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sparklingcid3r · 10 months ago

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wut did the convo between darry and child services go like? obvi was complicated but like genuinely how did he convince them he could b the guardian of 2 teenage boys? he genuinely must have nerves of steel.

also like must have been the worse adjustment if he always confided in paul or his dad when stressed, but now has no one. like his just isolation from any close relationship is soooo noticeable, esp compared to his brothers who actively lean on their best friends

just ignore that this might end up horribly inaccurate🙏 i’m here for a good time alr leave me alone😭 but fr darry was going through the traumas of odysseus on his voyage back to ithaca when he should have been getting lit at the club😔

Darry’s shell shock looks a whole lot like numbness. That’s how he feels, too, so when the same officers who just told him they’re very sorry, but his parents have been killed in an accident, he just stares and hears them iterate for him what exactly he needs to get done immediately. He forces himself to actually listen, because this isn’t about him, it’s about Pony and Soda and keeping a roof above their heads.

He needs to locate his ma and dad’s birth certificates and legal documents to have their wills probated and assets distributed, schedule an appointment with the funeral director, schedule a date for the funeral itself, meet with the court to be appointed Pony and Soda’s legal guardian, but that’s only after they deem him fit to be the sole caretaker of two teenagers. They’ll assign them a case manager. They’ll ask him what his salary is, they’ll call his old coaches to ask about his time management and self-discipline—what if he comes up short in some way? What if he makes a mistake and gets his brothers thrown in a home?

Fuck, then there’s the personal arrangements. He needs to call the college dean and tell him extraordinary circumstances have forced him to drop out, probably he’ll still have to pay for the rest of the semester he didn’t get to finish. When the case manager comes over for their meeting—the house is a mess from Darry’s birthday party, they’ll think Darry is okay with raising his brothers in filth. Something about bank statements too, he’s sure he’ll have to go over it, see what his parents have been paying for, what he’ll need to pay for and what he has to cut now that money’s about to be tighter. Bills, taxes, he needs to draw up a system to distribute those payments overdue or not. Groceries, do they need to go shopping soon? With what money? With Darry’s money, he needs to get a job now.

Darry gets to work.

Identifying the bodies is the first thing he does. He lets Steve and Johnny stay over to keep Pony and Soda company. Two-Bit offers to come with Darry to the hospital, but he refuses. When he gets to the hospital, he sees Dally standing at the entrance, cross-armed and stone-faced. He doesn’t even look at Darry when he arrives. Just pushes himself off the pillar and shrugs. “Your call.”

Darry says nothing, so Dally follows him in. The police lead him to the morgue. The sheets are carefully folded back to reveal their faces, and Darry’s stomach heaves and his eyes blur. His parents are shredded. They’re just bodies, sliced, crushed bodies. He doesn’t even realize he stumbling until a steeled hand grabs him and keeps him upright, and Dally’s saying “Easy, easy, man. Breathe, Darrel. That them?”

Darry nods. All he’s think is that it’s going to be a closed casket funeral.

The wills are the next thing he deals with. Once those are probated and the surrogate has deemed them official, Darry is free to pay the fees and obtain his inheritance, as well as transfer his parents’ money to his name in the bank.

Next, Darry searches for a job. Something physical, or something to do with numbers. He was going to be an accountant after all, might as well make some use of the few months he spent studying. After busting his ass hunting and applying, he lands a job at Fitzmorris Roofing and starts as soon as he can. The pay is decent, but not enough, so he keeps looking. Eventually he finds out about a firm at the edge of town looking for a bookkeeper, so Darry goes in for an interview and walks out with his second job.

Then are the bank statements. Darry gets issued a copy of his parents’ bank statements from the previous month and spends entire nights going through them. After crunching the numbers twice, he finds out that in two months from now, they’ll have to go without paying the electricity bill for a few weeks while Darry’s paychecks catch up with expenses. Better than going hungry. They’ll just have to deal with the dark.

So far, they’ve been feeding off the numerous donations from families around town. Lasagnas and casseroles and meatloafs, that’s what they’ve been pushing around their plates for the past two weeks. Darry surmises they have about one more week to make those last, then he’ll need to crack open a cookbook or two.

He meets with the funeral director. He advises Darry on what graveyard to pick, what kinds of caskets to hold the bodies in, how much of the burial will be covered by insurance. All Darry understands is that this is money he’ll need to cut from their budget. It eats at him.

Darry blinks and a week has gone by.

He doesn’t really remembering seeing Pony and Soda during it. Everything’s a blur. But he looks at a calendar and realizes with a seize of his heart that their case manager is supposed to meet them for the first time in—an hour and a half.

Shit, he hasn’t even gotten to cleaning the house yet. There’s laundry on the fucking couch, for Christ’s sake. Darry snatches it up and bangs down Soda and Pony’s door, dumping it on the bed. He sees a lump under the blanket and a jolt rocks him—that’s your brother, that’s Ponyboy, he’s grieving, he’s in pain, he needs help—but all he can do is kick the mattress and tell him, “On your feet, Ponyboy, Mrs. Mulligan’ll be here for dinner.” Pony doesn’t move, but there’s nothing else Darry can do, so he rips the blanket off Pony and leaves, slamming the door behind him because his own strength has become unfamiliar to him.

Soda’s in the backyard doing whatever the hell Soda’s been doing while Darry was out, and he’s called in but he comes trailing in like a wet dog. Darry doesn’t know what he’ll do if this meeting doesn’t go well, if Mulligan says Darry is not suited to provide for his brothers, how he’ll possible be able to live by himself knowing his brothers have been separated, so he snaps for Soda to stand up straight and fix his hair. Soda looks at him blankly, and again there’s a voice in Darry’s head—Sodapop’s not alright, he’s not talking, he’s not smiling, he’s not laughing, you have to fix this—but all he can say is “Now, dammit” and hits the countertop, spooking Soda enough to get him to flee, and Darry’s alone again, cleaning the table of the bills and documents, pushing them on top of the icebox and out of sight.

Darry’s prepped one of their last donated meals, macaroni salad, and set the table as nice as he can.

Fifteen minutes before Mrs. Mulligan arrives, he checks in on Pony and Soda. He stands outside their door, hand raised to knock, but he can hear them talking.

Talking about him.

“He’s gone crazy, Soda, I swear. When’s the last time you saw him stand still for two seconds? If you’ve seen him at all.”

“Dunno, Ponykid.”

“I miss Ma. I miss her and Dad. It’s like Darry hasn’t even noticed they’re gone.”

“Naw, baby, don’t say that. He’s trying, I think. He’s trying awful hard. We just don’t see it.”

“You don’t even know that. What if he’s making plans to shove us in a boys’ home?”

Darry can’t take it. His breath is lodged in his throat, but he can’t go falling apart right now, not when he’s come this far and still has a long way to go. He just knocks and calls them out to the living room.

Darry can’t meet their eyes when they sit in the living room. Pony’s lean on Soda’s shoulder but Darry can’t think about that, he’s got to put the macaroni salad in a bowl and clean off the utensils and “Pony, I told you to wash the dishes this morning.” With his back turned to his brothers, Darry winces. Anger never used to seep out this easily. But everything was enough of a threat to push him over the edge. Everything everyone said to him pierced him like a hook, made his tongue feel heavy and his blood feel hot. He needed to put a lid over it tonight.

Mrs. Mulligan’s eyes don’t rise to Darry’s when he opens the door for her. She looks behind him at their living room, at Soda and Pony on the couch, makes a funny noise in the back of her throat, then extends her hand out to Darry. Immediately Darry knows he’s going to be on the defensive the entire night. This woman does not approve of where Soda and Pony are being raised. Whether that means she doesn’t approve of the East side as a location or Darry as a guardian, he isn’t sure.

She drills him, but it’s disguised as gentle. Darry does everything slowly. Serving the food, making small talk, discussing Pony and Soda’s grades. Mulligan switches to speaking directly to the boys, and Darry’s not hungry, but he pretends to enjoy chewing the rubbery macaroni and keeps his head down.

Despite their reservations about life without their parents, Soda and Pony defend Darry to the case manager. It goes smoothly enough that she leaves Darry with a smile and a promise to stay in touch.

When the door clicks shut, Pony is gone in the blink of an eye back to his room. Soda just stalks into the kitchen and starts wrapping up leftovers, cleaning off the dishes. Darry tries to get Soda to sleep, but Soda turns to him.

“I’ll do the dishes, Darry. Just don’t get mad at Pony.”

“No, Soda, I’ll do it—“

“You’re tired, Darry. Let me be useful?”

Soda always knew how to spin the conversation in his favor. He was right. Darry was tired. He was just… tired.

But there’s a reason Darry hasn’t given himself a restful night yet. He doesn’t trust himself yet.

“Give me the sponge, Sodapop. Pony needs you.”

Darry’s had sixteen years to learn how to outmaneuver his kid brother. He’s not in the mood to fight fair.

Soda concedes and draws away from the sink, but he lingers in the doorway. “We need you, too, Darry.”

“I know. I’ll be here in the morning.”

He wouldn’t be. He’d be gone by the time they woke up, on top of a roof with bundles of roofing slung over his shoulder, but it wasn’t his physical presence that mattered. He was going to keep their heads above water, no matter what it took.

“When’s the funeral?” asks Soda.

“Friday.”

Two days. Two days until it was official and their parents were covered in dirt. Darry just needed to keep it together until then.

“G’night, Darry.”

“G’night.”

When the funeral comes, Darry’s quiet. Pony and Soda are weeping, unashamed by it, so Darry’s the one people feel comfortable giving their condolences to. He shakes a lot of hands, feels disgusted by it, like he’s collecting germs and other people’s bad luck. The gang is there, even Dally, but they hang in the back of the crowd, discounting Two-Bit, who’s up front with his ma and sister.

