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#i probably won't do them all but i've done several now
steamberrystudio · 19 hours
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05/05/2024 Devlog
Hallo everyone! It seems like it's been a while since my last update here which is weird because I have an update from mid-April all typed out in google docs but apparently I never posted. 8D Oops!
Anyway, for those who are not following the weekly updates on Patreon or the monthly updates on Itch...I shall fill you in!
Writing:
I think in my last update, which was back in March, I was editing chapter 6. I am now at the end of chapter 9 and am about to embark upon chapter 10.
But Esh, you may ask. Why is taking so long to edit these chapters? Why, for example, chapter 7 is about 75,000 words (coded). These chapters are...huge.
Ch 6, 7, 8 and 9 together are about 200,000 words of content. 
I've also been proofreading and then formatting each chapter into Renpy as I go so I can get a feel for how long each chapter actually is (by 'formatting into Renpy', I just mean that I'm dumping the writing into Renpy and formatting it properly so the game runs. I'm not coding any assets in. Just dumping the text in. So the word counts I give are the actual final word counts!)
So yeah, it's pretty time consuming! But I am making progress. I think I have about 70% of the script edited at the moment. 
But Chapter 10 is...a really big chapter. So I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get through it. 
😭 We'll be finding out though! 
Art:
Since my last update, I've received several new BGs and sketches. The BGs are currently about 60% complete. The artists are making their way through them all slowly but surely.
Other Stuff:
Well...I did release another game as a collaboration with some of my developer friends.
We worked on the game over the course of a couple of months and just managed to get out for Amare Festival!
If you haven't checked A Faerie's Tale out over on Itch.io but are up for something cute, wholesome, funny, and pretty short...please do so!
We think it turned out quite well!
Upcoming Weeks:
Well in the upcoming weeks I'll be focusing on revising Chapter 10. And there's a lot to be done in Chapter 10. 
Asher's path and the "common scenes" have had one edit. I'll have to re-read them to refresh myself on the content so I can properly edit the others. Hopefully I won't have to make too many revisions though.
The remaining character content will have to be fleshed out. This is a really important relationship chapter (which also has steamy scenes in it so there is a lot of smoothing, fixing, and fleshing out that has to happen.)
Additionally, there are some ending sequences that happen in this chapter and while they are functional right now, I really want to expand them and make the endings feel a little better situated into the story and less abrupt. 
Sometimes haven't an abrupt game-over really works with the story but in this case, I feel the endings need a little more build up to feel properly earned and to really be satisfying for players. That means expanding the lead up to those scenes by a fair amount.
So overall, this chapter is probably going to end up as the longest chapter in the game by a pretty significant margin. 
And that means I may be at the revision for the better part of this month. 
And then after Chapter 10, it's just the ending sequences for each character. I'm really looking forward to revising those and fleshing them out properly. 👀
I think I'm about to descend into the lowest depths of editing hell for a few weeks but I'm hoping after that I can slowly start to climb my way back out. 
We'll see how it goes! 
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spngeorg · 3 days
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Episode 156 - 8.07 A Little Slice of Kevin
I typed the tagline for the title card for this one several weeks ago, before I came to a hard decision. Quoting the Animals song from the beginning of the episode, We gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do... it kinda feels on the nose now. Since everyone can probably already guess what I mostly have to say about this one, I'm gonna use this space for a personal status update.
I've got an incredibly busy couple of months coming up, and have been seriously stressing about finding the time to write and record episodes through like... the end of summer. I've also been stressing over continuing to use spotify as my podcast host. It was bad enough before, but now to post there I have to agree to their "ai features" being applied to my little podcast, and I just... can't with that.
So for now, this will be the last episode I'm recording for a while. That doesn't mean this project as a whole is going away though! I already have the next episode "in the can," completely written up for AO3. And written more "properly" and completely than the notes I've been posting there to this point.
Considering my schedule, though, updates might be more or less frequent, and won't stick to the weekly posting schedule I've maintained for years now. What I will do is write up my complete notes, and then just post them when they're done. Some weeks, you might get two, other weeks none at all, depending on how stressful my life is being. But recording and editing the audio essentially doubles the amount of time these episodes take for me to do, so hopefully I can still mostly stick to getting out 3-4 a month still. We shall see!
Thank you to everyone who has been listening along (and reading along now!). I'm just finding it hilarious I started the podcast because I wanted to do a thorough meta rewatch without having to type everything out again, and here I am just deciding it's easier to just type everything out again...
LINKS!
The Superwiki page
My tag
My very long post of why i think Cas could’ve gone through the Purgatory portal with Dean
A brief post about destiel in early season 8 (and a much longer one…) (oh wait look here’s more) (look there a LOT in my tag for this one…)
Sometimes my old posts hurt me for multiple reasons (i miss you alex)
The beginning of Naomi’s influence on Cas
The Male Gaze shot (and a second post about it)
Homework for next week: Watch Duck Amuck
Complete notes for this episode on AO3.
Listen now on Spotify, or wherever you enjoy podcasts!
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angel-hole · 7 months
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SUPTOBER DAY 01 - liminal in the beginning
4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance;
— Ezekiel 1:4—5
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sonicboomseason3 · 8 days
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a brief recap of what has been going on with the sonic movieverse in the past several months:
paramount has come out in public support of israel
keanu reeves, a man who has publicly rubbed elbows with none other than benjamin netanyahu, reportedly gets cast as shadow for the upcoming third movie
james marsden, the guy who plays tom, got exposed as having written a letter of support for a convicted pedophile
there's fucking??? zionist propaganda in the knuckles series???
kind of connected to the last point but adam pally, the guy who plays wade, is evidently pro-israel too
this is a complete and utter joke.
EDIT AS OF 4/30/24: if people see this version of the post, i'd really appreciate it if you reblog it instead of the other versions, as it's the most updated one with all the information that i want included. thank you :]
you know, it's been a few days since i've made this post, and some of you (not most) are staying determined in defending/justifying/giving the benefit of the doubt to keanu for that photo with netanyahu, whether it's because "it was a decade ago," "him being civil to someone he ran into at a party one time doesn't mean anything," "he's probably just silent because his pr managers won't allow him to speak up," etc. i've made my thoughts on the matter quite clear by directly responding to these people, but at this point, i'm tired of both seeing them in my notes and repeating myself, so take this as my final word on the issue.
i can't help it if you don't think the photo with netanyahu is damning, and i'm done engaging with everyone going out of their way to tell me that. i obviously disagree, especially after finding out that 1. the host of the party, arnon milchan, is a former israeli spy who has a history of developing israel's nuclear program and promoting apartheid in south africa (information that had broken out a few months prior to the party and thus would've been fresh news around the time keanu chose to attend) and 2. keanu has been caught hanging around at least two other weirdos, but if you don't find any of that to be cause for reasonable concern, then there really is nothing else i can say afaik.
with all that said, i'm beginning to realize how strange it is that these people's first instinct when seeing this post is to start debating about keanu's political stances without ever acknowledging any of the other bullet points. you guys realize that this isn't just about him, right? i know tumblr reading comprehension is known for being piss-poor, but like… you realize that i was trying to make a point of how there are MULTIPLE terrible things that have broken out about the people and company involved in the sonic movies, right? and yet, a lot of the people leaping to speak on keanu's behalf in my notes are completely ignoring the parts where i bring up paramount, pally, etc. all in favor of zeroing in on the singular point about keanu and making bad faith assumptions about me for holding him accountable. really makes one wonder where your priorities lie if, in a post that talks about so many other things, me accusing an a-list celebrity with, according to google, a net worth of almost $400 million is where you draw the line and apparently the only thing worth your acknowledgment.
ultimately, what i'm trying to say is that the intention of this post was just to gather up everything that i had been hearing for the past several months and put it all together in one place. there were a bunch of people who didn't know about at least one of the bullet points before seeing this post, and i'm glad that i could help inform them, that was what i was hoping to do! but as for the keanu thing, i've said pretty much all i can say for now, and i don't want to derail the original post even more than i may have already. unless something new comes up, i'm done talking about him.
