#again i appreciate you all!! it should also be noted for those who order I'm extra when it comes to making the boxes/packaging pretty lol

[heulevescant]

Hi I'm Airy and I make these cute bottle necklaces! (the ones shown above are just examples of my work) I'm also disabled, and after health problems that keep causing me to miss work and expenses (including finger splints- being disabled is expensive lol) I'm attempting to get out of debt and regain some semblance of financial stability before I can start saving for top surgery.

Please consider checking out my etsy shop! (if the link isn't working my username is heulevescant on there as well)

LINK

I also sell vintage jewelry on mercari! Please feel free to reach out and make offers!

LINK

Thank you again, boosting is extremely appreciated!!!

[moodriingz]

The Prophecy | J. Hughes

Summary | You’ve given up on love until love hits you in the face (with a door) 

Warnings | Unedited, one curse word, (really bad) angst

Author's Note | I finally finished all of my finals! So that means more regular stories so send in requests! This is also part of my 100 follower celebration!

Masterlist

You never expected to feel so lost in a city you lived in for most of your adult life. You and your college boyfriend broke up after five years of dating. You met early in your freshman year and were stuck together like glue. He made you feel like you caught lightning in a bottle, so much so you were willing to do anything for him. So many of your friends thought you were going to get married and he had been hinting at it since you graduated a year ago.

You were blindsided when he said that he didn’t think you two should be together anymore and basically kicked you out of your shared apartment. Luckily Hannah, your best friend, offered to stay in her apartment until you could find one. 

All you could think was that it was your fault. Why else would he end it so suddenly? He gave you little to no explanation. Even though you were still so young you felt like you would never find a love like his. It was like someone was betting against you. All you ever wanted was someone who wanted your company.

After a couple of weeks you were able to find a new apartment in a different part of town and you never felt so excited or rejuvenated. Hannah was trying to convince you to start dating again, but you told her it was too soon. You were scared someone was betting against your love life and you didn’t want to risk it yet. 

Little did you know when you went to check out a new pizza place you would run into the cutest guy you’ve ever seen. It wasn’t a normal meeting though he almost gave you a concussion by hitting you with the door.

“I’m so sorry, are you ok? How many fingers am I holding up?” The stranger asks as he stares into your eyes looking for any signs of injury. Before you respond you notice his really tall friend recovering the pizza off the ground.

“I’m fine thank- why are you moving your finger in front of my eyes?” You ask confused about what he is doing.

“I’m trying to make sure you don’t have a concussion. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell,” he said, still doing some concussion protocol? You’re not too certain what is happening honestly.

“I think I’m ok I really appreciate it though,” you say finally getting the opportunity to stand up as he backs up. You go to move inside before he stops you.

“Wait what’s your name?”

“Y/n,” You tell him before turning around to enter the shop and order your much deserved pizza.

Later you meet up with Hannah to debrief about both of your weeks. You almost forgot to tell her about the mystery pizza man until she mentions dating to you again.

“Hannah, I'm not going on a date right now. But there was this really cute guy who almost gave me a concussion the other night when I went to get pizza,” You say nonchalantly.

“What? Y/n why didn’t you tell me? What’s his name? Are you going out with him?” She babbles as you roll your eyes.

“No to all of those questions. I felt like such a fool because of my ex and I’m not doing that again.” You say with a shrug. Living alone has really forced you to think about your relationship and you realized that the end of your relationship was most likely your fault, and you definitely do not want to get into another relationship until you figure out how to stop it from happening again.

After dinner you and Hannah decide to hit a club that was only semi full until the hockey crowd filtered in after the game. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits though so the Devils must have won.

Little did you know is that your pizza mystery man was currently walking in the club with some of his teammates to celebrate. Hannah was a pretty big fan and spotted some of them almost instantly.

“Oh my gosh the Devils are here we should go say hey. Maybe you can find a date,” She wasn’t going to take no for an answer so you just let her pull you by the wrist.

Hannah finally stops when she’s face to face with Nico, who you only recognize because of all of his ads around town. Before you can introduce yourself someone calls out your name.

“Y/n,” Your mystery man. He says it shocked like he didn’t expect to see you again.

“You know Jack Hughes?” Hannah whispers into your ear. You just ignore her because maybe it's fate? Maybe it’s a cruel joke?

You don’t even know what to say, you’re so shocked by the turn of events. You never would’ve thought you’d meet him again. You thought your near concussion experience would be the last you see of him.

“I’m Jack by the way,” He says and you’re drawn in by his voice and his eyes that haven’t left yours.

“I think you owe me a drink for almost killing me,” You say, shocking yourself.

“In my defense I didn’t try to give you a concussion, my brother was distracting me,” He says leading you to the bar. You order your regular drink and he does the same before asking you if you’d want to talk for a bit.  

The two of you talked for what seemed like minutes until Hannah came to find you to let you know that she’s leaving. You check the time and realize you should probably leave as well. 

“I had an amazing night thanks for keeping me company,” You say getting up to leave.

“Wait let me give you my number,” Jack says standing up and you nod, handing him your phone.

You walk Hannah home because you’re much more sober than she is and all she can talk about is that you know Jack Hughes.

“You should go out with him, he's so cute and sweet.”

“Hannah I’m not dating right now and you know that,” You say, leading her to her door.

“Yeah I know but you just deserve to be happy, and I really think he would be perfect for you,” She said, drawing out her syllables. You say goodnight and make your way home which luckily isn’t too far from her apartment.

The next day you decide to listen to Hannah and reach out to Jack. You try texting him telling him that you had a great time talking to him last night, but the message never gets delivered. All you can do is feel idiotic. It wasn’t fate to run into him twice (physically or not). You feel so childish thinking maybe this was your chance. 

You blame Hannah for getting your hopes up to think that maybe something could happen. You were starting to think that maybe it was some cruel joke fate was playing on you. You were almost compelled to pray to change your prophecy, but then you just started feeling even more insane. But, there must be a way to change it, right?

Later in the week you decide to work out of a cafe nearby and feel like the universe is playing some sick joke on you. As you look up your eyes meet with a pair of blue eyes staring you down. You smile shyly at the hockey player not knowing how to respond to someone who never responded to your text. Jack took that as an invitation to join you.

“You never called,” He says as he sits down.

“I texted but you never responded,” You say nervous you’d get turned down in person this time.

“What are you talking about? I was so excited to see you again because I wanted to get your number the first time we met but I thought it would be weird if I asked after almost giving you a head injury. I would’ve noticed if you texted me,” He rambles and you just pull out your phone to show him the message. He clicks around on your phone until his eyes get wide.

“I gave you the wrong number,” Jack says with a blush on his face. You feel that maybe your tables are turning. Instead of fate working against you, maybe they just wanted you two to meet a couple of times.

“Third times a charm right?” You smile at him as he fixes his number in your phone. You two fall into conversation once again before he checks the time.

“I have to go but I can’t leave until you agree to go on a date with me,” Jack says with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. You just nod knowing that someone was finally betting on your love life.

[anistarrose]

You added an "image description" to my post - now what? (FAQ)

[Plain text: "You added an 'image description' to my post - now what? (FAQ)". End PT.]

While I'm literally always willing to answer (good faith) questions about image descriptions, alt text, and online accessibility writ large, I also know lots of people have social anxiety about sending DMs, doing IDs "wrong," or just not knowing what IDs are for in the first place. Hence, this FAQ.

If I added an ID to your post and/or asked you to do so, and you're confused about any aspect of that, this is where to start. You can absolutely still reach out to me, I just thought I should consolidate as many answers as possible.

"What is an ID and why does it matter?"

IDs are a description of the content of an image, and can range from a transcript of a screenshot of text, to a description of a detailed piece of art. They should be in plain text, and placed on the line immediately following the image (unless it's alt text, more on those pros and cons later).

IDs are primarily for blind and low vision people who use screen readers to navigate the internet — but help others too, including lots of neurodivergent people. Check out this post (link) and the notes for more examples (dyslexics, migraine sufferers, people who can't interpret expressions, people with slow internet...)

IDs are important because without them, the Internet really sucks for people who need them. You probably don't realize how many undescribed images circulate on tumblr every day, with no way for a lot of disabled people to engage with those posts.

A blind person talks in more detail about all of this here (link).

"I reblogged your ID, is that enough?"

It's not that I don't appreciate it, but editing it into the root post and then reblogging that is much more impactful, for a variety of reasons. It means people who need IDs don't have to dig through the notes for them, it means that Tumblr can't glitch by failing to load the notes and make the ID functionally disappear, and it means all people who find the post in the tags or on your blog will be sharing the accessible version.

To explain visually, the best thing to do is something like this:

[ID: two mock-up Tumblr posts to illustrate adding an ID from the notes to the root post. A blog named "your-blog" posts an image of text reading "something cool you posted" with the caption "check out this cool image I made!" In the notes, the blog "image-describer" reblogs with an ID, which is highlighted. This version of the post is labeled: "original post, reblogged via ID writer."

The second version of the post is from "your-blog" again, where they've added the ID directly under the image, with the same caption below the ID. This version is labeled "updated root post, with ID copy-pasted. End ID.]

"My caption/commentary first, or ID first?"

Include the ID right under the image, followed by your caption or commentary. Unless you're putting your commentary before the image itself, a sighted person will see "image, commentary" in that order, so to ensure the post flows the same way, use the order "image, ID, commentary."

Commentary frequently assumes that the reader has seen the image, after all! A person might not even realize the image is described if the ID is buried too deep, because they might lose patience and skip the post. Or, to explain visually:

[ID: two mock-up example posts with an ID, one formatted well and one poorly. They both start with an image, which is just the text "screenshot of a tweet or something." The first post includes the ID immediately under the image. Below, it continues: "commentary blah blah blah get a load of this guy can you believe it." The post is labeled "Like this!" in green with a check mark.

The second post includes the commentary first, then the ID after the commentary. It's labeled: "Reads awkwardly, deprives screen reader users of immediate context" in red with an X. End ID.]

"I want to make a change to the ID, is that okay?"

Yep! If you want me to change it on my blog too (whether it's characters' pronouns, some typo, etc), just message me.

"What if someone else adds an ID to my post? Would they also be okay with me editing it into the original post like you are?"

Almost certainly! I can't speak for everyone, but I've literally never met an ID writer who wouldn't be okay with it — because we all have the shared goal of maximizing accessibility. If you're unsure or nervous, you can always include credit, but most people are even fine with going uncredited.

"I put your ID in the alt text, is that enough?"

I will never tell you not to use alt text when the alternative is an undescribed post, but I really strongly suggest putting it in both the alt text and the post. Some people who use screen readers prefer the flow of alt text, for good reason — but it's also poorly implemented on Tumblr, and it can glitch and disappear on reblogs, in drafts, or just apropos of nothing.

Moreover, when a low-vision person or anyone else wants to read the alt text directly, Tumblr's display options aren't great. (Unless you use XKit Rewritten's AccessKit, which I will always plug, but that's not an option for mobile users.) Long alt text often extends off the page and gets cut off. Tumblr used to use a terrible eye-straining purple background for it, and could always do that again with no warning. It's just not ideal.

Here's a visually impaired person talking more about the pros and cons (link).

It seems we're in need of a compromise, so what can you do? One option is to include the same alt text as image description (placing the ID directly under the image as always, because remember, flow for screen readers is important). I like to lead with "ID from alt," in order to clarify to screen reader users that they can skip the ID, and help differentiate it from the other option I'm about to describe. This should be self-explanatory, but here's an example of a post I did in this style (link).

Option two is to include a short description in the alt text, and a more detailed explanation in-post. This can let screen reader users instantly know that the post is described, and decide whether they're interested enough in it to stick with it, but it maintains an in-post description for others to benefit from too.

Example of me doing this in a post about IDs (link)

Example of my mutual describing art like this (link)

Also, it's the style I follow throughout this exact post! Take a look!

As usual, the ID is directly below the image in all these cases. This means screen readers move immediately from the alt text to the full description, and the post flows the same way it would for a sighted person.

If you're here because I wrote an ID for you, it might be easier for you to put it in the alt text and the post body identically, and that's perfectly fine! But if you're confident writing one short sentence for the alt text and including my ID in the body, you can always go for that too!

"Do I need to keep the brackets or the words 'image description/ID' in the alt text?"

Nope, no need. Brackets are purely for the visual distinction, and most screen readers preface alt text with something like "Image" that fulfills the same purpose as the "ID" label. It's not the end of the world if they're there, but it's redundant, so feel free to remove them.

"Can I put the ID under a read more? Or in small text?"

Please don't. Read mores are glitchy, and oftentimes have to be opened in a new tab. Accessibility that requires jumping through extra hoops isn't accessibility. And worse, if you change your URL or get deactivated, that read more link is usually just gone for good, and the post is undescribed again.

Meanwhile, small text, italics, colored text, and so on aren't good for low vision people or others who read the IDs directly — such as with increased font size — for whatever reason. If you want the ID to stand out visually even more than with brackets, an indent is fine as far as I know. And remember, IDs always go immediately below the image!

