#back when we got bonuses at work i was using them to like. actually have savings

[serkonans]

student loans not forgiven chewing through my cage bars smashing things on the ground blood everywhere blood everywhere blood everywhere

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Do you want to learn about military economics and agricultural reform in the Roman republic? Of course you do! Because history is awesome.

So. You know how the Romans had "patrons" who provided money and assistance to "clients," who in turn supported their patrons politically. One of the theories about Why The Roman Republic Fell™ is that eventually whole armies eventually became "clients" of generals like Caesar and Pompey. In this view, soldiers became more loyal to their generals than to the state, because the generals were responsible for paying them, not the Senate. Gaius Marius is usually blamed for making this possible, since he opened military recruitment to the poor, not just property owners.

However! There are Problems with this theory!

The property requirement to enlist had been dropping for decades, and was mostly ignored by Marius' time anyway.

There are only two instances of a Roman army marching on Rome in the late republic, and both times, the soldiers believed they were upholding the rightful government. Sulla was the lawfully elected consul when he marched on Rome in 88 BCE, and in 49, Caesar argued that he (and the army) were defending the people's representatives from a violent faction that was interfering in free elections.

There are no known examples of a Roman army defecting to another state during this time, but they did mutiny against specific commanders. Mutinying troops quickly accepted new commanders sent by the Senate. In other words, they felt no client-like obligation to their generals, yet remained loyal to Rome itself.

There are many examples of discharged veterans waiting years at a time for their pensions from the Senate. They were clearly not trying to overthrow the state.

The idea that soldiers from poor families would be more greedy and willing to betray their country, compared to rich soldiers, is uh. Actually pretty classist. We know the Roman aristocracy was greedy as hell.

Verdict: There were no client armies. Generals had to convince soldiers both that their cause was legitimate and that the general could lead and provide for them.

What does "providing for" the troops mean?

Wages! Roman soldiers were paid barely subsistence money in 100 BCE and got no wage increase until Caesar doubled it 50 years later.

Plunder! Every ancient army did this, but the Romans had a whole system for defeating, securing, and then thoroughly stripping an area of its valuables. And its people. They enslaved a lot of folks.

Bonuses! Generals and legates got the big bucks but they'd usually hand out extra at the end of a campaign.

Last and most explosive, land grants! Because the Roman dream was apparently to own your own farm. Not to actually work it, of course, you'd use slaves for that. But you'd take the credit of being a Real Farmer anyway.

There was no better way to start a riot in the late republic than to start talking about land grants. See, the city of Rome was Fucking Huge, and 98% of its inhabitants were Poor As Fuck. Most of the legionaries were also Poor As Fuck unless they got lucky with plunder. So there was a recurring problem of what to do with all the veterans coming home, and also all the poor people struggling to feed themselves in Rome itself.

Solution: Parcel out state land for the poor. The poor folks get farms and can now happily provide for themselves (on the backs of slave labor). They're less likely to burn the Senate house down that way, right?

Problem: The rich didn't want to redistribute land. Even if it wasn't their land, they were often squatting on it unofficially. (I told you the aristocrats were greedy.) Plus, whoever was in charge of allotting the land would have a great opportunity to enrich himself and turn the new farmers into his clients.

This led to multiple Very Necessary humanitarian bills getting shot down in the Senate. The veterans and urban poor were not happy. It's likely that the defeat of one of these bills, in 63, provided some of the impetus for the Catilinarian revolt afterward.

It also became the flashpoint for Julius Caesar's consulship in 59, when he attempted to introduce a very moderate land bill, got stonewalled in the Senate for no reason other than "We don't like you," and had the bill ratified by the public assembly instead. Which was legal, but pissed the senators off, and set a hostile tone for the rest of his consulship. (Also, the bit where Caesar's friends dumped shit on his colleague's head didn't help.)

Agricultural reform didn't cause the republic to fall apart...but it widened the divide between Caesar and his enemies, which would culminate in a fight over whether he could run for office again in 50, and the civil war breaking out in 49.

(Adapted from Erich Gruen, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic, pp. 365-404.)

[obey-me-disaster]

Can the obey me brothers survive SCP-3008 (the infinite ikea, but can they even let alone survive a normal ikea /j)

These bitches definitely can't survive in a normal Ikea /j

They have a pretty good chance of surviving SCP-3008. No one is dying this time.

For those of you who want to read more about the SCP here is a link

More important question. Does Devildom has its own version of Ikea?? How would it even be called?? Devilikea? Demonkea?

The demon brothers vs SCP-3008

A/N:For those of you who don't know what SCP-3008 is. It's basically an infinite Ikea that is extremely hard to get out of. There are also monsters under the name of SCP 3008-2 which are basically humanoid monsters, which are either too short/tall with no face and long limbs that get agressive during the night.

Lucifer

He just wanted to go buy furniture to replace the one destroyed by his brothers but the store doesn't seem to end.

It doesn't take much for him to realize something is deeply wrong with the store and he tries to go find an exit.

He tries to go talk with some worker only to come face to face with SCP 3008-2. Even if the monster tries to attack him, it will be killed rather quickly.

Really, the only hard thing to do is finding the exit. The monsters tend to leave him alone as they are too scared to approach him.

I wouldn't be surprised if he started asking 'nicely' where the exit is. All in all it takes him 2 days to get out. Also before reaching the exit he also took all the furniture that he came for in the first place.

A/N: Reading all of this makes me realize that it might not be so weird if this happens in Devildom...for all we know maybe that's how stores function in there...

Mammon

He had a big idea for a new scheme but he needed to buy some thing for it to work and long story short he ended up in the infinite Ikea.

It took him a good while to notice that anything was wrong really. Even during the night, when the SCPs 3008-2 were moving he didn't think something was wrong. When the creatures would start talking to him he would run thinking they were some dept collectors.

He does finally realize what is actually happening and gets the brilliant to just take home with him as much stuff as he can then sell it on the internet. The store has infinite supplies so it's not like it will be missing some pieces of furniture.

It does take him about a week or two to get out just because he went too far into the infinite Ikea. If he had his crow familiars with him he would have been out in 3 days top.

He didn't leave with as much stuff to sell as he liked but he refuses to go back. He barges into MC's room to demand that they sleep together for a while...not because he has nightmares of that place or anything.

Leviathan

He needed a new shelf for his manga collection and it just so happened that he couldn't find it online anymore so he had to go out and buy it himself.

He was focused on finding the perfect shelf that he didn't realize that night fell and SCP 3008-2 came out and it took him a great while to figure out something was wrong.

He was avoinding them the way people avoid Solomon's cooking. The weird bodies proportions? He just thought that's what normies look like. The faces with features on them? Please, he was trying to avoid having to talk with people so badly that he didn't even look at their faces.

The only reason he figured out things was because he couldn't log into his games for his daily login. That's when panic started to set in. He spent a few hours just having a crisis and crying.

After he actually got motivated to get home he used all his experience as an admiral and the one from video games. When he stayed and thought about it, the whole situation reminded him of the 'The one time I got stuck into a supermarket full of monsters' anime.

He doesn't want to even think of all the time it took him to get out...all the lost login bonuses, all the animes he had to caught up on. His social battery was empty too. Once he got home he didn't leave his room for a month.

Satan

He needed even more shelves for his books and maybe some stuff for cats...Lucifer doesn't need to find out about the second reason tho.

He honestly noticed that something was wrong with the place pretty fast but he couldn't exactly figured out at first.

It wasn't until night came that things started to make sense and he realized what his predicament was.

He went full on detective/researcher mode. He wanted to know what those creatures were they are SCPs Satan..

He somehow stumbles across other people that have been trapped there for a while and starts questioning them about the place.

It takes 5 days to come and he brings some of the other people too with him.

With how smart he is you would think he wouldn't ask MC 'Is this how all shops in the human world are?' but he does! When MC tells him no he is both dissapointed and relieved.

Asmodeus

Went in to buy new mirrors cause the ones he has are no longer good enough for his tastes clearly not because Mammon and Levi broke them

He got distracted by all the mirrors and the possible cute furniture he could use for his room. You can never have too many fluffy pillows and soft blankets!

