#we'll see if it survives revisions or not

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

"Gordon, do you plan on explaining yourself in English, anytime soon? 🙄"

- Henry in Chapter 3 of Small World, maybe

[the-writing-mobster]

Where I can read your fics? They seem pretty interesting!

Thank you for the ask, love! Fic links, anyone?

You can find all of my fics on Ao3! I need to make an actual like... Official link post, don't I? I used to have one pinned but other things take priority.

So I guess I'll sprinkle the links to my fics here for your immediate viewing pleasure instead of sending you on a wild goose chase ;)

IMPORTANT NOTE — A lot of my fics are locked so only people with confirmed AO3 accounts can read them. This is because of AI scraping, obvs. TMDG is the only one that I think is unlocked since it's fairly new. But it'll eventually get locked as well.

~

| The What Do You Want Duology | 🥀 💀 |

(YWIW, the sequel, still lies unfinished, unfortunately, but WDYW is completed and currently under revisions!)

Summary (for those still not in the know):

Frisk spent most of her life fighting to survive in a cruel world where her only upper hand was her soul's Determination and her feminine charms. After angering the most dangerous man in her life, she is thrown down into Hell to be ripped apart and destroyed by the demons said to inhabit it. With her soul refusing to give up, of course she survives.

However, when she is taken hostage by the infamous Gaster brothers, she finds herself trapped in the strange, abyssal gaze of Sans the Skeleton. With political and sexual tensions on the rise, can these two work through their differences? Or will they forever be asking each other, "What Do You Want?"

—

| Baby Face - UF Highschool AU | 💖 🤘🏻 |

Technically an au based off of my characterizations of the UF characters in wdyw. This one is tooth rottingly sweet and set in a surface Ebbott City in the 90s. Inspo was movies like Clueless & the documentary Kid 90. I actually loved this story so much I completely reworked it and turned it into an original novel.

Important to note that this fic isn't really a romance. It's more about platonic love and friendships than it is about Frans romance.

Summary:

Seniors should not date freshmen. No matter what. Not even if the freshman is hot. Not even if the freshman says it's ok. Not even if the freshman makes moves. That’s the mantra Sans lives by, and even though Frisk, one of the cutest girls according to all of his friends, catches a crush of epic proportions on him, he makes it a point to keep his distance. She’ll thank him later.

Or

Sans is in a rock band and Frisk has a big ole unrequited crush on him.

—

| The Most Dangerous Game | 💙 🔪 💔 |

The dreaded serial killer dead dove fic we've all been raving about recently!!!

It's important to note that this one isn't a romance. They are (albeit obsessive) enemies through and through.

Summary:

Frisk Starling should've been used to cases like these. After all, it was her duty to investigate. Give the victims their voice back, catch the sick freak who did it and give the broken families the justice she couldn’t have for herself.

That is until a string of murders throughout the tristate area begin to appear. Women used like toys, mutilated and disposed of for the cops and journalists to find with only the tiniest slivers of useless evidence and the glaring fact that all the women...

Every…

Single…

One…

Look almost exactly like her… Frisk begins to wonder if maybe… the monster she's hunting down has turned her into the hunted.

And God, does she make the most exhilarating, delicious prey yet…

—

Honorable mention One Shots:

| The Witch, The Judge & the 3 Card Gamble | ♠️♥️♣️ |

Probably my best prose ever. Genuinely.

Summary:

After suffering a gruesome bullet to the ribs, the vengeful Witch hovers over a dying fire, praying her campsite isn’t spotted by vagabonds who’d surely make her pay for existing…

But as a shadow blots out the stars if not for the two red pricks of light glaring her down, she fears her true nightmares have come to claim her after all; The Grim Reaper, the judge of her fate.

And she doesn’t like her odds.

—

| We'll See - Christmas Rom Com | 🎄 💕 |

I wrote this as a secret Santa present to @themsource. It is very cute and fucking funny if I do say so myself. It puts the comedy in Romantic Comedy.

Summary:

Sans has some inhibitions about Christmas, clouded with cynicism and bitterness. But if there's anyone to make him have a change of heart, it's Frisk; Ebbot City's own Little Miss Mother Teresa.

—

☣️ HONORABLE MENTION SMUT ONE SHOTS ☣️

| French Kisses | Smut | 🫧💓 |

Summary: Sans has landed a well-paying position as a senior accountant and Frisk has a few ideas on how to reward him — one of those ideas involves a French Maid dress.

| The Librarian's Assistant | Smut | 📚💓 |

This one was pretty steamy...