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bluecollarmcandtf · 3 months
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I'm so annoyed, my best friend has such an asshole for a husband. He basically never pays attention to her, all he cares about sport, beer and his friends. He never helps around the house and he's a lazy slob! He's always at the gym or going to the game with his bros. He's such a prick, maybe he should just be date his bros since he's so obsessed with them. He's always complaining about his wife "bothering him". Plus who would want to marry a slob anyway, as a husband he should be devoted to cleaning his house and caring about who he is married to.
I think I found the guy you're talking about, and you're totally right about him being an asshole. Your friend deserves better than an uncaring, selfish, pig-of-a-husband. That girl has tolerated him for too long! She won't be seeing him or his sexist buddies ever again when I'm done here...
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Just look at him! The first thing he does when he gets home is grab a beer and park that fat ass of his on the couch. Sure, he might hit the gym later on his way to the bar, but he's not planning on helping his wife out with dinner. He's not really planning on talking to her at all until he needs a blow job later tonight.
You mentioned his name was Brett, I think?
Well, Brett can barely hold a job. He's lucky you gave him a chance and got him a gig as a delivery man. I think he's been doing this for a month now, but he absolutely resents the work. Brett can't really enjoy anything unless he has a beer in his hand, and he absolutely hates wearing that stuffy little uniform.
Nevertheless, he's been consistently showing up so far; probably because his wife is waking him up, washing his clothes, and feeding him breakfast. Brett essentially only uses her as a maid and sex toy!
It's a good thing I've got something planned for Brett today as he starts his delivery rounds. He doesn't notice me following as he grumpily carries a package out of his truck, and he doesn't have time to react when I reach out and grab the back of his head.
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"You're not going to move," I command, sinking my fingers into the soft parts of his skull, "You're going to let me in."
A deep sigh blows out of Brett's mouth, and I know his willpower is gone. "I'm not going to move. I'll let you in..." he repeats numbly.
With permission, I shoot inside his mind, discovering much of what I expected. His thoughts revolve around meeting up with his bros after work. He hasn't genuinely cared to think about his wife in ages. His mind is just as simple and unlikeable as he is.
Good thing I'm here to change it!
"Brett, I'm changing your thoughts. You like that. You want me to rewrite you."
"You're..." he struggles to form words, "You're changing my thoughts. I like that. I want you to rewrite me..."
"Good," I grin maliciously.
Bringing my lips closer to his ear, I begin to fill his head with his new personality. He accepts all his new goals and dreams wholeheartedly. I imagine, you will like them. They're the ones you asked for...
Done for now, I pull out of his mind, whipping Brett back into consciousness! He gasps for air as he regains his senses, but then something overtakes him. He's taken off running down the street!
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I follow behind, knowing exactly where he'll end up. I must say that I enjoy watching his thick ass jogging away in those tight brown shorts. He's a lot more muscular than I gave him credit for.
I'm sure his new husband will enjoy that body of his too.
Brett sprints several blocks and runs straight up to a house at the end of the street. It's the home of one of his football buddies. I think his name might be Axel or Alex or something. I'm not sure.
Anyways, Brett bangs on the door, panting like a dog. When the door is finally opened, he wastes no time. Brett pulls his bro in for the long passionate kiss he's been waiting for.
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"Dude?" his friend mumbles as their lips part, "What are you doing?"
Little does he know that I already hypnotized him, too. He's going to accept everything Brett does like it's what he's wanted all along.
"Axel! Man, I love you!" Brett moans, pulling his football buddy in closer, "I want you to marry me. I'll quit my job and be your housewife. I'll be better at that! And you can boss me around and use me however you want, bro! I mean everything; cooking, cleaning, everything!"
"Woah, dude! That's a lot to take in," he hesitates, but already his mind is giving in, "But yeah. I like the sound of that. Being my wife means more than just cooking and cleaning though."
Brett looks at his new love earnestly. Meanwhile, Axel straightens up and crosses his arms to look rough.
"It means pleasure, whenever I want it and wherever I want it. It means you only get to watch the football games in between you serving me and my friends. By the way, they're just my friends now. Got it, dude?"
"Yeah," Brett whines, "Just let me start now!"
Axel smirks and pulls his new house husband into the house, giving him a possessive slap on the butt as they pass over the threshold.
"Alright, bitch. I'm gonna treat you just as bad as you did that old girl of yours."
"Who?" Brett asks out of genuine confusion, but he's already brushed off the comment and dropped to his knees.
"I don't know. Don't care either," Axel sneers, "Just get started. Haven't blown a load all day."
The faint sound of repetitive gagging echoes out of the house as the front door slams shut. It seems like my work here is done.
The football gang will enjoy having a very willing bro to take care of all their needs, and Brett will do it with a genuine smile on his face. That friend of yours is a free woman, so I suggest she find something fulfilling to do with her life. Brett may be trapped in another marriage, but she sure as hell isn't!
Hope you liked how I handled your problem!
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decolonize-the-left · 7 months
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I've noticed a rise in radfems/TERFs in feminism tags and more specifically trying to rebrand as The Real Feminism or True Feminism since it's "for the girlies" or whatever.
I am begging you all to help me bury them.
Because as a teen who grew up during the peak of exclusionary "bi/pan/aces aren't vaild" and "kill all men" era where the concept of misandry THRIVED I'm telling you this feels extremely similar.
And radfem/terf ideology got mainstream from those sentiments being so popular and so easy to tap into. It was framed as being righteous since men were oppressors.
"Women are good and men are just mean oppressors! Look at everything they've done!" is such a common sentiment in those circles.
It also completely lacks critical feminist thought.
And we're STILL dealing with the affects of it over a decade later.
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.....So let's talk about JKR since she's currently the Figurehead and favorite of the movement that's trying to rewrite feminist history.
It's 2023. It's a year before a US election where Project 2025 and Trump would happily create a road for trans and queer folks to be imprisoned if not worse.
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Which is I'm sure why JKR has been photographed and interacting with multiple members from The Heritage Foundation, people whove spoken for them, and people who attended theyre meetings. She even enjoyed watching Magdalen, who who she credits for becoming a TERF.
But do you know who Magdalen is? Or what else she was saying? What about any of the other people in the photo? Do you know the scope of what JKR was internalizing and how bad it was? Do you know she has ties to conservative anti-abortion groups?
Do you know what The Heritage Foundation? Probably not and they're the worst so let me tell you why it's such a huge red flag for her and other so-called TERFs and radfems to be associated with them.
