#alf's tangents

[the-alfreton]

Autism, Neurodivergence, and Virtual Machines

A lot of people with autism or neurodivergence, myself included, often feel really damn tired a lot of the time, and don’t understand why.

Imagine that everyone is a computer. And you - anomalous, wonderful thing that you are - are running a completely different operating system to everyone else. You’re not better or worse. Just different.

When you’re masking - following the quirks of social stuff, even when you don’t understand it - it’s like you’re running a virtual machine of the operating system that everyone else was born with.

Of course you have fewer resources to work with - you’re emulating an entire system on top of what you’re already running! You’re spending a huge amount of resources just to get to the baseline level of what other people instinctually have installed on their systems!

Here’s the fun part, though - this metaphor offers us a way forward. By finding stuff that works on our native hardware - social tricks, techniques, stims - we can find tools that work for us and give us a lot more energy to work with. That’s how we go from surviving to thriving.

[papercutsunset]

my point here is: tiff's lying about the reason she doesn't like the aetherium and i never actually mentioned it?

side tangent before i get to my point vis a vis jeanette: tiff's a fucking liar, ok? she says she doesn't like "nerd shit?"

OK. YEAH, SURE. you referenced gilear, of all people, while threatening to homewreck; you CANONICALLY watch pathfinder actual play content and DRAG OTHER PEOPLE INTO IT; you were EXCITED for GATEWALKERS. her favorite movies are about the construction of people (mostly women) and fucked up scientists. she likes an improvised space opera from the 1990s?? yeah, sure, she MAY have watched power rangers because drake likes it, but she still WATCHED IT, and she still got upset when ben said he didn't know who tolkein was. her love for ray bradbury is one of the main things mr hillam remembers about her. she used to do calculus in the bathroom five minutes before class. yeah, whatever, shut UP, fucking nerd (as if we needed an explanation that the person trying to measure planar instability wasn't that)

there's no REASON, based on the above, for her to actually dislike the aetherium. it's classic wizard lit, right? kids go to wizard school. magical theory, worldbuilding, dragons, murder, chicago. fuck, gwen krantz as a character almost seems built to appeal to tiff (aroace skateboarding second-generation caster from 1993? the jokes around her concern jizzing spiders and molasses floods following car accidents on the way to buy a bikini kill album? fuck yeah).

she says, in This Godless Endeavor, that the reason she doesn't like it is BECAUSE she got into it too late. (this is in the conversation where drake and mark force-assign her house moxie, ftr). in Beach Day, when she's talking to andy at their parents' house, she mentions that she hated it (which also came up in Kansas) and reaffirms the age bit.

THAT'S NOT THE REASON.

the reason is mostly that she sees too much of her worst traits in trish wilson's worst traits, and she can't bear to see it-- even though, by virtue of being one of my characters, she would be most like alf.

[pokerobbo]

Week Three - Fuck Me.

All good things come to an end; Tv Shows have a final episode, Humans have a final breath and the Gold Coast Suns finish taking the season seriously by about round 3 (round 4 if they have played North Melbourne). In fact all things in life have to come to an end at some point (apart from Australia's hated of Collingwood Football Club, or Alf Stewart on home and away). This week marked the end of one of my resolutions.

Health

This week was a good week for me health wise. I was finally able to crack into the 122KG bracket and start noticing changes in my workouts fitness wise. I've upped my treadmill work from 20mins to 30mins and also incorporated hour long evening walks into my routine (in Port Augusta doing that is about as safe as going rawdawg on the biggest slut in town - but hey we've all done it).

Financial

Another week, another payment made on the ole Credit Card bill. If i had any advice for my past self it would be two things; 1. Sleeping with the Chilean girl does not make you culturally sophisticated, it gives you 18 years of debt and lastly don't get a credit card to fund holidays and nights out... find a sugarmumma to foot the bill for you.

Betting

I've said it before and Ill say it again. Gambling is a worse addiction than Meth. At least with Meth you often don't have control over yourself and your actions (look at Andrew O'Keefe from Deal or No Deal - corker show. Shame about the drug addict host).

This week I caved in and had a bet (more on the circumstances in the Mental Health portion of this blog). I'm used to disappointing people; my friends, my family, my colleague on a daily basis (although just know the feelings mutual sistah girl), and lastly every girl that I have ever taken to pound town (all 6 of them. Joking. but maybe not).

Although the amount spent on that bet was rather small I feel disappointed that Gambling was the outlet I chose to pursue for my source of dopamine. Just when I thought that I was well on my way to conquering it; it rears its ugly head and reminds me that it is still there (kinda like when Jehovah's witness knock on ya door, or I get my monthly Child Support statements - but hey at least I'm culturally sophisticated now right?.)

All I can do is not let this de-rail me.

Mental Health

That's right. You read correctly. I am a male that mentioned Mental Health. Kind of bad ass if you ask me given that the general consensus in society is that Men can't have Mental Health concerns; or if they do it because the footy team they support didn't win the big game.

