#Oasis Optimization

[loudruinsnightmare]

Creating a Cool Oasis: Tips for Optimizing Your Room Cooler - Ram Coolers

As temperatures rise, keeping your living space comfortably cool becomes a top priority. Room coolers offer an efficient and cost-effective solution, but maximizing their effectiveness requires some know-how. In this blog, we’ll explore valuable tips for optimizing your room cooler to create a refreshing oasis even on the hottest days.

Table of Contents:

Understanding Room Coolers

Placement Matters

Airflow Optimization

Regular Maintenance

Humidity Control

Energy-Efficient Settings

Conclusion

Understanding Room Coolers:

Room coolers, often referred to as evaporative coolers or swamp coolers, operate on a fascinating principle of natural cooling. These devices draw warm air from the surroundings and pass it through water-saturated pads. Through the process of evaporation, the warm air loses heat, resulting in a refreshing cool breeze that is then circulated into the room. Understanding this fundamental mechanism is essential for optimizing the performance of your room cooler.

Placement Matters:

Proper placement of your room cooler can significantly impact its efficiency and effectiveness. Here are some key considerations:

Ventilation: Position the room cooler near a window or door to facilitate easy ventilation. This allows for the exchange of air, ensuring a constant flow of fresh, cool air into the room.

Sunlight Exposure: Avoid placing the cooler in direct sunlight, as excessive heat can cause water to evaporate too quickly from the pads, diminishing the cooling effect. Opt instead for a shaded area to maintain optimal cooling efficiency.

Central Location: Choose a central location within the room for your cooler to ensure even distribution of cool air. This helps prevent hot spots and ensures that every corner of the room receives adequate cooling.

Airflow Optimization:

Optimizing airflow is key to maximizing the cooling effect of your room cooler. Here’s how you can achieve optimal airflow:

Open Doors and Windows: Keep doors and windows slightly open to allow for proper airflow and circulation. This promotes the exchange of air and prevents the buildup of stagnant, warm air in the room.

Use Fans: Supplement your room cooler with the use of fans to aid in distributing cool air more effectively throughout the room. Ceiling fans or oscillating fans can help improve air circulation and enhance the cooling effect.

Adjust Louvers or Vents: Take advantage of the adjustable louvers or vents on your cooler to direct airflow where it is needed most. This allows you to target specific areas of the room that may require more cooling.

Regular Maintenance:

Proper maintenance is essential to ensure the longevity and efficiency of your room cooler. Here’s a maintenance checklist:

Clean Water Tank and Cooling Pads: Regularly clean the water tank and cooling pads to prevent the buildup of dirt and debris, which can impede airflow and reduce cooling efficiency.

Replace Cooling Pads: Check and replace the cooling pads as needed to ensure optimal performance. Over time, these pads can become worn or clogged, hindering the cooling process.

Inspect Water Pump and Fan Motor: Periodically inspect the water pump and fan motor for any signs of wear or damage. Replace these components if necessary to maintain smooth operation and optimal cooling performance.

Humidity Control:

Humidity levels can impact the effectiveness of room coolers, particularly in humid climates. Here’s how you can manage humidity:

Ideal Conditions: Room coolers work best in dry climates, where humidity levels are low. In such conditions, the evaporation process is more efficient, resulting in a greater cooling effect.

Use of Dehumidifier: If you live in a humid environment, consider using a dehumidifier in conjunction with your room cooler to help improve its effectiveness. This helps reduce moisture in the air, allowing the cooler to work more efficiently.

Monitor Humidity Levels: Regularly monitor humidity levels in your home and adjust the settings on your cooler accordingly to maintain optimal comfort.

Energy-Efficient Settings:

Maximize energy efficiency while enjoying the benefits of your room cooler with these tips:

Timer or Programmable Settings: Take advantage of the timer or programmable settings on your room cooler to optimize energy usage. Set it to operate during the coolest times of the day to minimize energy consumption.

Lowest Fan Speed: Use the lowest fan speed setting that provides adequate cooling to minimize energy consumption. This helps reduce electricity usage while still maintaining a comfortable indoor environment.

Invest in Energy-Efficient Features: Consider investing in a cooler with energy-efficient features, such as variable speed motors or automatic shutoff timers. These features not only help reduce energy consumption but also contribute to long-term savings on utility bills.

By following these tips and implementing proper maintenance practices, you can ensure that your room cooler operates at peak performance, keeping your living space cool and comfortable even in the hottest weather conditions.

Let’s explore specific tips for different cooler types at Ramcoolers:

1. Room Coolers & Tower Coolers

Position strategically: Place your cooler near an open window or doorway to facilitate cool air circulation and draw in fresh air.

Optimize water usage: Ensure the water tank is always filled to the appropriate level for efficient cooling. Explore using ice packs in the water tank for an extra cooling boost.

Adjust airflow: Utilize the adjustable louvers to direct cool air towards the areas where you spend the most time.

Choose the right size: Consider the size of the room you want to cool when selecting a cooler. A larger cooler will be more effective in bigger spaces.

2. Desert Coolers

Maintain optimal humidity: Desert coolers function best in dry climates. Consider using a dehumidifier in conjunction with the cooler if you live in a humid region.

Invest in quality cooler pads: Regularly replace cooler pads to ensure efficient water absorption and evaporation.

Cross ventilation: Create cross ventilation by opening windows on opposite sides of the room to facilitate air circulation and enhance cooling effectiveness.

3. Duct Coolers

Regular duct cleaning: Schedule regular cleaning of ducts to remove dust and debris buildup, allowing for unobstructed airflow.

Insulate ducts: Insulating ducts minimize heat gain, ensuring cool air reaches your desired areas efficiently.

Zone control (if available): Utilize zone control features, if your cooler has them, to adjust cooling in different areas of your home based on specific needs.

4. Large-Size Portable Air coolers / Tent Coolers 

Secure placement: Ensure the cooler is positioned on a stable and level surface, especially when used outdoors.

Utilize ducting (optional): Consider using ducting to direct cool air toward specific areas within the tent or large space.

Mind the environment: Use these coolers responsibly, especially outdoors, to minimize noise and energy consumption.

5. Industrial Coolers 

Professional maintenance: For optimal performance and safety, schedule regular maintenance by qualified technicians trained in industrial coolers.

Monitor water quality: Regularly check and maintain the water quality within the cooler system to prevent scaling and ensure efficient operation.

Energy efficiency: Explore energy-efficient models and consider implementing smart control systems to optimize energy usage.

Did You Know?

Evaporative coolers can reduce indoor temperatures by as much as 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit in dry climates.

Unlike traditional air conditioners, room coolers use significantly less electricity, making them a more environmentally friendly cooling option.

Room coolers are ideal for allergy sufferers, as they do not recirculate indoor air like air conditioners, reducing the concentration of allergens in the environment.

In addition to cooling the air, evaporative coolers also add moisture to the indoor environment, which can help alleviate symptoms of dry skin and respiratory issues.

> Also Read: Cooling Innovation: The Evolution Of Air Cooler Technology

Conclusion:

By implementing these tips for optimizing your room cooler, you can create a cool and comfortable environment within your living space, even during the hottest of days. From strategic placement and airflow management to diligent maintenance and energy-efficient settings, every effort contributes to maximizing the effectiveness and longevity of your room cooling system. Enjoy the refreshing oasis you’ve created, knowing that you’ve optimized your room cooler for peak performance and comfort.

>>> Contact us today for any queries!

[pritchardautobody]

Fountains services winnipeg,Fountains repairs manitoba,Agricultural irrigation manitoba

[sevenoakstransmissions]

[k-hippie]

k-707 ( 2025 EDITION ) RELEASE - FIRST WAVE

It’s finally here! Well, the first part of it—because let’s be real, this beast of a project is too massive to drop all at once ( unless we suddenly gain the ability to compress/expand time ) ;)

For now, we’re rolling out the first wave of k-707, covering :

- Base Game/Seasons ( Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest ) - Get to Work ( Magnolia Promenade ) - Outdoor Retreat ( Granite Falls ) - Vampires ( Forgotten Hollow ) - Cottage Living ( Henford-on-Bagley ) - High School Years ( Copperdale ) - Life & Death ( Ravenwood )

Yes, we know ... you want more—but trust us, this is already a lot. The rest will come soon-ish ( don’t ask for dates, we’re not EA ) and as we say again and again, this is a work in progress, time for us to understand some more things with blender managing vertex painting and so on ;)

For everything related to instructions, how-to and so on, see the previous post or the "Download Page" of the k-707 on our website.

We replaced, reshaped, optimized, and obsessed over hundreds of trees and plants. Everything is optimized for directX11 ... Now, in theory, all should move right, look right, and fit right :D If you encounter a purple question mark on this new release, just send us a message. We'll see this together :)

Do not be surprised, some trees ( very very few ) are not yet modified ( -> I think about topiaries ) and some others have been fully replaced ( such as the ugly majestic and royal palms in base game )

Never forget this is still a work in progress and some changes will be done later ;)

As soon as we do some minor modifications and checks, we'll release a SECOND wave ( which should be very soon indeed )

Later ( End of February ) a THIRD and final wave will be released ...

