#intel rambles

[intel-rambling]

moving blogs!!

hi everyone! As of today, I will be moving all the content on this blog to my new handle @intelramblings. Reason being: I started this blog as a sideblog attached to my main/personal blog, and I want to be able to interact with posts/people directly from my sickfic blog! This blog may stay up and running for a little bit longer if people still want to find me, but it will no longer be active and I will begin transferring stuff between blogs. Thanks for sticking with me!

[bluerosefox]

Selina's New Kittens

Once again. A new DPxDC idea/prompt.

(Deaged! Danny, Dan, Ellie, and Jazz!)

Enjoy my random ideas.

Look.

Selina....

Selina wasn't expecting this when she decided to have some fun and do what she does best.

She just meant to sweet talk her way into Master's gala/party. Flirt and get info, maybe some blackmail. Steal away the rare cat themed artifact he had recently gotten (and also steal away his actual cat, such a lovely little diva it is too). then she was going to disappear into the night like always.

So...

Selina casted her eyes into the mirror of her car and could see the tiny children she had rescued from Master's hidden basement lab. All but one was asleep, the oldest out of them, although she seemed to be losing that fight from the way her head was falling forward, eyes closing but would jerk herself back awake when she realized she was falling asleep.

Curled up as hard and as much as they could towards the little redhead was three dark haired children, Selina mused that they'd fit right in with Bruce and his little bats/birds.

Two were near identical boys, though one seemed to be much paler than the other and if she remembered right one had red eyes and the other had blue, and the last one of the sleeping kids was a tiny toddler, a girl she heard was named 'Ellie' from the others.

Selina took note that the red head, Jazz, had finally fallen asleep a few minutes later. With a deep breath as she drove further and further away from that... that insane Fruitloop (she overheard the two boys call him that as they ran to her car) Master's place, she blindly reached for her phone and pressed a single digit on the screen, knowing it will connect to her car and call up the only person she can trust to help her with this.

"Selina." came the gravely voice after a single ring, sounds like she caught him on patrol but he seemed to be in a spot where he was okay to say her actual name over coms or she caught him before his night shift started.

"Hello Darling, I need your help with some kittens I found and to help me... Put away their terrible old owner."

[paracosmicka]

I hate looking up things like “how to upgrade laptop CPU” and every single response is just “you can’t. idiot.” well WHY NOT???? Oh “it’s not compatible with the motherboard” likely story. Clearly no one has tried to ask the electronics very very nicely, because it always works for me. You guys are just a bunch of meanies

[aingeal98]

The thing you need to know about Batman is that there are seven main canon Robins however if you only know five this is understandable and people will be happy to tell you about the latest two. On the other hand if you only know four you will be shot on sight. Less than four is also perfectly acceptable, fans will be happy to chat about the ones you're not familiar with. It's only if you specifically think there are four Robins. If you think there are four you must be put down like a rabid dog before the contagion spreads any further.

[smokbeast]

this is probably too anime of me, but Kaiju n8. Au featuring the sibs as young kaijus and poe as a division captain tasked to watch over them (playing single dad once again )

[voidshrimpp]

QUESTION. HAS ANYONE MADE A TFP AU WHERE IN S1 EP 20 STARSCREAM IS ACTUALLY ABLE TO JOIN THE AUTOBOTS. AND 🤯🤯🤯😎😎😎😎😎😎😎 BECAUSE I THINK THAT’D BE SILLY

[on-a-lucky-tide]

I was chatting to my uncle about his time in service the other day and what it was like in 2000 when gay people were allowed to openly serve in the military for the first time.

I didn't tell him I was researching fanfic, he just likes chatting with me about politics and history because I'm his Pet Socialist Nephew and it's like a whole new world for him.

(My aunt worked for MI5 and they met in Cyprus while both were deployed; I'm pretty sure they're the reason I got to the late stages - NePoTiSm - but then I disappointed them to become a Tofu-Eating Wokerati Teacher. Yes, I am an ex-Tory, let's not.)

He was a lawyer in the RAF and spent most of his time prosecuting soldiers for misconduct. There is shit he has to take to his grave, especially surrounding the Gulf War. But he remembers dishonourable discharges for "sodomy" and how distasteful he found the "whole sordid business" when there were people still serving who had done "unspeakable things", and he told me about the slow dismantling of those laws, with the help of Stonewall, and the impact it had on so many men and women in the service.

He recalled one particularly terrifying NCO who often ridiculed him for his belly (my uncle likes cheese and wine, a lot; we got through a bottle of Merlot each...I'm pretty sure he opened a second) kissing his partner of 16 years openly, in full uniform, at the 2008 London Pride; how this "incorrigible" man broke down in tears because for the first time he wasn't torn in half: he could love both his country and his partner openly.

Now, this story is a fucking gold mine for me... Cause...

