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atlasofthestaars · 8 months

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[MK X READER] New Era - Chapter .008

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NOTE: Hope to have fed you Bi-Han fans well with this chapter! I literally hopped into the game before writing this to relearn some of his combos for this LMAO He also. Crashed my computer when I tried to send a screenshot of his movelist.

Also, this chapter does get a little down during certain parts?? You’ll see what I mean, but I did want to say that just in case?? Oh yeah, and violence, I know this is Mortal Kombat, but just in case you needed the warning?

Finally time for Havik’s poll! As usual, the poll will run for a week!

This is the last call for last minute love interest requests, Chapter .010 is the LAST chapter I will be putting a poll for (assuming that we do not get an excess amount of polls).

FROM THE EYES OF ONE WHO HELPS OUT OTHERS

Sparring with Bi-Han was always a thrill.

Staring down the grandmaster, you let out a steady breath as you settled yourself into a comfortable fighting stance. Sub Zero did so as well, and you watched as frost covered his hands and forearms. You two circled each other, matching each other in even steps as you watched the other.

“No holding back, all powers allowed, going until the other yields?” You questioned, eyeing the frost on his arms. Bi-Han nodded. He did not don his mask for this spar, something you were thankful for. At least you would not have to worry about punching a metal mask. “Good.” You said, inhaling deeply one more time. “Now show me the prowess of the Lin Kuei grandmaster.”

Creating the wings of a common swift on your back, you flapped the wings back, sending you hurling forward towards Bi-Han with alarming speed. You let out a grunt as you transformed your leg into a secretary bird, aiming a powerful kick to his ribs.

Sub Zero grunted as he moved to block your kick. The arm that blocked it had frozen over with ice. You let out a breath as you took back your leg to quickly dodge his hand that thrust towards you with an iced knife.

You used the momentum of the dodge to curl up, transforming into an armadillo. You bounced behind him before transforming back once you got behind him in a crouched position. Swiftly, you lunged at him, transforming into a panther to pounce on him.

You hissed as he slid out of the way, the ground beneath him turning icy. You outstretched your paw, barely scratching his cheek. You dug your claws into the ground as you recovered from the leap to. Your eyes widened as you saw him send a fast incoming ice ball your way. You transformed back quickly, crossing your arms in front of yourself as you endured the hit.

The ice shattered against your block, and you resisted a shiver as you felt the shards bounce off your skin. You watched as Bi-Han moved towards you, creating a slide of ice your way. You ran towards him, catching him off guard. Jumping, you grabbed onto his shoulders, changing your hands into coconut crab claws to get a better grip as you flipped over him. With a grunt, you used the momentum to throw the man away.

Keeping on the offensive, you followed where he had been thrown, charing as a rhino. Sub Zero recovered mid air, sending an icy blast your way to change direction of his fall. You got hit by a blast, getting knocked to the side as you transformed back. You let out a groan as you stood back up.

Sub Zero had recovered faster than you had, and slid towards you once more. He conjured up an icy mace in the form of a skull and spine and slammed it down on your head before using it to launch you upwards. You let out a cry as he jumped up, sending a few punches your way before kicking you away back onto the ground.

You staggered up, not deterred. You blocked the ice clone he sent your way that was intended to punch you. You ran up and swept the man off his feet, catching him by surprise. As he tumbled to the ground, you transformed into an African wild dog, snarling and howling as you clawed at him. You yelped as he shoved you off, kicking you off him.

As you were shoved back, you transformed back, finding your footing as he also stood up once more. You lunged first, launching forward as a bull. You felt satisfaction as you felt him collide with you, and you launched him upwards. Using wings again, you swiftly jumped into the air. You transformed your hands into bear claws, slashing at him with ferocity before flipping forward, slamming a kangaroo tail into him to send him flying into the ground.

You dove towards his body, now as a lion. Your eyes widened as you saw you were instead heading for an ice clone. You were frozen on the spot as you landed on it. With a grunt, Bi-Han followed it up with a swift jab, his fist enhanced with an icy blade. Then he whirled around, sending a close range blast of ice into you before he knocked you off balance as he slid forward, jabbing the blunt end of an icy spear into your chest.

You cried out as you flew back, transforming back into your human form. With a grunt you forced yourself to get up, once again forced to block an aggressive blow from him. Grabbing his arms, you leaned forward as you grew a large scorpion stinger that jabbed him harshly in his shoulder. As he groaned out in pain, you let go of his arms to deliver a hefty drop kick, enhancing it by turning your feet into an eagle’s clawed feet.

With space created, the two of you returned both into a neutral state, slightly more on the defensive side this time as you both circled each other once more. With a whirl of his wrists, he froze the ground you stepped on, trapping you for a moment. As you were distracted with freeing yourself, you failed to notice him lunging at you, leaping.

The breath was knocked out of your lungs as you both tumbled before he ended up on top of you, pinning you to the ground as he grabbed your arms and held him above you with one hand. You panted as you laid below him, staring up to Bi-Han. There was a moment of silence as you both stared at each other, recovering from the fall. You could not get up as he straddled your waist.

Bi-Han stared at you, eyes wide from the frenzy of battle. Then, something changed as he stared down and processed the position. You watched as his cheeks reddened as he stared down at you, the exhaustion of battle probably hitting him. You swallowed as you watched his face.

His eyes searched your face, before they settled on your eyes. They held your gaze for a moment, before lowering down. Sub Zero let out a shuddering breath as his gaze stopped. You felt exposed and vulnerable, and uncertain. He swallowed before licking his lips.

Your face felt warm as he lowered himself onto his forearm, his face growing closer to yours, and you were suddenly aware of how cold his hands were as the hand that pinned your arms above you released, leaving your skin tingling.

His hands…wait. He released your arms.

You watched as his eyes widened in surprise as you suddenly flipped him over, You now sat, straddling his waist. You grew the scorpion tail once more as you grabbed his arms and pinned him down by keeping them in a coconut crab’s claw. With your other hand, you transformed it into a bear’s and pointed the claws at his neck along with the scorpion tail.

“Yield!” You demanded, eyes wide as you stared down at Sub Zero. He panted a bit, silent as he stared at you still, a certain look on his face that you couldn’t interpret on his face. Slowly, he seemed to return to reality as he nodded slowly.

“I yield.”

With a sigh of relief, you transformed back, releasing his arms. You stood up, staggering as you did so. You smiled down at the Lin Kuei grandmaster as you extended a hand out to him, offering him help. He stared at it for a moment before taking it, and you helped him up.

“You certainly didn’t hold back.” You commented, feeling the adrenaline from the battle still run through your veins. You shook out your limbs, trying not to think of the end of the battle, ignoring the particular way Bi-Han had stared at you. “I’ll be having bruises for days after this.” You sighed, remembering the parts of your body where he had punched you especially hard.

“I know better than to hold back against you.” Bi-Han remarked, an indirect compliment. You smiled, feeling pride at it. Warmth bloomed in your chest. “You also do not hold back.” He pointed out, referring to the scratches and claws you left on him.

“Guess we’ll both be in bandages for a while, hm?” You joked as you stared at the marks you had left on him from the battle. Both of you were battered and bruised, but you at least got a victory out of it. You blinked as you noticed the way Bi-Han scanned you, looking at you up and down before nodding.

He was still looking at you a particular way, and you weren’t certain what that look meant.

You tried not to question it, enjoying the more calm moment between you two. You let out a sigh as you wiped the sweat from your brow, having worked up a sweat over this. Bi-Han’s stare burned into you as you stretched.

“Well, let’s get patched up, shall we?” You inquired, walking over to the side where you had set down the medical bag you had brought earlier. You opened it up, and gestured the grandmaster over. He walked over , sitting on the chair you gestured for him to sit in.

You hummed as you began to clean off his wounds, making sure to disinfect the wounds you had left on him. He didn’t even flinch at the disinfectant, seeming to be too deep in thought as you began to work on him. You raised an eyebrow at the oddly silent behavior. He was more quiet than you were used to after a duel.

“Something on your mind, Bi-Han?” You inquired, reaching to his face. You wiped his cheek, putting disinfectant on a scratch you had left on it. You watched as he flinched, and you paused, scanning his features as he stared at you.

“I’m fine.” The cyromancer said after a moment, his gaze dropping to the ground, before he closed his eyes. You raised your eyebrows, not certain whether to push the issue or not. He didn’t look angry…he just looked…lost in thought. You shook your head and sighed as you began to put bandages on his wounds.

Bi-Han was probably fine.

