#a rare actual post from me? in this economy?

[memoriashell]

rotating blorbos in my mind like a well adjusted human being.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for scamming my ex out of an extremely valuable virtual pet?

🐓🥤to recognize. This might be a very long post with a lot of added context for a very niche hobby and a very small actual conflict.

I religiously play a virtual pet site called Chicken Smoothie. It's a pretty old site as far as virtual pet games go, starting back in 2008, so there is a pretty solid established site economy. Just for some context, Every pet on the site has a rarity, ranging from "OMG So Common" to "OMG So Rare", being the most common and most rare respectively. But there are rarities within those rarities, where some OMGSRs can be worth more than others based on species and demand. For example, an OMGSR dog from 2008 will be worth more than an OMGSR rat from 2008 despite being the same highest rarity and year, because people prefer the dogs over rats. These pets can get extremely valuable. You can't sell them for real money (according to site rules, but of course there's a black market), but the site has its own virtual currency you can buy (with real money) and trade for called Chicken Dollars, and you can also trade a valuable pet for other valuable pets. It gets very complicated, with the community coming up with its own set of value terms each pet can have. I'm not getting into specifics there, that's not important.

Every year, on December 18th, CS has gift boxes you can adopt from. These gift boxes can contain any rare pet from any previous year, including special "Unreleased pets" that you can only get from these Dec 18th boxes, with a very slim chance. These unreleased pets are some of the most valuable and rarest in the game.

Recently, I had seen my ex posting on the forums. I didn't know he had an account, he had made it within this year, long after I got the fuck away from him, and I only knew it was him because he uses the same username everywhere. This person had groomed me, physically abused me when we were together (we no longer live anywhere near each other, thankfully) and has always been emotionally manipulative. He does not know I play, and he wouldn't recognize my account as me. I took a note of his account and left it be for a while, until December 18th hit and I took a peek at what he had got. And what he got was one of the new Unreleased pets, which currently at the time of writing this only looks like a box of cereal. (Most pets on the site have growth stages.) And even better, all his groups were open for trade, so I took a chance and sent an extremely terrible trade. I told him that this pet would only be a recent rare, and I offered him a "Very Rare" rarity (but not very valuable) pet from 2018, telling him I was overpaying. (In the CS community, this is known as Ninjaing, and it's Not A Good Thing To Do). I didn't expect him to accept it, I at least thought he'd be smart enough to ask in the trade advice thread that is literally pinned on the home page for December 18th, but he didn't. He took my word for it and accepted the trade, and now I own an unreleased pet that will eventually end up as an OMGSR.

What I did was not a bannable offence. He will not get his unreleased pet back. The CS mods are laughable at worst, incompetent at best, and don't do anything to stop scamming. They have an "eh, sucks to be you, sorry, be smarter next time" mentality when people get scammed (Which is insane because there are literal single digit aged children allowed on this site!!!)

After taking a bit to think about it, I do feel a bit guilty because I really would not do this in any other circumstances. I hate scamming. I did what I did out of anger and contempt, and I do feel a bit guilty because in essence, I scammed a new player that didn't have much else and didn't know any better.

I'm still keeping that unreleased cereal box no matter what though

What are these acronyms?

[swearingcactus]

Obscure Far Cry Promos and Content

I'm a big far cry fan, which means I have to make my own food in this economy. But sometimes I just want some ACTUAL canon or canon-ish or even just canon-adjacent content, y'know? It has gotten to the point I go into youtube rabbit holes or watch a remarkably below average hallmark movies for 5 minutes of an actor's screentime to hopefully hear Jason or Ajay or whoever talk. And so in these quests, I've found a couple obscure promos. Gonna compile them here for myself mostly :)

Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 - The Voices of Insanity: Doctor Earnhardt //a live action video with Alec Earnhardt's VA

Far Cry 3 - The Voices of Insanity: Vaas //same thing but with Michael Mando

Hoyt Audition Far Cry 3 //the last part of "The Voices of Insanity" videos, couldn't find the one from Ubisoft's own account but someone else had posted it on youtube

Far Cry 3 for PS3: TV Spot

Far Cry 3 -- Island Survival Guide: Psychopaths, Drugs & Other Dangers // video narrated by Willis Huntley

Far Cry 3 -- The Savages: Vaas & Buck // this video shows a rare render of vaas with tataus on his arm!

Far Cry 3 | The Tribe: Citra & Dennis //this video has a deleted scene where Jason hallucinates the tatau snaking up his arm

Far Cry 3 -- The Tyrant: Hoyt

Far Cry 3 - Insane Edition // this is a promo done for a special edition for the game, Michael Mando probably couldn't shoot the promo himself and just voice acted, and so they used another actor and made it so the camera never sees Vaas's face.

^ There is also a survival guide titled Face Your Insanity written by post-Rook events Jason Brody as part of the Insane Edition.

Far Cry 3 | E3 2012 Step Into Insanity Trailer [NORTH AMERICA] // this has a few close-ups of Jason and Vaas switching places with each other

Far Cry 3 Interviews (via @lulu2992)

Far Cry 3 Tweets by Jeffrey Yohalem, the lead writer. (also compiled by @/lulu2992! Thanks again!)

Far Cry 4

Divya Kandala's Blog (archived on the Wayback Machine) // Divya Kandala is a fictional journalist who wrote a blog about her travels to Kyrat, her blog's basically world-building promo for FC4. You could also find the house she stayed at in Kyrat!

Far Cry 4 TV Commercial

Far Cry 4 | Kyrat Tuk Tuk Stories //this is the MOST we see ajay in third person in promo content

Far Cry 4 - CGI Trailer // this isn't exactly RARE but it took forever for me to find that clip of ajay's eyes reflecting from the kukri. plus he looks EXTREMELY caucasian which really doesn't help the rumors I've heard that they originally wanted Jason again as FC4's protag

Comedy Central Far Cry 4 Commercial feat Danny Pudi & Donald Glover

Far Cry 4 and Childish Gambino: The Collaboration | PS4, PS3 // a music video for Crawl by Childish Gambino done as a collab

Old Archive.Org link to the Far Cry 4 webpage that had a choose your own adventure campaign

^ and the youtube video to promote it

Far Cry 4 | Behind the Scene Trailer 1/3 [Europe] // developer vlogs when they visited Nepal and interviewed the ghurka that became base for Golden Path, you can see the village that resembles Banapur a lot!

Far Cry 4 Performance Capture Interview // you can see Janina Gavankar, Amita's actress doing some mocap in this

Janina Gavankar Talks Far Cry 4 - ^ and the interview with her after

World Gameplay Premiere - Walkthrough E3 2014 - Far Cry 4 // this was to showcase gameplay but they eventually took out this entire mission where you have to wingsuit to Ratu Gadhi (Yuma's fortress), which is a shame because it looked very nice.

Far Cry 5

i'll be honest, im not a fc5 girlie, so i dont usually do a lot of digging, and im pretty sure these are actually not obscure at all. but these are trailers i found that really blew it out of the park. the marketing team for 5 really went HAM

Far Cry 5: Teaser Trailer | Ubisoft //this has a peggie banging someone's head to a church bell rhythmically with the gorgeous view of Montana mountains as backdrop and i for one, find it hilarious

Far Cry 5 | The Sermon - Live Action Trailer

Far Cry 5 | The Baptism - Live Action Trailer //somebody once mentioned this one has Joseph looking like Trevor GTA and i have never quite known peace ever since. it really also shows the reality of how Joseph is actually just really Unwell, and lore that Joseph killed Pastor Jerome's daughter that never showed up in-game.

