#go...be free of the queue limbo now...

[colorfuldragons]

steel/mint/maize

[jazzafayesworld]

Welcome to Nowhere...

Summary: Based off the prompt I snagged from @writing-prompt-s: You run a café on the edge of life and death. Souls who have been departed from their bodies temporarily, such as in comas or near-death experiences, can relax in your quaint cafe for as long as they need before they can either return to their bodies or begin their journey to the afterlife.

CW/TW: mentions of death/near death experiences, mentions of blood and broken bones. Swearing.

Word count: 1.7k

A/n: I've never written anything before, so please bear with me and be kind 😭

"Welcome to Nowhere!" is heard as a few new faces float in around the cafe's doors. A jingle of the bell atop the door sounds as the door closes behind the young man as he enters. The cafe is surprisingly bigger inside compared to its smaller seeming exterior. He mulls to himself while wondering where he is and why he is suddenly in a cafe. As if pulled by some kind of mystical gravitation, the man queues himself in the line. As a young waitress comes around to check on a table she just served coffee to, you look up from the register to greet the newest arrival. 

"Welcome to Nowhere. My name is Y/n! What can I get started for you?" You say with a smile.

"Huh?" He says. The poor blonde looks confused, You think. "Where the fuck am I?" You respond, still smiling,

 "You're at Nowhere. It's okay. This happens alot. Would you like something to ease your mind while you decide?" He frowns.

"The fuck do you mean this happens alot? Where the fuck am I?" You quickly glance past him to make sure he's the only one in line before answering.

"As I've already explained, Mr. Bakugo, you're in Nowhere. I'd be happy to give you something to ease your mind while you make a decision and offer you a seat, or I can get you something to go so you can continue your journey. You're free to gloss over our menu items in the meantime." You extend a menu out for him to take, which he does, snatching it away from you. "How the hell do you know my name?" He scowls as he scans over the menu.

"I know everyone who sets foot in my doors, Mr. Bakugo. Or do you prefer Lord Explosion Murder God Dynamight?" You say with a small smirk. His scowl deepens. "Bakugo's fine." He replies gruffly "an' a medium black coffee."

"Sure thing!" You chirp. "Will you be deciding or continuing your journey?"

"The fuck's that mean?" He snaps. You chuckle softly.

"Newbie. I forgot. Will you, as the humans say, be dining in, or is this to go?" Bakugo looks at you quizzically before answering. "Dinin' in or decidin', whatever the fuck ya said."

"Alright then. Just find a place, and I'll have it right out." Bakugo stalks over to the nearest empty seat and plops down as he waits for you to make his drink.

You come over a few minutes later and gingerly set the mug down in front of the hulking man. "Here you are, Mr. Bakugo. Is there anything else I can get you? A snack? A meal? Advice?" You glance over his face noting how handsome he is with his chiseled jaw peppered with light stubble, only to be met with his piercing red stare that shook you from your thoughts.

"Oi, dumbass-" "Y/n." you interrupted. "Whatever," He scowls, making frown lines prominent on his otherwise pretty face. "I asked ya if you could tell me what I'm doin' here." You glance back at Chiyoko who is now at the register greeting some new guests before sitting down across from the stoic man.

"As I've stated before, you are in Nowhere. Many peoples and cultures call us by different names- Purgatory, Limbo, etc. I just call it Nowhere because it is exactly where you are." Bakugo looks over your lithe frame skeptically while he takes a sip of his coffee. “Uh huh…”

“Nowhere is the place Souls come when they are temporarily misplaced whether it's astral projection,a trance, a coma, or a brush with death, well, Shinigami in your case.” You continue as his fingers tighten their grip on the opaque mug. 

“She was quite upset that the Number One hero got caught in her crosshairs. However, she granted mercy as Midoriya and Kirishima were able to get you medical help in time.” 

Bakugo slams his mug down in frustration, nearly breaking it. “Oi, ya mean to tell me Shitty Hair and the fuckin' Nerd saved my ass?! I'm the Number One hero! I’m supposed to do the savin', not be the one saved like a fuckin' damsel in distress!”

You simply shrug. “I’m just telling you what I know.” Bakugo stills for the first time since his arrival. “....How do I leave…?” You can hear the uncertainty in his voice at the prospect of not returning home.

“Simple, you make a choice. Do you want to go back to living as the Number One hero or would you rather cement your legacy as the Number One hero and move on? Should you wish to return to the Above, take the front door back out to continue deciding. If you wish to move onto Infinity, take the door off to the side to continue your journey.” 

“Y/n! You’re needed at the counter!” Chiyoko calls out as she rushes past the pair of you, behind Bakugo, carrying a tray of various coffees. 

You nod at her then look back at Bakugo. “Take all the time you need. Call me if you need me or you’ve made a decision.” You walk away, greeting the newest addition into the cafe. 

Bakugo stares into the almost empty mug, deliberating his choices. Do I wanna go back to being Number One? I love being the best, but I miss my dad. If I stay here, I could see my old man. What about Deku and Kiri? Would they be okay if I'm gone? He gets startled from his thoughts, and with clenched fists prepared to swing, he looks over at the supposed aggressor when his eyes widen like saucers. 

“AllMight?”

“Hello young Bakugo. Well, I suppose you’re an adult now, aren’t you?” He claps a large hand on Bakugo’s shoulder, making the blonde feel sixteen again.

“Why-How…What the fuck?” He asks bewildered. AllMight laughs heartily.

“It’s a little difficult to explain, however, I am glad to see you as well, young Bakugo.” AllMight sits on the seat to the right of Bakugo. “How is life back home?” Home.

“Still full of villains but I kick their asses. I surpassed you as Number One like I fuckin’ said I would. You and the shitty Nerd.” AllMight shakes his head with the laugh crinkling the corners of his eyes.

“Wouldn’t expect anything less form you, young Bakugo. How is young Midoriya and the others?” He shrugs as Chiyoko swings by with a pot of coffee for his refill.

“Izuku’s fine. Happily married with a brat on the way. Ei and I started our own agency. Blew IcyHot’s out the fuckin’ water. Won a bunch of awards and shit.” He says with a smirk making AllMight grin with fondness for the pro hero.

“I am proud of you. Proud of all of you.”

Bakugo and AllMight talk for what seems like hours about different topics in the young hero’s life. “How the hell are ya even here? Aren’t ya s’posed to be in Paradise or some shit?”

“I help Y/n with the Souls that arrive to Nowhere. It’s easier for some if they see a familiar face like the Symbol of Peace.” Bakugo grunts in understanding as he takes a swig of the steaming roast. “So,” AllMight begins, “have you chosen if you are deciding or if you are going to continue here?”

Bakugo pauses for a second. “I have.” AllMight stands giving a smile.

“I’m glad you made the right choice for you. You have become a remarkable hero, young Bakugo. I am proud of you.” He pulls Bakugo into a hug. “I’ll be on my way to be a Symbol of Peace for another. Goodbye, young Katsuki.”

“See you around, AllMight.” Bakugo stands from his seat and heads toward you at the counter to pay for his coffee.

“No need. It’s on the house.” You say with a wink. “‘S a shitty business practice, Spooks.”

“Spooks?” You look puzzled at the nickname. “Spooks. Ya look like a damn ghost.” You chuckle and it makes the corner of Bakugo’s mouth quirk upwards. He walks towards the door. “Safe travels, Bakugo.”

“Katsuki. Call me Katsuki.” You smile at him.

“Safe travels, Katsuki.” The chime of the doorbell cries out.

~~~~~

“Call the doctor! He’s waking up!” Doctors and nurses scramble around checking on the pro hero. A week has gone by since Bakugo woke up, and Kirishima filled him in on his condition. During the battle with a villain with a liquid nitrogen gauntlet quirk, the building Bakugo was launched in had a fault in the foundation, causing the building he was in to rapidly collapse.

“You been in a coma for 2 weeks. Ya got caught in the fallin’ debris when the bastard hit you with his quirk one last time. Midoriya was the one to find and dig ya out while I arrest the villain. Doc said you’d broke yer leg, a few ribs, collapsed a lung, an’ damn near shattered your left arm completely. Luckily, they were able to save it but ya might have trouble using your quirk in that hand.”

Rubbing his uninjured hand over his face as he takes in the news, Bakugo sighs. “Fuck. How long am I out?”

“Doc said a few months. Commission said they’ll handle medical expenses since yer injuries are extensive and the faulty building was their fault.” Kirishima comments. A buzz of the phone in his pocket pulls Kirishima away from his conversation. “Gotta go. Time for my shift on patrol. I’ll swing back by with katsudon later, k?” He waves as he leaves.

Bakugo carefully turns up the volume on the news with his uninjured hand to continue watching the news footage of the attack. Film footage of the attack showed the building collapsing on the outside, then cutting to Deku carrying a mangled and bloodied Dynamight out of the building and placing him quickly into an ambulance that was on standby. 

Breaking News! Pro Hero Dynamight, who was in critical condition, woke up from his two week coma. After fighting the notorious villain, CryoStone, Pro Hero Dynamight was caught in the rubble of a collapsing building. Reporter Hatsumi Saisei is on the scene. Hatsumi Saisei reports,”Here we are outside of Central Hospital where we just received confirmation that Dynamight has woken up from his coma. Sources say that he has sustained substantial injuries and will be taking leave for an extensive recovery period. From all of us in Tokyo, and Juzo News, Dynamite, we wish you a speedy and healthy recovery.” 

~~~~

Months later, a jingle of the bell atop the door sounds as the door closes.

"Katsuki, Welcome to Nowhere!"

[bekkathyst]

I need to reload my queue and there’s several things I want to give an update on but moving got really complicated because I forgot that there’s a fair all weekend that blocks our whole street, so we can only load our car and move things in the middle of the night when everyone’s gone 🤦‍♀️

Our plan now has turned into- get all personal belongings out of our apartment ASAP and once all personal things are gone, use the apartment to 100% catch up on shipping and pretty much just use it as an office until we’re done. Since it’s right across the street from the post office this works perfect for dropping off orders too. We have the apartment until the end of the month but I really do want to finish moving as soon as possible because I hate being in limbo.

The other, much worse, thing that’s going on is our cat that was sick last month got sick again and it’s just been a lot to deal with all at once.

This is many paragraphs to say that I appreciate your patience when it comes to the France show orders shipping. We are definitely taking care of it as fast and carefully as we can, and everything will come with a gift and be wrapped safely 💜 I’d much rather do that than try to rush through everything.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!

I also may have another thing to talk about tomorrow but I need to go to bed now. Thank you all for being here 💜

[introdemodev]

Howdy!

