#making these giant databases.........

[transsexula]

I hate how it feels to be off hormones for an extended period of time. Shit got too expensive for too long so I had to put a pause. Thankfully I've gotten quite a few permanent changes but...... man,.....

It's just. A whole shift. I don't feel like myself, I feel ugly and unfuckable, when nothing has really changed? Idk. There's just a specific type of Shitty Feeling when my T levels are low and it's almost impossible to explain.

[loomingspector]

Dc x Dp story prompt pt. 2

The same vein as my other post here

But what if Damian and Danny was the same age, I really love that trope too, that they’re basically twins how close in age they are, maybe just a few days, MAX a week or so.

When Damian comes back to the family, Bruce gets a whole new kind of paranoid again. He kinda stopped the whole sleeping around phase when he got the kids, since Dick (wanting to kill people) kinda took up a lot of his free time. And after that the kids just kept coming so he didn’t really get into it again.

But then Damian came into it, and he was like “wait, have I checked the DNA database the last few years??” And goes down into the cave to do a country wide DNA analysis on DNA on file, both in police/hospitals and the whole nine yards. (Cause he’s extra like that)

And then he find that in just about the same time he was SA’ed by Talia, he got really drunk at a science charity event in Amity Park, maybe to get rid of his stress of it all, and because Bruce would rather die than cope with his problems in a healthy way, and released some energy by being with the Fenton couple, who seemed sane enough (at the time).

The Fenton’s knew that Danny was Wayne’s but then decided that they kinda just wanted him themselves, and then got really into GiW and ghost hunting, and then kinda forgot to tell Wayne.

So now Bruce has to juggle with the fact that Talia hid away Damian, and the Fentons fucking forgot to tell him that they have his son.

He goes to Amity Park to find his son, who’s basically in the same situation as Tim, barely acknowledged by his parents and left to his own devices with his sister.

Bruce being Bruce goes, welp, might as well get custody of them both. Legally he should be able to when Danny confesses to the illegal machines in the basement that killed him. So the couple is deemed unfit to care for the two, then minors.

Problem is:

Danny and Jazz doesn’t really want to leave Amity Park.

Solution:

Buy a second mansion in Amity Park and make that the home they move into, with servants vetted by the Waynes, and security on par with the White House.

They can live there until they finish school, and they’re free to choose what happens after that, go to Gotham and be with the family, maybe Gotham university, or anything else.

Bruce is just happy that they’re not in the cape business like the rest of his kids…

Danny doesn’t know Bruce is Batman, so he has to be extra careful to not expose himself as a hero to them, and also not drag them into the ghost realm and ghost fighting. And also, wtf is wrong with the ectoplasm in the Jason kid?? (He a ghost too??)

But he also really likes the idea of an actually caring family, I mean, Bruce went out of his way to not uproot his life and makes sure they can choose whatever future they want, even if that doesn’t include him. Hell he even took Jazz in, who isn’t even his kid.

His new siblings seem fun, caring and like they actually care, making an effort to help him understand that being neglected by his parents isn’t his fault. Tim and him finding comradeship in both of their experiences with it. Dick is just overly protective and seems like he’s trying to genuinely get to know him. Making sure not to pressure the two new siblings too much, but also organizing siblings bonding time.

Bruce of course doesn’t know yet that Danny is a vigilante, so he has to juggle wanting to learn about these new kids, as well as hide them away from his Brucie persona, so they can live normal lives.

He’ll just ignore the way Constantine is brushing things off his shoulders every time they’re in the watchtower together, mumbling something about a ‘dark energy’ clinging to him. But he always says weird shit.

So what happens when a giant ghost fight occurs in Amity, Bruce is notified and comes to rescue his kid in full Batman gear, Danny is gone and Jazz won’t tell him where he is, cause why the fuck does Batman care.

Danny is just confused why the entire Justice league is suddenly in Amity, and why the fuck The Batman™️ is running around looking for his human form.

Identity crisis at its finest.

[pippin-pippout]

For those following the SAG and WGA strikes there’s new shit a-brewing, this time targeting background actors (aka extras).

Some may know that one of the issues SAG is fighting is that studios want to take virtual scans of background actors and use them in perpetuity (meaning forever) without any additional compensation to those background actors. So you would just see a bunch of AI generated humans in future movies based off of a background actor that worked one day.

This is already shitty because working as an extra for 3 days on a union set (if you receive a union voucher each day) is one of the main ways to qualify for SAG eligibility. This means that a lot of actors working background do not yet have union protection and likely do not have an agent or manager to protect them. Disney has already allegedly told background actors to do this on the set of Wanda Vision: https://www.avclub.com/wandavision-background-actors-say-disney-scanned-them-1850709900

Here’s where it's worse.

There is one main company that supplies background actors for major union and non union productions. Central Casting. They love to brag about their very long influence in the industry - in old movies dating back to the 40s you can hear jokes about hiring extras from Central Casting.

Central Casting has been including an electronic document for all actors in their database to sign as part of onboarding. Signing it gives Central Casting the right to use your images, your videos, and YOUR LIKENESS in perpetuity, forever. They would OWN your likeness. Instead of it being a studio supplying the AI background actors, it would be Central Casting instead.

Receiving any work from Central Casting in the future is conditional upon signing it. No signature = no extra work = no extra income for union actors trying to make health insurance minimums, no union extra work for pre-SAG members.

SAG already reached out to Central Casting to tell them to stop. Central Casting refused.

Edit to say: this is not new. It’s part of actors onboarding and is called the Photo, Image, and Video Release. It’s phrased to sound like you are just giving them permission to use your image and video for CC’s website and promotional purposes. But the actual language is much broader. It's only recently being brought up as a point for discussion because some casting directors (who are generally supportive of the strike) started pointing it out.

Central Casting is owned by Entertainment Partners which is also a giant software conglomerate and owns a lot of the software used to organize background casting and pay actors. https://www.ep.com/company/about-us/

[morrigan-sims]

OH HELL YEAH!!!!!! I was HOPING I would get tagged in this!!! This is my favorite picrew of all-time and it's the first place I make all of my dnd OCs, hahaha. (And then after that I make them in the sims.)

Okay, sorry for the MASSIVE spam (and this isn't even CLOSE to all the OCs I've made in this picrew, hahaha), but here we have: Me, Fallon, Avra, Carrion, Cyra, Morana, Odynia, Rook, Aspen, and Havoc.