“Good, I was worried for a second that I knocked the sense out of you when I slammed you into the ground.” You teased, grinning at him. You felt a sense of relief as Bi-Han sent you a narrowed eyed gaze. He was surely fine if he was paying enough attention to give you that reaction. Your grin grew just a tiny bit bigger.

“Don’t act as if I did not do the same.” He reminded you, and you swear your body ached as he pointed it out. You paused, taking a moment to rub your shoulder, where it would probably be bruised. He looked towards where you rubbed your shoulder. After a moment, he grabbed your hand, gently moving it before setting his own hand there.

His hand grew cold, but not enough to put any frost or ice on you. It was just…soothing. Your eyes widened at the action, looking down to look at the hand that was on your shoulder. You smiled, and despite the cold on your shoulder, you felt warm.

“Thank you.” You said, softly. The hand remained on your shoulder for a few more moments, before Bi-Han lifted his hand. It hovered over where it had just laid a few moments ago, before pulling back. You almost immediately missed the cold and how it soothed your sure to be bruise.

“It is nothing.” Sub Zero grumbled, his eyes avoiding yours. You stood up, stretching.

“Well, you’re good now.” You announced, packing up the medical bag. You send another smile towards Bi-Han as you finished up, standing. “I’m going to go get some water before heading out.” You told him. You put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. “Thanks for the spar, Bi-Han. You push me to be better.” You gave his shoulder one last squeeze, before leaving.

Bi-Han sat there, his hand touching where you had squeezed his shoulder. A small, rosy blush rose onto his face as he closed his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, deep in thought. He had a lot to think about now, didn’t he?

And those last words of yours…why did you have to say that to him?

Damn you.

“I see you and brother sparred together without holding back.”

You turned your head to look at Kuai Liang who had just entered the kitchen. You smiled at him, waving before taking the last sip of the cool, icy water you had been drinking. The glass made a soft clink as you lowered the now empty glass into the sink.

“Yeah, what gave it away?” You asked, letting out a small chuckle. It was very, very obvious by the untreated wounds you had, and how in general how roughed up you looked. You only looked this way after the most intense spars between you and the grandmaster.

“Are you not going to dress your own wounds?” Scorpion asked, stepping over to you. You saw his eyes trace your wounds, a furrow in his brows. His hand seemed to hover in the air, as if wanting to do something, before dropping.

“I am, I just patched up your brother before I got water.” You told him, slinging the medical bag you carried with you onto the table. Scorpion nodded, yet the worry in his face did not go away. You raised an eyebrow, scanning his face before sighing. “Is something on your mind, Kuai Liang?” You inquired, stepping before closer to him.

“It is nothing.” The younger brother insisted at first. You shot him a narrowed eyed gaze, indicating that you did not believe him for a moment. Both of the brothers were stubborn. But with this one, you knew he would not blow up at you if you prodded a bit more. He seemed to linger on the idea of telling you, before nodding. “I know you mentioned months ago that you did not want me to talk about my brother but…” He looked up to the ceiling, as if searching for the words. “I worry for him.”

“It’s okay to worry.” You reassured him, placing a hand delicately on his bicep. He looked down, his eyes traveling to where your hand lay. “It’s natural to worry.” You said, nodding.You paused, pursing your lips. “Do you want to go outside to the gardens to discuss it in private?” You offered, sending him a gentle smile.

“You still need to dress your wounds.” Scorpion pointed out.

“I can do that outside.” You told him, letting out a small chuckle. “My wounds aren’t bad enough that I cannot mend myself and listen to you.” You informed him. Grabbing your bag, you hoisted it onto your shoulder. You hissed as you accidentally placed it on the same shoulder where Bi-Han had touched. “Wrong shoulder.” You muttered.

“Allow me.” Kuai Liang said, grabbing the bag. With grace, he placed it upon his own shoulder. He then guided you outside the kitchen, to the gardens. You sent nods towards the Lin Kuei members who passed. A few were confused, seeing your condition, while a few were amused. Most seemed to simply not bring attention to your current state.

“Everytime I come out here it’s prettier than the last.” You remarked as the two of you stepped outside. The snowfall was gentle. Normally you would try and grow fur out, but you needed to dress your wounds. You stepped closer to Kuai Liang, your pinkies accidentally brushing as you walked with him towards the bench near the center.

Kuai Liang was warm enough to abate the chill.

You made sure to sit close to the pyromancer, basking in the warmth he provided. He did not seem to him, and he even leaned the tiniest bit closer to you. You set to work on patching yourself up. As you did so, you realized just how bad your wounds looked, even if it did not feel that way. Either you were thicker skinned than you remembered, or the adrenaline was still pumping through your veins.

It could be both, in all honesty.

“So, about your brother?” You inquired after a few minutes of peace and quiet. While nice, that wasn’t the reason why you two had gone outside.

“I worry for Bi-Han.” Scorpion admitted, his gaze dropping to his hands. His hands clenched and unclenched slowly. “I feel as if he has been more…standoffish as of late.” The younger brother closes his eyes. “He has pushed me and Tomas away, especially Tomas.” You watch as his expression shifts into one of guilt. “I feel as if he seeks more and more power, straying from father’s principles.” There was a pause, “Is it wrong to doubt him, sometimes?”

You hold back the pit of despair in your stomach, staring at Scorpion. You remember the inky black shadow that you once knew Bi-Han was, and how Kuai Liang grieved over the loss of the man he once thought himself close to.

You could not let them drift apart.

“It’s not wrong.” You say, your voice quiet as you lean back on the bench, staring up to the darkening sky. Snowflakes fall onto your face, chilling you for a few moments before the warmth of your companion melts them away. “I can see what you mean.” You admit, shifting as you try to recall Bi-Han’s actions. “I think you should talk to Bi-Han.”

“I doubt that will go well.” Kuai Liang admits, and you nod, feeling the worry in your stomach grow. There had to be a way to prevent that horrible fate you remember. Not only to prevent corruption, but to keep the trio you’ve grown to care for together. “Brother is very headstrong.”

“You’re right.” You say, before drawing your gaze to the ground in defeat. “I’ll try and see if he will be more perceptive when talking to me sometime.” You offer, sending him a glance. “I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to insert myself into your family issues but…”

“No, I understand.” Scorpion says, his eyes settling on you. He searches your face, before nodding. “It would be appreciated. Brother has always…” The younger brother seems to search for the right words, hesitating, “He’s always been more…receptive of you.” You nod, though you felt there was a tone to his words you didn’t quite understand.

You could ask about that another day, right now, Kuai Liang’s troubles were more pressing.

“I’ll do whatever I must to help you, Kuai Liang.” You promised the yellow clad man. You smile at him, trying to subdue his worries. You saw him weakly return the smile. You placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. You paused, considering pulling the man in for a hug. Would that be going too far?

You let go of his shoulder instead, afraid of going too far.

“Thank you.” Scorpion murmured, looking at you intently. “You do not have to go to such lengths for me, though. I can find a way to talk to brother if you are unable to.” He tells you, trying to make sure he is not putting too much pressure on you. “Just allowing me to air my grievances is enough for me.”

“You and your brothers mean a lot to me.” You admit, turning your gaze to look at the snowy landscape around you. How beautiful it is out here when you don’t have to worry about catching frostbite. You exhaled, watching your breath rise into the air. “I don’t mind, really.”

“You mean a lot to me too, and I’m certain my brothers feel the same.”

Warmth bloomed in your heart, and internally you wondered if Scorpion had a secret ability to warm you up on the inside. You didn’t ask, only smiled at the man as you sat there for a bit longer. As much as your body longed to rest at a much warmer place, you were content sitting here just a touch longer.

“Thank you.” Kuai Liang repeated, looking towards you. You identified his gaze as fond, and you felt almost a bit too warm all of a sudden. Your fingers twitched in your lap.

“You already said that.” You pointed out, a light laugh leaving your lips. You watched as his smile grew, just the tiniest bit.

“I know. It just felt important to say again because I truly mean it.”

And you knew, as long as you could preserve that small smile on his face, you would do what’s needed to fix this all.

Johnny Cage was acting…off.

Crossing your arms, you sighed as you stared at the actor. You had to admit, you saw why he considered himself a great actor. He was certainly hiding any signs of worry or distress well. Still, it did not pass your perception.

His smiles were just a touch more strained. Johnny’s effort was a bit more lacking, and he seemed to refrain from jokes the tiniest bit. Still, the actor did enough to pass by the normal eye. This wasn’t just a one day thing, he’s been off for nearly a week now. You glanced over to see Kenshi looking at you with a raised eyebrow. You waved his concern off.

