#this took 3 days because drive is still being operated on

[towriteloveontheirarms]

Jealousy (Sihtric Kjartansson x reader)

synopsis: An order from Uthred has Sihtric and you in a situation that is less than to both of your liking, for very seperate reasons. However it also brings to light more than what you were sent there to do.

warnings: Sihtric being jealous (obvi), smut but nothing too graphic, p in v, love confessions, afab reader

word count: 1.8k

taglist: @hopelesswritergall @foxyanon @sihtricfedaraaahvicius

(If you want to be tagged in the `kissing booth AU´, for a specific character/fandom or in general let me know in my asks, comments or DMs)

A/N: Thank you @wildchild2707 for the lovely request! I´m sorry it took a bit to actually get to and finish it. I still hope you like it!<3

Dividers by me

You thought it was a bad idea, but when Uthred had come to you the previous night to talk to you about his plans for you and Sihtric to secretly spy on another clan of Danes that had settled to draw the borders between Daneland and the remaining land ruled by Saxons even further, you couldn't deny him. Still, you spend the whole night awake with all sorts of bad feelings swirling in your stomach. It was one thing not to let the others know where you went, but to stage a fight... It wouldn't have been your first choice. The allegiance of the men surrounding you seemed to waver from day to day as it was already. Of course, Uthred wouldn´t hear any of these concerns. According to your leader the clan was prone to violent behaviour just because they could and made up of many different country men. Your knowledge of languages would come in practical according to Uthred, but the prospect of being able to use your knowledge didn´t make you any happier. Instead of planning a staged fight, he should have been planning the attack that wiped out the clan. A deep sigh left your lungs as you sit with the others, waiting for the operation to start. The sound luckily goes unnoticed by Finan and Osferth, who are too busy with their own banter to pay attention to their surroundings. It was driving you crazy. They had fought against Danes alongside women before. What made you so different from them that you weren’t good enough to do something you were easily capable of. At least in his eyes. He had seen you fight and now when he had the chance to harness your power, he was going so far as to even put someone by your side to, what, secure everything would go to plan? Sihtric breaks your line of thought by 'provoking' Uthred, catching the attention of everyone sitting around in the tavern. It was a mess with the two men 'arguing´ while Finan tried to intervene and conciliate them, of course to no avail. After several fruitless attempts you begrudgingly play your part.

“Sihtric.” You call out to him with a firm voice. Surprisingly having his attention immediately. The brown puppy eyes search yours as you continue to speak in a calming tone. “Let us go.”

The two of you make your way away from the ground. Ignoring the off handed comment from somewhere in the crowd about how whipped Sihtric must be to follow you so easily and how you had him henpecked. It made your blood boil and fists clench tightly to be reduced to this caricature of an angry housewife, but you had to prepare for the coming night.

When everyone finally goes to sleep, you sneak to the stables, take your horses and begin the journey to the new camp. It is tough, but you get accepted by them eventually and trusted enough to collect the information you want to get. Yet the longer you stay there, a change settles over your life, that no one could have foreseen.

Your plan going into the mission was to get in get the information and get out. To get involved with anyone as little as possible. If only plans always worked out the way they are supposed to.

Over time, you grew closer to one of the men. He had to be a few years older, yet you found yourself sparring with him often and even outside of that, something akin to the sentiments of a friendship formed between the two of you. Even if it admittedly made Sihtric quite huffy, you felt like Krystof saw you for all of you, there were no lingering or lusting glances or looks of underestimation and that felt nice, it truly did. It was a welcome change, even if the simple sight of it soured not only Sihtric's mood, but also the friendship you had once shared. If one could have called it that before, it surely wasn't anymore now. Discussions of what information you had gathered and steps to take from then on were laced with sarcastic comments of all kinds. Every single one going ignored or being answered by a roll of your eyes. You told him often enough why you were leaning into the affectionate behaviour of some of the men. It is not until one dinner that you get an explanation ass to where these remarks stemmed from.

Krystof and you sat together, eating and talking with your heads close together as to understand each other over the noise of the others, when you catch Sihtric shooting you another one of those sour looks.

“You are aware he is far beyond wanting to simply hump you, right?” Krystof asks with a conspiratorial grin.

“Do not be silly now.” You scold him, but the smile on your face is firm in its place.

“I am not being silly; this is a man deep in love if I have ever seen one. A very jealous one at that.” He insists.

You look over to Sihtric who looks about ready to murder the entire settlement by himself. Quickly and to not raise suspicion, you turn back away from him, but barely get enough time to open your mouth to say something to your new friend, when someone taps you on the shoulder.

“We need to talk.” Sihtric began. The words not a question, but a statement. “Now.”

“Are you feeling well Sihtric? You are quite red in the face.” You noted the state he was in. Breath heaving his chest, fists clenched and a red tint colouring his face.

“Yes, I have never been better. I need to talk to you.” He insists.

“What is this about? You have been behaving so differently ever since we arrived here.” You question the dark-haired man as the two of you enter the empty stables nearby.

“Do you seriously have to ask why?” His answer is more affected and rawer than you would´ve thought it would be, making your heart skip a beat in surprise.

“Would you please just explain it to me?” You ask this time with more insistence.

For a moment there is silence between the two of you while Sihtric is struggling to find the right words.

However, the moment concludes with not a verbal answer, but his rough hands cupping your face and as your eyes widen and your heartbeat accelerates, he pulls you in to press his lips to yours. Expressing every feeling he harbours for you with the touch. It takes a moment to process what is happening, moving you to pull away from him.

“The depth of the affections I have felt for you since the moment I first laid my eyes on you is too far to ever be accurately put into words. Out of respect of your lack of interest in romantic relationships I swore myself to stay away, but seeing you fully lean into the pretty words those men poured into your ear like honey, drives me wild. Tell me, what changed so suddenly?” Sihtric's words are raw with emotion. So much that it would have stunned you, where you a different person.

“Sihtric, you would not have to ask this if you heard the way any of Uhtred’s men talked about women? Even the women who fought along them? We are nothing more than objects in the end. Here I am recognized for the qualities I have, not the ones that men wish I would have. Besides, it got me a ton of information we otherwise might not have gotten at all.” You doubt your words will make much of a change, yet Sihtric seems to always be good for a surprise.

He pulls you close once more, the hold on your body is gentle enough for you to pull away should you wish to, but still firm enough to show his intention.

“If you allow me, I will prove to you that I am not like them.” He whispers against your lips, waiting for a sign of your consent.

Which follows in the form of a nod and a whispered “Yes.”

In the blink of an eye his lips crash onto yours again in what this time is a reciprocated kiss. Your lips move together in perfect synchronisation. Languid movements speak the depth of your affections for each other into the world. Your hands move to wander over his strong upper arms, feeling the muscles tense underneath. All the while the dark-haired man pushes you backwards to lay against the stack of hay, never once breaking the sweet, yet passionate kiss.

Your heart beats wildly against your ribcage, warm breath huffing against his face like his does yours.

“I have dreamt of this forever.” Sihtric muttered.

His hands are all over you. Caressing you with the most reverend touches anyone has ever graced you with, making your heart beat out of your chest as the two of you begin to undress each other slowly. Hands moving over ever inch of skin as it gets exposed. Everything about this moment steals the words and thoughts right from your brain. In truth you had been feeling much the same for him, yet you had never seen a chance for the two of you to be together like this.

“You are a goddess.” Sihtric´s quiet voice in your ear pulls you from the attempt at coherent thought.

His surprisingly soft lips ghost over the shell of your ear, but the tingling is soon overshadowed by his hard length running through your folds to tease before positioning himself at your entrance. With slow, deliberate movements he pushes inside of your tight hole, setting a steady pace. Even the dull feeling of fullness only aids in the conveying of the affection the two of you have for each other. This isn't senseless humping. With expert moves Sihtric brings you closer to climax.

A string of desperate “I love you”´s falls from your lips uncontrollably, like a prayer, voice raw from whining and moaning.

Each one is answered by Sihtric calmingly shushing you as one of his hands caressed your forehead, eventually settling to rest against your cheek.

Your eyes move up to meet his and Sihtric bows his head to lean his forehead against yours.

“I have always loved you.” He mutters breathily.

His lips capture yours to muffle the louder growing whines and whimpers and with steady, deliberate, perfect rolls of his hips, you are made to feel the waves of pleasure crash over you. Your legs tighten behind his back to pull him close as your hips shake and walls flutter until he follows off the edge. Shooting his seed into your cunt until he has no more to give.

The two of you remain there until you hear voices filing out of the hall, basking in the afterglow of your love making and each other’s presence now that the tension had been dissolved. You were aware that there were still things to talk about probably, but now was not the time.

[stefanmikaleson1864]

Doughnuts ?

A/N: I hope you all love this as much as I love Colt ! P.S. don't ask me how many times i watched this movie its distrubing

Colt Seavers X Reader

Working on a movie set had a been dream of yours for as long as you can remeber. The magic of seeing the big lights and the movie stars.

You always loved working on projects from the time you can remember.

Writting and directing and seeing your own magic come to life was always a dream come true.

Most people told you to dream releastic and stick something that would be more achievable.

But you didn't listen sitting at home doing a boring 9-5 was the not the life you wanted for yourself.

You went to film school out in LA and it was the most you ever felt alive. You finally felt like you belonged here.

When you graduated you thought you were going to immediately jump into work. I mean you were the next big thing right? Well that dream came crashing down. Reality set in and bills needed to be paid.

So when the oppurtinity came up for you to work as a camera operator for a movie you took it right away

. I mean you were going to be still working on the magic right ?

A couple of months in and you were finding your groove everyone on set was incredibly kind and welcoming.

There was one particular guy who was nice to you.