Because I can tell you right now she heard a lot of things from those people and there is no fucking way in hell that it was just about queer people or just some sex-specific concerns. And it wasn't just passive bigotry.
Anyone who doesn't conform to the idea of a white, straight nuclear family (re: single mothers, leftists, immigrants, gay couples, etc) is made out to be an enemy of the state.
Anyone they can justify as a "national threat." Yes, they call us all a national threat on their site, their book, and the pamphlets they pass out to politicians. The details are listed on their website including the Mandate For Leadership which is their instruction guide for the next president.
I'm not exaggerating when I say it calls for genocide, prison camps, and eugenic cleansing.
Several people in that photo don't even support abortion, a basic women's rights that JKR claims to care about deeply.
JKR was consuming white supremacist dogma under the guise of feminism.
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And she's not willing to admit or correct it which is where the problem lies. She won't even admit to herself that she was fooled or that it's bad or hypocritical.
My concern is that she is not the only person who's fallen for it and there are more everyday.
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So it's very important to me y'all learn how to filter out what Actual Feminism is in this age where literal fascism is attempting to take its place.
Firstly,
Real, actual feminism will be welcoming to EVERYONE
Because the patriarchy doesn't only affect women or cis people or white women and it's an insult to every previous feminist icon to say otherwise.
Feminists have been fighting for decades to unite people under the concept that Patriarchy is a system that will be brought down with allyship and solidarity.
They've been fighting so hard and so long to prove that everyone deserves the same rights as men.
That women are just as capable as men and shouldn't be stopped from entering fields of study and sports dominated by men. They've been fighting to prove that women are just as capable and smart as any man is, that men would benefit from it dismantling patriarchy too.
Women fought side by side with the queer community to get Roe v Wade passed in 1973. You know why? Because despite what radfems and TERFs will tell you trans women benefit from protecting and standing up for bodily autonomy.
Do not let bigots tear drive a wedge between two groups that experience gender based oppression and would benefit from the same exact rights.
We have changed history together and they're terrified we'll do it again.
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A screenshot from the largest feminist organization active right now, The National Organization of Women.
Notice how the T is included. They even posted this video two years ago when LGBT and specifically trans rights started really coming under attack in 2022.
Trans women are women.
Trans men are men.
ALL women deserve rights.
Every gender deserves equality and fairness.
And feminism is for all of us or it is for none of us.
Because nobody deserves to be treated the way patriarchy treats us.
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yumeka-sxf · 3 months
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Spy x Family Operation Diary - game overview
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I've played through a good amount of the Spy x Family video game, Operation Diary (called Spy x Anya: Operation Memories in the localized version). In my opinion, the game is an absolute joy for any SxF fan: there's so many cute and funny family moments, the mini-games are varied and fun, and all the voice actors bring their A-game performances! Currently the game is only available in Japanese, so I wanted to provide an overview about it for anyone interested in playing it either now or when the English version is released later this year. I'll describe the basics of the game so you can decide if it's something you'd like or not.
Premise
You play as Anya, though you do briefly play as other characters in the mini-games. The goal is for Anya to complete a picture diary of memories she's made with friends, family, etc.
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The game is divided into days, with every three days being a family outing day, and non-outing days are school days.
Diary Photos
There are many locations throughout the game where Anya needs to take pictures for her diary. These places are at the Forger house, at Eden, and at the several family outing spots. However, you can typically only take one or two photos per visit to that location each day.
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When you select a spot to take a photo, you can move the L and R control sticks to make sure you have the right focus and angle for the photo. In addition, you have to hit the shutter button at the perfect time, for example, when Anya and other characters are doing something cute or interesting. You're limited in how much time you can take to snap each photo and how many attempts. If your focus, angle, and timing are perfect, you'll get the full three stars for the photo. Below is an example of how the photo taking works.
Each day starts with the Forgers at home. If it's a non-outing day, Anya will go to school at Eden. There are a few locations at the school, such as the classroom, gym, and study hall, where you can take photos for the diary.
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Once you take your daily photo at Eden, you can go home to the Forger house, where you'll get to take another photo since the Forger house also has a number of photo opportunities. And once you're done doing that, the day shifts to evening. This is the time where Anya is writing "memories" in her diary that the mini-games represent.
Inspiration Points
When you successfully take a photo for the diary, you'll get Inspiration Points depending on how good it was. You can use Inspiration Points to play the mini-games. Completing mini-games earns you Play Points, which is the currency you use to buy things at the shop (more on that later). Each mini-game costs a certain number of Inspiration Points to play (typically you'll have enough for one or two per day). However, even if you run out of Inspiration Points, you can still keep playing the mini-games as much as you like, you just won't earn any Play Points or other rewards from them.
Mini Games
There's a ton of mini-games, and as of this writing, I haven't even unlocked all of them yet! I'll probably make another post just about the mini-games since they're all very unique - of the ones I've played, there's Yor's cooking where you have to get Yor to cut the vegetables perfectly, Eden dodgeball, a Pac Man-like maze game with Anya collecting peanuts, a stealth game where you play as Twilight on a mission to swap museum paintings with fakes, a Becky fashion show rhythm game, a Forgers bowling game, and a Thorn Princess game where Yor has to defeat a bunch of bad guys within a time limit.
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Once you're done with mini-games for the day, Anya will go to bed and the next day will start!
Play Points
The Play Points you earn from the mini games are used to buy items at the shop, which you can access pretty much any time. The shop sells "items of interest" (which I'll discuss below) as well as tons of different clothes for the Forgers.
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Some of the clothes are just cosmetic, but some have additional bonuses when the characters wear them, such as increasing the number of Inspiration Points or Play Points you earn.
Family Outing Days
On family outing days, instead of going to school, Anya will instead go with Loid, Yor, and Bond to one of several previously selected locations, such as the aquarium, dog park, castle, etc.
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Just like Eden and the Forger house, these locations will have a number of photo opportunities, but in addition, you can bring up to three "items of interest" to these places. These items are typically something unique to that location, like the frisbee for the dog park. If you have these items when you go to the location, you'll unlock an additional photo opportunity. Once you've taken photos with all three items of interest at a particular location, you'll then get the ability to take a final "special" photo there as well!
Missions and Challenges
There are various missions and challenges that you complete for performing specific tasks. Some you'll achieve naturally by progressing the story, but most have additional requirements, such as talking to a character a certain number of times or beating a mini-game with a certain score. When you complete these challenges you earn Raffle Tickets. You get the chance to visit the Raffle Ticket booth before you go on an outing. Each ticket allows you a chance to win a costume item for one of the Forgers if you pull a winning number from the box.
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The odds of winning are low, but you will get some Play Points for every attempt, so it's not a total waste! There are also some clothing items that increase your odds of winning if the Forgers are wearing them.
Character interactions
Anya can talk to all the characters to trigger cute and funny interactions!
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Talking to characters each day also allows Anya to get a boost in the number of Play Points earned in mini-games. Though some of the dialogue repeats, there's a lot of unique interactions with characters that are needed to complete challenges and also unlock events. You'll know you can trigger these unique dialogues when the characters have red exclamation marks above their heads. Talking to them in this situation will increase a gauge, and once you've talked to them enough times to fill the gauge, you'll trigger a unique cutscene as well as an illustration for your album!
