#unfortunately that is. still affecting me. i love capitalism

[officialrapunzelfitzherbert]

reblogging again for the morning crowd!!! after paying rent today i have $5 to my name and my day job doesn't pay me until next week! if anyone wants to help me cover some of my short term expenses in the meantime (etsy fees/shipping labels to get my orders out on time, grocery delivery fees that EBT doesn't cover) a few dollars would go a long way.

etsy shop: mariathereseart

ko-fi: mariatherese

venmo: MariaCarias

hellooooo catsona commissions are open!! | here is my form

do u want me to draw u as a little cat with an outfit on?? or a loved one? or your oc?? or your real cat?? the possibilities are endless!!!

just kidding theyre not fully endless

will not draw: backgrounds, nsfw, any other animals (i can only draw cats sorryyyyy)

i will ask for half payment upfront and the rest when it's finished!

i accept venmo, paypal, and zelle

please send references for the outfits! a specific fit or a general style is fine

thank youuuuu meow meow meow

[oswildin]

Loki x Partner!You Halloween Headcannons

A/N: Leans into grumpy x sunshine trope, fluff/humour/lighthearted/not to be taken seriously. Gender neutral.

Loki awoke to you being missing from bed, confused and rather disgruntled that he couldn’t get morning cuddles, before he remembered exactly why you were up before him…

31st October… It was Halloween.

You had been yapping all about it the previous day, and of course he listened, even if he didn’t quite understand why it was such a big deal.

“I thought you would love Halloween!” “Why?” “Because you’re-“ “I’m…?” “Well… y’know… you.” “I’ll try not to take offence.”

And as Loki arose, he began to hear the faint sound of music, a song he didn’t recognise but sounded festive (it was ‘this is Halloween’).

It was then he found you, in the kitchen, still in your pj’s humming and singing along to the song playing gleefully.

Sometimes he envied just how carefree you acted, but he also loved it. It… brought out a different side to him, subtle but definitely there. Not that he would admit that, of course.

“Must you play that racket at such an early hour?” “This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!” You continued to sing gleefully, grinning at him in amusement. “And here was me thinking it was Christmas.” He quipped dryly, making you roll your eyes before turning to reveal the ghost shaped pancakes you’d made for breakfast.

Loki had to hold back a small smile from tugging at his lips, it really was quite silly. But… adorable. And so, he raised a brow, looking down at them with a skeptical eye.

“You’re lucky I like you.”

After breakfast, you were very insistent that your typical yearly routine commenced, much to Loki’s dismay. It consisted of going to the supermarket and grabbing as many sweet treats and spooky confectionery as you could.

Of course, knowing Loki didn’t appreciate artificially sweet Midgardian treats, you told him you would allow him to pick his own selection of dried fruits and any other snacks he wanted.

“How thoughtful of you.” He teased wryly at your ‘allowance’. “Shut up, you know what I meant.” Of course he did, he just loved winding you up.

“You do realise this is all a farce? What began as a tradition of the souls of the dead returning to their homes has been turned into a commodity, another way for corporations to make money.” “I didn’t realise you were so concerned about the effects of capitalism.” “Well, I do unfortunately inhabit this planet as well, do I not? It affects me too.” “Loki, did you even pay for that bag of dried fruit?” “No. Why would I?” Of course you sighed, fighting the urge to pinch the bridge of your nose.

Loki loved teasing you, it was so easy.

Underneath it all, Loki was warmed that you wanted to share your enjoyment of the festivities with him. He loved seeing you excited about it, seeing your eyes light up at the silly decorations the mortals put outside their houses as you drove back home. Although, he did have to grab the steering wheel once or twice as you got distracted by some of them.

“I don’t understand why you mortals watch these ‘scary movies’.” “Why do you stab Thor as a prank?” “Because it’s funny.” “And?” “And because he deserves it.” “And…?” “And because it’s thrilling?” “Ding ding ding.”

“Also don’t you think saying he ‘deserves it’ is a little harsh?” “He’s a God, it basically equates to a paper cut.” “Paper cuts really hurt.” “I know.” He smirked.

It was when you began laughing at the rather gory scene on the TV that Loki raised a brow, slowly turning his head to look at you, watching you shove another handful of sweets into your mouth as if you were watching a children’s film.

“I do hope you’re not getting any ideas.” “What?” “That laugh of yours is almost maniacal.” That earned him a light slap on the arm. “I fear it’s too late.”

In your defence it was a very silly, cheesy, predictable scene. But that’s why you loved it.

Half way through the film, Loki conjured a blanket, putting it over you both as you continued to tuck into the sweets. He didn’t know how you could eat so many without being sick. It was… impressive.

Your pumpkins you’d carved earlier sat on the coffee table, the tea candles flames dancing within them both. You had carved yours into a classic spooky face and Loki had… simply stabbed one of his daggers into his and carved his own name. Yes, the dagger was still in the side of the pumpkin.

Loki now was deciding that he needed cuddles to make up for the lack of them that morning, his arm wrapped around your shoulder as you nestled against him, your head resting on his chest.

There was a jumpscare, which managed to actually make the God of Mischief jump.

“Oh my god, did that get you?!” “No-“ “It did!” “No, I was simply… readjusting my position-“ “You jumped! Ha! Who knew you were jumpy, you always act like-“

It was then Loki swiftly decided he could not have his fearsome reputation tarnished by such slander. His hand moving from its place on your arm, sliding up to cover your mouth, silencing you. He smirked as you glared at him, although you couldn’t hide your own amusement.

“You were saying?”

As the night went on, the excitement of the day and the early start crept up on you, making you grow sleepy, especially being nestled against Loki, safe and warm in his embrace - somehow you were always warm in his arms despite his cooler skin. He just… made you feel warm. Just as you did him.

It didn’t take long for Loki to sense you had drifted off, feeling your breaths slow into peacefulness - which was quite the contradiction to the chaos unfolding on the TV screen. But, you had always been able to sleep around chaos… Finding some sense of peace in it, in him.

He readjusted the blanket around you, shifting himself to ensure you were comfortable.

Whilst Loki may have not been the most vocal when it came to his feelings, he showed it in other ways. The subtle ways, like this moment. He let himself smile softly at your sleeping form, before he let out a content breath, resting his cheek against the top of your head.

Maybe Halloween wasn’t so bad after all.

[exn0bis]

So. Completed Veilguard. I have lots of thoughts.

Regardless, I don't think I'd be saying anything that hasn't already been said.

For my part, I went in with the expectation it was going to be bad. I was pleasantly surprised by some things, certainly by the technical aspects, but it fell about where I expected in most other ways.

But first, the good.

It was extremely refreshing to see a AAA game actually release so well optimized for once. I'm running an older system at this point, with a GTX 1080 TI. Even so, out of the box, I was able to run things on the Medium preset perfectly. After some troubleshooting the latest Nvidia driver, and updating the games native upscaling to FSR 3.x, I was running things on a mix of High & Ultra with minimal to no frame drops. This was way beyond what I expected, and made the play experience more enjoyable. While I do think that, like many games in the past few years, there is some over reliance on upscaling to make it look its best, Veilguard still maintains excellent visual fidelity without it.

On that note, the game is objectively gorgeous, regardless of how one feels about the art style (which I did personally like, too); I'm also extremely impressed how they adapted a simulated strand hair system into something playable in real-time without it being overly taxing. Would love to know the technical breakdown for that specifically, but either way, I would not be surprised if we start to see more games released with something similar going forwards.

Veilguard very much proved you can make something look gorgeous and still have it be playable on more than just the latest and greatest systems, and I hope it will encourage more studios to focus on how they optimize and implement their work.

I also found the general gameplay mechanics to be, overall, enjoyable. I was hesitant going in, as I'm 1) bad at games, and 2) from a CRPG background, so the real-time style of combat is not generally something I'm good at. I was also concerned about the stripping down of party mechanics, etc, that was a big part of the previous games. And while I do wish the party tactics had been a little more varied, I ultimately found combat fun and responsive, and that they struck a reasonable balance between simplicity with party, and overly tactical. It did have way too many buttons & combos for me, but that is definitely a me being bad at games thing and not a fault in the game.

I also was extremely impressed with how smoothly the game transitioned from gameplay to cutscenes, and I really liked the more open maps/elimination of excess loading screens.

Unfortunately, that is about all the praise I have for the game.

I'm not really going to talk too much about the complete disregard for the world state built by previous titles, because I think all that needs to be said about that has been. I agree that, from a development standpoint, they needed to find a way to simplify things. However, going so totally scorched earth that character creation literally states "you don't need to customize your previous choices if you don't want to because it doesn't really affect anything" only serves to insult and infuriate the very dedicated player base.

