, birds, etc... One Shikigami from a powerful Onmyoji could possess and control one animal. But only a real powerful Shikigami could possess a person.

When an Onmyoji is fighting another Onmyoji, they employ the use of their Shikigami. Some Onmyoji could spot the enemy Shikigami beforehand, and try to convert it to his side with magical powers. In this game, the converted Shikigami would come back to the old master, and attack with double the force. This pratice was called Shikigami Gaeshi.

Abe no Seimei is said to be the most powerful Onmyoji to ever exist. Some rumors say he had twelve Shikigami, while regular Onmyoji would rarely have more than one Shikigami at the same time.''

So, that is a rough definition of what a Shikigami is.

But, when researching this creature you would not be able to regularly find Shiki-ouji. The fastest method for him to appear, was the English Wikipedia article about Shikigami, which weirdly had this part about Shiki-ouji, but offered no source to it:

Having the kanji to Shikiouji, and some keywords, i found someone at Tumblr who asked the same question 6 years ago, in Eirikr's blog.

From there, Eirikr offered a link to a blog post writing about Izanagi Ryu Shikoku. Ryu Shikoku is an ancient folk religion and pratices from the Kochi prefecture. It is still practiced in the area to this day!

In this belief system there is the tradition of the Shiki-kui masks. Which.. bear a very uncanny resemblance to our paper guy, subject to this post:

These masks would be hang above the place the ceremonies of the Izanagi Ryu take place. They would have magical powers that could repel evil spirits, and non believers from coming to the ceremony and disturbing it. They would also serve as talismans, or paper dolls, in a simmilar vein the regular Shikigami pop image you have in mind.

Since they are used to summon spirits, bind them, and as talismans, these creatures can be, technically called a Shikigami.

With this knowledge in hands, i went to the Japanese web. And sure enough, i found this site: The Nippon Foundation Library. It has an article detailing the paper talismans used by Izanagi No Ryu Onmyoji, and their meanings, powers, and also explained a bit about Shiki-Ouji!

Here is what they have to say: (Please be warned that i do not speak Japanese, and used machine translation. Any corrections are Welcome!)

Shikē Ōji is a spiritual entity invoked by the taisa during prayers for the sick and the "toriwake" ritual to expel evil spirits causing illness or calamity. Its birth is described as abnormal, and due to its excessively violent power, it has no place to reside. Usually, it is sunk in the pond of Tendō-nanta, and summoned only when needed to guard ceremonies, to pray as the guardian deity of ceremonies, or as a prayer deity of Jumon no hakase. There seem to be several types of Shikē Ōji depending on their purpose, such as Takata no Ōji for toriwake, Gotai no Ōji for prayers for the sick, and Ōtaka-shiki for insect prayers. Additionally, talismans such as Sangoku Arashiki, Chimura San Ōji, and Sakago no Ōji are handed down, and it is inferred that they were used according to the content of the prayers, although many details of their usage are unknown.

Using the powerful Shikē Ōji against humans becomes a curse. In Kochi Prefecture, "hitting a ceremony" is widely used to curse people. Many people use this term without understanding its original meaning. "Hitting a ceremony" refers to attacking someone using Shikē Ōji. While Shikē Ōji can benefit people if used for good, it can harm them if used for evil. Talismans of Shikē Ōji, possessing such terrifying power, often have several incisions on them, each containing twelve notches, giving them a rough impression. However, unlike talismans found in mountains and rivers, they do not seem to have incisions for eyes or mouths. In this regard, they are closer to the cutting style of talismans for house gods and sacred gods. Here, one can sense the emphasis on the powerful nature of Shikē Ōji's talismans while also distinguishing them from strange monsters.

So, as you can see there is some key information about the creature here. But the most important ones:

1- It is bind to a talisman, just like other Shikigami. The text here explains it is a paper talisman with notches, just like regular ones used in religious ceremonies.

2-It has a powerful and violent nature, just like the compendium often indicates in Megaten games. It seems hard to tame and use properly without getting hurt.

3-Shiki-Ouji can be powerful and violent, but it seems they dislike being used to hurt people. Instead, they are better employed to use their magic to other deeds. However if you still use them in that regard, they will most likely curse you.

4-Their talismans have twelve notches, no incision for eyes and mouth due to their aggressive nature. This would help to control their interaction with the material world.

I am sure that, if we follow this trail we will find many more sources. Going by key words i found in this text, i found many other sites and books, but since i have no time now to fall a rabbit hole, nor do i speak Japanese... That is it, i think this is a satisfactory answer to where this Megaten Demon came from!

The real forms of Shiki-Ouji

The last thing in want to talk about, is Shiki-Ouji real appearance. Since we have a seemingly wrong impression of they in Megaten, since Kaneko took some artistic freedoms.

First and foremost: From the few things i studies about Shikigami, we know they do not have a real physical form. The paper talismans are just a way to give them physical form. But it was incredibly hard to find a Shiki-Ouji talisman, which was weird because it was so distinguishable. The main reason being that: Shiki-Ouji seems not to be believed to be easy or safe to summon, and also their talismans would be destroyed asap after use.

But with the description i got, it would be this one that matches it the most:

No eyes, or mouth. Twelve Notches, six from each side, and some incisions. Very similar to a regular talisman found in other types of ceremony. Just as the text suggested.

I got this picture from this book:

Tosa, Monobe Village: Shapes of the Gods

Monoba being the village where most of these rituals came from. The book is from 1999, and contains many pictures of actual talismans.

You can see that, aside from the head shape, Kaneko took some freedom with this design. The sources state that Shikiouji talismans should not have a face, nor limbs, since it was too powerful, and should have 12 notches. For some reason, Kaneko drew it in a human-like form, but the face still resembled the Shiki-kui masks. The earlier design of the demon was even more closely resembling the masks:

Shiki-ouji earlier design from Devil Summoner (1996). It was later repurposed as the demon Shikigami. It is almost an exact match to this talisman. I can not however identify the original source.

Shiki-Ouji current design by itself could have been based on this one talisman in specific, at least some parts of it like the head with horned-shaped appendages:

By the looks of it, its face could turn inside out, just like the Megaten Demon can do.

It was sourced by the National Museum of Japanese History, but the post went down. The low quality image of the talisman can still be seen on google, but the link is dead, unfortunately. It seems that this item is still in possession of the Museum in Japan. Kaneko could have seen it in pictures, or in person. This one seems NOT to be displaying a Shiki-Ouji thought.

Maybe the Kaneko take is that Shiki-Ouji was summoned with limbs, and facial features and became much more stronger as a result? We may never know...

And finally there is also an occult book that i found in Amazon Japan that is called: Exploring Izanagi No Ryu: ShikiOuji.

It is supposedly a manual on how to practice Izanagi no Ryu, and magics. I could not find the book online, just the summary. But it mentioned nothing about Shiki-Ouji. Probably has some sort of tutorial to summon it, in fact i was able to find many of those tutorials on the Japanese web.

Now, that is it. I think this puts to rest a little bit of mystery involving the origins of this specific demon. Kaneko sure took some freedoms, but it is still one of the more popular and recognizable characters in the series.

Final considerations:

This most likely is the answer to its origin, but i am not some sort of owner of all truths, so feel free to correct me in anything i said wrong. I am still an amateur scholar, and even if i do know a lot about mythology and ancient religions because i read many books and study a lot of hours of my days, i am by no means a specialist in Japanese Mythology specifically, specially Shikigami practices. The reason is that, i find it very difficult and time consuming to research Japanese sources, since i do not speak Japanese. I will one day, try my best since there are a lot of good Yokai to cover in future Scientific Papers.

I can, however, guarantee that i did my best possible effort in a deep search!

And i have spent a lot of time looking through pictures of Shikigami talismans, and i found some really cute. Like this one. What a whimsical little fella...

[drawcupidsbow]

Hi i made a post on instagram about the top five games i played for the first time this year and thought id share it here! none of these are in any particular order. except the last one. my favorit....

first up is oneshot! it took me wayyyy too long to play this game. oneshot feels kinda like one of the staple rpg maker games, yet i went into it pretty much completely blind, "finished it" in one sitting, found out there was over half the game left, played the rest, and cried real hard. such a good game that breaks the fourth wall in really interesting ways. and also it has niko who doesnt love little fella niko

♡

second is halope! this is a game i had never heard of before my friend ángel (@raccoonlover333) told me to play it and i feel like i still dont really see people talk about it? it has a very unique style i think and each of the areas have their own atmosphere and feel to them (aside from the fact that all of them have distinct color palettes lol). very lovely game i enjoyed it a lot. also one of the first times i played a game with multiple endings and felt satisfied not going out of my way getting any i missed ? i enjoyed what it had to offer and didnt feel the need to pry for more (good thing)

♡

hard shift from story based rpgmaker games but next is webfishing. webfishing is good. its so good youve probably heard a lot of people say this by now but its just so fun and calming to sit around with friends and fish for hours. theres something special about the kinds of online games where theres a physical space you share with people, especially those you havent met in person. makes you feel like youre there with them. and also you can get a man i love fishing shirt whats not to love

♡

o yea baby farming sim. this game is so charming and has a lot of quality of life features that i feel are missed in other farming sims. it is still in early access so i cant be too harsh on it, but i will admit that the characters feel a bit too flat currently. a lot of nothing burger dialogue which isnt always a bad thing but when 20 characters tell you Hey this weather huh? must be good for farming! its hard to differentiate their personalities in your mind lol. im sure thatll be added to in the future though like i said its still ea and only has enough content to last you about a year in game. what it does have is very fun though and i would recommend it

♡

You knew it was coming be honest. where do i even start. technically i Did play isat for the first time last year, however, it was for like one hour and then i didnt pick it up again for half a year. so it counts to me. and also i take any excuse i can to talk about this game

in stars and time is a game that portrays characters and relationships in such a realistic light to a degree ive never seen in any other game. it makes it so easy to immediately become attached to this group of friends despite knowing them for less than ten minutes. its a very emotion heavy game. and who can forget the time loop Ohhh yes the time loop. siffrins slow decent into hopelessness and anguish after failing to escape time and time again is something rarely shown in time loop media i feel. at least to this degree. madoka magica comes pretty damn close though lol. also looping in time and zoning out through dialogue (and doing so having consequences) is such a cool game mechanic

while im talking about isat im slipping its prequel game in too, start again start again start again a prologue (or just start again). this one, though much shorter and more of a proof of concept, feels much more harrowing in the ways it pulls it off, especially without a certain characters presence. but i wont say more than that as to not spoil it teehee

this game changed my life for the better. and has been causing me psychic damage every day for 8 months. heart ♡

♡

and thats some of my favorite games i played this year! there were more but not enough for it to be 10 and 5 was a nicer number than like 7 lol. happy new year! i hope this year treats you all well and i cant wait to draw one million fanarts as i have been doing for the past 5 years. Yayyy

[nirikeehan]

wip wednesday??

okay I haven't done this in a thousand years but @theluckywizard tagged me... and I recently went insane after playing the game Road 96 and decided I needed to write a 12k long deep dive on the character Jarod.

