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sgiandubh · 3 months

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The Ascent of Lying

Why, Mordor people? Why do you lie?

Is it stupidity? Hunger Greed for clicks? That #silly, #silly itch to be FIRST? And RIGHT?

The Ascent of Lying started in this fandom with *urv. Her Google sources, her undying obsession for S (and the mandatory hypocrisy that comes along with it), her paltry stories fit for people who never took a flight overseas in their entire life (not something bad at all, but in this context, this makes you incredibly fragile), her remake of the Twilight fandom hullaballoo and her chutzpah.

It continued with Jess, on this side of the fandom: her OTT girlish enthusiasm, her elusiveness IRL and finally, her capitulation and resurrection, under the same name, but with a totally opposed POV. For perhaps you don't know it, but Jess 2.0 has been back since quite a while ago, now making amends about her former strong beliefs. Even taking full responsibility for some 'receipts' (remember the S lemon pin/wedding ring one? she confirmed it was her and it probably was a #silly, horrible lie). How convenient and how depressing, isn't it? Reading her new, sparse blog brought along two firm thoughts: why this need to robotically inform us about her happiness and her change of heart? Also, how many Anons did Jess 2.0 send, since her comeback, to this side of the fandom?

Let this disappointment be my sin, then and let the link to her new hole in the wall remain undisclosed by this page. I have no wish to either start a flaming war, nor give this woman more space than she deserves:

You'll have to deal with the very childish LMAO and this completely irresponsible explanation: 'it was fun to fantasize at the time'. No, lady: you LIED. You lied through your teeth and because you had the privilege of having a thirsty audience, you thoroughly enjoyed this strange avatar of fame, as you say it publicly yourself, now. You even were, most probably, heavily used by ***'s PR and even S (that is a very firm belief), just like another very fragile individual, who switched sides in a far more vocal and pathetic way. That makes for a mixed bag of truths and lies, something I think we all are way too familiar with, by now. But that does not preclude, nor excuse in any shape or form, your eagerness to ahem, 'embellish" a very real love story and twist it according to your naivete and parochial life experience. Morally, you are 0, to me: a sentimental troll, completely on par with *urv.

I could blather on and on about Jess's main competitor, Puffy, too. I think I already wrote enough about her, if only because many believed me to be her latest avatar, which is completely ridiculous, but ridiculous with an agenda. So, did Puffy lie, too? Probably, especially while creating Stella and Deep Throat out of thin air. Let's agree she heavily extrapolated, which is a shame, because some of her analysis is really spot on.

The Ascent of Lying then morphed, along with an US busy social and political agenda being more and more sensitive to the 'fake news" issue, towards the Factchecker Anti blogs, who mimicked neutrality and promoted online stalking to unprecedented levels. Along came people like Meowkabob, who even manufactured their own facts/evidence and released them online. That was perfectly premeditated and done for increased credibility (I have debunked her shite last fall, if you remember), being fully aware that her libel could not be justified only by a prior, questionable, 'London experience', of which we conveniently have no concrete details. The other blog, you all know and sometimes visit: whether she is a PR plant or lonely rider doesn't really matter, yet a stalker and a hypocrite in her own right, too. The fact that both these persons suddenly felt an urge to express themselves during the heavily conspiratorial climate of the first COVID pandemic wave is not innocent at all, I think.

Lying is the real Uncharted Territory of this fandom and one of the main reasons we seldom have nice things to talk about, anymore. I barely scratched its surface and merely stated the obvious. If anything, it only comforted and strengthened my own beliefs, which I always strived to base on personal findings and facts, along with other likeminded people's experience. And I'd rather take the general brunt and simply say 'I don't know", than embellish. Also, when I am wrong, I am wrong: it happens to the best of us and it's always either immediately edited and explained or taken full responsibility for.

What I do know with a reasonable degree of certainty is that These Two are together. And this is all that matters to me, justifying my presence here.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. There's more, but here is just an overview of the sentiments that prompted my next investigation.

#fandom #shitshow

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mysteryshoptls · 9 months

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SSR Ortho Shroud - Bloom Birthday Voice Lines

When Summoned: Today's my birthday! I'm gonna show off something super special to everyone who's gathered here for me!

Summon Line: What, you're curious about the "super special" thing? Well, of course, that's... still a secret!!

Groooovy!!: I'd always dreamed of flying on a broom like this. Looks like I got another wish granted.

Home: Don't I look just like everyone else?

Home Idle 1: I was able to gather super detailed data on the flavors and ingredients that went into the dishes here at the party. I guess I made the right choice in asking Ruggie-san to put together a report on the food.

Home Idle 2: Shoelaces, stationary, a winning popsicle stick... It sure is fascinating that even though everyone's getting me something, no gift is the same as another.

Home Idle 3: Amazing! The previous record was surpassed midway through morning. I never expected the day would come where I would be given so many birthday wishes from so many people...

Home Idle - Login: It's my birthday, huh. I want to be able to grow more in mind and spirit during my time here as a student at Night Raven College.

Home Idle - Groovy: In preparations for my discussion with Sebek-san, I need to update all of my information. I definitely have to make sure I win the debate.

Home Tap 1: The members of the Film Research Club put together an improv play for me. I super enjoyed it, especially because it didn't end the way I was expecting!

Home Tap 2: A little bird landed on my finger just now. Thanks to Silver-san, I was able to experience something completely unique!

Home Tap 3: The reason why there are some packaged meals in the center of the food table? That's because the nutrition in those are completely balanced. I asked my parents to send them to me.

Home Tap 4: I made sure to save a picture of each present I got as an image file. That way, I can take my time looking back at them, like the apple sculpture Epel-san made for me.

Home Tap 5: Yup, don't worry, I'm listening. I was just capturing into my memory banks the way you looked as you got all worked up, just because I wasn't answering.

Home Tap - Groovy: Ah, you're finally here! I was waiting for you to come say hi to me. I'm not going to let you leave my side today until I'm completely satisfied.

Duo: [ORTHO]: Thanks for the birthday wishes, Sebek-san! [SEBEK]: You better enjoy yourself, Ortho!

Birthday Login Message: Hey, do you know what today is? That's right, it's my manufacturing... I mean, my birthday! I love birthdays, because I get to spend so much time with everyone. I could barely wait for the date to change over! Will you come to the party, too? Hehe, awesome. Let's have tons of fun today!

Requested by @rotattooill.

#twisted wonderland #twst #ortho shroud #sebek zigvolt #twst ortho #twst sebek #twst translation #twst birthday #mention: ruggie #mention: silver #mention: epel

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petit-papillion · 8 months

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2023 Qatar GP Post-Race Interviews

18 drivers (not counting SAI and HAM). 1 so ill he could not finish the race (SAR), 1 taken to medical center and excused from media duties (ALB), another to medical center after almost passing out after getting out of the car (STR). 3 to podium ceremony/cooldown room. The remaining 12 drivers all had to lay down on the floor and seriously cool down, before finally making it to the media pen (although 1 had to leave to cool off more after answering only 2 questions (HUL)).

Here are some of the comments made by the drivers:

"By far the most physical race I've ever experienced. I felt close to fainting in that race. I've never experienced anything like it before. I had to ask my engineer to give me encouragement just to try to take my mind away from it. I do a lot of heat training in the sauna and so you push your body to the limit and sometimes you just need to get out of that sauna. And that's sort of how I felt from about lap 20. I opened my visor for the whole race and it was hot air, but it was better than no air. It was brutal. I was so sick in the car. I wasn't physically, I wasn't sick, but I felt ill."