It's very clear that the goal of Veilguard is to wipe the slate clean for the purposes of rebranding and bringing in new players for future installments/capital. Considering the mass layoffs at Bioware, and EA's generally established business practices, this sort of tactic isn't really surprising, no, and was truthfully only a matter of time. But that doesn't stop it from feeling like a slap in the face.

That being established, the total disregard for existing lore, world state, impact of previous titles, glaring plot holes within Veilguard itself, etc, is unfortunately to be expected. No point in picking it apart individually, as it's all just a symptom of the goal of a clean slate reboot.

Which isn't to say I wasn't cursing at my screen by the end of it, but I digress.

I had hoped I could at least enjoy the game as something new, turn off the part of my brain that associated it with Dragon Age and just play it as a stand alone thing. This even worked for the first chapter or so, as I was really enjoying the exploration and gameplay. And then I started recruiting more people. And the main plot started to really get going. And turning my brain off suddenly stopped helping.

The writing is awful, full stop. It's all incredibly surface level and sanitized, and it treats the player with such ineptitude I started to feel like the game had actual disdain for me for trying to play and enjoy it. If I had a dollar for every time an NPC explicitly repeated a plot point or goal immediately after a cutscene that had already painfully spelled it out for me ended, I would have recouped the price of the game three times over. I get that reading comprehension is at an all time low, but holy shit. I paid for a sweeping fantasy narrative, not a degradation simulator that treats me like a moron.

If we manage to put that aside, we're left with a narrative that spends every spare second trying to convince you of how high the stakes are and how important your relationships will be to get through it... and then never actually manages to deliver on any of it. The game repeatedly shies away from showing you anything actually bad, or building anything actually meaningful.

Yes, we see the Blight being gross and a few choice deaths, but that's it. The mass devastation we're told is constantly happening all over Thedas? The staggering amounts of death taking place? The oh-so-vile practices and punishments of our main antagonists? Anything and everything that has to do with the extremely prevalent theme of slavery? That all happens off screen, if it happens at all. Somewhere nice and clean and safe for it to exist, sanitized of any tension or emotional impact. I cannot decide if the flagrant pacing issues in the narrative are a product of the missing tension, or their own problem.

And those important relationships we're told about follow the same pattern. Even if we ignore how everyone speaks to each other like they're reading the script of an HR Workplace Togetherness video, their personal stories are devoid of the stakes we are assured they have. I wanted so desperately to care about the things these character's cared about, but I left still unconvinced the character's themselves even gave a shit.

And with a shallow plot comes a shallow character; I felt no attachment to any of them, despite telling myself they'd grow on me as I progressed. Of course, I also didn't dislike any of them, either; I just didn't care, and I find that infinitely more damming.

I think what I find most frustrating is that the potential in the characters is there, at least. They're each interesting concepts with interesting themes, and every so often I'd get a cutscene that actually got me to feel something, to react, and I'd get excited thinking 'oh, this must be when it gets good.' But no, as soon as you're out of the cutscene, it's situation normal again. No more feelings, no more tension. That all happened off screen, again. Any emotional turmoil the character in question was in moments before is now gone in favor of Group Togetherness.

Rook is no exception to any of this, either; exactly as tepid as the rest, but coated with an even less polished illusion of substance. This is not helped by the fact that the game makes an active effort to remind you that Solas is the actual main character of this story. Rook, you as the player, are just sort of... there.

The headcanons I've seen from fans do more justice to this entire cast than the game ever does.

In summary, it's sad, I think. It's ultimately what I expected, but it's sad. Many of us have a very deep attachment to Dragon Age, the story and the community that built up around it. I literally met my wife through the Dragon Age fandom. I learned to explore some deeply personal things about myself through how I related to the story and characters because of how much depth and nuance there was to examine. To see all that reduced to what amounts to a very prettily polished turd is just... yeah. Sad.

I'm really happy that there are people who have enjoyed the game. Genuinely. I hope they'll continue to do so. Myself, I'll probably still go on a screenshot binge and enjoy how pretty it looks, too. But Veilguard is very much the end of Dragon Age, for me. And I'm sad about it.

[alexbrunn]

i loved your pav and marcoh role reversal au art so much!! do you have any more ideas about this au?? for example, does pav have any mob ties here? does marcoh want to kill the kaiser? or do they have entirely different goals / backstories? it's such an interesting premise!

I apologize for the long reply, I had a lot of time to think about this AU because I thought just switching characters around was too boring. I wanted something big, something that would affect the whole world.

You can judge for yourself how good and well thought out I've gotten, as for me, this idea still needs a lot of time to become something more serious. Plus, I haven't touched any of the characters except Pav and Marcoh (and those who are related to them in one way or another), all the other Termina members are unfortunately not involved in the idea yet.

Pav: Oh, you got a big gun like that in your pants?

The only thing that was important to me was to keep Le'Garde's importance throughout the story, because for all my love of Riccardo, he doesn't pull for someone as significant.

A time of crazy theories and crazy thoughts.

It all started when Le'Garde, instead of taking the throne in Bremen and creating Logic, decides to go the other way. He'll find out about the Sulfur God, that it's the second essence of Alll-Mer, and what's not the perfect field for his plan? If it is a part of Alll-Mer, it must be just as powerful to realize his ideas. He learns about all this in the Vatican, the capital of religions, and decides to stay there to realize his plan. Instead of politics and other public activities, he goes underground, because only from there he can learn all the darkest deeds of the Ministry of Magic and the Church, while doing other less important activities inherent in the criminal world. It comes to the point that the entire Vatican is now in his power and neither the government nor the clergy are his orders. If he wants, he will pull the strings and the vector of religious life of all mankind will change, which is gradually happening, when values are replaced by others and everything is slowly moving towards his goal of uniting mankind. Already every self-respecting believer is ready to join the crusade to Prehevil to free the second face of Alll-Mer. All those who thought otherwise were destroyed, first secretly, as if it were a showdown with the mafia, and then publicly, as heretics.

Pav's family was one of those destroyed as dissenters to the new religious dogma. The only one who survives is Pav, he vows revenge on whoever did this. His little investigation leads him first into the Mafia, and step by step he gets closer and closer to knowing that behind this is not a simple lust for money, revenge or anything else that is common in the underworld, but something more.

His character doesn't change, however given the circumstances, I feel like he would be even more self-indulgent. Even more open and swaggering, he would really like the world he is in, he doesn't feel that it was the mafia that ruined his family, he already knows there is much more behind it. In the long run, he's thinking about not just killing Kaiser, he'd love to take his place in the sun, or rather in the shade.

He probably wouldn't be in the ring much because he's not really built for it. If he does get invited, he never fights fair, he's the one who hides brass knuckles in his gloves and gets away with it for good work on the street. He's a beast out there, a guy as skillful as he is: agile, fast, dodgy, hardly had many wounds, except for two bullet wounds.

And Pav's story doesn't change, because when he learns that the boss is going to Prehevil to get the Sulfur God, he rushes off to get it himself.

As for Marcoh's story. Riccardo becomes emperor, though his role is not so significant. He follows the course already chosen by the Vatican's shadow government and the Kaiser as its leader. He is forced to go to war, because he will get money and territories, when the Kaiser himself feeds the Sulfur God with the suffering caused by the war.

With Marcoh, however, things are much simpler. They have never crossed paths in their lives, only a compulsory conscription law forces Marcoh, for all his aversion to violence, to join the army. Otherwise, his sister will suffer when her brother is killed for failing to fulfill his duty to his homeland. Worried for his sister's well-being, he asks her to move to a calmer and more peaceful region and promises to come back for her.

His psyche can't take it, he can't kill people without feeling guilty for each one, which causes him to run away from the army and end up in Prehevil.

[fans-of-wet-circles]

thank you so much for this reply it was super informative!!

Just about to finish dghda S1 from off my dvd like the freak I am and I am now considering getting the flix again to watch s2

[russellius]

THE TIMES: The Formula One driver and his father, Steve, on failed driving tests and sleeping in horseboxes

George

My earliest memories are of living in a mobile home while my parents built a house in a field in the middle of nowhere, near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. I rode a pedal tractor around the site, hurtling through corners and reversing with a trailer.

At 25 I am the youngest of three. Cara is 37 and works as my personal assistant. Benjy is 36 and caught the karting bug when he was just 11. He was a brilliant driver, becoming a national and world karting champion. Unfortunately, even starting at such a young age, it was already too late for him to have a professional career. I took up karting when I was six and he helped me a lot. Benjy was like a mentor. He eventually gave up racing at university, so Dad’s focus was on me.

I didn’t see much of Dad during the week. He got up early and came home late running a business selling seeds and pulses. As a kid you miss having your father around, but it’s only now that I appreciate he was doing it so I could race at the weekend. Dad didn’t come from a lot and did well to create a successful business. We weren’t poor but we weren’t wealthy like the families of some F1 racing drivers now.

