#amd open source

[theood]

Also re my "being trans isn't a death sentence" post, I'd rather answer the same 10 awkwardly asked questions about "what's it like? Like, being trans?" than the alternative where I groan and roll my eyes and just stay in a circle jerk of negativity posting about how it's so hard being trans and the only day I'll know peace is when I'm dead

[tomandgeriatric]

Trying to explain my childhood is a fuckin mess. So much was going on lmfao. And I remember most of it but goddamn it's just all over the place.

[secondaryartifacts]

[potatoqueenpal]

Yall I'm SO SORRY for dipping on you I have no ideas and I'm still fighting to get my avior fic back.

Have filler till I think of more angst

I present to you: Shaw Pack and Mates: Incorrect quotes

Sam, filling out legal paperwork: Were you guys born AMAB or AFAB?

Sweetheart : Bold of you to assume I was born at all.

Baabe: I personally was created in a lab.

Angel: I just straight up spawned.

Sam: We call that a traumatic experience.

Sam, turning to Baabe: Not a "bruh moment".

Sam, turning to Angel: Not "sadge".

Sam, turning to Sweetheart : And DEFINITELY not an "oof LMAO".

Asher: Knock, knock.

Baabe: Who's there?

Asher: Boo!

Baabe: Boo who?

Asher: Why are you crying?

Baabe: I'm not crying.

Asher: Hello notcrying, I'm Asher.

Milo: Angel, you look deep in thought. What’s wrong?

Angel: Did you know you can look at any object and know what it’s like to lick it? Even if you’ve never touched it before?

Milo: I’m never asking you anything ever again.

David: There's nothing worse than people using big words they don't understand.

Milo: I photosynthesize with this.

Sweetheart: I’m this close to falling in love with Milo.

Asher: Your fingertips are touching.

Sweetheart: Exactly.

Asher, spraying a melted cutting board with a tiny water gun: We gotta cool this bitch down. Cool it down.

Sweetheart : I actually just put the cutting board in the oven...

Baabe, visibly confused: Okay, so they decided to put the cutting board in the oven?

Asher, spraying Sweetheart : You FUCKING DUMBASS!

Sweetheart : Dude, I forgot-

Asher: OH MY FUCKING GOD! We're trying to make Chicken Alfredo right now, and you fucking MELT the cutting board in the oven at 400 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!?

Sam: *Watching in complete confusion while trying to process this whole situation.*

Asher: In your opinion, what is the height of stupidity?

David, turning to Darlin': How tall are you?

Angel: Sam said its my turn with the brain cell.

Asher: Square up.

Sam: And what do we say when someone refuses your offer?

Sweetheart : Suck it, boomer!

Sam: I don't know who "Boomer" is, but no.

Asher: *spits mouthful of blood onto floor* You’ve become far more powerful since we last crossed paths.

Dentist: Please stop, there’s literally a sink right next to you.

Baabe: I think my guardian angel drinks.

David: How did none of you hear what I just said?!

Milo: I've been zoned out for the past two and a half hours.

Asher: I got distracted halfway through.

Darlin': Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

Asher: Consider the fundraising over! Your hero has arrived!

Sam: Uhh… where did you get so much money from, Asher?

Asher: Well, you know, I’m pretty good at numbers. I just crunched them, I stretched them, I analyzed my accounts, I timed the market-

*police sirens start to wail in the background*

Sam: DID YOU ROB A BANK?!

Asher: Oh, come on, Sam, do you really think so little of me? *opens the bag as purple dye explodes on their face*

Sam:

Asher: …it was a credit union.

Angel: Tell them to eat shit, David.

David: Tell them yourself.

Angel: Eat shit, asshole. Fall of your horse.

Milo, gardening: Hey, can you bring me the hoe?

Darlin': Yeah, sure.

*A few minutes later*

Darlin': Here you go.

Milo:

Darlin':

Baabe: Why am I here?

Angel: Guess what I'm about to get!

David: On my nerves.

Sweetheart : That's a nice arguement, Milo Why don't you back it up with a source?

Milo: My source is that I made it the fuck up!

Sam: Aww, what's your cat's name?

Milo: Aggro.

Sam, yelling to Baabe: TRY AGGRO!

Baabe, on the computer: DIDN'T WORK!

Milo:

Sam: What's your favorite number?

Angel: I’m so jetlagged I can’t even regrender my chorf.

*Everyone stares at Angel*

Angel: I don’t even know what I was trying to say.

Angel: I've connected the two dots.

David: You didn't connect shit.

Angel: I've connected them.

And now, wholesome (amd flirty) ship incoreect quotes:

｡･ﾟﾟ･　　･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･　　･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･　　･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･

David : Do you want to explain the text you sent me last night?

Angel: It was autocorrect.

David : Autocorrect wrote "You're so hot. Please step on me."?

Angel: Yes.

Angel: You are the love of my life and I would do anything within reason to make you happy.

David : I would be happy if you ate, stayed hydrated and got a reasonable amount of sleep.

Angel: I said within reason, David . How about I murder that guy?

David : So murder is in reason but proper self care isn't?

Angel: Well, duh. What kind of question is that?

Angel: Hey, wanna take a shower with me?

David : I have a gun on that nightstand beside the bed. If I ever say no to that question, I want you to take it out and shoot me because I’ve obviously gone crazy.

Angel: There are 20 letters in the alphabet, right?

David : Nope, there's 26.

Angel: Ah, I must have forgotten U, R, A, Q, T.

David : Aww, that's cute, but you're still missing one.

Angel: So give me the D.

Angel: Hey, I’m getting in the shower. Wanna help me out?

David : ...Have you never taken a shower before?

David, sweating: Angel, there’s something I need to ask you-

Angel: Finally! You’re proposing!

David: How’d you know?

Angel: David, you’ve dropped the ring five times during dinner.

Angel: I even picked it up once.

David: I want to kiss you.

Angel, not paying attention: What?

David: I said if you die, I wont miss you.

Baabe: I’ve been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response.

Asher: Wow. They sound stupid.

Baabe: But they’re not. They’re really smart actually. Just dense.

Asher: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!”

Baabe: I guess you’re right. Hey Asher, I love you.

Asher: See! Just say that!

Baabe: Holy fucking shit.

Asher: If that flies over their head then, sorry Baabe, but they're too dumb for you.

Baabe: Asher.

Baabe: You know my motto: carpe diem, carpe noctem, carpe coles.

Asher: Seize the day, seize the night, what’s the last one?

Baabe: Seize the dick.

Asher: We have a problem.

Baabe: No, YOU have a problem. I have an idiot who keeps making them.

Baabe: I'm trash.

Asher: As someone who's environmentally conscious, it's my duty to pick you up. Does 7 work for you?

Baabe:

Baabe: You smooth motherfucker.

Baabe: And yes it does.

Asher: Sorry I’m late, I was doing things.

Baabe: Hi, I’m ‘things’.

Asher: Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos-

Baabe: I wrote you a poem.

Asher, already crying: You did?

Milo: Being gay is a constant battle between "I wish to sit on a window bench with my lover, our legs tangling as we listen to the birds" and "Hey, let's go throw rocks at fascists" and I think that's very sexy of us.

Sweetheart : If the window's open and you time it right, you can do both.

Milo: I fell—

Sweetheart : From heaven?

Milo: No, I literally fell—

Sweetheart : In love with me the moment you saw me?

Milo: MY ARM IS BROKEN!

Sweetheart : Okay, but do you think I'm pretty? Be honest.

Milo: Okay, but what if we went to dinner not as friends this time?

Sweetheart : AS ENEMIES?!

Milo:

Milo walking into the kitchen and seeing all their limes peeled: Sweetheart , I love you but, what the h-e-double FUCK.

