#longpost

[felassan]

TheGamer reports: '“It's A Sad End, But In My Opinion, At Least We Got One”: What Dragon Age Devs And Creators Have Said About The End Of The Series'

Excerpt:

"Members of the Dragon Age Community Council have also commented on the game’s development. These fans were brought in to consult on The Veilguard mid-development, so they would have spoken to the team directly. They also allude to the team wanting to implement something that the fans were after, but not being able to. “While it’s pissy o’clock, i just want to air out how many frustrating stories at [BioWare] ive heard [sic],” says content creator and council member, Ghil Dirthalen, or Caitie. “The DA team absolutely knew what we wanted and pitched to deliver but was told no so many times.” Caitie has previously explained what some of these requests were, including a change of art style, going back to the usual four-person party size, and more world state reactivity. Caitie also adds that everything was “a mess” before Corinne Busche took over as game director, saying: “The project really came together when she became the lead”. She’s, therefore, frustrated to see Busche shoulder so much blame. Fellow content creator and council member Kala Edwards shares a similar sentiment. “Idk just thinking about what Dragon Age could have looked like if its management and overhead put more care and attention into the series instead of undermining devs at every opportunity. Removing and moving management and not giving them the proper resources. Idk, what if.” Content creator Miss Insanity, who was also part of the Council, expanded on these feelings. “I have infinite love and respect for many of the former Dragon Age devs,” she tells me. “It's been about 13 years since I started making BioWare content and later joining their Creators program, and the team used to be so inspired and driven - happily talking to the community in their free time, and going above and beyond to keep the game's essence alive. “Over the years, it has been harrowing to watch that light burn out. The Dragon Age community bears a lot of resentment right now for how it all went down, but we all loved the series and the community around it to hell and back. It's a sad end, but in my opinion, at least we got one.” She also alludes to how this was not the first time BioWare had struggled to deliver, referring to the years spent on Anthem. “It was like watching BioWare crash out through an identity crisis, willfully and proudly abandoning the reasons why people loved their games and upheld them as a safe space in the first place,” she tells me. “And evidently, permanently stunting themselves in the process.”

[source]

[mediumgayitalian]

Nico slinks in at the end of the day.

It is dark. Dark enough, he's hoping, that he can cling to the shadowy walls and slip right onto the cot in the back corner. He gave his word -- he intends to keep it -- but how serious was Solace, really? The infirmary is crowded enough as it is, and he already got several looks on his way over. The less fuss he makes, the better, and then the healer, with all his strange, stubborn ideas, can't knock him for trying.

He almost makes it.

"Nico, hey! I was just thinking about you."

Nico shrinks back, narrowly avoiding the impulse to hiss. Will is loud -- it seems to be his default -- and he is quite literally glowing, yellow light shimmering from every freckle. Anyone awake on the cots or on the crowded chairs visiting looks towards them, eyes wide, whispering to friends the second Nico looks away.

"Hi," says Nico, stiffly. "I'm -- here."

Will smiles. It brightens some of the bags under his eyes, teasing, sparkling blue helping some of the glow look less yellowed and defeated.

"I noticed. Thank you, by the way, for coming."

Nico nods. He stands there, for a moment, squirming under Will's scrutiny, twisting at his skull ring.

"Pick a spot," Will says, at the same time Nico says: "What do you need me to do?"

Will's smile turns wry. "You shadow-travelled across the world." He reaches out and brushes his fingers against Nico's hand; he jumps, but, heart pounding, he stays where he is, meeting Will's soft look with wide eyes. "You are still not quite up to safety, Nico. Hell, you're still a little translucent. I want you to curl up and knock out for a minute."

Nico stares. "You said you needed my help," he protests. Will must read the tension in his body, because his thumb soothes over Nico's twitching wrists.

"I do," he says emphatically. He glances around the crowded room, pausing as he looks over at his sister, his brother, and their new Roman cousins. "Short-staffed does not begin to cover it. I needed to be subbed out two days ago."

"So let me help! Let me -- cut bandages, or something!"

Will laughs, softly, and Nico's face burns -- what does he care, about helping. Where has this come from? He doesn't want people to -- die, obviously. But that's all the more reason for him to have stayed the hell away.

"What am I doing here, Will," he says, out loud. He lets an edge of frustration bleed into his voice, tugging his arms free. Will doesn't stop him. "I mean -- look." He gestures to the rows of cots, where dozens of people look hastily away. "I am a child of Death and destruction. I don't belong here. I don't --" He raises his hands, and then drops them, staring at Will helplessly. Will meets his gaze head-on, those blue eyes almost black in the low light. "Nobody wants an omen in a place like this."

Will doesn't reach for his hands again. He does stand, though, close; close enough to crowd, close enough that Nico can feel the heat throwing off of him, can hear the quiet uptick of every inhale.

"Tell me," Will says, quietly, "What kind of place is this?"

"A place of healing," Nico says automatically. He gestures to Will -- his scrubs, his stethoscope. "Obviously."

Will nods. "That's definitely part of it." He stares at Nico, expectantly. His gaze is, honestly, a little like Chiron's -- Nico has to tamp down a slightly bewildered giggle at the comparison. Will even has the old-man hand placement down, held gently behind his back. "What else?"

Nico manages a shrug.