The only reason he notices anything is amiss is when all the lights go out. Even when SCPs 3008-2 come out to get him, he thinks those are just some of his fans that came to see him.

His charm even works on the creatures so he is really in no danger. He even makes them carry his stuff and show him the exit.

He gets out of there the fastest and even gets more stuff than he came for!

Beelzebub

Came to replace some of the furnite he ate back at the House of Lamentetion

SCP-3008 besides being an infinite Ikea also has infinite food so it takes Beel quite a while to notice that anything is wrong. Even when SCP 3008-2 tries to attack him he just eats them.

He would have been way more concerned if any of his brothers were with him but since he is alone he just chills around there. He eats until he had his fill and then goes on to take what he needs.

He accidentally stumbles across some people that have been stuck in there for a while and decides to help them get out.

Seeing Beel easily beating and eating SCP 3008-2 makes them question if they choose the right person to follow

It takes him around a week to get out but he would have been so much faster if he decided not to help anyone.

Belphegor

Goes there to buy himself new pillows, blankets, bed mattress and so on.

He tries to test which one is better and ends up falling asleep.

SCP 3008-2 kind of ignores him since it thinks he is not alive. Since he is pretty aware of what is happening around him even when sleeping he put two and two together and figured out more or less what was happening.

During the day he would wander around, trying to find anything interesting that Beelzebub or MC might like and during the night he is 'testing' the bed mattress and pillows.

All in all it takes him 6 days to come out and he got everything he needed and more. He also made sure to take some of that infinite food for Beel

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

Before we continue...

THOUGHT COMPLETE: ACTUAL ART DEGREE

BONUSES:

-1 Hand/Eye Coordination: Hands shake from anger from how shit it all is Conceptualization passives heal +1 Morale and give +10 XP

SOLUTION:

Trite, contrived, mediocre, milquetoast, amateurish, infantile, cliche-and-gonorrhea-ridden paean to conformism, eye-fucked me, affront to humanity, war crime, should *literally* be tried for war crimes, resolutely shit, lacking in imagination, uninformed reimagining of, limp-wristed, premature, ill-informed attempt at, talentless fuckfest, recidivistic shitpeddler, pedantic, listless, savagely boring, just one repulsive laugh after another.

"I got this special strike brew the Union uses." (Give it.)

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Interesting." He grabs the thermal cup and shakes it. "Ah, this is what they use to keep the working man going."

Item lost: Goracy's brew

ROSEMARY - "Hey, Spiral-Boy, you gonna share that?" one of the other bums interjects.

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - "Don't call Abigail!"

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Shut up, guys, I'm telling a story here." He turns to you. "Something happened to you. Something happened to me, too -- my actual name is George, but around here... you already know..."

"I was a once a reasonably high-net-worth individual. A founder slash junior partner at a high-concept creative services agency. When my story begins, I had just landed a major contract with an insurance firm…"

"Go on."

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "I used the profits from my agency to finance what I called a 'cultural incubator' -- abstract value generation, value per person, high-concept stuff..."

"I developed the paradigm, worked within the paradigm. But the burden of leadership weighed heavily on me, so I went jogging every so often to keep myself sane."

"Wait -- how many people did you have working for you?"

"Did the jogging help?"

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Twenty-two full-time employees. An all-star team. A potentially historical set of individuals. Worrying about them often kept me up well into the morning hours."

"Did the jogging help?"

"I could probably use a good run myself."

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "It helped, truly. With my trusty Sansarique Lickra(TM) tracksuit I felt like I could conquer the world..."

"But now dreams are worn thin, much like my tracksuit," he says thoughtfully, brushing dust off his shit-stained pants.

"What happened?"

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "One day I left on my evening run. As you may know, it's impossible to clear your head when you're distracted by the sound of keys jangling in your pockets." He shakes the bottle and makes a ringing sound.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - His eyes are clouded, his dilated blood vessels encircling his irises like stinging brambles.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - His eyes are your eyes.

Thanks to Actual Art Degree, we gain 10 XP and heal 1 Morale.

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "So I removed the keyring and put the keys for the front gate and the apartment into different pockets, to stop the jangling, you see. At least that was the plan..."

"I was halfway done with my usual lap when it started to rain. The reality situation became very wet, very quickly."

"How *wet* are we talking, exactly?"

"Go on."

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "It was a day not unlike this one here..." You both glance skyward.

"I made my way back home and discovered that I didn't have the key to the front gate -- I'd mixed it up with the key to the letter box. Which was useless."

"Naturally, the situation required me to climb over the gate, which I did. There was no climbing down, because I slipped and landed on my ass."

"Ouch!"

"I would've landed on my feet. I've got feline reflexes."

(Say nothing.)

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Failure] - No, you don't.

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Whatever. The point is, reality was looking rather grim, just then -- me lying on my ass in a mud pit in the middle of a heavy shower. But when life knocked me down, I always got up..."

"So I made my way across the yard. Standing in front of my apartment door, fumbling with my pockets, I realized that I'd also forgotten my apartment key!"

"You've got to be shitting me!"

"Okay, so what happened next?"

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "I wish I were, Tequila. I wish I were." He turns his head towards the skies. "Instead of my apartment key, I'd taken the key to the office."

"Okay, so what happened next?"

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "I rang my neighbours' buzzers. It was late, and most of them didn't even answer. Those who did assumed I was trying to sell them something and hung up before I could even explain the situation..."

"People are naturally wary of ad men, you see. One moment someone chats you up, five minutes later you've bought a box of edible lingerie and a strap-on. I don't begrudge them, especially since I was known to be one of the best…" He pauses meaningfully.

EMPATHY [Easy: Successs] - Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Just then I experienced a moment of clarity: I still had the key to my office! I could wait out the storm there..."

"But when I reached my office I remembered that I'd asked one of my producers to change the locks that day -- and since I hired only the best, he'd already done it, and I couldn't get in…"

"Anyway, long story short, life spiralled out of control. I haven't gotten into my apartment for years, and my girlfriend left me because she didn't want to date a homeless man. The company, well, you see where I'm going with this…"

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Legendary: Success] - He pinches his thigh as if to check whether this reality is *the reality*.

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "So, now you've heard my tragic tale. What do you think? Like nothing you've ever heard, huh?" He takes a long swig of his drink.

"Wait, is that it? I feel like there are some steps missing."

"I've only been a hobo cop for a few days now, but it doesn't seem so bad."

"Look on the bright side -- you've got one hell of a story."

"You do realize all of this is your own fault?"

"I literally can't believe it."

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Tequila, I've thought about this series of events for a long time. If there was anything else to it, I would have thought of it by now."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Why didn't you go to the authorities?"

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Well, at one point they came to me, but you know, I didn't have any ID on me -- so they tossed me in jail for two days..."

"I can't say it increased my faith in the RCM. No offence, gentlemen." He shakes his head.

3. "Look on the bright side -- you've got one hell of a story."

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Yeah. Maybe I've exaggerated certain parts over the years. When you tell a story too often, it begins to take on a life of its own..."

"But what matters is that it's true to my subjective experience. Anyway, that was all the story one bottle gets you." He looks at it. "Almost empty this one…"

+5 XP

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Truly, he has the soul of an artist.

Nice, another 10 XP and healed Morale.

"What do you guys do around here?"

"Why do you keep losing all your stuff?"

"I want to hear the story of your name again."

"Have you got any more stories?"

"Be seein' you." [Leave.]

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "Good fucking question, Tequila! If I knew the answer, you think I'd be hanging out on a beach in this formerly premium but now extremely dirty two-piece Lickra(TM) tracksuit?"

"I used to own my reality situation. My business buddies and I had our own creative services agency. I had a nice apartment, an even nicer piece of ass, but somehow it all got away from me..."

"Now I can't hang onto anything. Just last week I stole this nice new jacket, but then I lost it, too. The only things I haven't lost are these two drunks."

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - You of all people should empathize with this. Perhaps this lost jacket is something you could help with...

"What was the name of your agency?"

"What's up with the tracksuit?"

"What about the other drunks?"

"What's this about a lost jacket?"

"Let me ask you something else." (Conclude.)

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "My agency, man..." He takes a long, melancholic sip. "The Boom Boom Room. Our concept was combining high art with the lowest forms of marketing -- the colour red, breasts, and oil painting..."