(A lot of these are months if not YEARS old, so they were made before the picrew got a HUGE update with a ton of new stuff, including new ears, tails, wings, horns, and skin markings.)

edit: I forgot to tag anyone. Oops. I'm going to tag @lilypixels @starlightpixels @ethelgodehel @void-critters @wildfairies @goldenwaves and YOU!!! (I genuinely mean this. If you have fantasy/dnd OCs, PLEASE make them in this and tag me. I would LOVE to see them. PLEASE.)

blorbo chain! picrew here

tagging @occultradio @gloomiegalaxie @hymless @edmunderson @strangegrapefruit but no pressure if you don't want to

[marlynnofmany]

Correct in Size and Opinion

So, most intelligent species get their common names by suggesting an idea themselves when they enter polite society. There’s a whole database for making sure there are no duplicates, and minimizing confusion. Sometimes their existing name for themselves makes it in, if it’s pronounceable enough for the average intelligent being (“humans”), and there’s no easily-agreed-on description for them. But usually the common name is a descriptive word (“Heatseekers”), or even a long phrase, shortened down for casual use (“The Mesmerizing Ones” / “Mesmers”). Sometimes a nickname becomes more popular than the official name. (Nobody calls Armorlites “The Mighty” unless they have to). At any rate, an intelligent race’s common name generally tells you something about the way they see themselves.

Which made it all the funnier when I found out that the gigantic elephantlike folks I hadn’t seen in ages were officially called “Those Who Are the Correct Size.” Sizers for short. They were the biggest aliens I’d interacted with personally, and it seems they had opinions about that.

“How do you suppose that conversation went down?” I asked Mur as we walked. The raised sidewalk was impressively sturdy, and I felt confident that I could carry on a conversation while carrying the package for delivery. The fact that there was a clear wall instead of railings helped. It was a long drop to the ground.

“The diplomats probably thought it was funny,” Mur said from behind me, making quiet tentacle-step sounds. “Or these folks were pushy about it, but they always seem pretty easygoing to me.”

Sizers ambled past on the main road, behemoths in shades of sunset pink, largely ignoring the smaller citizens on the walkway at head level. None moved with any particular urgency. They probably would have noticed if someone was in stepping-on range, but thankfully the architecture had been modified to reduce that risk. Raised walkways lined every building, some leading to ramps and stairways while others had their own little doors cut into the walls.

It was all very thoughtful. I wondered how many accidents had happened before those alterations were put in.

Mur suddenly said, “Grab on!” then the walkway shuddered.

I clutched the top of the railing-wall, looking about wildly for the danger. It wasn’t hard to spot. A handful of babies — toddlers the size of a city bus — had tumbled against the side of the building. The street below us was now a riot of clumsy pink limbs and flapping orange ears, the babies squalling and whapping each other with their trunks. Those trunks came in pairs, top and bottom, and their tails were similarly grabby. These little ones didn’t know how to use any of them yet.

An adult Sizer waded in and separated the children, calming them with strokes of his own trunks and with rumbling words I couldn’t hope to interpret. But the walkway was stable now.

A giant eye focused on the pair of us, then the Sizer switched to a more recognizable language. “Look, you almost made some of the littles fall. Apologize for scaring them.”

A chorus of badly-pronounced apologies drifted up to us.

I waved a hand. “Apology accepted! No harm done.”

Mur agreed, his tone a bit forced.

The adult shooed the children away down the road, keeping them corralled between his trunks in the center of the road while they stumbled eagerly.

Mur collapsed dramatically into a squidlike puddle of relief. “I am so glad they’re leaving. What absolute menaces.”

“Ah, they can’t help it,” I said. “Cute little things. Well, relatively speaking.”

“Not the word I’d use,” Mur said, pulling himself together and getting upright.

“I know, none of them are little.”

“I mean cute! What is cute about those terrors?” he demanded, pointing with a tentacle to where they disappeared in the crowd. One of the babies was spinning its top trunk like a propeller, and another had just tripped over its own feet.

“They’re adorable,” I told him. “You saw them shuffling around looking shy and saying ‘sowwy.’”

Mur squinted up at me. “You and I have very different ideas of what should be adored. Do humans always appreciate other species’ infants?”

“Well,” I said, thinking. “Probably, yes. Somebody once explained it to me that since our own young are helpless for so long, we got evolutionarily overclocked for thinking babies are cute, just to make sure we take care of them. That might have spilled over to other things.”

“That explains a lot,” Mur said. He stepped past me to lead the way. “I remember Zhee losing a bet about whether you would pet that spiny little creature a while back.”

“It was precious once it calmed down!”

“According to you.”

“It had a cute little face, and made the most charming little noises,” I insisted.

“Even though it looked nothing like your own species, huh?”

“I can’t believe you don’t think it was cute, honestly.”

The conversation lasted until we reached our destination: a door with the word “Medicinery” written somewhat clumsily above it. When Mur pushed on the door, it swung open as easily as a cat flap.

Our walkway continued along the interior wall, giving us a good view of several adult Sizers waiting patiently in line while others moved about behind a counter. It was all similar to any number of other places I’d been, just at a much larger scale.

Since the walkway only led in one direction, we went that way: down a bit of a slope to a wider platform at the end of the counter. One Sizer saw us coming and finished talking with a customer, moving over to greet us instead of the next in line. A different receptionist called over that person instead.

“Hello!” she said, deep-voiced and cheery. “What can I do for you today?”

I lifted the box. “We have a delivery for you. Medicine, I believe.”

“Oh yes, I heard we were running low on something!” She reached out her trunks for it and I handed it over, feeling like I was faced with a pair of animated engine chutes. I’d seen Mimi working on parts of our own ship this size.

While she set the box aside, I got out the payment tablet with Mur whispering unnecessary reminders of how to set it on magnified holographic mode. This particular client had no chance of being able to sign for the delivery at our scale.

She made an elegant swooping signature in midair, then typed in her other identifying information on the holographic keyboard. “There you go! Thanks for bringing this. We don’t get too many patients your size, but it’s important that we have the proper medicine in stock for when we do. Un-expired, even!”

“Yes, that part’s important!” I agreed.

She asked, “I hope the walk over was agreeable? Everything accessible and in good repair?”

“It was fine!” I told her, folding away the holographics. “Great setup you have here.”

Mur grumbled an objection, but not loud enough for the Sizer to pick up.

“So glad to hear it,” she said to me. “It’s the least we can do to keep you little folks out of harm’s way. Wouldn’t want anyone to step on your cute little heads!”

Mur made a snorting noise while I answered diplomatically. “Our cute little heads appreciate it.”

She flapped her ears and waved a trunk in body language that might have suggested she was embarrassed about her own choice of phrasing.

Mur spoke up. “I have a quick question, if you don’t mind.”

I raised an eyebrow while the Sizer encouraged him to ask his question.

“We were having a conversation on the way here about the respective adorableness of other species,” Mur said, flipping a tentacle between the two of us. “Is there a general opinion among Sizers about small folks being cute?”

She definitely looked embarrassed now, waving her trunk and glancing away like an elderly aunt who’d said something improper. “Oh, well, some definitely are if you ask me, but I can hardly speak for everyone. Some, yes! With your cute little heads and tiny eyes. Absolutely precious.”

She was looking at me. Mur’s head was shaped like a squid; hardly little.

“Anyways!” she said, standing up straighter. “That hardly factors into making sure everyone has a safe route through town, without a danger of getting stepped on. I’m very glad you found the walkways acceptable. Thank you again for the delivery!”