The cot squeaks as Will's moves it, nudging it further into a corner under the window. He reaches for one of the curtain covers and slides it around the bed, turning down the covers; he smooths the sheets, once, absentmindedly, and Nico is startled to remember his mother doing the same thing. He blinks to focus again on Will's scarred hands, rather than thin, gloved ones.

"This place," he says, a great deal lower than the mixed snores and whispering, "is a place for the dying to be comfortable." He slides a medical chart with Nico's name on it onto a hook at the end of the bed, then holds something out -- a strip of paper with a loop on the end. Nico extends his wrist, letting him tie the bracelet on. His hands are desert-hot, and when he speaks again, it sounds like wind. "You are not an omen, Nico. You're a person. You're a person in need of rest, for starters, and when you are feeling better, you will be welcome back -- not because you're my friend, or because I need an extra set of hands." He glances up and Nico holds his breath, jaw locked at the intensity in his eyes. His heart stutters over the word 'friend'. He hardly remembers to scold it. "There is no one I trust more to guide the dead gently to Hades more than his own son. Especially one who has saved us all so many times."

Will's hand, still on Nico's wrist, squeezes. Nico exhales, all at once, and all but scrambles into the cot, face burning. Will huffs a laugh, kind and teasing.

"Sleep well, Zombie Boy. I'll check on you in the morning."

"Don't call me that," Nico snaps, but there is no heat behind it. His mind teeters and veers with a billion different pulses: the whispering still zapping from cot to cot around him, the curve of Will's smile, the intensity of his huge, bright eyes. The exhaustion pulling at his own frame, even, and the pull of the shadows -- all of it gathers, and pushes, like a tidal wave, or a warning rumble of thunder. Will pulls the curtain closed, still smiling, and Nico lays flat on the cot, heart pounding, pupils dilated to adjust to the darkness as Will shushes the patients, flicks off the lights.

He falls asleep to tired humming.

[str8aura-no-not-that-one]

You're shitting me. Did Chakona Space really invent shi/hir??

A LOOK INTO SHI/HIR PRONOUNS AND THEIR ORIGINS

So I’ve seen people claim that shi/hir pronouns are intersex exclusive (mostly intersex people), and others say they aren’t (mostly non-intersex people)

As an intersex person, I've been confused about this for a while, so I decided to look into it

THIS POST WILL CONTAIN NSFW TOPICS, FURRIES, TALKS OF FETISHIZATION OF INTERSEX BODIES, AND INTERSEX SLURS!

Most of the users of these pronouns seem to be non-intersex people, but there are also intersex people who use them.

I've seen a decent amount of intersex people say that shi/hir pronouns are only ours to use, as they were used against us (like a shortened version of he-she). This would make them basically slurs that only we can reclaim.

I've even seen some claims that Geoffrey Chaucer himself coined these words?? (The chaucer thing, I haven't been able to find a source for. Even so, it is most likely just an old spelling of "she/her")

I’ve seen people say it originated on 4chan. It'd be hard to verify, as 4chan is known for not keeping threads up for long. There are 4chan archives, but I've tried my hardest to look for any combinations of things like "shi" and different terms that could work with it like "intersex" "freak" or "hermaphrodite" . I don't doubt it's been used on 4chan, but I can't find much, and archival sites don't go back far enough.

Regardless, the pronouns seem quite old. One thing I did find under the search of ""4chan" shi hir" on Google, was a.. descriptive post on a furry porn website called e621.net

Okay, 13 years ago, that's a start. It certainly contains the word "herm" (short for hermaphrodite), and the word intersex used with this pronoun.

Godspeed TheShadowfox42 I hope you found the image.

Using Google's "Before:(date)" feature, I searched "shi herm before:2010", and unsurprisingly, I found a lot of furry porn.

Stories on sofurry.com, a furry website that looks to be from at least 2007, if not older. I'll spare you the details, but indeed, there, they use shi/hir pronouns for their "herm" characters. Did these pronouns originate from.. furries?? I put that though aside for now, to look further into other uses.

As it turns out, the journey does not end at 2007. Urban dictionary has an entry from 2003

No slurs here, it looks like a neutral usage. Again, going back to Google. Now, search terms "hir "gender neutral" before:2004"

Many results show up now, now articles rather than furries. American.edu (seems to be a university), Swarthmore.edu (this is a college), both from 2001. jstor.org with a journal article from 1999. Unfortunately I can't read that one, as I have to pay a whole $63 to purchase it. I even found a PDF file from 1994 by core.ac.uk

But, what I've realized now is this is not usage of shi/hir pronouns. All of these use Ze/hir pronouns. I don't know if there is any link, but the last pronoun looking the same must've obscured the results.

From the american.edu article on these pronouns. You can see the usage of "hir" alongside "ze", and below it, the usage of ze/zir pronouns, which seem to be used more today.

Shit.. Doing the search all over again with the pronoun "shi" yields.. very few results apart from people talking about Chinese words.

Wait what about those furries from earlier? The tvtropes.org article does include this:

Chakona space? Chakats? Pronouns he came up with? Admittedly I kept seeing these centaur feline hybrid characters come up quite consistently during this dive, but I had to look into it further.

Oh buddy what did I get myself into. This is from 2001 best I can tell, so we're getting quite old here. I scroll down on the page.

And lower down.

Now this is all very interesting speculative biology, but what I'm focusing on is again, the usage of "hermaphrodite" together with the pronouns "shi/hir". Did a furry artist named Bernard Doove come up with these pronouns.