Mental Health struggles are only a new thing for me. They started in 2019. Id spent the better half of the 15 years before then putting on a brave face and 'doing what I had to do' as the 'strong one' whilst I watched my mother struggle with her own mental health (ultimately the cause of her passing), experiencing the loss of several close family members and my siblings over coming their own childhood trauma (don't really have a wise crack to make about any of that; apart from the fact that I suffered my own childhood trauma of my Nan never getting me FrootLoops but making it rain FrootLoops for my cousin Shanno). Sorry for the rambling; but long story short in 2019 life hit me harder than a Rollercoaster hitting Shylah Rodden.

Mental Health is something that I have always been open about because if my story or my struggles can help someone else overcome their own demons then at least some good can come from it. Mental Health is not a Schapelle Corby boogie board and shouldn't be concealed.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing when it comes to Mental Health. If you can see the signs and recognise them, it makes it a whole lot easier to seek the support. There is nothing wrong with using the word 'Support' unless the sentence is 'I support the Collingwood'. In which case I suggest you seek some support.

Again I've gone off on a tangent. Moral of the story is this week has been particularly stressful, it has caused me to seek dopamine by having a bet but I can see the signs and have already put the supports in place to help me get through!

Dont be afraid to speak out, dont be afraid to talk about Mental Health and most importantly dont be afraid to pursue your own personal happiness.

Until next time friends..

[ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole]

Stories of Paris

Part 4

Part One Part Three AO3

Masterlist

................................................................

Damian was unhappy with the fact that with ‘strangers’ in *his* house their nightly activities would have to carefully navigated. His father nor Pennyworth had not explicitly said anything about it, but he assumed it was because they all knew what was expected. So, being told to line up in the entrance hall by his father went down like a lead balloon.

His pout turned in widening eyes of shock as he witnessed the tall wiry young woman (and a large man he supposed) exiting the car. SHE was his father’s babysitter. This was who oversaw the European branch of W.E. The person who owned the largest portion of shares of W.E (after the Wayne family that is). He was doomed. Damain watched as his father soften as he saw the woman.

“Mari! You never seem to age!” he exclaimed as she gracefully walked up to him and into his embrace.

“Mon cherie! It’s miraculous isn’t it,” she drew back slightly to look over his shoulder, “I see you have taken found family comment to the extreme, but I suppose you were never one to do things in half measures. It’s good to be back here after so long”

Looking at her like he was a child with pleading eyes, “You are staying here, right?”

With a gentle smile with a smirking edge, “Yes. If I tried to leave for a hotel, I’ll end up having the shadows watching me all night. Plus, this place always did feel like my home away from home.”

Damian glancing at his supposed siblings to see that they were also in shock. Probably not for the same reason. Panicking with it all, as he saw his father turn to introduce them to the woman, Damian drew his katana and aimed it at her.

“YOU were fathers' babysitter!!! But... what... you’re younger than him!!!! .... You’re the Grand Lady Guardian... I *refuse* to return.”

Damian vaguely recognised his name being shouted at him, but all his attention was on the Grand Lady Guardian of the Miraculous who stood, rolling her eyes, before him. He could feel her power radiating off, surrounding them all.

“Petit Tresor. I’m not taking you back there. Did you not learn anything from my teachings? Did you not learn to read between the lines? About looking deeper than the surface. You are with *your* found family. THEY are what is important. Bruce may have picked up a lot of my unhealthy habits about vigilantism, but he made a point of understand a good support network and the importance of chosen family. Despite how he enacts the teachings.”

The Monkey with her came to her shoulder and raised his eyebrow at Damian. He finally understood why he was always her bodyguard now rather than the Cat, being that he was her husband.

“You can stand down Petit Tresor. League and Court business will *not* be found here. The League know what will happen if they cross the Court, and I made it very clear after our last encounter when they tried to manipulate us to their advantage.”

Damian assessed the woman before him as he withdrew his katana from her and starting to become aware of the others around him again.

“Why has he got a chaos shard within him Bruce?” The monkey growled looking at him with a dangerous glint in his eye.

Everyone in the entrance hall was frozen in shock and panic. What was meant to be a happy reunion had been derailed but now, suddenly, somehow gained an even sharper edge. Marinette and her husband were aware of their nightly capers, and they also knew of the League, they were involved in something similar and aware of chaos shards.

Damian watched as his father gulped as he looked at the Monkey and the Guardian. It wasn’t often his father showed fear, but it was clear on his face as she arched her eyebrow at him. His siblings all looked on in surprise and uncertain of what to expect. Only Pennyworth and Todd seemed to be handling the situation with any sense of calmness. Surprising for Todd...

“Mari... his mother... the league...”

At the mention of the league the Guardians eye twitch so subtly you’d hardly notice it if not trained and with a minute flicker of her hand, the Monkey flipped his phone out and was walking out back outside to call someone... Damian straining his ears heard Peg and plan 42c being mentioned by the Monkey to whoever he had called.

“They were warned. Tsk, Assassin’s bullheadedness. Kim will sort this out for me for the present moment and we will discuss healing at a later point. Anyway, mon cherie, you were about to introduce me to your children. Petit Tresor I know, and I believe that that is Jason, mon rêveur, in the background though he has grown so much since our last meeting. So, I could guess everyone else, but why don’t you continue?”