"I convinced my partners to reinvest some of our profits in an even-more high-concept 'cultural incubator' called 'Thin Air'. The artists were happy, the clients were happy."

"I was financing a group of poets in East Revachol who were developing a new, universal poetic language… but then it all went to shit…" He looks toward the bay.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Sounds intriguing. What say you, art cop?

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - If it sounds like it makes no sense, that's because it doesn't.

[shuttershocky]

Modules for regular medics as well as Dusk and Angelina's modules were announced for CN. There were some interesting ones in there.

This one is just hilarious. Mon3tr now explodes twice, the first time when injured, the second time when defeated, and the level 3 module makes the explosion stun for longer than 3 seconds and deal more than 1200 True Damage. Mon3tr is even harder to kill now (since the first explosion will stun enemies and give it time to heal). Additionally, Kal'tsit's level 1 module increases her heal on allies below half health by 15%, so Mon3tr is ridiculously durable now.

People look down on Shining's module since no one really values defensive bonuses, but for Dreadnought fans this module makes Shining look really good at actually making the likes of Flamebringer extremely tanky. We'll have to wait and see for numbers.

It's funny how Silence's module stat buffs boosts her ASPD while her module upgrades further amplifies all medic ASPD. She's chucking out medicine faster than some people are firing their guns.

Even without numbers I'm going to tell you now, this is really good. Angelina's first module was held back by the upgrade increasing her slow duration and buffing her global heal, which didn't help her much as she attacks quite fast and for global heals we have Perfumer.

This one however, boosts her already impressive skill cycle time as well as amplifying the team's ASPD (along with buffing her own ASPD). If this ends up giving around 12 ASPD to allies in range, she's going to be a fairly significant buff to operators with low base attack time, such as Marksmen snipers.

Dusk fans got mad that Mostima got module upgrades that finally made her usable while Dusk got some garbage that asked her to kill more enemies to get more stats, so they decided to just give Dusk fucking everything I guess. One extra Freeling from her talent, -8 DP cost, extra stats on the Freelings, and the Freelings restore her goddamn SP.

If Freelings from S3 remain behind even after her S3 ends (I actually dont know if they do), she can use her S3 to recharge her S3, and each Freeling acts as an SP battery, meaning if you can get a lot of them to pop up right as the skill is ending, you can get Dusk's S3 up again a lot faster.

If this works how I think it works, I legit think Dusk will be very good, given proper skill timing so that multiple Freelings are on the field when her S3 ends.

Dusk's module looks like the most exciting one to test (though Kal'tsit's is hilariously broken)

[likeadevils]

2009 Lover Diaries Transcripts

Mar 17, 2009

Hi. It’s me, the girl who always forgets to write in her journal. Oh yea. Her. I just got back from Australia. It was there for 2 weeks and it was amazing. Gorgeous there. So… what else has happened since I wrote… I was on the cover of Rolling Stone. My tour has sold out every venue including Madison Square Garden (in 1 minute) and Staples Center (in 2). I somehow feel like it’s my destiny to roll my eyes at happy couples and resent Valentine’s Day. I also feel like I’m the girl before “the one.” I’m not he “the one.” I’m the girl you think is the one for you, and when it doesn’t work out with me, you meet the next girl and realize she IS the one. The one you’re gonna stay with. I might get married. But I think it’s ultimately my fate to light candles and pine away and roll my eyes at happy couples and resent Valentine’s Day. Taylor

Jul 11, 2009

I just got back from a trip to Canada that was absolutely refreshing and good for the soul. I never really knew what a good thing having no cell or internet could be. But it was a great thing. I did things a little differently up there, and I actually liked it. I started reading self-help books. It’s really uplifting knowing that you can change your life today, tomorrow … just by doing a few things you never thought of. Or doing things differently than you’ve done them before. New things I adopted from a self help book: Get up early. Keep your cool. Don’t tee off on people you love. Laugh more. You can control your moods. Create a love account and make deposits, in other words, show people that you love them. Another new hobby of mine is ….. antique stores. And not just neat, organized antique stores. I really like the ones where there’s so much crap to dig through, you can find absolute treasures for nothing. I went to 2 antique stores in Saskatchewan, and one today in Winnipeg. I bought all these old glass mason jars. I’m gonna use them for candle holders. I bought old scales and watch faces and chairs and old trunks and a bird cage and 2 lamps. This weekend, I gave everyone in the band raises. That was before the first show we played. Calgary. Then, before the show we played tonight, I called the whole crew in for a meeting, and bonused everybody. 72 people. Taylor [name tag "Taylor Swift - Fearless 2009 Tour. Taylor. Singer"} My tour name tag.

Jul 12, 2009

Today was a wonderful day. And not because of some massive career accomplishment or award show. It wasn’t about world domination or another number 1 song. Today was just … wonderful. Today was simple. And perfect. Because today was just me and my mom, driving around, looking at antiques in little antique shops, talking about what chandelier should go in the foyer and if this cabinet would look right in the guest room. We stopped for ice cream cones. It started raining hard while we were shopping, so we had to run back to the car, getting soaking and screaming. We met up with Dad and Austin for dinner at Kabuto. But the best part of the day was just driving around with my mom. Correction: riding around with my mom with a bunch on antiques clanking together in the trunk. I just keep thinking, when I’m 90 years old, reliving the good old days, I doubt I’ll look back on the number one parties as fondly and as frequently as I’ll look back on today. Wearing red lipstick for no reason, mom in her black t-shirt and wet hair, driving around talking about which chandelier should go in the foyer. Taylor

Sep 18, 2009

Ahh… the things that can change in a week… Let’s just say, if you had told me that Kanye West would have been the number one focus of my week, the media, and my part in the VMA’s, I would’ve looked at you cross-eyed. If you had told me that I would win the ward I was nominated for, I wouldn’t have believed you. And if you had told me that one of the biggest stars in music was going to jump up onstage and announce that he thought I shouldn’t have won on live television, I would’ve said “That stuff doesn’t really happen in real life.” Well… apparently… it does.

(2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 & 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 & 2017)

[angevon]

Games I beat 2024 - 2

Back at it again at Krispy Kreme Monster Sanctuary. I replayed on steam for the achievements.

I decided on a "Beast" only team. When it worked, it worked well! So we have, from left to right (I'll put a Read More since I'm just gonna ramble on about M.S. mechanics for a long time 😂):

Sycophantom as healer. It unfortunately doesn't have the party Mass Restore for debuff mitigation, but it does have single-target Restore and the paired healing bonus skill that also heals the lowest HP monster whenever it uses a heal. So it's kiiinda like a party heal? Unfortunately for the main team, Sycophantom was the only monster with Cleanse, a way to remove buffs from enemies, so I often had to choose whether to use its turn on healing or try to attack an enemy to remove their buffs so the DPS can actually get a hit in. Also, its Psychokinesis buff buffs magic attacks, not physical which doesn't help Minitaur. When not attacking, Sycophantom also puts stacks of Blind on enemies which helps when combined with the agility buff from Psychokinesis.

Minitaur as the main DPS. I stacked so much critical chance and critical damage on this bad boy. Its Ultimate was Boulder Toss, which can and would one-shot annoying assholes like Aazerach and Sutsune in the Legendary Keeper teams. It also has Counter which counters every attack on him whether it lands or not (thanks, Agility and blind from Sycophantom!). There were times the last monster on the enemy team was already almost dead by the time I started attacking it from all the counters haha. Also, Minitaur's party buff adds Regeneration which is great, helped Sycophantom keep up with the heals and lack of party debuff removal.

Spectral Lion as the 2nd main DPS (who needs support when you can have 2 DPS? 😂). This thing was mean too! Jewel Blast is my favorite earth attack (next to Boulder Toss anyway). Critical Mass and Critical Boon means everyone in the party was fully buffed within a few turns (unless the enemy could remove them... the WORST). Overall Lion is a solid starter and its damage was pretty great too. It also gets Age stacks which means as long as you can keep it alive, it gets stronger and stronger. I think its downside is its kinda low Mana Regen so the Chill debuff hurt it a lot.