Far Cry 5: Anything Can Happen, Everything Will - Live Action TV Spot | Trailer // mixes live action and game CGI renders, pretty cool actually!

The Making of Far Cry 5 | Behind the Scenes of Ubisoft [Documentary]

Far Cry 6 Comics

not gonna put in FC6 stuff because they're actually very easy to find! lots of trailers and mocaps and interviews on youtube :) Far Cry 6 actually has a more obscure lore in their comics

Far Cry: Esperanza's Tears comic // this is a Juan-centric prequel comic that features a completely new country, lore about Far Cry universe's political landscape, and lots of cameos from 3-6's characters! very interesting read especially if you're a sucker for backstories like me

Far Cry: Rite of Passage comic // this is more popular as it features Anton telling Diego the backstories for 3-5's villains.

There is also a book titled The Official Far Cry Survival Guide written by a fictional character called Hunter Nash, who supposedly grew up with Hope County-level of a doomsday prepper dad and winds up as a journalist who travels to the locations of 3-6 and wrote how to survive each location accordingly. It's adorned with official artwork of the games and plenty of survival tips. Not much lore-wise, but cool nonetheless! it also fuels my co-workers au ideas but that's personal.

i have actually found stuff like a really old MTV show called Undressed with Gianpaolo Venuta where he uses his Jason voice for his character, and how Patrick Kwok-Choon, the new voice actor for Ajay does voice acting in Thomas the Train Engine and Paw Patrol, and an indie movie with Greg Bryk where he wears fun sunglasses like Joseph, but that's neither here nor there to the franchise, so eh. // i'll edit this post if i find more, so maybe check back sometimes!

[haggishlyhagging]

It would take Diane Joyce nearly ten years of battles to become the first female skilled crafts worker ever in Santa Clara County history. It would take another seven years of court litigation, pursued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, before she could actually start work. And then, the real fight would begin.

For blue-collar women, there was no honeymoon period on the job; the backlash began the first day they reported to work—and only intensified as the Reagan economy put more than a million blue-collar men out of work, reduced wages, and spread mounting fear. While the white-collar world seemed capable of absorbing countless lawyers and bankers in the 80s, the trades and crafts had no room for expansion. "Women are far more economically threatening in blue-collar work, because there are a finite number of jobs from which to choose," Mary Ellen Boyd, executive director of Non-Traditional Employment for Women, observes. "An MBA can do anything. But a plumber is only a plumber." While women never represented more than a few percentage points of the blue-collar work force, in this powder-keg situation it only took a few female faces to trigger a violent explosion.

Diane Joyce arrived in California in 1970, a thirty-three-year-old widow with four children, born and raised in Chicago. Her father was a tool-and-die maker, her mother a returned-goods clerk at a Walgreen's warehouse. At eighteen, she married Donald Joyce, a tool-and-die maker's apprentice at her father's plant. Fifteen years later, after working knee-deep in PCBs for years, he died suddenly of a rare form of liver cancer.

After her husband's death, Joyce taught herself to drive, packed her children in a 1966 Chrysler station wagon and headed west to San Jose, California, where a lone relative lived. Joyce was an experienced bookkeeper and she soon found work as a clerk in the county Office of Education, at $506 a month. A year later, she heard that the county's transportation department had a senior account clerk job vacant that paid $50 more a month. She applied in March 1972.

"You know, we wanted a man," the interviewer told her as soon as she walked through the door. But the account clerk jobs had all taken a pay cut recently, and sixteen women and no men had applied for the job. So he sent her on to the second interview. "This guy was a little politer," Joyce recalls. "First, he said, 'Nice day, isn't it?' before he tells me, 'You know, we wanted a man.' I wanted to say, 'Yeah, and where's my man? I am the man in my house.' But I'm sitting there with four kids to feed and all I can see is dollar signs, so I kept my mouth shut."

She got the job. Three months later, Joyce saw a posting for a "road maintenance man." An eighth-grade education and one year's work experience was all that was required, and the pay was $723 a month. Her current job required a high-school education, bookkeeping skills, and four years' experience— and paid $150 less a month. "I saw that flier and I said, ‘Oh wow, I can do that.’ Everyone in the office laughed. They thought it was a riot. . . . I let it drop."

But later that same year, every county worker got a 2 to 5 percent raise except for the 70 female account clerks. "Oh now, what do you girls need a raise for?" the director of personnel told Joyce and some other women who went before the board of supervisors to object. "All you'd do is spend the money on trips to Europe." Joyce was shocked. "Every account clerk I knew was supporting a family through death or divorce. I'd never seen Mexico, let alone Europe." Joyce decided to apply for the next better-paying "male" job that opened. In the meantime, she became active in the union; a skillful writer and one of the best-educated representatives there, Joyce wound up composing the safety language in the master contract and negotiating what became the most powerful county agreement protecting seniority rights.

In 1974, a road dispatcher retired, and both Joyce and a man named Paul Johnson, a former oil-fields roustabout, applied for the post. The supervisors told Joyce she needed to work on the road crew first and handed back her application. Johnson didn't have any road crew experience either, but his application was accepted. In the end, the job went to another man.

Joyce set out to get road crew experience. As she was filling out her application for the next road crew job that opened, in 1975, her supervisor walked in, asked what she was doing, and turned red. "You're taking a man's job away!" he shouted. Joyce sat silently for a minute, thinking. Then she said, "No, I'm not. Because a man can sit right here where I'm sitting."

In the evenings, she took courses in road maintenance and truck and light equipment operation. She came in third out of 87 applicants on the job test; there were ten openings on the road crew, and she got one of them.

For the next four years, Joyce carried tar pots on her shoulder, pulled trash from the median strip, and maneuvered trucks up the mountains to clear mud slides. "Working outdoors was great," she says. "You know, women pay fifty dollars a month to join a health club, and here I was getting paid to get in shape." The road men didn't exactly welcome her arrival. When they trained her to drive the bobtail trucks, she says, they kept changing instructions; one gave her driving tips that nearly blew up the engine. Her supervisor wouldn't issue her a pair of coveralls; she had to file a formal grievance to get them. In the yard, the men kept the ladies' room locked, and on the road they wouldn't stop to let her use the bathroom. "You wanted a man's job, you learn to pee like a man," her supervisor told her.

Obscene graffiti about Joyce appeared on the sides of trucks. Men threw darts at union notices she posted on the bulletin board. One day, the stockroom storekeeper, Tony Laramie, who says later he liked to call her "the piglet," called a general meeting in the depot's Ready Room. "I hate the day you came here," Laramie started screaming at Joyce as the other men looked on, many nodding. "We don't want you here. You don't belong here. Why don't you go the hell away?"

Joyce's experience was typical of the forthright and often violent backlash within the blue-collar work force, an assault undisguised by decorous homages to women's "difference." At a construction site in New York, for example, where only a few female hard-hats had found work, the men took a woman's work boots and hacked them into bits. Another woman was injured by a male co-worker; he hit her on the head with a two-by-four. In Santa Clara County, where Joyce worked, the county's equal opportunity office files were stuffed with reports of ostracism, hazing, sexual harassment, threats, verbal and physical abuse. "It's pervasive in some of the shops," says John Longabaugh, the county's equal employment officer at the time. "They mess up their tools, leave pornography on their desks. Safety equipment is made difficult to get, or unavailable." A maintenance worker greeted the first woman in his department with these words: "I know someone who would break your arm or leg for a price." Another new woman was ordered to clean a transit bus by her supervisor—only to find when she climbed aboard that the men had left a little gift for her: feces smeared across the seats.