Installation & Warnings

Each Expansion has 2 folders : one for plants, one for trees

The base game is split into 4 folders : 2 lots + 2 debug

Expansions with minimal greenery ( City Living, University, Get2Work ) are in single folder named k-hippie-k707-multi-greeny-2025

Do NOT mess with the folder structure unless you love chaos. If you merge files and something breaks, that’s on you. We won’t be able to troubleshoot Frankenstein mods ... More information on our website or into the previous post ;)

Final Notes

K-707 isn’t perfect ( yet ) :D We’re still tweaking, improving, and fixing things. We are aware some textures and styles need to be refined/modified. It will be done in time. But this is already a massive upgrade. So, enjoy your lusher, greener, better-integrated Sims world—and if you spot a tree acting weird, just pretend it’s haunted until we fix the green :D

Remember the k-mods are still and always free. Thanks to freely give a little something if you can. This is a massive piece of work and so, a massive piece of time ;)

If you think it’s good enough to drop our way : PayPal link

...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > UPDATE ! February 25

We added few missing plants to the base game ( both lot & debug ) and some modifications to some plants ( azalea - hydrangea ) ... Some textures have been fixed. As we said, there will be adjustments and tiny updates. You know, a work in progress ;)

Tonight, a bit in advance, we release too :

k-707 ( 2025 ) for Sulani ( Island Living )

k-707 ( 2025 ) for Tomarang ( for Rent )

We know the gameplay bug related to for rent expansion but we finished trees & plants for this expansion, so better to release :)

By the way, as Windenburg and Britechester, Sulani will get a small k-505 redux quite soon. It won't be huge but it will correct details here & there. That was the Sunday late news and releases. Have a great week everyone !

Sorry for the delays but real world got massive changes and I confess I didn't have time to make more k-707 stuff this time ...

See you soon fellows :)

Download the K-707 mod HERE

...

[kashverse]

nerd gojo fawning over nerd reader

kinda went crazy with this one….nerd gojo in the 90's….naia u really bring out the best in me💗

gojo adjusts his round, too-big glasses—thick enough to magnify his already ridiculous blue eyes—and takes a deep breath. he runs through his mental calculations one more time.

"wonderwall" equation for max effectiveness:

optimal vocal projection: 85 decibels (±5dB)

ideal tempo: 87 BPM (±3 BPM for emotional effect)

nasal twang coefficient: moderately high

statistical probability of rejection: 12.3% (adjusted for charm bonus)

potential embarrassment level: catastrophic

this is fine. standing in front of your house, decked out in a windbreaker that is as violently neon as it is unnecessary for the mild weather, he strums an imaginary guitar and belts out:

"today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you~"

he pauses, adjusting his stance. “hmm. no, no, that was flat. i need to increase my pitch by 1.3 semitones. let’s try that again.”

he clears his throat and goes again, this time making sure to align his vibrato with the harmonic frequency of maximum emotional resonance (as determined by extensive research conducted via rolling stone magazine and a questionable conversation with nanami, who muttered something about 'a disaster' before walking away), kicking the dirt for dramatic effect, and goes again—this time leaning into the nasally britpop vocals hard.

"by now, you shoulda somehow realized what you gotta do~"

he glances at your window. no movement. he’s losing you. quick, gojo, pivot.

“statistically speaking,” he calls out, adjusting his glasses, “your chances of experiencing a more mathematically perfect prom night are significantly higher if you go with me. i have prepared a powerpoint.” he gestures at the projector he has somehow set up on your front lawn. 

your door creaks open. you're standing there, arms crossed, a mixture of amusement and secondhand embarrassment etched on your face.

“satoru.”

he straightens. “yes, my beloved quadratic equation?” you blink. “what the hell is happening right now.”

“romance,” he says, dead serious. “but also: physics.”

"oh my god—"

“listen, babe, i crunched the numbers. we’re talking optimal slow dance potential, prime photo booth placement, minimum cringe risk—”

“minimum cringe?” you interrupt, raising an eyebrow. “you’re standing on my lawn singing oasis like a dork.” gojo grins. “yeah, but, like, in an endearing way.”

“is that why you’ve been calculating the acoustic properties of your own voice for the last ten minutes?”

gojo gasps, clutching his chest dramatically. “you noticed? babe. we really are meant to be.”

you stare. he stares back.

“…so, prom?” he asks, hopeful. you sigh, rubbing your temples before nodding.

he fist-pumps so hard he nearly dislocates his shoulder. “YES! the experiment was a success!”

“there was an experiment?”

“of course! and the hypothesis was that gojo satoru is the most dateable nerd this side of the millennium!”

“…and the conclusion?”

“that you are super hot and super smart, and i am also a genius.”

you shake your head, unable to fight the grin tugging at your lips. maybe prom night with a human calculator wouldn’t be so bad.

[sarahelizasims]

Nestled in the heart of Lombard Drive, this exquisite 2.5-bedroom, 2-bathroom residence embodies the elegance of modern French Colonial design. A harmonious blend of light neutrals and bold dark accents graces both the interior and exterior, creating a timeless aesthetic. The home’s grand façade is framed by lush, meticulously curated gardens, where vibrant red and white hydrangeas weave a captivating tapestry around the estate. Beyond the charming exterior, a private backyard oasis awaits—an entertainer’s dream featuring a striking sunken conversation pit seamlessly encircled by a shimmering pool, perfect for intimate gatherings and luxurious outdoor living.

40 x 30

Residential Lot

2 beds, 1 nursery

2 full bathrooms

Furnished

$570,487

Requirements:

Turn bb.moveobjects on before placing. **optional** TwistedMexi has a script mod that does it for you automatically, so there is no reason to always have to type it in.

T.O.O.L by TwistedMexi.

Required CC - Please refer to the included PDF document for downloading items that were not included in the zip file, as some are still in early access.

One of the cabinets is a recolor; download the original mesh here if you load into the lot and something is missing. The file name is [KKB'sMM]Aesthete - Cabinet ver.2.

The lush red hydrangeas are a recolor; download the mesh here.

Terms of Use:

Do not re-upload my lots and claim them as your own.

You're welcome to edit or modify my builds, but please remember to credit me as the original creator!

Do not put my builds behind a paywall.

I've included some of my recolors, please refer to those posts for their TOU.

Thank you to all CC Creators.

Please let me know if there's any problem with the build. Tag @sarahelizasims so I can see your gameplay and any personal touches you've made!

I sincerely apologize for the number of zip files. I had a tough time finding a way to upload everything at once or compress the main folder as a whole. As a result, I had to create multiple folders to split up the CC. If you have any tips on compressing and optimizing large files, I would greatly appreciate your help!

Please note that this is a very CC heavy build, which might cause lag in your game. I organize CC files to their content creator in my downloads. Make sure you're actively running batch fixes on your files.

My game is DirectX11, so you may need to update your images to DX11 in the Sims 4 Studio.

📥DOWNLOAD (Available for FREE on Patreon)

Floor Plan & Photo Gallery:

[moonreader1010]

Things about you that will have them hooked 💋🧿 (18+)

-by Valerie

Pick one of the following piles:-

Pile 1. Pile 2.

Pile 3. ^

Note:- the pictures used don't belong to me and all the rights go to their original owners.

-This is for entertainment purposes only. Take what resonates.

-minors DNI.

-take a deep breath and pick the pile that calls you.

Pile 1.

The Soulful Romantic

Cards Pulled: The Empress, The Moon, Ace of Cups, The Lovers, King of Pentacles, Seven of Wands

This person will be drawn to the divine sensuality you radiate. The Empress speaks of your natural beauty and allure—there’s something about the way you carry yourself that exudes confidence and an untouchable, goddess-like energy. When they’re near you, they feel like they’re stepping into a dream, a mystery they can’t unravel, as shown by The Moon. Your ability to reveal just enough while leaving so much to the imagination keeps them utterly captivated. With the Ace of Cups, you’re like a refreshing oasis, igniting a deep emotional connection that they haven’t felt with anyone else. The Lovers shows that they see you as their ultimate partner, someone they’d risk everything for. Meanwhile, the King of Pentacles hints at how grounded and self-sufficient you are, which only intensifies their desire to prove their worth to you. Yet, the Seven of Wands adds a layer of challenge—you’re not easily won over, and your resistance only makes them want you more.

Visionary Scenario: Imagine them watching you laugh softly in a dimly lit café, the glow of candlelight playing on your skin. They’re hooked on the way your eyes seem to hold a thousand secrets, the way you sip your coffee like royalty. They’d sit across the table, leaning in, mesmerized, while their heart races, thinking, "How do I convince them to let me in?"

Pile 2.

The Adventurous Spirit

Cards Pulled: Knight of Wands, The Star, Nine of Pentacles, Two of Cups, The Tower, Page of Swords

This person is a thrill-seeker, and your fiery passion lights a spark in them they can’t ignore. With the Knight of Wands, it’s your boldness and unpredictability that leave them intrigued. You’re not afraid to take risks or live unapologetically, and that’s a magnetic pull for them. The Star reveals that you’re like a beacon of hope and inspiration in their life. They’re drawn to your optimism, your dreams, and how you’re unafraid to chase after what you want. The Nine of Pentacles highlights your independence and elegance; they see you as someone who has built a life of richness—both externally and within. When the Two of Cups appears, it suggests that they feel an undeniable emotional and physical chemistry with you. The Tower, though, adds an element of danger. You shake up their life in the best way possible, forcing them out of their comfort zone. With the Page of Swords, they’re constantly trying to figure you out, hooked on your intelligence and the way you keep them guessing.

Visionary Scenario: Picture this—on an impromptu road trip, you’re laughing as you tease them, wind blowing through your hair. They glance over at you from the driver’s seat, utterly hypnotized by the way you radiate freedom and excitement. In that moment, they think, "I’d follow them anywhere."

Pile 3.

The Intellectual Dreamer

Cards Pulled: Queen of Swords, Temperance, Three of Pentacles, Ten of Cups, The Devil, Eight of Wands

This person admires your sharp mind and wit, symbolized by the Queen of Swords. You challenge them intellectually, and they’re obsessed with how you always have the perfect comeback or insight. Temperance reveals that you have a serene balance about you—you’re the calm in their storm, a grounding presence they crave. The Three of Pentacles shows that they’re drawn to how you collaborate with others, your ambition, and your ability to inspire and lead. The Ten of Cups makes it clear that they fantasize about long-term happiness with you; you embody their dream of an ideal partner. The Devil, however, spices things up—you have a seductive side they can’t resist. It’s the way you make eye contact just a little too long, or how you subtly hint at something more, that drives them wild. The Eight of Wands speaks of your ability to make things happen quickly and passionately, leaving them breathless and wanting more.

