#this project is going to be massive and really long and difficult but if i can pull it off in 5 days its going to be so fucking sick

[imflyingfish]

.

[gotta-bail-my-quails]

god ive never been more excited to work on something for school im actually vibrating in my seat right now

[k-hippie]

k-707 2025 BOLD UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS

Hello everyone :)

The new k-707 is going to be released in the coming days :D but as it is a kind of new experience, we have some kinda instructions in order to get everything working fine.

Step right up, folks, for the grand unveiling of our biggest project yet! The K-707 isn’t just a mod—it’s a green revolution. Taking on almost every flower, patch of grass, bush, and tree makes this even more massive than the K-505. And trust us, our brains are already feeling the strain! :D

But before instructions, let me tell you the k-707 story ;)

We really hope you'll enjoy it. We worked hard on it with 5 rules :

Replace EVERY tree of the game

NO overrides with crazy high polygons amount

Follow as much as possible the Maxis directions ( trees style )

Decrease amount of polygons where it is possible

No trees defying gravity and laws of physics

It took long for few reasons ...

At first, we always knew the first version was a vast experiment. When ea made its direct x11 update, it was time to make a bold update ... but we didn't want simply remove the non-strictly-dds-x2 images and replace them ... we wanted more. We always wanted more, even we are not kinda ea gurus :D ( hey EA ! don't you want hire some true creators with a long term vision of your game ? ) <- poll : would you like k-hippie as maxis creators or not ? :D

Joke apart, it was difficult. Almost 1 year long, we searched and searched solutions to get rid of all problems we met when replacing foliage on a debug tree, or modifying anything on a debug tree ( for info : we are not blender gurus nor sims 4 core users )

All we knew was few lines :

When cloning a tree, you cannot lose the any of the vert color data. I suspect whatever tool(s) you are using to do the cloning is losing this data, since this setup is somewhat unique to trees.

The vertex color layout for trees is as follows. Green and Blue are ignored for channels 1…4 : Color 0 RGB Surface color tint Color 1 R Rustle direction X Color 2 R Rustle direction Y Color 3 R Rustle direction Z Color 4 R Rustle phase ( game generates two wind scales that change over time, this term interpolates between the two )

The pipeline keeps the rustle information in a vertex color format for what the game engine will load, which means it’s in the range 0 and 1. The shader remaps this into a 0.5 to -0.5 range before scaling it and applying the offset to the leaves. Note that these directions are clamped but not normalized ( they’re allowed to be different lengths ) The WindMagnitude material parameter acts as a scaling factor.

So, we started with this information, begging in vain for some help, both inside the Sims community and outside ... but nobody helped us. And frankly, it interested no-one except us and our beloved followers :)

We found multitude of tutorials ( funny how many they are as soon as it is clothes related ) but nothing related to our specific target. We paused our research many times, made direct x11 updates for our other k-mods and so on. Until ... zaceitorius in July 13rd 2024

Who is zaceitorius ? We do not know. A simple member of sims4studio with 6 posts who gave us a simple bright clue which seems obvious after all, but yet very very precious indeed !

And here we are today. 300 trees and numerous plants later ... <- another reason why it took a long time :D

We made a lot of vertex experiments, we lost data colors, remade again and again some other experiments and well, we are still experiment, remake small details which seem important to us and so on ... And for now, it works :D And now you are warned : the k-707 is far from perfect.

And now, the instructions :)

The k-707 covers both trees & plants, both debug and lot trees & plants

What's new ? No more than usual. We tracked all the non-strictly-dds-x2 images, reshaped some trees ( such as the multitude of oaks ), added some flowers ( where we removed them in 2021 ) but kept many foliage we already did. We tried to simplify many details but added some others and replaced some plants.

How many stuff it represents ? We do not know. Many indeed. We stopped the count :D

Because of its size ( and our love for our sanity ), THE RELEASE WILL ROLL OUT IN PARTS ( not slowly but piece by piece ). If we waited until it was all perfect, you’d be seeing it around ( maybe ) September 2025 ... Let’s not tempt fate—or burnout! :D

The K-707 is neatly organized for your convenience :

Each DLC gets 2 folders : one for plants, one for trees.

The base game gets 4 folders ( a bit different since most of the greenery is drawn from there ) divided into lots and debug folders.

Expansions which have very few greenies ( City, Get to Work, University ) get the same folder named : k-hippie-k707-multi-greeny-2025

IMPORTANT :

Leave them in each of their folders ( or create your owns based on a similar methodology )

If you merge files : we can’t help troubleshoot if it doesn’t work anymore, so be smart ;)

You’re free to do as you like, but we strongly recommend keeping this tidy folder setup. If you need to troubleshoot down the line, it’ll save you a major headache.

And for the mavericks out there who love merging files—go for it, but know this : we won’t be able to help if things go haywire.

Now, we could wax poetic about how stunning the K-707 is, how every leaf, petal, and blade of grass is crisper, richer, and beautifully integrated into your worlds—but hey, we'll do it later, inside the release post :D

We could do more, more realistic trees and so on but we do not want integrate crazy high poly models. We do not want an unplayable game isn't it ? ;)

The k-707 is not yet finished. We got some more work to do on it, shape the last details, and some re-checks.

But here is what is new compare to the previous version : we kinda cracked ( a bit only ) the code. Trees swinging in the wind like it’s a dancing contest ? No more. Trees defying gravity and laws of physics by groveling into the ground ? No more. Just remember we do not have the hands upon the worlds construction, so, when trees are not into the ground, well, call your reseller aka EA itself ...

[bougiebutchbitch]

never gonna actually do it because it would be a MASSIVE project but

if I were to write a Shen Jiu redemption arc

it would be with the knowledge that his original character would die like he did in the book - aka, being a prideful, toxic, Binghe-hating, abusive&abused little shit to the end

...then, in classic fanfic fashion, he'd be reincarnated in his shizun-self with young disciple Luo Binghe locked in the woodshed after a beating. Aka, where Shen Yuan came in

of course once he gets over the panic

(and the confused morass of emotions upon seeing Yue Qingyuan alive)

his first thought is. I have to kill that fucking monster.

and he goes to do just that - but Binghe is the protagonist and the protagonist can't die/the System stops him/etc. etc. etc.

eventually, despite a... couple more attempts, Shen Jiu realises the only way he's going to change his fate is the long and hard way (aka, repairing every single relationship he's spent his whole life RUINING)

he starts acting in subtly ooc ways, specifically as a ploy to convince people to like him. He is constantly thinking about how he can manipulate their opinion of him to show himself in a good light, and he is not above undercutting other people to paint himself as a Sweet Innocent Shizun who only puts on a cold mask because he's easily flustered. He does his damned best to convince everyone that he's not really a villain. He's just misunderstood. He's still harsh to his disciples, but it's interspersed with far more (reluctant) praise, and always for a genuine teaching purpose, so he can pretend he cares for them really, deep down.

Oh - it makes him sick. His loathing of Binghe festers as the child slooowly begins to creep out of his shell and become more attached to him. He seeks to maintain as much distance from him as possible while still maintaining his 'kind shizun' demeanour, but of course, Binghe being Binghe (and barely needing an excuse to develop a terrible crush on his teacher) makes that very difficult.

Basically: I want Shen Jiu scheming on how he can trick the whole world into thinking he's not a villain, while he himself still considers himself a despicable and irredeemable monster who is cunningly cheating death. I want his intentions to be genuinely rotten. I want him to loathe everyone and everything, and internally gnash his teeth and roll his eyes and inspect any kindness he's shown, working it into that massive web of paranoia that hovers above his head and tells him all the ways in which his so-called 'friends' and disciples may still turn on him in future

I want him to not realise that actions matter far more than intentions, and genuinely endear himself to a lot of people, his shit personality and all. They're like - yeah, that's Shen Qingqiu! He's a backstabbing two faced son of a bitch, but he keeps pulling through for us at the last moment, and he obviously cares deeply about his disciples! We all love him! He might be a dick, but he's our dick!

All while Shen Jiu is very much stuck in a Paranoid Torment Nexus of his own creation

he becomes the peaks' horrid little cat, is what I'm saying

[xx-riffraff-xx]

𓄿 ~ rabbit in a wolf’s jaws ~ 𓄿

premise; You're struggling after a hard week of failures and Sylus gives you a task you can't complete.

warnings; ANGST, I kinda put you through the ringer on this one, half-vent fic, lots of projection, panic attack, perceived anger at you, breaking prized possessions on accident and freaking out about it, there IS a happy ending

a/n; i'm not super happy with this one, but it did satiate the horrible beast clawing at my insides. heed the warnings, you are the subject of the angst in this piece. with that, enjoy! (feat. text divider i made!)

You were feeling off. It had been a long, difficult week. Everyone kept asking too much of you and they were angry when you couldn’t deliver. You had been chewed out by your managers and yelled at by coworkers. You hadn’t dealt with a massive Metaflux fluctuation fast enough to keep everyone from getting injured and faced the sneers of their families.

Usually, when you’re feeling inadequate, Sylus always knows how to bring your confidence back. He soothes your aches, prods just the right places to make you feel like yourself again. When the two of you have finished playing, you feel refreshed, reset, and ready to take over the world. You head straight for his house on your day off.

When you arrive, Sylus is quick to note that something is wrong. “Have you had a bad week, kitten?” He opens his arms for you. You mold yourself into his chest and nod. Whatever challenge Sylus gives you, you’re sure you can conquer it.

Sylus materializes a little glass dove into the palm of his hand. “If you can hide and protect this dove from me for 24 hours,” he taunts slowly, “I’ll let you do anything you want to my hair.”

Your eyes light up. You’re already picturing all the stupid colors and styles you could create. He said anything. There’s a nagging pull in your gut that you can’t do this. Despite this, you eagerly accept his deal.

”You have fifteen minutes of head start. Better run, little rabbit.”

And run you do. You race through the halls, looking for a suitable hiding spot. You anxiously count the seconds down, nowhere feels good enough. Wherever you hide it, it needs to be somewhere Mephisto can’t see and Sylus won’t think to look...

Your gaze lands on a wilting potted plant. The perfect hiding spot! Just when you think you might be able to win this—

You. Drop. It.

The bird’s body shatters as soon as it hits the floor. It’s deafening to your ears. Sylus surely must have heard it. You panic, surely the bird was expensive, everything Sylus owns is. It must be worth triple your entire net worth. He’s going to be pissed. You failed, again.

You drop to your knees, frantically trying to pick up the pieces with your bare hands. Maybe it’s salvageable? You wince as the shards of glass embed themselves in your fingers. You don’t want to know what happens when Sylus finds out you broke the dove, he never told you a consequence. Surely he has one in mind. You’re not going to stay to find out what it is. You tear a piece of your shirt, wrapping the shards up delicately. You think you got them all, you have no idea, but it doesn’t matter because you hear Sylus coming.