Sweetheart , sipping coffee happily: I love you too :)

Sweetheart : I don't know how to tell you this, but... I love you.

Milo: That's great, Sweetheart . Especially considering the fact we've been together for 6 fucking years.

Sweetheart : I’m in love with you.

Milo: We called off the prank war last night at midnight, dork.

Sweetheart : I know.

Milo: Ah. Okay. Um. Cool. Neat. Very cool. Cool. Cool. Coolcoolcool-

Sweetheart: I was going to suggest we do Marilyn Monroe and JFK roleplay, but I’d get way too into it.

Milo: What- how?

Sweetheart: You’d be like “come to bed … Mr. President” and I’d be like, “I need to increase the amount of American military advisors in South Vietnam by a factor of 18.”

Milo: Wait, what's going on? Are we all talking about how hot Sweetheart is? Because Sweetheart is a straight up sexual fox riding a red-hot nuclear bombshell right toward the yowza plaza in the heart of Babe City, Assachusetts, U S A. The last A just stands for more ass.

Sam: The stars are so beautiful...

Darlin': They're just giant balls of gas.

Sam: You know what, if you're just going to ruin this, then-

Darlin': And yet none of them are as huge as my love for you.

Sam: Oh...

Darlin': Wow, Sam, you want to hold my hand before marriage? How awfully lewd of you.

Sam: We literally slept together yesterday.

Darlin': That's NOTHING compared to the lewdness of holding hands.

Sam: I love you.

Darlin', not paying attention: What was that?

Sam: I said I’m selling you to the zOo-

Darlin': Well, Sam and I finally did it!

The rest of the squad: *gasps, shocked expressions, etc.*

Darlin': That's right... We kissed!

Darlin': What are you in the mood for?

Sam: World domination.

Darlin': That's a bit ambitious.

Sam: You are my world.

Darlin': Aww...

Sam:

Darlin':

Sam:

Darlin': OH.

Darlin': I have feelings for you.

Sam: Why? What's wrong with you? Are you sure you're okay?

Waiter: What would you like?

Darlin': Bring a milkshake with two straws.

Sam: *blushes*

Darlin': *puts both straws in their mouth* Watch how fast I can drink this!!

Darlin': You got a date yet Sam?

Sam: No...

Darlin': Well you do now! Get your ass up and hold my hand!

Darlin': Are we fighting or flirting?

Sam: I'm pinning you against a wall with my hand around your neck-

Darlin': Your point?

Darlin': I don't need to go to bed. I'm not tired, I'll be fine.

Sam: But, darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again.

Darlin': O-oh. Well. Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns??

Sam: Is it working?

Sam: We should get you to a doctor for a check up immediately. What if it happens again, and there isn’t anyone around to help you? What if it’s congenital? Oh my God! Was it me? Did I hurt you?

Darlin': …You realize any other person that made their partner pass out in bed would simply feel really proud of themselves, right?

Sam: Since we're in a relationship now, your clothes are my clothes too. Don't ask me why I have your shirt on, this is our shirt.

Darlin': Fine, but when I come strutting in with your fuzzy socks I don't want to hear shit.

Darlin': Come to dinner tonight. I can’t cook, but I’ll bring plenty of free wine.

Sam: Marry me.

Darlin': This date is boring!

Sam: This isn't a date. I said I was going to the store.

Darlin': Then why did you invite me?

Sam: I didnt, I specifically said "don't come with me," then you said, "fuck you Sam I'll do whatever I want!

(This is long as fuuuuck and took me a good hour, but it was fun)

[adventuringblind]

Flowers in your throat

Lando Norris x Reader x Oscar Piastri

Genre: Angst

Summary: the problems of unrequited love

Warnings: hanahaki disease, blood, coughing

Notes: idk what this is... Does anybody wanna spam my inbox with things to write over break? Logan is on the list, but I'm blanking on ideas for the boy T_T

Masterlist

Flowers. Beautiful things that each have their own meanings. One that even color plays into.

Beautiful amd deadly things, these Flowers. She can't even stomache the sight of them anymore. Not when they are the source of her current misery.

A misery she has yet to understand. Is one not enough for her? Will Lando hate her for loving more then just him? Is she really that greedy?

Her driving had suffered because of her lack of focus. She's coughing over the radio now and her engineer has started to notice. Her trainer even more so with how sick she looks.

She doesn't want Lando to find her like this. Maybe she doesn't even like Oscar and this is because of the loving looks and gentle touch he's been sharing with her boyfriend. Is she jealous? In a way yes, but she wants that from both of them. She coughs up another petal at the thought.

Hopefully Lando isn't awake. She'd been on the floor of the Hilton bathroom for at least an hour now. Her mind running through all her options. How she might be able to fix this.

Death is the easiest option in the long run. The surgery would hurt Lando as she would struggle with any kind of love afterwards. Oscar loving her back is another, but again, how would Lando react?

She'd yet to even open up to him about the idea of polyamoury. To scared from past encounters and getting hurt. Easier just to ignore anything else. The words of her last partner rings through her ears. 'It's either one or the other' but never both. How can she have such a love for two people to the point it's killing her?

The door creaks open. She panics and tries to hide from Lando's worried gaze. He still ends up on the floor with her.

"Please talk to me."

"I can't. You're going to leave me."

"Whatever this is, we'll figure it out, okay? But we can't even begin to work on it if I have no idea what's going on." And he's right. For as chaotic as he is, Lando has always wanted to work through things together.

"I'm not - well - before I start I should say I love you dearly with every fiber of my being."

"Is this a break up?"

"No!" She shouts a little to loudly and quickly. Lando looks a bit startled but calms we he sees just how panicked she is. "I don't want us to break up - I just know that you won't want me anymore."

The thoughts of Lando leaving her flood her mind. Having to watch him and Oscar be teammates while she watches from afar. Her body wracks with coughs again as another petal comes up, pretty but splatters in red.

"Is that-?"

"Hanahaki, unrequited love."

"But I do love you so then..." He takes a moments to process. "It's not me is it?"

"My parents always told me my heart was to big." She inhales shakily. "It's Oscar."

"Since when? How long do we have before-" He doesn't finish the sentence.

"A have a few months left maximum. I'm already two months in."

"Silverstone."

"I'd already been fond of him before that but watching the two of you smile together like that." Tears slip past her eyes as she tries to stop the burning in her chest. "I'm so sorry and I understand if you leave. It's not like you signed up for this."

"I'm not leaving you. I don't care who else you love as long as I'm here with you. Plus, it's Oscar, I'd be lying if I said I don't have any feelings for him." Lando Admits with a shrug.

"Really?"

"I know you love me, too much, probably. If this is what loving you means then I'll be here every damn step."

She throws herself into Lando's arms, curling into the warmth of his body. And for the first time on two months, she cries in relief.

~~~~~

On the other side of things, Oscar isn't fairing any better. The constant scratch of his throat has started in August. Over the summer break when he had to bare witness to Lando and his girlfriends pictures.

He couldn't tell who he was more jealous of, or if he was jealous at all. Both, he was jealous of both because he wants to be with both of them. It's illogical, he thinks, that he should want two partners so desperately. They are committed to each other, why would they want him as well?

Lando is once again on the podium his female counterpart part there to congratulate him. Eyes shining as they smile at each other. The itch in his throat is to much. It burns in his chest as his lungs try to fight for air.

He runs back to the garage after getting weighed. Just in time to collapse onto the floor of his driver's room. Petals fall from his lips. Beautiful and soaking in red fluid.

He's still struggling to breathe when his door flys open. Logan amd Liam swim in his vision and ears. They drag him off the floor and get him upright again.

They clean him op and sit with him until Kim comes to get him for debrief. The older male looks horribly concerned. Lando also looks at him with something he can't pinpoint while sitting through the meeting. It's enough to make his chest burn again just knowing Lando is even looking at him.

Logan and Liam come knocking at his door that night. They want answers and rightfully so. He tells them, coughing on the bathroom floor while doing so.

"Have you talked to them?"

"No, why would they want me Lo?"

Liam hands him more water and pratically forces him to drink it. "Have you seen the way they look at you?"

And no, he hasn't, only how people say he himself looks helplessly in love.

How would they look at him now? In disgust? Maybe pity?

Shame he may never find out.

