#basically feb is a trap

[celira]

it's either v cosmically rude or v convenient that the most significant traumatic events i've experienced in adulthood have stacked up between early feb and early march in any given year. body you can stop keeping the score any day now thx!!!

[rc-catalog]

It's that time again—our Creator of the Month event is back in full swing!

Our April Creator of the Month is @cursedbycain! 🎉 Please join us in giving a big round of applause to Aditi for her incredible creativity and contributions—this spotlight is so well deserved! 🌟 To help you get to know her better, we’ve put together a short interview where she shares a little bit about herself and her work ✨! Welcome to the COTM hall of fame, Aditi! We’re so excited to celebrate you this month and beyond! 🫶

💬 1) INTRODUCE YOURSELF! Tell us a little bit about who you are—not just your name, but what inspires you, what you love, and how you would describe yourself beyond your creations !!

🎤: I’m Aditi! I’m in my 20’s and I’m Indian Canadian! I am a chronic gym rat and probably the most annoying morning person you will ever meet. I love all things makeup/fashion/skincare and of course, Cain is basically the loml, despite being a blonde. My main inspiration is of course my loves Elle and Agatha (@kazu-naito and @agattthaa respectively). I make a lot of things either for them or because of them and I could probably talk about them forever so I’ll cut myself off here! There isn’t much else to know about me, pretty much all I do is gym, study, write, and clean. My friends like to refer to me as “insane” but i prefer “organized” so if that doesn’t sum it up, I’m not sure what will.

💬 2) WHEN AND HOW DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER ROMANCE CLUB? What drew you in, and what made you stay? Were there particular characters, stories, or moments that left a mark on you?

🎤: So my first interactive romance game was actually the Love Island game, and because of my interest in that subreddit, Reddit suggested the Romance Club sub! So I downloaded the app, started a story, instantly disliked the artstyle, and then forgot about it for a month! Then I tried it again and started with KFS for the Indian culture, fell absolutely HEAD over heels for Ram, and I was hooked! Funnily enough, I started playing during a diamond rush and thought the free diamond choices was some crazy glitch. But finding out that they have these events was so incredible that I couldn’t stop playing.

💬 3) HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN CREATING? Can be both RC related and in general! what first sparked your passion for it? Think back: when did you realize you wanted to create—whether it was writing, art, or something else?

🎤: In general—we’re coming up on probably 6 or 7 years? I have ALWAYS loved reading and when I discovered fanfic and how much I loved reading fics, I started to constantly come up with ideas and send them to people in asks (this has not changed) and eventually I would think—well instead of sending requests for other people to write things…why don’t I just write it myself? And then I did! I’ve been writing on and off since then, for various fandoms and people and I’ve always loved the outlet it gives me! For RC—I am quite new to the fandom in all honestly, I started playing right around the Feb update and I didn’t start making content until late March/beginning of April! I love participating in fandoms and this one is a bit smaller than I am used to, which meant not nearly enough fics to satisfy my insane urges, so I figured I would write some!! So technically I’ve been creating for a month but wow, it feels so much longer.

💬 4) DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST EVER CREATION? Again, can be RC related or in general! What was it, how did it feel to bring it to life, and looking back now, how do you feel about it?

🎤: I have a vague memory of my first fic, but it is so horrible that I’m gonna talk about my first RC creation instead! I started with a CainLane fic (who could’ve guessed) after yapping in Elle’s inbox about them for a month! I sent her an anon about the idea around the end of March, and then I wrote it! It was basically a fic about Lane being trapped in Baal’s domain and her small interactions with Cain! It was a random idea that came to me, and writing it was actually really satisfying! Characterizing Cain was slightly challenging since it was my first time writing him, and I hate writing things that are OOC, but after some satisfying workshopping, it turned out quite nicely! I hadn’t written fanfiction in about a year, and it shows in that fic, but honestly I still like the way it turned out!

💬 5) IS THERE A PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO YOUR YOUNGER CREATIVE SELF? Or readers in general?

🎤: This is gonna sound so cheesy, but have fun!! I used to literally burn myself out trying to stick to scheduled fic postings and crazy challenges, and writing would almost feel like a chore? Don’t let that happen to you. Above all, creating should make YOU happy. Even if something gets no notes, if you’re proud of it and creating it made you feel good, it’s a win. Everytime my friends mention their “flops” (oh yeah I’m calling you out) I wanna shake them because it really does not matter! NEVER let that kind of stuff discourage you. Focus on creating things that fulfill YOU and not others, because as wonderful as external validation feels, internal validation is so much more important.

💬 6) CHOOSE 3-5 OF YOUR FAVOURITE WORKS AND RAMBLE AWAY! We want all the behind-the-scenes thoughts: What do these pieces mean to you? What inspired them? Were there any struggles you faced while creating them? What emotions or memories are tied to them now?

🎤: Giving me permission to yap is so dangerous of you guys, alright lets do this! In no particular order:

Haircut - Cain x Lane — This fic holds a very special place in my heart because domestic fics are my absolute favourite. I also consider this to be my first proper CainLane fic since it’s in third person and more in character. Like many of my fics, it was inspired by something Elle said about how hilariously well groomed they are in HSR. It was such a funny idea, giving an immortal angel a haircut in the middle of a literal apocalypse that I just really wanted to bring it to life! Sometimes I find it hard to characterize Lane in relaxed moments like this, since the poor girl is always so stressed but it fell into place quite well! I also LOVE to incorporate found family moments of the squad into my fic and I pictured the ending of this one a lot. This fic is still so comforting to me and I honestly love it.

Rooftop - Cain x Lane — You know, you might as well call this interview an ode to Elle with the way she’s inspired all of my stuff. Once again, this is all her doing. I was halfway through my treadmill routine when I checked tumblr and saw her message and damn near fell off. No good morning message, just “lol, imagine lane finds cain crying alone and he immediately puts the mask back on when he notices”. There was nothing funny about this, I cannot believe she started this with lol. Anyways, I had already been left wanting by the rooftop scene in the update (seriously, we couldn’t get a kiss or something?), so I figured I would, in fact, write the loml crying because well, everyone needs a good cry. This was my first time writing Cain being vulnerable, and it took some workshopping. He’s such a guarded character, and crying felt almost OOC for him, so I wanted to make it feel right, which I think I managed! This one really does mean a lot to me. I really enjoy writing vulnerable moments like this, especially with Cain. As Agatha likes to say, he’s just a doll Elle likes to poke and I have joined her in said poking.

Eternity - Cain x Lane — Okay this is just embarrassing now uh this is ALSO inspired by Elle. She told me to make him cry again and I said “well, give me a reason” and she did, and I wrote it in less than two days. So this is probably the best fic I’ve ever written. I wanted to extend the scene where Cain visits her in s2 and sleeps on her lap, and just flesh it out. Elle, of course, brought up Lane’s mortality and how Cain would think about that and his feelings about it. Of course, the thought of this made me cry, and then I wrote him crying. I’ve never written a fic this descriptive and like flowery. It made me really nervous, but I loved the way it turned out. I probably edited it over 10 times to get all the metaphors and feelings of pain in there. Cain is a really complex character, which is part of the reason I love writing him, but it also means I am always doubting my characterization of him. With some lovely help from Agatha, I managed to work out his crying in a rather beautiful way, if I do say so myself. I honestly find myself rereading this fic whenever I’m particularly in a sad mood and just want to wallow a bit. The ending always makes me feel better though, and I always come back to it.

Unlocked - Yan x Lane — This is probably one of the fics I reread the most. I may be a dmitryan truther but don’t get me wrong…Dmitry can’t handle all that and I can! I honestly just love Yan, I think he’s such a sweet character and I just really wanted to expand on this small moment we got in the update. In a book like HSR I am always cravingggg these happy moments so this was a very self indulgent fic. The premise of this one was very random tbh, I kinda just let it come to me as I was writing. Normally I have a vague plot when I start a fic but with this one I was just like, well he’ll get in there and figure it out. I wanted there to be some smut but it didn’t feel right in the context of the scene. I was also very nervous writing this one because there are no YanLane fics on here, so I was really going in blind. Normally, I like to read a few fics to see how other people characterize who I’m writing about before I do my take. I was honestly surprised this did well, I didn’t realize YanLane was popular at all. But more importantly, I really like it! It’s a very comforting soft fic for me to reread.

Hate me harder - Cassiel x Audrey (18+) — Okay a wonderful change of pace here, this one was for Agatha not Elle! She tolerates so much CainLane from the both of us that I had to write this for her. She made a post about how Cassiel and Audrey should have slept together in season 1, and I was just very inspired by it? I think that’s my favourite thing about writing, if I want something to happen, I can just write it happening. The scene in the hallway where he tells her, “I’m gonna lock you in a closet” was genuinely so funny to me. They have such good chemistry in that first season, I love a good enemies to lovers moment. I hadn’t written full smut in a long time so I actually had to go back and consult some of my old smut fics and jog my memory a bit! But the banter during the sex was actually really easy to write, I really enjoyed that part of it. I don’t reread this one as often but I do really like it. I hope to write more for them but their dynamic doesn’t come to me as easily as CainLane and YanLane, which is probably because I’ve played HSR almost ten times now. But ABH is definitely a banger for me so I’m excited to see the ending and write some more Audriel.

