#''you're overreacting''

[lith-myathar]

Podcast I'm listening to (Struggle Care) just made the point "people truly can't imagine a world where empathy and accountability happen in the same place" and this is all in relation to the idea of co-dependency but i think it's a really good point in general

[thankstothe]

The most suspicious man alive offers you a cup of coffee, do you accept?

[delphinidin4]

The first time I read Jane Austen's novels, I was about the age of most of the heroines. A year or two younger than confident Elizabeth Bennet, a few years older than naive Catherine Morland, etc. For the most part, I didn't even think about it.

I vividly remember re-reading Persuasion when I was the precise age of Anne Eliot. She was even born in '87 (1787), while I was born in '86 (1986), so whenever they mentioned years in the past, I knew just how old she was at that time and just where I had been in life at the same age. (She and Wentworth broke up in '06, for instance, which was my sophomore year of college.) It was a fascinating experience, especially considering how much of that book is specifically ABOUT her age and her point in life.

....I am now rereading Sense and Sensibility at the age of 38, which means I am the age of Colonel Brandon and Mrs. Dashwood, rather than Elinor and Marianne and I CANNOT stop thinking about it.

[halorvic]

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from. Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies. Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID. Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.

[...]

LP: A recent JAMA study found that US adults with Long COVID are more prone to depression and anxiety – and they’re struggling to afford treatment. Given the virus’s impact on the brain, I guess the link to mental health issues isn’t surprising. PA: There are all kinds of weird things going on that could be related to COVID’s cognitive effects. I’ll give you an example. We’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic that accidents are increasing. A report published by TRIP, a transportation research nonprofit, found that traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. They also found the likelihood of being killed in a traffic crash increased by 28% over that period. Other data, like studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, came to similar conclusions, reporting that traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high across the country in 2021. The TRIP report also looked at traffic fatalities on a national level and found that traffic fatalities increased by 19%. LP: What role might COVID play? PA: Research points to the various ways COVID attacks the brain. Some people who have been infected have suffered motor control damage, and that could be a factor in car crashes. News is beginning to emerge about other ways COVID impacts driving. For example, in Ireland, a driver’s COVID-related brain fog was linked to a crash that killed an elderly couple. Damage from COVID could be affecting people who are flying our planes, too. We’ve had pilots that had to quit because they couldn’t control the airplanes anymore. We know that medical events among U.S. military pilots were shown to have risen over 1,700% from 2019 to 2022, which the Pentagon attributes to the virus.

[...]

LP: You’ve criticized the track record of the CDC and the WHO – particularly their stubborn denial that COVID is airborne. PA: They knew the dangers of airborne transmission but refused to admit it for too long. They were warned repeatedly by scientists who studied aerosols. They instituted protections for themselves and for their kids against airborne transmission, but they didn’t tell the rest of us to do that.

[...]

LP: How would you grade Biden on how he’s handled the pandemic? PA: I’d give him an F. In some ways, he fails worse than Trump because more people have actually died from COVID on his watch than on Trump’s, though blame has to be shared with Republican governors and legislators who picked ideological fights opposing things like responsible masking, testing, vaccination, and ventilation improvements for partisan reasons. Biden’s administration has continued to promote the false idea that the vaccine is all that is needed, perpetuating the notion that the pandemic is over and you don’t need to do anything about it. Biden stopped the funding for surveillance and he stopped the funding for renewing vaccine advancement research. Trump allowed 400,000 people to die unnecessarily. The Biden administration policies have allowed more than 800,000 to 900,000 and counting.

[...]

LP: The situation with bird flu is certainly getting more concerning with the CDC confirming that a third person in the U.S. has tested positive after being exposed to infected cows. PA: Unfortunately, we’re repeating many of the same mistakes because we now know that the bird flu has made the jump to several species. The most important one now, of course, is the dairy cows. The dairy farmers have been refusing to let the government come in and inspect and test the cows. A team from Ohio State tested milk from a supermarket and found that 50% of the milk they tested was positive for bird flu viral particles.