~~~~~

Another hard race. Las Vegas had messed them all up in some way shape or form. She couldn't breathe knowing Lando had crashed to hard. She coughed an entire petal up during the yellow flags just thinking about how he must be feeling.

She's been coughing up whole flowers recently. Tonight was no exception. Lando, despite being on heavy painkillers, was desperately trying to help her through a few larger ones.

She was barely eating anymore. Couldn't breathe. Her teammate had even noticed the drastic change in her appearance. Max and Christian had both been on her case. Third seemed so far away now as Lando tries to get water down her throat.

"I don't want you to die."

"And I don't want to live without love."

Lando manages to pull himself off the floor to answer the door. Mumbling about how it's probably Jon making sure he's alright.

She can hear the familiar voices of Oscar and Logan through the thin walls.

Oscar sounds rough. She blames it on the long race he had. He'd looked so tired coming out of the car, hands running through his hair.

Her lungs burn again. It's more so this time. Her entire body is on fire. She can't even cough properly and wails as she has to pull out whatever is in her throat.

A stem. One with thorns.

Lando is frantically pleading with Oscar and Logan for something. Oscar is also coughing. Enough that is worsens her own.

She coughs again. Another stem feels like it's tearing her open from the inside. She wails at the stinging pain. Panic overcomes her as it seems to never end.

The door swings open. Lando and Logan drag in a coughing Oscar.

He's in the same boat as her. He's been suffering this whole time.

"Logan who is it?! Please, I need to know." Lando is begging now. The sight of what's happening can't be helping his nerves.

"It's you two, both of you I think. He didn't say exactly."

She tunes out anything else. It's them. He is feeling this because of them. She coughs up the rest of the stem and the burning starts to fade.

But then the exhaustion hits. She wants to tell Oscar everything. Enough so he doesn't have to cough up thorns like herself.