Did no one else perceive how off Johnny Cage was?

“Johnny’s form is bothering me.” You lied, not wanting to expose the man. Kenshi glanced over to the actor, before nodding. You weren’t certain if he agreed or not, but he didn’t question your words. As skilled as he was, he was respectful enough to know not to question your teachings. Kenshi quickly left your side, going to the other monks for a lesson.

You let out another sigh, closing your eyes.

A visit to Madam Bo was long overdue.

“It is always a pleasure to have you.” Madam Bo said as you prepared the tea for both her and yourself. Your name rolled off her tongue in such a familiar way, the same way she would say her own child’s name. You both sat in her teahouse, after closing hours.

You delicately placed the loose tea leaves in the cups, letting them steep in hot water before straining them out. As tradition for the way you were preparing them, you poured the first steep over the tea pets of the tea table. Then, you steeped the leaves once more.

This method was long familiar to you, a technique you assumed that you had from your past life. Madam Bo, when you had grown close, was delighted that someone else partook in this method of tea brewing. She often told you to keep it in mind, just in case you might need to do it to present the best tea to someone in an impressive way. She even taught you other traditional methods of serving tea.

You weren’t certain whether she was simply joking or not, but you practiced this method often enough. It made you feel regal and skilled, even if it wasn’t anything too fancy. Maybe the older lady was right, you’d need this someday.

“It’s always a pleasure to visit. I should do it more often.” You agreed, nodding.

“You should, especially now that you’ve taken Kung Lao and Raiden from me.” The older lady remarked, a light teasing tone in her voice. She looked at you with raised eyebrows as you handed her the second cup of strained tea. “As much as I’d like to believe you came to visit me for fun, I can tell you have something on your mind, child.”

“You know me too well.” You admit as you cradle your own cup of tea in your hands. It was warm, and it reminded you of Scorpion. You looked down at your cup, swirling the tea around in thought. “I worry for a few people, and I was hoping you might give me advice.”

Madam Bo nodded, before taking a sip of tea. She hummed in delight, seeming to like the particular flavor of the leaves you had chosen tonight.

“For starters, I worry about Bi-Han, Kuai Liang, and Tomas.” You admitted, knowing that you could confide in the older lady without worry that your grievances would leave her lips. You paused to sip the tea, calming your nerves. “Kuai Liang told me he worries that Bi-Han strays from Lin Kuei principles, and I can see what he means.”

“That one has always been too headstrong for his own good.” The old lady remarked, a tone of sass in her voice. You recalled how she had told you that she had been Lin Kuei too, once. “I do not blame him, his father was always harsher on him than his brothers.” She handed you her cup for another refill of tea. “Too much pressure can even crack a diamond.”

“I know.” You say, remembering the old Grandmaster. You had only known him for a little bit of time before his untimely death. You had thought him for the most part kind, at least to you. You did know that he was also rather strict, and how you never truly knew what went on behind closed doors. Although you had been trained a bit in the Lin Kuei’s ways, you had always been treated a bit differently.

It probably helped that you were considered a close companion to the god they served.

“Bi-Han, although at times thickheaded, is not completely unreasonable.” Madam Bo reassured you, gladly taking the refill of tea you provided for her. The older lady paused, seeming to think on her next words. “I’d advise to try and guide him towards better ideals. The elder gods above know that trying to confront him outright would not work.”

“I see.” You said, trying to formulate a plan in your head. You sighed at the look Madam Bo gave you. It was the same look she sent you whenever she was about to scold you for overworking yourself. “I know the Lin Kuei’s family issues are not my duty, but I fear what will happen if he does not change his ways.”

“You always were too selfless, child.” Madam Bo chided, though she did not press on. Instead, she took another sip of her tea. “I assume there is more?” She inquired, and you nodded.

“One of my students, Johnny…” You paused, looking at her face to see if she recalled who he was. You sighed, before sending her a look, “The handsome actor.” You quipped, and you saw her face light up in recognition. You couldn’t restrain the laugh that escaped your lips. “He has been off lately.”

“In what way?”

“Well,” You poured the hot water over the leaves, preparing yourself another cup of tea. “He is usually enthusiastic and joyful, but it feels like he’s been forcing it lately.” You watched as the leaves steeped. “I don't know how to approach him about it.”

“You’re usually not this withdrawn when asking others about their issues.” Madam Bo pointed out, and you found your face growing warm from how true it was. Perhaps you were a bit too nosy. “But I can always offer you my special tea to serve him, if you wish.”

You hummed considering it, despite the slight joking tone in her voice. While you had never drunk her special tea, you know it had properties like alcohol. You mind swam for a moment as you felt a hazy memory of lounging around while an older Johnny Cage while he confided in you over as he sipped on some alcohol.

That, and you remembered him drinking alcohol while he had discussed with his wife.

You knew that alcohol in excess and partaking in it too often was bad but…maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let him indulge in it just once. Maybe he needed it, and if he didn’t want it, he didn’t need to take it and you would just talk to him normally anyways.

“You know what? I’ll take it.”

“Alright, I’m here, teach.”

Looking up, you smiled and waved Johnny over to the small table you set up for tonight. You had told Raiden earlier to take a night off, you needed to talk to someone. Then, you asked Johnny Cage to meet you in the courtyard tonight.

“Woah, what’s all of this?” Johnny Cage inquired, looking at the small set up you had. It was a table with the tea from Madam Bo (much diluted, to your request), and some snacks you had heard from Madam Bo was usually eaten by drunkards in her teahouse.

“I wanted to talk to you.” You said, slightly avoiding the question. “I know the monks don’t want alcohol here, so I wanted to offer you an alternative you wanted.” You gestured to the teapot. “Madam Bo’s special tea. I’ve heard it’s like alcohol, and I thought that you might appreciate it.” You saw the actor’s eyebrows rise, and you felt a little silly. “You don’t have to drink it or anything, I’m not forcing you to, but I figured you might want it. I want to ask about why you’ve been off lately.”

“You’ve noticed, huh?” Johnny said, walking over to the table. He paused before taking the teacup and raising it to you, asking for it to be filled. You poured it for him, a little portion for him. “You’re right to give me this, this shit is gonna suck to talk about.” The actor saying blatantly, before drinking the tea swiftly, as if it were a shot. He let out a long whistle. “Damn, that shit is strong.”

“It’s diluted too.”

“Really?” He said, looking down at the cup. “Can’t imagine how it must feel at its full strength.” He said, before lifting the cup again. You gave him another pour, mentally telling yourself to keep track of how much he was going to drink. There was a brief moment of silence before he sighed. “Thought you’d be wanting to talk about acting, finally.��

“We can do that, if you prefer.” You offered, shrugging. “I just thought it would be better to talk about what has been on your mind lately.”

“Nah, for once I don’t wanna talk about acting.” Johnny admitted as he relaxed his shoulders. He looked upwards to the starry sky, and you don’t think you’ve seen the expression on his face ever since you spied on him and his wife. “My wife-” You watched as the man cringed, “My ex wife called me a few days ago.”

“Oh.” You said, connecting the dots together. Johnny and his wife, or his ex wife, were splitting. You looked at Johnny Cage with a look of pity. Your mind throbbed as you were reminded of a very similar scenario, consoling the very same man about divorce, but for a much different person. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine.” Johnny Cage sighed, before pausing and rolling his neck. “Well, it’s not. But I’m trying to think it’s fine.” There was another beat of silence as Johnny’s face turned sorrowful. It was an expression you didn’t think fit him. “I really thought she’d be the one.”

You opened your mouth, wanting to say something, anything, but thought better of it. You closed your mouth and nodded, waiting for the man to talk more.

“Cris- my ex, she used to be my world.” Johnny lamented as he reached for a piece of food. He scratched the back of his neck. “She used to understand my dream, or at least I thought she did.” He tilted his head to you, looking at you with grief in his eyes. “Is it so wrong to want to chase my dreams? Or was she right and I’m in over my head?”

“I…” You paused, trying to think. You swallowed. “I don’t think you’re wrong.” You said carefully, as if the wrong words would shatter the man who sat beside you. You had a few more things you thought you could say, but they all felt wrong to say at the moment, so you just left it at that.

“Glad to hear someone thinks that.” The actor said, though you could tell there was a hint of uncertainty in his tone. “Divorce sucks ass, man.” He admitted as he swirled around the tea you had just poured for him, not drinking it just yet. “Do you think a man like me could ever get a second- well, more than a second chance, at love?”