...If you know, you know.

Anyway, it's called A Small Victorious War and the first chapter is already on AO3. Here is a bit from chapter 2, where he's looking for his missing teenage daughter, Lola, after she ran away to join a terrorist group.

Tagging: @ar-lath-ma-cully | @oxygenforthewicked | @rowanisawriter | @carnalapples | @exalted-dawn-drabbles | @monocytogenes | whoever wants to do it!!

---

He made a few calls and knocked on a few doors. He learned Mr. Winters had also left town, which set the familiar fury simmering in his gut. A group of these Brigade members were headed deep into the south, in Petria’s vast desert region. Aside from the oil fields, the area was mostly undeveloped, which meant they would be difficult to track.

And then there was the note. Please don’t look for me. He’d pursued people who didn’t want to be found before, and the rocks one had to overturn were usually unpleasant for everyone involved. He’d walked away from some of those with regrets. 

“This is our daughter, Jarod,” Maria said over the phone. “It’s different. How could you not want her home safe?” 

He didn’t say they should respect her wishes, exactly. He was less articulate, angrier, perhaps a bit accusatory about why Lola might choose to run away from her mother’s residence, where she spent most of her time. 

“Don’t you dare try to blame me for this,” his ex-wife said. “She’s sixteen years old. She’s too young to know what’s in her own best interest. You were always too easy on her. You let her do whatever she wanted, and look what’s happened.” 

Jarod hung up on her then, because otherwise he would start screaming. No, he never would have encouraged Lola to join a terrorist group. But he had, looking back on it, encouraged her to think for herself, which was maybe just as bad.

He imagined finding whatever compound the Brigades had taken her to, and dragging her out by the arm, kicking up dust as they went, the hatred bright in her eyes. I’ll never forgive you, she spat, and wrenched away from him when he got her into the cab, his fingerprints on her skin already beginning to bruise. It was this image he couldn’t shake, no matter how hard he tried. And he remembered how passionate she was about the idea that conditions in Petria could improve. She truly seemed to think it possible. 

So he stopped looking. 

His apartment was quiet that summer, and so was he, saying little more than the rote script required of him in his daily life. So where we headed today with Happy Taxi? And when Maria called he would tell her he’d let her know if he made any progress and she would ask him if he was drunk, and he would hang up again, angry, because his speech wasn’t that slurred. 

Then, as summer melted into September, he received mail from Lola. 

He called Maria immediately, the words blurring on the page, his mind racing too fast to properly absorb them. “I got the letter,” he said when she picked up, to which Maria said, “What letter?” and Jarod became very quiet. 

Lola had, apparently, only written to him. 

He had assumed that Lola would, as a matter of course, write to both parents. As he stood there, at the side table by the door of his apartment, reading the letter by the light of the streetlamp outside, he tried to ascertain why it was him she chose. He gripped the phone tighter in his hand and breathed slowly. 

“She’s all right,” he said, because at least that much seemed accurate.

“Where is she?” Maria demanded. “Is she coming home?” 

“Doesn’t say,” he said. The letter was dated the fifth of September, postmarked the sixth. Today was the eighth, meaning it must have been mailed somewhere within a hundred miles, to be delivered with such swiftness. So she was likely back in the north. The return address was a P.O. Box, but listed a town he didn’t recognize and suspected to be fabricated.

“Jarod, what does it say?” Maria asked. 

A few other things, including something “big” that would “change everything” in four days. Given the date on the letter, that meant tomorrow. This was, he suspected, why she wrote to him and not her mother. The promise of results. That her actions weren’t only frivolity. That she’d been right that day in his living room, grasping his arm, full of fervent hope. 

And she’d also signed it, in her signature way, All my love, except it was encased in a word bubble and spoken by a cartoon dinosaur that she had drawn, which made him think perhaps she had forgiven him for the plastic dinosaur incident. He wanted desperately to write her back and tell her it wasn’t too late, that she could still walk away from this, still go to university and study paleontology, he would help her, he would do anything. 

“She says she loves us,” Jarod lied, “and that she’ll be in touch again soon.” 

[rainbow-scarab]

Native Travelers of Hallownest

Hallownest is large.

I don’t know if this is an obvious statement or not, but I think it can be easy to forget how big the world is actually supposed to be in the game.

I set out to illustrate this, its huge scale, as part of another post. But as often happens with me it turned into a runaway tangent, taking on a life of its own, and it really needed its own post.

When I was playing Hollow Knight, I was amazed just how much there was to explore as I discovered more and more areas, more and more secrets. After you’ve explored it, and certainly if you’ve played through multiple times, that sense of mystery is lessened. Perhaps the world seems just a bit smaller.

But more than that. I think it can be hard to sense just how big Hallownest is supposed to be, even when in the thick of initial exploration.

Hollow Knight is not a huge open world game. There are limits to how big Team Cherry could make the map. Probably limits to how big they wanted to make it too, for gameplay experience. But even if you can cross the land, on foot (and wing and claw), in a matter of minutes…it’s supposed to be an entire kingdom. The land is larger than it may seem.

For instance…Crystal Peak.

Crystal Peak is called a “tall mountain” in the manual. Iselda as well describes it as a “huge shining mountain”. Even if it does not look that large in game, the implications are that it truly is a large mountain.

The world of Hollow Knight is large enough to contain with it multiple environments. It contains multiple species, multiple lands. Multiple peoples with their own distinct histories and cultures.

The world is large enough that even the people within it, when they traverse its various regions, can be called travelers or wanderers just by going to a different region, even if they are clearly Hallownest natives, staying within Hallownest’s borders.

For instance, take the way Thistlewind, one of ghosts in the Spirits’ Glade, speaks:

Ahh, a wanderer. I've been many places and done a great many things, but I suspect you will outdo me by far. I've long ceased travelling the caverns of Hallownest and I suspect they're now far more dangerous than in my journeys, though with your capable air I'm sure you'll do fine. Good luck! It's a vast world out there.

It seems from their words the “vast world” they traveled, in which they did “a great many things”, was all within Hallownest.

Another examples that illustrates this is the wanderer’s journals. I dunno about you, but I thought at first they were meant to be only from those who had come from outside the kingdom, coming to explore its ruins. The description on the inventory screen:

A journal left behind by a long-dead traveller. The words are written in a forgotten dialect and difficult to understand. Relic from Hallownest's past. This item now holds little value except for those dedicated to the kingdom's history.

Lemm has various things to say about the journals as you sell them to him:

It seems fate was unkind to most who travel within Hallownest's ruin.

It's long hard work translating the many languages of the bugs that explore these caverns.

Once I get around to deciphering them all, I'll be the preeminent scholar on Hallownest's dead.

You must have travelled the breadth of the kingdom to accrue such a haul.

He speaks of those traveling “within Hallownest’s ruin”, and of “the many languages of the bugs that explore these caverns”. This sounds like outsiders coming later on. And again…they very well may include outsiders. But I don’t think it’s only those from outside.

You can find the journals on various corpses, many who are definitely Hallownestian. For instance, one is on a rich bug in the Pleasure House’s elevator shaft. One is found in the Resting Grounds, buried with a wrapped up bug. One is on a royal retainer, underneath the bridge going into Ancient Basin. I suppose in their cases it may be the “forgotten dialect” more than other languages. But who knows. Hallownest may have had various languages native to it.

To explore the language possibility for a moment, using the mantises as an example. The mantises do not speak to you in game—you can only dream nail them. Do they have a different language? They do write though, and you can read all of their signs. At least one sign was meant for outsiders (warning that they are ready to kill), but other signs seem more intended for their own people. It’s possible the writing system is shared between the peoples of Hallownest regardless of languages. But if that was true, Lemm wouldn’t need to spend so much effort translating multiple languages, and the inventory description for the journals wouldn’t indicate that Ghost can’t read them. Conclusions: unclear.

Anyway. There is one corpse who I think may have been more recent though, next to Willoh, thinking “...Please... Not food...”. With its implication that Willoh tried to eat them, unless it’s possible for a long-dead corpse to change its thoughts, I would think this person died recently, possibly even from Willoh’s efforts.

There are plenty of other corpses that may be found, with and without items, showing how many bugs may have been considered travelers while still within their own kingdom. Many such corpses have dream nail dialog indicating they were lost or trapped.

These bugs are all what I would call “standard Hallownest bugs”. That is…they look like some of the most basic husk enemies, as can be found in Forgotten Crossroads or the City of Tears.

Their corpses can be found throughout the kingdom, farther than where you typically find them as enemies, like in Greenpath, Fog Canyon, Queen’s Gardens, and Kingdom’s Edge. The Fog Canyon ones even have the garb of the City’s rich bugs.

This all suggests to me that many of these bugs, those who came from the kingdom, traveled throughout and died. They may have been trying to find a way to escape the infection. But since they were unfamiliar with some of these areas, they ended up trapped, or getting lost until they died. These areas were foreign to many bugs. They may have never explored far from their homes, or if they did, not enough to become familiar with the areas they tried to flee to. Fleeing to the unknown is dangerous, but desperation will drive people to many things, and leaving the City would make sense for a normal pandemic. Whether due to infection or inhospitable terrain, they died in their attempts.

Now to just examine some of the examples:

Here we have bugs next to a Hallownest Seal in Fog Canyon. Both have the same dream nail dialog. Surely with their clothes, they are from the City, and far from home.

Generic dead bug in Queen's Gardens, not far from the stag station. There happens to be a fool eater if you get any closer than Ghost is here. The corpse has a Hallownest Seal.

The elevator shaft in the Pleasure House. This bug, with their garb, is clearly from this side of the City. They have a wanderer's journal. I wonder if they started digging into the walls to try to escape? (from the infection, or the infected...or, the hungry o-O)

Two corpses this time! The other one is thinking "...Tired...". They have no items, but they do have this deteriorated tent. In Greenpath, not far from Fog Canyon and No Eyes.

This is under the bridge that connects Ancient Basin to the City. They carry a wanderer’s journal. Being a royal retainer, of course they are from Hallownest. I can only guess they were trying to escape the infection or the infected.

This apparent mummy has a wanderer’s journal. I am thinking they must be from Hallownest to have been buried in this manner.

The bench near where you fight Hornet in Kingdom's Edge. These corpses have a wanderer’s journal. I’m not sure how the ash is trapping them, unless it created terrible ”weather” conditions (“snowed in”, or “whiteout” conditions). Ghost does have to break the ceiling to jump up here to them, so I guess these bugs did not have that exit. Maybe they were literally "snowed" in, other exits blocked.

Here we have this dead bug in Queen's Station, with a Hallownest Seal. Presumably Willoh tried to eat this nearby bug and others, either as they were weak and dying, or to their actual deaths. And there's this tent here. Was it Willoh’s? Those bugs'? It looks like it’s falling apart. It’s possible Willoh came from elsewhere. It’s possible that she’s been in the stasis, in this stag station for years and years. Hard to say the exact timeline.

This corpse has a Hallownest Seal. I can’t help but think this one was from Dirtmouth. Could they have recently died? When the infection came back and lured Dirtmouth’s residents down the well to their doom?