The Guardian stated as if the topic of what just happened was over, much to Damian’s surprise. He sheafed his katana but still was wary of the woman and slightly in awe. He had a feeling that the chaos and downfall of his grandfather may have due to her in some way. Slight fear and dread for his mother was building as well. He finally starting to understand the reason for her over protectiveness when she taught him in the league now.

“Right. Mari, this is Dick, Jason who you already met in person? Cass and alongside her Duke, Tim who you meet briefly in the W.E. meeting the other month, Steph who has wormed her way into the family and Damian you who’ve also already met?”

With a polite cough drawing attention to himself, Alfred spoke. “Perhaps, instead of having a mother’s meeting in the entrance hall, we retreat to the drawing room where we can have some refreshments. I am sure that Ms Marinette and Master Kim are exhausted from their travels. It is most unbecoming to stand around loitering, wouldn’t you agree Master Bruce?”

Bruce muttered something as his ears started to tinge red, Marinette turned to Alfred and smiled as she drew him into a hug while Bruce collected himself.

“Yes, right, that sounds like a fantastic idea Alfred. Mari, shall we?”

Bruce offered her an arm which she elegantly took as the took off in the direction of the drawing room delving into conversation with Bruce leaving behind a shocked collection on children in the hall. Alfred slipped off to prepare the refreshments.

Damian cringed as Dick exclaimed, “YOU GUYS KNOW HER?!?!?!!” which echoed around the manor as he finally processed what had just happened.

______________________________________________

Alfred smiled as the atmosphere within the Manor shifted over the last few weeks. It now had a different air about it. Master Bruce became less sullen and slightly less repressed under Marinette’s watch and the Manor started to feel lighter again.

Alfred had found great amusement when he stumbled in on Master Kim lecturing Master Bruce on being dense especially the “I know I’m dense but kwami Bruce! You’re worse than me realising all the competitions I got Mare rigged into was because I wanted to impress her! Let’s start at the beginning, ok?!”.

He hoped that Master Kim might be able to knock a bit of sense into his wayward charge. He knew Ms Marinette, though full of good intentions wouldn’t be able to with Master Bruce’s strange ability to pick up on the wrong message being given.

The highlight of the week was when he entered the family living room to find all his grandchildren looking pale as Master Bruce acted semi child-like in front of Ms Marinette. It was a delight to see Bruce act like the child that he knew he was reawakened again. Even if it terrified the grandchildren.

The whole family discovered that Bruce had been very selective of the stories and information that he had told them about Marinette. She had taken great delight telling them all about what teenage Bruce really was like.

About the time Bruce had a fan induced panic attack on meeting the Jagged Stone. Alfred was slightly aware of something happened but not the details.

About the time Bruce decided to practice parkour in the Manor gardens and ended up stuck halfway up the side of the Manor unable to climb up further or climb down. Alfed was positive he was unaware that Marinette joined him and had to coach Bruce down.

About the series of times that Bruce attempted to prove to Alfred that he had ‘outgrown the kitchen ban’ and had ‘observed Mari’s baking skills sufficiently’ to be able to try again for only the attempts to go south fast. Alfred grimaced at the memories that that bought up. He was glad that he’d got a good working deal with local kitchen fitters and suppliers given the number of fires.

It became a daily breakfast occurrence that Bruce mortified Marinette in his outfit for the day. The breakfast entertainment became watching Marinette tear into his fashion choice of the day, drag up some past clothing or costume disaster. She ended up moaning that he had learnt nothing from her rantings about clothes over the years and stare forlornly into her coffee cup. It was providing the bat boys a wealth of black mail material that Alfred had to on numerous occasions reel Marinette from her tangents.

The only time he let her completely go to town with was letting her regale to everyone about Bruce’s dramatic and insistent argument on fighting crime in Lyca, wearing pants on top of tights and with a cape, that he really insisted that he didn’t need to use Kevlar (that decision didn’t last beyond a few training sessions and one patrol night). Alfred was pleased with her ability to rein that disaster in quickly.

It was in the comfort of the kitchen away from the antics that happened Alfred mused and reflected on his notional niece's visit. Alfred wished he had thought to bring Marinette over sooner as he witnessed that fraught relationships between the Waynes soften. Issues didn’t disappear but Marinettes presence, and ability due to dealing with Akuma, helped mitigate situations which typically would have blown up. Kim always by her side would help soothe, distract, or explain to the puzzled Bruce the techniques Marinette was using to stop the escalation.

She’d slowly began charming and connecting with his grandchildren. Be it by giving Tim pointers on how to manage W.E board members effectively and playing video games. It was eerily like how she warmed Bruce up to her.

By Sitting quietly reading with Jason or playing chess and talking in metaphors about life, death and balance. Slowly having ‘healing sessions to calm the pit madness’ with meditation and grounding sessions.

With Damian she seemed to remind him of alternate grounding techniques which she’d shown him in the league. They seemed to spend time talking in hushed whispers about other stuff that Alfred wasn’t currently privy too.