Colt Seavers was a incredible stunt man. Can we just also say for the love of god how incredibly hot he was.

I mean how was he not a movie star himself.

God took a little extra time with him. But the nice thing about him though was he didn't have a ego to match. To your surprise was he kind and nice and funny.

One day you were sitting eating lunch alone and he came and sat down next to you.

"Someone as beautiful as you shouldn't be eating alone" Colt said as he thew about 3 plates of food down.

"You really gonna eat all that" You said laughing

"Hey your brain needs carbs to live how else can i be set on fire without nothing on my stomach" Colt said laughing

Like what ever he said made sense. The two of you just sat and talked in for a while and he made you feel like you knew him forever.

He was funny like he was honesly geniunely hilarious.

The two of you talked about dream vacations and how being set on fire was nothing compared to when they stopped making his favoriate brand of coffee beans.

When lunch was over he asked for your number. He said he wanted to be a gentleman and drive you home because it was dangerous out there.

The work day seemed like it was never ending after that. The annoying ass director just wanted another take after another one.

You were about to just sit the camera down in protest and leave but thank god this was the last scene.

You didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to anyone. You just put your stuff away and grabbed your things.

You were sitting in the parking lot next to your car.

A few minutes had passed and you were worried you got stood up. You were about to get back into your car so you didn't look like an idiot.

Just as you were pulling out your keys. A huge truck blaring Taylor Swift pulled up next to you.

"You didn't think I forgot did you" Colt said smiling.

You smiled back and hoped into the truck

"A man with taste" You said

He pulled away and the windows were down and the music was blaring. He drove to an empty parking lot down the street and you gave him a confused look.

"Doughnuts" He asked

"I love Jelly" You said making him laugh loud

"A breakfast date when were done I love it" Colt said

"I know a good spot" You said.

Colt postioned the car and then looked over at you with a smirk and then took off fast.

It caught your breath fast and you felt your heart dropping into its stomach. Colt stretched out his arm and nodged you over closer to him.

It really did make you forget about your troubles. Like everything else didn't matter in this moment. You felt like when you were on a rollcoaster and you reached the top.

then when you shot done that rush of adrenline was amazing.

You could do this all night with him.

"Same time again tomorrow" Colt said

"It's a date after real doughnuts" You said

"Carbs make everything better" Colt said

You leaned in and laid your head on his shoulder and he smiled down at you. The real magic wasn't on the movie set it was right here with the two of you

[yakuzabrainrotlive]

Finished Like a Dragon! 87 hours of play time all in all. Do NOT ask me how I squeezed in that amount of hours in less than 3 weeks, I'm already ashamed enough😭

Some general stuff and opinions at the bottom part of the post!

My (way too high) levels before the final stretch (around +2 levels for final bosses):

I'm... considering starting Gaiden right away because it dropped into my mailbox today. But I have an 8-day long trip back home starting December 2nd, and I'm not quite sure if I wanna start and then get interrupted. But I also wanna start Infinite Wealth asap... hmmm...

Good to see Date doing well. Kinda surprised Adachi and him are pals. Serena being the base of operations once again, I shouldn't be surprised.

...AND the Millennium Tower being the stage for the final battle again, too.

I'm gonna be fr; CAN WE BLOW THIS TOWER UP?? Like properly?? Ever since the damn thing was built (AND before it, since the Empty Lot was the ground underneath it), it's been nothing but a place for bloodshed. Almost like it's cursed and needs blood sacrifices to keep itself going. Now, I'm not trying to blame the tower, but... something's up. It needs to go.

My dad when I don't answer messages he sends at 1am

Very good acting from the gang. What a bunch of silly goobers.

I've hated Arakawa jr. since the beginning of the game, so you'll have to excuse me being petty and saving this rocket launcher just for this moment. It was satisfying to finish the fight this way.

It was cool to fight 1v1 at the end, but I was kinda scared I'd die and have to start everything again. Even though it was pretty much impossible considering my overall level lol

Awww. Ichi is very sweet. Almost too sweet; I feel like that's gonna cause him a lot of pain in the future.

....do I sound like Majima when he talked to Kiryu at the start of Kiwami right now? lmao

Despite the game kinda trying to make me feel bad for Arakawa, I truly didn't feel anything when I saw this. Well, I did feel very bad for Ichiban, but I really couldn't be bothered to feel anything for this dude in particular. Bye 👋🏻🙂

Adachi finally getting his closure was nice. Good for him! 🫶🏻

sighhhhh *rapid-fire screenshot noises* 😩

Kinda curious to see where the whole security firm business goes. Sounds... weird right now, but I'll let RGG cook. Kinda hard to imagine Majima sticking around for something like that, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he'll stay for Saejima and Daigo. Who knows.

Kiryu will probably fuck off somewhere again because of the contract, so I'm not even gonna speculate what's gonna happen with him. For all I know he's going back to driving a taxi in Nagasugai. Or maybe he'll go live in a forest somewhere far away and live as a hunter-gatherer in isolation. Nothing would surprise me at this point. Kinda sorta hoping he'll vibe with Watase for a while, but that's pretty much as likely as Majima growing another eye.

Ichiban staying with his team was a given, but it was still relieving to hear it from the man himself.

NOW. How did I like the game?

Uhhh... How do I put this. Fuck it, I'll be honest: NOT one of my favourites. The battle system is a MASSIVE part of that.

I'm just gonna say it now: I didn't enjoy the fights in the game. As soon as I got Hariti's Amulet, I never took it off. I just couldn't be bothered to put up with all that. I didn't find fights thrilling or engaging - not even boss battles - besides a few select situations. Those situations being Kiryu switching styles and the Majima + Saejima combo. And, unfortunately for this game, fights tend to be a big part of these games. So yeah.

The plot? Solid enough, I suppose? I didn't really feel drawn-in before chapter 12, but it was... okay. Didn't blow my mind, but also not bad by any metric. About the middle ground (or slightly above it) for what I've seen from the games this far. I know a lot of people love the plot and I can definitely see why! Idk what my issue was, but it is what it is. Maybe I'll watch just the cutscenes at some point and re-evaluate.

(new) characters? Cool. It was interesting having a whole squad after spending so much time solo in the previous games. The group dynamics were cool. I do feel like Joon-gi and Zhao didn't really have too much interaction with the rest of the group besides Ichiban? Yeah, the convos on the street were nice enough, but besides that, I honestly can't remember those two interacting too much with the others in a more casual setting? Idk, maybe my memory is just overloaded rn. I might be remembering it all totally wrong and forgetting stuff. Overall a nice group. Cozy vibes fr.

Favourite newbies... Saeko and Adachi. Maybe a bit random, but I just clicked with them the most. But I do have to give shoutouts to Eri and Joon-gi for pretty much cutting battle time by 75% with their devastating Divine Shot + Darts Airstrike combo. Not too many lucky survivors around after that.

Another huge shoutout to the hundreds of Invested Vagabonds I tore apart for exp. I will never be able to repay my debt to their kind. RIP kings 🫡

Soundtrack slapped. Substories were fun; among TOP3 games when it comes to those. Picking up bugs was relaxing, so shoutout to the bugs too.

All in all? It was okay! Probably not gonna replay the game because of how much the battle system frustrated me. Yes, even the infamous blockuza 3 surpasses this one in my books. If you enjoyed the battle system in this game, that's cool and valid! It just wasn't my cup of tea. Not gonna go into specific details in this post. Feel free to ask if you want said details. When I started the game, I did make it clear that I'm very picky about turn-based stuff, so y'all were warned.

[pysoch]

Gonna get straight to the point I've got Medic headcanons.

Enjoy.

====================

- His doves have had several chances to be released, but he's genuinely such a good caregiver that they stay willingly.

- Sometimes when he sleeps, he starts quoting his own words he said the day prior. This is partially because he has paranoia, and another because of anxiety of the idea he isn't heard nor cared about by his team.

- The medigun took exactly two years, two months, fourteen days, and six hours to perfect. It had some, but not much help from engineer. In the early stages it used to put limbs on the wrong way or gave horrific and cancerous tumors to specifically the lungs.

- Medic loves experimenting on Pyro the most due to their physique being a (quote) "canvas" to work with due to his inability to see them as human. It drives out the small humanity he has.

- One time, he sewed Scout's mouth shut until they were forced to cut their mouth open manually using Spy's knife.

- Out of all of the team, Medic is the second oldest!

- He charges the mercs money if he has to work on Saturdays. He will also be grumpy the entire time unless you pay a little extra.

- Archimedes has three hearts implanted in them because Medic considers one for life, one for love, and one for comradery.

- Despite the fact he's a "medical professional", he finds himself strongly disliking touching things without having his gloves on. This rule doesn't stand for blood or guts, for what/whichever reason.

- He's dated women before, but said he's never really found them preferable in company, and didn't feel much to anything. In fact, the only woman he really finds good charm in is Pauling, and it's purely platonic.

- He's found no help with caffeine, and seems nearly immune to it. Instead, he uses defibrillators to shock his chest awake whenever he's having a rough time.

- Aside from Spy and Demo, he has one of the most versatile and arranged wardrobes. Takes a lot of pride in his appearance, and even if he's just woke up, he'll present himself best he can.

- Sometimes he steals the base's radio and enacts little scenarios out in his room to music.

- The underside of the medigun hooked to his ceiling in the lab has stickers because otherwise Pyro won't stay still when he's on the operating table.

- He prefers picture books over solid words.

- As a child, he actually excelled in literature and mathematics over science. Actually, most of his science classes were spent far away from any teaching and stuck more or less in a corner.

- He hates pet names no I do not care if he's bbg, he would not call you anything but your name or a shortened version of it. Smh my head.