- George Russell

"I was feeling ill, lap 15, 16, I was throwing up for two laps inside the cockpit. And then I was like, ‘Shit, that’s going to be a long race.' (...) It was just like 80C inside the cockpit this race. I don’t think we probably do the best job in terms of not keeping the heat in the back, but dissipating it inside the cockpit where the driver drives, and I think that was probably the reason today why we felt so bad."

- Esteban Ocon

"Especially with the g-forces, when you have a lot of dehydration, you can drink but the drink is more of a tea than anything else because it’s at 60C-plus, so it’s extremely difficult to hydrate yourself and again with the g-forces, you don’t see as well. The track limits we’re speaking about are [the difference between just] centimetres at 280km/h; in qualifying when we’re fresh it’s difficult to respect them, but then at the end of the race it’s a nightmare."

- Charles Leclerc

"You don't want to be passing out when you're driving at 200mph down the straight. And that's how I felt at times. Any hotter, I think I'd have retired because my body was going to give up."

- George Russell

"Extremely hot. Even from the beginning, I put my helmet on before the start of the race and I was sweating. It definitely didn't get any better once I was driving! Very hot."

- Oscar Piastri

"I asked my team on the radio if they would tip water over me in a pit-stop, but it was not allowed. My seat was burning hot and felt my right side was burnt by this heat. We have to think for the future -- maximum temperatures or maximum humidity... In football, they have water breaks, but we can’t have that, can we?"

- Fernando Alonso

"It's ridiculous. These temperatures -- everything goes blurry. The last 25-30 laps it's just blurry in the high-speed corners. Blood pressure dropping, just passing out, basically, in the high-speed corners with high loaded G-forces. The kerbs are now painted because they're worried about punctures. I couldn't see where I was going because I was passing out. I was fading in and out. The temperature was too much."

- Lance Stroll

"The feeling is like torture. I would say it was harder than Singapore. Just because the temperature in the cockpit started to be almost too much, I think it's getting to the limit and someone is going to have a heat stroke."

- Valtteri Bottas

"It was crazy. I had to consistently open the visor to breathe, actually. It's just too, too hot. Obviously, I don't want to open the visor because sand also comes through the visor and I could feel that sand inside my eyes, but if I close it's insane the amount of heat I felt. I don't know if other helmet manufacturers are the same, but for myself, it was tough, and if you drive behind another car, it's even worse."

- Yuki Tsunoda

"I think some of the guys who are struggling today, they are extremely fit or even fitter than me. Just the whole day, it's like you walk around in a sauna and in the night, the humidity goes up. The races are quite long. But it's not the only place...a few places are like that. Singapore is almost like a two-hour race and it's very, very warm. I think it's also quite on the limit of what should be allowed. So there are a few things to look at, but this was definitely way too hot."

- Max Verstappen

"We're in a closed car that gets extremely hot in a very physical race and it's frustrating.. I guess on TV, it probably doesn't look very physical at all. But clearly, when you have people who end up retiring, or are in such a bad state, it's too much. For the speeds we are doing is it is too dangerous. I know this race is later on in the season [in 2024], it will be a lot cooler a few months later but it’s something that needs to be talked about and I’m sure we’ll speak about it as it shouldn’t have happened in the first place."

- Lando Norris

The 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, everybody.

Sources: The Race, Sky Sports, Fox Sports, ESPN, Sports Illustrated

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sokkastyles · 4 months

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I just stumbled upon a post that complained about fans having Jet forgive Iroh or working at the jasmine dragon and compared it to Katara forgiving Yon Rah and aside from the fact that I have never seen a take like that, the outrage over it is so manufactured because even if those takes did exist, they do because Jet and Iroh are ultimately on the same side, not because Jet needs to forgive people who harmed him to be a good person. Aang asking Katara to forgive her mom's murderer is wrong because Yon Rah never did anything to deserve forgiveness and the only reason he is not continuing to harm others is because he is retired. Having Jet and Iroh working together, instead of against each other, which is ultimately what leads to Jet's death, is actually a good thing. It also takes the onus off of Jet to offer forgiveness because Iroh would be the one actively seeking it and is already remorseful about the things he did and worked to put things right, which Yon Rah never did. Jet and Iroh working together to heal the damage the Fire Nation caused would actually be a good thing.

I mean, there's an obvious difference and nuance in how this narrative would need to be portrayed, but like? Insisting that Jet would hate all fire nation people forever beyond reason, even if they were instrumental in ending the war (which was his goal all along), actually furthers the idea that he's the problem for being hurt and that he's the one being unreasonable. Let's give Jet some humanity here and assume that, like Katara, he would be capable of distinguishing between someone who is not sorry for the hurt they caused and someone who is actively trying to make amends. He just never got the chance to see that with Iroh and Zuko. But post series? You think he would still hate them? Is this because you really think that's a moral take or is it because you're engaging in fandom identity politics? Especially since what Jet actually wanted before he died was to make amends and move past the person he was who was unable to see the difference between an enemy and an innocent and hurt and manipulated his allies because of it.

I'm not gonna get too far into the politics of Jet working for Iroh especially since I have never seen a take like this and it can certainly be done distastefully if not done carefully, but Jet working for Iroh in the tea shop to raise money to send to parts of the Earth Kingdom that were devastated by the war and provide housing for disenfranchised families? That would rock, actually. It's a shame that that didn't happen, especially since Iroh did support Jet when Jet expressed that he wanted to change. It would be a good thing if Jet had an adult like Iroh helping him heal in addition to the good they could do together for the rest of the world. Especially since post series, there is no reason for them to be against each other, even if Jet never "forgave" Iroh. Unless you think Iroh's atonement isn't sincere, which is not something that is worthy of debating, honestly.

#jet #iroh #the discourse

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lorei-writes · 11 months

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HC: Little things - Chevalier

Premise: All people have their little habits, preferences and peculiarities, not to mention particular facts from their past. So does he.

Content Warnings: food mention

Chevalier

It is possible to predict the difficulty of waking him up in the morning based on his sleeping position.

Back = He has woken himself up and merely continues to nap; Easy

Side = He is still asleep, but it isn't a deep slumber; Medium

Stomach = He's hibernating; Hard

He's a rather light sleeper at night -- or, to be more precise, he only falls into a deep slumber once it's bright in the room.

His ears are very sensitive.

One of the reasons why he wears gloves is that they block out any offensive textures.

It is not something anybody is aware of, but he isn't particularly fond of having his hair touched, especially not by strangers. It's not a pleasant sensation, so getting it cut is a bit of a chore... However, you are an exception.

He likes biting, but to some degree, he enjoys being bitten as well.

As a result of your efforts, he has actually developed some sweet tooth. However, his appetite can only by satiated with desserts of your manufacturing. Somehow, even if you and another person were to follow the exact same recipe down to a letter, he'd be able to tell which batch was of your making.

On that note, he can tell when you've baked something just for him. He may get a bit jealous if you were to share those with anybody else... However, the same does not occur if your pastries were meant to be shared with others from the very beginning.

He has never built a snowman nor thrown a snowball. However, he has dodged many (thrown by Clavis; packed with ice at the centre), and had one made in his image (by Clavis; the king remained disinterested in the construction and did not request for it to be taken apart).

Puberty did not hit him with much of acne. However, Clavis still cackles remembering his voice mutation period.