After Darry gives the eulogy he doesn’t remember writing, he watches twin caskets get sunk into the ground, dirt spilling on top of them, and Darry is officially alone. He leaves the ceremony, goes and sits down on a bench outside the fencing.

Not yet. Don’t break yet.

A shadow falls across his own. Dally’s taking drags from a cigarette at his side. He’s just as quiet as Darry, but offers the cancer stick. Darry accepts it, taking a few puffs. He’s out of practice and coughs the first time. Dally just pats his back and waits for him to try again. It feels good, but not the kind of good Darry knows he can depend on. He’s still got to stay healthy if he’s going to be trudging around in the sun for half his day and sitting around doing math for the other half.

“Do what you gotta do, as long as it’s nothing permanent,” Dally says.

“Couldn’t if I wanted to,” Darry replies, handing back the cigarette. His eyes sting.

It’s like the world’s stopped rotating after his parents are put to rest. Not when Darry actually expected it to. He closes the door to his parents’ bedroom, the room he’s been sleeping in for the past… however long it’s been.

He doesn’t even make it to the bed. The moment the door’s locked behind him, Darry’s loosening his dad’s tie from his neck, yanking at his dad’s collar to untighten his airways, but it doesn’t work. He slumps against the door and slides down, messing up his hair and crying into his arms, only as hard as his silence will allow. Pony and Soda are in the next room over, still teary, consoling each other. Darry won’t steal their reprieve.

He falls apart alone, wondering how he’s meant to wake up tomorrow in a world he doesn’t want to live in. And when he picks himself up and puts himself back together, he’ll do that alone too. He doesn’t have a choice.

istg sometimes yall just gotta LET ME COOK 👩‍🍳 can u tell i got super into it the longer i went on for lmao

oh btw this doesn’t scratch the surface of everything darry prob needed to do. he would have had to choose what his parents wore in their caskets, dealt with the scrapping of the car, assumed responsibility of the real estate deed (the house), communicated with pony and soda’s high school, communicated with his parents’ former employers, etc etc. the break was uncatchable i fear

#the outsiders #the outsiders darry #darry curtis #the outsiders headcanons #the outsiders musical #the outsiders ponyboy #the outsiders sodapop #ponyboy curtis #sodapop curtis #the outsiders fanfiction #the outsiders dally #dallas winston #the outsiders johnny #johnny cade #the outsiders two bit #two bit mathews #steve randle #the outsiders steve

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justinspoliticalcorner · 2 months ago

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Ari Berman at Mother Jones:

Two weeks after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping anti-voting executive order, the House of Representatives on Thursday passed a measure, the SAVE Act, that is described by voting rights advocates as perhaps the worst voter suppression bill ever seriously considered by Congress. It could disenfranchise millions of voters and would severely limit how Americans can register to vote. “If the SAVE Act were enacted, this would be the first federal voter suppression bill in recent memory and possibly ever,” says Eliza Sweren-Becker, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice’s voting rights and elections program. “It would be an unprecedented burden on tens of millions of Americans and would block millions of Americans from voting and participating in our democracy. It’s a five-alarm fire for American voters and for election officials.” Under the alleged need to stop noncitizens from voting in federal elections, which is already illegal and exceedingly rare, the bill would require documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, to register to vote. The bill passed the House on Thursday morning 220–208. Nine percent of American citizens, roughly 21 million people, don’t have ready access to citizenship documents, according to a study by the Brennan Center and other voting rights groups. Sixty percent of them voted in the 2020 election. Close to 4 million don’t have these documents at all because they were lost, destroyed, or stolen.

But the number of affected voters is much larger than just those who don’t possess or have easy access to citizenship documents. According to the Pew Research Center, 79 percent of American women married to men have taken their spouse’s last name; that equates to about 69 million women who do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name and could find it much harder to register to vote under the bill. Interestingly, conservative Republican women and Republican/Republican-leaning women were the two groups most likely to take their partner’s name. Greta Bedekovics, associate director for democratic policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP), calls this “a marriage penalty” that “completely ignores the implications of the 19th Amendment.”

And the bill goes much further than simply requiring proof of citizenship to vote. It would upend voter registration in the US because of a requirement that voters provide this documentation in person at an election office. According to voting rights experts, that requirement would end online registration, mail registration, and voter registration drives, methods that accounted for 1 in 3 registrations during the 2018–2022 election cycles. This requirement would apply not just for new registrants, but every time someone updates their registration. Roughly 80 million people register or re-register every election cycle, and less than 6 percent registered at an election office.

“The SAVE Act will take us back to a pre-Internet era of registration,” Bedekovics says. “Americans hate going to the DMV, so imagine having to go in person to your election office every single time you will make these changes.” Although touted by Republicans, this provision of the bill could most harm some GOP-leaning constituencies. A CAP study of the 30 largest counties in the US by area, which represent eight Western states, found that voters “would be forced to drive, on average across the counties, four-and-a-half hours round trip and cover approximately 260 miles to reach their election office.” Some voters might have to drive as far as eight hours to register to vote.

“That’s not people that you generally think would be ensnared by this bill, but it is going to be a lot of rural, oftentimes conservative voters who have to get in their car and pay as much as $75 in gas money and cross into two different states just to be able to be able to show their documentation to an election official,” Bedekovics says.

[...] The measure fuses two of the central planks of the MAGA agenda—anti-immigrant hysteria and voter fraud paranoia. Republicans claim the bill is necessary to stop noncitizens from registering, but they can’t find any evidence of that occurring. “We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said at a press conference last year. “But it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number.”

The SAVE Act was voted to pass in the House 220-208, with 4 Democrats crossing over. This bill will face a difficult road in the Senate due to the 60-vote cloture lift threshold.

The SAVE Act is a grotesque voter suppression bill that would disenfranchise millions of voters and limit voter registration on the basis of solving a nonexistent problem of noncitizen voting in federal elections.

See Also:

Steady: It’s Not Just Trump Destroying Democracy

#119th Congress #US House of Representatives #SAVE Act #Voter Suppression #Voting Rights #US Citizenship

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azuramarigold · 6 months ago

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Underground Dealings

Synopsis: You were a typical office worker that one day gets fired at your job at a smaller office ran by Naoya Zen'in, but your friend, Yuji Itadori, who works at a small coffee shop that you discovered a year ago on your way to work, suggests that you apply to his uncle's company. What you didn't realize was that your assets were going to be important to the company in every department, and that every head, from the CEO to legal has their own underground dealings on what keeps the company afloat.

Characters: officeworker!reader x CEO!Sukuna, officeworker!reader x businessassociate!Gojo, officeworker!reader x salaryman!Nanami; other pairings to be added

Other characters: Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara Kugisaki, Naoya Zen'in, Maki Zen'in, Mai Zen'in, Uraume; other characters to be added.

Genre: modern au, eventual smut, 18+, angst, violence, gore

WARNINGS: (eventual) smut, blood, violence, gore, using weapons, death, drug use, smoking, alcohol use, cussing.

Divider/Navigation made by: saradika

Ko-Fi Commissions AO3 Profile

Prologue Prev.

Ch 2. Word count: ~4.2k

Chapter 2: Tour of the Office

“If you can sign here, here, and initial here…”

The attorney that sat in front of you was older, him with nice dark, disheveled hair and eyes with a large nose, but honestly was still quite attractive, and with a strong jaw. He wore a black tailored suit and black tie with a crisp white dress shirt, it wasn't too extravagant – simple and neat. He used a long finger to point at every spot for you to sign on your new employee contract – deliberate and to the point.

“You'll also be given a personal work laptop and personal cellphone as well,” the attorney stated, he had introduced himself as Hiromi Higuruma. Said items were beside him, a simple thin black laptop and the newest model of the top-of-the-line smartphone – your own phone was a few models behind. “You’ll need to sign an agreement regarding these.” Higuruma then pulled out a couple of documents.

The documents were simple enough. They stated that you would not use the laptop for personal use such as storing photos, personal data, etc. It was the same for the phone, the phone was to be used to contact clients, arrange things for Mr. Ryōmen for business trips, order necessary things for him, and for him to contact you directly; you were to not give that phone number to anyone unless Mr. Ryōmen gave permission.

“So, no Candy Crush?” you joked with a slight smile after you read over the contract.

Higuruma looked at you with tired eyes. “Mr. Itadori tried that on his phone…” he sighed. “Mr. Ryōmen didn’t approve.”

“Wouldn’t go easy on his own nephew, huh?” you grimaced as you signed. You signed your name with semi-bad penmanship, something your teachers have scolded you for years for, but you never bothered to correct as your mind worked too fast to care for neat handwriting.

“If anything, the boss is harder on him,” the attorney informed with a slight grin. “He wants Mr. Itadori to be successful.”

“Yuji never talked about his uncle before…” you mentioned. “Only his grandfather… Is there a reason?”

“That is not my place,” Higuruma replied stoically, his grin disappearing. He then slipped out another piece of paper. “I almost forgot… you also need to sign an NDA agreement.”

You internally sighed. You were familiar with those in your line of work. Back when you were an intern during your college days you had to sign quite a few while you were at numerous offices. Then you had to sign one while working with Naoya.

After a moment or two of reading over everything – which was quite standard stuff – you signed off on everything. Higuruma took the papers back and neatly put everything in his suitcase. He slid over the laptop and cellphone over to you.