- Every single thing he does is loud and over the top. Sometimes even when he doesn't mean to be. The other alternative is absolute dead and radio silence with nothing but a stern face. There's no in between or medium.

- He spends every single one of his holidays travelling. The second they're released for whatever reason, he is OUTTA there.

- He's a decent driver, but worse than spy, and better than heavy.

- When he's drunk or high he'll eat his own skin if left alone. Aye, giving your soul to Satan has its downsides.

- He's read several religious texts and cannot bring himself to believe anything, but sometimes quotes verses to make himself look like the bigger person.

- He knows (very limited amount but some) french! However, he's mostly focused on using it when he wants Spy to sneak into a merc's room and get something for him to pry into.

- He knows all their sizes. Will not elaborate. ❤️

- Can absolutely obliterate a dance floor in the zestiest way possible

===================

Bleeegh

:3

[wyvchard]

I have no idea where I'm going with this.

Original Post / Context

@tillywunderwing, I hope it's fine if I write a paragraph or two about this. It got stuck on my mind.

(Also, I remembered this fic which I think you wrote? This could also be one of their more frustrating deaths too. The deaths where they thought they did everything right but forgot one crucial thing that they overlooked.)

Typical Trigger Warnings from IEYTD applies.

Phoenix wakes up in a hospital bed, taking a few short breaths before a hand forced them back to lying down.

"Agent, take it easy." Their handler sighed in relief, now that they're out of danger. "Zoraxis won't get you from here."

"...Reggie, I'm... so sorry. I was stupid to let Zoraxis capture me like that. I didn't mean to."

"It's not your fault, Agent. No one would have seen that coming."

"... But I should have. It was right there. I... I could have dodged it. It was... always there."

"Agent, I barely saw it myself, even as you were being captured. Please, don't scold yourself."

The agent merely looked at the ceiling, taking a few breaths. "I'm slipping, Reggie. I'm making a mess."

"Agent, you're doing well with your track record."

"But I'm not!" They raised their voice as sat up, glaring at their handler like a wounded animal. "I-i should have been able to see it coming! But didn't! If things go down like they did last time, so many people will die. Dr. Prism will die! John Juniper will die too! You did too! All because Zoraxis figured out which agents can become turncoats since they used my compromised status to sneak into headquarters and steal the files while everyone was panicking!"

They clasped their mouth, wincing as their IV got pulled. "I... It's nothing. I'm probably just overthinking again."

"Agent, answer me honestly. Did you betray the agency when you were captured?" Reginald kept his even tone, controlling his emotions to avoid the turmoil on the implications that their adversary managed to break their top agent.

"N-no. I... Don't make me answer that. Please. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to shoot you, I swear! I undid it, didn't I? You're alive. You're here. You're here."

Reginald held a breath as he watched his agent claw their hair in order to calm down, reduced to mumbling that he can't even catch up due to how incoherent it had become.

It took a while for him to register that he was pushed out of the ward as they dealt with his agent's breakdown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We're calling this mission, "Operation: Friendly Skies". I hope you like cars, and airplanes, and cars in airplanes. Dr. Zor, corporate billionaire by day, underhanded villain by night, has a cargo plane scheduled to depart for Zanzibar this very evening. We need you to infiltrate the plane before it takes off. Gain access to the vehicle held within, and drive it right off the airplane. Our Intel assures us, Zor's car is equipped to handle a fall from any height, so we're almost positive you won't die."

The agent heard the briefing for the nth time. At this point, they can mimic what he can say, word for word. But they won't; they had done that 3 rewinds ago.

They were still shaking from the fact that whatever they were given was enough to put them into a suggestible state that made them slip up and tell Reginald the truth. Well, half-truth.

They did turn their violence against the agency after Zoraxis broke their mind after a long time. But that was countless rewinds ago. But they still lied that they did that in this rewind in order to avoid their handler's pained expression. Right?

They were still shaking from the agency's punishment for turncoats, the pain still lingered as they shook on the chair of their office.

"Agent?" Their handler spoke. "Getting cold feet?"

They shook their head, raising up a hand to ask him to give them time to breathe.

"Sorry. I dozed off. Drive the car off the plane. Got it." They spoke, grabbing the items they typically grab for their first mission.

Just what will this rewind bring?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reginald came to R&D with worry, having left HR with confirmation that several dossiers of field agents have been compromised. The agency will become a mess soon enough, and that's not even counting the thought that his agent had become a turncoat.

Not to mention the other things they've found.

"Crane, you need to see this. None of this makes sense. Your agent has memories of things that haven't happened. Zoraxis could be implanting false memories for all we know."

"I wouldn't put it past them." He muttered, taking a look at the data Zoraxis gathered from their agent, he clenched his fist as the memory of Phoenix's wails echoed in his mind.

A lot of false memories have been implanted within his agent and he has to ground them back to reality. He has to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For context: This is a misunderstanding in Reggie's part. Zoraxis did not implant false memories as those were from the previous rewinds. However, Reginald (logically) assumes that it was a false memory. In a world where time loops are mostly in the realm of fiction, a machine that can implant false memories seem more likely when you were faced with a machine that can read your memories.

Phoenix is currently having a dream where they're about to start a different loop all over again due to the fact they were so convinced they died when Zoraxis captured them. The conversation became did happen but the memory of the last time Zoraxis captured them overlapped, leading to another rewind.

I do not think I can write this story at the moment so if anyone wants to take the idea, please do so.

@phoenix-and-found-family , this is far from canon to my Phoenix since this is experimental but it could be an interesting read.

Also, this is far from edited. Whoops.

[velvetvexations]

Hello! Hope your day is going well ^^

I remember reading this ask you answered (I think it was the "how come i" anon) and your response + your general attitude re: trans intracommunity discourse really resonated with me

I might be a trans man but long before that I was an artist and I specifically came back to Tumblr because I was having a hard time making my art on twitter after a certain someone took over - _ - (and of course, the rampant transphobia), only to find out that a small but vocal minority of queer folk here insist that I'm privileged for... [checking notes] having he/him pronouns and identifying as a man, despite being pre-T, and facing all sorts of transphobia, misogyny and transandrophobia (mostly from my parents, I'm lucky to go to a uni that's accepting of trans and genderqueer people)

I tried speaking up for us, but all it did was turn me into an unhealthy, paranoid mess, constantly checking my phone instead of focusing on things that mattered like my study, art, and relationships w my friends and my fiance, and I deleted that side blog after a few days.

I know you said it's fine to vent in your inbox but I still wanna keep it short - I still feel like.. I'm betraying the cause, or whatever because I don't actively make posts on transandrophobia on Tumblr, despite being 100% behind the term as another facet of transphobia - purely based off of my own lived experiences.

Anyway, I'm slowly transitioning (heh) my blog into something less "trans man with an art blog" and more "artist that happens to be a trans man", and I feel... right, despite the aforementioned guilt, because there's so many stories I want to tell, so many scenes I wanna capture with my stylus. I don't believe in vocations in the spiritual sense, but art feels like home to me, and I wonder if that's the same case for you with your writing.

And finally, I'm sure you've heard this plenty of times, but thank you for standing in our corner, despite getting so much shit from other blogs (this also goes for starryjoy and other transfems and trans women that have supported us transmascs + men! Thank you all so much <3)

Your fellow artist,

🖋️

(P.S. I was considering using a paintbrush but I like the fountain pen emoji more lol)

It's always my pleasure to help, anon. <3 You don't have an obligation to engage with discourse. Do what's best for your sanity and maybe see how you might be able to help out causes here or there that don't cause you anxiety or takes more from you than you can give. I had the same guilt not being able to engage with most issues (me even mentioning potential consequences of the election earlier should be taken as a sign of how angry I was when I made that post) but I was able to find a niche I can operate in. Even if you can't do that much or don't have money to donate, even just supporting your friends and the people around you adds a lot to the world.

I do feel that way about my writing, also. i have so many characters, so many scenes, so many themes, arcs, stories, it drives me crazy sometimes. I really hope eventually Velvet Nation will get to read them.

[space-apples]

saying this on here because the azi hate is seriously (not a big deal, im a theatre kid and im being dramatic) driving me insane.

buckle up because i have fucking things to say <3.

good omens 2 spoilers ahead, obviously/lh

i hate the coffee theory. and before you click away, please read my post <33

i like the lie theory better, but i enjoy the integrity (for lack of a better word) of it being about religious trauma and how that affects different people.

azi is so religiously brainwashed that he still believes heaven can be good. he is an angel, he is good. but since he got kicked out, that meant he wasn’t good enough. as much as crowley sees and recognizes the things azi does, azi does the same for crowley. he sees and recognizes how good crowley is. he is so incredibly good that— in azi’s mind— it doesn’t make sense that he’s a demon.

additionally, he also sees that crowley is lonely. and azi is also lonely. and the whole point is that theyre lonely together. but if they both become angels, then they don’t have to be lonely, and they can be together.

we also know that azi knew crowley before he fell. he saw what could happen to him if he did something wrong. it’s why he is so worried about whether or not he’s doing good.

overtime, ofc, we see him growing into himself a little bit more because he’s no longer surrounded by heaven officials. but then a very powerful one— his boss’s boss— came up to him and said that he was the best. angel. for. the. job.

that he couldn’t think of a better angel than aziraphale. and he just wants to be good so badly. he wants to be with crowley so badly. and with this, he can have both.

i totally see it from crowley’s pov too— he’s been building up a relationship with the closest person he’s ever had. they were on the same side because they didn’t have a choice to do otherwise. and then azi actively chooses the very thing that was making both of them suffer and feel like they can never do anything right ever. like i definitely see why and see how crowley is upset. it’s justifiable. /gen

i dont think either of them are at fault here except for heaven and hell. i think all of this comes down to communication. and though i think azi should do the “you were right” song, i don’t inherently think that this is something he is at fault.

aziraphale is still operating in the good vs bad system, he hasn’t fully deprogramed his indoctrination. he’s trying to convince himself that he’s right. if the institution you were in your entire life ended up being bad for you, of course you wouldn’t believe it at first. azi is actively choosing between what he wants to do, and what he has to do. and since he is so fucking afraid of heaven and consequences of defying that, he would say yes.

he’s searching and hoping for validation— and his boss’s boss came up to him and it not only gave him that toxic validation, but it put him back into that “oh i can be / do good.”

but to crowley, aziraphale was saying, “i want to make you good enough for heaven.” and aziraphale was trying to say, “i want to make heaven good enough for you. i want to make myself good enough for you.”

and people are comparing azi to gabriel because ineffable bureaucracy (i just spent a very long time trying to spell that LMAO) happened in like a week, and it took our aziraphale more than 6000 years. to that, i am here to remind people that gabriel was probably contributing to the fears that aziraphale had, and he didn’t ever experience that type of trauma because the only people that were above him was the metatron and fucking god.

plus, this type of institution affects people variously and not every person reacts or behaves the same :):)

this whole thing is just how religious trauma affects people differently :):):):)

another reason why i hate the coffee theory is just because it undermines aziraphale’s intensely complex character. the end lol. i hope you have a great day <33

[konohamaru-sensei]

For the prompt!