You run. Your heart beats like a rabbit’s. You know this is futile, but you’re prepared to defend the evidence with every ounce of courage you have. You’re trying not to leave traces of your blood everywhere, that would really set him off. Tears gather on your lashes, blurring your vision.

You yelp when Sylus appears in front of you, scrambling the other way. You never had a chance. You’re a bunny in a wolf’s jaws, slowly bleeding out where the teeth pierce your flesh. You think you’re hyperventilating, there doesn’t seem to be enough oxygen in the air. Maybe your lungs are filling with your own blood. You trip again, your knees scraping on the carpet.

You try to get up and keep running, but Sylus pulls you back with his Evol and settles you in his arms. A pitiful sob escapes your closed throat. “Sweetie, what happened?” You cling to his soft timbre like it’s the last time you’ll hear it.

”I-I broke— I broke the— I tried to— I—“

”Sweetheart, *breathe. *It’s alright.“ He kisses the top of your head. “I’m not upset.”

You take a shuddering breath in only to cough it out again. It’s hard to trust what he’s saying when all you can hear is your feeble heart racing in your ears.

”That’s good, you’re doing well. One more breath.” Sylus settles on the floor, holding you on his lap with your ear to his chest. You can hear his slow, steady heartbeat and his even breaths. You suck in another breath.

”Good job, sweetie, keep breathing for me.” You sit together in the middle of the hallway for who knows how long. Sylus praises you for every few breaths you take. When you’re finally calmed down enough to breathe, your body decides it can cry. You place the bundle of glass shards in his palm.

”I—I broke the dove. I didn’t mean to, I promise! I just— I dropped it and- I was worried— I thought you’d be mad at me. Please don’t be mad.” You confess pathetically through your tears.

”Sweetie, I could never be mad at you for this. I should have given you an easier challenge after the week you’ve had.” Sylus says softly. He discards the bundle in favor of inspecting your hands. “How about we take care of your hands and watch a movie instead?”

You nod. Sylus carries you to his room. He cleans and bandages your wounds with the cutesy patterned bandaids he bought just for you. You snuggle up together on the couch to watch a shitty comedy movie, and you think, just for a moment, that maybe everything will be okay.

[athena-swords]

🤎💚🤎💚Pick A Card🤎💚🤎💚

Disclaimer:This reading is not set in stone please take what resonates with you and leave what doesn't.

The connection You always waited for coming to you+orcale message you REALLY need to hear

Pile 1. Pile 2.

Pile 3.

Pile 1

The connection coming to you:

Hii pile one hope so this reading makes you feel uplifted for the upcoming future let's start then okay so from quite sometime you guys might have been stuck with the same old group of folks and felt quite stagnant socially.But there is a new beginning in your career or like joining new school where you will find your the 'girl's girl' and you will have 2 to3 prominent people with whom you will connect on a soul level

This friendship can start from a group project like dance music debate anything just know their will be lots of emotional fulfillment coming into your life

Orcale messages for you:

1.Older women: dealings or relationship with an older woman

2.Arrow:you are on the right path regarding some aspect of your life

3.knot: unsuccessful plans

4.handshake:A meeting with a stranger is important

5.lobster: Financial pinch

6.Forest:muddled,unclear thinking

Extra: carriage:a journey either physically or mentally

Pile 2

Ok pile 2 first to bring all the abundance in your life love you have to work on your self esteem the negative talks impact your self more than you think so darling.When you will enter in your lucky girl syndrome era you are gonna attract your a romantic partner for yourself and the universe is telling you that if you are wishing now for it know that you have to know your worth otherwise people are gonna step on you babe anyways this connection will soon come after you will have a self awakening moment and will start enjoying the little things in life.

So cheer up babe we have got this I see a great life for you ahead .So I came back after reading your orcale deck guys if you have been thinking of joining a school course or learning anything that you wanted to do for a long time so pleaseee go for to ok and do tell me in comments

Orcale messages:

1.knot: unsuccessful plans

2.Lily: spiritual love

3.Lion:time to act

4.Desk: pay attention to your work

5.Four leaf clover:good luck

6.:staff:you would be taken care of in the difficult time

Pile 3

Heyy pile 3 you might think that why people hurt you so much and you just feel very .... lonely most of the time so I see the connection you are bringing in for yourself is with finding YOU and cherishing every bit of it you could have been a bit of people pleaser and a black sheep but I am seeing you putting lots of efforts in developing and building confidence in your being please nurture your inner child and heal I see butterfly could be significant for some of you

Go gurls you all gonna have a massive glow up due to the inner work you all will be going to do adios btw the next chapter is exciting and full of roller coaster ride .

Please go and check out pile 1 if you wanted to

Orcale messages:

1. Archway:new opportunities, possibilities and paths opening up

2. Lightening: control your anger or you will be sorry

3.Hat:you will be playing a different role

4.older women: dealings or relationship with an older woman

5.August

6.lobster: financial pinch

Please like and reblog I believe this pac is gonna be for specific group as the messages were too specific please take care and enjoy

Har Har Mahadev

[seraphica]

A Walkthrough of Project 2025

By Emily Galvin-Almanza, originally on Twitter.

You may have heard the term “Project 2025” floating around, and you may even have cracked open the 900+ page document yourself, only to see a lot of kind of bland, policy-wonk text. So let me crack through the policy-speak and tell you WTF is in this document.

This is, um, a long thread. But if you want a lot of info about Project 2025, all in one place, you've come to the right place.

This document is what Trump and his team will do if elected. It’s their document, their plan, their platform. So like…it’s not *me* saying what they’ll do, this is *them* saying so. documentcloud.org/documents/2408…

Shall we dig in? I’ll organize and give you page numbers. I’m going to start with criminal justice stuff (of course) and then we’ll wander through other topics like repro rights (none), discrimination (fine, unless it’s against nuclear power), environmental protection (gone), etc

Predictably, this is a document full of states-rights claims, but (true to form) there is very little left to the states when it comes to a Trump criminal legal system.

Generally, the Constitution reserves criminal law to the states, allowing localities to create criminal accountability as they see fit. But under a Trump regime, “small government” just means “no EPA or medicare and HUGE expansions of DOJ’s criminal division power.”

A primary target? The discretion and decision-making of local prosecutors.

Prosecutorial discretion is part of the foundation of our legal system—the idea that the people elect their prosecutor, and can elect (or not elect) a person whose judgment they agree with when it comes to what to focus on when it comes to criminal prosecution.

The Trump DOJ will basically override local voters and prosecutors, bringing federal charges where they deem states not punitive enough. (553)

I should note that this is a ridiculous, massively difficult thing to do—our criminal court system is spread across 3,143 counties.

So what it really means is that the Trump DOJ will troll for cases they find politically meaningful, and use the full weight of the federal government to prosecute specific individuals who stand for stuff they don’t like.

They’re not just going to take on targeted prosecutions, they’re also going to legally come after prosecutors who they feel aren’t prosecuting enough. (553) It’s like this, but EVERYWHERE politico.com/news/2024/04/1…

And somehow they’re also going to do everything they can to make sentences harsher, and increase utilization of the death penalty (553-554).

They’re going to double down on the war on drugs, prosecuting interstate drug cases much more harshly (and by “interstate drug trade” they also mean “mailing abortion pills”) (555, 562).

They will also take election integrity out of the hands of the Civil Rights Division and put it in to DOJ’s criminal division (563), which means you see a lot more cases like Crystal Mason’s, but at a federal level: nytimes.com/2024/03/28/us/…

The long and short of it is, we often think of “prosecution of political enemies” as, like, Donald Trump sending DOJ after Liz Cheney or Rachel Maddow or something. And we forget that this can also mean persecution of ordinary people like Crystal Mason.

People who are not high profile themselves, but whose conduct (or even mistake!) is in a subject matter area that makes them the political target. Under this regime, being in a state that would not choose to prosecute them may be no help.

It’s also important to remember the ramifications of highly punitive policies. A DOJ that seeks the max on every case, seeks the death penalty, increases immigration detention (below), is a federal government expanding (& lining the pockets of) the prison industrial complex.

We already live in a country where basically all social ills are funneled into our criminal court system. SCOTUS just increased that trend by allowing people who are living on the street with nowhere else to go to be prosecuted for…existing…outdoors.

But in this administration, we can see an expansion of what is criminal. You’ll see a lot of Torquemada-esque interrogatory stuff in the doc (especially at Treasury?!) but the most obvious expansion of the criminal system is into the zone of women’s health.

In other words, reproductive rights? Never heard of her. The document is pretty fixated on abortion, unsurprisingly, with plans to end all forms of abortion access (including pills) throughout the document (6, 104, 284, 450, 455 - 459, 503 - 529, 562)

There’s one point I’d like to hit on in particular: this week SCOTUS punted a case back to Idaho which was covered as a case allowing emergency abortions to save a woman's life.

But in fact, that's not what really happened here---the Court punted the issue back to the Circuit court, leaving the question of whether women need to be actively dying to receive an abortion open.

Reminder: long as there is legal uncertainty, there are doctors doing nothing while wondering what they're supposed to do as a woman lies bleeding and septic on their table. msmagazine.com/2024/06/28/emt…

The fact of the matter is, under a Trump administration, they could (and would) simply choose to stop fighting to make hospitals to offer abortion in cases where it is necessary to save a woman's life.

They could simply stop fighting for EMTALA, the statute that says hospitals that get federal dollars have to offer emergency care.

And also, in Project 2025, they want to go even farther than that, farther than banning abortion. They want to MAKE SURE DOCTORS DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO IT.

Specifically, this doc makes the Dept of Health and Human Services responsible for ensuring that training for doctors, nurses, and doulas doesn’t include anything about abortion (485-486).

Oh also DOJ is going to be the Abortion Police and go after anyone mailing abortion pills (562).

Side note: I don’t actually disagree with ensuring more coverage for things relating to women’s preventative healthcare but Project 2025 weirdly endorsing the rhythm method is hilarious

So they're gonna make you have all these babies. Who is going to take care of these babies? Were you thinking maybe you could get access to daycare? Oh no, mama, we want YOU to take care of the babies. What’s that? You had a job? Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.

HHS now, under Trump, thinks the gay agenda is destroying families, but the presence of a biological father can prevent all manner of bad things up to and including teen pregnancy (presumably because dad is going to meet your date at the door with a shotgun)

But also….having an adult male father figure who is NOT your bio dad is apparently the worst and most evil thing in the world. BAN BOYFRIENDS.

The Trump administration would like to make the federal government close its eyes, put its fingers in its ears, and hum loudly when anyone says “gender." Specifically...

...they will scrub out any mention of the existence of trans/nonbinary/LGBTQIA+ Americans in federal agencies, policies, regulations, and legislation (4-5, 62, 259, 333, 475).