“You of course can put the laptop and phone in any type of case you like,” he told you with a sly smile. “You do get the luxury of having a company credit card as well.” Higuruma then handed you a red card, heavy in your hands as it was made of a heavier material than traditional credit cards.

Sheepishly, you pawed over the card, noting that there was no significant bank name on it. Its red color was almost a metallic color, reminding you of freshly spilled blood. There was no name on it either, making you wonder how it could be proven to be used as a card, but sure enough there was a magnetic stripe and a chip reader on it.

“Mr. Ryōmen doesn’t mind what is spent on that card,” Higuruma specified to you. “So, no need to go to him for approval, or do anything for paperwork regarding what you spent on.”

You raised a brow in confusion. Many, if not all, companies expected receipts when something was bought. Or they expected a full ledger report on what you were going to use the money for just to deny you it and watch you squirm.

Once you were done in Higuruma’s office, he led you out and standing in front of the door was the white-haired man from the day prior.

“Why, hello there, Y/N!”

“Ah, Mr. Gojo, it’s nice to run into you again,” you greeted with a smile.

Gojo’s crystal blue eyes brightened. “Ah, it’s great running into you again, sweets!” he jested. His eyes darted over to Higuruma, who was getting another document from his briefcase. “Higuruma, I know you are not grabbing what I think you are grabbing!”

“A sexual harassment form?” Higuruma deadpanned. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Asshole, put that away!” Gojo hissed angrily. “She’ll get the wrong idea!”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at that, trying, and failing to cover it up with your hand. “What brings you here, Mr. Gojo?”

Gojo gave a large smile. “Well, you’re officially hired, so, I thought as a lovely gentleman I would give you a tour – HIGURUMA STOP FILLING OUT THE DAMN FORM!”

There was the subtle sound of Higuruma’s pen haphazardly scratching at the paper on the surface of the wall, filling out the necessary, or in Gojo’s mind unnecessary, parts.

“Just getting a head start,” the attorney mumbled. He then put the paper away. “Now, Ms. Y/N, the phone I gave you already has some numbers programmed into it. It of course as Mr. Ryōmen’s number, Uraume’s, Mr. Itadori’s, mine, and every department head in the company along with their secretary.”

Gojo’s eyes sparkled mischievously behind his glasses. “Oh, that means you already have my number!” he informed teasingly. “Feel free to program it into your personal phone as well!” He gave a not-so-subtle wink.

Higuruma’s hand twitched toward his briefcase again for the form.

“I swear to any deity that is willing to listen to me, Hiromi, I am going to beat the fuck out of you if you keep doing that!” Gojo threatened, raising a fist and waving it at him.

“Not very wise to threaten an attorney, Satoru,” Higuruma quipped back, a smile playing on his lips. “Anyways, we are finished here, Ms. Y/N. If you would like to go with Gojo for a tour, I guess I cannot stop you.”

You gave Higuruma a bow, ignoring the slight hike in your skirt that you for sure Gojo noticed. The skirt you wore was a tad bit shorter than you’d like, but it was the only clean one that you had available.

“Thank you, Mr. Higuruma,” you thanked. You then took the phone and laptop, cradling the laptop under your arm.ō

Earlier when you arrived back at Ryōmen Enterprises for your new employee paperwork, the receptionist, Shoko, had set you up with your new employee badge. She took your picture, complimented your hairstyle and makeup, and printed it on a nice official badge. Shoko had given you a generic lanyard for it but informed you that you can use any type of lanyard you’d like.

As Mr. Ryōmen’s personal assistant now, you have access to every part of the building. Basically, if Mr. Ryōmen, Yuji, and Uraume had access to something, you had access to something. In a way it was refreshing, you had a lot more access to things than when you were with Naoya.

Gojo was trying to be a decent guide as he wanted to start from the ground up. On the ground floor he re-introduced you to Shoko first, stating that he and her had gone to high school together and in turn when to college together.

“Actually, a lot of us went to school together,” Gojo pointed out with a smile.

You quirked an eyebrow. “Just how old are you then, Mr. Gojo?” you inquired with a sly smile.

He gave an over-exaggerated open mouth gasp, putting his hand to his chest. “My, my…! How rude asking a young man his age!” he dramatically stated while Shoko chuckled.

“He just turned 32,” Shoko informed coyly. Gojo glared at her in return.

“Keep smoking and your 32 is going to turn into 62 real fast!” Gojo quipped back.

You tilted your head to the side. You didn't think Gojo and Shoko looked any older than yourself, mid-twenties. In fact, you wonder how old Mr. Ryōmen was, as he was Yuji's uncle, he didn't look very old either.

“So, did you guys go to school with Mr. Ryōmen then…?” you then asked curiously.

“We met in college,” Shoko explained lightly. “He's a few years older than us.”

You nodded. “It's just… like you guys, he doesn't look his age…” you noted. “It's weird he has a 19-year-old nephew.”

Gojo shrugged offhandedly. “I think his twin brother knocked up a girl like, right after high school…” he mentioned.

“Explains why Yuji and he look so much alike…!” you nearly gasped aloud.

“Yeah, no shit!” Gojo laughed. “I thought Yuji was his kid at first. I was told to shut the fuck up and get back to work.”

“Which you should be doing right now,” a deep voice rumbled.

Comically, it looked like shivers ran up Gojo's spine and tingled through his white hair.

“Oh…! Boss!” Gojo greeted smoothly as he spun around to see Mr. Ryōmen large form behind him. “What a pleasant surprise~!”

“Get back to fucking work, Gojo!” Mr. Ryōmen griped, his face flushed with anger, teeth gritted, a vein about to pop from his forehead. “I swear to fucking Christ, the Brat does more work than you do and I catch him looking at AI porn of Jennifer Lawrence on his damn tablet!”

Gojo gave a low whistle, “Kid got balls, man…”

“Satoru…”

“Alright, alright…!” Gojo griped, raising his hands up in surrender. “I just wanted to give the new girl a tour is all!”

Mr. Ryōmen seemed to finally notice that you were standing there awkwardly to the side, now clutching your new work laptop to your chest. You gave a sheepish smile and wave. Mr. Ryōmen narrowed his eyes at the white-haired man.

“Did Higuruma already start paperwork on your ass, because if he didn’t, I’m-”

“What the actual fuck…” Gojo groaned in complete dismay before finally walking away in utter defeat.

Before he could say anything to Shoko, the phone rang, and she promptly answered it with a faux smile and peppy voice.

“Y/N,” Mr. Ryōmen said to you.

“Yes…!” you answered with an almost terrified squeak.

“Come with me, I’ll show you around,” he then ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Ryōmen started on the bottom floor, which made sense since that was where you were. The bottom floor had the few receptionists that were there, Shoko being the lead one. There were a couple of college aged students that were interns that ran the back office making copies of documents and ran a small office for filing.

He then showed the small café area where the workers got their coffees and some snacks. There was one lone barista, and he wasn’t all too busy since the morning rush was done.

“I’ll admit he doesn’t get too much business here,” Mr. Ryōmen grinned. “I’ll probably not renew his contract after its up.”

“Oh, why is that…?” you asked politely.

“Ever since I bought that coffee shop for the Brat and he’s been working there with his little friends, most of the employees here get their coffee from him on their way here,” he explained with almost a proud tone. “Some even go on their lunch break for more coffee or the little lunches they have – everyone says the coffee and pastries are better there and love the customer service.” He gave you a side glance, a smirk playing on his lips. “And I recall a little someone walking in this morning also carrying one of those coffees.”

Your face immediately flushed red. “Oh… well… that coffee shop was how I met Yuji and the others…” You admit that it the coffee was indeed better there than most chains, and you always enjoyed the hand decorated desserts that Megumi and Yuji did together. After hearing that Yuji wanted to franchise it out after getting a business degree, you wonder if that nice charm would still be there.

“So, I’m gonna be paying you to buy my nephew’s coffee?”

“What…!? Oh, no…!” You were trying to quickly explain yourself when you heard that he was chuckling under his breath. You frowned, realizing he was playing a joke. “Oh, ha, ha…”

The tour continued to a large staff break room that had a complete kitchen with state-of-the-art stainless-steel appliances. The refrigerator was stocked with bottled water, sparkling water, and soda, along with some employees’ packed lunches with their names written on them. A few microwaves were attached against the walls and quite large, proving to be better than an average break room's 300-watt microwave.

The countertops were a nice dark granite, something you would see in a six-figure home and not in a break room. There were small towers in random spots that held condiments and seasonings, all available to twirl to get what you needed. A few spots had electric stoves, so anyone was able to reheat something on a stovetop instead of a microwave. And lastly a lovely double oven was in the center.

“Once in a while for parties I have professional chefs come and cook for the staff,” Mr. Ryōmen said. “But anyone is allowed to use the facilities here to prepare their lunch – as long as they clean up after themselves.” He stressed that last line heavily.

You couldn't help but chuckle at that. “You make it sound like you have a couple of children here that don't look after themselves,” you nearly laughed.

“Yuji can cook very well, he's an excellent chef in the making, but the fucker can't clean up after himself to save his life,” Mr. Ryōmen stressed heavily, you took note that this is the first time he referred to his nephew by name. “And Gojo, he'll start a fire just looking at an empty bowl… in the sink that has water in it.”

“Oh, dear…” you nearly laughed. “That’s bad.”

On the next floor on the tour were sales. The sales department was run by a man named Suguru Geto, who had the longest mane of black hair tied up you had ever seen. He gave you a friendly smile and shook your hand while he introduced himself. He didn't wear a suit jacket, most likely had it hung up somewhere, as he was just sporting a black dress shirt and purple tie with black dress pants and shoes.