After long hours at work Dad drove us in a camper van to racetracks around the country. It was very much a family affair. Dad was the mechanic, Mum did the cooking and collected data on my driving. When I drove well, there were celebrations and the mood was great but because everyone was so emotionally and financially invested, when I suffered a poor weekend the mood was bad.

Dad has always been hard on the ones he loves. As a young kid, that was difficult to deal with. The pressure didn’t just filter down to me, it affected the whole family. I felt the weight of failure and expectation. If I made a silly mistake and spun off the track, I can now understand why Dad might have thought, “What the hell am I doing this for?” He had to work his arse off to support my racing, so if I didn’t put in enough effort, it must have been hard.

I now live in the world of F1, where tens of millions of pounds are spoken about like peanuts. Even in Formula Two or Three, every driver has to find huge amounts of money to get on the grid — it’s just crazy. When I was 16 and moving up through the ranks, I realised Dad didn’t have that sort of capital. I thought, “Oh shit, if I can’t find that sort of sponsorship or get picked by a team, my F1 dream is gone.”

Winning the F2 championship in 2018 was a big moment but I’ll never forget the day I signed for Williams F1 in September 2018. I was racing in F2 in Sochi, Russia, when Claire Williams, the deputy team principal at the time, called me in and offered a deal. Mum and Dad were the first people I told and they both cried. I told them to save their tears for when I won a race.

I joined Mercedes for the 2022 season, alongside Lewis Hamilton. It was a huge opportunity for me to learn and grow in F1, as well as show what I’m capable of. It was not an easy season for Mercedes but I feel very fortunate to be in this position, plus Lewis is such an incredible bloke on and off the track. He is so experienced, whereas I’m a 25-year-old who is just totally focused on trying to be the best F1 driver I can be. I’m pretty inspired by what he has achieved.

Dad is a strong character but he has become more emotional since his children have left home. He’s also friendlier now and doesn’t mind making a fool of himself from time to time. My only regret is that F1 doesn’t leave much free space to see each other but we do speak on the phone all the time.

Of course he still watches the pennies and will only fly economy — he won’t let me pay for their flights either. I know my parents can afford to fly business but it’s the principle for them. I want to make sure I reach a position with my racing where I can afford to give them the best in their retirement. They totally deserve it.

Steve

The F1 guys are OK on the racetrack but they are never as good as their dads on normal roads. George is always telling me to slow down as we approach a junction, though his mum thinks it’s fantastic when he takes her out and drives quickly.

There was just one occasion when George didn’t put the full effort in and it caused quite a commotion. He failed his first driving test at 17 because he thought that being a great driver on the track was good enough. He came home fuming that the examiner was wrong. We had to go back to the test centre in King’s Lynn so George could confront him. That didn’t go down well.

George was a cheeky little boy, a bit of a comedian. I worked a lot but it’s strange that I can only remember the racing side of his life, not watching him grow up at home. We enjoyed a nice life but had to work hard for it. I came from a family of farm workers with very little money and wanted to get away from agriculture and better myself but I ended up owning a wholesale seed business.

My wife, Alison, and I knew George was going to be a racing driver at the age of two. He was born on the track, coming to races to watch his brother and help out in the garage. He had a toy tractor that he rode around the pit lane and collected stickers from each race to stick on his “George Russell Racing” tractor.

As George progressed through the racing ranks it became more and more expensive. We invested in a motorhome to travel to races — before that I would sometimes sleep in a freezing horsebox. There were sacrifices. Alison and I didn’t go on our first holiday together until two years ago, on a trip to Lanzarote. By then we had been together for 38 years. People think that now George is in F1 we hang out with Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff, the Mercedes principal, every weekend in the sunshine, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Now Alison and I rarely go to races because we don’t want to interfere.

It was hard letting George fly the nest because we had been a close family, always doing our racing together. He is methodical and organised but his feet are firmly on the ground. There are plenty of people in the family to put him straight if needed.

There’s no magic wand to become an F1 driver — it takes hard work and dedication. It was only when I stood on the track with George before his first grand prix that I looked up at the enormous crowd and thought, “Oh my God, we’ve actually got here.”

[labrxnth]

EotP Chapter 2: Distant Beaches (Leon x Reader Series)

Tag List:

WC: 3261

CWs: some heinous forced father figure shit, human experimentation, PTSD, kidnapping, cannon level body horror, cannon level swearing and violence, body comparison.

AN: I chose to go with Leon's original backstory because fuck you. Also I'm in love with the idea of him being hungover during RE2. It makes everything so much worse lmao.

If you want to be on the tag list, comment and it'll be done.

Spotify Link: Listen along to the playlist I've curated for this fanfic

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───

“So this is what you’re up to?” You asked, your eyes on the booklet in his hand. 

The dark, sinister hallway that had your stomach in knots wasn’t easy to look at. Walls covered in water staining and blood echoed like a chamber. The floors were covered in mystery liquid, one you weren’t gonna ask about. The notebook in Leon’s hand was easier to look at, the question was to get the uneasiness out of your head. 

“Yeah,” Leon answered, his eyes flickering between the book and forward, as if waiting for something to jump out at the two of you. The hallway was dimly lit from his flashlight, adding to his growing suspense. 

Looking at him, you could tell the signs of someone in denial and trying to juggle multiple things at once.

“Do you want me to keep track of the booklet?” You asked. You had been brought up to help people, engineered to do the exact same thing. Over the past 9 years, you were told how helpful you were, how good you were. 

“I can’t ask you to do that, you focus on that ankle,” Leon said and pocketed the notebook. You made sure to take note of where he put the small booklet. His right back pocket.

One question you had on your mind since venturing out from the room you met in was at the forefront, begging to be asked. 

“Is this what the world looks like now?” You asked, your eyes on the ceiling, seeing the different stains and wiring showing, sparking. You remembered the neon, the smell of hairspray, not this. 

“I guess. I don’t know what’s going on here, but my only guess is that it’s only here that’s affected. At least in Denver it’s not like this,” He replied. He stopped walking and shook his head a little bit, then continued to walk. “At least when I left, it wasn’t like this,” He added. 

Denver, you remembered that name. It was the capital of a state, unfortunately you couldn’t remember which one. Trying to remember social studies from 9 years ago was like trying to remember a piece of information so deep in your mind that it wouldn't budge. 

You were trying to figure out how to ask for more information without revealing too much, but the sound of your foot slipping caught your attention. 

Hands were suddenly on your arms, making you sturdy and upright again. Leon’s face was inches from yours as the flashlight illuminated a random wall from him grabbing you. 

“Careful, can’t have you spraining that other ankle,” He said, looking over you to make sure you were okay. 

You were miles away, the sudden touch, or rather grab, was all too familiar to you. Leon meant it in goodwill, but you were used to people jostling you around, moving you at their own will and want. In place of Leon, you saw David, his eyes leering down at you. 

“Be a good girl for me, Thirteen,” He said, a snarl on his face as a syringe was in his hand. He held you with one arm, forcing you to stay still as the large needle with your usual sleeping medication got closer to you. 

You had to get out, you had to break free, don’t let the needle touch you, get out from his grip, don’t touch me-

“Hey, you okay?” You were brought back to reality by another voice, one that was starting to be familiar. As you blinked, the white walls and floors melted back to the dark blue and hazy green atmosphere of the place you were in. 

Leon’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at you with concern. His blue eyes searched you over, checking you for any sign of hurt. 

“Y-yeah,” You managed to say, your voice cracking. “Just startled is all…” Your heart sped up as adrenaline entered your body. Lying didn’t come easily to you, it never did. You were hoping that Leon didn’t catch the unevenness of your tone and how clammy your hands had gotten. 

He seemed to believe you, or at least think it would be too much to call you out on the lie. Leon nodded and let go of you, turning back to facing forward. “Watch your step, there’s blood and worse everywhere,” He said and continued walking. 

“...Blood?” You asked, finally looking down at what you had slipped on. Sure enough, painting the tiled floor was thick streams of crimson red. Your eyes widened as you saw the blood now on your bare feet. Vomit threatened to come up and you started slightly shaking. 

You weren’t used to seeing blood. Everything in the Umbrella lab was clean, you never saw blood there. 

Leon turned to look at you, as if sensing you stopping. The flashlight turned to you and he took in your expression. 

“We gotta keep moving, there’s a locker room up ahead, we can find you some better clothes and some shoes there,” He said.

“Why is there…” You said, trailing off. 

To Leon’s credit, he picked up on what was happening quickly. He walked back to you and held out a hand to you. 

Your eyes focused on his hand, then flicked up to his eyes, seeing compassion in them. 

“The quicker we move, the quicker we can get out of here,” He said softly. 

You nodded and reached out to his hand. You remembered something like this, this was normal, people held hands all the time. Flashes of memories of your parents, your friends, and you holding hands. Whether it was during a game, or leading you through something, it was normal. This was a normal thing.