Visionary Scenario: Imagine them meeting you at a gallery opening. You’re discussing art with effortless eloquence, your voice like velvet. They’re hooked on the way your words tease their mind while your presence tantalizes their senses. That night, as they lie awake, they’re consumed with the thought, "How can I be the one to unlock all their layers?"

[ashotasfireandasdeepastheocean1]

.♡

.

Your adventure for unknown must be like being sent to a desert and being asked to search for water for your very survival. How likely it is that you'll find water in the middle of a desert and while you're almost at the verge of dying, instead of finding a few drops, you discover an oasis itself. Take the plunge into the unknown, your oasis is waiting for you...

Random Xpressions

[ninibeingdelulu]

Seeing you comforting a child…

ft. leon kennedy, cloud strife

Leon Kennedy would never dare admit it openly, but the stoic, badass exterior melted away ever so slightly at the sight of you tenderly comforting a lost child.

That time in the ransacked village, when the haunting wails of a youngster pierced the air amidst the carnage - Leon instinctively tensed, jaw setting grimly as his grip tightened on his rifle.

But then he spotted you already racing ahead unhesitatingly. Dropping to one knee, arms outstretched in a gentle beckoning posture as the little one startled then sprinted straight into your protective embrace.

Your soothing tones murmured comforting assurances while cradling their trembling form close against you. Fingers carding soothingly through tangled hair with the utmost tender care.

And Leon couldn't tear his widened eyes away from the tenderhearted display. Throat constricting over the unexpected lump suddenly materializing there.

That million-watt smile radiating from your features as you rocked them patiently until whimpering quieted was like the first vibrant blossom peeking through the ash after a nuclear winter.

An oasis of affectionate nurturing shining through the oppressive bleakness suffocating them both for far too painfully long.

Leon found his calloused finger-pads unconsciously drifting up to caress his own chapped lips as if wishing to physically absorb the tranquil serenity you effortlessly exuded.

Eyelids momentarily fluttering closed while permitting himself to just bask in the warmth emanating from your very presence like a soothing balm against all the harrowing darkness poisoning them both.

A tremulous sigh escaped between those parted lips as the barest ghost of a smile tugged at their corners for the first time in...Christ, had it really been years since he last felt anything even remotely resembling that fleeting glimmer of unguarded optimism blossoming in his chest?

The peaceful tableau you presented with the now-placid child tucked securely in your arms struck Leon deeper than any physical combat wound ever could.

Worming past every steel-plated layer of defenses, countermeasures and failsafes, straight down into the most vulnerable core of his humanity he'd sworn died an agonizing death ages ago.

It terrified yet entranced him in equal measure just drinking in the serene display. Eventually those narrowed steel-blue irises regained some of their piercing guardedness while surreptitiously cataloging every nuance etched upon your expressions and ministrations.

As if desperately searing the moment into his consciousness to be revisited and clung onto later through whatever hell awaited them next.

Thank Christ for your influence and the inexplicable balm it provided against the miasma of torment clouding Leon's withered soul more with every passing abyss they navigated together...

The uncompromising mask remained solidly affixed in place by the time you finally lifted your eyes to meet his guarded gaze, the child nestled peacefully into the crook of your neck.

Not a single flicker of that momentary softness penetrated the hauntingly chiseled granite of his features now.

Yet behind that shuttered and fortified thousand-yard stare, the barest ember pulsed with renewed tenacity suffusing Leon's frigid disposition with almost undetectable glimmers of warmth.

All because of your natural radiance and selfless compassion reminding him why they fought on through each grueling gauntlet.

Sure he'd never verbalize sentiments that unbearably raw and guileless aloud. But that infinitesimal spark continuing to miraculously smolder despite all efforts to smother it was enough to propel them onward through any escalating onslaught yet to come.

This time with a renewed fervor steeling Leon's adamantine determination from the inside out.

The desolate, mako-tainted wastes proved no place for a child's cries. Yet the haunting echoes still pierced straight through Cloud's calloused defenses when tiny lungs unleashed their heartrending wails upon the barren landscape.

His gloved grip instinctively clenched tighter around the battered Buster Sword's hilt, jaw tensing as those predatory ice-blue irises immediately snapped towards the source of the disturbance.

Fully prepared for whatever fresh horror emerged after the merc caught fleeting movement through his peripherals.

But the cautious sweep revealed only your slender form already hastening ahead. Moving with fluid grace directly towards the sobbing bundle tucked against a crumbling wall.

His firm chapped lips tightened into a grim line witnessing you unhesitatingly drop to one knee before the distressed child without any apparent armaments at the ready.

From this distance, Cloud glimpsed your gentle features soften with bottomless compassion wholly separate from the usual battlefield ferocity.

Small hands unfurled in placating gestures exuding profound warmth and sincerity instantly easing some of the fractures riddling his own battered soul simply by proximity.

While you deftly coaxed the tiny thing into your embrace with susurrant tones and infinitely patient ministrations, Cloud suddenly found himself robbed of breath altogether.

Those glacial spheres wide and stunned at the exquisitely tender vision you presented cradling their fragility so reverently. A profound ache lodged behind his breastbone at the maternal aura emanating from your whole being.

He swallowed convulsively over the sandpaper abrasions rasping along his windpipe.

Gloved fingers betraying the slightest tremor disturbing his usual uncompromising stoicism while still drinking in every indelible detail of the intimate scene unraveling.

From the tender flickering caresses smoothed across tangled russet locks to your honeyed vocals humming soothing melodies of consolation.

All suffusing the stale, mako-saturated atmosphere with vibrant healing essences Cloud found himself instinctively gravitating closer towards.

Feather-light brushes scritched lovingly along the whimpering child's back forming hypnotic ellipses mirroring your unguarded smile radiating all-encompassing warmth across those cherubic cheeks now drenched in tear tracks.

Until finally after an eternity, the miniature form stilled in your arms. Body unlocking from its terrified rigor mortis into the very picture of youthful tranquility tucked securely against your heartbeat.

Cloud hadn't even realized he'd been holding his own respiration captive until the soft sigh expelled in a shuddering rush between lax lips.

A full-bodied flinch rattled his broad shoulders at its sudden harsh volume intruding upon the sacred tableau before him.

But thankfully, your features remained beautifully serene, wholly undisturbed while continuing to rock the now-quieted bundle in gentle rhythms.

Only then did molten sapphire pools drift up to lock with his widened stare burning with intensity across the slender lacuna separating you. A tremor not wholly attributable to anxiety skittered down his whip-cord musculature watching your radiant smile intensify directed solely towards Cloud.

As if silently communicating your infinite gratitude for him bearing witness to such an intimate and precious moment blossoming in this scorched hellscape...

Whatever parched recesses comprising the haunted mercenary's core still retained the capacity for absorbing nurturing warmth - it suddenly flooded within the confines of his barrel chest when those infinitely compassionate irises shone their benediction upon him.

Unknotting every rigid sinew and ligament hardened into a battle-tempered carapace purely through the power of your tender, life-affirming essence.

Almost imperceptibly, Cloud's chapped lips softened around the faintest half-curved suggestions budding there.

Posture unconsciously opening to welcome your pure light into his long-shadowed world while holding your loving gaze in mesmerized thrall.

As if determined to thoroughly archive this oasis of serenity and unconditional love in his consciousness so it may fortify whatever grueling battles destiny demanded they wage next.

Then in a single blink and a slight dip of your chin, the spell abruptly dissolved back into hyper-vigilance.

Yet even with the mercenary's legendary ice reformed across those exquisite Nordic features, perpetually braced for the next onslaught - a spark continued flickering in the hooded caverns of his stare.

A faint ember of something intangible yet transcendent now eternally kindled behind his armored exterior.

All because you'd reminded Cloud one of his most precious intangible dreams had been manifested into cherished reality...even under the most desolate conditions.

[deontoillogical]

Heaven Official's Blessing seems to be about the nativity of Xie Lian at first. It seems to be about situations where there is no right answer and a decision on who to save must be made. Xie Lian is in fact embarrassed about his former idealism, his goals to save the common man, his youthful optimism.

Spoilers ahead:

When we learn what his preceptor asked him 800 years before, about the two dying humans in the desert. If you were a god, and you could give either one of them a cup of water saving their life but leaving the other to die, who would you choose?

It's a type of trolley problem, a distilled hypothetical meant only to enlighten its audience to the methods of their personal ethical frameworks.

For example, Mu Qing, the practical one, the utilitarian, asked about the qualities that might allow him to decide who is more worth saving.

Feng Xin, the honorable one, the deontologist, answered that they should discuss it among themselves.

On the other hand, Xie Lian was an idealist. Give them two cups of water. Reject the premise of scarcity. I am a god. Why can't I save both?

After the prince faced so many versions of this problem in the present... from the Banyue people to the Wind Master and his brother... and so many trials in the past... from the fall of his own people, to the fall of Yong-an's king at his own hand... we are told there are situations where someone must suffer. We are told that Xie Lian was naive. Xie Lian believes it himself, as the idealists he had taken under his wing (Banyue and Lang Qianqiu) crack in the face of a harsher reality.

His idealism failed him time and time again.

Except, as we learn the history of Wuyong and its fallen prince, the text also starts to reveal that there were two cups to begin with. One had always been artificially taken away.

Would Banyue need to betray her own people if they did not hoard the oasis? Would the country of Banyue need to fall so harshly if they hadn't intended to take out their enemy as soon as they met their defeat? (Problematic caricature of a "savage" culture aside)

Would Wind Master's brother need to change his fate if White No-Face hadn't made the creature who destroyed his life to begin with?