Anyways...to celebrate the demo turning one year old, I wanted to celebrate by posting more behind-the-scene works and such! :-) The plan is to post every day, but I might space some posts out by a day or two - I don’t want to seem like I’m spamming. Either way, I’m going to be active for the next two weeks.

And if you guys have anything you want to see, just let me know and I’ll add it to the queue.

With that out the way, let’s start off with talking about........her. The text box.

The first thing I tested for Introdemo was sprites, the next thing was the textbox and font size. The textbox was something I wanted to figure out right away. If I had to make changes to it later down the line, that meant I might have to possibly rewrite and reformat lines of dialogue. If you notice, the textbox almost always contains 1-2 lines of dialogue.

My original idea for the text box was to have it be literal speech bubbles. Introdemo is a prequel to an old webcomic of mine so I wanted Introdemo to read like a ‘comic’ too (btw don’t look at fridge and bear for any clues!!! it’s getting a soft reboot later down the line!! it’s technically canon but also not canon...it exists in canon limbo).

I also looked at The World Ends With You for inspiration as well.

However, I didn’t understand/know how to code something like that at the time, so I scrapped the idea. This idea still lives on in the game though. Introdemo feels like a bunch of different things, and that’s cool. Aaaaaah look out!! A style shift is approaching!!!!

So, I started to think of other games that I liked that might’ve used as a speech bubble as a textbox or had a speech bubble-like textbox, if that makes any sense. One of the first games that came to mind was Animal Crossing. I’m a fan of that Franchise™ and I’ve been playing it ever since the Gamecube version (best version btw). I’m going to be completely honest, I was heavily inspired by it, especially the speech bubble used in New Horizon, and a bit of New Leaf (NL, because of its use of patterns and the lower opacity).

But mainly, the inspo was New Horizons. I like how sleek it is and it’s nice on the eyes. It’s very simple. Best part is, it doesn’t take too much of the screen either - this was also important because Introdemo has *a lot* of art in it. I didn’t want to cover up the artwork.

So, what I’m saying is, I ripped off the textbox I was heavily inspired by it!

There is another variation of the textbox used in the game, and that is the thought box. It’s a rectangle, an uneven one. Since the game takes place primarily in Fennel’s POV, it’s mainly used by him to narrate, think, vent, and give commentary.

The inspiration for this was manga. In manga, squares/rectangles are sometimes used for inner monologue and narration (well, they're used in western comics too, but you get my point....I was thinking about manga when I made this decision).

After figuring out how I wanted the textbox to look, it was very easy to figure out how I wanted the game’s GUI to look overall. I like to think everything works together aesthetically.

The game has a pulpy-inspired comic look ...

and the menus have a pulpy-inspired magazine/tabloid look.

The menus aren’t exactly set in stone, unlike the textbox, so I do have plans to touch it up on future. It’s fine, but it’s not ‘there’ yet, in my opinion. The accessibility and about menus definitely needs more work and care put into it.

And that’s it for now! There’s not much to say about the GUI at the moment but I’ll go over my inspirations for it at another time. I’ll also go more in-depth about it in the digital art book, which will be available for purchase when the full game comes out (full game will be available for free, ofc :-) )

Thanks for reading!!

[thetravellingvagrant]

Day 12: In Which I Stare Directly Into The Void For Five And A Half Hours

I was due to leave Granada today, with my bus set to depart at the comfortable time of 2pm. While incredibly relaxed, that did mean that I was sort of left in travel-limbo, with my check-out time of the hostel being 11am and my bags being to heavy and cumbersome to do anything of any substantial worth with what time I had spare. 

I clung to my bed for literally every second I could, that morning, only finally letting it go when the cleaning lady entered the room and I had to pretend I was just about to leave anyway. I then turned my key in and asked if I could sit in the common room for a bit which, thankfully, I was allowed to do. Unthankfully, however, there was someone else in the room when I got there. One other person. One other incredibly quiet person, which meant I could neither relax in solitude nor blend into a loud crowd and vanish like a social chameleon with a slightly shorter tongue. No, it appeared me and my erstwhile roommate were to sit in incredibly awkward silence for the next hour. And so we did. 

Exactly sixty minutes later and not an excruciating, unbearable second longer, I left. That was the exact point at which the other guy in the room chose to leave, also, meaning we both had to silently, awkwardly exit together. Perfect. What a lovely experience. I bet he was getting the same bus as me, too.

I made the fairly simple jaunt across the city via typically over-subscribed tram back to the park in which I ate lunch the first day I was here and…ate lunch again. It’s a really good park, to be fair - or I suppose it’s actually quite a bad park, but it definitely was close to where I had to be and ultimately, isn’t that the true prize?

After another long, nice sit, I went to the bus station to locate my sweaty, cramped chariot to my next destination of Alicante. I checked the departure board and…it wasn’t up there. Nor was the ultimate destination of Barcelona. No bus on that board appeared to match anywhere I was due to go. Confused, I downloaded all three of the, frankly, useless Alsabus apps to see if they had any information. They did not; neither did my ticket. 

With only around twenty minutes left until I was going to be left stranded in - to be fair - quite a nice city I decided to suck it up, as appears to have been my way on this trip and ask at the Alsabus information kiosk, which I approached boldly only for the lady at the desk to see me - physically, actually see me approaching - and pull the shutter down, closing shop for the day. Superb. Looks like I was on my own. 

With no alternative now open to me, I decided to throw myself on the mercy of the bus number, which was one of the three pieces of information I had printed on my ticket. Mine was bus number 1. 

I found bus number 1 and…it was going to Madrid, not Barceona. 

“Maybe it doesn’t say Barcelona because it’s listing the next stop but only the next significant stop, which is Madrid, not Alicante despite them both being huge and also Madrid is in the wrong direction but I presume that means the route just goes through Alicante first and then winds back towards Madrid, before it goes to Barcelona. That makes sense. That is Occham’s razor in action. I am very clever.”

A moment passed

“...No, that’s really fucking stupid.”

I decided, on the off-chance, however, to ask the driver. I approached him and showed him my ticket. 

“Is this for this bus?” I asked in my loudest, clearest English

He looked at the ticket

“Si? Es Uno.” he replied, looking at me like I was a big fucking moron who couldn’t identify the number 1. 

“Oh, gracias” I answered, adding a little Spanish flourish to the conversation to let them know that I was merely inept in their language, rather than willfully uncultured, before putting my luggage in the hold (for free - fuck you, Ryanair) and taking my place in the queue. 

Eventually, I reached the front of what I do have to say, for mainland Europe, was a very neat queue indeed. The driver scanned my ticket and I stepped onto the bus.

“EHH EHH” the ticket-reader screeched, like I had gotten an answer wrong on family fortunes, or perhaps had said something with which Stone Cold Steve Austin had taken umbridge in an otherwise polite conversation. 

The driver looked at his machine. 

“...Alicante?” he asked.

“Si?”

He said something in Spanish which I did not understand, though instinctively knew meant that I was on the wrong-ass bus. I told him I didn’t understand. He repeated it again in Spanish, this time more patronising, like I was the idiot. A passenger behind me translated.

“He is saying platform 20”.

Right. Okay. I quickly grabbed my luggage out of the hold and sprinted (sprant?) to platform 20, where the bus wasn’t - It was at 19, instead - starting to realise why Alsabus has such terrible reviews, as I went.

I stood in the now incredibly short queue for bus 52 - not bus 1, it should be noted - which, as it turned out was the correct one and took my seat literal seconds before the thing pulled out of the station. Incredibly irked at Alsa as I was and in particular that one driver who cost me seven minutes of time I only just barley had at my disposal, waiting in the incorrect queue at his say-so, I was at least on the right bus, which was the longest journey I would have to undertake on this trip and also the most expensive and difficult to reschedule, so ultimately would describe myself as tipping more towards relieved, than furious. Plus I had a window seat and that was lit.

The journey, though weirdly arduous for only a five hour excursion, passed almost entirely without incident. I don’t even think I moved for the entire thing, if I’m being really honest. I wrote blogs and listened to podcasts until around six thirty. I was due to arrive at 7pm and my hostel had sprung on me, a day prior, that their reception only stayed open until 8 and if I arrived after that I’d have to pay a 15 euro surcharge which they did not mention on any of their literature and which I’m fairly sure is mildly illegal to do. Regardless, I was to arrive at 7. So it was fine. 

Until we hit the traffic jam, which set us back by 20 minutes. 

“Okay, it’s only a 20 minute walk to the hostel, that’s fine, I’ll still make it before eight” I reasoned to myself, before I realised that we had also been running behind schedule even before we hit traffic. Rad.

We arrived in the city slightly closer to eight than seven which meant, far from the leisurely stroll to my next accommodation which I had envisaged, I faced, instead, a sweaty, wheezy walk/run/skip through the centre of town, which was good and also ideal. 

Fortunately, though, I once again made it to my destination with literal minutes to spare and, while quite annoyed again, was quickly pacified when two people who were in front of me in the queue to check in were moved aside by the very friendly receptionist to bring me forward because I had a reservation and they didn’t. Good logistics go a long way to calming me down in almost any circumstances. They’re like incense to me. 

And let me tell you, it was a good thing that I got seen to first as the two girls and one guy who stood before me in that queue continued to have a blazing row with the receptionist or possibly just among themselves that I could hear, at least, for the following 25 minutes. Seemingly upset that the hostel was too expensive and that the receptionist wouldn’t allow them to book a single room for three people. 

They were still arguing by the time I left to get dinner on my second lovely cheat day of the trip which I spent going, again, to a nearby Burger King. Everything else in the area as listed on just eat looked absolutely horrible. Sue me.*

*to be fair, the Burger King was also horrible and had been described as “literally the worst Burger King in the world” by no less than three google reviews out of the first five. 

I trudged back through Alicante which did seem sort of horrid - I noted that it felt like Glasgow at 2am on a Saturday, when in reality it was 8:30 on a monday night; christ knows what it would be like at a weekend and I was glad I wasn't going to find out - and eventually re-reached my hostel

The girls and guy of earlier argument fame now stood outside the building a full hour later than they first entered it. One of them was crying profusely and making unintelligible howling noises. Fuck knows what was going on there but it absolutely did match the vibe of the city, so points for that.

Unwilling and unable to help and unhappy at the thought of my milkshake melting, I passed them with a raised eyebrow to acknowledge that I had also passed them earlier - which seemed only polite - and went inside to eat. From my room, as I did, I *think* I heard them come back in and eventually manage to book a room or two for themselves. Possibly. I’m not sure. I had my earphones in and didn’t care, so it could have gone either way, to be honest.

