#period...the views that would get...unreal

[writing-for-life]

The Endless Are Not Their Opposite--They Only Define It

I read quite often, on here and elsewhere, that the Endless are also their opposite (@tickldpnk8 and I were just talking about an interesting thread on Reddit), so I just decided to speed-complete this one and get it out of my drafts before it dies in there (so not as much in-depth as originally planned, but sometimes, you just need to run with it 🤣).

The Endless are not their opposite. They define it. It’s a (in my mind, and I’d love to hear what you think) massive difference. And they define their opposite by their absence. If they truly were their opposite, it would give very different meaning to canon, and if we were to do so, a lot of it wouldn't make sense in my view.

Dream is not also reality. He defines it. He is, and forever will be, unreality. It is his absence that defines reality. A dream that becomes real isn't a dream anymore--it's real. That’s the main reason why pulling the ship into reality in Overture weakens him. If he were reality, he could have just snapped his fingers and make it happen. If he were reality, a lot of his problems wouldn't be... well, problems. The fact he is (a) D/dream is pretty much why all his relationships are doomed to fail. Dreams don't last. Dreams are forever strange and can't be truly known.

Delirium is not also sanity/clarity. She defines it through her absence. And when she pulls herself together like in Brief Lives, it hurts her "muchly". It is immeasurable pain for her because it is what she is not and cannot be for any extended period of time without hurting herself.

Despair is not also hope. She defines it via her absence. As long as you hope, you don’t despair. If Despair were also hope, we would not have 6 issues of Overture very clearly showing us who and what H/hope is. If Despair were also hope, we wouldn't need a little girl called Hope reach out her hand and touch Dream—he would have a sister who could do it. But the only time Despair shows up for him, so to speak, is after he killed Orpheus—make of that what you will.

Death is not also life. She defines it. The fact that she is there at your beginning does not mean she is the one who gives you life. She is there so you will remember her, always (and especially when she takes your hand), hence you will cherish life. She does not directly give life to immortals either--they are immortal because of her absence, because she withholds her gift, like she does with Orpheus and Hob (the Eblis-situation has nothing to do with anything in my mind and is linked to a funeral rite, and we are clearly told it is not something she usually does [“it’s been so long”], or is remotely comfortable doing. It is just that she is the Endless that is most life-adjacent and hence the one who will have to do it. Just like Dream is the most reality-adjacent and hence the one who has to pull the ship).

Destruction is not also creation. He defines it. He is what gives us the blank slate, he is what makes creation possible, he is what starts the cycle and ends it, but he is not creation himself. Keeping on destroying makes creation impossible. There needs to be a pause, a break for creation to come to fruition—the absence of destruction. If he were also creation, he wouldn't create so badly (to the extent that it is canonically turned into a running gag), and being around him and seeking him out wouldn't be an issue. But it is.

Desire is not also hatred (I’m still not sure if hatred is really the opposite of desire, but I’ll run with it because that’s what Gaiman chose). They define it via their absence. You know how Dream doesn’t want Desire in his life anymore after one major spat (whether he had reason to or overreacted isn’t really the issue). And what feelings are often left in the absence of Desire? And what does Desire feel and gets themselves tangled up in because they are pushed away and are basically not acknowledged/desired by their own sibling despite constantly trying to show him they are important (desire is not just a sexual thing, people, get your mind out of the gutter 🤣)? Yeah, about that one… There is definitely a different type of enmeshment here which sometimes seems a bit plot-hole-y to me, but I think that might be down to the fact that Desire is the chosen antagonist (and even that, only to a degree until they aren’t). Even so, it still makes sense.

Destiny is not also freedom. He is the absence of it. All paths lead to the same end. Or a decision you make was the decision you were going to make all along, and what looks like a different ending was the ending that would have happened anyway. And even if you choose, the book will start to make that choice destiny again. Only Delirium knows what’s not in his book, and in this universe, the only true freedom is not bound by any rules, logic or sanity…

[writers-potion]

Got anything for dialogue

Writing Dialogue 101

Dialogue is conversation, nothing more, nothing less. The catch is: diagloue is EDITED conversation. It must be more concise, purposeful and witty than the everyday sentences we speak, while sounding natural.

The Purpose of Dialogue

Diaglue is definitely a fiction elements that pops everything up and out. Thus, dialogue is going to have more impact than your normal paragraphs, in order to:

Characterizes/reveals motives

Sets the mood in the story

Intensifies the story conflict

Creates tension and suspense

Speeds up your scenes

Add bits of setting/backgronud

Communicates the theme

Matching the Dialogue to the Genre

The dialogue in a book should speak the reader's language. There is a type of voice that suits each genre/category of fiction, and we must understand what matches the reader expectations and rhythm of the plot we are writing.

Magical Dialogue

"Do not kill him even now. For he has not hurt me. And in any case I do not wish him to be slain in this evil mood. He was great once, of a nobel kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against." - The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein

"As much as I want you and want to be with you and part of you, I can't rear myself away from the realness of my responsiblities." - The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller

This is the language of The Hobbit, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

When writing literary and mainstream fiction (that is targeted at the general public rather than a target audience), we need to go with what sounds real, even with a magical setting

Science fiction and fantasy can be more unreal, i.e. things like "May the Force Be With You."

In romance, magical dialogue takes on a differen form. It's magical in that it transcends the way we talk to each other in normal society. Magical in that all of it makes perfect sense and is said in such eloquent langauge that we marvel at it while at the same time knowing that if we are left to ourselves, we would say something absolutely banal.

Cryptic Dialogue

"You know, the condom is the glass slipper of our generation. You slip it on when you meet a stranger. You dance all night, then you throw it away. The condom, I mean. Not the stranger." - Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk

This is the dialogue in literary and religious stories that dealw ith abstract ideas and vague concepts and has double meanings. Readers aren't meant to understand theses right away.

These bits of dialogue plant sublimnal messages in the reader's mind that help communicate the theme later on, ultimately making sense.

Cryptic dialogue is difficult to do well. If we're not careful, we'll end up sounding preachy, moralistic and dogmatic.

You need to be able to view the world in different perspectives.

Descriptive Dialogue

The literary, fantasy and historical story often relies on dialogue for worldbuilding (expplaining history, magic rules, etc.)

The author's goal in descriptive dialogue is to provide the reader with information. However, the character's goal cannot be sacrificed for the author's. Dialogue can still have tension and suspense and can be inserted into a scene of action so the story doesn't bog down while the readers get some info.

Shadowy Dialogue

In shadowy dialogue, the character's job is to keep the reader suspended in a state of terror/suspense. Then you periodically tighten and loosen the tension.

The key here is uncertainty. The reader cannot trust the speaker, so we're always questioning him, wondering whether he's speaking truthfully or is presenting the full picture.

Keep the tone as dark of possible, using action and background as supporting tools.

Make it cryptic, or even better, offering an omnious threat of what is to come.

Provocative Dialogue

This is the type of dialogue that conveys the theme, talking about the "universla truth" your book is trying to convey.

Readers like to be challenged in their thinking, provoked to consider other ways of thinking, and shaken up in their belief systems with a fresh perspective about the world.

Consider this example from To Kill A Mockingbird:

"...but there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal - there is one humna institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockfeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignornant man the equal of any college president."

There is no way we can read this and not think about something that is bigger than our daily lives.

Make your readers squirm, and shock them out of their comfort zones.

Uncencored Dialogue

Uncencored dialogue in YA stories are of young people, but that doesn't mean it's filled with hip-hop words and slag.

While adults cencor themselves when they speak, teenagers haven't yet learned that skill so their dialogue is more raw, edgy and honest.

Readers of YA novels expect realism, so make it as authentic as possible. The last thing we want to is for our characters to be brash and honest, but NOT sound like they've just stepped out of Planet Way Cool.