🌟 Thank you so much for joining us, Aditi, and for sharing your incredible creativity with us! Your work has truly enriched the RC fandom, and we’re so grateful for everything you’ve contributed. Keep creating, inspiring, and making this community even more amazing! And a huge thank you to you, the reader!! You help us keep the catalog going strong. We appreciate you being a part of this amazing journey! 💛

[writing-for-life]

The Annotated Sandman—Random Nuggets #12

Whenever we discuss an issue in our community, I finish off the week with a few tidbits of information from Leslie Klinger’s Annotated Sandman. So far, I’ve only posted them to the group (you can find the previous ones up until #11 collected under their requisite issue here), but I thought I’d change things up a bit and also post them to my blog.

So here we go with some additional info about “Playing House”—these are direct quotes, but by far not all of them (just a small selection per issue)…

About Lyta Hall…

NG comments in his notes, "The focus is on Lyta in the doll's house, so her existence becomes a metaphor for women trapped at home, tranquilized." In the final script, NG admits: "I'm getting sort of nervous now. Having begun this episode, I suddenly realised what it was about and how to tell it and so forth, which means I'm going back and starting again with not an awful lot of time to go, telling the story from Lyta's viewpoint.

What had been bugging me about this storyline was that it didn't quite seem to fit into “The Doll's House”, which is basically an extended essay about the roles of people and houses, and also about the role and treatment and ignoring of women in contemporary society.

And as I wrote I suddenly realised that there was one character in the storyline whom I was ignoring—Lyta, 'the wife,' who had become almost a cipher in the plot, just drifting in the background vaguely. And what was so irritating about my earlier attempts to write episode 12 was that they lacked focus in terms of whose story this was—Hector's, Jed’s, the baddies, whose? And suddenly I knew it was Lyta's and all the previous worries I'd had about the story were gone. To be replaced by a whole new set of worries—basically, how the hell to get this written in time....

Lyta is a rich girl, a second-generation superheroine who went into the family business because it was expected of her. She got pregnant, then discovered her apparently dead girlhood sweetheart was not dead but living in the dream world, and only able to come out for an hour a day. She married him, and went to join him in the dream world, and since then... since then she's been living in his dreamworld. She never sees any of her old friends. She never sees anyone except him. She dresses pretty, but she's six months pregnant, and she doesn't think he loves her any more.

She's vaguely looking forward to the birth of her child, but it's been a few years, and even though she knows that everything'll be better when they're a family again, and her husband isn't quite so busy, she's beginning to worry that maybe the baby isn't coming. And she has everything she wants, she supposes, or she is told, but she never gets to do anything, except tidy the dream dome, and she feels and acts like she's been lobotomized.

She walks around numb and unable to feel or to think clearly. And although this is highly fanciful comics stuff, it doesn't take a huge leap to see how it relates to real life; everyone's met one or two intelligent, able women whose lives simply stopped when they got married.

Sometimes, as with Lyta, they eventually got thrown back into the real world, and had to pick up the pieces, and sometimes they didn't.”

What About the Other Sandman?

Kirby's Sandman uses a device, the Universal Dream Monitor, to watch over the dreams of humans. As the “Universal Master of Dreams,” he is able to enter their dreams. He carries a pouch of sand on his belt, to put people to sleep.2

"Mister Sanford" is Garrett Sandford, who in Wonder Woman #300 (Feb. 1983) reveals that he is the Sandman of the Jack Kirby series. (The character's origin is not revealed in the Kirby series itself, and the "d" from the original spelling of "Sandford" was, presumably, dropped inadvertantly.) Dr. Sandford headed a sleep research project at U.C.L.A. There he created a "Dream Monster" machine that enabled him to "read" the dreams of participants in the project as they slept.

When the President of the U.S. was entrapped in the Dream Dimension, Sandford rescued him but was unable to return from the Dream Dimension. The government sent him the Universal Dream Monitor, and he took the identity of the "Golden Age" Sandman created by Wesley Dodds (see 1.18.4–that’s issue 1).

Adam West’s Sandman… or was it Batman?

NG comments in the script, "Incidentally, I just realised, my whole sort of mental casting for Hector Hall is Adam West playing Batman in the TV show, delivering really dumb lines as if he believes in them 100%."

About Hector Hall (and Lyta)…

Hector Hall is the son of Carter Hall (the Hawkman) and Shiera Hall (Hawkgirl), Golden Age superheroes.

As a child, he played with Lyta Trevor, daughter of Fury (see 11.5-5–that’s “Moving In”). Hector attended U.C.L.A. with Lyta, and they dated and eventually married. Hector was cursed with the doom of his parents and became the Silver Scarab, eventually fighting Infinity, Inc., the organization of superheroes that he and Lyta helped to organize; he died in the battle, with Lyta bearing his child.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

In this and the following panel we can see part of a slogan on the wall, "Who watches the.." Of course, “Who watches the watchmen?” (originally drawn from Plato's The Republic and the Roman poet Juvenal) is famously the slogan of Alan Moore's pioneering Watchmen.

She is Fury, After All…

"Lyta has thrown herself at the Sandman," comments NG in the script. "She is, as I remember, terrifyingly strong and fast."

NG continues, "Lyta has crashed into the opposite wall. What's actually happened is she's gone straight through the Sandman. He hasn't moved except to turn to look at her. She obviously hit the wall fairly hard, with her shoulder, and is on the floor."

[imzadi-caskett-huddy]

It Started With a Kiss (4/?)

Thanks so much to everyone for continuing to follow this story, and for all the kind words! I know you guys don’t like what’s going on with the Josh storyline. But trust me...I promise you…I will never write a fic where Beckett ends up with Josh…so just show a little patience, and I promise he will go away.

This chapter deals with the episodes “Setup” and “Countdown.” I’m going ahead and combining them, because when I view the episodes, I basically view them as one story, even though it is a 2-parter. The original airdate for “Setup” was Feb 21, so it takes place only about a week after the last chapter in the timeline.

I still don’t own Castle…

xxxxx

It had been a week since Valentine’s Day…since she’d given in to her desires and kissed him. She had known better; she normally had much better control of herself than that. She didn’t know what she had been thinking; or more accurately, she hadn’t allowed herself to think it through or second guess her actions at all…that was the problem. She couldn’t believe she had done something so…so…juvenile. Thank goodness his daughter had come home when she did, or Kate didn’t know how far she might have gone that night.

In the days since the kiss, neither of them had brought it up. In fact, it had been pretty light on murders, so Castle had barely been at the precinct; he was never one for paperwork. That suited her just fine now; when he was there, she was always careful to make sure she wasn’t alone with him in any kind of setting that wasn’t entirely professional. When they were working, her comments were strictly professional.

She could tell he wanted to bring it up to talk, but she never gave him the chance, and thankfully, he followed her lead. She preferred to keep her work life and her personal life separate; it was easier for her to compartmentalize that way. And it had worked up until now. But Castle…her feelings for Castle, and his feelings for her…blurred the line between her personal and professional worlds because he touched both aspects of her life, and it was no longer simply a physical attraction between them. Then there was Josh…Castle had witnessed her fighting with Josh in the precinct…somewhere she wouldn’t have normally had the argument with him, but the doctor had showed up and insisted on talking to her anyway.

And then there was this case…this case, which currently had her trapped in a hazmat tent with Castle, who was freaking out a little bit about a nuclear bomb after her radiation detector had maxed out. This was not the way her life was supposed to go. She found herself wondering, and not for the first time that week, how the hell she had ended up in such a mess.

“Castle, we don’t know that it’s a bomb,” she tried to reassure him. But of course, she knew that he could very well be right. Her detector had maxed out…that was never a good sign. But at

least one of them needed to try to remain calm, and as a cop, clearly that was going to have to be her.

“Well, we will in that nanosecond before it goes off and we’re vaporized,” he countered. “I’m sorry…it’s just the writer in me going to the worst-case scenario,” he apologized as he came over and sat across from her.

She sighed, looking at the gloves she was holding in her hands as she sat and waited. “Can we just talk about something else?”

“Yeah,” Castle nodded. “How’s Josh?” he asked almost cautiously. Normally he wouldn’t dare bring up the detective’s boyfriend, but after witnessing the argument between her and the doctor at the precinct of all places, he couldn’t help but wonder just how strong their relationship was. Maybe they were on the outs, which might bode well for him.

Josh. When she had suggested they talk about something else, that wasn’t what she’d had in mind. She hadn’t expected him to ask about her relationship with the doctor. “Fine,” she answered simply. “He’s on his way to Haiti to do another Doctors Without Borders mission.”