I’m still not entirely sure how many of the various bugs you find around Hallownest are from there or not. Even if they look like “standard Hallownest bugs”, does that mean they only live in Hallownest? Could there be the same species living elsewhere? Mm, the bugs we do know that came from outside, like Iselda and Cloth and Tiso, do look different. But still.

At the very least some of them are identifiably Hallownestian.

There was a time, too, when bugs traveled the kingdom, before the infection. The stag stations saw a lot of traffic. But sadly, this is the state we see the world in...thus are the consequences of the downfall of Hallownest.

And if you guys are curious, there's a good page here on all the dream-nailable corpses/objects in the fandom wiki. Also on that wiki are pages showing all the locations for relics (if you search for them individually, or just look under Lemm to navigate to them).

[afriendlywizard]

My review of a warehouse I found on Earth's Moon in the video game Starfield

I work at a cidery in the PNW. We have a pretty hefty canning line that can handle what I like to call a Solid Chunk of Volumetric Output. Our fulfillment and warehouse team touches several hundred pallets a day. We handle ingredients that come in drums, plastic IBC totes, 5 gallon buckets, and raw ingredients off the back of people’s Ford Raptors. We have pipes and valves and connectors. We talk about glycol and peracetic acid a lot. We have standard 4 level pallet racks, as well as push-back pallet racking and back-load pallet racking that maintains a First In First Out order.

I manage our Quality Assurance team, which means I spend most of my team at a desk or in a lab. I have driven our forklifts and our scissor lifts. I’ve blended our ingredients into our batching tanks. I verify our sanitation practices, and I help solve problems as needed. I spend a lot of my day staring at stainless steel pipes and mumbling about dissolved oxygen to myself.

That’s all to say, I’m not an expert. I would call myself a warehouse hobbyist and enthusiast. Not out loud to anyone, but when I play a video game that has a warehouse in it, I like to spend my time looking at how the warehouse is put together.

In addition to this, a note on Forklift Certification: It’s largely made up. There are some machines that require special licenses, and OSHA has classes you can take that probably look good on a resume, but if you look at the language that OSHA uses to define who is allowed to drive a forklift it only has two requirements. “Trained operators must know how to do the job properly and do it safely as demonstrated by workplace evaluation.” It’s up to the employer how that’s interpreted. My employer had me watch a forty five minute video and then someone watched as I drove around for thirty minutes saying “oh fuck oh fuck okay okay okay don’t hit anyone.”

I took my character, Dr. FLIPJUMP DARKSWALLOW, to the moon. I brought my companion Sarah with me, she said she wouldn’t mind a detour so that we could finally live out our shared dream of owning a pair of moon boots, so down we went to explore a seemingly abandoned lunar station. It seemed to be some kind of staging facility for receiving shipments, landing dock, staff kitchen and common area, but as far as I could tell there wasn’t anywhere within a kilometer or two to send the shipments once they arrived. Typical supply chain issues, major distro hub with nothing in site to distro to. But it did have a small on-site warehouse so Sarah and I both agreed to put a pause on our moon boots dream and explore.

This is called an IBC tote. You can fill these up through a big screw-top hole on the top, super easy to use, cheap ($275 new), universal. The most common versions I’ve seen have a galvanized steel cage and a galvanized steel pallet attached to the bottom so it can be universally picked up by a forklift. They typically have a 2” drain valve with a butterfly and a camlock. This is a pretty good example of an IBC tote! You can see how the galvanized steel was welded together at each intersection, bent into place and held there. The butterfly at the bottom has a cap in place, it has a pressure valve that’s clearly labeled. This looks pretty good!

This is a pallet jack. On Earth in the present day, you roll it into the slats on a pallet, squeeze on a hand lever in the handle, and pump the handle bar up and down as it lifts. On the Moon in the future, it looks like it’s been upgraded for use in space with what I assume is probably some electric battery type of deal. Otherwise it’s very similar to a normal pallet jack! It even has the double wheels in the front, a detail I was very excited about. There doesn’t seem to be the hand lever though, or any buttons anywhere. I assume that’s because this model has a voice assistant like an Alexa in it.

It has a spring in the back as well, another neat little detail. I’d be curious to see how this works in action, there’s a decent number of mechanical parts on it for how futuristic it looks. There’s also two small… baskets, I guess? For paperwork maybe? On either end of the handle shaft. I made up the term handle shaft.

Here is what I assume is a future-forklift. And Sarah. Please ignore Sarah. I was required to take her on a mission early on, but she keeps saying things like “that’s not yours!” and “we should not break the law,” which has been definitely cramping Dr. DARKSWALLOW’s style. Anyway, this forklift is a far cry from the kinds we have in present day. Barely recognizable.

My best guess is that you stand on this platform to operate it. But there’s no buttons or levers again, no key ignition. Presumably this turns on somehow and that panel is a touchscreen, or maybe it’s another Alexa operated device. This whole thing seems pretty dangerous. There’s no roll cage. I guess maybe there’s no OSHA in the future? Or maybe this thing has a lot of safety tech built into it to protect the operator from making mistakes. Maybe it follows Asimov’s rules of robotics and can’t allow a human to come to harm, through action or inaction. But that seems like a lot of liability to pack into programming, and it seems expensive to attach a positronic brain to a forklift. I don’t know how it would anticipate other drivers doing things badly, knocking over pallets? It seems dicey.

I do like that the cabling looks like it’s painter’s taped onto the frame so it doesn’t get caught anywhere. That’s a great little detail, very much something a maintenance team might do in a pinch. A “short term hold” as they “work with supply chain details to implement a long term repair.”

I climbed up onto a pile of boxes to get this picture. It looks like they redesigned the forks in the future, kind of a high-heeled shoe thing going on at the ends there. And this forklift seems like it has reduced functionality from what forklifts here on Earth can do. Forklifts can usually do three things with the forks: lift up and down, pitch the forks back and forth, and spread the forks wider or narrower. I think this can only lift the forks up and down. There also seems to be a large orange ball on the bottom, but I don’t know what that’s used for. My best guess, given the short cylinder above it, is that the forks can control their yaw and rotate on a horizontal access? But they’re right up against the axle so I’m not sure how that would work. Maybe if you lift the forks up it’s able to rotate? But I don’t see much of an engine to ballast the center of gravity anywhere. Maybe the entire body is made with a very dense metal, it does seem to be pretty flush with the ground.

My biggest complaint is that this forklift doesn’t have any headlights or taillights. It’s important for forklifts to have a horn and bright lights to let other workers know there’s a forklift around, especially reverse lights. These might be taillights, if I’m giving some benefit here, but they’re so low to the ground I’m not sure how other drivers are going to be able to see them. But I’m not an expert in future light bulbs, maybe these work just fine.

These look like future pallets! Pallets come in different materials, with wood or plastic as the most common, but they also come in standard sizes. But these pallets look like they’re way too small for the forklift to pick up. Maybe they’re just for the pallet jack? And big note here: I really hope for the sake of the warehouse manager in this facility that OSHA doesn’t exist, because each one of those pallets standing up on its side is going to be its own fine. Overall these pallets look pretty good, if small. And this disaster of a pile seems pretty true to form with how pallets are stored, no matter how many @everyone pings on Microsoft Teams you see get sent out about stacking pallets correctly.

I suspect everyone in the warehouse crew here hates their coworkers. They have four of these pallets in a square but are stacking things randomly on top of them. None of these things are strapped down, this black cube is on a pallet that’s a different size than the pallets underneath it. Just a bizarre move. I hope everyone’s doing okay.

And then on the other side is this: … Why? Why would anyone do this? You can’t pick those rolls up, the rest will roll right off the pallet. They’re not centered on the pallet so even if you did pick it up, you couldn’t put this onto pallet racking anywhere, it’s hanging off the edge.

This is pallet racking. It seems bolted together for some reason. I haven’t seen that before on this style of racking. It seems counter-intuitive; the whole point of this type is that it’s easy to put together, it’s modular. But if you bolt it together, it’s not modular anymore. Normally you just slot the pieces in, they fall into place and don’t require additional parts. Just welded steel with drop slots.

Oof. A dead body. I’m a little surprised there aren’t more of these here. It does feel a bit dangerous.

Here’s another pallet jack, but they aren’t using it correctly. The pallet goes into the forks, why did they put a pallet on top of the forks? Ridiculous. Now they’re just lifting things for no reason. A forklift put the pallet on, now a forklift has to take the pallet off? Why use the pallet jack at all?

And lastly: a propane cage! There’s no locks on it, the maintenance team is probably screaming at everyone to make sure they Lock Out/Tag Out their equipment, but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and sign off on it because there’s no propane tanks inside the cage so maybe the locks just aren’t necessary. Hopefully it’s just in someone’s pocket while they’re going to refill the tanks.

Overall, this is a pretty dangerous looking facility but probably usable. I’d say they ought to start working towards shoring up some safety gaps here, maybe making more intentional decisions about purchases for a while so they have the equipment they need for their process flow instead of all this equipment that requires rework and multiple touches to get anything done. But a growing business sometimes has to take what’s available! Kudos to them for getting things up and running on the moon, not an easy feat.

[lulu2992]

Deleted dialog from Far Cry 3’s main story

In this series of posts, I’m sharing all the unreleased content (minus a few duplicates) I found in the oasisstrings text file, even when it wasn’t very interesting, so we have a comprehensive list of the lines that were cut in each Far Cry 3 story mission.

On a side note, the document never says which character is speaking, so every time you see names, it’s either because the corresponding audio files were available and I know who the speaker is, or because the context made it easy to guess their identity.

Part 3: Down in Amanaki Town

The mission opens with this line, which isn’t in the game:

Let's take him to Amanaki.

Upon waking up and seeing Dennis, who’s tattooing him, Jason had one more question for him:

What did you do to me?

The rest of the lines are unchanged.

The two men then go outside, and Dennis briefly shows Jason around the village before giving him money so he can buy a gun. Before this, he would say:

Enough talk, you must learn the ways of the island if you are going to survive.

Jason goes to the store to do as instructed, and there was more dialog here too. I’m not sure who is speaking, but my guess is it was Jason (to the shop owner who probably shook their head as an answer), Jason again, and Dennis:

Don't I need some kind of background check?

Okay. Thanks.

That is much better than a knife! Any time you need weapons,  visit a store. That make sense?

The conversation that follows used to be longer as well. Here is the full version (with the unreleased lines bolded):

Okay. I’m ready to go.

Be patient. If you go after your friends now, you will never survive. You must first become a warrior.

Every night the warriors go deep into the jungle.

I hear there are others who live there and were never captured. Who still know the old ways.

Citra.

Is she real?

Here, the power comes from the Jungle, from the Island. You must learn the terrain. Know where to stand at all times.

Vaas uses the towers to map the island and to locate his men. Scramblers block access. Our people have no use for devices such as these, but you, you will learn valuable information from them.

So taking out the scramblers will help find my friends?

Yes! The scramblers are at the top. Each tower covers a limited area. Climb them all and you will reveal the entire map.

Got it.