For example:

"What if he doesn't like me back?" "You are too much of a chicken to do anything aboutit but mope."

As an adult, how often do you admit fear of rejection out loud to another, or call out your friend to her face? In YA-type of dialogue though, we can just write what comes into these characters' minds.

So that sums up the different types of dialogue. Consider the nature of your plot, what your readers and the genre of the story you are writing to choose an appropriate way for your characters to speak!

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[theeonlyroman]

This was inspired by @kitkatscabinet forced fuck fic, follow them for content! ❤️

Part 1: Everyone falls

Before everything had took a turn for the worse you were with Kyle too which Price knew about but had chose not say anything because of the potential he had saw in you both and the fact that regardless of your relationship it did not interfere with the teams overall dynamic and efficiency.

Price is especially fond of you often times thinking of you as a favored protege or a daughter, it’s somewhere along those lines.

Ghost has a not so secret thing for you which had started out entirely innocent, before you and Kyle had gotten together Soap would often encourage him to try to take things further and ask you on a date but it almost never worked out.

But you and Kyle had fit seamlessly together in a way that made sense and had came so naturally that the chemistry was so unreal. You both had brought the best out in one another and others had often viewed you both as endgame.

It made Ghost feel insecure and had caused him to shut his own feelings down for you as a way of protecting himself.

Sadly Task Force 141 would soon be torn apart at the hands of Makarov and his protege Nikolai.

Nikolai had infiltrated the 141 under the guise of William, who was from the rural area of Rutland in the East Midlands.

Over a period of time “William” had gained the team’s trust (not really Ghost) and had made himself an integral member of the task force. But little did you all know that all of Williams action’s were deliberate and meant to lead the 141 into a carefully planned trap.

Both he and Makarov had captured you, Ghost and Soap and rather than kill you both he had decided that he would much rather send all three of you back broken beyond repair to Price especially you, Price’s most favored.

But Makarov had decided to let his protege Nikolai make the choice of what form of torture he’d like to enforce, it wasn’t until then that all three of you had saw his true colors.

Nikolai had raised a gun to your head instructing you to strip bare in front of your teammates to which you did but he wasn’t satisfied and was rather miffed that you did so with a steely, guarded face.

His eyes drifted to Soap refusing to look at your bare body out of respect for you, not only as your teammate but most importantly your best friend.

It was then a sick, smug grin slithered across his face, he turned his attention to Soap and slowly walked towards him and tilted his head with his gun underneath Soap’s chin.

“Hey Soapy bitch? Isn’t she a fine woman? I can see why Gaz is so how you say “touchy” with her” his grin seems to grow even wider as he looks out of the corner of his eye and sees Ghost angrily clench his hands together

Nikolai looks back to Soap and coldly looks at him in the eyes and says

“I want you to rape her”

And it was in that moment you could feel the atmosphere grow colder as if Death was looming not far away from where you had stood but you refused to break under Makarov’s cold, indifference.

“Fuck you” Soap says and Nikolai gets up with a shrug and soon points his gun to your head and before he could pull the trigger Soap screams reaching for Nikolai but is soon shot in the head by Makarov.

Soap falls before you and Ghost, his once shiny blue eyes now dull and devoid of life.

You want to cry, you want to reach for his body and beg for him to come back but you can’t, you can’t because you know that it can mean the end for you too.

Out of the corner of your eyes you can see Ghost, you can see his resolve slowly crumbling as his best friend lays before him but before you and him know it Nikolai’s screeching laughter interrupts your shared feelings.

“Oh I know I know how about this!” He calls for more men and they surround Ghost and he instructs them not to kill Ghost but make sure you watch what they are about to do.

They brutally beat him, Nikolai tells him that if he fights back they won’t even bother raping you they just tie you to the back of their truck and drag your bare body across the ground till your nothing but scraps.

So he takes every kick and every punch but the one thing he won’t do is scream, cry or beg and little by little he feels that what’s left of him his slowly breaking as he watches your resolve break. Now he doesn’t see you, he sees a broken, frightened woman crying; you almost reminded him of a child if it weren’t for the fact that you were naked.

He wishes that you didn’t choose this way of life, he wishes that he had the courage to finally confess his love for you. He wishes to tell you that Soap said you’d both go good together, he wishes that Soap was his best man and that he was alive. Ghost wishes for so many things but in some sick twisted way he knows that those dreams would never come true. Soap is gone and he doesn’t even know how far gone you are and he doesn’t even know if he has the strength to pull you both from this.

Finally once this is over and he wakes from consciousness he can hear you screaming for him to wake up and he looks at you and sees you still standing, shivering and he sees Nikolai sitting there waiting for him to wake up.

“Have a nice rest lover boy? Thought you’d never wake up, we were almost gonna have some fun with the pretty baby but looks like you beat us to it”

Ghost shuts his eyes breathing heavily trying to steady what’s left of his resolve and shakily gets up

“Oh my! Look at you! Good for you big boy doing all the hard work of lifting you for us we should make you one of us!” Nikolai laughs and he walks towards you and his cocky nature calms, it turns more sadistic and he waits for Ghost to stand at his full height.

“Cause we’re not done because now your gonna TAKE her and your gonna thank me for it because even the flys on this wall know you want her and if you don’t well tsk tsk maybe I’ll cut parts of her off and feed her to you and in a way that’s pretty romantic don’t you think?”

[slafkovskys]

how does jimmy find out?

it wasn’t even scottie’s event to work, but apparently davis’s grandma rushing to elope someone she had met in her nursing home was enough cause for the boy to rush home and leave the game without a media person in attendance. if it hadn’t been jimmy’s first game against the wild since signing his contract, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal.

but of course he had to make opening night roster and avoid the minor league just longer enough to make it back to minnesota. the day that it was announced by the blues that he made their roster was the day that scottie made ryan move his bed frame out of his abandoned room and finally, finally set up their daughter’s crib in the space.

she’s holding onto john’s arm as they make their way down the stairs with ryan close on their tails. in a sea of various snuggerud jerseys, she’s the only one out of the predetermined uniform. even ryan had begrudgingly pulled one over his head under her tight glare. as they finally reach the glass, besides the plate of chicken tenders she and brody were already planning on splitting, she’s thankful that this is her last event before her unofficial maternity leave.

“i don’t want to be here,” ryan quietly grumbled beside her. his fingers rest at the base of her spine while the other boys are quick to press against the glass like little kids while scottie tries to get some pictures of them just as the blues take the ice.

“it would have been weird if you hadn’t come. you were roommates for two years, ry,” she sends him a look before nodding a head to where his teammates were standing, “now, smile, pretend like you’re happy to be here, and i might share some of mine and brody’s fries with you, okay? boys, group picture!”

at the sound of her voice all of the boys quickly turn around and she grins to herself at how easily she had them trained. ryan bends down at the front, a tight smile on his lips scottie takes more than enough pictures. through her screen, she watches him skate up like a shark before throwing himself against the glass. the boys all jump before turning around and cheering for him, all except for one.

ryan steps away from the group and moves up a step, shielding scottie from jimmy’s view. she places a hand on his side hoping to convey the message that she was fine, but ryan doesn’t budge. over his shoulder she’s able to catch sight of the jumbotron and the way that they were the focus. she watches a pixelated jimmy go from elated by his former teammates, to a slight tilt of his head upwards and his smile disappearing. she watches as he taps the glass once more before skating off and taking the puck off the stick of another blues player.

the game goes without incident. well, that was a lie.

she’s splitting a chicken tender with ryan during the second period when the crowd breaks into a commotion. she lets her eyes drift down to the ice where she spots jimmy in the middle of scuffle, throwing a right hook at the wild player’s jaw. her stomach twists as the player takes jimmy down and she knows that it’s not just her daughter kicking.

she can’t help but lean forward in her seat and whisper a quiet prayer that jimmy would be okay.

after the refs pull them apart, both players are sent to serve their penalties and then the rest of the game is pretty uneventful. with two goals in the third period, the building is riding high on a home victory as they’re all being shuffled down towards the locker room.