Castle did his best to remain calm and casual with that information, especially since it seemed like something Kate was not happy about. “How long?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She was quiet for a few minutes, toying with the gloves in her hands. “It’s funny, Castle. You know, at first I loved that he was so busy. It just…it gave me an opportunity to keep one foot out the door just in case,” she sighed.

“But with one foot out the door, it’s hard to know where you stand,” he pointed out.

“And even if I did, I mean, what does it mean? He’s out there. He’s saving people. How do you even compete with that?” she asked, clearly frustrated.

“You can’t,” he shook his head. “No one can.”

“That’s one of the things that attracted me to him the most, you know?” she looked up at him. “That…passion. That…drive. Why is it that the thing that attracts you to a person always ends up being that thing that just drives you crazy?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. She took a deep breath and looked back at her gloves. “I just wish that it…I wish that I had someone who would be there for me, and I could be there for him, and we could just dive into it together.”

Castle remained silent for a moment, at war with himself over whether to speak up or just try to reassure her. “You do,” he finally stated quietly. “You have someone who will be there for you…always.”

His words had her eyes flying to his immediately. This is not the time, Castle. She tried to will him to stop talking, but that had never worked the entire time she’d known him.

“You have a choice. It’s actually kind of simple. I know you care about him…he’s a doctor, he saves lives, on paper you guys are perfect…and I’m sure he’s really great. He certainly doesn’t make it easy to hate him," he began quietly. "And I know I’m just a writer; I don’t save lives, or even really make the world a better place. But we don’t live our lives on paper. And Kate…I love you. In a really, frustratingly big, follow you into danger, be willing to die with you, take a bullet for you, unfortunate way that sometimes makes me hate you, love you. So pick me. Choose me. Love me.”

Kate’s eyes widened, and she stared at him. What the hell was he doing? What the hell was she supposed to say to that?

Thankfully she was saved from having to formulate some kind of response when a hazmat worker unzipped the tent and came inside to talk to them. “You’re free to go.”

Castle looked from Beckett’s face to the worker with a look that hopefully conveyed his frustration at what the man was interrupting. “We…we are?” Because he could have used another few minutes in here with her away from the case and everything else.

“What about the radiation?” Beckett asked after finding her voice.

“We found residual traces of Cobalt 60 in the storage unit, but not enough to cause any health problems,” the worker explained, looking between the two of them before leaving.

Beckett stood with a smile. They were okay, and that meant she could get back to the case. It meant she could focus on something other than her love life, the unwilling love triangle she’d found herself in, and Castle’s speech. Pick him? Choose him? Love him? She couldn't deal with this now…not in the middle of a case. She needed to think…preferably over a few bottles of wine with Lanie as her sounding board.

Castle stood as well, gritting his teeth in frustration at the interruption. They had been so close to having to talk about their relationship. “Kate…” he tried, gently touching her elbow.

Montgomery walked into the tent, interrupting again before she could (had to?) say anything. “Detective Beckett, Castle, we’re all real glad you’re okay.”

“Thank you, Sir. So are we. I’m confused, though. Is this just a false alarm?” she asked, giving her captain her full attention.

“Not exactly,” he shook his head. “If you’re feeling up to it, we could really use you back at the precinct. I can fill you in on the way.”

Castle wanted to scream at the second interruption, but his curiosity was now piqued. “Those traces of Cobalt 60…where did they come from?” he asked.

“We think there was a second crate at the storage unit which contained large quantities of Cobalt 60. We found wire and crimp on connectors, which leads us to believe the crate was outfitted with explosives,” Montgomery explained.

“A bomb?” Beckett asked.

Montgomery’s face was deadly serious. “A dirty bomb.”

She swallowed hard at that news. “Where is it now?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” Montgomery exited the tent.

Beckett made a move to follow, but Castle touched her elbow. “Kate…”

She shook her head. “Not now, Castle. We have to find the bomb,” she told him simply, following her captain out of the tent and leaving Castle no choice but to follow her silently and wait until the case was over.

xxxxx

Castle slowly opened his eyes, groggy and clueless as to where he was. After a few moments, he was able to take in his surroundings and realized he was in a medical facility. Slowly, the events started coming back to him. The bomb. The freezer. Kate! “Where is she?” he began struggling to get up.

“Sir, you need to calm down,” a paramedic struggled with him, trying to push him back on the stretcher.

“Where is she?” he struggled some more, realizing he wasn’t in a medical facility at all, but was in the back of an ambulance.

“She’s going to be fine,” he heard a familiar male voice. When the man stepped up into the ambulance, it was confirmed that Josh was indeed the owner of the voice, much to Castle’s chagrin. “You’re both going to be fine. We got you just in time,” he assured him.

This was almost a nightmare scenario…Beckett’s boyfriend having to save his life. Great. One more thing to not be able to hate him about. The only silver lining in this was that she was fine;

her boyfriend made sure she was fine. “Josh,” he stated. It wasn’t really a greeting…just a comment…an acknowledgment of sorts.

Josh studied him for a moment. “So you’re recovering from a moderate case of hypothermia. You’re going to be a little bit sluggish for awhile. But, with some warmth and fluids, you should be alright.” He was a complete professional, his personal feelings for the writer not withstanding.

“I thought you were in Haiti,” Castle commented.

The doctor shrugged. “Didn’t go. It wasn’t worth losing her over a couple of months in Haiti,” he stated simply. “I stayed for her,” he added in a tone that sounded a lot like he was claiming her and warning Castle to back off.

Castle had to swallow hard at the man’s words. He obviously cared very deeply about Kate as well. He felt like the way Josh spoke to him, telling him he had stayed for her in the tone he used, was almost like he knew Castle had feelings for her. Then again, what sane man wouldn’t develop feelings for her after spending any time around her?

“This is going to hurt,” Josh warned him, taking his IV out and putting a bandage over the mark. “Let’s get you up,” he added, pulling on Castle’s arm and using his hand at his back to guide him to a sitting position. “Alright, just move slowly,” he warned him, hopping down out of the ambulance.

After talking with Ryan and Espo to find out if they got the bomb and how they found them, he spotted Beckett leaning against a car, wrapped in a blanket. He climbed down from the ambulance with his own blanket and approached her, leaning next to her against the car. “So…your boy is back in town…” he started, trying to get a read on her after everything they’d been through in the past couple of days…everything he’d said to her, everything she’d almost said in that freezer.

“Mm-hmm. He came back,” she nodded, avoiding looking at him.

“What does that mean to you?” Castle had to ask her.

“Come on. Agent Fallon wants to debrief,” she answered, completely avoiding his question. This was not the time or place to have that discussion. They were still in the middle of a case. She wasn’t going to delve into her personal life until they had found the bomb; she couldn’t. She hadn’t even had time to process everything…including nearly dying. He was going to have to give her some time to just…think.

They passed along the information they had to Fallon, and when Beckett asked if they could rejoin the task force, Fallon had told her it was up to her doctor. So Castle had watched like a

sad puppy as she sauntered over to her boyfriend to get him to medically clear them. He had to look away as he saw her lean into Josh, her fingers curling at the opening of his jacket.

“You know, it’s funny. When I first met you two, I thought you two were together,” Fallon commented.

Castle turned away completely from the sight of Kate and Josh together, trying to school his expression. “No,” he said, but he couldn’t keep the sad tone out of his voice. “Just friends…partners,” he answered.

“Get cleaned up. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

Castle nodded and looked up just in time to see Josh and Beckett share a soft kiss before turning his eyes back to the ground and walking away. He needed to find a ride to his apartment; he needed to get away from there.

xxxxx

“Fallon, do you know how to diffuse a bomb?” Beckett asked into her phone, trying her best to remain calm despite the fact that she and Castle were staring at the time that was quickly ticking down to a minute.

“Where are you?” Fallon asked.

“We’re at 55th and 11th,” she answered.

“I’d have to see it. Can you send a picture?” he answered back when he realized he was too far away to make it in time.

“Yeah. Yeah, hold on,” she took a couple pictures with her phone and sent them to the man on the other side of the conversation. “They’re uploading now.”

“45 seconds,” Castle informed them.

“You got it?” she asked, beginning to pray for a miracle at this point.

“It’s opening,” Fallon answered.

“Fallon?”

“Yeah…hang on!” he replied, trying to see something, anything, in the pictures she sent him.

Castle continued the countdown. “30 seconds.”

“Fallon?!” she asked, using every bit of police training she had to keep the panic out of her voice.

“I can’t see anything. I’m sorry…I’m sorry,” the agent apologized.

Beckett put her phone down and took a deep breath. This was it. They were going to die…together. The regrets of things she would miss, things she hadn’t said to people she cared about, the future she wouldn’t have now…and memories…so many memories…the laughter, laughing with the boys at the precinct, playing poker with the boys at Castle’s loft, joining the group for drinks at The Old Haunt...all came crashing around her; then there was his face, his smile, the way he looked at her…and it hit her like lightning. “Castle…” she started softly, so many things she wanted to say to him in the mere seconds they had left, but she didn’t have the words.

