#there are a few things i need to update in the meta i have on johanna's ed but i'll link it here soon as that's done

[mybrainproblems]

i just absolutely adore a good sunday fandom spelunk

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

Where the new Puss in Boots movie takes place in the Shrek timeline

I haven’t seen very many people talk about it, but I’m very curious to know what people think.

I see Last Wish taking place after the Shrek movies. When Puss’s lives flash before his eyes in his first encounter with Death, they appear to be in chronological order. We see Kitty, then it flashes to Shrek and Donkey, and then it flashes to Kitty again.

I also think it would make the most sense for his character development?? Puss goes from hanging out with Shrek and Donkey for YEARS and then suddenly decides that he “works alone”. I theorize that he reunited with Kitty while he was still hanging out with Shrek (but this still takes place after all the Shrek movies). After he ditched the wedding though, he couldn’t bring himself to face his friends who were already happily married.

He didn’t just run from Kitty that day, he ran from his friends, too.

[cagesings]

modern  foggs.  

 disclaimer:  mental  health  care  has  improved  massively  within  the  past  few  decades.  there  aren’t  very  many  insane  asylums  in  the  western  world  anymore.  i  have  heard  of  several  people  having  great  experiences  in  mental  hospitals  and  receiving  the  care  they  need.  however,  foggs  is  not  like  that  at  all.  it  is  still  an  incredibly  abusive  environment  that  should  not  be  running.  it  is  not  at  all  what  modern  mental  heath  care  should  look  like.  while  it  is  based  on  real  experiences  from  a  few  different  people,  it  is  fictional  and  made  out  to  be  a  very  bad  place.  please  do  not  read  this  and  assume  every  mental  health  care  center  is  like  this.  some  are  bad  and  some  are  good.  this  is  one  of  the  bad  ones.  i  am  also  not  a  mental  health  professional.  this  is  based  on  the  research  that  i've  done  based  on  other  people's  stories  and  aided  by  actual  professionals.  

 warnings  for  abuse  of  all  kinds,  suicide,  mental  illness,  hospitals,  eating  disorders,  general  things  about  mental  asylums  that  you  find  on  this  blog,  brief  mentions  of  grooming,  self-hatred,  etc.  

 fogg’s  mental  institution  was  started  in  1926  by  well-known  psychiatrist,  robert  john  fogg  who  claimed  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  mistreatment  he’d  witnessed  at  other  mental  institutions.  however,  many  people  would  disagree  that  was  his  mission.  this  hospital  originally  went  by  the  name,  foggs  asylum  for  the  insane  until  the  the  nineties  when  a  mental  health  act  was  passed  in  the  united  states  and  mental  hospitals  began  steering  away  from  the  term  ‘asylum.’  it  is  located  on  the  outskirts  from  london,  bordering  on  the  city  but  considered  to  be  a  safe  distance  away  for  the  safety  of  the  public  and  for  safety  of  the  patients.  

 from  the  almost  beginning,  foggs  was  overcrowded.  the  list  of  patients  requesting  a  bed  was  overflowing  and  expansions  were  quick  to  be  added  on.  however,  these  expansions  were  not  as  fast  as  previously  hoped.  it  did  not  deter  the  hospital  from  admitting  patients  anyway.  making  room  within  the  already  smaller-sized  wards.  by  the  mid  1930s,  foggs  was  a  chaotic  mess  with  patients  strapped  to  their  beds,  wandering  around  naked,  and  sickening  experiments  preformed.  their  peak  was  in  the  1950s  with  thousands  of  patients  with  no  hope  for  getting  the  help  they  needed.  it  was  often  compared  to  fellow  asylum  bethlem  royal  hospital,  well-known  as  bedlam.  

 with  the  introduction  of  medication  and  the  decline  in  mental  hospital  as  a  whole,  somehow  foggs  prevailed.  patients  were  moved  to  other  hospitals  or  taken  out  all  together  as  they  downsized  but  they  were  still  able  to  remain  a  functioning  mental  hospital.  everything  was  lawful  and  passed  tests  and  certifications.  

 however,  the  care  within  foggs  remained  infamous.  turpin  was  well-aware  of  foggs  and  often  made  the  suggestion  to  criminals  pleading  insanity  to  stay  there.  if  he  couldn’t  get  them  behind  bars,  then  he  would  get  them  into  the  most  sickening  hospital  he  could.  he  picked  this  hospital  carefully  for  johanna  upon  learning  her  plans  to  elope  with  her  high  school  sweetheart.  

 treatment  at  foggs  was  horrific,  johanna  learned  upon  entering  the  hospital.  she  was  taken  into  the  eating  disorder  unit  ( ��known  as  the  edu  ),  based  on  the  brief  time  when  she  was  twelve  when  she  experimented  with  disordered  eating  as  a  response  to  her  body  dysmorphia.  turpin  considered  this  to  be  a  safe  diagnoses  for  him.  he  did  not  want  people  to  believe  he  had  a  suicidal  ward/wife.  punishing  johanna  for  her  ungratefulness  when  she  developed  an  eating  disorder  pushed  a  message  across  for  her.  don’t  take  advantage  of  my  kindness  again.  

 the  staff  did  not  understand  eating  disorders.  they  believed  the  girls  in  there  to  be  spoiled  brats  seeking  attention  and  would  tell  that  to  their  faces.  most  of  the  other  girls  were  around  johanna’s  age.  the  oldest  was  twenty-one.  the  youngest  was  eleven.  no  one  tried  to  understand  why  these  girls  developed  these  disorders.  they  were  focused  on  getting  them  to  gain  weight  and  eat.  there  were  several  girls  who  seemed  to  be  competing  against  the  others  on  who  could  eat  the  least.  who  could  continue  the  loose  the  most  amount  of  weight.  to  have  a  feeding  tube  made  one  special  and  good  at  achieving  their  goals  to  those  girls  whose  illness  was  controlling  their  thoughts.  

 at  six  am,  the  night  nurses  would  wake  everyone  up  to  be  weighed,  wearing  nothing  a  hospital  gown  and  no  underwear.  nurses  would  make  sure  the  patients  weren’t  hiding  any  weights  underneath  before  stepping  on  the  scale.  often,  urine  samples  would  be  given  while  supervised  to  make  sure  the  patients  weren’t  water  loading  (  drinking  more  water  to  appear  as  if  they’ve  gained  weight  ).  after  the  weigh-ins,  medications  were  administered  at  seven  am.  johanna  was  able  to  dodge  most  medications  (  they  terrified  her  to  take  ),  although  she  was  diagonalized  with  several  other  mental  illnesses  as  well,  but  turpin  instructed  them  not  to  put  her  on  many,  but  there  were  blood  tests  almost  every  single  day  she  was  there  --  especially  when  she  first  arrived.  she  hated  getting  her  blood  taken.  

 at  eight  am,  the  staff  went  to  the  ward’s  cafeteria.  breakfast  began  at  eight  on  the  dot.  johanna  had  to  get  her  food,  sit  down  at  her  assigned  table,  get  checked  she  had  all  the  food  she  was  supposed  to  have,  and  consume  all  of  it  within  twenty  minutes.  if  she  didn’t  eat  all  of  it,  she  would  be  given  a  supplement  drink  to  gain  back  those  missing  calories.  this  happened  even  is  she  ate  most  of  it.  there  were  different  tables  a  patient  could  be  seated  at  depending  on  the  severity  of  their  illness.  all  of  these  tables  were  supervised  extremely  carefully  by  nurses.  johanna  did  not  like  any  of  the  nurses  there,  but  especially  these  ones.  she  was  given  a  lot  of  food  in  order  to  put  on  weight.  if  someone  refused  to  eat,  they  were  not  afraid  to  shove  it  down  via  a  nasogastric  tube.  the  more  one  held  out,  the  more  likely  it  was  forced  against  their  will.  

 after  each  meal  and  snack,  nurses  checked  around  the  table,  every  tray,  and  every  potential  hiding  spot  for  food.  johanna  would  be  escorted  back  to  her  bed  with  the  other  patients  and  had  to  sit  quietly  in  view  of  the  nurses  for  an  hour.  this  was  to  prevent  anyone  from  exercising  or  purge  what  food  they  ate.  if  one  had  to  go  to  the  bathroom  they  would  be  watched  by  a  nurse  to  ensure  they  didn’t  attempt  to  burn  calories  or  purge  or  self  harm.  