“Yeah.” You said the word leaving your mouth before you could even process it. You looked over to see a surprised Johnny. You forced yourself to keep going, as to not make yourself seem like a fool. You looked away, looking up at the stars. “I think you just need to find someone who can support your new dreams.”

“Hm.”

You wondered if you had said something wrong, before you heard a small laugh leave Johnny’s lips.

“You know,” The actor said your name, something you weren’t used to, causing you to look over to the actor. He was smiling, even if it was a small and weak one. “You’re easy to talk to.” He admitted, closing his eyes.

If only he remembered what you did. How this scenario of him confiding in you was all too familiar to you. You forced a smile, not wanting the man to see the brief moment of weakness in remembering a life that he did not.

“I’m glad.”

“I really needed to talk about this.” He groaned, before downing the cup. He paused before he set down the cup. “Hey, is it wrong of me to want to shit talk my ex?” The actor asked, raising an eyebrow. You raised yours in turn, before humming.

“Well, the monks would normally advocate for me to tell you to move past those feelings…” You said, looking away before looking back at him with a small smile. “But I think maybe just this once it’d be fine to let you…’air your grievances.’” You said, putting up quotation marks. “I think ranting it all out first would be good for you, we can work on getting over her later.”

Johnny’s face split into a smile as he sat up, seeming more happy than the last few days.

“Okay so this one time, she…”

You both talked all through the night, nearly until the sunrise was about to begin. You didn’t care though, because the joy on Johnny’s face was worth the missed sleep.

part nine

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dqmeron · 1 year

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websites used: color picker, text colorizer, text replacement

step #1: pick your colors (optional) when making gradient text for a caption, i usually use an image color picker to get exact hex codes! this just helps me match everything even better than i could when manually inputting colors! (this is completely optional, but i like doing it, so i thought i'd include it here!)

step #2: making your gradient now the fun begins! open the text colorizer linked above, and enter the text you want to be a gradient into the text box:

(all caps is by no means necessary! i'm just doing it to make the gradient stand out even more, since i'm going to have a decent amount of text in my caption.) after entering your text, choose the type of color effect you want using this drop-down menu! color effect is essentially the type of gradient/how many colors it uses, etc. play around with this to find the one you like best!

i'm sticking with horizontal gradient, but you can choose whichever one you like! (there's also a solid color option if you want to just use a color that isn't available in the tumblr text options.) after color effect, you can choose your colors using this section - if you did use the color picker from step one, you can just paste the hex codes into the boxes.

if not, click on the colored bars, and this hue picker will pop up:

drag your mouse around in the left box to choose your color. the bar on the right can be used to modify shade.

(these are the colors i'm using)

skip over the "additional text settings" section (these options mess with the html code and cause issues when you try to use it on tumblr) and check the preview to make sure you like how your gradient looks.

if you're having a bit of trouble seeing the gradient properly, you can scroll back up to "additional text settings" and turn on bold to see it better. just make sure you turn it back off before copying your code.

now you're ready to copy your code!

after making sure any additional text settings are returned to their default/unchecked states, scroll down and copy the HTML code (NOT the BBcode). select the text and copy it using command/ctrl + C or right click and click "copy".

step #3: replacing

the text colorizer used here is great, but it does add unneeded semicolons to the html code that mess with tumblr's settings and cause formatting problems.

open the text replacement site (linked at top), and paste the code you copied into the text box:

in the "replace this:" box, type ; (leave the "with this:" box blank)

click "replace text". skim over the new code to make sure the semicolons are gone (sometimes you've got to click "replace text" a couple of times for it to work), and then either click "copy to clipboard" or select and copy the text manually.

step #4: writing your caption now that you've got your code, open tumblr and make a new photo post. look in the top right-hand corner of your screen, and make sure "legacy editor" is turned on. if it isn't, click the toggle to turn it on.

next, you need to make sure your text editor is set to html. to do this, click the little gear in the top right corner of the new post. select "html" from the drop-down menu next to "text editor", and then close the settings. [07.27.23 update: if, like me, you're stuck using the new editor, you can still set your post type to html, and gradient text will still work. the post editor will just turn your files into code when you're editing, and you'll have to fix the spacing in between your gifs (if you're using this for a gifset caption) in the preview tab. it looks super weird and alarming at first, but it does still work with the new post editor.]

upload your gifs and then move down to the caption. open the html tab and then paste your code! once you've done that, click on the preview tab to check how it looks.

my gradient looks pretty good, but i'm going to bold the text to make it more visible. here's how to use html to do that:

code goes here

here is a list of other html codes you can use to stylize your text! (they use <;b> for bold text, this is another way to do it, either method works fine!)

if you want to have another line of text under/above your code you need to add at the end of the top line to create a line break (just pressing enter won't work). here's an example of how to format that:

text text text text text text text text text

write the rest of your caption, and then you're done! here's my end result and my final code:

i hope this was helpful! feel free to send me an ask if you have any questions! happy giffing <3

#gradient text #tutorials #gradient text tutorial #userzesty #uservivaldi #userkraina #usermorgan #tuserheidi #usersahyoz #userzaynab #userauden #userdean #rogerhealey

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mariacallous · 2 months

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You’ve been asked to serve on the jury in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a United States president. What could possibly go wrong? The answer, of course, is everything.

A juror in former president Donald Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in New York was excused on Thursday after voicing fears that she could be identified based on biographical details that she had given in court. The dismissal of Juror 2 highlights the potential dangers of participating in one of the most politicized trials in US history, especially in an age of social media frenzies, a highly partisan electorate, and a glut of readily available personal information online.

Unlike jurors in federal cases, whose identities can be kept completely anonymous, New York law allows—and can require—the personal information of jurors and potential jurors to be divulged in court. Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Trump’s prosecution in Manhattan, last month ordered that jurors’ names and addresses would be withheld. But he could not prevent potential jurors from providing biographical details about themselves during the jury selection process, and many did. Those details were then widely reported in the press, potentially subjecting jurors and potential jurors to harassment, intimidation, and threats—possibly by Trump himself. Merchan has since blocked reporters from publishing potential jurors’ employment details.

The doxing dangers that potential jurors face became apparent on Monday, day one of the proceedings. An update in a Washington Post liveblog about Trump’s trial revealed the Manhattan neighborhood where one potential juror lived, how long he’d lived there, how many children he has, and the name of his employer. Screenshots of the liveblog update quickly circulated on social media, as people warned that the man could be doxed, or have his identity revealed publicly against his will with the intent to cause harm, based solely on that information.

“It's quite alarming how much information someone skilled in OSINT could potentially gather based on just a few publicly available details about jurors or potential jurors,” says Bob Diachenko, cyber intelligence director at data-breach research organization Security Discovery and an expert in open source intelligence research.

Armed with basic personal details about jurors and certain tools and databases, “an OSINT researcher could potentially uncover a significant amount of personal information by cross-referencing all this together,” Diachenko says. “That's why it's crucial to consider the implications of publicly revealing jurors' personal information and take steps to protect their privacy during criminal trials.”

Even without special OSINT training, it can be trivial to uncover details about a juror’s life. To test the sensitivity of the information the Post published, WIRED used a common reporting tool to look up the man’s employer. From there, we were able to identify his name, home address, phone number, email address, his children’s and spouse’s identities, voter registration information, and more. The entire process took roughly two minutes. The Post added a clarification to its liveblog explaining that it now excludes the man’s personal details.

The ready availability of those details illustrates the challenges in informing the public about a highly newsworthy criminal case without interfering in the justice process, says Kathleen Bartzen Culver, the James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics and director of the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Simply because a notable figure is on trial does not mean that a juror automatically surrenders any claim to privacy,” Bartzen Culver says. “People who have been drawn into a case that is exceptionally newsworthy are not aware that a simple statement that they make about where they work might identify them and open them up to scrutiny and possibly risk.”

The dangers to jurors or potential jurors has only increased since the first day of jury selection, which remains ongoing, in part due to the challenges of prosecuting a former US president and the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 US presidential election. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, a class E felony in New York state, for payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election related to alleged affairs with two women, adult performer Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump has claimed his prosecution is a “communist show trial” and a “witch hunt” and has pleaded not guilty.

On Fox News, coverage of Trump’s trial has repeatedly focused on the potential political motivations of the jurors, bolstering the former president’s claims. Trump, in turn, has repeated the claims by the conservative news network’s hosts. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump quoted Fox News commentator Jesse Watters claiming on air that potential jurors in Trump’s trial are “undercover liberal activists lying to the judge in order to get on the Trump jury.” This, despite a gag order that forbids Trump from “making or directing others to make public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.”