In 1980, another dispatcher job opened up. Joyce and Johnson both applied. They both got similarly high scores on the written exam. Joyce now had four years' experience on the road crew; Paul Johnson only had a year and a half. The three interviewers, one of whom later referred to Joyce in court as "rabble-rousing" and "not a lady," gave the job to Johnson. Joyce decided to complain to the county athrmative action office.

The decision fell to James Graebner, the new director of the transportation department, an engineer who believed that it was about time the county hired its first woman for its 238 skilled-crafts jobs. Graebner confronted the roads director, Ron Shields. "What's wrong with the woman?" Graebner asked. “I hate her," Shields said, according to other people in the room. "I just said I thought Johnson was more qualified," is how Shields remembers it. "She didn't have the proficiency with heavy equipment." Neither, of course, did Johnson. Not that it was relevant anyway: dispatch is an office job that doesn't require lifting anything heavier than a microphone.

Graebner told Shields he was being overruled; Joyce had the job. Later that day, Joyce recalls, her supervisor called her into the conference room. "Well, you got the job," he told her. "But you're not qualified." Johnson, meanwhile, sat by the phone, dialing up the chain of command. "I felt like tearing something up," he recalls later. He demanded a meeting with the affirmative action office. "The affirmative action man walks in," Johnson says, "and he's this big black guy. He can't tell me anything. He brings in this minority who can barely speak English . . . I told them, 'You haven't heard the last of me.'" Within days, he had hired a lawyer and set his reverse discrimination suit in motion, contending that the county had given the job to a "less qualified" woman.

In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled against Johnson. The decision was hailed by women's and civil rights groups. But victory in Washington was not the same as triumph in the transportation yard. For Joyce and the road men, the backlash was just warming up. "Something like this is going to hurt me one day," Gerald Pourroy, a foreman in Joyce's office, says of the court's ruling, his voice low and bitter. He stares at the concrete wall above his desk. "I look down the tracks and I see the train coming toward me."

The day after the Supreme Court decision, a woman in the county office sent Joyce a congratulatory bouquet, two dozen carnations. Joyce arranged the flowers in a vase on her desk. The next day they were gone. She found them finally, crushed in a garbage bin. A road foreman told her, "I drop-kicked them across the yard."

-Susan Faludi, Backlash: the Undeclared War Against American Women

[wordy-little-witch]

Hiiii i hope im not annoying u or anything w my frequent asks dksjzjzjz if so pls dont feel pressured to answer it, it do be tiring esp in this heat n economy 😬

i just saw another great post abt buggy having oblivious survival clown rizz and im like that victorian era boy with a bowl saying "pls sir" CUZ i need more of it😭🥹🤲🥣 i never knew i needed it but now my eyes are opened,,, so im guessing buggy has rizzed more than half of the entire pirate population and the landlubber population, but does dis also extend to the enemy/marines? 😳 also can i ask for more buggy accidental rizz headcanons n ideas? Actually any ideas u have r rly great, its extra dopamine or feels when u update lmao

thank u for replying to my questions🥹

Hiiiii~ don't worry about being annoying, love, I love hearing from you! Honestly, having asks makes me all fluttery and happy, it's like digital tumblr penpal friendship hehe~

As for Accidental Rizz Buggy, BABES I have TOO MANY THOUGHTS

On the Marine topic, ABSOLUTELY and I am LOSING IT over the mental image of Buggy having a fan club in the Navy and he just Doesn't Know.

I already ship Rosinante/Corazon and Buggy ANYWAY and so I am so down for pirate/marine ships bc it's so good ong-

Specifically speaking, I can see Buggy accidentally doing some accidental charming either by showing some of his rarely touched on moral ambiguity. Like. Dude does not subscribe to the general populace, he marches to his own drum and we love him for it. The world of One Piece has a recurring theme of Morally Gray and No Such Thing As Good Or Bad type of stuff. Especially with Pirates vs Marines.

So like. Imagine Buggy being involved in some sort of mad wild bullshit hunt/fight, he's escaping the Marines, he's cackling, making a show of it and between one taunt and the next, he catches sight of movement in an alley way.

Two pairs of eyes stare back, wide, terrified, and he freezes.

Immediately all fight and threat drains, and he turns to the alley. "Hey," he greets softly, not too gently but with care dripping from the vowels. "What are you brats doing out here, huh? It's dangerous."

The Marines try to cut in and Buggy disengages at best, forces them back at worst.

"Time and a place," he tells them, "change of plans, there's kids here. Time out, buddy."

He's soft with them, but not alarmingly so to their wild eyes. He recognizes the signs there, and he simply lets them choose their pace.

The officers there view a new side of a fierce pirate, one who would quail under a sharp look one moment and glare back, hissing in fury thr next to a commanding officer with two little ones to protect. He is multifaceted. He is complex. He is.....

Really pretty.

Uh oh.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Bonus, Buggy absolutely accidentally charms the FUCK out of Sengoku, both in a CoraBug sense and in a non shipping sense. I feel like Buggy would annoy his way into being Sengoku's beloathed favorite. He's suffering through it all. Very much "unfortunately, I like you" type of deal.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Buggy: does something surprising/cute/attractive/competent

The world: oh I guess I gotta kiss this muppet senseless

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

how do you and aifsaath perceive aegon III character? What could had been his true potential if not for depression? Or even a more fun what if , what if aegon III and viserys II were raised by their parents daemon and rhaenyra

Would you had seen a different character traits , values or different interests? i wonder if viserys would had been still interested in economy after having no contact with rogares. I dont see rhaenyra allowing that happening ever even baby viserys gets a crush on beautiful stunning women larra. But i am not sure about daemon…. Would daemon see the profit and benefit from wedding viserys to rogares? Rogares claim to be important valyrian rooted family ….

i wonder if dance of dragons didnt happen and lets say rhaenura or aegon gets crowned. There are tensions but no one died . In other words miracle happened. Would daemon rather marry his sons aegon and viserys to aegon heleana’s daughters who are dragonriders too than rich magister’s daughter and vaemon velaryon’s granddaughter?

such good questions! @aifsaath and I both have a big soft spot for Aegon III. I think that, considering everything he went through, canon Aegon showed a remarkable resilience and certainly had the potential to be a good king. One thing about Aegon 3 that I noticed when I recently re-read the Regency chapters is that there's the definitely implication that he realizes when people are acting against his best interests. During the Regency he's limited in his ability to act, but he keeps track of those slights. I think the history books are a bit too harsh on Aegon 3, considering the gigantic mess he was responsible for cleaning up and the way his Regents seemed to have little interest in setting him up for a strong reign when they could put their efforts towards advancing their own houses instead. He held it together, and arguably it's because he managed to hold it together that House Targaryen kept on going for as long as it did when the Dance could easily have ended the dynasty.