With all the processed gristle and drama I could stomach now nestling in my stomach/psyche and without having had my customary afternoon siesta I decided that I was too exhausted to do anything too substantial and so fucked myself straight to bed, fairly early, and done a big, rubbish, inadequate, disjointed sleep. Luxury. 

[see-arcane-scribbles]

I Am So Tired

Not even 24 hours. Not even 12 hours.

This website has shat the bed with me twice since last night.

First it killed my blog, @see-arcane, that I’ve had for over a decade in the middle of the night.

Just now it terminated my second account, @see-arcane-the-undead, which I had for all of a few hours, as I was using it. Just as the word had gotten out to my friends what had happened. I bet this one will disappear too. And I still have no answer from @staff about how or why this is happening. I’m sitting in a queue limbo and just have to hope whatever curse is on my blog gets lifted. 

Honestly, I have no clue what I could be doing wrong, what could be sniping my accounts. Is it reading like spam because I posted too quick or too often? Is it because I was talking about something I want to make in the future and it’s somehow being read as an ad? Is there just some random hacker or bug chewing on my stuff for shits and giggles? 

I’ve used two different emails. I had to make a third one just to make this account, for this post, because I’m not even allowed to use my original email addresses to make a new account for some reason.

If anyone knows what this is about, feel free to message me in private. I don’t want to risk @ -ing anyone in case this really is some jerk with a grudge over I don’t even know what. I’m not going to post for a while. It’s not worth it if I put in all this effort just to get the whole thing set on fire between blinks.

[azritesx3]

Coming Down - Lucifer & F!Reader

Anon: Hey I don't know if you do fics based on songs ( im kinda new here after suddenly thirsting for Lucifer— ) But I was wondering if you could a Lucifer x Reader based on ‘Coming Down’ by Halsey? Maybe this had been done, I don't really know. Nothing specific just whatever speaks to you if you do make this! Thank you!!

Description: You married a religious man to get away from the abusers. Who knew that he'd not only turn out to be one too, but that your savior would call himself the Devil and you agree to be his lover?

Rating: Mature Warning(s): Domestic Abuse, Implied Smut, Fluff, Angst, Angst but with a Happy Ending

AO3, FanfictionNet, Wattpad, DeviantArt

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

Tighter and tighter. Cold hands on your throat.

"Why won't you just do what God made you for?!" John, your loving Christian husband, hisses. His hair falls in front of his face as he leans over you on the bed.

You claw at his hands. Your eyes begin to water. Cold sweat drops from his brow and falls into your agape mouth.

This was it. This was finally it.

"LAPD! Open the door!" John whips his head up, then snarls back down at you. He releases his hold and slaps you hard across the face, almost knocking you out.

Thinking he knocked you out.

You listen to him walk down the hall and open the door. There's chatter, and you hear people walking in. You hear footsteps coming back towards you.

"Excuse me sir, please don't go in the bedroom! My wife is sleeping." You hear John call out.

"Detective! A 'home search' is searching the entire home, correct?" A different voice calls out in the hall, a British voice. You don't hear it, but the British voice gets a reply, "As I thought. I shall ever be a gentleman around your wife."

"Please take no offense, sir. I was simply weary because-"

"Of my name, yes?" You hear footsteps enter the bedroom and the British voice becomes loud and clear, "Your decor taste is quite poor."

You listen intently as the new man looks around the space. His last stop is coming to your side of the bed. He doesn't look at you.

Please.

Before he leaves your sight you manage to grab hold of the man's finger. He stops and finally looks down at you. You pull on his finger and he kneels down to face you.

"Sir please-"

"Shut up." The man says to your husband. He stares at your face, taking in your red cheek, dry lips, and tear streaks.

You move your mouth, but your voice is too dry to make a sound. You mouth:

Help me.

"Detective! It seems the call in on violence was correct!" The man calls out. He stands and starts to gather you in his arms.

"Don't you dare-" John is cut off by a punch to the back of his neck and knees, making him fall face first on the floor.

"You're under arrest for domestic abuse." A woman's voice says. In the man's arms you see her cuff your husband.

You begin to cry again.

"Hey now, darling." Voice so soft. You look up at the man. His eyes are sparkling and his smile is comforting, "Rest now, dear. You're safe."

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

"A toast, darling!" Lucifer cheers. He raises his wine glass and gives you a bright smile. You laugh and follow his lead, "To one marvelous year of being together!"

"And to being free!" You add in. Both of you cling your glasses together and take a sip. You begin to giggle causing a sly smile to pull across Lucifer's lips and a perfectly teased brow to raise, "Penny for your thoughts, my dear?"

You continue to giggle, "Oh, just thinking of the irony of all this."

"Oh?" Lucifer smiles and takes hold of your empty hand across the table. He kisses the top of it, "Do tell."

"Oh you know," you blush at his actions and smile joyfully, "Being abused by a Christian husband for many years, only to be saved by a man who calls himself the Devil and having a better life with him."

Lucifer chuckles softly, then turns your wrist to kiss your palm, "A beautiful irony indeed."

After the celebration dinner he takes you to his lavish hotel suite in Las Vegas, and enjoys the wonderful dessert between your legs. You sigh in bliss and relish in the pleasure, the feeling of real love. You thank God for sending you such a savior, even if he does claim to be the Devil.

No one's perfect, after all.

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

It was true. Everything he said was true. He didn't lie, after all.

And now here you are, in a room that was now being swarmed with demon possessed dead humans.

They crowd around you and Lucifer, taking hold of you to pull you away from him. You scream and reach out to Lucifer. He stretches his arm too you, but the demons keep a strong hold against you. You watch his arm fall, and despite the shock on his face, you see a painful decision cross his eyes.

He turns from you and stands on the stage. He releases his full Devil form, causing his shirt to tear off. The demons around you stand frozen and look up to their King. You do the same, memorized by the scarred beauty.

"YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE. GO HOME!" Lucifer yells to them, and they listen. The bodies fall instantly.

You stay standing and just watch as Lucifer returns to his normal self. He studies your face. After regaining yourself tears well up in your eyes and you run up to him. He lifts you in his arms and cradles your body against his.

Back at the penthouse, after what you learned too late was one final night of passion, he tells you he loves you and returns to Hell to keep you, all of earth, safe.

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

You've been a broken soul ever since that night.

Every day after sleepless nights you wake to see your Lightbringer's sun rise, and pray for his return. Every night you pray that when you wake it won't be alone. That he'll be with you once more to watch his star rise together.

Years pass. The prayers don't work.

You now lay in a hospital bed, not very old but with a heart so broken it can't last any longer. You and Lucifer's friends surround your death bed, and cry when you let your heart shatter completely.

You wake in a sort of limbo space, in a queue with other dead souls. You teleport to the front of the line and are in the presence of the Angel of Death.

She looks at you somber, "You died far too early."

You stare back at the angel, "I couldn't take it any longer."

The angel nods, "You're destined for Heaven-"

"No!" You interrupt her, "No, please. He cannot be with me there! Please, send me to Hell instead!"

She looks confused, "But you are guilty of nothing. You'd be tortured for nothing."

"Being without him even in death would be torture itself." The angel studies you. Then looks up where a blinding light shines down on her. She closes her eyes and seems to listen to the light.

The light disappears, and she looks back at you, "Very well."

The next moment you are in a dark, hot space. Around you are stone black pillars with doors etched into them. Some doors were chained up, some unlocked but shook from inside.

"Y/N?"

Your breath hitches at your name being called by the voice you loved and missed so much. You look behind you to see Lucifer in the same suit he wore when he left, but he looked older in the eyes. Hell affects every being.

You run and embrace him. He returns the embrace hesitantly, "You shouldn't be here, love."

"I cannot be in a place without you anymore, Lucifer." You move back slightly so you can look him in the eyes. Your tearful eyes shine with joy and you smile at him, "You are my savior. The one I made into my own personal religion." You cup his now tear streaked face, "I love you, Lucifer Morningstar."

He embraces you back with just as much passion and kisses you passionately. He then buries his head in your neck, "I love you too, Y/N, and I've missed you terribly."

You scratch the back of his neck lightly and whisper, "So, you're not angry that I chose to be here?"

He laughs in your neck, something he hasn't done in thousands of years, "Are you kidding?" He removes himself from you and smiles while getting down on one knee, "I have my Queen with me again. How could I be mad over that?"

You laugh in joy and tackle him to the cold, yet hot, cracked ground. You both stay like that. Crying and laughing together at your eternal partnership.

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

Curious, what are you currently up to relating to your writing, your vn, gaming, or/and snarking?

Ah, I see it’s “calling Eff the fuck out” day today.

But I suppose this is the best reason to give y’all an update on my everything as I’ll get, eh?

Basically, everything’s in limbo, most of it not by choice. I’m doing non-stop, no break courses, back to back up to the summer and possibly into the summer as well, so most of my time and spoons are reserved for really boring and under-stimulating schoolwork. I’m also going to be moving apartments again, possibly next week. Last time was half a year ago. So yeah :)

Next on my list of priorities is my writing. I want to start editing the faery wip draft that my alphas got to read based on their feedback, but I haven’t fully gotten all the feedback yet. I’m still probably gonna start editing soon, just because I want to and I want to start beta rounds this year. I’m also writing my Hades/Persephone thing, but that one’s barely a fetus right now. It is what I’m working on currently while waiting for the faery wip to be done cooking.

As for my VN, it’s also on a break. No real reason aside from the ones given above. I still want to work on it, though. I’m just not giving any updates because there are no updates to give, and also because I don’t feel like leading people on when the chances of anyone actually playing the damn thing are astronomically low. I’ve decided I’m going to focus on making a playable demo first, then see about making an actual longer game. Mostly to give myself a sort of sampler of what’s in store if I decide to take this seriously. So far, I have a bunch of writing done and I’ve put it into the game with generic placeholders for both art and music. I’ve considered making a sideblog for it, but it’d be mostly for my own benefit in terms of motivation and, again, I don’t wanna mislead people just for my own sake.

My gaming I don’t really update people on in general? At least not here. My VN gaming blog is sort of stagnating a bit, mostly because I’ve been playing actually good VNs for a while, and also because it’s a very small and quiet blog that doesn’t really get much response but takes some effort to actually run. My “proper” gaming blog is just full of Hades fanart right now so I won’t advertise it here. (I had like 200+ posts in the queue last time I checked. Oops.)

The snarking is a different story. I’m just not feeling up for it right now. Zenith is hella boring and a slog to get through, it’s a lot of repetitive shit that could’ve been cut and just reading it takes years off my life. I enjoy snarking, and probably always will, but in this case, it’s just so low on my list of priorities that I always choose to do something else with my free time.