Broader media coverage of the Trump trial jurors appears to often be the work of political reporters who are unfamiliar with the journalism ethics specific to covering a criminal trial, says UW-Madison’s Bartzen Culver. “It's like when political reporters covered Covid and science journalists lost their minds.” She adds that it’s important for any journalist covering a criminal case—Trump’s or otherwise—to “consider our role within the justice system.”

“Unethical behavior by journalists can delay trials. It can result in overturned convictions and the people having to go back and do a retrial,” Bartzen Culver says. “That all works against our system of justice.”

The New York case is one of four ongoing criminal proceedings against Trump. In Georgia, where he faces multiple felony charges for alleged attempts to interfere with the state’s electoral process in 2020, Trump supporters leaked the addresses of members of the grand jury, after their names were listed in the 98-page indictment against the former president, as required by state law. Georgia’s Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said last August that it was investigating threats against the jury members. The incident highlights the persistent dangers people can face from Trump’s supporters, both in the near term and for the rest of their lives, if they’re viewed as having acted against him.

The leaks were discovered by Advance Democracy Inc. (ADI), a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and investigations organization founded by Daniel J. Jones, a former investigator for the FBI and the US Senate Intelligence Committee. So far, Jones tells WIRED, ADI has not uncovered attempts to dox jurors in Trump’s New York trial. But it’s still early days.

“We have not yet found identifying information on the extremist forums we monitor,” Jones says. “Having said that, I share your concern that it is only a matter of time before this happens.”

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cordership · 8 months

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I posted this on a discord a while back, but I decided I should post a version here too. That being said, I present to you:

I HAVE GAZED INTO THE ABYSS AND THE ABYSS ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO WATCH A GAME

The culmination of a feverish night of theory crafting after a sudden epiphany like a vision from an angry god, which may or may not be pertinent to the plot of “20021, a Football Story” by Jon Bois, whenever that comes out

See, okay, the whole deal with this thing is; If either Nick and Manny get caught and fail to bring the footballs home, or succeed and bring the footballs home, it will become a big story that it was only two guys who stole the footballs from Georgia Tech. This tells Michigan State that the locomotive lateral was performed by two guys, and thus, it would have been almost impossible for them to split the balls up, meaning the 9 balls that MI ST went up by at the end of the locomotive lateral would have been all the balls that GTECH had (given that it dropped in rank to the 0 ball teams at the same time as MI ST increased by 9). If someone from MI ST took a screenshot of their scoreboard before and after the lateral they would be able to tell that by the time the lateral was completed:

1: MI ST has 24 balls

2: GA SO has at most 14 balls because they were a place below MI ST before the lateral when Michigan had 15 balls

3: SC ST has at most 8 balls because they were a place below GTECH, which (based on the number of balls MI ST increased by and GTECH’s ranking afterward) had 9 balls before the lateral

4: CIN, HOW, and TEX likely have 3 balls each, and if they’re not sure MI ST can collaborate with one of them. Additionally, if you know that a certain team has a certain number of balls at any point in the game, then if the ranking group that team is in never drops below 2 teams, then you will always know everyone in that ranking group will have that same amount of balls even if the original team drops out of that ranking group, due to the sheer unlikelihood of every team in a ranking group gaining or losing exactly the same amount of balls at the same time. Remember, it can be days between scoreboard changes. There is a good chance that every team already knows the tied for 5th ranking group have 3 balls each.

5. If you know CIN, HOW, and TEX each have 3, then MO through to UTEP must have 2 balls each

6. There are 28 teams with exactly one ball each. The 1 ball teams extend into the remaining teams section, where you normally would not be able to see rankings and wouldn’t be able to tell which ones are 1 ball teams and which ones are goose egg (0 ball) teams. However: all teams in the same rank are organized alphabetically, and you can see that the alphabetization resets between Washington State University and Air Force Academy. Therefore a MI ST player would be able to know there are 28 one ball teams.

So: 24+14+8+3*3+2*5+1*28=93

111-93=18 balls hidden off the field, one more than the number UAB is hiding in Stannard Rock Lighthouse

Will Michigan State find 18 missing balls alarming? I don’t know. Depends on the kind of story Jon Bois wants to write. I want to believe they will, starting a frenzy that uncovers UAB’s hidden dynasty as the most powerful team in the entire college bowl, which somehow forces UAB to resurrect their steamroller play One Last Time.

Maybe that’ll give Val something to talk about, other than loathsome mosquitoes lurking in limestone quarry ponds, which may or may not have contributed to the construction of the Empire State Building.

I can only say one thing for certain:

Stay in school, kids. It makes you better at cross-country football.

#17776 football #17776 #20020 football #20020 #jon bois #the locomotive lateral

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hjartasalt · 9 months

Note

What is the origin of lauf from Iceland I need to know

I don't have a link to the post cause I'm too lazy to go find it but basically when I changed my name legally it made the news here in Iceland and I was like "huh neat" so I made a little post about it showing a screenshot of an article announcing it not really expecting it to gain much attention but uhhh I was wrong. Very wrong. I am now known as Lauf from Iceland to an alarming amount of tumblr users and my following has more than quadrupled in size as a result of it

#ask #anon

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adelaidedrubman · 7 months

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some scattered thoughts on plagiarism and sharing creative space in good faith before i turn my phone off and walk into the swamp

so, this is a post i have avoided making for well over a year now. because i have spent well over a year minimizing, excusing, and trying to convince myself that i’m crazy and just imagining things. even more so, convincing myself that it’s worthless to talk about, because even if i talked about it, no one would particularly care, and i would only cause myself more heartbreak by officially confirming that.

but the past few days in fandom have dredged up a lot of things for me and made me reevaluate. i’ve found immense reassurance from seeing how ready and willing everyone is to band together to keep the community safe from those entering with the intent to copy the work of others rather than creating their own. i won’t lie, seeing that unity and mobilization on my dash was at times bittersweet when it was interspersed by reblogs from someone who’d plagiarized me.

but i also took the opportunity to move past the hurt and remember this is a community — seeing others have the courage to come forward and talk about the plagiarism they’d experienced inspired me to open up to more and more friends in private about my own experiences, and i cannot describe to you how relieving it has been to find myself validated and supported. sincerely, to everyone who has lent me an ear over the past few days, i appreciate it more than you know. i’ve been brought to tears several times, and feel like i now have the strength to talk about this.

this is also a post i have backspaced on several time, because. well. frankly it’s difficult to even allude to the vague category of most obvious thing that was stolen from me without this amounting to a de facto callout post, which isn’t my intention so much as getting out my feelings and hopefully opening a dialogue about the lasting harm plagiarism does.

so. i’ll just start by saying one of the most hurtful things about plagiarism is that it destroys the implicit trust that everyone is entering a creative space in good faith. most of us don’t come into fandom and oc communities preemptively guarded and ready to go looking for instances of plagiarism, and are far more likely to perceive things as incidental overlap than malicious theft even under circumstances where the latter is more likely. personally, it didn’t even initially set off alarm bells for me when i saw an oc with jestiny’s exact design plus color contacts and terf bangs also sharing prominent symbolism utilized in her story.

my first instinct was to be welcoming and supportive in the spirit of celebrating that creative minds can find inspiration from the same sources. even as the symbolism began less and less to in any way resemble the context of said source material and more and more to resemble the version of the story i told, increasingly picking up elements that weren’t in the original but were sure as hell in my fic. in fact, i went as far as to offer resources on the source material in hopes that it would motivate the person to dig into it and find a way to make it their own, still hoping this was a case of overstepping taking inspiration at worst.

it was after pushing my goodwill that far and giving an out only to then see another of my most well-known scenes copied down to my exact wording and pacing that i got the nerve to block.

and i was naïve enough to think that would actually end it — hurt as i was by what had already happened, at least it was over.

nope.

even after blocking, i went on to see the scraps of another of my most well known scenes lazily repackaged. (i can forgive ripping off jestiny, but i draw the line at sullying poor daniel’s memory. he’s been through enough.) in fact, it continued incessantly enough that i have had multiple people independently send me screenshots of the same passage from within the past month commenting on how blatant it is.

it should go without saying what a violation this was of my boundaries and my creative labor. every single aspect of jestiny’s story is deeply personal to me, both because of the extensive effort i have put into researching and crafting it and because of the pieces of my own experiences and emotions its founded in.