To quote, “the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights”

These terms are getting cut “out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.” (p 4-5)

Damn, who's the language police now?

This document—in a quest to be really, really fundamentalist about gender identity—also completely abandons the idea of supporting gender equality as a whole. Efforts to protect women and girls internationally? Hell no.

Like, USAID should “remove all references, examples, definitions, photos, and language on USAID websites, in agency publications and policies, and in all agency contracts and grants that include the following terms"

And the terms are “gender,” “gender equality,” “gender equity,” “gender diverse individu- als,” “gender aware,” “gender sensitive” (259)

They would very much like to kick trans people—and anyone gender nonconforming!---out of the military (103-104). Remember Demi Moore in GI Jane? Yeah the second she gets that buzz cut she’s OUT.

What about race discrimination, you say? Well, we will have no idea, because the Trump administration plans to stop collecting any data about that. The EEOC will stop collecting data about race entirely (583).

BTW when I say this is a tricky document, this is what I mean...

The document justifies ditching any data collection by saying that “Crudely categorizing employees by race or ethnicity fails to recognize the diversity of the American workforce and forces individuals into categories that do not fully reflect their racial and ethnic heritage.”

Which at first glance, a person could be like, yes! Racial identity is complex! Let’s not put people in boxes!

But then you step back and realize that NO LONGER HAVING DATA ABOUT WHETHER BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE ARE OR ARE NOT GETTING HIRED does exactly ZERO GOOD THINGS it just makes us UNABLE TO TELL IF BAD THINGS ARE HAPPENING.

The document is full of this—really normal-sounding pablum that actually means “we are choosing to have no idea whether Black and Brown people are being shut out of the workforce, why would the government want to know that?”

The government doesn’t need to know! Because they don’t think disparate impact—when a particular group is disadvantaged in the workplace—matters anyway!

They would “eliminate disparate impact as a valid theory of discrimination for race and other bases under Title VII and other laws. Disparities do not (and should not legally) imply discrimination per se.” (583).

BTW on this point they get hella hella weird about the idea of racial equity at the Treasury Dept…where they would essentially like to have an Inquisition:

Essentially, under this administration, any agency that wants to think about whether race is playing a role in the fairness of their sector can GTFO.

If you go into the original doc and search for “DEI” you basically enter a forest of grandpas yelling I DON’T SEE COLOR YOU CAN BE BLACK WHITE GREEN PURPLE OR POLKA DOT FOR ALL I CARE

BTW you were hoping that a Democratic Senate could be an effective check of some kind, first thing in this doc is that they want to kind of tell the Senate to F off

Specifically, the plan is to get Trump-loyalist appointees into position, scrap the Senate confirmation process for a lot of these appointees and let the rest start working even before Senate confirmation. (p136-137, 173)

All of the agency heads are clearly designated as political in this doc, not expert/neutral. So EPA (428), DOJ (560), FBI (552), HUD (508), DOL (615)...basically the doc calls for the insertion of as many loyalists as possible

And yes, the job of these loyalists is, in many cases, to dismantle the agency they head.

I don’t really know where to categorize this, so I’ll put it here: they think the Department of Homeland Security suffers from “wokeness.” I’m not making that up, they said in black-and-white serif font. I can’t make this stuff up. Page 135.

So like, to be clear, in the same breath as they’re talking about the wokeness of DHS, they would also like to reinstate the Border Patrol officers (who work under DHS mind you) who were accused of galloping up on migrant families and whipping them from horseback.

“CBP should restart & expand use of the horseback-mounted Border Patrol. As part of this announcement, the Secretary should clear the records & personnel files of those who were falsely accused by Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas of whipping migrants and issue a formal apology” (139).

FWIW what they’re referring to is some CBP agents who nearly trampled a kid and used their reins in a way that was, er, whip-like (and before you accuse ME of being overly sensitive, I have ridden exactly this way in my life BUT I WAS MOVING CATTLE NOT HUMAN BEINGS.) politico.com/news/2022/07/0…

Anyway, because DHS is too woke, they need to shrink it down until it mostly just detains and deports immigrants.

They’re gonna bust its union and remove most of its programs and privatize both the TSA and also FEMA’s flood insurance program so you can get bilked if you live in a region prone to flooding (shhhh don’t say the floods are due to climate change).

SPEAKING OF CLIMATE, we’re definitely going back to the same “if you don’t have any information about the problem, the problem cannot exist” strategy they use on race.

To that end, they would like to get rid of Offices of: Domestic Climate Policy (61) Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) (61) Clean Energy Demonstration (381) The Clean Energy Corps (386) Environmental Justice & External Civil Rights (442)

This means getting rid of climate efforts in foreign aid programs (257), stopping the USDA’s efforts to focus on sustainable food production (293—who will need to eat in 20 years anyway? Certainly not our children, they will have evolved to photosynthesize and graze on plastic)

Anyway they’re getting rid of energy efficiency standards for appliances (378) as well as cutting down all EPA activity related to climate change, including repealing the Inflation Reduction Act programs providing grants for environmental science activities (440)

BTW, I think it’s worth noting that there are a lot of things stated as binaries that aren’t binary. Ending energy efficiency requirements for appliances, for example, to focus on cycle time and reparability.

I also want a right to repair! I also hate it that my car’s internal computer makes it really hard to work on my own car! I just think that we, as consumers, have the right to demand BOTH and this doc incorrectly insists that we have to CHOOSE.

I don’t have to choose between repairing an appliance that massively pollutes the planet or having an energy efficient one that will lower my bills but break every two years. WE CAN DEMAND BOTH. False binaries are a sneaky, crappy constant in this document.

I’m highlighting them in particular because false binaries are also a way of dividing us. There are things I can agree with conservative friends on…literally Monday I was having a fun, productive, common-ground convo w/a conservative friend. False binaries are toxic bullshit.

Toxic ideas abound in here. You know how TX created an abortion regulation scheme that incentivized members of the public to effectively be abortion bounty hunters? Project 2025 would do the same for *science.*

Project 2025 would incentivize citizens to come after scientists under the False Claims Act for research misconduct. This is p 438. Fun times!

This is all part of diluting expertise so that the scientists who are trying to warn us about massive danger ahead can get drowned out by “citizen scientists” whose research the EPA will…equally prioritize??? 438.

Housing and Urban Development also gets their climate programs cut (508) because, much like food, who will need housing in the future? We will return to caves, as we should.

Oh, if how much oil drilling the US is doing matters to you as a voter, Project 2025 basically says maximum drilling, all the drilling, all the time (523-524).

Just a quick note in case you were thinking this was a serious policy document: note the contrast between the doc’s desire to let states drill as much as they want bc “States are better resource managers than the federal government because they must live with the results” (524)

And revoking CA’s ability to set its own air quality standards (627)…because…states…shouldn’t be allowed to self-regulate, I guess, if their regulations make things harder for the oil industry?

Oh also they’re gonna freeze all EPA activity which wasn’t Congressionally authorized on Day One (436). How often does stuff get through Congress anymore? This one echoes the recent SCOTUS decision which also strips regulatory authority.

Basically more drilling, no windmills, don’t even think about encouraging electric cars (286).

Also open season on wolves and bears (534) and let’s just mass execute America’s wild horses (529)

To break it down, if you, like me, are a mom who is concerned about the quality of water your kids are drinking at school, and wants the gov’t to be quickly responsive to new discoveries and problems (like PFAS!) that might give your kids cancer, well, you’re fucked.

If there’s a new thing that is discovered that we should regulate/know about, too bad, because of things like this: “Remove the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for any source category that is not currently being regulated.” (425).

Climate, of course, impacts migration. The more the US contributes to climate catastrophe, the more the consequences will be felt by the developing world, particularly in regions close to the equator and low-lying regions.

What will we do about immigration? Build more prisons for immigrants (142), send unaccompanied children away (148) increase the fees to apply for asylum + generally make immigration more expensive (146) & make it so gang violence & domestic violence no longer justify asylum (148)

Cut funding for NGOs that help immigrants find safety, and instead spend that on walls and jails (149).

Eliminate prosecutorial discretion on immigration cases (150). Oh and we’re doing the head-in-sand thing again by eliminating the office that tracks immigration jailing. 165. They don’t want an “impediment to detention.”

For Americans who rely on government programs to do things like feed their children, keep a roof over their heads, or get healthcare, things will also get worse.

They really hate healthcare: “In essence, our deficit problem is a Medicare and Medicaid problem.” (283).

Even though they want people to have a lot of babies, they’re putting in new requirements on SNAP (299), reducing eligibility for Medicaid (467), cutting school lunch programs (302-303), and eliminating Head Start (482).

Oh and also fuck Sesame Street (247) (and public broadcasting generally).

Safe baby formula? Not a priority. “As for baby formula regulations generally, labeling regulations and regulations that unnecessarily delay the manufacture and sale of baby formula should be re-evaluated.” (302).

Speaking of schools, they’re going to get rid of the Dept of Education, which they say is “a convenient one-stop shop for the woke education cartel,“ (285, 319).

Instead of schools, let’s give teens more dangerous jobs. “Some young adults show an interest in inherently dangerous jobs...DOL should amend its hazard-order regulations to permit teenage workers access to work in regulated jobs with proper training and parental consent.” (595).

There’s kind of a sharp contrast here between high trust of parents in some contexts (to let their kids work dangerous jobs) and low trust of parents in others (if a father isn’t father-y enough terminate parental rights as fast as you can (481-482)).

Obviously, the Biden efforts to forgive student loans are toast (354) but also public service loan forgiveness is toast! “End time-based and occupation-based student loan forgiveness.” (361).

Having a job may be overrated anyway, and so the Trump Admin will tell the Fed to only think about price stability, eliminating full employment as an economic goal (661). Actually WTH maybe abolish the federal reserve completely (also 661).

Oh also if you were looking forward to lower drug costs, they want to end the program where the gov’t can negotiate lower prescription drug costs. 465.

As a matter of fact, no one will protect consumers against fraud and dangerous products under this admin…they are going to eliminate the CFPB completely and return consumer protection to banking regulators who are SO GOOD AT CONSUMER PROTECTION OF COURSE (/s/) 839.

Education, of course, is critical to the ability to distinguish misinformation. Under Trump, we better get ready for a lot more disinfo, because they’re going to yank federal efforts to combat misinfo/disinfo online. Facebook free for all, now with AI generated videos! (155, 550)

Speaking of misinfo, there will be no more independent Federal Election Commission.