[...]

PA: There’s a serious risk now in allowing the virus to freely evolve within the cow population. Each cow acts as a breeding ground for countless genetic mutations, potentially leading to strains capable of jumping to other species. If any of those countless genetic experiments within each cow prove successful in developing a strain transmissible to humans, we could face another pandemic – only this one could have a 58% death rate. Did you see the movie “Contagion?” It was remarkably accurate in its apocalyptic nature. And that virus only had a 20% death rate. If the bird flu makes the jump to human-to-human transition with even half of its current lethality, that would be disastrous.

[halfdeadwallfly]

[oatm3al-c00kies]

everyone shut up i need to tell suzanne collins directly that the only part of 'the ballad of songbirds and snakes' that got an actual extended period of laughter in my theatre was the "tuberculosis on legs" joke, a joke made at the expense of a young, suffering, dying, sick tribute as she's about to accidentally ingest poison and kill herself because she's so thirsty and sees water and thinks it will make her feel better. this girl who's so sick because of the living conditions in her district, who was doomed as soon as her name was called, who was probably just so relieved to see an un-smashed bottle of water she didn't think anything of it, too exhausted and dehydrated to think anything of it.

a joke made by the capitol host of the hunger games to try and make capitol citizens laugh and make the horrific things happening in the arena better tv because they already don't see the tributes as people who have lives and who matter and maybe we're so close to her dystopia that we can actually fucking taste it

[utilitycaster]

You know what's interesting to me? For all people keep claiming at every juncture that perhaps Bells Hells will come around on the gods and see the harm they do (which, as discussed extensively, is, half the time, simply not intervening) not only have they never done so, but also they never quite cross the line into saying the party should join the Ruby Vanguard or aid them - and indeed, they defend against it - so what does this achieve? It feels like they're asking for a story in which the party stands idly by, which isn't much of a story nor, if I may connect this briefly to the real world, a political stance anyone should be proud of.

That's honestly the frustration with the gods and the "what if the Vanguard has a point" conversations in-game. What do we do then? Do we allow the organization that will murder anyone for pretty much any reason that loosely ties into their goals run rampant? The group that (perhaps unwittingly, but then again, Otohan's blades had that poison) disrupted magic world-wide, and caused people who had the misfortune to live at nexus points to be teleported (most, as commoners, without means of return). While also fomenting worldwide unrest?

Those were the arguments before the trip to Ruidus; with the reveal of the Vanguard's goals to invade Exandria, the situation becomes even more dire. Do you let the Imperium take over the planet?

And do the arguments against the gods even hold up? If Ludinus is so angry at them for the Calamity, what does it say that he destroyed Western Wildemount's first post-Calamity society for entirely selfish means? (What does it say about the validity of vengeance as a motivator?) What does it say that Laudna told Imogen she could always just live in a cottage quietly without issue before the solstice even happened? (Would this still be true if the Imperium controls the world?) What does it say that when faced with a furious, grieving party and the daughter she keeps telling herself was her reason for all of this, Liliana can't provide an answer to the question of what the gods have done other than that their followers will retaliate...for, you know, the Vanguard's endless list of murders. (That is how the Vanguard and Imperium tend to think, huh? "How dare your face get in the way of my boot; how dare you hit me back when I strike you.") She can't even provide a positive answer - why is Predathos better - other than "I feel it", even though Imogen and Fearne know firsthand that Predathos can provide artificial feelings of elation. Given all the harm Ludinus has done in pursuit, why isn't the conclusion "the gods should have crashed Aeor in such a way that the tech was unrecoverable?"