She passes out before she can.

~~~~~

Oscar wakes up in bed. One that definitely isn't his own. He tries to sit up, but his body is depleted still. Noticeably, his lungs feel lighter then they have in months. The ache in his chest has lessened, but his love for the two is still there. If this isn't the work of a surgery then-

He sits up frantically, searching for something. Someone, more like. A hand on his shoulder pushes him back down.

"Relax, we're still here." It's Lando and his partner is on the other side of Oscar. She's dead asleep and rightfully so after what he witnessed her cough up.

"Where's Logan?"

"Asleep on the couch. He didn't want to leave you."

"And you - do you and her - are we?" His words are broken. He can't think properly.

"Caught feeling a while ago, mate. Her before I realized myself. She loves hard, enough to cough up flowers, apparently." Lando crawls into the space between Oscar and the female. Oscar, in his sleepy haze, latches onto Lando. He feels better being apart of whatever cuddle pile this is.

He falls back to sleep so easily. Only to be woken up later by a few frantic coughs. Lando is immediately trying to get the female out of bed and to the sink. She claims she's fine and it's confirmed by the lack of petals.

"It's from what the thorns did." Her voice sounds wrecked. Oscar tries to get up to help only to be pushed back again by Logan. Curse his exhaustion.

The American gets everyone water. Oscar is grateful for it as it soothes his still sore throat.

"So does this mean you three are going to be together then?" Logan raises an eyebrow.

"If either of them say no after this, I'm throwing hands. After the hell they've put me through I will force them to cuddle if need be."

[artificial-ascension]

Reading through the wolrds surely most accurate source, Death Note fan wiki, I have accumulated a list of Wammys kid letters that are confirmed in some source to have an individual associated:

A- First successor of L, dead by suicide, mentioned in Death Note: Another Note

B- Beyond Birthday, number two of the first known successors behind A and a main character of Death Note: Another Note

D- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

E- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

F- Appears in the opening of L: Change The World film on a massion for L, dies via helicopter attack*

G- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

H- Sends L an email informing him of F's death in L: Change The World

I- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

J- Appears in the game L: The Prologue To Death Note, the game is unavailable in English so little is know of them, presumably a Wammys kid based on name, a separate J appears in the second episode of Death Note: A New Generation, she is not out right stated to be a Wammys kid, but she is assumed to be

K- Antagonist of L: Change The World book and film

L- If you do not know who L is why are you here, also Linda is a child who appears briefly in the manga and is responsible for the drawings of Near and Mello (I belive that is only presumed but I may be wrong, I can not remember where it was said)

M- Mello, second successor of generation four and a main antagonist of Death Note's main series and Matt, unranked member of generation four appearing as Mello's comrade in both anime amd manga

N- Near, successor of L and number one of generation four, appears in half the places L dose

P- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

Q- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

R- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film, their letter is greyed out, presumably indicating they are dead**

T- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film, their letter is greyed out, presumably indicating they are dead

V- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film, their letter is greyed out, presumably indicating they are dead

X- Alluded to in Death Note: Another Note as helping in a detective war with L

Y- Alluded to in Death Note: Another Note as helping in a detective war with L

Z- Alluded to in Death Note: Another Note as helping in a detective war with L

Unused letters- C, O, S, T, U, W***, possibly J as both instances of the usage are for individuals only presumed to be successors

Letters with known duplicates- L and M, J(?)

------

Conclusion:

1. L: Change The World introduced a shit ton of Wammys lore for apparently shits and giggles.

2. Alot less dead Wammys kids than I expected. (Only 9/24, that's only over a third. Maybe 10/24 if you count Watari.)

3. I can understand not finding a U or V, but how the hell were there no genius orphans with S or C names??

4. It is impossible for a Death Note title to not have a : in it.

------

Notes:

I got this information from the fan wiki and my brain. If it is wrong I'd like to know. I'd also love to hear of any more orphans the fan wiki or I missed.

------

*I can verify that that happened. I remember it vividly. Only known Wammys kid to die from a helicopter.

**A greyed name implies death as B's name was also greyed out. However, this also implies L could readily email B whenever he wanted, which is extremely funny.

***W is often totoed as Watari's letter. However, I am not considering him a Wammys kid but this may mean some of the letters shown do not indicate successors but rather other Wammys higher ups.

[butterflydm]

Hi! I just watched Dune pt 2 and was thinking about the Aiel-Fremen similarities amd was wondering if you had any thoughts about the comparison because I love the way you write about WOT?

Thank you!

Oh, yes! There are tons. Watching Dune Part 2 definitely reminded me of how much the Fremen and the Aiel have in common -- Jordan had said that any similarities are unintentional, which I'm guessing is true, because Jordan was very open about how much he used other sources as inspiration when he was building his world (given the premise of the world -- that time is a wheel and everything that happened in our world also happened in WoT, it makes a lot of sense that he would do that -- Dune is also set in the far-future of our own world as well, so they share that root in common too).

From what I've read in various places, it's more that Herbert and Jordan were drawing on some of the same real-life sets of historical societies (there's a run-down here, though unfortunately it looks like the page doesn't exist anymore outside of the wayback machine) to inspire their desert warriors, which led to a lot of their similarities.

But something that's really interesting to me are the ways in which Dune being sci-fi and Wheel of Time being fantasy had an impact on the creation and the writing of the two societies. (some of my thoughts below do contain spoilers for the later books in the Dune series!)

Dune is sci-fi -- prophecies aren't real (for the most part). So the prophecy that the Fremen believe in was actually seeded by the Bene Gesserit centuries ago as a 'surprise tool to help us later' for any Bene Gesserit who might find herself in trouble on the planet.

WoT is fantasy and prophecy is very real, though not always interpreted correctly. The old Aes Sedai who tells the Aiel their prophecy for the future was very much on the level and trying to do her best to protect and save the Aiel rather than setting them up to be manipulated centuries down the road.

The Aiel (at least the leaders of the Aiel) are also very aware that they are meant to be tools in the hands of their prophesied figure and that only "a remnant of a remnant" will survive. They have been explicitly setting up their society as a tool, I would argue, by telling their people that the Three-Fold Land's purpose was to shape them to make up for their 'sin' against the Aes Sedai. So there's a self-awareness to their choices, even in the beginning. They know that their savior is also their doom and walk into it with their eyes open.

This is also a big difference in Paul himself and Rand, in that Paul is a manufactured savior and Rand is a real one -- a large part of that lies in that Paul is a sci-fi protagonist and Rand is a fantasy one (though we could always bring up Paul's son, Leto II, who becomes monstrous in order to try to save humanity from an existential threat).

Paul is a critique of the white savior trope -- he is a complete outsider to Fremen society, takes them over using lies that exploit their religious beliefs, and uses them to further his own agenda, destroying them in the process.

Rand is half-Aiel, so that makes him more akin to Paul's children with Chani than to Paul himself in that regard, in that he does have that blood connection to the Aiel (which lets him experience their history through the glass columns), but he wasn't raised by them, so there's that distance too.

But both Paul and Rand are very aware that they are using the Fremen-Aiel as a tool for their own plans (but again, here I loop back to the intentionality -- not only do the Aiel leaders know this all along, but Rand reveals to all of the Aiel the truth about their past, which means that they immediately fracture in a way that takes the Fremen years to begin doing), so they have that in common.

In addition to the difference between sci-fi and fantasy, we also have a big difference (in the books) in how the two sets of books examine religion. Religion is a much bigger and more explicit thing in Dune than in WoT -- Paul is able to build his following by exploiting his followers' religion to turn them into fanatics. Now we do have an example of some of Rand's followers turning into fanatics, but it's not in the Aiel but in Masema and what he does on the west coast, and the Dragonsworn are mostly not focused on, especially not in Rand's actual plotlines.

But, yeah, Paul Atreides, Rand al'Thor, (and I add Anakin Skywalker) kinda all exist in this sort of venn diagram in my head that I'm going to try to plot out:

[greatbritishsimchallenge]

Have I made a terrible decision?

So I decided to check the poly counts on all my build buy and CAS CC, after reading some posts about the issues high poly can create. I have a very good spec PC (Graphics card - AMD RX50700; CPU - AMD 3700x), but I do also experience some lag, so I figured I’d deal with high poly items and see if they are the source of the problem.