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Each character has 1-3 of these special cutscenes and illustrations. You'll always have one chance per day to have these special conversations with Damian, Becky, and Henderson at Eden, and Yor and Loid at home. Yuri and Fiona will appear randomly at the Forger house or at one of the outing locations, so you'll have to wait for those opportunities to talk to them.
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And that's pretty much what the game is about! To me, it's a mix of Pokemon Snap and a mini-game collection, with some visual novel elements too (but with voices instead of just reading). Obviously it doesn't have much appeal to anyone who's not a SxF fan, but I'm assuming most of you reading this are 😅 If you want to see a lot of cute and funny interactions between the characters, do some silly stuff like dress the Forgers up in various costumes, as well as play some quick but addicting mini-games with our beloved characters as the main attraction, then you'll definitely like Operation Diary!
As I mentioned, I plan to make at least a couple more posts about the game, so stay tuned~
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ysabelmystic · 11 months
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“I just came from r/196” ask game
Saw another post. I think I should invite y'all to one of our longstanding traditions. Answer the questions then tag 10 (or more) people. I'll go first.
Name? Frankie
Pronouns and gender? he/they/it, transmasc
Sexuality? Lesbian
Country? USA
Top 5 fandoms? Bungou Stray Dogs, Cosmere, All for the Game, Fundiesnark (not a series but I'm too deep in it to not consider it a fandom), .....the tornado fandom? (they're my special interest)
What is your Most forbidden snack? The preserved bones at the Atlanta Bodies Exhibition. They looked so crunchy...
Would you pet a bug? If it's big enough, it is pettable.
Share a weird fact/story about yourself with the class. I like to drive around rural areas and photograph old, sometimes abandoned locations in the dead of night. I have been literally chased out of towns by foot and by car on two separate occasions. The second time this happened, "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus came up on shuffle and that's the soundtrack my friend and I tore out of town to. Also every "guy" I've dated except for my most recent ex (who has big egg energy) is a lesbian now.
What does the color blue taste like? Creme brulee
What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? The appalachian mountains of Tennessee in the middle of summer. There's kudzu everywhere. On the backroads, there were several old, dilapidated Baptist churches barely hanging to the side of the mountain. I wonder how many of them were still in use.
What is the stupidest thing you've ever done? Short version: my friend's house almost got broken into by this dude who'd been stalking us for months while we were home alone. Instead of calling the cops, we decided to confront him with a bow and arrow (me), a hatchet, and a baseball bat (him). The plan was that if it went badly, we would simply throw his corpse into one of the many lakes in the neighborhood and let the alligators eat his remains (this was Florida). Why? Because we were afraid of having our home-alone privileges revoked. Luckily for us all, the guy fucked off and we never saw him again.
Stupidest thing you've seen/heard someone else do/say? My ex thought that Jackalopes were real. Also, a nurse I was doing rotations with apparently thought that "Witness Protection" was for Jehovah's Witnesses.
Hyperfixation song? Young Enough + Bleach by Charly Bliss
Is there any meaning behind your profile picture and/or username? Profile pic; I'm transmasc and I'm currently obsessed with TriStamp. Username; It was my fake internet name when I was like 13. I won't change it because I want my mutuals to recognize me, and because I do have a viral post associated with this name.
Dream career as a child? Doctor (funnily enough I'm now in nursing school)
Dream career as an adult? Professional Jester. Not a comedian. I just want to be some weird little guy who dresses silly and you can hire me to roast your boss at work parties.
Thoughts on cilantro? Delicious
Have you ever been banned from a location and if so, why? I honestly can't remember? Probably... but in recent memory I've mainly banned people from places.
What is your cursed food combination? Pineapple on a hotdog with grilled onions. It Slaps.
Trans rights? TRANS RIGHTS
Tagging: @rocket-mankoi @mostlymarco @atleast8courics @jazzlike39 @gemsweater72 @limbobilbo @ameliaaltare @redcrane112 @theoneofwhomisblue @twinkenjoyer @theultimatecarp and anyone else who wants to jump on
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vidavalor · 5 months
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"You love trains": Crowley & Aziraphale inspired 'North by Northwest'
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Putting my film studies background to good use here with some film history & historical context under the cut.
The "what does the J stand for?" exchange in The Blitz, Part 1 and the inability for the audience to initially understand what Aziraphale is mouthing in The Blitz, Part 2 are both references to Hitchcock's classic spy thriller, 'North by Northwest'. I didn't link the clip that goes along with The Blitz, Part 2 in case some of you have never seen this film because it would ruin your experience of it. (Definitely watch it if you have not as it's a masterpiece.) Since The Blitz scenes are taking place in 1941 and 'North by Northwest' was released 18 years later in 1959, Crowley and Aziraphale aren't referencing the film in the dialogue but, instead, could be presumed to be the source *of* the dialogue in the film... just like how Shakespeare lifted Crowley's love poetry for 'Antony & Cleopatra'... and the 'North by Northwest'-referencing part of The Blitz, Part 1 *is referencing* the 'Antony and Cleopatra' reference because it's the reveal of Crowley's first name. But... it gets even better...
The writer of 'North by Northwest' was legendary Hollywood screenwriter Ernest Lehman, whom we're now presuming to have been a friend of probably at least Aziraphale's. Lehman wrote a dozen or so classic films and, outside of 'North by Northwest', is most famous for writing adaptations of several famous musicals, including the adapted screenplay for... 'The Sound of Music.' But, no, somehow, we aren't done yet with how amazing this is lol.
The thing that makes this all even funnier is that 'North by Northwest' is responsible for probably the most famous train metaphor in cinema. I'll spoil just this bit as it won't really ruin the overall movie for you if you haven't seen it but don't go any further than here if you don't want to be spoiled at all. If you've already seen it, you totally know what I mean. *laughs*
In 1959, when this film was released, you still couldn't really show sex on screen in a mainstream film. If you showed two people in a bedroom at all, they were cisgender, heterosexual and married and they slept in two separate beds. The level of sex happening in the above clip was *wild* for the era and the fact that it was put into the film the way it is-- that an unmarried woman picks up a hot guy on a train and they sleep together and she's still the heroine of the film and all of that-- was really nothing short of feminist revolution in a film in this era.
The film has a famous "love scene" of sorts that follows not long after the one I linked above, where the two of them are in a cabin on the train and starting to get it on but constraints of cinema coding at the time limited how far it could go. So, to imply that the main characters do, in fact, sleep together, the film famously cuts away to a shot of the train entering a tunnel-- making the train itself symbolic of sex. Because of how famous the film overall--and this scene in particular--became, it became a thing to use trains euphemistically for sex in other cinematic works following it. There is literally no way that Crowley and Aziraphale have not seen this movie so while Aziraphale was happy to make The Bentley into a sexual metaphor while angling for the car keys, Crowley is half-heartedly griping in flirty response by continually referencing trains, another sexual mode of transportation-- the one that that they inspired lol. Hence Aziraphale's bemused little lololol-but-won't-give-him-the-satisfaction-of-seeing-my-amusement face here:
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Sunglassed!Cary Grant is Crowley and the old movie chemistry and the semi-coded flirty banter and someone please, please write a fic where Aziraphale says "I don't particularly like the book I've started"-- I will pay you lol.
