#they make each other happy on a fundamental level that they don't get with anyone else

[avelera]

Okay so I recently got low-key obsessed with Jayvik and I’ve been liking your posts about them (top tier analysis btw). Anyway I’m curious about your opinions on a couple of things:

If Jayce’s love language is physical touch, what do you think Viktor’s love language is?

What do you think the Anomaly actually is? My headcanon is that it’s caused by all the paradoxes/timelines that Mad Wizard Viktor keeps making, but idk why it would only be under the Hexgates.

Hmm, when taking into account that the love languages thing is basically horoscopes for real people, but they may have informed how the characters were written, I'd say:

1 ) I completely agree that Jayce's love language is physical touch. That much is obvious.

Viktor's love language is Quality Time - that would explain why he starts getting irritated and hurt with Jayce near the end of S1 and why he's so moved and touched by them solving equations and spending time together pre-time skip. Actually, so much of Viktor's attitude towards Jayce is explained by him seeing Quality Time as a love language it's actually making me a bit dizzy, I need to think about this a lot more because I think this might have cracked something for me...

2 ) Hoooo boy, I actually have an answer for what the Anomaly is in my mind, but it's a lot less character driven and a more metaphysics driven because I was feral about Arcane S1 before I had anyone else to talk to about it online and I've spent a lot of time thinking about Hextech and Shimmer. OK, here goes:

Hextech is an axiomatic (lawful) channeling of forces of nature, namely magic. However, magic to stay pure and reliable requires an anarchic (chaotic) AND the axiomatic (lawful) balancing act for each use of its power if it's to stay "pure" and reliable. Otherwise, you invite chaos in. Namely, the Anomaly.

In addition, every use of magic/the Arcane puts off a certain amount of "car exhaust" for every use, this allows it from a Doylist perspective to be a climate change metaphor but it does go deeper than that and follows its own magical rules. If you look closely, overuse of Hextech always puts off smoke. Early uses don't do so as much, though. In my opinion, each puff of that "smoke" adds to a potential Anomaly.

Now if you're good at magic, and skilled with it, say if you're good mage, as seen with The Mage / Viktor in 1.02, you make a point of scooping up up all the exhaust from any use of rune magic and pouring it back into the spell.

Look at how the mage scoops up all the exhaust coming out of the spell here and weaves it back into the spell!

Hextech doesn't bother to do that! Because Jayce doesn't fundamentally understand that advanced level of magic! He just keeps calling on its energy without dealing with the output of smoke/chaos/Anomaly fumes so it's just hanging in the air.

By the way, all the smoke in Arcane is hand animated so to my eyes, all smoke actually matters. I'm actually a little bummed that S2 didn't go deeper into explaining the smoke that comes off of some uses of the Arcane but not others but I'm assuming they'll delve more into in future shows because The Arcane Is Awake Now, thanks to my brilliant science boy dipshits.

The cleanest, clearest use of Hextech we ever see is the first time the science boys use it to float:

I draw a few conclusions from this:

1 ) The first hit is always free - first time you use magic, magic is happy to help you out! It will do the thing you ask! No consequences!

2 ) Magic gets more and more angry the more times you use it. Actually, by the time we get to Vi using the Atlas Gauntlets repeatedly in S2, there's a little puff of smoke every. time. she uses. them.

3 ) Magic requires some balance. Breaking a window before it let the boys float? Cool, that's balance. But if you just have it doing the same constructive motion over and over, like sending out airships, but you don't let it break some things too? It gets annoyed.

4 ) If it doesn't get applied in a balanced way, magic/the Arcane gets mad. Ekko compared the Arcane's frustration to a sigh. That smoke? Is the sigh. Again, first time you use Hextech, magic which is at least semi-sentient, is MORE than happy to help! The more you keep demanding repeated axiomatic actions, the more it sighs in anger.

Then we get to the crux of your question: what is the Anomaly?

The Anomaly built up at the base of a tower stuffed full with polished, axiomatic, reinforced Hexgems that do one constructive task over and over and over again all day, every day: safely send ships from one place to another.

The Anomaly builds up from the frustration of not allowing magic to be free. Jayce is an axiomatic thinker, he sees magic as a tool, not as a force of nature, so he's been channeling it super precisely and not scooping up all that extra exhaust and channeling it back into the magic and that means it builds up this... pearl of an Anomaly which is all this wild magic with tons of chaotic potential that can do basically anything, including time and dimensional travel but it's gonna be super weird about it.

Soooo... thanks for giving me the chance to yell about Hextech, hope that was sort of what you had in mind!

[bairdthereader]

Elle keeps a close eye on her friends, and the artist in her is always interpreting the subtext in what she sees. One of my favorite examples of this is her subtle observation of Nick. Once she hears directly from Nick and Charlie that their relationship is real, she includes Nick in her thoughtful gaze.

I know some might disagree, but I think in this scene just before the Truham spring concert starts, Elle's first glance and small smile are in response to Nick's incredibly obvious happiness and clear adoration of Charlie. The relief she must feel at seeing evidence that Nick's feelings for Charlie are genuine is in that look. Then there's a second glance for Tao with a bit of humor at his disgruntled reaction to Nick's nearness, and maybe some of rueful reflection on her own tangled romance.

This is my absolute favorite, right here ⬇️. Elle's face is out of focus because the camera is on Nick, but you can see that she's watching Nick closely from the moment he steps away from Charlie in the doorway. Everyone else is chatting amongst themselves, but Elle's focus is entirely on Nick. She seems to know exactly what he's struggling with, the decision he's trying to make about going back to kiss Charlie for the first time in front of their friend group. I think Elle and Nick have a tiny, wordless conversation when she tilts her head to the side and smiles at him. Her face says "go on then," and he does.

And we all love the Louvre scene, which is perfect in every way. Not only is it a moment of intense connection between the two of them when they both offer each other valuable wisdom, but it's a moment when they just enjoy each other's company. Elle's focus (a valuable and worthy thing for anyone to have) is entirely on Nick and his words--"I don't think I really understand any of the art"--but she sees more there and waits patiently to hear it. He immediately proves that he feels the spirit and innate value of the artworks, something that Elle can relate to on a fundamental level.

When Nick comes out during the truth or dare game, all of the expressions on the Paris squad's faces are happy and supportive. But there's something about Elle's that I think says a little more. She's happy for Nick and Charlie, of course. But there's an extra depth in the way she watches Nick do this very hard thing. There's almost a peacefulness, like a final puzzle piece has been put in its place in Nick's life and she knows the peace that will bring him.

You get the sense that Elle really, genuinely likes Nick, that her inclusion of him on her list of people to lovingly, carefully observe is just as much for his own sake as for Charlie's. Her friendship with Nick is quieter, subtler than some of the others' is, but it's powerful. I can't wait to see it evolve in season 3.

[doueverwonder]

Table News: A Fork in the Road

Happy @wttt-week to all who celebrate!! I'm super excited about this week and I hope y'all are too! I decided our feds need some love so this fic has Gov, IDC (referred to as Dept. of State but they are the same character), DC, CDC, AotJ, Supreme Court, Coast Guard, Army and a whole bunch of OCs as well (including poor USDS who is now against her will known as DOGE). Obviously major warning for current events, a mention of the measles outbreak but mostly the Fork in the Road email. I'm trying to keep it silly because wttt is fundamentally silly but don't read this if you're not in the space to do so I take zero offense.

(nerdy side note "I serve at the pleasure of the president" is usually only for people who work directly in the White House but it seemed fitting for this fic so let me be)

ao3 link here

Federal meetings were…Gov searched for the right word, they were less chaotic, but their size made up for it. Between the cabinet, the agencies, the branches, Supreme Court and the Judges, plus anyone else you could think of there were easily over five hundred people in the room compared to the fifty-five to fifty-six that came with State and Territory Meetings. 

“How are you holding up?” Gov jumped as DC appeared behind him. District of Columbia was the only personification Gov knew of in the US to represent something on both a federal and non-federal level, so he showed up to both. He also knew Gov arguably hated Federal meetings more then State & Territory meetings, at least states and territories would tell him to his face that they hated him and not just make snide remarks behind his back. 

“I’m fine so far,” Gov frowned deeply, he knew he wouldn’t be asking unless there was a problem. “Why? What happened?” 

“Coast Guard is sitting with the D.O.D” DC gestured to the other side of the room, where Defense was sat with National Guard, Army, Marine, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and… Coast Guard, who was supposed to be with Homeland Security. 

“Have you asked him to move?” 

“No, figured it would be better to just let you handle it” 

Gov got up from his seat in the front muttering about how they never should have allowed the branches to date each other, so far it had only been causing problems. He was making his way across the room but not to them but to IDC he would rather let her tell Defense to man up and make Coast go back to his own seat. 

“Dizzy–” 

“Dizzy?” Her head swung around, she had a deep tan despite it still being February, part of her habit to take assignments only in warm climates during winter. 

Gov sighed, somehow with her it always slipped his mind to be more formal during Federal meetings, she was the oldest of the Cabinet and refused to not be seen in a serious light by the rest of the Federal government. 

“State,” he restarted, “Can you please tell our Branches that Coast Guard is required to be in his assigned seat, if he refuses to move, or one of the other Branches argues, give Defense and Homeland Security permission to order him to move.” 