Chevalier got himself drunk precisely once, as he reckoned he was not able to reach any estimates of desirable precision in regards to how he might react while under influence. Clavis was not invited as a tester, however, he still made himself one. (Clavis does not remember it fondly. He ended up being rather disappointed, as it was also the time he learnt of his alcohol tolerance.)

There were certain periods in his youth when he might have fallen for Clavis' nudie book pranks. However, Clavis never managed to get the timing right to exploit said vulnerability.

Continuing this thought, there exists a hidden stash of discarded pornographic books that Clavis tried to sneak into Chevalier's private library.

He doesn't feel particularly strongly about leaving notes over book pages. He has no personal use for that, however, he can see how others could employ it to their benefit. He's more so concerned with the contents of said notes.

He practised calligraphy once upon a time.

His handwriting is always neat precisely because he has no need for a script that would have to be readable only for him. He's able to memorise any information -- the same, of course, applies to any that paper should not be entrusted with.

In fact, his memory is so flawless that he's a walking reservoir of completely useless trivia. His only solace is that he has not chosen to learn any of it.

Oh, and ear worms? The bane of his existence. They haunt him excessively. However, he can generally rid himself of them through remembering the reminder of the song, which is easy enough.

Since he's multilingual, another bane of his existence are those words that have no counterpart in Rhodolitian, but explain a given concept perfectly. (Inverse and other permunations of this situation apply as well.)

He writes fast. One of the reasons why he makes sure to take breaks is that his wrist will hurt from strain if he works for too long.

He has a rather pleasant singing voice -- not necessarily one made for performances, but for humming and work songs. (It's one of those things nobody knows.)

He will burn in the sun, and will do so fast. It has happened multiple times in the past, and is a common occurrence post-battle.

Winter is his "favourite" season. (Primarily because any attacking force would face major logistical issues were they to attempt to invade then, which means such occurrence is much less likely than during seasons ripe with more favourable weather conditions. Also, less scorching sun. The world is generally quieter. And you are quite amusing when your face gets mildly frozen and you try to force it into cooperation.)

Tag List: @cilokgoang @violettduchess @pathogenic @fang-and-feather @tele86

#chevalier michel #ikepri chevalier #ikemen prince chevalier #ikepri #ikemen prince #ikemen series

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dr3amofagame · 1 year

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On the note of c!Dream and the Revolution and L’manburg in particular, I actually wanted to touch on another argument that I see sometimes that I’ve been thinking about lately re. L’manburg’s legitimacy. Because among some groups that are more L’manburg-positive, one take that I feel is decently common is the idea that L’manburg couldn’t be a government because it was only four, five, six people, that the size of the group meant that it was functionally incapable of the power attributed to it. In this, the assertion tends to be that because L’manburg is small, the power it holds is meaningless; it doesn’t have the power and provisions backing it that a regular “government” has, so L’manburg is fundamentally no different from a group of friends that believe in the same thing and therefore work together. The argument, here, seems to be that because the power of L’manburg as a government is manufactured, the power doesn’t actually exist in any meaningful way.

And the thing about L’manburg to me is that, well, the power being manufactured is...the point? Like. The whole point is that L’manburg doesn’t actually have jack shit to base itself off of, the whole point is that L’manburg is founded on a lie and writes itself into being treated as a legitimate entity through scapegoating other people in a story. That’s the reason why the mythos exists! The mythos needs to exist because it’s the foundation of L’manburg’s existence. Why does L’manburg exist? Because they were ~fighting against oppression~. Why does c!Wilbur have the power to do X, Y, and Z? Because if you’re opposing him you’re on the side of traitors and tyrants and enemies and get out of his fucking country. Just because L’manburg’s existing as a nation and government and what have you is illogical doesn’t prevent it from being treated as a legitimate country and government etc, because in the end people treated it as legitimate and therefore it had real power not only over its own land, but later on over how the entire server operated--see everyone being swept up in the elections, Manberg vs. Pogtopia, etc.

(What’s especially funny to me about this take is that in a lot of ways, it really reminds me of c!Dream’s opinion of L’manburg during the Revolution. Because while c!Dream definitely saw L’manburg as a threat in terms of the people who were declaring war against him, in terms of the...actual ideology? The whole government thing, “we’re going to be a separate server”? It’s pretty clear that c!Dream thinks that all of that makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. He calls L’manburg a “delusional small part” of the server because from his perspective, what the fuck do you MEAN you’re a government now? What do you mean you’re a separate country--scratch that, what do you mean you’re a separate SERVER? Game rules? Whitelist? What the fuck?? You’re a group of people threatening violence because you have a grudge against me, not revolutionaries fighting a nonexistent oppressive rulership like holy shit I’ve NEVER EVEN MET YOU BEFORE? c!Dream approaches L’manburg’s shit as illegitimate and ridiculous and nonsensical from the get go, because yeah, I mean--they’re literally just a small group of people, not the government they claim to be or that they claim they want to form, or whatever. But things...don’t stay that way.)

Like the whole point is that in the end, it doesn’t matter that c!Wilbur shouldn’t have been able to stick a flag in a piece of land, declare it as his own, make all these arbitrary rules about who could or couldn’t go inside and what they had to do and declare himself leader over these people and leverage joining his little club to keep them from opposing him and use all of that to threaten conflict against a guy he literally never even met before. Because...he did! And with the mythos established, no one challenged that. L’manburg’s policies and power and legitimacy and leadership and what the leader could and couldn’t do were all based in literally nothing and that didn’t matter because people acted like it was a real thing, so it became real. c!Dream fighting against L’manburg and discrediting its legitimacy at the beginning is part of what gives L’manburg legitimacy because the revolution ends up being used as the foundational story that made L’manburg a Real Thing. The elections and c!Quackity challenging c!Wilbur by running against him when the elections were originally rigged ends up reinforcing L’manburg’s legitimacy as the elections become a Real Thing and the leader of L’manburg as established by the elections are a Real Thing, etc. As long as people buy into L’manburg, as long as it’s TREATED as a real entity, then it remains real because that’s what people believe (which is part of why doomsday and L’manburg like, dying required the people within it to become disillusioned w/ the country so they didn’t feel inclined to rebuild it again.)

People treated L’manburg as a real entity with real power, which gave it real power over people. Nothing should’ve been in place that allowed c!Wilbur to declare a rigged election, or c!Schlatt to execute the Red Festival, or c!Tubbo to create an extrajudicial army that put c!Phil under house arrest and would extend its influence outside of its own land to kidnap c!Techno’s pet and execute him. The reality of the consequences of L’manburg do not depend on whether or not it should’ve logistically had the power to back up what it was trying to do but whether or not people actually treated it like it did, and they did. Just because L’manburg shouldn’t have been capable of acting like a government doesn’t mean that people didn’t treat it as a government the entire time--from its conception to its death, L’manburg was given a lot of power and influence comparable to that of a government because of what was granted to it that allowed the leader of the faction to do a lot of things without challenge or argument “for the country” both to people within the country’s borders and outside of it, and this very real power and influence wasn’t challenged or disturbed because people believed that it had a right to exist.

YES L’manburg was manufactured! YES that power didn’t make any sense! YES the legitimacy that L’manburg had as a government entity was basically a fucking crapshoot based on jack shit, and yes it had real power anyway. At the end of the day L’manburg was always treated w/ a level of power and legitimacy beyond just being a Group Of People, and therefore that power and legitimacy became real. L’manburg was a government because people treated it as one. L’manburg was powerful and legitimate and free and independent because that’s what the story said, and everyone believed the story, and that’s what’s important moreso than the logic of whether or not it had enough people to actually “be” a government in the first place.