“boys!” his voice cuts through their chatter and scottie goes rigid. it’s the first time she’s heard him speak in months. she doesn’t have time to dwell on that before she’s scrambling for her phone to record the dog pile the boys tackle jimmy in. ryan was on the outskirts, but he had joined in nonetheless and scottie was thankful for that.

“how does it feel?” she hears john call once their screaming had died down and ryan has once again gravitated to her side.

“unreal. thanks for coming out. it means-” jimmy’s eyes find her then and he stops mid-sentence. she stands up a little straighter, tugs on her blazer and has to watch as jimmy’s eyes follow her hands. at seven months pregnant, there was no hiding that she was expecting and her girl was growing fast. her bodysuit did nothing to hide her abdomen and it’s not like she was trying to hide anymore. she watches as his eyebrows twitch, his jaw clicks, and he raised his eyes back up to meet hers again before nodding once. “seriously, it was good to see you guys, but i have a bus to catch. have a good night.”

and just as quickly as he had come, he was disappearing into the locker room again.

[jalshristovski]

List of Hetalia ships I cannot fucking stand and why, in no particular order ✨

UsUk: I don’t even think I need to explain this one but I will. They call each other brothers, England raised him, they call each other brothers, ENGLAND RAISED HIM, THEY ARE BROTHERS, ENGLAND RAISED HIM, THEY A-

DenNor: This one I don’t see as problematic, more just my personal views. I see the Germanic Nordics as brothers. All 4 of them. And to add onto that, they have referred to each other as brothers, and I just think it makes more sense for them to be brothers, and not lovers. So this includes DenNor, SuDen, SuNor, and ESPECIALLY ships with Iceland. He is too young. He is a child. Anyway

PruAus: They’re… canonically… cousins… no… just no… they don’t even get along…

TurkGre: No. Absolutely the fuck not. 1. Turkey killed Ancient Greece, aka Greece’s mother, would you date your mother’s murderer? I thought the fuck not. 2. Greece is SO much younger than Turkey is. 3. I am Turkish and we and Greeks do not get along in the fucking slightest so even if the first two weren’t relevant, we literally just don’t like each other

RusPol: If you ship this I will actually avoid you like the plague. Russia has done so much bullshit to us, so the toxicity level in this ship is unreal. It’s toxic AND abusive. Historical context makes this a HUGE no no.

Spamano: No. No. No. NO. Romano was a CHILD. Spain made a child do hOUSEWORK. He was a CHILD. A TODDLER. A TEENY GUY. HE WAS LIVING WITH SPAIN WHEN HE WAS STILL WETTING THE BED. WHY. WHY.

TurkIce: I don’t think this one needs much explaining but here we go: Iceland is a child. He is a minor. His country may be old but he is physically 17. Which means developmentally he is 17. He has the mind of a 17 year old. He is 17. He is 17. He is 17. Turkey is OLD. EW. WHAT IS WRONG WITH Y’ALL???

RusLiet: Have y’all ever read about what Russia has done to Lithuania??? This is abusive as fuck. Period.

RusAme: I just can’t see it. On a world stage, America and Russia are enemies, and have been enemies for a long time. I cannot see an “enemies to lovers” type deal either. I just can’t

LietBel: This one I used to not hate until I figured out what kinda relationship Lithuania and Belarus actually have. I’ve yet to see one Lithuanian person who doesn’t claim Belarus rightfully belongs to Lithuania. Not only that but most of them refuse to call it “Belarus” and will usually call it “Belarussia”, or even more often, “White Russia”. This would be abusive, not from Belarus to Lithuania, but from Lithuania to Belarus.

PruLiet/PrusPol/PrusPoLiet: The only reason I categorise these as one is because I usually see them all lumped together anyway. But anyway, abusive. Abusive. Abusive. Abusive. Prussia had a TERRIBLE history with both Poland and Lithuania, especially when they were one country. The commonwealth and the Teutonic Order were constantly fighting each other, not to mention when you read up on how the Knights would talk about Lithuanians especially, it would be highly abusive. Read any part of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. The Teutonic Knights were literally read pro-Teutonic, anti-Lithuanian propaganda poetry to increase morale.

Germano: This is just eh to me. Could not care less. These two haven’t had near enough screen time (both in the show and manga) for this connection, and when they have communicated it wasn’t super pleasant. I wouldn’t call this ship abusive or toxic, not that far, I just don’t believe they’re close enough for this relationship.

BelaLiech: I am BAFFLED at how popular this ship is. Definitely not as popular as UsUk for example, but still concerningly popular. Belarus is 19 in canon, and Liechtenstein doesn’t have a canon age, but the fandom site says 12. I’ve seen people say 15, so she’s 12-15 years old. Aka: A MINOR. A CHILD. A C H I L D. NO.

EstLiet: Not much of the fandom knows this I think just because of his appearance and his mannerisms, but Estonia is 17. His physical age is 17. He is the same age as Iceland. While Lithuania’s canon age is 19, he is still an adult. Estonia I don’t think should be shipped with anyone older than 17, or younger than 16. My personal opinion.

Here are the ones from Balkantalia, aka not canon (mostly) but still relevant enough to include here

BulMace: This shit makes my blood fucking boil. It makes me want to commit a crime (for legal reasons that is an exaggeration). Bulgarians are so fucking terrible to us. Not even as a joke, Bulgarians hate us. They want to claim our country, they want to eliminate Macedonians as an ethnicity and a culture, they recognise Macedonian as a dialect of Bulgarian (we don’t even use the same letters???), and there is laws that prohibit us from identifying as Macedonian.

GreMace: I don’t know if that’s the correct ship name but regardless, this one is CONSIDERABLY worse. I haven’t seen it too much, but the fact I’ve seen it at all disgusts me. Did y’all ever hear about the Macedonian genocide? Did you know Greek neo-Nazis just tried to march in Lerin (the city my Macedonian family is from) to protest our existence? Did you know Macedonians are regularly attacked for being Macedonian on our own ancestral land? That we are not legally recognised as people in Greece? That Macedonians face police brutality in Greece? They want us fucking dead. My family did not flee genocide in Macedonia for you to make cute art of them kissing. Fuck you. Personally, and with full disrespect.

SerbCro: I am appalled at the amount of Serbs and Croats who actually ship this. Serbian and Croatian history is FULL of violence and bad blood, and the things they’ve done to each other historically is disgusting. Not only with the Ustaša and Yugoslav massacres. Not only do I HC the Serbo-Croats as brothers, but brothers who cannot go 5 seconds without fighting. Why? Because that’s how they are in real life. They cannot get along. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a Serb and Croat not fighting, I’d maybe have 50¢.

SerbMonte: No. No ❤️. Absolutely not. At least from the POV of one of my Montenegrin friends who used to live in Belgrade, Serbs do not like Montenegrins. They get bullied, harassed, and they’re considered to be second class Serbs. So no. Absolutely not.

I’m here to remind you guys this isn’t a show like most others, where the characters are fully made up and have no actual context. Hetalia, while a comedy show, is still based on history and culture of actually countries personified to be people. You cannot erase historical, cultural, or social context.

When I see my countries being shipped with their aggressors, or being shipped with people they aggressed, it doesn’t make me feel good. I don’t just “Ope well they’re characters oh well” those are representations meant to show you a little bit of the history.

They’re not always accurate, because one man from Japan who writes manga about countries he isn’t from will not always be right, but these are still representations.

Historical context in Hetalia is crucial. ESPECIALLY when it comes to shipping.