Castle took her hand and swallowed hard, giving her one last look. If they were going to die, she was going to be the last thing he saw. He grabbed all the wires connected to the bomb and yanked them, turning his back in anticipation of blowing them both up. When nothing happened, he turned and saw the time on zero.

“Castle!” Beckett immediately hugged him tightly in relief. Somehow, his dumb luck had saved them…again.

He returned her hug as they laughed a little to let out some of the tension they were both still feeling. “Yes!” he said, relief and adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Back at the precinct, they had gathered in a conference room with celebratory beers, Beckett describing the events as they had unfolded. After Fallon had shown up and pulled Castle and Beckett away to say his official goodbye, Castle studied her for a moment. He was still feeling pretty high on life…and lucky. “Hell of a day, huh?” he asked her.

She nodded with a smile. “Hell of a day.”

“You know, I was thinking…” he started. He heard the ding of the elevator and spotted the all too familiar sight of the tall, dark, and handsome doctor approaching over her shoulder.

Josh came up behind Beckett before Castle could finish what he was saying. “Oh, hey,” she greeted him, giving into the hug he pulled her into. Even in the hug, her eyes met with Castle’s, silently offering an apology.

“You ready?” Josh asked with a smile.

She pulled back from the hug and gave Castle a small smile. “See you tomorrow?”

Castle swallowed hard but forced a smile for her. “Goodnight,” he told her.

Josh put his arm around her as they walked toward the elevator. When they got inside and turned, her eyes met Castle's again and she gave him an almost sad look.

He held her gaze as the elevator doors closed, realizing that he had gambled, overplayed his hand, and lost. She picked Josh. She chose Josh. She loved Josh.

xxxxx

The ride to Kate’s apartment was silent, but Josh didn’t think anything of it. He knew how Kate could be, and considering the day she’d had, he figured she just needed some silence to process everything, so he didn’t push. They entered her apartment in the same silence. She pulled off her jacket and headed to her bedroom to store her badge and gun before returning to the kitchen.

Josh had poured her a glass of wine and set it on the counter for her. She took a seat on the stool behind it quietly, watching him as he leaned back against her counter with his beer. When he gave her a smile, she looked down at her wine glass. “I think you should go to Haiti.”

Josh just stared at her, his smile fading. “What?” he asked.

“I think you should take the Doctors Without Borders mission and go to Haiti,” she repeated, looking up to meet his eyes.

“But you said you needed someone who would be here for you, that if I left that we were basically over...” he shook his head, studying her, trying to figure out what had changed. Seeing the sad look in her eyes, he knew. “Oh…” he realized; she was breaking up with him. He placed his beer bottle on the counter, clenching his jaw.

“Josh…I’m sorry…this just isn’t…”

“This is about him, isn’t it?”

“Josh…” she started.

“Are you sleeping with him, Kate?” he interrupted as his anger flared up.

“What? No!” she slid off her stool, her own anger flaring at the accusation. They’d had this fight before…so often that she knew he was referring to Castle without even having to say the name.

“Then what? You’ve just been lying to me this whole time? I knew…I knew there was something

more between the two of you, but this entire time you’ve insisted that you’re just friends.”

“I haven’t lied to you!” she shot back angrily. “This isn’t about Castle…”

“The hell it’s not! I turned down the Haiti offer to stay here…because you wanted me to be here. I chose you over my career, Kate…and after a couple of days of running around with Writer Boy, you’ve suddenly changed your mind?” he vented.

“Josh…that’s not how it happened…”

“Then how did it happen, Kate? How did we go from you being happy I stayed a day ago to telling me I need to leave? Tell me…how did it happen?”

She was silent then, pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn’t know how to answer that because she didn’t even know how it happened…or when. “I don’t know, okay?” she finally admitted.

He sighed, running his hands over his face. “Are you in love with him?” he finally asked her after a few minutes, his initial wave of anger having subsided for the moment. When she didn’t answer to deny it, it was as good as a yes. “Did you ever love me? Did you even try?”

“Don’t do this, Josh…” she shook her head. “I like you…I care about you…deeply.” But it wasn’t enough…not anymore. Not when she knew she wasn’t being fair to him.

“But you don’t love me,” he stated.

“I’m sorry…” she apologized, a few stray tears sliding down her cheeks.

He inhaled deeply and nodded, slowly releasing his breath. “Yeah…” he murmured.

“You’re a great guy, Josh. For what it’s worth, I did want this to work out,” she told him honestly.

“Me too.” He moved closer to her and dropped a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Goodbye, Kate,” he sighed. “I hope Writer Boy knows how lucky he is,” he murmured. And then he let himself out of her apartment.

She walked over to the door now that he was gone and locked it before leaning her back against it and closing her eyes. A couple more tears slipped out of her eyes, running down her cheeks as she slowly slid down the door to sit on the floor. What a hell of a day.

xxxxx

Where are my Grey’s fans at? I know you guys recognized where I got the concept for

Castle’s little speech. I’ve been watching early Grey’s Anatomy and when I saw that scene, I wanted to do my own version of it…but Beckett is NOT the “pick me, choose me, love me” type. However, much to my good fortune, Castle is…at least in this case I think.

And I told you Josh wouldn’t be around forever!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I look forward to your thoughts for those of you who choose to comment!

[eclecticlabyrinth]

( cillian murphy, 40, cis man, he/him ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that LARS WOLFHART is a PROFESSOR & RESEARCHER that works in SECTOR 5. According to the file, they’re a mutant with the power of DREAM CREATION. That must be why they’re PATIENT and UNYIELDING. If you ask me, they remind me of an endless array of books on anatomy, shuffled with ungraded papers ; a string of curses from an accented voice ; the slip of slumber and an ease like laying on clouds ; a stern face and a gentle voice, littered with a slight rasp. They are affiliated with THE MUTANT’S SOCIETY.

❝ i’m not above anyone. nothing’s truly sacred. ❞

the basics

character name: laurentius sorazel wolfhart. nickname(s): lars. professor hart. dr. wolfhart. sand man [jokingly]. face claim: cillian murphy. mutation status: gen i. birthday: feb 23rd. sexuality: bisexual. moral alignment: chaotic good. occupation: professor & researcher. work sector: sector five. affiliation: the mutants’ society.

introspective. independent. individualistic.

private. callous. dismissive.

NOW PLAYING ✦ WOULD THAT I HOZIER

questionaire :

— ☁︎ how do they feel about living in sol city?

it’s complicated. on one hand, he feels incredibly indebted to it, as a source of many of his childhood memories and the place where, for a short while, he dreamed of raising his daughter. on the other hand, recent events have led to him feeling trapped here. though he knows the door is always open for him to leave, there’s a sense of obligation he can’t entirely escape, especially when it comes to assisting younger mutants, though his methods aren’t always entirely kind.

— ☁︎ have they always lived there or did they travel from another settlement?

he’s always lived here, however, his father did occupy another settlement before moving their family up up to sol city. though lars has always felt that “moving” was a funny word for it. long story short, his father was anything but a good man and it was only a matter of time before someone or someone(s) got pretty sick of it. even if old age seemed to keep him out of trouble during the last decade of his life, the man made a name for himself as a terrible husband and an even worse father. in some ways, lars came to understood the pity others felt him in his teenage years. boy with no mother, boy with a devil for a father. people may just have a good enough memory to remember what it was like but with his death came forgetfulness— something lars became grateful for.

— ☁︎ do they trust the council’s leadership? why or why not?

no. he looks at them and sees wasted potential. however, lars feels inclined to believe that— with all his history with sol city, that they have the opportunity to be better than what they are now. they benefit too much from being in charge, to the point where it feels disingenuous. however, he hardly believes in separation or the idea that factions are necessary for individualism and fairness.

— ☁︎ if they chose their sector and profession, why did they make that choice? if they didn’t, why not? were they happy with their assignment or not?

his reasonings, while cliche, have merit and authenticity to them, wanting to not only advocate for willing subjects but teach the younger ones. to anyone who may not know him, however, he can come off quite cold and insistent. is it a lack of social awareness or a lack of caring about other’s opinions of him? a mix of both, really. however, he does have a soft spot for younger faces, it comes naturally to him as an educator and once, a father.

— ☁︎ what’s one object that they always keep on their person?

he wears his mother’s golden pendant around his neck, engraved with a cross alongside the center of it. get close enough and one might see that it opens, revealing a photo of a little girl with bright blue eyes and red hair. his daughter.

— ☁︎ what is your character’s ability (or abilities)?

not only can he put people to sleep, but he can also create dreams for them depending on their wants, desires, and on some occasions, needs. for overnight subjects [ on the rare occasion he works with them, that is], he tends to use his abilities most, believing that understanding what many of them want is the key to helping them adjust with their powers. through this he can also move through and communicate to people in their dreams.