#c!dreamisms #c!dream and the revolution #c!dream #dreblr #lmanburg critical #c!wilbur critical #<- i guess #listen lmanburg was bullshit its power was bullshit and the mythos was bullshit #that doesn't matter #the manufactured nature of lmanburg is the point !!#that's why the mythos of lmanburg was necessary in the first place!#that's what necessitated the tyrant-revolution-hero-and-villain schtick #lmanburg legitimized itself on the back of the story that c!wilbur wrote #anyway this is a mess but yeahhhh fuck lmanburg god bless

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buwheal · 5 months

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what are personally your favorite spamton headcanons?

OOooooh this was the wrong thing to ask me if you hate lots of letters on your screen. Get ready!!!!!! Here's my list :-) Its not organized by least to most btw im just typing everything i like lol :

puppetification theory.. AAUUUGHHH!!!!! this one is so much fun for so many reasons.

he's got a BJD (ball jointed doll) body

He's kinda an asshole

While a good chunk of his glitching is from puppetification, way more of it is from malware he's collected over like 20 years on the streets of cyber city

He absolutely feels and is aware of his glitches but he's so used to them it doesnt really bother him anymore. scratch that, it 100% does bother him that his body is actively defying him. but what can you do? :shrug:

he's like 5'1. I HATE HATE HATE seeing him the size of a toddler both because you can literally see his world sprite is the same height as kris, which is a teenager (His proportions just are unbelievably fucked up because of puppetification) and because thats just kinda weird. Something about making him so so small feels weird to me but im not sure, really. take it with a grain of salt.

He was an Email Addison. You see it everywhere. He was like a mailman or something.

He wasnt like four foot or something throuhghout his whole life, but i do imagine he was only slightly smaller than an Addison, which doesnt sound that bad except when you realize everyone else is normal height except him. Maybe it was a manufacutring bug, or maybe it was intentional for his job.

Addisons are like weird organic robots kinda. Cause everything in cyber city is made of code i imagine they are like basically sentient AI.

They (addisons) physically do not age unless their code is damaged. (Guess who's code is fucked up) They were "born" physically and half-mentally adults, and count their age based on their manufacturing date. I say mentally half because it quickly develops soon after while they do things like advertise. Their personality develops a time after.

HE IS OLD!!!!!!! HE'S AN OLD GUY!! HES GOT LITTLE WRINKLES N SHIT!!! HES GOT A GREY STRIPE!!!!!! Not really because of physical aging but its more of like a glitch tbh lol. Like a chunk glitch in minecraft. Whatever happened as his code got progressively more beat up caused a patch of his hair to register incorrectly and show up slightly wrong.

His hair is natrually white. He dyed it in his big shot era ofc, but it faded out. He keeps it colored currently with car oil and shit. Whatever he can find that will color it. It will and does wash out partially when he's drenched in the rain.

He completely refuses to acknowledge his physical changes. Glimpses he sees he ignores or passes it off as he's seeing things.

He prayed to the Neo robot because he saw the beginning of puppetification. He was praying for forgiveness or another chance. He believed it was a divine punishment because he had no other explination. He doesnt believe he changed much more than the very very early stages, and he thinks he's forgiven in his delusion. Which is why he wants the robot so bad.

When he gets mad he turns kinda red and steam comes out the side of his head in short bursts, train whistle sound effects and all. looney tunes type junk.

He has lips... but they're stretched so far because of his huge fucking brick ass teeth that it doesnt really matter at that point.

He's got a scraggly ass mullet.

he has little bitty dot eyes. Every other addison does too but they keep them closed for visual appeal. Theyre robots and shit they dont really need them to get around, even though they help a lot.

Thats about all i can think of rn!!!! ^_^ hope you enjoy that brick of text lol.

#[you've got mail!]

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vinceaddams · 1 year

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Top 5 WORST fabrics

1. that fuckign. synthetic knit that some of the sport coats at work are made of. I don't know what it's called but I hate it. It's polyester with barely any stretch and is. so. DENSE. Worst thing to alter. Damn near impossible to get a pin or a hand sewing needle through, and sometimes it makes the machine skip stitches. A lot of the sport coats are half lined, and if you bring me one of those ones with the side seams pinned to take in, I will just take in the centre back seam instead because I DO NOT want to hand sew the lining back down to both entire side seams on that horrible impenetrable bullshit fabric. Sometimes it has a woven looking pattern printed on it, as if to mock me.

Some of the shirts at work are made of a slightly softer version of the same stuff, and I once tried to mend a small hole in one of them using a zigzag stitch and it shredded the fabric and ruined the shirt. They had to go find the customer an identical replacement shirt, because the stupid fabric couldn't hold up to a few tightly spaced zig zags. Bullshit, bullshit garbage fabric. I hate it, I hate it I hate it I hate it. Everyone should stop manufacturing it immediately. Stop making it and destroy the formulas so nobody can ever make it again. It's not even a particularly bad texture to touch, relatively speaking, it's just a nightmare to sew.

2. Faux fur. To be fair, there is some decently nice faux fur out there, but most of it is just such an icky plastic-y texture and it sheds so much. So so much, and then you're worried about breathing in floating fuzzies of plastic. And it can also be really hard to get a pin or needle through the base fabric, depending on what kind it is. I remember I had some scraps of white faux fur that I used for craft projects as a small child, and it was like that, and there was some kind of finishing (presumably to help glue the hairs in place) that made the back of the fabric all crusty. It's the kind of thing that's awful to touch if your hand is even the slightest bit sweaty. I dislike polyester fleece for the same reason. No fleece sheets or pyjamas for me, ick!

3. Really loosely woven boucle. Who would invent a fabric that frays so gotdamn much? Look at this. (image source) Awful. Falls apart if you sneeze at it. Unpleasant texture, and not even nice to look at. (Yes I chose an ugly picture on purpose, but it's not a look I like even if it is in nice colours.)

Where's your structural integrity?? You can have weird lumpy fabric and still weave it decently tight! Especially if it's wool and you felt it a little bit. I shortened a skirt for a co-worker and it was made of similar stuff, and I was worried I'd damage it because it was so loose and shifty. What happens if you walk by a tree or something and snag a thread? Whole thread comes out and deforms a big patch of fabric? Well that's what you get for making all your threads just acquaintances instead of best friends. (I hate poly chiffon for similar reasons.)

4. Poly/cotton blends, because they feel like a betrayal. You could have been 100% cotton but you aren't :( Could have been a nice comfy shirt or nightgown that could eventually be used for firestarters once it's too worn out, but no, can't use blends for kindling because the polyester part melts into nasty little black plastic blobs. Not like 100% cotton or linen, which burns nicely and leaves basically no ash. And I hate pilling, horrible hell texture, and synthetics tend to pill way more.

5. Anything with glitter on it, because it's contagious. Small sequins are also bad (see blog post linked in poly chiffon line) but at least they're sewn on and only come off where you cut them. I think we as a species have moved past the need to glue glitter onto fabric, because it does not stay glued. We have foil print, and metallic ink, and beading and rhinestones and metallic thread and all kinds of other ways to do the sparklyshiny. No more sticking glitter on things that might go in the wash.

Generally speaking I dislike synthetics and Bad textures, though everyone's opinion of bad textures is different. I'm also not fond of stretch knit, but it has its uses.