“Aww, Gov, I can’t believe you’re trying to separate the lovebirds” she smirked, nodding to Air Force and Coast Guard holding hands under the table, something Gov hadn’t even noticed til she pointed it out. The real reason DC didn’t want to deal with it. “PDA in uniform isn’t allowed, just mention that to Defense and Coastie will leave for his own seat”

Gov huffed, “Can’t you do it? We both know he likes you more than me” 

“No, because I don’t want to and I think its funny watching how tense you get when the Branches salute you” 

He shook his head, “Its unnecessary” 

“You’re their commander in chief, have fun” Gov checked to make sure no one in the immediate vicinity was paying attention before poking his tongue out at her, she just rolled her eyes then went back to whatever she had been working on before he bothered her. 

He sighed heavily, but made his way over to where the Branches were sitting. Navy noticed him first, standing up the rest following suit as they looked to see why he was standing, Gov tried to suppress a laugh as Air Force half-yanked a zoned out Space Force out of her seat. 

The branches saluted, though none spoke, Defence taking that upon himself: “Good morning sir.” 

“Good morning, Defense.” He nodded to the rest, “Good morning, Branches” 

They dropped their salutes, but remained at attention as there was a chorus of returned greetings. Unfortunately for Gov, Coast Guard and Air Force were no longer touching at all, which meant he had lost his quiet way out. 

“Coast Guard, I believe that is not your seat.” 

Coast hesitated for a moment, “No sir, it is not.” 

“And why are you not in your seat with Homeland Security?” 

“I was discussing some matters with my fellow branches, I’ll return to my seat now sir.” 

“You do that.” Coast Guard left for his seat, Gov catching what was definitely a tinge of annoyment in Air Force’s expression as he left.

Everyone looked up, like someone was actually speaking from the sky as a small announcement asking everyone to return to their seats for the meeting to begin came over a speaker. Gov quickly told Defense to stop letting Coast Guard come over and mingle during official business, met with a yes sir and a slight eye roll, but no other complaints. 

A silence settled over the room as Gov returned to the front, taking his seat where everyone could see him, DC sitting to his right though he already didn’t seem to be paying much attention looking at something on his laptop. Gov took a deep breath, did his best to smile before, and started speaking; 

“Thank you everyone for attending, if my eyes don’t fail me for the first time in a while we don’t have an empty seat and I am grateful for it as we have much to get through.” He knew why everyone had come. He was hoping to be able to skip talking about it. 

Not a word was spoken, so he continued, “Usual ground rules, Independent agencies can comment as needed or requested, the rest of you should have already passed along your comments to your Cabinet rep; you may correct a misunderstanding or add on a short comment after they have finished speaking, one voice at a time please, I cannot hear when multiple people speak at once. There is a States & Territories briefing tomorrow, make sure to clearly indicate any information that is to be included in that; a normal reminder that we cannot force the states to listen, we can just suggest and hope. Feel free to take your own notes, but as usual DC has offered to transcribe and that will be sent out after. Any questions?” 

He stopped for another long moment waiting for someone to bring it up, most eyes stayed trained on laptops and ipads, either going over the agenda or entirely goofing off. Gov could not let out a sigh of relief yet, someone was bound to bring it up, but until then he would go on as if nothing was happening and pray to get to the end of the meeting. 

“Alright then, first on the docket is the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico, Health and Human Services has updates on the spread so far, and what we know about containing it, as well as recommendations from CDC for us to take into consideration. If we–” 

“What about the fork in the road?” Someone half yelled it, Gov couldn’t tell who, the room got even quieter somehow. Any chatter going on dying out immediately you could have heard a pin drop as everyone looked to Gov waiting for the answer. 

He didn’t have one. Truly Gov wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, he glanced to DOGE–who until very recently had been known as USDS, she had gone from no one knowing she existed to the most unpopular person in any room overnight, and was not taking it well–there was a long moment of debate in his head. She looked uncomfortable as is but it was technically her department… “If you have questions about that you may speak to DOGE after the meeting, right now we need to address the measles outbreak.” 

“So we’re not discussing it in the meeting at all?” Another voice rang out,

“We just want to know who all is losing their jobs” a third chimed in, 

“Some of us might not even exist tomorrow and we have a right to know!” The fourth is who broke the dam.

Agreements echoed around the room, the tense silence turning into a flurry of anger and anxiety that he would have to wait out. Gov focused on the one set of people in the whole room not freaking out, Defense and the Branches, while there were changes happening they were in the most stable position at the moment. He knew Defense would be in his office later, bitching about discharging thousands of perfectly good soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and guardians, about the eight percent cuts in each branch’s budget, about how much time and money had been wasted in having to fire and rehire contractors. He and the Branches however were not concerned about waking up the next morning and being on the curb, and that was a blessing in itself. 

He waited for the chaos to die down but it didn’t, everyone continuing to talk over each other asking questions, demanding answers. It was fair, but it wouldn’t change the fact that he didn’t have them. Gov caught USD–DOGE leaving out of the corner of his eye, he couldn’t blame her if he had the option he would run away too. 

“Everyone, please calm down!” He tried to speak loudly, even with the microphone though the sound barely cut through. He tried again, and again, not a single person calmed or quieted down; Gov flinched at the sound of a gavel echoing through a room. He glanced to where Supreme court and Judges were sitting, Judges looked annoyed while Supreme Court just winked and gave a half hearted thumbs up. It did work, the room quieting down quickly, everyone focusing their attention on Gov though, now with an unusual amount of malice. 

“Thank you,” He straightened his suit jacket, “I know this is stressful for everyone, but we must keep doing our jobs regardless of hardship. Afterall, we serve at the pleasure of the President” 

“We serve at the pleasure of Musk!” Someone called out, immediately re-sparking the angry remarks throughout the room. Gov sighed heavily, it was going to be a long day.

[cerastes]

Arknights God, how do I use Reed the Flame Shadow? I got her and I've leveled her but I think I'm missing something, because it doesn't seem like I'm doing the damage she's supposed to be doing.

So step one is that we need to stop with the Arknights God thing because I'm flattered that you and others have a high opinion of my gameplay advice but it also makes me look like a narcissistic jackass. I appreciate the compliment and I'm happy my advice helps, but to everyone not familiar with the whole "I like to play a heel clown character on my blog for funsies with my friends" will think I'm actually addicted to the scent of my flatulence and the rhythm of my own words. It makes answering these a tad awkward.

Step two is understanding that Reed' skill selection, and which skill is the correct answer to any given issue, has a lot of factors going for it, more than the majority of Operators. If you use Cantabile, for example, you know that both of her skills are bangers, and while they have their respective jobs, they are not hard-slotted into these. Reed's S2 and S3 are similar in this regard. You'll be ignoring S1.

Before we get into that, though, here's some fundamentals about the Flame Shadow: You position them differently from other Medics and most other units. A good Reed tile is one where she has both enemies and allies in her range, so, if you placing her at a front, you'll want her to be a bit behind, but not fully behind, your line of engagement. She needs to be able to attack in order to heal, and her allies need to be in her range in order to get healed. This may sound obvious, but it needs to be taken into account. She's not a Marksman or a Medic, she's her own beast. Another thing that needs to be taken into account is that her healing comes specifically from dealing HP damage to enemies, not barriers. Greytails and the Rat King, for example, have shields that must be broken with Arts damage before exposing the succulent flesh within, right? Well, until the shield breaks, Reed is not giving anyone any succor and they might in fact just explode because while she's dealing damage to their shields, it doesn't count as valid damage for her healing. Keep this in mind so you don't run out of sustain while fighting shielded enemies, since shielded enemies tend to also have high attack. The Final Reed Essential regards her Cinders (AKA Firebrand), which she always has a chance to apply with her attacks and skills (with S3 guaranteeing it): The way it works is that, if an attack would apply Cinder, it applies it before the attack resolves, meaning, the Arts Fragility will be in effect and that attack will already be dealing 30%(32% with Potentials) extra damage off rip. Or, in other words, you don't have to apply Cinder and then start capitalizing on it on the next attack. Arts Fragility, by the way, stacks multiplicatively with Fragile, and they count as different debuffs, despite the similarity in name.