Even as early as the first real discussion on what the party should do, the fandom always stopped short of saying "no, Imogen's right, they should join up with the people who killed half the party," it was always "no, she didn't really mean it, she just was trying to connect with her mother." Well, she's connected with her mother, and at this point the party doesn't even care about the gods particularly (their only divinely-connected party member having died to prevent the Vanguard from killing all of them). So they will stop the Vanguard; as Ashton says, the means are unforgiveable. As Laudna says, it's not safe to bet on Predathos's apathy. As Imogen says, she's done running; the voice that she used to think of as a lifeline belongs to someone she doesn't trust. So I guess my question is: if they're stopping the people who are trying to kill the gods (and defense of the gods isn't remotely their personal motivation)...do you think the next phase of the campaign is Bells Hells personally killing the gods? Reconstructing the Aeor tech and hoping none of their allies notice? How does this end? Does your ideology ever get enacted? Or is this entirely moot and pointless and the story ends with Bells Hells saying "well, I'm really glad we stopped the people who [insert list of Vanguard atrocities from above]; none of us follow the gods or plan to, but honestly, the status quo we return to is preferable to whatever nightmare Ludinus had concocted in his violent quest for power and revenge"?

[faceless-dude]

If bound to brainrot then brainrot

[winryrockbellwannabe]

this guy is honestly making me question too much shit

bc there's no way in hell is just that nice, right?

at this point either: 1. he's being this nice and kind bc he has a crush on me, 2. he's honestly that nice, which will make me have a crush on him, bc omg. he's just the nicest person ever

[martianbugsbunny]

feeling way too asexual for allo shit rn

[sophsicle]

here is my advice to writers. never listen to anything any writing advice post on this website tells you.

[khaoray]

Are we friends or something? Stop throwing such a fit. And please don't do anything like this again. I don't like being misunderstood, or misunderstanding. Did I hug you? Or did I kiss you? It's no big deal. Even school kids hold hands. What misunderstanding? You should seriously stop overreacting.

[endreal]

.

[kindheartedgummybears]

you wanna know what??

I am

TIRED

of overmasculinized werewolves!!!!

I WANNA SEE A

WEREWOLF

WALKING AROUND IN A CVNTY LITTLE OUTFIT!!! WALKING THE STREETS!!!! DISEMBOWELING CREATURES!!!!

I WANNA SEE WEREWOLVES COVERED IN BLOOD AND GORE WHILE WEARING A SHORT SKIRT AND CROPTOP WITH HELLO KITTY ON IT!!!!

I WANNA SEE A WEREWOLF WALKING AROUND IN COTTAGE AND FAIRY AND PRINCESS CORE OUTFITS!!!!!! WITH A DEAD MANGLED RABBIT IN ITS MOUTH!!!!

AND MAKE THE WEREWOLF

D I S G U S T I N G ! ! !

[binah-beloved]

nobody talk to me tonight i had to go to hard pity for captain Ishmael and i'm livid

[screamingcrows]

Celeste's character stories:

Character Details

Someone who lives to fit in will eventually have broken off too many pieces to recognise themselves. But what then is the better option; to make yourself loved where you are or trust fate to lead you where you belong? Broken down and with vengeance burning, Celeste decided that neither would be her answer, throwing away her life in Fontaine in favour of forging another path.

Playfully referred to as 'The Doctor's shadow', she now roams the halls of Zapolyarny Palace with assured steps. Outside of the laboratories, little is known about the details of her work except guards noting that the lower levels are busier now than ever.

Although it took a while to acclimate to Snezhnaya, Celeste herself seems quite satisfied with the current state of things, spending her days rotating between the labs, the Second's library, and her quarters. She now pursues results with ferocity and a dwindling concern for the means matching her superior's.

Only a fool would squander the opportunities she seized with the position.

Character Story 1

While Celeste holds no military rank within the Fatui, officially noted down as nothing more than an 'assistant', there are few who would refuse her requests, for she cannot give orders, and even fewer who would attempt to push her around.

A simple formality, the title does a poor job at describing her daily endeavours and would, in an academic setting, be more akin to Fontaine's 'Senior Researcher'. A rank she never had any hope of achieving.