#ask #ask meme #fabric #sewing

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randoimago · 7 months

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Day 11 - Soulmates

Fandom: Nier: Automata

Character(s): 9S

Type of Request: 31 Days of Oc-trope-r

Note(s): I love 9S so much and I hope I did a good job with writing this!!

9S knows that androids have fallen in love with each other. He's seen it on the ship and in the Resistance camp. But he doesn't know if he believes in the idea of a soulmate, someone destined to be with you from the beginning. Humans had them, but humans also had souls. Can a machine really have a soul? He doesn't know.

Yet anytime he goes to the Resistance camp, anytime he locks eyes with yours, it feels like a shared connection. Like his mind and body want to force him closer to you. They want to make him reach out and touch you (something that is very concerning, and he would never want to actually randomly grab someone)

But he's never had a reason to talk to you. he's never had a reason to walk away from 2B to approach you. But his eyes would wander in your direction and more often than not, your eyes meet his. As if you might feel this bizarre connection too.

He gets irritated, acts a bit short with 2B at times. And it's not her fault. She's following her directives; she's doing as the mission commands, and he wants to go to you instead.

So, he does something that logically makes no sense to do. He hacks and destroys the piece of technology you're working on. You don't get hurt, but he sees you jump and feels so much guilt that he is the one that caused that small scare.

The next time they go to the Resistance camp, he's thrilled that you call out. That you ask 2B for help getting specific parts to fix your tech. 9S offers to stay behind. He'll see if he can provide any assistance with his hacking background.

2B hesitates with the idea for a moment, he knows why she does, she might need to kill him after all. But she leaves him alone with you. And that pull, that odd craving-like feeling he has, grows stronger. Is it because you two are so close? He doesn't know, but he hopes it doesn't jeopardize anything with you.

9S looks over the tech, he knows he messed it up bad, but he wants to see what repairs you might've made or hear what you tried doing instead. He reaches for a wire the same time you do and you both touch.

And that pull he felt, that craving? It's gone and now he feels relief. So much relief and happiness like everything is complete and he's running diagnostics because this is so much artificial emotion that he is suddenly feeling from just brushing his manufactured skin against yours.

But you feel it too. He heard your "breath" hitch, he sees you place a hand to your chest, as if you're checking your own systems. And then you hesitate and hold his hand in yours and he feels happy. Not an overwhelming amount when he initially touched you, but happy that you weren't afraid of the initial touch and now you're initiating your own.

There's a shared laugh between you two and he wants to talk about what just happened, but he's interrupted with a message from 2B. 9S gives you an apologetic smile as he responds to her and is a bit upset that she's on her way back.

He continues looking over the tech with you, no longer shying when your hands brush against each other. It's just hand touches, sometimes your arms brush together due to your closeness. And he likes it so much.

2B comes back with the parts you need, and she noticeably sees how much happier 9S is. How he isn't as snappy he had been with her. Although there's some sadness in his eyes that he has to leave your side. 2B says that they still have a mission to complete, but they will come back to see how your technology is doing. That cheers up 9S and you. And before her and 9S can leave, you pull him into a hug.

9S stiffens at first but hugs you back. It's like a breath of fresh air as he feels you so close to him. 2B lightly clears her throat and he pulls away, bashfully. He didn't know if he believed in soulmates beforehand, but he knows that he has found his.

#randoimago 31 days of october #9s x reader #nier automata x reader

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elisysd · 7 months

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25. I’ll be here when it all feels so big, til it all feels so small

Masterlist - Previously - Next

Chapter soundtrack: So Big / So Small - Rachel Bay Jones

He was fuming. And it was an understatement. Rarely, in his life, Charles had known such anger. Lyanna had told him what happened between Julia and Skoda and he had been too stunned to speak. He knew it was not as Julia had imagined her first job as an engineer in F1 to go and he felt bad. It was his fault. If he had not been too stubborn about her proving herself and if he had offered her a position, even a small one without many responsibilities, nothing like this would have happened. He thought, naively, that since Skoda was Ferrari’s partner and a small team, she would have a good learning opportunity. That Wilhelm, knowing she was his daughter and knowing the ties between his team and Charles’, would take care of her and would give her the chance Julia wanted so desperately.

He failed his daughter. Again. He, once again, had been unable to protect her from the cruelty of the world and that killed him inside. Lyanna had tried to reason with him, telling him to not do anything stupid as his first reaction when learning what happened had been to want to call Skoda to end their partnership. But, how would it have made anything better?

In any case, seeing Wilhelm, laughing and acting as if he had never crushed someone’s dreams after the Team Principals meeting, made him furious. With a raging step, he went to him, slightly pushing his shoulder.

“Charles, my friend. How are you?”

“Can we talk? I have a few things to tell you.”

“If it is about your precious Julia, I’m sorry but I can’t do anything about it.”

“A year of gardening? Giving back to you fifty percent of her what she earned? You are taking it too far.”

“That’s how it works here, Charles. But, if you want you can buy me her contract. It won’t be a friend offer, though. Not after the new conditions you want to impose on Skoda for next season.”

“I said no to your demand for access to our manufacture. Which is fair, Ferrari might help you on the engine side but the car conception it’s your job.”

“I can’t develop a good car without good engineers, Charles.”

“Too bad for you because you had a great one that you decided to fire just to spite me. Because this is what you want right? You think that if you attack my daughter you are going to get what you want. Let me make this clear for you, Will, I’m not someone who breaks under pressure. But if you decide to go after my family, believe me, I’ll make you regret even having made one step in this paddock.”

“I’m not going after anyone. I’m just protecting my interests. But I’m sure Julia will find a new position in no time, perks of having an influential dad in the field, right Charles?”

It was no use trying to argue with him. Charles looked at him one last time, shaking his head in clear disagreement but even if Charles didn’t want to admit it, he was right. There was no chance he would leave Julia to pay for his business decisions. It was not fair to her. And if he had to buy her contract back to Wilhelm, he would do it in a heartbeat. He knew he was tough on his daughter but it is how it had always been. Push hard, work hard, be the best. That was how he had raised her. To go beyond the limits, to always prove herself. Because that was how he went though life, by working hard to achieve his goals and he wanted his children to do the same. While he always had their backs no matter what, he and Lyanna had always made sure that they knew that nothing would be handed to them. But he couldn’t help but think that maybe they had been too harsh. They forgot that sometimes they were not strong enough to handle everything and they needed their parents' help.

In front of the hospitality, his daughter was waiting for him, a box in her hands where he assumed she put her belongings. She looked down and he hated seeing her like that. It reminded him of a time during Julia’s teenage years where she had shut out everybody in her life to isolate herself. It had been brutal and violent and Lyanna and him had taken a lot of time understanding what was happening in their daughter’s life. People had been cruel to her to an extent he never thought would be possible and when he learned it he had swore to himself that he would never put her through that again, that he would always protect her. A feeling of failure washed over him and without another word, he took her in his arms and held her against him, barely letting her the time to put away what she was holding.

“I love you, Ju. More than anything and I’m not saying it enough.”

He felt her slowly breaking down until the protective walls she had built around herself these past few days slowly started to fall down. Soon, he felt her sobbing against him, her arms securely put around her dad’s waist.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry to not be the daughter you hoped I would be.”

“Ju, darling, look at me. You are one of the best things that happened in my life. I could and would never dream of another daughter. I’m proud of you. I’m proud of all the hard work and dedication you put yourself through these past few years. I’m proud of the woman you become. I’m proud of what you stand for. If someone should be sorry, it should be me. For not being the father you deserve. I’ll be better, I promise. For you and Louis and your mom. Starting today, you are working for Ferrari. We are going to show Skoda what Leclercs are made of, okay? You and me. You are not working for me, you are working with me.”