Headed by a Trump official (with or without Senate confirmation!) the FEC will only investigate claims the Trump administration wants investigated, and remove its authority to decide what to litigate by handing that over to DOJ. (803, 865)

Oh also the new president will have to have a way to quickly deal with any ongoing, er, litigation, like, uh, criminal cases (but also ongoing litigation that conflicts with his agenda, like, say, civil rights consent decrees or environmental enforcement litigation. (28)

In the name of EXPEDIENCY, they say, the President’s lawyer (the White House Counsel) should give high-level super fast advice without wasting time on, like, researched legal memos or anything.

In other words, what Trump does will be on the advice of a counsel who doesn’t write stuff down. Not great!

Oh also the person chosen need not have fancy credentials (oh okay I'm all for that) as long as they’re LOYAL (oh wait no). Also p 28.

I’m sorry to tell you guys this, but this is like…scratching the surface. This is the beginning. This is the stuff you should know now.

If there is something you care about in this world, I think you should dip into this document and search for it, because you might find something hideous. documentcloud.org/documents/2408…

[original thread]

[96z]

i guess it’s a little late for this but i have to say it anyway. not voting was never an option.

yes, the biden admin were a bunch of genocidal fucking maniacs, and kamala harris was a part of that administration.

but you are fooling yourself if you believe trump would be a "friend" to gaza or its citizens. his past policies and actions proudly tell us the story of why he’s a terrible fit if your concern is actually support for palestinian rights or humanitarian aid.

1. pro-israel bias: trump’s track record in the middle east is all about heavily favoring israel. he recognized jerusalem as israel’s capital, moved the u.s. embassy there, and stopped u.s. support for palestinian authorities when they opposed this move. he didn’t stop at leaders; he had no issue making life difficult for ordinary palestinians, as his administration also slashed aid to critical areas like healthcare and education. source

2. proposed “deal of the century”: the trump admin’s idea of a “peace” plan was, well, not actually a peace plan at all if you were palestinian. it offered palestinians limited autonomy and what could only be referred to as bribes, while allowing israel to colonize more of the west bank. this plan was entirely about satisfying israeli interests while refusing to address palestinian rights and autonomy. essentially, his idea was for palestinians settle for limited sovereignty in a state under israeli control… in exchange for money. source

3. cutting humanitarian aid to gaza: under trump, there were major cuts in humanitarian aid that massively affected life in gaza. basic needs like medical supplies, food, and education took a major hit. gaza’s already vulnerable communities saw conditions worsen because of these cuts, which came quickly after the opposition of palestinian authorities regarding his delegating jerusalem as the israeli capital. source

4. racist and anti-arab remarks: we all know trump has a long history of racist, anti-arab statements that add to why he’s probably not the person you think he will be for arab or palestinian causes. he has proposed enacting a muslim ban on multiple occasions, and actually attempted to put an executive order in place banning people from muslim majority countries from entering the question at one point. source

i could go on and on, but all in all, trump's past policies and proudly anti arab rhetoric lean overwhelmingly toward the fact that he has and would continue to support israel and blatantly disregard palestinian rights. he is not likely to change his approach.

let’s talk about what the decision not vote and to allow trump to win by default really means for marginalized communities. yes, there’s justified anger with the current administration’s actions regarding gaza. but again, trump, with his track record and policy history, isn’t the better choice for president. here’s why.

abortion rights: in his first term, trump appointed three conservative supreme court justices, which have direct correlation to the overturning of roe v. wade, which put abortion rights back in the hands of states. for millions of women, afab people, and people in need of reproductive care, this has put up huge barriers to essential health services. in some cases, traveling out of state for an abortion is the only option and yet, is often criminalized. source

lgbtq+ protections: trump’s policies put lgbtq+ rights at serious risk. he previously pushed for policies that limited protections for transgender people, from military service bans to “religious freedom” laws that made discrimination legal. some extreme and conservative justices are even willing to revisit obergefell v. hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage. i would strongly encourage familiarizing yourself with project 2025. source 1 // source 2 // source 3

environmental impact: trump’s environmental policy focused on industry over climate. he withdrew the u.s. from the paris agreement— and would do it again! he changed emissions standards and environmental rules, and has repeatedly brushed climate change off as a mere hoax. source 1 // source 2

there is undoubtedly blood on kamala harris’ hands. but do not fool yourself into thinking that donald trump will lift a finger to help gaza when he doesn’t even cate about the rights of minority americans. if either party will make an effort to change things in gaza, it’s harris, even if the effort is fucking half assed.

not voting is a privilege and it’s one we don’t really have if we’re thinking about the communities directly impacted by these policies. this election isn’t about being fucking happy. you can pick the lesser of the two evils and be unhappy with it. you can be pissed that we have to settle for an awful, genocidal person, but this isn’t the time to make your point because all it’s doing is harming people, and there is clearly a less evil side. this is about preventing harm, safeguarding rights, and ensuring vulnerable groups aren’t left defenseless against harmful policies.

[leonardcohenofficial]

Hi Maddie! Are you willing to talk a little about your PhD journey? All I know is you write a really big paper but I imagine it involves more than that

absolutely! the requirements of a phd will definitely range depending on both your field and subject of your research, but typically involve taking courses that allow you to gain general but high level knowledge of the area on the whole, passing some type of qualifying exam that shows you’re prepared to complete your dissertation, and then writing the dissertation itself, all in a process that can take between typically three years (this seems very short but is fairly common outside of the USA) to a decade. in my program people typically graduated in five or six years; i myself took six years to finish everything up

for my program i took classes in a wide variety of areas, most of which were not directly related to what i wrote about for my dissertation, but all of which were extremely beneficial in 1) learning in areas outside of what i do, 2) helping me feel more prepared when teaching those subjects as part of my TA duties, and 3) allowing me to develop deeper critical and theoretical knowledge that helped me with writing the dissertation itself. i was also really happy that i was able to take classes outside of the theatre department (in the music and literature departments; though the lit class i took was a film class lol), which made total sense given my research is so interdisciplinary. the biggest thing i learned about my research throughout my time is that i very much live in the performance studies world (vs. theatre or drama) which is helpful framing given i write and teach about such a wide range of performance and media forms. my dissertation was much more a performance studies/musicology/american studies project than a Theatre™️ project, but i had a committee that really encouraged me to think across multiple disciplines with my work (and i also got to teach both theatre and film classes, which is pretty cool)

i also really appreciate that my program also gave us so much experience teaching! i taught every single quarter and many summers during grad school, which (while exhausting) not only gave me a ton of practice to build up my own pedagogical approach but made my CV pretty competitive as an early career scholar when applying to jobs. i don’t think i would have gotten multiple tenure-track interviews while still finishing my dissertation had i not had so much teaching experience (as instructor of record!) on there. i also am really grateful that my department also really cares about encouraging phds’ practice within and beyond the department, so i was able to dramaturg and/or direct ten shows within my department on top of a ton of outside gigs at the major LORT houses in town (which was also a really big deal)

the actual dissertation writing process sucks. it’s exhausting and thankless and even if you have a really amazing committee (like i did <3) it is extremely stressful and i do not know ANYONE who has reported a smooth and easy dissertation writing process LOL; however i had really good people on my side (friends, family, colleagues in the department and in arts and humanities in general at school, my faculty, my coworkers at the record shop, etc.) who were so supportive and my biggest champions as i was taking on this massive project. it was a lot but in all honestly even though it took so long, it was not the most difficult academic work i’ve ever had to do (that badge of dishonor goes to the horrendous process of getting my international baccalaureate diploma, which was so awful it led me to go to hippie college with no grades no tests and no majors LMFAO). i am super proud of my dissertation—if anyone wants to read it i’d be happy to send the link!—and even though there are plenty of sections i’ll rework for when i submit it to academic presses for publication, i am really pleased with the work i did and i think that it provides new and (imho) exciting scholarship about topics that i find really meaningful (many of which i’ve loved since i was a kid)

all of this to say, if people have phd, grad school, research, or otherwise related questions or want to chat, please hit me up! always happy to talk about this stuff / offer my very humble advice about any stage of the process <3

[imagine--if]

hi! i saw that u write for aib and i was wondering if i can request a chishiya x reader, where they get separated in the middle of a difficult game and ends with the reader badly hurt by another player? idk why but i want something really angsty with a fluff ending (established relationship if possible) <3

A/N: Sure; I followed the concept as much as I could, I hope this is okay!! I need to start writing moreee aghhh I'm doing this final project for my course so it's been a bit hectic haha 😅 sorry for the wait! Enjoy 🖤 WORDS: 1.6K

Chishiya x Reader Oneshot; Smartass

Spades and Diamonds.

You already knew which person had to go where, which one between you and your partner was best for the very different survival games. One was all about using your head, outsmarting everyone to come out alive, and the other was about using your fists, your fight, physical strength rather than mental. And although you wouldn't say that you're the most physical person, especially in the Borderlands, you knew that in all the Borderlands, Chishiya Shuntaro could probably outsmart every single player. Maybe every gamemaster.

It was one of the first things you'd said to him when you met. During the Jack of Hearts, while the numbers of players were dropping on the screen, until it was just you and a handful of apprehensive, strange survivors left, Chishiya had stalked up to you and suggested you team up. The smirk that radiated self-confidence and amusement with the world, barely taking it seriously, but winning every game anyway, just because he could.

"Why don't you go solo?" You had questioned him with a raised brow, slightly defensive after he had called out your behaviour of just tagging along with the group but barely saying a word. You knew that trust was a priceless thing in the Borderlands, let alone in a Hearts game, and no one was worthy of it. "If you're such a smartass."

You thought that might get him annoyed, give him another reason to try and eliminate you from the game apart from being a survivor in the way of finding the Jack, or that you were the Jack yourself. But, if anything, his smirk grew, and those deep brown eyes looked almost curious as they glanced up and down at you.

"If I'm so smart, then what might you be?"

You scoffed under your breath, shrugging and looking away. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Maybe I would," was Chishiya's answer, and you looked up at him, taken aback. But you could see that he meant it, that curiosity shining through his otherwise blank, assessing features, and so, after getting out of that game alive, and many others with him suddenly at your side, he did know. You both started to know each other, more and more, until you were practically inseparable.

No one announced that you were together. There was no proposal, no question of going out, no massive gesture. You were together before you were together. It only took one sealing kiss, where you were both alone in another long, tense night that somehow seemed a bit relaxed with your company. Chishiya always seemed so unbothered, so humoured by the world and people around him, like it was playing out for his amusement. But now, as you're faced with a dilemma that's hardly a dilemma, he doesn't look so amused. He looks almost as apprehensive as the players around you look when you and Chishiya breeze through the challenges, working together flawlessly. Chishiya found it odd how easy it was to know what the other was thinking almost all of the time during games, to find an interest in someone new and different, until it unfolded into something deeper and more loving. The whole thing was completely alien to the both of you, but you loved it, and let it blossom.

But now, as the large fluttering images of the face cards are dragged through the sky by fat blimps, Chishiya's brows twitch unapprovingly, searching for a solution that will guarantee both of your safety.