You made it past the tutorial, now let's tackle 1-1:

S2, or as Harvard scholars call it, the Spitroast, is a damn strong skill. For the purposes of this post, I'll be using the M3 versions of the skills. Spitroast grants two allies, with Melee tile priority, 3 fireballs that'll deal 240% of Reed's Attack as damage to enemies they touch every 1.5 seconds, with this 1.5 second timer applying only for each unique target. The fireballs do in fact have a hitbox, so if there's enemies on either side of the fireball unit, you'll trigger two fireballs at once, one for the enemy on one side, and another for the other. Each fireball then takes 1.5 seconds to refresh (they'll look darkened around the Operator) and once they are a vibrant orange again, it means they are ready to explode again. Each time these fireballs deal damage, they'll heal their Operators as per Reed's trait (so 120% of her Attack), and each fireball has a chance to inflict Cinder as per any of Reed's attacks. You can test this yourself by putting fireballs on Operators so they hit enemies outside her attack range, and you'll see that they do in fact also have a chance to inflict Cinder. Be mindful that the fireball's instance of damage counts as a Reed instance of damage! This means that for the purposes of Counter effects, it is Reed that's the source of the damage, so for Spike Chests, Reed WILL receive the reflected damage, and for The Last Knight, Reed WILL freeze if the fireballs hit him, etc etc. The lane-holding application of this skill is that you can grant your cornerstone immense Arts damage and healing independent of everything else they have going for themselves, including through Status effects like Freeze or Stun, as the fireballs are independent entities separate from the Operator. So if Mudrock gets stunned by Nervous Impairment and has sweet dreams of beautiful rocks that go on adventures with her, she's not completely helpless, as the fireballs will keep shredding enemies while she's in dreamland. This actually leads us to the next point: Fireballs cannot be placed on Summons, so if you had dreams of making the sickest Stainless turret surrounded by industrial flames or picturesque mindblasts about Ling's Great Thunderer's surrounded by godly plumes of cleansing conflagration, well, stop being silly and come back to reality, also rent and student debts are due. Fireballs can be placed on 'Enmity' Operators, such as Musha (ie. Akafuyu) and Juggernauts (ie. Mudrock), but they won't receive the healing from each of their hits, as the healing is mechanically counted as direct healing, thus, they may not benefit from it. Well, at least they can always take a whiff of Lena's wonderful fragrances instead. With all this in mind, we get to the Spitroast part of the Spitroast: If you jail an enemy (sandwiching them between two Operators) and use Reed's S2 to give them her mighty balls, now that enemy is getting assblasted by both sets of balls, so a whooping 480% of Reed's attack as damage, which in turn is very likely to diagnose them with Cinder due to how many times they'll be taking Reed damage, so that final damage is now also increased by another fat 30%, in addition to being inflicted with Cinder's ATK -20%, so your engager is safer as well, on top of being healed a lot. So, in practice, let's say your trusted Specter the Unchained is currently blocking Yamcha Jesselton, and as they are engaged in mortal combat, you then deploy Skadi S2 on top of Jesselton as well. But this is all within Reed's range, so you use her S2 and now the shark and the orca also have fireballs around them that further obliterate Jesselton, and he can't even damage Specter in a way that matters because 1) she leveled HP and 2) she's getting an absolutely unholy amount of healing from Reed's hot balls, so, in short, he'll never have another birthday. This MELTS bosses, but obviously, it's a rather expensive endeavor, necessitating 3 deployment slots dedicated to the bit. But no one said being funny was cheap, and end of the day, it's funny seeing bosses melting down to nothing under what's practically two fire buzzsaws.

Ideal Operators for these strats involve your prim and proper engager, someone tough that can take a hit and also hit hard, like either Specter or Skadi S3, but you can also make this engager a dedicated tough slab of meat like Hoshiguma, and your drop-in assassin with huge damage, like Texas the Omertosa, Surtr S3 (two girls that will appreciate the Arts Fragility Reed can inflict!), Skadi S2, Nearl the Radiant Knight S2, et al. 'Enmity' Operators work as well but you'll not be received the healing, just keep that in mind, but they work splendid as well. Once again, Arts Fragility stacks multiplicatively with Fragile, so break out the ol' Suzuran S3 or, if the boss can be Frozen, Gnosis S3 for some more immensely violent peacekeeping.

That was a lot, but trust me, it becomes second nature once you see it in action once, it just clicks and now you know exactly how to roast that spit.

Woah, look at all the progress we made, it's time to start 8-12:

So, S3, the big flashy and fun explosions that scream "I'm a healer, but," in big red flaming text. This skill does a fair amount of things, actually! First of all, Reed will have multitarget attacks, two per attack, and her attacks during S3 will always 100% of the time inflict Cinder, so that +60% ATK buff she's getting is actually bigger than that, given that she'll always have her final damage increased by 30% Arts Fragility on top of that. What's more, Cinder's CANNOT expire for as long as the skill is active, and now have the additional effect of inflicting a Damage Over Time effect that deals 60% of Reed's Attack as Arts damage (so, again, amplified by Arts Fragility). And, of course, as we all know and love, if an enemy dies while having the Cinder's effect during the skill duration, they explode for 140% damage in a 1.7 tile radius, and enemies damaged by these explosions, you guessed it, also become inflicted with Cinder.

That's a lot going on, but it's also pretty self-explanatory once you lay it out like that. Ace detectives might have gleaned something from this river of letters: Cinder is a very strong effect. Cinder lets you deal more damage, take less damage, and receive more healing, since Reed's healing is based on damage dealt. S3 takes Cinder to the next level: Guaranteed proc, now with a DoT, and will never expire until the end of the skill. Not only that, but the multitarget makes it easier to inflict more and more enemies with Cinder, it's truly a fire gone out of control, for the enemy, anyways. S3 lends itself to mob control and killing large crowds of enemies with the power of friendship, but do not neglect its utility in engaging with troublesome elites and bosses! While S2 is her premiere boss-killing tool, it required set-up, deployment slots and tiles you might not necessarily have in high-end content, and in these situations where the boss isn't the only issue, but you also have to deal with an overall dangerous map that's threatening as a whole, S3 may just be the perfect tool to have a more balanced and yet still very potent approach.

This is what makes the Flame Shadow such a fun unit! Your skills are not really locked by circumstance, and they can be used with several different objectives and goals in mind, depending on what the rest of your team is and who your enemy or what the challenge of the map is. With her incredible adaptability and wide array of applications, Reed the Flame Shadow absolutely shines and can be a core part of any team.

[roseate-felidae]

Cats are liquid game by last quarter studios

It is a free mobile platform game.

They have a tumblr @catsareliquidgame

So the game is a platform story game. You play as Lumi, a female cat in the rough shape of a ball, that has ears, a tail, a happy blue cat face. She can turn into liquid and gains other abilities later. These include a flying gas form, a cube that can turn off dangerous barriers and an explosive to break down other specific barriers.

The game narrates you throughout each level. Sometimes your own thoughts and sometimes someone else talking to you.

Anything orange can hurt or kill you. You have three lives. Lumi is aware of this. Lumi also glows in the dark levels.

The first game (a light in the shadows or ALitS) is her, on her own, navigating the levels desperately trying to leave.

The second game (a better place or ABP) has her and three friends (one sad, one neutral and one angry, represented by corresponding colours). They each have their own abilities and try to help Lumi with her mental health.

Below the cut is some lore

I shall start with the second game (a better place or ABP). This is actually a Prequel, which I will explain after.

Lumi fights off her depression with the help of her three friends. Later her friends do not leave the platform place like they should have. As they were "fixed". This leads them to start to loose themselves and die. Before dying they give a peice of themselves to Lumi.

The first (green) makes her turn green when she uses an ability. The second (red) turns her red when she gets hurt. The last turns her blue when she uses her water ability.

Blue friend dying and Lumi's water form change after this. Before it was white.

Red friend dying and Lumi's colour change when hurt. Before, it flicked white and transparent. Now its red.

In the end she cannot save anyone. She decides to make a new world in which no-one can ever leave. This is titled "a light in the shadows".

A light in the shadows (ALitS) was the first game. It is about Lumi learning about the dangers of orange objects and abilities. We learn she is here to escape from the deaths of someone. That is because she knows you respawn here. But she desperately wants to leave this place. Strangely, when she reaches the end, she decides that she wants to stay and resets the game by dying.

Most likely, she keeps trying to leave and then resets it at the end. This would erase her knowledge, explaining how she does not know about the fundamentals about the game, despite knowing it in ABP. Making her trapped in an endless loop.

The evidence for ABP being a prequel includes: the end level name being the same as the first games name (a light in the darkness), her changing colours with water form, and injury. The death she is escaping could refer to her friends. No-one else is mentioned. In ABP she also says to keep smiling. This may explain why her expression never changes when hurt, unlike in ABP.

Screenshot above shows her water form is Blue. Not white.

A character apparently found in every level of A light in the darkness is a purple cat with no face. We don't know who they are. Apparently, they are always watching. They are slightly transparent.

The purple one also created the cube. The cube is controlled by the cat (by using some of her lifeforce) to travel over the orange areas and press buttons. These unlock barriers. If the timer runs out before Lumi reabsorbs it, Lumi will die. In "Companion" levels in ALitS, it is explained that the cube is sentient, and its purpose is to make Lumi feel emotions again. They hope its to help her. They are hurt by purple colours.

According to the reset levels in ALitaS, Lumi was locked in this place by her owner. The owner started acting weirdly and said she reminded him of someone. Lumi cannot remember who though.

[sol-consort]

I am once again throwing my mass effect thoughts at you

Feeding people is one of humans many love languages. The first thing we often share from our cultures with each other is our food because we all need to eat, we all love things that taste good, and food can say a lot about a culture. So when humans made it to the Citadel and started mingling with galactic society they’d basically be handing out our snacks and bringing containers of our dishes to work and gatherings to share with anyone and everyone. After a while they’d realize the turians aren’t taking any, when offered it’s rejected, and at first maybe the humans think it’s because turians are still bitter from First Contact but humans still offer anyways. Takes them a bit to figure out it’s because turians can’t eat levo food. Queue humans spending days/weeks painstakingly researching how to adapt their food with dextro substitutes and how to prepare them (and how to keep everything sanitized for the quarians). Next time the human brings a treat to share with their alien co-workers they’ve got two tins of chocolate chip cookies and one of them is dextro. We like feeding our community and peers, making them happy by giving them something sweet, and when the human is present EVERYBODY is getting something to eat.