“But, what about the gardening?”

“I’m going to buy your contract. I know you don’t want that, I know you are too proud to ask for help but they are unfair to you. And that I can’t tolerate it. And about giving Skoda half of what you earned, i’ll do that for you as well. It’s your money. You need it, you worked for it, you keep it.”

He felt her nodding against him and rubbed her back, kissing gently the top of her head.

“Now you focus on you, okay? You take a break, you go and support Ethan tomorrow, even if it pains me but I let it slide this time. And you come back stronger, with bright ideas that we will use.”

She looked up to him, her eyes puffy and red and gave him a small smile.

“Thank you. For everything.”

He kissed the side of her head, before taking the box on the floor and both of them headed towards the exit of the paddock, in silence. She took place next to him, in the Ferrari as he started the engine.

“Do you want to spend the night with us? We have an extra bed in the suite.”

“I think I would like that, yeah. I’m just going to text Ethan to let him know.”

“Poor boy will have to sleep alone in a cold bed tonight,” he joked.

“You don’t have to sound so enthusiastic.”

“I’m enthusiastic because it means pizza and movie night, your mom, your brother, you and me. How does it sound?”

“I can still call Ethan to join us, you know?” she teased him.

“No. Family night. No boys around.”

“So you and Louis are out, then.”

“We are not the same.”

She laughed lightly and Charles felt happier. He put the radio on as it was blasting old Italian songs that he started to sing on top of his lungs, being extremely off-key but not caring much about it. He nudged his daughter, silently asking her to do the same and it didn’t take much convincing from his part to make her join him. They soon arrived, way too soon for Julia’s liking.

Once in the suite, she was greeted by the warm embrace of her mom telling her how everything would be okay from now on, and her brother standing awkwardly. After her mom finally let go of her, she walked to her brother, stopping in front of him for a brief instant before taking him in her arms.

“I’m not mad, I promise.”

He nodded, standing still, when she finally let go, rubbing her cheeks to erase the traces of her tears and turned to her mom and dad.

“So, I was promised pizza and movie night…”

Her parents smiled as her mom went to collect her laptop and set everything up for the family. As for Charles he went to order two large pizzas while Julia was taking a well needed shower and borrowing some clothes from her mom. Once everyone was ready and the pizza was there, they settled on the floor and started to eat as Lyanna pressed the play button. Julia recognised the song straight away.

“Flowers and Crowns?” she asked.

“When I feel down, I play my favorite things. I think we could all use something that has a meaning for our family.”

The movie was old and you could definitely see that it didn’t age well but it always amazed Julia to see how talented her mom was and how similar they looked at the same age. They spent the evening laughing, a lot and crying, a little until Louis fell asleep on her shoulder, and her mom on her dad’s. She smiled seeing how Charles was taking care of his wife, making sure she was comfortable even if it meant he wasn’t. When it was late enough, he slowly took her in his arms to go to the bed. Julia shook Louis slowly to wake him up, making him groan.

“Time to go to bed, sleepyhead.”

She felt him nod and get up barely managing to stay awake on his way. She was about to follow him when her dad came back.

“Thank you, again, for organizing that. I needed it. Even if I feel like I ruined your weekend. It was supposed to be something fun and happy and I ruined it… I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t ruin anything. You managed to make it possible and for that I’m thankful, princess. What happened after is not your fault. You are not responsible.”

She shrugged, half convinced.

“For what it's worth, I was happy to organize that. And I’m happy for you and mom… I’ve never told you but you are an example of what love is supposed to be and look like. And I hope that one day, I’ll be able to find that.”

“You have Ethan, Ju.” said her dad.

“Yeah…” she sighed, not convinced, something her dad noticed immediately.

“What’s wrong? Did he hurt you?”

“No he didn’t… It’s just… complicated, sometimes. I never know how he is going to act towards me. One moment he is funny and caring and I feel good with him, and the other he acts cold and looks like he wants to be anywhere but near me. It’s tiring.”

“Maybe you should just talk to him. I saw the way he looked at you during the party, not once did he look away from you even when you were busy everywhere else. He cares a lot about you. And maybe he doesn’t really know how to show it.”

“Yeah… maybe.” she ended up saying.

As she kissed her father goodnight and went to bed, she gave one last look to her phone where a text from Ethan, sent a few hours ago was waiting for her.

I’ve tried to see you tonight, but you weren’t in your room. I just hope that you are okay. I’m sorry about how I acted around you, lately. I want things to go back to normal between us.

She had to stop herself from throwing away her phone. Instead, she typed an angry answer that she probably should have proofread before sending, but she was sad and angry at the same time.

Fuck you and your ‘let’s go back to normal’. What is normal anyway? Hating each other? Being friends? Almost fucking me in a freaking corridor? A business relationship? Be precise because I’m tired of you and your games. I’m tired and confused. You are confusing. So please, stop. I don’t think I can handle another version of you. I need you to choose what you want to be for me. And by the way, I’m watching the Grand Prix from the Ferrari garage tomorrow.

To avoid any temptation she turned it off and hid it away before plopping down on her bed and falling asleep almost immediately.

Being able to watch the Grand Prix from the garage made her feel like she was part of the royalty. Everyone was looking at her and her family, trying to snap pictures and get a few words from them. It was overwhelming and she was happy to be safe away from it all. Her dad abandoned them quickly for some meetings as they were making themselves comfortable. Louis was in a corner, a book in his hand, sitting on the floor with bright red headphones as her mom was talking to some people in the team she had got to know over the years. As for Julia, she was focused on how the engineers were preparing the car, even daring to take a closer look and helped fixing a tyre as a mechanic was struggling.

“Are you trying to sabotage my car?” a voice came from behind and she quickly recognised Martin.

“You don’t need me. Ferrari can do that very well on its own.”

He laughed as he adjusted his suit.

“I thought you would be with Ethan.”

“I prefer to support my dad and his team today.” she simply said without further explanation.

“I hope we will be up to the job, then. It’s an honor. I’m definitely going to try my best. And if I manage to snatch a podium, I know who I should dedicate it to.” he winked at her, zipping his suit.

She couldn’t help but blush.

“I’ll be cheering on you, then.”

He was about to answer when her dad came back, not alone as Carlos was there too. Of course, thought Julia, he wouldn’t have missed Ferrari's homerace for the world. It was the occasion to test out the team and add some more pressure. She could see that her dad was closed off and she wondered if it was because he was scared of what was at stake or because he had just learned something bad.

The Ferrari were starting P3 and P5, right behind a McLaren and Ludwig’s Lamborghini. Kyle was P7 when Ethan was just behind him and Julia couldn’t help but hope that Kyle would be able to give Ethan a little bit of slipstream. She was sad for Romy that was only P15 after a disastrous qualifying session but if she knew something about her best friend, it was that she was a fighter. Julia was sure she could make it.

Soon the race started and for once, everything went well without any problems for Ferrari. Elijah managed to keep his P3 as Martin, after a nice overtake on the Mercedes in front of him was P4, a position he managed to keep even if Kyle was pressuring him a lot. As for Ethan, he was struggling. A lot. Julia didn’t know if it was because of the car or because of his driving but after mid-race, he let a few cars overtake him quite easily. She hoped it was a mechanical issue and nothing else. She would feel bad if because of her, his race was ruined. She didn’t need to add that to the pile of things she felt sorry for.