Leon’s hand softly grabbed yours, lacing your fingers together. The familiarity of soft human contact, a touch not expecting anything in return was enough to bring you back. Before all of this. 

Looking up to Leon, he wasn’t Leon anymore. A middle aged man with black hair and blue eyes stood in front of you. He was two times your size, tall and wide. He smelled of the Ocean. His eyes looked at you lovingly and his smile had a chipped tooth from eating ice. 

Dad. My dad. 

“Come on sunshine, I got you,” He said and held your hand, walking you to a stall that was so much taller than you. 

The smell of high tide filled your nose and the squawk of seagulls could be heard all around you. Looking down, you saw the usual dark brown wooden planks that were waterlogged. You remembered this place. 

The beach. 

Your dad crouched down to your height and pointed at the stall, then the worker. “Tell the nice ice cream man what flavor you want,” He said, smiling at you. You could feel the hand patting your back, encouraging you to speak. 

This was what an actual father was supposed to be. This is what you had been ripped from, forced to forget. 

Your dad looked at you. “____, tell him. I know you can do it, honey,” He said softly. What was supposed to be your name was static, even your memories couldn’t remember your old identity. Who you were born to be. 

Suddenly, his expression changed and he stood back up. “_____, I have to take care of something. I’m gonna leave you alone for a bit, but I’ll be back,” He said. 

“Joan, I’m gonna leave you alone for a bit, but I’ll be back,” Leon said, his voice bringing you back to your present again. That’s twice today, that was a new record. 

You were so used to surviving in Umbrella that you didn't have the luxury of memories. That, and the memory serum they pumped in you did its job in suppressing them. 

“Okay,” You said and nodded, barely processing what he said. The two of you were in a small outlet of a hallway, Leon looking around the corner. Your hands were still entangled in each other, the warmth spreading up your arm. 

“Give me two minutes and I’ll be back,” He said, looking back at you. 

“What if you’re not?” You asked nervously. Having a backup was something you had learned to have over the many years of failing escape. 

“I’ll be back, I’m not leaving you alone in here,” Leon said, getting a little closer to you. “Don’t worry, I’ve fought these things before, I know how to kill them,” He added. 

Your eyes widened at his words. 

Things…. 

Kill? 

“What?” You asked, your mind reeling trying to figure out what he meant. Suddenly, you weren’t at the beach anymore, you were pulled back into the dark reality of the Police Department. 

Leon looked at you, confused for a second, then he realized something. “You have no clue about the outbreak,” He said. It wasn’t a question, he was telling you. Stating it. 

“Outbreak?” You said. You remembered David’s words from when you left the facility. Birkin messed with something. You had a sense that whatever was going on, this ‘Birkin’ was responsible. 

Leon looked at the floor, trying to figure out how to explain it. “So, we’re currently in the middle of a zombie outbreak. I don’t know why and I don’t know what causes it, but the dead aren’t actually dead,” He said, looking at you. His eyes looked at you like he expected you to freak out. 

“O…kay?” You said, not really getting as hung up on it as Leon expected you to. For the past nine years you were surrounded by scientists who fucked around with human biology, you weren’t really surprised that the dead could come back to life. 

“You’re taking this way better than I guessed you would,” Leon said. He let go of your hand to cross his arms. His eyes looked at you, a hint of untrust in them. 

“I grew up around biologists,” You offered as an explanation. He took it as the truth, out of convenience. 

“When we make it out of here, I’m never touching another bottle of alcohol ever again,” He grumbled and checked the gun he was holding. “Two minutes,” He said and nodded to you. 

You nodded in agreement and watched him go around the corner. After a few seconds, you heard gunshots and a yelp, then bodies hitting the floor. 

Soon enough, the ashy blonde hair of your new companion came around the corner and he looked at you. “It’s clear,” He said. 

You nodded and went to walk, but instead his hand reached out to you again. As if missing the feeling of the warmth between the two of you, you took it almost immediately. 

“Hold on,” Leon said, not moving. He got closer to you and his eyes met you. As he got closer, you could see the blood spurts on his face, making you flinch a bit. 

“I need you to close your eyes, okay?” He asked. 

“Uh okay,” You said quietly and squeezed your eyes shut. For some reason, you knew you could trust him. Maybe he was the only person you thought you could trust. That idea scared you, the idea of trust was one you weren’t used to anymore. 

Leon guided you through the hallway, lightly pulling your hand forward. Looking back, he noticed how awkward and slowly you moved through the hallway even with his guidance. He walked back to you and went to put his other arm around your back. 

“Is it okay if I help you?” He asked gently. You nodded in reply and felt his hand on your higher back. Instead of the dread you assumed the touch would bring, it brought peace and assurance. 

After a few minutes of walking, you heard a door open after the warmth of Leon’s hand disappeared. Then, you walked through a doorway onto a different feeling floor. 

“You can open your eyes,” Leon said. 

You opened your eyes to the sight of a dimly lit locker room. You watched Leon put something into a terminal and he pressed a few buttons, running to get a newly opened locker. 

“There are uniforms and shoes in that locker, if they fit it’ll make this easier,” He sighed as he sat down and held his head with his hands. 

If Leon had been fighting all day long, it was no wonder he was tired. Anyone would keel over at this point. 

“I picked the worst day to come in,” He grumbled. 

As your hands found the locker Leon was talking about, you noticed what he said. “So you weren’t here when this started?” You asked, wanting to gain more information about what happened, or really what Leon knew. 

“No,” He admitted as he put pouches on his hips. The pouches had the letters R.P.D. written on them.

You found a uniform that looked like it was the closest to your size and took it out of the locker. Holding it up to your body, the navy blue fabric was still too big for your frame. 

It was a size women’s small.

You knew that David and Umbrella kept you malnourished so you were more agreeable and less energetic, but holding the fabric up to your body made you see how small your frame was. It was scary. 

Getting your mind off of comparing yourself to the clothes, you decided to press Leon more. “When did you get here?” You asked. 

“Today. I thought that yesterday was one of the worst days of my life so I decided to come in today. But this is… much worse than what was going on with me,” He sighed and tightened the straps on his pouches and holsters. 

You were quiet, not really knowing if you should press into someone’s personal life. 

“I guess I should tell you, seeing as though I’m now responsible for your safety as well…” He said under his breath. “I had a pretty awful day yesterday, so I’m not the most sober person right now,” He admitted. 

You blankly stared at him, not knowing what he meant. 

“Uh….” He said sheepishly and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m a little hungover right now, but don’t worry, I’ll still get us through this,” He said. 

That…still didn’t clear up what he meant. It was almost like he was speaking a foreign language from your reaction. You just stared blankly at him still. 

Moving onto other matters, you started taking off your scrubs, finally being free of the grubby, smokey fabric. As you did, you heard a yelp come from Leon. 

“Jesus! Let me know next time you do that,” He said, turning to face the wall. You could see the back of his neck and the tips of his ears were pink. 

You went about your business and finished changing. The women’s uniform came with a tanktop, the button up shirt, the pants, and the shoes. 

“A-are you done?” Leon asked, his voice slightly crackling and the pink turning deeper with the voice crack. 

“I think…” You said and looked down. You looked like a toddler trying on their parent’s work clothes. The way the fabric hung loosely would only make you slower, a liability. 

“Here,” Leon said and walked up to you. He crouched down to do something, then looked up at you. “Can I help you with this?” He asked. You nodded and his eyes looked over the uniform. 

He noticed that you had put a tanktop on underneath so he got to work undoing the buttons of the shirt. “So, I told you how I got here, how’d you get here?” He asked 

You tried to think of a way to explain your situation. Even if you told the truth, would he believe you? He’d either ignore it, deny it was the truth, or worse turn you in. 

After all, you were property technically. And the longer you were gone, the longer you were technically “stolen”.

Your eyes flicked to the side and you decided to make up a story. “I was at the hospital… I had been for a while,” You said. It wasn’t too far from the truth. 

“Oh,” Leon said softly, his eyes meeting yours. They carried a sympathy that stabbed your heart for lying about being ill. 

“They were transporting me,” You said, looking at the floor. 

“And the helicopter was the one that crashed,” He said, recalling that you told him you were in the helicopter that crashed. 

“Yeah,” 

“Here, hold onto me so I can tie this easier,” He said. You hesitantly wrapped your arms around his neck, loosely, and he got to working on the clothes again. 

Leon had finished making adjustments to your uniform. He took the long sleeves on the button up and used them to tie the shirt around your waist. The pant legs were tucked into your socks and the bandages from your sprained ankle. 

“I’m no seamstress, but I did what I could,” He said. You removed your arms and offered a light smile in thanks. 

“Thanks, these feel better than what I was in,” You said. The feel of a different fabric than the same one you had been wearing for years felt odd. 

Not odd, just weird. 

“I thought as much,” He said. “I picked this up too, my girlfriend used to use them all the time. She would get upset if her hair got in the way of doing things,” He said and held up a hair elastic. 