You had a feeling that you would be working with Geto a bit more than other departments as sales connect with clients a lot more. So, you chatted with him for a moment before a young girl with caramel colored hair tied in a neat bun with part of her hair as ringlets framing her face, her light brown eyes wide with worry as she gripped a piece of paper in her hands.

“Mr. Geto…!” the girl nearly wailed. “I just got news from the client…! They want another revision…!” She then fussed as her dark purple skirt and cream cashmere sweater while bouncing between her feet nervously.

Geto gave you a smile and excused himself for a moment. “Nanako, you and Mimiko have done it four times already, yes…?” he pressed, clearly trying to keep his agitation to a minimum – clearly it was toward the client and not the young girl.

“Yes…” Nanako tearfully replied. “But they want another…”

Geto's eye twitched. “Damn monkey…” he muttered under his breath. “Nothing but a circus show here…”

Mr. Ryōmen seemed to know when Geto got in the mood it was time to leave. He escorted you from the office and headed to the next part of the tour, you were looking over your shoulder to see an almost devilish smile on Geto’s face as he was on the phone with the client.

The next floor was marketing, although you could tell by seeing Mr. Ryōmen’s face he would rather skip it since it was Gojo’s department. However, it was part of the tour.

With marketing, Gojo’s job was to make sure the brand was profitable and to help team up with sales to create awareness for clients. Gojo and Geto were high school best friends, so they were very familiar with each other and worked well together.

Speaking of the devil, Gojo sat at his desk, his head cradled with one hand as he was on the phone no doubt with a client himself. His brows were furrowed angrily while he had a couple of people bussing about with numerous papers.

In your line of work from previous companies, you have also dealt with marketing. There was no doubt that you would be working with Gojo as well as Geto. Luckily, Gojo was very easygoing, and since he was close to Geto you were sure you would get along with the raven-haired man as well.

Gojo, having no time to do his usual charms, uncradled his head and used the now free arm to give you a subtle wave. He went back to what he was doing, looking as though he wanted whoever was on the other line to explode.

Mr. Ryōmen decided to skip the next floor, as you were already there earlier – legal. You have already met Mr. Higuruma and the attorney showed you around. There were only a few lawyers with the company, but Mr. Ryōmen trusted Higuruma the most as they were classmates in high school and were roommates in college.

The next floor was finance, which was run by Kento Nanami. He was a tall, blonde man with sharp cheekbones and a strong jawline, his hair neatly parted. Like the other heads of their respective departments, he was wearing a suit, but he wore beige with a dark, royal blue dress shirt with a spotted yellow tie and a pair of brown dress shoes.

He was not very sociable as his greeting was short and curt, his hazel eyes barely taking a glance at you. It seemed Nanami was busy as he was looking through papers and asking others in his area to go over the numbers once more, including his second in command, Yuu Haibara.

Sales, marketing, and finance all work closely together in a business – and as the personal assistant to the CEO of the company, now it is your duty to make sure to get the details of each department and make sure everything was running smoothly. Again, you will most likely get along with Gojo and Geto, but Nanami seemed very intimidating.

There were a few other departments that Mr. Ryōmen introduced you to as well, such as IT, run by Takuma Ino, who Mr. Ryōmen had to remind him apparently once again to remove his beanie while in the office. The young man, who was the same age as you, only gave a sheepish smile as he complied while he introduced himself. He had messy brown hair, messy from his beanie, and large brown eyes, making him look much younger than he was – it didn't help that his professional attire was a dark gray polo shirt and black slacks with black and white canvas high-tops. In a way he was cute, you could admit that but compared to the other men you had just met Ino was almost too “Boy Next Door” type.

Several small administrative offices were in the building as well, each connected to the main departments run by each person you were introduced to. Many of the employees on the administration side seemed to be around your age, or even a couple of years younger, around the same age as the café trio you've come to befriend. They all seemed friendly and excited to meet you, although a but uneasy to see who you were accompanied by.

After roughly two hours of touring the building, Mr. Ryōmen even showed you where the supply room was and smaller kitchenette areas were for mini-fridges and coffee makers, you were finally back at the top floor where his office was located. Uraume was at their desk, typing away at the computer, their eyes glancing toward the two of you exiting the elevator before quickly finishing and getting up.

“Sir, I have Ms. Y/N’s desk prepared as you have asked,” Uraume informed with a slight bow.

“Ah, good, right-on time,” Mr. Ryōmen smiled. He then proceeded to lead you to a decently sized desk that was across from Uraume’s, but still in front of Mr. Ryōmen’s office. You could tell that the desk was new and sturdy, a nice, sleek desktop setup already booted-up with a printout of your new log-in information on the keyboard.

There was still enough room on the desk to put the laptop to the side and work on it. You didn’t have a desk phone as everything you would do as the CEO’s personal assistant would be through the work cellphone. While Uraume was the secretary and kept up with the paperwork in the office and meetings within the building with the staff, your job was more for his social meetings with clients outside the office.

You settled at the desk, the chair contouring to your body with easy. It was ergonomic with amazing lumbar support, and it even helped support your head and neck. You could easily sit in the chair for hours without pain. It sure beat the regular $20 Wal-Mart chair that Naoya had for your desk…

“You are free to put some personal objects on your desk,” Mr. Ryōmen informed you when he noticed you were in bliss from the chair. It sounded like he was trying to hold back a chuckle. “You know, like pictures, I know Ino and the Brat puts up little figurines on their desks.”

You nodded in acknowledgement, still content in the chair.

“I’m guessing you like the chair…?” your boss rumbled in amusement, you could hear the smile in his voice.

“This is the best damn chair I’ve ever sat on…” you sighed blissfully.

“Damn, getting a hard on over a chair?” the man nearly choked with a cackle.

“I am but a simple woman… nice chairs and maybe a nice cheese platter…”

Another low rumble escaped Mr. Ryōmen. “Well, I'll be sure to have a cheese platter for you as your official welcoming gift to the office.”

His comment snapped you out of your trance as you clumsily shot from your chair, causing it to nearly fly out from behind you. “Oh, no!” you nearly shrieked. “That is not necessary at all!” you insisted.

The man only laughed as he turned away from you to walk back into his office, waving overhead as he did.

For the rest of the day you sat at your new desk getting your desktop set up, Uraume helping you through the system and showing you the scheduling software. It was a couple of hours later when Yuji showed up to the office, in another crisp looking suit tailored, looking excited to see that you were officially there at a desk with Uraume.

“I told you I was starting today…” you nearly deadpanned to him. “This morning I did when I got my usual coffee…”

“It's so different from being told versus seeing it though!” Yuji said excitedly. Giddily, he almost ran to your desk at your side seeing what you were doing. “Did you already meet all the heads yet?”

You nodded. “Yeah, Mr. Ryōmen showed me around,” you replied.

Yuji blinked in surprise. “Really? He didn’t even show me around. He had Nanamin do it.”

You tilted your head to the side in confusion. “Nanamin…?” you repeated.

“Oh, Nanami in finance,” Yuji elaborated with a grin. “I just call him that.”

You honestly couldn’t imagine the blonde, stoic man tolerating that.

Yuji then shrugged. “Well, hopefully my uncle didn’t make you uncomfortable,” he then said.

The next hour was you finishing up all your login information, both Yuji and Uraume making sure you were all set. Mr. Ryōmen saw the two crowding you as he walked out of his office, raising a curious brow.

“You all settled?” he called out.

“She should be good!” Yuji answered for you with a thumbs up.

“Then she can go home, and you can actually do what you’re supposed to do!” Mr. Ryōmen snapped.

Yuji hung his head, and he groaned, “Dude, I don’t even get paid here…!”

“I literally bought you a whole ass coffee shop,” his uncle deadpanned. “Suck it up, Brat.”

“Ugh… yes, Uncle Kuna,” the young man grumbled.

You chuckled at the sudden familial nickname Yuji called your new boss. However, you did notice Mr. Ryōmen’s eye twitch slightly.

“Y/N,” Mr. Ryōmen then said, a devilish smile on his face. “You may leave now for the day. I have… some words to speak to my nephew.”

You didn’t need to be told twice as you logged out of the computer and gathered your items. As you began to walk away, you did wave at Uraume goodbye and went to do the same thing to Yuji, only to see Mr. Ryōmen dragging the poor boy into his office by the ear. All in all, you thought your first day wasn't too bad.

Special thanks to my Ko-fi supporters!

Basic Tier

Aostrele

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Middle Tier

@genderfluidsgetguns AKA IdoInFactLikeDogs

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black-crested-jaybird · 4 months ago

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House Bill 22: What To Know

Non-inflammatory/non-doomscrolling information on House Bill 22, the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” or “SAVE” Act.

Summary: This bill would disenfranchise legal voters. It is bad legislation that should be opposed. It is cause for opposition and monitoring. It is not currently cause for panic.

Post sections:

Explanation of bill

Information on bill status and how to track it

Current threat level and suggested alternate action

Talking points for opposing the bill

Explanation of Bill

HB 22 would introduce additional requirements for proof of eligibility when registering to vote. The allowable forms of identification as described at the beginning of Section 2 would be (bill text in purple to differentiate it; my notes in brackets):

(1) A form of identification issued consistent with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States.

[getting a "REAL ID" requires the following, per the Department of Homeland Security:

At a minimum, you must provide documentation showing: 1) Full Legal Name; 2) Date of Birth; 3) Social Security Number; 4) Two Proofs of Address of Principal Residence; and 5) Lawful Status.

States may impose additional requirements, so check with your state’s driver’s licensing agency website, before visiting them in person, for additional guidance and assistance.]

(2) A valid United States passport.