Duke was with poetry and music. Cass with dance and gymnastics, silent subtle conversations occurred but seeing Cass smile and edge towards being more tactile made Alfred glow with warmth inside. Steph and Marinette commanded the kitchen numerous times baking pastries, waffles and other treats.

Dick took the longest to warm up to the woman, having heard and known about her for over a deacade but never met it was understandable. Alfred wpould never knew what Marinette had done but one day the hostility and coldness disappeared. A joy, childlike smile appeared on Dicks face every time she was in the room, and he’d follow her round like a loat puppy. Watching and mimicking her techniques to calm his brothers down.

How his grandchildren acted with Marinette in the activities brought echoes of memories of her with Bruce to the forefront of Alfred’s mind.

Sighing, in the short time the Manor felt warm and like a family, a home should feel like. Much like before his friends’ death. Schooling his emotions, Alfred set about to serve the family and Parisians last dinner together.

______________________________________________

Bruce tried not to sulk. Tried not to revert to the mind set of when Marinette originally disappeared physically from his life. Especially in front of his children but it was hard. She somehow always managed to take the overwhelming pressure away from him, like he could breathe and be.

Alfred was his father, in all the ways that counted, but the burden of death and saving the world was something Marinette understood at a deeper more personal level. Having her here made it feel safe to feel, that he would always be caught. That she would save him from the consuming darkness. She was the light in the world shining out in the Gotham gloom.

As expected, his children adored her in their unique ways. Following her around like little ducks scrabbling for crumbs of knowledge and titbits of information. Bruce lips twitched as he witnessed them behaving much like he used to. Taking the gems’ she passed on to them and ferreting them away much like he did.

“Master Bruce, I expect better behaviour this leaving gathering than our previous party, please.”

With Alfred’s comments Bruce gave into the feeling of pouting. Why deny how he felt toward the situation where he wasn’t in control. He pointedly ignored the stares that his children were giving him. Again.

“Mon tresor! It’s not like you aren’t going to see or speak to me again. We speak regularly as it is. It’s not the same as it was last time. You know this.”

“But Mari, it's nice having you here. This is your home.”

“Is he always like this Mare, Cupcake? How is it that all the kid’s you’ve looked after end up demanding you live with them?”

Bruce choked at Kim’s statement and the Wayne clan burst into laughter. Alfred let a small smirk grace his face.

“Oui, Mon Amour, He wasn’t happy last time I left at all. Be grateful I learnt to resist kitten eyes or we’d never have reconnected. Manon doesn’t count. She’s practically family as well with how close Maman and Nadja are.”

“What about Elle, Etta and Chris? What about Ivan’s and Mylene’s sproglian? Fang? Jagged’s second round of terrors? Luka and Jules too really.”

“Hush, Mon Amour, circumstantial evidence.”

Bruce observed Kim stare at his wife in disbelief before waving his hand around the room.

“What about these then. Don’t give me that look Cupcake. I’m gonna end up needing to fight the whole batclan at this rate to get you on a plane with me! Maybe I should give Peg’s the heads up that I’ll need his help.”

“I can assure you Master Kim that you *both* are free to leave. The young master's understand that they cannot kidnap you. It would not be becoming of them OR look good for the company for the family to kidnap its own workers.”

Bruce and his family guiltily ducked their heads at Alfred’s comments. When Alfred turned away to start talking to Kim, Tim leant in close to Bruce to whisper to him.

“Do you think we have the power to move her to being director of North America rather than Europe? Mari would be closer then? Plus, the guy in charge isn’t all he’s cracked up to be so the board would likely approve it.”

Bruce stared at his son at the ingenious and simple solution and smiled, before ducking his head when Alfred pointedly looked his way.

“We’ll discuss that concept later.”

Bruce gave Tim a subtle nod as if he was approving the idea. Technically he was but Alfred didn’t need to know that. Nor did Kim really, as he would fight him if he found out and he’d rather not deal with an ex-olympian superhero, even when he pulled his punches they hurt far more than the average persons.

Bruce sat back into his seat and smiled as the conversation and chaos flowed around him. His whole family finally together and he cherished it. He knew it wasn’t going to last much longer with the impending flight looming but for now he had a potential and creative plan to work on. If he framed it right it could also become the prefect family bonding activity that both Marinette and Kim thought he needed to do more of outside of vigilantism. And if the end result was that she moved closer, well, that’s just an added bonus in his eyes.

With that in mind, Bruce joined in with the choas enjoying the moment with his complete family. Nothing could take this away from him.

Tag:

@neakco @corporeal-terrestrial @jayjayspixiepop @lady-bee-fechin @prettylittlebutterflie

[scentedluminarysoul]

Really? I feel sorry for y'all!

Full blown audio dramas with many actors were a huge thing in Germany in the 90's/00's. I grew up with them.

Some were originals, some were based on books, some were based on TV shows or movies. I had Alf, Knight Rider, The Little Mermaid, and more on cassette!

They're still a thing, just not as big anymore because YouTube and other streaming services.

The whole "audio book read by a single person" is new and super weird to me, actually.