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sardonic-the-writer · 1 month
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𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞
↳ notes: just wanted to do something in honor of sorry boys going on hiatus. this is entirely based on their last video so watch that to understand the silly headcanon time. cc!wilbur likers will be blocked by the way, thanks. get out of here
↳ warnings: none. just the four members here. four original, and only, members of sorry boys. no one else
↳ song: campus—vampire weekend
masterlist | commissions | carrd
• You'd think that an afternoon shift at a trampoline park would be easy; especially on the down days. Hanging around the snack bar with your employees, blowing whistles at loud kids, and keeping whatever was left in the lost and found bin became something of a daydream to you upon first getting hired
• It was a better alternative to the fast food joint you had worked previously at a crazed food van—you'd rather do anything but that after quitting
• Your first tip that things weren't going to be that easy should have been the camera crew that shuffled in on your second week, lead in part by a blonde guy with a stack of pre-signed waivers in his hand
• "What's up with that?" You turned to your only other coworker at the hour, a lanky guy with a mask and fluffed up hair. You thought you remember his name starting with an R or something along the lines of that, but mostly you referred to him as 'dude' or 'hey you.' He never felt the need to correct you, so you just never stopped
• "Oh yeah." He'd responded with a tired voice while barely even looking around. "Uh, we have a group that comes in every few days and rents out the place. I've seen them bouncing around, and I'm not really sure they're, uh, stable I guess you could say."
• Glancing down from the reception desk and to the play floor below, you caught a glimpse of the three others he spoke of, one being the blonde kid from earlier, surrounded by a few cameras and doing some rather weak jump moves. One in a red fat suit fell over at one point and refused to get up as he rolled around on the floor whining
• "Er," You took a step out of the reception desk area as you pointed a finger down at the scene. "Shouldn't one of us be down there? Supervising, and all that." You neglected to mention that one of the men looked old enough to be your father and should probably be mediating them
• For a moment you thought your coworker would shrug and tell you to go on, but he just sighed and grabbed his whistle like a weary office worker preparing for a morning round
• "At least this time I won't be alone." He looked at you. The eyebags under his eyes made you feel like he'd done this a lot more than he'd ever wanted to, despite only being at work a few weeks more than you
• The next few minutes went by fine. You were mostly ignored by the two fellows in fat suits as they proceeded to say 'dude' and 'bro' far too much, and was only offered a high five by the same blonde— Tungo you now knew. At one point the cameramen pulled you and the other worked over for a small interview, the likes of which you seemed to enjoy more than him
• The first time either of you really had to step in was when the red fat suit one delved into his shell, yelling something about yoinking his pork
• "Chungus? Chungo?" You managed to say his name without somehow laughing. "Please don't do that. We're gonna have some problems if you continue to."
• As Chounce popped his head out like a cartoon character to look at you, you offered a wobbly smile, and was severely relieved when he finally brought his hands out of his suit to cross them
• "For the record dude I wasn't even pulling my plug." He frowned, having the decency to look midly embarrassed. "I was just thinking about my feelings, bro."
• You got a thankful look from your fellow employee at your successful endeavors
• The both of you continued to watch as a competition between Chounce and Tungo occurred, eventually somehow turning into a fight between them as the self proclaimed Master Za watched
• In reality, you were pretty sure their real names all aligned somewhere along the lines of Tommy Charlie and Phil, if the signatures on their wavers spoke for anything, but none of them seemed to call each other anything but nonsense
• At one point, you were compelled enough by the entertainment to purchase a bag of popcorn from the snack desk, earning a look at disappointment from your coworker as he saw
• "Please don't encourage them." He dragged a hand down his face, careful not to knock his mask off
• "I don't think it'd matter if I did or didn't." You smiled through a mouthful. "Just look at 'em." You waved at the kid zone they'd all migrated too in the last hour or two, currently kissing Master Za on the face as he yelped in protest
• "Wait." Your hand lowered slowly as you blinked. "That's not allowed—"
• The two of you took off in their direction, using your whistles for what felt like the hundredth time that day as you ran
• By the time closing hours came around, it was dark enough outside to make you yawn. It took a significant amount of convincing to get the three of them, mostly Chounce, to leave and stop bouncing, but it eventually worked with a few well placed bribes. Namely, handfuls from your unfinished chip bag from earlier
• "You weren't all that bad! Not a wrong'un after all." Tungo eventually confided in you in front of everyone as you went to close up, looking strangely proud about such a mediocre compliment. You grinned at him anyways, finding him to be one of the saner ones throughout the whole ordeal
• "Maybe next time I could judge a match of yours, yeah?" You offered as you thumbed through the cash in the register
• "Please do not encourage them." A familiar voice from outside sounded for the second time that day, making you suck air between your teeth in an attempt not to snort with laughter
• "And remember to check the bathrooms before you leave. One of them likes to hide in them after we close."
• "Sorry, what—"
• You ended up having to drag Chounce out bt his ankles that night and into Master Za's car so he could get home
• "You know what? It's still better than the food truck."
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Hello,so i've been brainrotting about Pei ming genuinely falling in love with f!reader,but the reader always ignored him since he is known for using women for fun,but he just keeps trying so hard to win reader over and prove he's actually inlove with them. It would be great if you could write this in hcs,you can ignore this if you dont want to
I Have Standards
Pei Ming x F!reader
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Do you know how long I had to search the gifs for him?
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Pei Ming is a womanizer everyone knows that
But Pei Ming genuinely has found an interest in you. Truthfully!
You intrigue him, however you also ignore him
So he hasn't been able to get far in his affections
Most women don't ignore him like this you know?
Pei Ming has been chasing you around like a lost dog, trying to prove his love to you
He's tried to woo you, give you flowers, buy you expensive things, take you out
But no you ignore him gracefully as if he were your fan
This man is genuinely confused. Like??? Why is she ignoring me ugh I got to step up my game I guess
Doesn't realize it's because of his reputation until Ling Wen tells him
Which she only did, because he wouldn't stop bitching in her ear about how his lovely crush won't bat an eyelash at him.
She wishes you the best of luck
Now that he knows the problem lies within his reputation he doesn't know how to fix that. . .
How does one go back and fix the past?
Ling Wen tells him he's stupid and maybe he should try to clean up his act. Then you'll look at him.
So that's what he attempts to do.
He should've done that in the first place but like he's trying okay?
Pei Ming really isn't all that bad, he just needs to get you to actually talk to him now.
Asks Ling Wen how he's supposed to sit down with you and she sends him right to your door.
Ling Wen is probably the only reason you guys have a chance of being together because she paid you off to deal with him.
She's sick of it
You stay true to your word though and give him a chance to woo you.
You sit in your palace lounge with crossed legs.
You aren't expecting anything heart felt
However you sit with wide eyes when Pei Ming pours his heart out to you.
Pei Ming practiced this speech like several times.
"I know I don't have the best reputation with women, but if you could give me a chance I promise to treat you right and not throw you to the side like rumours say I would"
Etc, etc
Okay so you're woo'd
Do you know what time period it is? Especially as a women?
All men are too afraid of their feelings and some are too busy being gay with each other cough, cough Xie Lian.
It just doesn't leave a girl like you many options
But you do like Pei Ming you've just never told him because of the whole reputation thing
You've been quiet for a long time, Pei Ming almost thinks you're going to say no.