Would Xianle have fallen to Yong'an if the financial aid hadn't been skimmed by every official along the way? If the poor had the opportunity to pray and Xie Lian could have found them sooner? If the refugees weren't treated worse than dogs? If more than just the richest refugees were allowed to stay in the capital city? If other gods had helped Xie Lian carry water to Yong'an? If White No-Face hadn't artificially stuck his hand into the disaster and created the plague that sealed Xianle's fate? Every step of the way there was someone hoarding the water, both metaphorically and very literally. There was no way to save everyone, but a bit more reprieve could have stopped the civil war before it even started.

This is in parallel to Wuyong that fell not because its prince was naive, but because every other god refused to give their aid with no benefit to themselves. There was plenty of power to save the people, to forge the bridge and keep it steady. Every other god refused to use it.

But in simple acts of selflessness, you can bring back the water. Ironically, the motif that represents this aspect of the narrative is in the blockage of the rain. What kept Xie Lian sain just a bit longer if not an umbrella given to him by some random mortal soul? One passed to the boy devoted to him, that ultimately blocked the rain of blood once more upon their first meeting since Xie Lian's 3rd ascension.

The same style of hat that created the rains--the gift of water gifted out of the rain master's kindness--protected Xie Lian from the downpour in his lowest moment. As he sat in the storm waiting for the moment that he would unleash plague, finally admitting defeat of any hope for the humanity of the common man, a stranger stumbles over him. He cusses him out. Why wouldn't he? He was splayed out on the street, an inconvenient obstacle. A pathetic piece of performance art left to suffer the piercing of his own blade for almost three days straight. Only his enemy to relieve him from such pain. So there he was. In the way.

But as the stranger carried on, he stopped. He turned back. He handed his own straw hat to the poor figure in the streets. Humans are selfish. And humans are also selfless. Humans are human. And luck would have it, a human was human to him right before it was too late.

It's something White No-Face never realized, with his heart hardened by the betrayal of his own people. He saw the common man he slaved for for 5 years turn against him. He still persisted. He built their bridge to heaven as they turned from him. And just as their world was about to end, he suspended that bridge on his will power alone. If only they didn't swarm him. If only they could just trust him, and listen.

They died. His faith in people died with them. And everything that he existed for turned out to be fruitless. So, he broke.

And if Xie Lian didn't break as well, then it meant that everything he'd done for the past 1200 years, 2000 years was meaningless. If he couldn't show Xie Lian the world didn't deserve him, then maybe the prince of Wuyong just wasn't good enough for the world. Xie Lian had to be wrong. Because in turning against his people, White No-Face turned against himself.

But what he didn't realize is it was never the common man's fault for not believing in the gods. It was the gods' fault for hoarding the water. He blamed humanity, when the problem was the system.

He tried to break Xie Lian by taking away all of the water, but in taking away the water he proved that there was always more to begin with. In being the reason Xie Lian failed, he proved that Xie Lian never had to fail.

The problem was never with the people, who just wanted to survive. It's with those who hoarded the water. It's with those who believed there to be no other choice, and those who forced that choice in their greed.

White No-Face was wrong. The state preceptor was wrong. Disillusioned Xie Lian was wrong. Reject the premise. Reject the lies they sell you. Reject the illusion of scarcity.

Xie Lian was naive, but in his nativity he had stumbled upon the truth. There were always two cups of water. There were always two cups of water.

He should never have been embarrassed about his idealism, because in the end he was right. And in the end, he realizes he was right. He had always been right.

There were always two cups of water. And because of that he's finally able to save the common man.

[ostensiblynone]

'I was stoned - didn't feel a thing'

Filed: September 26th 2002 | The Telegraph UK

Noel Gallagher talks to Neil McCormick about spirituality, songwriting, fatherhood, and how he walked away from a spectacular car crash in America

Noel Gallagher recently survived a high-speed, head-on collision in the front passenger seat of a taxi cab in Indianapolis. "It was my first car crash," he cheerfully reports, brusquely asserting that this flirtation with mortality did not represent a life-changing experience. "Nothing flashed before my eyes! Not a fucking thing! It only lasted a couple of seconds. It'd take a lot longer than that for my life to flash by, man!"

Currently on the second half of a world tour with Oasis, the elder Gallagher brother is on typically garrulous form as he recollects the events of August 7. "My mam was on the phone going, 'Thank God you're all right!' The way it was reported in England, it was like I was dragged by my hair from the wreckage of a burning car. The thing is, I was stoned off my nut. It was a day off and I got properly blasted. I didn't feel a thing!"

Noel was returning from a visit to a guitar shop with band members Gem Archer and Andy Bell when the accident happened. "For some reason, I got in the front of the cab. Never done that before, but I'm off me head, right, and I'm looking down this road; it's a beautiful sunny evening; there's a car coming towards us. Then all of a sudden our driver hit the brakes. I sort of looked up, and there was the loudest bang I've ever heard in my life. Then it went really dark because the air bag exploded. So I'm stoned in the dark with two black eyes, and the car alarm's going off, and the taxi driver is shouting in Moroccan or something, and I'm thinking, 'What the fuck is going on? Is this a car bomb?' I kick myself out the door and Gem's got blood pouring out of his nose, but Andy had his seatbelt on, skips out, not a scratch, not even a hair out place. I'm sat on the road, and its blistering hot, and Andy was stood looking over me and - I didn't find this out until two days later - he says the first thing I said was, 'Get us me shades out the car.' Do I rock or what?"

Noel wound up in hospital with neck trauma for which he is still receiving physiotherapy. "All's well that ends well, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody," he says. "The thing is, I'm a great believer in karma [the Buddhist belief that present actions affect future existence]. I'm always preaching that everything happens for a reason, man. What you give is what you get. Then me and my girlfriend split up, and four days later I'm in a car crash, and I'm thinking, 'But I'm a really good person. Why is this happening to me?'"

What with Noel's self-confessed past drug problems, acrimonious divorce, constant sibling squabbles and generally volatile relationships with a band who always seem on the verge of breaking up, one might imagine he would have every reason to suspect his karma was in a dubious state. However, as even the most cursory inspection of his songwriting canon will reveal, Noel presents himself as optimism personified. "My life's been a celebration," he insists. "Shit goes wrong. Sometimes there's a disturbance in the force, Luke. But this is my destiny. I'm honoured to have been given the gift to write songs and play them to people, because I'm not really good at anything else. I can make my daughter laugh, but that's about it."

Although his tendency is to be flippant, Noel seems to take these concepts seriously. "It seems plausible that what goes around comes around. If you want to be treated with respect, you should at least respect the person that's in your nearest vicinity," he says. "I don't buy organised religion. I actually envy people who go to church on Sunday and sing their arses off and come out feeling a better person, but it's all bullshit to me. My parents were Irish and I was brought up a Catholic, but all it left me with was guilt."

So what does the eternal optimist have to feel guilty about? "I feel guilty that I'm not going to be around every day for my daughter. That eats away at me pretty much all the time. When I see her, and then I have to give her back, and she's crying, 'I don't want to go, Daddy.' But I never felt guilty over the success and the cash. That's what you get given for doing something right."

Noel says he won't attempt to impose any particular beliefs on his two-year-old daughter, Anäis. "She might be able to teach me something, who knows?" he says touchingly. But then he adds: "Knowing her mother, Meg will have her at the Church of Standing on One Leg or something stupid." This brief outburst is the only flash of vindictiveness during our encounter. Little By Little, the new Oasis single (released this week), written and sung by Noel, might be taken as bitter comment on his ex-wife Meg Matthews ("The wheels of your life are slowly falling off"), but Noel insists he is not an autobiographical songwriter.

"The songs have universal appeal; that's why they're such huge songs," he says. "The truth that's in them is a truth to the listener not a statement by the songwriter. I always felt the meaning of Wonderwall was taken away from me by journalists who said it was about Meg. That was a song written about the imaginary fairy on your shoulder that you ultimately believe is going to come and save you from yourself. When I sing it these days, it's about my daughter."

Also included on the single is She is Love, again sung by Noel. He admits, in this case, that it was "inspired" by his former paramour, Sarah MacDonald, but adds: "The song doesn't belong to anyone. It belongs to the people."

Certainly, self-revelation is not Noel's style. "I never truly write from a personal perspective because I have to give it to Liam to sing, and he has to believe the songs are written through him, by me. And my brother is a piss-taker of the highest degree. If he even smells a rat, he goes, 'I'm not having that.'

"So I write from the perspective that there's this imaginary person singing the song, and he's called Noel&Liam. I guess it's a defence mechanism. I'm not allowed to bare my soul. Really, I'm quite a private person and I don't want anybody to know what's going on inside my heart. And then sometimes I worry that I'm not getting it out. When all the shit was going on a couple of years ago, I was going to do a solo record, and I was going to lay it on the line. But then I thought do I really want people to go, 'Ah, there he is. Now we can pigeonhole him'? So I write songs about 'we' and not 'me'. If I'd made a career out of writing songs about myself, there wouldn't be that many people turning up every night, that's for fucking sure!"

That there is a soulful, slightly troubled spirit beneath Noel's surface optimism is not hard to discern. "When I get down, I don't want to pick up a pen," he says. "I go to the pub and get pissed. Wallow. Sit in the corner and be spiteful to strangers in my head. I've just split up with my girlfriend and come out of a car crash, so I'm not writing any songs at the moment. Radiohead would get a box set out of a car crash but I think all my songs should be a celebration. There's enough negativity in the world.

"The first two lines of Hindu Times say it all to me: 'I get up/when I'm down.' I wait for it to pass, until the disturbance in the force has calmed. I wouldn't play a song to this lot in the band that had the opening line of, 'Sitting in my room as the rain pours down the window.' They'd just burst out laughing. Liam would tut and walk out."