And now for the backup team:

4. Caraglow as healer. I can honestly say I did not like Caraglow. I prefer monsters with at least one elemental attack. Caraglow has 0. Worked all right as a backup healer but that's it. In fact, when it came to the Legendary Keeper battles, I replaced it with Targoat (which isn't even a healer)

5. Dodo as... Dodo. Stack a bunch of HP bonuses on it and it can work as a healer. It wasn't particularly strong as an attacker but it has the passive ability to remove a stack of debuffs at the start of your turn which was probably the main use it had. I think I've used Dodo as a backup before on my bird team but I've played so much I honestly can't remember 😅

6. Aurumtail as support. Who doesn't love this derpy dinosaur! I've heard this one can dish out some major DPS with shield bash but honestly its weakness to physical meant it usually died pretty fast whenever it was out. So I never got to see that. Maybe it would pair well with another Shielder. It does have relatively strong attack and worked well when I needed a wind attacker.

Honorable mentions:

I started with Catzerker instead of Minitaur, but found it too fragile. I also started with Yowie but couldn't find a role for it. Mogwai was on the team for a bit too, but it overlapped with Yowie. Then I had too many monsters with similar weaknesses and this became a liability in the Magma Chamber keeper battle, and that's when I restructured the team to become what I've listed above.

I did temporarily replace Minitaur and/or Spectral Lion for Brutus when I was trying to 5-star some of the harder bosses. Vodinoy, Ascendant, and Diavola in particular gave the team lots of trouble. So I buffed the heck out of the Brutus and went for the cheap 1 or 2 -hit KOs from its charge ups.

And as mentioned before, Targoat was, well, the GOAT for the Legendary Keeper battles. Its a wonderful supporter and tanky! Once it earns enough charge stacks from defending, it's something to reckon with. I'll have to use it in a main team sometime.

I know Sutsune instead of Sycophantom would've paired extremely well with Minituar (mainly for Bleed Out). But I've already mained Sutsune before and wanted to give something else a chance. That's also why I didn't use Akhlut, which is also a Beast type.

And that's it for this playthrough! I'm sure it'll show up on the "games I beat" list again though, ahaha. There's still a handful of monsters I haven't used, after all. And, someone is working on an archipelago.gg mod for it. It'll absolutely be my go-to game when that happens!

[homerforsure]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Tagged by @whumperific @rewritetheending and @hetrez

Normally 2 snips in a week requires way more productivity than I can manage but I'm on new word count goals and I've decided to be proud of myself for hitting them even though they're small so: Hockey AU

Still, when his dad emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, he was relaxed. There was no trace of the tension that Eddie could still feel pulling his own skin too tight and making it impossible for him to return his dad’s smile in a way that felt easy and natural. Eddie’s never learned how he does it. 

“Are we ready?” Ramon asked, adjusting the knot of his tie. 

“Just about.”

Eddie ducked quickly into the bathroom to make sure his hair was still the way he’d left it and to reapply the deodorant that he always seemed to sweat off twice as fast when he was with his dad. Then he set his hands on the counter and took a breath. It was dinner. It was a group dinner with his dad who was, in his own way, proud of him and wanted to show off to other proud dads. Eddie could not be sullen and tense and angry through it. Not in front of the team. 

The sound of his phone buzzing from the other room finally drew Eddie back out again.

“Where is this restaurant anyway?” his dad was asking.

“Uh, downtown I think? Remy picked it out. He used to live here.”

His phone was on the bedside table and Eddie stumbled around his suitcase to get there before the call went to voicemail. He was half expecting it to be his agent. Louise had been in non-stop contact about the All-Star thing, reminding Eddie about the bonuses built into his contract and the help a timely promo tweet could do to swing voting. Instead, the screen displayed a request for a video call. One that had Eddie smiling before he could help himself. 

“Is that Christopher?” Ramon asked.

Without thinking, Eddie lied, “No. It’s um. It’s work. It’s my agent. Actually, do you mind if I take it?”

If there was one thing he could count on his dad to understand it was work interfering with other plans. Ramon’s gaze dropped from Eddie’s face to the phone he was holding, pressed against his chest so the display wasn’t visible, and he smiled.

“Of course! Tell them you’re looking for a big contract next time. And something close to home, eh?” 

Forcing a tight-lipped smile, Eddie nodded, “Sure, Dad.”

“I’ll wait for you in the bar downstairs.”  

The phone had stopped ringing in the time it took the hotel room door to close so Eddie had to redial, but Buck picked up like the phone was still in his hand. 

“Hey!” he said, squinting a little as he held his arm up to block the sun that must have been right in his eyeline. 

“Hey Buck. Sorry about that. I was-”

“Naked?” Buck suggested. 

It was so deadpan that Eddie was snorting a laugh before he could help it. With a shake of his head, he said, “You got me.”

“Yeah I figured. You got dressed fast though.”

“Well, you can only see my top half.”

Buck laughed then, loud and contagious, and if Eddie wasn’t mistaken, his cheeks were just a little pink.

@princessfbi, @dearestdiaz, @thekristen999, @mellaithwen, and YOU, yes you. (sorry work continues to be the worst and I have no idea who's played so far!)

[illfoandillfie]

The Assistant (Kinktober Day 12: Office Sex)

Kinktober Masterlist | Regular Masterlist

Pairing: Gwilym Lee x Reader

Words: 2,075

Warnings: coercion so dubcon, oral sex (m receiving), semi-public sex, workplace sex, dom!gwil sub! reader, sex in exchange for money.

A/N: This one has been in the back of my head for literally months. I think it was inspired by a post I saw on a porn blog but they got deleted so I can't be sure.

When you’d applied for the executive assistant job there’d been no sign of anything sketchy at the company. Admittedly you hadn’t researched them much other than a quick google, but there’d been no red flags that you saw. You’d decided to apply because you needed the money and couldn’t find work in any fields related to your degree. An assistant role seemed like both a sensible way to make a regular paycheck and a fairly easy job to keep you occupied until something else turned up. Besides, at a well-regarded company like Lee, Jones and Boynton you could potentially make connections with high-profile people and that was always useful. So you’d applied, had an interview with the HR management and the man you’d be working for, Gwilym Lee. Apparently they’d liked you enough to hire you and before you knew it you were stationed at the desk outside Mr Lee’s office. You were his personal assistant which meant not just answering phones like you initially assumed, but also managing his calendar, taking minutes during meetings, and basically doing whatever he asked of you. It wasn’t too taxing but it did keep you busy which you liked. Besides, Gwilym was very handsome and you got to spend a lot of time watching him through the glass wall of his office. It was a major perk, and a slight distraction on slower days. Once or twice, you’d let yourself fantasise about hiding under his desk to blow him while he worked or riding him in the backseat of his company car.  

You’d been at the company for a few months when you were due to have a meeting with your boss to discuss how you were finding things and evaluate your performance. The whole thing made you nervous and you had to keep reminding yourself that Gwilym was very nice and very pleased with your work so far. You weren’t about to be fired. All the same, you made sure you dressed professionally that day and did the utmost on your work while waiting to be called into his office.   Luckily, Gwilym didn’t make you wait too long before calling you in. He directed you over to a set of chairs in the corner of his office so there was no desk between you. It helped you feel more at ease, like it was less of a professional judgement and more just a conversation. But he got right to it once you were comfortable.   “So, Y/N, how have you been finding the job?”  “It’s been really great actually.”  “That’s good to hear.” He chuckled, “I’ve been very pleased with your performance. Your attention to detail has been outstanding and you’ve kept up with the demanding nature of keeping me organised.”   You breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at the praise.   “This whole thing is really just a formality. But if there’s any questions you had that you haven’t had a chance to ask, please ask them now.”  “Well, there was one thing,” you started, a little uncomfortable with the topic but wanting to get clarity all the same.  “Go on.”  “When I first interviewed, I remember it being mentioned that there was room for wage increases. I just wanted to check if it was an annual adjustment or something I have to apply for. How does it work?”  “Smart girl for asking. There are a few ways. A regular increase to your pay will come into effect every two or three years. There are bonuses available towards the end of the year. And, of course, we can always have a discussion about it and come to an arrangement between ourselves. Do you need extra money?”   You couldn’t help but blush at his forthright question, “Well...”  “It’s okay Y/N, you can talk to me.” He placed his hand on your knee, comfortingly, “If you need extra money urgently we can work something out.”  “Not necessarily urgently. Just that my roommate moved out quite unexpectedly and no one’s taken her room yet so I’ll have to cover the rent on my own until I find someone. I can cover it fine on my current pay. I know I haven’t really been here long enough for a raise or anything, I just was curious about it.”  Gwilym hummed in thought, “Well, yes, a raise may not be possible just yet but there is a way I can help. It’d be a small bonus to your pay. A couple hundred dollars a month maybe.”  “Are you sure? That seems like a lot.”  “Y/N, I like you. You’re an incredible assistant. The work you did to organise those Bangkok meetings was outstanding. I want to help you.”  “Thank you Mr Lee. Do I have to fill out a form or anything?”  “Nothing so formal. I can alert the finance department on your behalf and they’ll make the adjustment. All you have to do is suck me off.” His hand tightened on your knee for a moment before he released you.   “Sorry Sir, what?”  “Suck me off.” He said it slower, annunciating each individual word clearly. “I understand if you need time to consider. You may go.”  You nodded and left the office, not quite sure what had happened. And for the rest of the day you muddled through your duties, entirely distracted and unsure what to do.  