Kayami and Obito, romantic, playing with hair ;u;

HII!! Thank you for waiting! I'm sorry this is probably not as romantic as you envisioned it, but once I have an idea I just go off running with it!! We can just imagine they keep doing this and then it will be romantic eventually. Hope this is ok, thank you for borrowing me your boy <3

Obito x OC

1776 words

Rain noise bled into the building from the entrance door and Obito sighed with annoyance. He was thoroughly tired of Amegakure and its constant stream of rain. When he was younger and sweating every summer in the burning heat of Konoha he would have never expected to one day be tired of rain, but here he was. It was just too much.

Unfortunately, since he had decided to hide behind the image of Pain he had no choice but to be alright with the base of operations being around here. After all, Nagato and Yahiko were known to be children from Amegakure and if Obito wanted the Akatskui to stay undetected, it was better if they hid among this closed off, shut away, city.

Still, he at least wished the breeze of Kirigakure back. It had also often rained there, because of the tides coming in and out, but at least there had been sun sometimes.

He watched the gathered members from underneath his mask and tried to take assessment of who was around. Hidan and Kakuzu were on a headhunting mission together, probably driving each other crazy and Konan and Nagato had left without a word. Itachi and Kisame were chatting at the back with each other, while black Zetsu and white Zetsu were having a heated argument somewhere else.

Obito had no time to wonder why Sasori and Deidara hadn’t come back from their mission when the door suddenly burst open. “I hate this weather,” Deidara moaned in anger. “It ruins my aesthetic.” For once Deidara and Obito shared an opinion. That didn’t happen too often.

“Senpai,” Obito sang in his Tobi voice, “Welcome back. I see you got into a rain shower and- oh, who is that?”

Behind the big puppet that was Sasori, a young guy walked into the hideout. His hair was long and white-blonde and with his arms crossed in front of his chest and suspicious eyes he looked like he didn’t trust any of them. 

“That is Tamano Kayami, we have been looking after him for a while now,” Sasori’s deep voice came from his puppet. “He’s a descented of an important clan, but we’d rather not tell you the details. Where is the boss?”

I’m right here”, Obito thought bitterly and the Madara side of his personality immediately switched to fight mode. But he had been good at channelling Tobi in the last few years and Tobi was, unfortunately, not important, so he needed to accept that he wasn't going to be included in secrets.

“Oh, is the newbie a special prince?” Tobi asked and got up to walk over to Kayami who’s lips curled a little at the sight of him. He was probably already deciding in his mind that Tobi was nothing but a loser he didn’t need to spend time on, just like Deidara and Sasori had before him. There was no better personality to hide behind than a fool.

Kayami pressed his arms together tighter: “It’s a little rude to ask this stuff without introducing yourself, don’t you think so?” He was two heads smaller than Obito, but his stance looked like he was ready to fight. Obito involuntarily grinned under his mask. Feisty.

“I’m Tobi,” Obito sang as a reply and took a bow, making sure he bowed how female actors do just for good, silly measure. “I am the secret ingredient of this place.”

Seemingly amused, Kayami looked over to Deidare who just shrugged: “We let him believe that.”

What kind of special lineage might this guy have, Obito wondered and tried to put out feelings for chakra levels. He was certainly skilled, even with his small build, but Obito could not quite assess what was special about Kayami. Still, if Sasori felt like he was special enough for his skills to be reported directly to Nagato, then he was probably very special.

If he wanted to find out who this guy was and how he could be used in Obito’s plans, then he needed to get the information out of Kayami himself. Sasori wouldn’t give it to him and Nagato already hated him anyway. 

Kayami shook himself and drops of water landed on Obito’s arms. The boy had apparently made the march through Amegakure all without a raincoat. Maybe the others had refused to tell him where the hideout was in case he was a traitor after all. Whatever the case, he was now dripping with water, his hair looking wet and tangled.

“Newbie has such beautiful hair.” A genius idea went through Obito’s head. “Tobi once had beautiful long hair, you know, very spiky just like he has now. Do you want Tobi to take care of yours?”

The other boy's lips curled again: “Uhm…” His eyes flickered to Deidara who shrugged as if to say “I mean, he is offering.”

“Fine,” Kayami said and looked directly into the one eyehole of Tobi*s mask, “but if you do something weird I’ll slit your throat. Doesn’t seem like anyone here will miss you.”

Obito had to grin again, he couldn’t help it. “Tobi will be really gentle,” he whined, “Please don’t hurt Tobi.”

He took Kayami’s hand and walked the boy over to a corner with two chairs right next to each other. On the way over Obito quickly took Deidara’s hairbrush without the guy noticing and then gestured for the other man to sit down. Kayami did, though he still looked very sceptical.

Though very wet, Kayami had very nice hair anyway. It felt like silk in Obito’s fingers and once he put the brush to it, the tangles were cleared up so quickly, leaving a shining, long, even mane behind. This was nothing in comparison to the mess Obito had to deal with when his hair had still been long back in Kirigakure. 

“You should give that back to Dei once you are done,” Kayami said suddenly, forcing Obito to stop in his tracks. 

He put his head to the side playfully: “Give what back?”

“The hairbrush you took,” Kayami answered a breath later.

“Oh you saw that,” Obito replied in his best Obito voice adding a giggle at the end just for good measure. When it came to his real feelings he had to admit that he was, in fact, a little impressed by that. Obito was a good pickpocket and none of the other Akatsuki had ever caught him before. “Newbie has good eyes,” he added. “Is he an Uchiha by chance? No that's impossible they are all de-”

“Yeah, possibly,” Kayami replied to Obito’s genuine surprise. “I mean, not exactly sure, but it is definitely possible that there is part of that family in me.”

Weren’t all the Uchiha dead? Obito frowned beneath his mask. Tamano, he thought, Tamano. It felt like he had heard the name before in relation to the Uchiha, but though it was on the tip of his tongue, he could not really place it. The name tasted like long wooden hallways and narrow streets and hot summer days spent in the Uchiha district’s special school, and yet the memory didn’t want to become clear.

“That means you are very special then,” Tobi sang. It was probably best to try and dig deeper here. “Is that what scorpio and senpai think of you as a little prince?”

Now wonderfully straight and silky smooth again, Obito absentmindedly found himself curling a strand of the other man's hair around his finger and then letting it go again. It also smelled good if he was honest with himself. What was this guy doing with Deidara and Sasori, when he was evidently so good at taking care of himself, both in appearance and defence.

“Tsk”, Kayami made and then stretched a little, but didn’t pull his hair out of Obito’s fingers. “I don’t know what you are playing at, but you can drop the act.” He glanced over the shoulder at Obito. “Honestly this voice must be straining to you.”

“Voice?” Obito put his head to the side again. “This is how Tobi speaks.”

Kayami let out a breathy laugh and his hair fell into his face: “This must be all a big joke to you, huh.” He looked up directly at Obito again. “I can feel that you are incredibly powerful, so I wondered at first why you are hiding behind this silly demeanour, but I get it now, you are probably just trying to hide how strong you actually are.”

“Huh?” Obito made and then realised he had spoken in his real voice by accident. He quickly caught himself again. “Tobi is just Tobi.” 

A lot of Akatsuki members knew that Tobi was just a personality Obito was playing, but that was because he had deliberately told them who he was. And even then he had lied to them about who he was so that nobody actually knew who he was. The other members, though great shinobi in their own right, had fallen for his Tobi persona hook line and sinker. And now this guy, who Obito had talked to for maybe an hour in total, and figured out he was acting right away? Impossible.

With another laugh, Kayami got up: “Fine, Tobi is Tobi, I won’t tell the others.” He patted Obito on the shoulder as if he was complimenting a small child on their play pretend.

Obito suppressed an angry growl and reminded himself that he still didn’t know what this guy’s deal was. The name Tamano seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place where. Until then Obito needed to be patient and not reveal his identity. Kayami could suspect him of acting, but there was no way he could get proof of anything. Obito just needed to commit.

“Newbie has beautiful hair, truly” Tobi said and put his hands behind his back like a shy girl, “Can I brush his hair another time again?”

Kayami raised a brow and then touched his neck with his right hand as if there was something itching there. “Sure,” he said slowly. “I don’t see why not.” And then, more to the side than to Obito: “The weather in this dump probably won’t get better.”

Tobi repeated the girly courtesy from earlier. “Tobi is so happy.”