So where, I ask him, do all the darker emotions within him go? "I suppose I'm going to have a musical nose-bleed soon," he says. "I can't keep it locked up for ever. I know it's got to come out somewhere. I just don't know if I'm looking forward to it."

[loudruinsnightmare]

Creating a Cool Oasis: Tips for Optimizing Your Room Cooler

As temperatures rise, keeping your living space comfortably cool becomes a top priority. Room coolers offer an efficient and cost-effective solution, but maximizing their effectiveness requires some know-how. In this blog, we’ll explore valuable tips for optimizing your room cooler to create a refreshing oasis even on the hottest days.

Table of Contents:

Understanding Room Coolers

Placement Matters

Airflow Optimization

Regular Maintenance

Humidity Control

Energy-Efficient Settings

Conclusion

Understanding Room Coolers:

Room coolers, often referred to as evaporative coolers or swamp coolers, operate on a fascinating principle of natural cooling. These devices draw warm air from the surroundings and pass it through water-saturated pads. Through the process of evaporation, the warm air loses heat, resulting in a refreshing cool breeze that is then circulated into the room. Understanding this fundamental mechanism is essential for optimizing the performance of your room cooler.

Placement Matters:

Proper placement of your room cooler can significantly impact its efficiency and effectiveness. Here are some key considerations:

Ventilation: Position the room cooler near a window or door to facilitate easy ventilation. This allows for the exchange of air, ensuring a constant flow of fresh, cool air into the room.

Sunlight Exposure: Avoid placing the cooler in direct sunlight, as excessive heat can cause water to evaporate too quickly from the pads, diminishing the cooling effect. Opt instead for a shaded area to maintain optimal cooling efficiency.

Central Location: Choose a central location within the room for your cooler to ensure even distribution of cool air. This helps prevent hot spots and ensures that every corner of the room receives adequate cooling.

Airflow Optimization:

Optimizing airflow is key to maximizing the cooling effect of your room cooler. Here’s how you can achieve optimal airflow:

Open Doors and Windows: Keep doors and windows slightly open to allow for proper airflow and circulation. This promotes the exchange of air and prevents the buildup of stagnant, warm air in the room.

Use Fans: Supplement your room cooler with the use of fans to aid in distributing cool air more effectively throughout the room. Ceiling fans or oscillating fans can help improve air circulation and enhance the cooling effect.

Adjust Louvers or Vents: Take advantage of the adjustable louvers or vents on your cooler to direct airflow where it is needed most. This allows you to target specific areas of the room that may require more cooling.

Regular Maintenance:

Proper maintenance is essential to ensure the longevity and efficiency of your room cooler. Here’s a maintenance checklist:

Clean Water Tank and Cooling Pads: Regularly clean the water tank and cooling pads to prevent the buildup of dirt and debris, which can impede airflow and reduce cooling efficiency.

Replace Cooling Pads: Check and replace the cooling pads as needed to ensure optimal performance. Over time, these pads can become worn or clogged, hindering the cooling process.

Inspect Water Pump and Fan Motor: Periodically inspect the water pump and fan motor for any signs of wear or damage. Replace these components if necessary to maintain smooth operation and optimal cooling performance.

Humidity Control:

Humidity levels can impact the effectiveness of room coolers, particularly in humid climates. Here’s how you can manage humidity:

Ideal Conditions: Room coolers work best in dry climates, where humidity levels are low. In such conditions, the evaporation process is more efficient, resulting in a greater cooling effect.

Use of Dehumidifier: If you live in a humid environment, consider using a dehumidifier in conjunction with your room cooler to help improve its effectiveness. This helps reduce moisture in the air, allowing the cooler to work more efficiently.

Monitor Humidity Levels: Regularly monitor humidity levels in your home and adjust the settings on your cooler accordingly to maintain optimal comfort.

Energy-Efficient Settings:

Maximize energy efficiency while enjoying the benefits of your room cooler with these tips:

Timer or Programmable Settings: Take advantage of the timer or programmable settings on your room cooler to optimize energy usage. Set it to operate during the coolest times of the day to minimize energy consumption.

Lowest Fan Speed: Use the lowest fan speed setting that provides adequate cooling to minimize energy consumption. This helps reduce electricity usage while still maintaining a comfortable indoor environment.

Invest in Energy-Efficient Features: Consider investing in a cooler with energy-efficient features, such as variable speed motors or automatic shutoff timers. These features not only help reduce energy consumption but also contribute to long-term savings on utility bills.

By following these tips and implementing proper maintenance practices, you can ensure that your room cooler operates at peak performance, keeping your living space cool and comfortable even in the hottest weather conditions.

Let’s explore specific tips for different cooler types at Ramcoolers:

1. Room Coolers & Tower Coolers

Position strategically: Place your cooler near an open window or doorway to facilitate cool air circulation and draw in fresh air.

Optimize water usage: Ensure the water tank is always filled to the appropriate level for efficient cooling. Explore using ice packs in the water tank for an extra cooling boost.

Adjust airflow: Utilize the adjustable louvers to direct cool air towards the areas where you spend the most time.

Choose the right size: Consider the size of the room you want to cool when selecting a cooler. A larger cooler will be more effective in bigger spaces.

2. Desert Coolers

Maintain optimal humidity: Desert coolers function best in dry climates. Consider using a dehumidifier in conjunction with the cooler if you live in a humid region.

Invest in quality cooler pads: Regularly replace cooler pads to ensure efficient water absorption and evaporation.

Cross ventilation: Create cross ventilation by opening windows on opposite sides of the room to facilitate air circulation and enhance cooling effectiveness.

3. Duct Coolers

Regular duct cleaning: Schedule regular cleaning of ducts to remove dust and debris buildup, allowing for unobstructed airflow.

Insulate ducts: Insulating ducts minimize heat gain, ensuring cool air reaches your desired areas efficiently.

Zone control (if available): Utilize zone control features, if your cooler has them, to adjust cooling in different areas of your home based on specific needs.

4. Large-Size Portable Air coolers / Tent Coolers 

Secure placement: Ensure the cooler is positioned on a stable and level surface, especially when used outdoors.

Utilize ducting (optional): Consider using ducting to direct cool air toward specific areas within the tent or large space.

Mind the environment: Use these coolers responsibly, especially outdoors, to minimize noise and energy consumption.

5. Industrial Coolers 

Professional maintenance: For optimal performance and safety, schedule regular maintenance by qualified technicians trained in industrial coolers.

Monitor water quality: Regularly check and maintain the water quality within the cooler system to prevent scaling and ensure efficient operation.

Energy efficiency: Explore energy-efficient models and consider implementing smart control systems to optimize energy usage.

Did You Know?

Evaporative coolers can reduce indoor temperatures by as much as 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit in dry climates.

Unlike traditional air conditioners, room coolers use significantly less electricity, making them a more environmentally friendly cooling option.

Room coolers are ideal for allergy sufferers, as they do not recirculate indoor air like air conditioners, reducing the concentration of allergens in the environment.

In addition to cooling the air, evaporative coolers also add moisture to the indoor environment, which can help alleviate symptoms of dry skin and respiratory issues.

> Also Read: Cooling Innovation: The Evolution Of Air Cooler Technology

Conclusion:

By implementing these tips for optimizing your room cooler, you can create a cool and comfortable environment within your living space, even during the hottest of days. From strategic placement and airflow management to diligent maintenance and energy-efficient settings, every effort contributes to maximizing the effectiveness and longevity of your room cooling system. Enjoy the refreshing oasis you’ve created, knowing that you’ve optimized your room cooler for peak performance and comfort.

>>> Contact us today for any queries!

[butterfly-ribbon]

i keep thinking about secret distance; it's not only mizuki's first event. effectively, it's triggered by ena's breakdown about art and subsequent escape to sekai. mizuki's internalized guilt and regret are rooted in the thought that "if we'd known about how ena had been suffering for so long, we could have done something to help. but we didn't until she fell into self-destruction and shut herself off from the entire world." secret distance is, then, all about mizuki's desire to learn about everyone else in order to get ahead of such fears — in order to become the support she feels they all desperately need. unfortunately, it's all give and no take, bc mizuki never intends to give anything of herself over to niigo in return.

this in conjunction with meiko's introduction to the empty sekai is particularly interesting. it is made evident that meiko is the vocaloid most representative to mizuki's heart — this meiko who is deadpan, avoidant, and fundamentally distant from all others as she takes to observation over action — she solely exists in this sekai as a reflection of mizuki herself. it's very specific and makes meiko so compelling; not only bc having the cheerful character who Tries Too Hard to be kind to others also be cold and distant on the inside makes me insane, it's also bc meiko has mafuyu's "emotionless doll" interior with ena's embittered tongue atop mizuki's closed heart. it's pointed for them introduce meiko's desire to watch from afar without involvement (without giving herself over to others) in the same event where mizuki wants to secretly learn all she can about others while distancing herself to avoid revealing information in return.

further interesting is that one of the first few things project sekai tells us about mizuki per niigo's intro is how little interest she has in ever going outside; she can easily access any anime or film she desires through the internet — through her little room, her oasis, her utopia, the glass in which she bottles her every emotion. mizuki's engagement with fiction informs the nature of how she self-narrativizes. this, in turn, permeates her every interpersonal action. mizuki constructs her outward persona around the trope of the Silly Genki Girl, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the Ball of Sunshine, Well of Endless Optimism — she constructs a self who exists purely to provide support, solely to help others with their own problems at the cost of her own (and oh, how costly it is) bc of her hyper-cognizance of the reality that will only accept this type of self. this is the kind of girl the world expects her to be. these are the sole means by which she can maintain space for herself.