"Why do you sometimes copy italics and stuff as plain text? Is that a screen reader thing too?"

Same reason IDs shouldn't be in small text, italics, etc — because of sight readers with low vision. Font in weird styles, or in a fixed size regardless of device settings (to my knowledge, this includes headings) isn't very accessible, so I try to provide an accessible transcript.

Colored text is sometimes even inaccessible to sighted people using certain Tumblr themes! If Tumblr gave individual users the option to disable small text and colors on their dash, then I'd tell you to use them to your heart's content, but as it stands, they're not very accessible.

"Okay, I want to make my blog more accessible, but I don't feel capable of writing IDs on my own. How can I get help?"

Good news, this is my absolute favorite question! I strongly recommend the People's Accessibility Discord (invite link here, please let me know if it breaks).

It was created for this exact purpose of crowdsourcing IDs (and answering questions about them). I talk about it more in this post (link), where I also describe an alternative if you're like me and have massive social anxieties about Discord servers.

TL;DR: ask in the post if someone can add an image description, and edit it in once someone does! If you've read this far in the post, you're clearly an expert on how to do that.

In that post, I also recommend OnlineOCR (link) and Google Lens to extract text from images and save you typing if it's just a twitter thread or something. I would always spot check the text, adjust formatting, and remove superfluous characters, but it usually saves you lots of time when you might not normally have the energy to describe something.

Lastly, a lot of description blogs take requests! I don't unless I specify otherwise, because I easily run out of spoons, but @accessible-art is a great example of a blog that does this for non-fandom art, and there are lots of fandom blogs out there that do similar.

"I want to learn how to write image descriptions for my posts! Do you have any resources?"

This is my image description masterpost (link). I get a little scared about linking it because it's long, and a lot of the linked posts are long, and I don't want to overwhelm people — so please, start with the first few links to get the broad strokes, and then feel free to treat the rest like a index. That is, peruse it if you're looking for answers or advice on a specific topic!

While learning, keep in mind that different ID users want different things out of IDs, and that's okay. Some people, including many blind people, care quite a bit about color, but others don't, and that doesn't mean either is wrong about the types of IDs they prefer versus ones they find unnecessary.

Blind people have a massive range of lived experiences, and all the other people who benefit from IDs broaden that range even more. Generally, no one involved wants huge walls of text, but some people prefer super-minimal IDs, while others prefer a nice handful of (relevant) details. It's stuff like the difference between "Two characters hugging in a cozy-looking house," versus "Two characters hugging with their eyes closed, both smiling. Their house looks cozy and cluttered, with warm lighting."

Neither of those is objectively wrong, and there will be people who prefer either. Nor is it wrong for you, the ID writer, to make a subjective judgement, such as on the "cozy" mood. You don't want to misrepresent things, but subjectivity is usually unavoidable on some level, and therefore fine. Likewise, you don't want to let the ID get so long it's a slog to get through (here's an example of what NOT to do), but if you're describing a complicated image like some art might be, it's okay to add some details. Just start with the important stuff and general idea first.

The purpose of an image also matters. With memes, shorter is almost always better, and excessive detail is annoying (post with examples). You don't need in-depth detail to appreciate most quick jokes. But on the other hand, art is often shared for the purpose of appreciating the details. This post goes into detail about how context matters, and how longer IDs make sense for art sometimes. It puts it better than I could, so I really suggest reading it if this is something you're wondering about! Key word: not length, not brevity, but "relevancy."

In my opinion, IDs are easiest to learn by doing, but also by starting small. If you want to build up your "description muscles" and confidence by just transcribing tweets, that's perfectly fine — and also, the path that myself and a lot of people I know have followed.

Lastly: follow some described blogs! Check out how other people do it! Writing IDs is an art, and though it has a few hard do's and don't's we've gone over, we've also gone over how it's subjective. Everyone brings a slightly different style, with a different level of lengthiness, and it's great to learn from multiple sources. Here's one list of blogs like those (link)!

"Why would this matter if I know I don't have any blind people following me?"

Consider the cycle of inaccessibility (link). If no one ever accommodates blind people, then of course you're not going to see them on Tumblr, in fandom, or in whatever internet circles! And blind people aren't the only people who need image descriptions — again, consider this post, especially this addition (link).

Worst case scenario, even if you have no one who can benefit from IDs either following you, and no people who need IDs would follow you even if you included them, you're still helping people who do maintain accessible blogs to do so — and moreover, normalizing image descriptions in general.

"I don't think blind people would be in this fandom. I mean, there's a huge visual component!"

Described comics and webcomics exist. Audio descriptions for TV shows and movies exist. Disabled people who find creative ways to play video games exist. People who watched a playthrough of a video game by a person who happened to read out the dialogue, and give descriptive commentary on the action, also exist. People who lose their vision over time, or gain other reasons to rely on IDs over time, also exist.

[hunieday]

Yamato, Sougo, Momo 2024 Shuffle talk RabbiTV Episode 1

Episode 1 - Episode 2 - Episode 3

Please note that I am not a professional translator and I'm only doing this to share the side materials to those who cannot access them, if you notice any mistakes please let me know nicely. Enjoy!

*Doors opens*

Momo: Good morning~! You two are already here! You’re early~!

Nikaido Yamato: Good morning, Momo-san. We just got here a little bit ago.

Osaka Sougo: Good morning, Momo-san.

Osaka Sougo: It’s an honor for me to be able to join you on this "Monthly World Travel" special series. I know I greeted you at the raffle drawing, but I would like to thank you again!

Momo: No no, I'm the one who’s super happy to travel with you to Australia! I may be a bit clumsy, but I’m looking forward to working with you.

Nikaido Yamato: No no no no. I’m still inexperienced, so I would appreciate your guidance and support, Momo-san...

Momo: Ahaha! Everyone's being so humble!!

Momo: It’s gonna be just the three of us on this trip, so you can be more relaxed!

Osaka Sougo: I’m sorry for being so formal... Even Tamaki-kun tells me I’m too stiff a lot of times.

Momo: Oh, then how about you try talking more like Tamaki? Maybe you’ll sound a bit more casual!

Nikaido Yamato: Sou’s gonna call you “Momorin”?

Momo: Yup! Give it a try!

Osaka Sougo: Mo, mo... Momo... Mo...

Osaka Sougo: I’m sorry! I really still can’t do it after all...

Momo: Ahaha! You’re so cute! Thanks for trying your best to call me by that name!

Momo: Well, looks like this project’s gonna be quite relaxed so let’s take it easy. Yuki said there would be photo shoots and missions, but also plenty of free time!

Osaka Sougo: You’re right. I’ll try to take it more easy!

Nikaido Yamato: Looks like the weather will be nice too, so I’m looking forward to it.

Momo: It’s winter over there, isn’t it? I was considering going to the ocean for a swim but that might be impossible.

Nikaido Yamato: That’s true. It’s warm enough to wear short sleeves during the day though.

Osaka Sougo: Melbourne has many tourist attractions such as the Royal Botanic Gardens and zoos, so there should be plenty more to enjoy aside from the beach.

Momo: Aren’t you two a little too well-informed? Did you already do your research!?

Osaka Sougo: Yes, I was so excited that I ended up researching a lot of things.

Nikaido Yamato: He ordered all sorts of books. From travel magazines to Australian history.

Osaka Sougo: I thought I would appreciate the trip more if I understood its historical background... Yamato-san, you were also studying common English conversation phrases at the dorm so you could use them during the trip, right?

Nikaido Yamato: Just a little bit. I can speak English pretty well, but if you don’t use it you’ll forget it.

Momo: Having two capable little juniors is so reassuring!

Momo: I usually push myself real hard, but Momo-chan can probably just take it easy and enjoy himself this time!?

Nikaido Yamato: Re:vale works a lot overseas, right?... Must be hard to work together with that guy.

Momo: Ahaha! I’m used to it by now!

Momo: I always think about Yuki whenever I’m planning a trip and ask myself if he would enjoy it.

Momo: Thanks to that, I fully prepare everything from in-flight entertainment to what drinks to order at the hotel!

Nikaido Yamato: Oh, sounds good~ I’d like to try some of the local Australian beers.

Osaka Sougo: It seems like they tend to have a lower alcohol content and are easy to drink.

Momo: Sounds good! Let’s clear the missions and enjoy some delicious drinks together as a reward!

Momo: Wow, so this is Brighton Beach! Those colorful warehouses are so cute!

Osaka Sougo: Everyone’s taking pictures here and there.

Nikaido Yamato: Should we take a pic too?

Osaka Sougo & Momo: Yaaay!

*Camera shutter*

Momo: Yup! All of us have nice smiles!

Osaka Sougo: This will be a great memory of our trip!

Nikaido Yamato: How nice would it be if we completed the mission by spending time on the beach.

Momo: Things would be boring if it ends this quickly! Let’s enjoy the mission too~!

Accompanying Staff: Thank you everyone for traveling this far!

Accompanying Staff: Here’s the card with your mission written on it. Please take a look at the hint and the exploration map as well!

Osaka Sougo: Thank you. Um, for starters, the mission is... “Let’s meet a mermaid!”

Nikaido Yamato: And the hint is, “Under the water.”

Momo: A mermaid... under the water... Maybe we can swim to an underwater palace from this beach!?

Nikaido Yamato: That’s more like Urashima Taro than a mermaid, isn’t it? (1)

Momo: Haha! Nice one, Yamato!

Osaka Sougo: Hmm, I can’t make anything out of the hint being under the water.

Osaka Sougo: Shall we start by looking for clues around here?

Momo: Ah! Then it’s time for this!

Momo: Tadah! I brought soap bubbles from Japan!

Osaka Sougo: Momo-san, you went through the trouble of preparing this for us...!

Momo: I thought it would be fun to do this at the beach! Aren’t these containers so colorful and cute?

Momo: I’ve got four colors for each member, ones in Yamato’s and Sougo’s colors, as well as Yuki’s and mine!

Nikaido Yamato: You even brought one in Yuki-san’s color.

Momo: They were sold in packs of two and I felt bad leaving Yuki back home, so I brought his.

Momo: Here, the green one for Yamato and purple for Sougo!

Osaka Sougo: Thank you very much.

Nikaido Yamato: Wow, I remember blowing into the hole at the tip of the stick as a kid, how nostalgic.

Osaka Sougo: It’s been so long since I did something like this. It’s kind of exciting.

Momo: Alright! Let’s make some big soap bubbles!

Osaka Sougo & Nikaido Yamato: Yeah!

End of Episode 1.

Urashima Taro: A fairy-tale of a fisherman who, after visiting the underwater Palace of the Dragon King, returns centuries later​.

[confoundedluna]

got that until dawn ps3 version quote list for y'all Finally

it is Just as stupid and ridiculous as the final version and it deserves appreciation too - this post might be longer than the other actually since this version has more chapters, we shall see, and the characters seem to talk to themselves a lot, plus I want to call out More of the dialogue since it's lesser known overall compared to the final game

again, please note these aren't in any particular order, I think they're Mostly chronological per character, I just type them as they come up in the videos and the videos are a bit odd in the way the chapters play out (one video is like. chapters 1, 4 and 5, another is 1, 6 and 7, it's just too awkward to be flipping between videos to watch everything in full order), since a lot are incomplete or need multiple builds to showcase everything they can, but I put together a playlist that was Mostly the order the chapters should be in, including different versions of each chapter in case anything changed across the different builds that I might want to take note of

also please note that some of these i typed based off how the subtitles are written and some off of how the lines are delivered - some of them switch the word order or use like a shortened version of a word or whatever, some lines have dialogue that isn't properly subtitled or has an automated voice reading them rather than an actual actor's delivery, I'm sorry if it's inconsistent but that's just how it's gonna be, i might not notice which version of the quote I used but it's basically the same thing so deal with it lmao

and like last time, let me know if i missed or skipped anything you think should be on this list! I tried to be a bit conservative with how many lines I used and go for just the funniest stand out ones or the ones that carried over, either fully or partially, to the finished game

okay enough disclaimers and apologies and shit, on to the quotes!

CHRIS

(SAM: I thought you were dead!) Well that's a fine thing to say to someone.

Wow. Safety. My mind is blown.

A-ha! And here we have the mysterious graphite spray.

It is believed that seances derive their mystical power by channeling the kinetic energy created by nude bodies... gathered as offerings to the occult, particularly those of young, teenage women. Ghosts are typically not concerned with the nude bodies of pasty young men, so if there are any ladies present, would you please remove your shirts and pants-

I'm beginning to think our friendly ghost is dyslexic.

This isn't a video game, Ash! Not everything's a clue!

There's a place in France where the ladies don't wear pants... (ASHLEY: Oh my god, how old are you?)

(ASHLEY: Look at this! Isaiah 11:6!) Is that a baseball thing? Like the signs at games? (ASHLEY: Uh, no, Chris, it's a Bible thing. You know, like a verse?) Oh, that's what those are. We should read it, right? The baseball Bible thing?

(ASHLEY: Look at this lectern, there's all sorts of animals on it.) It's like Noah's ark. Or that channel with all the animals on it.