The blonde man gave Obito a long look, as if he was still trying to decide what his deal was, but then he shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t forget to give Dei his brush back.” He turned and walked away.

Obito watched him go and turned the hairbrush in his hand. Whoever this Kayami, one thing was for certain: They had just gotten a very interesting addition to their organisation.

[theflyindutchwoman]

On Lucy's lack of promotion

I've seen some speculation and frustration regarding Lucy's lack of promotion lately so I just wanted to add my 2 cents on the matter.

As of episode 5.09, Lucy is a P2. Per the LAPD guidelines, one becomes eligible for P3 only after 3 years on patrol. A P3 usually remains a patrol officer, but they can also choose to become a patrol training officer (like Nolan did). Once a P3, you can qualify as a detective or a sergeant, but only after your 4th year in patrol. The show has actually respected this so far : in 2.02, Armstrong mentioned that he switched to detective after 4 years on patrol and he was an exception, not the rule... And in the same episode, we found out that Angela decided to become a detective after 7+ years on patrol (if I remember correctly).

If we stick to the timeline, Lucy has been a P2 for less than 2 years : 3.09 we see her promoted to P2. From there we can add 1 month at the beginning of 4.01 (Nolan's 30 days extension is over) + 3 months mentioned at the end of 4.01 + 13 months of P1 Aaron between 4.02 and 5.03) + whatever months between 5.03 and 5.09 (unlikely to be more than 6 though).

So Lucy not being promoted yet is not a problem in itself. Even more reassuring (to me) is the fact that the writers don't forget about her at all. They keep acknowledging in canon how good she is - this season alone, we have references of her future in 5.02, 5.03, 5.06 and 5.07. And so far, her path is really good : she gained so many different experiences (her own UC operation, sergeant's aide, helped the FBI when they didn't have to invite her on the raid, UC school, acting sergeant...). I mean it is a terrific resume. On that note, I absolutely love that we see her trying and thriving on so many different positions, and thus keeping her options open.

And most importantly, it also keeps in line with the other characters' promotion (minus the very obvious one). Tim had to wait around for his sergeant position, even after passing the exam (first mention was in 1.15 and he got promoted in 4.02), Angela had a bit of a fumble but was able to become a detective in a reasonable amount of time (first mention was in 1.01 and we see her as a fully detective in 3.02). Even with Aaron, while they do mention him being a detective, it is still explicitly stated that it will take time (and not because he failed the Angela/Nyla test). If Tim gets promoted to S-II before Lucy becomes a P3 it will be because in his case you don't have a time constraint in his case. So up to this point, it is relatively grounded in reality (for a TV show obviously).

Except for one character. Now in regards to Nolan... that's where it is pure insanity and all the previous rules goes out of the window. In 3.05, we found out that he could qualify for TO exam in 2 years if he has his college degree... Considering he's still in probation... Nope. And, I find dubious it only took a month to finish his college degree. But the best part (and by that I mean infuriating) is that in the end it only took a year later (4.21) for him to be able to take the TO exam... What happened to needed two years? Whatever. Only he can't take the exam because he is sent in a hole so he'll have to wait two extra years (which is basically what should have been the case from the start). But not to worry, he gets a golden ticket, the thing that is allegedly practically impossible to get (it took years of UC work for Nyla in comparison...). So why the rules that applies to everyone in Mid-Wilshire but not him? Well...

Now I could get past that if at least he was having some troubles with his new position (there's a reason why you don't get promoted immediately : lack of experience is one of them). I liked 5.02 for that... but since then, nada. Worse : after being explicitly told that he should not let Celina drive (again there is a reason and it has nothing to do with Celina), he still does it. Again, whatever.

Anyway, back to Lucy. I get the frustration, especially in comparison with Nolan (I could rant all day seriously). But I don't think the writers would mention all these opportunities and not do something about it. My guess is, we'll have a promotion towards the end of season 5/next season. I think we are going to have a deeper conversation about her future in LAPD in 5B. If only because of her burgeoning relationship with Tim and how it is going to impact their careers.

[infinitelycomplexpuzzles]

The Supervillain Code

So I've been thinking about this a lot, based on my reading of the Golden and Silver ages of comics, in terms of what makes a supervillain, and what sorts of things are required to be a supervillain. This is a bit of a hard and fast ruleset, obviously, and not everyone is going to meet all points, but I think it'll hit the general idea of what makes for a supervillain.

Rule 1: We Are Madmen, Lunatics, Freaks, Maniacs, and Criminals; We Are Not Psychopaths

Any idiot can drive a bus into a crowd of people. Any idiot can shoot up a crowded room. They were doing it in the 20s with tommy guns, it's even easier to do in the modern day. This doesn't make you a supervillain. A body count isn't the marker of a Supervillain, because it requires no effort, no flair, no panache, no skill.

A Supervillain, first and foremost, is a better class of criminal. They are above your common thug; they are not simply mass murderers or serial killers who kill needlessly or wantonly. We will get to the rules about killing later, but the first rule must be that there is more to supervillainy that simple murder. If all it took to be a supervillain was a body count, then anyone could do it.

Rule 2: Killing Is Permissible Only In Regards To Your Crimes

Let's be honest, however. Killing is part of being a villain. You're trying to kill your adversary, that hero who thwarts you. In fact, you trying to kill him is probably why he's trying to stop you. And in fact, you're probably trying to kill someone else on top of that. Maybe it's the Mayor, or the police chief, or maybe you've found someone close to the hero who you want to threaten. Whatever or whoever it is, murder is a great motivational tool for getting a hero to face you in battle like you want.

But what makes this rule separate from the first is that this is true only in regards to your crime. You might get lucky and kill your heroic adversary in the heat of battle; congrats, you won! But it is entirely unsporting to say, show up at his family barbecue and blow him up with a rocket launcher. That's not a real victory; you've achieved nothing. No one thinks you're better because of it. No one thinks you earned that victory, and you've gotten neither status nor respect for doing it.

Ultimately, a supervillain's triumph must come with both respect and status; you're the one who finally beat the Batman, you're the one who finally took down Spiderman, you're the one who managed to outwit Superman, you're the one who got away with robbing Iron Man.

No one thinks a supervillain needs to adhere to nonviolence or non-killing. But a supervillain is more than a killer, and more than a murderer. It's the manner and method that makes the man, so to speak.

Rule 3: Gimmick Infringement Is Frowned Upon, Get Your Own Idea

Look, lots of people have similar ideas. There are lots of people who think 'yes, I am a great marksman, I shall make this the basis of my supervillain motif.' But in general, two things apply: one, you don't operate in the same city as someone else with the same gimmick if they got there first, and two, you don't take anyone else's name, especially if they're still using it.

Names carry respect and prestige, especially if they're a name formerly used by a now retired or dead Supervillain. You can't just roll up and call yourself the same thing, or steal their gimmick. Not only is that not cool, but it makes you look small time. And really, the other villain might just off you, and that would be entirely acceptable, as gimmick infringement is a huge breach of supervillain ethics.

There are, of course, caveats. One, if you get permission from the former supervillain, that's fine. Two, if that villain was too small time to really matter, that's also fine. Three, if you're directly related to that villain.

Rule 4: This Is My Heist, Get Your Own

Generally speaking, letting another villain do all the work and then swooping in is bad form. Most villains put a lot of thought into how they commit their vile deeds; showing up to take advantage is a good way to create a grudge. Furthermore, you also lose all the status and prestige that comes from having succeeded on your own, and everyone is going to think of you as someone who cheats to succeed.

However, it's entirely acceptable to steal from another supervillain after they've committed the crime. Showing up during the bank robbery to steal something out from under them is bad form, but showing up after to steal from them is entirely acceptable. It's their own fault for not being prepared for that.

Rule 5: Do Not Spoil The Fun

Look, everyone who's in the villain community for a hero knows who they are in their day to day life. Supervillains are made up of geniuses of every stripe; they probably figured out who their adversary was relatively quickly.

But there's a reason they don't reveal to the world who they really are. One, it would spoil the fun, because they'd not be able to move around as easily. Two, it would drag in all kinds of bottom feeders who would take advantage without having earned it. Three, it would make it impossible to engage in the same kind of dynamic that makes Supervillainy worth it.

To know your enemy's true identity is an exclusive club; but much like crime, it's beneath a supervillain to expose a hero's identity, at least before they're dead at your hand. A supervillain who kills his hero can expose them, but not before. Doing so would ruin the fun. A hero is only who they are because of their secret identity; destroying their secret identity just lets unworthy people in on it, and changes the hero in awful ways.

Rule 6: Live Your Gimmick

Look, we might look down on Kite Man or Stilt Man or whoever else, but they embody a core part of the supervillain: whatever your gimmick is, you live that. Your heists should be centered around whatever your thing is, or at least, should embody parts of it. Failing that, you should be at least prepared to take advantage of whatever your thing is.

For example, Captain Cold uses a cold gun, that's his thing. He also robs banks with said cold gun. That's his thing. That's one side of the spectrum, where the gimmick is basically just 'thing I use while committing crimes.' On the other side, you have Mr. Freeze, a man who commits ice themed crimes. That's living the gimmick in terms of theme.

Or, in another example, you could be Cluemaster fighting heroes while troubling them with trivia, or you could be Riddler whose crimes are themed around riddles.

Either way, you should live your gimmick. What elevates a bank robber to supervillain is theme and commitment to it.

Rule 7: Get Your Own Hero!

A supervillain is often defined as much by the hero he fights as he is by his own gimmick. As such, it's bad form to go after another supervillain's hero specifically.

Look, if Batman is in Metropolis and he's trying to stop you, that's one thing. It's another thing entirely for a Metropolis supervillain to go to Gotham to fight him specifically.