Slightly unrelated tangent:

There is an audio book of a book where the German voice actor of Christian Bale is mentioned, the bad guy uses a voice modulator to make his own voice sound like him. So the audio book got that voice actor for those parts. I love that for so many reasons.

I've always had a thing for voice actors, so this just exciting

The audio book is read by the German voice actor of Heath Ledger. So Batman and the Joker

These two voice actors (David Nathan and Simon Jäger) are friends, afaik

I've actually seen them live! They (and other voice actors) had a live show where they just read random stuff, like google translated manuals. It was hilarious!

It's just a neat little detail. They didn't have to do it, but they did

I just have a lot of love and respect for voice actors, okay? That is the one really good thing growing up with anime did.

[cosmosfated]

Fly on the wall + Grillby

bar side chatter. / accepting. / @itsraiyninmuses.

“ah, yeah yeah, grillby. the one fr’m mine, this one ─ real hot shot, p’ sure doc ‘ad a crush on ‘im at some point. …sure tha’ cay’ also still ‘as one. but hey, look, le’s get real. th’ one from my old man’s universe? real sweet.”

He pauses to think for a while, turning and turning the shot glass on the table between him and his old friend. So few people to chat in such a manner with anymore, so he’s glad someone is willing to listen to him go off on a tangent about people he knows.

“i think you’d like ‘im. he’s kinda like how mor’ is now, but a bi’ quieter… an’ a lil’ less rough ‘round the edges. for a fire elemental, he’s not got an easy to explode temper. p’ sure ‘e’s got one, but i ain’t testin’ it!” He barks out a laugh for a moment before considering something else.

“─ though, bein’ real ‘bout it… ‘is whole shtick of workin’ ‘imself ‘alf t’death when he got people tellin’ ‘im t’chill really ticks me off when ‘e gets on my arse about it. a’ least i’m actually doin’ somethin’ ‘bout it.”

[vexredain]

😘

Them as a person : “Now, a lot o’ people in Eorzea look rough, an’ e’en more so back o’er in Limsa... This lad looks as though th’word rough’s ‘ardly doin’ im justice. It’s sorta like ‘e’s got th’gaze o’ a real mean Kobold who’s just find itself locked in a room with ye an’ yer ‘oldin’ it’s favourite drill... If... That’s a real angry, cold lookin’, threaten-... Ye get it?”

Level of attractiveness : “Hm. I like pretty lads, an’ ye know, th’sorta lads that look rugged, but still manage some’ow t’be pretty... So this one’s a lil’ outta my range, not t’say that ye know, there’s not somethin’ t’be said fer bein’ attracted t’danger, an’ I’d think that’s quite a good term fer it. ‘E’s as attractive as ‘e is dangerous? That’s... Well, I’ll leave ye t’decide that. Does look like ‘e’s quite bleedin’ dangerous, so ye know... Could be exhiliratin’”

What annoys them most : “I like t’think I’m imposin’, an’ then there’s this lad, I’d wager ‘e gets real far with bein’ that imposin’, which fer Miqo’te men can be a lil’ but o’ a bit o’ trouble, ye know, considerin’ our challenges in ‘eight.... But, ye know, ‘sa tangent, th’annoyin’ thing is that ‘e’d be more likely t’intimidate anyone’n I’d e’er bleedin’ get. May’aps I’d just need a bigger knife. Lad looks like ‘e licks ‘is though, an’ that’s just on an entirely different level o’ scary, ye know? Also, quite sure ‘e’d almost get on too well with th’bleedin’ mother. Now that’s annoyin’.”

What they like the most : “I reckon that a night out on th’town with a lad like that’d be, well, one that ye’d not ferget. I s’pose th’danger’s somethin’ t’like... Though I will say, there’s somethin’ t’be said fer that ‘air, it’s certainly unique, like ‘e’s not scared o’ e’er bein’ caught out fer whate’er crimes it is that ‘e does, ‘cause let’s be ‘onest, look at that lad, an’ if ye told me that ‘e were a simple baker or somethin’ that abides by th’law, I’d almost be tempted t’fire ye out o’ a bleedin’ cannon fer yer sheer thickness. Lad looks like a lot o’ fun, if not terrifyin’.” 

What they’d do if they were locked in a closet together for 4 hours : “See, now that’s a difficult one, ‘alf o’ it’d be likely spent decidin’ on whether or not t’be e’er so slightly disconcerted by th’fact yer locked in there with ‘im,a n’ th’rest would be employin’ my e’er-boundless charisma t’ensure I’ve a new, if not frightenin’, friend. Now, I’d say that’s by far more o’ a good thing’n a bad thing, ye know?”

Overall opinion : “Nothin’ says ‘I like playin’ with knives in th’bedroom’ more’n this lad’s look... I ain’t knockin’ that, by th’by. I can’t say good lookin’ lad ‘cause this one certainly does not look like ‘e’d ‘preciate bein’ called ‘good’... So let’s say... Attractively scary... Also, Keeper lads always tend t’look good.”

Rating : “Seven, only ‘cause scary’s not exactly my type, an’ ye know, I like ‘em pretty. Still, seven’s only three away from ten! Don’t be so surprised I can count. Bleedin’ ‘ells.”