Basically it’s a lot of “can’t be assed” or “don’t have spoons” or “don’t have time.” Which is sad. But I’m doing my best!

[magaprima]

A Midwinter’s Tale Episode Thoughts

Lilith’s first scene is her actually praying, in full on Christian parallel, though of course she’s praying to Satan. I find it interesting and very revealing that someone so close to Lucifer, his foot soldier, his concubine, someone who has been at his right hand side since the beginning, has to go through regular old prayer to reach out to him. Now, we know from a later episode, that because Lucifer was not born a God, he’s not omniscient or omnipotent, so he can’t be just listening into the prayer by chance, so despite it looking like a regular prayer, I suspect it’s actually a form of spell, and the clasped hands are a nice visual for Lilith’s devotion (and desperation), but it is distancing. It shows us that even though she does everything for him, she is at the back of the queue so-to-speak, just like everyone else. She doesn’t get the special treatment and attention she has rightfully earned. 

“Answer me, I did what you asked, Sabrina signed her name in your Book of the Beast. Why have you forsaken me? Why have you not called me home to the Pit?”

This is all very revealing of what Lilith’s true relationship is, that she is more servant than foot soldier, that she has become what she initially refused to be for the False God. She has become, to use an ASOIAF term, a Kneeler (which as a choice of phrase, has it’s own related connotations). Also the pronoun useage and phrasing here shows how much she isn’t simply working with Satan, she is being ordered by him, it’s here that we see how little of what she did in Part 1 was not her own choice (we know she really doesn’t care about Sabrina signing a Book, or having an apocalypse etc) and is not even under instuction or guidance, but under order. 

You know ‘I did what you asked’ is very abuse victim reasoning. Look I did this thing you asked me to do, and now you approve of me, right? And now I won’t be punished and maybe you’ll like me and I won’t have to be punished again and everything will be better. A lot of victim of domestic abuse constantly reason that if they do this one thing, fulfil this one request, then things will go back to how they were in the beginning and the abuser will stop being so cruel and treat them like an equal again, lovingly (and, in Lilith’s case, give her a crown). 

This whole sentence is all about possessives and shows how much Lucifer owns. I did what you asked. Signed her name in your Book of the Beast. Why have you not called me home. All possessive and ownership. Even returning home has to be at his instruction, not her own free will. 

“Has my mission changed? Say the word. Give my life meaning. Give me a sign”

God this sentence makes me thing, the whole ‘Give my life meaning’ is just vomit-inducing, the idea that Lilith’s life has no meaning beyond what the Dark Lord allows her. But that is exactly what her life has been since he changed and become the ‘twisted thing of darkness’. She has no existence beyond him, he is everything to her, because he has ensured that he is all she has. We can presume the whole killing Adam and making her eat him is not the first time that sort of thing has happened in order to stop her making emotional connections outside of Lucifer. 

After she says ‘give me a sign’ Sabrina walks in and we presume, from the way she smiles at the girl and says her name, that Lilith thinks this 'sign’ of Sabrina entering is from the Dark Lord and that she’s needed to do some more Sabrina-related shit, but it could be theorised, from an audience standpoint, that actually the sign is Sabrina herself, trying to tell Lilith there are other people out there to attach herself to, that there are other viewpoints and attitudes and experiences out in the world other than the singular one she has known. But, Lilith seems, currently, oblivious to that concept and seems instead to be genuinely pleased that, apparently, the Dark Lord has another task for her, that her ‘life has meaning’, so when she smiles at Sabrina it’s genuine and eager. 

“Remember when I went to Limbo?” “Vividly”

Lilith’s expression here is all prepared, it’s her whole act of the tired yet affectionate mentor who remembers the insanity her student drags her on, but when Sabrina adds she saw her Mother there, Lilith’s whole face falls like ‘well that’s brand new information I didn’t want to hear’, she just has a full wide-eyed oh shit expression, but thankfully, Sabrina is too busy personal monologuing to notice, because Lilith looks nervous as hell a she continues to effect being all ‘really? how interesting and shocking. hmmm’ And then Sabrina makes it even worse by adding she wants to do a seance to reach her. Lilith’s breathing is shallow and mildly panicked, like she thought she was done with all this, but Sabrina just throws more issues. Lilith is trying to think as quickly as possible here. 

“And there’s no way I’m going to dissuade you, is there?”

I think this question is totally genuine, like there’s not a hope in heaven I’m going to stop you doing this and make my life easier? She knows Sabrina at this point and she knows that means she’ll go through with it. 

“And if I deny you, you’ll just ask your chums at the Academy for a Book of the Dead, won’t you?”

Yeah, Lilith knows Sabrina extremely well.

“Well then, who am I to keep a daughter from her mother?”

Translation: well, what other choice do I have but to let you fucking do it and just try and sabotage it instead. 

“But, Sabrina, be careful. Mind nothing unspeakable breaks through with your Mumsy”

She’s already sewing the seeds of the idea that things can wrong, that bad things can get in, so that when Lilith does sabotage it, Sabrina won’t be suspicious, she’ll think it’s just a downside of the seance. Also...’mumsy’??

“Thanks for the book, Ms Wardwell. You’re the best”

Another genuine thanks from Sabrina and Lilith dismisses it and can’t look at her directly as she does so. She’s playing a part, it’s true, but after the exorcism incident I think genuine thanks make Lilith so uncomfortable, because no one else has given them, that she can’t look at Sabrina when they happen, because it’s too unsettling for one, but it makes lying to her more complicated.

“Oh Stolas, a demoness’ work is never done, is it?”

No doubt she now thinks this is why the Dark Lord hasn’t called her home yet. She’s now able to reason that she hasn’t been forgotten or dismissed, but that she has more important work to do. Also, the fact she has stuffed Stolas and still speaks to him is her yet again, holding onto connections that have long since died (metaphorically in the case of the Dark Lord, literally in the case of Stolas). We get the vibe in Part 1 that Stolas (who might be more demon than familiar, if we consider his name origins) perhaps often belittles Lilith, reminding her that the Dark Lord doesn’t think her worthy etc, it might even be possible he was a spy before he was resurrected, we don’t know, but either way, she was driven to snap his neck in a fit of rage...and yet still she keeps him. Stuffs him and still speaks to him. This shows she’s someone who doesn’t shake connections off easily, but also that she is lonely, that she has no true companion of any variety, no one to talk to, and that is a very, very lonely existence. 

“Who knows what disturbing things Mommy Dearest might say to her daughter fair?”

What things is Lilith thinking of? That Diana would reveal who Lilith really is? Or is it something darker? Perhaps the circumstances behind her death? Something even Lilith hasn’t thought of herself?

“And after we’ve just got her to sign on the dotted line”

Lilith shows real panic after saying this, hand to mouth, eyes wide. Lilith really, genuinely fears the idea that Sabrina will suddenly retract her signature, or something else will go wrong due to Diana, because if anything does change and/or go wrong, Lilith is the one who will be blamed and the Dark Lord would be angry and unmerciful. So Lilith determinedly sets into action; ‘No, best to interrupt the proceedings, I think’ she declares, and we can already see her mind whirring with ideas. She’s a quick plotter. 

And then we come to the Gingerbread House and it’s inhabitants. Unless Lilith’s magical prowess involves being able to summon gingerbread creations out of thin air, for the purpose of this yuletide spell, Lilith freaking baked a bunch of gingerbread in Mary Wardwell’s kitchen, and then put it together and decorated it. Like, that is a hysterical image, so I don’t care if there’s a less crazy alternative theory, this is the one I accept; that Lilith spent hours baking sweet treats and decorating them. A process in which she decided Hilda should have green hair. 

“Warden of the longest night, fey things fear the Yule fire’s light. But Yule flame dead and portals laid bare, now darkness comes to trick and to tear”

This spell is oddly haunting and festive, like it’s an enjoyable spell. But I also always enjoy when Lilith uses her witchy side rather than her demonic side, because that’s who she is originally, and her spells are always more old-school reflecting how long she’s been a witch, and I just enjoy it. Although, when my Mum and I first watched this episode on Winter Solstice, my Mum went ‘Oh well that’s not fair. You light a Yule Log, it stays lit. Putting it out with brandy down a gingerbread chimney isn’t fair’ so she was very annoyed by the invasive nature of that spell, haha. 

The final Lilith scene where she eats the gingerbread I think proves that she baked it all and the reason why; to eat it. Also, I love that Lilith is a Dunker. Pops that Sabrina gingebread girl right in her tea. 

[simplrsimblr]

Tuesday November 6

Hello,

So, I didn't get the queue filled this weekend. On Saturday, my mom and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody. It was beautiful. I don't cry at movies or TV but this one got me. Saturday I also dealt with Lefty's extreme musical deprivation "Boogieman Rhapsody"?  You defend yourself by saying you're not supposed to know every band but freaking "Bohemian Rhapsody"? Seriously Lefty? 

Even though I was shocked at his musical deprivation, Lefty and I went to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. It's cheesy and campy but still fun. It was a beautiful day for it. The history major in me cringes but the fun loving part of me has fun. It was my fifth time going and Lefty liked it better than I thought he would.

I have 90-ish posts drafted but not quite ready for queuing. I have another 100+ ready to be drafted. Despite being slightly ahead, I've decided to take the week off from simblr just to regroup. My job is overworking and overwhelming me right now. Management will not let our department hire another employee. We're so busy we need another employee but we're so busy we don't have time to hire and train said employee. Lefty and I are in relationship limbo. My therapist appointment is Thursday night.  So, this week simblr is taking a backseat. This weekend I should have one day hanging out with my mama and the other I will have some free time to play Sims, work on my simblr, and cuddle my kitten.

Best wishes.

[106days]

On Sunday we packed up and headed out on a quick tour around Colombo; past Viharamahadevi Park (formerly Victoria Park), to Independence Square, which celebrates Sri Lanka’s freedom from Victoria et. al. in 1948, and has a series of carvings that tell the story of ancient SL; onwards to Pettah Market, where we got to try delicious sweet mango and other tropical fruits I can’t quite remember the name of, and then Jami Ul-Alfar mosque which is a stunning red and white patterned building resembling candy canes.

Next stop was Negombo, a former Dutch fort now city, an hour north of Colombo. Our hotel was right down on the beach. We dumped our bags and set off for a canal and lagoon ride. The canal part was short - basically went like a hundred metres down, did a three point turn, and headed back up to the lake. The lagoon ride was beautiful - got to put our feet in the water, and saw so many birds (and a monkey). Sun was beating down though - it’s been so hot and humid. I had very much expected the monsoon to have begun but we’ve not had rain as yet.