This isn't much of a hard rule, but in general, it's extremely frowned upon, especially if you're doing it because you think another hero is easier to defeat. Supervillainy is about respect and prestige; moving somewhere else to defeat their hero grants you neither. And it's especially bad form if that hero is deeply associated with a certain group of villains or a specific city. This is less of a problem if you're dealing with a hero who is more mobile or less well known, but in general a supervillain should strive to have their own hero.

Rule 8: Stick To Your Own Stomping Grounds

Look, villains travel too. But it's usually bad form to travel to other countries and just decide to start doing crime, for the same reason it's bad form to show up in other villain's cities and start fighting their heroes. This also isn't a hard rule, but in general it's bad form to just start making trouble in other people's territory.

Rule 9: Those Who Don't Abide By The Code Deserve None Of It's Protections

Look, supervillains break the law by design. They don't follow rules. But the rules of supervillainy exist for a reason, if only to denote who's a villain and who's a supervillain.

Those that break the rules, those that choose to violate them, deserve and get none of the protections of the code. They deserve neither respect nor prestige, and villains are entirely free to treat them with contempt and disdain, and violate any of the other rules in regards to them.

For example: Dr. Doom follows the rules. He is, first and foremost, a supervillain. He kills people, he commits crimes, and he has at times, violated the various rules of supervillainy, but he does not break them constantly.

Red Skull does not follow the rules. He is a genocidal psychopath who actively flaunts and ignores the code, and as such, deserves no respect or deference by other supervillains. His schemes are free to be disrupted or crashed, his life is not protected, and he is absolutely not deserving of respect or prestige. Supervillains are free to do what they please against such a person; if he's in their city, he is not afforded any of the protections you might give someone else.

Simply put, it would be bad form for Riddler to disrupt the schemes of someone like Bookworm, because Bookworm adheres to the code of Supervillains. It is entirely permissible for Riddler to absolutely ruin the schemes of Captain Nazi, because he does not follow the rules, and as such is not afforded any protection by them.

Rule 10: Targeting Other Supervillains Specifically Is Bad Form

This is a bit of an addition to previous rules, but in general, Supervillains should not exclusively target other supervillains. It's one thing if they cross your path or go after your spoils, but it's quite another if you're spending all your time targeting them.

This is especially true because most supervillains do not have secret identities. Targeting their friends and loved ones is extremely bad form. However, as the previous rule makes clear, if they don't follow the code themselves, they're fair game. At the same time however, don't expect prestige or respect for targeting random people related to the rule breaker the way you might if you targeted them directly.

Rule 11: Team Ups Are Usually Temporary, But Respect Them Until They're Over

The supervillain team up is a longstanding tradition. During such times, supervillains should work together, and not betray each other until after the heist is concluded and the hero is fought. Betraying your ally during the heist or during the fight with the hero is a coward move, and actively frowned upon.

There's a big reason why you want to respect this rule as well: people who get the reputation as traitors will inevitably find it harder to find people to team up with. Since the biggest heists often require team ups, and since the biggest prestige comes from teams of supervillains fighting teams of heroes, ending up as the guy no one wants on your team is a very bad thing.

No one expects their allies to remain allies once the job is over. But during the job, don't betray the group. Don't be that guy.

Rule 12: Respect Those Who Leave The Life, Unless They're Now Heroes

Villains who go straight and become heroes rightly get scorned by the supervillain community. But those who either go straight or retire and who adhered to the code should be afforded some measure of respect for that choice.

If they choose to get out of the life entirely, because they're tired of it or they managed to actually score and no longer need to be a supervillain, they should be left alone. After all, it's the dream of many a supervillain to score enough to buy a private island and retire. Those that achieve this should be respected.

At the same time, elder supervillains who retire should not be targeted. The amount of Supervillains who live to old age anyway is fairly small, so those that manage to stay in the life long enough to retire deserve respect. Beyond that, it's bad form to target them anyway; no one thinks you're a great supervillain for beating up an old man.

Obviously, those that break this rule can absolutely expect retaliation by other villains who take offense.

Rule 13: It's The Job Of Supervillains To Enforce The Code Among Themselves

There is no honor among thieves. But as stated in previous rules, those that break the rules should expect punishment or retaliation by other villains, depending on how severe the rules broken are.

For example, if you operate in another villain's city, you might expect to have that villain screw up your heist. If you kill their hero, you might expect them to target you. If you kill some retired villain, you can expect retaliation by those that respected them.

Supervillains shouldn't expect heroes to enforce the code. It's up to the Supervillain community to enforce the code collectively. Those that are on the out should know it, and feel it too.

Rule 14: More Rules Can Be Added As Needed

Social mores change, times change, people change. In general, the rules are more a social contract between supervillains. As such, rules can be added and amended as needed. More than that, regional variations can exist, and supervillains should respect those variations when they operate in those territories.

For example, the Rogues of Central City who fight the Flash do not kill. It is a core part of their supervillain code. By contrast, the rules on killing are looser among Gotham City's supervillains. Supervillains will decide among themselves how strict or loose various rules are.

[plaguery]

🖊 idk ur ffxiv ocs but id love to get to know them!! chinhands :3

i love ocs so much but i am so bad at publicly talking about them because i have a hangup that makes me think i have to release full dossiers on each and every one before i can casually talk about them. so we'll go for a summary on each since i havent mentioned them much outside of drawings

i have three ffxiv ocs at the moment: my wol, siv, and two scion "npcs" that come as a pair, magdal and senryo

we'll start with the wol: siv sessrúmnir, sea wolf roe, she/her. sam/drg main, but can generally go for any melee dps if she needs to. genderfluid and uses different gendered titles in different situations.

(i dont know what possessed me to draw them in a magnet pose but i did)

prior to adventuring, she lived in a small la noscean village as a village ritual leader, specializing in funerary traditions. she was born to two pirates, with her mother continuing on with her life at sea and her father returning home to his village of origin to settle down and raise siv. siv was mute until her teenage years, yet still opted for the regional sign of her village occasionally as she got more comfortable with speech. her paternal aunt was the village ritual leader at the time and helped raise siv into the role, with siv often acting as an assistant to her in her adolescence.

siv did not begrudge her role necessarily, but found it limiting still. her late teens and early twenties saw her leave her post and try her hand at pirating as her parents did before her. after giving birth, siv's mother has become a fearsome captain of a rogue band unaffliated with the maelstrom and uninterested in any good deeds or society. as siv had grown, she only visited a handful of times, but a handful enough to lead siv out to sea with her. in this time, siv became the dreadful right hand of her mother, similarly feared and steeped in the group's atrocities. still, siv found herself unfulfilled and no closer to her mother, so she left to return home.

back at the village, she did the same as she had before, only molding to her role with finer precision. this was to be the rest of her life.

but the calamity shook everything, her mother was now missing at sea, uncle dead, aunt grievously injured but alive, even if she was counting her days. siv took more responsibility in the village and even made ends meet with side work as a fisherman in limsa. yet, the true break in siv's future came once her aunt took her end into her own hands and officially passed the mantle to siv.

siv did perform her rites, rites that last across several days. and then, she fled. she took to gridania and their lancer's guild, forgetting herself in the motions of the polearm.

thus, an adventurer was born.

--

i would classify siv as a deeply suicidal character, without the outright drive to commit it. considering her relationship to death through her upbringing, death is just another journey and not the full escape she wants. she is anhedonic and detached for much of her journey as a wol, unknowingly seeking some kind of oblivion. she becomes the warrior of light because she operates on other's command. she seeks "nothing" and has no compass and by fate alone, the scions were the first to scoop her up and start telling her where to go. despite her cold distance, she does have high empathy, with no bounds or borders, that stays suppressed until much later on. and yet, morality is not on her personal radar whatsoever. i came up with this well before i even got to later expansions, so her general emotional storyline matches up quite well with the canon, particularly endwalker.

on a much lighter note: my other two are my fun characters, magdal bloodfury (hyur highlander, it/its, they/them in special instances, war/gnb, doesn't care to think about its own gender but revels in being ungendered) and senryo kusushi (raen au'ra, he/him, smn/sch, transfem butch).

ive described magdal as a reverse vegan, it wants to personally hunt and kill its meat and sink its teeth right into the carcass. for some reason i haven't drawn it like this yet but typically, it wears face covering helmets. its bites have various meanings though (but these still could just be classified as differing types of hunger) and is incessantly pouncing on its loved ones or potential friends to bite or nibble them affectionately. it is the bane of all other hunters across every continent it has visited so far.

it possesses an odd variant of the echo that, in function, works the same as expected, but inflicts everyone nearby within a certain radius with the same splitting headache and no vision boon as that is magdal's alone.

despite magdal's otherwise cheerful demeanor, it generally seems to put most people off to its acquaintance.

it is more than fine with this though, as it has it's beloved partner and companion by its side always, senyro. he is the composed one of the two, deemed exceptionally normal in comparison to his companion. senryo is devoted to study and notably, classically romantic in a way that confuses most given the object of his affections. he loves long walks on the beach and poetic interludes on their journeys.

senryo really is quite average and prefers his life this way. he has reasonable goals, wants a stable income and a nice place to sleep. even with summoning as a passion, he has no urge to become a notable figure in the craft. in almost every way, he simply desires a quiet life.

yet, his partnership with magdal hints to stranger parts of his personality. he is more than happy being their chew toy and cleaning up after their messes. despite magdal getting them both kicked out of multiple establishments, senryo has never been happier. it works well for them, he keeps the particulars of their day-to-day living in check and they protect him with a ferocity rarely seen on this star. they happily wind down their nights with tending to each others wounds (bite marks included), pulling leftovers out of magdal's teeth, and braiding senryo's hair.