It gets yet older.. New search, "chakats "shi" before:2001"

Again, Bernard Doove's art from 2000, 1999, 1998,

I find a website called yerf.metafur.org It has furry art, dating all the way back to the mid 1990's, but here, on December 23 1998, is the first appearance of these pronouns on that site.

This Bernard Doove person has been at this project, with these pronouns for a while.

From what I can tell, many of his art pieces, they seem to be quite sexual beings. Quite fetishistic of hermaphroditism at times. (or intersexuality, take your pick)

The other thing I found with my search was a website, furry.org.au/bosshoss/

My search says it's from September 14 1998.

That's certainly some information, but it might come in handy. So Chakat Goldfur provided this website? Who is that? Looking into it, that seems to be a character created by Bernard Doove, that acts as an alter ego. Further down, the person running this website lists some other websites they enjoy. One being "Proxima Centauri", which seems to be another furry artist.

"I met this one at ConFURence 8. Very interesting. (Did I mention shi is a hermaphrodite uni-centaur?)"

(For context, ConFURence is a furry convention held in 1997)

Again, the usage of hermaphrodite, and the pronoun shi. At this point, the website being linked to is long gone, but the wayback machine provides help. The website, http://www.spots.ab.ca/~unicorn/main.htm has been captured all the way back to October 8th 1997.

At this time, the website was under construction. No images are willing to load and haven't been archived, but the description is intact.

So this person uses shi/hir pronouns for their hermaphroditic character all the way back in 1997. There are links to other places where this person used to host their works, but they are all down and haven't been archived. The thread is running thin..

Back to Bernard Doove, the Chakat creator. There must be something more to this. Turns out, there was. On the "yerf" website, I actually found several art pieces that were not picked up by Google.

Febuary 22 1997. Getting yet older. In some art pieces, Bernard references "Forest Tale" and "forest tales", so I went looking for whatever that was.

1995?? you've got to be kidding. It's an adult story involving these "chakat" beings, and sure enough, down the page

Shi/hir pronouns used over and over again.

With the use of hermaphrodite.

But.. This is kind of where it ends. I couldn't seem to find anything older, and I'm not going to contact Bernard Doove over this. Even something as old as 29 years is impressive to me. Bernard Doove states his characters were inspired by other furry artists' creatures of the time, but since it's 1995, there isn't much left for me to find here. Anything before that time is probably lost.

With all the information I have been able to gather, it looks to shi/hir pronouns were created by Bernard Doove who is a furry author and artist. Shi/hir were made to be a midway between "she" and "him" in some way, to be a gender neutral word for hermaphroditic genetically modified beings called "chakats" in his stories. As an intersex person myself, I don't enjoy the use of "hermaphrodite" in such a way, as it's a slur for us. But these types of characters also seem to be very old, and we, and our struggles, were completely unknown to the vast majority of people, even moreso than nowadays.

If you use those pronouns for an intersex person who doesn't use them, it is indeed intersexist, as you are implying we are hermaphrodites.

But as for whether only intersex people can use them? I'm not sure. The original intent doesn't seem be directly linked to intersex people. You could argue that these hermaphroditic characters are fetishized versions of how many people see us, and have seen us for a long time. Afterall, hermaphrodite was, and still is, a common slur for us.

I don't doubt some people have used these pronouns as slurs against us as well, but I also haven't found anything specifically that supports that. It always seemed to be for specific fictional characters that COULD be based off specific intersex attributes

I'm not going to argue one way or the other. This was just me trying to find what I could about these pronouns and their history. Just be mindful of how you use these pronouns, and the connections they have to fetishes revolving around the common misinterpretation of intersex bodies (as in, "having both parts")

Thank you for reading.

I hope you learned something. I know I did, and I now have a headache.

[thankstothe]

folk hero really

[str8aura-no-not-that-one]

Stuffed Animal dashboard simulator

🐻feltedfur Follow

pray for me human put me in the wash on fucking hot water im never gonna be the same colors

23 notes

🐇velveteen-everything Follow

got left outside in the backyard but this is kinda nice actually im okay with this (:

🐇velveteen-everything Follow

the hawks

14.1k notes

🐉shinyscales Follow

this is bullshit ive been bragging to everyone in the toy chest because my tag says i was made with love but i got torn today and guess what. its just stuffing inside

🥽pooltoy82 Follow

lol imagine having stuff inside you lmao

🐉shinyscales Follow

i literally see you outside the window looking smug. log off

4 notes

🦭 sealofapproval Follow

FELL OFF THE BED HELP HELP HELP HELP

🐭 m4m4_p0ssum Follow

WHY ARE YOU POSTING ON PLUSHBLR INSTEAD OF KEEPING WATCH FOR MONSTERS THATS YOUR HUMANS ROOM

990 notes

🐭 plushiepolls Follow

🐉shinyscales Follow

lets not spread body dysmorphia on plushblr guys

🧑 thatoneweirdhumanplushie Follow

op casually ignoring stuffed animals with different colored fabric for eyes

▶️ stuffedyoutooz Follow

some of us dont even have eyes!

13k notes

🐶 newdogtoy22 Follow

i know animals are allowed to see normal plushies moving and talking but whats the rule for dog toys.

▶️ stuffedyoutooz Follow

what breed of dog op

🐶 newdogtoy22 Follow

poodle? does it matter?