 there  was  one  point  in  johanna’s  stay  where  there  was  always  a  nurse  monitoring  her.  it  happened  close  to  the  beginning  when  she  tried  to  sneak  into  the  bathroom  alone.  they  took  this  as  her  attempting  to  purge  and  the  nurse  was  with  her  for  about  three  weeks  until  the  doctor  cleared  her.  

 this  may  have  been  influenced  by  dr.  jonas  fogg  himself,  who  had  followed  in  his  grandfather  and  now  ran  the  hospital.  he  knew  turpin  well  and  had  taken  and  immediate  interest  in  johanna  when  he  learned  she  was  staying  at  his  facility.  his  interest  in  her  made  johanna  more  than  uncomfortable.  though,  it  wasn’t  far  from  what  she  encountered  with  the  judge.  with  the  nurse  monitoring  her  constantly,  fogg  couldn’t  talk  to  johanna  privately.  or  attempt  anything.  although,  fogg  never  did  attempt  anything  on  her,  johanna  almost  pretended  to  go  to  the  bathroom  privately  again  to  get  the  nurse  back  --  despite  how  much  she  hated  it  originally.  

 blood  pressure,  pulse,  temperature,  and  breathing  rate  observations  happened  often  throughout  the  day.  when  johanna  first  arrived,  it  was  once  every  hour.  by  the  end,  it  was  every  four  hours.  there  were  visits  from  dieticians  and  at  times,  psychiatrist  visits.  however,  those  never  helped.  johanna  spent  the  majority  of  them  talking  about  problems  she  did  not  have  (  ex.  being  diagnosed  with  depression  despite  not  having  it  )  and  getting  scolded  about  every  little  thing.  

 within  the  first  few  weeks  of  being  there,  she  formed  a  plan  on  how  she  could  elope  with  anthony.  johanna  was  not  allowed  to  make  calls  or  have  visitors  until  she  earned  being  able  to  see  people  in  person.  but  once  she  did  and  once  anthony  found  her,  she  would  give  him  instructions  on  how  to  fill  out  a  marriage  license  and  had  bribed  a  girl  to  sign  as  a  witness  and  anthony  would  take  it  to  someone  she  knew  could  sign  to  make  it  legal.  johanna  bribed  the  girl  by  trading  trays  with  her  and  hiding  food  for  her  for  a  week.  she  felt  more  than  terrible  about  it.  but  it  was  the  only  way  she  knew  how  to  get  out  of  there.  

 mealtimes  were  at  ten  thirty  am  for  morning  tea,  lunch  at  twelve  thirty,  afternoon  tea  at  three  pm,  dinner  at  five  thirty  pm,  and  supper  at  eight  pm.  after  each  meal,  they  were  always  monitored  the  same  way.  

 medications  were  handed  out  at  eight  thirty  pm.  johanna  was  prescribed  a  medication  for  sleeping.  she  hated  it  and  would  attempt  to  refuse  it  if  possible.  though,  she  quickly  learned  that  if  she  did  refuse  it,  they  might  hook  her  up  to  an  iv  to  administer  the  medication  that  way.  though,  some  nights  she  tore  the  needle  out  and  blamed  it  on  moving  in  her  sleep.  nurses  would  come  in  every  hour,  shinning  a  light  in  her  face  to  see  if  she  was  asleep.  johanna  was  extremely  restless  during  her  nine  month  stay.  

 rooms  were  searched  hourly  for  any  sort  of  weapons.  pencils,  pens,  needles,  books,  stables,  etc.  this  was  even  worse  for  johanna  who  had  been  labeled  as  suicidal.  turpin  allowed  that  because  it  was  not  the  ‘reason’  she  was  in  the  hospital,  but  he  would  be  made  out  as  heroic  for  saving  his  suicidal  ward’s/wife’s  life.  if  anyone  did  find  out  about  her  stay  at  the  hospital.  

 johanna  ended  up  becoming  close  to  the  younger  girls  in  the  edu.  she  truly  did  want  to  help  them.  the  older  girls  tended  to  be  more  ‘competitive’  which  she  always  found  too  sad  and  anxiety-inducing.  the  staff  did  not  understand  mental  illness  well  and  frequently  abused  her  mentally  and  emotionally.  

 bamford  visited  her  once.  it  was  about  four  months  in.  johanna  wasn’t  aware  if  she  was  allowed  to  have  visitors  or  if  he  said  something  to  the  staff,  but  she  sat  across  from  him  in  the  prison-like  visiting  room.  he  offered  to  bring  her  home.  back  to  turpin.  who  she  would  be  married  to  or  sent  back  here.  johanna  refused  before  he  even  finished  speaking.  

 her  stay  at  this  hospital  worsened  her  anxiety  and  paranoia  instead  of  addressing  it.  her  hatred  towards  food  grew  worse.  she  only  ate  because  she  was  afraid  of  them  punishing  her.  she  was  constantly  terrified  they  would  put  her  on  suicide  watch  (  which  strapped  her  of  what  little  privacy  she  could  have  in  the  edu  and  people  would  be  under  surveillance  24/7  and  it  horrified  her  ).  she  had  little  privacy  (  couldn’t  shower  without ��a  nurse  there,  couldn’t  use  the  bathroom  without  a  nurse  there,  had  to  wear  the  hospital’s  pajamas  or  gowns  though  they  felt  too  tight  on  her  and  she  wanted  better  layers  to  cover  herself  with  ).      

 foggs  made  johanna’s  eating  disorder  worse  after  she  escaped  with  anthony.  she  hadn’t  had  any  problems  with  her  eating  since  she  was  thirteen.  at  the  point  she  was  admitted,  she  was  seventeen.  they  made  an  mostly  non-existent  problem  worse.  body  image  is  always  something  she  grappled  with,  but  because  she  was  terrified  of  going  through  what  happened  when  turpin  discovered  her  eating  disorder  again,  she  didn’t  try  again.  she  was  underweight  but  not  dangerously.  with  enormous  amounts  of  food  that  she  couldn’t  possibly  finish  in  twenty  minutes  practically  shoved  down  her  throat,  she  had  an  intense  self-hatred  for  herself.  even  worse  than  before.  

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and use.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated June 2024 to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription for custom filters)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription for system-level blocking)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[kirby-manga-translated]

It’s Kirby Time - Book 9 English Translation + An Update on Blog Happenings

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! IT'S HEEEEERE!! A truly adorable story about Kirby and Meta Knight deciding to spend some alone time and the activities they like to do during that time. Featuring beautiful illustrations painstakingly cleaned up by myself, this one is a must-read for fans of the relationship between Kirby and Meta Knight. Read the full thing at the links below:

Imgur

MangaDex

Google Drive

...But wait, there's more! Because the illustrations are so pretty, here's a link to a folder containing just those illustrations with no text at all! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19z8WLah-ZGES2jnyZOILJKc9kE75Wvs9?usp=drive_link (I'm probably also gonna make a post featuring all these images on their own soon.)

Finally, I have an update regarding the blog. tl;dr, I'm definitely gonna keep doing translations, but the rate at which they are completed and uploaded is most likely going to change soon. I don't know by how much or even if it will be positive or negative. For a more detailed explanation, click the Keep Reading.

So, I got a job! *audience cheers* But the job does not involve translating Kirby manga. *audience "aww"s* Ordinarily I wouldn't get more specific than that since I try to avoid revealing too much about my personal life, but in this case the explanation won't make much sense unless I do, so: The job entails working on fishing boats. This means that there isn't really a set daily schedule or even a weekly schedule. When the boats are fishing, I'm working, and when they're not, I have next to nothing to do.

I've been told by many people that I should expect a lot of down time for that reason, so I'll definitely have time to work on translations. However, I can't predict exactly how much I get and I also most likely won't have an internet connection on the boat. All this is to say that I literally do not know how this is going to affect the rate of translations on this blog beyond just, "It's going to change." I could find that I have so much down time on the boat that translating is the only thing that keeps me sane and I actually get more done. I could find that the boat I'm on is a super-busy one and I get barely any time at all. And regardless of which one of those happens, I won't be able to actually upload anything until the boat gets back into port, which is entirely dependent on how long it takes for the boat to catch all the fish it needs.