I still think about that one salarian during the Garrus loyality mission in ME2 who said he loves human food, despite being at an anti-human turian political street speech.

Because if humans are considered diverse, can you imagine how much our culinary dishes are even more diverse? There are different from culture to culture and use so many different ingredients.

We have things for every taste, the complex dishes that mixes so many flavours together, the simple seeming ones that actually require professional level chefs to get it right.

We even cook and make dishes we can't eat, just for our pets because we love them so much. Pet food is a huge market with a lot of science and testing involved in it just to find out which flavours the animals end up liking more. The whole concept of treats was invented because we wanted to share our snacks and chocolate treats with our pets but couldn't since it harms them.

There isn't a field or a craft that a human somewhere isn't passionate about, no matter how nichie or unique. I bet you there are already culinary schools for humans that began having special branches and classes for dextro food and non-hydrating food.

Hanar who are usually reclusive and take centuries to warm up to a species, immediately falling in love with human sea food dishes and the many hydrating fruits we have. Ironically enough, I see them liking any desserts that use gelatine like creme caramel or pudding.

In the Andromeda culture exchange room, at the end of the human introduction VI, they mention to ask a human about ice cream if you ever meet them.

Meaning that aliens don't have ice cream! It's a pure human invention oh my god. A turian in the bar also mentions how the cocktails and drinks were boring and limited before the humans made contact and shared their menus.

How were the aliens even living?? Boring food with boring drinks and no dessert? Fuck yeah we will share our food with them, cooking has always been one of the fundamental traits we associate with our species.

Not only that, it's even a whole love language in humans.

A human can love you so much that they start making you food for lunch and dinner just to make sure you're eating well! Because it makes us happy seeing someone eat something we made, we poured our heart into. Love being the most important ingredient in cooking is the one rule that unites all humans no matter what culture or dish they're making. You can taste the love in food even if it was cooked in a hurry or by someone with no experience, we still eat our loved ones burnt food because we see the effort. Be it the burn marks on their fingers or the dirty dishes piling in the sink, we see clearly how much they tried just to make us something and we smile through the bittertaste and tell them it's good.

Because everyone started at this point, when our food taste horrible and a loved one was subjected to eating it. Or maybe we had to swallow it down. And if we didn't see the love, the potential, we wouldn't have continued on or improved.

Cooking is many things, it's cathartic in nature. It represents family and safety sometimes, luxury and fun other times, resilient and survival and even new beginnings or love confessions.

So many of our holidays centre around food. It goes hand in hand with celebrations.

When it's our birthday, we share a sweet cake with everyone else. When it's an achievement we invite people for a dinner. When it's an average night with friends we go out for drinks.

We bring people snacks when we go out on errands, we keep treats for stray cats or dogs in our pockets, we gift homemade dishes to our new neighbours.

Of course a human is going to accommodate for a turian or a quarian diet. We already accommodate for our friends and their diet limits, be it medical, religious believes or simple taste preference.

I see it happening a lot in C-Sec where turians and humans are common coworkers. Eventually the humans bringing food from home to eat on their lunch break will offer some to their favourite turian coworker. Maybe it's a nervous new guy at work, or maybe it's their grumpy boss with a heart of gold.

Then they realise oh, they can't eat it. So they go back home and the subject gets brought up during dinner with their family when asked about their day at work.

The next day, to their surprise, their spouce packed up a smaller container next to their normal lunch one, labeled "Dextro"

Imagine how surprised the turian is by it when their friendly human co-worker brings it to them saying how their spouce thought of them. The day after it, the humans kid tells their parent they found a snack that's safe for turians and they wanted to share a piece with the turian coworker their parent mentioned before.

The human family inviting the turian to dinner, asking them to bring their family too if they want and sharing a meal together. Making sure the foods are well separated and won't contaminate each other.

Or imagine bringing your turian friend home one day, and your grandma is visiting and she makes a comment on how your friend is as thin as bones and they need to eat more before they leave.

You try to explain how this is how turians normally look but she is having none of it as she searched for a dextro recipe online and tries to whip something up real quick for your friend before they leave.

On another note, think of how funny it is if they could eat earth bird food. Like you're feeding pigeons at the park and a turian comes up and is like "hey I'm feeling a bit squimish...mind if I grab a bit?"

Or you have a pet bird home and go shopping for bird food and your turian friend asks why you're buying so many turian junk food, and that those are overpriced awful tasting brands.

Salarians who never paid cooking or food much mind. Their species dishes are basically those high nutrition cubes and pills we see in future dystopian cartoons. Their lifespan is too short, so they mostly focused on science and technological development.

So the humans with their many different cultures are a literal godsent angels to them. I see them developing a codependent relationship with human culture.

In which salarians relay on human inventions for their luxury and entertainment. Be it our music, movies, food, snacks and videogames. Human dishes become widely popular and a lot of salarian ships start employing human chefs and cooks.

> be a salarian

> culture only focused on technology development

> food tastes like drywall paint

> can't party must study

> speedrun spacetravel

> top of the species in terms of intellectualism but most depressed

> brain had to literally hardwire fast emotion processing to not become too depressed

> must grind for a qt3.14 asari gf

> what are those apes the turians are picking a fight with?

> convince turians to let the apes live

> apes share their cultures

> wtf their food is actually so good

> wtf their music sounds amazing

> wtf now I have a waifu anime gf

> mfw life is suddenly good

[jayktoralldaylong]

There is surprisingly no ABO discourse in the TMA fandom. I don't know if it's an unspoken rule for there not to be, but I was thinking about it.

What would Jon be?

When you think of Jon suffering wet cat Sims the immediate assumption is that he'd be Omega or something, but thinking of his Season 5 persona I entertained the idea of him being an Alpha. Jon could be an Alpha right? He's not the most dominating person in the room but he can get very protective (and Jon with power is very sexy). Then I thought of the fundamental elements of an Alpha which are protectiveness and high level of possessiveness........which is when it hit me.

Martin Blackwood is totally an Alpha. 💀🤣 (Another win for Martin). I don't think there's anyone more possessive in the show besides Elias and Elias is a whole different brand of crazy. Martin seems like a sweet, harmless guy until you start stepping on his toes and he smacks the living daylights out of the aggressor with pure unrefined loathing - Just not easily noticeable cause he doesn't get violent but he makes sure his enemies get fucked up.

So Martin is definitely an Alpha. He gives the vibes of ensuring his mate will never lack, making sure they feel safe when they're nesting and never letting any harm come near their territory. Which raises the question....is Jon his omega then? I think not. Jon seems more like a Beta to me.

Jon: A Beta? That's the most ordinary creature in the whole verse.

Well, Mr. Sims you ARE basic. 😂 You're just a basic guy with super powers. I can't for the life of me picture Jon nurturing anything. He's not even very good at looking after himself and nearly everything he tries to protect crumbles away. He's a very tragic character, with not a lot of self esteem and he masks this by being sassy and sarcastic cause he doesn't want people to see how fragile he actually is. Jon's Beta to me and it feels fitting for him and Martin. Jon would probably try masking as an Alpha and Martin an Omega but the truth about each other would come out and Martin wouldn't care less. He loves his tiny hopeless Beta.

That being said, most of the others in TMA strike me as Alpha Alpha.

LonelyEyes aka Peter and Elias - Alpha/Alpha with Peter being possessive of his alone time and Elias being possessive over his control of Peter. (It would be funny if Peter was Omega though cause everyone would assume Elias the Omega.).

Daisira aka Daisy and Basira - Alpha/Alpha. Look Daisy's Alpha, there's no two ways about that. Maybe Basira is Beta but she strikes me as Alpha as well and they work well as partners.

Melanie x Georgie (can't remember their ship name) - Alpha/Omega....maybe Georgie is really flowery and soothing so she could easily be an Omega with her nurture of the Admiral. She could also be a very kind Alpha to her violent chaotic Omega Melanie. It could go either way.

TimSasha - Alpha/Alpha and I love them so much. ♥️❤️ Sasha just strikes me as Alpha. She would have been archivist if not for Elias' plans and Tim is either an Alpha or a chaotic Omega in disguise.

GerryMichael aka DoorKeay - I've only recently heard about this ship but it's kind of cute. Omega/Omega....cause I think it'd be funny. Obviously the Distortion isn't an Omega, the Distortion wasn't anything but I imagine after getting redefined as Michael it wakes an Omega and it is not happy about it. Gerry is not an obvious Omega and everyone assumes he's Alpha. Little did they know. I like the awkward story of two fakers (because the Distortion would definitely try to hide it's identity) slowly realising and still loving each other cause why not. They're also likely faking to be Beta cause one thing they wanted most in the world was to be ordinary.

Agnes x Jack - Alpha/Beta and this one doesn't even need an explanation.

Agnes x Gertrude - Alpha/Alpha, would be a fun dynamic watching these two growl at each other from the same side of the spectrum.

LonelyEyeSkies aka PeterxEliasxSimon - Alpha/Alpha/Alpha chaos. Lovers of this ship just enjoy watching things crash to the ground and I can't blame them cause I love it too. (Would still be funny if Peter was an Omega. Though Peter wouldn't find it funny at all).

JonMichael - Beta/Omega, but to no one's surprise, Michael's the one dictating everything about this relationship. Jon is shocked to find himself building a nest cause that's how dominant Michael's gonna be.