Jason then makes his way to the radio tower to climb it and destroy the scrambler. He had more dialog in this sequence too (bolded lines):

Guys, I'm coming for you.

That must be the radio tower.

Ugh! Snake.

Don't look down.

Shit.

Not getting back down that way.

This looks like the scrambler.

Yes! The map's working.

He then comes back to Dennis who tells him he must master the jungle. This conversation is identical to the in-game version.

[harmonyckrs]

Phase 1, Day 1 of The Strangetown Takeover: Welcome to the Asylum

This quest will be divided into three phases:

Phase 1: Leaving the Asylum and Fleeing to Pleasantview

Phase 2: Getting All Survivors Out of the Asylum

Phase 3: Stopping [REDACTED] Once and For All

Let the game begin.

There's not much that you can remember as you wake up, surrounded by white tiles inside of a cramped room. Even your name has somehow escaped your memory, but there's one thing that you do know - you're not supposed to be here, and something terrible will happen to you if you don't find a way to leave.

???: Patient 006. I see you're awake now.

NAME: Dr. Harper Terrestrial

Harper: I trust you've slept well. I'm Harper, your assigned practitioner. I'll be watching over you to ensure that your progress towards recovery will be going smoothly.

006: Where am I right now? Am I going to be experimented on?

Harper: Please, calm down. You're here because you've been deemed too unstable to remain in the hospital. But if it makes you feel better, you're the most sane out of all of the patients here.

006: Does that mean I can leave?

Harper: No, but we can negotiate a deal. We're going to let you get a job outside of the asylum and be supervised by some of the guards here. If you're able to reach the maximum level, we'll let you go. Deal?

006: Oh, neat! Sounds easy enough. Deal!

Harper: Good. I'll be rooting for you, Laz-er, Patient 006. I'll be around if you have any questions.

006: I have multiple, actually...

After that encounter with Harper, you have been granted access to the LIVING AREA. There's not much there, what with the limited budget and all, but it's at least better than nothing.

Harper: So, what questions do you have? I'll try my best to answer.

006: What...happened, before I woke up? Why am I here?

Harper: There was a terrible accident in Strangetown that caused a lot of people to act more irrationally, and even more to suffer memory loss. The hospital was getting too full, so we had to move some people to this place instead. You included.

006: What was the accident?

Harper: I think it was some kind of failed experiment. But don't worry about it too much. You should be on the path of full recovery, but we're not quite sure about your family yet.

006: Family?

Harper: Yes, you have family. I can't say anything more about them because of patient confidentiality, unfortunately. Don't worry about them too much and focus on your-

???: OW! HELP, SOMEONE! I THINK I'M ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH!

Harper: That must be Patient 004! Good talk, 006! Let me know if you need anything!

Harper dashes out of the building. You follow her to the sound of the voice, unlocking the OUTSIDE AREA and encountering a building that seemingly has no doors. But strangely, there was someone else waiting for you.

???: I knew I'd find you here! Who would've thought that the one who nearly became Dr. Vu's second in command would be one of the first thrown into prison, eh?

006: Um...who are you?

Melony: Name's Melony Felony. We haven't met before, but I've keeping an eye on some people that you know and that did result in me seeing you a couple of times. The curse prevented me from getting close to people.

006: (That's really creepy.) What curse?

Melony: It was a curse that prevents me from being able to befriend people, but Dr. Vu found a witch to remove it form me. But I assure you, I'm not on her side like those so-called doctors are. Don't trust a single word they say.

006: Alright then...

Melony: I'm going to get going now, but you'll know where you find me when the time's right.

Meanwhile, inside of the building with no door...

NAME: Pascal Curious Patient 004

Harper: Aww, what an adorable baby! And in perfect health, too! He looks just like his father.

004: I know! I'm going to name him Tycho.

Harper: That's a lovely name. Well, now that we've gotten that over with, I'll take Tycho to a safer place.

004: Excuse me? What do you mean?

Harper: Well, it wouldn't be fair to raise little Tycho inside of a hospital room, would it? He deserves to be able to see the world.

004: I know, but...am I at least allowed to see him from time to time?

Harper: We'll, um, think about it. Just give him to me...

THE NEXT DAY

[ralphlanyon]

TC tag game

Tagged by @spudodell!

Rules: Answer the questions and tag other TC fans!

1. "He would not fucking say that" only they did and it's canon. When/who?

Not that they're necessarily out of character, but whenever Renault is clearly projecting her own internalized misogyny onto the characters (e.g. Laurie calling Nurse Adrian a "silly little dumbbell" at one point or the narrative voice commenting on Aunt Olive's lack of makeup), I am like

(Granted, her other contemporary novels that actually feature female protagonists are even worse about this… 🫠)

2. Did they kiss in the study? Yes/no + why you are 100% correct about this.

Yes, absolutely! I previously wrote this meta about why I think so here. But here are a few more reasons:

"Over and over, during those first months, Laurie had relived the scene in the study, guarding it with fierce secrecy as a savage guards a magic word." It would be quite odd for Laurie to constantly relive that last meeting with Ralph and guard it with "fierce secrecy," if Ralph had done nothing more than chastise him, give him an old book, and turn him out of his study. So something intimate must have happened there that Laurie still obsessively thinks about.

The infamous ellipsis after "Come here a moment" was deliberately added to the 1959 edition (one of the only additions Renault makes, rather than subtractions), which I think is probably to help clarify the significance of that pause.

Laurie's proprietary behavior towards Ralph at the party, especially him staking claim of Ralph in front of Bim (and frankly a lot of about Laurie's behavior towards Ralph in general), makes a lot more sense if they had a "moment" together in the past and both of them never got over it or each other. It would help explain why Laurie instinctively feels he does have a claim over Ralph (as the Odysseus to Ralph's Penelope, to use Bim's analogy), as well as why Ralph continues to carry a torch for him after seven years and countless other relationships.

3. Mandatory question about Ralph's alleged tattoos.

To be honest I don't think he has any tattoos yet (or at least any in areas that would be normally exposed to the public), or else Laurie would have commented on them like he comments on just about everything else about Ralph's appearance. I could see him getting some in the future though, maybe some nautical-themed ones and probably at least one related to Laurie because he's sentimental like that.

4. 53 vs 59 edition: quote a line or paragraph that is better in the edition you like the least.

I generally prefer reading the '53 edition mainly for the extra bits, but there are several stylistic writing choices I do prefer in the '59 edition. One of them is Ralph telling Laurie, "I didn't think you had that much bitchery in you." He says "cattiness" in the '53 edition, but Laurie is very bitchy (and Ralph likes that about him!).

5. Which TC character would feel right at home here on tumblr dot com?

Bim or Sandy! They would be bringing the tea. ☕️

6. Tag yourself at Alec's birthday party.

Probably part of the couple holding hands in dead silence, lol.

7. Post a TC meme.

I have a lot of memes in my TC tag, but here's one I made a while ago:

8. Easy to talk about who deserved better. Who deserved worse?

Dave because he bores me (the worst thing a literary character can do). Also Ralph's parents and Jeepers.

9. You can break the fourth wall (at any point in the novel) and say a single sentence to our protagonist, Laurie Odell. What do you say?

"You are intensely afraid of abandonment which is why you keep trying to leave people before they can leave you. (Please go to therapy.)"

10. What's a question you have about TC? One you haven't found an answer for yet.

What do Laurie and Ralph do for their post-war careers? There have been several excellent ideas in post-canon fics, but I haven’t quite settled on my own headcanon for them.

Tagging: not sure who hasn’t been tagged yet, but feel free to nab if you see this!

[samieree]

Dawn of the North || Game of Thrones

Robb Stark x OC

(masterlists in the end) -> Prologue + description

Chapter I ''Beginning''

Since they ran away from home, they planned to save enough money to sail by ship to Essos and settle there, in one of the Free Cities. Their plans changed when it turned out that earning money was not that easy. Especially when you feel guilty when you rob someone.

When Amalthea thought about the situation that took place two years ago and their stay in the North, she would not have thought that her and Ryledia's lives would take this direction. She didn't think they would return to the North, it seemed to her that they would be best off in the lands of the Reach or the Riverlands. After all, they grew up in the Reach, this was the area they knew best. But after two years they found themselves back in the Kingdom of the North, and quite far in it. Okay, earlier, they had gone further, to some village between Winterfell and Dreadfort, but then they told themselves that they would not want to come here ever again. It was cold, they had to buy warmer coats and shoes, stay in inns at night... It was simply unprofitable.

But something brought them back here. More specifically, just south of Moat Cailin. They began their journey there when they learned of King Robert's death and that the North had called the bannermen and declared war on the Lannisters.

"We should buy some good wine from Dorne and have some fun." that's what Ryledia told her when they heard about the change on the throne.

After all, King Robert had always been the greatest threat to Amalthea's life - although his death didn't mean she would suddenly be completely safe. She had no doubt that there were still plenty of people who hated Targaryens and it made sense to hide her true identity.

It would certainly be easier if they were able to go to another continent. No one would have paid attention there if Amalthea hadn't put on her dark red wig and just let her silver waves down. In fact, their story would have gone in this direction if Ryledia had agreed to Amalthea's proposal. Namely, it was about selling hair. Long, silver, light curls would be very expensive. The girl wanted to cut it as high as possible - she was wearing a wig anyway - and sell it for at least enough to get them both across the sea. But then she heard:

"No. You will not sell yourself."

Amalthea didn't see it that way. For her, it was just her hair, a beautiful but at the same time annoying part of her appearance. Especially since the longer they were, the harder it was to stuff them under the wig.

Apart from this argument, Ryledia added that it would not be easy for them to find a buyer, and if they found one, he would definitely ask them where they got the hair from. And then what? Would they say they were lying on the ground? And if they admitted that they belonged to Amalthea, they would risk that the merchant would discover their secret.

Returning to their current situation, Amalthea began to become suspicious as to why they had returned. While they were sitting in one of the inns, a few soldiers, rather high-born, came there. Of course, they were looking for the comfort of a normal bed, which they left at home when they went to war. Or women, one of the two. Anyway, this time no one was bothering them - and even if someone was, after politely refusing, he left them alone (unless he was drunk, in which case he needed a little help in the form of a push towards his friends) - it was rather... other way around. Ryledia did so, to be precise.

Amalthea didn't know the true nature of her friend's behavior as she sat and talked with the military men, laughing and drinking with them. Sometimes she kept Amalthea next to her, and sometimes she left her at another table - but then she looked at her discreetly almost every moment to make sure that she was in no danger, that no one was bothering her. The silver-haired girl finally thought that her close friend must have fallen in love. Or more precisely, what pushed her to this conclusion was that when one of the men suggested that they travel with them, from camp to camp - of course not to fight, gods forbid, they were women. It was just about... keeping company. Besides, they knew a bit about tending wounds and cooking, so they could always be useful. Especially since they had their own horses, so traveling wouldn't be a problem for them.