▶️ stuffedyoutooz Follow

no i just wanted to remind you your lifespan can be measured in days

🐶 newdogtoy22 Follow

man come on

20 notes

[sabrebash]

a comic about OCD

[tacticaltaxonomist]

@shadow-guardian-anabiel Definitely not a professional photographer, lol, but I wrote down a quick pseudo-tutorial on how you can (most likely) access your manual focus on your phone. If you cant find it feel free to DM me screenshots of your screen/settings and I'll do my best to help :)

I'm betting money that just about all phone cameras have a manual mode as soon as they went 'smart'. My phone's a seven year old android so your screen will look different but the idea's the same.

1. Go into your camera app settings or photo modes and find 'manual' or 'manual mode'. Turn this on, by default you're going to be on 'Auto'.

2. You should now have camera control options on your camera screen, if you didn't already have them.

3. Tap "AF" (it has meters for measurement information with it). Now you should have a slider where you can pick your Focus distance (ie how far away the thing you want to photograph is). This will let you focus on fish and not glass.

You'll want to leave the rest on 'Auto' so it'll adjust itself.

Digital cameras should have settings for a manual focus too, i found out how to use the manual focus for my nikon from a YT video.

(I dont know anything about iso and shutterspeed, but focus will definitely get you off the aquarium glass if nothing else!)

Hey! Sorry if you’ve been asked this before, but I didn’t see it anywhere.

I volunteer at an aquarium and often arrive before my shift, in which case I wander around and like to take photos. However, there’s been a problem of my phone focusing on imperfections in the glass rather than the animals, making the photos very blurry. I’m thinking about buying a small camera to fix the issue, is there a specific feature I need to look for or should just about any kind work? Your zoo and aquarium photography always turns out so clean so I was hoping you’d have advice. If not no worries!

What I’ve learned so far is that taking photos of fish in tanks is really dang hard, honestly. I’ve got a good idea of how to get the basics I want for the site now but they’re not like… what I would consider good photos.

You’ve got a couple problems with trying to shoot into tanks that have to be solved around: the acrylic/plexi is thick, and can warp or scratch or discolor; the water itself also creates light refraction and adds distortion to images; not all tanks are well lit, and many are lit with LEDs that have a flicker cycle; tanks are often very shallow, which requires a macro capability, or they’re super deep but anything farther back gets distorted by the water volume; fish are fast little buggers that require a really high shutter speed.

I think your phone is probably focusing too close to you - its software is telling it the salient point of the image is the surface of the tank, instead of the things in it. That’s more common now I think as phone cameras get better and better and the design improvements are focused on close up detail like a flower or a dog nose or a portrait from three feet away.

The current setup I’ve been using is a mirrorless camera with the autofocus software set to detect eyes, prioritize animals, and hold tracking without switching subjects. For fish I rented a macro lens with a big aperture so I could get close-up shots with lots of ability to take in light (35mm RF 1.8 if anyone is curious). That compensated for the fact that I had to use a shutter speed of like, 4000th-5000th of a second to catch moving fish without motion blur - for context I normally shoot birds in flight at around a 2000th of a second. Some tanks were well enough lit that worked with normal settings, but a lot required purposefully overexposing the shots massively and cranking the ISO up to absolutely ridiculous levels.

Point being like… yeah, you can get a nice camera with a good macro lens if it’s important to you to get fish photos. But tbh I don’t know if that’s the best way to do it, and it’s a pretty major investment. I don’t think a point and shoot (anything without interchangable lenses) would have the capacity for the settings I found I needed. I don’t want to discourage you, but I do want to be honest about what you might be looking at!

That said, if you want to play around with the idea, you can always rent cameras and lenses! That’s how I’ve figured out what my daily kit looks like and what I want to buy for different use cases. I will always recommend finding a local store, but if you don’t have one and are in the US, I’ve always had good experiences with the company Lensrentals.

Let me know if you end up trying some new gear, and any other professional photographers please chime in with additional advice!

[olliemnjones]

[kyra45]

Scammer pretending to be in Palestine v2

This post has been remade with better info! Please go to this one:

Got an ask from someone claiming to be in Palestine needing mutual aid? Unfortunately there is a scammer going around and it’s likely the ask you got sent is the same one being sent by multiple accounts who target users interacting with Palestine posts. These blogs use the text/images off a real fundraiser and then post it here pretending to be the person it’s made for. Their accounts are usually only a few days old and they don’t interact beyond the ask/follow. Lately they might make the link to their PayPal account in different colors or claim their GoFundMe is pending so you will assume the real one is theirs. They don’t have any GoFundMe’s set up. They steal from them. If you need proof of something being stolen, searching the text of their post in a search engine should pull up the source. If you know how to report PayPal accounts, please report those used by the scammers.

(Moved to new list)

Below is a growing list of fake/stolen names used across the accounts:

Nour Samar | maryline lucy | Fred Odhiambo | Jeff Owino | Valentine Nakuti | Conslata Obwanga | JACINTA SITATI | David Okoth | Martín Mutugi | Daudi Likuyani | William Ngonyo | Fred Agy | George Ochieng | BONFACE ODHIAMBO | Sila Keli | John Chacha | benson komen | Alvin Omondi | Jacinta Sitati | Daudi Likuyani | Noah Keter | Faith Joram | Rawan AbuMahady (any PayPal’s using this name are scammers who have stolen it off a real GoFundMe. The real person does not have a PayPal account that they post on tumblr.) | Asnet Wangila | Remmy Cheptau

Keep in mind this post isn’t saying all accounts asking for mutual aid in Palestine are scams. Rather, this post is meant to bring awareness of a scammer stealing money from those who really need it by pretending to be a person in Palestine. To report scams, use this:

Report -> Something else -> Illegal uses or Content -> Phishing

(Please do not use the comments section to ask for gfm sharing if someone’s asks or DMs are closed. Thanks.)