[ Thanks for the ask! It’s greatly appreciated! ]

[greekceltic]

OKAY. I've been chatting with Thema about Jacky and what she is. Her species has gone through several iterations, and I lost interest in settling a long time ago. I haven't even thought of a name I like.

So, I'm not going to bother. I'm just gonna let it be a mystery, because I really think that's what I want anyway. (And if later I change my mind, I still have forever to decide).

Gale tells her she's a 'cousin', and that's the extent of his knowledge. It's just a catch all word for something that's related to faerie folk. A distant member of the family. (Faeries are often called cousins in mythology, so I think this works pretty good!)

That brings me to the next thing. That makes Jacky a fae. Now I'm gonna go off on a tangent about Hellboy.

Hellboy is the only comic I read more than a couple of issues of. I ate them up. It continues to be one of my favorite stories. And I love the way Hellboy approached mythology. He would walk into the otherplaces of the world without trying, and the folktales were often in raw, nonsensical form. There were rarely doors and there didn't seem to be boundaries, either. I could never tell if the fairy tale pockets were super imposed over reality or a neighbor to it or what.

My favorite thing is that's literally how a lot of mythology works. Walk by a funky stone. Turn a corner. Follow a river too far. BAM, a guy trips into another land. Hellboy did it uniquely beautifully, but it wasn't unique to that world.

That said, I would love to do something like that with Jacky.

If she's fae, then she's going to be wandering into fae places. She's also gonna be a lot harder to find. Add a Cat's Eye and her natural ability to dash and climb, and you've got what I've always wanted. A jacky that is impossible to catch unless you are very good at what you do.

Funnily, I've just made my Rp life harder.

XD She's very frustrating to play. I tend to want to ping her off of big meaty male characters like Alf, but that's a hard to find type! (Seriously, am I the only person playing them?) Doubly hard to find if you’re not interested in smut. Finding a creatively written, flirtatious but safe for work gal+monster guy game is pretty ding dang impossible. Jacky also won't stay in a scene. Forming any kind of friendship with her is difficult. As soon as the person she's talking to turns their head- she will Batman out a window. Now she has more places to disappear to and more reasons to go there. Anyway, it’s 4:30 am and this post got long.

[nemossubmarine]

DA RP Write-up #16.4

So only 5 days after the session and two days before the next one, I present you the write-up for session 4: We’re finally finally finally at the party. Oh my goodness, it took us only four sessions to get this party started.

But first, as usual, B-team. They have arrived at the bottom of the jail house of the White Spire. There appears to be no way to get to the level above them, so they’ll have to climb.

Merle tries first, but throws poorly. Nadifa throws better, but her climbing is very slow. Charles has no problems. Reta’s problems mostly relate to her not seeing in the dark.

Kanuuna is a bigger problem, as he can’t climb a rope very well, having only one arm. Our heroes try to pull him up first, but it is too noisy of a project so that gets abandoned.

Luckily they find a ladder they can throw down for him. Before leaving, Kanuuna hides the hole they made in the wall with a sheet.

They start ascending the stairs towards the top of the structure, when Nadifa suddenly senses something behind her. Spinning around, she catches a glimpse of a shadow.

She informs the others and they hide in the cells. Unfortunately Nadifa, Kanuuna and Reta also accidentally lock theirs in the process.

Suddenly Kanuuna notices a boy of maybe 14 years in his cells, who whispers to him that they “are looking for something”.

Kanuuna tries to grab the boy to shush him up, but the boy disappears in the puff of smoke.

The boy appears to Reta next, telling that he wants to help. Reta tries to punch him.

Third the boy appears to Nadifa, who doesn’t attack the boy and the boy even waits for her to speak before being all cryptic. 

Nadifa asks if he could help her get out of the jail cell, which he does, walking through the cell door and it swings open behind him, letting her out.

They all gather outside the jail cells to marvel at the boy, who tells that his name is Cole. 

Kanuuna is very adamant that they should not take the boy with him, because clearly he is some sort of demon-ghost-thing.

Merle disagrees, saying that if the boy can walk through walls and stuff, he would be very helpful.

Kanuuna tries to prove that Cole is a ghost by touching him, but he is fleshy at that point.

He also tries to end all magic in the room, but Cole seems unaffected. The magical lights do go out for a bit.

Cole’s not very helpful about explaining his own nature, bursting out in cryptic tangents that seem to be half of the time thoughts of someone else than him.

In the end Cole starts leading them up to the exit of the jail, though Kanuuna and Reta are still going to drop the boy as soon as they can.

On the fourth floor of the jail structure there’s a mage in one of the cells slumped over. One of them notices that the mage is very dead.

They question Cole who says that he was helping the mage.

Reta quite firmly orders him to go away, so he disappears, and...

No one but Charles remembers anything odd happening on the way up the jail.

Charles asks if no one else saw any figure there just now, but Kanuuna orders him to drop it.

They get to the door, Reta engineers the hinges off it and Kanuuna lifts the thing away.

Thus our B-team has made it out of the jails and into the hallway, which is where we’ll pick up with them the next time.