I set myself a cap of 10,000 poly count for an item (7000 if the item is tiny, like a pair of earrings or a single deco book). I chose that number fairly arbitrarily, but based on this thread which suggested EA kept their poly counts to a max of 7000.

When it came to BB, it was an EYE-OPENING experience (a basket of lemons at 65000 poly count? Delete!), but I was happy with my 10,000 limit and everything which fit under that.

Now I’m doing CAS CC and I’m becoming really torn because LOADS of the clothes and jewellery I use regularly are significantly over 10,000 (e.g. 24000, 32000, 45000). I have gone ahead and deleted them as it makes sense that the super high poly clothing is also likely the source of my lag (e.g. throwing a party where every sim is wearing a >20000 poly count outfit, plus another >10000 in jewellery). But - am I being unreasonable to expect historical clothing CC to be below that 10000 poly? Is there a higher poly count point that I should consider where the clothing might be worth taking the lag?   

Tagging some people I know are clever at this sort of thing and might help, but  anyone who can help me understand this thing - please do! @anachrosims @peebsplays @javitrulovesims @vintagesimstress 

[devildom-moss]

I was sitting in a car with my friend today and i showed her a picture of Barbatos amd called him Barbie. She reacted by asking if he wore a pink dress or something along the lines of that (its already starting to slip from my mind) and i remembered your requests are open,

So.

May i request Barbie meeting Barbie and Barbie making Barbie dress up as Barbie?

Thanks.

Not me suppressing a laugh at that username. That's great. I got you, and I hope you like this. Thank you for the request! And please don't think too hard about how I threw Barbie into the Devildom.

Barbatos Meeting Barbie

(SFW) (hints of Barbatos x gn!MC) (mild Solomon slander)

Word Count: +1,700

“My Lord,” Barbatos interrupted Diavolo’s attempt to work, “we seem to have an issue at hand.”

Diavolo couldn’t even be bothered to mask his delight at the distraction. “An issue?”

“Potentially. It’s easier to show you. Please come with me to the foyer to greet our unwelcomed guest.”

Diavolo followed close on Barbatos’s heels with growing anticipation. A guest might be nice – even if they weren’t invited. Anything short of an assassination attempt would be a welcomed reprieve.

When they returned to the foyer, Barbie was standing with her arms crossed in the middle of the room. Barbatos had preemptively stuck her feet – in her six-inch, bright pink heels – to the floor with magic. With all her bright clothing, Barbatos figured it was better to assume she was some sort of threat – perhaps poisonous. Barbie’s annoyance was growing.

“That’s a lot of pink, ma’am,” Diavolo remarked. He assessed her from afar. She didn’t seem to pose any magical threat to him. Something about her style reminded him vaguely of Asmo – a bold, feminine energy, and maybe something else that he couldn’t place.

“Can one of you help me? My name is Barbie.”

“Oh, that’s a lot like your name,” Diavolo whispered to Barbatos with a grin.

“As I tried to explain before I was rudely trapped,” she continued, “Solomon sent me here to give his friend, also named Barbie, a makeover.”

Diavolo couldn’t contain his laughter. She must be under the impression that Barbatos was also named “Barbie.” His shoulders shook. Annoyed, Barbatos flicked the back of Diavolo’s calf with his tail, which only amused Diavolo further. However, the glare from Barbatos’s eyes that undermined the gentle smile on his face terrified Diavolo. He stilled himself and responded to a very confused Barbie. “Pardon me. I didn’t expect that to be your reason for coming.”

“I tried to tell that one earlier.” She motioned towards Barbatos.

“My apologies,” he spoke more towards Diavolo than he did to the woman he trapped, “but when the name ‘Solomon’ left her lips, I stopped listening.”

“Understood,” Diavolo and Barbie responded at the same time, shocking everyone in the room.

Barbatos, determined to expedite the end of this interaction, pulled out his D.D.D. and called the source of his annoyance. Every ring deepened his anger.

Three depths later, Solomon picked up. “Hey, Barbatos. Did my friend arrive at the castle yet?”

“So, you did send her?” Barbatos sighed.

“Of course. Didn’t she say as much?”

“Why?”

“To give you a makeover.” Barbatos waited for Solomon’s explanation to continue, but it didn’t. Solomon was playing dumb, and Barbatos knew that.

“Can I decline?”

“You could, but she can’t leave until she completes her task. It was part of my deal.”

“You are pestilence, and it’s spreading.” Barbatos held a low growl back in his throat.

“If you’re angry, blame MC for bringing it up. They were watching the new Barbie movie trailer with me, and they told me they thought you would probably look pretty in a Barbie princess outfit. I was just trying to make their dream come true.”

Damn it. Barbatos softened at the mere mention of MC’s name. He sighed. “Fine.”

Barbatos immediately hung up and released the seal on Barbie. She stumbled slightly before steadying herself and fixing her skirt.

“Very well. It seems a certain silver-haired pest has forced a makeover upon me for the sake of MC.”

Diavolo mouthed “oh” and tried to stifle his smile. Barbie deduced that the demon who initially greeted her at the door was the person she was tasked with styling. With any luck, their unfortunate first impressions wouldn’t make her task too awkward. Of course he was suspicious; Solomon hadn’t mentioned her arrival – and this “Barbie” didn’t seem too fond of Solomon, either. She couldn’t really be mad at him for that. If she could just charm him out of his bad mood, things might go well.

“Should we get started, Barbie?” She asked him, tightly gripping her make-up chest by the handle. “I just need a free room with a closet and a mirror.”

Still too annoyed to bother correcting her about his name, Barbatos turned on his heels. “Follow me.”

Barbie rushed to catch up to him. He led her to the first available bedroom in silence. As they walked away, Little D. no. 2 walked down the stairs, still staring at the stranger Mr. Barbatos was escorting through the castle. He rushed to Diavolo, who was grinning and chuckling to himself.

“Who’s the blonde?” Little D. no. 2 asked.

“Barbie,” Diavolo replied with a shrug. He really should get back to his paperwork – after he finds his polaroid camera. He needed to get pictures once his butler was all dolled up.

“Will this do?” Barbatos asked, holding the door open for Barbie. She looked around and nodded with a smile. Barbatos closed the door behind him. “Good, let’s get this over with.”

“You’re not the only one who’s annoyed,” Barbie rolled her eyes and set her make-up chest on the vanity table. “I didn’t expect to be taken from my world today, but if it’s a favor for that idiot sorcerer, it’s not like I have much of a choice. Can’t we at least try to enjoy this and have fun?”

Their mutual annoyance with Solomon amused Barbatos. It made him like Barbie – at least a bit. Sure, this wasn’t how he wanted to spend the day, but if it was something MC wanted to see, he could at least try to enjoy himself.

“We can try.” Barbatos gave her his first genuine smile, and she could tell.

Barbie clapped her hands twice and rushed to the closet, eager to get started in earnest. She hadn’t styled a demon in a long time. It was exciting. With one more glance at Barbatos to assess what she was working with, Barbie began to pull a variety of clothes out from the closet – clothes that Barbatos was certain were not there before. She must possess some sort of magic – magic that Asmo would love to learn.

A short royal blue A-line dress with a Peter Pan collar, a slightly longer pastel pink dress, and a bright neon pink pantsuit were laid out on the bed.

“The hot pink one hurts my eyes,” Barbatos complained.

“Alright.” Barbie tossed the pantsuit back in the closet. Barbatos figured it must work a bit like one of his portals. “Okay, try these two on.”

Barbie gave Barbatos privacy while he changed into the royal blue dress. When he finished, she looked at him. He was pretty, but he looked uncomfortable as he smoothed down the sides of his dress. Barbie left the room while he changed into the pink dress.

“What about this one?” She asked him with a bright smile when she saw him. He looked just as lovely, but he was visibly more comfortable.

“It’s fine. What do you think?”

“You’re as pretty as a petal, Barbie. We just need to pull the outfit together.”

Barbie pulled out a matching pink bat collar and tied it around Barbatos’s neck. She took his gold chain collar pin from his demon outfit and pinned it to the pink collar. Additionally, Barbie handed him matching pink cuffs and Barbatos’s usual gloves along with white stockings and gothic pink Mary Jane platforms with gold heart rings and leather bat wings to change into. When Barbatos was fully changed, Barbie was pleased with herself.

“I haven’t seen a demon look this cute in my life,” she admitted.

“If you meet one named Asmodeus, don’t tell him that.” Barbatos informed her.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she laughed and patted the chair in front of the vanity. “Sit down. I’m going to do your hair and make-up.”

Barbatos sat down for her and obeyed her instructions politely as she worked. It had been a long time since he was last dolled up like this. Part of him was worried he would hate this. He didn’t.

They complained chatted about Solomon. Barbie had nearly finished when Barbatos summoned the courage to ask, “do you think MC will actually like how I look?”

“I’m sure this person you like is very sweet, and I don’t mean this in a mean way, but who cares what they think? I’m supposed to dress you up like me – and I think we found an outfit that suits you. The most important thing is that you like how you look. No one else’s opinion matters if you feel confident. But for the record, from one Barbie to another, you look very pretty. Want to see for yourself?” Barbie pushed Barbatos towards the full-length mirror, playfully twirling him as she did. Barbatos smoothed down his skirt and stared at his reflection.

“Oh. I do look rather cute.” He laughed to himself. “I haven’t worn this much pink in centuries, but I don’t mind it.”

“Then my work here is done.” Barbie smiled and brushed her hands together. While Barbatos was examining himself in the mirror, Barbie headed for the door.