Summary: Frisk's days working as a librarian can get pretty quiet and repetitive... Until a new patron with an obvious infatuation with her starts becoming a regular visitor.

Eventually she can't help herself...

.

.

.

I hope you are satisfied with my thorough answer! If you do end up reading, I'd love to hear from you again on your thoughts! 🫶🏻🫶🏻

‼️ Also — join my discord for readily available updates and fun discussion! DM me for the invite since those invite links expire ‼️

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 18 of Harrow the Ninth

MAGNUS AND ABIGAIL DON'T DIE IN HARROW'S REVISED MEMORIES! Or at least they don't die first. The first person to die in this alternate version of events is one of the few people who quite possibly survived Gideon the Ninth, which is interesting. I would have expected Harrow's altered memories to be mostly the same as what actually happened, just with Ortus instead of Gideon, but the story has already become completely different. Anyway, this does mean we'll get to see more of Magnus and Abigail, so I approve regardless

So, in this version of events, the Sleeper, who sleeps in a coffin that seems to be identical to the one the Body sleeps in and is dressed like Gideon's mom when she crashlanded, kills Judith with a carbine rifle, which is the rifle that they found in the Second House Lyctor room after they got the red key, and Judith and Marta were doing the red key challenge that Harrow and Gideon did at the time. And there's a two-handed sword also in the coffin, I'm not sure if that's a reference to Gideon's sword, or the sword that the Body is holding (which is just described as a "sword" in Gideon the Ninth, it doesn't say anything about it necessarily being a two-hander). This is like a dream where all of the various plot points and story elements from Gideon the Ninth just get reshuffled and recombined in random ways

How does Cytherea fit into this version of the story? Was it then Cytherea running around dressed as the Sleeper shooting people with guns? That doesn't seem like her style. But Harrow definitely remembers Cytherea, so she must be involved somehow

This is not how we'd feel if someone got murdered with a medieval sword, I don't think. I do not understand this society's weird relationship with guns

Is this like, a kind metatextual sort of "why am I in this role in this false memory when in reality I died and she lived?"

The Sleeper is definitely some representation of the Body, here

Is "you know of no hope for her?" something that someone says in Gideon the Ninth? I feel like it should be a reference to something, but I'm not able to find anything. Unless it's a reference to Judith barely surviving at the end of the book?

Actually, it's sort of interesting. All of the characters in Harrow's revised memories so far are people who died in Gideon the Ninth: Ortus, Magnus, Abigail, and now Marta, the Fourth teens were mentioned once, and so far that's the sum total cast for these memories. You would think that when Judith died there would be a scene sort of like when Magnus and Abigail died, where all the necromancers showed up to help, but this scene is just Harrow, Ortus, Magnus, Abigail, and Marta. Judith has died in these memories, and so far Palamedes, Camilla, Corona, and Ianthe haven't even so much as been mentioned, even though they were all pretty important to the original story. I think that's the complete list of characters who plausibly survived Gideon the Ninth, other than Harrow and Gideon. And then characters in these memories keep asking "is this how it happened?", as if they remember these events being different in actual fact. I wonder if these dead characters' ghosts are somehow involved in these false memories and it's not just Harrow constructing them for herself? Maybe Marta's ghost remembers that Judith was injured but survived and that's why she says this here?

...You know, it is kind of interesting that Gideon stuck with the vow of silence for so long, especially given that she was lonely and probably wanted to make friends with Magnus

[stesierra]

Sending in an STS ask a little early so I don't forget.

How is writing going for you? Want to tell me a little bit about whichever projects you are actively working on? Or any new ideas you have rolling around in your brain?

I am not currently writing. I am trying to survive my baby going through a sleep regression. It's been rough. BUT! I am rereading Cast Out and thinking about the story as I prepare to put the whole thing on my website. And I am really enjoying it. I love Zisha as a character because she's got this quiet strength that only comes out when under pressure. She's not a typical protagonist these days, who has to have a quest and a goal to fix the whole world. At first she's just trying to survive, which is something that speaks to me as someone who's often just been trying to survive. But I think people who are just trying to survive can still fix the world. And Zisha does.

Once I'm getting sleep again, I'm going to try to get back on the revision train for The Bone Queen or the Halfway Revenant or something. I could write the Giant's Gamble. We'll see.