It was all you thought about when you got home. And for the next few days too. It crossed your mind that you’d misunderstood and then when you convinced yourself you hadn’t, it occurred to you that you should probably report him. Make a #metoo tweet, alert someone else in the company. But then the rent came due and you were left with less in the bank than you expected.  He was offering you the money you needed. You could get by without it but it’d be a lot easier if you had it, especially if it took a while to find a new roommate. And what was the harm really. Gwilym was handsome and you liked him anyway. You’d even fantasised about doing exactly what he’d asked you to do so it wasn’t like you were entirely opposed to it. By the time you next got into work you’d made up your mind to accept the offer. Instead of leaving work at your usual time that evening, you stayed in your seat, knowing that Gwilym would be staying late that night. He didn’t seem too surprised when he looked up and saw you still at your desk. He just smirked at you through the glass and then called you in.   You took a deep breath as you stood up, smoothed out the blouse and skirt you were wearing, and entered his office.  

“You wanted to see me Sir?”  “What are you still doing here Y/N?”  “I thought you might...need me tonight.”  He raised an eyebrow and kept looking at you.  You felt completely flustered by his gaze and within seconds he’d broken through your defences, blurting out, “I’ll do it Mr Lee.”  “Do what Y/N?”  “The thing we talked about.”  “You’ll need to be much more specific.”  You groaned when you realised he was going to make you say it out loud, “I’m here to suck you off.”  Gwilym shrugged, “Who said the offer is still on the table? Maybe you took too long to decide. Maybe there’s another piece of arse who wants it more. By the sounds of it you don’t really need the money anyway.”  “No, Sir, I do. I really need it. Please, I’ll do anything you want. Whatever you want.”  Gwilym smiled again, “Good. I just needed to know how desperate you are. Now, over here. My cock’s big but not so big you can reach it from across the room.”  You gulped and walked towards him as he swivelled in his chair so that his legs were no longer under his desk.   “I like this outfit you’re wearing. But you should undo a couple of buttons so I can see your tits better. That’s a good girl.”  Your fingers fumbled with the buttons as you exposed your chest for him and nervously knelt between his legs.   Gwilym made no move to help you. You had to unzip his fly and pull his dick out on your own. He was semi hard, so you spat into your hand and stroked him to full stiffness. He'd not been lying about being big and for a moment you felt completely intimidated. You waited for a word of encouragement as your hand slid up and down the shaft, waited for any sort of praise or direction from him. But he barely paid you attention, clicking through his emails instead. Somehow that was more humiliating than if he’d been staring at you. Even when you actually put your mouth on him, you got no recognition. You sucked on his head, hoping to get some sort of response but there was not so much as a groan. And when you began bobbing up and down his shaft, trying to take more and more of his length, it was the same. A couple of times his hips twitched, and once you were rewarded with a quiet hum of pleasure. But that was it. For the most part he took no interest in what you were doing and gave no indication that he was enjoying it. Which, stupidly, just made you push yourself further, aching for some sort of praise. You gagged on his cock and then tried to take more, hoping that if you got him in your throat, he’d give you a moan. When that didn’t work you moved faster, a constant string of little gagging sounds rising from you as you practically fucked your mouth on his cock. And still just the click of his mouse.  

You didn’t know how to feel or what to do other than keep sucking his cock. It was embarrassing how badly you wanted his approval. Shameful that you were getting wet from his lack of attention while you whored yourself out to him. And yet you couldn’t bring yourself to stop. A tiny thought popped into the back of your head. That, if he wasn’t happy with your efforts, he may refuse you the money. That you’d have put yourself in this situation for nothing. It was unthinkable and you were determined not to let that happen. So, you doubled your effort, tried to show him that you enjoyed submitting to his desires. With a mouth full of his cock you moaned, earning a pleased laugh from Gwil but nothing else. 

In fact, the only reaction you really got was when he came. His hand came up to the back of your head and he held you in place firmly. You tried to move back, to shake him off, but he was too strong and too determined to keep you shoved down his length. All you could do was gag and take it as he came, ashamed by the wetness you could feel in your underwear.   When he was done he let you go and you gasped for breathe. But there was semen running down his shaft where it had escaped your lips and you knew he would not be satisfied with your performance if you were not thorough enough. So you licked him clean, made sure you sucked every drop of cum from his cock, before you sat back, licking your lips clean too.  

For a moment you sat there, panting, waiting for further instruction. But then Gwilym tucked his cock away and zipped his pants up and you knew you were dismissed. You stood and moved towards the doorway, feeling sick to the stomach and close to tears, but he stopped you before you could leave.   “Wait, Y/N.”   You turned towards, trying to remain composed despite how humiliated you felt.   “Well done. I’ll make sure the bonus is transferred to your account, you’ll have it by tomorrow.”  “Thank you Mr Lee.”  “If you want more then you’ll stay late again. I can keep paying you but you’ll have to keep earning it.”  “Yes Sir.”  “I think I should test out a new hole though, so don’t worry about underwear.”  “Yes Sir.”  “Oh and Y/N,”  “Yes?”  “On a related note, tomorrow I don’t want to see those top buttons done up.”  “Is that all Sir?”  “Yes, that’s all. You’re a very good assistant. Goodnight Y/N” 

[thessalian]

Thess vs All Manner of Food

Welp. Now both parentals have been able to see a Particularly Bad Pain Day (tm). Welcome to why I hate my mother’s insistence on reserving tables in restaurants.

See, between Sunday’s grocery shenanigans and yesterday’s “I have to take out a lot of trash and recycling because I haven’t been able to get to the bins in over a week because icy conditions”, today was ... not great? I knew it was going to be “not great” going in, but at least I didn’t have to commute. Much. Issue being, Mum had arranged for us to go out to dinner today because we missed out on it before she headed for North America, and she booked a table. It’s one thing to say “Can we skip tonight? I hurt” when there’s not a reservation, but another to say “I know you booked a table but can we skip tonight? I hurt”. One’s just ... easier than the other. But I had to give my mother her birthday gift anyway, so off I went. The fact that she brought me back maple syrup from the Canada leg of her trip, and the fact that I was going to go home with a lot of leftover curry? Bonuses.

At least the conversation went well ... partly because a lot of it was a status update on my intellectually disabled aunt back in Montreal. I mean, it’s a win overall, the whole thing. Just took a lot of work and a lot of annoyance to get there, given moving to new living space with new carer. And at least my aunt’s new carer is a lot nicer than the last one, who thought that heavy medication was the solution to all ‘problems’ (and by ‘problems’, I mean ‘things that actually obliged her to deal with any mood but “placid acceptance” from any of her charges ever’). Just ... honestly, moving from a larger space to a smaller one is difficult at the best of times. Especially when you have to replace furniture. But moving from a smaller space to a larger one when dealing with The Sibling Thing (as much as you love them, sometimes they just dance the Mashed Potato on your last damn nerve) on top of that whole “The Maternal Side Of My Family” Thing, which translates to a piquant blend of stubborn, opinionated, varying degrees of bossy, easily frustrated by distractions during time-sensitive or otherwise vexing tasks, and sentimental when it comes to belongings, at least in this scenario.