You used hair elastics a lot, and luckily, this was the type that held your hair the strongest. 

“Thanks,” You said again and took it, putting your hair back and away from your face. This wasn’t the time to worry about looks, this was the time to worry about practicality.

“There’s one last thing. Can I?” He asked, gesturing to his neck. The collar. 

You nodded and looked up as he took his knife out. He ran his finger along the collar and looked at you. “It’s a bit tougher material than I thought it’d be. Where’d you get this?” He asked. 

“I ran away a lot. They would use it to transport me,” You said, thinking quickly. 

“Jesus, remind me to never go to the hospital you were in,” He said, trying to remove it with his knife. 

“Trust me, you won’t ever go there,”

After a few minutes, he sighed in frustration. “It’s not giving. I think you’ll have to keep it until we find something sturdier to get it off. You okay with that?” He asked. 

You nodded in reply. 

“Alright, now I feel better about bringing you along with me,” Leon said and smiled at you. “I won’t have to worry about you stepping on glass or anything,” He added. 

“Thank you,” You said again, your eyes meeting his. 

“Thank me when we get out of here,” He said and walked over to the door. “I’d give you a gun or a knife, but I don’t have anything to spare.” He looked at you sympathetically. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t even know how to use either one so it would be lost on me,” You reassured. 

His eyebrows furrowed a bit and he slightly tilted his head. “Really? Not even a knife?” He asked. 

You shook your head in reply. 

“Well then, I’ll just have to teach you when we get out of here. Or earlier if I have to,” He said and put his hand on the doorknob. “You still okay with following me around?” He asked. 

There was no doubt in your mind that Leon was the safest person you could be with right now. He knew where you were, at least more than you did, and he knew how to fight. It would stupid of you to say no. 

“Of course,” You said and nodded. “We’ll make it out of here together,” You added and lightly smiled. 

His concerned look slowly turned into a light smile and he nodded. “Yeah, we will. As long as we stay together, we’ll be okay,” He replied. 

Leon opened the door into the darkness, ready to get out of the locker room and plunge into the dark hallway. Ready to lead the two of you into whatever this hell would throw at him. He was more determined now, because he had someone that depended on him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───

Catch this fic and others on my AO3

[idrellegames]

How do you maintain love in your playerbase knowing that some of the people there are the same selfish people who are leaking or trying to leak/pirate the hard work of indie devs and writers? Ngl my project was nowhere near as big and popular as yours but something like that happened to me and I slowly lost interest in my project. I still keep up with IFs I like but can't ever seem to manifest the interest and love I used to have for my work after it happened the first time. People say things like giving up is just "letting them win" or that we should just be happy that someone out there enjoys our game and hearing "reasons" like that make me realize it's hopeless to get any respect for my work

First of all, I'm really sorry your project got leaked. It is an unfortunate side of being a creator - especially an online one. Regardless of the form, regardless of whether you're an hobbyist or a professional, art is a hot commodity. People want high quality entertainment, but they don't want to pay for it.

I've been avoiding addressing the IF leaks outside of this post because I don't think it's productive to throw any more attention on the situation. Leaks happen, they are always going to happen--if someone wants something and they can't afford it or don't want to pay for it and they want it badly enough, they will find a loophole. At the end of the day, it's a very small community of people who are pirating and shoving them into the spotlight is only going to draw more people who were maybe on the fence about downloading pirated content into doing it.

I am pretty steeled when it comes to this topic now. IF isn't the only place where I have experienced my work being leaked. I come from a theatre background and it is very easy for your original work to get produced without you even knowing about it.

A show I worked on in 2012 has its script available online as part of the library of the university where it was produced. My co-writer and I don't collect royalties from it; the intention is for it to remain free to produce for amateur and university companies. However, because of the political and sensitive nature of the script, my co-writer is very adamant about directors contacting her for permission to produce it and to follow certain guidelines before putting it on. Learning about a production in Australia months after the show closed didn't feel great. It wasn't about money, it was about ethics.

With the IF leaks specifically, I think there's a bit of a disconnect happening here between the people who want to play the games and how they view the indie creator who made them. They see paying a Patreon sub as the same as paying a big company for a product, and if they can't afford to pay it or if they don't want to, then no harm is done by pirating it.

But that's not what the relationship is.

Patreon is not paying for a product, it is supporting the creator's livelihood. I am extremely grateful for my patrons. A game the size of Wayfarer is not something that can feasibly be done in the spare moments between day jobs. But capitalism stops for no one and to make this game, I need to be able to afford rent and groceries. A living wage, as some would say.

Are leaks disheartening? Yes. But I also think that people who play pirated content were never going to sub to Patreon in the first place. And, as mentioned earlier, the number of people involved is relatively small. Thankfully, I'm not that much at risk of leaks actually affecting my income at the moment. But I would be concerned and would take a firmer stance if you Googled Wayfarer and the first search result was a pirated copy (and then I would probably follow the appropriate steps to have that result taken down from the search results).

I think the worst thing you can do as a creator is confront leakers directly. That is only going to blow back on you and put more of a spotlight on the fact that your work is getting leaked. I much would rather focus my time and energy on encouraging my community not to pirate my content than chasing down leakers and making PSAs about it.

For the folks who can't afford a Patreon sub or to anyone considering pirating my content, I would encourage you to apply to be playtesters when applications are open. If you bug test for me, then you can play the alpha content for free.

Outside of that, I take measures to protect my work as much as I can. It's not a perfect system (I don't think it's possible to make your work 100% pirating proof - if people want it badly enough, they will find a way to get it), but I know I've done as much as I can and I am content with that. I don't let it bother me. I have more important things to do with my time.

And for the people who do pirate my work - Bravo! Congratulations! It's very entertaining how petty you are.

[vylad243]

Ok but being an assassin sounds so cool and I’ve never seen that headcannon before 👀👀 I can just imagine everyone thinking he was just, like, a businessman who got dumb luck on his powers or something.

Maybe someone mentioned it one day as an insult “What do you know? Your only sin was capitalism” and Vox just stops short and is like “???? I’ve killed thousands of people???”

Tbh I’d love to hear more about it if you have the time and will

Thank you! I wanted something unique! Everyone went for the business side of him, but I loved him being an assassin and getting a T.V. for a head to fuck up his balance and ability to hide himself because he hides in the shadows. His punishment is taking away things he used to his advantage, but he's very flexible and can adapt easily.

Assassins typically do things for money, so he would be portrayed as some kind of businessman down in Hell because money would have always ruled his life. He just wasn't fortunate enough to rise in the ranks as a businessman because he either had an unfortunate upbringing or he was outed for being trans and bisexual and it ruined any credibility he had.

It's also way Vox always has weapons on him in every book I write. He doesn't believe in an assassin being unarmed, so he has weapons all across his body. He even has a few non-angelic blades inside his skin that he would claw out if he was truly backed into a corner.

Vox uses people's addictions to his advantage because he had to do so as an assassin to really get his victims isolated. Vox's ability to keep people entertained and feed into their addictions is something that he used as a living person. Vox was very efficient, and he was already an outcast, so he wasn't afraid to start dabbling in illegal shit.

Vox is meant to be shown as a powerful person who can manipulate the situation to his advantage, and I think that's why he isn't a businessman. Most business people can't get away with the amount of shit Vox has done in Hell, but someone whose entire job is lying and ruining people's lives could get away with the shit Vox does.

It's also important for me to show that no matter how bad of a person Vox was in his living life and afterlife- he still doesn't deserve the abuse he was given by Valentino. Just because he killed people or stalked others doesn't mean he deserves to be hit by his own partner. It fuels his desperation and ruthlessness because of fear, and it affects his job. He stopped being an assassin in Hell because he started making more mistakes because of what was happening to him. He's shown to be a businessman only because that's all he can handle. He can throw himself into that kind of work mindlessly and crunch away on the numbers without a care in the world

Hope that makes sense! I'm in a moving car right now

[gideonthefirst]

top five meme: top five albums youre looking forward to in the coming year

this is awesome and also so hard because i'm pretty terrible at keeping track of what's announced. so this is mostly speculative.

5. The Huntress and Holder of Hands has been threatening a record since spring of this year. They released singles which they SAID were part of a record but then have not announced a release date for the um. Record. So this is maybe blind optimism but I do hope it ends up happening in 2025

4. Pinkshift. No name or date yet but they're recording and I'd be shocked if it wasn't a 2025. This would be higher except I've now seen several of the songs live and they're straight up not very good. Many such cases unfortunately

3. Ekko Astral. Who among us is not clamoring for the release of the Capital Beltway concept album. I'm worried that it can't possibly live up to Pink Balloons and I'm worried about how the loss of Guinevere Tully and that other guy will affect its sound but I am still SO excited for it I really love those guys

2. JADE. Love all three singles love her crazy BBC live lounge cover performance love the energy she's bringing to the solo career she's made me genuinely excited about pop music again in a way I haven't been since...man, maybe since Little Mix's Glory Days came out? I <3 pop music I <3 Little Mix and it's really showing that she was the creative direction behind most of my most beloved aspects of Little Mix. POP GIRLIES FOREVER!