(ASHLEY: Yep, it's all here. Fire and brimstone.) Blah blah blah, obey all my commands, blah blah blah, kill all your sons and daughters! (ASHLEY: What Bible did you read?) The cool one, duh!

Hey, I got it! See how this rotates? We could line up the animals like it says in the verse! (ASHLEY: Maybe all those hours in Sunday school paid off.) Absolutely. Not.

This just got totally Indiana Jones on us...

I know the human body has a surprising amount of blood in it, but damn.

Someone's been hunting. Guess they don't need a freezer out here.

Alright, handles all around I guess...

Holy shitballs.

I gotta say, this is not the most sensible thing I've ever done in my life.

Maybe we can find the book that the page belongs to. And find the jerk who ripped it out.

(ASHLEY: What is this, chemistry class?) I don't know about you, Ash, but I always like to leave my dangerous chemicals in a food preparation area.

Phew! See, look at that, nothing out there but the wind. (STRANGER: Sometimes the wind is not to be trusted.) Yeah well you would say that wouldn't you...

Do we just seem like slabs of meat to them? Like in old cartoons when one guy would be starving and the other guy would suddenly turn into a T-Bone steak? (STRANGER: Your thoughts wander uncomfortably far for someone walking through the dark in the W's territory…) Well that's precisely why I'd rather think about cartoons...

Brrr it's so cold out here... I guess it's better being cold than dead... though if I get any colder I might wish I was dead...

No more psychos and saw blades and crazy TV rooms and weird skinny monsters and no more snow and no more screaming hunter dudes.

(ASHLEY: How are you holding up, Chris...?) Miraculously. I mean, I'll probably collapse the second I start to think about anything that's been going on. (SAM: Then don't think about it.)

Ash... Even if Jess was down there I don't think it would be a good idea for us to climb into a mysterious hole in the wall...

We just want to get through this. Together, Ash...

ASHLEY

(SAM: Do you think Em is gonna say something about all this?) Knowing Em... she's gonna say plenty...

I tried to join chess club but I wasn't cool enough.

Cannibalism?! Who would buy a book like that? Who would even write a book on cannibalism? (CHRIS: A cannibal...?)

I don't care what it is- why does he keep doing this to us?!

This is our fault... we can't save him, it's our fault!

Not cool. Not cool.

Where does an elevator even go down here?

Bats... I mean, how in the heck are bats down here?

'A week in the mountains' he said, 'we'll get drunk, it'll be fun'...

Ohhh, I hate creepy noises!

They're crazy if they think they're going to find Josh and the stupid key... (SAM: Emily seemed to think she had a pretty good idea of where to look...) Yeah but she's Emily, Sam! When does she ever do anything that isn't some sort of weird selfish game- (SAM: Em seemed pretty shaken up, Ash, she's just trying to help-) She's trying to get us killed. We're all going to die up here. All of us.

(SAM: Just keep going, Ash, just keep going. It's right ahead of us.) It so does not feel like it's right ahead of us.

You've seen Mike with a gun, he seems pretty confident...

Well Sam, there doesn't gotta be another way- I mean we can hope there's another way...

(SAM: Pull it open!) I'm trying! What are you doing?! Don't hurt yourself not helping!

SAM

Ah-yep... limbs are still working.

Bim bam boom! There, fixed it for you.

That was hellacious.

She's usually pretty cool. Seems more like she's nursing a massive crush. (CHRIS: You mean Mike?) Ummm... yeah? Come on, she's sitting out there like a little lost puppy waiting for him.

Is she really being that big of a bitch to him?

(CHRIS: Wicked Witch of the West.) Right? I wish someone would drop a house on her. (CHRIS: That was the Wicked Witch of the East.) Did you seriously just correct me on that?

I can't believe Emily is hooking up with Matt. Didn't really expect her to go full meathead after breaking up with Michael.

Hey, did you get the sense that Jess and Mike are gonna have a uh... 'political summit' on this trip...?

Josh... having a little trouble getting the key into the hole?

(JOSH: I know Sam... I'm sorry... my fingers feel like they're gonna break off...) Do you want me to warm your fingers up so you can get the lock open?

Hello...? Hey guys, is that you? What are you guys doing? Being creepy...?

Hey?! I'm getting a little creeped out here fellas...

Someone help me, I'm stuck in here with a maniac!

I guess Josh needs kind of like a 'time-out' after what he did to us, but...

Okay. That does it. Door is locked. Nothing in or out.

Are you crazy? Or just stupid? You go out there and you're dead. In here we can at least wait- (MIKE: Until what? Come on, Sam.) Until dawn.

(EMILY: How did you find us?) You were making a total ruckus. Emily, I'm not sure you got the memo about the stealth mission.

Perfect. A giant hole.

(EMILY: Be careful...) As opposed to...?

(EMILY: You having a good time up there, Sam?) It's a god damn party.

Don't scream- don't scream- don't scream- (EMILY: I can't help it, I can't-)

Empty. Could have been one of us in there...

Okay Mister Elevator, let's see what we're working with here...

Wow. Now that's more like it. This is baaaaaadass.

Come on already, where is that fricking code?

Come on girl. You'd look good with that in your hands. Don't be shy.

Hey... bout time I found the Big Boy firepower.

I am so done with this place.

Get me outta here. Gotta find the cable car.

Get me out of here. Just get me to the first floor.

I just want to be on the ground, not up here.

Stairs? Ladder? Elevator? Escalator? Just need to get down to the ground floor.

I need out. Find my way to the cable car.

Gotta find the ground floor.

You guys look starved. Let me just fire up the grill.

MIKE

All ye who enter must pay the toll! Take off your pants!

(CHRIS: Maybe I can get a signal long enough to download a manual for one of these things.) ...Nerd alert, amirite?

(CHRIS: Nature calls.) Did you give her my number?

You throw like a- (JESS: Don't say it!) Was just gonna say you throw like a- (JESS: Don't!) ...throw like a beautiful, enchanting woman!

Awww! That's one to show the grandkids, right? (JESS: Don't get ahead of yourself, mister.) I wouldn't dream of it.

You wanna hear a joke? (JESS: Sure! I love to laugh.) Okay. So, how many librarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? (JESS: Dunno, how m-) Shhh!!! (JESS: Really? Ugh.)

(JESS: Goddamn batteries! Shake it, that usually helps! Awesome!) Shake-powered batteries? Who knew.

I wonder what's down there. Ah, I bet it's just a bunch of pickaxes and old cart tracks and miner bones and ghosts of miners, and miner curses and... Woah. Get a grip dude. Class President.

Look at that. (JESS: What're all those symbols?) I think they're ancient. (JESS: Ancient what?) Ancient symbols. (JESS: Such insight...)

I'm not super thrilled at the idea of bears hanging around and crashing our party.

Looks like the path is a little blocked up. (JESS: What do you mean?) Well, it's got all this... tree in the way.

Where'd you go? Jessica? You've got at least five good minutes left until I bring out the waterworks.

This looks like the work of a bear. I do not like the way bears work.

Jess, hon? I promise I totally won't murder you when I find you. Maybe just a little.

So cold out here, but I'm sweating! Is that normal?

(JESS: You're trying to just freak me out, aren't you?) What? Why? (JESS: To get in my pants.) Yes, I would like to scare the pants off you.

So... One time I jumped over a crazy deep ravine on my bike. All the kids from the neighbourhood came out. Some local news too. Everyone thought I wasn't going to make it. (JESS: But you did?) Nope. Totally died. Been dead six years now. (JESS: You're lying.) Am I, though? (JESS: ...yes? ... Right?) There's only one way to find out...!

We're all alone in here, babe. Just you and me... the Presidential suite. (JESS: Well, Mr President, the lights don't work. And I'm freezing!)

Someone really doesn't like things to stay in one piece around here. Why would someone tear this up?

My jaw's chiselled enough already, but still, it could be useful.

Well, I've found the killer bathtub. Jesus, what did I think would be in there?

Woah. Check out the crazy sex book they have up here.

What is this? Ms. Dunkle's tenth grade science project?

Well, we're here now, so we might as well make use of the amenities. (JESS: Like the bed?) Yeah, I'm thinking mostly the bed.

Alright, madame, is there anything else that you require, or shall I retire to my quarters? (JESS: You're not going anywhere.) Madame requires additional services? (JESS: I can think of a few.)

Huh. Turns out our monster is just a broken branch. Guess it must have seen us and gotten jealous.

(JESS: Finally I have your attention.) The Vice President is standing by. (JESS: Well, why don't you bring him into the Oval Office?) Let's sign this bill into law!

Gotta stay calm. Focused. Get out of this rotten pit.

Crap, what are you doing Mikey, what's wrong with you... this asshole killed Jess... he should pay for that... but nobody's gonna pay for anything unless you get out of here in one piece, buddy...

Stay cool, Mikey. Stay cool.

(groans) Unngh… Either I'm getting weaker or doors are getting heavier…

Come on Sir Mike. Don't be such a wimp. Think about Jessica.

He could be waiting for me… it would be wise for me to tread lightly in the lion's den.

Just stay on your guard Potus… Stay alert…

Let's go, Mikey, let's go.

Gravity's my co-pilot on this one.

Aww… god… smells like something died in here, came back to life, ate its own corpse and then threw it all up…

Well well well. Here we are again. Sometimes wandering around in circles ain't so bad.

This is the creepiest rehearsal space I've ever seen.

Alright, keep your head Mr. President. Calm under pressure…

Ah great, another scenic wing of 'le castle de dilapitacion'.

Alright… look at that. Now we're getting somewhere. Don't know where, but somewhere.

Births and deaths, 1905. Some light bedtime reading for when we get through this.

Man, I can't even skip lunch without becoming a hungry monster, how did these guys feel over 23 days. Wait, no, i don't want to think about it.

Hey! Proper old school photo. Ain't that many left that roll with this kind of geddup anymore.

Chris was killed right in front of us, Jack the monster hunter was torn to pieces and now we're just waiting around like sitting ducks? No. We have to get off the mountain. Now.

Boom! For the win.

(EMILY: Ugh. I hate this place.) Admittedly, they have let it go... (EMILY: Yeah, they haven't dusted in years down here...)

Ah, seems like patient number four was suffering from a bout of being too extraordinary.

I'll tell you what. If the patients weren't completely nuts when they checked in, this place would drive them crazy.

(EMILY: Alright, so how are we gonna get out of here?) Scream and cry like girls?

Pe-culiar? That's actually like a for real medical term? Must have been Charlie Cheswick's records.

I wonder how far your gums have to recede before they start measuring them. If I'm reading this right, this guy must have looked like a dollar store Halloween mask. Wouldn't want to meet these chompers in a dark alley. Or terrifying sanitorium.

If wishes were horses beggars would be cowboys. (CHRIS: Woah. You did not just say that.) That guy Jack had some pretty catchy phrases don't you think?

EMILY

(CHRIS: We just saw Jessica, down by the cable car.) Ugh. Any more perfume on that B and you'd think she was a bachelorette party.

My lips are already so chapped. (MATT: I can kiss them and make them better.) In your dreams Loverboy.

Oh my god, are you gonna swallow his face whole? We're all here! How much more of your crap can we take?

Listen you little slut, maybe because I am not on crack I can see what you're doing.

I don't have to spy when clearly you're showing off with your tongue halfway down his throat.

(JESS: You heard what I said.) Why don't you say it again to my face you bitch?

You do whatever you want. If there's a crazy murderer running around then I'm going to get the hell out of here. (MATT: Maybe he's right, Em-) Do you want me to go out there all alone, Matt? Because I will.

We'll take the cable car to go get help, dummy. Come on.

This is totally crazy Matt. This is totally crazy. My head is spinning.

Ugh. It's freezing out here. I did not pack for this.

I wish Chris and Ashley were more helpful. (MATT: Em, you hardly gave them a chance-) You know, I'm just trying to help the situation.

I just can't believe it's happened again! I mean like, is this family cursed? (MATT: Yeah the whole mountain feels cursed.)

Okay, you done good Matt. Took you a while, but you done good.

Look, if you're not gonna call for help, then maybe you should at least get some tunes going for us to listen to while we sit here and freeze to death can you please just get the radio working Matt oh my god oh my god!

Oh my God, stop talking like you're in a movie. Are you pushing the right button? Is there even a signal?

Wow. These clothes are all torn up. And I don't think it's because they were ripped off the sale rack in a shopping spree…

Ugh. Why do these machines always have to be so complicated?!

Ahhh! Jesus… them's the brakes.

Oh come on batteries… stick with me just a little longer…

Ugh… are those… bite marks on the bones? As in like… eating marks?

This is hell. That's all there is to it. Hell. I fell into hell and there are devils wandering around who will poke me with their forks.

Okay, keep quiet, Em. Put a lid on it. Don't want to attract attention...

Juuuust stay quiet... What would Princess Emilia do? I'll tell you what she'd do: she would stay quiet. Shhhh.

Wow. Good thing I checked my claustrophobia at the door. This is gonna be tight. I guess it's either through this little hole or turn around and face Mr Sunshine out there. Hmm. Excellent options!