JonTim - Beta/Alpha and I'm guessing Tim would be a passive aggressive Alpha. This will either go really well or it will be a toxic dumpster fire.

[the-everqueen]

001: Sandman - A random thought

002: Rose/Corinthian

003: Rose Walker

sandman - a random thought if the corinthian has multiple apartments, does he hire cleaners? or is there like, dreaming magic that keeps the places dust-free? or does the corinthian have a secret assigned cleaning day? (imagine him in an apron and rubber gloves scrubbing the kitchen.)

send me a ship - rose/corinthian when i started shipping it: i think it was after reading heavy lies the crown? that fic is just...mm. delicious.

my thoughts: coco/rose plays with so many themes i find fun. what does it mean to be a person. what do you do after a narrative has ended but you still have to live. what is the difference between devotion and love. can you ever truly love god or is that relationship fundamentally fucked. what if god was also just the girl whose brother you saved and she thought you were some kind of potential guard dog. what if god held your leash and you liked it. what if you bit the hand that feeds you and it still came back for pets.

what makes me happy about them: the thing is, i think rose fundamentally understands the corinthian as a person, in a way that dream never will, because dream knows what he really is was made to be. meanwhile the corinthian understands rose as both human and Endless (because that's his whole function). they get each other. also i'm a diehard believer in giving the corinthian to one of sandman's female characters, because frankly anyone is going to be better at handling him than dream once coco is outside the realm of "favorite" and it leads to Fun Shenanigans.

what makes me sad about them: the thing i'm grappling with in the la guard dog sequel is that, while they get each other, i'm not sure they can...fix each other. like, none of us can really "fix" each other, and both of them have deep-running trauma that goes beyond the other's capacity to heal. there's a part of me that could see a bad ending au where essentially the corinthian makes rose Worse, whatever that might look like. also, at least in canon, that they don't talk again before dream unmakes the corinthian. what does rose think about him, really, in the end? it feels very much like he's Trying with her, even if that's tangled up in his attempts to overthrow dream and save his own life, and even if inherently it's performative on some level.

things done in fanfic that annoy me: a lot of the wider fandom treats rose like a kid. which feels unfair, given that she's a) in her twenties, so a legal adult, and b) shouldering adult responsibilities plenty of her peers don't have to worry about. [insert rant about how Black girls aren't allowed to have childhoods but are also not seen as capable once they're adults.] most coco/rose people are already thinking about rose as a consenting adult and someone with very real trauma, but i guess the other thing would be it's easy to forget the corinthian is an inherently hungry thing.

things i look for in fanfic: ...fics of them at all? authors grappling with categorization of "thingness"? the absence of hob as some kind of uncle figure to the walkers.

my kinks: debates about personhood. pain play. unequal power dynamics. (this is a whole bhol characters thing, i think i just want someone to tie up that white dude.)

who i'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other: again, too poly for this question to ever apply to me. i'd like to see more Rose ships in general.

my happily ever after for them: well, that's just the la guard dog au.

give me a character - rose walker how i feel about this character: big. i care about her. i want to hold her in my arms. i want to bite anyone who looks at her as just a prop for morpheus. tv!rose is SO fucking interesting, the show fleshed out so much of her character in relation to her positioning as a young Black woman, and that is DELIGHTFUL, and i want more people to engage with her.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: obvs i'm writing coco/rose. there's a whole other unwritten thing that is cori/matt/rose as a poly triad. rose/calliope has Potential. rose/barbie, of course, is adorable.

my non-romantic otp for this character: i think rose and lucienne could be such good friends. another storyteller for the librarian??

my unpopular opinion about this character: rose is a lot less naive than people think she is. she's young, yes, but she's experienced, she's intelligent, and she knows her values.

one thing i wish would happen/had happened in canon: i hope we see more of rose in subsequent seasons! she features as a recurring character in the comix. i do wish comix rose had been more nuanced as a character - she's so much the coming-of-age archetype that she's basically not really a person anymore.

my otp/ot3: apparently i am a coco/rose truther. (let the everywoman fuck the eyeball eating nightmare!) but mostly i'd like more people to engage with rose as a subject in general, rather than relegating her to the sidelines or ignoring her altogether.

[consoledacup]

Hey, thank you so much for the Jordayla missing pieces you post they make so much sense and they are for sure just deleted scenes that AA just didn't have airtime to air.

Here's my actual question I have seen comments suggesting that Jordan is doing and saying the exact same things for Layla that he did for Simone. Now just as a disclaimer I was never a Jimone fan so I've only watched their scenes once when it aired and I could never imagine going back to watch them but I have no recollection of Jordan being Simones bestie and being able to let her in when he is going through a tough time or just in general like he is with Layla. So I just wanted to know do you see similarities? because I'm convinced I do and btw that doesn't mean I don't think Jor loved Simone as best as he could at that time I just think he didn't know the type of love he's experiencing with Lay was possible.

Thank you, Anon!! I'm thrilled you see them as deleted scenes. I've thoroughly enjoyed writing them.

It's no secret I'm also not a jimone fan, so I got you. I'll try to answer this from an objective lens, but I can't guarantee that it won't be Jordayla-skewed.

The most succinct and thematic divide between these two couples is "show vs. tell."

With Jimone, Jordan was telling anyone and everyone he was happy, he was in love, etc. Nothing wrong with that on the surface. But with Jordayla, Jordan just WAS happy. To the point where everyone around him noticed without him saying a thing. And the two closest male figures in his life figured out he was in love and dating Layla because he was so happy.

With Jimone, they were lauded as great communicators. But that just wasn't evident when really hard stuff or even just mid stuff happened. To your earlier ask, Simone's dream was to be the next Serena Williams, and he was like, you play tennis? But how many times had he frequented Layla's studio before they were even together? Not to mention everything that happened with Simone's adoption dilemma. She didn't even want him there when she gave birth. He couldn't reach her at her level and give her what she needed, and she firmly kept him away. But Jordan obliterated Layla's walls. Not an easy feat when she had been steadily building them higher and higher and successfully kept everyone else out. But not him. She let him in.

And then when it came to football, Jordan has always kept Simone at arms' length. Even when they were fully together. Even when Simone tried to bulldoze her way in after his concussions. She gave her best effort, but he wasn't having it. With Layla she just kept pushing until he relented and listened to her. She knew what to say to get through to him and made him really understand she believed in him wholeheartedly.

Simone saw his potential in being great and maturing. But all of that actually happened when Jordan got closer with Layla. Jordan has never felt more understood than he has since falling in love with Layla. He desperately wanted things to work with Simone because they had gone through a lot together and committed to each other in a huge way. But they just couldn't understand each other on a fundamental level.

Jordan and Layla waited so long to tell each other they loved each other. But every single moment prior, their actions showed how much they loved the other.

Actions speak louder than words, after all.

[free-fart-avenue]

I wanted to have a mental break down in the corner of my bed but when I got there I just kept watching YouTube in the corner but I feel slightly more shitty, not even enough for me to realize right away that I feel more shitty, but I still feel like the break down is happening.

Is there a way to find out if something is wrong with me? I don't usually (especially if it has something to do with me) understand any emotion other than happy.

Like I get that emotions are feelings but when do they happen? I know what sad and happy and angry feel like but I've never FELT stressed, I just suddenly break with no warning. I mean I get a near constant dred any time I don't do anything but I know that one, that's guilt. I'm good friends with guilt. Have been since childhood. It won't leave..

Is stress close to guilt? What about morning joy? What is it like to wake up excited for the day? How can you have motivation to do great things for yourself while also being happy with what you have?

I look at something and know it needs to be good so that anyone who comes across it will be happy, nothing missing and every effort I can give goes into that. But then..

"I know that I don't know how to do that and that is really important.."

"I want to be able to say I did it ALL by myself so I can't ask someone to do it for me. And I know how to do it I just haven't ever done it so I'm not good at it."

"Is this whole thing even needed? The world has gone on this long without it and no one will even see it and if anyone does they won't even know the parts I worked the hardest on.."

"no one will know how hard I worked on it unless I tell them and I know how annoying that gets... I shouldn't make it."

So on and so forth. I know what it is like to be excited about something but each time I am there is a special dred that I will lose the motivation before I can act on it. I never know when it will be here or for how long and I try to act on it each time. But what about the things I don't want to do but have to?

Laundry? Cleaning my room? Cleaning the litter box? School work? How can I do the things that need to be done with a passion that nothing can put out? I don't understand, on a fundamental level, the people who can do things they hate, well, without being told.

I've lived all my life with guilt for not doing, not only what needs to be done but also what I say I'll do. I will probably never say "No more! No more will I let guilt control me!" Be cause if I do... I'd feel guilty. I'd hate myself for going back on what I said and bring myself back into my depression and feel worse about it, and I feel like if that happens I will never get out.

What's worse is I know how to get rid of this feeling but I don't have the motivation to start.

Part of me is scared. The people that I know (I call them acquaintances because I don't like or trust them enough with my problems) and I see pretty regularly get worried when something is different about me. I do really love seeing those people ever single time I do, I have for years, so for at least 7 years these people are used to seeing me with a smile because I see them and am happy. But when I found out that I want to be a person who isn't always happy, someone who can say things as they are without fear of hatred, they have been getting worried when I don't smile for 20 minutes..