— ☁︎ are they gen i or gen ii?

gen ii.

— ☁︎ what can your character do? what are their strengths?

being knowledgable mutants comes with many perks, allowing him to appear personable to their situations and almost easy to talk to despite his standoffishness. furthermore, he’s won a bar fight or two, thanks to liquid luck and pure arrogance, having grown up scrappy. his abilities, at times, allows him a direct understanding of a person and their inner struggles.

— ☁︎ what can’t they do? what are their weaknesses?

he can’t use his abilities on anyone awake and in order to put them to sleep, he has to have some form of contact with them for at least five seconds. i.e holding hands, touch on a shoulder. but he has to have the intention of putting them to sleep— it won’t happen spontaneously. his abilities also work poorly when he’s upset or sick. primarily due to a lack of focus so much of the dreams he creates will come up muddy. lastly, he himself does not dream, with much of his slumber occupied by nightmares of the past or nothing at all.

— ☁︎ is there anything else you’d like to specify about them?

he is a professor of molecular biology and genetics, alongside anatomy. technically referred to as doctor wolfhart, due to his phd.

[strangerocsbymouse]

oc — willa carter 🌷

FULL NAME ;

Willa Grace Carter

D.O.B ;

feb. 11th, 1967

PRONOUNS ;

she/her

SEXUALITY ;

lesbian (closeted)

PERSONALITY ;

a little soft spoken, and deeply closeted with internalized lesbiphobia, but at the end of the day all she wants is love. the first time she was scared of herself was when she met Chrissy Cunningham in middle school, and realized she liked her as way more than a best friend. she can be a little mean when it comes to her internalized issues, but she's slowly accepting herself and her feelings towards Robin.

MAIN SHIP ;

Robin Buckley — ship name; Rowilla

RELATIONSHIPS ;

Robin Buckley (friend/crush) Chrissy Cunningham † (best friend/former crush) Steve Harrington (friend) Andy (ex-boyfriend/enemy) Jason Carver † (enemy) Vickie (friend) Heather Holloway † (friend) Billy Hargrove † (hook-up/enemy) Eddie Munson (friend/former enemy) Dustin Henderson (friend) Nellie Barnes (frenemy) Amber Hargrove (friend)

FACE CLAIM ;

Olivia Scott Welch

GENERAL BACKSTORY ;

Early Life — The youngest of 8 siblings, Willa felt mostly ignored and overlooked for a lot of her life. She found herself doing general athletics to keep herself busy and entertained, which is what gave her an interest in cheer. 1978-1981 — Willa met her best friend, Chrissy Cunningham, in middle school, and the two became close. Where she couldn't find solace at home, she found spending time with Chrissy, including doing cheer together. They always tried out for the cheer squad together, often spending lunch and recess practicing their routines and dancing around. The first time she noticed her feelings for Chrissy, was during the talent show, when Chrissy had a strange draw to the guitar playing Eddie Munson, and felt incredibly jealous. 1981-1984 — Confused and conflicted about the feelings she was having towards her best friend, Willa began dating a Tigers basketball player, Andy, around the same time Chrissy began dating Jason Carver. In high school, she also found herself spending more time with Robin Buckley, who most people thought was quite weird, in some of her classes. Willa quickly began to develop those same confusing feelings for Robin, she talked a lot, she was so hyper, but Willa found that endearing. Spending so much time with "weird" Robin, eventually led to Andy and Willa breaking up. Angry, and still trying to convince herself she was straight, she slept with Billy Hargrove at a party, but basically never spoke to him again. 1985 — Willa got a summer job at Starcourt, she and Chrissy were working at Fashion Bug, and she would often stop by Scoops Ahoy to go say hi to Robin, where Steve would flirt with her which would make Robin pretty annoyed. When Scoops was closed for over a day, Willa got very worried, unbeknownst to her that they were trapped with Dustin Henderson and Erica Sinclair. She found Steve and Robin after they snuck out of "Back To The Future" where they were drugged and drinking from a water fountain, and asked where the hell they'd been. Robin, still drugged, explained the whole thing about the secret code, and the elevator, and everything that'd happened. When she found out all of that was true, and about everything that'd gone on over the years, she chose to stay and help, becoming a member of the Scoops Troop, to take down the Mind Flayer and Billy Hargrove. She then ended up getting a job at Family Video alongside Steve and Robin with Starcourt long gone. 1986 — Willa split her time pretty evenly between hanging out with Chrissy, and hanging out with Robin and Steve. She was jealous, knowing Robin liked Vickie, but didn't know how to approach it. She was also becoming increasingly worried about Chrissy, but she would continuously insisted she was fine. When she found out about Chrissy's demise, she was absolutely devastated. Of course, she at first blamed Eddie, until she confronted him while her friends tried to find him, and discovered he was innocent. Upon finding out the symptoms of potential Vecna targets, she was wary, while feeling guilty for not being there for Chrissy. She participated in the dive down to the Upside Down upon Steve being attacked by demobats, diving in immediately after Robin. After leaving through the gate in Eddie's trailer, she felt the headache and got a nose bleed, and discovered she was a backup target if he couldn't get to Max - so she grabbed her walkman and her favourite tape to be safe. She also participated in taking down Vecna, going back into the Upside Down with Robin, Nancy, and Steve to the Creel house.

LINKS ;

Spotify playlist Pinterest board

cheer divider by strangergraphics © strangerocsbymouse all rights reserved !

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Sadly, not enough of the world has paid attention to the plight of Gazans at the hands of Hamas. Now in a series of video testimonies the world can hear the voices of actual Gazans speaking out.

By: Yoseph Haddad

Published: Feb 5, 2023

It has been more than 15 years since the US and EU-designated terror group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, throwing Palestinians with whom they disagreed from rooftops in the process.

Some in the West know already that Hamas and its leaders are Islamist terrorists that seek to destroy everything the West and Israel stand for: democratic values, freedom of speech and the press, and of course, LGBTQ and women’s rights. Sadly, not enough of the world has paid attention to the plight of Gazans at the hands of Hamas.

Now, in an unprecedented series of video testimonies called “Whispered in Gaza,” the entire world can hear the voices of actual Gazans speaking out about what life is like under the terrorist dictatorship in Gaza.

[ Hamas’ oppressive rule over women doesn’t allow Gaza’s girls or women to sing or dance in public (Credit: Center for Peace Communications) ]

As an Arab Israeli myself, who fought against Hamas in Gaza, it’s no surprise to me to hear these devastating testimonies of what I know Gazans experience under Hamas every day. Yet for years, many outside of Israel have not understood the barbarity and cruelty that Palestinians in Gaza face – not at the hands of Israel, but at the hands of their own tyrannical leaders: Hamas.

It’s hard to ignore the truth when Gazans themselves are speaking out, uncensored. In these clips, you can hear Palestinians sharing for the first time how Hamas steals money from civilians and private businesses, how they crush and imprison any person or group that calls for policy changes, and how, just as in the Islamic Republic of Iran, women are not allowed to sing, dance, or even hold hands with men in public.

The United Nations and its envoys, rapporteurs and investigators rarely comment (if ever) on how Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields in their fight against the Israel Defense Forces, but now that Palestinian civilians are sharing the horrors of living under Hamas, will the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres actually say something? Will the Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, condemn Hamas, or does her anti-Israel obsession make her blind to the suffering of Gazans under the Islamist terror group?

How about the foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, and other European countries? Will they take the time to hear the voices of the people of Gaza and listen to the hardships they endure living under Hamas?

The videos expose who Israel is fighting against – not the Palestinian people, but rather a terrorist group that is not just terrorizing Israeli civilians with rockets, but also terrorizing their own people through their daily oppression of women, prohibiting freedom of speech and the right to protest, and infesting Gaza with corruption and exploitation. Hamas controls the people of Gaza, depriving them of basic rights and freedoms.

We, Israeli civilians, and yes, Arab Israelis as well, see this as a direct threat to us. The terrorism and extremism that Hamas and its allies spread throughout the Arab world harms us as Arabs too. When rockets are fired from Gaza, they do not discriminate between Arabs and Jews. In fact, in nearly every round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, Arab Israelis were murdered by Hamas in terror attacks or rocket attacks. Hamas terrorism harms both Israeli Jews and Arabs, and the ideology of Hamas is indoctrinating future generations of Palestinians in Gaza with an irrational, dangerous hatred and lust for violence.

Sadly, many Palestinians are trapped under the brutal rule of Hamas, which is why these testimonies are so powerful and important globally.

In Israel, women are free, hundreds of thousands of people protest peacefully every week against the government, LGBTQ community members are respected and valued, and media outlets are free to criticize or support government policies. 

But these personal stories from Gaza show that in Gaza it’s the polar opposite. Palestinians are being subjugated by Hamas day and night, and they’re saying this in their own words.