I gotta try it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right Miss A-student beauty queen and all around hottie?

Bingo! Done. Voila. QED. Hee haw. Locked and loaded. That is how we roll. You go girl. Aaaaannnnd... Cut it. Print it. Saved. Vamos!

Top...! It's the top! Mine top... tip top top of the mine...! No more shaft just... this place! I'm out of the mine! ...Back to the lodge! Back to the fires and warmth and friends! Oh little lodge, I missed you so much... how do I get out of here?

(MIKE: You locking us in?) I'm locking the baddies out. Can't be too careful. (MIKE: Glad you're sure the baddies are out there and not in here.) Feels good to lock a door...

(MIKE: Wow. I guess I totalled the place huh?) Mikey had a tantrum? (MIKE: When I commit to something, I like to do a thorough job.) Hmmmm. Don't remember you making heaven and earth move for me... (MIKE: Hey. Don't say that...) I'm kidding... You did okay... (MIKE: ...that's better...) ...considering the tool you have to work with... (MIKE: Easy! Easy!)

This whole wing just feels like it was for the real head cases. Right? Like the lost causes. (MIKE: Yeah. It's got a really pleasant vibe in here. Let's keep moving.)

Ew. Ew! His gums were receding?! Didn't he floss?! Some people just do not understand the importance of dental hygiene.

One order of W pâté, comin' up!

Wow, Sam, you're really getting all Rambo on us.

(SAM: Look. The machinery. If we can get those metal containers in a row... we can get across.) You're kidding, right? On those rusty... rust buckets out there?

(SAM: You got it! It's working!) That's right, 'cause I'm the mecha-master! (SAM: Now if we get them lined up... We can just hop right across!) Already on it, Rambo. Or should I say... Sam-bo. (SAM: Ah... no... I don't think you should say that.)

An elevator...! Probably broken. Why is everything on this goddamned mountain falling apart!

(SAM: Looks like we've got find a way across.) Score one for Captain Obvious.

(SAM: We've got one shot to get out of here and we can't screw it up.) Right back at ya, lady.

JESSICA

(CHRIS: What's Mike doing?) He's getting all of our stuff to the lodge. Nails. Just had 'em done.

(SAM: We can help you with the stuff.) Oh that's so nice! But... I kinda like it when Mike does it.

Ugh, finally we're out of that stupid wind. I was freezing my buns off out there. (MIKE: I can help you with those if you like...!)

(MATT: Come on Em, relax.) No, it's not okay Matt. That bitch is on crack or something.

Whatever. I don't have time for jealous bitches.

Fine. Whatever. Anything to get away from that whore. (EMILY: Are you kidding me? I'm the whore?)

Ugh, you know, I can't believe Emily sometimes... why is she such a royal B? How could you have ever gone out with someone like that?

(MIKE: Exiled.) More like sex-iled.

Come on troops, move out.

I wonder if they have any room service up at the cabin. I could so use a triple grande mocha cappuccino right now.

You lit up my night... Now all we need are some fireworks later...

How bout some jams? (MIKE: Whatever puts you in the mood.) This one might be my favourite... Until their next one comes out, then that'll probably be my favourite. (MIKE: That's a really good way of thinking about it.) Thanks! ... ...what?

(MIKE: Josh seemed pretty happy to get rid of us back there, didn't he?) Michael! I had no idea you had such a gossipy side... Is this the politician in you? (MIKE: Politician nothing; the guy's a dick!) Hmm.

I keep having this great thought, but then I keep forgetting it.

Somebody's going to owe me a new outfit.

(MIKE: I didn't know Hannah wore glasses.) Yeah. Just when she wasn't around any cute boys.

I wonder if they deliver take out up here. I mean right here.

Ugh. My shoes are getting so moist.

I wonder what's going on back at the lodge. Everybody's probably doin' it.

Nature's kinda gross.

Is that Orion's belt or is he just happy to see me?

Hah! I'm totally going to tell everyone about your fear of birdies.

Stand back, Debbie downer.

Don't worry, I'll save Woodsgate for the next election.

(MIKE: Some of these planks are pretty rickety.) You know what else is rickety? (MIKE: What?) Your face is rickety. (MIKE: That's a really good one!) Thank you!

(MIKE: Watch your step, Jess.) You know what? You're worse than my mom. My mom!

Boom! Sting like a butterfly and float like a bee.

Wow, look at that old photo. (MIKE: Must be an old mining team.) Looks like they really knew how to... handle themselves. (MIKE: Sounds like you wish you could handle them.) Looks really old. I wonder if they're all dead now. Ugh! So creepy!

(MIKE: Probably faulty wiring or something.) You've got faulty wiring.

Unless you want to make out with an ice sculpture, I suggest you get a fire going. Pronto.

It's so cold in here right now my tongue would get stuck to your flagpole.

I'm cold, I'm bored, and I'm getting rapidly less horny. You want to hurry it up with the fire?

(MIKE: It's so dusty.) No maid service up here? What a rip.

Coldness generally isn't conducive to hotness, Michael... Woah. That sounded, like, deep.

While you were trying to find the right button to push, I found some de-light-ful candles that wonderfully spice up the place and light up all the nooks and crannies... Far more cosy and accommodating, don't you think?

I can't lose my phone, my parents are gonna kill me! (MIKE: You can always get a new one!) That's like my fourth one this year.

Just unfasten it! (MIKE: I can get it! I can get it!) Don't send a man to do a woman's job.

Oh. Those perverted assholes. Why can't they just leave us alone and let us have a perfectly nice time? God! What jerks! (MIKE: Hey, they're just trying to have a good time.) Yeah? Well, so are we!

You guys are such dicks! Are you really that upset with me and Michael that you want to ruin our fun? Huh? Well, guess what? You can't ruin it! Because Michael and I are gonna screw! That's right! We're gonna have sex! And it's gonna be hot! So enjoy it! 'Cause I know we're going to! Ugh.

MATT

Ohhhh! She just got Emily'd!

Wow. Someone had a good time in here.

Why would someone leave a picture of keys where the keys should be?

This place can't just be a huge death trap, right? Cable car can't be the only way in and out of this joint.

Josh had a lot of problems... I think he just wanted to be able to sort things out... and put this all behind us...

So the joke I learned, it's really good, it's about like, a dude, who's got a haircut like the moon, and-

Coyote? Bear? ... Why is that okay?

C'mon, Matt... You don't wanna die down here.

The hell is that… Jessica? (JESS: Matt? Jesus… So it got you too.) Yeah… You okay? (JESS: Hardly...) Let's get the hell out of this place. Look! There! (JESS: Light!) That's the cable car station!

Come on, man... nearly there... nearly there...

JOSH/THE PSYCHO

Come on, lock... My lockpick skills are a little rusty...

This is the most boring break-in ever. You haven't even broken in yet.

Hey! Grit bin! Nice work moving that over here!

Everything all right in there? (CHRIS: Yeah, I'm fine. It's really dirty. And a little freaky.) Sounds like my kind of date! (CHRIS: Offf course it does.)

Dude, come on! Let's open this jawn!

Ahh-hahaha! Dude are you okay? That lil' wolverine almost gave you a paper cut!

(SAM: Hey, those things are known to be vicious sometimes.) Vicious to lil' babies. Lil' Chrissy babies.

(SAM: Thank you Chris.) Thaaaank you Chriiiiis.

Yo! Explorers! You guys are gonna need the keys for the love shack!

As you can see, your friend Josh is now in quite an unfortunate situation. If you wish to see him dead, then do nothing and you may watch him die.

Second... clue... picture if you will... high atop a powdery mountain... the only place possible for a jacked up jock like Matthew to score a... 'big break'...

If you'll please now direct your attention towards the main attraction...

Not much time left before your friend is... perforated...

Congratulations! You've just bought yourself... more time... to watch your friend die...

My my my, didn't you do well! You fought the system and you've won. And what you've won is a prize! You're a lucky winner, come on down!

Well, that's the end, folks. I only wish it could have turned out differently, but, unfortunately, I'm still going to kill your friend because, hey - winners don't play by the rules!

Allow me to introduce myself, I am your host!

Oh, I had fun with them... and now I'll have fun with you... There's nothing wrong with having a little fun, is there?

Samantha, my darling, I don't think your friends are going to help you... I've already had a little fun with them...

Oh what a delight it was watching his life drain away. I wonder if watching yours will be just as fun.

(SAM: What do you want?) I just want a little fun, Sam... so why don't we... mix things up a little... You can have ten seconds to pretend like you're escaping... and then you're dead!

Go on, hide if you like... I know just where you are.

(CHRIS: What do you want from us?!) Well now, Mr Chris... I think you've got the answer right there in front of you.

Oh borrring... You think I didn't bulletproof my machinery?

(CHRIS: You're sick!) Heh heh heh... why thank you, kind sir... but the choice... is yours... play ball!

I'm sorry... so sorry... it's all my fault...

THE STRANGER

It would be wise for you to hear me out.

You seem to listen but not to hear.

You have no chance out there on your own- (CHRIS: I'll just have to take my chances.) Then I'll go with you. Alone would be suicide. (CHRIS: Yeah well you're so special.) I am... experienced.

You do not seem too concerned with saving the life of your friend.

(CHRIS: Have you done this before?) Have I foolishly attempted to free a dead man in the hopes of becoming one myself? (CHRIS: Uh...) You ask questions that are not very useful. (CHRIS: My teachers say the same thing. But yeah, so, have you?) This is not my first barbecue.

He who seeks avoidance finds out what he seeks to avoid. (CHRIS: That's... a really confusing saying.)

[starberrywander]

Just putting this out there; I used to be hesitant to vote because I get anxious about not knowing what to expect. So if you're in that same boat I'm gonna give a step-by-step guide of how the voting process worked for me when I did it. Hopefully this will help alleviate some anxieties and encourage more people to vote.

Also idk how much different a federal election is from a state one (which is what I voted in) but lets assume for the sake of this that they're pretty close to the same. If there are any differences, those of y'all who have the experience are encouraged to chime in.

Step 1: Register.

Its been a while so I don't remember every detail but basically just google "voter registration (your state)" and you should get a step by step guide on how to register. If I remember correctly I had to submit two forms of ID & maybe a proof of address (can't remember). Good news is, the whole process is online no phone calls involved. You can take your time and no one is waiting/listening so there's no pressure.

From then I think I got a confirmation email when my information was verified and then a voter registration card was mailed to me. Again, no phone calls no texts no direct communication with anyone so if that makes you anxious I am here to say that was not a factor in my experience.

Step 2: Take note of the voting date.

Google can tell you this. And also probably lots of signs out in public leading up to the day. And social media. Its easy to find.

Step 3: Learn what will be on the ballot.

When I went it wasn't just "pick one candidate and you're done," there were elections for multiple seats and also votes on a few state-specific policies. You're probably gonna be picking multiple things, best to be aware of them all beforehand so you know what your opinion is.

Step 4: Show up.

The voter registration card that was sent in the mail should have the address to the location that you will be voting at on the card. I assume its typically going to be at your local town/city hall because that's where mine was but definitely double check because you have to be in the correct location in order to vote.

Step 5: Prepare to wait.

When I went it was packed. Took a while to find a place to park and had to wait in line for quite some time. I think there was also a no cell phones rule but I'm not sure.

Step 6: Confirm registration.

Where I went there were some poll workers at a table with big 3-ring binders with lists of names. You just go up to them and show your ID (or whatever else they need) and they check if your name is on the list. If it is, they will point you in the direction you need to go. (I think they also hand out some kind of ticket? Its been a while but I remember holding a piece of paper the whole time. I think this was for accessing the voting machine.)

Step 7: Wait in line.

this is straightforward. Just wait. No effort or thinking needed. No worries. Prepare to memorize the patterns on the walls lol.

Step 8: Vote.

There will be poll workers directing people where they need to go. When its your turn they'll bring you to an open machine and set it up.

Then you just go through the pages and make the selections you want. You can go back if you need to. There are descriptions of what things mean. There's no time limit. When you're done you submit and that's it. You can go home.

---

Hope this helps some of y'all feel a little less intimidated by the idea of voting.

And those of y'all who have voted in the past please add anything that you think is relevant. This is specifically what I can recall of my experience in a Tennessee state election. Idk how much things differ from state to state, and between state and federal elections. I also don't know anything about mail-in voting so additions would be appreciated.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting: Holghras Results

Now for what everyone -- or at least a certain percentage -- has been waiting for: the results for the Holghras! Anyone who found that sentence confusing can catch up by checking this page: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting .

This time around, they should all fit into one post, as the response was a little smaller. I see how it is: everyone wants to draw Spooky Corpse-Eater With Magic, but nobody wants to draw Horny Bird With Problems.