As for your other questions, I think the chances are high that in some hypothetical no-dance world, Daemon pushes for Aegon III to be heir, and probably pushes what Aife and I jokingly call the cursed Baegon ship, that is, Aegon III and Baela. In book canon they're really not all that far apart in age, and Daemon wouldn't have any issue with brother-sister marriage, and it's actually pretty surprising to me that in canon Corlys doesn't try to make it happen post-Dance. If for some reason that's not possible, in this no-Dance world I think Daemon would prefer Jaehaera over a Lyseni merchant's daughter. I think it's unlikely Larra or the Rogares are a factor at all without the Dance and Viserys' "rescue." It's actually kind of interesting to me how rarely house Targaryen looked to Essos for potential marriage alliances, and I think it speaks to the practicalities of being a "foreign" house in Westeros. For all that Daemon might have made noise about Hightowers, the fact of the matter was that the Targaryens needed to shore up their domestic alliances, and that need only becomes more pronounced once the dragons die out.

That said, it's possible that by the time Aegon III was ready to marry Daemon wouldn't even be in the picture anymore. Not only was he already getting up there in years, Daemon always seemed to me to have a restless spirit, and didn't seem like the kind of guy who was going to die in his bed surrounded by children and grandchildren, you know? So maybe he wouldn't have much to do with the marriages his sons ultimately made. It's interesting to think about though!

[ghostchanuwu]

Brain is running again it's not windows longhorn I swear so now I'm gonna yap about aniredux before I post more character redesigns

Ye I'm adding a cut bc this is gonna be LONG

Hilda and Hilbert are twins and attended BB Academy before officially going on their journey (they broke off around Nimbasa,Hilda traveled with Iris while Hilbert remained with Bianca and Cheren)

Hilda is one of the co-founders of Driftveil's PWT since she convinced Clay to fund the project to draw in more people to bolster Unova's economy (Draydon,Alder and Grimsly are also co-founders)

Hilbert runs the PokeMusical building in Nimbasa along with historical preservation efforts in the city (ie the Ferris Wheel and the old gym)

Caitlin swaps between fairy and psychic on a bi-yearly basis along with Shauntal having a partial specialty in ground

Alder became champion on complete accident and when Iris took the title he went back to Floccesy Town to become a full-time teacher since that is his passion outside of battling (Benga got his Larvesta from him on his 7th birthday as an egg)

Unova is the 2nd oldest league with the oldest being Kalos (Kalos' was originally founded as an annual festival in celebration of the war against Paldea ending,Paldea holds a similar festival which lines up with Uva-Naranja graduations)

Central and Northern Sinnoh is very cold year around which extends to nearly the whole region in the Winter aside from Sunnyshore and Canalave which are actually quite warm

As lax as Hoenn seems it's actually one of the more volatile regions to travel to,the populace compensates for that by making the towns and cities as inviting as possible (ie Slateport's massive seaside market,Lilycove's regular hosting of national Contest Finals,ect) along with having a shockingly high happiness rate

Kalos has a charming tradition of all their fairy specialists taking up a partial dark type and vice versa with it originating from how deeply the region cherishes Xerneas and Yvetal (dragon specialists in the region also usually end up having either a dark type or a fairy type on their team)

Johto funnily enough is still mostly rural despite having the strongest economy on the continent (Goldenrod is a major hub)

And now for some not so world building blurbs

Nobody actually knows where Brock came from and the only thing really known about him is that he is loosely related to Bruno (the Pewter Mining Company adopted him when he was a toddler since he didn't have any parents,turns out he's from Orre and has family in Alola)

I've actually been toying around with the idea of giving Steven an older brother who never became a trainer and instead is a member of the Hoennian Navy (the Navy is actually quite small and mainly functions as a much more well funded coastguard along with reporting to the Ranger Corps),he would be 6 years older than Steven and would take over Devon after their father gets ousted since Steven wants nothing to do with any of them anymore (still trying to come up with a name for him and leaning towards Silas or Abram,he's much more on the stern side with a serious nature and rarely ever smiles)

N and Ghetsis are fully related (reading through the Underwater Ruin's text again with the story of the king gave me an idea what to do with N's character),N is the one who inherited the King's Blood whereas Ghetsis didn't,it was Ghetsis who wiped out his bloodline (N was an infant,the pokemon who raised him belonged to his Mother and Father and the Zorua having hatched around the same time that he was born),N is 19 at the time of Unova Arc

Sycamore and Lysandre aren't officially together but they do flirt with each other on occasion with the professor bringing him his favorite strawberry macarons and Lysandre taking Sycamore out to dinner in Annistar during the meteor showers

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

20 questions for fic writers:

ty for the tag, @somewhereapart 🥰

this is very long, so answers go under the cut!!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

62 as epigraphs

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

i do not actually know! i wrote single chapters in a fic collection years ago, so that messes with my stats and i don't know how long what i wrote was anymore, so i can't do the math. but 2023 was 54,372 words, and 2022 was 113,431!

3. what fandoms do you write for?

currently: the gilded age, technically still svu but uh, let's not talk about that one fic i fully abandoned (at least until that question comes up lolol).

past lives: madam secretary, the west wing, the newsroom, scrubs, sound of music (i'm as confused as you are, don't worry), the good wife, grey's, stranger things, bones, fleabag.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

as epigraphs:

the stillness of remembering, svu the legend of how you disappeared, svu come and untangle me (one of these days), svu let it all unfurl, into broken remnants, svu rather be sad with you (than anywhere away from you), svu

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i do! i like the concept of having a conversation with readers (though i rarely get into an actual multi-comment convo). also i'm very type-a and pro-inbox zero, so i clear it out in batches to do replies.

6. what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

for you i'd bleed myself dry, for the good wife. it's a post-5.16 fix-it fakeout, and every comment on it is just yelling at me hahaha

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i think most of mine have a happy ending, even if it's not a true hea. my friend and i coined the term "milk and cookies ending," because even if we throw angst at you, we will give you your milk and cookies as a treat lol

8. do you get hate on fics?

thankfully, no.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

incredibly rarely, and if so, very vaguely and (if you ask anyone who knows me), fairly "limb-free."

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

i've written exactly one (1), imagining what a friendship between cam saroyan from bones and olivia benson from svu would look like!

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

sort of. i never called them out on it, so i shan't be doing that here.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

yep! for two fandoms. for one, we split up the povs and alternated, which was very fun. for the other one, i (see the answer to 9. lol) handed off the smut.

14. what's your all-time favourite ship?

elizabeth/henry from madam secretary was my first real ship and the first fandom i ever participated in and wrote fic for, so they're the ride-or-dies forever.

15. what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

looking at you, eo talks about god fic.

16. what are your writing strengths?

clarity and economy of words? i think? if you know me irl, this makes sense considering my day job. also, keeping things in-character, when it comes to dialogue and internal monologue.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

getting away from vignette structure, writing plot. i hate plot. i suck at plot.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for fic?

hoo boy, as a bilingual person (german and english) i have very strong feelings about this, but generally: okay if done incredibly sparingly, and in a way that sounds natural. harder to pull off than you'd think!

19. first fandom you wrote for?

madam secretary.

20. favourite fic you've ever written?

tell you my sins, and you can sharpen your knife, svu.

tagging: @sinkingsidewalks, @idontneedtobeforgiven, @idoltina, @msharmonycobel, @soshedances18, @sam-loves-seb, @rahleeyah, @morethanwords229 and whoever else wants to do this!