Now the only question that remains is, will anyone in the free world actually listen? Or do Palestinian lives only matter when Israel can be blamed?

--

Whispered in Gaza - YouTube

Voices from Gaza - Instagram

==

This series is what prompted the Islamic Fatwa Council to, one month later, issue a fatwa against Hamas and designate them a terrorist organization, holding them responsible for human rights violations in Gaza.

[rome-roy]

Fetin is a British Palestinian woman, mostly known for her content about working in the Film and Television Industry, who has been working with grassroots organisation SafeBow helping give aid to Palestinians in Egypt.

This video was posted on Feb. 10th. She has since updated to say that they have reached 100k in donations, which is not enough as evacuation prices have gone up. Some adults are being charged 10k to evacuate, even babies can be charged up to 5k. If the border closes and they can’t get everyone they want out, they’re going to use the funds for prosthetics for airstrike victims, as well as housing, rent, and food, for evacuees in Egypt.

[Transcript:

Hey guys, so I’m going to have to talk in code during this video, but this is very important. In the Watermelon County (Palestine), there’s over a million people at the moment trapped in a very, very small corner of that country by the border. I need your help. And time is of the essence. We have maybe a day, or two days, to try and get as many people out as possible. The Blue and White Illegal State (Israel) has come out with a new plan which is to close to that border and force all those people — over a million people — to walk across the desert to go through their section of the country. Now I could get into a lot of information about why this is going to be incredibly, incredibly catastrophic. A lot of people will die. There will be no documentation of who’s going through and what happens to them. They have already said that they will shoot on site anyone they claim to be from That Resistance Group (Hamas). Which, as we know, is basically all men and even male children they deem to be apart of that group. Now, getting people out is the last resort, because no one wants that. We don’t- we don’t want to take out people from this place, away from their homes. But this is life and death at this moment. And there are people who are not going to survive going through the Blue and White Illegal State. We have emergency fundraising, we started it yesterday. We literally have a few days to get as many people out — like vulnerable people out — as possible, safely, away from the other border. I’m also trying to get a relative out that I know is trapped.

I have a link in my bio, um, for a PayPal. If you can, please donate. Uh, if you can’t, just share. Share or interact with this in any sort of way, just make sure to put code stuff in the comments. Or questions about other things, because again I’m- I’m very, very vigilant on the fact that I really need this to go out and that’s why I’m speaking in code. We’ve had 100% success rate in previous “getting people out” — I can’t say the word — um, but it’s just the fact that we literally have like two, maybe three days, to get as many people out as possible before this is enforced. Also, if you know anyone that is looking to get out as well from the Watermelon City, uh, please let me know. You can DM me and we can see if there’s any way that we can help them get out as well, safely. You can follow everything on my instagram. I am posting everything, I’m updating everything. You can see how much we’ve raised so far. And yeah, it’s um- sorry this video is all over the place, just because I’m. I’m so emotional and uh, I- I’m also just, health wise, not doing so well. But yeah. Thanks guys. /end transcript.]

LINKS:

Fetin’s Instagram and Tiktok.

PayPal.

[neverendingrelease]

Releasing Today, Feb 26 2024!

Today we'll go from less wild to wildest:

Rybot's a chill 3d cube rolling puzzle game thing

Metal Voyager is a surreal heavy metal album cover shmup.

Starlight and the Silver Key is a comedy puzzle adventure game. Idk what is actually going on here tbh.

Pull Stay is not a beat-em-up, it's a wtf-em-up. I have no idea what's happening - I think it's a combo of beat-em-up and tower defense? Japanese wtf humor abounds

Decimate Drive is a horror game where cars seem to come out of nowhere to run you over, like Maximum Overdrive but actually kinda scary. I think the game play loop is basically collect-the-notes?

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#OnThisDay: Feb 21st, 2014 (Date submitted on dA; artwork done on Feb 8th, 2014)

Title: RGM-79SH GM Sniper Scraps Shielder

You'll meet my version of Scraps 🐢👓 joins the "Cuteness Defender Academy", very soon. But for now, let's meet his second "Cuteness Mecha Armor" - the armored "GM Sniper Shielder", a custom based on the Gunpla's RGM-79K9 GM Sniper K9; replacing hound-related stuff to a turtle theme. 🔫🐢🤖😁

GM Sniper Scraps Shielder Based on: RGM-79K9 GM Sniper K9 [CLICK ME!]

Armament(s):

Beam Sniper Rifle • A custom large beam sniper rifle with a caliber size of 200mm, a monopod mounted under the barrel can be deployed for enhanced stability during firing. Both of its foregrip and main grip are movable to improve the large weapon's handling characteristic. After folding the stock, the rifle can be mounted onto the Turtle Shielder and be used by the support unit.

Sniper Rifle • A slightly modified version of GM Sniper II's sniper rifle, it now functions as a beam weapon instead of a solid-projectile weapon. It serves as the GM Sniper Shielder's main weapon when the Turtle Shielder is deployed with the beam sniper rifle.

Beam Gun • A pair of 20mm caliber pistol-type beam guns are stored in the hip-mounted holsters, they have low firepower, but can be rapid-fired. A battery/magazine is loaded in the grip, allowing for reloading during battle.

Beam Saber • A close combat weapon that emits a blade-shaped beam, a pair are stored on the rear skirt armor. The beam sabers are rarely used rely on sniping as its basic tactic, but they are effective as a fail-safe.

Heat Knife • Stored on the right shoulder, the knife's blade can be super-heated to enhance its cutting capability. Besides being a weapon, it also functions as a tool and can be used for various activities like climbing walls and setting up of traps.

Bullpup Machine Gun • A optional machine gun that fires 90mm rounds, this is the same firearm as used by the GM Sniper II.

Shield • The same anti-beam coated shield as used by the GM Sniper II, it is used for battle tactics where the GM Sniper Shielder requires a cover to hide behind. However, there are situations where the armor is deployed without this shield.

Special Equipment(s) / Feature(s):

DP-TRTL Turtle Shielder Pack • The backpack of the GM Sniper Shielder, it can detach and transform into a four-legged support unit that can mount the beam sniper rifle as its head. It is also known as "Hound", and can move around by hovering. Should the armor GM Sniper Shielder be destroyed, the Turtle Shielder can continue fighting independently.

APC • The Turtle Shielder Pack can detach from its rear a hovering APC that carries eight mech drones, known as the shellshock troopers, for covert operations, such as planting bombs on the enemy.

EXAM System • GM Sniper Shielder's trump card. In the original story (of Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Blue Destiny), it is used to fight against Newtypes by giving normal pilot reaction times comparable to a Newtype's, but in "Cuteness Defender", it simply improves the "Cuteness Mecha Armor's" performance. When the system is in use, the head camera will turn red.

Scraps (My version) - CHOWDER Cartoon Network Armor based on (Gundam Build Fighters) - Gundam series © Bandai Namco Filmworks, Inc. (SUNRISE), Sotsu

[lindenattic]

can you say more the matching tattoos that anthony and tucker have had for 10 years…

omg youve activated my trap card!!! just about all the information we have is compiled in the tag #team handsome on this blog, and i will add that tag on this ask for ease of finding that all.

overview: starting in like 2006 or 2007, there was some sort of in joke with MCR(‘s crew) about a particular type of handsomeness that several of those guys had. this group was named “team handsome” and gerard way designed a team handsome crest which is a shared tattoo among the members. Tucker Rule is one of the members of it (probably not an original member; estimated to have joined in march 2006) and has the crest on his one of his calves. he later recruited Anthony to team handsome in either May 2011 or Feb/Mar 2012 when Thursday and Circa were touring together.

We have NEVER SEEN Anthony’s tattoo (and believe me, I’VE LOOKED), but he has said that he has it. by process of elimination (thanks to at least 2 photos of his entire bare ass in the years since) we’ve narrowed the location down to… basically his upper thighs and maybe crotch. i yearn so desperately to see it. So desperately. maybe someday.

[yujiehuang0711]

17/02/2025 Inspiration & Basic Worldbuilding

Before designing environments, props, or enemies, I decided to first establish a solid gameplay system and then create designs based on that system. I made a mind map to organize my ideas, and the main theme is Creepy Wonderland.

This contains merely initial thoughts, not the final version.

My inspiration for Creepy Wonderland comes from the horror movie IT: Chapter 2. There's a scene where Pennywise lures the protagonist into a funhouse full of mirrors, where it uses reflections to confuse him before killing a child in front of him. That scene scared me a lot, and I was drawn to the contrast between a joyful place and horrifying events. However, I don’t want my game to have a hyper-realistic horror style. Instead, I prefer an illustrative, stylized, and eerie-but-not-overly-scary aesthetic.

The basic story of my game is that the Puppet Master, the main villain, controls people through masks and strings, trapping them in his amusement park. The player must clear levels to rescue their friends or family. I wanted to combine clowns, eerie themes, and amusement parks—three contrasting elements—and apply them to the characters, weapons, and environments.