[zaskiaz]

zas writes - masterlist

TOP GUN (1986) / TOP GUN: MAVERICK

river flows in you (~6.6k | Oneshot | Maverick & Rooster , Iceman/Maverick , Rooster/Hangman)

He swallows and looks away. It’s not a good day. Regardless of how many years pass, Bradley thinks the 29th of July will never be a good day for him.

we don’t know how to rhyme (but damn we try) (~7.2k | Oneshot | Rooster/Hangman)

Bradley sighs and turns to greet his date, an automatic, if not bland smile plastered on his face. It’s when he makes eye contact with the person that his smile falters and falls as if it was never there to begin with.

“You gotta be shitting me,” he breathes, disbelieving, at the same time Hangman hisses, “Oh, fuck no.”

perfect paradise (~2.5k | Incomplete - 1/2 | Maverick & Goose , Iceman/Maverick)

“What’s got you so jumpy, hm?”

Maverick shrugs, eyes falling back to the ocean. “Nothing. Wasn’t expecting to see you, s’all.”

“I’ll bet,” Goose says with a hum.

almost unreal (~3.7k | Complete - 2/2 | Iceman/Maverick & baby Rooster | NSFW ch.1)

“‘M not cute,” he whispers, mock pouting. “I’m hot.”

“Your glacial limbs would argue otherwise.”

wings (~1.1k | Oneshot | Iceman/Maverick)

“I wanna buy a plane.”

Tom trips on air, staggers for half a second before catching himself on his bedside table. “Pardon?”

when the wild winds blow (~2.5k | Incomplete - 1/? | Iceman/Maverick | Volleyball AU)

It’s only then that Pete seems to fully register his position and the perspective it gives him, high in the air. His whole face goes slack as he gapes and gazes with typical childlike wonder at the view above the net.

The view from the top.

In Duke’s words, it’s almost like finally being able to look above the highest wall you’ve ever stood in front of.

mirror of your dreams (~6.3k | Oneshot | Iceman/Maverick, Maverick & everyone | Birthday fic)

“Anyway!” Wood shouts loudly, effectively silencing the group. “We just wanted to wish you a civilized happy birthday, Mav. Wolf kinda ruined that, but what’s new. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day, though, man.”

Maverick leans forward on his chair, and feels as his smile melts into something gentler, softer. “Thanks, guys.” Can’t actually get over the fact that these people are his friends. Friends who remember him, who care about him, who call on what is for them a random-ass Friday afternoon in July, just because it’s his birthday.

PRINCE OF TENNIS (anime)

wonder (382 | Oneshot | Fuji Shuuske/Tezuka Kunimitsu)

“I don’t think your life has to have a purpose, or you a grand ambition; I think it’s okay to just wander through life finding interesting things until you die.”

Once, as they make their way home on a cold autumn day, Fuji makes the mistake of saying this to Tezuka.

PRINCE OF TENNIS (TV 2019)

coming home (to you) (748 | Oneshot | Mu Siyang/Zhuo Zhi)

Amidst the commotion and being squeezed between his overjoyed team mates, Zhuo Zhi doesn't have much of an opportunity to watch Siyang's expression. When he does, though, his heart feels like it might just burst right out of his chest.

heaven help the fool who falls in love (~3.6k | Oneshot | Mu Siyang/Zhuo Zhi)

Zhuo Zhi can only blink at the overwhelming feeling crowding his chest. Divine creature, huh. It is fitting, in a twisted kind of way, given how Siyang is the closest thing to otherworldly Zhuo Zhi has ever seen.

detention? again? (~1.9k | Oneshot | Qiao Chen/Zhang Baiyang)

"You're pressuring me! I can't think under pressure!"

“More like you can't think, period," Baiyang mutters dryly with a roll of his eyes.

[abybweisse]

The mention of cinematic records in your post about reasons for bringing Doll back sparked my interest. Is it confirmed that cinematic records are entirely stored in the brain’s memories? I know that a cinematic record is a person’s memories, but are the records totally reliant on a person’s brain being intact? 1/3

Cinematic records and souls

From what Undertaker has said (and tiny bits of what other reapers have said), as well as other little details we've seen, I gather that there are some basic "rules" regarding how cinematic records are formed, how they function, and how they break down... even before you get to manipulating them. And that dictates how reapers deal with viewing them. But I can also extrapolate some ideas (based on what little I know of brain function and modern, more scientific concepts of the "soul") of what would happen if souls didn't match the cinematic records of the bodies they are attached to.

Under normal circumstances, at least, a person's body stays behind in the human realm, along with the cinematic records that are stored in the brain. Both the body and the cinematic records decay.

If a person dies from something that destroys the brain, the cinematic records will be intact for a short period of time, but the reaper has to get to the body and view the records quickly, before the records deteriorate too much. This might be why Undertaker is using blood transfusions on his latest bizarre dolls -- to keep their brains (and bodies) from decaying.

You probably have to damage the brain just right to destroy the part that holds these memories/cinematic records. But do enough general damage to the brain, and that will probably suffice, because other parts of the brain are needed to process those memories/cinematic records into the thoughts and feelings people have when they remember. Sebastian's preferred method seems to be crushing the skull, which generally causes massive brain damage, and that's quite effective.

Souls themselves don't hold memories, but memories probably feel two-dimensional to people who don't have their souls anymore. The nuances of emotional range are gone. Souls seem to have to do with how we react to our own thoughts and feelings. Like a conscience. Your soul would guide you to do the right thing (or potentially the wrong thing, if that's what your soul is like), while decisions made without a soul would be more like knee-jerk reactions -- reflexive and without really thinking things through. Regardless of how advanced a bizarre doll is, it still has no soul, and its reactions to things will fall within a limited range. Idk if they can learn new behaviors or new ways of thinking; they are stuck in a rut. Because they are stuck in a loop of their old goals and desires.

If there's anything to storing souls in rings/jewelry or sharing souls between bodies/having two souls in one body in the manga, this wouldn't affect the old cinematic records themselves, but it would definitely affect the reaction to those cinematic records. I think that's a big part of why it matters that souls apparently have "shape". A big part of why it would matter in the anime (and presumably in the manga, too) that someone who gets a new soul or ends up with two souls would need to have similar previous experiences... in order to function. Imagine: your soul (the nuanced way you react or respond to any stimuli you receive) gets dumped into the otherwise soulless body of someone who has all these stored memories that are completely different from your own life experiences. How would you -- your soul, your essence -- now in this other body -- detached from your old memories -- react? If the memories are generally good, it might feel unreal and euphoric. If the memories are horrid, it might feel both unreal and entirely too real and completely nightmarish. The shock might keep you from functioning properly, especially if you're trying to process the latter scenario with brand-new memories of dreadful experiences.

Layla/Al might essentially be two souls in one small body. Al might have initially "woken up" because of earlier trauma, before the person died. A DID situation. Because they seem to have been in the same body even before they became a bizarre doll. They function well enough because they have at least some shared experiences/memories/cinematic records, but even they argue. Now imagine what it would be like if your soul was shoved into a body that still has its own soul. Getting past the shock of being in a different body and being with another soul, would your soul be able to deal with this person's cinematic records/memories? Would your soul fight with the other soul whenever a decision has to be made?

Your soul would also probably have a really hard time dealing with being in your own body but finding that completely foreign memories had been attached to your cinematic records. You would all of a sudden recall things that never happened to you, and it would feel real but still feel entirely wrong.

If you are a bizarre doll (soulless), someone adding random memories to your cinematic records probably wouldn't feel too weird; you would just automatically act in response to the new "episodes" as if they had always been there. Something about it might feel new, in some vague way you cannot explain, but you wouldn't give it much thought. Those memories and/or desires and goals are yours now.

Kind of went off on a slight tangent, but I hope you enjoyed it.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

BMT, 🧵 here and I know you said you were done with the fashion talk, but I have a grievance to air. Why is this fandom so /fucking/ weird?