“It was our pleasure,” I said.

Mur added, “Have a nice day!” but she was already moving on to the next Sizer in line.

I met Mur’s eye, holding in a snicker, and headed for the door. I made it outside before collapsing into laughter.

“See, it’s not just humans!” I exclaimed. “She thinks we’re cute!”

“I can’t believe it,” Mur said. “She really does. And the others probably do too.”

I pointed a finger at him, still laughing. “And she doesn’t think you’re cute!”

Mur folded half of his tentacles, standing tall on the other ones. “That’s up for debate.”

“We have to tell Zhee. He’ll think this is hilarious.”

Mur agreed, “He really will. Pity he didn’t come today. I wonder if the Sizers would think he looks like an adorable little youngling too.”

“Probably not, if I had to guess.” I started the long walk back to our ship. “My species isn’t historically charmed by exoskeletons, and theirs may not be either. But who knows? We can always call them up and ask.”

“I am absolutely not doing that.”

“Yeah, me neither. But it would be funny.”

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[tainbocuailnge]

this is a final fantasy fourteen dawntrail post. it speaks incredibly for the desperation of the people of alexandria in its decline that they both couldn't bear to remember the dead and couldn't bear the thought of the dead no longer being remembered, and thus created this contradictory system where the dead are only remembered by something other than those to whom that memory is meaningful. so crushed by collective trauma and grief that they directed every effort to eradicating awareness of mortality altogether and it's resulted in a paradise where everyone is incredibly blasé about dying because the dead live forever in the cloud until they run out of spare souls and are completely paralyzed with fear of their own mortality.

but even more than desperation it speaks of a naive sincerity that the scientists and officials behind the project just actually genuinely built and maintained this giant memory database to preserve the deceased at increasingly large cost, rather than just lie that they totally did that to a populace who won't remember those deceased anyway. they're not harvesting souls to power the war effort while using a recreation of the beloved princess as puppet figurehead, they completely sincerely recreate the dead from their memories and simulate them living happily ever after, started by a sincere desire to not lose their beloved princess. living memory is an eternal theme park that actively goes out of its way to facilitate letting people who remember each other fondly meet again. it's the manifestation of a childish wish for a world where there are no partings, only reunions. it's a theme park rather than an actual city with a dmv and shit like amaurot was precisely Because it's a childish dream. it's fundamentally an artificial experience, but one which sole motive is to bring joy and relief from everyday sadness.

and sphene is the first and most prominent victim of that naive sincerity. she's the mascot of this theme park, and because she's the mascot in charge of providing this artificial but kind experience she can't ever break character. the people of alexandria couldn't bear the thought of her being forgotten, so they created a memory of her that would last forever, but they also couldn't bear to actually remember sphene, so she's a mascot instead of a person. she loves her people, and they love her, but none of them can possibly understand the weight that love puts on her shoulders. the sphene we meet is fundamentally trapped by other people's deeply limited understanding of her.

it's so so so important to her character that she's a small dainty feminine woman that exists to take care of everyone emotionally and be loved by them for being so nice and sweet and loving, and when she tries to arrange some kind of secure future she ends up with an abusive husband who ignores her wants and needs for his own ambitions, and she is fundamentally unable to act outside this highly gendered framework. sphene reads like the commonplace tragedy of the straight woman to me to the point where making her in lesbians with wuk lamat is like. I can certainly understand wanting to grant sphene the sense of liberation and comfort that many lesbians themselves feel at the realisation that they don't have to marry men, so far be it from me to say anyone is wrong to do so. but it's kinda ignoring part of what her deal is for the sake of that comfort I think.

not that lesbians have never ended up in abusive marriages with men but sphene very explicitly does not have other options, part of the tragedy is that you fundamentally cannot actually grant her that liberation and comfort. cahciua explicitly says there's no way to know what the real living sphene would have done because this sphene is a recreated memory of the beloved princess whose job is to sustain living memory. their darling sphene who will always listen to all their troubles and is always nice to them and will always take care of them. she's literally trapped by the role society assigned her, and that role is essentially to be their tradwife mother. the living sphene may have been into women, but the people who recorded her to create the sphene we meet never even considered the option.

do you guys know that tweet thread where OP describes going to a funeral for a woman they didn't know who'd died young of a heart attack, and the husband spent most of the eulogy talking about himself instead of his recently deceased wife, and by the end of the ceremony OP had learned nothing at all about what this woman was like beyond being a wife and mother? everyone fondly remembers the princess and queen of alexandria, but nobody remembers sphene. and just like all OP could still do for this woman was go to her casket and acknowledge that she too had been a full person in her own right before the stress of swallowing everything about herself killed her, all wuk lamat can really still do for sphene is think of her as the full person she must have been.

we're not told anything about what sphene was like as a leader, what her policies were, how she actually did her work, her vision for the future of her country before she died and was reconstructed. they only tell us everyone loved her so dearly because she was so kind to them. we're shown her dying moments and it's her using her airship to shield a civilian, so we can assume her love for her people was indeed true. but none of sphene's history that we're shown and nothing of how otis (who knew the living sphene) talks about her tells us anything about what she was like outside her role as beloved princess. her memories from after her "revival" are dissonant and corrupted and possibly not even real, and her policy of preserving living memory no matter what is a wish implanted in her by the people who reconstructed her. we don't even get to see what she looked like when alive. the only sphene the people know is the theme park mascot of living memory.

cahciua was exactly as erenville knew her and was true enough to herself to be able to turn against the system, so we're not given reason to believe any of the endless were tampered with. but sphene was already dead by the time they even tried to figure out how to preserve her memory, her actual soul and memories definitely long gone by the time the technology worked. we're explicitly told that nobody in everkeep really cared who or what sphene was as long as she adequately fulfilled this role of loving them all so much. she can't even tell you her favourite food, none of the people who labored so intensely and sincerely to bring her back bothered to write down even her most basic personal preferences when they reconstructed her. she has to deflect the question with "when I think of the people who make the food I can't pick just one" because the only preference she's allowed is loving all her people equally. she's completely thrown off that wuk lamat would even ask.

and it's precisely because she is remembered only as this kind loving woman who gave everything for her people that she is weak and powerless to actually do whatever it takes to keep them safe. she does not have the freedom to assert herself, let alone to be cruel or violent or take extreme actions. society does not give her that freedom, because she is a small dainty woman and (therefore) the only role allowed to her is to be their tradwife mother. so while her desire to protect her people is as real and true as it can be part of her plan to lobotomise herself in order to become someone capable of violence and cruelty also reads to me as that specific female frustration of wanting to destroy the sweet babygirl image of yourself by doing something extreme. like britney spears shaving her head. but in sphene's case destroying the babygirl image amounts to destroying herself completely, because the babygirl image of her is all that comprises her. and so when all is said and done the only fragment of sphene that is restored and lingers just a bit longer after that image is destroyed is the sphene that wuk lamat sincerely wanted to get to know.