so, we come as always back to transmisogyny. her transness is seen unpalatable enough as is, so she cannot afford to be a real person with real problems — she has no choice but to be an idea and a trope and an archetype (a beautiful breakdown of how many gacha games have to work in Selling An Archetype to as many Fans as possible). this isn't helped by how mizuki's current point in life actually has positive qualities; she has the "privilege" of a part-time job at a clothing store which is related to her own interest in fashion. she gets to practice her artistic hobby comfortably (making clothes, wearing clothes, modifying clothes, engaging with clothes as a form of communication), unlike the rest of niigo. kanade, mafuyu, ena; all of them struggle so much with the idea of making art. it is something painful, sometimes poisonous, for them. it contributes to that sense of "privilege" bc a transmisogynistic society is always primed to ignore the misogyny that trans girls are endlessly subjected to bc they're not "real" problems.

returning to the specifics of the event — it is so pointed that every horror story mizuki tells during her personally constructed mystery tour are singularly centered around girls (we'll leave aside how the mystery tour so easily goes hand-in-hand with her literal locked room in The Path of Thorns, but it's important to recognize always and it's also important to recognize that mizuki's interest in horror is largely bc women are what make horror what it is).

the tunnel ghost who was a girl in pain, villified bc "hearing her out" leads to the listener being cursed, two sisters who loved each other more than anything to the point they were willing to curse others for having that which they themselves lost, and a girl who committed suicide due to everyone's expectations crushing her (mafuyu explicitly states she relates to this, but we can see how kanade and ena are also meant to be related back to the previous stories). these yuurei not only reflect niigo, but further reflect mizuki herself. mizuki desperately wishes to be seen; to receive the same engagement as one of them (as a cis girl would be engaged with). yet this only amplifies her guilt, and so distances herself with fiction as her only medium to connect.

one of my favorite parts is when they visit the shrine. mizuki begins to ask niigo if they have someone they would consider special enough to curse in this way; only to say "I don't, either," and how this makes them all kindred spirits. we can tell, however, that mizuki relates to this story far more than she's willing to let on. but she can't allow herself to be vulnerable or voice such things; if she says it, it will become real and she can't allow that due to her abandonment issues. meiko follows this scene to note that mizuki cares so much about these girls, yet how mizuki is the one she worries most for bc she carries a great weight — meiko's concern is further shown in a scene where mizuki goes to sekai when searching for mafuyu after she disappeared. there, she has a conversation with meiko. in that conversation, meiko tells mizuki "i hope you can stay together with niigo for a long time." further, at the end of the event, before singing IDsmile with everyone, mizuki explicitly states meiko was right — and that meiko is the one who most understands her feelings.

cherry blossoms are vital to every measure of this event and mizuki's life. petals fall in remembrance of every time mizuki's relationships have ended; every time someone has left her life, another petal mars the environs before her. these people could not accept her bc they discovered her "truth" and thus those relationships could never develop into something meaningful or lasting. cherry blossoms are symbolic of both endings and beginnings; "rebirth" inherently intertwined with death. when niigo as a whole struggles deeply with suicidal ideation, this amplifies the sense mizuki has, perhaps, the most intense desire for death of all.

it makes sense that mizuki has such negativity for cherry blossoms as all her life she's had to simply observe at a distance when others transitioned through so many stages of life while maintaining relationships with others — while she was disallowed such a simple, such a fundamental experience for something she can't help and something that is an inherent part of who she is.

in umineko the thesis statement says, "without love, it cannot be seen." the sea can be vibrant blue and miserable gray at the same time, depending on the person looking upon it and whether they're human or furniture. it is not until mizuki stands there, looking at niigo, that she realizes cherry blossoms could be beautiful. it is not until she is allowed love that she can see color. it is not until she is allowed to be human that she becomes terrified of the future. meiko is, in many ways, the 'degendered' aspect of mizuki; if nothing else, she is a symbol of how degendering means turning an individual into an emotionless doll without the right for recognition or further analysis. meiko is a self that was forced into existence bc mizuki can no longer continue to ignore her own humanity in full — the "doll" side of her is now looking at her dispassionately and telling her you can't go on like this, you can't go on bottling up all your emotions.

thus, we see that her worst memories are utterly recontexualized due to the narrative she wove throughout the event culminating in a tree for which mizuki had nevered accounted. this was a mysterious thing discovered by mafuyu (much as the sekai is full of things for them to discover, things that were always there, that they simply needed eyes with which to see). mizuki previously decided against cherry blossom viewing with the others bc of those painful memories. and now… the culmination of their trip is an unexpected viewing which leads to kanade being inspired. the "spoken" goal that mizuki had hidden her "secret" goals beneath.

yet there's still an unshakeable fear within mizuki. the joy of seeing such a sight with those she cherishes also leads to terror at the idea of revealing her secret. though she now has "love", she does not have faith. she cannot guarantee their relationship will continue as it has unless she remains a cis girl in their eyes. she's at a loss for words when the realization of how truly attached she is to niigo hits and that she isn't content with being alone anymore and actually wants to be with them by next year...

we come to an end, but i always have to express… just how much i adore this event. how i love the focus it gives mizuki's perspective, her interiority. she is always thinking. analyzing. inferring. investigating. she presents herself as extroverted and playful, but that is The Shield. it lets her keep others at arm's length and gives her a mask to hide both her loneliness and anxiety. despite her desire for closeness and connection with niigo, there is an immense degree of conflict within her. they began as simple online friends working on songs, but it was never that personal or close. it shifted quicker than she could ever expect once they met in sekai and then in real life, leading to more intimate understandings of one another. it's exciting, exhilarating, and terrifying. mizuki wants to be closer, wants to know them better, to discover new sides, but this comes with an immense cost. she sets the stage for them to express themselves or work through their issues while withdrawing herself. she is the playwright and never the performer, despite her life itself being endless performance. she's there and yet not. she becomes a ghost - yuurei - bourei - herself. she echoes meiko's sentiment, "i plan to keep my distance and observe how things go for you."

secret distance is about mizuki archiving, revisiting her pain, digging into the past, and ultimately… chasing her own ghost until she realizes that she can no longer be that ghost anymore...

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Sun enters Cancer

Saturday, June 21 - Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Cancer the Crab - the Sign of the Nurturer*

Water image - an oasis

"I feel"

Keyphrase: my need to give and receive emotional warmth and security

Water (emotional and soul - feeling, nurturing, hidden, sensitive )

Yin (gravity - ingoing, receptive, intuitive, right-brained)

Cardinal (initiating action - generating, active, direct, over-committed)

Personal (subjective - focused on personal wants and needs)

Ruler - the Moon; exalted - Jupiter

Color - soft light blue, like a clear sky reflected in a calm lake

*Gleaned almost completely from the book Astrology for Yourself by Bloch and George; the rulerships and color tend to be my own theory/belief.

Happy Cancer season! It starts off with what, for the Crab, is an intense concentration of energy and opportunities. And then it’s pretty much bland!

Cancer season is the time of year to retreat and withdraw a little bit. Quiet time is favored - time to reflect and heal, to inspect our personal “shells” (boundaries) and make repairs and reinforcements as needed.

Jupiter newly arrived in Cancer makes this a fortunate time for focusing on the “family” - it wants us to make the most of it, to expand along the tribal fronts. The New Moon on the 25th is a pretty spectacular set-up for setting powerful intentions.

Sunday, June 22 -

Sun/Cancer square Saturn/Aries, 1°35’

Sun/Cancer square Neptune/Aries, 2°08’

Sun/Cancer inconjunct Pluto Rx/Aquarius, 3°16’

Sun/Cancer conjunct Jupiter/Cancer, 3°22’

New Moon, 4°08’ Cancer

Sun/Cancer sextile Mars/Virgo, 5°14’

Sun/Cancer trine Vesta/Scorpio, 5°59°

We have the outer planets Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto (representing the wider world) forcing us into some new kind of responses. The aspects from Mars, Vesta, and Jupiter give us energy, focus, and optimism to work with. Set an intention about creating safe space(s).

Sunday, July 6 - Thursday, July 10:

Sun/Cancer (14°59’) semi-square Uranus/Taurus (29°59’)

Sun/Cancer trine Juno Rx/Scorpio, 16°16’

Full Moon, 18°50’ Capricorn

So do we let other people into our sanctuaries, or not? They may have their own ideas about how to run things! We all have a lot of work to do (especially the estadounidenses) about deprogramming from all the “rugged individualism” propaganda in our lives.

Sunday, July 13:

Sun/Cancer trine North Node/Pisces, sextile South Node/Virgo, 21°15’

Sun/Cancer inconjunct Pallas Rx/Aquarius, 21°40’

Sort of a “head vs spirit” situation; we don’t quite trust our feelings (yet) and hesitate to fully “go with the flow.”

Thursday, July 17 - Saturday, July 19:

Sun/Cancer square Eris Rx/Aries, 25°44’

Sun/Cancer square Chiron Rx/Aries, 27°06’

Ending with tests of some sort. Have we built good boundaries? Maybe they’re too strong, and we’re keeping everything out because it’s easier. If we’ve done the work, there should be no problem.

[themaclean]

We Don't Have To Be Friends (1/2) Characters: Cooper Howard/Lucy MacLean. Summary: 3,507 words, Post Season One -- character study that was meant to be PWP, but then ended up being entirely plot. Part two will be smut or I will krill myself. Warnings: Nothing you wouldn't see in the show. ( Ao3 ) > Part One | Part Two | Part Three <

Cooper never thought much about Hollywood anymore.

He had no reason to and no time either— but the thoughts bubbled up when he saw how the gold thread of his shirt dulled and familiar street signs melted into slack arches. Sometimes, he’d catch sight of a tattered newspaper with names he recognized or faces of people long since dead.

But nothing made him think of Hollywood the way Lucy did.

It hit him one afternoon with a nasty churn, that flash of the old world that locked his knees mid-stride. It was pathetic, really, when he thought about it now.