Can you imagine the 141 going to 2008? They think they're going to support their pet bi-disaster, Soap. Figure they'll go in No2s cause they'll be drinking and walking a lot. Then fucking Ghost rocks up in full No1s, shoes polished to an inch of their life like he's turned out for the god damn Queen.

When Soap teases him about how Extra he's being for lil ol' him, Ghost simply sighs and says, "I've waited my whole life for this, Johnny... I'm doin' it right."

That's how Ghost "comes out" to the 141, because of course it is. He doesn't do things in half measures. Soap looks him up and down and tries to play it cool, but Price can see how he's vibrating on the spot and figures they should fall in before Soap executes an unscheduled halo dive on Ghost's dick...

Johnny gets his kiss; by the lions of Nelson's column, under the admiral's watchful eye. Ghost's beret clenched in fist, strong arms clutching him so close, like Ghost's worried the moment might still be snatched from him at any point.

Johnny won't ever mention the tears he tastes between their lips. Some things just need to be let go.

[see-arcane]

"Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a clue, and the one page of it that we know—and that from his own lips—tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a ‘tight place,’ he went back to his own country from the land he had tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself for a new effort."

Is Mina saying that being in a tight place is American slang?

(also I like how she uses his past that he had revealed upon villain monologuing)

I'm honestly not sure what is and isn't slang in this time period anymore, so I'll just assume yes, 'a tight place' is a Quinceyism or Americanism to Mina's ears.

And yes, excellent work on using Dracula's big grandiose war story moment to the advantage. That's what you get for falling for her husband's 'oooh the Dracula family line is so cool~ tell me all about you and your history~' routine, you big undead peacock

[thebirdqueen]

Thinking about Vincent and being all happy about him then BAM! I'm hit with the realization that he will live forever. He will outlive the gang. See them in all their stages of life and leave their mark on not only the planet, but on him as well as he lives on. Yet it makes sense when considering Chaos. Chaos being a Waepon of sorts and ultimately playing the role of an end-all entity. Of course he sees all those who return to the planet. Of course.......

[scarecrow-in-a-hatake]

Why do I hear yelling from outside? Seriously, folks. Stay in. Break out a bottle. Go to bed early. Go to bed late. It's too cold for shenanigans.

[intel-rambling]

Do u all find it better for the fics I repost from ao3 to be shared as links or shared as their own text post? Idk what people prefer—I’ve read fics from links and also from text posts so idk what people see as a better reading experience

[softgrungeprophet]

someone who knows about computers, is this stupid:

$850 ish for refurbished Thinkpad P16v off of Lenovo outlet: Ryzen 7, RTX A500, 32g RAM SODIMM, 1TB SSD, but ... base level multi touch screen (presumably 45%ntsc but it doesn't actually say)

+$200-250 to buy a full sRGB display separately from Lenovo

I replace the display myself, ultimate cost being around $1000-1100

I have some experience assembling and disassembling computer towers but not laptops and I am not an expert

[kon-konk]

There's no way the teenagers I work with could pull off a heist. Or any crime.

I caught one of them vaping in the lobby area and told them not to do that because, y'know, security cameras. They told me that they'd been told the cameras don't work????

I had to explain to them that not only do they work, but a feed goes to my boss even when he's not here and he has, in fact, called people to ask why they're doing certain things in that area (along with other areas) when he's not there.

[aingeal98]

I like cass getting into trouble debating if it’s better to call babs or bruce and then deciding to handle it on her own

Like on one hand she has faith in herself and in her abilities and her heart like she WILL handle this and she won't regret it. And on the other hand she really doesn't want a lecture from dad and she REALLY doesn't want a lecture from mom.

[epicness1000]

"Why Sephiroth is Not Human, and That's Okay"- A (Somewhat Cringe but still Interesting?) Essay I Wrote Years Ago

Edit from an older me: I wrote this years ago for my Sephiroth RP blog (in early 2021). But it explores something I want to share just because I feel like this perspective is pretty unique to how I view things. I have decided not to change anything, even if it does make me cringe a bit at some points. PLEASE NOTE I WROTE THIS WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, THERE ARE NUANCES I DID NOT CONSIDER WHICH I LIKELY WOULD IF I WROTE IT NOW.

So this is PART 2 of this. But you don’t have to read it to understand this one. The first one is Sephiroth’s view of things, while this one is my own as the mun.

I’ve kept this in my drafts for a while, because… I dunno, I was nervous? But whatever, fuck it, here you go, enjoy your food (or don’t). It gets personal though, so be warned about that.

All righty, after much deliberation, I decided to write this up and actually fucking publish it, regardless of if this essay was prompted or not. Because I got something to say, and to hell with it, I’m gonna say it.

You will see, in the majority of my muses, a little something I like to call ‘monster sympathy’, which is exactly what it sounds like. Either they sympathise with monsters, or they literally ARE the monster. And do you know why?