I kid, of course. The Wutugald had some pretty clear visual elements that people could hook onto, but the Holghras entry is mostly about its behavior and doesn't give much information on what it looks like beyond "it's a bird". So it's pretty clear why people might have a harder time drawing artistic inspiration from that one. (And I really and truly appreciate those of you who took a crack at it anyway.) The level of physical description is going to vary a lot entry to entry, I'm afraid -- to some extent I think it's about whether it's an animal the reader is expected to be familiar with, but there are definitely a few detailed visual descriptions of animals most medieval Europeans would have seen because the author wants to do some symbolism. So it's a toss-up. Anyway, here's the link to the description people are working from:

And the results, again roughly in order of appearance. If yours isn't here, let me know -- I saw one post that said something about Tumblr eating their original attempt, presumably out of Bird Homophobia. I'm happy to reblog any that I missed due to Tumblr's functionality.

@bruncikara (link to post here) gives us our first interpretation. I really enjoy the medieval bestiary style, including the use of the Generic Medieval Plant that always reminds me of mutant asparagus. I think the border is designed to evoke the thorns in which the Holghras nests, which I also appreciate. The bird's pose, flat on its back with its neck curved up, is great, and it's shown performing its signature Hide With Dirt move. I think at least some of the inspiration comes from quails here, judging by the head... feather... thing... [Wikipedia break] ... okay, apparently it's just called a "plume", which I should have guessed. This is the first example of the common (and correct!) assumption that the Holghras is a member of the order Galliformes.

@jamiethekeener (link to post here) gives us this one, also posing with its signature dirt clods. I'm reminded of a cardinal, personally. The artist provides a brief comment on their design, noting that they are not a bird expert. I think this is a pretty cute juvenile bird, and the way it holds the dirt comes off as kind of playful.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has produced another very naturalistic drawing, which (in my non-expert opinion) manages to look very much like a real bird without specifically looking like any bird in particular. They apparently do know birds, because they specifically name-drop Galliformes in their description of their design decisions. I like the decision to also include one of the bird's Signature Behaviors, i.e., the mother carrying her chicks.

@pomrania (link to post here) has given their Holghras a selection of striking features, which they explain in their post. There's a lot in that post, actually, and I really enjoyed reading the whole journey of this particular drawing. You should go read it too -- the post linked above also provides a draft version, a link to a series of progress sketches, and a link to an explanation of their design choices that includes rumination on how to make a bird look "slutty". Go check it out, we'll be here when you get back.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) describes her design choices briefly, indicating that her goal was to pick Bird Attributes that could look unsettling in combination and suggest that the bird depicted has a "terrible sex life". Mission accomplished, I think -- that bird does not look trustworthy. Also now we know that thing on its head is just called a plume, so good for us. I really like the effect the -- watercolor? I think? I don't know art -- provides, and that seagull-esque spot on its beak really is a great touch.

@rautavaara (link to post here) has done another beautifully stylized drawing with a very pleasant color scheme. They provide a brief explanation of their design decisions in the linked post. I'm particularly struck by the fact that this version of the Holghras apparently carries its young in the same way that the folkloric version of the stork carries babies: in some kind of cloth wrapping held in the beak. I also like that the chick's feet are sticking out.

@mobileleprechaun (link to post here) apparently had some trouble posting this, but I'm glad they got it through, because it's delightful. I like the little bird on the right with its feet sticking straight up, and the other one under its mother's wing/arm. When I first saw this, I was briefly puzzled why the drawing contrasted male and female birds, because they looked quite similar -- then I noticed the tailfeathers -- then I looked more closely at the male's tailfeathers and cracked up a little bit. The linked post provides a brief explanation of the design decisions, including why the wings look so much like arms. It also has a couple tags that I find funny.

@karthara (link to post here) provides this excellent image as well as a brief explanation of their design choices. I love the over-the-top tailfeathers on the extremely-sexy purple male Holghrases, and the babies dangling from under the female's wing, and the fact that the clod of dirt being held up by the juvenile is at least as big as the bird holding it. Also, those ridiculous tailfeathers are apparently inspired by the Onagadori rooster, which means we're back with the Galliformes.

@embervoices (link to post here) did this adorable drawing of the juvenile Holghras. I particularly like that she's taken a different route than having it just hold up the dirt: this one apparently has a little hidey-hole like a trapdoor spider. This is just very cute all around, I like it.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) provides this excellent and action-packed depiction, along with a wonderfully detailed explanation of their design decisions. (I love reading those.) From their post, it's clear that they also know more about birds than I do, and also name-check the Galliformes as the most likely category. Apparently the bird-people of Tumblr have this critter's number. Also, that is a masterful depiction of a bird running off with an egg, I have to say.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has done another medieval-styled rendition, which I really enjoy. This is also, I believe, the first appearance of a human in any of these drawings. (Well. Live human, at least.) I enjoy the depiction of the female bird doing her fake limp to lead the human away from her nest while the males engage in their weird drama up in the right. They provide an explanation of their design choices and inspiration in the linked post.

@scarlettbookworm (link to post here) has given us a drawing that showcases several of the odd behaviors described in the entry. The linked post also provides a description of their design process and an explanation of their decisions. I think this is another very cute picture of a bird holding up dirt, and I enjoy the one at the top shouting "HOLGHRAS!" The egg-stealer over in the bottom right is very good also.

@moustawott (link to post here) has drawn this very vulture-like Holghras in what I have to say is a very well-done bushy area. I had to look twice to realize the background was actually cleverly-arranged splashes and blobs of color that strongly suggest that we're in a bush. Very good art, love the style, and that fuzzy baby Holghras is cute as hell. The linked post provides an explanation of the design decisions.

@strixcattus (link to post here) gives us this rendition of the Holghras, which they describe as being inspired by a prairie chicken and a potoo. Prairie chickens are, of course... Galliformes. Another tally mark in that column. I'm particularly delighted by the giant mouth on the chick in the bottom right. As they did last time, the artist has provided a detailed modern-naturalist interpretation of the animal, which is of course in the linked post. I recommend checking that out; maybe it's just because I'm the kind of huge nerd that I am, but I think these are great.

@treesurface (link to post here) gives us a Holghras that they describe as a cross between a bird of prey and a bird of paradise, which I think is a pretty good idea that fits both the aggressive behavior and the mating behavior described in the entry. I enjoy the fact that multiple artists have decided this bird Likes Big Tailfeathers (and it does lie, but about different things).

@ashfly (link to post here) gives us this picture of a juvenile Holghras holding up its clump of dirt. They also indicate that they have an idea of what it is, which I really hope they'll share now that it's posted and the bird's out of the bag, because I was 100% certain nobody would guess this one. The fuzzy bird is cute, of course, and the rainbow legs are really striking. (Pride legs, perhaps?) I also like that it's clearly looking over at the "camera" to see if we're buying it.

And finally, the official medieval depiction:

... hm. Yeah, some absolute bastard apparently cut out a bunch of the miniatures in this manuscript at one point. Luckily, we have the Ashmole Bestiary over at the Bodleian Library, which is extremely similar, so we can get an idea of the image that was here:

And also, this entry in the Aberdeen Bestiary comes with two images. Here's the other one:

I'm going to assume the choice of coloration was up to the individual artist and the missing Aberdeen illustration was also brown, because the Ashmole version of the egg-stealer also has the more colorful pattern:

Anyway, in case you haven't recognized it from these helpful and very accurate images, this is the partridge. Now you know what's going on in those pear trees.

I don't actually have anything else to add about that. I was frankly a little surprised there was even an entry for "partridge".

[yumeka-sxf]

A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Season 1 Wrap-Up

*This is a wrap-up post for my Twiyor analysis series. If you missed the Introduction/Part 1, click here*

----------

As some of you may know, I'm fairly new to the SxF fandom, having only started watching the anime in October of last year. But it didn't take long for me to become hyperfixated enough to binge the manga, start my own blog, and develop ideas for analysis posts.

I've always enjoyed meta writing for my favorite fandoms, and SxF is definitely one of those! While I like many things about the story and characters, the Forgers overall, especially Twiyor, are my favorite thing about it, so I wanted to focus my first analysis posts on them. During my early months in the fandom, I found lots of good analyses and was impressed by the amount of talented fan writers out there. But rather than write random stand-alone posts, I wanted to express all my thoughts in chronological order. I eventually came up with the idea for this post series in December of last year, and after spending a solid month of writing during most of my free time, I finally felt I had enough to begin posting on a weekly basis.

Now that I've come to the end of the season 1 posts, I want to express my sincerest thanks to everyone who read them, especially those who left nice comments and reblogs. Even for those of you who only left likes, I appreciate it! I pay attention to the notes on my blog and it always makes my day to see the same people interacting with each new post every week. It's especially gratifying when I see a new person come along and leave a like on each post in order, one after another! In the many fandoms I've been in over the years, I always write for myself and my own enjoyment first, regardless of whether other people will enjoy my writing too. But it's nice to know that other people can also appreciate how I interpret things.

So here's what's going to happen with the post series going forward…

Since I want to continue keeping the posts as manga spoiler-free as possible, I won't start releasing the next batch of posts until season 2 airs (it's scheduled to air in October). I'll most likely release part 19 and onward towards the middle or end of season 2's run. I already have a good idea of what manga chapters will be adapted and will get them queued up beforehand.

On that note, I did end up having to tag a few of the season 1 posts for manga spoilers. I tried to avoid it as much as possible; I only discussed manga spoilers if I felt not doing so would be a disservice to my analysis. However, once season 2 airs, all but part 18 should be safe for anime-only fans! (I'll go back to those posts and remove the spoiler tags)

At some point during or slightly before season 2's airing, I plan to reblog all of my Twiyor analysis posts in order. If I can get the timing right, I hope to reblog part 18 (the last season 1 post) right before my start date for the first season 2 post. I'll probably do the reblogs just a few days apart before doing weekly releases again when I get to the new posts (for the reblogs, I'll be using the hashtag "#reblog for season 2 hype")

I don't have any other big analysis posts planned until then, with one exception…I do plan to write a post about Anya. I originally wanted to include her in the chronological series, but since her character arc is simpler and more straight-forward compared to Twilight's and Yor's, I didn't have nearly as much to say about her and figured it'd be best to talk about her in a separate post. Not sure when I'll release that post but should be sometime before season 2 as well.

Guess that's all for now! Thank you again to everyone who read this post series and I look forward to more compelling discussions in season 2!

[the-sheep-from-obeyme-real]

so, 6 days ago I made this post. It links to a google form, and in the google form there's a series of questions relating to Obey Me!. In the original post I said that i would post the results in early August. it is now early August, and these are the results.

oh! but first: a couple notes. 1) you can view the results here. i encourage everyone to read it for themselves, because it's interesting (to me, subjectively). there's also a spreadsheet but its a pain to read. but if anyone wants me to post it i can. 2) the data in this post is from 8/4/2024 at 1:03am, at which point there were 50 responses. 3) the google form is still up and functioning. I'm going to continue to maintain it for awhile (or, at least, that's my intention). so if you haven't already filled it out, and you would like to do so, go right ahead! If you decide to do so, I appreciate it a lot.

more people consider their MC to have a binary gender than consider themselves to have one & I'm somewhat curious as to why that is.

---

this is about what I was expecting, to be honest. 5 people think that nightbringer isn't canon where as 32 people do think it's canon. and 13 people gave another more nuanced answer.

I personally don't think nigthbringer is canon, but I already knew that wasnt the general consensus, and I'm pleasantly surprised that 5 entire people do agree with me.

---

obviously, this isn't all of the responses to those questions. but i think it's interesting how people (for the most part) chose to give short 1 sentence answers, as opposed to longer responses.

but also, the number of people who effectively just "awww the scrunkly double tap now if you'd scrunkly the when"ed about their favorites is a little fun and kinda silly

also also i very much relate to the person who said they wanted a 'full groveling' type apology but I'm pretty sure its for different reasons.

---

so, i made a typo when i first made the polls. and someone like,, told me. so i corrected the options to no longer contain a spelling error. so now there's 2 different Belphegor options in the results. look i dont wanna talk about it. we should just keep this between us, and not bring it up ever. okay? thanks.

so, on average, this is the most typical order of favorites: Mammon Satan Mammon Levi Beelzebub Asmodeus Belphegor i wasn't expecting any of them to place twice, tbh. but like whatever.

---

okay. theres more, but i dont have anything else to say rn. brains slow and you should probably check the results out for yourself anyway. (again, results can be viewed here its really cool and poggers and you should look at it for yourself please <3) (also, note. im sorry if i made any errors or mistakes or anything like that when making this post, i dont do stuff like this very often)

[starry-mist]

S5e15 and s5e16 thoughts:

Obviously I need to do these ones together. I'm also going to try to do this as sort of a review rather than general thoughts...it's my first time trying this so be nice, LOL.

I have a few thoughts before I jump into the episodes.

One of the main reasons (other than the obvious one of having these additional characters with their own storyline that initially seems separate from what the series regulars are doing) that this initially felt like a backdoor pilot is because one of the titular characters is noticeably absent. And we know this was because John and Meghan were expecting their third child to be born right around the time this was scheduled to film, so he wasn't available. I'm not saying it couldn't still be a backdoor pilot, but I think it's unlikely for the moment.