Very happy when you say yes!
Astounded when you say you'll castrate him if he does you wrong.
He'll accept that!
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I hope I wasn't rambling 😞 but yip yip guys 🖤
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she-is-ovarit · 9 months
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This is for all the younger gen Z women, particularly those of you within the ages of 17 to roughly 23. This is written from an American perspective, things might be a little different depending on where you're from.
I graduated high school with the unconscious assumption that certain systems will take care of me. The medical system would educate me on proper nutrition and health issues was probably my largest underlying assumption, but really I just had trust in institutions generally.
This isn't true. You are responsible for learning. As an example, I have been vegetarian since age 14. Nobody talked to me about proper nutrition, they just told me I needed to eat more protein.
I lived a decade of my life having shortness of breath, sleeping issues, clumsiness, cold hands and feet, having brain fog, extreme fatigue, heightened anxiety, etc. My period was extremely light and brown, it'd last for about 2 or so days. I'd go and talk about these problems, and telling doctors that I was vegetarian was one of the first things that came out of my mouth just with any visit because I knew at least that piece was important to communicate.
There was really no action taken over the span of about 10 years. I was told the period thing was normal, that changes for women. A sleep specialist let me know that feeling exhausted was also normal. The brain fog was probably due to anxiety. Here, try allergy medication (tbh that did help for other reasons). Then one day I just asked them to check my vitamin and mineral levels. Prior to this I didn't think you can make requests to doctors, I thought you showed up and they performed tests on what they recommended. With some reluctance from my primary care physician and some compromise because she said my insurance wouldn't cover testing things like B12 levels (I later found out from a nurse that, they would, she would have just needed to fill out extra paperwork), she did some tests.
I found out both my iron and D3 levels were low. What else could be?
I later learned pretty much all the vitamins common to be low for vegetarians were low. D3, magnesium, vitamin Bs, iron, and healthy fats. Bought some liquid vitamins (because the body only absorbs 10% of the pill supplements), began eating an avocado a day, my period became normal for the first time in nine years, and I am able to function.
Another example of how human systems won't educate you: I don't have feeling in some of my toes due to wearing incorrect sized footwear for years resulting in permanent nerve damage. I'm size 11.5 in women's, and I was relying on someone to tell me how proper footwear worked, because surely the guy in the minimum wage position working the footwear section would know.
Don't trust human systems to guide you through how certain things work. Seek specific specialists and experts when you can, and inform yourself on your own. Don't blindly trust search engines like Google, it's not like how it used to be when I was growing up and many millennial adults will tell you to "just google things" because we're used to finding actual substantive answers when we do. However, now, usually whoever pays is who makes the first page or two of search engines, it has nothing to do with what information is "most correct". Don't be afraid to request certain tests be done by doctors or certain referrals made to different specialists.
Edit: And also, I've found general practitioners are terrible when you walk in and tell them about several different symptoms at one time. They're more used to treating one symptom at a time, and they treat the symptom not the root cause. If you go in with a runny nose, general practitioners are going to throw medications at you to try and treat the runny nose, not look deeper into what's causing the runny nose. It's equivalent to if you're in a boat and it's sinking, they're bailing out water without actually fixing the hole or trying to figure out where it is, with the exception of emergency situations and even then it depends.
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themusicsweetly · 11 months
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Thank you for posting videos, pictures, and the Tribeca panel commentary on twitter. It is much appreciated. 🙏🏻
[ Anonymous #2 asked ]: Sarah, would you mind writing a S701 review since you were at the premiere last night? Don't mind spoilers and you can warn others if they don't want to read. Loved it when you did it before. Thanks!
Hello Anons! Thanks so much for both your asks! I hope you don't mind me combining both your asks.
You're so welcome, Anon #1! I so glad so many people enjoyed my posts about it! I'm very grateful that I've been able to go to these events for several years now. I know that so many of you don't get that opportunity, so I try to do what I can to bring it to you all even if only virtually. Things are always so much more fun when they're shared, anyway. After all, that's what fandom should be about! 💜
For anyone who missed it, you can check out my Twitter page for my full coverage of 92Y and the Tribeca Festival. But here's some GIF spam from my favorite of the videos I was able to capture this week!
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Anon #2, yes of course I'll write up a summary of my thoughts. I know you said you don't mind them, but I will try my very best to not include any spoilers in it as I know it really does ruin it for some. But just in case:
~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR OUTLANDER 7x01 BELOW~~~ ~~~SERIOUSLY, DON’T @ ME THAT I DIDN’T WARN YOU~~~
Outlander 7x01, "A Life Well Lost"
As Caitriona + Sam have mentioned previously in interviews, 7x01 picks up right where 6x08 left off. No time jump or anything, which I was really glad for. The opening scene was SHOCKING and used something that I thought was really clever and really rude all at the same time lol. I can tell you that the audience gasped because of it. I feel this bit was extremely effectively done. Caitriona's micro-expressions really made it for me.
One thing that surprised me — and perhaps it shouldn't simply because Outlander has always been full of this — was that there were so many small moments of humor in this episode, despite the obvious dire situation Claire and Jamie are in (but really, when aren't they lol). There's a new small side character that both Claire and Jamie get to interact with that provides much needed comedic breaks. Even Jamie's menacing looks add to this. Claire especially, I feel, gets to use her biting wit (or just straight up cursing) to add some humor to the tenseness. There's one particularly funny scene that takes place on a boat and involves an interrupting officer that I so loved! The entire audience burst out laughing when we saw it.
While Caitriona + Sam were obviously amazing, I'll say the surprising standout actor in this episode wasn't them. I won't say who, but it's someone we're well acquainted with. There are moments straight out of the book that this actor just fully nails. We're so lucky to have such strong actors filling these side character roles and s/he is just fantastic. Their sincerity and conviction sold me completely.
As book readers can probably guess from the title and from where we are in the timeline, we know basically what will happen in this episode — and they to stick pretty well to it. Even so, it is still so satisfying to get to see it played out on screen. Claire's despair, hope, and heartbreak. Jamie's torment, anger, and determination. The relief of it all. It's all played so, so well across Caitriona + Sam's faces and in their line delivery. Sam said during the Tribeca panel that Jamie is perhaps "more frail" in this episode, and I think that can be said for both of them. Despite them being well versed in separation, I think every subsequent one after their 20 year split wears on them more and more. And they both play that so expertly, making the time that we do see them together just that much sweeter. I don't think it's too spoilery to say that yes, they do share several scenes together this episode so dinna fash!
As for Brianna and R*ger, their scenes are pretty well separate from the Jamie x Claire scenes. I don't really have much to say about them, except that they move certain other storylines that will become more important later on in the season forward. And only just so. While it was important to do so, honestly it felt a bit filler-like. That said, I am actually pretty excited for certain arcs for Brianna and Jemmy later on (while also hoping they don't include that storyline for R*ger... sorry, not sorry) and this brought them maybe half a step closer to it.
Other than the moment on the boat I had mentioned earlier, there are two scenes toward the end which I really loved. One was such a sweet moment straight out of the book with some really great book lines that I had very much wanted to hear. it is Classic™ Jamie x Claire, so you know Caitriona + Sam knocked it out of the park. The second is not a book scene (I believe?? I don't remember it anyway), but was a great one for Sam / Jamie. It's how the episode ends and I told a new friend I had met in the Tribeca line that the final moment of the episode reminded me of Batman's cape swooshing over the camera turning everything black. Lol take from that what you will!