(3) The applicant's official United States military identification card, together with a United States military record of service showing that the applicant's place of birth was in the United States.

(4) A valid government-issued photo identification card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government showing that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States.

(5) A valid government-issued photo identification card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government other than an identification described in paragraphs (1) through (4), but only if presented together with one or more of the following: [a birth certificate or other certification verifying place of birth]

Under this Act, providing acceptable forms of identification to register to vote will be more challenging for people who don't already have these forms of ID, including people who do not have easy access to birth certificates (for example, people who don't live in the same state they were born in); people who lack the time and/or money to acquire acceptable documentation; and people whose current names do not match their birth names (for example, many married people, and anyone who has changed their legal name for any reason). It is yet another attack on voting rights and voting access in the name of "protecting" voting (as always, cui bono: who exactly is this bill trying to protect voting from?)

You can see the full text of the bill at the link above; if you end up at the main page for the bill you can find the text by choosing "bill details" > "text" or clicking the "text" tab on desktop.

Information on bill status and how to track it

You can track the bill's progress in the same way: choose "bill details" > "actions" or clicking the "actions" tab on desktop.

Currently (Feb. 15, 2025), it's been referred to its first committee, the House Committee on House Administration. (I can't find any information on which committee, if any, it would be sent to next. Additions are welcome.)

You can also see the list of co-sponsors, of which there are currently 80; about half that number were original co-sponsors (when the bill was introduced).

The GovTrack.us site (the link goes to the page on this specific bill) also provides text, sponsor, and tracking information, in a more easily accessed (but ad-supported) format. The GovTrack site also makes it easy to find out who is on the committee currently considering the bill, which the Congress.gov site does not.

Current threat level and suggested alternate action

GovTrack also gives an estimate of the bill's likelihood of being enacted, and explains the rationale for this estimate. Currently they estimate that the bill has a 6% chance of becoming law (most bills never make it out of committee to a vote on the House floor; those that pass a vote still have to get through the same process in the Senate. "Dying in committee" is a common saying for a reason).

The TL:DR: While this bill is an unjustifiable attempt to make it harder for people to vote and should be opposed, it is not something to panic over. It should be monitored, and if and when it heads to the House floor for a vote, that will be the time for a concerted effort in opposition.

If you want to take action on something that is directly harming people now, I suggest finding your local ACLU affiliate and looking up resources on immigrant rights.

Talking points for opposing the bill

That said, if you are particularly passionate about voting rights and access and/or have the resources to do so, opposing this bill while it's still in committee is a great idea. I have been a voter registrar for years and I want EXPANDED voter access, not more restrictions on who gets to vote, so I will be contacting my Congressional representative and voicing my opposition. Here are my intended talking points:

This bill is unnecessary and wasteful. Almost nobody votes unlawfully, and those who do often do so because they were mistakenly told they could vote legally. (You can read more about that in this NPR news article). The main outcome of this bill will be increased time and money spent by state government employees who have to take extra steps to verify people's citizenship records to process their registrations (a waste of state funds) and increased time and effort for people registering to vote (creating a chilling effect on registration numbers).

We need more voters, not fewer. Voter registration and turnout in the U.S. is already abysmally low. According to recent census data, just under 70% of eligible citizens are registered to vote at all, and only about 52% of registered voters cast ballots in the most recent midterm election (2022). Presidential elections tend to have higher turnout; in the 2024 election just under 64% of the eligible population (registered or not) cast ballots. That means a majority of registered voters cast ballots, but over a third of eligible U.S. citizens did not vote at all in 2024.

Lastly, and most personal to me as a volunteer voter registrar, this bill extends the penalties for unlawfully registering to vote from the voter to also include the person who registered them (towards the bottom of section 2, (i) Private right of action.—Section 11(b)(1) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20510(b)(1)) is amended by striking “a violation of this Act” and inserting “a violation of this Act, including the act of an election official who registers an applicant to vote in an election for Federal office who fails to present documentary proof of United States citizenship,”., bolding mine). There are already severe penalties for voting illegally, but this makes anyone who processes voting registration paperwork criminally liable for any errors they might make in verifying voter eligibility. It adds a chilling effect that would essentially eliminate volunteer voter registrars (too risky!) and would make it much easier and personally safer for elections employees to err on the side of denying voter registration applications.

#u.s. politics #practical politics #hopepunk #not doomscrolling

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jillyjesson · 5 months ago

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As someone who has worked with technology all my life, beginning with IBM courses in the 80's as a young business woman, I have a different - and much more frightening - perspective on the "Elon-gate" problem. This is beyond Watergate. This is High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Aside from cutting payments authorized by Congress while having zero legal authority to do so, using staff who lack proper security clearance (Trump waving his hand is blessing is NOT valid now any more than his "thinking" Mar-A-Lago documents were now declassified made it so) and the privacy concerns as well as national security concerns all of these actions create...

Elon is thoroughly knowledgeable about data, and he hires people with exceptional skills in that arena.

That's a given.

WHAT is keeping him from randomly deleting data (just pieces), introducing random errors (pick some people, double the income on a tax return from last year and submit them for audit), changing a SSN number by one digit?

Things like this can easily be done through programming. Easy peasy.

Once a certain amount of errors exist, all of the data is suspect. That was the whole foundation of the fake "voter fraud/stolen election" move in 2020.

Musk's data people also have access to the information about where backups are stored by now. Nothing is safe.

Think about it - everything grinds to a halt.

The billionaires have their contingency plans in place.

America does not. Our Senate, House and legal representatives need to respond. This is the most criminal breach in history.

THIS is why I can't sleep at night. This is a coup. Trump and Elon and all their cronies are Traitors.

This is America's formerly secure money system. Our money.

It's my understanding the SS website is down today.

Republicans who voted for Trump need to pay attention.

@highlight Heather Cox Richardson

#USTreasury #SocialSecurity #elonmusk #securitybreach #HighCrimes #Treason #HighCrimesAndMisdemeanors #ImpeachTrump #Congress #House #SenateDemocrats #Senaterepublicans #SenateHearing #BarackObama #GeorgeBush #BillClinton #Tucson #Arizona #tech

#elon musk #traiter #coup #high crimes and misdemeanors #us treasury #social security #federal government #us government #hacking #breach #fraud #trump is a criminal #crime #impeach trump #white house #senate #congress

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theresattrpgforthat · 1 year ago

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Have you ever done a post about wizard school games? If not, any you'd like to recommend?

THEME: Wizard School

Hello there, I have two recommendation posts that you might be interested in: Magic School Mysteries and Magic School. However, I have a few more games that I can talk about in case you haven’t found the right game for you yet!

Dusk Academy, by Skullery Maids.

Dusk Academy is a spinoff of Blades in the Dark. It uses much of the same systems and mechanics, deviating slightly to fit the setting.

It is set in the hallowed halls of, well, Dusk Academy — a private school on an English island, far away from society. This school caters to girls fresh out of school, unsure of what to do in their futures. Dusk Academy helps these girls sort out their interests and passions, but it is special in its own way. The school is home to magic — and teaches it as part of its curriculum. This fact must remain secret from the rest of the world, but the school aims to provide a healthy environment for students to unleash their mystical potential.

If you are at home with Forged in the Dark games, Dusk Academy should be pretty easy to pick up, as it follows a number of hallmarks of the Forged family, including action ratings, playbooks with special abilities, clocks that represent consequences or projects, and Position and Effect. This game also adds something called Zap, which represents energy or strength that is needed to help your characters cast spells.

Characters in Dusk Academy organize themselves into clubs, so the stories you tell will likely revolve around the kinds of things you expect your club to do. Many of these clubs resonate quite closely with the crews of Blades in the Dark, so I don’t think your school experience is meant to be safe or easy; this school may be prestigious, but it looks like you’re destined to be troublemakers while you’re there.

Let’s Rob RJ McElhenny and Steal Her Golden Quill, by Glaive Guisarme Games.

You're a wizard, and don't let anyone tell you any different. Especially not RJ McElhenny. She's just about the richest author on the planet, all thanks to her series of banal, lowest-common-denominator stories about wizards. Stories that make it pretty clear just what sorts of people she believes deserve to be called "wizards." If you weren't born magical, if you needed to learn how to wield the arcane or if your power stems from a patron or charm… well then you're an almost-wizard, as far as RJ McElhenny and her fans are concerned.

Let's Rob RJ McElhenny and Steal Her Golden Quill is about taking on a fantasy novelist because you're tired of the shitty takes she keeps unloading on Twitter. It is, notably, a game with no subtext whatsoever and legally you can't prove otherwise.

Talking about magic schools can put me on edge sometimes because one of the most popular magic schools in media is tied to a lot of real-life bigotry, but that’s certainly not an issue I have with this game. Let’s Rob RJ McElhenny is short and sweet, using a deck of cards to generate obstacles as you move throughout the famous author’s mansion, and dice to help you overcome those obstacles using your elaborate heist-planning skills. This is not really a game about magic school per se, but it is a game about magic users using a lot of familiar references.

Children With Wands, by Joe Kiewra.

Children With Wands is a rules lite, all ages, Table Top Role Playing Game that mostly focuses on having fun adventures where the players solve open ended puzzles and problems. You play as children who have just come into their magic powers and as such don't quite have a grip on their spells yet. This leads to a lot of hijinks where the children often have to fix problems their spells have caused.

Children With Wands is a game currently in beta, so the document isn’t pretty but it’s entirely free. The system is d20-based, with simplified character creation that looks relatively kid-friendly. Much of the dice-rolling relates to the magic that your characters will be attempting to cast - roll too low and you might not get the effect you want, but roll too high and the magic goes out of control. Since your casting is about precision, you’ll use your modifiers to determine an acceptable range of numbers that would grant you success, rather than simply add to your dice roll.