but more than that, what sticks with me is the violation of the implicit trust and vulnerability that comes with choosing to share a creative work. i stretched my benefit of the doubt to its limits at the expense of my own mental health, i assumed good faith and tried to make space, and when i could no longer endure i quietly isolated myself rather than risk sowing discord or simply being a bummer in a fun time space. it made me no longer feel safe sharing works that were especially personal. the pain of the experience was one of the primary reason i put wildfire on indefinite publishing hiatus despite still loving the story and greatly enjoying continuing to write it in private.

still, after the past few days and my own slow process of opening up, i am beginning to develop a renewed hope that we can act as a community and look out for each other. i still genuinely want to think we can by and large share creative space in good faith, and that people coming forward will leave us more ready to identify and deal with bad actors when they do pop up.

and i have hope that i can heal and find ways to be open and vulnerable with my work again. that might mean soon thinking critically about how to curate my fandom experience in a way that will minimize having plagiarism thrown in my face, but for now that’s still a problem for future liz.

for today, i just want to thank anyone who has read this far (y’all know i’m bad at shutting up). i’m still not ready to be super detailed in public, but if anyone wants to know more about the 5 ws and 1 h, you’re welcome to dm me — although i might be slow to respond right now, because i wasn’t being hyperbolic with the title. i am going to be on a camping trip in the swamp the next few days, and might not be online much.

i am excited to have the time to unplug and reflect, and look forward to coming back recharged. until then, please know i am so thankful for all of you, from the bottom of my heart.

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isthehorsevideocute · 1 year

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#2Raw2Ride and why horse people everywhere are alarmed

I was surprised that no one has mentioned 2raw2ride through this blog yet though given the vast majority of media coverage on this guy I've seen us from equestrian content creators I suppose not a lot of non equestrians have heard about this.

For those not in the know, there is a social media clout chaser who according to him quit his six figure job so he could plan a ride on horseback from Austin TX to Seattle WA. This in of itself is not a bad thing but, he has made so many decisions that has alarmed the horse world. Many people have done this kind of trek on horseback but it takes a lot of preparation for you as the rider and for the horses.

The man in question bought this horse who was basically a pasture pet about a month before he started this ride. He is riding a single horse and has not brought along a pack animal. There was and still is no evidence that he has maped out planned stops for resting and supplies. His plan was to make the over 2000 mile trip in 100 days on this singular horse which has not been conditioned for endurance riding. The kind of physical conditioning necessary would take a year of training at least but the horse had no more than 30 days and it's showing through the fact the horse was startomg to deteriorate in body condition from day 1. Here are some images clearly showing his drop in weight.

This was the horse the day he was tried for purchase

He was a chunky boy. Perhaps borderline overweight

This was when he owned the horse but before he left on the trip

Also notice the fact the horse has marks where the saddle would be indicating irritation already. Id say this is a good body condition but instead of stopping here it kept going. Pay attention to the slope of the hip to the tail and the slope of the belly

This is the horse on the day of departure

In the 30 days he owned him before the ride the horse dropped a ton of weight

This was a photo from last week

you can start to see the spine showing from the croup (top of hip to the tail). And th belly no longer has that uniform slope. It's actually becoming concave behind the ribcage. Compare the neck here to the first image. Huge difference.

On top of the weight loss, the horse has shown signs of soreness in the left hind since he left. If this was an official endurance ride, the horse would not have been cleared to make this trip in the first place.

There have been several red flags that many have pointed out that indicates this guy has not educated himself and lacks the horse experience he claims to have.

Improper use of equipment and lack of ability positively identify the equipment he is using

When going over his equipment, he shows the bit and refers to it as a " snaffle" so let's look at bit that could be considered a "snaffle"

These are snaffle bits. A snaffle is categorized as a bit which applies direct pressure to the mouth. In other words the amount of pressure you apply to the reins is what the horse feels.

Now let's look at what he is using

So this is a JR Cowhorse bit and it looks like this

Now this does not quality as a snaffle, it is instead classified as a curb or leverage but because it is designed to put a leverage action on the horse's mouth. Whatever pressure you apply to the reins, the horse will feel multiplied making this harsher by design than a snaffle. On top of that this but has a twisted wire mouthpiece which is one of the harshest mouthpieces there is.

Please also take note of the way the bit is positioned. See how the part that's on top (the lever) is longer than the part on the bottom (the shank). The screenshot from his video has the shorter portion on the bottom and the longer portion on top. The bit is upside down. But wait it gets worse. Bits are generally designed with a curve to the mouthpiece so it can follow the natural curvature of the mouth to make it more comfortable for the horse

Here's the bit i use for my mare who is sensitive near he front teeth. A nice dramatic curvature that is easy to see

Comfy

Now this is a curvy bit if it was backwards

Ouch

Guess what. Not only is the guy's bit upside-down, it's actually also backwards. This makes an already uncomfortable bit even more uncomfortable for this horse who is spending hours a day in it.

Mr. Experienced horseman also doesn't know how to tie a rope halter correctly

This is how he tied it

This is how it should be tied

Knot below the loop or the knot will loosen

The guy said on the news he has ridden for many years and was a champion show jumper. Funny. No one can find a show record on the guy.

2. Not understanding how to properly feed and hydrate a horse under these conditions

In his video going over what he packed, he pulled out a bottle of corn oil and a clearly unused mineral block.

Corn oil is not a good thing to feed a performance horse, because it's pro inflammatory. You're just making an already sore horse more sore. Not to mention any corn product that starts to go bad can make a horse extremely sick. The unused mineral lick shows that the horse is not getting enough electrolytes. Even given free choice many horses don't get enough electrolytes so they need to be added to feed or given in paste form, but all he seems to have is the block. The horse has been showing outward signs of dehydration and with drought season in Texas just around the corner it's not looking great.

3. Lack of emergency supplies (specifically for the horse)

In the same video he showed off what he has in the med kit for his horse.

-thrush medication

-a flathead screwdriver

-two pain meds (both halfway gone when the video was taken 🤔. Also would not be competition legal for welfare purposes as if your horse is on these they are not well enough to tax themselves)

The screwdriver is supposedly so he can remove a shoe, but no you can't remove a shoe with a screwdriver. You'd need at least a couple of farrier tools to take a shoe off even if it is already half off.

This is not at all efficient packing. What he does have is mostly useless added weight and what he doesn't have is vital supplies. If this horse starts to bleed out or needs a hoof packed good fing luck.

4. the hematoma

Ah of course the swelling on this poor horse's belly

jury's still out in what actually caused this but given its location it is either a gaul from an ill fitted girth or from spur irritation.

5. Constant backpedaling

First he stated he would not take donations for this ride. One week later he put his linktree up in his instagram profile stating that donations would go to feeding and caring for the horse. I assume people. Allrd him out on it so now he states it goes toward buying beer. He also has taken more rest days than he said he would and he's been slowing way down on his updates. He allegedly even (finally) contacted the long riders guild asking for help (after rejecting help many times before). It seems even he is starting to notice how ill prepared he is.

Anyways don't feed this guys clout. Don't give him attention and don't give him money. He's a liar and a horse abuser and it seems to him any attention is good attention.

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autisticgirliesbracket · 1 year

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What makes Woo Young-Woo from Extraordinary Attorney Woo the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Young-Woo-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a screenshot of Woo Young-Woo, portrayed by Park Eun-bin, wearing her headphones while on the train. She is surrounded by text boxes which read,

"She's canonically autistic, she's one of the only autistic characters on Korean television (possibly THE only, I don't want to speak for all of Korean TV but I know she's a big deal in terms of autistic rep in SK - in-universe she's the first openly autistic lawyer in SK), she's a lawyer and her neurodivergence is frequently presented as a positive in that it means she approaches cases differently than NT people, she has a lot of vocal and movement stims and wears ear protectors on transit, she loves to infodump about whales, her dad makes her the same thing for breakfast every day because he loves and supports her, she has a great love interest who she infodumps to (and they negotiate stuff! like he loves to hear her infodump but he wants to be able to talk to her too and they figure out an amount of infodumping that they're both happy with, which is such a real conversation people need to have sometimes!), SHE HAS A WHOLE MONOLOGUE ABOUT HOW SHITTY ASPERGER WAS, she's just so!!! She doesn't pass as NT at all and I feel like that's so rare for humanized autistic characters, to be recognizable as autistic just immediately, and it's so real for me and I love her so much, Young-Woo's so important to me and I just want everyone to know about her"

"She is literally canonically autistic. I binge watched this show after seeing a few gif sets from my mutuals on Tumblr and I fell in love with her. She's an attorney (as it says in the show title) and even though she isn't very good at talking to people, she's really good at winning her cases because of how observant she is (and her secret autism powers). She didn't speak until she was like 5 or something, and even then, the first thing she said was straight out of her dad's lawbook she had memorized. Her special interest is whales and they somehow help her in literally all of her cases, so good for her. The way her dad treats her sometimes makes me a bit sad, but I guess he's trying his best. He just didn't get any advice on how to treat autistic children, but oh well. At least he tries to be supportive. Like he cooks her safe food for her every day and is so proud of all her accomplishments. She has her daily routines that must not be crossed and she's so real for that. She's also obsessed with palindromes (including her name! :D)"

"Canon autistic queen! Not only is she canonically autistic, but her autism isn't shown to be a deficit or burden! She's also a kickass attorney! She's honestly one of the best representations of an autistic person I've ever seen"

"It's cannon. I almost cried when watching certain moments so... yeah it's pretty nice."