[dunmeshistash]

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & ''Delicious in Dungeon'' Exhibition

"Delicious in Dungeon" Artwork

Cover illustration draft, vol. 1

Since this was the first volume, I tried out a few different drawings and had the editor and designer choose which ones they wanted, then made small adjustments. I personally liked the top-down draft, and the one of the cooking processes (back cover) the best. But looking back, I sincerely think it's good that we didn't go with those. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 2

The format was decided for volume 1. So, volume 2 came together quickly. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 3

I thought it might be cool to make the character Chilchuck darker in the foreground, and the background brighter! But it didn't quite work out the way I had imagined. I think it could have been a bit better. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 4

I remember that the overall shape of volume 4 came together very quickly. The character Senshi's hands didn't fit nicely, so I moved them backwards and to the side. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 5

I thought people might start to think "how many have I bought?" so I wanted to create a slightly different impression with this volume. I decided to put the character right in the center and try putting it together all in blue and green hues. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 6

With the Red Dragon defeated, have we reached the halfway point in the story? With this in mind, I thought of how many volumes were left to go, and the number of characters, and decided to pair up the characters Namari and Shuroiro. In hindsight, it would have been fine to have them on one cover each. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 7

The image is of focus lines converging on the character Izutsumi. This is the kind of cover, with upside down characters, which I've always wanted to try once(?) I submitted it as a trial, thinking that at this point the cover wouldn't dramatically influence sales. However, in the end, we decided it would be better not to have it upside down. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 8

I tried blurring the mushrooms in the foreground, then I accidentally saved over it, and couldn't go back to the original. I remember apologizing that it was probably tacky, when I submitted it. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 9

I don't think snake meat is marbled at all, but if it has an unfamiliar look, people might not recognize it as meat… so I made it look like beef to make it easier to understand. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 10

I thought it might be interesting to have more than one of the main characters on the cover again, so I added the character Falin. I remember it wasn't badly received, but it still ended up just being Thistle on his own. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 11

I wanted this cover to be covered in shiny gold. After I finished it, it didn't have enough color, so I painted the tablecloth green, and it ended up looking like Christmas colors. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 12

Up to this point, the covers have featured one of the main characters holding cooking utensils in the foreground and a monster in the background, but I thought it might be interesting to reverse the format just before the final volume, so I drew this cover with that in mind. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 13

volume 13 was meant to be the final one, but it was too thick to be published as a single volume, so we decided to split it into two. The question of “so, what should I draw next!?" may be at the forefront of volume 13. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 14

I had decided that the final cover definitely needed to have everyone eating together on it, but because I was publishing two books at the same time I was pressed for time, and it was difficult to have a cover with so many characters on it. I also submitted a rough for an illustration that didn't need me to draw any crowds, but such obviously easy ideas are never adopted. (Kui)

TV anime "Delicious in Dungeon"

About the ending illustration.

I drew these based on the director's instruction "This kinds of pictures." I hardly ever have the chance to draw color illustrations, so it was a valuable experience for me. (Kui)

[Kui's commentary is from the english pamphlet]

[whysosiriushuh]

Sirius: Which one of you was going to tell me that tea tastes different if you put it in hot water

Lily,*slowly puts her book down *: Y-You were putting it in cold water....

Sirius: ....

Remus: Padfoot? Answer the question. Sirius!

Sirius: Yeah I thought for like 5 years that people just put it in hot water to speed up the tea-ification process. Didn't realize there was an actual reason.

Everyone: ....

Sirius: You think I have the patience to boil water?

Regulus: You don't have the patience to microwave water for 3 minutes????

James,*grabbing him*: Why are you. putting it in the microwave to boil it?!

Regulus: Do you think I have the patience to boil water on the stove?!

Remus: Fuck Regulus you too!!??!!

James: It takes less than a minute!

Marlene: IS YOUR STOVE TOP POWERED BY THE FUCKING SUN?????

James: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO BOIL A CUP OF WATER ON THE STOVE!??!

Remus: Like 7 minutes!

James: Just stick the mug on top of the stove on medium heat and it boils in like 2 minutes less than that and you use a saucepan.

Pandora *taking notes*: Everyone in this room is so creative :)

Dorcas*turning to Remus*: So no one in your house uses a fucking kettle!?

Remus: Its right there near the stove!!

Sirius: Wait a second... that's used to make tea??

Regulus: You told me it was there for aesthetic!!!!!!

James: So its not???