When we got off the boat I noticed the bus shelter had an ad up, with two forlorn Sri Lankan men, a giant red hand and slogans, and a little Australian Government crest up the top right corner plus a url ending in ‘zero chance’ - i.e. ads telling people not to attempt to come to Australia by boat. It was ugly and unsettling, and I felt quite ashamed. Reminded me the Biloela family are still stuck in limbo and not only does our government waste money on keeping them imprisoned off shore, our taxpayer dollars are funding nasty ads on the streets of Sri Lanka.

After the boat ride we had a bit of free time, during which I went down to the sea to check how warm it was (warm) before returning to the hotel room and promptly falling asleep. Following a horrific nap (one of those when you fall asleep and it’s light and you wake up and it’s dark and you’re not quite sure what year it is) we went out for dinner. The first place we tried was fully booked, and the second took over 2 hours to bring out our very, very average food. That said - there was live music playing (a Sri Lankan band with some bangers like Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, Westlife... the hits went on) and me and a couple of the others did have a tasty passionfruit mojito, which all helped pass the time. 

Part of the reason it took so bloody long for our food to come out is because the Sinhala and Tamil New Year had fallen on 14 April (Thursday), then it was a full moon day (known as a Poya Day) on 16 April (Saturday). Basically, Sunday was the end of a long-ass long weekend for the Sri Lankan people; a lot of places were closed, and those that were open had few staff. I think I mentioned in the previous post that the streets of Colombo were empty. Our visit to Pettah Market - where ordinarily, it would be packed to the rafters, saw us wandering through semi-empty stalls. No complaints though. We’ve had a good run with getting into and around places that would otherwise be thronging with people.

I guess another aspect to this all is the ongoing protests. Today (Tuesday 19 April) marks the first protestor shot dead by SL police. So far everything I’ve seen has been peaceful, including a small protest on the road in Dambulla today. But Rajapaksa refuses to let go and people are desperate. The queues for the petrol station we’ve seen have been staggeringly long and on top of that, one of the main petrol providers in the country upped prices by 65% today. I hope the situation doesn’t deteriorate further but I can’t see how it won’t, even if the IMF bails out the government. The people will be the ones who pay.

[orbemnews]

The Small Business Administration’s Gaffes Are Now Her Job to Fix Isabella Casillas Guzman, President Biden’s choice to run the Small Business Administration, inherited a portfolio of nearly $1 trillion in emergency aid and an agency plagued by controversy when she took over in March. She has been sprinting from crisis to crisis ever since. Some new programs have been mired in delays and glitches, while the S.B.A.’s best-known pandemic relief effort, the Paycheck Protection Program, nearly ran out of money for its loans this month, confusing lenders and stranding millions of borrowers. Angry business owners have deluged the agency with criticism and complaints. Now, it’s Ms. Guzman’s job to turn the ship around. “It’s the largest S.B.A. portfolio we’ve ever had, and clearly there’s going to need to be some changes in how we do business,” she said in a recent interview. When the coronavirus crisis struck and the economy went into a free fall last year, Congress and the Trump administration pushed the Small Business Administration to the forefront, putting it in charge of huge sums of relief money and complicated new programs. It is by far the smallest cabinet-level agency, with an annual operating budget that is typically less than half of what the Defense Department spends in a day. It was long viewed within the government as a sleepy backwater. But when the pandemic sent unemployment claims soaring, Congress responded with an unprecedented plan: Give businesses money to keep their workers employed. Just seven days after President Donald J. Trump signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in late March 2020, the Small Business Administration began accepting applications for the Paycheck Protection Program. Agency employees describe a blurry month of round-the-clock work to manage the program’s launch and early days. The agency’s 68 district offices, which normally field a few hundred inquiries a week, received 12,000 phone calls a day from desperate business owners. A rotating group of a dozen people camped in an ad hoc war room at the mostly empty headquarters to write the program’s rules and revamp technology systems to handle the onslaught of applications. Despite lots of speed bumps — including confusing, often-revised loan terms and several technical meltdowns — the program enjoyed some success. Millions of business owners credit it with helping them survive the pandemic and keep more workers employed. Economists are skeptical about whether the program’s results justify its huge cost, but Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden both embraced the effort as a centerpiece of their economic rescue plans. As the pandemic stretched on and the economy plunged into a recession, the Paycheck Protection Program morphed into the largest business bailout in American history. More than eight million companies got forgivable loans, totaling $788 billion — nearly as much money as the government spent on its three rounds of direct payments to taxpayers. But there were pitfalls, some of which will take years to unravel. Fraud is a major concern. Thousands of people took advantage of the rushed program’s minimal documentation requirements and sought illicit loans, according to prosecutors, to fund gambling sprees, Lamborghinis, luxury watches, an alpaca farm and a Medicare fraud scheme. The Justice Department has charged hundreds of people with stealing more than $440 million, and scores of federal investigations are active. (During her confirmation hearing, Ms. Guzman promised that she would “prioritize the reduction of fraud, waste and abuse.”) There were other problems. Female and minority business owners were disproportionately left out of the relief effort. A last-minute attempt by Mr. Biden to make the program more generous for solo business owners came too late to help many of them. This month, a new emergency popped up: The program ran short of money and abruptly closed to most new applicants. “There was no warning,” Toby Scammell, the chief executive of Womply, a company that helps borrowers get loans, said of the latest debacle. His company alone has more than 1.6 million applicants caught in limbo. The Paycheck Protection Program is far from the agency’s only challenge. It’s also managing a complex and evolving system of low-interest disaster loans of up to $500,000 and new grant funds, created by Congress, for two of the hardest-hit industries: the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant for live-event businesses and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. (The hotel industry is pushing for its own version.) Today in Business Updated  May 25, 2021, 2:46 p.m. ET Each required the agency to create policies and technology systems from scratch. The venue program has been especially rocky. On its scheduled start day, in early April, the application system completely failed, leaving desperate applicants hitting refresh and relying on social media posts for information and updates. “I turned to my associate director and said, ‘I figured something like this would happen,’” said Chris Zacher, the executive director of Levitt Pavilion, a nonprofit performing arts center in Denver. The Small Business Administration revived the system three weeks later and has received 12,200 applications, but it does not anticipate awarding grants until late May. People lower in the tiered priority queue, including Mr. Zacher, fear that even if their claim is approved, they won’t see a check until June or July — a major hurdle for venues trying to plan their summer and fall seasons. “It’s maddening,” Mr. Zacher said. “A program that’s supposed to help save indie venues is putting us at a disadvantage because of all these delays.” Ms. Guzman, 51, hears those criticisms relentlessly — the response threads to her agency’s social media posts have turned into primal screams of pain. (“I SERIOUSLY CANNOT TAKE THIS WITH SBA ANY LONGER” is one of the milder replies.) She said she understood the urgency. “It’s definitely unprecedented — across the board, across the nation — and we are seeing multiple disasters at the same time,” she said. “The agency is highly focused on just still responding to disaster and implementing this relief as quickly as possible.” This is Ms. Guzman’s second tour at the Small Business Administration. When President Barack Obama picked Maria Contreras-Sweet in 2014 to take over the agency, Ms. Guzman went along as a senior adviser and deputy chief of staff. The women had met in the mid-1990s. Ms. Guzman, a California native with an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, was hired at 7Up/RC Bottling by Ms. Contreras-Sweet, an executive there. “I was always impressed with her ability to handle jobs with steep learning curves — she has a quick grasp of complex concepts,” Ms. Contreras-Sweet said. Ms. Guzman spent her first stint at the agency focused on traditional projects like its flagship lending program, which normally facilitates around $28 billion a year in loans. This time, the job is radically different. “We’re working closely to identify opportunities to build up a strong agency to meet this demand of scale,” she said. “The S.B.A. needs to be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve. What I really, truly mean by that is that a more customer-first approach.” The agency is testing a new “community navigators” program, which will fund local organizations, including nonprofits and government groups, to work closely with businesses owned by people with disabilities or in underserved rural, minority and immigrant communities. It’s an expansion of a grass-roots effort by several nonprofits to get vulnerable businesses access to Paycheck Protection Program loans. Ms. Guzman said she was bullish about that effort and other agency priorities, like expanding Black and other minority entrepreneurs’ access to capital — but first, like the clients it serves, the Small Business Administration has to weather the pandemic. And to do that, it has to stop shooting itself in the foot. The much-awaited second attempt at opening the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant fund was preceded by one final debacle: The agency announced — and then, less than a day before the date, abandoned — a plan to open the first-come-first-served fund on a Saturday. For those seeking aid that has not yet arrived, the incident felt like yet another kick in the teeth. Ms. Guzman said she was aware of the need for her agency to overcome its limitations and rebuild its checkered reputation. “This is a pivotal moment in time where we can leverage the interest in small business to really deliver a remarkable agency to them,” she said. “I value being the voice for the 30 million small and innovative start-ups around the country. What I always say to my staff is that I want these businesses to feel like the giants that they are in our economy.” Source link Orbem News #Administrations #Business #Fix #Gaffes #Job #Small

[karingudino]

The takeaway from the ‘Ever Given’

On Monday, the 200,000-ton Ever Given was lastly unstuck from the banks of the Suez Canal. For the previous week, the container ship had been blocking one of many world’s busiest waterways, inflicting oil costs to rise and delivery corporations all over the world to frantically reassess their operations. The incident was holding up nearly $10 billion in maritime commerce a day. With the disaster now over, logistical staff can bid farewell to one of many strangest incidents that they’ve handled for the reason that begin of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Comically, nearly as quickly as information broke of the Ever Given‘s launch, #putitback began trending on social media, reminding us of the extent to which the 150-year previous Suez Canal is the right stage for world spectacle.

The Ever Given is now free and regular service resumes on the Suez Canal, albeit with a giant queue. AFP

Even because the vessel takes to open water, the story just isn’t over

Delays and challenges are frequent in delivery. The overwhelming majority of “crises” are the fodder of business wonks, and a bore to everybody else. Within the fog of tight timetables, worldwide provide chains and 1000’s of personal corporations, what goes on in ports and worldwide waters is vital, however tedious. The Suez Canal is arguably the world’s most vital synthetic waterway. It started because the ambition of a French diplomat and Egypt’s ruling household within the nineteenth century. Within the mid-Twentieth century, the UK, France and Israel failed in an try to recapture it after the chief of Egypt’s independence motion, Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalised the passage. Nasser’s victory made the canal a logo of Egyptian independence, and a logo of so many decolonisation actions to return. Now, the waterway loved as soon as once more a second because the world’s most charming story, throughout a yr when breaking information has been largely about sickness, financial uncertainty, conflict and injustice. For every week, a completely mundane piloting error – or a barely too robust gust of wind, relying on what investigators conclude – created a measure of chaos usually reserved for extra nefarious acts of geopolitics.