(No, I do not exempt myself from this. I just have somewhat better coping mechanisms than most of my family.)

Interesting the bits you pick up in passing, though. While inflation and the like is particularly bad over here, it would appear to be not much better in Canada. My mother picked up the maple sugar I asked for - in the really big tin flask, which is just a nostalgia trip and a half for me, because I’m pretty sure I went to sugaring off parties at the place that makes that brand - and I presume it was at the duty free because her comment to me was “It cost nearly as much as the liquor”. She was very quick to tell me to not feel bad, and I don’t really, because she could have just not got it because I did understand that it might not be possible. Still, it being that expensive where they make the stuff is scary. So yeah, things be getting expensive.

As you can see, it was still a nice dinner, even though I hurt a lot during most of it. We went to the Indian place I always order from when I’m doing takeaway; I introduced my mother to the place last time she invited me out and now apparently she and my stepfather also get takeaway from there. I have a feeling that Mum ordered big and ordered a fairly filling appetiser so that I could take home as much of it as possible home as leftovers, largely because “She’s clearly in pain, that’ll probably take awhile to die down, not having to cook for awhile will help, so ... ALL THE CURRY��. That’s going to be a theme for the rest of the week, as well; Mum really took the fact that I’m not really a fan of turkey to heart and there’ll be turkey for them and duck for me again this year, and I’ll likely be taking a lot of leftovers home from that as well, and on top of that, Mum apparently wants to offload some of the Boxing Day leftovers onto me as well--

Oh. Yeah. I should explain that one. The parentals both have kids from the previous marriage, and that always makes the holidays complicated. So the basic agreement seems to be that Christmas Day is for the kids to spend with the parent who had primary custody. So my stepsibs and I get our respective mothers over Christmas Day, and on Boxing Day, my stepfather gets his kids, my mother gets the closest thing to grandkids she’s ever going to get through my stepsiblings’ kids, and I get some peace and quiet. Seems to work for everybody. Anyway, since there’s going to be a lot of food around Boxing Day, there’ll be more leftovers than the parentals know what to do with. So ... curry leftovers, leftovers from the lamb breast I had planned for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day leftovers, and potentially Boxing Day leftovers. I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to need to grocery shop at all this month.

Honestly, this is no end of good. Maybe if I just eat my curry leftovers and maybe do the tuna lemon broccoli pasta thing over the next few days, the pain flare will have died down and I’ll be able to actually cook the lamb breast. And also the various bits of treats I’m making for the parentals for Christmas. Then again, I have to commute on Thursday, so maybe not. I’ll do my best.

[icedteaandoldlace]

How did the collective brain cell of left leaning young people on the Internet go from "you're actual scum of the earth if you leave your shopping cart in the parking lot and not in the designated cart return because you're giving some poor underpaid worker more work to do" to "shoplifting is something we should all do because fuck corporations", as if the same underpaid workers aren't affected by shoplifting as well?

I'm not talking about pay docking here (although some folks sure jumped on the "that's illegal just sue your boss :)" train fast despite repeatedly listing off reasons why it's not that easy when it comes to debates about wage gaps), I'm talking about inventory.

A daily part of my job is going down aisles (different aisles for different days) and writing down everything that's missing, and documenting whether we're just out of that product, or we have less than we're supposed to. If we're in the negative, I have to check anywhere that we might stock stuff that wouldn't fit on the shelf. If I can't find the missing product, I document the amount that we're short, and then our guy in charge of managing inventory has to go through and double check everything.

There is also full store inventory, which we do once a year, where we have to get a count of every single thing in the store, and when we have our list of negatives, we go over it multiple times, narrowing it down as far as we possibly can until we're certain we have an accurate count. The more things that are missing, the longer we have to be there.

Inventory starts on a Saturday and always carries over to Sunday. I work in a store that closes early every Saturday and is never open on Sunday, yet inventory weekend is the longest two work days of the entire year because we have to finish the count, we can't just call it a day at closing time (and obviously, it is the one Sunday out of the year where I have to go to work, so that's fun).

The store I work at actually pays really well, and we all got hefty bonuses in early 2022 because we made record breaking sales, so obviously, paying for your stuff does actually benefit the employees. But we still have to deal with shoplifters and rubber checks and all other forms of bullshit people try to pull to get stuff without paying for it. And none of these people are stealing from us because they're starving or in need of life saving meds and can't afford them; I work in a fucking construction supply store. It is employed people who make more than I do stealing stuff because they don't wanna spend their own money. I once found an empty pack of Sharpies that someone had shoplifted and left the packaging behind. If you're shoplifting Sharpies, it's not because you need something that you can't afford; it's because you're a dumb bitch.

Also, if we witness shoplifting firsthand, the proper procedure is to just let them walk out, but to take down as much information about that person as possible, such as what they looked like/were wearing and the license and model of the vehicle they were driving.

And it just grinds my gears to hop on Tumblr or Twitter and see some dumb fuck Comrade™️ who lives above the poverty line patting themselves on the back for being the voice of the working class, and talking about how jobs are hell and no one should have to work, and then go boasting about their shoplifting exploits because they're ~sticking it to the man~, and writing off everyone who criticizes the promotion of shoplifting as just some corporate bootlicker.

THE MAN DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR FIVE FINGER DISCOUNT CARDIGAN, BRENDA. THE WORKER YOU CLAIM TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH IS GOING OVER THE STORE WITH A CLIPBOARD TO CONFIRM WHETHER IT'S ACTUALLY MISSING OR JUST MISPLACED. YOU'RE GIVING US MORE WORK TO DO, AND IT'S MORE TIME CONSUMING THAN PUSHING A CART ACROSS A PARKING LOT. CUT IT OUT AND PAY FOR YOUR SHIT.

[megan-loves-surveys]

#26.

Do you have a large dog? If not, are you afraid of them? No, and it depends on the dog.

Has anyone ever told you that they loved you, and you didn’t say it back? No.

Who is your favorite photographer? No idea.

Were you shy in high school? Somewhat.

Did the last guy/girl you kissed have any piercings? Yes, my boyfriend has an earring.

Do you actually love your parents? Yes.

Do you know anyone autistic? Not that I know of.

Do you like your girlfriend’s/boyfriend’s parents? Unfortunately, both of them have passed away so I'll never get to meet them.

Do you like Polaroid photography? Not really.

Who was the last family member of yours that died? My Grandma.

Do you have any gay family members? Yes, one of my cousins. I'm also bisexual myself lol.

Would you be upset if you caught your boyfriend looking at porn? No lol, I watch it too xD

What is your favorite type of cat? Any, cats are adorable.

Who of the opposite sex has seen you at your worst? My boyfriend... and my Dad.

Were you raised by someone other than your parents? No.

What’s the last chore you did? Just cleaning up in general.

What is your favorite jungle animal? Dunno.

Is your father injured? No.

Are you part Native American? No.

What are your pets’ names? -

Have you ever worked two jobs? No.

What are the names of all the dogs you’ve ever owned? I've never owned a dog.

Would you ever get a face tattoo? God no.

Who in life have you felt the strongest need to protect? Dunno.

What is the cruelest thing a person has ever said to you? That I looked retarded.

Who have you most feared in your life? Dunno.

What is your strongest reason for your opinion on abortion? I dont want kids, so I always want the option if I accidentally get pregnant.

What one natural thing would you most like to see? Hmm.

Do you like the game Tetris? Sure.

What’s the most rebellious thing you’ve ever done? Oh, don't ask, I'll get in trouble.

Have you ever wanted to be a model? No.

Do you like your name how it’s spelled? Yes, it's the proper way :P I don't like when they add all the extra letters to it, like H and A and that.

Who was your first online friend? Zoe, probably. Not the Zoe I knew in NZ, she was from the UK and was a Blue fan - we met on a Blue fansite haha. We were friends for years! I wonder what she's doing these days.

Your last ex: how did you two get together? We were set up by friends of ours.