The job doesn't start for a couple weeks yet, so I'm gonna try to fulfill a few more requested chapters before then. Once again: I'm definitely going to keep translating, I just don't know how often I'll actually be able to do it. So enjoy this translation, look forward to more coming in the future, and please wish me luck both in my work and in getting time to translate!

[project-sekai-facts]

Fes gacha updates

Before I say anything else I'm just gonna say the vast majority of the fes updates are incredibly disappointing, especially if you're F2P. Like seriously if you're F2P don't expect to come out of this post entirely happy. I can be mean to clpl because I'm F2P and this is total bullshit. Anyway.

Starting from the fes gacha on this sunday, Colorful Festival will now be known as Bloom Festival! It also has a newly designed logo as seen in the picture above, complete with flowers in all the unit colors, including Virtual Singer, which pretty much confirms that all 26 characters will be getting 2nd fes cards. The good thing about this confirmation is that unless they fuck with the schedule again and put 3 characters on one banner a few times, this means the story will continue past 6th anniversary, something there'd previously been concerns about. There's only 9 fes banners before 6th anniversary (10 if you include 6th anniversary), but you need 13 banners to cover everyone. So that's really nice news!

More information that we were told on stream, as well as story and gacha lineup predictions can be found below the cut!

Unfortunately we have not yet been told what exactly the differences between colofes and bloomfes are in terms of story. Based on the whole journey to bloom/world bloom (internal name for WLEs) thing, I reckon it could be something like the characters' Fragment SEKAI expanding, like what happened with the Tree SEKAI in Let Your Song Resonate. It would also tie into the plot of WLEs, so it would make a lot of sense. Some other speculation I've seen since March is that they might have entirely new Fragment SEKAI, which I think is entirely plausible due to character development and changes in their personal conflicts, and another was that these could be like bandori's kirafes cards, which focus on relationships. While I think this would be interesting, and makes some sense since prsk does take influence from bandori in some ways due to sharing a parent company (craftegg), I feel like they would've mentioned that.

We do know a lot about the differences between bloomfes and colofes on a meta and gameplay level, and unfortunately this is the not f2p-friendly part.

The main gimmick of bloom festival that differentiates them from colofes is that bloomfes cards will have 2 skills! One skill will apply for the untrained card, and one for the trained card. You can switch them at any time, presumably by flipping the illustration when it's on your deck. There's a catch though. The catch is that to train bloomfes cards, you will need 3 Wish Drops (the items used to level up area items past lvl10) on top of all the regular 4* training materials. All players will be given 3 wish drops for free, but aside from that these are incredibly hard to earn for casual players due to being the most expensive item in the event shop at 50000 tokens per wish drop. Basically the game is forcing you to sacrifice other shop rewards, tier, or spend money. Not that colopale needs it when the game earns millions a month.

(translated graphic from @/pjsekai_eng on Twitter)

The skills are also not the most fairly balanced. That's an understatement actually. You have to be a massive whale to get the max skill on these cards, it is literally impossible for casual players.

The untrained card skills vary between virtual singers and human characters. For vsingers, at max level, they give a 90% score boost, but gain +30% boost for every different unit type on your team (though it only applies to two types max, giving you a total of 150% bonus). This is pretty easy to achieve, so that's good for scoring purposes!

For human characters, you get an 80% base score boost at max skill level. By selecting one other card in your team, you get an additional boost of half of that card's skill increase (eg: if the card selected has a score boost of 100%, the bloomfes score boost will get 50% added to its base 80%, for 130% total). I'm not sure if this card is selected manually or automatically. But nonetheless this is a pretty good skill too!

The issue lies with the trained skill. At max level, it gives a base score boost of 110%, which is pretty good, but the additional boost is scaled by your Character Rank, with +1% score boost per 2 ranks (eg: a player with a CR40 Miku will get a bonus 20% score boost) on top of the 110, for 130% boost total). The issue here is that the absolute max boost you can get require CR100, which is ridiculously hard to get without spending money, and is near impossible to do for multiple characters. In other words, this skill is for your oshi, and you have to be willing to spend a lot or grind a lot for said oshi. And also be lucky enough to even pull your oshi from the gacha. It's incredibly geared towards P2P players and is totally unfair for F2P players. There's also the issue of the fact you need 3 wish drops to even unlock this skill, another thing that is against F2P players.

Anyway, let's move on to something a bit more fun! Who is gonna be fes? Here's an overview of how it's looking right now:

There's three possible ways that the fes cards could be paired up: using the same pairs as colofes, using different but still same-unit pairs, or using mixed unit pairs.

I think the second or third option is more likely. If you wanted to do the first option, it would have to be Honami/Shiho, Haruka/Airi or An/Toya, but there's still chance that An could be on Kohane5, Haruka only very recently had a card (though this has not stopped other characters, and Shiho is quite likely to be on the event.

In terms of alternate same-unit pairs, I think Kanade/Ena and Airi/Shizuku are the most likely. Kanade and Ena are both reward cards on the current Mafuyu event, so it could be a sign that they'll be fes, plus Kanade hasn't had a 4* since February. However, both of them have a lot of 4*s right now, with Niigo having the most in the game overall. Alternatively there's Shizuku and Airi. Airi is the second-most due for a lim out of all the characters, with her last one being released at the end of October last year. Shizuku only very recently got a card, but again this has not been much of an issue in the past, with Minori, Tsukasa, and Emu all getting fes cards very soon after an event where they got 4*s (or an event where they got unit-gacha lims for Tsukasa and Emu).

However if you wanted to go for mixed unit pairings, the most likely options are probably Ichika/Kanade, Honami/Kanade, or Airi/Ena. However if the june event isn't 2-B lims, the Hinomori sisters and Saki/Airi are also options. Ichika hasn't had a 4* since white day, neither has Kanade, and Honami hasn't had one since Rise as One. However, we know they will be getting cards soon, and under the assumption that 2-B lims happen, it seems a bit unfair to give 3/4 of Leoneed lims just before WLE. I don't have an argument against Airi/Ena, it's definitely the most likely out of these options.

However, just for consistency I'm willing to bet that they'll stick with same-unit pairs. In that case, I think either Kanade/Ena or Airi/Shizuku is very likely. Maybe I'm leaning a bit more towards Airi, but only because she's more in need of a lim.

But just to throw one last thing out there: the next update will implement an increased, 25% event bonus for default virtual singers, a bonus that pretty much exclusively applies to fes cards since players are far less likely to use the default vsinger 1*s and 2* on their team. So there's a chance, albeit slim, that they could throw us under the bus with Len/KAITO fes. I still think Kanade/Ena or Airi/Shizuku is more likely.

Anyway, that's all for now. Some of these updates are a bit disappointing but I'm interested to see the cards and read their stories! I'll update this post if we learn any more information.

[halbarryweekfeed]

Halbarry Week 2024

Halbarry Week is August 5th through August 11th!

Post-Week Edit

See the Halbarry Week 2024 creations by art or fic! For more art, check out the #halbarryweek2024 on Instagram, and for even more fic, there’s the Ao3 Collection!

All types of fanworks are allowed and encouraged, for as many or as few days and prompts you'd like to participate in!  We look forward to seeing whatever drawings, stories, metas, edits, playlists, and ice sculptures you come up with!  Please just make sure to tag your content for potentially triggering material, and with the #Halbarry Week and/or #Halbarry Week 2024 so everyone can find your contributions!

Need ideas for the free day? See the full prompt poll list here!

We'll be posting reminders, answering questions, and reblogging participant WIPs here - @halbarryweekfeed - between now and the Week. We'll also be posting updates on Twitter and Instagram, and you can add Halbarry Week to your calendar here

If you have any questions, check out the Halbarry Week FAQ, send us an ask, DM the organizer @chocolateteapotsvis, or email halbarryweek@gmail.com!

Full text prompts under the cut!

Monday, August 5 Rings Hero/Civilian "Well, now you're just embarrassing yourself."

Tuesday, August 6 Flirting Established Relationship "I always forget how powerful you are when you cut loose."

Wednesday, August 7 Sinner/Saint One Bad Day "Hello Barry. Having a hellacious time as usual. Wish you were here."

Thursday, August 8 Spectre Time Travel "Love is the opposite of choice."

Friday, August 9 The Little Things Mission Gone Wrong “Good times we could have shared. Bad times we could’ve helped each other through.”

Saturday, August 10 Starstruck Power Swap "Some teamwork." "Love you, too."