1. It's clipping. bitch. Last record was in 2020 and we have never been more back. "Run It" is a tremendous lead single they've never ever missed this is my called shot record of the year 2025. clipping. forever.

honorable mentions include Nova Twins, Amy Millan, MCR5, MAYBE Willi Carlisle, Leigh-Anne, Kesha

[fumblingmusings]

You ready for the most niche thing ever but hey this is what we do here you just have to bear with me as I take 3,000 years to get to the point because learning more about the repeal of Britain's Corn Laws in the 19th Century the more it's just a microcosm of that oh so blessed North American Triangle of Britain and America making deals and Canada going hey wait a second dynamic. Poor Mattie playing second fiddle at... nearly every interaction involving these two.

So. Corn. The Corn Laws were passed after the Napoleonic Wars by Britain to keep prices high for domestic producers, of course making lovely profits for landowners, rather than the farmers who actually grew the stuff. It also prioritised colonial grains, so Canada got a boon with its wheat and flour. Nice example of Mercantilism right there.

The problem wassssssss by the 1840s you have the Irish Famine, food prices are too gosh dang high, no-one has disposable income because factory owners are cutting wages wherever they can, and it's so blatantly obvious that this system only profits the top 10% of British Society. There's no shortage of food, it just costs too fucking much. Ireland is starving and the government is sitting on their hands being useless.

A lot of pressure later, Free Trade is favoured over Mercantilism, and the Corn Laws are dropped. Britain can start importing wheat, barley and other cereals form the cheapest supplier: the US. This is not coincidental that the main MP pushing for their repeal - Richard Cobden - was a massive fan of the USA, doing a lot to try and get the two countries to be friendlier to each other. He subscribed to the 'the more economically entangled you are with another country the less likely you are to fight them' which... has its truths.

So... cheap bread good? So that's one thing.

EXCEPT Canada got completely screwed over since they had gotten priority for any externally grown grain for most of the 1840s - causing a bubble in their market. So when the Corn Laws got repealed and it was open season to the cheapest supplier much of Canada's businesses went bankrupt and following series of unfortunate events semi related to corn people burnt Montreal's Parliament and the capital moved to Toronto and it gave yet another push towards Confederation in the 1860s.

So that's a second thing.

It also kind of screwed over the domestic UK farming industry as the age old 'why buy domestic expensive if foreign cheap?' came into play and another wave of emigrants move to the US and the Dominions in the second half of the 19th century because being an agricultural labourer ain't what it used to be (like 100,000 of people with those jobs 'vanish' from the census within ten years, going to the city of abroad). The fact that, compared to 1830 where Britain imported just 2% of its grain, to the 1880s where it was 45%, (65% for wheat)... Uh-oh.

So that's a third thing.

ALTHOUGH, this did have another side affect of ensuring Britain could not get involved in the American Civil War like okay yes the South was very much banking on the need for cotton to push Britain to intercede but psych! The working class people of Lancashire are braver than any Confederate solider and refuse to work with cotton picked by enslaved peoples and would literally rather starve. Especially as, at that point 40% of the wheat people ate came from Northern US states. What's more important? Bread or cotton?

So... that's a fourth thing.

Anyway. Corn.

Sorry I had to make use of an out of date meme.

I'm just fascinated by how domestic actions can still massively impact other nations... Arthur doing the right thing for his people by lowering bread prices indirectly fucks over Matthew but also protects Alfred down the line. Like... urGH! You know?

[izvmimi]

There are benefits and downsides both to being assigned Asta’s chauffeur for trips to the capital and back. Sometimes he’s a lovely passenger, talking about the day that he had and lamenting that he can’t take himself on a broom ride and he has to rely on you.

Today, though, he is a thorn in your side. 

“Come on Mimi, we’re almost home. Just kick it into gear and we’ll get there sooner.”

This is his fourth plea for you to go faster. You sigh, shaking your head and focusing on the skies ahead, the sun dipping behind hills and mountains to your left. It would be a lie to say that you haven’t enjoyed his company but the haughtiest parts of you feel compelled to keep him quiet, at least for a few more minutes.

“This isn’t a joyride.”

The Silva in you reveals itself in your voice, sounding affected and posh while declining his childish request. This is a rarity for you in comparison to your family and cousin whom you share a squad with, far less snooty than they tend to be. Unfortunately for Asta, the pestering has brought it out of you.

He, on the other hand, finds himself chuckling in amusement against your back, his forearm wrapped chastely around your waist to hold on. With his chin resting on your shoulder, he hums and then speaks.

“No? Are you sure? Because I’m sure enjoying myself.” 

The grin plastered to his face is evident in his tone yet you still turn your face to see the real thing anyway, biting back a smile yourself. At the last minute, you turn your face forward to navigate once again so he won’t catch even the smallest hint of it.

He can’t know how he affects you. Truth be told, you aren’t even quite sure yet that you can explain how he does but that’s a thought for another time when the pair of you aren’t engaged in full body contact.

“Come on, just a little faster?” He leans closer, still appropriate despite how decidedly inappropriate his proximity is making you feel, your shoulders stiffening and posture straightening in response. “For me?”

The way he sings the last syllable of his request, stretching it out so that it wraps around you and flutters from your head to your heart like a little lovebird, is what finally encourages you to speed up. You focus your mana into the broom, willing it to go only slightly faster, yet he whoops from behind you.

“That’s more like it!”

His exuberant laughter fortunately tempers whatever irritation you were feeling even if it was temporary. Your heart flutters in your chest when you turn your face to catch a glimpse of the joy on his, green eyes shining like a pair of jewels while they gaze back at you. He’s a man that is as good as gold, even if he is insistent upon ensuring your skirts will be completely windblown and a mess by the time you finally return to the hideout.

Pressing your lips together, you smile and channel your mana into the broom. 

“Hold on tight,” you mutter over your shoulder. His arm tightens around your waist and you try not to yelp in response, taking a deep breath.

Your channeling is a little stronger than before and the broom zips across the horizon, the roof of the home the two of you currently share with your squadmates coming into view through the trees and hills. Asta shouts excitedly, one fist raised while he clings to you with his chin still stationed against your shoulder blade. 

“Yeah, we’re almost there!” He shouts and you nod, pleased to finally be almost through with this task. 

The sooner you’re home, the sooner you can quiet the blood pounding from your heart into your ears, after all.

i'm weeping cuz he's the worst no magic having ass backseat broom driving what if i whack him with it (i'm so in love)

[1ickoris]

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

[Chapter 20 of the Manhwa]

Count Shairon’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.

Whether it was true or not, the idea of expanding the factory wasn't a bad one.

Even if the Duke of Sorpel didn't have such an idea, it would be worth a try to convince him.

"Have you heard of this?"

“Pardon?”

"Luck and misfortune always come in a pair."

“Luck?”

As he stares in disbelief, Camilla hands him something she's been holding.

“What’s this?”

“Luck.”

Luck?

Camilla handed him a small gift box.

"Do you mind if I open it?"

“Of course.”

Puzzled as to why she was suddenly giving him a gift, he unwrapped the ribbon-tied box.

“…”

Count Shairon’s face hardened as he examined the contents of the box, and the butler next to him, Rube, frowned slightly.

‘It’s a natural reaction.’

Count Shairon was 49 years old this year. His wife was 48, a year younger than him.

They had an enviable relationship, and even though they had been married for more than 20 years, they still had a lot of affection for each other.

But there was just one problem with those two.

‘They don’t have children.’

Whether the gods were jealous or not, there was no love lost between the two, who were too good for each other.

Some people suggested adoption, but the Count of Shairon flatly refused.

He said that could not bring himself to love a child who did not have his wife’s blood, and that bringing a child with such a heart would be unfortunate for both the child and the couple.

Instead, he and his wife were sponsoring several orphanages. Whenever he had time, he would personally visit the centers and care for the children.

They had given up hope of ever having a child, and Camilla gave them a gift.

“…These are baby shoes.”

They were little shoes that babies wore.

“Isn’t it cute?”

Count Shairon stared at Camilla with his jaw clenched.

‘Are you making fun of me?’

Otherwise, there was no reason to give him such a gift.

“Take good care of it.”

“Pardon?”

“You’ll need it soon.”

Camilla simply smiled at the frowning Count of Shairon, and then left without another word.

“…”

Count Shairon’s face grew even colder as he glanced back and forth between the baby shoes in his hand and the departing Camilla.

But a few days later.

"Did you hear? The Countess of Shairon is having a baby!"