As I'm sure you're aware, Yoongi attended the Valentino Couture show today, generally looked great, an icon of how to perfectly tailor a suit that's still oversized (peek his shoulders, they're still perfect even if the rest of the suit is big). Sat beside Sam Smith and Charli XCX, icons in their own right. Generally a good time.

Except Valentino had the *gasp* audacity to walk a model in an extremely sheer blouse so you could see her entire breasts/nipples.

I honestly feel bad for Yoongi, the clips of him looking away I'm sure were not for his own merit, I trust a 30 year old man with ample access to the internet is not about to go feral over an incredibly desexualized pair of tits on a couture runway. But I'm also sure he knows exactly the kind of policing and Y/N and general freaks that exist in his fanbase. He couldn't even watch a model walk past normally, at an event he was advertising, and was /paid/ to advertise. Unreal.

And this fandom acting like this is somehow some craaaazzzzzzyyyy thing to walk a couture show? What are these mormon children from rural Utah? I don't expect everyone to have grown up watching every season's shows on the fashion channel, but female toplessness has been an almost expected standard since the westwood/gaultier/mcqueen era of the early 90s and I'm sure your other fashion anon needle knows more about the history going back even earlier. It's so far past subversive that it's almost circled back to boring in these spaces.

🧵 Anon, you're always welcome! I'm not stopping the fashion talk, if something interesting happens, than we open the topic, obviously 😊

But first, "mormon children from rural Utah"

That was good. I had to stop laughing so I can actually respond to this ask. Damn, you are so on point with that.

I saw Yoongi at the show, like the outfit, he carried himself just as I expected. Generally, it's a good outcome.

But the fans....why? Why are they like this? Why are they rejoicing that Yoongi didn't turn his head when the model with her exposed breasts went by? They say he's loyal to his girlfriend, or to his boyfriend. One milisecond of him actually looking would have turned into madness. I'm tired of the kids, I'm tired of puritans, I'm tired of really bad jokes. Everything these people will do in the future will be viewed through this lens and it takes away from what is actually happening.

And they're shocked over a sheer blouse? We're really going backwards. If they're paying attention to fashion week because of these idols, they might at least do it with an open mind. But I know they're not interested in the clothes. It means nothing. What's important is that Yoongi sat there and didn't dare to move his head. They all need a big reality check.

I saw the clip without looking at the comments and it didn't even cross my mind that such a "discourse" was happening in the comments. I live in a completely different world. But to tell you something, it's not just army, it's this generation of puritans. I once screened a film that showed female genitalia and period blood because it was a French coming of age film and I had 20 something people saying I should have given a trigger warning! I was dumbfounded. So of course army gets like that over a pair of tits. And like you said, it was desexualized and nothing shocking. But even if it would have been, so what?

[satoshi-mochida]

34EVERLAST launches in 2024, published by PLAYISM

Gematsu Source

PLAYISM will publish Kanata Lab and HYPER REAL-developed “super-condensed looping action adventure” game 34EVERLAST when it launches for PC via Steam in 2024, the company announced. It will support English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese language options. Additional platforms are to be determined.

Get the details below.

About

How many times do I have to end the world before I can see you again? 34EVERLAST is a super-condensed action entertainment piece that can be beaten in as little as ten minutes and has no game overs, specially designed for busy working adults. Make your way through the end of the world over and over again while beating enemies in breathtaking fights, and unravel the story of the intertwined worlds through your own discoveries and choices in this action-packed adventure. The developer of this game is Ogami from Kanata Lab. Originally an ironworks owner, he picked up and learned Unreal Engine as a hobby during the pandemic, which became the start of this project. The prototype of 34EVERLAST was selected for the second term of iGi indie Game incubator, and now the game is on its way to completion.

The Concept

A super-condensed action entertainment piece made for those who used to be gamers until they became too exhausted from working hard to play hard.

Beat the game just in time for bed with runs as short as ten minutes long.

No tutorials, only easy, intuitive, and satisfying action.

No game overs even if you lose to the boss with a stress-free, clear-guaranteed game design.

Unravel the mystery by playing over and over again as the world changes based on player choices.

Please enjoy this brand new type of game experience that is sure to fit right in the cracks between hectic modern life.

The Action and the Adventure

At a glance, this game may look like any other 3D action game. But if you look closer, it’s actually an action adventure game that mixes escape puzzle game elements into the action. If you make it rain in this world, the desert in another might turn into a forest. If you lose to a boss on purpose, you might gain an advantage against another. Your own discoveries and choices are the key to solving the puzzle of these three intertwined worlds, across more than ten different stages which all affect one another. When you clear all 30-plus routes and finally reach the true ending, you’re guaranteed to be filled with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when all the puzzle pieces fall into place.

The Story

In a classroom bathed in the setting sun, a young girl announces that the world is about to end. There is only one way to survive: by ending the “worlds that refuse to die” that are parallel to this world. Who is this girl? Why is the world ending? What are the worlds that refuse to die? Why would ending parallel worlds lead to survival? In the epic battle for “destiny” that endlessly repeats itself, all the mysteries of the world weave a single story.

Word from the Developer

Hello, I’m Ogami from Kanata Lab. The idea behind 34EVERLAST is to make an action-adventure game that can provide a dense experience in a short period of time. In this game, you’ll fight in a world that keeps looping, and gradually unravel a grand story and its mysteries. The story splits according to the player’s choices, and the possibilities are endless, which guarantees that the game is just as fun no matter how many times you play it. A game that you can play even on your busiest days and still be deeply moving and grant a huge sense of accomplishment—that’s 34EVERLAST. I’ll continue to post development updates on the Twitter account, so please check it out. I’ll do my best!

Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: The Dark Half (Alfred Jarry: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, #4)

Author: Jorge Luis Borges

Rating: 4/5 stars

Jorge Luis Borges died in Paris in 1961, so this book was written in 1949, and I first encountered it as a student, in a copy from a school library. The school library was in the English wing of my high school in NYC, and in most of our books from that part of the library you could find the name of the author next to a picture of him, and the name of the title next to a brief summary of it -- it was a thing we all did, since if you really needed to read a non-English book for school purposes or just to learn more about a particular period, you would do so by reading a passage or two of it, then copying down whatever was written there, without ever reading the whole book.

I can only tell you how much I admired Borges from this experience. Reading the text without looking up at the picture or listening to a summary, he seemed like a very interesting, but distant figure: a writer of the "high" sort, one who wrote a great deal and had a wide range of his own ideas, the sort of thing which I thought I might become someday, but which I'd never ever become. His fame, the reason for this distantness, was a mystery to me. In this sense he was unlike Nabokov, whose work I encountered in the Russian wing of our school library back when I was in tenth grade -- Nabokov could be immediately grasped, his work was a familiar part of my school's world, it had that kind of casual familiarity. What was the reason for Borges's fame? Why was he like that to me, a reader who could never be like that (I tried and failed to write a very mediocre book for the eighth grade, but my teachers kept on saying I had the "writing talent" and I just assumed that meant the teacher thought I had a lot of style).

He was just a strange, distant, mysterious figure. Not just in the sense that, unlike Nabokov, who wrote his books in English, Borges wrote in Spanish -- something about this made him seem like a foreigner (not so much the fact of his being Spanish, as something more subtle and more interesting about him, the sense he gave off that he wasn't really from anywhere). But not like the typical foreign writer who had a foreign accent -- he wrote in a very different, more pretentious way from any of the Spanish-speaking authors I knew. He was not just distant in the usual sense -- there were distances in Borges, and they weren't just about language.