"it's canon. So canon. Like the whole point of the show is that she is on the spectrum. basically everything she does makes me feel like she is exactly who she was written to be."

"IS LITERALLY CANONICALLY AUTISTIC AND I LOVE HER VERY MUCH"

"Canonically autistic. Special interests are law and whales. Memorised this entire book of law at her home before she had ever even uttered a word. Her room is filled with whale related stuff from her alarm to random decor etc etc such her room is the coolest tbh. Wears headphones that play whale sounds instead to avoid sensory overload, echolalia, same breakfast everyday and memorised her route to the office cus routine etc." End ID.]

#autistic girlies bracket #autistic girlie masterpost #Extraordinary Attorney Woo #woo young woo

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raayllum · 2 years

Photo

The emotional damage this screenshot inflicted on me. From Rayla being the physically furthest away from Callum only to rush forward to be the one to catch him, her being the only one to approach him when Aaravos first takes him over before he’s treated like a puppet, her couple but pointed singular gasps of alarm, and finally the amount of fear she shows on her face directly to Aaravos while she holds Callum in her arms, afraid he’s going to do another terrible thing to him. Soren is mad, Ezran still looks fearfully confused by the whole affair, but Rayla looks completely petrified. “Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to show fear, ever,” to an enemy no less, and yet

#rayllum #caylangst #s4 #4x04 #arc 2 #anything for her boy. anything i say #s4 spoilers #tdp spoilers #mini meta #analysis series #analysis

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invisibleraven · 5 months

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From @theamd426 Falling asleep in class/work for teenage Reggie and Julie please!!!!

Reggie sighed as he clocked in, donning his vest. Overnight shifts were always the worst, but they paid more, so he took them on occasion. At least this way he didn't have to deal with customers, all he had to do was restock the shelves and take inventory.

"Hey Reggie!" Julie called as she clocked in. "Ready for an exciting night of work?"

He shrugged but offered her a smile. "It's better now that you're here. I was terrified I would be stuck with Brett."

Julie wrinkled her nose at that. "Ew, no one should suffer like that." Then she giggled, and Reggie joined her. Brett was a useless layabout who usually smelled of weed and made terrible racist jokes, so no one wanted to work with him.

"At least I get half the music choices with you," Reggie said, elbowing her. They had similar tastes, and had a playlist for whenever they worked together, a mix of the stuff they both liked, since no one else was working, no one else could argue about the music.

"Well crank it up and we'll get started," Julie said with a hip check.

With the music blaring, they got to work; first tossing out the spoiled produce, and taking out anything expired from the coolers. Rotating stock so the older stuff went in front as they put the new in the rear.

Reggie started on the inventory as Julie filled the shelves, then they switched the next aisle over, taking turns as they went to make the night go faster. Chatting as they went, about their upcoming senior year, their co-workers, their friends, and plans for university. The two of them had been friends for awhile, and had come to work here by coincidence, making their bond even deeper.

Being good friends also made it easier to get through the long night shifts together, even if they finished long before they were due thanks to how well they worked together.

"Wanna go chill in the patio furniture before we start on the cleaning?" Reggie suggested.

"Sounds good," Julie agreed, covering a yawn as they went. "Sorry, I should have napped this afternoon but Flynn was having relationship drama and best friend duties trumped my need for sleep."

"Ugh tell me about it, I have to listen to Alex whine about his ginormous crush on Willie more than I don't," Reggie replied. "However my nap plans got waylaid by Luke and his new bridge for Destination Nowhere."

"Think we'd get in trouble for sneaking in a snooze?" Julie asked as they lounged on the patio furniture.

"As long as we wake up in time to wipe the cameras," Reggie said. "Though you know Kenneth doesn't care as long as everything gets done."

"I'll set an alarm," Julie said, taking out her phone, yawning again. Reggie already had his eyes closed but murmured his consent.

This wasn't the first time they had done this-though they usually did so in the staff room where the cameras weren't, but like Reggie said, their manager wasn't a big harper for the rules given they had caught him napping amongst the holiday blow ups more than once.

They never napped long-half an hour at most, but it was a much needed refresher. Even if they were both a bit groggy when Julie's alarm blared.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up," Reggie protested, rubbing his eyes.

"Five more minutes," Julie moaned.

"No way Molina, we gotta get the cleaning done then I propose we clock out early and go back to yours for a lengthy snooze," Reggie proposed.

"Why my house?" Julie asked as she stretched.

"You have a million couches and your family will let us sleep, unlike mine," Reggie replied.

"Fair enough," Julie said. "Let's get too, I can hear my bed calling my name."

Reggie nodded and they went back to work, leaving as soon as it was done and getting a quality amount of sleep once back at the Molina house.

Of course, they also forgot to wipe the cameras, and the next shift they were on, there was a screenshot of them snoozing printed out in the break room for them-surrounded by a big red heart and Kenneth's name signed underneath it. They both blushed, but decided that next time they caught him cuddling the stuffed animals, they were definitely getting proof as revenge.

Even if he was right about the heart by the end of the summer.

#filled prompts #ficlet #rulie #rulie relajante #julie and the phantoms

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itsbeenliketenyearsitsprettywild · 25 days

Text

Clear Shots in MILGRAM's T1 -Es Cover- videos: Magic

the fact that the amount of screen tearing/obscuration varies wildly during the Es cover videos feels important, but I don't feel like interpreting what it means. Though I am pretty sure it means something.

And honestly, if any of these videos makes that clear post-T2, it's Amane's song Magic:

(rest under readmore)

0:00-0:06 - A slow panout on Amane in front of a stage, facing it, back to the audience. Her hands are tucked behind har, fingers curled, the appendages likely touching one another but clasped together, before cutting to a closer up view of her head/shoulders.

Honestly, most Es cover videos start out with at least a few seconds of clear footage, to the point where I might just brush it off as a way to focus the audience on the screen. But, seeing as one video stands in exception to this, I can only assume that these moments are also important.

0:08 - Amane, now facing towards the audience, small smile on her face.

If you wanted, this part could instead be described as "Amane turning to the audience with a smile, but the moment of the turn itself is cut with distortion."

Aaaand it's only after that moment that the visual static becomes the norm, which only lets up at

0:52 - Amane, smiling, arms connecting above her head to make an O-shape. She's standing in front of the scene with Yuri + the animals, almost entirely obscuring Yuri from view.

....I just noticed something about this screenshot which could have Pretty Horrific symbolic weight if it was intentional, but methinks I'll leave it to y'all to figure out.

1:32 - blink-and-you-miss-it clear frame of Riyone, a nonhuman mascot-type character similar to the ones Amane has been interacting with.

Not always sure if the blink-and-you-miss-it shots are Supposed to be Significant or not due to how quick they are, but I figure it's still worth mentioning this one.

2:01-2:15 - the entire "Amane secretly takes care of the injured cat and The Mascots Are Angry" sequence, ending just before the cartoony abuse scene.

if you can't guess, it was this whole bit being unobscured (what with our Post-Purge March context) that made me pretty certain that We're Supposed to Pay Attention to Unobscured Moments.

2:29 - very quick series of three blink-and-you-miss-its of the cartoony solo amane abuse shots

Once again, very quick, but it felt like it might be worth pointing out. Especially since the alarm didn't seem to have a clear shot? (if there was and I didn't catch it, feel free to call that out)

2:36-2:38 - Amane eyes closed and praying, right before the magical girl transformation sequence.