"Go," you urge him, and he knows what you mean immediately, staring at you thoughtfully. "It's your game, Chishiya. Go beat the King of Diamonds. I'll manage, I will."

Chishiya doesn't answer for a stretched-out few moments, still looking for another option, a way for you to stay at each other's side like you always do, but there isn't anything. You can't risk losing a Diamonds game, and Chishiya can't risk getting beaten at a Spade game.

"You will," Chishiya says finally, though he's not agreeing. He's making you promise him, convincing himself as well as yourself. You know that he'll have no interest in returning to the real world without you, and by this point, you can't imagine living any way without him. You don't want to, and you won't.

"I will," you repeat, and he nods, not fully satisfied. But it's the best you can do.

"Good luck," he says with a smirk that doesn't quite quirk up fully, and his hand lingers in yours until Arisu and Usagi come over to get you.

Chishiya nods again, letting your hands fall apart, and goes over to Arisu, walking up close to him and muttering some words in his ear. Arisu looks straight at you, then at Chishiya, and nods with a half-smile. Then, he wanders off casually, blonde locks tangling with the light breeze, and you watch after him, hands going cold and lips vaguely swollen.

"Come on," Usagi tells you with a smile, patting you on the back, "let's go."

You do go. And you do the best you can do. You feel like Chishiya's watching you every step of the way, like he watches the Borderlands' events in half-hearted amusement. It's like he's leaning forward in his seat, pools of deep brown searching the screen you're running through, dodging attacks and bullets and shielding your ears from the bangs and cracks of the King's gun. There's so much blood, more blood than you thought was possible to come out of anyone. The stinging smell of iron makes you feel sick, all the while you fight to the death. Usagi and Arisu and everyone are beaten and broken, right up until the King is defeated. But by then, everyone is defeated.

Even you.

You feel almost guilty, along with the rush of other emotions; shock, dread, fear, pain, desperation. You can't bleed out on him now. Not when you've come so far. Not after you promised.

Arisu and Usagi make it towards you, helping you up and practically carrying you out of the game zone, Arisu screaming for help, help for another person, despite his cuts and bruises and blood staining his skin. Overhead, you hear two blimps boom up in flames, falling apart and to the ground in crashes, the card images flailing and burning, as dead as the countless bodies sprawled on the floor.

Two booms.

You smile despite yourself. You knew he'd do it. The smartass.

"Chishiya!" you hear Arisu scream, and Usagi supports your weight as Arisu stumbles over to the blonde-haired man, grabbing at his arm. "Help us. Help her. I tried, but there was so much..."

So much blood. So many bullets. Arisu had tried, and he hadn't failed. But now, as your blurring sight latches onto that all-too-familiar figure who walked quicker than normal to get to you, you feel as if you've failed. All in a moment, one shot from the King at the nearest moving thing was all it took to make you collapse, all of a sudden losing the invincibility you had with your other half.

The blurring made the Borderlands and its sounds fade in and out, in and out, until you were able to blink a neutral, albeit run-down room into view. It was the back room of some kind of shop, with you lying back atop a table, your shot wound being patched up with delicate, expert hands and concentrating, meticulous eyes. Those eyes flick up to meet yours before they're back on the wound, and Chishiya's white, plastic-gloved hand pulls out a bullet. You wince, expecting more pain than you get, and watch him groggily.

"Isn't this supposed to hurt?" you find yourself whispering, and Chishiya shakes his head, not looking up.

"I gave you some pain relievers I found. Don't fidget, I'll mess this up."

You smile and roll your eyes. "I won't argue with a doctor."

"Good," he says with an absentminded, small smirk, carefully stitching up the hole and pulling a bandage closer to the table. "I know what I'm doing. Fortunately for you, the shot missed a vital organ, though the blood loss could have cost your life if I didn't stop it when I did."

You bite your lip, peering at your flushed, angry skin around the wound. "Oh. Thank you."

He hums in acknowledgement, putting the needle and thread down to unravel the bandage. "Stop fidgeting, you little annoyance."

You bite back a smile at his amused, fond tone, one you'd grown to love hearing, and started hearing more and more. But your smile fades as your thoughts run away with you, until you end up blurting them out.

"I'm sorry."

Chishiya glances up at you. "What for?"

"Getting shot," you mumble. "I know I promised. It was just really... I didn't die."

"You didn't die," Chishiya confirms. "That's what matters, isn't it? You kept your promise. And life and death here isn't something you can so easily promise."

"No," you agree. "I know. But you can. You're such a smartass, I knew you'd waltz out of that game alive and alone."

Chishiya smirks properly at that. "I'm still the smartass? I thought you would have started treating me nicer now I've saved your life and you've saved mine."

You frown at the last statement, confused. "I saved your life? How?"

Chishiya simply smiles, fastening the bandage and admiring his work. "You have. Maybe not from a gun. But you have."

You're lost for words for a short while, blinking at him. "Really?"

Chishiya nods, sitting beside you and reaching out hesitantly, stroking a piece of your hair so delicately, like you could break with a single hard tap.

"Really. You," he whispers dramatically, as if he's telling you his biggest secret, "are my biggest and best reason."

And then, just like that, he's back up and packing the medical aids away, looking over his shoulder at you with his usual, infuriating amusement and perceptiveness.

"You're blushing."

You scoff at him, rolling your eyes.

"Smartass."

[yournaothings]

Kidnapped by the Murder Time Trio

Let's give this another go...

This Alternate Universe was a monsterless; there was no war long ago, no monsters sealed underneath a large mountain, and no young human falling down a massive hole to save monsterkind. 

Nope, just boring humans doing boring things. Like receiving another outrageous bill for their discontinued college classes-

“No, you listen here! You were in the room when I signed for a payment plan for these classes! I told you I couldn’t pay this in full!”

“Of course, but we have changed the policy-”

“Policy my ass!” 

The call was cut short and the sound of the mobile phone hitting the wall echoed down the hall. With a sigh, Rea stood and stepped away from her desk to head down the hall and check on her roommate. She knew that Yn was having a difficult time with schooling and other personal issues where they couldn’t continue for the remaining year. While Rea agreed the college wasn’t helping during their rough patch in life, they needed to calm down before they accidentally harmed themself or someone else. 

“Yn,” Rea called their name as she stepped into the room. Yn knelt on the floor where their phone landed and was now stressing over a cracked screen.  She sighed while she heard Yn mourn for their phone; “Did you break it this time?” 

Yn fell back onto their bottom and glanced over to their roommate with such a defeated look. “I did. But, I hadn’t meant to.”  Rea nodded in understanding, her hand held out for her roommate to take. When Yn handed their phone to Rea, confused, she gently took it from their hand and pocketed it. She then held out her hand once more, gesturing for them to take it this time. Yn flushed slightly from embarrassment and reached for their roommate’s hand and was helped up and onto their feet. 

“You get stressed out too easily. Everything will work out in the end. Don’t burn your bridges with the college; you said to yourself that you planned to return, right?” When Yn nodded, Rea continued.  “Then let’s be a little calmer next time.” Yn apologized softly and Rea accepted it; “You should really apologize to the financial aid next time they call.” Yn let out a humorless laugh. “If they call back.” 

While Rea checked over the damages on Yn’s phone, Yn left to retrieve a refreshing soda from the fridge for both themself and their roommate. They reached into the fridge and pulled out two cans before shutting the door- “Shit-!” They jumped from a fright that almost had them dropping the two cans of soda. 

The strange skeleton grabbed at his faux stomach as he laughed at having scared Yn. “Y-You should have seen your face!” He giggled gleefully; Yn flushed from embarrassment and grumbled softly as they turned away from the skeleton and left the kitchen. “Don’t be mad, Yn! I hadn’t meant to scare you!” Ink called out after them and hurried to follow. 

“Ink’s here.” Yn grumbled to their roommate, handing the soda over to them before plopping down on the sofa and cracked open their beverage. Rea thanked Yn with a smile, she handed Yn’s phone back, before opening her own beverage. Yn glanced over their phone, frowning when they saw the damage; “The crack in your phone isn’t bad, you can still use the touch screen well enough.” Rea explained before glancing towards the strange monster. “Hello, Ink. What brings you here?” She asks after taking a sip of her drink. 

Ink, a guardian of the Multiverse, had accidentally fallen into this AU not too long ago and immediately met Yn and Rea. After visiting a few months, he brought along his two friends, Dream and Blue. Both were skeletons as well. Ink was quick to share the stories of the other AU’s and of all the adventures he and his friends always had. 

Protecting the Multiverse from evil and destruction, as well as helping those who were in need! They were known as the Star Sanses, just hearing their names brought hope to those in trouble. Rea and Yn loved listening to their stories when the three of them came over to visit. It was always a good time when they were over. 

“I got bored. Dream got really hurt during our last battle with his brother, so he’s in recovery. Blue stayed home to hang out with his brother and friends.” Ink explained, having to snatch up his scarf to read off the little messages he wrote for himself in case he forgot. “Error is too grumpy to play with right now, so I came to see you two!” He exclaimed and jumped in between them on the sofa with an excited grin. Yn laughed, but told him to be careful. 

“Well, we don’t have anything planned right now.” Yn commented, setting their phone and drink aside before grabbing the remote to the television. “Why don’t we watch a movie or something?” Rea relaxed back into the sofa, smiling softly at the suggestion. “I definitely could use a break from my work.” Ink grinned and made himself more comfortable. “I wanna watch that movie where the little guy creates all sorts of things and saves his universe!” 

For a moment, both Rea and Yn looked at Ink, trying to think of what movie he was talking about. Rea suddenly snapped her fingers, startling Ink and Yn.  “You mean the Lego Movie? Sure, but I think we should watch the second one since you’ve already seen the first.” Ink’s eyes changed shapes and colors in his excitement, Yn remembered to reach for the mini trash bin and placed it in reach of Ink in case he vomited again. “There’s a second one?!” Rea and Yn laughed as Yn found the movie and started to play it. 

-

The afternoon flew by and soon Rea was getting up to begin cooking dinner; it was her turn to cook and she had a good meal planned. She invited Ink to stay, but he politely declined before bidding the two humans goodbye. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out until it was time for bed. 

As they both wished each other a good night's sleep, they separated to their own rooms and settled deep in their beds. Sleep came easy for them tonight, not a worry in the world as they drifted off into dreamland. . . 

The Sun had disappeared beyond the horizon while the Moon began its climb into the sky. In this seemingly peaceful town, there was a terrifying sound that came from the more suburban side of the town. The entire block of houses were destroyed, and underneath the debris were many dead and severely injured humans. Surrounding homes, the people were too afraid to look out their windows in case the attack wasn’t over. 