The story we got was very different from the original synopsis in the article about the Ontario government funding production in Northern Ontario (https://www.nugget.ca/news/five-film-tv-productions-receive-funding) which again, is likely because John was unavailable so they launched Sarah and Jesse into the spotlight for this one.

I know Jesse fans have a lot of feelings about his glasses, and I agree that the explanation for why he no longer wears them is pretty weak. Fans of this show do have a tendency to fixate on changes in character appearances (see also: much controversy on Facebook about Charlie's season 6 hair.) Anyway, characters evolve, people change, I'm just going to leave it at that. Maybe Justin was just sick of wearing them.

Without further ado:

We open with a lovely aerial shot of “Webster Bay,” which I’m sure is 100% a real place and totally not North Bay, Ontario. (It's absolutely not a real place.) A couple is having a romantic moment by the side of the road. Very sweet. Until it turns out the man is there to rob the house across the street. That's...perhaps a little less sweet.

The home invasion/robbery hits a little snag when the homeowner is, well, home, and goes at the would-be robber with a sizeable pair of scissors. He accidentally knocks her out trying to disarm her, and it's time for the happy couple to GTFO.

Roll credits.

Back in St. John's, the Major Crimes team has ordered lunch. Jesse gets an ominous phone call from his previously-never-mentioned sister.

It's the season of new family members coming out of the woodwork. Sigh.

Anyway, Jesse's sister is in Northern Ontario, as far as he knows (which is apparently where they both grew up...look I'm just going to keep rolling my eyes at all of these things that could have been mentioned IN FOUR PREVIOUS SEASONS) and is in trouble. Come quick. No cops. Doesn't sound sketchy at all...

Jesse's ready to go to her rescue, but Charlie doesn't think he should go alone.

Sarah: You want to go with him?

Charlie: I was thinking you. And Rex.

(Yeah, remember those establishing moments I mentioned in the previous two episodes? Those are now relevant.)

Apparently Charlie has some important stuff he has to take care of.

(Please remind me I need to someday write a fic about Charlie’s guilt at sending the trio into harms way.)

This whole scene is a little forced, IMHO, but anyway, off they go.

Cut to Ontario, where we now have MEGAN FREAKING FOLLOWS, OMG, BE STILL MY ANNE OF GREEN GABLES-LOVING HEART. At this point, I should note that I do love these fleshed-out original characters and their stories, which initially feel strange given we've never seen them before, but will make sense later.

(Pause for my usual commentary of same actor, different character: Cihang Ma previously played Holly in s3’s Seeing is Deceiving. Here they play Detective Kai Huang, and let me just express my appreciation for a non-binary actor playing a non-binary role.)

Anyway, Detective Anne of Green Gables Sidney Scott is on scene and having flashbacks. It looks like she lost someone close to her. Kai thinks the people who broke in were addicts. Sidney has other ideas. She talks to the victim's husband, Tim Cooper, who apparently worked with her husband as well. But she makes it clear that she's definitely off work and totally not on the case.

Right...

Back to St. John’s, Charlie is having someone dig up Constable Charlie Hudson’s incident reports from October 30, 2009. Okay first off, I would have appreciated some flashbacks to a younger Charlie, but I don't always get what I want (rarely, in fact.) And we find out that Charlie is investigating his "white whale" of a child abduction case that has haunted him for 14 years, which has of course been foreshadowed in prior seasons because this show is so amazing at continuity. /s

Cut to Charlie's house, with him taping up a makeshift "murder board" on the wall. My dude, you're going to need to repaint...

Meanwhile in Ontario, we have lovely wide shots of fall colours. So pretty. We also have rapid-fire voiceover exposition from Sarah and Jesse on their arrival, where they're going, how long it's taken them to get there, and honestly, this is yet another of those "show, don't tell" moments that this show struggles with.

The trio arrive at “an old Cold War missile site” where Jesse and Crystal came when they were kids, riding their bikes down from his uncle’s place. Questions abound about who actually raised Jesse, who has mentioned his mom (in a throwaway line in s2) and a deceased father. Now there was apparently an uncle? Okay we'll go with it. Anyway, Jesse and Crystal used to hang out here and build camps in abandoned buildings.

Sarah and Rex are the third wheels (actually fourth and fifth, I suppose) in the Jesse/Crystal/random sketchy boyfriend scene as they head into an abandoned hangar. Sketchy boyfriend (who has a name that I'm not bothering to look it up given he won't be around that long) wants to know if these new additions are cool.

Sarah: Dr. Sarah Truong, hi. We’re cool.

(I don't know why I find that line so amusing.)

Rex senses danger. Looks like it's time to GTFO of the hangar.

This is where I point out that two of these characters are weapons-trained cops, one of whom we have seen is basically a sharpshooter…And none of this apparently matters as neither of them have a weapon on hand that they can use. Oops.

Going to have to suspend disbelief at the fact that the sniper can instantly kill the bf, shoot out the tires on Sarah and Jesse's rental car (that's going to be a hefty repair bill,) but then they're all just able to run out in the open and magically escape…right.

This is pretty elaborate for a scene that is essentially just a setup for the plane crash.

Sidney Scott visits a man named Elvis Migwan outside the local hospital. We learn that there is a local Indigenous community whose water has apparently been affected by runoff from a mining operation. Elvis's daughter is sick. And this is a really relevant topic given how many Indigenous communities in Canada lack access to clean water.

Back to the airfield, and I'm just going to speculate that they blew the budget on this next scene and on the plane crash.

Apparently flight simulator games have taught Jesse enough that he can figure out how to fly a plane...again, suspending disbelief. The team take to the skies and are promptly shot down by the sniper, as my anxiety begins to ratchet up.

The remote lake where they crash would be a pretty place to camp in any other circumstance.

Anne of Green Gables Sidney has a nice, large house. It's actually pretty big for one person. Hey, Sidney has that in common with Charlie. They should hang out. Inspector Yousef Ali stops by and brings Sidney dinner. It's a salad. She's displeased. I start to ship them.

Charlie and Joe have a scene at Charlie’s house and it's just not working for me. I can't help it. The whole Alison case appearing out of the blue feels forced.

(However, Joe is totally checking out the new, shall we say, feminine touches in Charlie’s house.)

At the crash site, Jesse manages to smash open his door when there were two perfectly good open ones on the other side of the plane, because reasons? Crystal’s wrist is probably broken, Jesse’s got some cracked ribs…but at least they have a doctor with them who’s totally in one piece and definitely not injured.

Sarah asks for a first aid kit, presumably to do, you know, actual first aid...oh wait, no, instead she scribbles some notes on a piece of paper, which she rolls into a little case that she attaches to Rex's collar. With a tearful hug, she sends Rex off into the wilderness.

Cue “The Littlest Hobo” theme.

Rex wanders the woods.

Sidney Scott decides to go back to work.

Back at the crash site, we find out Crystal’s a pretty big screwup, and Jesse chastises her for her messing up her life. Not super helpful at the moment, Jesse.

Sarah starts to look disoriented and possibly in pain. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Rex encounters some sort of bird of prey (I think it's a hawk, but I'm not an expert.) No worries, he'll just hide under a bridge for a moment.

Another "same actor different character" moment: the actor playing Bertrand Boyle previously appeared as Tucker Moore in s4’s No Man is an Island.

Rex is under a sky full of stars, which I'm sure he'd pause to appreciate if there weren't a pack of wolves nearby. I believe I read somewhere that Sherri Davis who trains the dogs actually trained all the animals that appeared in this one. I’m in awe of her talent.

Morning at the crash site. Crystal is about to peace out. Jesse talks her into staying. And Sarah wakes up in rough shape.

And here is where I state that Mayko Nguyen is the best actor on this show, fight me. She completely nailed that subtle shift when Sarah realizes that she's injured, and more seriously than she initially thought.

(Side note: I love that Mayko is wearing her trademark huge puffy warm coat. She is apparently always cold.)

So anyway, Sarah has realized that she's bleeding internally, and tells Jesse that he'll need to operate.

Right…

Sarah: You can do anything you put your mind to, Jesse Mills. You just flew a plane!

I really hope they submitted this episode for this year's Canadian Screen Awards.

On his continued trek through the wilderness, Rex encounters the most fearsome of woodland creatures: a skunk. Oh no! What if he ends up smelly?!! Anyway, Rex wins the territorial battle, and over the log bridge he goes.

Oh look, an owl.

So many critters.

There's a road! And with a short swim, Rex has officially made it back to civilization where he is promptly picked up by some sinister characters in a truck.

I'm not going into the gory details of Jesse doing field surgery on Sarah, because I still find it hard to watch, but anyway, give Mayko an Emmy. Hell, give her an Oscar. Give her all the things.

...right now, because I’m not watching these separately.

Ugh. Field surgery. I feel very much the same way as Jesse does when it comes to blood.

Cut to the Ontario Police Service (or whatever they’re calling their version of Ontario Provincial Police) HQ building, which I’m pretty sure is part of Nipissing University, as is the “hospital” we see later.

Detective Scott, meet Rex. He'll keep you on your toes.

See you later, sketchbags in the pickup truck. Nobody messes with our boy Rex.

Oh hey, it’s Charlie Hudson. Kind of forgot about that guy for a moment. Anyway Charlie and Joe get a call from Sidney about the plane crash. Charlie holds back...really any emotion whatsoever.

Sidney! Rex! Helicopter!

Sidney sends Charlie a photo of the note that Rex brought her, and Charlie recognizes Sarah’s handwriting. Joe tries to be reassuring. Okay, now they're showing a little bit of worry at the unknown fate of their friends.

Sarah is now semi-conscious and making last requests.

Sarah: If I don’t make it you have to find Rex…tell Charlie…

Jesse: No, you’re gonna tell him yourself…

Me: Tell him what, exactly? Because you've been a couple more than long enough that I refuse to believe there have been no "I love yous" exchanged, even if we've yet to see it said on screen.

Anyway Sarah passes back out, while I continue to hyperventilate.

Cut to St. John's. Charlie feels guilty for not going. Joe steers him back into his B plot. It still feels forced.

Sidney chatting "with" Rex as he leads her through the woods cracks me up.

At the crash site, Sarah wakes up feverish. She knows she probably an infection. So she should totally drink the unfiltered lake water Crystal brings her, because what’s a little E. coli going to do? Anyway apparently it’s all good as long as the paramedics push IV antibiotics…whatever. Sidney and Rex of course arrive at exactly the right time!

Rex lays protectively on his “mom.”

And the look Sidney gives Crystal tells us her shit is officially about to hit the fan.

Jesse has a phone call with Joe and Charlie to fill them in on all the nitty-gritty. Charlie wants to talk to Sarah, who is now in actual surgery. Jesse goes to check on his sister, who is now under arrest.

Crystal: I just watched my boyfriend get shot and killed and was pretty sure we were all gonna die in a plane crash. It’s been a lot.

Sarah Swire's deadpan delivery of the above lines is just so good.

Sidney questions Crystal, and it become clear that she definitely has a personal stake in this. Crystal swears there was no gun at the house her boyfriend robbed. She wants Jesse to cover for her by taking the backpack full of money, which of course he does. For now.

Sidney: Are you here as a cop or a brother?

Jesse: I have to be both.

Rex wants to help Sidney track the shooter. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

In Sarah's hospital room, she's sitting up in bed and talking to Charlie, albeit briefly. That conversation should have been longer and more emotional.

Tracking the shooter leads to more amusing Sidney and Rex "conversation." They find the type of gun that was used to kill Sidney’s husband. Suddenly Sidney's personal stake in the case makes sense.

Jesse and Sarah chat in her hospital room where she's looking pretty well recovered considering she just had two abdominal surgeries...and then she’s up and at it looking over forensics with Kai. It turns out Kai had the wrong time of death.

Joe reassures Charlie, who is feeling stuck on the Alison case, that he’s a great cop, great detective, blah blah. Says he needs to figure out how to move on so he can be ready for the next people who need his help. So clearly we’re done with this case and it definitely won’t reappear in a future episode...*eyes the next episode on the list*

The totally-not-the-shooter guy whose name I can’t be bothered to learn thinks Sidney’s husband would want her to move on and enjoy the life she has left. Okay then.

It seems that Crystal did in fact know that there would be money in the house. Also she knows about the contaminated runoff situation from the mine. Working as a cleaner, she managed to overhear all kinds of things, and through creative use of french fries, casually explains to Jesse how the mine’s money laundering scheme worked.

Incoming sniper. Again. Rex attempts a takedown but the sniper nearly runs him over with his car. Well, at least they should have a license plate now, assuming Jesse can actually see it without his glasses.

Seeing that it's time to come clean, the Mills siblings take the backpack full of money to Sidney. Crystal reveals how she knew the money was at the Cooper house by basically rehashing everything she just told Jesse. And maintains that her brush with law-breaking was "just one time."

Jesse to Crystal: Rex is really disappointed in you.

Sidney goes back to Elvis Migwan and asks how he knew about the mine runoff. And we now know that her husband faked the reports that said the water was clean.

Back at home, Sidney rips down her wall murder board. She's coming to terms with who her husband really was. He was killed in order to keep him quiet, but he knew a lot more than he let on.