[skyfallscotland]

You could make an argument that AI-generated fanfiction isn’t fanfiction at all—the words aren’t penned by a fan, but rather by a series of statistical probabilities drawn from a giant database.

Fanfiction is that FUN PART, from start to finish. We get to spend as long as we want thinking about our favorite characters, but we also get to put all that down on the page, with no real rules or restrictions—no length or genre limitations, no publishing-industry pressures, no reader to satisfy but ourselves.

— @elizabethminkel wrote a great piece for @ellipsus-writes blog that I enjoyed, which you can find here.

[aidensolas]

STORED DATABASE (1) - A Forsaken Fic

Heya so I decided to keep writing as the conclusion I reached was just people being people like to ruin things that other people like due to hate. I want to say I might be distancing myself away from knowing about these types of things and just focus on what makes me happy. Enjoy the chapter!

Okay so you already pinched yourself 3 times and it seems like you aren't waking up so it's probably a lucid dream.

Anyways you might be wondering what's happening? Right John Doe and Elliot sitting neatly on your bed as John Doe looks at Elliot confused and staring at your figure he shrugs and looks around commenting on your room "Nice Room... for a runt." You held out your hand in a pointing motion and pointed it at John Doe which he responded to holding up his hands well... a hand and a spike up in a defeated motion "Can't take a playful 'poke'..." He said in a joking manner "So uhm... Hey? Where are we exactly?" Elliot suddenly piped in as you thought about the situation what's happening right now as you paced back and forth between the door of your room.

Okay so you might be wondering what exactly happened after they appeared in your bedroom? Well, I'm your mind! Here to recount things you never needed to remember again... So as they appeared in your room a series of silly events happened that involved John Doe trying to murder you and Elliot which was scary in itself then suddenly as he tried to pierce your stomach with his giant spike he suddenly got flung into the wall of your bedroom knocking down some shelves and cabinets full of your precious well... Whatever you keep in those as you were more scared about your home you realized the things once destroyed started to rearrange itself in a neat manner not knowing what to do you made up a bluff that no one can do anything in this house without your permission and if you break a rule you immediately get punished via getting ragdolled into walls which to your Suprise both Elliot and John Doe believed so now they're both setting on your bed.

Back to the current time! As you completely ignored Elliot's questioned (Rude.) "So where are you guys from and how did you guys exactly... Arrive here?" You asked not like you didn't know already you just thought that having prior information about them without them knowing who you are is weird so might as well keep the appearance that you don't know them.

"Ask the twerp beside me." John Doe nudged Elliot beside him "I can barely remember anything besides killing them over and over again." To which Elliot replied with a nervous laugh as John Doe nudged him "Well! About that it's uh... Hard to explain if you can give me some tim-" You raised your hand in front of Elliot before he could ramble on "No need. You don't need to explain if you aren't ready yet... Anyways would you kindly lea-" You got interrupted as well. Karma's a bitch ain't it? You heard the door open behind you as you quickly looked to turn around to see someone peeking in, wait is that Noob?... Dear God.

Okay you tap your foot in hurry as you paced around your main living room which was enough to accommodate the whole Forsaken cast including the out of place Mafioso who just randomly decided to show up despite being a variation skin of c00lkidd. Chance piped up seeing you walking around the room in a hurry as a coping mechanism of how your life is ruined now. "Hey... Uh your name whatever mind you settle down?" Okay you gather your thoughts and say down sighing as Builderman started to talk "This might be stressful and surprising to see various people you don't know inside your home and people with alarming looks to top it off of." he said as he discreetly looked at killers who were surprisingly not murdering anyone at the moment not like they can but you're surprised an attempt hasn't been made considering some things. "But we mean no harm and we would like to not bother you but when we tried to leave the front door a random pop-up would appear saying that we don't have access to do so. Would you happen to know anything about it?" Then Shedletsky decided to squeeze in a comment that's stated in a lighthearted joking manner "Who would wanna leave anyway have you seen this house?" Builderman replied by quickly stomping on his foot which made him wince as he grumbled "Okay... Okay... I get it." You squeeze your eyes shut as you cover your face with your hands as you resist the urge to cry into them. "I tried it as well. It said I can't open the door for at least another 7 days. First things first who are you guys." Yeah, you aren't asking them you were demanding an answer.

As they all introduced each other you quickly gave them their own lodgings and places to stay good thing you have a lot... Well, more than enough guest rooms to accommodate them since it was relatively late anyway you were preparing to sleep before you felt a tap behind you which revealed to be Dussekar "In my own lair, where dreams take flight, can I wield the brush to color my night?" What is bro saying? You thought about it for a second then realized he meant if he could decorate his own room to which you replied to "Go ahead it's all yours anyway for the time being." He nodded promptly before slowly floating away into his own room and closing the door. This is going to be a long week.

After waking up and feeling shit like always you decided to do your daily routine and as you leave your room you see Chance on the side of your door as you stumbled upon him he immediately takes your hand into his and drags you somewhere "Hey you never told me you had this." He said with a chuckle "Had what?" He then reaches a door to which he opens which reveals a whole ass casino. Wait... What. The. Hell. "Right and in case you forgot the name's Chance the best gambler you'll ever see." He said with pride as he closed his eyes striked a cool pose and flipped a coin the coin landed it rolling tails did make it a bit silly, but you won't ruin his day so you didn't mention it as he hid the coin, you nervously laughed to see people working inside the casino yet no other gamblers or people are present. "Yeah... I totally had this since the start, but you never asked, nor do we totally know each other... Haha.haha." to which then Chance looks back at you saying " That's fair but... Wanna go round all the people up and have a nice fun day in the casino? Well, it's yours so it wouldn't be a problem to treat us, right?" You never owned a casino, so you have no idea, but you felt like you were about to faint but, you gave Chance a giant totally not fake smile. "Sure, go ahead! Go call them up I'll treat all of you to some fun." Chance wasted no time bolting out the door and probably waking everyone up to drag them into this. You glanced at one of the workers who noticed you and it seemed to be the same people who you would see in a Roblox game but humanized or some sort... The worker stared at you and waved giving a small smile. Yeah.

This is definitely going to be a long week.

Notes:

Guys I'm sick so I couldn't promise the bulk of chapters I've written but most of it is done anyway so expect day by day and a random two-time x reader to pop up one day. Excuse my writing if it's on the wobbly side as I said I feel like absolute bunz anyways hope you enjoy this chapter. I wonder what happens next, I totally can't see into the future or anything, but I think it's going to be a casino chapter...

TAGLIST (raaaah)

@brain4stew @yukinaabutlazy @ilikedrinkingsoda @oniadopts @no-hearts-included @haveneulalie

Random note: Why do I feel like John Doe and Builderman would be great at telling Dad Jokes...