[alifeasvivid]

So awhile ago, I did a headcanon post about America and England's watches and jewelry... and I CANNOT BELIEVE that it took me until now to realize:

FUCKING JAMES BOND. Almost every watch featured in those films is instantly iconic. So here is are the ones that I think England would have (aka the ones I like the best >.>)

007 perfers dive watches. Basically every film has the character wearing at least one dive watch. I tried to pick one from each actor, but Timothy Dalton wore a Tag Heuer watch and I don't like Tag so >.> there it is. Here is a link to a blog so you can see more about the films that these are from, since I'm gonna stay in my lane and just talk about the watches.

The main brands in the franchise are Rolex, Seiko, and Omega, though some others do make an appearance.

a) Rolex Submariner Ref. 6538, 1962 - Rolex is on the list for "first dive watch" and this particular one can reach a depth of 200m, pretty impressive b) Rolex GMT Master, 1967 - I like the bezels on these the most. The Blue/Red is pretty iconic and lovingly referred to as the Superman bezel or the Pepsi bezel. c) Rolex Chronograph Ref. 6238, 1969 - very shortly after this watch, Rolex would release its iconic Daytona, so these are pretty rare d) Seiko 7549-7009, 1981 - Seiko is considered more of an economy brand compared to the luxury of Rolex and Omega, but their dive watches are top notch and can hold their own against their higher-end counterparts e) Omega Seamaster Professional 300M Ref. 2541.80, 1995 - Pierce Brosnan wore basically this watch for his entire run as Bond, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. f) Omega Seamaster 300 Ref. 233.32.31.41.21.01.001, 2015 - >.> I love this watch. It's so sexy. This one was designed specifically for the film, Spectre, which makes it instantly recognizable.

Do I think England keeps these in their own special box and tends to them himself? Yes.

Do I think America occasionally tries to get his hands on them through unscrupulous means? Yes.

Do I think England shuts that down right quick cuz nobody touches this collection? Yes.

America can gtfo with his apple watch or casio g-shock (jk jk, see the link to my headcanon post for my actual thoughts on his watches) and honestly, I can totally picture him as just as big a Bond fanboy as England so he probably has his own collection of these. XD

[sylvaridreams]

I cut out some off topic chatter and fixed a couple typos but otherwise this is copy paste from discord, followed by some more from just me. Diving into Alba, his status as a leader and symbolic figure, his relationships with friends and lovers, and his relationship with himself.

(Long post ahead.)

Dama: tbqh i'm wondering how much longer his relationship with canach can or will last.... they love each other but the conditions keep getting more and more strained it feels like. now alba's vanished again…

Sage: I was wondering that too actually like. Wondering how strong it can last, esp since things were pretty separate for eod and haven't exactly gotten better since

Dama: canach maybe tries to find him during this... like alba was notably in the grove, giving interviews, canach tries to get ahold of him (maybe they had plans for later) and alba just never responds or shows up. stands him up and canach's like ok. well i can wait, he's probably having one of his moments.

Dama: and then weeks pass and nothing.

Dama: and then months. at some point he has to assume alba's either dead or just moved on.

Dama: letters not only being ignored but coming back return to sender. 🧍‍♂️ like "unable to locate" kind of shit

Dama: it's not like anyone else in what was once dragon's watch knows where he is either

Sage: The only one you'd be able to rely on to track him down is honestly MEISI. And..well.

Dama: my god Ivan is literally the last person who talked to him isn't he (editing note: I don't think Alba even speaks when Zojja uses his comms to call Taimi later.)

Dama: and then these demons start cropping up all over the world and its like. god. things look grim enough with just that but it appears the commander has either died or just left. and he's known for just leaving, and he's also known for doing things to put himself in danger, so. after some time canach probably just... finishes the grieving he's already started years ago, and tries to move on

Dama: i think it would hit alba hard if canach just moved on. 🧍‍♂️ a real blow to the chest.

Sage: The commnach economy is in fucking shambles

Dama: because in HIS head they're a sure thing possibly forever.... yeah i was away for a few months doing wizard shit why would you just assume i was dead?

Dama: "you didn't write me" well i. i. didn't think it would reach you.

Sage: And away for a year before that because of the tiger. And -

Dama: at some point i think canach wouldn't be willing to take him back either. at least not right now. work on yourself a bit man.

Dama: take care of yourself so you don't hurt the next person to fall in love with you.

Sage: Albas fucked up and struggling but canach is allowed to be and feel hurt because good lord.

Dama: canach has been a good sport about it for a long time but he made it clear when they started dating-dating and not just fooling around that he had his own issues and that he had boundaries and limits to what he could help with or tolerate or be around. and alba has pushed those limits almost non stop

Sage: ALBA YOU IDIOT YOU LOST THE 10/10 CACTUS

Dama: (in game screenshot reading…

Alba Moonseeker: Does what make me angry?

Peitha: The fact that everyone doesn't immediately bathe in your excellence.)

Sage: Hope how casual and informally indifferent meisi is with him now on average helps.

Dama: WHY ARENT YOU BATHING IN HIS EXCELLENCE MEISI :cry2:

Sage: Hes been there for it all it wasn't excellent

Sage: Meisis been there for it all from.a little sapling in the vigil to dragons dying to morning a charred corpse on a plateau. He respects alba, he loves alba, he had a crush on him a fuckin millenia ago. But hes never, will never deify alba.

Sage: Even among dragons watch hes a rare gaze that Just Sees a Person.

Dama: a person who can be incredibly shitty as a friend sometimes, lbr

Dama: his "I'd save the village" ass. Liar.

Sage: Probably doesn't even know one of meisis partners might die /s

Sage: Again. Meisi stays. Its more of a headache and a chore than a friendship the last few years but. If his presence does anything to help stabilize alba it is likely worth it. Even for what he has/hasn't done meisi doesn't think he deserves cutoff isolation

Dama: no but fr does he ask meisi how things are, does he take an interest in these things, or is it all take and very little give from him much of the time? you have to tell alba something's up for him to inquire about it, he won't go seeking you out to check on you.... case in point, zojja post-maguuma. his little "i would have loved to have seen her" was such bullshit to me. what stopped you buddy? never once did he Try to go find her. does he know one of meisi's partners might die... probably not, or he doesn't know the full extent of it. i don't think it's a lack of interest in people or anything, i don't think it's fully intentional, but i do think he's kind of selfish and self centered and zoomed in on his own stuff. being a hero. being THE hero.

Dama: "I'd save the village." but you don't know who any of the villagers are beyond the surface level "villager" title. you don't ask how they are. and meanwhile the dragon's champion is razing the next village over because you had to pat yourself on the back again.

Sage: Hes so focused on saving the world hes lost connection with it

Dama: i think at his base alba is a lonely person because he does things to keep himself alone. and that's why he's perfect for heroics and perfect for the pedestals that he gets lifted up onto. the commander, the hero of tyria and amnoon and cantha, the wayfinder. pinning titles to his lapels like war trophies. meanwhile he doesn't know the most base things about his closest friends. doesnt know Zeeki's dying, doesn't know almost anything about Bourbon's backstory, he only knows so much about Auruim because Auru is loud and pushy about rubbing alba's face in things. Thiiyf had to walk away from the Pact, she could have stayed by his side into Lws3 and beyond but she couldn't stand to be involved with him any longer knowing how limited her time was.

Dama: he sees his friends as not caring about him when the world doesn't need saving, well? do you care about your friends? ever?

Dama: dragon's watch is basically defunct with soo won gone -- yeah and i bet these people still make an effort to keep in contact and share things from their lives while he runs around getting hurt and being miserable and bemoaning that no one needs the commander. i love him so much god

Dama: bottom line I think that the guild and others "only reach out when the world needs saving" because. alba doesn't care unless the world needs saving.