It wasn’t until the dust from the debris settled and the bombs? Was it even a bombing? Whatever had happened, the attackers had stopped their destruction. Only then the neighbors willed themselves to peek outside. They couldn’t see anything- of course, they missed the three strange figures disappearing from the end of the street. 

The three strangers reappeared further down the street near their targeted house; “Way to go, Dusty! You probably killed them!” Killer snapped, annoyance clear in his tone. “Tch, I’d like to see you do better, ass.” Dust shot back as he readjusted his scarf around his neck. His creepy glowing bicolor eyes peered from the darkness of his hood that hid his face from everyone around him. “Ugh, you’re so creepy, Dust.” Killer commented with a shiver, completely ignoring Horror who began to toss debris from the destroyed house. 

“Stop complaining and help Horror find the human.” Dust simply said, not at all offended by Killer’s comment.  “What? No- you help Horror! What the fuck?! It was your fault that Horror had to dig out the human! What if they’re dead? It’s all your fault!” Dust bit back a snarky remark and instead rolled his eyes once more before using his magic to lift a pile of wood and plaster only to toss it towards Killer, who yelled in surprise before getting buried. “Idiot.” Dust grinned and continued to use his magic to help Horror. 

Between the two skeletons, they were able to uncover the unconscious human, who was still alive yet injured. Horror started to gather them up into his arms just as Killer managed to get himself out from underneath the debris Dust continued to drop on top of him. The skeleton cursed and vented as he marched over to get into Dust’s face. He really wanted to punch him, but Dust stopped him easily;  “Hey, shut up and look. We have the human. Let’s go home.” 

Killer’s rage melted away as soon as he spun around to look at the limp human that was hung over Horror’s shoulder. “Oh, great job, big guy!” Killer grinned and gave Horror a thumbs up. “Just doing my job.” Horror grinned and chuckled as he readjusted the human, all the while Dust fumed; “I helped too, you know.” Killer simply waved his hand in dismissal; “Yeah, yeah. Good job, dusty musty-” Dust couldn’t stop the rage that filled his soul; Killer turned away from him just in time for a bone attack to slam into Killer’s head, knocking the annoying skeleton off his feet and onto the ground. 

Horror laughed, shaking his head at the foolishness. “I’m not carrying him.” He told Dust. With a heavy and annoyed sigh, Dust used his magic to carry Killer’s unconscious skeletal body with them. Horror sent a message to their boss, letting him know the mission was a success and they were ready to come home. Not long after the message was sent, one of Nightmare’s portals opened for the two skeletons to walk through.

-

Nightmare could feel the negativity rising in the AU his boys had just returned from, and it brought a grin of satisfaction to his teeth. The negativity was refreshing after having fought with his brother only a day ago. While Dream had left severely injured, Nightmare was starving for some gloomy emotions. He glanced over each of his subordinates, pleased with their progress with this mission. Or maybe it was because Killer was unconscious and not causing him a headache.

“Good job, both of you.” Nightmare commended Horror and Dust. The latter dropped Killer onto the ground with no care for his well being and stuffed his hands into his hoodie. “It was easy.” Dust said. Horror chuckled, blushing at the praise his boss gave them. “It was nothing, boss. Uh, Dusty over here caused enough wreckage that you should be feeling full by now.” 

“Yes,” Nightmare grinned wider, his cyan eye glowing with satisfaction. “It was a delicious meal, thank you.” It wasn’t everyday their boss thanked them. Horror happily accepted the thanks, while Dust shrugged like it was nothing. “No skin off my back, heh.” Dust said with a grin. Nightmare paused and narrowed his eye socket. “.. I will allow the stupid pun this one time.” He must have been in a really good mood to not get grumpy from the pun. 

A groan from Killer alerted the three skeletons, their attention drawn to him as Killer slowly climbed to his feet and studied his surroundings. “Hey, when did we get back? Did we get the human?” Nightmare leveled Killer with a small glare. “Yes, while you were resting, Horror and Dust finished the mission.” Killer choked in his false throat at the accusation of being lazy- “What?! Dust knocked me unconscious!” Killer exclaimed as he pointed his phalange directly at Dust, who simply ignored him. “Because you were being an idiot.” 

Killer looks irritated, his grumbling slowly growing louder, Nightmare cuts him off before he could pick a fight with Dust. “Enough. You three take the human to their room and make sure it’s locked. I don’t want it running around my castle.” Killer was quick to lose his temper and saluted his boss. “Yes sir!” He dramatically spun on his heel and started to march out of the room.  “Come on, guys!” 

Nightmare released a tired sigh; at least he had peace from Killer for a little while… 

-

“What do you think the boss wants with this human?” Killer asked, breaking the silence as the three of them wandered down the many halls of Nightmare’s castle. Nightmare had Cross set up a room just for the human, it only locked from the outside, so they couldn’t escape.  “Bait.” Was Dust’s one word reply. “Heh, yeah. Boss thinks this will get Dream to surrender.” Horror added as he checked on the human once more to make sure they weren’t dead.  “Hehehe, won’t Dreamy be upset when he finds out we have his favorite human~” Killer snickered as he fished out his mobile phone and unlocked it. 

He was quick to check on his followers for his UnderTube, a hobby most of the others thought was silly and a waste of time. Horror and Dust watched as Killer raised his phone, the camera app opened and snapped a selfie with Horror, Dust, and the human in the background while he was in front giving a wink and a peace sign to the camera. Next, the tips of his phalanges tapped at his screen as he added the photo to his profile with the caption; “Mission was a success, we captured the human!” 

By the time he pocketed his phone, they were in the room meant for their new human prisoner. Cross was finishing up a few touches in the room when the three walked in. “Good, you’re still here, Crossy!” Killer grinned, his nickname for the soldier earned him a narrowed glare. “Don’t call me that.” Cross said, but was ignored. “The human is injured, think you can patch them up?” Horror asked as he set the human down on the bed and stepped aside for Cross to check. 

Cross frowned when he saw the cuts and bruises all over the human, but thankfully there weren't any severe injuries. (Their roommate wasn’t so lucky…) “I would ask how you retrieved them, but I don’t really care. At least you brought this one back alive.” 

The last time Nightmare had requested the boys to kidnap a human, it didn’t end very well. “Oh no, Dust! The human we were supposed to protect!” Killer cried out in sarcasm. Dust didn’t much care for the human either and ended their suffering with a sharp bone straight to their soul. “Heh, boss is going to be angy.” Horror snickered.

“Hey, we tried!” Killer told Cross who simply rolled his eyes and got to work healing the human. 

Yn remembered waking when they heard what sounded like a bomb going off? The noise was loud, then came the house crumbling from the impact of it. The house fell apart with Yn and Rea inside. They remembered crying for help, albeit weakly, before darkness caved in on them. 

They floated in the darkness for what seemed like, well… Forever. Eventually, a bright light began to shine before them, but they didn’t need to move. They floated closer until they felt their feet touch solid ground once more and the light consumed them. 

“Yn, don’t fall asleep at the table.” Yn blinked in a daze as they looked around the room; they were seated at their kitchen table. The dining room was so familiar… They turned to look at the woman who had just spoken; she stepped out of the kitchen with a pitcher of freshly made lemonade, her disapproving frown lifting when she met Yn’s alert gaze. “Mom.” 

“Welcome to the land of the living. Did you stay up too late again? I know it’s the weekend, but you still need a good night’s rest.” Their mother lightly lectured them. Yn didn’t respond, they were very confused. Why were they having this dream? They didn’t want to have this dream, it was the last time they ever saw their mother’s loving smile before… 

No. 

They were not going to relive such a tragic memory again. 

The light around them seemed to brighten and suddenly they felt someone touching them. Panic flooded their soul as they forced themselves to wake up. Wake up. Wake. UP!

Yn’s eyes flew open and they released a sharp gasp as they came crashing back to reality. They quickly sat up and began to frantically look around the room, slowly realizing that they were no longer in their home. Home? No, it was destroyed! Then who, what, “Where?!” 

“Hey! You’re awake!” 

Yn shrieked in fright when a strange skeleton was suddenly in their face. “G-Get away!” They yelled and shoved the frightening skeleton from them and scrambled back further on the bed. The skeleton they shoved fell onto the floor with a grunt of pain. Another skeleton stepped to the side of the bed, his hands raised as if he were trying to calm a frightened animal. 

“Calm down, you’re safe here. You don’t have to be scared.” He tried to explain, but a snort caught their attention to another skeleton. This one’s face was hidden under the shadow of his hood, but his eyes glowed within that darkness as he rolled them.  “Seeing Killer’s ugly face first, I’d be scared too.” “Hey!” The one on the floor yelled as he jumped back to his feet and got into the hooded skeleton’s face, both beginning to argue. 

“Heh,” The taller, more ominous looking skeleton stepped closer, grinning wide. “I wouldn’t tell them that, Cross.” Yn glanced between the two skeletons who were before them, while the other two began to struggle in a wrestling match, before the hooded monster shoved “Killer” off and pinned him down with sharpened bones. 

“You’ve been kidnapped, but since you’re important to the boss’s plan, I suppose that does make it where you’re safe.” Horror added as an afterthought. “What? Why have I been kidnapped? What did I do?! Has this anything to do with the college? I-I didn’t mean to be rude-!” 

“Tch,” The hooded skeleton stepped closer as he regarded them with little interest.  “This has nothing to do with that. You’re just unlucky is all.” He explained. Yn shook their head, not quite understanding any of this.  “I’m literally no use to any of you!” Their raising in their panic. “Nah,” The voice came from beside them. It was then they realized the first skeleton managed to escape the bones that pinned him down. He appeared at their right side, sitting on the edge of the bed, body turned towards them. He smirked cruelly.  “You’re here because of your choice in friends. Really, you should pick better friends. Those Stars will just shoot you down~” 

Oh. 

Oh dear. 

Congratulations! You’ve been kidnapped by the Murder Time Trio!

[pixeldistractions]

They traveled for three weeks. It was a magical time, but Jordan’s bank account wasted away every time they moved this old, massive camper. He hadn’t been picking up work because he wanted to spend every minute with his girls. He had so much to show them and they were having so much fun.

But it finally came to a decision point: either go grocery shopping or else fill up the gas tank to move the camper again, and he knew it was time to settle in and pick up some work. Settle in, not settle down. Sometimes you had to stop and take care of business, get serious for just a little while. Not forever.

Sierra Nova was where his climb classes were. It was a sizable town with plenty of access to freelance gigs and plenty for the girls to do while he worked. There was also this dusty old campground that he’d stayed at before and knew well enough.

“I never thought I’d be so excited to do laundry!” Maria said.

They had water and electric hookups, and a bathhouse with hot showers and coin laundry. He wasn’t going to leave them boondocking in the wilderness while he worked all day. Roughing it was a romantic fantasy, and they had some fun. But Johanna needed a fridge that kept milk cold, and playgrounds to meet other kids on, and Maria wished for Wi-Fi for her laptop to catch up with some favorite shows, and the longer nights meant less solar power, so plugging in was more of a necessity.