[thesweetnessofspring]

A chapter from the OG Roses and Pearls

My revised version of Roses and Pearls is shaping up to be pretty different from the original, now-deleted 2012/13 version. A major plot point of the Capitol bombing D13 in particular was very different and I thought it would be fun to share the original here.

Some VERY key differences: Peeta hadn't yet completely switched over to the rebellion, and he and Rosalia are still together. I'd changed a lot of the events around, so it came out very different!

Below the cut is the original chapter from Roses and Pearls, unedited and unchanged from how it was written 11 years ago.

Within hours, the attacks start.

Although Katniss promises me no one will get hurt as long as they stay in the shelter, I can't believe it. The walls tremble and vibrations shiver up into my core. I sit handcuffed on the floor of the Everdeen's tent, sick and worried.

"I can't believe she did this," I whisper.

"Really? You can't believe it?" Katniss frowns.

Would I have done this weeks and weeks ago, before I found out the truth, before I became friends with these people here? Yes. I would have. Rosalia still sees Thirteen as the enemy, the way I saw it when I first came here. She thought this would save her, set right what went awry that night on the rooftop garden.

"I guess…I guess I can believe it."

The walls rumble with the impact of another bomb.

"You sure picked a real winner, Peeta." Katniss draws her knees up to her chest and continues scowling.

"She's not…she's—"

"Are you defending her?"

"I'm not approving of what she did, but she's not a mutt like you're trying to make her out to be."

She makes a disgusted sound from deep in her throat. "Not a mutt? She has mutt in her blood from her grandfather, from the Capitol. And she proved that she has it by letting them know about us!"

"She's a prisoner! She's scared! She's been taken from her home, her life turned upside down, and she wants to go back to the way things were before. That's why she told them about us. Don't act like you wouldn't do the same if the Capitol captured you."

Katniss stiffens. "No, I wouldn't. Because the Capitol would brainwash me before I even got the chance, and they'd make me believe in things I didn't."

Her words sting like a slap on the face. She thinks I'm still a puppet for the Capitol. And why would she think any differently? I'm still handcuffed as a prisoner and defending Rosalia. I haven't told her that I remember anything about the past, even the slightest recognition that I loved her.

"I'm not saying what she did was right. I'm just trying to look at it from her shoes. If I thought it was right, I never would have warned you."

She drops her gaze from mine and runs her fingers over the metal floor. I sigh. It feels like we'll never be able to understand each other about this.

"Do you want to go to bed soon?" she asks. "I can make up your bed."

I shake my head. "I won't be able to sleep through the attack."

"Me either."

"Stay with me?" I ask her.

She jerks her head up at me, eyes round. "You remember?"

"Remember what?" I have no idea, but suddenly, I wish I did.

She droops again. "Never mind."

The bombs continue through the night. President White issues one week in the shelter, allowing for the debris to cool and the Capitol to believe we didn't survive the bombs. After that, we'll head out for refuge.

When the bombs cease, I sleep for the first time in over twenty-four hours, so exhausted I probably could sleep through another attack.

I wake up a few hours later, not ready to get out of bed and deal with our situation. I keep my eyes closed, but I notice two people talking in the Everdeens' area. Katniss and Gale.

"Eleven will be able to get us food once we get to Twelve," Gale says.

"The Capitol will try to rein them in first, though. They'll die without Eleven supplying them," Katniss says.

"They're not stupid. Ever since you won and the small rebellions started, the Capitol has stocked up on food. They have a year's worth of it. Not exactly the extent of Thirteen's planning, but still good considering."

"I can't imagine those precious Capitol people eating canned food." Katniss's tone leaks acid.

"Woah, I thought I'm the one who gets to rag on the rich people, while you remind me of your precious prep team and that Effie woman."

"Just because there are some good but confused people in the Capitol doesn't mean they won't complain about their food. And not all of them are so great, either."

I count two breaths.

"What?" Katniss asks.

"You really hate Rosalia Snow."

"Don't you?"

"Yeah, but I think our reasons are probably different."

"Gale, she blew our cover, almost got us killed."

"Besides One and Two, all of the rebellions succeeded and none of us are dead. And anyway, did you expect anything else from her? She's an idiot."

"I don't trust her, and I don't think she's completely an idiot. Peeta…he acts like he's still in love with her, defending what she did. What did she do to him to make him think like that? Why would he love her, even after all of this?"

Did I still love her? A little, I guess. A small piece of me held onto what she'd been to me before, a refuge for the loneliness and pain, someone to make me forget about it all. But we'd grown to apart now, our goals too dissimilar.