The Dark Half is one of Borges's earliest, and most famous, works, and it's a weird and unusual book, and I'm always amazed by how much it reminded me of my experience of that first, isolated book I read about Borges when I was young. I don't have much experience reading books which try to do the impossible and give you a sense of the past as though it were some "foreign country," so my reaction is a little strange. But there was a great deal of similarity -- the sense, for example, of looking at familiar places and things from a different point of view, something which had always been there and never looked quite the same as usual, but now had that strange, almost uncanny feeling to it. And that feeling of trying to "understand" a work of art in a foreign land. In the case of a book like The Dark Half, the sense of a strange, unreal world is one which, perhaps for lack of a better way to put it, you get the sensation of understanding from. In that sense, this is not just Borges's most influential, or most famous, book, it's his most typical one. And I don't mean to suggest there's an inherent connection between a book's typicalness and its influence -- I mean simply that if you want to understand Borges, and Borges himself, you need to start with The Dark Half, and not with something more distant or less central to his personality and his writing.

(Of course, Borges was very central to my own sense of Borges -- the same Borges who wrote The Dark Half, who published the "Book of Imaginary Beings," who inspired the story of Borges vs. Lovecraft, who wrote the other side of the story, who became my idol, the "exalted and mysterious writer" who never quite made it to the point where I could be, and now is dead and forgotten. His work has been the influence on me which most shapes the way I think and see the world, and my sense of Borges is very much shaped by my own sense of him, formed in reaction to the sense I got of Borges in that first, isolated book I read in school.)

This book is a story about, of all things, a possible future that has been left out of every world. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time thinking of futures in which there will be no future; they feel so inevitable, the parts we have seen seem to be a tiny part of the whole thing. So it's a very strange, intriguing, even disturbing concept, and even now, over a half-century later, the idea has always struck me as a great mystery and challenge.

The central figure of the story is a writer called The Dark Lord, a man with the darkest mind anyone has ever had. In every world, The Dark Lord tries to create some form or another of life. He tries to make us, in some manner, his own creatures, by creating a form of life, an "angel" or "devil," or even an animal -- and, even if he does fail in this, by making a "living creature" out of some ordinary part of the world, a chair or a stone, out of a part that exists, but is always just a part of the rest of the world. But the Dark Lord's creation always has some characteristic which is a little alien, something that the other beings around it cannot understand. They are as foreign to the others as a man with a white head would be to an alien.

The only one of these creations which, in some sense, isn't a failed attempt, is one made from a dream, which came into the world in dreams and can never come into the world in waking life, a thing which cannot be seen or touched or felt or felt about. But it does not fail either, because it could have never existed in the world in waking life, not as a dream which can exist in waking life but can never be embodied in waking life, a being created by a dream which is forever just a part of its creator, something which cannot ever be understood in waking life. It is a perfect creation, of all the Dark Lord's creations. It is the perfect creation of a man who has never experienced, or will experience, anything real.

And it has the strangest name a writer ever had.

The Dark Lord has the dark mind which he himself describes as a mind of which, he says, "the heart never expands." It is a mind which expands, but only in one direction, toward itself and nothing beyond. The Dark Lord has a mind that is so dark that it cannot see or feel what he is creating, cannot create anything

[admitonegame]

Admit One Dev: Blog Update 5 - Camera Tweaks and Fixes

It's update day! Sadly I don't have any additional work to share on the Inventory Systems. This last week was pretty hectic with some family events, I'm hoping to have a larger update next week. In the meantime I decided to make some tweaks to how the Player's main camera works. Namely placing a limitation on how far the Player can look up and down when aiming their weapon. This is commonly found in a lot of shooters. While the exact values of how far the Player will be able to look will likely change in development, I wanted to have this system present for Admit One to prevent some strange animations from occurring while the Player's character is aiming. You can check out the before and after of what I'm talking about below!

I'm really glad that it was pretty straight forward to implement as well as turn on and off when switching between walking around and aiming. Something you may have also noticed is that in the 2nd half of the video I've brought the camera closer to the Player and raised it further off the ground. This was done to get the Player closer to the action and environment of the game. The process of moving the camera also made me realize that there was a bug with how the camera was being moved when zoomed in. After the camera was initially zoomed in, it would permanently be raised higher for the remainder of the game. I had thought this was happening but wasn't entirely sure, trying to change the camera's default position made it very apparent!

With that fixed I wanted to see if I could prevent the camera from clipping into the Player character's body now that it was closer up. Below you can see how when the camera is close you can see inside part of the character's model.

I was able to fix this by changing the Near Clip Plane in Unreal Engine's Project Settings from 10 down to 0.1. The Near Clip Plane is how close an object can be to the camera before the model starts getting cutoff.

There's definitely more elegant solutions to this but this is what I'll use for now. Below you can see what this view of the arm looks like after changing the settings and restarting UE.

aaaand that'll do it for this week! I keep forgetting to mention that you can periodically find me streaming development on Admit One over at https://www.twitch.tv/mr_taters

Stop by and say hi if you'd like! Until the next update, thanks for reading!

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Mystery of the Wax Museum (Curtiz, 1933)

This movie has been loosely remade a couple of times. I have yet to see the 1953 House of Wax (I hope to get to it later this month) but I have seen the 2005 House of Wax, and comparing this one to that helps one grasp the differences in the overall modes of horror popular during their respective eras. The 2005 movie feels very much like a product of 2005, with a relatively slick style common in horror efforts during the period, but with elements of found footage and torture porn, two modes that had been rising in prominence during those years.

This movie was made in 1933, when the horror genre was maybe not as fully formed as it would become even a few years later, so it maybe doesn’t feel entirely like our modern idea of horror. There are horrific elements, with the physically disfigured villain killing people and turning them into unsettlingly lifelike wax figures through bubbling vats and what have you. But these images are couched in the structure of a mystery, and much of the movie plays more like a screwball comedy than a horror film, thanks to the witty dialogue and pluck of the reporter heroine played by Glenda Farrell. A few examples:

“Is mama’s little dumpling getting tough?” “I'm gonna make you eat dirt, you soap bubble” “Hello, sweetheart.  How’s your sex life?”

I suppose since my recent viewing of Showing Up the artistic process has been very much on my mind, and there’s something here about the balance of art and commerce and the measures one may have to take to achieve the latter. Certainly the movie invites some empathy for the villain’s viewpoint by opening with him being wronged, and casting Lionel Atwill in the role. But what really stands out about the movie is how it looks, thanks to the use of an early Technicolor process that imbues the images with an eerie sense of unreality. Imagine an entire movie that looks like the Emerald City scenes from The Wizard of Oz, but sinister, and you get the idea.

[modxcomputers]

How to Choose the Best CPU for your Next Gaming PC?

The CPU market is flooded with choices, which makes selecting the right processor a difficult task. With the continuous introduction of new technologies and new processor models such as AMD Ryzen 7 5700G and i9 13th 13900k releasing every 12 months to a year, it implies that the market is changing in a rapid manner. If you're thinking of buying, it's crucial to make sure that your choice isn't going to be outdated, and that you are getting an efficient and reliable processor you can get within the budget you've established.

In this regard, how do you determine what processor to buy? Should you choose the best processor that can reduce bottlenecks while also maximising performance? Should you instead opt for a cheaper processor in the possibility of a later upgrade? We are sure you've got many concerns. We have tried to answer every one of them in this article.

AMD CPUs

It was never thought that AMD would be able to compete with Intel. Prior to Ryzen CPUs, AMD's FX processors weren't the best and although they were cheaper than Intel's huge Intel was but they were not as good. The Ryzen CPUs, like AMD Ryzen 7 5700G which are in use in the present are simply amazing and it's safe to claim that for a specific duration of time AMD was ahead of Intel in regards to technology. AMD used smaller silicon chips and allowed backward compatibility with majority of their processors. These minor features might be overlooked but they make AMD processors extremely powerful.