She thought she was in for a nice race, not the most exciting one, but not the most boring either when a crash was reported and she saw a Lamborghini out and embedded in the wall. She quickly recognised Kyle’s car and her first thought was for Romy. She had managed to come back in P8, Kyle’s crash was the last thing she needed to cloud her thoughts. Fortunately, he was okay and out of the car, even if he was slightly shaken. The race resumed, still with Ludwig in P1 and Julia hoped he would manage to contain Elijah’s Ferrari. Even if she was a Ferrari girl, her friendship with Ludwig mattered more than the car he was racing in. And she was the first one surprised. When he finally crossed the finish line, a few milliseconds before Elijah, she let out a little squeal making the whole garage look at her

Ferrari was happy too. A P2 was, indeed, not as amazing as winning the race, especially in Monza but it was still a podium in front of their home crowd. She tried to go to her dad that was still on the pitwall when a hand on her shoulder made her stop.

“Julia. Long time no see.” Carlos greeted her and somehow she felt like a rock had fallen in her stomach.

“Hey… yeah it’s been years.”

“The last time I saw you, you were running around, driving everyone crazy. Time flies. What are you up to? Still passionate about cars?”

She was expecting him to try to make small talk with her. She looked at him weirdly, trying to find the words when her mom approached them and she had never been more thankful for her sense of timing.

“Carlos… how nice it is to see you here.”

Behind the apparent politeness and softness of her mom, Julia interpreted her words as a warning. Even more when she felt her tense hand on her shoulder.

“Lyanna. Good to see you. Still around to support Charles, I see.”

“Always, yeah. I have this back. Today more than ever.”

There was a double meaning to her words, Julia was sure of it. She knew that Carlos was up to no good ever since she overheard the conversation between him and her dad. She knew that he wanted to oust Charles from his position of Team Principal but she didn’t know if there was something deeper than that.

“It’s good. He will need it.” replied Carlos, looking at her deep in the eyes.

“I’m sure he won’t. Charles has always overcome and coped brilliantly with every obstacle that life threw on his path. Little disagreements coming from insignificant people are not a problem.”

“We will see about that.” he gritted between his teeth. “I have to go, some important meetings to attend. I’m afraid I can’t stay for the podium ceremony but please, Lyanna, say to your husband that we will talk more soon.”

As he was leaving Julia turned to her mom.

“What was that?”

“Nothing important, don’t worry.” replied Lyanna.

“Because that was tense. I know that dad has problems with sponsor stuff because the results are not as good as they hoped they would be, but how bad is it?”

“I’m not supposed to tell. And I don’t want you to worry.”

“I’m gonna help dad. I need to know exactly how bad it is.”

“Don’t tell him I tell you, okay. But Carlos gave him until the summer break to go from P4 in the constructor’s championship to P3.”

“Audi is ahead by more than 40 points. We need a miracle.” gasped Julia.

“I know. Why do you think your dad is this stressed out?”

Julia looked at her mom worrily. She didn’t know if she could help reduce the gap between the two teams, it would be a lot of work. But she swore to herself that if it had to be the last thing she had to do on this earth, then she would make it happen. She didn’t know how but she would. Her dad had her back, now it was her turn to show the same thing to him.

On her way to the podium celebration, she found Romy looking defeated and sad. Julia’s first thought was to think that she must be gutted because of the race. And then she saw the glossy eyes of her best friend and she understood that it was not it. The blonde was going in the opposite direction from the podium which Julia found weird as she knew that Romy, no matter what, would not miss one of her friends' podiums.

“Romy?” Julia called her out, making the German girl turn to her.

“Ju’... hey.”

“The podium is this way you know, do you want to come with me? I was on the way.”

“No. I’m going to go to the hotel. I’m not in the mood to celebrate.” mumbled the blonde.

“What do you mean? You are always in the mood! Did something happen? Is it about Kyle’s crash?”

She saw a fiery look in the eyes of her best friend, telling her that she had seen right through her.

“I don’t want to talk about him.”

“So, something happened.”

“We fought. And I might have slapped him.”

“What? What do you mean, slapped him?” repeated Julia, astonished.

“I’m… I’m so mad at him! He lied to me! He didn’t trust me. I know we are not really in a relationship and he doesn’t have to tell me everything but… but I care about him! We shared so many things, I thought I knew him and it turns out that when something big happens in his life he doesn’t think I should be made aware of that. I hate him! “

“Slow down, Roms, I don’t understand what you are talking about.” Julia tried to calm her down, putting both of her hands on her shoulder.

“He didn’t see the car, Julia!” cried Romy.

“It happens… he wasn’t paying attention, it could have happened to anyone.”

“No. You don’t understand. He didn’t see it.” Romy emphasized the last words. “He is losing his eyesight, Julia. He might turn completely blind.”

Author's note: Many, many things to discuss in this chapter. Dad Charles, cute family moments, a threat on Charles and his role as a team principal (no hate towards Carlos, then again he makes a great villain) and finally my dear Romy and Kyle... What do you think will happen next? Let me know your theories, I love to read them.

Don't hesitate to leave a comment or an ask, as well as reblogging and leaving a like. Besides the fact that I absolutely love to read you, it helps a lot for the story to find its audience. I also have a taglist for this story, so if you want to be added so you never miss a chapter, let me know.

Taglist:

@herondalism @aundercover @musingsbyshreya @karmabyfernando @reengard @mycenterfold @smoooothoperator

#writing #fiction #charles leclerc #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 x oc #charles leclerc fanfic #max vertsappen #max verstappen fanfic

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script-a-world · 2 months

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Submitted via Google Form: Follow Up - Keeping Obsolete Technology

Right.. sorry about that. There seems to be a big confusion what I really want in that question about not removing obsolete technology. Basically, none of the restricted to hobbyists. I'm aware of that - but that is not at all what I want in my world. Everything should still be mainstream. There aren't really much safety features that would steer a manufacturer to not produce phonographs the way they used to (and I absolutely do mean models without USB drives). Phonographs need to be readily available on the market exactly just as they did previously and still being mainstream. You should be able to walk into any general A/V store and buy Blu-Ray players and these old-style phonographs. No 'emulators'. You want to buy a Windows 3.1? Go directly to any shop selling Windows products and you can buy one just as easily as you can get the latest model. You go to a game shop, you can find old style Ataris just as well as your latest VR. Vintage cars.. right.. again. No. In fact we shouldn't be calling it 'vintage' because that means cars that have been around for a long time, not newly manufactured models. Manufacturers should be readily continuing creating new cars with the same old technology, only with added safety features that make them road legal. And these should also be mainstream cars on the modern market, side by side in a car store with your modern vehicles. And maybe just next door is your horse/buggy store and a bicycle store. All mainstream transportation options. Cycling is still popular as a main transport option in some places like Netherlands. Picture a place just like that includes horse/buggy. Any time someone looks on a main road, they should be able to see electric vehicles, bicycles, and horse/buggies.

Ebonwing: Producing every iteration of technology ever created at scale forever is going to be staggeringly expensive and will only get more so the longer that happens. Additionally, you mention that you want phonographs to be without USB drives–so none of the technology is upgraded to be compatible with more modern tech? That just seems inconvenient for customers, and when things are inconvenient to customers someone may just step up and create a more convenient model, which people may then be more inclined to buy.

It’s your world; you can do whatever you want with it, but a lot of people will possibly find this immersion-breaking and I have a hard time thinking of ways to make this plausible.