I know who I want to be but I'm scared of people being worried. I know most of them would be there for me but on days when I see them and have a headache or am just more tired than normal I get people who think we're close asking in the most worried tone from them (sometimes pulled aside from the group) "Are you okay??"

I don't want that

[weaverreaver42]

Feel free to spread for (theoretical) people, just also know I would appreciate my account being blurred to avoid associating with the person who posted this originally.

Even theoretical ideas posted to answer a question can get some groups of people rather aggressive and gun happy :D

The question was a long winded way of asking "Hey, we all know everything sucks- why don't we just revolt now? What's stopping us?"

The rest is an interesting response I saw.

___

Personally, the fact we consider us hating our government as a non-controversial statement is a bad sign. Then again, if that's a red flag, no one providing a reason not to outside of the chances for success as the general response is a blaring red siren.

Preface: This isn't a "both sides bad" argument. The above post is already positing that our government has failed us on every metric and can't be trusted on either "political side".

I'm explaining why doing it now is potentially the worst time. I am not saying this is what we SHOULD do, just that if we WERE GOING TO this is why "now" is a bad time and what better options we would have.

---

Realistically us revolting now is what the government wants to happen.

Legitimately, we never make these arguments when democrats are in charge. It's only when Republicans are taking power and making a move for the wealthy that we ever genuinely get a conversation going about starting over with something new.

Republicans play the "evil" role so they can do these awful things, then punch us back down in the gutters when we fight back.

Democrats exist as a placeholder so they can coast on by while they wait for the rest of us to accept this new level of oppression, that way they can repeat the process as needed.

Make the MAGA voters face consequences, we wait for when the less dedicated of them finally reach a breaking point. (Many of them have. Most of their servers now have bots spamming to convince people that every example of what I'm talking about occuring is a hoax)

Once that happens, the vote turns blue- AND THEN WE RIOT.

We've had democrats in office before. Despite what people say, it will happen again.

We wait for the Red Wave to end, then make one thing very clear.

The majority was never silent, we were BEING SILENCED.

We aren't arguing if everyone in politics is evil, we are arguing if any of them are worth salvaging. We can ask those questions after they no longer choose if we live or die.

Once the government isn't wearing the "mean old Republican" mask anymore, then they will either have to go full mask off and show that they truly aren't any different than Republicans, or they roll over and be removed.

Either democrats let us take back the country they let fall apart and refused to protect, or they stop pretending anyone in government wasn't complicit in the country getting this bad.

This isn't a "both sides bad" argument, like I said. Democrats are absolutely less harsh on their face. However Democrats won't actually do anything useful when in office. look at how much changes when Democrats take power compared to when Republicans do. It's literally just a rise and fall of the government acting to strip our protections. However that also means that they are more hesitant to resort to military force when faced with conflict during their "blue period". We can use this to our advantage. Republicans would have no issue stomping us out from the get-go. Democrats would have to fabricate a justification first, if only to try and keep the mask on. We just won't give them that time. FROM THIS POINT ON, WE WOULD (theoretically) SPREAD THIS MESSAGE! We would make everyone on the same page, that this (theoretical) revolution ISN'T LEFT OR RIGHT. It's everyone who dislikes the two party system as it is restricting our ability to vote on our actual values. That we want them to prioritize solving the fundamental issues instead of forcing Americans against each other like dogs in a fight pit. The moment the next election comes around- which WE NEED TO LET HAPPEN, so no (theoretical) revolting before then. Yes, everything right now is painful and awful and objectively bad. That at least would guarantee that anyone who is actually a swing voter, and not just lying to save face, WILL vote democrat to "avoid this next time" at the next election.

The moment the democrat in charge "takes power" (more accurately, gets their turn with the talking stick) we will know that they have to at least pretend at first to not be a petty tyrant to avoid an outright coup. When the Democrat being president actually TAKES EFFECT, that's the best time to get rid of them. We steamroll as brutally and uncompromisingly as we can. No hesitation, no mercy, no room for mistakes or second chances.

Remember, Trump won this election- so a Democrat winning is OUTRIGHT PROOF that those who want to get rid of THE GOVERNMENT and are tired of the status quo are IN THE MAJORITY. It will show that we have the numbers to force this government to take its people seriously. The only people who would vote Republican next time would be people who are diehard MAGA, Trump has the party bound to him beyond separation at this point. Regardless of whether you are a democrat or republican, you can agree that one man shouldn't have an iron grip on an entire half of your political system. That is anti-american rhetoric and we don't need people who agree with it to distract from our (theoretical) goal, so relying on seeing how many people will REFUSE TO VOTE REPUBLICAN. Regardless of if they are actually republican, that enough is proof of how many people we can rely on even before we actually do any (theoretical) organizing once it gets kicked off assuming none happens beforehand (We don't need to worry about counting Die Hard liberals among those voting, I would argue that people who are dedicated to Democrats as a party in the same way MAGA is to TRUMP probably have changed their minds by now or are too limp handed to get in the way).

[almadam2equestrianclub]

Beginner's Guide to Horse Riding in Dubai

Don't stop now if your dream has you riding a copper-colored horse through the desert while he begs you to release his hold on the reins and let him fly. Now is the perfect time to indulge your equestrian itch.

You can be well on your way to a new hobby that promotes harmony, happiness, laughter, and companionship just a few horseback riding classes in Dubai. We have put up a brief introduction to horseback riding to assist you when you get into the saddle for the first time.

It will assist you in mounting properly, dressing appropriately, and realizing all of your dreams. Friends, put on your boots. Time to get on a ride.

How to Dress for Horse Riding

Over time, each rider refines his or her own style. However, there are a few fundamentals you should know for your first ride.

1. Put on a lengthy pair of pants.

2. Select closed-toe footwear, ideally boots that will keep your feet from escaping the stirrups.

3. Avoid donning any pretty, flowing clothes that might become tangled in the saddle, the horse, or even trees.

Learn the Handshake of the Horseman

The expression "the horseman's handshake" describes the way we introduce ourselves to horses. It's a cute little catchphrase. It is crucial to proceed cautiously when narrowing the distance between you and the horse.

The way we welcome dogs when we first meet them is comparable to how we shake hands. Gently hold out your hand to allow the horse to have a sniff at the back of it.

Leave it there while they decide what to do next. You can consider that an equine high five and go to the next step once the horse contacts you with their nose.

Gain momentum and climb

It's time to mount once you've had some time to get to know one another. Most trainers and guides in America will assist you in mounting using the left stirrup. It's best to move your other leg across the stirrup as smoothly as possible after putting your foot in it.

In the next level, you'll discover how crucial your legs are. So, as you're mounting, attempt to rely on them. Any kind of pressure applied to the horse's head or neck could cause them to become ill-mannered and forget about your nice handshake.

Maintain a straight posture

After getting into the saddle, make sure you sit up straight, let your back down, and grip the reins firmly. You will not feel off balance and the horse will not feel top-heavy if you use your legs to keep a firm posture.

However, you never want to pull on the reins (until it's time to pull on the reins), which is again where leg strength comes in helpful.

Dismount with distinction

Naturally, we haven't covered every essential aspect of a satisfying ride. Please return often to read about the principles of a smooth journey. But we didn't want to leave you without the resources you needed to properly dismount in this article.

Hold off until the horse is calm and comfortable and you're back in a safe place. Next, take off the stirrups with both feet, bend forward without resting on your new friend's neck, swing your right leg over, and land with a hop.

Everyone Can Ride Horses

Anyone who enjoys the simple pleasures in life, the tranquility of nature, and the kind temperament of these enormous animals should ride a horse. Riding horses can rapidly become a lifetime passion after only one ride.

For other equestrian enthusiasts who are planning to take up riding, Horse Riding Network is your treasure trove. You'll discover a devoted group of friends, as well as a wealth of useful tools and instructions that will point you in the correct way. We sincerely hope you found our introduction to horseback riding useful, and we hope to see you on the trails soon!

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[originalpackersandmoversblog]

Is it safe to say that you are As of late Hitched? Peruse Tips to Change Yourself After Movement

Congrats Dear!!, It is a unique second in your life, as you should conventionally move to one more area to lead a happy and quiet second with your new sidekick and family. In India, people normally move to another city or town, not long after they get hitched to start their new life as a result of occupation change or in light of a few different reasons. This will be more anguishing for a their person family, pets, house, mates, relatives, old area, etc. One can take the assistance of packers and movers to facilitate their pressure of pressing and moving.

It isn't the case normal to start one more presence with a reestablished person in another city, you ought to know a few fundamental things about the new city. Changing with the new city, environment and people would be a hardest experience for anyone, and you ought to stand up to all of these challenges without any other person without anybody's assistance. You don't have to thoroughly depend upon your soul mate for all of the things you do, and you want.

Along these lines, you want to position yourself to change with your new hitched life by understanding this under given considerations.

Research for another home and make sure to change your area

At the point, when you have moving designs to any city or town after your marriage, starting searching for one more home at your new home, in any occasion two months before the day of your marriage is great. Endeavor to look for a restrictive home or a level with each and every fundamental office and comforts. The rooms at your new house should be pleasant for you both and your families so you can have tranquilly with no trouble.

Before moving, make sure to change your area at your postal division to direct the entirety of your future messages to your new area. You can do this by sending an email or referring to your new area through web-based media associations and conferring it to your colleagues and relatives.