Intel CPUs

Intel was the reigning king of CPUs for a long period, and even today, gamers are still using Intel processors such as the i9 13th 13900k. Recently, Intel has become more appealing than ever because of the new features of Intel 12th Gen. This Intel 12th Gen line was among the first to feature DDR5 memory compatibility along with PCI-E 5.0 for SSDs as well as GPUs, and the completely new XMP 3.0 profile. While DDR5 is more expensive in features, other features like PCI-E 5.0 are cheaper and can help secure the system from the upcoming GPU releases.

Important Things to Take Note of

Support for Overclocking - The first step is to find out if your CPU has overclocking capabilities. Ryzen is an excellent option, considering that AMD allows overclocking across their entire A-series of motherboards.

Cores & Threads - Number of cores within the CPU determines the number of tasks it can handle simultaneously. If a CPU has four cores, it can carry out four tasks at the same time. Threads work as an unrealized core that could boost the performance of CPUs. 

Integrated Graphics - The concept of integrated graphics can be viewed as exclusive, but they can be beneficial for people who are looking for the ability to cut costs.

[hasmephydoneanythingwrong]

Shapeshift Singularity: Love🩷Love Condensed Europe — Chapter 1

Content warning for caps lock, repetition, unreality and mentions of glitches, prescription drugs, food, and torture.

LOADING…

LOADING…

LOADING…

DATA CORRUPTED.

Gatekeeper

The Heroic Spirit of Narrative Flow, Gatekeeper is an Extra Class born from antagonism [DATA CORRUPTED]. A unique Class in that it is exclusive to the fictitious or those perceived as such.

There are [DATA CORRUPTED] Gatekeeper candidates in Chaldea.

> OBSERVED SKILLS

Gatekeeper's Trials

A single-target skill that manipulates luck to force peril and heroics onto an enemy. The skill’s combat effects vary vastly between Gatekeepers, and the skill itself is often present in some form even without the necessary class., although not in its top form.

Chaldea has observed [DATA CORRUPTED] variants of Gatekeeper’s Trials.

> VIEW VARIANTS

DATA CORRUPTED.

DATA CORRUPTED.

DATA CORRUPTED.

> FILTER

[DATA CORRUPTED]'s Trials

Add “Waterside” type to battlefield. Can stack with pre-existing statuses.

Increase own attack on “Waterside” battlefield. Can be applied twice.

Decrease own Death Resistance on “Waterside” battlefield. Can be applied twice.

Decrease one enemy’s defense on “Waterside” battlefield. Can be applied twice.

Decrease one enemy’s Death Resistance on “Waterside” battlefield. Can be applied twice.

—

Every morning felt the same nowadays.

Wake up.

Stew in bed for two hours.

Wash up.

Struggle to fit into her bra.

Wash her hands.

Take her vitamins.

Realize it’s already too late in the day to take her Adderall.

Sigh and chastise herself.

“Something needs to change, Mephistopheles,” Bruce admitted one day.

“Heh. I certainly hope it’s not with me, sweetheart.”

“No, never. It’s just… do you think I’m ‘productive?’”

The clown smirks. “No.”

Bruce groaned. Perhaps Miss da Vinci or Mash would have something helpful to say. Bruce stood up— it was a little bit of a struggle, what with all the macaroni and cheese from last night— and shuffled awkwardly to the Command Room.

“Ah, Bruce! Good to see you. Something actually just caught our eye.”

“Let me guess. Minute Singularity?”

Mash nodded. “Mhm! It’s strange, though. We’re getting multiple readings as to the location and time period, some changing by the second.”

“However,” da Vinci added, “there’s one rough range that has been showing up more than others: 19th century Germany.”

“Oh. Oh, hell.”“Hell indeed~, honighase.”

Bruce shot up a foot into the air. Turning around, she saw that she’d been followed.

“A-are you mad, Mephy?”

“Feheh. Mad? I wouldn’t go that far, string bean.”

The clown patted their Master on the head.

“Ahem. You can pin a name to your emotions later, Mephistopheles,” da Vinci piped up. “Since this Singularity apparently can’t settle on one time or location, we’ve dubbed it a ‘shapeshifter Singularity,’ and have prepared a special Mystic Code that shall help Bruce Rayshift smoothly. For the sake of your Servants, she’ll have to go alone first. Once we verify her existence, then she can call for you.”

Bruce sighed. “Fine. Lay it on me, da Vinci.”

—

“I want it off me, da Vinci.”

Bruce stood in the doorway, scowling.

“I think you look good in those colors, Senpai.”

“Mash, please don’t call me that.”

“Oh, um, sorry, Senpai.”

Bruce rolled her eyes, not willing to put further effort into this line of conversation. Fortunately, her knight in sexy-yet-garish armor saved her from that.

“I think you look good in green, shortstack!”

Bruce wrapped her arms around herself subconsciously.

“I like the scarlet sweater, but… a dress? Really? And the belt’s a little much…”

“I wouldn’t sell it short, Bruce,” da Vinci said. “I asked Miss Crane to make it for you. Since we’ve never seen a Singularity like this before, we don’t know how well its denizens will take to you if you stand out.”

The Master of Chaldea, once again, couldn’t be bothered to argue.

“Whatever. Let’s just get the Rayshift over with so I can safely reunite with Mephy in this… ‘shapeshifter Singularity.’ Unless you don’t want to, mein teufel?”

“Nah, nah, I’m fine.”

—

Rayshifting always made Bruce feel cold. The sunlight that greeted her, however, was warm and almost inviting, although the air itself was still foreign to her. The air smelled of fresh bread and sawdust.

Opening her eyes, Bruce saw that she was standing in the middle of a dilapidated street. Near-identical buildings filled her vision, distinguished only by color and easily missable signs. Only now did the sounds of footsteps reach Bruce’s ears, and her heart rate soared.

“Gotta hide, gotta hide, get out, get out, get out!” Bruce thought.

She turned around and dashed into the nearest building, a store built entirely out of dark wood.

Bruce’s eyes darted around the room, taking in her surroundings. The place looked more rustic and homely than the other buildings, with a series of glass flasks lined up along one wall and a couple of stoves along the other, each one in a different corner with a sign above it. Bruce crept over to the one in the back right corner, almost as if her very presence would upset whoever was here.

“‘Tränke,’ huh? I guess Miss da Vinci was right.”

She glanced at the other stove, whose sign read “hausgebrauch.”

Bruce took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and recalled what Fuuma Kotarou had taught her.

“‘Call out to Chaldea with your mind.’ Okay. Mephistopheles, are you there?”

Bruce heard a “poof” and opened her eyes to a cloud of pink dust and her first Heroic Spirit.

“Present and accounted for, princess~! Good seven circles, I wouldn’t have lasted another minute watching you from the command room! Absolute torture!”

“W-was it really that bad?”

Mephistopheles smirked. “Just mind-numbingly boring.”

Bruce nodded.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. Can you tell what either of these signs say?”

Mephistopheles floated haphazardly from stove to stove, snickering all the while and slamming cabinets open and shut.

“What is it, sweetie?”

“It appears you’ve found two things, sweetheart. The house of a potions master and that of a fellow sweet tooth. I mean, just look in these pantries! I might have to help myself!”

“At least wash your hands, sweetie-pie…”

—

One communications set-up later…

“So there’s no one in the building?”

“Not a trace of life, Mash!” Mephistopheles piped up, munching on a strawberry.

“Well,” da Vinci said, “the best thing to do next would be to ask around. And Mephistopheles, you can’t go around eating other people’s food! Shouldn’t that be obvious?”

“Nope!”

Bruce, who had been taking stock of the cabinets, turned to da Vinci’s projection and nodded before walking to the door.

“I’m coming with you, sweetheart!”

“Meph, no! What if someone gets sus—”

As Bruce swung open the door, she was interrupted by the citizen who stood outside.“Ah, you must be the new magician in Wittenberg! I must say, you’re quite a bit… smaller than I heard you’d be.”