And to be quite honest, these girls would always get everything they ever asked for from him.

But he had to catch up with his boys, too. They had an unspoken promise to call most nights after school, but as they traveled, some locations didn’t have a good enough signal. He had to admit that many days were missed.

The guilt started to claw at him, all these moments where this long-distance parenting thing was proving not to work. Not really. Not as well as they deserved. A school play he couldn’t go to—Felix had a speaking part, and the Colette refused to film it for him. “Be here if you want to see it,” she snarked. There were handy projects around the house that would have been his job to fix. School projects that could have used his practical insights, science experiments that were too difficult to explain over a video when he could have just shown them with his hands.

“Why is there smoke? Where’s your mom?”

“She’s in the hot tub,” Milo said. “She needed self-care.”

“I can’t see what you’re doing. Can you move the phone? No, not that way, the other way. No… it was better before.”

“It’s sparking,” Milo said.

“It’s not supposed to be sparking, moron,” Felix jabbed.

“No name-calling,” Jordan said. “But it’s probably not supposed to be sparking. Hold it like this.”

He motioned with his hands. They weren’t looking at the screen.

“Like what?”

“I can’t see,” Jordan said. “Is it still sparking?”

“No, now it smells like burning plastic, but it’s not sparking anymore.”

“When is this due?”

“Tomorrow,” they said in unison.

He was supposed to be having the time of his life, but week after week, he found that December couldn’t come fast enough.

He’d make it up to them. How? Well, he didn’t know exactly how. He was sorry, always sorry. There was so much to be sorry for. It wasn’t exciting, and it wasn’t what they want to hear, but the best he could probably do was to pick up more jobs and save up for a lawyer, since Colette was making sure it came to that. And pick an apartment somewhere, so he could get his share of custody.

He didn’t want an apartment, but the courts wanted a permanent address. It all felt too soon to commit to a location just yet. He wanted to show Maria more places. He wanted her to see it all before they decided where they would build their little nest. Some things Colette got to decide, but she didn’t get to decide everything.

But, in the end, Colette decided the timeline and that decided it all. Nothing happened at the pace he wished it would.

— “boxes and squares #5.2: come down from the clouds” (1/10)

Next -> // 5.2 start // index

[thegreatsinnamonroll]

Obligatory Hypnosis Mic Post

Hey it's Emmet back at it again with HypMic posting! Because there's quite a few new fans coming in with both the release of Rhyme Anima+ last year and the expansion of HypMic events to the US, I figured I should explain what the hell is actually going on.

Hypnosis Mic is a multi-media music project created by King Records/Evil Line Records that consists of music, dramatracks, manga, anime, stage plays, live shows, and mobile games. It's target audience is women, though it can appeal to anyone who likes men in general. Before explaining the different forms of media here, there are a few fandom rules we tend to follow. This will be long btw so strap the fuck in.

Shipping wars aren't really a thing here. No seriously, there's 21 main characters and generally speaking any ship goes. With the exception of morally bad (BBcest, most main cast Jiro ships, and all main cast Saburo ships) and morally dubious (Samaichi and Hitojyu) ships, people generally don't care who kisses who. If you see something you don't like, block and move on. HypMic is also a multishipper paradise, so if you like that, welcome!

This is an M rated series for a reason. There are dark and adult topics far and wide, and trying to ignore them doesn't do the characters any justice. Here's a list of various potentially triggering topics that occur in the series: sex trafficking, general violence both with and without weapons, minor body mutilation, extreme manipulation, implied/referenced abuse including S/A, suicide including attempts, drug use and abuse, realistic depictions of PTSD and other mental disorders, lots of familial death, depictions of war and the aftermath, mild transphobia, and bullying.

This series is made for a primarily female audience. If you're a cishet man coming into this bc you think Ichijiku is hot, you will find no community here for you. The women are beautifully crafted characters and will be respected as such. That also being said, people who don't like Honobono are NOT misogynistic. She is designed to be a top tier villain and disliking her is not a bad thing.

We know the lore timeline doesn't make sense. Trust us. We know. Getting into this series means understanding that, being mildly upset about it at any given time, and talking to peers about it.

If I catch ANYONE using character trauma as a JOKE I will fucking find you and that is a promise, especially when it comes to Jyuto, Rio, Dice, Hifumi, and Jyushi. I will get you myself.

With that out of the way, onto the different types of media in this massive thang!

Main Canon

Drama Tracks: These are the primary source of the main Canon lore. These are simply audio tracks of events in HypMic, and they can be found on both YouTube and Spotify. There are translations for all of them on the Internet, but on the official HypMic YouTube and TikTok there are their own translations from the formation of the divisions through the first DRB. All of the lore contained here is what is part of the MAIN CANON, so if you're looking for story its going to be here.

Manga: The manga is an almost 1:1 replica of the drama tracks in a visual format, so the lore from these are going to be part of the main Canon as well. That being said, English speakers will have a difficult time finding any translation of the manga since the fan translations are kept under wraps for Reasons that Make Sense. Additionally, no screenshots of the manga translations are allowed to be made public for the same reasons, so it's incredibly difficult to access. Maybe one day we'll get a translation, but for now, if you're curious about the manga, dm me for more information.

Songs: The main appeal of the series! The absolutely massive discography doesn't have a huge amount of lore or plot relevance, and are instead just there to exist. A good 95% of the whole discography is, in my opinion, really good, but it's also up to taste due to the wide range of genres covered. Some songs that seem to have lore, namely Once Upon a Time in Shibuya, Murder at the House of Magic, and Stella, are actually songs based on Gentaro Yumeno's stories (they're also really good, if you like gay people who outright say they'd be friends in every universe go listen to Stella). Other than that, they exist and are Good™ but not all of them are on Spotify which is the biggest shame in the world.

Live Shows (Not Hypstage)

Hypnama: A weekly Livestream put on by the producers where some of the character seiyuus (voice actors) talk about various things. It's relatively goofy and unserious, though they do talk about upcoming news and merch for the series. It's fun to watch since they all tend to dick around on stage or get thrown into the rice field for enrichment time.

3DCG Lives: These are similar to Vocaloid concerts, where projections of the HypMic characters are animated while singing and doing little talking segments. There are a few of these out and can be found across the Internet, along with translations for them. The animation can be a little clunky at times, but they're a fun watch anyway.

Live Performances: These lives consist of the seiyuus (voice actors) going on stage to do live performances of a set list. There have been ten of these so far, with the discography all the way up through Block Party and RA+. There were also fan meetings recently that were in the same vein. Again these are just live performances of the songs, so no translation is needed!

Rhyme Anima

This segment doesn't need a bulleted list simply because of it only having two seasons. Rhyme Anima is the anime for hypnosis mic, and also has its own lore. I generally don't like recommending RA for new fans despite the fact that it's the easiest way to get into the series, mainly because it's not part of the actual lore and the characterization is...sadly, not great. It's got good songs, and season two has tragic yaoi, but other than that it should not be used as any sort of base for the lore.

Mobile Games

Alternative Rap Battle: Shortened to ARB, this is the legally required music media rhythm game. There's some semblance of story and lore, except it's all the most out there and absurd shit imaginable. None of it is part of the main Canon and the cards are decent, but the sheer ridiculousness of it is kinda worth it. It's not the best gatcha and it's really only for card collecting but the card art is available online if that's what you're interested in.

Dream Rap Battle: Also known as Hypdori, this is the newest game that came out. Once again the lore isn't part of the main story, but there is more of an actual story there this time. The gatcha is. Worse. But the gameplay is different and once again the cards are available online. Both of these games are only available in Japan, so you'll want a VPN or use the Qooapp (which is what I use).

Rule the Stage

Old Gen: There are two generations of Rule the Stage, which are the HypMic stageplays. Often just referred to as Hypstage, these shows have their own lore and canon. There are DRBs like in the main Canon, though there are different winners than the ones for the main story. Admittedly the focus isn't exactly the other DRBs, but instead the additional five divisions and 14 new characters, as well as the stories attached to them. There's even a cult following for these new characters who are collectively referred to as "Original Divisions" or Oridivis. There are five tracks with original stories, as well as BB vs DH, BAT vs MTR, and FP vs MTC. Each division also has a Rep Live with new songs and skits. The cast of the old gen of Hypstage all graduated last year, paving the way for the new gen. (That being said at least one of the old gen oridivis is coming back this July. So.)

New Gen: The new generation of Hypstage is still picking up and only has done three shows, but they're already proving themselves with absolutely outstanding stories. New Encounter was a retelling of the second DRB, Renegades of Female was a stageplay that centered entirely around the women of Chuuoku and the impact of the H Age, and Grateful Cypher was an interesting story around a group that were trying to make their way in the world without mics. There are also new gen oridivis, though as of right now we haven't heard anything insofar from them since Grateful Cypher. If I keep talking about Hypstage this post will be even longer, so I have to cut myself off but I am in fact one of the cult followers of Oridivi.

Wow this post was long but I hope this is helpful to anyone interested in the other medias of HypMic! Leave questions in the notes and I'll do my best to reply to them, thank you for reading!

[ihopesocomic]

Sorry for the mini-essay but I think people massively underestimate how much hard work and dedication goes into a Passion Project. People think that creators who make free content, who do their work as a hobby and not as a job, must only get enjoyment out of it.

That’s not how it works. Doing it purely because you want to doesn’t automatically make the more challenging, frustrating, or (gasps) TIME CONSUMING parts of the project any less burdensome. If anything, it makes it worse because you aren’t being paid for all of that labor. You’re just doing it for the sake of doing it, and as rewarding as it can be, it can also be demanding.

Im finally publishing a fanfic for the first time and don’t get me wrong, it’s been great to get feedback on my work and interact with a community. I love that there are usernames and profile pictures I can actually identify because they’re regulars on my work.

But does that mean I don’t have to constantly redo work because I don’t like how it turned out? No. Does that mean I always update on time? No. Never get burnout? No. I still very much go through all of the things paid writers do, because the Creative Process is difficult and demanding no matter what they paycheck is or isn’t.

And all of that is just if you guys WERE missing updates, which you’re NOT. So like… these complaints are not only very entitled and ignorant, but also just confusing. People really just be mad for the sake of being mad, I guess?

Anyways yeah, free content creators are still content creators, and passion-driven hard work is still hard work. You two are cranking out absolutely STUNNING visuals, compelling characters and engaging worldbuilding every single week and that’s amazing. Thank you for your hard work and I’m sorry about the twerps that don’t appreciate it enough!