Dama: it would be such a funny (not funny) gut punch for him to see how much everyone has moved forward in their personal lives and still stayed connected while he was. doing what? whatever. like he felt like such an outsider with the wizards and all, these guys all know each other and he's just some random from Tyria... but he doesn't know his friends either.

Dama: he's a stranger to them too.

Dama: I think he went to Rama's party primarily because he was desperate and hoping that someone would drop a big adventure on the table for the guild to go conquer as a team.

Dama: i would find it so funny if the next time he sees someone from dragon's watch they showed up with a kid and he's like haha whose baby is this then and they're like ??? commander this is my daughter....? i wrote you a letter when she was born, didn't you... read it? and everyone's quietly uncomfortable because of COURSE he didn't.

Sage: Its sad to think that *meisi* is probably more knowledgeable about what deidre means to Auru god d a m n.

Dama: of course he is, Meisi takes an actual interest in Auruim.

Alba is overall a man desperate for approval and love. He's a bad friend and lover because he only cares when the stakes are world ending, and people don't seem to care about or like him much because Alba doesn't care about or like himself. He's unable to wrap his head around a trolley problem like "would you go kill the dragon's champion on the mountain, or would you save a village from bandits" as a philosophical question because to him the "correct" answer boils down to "which one is going to make people love me?" He wouldn't save the farm, not as long as there was anything bigger and more important to do.

Being elevated to the pedestal of Commander as a sapling and then left up there for over a decade has made him incapable of seeing eye to eye with other people, even friends and lovers, not with his massive ego in the way. In a way I think that 13 years of nonstop warfare has just traumatized him to where he can't see himself as a singular small person, he has to be the face of an army, the face of heroism, and it doesn't help that he’s always going to be the Commander, hero of amnoon, dragon's champion, now wayfinder. Not a person, just a symbol.

SotO has been fascinating because not only is he treated as an outsider to a group of people so close to one another that they're family–outside looking in at healthy, real interpersonal relationships– he's also treated with revile and hatred by people within the fractals that he's "failed" – thinking specifically about the Zaishen and refugees in the Elona fractal. Their version of him failed to do the good deed, kill the big bad, win the wars, and so they hate him, and it's been a LONG time since random innocents have treated Alba that way. It took me back to the start of Lws4 when people were running from the branded attacks on Amnoon, shouting at him "You said this wouldn't happen, you said we were safe, you said you'd protect us and it was over," etc. Forcibly rubbing his face in (a version of) his failures and telling him YOU fucked this one up. The first time in a long time that people who "should" revere his symbol instead spit on it and deny him the love he needs. Maybe that *is* what he needs. To be kicked down and told he's done wrong and he can't fix it. Maybe he needs more failures under his belt, failed attempts, failed relationships, so he can finally value what he has.

I don't know right now if he and Canach will try again later on; currently the plan is that in a few months, Alba will make some sort of contact with his old guild and be told, essentially "we assumed you were dead or had left us, either way we've moved on in these ways and suggest you do too," and Canach will inform him that the same is true for their relationship; i.e. you either died or disappeared again, and I can't keep doing this either way. I've mourned you enough already. Go deal with your problems and learn to treat people who care about you like people who you care about rather than props and side characters to your A-plot.

I could definitely say more on that but I'll wait until I get some lore figured out and posted for Auru and Bourbon for SotO. :)

[lunadreamsdespondently]

Intro

Well, I'm finally making an intro for my blog. Took me long enough!

--

Short summary for those with short attention spans:

Sad lesbian photographer

✨ I AM A MINOR ✨

--

For those who want to read a bit more:

My name is Luna

She/her

I mostly post my photographs or random thoughts from the echo chamber of my head. I do some writing, but I rarely feel brave enough to share it here.

I am always happy to hear from you, whether in a dm or inbox! (I'm just lonely, actually, this is a plea for someone to talk to me)

Ah yes, interests. Ummm

Who the fuck has time for interests in this economy.

--

If you want to see just my photos, search my blog for "photography"

--

Idk what else people put in these tbh. Just . . . Hope you enjoy the mess that is my blog <333

--

[gayhenrycreel]

jesus christ it sucks to have to carefully read every post about palestine to check for american antisemitism, and check posts (note, this is only posts made by gentiles as far as ive seen) on this antisemitism for american islamophobia.

if you're wondering why i dont reblog many posts about palestine, its because they either have zero sources and are just screenshots from twitter (and yes, some twitter account you only know of from screenshots is not a reliable source), or are full of (hopefully unintended) nazi dogwhistles.

you need to learn these dogwhistles. dont just reblog posts about them. actually memorize them, study examples of them, train your brain to recognise them as efficiently as you do a swastika.

trust me, you can train your brain to immediately set off the alarms if you recognise one.

ive trained myself to recognise a lot of dogwhistles, not all of them of course, because theres so many, but thats why its a continuous effort.

this link is a wiki that contains a list of alt right dogwhistles on another page too.

okay, before you set off the fire alarm, read this post first:

this link does discuss extreme antizionism.

i will say first that antizionism AND zionism can both be antisemitic (see; christian zionism and the second coming of christ), but they are not always.

I AM NOT SAYING ANTIZIONISM IS BAD.

i consider myself antizionist. im an anarchist, how could i possibly support a state?

what i am saying is that those who are already antisemitic are using antizionism as an excuse for antisemitism. this can and does occur on the left. leftwing conspiracy theories do exist (some are actually the same as rightwing ones. you think the rich are collaborating together do you? who are those rich people? cause it certainly isnt the billionares who have no reason at all to like each other. whos controlling western media? is it the west? nah it must be that really small country thats basically owned by america, the westernest west to ever west.).

this applies to you.

every single human being carries the antisemitism we learned from society. i am not exempt. you are not exempt.

you may genuinely believe that you are not an antisemite. you hate hitler, right?

but you likely still think big noses are ugly. you think that the trope of a hook nosed greedy trader is just about elon musk dont you?

do you feel threatened by the use of hebrew? i did until just last year.

in western society, its rare for someone to have multiple native languages. you speak english. you hear someone speak words you dont understand. your immediate reaction is to wonder if they are up to something. talking shit about you? maybe even plotting terrorism?

of course you feel threatened by the use of other languages, youve been trained to think its suspicious.

train yourself to just not care when someone casually speaks hebrew, or arabic, or navajo in your proximity. if you dont care when people speak english, you shouldn't care when people speak another language. your not trying to eavesdrop right?

this subtle bigotry is why you are probably antisemitic, even if you are a perfect little leftist.

i want to talk about the blood libel being spouted by way to many leftists.

shockingly few people actually know what blood libel means.

basically, its a 1000 year old conspiracy theory claimng that jewish people steal and eat christian babies. this is all over media. did you see the new doctor who special? it was horrible.

in media this is often tied with goblins, which are historically (and often continue to be) portrayed as an antisemitic stereotype. SURELY YOU CAN RECOGNISE THAT BIG NOSED GREEDY GOBLINS CONTROLLING THE ECONOMY IS ANTISEMITIC.

okay, disclaimer, children are dying in gaza. israel is killing them.

but dont act like this is the only thing happening. they are not actively sending soldiers out to kill children specifically. this is equally affecting adults.

dont believe me that blood libel is being applied?