[f1]

Sprint races still havent proved their worth Gasly | RaceFans Round-up

In the round-up: Alpine driver Pierre Gasly does not believe that Formula 1’s sprint race format has yet proven itself as a spectacle. In brief Sprint races ‘haven’t proved their worth to me as a spectacle’ – Gasly Alpine driver Pierre Gasly does not believe that Formula 1’s sprint race format has yet proven itself as a spectacle. The format has featured at three rounds for both of the last two year and will be expanded to six rounds this season. Gasly says he prefers the traditional race weekend format of qualifying on Saturday followed by a single race on Sunday. “Personally I really like the normal format with the qualifying on Saturday and then one grand prix on Sunday,” Gasly said. “Sprint races – I see the positives financially for the organisation. In terms of spectacle, it still hasn’t proved to me that it’s worth having more and more races. So in my opinion, the normal format is better. F2, F3 to ship race fuel to Melbourne three months in advance Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 will send their race fuels to Melbourne three months in advance of the series’ first races at the Albert Park circuit. Asked about the logistics of travelling to Australia, series CEO Bruno Michel said that some resources had to be sent out well in advance of the event in early April. “It’s complicated, but we really enjoy to do that,” said Michel. “Especially because it’s at the beginning of the season, it’s going to be right after Bahrain. So there are a lot of things that needs to be organised in advance. “We need to, for instance, send the fuel very, very early in advance because we knew it takes three months to get there and we’re not going to fly it. So yes, it makes things a little bit more complicated. In terms of cost, it’s not going to change anything for the teams because we will pay for the freight because the promoter is giving us the money to pay for that. So that’s absolutely fine.” Quotes: Hazel Southwell Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Links Motor racing links of interest: Watch: Logan's 2023 F1 seat fit (Williams) "As our preparations for the 2023 Formula 1 season continue, our new driver Logan Sargeant recently completed his all-important seat fit at Grove." Welcome, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) "The most experienced grand prix driver of all time, Fernando joins the team off the back of two impressive seasons in Formula 1 following a two-year sabbatical from the sport. More than 20 years after making his Grand Prix debut, he retains the same restless hunger for success and raw speed that have seen him win 32 Grands Prix and two Formula One drivers' titles. He now looks to use all his skill, speed and experience to drive AMF1 to the front of the grid." Coulthard backs Ferrari title bid and puts 2022 woes down to being 'not match fit' (Mirror) "There might be an element of just not being match fit, having not operated at that level (for a while). Ferrari are the most famous name in Formula 1, and have been the longest running members so there might be an element of mass fatigue as well." The Formula 4 title battles you might have missed in 2022 (Formula Scout) "Most of the plaudits in Formula 4 this year went to the dominators of the three most high-profile series. Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli crushed the opposition in ADAC and Italian F4, Alex Dunne took British F4 honours despite missing the final round and Fernando Alonso protege Nikola Tsolov, a car racing debutant, dominated Spanish F4." We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Happy birthday! Happy birthday to Regis and T3X! On this day in motorsport Born on this day in 1957: Beppe Gabbiani, who entered 17 F1 races and failed to qualify for all but three of them. via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

[princesscolumbia]

I think the point at which my brain fully dumped out all the bullshit programming I'd grown up with around the issue of homelessness was when, in 2019, I was living out of my van and praying the gasket leak wouldn't take it out so I could drive between the walmart parking lot where the cops wouldn't kick us out just for trying to sleep in the back seat of my own damn vehicle, the fitness club I paid the membership for specifically so I could have a shower, and my job that had no clue they'd hired a homeless transwoman.

It wasn't my personal experience of homelessness that did it.

It wasn't even the fact that I was working a customer support call center for a real estate rental company that charged so much for the homes they rented out that it would take three of any one of the employees in their own damn call center to afford one of the houses for rent.

It wasn't even the time I was having to pay $3 a day for ice to put into my massive pink cooler with the built-in battery operated portable A/C that I had to point specifically at my head to trick my body into believing I wasn't actually trying to sleep in temperatures that would, literally, boil your brain.

It wasn't even the phone call I took the day after the haboob that nearly suffocated me and my GF because it was a fucking dust storm in the middle of July in the goddamn desert where a lady living in one of the houses my employer rented out demanding I escalate her refrigerator broken ice machine to "emergency" because this particular special snowflake was having a party in two hours and needed her ice.

(Like, not even talking about the fact that you're saying this to a homeless person who's sanity is being chipped away by the desert heat every night and feeling personally betrayed because growing up she'd always been told that "the desert nights are so much cooler than the day" and sitting there in 90℉+ heat and wondering when it was supposed to cool off and realizing the daytime heat of 120℉+ was a full 30-degree spread and if it'd gone from 90 down to 60 it would, indeed, be downright cool in comparison and realized then and there that anyone who says "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" is a goddamn asshole that deserves, at minimum, a baseball bat to the sternum and the entire time she's squeezing a fist so tight she could probably form a diamond if she had a lump of coal so she doesn't COMPLETELY lose her shit and tell you where you can shove your ice maker so she doesn't lose the one lifeline she's got to make sure she and her girlfriend don't run out of food by the end of the day.)

What took all my preconceptions about homelessness (not to mention a LOT of unconscious classism that I'd been living with most of my life) was when, in the middle of all that, I read an article about how there were more vacant residential homes (that includes apartments, houses, duplexes, trailer homes, etc.) then there were homeless people in the entirety of the USA.

Literally someone could take a homeless person and just...put them in an apartment or a house or a trailer or anything and there would still be empty residential homes left over.

Because all the empty places were "high end" homes that nobody could afford, let alone the homeless people.

Also, like, I'm sorry but if you've set up a free shelter, and people refuse to go because sleeping on the sidewalk under a freeway bridge is more pleasant, that's fucking on you, that's not on them.

You really can't compete with sleeping under the overpass so you are going to force people into shelter?

Unspeakably cruel and stupid.

[shahronak47]

Say no to "YES" Rentals

We had recently been to New Zealand and the trip was awesome. Unfortunately, our trip ended on a bitter note. Self drive is the easiest way to explore New Zealand, I believe. We had rented our vehicle from Yes Rentals, Queenstown branch. They gave us Toyota Aqua Hybrid which had almost completed 80k kms but still was well maintained.

We stayed in Christchurch for 3 days and on one of the day while I was taking reverse in the parking, the car got slightly hit on the back. Since I was in the parking area I was slow and thankfully it did not damage a lot. I had completely forgotten about it until the last day when I came back to Yes rentals to return the car. The operator there noticed the scratch and immediately called it out.

This is the scratch

I said, ok, yes, the scratch was my mistake so I need to pay for it. I went in the office, the operator took the photo of it and sent it to his manager. He said I need to check with my boss to know how much needs to be paid. We waited for a while and the operator said you need to deposit 1000 NZD. We will check how much the cost of fix would be and return the remaining amount to you in 7-10 working days. I was shocked, I mean definitely it was not worth 1000$. It was such a simple scratch but then I thought it must be their process of taking this minimum amount irrespective of the severity of the damage so I just complied.

They asked me to fill up some form. Based on the questions in the form it was to be filled when you met with an accident. It asked when did accident occur, did you call the police etc. I definitely did not call police because of a scratch on my car :P It was end of our trip and I felt really bad to pay 1000$ for a scratch that could have been avoided. However, we had a flight to catch so we left anyway. On the airport, I thought I should have told them to take 100$ or 500$ max and should not have accepted the 1000$ that they asked me to pay upfront. After this thought, I felt more sad because I paid 1000$ + 2.5% transaction charge (25$) and I was also going to lose on exchange rate twice because of this too and fro money transfer. As I was feeling restless, I emailed them from the airport asking for estimate of the fix and how much time it will take to return the money. However, they didn't have answer to both of them.

I returned the car on 2nd March and it was 12th of March today but still there was no response from them so I send them an email asking the same question again where they mentioned that repairs are scheduled to be completed next week. I mean for me it is max 15 mins job to fix this. I think fix is a very big word for it, you can spray paint the car with the same color as your car and that's it. I am not sure why they are taking so long to "fix it".

Waited for another week and after few more follow ups invoice was generated and shared with me. You will not guess the amount they charged me to fix the scratch. The repair costed me 981.24$ . I cannot stress it enough on this 981$. I mean look at the scratch once again.

How can you attach 981$ to this? I mean I am angry and laughing at the same time. How dumb do you think I am? Definitely, me agreeing to deposit 1000$ for this little thing was not the smartest thing I did but charging 981$ for this scratch was stretched too far. They quietly returned me 18$ and said Thank you for choosing YES rentals.

Their detailed invoice looks like this :

I was actually out of words seeing this crazy invoice. I asked them to explain what does this "Real Bumper Panel Repair" mean and why is it 3 in quantity to which they replied that charge is based on 3 hours of repair work billed at 85$ per hour. They also invited me to cross verify these prices from reputable repair companies in Queenstown.

Me being a coder/developer have done quite a lot of freelance work and charging 85$/hour is not that uncommon in tech area but this 85$ for mechanic/auto technician is so much more. No offence to them but it is what it is. So I did some research as they had invited me to and found this

So from 26$ median range, they are charging me 85$. What are you fixing? NASA spaceships?

I get so hyper looking at this every time I remember it. We had lot of emails back and forth where they tried to explain me that Queenstown is an expensive place so rates are higher than rest of NZ etc. I said I understand that since I have stayed in both USA and Switzerland which are more expensive than NZ but still my head just cannot justify this 981$ for the scratch. I mean look at the scratch and put 981$ - this number against it to fix it. I simply can't accept it and the fact that you think this is "reasonable" is making my blood boil even more. I also told them that there is no way to verify these 3 hours. Who knows if you actually worked for 3 hours? Here number 3 was selected so that it solves the equation to come up with a number close to 1000$. If I had paid only 500$ upfront then hourly rate would have dropped to some less number, number of hours would be less as well and everything would be adjusted accordingly. Basically start working backwards (1000$) and find a way to produce a bill that fits the equation. 18$ were returned to make this look like a genuine company and not to make it an obvious scam.