As a document, right now the game is just rules on how to play, no fluff or world description. This means that if you decide to give it a go, you have quite a lot of freedom in determining what kinds of creatures there are and what kinds of problems might be affecting the land around you.

Welcome to Camp Merlin, by KingBim.

Welcome to Camp Merlin - it's time to learn some magic! Cast spells, befriend monsters, save ghosts, earn badges, prank some fairies and summon goblins, all whilst exploring a magical forest full of ancient enchantments and mystical creatures.

Welcome to Camp Merlin is a tabletop role-playing game about non-magical kids attending a summer camp in preparation for their first year at magic school.

While it’s not exactly a magic school, Camp Merlin is definitely adjacent to one, and it’s got a lot of the pieces you might be looking for : spells, monsters, and a regulated schedule for your (likely) child-aged characters. The tone is meant to be whimsical and light-hearted, and good for short sessions. If you want something lighthearted for your friends with a slightly different setting than your typical magical school, you might want to check out Welcome to Camp Merlin.

Arcane Academia, by Oracle Engine.

A GMless tabletop roleplaying game, in which you play a group of students at a magical academy: companions through the tumults and turmoil of a day in the life of wonder and whimsy. Bond over meals together, attend arcane lessons, socialize during your free time, and go on daring, mischievous escapades at night.

Arcane Academia seems like a great game for replicating school-age hijinx and escapades, and all of the trouble you can get in when you’re supposed to be doing your schoolwork. It might also be a good option for tables who don’t have a dedicated GM in the group. If you want to get a little bit of a taste of what the game is like before you buy it, you can also listen to the episode on Party of One where Jeff Stormer plays it with the designer of the game.

Arcana Academy, by Jordan Palmer.

Arcana Academy is a tabletop role-playing game where you get to play as students attending a magical school. Solve mysteries, get into trouble, learn magic, and forge lasting friendships or bitter rivalries.

If you've ever wished you could attend a magical school like Brakebills, this is the game for you. Players will get creative with spells, wander the halls after dark trying to solve mysteries, and explore a world unlike any they've yet encountered. Arcana Academy uses a light tag based system that lets you choose what's important to the story. Along with the spells you've mastered, your character's personality or talents are what drive the action forward.

Arcana Academy provides a loose framework using the PbtA ruleset, with the expectation that you will want to build a magic school that fits your group’s tastes. Character creation is very descriptive, asking you to write down specific adjectives or phrases that match your character best, rather than choosing an option from a pick list. I think this game is probably better suited for players that already have a very good idea of what kind of school (and students) they want to play, what kind of magic you want to use, and what kind of tone you want to set the story for.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #indie ttrpg #magic school

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dailyanarchistposts · 7 months ago

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Legal Support: Prepare infrastructure to provide support during and after the action

Everyone involved in the action should be aware of and prepared for the risks they are taking and the potential criminal charges associated with them. It’s important not to take things farther than you feel ready to go: if you get hurt or arrested while engaging in a level of risk for which you are not emotionally prepared, the effects can be debilitating. Far better that you get started slowly, building a sustainable involvement with direct action projects that can continue over a lifetime, than rush into an action, have a bad experience, and swear off all such activity.

If your action may result in arrests, prepare a legal support structure for those who participate. This could include a legal aid number for arrestees to call, legal observers to monitor and document the actions of police, money for bail, lawyers to provide immediate support to arrestees and to represent them in court, and a circle of people prepared to offer emotional, financial, and logistical support throughout court cases.

The legal aid number should be open to receive incoming calls at all times throughout the action; bear in mind that in some cases, you cannot call a cell phone from jail. The legal aid number should not incriminate the arrestees or the people who receive the calls—if part of your alibi is that you don’t know each other, don’t all call the same number from jail. If you fear you will forget the number, write it on a concealed part of your body in permanent marker. The person operating the legal aid number should know the full names of those who may be arrested, so as to check on their status.

To bail someone out of jail, you can either give the entire amount of the bail to the court system, in which case you should receive it back after the legal process is finally concluded, or you can go to a bail bondsman and pay about 10% of that; in the latter case, the bondsman’s fees may cost you a significant amount of money. If no one can pay bail, an arrestee may sit in jail until the court date, although in the case of minor infractions it can happen that police release people on their own recognizance so as not to have to deal with them.

If you are risking arrest, decide whether you want to have your identification on you to expedite processing, or to be without it, so they cannot identify you immediately. A large group of arrestees who refuse to give their information can tie up the legal process and sometimes gain bargaining power. If you need medication, consider hiding it on your person, or carry a note from a doctor explaining what you need.

Find a sympathetic and trustworthy lawyer—or perhaps a few of them, since a lawyer cannot represent more than one defendant on the same charges. You can research which lawyers have taken on similar cases in the past, or approach the American Civil Liberties Union or National Lawyers Guild. If you don’t give away anything sensitive, you can ask sympathetic lawyers about the charges associated with hypothetical acts, or specify the dates and times you may require their services—but don’t let them know anything that could implicate them.In order to do their job, they need to be able to prove that they are not connected to anything illegal.

Any community whose members may suffer arrest would do well to establish a bail fund in advance; this can save a lot of running around in the middle of emergencies. Throw benefit shows, sell t-shirts, solicit donations from wealthy sympathizers, have your friends at the university book you speaking dates at their school in return for student funds. Make sure the bail fund stays with someone who is even-handed, trustworthy, and always easy to reach.

Likewise, consider what your media strategy will be—whether it will be wise to direct public attention and support to arrestees.

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chaoticgremlinwholikescheese · 3 months ago

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A Protest Introduction

As we head into these terrifying times, it is becoming integral for people to protest. Here is an intro guide on protest safety, structure, and tips for all our newcomers! Please feel free to send asks if you have any questions :)

LINGO

Here's some basic lingo you'll be seeing throughout this:

Action -> fancy word for a protest/rally/etc.

Red action -> an action with a very high arrest risk

Orange action -> an action with possibility of arrest

Green action -> an action with low to no possibility of arrest

Info sec -> information security (usually referring to tech safety)

PROTESTOR SAFETY

As a protest medic, this is something important to me. Here are some basic safety tips:

ALWAYS WEAR A MASK. It protects keep you from getting doxxed. No matter how small the protest, wear a mask. You can also cover your hair for extra protection.

Bring water and snacks for yourself. Self care is key!

Turn off face ID/fingerprint ID on your phone in case of arrest.

DON'T TALK TO COPS.

DON'T TALK TO PRESS.

Have an emergency plan. Have a contact number written down somewhere hard to see (ex. arm or leg), let someone know where you are just in case.

If you have medications you need daily/are life saving (ex. inhaler or epipen), bring it with you in case of arrest or need

Know your risk level. If you can't get arrested for any reason (especially documentation or parole), be careful of actions with higher risk levels. You are never obligated to participate in an action outside of your comfort zone.

PROTEST STRUCTURE

There are several facets of protest structure that are useful to know. I'll talk about them below, along with their basic roles.

Organizers

These are the people in charge of the action. They're often the ones who set it up and will be leading it and/or speaking.

Marshals

These are the people who handle safety. They'll often be in neon vests for easy identification. Their job is to provide a barrier between cops/counterprotestors and attendees, deescalate conflict, and help guide marches. Most have attended marshal trainings, something I highly recommend for anyone interested in marshaling. You can often find them free online if you can't attend one in person!

Medics

Medics are here to help in case of medical emergency and aid in preventative care. We always carry masks, cough drops, and other healthcare supplies. We're here to help anyone as needed. Medics tend to have different levels of medical training, but all should have received a specific protest medic training. Please come ask us for help if you need it!

Police Liaisons (PL)

These are the people who interact with cops. Unless you are trained as a police liaison, do everything you can to not interact with cops for your safety and the safety of others. It is always helpful to know who your PL is in case you need to grab them.

Legal Observers (LOs)

These are trained legal observers who work for the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). They are impartial observers who take notes on police activity to aid in legal defense for protestors later. The NLG is your friend, always know the number for your area and make sure to have it written on your body somewhere if you're going to a spicy action.

Press Liaisons

These are the people trained to speak with the press. It is always safer to let someone media trained speak with the press, especially when it comes to protecting your identity. Don't let journalists pressure you into speaking to them if you don't want to. 'No' is an answer all on it's own.

INFO-SEC

Especially now, it is very important to be careful with security. Here are some tips and tricks to keep yourself and others safe:

Use signal when communicating anything related to leftism/protest. It is much much safer than anything else

Turn off face ID/fingerprint ID when going to a protest

Use cryptpad when working with secure documents/information

Be careful with what you share. If it's something secure, don't talk about it outside of safe circles

Never give important information to cops, press, or anyone who isn't trusted

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Some of these resources are MA focused, but there are resources out there for everyone. Check out these zines and explore. Get to know the community resources in your state. Mutual aid is key!

And again, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have!

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lrregisteredagent · 5 days ago

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just-sp-in-inginthevoid · 9 months ago

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Goshiki(numa)

After a river, it's lakes! (reference to Sanzu-no-kawa/The River of three paths and, well, Sanzu.)

Goshiki-numa ('five-colors-lakes/ponds') are a bunch of lakes in Japan, known to have the particularity to change color (greyish, green, blue, ...) depending on the time of the year, the weather, etc (because of various reasons such as the minerals in the water). They are lakes that formed following a volcanic eruption. A nickname it was given is 'The Witch's Eye' so I hope Wakui has something about that.