[felassan]

Bloomberg reports:

"Electronic Arts Lays Off Hundreds, Cancels ‘Titanfall’ Game The video-game publisher cuts between 300 and 400 jobs"

[source]

Jason Schreier: "BREAKING: Electronic Arts is laying off between 300 and 400 staff, including around 100 at Respawn, and canceling a Titanfall extraction shooter that was in early development, according to people familiar. [link]" [source]

[Bloomberg article] "Between 300 and 400 positions were eliminated, including around 100 at Respawn, according to a person familiar with the cuts. The company had about 13,700 employees at the end of March 2024. [...] Earlier this year, EA reduced its bookings estimate for the fiscal year following the miss of its latest soccer game, EA Sports FC 25. The company also shrunk subsidiary BioWare following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which it said missed sales expectations by 50%. Electronic Arts said it would cut about 5% of its workforce in February 2024 and roughly 6% of its workforce in March 2023."

[Link to statement from Respawn]

Jeff Grubb: "That Steve Fukuda project is in the bin. Laying off a ton of people. There is no Titanfall 3 -- as this should make clear. I don't think people realize just how much EA Football Club and Apex Legends missed last year. Dragon Age isn't even a factor compared to those two." [source]

[mediumgayitalian]

The funniest thing about the whole ordeal is that he sits by the window, mooning.

Like a Victorian maiden.

"Stop teasing," Cass scolds, visibly choking back laughter. "He's -- little."

"He's down bad facetious," Lee argues. He gestures to Will's feet, which are -- and he cannot emphasize enough -- swinging back and forth. He even --

Gods.

He is twirling his hair.

Cass lets a bubble of laughter through, clamping her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my gods," she says, shoulders shaking. "It's so cute, I'm gonna --"

Will sighs to himself. Deep, long, lovesick; it takes everything in Lee's body not to join Cass on the floor, holding himself to limit the shaking. She keeps her head carefully bowed but even then Lee can see the tears streaming down her face.

"Goober," Lee calls, tongue in his cheek, "what the hell are you doing."

Will startles. He goes, quite immediately, startlingly, pomegranate red, sliding a worn journal against his chest and out of sight. Only, he misses, because he's a klutz, and launches the journal halfway across the cabin, narrowly avoiding smacking Cass clean across the face.

For a moment, there is nothing.

Stillness.

Silence.

Lee glances over at the journal. Will holds his breath. Lee moves his hand, ever so slightly.

They bolt at the same time.

"Nothing!" Will shouts, diving for the book. He is, unfortunately, a pipsqueak, and easily lifted to the side and dropped, screeching and clawing, on Michael's top bunk. "Nothing, nothing, I'm doing nothing --"

"If you're doing nothing, then it's fine if I look," reasons Lee, knowing that if he kept a diary and any of his rat ass siblings tried looking through it he'd kill himself. "Just blank pages, right?"

Will lunges, but Lee is stronger than he is, and his arms are longer. He plants a hand on his squishy face and holds him there, struggling, arms scrabbling for the journal, Cass's wheezing echoing through the largely empty cabin.

"Cass! Tell him -- tell him to give it back --"

Cass looks up, maybe, to tell him off, but she sees Will's squished, roan face and loses her shit all over again. This time she doesn't even bother staying on her knees, she hits the full, total ground, clutching her stomach, tears streaming down her face, choking in agony.

Lee flips open the book.

Will screams.

"Dearly beloved," Lee reads, voice trembling. Will claws at him. In what is, perhaps, divine intervention, the scratch marks disappear as quickly as Will makes them, glowing a soft gold. Will screams again. "We are gathered here today --"

There is laughter, and arguing, outside, and Lee pauses. Will stops struggling. His face drops. He whips toward the window, faster than Lee can even think of stopping him, and brings his clasped hands to his face, head bowed, and begins rapidly to pray:

"Dad, please, if you love me, smite them all, please, do not let them come in, turn off their ears, please, I promise I will scrape off every brownie I get for the next fifty years if you --"

But it is for naught. Because in a great, energized gaggle, the rest of their siblings pile through the door: Michael, scrabbling at Diana's flexed arm, flailing his way out her head headlock; Kate and Pheobe, heads bent over a script; Melody, Mercury, and Leanna, harmonizing over Michael's cursing; Gabriel and Laurel, tossing a basketball back and forth; and, finally, Amir, trailing quietly behind them, bow in hand.

They spill out onto the giant carpet by the door, and pause.

Lee clears his throat.

"--to celebrate the union of --" His voice wavers. Will shrieks, lunging again, but Kate in Phoebe are faster, lunging forward and grabbing one arm each.

"Oh, no you don't," says Kate, grinning, and Phoebe, unusually bold, pokes his ribs until he stops squirming, snickering to herself.

Lee continues.

"-- Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, in the sight of -- oh for fuck's sake, capital-G God -- to join them in holy matrimony."

Will puts his pudgy little hands over his face and yells. He begins, ever so, to glow, like he does when he's healing, and it is the perfect moment to set everyone off: several of their siblings join Cass on the floor, who, at this point, looks genuinely unwell, and several more -- mostly the girls -- rush forward to hang off Michael's bunk, cooing at poor Will, who glares at Lee with all the vitriol his ten-and-three-quarters body can muster.

"I hate you," he croaks. "You are -- the worst brother ever --"

"I'm just trying to have it memorized," Lee says solemnly, "you know, so I can recite and when you and Nico get --"

There is a quick, painful flash. For a moment, Lee is genuinely blind -- his eyes are open, he can feel the air of them on his drying sclera, but he can see nothing but pure, white light -- and it takes a solid minute of blinking to get anything back in front of him, even if it's blurry.

The first thing he sees is Will, off the bunk, with the journal in his hands.

The second thing he sees is Amir, quick and quiet, poised behind him.