Sunday, August 11 Free Day

@dcfandomevents @dc-fandom-events

[raayllum]

the four ancient gifts, huh?

thoughts? furthermore: prayers?

I've been wanting to do a bit of an update to this meta about Gift Giving in TDP (written pre-S6) as a few different things (mostly as a goodbye in arc 1 and about magic in arc 2 thus far) that I think S6 contributed to our understanding of. For example, I'd speculated in that meta that due to the language used by characters, Archdragons were contemporaries of the First Elves back in the day (post-S6 followup here), and that possibly all forms magic had been a gift from the First Elves to the 'Primal' elves, with dark magic being Aaravos' to Leola's primal magic to humans. (If you want more details on this I'd rec reading the meta in full itself.) It seems like Something of that sort is roughly what happened

However, my old meta about deceptive gift giving in Greek myth / TDP means that gift giving doesn't necessarily have a positive connotation, particularly because in giving a gift, you're deciding what someone needs (even when they don't or don't want it). Callum doesn't want the gifts Rayla gives him in leaving; dark magic has ruined a lot of human lives and caused immense suffering; Rex Igneous asks for worthy gifts of sacrifice in exchange for knowledge; the cube was given to Callum as a gift, but clearly has a more complicated past / connection to Aaravos.

I do think in TDP that the world is ultimately better off with Primal magic than without, which is why Callum Exists in the narrative to create an actually fair system where everyone can access primal magic.

However, at this point in time, primal magic but be another deceptive gift given to the elves from the First Elves, and was clearly a part I'm of their Cosmic Order (destiny and all that) with also interplays with thoughts Rayla has that Callum/humans can change their fate, but she (elves) can't. Four Gifts is a weird number — if it was 5 or 6 it could be all the primals or all the primals except stars — but there Are four members of the Cosmic Council, and those gifts were ancient, so...

I'm assuming that it's one Gift from each of them, tbh. Whether those gifts are good or bad or both, we'll have to wait and see

[the-kipsabian]

wrestling fic writers!!

i have decided to be the change i wanna see, so lets do a nice little thing for each other, as a community full of incredible and talented writers. yes this is writer specific only, but thats cause thats where the main problem of people not interacting with creative works lies in this fandom as far as i can tell and have seen people talking about it especially in the last couple of months

if you read this, please add links to your written works. it can be just a single fic youre really proud of, your writing blog, your writing tag, your ao3 account, anything where your works can be found

and if you leave your link here, PLEASE check out someone else that has left their works, and interact with them. leave them a comment, even just a kudos, REBLOG their fic, etc. interacting is the keyword i want to emphasize here, along with building a sort of a masterpost of where to find people writing in this fandom

and if you are not a writer, youre still highly encouraged to interact with this post and share it and show love to the writers in this fandom, obviously!! i think that should go without saying, but adding it in anyways

a bit more about my vision and resources and such under the read more, but thats the gist of it. happy linking and please be kind and supportive to each other!! 💜

nobody is too big or too small to add their things on this list. if you write and post anything in this fandom whatsoever, be it fics or drabbles or headcanons, any companies or any kind of ships or reader inserts or any content whatsoever no matter how 'dead dove dont eat' or hell even if its just meta, we welcome all here and nobody can say that one thing is less valid than another. just please tag your content accordingly, especially if theres content warnings, and feel free to mention what you write, who you write, any info you wish to leave that would help people before they click on your links. but even so, that should not and hopefully will not deter people from interacting, no matter what it is. someones trash is another ones treasure, i promise you

and unless the amount gets really overwhelming, im personally going to be checking out everyone that leaves something here. unless it squeaks me out, but even then, i'll spread the word. and i just wish as many people as possible will do the same, and not just use this as a potential board to only get eyes on their stuff. ofc thats also the point, but you should give as much, if not more, than you get. we need to be kind and supportive of one another (besides, from personal experience, if you show love to someone else, they are more likely to do it back than without you taking the first step, so... pay it forward)

as for resources, heres a few links that should be helpful in leaving comments and feedback. of course everyone does their own thing and no comment is too big or too small to leave, but for those who need them. if you have anything you'd like added to this list, dont hesitate to get in touch or drop it in the post yourself!!

101 comment starters

ao3 floating comment box

kudos html

dont know how to comment? easy solutions

a quick hot guide to commenting (by yours truly)

an overall guide to appreciating fanfic writers

and just in general.. leave people comments. leave them asks about their projects. just go over and gush about their work. i know it sounds embarrassing but writers love nothing more than to hear that someone likes what they are doing. if you find a fic that hasnt been updated in forever, comment on it. it might just be the spark the author needs to continue. while kudos and likes are nice, and just as valuable to some, its definitely in the words the people leave for them that matter the most. im not saying this to put pressure on anyone, its just how it is, and i feel like unless people are writers themselves, and even then sometimes, thats just hard to grasp, especially if the writer is a smaller and less popular one who doesnt get a lot of traffic in the first place

i think thats all. just be nice and considered to everyone, reblog peoples works, this post with others add ons and so forth. and if i find anyone talking shit here or at other writers for something they share, you'll be blocked and im probably taking your kneecaps. be fucking nice. we are all struggling here and we need to stick together

happy sharing and commenting 💜💜

[sylvaridreams]

I'm going to try and word this better than I did at 1 am venting on cohost last night, and maybe slightly gentler. I haven't finished the SotO update from yesterday. I got home, played for a couple of hours, did some meta on the current map, triiiiied to get myself to go back to story... and I couldn't.

I was BORED. It was quite honestly boring. Any dialogue that matters is Peitha talking to her people. I am a stage prop that occasionally vocalizes expositional questions and fires arrows at grunt mobs.

I could physically feel myself losing any remaining interest in the story as I clicked "what does this mean? What do you think of Peitha's plan?" type questions (which offer a poor illusion of choice in conversation. Look! Dialogue options! You can click all of these in any order you like but you must click them all!)

Why should I care about this story? I'm being brought along as the muscle that Peitha doesn't really need. I'm not offering anything special I'm terms of skill. I'm not an invaluable resource. I'm not even being utilized as the leader that gw2 has ALWAYS made me! It's always been "You're out there leading the armies, commanding all the way from the front line to the supply chains!" Now I'm just kind of around. Run a few events and come back. Characters refer to me and I apparently have no in-game response. MY CHARACTER doesn't seem invested.

And so many new characters. Every drop, it's like, have a bunch more named people! I was learning names during drop 1, and know some of the Wizards off the top of my head, but honestly I’m not bothering anymore. Why should I? Even if Nexus isn't killed off in the next chapter I play, I'm never going to meet this character again after he stops serving the story.

And where IS the story? Where is the meat? Drop 1 was at least interesting to me. Secret society hiding demons from the Commander. Getting sucked into this strange and horrifying place. Getting the life beat out of Alba by a hulking, terrifying demon and crawling away in fear. Escaping into the arms of strangers and getting this unknown voice in Alba's head, talking to him, saying what he wanted to hear, teasing him. Him refusing to tell anyone she was in there, because he *trusted this unknown voice in his head over all these strangers.* The story lulled a lot and it wasn't like... prime gw2 content. But it had a few hooks. When in Amnytas, Alba GASPED "Peitha!" right outside of the next story step and said "I can *see* you," and I turned my camera and saw what I knew, what Alba had to have suspected, confirmed. That there was a demon using his mind as a lounge. THAT was a moment, it was SOMETHING!

At least it was fun at points, at least there was some small amount of intrigue and mystery. And from there it was all just, "take a backseat, Wayfinder. This isn't YOUR story." I'm getting nothingburger bites out of each new story drop. Oh we went into Nayos to take the fight to them and killed Peitha's model reskin cousin. Anything else that drop? Anything? No but next time we recruited some general to fight with us! Can I get a smidgen of story? Something to hang onto? The only thing this drop that hasn't been "Don't care didn't ask plus I've seen your character model elsewhere" was Alba being called "that ugly creature" by a kryptis.

That's all I've got. I'm not enjoying it. I don't like SotO. And it is not for lack of trying it, it's not because i just don't like change and don't wanna see something new and different! This expansion feels like an empty parody of Guild Wars 2, and it feels like a slap in the face to anyone who was invested in Tyria. Pre-release they really hyped up that "It's time for new places and new people! We're gonna get a new cast and explore a vast new world!" I CARED about that world, which we still had SO MUCH left to explore. Are the borders of the map even the ends of the world of Tyria or does it keep going? Who cares. There's shit going on above the clouds. I cared about those CHARACTERS. Does Alba get to see people that he loves and cares about ever again? Is he making it to the wedding? Does he get a chance to go home and see anyone? Like yes we are not chained up in the Tower between instances, we can still play the game in those old maps, but the characters have been written out of the story.