2:47 - Magical Girl Amane with her winkyface and peace sign, holding up her tazerwand while the mascots cheer her on.

screenshotting some of these bits can be absolute hell, honestly

3:23-3:25 Blue Screen of Death Amane

Aaaand, that's it! once again, I'm not here to state what i think all of this actually means, just pointing this out as it might turn out the Es cover videos were actually made to help us better interpret what we're seeing in the videos themselves. If there's enough interest, I'd be willing to create similar posts for the other Es cover videos for people to ponder over!

#milgram #milgram project #amane momose #amane milgram #iirc the milgram creator once said that he thinks it possible to lead an audience to media literacy #if so i can imagine that the es covers were one attempt to do so #and speaking of them being ES COVERS that are supposed to help us #boy howdy is my crazy little hamsterbrain going wild with how much this would lend credence to my 'eldritch'gram theory #what with Es once again being the conduit used to better help the audience understand and interact with the fictional world itself #though that may or may not continue to be true depending on if Es's plot armor and guard role both still exist at that point

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nuclearrayne · 1 year

Text

Dear EA/Maxis

We need to talk....

As a builder I don't actually play the game a lot but, recently, I had the opportunity to get more into the game play side of things and I am just gobsmacked at how frustrating of an experience it was.

You need to know these 3 things before we have our chat, 1. I have NO script mods in, as I have been prepping for your next update apocalypse. I do have a default skin, eyes, sliders and my choice of skin details because, well, let's be honest, you lot are terrible at creating acceptable looking body beautifuls. 2. ALL of my drivers are checked daily and updated, if needed. And 3. without getting into specifics, my system is very capable of handling the taxing of your 8 year old game.

I have been a sims player for over 20 years, I have dumped thousands into your franchise. I own every single expansion, game, and stuff pack you have ever released including your most recent money grab "kits" I do not feel that telling you this should garner me a higher standard of propriety because EVERY Sims player should have the ability to enjoy your game without the need to take a Xanax first! I just want you to be aware that my simlish is fluent (with and without alcohol).

Below is a glimpse of the issues I was having, and there were MANY, that I had in the few short hours I played, I have also included some colourful pictures because...well...some people learn differently...

Let me introduce you to Marley, she has been in my game for a long time, mostly to help me take screenshots for thumbnails (she is using the CC listed above, using the CC I normally have in my game and completely nude for reference)

Please fix your clothes so my normally healthy looking sims don't look like they have successfully dropped 20 pounds instantly without the need of some photoshop magic, your clothes should NOT being slimming my sims no matter how slim or heavy they are!

While Marley and I were in CAS we noticed that there is an alarming amount of clothes with texture oddities, mostly pants that made Marley look like she had taken a mahoosive shite, don't get me wrong it's a look, but? There were also several shirts and shoes that need fixing, too, however, I think the pants are the worst. Here are some examples:

When we were done discovering the horrors of CAS, I took Marley in game and moved her into a lovely little build in simlicy's save file (2.0) Here's a peak just in case you're feeling nosey:

After we loaded in, Marley stood on the lawn, while I immediately opened buy mode (be thankful this is a game play observation because I could blow your mind with the issues I have found while building) I bought Marley an easel, a bed, a knitting bag (the first of MANY mistakes I made) and a rocking chair. Going back into live mode I set Marley to apply for a painter job, then "cook" a salad, when she was done the welcome wagon arrived. I told Marley to invite her neighbours in, instead of doing as I had asked Marley sat down in the rocking chair and stared smugly at me until the welcome wagon left. Defense Exhibit A:

After shunning her new neighbours Marley settled in for some knitting relaxation with her new earbuds in. I selected "cottagecore" which was a genre neither of us had heard before and definitely will NOT again as it sounds like the entire "cottagecore" list played all at once with the added background noise that I can only describe as "living in a haunted house with a ghost that just had its nails did" I closed my game out of fear of being possessed by this entity and went immediately to your forums, where I discovered that this is a known bug that has been happening since 2017.

When I loaded back in, I was instantly hit with a phone call from a cat who wanted to know if he or she should go on a date with Eliza Pancakes and of course I said yes because pfffft what could possibly go wrong there, am I right?! Probably not but *shrugs*

After Marley told the cat that we would like to receive an invitation to the wedding and hung up my eyes were instantly drawn to the floor...what...what is THAT?! DUST?! At this point I was starting to get exasperated, and I am pretty sure Marley was, too. So back into buy mode I went to buy a vacuum for a house Marley hadn't even slept in yet. (reported fixed 23/03/2021 Patch PC: 1.72.28.1030, still broken)

I asked Marley if she felt like knitting in the rocking chair, she said she was a bit tired so I reminded her that we needed to recoup the cost of the expensive vacuum I just had to buy. Begrudgingly, Marley sat down and started knitting a panda beanie. Before long she began waving and yelling insisting I let her go to bed, she was exhausted, and truly, so was I. So off Marley trudged. I worried that she would not make it the 15 or so steps to her bed but she did. I sighed. Then, out of the blue and with the drama level of a high school Shakespearean actress, Marley stood up and threw herself on the floor next to her bed where she slept, I presume, like a baby. Ok Marley, you do you, boo! (broken with toddler patch - 2017)

While Marley slept I slipped into build/buy mode to add a pop of colour to her bedroom with a piece of art that had 2 birds on it and attempted a paint change. The art disappeared when I applied the paint, where did it go? Marley did you take the art?! No, of course not, you're still asleep on the floor.....(reported fixed 17/01/2023 Patch PC: 1.94.147.1030, still broken)

Marley got up bright and early the next morning, I asked her to make eggs and toast....she canceled the request repeatedly insisting she needed to search the web on her phone. (reported fixed 30/08/2022 Patch PC: 1.91.186.1030, still broken)

Finally Marley made it to the kitchen and began to cook...and apparently light the stove on fire

......thanks Marley.....I didn't know you were a closet arsonist.

After breakfast I clicked on the knitting bag and asked Marley to finish the beanie she had started the night before, she said she could not, so I clicked on the rocking chair and asked again, she just waved

I repeatedly tried the bag and the chair to get her to knit, she just kept on waving, she is such a friendly sim <3 Ok Marley, please go knit the beanie on the bed

No? Ok Marley, please scoot over and try the other side of the bed, still waving I see....Marley you have to use the loo, so go do that while I cue up knitting one more time before I reload, ok? Marley, you have been in the bathroom for over an hour....

Are you knitting on the loo?! Are you serious Marley?? Let's move you to a more comfortable place. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T KNIT IN THE DAMN ROCKING CHAIR?! Ok Marley, my face is red and I am annoyed let me just hit pause for a minute...Marley...why are you still moving...did you just "break the space-time continuum" like they cracked that joke about in the "patch" that was supposed to fix this issue?! (reported fixed 17/01/2023 Patch PC: 1.94.147.1030, still broken)

Alright Marley I am going to pull the knitting bag from your inventory, sell it and then buy you a new one, this one is clearly borked...let me just...wait, why can't I put this bag down, what do you mean I can't put it in the middle of the floor where there is literally nothing else around it...*click click click click* Wait, where'd the bag go?!

Marley let's just forget about knitting for a while, please go turn on the vacuum and then we will work on a painting to calm us both down. Oml, Marley that painting is lovel...why is the vacuum cleaner smoking?! Sh*t Marley, I think the vacuum found the knitting bag....

When Marley got home from work the next day she was clearly upset, after a SINGLE DAY at work she was feeling like she was stuck in a dead end passionless job, I sighed.

I asked her to change her clothes and then go paint, she changed her clothes and then stood on her front lawn for over an hour in game time, made a face at me then finally went to paint (known issue, reported as far back as 08/2020, still broken)

When I attempted to save and close the game out of frustration my save got stuck for 40 minutes before I gave up and restarted my PC.

The point of all this, EA/Maxis is you have chosen money over your players. These "fixes" you say you're doing are clearly not actually fixing anything! Your players are crying out for theirs games to be fixed while you are announcing the release of "growing together" And quite honestly I have found myself disgusted with this whole thing. WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ADD MODS TO THE GAME TO FIX IT!! To quote a member of this community who I admire greatly "no other ea game is this fucking borked and no other gaming community would accept this but cc and mods more or less served as some sort of bandaid for this broken ass game." -xldkx 31/07/2022 (original post here)

When I am finished posting this I will be going into that horrible buggy af app (I am sensing a theme here) that you have forced us all to switch to, where I will be canceling my pre-order of "growing together" I am done blindly throwing money at you for a game I can not even play in its current state!

FIX YOUR DAMN GAME!!!

#ts4 #busted ass game #fix your sh*t EA

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