In this world, the Puppet Master has taken control of the player’s friends, family, and other park visitors, trapping them inside his amusement park. The enemies are controlled civilians/mannequins wearing masks. The masks and puppet strings attached to their backs are how the Puppet Master manipulates them.

To defeat these enemies, the player must destroy or remove their masks and cut the strings, freeing them from control.

Here are some initial thoughts about Enemy attack mechanics:

They rush toward the player and try to force a mask onto them.

Instead of wearing a full mask immediately, pieces of the mask will slowly cover the player's face.

These mask fragments not only block vision but also serve as a visual indicator of how many hits the player can take.

If the player is fully masked and their screen turns black, they lose the game.

Masks Sketches:

Reference

Squires, J. (2019). The Carnival Funhouse Scene in ‘IT: Chapter Two’ Was Created After a Request from James McAvoy. [online] Bloody Disgusting! Available at: https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3579253/carnival-funhouse-scene-chapter-two-created-request-james-mcavoy/.

Philip, T. (n.d.). Let’s Break Down the Wildest, Scariest Scene in ‘It Chapter Two’. [online] GQ. Available at: https://www.gq.com/story/lets-break-down-it-chapter-twos-wildest-scariest-scene.

Patrick Dougall (2019). IT Chapter 2 - Haunted Walkthrough Experience | Hollywood. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlMWEV4rtCM [Accessed 17 Feb. 2025].

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[cyberbenb]

‘First, we need peace:' US-Ukraine minerals deal only one step on long road to investment

As Kyiv and Washington celebrate agreeing to jointly develop Ukraine’s natural resources after weeks of tense negotiations, the deal still has a long way to go before the money starts flowing.

Officials, experts, and those close to the deal say the current version of the agreement is an improvement to earlier drafts. But they caution this is just the first step to more negotiations rather than a concrete deal. And with no signatures yet on paper, things could change in the coming days.

“It’s definitely much better compared to what we saw before. I don’t see any traps, but we need to reach a final conclusion,” Oleksandr Merezhko, an MP, told the Kyiv Independent.

After weeks of back and forth, Kyiv and Washington agreed on a deal on Feb. 25. A final draft of the agreement dropped Ukraine’s major objections, including a demand for Kyiv to fill a $500 billion reconstruction fund and a 2:1 investment clause for Kyiv to double the aid given by the U.S.

The agreement would create a reconstruction fund to be jointly managed by Kyiv and Washington. Ukrainian state-owned enterprises involved in mineral deposits, oil, gas, and hydrocarbons, as well as infrastructure like liquified natural gas terminals and ports, would contribute 50% of their future revenue to the fund.

The contributions would then be invested in Ukraine at least annually with the goal of encouraging foreign investment into the country’s natural resources. Just the publicity around the fund will bring Ukraine to the attention of average U.S. investors, said Serhii Fursa, deputy managing director at investment firm Dragon Capital.

The current draft of the agreement reads more like a memorandum of understanding than an international treaty, said Merezhko, meaning it is neither politically binding nor requires ratification by Ukraine’s parliament. A second “Fund Agreement” mentioned in the draft deal that is set to be negotiated next will require parliamentary approval.

At this point, the agreement is “mainly symbolic” to show that Kyiv and Washington remain committed to “achieving common goals,” said Edward Chow, a non-resident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But without the most basic elements and clarity on how the fund will work, there is a risk that “it sets up expectations that may be dashed,” he added.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump could sign the agreement in Washington on Feb. 28.

While the deal doesn’t contain the security guarantees Kyiv was hoping for, the very presence of American assets in Ukraine is seen as a way to potentially encourage the U.S. to invest in Ukraine’s defense.

“Americans tend to defend more those countries where they have investments, where they have economic interests,” said Merezhko. “The more American and European companies we have in Ukraine, the better for our economy and our security.”

American involvement in state-owned enterprises, of which there are over 3,000 in Ukraine, could lead to better governance, said Andy Hunder, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.

A terrikon rises near a coal mine in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Feb. 22, 2025. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

“If you have the right management, you could see many of these state-owned enterprises showing good results,” he told the Kyiv Independent.

The current agreement says that the revenues will not come from state enterprises that are “already part of the general budget revenues,” meaning big taxpayers like oil and gas giant Naftogaz are excluded. The agreement also notes that the U.S. and Ukraine want to ensure that adversarial countries “do not benefit from the reconstruction” process after a peace agreement. With the White House not wanting Ukraine to fall into the orbit of its economic rival, Beijing, Merezhko believes the clause could be a “hint at China.” The U.S. is trying to peel Russia away from China’s grip, with State Secretary Marco Rubio saying Moscow can’t become Beiijing’s “junior partner,” in an interview with media outlet Breitbart.

“We want this to generate cash to fill the American and Ukrainian state coffers.”

During a press briefing on Jan. 26, Zelensky stressed the importance of the fund being  Ukrainian-American rather than not simply controlled by the U.S., as in the previous proposal. He added that the absence of debt and the removal of the 2:1 investment clause were “particularly important.” The Ukrainian government will no longer have to pay two dollars for every dollar given by the White House under the current agreement.

“The most risky factors are off the table,” Fursa told the Kyiv Independent. In his opinion, the current deal is on “much more acceptable terms” as it removes the demand Ukraine pay back U.S. aid provided to Kyiv.

What’s next for the minerals deal in Ukraine?

If the reconstruction fund is done right, it could help funnel much-needed capital into Ukraine and open the country up to U.S. investors.

The issue now is what exactly will be agreed upon once the two sides get into the weeds of it. The current agreement does not explain how the fund will be managed as this will be established in the subsequent fund agreement.

“We all pretty much have an understanding of what we want the fund to do. We want this to generate cash to fill the American and Ukrainian state coffers,” Hunder said.

Yet questions remain about under what jurisdiction the fund will be registered, its size, and its timeframe as there’s no set end date. Moreover, Ukraine’s tax laws need to be changed to redirect the cash flow from the state budget to the fund.

The fund itself may not actually come to fruition, said Fursa. He doesn’t see enough revenue from Ukraine to make it work while the U.S. government hasn’t agreed to invest into it either.

Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2025. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

Trump likely imagines private American companies will come into Ukraine and get first pick on investment projects.

Ukraine initially offered up its critical mineral deposits to Trump, promising to have trillions of dollars worth of raw materials buried in its subsoil. Ukraine’s underinvested mining sector was hopeful that a deal could bring American capital, technology, and innovation.

With the current agreement encompassing all natural resources, including the more lucrative oil and gas sectors, critical minerals have become less relevant. The agreement’s lack of secure investment guarantees into mineral mining concerns George Popov, a research analyst at the National Association of Extractive Industry of Ukraine.

“As an extractive industries association, we would like to see real guarantees of development in the mineral sector in Ukraine. Like exporting resources, developing infrastructure, or even geological investigations here made by the United States,” he said.

Focusing on new deposits rather than the current mines would be a positive step, as would privatizing some of the mining companies, said Volodymyr Landa, a senior economist at the Kyiv-based Center for Economic Strategy.

“A lot of resources that are economically feasible to mine are already mined. There are probably some cases in which we are mining some unfeasible resources,” he said. But for any investment there needs to be a “long and lasting peace,” he said.

Trump wants $500 billion of Ukraine’s ‘rare earths’ — What are these critical minerals?

President Donald Trump declared on Feb. 3 that he was looking to “do a deal with Ukraine” by giving the war-torn country weapons and aid in return for its “rare earths.” “They’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Trump told reporters in

The Kyiv IndependentDominic Culverwell

[scoundrellyfeline]

great homestuck rereading discussion INTERFISHIN' 1 T+5 to T+13 (Feb 15-Feb 23)

{a bunch of ooc below just sayin}

first last next

2/21/25

SF 2/21/25, 19:13 > { (forwarded from #altgen | 2/16/25) resist the spoilers. they are the mind killer

SF 2/21/25, 19:15 > { (forwarded from #altgen | thursday) Finding New Ways Of Bothering Her Thursday

SF 2/21/25, 19:16 > { (forwarded from #altgen | friday)

SF 2/21/25, 19:16 > { (forwarded from #altgen | friday) ||just remembered this basically happens to jane rip||

SF 2/21/25, 19:16 > { (forwarded from #altgen | friday) ||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL1qAdtQTV0|| i wouldve put this here normally but the file size was too big

SF 2/21/25, 19:16 > { (forwarded from #altgen | friday) ||just remembered this basically happens to jane rip||

SF 2/21/25, 19:17 > { (forwarded from #altgen | friday) "shes my wife, your honor" - hussie on adding more vriska to homestuck

SF 2/21/25, 19:17 > { (forwarded from #altgen | friday)

SF 19:18 > ^^^ some stuff ive done over my week in purgatory

SF 19:19 > (this isnt necessarally part of my reread i just want to put stuff here so it isnt dead. i think ill have time to read more later)

SF 19:19 > speaking of...