And that's how they ended up in the middle of a war camp. She was sitting next to Ryledia on a tree trunk by a fire over which rabbits were roasting. She didn't feel very comfortable here, much less as comfortable as Ryledia. She wondered if she felt the eyes of others on her as she did and wondered what all these men were thinking. After all, they left their wives - if they had them - at home... She wanted to broach the subject with Ryledia, but firstly: she didn't want to interrupt the conversation, and secondly: she didn't seem like she had the same thoughts. Maybe she hid it well, or maybe she didn't have any at all. After all, some blood divides them.

She sat and stared at her fingers, playing with them until she got tired of it. The conversation didn't interest her either, it didn't seem to be about any topics she could comment on, so she stayed silent almost the entire time.

She sighed and looked around. She didn't expect to see any familiar face, although deep down she hoped that she would see the boy who, together with his father, saved her and Ryledia two years ago. After all, he was the one who called the bannermen and led the army, so he had to be around here somewhere. But the camp with about twenty thousand people is huge. The chance of seeing him somewhere was-

She noticed a woman entering a tent. She did it immediately, after all, she didn't expect many more women to be in the camp. Especially since this one looked much older than her. She leaned a little in her seat, but she still couldn't see anything that was happening in the tent she entered. But now her attention was finally focused on something other than twiddling her fingers and listening to the boring conversation. She stared at the tent for a long time until her suspicions were finally confirmed: the woman she noticed was Lady Stark. She was the first to leave after a dozen or so minutes - yes, all this time Amalthea was staring at one and the same tent - and some time later her eldest son came out accompanied by someone else, his age or at most five years older. She recognized him immediately, even from this distance - and they were about a dozen meters away.

He didn't change much, except he had a beard now. His hair still curled into small curls,  had blue eyes, a warm, thick coat, and the silver direwolf pin adorned the clasp of the coat.

Their eyes met for a moment, completely unexpectedly. She mentally cursed that he happened to look in her direction and notice her, but there was only a faint blush on her face as she quickly turned back to the fire. She rested her elbows on her thighs and placed her hands on her cheeks to hide the pinkness before anyone noticed.

After all, she was what, seventeen? And she had just seen once again the boy for whom her heart had fluttered once before, and whom she had spoken about to Ryledia for so long that she had almost tortured her to death. Now she felt her heart racing again, but quickly calmed down.

At least for a while.

"My Lady?" she almost jumped when she heard his voice behind her. She should have expected it, after all the conversation had died down until Robb nodded and smiled that it was okay, they may talk freely, he came here for only one person. "What an unexpected meeting."

He was only a year older than her, not even a whole year, and he kept reliving that moment when his eyes fell on a beautiful girl and lingered on her a little too long. Then, at the inn, he did everything he could to hide it, but his father still teased him a bit about it later. Of course he noticed. Nothing was as embarrassing for Robb, although now he would give everything to have his father back, even if he had to argue with him that he had absolutely never been seriously attracted to any woman. He could at best discuss this with Theon, although he would prefer to keep it to himself. He would never start such a conversation himself, his feelings were his alone.

But now he decided to approach her. He could have ignored it, thought that he was just imagining it, that it definitely wasn't her. After all, he didn't even know her name. Neither her nor her companion. But he couldn't let go, he never could.

"Unfortunately, not in better circumstances than last time."

"I heard that two women joined in, but I regret that I didn't ask for their name right away. Although I haven't even had a chance to learn it yet." yes, none of them introduced themselves when they had the pleasure of meeting at the inn. "Could I?"

"Amalthea." she replied, smiling gently.

"I'm Robb Stark."

She wanted to say that she knew his name - after all, she was educated, or at least enough to know everything important about the world around her and the most important houses of Westeros, but her voice got stuck in her throat. Why? Because Robb took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it. Maybe it was just an innocent, polite gesture, but her heart sped up, threatening to make her face blush.

"And your friend?" he asked, looking behind her at the brunette who was still busy talking with the soldiers.

She hesitated for a moment before answering, thinking about how his lips had just placed a gentle kiss on her hand, about the warmth of his gentle embrace when he was holding her hand for this short time.

"Ryledia." she also looked at her, but only for a moment, because she definitely preferred to look at the boy who touched her girlish heart than at the friend she was with every day.

"I hope you haven't had any unpleasant experiences in these two years like at that inn." he really wanted it to be that way, even though the chances were slim. After all, women traveling alone are unfortunately often harassed. But they didn't look like they were in bad shape.

If it weren't for traveling alone, he would assume they had family somewhere nearby they could stay with - at least one of them. They didn't look like they could be sisters, but anything was possible. He assumed that since Amalthea hadn't introduced them that way, they didn't have a bond deeper than friendship. Still - ladies traveling alone was like asking for trouble. For that reason, he was glad that they would stay with them, at least for a while. That wasn't the only reason, of course, but he didn't want to admit it yet. For now, he wanted to... get to know her. Just like that.

He couldn't deny it, she was pretty - he had eyes, after all. Who wouldn't like a slim girl with a visible waistline, fanciable breasts, amber eyes and long wine-colored hair? That's why he went so far with politeness as to kiss her hand while introducing himself. A gesture of respect, but at the same time he hoped that he had impressed her and that Amalthea would reciprocate his desire to get to know each other.

It is true that he has his duties, he leads people to war, he wants to save his father, but during the day he also has long moments when he is alone with his thoughts. He would gladly fill it with her, if she agreed to it, of course.

And if not, he would have to try harder than just kissing her hand while looking her straight in the eyes.

"Fortunately, no." it was a small lie on her part, because her and Ryledia's life had never been easy, even before they ran away from home.

Amalthea had always had the same fear as her father: being recognized. Over time, she got used to it and was less careful, no longer touching the edges of the wig to make sure her hair wasn't sticking out - and asking Ryledia about it every now and then, whenever she could do it discreetly...

They were both aware of the dangers their journey entailed, but they didn't feel like they had any other choice now. They could stay somewhere longer and settle down, but it's more complicated than it seems, fitting into a community that already knows each other well and you are a stranger. Traveling gave them freedom, even if it meant risking their health or even lives from time to time.

That's why Amalthea was surprised by Ryledia's quick agreement to the idea of ​​joining the moving army.

"If you don't mind... I'd like to have a few words with you from time to time, my Lady. It's very... relaxing to be able to talk about something other than the current situation."

"Why 'my Lady'? Maybe I'm not of noble birth? After all, I travel from city to city without staying anywhere for long."

"It's obvious." he nodded at her and looked at her from her feet to the top of her head. "The way you talk, how you carry yourself, the way you look. A woman from a humble home is not like that."

"Be careful, my Lord, maybe it will turn out that I am a lost princess?" she said jokingly, laughing with him. She ignored the way she felt Ryledia lightly tugging her skirt from behind to be careful not to say too much. But these are just jokes! He wouldn't take her seriously, anyone would laugh if they heard something like that while talking with her.

"Then I would have to call the Maester to remind me of all the rules of etiquette regarding behavior in the presence of the princess." he replied in an equally light tone.

They continued their banter completely unaware of two things: First of all: Yes, Ryledia, who was sitting on a trunk practically behind Amalthea's back, may have continued her conversation with the soldiers, but at the same time she was listening carefully to her friend's conversation with Robb. Secondly: Catelyn noticed them too, or more precisely, that her son was suddenly interested in some woman - where did she even come from? On the one hand, she was happy because he finally didn't look all tense, but she didn't know her, this probably wasn't a good match for him in any way, and she immediately thought of everything that could go wrong if her son will be reckless.

And that's how he'll be like if he becomes infatuated with her.

~

-> Chapter II ''Two worlds'' -> general masterlist -> Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon masterlist

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Hello!! This is kind of a stupid question but do you understand who the Moonshadow assassins kill and why? At first I assumed it was just human rulers/generals from all kingdoms but when Viren was talking about how they were a threat in season 2 the other rulers didn’t seem to think it was as big of an emergency and I was a little confused. I hope you have a great day!!

I actually love questions like this! There's some nuance in the answer, and also some uncertainty, but I'll share my take for ya:

The Moonshadow assassins don't seem to pick their own targets, they accept assignments from the Dragon Throne. The full nature of that relationship hasn't been explained in any detail, so it's a tricky, complicated area of lore for the moment.

Basically, we don't have any information on how the Dragon Throne chooses the targets it passes on to the Moonshadow assassins for taking, aside from the one that happened just before the show's plot began, with Zubeia sending Runaan and his team to kill Harrow and Ezran. All we know is that these targets are supposed to be so threatening to Xadia that the world would be better off if they were no longer in it.

It's not impossible to imagine Avizandum telling his assassins to take out someone who didn't actually deserve it. It's relatively easy actually, knowing how he liked to stomp on humans, and how long he lived. It's probably happened. The only question is: how often? (angst)

I would guess - because again, we don't really know this for sure yet - that Avizandum generally chose actual threats, or people who could easily become threats in a war. But when you're a long-lived dragon, maybe you see different patterns in the mortal lives and cultures of humans. And Runaan and all the assassins before him wouldn't live long enough to recognize those patterns themselves, so they probably had to accept their targets out of either trust or duty. (more angst)

Some of them would definitely be military type targets: generals; shining young hero types with a chip on their shoulder; stealthy human assassins; dark mages if they dared risk it; and etc.

But a dragon might see strange harmless patterns beginning to form and decide to nip them in the bud before they led to anything truly threatening: a craftsman who just had a design breakthrough with a prototype ballista; a baker who just invented hardtack that could keep an army on the move for weeks; an armorer who just made a much safer design; a clever miner who found a rare and valuable source of iron.

People like that aren't dangerous on their own. But the knowledge they might share among the humans during a long drawn-out war with Xadia could be devastating in a decade or five. A dragon who already doesn't like humans would probably have no trouble sending his best assassin to snipe unsuspecting ordinary people like that.

We're still not sure if assassins must take an assignment, or if it's just dishonorable or something not to take it. But Runaan's a pretty regimented guy, and he's not fond of humans either. Between his trust issues and his protective instincts, I don't think he'd look too hard at his assignments these days even if he had a choice - he'd believe he was doing the right thing for his people, and then he'd stop thinking and go shoot someone.

I think sometimes Runaan definitely was doing the right thing by killing someone. But it's impossible to say which missions were and which weren't the right thing. Life is way too complicated for clear-cut answers like that.

Okay, onward!

The other part of this answer is about the Pentarchy itself. I think their hesitance to commit right away, and the reason Aanya got so much time to smack Viren with her sass, happened partly because Viren lives in a border realm like she does, and the other three rulers have a nice safe buffer between them and the brunt of the war efforts.

Basically, Del Bar, Neolandia, and Evenere don't have any skin in the border game.

They don't have big standing armies, and the only threats they deal with are small incursions - either assassins from other human realms or occasionally Moonshadow assassins.

Which is the topic at hand! But when Viren tries to convince Harrow to do the switching spell in S1, he claims that Moonshadow elves are an unstoppable force. Almost a force of nature, kind of vibe. If they come for you, you're just gonna die about it. Harrow even agrees with him! It's common knowledge how deadly the Moonshadow assassins are. And that's what happened despite all of Viren's plans - he still lost his king because Moonshadow assassins are scary good at their job.