And frankly these new ones are shitty replacements. I don't care about these people. I maybe had some small amount of "OK cool its Zojja I know her!" but it's not like I had any deep care or feeling for her. Not personally. Peitha was interesting at first but being brought along as part of her nameless, faceless grunt entourage has made me lose a lot of interest. She's not going to be a core character post-SotO. She either dies at the end, or takes over as King, and at best becomes a very occasional callback. "Ah, King Peitha! It's been some time, how is Nayos!" She's not going to reclaim the throne and then ignore rebuilding her people's infrastructure to hang out in Commander’s brain all day or join them on quests. We are a temporary ally and a stepping stone for her story.

Which sucks.

In terms of the rest of the SotO cast, it again feels like a pale imitation of prior Gw2 content. Like they're saying "remember season 1, meeting all those people one by one who would become your best friends and allies in life? 🤔 " and then they didn't even do it that way. Season 1 was a gradual introduction to these characters that you were given time, story, and Reason to care about. If Braham, Rox, Marjory, Kasmeer, Taimi, Rytlock, and Canach had all shown up and said "oh we're the Best Friends Patrol. Come along with us stranger!" I would have felt like a tag along. Not an equal in the group. Instead we met on level ground. We became a team together, we became friends together, each of us a vital part.

Which is opposite to how it feels now. These characters have deep history going back AGES. I just showed up, no one respects me, I'm not privy to any information or details on who is who and why should I care, I don't Get story time to ACTUALLY hang out and meet these people and develop my OWN relationships with them. When I leave, they will not care. I'm just being brought along like a lost kid at this point, until we reach customer service and they can drop me off, or until I wander away and find another deep group to follow.

I don't like this story. I don't like the setting. I don't like the characters or the group dynamic. I don't feel like an EQUAL in this expansion, I don't feel like I matter. Anyone could stand here and ask supporting questions to drive the dialogue between the 2-3 characters that actually matter, which again, does not include me.

And FRANKLY I hate that no one can say anything that isn't glowing praise of GW2 and Anet and every little detail is just scrumptious don't worry I love it, without a bunch of vague posts filtering in about "so much Negativity, everyone is a HATER, you just don't support The Writers and want them to FAIL, well then stop playing the game and delete your account and blog and go away forever, REAL fans LOVE nothingburger" to shun whoever dared say "I didn't like some or all of it." I'm happy for you if you're liking SotO but I am not. I'm sorry if you don't understand that criticizing something that I've played for a decade doesn't mean I hate it. I'm sorry if you can't take the MILD CONFLICT of me or someone else saying "I love this thing that you love too but I don't like how the new part feels" but most of us learned about conflict in kindergarten or at least through children's picture books and TV, so idk. Maybe you just need to cope at that point.

As it stands I don't like the expac. I don't see Anet turning it around and blowing my mind with the ending. And I really don't even care how it ends. I was asked the other day "how are you going to handle Peitha?" (in terms of the canon that I write, which has already moved past the end of SotO.) And frankly I was like. I dunno. It doesn't matter to me. She's either dead or on the throne, I don't care much either way. We could get the huge plot twist at the end that Peitha was the big bad or Isgarren or WHOEVER THE FUCK, and I wouldn't care. None of this matters to me. I'm going back to Tyria with my writing. The rest is filler.

[medra-gonbites]

The Wizard Who Read Everything

Chapter 1

I have read a few fanfictions about Gale reading smut and getting flustered and I absoluetly love it! So many great ones out there and I wanted to contribute to the genre.

Here is my attempt: I hope you enjoy my take.

Pairing: Gale x Named Fem!OC

SFW - Humour, Meet Cute, Meta

Words: 2823

The wizard had struggled to find an apprentice for quite some time. When he finally does, he find himself quite intrigued by his new hire. It is not appropriate but he can't help think about her. The racy literature that she writes as a hobby does not help. Neither does the fact that he reads in secret...

Gale opened his eyes wide as he read on, the content quite different from what he had expected. The piece told the story of a wizard advisor and a king's daughter, of their forbidden love and of their dangerous desires. A sultry piece with romantic overtones, and wicked descriptions. His eyebrow shot up as his eyes descended on the page. The writing was skilled and the story captivating, but it is the smutty premises which dried out his mouth and made him shift onto his seat. The wizard tried to convince himself to stop, to put down the Wazoo and go back to his more serious research. He knew he should spend his time better. Study some scholarly tome, decipher some lost glyphs, update his astronomical charts. Clean up the library even. But he could not tear himself away from the page.

Read the rest on AO3 or under the cut

Gale Dekarios was usually a patient man. 

He was many things in fact. An archmage. A prodigy of the weave. Ex-chosen of Mystra. Quite the handsome devil, he would argue. A collected scholar of an easy going temperament. But today his composure was eroded by weeks of frustrating interviews and disappointing meetings. 

He just needed someone smart and pragmatic. Was that so much to ask? Someone who would be able to help him maintain the tower and aid during experiments from time to time. Someone he could teach his magic to and hopefully impact in a positive way. Someone to soothe the loneliness of his wizardly routine…

He had originally consulted with Rolan, exchanging letters between here and Ramazith’s Tower. Who better than him to advise on how to seek an apprentice. Alas, the fellow mage had no recommendations to give, his own compound being short on staff as well, but he had, however, gracefully provided guidance on how to advertise and recruit applicants.

After having researched the matter of job listing thoroughly, Gale had come up with a clever (he thought) advertisement that he had written himself and which he believed would bring him loads of potential recruits. Tara had distributed it  around all of the relevant spots in Waterdeep. He had made sure to cover the best spots in town for the widest exposure possible with a preference to the location of magical inclination. The Blackstaff Academy information board of course, most of the decent taverns’ quest boards, the entrance hall of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors. A couple had even been stacked on the counters of The Bazaar of Chanszobur. 

So far only a handful of applicants had come knocking on his doors, and none of them were nearly adequate enough to be given the job. 

He was now in the midst of the last rounds of the interview and was positively exhausted. On the verge of giving up, even. He was pacing in his study like a lion in a cage, dreading to confront the last candidate of that godforsaken day. Almost tempted to dismiss them without giving it further thought. After all, why would this one be any different than the one he had the displeasure to meet earlier?

First, he had received a young Dwarf who insisted he could cast a fire ball; in an attempt to prove it he had set fire to the wizard’s beloved Calimshan rug. A gift from Gale’s mother, which he loved dearly and, which softness his feet would mourn the loss. 

Then, he had listened to this very pompous High Elf for an hour before realizing the woman was actually looking for him to invest in a multi-layered business opportunity revolving around the sales of magical cosmetics. He hated that he had taken him so long to figure this one out. But not as much as he hated the fact that he had still bought some ridiculously overpriced Lashes of Charming in the end.

Finally, there had been that Tiefling who smelled of anchovies and who tried to aggressively (and without success) flirt their way into the job. Gale's usual decorum was put to a test when the fellow had tried to shove his tongue down his throat, and despite resisting the urge to scorch his face, he had sent them out with the feet of his projection up his nether area.

To think these were merely the ones of that day. He had received many more people over the weeks, all of them terrible profiles: underqualified, rude, dim-witted and sometimes even downright nasty. Frankly this whole endeavor had been a disaster and the mage was starting to believe he might never find someone suitable for his purpose.  

In retrospect, maybe it was his own fault. He wasn’t a writer, although he sometimes dabbled in a bit of poetry, and he was never much of the type to manage people either. He started to think his listing was not good enough or not targeting the right crowd. As he had been many times before, he felt submerged by a wave of self-doubt that pushed him to second-guess himself at the least convenient time.

Gale tried to shake it off. One more interview and he would be able to descend into the self-loathing spiral he knew so well. He would resign himself to work alone as he had done so in the past, hoping his former companions in arms would take the time to visit eventually. He took a deep, long inspiration, bracing himself for the last ordeal of the day, and made his way downstairs. 