[angelsndragons]

okay so as a federal worker, i tell you this not to make you panic but to give you time to do what you need to do:

it's the holiday season. in addition to the federal holidays, federal workers build up leave throughout the year. the longer you've been with the federal government, the more leave you accumulate. this time of year, many federal workers will be taking their "use or lose" leave, aka the leave they've accumulated that's over the 240 hour cap you can carry into the next calendar year.

that means if you have any renewals or want to apply to anything that requires the federal government, DO IT NOW. many departments are already understaffed but this time of year? yeah, skeleton crews are the norm.

please be patient. you can check in every week or two to see where your stuff is but please be patient. many of us are going to be working our butts off in the next three months to ensure your stuff gets done. but we're only human. if you have an agency number, calling is often better than emailing. yes, even if you have to wait on the line for a while.

notaries can be extremely backed up. if you have an appointment which requires a notary's signature, make sure that you have every single thing ready the second you walk in. you don't want to have to come back.

understand that the ship of state turns slowly. we do have a lot of mechanisms in place to keep things from falling apart completely HOWEVER this time the Executive Leadership is directly coming at us with the intention of fully dismantling certain departments. chief on their list that i've seen is the department of education. if you have a special needs child in a special ed program or are one yourself, check to see who's funding the program (feds, state, local, etc) and plan accordingly. if the feds pull out their money, you need to know who's handling the gap and what happens if it can't be filled. that goes for other programs like housing.

if the republicans control the house, senate, and white house, expect them to defund everything you care about. the only spending i can see them increasing is the department of defense and border patrol. everything else? huge budget crunch. if you think the government is slow now, is unresponsive now, oh boy, just you wait. this will send a shock wave through the economy - the feds are huge spenders in many areas (sometimes the only thing keeping places afloat). much of the government is too big and unwieldy to dismantle all at once (particularly the pieces entwined with big business) but that doesn't mean they can't launch giant holes into the things they really hate. plan accordingly.

the fda director will try to ban sending abortion pills in the mail. plan accordingly. does this step on the usps' toes? yes. do they care? nope, republicans have been trying to privatize them for years. plan accordingly.

if you want to know the baseline fuckery you'll be expected to deal with, the department of veterans' affairs was shadow run by marvel executives for two years last time. i'm not joking. the white house is going to bypass any pretense of confirming executive leadership by making every single one of them "acting director of such and such." those don't require congressional approval.

if you're a dreamer and you've applied for some kind of federal relief, i would advise you to be extremely careful. your information is in a federal database and the republicans want to round up everyone of latino descent. they've already confirmed that they want to deport whole families irrespective of citizenship to "stop family separation."

stay calm and plan accordingly.

[materlux]

Psithurism

(n.) The sound of the wind through trees.

A distant signal halts the Luofu in its eternal travels, the general decides to play detective much to a certain charioteer’s chagrin. During the adventure the general meets a creature who once too traveled the stars, one who wishes to join their eternal journey.

CW: Fluff, monster!reader, mention of the dead (skeleton; vague). 2.6k

Honkai Star Rail | Main Masterlist

   This planet had experienced a catastrophic incident many amber eras ago, this has left its remaining life forms cut off from the rest of the cosmos. The people of this planet are, what the Genius Society would label, primitive. They do not understand the giant metal structures left behind by their forefathers, they have no knowledge of the aeons, or of the place they once occupied in the vast universe. To put it simply, it’s like someone pressed the ‘reset’ button on their civilization.

   By comparison the Xianzhou Luofu is far beyond advanced, currently it hovers just beyond the solar system. If it weren’t for an odd energy source they picked up off one planet in the system, they would have cruised on by. A signal like that wouldn’t be odd, they often picked up signals from other ships and planets in the area. The weird thing was, that according to the IPC’s database, this solar system was vacant. 

   So, what was making that signal? A crash landed ship calling out in distress? A new civilisation making first contact? A last ditch effort to save themselves from something terrible?

   While the Luofu is under no obligation to step in on matters like these, typically this would be something the IPC would deal with, if it was a distress signal, the residents may not have the time to spare to wait for an IPC unit. So the Xianzhou Alliance stepped in just this once, the IPC were on their way anyway, they were merely assessing the situation and would report back to the IPC. And if it was just first contact, shouldn’t the general himself be present? He thinks so at least.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   The air of the new planet was warm and a bit humid, nothing like the perfectly crafted atmosphere of the Luofu. The general tugged at his uniform as he and a group of cloud knights make their way towards a small town, the town is walled off and guards walk by above at a leisurely pace.

   The cobblestone paved road lets out thuds as their boots make contact, the locals stop their daily activity to stare at them. As far as Jing Yuan could assess, no one seemed to be distressed or in immediate danger.

   An older gentleman, clad in what looked like an elevated version of the guards uniform stood in their path, his hand rested leisurely on the hilt of his sword. Jing Yuan, with his signature easy smile, went ahead of his unit and introduced himself.

   “Hello, I am General Jing Yuan of the Xianzhou Luofu, we picked up a signal from this planet and wondered if you were in need of our assistance.” The man before him’s shoulders tensed, his hand inched up to grip the hilt properly.

   “I am Captain Auron, I’m afraid I don’t follow, we haven’t sent any ‘signals’ as far as I am aware.” The captain kept an even tone as he spoke. Jing Yuan simply tilted his head in mild thought, “I see,” he muttered under his breath.

   “If that is the case, would you mind if we went looking for this signal, it may not have been yours, but someone else may be in need of our help,” Jing Yuan spoke with a hint of confusion, but overall this did not affect him, the mystery is thickening. He hasn’t had this much fun on a mission in a while, if you can even call this detective work fun.

   “I don’t personally mind, as long as you don’t cause any trouble.” Auron’s hand returned to its original spot of resting against the hilt. “But if I may, I have a piece of advice regarding what is beyond the wall.”

   “By all means, any help would be greatly appreciated.” Jing Yuan gestured for Auron to continue.

   “You probably saw it on your way here, beyond the wall there is a dense forest, it stretches for miles. I’d advise you to stay out of it, the place is cursed, and a monster lurks in its shadows.” Jing Yuan simply nodded and the two parted ways.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   While Jing Yuan and his unit of knights would have liked to follow the advice of the Captain, it seems the signal is coming from within the forest. After a call back to the Luofu, and a moment of rest and prep, the group ventures in. The forest is indeed dense, the small winding paths force them to walk in single file lines. The further in they go, the taller the trees seem to grow, reaching into the sky. The air also gets more humid and water drips down from the leaves above.

   A knight startles and draws their weapon, for a moment the whole line is reduced to chaos, only the commanding voice of the general makes them settle down again. He manoeuvres his way through the line, and there, in the centre of all the commotion stands a small, white, somewhat human looking figure. It tilts its head and seems entirely unbothered by the previous commotion, its head clicks back into place and it runs back off into the undergrowth.

   The unit continues down the path, more on guard now, more of the small creatures have gathered around them. They trail behind them, mimicking the single file line even though they fit far better on the path. Some run ahead of the general, he pays them little mind, they seem harmless if only curious.