It was the flash of Lucy's Vault-Tec-sponsored smile over her shoulder, her thin hand with a necrotized finger pointing ahead of them at some landmark she’d heard of. With her head turned at just the right angle, and the sun was low as it caught the edges of her cheeks and lashes…

She had the sort of face girls in the movies had: clear skin, big eyes, and neat hair. Pretty — beautiful, actually, but not as a matter of compliment. Beautiful in the way she’d make a good price at any given market if he was inclined to sell her. Beautiful in the way people loved to exploit.

That’s the lifeblood of Hollywood—that churning mass of young talent desperate to prove they had what it takes. They’d sweet talk whoever they needed to, go to the parties, and chat his ear off about how amazing he’d been in whatever movie had come out lately, about the sponsorships they’d been offered, and about the dresses they got sent. They’d slip him their number and hold his bicep too long like they’d been taught to by managers and mothers alike.

Dozens of pretty women rushed to audition for the role of arm candy. They’d audition to play the mayor's daughter, the farmer's daughter, or so-and-so’s daughter. They’d always been the damsel. Then, whatever cowboy he’d been hired to play would toss the pretty woman onto the back of Sugarfoot and ride off into the sunset. The sort of girl who'd be gone by the next movie or end up married to a director, so she'd quit acting.

And, much like all the girls in Hollywood Cooper had spent time with, Lucy had changed. She had the same optimism, but it’d dulled; her marketable face now held tired, empty eyes. It was like she finally caught onto the world’s current: no sunset and no next movie.

Cooper couldn’t fault her. It's a strange journey to discover what to do to survive.

“Hey Cooper — is that it?” Lucy asked, repeating herself. The sprawl of buildings ahead was dotted with torches and candles.

Cooper nodded, his hand firm on Dogmeat’s collar.

A short strip of buildings stood out against the expanse of desert and dry shrubs. Each building leaned towards another, with sheet metal fastened with unskilled welding. Several turrets puttered away, seeking whatever wasn’t humanoid enough. Strips of fabric and tin cans garlands peppered the buildings' front. The smaller buildings on either side were your standard fare: a repair shop, a medic, a trader with a little diner area.

But the one Cooper was after stood out for its neon sign—Hell’s Oasis.

Hell’s Oasis served its purpose—it was a decent place to get information, and the people minded their business. They weren’t too bothered with ghouls or mutants as long as you had caps. The place often served as a meeting ground for bounty hunters and their contractors. It was also one of the more upscale places, as they wouldn’t harvest organs unless you died of natural causes.

And, if you couldn’t fight or forage for survival, you could fuck for it.

(Not that Cooper ever wasted caps on the whores who took residence within Hell’s Oasis. He’d sooner pay people to fuck off than spend the night with him.)

Cooper grabbed Lucy by the nape of her neck to yank her close and keep her firmly by his side. Most people he brought here, he left here — call it a force of habit to handle her so roughly.

“I can walk, y’know,” Lucy hissed.

“Stick close,” Cooper clicked his tongue at her, and a slight hiss followed. His grip flexed to further the message that she’d do well to follow his guidance.

They made their way through the hotel lobby, the moldy carpet slick against the floor with dirt and grease from the world outside. A few people chattered away in the attached bar, laughing at jokes Cooper couldn’t make out. Casino chips clattered on the table as they played made-up card games.

Long dead plants clung to arid dirt, the sticks of old ferns wilting against one another. Metal crates were lashed together in each corner of the alcove where the front desk sat, providing a makeshift cage between the staff and the patrons. Several girls rushed past Cooper and Lucy, jeering and cackling as they approached the bar. They were clad in lacy nightgowns. He couldn’t tell if they knew they were lingerie rather than clothes or if they’d even care.

“It’s so lively here,” Lucy said, a pang of something in her face.

“It happens in pockets,” Cooper said with a shrug of his shoulder. Little uh… spots of life.”

“Must be why they call it an oasis.”

Cooper rolled his eyes as they reached the front desk. Magazines sat in thick stacks with information about local tours in the area and a guide to the national parks. An abandoned handbag was tucked against the desk, which Lucy eyed with curiosity.

Cooper slapped the front desk bell a few times, a gargling growl low in his throat.

They needed this break after a couple of weeks on the road together. Water was getting sparse, and he wanted to be ready to meet with whoever the fuck Hank had run off to. And in such an open desert, there’s no sense traveling at night, and all manner of dumb shit came up along the way.

It was always something. People needed help or some dumb cunt trying to pick a fight, resupplies, rest… He didn’t like helping people much, but Lucy argued with him whenever they tried to go on without at least trying. And whether the people lived or died, at least they tried. That was her argument.

But Lucy listened to him a little more now, and he was as patient as he could be with her.

Cooper rang the bell again. He wanted a room, and the chattering laughter in the bar was only making his aches worse.

Priscilla appeared from behind a moth-eaten velvet curtain. Her hairline was hidden beneath a thick headscarf with puffy blond curls bouncing beneath it. The last time he’d been here, her hair had begun to rot out of her skull. He guessed it’d only gotten worse. She’s still pretty, mirroring that old-world red lip with pin curls.

“Oh my God, is that you, Coop? I haven’t seen you in a long time,” Priscilla said in a slow, low voice. She had a rasp to it, always had, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the radiation or a smoking habit.

“Was underground,” Cooper said with a lazy smile. He wouldn’t mention that he’d been underground in a literal sense, trapped in a coffin.

“Well, it’s nice for you to come to see us and…” Priscilla’s gaze slid to Lucy, that usual surprise swelling up at the sight of a genuine Vault Dweller. They weren’t hard to spot. “Ah, you turning her in for a bounty?”

Lucy’s head snapped towards him, a mixture of shock and disgust.

“No,” Cooper shook his head, his grip firm on Lucy’s neck to turn her head away from him. His fingers tensed before they dropped away altogether, brushing across Lucy’s shoulder. “Tag-along. Helpin’ her uh…” He picked through the words that came to mind, cautious not to share too much. “Adjust to the surface.”

Priscilla’s jaw squared as she stared Lucy down.

“We’re just lookin’ for a room, some food,” Cooper said before she could pry further. “Usual fare.”

“Please,” Lucy said, like Cooper had forgotten, and it was important to say. “The usual fare, please.”

“She speaks,” Priscilla said in a purr.

Cooper had to give Lucy credit. She’d stayed quiet much longer than he’d expected.

“Oh, we’ll also need water,” Lucy said, looking up at Cooper. “For cleaning and drinking. I’m not sure if you separate it that way or if you reuse it unless you have showers.”

Priscilla narrowed her eyes. “Running water? We can get you a bucket of water, sweetness. That alright with you?”

“It works great for me. Big fan of buckets. They’re the backbone of agriculture and cleaning, really, if you think about it…” Lucy agreed, her smile as bright as the neon sign by the front window.

Priscilla looked at Cooper and then at Lucy, repeating the loop before she sauntered behind a moth-eaten velvet curtain strung up with zip ties. The distant hum of a generator underscored the silence as Cooper picked over the board of caricatures. Plenty of people were banned from the premises or with a bounty on their heads — no one stood out on the board, at least.

“She was giving us a weird look,” Lucy leaned closer to Cooper, feigning a swipe of her hand through her hair. The floor creaked as she shifted her weight closer to him. “Is it the bucket thing? I panicked.”

Cooper scoffed from the back of his throat.

“It is safe here, right? You trust her?”

“It’s safe,” Cooper bared his teeth at Lucy, begging her to return to the docile silence she’d thrived in.

“Then why — ”

Cooper hissed for her to shh through clenched teeth.

Priscilla pushed past the curtain. She gripped a little blue card with faded gold edges. A key with a golden ball chain was attached to the edge. It felt strangely archaic to be so formal about lodgings, but it was why he liked this place.

“I guess it makes sense,” Priscilla said as she slid the key to Cooper. She nodded to Lucy. “You wanting a girl who’s more… Old—world flavor. It reminds you of the golden years, hm?”

“Six, right?” Cooper ignored her question, his gaze fixed to the card.

“Six,” Priscilla repeated, her gaze on Lucy.

Cooper tossed a few caps onto the front desk, the clatter of metal their own punctuation. He notched his head towards the stairs, and Dogmeat and Lucy followed in stride. He was eager for the simple things — water, food, and a moment to let his bags rest.

“Wanting a girl…” Lucy smiled, mumbling more of Priscilla’s words under her breath.

After several flights of stairs and a few hours, Cooper felt all the better. He’d eaten his fill and enjoyed the peace of an enclosed room. He didn’t often allow himself such a luxury, as being in a settlement put a target on your back for any larger groups. But it’d been two weeks since they’d had proper rest out of the elements.

Tracking Hank wasn’t easy, either. That suit meant he could skip over all the pocked landscape and roaming threats. What would take him an hour to travel by air was a day for them sometimes, a fact that spurred Cooper on. But they couldn’t rush, as rushing would only get them killed.

One wrong step and you were deathclaw chow.

“God, more, please!”

And there went the silence. Cooper’s eye twitched; his lipless mouth sneered at the screeches.

Whoever had taken up residence in room five was making the most of their money — an hour straight of screams and moans, an hour straight of Lucy pretending to read. She’d picked up a holotape at the last outpost they’d stopped at; something about a sequel she’d always wanted to continue reading.

By the second hour, it wasn’t so much that room five stopped fucking. But they at least got a lot quieter about it. The occasional shriek or moan rattled through the air vents, but it was far and few between.

Lucy lay across the double bed, her boots discarded beside the door. Her vault suit hung from the defunct radiator. Her washing was all done, and she’d freshened up, the usual Lucy shit. She’d helped herself to the water and changed into some pajama set she’d pilfered from a house a few days back.

“I think it’s nice,” Lucy said into the open air of the hotel room.