Of course, being named after something that literally changes color makes the easy interpretation that Goshiki has different 'faces' (which everybody has because it comes free with your ability to socialize, but it has to be more marked in Goshiki) and that he's.. adaptable? He'd change face when the situation calls for it. For deeper interpretation, I'll have to wait for more textual matter. Sorry. We literally have nothing on him that's not my fault-

There is the fact those lakes were created because of a volcano eruption... Something about Goshiki's past resembling that in some shape or form? Can it be compared to the meteor shower? Did the meteor shower create lakes? Is it linked to any astro he may have? Who knows.

Now, there is a small difference of spelling between Goshiki the lakes (五色沼 - Goshikinuma) and Goshiki the character (伍色). 五 and 伍 both mean 5, the latter is simply a different way to write it. Why did Wakui choose to put this one, so far we can't theorize on why - at least, I can't. It is used in formal documents, not anywhere else, really. Goshiki already has that sense of being more of a business man of the family rather than a fighter if I may say, personality speaking he seems rather relaxed (always freaking smiling irritatingly) but we can only speculate so far about his role in the family and I'm betting a lot he's the one making deals (for allyships mostly). He has to be formal, and he has to be neat.

The missing siblings aside since we can't take them into account so far - Torazo (寅三) is the only other Yotsurugi with a number in his name but it's the standard/simplified kanji, not the one used in legal documents (参) and, honestly, who would name their child with a kanji made uniquely for it to not be altered on legal documents and have no other use. The coincidence of both Torazo and Goshiki having their adoption order in their name will be remembered until an explanation on why can be given. I'm guessing the most obvious answer would be their name got changed when they got adopted, alongside their family name, but why...

If we go VERY far, and take away the 人 from 色 then we end up with 巴, tomoe. Tomoe are usually represented being between 1 and 3 (for example; yin-yang is two tomoe stuck together), as far as I've seen them in the past. Never seen five tomoe, not that it doesn't exist. In the context where Hibaru has Kusanagi no Tsurugi and Terasu Yata no Kagami (two out of the three sacred treasure of Japan), anyone being linked to Magatama (single tomoe, third sacred treasure) feels weird. I don't see Goshiki fitting with them as a sort of trio, no can do. So then, if we go one step farther, there's also 巳 - which is a way to write snake - as in, the Chinese zodiac sign. Oh, Wakui you The snake is the 6th Chinese zodiac sign though, not the 5th.

In conclusion, Goshiki is a bunch of color-changing lakes. And five snakes in a trenchcoat.

#nna #negai no astro #astro royale #took way longer than expected what #nna goshiki #goshiki yotsurugi #goshiki negai no astro #goshiki astro royale

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scbhagat · 19 days ago

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billconrad · 20 days ago

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AI Writing Improvement Shootout

The remarkable and sometimes dreadful accomplishments of Artificial Intelligence are dominating the news, and a significant part of these advancements certainly affects writing. Today, from my humble desktop, I can ask an AI chat box to write a story about elephants, critique a paragraph, answer a question, flush out a concept, or even complete an English writing homework assignment. And the result? Very impressive.

Let’s break that down. The text output is typically free from grammatical and spelling mistakes. It reads smoothly, makes sense, and the content is usually correct.

I wanted to focus on a single AI chat box ability, improving a document. As a writer, I have not taken advantage of this feature for two reasons. The first is that I have a writing limitation; I require a lot of time. Meaning I need more time than the average person to settle on the best words, arrange them in a way that makes sense to me, and then self-edit my work. What I am doing is getting comfortable with what I have created. Only when I am fully confident do I allow my words to be made public.

Having a chat box completely rearrange everything, use unfamiliar words (not my typical vocabulary), and add or subtract topics goes against my method. I do not want to waste people’s time with words that do not meet my standard.

My second reason is that AI chat box words contain a huge fingerprint, and readers are catching on. We prefer human-written words and are getting upset with AI-generated nonsense.

Still, I thought it would be fun to provide the five most popular chatbots —ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Claude, Meta AI, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot —with a paragraph that needs help. Then, evaluate the results.

Let’s examine one of my first drafts and pick out a dreadful section. Now, hold on. What about my rant about not wanting the public ever to see something I have claimed to have written, but which was generated by AI? Very true. Therefore, I will look elsewhere.

But where? That is easy—fan fiction. Yes, dedicated fans worldwide spend years developing new plots for their favorite franchise characters. Comic books, movies, books, plays, anime, cartoons, video games, board games, and television shows all have sites where fans post their homebrew stories.

Since novice writers often create fan fiction, their words are typically not edited, and the document is likely to be read by a small number of fans. Thus, people who enjoy fan fiction understand that the quality is not the best. Additionally, due to copyright, trademark, and legal concerns, these documents have been released into the public domain. This wealth of less-than-ideal documents makes fan fiction sites the perfect repository for my experiment.

So, I went to

selected two paragraphs, and here is the first: “Sure thing, Captain,” came her reply. “Won’t be a minute!” It wouldn’t be long before the other six members of the motley crew would be down to join him, and Nick took the solitary moments to consider the strange roads that life had led him down to the moment where he stood, sharing the wonder of the infinite cosmos with his closest friends– his family. They were finally free. Free to be their own. It hadn’t always been like that.

My evaluation is that this does not read well. It seems that the author is trying to make something more exciting than it is, resulting in redundant sentences. In the broader context, the voice is weak, the dialogue is campy, and the narrative lacks focus. This paragraph needs a substantial rewrite.

Well, let’s get a professional to evaluate this paragraph. ProWritingAid gave it:

Grammar score 52% (should be 100%)

Style score 100% (should be 100%)

Glue words (unnecessary words) 52% (Should be less than 40%)

The site:

gave it the following:

Flesch Reading Ease 87.68 (Lower is better, indicates grade school)

Gunning Fog Scale Leve 5.7 (A fog score of 5 is readable, 10 is hard, 15 is difficult.)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 3.02 (Requires a third-grade education to read.)

Dale-Chall Score 5.81 (A score of 4.9 or lower indicates the passage is easily readable by the average fourth grade.)

I asked ChatGPT to “Improve the following paragraph for readability.”

“Sure thing, Captain,” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

The other six members of the motley crew would be joining him soon, but for now, Nick stood alone, savoring a rare moment of solitude. He let his thoughts drift, reflecting on the strange and winding paths that had brought him here—to this point in space, surrounded by the vastness of the cosmos, sharing it all with his closest friends. His family.

They were finally free. Free to live on their own terms.

It hadn’t always been that way.

My evaluation: This reads better but not great. The writer is still trying too hard. Why are there two small paragraphs? Dramatic effect? I guess. The chatbot added some good details. Here is the analysis:

Grammar score 100%

Style score 55%

Glue words (unnecessary words) 46%

Slow pacing 50%

Flesch Reading Ease 92.09

Gunning Fog Scale Leve 4.92

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 1.81

Dale-Chall Score 5.85

For kicks, I asked ChatGPT, “more aggressive update” and got this:

“Sure thing, Captain,” she shouted back. “Give me a sec!”

The rest of the crew—six misfits bound by grit and luck—would be down soon. Until then, Nick stood alone, staring out into the endless stretch of stars. For a fleeting moment, he let himself feel it—the weight of everything they’d survived, the chaos they’d clawed through to get here.

This wasn’t luck. It was earned.

Now, they were free. Truly free. No chains. No orders. No one left to answer to but themselves.

It hadn’t always been that way. But damn, it was now.

My evaluation: I like the added details, and the result reads slightly better; however, there is a clear problem. It reads like AI-generated text and has lost the writer’s voice. And three short paragraphs? Strange…

I have never used Deepseek due to privacy concerns, but since it is ranked #2, I created an account using an email address I check once a year. Here is the result:

“You got it, Captain!” she called back. “Be right there!”

The rest of the crew—all six of them—would join him soon, but for now, Nick stood alone, savoring a rare moment of peace. His thoughts drifted, retracing the strange and winding paths that had led him here—to this quiet corner of the cosmos, surrounded by infinite stars, yet never truly alone. Not with them. His friends. His family.

They were free at last. Free to live as they chose.

But it hadn’t always been that way.

My evaluation: Not much of an improvement, and it added an exclamation point! Boo! Again, the two added short paragraphs. Here is the analysis:

Grammar score 100%

Style score 100%

Glue words (unnecessary words) 47%

Slow pacing 50%

Flesch Reading Ease 97.52

Gunning Fog Scale Leve 4.12

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 0.82

Dale-Chall Score 5.29

Since I was there… “more aggressive update”

“Yeah, yeah, Captain—keep your boots on!” she barked back. “I’m moving!”

The rest of the crew would be on his ass soon enough, but for now, Nick stood alone—just him, the void, and the ghosts of every bad call that had dragged them here. No regrets. No turning back. Just the endless black and the six lunatics he called family.

Free. Finally, goddamn free. No chains. No rules. Just whatever the hell they carved out for themselves.

But freedom? Yeah, that shit came with a price. And they’d paid in blood.

My evaluation: This reads a lot better. The redundancy is gone, and some nice added details have been included; it no longer reads like AI-generated text. Yet, there are swear words, which can be a big turn-off. What if this was a church newsletter? The two added paragraphs are longer, which I guess makes them a little more appropriate. The large invented details might clash with other text.

I was unaware of Claude.ai, so I created an account. Here is the result:

“Sure thing, Captain,” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

They were finally free. Free to live on their own terms.

It hadn’t always been that way.