So it's plausible that the other rulers didn't see any point in committing resources to an unsolvable issue - if Moonshadow assassins were coming for them, then they'd die. Why risk anyone else? Anyone in the assassins' way would die too. (Which they did in Katolis)

Another option is that Viren has been wrong before, and the other royals did commit resources to deal with the threat he claimed was coming, only to have time and money and forces wasted. If Viren had brought them costly mistakes, they could've been hedging their bets this time around.

There's a funnier possibility though: maybe they just didn't like Viren. People in power sometimes say polite things to an underling or a petitioner, and then have no intention of ever following through with it. They might've all been blowing smoke here, telling Viren "oh yeah sure if we're all in, let's totally do war, bro" and absolutely never meaning it even a little bit because they simply did not like the messenger.

Which is mean. But: royals.

tldr:

there's a few things affecting the Pentarchy scene all at once. We don't know all the factors involved yet, and the Pentarchy probably doesn't either. But at the end of the day the Pentarchy chose to hesitate, and that left Viren on his own.

[wardenswateringhole]

Forget Me Not

Ingo lead Akari through one of the many valleys found in the Highlands. It was one of the more safer routes. An easy to follow path had been well worn into the ground from the foot traffic this area saw from the clans and the merchants. The only pokémon around were starlys chirping busily in the trees and the occasional shinx or bidoof.

Akari eyed Ingo curiously. While she was prone to asking a million questions a minute while in the presence of Ingo but she was noticeably quieter this time. “What's this 'rare herb' you wanted me to help you find?”

Ingo kept his eyes forward as he walked. “I'll explain more when we reach our destination.”

“Is someone sick? Are you sick? Ingo--?”

“Everyone is well, I assure you.” Ingo answered quickly to douse the flames of panic he could hear rising within her. “I promise. More will be revealed shortly.”

Any other time, Akari would press more. Ingo would have his companion running circles around him trying to pry information from him. The little mind games she would play to get him to slip up and say too much. It amused Ingo to no end. A small amount of worry swirled within him at Akari's silence.

It didn't take long for the duo to reach a small clearing. Akari's eyes widened at the flowers that covered the area. Ingo smiled. “I found this spot not too long ago. I thought you might like it.”

“Ingo?” Akari cocked her head at him. “Is this where the herb is?”

“No... Not exactly...” Ingo cleared his throat and fussed with his hat. “I must admit I may have... fibbed... a bit.”

Akari turned to him and put her hands on her hips. A look of mock shock and disappointment was on her face. “Ingo!”

“I-I apologize!” Ingo stammered. “I could not help but notice that the Galaxy Team has been giving you far more tasks than usual. I was worried.” He pulled off his hat and ran his fingers through his thinning hairline. “I made up the story about needing a rare herb so I could bring you here to take a break. It seemed like you very much needed to rest your engines.”

Akari sighed. “Yeah... They have been giving me more to do. Rei twisted his ankle so I've been taking on his tasks too.” She smiled. “Thanks Ingo. I really appreciate this.”

She looked over the flowers. There were many hues of blue, red, yellow, and pink with white scattered in between. The air smelled incredibly sweet. Akari knelt to inspect the blooms.

“I should gather some to take back to Rei. He's been miserable cooped up in his cabin. I wonder what color he would like.”

Ingo knelt beside her with his hat in his lap. “I'm sure he'd appreciate any colors you bring him. The smell more than makes up for any disliked colors.” He picked a flower and put it up to his nose. “I'm rather surprised combee do not convene here.”

Ingo looked over to find Akari not listening in the least. She was studying a handful of flowers silently. “Miss Akari? Are you alright?”

Akari nodded. “I... I remember... someone used to bring me flowers when I was sick. Back home...” She twirled a flower between her finger and thumb. “I can't remember who... I keep seeing blonde hair and a red hat that kinda looks like Rei's...”

A sigh the likes of had never been heard coming out of the young surveyor dragged out of her. The flowers were dropped solemnly into her lap as she looked down. “It makes me feel terrible when I remember stuff like that. These people meant so much to me. At least, that's what it feels like. How could I forget them?”

Akari's eyes looked up at Ingo. The shine of tears was becoming increasingly clear.

“Do... Do you think they miss us?” Akari finally asked. “The people we left behind. You think they even know we're gone?”

Ingo looked over Akari for a few moments. He of course felt the same. He did well to hide exactly how many times a memory would creep up on him and leave him a mess for days on end. Memories of family and friends with no faces and garbled voices. Precious moments that he felt he would keep close to his heart til his dying days now a fleeting sensation. It hurt. It hurt more to see young Akari going through the same turmoil.

“I cannot say...” Ingo spoke carefully. He wanted to at least be honest with her. “I do not know what our loved ones are doing or feeling at this moment... But I do know this.”

He ran his hand over her head gently. “We miss them terribly. It is not a pleasant sensation. It is not a sensation that I would wish my loved ones to feel.” His hand cupped her chin and looked into her eyes. “I hope they are happy and well, even if I am not there to take part in it. I wish that for ALL my loved ones.”

Ingo suddenly found himself tackled into a hug. Akari's face was buried into his chest as she sniffled. He voice was muffled against his tunic. “Thanks, Uncle Ingo.”

Ingo hugged her close and nuzzled her head lightly. A few moments passed before Akari pulled away and wiped her eyes. Ingo's gaze was gentle and patient as she tried to laugh off the sudden emotional rush. “Ugh. Okay. I'm okay. Let's get to picking some flowers. I want Rei to check out these smelly things.”

Akari returned to sorting through the colored petals while Ingo placed his hat back on his head. Yes, he missed the life he left behind but people like Akari gave him the strength to persevere. She'd never know how much she had helped him and how much she meant to him. He was completely fine with that.

His thoughts were broken abruptly as Akari's hand grabbed his sleeve tightly. Her voice was a harsh whisper. “Ingo! A pokémon! I've never seen one like it!” Akari pointed toward a shuffling green mound peeking in and out among the flowers. Ingo squinted but could not tell what it was either.

“I need to catch it!” Akari was already shuffling through the flowers trying to be as stealthy as possible. Ingo watched her with a bemused smile. His young friend already looked to be back to her old self.

He hoped that this memory at least would stay with him forever.

[quillyfied]

what are ur fav foods or restaurants that are gluten free?

Aha! A tricky one! I will endeavor to provide a good answer!

So, disclaimer: I also have IBS, which complicates the tummy question, and I also have severe anxiety, so I’ve refused to go to or eat at many restaurants with my family since being diagnosed. This will be a short list, but I highly encourage you to do some research in your own areas and to either get comfortable asking people working in restaurants questions or have someone do it for you. YOU MUST LET THE RESTAURANTS KNOW YOUR CONDITION IF YOU HAVE CELIAC OR ARE GLUTEN SENSITIVE. And realize that most people still don’t understand what you mean when you say you have celiac disease or even a gluten intolerance. But they will understand wheat allergy, especially if you start listing common examples (buns, breading, gravy, etc). Don’t rely on “oh but it’s fruit, why would fruit be a problem?” Because sometimes you find yourself in a Cracker Barrel asking a waitress who has to go ask her manager and the manager will frankly tell you that there’s so much flour flying around back there that if you have any kind of gluten problem, this place is not safe for you. Incidentally, Cracker Barrel is not on my list of safe restaurants, but it is on my list of places to play a fun peg jump game.

Sit-down restaurants, I very much enjoy Cheesecake Factory’s mashed potatoes, and some of their burgers come with a gluten free bun that’s pretty good. Olive Garden has gluten free pasta and tomato sauce, but if tomatoes aren’t your thing, they will absolutely just coat them in butter (and add grilled chicken if you want, and they do scrape and clean the grills). There’s also quite a few local sit down places that I’ve had success with, so, again: research what is in your area! There’s actually a whole gluten free bakery and bistro in my area that isn’t exactly easy for everyday eating but great for a sometimes treat. And I just found a local Italian place that does a delicious chicken Alfredo that didn’t make me sick! Local restaurants can be such treasures, friends.

Quick service joints, by far my favorite is Five Guys Burgers and Fries. They already cook their burgers and buns on separate grills; all you need to do is tell them about your allergy, and they’ll flag it for their people to change gloves when handling your food. Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers has a grilling process where they flip their burgers onto a separate grill to cook the second side where the buns also go, but if you tell them, they will keep it on the meat-only grill; their fries are made in the same fryer as onion rings and therefore not safe. Chicken Salad Chick is a pretty good one so long as you pay attention to the chicken salad ingredients and ask for the Quick Chicks, which are individually packed. LawLer’s BBQ is really good; my sister in law gets the loaded baked potato without cheese, but I think I’ve gotten it before with cheese since I got sick and been fine? I don’t remember, but be safe and maybe skip the cheese, since anti-caking agents in shredded cheese is a sneaky place for gluten to hide and few restaurant workers will even know to check that.

Fast food, there are so few options for actual meals. Wendy’s Frosty is good, but not a complete dinner; I think their baked potatoes and chili might also be safe but I’m not a fan. Some salads are okay (check the dressing always), and many fries are okay (NOT MCDONALDS, THEIR FRIES ARE NOT GLUTEN FREE THANKS TO GLUTEN IN THE BEEF FLAVORING THEY ADD AND ALSO NOT DEDICATED FRYERS), but in my area, the safest place to get a fast, tasty meal is Chick-fil-A. They have dedicated fryers for their fries, and dedicated grills for their grilled nuggets, and they have managers and in some locations allergy specialists on site to make sure your food is made and handled carefully. I’ve never gotten sick from eating it. The moral implications are less than stellar, but. It is what it is. They’re the only place I can eat. And sometimes, I don’t have the time to run home and cook myself a meal before keeping other plans.

I can’t cite my sources here; I spend a lot of time googling and looking up menus and asking questions. Please do your own research and figure out for yourself what is near you that you can have and what you like. It’s a hard thing to live with. Good luck, friend!

[bookmuseum]

[REVIEW] Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

4/5 stars (★★★★)

"[T]here could only be a few winners and a lot of losers. And yet we played on. because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones. How could you get angry at the ones who wanted to be in the game? [She] had failed in this important way -- she had not taught her children to hope, to believe in the perhaps-absurd possibility that they might win. Pachinko was a foolish game, but life was not."

This review was difficult to write since the book's content and themes were very close to home as a first-generation immigrant who is also still dealing with the aftereffects of Japan's Pan-Asianist regime. Even looking back at all this now, I know I failed immensely in conveying my true feelings about Lee's book, but it's the best I can do for now.

Pachinko reminded me a lot of other Asian immigrant/diaspora literature like Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeliene Thien. In terms of writing style, I would say these two books are very similar. Like DNSWHN, Pachinko effectively broke my heart. When Lee said, "It was stupid to wish for kindness," whilst still sustaining the courageous hope throughout her book, was magnificent.