My wife was waiting patiently till now but really got frustrated with these emails and gave them a 1 star on Google review to which they threw their standard reply. We understand your disappointment but you should drive safely and buy insurance from us (so that we can loot you further).

However, I was still fighting with them (over emails) about how non-sensical it was from them to charge me this much. On 20th of March I got an email from the manager of the Queenstown branch and she told me that she has looked into the matter closely and would like to offer me 150$ if I remove the negative review on Google (and also stopped emailing them).

So please if you are planning to go to NZ, use Yes Rentals!

Lol, you wish!! I told the manager the same thing. What you are charging me is completely unacceptable and does not make any sense. To which manager replies to me that we do not want be stuck in this unpleasant conversation, do we? Just take this 150$ and shut up. Obviously, I am paraphrasing this.

I have been keeping a watch on their Google review since my wife posted the negative review and after her review within 24 hours there were 7 , five star reviews. I doubt how many of them are genuine reviews. For me it felt that those reviews were there to cover up after her review. It achieved two objectives : 1. The newest reviews are the positive review 2. Overall average is maintained.

In the last 15 days, I have not seen their average rating move at all. It has been steady on 4.3 in spite of so many reviews. It looks as if they are trying to maintain that number by manipulating it. I know it is not difficult to buy reviews in this day and age.

I did not accept that 150$ as well because I don't think 830$ is reasonable amount for that scratch and additionally I wanted to write this post. Like their technicians, my hourly rate is very high as well and 150$ is definitely not going to cover it.

[hazygrains]

September 3 – 4, 2022

This trip finally pushed through after planning it for quite a while! We, bisprins, wanted to spend our time together away from the city, but I honestly couldn’t remember how we all ended up agreeing to go to the inflatable island. Can I just say that this was one of the most exhausting yet, at the same time, relaxing trips I had experienced? First off, the weather was already bad, days before this trip. The southwest monsoon being enhanced by the tropical typhoon and some unforeseen circumstances made us almost back out, but screw it, we still pushed through, rain or shine. So the day before our trip, we decided to just meet up at the office. Most of us were scheduled to work from home that day, so we all just went to the office after our shift. We also wanted to meet up with the tech team that was in the office and celebrated our officemate’s birthday.

September 2, 2022 – Friday | Ry‘s birthday celebration + office Friday socials

We spent a few hours bonding with everyone, then around 8 pm, we decided to go ahead and travel to Zambales. On our way out of the office, Ems decided to go out with us and go home. It was funny because we were supposed to just drop her off at her place, but then she asked us where we were going and if she could also come, and we all agreed. We accompanied her to her condo to pack for like 5-10 minutes. It was way too sudden and crazy! We love spontaneity!

We arrived around 2 am at Jhaey‘s place in Zambales. We were all drained from the travel, so after we freshened up, we called it a day. We woke up around 6 am because the time slot we booked for the inflatable island was the earliest, 8 am. We still needed to travel from Zambales to Olongapo, which was like an hour’s drive away. We were all regretting our life decisions at this point. Lol! We arrived past our scheduled time, but the management agreed to move it to 9 am. The weather was gloomy, and it was raining every now and then. The downside of this weather was that the rain turned the sea water brown and murky, and there were trash strewn about. Srsly gross! Anyhoo, we took the Sprinkle pass, and that was an hour access to the floating island. Thank goodness, we took just the hour pass because dannnng, it felt like we were there for so long. We wanted our time to end already. It was fun, though. We all slipped and fell in the water. But yes, never again.

After the exhausting activity, Jhaey brought us to this authentic Korean restaurant somewhere in Subic. We were all famished! And that moment was the highlight of my day. It was by far the best k-restau I’ve ever been to! Super yummy, reasonable prices, and large servings. Can’t wait to go back there! We went back to Zambales after that scrumptious brunch. We caught up on lost sleep, and since it was raining nonstop that day, we decided to just rest, spend time together. We didn’t even bother drinking, but we still played question card games for deeper conversations. And talked about everything and nothing ’til the wee hours.

Our itinerary wasn’t followed due to the weather. We were supposed to try the new pizza place near Jhaey’s and also visit Mapanuepe Lake, but oh well. We just stayed at the beachfront and grabbed lunch/celebrated Marnie‘s birthday before we went back to the jungle. We still made the most of our time, and I was happy to spend my weekend with these beautiful people. ♡

P.S. We had work the next day and most of us called in sick. This trip was definitely one for the books.

The following days after this trip were tough for me and my family. I had an emergency when we were on our way home from Zambales. I went straight to the hospital when we arrived in the metro. Mama’s heart wasn’t doing well, and she was brought to the hospital. She underwent an angiogram procedure, and the doctor suggested doing a bypass operation because she has three clogged arteries. She’s still recovering and is doing somewhat okay now. My siblings and I are still asking for politicians/government’s financial help. A lot has already helped, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Her coronary bypass operation is scheduled for January next year. I hope everything goes well.

[timeoverload]

I'm glad today is over. I haven't been in a very good mood. I woke up this morning at 3:30 after a nightmare. I tried to go back to bed but then I had 2 more in a row. They have been extremely vivid lately. I felt very uncomfortable and disoriented after that. It was hard to get out of bed.

I didn't have any eye cases scheduled this afternoon so I spent a lot of my time wrapping total pans and loading autoclaves. I spent most of my lunch break making phone calls and I didn't have time to get food so that made me feel like shit. I have been eating a lot better recently so that threw me off.

They gave me a 2 hour decontam shift at the end of the day. 6 cases got done while I was back there and most of them were totals so there was a lot to clean. The instruments seemed bloodier than usual and I think the techs were too lazy to wipe things off in the operating room like they are supposed to. I had to pick cement off of impactors which is something that we're not supposed to have to worry about anymore since it's the tech's job to remove it in the room before it hardens. A lot of sets were mixed together so I had to take extra time to sort things out. They were all just trying to go home and someone even left a patella on the dirty cart. It's definitely not the first time that has happened to me but it pisses me off when they don't even try to make our jobs easier. It's not my job to dispose of body parts but I still get stuck doing it sometimes. I didn't expect to have to close decontam either so it ended up being 2 and a half hours instead. It was so hot and I got so sweaty. The dirty water soaked through my gown so I was drenched when I got done. I felt so gross afterward. I just hate being trapped in that room because it's such a miserable place to be. I don't want to do it anymore.

I was glad that I got to leave once I had everything cleaned up. I hobbled out of there as fast as I could. I threw up in the parking lot when I got to my car because I overdid it.

I came home and took a shower immediately and made some food so I feel a little better I guess. I'm sore now though and I lifted too much today. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow because I have 30 eye cases and there are 20 total joint surgeries. There are also a lot of robotic surgeries and other procedures. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next 2 days but I know I will somehow. I will probably be crabby.

I'm a little disappointed because I can't go fishing with the person that invited me to go with her a couple weeks ago. For some reason she had the impression that I had my own fishing pole and access to a kayak. She never told me I needed to have that stuff initially so I was confused. I also didn't realize that she was expecting me to drive like 3 hours to the lake by myself. It seems like she has been trying to dissuade me from wanting to go like she regrets asking me in the first place. She goes fishing with the autoclave repair man. He's a nice guy but I'm not sure if I want to hang out with him outside of work. I think they have something going on between them so I don't really want to be a third wheel anyway. I guess they text all the time. He has mentioned in the past that he's unhappily married so it makes me uncomfortable. I shouldn't make assumptions like that but I would like to avoid being put in an awkward situation. Their relationship is none of my business so I want to stay out of it. I probably shouldn't try to hang out with people from work anyway. I used to try to do that years ago but it never ended well. It just starts drama. I'm just too boring and weird and don't have much in common with anyone. I guess I will keep being a hermit. I'm really bummed out because summer is already almost over and I didn't get to do anything that I wanted to do.

I've also been stressed about my kitties all day too. All 3 of them are overdue for check-ups. They are behind on vaccinations and licensing. They deserve better and I feel like a bad cat mom. They are just hard for me to transport. Harry is very heavy and Soupy and Salazaar have to go together because they freak out if they get separated. I need to get them new carriers. I hope that I can figure out a way to get them to the vet soon because I've been worried about them. I want to get them a new cat tree and new toys too but I need to get caught up on some more of my bills first. I feel like I haven't been able to give them the attention they need.

I decided that I'm going to stay home next Wednesday and Thursday because I need a vacation and I have been saving my sick days. I'm planning on getting some things sorted out during that time. I'm going to try to be productive and get more organized. I am lucky that there aren't any eye cases scheduled Tuesday afternoon so I can go to my appointment without it being a hassle and I don't need to find someone to cover for me. I lied to my boss and told her that I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday and I needed to leave a little early and she said that was fine. I had to say I was going to the doctor and not the tattoo shop because I didn't want to get denied. I'm hoping that next week will be better than this one has been so far. I'm looking forward to having some extra time off. I also have my ultrasound next Friday. I'm not excited to do that but at least I am getting it taken care of so I can figure out what's wrong with me.

I'm so tired right now. I don't think I will be able to stay up very late tonight. I hope I can have some good dreams for once. I'm all ready for bed and I'm going to try to relax for a while. I need to mentally prepare myself for tomorrow. I'm trying to stay optimistic that it will be better than I'm expecting it to be. I will try to make it a good day.