i saw some tumblr users joking about how the idf is kidnapping children and eating them. i went to their blogs to block them, expecting to see 88 everywhere (88 is code for hh, or hail hitler, btw), but no THEY WERE ALL "ANTIZIONIST" LEFTISTS WITH ACAB IN THEIR BIOS. those jokes are bad for everyone, its blood libel and making fun of actual victims of genocide.

sorry, im just... pissed off that my mutuals will reblog something about how using this as an excuse for antisemitism is bad, but still reblog posts full of dogwhistles.

a mutual of a mutual even reblogged a post claiming that antisemitism has not increased and that its a lie. i wont block you, ive seen your better reblogs, and it only happened once, but i urge you to properly read what you reblog.

i dont blame anyone for not knowing. ive had things to learn too. but please, stop reblogging globalist conspiracy theories.

as i write this its 4:20 sorry you may continue reading.

im not trying to be a dick. i dont blame you. i blame society. and this is not a you thing either.

its also a me thing.

its an everyone thing.

i also hate being challenged (i once punched a teacher for being wrong about the sun).

being challenged is how we learn.

ive also reblogged posts i really should not have reblogged.

i was ignorant. it will undoubtedly happen again.

unlearning bigotry is a lifelong commitment.

oh my god i just remembered how 8 year old me believed in phrenology.

i really hold nothing against you.

remember how most queer people were homophobic before The Realization?

we as a society need to go through that process of acceptance. you will never get everything right. none of us will.

what matters is trying

[umbracirrus]

WIP Wednesday

I posted this before I was tagged in anything but have since been tagged by @thequeenofthewinter and @throughtrialbyfire so thank you!!!

I actually have a WIP that I would like to share~ It's part of the next chapter of The Perfect Storm, and it's quite long so I've put some under the read more.

Given Whiterun’s delicate situation with regard to the ongoing war, and its central position in Skyrim which crossed over many roads and travel routes, linking hold to hold, it was not rare for Balgruuf to be receiving correspondences from the other Jarls of Skyrim. There would always be at least one per week, with some communications being more frequent than others – he couldn’t actually remember the last time that he had heard from Korir in Winterhold, whereas discussions with Siddgeir, Skald, and Thongvor Silver-Blood were held monthly.

But rare was the occasion that he would receive letters from both Windhelm and Solitude on the same day. Ulfric and Elisif, two Jarls at the complete opposite ends of Skyrim’s political spectrum. It was not the most welcoming of sights, seeing wax seals bearing the red wolf of Haafingar and the blue Bear of Eastmarch alongside each other in the hands of the apprehensive-looking Proventus.

Had it not been down to the fact that he was actually expecting a message from Ulfric, he would have taken the letters as a sign of the war inching ever closer to Whiterun’s doorstep. He recently had to reach out to him on the behest of Belethor, whose store – being a cornerstone of business in the city – had been closed for over a week on account of his goods being held up in Windhelm’s docks. With there being no general goods store, pressure was piling up on other vendors who were in turn reaching their own limits in terms of demand. There was only so long that such a position would be feasible without having to fall back on contingency supply plans, which he would much rather put into place when the war was no longer at a stalemate as opposed to as a result of supply issues.

It didn’t escape his notice, however, that this was not the first time that goods had been delayed when coming from Windhelm – and Proventus in turn remarked that it had all started happening ever since Elyse had clashed with Ulfric. Whether it was a direct result of that or not was another question, but not one that he would touch upon unless he had stronger evidence than mere correlation.

Leaning back on his seat in his study, forefinger and thumb rubbing against his chin and beard as he looked between the two letters, he decided that he would read the letter from Ulfric first, given that it was one that he had been anticipating. There was a small, nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he would likely need a strong drink once he had finished with it, but on the other hand, since when did communications with the other Jarls not ask for such?

Jarl Balgruuf, Rest assured that trade will resume imminently, but that additional and appropriate tolls and tariffs will need to be paid by either yourself or the recipient before anything can be released. An invoice from my steward will soon follow this letter once he has finished with summing up the costs. This accounts for the space which the goods have taken up, depriving Windhelm’s citizens of safe storage for their own wares and supplies, in addition to the burden which was placed upon both the city’s guards and the good Nords working at the docks. In future, I would recommend that you ensure that your citizens are not using illicit traders to acquire their goods. I will not tolerate dirty money infecting Skyrim’s economy. On the topic of fees and fines, I believe that your Thane has been ignoring attempts at communications regarding her fine for assaulting me, in addition to my attempts at apologising for my brash manner of speaking with her. It has taken much self-reflection to realise that I was on the wrong side of that situation, though her escalation was still not necessary. I would like to make reparations with her, but cannot with her ignoring me. Perhaps, as her Jarl, she will listen to you. It is also time that you start listening to me too. Whiterun’s future depends on it. Regards, Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak

“Irileth…” He knew that his housecarl would be close enough to be able to hear him, she always was as of late. The door creaked open, the Dunmer in question being quick to emerge with the noise that she made being enough of an indication of the raised eyebrow on her face. “Could you please inform Proventus that I would like to have an urgent audience with Belethor before this evening?” he asked, not looking up from the letter on his desk but instead reaching out for some fresh parchment and a clean quill. “And before he asks, the discussion with the brothers from the Drunken Huntsman can be pushed back to tomorrow, I will have more time then and this matter is much more pressing.”

“Yes, my Jarl.”

With a quiet click, the door fell shut again and Balgruuf sighed. That feeling about needing a drink after reading the letter was on point, as usual. Fortunately, given that his work as of late was necessitating him needing more and more time in his study, he had been prepared for such an occasion and had a few bottles of Colovian brandy locked away in a cupboard – and by the Divines, he needed something strong.

Elisif’s letter would simply have to wait until later.

[effervescentdragon]

Re: Quadrant

He banded together a small group of YT and Twitch streamers and his friend Max F to be apart of Quadrant. It mixes his passion for gaming, racing and fashion. They do things individually and as a group. They sometimes post videos on YT and some stream on Twitch. He also sells Quadrant merch which sometimes has links to racing/motorsports brands as well if I’m not mistaken.

Honestly though, it’s just Lando taking advantage of his appeal and him using his love of gaming and clothing as a way to take advantage of his crazy fanbase this will waste an insane amount of money on average looking hoodies. I think it’s so smart of him and also a way to employ some friends and people he likes and with his connection to it all it helps keep the cash flow going for him and the Quadrant gang. I find it hilarious that people waste money on the merch though. He has his LN4 brand and Quadrant which are solely to take advantage of the appeal he has and he knows people will spend. They (Quadrant gang) aren’t super consistent with their videos and rarely are filing all together yet you’ll see some of them constantly on vacation. They squeeze in some streaming, but it’s clear Lando and his business partner seem to take care of the group by getting them freebies (i.e. Vegas/Hilton) which I think is nice of them.

Overall I think it’s clever and a great way to keep some cash-flow as F1 isn’t a forever job. I don’t engage much with the whole thing anymore because I do find it all inconsistent and don’t think they are serious as other streaming groups that are popular on YT/twitch. Quadrant seem to put in juuuuussst enough because they know with the Lando link it’s enough to have plenty of people coming back.

I know people may not be happy with my response but let me be clear I do believe Lando is passionate about it all but also his priority is F1 and he needs the group to step up. I do feel the group could be doing more to help really build the brand outside of Lando because I do feel the heavily rest on the Lando connection apart from a few of them who seem to really be into putting in the work individually but as a group not so much.

