#weren't enough

[thaliawashere]

Yesterday I looked at my husband over my progressive lenses, cocked my left eyebrow, raised my hand like I was holding a small, invisible platter, and said, "Well then, there you have it." In that moment the transformation was complete...

I turned into my father.

recognising your parent's mannerisms in yourself and physically feeling psychic damage occur

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Source

If you haven't already heard the sad news, ALL JoAnn stores are closing (it was previously reported that only some stores would be closed).

Important: JOANN GIFT CARDS WILL ONLY BE HONORED THROUGH FEBRUARY 28. If you don't have time to get to the store, use them on the website.

[heckyeahponyscans]

The H5N1 (bird flu) virus is going around, and cats are proving especially susceptible to it. A big cat sanctuary in Washington state had TWENTY of their big cats (cougars, tigers, etc) die of bird flu.

There have also been cases of indoor-only domestic cats getting sick or even dying of bird flu after contracting it from raw cat food. And of course coming into contact with birds also puts your cat at risk.

To keep your cat safe:

Keep them away from birds, preferably keeping them entirely inside. If they are indoor-outdoor then remove any bird feeders from your yard to make cat-bird contact less likely.

Do NOT feed them raw food of any sort, including freeze-dried raw food. Freezing will not kill the virus!

A lot of raw pet food companies are using PR speak to assure customers that their raw food is safe. Remember that at the end of the day their priority is to make money and stay in business. Unless they are testing every bird carcass for the virus their assurances are meaningless, and they certainly are not testing every bird because it would be too expensive.

Cooking kills most viruses and bacteria, including H5N1.

[themortaldraw]

how it feels trying to win the music box in echoes of wisdom

[snarkspawn]

I really enjoy playing through tnp again like hi it's been a while

[rainscenes]

I was just the guy standing there when it happened who couldn't do anything to protect him.

[starcurtain]

A Closer Look at the Phaidei Memory

I've seen so many people talking about this scene with Phainon and Mydei and making fun of how blatantly obvious Phainon is about his... respect for Mydei's... conspicuous body, but one thing I feel like a lot of people missed (or at least I haven't seen anyone discussing) is that this memory seems to come from very early on in their acquaintance.

Looking at it closely, it's clear that the two aren't particularly familiar with each other yet in this memory sequence. For one, Phainon questions things that he should easily know if he was well-acquainted with Mydei already.

First, very comically: "Do you even bathe, bro?"

And second, Phainon questions why Mydei isn't immune to the black tide:

This suggests that, up to the point of this memory, Phainon had not been in enough battles with Mydei (or at least close enough to Mydei) to see him be affected by the black tide. Apparently, this memory-Phainon-and-Mydei don't have years of rushing into battle side-by-side to defend Okhema yet.

It's also hilariously clear that the Phainon in this memory has absolutely no idea how to talk to Mydei.

Breaking this scene down, it's literally Phainon just trying really hard to strike up conversation, doing his best to try to crack the tough exterior and get Mydei to actually interact with him. He jumps around through topics rapidly--the baths, the black tide, their personal sparring--looking for anything that will catch Mydei's attention.

Meanwhile, we can tell that Mydei is not particularly familiar or comfortable with Phainon yet because his dialogue is so different from any of his other scenes in the game. Although Mydei is obviously not the game's biggest yapper, he does always have full sentences to contribute to other conversations and banters readily with Phainon whenever he's baited into it.

In this memory, he instead starts off polite but also completely aloof:

This is the exact sort of response you'd have to a vague acquaintance coming up and trying to talk to you like you're best friends. Phainon skipped at least four steps of familiarity here, and Mydei is obviously at a loss for why the conversation is even happening.

He responds by blatantly stonewalling, answering Phainon's (slightly pathetic) attempts to start an actual conversation in nothing but single word answers:

You can even see Phainon recognize how bad he's failing half way through the conversation, which prompts him to vocally declare that he's going to make a complete topic switch:

And this time, it works!

When Phainon brings up their personal duel or spar, whichever it was, finally, finally Mydei caves and engages in the conversation with him:

Which prompts Phainon to laugh (in relief? lol) and flat out crow about how he's finally cracked the code and figured out how to get Mydei to notice him:

Poor Mydei, however, did not seem to realize his slight display of interest was going to lead him into a full conversation, and he responds to Phainon's blatant invitation to keep talking with a confused:

Witness Mydei accidentally turning down Phainon's request for a date in real time.

The only thing that complicates the situation is what Phainon says late in the memory: that they've battled "all this time." However, looking at his earlier comments, this last statement may just be in a general sense, as in "two Chrysos Heirs who have been fighting the titans for years," especially as the rest of the line "How do you train? Would you consider teaching me?" once again indicates a lack of close familiarity.

(It's also possible this line is just poorly translated in English, and was actually meant to refer to their legendary ten-day-long duel: "We battled all that time, yet I never saw you fatigued." Given the rest of the lines in the memory, I think "dodgy translation" honestly makes the most sense here, and would also just have really funny implications: Phainon and Mydei didn't fall in love at first sight; they fell in comically-long-duel at first sight. Okay, maybe for Phainon it was both.)

Phainon's earlier statements in the memory make it clear that he isn't very experienced with fighting Mydei specifically, with the overall implication of the dialogue being that they've just had their first duel against each other recently:

So anyway, where I am going with all this?

I know a lot of people got distracted by Phainon's (accidental?) pass at Mydei in the first line, but I think taking a step back and looking at the scene as a whole, in context, makes it even more hilarious and off-the-cuff:

Phainon and Mydei aren't well-acquainted in this scene.