Cooper looked up from his shotgun, teeth bared like he was trying to smile. “The quiet?”

“No,” Lucy smiled at the wall between them and room five. “That people can find love, even now.”

Cooper couldn’t stop himself from laughing at that. The cackles shook from low in his lungs and caught him so off-guard he hacked up some foul muck into his palm. He hissed through a wheezed breath as he fumbled with his RadAway puffer.

“I mean it! It’s not funny!”

“That ain’t love, Vaultie,” Cooper coughed out, his eyes narrowed as drool and tears mingled on his cheeks. He wiped his face, fine skin catching against the scarred, leathery mess. “That…” He pointed to the wall. “S’probably a whore and her John making the most of the caps.”

Lucy’s eyes darted as she picked apart what he’d said. “John..?”

“John’s a term for uh…” Cooper’s jaw strained against a smile, though it was far too cruel to be kind. “A guy who pays for sex.”

“Ah, wasteland slang,” she said with a solemn nod, as if it made sense she hadn’t caught on immediately.

“Old world slang,” Cooper corrected.

Lucy looked around the hotel room anew, like she’d finally caught on to what this place really was. She scooted to the edge of the bed, to sit with her legs angled towards him. “That woman at the front desk said you’d want a girl who’s old world — she thought I was a prostitute. ”

“Maybe.”

Lucy crossed her arms as if she had more to say on the matter. But then she remained quiet, uncharacteristically so.

“S’waste of caps.”

“Hiring me to have sex with you? Actually, I know all about sexual gratification, so I think it’d be a great use of money — caps.”

Cooper stared Lucy down as if he couldn’t parse what she’d just said. “Paying anyone money to fuck you is a waste.” Cooper tongued his lips apart. “Bullets. Meds. There’s shit worth paying for. Sex is — ”

“Important.”

“Sex ain’t worth much.”

“To you, maybe,” Lucy frowned. “It’s an act of love and intimacy, and… It’s how humanity continues, and it’s — fun if done well.”

“You wanna waste your caps on some cock?” Cooper snapped, his hand flapping at the door. “Be my guest.”

“No,” Lucy shook her head. “I don’t want to, but I’m saying that I… I think killing people is probably worse than sleeping with people for caps. If it’s to survive, I think it makes sense. Morally speaking.”

“Don’t,” Cooper snarled.

Cooper didn’t like how Lucy spoke to him most days, but this was a new, worse permutation. Her Vault-addled morality was sickening enough on its own, as she embodied whatever bullshit had been drip-fed to her by the company who’d bought her vault. Not that he was without sin, given the shit he’d done to survive this long.

But sex and love and all that shit was not front of mind. He needed to find his family and to know what happened to them. He didn’t need a two-cap blowjob from a stranger in the dim light of some bar. Though, in all honesty, his drug habit mixed with the amount of alcohol he’d drowned himself in, some nights got hazy.

There’s that animalistic, self-destructive part of him that won on his worst nights. The same part of him that kept him alive, the same part that let him do all the miserable shit he needed to do to survive.

But it’s certainly never been love. Not since Barb.

Never again, he’d wager.

"I had sex once," Lucy said this like it was a point of pride, now on her feet. She idled beside the bed, her gaze settled onto the empty space she’d been lying. "With my husband, but…" Her face twisted with this delayed amusement. She turned towards him, closing the gap between them.

Lucy’s eyes remained unfocused as she stared at the marked table between them, where his shotgun lay across a dirty cloth. "Does that make us both widows..? You said you have a family, right? So, you were probably married and had at least one kid. Not trying to presume, so tell me if I’m wrong, but… You said that in the observatory. That’s what you’re after."

Cooper parted his lips, a nasty tilt to his hairless brow.

Lucy gave a tight smile. "I was married. Only for a few hours, but… It was an arranged marriage, I didn’t meet him until the wedding. It turned out he was a raider from the surface posing as my match from Vault 32 and…" At this point, Lucy caught herself. “I feel for you, if you lost someone. That’s all.”

“You ain’t a widow.”

“Technically — ”

Cooper stood up, unable to stay seated. “You say you’re a widow like it’s a fact outta some book. The shit you went through — you’re an experiment gone wrong, not a damn widow,” Cooper said, his voice flat.

Lucy’s face twitched at his words as if she struggled to keep her smile. “Well, guess what? We’re all an experiment gone wrong, whether you’re in a vault or not.”

Cooper’s eyes twitched, narrowing in the dark of their hotel room. Room five was quiet, which made this moment all the worse. He didn’t like how she spoke about him, as if she knew what was happening in his mind. He wasn’t some wounded man looking for sympathy.

He wasn’t anything.

“Go back to your holotapes,” Cooper said with a jut of his chin. “You’ve been up here a few weeks, acting like you know how it is.”

“Well, I know we’ve all been screwed over by people hundreds of years ago, and I’m sorry if I’m not as beaten down by it as you, but — I’m just trying to share things with you, to…” Lucy struggled through her words, her arms crossed protectively over her chest. “We don’t have to be friends, but we have to be — something.”

The couple in room five screeched. Cooper tensed out of habit but relaxed again when he reasoned what the noise was. It didn’t solve the fierce look on Lucy’s face as she stared him down, her fists clenched by her pajama-clad thighs.

“I don’t want to fight with you,” Lucy said, shaking her damp hair out of her face. She stood idle by the table as if she had just realized she had stepped towards him in their argument. There was a bird-like shake to her chest, her heart and lungs quick beneath bone.

It was moments like this that made his nature crystalline to him — that thin line she couldn’t perceive of how easy it’d be to string her up by the ankles and bleed her dry. Of how easy it’d be to slide into that ache for warm flesh between his teeth and blood down his throat.

Ghouls aren’t welcome in most settlements for a reason, and Lucy is too damn optimistic to learn that lesson.

Cooper tongued the inside of his cheek, and his teeth gnashed at the frayed edge of his lip. “We have to be something, huh?”

Lucy’s brow twitched, and her jaw strained as she tried to stand taller. She nodded as something like hope softened her stern expression.

It wasn’t hard to close the gap. It was even easier to grab that ponytail she always wore and yank her head close, fist tight in her hair as he brought her close. Her hand scrabbled against the table, and nails dug into the wood as their eyes met.

“Don’t you ever talk about my family again,” Cooper said, his voice level. “We clear?”

Lucy’s breathing redoubled, but she nodded. Her nostrils flared as he let her go with a firm shove. There was a real sense of satisfaction as he felt her perception of him shift as if she’d forgotten she was dealing with a monster rather than a man. As if the rotted skin and exposed tensions, or the gaping hole where his nose had once been, weren’t enough warning.

Pretty girls in Hollywood were overlooked as much in his time — all in the name of survival in a race that no one really won. You took your part and played it until the work dried up. Then, you prayed for sponsorships, deals, and other things to spare you from the real world.

He watched it with co-stars, time and again. It wasn’t much different now, just less rhinestones and more rads.

[kashverse]

reading in the bathtub is an art. a refined, luxurious experience that not everyone can afford—because first, you need a bathtub. 

nanami knew this when he was investing in real estate. a house? non-negotiable. a bathtub? even more so. so, naturally, his bathroom is a haven. a scientifically optimized oasis. the water is at the perfect temperature, bubble bath carefully selected for its all-natural ingredients and sophisticated scent. a wooden tray stretches across the tub, holding a single lit candle (subtle, not overwhelming), a perfectly arranged plate of snacks, and a glass of wine—because real men drink wine. and while he lounges, perfectly balanced between relaxation and intellectual stimulation, he reads the american economic review or whatever riveting financial analysis he’s stumbled upon that day. nanami does not work overtime. because this is what he comes home to.

meanwhile, on the other side of the city, gojo is living the same dream. sort of. he saw a tiktok about this once. self-care. candles. a book. it all seemed very aesthetic. so, naturally, he has a copy of true literary genius—diary of a wimpy kid—in his hands. but gojo is not a silent reader. he is an orator, and the rubber ducks in front of him are his enraptured audience. his narration is passionate, animated, occasionally breaking off into dramatic reenactments. eventually, he gets bored of the actual text, so the book is unceremoniously shoved to the side, where half of it immediately gets submerged. whatever. duck storytime has begun. one of them is an undercover agent. another is hiding from their tragic past. the smallest duck, whom he has named "gregory," is framed for tax evasion. it is a gripping tale.

geto, on the other hand, approaches bath time with absolute precision. self-care isn’t just a routine. it’s a philosophy. he enters the bathroom with purpose, hair already secured in a perfectly executed, no-nonsense bun. his book of choice? the latest issue of vogue, which is not just being read—it is being annotated. entire pages are flagged with sticky notes, margins scribbled with commentary on new product lines, runway looks, places to visit, people to admire, things to buy. he is invested. if someone walked in, they might mistake this for serious academic research. in a way, it is.

meanwhile, toji does not have a bathtub. neither has he asked for one, nor have you asked for one, so he does not see the point. but this does not mean he is not a man of literature. he reads—specifically, your ninth-grade diary. in the shower. out loud. your innermost thoughts during your peak one direction era echo against the tiles as he smirks, flipping the pages with all the arrogance of someone who now holds ultimate leverage over you. he will never let you live this down.

choso, bless his heart, does not understand why people read in the bath, but he is fully committed to the concept. he brings a book in with full enthusiasm, and he will read it. even as his fingers wrinkle into pruned, soggy raisins. even when the pages begin to warp from the moisture. he is determined.

sukuna does not read. not because he can't—he just refuses. he will soak, though, reclining in the bath like some ancient king surveying his kingdom. you will read to him. because that is how it was done ‘in his time.’ and he sees no reason to change tradition. if you attempt to stop, he will nudge you with his foot until you resume. "keep going," he grumbles, eyes shut, thoroughly enjoying this outdated, borderline royal treatment. whatever.