Editorials from The Nationwide

However different crises within the delivery sector are universally distressing. The Nationwide has written, for instance, concerning the hardship that mariners have confronted throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, as a rising variety of corporations all over the world are going bankrupt, which may, in excessive instances, result in sailors being stranded at sea in authorized limbo. In different instances, PPE and different medical provides have gone undelivered, escalating worldwide tensions and undermining the battle in opposition to the pandemic.

The plight of the Ever Given was a disaster wedged firmly in between. The general public response included concern, fascination and even laughter, however the world was additionally reminded that the mechanics of one thing so vital as the worldwide financial system can hinge on even the smallest particulars.

The start of this saga was unprecedented and charming. The center was a race in opposition to time. And the conclusion appeared definitive, after a mixed effort from Egypt and worldwide companions, in addition to 15 tugboats and a lone digger. Even because the Ever Given takes to open water, nevertheless, the story just isn’t over. There shall be investigations and fierce authorized battles that might drag on for months, if not years, because the delivery firm and the Canal Authority wrangle to assign accountability. The top lesson might merely be that accidents occur. However even that can educate the world one thing.

Printed: March 31, 2021 07:00 AM

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source https://fikiss.net/the-takeaway-from-the-ever-given/ The takeaway from the ‘Ever Given’ published first on https://fikiss.net/ from Karin Gudino https://karingudino.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-takeaway-from-ever-given.html

[auroraxxskies]

Blog Update

Given that the simblr is essentially a mess right now (which tbh i find quite funny), I thought this would be an appropriate time to let you guys know what’s going to be happening with my blog. I’m gonna put everything under the cut, because this gonna be pretty long.

Ok, so the big news is that from the 20th Nov to 18th Dec, I’m gonna be away in Myanmar. I’m going on a humanitarian project, and I’m gonna have no access to tumblr (and obvs Sims 4). So basically, I have a massive queue that I’m planning, and hopefully goes to plan.

chasingxxstories: most of you know that this is my new blog for the story that I’m releasing (The Somerset Diaries). It officially releases on the 13th (!!) and I’ll be posting it every Mon, Wed, and Fri while I’m still here, and Mon and Fri while I’m gone. If you wanna stay on top of that, I’d recommend giving that blog a follow. :)

this blog: you’ve all probably realised that my original legacy has kinda fizzled out over the past month or so. I found myself in a kinda rut and I think it’s because I was focusing too much on the storyline / screenshots than actual gameplay. So, my plan is that when Cats and Dogs releases, I’m going to be starting some new gameplay with a new family, in BB, where I’ll be able to experience Cats and Dogs and hopefully begin to enjoy playing more. I’m gonna try and queue that for at least one post a day while I’m away. It might be more, might be less depending on how much time I have to play and how many screenies I take (its probably gonna be a lot tbh because DOGGOS).

everything else: obviously I’m gonna be away, so I’m basically gonna miss a month of simblr which is going to be awful when I get back but I’m not really thinking about it right now. So, while I’m away still feel free to send me messages / asks but don’t expect anything back. Also, because I won’t have access to the internet, if something goes wrong / my queue decides to screw up (god forbid) sadly I won’t be able to fix anything…you’ll just have to bear with me.

So that’s basically what’s gonna be happening for the next 6 weeks or so. If anything changes while I’m still here I’ll let you all know, but I hope you guys are excited for me to get back into this blog again (it was kinda in a limbo until cats and dogs came out tbh). I’m super sad that I’ll be missing everyone’s gameplay with cats and dogs, but it means I’m gonna have SO MUCH to catch up on once I’m back…so much that it kinda terrifies me…

Anyway, PEACE OUT XD 

- Shivana

[sapphicscholar]

Prompt for a Lena/Alex body swap from a few anons, @lurkz, @iamdeltas, and someone else here a while back (and apologies for only now getting to it…the queue is too damn long! But I made it nice and long to make up for the delay)

A/N: I’m putting the full text here, but I’d love it if you’d come let me know your thoughts (if you have them) in the comments too! It’s always fun getting to interact with you all there! Also, if you go there, you can catch my fun nerd notes which, let me tell you, they got historical today

Chapter Text:

“How was your day, babe?” Maggie called out to Alex over the sound of rice noodles sizzling in the wok for dinner.

“Good. Little tired, but it was actually a lot of fun.”

“You hung out with your people all day. Of course you had fun, Danvers.”

“What do you mean ‘my people’?” Alex asked, pulling two beers out of the fridge and helping to get the table set for dinner.

“You, Lena, and Winn? I mean nerds, duh,” Maggie answered with a laugh, clicking off the burner.

“Are you trying to imply that you, Maggie Sawyer, Science Division Detective and not-so-secret sci-fi connoisseur, are not a nerd?”

“Well that depends, are we talking a nerd when compared to the general population? Then yes. Compared to you three? Not a chance.”

Alex just rolled her eyes as she handed over the bowls for Maggie to fill. “Whatever, you’ll always be my nerdy girlfriend.”

“And sexy. Can’t forget that part.”

“Mm, you know I never forget that part.” Alex made a show of checking out Maggie and winked when she caught her gaze.

“Like I said: nerd. But anyway, did Lena get the headset things working?”

“Um, sort of? We lost Winn as a test subject after a particularly nasty first round of testing.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, we all got a different VR headset to test to get the basic levels established, and I guess Winn happened to get one that was from an earlier round of beta testing when they hadn’t quite worked out some of the kinks.”

“Oh god, he’s not hurt is he?” Even if Winn could be a pain in the ass and nearly killed each and every member of their friend group over the two or three times he tried to play pool, she’d come to think of him as family. Plus, it was nice to have someone else who understood what it was like to have family members go from being normal, everyday fixtures of your life to estranged figures, to have them in that limbo zone of still alive but no longer a loved one—a kind of absent presence that made itself known in memories and bad dreams and panic attack-induced thoughts.

“No! No, no,” Alex rushed to reassure her. “He just got, uh, pretty motion sick. We left him with a trash can and a bottle of Gatorade while we finished up the rest of the day.”

Maggie grimaced at the image. “Right, so anyway, how did the rest of the tests go? I assume you fared better?”

“That I did. It’s still not doing everything Lena wants it to do, but the body sensors work really well, and obviously the vision and sound parts are communicating, so she was able to see and hear as if she were really me. When it came to feeling what I felt…things got a little iffy. The last test seemed better. I don’t know exactly what it was, but she and Winn had been working on something using alien tech we recovered from the last Cadmus raid.”

“That sounds promising!”

“Yeah, definitely! If we can do another round of testing where we don’t end up with a second Winn situation, Lena said we could do a big group beta test with the DEO recruits for some of their training—give them a decent simulation of being in the field without actually putting their lives at risk the first few times.”

“That’s great, babe. I’m glad you finally got over your whole ‘I don’t trust Luthors’ thing enough to work with Lena.”

“It wasn’t just that she was a Luthor,” Alex huffed.

“True,” Maggie conceded, “you don’t trust anyone who gets close to your baby sister. But still, you seemed to hold onto the Lena thing a bit longer.”

“I just…she seemed to be trying to get so close to Kara, you know? Like there was something more going on. Who picks their friends that fast?”

Maggie bit her tongue, figuring now wasn’t the time to point out that she didn’t think Lena was really angling toward just friendship. No reason to make Alex suspicious of Lena again when she was finally warming up to the woman…at least, not until Maggie had more concrete proof. She could have sworn she once saw the two of them leave one of Lena’s galas together and come back almost half an hour later giggling with smudged lipstick, but then again, she’d been a little distracted that night. After all, Alex had been in that navy dress she wore the first time they went undercover, and this time she didn’t need to feel guilty about appreciating every inch of it.

“But how was your day?” Alex asked, turning her attention back to Maggie.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Maggie went over her day. She’d taken advantage of her rare Sunday off to catch up on some of her errands and call a few of her friends from back in Gotham, then she’d settled in with a book to do a little bit of reading for fun—something she hadn’t taken the time to do in ages.

But of course talking about reading had brought the conversation around to some of the “required LGBTQ reading” Maggie had given Alex back when they first got together, which may or may not have included a few books with more…risqué passages, or at least they’d seemed that way to a young Maggie. And talking about some of the reading Alex had apparently finally gotten around to during her week of mandated medical leave after she got thrown against the wall one too many times during a fight, leaving her with some rather impressive sized bruises, inevitably brought the conversation back around to the content of those books, which eventually led them to the sofa and, after a few slightly uncomfortable minutes of maneuvering, back to their bed.

---

The next morning, Alex rolled over, pulling the sheets up over her head to block out the sunlight streaming in through the windows. She could have sworn they’d closed the blinds, but then again, last night had ended in a bit of a blur with clothes strewn across the bedroom floor and their lead-lined box of toys being dragged out from under the bed. Judging by the empty bed, Alex reasoned, Maggie must have gotten up early, maybe pulling them open to try to lure Alex out of bed. Of course, it wasn’t working. But it was a decent effort.

“Morning!” an all too chipper voice suddenly rang out.

“Kara?” Alex squeaked, patting herself down, grateful to find she’d apparently thrown on clothes after their nighttime adventures.

“I brought breakfast!”

As much as she’d wanted to sleep in a little longer, Alex wouldn’t say no to free breakfast…so she pulled back the sheets and finally forced her eyes open. It was all a bit blurry, but it quickly became apparent that she was in Kara’s apartment. “How’d I get here?”

“Were you really that tired after all the tests yesterday?” Kara asked with a light laugh. “I know you got in late, but I thought you’d remember cuddling, at least, even if you did pass out on me pretty quickly…”

“But…no, I was with Maggie,” Alex reasoned, trying to force her brain to work when it all still felt so foggy, like things just weren’t quite connecting. And god, why was everything still so blurry?

“Oh, did Maggie come get Alex?”

“I am Alex.”

With a furrow of her eyebrows and a burst of superspeed, Kara threw the covers away, assessing the person in her bed in a show of mock objectivity. “I can declare conclusively that you are not. I’m gonna go ahead and say you are Lena, and I think I have an intimate enough knowledge to give that conclusion with 100% certainty.”

“No, Kara, it’s me. Your sister. What the fuck is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Jesus, where the fuck are my glasses? Or Lena’s glasses? Jesus fuck, is this woman blind?”

Looking much more concerned than she had earlier, Kara handed over Lena’s glasses and pulled back slightly, reaching for her phone to text Alex—the real Alex? Or was this really her sister?