"I heard, but wasn’t Miss Camilla who spoke of it first?"

"She gave Count Shairon a pair of baby shoes out of the blue and said he'd need them soon."

“I heard they were pink shoes, too. She could have hinted that the gender of the baby… so it might be a girl and not a boy!”

"I don't know about that."

A major event arose in the Countship of Shairon, and Camilla's name began to be mentioned in the same breath.

When the Count of Shairon learned of his wife's pregnancy, he visited Camilla and was overcome with gratitude.

He praised Camilla over and over again, as if she had been the one who had given them the baby.

"The other day, Viscount Basel brought in a new business partner, and Lady Camilla shook her head as soon as she saw him. He did some research and found out that the new partner was a scammer."

"She also guessed that the head maid’s mother died! She told her to go home, and when she did, her mother had passed away.”

"I don't think it's a coincidence that she had a dream about a fire the other night, do you?"

“It’s so cool.”

“Is My Lady receiving a revelation from God?”

“Is that really true?”

“It seems that she has a better eye than the famous fortune-teller in the capital.”

“Don’t you see how many kids are around her these days? They’re asking for a reading, too…”

The ducal was abuzz. Everyone exclaimed in amazement and admiration at Camilla's recent display of mysterious abilities.

They could have dismissed it as a coincidence once, but the mysterious phenomenon was too much to ignore anymore.

“Camilla.”

“Yes, father?”

That was also true of the Duke of Sorpel.

“What on earth is going on?”

The only difference was that, in addition to being surprised and impressed, he was also worried.

He was worried that Camilla's abilities might be causing her some harm, either mentally or physically.

“I don’t know.”

Camilla shook her head gently.

"Sometimes it's a dream— just seeing a certain person can trigger a strange scene."

“Your body.”

“Pardon?”

“Does it hurt?”

“Eh, don’t worry about that.”

“…Alright.”

Looking at Camilla, who smiled reassuringly at him, the Duke of Sorpel nodded slowly.

As if word of Camilla hadn't already spread far and wide, we heard from the temple yesterday.

They want to investigate whether her precognitive abilities are related to divine power.

The Duke of Sorpel, of course, did not give them any leeway and coldly refused their request.

"If there's anything wrong with you, you should tell me right away."

“Yes, father.”

Camilla gave him a faint smile again, then trailed off.

“By the way…”

“Hm?”

"I've been having a dream lately that I keep seeing over and over again."

“Repeatedly?”

The Duke of Sorpel’s face hardened slightly at the mention of the same dream, not once, but many times. Her dreams could no longer be ignored.

“Is it a bad dream?”

“Not really.”

Setting down the teacup she was holding, Camilla put on a false smile to reassure the Duke of Sorpel, who was staring at her.

"I'll check it out and let you know."

“Check it out?”

“Yes.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Not at all.”

Unwilling to say what the dream was about, Camilla left it at that. The Duke of Sorpel did not probe further.

‘Okay, now I’ve laid all the groundwork.’

Let’s go find the Divine Beast’s egg.

Chapter. Finding the Egg of the Divine Beast

“Phew.”

Standing in front of the lake, Camilla let out a long breath.

She was dressed as lightly as possible. She stood in front of the lake, wearing only the simple pants and shirt she wore during her sword training.

You can't go in with a skirt on, can you?

“I’m not confident in swimming, but…”

She’s had a lot of experience in swimming before. She’s been taught by professionals.

This is because there are quite a few commercials, movies, and TV shows that require shooting underwater.

‘Of course, the safety was perfect then.’

Because there was always a lifeguard around. But now?

Camilla turned to the two ghosts standing beside her, Herschel and Darren.

She sighed as she saw the two excited, not worried about drowning.

‘Okay, let’s think positively.’

At least there's a ghost to show her the way.

It was a good thing she didn’t have to blindly search for the Divine Beast’s egg whose location she didn’t know in the large lake.

"It's not that far away, is it?"

[Yes, trust me, it's not as deep as you think, you'll be able to get it out in no time.]

She wondered why Darren was so confident today.

However, she wasn’t going to come all this way and put it off for another day.

Recently, rumors of her precognitive abilities have been spreading, bringing more attention to herself. It was also very hard to get here without being seen.

Might as well get it done today and get it over with.

Camilla stretched lightly, double-checking her surroundings to make sure there were no people around.

“Let’s get started.”

[Yes!]

[Be careful.]

Instead of answering, he nodded lightly to Herschel. Darren quickly dove into the water. Because he’s a ghost, not a single ripple rose.

Camilla watched for a moment, took a few long, deep breaths, and dove into the water.

Splash!

She flinched at the temperature of the water, which was colder than expected, but soon opened her eyes to assess the situation.

Camilla nods when she sees Darren, who is now closer and looking at her with concern. Only then does Darren turn back.

Camilla followed him slowly.

Given her swimming ability, it wasn't too hard to keep up with Darren, and kept up with him as best she could.

‘The water is really clear.’

She could see very clearly into the distance.

[Here it is, Miss!]

Just as she was starting to get out of breath, Darren announced that they had arrived at the destination.

[That’s the Divine Beast’s egg!]

‘That one?’

Camilla looked at the object Darren pointed to and was a little confused. She thought it was an egg or something.

‘Isn’t that a glass ball?’

A small glass ball, the size of a baby's fist, lay at the bottom of the lake.

It was a bit unusual that the colors changed from moment to moment due to the hazy light that seeped through the lake.

But even then, it was hard to call it an egg.

[Miss.]

‘I got it.’

At Darren’s urging, Camilla hurried to gather the egg. She was already out of breath, and it was hard to stay there any longer.

And then it happened. Camilla's eyes widened as she started to swim back up.

She spotted someone swimming swiftly toward her with a stiff expression on their face.

‘Is that Donna?’

Camilla was so taken aback by the unexpected appearance that she forgot she was underwater and opened her mouth to respond.

“…!”

She quickly realized that water was going in her mouth and tried to catch her breath, but her breathing was already disoriented and she was having trouble holding it.

[Miss!]

Darren’s panicked voice could be heard, and Donna's pace quickened as she moved toward her.

She doesn’t really remember what happened after that.

“…iss!”

“Mi…”

“Miss Camilla!”

She was already out of the lake when she came to her senses.

Donna's face was pale and she was calling to her.

“Miss! Are you out of your mind?”

“You— cough!”

[scorbleeo]

Drama Review: Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938

Source: Google Images

An unexpected case leads Lee Yeon back in time to 1938, where he reencounters Ryu Hong Joo. Once a guardian spirit of the mountain in the west, she's now the owner of a high-end restaurant in the capital city of Gyeongseong. He also meets his younger brother Lee Rang. Meanwhile, another former guardian spirit and ex-friend Cheon Moo Young has become hostile. Lee Yeon struggles to return to the present, to his loved one.

Source: MyDramaList (2023)

One of the Most Unserious Dramas Out There

Before we start: I did not watch the first one and am not planning to watch it at all. Going into Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 I admit I had to do a Q&A with my sister to understand what happened between the Lee brothers in this drama's modern world. However, one does not actually need to watch the previous drama to watch this and honestly speaking, from what I saw and knew about it, Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 is a whole lot more interesting and fun.

That being said, lets get on with how I felt about this drama. I am not kidding when I say, this is the most unserious drama for a drama anyone would think to be serious. Practically half of this drama was comedy and that is a praise. The comedy bit plays a part in making Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 so darn interesting and fun. Yet, this show also pulls on your heartstrings be it the brothers, the best friends or the best friends' righthand people.

I understand romance was a huge part of the first instalment but in this, it was just a tiny bit and I believe that is why I freaking loved watching this drama. In terms of what romance there was, I have no complains too. I mean, I adore the mermaid and the only complain I have is that I wished we could have gotten more scenes with her powers. When Rang said he liked someone who's stronger than him, he was not lying. The way Yeohee was written was right up my alley, she may not be as powerful as Rang but she saved him more times than he saved her and even when she was in danger, she still did not back down on a losing fight. For that reason, Yeohee is I really thought I would dislike the mermaid but nope, I love her.

Another thing I seriously love about Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 was the friendships. Any friendship in this drama was a pleasure to watch. Obviously, the friendship among our three mountain gods was my favourite. Don't get me wrong, Yeon is extremely lovable but in this trio, I need to worship my lady, Hongjoo and lovingly protect the cinnamon roll, Mooyoung. These three portrayed my kind of friendship where they were tight as children, still tight as adults and even with unfortunate circumstances, they might hate but they love each other more. Of course, the friendship among the roommates was a delight too. I only highlighted my top two favourites but I am not lying when I claim that this show did friendships so well.