   By a fork in the road, the small creatures run down one path, a couple stop and click their heads at the unit. The general chuckles under his breath, before turning down the opposite path, the signal is getting stronger.

   By the end of the path a clearing opens up, an odd structure rests in the centre, almost completely overgrown. The signal must be coming from this clearing, from the odd structure Jing Yuan concludes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   High above, something both human in appearance and not, slinks from branch to branch near soundlessly. You, the only living remnant of the past civilization, observe the newcomers with much intrigue. You have, after many years and radiation, lost your ability to speak any known languages. The small creatures, ghosts you think of them, also left over from the catastrophe, gather around you. You can feel the cold of their bodies touching your skin, but there is no weight as they wander all over your back.

   A couple slide down the tree and startle the weary soldiers, you smile to yourself, you would tell them to relax, that the ghosts are harmless. But you are a far more frightening sight, and if the soldiers are scared of the ghosts who knows how they’d feel about you, not to mention you cannot speak.

   The ghosts gather at the foot of the tree and stare back up at you, to them you are the most obvious sight, and they click their heads at you. They want you to come down and greet the newcomers, much like you used to in the old days.

   A man, with long pale blond hair, walks over to the ruckus, he smiles gently at the ghosts and follows their line of sight. His eyes search the canopy above, their colour a striking shade of gold, one you somewhat recognise. An idea pops into your head, if you can’t speak to communicate, perhaps body language can speak for you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   The branches above shake and shiver before they fall silent, the small creatures too fall silent, whatever was in the canopy has left. “Cloud knights be on guard, we are not alone out here,” Jing Yuan calls out over the clearing.

   They begin removing moss and other plants from the structure, they soon discover a large window, a cockpit with seats behind. The seats are occupied by two bodies, both have been reduced to bones. The small creatures jump around and click as the knights work to reveal an entrance.

   Inside the ship a small red light blinks, the small creatures stay outside and simply observe the general through the glass. “This must be the signal we are picking up, so it was a distress signal, I’m afraid we are too late,” he speaks to the knights assessing the inside of the ship.

   Shouts echo from outside and the knights before him jump into action, they are staring past him out the cockpit window, the small creatures have started clicking their heads again. In one fluid motion Jing Yuan turns, summoning his weapon to his side.

   On the front of the ship, something that appears both human and not sits, you look back at him. The small creatures climb onto you and dangle off your arms, their clicks die down once they have gathered by and on your sides. Your arm extends out towards the glass, in your hand you hold a collection of bright gold flowers.

   Jing Yuan exhales after a moment of thinking, with a lazy smile and a wave of his hand the knights lower their weapons. He makes his way out of the ship and meets you by the front, you sit back on your haunches and extend the flowers out to him again. He graciously accepts them, they match his eyes near perfectly and you mentally pat yourself on the back for the right pick.

   “Thank you.” Jing Yuan has a somewhat bashful smile on his lips, it is not often the great general receives flowers. 

   “Peace,” you barely manage to croak out, your voice hoarse and thick from lack of use. The general hums and nods, the small creatures click in response, they too mean peace. 

   “Cloud knights, these beings come in peace, we can relax.” He addresses the knights around him. The knights are still wary of you and the small ghosts, their shoulders relaxed. The general looked over the flowers once again before offering them back to you, “peace,” he repeats. You accept them gently, mindful of your sharp nails.

   “Uh, General,” a knight says tentatively, “it- they look like something of the abundance.” Their eyes flicker between you and the general.

   “They do,” Jing Yuan agrees with a curious hum. You tilt your head, distantly you recall something about abundance that seems important, but ultimately this information eludes you.

   “The Captain also mentioned a monster in the forest,” a different knight speaks up, “could that not be them?” Other knights join in, nodding along, pointing out oddities and not-human characteristics that match with mara-struck.

   “Yes, yes,” the general waves a hand, quieting the group. “I do remember what the Captain said, and yes, I do agree their appearance compared to the locals is peculiar.” He looks you up and down, eyes lingering on the plant-like extrusions littering your body. “But, if they say they come in peace, we have to respect that and not respond with hostility.” The knights nod along and agree amongst themselves. You tilt your head, hardly understanding all their talk.

   You hover around the clearing, simply observing the knights as they clean the ship and gather what information they can, all preparations for when the IPC arrives and ask for all their findings. The knights are still bothered by your presence, but having faith in their general’s judgement, they leave you be only sending you weary glances when you move from one spot to another.

   Heavy foot falls wake you from your half nap on a large rock at the edge of the clearing, the sun is setting beyond the horizon casting golden light through the canopy. Before you stands the general, he regards you with a hint of mirth.

   “Resting in the evening sun I see.” He smiles as you blink slowly at him. “Were it not for my duties here, I may just join you.” You stretch your limbs out, ‘join you’, you mull over those words for a moment.

   A knight addresses the general and he turns to their attention, their conversation doesn’t reach your ears, far too busy considering his words. Vaguely you hear the knight list some letters, to which the general nods before he calls a set of orders over the camp.

   The group spends the night in the clearing, they sleep as much as they can, but it is abundantly clear to you, they aren’t used to camping out in a forest like this. You offer what reassurance you can by staying in the canopy and watching the paths around, the ghosts settle with you among the branches and keep watch. When the sun begins to rise you clamber back down the tree, the large structure made of metal is heated by the morning sun, and it makes a good resting place.

   Some time later commotion wakes you, with a stretch and a yawn you observe the knights flitting about the camp, packing bags and jutting down the last notes. The general leans on the front of the structure reading over some notes, his free hand rests on his chin. With careful movements you slide down the glass and sit behind him, distantly you recall something about personal space as you look over his shoulder.

   A smile tugs at the general’s lips, he turns his head to look over his shoulder. “Well good morning. I took the liberty to not wake you, you seemed far too comfortable up there, it’d be a shame to disturb you.” You tilt your head at him, eyes still lingering with sleep, he only smiles back at you.

   A pair of knights gather before him, he turns his attention around and is suddenly very serious. “General, all preparations are complete.”

   The general nods. “Call the men, gather by the path and wait for orders, we’ll be leaving soon.” The knights salute and leave, in a matter of minutes the knights are gathered by the path ready to leave.

   Jing Yuan makes a last round of the clearing, you observe him from above, once he’s done a circle he nods to himself seemingly pleased and approaches you.

   “I thank you for your peace, it helped keep the knights at ease.” You tilt your head at him, his tone is affectionate so you assume it’s good. “I bid you farewell for now friend, perhaps we’ll stop by this planet again once the IPC has had their look around. We’ll be leaving for home now.” He tilts his head down slightly. ‘Farewell’, for the first time you understand the meaning of the words he speaks, and it fills you with panic. You reach out, a sharp nailed hand grasping his arm, he turns back to you. 