“Well fuck me, you’re right,” Alex declared, looking down at herself—or rather, not herself.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this really is Lena’s body. But it’s me, Alex.”

“No, no no no. That can’t be right. You basically destroyed that body swap thing, didn’t you?” It had been good fun while it lasted, but J’onn and Alex had played the responsible parents and taken it away before anything serious could go wrong.

“Yeah, it wasn’t that. But, shit, I think…did Lena say what alien tech she was using to get the headsets to work? She said something about basically being able to inhabit another person’s body, and I’m starting to think maybe we should’ve taken that warning literally.”

“Um, let me call her!” And in a flurry of motion, Kara hit send on Lena’s number, groaning when her phone rang from her purse by the door.

“Shit, try my number,” Alex groaned, rubbing at Lena’s forehead. “Wait a second!” she yelled out, suddenly more than a little alert. “Why is Lena in your bed? And why did that not surprise you?

“Hmm?” Kara hummed, avoiding eye contact and trying to busy herself with the phone, even though it was just ringing through with no answer.

“Kara!”

---

Lena woke up to the sound of someone cursing and the faint noise of a phone vibrating somewhere in the apartment. For a moment she panicked, wondering if Alex had let herself in (again) and she’d need to hide out in Kara’s room until the woman finally found the right time to tell her sister that they’d started dating.

Lena threw out an arm to get her glasses from the nightstand only to find they weren’t where she normally left them. Blinking her eyes open, she looked over to find thick black tape and handcuffs, immediately shooting up as panic took over. Her thoughts spiraled: Was I kidnapped? Are they going to torture me? This isn’t Kara’s bed. Where am I? Why am I naked? Wait, those are definitely not my boobs.

“Babe, you look like you saw a ghost,” Maggie laughed, watching as Alex patted herself down, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she regarded their nightstand, which was still covered with a few of the toys left out from the night before.

“Maggie…” Lena trailed off, quickly putting the pieces together. “I’m in Alex’s body, aren’t I?” Apparently the alien tech hadn’t been quite as harmless as the first round of testing made it seem.

Nearly tripping over her feet in her haste to get to her gun, Maggie drew her weapon, pointing it at whatever imposter was currently in her bed. “Who the hell are you?” she demanded.

“Well now, isn’t this familiar. Gonna arrest me with those nice leather cuffs this time?” Lena drawled.

“What?”

“It’s me, Lena. Something must have gone wrong with the testing yesterday. I…well, I should have guessed that mother wouldn’t have any technology that wasn’t able to be weaponized in the worst of ways. Now, would you pass me a shirt? I understand it’s your fiancée’s body, but I assume you don’t want me staring at it.”

“Right,” Maggie said hesitantly, throwing a shirt in Alex—no, Lena’s direction. “How do I know it’s really you?”

“You tried to arrest me.”

“That’s in my file. Lots of people know that.”

“After incorrectly arresting me, you showed up at my apartment with a bottle of wine as an apology, but I told you I understood you were just doing your job. And then after a few glasses each, you told me to be careful about dragging a Danvers sister out of the closet and said you wished you had been a little gentler about it.”

Lowering her gun, Maggie nodded slowly, trying to wrap her head around it. Sure, for a bit it seemed like the Superfriends were swapping bodies every other week, but J’onn and Alex had put an end to it pretty quickly. “So…how did this happen?”

“Did Alex tell you about the VR headsets?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I suspect that the technology I used did more than just allow us to experience the world as the other did when the headsets were activated. There appear to have been some…aftereffects.”

“You can say that again.” After a moment, Maggie added, “We should probably try to get in touch with Alex.”

“Funny story…”

“What? Is Alex about to freak out about something?”

“She’ll be waking up in Kara’s bed,” Lena replied matter-of-factly, though Maggie guessed there was likely some sense of nervousness about how the overprotective big sister would react.

“Oh good. I’m sure that’s just the way she wanted to find out about you banging her baby sister. Also, rude, Luthor. I thought we had a nice bonding experience over the Danvers girls.”

“First of all, she’s not going to wake up stark naked handcuffed to the bed.”

“You weren’t handcuffed to the bed,” Maggie interjected. “Everyone knows you don’t leave someone like that overnight. Aftercare is important.”

“Fine, yes, healthy kink, whatever. Point is: I woke up to the sight of a handcuffs and bondage tape and a dozen sex toys scattered around the bed. She’ll wake up in full pajamas to a half-eaten box of donuts.”

“Really? No morning fun?”

“We just got together,” Lena sighed, dropping her head into her hands. “We hadn’t told anyone yet.”

“Well….guess the cat’s out of the bag now, huh?”

“It would seem so.”

---

A few phone calls later, Alex found herself in the backseat of an all-black SUV with tinted windows she’d been assured were bulletproof sitting next to herself. Or, well, Lena in her body. Because that was so very clearly the kind of prim posture learned in private boarding schools and etiquette courses and somehow maintained during years of intensive lab work that should have given her the same kind of slouch Alex found herself sinking into after long hours hunched over microscopes and specimens.

“Where are we going?” Alex asked.

“To my apartment and then to L-Corp.”

“Can’t we just go to L-Corp first? I’d rather get this fixed before you get your favorite coat or whatever it is we’re doing,” Alex grumbled.

“We’re getting you a change of clothing.”

“Are you kidding me?” Alex growled, spinning over to face Lena and trying to ignore the odd jolt she felt in her gut every time she had to see her own face reflected back at her.

“No, it is not to become public knowledge that Lena Luthor is not herself, let alone that she is now in the body of an agent employed by a covert government organization meant to keep the world safe from hostile aliens. And that means not showing up to work in the same outfit I wore the day before. I need to look as though I still care about my appearance as much as befits a CEO of an international, multi-billion dollar corporation.”

Clenching her jaw, Alex struggled to come up with a retort to that reasoning, settling instead on her other reasons for being annoyed: “So when were you going to tell me that you’re sleeping with my little sister?”

“I…” Lena paused, wishing she had gotten an opportunity to speak to Kara before getting in a moving vehicle with Alex, to find out what the woman already knew and what might come as an unpleasant surprise. “It’s new. Kara wanted to tell you on her own, and I wasn’t going to try to tell her the right time to do that.”

“Well, I know now.”

“Yes, yes, I suppose you do.”

Alex wished she hadn’t gotten to know Lena as well as she had over the past few months of game nights, hadn’t seen her fighting to prove her innocence, hadn’t watched her save the world even when it meant putting her own life on the line. Because knowing what she did, she found it was significantly more difficult to tell the woman to stay away from her sister. Of course, she still found it within herself to manage a few vague threats about what she could and would do if she ever hurt Kara, but they could both tell that her heart wasn’t in them, that she hadn’t quite taken the same gleeful pleasure in it that she had while threatening James—not that Kara had let him stick around long enough for those threats to ever be realized.

But Lena nodded, her eyes flashing with understanding. “I’d never hurt her. There’s more goodness in her than anyone I know, and I won’t be the one to ruin that.”

“Good.”

They rode the rest of the way in a silence that was only slightly uncomfortable, finally pulling up outside of Lena’s apartment building and being whisked up to the top floor before any paparazzi with nothing better to do than wait outside on the off shot that “the Luthor” would walk by could snap a photo of Lena in the same clothes she wore the day before with some mystery woman beside her.

When Lena followed Alex into the bedroom, Alex rounded on her. “I think I can pick out an outfit.”

Biting back a smirk, Lena reasoned, “You wear a uniform every day, Agent Danvers.”

“Not at home.”

“Oh really? Skinny jeans plus dark colored top plus leather jacket isn’t its own uniform?”

Alex just grumbled, muttering under her breath about being perfectly capable of finding clothing. But she stepped back to allow Lena to get into a closet that seemed to stretch back indefinitely and watched as she quickly pulled out a pencil skirt, a blouse, a blazer, a bra, underwear, and heels in the time it might have taken Alex to simply find the light switch.

“Just put these on, and we’ll deal with hair and makeup next.”

Stripping off the clothes Kara had handed to her that morning, Alex turned her attention to the outfit that had been left for her. Trying not to look too closely at her sister’s girlfriend’s body, she quickly pulled on underwear and reached for the bra, struggling slightly when she realized the damn contraption was more like lingerie than the utilitarian sports bras she threw on each morning, but eventually she managed. Sure, maybe she’d missed a hook or two, but she figured it could hold and make do. She pulled on the pencil skirt next, wondering how in the world the woman had ever found it in herself to run in something like this, let alone rush for a gun and shoot a man while wearing it. But when she reached for the blouse, she realized it had buttons in the back. After a few failed attempts, Alex finally called out: “Luthor!”

“You bellowed?” Lena drawled, arching an eyebrow at Alex and looking distinctly un-Alex-like.

“Why the hell do you own something that buttons in the back?”

“It’s designer.”

“It’s impractical.”

“It’s very in style,” Lena countered with a shrug. “Now turn around and let me help you.”

“Don’t look,” Alex huffed.

“Really? It’s my body. And if you were actually that modest, maybe you should have put on clothes before going to bed.”

Lena smirked at the bright red flush that crept up her neck, taking Alex’s silence as an opportunity to undo all the crisscrossed buttons and fix them before handing over the blazer to complete the look. Guiding Alex over to a chair, she quickly pulled her hair back into a tight bun, explaining that she didn’t have time to do anything more, then handing over lipstick and mascara, figuring she’d seen the agent in makeup enough times to assume she’d be more proficient at that than she was at buttoning up couture.

---

Once they arrived at L-Corp, Lena ordered one of the labs to be emptied of employees for her use all day, though she hoped it wouldn’t take quite so long, and quickly called Winn to have him inform J’onn and come over to help with as much information as he could find on the origins of the alien tech they’d used.

“Ms. Luthor,” Jess’ voice rang out from the doorway. “I know you said no interruptions, but you do have the R&D meeting in ten minutes. I can clear your schedule for the rest of the day if you’d like.”

Glancing over at Lena, Alex saw her nodding yes and turned back to Jess. “Yes, please do cancel the rest of my meetings, Jess…ica.”

Lena tried not to bang her head against the wall at Alex’s odd attempts at sounding as formal as she apparently thought Lena was at all times.

“Uh, okay. Do you want me to move your meeting down here?”

“No, no,” Alex shook her head, glancing at Lena to gauge the appropriate responses. “It will be fine as is.” After a pause she added, “That will be all.”

Jess gave her an odd look but left with a small nod.

“Jessica? Really?” Lena huffed, looking beyond exasperated.

“I don’t know! It sounded more formal!”

“Her name is Jess!”

“Ugh, noted.”