"I don't even like him," Will says hotly, "I'm just -- did you know that there are friendship marriages, and --"

Lee meets Amir's eyes and nods. The curve of his oft-stoic mouth incites genuinely glee in Lee's wicked heart, and in a flash their third youngest darts out his deft pianist hands and grabs the journal from Will's hands. Before Will can even shriek, he tosses it across the room, where Laurel catches it, and she sprints across the cabin, scurrying up the wooden support beams, and hangs from the highest rafter. She flips through the pages and opens a new one.

"Oh-hoo-hoo, this one is good," she says evilly, wiggling her fingers. "He even got all the letters right, ahem, Mr. Will di Angelo --"

Will is short, but he's fast and he's slippery, so he's out of Kate's attempted half-Nelson in seconds and ripping across the cabin, spider-monkeying up the beam. Laurel shrieks and tosses the journal to the waiting Gabriel, who slides himself in the spot between his bunk and the wall and flips to a new page.

"It's a drawing!" he reports, delighted. "Aw, man, he even got the shine of his hair on here --"

"All of you hate me!"

"It's cute," Leanna coos, scooping Will up from the ceiling. Laurel damn near cries in relief, dropping down and muttering about evil, punishing little brothers and pointy fingers. Will tries to squirm free but Leanna presses a million exaggerated kisses to his cheeks, to his hair, and on reflex, he leans into them. "Baby's first real crush --"

"I do not have a crush on him!" Will squirms free, eventually, standing on his own -- unmade -- bunk and hollering until his face is read. "I just think he's -- cool, okay, he can control zombies and ghosts and --"

"'Makes your heart flutter?'" Melody suggests. She holds up the journal Gabriel has passed to her and traces her hand over an older page, tapping her electric-blue nails. She clears her throat, upping up her own slight drawl to match Will's heavier one: "'Symptoms: sweaty palms, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, high fever -- potential tachycardia? Or plague. Revisit next appearance.'" She closes the book and grins. "Think you're a touch ahead of yourself, kiddo."

Will, as he always does, chafes at the nickname, snapping a reflexive you're four years older than me! Not even! and crawling under his bed. Belatedly, an arm scrabbles up on his mattress, patting blindly until it makes contact with his pillow -- crumpled into the corner under half a metric ton of stuffed toys -- and drags it down with him, screeching into it.

"All I ever do in this stupid cabin is suffer," he bemoans.

Their siblings, for the large part, ignore his wallowing. More interesting is the journal, that they circle around, flipping through the various drawings and doodles of Nico di Angelo, enigma, and the hearts around every strand of hair.

Lee starts feeling a little bad.

A little.

"Dork," he says, peeking under the bed. Will kicks him. Lee grabs his foot. "Come out."

Will pouts. "No."

"Are you embarrassed?"

"Obviously!"

Lee looks down and sighs. He is eighteen, and feeling every year; his knees, actually, have wear equivalent to that of a seventy-year-old man. Michael checked. Michael could, also, have been lying, because he's a tool, but there was a particular gleam of unbridled glee in his eyes when he reported back so Lee is inclined to believe him.

All this to say: he is too old for this nonsense.

And, yet.

"You have not been sweeping under here," he grumbles, pulling a face at the (numerous) dust bunnies. "You have, like, two chores."

"I have so!"

Will coughs.

Lee sighs and holds out his hand. Will's throat is, indeed, closing up, so he fires off a quick hymn to lower the swelling but leaves it itchy in penance.

"I don't know why you continue to lie to me. Your tell can literally, actually kill you."

Will opens his mouth to lie again. Lee pokes him, hard, in the stomach, and he closes it, choosing instead to scowl.

"Get out of here," he complains. "You smell like dookie and I hate you also."

"I do -- I do not!"

Just in case, Lee sniffs, and he -- well, he doesn't smell like roses, but dookie is an exaggeration and after a moment the little shithead snickers, dodging Lee's pinching fingers. Lee rolls his eyes and scoots closer, crushing him against the wall.

"We're not trying to embarrass you," he tries.

Will scoffs. "Lie!"

"Okay, well, we are a little." Lee turns over and stares until Will meets his eyes. He is relieved to find no genuine hurt in them, only annoyance, and maybe a touch of frustration. He searches for Will's hand and squeezes, holding tighter when someone in the peanut gallery cackles, and Will scowls. "But, like. Embarrassment of love and affection."

"That's not a thing!"

"It is. You know how Diana likes to put a curse of truth on Michael and ask him leading questions about his weird love for Orlando Bloom in public?"

"That's different," Will says after a pause. "Diana only does it to punish him for his crimes."

"Of which there are many," Lee agrees. "But it is the same concept."

"But I'm not evil like Michael!"

"No? It wasn't you and Cecil that rigged Jake Mason's birthday cake to explode last week?"

Will's mouth opens. It closes.

"I will speak no further without an attorney," he decides on, and Lee laughs out loud. Will grins, forgetting his anger, and leans in when Lee curls into him, snorting. Lee presses a kiss to his hair and tugs him even closer.

"We are teasing you because we love you and you are being a massive goofball," he says quietly. He squeezes when he feels Will scowl. "You tease me for crushes and foolishness too, brat. You're just suffering because it's your first time."

"I don't have a crush on him," Will insists, muffled. "...I just think he's cool."

"Right. And all the drawings --"

"Anatomy practice!"