“Wait,” Barbatos stopped her, “can’t we send you off with anything? Some quality tea perhaps? Have you tried Demonus before?”

“Oh, no. That’s not necessary. I quite enjoyed the experience,” she held up her finger to signify the qualifier: “well, once you released my feet from the floor, at least.”

“My apologies for that. I suppose it wasn’t a warm welcome.” Barbie held the door open for Barbatos as she left the room. From there, he led the way back to the entrance.

“So, are you going to meet with that special person of yours after this?” Barbie asked.

“I think I just might. Thank you for all of this.”

“No problem. Just, please tell Solomon to give me more of a warning before he does something like this again.”

“I can try, but Solomon isn’t keen on listening to others. Well, I suppose this is goodbye Barbie.”

“Bye Barbie.”

“Actually, I tend to go by Barbatos here.”

“Then bye, Barbatos.” Barbie waved as she left.

Now, all he had to do was find MC. He was filled with an unusual giddiness. I hope they’ll think I’m cute, too.

[gaystims]

Not exactly a request, but a question.

How do you get into making stimboards?, I kind of would like to try my paw/hand at it.

It's np! Stimboards look scary to make but I promise you they're fun to do.

As a disclaimer I'm on mobile rn so I can't get any PC screenshots- For posts with pictures I will direct you stimbaordboy.

-

The basics are:

You choose what you're going to base your board around

Type into the search bar "[stim type/color/ect] stim"

Find a GIF, but try and find the og post though because linking back to a stimboard isn't usually well looked at

Save the GIF and the source so you can credit

Save more GIF's

Open a post, grab the images and drag them so you can order them into a 3x3 gid (doesn't need to be 3x3 as a btw, PC let's you have up to 30 GIF's)

REMEMBER TO CREDIT ACESSIBLY, Meaning do not put the credits under a read more or say "credit to the owners" or crap like that

Order the credits via linking them on emojis, symbols, text, whatever

Have fun

-

Other tips and tricks:

Personally I would always make a stimboard on PC, on mobile I've noticed that GIF's lose their quality and look really grainy when they're looked at on PC (unsure why this happens more experimentation is needed) and it's easier to credit imo. HOWEVER I still encourage mobile users to make stimbaords. They're fun relaxing and no one really cares about this. Be yourself amd make whatever you like.

If you can't find a GIF because the op deleted there's a lot of archiving stim blogs on tumblr that can help you find the credit (stimboardboy, thegentlesourcer, deletedstimgifs, old-web-stims, stimgifarchive, stimlibrary are good blogs imo- If anyone knows of any else please lmk)

If you're just starting out with stimboard making don't jump instantly into psd making (or do. I can't stop you)

[sinsinewave]

meanwhile, in the life of a Linux user so i do a fair bit of modeling in Blender, and also game sometimes, so i need a reasonably powerful GPU well, some time ago now, i was upgrading, and found an affordable RX 6800 XT and, well, everyone had said Linux support for AMD is great unlike nvidia, so i decided to get the card to replace my aging GTX 1060 then i also have a second GPU, an RX 5700, it doesn't need to be as powerful since it's just used for occasional gaming in a windows VM and to run Krita on a Hackintosh fast forward to now, with me copying blender files to the VM to render on the RX 5700, because AMD's fabled open source Linux drivers are just fucking terrible compared to nvidia drivers, the proprietary AMD ones aren't packaged Void Linux and the open source ones don't include any of the necessary components for GPU computing like, you know, rendering 3D scenes in definitely unrelated news, if some Linux user or whatever in Finland wants to swap an equivalent Nvidia card for an RX 6800 XT, hit me up lmao

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Complete Monster Throwdown!

The show where we take two Pure Evil Monsters and make them kill each other!

This Week's Monsters...

Darkseid vs YHVH!

Conditions:

True Form Darkseid vs True Self YHVH.

Scenario:

YHVH wants to enslave the DC Multiverse. Darkseid called dibs.

Analysis: Darkseid

There came a time when the Old Gods died. When their existence culminated in bloody, glorious battle that split their world in half, leaving two halves of a planetary corpse to drift apart through space. These two halves would become the utopian New Genesis and the tyrannical Apokolips.

Uxas was born as the Prince of this new rotting world, until he absorbed the power of the infinite Omega Force and was transformed forever. What emerged was far worse than any tyrant, more than a villain and more that just a god. What Uxas became could only be described as Tyranny itself, fascism incarnate, the antithesis to life, hope, and free will. The thing that emerged was the greatest villain of the entire DC Multiverse, the ultimate evil known only as Darkseid.

Darkseid is at eternal war with the rest of existence, vying to claim every throne the DC Multiverse can offer him and erase all free will into his own. From his nemesis on New Genesis, Highfather, to the Justice League on Earth, every hero in every timeline on every planet and across every reboot knows amd fears the name Darkseid.

As the literal, physical embodiment of Evil and Fascism, Darkseid is a reality altering Juggernaut. He has continually fought and defeated the entire Justice League at once, altered matter to turn people into babies and back again, telepathically dominated entire planets full of people with Superman's powers, and telekinetically created storms with ease. Though Darkseid hardly bothers with any of that when he can simply blast you with his homing eye lasers, his Omega Beams.

Erase someone from existence? Omega Beams! Teleport someone to a different planet? Omega Beams! Send someone across time and space? Omega Beams! Get it now or eternal suffering in the slave pits of Apokolips for you! It has been explained that Darkseid's Omega Beams comes from the reality erasing Omega Force absorbed within him, erasing people into "less than nothing" before recreating them when and where Darkseid wishes as a means of teleporting you across time and space. He can erase you down to less than nothing and bring you back at will.

That's not even scratching the surface. For as much as Darkseid resembles a typical supervillain, a close examination of his powers shows he's moreso a reality breaking eldritch monstrosity. He can alter time at will, stopping and fast forwarding it, open Boom Tubes, holes on space time, with a thought, and come back from the dead in an instant simply because he's necessary for reality to keep existing. Even lesser Avatars of himself or just his weaker son Desaad pretending to be him, have performed physics breaking feats. Like that time Desaad pretending to be Darkseid punched a crack in reality in the realm of Order and Chaos.

Darkseid has shown to be an acausal being, unaffected by alterations to space time across the entire multiverse. He was unaffected by the Anti-Moniter devouring reality and Superboy Prime punching shockwaves in time, even as they reset and retconned entire timelines. Darkseid has even fought the Anti-Monitor before and has absorbed the powers of Gods so thoroughly that they've been driven mad and reduced to mindless babbling. Darkseid has consumed universes, manipulated the Source Wall itself, and speed blitzed beings like Flash and Superman, who can outrun time itself.

Darkseid can, and will, make you regret having ever been born, before showing the mercy of killing you. If you're lucky. Ir he could simply banish you to the Omega Sanctum, so you can experience death without end, each on torturously, infinitely worse than the last.

All of this is because Darkseid is something... more than just the tyrant of Apokolips. More than even just a God. Darkseid is tyranny itself across the entire multiverse, transcending reality completely.

Darkseid resides within the Sphere of the Gods, an abstract, dimensionless realm where ideas, thoughts, and dreams become reality and sentient concepts reign supreme over all reality. To vastly simplify, the main DC Multiverse contains infinite spacial dimensions within itself. This is infinitely transcended by the Bleed, which is infinitely transcended by the Speed Force, which is infinitely transcended by the Green, which is infinitely transcended by the Sphere of the Gods. Five layers of infinity.

Hell. Even by the standards of the Gods who reside at that layer, Darkseid is immeasurably powerful.

During final crisis, Darkseid was dying from exposure to Radion, an element that kills abstract concepts, and so as a final "fuck you" decided to fall on top of reality, dragging everything into a black hole where all is Darkseid. He enslaved mankind, even those completely immune to mind control like Wonder Woman, with the Anti-Life Equation, erasing free will completely. loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding × guilt × shame × failure × judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side. Life under fascism, under tyranny, under evil, under Darkseid is the complete antithesis of life as a concept.

To end this madness, the Justice League threw everything they had at him. Batman shot him with a Radion Bullet, the Flash lead the concept of Death itself right to Darkseid do it could claim his soul, and finally, Superman sang a song of Hope to shatter Darkseid's soul completely.

Even all this, in rapid succession, did not work. Darkseid's fragmented essance was sealed away, from which he managed to continue to create Avatars and Eminations, terrorizing reality even still. Darkseid has come back by putting his fractured true form back together, possessing people and devouring their souls from the inside out, simply willing himself back to life as a necessary part of reality, and creating new bodies for himself on a whim. Even sealed away within the Source Wall, beyond existence itself, Darkseid reigned in Avatars and eventually returned by manipulating Superman to free him.

Simply put, Darkseid cannot be stopped. Only fought. Only slowed. Because he's more than a simple enemy.