SF 19:19 > i never upd8ed my name to reflect my current page rip

SF 19:19 > let me do that

SF 19:19 > (currently p158)

SF 19:20 > 184!

SF 19:20 > ok

SF 19:20 > i should have done this a week ago

SF 19:21 > ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SF 19:23 > :Polite: so i cant reallllllly read rn :bignose: :bignose:…

SF 19:23 > i will return soon

SF 19:24 >

SF 2/21/25, 19:26 > { (forwarded from #homosuck | friday) @/osseousArcanist: How long will the chains remain off your wrists? Will the marks they left behind keep you in line? Time will tell if you have remained as you were.

2/22/25

SF 2/22/25, 14:10 > { (forwarded from #altgen | saturday) @/Inn_Consistency: Holy shit the rezi

SF 2/22/25, 14:10 > { (forwarded from #altgen | saturday) @/Inn_Consistency: Shes trapped in the server icon

SF 14:11 > :sponchBop: she should go free

SF 14:11 > the rezi did nothing wrong

2/23/25

SF 01:20 > im going to read later i promise

SF 2/23/25, 09:55 > { (forwarded from #homosuck | yesterday) i might have time today to read past page 200 dw

SF 2/23/25, 11:59 > { (forwarded from #homosuck | yesterday)

SF 12:00 > this is my [S] intermission arc

SF 2/23/25, 12:29 > { (forwarded from #homosuck | yesterday)

SF 12:29 > starting soon

SF 22:59 > i didnt have the time today sorry chat

[januaryone2am]

DESIGN WORK - Feb 10 24

Game tape today. Gonna go back and look through Friday’s creation and see what i can improve, both through the process and the through the product. Would love to see if i could come up with more language for the process as well.

One example of this is the idea oh a certain kind of piece that is nearly beautiful but is without meaning. It is a trap. It lures you in with the promise of it becoming as meaningful as you would hope it to be but it cannot be converted. Instead you sit there and you stare at it, unable to alter it. This is especially difficult in my practice as so many things are not recreateable. That’s a good note i guess. What is recreateable and how do i build my systems toward those kinds of products? Because you can have the organic nonrecreatable moments happen once you hit a certain amount of recreateable awesomeness. The image / meaning of the image needs to be very specific before you get to fucking around on top of it. 

that was what was a large part of the difficulty in printing out on these coated transparents. nothing was recreateable everything was different everytime. even if it was nearly beautiful.

What a beautiful delineation. Is it predictable or is it unpredictable. You make things beautifully unpredictable, but that can only happen once you’ve made the predictable parts specific and beautiful. F ya.

Okay cool. with all that written out. now let’s look at friday. but then after that let’s go through all my processes and note which ones are predictable and what they have in common. 

FRIDAY

started with me looking at the beauty of the unpredictable and being super enamored with it. the difficulty was also that i didn’t start to consider how i would make it predictable until much later in the night. and so i had lost a lot of the power / head of steam that i had built up. Second thing i made printed was my fav of the night. A bad sign in terms of specificity / predictability.

That’s a good example too. Something entirely unpredictable can only be so specific. The art is to take it right up to the line of specificity then get weird with it. 

these were all unspecific. i liked the idea of bringing out the old vintage image archive. a lot of those were really beautiful and or matched the plastic in front of them. but it wasn’t a predictable form of altered image generation. it was really just a collage. one thing i could have done was to try and get a transp that was predictably see thru. and to use that as tho it were sponge paper.see how that affects images. but even then, closing the top on the scanner made it so that the plastic didn’t look cool. tbh would be interesting to just scan thru the standard plastic. or someway to haze it slightly and then to scan thru that. 

i did try the tape star on the plastic and that was decent. but it was basically predictable with a painful amount of effort. my shit moves fast. and that’s what i love about it. i have no urge to sit there and make one rep for 30 minutes. that’s not for me. 

Cool. so now that i have the predictable language i should run that by claude before i get too deep into a certain way of doing a process. 

Would be so cool if these textured transps were 3D. not idea how to make that work. but love that idea and love this level of visual specificity. just wish it could have a subject bro!!!! meaning!!

I realized i was fucked at literally 3am ahahahahaha. i realized the gist of the predictablility piece just couldnt quite put a finger on it. 

Starting from 3 i did a dece job. even if the net effect of that guy sucked. proud of myself bro. cool i feel like i learned a lot from this. an MIQ.

[ellowynthenotking]

Feb 11

Dear dad

I found out what the Rune did! And I got to use the remarkable new Rune! Turns out that it's kind of like an electric fence, and all the old runes are from the last guy who cleared out their town! 

So I went around and reapplied all of the runes, made sure everything was connected and set up, and then!

Boom!

Not really, boom. It wouldn't have been particularly cool of the last guy or me to just blow up the town, and if the runes and the town were still there from the last guy, then he obviously didn't actually blow it up. Instead, he did something really cool. he made a super cool, magnificently cool thing.

A thing that I got to use!

I asked around a bit, seeing if anyone knew what the Rune was for, and one of the people we've seen a couple of times now could tell me.

They didn't tell me details, but they told me what the last guy did so I could figure out enough of it myself.

They said the guy painted the symbol all over the place, on every house, building, and everything, even a foot tall standing out of the ground. Fences, posts, porches, everything. 

Then he had everyone leave town for a couple hours, specifically had them all go out and stand in a nearby field with even more symbols, but different ones, all around it.

He charged the ones around the field, which basically just trapped everyone inside, and then he did something that caused a big ZAP in the rest of the town, which I think was the rest of the runes. He waited a few minutes, then turned off the other runes. He said he killed all the gremlins that way and then cleaned up the bodies before letting everyone back into town and damaging all the runes so they couldn't be accidentally triggered. 

Which makes sense. After using it myself, I damaged all of them again because, honestly, this is way too much power for one person and too much power to just leave around on accident.

So I guess I actually learned two runes cause I learned the ones that trapped all the townspeople, too, which I'm a little more unsure about using, but I think it might have been for the best to keep them away from it all. 

So I told the others to get everyone from the town to the clearing, set up that Rune, and charged it, which was super weird and super cool, too. 

But this run, the lightning Rune, is like a tazer on steroids or an electric fence turned up to a hundred. It was powerful, and so, so deadly. 

So I got them all up, and everyone was safely away, and then I powered it. And it took a lot more power than I thought it would, which, oops, but I kinda knew it would, so I was careful. But then it did that zap, and there were just these beautiful arcs of light night all through the town, arcing off of every building seemingly without damaging anything. 

I could hear the gremlins, and they were NOT happy, but any time any of them left the houses, they got fried. 

It was so insane and smelled so bad, I thought the townsfolk smelled. These things were a couple dozen times worse. Add to that the smell of burning hair, and ugh. 

I'm pretty sure I got all of them. I waited a little more than a couple minutes just to be safe, but when they stopped coming out of the buildings, I was pretty sure it was safe.

I stopped the channeling and damaged the runes, too. 

My friends helped with the cleanup, but the lightning did lots of damage to the bodies, which I don't think weighed much before, so they weighed next to nothing. 

I ended up having to sit down and just watch. It took so much out of me, a lot more than I thought it would or had thought it had. 

I just had to sit and watch while the others got rid of most of them, and then I went around and damaged the runes again. 

If the wrong person set them off on accident, it would kill everyone in the village, really, really fast. It would probably be a little more work than the gremlins, but not much, I don't think.

It was so fast.

The people paid for monster hunts, monster slaughter, really, and told us that we could stay as long as we wanted to deal with their problems. But honestly, with the smell of fried gremlin hanging around, I just wanted to leave, like ASAP. It's so fast.

But there are other things that are exciting and good and that I'm happy about that aren't fried gremlins.

Grace is talking to me again, not that she stopped talking to me. But it was different.

I don’t know if she was mad at me for all the deaths the dragon caused, but she’s at least talking to me again, so… Win! I think.

She learned cool things, too. Apparently, the gremlin things are a normal pest problem for these people. The gremlins show up, like, once a decade or so, basically when they forget how to deal with them. 

She and the rest of the townsfolk agree that shocking them is much more efficient than most of their older methods. 

Also, according to Zunair, the actual term for what I did was electrocuting them. Because they died. If they hadn’t died, it would have just been a shock. But since they were dead, boom, electrocuted. 

But yeah! Grace and I sat together at dinner, and she seemed just as excited as I was about the new runes! Now, if we need to do something similar in the future, I can do it! As long as I have plenty of time to set up and I can make sure that I don’t accidentally hurt someone while doing it. 

We’ll be heading to the next place soon enough, probably tomorrow morning. I don’t know where it’ll be or when I’ll be able to write you, but I assure you, I can take care of myself now! With lightning! 

Love, Jack

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