Some other random thoughts:
Jamie x Claire are SO. SOFT. They say separation makes the heart grow fonder? Really, it makes those two grandparents softer AND I LOVE IT.
I LOVED seeing Caitriona + Sam's names appear as Executive Producers! The entire audience was singing along to The Skye Boat song and then burst out cheering when that came up.
I really hope Major MacDonald's wig gets snatched by Adso at some point because F him lol
Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the episode. Some might say it's a bit slow, which I wouldn't disagree with. But knowing that 1) they had to get this part over with the tie up the Season 6 cliffhanger; and 2) this is really going to be a jam packed season of action and emotion, I think I'm okay with that. I've heard it from more than one source that 7x02 is even better than 7x01 so I'm really excited! I'm also really excited to meet our newer cast members, as none of them featured in the premiere episode. The Hunters especially will be so much fun to watch!
Hearing Caitriona + Sam speak about not only this season, but their journey with Outlander overall makes me so grateful that the quality is still there after seven seasons. They're clearly still so passionate about these characters and are determined to do them justice in every way to the very end. And I think that most definitely shows up in their scenes. I'm super curious to see if there's anything noticeably different or better now that they've been promoted to Executive Producers. And of course, to see Caitriona's first foray into directing!! Until then, I'm looking forward to you all seeing the first episode for yourselves 💜
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AITA for telling my mom I don't want my older brother moving back in?
People involved: Me (F25), my mom (F55), my older half brother ("Joe", M39), Joe's wife ("Nina", F28)
This situation is way too long and messy to give a full account of, so I'm gonna give the super condensed version. My mom has a lot of health problems and medical debt, and I live with her to help her. We both work 2 jobs to make ends meet and the house is falling apart in some places, but we're barely getting by.
Joe has been living with our grandmother for the last few years, but she's selling her house and moving into an assisted living facility. Joe has known about this for 2 months, and called my mom in tears 2 days before they close on the house asking her for help. Him and Nina have nowhere to put their dog (a rottweiler). Him and Nina have nowhere to put their boat (that they never use and I have no idea why he still has). Him and Nina have nowhere to stay (he had 2 months to find somewhere???)
One of my hard rules when I moved in with my mom is that Joe and Nina not be allowed back in the house for many, many reasons. To name just a few:
Nina is the reason Joe lost his 4 children 6 years ago, and the reason he hasn't done anything to get them back. She failed a drug test while she was pregnant with another man's baby (yes, she cheated on Joe). The baby was taken away as soon as it was born, and she was court ordered to not be around Joe's children until she passed a hair follicle test. Joe brought her around his children. Their bio mom found out and took him to court. Joe lost them. Now he can't even begin the process of getting them back until he and Nina can pass a drug test. Our family has offered to pay for said drug tests, but Nina refuses. She says she doesn't do drugs anymore and could pass it, but she just doesn't want to deal with the kids. Joe is apparently fine with this.
Joe and Nina both have stolen from nearly everyone in our family. They were regularly stealing from my grandmother while they lived with her, all of our aunts and uncles and most of our cousins have cut contact with them because they steal from them at holidays and birthdays.
Nina is lazy as fuck and can't do anything for herself. She lays in bed all day while Joe works 2, sometimes 3 jobs to support their drug habit. She won't cook. She won't clean. If she wants something she SCREAMS for Joe to get it for her.
And probably most importantly: Joe and Nina have stayed here dozens of times before, and it has never ended well. They always say they're only gonna be here a week or 2, but it always turns into months. They always trash the house. They always steal from me and my mom. They always drink and do drugs in our house. Several times I've gotten into physical altercations with Nina when I find her snooping through my room. The last time they were here we found out Joe was prostituting Nina for drugs from our house. We found this out because the cops came looking for them, and told us our house was "a known drug house". When they left, they told the family they left because I was a drug addict who was stealing from THEM.
Now I'll admit: all of this happened years ago, pre 2020. Joe SAYS he and Nina are clean, but I've heard that before. Joe SAYS they just need a month or 2 to find a place to stay, but I've heard that before. Joe SAYS he and Nina are sorry for how they treated us in the past, but I've heard that before.
My mom is a bleeding heart softie and is ready to let Joe come back with open arms, but I put my foot down and told her if he moves in I move out, and she KNOWS he won't help like I do. She tearfully told my brother he can't stay here, and has since been moping about how he's still her son, how she can't believe I'd put her in this position, how no one will give Joe a chance to prove he's changed, etc etc. But I just feel like I HAVE given Joe dozens of chances, and it's not my fault he kept throwing them back in my face. AITA?
What are these acronyms?
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shanastoryteller · 1 year
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Happy Halloween!!! 🦇🦇🦇 Can you write something about Word of Honor? Otherwise anything of the identity porn will do
a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Sizhui doesn't hear what's happened until nearly dinner. All he knows is that his father is furious and Lady Xuanyu has shut herself away in the library with stern orders for no one to disturb her. Their marriage has seemed amicable enough so far, considering they're strangers under an arranged marriage, so he doesn't understand what could have happed.
It's Jingyi who finds out the truth, probably by breaking several rules against gossip and enticing others into uncouth behavior.
"Jumped off a cliff?" he repeats incredulously. "That can't be right. She wouldn't do that."
Lady Xuanyu is bright and warm and affectionate and she always has a smile for him and time to listen about his day, pushing her scrolls away to tug him to her side so she can give him her undivided attention. She keeps pressing sweet buns into his hand, telling him to share with his friends and only winking at him when he asks where they came from.
Jingyi shrugs, although he seems equally dubious. "Your father went after her and caught her as she fell. Now they're fighting, I guess."
He won't disobey his step mother's orders. But he does kneel outside of the library to wait.
Dinner time comes. He does not leave.
It's approaching curfew when his uncle comes down the path and pauses next to him. "I heard you were here. What are you doing, Sizhui?"
"Lady Xuanyu ordered everyone away," he says, keeping his eyes on the door. She has to open them eventually. "I'm waiting for her."
"I'll get her," Lan Xichen says, moving towards the library.
Sizhui grabs onto his sleeve. "Don't. Don't rush her. It's fine. I don't mind waiting."
"Sizhui," he says, pained.
He shakes his head. "It's fine. You were all so worried she'd be cruel to me, but she hasn't been. If she'd ordered me to kneel in the courtyard every day just because she didn't like me, then we would have all thought I was getting off lightly. I don't mind waiting until she's ready to leave."
His uncle sighs. "It's been a long time since I've done this."
Sizhui doesn't know what he means, but Lan Xichen just sighs and stands slightly behind him, hands clasped behind his back. "Uncle! What are you doing?"
"Waiting with you," he says.
"You can't do that," he insists, "you're our sect leader, it's not proper!"
"I am also your uncle," he says gently, "if you're here, then I'm here."
Sizhui sputters, trying to come up with some sort of argument that will get his uncle on his way when the doors are shoved open and Lady Xuanyu tumbles out, grumbling, "-texts that haven't been updated in - what on earth are you two doing?"