[941injapan]

May 28th --- Asakusa

Welcome to the blog! My name is Matthew Martinez, a public relations student at UF, and today was my first day in Tokyo. First impressions are huge in public relations, whether it be giving a pitch or cutting a deal, its imperative that professionals understand that their first step leaves the biggest footprint. I’ve got to say, I am so pleasantly surprised with Japan. I always knew it would be cool to be here, but I was expecting slight resistance being a foreigner but I was wrong. Virtually everyone was polite and the language barrier is very easy to navigate in daily life like buying goods and reading signs. Trains are quicker than I expected, and I saw more behavorial diversity, even among Japanese people. Such an interesting culture here, and the commitment to efficiency is unreal. If we had a city that was a fraction of the size of Tokyo in America, it would burn down the next day. I will say this, an interesting thing that caught my eye was how the architecture in many places, primarily residential buildings, seem like they are from the 70s and 80s, yet they are so well kept that it feels like time has stood still. That along with the smoking areas really gives this place a feeling not just of a different country, but a different era. Anyway, we went to Asakusa and saw the Senso-ji temple. Such a crowd there, but things moved around quicklyly so that was nice. The architecture is so intricate and ornate, it was quite refreshing to see such a high-effort religious site, compared to American churches, some of which are in old strip malls and formerly abandoned buildings. My fortune, while eerie but good, remarked about something like finding success, but dealing with great and long hardship before reaching the goal in the end. I guess they knew how hard it was to get scholarship money to get here, and how my bones turned to jelly on that 11-hour flight. 

The May 28th readings help bring Japanese religious history into view when paired with the excursion. Senso ji temple was built when two fisherman, Hinokuma and Takenari Hamanari pulled a statue of Kannon, the “bodhisattva” in 628. Kannon is a prominent figure on the path to enlightenment, particularly for compassion and mercy. The reading talk about the path to enlightenment in great detail. In Mayahana buddhism, people are subject of endless death and rebirth. To escape this cycle, one must reach enlightenment and get to nirvana. However, this path is incomplete unless the one who attains enlightenment seeks to bring others to enlightenment too. These fully enlightened students, or bodhisattva, are revered for delaying their enlightenment to bring others to it. Kannon resides in the Senso Ji temple, and millions visit each year to pray for a multitude of blessings over their current life. Other temples can serve to deal with past and future lives and their issues as well. Later in our excursion, we went to the Fukagawa Edo Museum. This museum houses a recreation of a block of Edo period Japan, right next to the Sumida River. In the readings, the Edo period in Japan saw amazing growth fostered by the consistent economic engagement of the samurai, or elite. Edo period social hierarchy was very different than it is today in Japan. In that time, it was very difficult to transition between social classes, and very often the working class was held down. At this museum, you can get a peek into how these commoners lived. There were merchant buildings, commoner homes, early grocery stores, and many more. It was clear to see how the transition to modern life was on the horizon, and how the logistics of Edo period Japan served as a base for the urban sprawl we see today in the same spot of Tokyo.

I've had some trouble with wifi here and cannot upload pictures through Tumblr. Try this google doc link instead!

[atlanticcanada]

Bedard's seven points against Germany helps Canada get back on track at world juniors

Canada needed a response after a miserable 48 hours.

Connor Bedard — as he's done so often in his young career — delivered with lethal precision.

The 17-year-old phenom had a hat trick and four assists Wednesday as the host county got back on track at the world junior hockey championship with an emphatic 11-2 victory over Germany.

"Unbelievable game," Canadian captain Shane Wright said. "Pretty crazy what he's doing out there. Special night."

It certainly was.

Bedard's seven-point performance tied a single-game Canadian record on an evening the favourites at the men's under-20 showcase needed a response following Monday’s embarrassing 5-2 loss to Czechia.

"It's cool," the presumptive No. 1 pick at the 2023 NHL draft said of joining Dave Andreychuk (1983), Brenden Morrow (1999), Mike Cammalleri (2002) and Gabriel Bourque (2010) on Canada's seven-point list. "But that's not a huge deal for me. It's good to get the win.

"I got a couple of pretty lucky ones. Just one of those nights."

Bedard now has 12 goals all-time at the world juniors, two back of Jordan Eberle's national record.

"I'll text him saying he's got a guy on his heels," Wright said of Eberle, his teammate with the NHL's Seattle Kraken. "Don't think we'll be focused on that a lot, but it's gonna be special if he hits those along the way."

"He was on fire … shot was unreal," Canadian head coach Dennis Williams added of Bedard. "His creativity and his poise … a great night.

"He led the way."

Dylan Guenther also had a hat trick — all off Bedard passes — while Logan Stankoven added a goal and two assists.

Wright, Brandt Clarke and Joshua Roy, with a goal and an assist each, and Zack Ostapchuk also scored.

Olen Zellweger chipped in with three assists as Williams shook up three of his forward lines — including splitting up Bedard and Wright — after a disconnected and disjointed effort against the Czechs.

"We came much more determined," said the coach. "Played tighter as a group."

Thomas Milic made 14 saves in his first world junior start for Canada. Roman Kechter and Philip Sinn had the goals for Germany, which got 30 stops from Simon Wolf before he was replaced by Rihards Babulis for the third period in a mercy pull. Babulis finished with 11 saves.

"We were pretty hungry," Bedard said. "That was a huge way to come back."

Canada, which improved to 16-0 all-time against the Germans, will now quickly pivot to face Austria — outscored 20-0 through its two tournament games — Thursday back at Scotiabank Centre.

Coming off a 1-0 defeat Tuesday to Sweden, Germany is off Thursday before a Friday meeting with Austria.

A talent-rich team loaded with nine first-round NHL draft picks, plus Bedard and fellow high-end prospect Adam Fantilli, Canada was stunned by the Czechs in an uninspired curtain-raiser that left the powerhouse nation searching for answers.

That included players questioning their own readiness and preparation, while Fantilli and Bedard each attempted and failed "The Michigan" lacrosse-style move early — sequences viewed afterwards as symptomatic of the Canadians' loose approach against an underdog opponent.

There would be no repeat.

"We didn't change our game based on what the score was," Guenther said. "I love that … that was awesome."

The Arizona Coyotes forward opened things on a power play in the first period off a Bedard feed before Ketcher snapped a shot through Milic.

Wright was credited with his second goal of the tournament on another man advantage when a German defender swept the puck into his own net.

Bedard, who had four goals in an 11-2 victory over Austria one year ago to the day before that tournament was shelved by COVID-19, made it 3-1 when he took a stretch pass and ripped a shot past Wolf, and got another early in the second on a goaltending miscue.

"We were a lot more focused," Wright said. "We knew we had to respond after last game's effort."

Wright said Bedard could probably put up a couple points a night in the NHL right now.

"Incredible," said the No. 4 pick at the 2022 draft. "Haven't seen many individual performances like that. Pretty special."

Added Guenther: "He's gonna be an impact player there, I assume, right away."

Bedard roofed his hat-trick goal on another power play through a screen before Rayan Bettahar was assessed a match penalty and ejected for an illegal check to the head on Fantilli.

That's when the floodgates really opened.

Guenther scored his second on a slick Bedard feed to make it 6-1 and Clarke blasted a one-timer off a German defender.

Bedard then set up Guenther for his third on the same man advantage and Stankoven added another late in the period for a 9-1 lead through 40 minutes.

Ostapchuk made it 10-1 early in the third before Bedard assisted on Roy's goal for his seventh point of the evening.

Sinn got a late consolation goal on a German power play to close out a night that saw Canada recalibrate after an uncomfortable two days.

"That's how we play hockey,” Wright said. "All three periods — all 60 minutes — that was Team Canada hockey. We were expecting a bounce-back game and that's exactly we got.

"Really proud of our effort."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2022. 

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/ImivVMH