   Why do you panic, you wonder, is it loneliness? You have spent the last centuries alone, you meet traveling merchants using shortcuts often enough, is it because these people were not hostile? Perhaps it is something deeper, a reminder of the person you once were, the civilisation you once lived in, one that was a part of the universe. Could it be because these people are from beyond the sky? You feel a longing to travel among the stars again, or you simply miss having a friend.

   “Is something the matter?” His voice breaks your train of thought, and while you don’t come to a conclusion as to why you panicked, you have decided something else.

   “Join you,” you repeat his words from earlier. He seems to think it over, looks back at the group waiting for his next orders, with a sigh he nods.

   “I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to join us, so I’ll allow it.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Before your eyes the stars once more stretch endlessly, winking and shining, like they're welcoming you back. Somewhere distantly you can hear the general getting an earful from a woman. Jing Yuan, his name, one he spent the better half of the journey back home teaching you.

[sleepyorchidmonster]

Okay, Riddle's dream in a few hours and now it's time for the last bits of ideas and headcanons:

- Everything's the same, but all students have been replaced by hedgehogs/tsums (Riddle thinks he keeps fumbling friendships and social cues, but he's never had a problem with the hedgehogs. So now everybody's a hedgehog/ hedgehog-sized bean);

- We meet child Riddle but he doesn't recognize the group. They have to pretend Trey is a distant cousin of the Clovers who went to College abroad;

- Sebek's yelling makes child Riddle flinch and hide in fear. Sebek whispers for the rest of the chapter (Silver didn't even have to scold him this time, he was struck with guilt already);

- Return of the King (Unca Leona). He's still trying to understand why children think he's a good role model (Deuce quotes Epel and says that it's because he's cool, Silver and Ortho think Leona's calm demeanor makes the kids trust him, meanwhile tiny Riddle was just reminded of Chen'ya);

- Riddle's dream was shattered and we have to wake up multiple versions of him (the group's so big we can easily separate them in five teams or less). Chen'ya makes an appearance as the culprit of the dream's shattering;

- We run into a world where everythings the exact same as reality, from the general timeline of events to the character's personalities (blame Riddle's prefect memory). It's nice that it means Riddle's already living his dream, even with Adeuce's mischief and other shenanigans, though it poses the problem of finding disparities between dream and reality to wake him up.

They later find out that there are no Queen of Heart's rules in the dream. Which means they'll have to scour through the entire rulebook that they got from the school's website (thanks Ortho). Do note that, while there isn't an official rulebook, people are still feeding the flamingoes while wearing pink and painting the roses, they just have a new explanation for what they're doing (or not doing, since Riddle's dream also remembers rule breakers and their routines), mostly based in historical facts;

- Instead of being dragged into the darkness for the boss fight, Riddle dives into the darkness like the Alice in Wonderland-esque shonen protagonist that he is;

- Trey temporarily overwrites Riddle's magic, only for him to turn his scepter into a sword or scythe and start trading blows with Silver and Sebek;

- References to Rapunzel event that will only make sense in hindsight;

- Flashback just like Malleus's birth in Lillia's dream, the moment when the Senate glitched from praising Lillia as a hero to banishing him from Briar Valley. Except it's Mrs. Rosehearts;

- We get a puzzle or crossword game. Idia and Leona had a great time with the crosswords and later asked Riddle just where he found such challenging puzzles that weren't even in Ortho's database. Cue Riddle casually mentioning how he created the crosswords himself, they were supposed to be gifts for Trey and Chen'ya, and now he has 3.000 of them;

- Chess game, chess game, CHESS GAME!!!

BONUS:

Cater: Welp, looks like Riddle's dream is exactly like the real world.

Idia: The Adeuce NPCs are trying to ride a blastcycle in the dorm's roof!?

Silver: And Trey is chasing students with a giant toothbrush?!???

Cater: Yep, happens once a week, EVERY FUCKING WEEK. Careful with the giant hedgehog!!

Silver, Leona, Idia, Sebek and Ortho: ....

Leona: Why, Little Red! Looks like your card soldiers forgot to wear pink to feed the flamingoes.

Riddle: That's impossible. Everyone here knows the risks of such an act.

Riddle: After all, the time-travelling pre-historic crocodiles won't eat you if they think you're a flamingo, and pink is the most reliable option...

Leona: The what now?!?!

Riddle: Time-travelling pre-historic crocodiles. While their numbers have been dwindling over the years, they were a serious threat in the times of the Great Seven.

*Sounds of screaming in the distance*

Idia: Heh, good to know...

*The group, searching through the rulebook*

Ace: Well, my brain's about to explode now...

Cater: Cheer up, Acey! Only one rule left!!

Deuce: "Rule 810, you can easily traverse through dreams by finding the correct mirrors or rabbit holes in the dreamscape...."

Everyone: ....

Sebek: You Heartslabyul students are a DISAPPOINTMENT TO THE DORM, NO, TO SOCIETY!!!

Grim: Myahaha! Looks like someone's in trouble!

Sebek: You're just as much of an Heartlabyul member as those two, so you're just as much to blame for this!!!!!

Grim: MYAAAH!

[adragonsdance]

Welcome to the MIRA Space Employee Directory!

Scar Goodtimes

Perfect shade: “Sky Orange”, #F79802

Scar goodtimes has been a space pirate for a long time now, even though he’s only had a proper ship for a few years. Before that, he bounced himself around positions in a number of tech companies, including mira, by modifying their personell databases and assuming an alias. He would plop himself in a position for a few months, sometimes as long as a year, use it as access to steal information, corporate secrets, and tech, then disappear, fend tha good stuff through cub, and then use the less useful stuff to scam others for way more than, say, instrument sanitization procedures, were worth. 

Eventually, he assigned himself as grian’s new lab assistant, under the alias “tangerine”. Since he's been in so many different positions in the company, together with grian’s research, he’d slowly collected all the puzzle pieces to mira’s giant coverup, and he figures out the truth about polus, the imposters, and Polus Lifeform X223. Horrified, this is much bigger than anything hes dealt with before, and he may be a pirate, but theres a line! And honestly corporations were already over it without the attempted genocide. It turns out that Grian makes this same discoverer at a similar time, and when they eventually talk about it, they decide to join forces about it. Neither one trust the government to handle it, and honestly Grian was already doing some proably-not-company-policy experiments off the books, so they steal a ship together and escape. Grian enlists the help of jimmy to jailbreak the ship from Mira’s influence, and they take it to cub for some very much illegal modifications. Cub’s just happy to have a whole ship to play with. Scar, Grian, and jimmy spend a few years doing some proper space pirate vigilantisim, before they decide they need to get on-site, and deal with at least some of this stuff on polus itself. They need to be on one of Mira’s polus research stations. So, they pose as a perfectly normal, mira standard ship.

As far as Mira is concerned, Scar, sorry, “Deep Saffron” is an established pilot, with a well rounded history of admin duties on stations and ships. He’s described by coworkers as cheerful, diligent, trustworthy, and level headed in an emergency.