The entrance hall had been temporarily fashioned into a sort of waiting room. There, on one of the chairs that formed a row by the door, a human woman was waiting. She was a little younger than him, wearing a plain wizard robe, her eyes lingering around, taking in the decor available to her sight. Her hair was thrown into a messy bun from which rebellious strands escaped to fall back into her brow and neck or stick in the air like some split-ended antennae. The rim of her left sleeves was slightly singed (the mark of an experienced, albeit somewhat clumsy, spellcaster.)

When she saw him she smiled wide and Gale could not help but smile back despite the disillusioned bleakness that lingered within his heart. Her enthusiasm was much more contagious than the performative perkiness of the fish-tainted Tiefling who had gone before her. 

“Hello!”  He greeted her, holding his hand out for her to shake. “Gale Dekario, pleasure to meet you…”

“Hi! I am Marina. Marina Rassos” She replied, giving his palm a firm squeeze.

Gale raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous name. Was he being pranked?

“I know, I know…” She said, nodding in acknowledgement to his reaction, “My parents realized way too late... Rest assured, just like my namesake, I’ll remain tasteful in any circumstances.” She chuckled.

Despite his best effort Gale could not hold the little amused exhale that escaped his nose. A jokester. That was interesting. Although, so had been the pyramid scheme Elf, at first…

“Hopefully you’ll be the last spaghetti I have to throw at the wall.” He gestured for her to follow him to his library on the upper floor, “I have a few questions and tests I screen my applicants with so: If you would please follow me?” 

The library was a place of wholesome chaos. There were books and scrolls on almost every surface, be it the desks, the floor or the seats. Alchemy ingredients scattered loose without jars or labels so that there was no way to tell if they were spoiled, venomous or just plain litter to an unfamiliarized eye. Maps and astronomical gears were abandoned on a little table by the balcony door, heaped on a precarious pile that threatened to tip over with the slightest draft of wind. It looked like a tornado had ravaged the place. 

It was perfect.

“I trust that you are acquainted with the intricacies of the weave? If only partially?”

“Yes sir! I am, in fact, a graduate from Blackstaff Academy.” She proudly declared before adding, "Although this would be my first “magic-related” job.”

The wizard frowned slightly. He was impressed by her education but something in the math of her life did not add up.

“You are a bit older than most graduates aren’t you? But I suppose merely getting into Backstaff is impressive enough. Not an easy school to attend.”

“Precisely why I graduated so late…” She admitted bitterly.

Although Gale tried not to judge, this new piece of information was a little worrisome.  He darted a sad eye towards the burned marks of his rug.

“Please take a seat. I will prepare some tests for you.” He decisively declared, pointing at the nearby couch on which several pieces of paper were strewn .

Marina seized a few books and leaflets off of the bench and proceeded to sit. Among the literature she had picked up, she noticed the latest special tenday edition of the Waterdeep Wazoo. With a proud smile she opened the journal and started flicking through the pages.

Gale returned a few minutes later, carrying a few files, beakers and quills. Upon noticing what she was reading he scoffed.

“Don’t tell me you read this kind of rags!”

Marina defensively pressed the paper against her chest.

“This is a perfectly fine newspaper!”

“Oh I’m sure it used to quite be fine. But the current editorial line is focussed on gossip and unnecessary quips!”

“Well, I take it you read it too? It’s in your library after all.”

“I'll have you know my Tressym, Tara, is the one to indulge in such… literary void.”

“She’ll be happy to know I contribute to feeding the void; one of my stories has been published in this very print!”

“You write for them?” His intonation was incredulous, “I find it most interesting that you have an inclination towards poetry and prose but am altogether saddened by the fact you choose such a horrendous platform to display your talents.”

“Maybe you are right. But in the meantime I am having fun! Isn’t that the point of anything we do?”

This was a rather philosophical way to look at it and a good come back to his overly critical comment. Who was he to question her skills or decisions for that matter, when both were the reasons she had shown up for this job offer. This thought brought him back to the former worry he had entertained. Maybe he could (and should) ask for feedback, given the competences she clearly had and that he did not. 

“As a writer… What did you think of the job listing?” He sheepishly asked.

She frowned slightly, taken aback. Gale wasn’t sure if it was by the question or by his sudden insecurity shining through.

“Honest truth?”

“Yes…”

She took out the leaflet from the side pocket of her robe and reread it quickly before highlighting the problematic parts out loud. 

“ ‘Learn mysteries of magical nature’ No fee mentioned, and very vague description. ‘Should be comfortable around strange creatures, ancient books, and odd smells; Expect the unexpected & long hours’ mention of overtime and unpleasant tasks? Not encouraging. Last but not least: ‘Be the apprentice to a wizard of reasonable acclaim!’, while your humility is commendable, next time maybe specify the name of the wizard the postulant would be assisting. For all I knew I was being screened by Halaster Blackcloak…”

Gale remained speechless, feeling called out and a tad embarrassed. He had worked hard to seem carefree, approachable and relaxed. He May have overdone it…

“Why did you answer it then? If it sounded as ludicrous as to emanate from that dear old Halaster?” He retorted, a bit wounded by the notes he had himself asked for and by the indirect comparison with the insane wizard.

“Call it a gamble.” She shook the paper before her, “I thought this was full of good intentions. Besides, going to an interview does not mean getting the job. Or taking it for that matter.”

Gale pondered some more. He never looked at it that way. He too was being interviewed as much as she was. He had not had to concern himself with that before, given all previous interviews had been fiascos. But this one, he had a good feeling about. She certainly was the first interviewee to have enough wits to entertain a minimum of conversation without falling into a sales pitch, lascivious flirting, or an immolation attempt. Gale hoped he had not made a bad impression, what with his judgemental comments and his naive advertisement. 

After a moment of silence, Marina placed the newspaper on the coffee table and turned eagerly to him, pointing at the documents in his hands.

“Shall we?”

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

After an array of tests including a quiz, a few practical spell casting tricks and a surprise exam, the wizard could sense the irritation growing in his applicant. He turned to her with a wide smile hoping the following news would be enough to tame her discontent. 

“Alright, you have jumped through enough of my magical hoops for now; I think you are suitable for the job!” He thought back to her comment about accepting the job and added, “If you still want it, of course. You might have already caught a glimpse of how… Difficult, I can be to work with.

“Thorough for sure…” Her sigh betrayed a smudge of exhaustion in her otherwise jolly demeanor. However her wide smile returned soon enough as she resumed “But I’d be delighted to. When do I start?”

“If you are free, tomorrow morning. Should we say 9 o’clock?”

“Perfect! I’ll be there at 9:00 sharp.”

She shook his hands fervently and bowed slightly before departing. Gale took a step towards the door in an attempt to walk her back but she shook her head, declining politely. 

“Don’t trouble yourself; I will see myself out.”

Gale watched her leave, contemplatively. She had potential for certain. With the right guidance she could become a great mage. He would hope their collaboration could benefit both of them. Then again, this interview was further than he ever had been with any other applicant, so it remained to be seen in the long run. This was also the first time he would have an apprentice at all, therefore he definitely had some learning to do too.

He quietly returned to his chair and picked up a volume he was currently working on. He opened the large book and started to study the over complicated diagrams drawn on the page. After a few minutes, he took notice of his lack of focus: he had been reading the same bits over and over, his thoughts hopelessly drifting back to his new apprentice. He wondered about her background, her personality, her quirks… Her hobbies. His eyes drifted from the book to the newspaper on the coffee table. Maybe reading what she wrote would help him get to know her a little better. 

But such an ignoble thing to read… 

He scowled himself, annoyed by his own snobbism. Maybe he was over intellectualising things after all. With a sigh, he closed the voluminous book on his lap, picked up the magazine and flipped through its pages seeking Marina's column. He finally found it between a carrot cake recipe and an advertisement for a new firework shop in town. “Quality placement…” He mocked.

Gale opened his eyes wide as he read on, the content quite different from what he had expected. The piece told the story of a wizard advisor and a king's daughter, of their forbidden love and of their dangerous desires. 

A sultry piece with romantic overtones, and wicked descriptions. 

His eyebrow shot up as his eyes descended on the page. The writing was skilled and the story captivating, but it is the smutty premises which dried out his mouth and made him shift onto his seat. 

The wizard tried to convince himself to stop, to put down the Wazoo and go back to his more serious research. He knew he should spend his time better. Study some scholarly tome, decipher some lost glyphs, update his astronomical charts. Clean up the library even. But he could not tear himself away from the page. He was hypnotised by all the enticing words on the paper. It was as if a spell had been cast on him, binding his rear to the chair and his eyes to the ink. 