Now, now. We have a problem though. At the beginning of this drama, Taluipa told Yeon even if he changes something in 1938, it does not affect 2023. I think its safe for me to say that we do not want that to be true, right? I am just willing to believe that what Taluipa said meant that Rang would still be dead in 2023, nothing Yeon did in 1938 changed Rang's decision in the future. I would even go as far to say that, everything Yeon did in 1938 further encouraged Rang to make that choice in the future. That is all I am willing to believe because I hear there's a third season and I need my best friends and roommates reunited to fight (without a doubt) the original mountain god. Yes, I know I said all I am willing to believe is that Rang is still dead but that's because I am sure there will be no Nine-Tailed dramas without both Lee brothers alive.

When the next instalment comes out, I will watch it as long as Hongjoo and Mooyoung are still around (if Jaeyoo, Miyeon and Yeohee are too, even better). I don't even care if there will be more romance although I wish there wouldn't be.

Rating: ★★★★★

P.S.: Anyone else felt that the big bad villains were so pathetic as compared to the smaller villains?

[namorslutfanfiction]

Maria Elena Rios' official statement.

Disclaimer: Google translate is not always accurate.

Mexico City on June 15, 2023.

RELEASE

In my position as a woman and defender of human rights, I have made it clear and they have been able to testify that my person is based on solid principles such as consistency, truth and frankness.

Living in a country where we still have the need to continue changing the laws for a system that does not protect

to women and knowing that while we fight for this, at any moment male privilege can swallow us, is not easy. Despite all this, over the years I have built a voice and I am not going to allow a cowardly statement to try to reduce the violence that Tenoch exerted and continues to exert towards me for continuing to evade

your responsibility.

The statement that Tenoch made on his official Instagram account on June 12, 2023, shows the traditional and typical intimidation techniques of an aggressor and that come from the structures founded from the patriarchy.

Women who find ourselves in a vulnerable emotional process, when having contact with a narcissistic abuser, are dragged into a dynamic where the fear of mockery of our privacy stops us from donating.

The consensual acts at the beginning do not determine that they continue to be consensual all the time because removing the condom without warning IS A CRIME of sexual assault and in English it is known as stealthing.

After my public complaint, several colleagues approached me to share their stories and

unfortunately it is a Modus Operandi that Tenoch has exercised in a normal way for years and that

consists in:

Look for emotionally vulnerable women. Make her feel admired (you are a woman, you are pretty, you are intelligent, I admire you a lot, i have always dreamed of having a girlfriend like you, etc).

Fall in love with them

Earn their trust.

Use them as a sexual trophy.

Abruptly stop communicating and disappear.

Sometimes he goes back to look for her but only to have sex.

Disengage and not take emotional responsibility to later victimize yourself, if necessary.

They seek to clarify things.

This is preceded by a SECT, which apparently functions as a Collective, but which has appropriated an anti-racist discourse to gather a capital of followers and obtain personal ends named Poder Prieto, which protects it and will continue to do so because they are the The only people who can support him in his statements. Within the same group, women members, upon learning of my situation, told me things like:

"That's right, he's very stupid but he's trying to deconstruct himself, I'm sure," one of the actresses who founded it acknowledged before me.

-I listen to you and I listen to myself, I also went through the same thing but it did not affect me so much because I did not fall in love and I understood that it was a lie. Mana, it's that you were the new one in the group, let's say that you had to go through it mana and what he did to you is not cool but well, I'm just starting acting: Tenoch and Maya can recommend me-, another young actress confessed.

The same ones who turned their backs on me and attacked me to defend him.

How to denounce in a Mexican Judicial System if 94.8% of the complaints remain unpunished?

I am a survivor of an attempted femicide with 98% pure sulfuric acid, one of the most extreme towards a woman, after trying to reintegrate myself into society, I personally met Tenoch in December 2021 in a forum of "The first Prieto Festival but it was not until March 30, 2022 when

During a trip to Felipe Carrillo Puerto for a meeting of groups for human rights, we traveled together with other colleagues representing Poder Prieto. He courted me constantly and indeed, his friends from Poder Prieto are witnesses of that but they are not witnesses the intimate relationship I had with him.

During that whole week, I believed in all the nice things he said to me and I fell. I fell in love and it does not give me Shame because everyone gives what they have.

The statement that Tenoch issued tries to make me look like a scorned woman. It took me a lot of work to assimilate and process all these emotions but this does not mean what he wants to imply.

"What a coincidence that until now you say it" "Complaint in the Prosecutor's Office" "You want fame"

"You want money".

Tenoch, in order to victimize himself and confuse me, exerted and continues to exert Gaslighting on me (a pattern of emotional abuse in which the victim is manipulated into doubting their own perception, judgment or memory) and Pity Play (an attitude used by the abuser to distort the true story and appear as the damaged party and thus blame the other party) where the effect of "the flying monkey" arose, a term used in psychology to refer to who helps the aggressor to attack the victim and make her feel guilty. That They did it to me and I have proof of it, that is, all the violence that members of Poder Prieto exercised towards me to protect Tenoch and it is because of this situation that months later led me to leave that group.

In a despicable way, Tenoch tries to intimidate me by hinting that he hired a legal team to initiate the corresponding actions and protect his reputation. The civil route reconciles the parties and unfortunately the violence that I received and continue to receive from you, in Mexico is still not recognized and much less legislated as in other countries.

Psychopathic abuse is a characteristic that whiteness has against racialized people and Tenoch together with members of Poder Prieto, with the appropriation of anti-racist speeches, have exercised it with me and with other people.

Dare to talk about this situation is not easy and Tenoch with the intention of detracting from my statement and legitimate truth, with his lies he has generated hatred and puts himself in danger, since I have received threats to burn myself with acid from fans of the characters he has interpreted in the audiovisual medium. I tell them that I don't want money or fame. All I want is for this violence to stop and to be able to live in peace. The first step is to raise your voice to name them and put a stop to them.

I remind you that nothing justifies threatening, violating and intimidating women for raising their voices. The character is one thing and the person who plays him is another, and being dark-skinned never exonerates you from being a violator who abuses his power.

Companions, don't feel guilty if you also went through this situation with him or with other men. Unfortunately it's part of a shady system. Today we have to make it visible so that tomorrow it stops being an unpleasant reality.

Always firm, always strong because we are women and fear is behind us.

My immediate thoughts:

In my opinion the only situation that could be punishable by law would be the possible "stealthing". But that would be hard to prove.

Everything else is asshole behavior or fuckboy behavior but not a criminal offense.

[mountaingoatsfirstlineaday]

okay, this is an important heads up people who sent in orders for shirts!!! i know that was so so long ago (... april?).

i. have been writhing in pain.

so as many of you know i ended up going to college this year! i didn't think this was going to be able to happen, and i am happy that it did. i wanted it really badly. BUT

it threw a wrench in my t-shirt making plan, and i didn't realize it would. (because of money reasons) i took a train home, and they only allowed me to bring two bags worth of personal items on the train. this means i had just enough space for my clothing, my computer, and a handful of other essentials.

this also means i don't have about half of my paints with me. but when i realized this, i was prepared to just do as much as i could anyway and message the specific people affected.

then i noticed something about my current situation, which is: i still don't have a job/any source of income. this is another thing that college affected, bc obviously college is very expensive and requires expensive additions like books, etc. also my chronic pain has literally just not stopped getting worse and i'm having to replace my beloved flip phone with a smart phone (i noticed that actually it's very difficult to use flip phone buttons when my fingers are in pain and stiff and it tends to make them worse). unfortunately this project also requires money because this is a cruel cruel world and capitalism hates love. well, i guess capitalism hates me trying to produce something without the expectation of personal gain of capital. that's sort of the deal.

because of all this, i'm going to have to adjust my expectations about when i can get these shirts done, and i hope that i can convince you all to join me in doing so.

my new expectation is that i can get these done over the summer of 2023. think june/july.

because i want to make sure everyone who needs to see this but i don't want to give out the urls of the people who ordered, if you ordered a shirt from me in april 2022 please dm me with a message that you've seen this post! if you don't i'll dm you and ask, and then send a link to this if you haven't.

it's so funny to me, and by funny i mean it makes me really fucking angry, that all of the problems i'm having getting these shirts done come down to me being unemployed and currently living below the poverty line. it's all about money. i suspect that i also have undiagnosed adhd, but i haven't been able to see a competent and kind psych bc it's hard to access those where i live, and it requires more money because of that. if i could see one, and then be able to afford whatever meds they'd put me on, this project would be so much easier because i'd have the drugs thta make my brain able to organize and move through things step by step instead of floundering out here and never being able to remember shit and so on and so forth. and i took the train because it was cheaper than my other options, and i need to save money as much as i can because college is expensive. and i have to be concerned about college being expensive because i'm fucking poor and it's taken me a lot to get here.

anyway. all of this is to say acab eat the rich i hate capitalism support a living universal wage.

well, if you read through all this, thank you! if the world gets really cool about me being how i am really quick y'all might get these shirts sooner but don't bet on it.