Ah the price we pay for being human and having a brain, amirite haha

It's to be expected, to a certain point, that people simply don't understand that things like comics and cartoons take time. General impatience is something that can be ignored. If people asking for updates bothered us, we wouldn't post anywhere ever haha You gotta have at least SOME backbone if you want to do a comic. Or anything really.

Comics are a TON of work, and I knew this going in cuz I've done shorter comics before. It is not to be treated as if its easy. (Well, its easier than animating a whole series by yourself LOL) There's a lot of pre-comic planning that people don't tell you about. And that's just the stuff you have to do before you even start drawing. Of course this only applies to long-form storytelling, there's different rules for different kinds of comics.

And I won't even get into what it takes to making the comic itself, there's a lot of parts that need to be considered like formatting, time-management, what shortcuts you have to take to save on labor, and getting across as much information as you can in a short amount of time, while using mostly visuals. It's a skill, so it can be learned haha

A lot of doing comics is on-the-job training. Which I know can be frustrating for perfectionists, but from a reader's perspective, part of the joy of webcomics is seeing how far the art has come. And you can't exactly get out a webcomic if you keep redoing things over and over. You'll burn yourself out even faster. This is why it's important to have a plan lol it just makes it easier to adjust if you have to change things, than if you have no plan at all.

Even if RJ and I for whatever reason no longer felt passionate about this story, and wanted to move on to something else entirely, we wouldn't leave everyone hanging. We'd tell everyone what happens one way or another. Because too many people just abandon a story just to tell another one, and that's not fair to people who were here to read a story that appealed to them.

But the entitlement of people sucks, the constant heckling, the fact we can't moderate our own comment section, and more importantly Webtoons just sucks as a site anyway. - Cat

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

As for Boyd's characters' superpowers, why not both? One power they're dying to have and another based on their personality.

Steve Murphy

Which one he’d want: Dowsing! That would make his life so much fucking easier, if he could just… identify where people/objects are located! He could find narco kitchens and where they hide their money! Hell, he’d know where Pablo is!

Which one he’d get: Er, unfortunately he’d wind up with sleep suppression. He still manages to overdo it. Sure, this means he can function fine on an hour of sleep a night, but… what if no sleep?? What if no sleep for weeks?? All work and no sleep makes Steve a cranky boy!

Donald Pierce

Which one he’d want: He’s wanted a healing factor since he was a kid. Partially because it’s the superpower his favorite mutant has, but also because he thinks it’d help him deal with his stepdad’s abuse better. If there’s no lingering damage, it’s almost like nothing really happened. Like he’s clean.

Which one he’d get: Yeah, unfortunately he gets the much less glamorous power of survivability. (Which is… arguably what he already has in the movie considering all the beat-downs that really should’ve killed him!) He can survive pretty much anything, but he’s not necessarily coming out of it unmarred. He’s still accumulating scars and trauma.

Cap Hatfield

Which one he’d want: Cap would like invisibility, to help him stalk his prey undetected! And to just… go through town when he doesn’t want anyone to see him or try to make conversation with him.

Which one he’d get: Lol, animal friendship. Animals naturally like him! They’ll (sometimes) come when called! He can play with a wolf pack or befriend any horse he comes across!

Clement Mansell

Which one he’d want: Oh, mind control. He’d love being able to just get whatever he wanted from people! Imagine telling some rich dude to just *give* him his penthouse and Bugatti! He could waltz into any bank, ritzy luncheon, or club and just instantly get whatever he wanted! Hell… he could make radio stations play his music! Make venues offer him up spots!

Which one he’d get: Yeah, Clement does not get mind control. What he gets instead is empathy. He’s always been searching for connection with people, while also being generally oblivious to their actual feelings. Now he can feel the emotions of everyone in his immediate vicinity! Will this improve his life or make it worse?? Difficult to say! But now at least he’s gonna know when Sandy’s faking an orgasm!

The Corinthian

Which one he’d want: Aw, he’d want teleportation. (I know it’s implied Corinthian has *some* form of this already, but… I’m not sure how long-distance he can actually go.) He’d love to travel on a whim! Croissants for breakfast in Paris! Lion-spotting in the Serengeti in the afternoon! Chole bhature in Delhi for dinner! A Berlin sex club for dessert! …Escaping Morpheus whenever he comes calling!

Which one he’d get: Alas, the Corinthian instead gets astral projection. He can see any place he wants in any world he wants, but he can’t interact with it.

Eli Klaber

Which one he’d want: Shapeshifting, mostly to make himself into the loveliest lady he could.

Which one he’d get: Muscle mimicry - he’s a bit of a copycat and a natural follower who outsources a lot of his thinking to others; now any physical action he sees, he can replicate perfectly.

Danny Maguire

Which one he’d want: Oh, fear control. He’d wanna make himself perfectly fearless while also being able to intimidate anyone in his vicinity he wanted. He wants to inspire respect (which he maybe confuses with fear) without really… having to put any work into earning it.

Which one he’d get: Kinetic burst! He’s so impulsive, and historically he does channel that into violence, and this just turns that up to 11! If he gets strong emotions he can expel them in a massive burst of energy!

Ty Shaw

Which one he’d want: Duplication! He’s so busy! He’d love to be able to be in three places at once! Helping Mason with reading at the same time he’s driving KC to her acting coach while also working an extra shift at the rig for some Christmas money!

Which one he’d get: Haha, he gets social magnetism. He’s able to subtly influence the attitudes of the people around him - making them inclined to trust him more, to feel drawn to help him out.

Quinn McKenna

Which one he’d want: He’d want super strength! He’s a soldier, he’d love to get an extra boost on the field. And it’d help him move heavy furniture without having to call a friend for help.

Which one he’d get: He gets lie detection! He’s always prized honesty, for himself and others. He hates when people aren’t honest with him, and he especially hates not knowing whether someone’s full of shit. Now he does! This will make him extra annoying! He will call out so many innocuous white lies!

[windcarvedlyre]

I'm gonna turn that meme around on you: Venti and Jean? :>

(ask meme)

Ty :D

Honestly my answers will sort of be an inversion of yours: Jean as someone I really appreciate but I'm not actively into and Venti as unhealthy obsession and fandom bicycle. (Thanks for introducing me to that term, lol.)

Jean

How I feel about her: I don't brainrot over her for her own sake, but as my de facto main in co-op, the permanent healer in my overworld team, and one of Mondstadt's most important characters I'm very fond of her. She deserves more breaks. So so much.

Her design fascinates me too; if you use the alt version of her default outfit it looks very modest and like everything's covered when she's standing still, only for more skin to be exposed on her upper torso when you run or otherwise move around. It feels like a visual reflection of how she hides/suppresses the more human, emotional parts of herself to perform her role.

Romantic ships: I'm not actively into any but Jean/Lisa just makes sense to me. Lisa is such a fun character to bounce off her. You've got me intrigued about Jean/Eula and Jean/Kaeya as well, and I should look into Jean/Diluc too.

I s2g her voice lines make her sound like she's starting to have a crush on Traveller too. That could be really wholesome; they could periodically show up in Mond, speedrun solving a ton of citizens' problems, and whisk her off to beautiful corners of Teyvat she'd never dream of having time to visit otherwise. And they both have sibling issues... I'm selling myself on this as I type it, dear lord.

Platonic OTPs: All of the above are also wonderful platonically. Also Jean and Venti!! God!!! I neeeed more interactions between them; it's a massive shame the game never showed us Jean or Diluc processing the Venti-Barbatos reveal and the religious crisis that would definitely cause. Especially for Jean! I wish this oneshot was a longer multichapter so badly.

I'm fascinated by the idea of them having a lot in common under the surface, especially if we compare Jean to how Venti may have been in Mond's cultivation period. Even their outfits have a lot of design elements in common!

Additionally, considering her parallels with/idolisation of Vennessa, I love the idea of Venti having unresolved guilt/unprocessed trauma about whatever happened to Vennessa in the end + maybe her overworking herself for Mondstadt until her death, and him screaming internally watching Jean go down the same path. I can't get enough of fics where he helps her relax for once. The two of them should go on some long field trip where they coax each other into acknowledging they're people that feel things.

Unpopular opinion: Not sure I have any! I'm not familiar with general fandom opinions about her but I'd be surprised if I saw someone severely mischaracterising her, tbh. She doesn't feel like a difficult character to grasp. Maybe my perception's skewed since I tend to obsess over human dumpster fires, though.

Something I wish would happen: mainly (gestures at the platonic section), but seconding you that we need her to make progress with Barbara too. I'd love to see her be dragged into more shenanigans with Diluc as well, though I'm biased as a combined-Diluc-and-Jean main.

Venti

How I feel about him: I probably need help with the amount I think about this goddamn character. I didn't truly understand the term 'comfort character' until I started obsessing over him. I project onto him a bit too much and I want to emotionally smash him to bits and scrape him together again.

Even without the brainrot, he's just fascinating; he's clearly a significant character that will almost certainly be tied to massive lore drops later on, and the vague hints about him having time powers mean that even the way he fundamentally experiences reality can be theorised about with wildly different ideas being equally valid.

He has me freezing up at every damn mention of wind and/or time and/or music in this god-forsaken game. And there are a lot of them.

Romantic ships: as I said, he's the fandom bicycle for me. Everyone gets a ride. I especially love zhongven in multiple permutations, and their longevity means fanworks for other Venti ships can easily slot in past zhongven as well. Otherwise I really like kaeven, I used to be more into diluven but kaeven has completely eclipsed it for me, and I'm really intrigued about the potential of furiven as well (though I usually approach that platonically).

Non-romantic OTPs: any of the above if not being done romantically, plus Venti+Jean and Venti+Vennessa (see Jean's section lmao) and Venti+everyone in old mond- especially NB and RHW. And I really really want to see him interact with Furina. There are so many people he either has a fascinating relationship with already or has potential to.

While it's not a ship, I find the idea that he's slept with the Tsaritsa at least once pre-fallout very funny.

Edit: Venti having a non-reciprocated crush on Vennessa is interesting as well.

Unpopular opinions: I'm not sure I have any in a tumblr fandom context? Maybe that any ships between him and a mortal who's grown up worshipping him (like diluc/venti, jean/venti, etc) would be a lot more of an emotional minefield for both parties than people tend to explore, with the mortal having to go through a religious crisis while Venti clearly just wants to be treated like a person + could be paranoid as hell about whether their consent to anything is genuine.

That's not a criticism of those ships, though! The opposite, actually. I'd love to see a long fic that really digs into that.

Something I wish would happen: ...there are so many things I could put here. The main ones are a) a Venti-is-Barbatos reveal (and maybe a reveal of his darker secrets, like any abyss ties) to all of Mondstadt, forcing him to stop avoiding his problems for once, and b) for Venti to be pushed into a corner and/or go apeshit and reveal just how much he was lying about his power level.

I need a Vennessa-Venti reunion as well. Please please please.