Sidney goes off to question Tim Cooper, who is the actual mastermind behind all of this. Inspector Ali tells her she needs backup. It looks like she rolls up with just Rex, who stays in the car.

Sniper dude is on the scene. Oh, apparently his name is Wayne.

Rex takes him down.

Sidney gets a confession from Cooper.

And the rest of the backup team comes out of hiding.

Sidney, needing to make amends, takes a USB with proof of the falsified mine records to Elvis Migwan. It's everything he will need for his lawsuit against the mining company.

Jesse and Crystal chat as he is ready to head back home. Maybe she'll visit St. John's someday. (Here’s hoping.)

Sid puts away a photo of her and her husband. Ali shows up. Sidney tells him she's planning to sell the house, and that she doesn’t like salad. He's brought her a burger this time.

Could be love.

Sidney swears she's getting groceries tomorrow, and will be back at work on Monday. She's picking up the pieces. She also wants to choose her own partner. Say hello to Little Rex.

Sarah, Jesse and Rex head for the plane.

Jesse: You know, second time's the charm flying the plane.

Sarah: Too soon!

Charlie pulls the pictures of Alison off his wall. He's letting it go.

The door opens, and we get probably my favourite Charah scene ever. The clinging hug. The concern for each other. The intimacy of their foreheads pressed together as they gently sway.

Swoon.

Best episodes ever.

[washa]

I listened to Vincent and Sam’s recent audio and here’s my favourite personal comments/thoughts! (We need Elliot and some blues clues shit right now man 😭)

“He’s tying up some loose ends.” I’M SORRY?? WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN NOW??

Also Sam sounds rather pissed and I’m just a tad scared.  

“Do we think those “loose ends” will still have a pulse by the time he’s done with them?” Probably not. Realistically not. 

Vincent sounds so disbelieving?? I MEAN I WOULD BE TOO???

“I’m not even exactly sure where he went.” Porter don’t you dare ghost treasure. PORTER DON’T YOU DARE GHOST TREASURE.

Again on, The Shaw pack needs a fucking break 🙌

I bet Vincent is FUMING or right now. Imagine you were mingling with someone who had a hand in something that legitimately killed a thousand people, and your lover. 

No bc i get it, Vincent must be like so fucking conflicted. I FUCKING KNEW WHEN VINCENT SAID HE WAS "GONNA FOCUS ON THE GOOD" IN THE PORTER AND VINCENT MEETING VIDEO SOMETHING WAS GONNA HAPPEN. 

I mean i wouldn’t call them “his lover” but go on. 

“His moral compass has never pointed true north.” Amen, Now on that note, I’d like to reinstate on how Treasure should run. 

“-And were gearin’ up for somethin’ else.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

Yeah Vincent stay positive 💪 

CloseKnit = Hydra confirmed 

HUH WHAT FUCKING SCANDAL AND RAID??? Bro.. HUH

I imagine a lego tower with like “House of Bennet” stuck on it crumbling down in Lego Movie style.

“We’re about to get our hands a lot dirtier then.” If you can listen closely, you can hear Vincent’s eyes darkening, his character development and trauma tingling.

“No secondhand go-betweens, no twisted game of telephone.” I love the way he said that, Like yes drop them bars Princey ‼

URGH I LOVE THE WAY THE BOTH ASK EACH OTHER IF THEY’RE BOTH OK WITH IT UIEKJK

“They’ve shown incompetent they can be.” Sweetheart’s kicking the ground right now.

I have a question, Has nobody followed up on Elliot??? I know he reported it after the Inversion and how he got brushed off bc yk it was the INVERSION. BUT It’s been TWO FUCKING YEARS?? Realistically he’d be one of the best leads on CloseKnit, He has a basic understanding how powerful CloseKnit is and how they operate. Can we get a lil circle back to him please 😭 

“I’m not Porter, I won’t just do something because it’s what’s ordered of me, whether I agree with it or not. That’s not how I operate.” DAMN SAM DAMN

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

The next couple of lines are just things Sam said that I find really interesting…

“But that’s a dangerous precedent. We all know what growing power can do to a person with good intentions.” 

“-”Messy realities” of being in his House, Since we never wanted to be in it in the first place, and that choice was taken from us.” 

“But it’s also convenient that he kept all of this from the two people who were most likely to have a problem with what he’s doing.”

 “-To only trusted in people who voice any opposition to it, and well just do as ordered without question.”

“I need answers on those things.” 

“I appreciate you see me on that same level, deservin’ that same trust from him. But in a lot of ways, William’s old school.”

“I’m not his progeny. I haven’t been around as long as you or Alexis, He didn’t take me under his wing, like he did Porter. He’s always been kind to me, Set me up with a home and with work, and I'm grateful for that.” (I can’t tell if Sam said fringe or friend next, but If it is friend, then Porter and Sam feel the same way, which is an interesting take on how they both feel.)

“I believe that feels that he owes you an explanation, I don’t know if he’ll think that he owes me one.”

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

REAL VINCENT PREACH MAN, WILL NEEDS TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING LIKE WHAT THE FUCK ‼

“Glorified Press Release” I want that framed on my wall.

Vincent has developed SO MUCH within these two years it’s crazy.

HUH DARLIN’??? WDYM DARLIN’????

Vincent wants like a guard dog or smth?? Or is he gonna use the guilt trip/ threaten type shit, Like,“Look who you put in danger, a member of the Shaw Pack! Tell me what’s gonna happen from now on or the Shaw Pack will cut ties with you 😇”

Hey on the bright side, Hendral Wyrdsmythe is coming BACKKKK 💕

[typical-simplelove]

Train Ride to Paris (R. Spiers)

Summary: Ron is supposed to be this cold-hearted soldier, but on a train ride through the French countryside, a new side of Ron is introduced.

Author's Note: Ah! This is the first time I'm posting a Band of Brothers fic. I've been writing BoB fic for a while, but I've never felt ready to post it (unlike all my other fandoms). I hope you enjoy this, and please let me know what you thought!

Word Count: 969

Warnings: implied!female reader; canon-typical mentions of war and Axis powers (let me know if I missed anything)

likes are appreciated, but reblogs are better!

It was rare to get the chance to leave the front lines and have a weekend to yourself. Sometimes, it felt like the days muddled on, day after day, not knowing when the next batch of orders was going to come through. 

Ever since the Allied success at Normandy and the following measures to try to get through Nazi lines and into Germany, it’s just been one thing after another. However, one morning at breakfast, a weekend pass was slammed on the desk in front of you–Paris. You had been given the opportunity to spend the weekend’s forty-eight hours away from the constant reminder of the war, in a city full of love and laughter and excitement, recovering from the Axis onslaught. 

With your proper “outing” uniform, you boarded the train to take you to Paris, your nerves shot, wondering what would be awaiting you. All your life you dreamed of going to Paris, but you always thought you’d have a partner with you. It never dawned on you that you would be visiting the city of love by yourself. 

Halfway through the ride, your book half-open on your lap, your eyes and head watching the French countryside pass through the window, you hear a male voice clear their throat from behind you. 

“Is this seat taken?” 

You look up, enchanted by the roughness but also the soft tone this voice holds. A smile overcomes your face when you see who it is. “Captain Spiers.” 

A small smile is on his face as he echoes your name. “May I sit next to you?” 

“Of course,” you answer, moving your bag from the seat next to you on the floor, between your legs. 

Ron’s smile isn’t a smile per se. His lips don’t curl up as most other people smile; they remain still. It’s hard to tell if he’s smiling, but the minute your eyes land on him, you know Ron’s smiling. The smile lines that form around his face illuminate and make his eyes sparkle. As he sits next to you, placing his bag down, too, Ron’s giving you his version of a smile. You know you should be wary and nervous around this man, knowing all the rumors that circulate around him, but you can’t help it. You’re drawn to him–the warmth leaving his body feels like a warm blanket coupled with a fire during a blizzard. 

He’s not what the rumors say he is. You can just sense that he’s so much more than that, and honestly, he might not be any of those things. 

“Heading to Paris for the weekend?” he asks, his eyes still crinkling in his smile. 

“Yes, weekend pass,” you reply, “and you?”

He gives you a curt nod, the sun streaming in through the window illuminating his hair, giving him an almost ethereal aura. Who knew the guy everyone was scared of and could frighten even the strongest soldiers could be so beautiful? 

The conversation goes stagnant, Ron opting to lean his head back against the chair and catch some sleep as you pick up your book again. You try to read, but your thoughts are only on the man sitting next to you. Here was a man shrouded in mystery and danger, but he wasn’t oozing any of that. This man appeared to be full of compassion, kindness, and sincerity. He’s the exact opposite of the reputation he holds. 

Interrupting your thoughts, Ron remarks, “Thanks for letting me sit next to you. I wanted a familiar face during this train ride.”

“I’m familiar?” you say, your eyebrows quirking in confusion, honor, and awe. 

He nods, his smile returning to his face, but this time, the ends of his smile quirk up, and his cheeks turn a light rose color. “I remember seeing you around Curahee, running and training with Easy. By far, you were the best one amongst your company.” 

Snorting, you look at him, eyes wide in laughter, neck growing warm. “I know for a fact that that is certainly not the case.” 

“Well,” Ron begins, clearing his throat before he continues. “In my books and in my honest opinion,” you are the best soldier in this regiment. I might be biased, though.” 

“Biased?” 

“Seeing you around or having you around or thinking of you always warms my body but also procures a pinch–happy pinch–in my heart.”

“Oh,” you whisper, turning your head out the window, not sure how to respond. 

Ron nudges your shoulder. “You can’t imagine what it was like when I saw you on the train earlier. I was walking down the aisle, and I saw you; it took me a while to work up the nerve to ask to sit next to you. Lucky me.”

“I don’t know how to respond, Ron.” 

He shakes his head. “You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that I care about you a lot. I don’t fully understand the way I feel, but I’m looking forward to figuring it out. There’s, um, there’s nothing you have to do really, but I just, I just wanted you to know.” 

Your body is warm and inflamed. Who knew Ron had these kinds of words? You wanted to go back and tell your friends and defend the man they think he is, but you wanted to keep this to yourself. You want to see where this goes and where your heart can take you.

“Okay,” you reply, a soft smile on your face. Ron reaches his hand into your lap and links his pinky finger with yours and exhales, very deeply that it seems like it’s the first time he’s breathed in months. Now, you’re starting to feel that same warm, happy pinch in your heart that Ron described. Who knows what this weekend in Paris will entail?  

[james-sunshine-potter]

mary regrets not talking to james more, which she doesn't get.

they were never that close. they talked, they got along. they always got partnered in charms, always sat next to each other for seven years. she was always in the same friendship group him, mainly due to marlene. but then he started dating lily, and she just had to spend more time with him.

even before the war, mary never sought out james for one on one conversations. she never had the urge too. she never really considered him her friend, in her head he was always 'marlene's best mate' or 'lily's boyfriend'. never her friend.

it's not like she had any explicit problems with james, she did like him. much more in the later years than the earlier ones, but still. she always liked james. he stood up for the underdogs and fought the bigots the teachers never dealt with. she could, and always respected that. despite the childish pranks and larger than life attitudes, she never had a problem with james.

they were nothing but friendly.

she wasn't surprised when he joined the war. she wasn't surprised with how quickly he signed up, it was in his nature to protect the unprotected. she was surprised when he didn't have a problem when she didn't. in his words, 'just because i'm doing it, doesn't mean you have too... i understand the risks, and so do you,'.

he was one of the only people she ended on good terms when she parted with the wizarding world, looking for solace elsewhere away from the war. he sent a couple of letters, keeping her in the loop, some letters having small notes from other member of the order. telling about heists, missions, loss'. she found out through him about marlene... about dorcas. about harry and the wedding.

she grew to appreciate the letters, no matter how bad the news he was telling. despite the way things ended with the girls, she still worried about them. they haunt her nightmares and stalked her days. if the only way she was going to find out news about them was through the messager owl which was james potter, then hell she was going to write back.

she remembers his last letter. it was short and chilling. it wasn't a long one, it was quick, short. concise. it struck her so much, she remembers it word for word...

mary, september 2nd 1981

this will be my last letter. a lot has happened since i wrote in july. there's a prophecy, i still don't understand, i don't think lily does either. all i know is that it's about harry.

we have to go into hiding, no letters, no outside communication despite a few, no leaving. no nothing. all dumbledore's idea. if it keeps harry and lily safe, i'll do it.

i don't know if i'll send another letter.

stay safe, james.

he was right. he never did send another letter again.

she wasn't that worried in september, dumbledore was always known to be slightly paranoid. also any sort of 'prophecy' seemed like plain bullshit to her. obviously if both james and lily were taking it seriously, then maybe she should have been more worried sooner. there was no talk in the daily prophet about any drastic changes in the war, and there hadn't been any notable deaths.