Clear your old things before you pack and move

Right when you expect to relocate your family products to your new city, tidying up your family things anyway month before your moving day is more astute. It is magnificent to set up a plan on what things you want to pass on and what things you ought to leave at your home. Before pressing your family things, you want to get all the pressing supplies to pack your things well and move safely. By then, you ought to pack your things subject to that plan you have really prepared.

Exactly when you start squeezing your things, endeavor to wipe and sort out things that you will not use them some other time on. Save individual boxes for things, that you really want to dispose of, that you want to give and things that you want to sell during a parking space bargain. Following pressing all your critical resources, part with your unfortunate things before you take your activity to your new city, and preplan exercises preceding moving into another home.

Endeavor to coordinate a moving vehicle or a truck without any other individual and ask your friends or relatives to assist you with moving your things to your new city. Exactly when you endeavor to play out your moving task in isolation, you ought to expect full obligation to do all things. This endeavor would end up being all the harder and disturbing for you to do it without any other person. If you are not enthusiastic about continuing ahead your own, you can enlist capable packers and movers additionally, by using buddy references, web crawlers or by using any relocation reference section.

Endeavor to deal with your work yourself and sort out some way to be independent

Ensuing to moving your family products take out your things from groups, plan your things as shown by your taste and settle down at your new home in your new city. Endeavor to finish your work isolated like cleaning the house, washing the articles of clothing, making arrangements for your bedding and cooking for the family, when your accessory isn't with you or your life accomplice is crushing endlessly.

Endeavor to manage your money related costs independently by saving some money from your family expenses so you don't have to in every case depend upon your soul mate for easily overlooked details. Endeavor to be really strong and control your sentiments as it requires a speculation to draw in with your new associate, family, city, people, culture and on occasion even food.

Plan a period table and make yourself involved the whole day

Make a timetable for performing and changing your regular activities, for instance, going for a stroll, going for your rec focus work out, cleaning your home, cooking, etc Make yourself attracted with some kind of activities to make your whole day involved.

Endeavor to travel solo and enquire about the new city

Use public vehicle, the city metro train or enlist a taxi with the help of your PDA, when you want to travel solo in your new city. If you don't be aware to drive a two or a four-wheeler, endeavor to go for a driving school and expert abilities to drive in a rush. Notwithstanding, make sure to take your driving license and your cap close by you whenever you go for a ride inside your new city.

Make new companions and learn new culture

People you meet in your new city will be by and large one of a kind corresponding to people whom you have met around there. They will have different ends, considerations, experiences, etc, on various things they know. In this cutting-edge period, it's quite easy to find new companions through web-based entertainment stage like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc

You can moreover make new associates by chatting with your neighbors, hitting up some social gatherings or gatherings and looking into a few progressive activities. Endeavor to learn about a few new things by going to specific courses and remembering for a few remarkable activities that your life accomplice have never endeavored and made the individual being referred to attracted to you.

Return to your work

Right when you really want to go for an errand in your new city, join the work field in which you at this point have a fair experience or join any field you are particularly fascinated by. Assuming that you have a broad stretch opening in your livelihood, endeavor to join a few educational courses to pull together. You can similarly learn about doing some web-based business over the web and get cash working from your home.

You can pack, move and modify your family products with the assistance of Movers and Packers in your city

[atimesfeeler]

@whimzycle

This honestly made my week! (I teared up but don't tell anyone).

Sometimes I forget its a Jackrabbit fic but you can blame that on my asexual ass forgetting how to write romance. Best I can do is make them bond on a soul level and constantly get on each others nerves, lol.

The Great Attractor! You noticed! I was so siked when I realized I could fit that into their creation story.

Oh! And I sketched a really rough wip of what I envision The Fundamentals as (they are subject to change, esp Contracting and Expanding, I'm not sold on their designs). They're just little guys. It's funny because my comfort zone is writing over drawing, but it is fun to try and put what I visualize on paper. It's cooler in my head tho, dagnabbit.

With the Cold thing, I was so confused in the books when Nightlight became Jack Frost, especially because their powers are similar but not really the same, yk? Like Nightlight is a 'spectral boy' and has moon/starlight powers but Jack is pretty strictly 'cold powers'. But I think the lore is so so so cool, so I just tried to tighten it up a little bit by making Nightlight's core concept 'cold'. ALSO I learned that there is a specific mix of chemicals that makes fire that can FREEZE. And that's Nightlight. I'm not science brained but this is Nightlight basically: Video of Fire Freezing Water . A star that freezes :)

I'm so glad Aster comes across like this. I never anticipated how challenging it would be to write Aster younger because he's developing, right, but he can't mature too much because he's the grumpy asshole we all know and love in the movie.

I love magic systems too!! It was a fun to take from the small hints in the book and movie about Bunny and Pooka to make their magic systems. His obvious plant magic, but then shapeshifting is in the book, inventing is his main thing, and he's super skilled at fighting. And also time! (Which I plan to go into later in his life with the Cuni/Burrow Pooka)- which is more about Pooka Culture, but I tried to form Pooka magic systems from their culture.

With Zinnia I was trying to hint that Pooka, well Lunar Pooka, usually bond with other species and its not weird. (Jackrabbit crumbs, anyone??) I post silly videos where they are just interacting and tiktok is already going 'its weird to ship them??' 😭

My goal every chapter is to make Aster as unhinged in battle as possible.

Tooth is their wing woman (ha, pun intended) and no one else can convince me otherwise. I love her.

ASHHHEHEHHE YES!! Tooth knows! She's nosy for one, but also I wanted to subtly show that Bunny found people he could trust again like he trusts his brother.

Yes! She's still around, the little dragon thingy. I realized they would be pretty inefficient in Space Battle when my original plan was to have them fight up there, but she will be making a come back!

Thank you so much for the review! It made me so happy. And I love to just talk about them, so this kinda turned into a ramble, but I wanted to reply to your thoughts about it :D

Not something I normally post, but I published my 17th chapter for my ROTG fic! I’ve been working on it for a while. And I made a little animation to go along with it!

I know most of my mutuals aren’t in the fandom, but I was just excited to share :)

Check it out if you’re curious! Happy Easter!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57574720/chapters/166683736

Sneak peak of chapter:

It exploded into a dozen fearling creatures that darted around erratically, scraping up the interior of the ship and destroying anything they could get their hands on. Drawn to the light of the Kozium, the fearlings gnawed at the glass until it burst under their jaws and killed them in the process. They were entirely brainless, with only the motive to consume light and spread their darkness that they didn’t even care if they would explode.

Jolegan was crumpled on the ground, three gaping wounds from the claw marks writhing with shadows and corruption soaking into his body. Aster sliced through fearlings in the air, swinging the sword more like a staff than the parrying weapon it was meant to be.

Fearlings swarmed him and shrieked their excitement upon seeing their prey. Some dove toward Jolegan, ramming into his crumpled form like they were trying to break past the skin with impact alone.

“Jolegan!” Aster shouted, gritting his teeth against the onslaught.

In a moment of intuition, Aster dove for a Kozium tube that was rolling across the ship floor, cracked and leaking light into an awaiting fearling’s mouth. Aster sliced the creature off the Kozium tube and grabbed it.

Immediately, he was swarmed with fearlings, scratching and biting into his fur. Pain and corruption laced through his body, pinpricks of poison seeping into him.

At this point, in the war, Aster was well versed in the pain fearlings inflicted. It was a cold, leaking ache, and an infection all at once. He could feel his light seeping out of him, leaving him cold and empty as they greedily gobbled it up. Hope and ambition rapidly left his core and were replaced with a helplessness.

Aster knew it was one of the effects of the corruption, but it still felt a little bit like dying every time.

Every time, it was a question of whether his light was loud enough and resilient enough to pull through. If, this time, they would snuff out his light as easy as an Anguish.

[kingthunder]

trying to nail the characterization i like for geralt and jaskier is like trying to balance on one of these bitches

[dawnstruck]

Thank you for answering my ask....if you don't mind me asking (again), who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Ahhh, what are you doing, I am writing novels for all of these now. 🙈

I love talking about my favorite pairings and getting way too invested in them, so you totally brought this onto yourself.

Elle Woods/Emmet Forest (Legally Blonde The Musical): In my eyes, the ultimate romance. I love the musical in general and have watched the MTV recording dozens of times. It's my happy place. It is also, in my opinion, better than the original movie, particularly because it gives Emmet more depth and fleshes out their relationship much more.

They have such an interesting development, from strangers to mentor/mentee, with Elle still pining after Warner, while Emmet's growing respect slowly morphs into romantic love. But he never pushes it on her, it's just there in the background, with her completely oblivious.

They bring out the best in each other, both on a private and a professional level. Emmet is never condescending, never superior. He wants Elle to be the best version of herself, to get that chip on her shoulder, to pursue her career for herself and not some dumb man. So then, when the climax hits and Elle is at her lowest, when Emmet stands at her closed door and plaintively reprises her mantra of 'What about love?' - it just gets me every time.

But then! His confession is so quiet and timid, so different from what we are used to seeing in most narratives, Elle doesn't even hear it. And so it's not for his sake that she stays, and it's not him who convinces her to stay. No, instead it's Paulette and Vivienne who talk her out of it, it's her commitment to Brooke that compels her to stay, and it's her own re-found self-love that makes her wear pink again.