Before we can get to the party with the A-team, we have to sort out their inventories as they are unable to take with them all the things they might need for the mission.

Most of them take pretty understandable stuff, like lockpicks and writing utensils but both Randy and Humbert go the extra mile to take some form of poison with them (for knocking out and hallucinations respectively).

Randy also gets some Stones of Farspeech (those aren’t what they are called in DA, but anyway) from Kivi-Jaakko on loan, they might not work perfectly but will have to do.

Finally, for the last time, it’s the day of the party. Alf spends some time locating the three elves he considers best suspects to be his mothers. 

He finds Rebecca cleaning up the ceremonial armor of her master, Michael Vael. After she is done, he strikes up a conversation, asking about whether she’s ever been to Kirkwall.

She reminiscences about visiting the city once, but it doesn’t seem to Alf that she is lying, so she must not be the one.

Meanwhile, before party has started, Humbert has checked out the arriving mages. Indeed Nesta, Boshara’s mother, is among them, the only elf to attend. There’s also several of Humbert’s templar friends in the group and, to Humbert’s great surprise, Nathaniel Howe, in templar apprentice’s garb.

Now, last time our heroes met Nathaniel (here) he was drugged and sent, uh, erotic dreams about Humbert by Elspet (not that Humbert would know that), so it’s almost certain he would not recognize them. Maybe. Hopefully. Best steer clear anyway.

Boshara arrives with the clan Pomdeter. Hannah instructs her to look after Amanda, so they go together to check out the other people doing their deputs at the party.

Much to Boshara’s chagrin, they are all between 15 and 17, total kids to her.

Amanda however is in the right age range, so Boshara asks what kind of man she would want and then promises her they’ll get her the hottest dude of the group by the end of the evening.

Elspet also arrives with Isabella and her parents. They head to the main dance hall immediately to see as the most important guests are introduced to the party.

Maric and Randy are on the road. They chat about Orlesian politics, and Maric tries to teach Randy the ways of the Game, though he admits not being very good at it.

Randy offers to go ahead so they wouldn’t arrive at the same time, as it would look politically charged. Maric agrees to this, and asks him to spare him a dance.

Before getting to Halamshiral, Randy pulls Carla aside and asks if she could maybe stay in guard at a road. She happily agrees. Too happily, so Randy changes his mind and makes her wait with Darian at the stables. She also agrees to this.

When they arrive to Halamshiral, Randy is greeted by his own personal Orlesian assistant for the evening, by the name of Anton. He arranges someone to take the gift bronto off to the backyard and takes Randy to his introduction.

So it’s introducing time. First up, there’s of course the empress, in her beautiful butterfly dress. After her there’s several Orlesian nobles such as Grandduke Gaspard and Dukes Prosper du Montford and Bastien de Ghislain, latter who is with his mistress, the mage Vivienne de Fer.

Orlesians are followed by Michael Vael, the eldest son of Starkhaven’s prince.

Then introduced are Duke Edmund Pentaghast, Duchess Katerine Holzer and the two Mortalitasi with them Oswald Glas and Salome Holzknecht.

Then there is Randy and his whole shebang of dwarves. Celene welcomes them to her party, expressing her happiness to have them here. Randy gives the jewelry to her as a present and then asks her to go the balcony.

She does and sees the bronto Randy has brought her. Celene expresses gratitude.

Finally, it’s the introduction of Maric. But before he enters, the templars push poor Nathaniel Howe to their frontlines, so when Maric arrives, everyone is looking at the disgraced arl’s son instead of him. Nathaniel Howe is clearly mortified and ashamed.

Maric keeps his composure. Which might be good? Idk, the Game is confusing. 

Once introductions are over and done with, the party can truly begin. Randy has his people go find everyone and report to them.

Elspet wastes no time trying to get to the Empress’ good graces, she gets a servant’s attention and hands to her a perfume bottle as a present to the Empress called the Empress’ Tears. 

The servant can make no promises that the bottle will reach the Empress, but she can certainly try.

Boshara and Amanda go find that hottest boy in the party, and introduce themselves. Well Boshara does most of the talking.

His name is Auguste and he is really quite handsome.

Before they can talk too long, a handsome mysterious dwarf arrives at the scene, posits himself between Auguste and Boshara and introduces himself as Attravius.

Boshara and Attravius start flirting up a storm, exchanging corny lines back and forth like their life depended on it.

Attravius presents Boshara with an enchanted dagger, which confuses Amanda greatly.

Finally these two decide to go for a walk, and thus Boshara leaves Amanda with Auguste.

Humbert keeps an eye on the room where the mages are kept. Bert reports to him, and Humbert totally chews the poor boy out. :(

Alf receives one of the stones of farspeech from Jasinto and instructions to call as soon as he knows something about who the contractor of Edmund’s murder might be. (Jasinto has the other stone, so Randy won’t have to disappear suddenly.

Alf goes off to search for Astrid. He figures she might still be at the room where the Nevarran group is staying, so he sneaks there. Unfortunately the door to the room is locked, so he busies himself with picking the lock.