I'm seeing a handful of negative reviews on Pachinko, but a lot of them are written by white reviewers who are critiquing the book as an intellectualized object and not a testament to Korean resilience against Japan's colonial regime. Their complaints about the novel fall even shorter once they self-admit they knew virtually nothing about Korean and Japanese sociopolitics and how the Pacific War to the mid-20th century in particular has devastated Asia. White people are saying, "Oh, I had no idea this happened!" and "The historical context was very informative," as if Pachinko is meant to be a history textbook and not a fictionalized tribute of all the suffering and endurance a colonized people have gone through, as shown through the matriarch character Sunja's life experiences. The opening line is literally, "History has failed us, but no matter." Lee is telling you that the novel isn't about educating your ignorance or covering all of 20th century Korean history for your consumption; that is something you must do yourself and you shouldn't depend on this novel to hold your hand and tell you how to care, because how can you not care?

I cringe at the white people saying this book is "bad" or that it fails in so many areas as a piece of literature while at the same time emphasizing how extremely little they know about the context that informs the book, as well as the real-life impact such contexts have had on the author herself. You can tell Lee did a lot of research and soul-searching to even make this book possible, and that in itself is a triumph. The attention to detail, her ability to switch between several languages (even their slang!), and the vivid depiction of a time she did not grow up in but managed to capture on paper so astonishingly are signs of a true master writer. I think most of the (white) people who disliked this book completely missed the mark with these types of nitpicks. I saw someone whining about all the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean terms that Lee included sans translation. As someone who isn't fluent in any of those languages, I took those moments when I had to look up the word online (which is insanely easy, by the way; imagine reading this book and all you had were Chinese to Japanese to Korean to English dictionaries to go off of) as times to reflect on how so many cultures, histories, and languages inform this book. It truly is a saga in its own way, even though the farthest we go from the beginning setting of Gohyang is New York. Even though we mainly stayed within East Asia, the individual inward journeys that all the characters experienced were quietly epic. Pachinko may be dominantly written in English, but those moments that incorporate different terms, ideas, traditions, and specialized words were so meaningful. (I found even Lee's incorporation of the changing fashion and food styles to be very impressive!) It really genuinely is not that hard to just look things up and do a bit of reading on what something means. Lee didn't just use basic translations either; she used concepts and ideas that required deeper context to really grasp what was being said, which I thought was brilliant in its subtly humble decolonization. As a reader, you are forced to make sense of the kaleidoscope of different languages, cultures, histories, and overlapping stories; it gives you a glimpse of what it must've been like to actually live in these times, which I choose to see as a true honor, rather an inconvenience.

Pachinko's strength goes beyond just the text though. Lee's characters are painfully human and reminded me a lot of my own relatives, especially Yangjin, Yoseb, and Hansu. Save for Sunja, who was Pachinko's glittering protagonist, these three characters were very evocative for me, especially when they each had scene(s) that depicted their ugly weaknesses and vulnerability. For Yangjin, she seemed like such a selfless, strong, and reserved mother throughout the book, but then there's that final scene before [she passes away when she confronts Sunja for her "neglect." For the first and only time, Yangjin speaks her mind and lets out the words she had been "protecting" from her daughter all this time; she no longer has the energy to keep them to herself. She's dying and is becoming senile, and it's in that moment that she allows herself to be selfish. I'm not saying I totally agree with what Yangjin said (Sunja suffered so much -- in ways her mother never had to see), but I sympathized with her loneliness. I liked that Lee didn't explicitly show us the exact moment of her death but moved on in the next chapter immediately to her funeral, because the physical death doesn't matter so much as the spiritial one that Yangjin just experienced: She can no longer keep lying to her daughter and keep her regrets silent; now that she has been able to voice them, she's free.

Lee's treatment of Yangjin's character paralleled well with Yoseb, who was supposed to be the "man of the house" and prided himself on providing for his family and Kyunghee; he was very old-fashioned, and I understand [that his struggles, his getting burnt in Nagasaki, and his eventual death symbolized how that type of "patriarchal" man can no longer exist, but I never felt like Lee looked down on him or dismissed how he was feeling. She took great care to emphasize how everything he did was for love and his family, which made me understand why everyone was so accommodating and felt so much pain when they saw Yoseb suffering after he got burnt.  I know what it's like to keep forgiving someone who's turned nasty and intolerable, because you can't help but remember the person they used to be before all the turmoil and heartache. [Yoseb shined the most during that confrontation scene with Hansu: "Though he shouldn't, Yoseb hated this man -- his expensive clothes, flashy shoes, his unchecked confidence, reeking of a devilish invulnerability. He hated him for not being in pain." That scene was so brilliant: the image of a tall, white-clad, and domineering Hansu fancying himself the hero who saved everyone's lives looking down on a crippled, scarred, and bitter Yoseb tucked into the haystacked ground, still defiant and seeing right through his cruelty anyway, was so haunting. As the story progressed and Yoseb grew more helpless, I could understand and feel for him, even when he started to grow violent, cynical, and frustrating. Like Yangjin, Yoseb was so painfully human and raw as a character. When he muses, "This life had too much loss . . . The stupid heart could not help but hope," I felt my heart collapse for him.

And finally, Lee's depiction of Hansu impressed me greatly because I just really didn't like him, but I knew where he was coming from every step of the way. When he was explaining his background to Sunja during the days when they first met (growing up Korean in Japan, trying his best to keep him and his abusive father alive, living through a loveless marriage, etc.), I could follow the line of logic he clung onto to make sense of the world. And even though I didn't agree with most of the things he did or said, I knew Lee was presenting me with a real person born of flesh and sinew -- not just a two-dimensional character in a book trying to get sympathy points from its audience. His twisted yet still devoted love for Sanju and Noa were heartbreaking, although I am very, very firm in that I do not like him. He never sat well with me; I agreed with Yangjin that he had always been trouble. That being said, I can see how Sunja fell in love with him and how "he had loved her with a kind of gratitude." I wish I had the capacity to speak more on how much I appreciate and marvel at these complex, multifaceted characters, but this review must go on! (I will say, though, that dear God, I wanted to sob like a child when [that scene with Isak begging God -- or anybody -- for his life to continue happened. I knew he was going to die, and he knew it too, but it was so tragic. He wanted to live, he wanted to see his boys grow up, and he was so sorry for making Sunja's life so difficult). I honestly think Isak and Sunja were my favorite characters. I loved that Lee decided to end the novel with [Sunja visiting her husband's grave and talking to him. It was the first and last time she called him "Yobo," which was bittersweet and made me smile. 

Circling back, a common issue I see (white) people having with Pachinko that there were "too many characters" to the point that they "never felt connected" to anyone in particular. There were too many time jumps, switches in point of view, and scenes that seemed narratively significant like Isak's death are brushed over. I find that "critique" very flaccid. While others found Lee's style -- especially in Book 3 when everything did start to shift very helter-skelter with the POV switches and new character introductions -- irritating or confusing, I found it quite realistic and representative of what life is like as an immigrant, especially in terms of how time passes: "It was easy to recall a time when there was no money for tea and a time when there was none to buy." I understand what it's like living through a period when everything is falling apart, -- it would be better to just give up and die -- and then suddenly it's five, ten, twenty years later, you can have all the white rice you want, there's money to set apart for handbags and toys, and you have no idea how you got from Point A to Point B. It's true Lee doesn't offer much explanation as to why we gyrate from character to character, especially near the end when she introduces people like Hana and Etsuko, but that disorienting feeling of, "What about x? When will I see that person again? Was that the last time they'll be mentioned?" is reminiscent of real life. You don't know when goodbye means goodbye. You keep hoping they'll return, like how to the very last page I really wanted Kim to come back, or even the two sisters that Sanju and Yangjin took in, but most of the time, you never get your closure. You just get curt summaries -- perhaps a decade later -- like "He died" or "Killed in action," and you're meant to move on and get up the next day. I can understand how this type of narration is frustrating to follow -- maybe even unsatisfying and surface-level -- but I admire Lee for handling it like that. That is what it's like living as an immigrant haunted by intergenerational trauma. That is what it's like to carry on. That said, I will admit that my interest did eventually teeter off near the end of the book, especially once we started to focus more on Solomon. I didn't like him or found his arguments for "hey, there are bad Koreans and there are bad Japanese, and vice versa, can't we all just get along?" very charming. It annoyed me and I found myself having to slog through the last 100 pages. But even with Solomon, I understood where he was coming from and how he got to where he was. It's difficult to explain, but so natural to understand.

Lee writes, "For people like us, home doesn't exist." Pachinko really captured that feeling of both exile and disconnect, that feeling of never belonging anywhere yet still yearning for a "home" that never truly existed or can ever exist. I like that the first section Book 1 Gohyang/Hometown 1910-1933 was hyper-realistic and the most straightforward narrative out of them all because that is how we as first-generation immigrants remember the past before we left our home country; we remember the sensual details, the defining moments that changed our lives forever, and we can recite the story and trace the lines of our ancestors like tree branches. Book 1 was immersive, powerful, and spell-binding. I was genuinely hooked, I didn't want to put the book down for the first 200 pages. Many tend to think Pachinko is, at best, a four-generation family saga, -- starting with Sanju and ending with Solomon, her grandchild -- but that fails to account for Hoonie and his peasant parents, as well as Yangjin's father and three unmarriageable sisters. I think Lee deliberately didn't include as much "backstory" about Hoonie and Yangjin, as well as the generation before them, because there really isn't much documentation about peasant fishermen at the turn of the century in rural Korea. I mourn for how little is remembered of them and all the people they represent. I've certainly read about the upper classes and aristocrats in Korea at that time -- their legacies are assured, but even with very little to go off of, Lee managed to create vignettes of unknown characters that were all too human. Hoonie and his parents stuck with me throughout the whole book, as they must have with Sunja and Yangjin even to the final page. I can't imagine not caring about Hoonie, the disabled but kindhearted man who didn't even think he was worthy enough to get married and died loving his wife and daughter. I agree that Sunja is the nucleus of Pachinko's whole story, but the threads and connections she has with everyone -- even minor characters -- were gut-wrenchingly human; I love that Lee didn't just rely on her "main" Korean characters to develop her main themes. For example, when Sunja conversed with the women at the market:

"Sunja-ya, a woman's life is endless work and suffering. There is suffering and then more suffering. It's better to expect it, you know. You're becoming a woman now, so you should be told this. For a woman, the man you marry will determine the quality of your life completely. A good man is a decent life, and a bad man is a cursed life -- but no matter what, always expect suffering, and just keep working hard. No one will take care of a poor woman -- just ourselves."

This scene happens very early in the book, but the nameless woman's words are echoed later on when the same sentiment is repeated again: "A woman's lot is to suffer." And it all culminates at the end when Sunja recollects these words after Noa has died:

"All her life, Sunja had heard this sentiment from other women, that they must suffer -- suffer as a girl, suffer as a wife, suffer as a mother -- die suffering. Go-saeng -- the word made her sick. What else was there besides this? . . . Should she have taught her son to suffer the humiliation that she'd drunk like water? . . . Did mothers fail by not telling their sons that suffering would come?"