[block-tales-headcanons]

CK is blind in his left eye because of the ice dagger's effects.

Thayniel can eat spicy food like it's nothing. Nobody would expect an old, dainty, tea obsessed man to be able to house ghost peppers.

Jerry is oblivious to Terry's... uh, harsher behavior towards others (like killing KW with a rocket launcher) and only knows that Terry can be mean to people.

Brad knows some of the wood people by number, despite them looking so similar. (Though, he would never admit that.)

Kyoko likes photography and takes photographs of the things she sees on adventures. She keeps a neat photo album, and has a scrapbook.

Noobador never takes off his mask. Ever. It probably smells of sweat and grime...

Red claims he's the older twin, even though Blue is by a whole thirty minutes... She lets him believe that, though.

Red dressed up as a superhero for halloween when he was really young. He thought he really had powers, and when he tried to fly like superman he faceplanted into the asphalt. Hard. His nose is a little crooked because of it. Blue will never let him live it down.

KW forgets he's a ghost sometimes, and freaks out internally when he phases through someone. He'll get used to it.

Shedletsky and Builderman are like gods, but their powers are limited to the admin panel.

Monty's snores sound like a lawnmower on steroids.

Jim's horrible at cooking anything except for pizza. His... other kitchen expeditions are... not so good.

CK goes down to Roadtown during Christmas every year dressed as Santa, with his knights as little elves to help him pass out the lavish gifts he's bought the children with Blackrock's money.

Griefer has to have some sort of internal issue from drinking witches brew religiously. Someone needs to check that out.

Griefer's keyboard is sticky. His voice sounds like it's over a shitty microphone naturally.

Terry is a war criminal.

Thayniel is much stronger than he looks. He wasn't an ex-deadlifter for nothing. (If he locked in, demo 2 would've looked much different lmfao)

Monty is good at minesweeper. Keeps the old brain going.

Banished Knight is a sigma lone wolf and is goated with the rizz frfr /j

Kyoko doesn't like the sight of blood. (I am projecting)

Noobador intimidates people passively despite being a gentle giant. This makes his work as the train's conductor nice because he doesn't have to talk to people and accidentally scare them off.

Red has fallen for one of those free robux scams before.

Blue is good at drawing, but terrible at math.

Monty's memory is sharper than anybodys despite his age. He'll go on about how his old brain is foggy, but he's got a whole database up in his noggin.

Jim volunteers whenever he can, shelters, libraries, schools, you name it, he's happy to help anywhere and whenever you can

------

I think that about wraps it up for now... I will be back with more

-ultrakill anon

sips water that’s a lot

red falling for a free robux scam is a canon event 💔💔

[mariacallous]

Are you going somewhere nice, the man behind me in the British Airways check-in at Heathrow, asked. He had an American accent and I hesitated before answering. “No,” I said. “America.”

They’re not words that I ever thought I’d say and, having once been detained for several hours at US immigration once before, I felt a degree of trepidation travelling to the US for the first time since Trump returned to power.

More on that trip, anon. But a quick re-cap of the major US news of the last week. It’s not that Elon Musk has “stepped down” from DOGE. Take that with a pinch of salt. The idea that Musk “failed” in his “mission” to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse” is staggering beside the point.

It’s nothing so much as a repeat of all the many dumb articles about how Musk “failed” in his takeover of Twitter because he’d lost a ton of advertisers and hadn’t turned a profit. As if that was the point. You don’t buy a global propaganda weapon to turn a profit. You buy a global propaganda weapon to spread propaganda at a global scale.

The idea that Musk teamed up with Trump because of his deeply held belief in streamlining federal spending is naive at best and journalistic malpractice at worst.

His people are still in position across multiple departments in the US government. DOGE is going nowhere. And the real point of DOGE is not to save American taxpayers money. It’s a fundamental re-writing of the social contract, the relationship of US citizens to the state, and the state to private enterprise.

Musk’s operatives have been systematically gaining access to databases across the US government and are now merging them. This is a gift link to an important New York Times article that consolidates previous reporting and sheds new light on how these datasets are now being merged into a giant surveillance machine. A giant surveillance machine presided over by the dark lord of Silicon Valley, Peter Thiel.

There’s one key rule to remember when considering all things Thiel: never underestimate him. He’s a master chess player who thinks strategically and long term. One of his most famous acts - destroying the media site, Gawker, was planned over years. JD Vance, the vice president, is a wholly owned Peter Thiel project that has been 15 years in the making. He first met Thiel when a student and he owes his entire career, first in finance and then politics, to him.

[thedarkermelody]

Surely there is someone who has said or drawn this before but, the StanMobile as a transformer. Genericon that was made to go seed energon on a one way trip for future mining operations. it's launch got knocked off course, landed on earth instead after much longer journey, it eventually made it, did task and then just, when to sleep. Eventual shenanigan and Stanley picks up his El Diablo, now the alien finds itself with another human driving it around. But...

This one keeps saying words in that tone it knows these things use on things they like, while cleaning out it's interior and buffing any scuffs and popping dents out. It's finding it likes this meatsack, compared to the other organics, who usually treat it poorly and get ditched and therefore leaving them to attempt to find a car that will never turn up. (Sidenote, the car barely understands English since there's not really a huge internet database to make use of in 1970, any words it 'knows' is from Stan via use, context, etc. This does cause an problem once in the future, where Stan shouts pig at Waddles spooking him in the front seat and the car guns through a tree on instinct.)

Anyways the Stanmobile (It eventually comes to like that name, matching his little organic) and Stan baby, through the years, never really revealing or talking about the weirdness it has. Like how your car powers through crashing that would wreck another vehicle. Or that one night after waking up there's a giant pile of pink crystals stacked by the gas tank with an arrow pointing at it. Or when you chewed out of that truck in the middle of a desert your car was driving frantically toward you. Or how it always has heating in the dead of winters in heavy snow even with the engine off the whole night. Or how when goons check your car for money that you know you hide under the seat and in other places is empty. Yet when you later check it's still there.

[kiefbowl]

I know there are a lot of fears about the US Constitution being removed from the white house website, and like it isn't good...but it's ratified, and so the white house website isn't really where it's "hosted." You can find it on the us senate website, as well as many law websites. It's also published and annotated routinely as well as cited in case law constantly. It's fair to not know this, but most lawyers when preparing legal arguments don't do the same research us plebs do. They have access to databases hosted by giants (like LexisNexis and Westlaw) of the legal publishing industry, and these databases have all copies of all codified law plus all case law ever, including the US Constitution. Plus, federal laws, aka U.S. Code is republished every six years. Case laws are still physically published every year. You can go to legal libraries at any time and look important case law and all federal statuary law in books. So while it's great to make sure you download a copy of the constitution to have on hand just because, it's not so ephemeral it can just disappear if it's removed from the white house website. I'm not saying it's good I'm just saying the reasons to feel bad about it aren't because that means the us constitution has disappeared.