Phainon literally walked up on a guy he barely knows and the first words that fell out of his mouth were "Dan Nicky your bobbies." "I would know that body anywhere."

Even Mydei was weirded out at first!

Like, Phainon has absolute foot-in-mouth syndrome around his new "friend." He spends the whole conversation narrating his own attempts to communicate ("Ah, I see I am unwanted. Instead of leaving, I shall try another tactic. Is it working yet?" and "Yes, yes, yes, it worked!") like this is a remotely normal thing to do around a person you're not even close with yet.

You can see his puppy tail wagging. He wants to be friends with Mydei so bad.

He is actively making up excuses to try to get Mydei to spend time with him here--first the comment about "Yay, you're here!" at the baths like he expects them to bathe together, then the whole "Why don't we go somewhere and have a long conversation about the insights we gained from rolling around in the dirt together?" to finally just flat out asking Mydei to train with him.

It's so charmingly earnest, straightforward, and even a bit awkward that I think this scene is really under-rated by the fans. It's not just another example of Phainon commenting on Mydei's muscles--it's a glimpse into what they were like before they were close and just how much Phainon wanted to connect to Mydei, how willing he was to explore to discover exactly what Mydei would be interested in so that he could seize that common ground between them.

Really a masterclass in showing us fans characterization right on the cusp of changing, and for showcasing both Phainon's charming audacity and Mydei's surprisingly-reserved-around-strangers behavior.

And, since we know the future that memory-Phainon-and-Mydei are headed toward... we also know it worked! Mydei is smiling by the end of the conversation! He and Phainon are going to become vitriolic best buds--er, rivals--and Phainon is going to get all the spars he wants.

Persistence pays off!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Congratulations to TEAM CHEESE for winning the popular vote on the Charcuterie poll!

[cuubism]

brandon sanderson wrote the most unhorny book series ever written (stormlight archive) and yet somehow developed the hottest fictional man in the world (adolin kholin)

[trueloveistreacherous]

@pscentral event 27: scenery

Here's a thing I don't get. People who worry about living in a big city because of all the crime. As any true crime aficionado will tell you, it's the boondocks you need to worry about. I mean, let's face it, nobody ever discovered 19 bodies buried in the backyard of a 14-story apartment building. There's eyes on you all over the place here. And New Yorkers have a special way of communicating. And by special, I mean direct. We're packed in tight and stacked on top of each other like those who live...at the Arconia. Only Murders in the Building (2021-present) Created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman

[allthewhumpygoodness]

Will never not love writing characters panicking after being involved in some battle or some sudden disaster or attack. Adrenaline alone keeping them clear headed while they're in the midst of the worst of it -- maybe they're in a command position of some kind so they *have* to keep it together -- but one they get a second's relief they're a shaking, inconsolable mess. A young soldier making it to a safe zone after a battle gets out of hand, sitting hunched over and trembling, trying to asses their own injuries but unable to think because they can still hear the sounds of swords clashing, or of gunfire. An earthquake collapsing a city block and someone in charge working their ass off to get as many people to safety as they can even as rubble builds up around them, finally getting a moment to breathe and all they can do is lean against the remains of someone's home or workplace, exhausted and in shock.

[anewp0tat0]

Happy Fathers Day, I'm finally on time for something!!! I don't have that much flavor this time though folks. just sweetness. that's it. hope that's cool, never too bad.

if you think this is anything but platonic then no, plz. away

[goodoldfashionedengineer]

Teacher: Sorry for being late, in exchange, we'll end the lesson earlier

Jason Todd, aka 'Robin': (⁠●_⁠●⁠)

(internally: *appalled* how can the lesson be shortened when we already began later, the math doesn't add up)

----

Jason Todd, aka 'Red Hood', being particularly mad at the Batfam over something: Sorry for being late for the mission. In exchange, I'll end my part of it earlier

[oneroomjestershow]

Loved in every universe

[hypewinter]

Danny had awoken from a pod in a strange room only to be quickly whisked away to a medical room by a group of costumed teens. He then proceeded to go through multiple medical evaluations before being bombarded with information.

Apparently, he's the clone of Superman. (Great! Who's Superman?) Ah, he's an alien who helps protect Earth. (Awesome!) Wait, does that mean Danny is an alien too!? Yes and no. As it turns out, Danny is in fact a clone. (Oh the irony.) To make matters worse, he isn't the first or even the second for that matter. He had been created when the first two individually went rogue. While the other two were half human, Danny had a secret third thing added to his DNA that no one could figure out. Because of this, they weren't quite sure how much Kryptonian he had in him or what powers he would display. (That's kind of a bummer.)

What they did know was that he was supposed to be a living weapon devoid of all feelings or motivations. Superboy, or Connor as he insisted Danny call him, also known as the original Superman clone had discovered Danny's existence and come to rescue him before they could use him for such purposes. (That was nice of him.) Still, it was apparently quite surprising how - to quote the doctor examining him - "animated" he was. (Little did they know how surprising he could be.)

As if all of that information wasn't enough to take in, Connor had even more news. (Oh joy.) Evidently Superman wanted to meet him. (Cool!) Or maybe not cool judging by Connor's face. Connor revealed that Superman hadn't exactly reacted the best when they first met. (What a dick.) Danny was quickly reassured that Superman had gotten better and was now more affectionate. A little too affectionate. It would seem that in an effort to make up for his previous dickiness, he had become overly attentive. Superboy warned Danny that Superman might be a little overly excited to have a clean start with him and told him that if the man started crossing any boundaries he shouldn't hesitate to say so. (Oh please after having Jazz Fenton as an older sister, how bad could this Superman guy be?)

.....bad, really bad.

[heartistii]

»the next generation of lawyers must seem scary to outsiders, right?«