The Quadrant Esports team seem very legit and genuine about putting in the work but the Quadrant kids…eh.

Okay this is actually really helpful, thank you for taking the time to explain it to me! I don't understand streaming, or youtube monetising, or like basically economy, especially not these kind of things so I am bound to be sceptical and less-than-enthused over these kind of things in general, but it does make sense to milk the, well, goat (this is a reference he he he) for as long as possible in any possible way. Thanks again for explaining!! 🙏🏻🥰

[themadknightuniverse]

10 films i love

tagged by @michaelmandog 💖 thank you!!

No particular order

Mad Max Fury Road — It's a movie often mistaken for having a story that can be written on a post-it, meanwhile it's actually speaking about a LOTS of different things and there is a lot to say. An absolute favorite, I never get tired to see it over and over again, it still keeps its power. It drains your energy, it's aggressive, frantic. The most striking images made with a complex storyboard so all the action is legible and understandable. Every images tell something, some are literal illustrations (and there are plenty of them). The COLORS work. The designs (I still see details I haven't seen before). The music. The absolute pleasure they took in some scenes just for the fun/dabass look of it all. And the vast list of subjects the movie speaks about (Patriarchy, women status, cults, human status, society organization/functionality, inequalities, climate change, PTSD, the will to take control over your life back, the economy system in a destroyed world, ...) and even if it's addressed with a few words or images, it's there, it's impactful. One of the rare sequel that does it better than the first movies. I could speak about it for hours.

Interstellar — Space, sciences, love. A story that speaks about its characters through a space journey. The emotional scenes always get me. The images and music are haunting me.

You were never really here — A movie that tells the story of a hero failing. I rarely see this in movies and this one does it and does it with a special care for the general ambiance. Very contemplative, it tells everything through the visuals. It has one of the most beautiful scene I ever seen in a movie. The camera work is also very interesting. Also expect some very difficult subjects.

The Green Knight — Dark fantasy, poesy, heavy symbolism (like, it's basically only that from first frame to the last) and philosophical journey, real bold choices, striking imagery, brilliant soundtrack, something I was waiting to see since forever in the dark fantasy world.

The Sisters Brothers — A western. Contemplative but not devoid of action scenes nor dialogs. Imagery carefully done, one of my favorite nightmare scene in a movie too, even if it's short.

Prisoners — I love Denis Villeneuve's work and I had to pick only one so I went for the first movie from him I've seen. That movie is an absolute big slap in the face. Amazing character writing. The soundtrack is from Jóhann Jóhannsson and everything he did speaks to my soul.

The Dark Knight — Heath Ledger's performance. That's it.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier — I had to name one Marvel movie, I just love that license. And this one is the best and most interesting to me. Steve and Bucky are in love and they can't avoid fighting each other. Actions scenes quite ruined by the amount of damn shaky cam but still, knife fights. And Bucky is hot as hell. I don't need more arguments.

Moulin Rouge! — I really don't like musicals. Yet here it is, in my top fav movies. It's super pretty and original in the imagery. The songs choices are just that good. And the story is more than heartbreaking.

Come True — Horror movie. My absolute favorite dreams/nightmares scenes ever, it's aesthetically pleasing especially if you like the work of very dark smoky tones, heavy symbolism, haunting and efficient. I recommend to go in blindly for the best effect. The ending can be deceptive but still the journey is really worth it. Be careful if you're experimenting sleep paralysis tho, that's a huge subject and visual content of the movie.

tagging : not comfortable with tagging people, do it if you feel like it! 💞

[excalibent]

Good Omens

I saw a post about Good Omens, so I’m making a post about Good Omens, and none of you can stop me.

Not that you would, I guess.

Spoilers for Good Omens, and slight spoilers Making Money, and Going Postal.

Searching out something in the text to have a say on is a bit difficult, given that it does an extremely good job of presenting complicated and important ideas in ways that are damn near impossible to miss when you come at it with a sledgehammer and a magnifying glass. I’m not overly familiar with the works of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, but I’ve read Making Money and Going Postal, and loved them both to bits.

The kind of symbolism that seems to hang about in the background of Good Omens is stuff like the part of Making Money where - beyond the explicit, direct, unapologetic claim that money is a representation of value rather than value itself - a character pulls a lever in a simulation of the economy, and literally makes a bunch of gold appear out of thin air. The statement is clear: money is fake, and value is fake, and the only reason valuable things exist is because we made up that value from literal nothing. We just looked at it, thought ‘hey, that’s valuable’, and so the inert, shiny chunk of rock became valued. Then, the part of Going Postal that actually planted this idea of value being linked to things with qualities beyond their material properties, that the letters themselves were indescribably valuable to the people that received them and some could have been traded for hundreds of dollars for the simple fact that they were so valued, and in this, the revelation that stories can and will impact the people that read them - not just in general, but especially if it’s a story that they were meant to hear.

Where can we find these moments of stark, important - yet, in some way, abstract - statements in Good Omens?

Frankly, they’re all over the place; there’s the idea that you don’t win if you don’t fight, and if you truly believe in your principles - healthy food, peace, a cleaner earth - you can fight, and even win. But winning doesn’t last forever, and you can’t fight forever. You’re only human. It’s a point that Death underlines, in the end; creation doesn’t mean anything without destruction. As much as we value things that are, we also need to reconcile that these things are also defined by everything that they are not. And, additionally, if you are going to ‘win’ in any meaningful way, it has to be because your children fight for that future, too. The point that, in the end, the anti-christ is human above all else, the idea that celestial beings - in the realm of human experience - are interchangeable, that fate is a book that was written centuries ago that doesn’t even end when the end of all time arrives, it’s all very interesting to think about, but it’s hard to really describe without stating what feels obvious. Again, Good Omens was very good at getting its ideas across.

The thing I’d like to look at with a more critical lens is probably a theme that does pop up explicitly, but sometimes only in the background: you reap what you sow.

For Crowley, this happens explicitly when the entire highway bursts into flame because it resembles the sigil of the great devourer of worlds. As per the text - “Crowley had built it, and now he was stuck in it.” This also hits Aziraphale; his bookshop burns down because of the candles that he lit. Obviously, he didn’t intend them to burn it all down, but the consequences of our actions are rarely apparent until you come back to see where the kindling was.

And what’s more interesting, above all, is Adam. He builds a circle of friends, and as he comes into his power, he starts trying to control them, to reshape them from the group he had lead into a group he could lead into Armageddon, but they don’t agree with any of it; regardless of the greater circumstance, Adam and his friends had assembled because of like minds, more or less, and that’s exactly what he got when his powers came to him - people that cared about health, peace, the world around them, that would really rather not burn it down - and when he rejects his powers, they return to him, because as he had chosen them, they had also chosen him. There wasn’t a greater hand moving pieces into place, it just kind of happened, and the friendship that they had was overwhelmingly more important than staying angry after Adam started going all funky in the head, when it turns out that he falls down and might be hurt.

They’re right to leave when he had taken away their freedoms, but the kindness they gave him when he needed it more than anything else was probably the most important part of the story; the people around you will support you when you treat them well.

(Obviously, Heaven and Hell had not treated Aziraphale and Crowley very well; sure, they only brought down punishment in the end, but all throughout, aside from being treated as menial workers poking about on Earth, their disagreements were entirely dismissed out of hand the moment they - Aziraphale, mainly, and repeatedly - meant to bring up whether what they were doing was what they should be doing, besides.)