Does your mom dye her hair? Yep, her hair is currently like a pinkish red xD I get my love of dying my hair from her.

What’s the best kind of video game? (Adventure, shooting, etc) I love Pokémon, adventure games, strategy games and those 'choices matter' games, plus games like Cyberpunk 2077 & LA Noire that is open world but has a storyline to follow.

Do you know anyone who has road rage? One of my friends lol, he swears constantly when he drives, we get into a small traffic jam and he's like "GET OUT MY WAY CUNT!" out the window lmao.

Have you ever had a controlling boyfriend/girlfriend? No.

Have you ever tried to break up anyone because YOU liked the guy/girl? I don't do shit like that. I have had a crush on a friend's boyfriend before but I kept it to myself and didn't do anything about it cos I'm not an asshole.

Do you draw fanart of anything? No.

What was the last music video you watched? Did you like it? I watched Ladies Night by Atomic Kitten cos it's one of my faves and I hadn't seen it in ages.

What’s a condition you have that you haven’t been officially diagnosed with? Dunno.

Which one of your parents do you think is smarter? My Dad. My Mum is smart, but I think my Dad outdoes her.

Have you ever supported anyone’s Kickstarter? If so, what was it? Yes, I'm currently backing a Kickstarter for a Broken Sword remake! I can't wait to get my bonuses for it.

What band has the power to make you cry by splitting up? None of them, cos they've all split up and got back together so I'm used to it.

Would you feel funny if you kissed somebody of the same sex? No.

Can grills be sexy on a guy? No.

What’s your favorite comic book/graphic novel? That's not really my thing.

Do you prefer original or sour Skittles? I like both.

Do you find it easy to pass the time or do you get really bored? Depends.

Have you ever been in a Catholic confessional? No.

Who was the last non-relative you rode in a vehicle with? My boyfriend.

What was the title of the last song you listened to? "Bad Kind Of Butterflies" (by Camila Cabello)

Who is the lead singer of your favorite band? They're all the lead singer.

Do you expect to be married in the next 2 years? No.

Have you ever had an allergic reaction to an insect? No.

Who IMed you on Facebook last? My friend.

Is there an item that you bought on a whim, but now consider it a crucial part of your life and you would or have purchased it again? TBH, I decided out of the blue I wanted a FitBit and now I can't live without mine.

What flags do you have in your room, if any? None.

What was the last thing you ate? A banana.

What kind of natural disaster is most common where you live? Tornados.

Do you or your parents rake your yard? We don't have a yard.

If you’re not straight, who was the first person you came out to? Friends online.

What do you think of the ‘Healthy At Every Size’ movement/philosophy? It's stupid.

Where did you meet the last person you swapped numbers with? Work.

Who was the last person to add you as a friend on Facebook? Some random.

Did you enjoy high school? Yes, mostly.

What’s an unusual food combination you like? Hmm, not sure.

What’s the longest stretch of time you’ve spent completely alone? A few days over New Year's once, my Mum went to stay with my Grandma and I stayed at home, I didn't even go out lol.

Did your parents allow you to drink soda when you were a kid? Yes, but only on occasion.

Did you ever go through an emo or goth phase? No.

How many times have you stayed at a hotel in the past year, and where? None.

Do you take a walk every day? I try to.

Who was your favourite musical artist when you were 15? Do you still listen to them? Blue and Girls Aloud, and yep still a huge fan of them!

When was the last time you ate at a food court and what did you get? Last week, I had KFC haha.

How do you like your eggs cooked? Poached or fried.

What’s your favourite place to go on vacation? The USA, but I haven't been since 2019. Thanks Covid.

Have you ever done your own compost? No.

Would you ever get a tattoo on your hand or foot? Nah.

Do you open your doors and windows on warm days? Windows, yes. I feel like I'm suffocating in the warmer weather with them closed.

Are the blinds/curtains in the room open or closed right now? Open.

Were you mean to anyone in high school? No.

Have you ever accidentally started a fire? No, the closest I got was doing popcorn in the microwave and it exploded lol.

What is the last note you edited in your phone’s notes app? My shopping list of things I need to get.

Who is your favourite coworker? You can tell me about one from your past if you don’t have one right now. Hmm, probably Elaine, she's an older woman who is at the next desk to me when I do data entry. She's hilarious, she bakes a lot and always shares with me and doesn't mind swapping shifts with me - this week I wanted Monday off so she switched with me, I took her Friday shift and she took Monday.

Do you know anyone who’s adopted a child? No.

What was the last video game or board game you purchased? I bought a bunch off Steam a bit back.

Are any of your siblings taller than you? -

Name a song that reminds you of a past relationship: Hmm.

Have you ever seen a building on fire in real life? Yes, I remember in our last house, one of the houses down the street caught on fire and completely burnt down.

Have you kissed anyone and their first name started with an F, D, or L? Yes.

Have you ever been in therapy for anything? No.

Is there any part of your sexual/romantic history that you have not told your current significant other about or that you will not tell future partners about? No, my boyfriend knows everything.

Have you ever developed feelings for someone whose sexual orientation was incompatible with yours? Yes. One of my friends is sooooo damn hot, but he swings the other way lol.

How many relationships have you been in that actually got sexual? Most of them.

Who performs the most random acts of kindness out of everyone you know? Lynnette probably.

Who’s the most romantic person you ever went out with? My boyfriend.

Last person to tell you that you smell good? My boyfriend xD

Last person you told that they smell good? See above haha.

Who did you have your first kiss with? Do you remember what colour his/her eyes were? His name was Cameron, and I think they were blue but I'm not sure.

Which edible flowers have you tasted? None.

What was the last video you added to your favorites on YouTube? Not sure.

Do any of your family members have an upcoming birthday? Yep.

Is your favorite animal endangered? No, it's cats xD

What is the middle name of the last person you texted? Daniel.

Have you ever come close to drowning? No.

What’s the cutest thing your S/O does, but denies it’s cute in any way? He pouts, and then denies he pouts LOL.

Have you ever dined alone at a restaurant? Not a proper restaurant but at like cafes and stuff, yeah.

Have you ever changed in front of the last person you kissed? Yes.

Have you experienced any severe side effects of medications? Yes - I took antibiotics a few years ago and they gave me a super bad rash and diarrhoea. Found out I'm allergic to that kind!

Have you ever had a big YouTuber reply to a comment you left on their video? Yep.

Have you ever given a lap dance? Yes, as a joke xD

Do a lot of people tell you that you are funny? Not a lot, but on occasion people have said I am haha.

Have you gone to a tanning bed lately? No.

What did you do on the Fourth of July? I'm not American.

Do you have nice legs? I like to think so. I have a short torso so I'm mostly leg haha.

Have you ever been to Ohio? No.

Do you like The Goonies? Never seen it.

Do you prefer hardly toasted at all or burnt toast? Not burnt, but very toasted.

Do you have any unusual skills? Depends what you consider 'unusual'.

Do you have any bug bites right now? No.

Is there anything annoying you at the moment? Yes. I had caffeine in my Starbucks and now it's making me weird lol, I keep forgetting to ask them not to add any.

Are there any forms of art you personally find pointless? Nah, some of it isn't my thing but it means a lot to other people.

Do you have any projects on the go right now? No.

Are you a hat person? On occasion.

Has anyone ever approached you in the street and asked to take your picture? No haha.

What song’s stuck in your head? Cody Rhodes' entrance theme cos he was on SD earlier and it was playing for awhile haha.

Do your feelings get hurt easily? Not really.

Have you ever seen a cougar in the wild? No.

When was the last time you took a selfie? The other day.

Do you have any nieces or nephews? No.

Do you have a good relationship with your cousins? i don't see them much, but we did get along.

Are there any upcoming events for you to look forward to? Sure.

How many siblings does your significant other have? He has two brothers.

Have you ever done three or more shots in a row? Not in a row xD

What was the last zoo you visited? I think the one in Washington DC.