After a little more than half an hour he had reached the bottom of the last page. His breath was ragged, his eyes hazy, his legs crossed, stretching on their own accord punctually. Reading through the last sentence he let out a frustrated groan.

"A cliffhanger? Really?" He fussed.

He was surprised by the sudden spurt of irritation he was experiencing and how it was directed at the unfinished story. He would have to get the new edition the next week, wait for Tara to finish reading it and pray that there wouldn’t be another trick such as this one. 

He leaned back, pensively, the story replaying in his mind. It was hard to believe such a meek and innocent-looking girl could write something so seductive. So bold. So crude.  

Almost despite himself, a thought crept up in his mind: what would she really be capable of in real life…? 

The question sent a shiver down his spine and he immediately suppressed the pictures his imagination was attempting to feed him. Better shut it down at once. She was his apprentice. He was her teacher. And he had literally just hired her. There was no room for such thought.

Still, Gale found himself excited at the idea of having her coming in daily and he hoped her new job would not get in the way of her creative spirit.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

aita for wanting a 200$ refund on a 400$ model that was REALLY below par in both quality and customer service?

This was one of my first monetary experiences with my own credit card and account, to preface.

So, I'm learning SFM and have regular dates with my boyfriend in vrchat. Between the two of us we knew enough to make models of myself in both, but not enough to make one for my headmate that me and her would both be satisfied with.

TL;DR, the first modeler we went to cancelled after we proved too impatient for them and they didn't need the comm money, so we put out a post calling for 3d models and asked our moots to spread it on here and on Twitter.

Eventually, we found a few artists that were within our post-high-school graveyard shift budget, but then an artist appeared in our asks that was interested in our order. Now, from the very BEGINNING they were blaring Sus alarms in our head with how they typed, their profile, their portfolio, the whole thing, but we still talked with them about it and eventually got to dming on discord over it.

We agreed on 350 with a down payment for the model, and she went to work. Somewhere along the line it increased to 400 with a down payment but I don't remember the circumstances for why.

I was a little impatient at times, but she still did good work, even if she misinterpreted our suggestions sometimes and was high at least once when we asked for an update.

We'd assumed that she would rig it for SFM and VRC as a part of the main payment. She then told us it would cost extra for the rigging.

We were understandably miffed but she justified it with money problems, so we sighed and went with it. When it was finished, she sent us a ZIP file holding all of it, and...then we didn't have any idea how to get it working.

She helped us, thankfully, but the whole thing was really annoying for our computer illiterate phone-dwelling ass. And then we had no clue about unity because it had been years since we'd made the other model with a base. Then she joked about having a $140 fee for it and that was pretty much the final straw for us, deciding to just pay someone else to port it for us because we were getting genuine headaches from it.

Since then, we've been using the model as planned, but have noticed a lot of clipping issues with it, it turns out the person we found to port it actually does similar quality models from scratch for like a FRACTION of the price, and despite us telling her it was going to be used on Oculus(i refuse to call it Meta) Quest, it was INCREDIBLY unoptimized for it.

This is a first world problem to hell and back and I'm not actually going to do it because I don't want to deal with her again after all the miscommunication but

Aita for being suspicious enough I've been scammed/fed a sob story to want at least a partial refund here?

What are these acronyms?

[thatdisasterauthor]

Delete your Threads account. You know what Meta as a company has done, you know the kind of person Mark Zuckerberg is. You've lived through Gamergate, the elections, covid, the fucking lot of it, and yet you're still willingly making an account on Threads. How can you possibly justify that?

Second ask: Scratch that, I hadn't read your most recent posts. Sorry for being so rude.

Third ask: "Still going to keep an eye on it" For what exactly? For it not to be as bad as it is? For it to get even worse before you decide it is wrong? You know who Mark Zuckerberg is. You know what Facebook is. Be up front: you don't actually care or stand for anything, you're only afraid of losing business. Have some dignity.

So you decided to be rude as fuck, "apologize," and then come back and be more rude?

I was incredibly clear in that post of why I am going to keep an eye on Threads, despite the concerns: Twitter was a valuable source of live news, especially during natural disasters, and Threads is the first potentially viable replacement for that. IDK if you actually follow me, but if you do you'll know I do a lot of work around natural disaster communication. Twitter was invaluable as a communication source during natural disasters. Full stop. It is not up for debate. But hey, if you want a source with more authority than a random tumblr blog, here, have a nice shiny research paper:

Mind you, that was written in 2010 and the importance of Twitter as a communications tool during natural disasters has only increased since then. There is no other tool out there, no other website--news or otherwise, that can provide such granular, specific updates when shit hits the fan as Twitter did. The only better, quicker source of information I have found during natural disasters is listening to actual radio chatter from the departments involved in whatever problem, and that can be very tricky to do if you don't know where to look or have the right equipment. There is no other site where I can go specifically follow so many of my local fire departments, my local emergency services, my local National Weather System stations, and get live pushed updates from them every single time they post.

When Twitter DDOSed itself last week and put a limit on the amount of tweets people could view and forced people to be logged in to view anything at all, the effect was immediate and BAD. People suddenly couldn't view things like missing person alerts, or weather alerts. I had people messaging me because they were trying to check the National Weather System autoalerts for their area on Twitter due to being caught in a sudden storm, but they couldn't get on to check.

Love it or hate it, Twitter had an immense amount of value and it got that value--at least in the case of natural disaster communication--because the stubborn ass government decided it was big enough to be trusted with official lines of information. Very, very few other social media sites have ever had that trust from the government. Look at how they banned TikTok on all government devices. But they DO trust Facebook, and Instagram, and Meta. Which means their chances of trusting Threads and migrating over there when Twitter finally takes its last breath are ASTRONOMICALLY higher than expecting them to go anywhere else.

We can debate the privacy and moral issues of the Metaverse and those involved until the cows come home, but it does not change the fact that if my mountain is on fire I'm gonna get information about where that fire is from wherever the fuck I can. I'm not going to wait around for it to maybe show up in a "live" updates news article from CNN from some reporter half a continent away in New York who doesn't know anything about where I live and gets the roads wrong because they just don't know. I'm going to go to the website full of my neighbors and local firefighters and see what's happening right that second.

Do we need to fix the privacy and moral issues? Yes. But we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater either. Not using Threads or any other Meta product isn't the answer here. Using them with extreme caution and only for very specific needs, for the time being, is. Long term, we need to be focusing on privacy based legislation that would finally put these companies in their place. But until then, again, I'm going to keep following my local fire departments wherever they go.

P.S.: If you're going to keep the shitty attitude, fuck right off and unfollow+block. You're not wanted here.

[writing-for-life]

The Ultimate Sandman Character Tag List!

I recently published a tag list for all female Sandman characters I have written about or posted art for (I’ve just added to it and tidied it up. The tags auto-update, so feel free to bookmark it if you want to stay in the loop about the Sandwomen), which made me think:

Why not do that for all the characters for quick reference?

So if you’re interested in one particular character, you can just quickly go to their tag on my blog. These are character tags, so you’ll find anything from metas to fics/poetry and art in no particular order. If you are looking for something more specific, please have a look at my pinned post.

I will not pretend I wrote and posted equally for all of them (some might just have one entry), and a few are missing (I’ll add tags when applicable). But right now, I have roundabout 100 Sandman characters waiting to get explored, and existing tags will auto-update whenever something new gets added, so feel free to bookmark this post.

I tag pretty consistently (some characters have two tags because I initially didn’t 🙈), but the odd one might slip through and float around on my blog without being tagged; you can also try to use the search function on my blog.