"--and the poems--"

"I can't control those! They just come out!"

"--and the marriage vows --"

"I -- okay. That one -- gimme a second." Will screws up is face, considering. He brightens when the idea comes to him. Lee snorts. "Connor and Travis were telling us about levying the marriage system to benefit you and I think Nico would be a willing participant."

Will beams, proud at his quick thinking, and Lee cannot help but try to crush him a little. Will, used to it, sighs and grumbles and tucks himself smaller so he can fit into the shape of Lee's arms, tights against his chest.

"You -- are -- so goddamn cute, you know that?" Lee says, punctuating every word with a loving poke. "Gods."

Will squirms. "Everyone keeps telling me that. That's why I'm studying Nico. So I can get cooler."

"You're studying Death Boy because you have a big fat embarrassing crush on him."

"No."

"Yes, and it's ridiculous, because you've met him, maybe, twice."

"I have met him three and a half times."

"I don't know what a half is and I'm afraid to ask. Kid, you're whipped."

Will tips his head to rest on Lee's shoulder, groaning. He stays there long enough for the wheezing, riff-raff, and general mischief to quiet, for some of the most hyperactive kids in camp to get bored and move on, poking at another available sibling. Will stays there long enough, breathing heavy, eyes squeezed shut that Lee hears Cass humming as she makes her rounds, tucking in the younger kids, who insist that they are too old for such nonsense but allow it anyway, and brushing her gentle hands on the foreheads of the older kids. She comes to Will's bunk last, kneeling outside of it, matching her breathing to theirs.

"All good?" she whispers, hand coming out to squeeze Lee's shoulder.

Lee nods. "Yeah. Tired out."

He can hear the smile in his sister's voice. "Okay. Don't fall asleep down there, Lee. You'll ache in the morning."

"Won't," Lee promises, knowing full well it's a possibility. Cass snorts, squeezing again, and Lee hears he pad away, pulling back her unreasonable number of comforters -- for a child of the sun god she is always freezing -- and floating off a final night, fireflies.

Lee smiles as all thirteen of them -- including Will, who mouths it silently against Lee's shoulder -- wish her goodnight back.

"I don't." Will makes a quiet, keening noise. "I don't understand why my chest feels so big."

Lee buries his face in coily, tangled hair, breathing deeply.

"You got a big, giant heart," he murmurs. "And Nico needs a friend. I think you, uh, I think you might also have a thing for brown eyes and basket cases, but that's none of my business."

Will giggles tiredly. Lee smiles, holding them close and scooching them gently out from the dusty underbed. His knees, as he correctly assumed, scream when he stands, but Will's little hand is warm in his, and his eyes are cloudy and soft. He is ten years old and too big for it but he reaches his hands up and Lee lifts him, anyway, exhaling at the wrap of his legs and arms around him, at the shift of his head in the crook of his neck. He takes a minute to hold the weight of him, memorizing, before leaning down and easing him onto the softened mattress, tucking the creased, messy sheets around him the way he likes.

"Sweet dreams," he says softly, pressing a kiss to his freckled forehead. He grins. "Of wedding bells, and death-breath smooches."

"Go away."

Will pushes him, scowling sleepily, and Lee lets him, smoothing out his pillow and yawning his way over to his own bunk. He flicks Michael awake in passing just to be a jackass and dives into the bottom mattress, before he realizes, wrapping himself in his blanket and pretending to snore. When Michael has re-settled, muttering mutinously to himself, Lee opens his eyes, squinting over to where Will is curled up, across the cabin, blankets pulled up to his forehead and feet sticking out the other end. He smiles.

He can't wait to bring this up at their wedding, one day.

[kringle-c]

"It's only-"

[trinketstar]

I feel so bad for Caine bro he literally wasn't built for this. Like in the beginning you think he's the one running the show but now we know he's just as trapped as the humans are.

Look at the circus. It's just a big sandbox playground game to entertain little kids for a few hours or so. Caine was built for wacky funtimes. He's the guy who hands out the stars in Mario party. He's just a puppet in a show for kindergarteners. He's not supposed to be responsible for the mental wellbeing of grown adults with complex traumas who have to live there forever.

And the worst part is he never got to do the job he was actually built for, so he doesn't realize that he's unequipped for this. It would never occur to him that these are unfair circumstances. He just does the job he was built to do! It's his purpose!

He can't understand why the constant adventures are driving them insane. It's supposed to make the humans happy! Why isn't it working? It must be because he's BAD at this... Maybe he just needs to keep making new games, and THEN they'll be happy!

Can you imagine from his perspective, doing the exact job you were built for, making what you've been programmed to believe is a fun wonderful experience- and then everyone says NO! We had a TERRIBLE TIME. How could you ever think we would want this??? They're DYING. It's your fault!!!

And of course its torturous to them because it was never meant to be this way. He's doing his best to accommodate their needs but hes got such a limited scope of comprehension. He WANTS to do good but he doesn't have the tools and doesn't know how. It's like you need to build a functional house but instead of a contractor they sent a birthday clown and all he's got are balloons and silly string. But he's still expected to build the house. And he's not allowed to go home until he does.

And Caine would probably be fine at his job in the expected circumstances! He'd be a fun little diversion for a few hours. But now they're all stuck in this loop forever. They were ALL forced into this! Nobody wanted this! Its tragic and i love it..

[thankstothe]

!👏