And Emmet loves her. All of her. But what's more: He believes in her. He puts his neck on the line for her, risks tarnishing his name. He is there for her through it all - much like she has previously been there for him, treating him to nice things and reminding him of his integrity.

And then we get the ending, the flash forward, three more years have passed, their relationship is going well, and Elle - who was so hung up on getting proposed to - gets down on one knee for him.

Their relationship subverts so many tropes and gender stereotypes, both because and in spite of Elle being this very girly, feminine woman and- Gosh. I could write entire PhD theses about them, I adore them so much.

Erwin Smith/Levi Ackermann (Attack on Titan): Another pairing that is all about support and bringing out the best in each other, but unfortunately in a world that was all against them.

I love that they see each other for what they truly are, their core, their essence. Erwin looks at a wily street thug from the Underground City, and sees Humanity's Strongest. Levi looks at the Commander of the Survey Corps, and sees the childishly selfish, driven, flawed man he truly is.

They understand each other, gradually but fundamentally. If you look at the whole series, there interactions are actually quite limited, but all of them profound. There have such a deep belief in each other, to the point that they willingly let it blind them (e.g. when Levi is shocked to realize how deep Erwin's obsession truly runs).

And Levi loves him. In one way or another, he does. He would put anyone and anything aside to protect Erwin and help him achieve his goals. But then... he doesn't. He does the most selfish and simultaneously selfless thing in the entire series, and he does it twice over. He tells Erwin to give up on his dream and charge at the Beast Titan, and he decides to save Armin's life instead of Erwin's.

Levi, who has been too late to save people time and time again (his mother, Farlan and Isabel, his squad) chooses to bury himself in more grief in order to relieve Erwin of his burden. He makes a promise to him and he spends the next years trying to fulfill it, always with Erwin's face in mind, haunted by this benevolent ghost.

And in the end, when Levi has succeeded in what he set out to do, when he survived in spite of it all and not for lack of trying, he is able to let go. He cries, not just for Erwin, but for all who were lost. For the first time in the story, we see Levi do the salute of the survey corps; but his entire story was about him having dedicated his heart. To his fellow soldiers, to the cause, but - most of all - to his friend and commander.

Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones): Enemies to friends to lovers, the only instance I can think of where it's been truly done right. They start out on opposite sides of the field, sworn to different sides in a bloody feud, and they hate each other's guts. But they are forced together, having to endure each other's dour company for weeks on end; it's basically the 'there's only one bed' trope, only that the bed is the hard ground in the wilderness and they are chained together.

But they have to depend on each other, too, in fights against common enemies, and their respect for each other grows. Jaime saves Brienne from violation when he doesn't have to, Brienne rekindles his will to survives; she saves him from drowning, and he returns to pull her from the bear pit. "I dreamed of you", he said, and I was fucking done for.

These two have so much respect for each other, first begrudging, and then more honest and fond. They realize that looks and reputation can be deceiving. Brienne learns to see a man - a boy, really - who was forced into a damning decision, who is honorable at his core but was not allowed to act on it. He learns to see a woman who is beautiful in her own right because she is true and good and honest.

When we first meet Jaime, he looks like Shrek's Prince Charming, golden and perfect and glowing. But then it is Brienne who becomes his knight in shining armor, who teaches him that he can still be a good person, even if the cost is great.

I love that they are both damaged, physically and emotionally. I love that they heal together. And I so hope that they will get some semblance of a happy ending in the books. And, as a sidenote, I love how Stiefvater spins her poetry around them. Her writing is so evocative, grotesque and picturesque by turns, just like Adam and Ronan are themselves, and it matches their development wonderfully. 

Also, possibly my favorite first kiss in any novel ever. 

Dean Winchester/Castiel (Supernatural): Possibly my first big fandom OTP, maybe? At least the one I was most invested in as it was happening. I love Dean and Castiel individually, love their roles and developments in the show (barring certain stupid decisions and lots of retconning in the writing, of course), but their dynamic added so much to the show.

Everything about them was so iconic. Lazarus Rising is probably one of my favorite episodes not just in the show, but in general. The whole buildup to their first meeting is so well done. From Dean crawling out of his shallow grave, over finding the handprint branded into his skin and Castiel's angelic voice literally making his ears bleed, over Pamela's eyes being burned out of her skull, to Castiel appearing on screen for the first time amid a rain of sparks.

Castiel looking at Dean with Jimmy Novak's ocean blue eyes, looking into his very soul, both bewildered and intrigued, and speaking out loud what we all suspected: "You don't think you deserve to be saved." - That shit broke me.

Castiel raised Dean from Hell, but Dean lured Castiel from Heaven: bit by bit and probably unintentionally, with no higher purpose in mind. He resented him, and then he let him in, bit by bit, until he had not just another compatriot, but a friend. A best friend, when always his family had come first.

There are so many memorable moments and I cannot possibly count them all. I did stop watching the show somewhere around Season 8, I think, but they always had a fond place in my heart. My friend knew as much and then, when the unthinkable happened last year, she sent me an article saying that Castiel had canonically confessed his love.

Well, that was weird and crazy and unexpected, and of course the show spectacularly ruined itself, but oh well. I will forever believe that Dean Winchester, a human, taught an angel to love and to rebel and to question the status quo. They both had shitty dads and brothers they loved and sometimes hated, they gave up everything and made many wrong decisions in their attempts to do the right thing, and they had each other, here and there, desperately clinging on to that.

Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Earth. The literal Apocalypse. Their love will overcome a poorly written ending, too.

Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish (The Raven Cycle/The Dreamer Trilogy): They see the sides of each other that most other people don’t even suspect exist. In a lot of ways, Ronan is soft and vulnerable and uncertain around Adam, and Adam sees all of that and more, sees the contractions that aren’t really contradictions at all. Likewise, Ronan sees the beyond Adam’s veneer, beyond the facade of him trying to achieve everything by himself, instead striving to be someone who gives him what he needs, albeit in an often roundabout and bristly manner. And Adam struggles against that but, eventually, he accepts it for the kind, selfless gesture it is. 

I like both Adam and Ronan have suffered, in similar but different ways. Both their traumas are centered around their families and, as such, their healing and their love is sometimes diametrically opposed. Ronan wants to digs his fingers into someone and not let them go, grow his root in them and make a home. The concept of being on his own his anathema to him. Ronan, for all his appearance of being a loner and an outsider, is someone who clings on to his loved ones - his brothers, Gansey, Chainsaw, Opal, and Adam.

Adam, in contrast, is driven by the idea of “you cannot love someone before you love yourself.” Adam has shit to do, a reputation to build, a dream to fulfill. He wants to prove his father and all the naysayers wrong, and accepting seeming “charity” from rich people like Gansey and Ronan goes against his beliefs. He doesn’t want handouts, and it takes him a long time to realize that, just because Ronan’s love and affection are freely given, they are not equivalent to pity or even entitlement. 

But they have secrets from each other, too, and they are not necessarily mature or stable enough to maintain a healthy relationship and good communication with all the crazy stuff going on in their lives, so I am curious to see how things will work out for them in the last part of the Dreamer Trilogy. 

Shiro/Keith (Voltron): I will rail forever about how dirty they were don ein the series. The foundation of their friendship was so strong, so solid, the true bedrock of the entire series and the team's dynamic. And simultaneously so beyond the kind of friendship you generally see depicted. There was no macho male posturing between to alpha male heroes, just open vulnerability and gentle support.

I honestly believed Sheith would be endgame (and who can blame me with how much it was teased in different ways), and so I sat through a rapidly declining franchise. The Black Paladin episode made me think this was it, we were actually going to get something good after all, but then I quickly realized my error and jumped ship.

As in, I still ship them, but my god, I cannot believe how thoroughly the canon sunk that said ship. Obliterated it, even. Not fully confirming the pairing at the end is one thing; marrying Shiro off to some rando was... honestly more painful than your regular queerbaiting, but I won't go into that here.

Jafar/Scheherazade (Twisted): Quite niche and also a rather background relationship that only takes up a few minutes of the musical, but my god. They are so adorable and funny and tragic and sweet. It's the only time I will accept the fridged wife trope to establish a man's tragic past. That they got their happy ending after all was such a sweet relief and I am so grateful whenever I rewatch/listen to the soundtrack.

James T. Kirk/Spock (Star Trek): I admittedly mostly got into them after watching the remake movies, but I honestly love both dynamics. Nimoy and Shattner had such a fun dynamic, often tongue-in-cheeck and teasing, but also with serious and meaningful moments. Quinto and Pine have that origin story appeal, that canon divergence, that young hot guys hot-headedness and clashing of personalities.

In the remake, Spock and Kirk have to figure out how to work together, have to learn to rely on and trust each other. In the originals, they already have all that, comfortable like an old married couple, used to each other's habits and idiosyncrasies. They are new love and established love juxtaposed, and I adore both versions.

And, as you can see from this list, I simply love a captain and his right hand man.

  There are more pairing that shaped me and that influenced my own writing and my general interest in how narratives are built. In general, I am always more interested in characters and, by extension, their dynamics with each other, than the plot and worldbuilding surrounding them. And, of course, this list does not necessarily reflect my thoughts on what real life relationships should be like (especially since most of them happen in extraordinary circumstances).