[trailingdusk]

my mother - UGH.

context is that we are visiting my grandma (dad's mom) in the hospital. my mother and my grandma DO NOT like each other. my first memory of my grandma is her telling me "hey, don't tell your mom i know, but i know she hates me". now, my grandma is admittedly a pretty terrible person, but one of her least harmless qualities is her love of complaining. and she WILL complain.

anyways, first grandma was hospitalized with sepsis. then she had surgery and the sepsis was gone. then the sepsis came back. then she got pneumonia. then they said OK you can go home! then half an hour later they said Actually you have a heart arrhythmia so you gotta stay so we can take a look at that.

so we are visiting grandma in the hospital. now like i said earlier she loves to complain. the best course of action is to divert. we are not talking about the hospital situation. we are talking about the bears (grandpa's team) vs the vikings (our team). we are talking about my brother's girlfriend. we are talking about my brother's jobs. we are talking about uncle's one million work bonuses (uncle likes to brag). we are talking about grandpa's side gig as a musician. we are talking about, if need be, the new aquaman, because grandma LOVES jason momoa (and to everybody's horror, she'll spend a decent amount of time talking about how attractive he is). it's all small talk and it's all painful but it IS a conversation about Not This.

mom does NOT get the memo. like girl! you have been around this woman for 21+ years! can we not do better? so she listens to grandma complain and commiserates with her and wants to know all of the medical details (because she works in a medicine-adjacent field). she tells grandma a hospital horror story of when her mother was in the hospital and the woman across the curtain kept vomiting and screaming for 12 hours (she could not vomitting. it's a new & increasingly common allergy to weed, and she'd smoked too much). this scares grandma. this reads, to me, as a holier-than-thou lecture to my uncle, who smokes a significant amount of weed. she makes a point of articulating that it's so terrible that she's had to be in the hospital over christmas, that it's practically cruel of them to let grandma believe she could go home and then tell her she had to stay, that it's such an awful situation all around. the whole time, the rest of the family is trying to divert with awful, stilted conversation.

then we get in the car and she makes a point of how nice she was to grandma and how she deserves all of the credit for being so nice to grandma and listening to grandma complain. no! you don't! you just made the complaining one million times worse! why would you want credit for making us have to sit there and listen to the complaining??????? i know she THINKS she's being kind, but it's ultimately just NOT the right solution. and it would be whatever except for the fact that she wants so much credit and so many kudos and so much acknowledgement for a problem that she made ten times worse.

@$%@@$%#%#@%$%#%$!!!!!!!!!

[medusas-lovely-eyes]

I don't mean this in a braggy way because like, state of the world/society/economy and all that, but the fact that I have had multiple unexpected expenses with my car and cat this year equaling roughly $1-2k (I'm guessing I don't actually know) and I have been able to pay for all of them out of pocket with money I already had saved is something I'm so proud of. Growing up my parents made some poor financial decisions and then were hit with big medical bills so I always watched them struggle. I watched cars get repossessed, I watched them discuss the best way to ask my grandparents for a loan so the house wouldn't get foreclosed, I watched my mom sob on the phone to debt collectors who treated her like absolute shit. I even had to pay for my moms groceries before when her card got unexpectedly declined and then comforted her while she cried from embarrassment on the ride home. And on top of all that they put themselves into even more debt to give us as normal of a childhood as possible. They are entering their late 50s, my mom hopes that the last of their credit card debt will finally be paid off and all they have left is the mortgage, but they have no savings.

According to the experts I'm not where I am supposed to be financially at the age of 30, but I know I am a lot better off than others my age. I don't particularly like my job; it can be very stressful for a good chunk of the year, I had to give up hopes of using my degree to stay here because this job actually pays me a living wage (which is a whole other discussion about certain fields demanding a degree and then paying a shit wage), the owner isn't as involved in day to day operations as we would like and doesn't see the same looming issues that we do, and it's not what I envisioned myself doing for the rest of my life (nor do I know if I can physically or mentally do it for another 40 years lol) BUT I don't live paycheck to paycheck like I always feared I would. I have worked hard for my promotion and raises, I have literally made myself an invaluable asset to the company (yes a very capitalistic view I know), and I have started earning bonuses that I can put into savings or put towards paying off student loans.

I have learned from my parents mistakes enough to not fall into the trap of credit card debt. I have one credit card and I have never maxed it out nor have I ever used more than I can pay off. I will admit that this past year I was a little frivolous with some of my purchases, but God I think I deserve a little fun now. If my 2024 budget and goals go to plan then by the end of the year I will have an emergency fund with 6 months of expenses built up, my high yield savings account will have 10k, and I will still have money left over to enjoy some things here and there.

I'm rambling. I'm not here to brag, I'm here to tell myself to take a breath and relax a little. I'm 30, single, and doing it all on my own with no one to fall back on for financial support and as of right now I'm doing good. I'm proud of myself and I believe in myself.

(also if I'm being honest all this is me convincing myself not to quit my job after a shitty and exhausting christmas season that has left my sick and emotionally drained lol)

[chococookiez]

nightly ptv posting in random places until i see them live (123 days left!!) - not in the greatest place rn as this cold covid continues to fuck with me both physically and mentally so im gonna get really sappy and talk about how significant each album is to me cause i could write a whole essay on this. under cut cause this is gonna be long

collide with the sky was the album that got me into this band. one of my irl friends was reposting tiktoks about them, i heard the hell above transition and instantly ran to them for recommendations cause i was HOOKED. that night i think i listened to them for around 3 and a half hours straight, i think i went through the entirety of collide, selfish machines and afftd (im not sure if i finished afftd or if i looked at misadventures yet) and the only thing that stopped me from continuing the binge was a massive headache that came over me. hold on till may inspired two of my ocs as i imagined them taking the roles of both people in the song, their personalities and how that'd fit into an existing universe we (me and my friends) had. they're still the two ocs i think about the most since i connect them with ptv very often and - yknow, hyperfixation. fun fact: i timed the "im sorry but ive made up my mind" in bulls in the bronx to happen when it hit midnight on my birthday. no clue why, just thought it was cool ig

the jaws of life was the first album i owned physically, accidentally managing to acquire both the cd and the vinyl on my birthday (cd was spotted in hmv, vinyl was my grandma's gift. there's a certain cashier at that hmv that i think happened to be working that day who shares my music taste, they recommended my dad listen to them since he said he got the cd for me lmaoo) the songs on that album were the first ones my parents heard, as my dad's car has a cd player so i popped it in on the way back home. much later on due to some shenanigans involving a shitbox car thats best music source was cds and oh look ptv is the one band my mum didn't mind listening to and i had 2 of their cds (i'll talk about that later), it ended up becoming her favourite album of theirs so we'd very often listen to it on journeys even when she got her car back as it was one of the few things we shared taste wise after i took a dive bomb into rock/metal, so while its my least favourite in terms of songs as im writing this (i don't dislike them!! some of my faves are on there!!), im incredibly sentimental towards it regardless.

misadventures was the second album i owned physically, finding the cd buried in a local record shop (it has the acoustic bonuses on it!!), and i think i can sorta call it my favourite album of all time. almost every single song in that album has been put on loop at least once (i mean that very literally. every single one. except sambuka? idk, just wasn't in my head as much...) it was also involved in the shitbox car shenanigans which might have influenced my love for it too. the divine zero in particular had (and still has tbh) a strong chokehold on me, being a little too relatable for me as i was going through a very dark patch in life that im not sure is entirely over yet actually, though it at least feels like it might be. i still can't listen to that song only one time whenever it comes on, i have to replay it at least once. it was my top song on spotify and i barely even fucking use spotify. can you tell im normal about the divine zero?

tl;dr - ptv are cool. im normal about them. thumbs up emoji.

a flair for the dramatic and selfish machines, while not having a big long story behind them, have been incredibly important to me during The Cold Covid as their songs are the main ones im obsessed with currently. some noteworthy songs off them are she sings in the morning/yeah boy and doll face (ok this one's kinda silly: i found out people found the first song through osu which i hadn't played in ages and these two was some of the first plays i got in a very long time so i currently hold them very close. fun fact: i like rhythm games!), wonderless/chemical kids and mechanical brides (INCREDIBLY calming to me, go tos when i need to lower my energy levels), million dollar houses (very closely connected to one of the two hold on till may connected ocs) and fast times at clairemont high (ok it's just a banger to me. the high notes make me fucking feral and i listened to the song 10 times in a row once. oops)

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