Elspet leaves Isabella to do some information gathering. She sets her eyes on Michael Vael and manages through a complicated set of eyebrow wiggles to charm him away from his friends.

So he takes her for a walk. Unfortunately for poor lil’ lesbian Elspet, Vael is a rather boring fellow. She does however determine he is probably not the one who ordered Edmund’s killing.

She asks him about rumors relating to some Orlesian lady marrying Edmund’s son, and Vael confirms that an Orlesian chevalier by the name of Estelle Perrault had indeed tried to get Kasimir Pentaghast-Holzer’s hand in marriage, which Edmund had stopped.

Elspet gives this information to one of Randy’s dwarves, perhaps Estelle might be in the party as well.

Elspet asks Vael, if he might be able to arrange a meeting with the Empress for her. Vael says he was about to give Empress her birthday gift anyway, so they might as well go together.

Meanwhile, Randy decides that best way to get information on Estelle might be to talk with the commander of the chevalier, Grandduke Gaspard.

He finds Gaspard alone leaning on a wall, drinking straight whiskey and strikes up a conversation.

Gaspard pretty quickly makes known his disdain for the Game, so at least for that part he is easier to deal with than many, but he does seem a bit of a douche really.

They discuss some cultural differences and Gaspard notes that he appreciates both Randy’s and Marjaleena’s outfit, which are armor. 

Randy asks if there might be some lady warriors in the chevaliers, as female warriors are uncommon in Orzammar.

Instead of answering that particular question, Gaspard catches sight of Katerine Holzer and says that if Randy so wishes, he could meet Katerine and join in on a little bet they are having.

Randy agrees.

Boshara and Attravius have located Salome, one of the Mortalitasi. Boshara strikes up a conversation with the woman, mentioning that she hasn’t heard much good about the Mortalitasi, but she is interested in finding out more.

Salome is very brief in her answers, never giving more than exactly what was asked for.

Unfortunately for Boshara, Humbert joins the conversation, and starts being snide and rude at Salome, who seems rather unfazed, though she does say she shall report on the guard’s behavior, which Boshara tries to discourage.

Boshara asks about the incident with the Holzer family crypt, the one where Konstantine supposedly called a demon into the body of his late father Nicholas.

Salome tells the story, saying that weak families have weak crypts.

It’s clear she holds no torch to the Holzer family, but towards the Pentaghasts she seems respectful.

She finally has had enough of Humbert’s comments and leaves the conversation.

Boshara berates Humbert on acting out and Humbert berates Boshara on having time to neck with a dwarf.

Alf cracks open the lock to the door of the guest room. Inside there is Astrid, who comments that Alf has strayed really far.

Alf claims that he got distracted by a crow who let him here.

Fed up with word games and asking in a roundabout manner, Alf pulls out the necklace Sen left him, that he had said belonged to his mother.

Astrid asks where he got the necklace, Alf says that he got it from Sen.

There is a long silence. And then Astrid says: “Alf?” and Alf says “Mom.”

DUNDUNDUU! There has been an established contact to one of the moms. But will Alf be able to pull out of his Crow mother who wants Edmund Pentaghast dead? Will our heroes be able to stop the assassination? And most importantly, will Elspet meet the Empress?? All this and more next episode, which is day after tomorrow!

[the-alfreton]

When you can’t sleep, that’s because your brain is trying to matchmake for dreams and can’t find a game

[thoregil]

2019 A Jazz Odyssey! – Musikk og samspill i stjerneklasse(!) med 2. klasse på jazzlinja NTNU.

Mona Krogstad – Saxofoner Alexander Dellerhagen – Saxofoner Iver Christopher Cardas – Gitar Peder Overvik Stuberg – Gitar Amund Totland – Gitar Joakim Rainer Petersen – Tangenter Petter Dalane – Tangenter Andreas Svabø – Bass Alf Høines – Bass Rino Sivathas – Trommer Martin Mellem – Trommer Elias Tafjord – Trommer

  #gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

2019-04-06 2019 A Jazz Odyssey! – Dokkhuset 2019 A Jazz Odyssey! – Musikk og samspill i stjerneklasse(!) med 2. klasse på jazzlinja NTNU.

[chenford24-7]

I tried to watch it but ditched it. When alfie gets asked something he doesnt even answer it based around the Q he goes off on a tangent. And i heard all of it before. I wish he would get to the point. Im like ummm alf do u even remember the question luv

Yeah I figured he'd probably get stumped on some stuff and do that. Hell I applaud him for even doing it though. Brian and that other guy are intimidating. Lol

[the-alfreton]

Some gambit affirmations for when you want to play destiny 2′s best pvpve mode with an npc voiced by Todd Haberkorn

I’m so sorry

[the-alfreton]

Oh man, I love playing Destiny!

This user logged on, spent 30 minutes messing with shaders and transmog, realised he preferred his original look, and then logged off

[the-alfreton]

Just got the best ad I’ve seen on here in a while

[the-alfreton]

GUYS

GOOGLE ‘SPLATOON’ ON YOUR COMPUTER AND CLICK ON THE PAINT SPLOTCHES

YOU’LL THANK ME LATER I PROMISE