Because, as a kid, I was always able to identify better with the monsters in the stories. Yeah, even the dangerous man-eating ones. And it’s partially why I find myself relating so much to Sephiroth.

Does this sound weird as fuck? Yes? I’m not surprised, but to hell with it, I’ll continue.

I’ve always been seen as the ‘different’ one. The so-called ‘weird’ kid. And, growing up, when I was exposed to stories involving man vs monster, I always found myself sympathising with and relating to the monster, because in the weirdest of ways… that’s kind of how I felt. I felt like the ‘other’. Seeing monsters being hated and demonized just for existing and trying to survive*, by not just the stories but much of the audience themselves (so, for example, the dragon in the story of George and the dragon), and with their point of view always being left out and glossed over: it left me upset, but also, with this weird comfort. Yeah. I know how that feels.

*Granted, Seph is not ‘just trying to survive’, but he has every reason to despise humanity, and I still find myself relating since I myself dislike humanity as a whole.

(This is what led to me writing cringe fanfictions about various movie monsters in an attempt to help others see what I was trying to get across. This includes the MUTO’s, xenomorphs, the Indominus rex, and the kaiju in Pacific Rim. But that’s another story for another day.)

Now, Sephiroth is a very relatable character for me, for a MULTITUDE of reasons: but I will focus on one today. His role as the ‘other’. His role as the ‘monster’ (there are technically many monsters in FF7, but I shall focus on Sephiroth for today).

I will cite part of my favourite paragraph from my previous post pertaining to this subject:

‘Why is that [being a monster] so terrible? Why is it somehow ‘better’ to be part of the species that exploited you, hurt you, and mistreated you? Is it because it’s ‘normal’? ‘Oh no, Sephiroth, you’re not a monster, you’re human, you’re normal, you’re one of us. No, being a monster is terrible, because then, you’re different, you’re abnormal, and that’s a horrible thing to be’.’ 

You know… in a way, I can relate this. Maybe I haven’t literally been called a monster, but I’ve been called ‘weird’, ‘odd’, ‘an outlier among outliers’ (all spoken in tones that imply that being any of those things is disgusting). And, hell, in some ways, I’ve been treated like a monster too. I don’t want to go into it because then we’re gonna get all personal, and I’m not comfortable doing that yet (maybe someday), but let’s just say… it was bad. But, the point is- being any of these things is in no way a negative thing. And yet, I’ve been in so many situations where people treat my individuality like it’s a bad thing, purely because they don’t understand it.

Being a monster- being different- means that some people simply aren’t going to like you. Hell, some people may even go beyond simple dislike. But that’s no reason to cave in and try to be like everyone else, to deny your uniqueness. If anything, it’s something to embrace. Yes, be fucking different, don’t you dare change yourself or deny who you are for the sake of some small-minded conformists.

This is part of why I avoid this concept of Sephiroth being human rather than a monster. Because by insisting that he’s human, it firstly implies that in order for him to deserve being treated with respect and kindness, he can’t be different from others- he has to be like everyone else, he has to be human, because being anything other than that is so terrifying and wrong. Secondly, it implies that for him to be accepted, for everything to be okay, he needs to conform. If he embraces his differences, oh no, you’re not one of us, and if you’re not one of us, then you can’t be with us.

You know, maybe I’m taking things personally. But that’s because I’ve been through some shit, and I relate to him a lot. For me, it sounds like human=normal=good, and monster=different=bad. Like it’s something to be ashamed of and denied, not embraced and accepted.

Ultimately, the way I feel about Sephiroth is this:

Why does he have to be human? Why can’t he just be accepted?

And, for a while when I was in certain bad environments, the question I would ask myself was:

Why do I have to be ‘normal’? Why can’t I just be accepted?

(Also I am certain that like 95% of his fans wouldn’t sympathise with him if he didn’t look like a conventionally attractive human being, but instead physically resembled a monster)

Current A/N: I think this is why I'm much more drawn to stories/concepts where Sephiroth is able to embrace being a wholly unique lifeform (and be accepted for it in happier stories?) over things that insist he fits in the box labelled as 'human'. I know this won't speak to most of you, since it's heavily informed by my own experiences and thoughts. Though this is old, the overall perspective is still quite accurate to how I view him and how I approach him as a character. I find that, quite consistently in stories, monsters tend to be victims of humans and I don't see it as any different in FFVII.

[queen-scribbles]

So even though the troubleshooting list from Obsidian support was for crashing not getting stuck, I’ve been running through things to double check. My computer stats are good, I verified the game files, Windows is up to date, it doesn’t look like I have one of the processors that might require a BIOS update. I just need to check the graphics card drivers again and if that’s not the problem(somehow. mysteriously. even though I already checked those twice), I can email back that I tried the whole list and Avowed still won’t run. :))