Her hair is in a sloppy bun atop her head, strands hanging down, and she's holding her spotless pale blue over robe in her arms while her gold Jin robe is covered in ink marks.
"Sizhui has been waiting for you," Lan Xichen says. "He missed dinner."
Lady Xuanyu frowns and Sizhui blurts out, "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" she repeats, eyebrows pushed together. "Of course I am, what are you - you've been her since before dinner? Growing boys need to eat! Let's find you something. I'm a terrible cook unless you like sp-spoiled food, so hopefully some of the cooks are still up."
Lady Xuanyu grips his forearm and pulls him to his feet with strength it doesn't look like she should have. She stars brushing off his robe, still scolding him for not eating properly, and he lunges forward before he loses his nerve.
He wraps his arms around her waist and presses his forehead into her shoulder.
Her voice cuts off and after a stunned moment she returns the hug, squeezing him hard enough that it's almost like she's resettling him into his own skin. "Sizhui? Are you okay? Was someone mean to you? Tell me who it was, I'll beat them up."
He laughs but it comes out kind of choked. "I'm really glad you're here. Don't be too mad at my father. Please."
Not mad enough to throw herself from a cliff, at least.
She's the only mother he's ever had.
She's not that much older than him, far too young to have had him herself, but she acts like his mother, has treated him like he's always seen all his friends' mothers treat them growing up.
"Oh, Sizhui," she says softly. "Don't worry about me and your father. My relationship with him has nothing to do with my relationship with you, okay? You don't have to worry about that."
"Okay," he says, although he is very much going to worry about it now. He hadn't before, and she'd jumped off a cliff.
"Now let's get you some dinner," she says, stepping back but keeping an arm around his shoulders. "Are you coming, Lan Xichen?"
"No," his uncle says, seeming extremely satisfied for no reason that Sizhui can think of, "You two have a good night."
Lady Xuanyu gives his uncle a suspicious look, but nods and guides them towards the kitchens.
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paradoxcase · 24 days
Text
John 1:20
THE TOWER HAS BEEN REACTIVAT
No surprises there.
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I mean, isn't this basically the same conclusion they already came to like several John chapters ago, when Augustine was questioning whether the FTL even existed? (Although, apparently actual FTL really happens at the end of this chapter, I guess it actually was real? Why does it make no appearance in the rest of these books? If this other FTL technology exists, why did BOE work so hard to get a ship with a stele and a necromancer to operate it?) Anyway, this doesn't feel like a new or exciting conclusion to come to
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I don't feel like this story has done a good job of explaining why this has to be done, or even why John and co. think it has to be done. Is it because they're leaving in the ships that were intended for the cryo project? I'm sure they can build more of those, it's just money and engineering, and even if all the trillionaires leave, there's still a lot of governments with a lot of money out there who would probably be willing to fund the cryo project when John turns out to be right about trillionaires after they've left and there's no one left to defend them and talk about the secret lives of cows. I mean, as long as he doesn't start doing stupid and crazy shit and causing a nuclear holocaust. Who cares if the trillionaires leave? I feel like the point of these chapters is to explain why John did what he did, but I don't think this explanation makes a lot of sense. This is not moving me as a supervillain origin story
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So, according to the UN, world population will not reach ten billion until 2058. I calculated earlier that John can't be born later than 1998 and still be old enough to realistically attend the Parachute music festival, so are we meant to believe that John is 60 years old here?
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If I had a nickel for every time someone had their arm cut off and then regrown in this story, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice
Also, thanks for not making this one a sex scene, I think I've already heard more than I wanted to about John's sex life
Presumably this is needed for something resurrection-related, I guess it's so that when the suitcase nuke explodes he can grow a whole new G1deon again from the arm, like a starfish. So presumably John would have had no trouble growing Ianthe a new arm that worked as her arm, if she had asked him. I went back to see where Ianthe's first problematic arm had come from, but all I can find is that she denies that either John or Mercy was responsible for it. Did she make it herself? I can't remember
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Ok, but six paragraphs earlier Pyrrha is being mad that G1deon won't arm the nuke if she comes with him. Did Pyrrha know, or not?
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I mean, I hate to say it, but you were right there with all of the others when John was like, we have to stop the trillionaires from escaping, that's the absolute more important thing to be doing right now, and exactly zero of you said, no John, that's not actually the most important thing to be doing right now
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Why did Cristabel decide that right now was the best time for John to figure out how souls work? There's this whole side narrative about John working out how souls work, but it doesn't really feel tied to the rest of the story about the trillionaires and the cryo project
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I think I see. As established at the beginning of Harrow the Ninth, a living planet's soul is like the collective thalergy of everything that lives on the planet, so I guess it's kind of a gestalt oversoul, where every individual living soul on the planet is part of it? So when a planet is dead, then by definition everything else on it is also dead, since otherwise there would still be a living planet soul of some sort. The fact that John wasn't able to control individual human souls here while Alecto was still alive sort of implies that resurrection, and maybe most kinds of soul magic, are actually impossible on a living planet, if even John can't distinguish between human souls and the planet soul in that context. I guess that means that that kind of stuff would only be possible on an undead planet in the Nine Houses
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No, I think that's totally fair, actually
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I feel like this is important. Everyone else was killed by someone else. Like, John was 100% responsible for all of this mess, but he didn't actually pull the trigger to kill anyone else, and until this point he still has some plausible deniability, like he was just trying to stop the trillionaires, and he never intended to set off any nukes or kill anyone, he was just stressed and being a bit dumb. But he specifically kills G1deon, who is clearly his most loyal supporter. Like, I think he probably could have talked to G1deon over the phone at this point and been like, hey new plan, we're actually going to let the nuke go off and kill a million people so I can gain godlike power, don't worry I'm gonna figure out how to bring you back to life again using your arm, and I honestly think there's a solid chance that G1deon would have been like, sure thing boss, see you when it's all over. Then it would have been like, consensual, I guess? But he doesn't even do that. He just kills him. Obviously John has just killed people before at this point, and he would also be just killing another million people, but I think it's sort of different for John to just kill a bunch of cops or the population of Melbourne that he doesn't know at all, versus to just kill someone like G1deon, who he's known all his life and is somehow impossibly loyal to him
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I'm not feeling this metaphor
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Well, that's extremely biblical
So this means that the only reason Alecto survived this in a way that the other cavaliers didn't was because John couldn't entirely consume her soul, or thought he couldn't. And I guess he just decided it was too complicated to figure out how to do this with a human soul, and a necromancer who doesn't have all that power at hand at that moment?
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So this is what Hollywood Hair Barbie looks like, apparently:
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Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but she doesn't seem to have quite as freakish proportions as the barbies I grew up with, which is good. For a moment I was imagining 8-foot-tall Alecto who is 75% legs and it was terrifying
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What is the "shaman" a reference to, here?
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So ultimately, John's powers came from Alecto originally, when she was still alive as the soul of Earth - it's implied throughout the story that necromancy comes from exposure to thanergy, but this obviously wasn't the case for John's specific flavor of necromancy, but he is definitely making use of thanergy to do what he does. So why did Alecto have the ability to give someone necromancy powers, that make use of death energy, rather than say, something the primarily makes use of life energy/thalergy which would probably be more useful and not incentivize killing ten billion people to gain more power?
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