While her work does indeed further The Second's own goals, it is often somewhat removed from his primary interests. An agreement was struck within the first week; she would be free to pursue her own goals so long as they did not hinder his ambitions and she could still fulfill the tasks he gave. She would be a researcher in all but name.

Celeste's main tasks are recorded as testing and monitoring biological changes following usage of delusions, abyssal energies, and the integration of alchemical and technical components into a living organism.

She will often lament that if these were her only tasks, there would be much more time for her own research. While the laboratory is always running, it rarely does so smoothly, and thus the position of assistant will also encompass breaking off fights instigated by volatile segments, completing maintenance on machinery, restocking supplies, and coordinating production of various weapons.

But should he ever attempt to make her fill out his monthly expense reports to the Regrator or fetch refreshments, depending on his tone, it isn't unlikely the papers would be torn to shreds or the coffee spiked. Without doubt, her most gruelling task is occasionally participating in meetings with other Harbingers as The Doctor's proxy.

Character Story 2

Though it was a modest upbringing, Celeste was never lacking in support from home. Two loving parents spent what time they had available with her, often bringing her to work when she needed a break from school.

It was easier to go with her mother, a singer, and sit through her rehearsals while drawing, reading, or exploring the endless rooms filled with costumes. But it was at Fontaine's Research Institute with her father that she felt truly entertained.

Rows of books lined his office and robotic components were scattered all along the ground, most discarded as faulty prototypes. While their functions were beyond her understanding, the principles behind how they moved and interacted had the child gleefully trying to imitate her father's designs.

Of course, a room filled with machinery was no suitable place to leave a child unattended, and so she was passed around between researchers whenever her father had meetings or was otherwise occupied. Quickly, Celeste found the wonders of robotics outcompeted by nature, glueing herself to the side of a visiting researcher from Sumeru's Amurta darshan.

A place in Sumeru's Akademiya was secured by the young teen, passing the entrance exams after months of intense preparation. On the day of her departure, she refused to step onto the boat that would take her to the rainforest. After hours of crying and pleading, her father picked her up with all the grace of an aging man and carried her home, making her favourite treat while her mother informed the Akademiya of the delay.

The day of her departure never came as Celeste found her cowardice punished when her mother passed from an infectious disease shortly after.

Years went by in a haze, gripped by paranoia that her actions would once more lead to harm she'd yet to consider. Eventually, her father convinced the young woman to enroll for further education in Fontaine.

Two gruelling years were spent studying law before dropping out. She found herself punished again when the Research Institute was blown to pieces, taking several researchers with it.

Character Story 3

A name is more than just a companion through life, something bestowed by parents before they could possibly know if their intentions would match the child. A name can be a hope for the future, a blessing, or a wish for what life should hold.

So relieved to finally have a child to call their own, Celeste's parents looked to the island floating in the sky and decided to tether their little girl to it.

If names brought a role, then isn't it natural to suppose someone named after where the divine resides would be destined for greatness?

The little girl did all she could to live up to those expectations, held by no one but herself. A hero was kind, loved by all, courageous, strong, and would never remain idle in the face of danger.

Always trying to befriend everyone, no matter what it took, she was easily goaded into just about anything. Forgiveness came easy with her teary eyes, always favoured by the adults for how much she cared for everyone.

It was exhausting. Worse still with no real friends to show for all her efforts, changing to fit the situation at every turn left her watered down and uninteresting unless in the middle of some stupid dare.

During sunny days, the children would often play by Fontaine's great 'sea'. All of them knew better than to brave the waters alone. Until someone suggested Celeste dive in from a stone to prove her courage.

It'd be fine. They could all swim right? Just dive and swim back to shore.

She went headfirst down onto a rock. Another little girl hurried and ran into the water upon seeing faint traces of red. Betrayed by the still surface, she was pulled out by a current and began to thrash around.

Panicked screaming erupted, children running to get an adult. Celeste had easily made it back, clutching her bleeding nose and blissfully unaware of the chaos for just a moment.