Darkseid is every nightmare you've ever had. He's every bad thought in your head. Every selfish impulse. Every act of cruelty. Every life taken, thing stolen, prejudice spread, and pinch of hate felt is Darkseid. Darkseid is bigotry and ignorance and fascism on a scale that simply transcends you or I. Every genocide, every war crime, every drop of bloodshed...

That is what Darkseid is.

Analysis: YHVH

The name of God. The most sacred word. The name you cannot speak. It is one of the seven sacred names of God in the Old Testament and speaking it can cause miracles to happen. To throw that name around lightly is Blasphemy. And greater Blasphemy can there be than taking that name as a badge, wearing it as a mask, and using it to justify atrocities.

The God of Law will claim that name is His. He will claim every sacred name as His. He will wear the mask of God and justify every atrocity in its name. But, deep down, in His darkest moments, when faced by Heroes He wishes to destroy with no one else around... the demon that calls Himself YHVH will admit that that is not really His name.

He is not God. And He knows it. The God of Law is simply fascism wearing the asthetics of Christianity, Judaism, and monotheistic culture as a mask, having gutted them of all culture and history to justify his atrocities.

Shin Megami Tensei's multiverse was created by humans. They observed reality, came to conclusions about its nature, and thus, that nature became true. Reality was given shape by the power of Human Observation. But, before that, humanity was created by God. The actual God. The Great Reason, or the Axiom. All Gods of all mythologies are just fragments of this one being, shaped into unique beings by the human power of Observation.

The God of Law preaches to be this being, but even he knows that is a lie. He us merely a fragment of the real deal. So, he uses God's name as a way to steal prayer. A loophole to put himself above all other gods and religions and make himself the Supreme Being. With his power now absolute, the God of Law cursed all Gods who wouldn't submit into being nothing more than lowly demons, turning Gods like Baal into demons like Beelzebub. Those that did submit, like Thor, were Christianized into his servants as enforcers of Law. Thor himself was Law's chosen pawn to manipulate mankind inti nuclear war so that the God of Law could rebuild civilization in his own name.

If you aren't getting it yet, the God of Law is, both in universe and out, the physical manifest of Abrahamic Myth as used as a justification for human atrocities. Thor as a servant of Law calls back to how heavily Christianized our records of Norse Mythology are and how much of the original myths were destroyed in its wake. The demonization of Baal calls back to the persecution of other religions under the justification of their Gods being Demons. The God of Law wears the skin of God, but with none of the actual philosophical teachings or understanding underneath.

In other words, even in universe, this guy is the ultimate embodiment of blasphemy.

Now, the only threat left to the Law faction was humanity itself. So, the God of Law sought to destroy the free will of mankind or wipe humanity out completely as need be so that humans could never observe him as anything less than omnipotent.

To that end, the God of Law is easily one of the most powerful and devastating threats in the entire SMT setting. His nature as a Demon, an abstract being only given form when a human observes him, makes all conventional laws of physics and causality completely irrelevant. Just as myths change over time and discard their prior continuity, the Gods can change on a dime according to the perceptions of mankind. He can distort space and time, create and destroy entire universes, and give life to countless angels with every breath he takes. He can seal gods away into physical mortal forms, turn humans into angels, will you into centuries of sleep, and destroy the free will of nearly every human in the world with just his song.

Among the God of Law's most devastating abilities are his Almighty attacks. A special, non-elemental effect that completely ignores any and all resistances you might have against his powers. The artifacts like the Omnipotent Orb, which warps reality as to make you immune to all forms of damage, do nothing to stop these attacks.

The God of Law typically opperates through the use of Avatars, so as to prevent exposure to pesky human Observation. These entities include Kagutsuchi, a universe destroyer who controls the flow of all human souls across all of creation. He is used to destroy worlds and make the survivors brutally war amongst themselves to create the next reality, with the hope of convincing them to create a universe with no free will in the next cycle. Or Yaldabaoth, the administrator of the Collective Unconscious whose mere presence was controlling everyone in Tokyo.

The God of Law can erase you from existence and reduce you to primordial clumps of information, curse you into a lesser demonic mockery of your real self, and banish you to the depths of Hell. He is practically unstoppable and unkillable. He has come back from his true form being ripped to shreds and reduced to nothing but mere Avatars, fought against physical embodiments of Death, and been teamed up against by eight different Godslayers at once.

Even when finally robbed of all divinity by the humans he so desperately sought to lord over, the God of Law would eventually return, effectively returning him from being erased from existence. For as long fascism and tyranny wore the skin of other cultures to justify its brutality, he would always return to enslave mankind.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

Well, this is a special occasion, folks. These two quite easily mark the most powerful and evil beings that have ever set foot on this vs show. And they are very evenly matched.

In terms of raw trading of abilities, both of these guys can honestly take a lot of what the other throws at them. While the God of Law can mess with Darkseid's concept, Darkseid has endured and come back from concept killing attacks before, while the God of Law has come back from being erased from existence completely. Existence erasure, soul manipulation, universal destruction, space and time alteration, they've both seen and done it before. As these two battle above reality in the realm of abstract concepts, their avatars would war across timelines, destroying and enslaving entire universes against each others.

So, how do we break the tie? It's time to play our favorite game....

My infinity is bigger than yours!!

We've already put Darkseid at five layers into Outerversal, so how does Mr. Blasphemy stack up?

Atziluth, the dimensionless, archetypal world where the true forms gods dwell as nothing but abstract thoughts has three Sefirot layers within it. That's three right there. The Expanse above that contains the entirety of the Tree of Life, including Atziluth as it's highest layer. And the God of Law himself transcends that, having created all of it.

That's.... five layers. Same as Darkseid.

....huh.

This is a genuine headscratcher. Existence erasure? Both can do it and both can survive it. Mind control that completely erases free will? Both have it and both basically embody that very concept. Time manipulation? Both are beyond cause and effect and are unaffected by retroactive time fuckery. Possession? Both can do it, worst case they just switch bodies. Almighty attacks? Darkseid absorbs the energy and copies the ability. Observation? Why would Darkseid think a lowly mortal human could help him kill a God? Omega Sanction? Banishment? Both of these characters are omnipresent, where could you banish them to? Darkseid is all of the evil in the world and the God of Law is one with everything because humanity believes he's one with everything thereby making it true. If the God of Law were to nerf Darkseid into a mere demon, rather than a God, Darkseid would just absorb some of the God of Law's power and bring himself back up to an equal level. That's how he became Darkseid in the first place.

These two are damn near the same character just channeled in different ways. The God of Law is fascism dressed up with scripture and jargon, while Darkseid is fascism without the mask.

This would be another of SMT's forever wars, a stalemate only broken when whatever protagonist comes along and picks a side. Darkseid would be another subfaction of law, waring with the God of Law for control, while the Justice League adds "mechanical angels" to its "villain of the month list".

Everything that these two can throw at each other, every atrocity that they have committed, and every death to their name is something that their opponent simply is.

So, where does it end? When everyone is dead.

Darkseid does not need the life beneath him to keep existing. The God of Change does. So, the answer is simple. Let their war destroy reality.

Let the blood flow. Let it drown the schools and rot the ground beneath it. Let the Darkness destroy worlds until every light in creation dies. Darkseid would simply let their bloodshed play out, allow the God of Law destroy countless of his own worlds to keep them from Darkseid's hands, and wait to see who is left standing.

When the multiverse runs empty and Law starved without worshippers to give him form, Darkseid will laugh throughout the void. The God of Law will fade away, reabsorbed into the Axiom, and the real God will create the world anew.

That's fine. Another multiverse for Darkseid to rule. Another multiverse to burn.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Darkseid!

[shinobusupremecy]

hi ELI ITS BEEN A WHILE!! HRU?? ive been doing okay and i hope u r too!! i've finally wrote shit after like. years ☹ talking to ppl kinda sucked for a bit but now i feel socializing hehe

if you dont mind just dropping a small request! just a lil drabble or hcs, whatever your prefer, shinobu with an s/o who's an absolute simp for her? like, she'd be just doing her own thing and her s/o's just have this huge love struck grin on their face... slays demons? #1 cheerleader. "omigosh she smiled at me aoi-chan :D" "you are literally her gf." ive been feeling a bit of shinobu love recently >:)

HAVE A NICE DAY, THANKS IN ADVANCE!

Shinobu x gn!simp reader

A/N: AHHHH HIIIII! I'VE BEEN DOING GOOD AND I AM GLAD YOU'RE DOING OKAY! AND STOP BY WITH A REQUEST ANYTIME, I DON'T MIND AT ALL. FNAOWAO I LOVE THIS REQUEST!