Licorice: Some old tech has made a comeback. You can buy vinyl records and record players nowadays in mainstream entertainment stores. People have decided that vinyl gives them an experience Spotify just can’t match. I’ve noticed Polaroid instamatic cameras making a comeback too, recently. And of course some old tech - physical books, for example - has never gone away.

If you want a world in which old and new tech exist alongside each other and are equally popular, you are going to have to give your people a reason for making these choices. There are reasons some people still drive horses and buggies (religious reasons; as a hobby) but there’s also a reason why the car has overwhelmingly replaced the horse and buggy as the main form of transport in every part of the world where people can afford it. Imagine the daily commute to work in a horse and buggy. How long would that take? And who’s going to look after the horse for nine hours while you’re in the office? Cars don’t need that level of care. And in fact, the daily commute as we know it really only became possible after mass public transport - i.e., the train - was invented.

Capitalism depends on new tech ousting old tech. Since the days of the Tulip Bubble investors have staked their money on a new or improved product replacing an earlier version and bringing them big profits as a result. Without this kind of incentive, people aren’t going to invest in inventions, and so most inventions will never see the light of day.

Of course, if you want your world to be the way you describe, you can do it. I can’t imagine what such a world would look like, but I can’t say it isn’t possible. It would almost certainly look very different from our own, economically, socially, and maybe politically.

Addy: For cars... the reason old cars look so boxy to us is

1) metal shaping was a lot more expensive, so there was a huge cost to making things round

2) aerodynamics modeling wasn't as well-developed or as much of a priority. Gas mileage gets huge improvements from the more rounded forms we have today.

Horse + buggy would not be able to maintain modern road speeds. Also doesn't have like... any safety features. Also, horses poop and need to eat and exercise. If you've got a countryside estate, that's one thing (or if you base a carriage/taxi service out of the countryside), but in a city? The logistics make it impractical. Bikes are easy to store, and they don't get startled and bolt.

Even for buggies, you have centuries of development of wagons, and then many, many types of carriages and buggies. Landau, phaeton (single or double), gig, sulky… all from different regions, companies, and generations. And then many more types of carriage besides. Are those all being sold, like how all models of all car companies are still being sold? Or USB drives, are they still selling 8 MB USB drives? Not 8 GB, 8 MB - those first came out under 25 years ago.

The thing about technology is that it is a tool that serves a purpose. If something else serves that purpose better, faster, and at a lower cost, then simple prioritization and cost-benefit analysis (by consumers!) means that the better, cheaper, more effective choice will be chosen.

That's also why we see inefficient things preserved by hobbyists - they're people who care enough about the history of the thing that they're willing to put up with its inefficiencies.

So in your world, if you're looking for why people would keep obsolete (and I say obsolete because they're sub-optimal at their original intended purpose) things around, I'd say to look at what benefit these objects serve.

Like for Windows computers, as in your example, what would a 3.1 version give that a more recent (say 5-10 years) version can't? For the companies, what money are they making that is worth the cost of upkeep and production? Because keeping old products viable takes money. Getting them to work on modern hardware, patching up security flaws, customer support, manufacture, etc - those all take money. How are the companies making a profit off of these products?

CRT TVs are very, very good at producing images with little lag, to the point that they're still used and prized by Smash players. The thing is, CRT TVs require a very complex assortment of manufacturing steps and tools to make, and it's no longer profitable to produce them. So people stopped making them. Since their production is so capital-intensive, it's... exceedingly unlikely that we'll ever see a new CRT TV being made.

Also, what's the scope of this? Does this pervade society, or is it mostly a wealth/entertainment thing? Are there farmers using plows, or are they using tractors? How common is homespun fabric? Are there still wooden sailing ships alongside modern cargo ships (and if so, how do they make enough of a profit for it to be worth it)? Do riverboats still use coal to power steam engines? Are they maintaining historical metallurgy, or are they using modern alloys? For radios, are people still using vacuum tubes and 1800s wiring, or are they putting modern materials inside of an 1800s-looking shell? (There would be SIGNIFICANT audio quality differences)

Because there's a difference between a 1970s car and a 1970s-looking car with a modern engine and modern piping. A farmer who uses an animal-drawn plow will live a harder life than a farmer who uses a tractor.

There's also a difference between novelty experiences (like horse-drawn carriages, which I've seen in some towns during the holiday season) and everyday experiences. There's also a difference between shared community historical pieces (like having a local library with old computer models available to use) and having those pieces commonly used by the everyday person. At the end of the day, a person only has so much space in their home, and they only have so much money to spend.

So when looking at this, I have a couple questions I'd recommend throwing at your world.

What does this tradition achieve/do for the community? What is its purpose? People don't do things for no reason; there's always some kind of motive.

What's the scope? Playing old computer games is one thing, designing infrastructure to support vastly different modes of transport is another. Semi trucks do not play well with horses or pedestrians. (Are there separate roads, such as cars only for long distances?)

Also, things like cars. Are companies required to support every edition of every car they've ever produced? Because many old cars fundamentally are not safe, just due to how they're built. Safety tweaks were added over time, so it can be difficult to separate where one era ends and the next era begins. There's no distinct line

Also also are they still selling the Ford Pinto? Because that car would legitimately catch on fire if it got rear-ended

Why are people supporting this? How does it benefit them? Personal enrichment is a valid answer here, but what motivates people to spend money on older versions of things?

If someone wants to play a modern video game, an old 128 MB computer won't cut it.

Why are companies maintaining this? Keeping up all of that capital tied up is going to be incredibly expensive. What's their trade-off?

If you want to make this world work, go for it! It seems like an interesting idea. Just remember that the big thing about having something be mainstream is that the people involved have to think that it's worth it. Applying that at a small scale, like a library archive system thing, is very different than applying that to the average person.

How can you have a world like this? You get people invested and you make the money worth it. It's how you do that that's the issue. Companies, in the modern day (and the back-then) produce objects that people will buy. They continue to produce those objects so long as ○ people still want to buy them ○ the company makes money off of people buying them (income>expenses) ○ the company can't make more money doing something else (opportunity cost). If you've got two job offers, one that pays $10 and one that pays $50, and they're in a similar location and a similar amount of work, what would keep you from taking the $50 job? If you took the $10 job, you'd be missing out on an extra $40 – that's opportunity cost. The money you could be making if you did something different.

So how are you convincing your mainstream culture, individual by individual, to take the $10 option?

Wootzel: It crossed my mind that one potential explanation for this kind of technological society is if most world powers have 1) Patent laws that severely limit the number of patents that people as a whole can obtain (either with a numerical limit, or really broad application of what is considered too similar to another patent) and 2) Strict laws against any kind of manufacturing without patents.

As the others have explained at length, I still don’t know if this would be sufficient explanation to make it really believable that some truly obsolete technology would still be made alongside newer stuff. It’s probably impossible to make an old car as safe as a new one (unless it only looked old on the outside and was made of different materials, and even then), and old computers generally have security vulnerabilities that could make them hugely risky for any purpose other than hobbyist use.

But! If a mix of tech levels is what floats your boat, nobody will tell you that you can’t just do it anyway. There probably isn’t any way to make a world like this pass as real-world plausible, but there’s nothing wrong with embracing the wackiness and doing it anyway. That’s what fiction is for. When you have elements in your world that probably wouldn’t ever occur in real life, it comes down to how you present them. Don’t try too hard to justify what you’re doing, and if your audience sees you cheerfully rolling with it, they’ll likely cheerfully roll with you.

#google submitted #technology #culture

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