My evaluation: There is not much improvement. Again, with the small added paragraphs. I will have to give this some thought. Perhaps short paragraphs are now the rage. Here is the analysis:

Grammar score 100%

Style score 55%

Glue words (unnecessary words) 47%

Slow pacing 50%

Flesch Reading Ease 99.87

Gunning Fog Scale Leve 2.35

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 0.53

Dale-Chall Score 5.99

Here is the “more aggressive update” result:

“Sure thing, Captain!” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

Nick stood alone, savoring the solitude. Soon the other six would join him, but for now he had this—silence among the stars.

He let his thoughts drift. Strange how life had twisted and turned to bring him here. Floating in the vastness with his closest friends.

His family.

They were free now. Free to live on their own terms.

It hadn’t always been that way.

My evaluation: Better, but it reads choppy. It does not read AI-generated, but now there are six paragraphs wich is overkill. Here is what Gemini AI did:

“Sure thing, Captain,” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

The other six members of the motley crew would join him soon. For now, Nick stood alone, savoring a rare moment of solitude. His thoughts drifted, reflecting on the strange, winding paths that had brought him to this point: surrounded by the vastness of space, yet sharing it all with his closest friends. His family.

They were finally free—free to live on their own terms.

It hadn’t always been that way.

My evaluation: There is very little change, except for breaking it into four paragraphs. Here is the analysis:

Grammar score 100%

Style score 100%

Glue words (unnecessary words) 43%

Slow pacing 50%

Flesch Reading Ease 90.04

Gunning Fog Scale Leve 5.45

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 2.27

Dale-Chall Score 5.87

Some clear improvement in readability. Here is the “more aggressive update” result:

“Sure thing, Captain,” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

The rest of the crew—all six—would shatter this quiet soon enough. For now, Nick stood utterly alone, claiming a precious sliver of silence in the void. His mind plunged, unbidden, down the twisting, improbable spiral of choices and chances that had hurled him here: an infinitesimal speck adrift in the star-dusted abyss, yet anchored to meaning by his friends. His family.

They were free. Finally, fiercely free. Free to forge their own destiny.

Such liberty was a raw, intoxicating thing, almost too new to trust.

My evaluation: This is very similar to the ChatGPT text. It reads better, but it is clear that the AI generated it. Here is what Microsoft Copilot generated:

“Sure thing, Captain!” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

For now, Nick stood alone, relishing a rare moment of solitude. Soon, the other six members of their motley crew would join him, but in this brief interlude, he let his thoughts wander. He reflected on the long, twisting journey that had led him here—to this place among the stars, surrounded by the endless expanse of the cosmos, sharing it all with the people who mattered most. His closest friends. His family.

They were free at last. Free to live life on their own terms.

My evaluation: This reads more tightly and has a better flow. It combined the last two sentences into one paragraph, which I like, but added an exclamation point, which I do not. The three paragraphs seem to be a trend. Of all the updates, this was my favorite. Here is the analysis:

Grammar score 100%

Style score 100%

Glue words (unnecessary words) 46%

Slow pacing 33%

Flesch Reading Ease 88.83

Gunning Fog Scale Leve 5.32

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 2.36

Dale-Chall Score 6.57

Some improvement on readability. Here is the “more aggressive update” result:

“Sure thing, Captain!” she called back. “Won’t be a minute!”

Nick stood alone, relishing the rare quiet. Soon, the rest of the crew would join him, but for now, it was just him—adrift in the vastness of space, the stars stretching endlessly around him.

They had fought for this. Earned it.

Freedom.

It hadn’t always been that way.

My evaluation: This tightened things up, but I have never been a fan of one-word sentences or tiny paragraphs.

Here is the next paragraph. This time, I will skip the analysis.

“No, of course not. She told me about this place some time ago...before you and I... you know...and I thought it would be, well, fun to spend a few weeks in the early 2000 era. You have to admit, driving the car is exhilarating and these bed and breakfast places have been wonderful. I must tell you though; I didn’t know exactly how it would be. I suppose I took a chance...do you want to go someplace else?”

ChatGPT:

“No, of course not. She told me about this place a while ago—before you and I... well, you know—and I thought it might be fun to spend a few weeks in the early 2000s. You have to admit, driving the car is exhilarating, and these bed-and-breakfast places have been amazing. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I guess I took a chance. So... do you want to go somewhere else?”

ChatGPT more aggressive update:

“No, of course not. She mentioned this place a while back—before things started between us—and I figured, why not? A few weeks in the early 2000s sounded like a blast. Come on, driving that car is a rush, and these bed-and-breakfasts have been incredible. I won’t lie—I didn’t know exactly what I was walking into, but I went for it. So, what do you say? Ready to move on, or are you still in?”

Deepseek:

“No, of course not. She told me about this place a while ago... before you and I... well, before everything. I thought it’d be fun to spend a few weeks in the early 2000s. You have to admit—driving that car is exhilarating, and these bed-and-breakfasts have been wonderful.

But I’ll be honest—I wasn’t sure how it’d turn out. I took a chance. If you’re not happy here... we can go somewhere else?”

Deepseek more aggressive update:

“Hell no. She told me about this dump before we got tangled up. Figured it’d be fun to time-jump to the f-ing 2000s - at least the car’s got some balls to it, and the beds are decent.

Look, I didn’t promise you paradise. I took a shot. If you’ve got a problem with it, spit it out. Otherwise quit whining and enjoy the ride, or we can bail right now.”

Note: I edited down the F-word in the above paragraph.

Claude.ai:

“No, of course not. She told me about this place some time ago—before you and I... you know—and I thought it would be fun to spend a few weeks in the early 2000s era. You have to admit, driving the car is exhilarating, and these bed and breakfast places have been wonderful. I must tell you though, I didn’t know exactly how it would be. I suppose I took a chance. Do you want to go someplace else?”

Claude.ai more aggressive update:

“No, of course not. She mentioned this place before we... before us. I thought it’d be fun—a few weeks in the early 2000s. The driving’s exhilarating, right? And these B&Bs have been wonderful. But honestly? I didn’t know what to expect. I took a gamble. Want to go somewhere else?”

Google Gemini:

“No, of course not. She told me about this place a while ago—before you and I... well, you know. I just thought it would be fun to spend a few weeks in the early 2000s. You have to admit, driving that car is exhilarating, and these bed and breakfasts have been wonderful. Honestly, though, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I suppose I took a chance… Do you want to go somewhere else?”

Google Gemini more aggressive update:

“God, no. She told me about this place ages ago—way before we were a thing. My bright idea, right? A quick dip into the early 2000s, just for kicks. And this car is a blast, you can’t deny it. These B&Bs? Surprisingly sweet. But look, cards on the table: I didn’t really know what this would be. Total shot in the dark. So, if you hate it... seriously, we can pull the plug. Go somewhere else?”

Microsoft Copilot:

“No, of course not. She mentioned this place to me a while ago—before you and I… well, you know. I thought it would be fun to spend a few weeks in the early 2000s. You have to admit, driving that car is exhilarating, and these bed-and-breakfasts have been fantastic.

I’ll be honest—I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I suppose I took a chance.

Do you want to go somewhere else?”

Microsoft Copilot more aggressive update:

“No, of course not. She told me about this place a while ago—before you and I… well, you know. I thought it’d be exciting to spend a few weeks in the early 2000s.

Driving that car? Exhilarating. These bed-and-breakfasts? Fantastic.

The ChatGPT-generated results impressed me; they had a good flow and sounded natural. Wow, Deepseek had a serious potty mouth and desperately needs a “no profanity” setting. The result read raw, but I liked the first result. There are some good improvements.

The Claude.ai did not clean up much on the first pass, but the aggressive results showed good improvement. The aggressive results on Google Gemini read the best. Microsoft Copilot was the only one to break it up into three paragraphs, and then it combined them back in the aggressive update. Strange.

My conclusion is that using AI to clean up a document still has room for improvement, and no chat box stands out as a clear winner. Yes, there were improvements, but flaws were also introduced. This includes added concepts that may not make sense in other parts of the document, micro-paragraphs, swear words, a changed tone, and a clear AI fingerprint.

The universal use of micro-paragraphs deeply confused me.

Does.

Breaking.

Thought.

Into.

Ten.

Paragraphs.

Help.

The.

Reader?

I am going to apply some noodle time to figure that one out. Stay tuned for a future article.

For now, I do not recommend cleaning up a document with AI because the results are too unpredictable. One would think that there would be at least some consistency among the top five chat boxes. All I asked for was to improve the readability, which, in my mind, should be equivalent to accepting all the changes from ProWritingAid, Hemingway, and Grammarly. I expected small but powerful changes. However, facts were added, which is far outside the realm of readability. I would have understood if I had asked the chatbot to make the document more exciting, dramatic, thrilling, romantic, or funny.

Still, I see the potential in augmenting a document with AI, and perhaps in five years, chat boxes will improve to the point where they will be powerful enough to help yet tame enough to trust. For now, I will stick with my trusty keyboard and a bonkers mind to polish my documents.

PS, funny side story. I always run my articles through ProWritingAid and Grammarly. They had many suggested improvements for the AI-generated work, which I did not accept but found amusing that state-of-the-art AI still has grammar issues. And the original two paragraphs? Many suggestions…

You’re the best -Bill

June 04, 2025

Hey, book lovers, I published four. Please check them out:

Interviewing Immortality. A dramatic first-person psychological thriller that weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense, and self-confrontation.

Pushed to the Edge of Survival. A drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.

Cable Ties. A slow-burn political thriller that reflects the realities of modern intelligence, law enforcement, department cooperation, and international politics.

Saving Immortality. Continuing in the first-person psychological thriller genre, James Kimble searches for his former captor to answer his life’s questions. These books are available in softcover on Amazon and in eBook format everywhere

#writing #books #ai generated #ai impact #fan fiction

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