I’M SO SORRY IF THIS IS TOO LONG, I TRIED TO WRITE IT AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE

Art source

"ARGHH-!” You let out a pained yell as you felt your rib bones breaking on impact with the demons fist. Before you could retaliate the demon kicked your stomach, sending your back into a tree, head slamming against it. 

“Y/N!” You heard Shinobu yell. You tried to take quick shallow breaths, looking up at the sky to try and distract yourself from the pain. 

Suddenly you heard the demon shriek and you looked down to see Shinobu stabbing the demon several times with her sword. 

“YESS SHINOBU!-*cough* KICK HIS ASS UNTIL SUNRISE! MAKE HIM SUFFER!” Shinobu tried to suppress a smile, you were always her #1 cheerleader moments like this. It gives Shinobu such a rush. 

The demon was getting weaker, fighting with less accuracy. 

“I pity you alot, from what I’ve heard you only attack women because you never could find one when you were human. I wanted to give you a more merciful death but, I was out of stock” You heard the faint sound of liquid and you knew Shinobu was switching poison. 

You could only blink and the demon was on the ground writhing in agony, blood pooling out of the demon, pained scream turning into a choked one. You shuddered. 

You looked to your left and it seemed like Shinobu was safe, with one sigh of relief you closed your eyes, letting your tired body sleep. 

-

You suddenly heard someone sitting down, laying things beside them. You slowly opened your eyes, getting greeted with light shining down on your eyes. 

“Hello Y/N, welcome to the world of the living!” Shinobu giggled. You smiled feeling butterflies flutter in your stomach. That genuine smile she gives while the morning sun shines down on her face. She looked ethereal.

“Come on Shinobu, I couldn’t have been gone for that long” You smiled amd Shinobu just shook her head. 

“Hmm, you’ve been asleep for long enough” She said as she kissed your forehead. The butterflies fluttered more wildly in your stomach, ready to burst out any second. 

“Well at least you woke up in good timing. I brought you breakfast” You slowly rose up looking at the breakfast that stood on the table. Shinobu gave you the plate and you ate. 

You offered her some but she insisted that she already ate before she came to you. You watched her as she read a book, the sunshine still shining down on her face making her look ethereal. 

You smiled, having a lovesick grin on your face. You looked at her with hearts in your eyes. Your moment however was interuppted when Aoi nearly stormed in the room looking frustrated as ever. 

“I can’t believe Zenitsu and Inosuke! They’re causing ruckus again! I tried to stop them but they are just so impossible!” Shinobu sighed and rose up. 

“Those two” Shinobu said with an angry smile, vein popping out of her forehead. She turned back to you, her expression much kinder. “I’ll return soon to keep you company” She said, kissing your forehead and giving you a smile. 

As Shinobu walked away you looked at Aoi with sparkle in your eyes.

“omigosh she smiled at me Aoi!” You squealed, fanning your hands. 

“She’s litterally your girlfriend” Aoi replied with a deadpan expression.

Unbeknownst to you both Shinobu walked towards Inosuke’s and Zenitsu’s room, trying to stifle her laugh.

[violetlypurple]

quick q about ffxiv; are you on plain arch or an arch-based distro? gathering intel to help a friend switch to linux in a month or two & don't play mmos myself; I'd like to see about taking the non-steam version for a spin on my Garuda installation beforehand to see if it generally works well, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

either way, good tip about just using "add to steam"; hadn't considered that!

I'm on plain arch with KDE using the mesa drivers that come with the kernel for an arc 750 (which is about all we get on intel dgpus atm, I've tried the official ones included with ubuntu but I'm not convinced they're better and this is an unprompted tangent so moving on). Giving equivalency for performance is a little hard because arc gpu's are hard to pin in a hierarchy with the state of their drivers, but FFXIV locks to a steady 60fps at 1440p and hovers up around 100fps at max settings if I uncap it. This will likely change in a month when the new expac comes out, but your FFXIV-playing friend already knows that part I'm sure 🙏

On my driver tangent, someone in the reblogs made a good point about proprietary drivers and I'd amend, for the general viewing public while I'm here, that the two main cases where that will be relevant are nvidia gpu drivers and wifi adapters, since amd and intel have open source ones that most modern distros will pack in or give an option in setup for. Ubuntu and the archinstall script have those options and I thiiiink mint did too the last time I turned my nose up at it. So in most cases I would only direct a newcomer to seek out drivers if they are having an issue. Or nvidia shenanigans happen, as they are wont to do. My overall distro experience is fairly limited to ubuntu, arch, and the barest whiff of armbian, but the proprietary driver install in ubuntu's setup is dead easy and ubuntu's desktop environment comes with a shortcut that directs to the update settings for proprietary drivers. Its fantastic for terminal-shy newcomers and old "can't be bothered" people like myself.

[heartbrake-hotel]

I will say this; when it comes to Scotty, Lamar and the rest of the Memphis Mafia, always beware of what the "boys" say. I tend to take their stories with a grain of salt. According to a 2008 article,

"One would think that the various members of Elvis’ entourage, having worked and socialized closely with him for years, would be convincing sources of information. However, over the years several of the “boys” have proved themselves far from reliable when recalling their times with Elvis. Back in 1977, Red West, Sonny West, and Dave Hebler’s book, Elvis: What Happened?, was filled with bias and inaccuracies, Lamar Fike was a main conduit of misinformation for Albert Goodman’s deeply flawed 1981 Elvis biography, and Byron Raphael’s article about Elvis’ sex life in a 2005 issue of Playboy is completely spurious.

Of course, not all those close to Elvis have proved unreliable. Joe Esposito and Jerry Schilling are two who seem to have told their stories about Elvis with honesty and balance. The lesson here is that when reading these “I-was-there-books,” the reader must keep an open mind when it comes to accuracy, honesty, and bias.

In the end, I’m not suggesting we should all be cynical about everything that has been and will be written about Elvis. And I don’t think there is anything to be gained by arguing over isolated facts. However, the legacy of Elvis should be important to all of his fans. And if it takes setting the record straight once in awhile, then sign me up for the crusade."

hiya nonnie ! i'm guessing you're the same person who sent this same quote to norah about the palm springs girl a couple days ago- if so, howdy! (if not, also howdy 👋)

but yes, i think this is a really good point to make again ! (i had that post in mind when answering this ask today, lol)

it's important to remember that not just the mafia, but virtually every figure in elvis' life wrote a book or otherwise sold their story (whether marketed as a personal memoir or not) after his death - there is a tremendous wealth of information available about elvis and it is almost in its entirety anecdotal and virtually non-verifiable bc of that... only made more difficult by the fact that so much of it directly conflicts.

and of course that can be intentional (like in the case of elvis: what happened?, where explicit scandal was the selling point) or not- its been almost 50 years since elvis died, after all. its possible and even likely that information is misremembered!

i think it's a difficult but necessary task for us to wade through sources and decide who to trust, and the basis by which that trust is given varies for every fan, im sure! personally, i don't trust any of the stanleys, ever, or the wests for a significant period after his death (altho ill give more credibility to their more recent documentary appearances before their deaths). i do trust jerry and larry, and for the most part joe, george, and the smiths. scotty, marty, and lamar can go either way depending on what you're reading, etc etc turtles all the way down.

and remember, too, that none of these guys were academics! even removed a few layers from those original sources, when we're looking at further literature written by elvis historians (pietro, dundy, or nash, for example), their information traces back to someone who says something like "i remember-" or "im pretty sure-". (guralnick is the only one im willing to give a tentative pass on this front- and that's only cuz content-wise the majority of his books are about people and situations adjacent to elvis' life at the time! and that information is much more conducive to credible research. we all remember how many pages of last train to memphis is took for elvis' birth to even be covered 😅 but all of his interview-based elvis factoids fall prey to the same criticisms.)

on a primary basis, this isn't peer-reviewed amd intellectually-neutral research, it's the lives and memories of an amalgamation of people, and they can all be unreliable narrators. it's important to factor in how each one viewed elvis and which parts of him they understood, because they all loved him, but they all knew him differently.

the spirituality point is a big one here, for instance- for the, shall we say, stoner mellow types like larry and jerry, they can speak about this facet of elvis' personality very positively! but most of the rest of the mafia doesn't do that. their personal convictions color their recollections and interpretations thereof in a way that's not really about elvis at all, but about their own upbringing/values/etc.

and it's hard, too, not only objectively but emotionally, for us [junior historians? elvis enthusiasts? fans?] to acknowledge these facts, to accept that the people we want to trust most- the people elvis trusted most- aren't always very good sources and didn't always have either his best interests OR the truth in mind (whatever that may be).

when it all comes down it it, a lot of elvis lore can and should be taken with a grain of salt! so watch your cholesterol 🤭🧂