So without further ado, here they are (and now I’ll need to lie down):

The Endless

Destiny

Death

Dream (Morpheus only | Daniel only)

Destruction

Desire

Despair

Delirium/Delight

Dream’s Lovers

(Yes, they get their own space for quick reference)

Alianora

Calliope

Killalla

Nada

Thessaly

Titania

Denizens of the Dreaming

Cain and Abel (Cain here, Abel here)

The Corinthian

The Cuckoo

Eve

The Fashion Thing

Fiddler’s Green/Gilbert

Gault

Goldie

Gregory

Guardians of the Gate/Gatekeepers

Jessamy

Lucien (comics)

Lucienne (Netflix)

Martin Tenbones

Matthew the Raven

Mervyn Pumpkinhead

Gods, Demons and (Fallen) Angels

Azazel

Bast

Beelzebub

Duma

The Fates (Furies, Kindly Ones, Hecateae etc)

Hades

Ishtar

Loki

Lucifer Morningstar

Mazikeen

The Creator/Presence and Glory

Persephone

Remiel

Fae

Auberon

Cluracan

Nuala

Immortals and Long-Lived Humans

Bhartari

Hob Gadling

Mad Hettie

Orpheus

Mortal Beings and Humans

Alex Burgess

Augustus

Barbie

Barnaby Farrell (Uncle Barnaby)

Bette Munroe

Carl/Carla

Chantal

Clarice Farrell (Aunt Clarice)

Ethel Cripps

Foxglove (Donna Cavanagh)

Garry Fletcher

Gwen

Hal Carter

Hazel McNamara

Hope Beautiful Lost Nebula

Jed Walker

John Constantine (Comics)

Judy Talbot

Kate Fletcher

Lady Johanna Constantine (Comics)

Modern Johanna Constantine (Netflix)

John Dee

John Hathaway

Joshua A. Norton/Emperor Norton

Lyta Hall

Marco Polo

Paul McGuire

Prez Rickard

Rachel Moodie

Richard Madoc

Roderick Burgess

Rosemary

Rose Walker

Ruby

Unity Kinkaid

Wanda

Wesley Dodds

William Shakespeare

Zelda

Other

Barnabas

Night

Time

[vyeoh]

i dont understand watchers lmao

like i kind of get the gist

but i did not watch evo

and do not have time to (sadly)

so...help???

Luckily for you, the watchers at this point are pretty removed from the Evo ones! There are some pretentious purists out there, as with anything, that like to bitch about people not following the original script (god knows I'm guilty of this with other stuff lol) and I've noticed bitching about this specifically becoming more popular, but I'm assuming you're coming to me about the lifer series watchers and not Evo watchers. That being said, here's Vio's Watcher guide of questionable accuracy:

The Life Series watchers are only really "canon" in Martyn's lore, with them being referenced but not explicitly canonized in the Secret Life state (the symbol on the mask is their symbol from Evo but no one else really has lore, period, so I hesitate to count this as more than an easter egg for anyone else but Martyn). From what I can tell, the Watchers retained a few things from their Evo lore:

1) The ability to move players to new worlds- In Evo, the Watchers were the ones who moved people to more updated versions of the game (the series concept was playing survival but gradually updating the game version as they went). This ability lends to the life series Watchers being the "gamemakers" and being able to put players in a new game ever season

2) Grian - at the end of his Evo series (tho notably not the Evo series in general), he was taken after jumping into the end portal by the Watchers. Based on the end credit poem being replaced with a dialouge between two of them, and a third one joining in at the end, the assumption is that Grian became a Watcher. As Grian is also the server owner for the Life Series, him being a Watcher plays well into the Watchers being the game runners. I'm not sure how canon this is in Martyn's lore or if it's still an unknown, but it is a prevailing theory that Grian's involvement isn't part of the other Watcher's plans and is to try and fuck up their shit on the inside and essentially do damage control for his friends. This is based off of the quote "He was never meant to interfere, he was onlt ever meant to watch" from Martyn's videos. However, c!Martyn, who is the perspective we see, is not omniscient and therefore there's a lot we just don't know.

3) Listeners/ why the Watchers seem to hate Martyn and also Jimmy: from what I understand from the little Evo lore I remember (this was years ago lmao), the Listeners appeared later as an antagonistic force to the Watchers, and got Martyn and Jimmy on their side. They were presented as a route to freedom vs the Watchers, but once again unreliable narration needs to be kept in mind. This is likely why the Watxhers keep fucking w Martyn specifically (and might provide an in canon reason for why Jimmy keeping dying first as well lmao) but it hasn't really be touched on beyond 1) Martyn is canonically a Listener and 2) the Watchers know he's a Listener

4) So.... what are the Watchers? - this one is, canonically, unknown and therefore the source of the aforementioned pretentious bitching. You need to keep in mind that mcyt roleplay is not structured and Evo especially didn't start out expecting deep worldbuilng. This, plus the fact that the Watchers are higher powers that different people have different opinions on, means there's going to be a lot of info that just doesn't line up, from both a meta and in canon perspective.

One theory is that they're a representation of viewers. This is at least somewhat true, imo, based on how Grian "becomes a viewer" after ending his series. This is not canon, but personally I do like this theory lol. This also carries into Secret Life, where viewers can submit tasks via the statue. However, I don't think this is canonized ever and might just be more symbolic than literal. There's also a theory that Watchers vs Listeners are a dichotomy between the bad viewers who just "watch" and demand things without "listening" to the players, while Listeners are viewers what actually "listen" to what the players want to do. However, as with everything, this is speculation based off of a 3rd person limited perspective.

5) Are they evil?- once again, depends on who you ask and what version you're talking about. According to c!Martyn in both series, yes. According to c!Grian from Martyn's lore, probably? Or at least he doesn't like this particular plan of theirs. According to Evo fans who remember them as just "plot bunny for why the version of the world keeps changing", probably not. We really don't know a ton about them and so you are free to make them as evil as you want or as neutral as you want.

This is preally much all ik about the Watchers and how they relate to the Life Series. You will notice that most of it is theories or hinted at things. The beauty of mcrp as a genre is that it's very semi-formal, and so canon is a bit wiggley. So TLDR: do whatever the fuck you want lmao. You don't need mine or anyone else's approval. It's your right to do what you want with canon, just as it's your right to bitch about it on the internet. Just don't be a dick about it and everything will be fine 👍

[destinationtoast]

Hi Toasty! Forgive an older person for asking an overly simple question, but I've been struggling to look this up on your blog. Have you ever done any stats on chapter length/number and kudos/hits? I understand that adding another variable aside from ratings may make things too complicated, but I found myself wondering how that might relate to your previous results.

I haven't looked much at chapters rather than overall fanwork length, so I probably don't have exactly what you're after. But perhaps someone who reads my blog will have done relevant analyses looking at length/rating/popularity, and they can reply with links to their work!

(Also, no apologies needed at all; my fandom stats are not all that easy to search through when it comes to some topics -- even I have trouble sometimes. :) )

Here are my most relevant bits of data analysis & meta:

Do longer fanworks get more hits on AO3? - Back in 2013, I found that multi-chapter works got more hits on average than single-chapter works... but then I dug in further and found that actually, the underlying effect was that LONGER works got more hits than shorter works, regardless of whether they have one chapter or multiple chapters. (Because multi-chapter works tend to have a higher word count than single-chapter ones, they appear to get more hits on average. But once you control for word count, that difference goes away.) Caveats: I haven't checked this again since 2013. And I didn't break down "multi-chapter" by actual number of chapters.

Ratings on AO3: how do they relate to popularity and word count? - I was once again looking at this back in 2013. At the time, I found that the higher the rating, the more hits and kudos a work gets. However, this is partly because the more explicit the fanworks, the longer it tends to be -- and as we saw above, longer works get more hits on average. Once you compare works of equal length, there is a smaller correlation between ratings and kudos, and it mostly is driven by longer works (10K+ words). Although "Explicit" fanworks get substantially more hits/kudos on average than the other ratings, for every word count. Caveats: here I wasn't looking at number of chapters at all -- just word count. Also, like I said, not updated since 2013.

Also, just in case you meant "have you looked at the rate of kudos per hits" rather than "have you looked at either kudos or hits" -- I talk in How can you tell if a fanwork is popular on AO3? about many reasons why kudos/hits is an unreliable metric of popularity.

I also have a few other analyses looking at how hits and kudos relate to other things in my Popularity Metrics collection. One takeaway from this series is that both the fandom you're in and the platform you're posting fanworks to (e.g., AO3, FFNet, Wattpad) make a BIG difference to the average amount of reader response. Another takeaway is that the majority of fanworks don't get very much reader response (hits, kudos, comments) at all. That's not unique to AO3, though -- anywhere that people post a ton of content, there is likely to be a whole bunch of stuff that very few people have discovered yet. (There are some fandom challenges encouraging folks to seek out and leave feedback for such undiscovered fanworks, which I think is lovely.)

Hope some of this helps a bit -- and as I said, I hope others will chip in with related works!