She froze. This was her fault. She should swim out and help, right? This was her responsibility. She should be able to do it. Her destiny was greatness, after all.

It was too late when adults arrived, Celeste's feet still firmly planted on the shore as she watched on in horror.

Character Story 4

It is all too easy to close your eyes and stumble blindly through the trenches of life, easier still to sit back and let it all unfold as a marionette on strings.

How many days had passed without feeling the fresh breeze against her skin was uncertain, every clock in the small apartment had been turned to face the wall, refusing to acknowledge the significance of their movement as she mourned for the third time.

The Institute was gone and there was no one to pick up the scraps of her left behind this time, and so they were allowed to fester and rot as she shattered every piece of delicate porcelain inherited years prior. The boxes filled with wires and plating still sat untouched, and the room closed off.

When there was nothing left to break, she turned instead to herself. What is left to do when fate itself has made you an enemy? As blood poured from her wounds, so too did the memories of a happy childhood, and she howled with pain as they too turned to pus.

Every instance of kindness became tainted. If only she'd followed through last time misfortune struck, she would've been spared this.

Dissatisfaction led not to change but acceptance instead. Acceptance that the strings that tied her to the world were more than a mortal could ever hope to challenge. Acceptance led to willful complacency, waiting for a prophesy that even without any remaining ties to Fontaine, she wouldn't bother to flee.

The sinners would be put to justice, such was the law, and by the carnage Celeste now saw everywhere around her, what else was there to do than wait for rightful punishment?

Character Story 5

Salvation arrived in the form of a kind smile and loving eyes, hands that grasped her shoulders and pulled until her body fell into his embrace.

Jules was everything she coveted; warm, adored, and effortlessly successful in all he attempted. For him, Celeste was dragged out of misery, the Institute honouring her father's memory and taking pity, offering her a position as assistant. That Jules happened to be in need of such only made it all the sweeter.

For a year, life consisted of work, candlelit dinners, operas, and confessions of undying love.

It was the perfect picture of young love, of salvation, happy in the way every happy home is. They did everything together, and gradually, Celeste found herself once more become involved with research, but no longer on the sidelines or hidden away by her father, shielded the consequences of messing with things she had no clearance for.

Jules valued the input and sharp mind that had begun to reawaken now that challenges were presented.

Keeping busy removes the opportunity to sit down and properly think, to examine the larger picture. While Celeste tinkered with prototypes of tiny mechanical beetles for surveillance, so happy with the present that the past was easily ignored and the future forgotten.

But what is an assistant if not a tool? And anything produced by a tool must belong to the wielder. A debt of gratitude can be repaid in a multitude of ways, and perhaps they should never be attempted paid at all.

Upon finding no hint of acknowledgement of her efforts, Celeste confronted her gentle lover with uncharacteristically brazen fury. It made it easy to brush her off as not only unreasonable but hysterical as well.

With anger and hatred weighing upon her heart, Celeste made the decision to never let herself be used so carelessly. No longer would she mindlessly go along with the wishes of others and the people who had exploited that weakness should be burned away.

Her hands shook as she packed a single bag, too blinded to stop and think and unwilling to glance back as she left her home behind. Careless plans of revenge were already forming in the fires of heartbreak, but there was only one way to secure the necessary resources for such ideas.

Delusion

"You've said yourself that I need to be able to defend myself. This is the logical next step, a simple weapon will only do so much when-"

"You are going to ruin your body."

"Do you have so little faith in my results?"

A deadly silence followed her question. Myriads of unspoken words hanging in the air around them both. The Doctor huffed before snatching up the glass orb and turning to leave without a glance at his frustrated assistant.

Two weeks later, Celeste entered her quarters late at night, having worked far longer than planned, annoyed with how absent her superior had been lately.

Upon her nightstand was an unfamiliar object, an intricately carved metal casing that held a crimson stone, embers of energy swirling within it. Beside it lay a hastily scribbled note, writing near illegible to the untrained eye; 'Do not make me regret this'