“Now, the R&D meeting should really just be updates on ongoing projects. You should be well-versed enough with most of the science to get through it all, but don’t worry too much about speaking up. The meeting is more a formality than anything else. And, I assume you’ll understand, but this is all confidential information.”

“I think I understand what confidential means.”

“I had to say it, just like you had to tell me about what knowing Kara’s secret meant…over and over and over again.”

“Fine, fine,” Alex relented, allowing herself to be led to the door and pointed in the direction of Lena’s office for the meeting.

“Oh! Wait!” Lena called after Alex, gesturing for her to come within whispering distance.

“Yes?”

“Just, um, if you could cross your legs at the ankles when you sit, or at least keep them together—I don’t exactly…sprawl the way you do.”

Alex pursed her lips and glared but nodded anyway.

---

Sitting behind Lena’s desk was quite the experience. Alex had taken a few moments just to appreciate the view from the balcony before returning to a chair that she suspected cost more than she wanted to know. As she sank into it, she made a point of trying to straighten her back in a way that was less like the rigid, military posture she’d adapted at the DEO and more like the powerful CEO poses she’d seen in photos of both Lena and Cat Grant. Eventually she settled for just not slouching and crossing her ankles the way Lena had instructed.

“Ms. Luthor?” Jess called out a few minutes later, poking her head in the door.

“Yes, Jess?”

“R&D is here. Shall I send them in?”

“That would be great, thank you.”

She stood and greeted the team, hoping none of them expected her to know their names, then sat back down as they began their presentation. For a while, she stayed quiet, simply doing as Lena had instructed her, but during their presentation on the second ongoing project Alex couldn’t help but interject: “Excuse me, could you go back a slide?”

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.”

“Right, so, how’d you come to that conclusion on the third line? How were you able to make the assumption that your sensor would be adaptive, even to alien weaponry.”

Alex listened as they spoke, but couldn’t help herself from jumping in to correct their assumptions, hoping she wasn’t revealing anything from the DEO in the process but knowing that L-Corp’s product would be doomed if they didn’t take certain precautions and build in algorithms that could be programmed and updated remotely without a full system reboot. As she spoke, she tried to smile more, tried to remember to keep her ankles and knees together, tried to keep from striding across the room and surveying their work with her hands on her hips. She suspected she hadn’t completely nailed the Lena Luthor look, but the R&D team seemed too preoccupied with her corrections to care about the odd behaviors, and, with a final promise to bring her back better results next week, they were off.

By the time she made it back downstairs, Winn and Lena were working side-by-side—Winn with a computer in his lap and Lena tinkering with one of the VR headsets.

“Hey,” Alex called out, not wanting to startle either of them.

“How was the meeting?” Lena asked, her eyes never leaving the intricate wiring inside the headset.

“Uh, okay. I think I made some good suggestions that will make those sensors they were pitching a lot less likely to fail the first time a brand new weapon is introduced on the scene.”

That drew Lena’s attention away from her work. “Really? I’ve been trying to figure out how to get around the problem of only being able to input the existing data despite knowing it’s incomplete.”

“Yeah, you see,” but Alex paused, cutting herself off before she could go off on a long explanation. “Actually, let’s talk about this once we’re back in our own bodies. Also, I’m taking off these heels. My feet hurt.”

“We can’t all wear combat boots,” Lena sighed with a roll of her eyes. But she too brought her attention back to the problem at hand, giving Alex an overview of what they’d done so far.

---

After three failed attempts including one that had the world spinning around Alex, knocking her on her ass and leaving her dizzy and nauseated for nearly an hour, they finally made it back into their own bodies, though they were both still shaky enough from the tests to let Lena’s driver take them back home immediately, neither of them up for trying to stay at work any longer. Lena offered to have her driver drop Alex off at her own apartment where Maggie was waiting for her before going to Kara’s apartment where Kara had ordered pizza she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stomach just yet.

As they sat in the car, Lena squirmed slightly, feeling under her blazer. “Alex,” she began, reaching her fingers higher. “Did you even hook my bra?”

“Look, there were a lot more hooks than I’m used to, and I wasn’t trying to stare at your chest for hours while I figured it out!”

Lena just laughed, shaking her head at Alex’s defensiveness. “You fixed my advanced biotechnology, but you couldn’t figure out how to hook a bra…”

“I can unhook them, and isn’t that the skill that really matters?”

“Well played,” Lena commended Alex, wondering if it was Maggie’s influence showing.

As they pulled up in front of Alex’s building, Alex turned to Lena. “As a reminder, she’s my baby sister. Hurt her and face my wrath.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Lena sighed. “Oh and Alex?” she called out with a wicked smirk as Alex was swinging her legs out the door.

“Yeah?”

“Play safe with those handcuffs!”

[gauphastus]

Eco pt.2 - A flawed and grindy time sink

Eco... can be really grindy. for most people i imagine it would feel like a massive waste of their fucking time. and unfortunately if you want to get the most out of it you will probably want to spend as much time on it as possible-- at least on multiplayer servers which is the best experience honestly.

do NOT solo this game. it is dogshit solo.

on that server i mentioned i missed a day or two. went to visit a friend. got home and got back on. things had progressed without me.

see, whether you’re online or offline, based on your diet and housing, you generate skill points. these are used to develop skills and specializations for use in a variety of industries. depending on the server settings these points may generate very quickly or very slowly. it is up to the admin who largely factors in the world size and potential player population. the system works this way to create collaboration between players.

our server was reasonably busy but getting skill points wasn’t on the extreme side. not too bad. but not being there meant other players who were there had already established themselves as brickmakers or bakers or smelters. they had just started specializing in high-demand industries. they help the server population tier up.

and if you’re not there for that, especially if you’re trying to be competitive, you will easily be left behind. now your fancy house doesn’t generate nearly as much skill points as the people with these new materials. what’s more is those people now dictate the prices of the new industries which will often drastically increase grind.

but soon... even that tier is left behind for yet another, with new specializations, new workbenches, and new materials.

don’t get me wrong. you can absolutely still participate and putter around. you absolutely can still futz with the market and even compete... but because of the way the game is designed currently lower-tier stuff loses nearly 100% of its value as the population moves up into better materials. and they will move up. because by and large they are more dedicated than you. despite my playing extremely frequently it seemed as though there were a couple of players on at all hours. i even heard through the grapevine that one particular player was progressing quickly on their own because they would take turns with their roommate. nearly 24/7 at that rate.

i don’t fault the players though. the game is designed in a way that creates this situation. and while i see it as something of a flaw i still see it as reflective of a greater strength. maybe someday the kinks will be worked out sufficiently.

more about the grind though. it’s heinous. forget waiting around for skills. you haven’t felt tedium this bad since minecraft. lacking in skills you may still find yourself producing specialized goods... but that comes at a vastly higher material cost as well as a vastly higher production time. without a skilled cook your food will be drastically more costly to make and may also take upwards of 20 minutes a unit. same with smelting, carpentry, tailoring...

so if you were lacking food then it’d be important for you to make a shop offering to buy some, or for you to take the time to go out into town to shop around. the issue though is that this takes time. you may not have much else to do but it does become tedious going shopping for goods.

say you have your food issue handled. you need to produce more stuff for money, which itself is for materials and other shit you need. pretty normal. maybe you’re able to make bricks. well, to make bricks you need clay. there’s a clay deposit nearby. grab a shovel and get to digging. oh right, digging is also a specialization. if you don’t have that you burn calories (energy/stamina) way faster. god help you if you have a low-tier shovel. you’ll be burning through materials repairing it. crappy wood shovel? repair with wood. oh wait, ran out of wood. gotta cut down a tree and hump all the lumber back home.

just watch the hours in your day vanish. Eco gameplay can often be described as “if it’s not one thing it’s another”.

maybe bricks aren’t your bag. maybe you’d like to go hunting. make some arrows and shoot some wolves or bison. people pay good money for carcasses. again, time. the fucking time. the time it takes to prep for hunting isn’t bad and making a bow and arrows is pretty easy. queue arrows up at a workbench while you’re out so they’re ready when you get home. but the wandering around looking for creatures. and even if they’re around there’s all kinds of geographic obstructions, day and night. and if you’re not a hunting specialist you do shit damage. shoot any animal once and they take off running for the hills. if you lose them it’s unlikely you’ll see them again. but you still try. you blunder through forests and up mountains looking for animals. maybe you get some and bring them back.

was it worth the time cost?

maybe you’re not a hunter. you’re a farmer. oh wait. this game for some reason doesn’t care about farming at all. okay, that’s weird, Eco. you’re weird.

meanwhile the big guys who got out ahead of it all are living large with more than enough money to buy anything. but they don’t need anything because they’re the lead producers and they have everything they want.

if they log out with most of the economy’s money it’s in limbo. if they got bored and bailed it’s essentially gone without the right laws in place.

i appreciate what this game does very much. it offers a rewarding and very interesting experience... initially. after it turns into routine though it becomes so utterly boring and meaningless that the average person would probably refund it if they didn’t realize they’ve already dumped 100 hours into the thing without even noticing.

in my previous post i mentioned my friend got bored and bailed. why was that? because he looked at his future specializations and the work needed to get there. we had already been playing for maybe a bit more than a week at that point. might have been day 9 or 10 for the server. eventually the workbenches/machinery needed for the higher-tier tasks became so monumental that he completely lost interest. he could get the skill points, sure, but the specialization would have been really time-consuming and expensive. he wasn’t wrong.

meanwhile, after he left, i stuck it out for a day or two longer. it was still exciting to me to run the store and see the market grow and change. but i couldn’t help but feel disappointed. my buddy was gone and, while i really liked the folks on the server, i just wasn’t feeling voice chat. i had a bit with them but i have my own personal issues when it comes to keeping up appearances with people.

so i was kinda lonely i guess. that and i had nobody doing my buddy’s work anymore. it was down to me on this property. there’s not a lot of maintenance really besides maybe repairing tools and eating food. but i felt a need to keep production moving. so i took up mining as well. didn’t have smelting though.

i suppose i could have kept going, maybe joined up with some other folks who needed a guy, maybe could have scaled down and done what i could while buying/selling stuff... which i realized was another time sink. putting stuff on the market doesn’t instantly generate money. people have to come to you and trade the stuff. and it may take half a day or more for that to happen.

i tried. but in the end i burned out really hard on it. i made my land free and deposited my equipment and deeds in a chest in the stockyard. i haven’t played since the beginning of last year.

but i’m looking at it again, thinking of giving it another go with a bit of a different attitude, a little change in approach. maybe i’ve had it wrong? am i not treating myself fairly? maybe instead of going at it like it’s a full-time job i should take it easier. maybe four hours a day or something much more reasonable?

who knows?