Lee's treatment of the themes of womanhood and motherhood were the most striking to me, although I am biased since I myself am a woman of color born of immigrant parents. I think this novel is in every definition a triumph. However, my final word on this is that, despite the first block quote I included here, I don't think Pachinko was the perfect title for this book. The subject of actual pachinko playing and its use as an explicit metaphor doesn't come up until at least Book 2. Lee's themes of "there could only be a few winners and a lot of winners" was definitely well-established by that time, but she didn't connect it to pachinko the game specifically until it was too late, I believe. I appreciate it as a metaphor and I certainly think it fits, but I don't think it encapsulates the entire 500 pages, especially Book 1 when there was zero trace of pachinko at all.

Overall, a very magnificent read. I am glad that I chose Pachinko as one of the last books to read for 2024. Thank you Min Jin Lee!

[amplexadversary]

Man I think the thing that annoys me the most about Genshin is that there is genuinely a great open-world adventure RPG game underneath its many many many flaws.

Cut because I have a lot to fucking say apparently.

Are there problems with the character designs? Absolutely. Rather than having truly unique characters the game uses the way 3D models work as a crutch and an excuse. But at the end of the day, it's still a bunch of weird little guys in minxy outfits, and in an ideal version of the game, you would only really need a handful of them to really speak to you.

The overworld and all the various places you can go are genuinely beautiful, and the climbing and gliding mechanics scratch a particular itch in my brain; there is a freedom to approaching the terrain howeverthefuck you want because you can climb damn near everything, and while there is always an "easy" route to get anywhere, there is also endless potential for self-imposed challenges like "climbing the fuck up a mostly sheer wall meant as a one-way shortcut, because there *are* some very hard to find footholds there where you can regain stamina," or "shut up, story, Mountain is talking, and I want to see just how many places I can get to before I'm actually meant to go there." This is held back by the fact that it is not a central mechanic, and I found as I moved into newer areas, there were a lot more exceptions to the "can climb anything" rule. Another frustration of mine that might not be relevant anymore was that at the point where I quit, the newest areas had a lot of flat areas with only occasional verticality that were just not as fun to screw around in.

But no, the things that REALLY frustrate me about this game and, imo, hold it back from being truly excellent are the monetization and the over-reliance on timers to create difficulty.

Look. Gatchas are predatory monetization schemes that foster gambling addictions and add perverse incentives to gameplay, like a mandatory Power Creep to always make it feel necessary to pull for the New Characters. This intertwines a lot with the over-use of timed fights; the goal of these is to make the player over-rely on DPS as their main goal, which is the easiest way to ensure that your power creep strategy works.

Reworking these two infuriating fucking elements would do the bulk of the work that would turn this game from a decent one to a uniquely great one and I am not even fucking joking. Remove the timers? Players now have more freedom to choose their play style, whether it's to create the most efficient DPS teams possible for a challenge, to play defensively and rely on their resource management, built healers, and general not-getting-hit skills to win them fights, or to create the most crackpot builds and party combinations that let them, at a steeper challenge, win with their favorites.

Then, heavily tweaking and adding variety to the gatcha system for another gated, but fairer progression. There honestly could still remain an element of chance, an option for a player to buy the chance to gamble (which, I DON"T LIKE but serves as a big ol' COMPROMISE to the counterargument "but what about the money???"), AND the potential to roughly tie character acquisition to game progress, while still allowing some flexibility for people who REALLY REALLY want a specific little doll in a flashy getup.

The solution? Make all the banners for the big "5*" characters available tied to whether you've completed certain quests, that would make sense for them to join your party after. You could even do this in chunks where you have a variety of possible recruits per banner. Tweak the pity system to be like the weapon banners, where after your guarantees for *a* powerful character/weapon, you are guaranteed *the* powerful character/weapon you *want.*

If you must, change the drop rates of the 4* and 5* each month; it adds a little element of planning and waiting for the perfect moment to strike to get the highest chance of getting someone you want.

Do the same for the weapon acquisition banners. Also, add an option where the player can forego the exp the shit weapons can give and instead trade them for more rolls. Also also, if the player rolls a constellation for a character who already has all their special shit unlocked, make it so that if the player uses it, it transforms into a constellation for a random character. Just because it would be funny, make it so that this may or may not be for a character they actually own. In order to use it they have to unlock the character. (What? Just because I want games to foster a healthy relationship with the player doesn't mean I'm not evil.)

Again, this preserves the personalized element of the current game's balance between working with the randos you get and going after a specific one you want. (Which I think is both funny and the only redeeming element of the gatcha system; I spent like half the time I played the game without an effective healer and had to make do with incidental ones and I think that is fucking hilarious. Also I ended up really liking a gal I got early on who I probably wouldn't have considered otherwise.)

Instead of tailored challenges for the what is it fucking called abyss, have a pool of possible challenges that are randomly rolled each month per player, and make the number of "floors" available tied to where they are in the story. This replicates the incentive to get new characters to address new challenges, but makes it less *mandatory.* Increase the timer for the challenges by like 50% and add another level of reward for speed. Make this one of the only timed challenges in the game. Add "survival" challenges to the pool, where rewards are given based on how many waves of enemies are defeated before a party wipe. This creates a system where players ARE rewarded for building new characters and creating effective builds, while rewarding multiple playstyles, and gives the option to either try for the maximum amount of currency per cycle or to save up (by playing the game over all at a slower pace).

Make events permanently available, unlocked via a system similar to the quest keys. Have a menu to activate events that works like the quest system in Warframe. Make these replayable, but only refresh the rewards (ie, you can replay the event, but get nothing until the refresh) on relevant calendar days. This provides incentive for players to play an event when it's "in season," and gives them something to look forward to, but removes the toxic FOMO element.

Hell, make the "refresh" rewards from events different than the initial ones, by giving currency for the whatsitcalled shop where you can straight up buy characters/constellations. That way there's incentive to play both new *and* old events.

Speaking of the shop, keep the monthly rotations of purchasable characters, but increase the number of slots based on story progression, and add one (1) "5*" character and like, three (3) "4*" slots that are determined randomly from the characters the player has met in-story. Increase the random 4* slots by like one for every major story chapter the player completes, and increase the 5* slots by one for every 2 or 3 chapters. This creates a system that I think math nerds and guide writers would love, trying to sus out the precisely perfect story progression to have the best chance to get every specific character, which would probably drive engagement as these nerds talk about it, while balancing the incentive to get later-game characters with the penalty of having a larger pool which is less likely to give the guy (gender neutral) you want.

Add an identical system for weapons.

Also, let people climb shit and sequence break in the dungeon areas like the gremlins we are; just don't let us actually get the rewards until we complete the various challenges. People will find stupid fucking ways to accomplish these things, you add some sweet bait to get the kind of player who loves going out-of-bounds, and also to the kind of player who loves looking for unexpected tactical advantages to give themselves.

Honestly a lot of this shit largely fixes the irritating artifact/equipment system as well without even touching it, because removing the timers makes it possible for players to largely settle for "good enough" random equipment rather than "perfect" equipment (and the nerds who want perfect equipment can still grind for it. Maybe add a pity system where you sacrifice one of every piece of a set to reroll either the main or sub stats of a chosen piece. (full 5* set of equipment for the main stat, full 4* set for a substat, maybe a full 3* and below set to juice up the specific gains on one substat to a higher number in the possible range)

Anyway TL;DR this game could be so much better, greatly lower the incentive to develop an gambling addiction and still have the opportunity to make money* and it drives me fucking batty

tl;dr yes I want this game to be more like Warframe, shoot me.

*(pay to unlock certain banners out of sequence, pay to get more currency for rolls or for the shop instead of saving up and choosing purchases carefully, pay to refresh rewards or get more chances to get equipment, but none of it is strictly necessary. It kind of mimics Warframe in that it becomes "pay to skip grinding")

[jcmarchi]

A Web Designer’s Secrets to Longevity

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A Web Designer’s Secrets to Longevity

The web has been around for 30+ years. And we’ve reached a point where “old timers” exist within the industry. In this case, let’s define it as anyone with more than 15 years of experience.

My web design career began in 1996. That was right about the time when the web was becoming mainstream. More people were coming online. Organizations began to see the value in having a website.

So much has changed. We’ve gone from static HTML to content management systems (CMS). The industry has adopted many standards and best practices. Most impressive is that we can take the web with us. Mobile devices have been a game changer.

Truthfully, I couldn’t foresee any of this when I started. Nor did I know that I’d still be working on the web. Things just turned out that way.

Or did they? There must be some secret formula for sticking around this long.

I’ve thought about what it takes to achieve longevity in web design. Here’s what I found.

You Need Enthusiasm for Your Work

Enthusiasm is a key to longevity. And it applies to every career path. Staying on course is difficult when you’re not having fun.

But sometimes we get the wrong impression. Enthusiasm isn’t a 24/7 feeling. It can leave us for days, weeks, or more.

And there are numerous causes. A particularly stressful project can sap your energy. A difficult client can make you dread going to work. Plus, this work is just plain hard. Things don’t always go according to plan.

So, where does enthusiasm come from? Some find it in the creative process. Others may find it in solving complex problems. Helping a client achieve their goals is also a goldmine of good vibes.

Being filled with endless joy isn’t the point. That’s not a realistic expectation for any of us. It’s about finding bits and pieces that excite and motivate you. And you can adjust your workflow to experience more of these moments.

These are the things you can hold onto during tough times. And they’ll give you the energy to take on the next challenge.

Be Willing to Adapt to New Tech

Very little stays the same in this industry. Fundamental technologies like HTML and CSS remain. But even they have evolved. As they say, change is the only constant.

Adapting to change is difficult. As is understanding when to make a change. There are no easy or universal answers.

New technologies arrive daily. But not all of them will be worth your time. How will you know when it’s time to adapt?

So much depends on your niche. Look for tools that will add value to your skill set. Find technologies that will help you better serve client needs. These are areas where change makes sense.

The benefits of something new aren’t always apparent. You may need to experiment to find them. Finding the right one can provide a boost for your career.

You don’t have to jump on every new thing that comes along. But a willingness to try can make a difference. You’re investing in yourself and your future.

Work for Something Bigger Than Yourself

Web design is just another job at the end of the day. There are positives and negatives. And not everyone has the desire to stay in the industry.

Those of us who stay seem to have a common thread. We want to become involved in the web design community.

This involvement takes many forms. It could be contributing to an open-source project like WordPress. Or you might advocate for important causes like security or accessibility.

But you don’t have to focus on making change at the highest level. It’s also possible to impact others on a one-to-one basis. Activities like mentorship help bring others into the industry. It may make someone else’s journey that much more rewarding.

Paying it forward gives you a reason to stay in web design. It doesn’t have to be anything time-consuming or difficult. Even small contributions provide a sense of purpose.

Stay around as Long as You Like

Being a web designer for 25+ years is hard to fathom. The job description has changed dramatically. And yet here I am.

I’m far from the only “old timer” out there. Other talented and dedicated folks have made it this long. Some have even come full circle and retired.

If you’re hoping for similar longevity, think about the items above. Find a niche that you’re enthusiastic about. Don’t be afraid to try new things. And give back in a way that suits you.

Each of these items will help you establish roots in web design. They’ll open you up to a world of opportunity and support. You’ll need them to survive the challenges and changes.

You may make it longer than me! And who knows what the web will look like then?

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