by the beginning of october was when things changed for the worst for mary. there was huge talk in the daily prophet that the death eater's 'new focus' was on finding the 'hidden wizards'... which made mary weak in the knees, as she knew who those hidden wizards are. knowing that the split blood of james potter and lily evans had now become the no.1 task of the death eaters made her realise maybe dumbledore wasn't being paranoid. maybe he was right to lock them away, maybe he did a good enough job at hiding them.

maybe she was right in never joining the war. maybe marlene was right, maybe she did take the cowards way out.

it was weeks and weeks of new attacks and new attempts and no contact and sleepless nights and drunk days before halloween rolled around. the fateful halloween which followed with news of celebration that the war was finally over.

the war which ended with the brutal murder of james potter and lily evans.

mary wasn't surprised. she wished she was. she had finally talked to remus, after three years of nothing. she wished she was surprised that james died first, died willing to die if that meant lily and harry had a couple extra seconds to escape. but she wasn't. that's probably the most james potter thing she's ever heard. he would give up the last bit of oxygen he had if it meant someone else could breathe. she wasn't surprised that lily died too stubborn to move out of the way of her only child.

after halloween, it was pure and utter silence. peter was dead, sirius was locked up in azkaban and remus wasn't answering the phone.

and for days she read james' letters. she didn't know why, she just did. even in the darkest letters, in the darkest of times, he still managed to write with some form of optimism, even when it seemed impossible. all expect the last, when he basically wrote 'i don't think i'm going to survive'. the idea that james potter lost hope on his own life made her regret a lot.

who was she to decide she had no place in this war whilst james potter had basically given up by the end?

it made her wonder what james would say, it made her want to know what james thought, how he felt about it. and it was then when it dawned on her. she has no idea. someone she has known and spent seven years of her life with, someone whose always had some form of close connection to her... and she has no idea what he'd say about.

because she never bothered to learn. seven years, and she never bothered to have at least one personal conversation with him. she never thought to do it before, he always seemed a bit air headed to her. someone who couldn't be serious. the only times where she saw him be serious was playing quidditch and during a particularly hard time for him and his little group in fifth year.

it didn't take her long to be riddled with guilt about the time she wasted she now wanted. she wishes now she spent more time getting to know him, who he was really, not just the person he showed on the outside. knowing his fears, his wishes, his dreams, his quirks.

there are so much about james she only know is realising she doesn't know. his middle name, his birthday (she feels like it's april but she honestly couldn't tell you), his parents names, where he was born, his interests besides the obvious. it was almost embarrassing how little she knew about james. espically when she knows how much lily loved him. how much lily raved about him throughout seventh year.

her best friend loved him, and she never even tried to get to know him.

and now she'll never get the chance.

[tobiasdrake]

I kind of want to break stuff out of spite. Like, even if we fail, our deaths won't untrash the place. It will be a lot of work to get it all livable again. So that's a small victory.

Then again, judging by all those cobwebs and the swirling clouds, I'm not sure the Dweller uses this place for much anyway. I'm pretty sure the mist is supposed to be spooky horror mist but given the state of this place, I think it's just a thick cloud of dust.

Seems pretty obvious that her main hobby is just wandering around replacing and relighting the oh my god why are there so many candles in order to maintain the spooky atmosphere.

In any case, there's an interesting book over there, so we should--

--burn it, apparently. The books are a trap.

*sigh* No wonder Roro doesn't read them.

Well, that's me eating crow. The spooky mist vanished after we burned the books. I should make a note of that for the future.

"Old Person Physical Media is Evil". Got it.

Oh, I would but I'm jazzed up on caffeine now. Thanks for the offer though.

In any case, we're now set for a full-scale de-cursing.

And yet, I'm clearing it out of each room with less than a minute of mayhem. It really makes you stop and think about how much more effort goes into creation than destruction. Violence can unmake in seconds what took weeks or months to build.

I would be mad about that given that you're a ghost but Garl is the best chef this side of ever, so you've got yourself a deal just so I can show his talents off. You're lucky I'm egotistic.

Eh, I know someone who eats banana and mayo sandwiches. We all have our weird tastes.

Fuckin' told you. Don't mind me, I'll be over here beaming with pride as if I was the one who somehow turned that nonsense of a recipe into something not only edible but phenomenal.

:D I am such a great manager!

A small detail that I really appreciate is that the Waltzers come in both opposite- and same-sex varieties. That's neat. Even among the undead, love is love.

Well, now we know where all the Maleficent Thorns in the forest came from. The Botanical Horror's responsible. I bet these things are, like, its buds.

That's fine.

Me and my buds are gonna torch this whole place.

And Teaks will record it all. For history.

OH NO THAT DEFINITELY NEEDS TO DIE. That's about an 8 on the Botanophobia Scale right there. FUCK THIS THING.

Now to see how Erlina and Bugraves are doing. Bet their part isn't going so well, given that we need some reason to explore the other part of the mansion before we fight the Dweller.

Oh. Uh. Bye? Didn't expect her to peace out this soon.

We should probably have asked her to take Garl with her, if it's. Y'know. Time. I really don't want him losing another eye on my account.

...she might be trying to avoid Moraine, given that she waiting until we were isolated from him to pop in and then popped back out before we hooked back up with him.

I suggested that she might be Yoyo earlier, but she also could be Momo. I still don't think she's either though, on account of her visible youth.

Momo's kid, perhaps? I dunno. I do think she's trying to avoid the more professional Solstice Warriors.

Thanks, we did it all by ourselves. Yep. I'm just awesome like that. Zale helped. A little.

No more postponing, Dweller. By the unstoppable might of the moon and slightly more stoppable might of the sun, we're here to conquer!

This does seem about that time.

Probably should have asked Serai to take him with her. We'd have to come up with an excuse for what became of him, but I'm sure Moraine would buy, "He realized it was a mistake to be here and bailed."

Simple enough. You hold up the piñata while the rest of us celebrate my birthday.

It's the winter solstice. We're nowhere near it. But Erlina, Brugaves, and Garl all missed like ten of them so I'm owed a belated party.

Aww, you shouldn't have. It's just what I wanted.

Wait, is this not going well? I thought this was going well. Okay, so maybe I was a little cocky but we seem to be doing pretty well.

So that's a yes. Something is definitely going awry that I am not aware of.

Any way we could, like, blast a hole in the ceiling?

HA! Just like that, our poor decision to bring a normie along is fully vindicated. If we win this battle, I am never letting Moraine live this down.

...sorry, I'll stop being smug and focus on the fight.

HOLY SHIT, GARL.

I'll stop being smug and focus on the fight but you'd better prepare yourself for at least a week of insufferable smugness when we're done here, Moraine!

You know what? I take back that piñata stuff. I regret cracking this thing open to see what's inside. I liked her better when all the disgusting horror was on the inside.

Nowhere to go now but through. We're committed to this.

With, like, a Moonerang? I don't remember this part of my--

WHY NOT!? @_@ WHAT THE FUCK, SERAI! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS. We did an aggravated robbery together and every--

You know, maybe I need to learn to be a better judge of character.

[anogete]

Final Update on Mercy Show to Me (Dramione)

Mercy Show to Me is done! Or at least the first draft is complete. I need to do a preliminary edit of the final 4 chapters so they can be passed along to my betas. Tomorrow and Monday will be spent doing a second edit of the first half with their notes/feedback. @feistygina, @oftypewritersandribbons, and @storieswhispered have been amazing at trying to keep up with me dropping 20-30k words on them at a time when they have lives to live. I appreciate you all so much.

I'll begin posting next week, probably on the 20th or 21st, depending on how the editing goes. To avoid making myself insane, I'm going to promise updates at least every other day. I may go through periods where I will post one chapter a day, but I'm not going to promise to maintain that pace. I'm trying to learn how to (sometimes, maybe, occasionally, now-and-then) put my mental health first.

It'll be about 115k, 24 chapters, rated E, slow burn, and takes place 20 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. The entire fic will be posted by the end of March if you're one of those readers who prefers to wait. However, I'd love for you to read along with me as I post since it's fun to read our comments and reactions as I'm also doing my final edit before I post each chapter.

And if you want a snippet to whet your appetite, then here you go. The following page is from chapter 3:

“I’m just going to grab a coffee,” she murmured, looking at his chest instead of his face. His hair looked like it had been styled this morning, but he’d mussed it up and then tried to smooth it back down. The result was much more devastatingly attractive than what he’d probably intended before he left his home. “I’ll get it. What would you like?” Hermione looked up to meet his gaze now. “It’s fine. I can–” “I insist,” he murmured, dropping his gaze to the floor for a moment before looking at her face again. Why was he nervous? He’d been very nearly flirty at the Quidditch match. Not that she would ever think Draco Malfoy would flirt with her, but if it had been anyone else then she’d have wondered. Instead of making things more tense, she acquiesced. “Okay. Well, could I have a flat white?” “Of course. Please have a seat. I’ll be right back.” His long strides carried him over to the counter where orders were placed. She watched his broad shoulders as he paid and shuffled down to the end to wait for the drinks. The urge to pull out the three medical records was strong, but she didn’t want to hit him with her research before she had a chance to feel out what the situation was. A misstep could have him pulling back from her just as quickly as their odd reconnection had happened over the past couple of weeks. Instead, she waited patiently for him to return, her hands folded on the table. She could smell his cologne when he slid back across from her with two cups–one for him and one for her. She couldn’t help but notice his drink was a caramel mocha latte. It made her smile. “What is it?” he asked, noticing her expression. “I didn’t realize you have a sweet tooth,” she said, gesturing to his cup. He gave her a closed-lip smile that seemed forced. “I’m full of surprises.” Instead of doing what she’d told herself to do when she’d sat down in front of her mirror to apply makeup, she opened her mouth and jumped right in. And instead of slowing down and letting him talk first like she’d convinced herself she should while changing her outfit three bloody times before settling on a dark green jumper with black trousers, she went straight for the reason she’d agreed to this meeting. “Look, I know you invited me here to apologize, but there’s really no need.” She watched his face fall before he composed himself into a look of disinterest. “I forgave you ages ago, Malfoy. It’s been twenty years for Merlin’s sake.” “Can I–” he started before cutting himself off, his jaw tight. She watched him run the long fingers of his right hand over his smooth jawline and chin before leaning forward to prop his elbow up on the tabletop. “Look, just let me… let me say what I want to say. Please?”

[ofwraithsandwords]

I'm working on an A/U fan fic about a distant cousin being adopted by Integra. I want to publish it on tumblr and need some technical help. Unlike most of you, I'm an older lady who isn't as computer savvy as you younger folk.

I'm writing it on MS Word on my laptop. What software should I transfer it to, in order to publish online?

I'm a little old lady who was involved in the 1980's goth scene. I'm proof that goths don't age out. I would appreciate any advice you can give. The story is written as a first-person diary by the young cousin.

Hey there!

First and foremost, I just want to say how touched I am that you're asking me for advice because I'm certainly no authority on writing or publishing works. Still, I'll answer your question to the best of my ability.

There's nothing wrong with using Microsoft Word for literary works such as fanfiction. I think the best path forward when it comes to writing software is to simply use what you're most comfortable with. If you're only familiar with Microsoft Word, then use Microsoft Word. It's a tried and true software that I've used countless times myself, especially when I was in school and university.

However, if you want to explore other avenues for software, you may be familiar with Google Docs. This is what I use myself for writing my fanfiction. If you have a gmail account, you should have access to Google Drive which is the storage file that contains helpful utilities like Google Docs. If you do not have a gmail account and have some other kind of email, you can still use Google Drive. Here's a link to directions on how to use your existing email to create a Google Account.

Here are the icons for Google Drive and Google Docs, respectively:

To try and simplify, Drive is a folder and Docs is the document inside the folder. You'll also have access to other tools as well, but you don't have to worry about those; I'm just focusing on Docs.

I'll stop there because I don't wish to insult your intelligence in case you're already quite familiar with or have Google Docs. But if you're not and you need any more guidance, please do not hesitate to reach out again! You can even DM me if you so wish.

Other than Microsoft Word or Google Docs, I don't really use any other writing software. I invite anyone who uses any other writing software to reblog this post with their insight and/or advice.

As far as publishing your work goes, if you're to publishing your fanfiction on Tumblr, you should be able to copy and paste the diary entries from Microsoft Word or whatever software you're using into a post and do it that way. Some people get fancy with it, but it's absolutely not necessary; it's just a preference and for aesthetic reasons. Be sure to tag your post with #hellsing and #fanfiction at the very least!

I'm also going to mention Archive Of Our Own (AO3) here as well. You've probably heard of this site too. I've only been on it for...4 or 5 years? And I won't lie to you, learning how to properly format my chapters using AO3's post function took some time. But if you have any interest at all in trying to use AO3, send in another ask or DM me and I'll help you as much as I can. In the meantime, I hope that I at least provided some insight and gave you the answer you were looking for!

On a different note, this fanfiction of yours sounds really intriguing! You don't get that many dairy entry fanfics, especially in the Hellsing fandom. Is it related to how Bram Stoker wrote his dairy entries in Dracula by any chance?

I wish you well on writing this fanfiction! Be sure to send me another ask or shoot me a message when you do publish it!