"She is beautiful," Gale says. After a moment, he continues, "Well, she is. If you get past her freaky hair, she has a great body, and her face isn't too bad either. Huge lips and big eyes."

"But after everything she did. She can't be that beautiful."

"Look, I can tell you more about what I know as far as the rebellion goes, or we can keep going on about your hatred and Peeta's love for this girl."

"Fine. What else is important?"

"Like I said before, One and Two are still firm in the Capitol's hold. They're sending out back-ups to the other districts from them, because we never had a strong hold of the rebellion there, anyway."

"But Lyme knows Two," Katniss says.

"She does, which is why we had to break her out of the Capitol. Still, she can't do it alone."

"One shouldn't be hard to break, should it?"

"They've been taking up more kids to train as Careers. They practically have their own army now."

"We have all but those two districts. We're going to win, aren't we?"

"We should," Gale says. "But Two will be difficult to crack, and without doing so, we'll never be able to get to the Capitol. They could reassemble and take back the districts again. Just because we're winning now doesn't mean we will be in a few months."

"We've been going so long with this. I just want it to be over."

"I know."

Gale's voice is so understanding, even nurturing, that I can't lay down low anymore. I open my eyes and sit up in bed. Katniss and Gale sit a foot apart, not touching. I rub my eyes, remembering that Gale's married and Katniss told me she didn't love him more than a friend. I shouldn't worry about them.

But I still do, a little bit.

"Good morning. Or afternoon. Nighttime?" I say, uncertain here underground and without my schedule what time it is.

Gale checks his watch. "Afternoon."

"Here, I'll get you some food," Katniss says, standing up to get it.

While I eat, Katniss and Gale don't say anything else to each other, probably because I'm not supposed to know much, in case I spill their secrets to the Capitol in some way.

There's not much to do in the shelter. Most people wander around, visit other people. Delly comes to see us, her cheeks a little flushed.

"I did it," she says once she sits down, but still straight with excitement. "I told Bron how I felt."

"And…?"

She smiles and lets out a giggle. "He kissed me."

I have to admit, I'm shocked. Bron had seemed so distant, I didn't expect him to react so immediately to Delly's declaration. I grin, though, at seeing Delly finally getting what she's deserved for so long.

"What did he say?" I ask.

"That he's liked me for a long time, but he didn't say anything because he knew the war would be happening, and if he died or got hurt, he didn't want me to hurt, either. But once I let him know I was already crazy about him…well, why not enjoy what we have now, right?"

"I told you to just tell him."

Delly nods. "I think it was the bombs that really made me do it. We all might die any day now. Might as well live while we can."

Other people come to visit, mostly for Katniss and Prim. Quite a few young men come for Prim, actually. They all pay her close attention, but most of the time her answers are polite, and not interested. Katniss keeps a close eye on those boys and looms into their conversations to intimidate them. I think she might be doing it to help out Prim, but the way she glares at those boys might prove she has a different motive.

After the fourth day, Katniss asks me, with a sour look on her face, if I want to see Rosalia.

"No," I say. "I'm not ready."

And I'm not. I know what I'm going to do when I see her next. I'm going to take back the ring, once and for all. Not because of Katniss. I still doubt Katniss cares for me more than she cares for Gale. I'm going to break up with her because it's what the both of us need. I don't love her enough anymore. And if she lives through this war, she deserves for someone to love her like I used to. But I'm not relishing going to her and telling her we're done, watching her heart break in front of me and her sobbing. She'll get over me, although it might take a while. And she will find someone else to love her and marry her.

As I fall asleep that night with Katniss's pallet beside mine, I wonder if I'll ever stop loving Katniss like I've stopped loving Rosalia. If I'll move on and fall in love with someone else. Or will my childhood dream always follow me, always come back to me, no matter what brainwashing it goes through?

There, on the border of day and night, I realize what Katniss thought I remembered.

"Always."

This, my whole romantic life, has been made up of two things. Roses and pearls.

Rosalia's love had been a sudden bloom in my life, fragrant and entrancing. A beautiful sight to brighten up a gloomy day. But like all flowers, hers wilted, lost its scent, and died. A brief love affair, considering the whole of my life.

But Katniss was no rose. My love for her started out small, a few speckles of sand. Irritating, a little, with my frustration of being unable to talk to her and her closed nature. But still, I rubbed at it like an oyster. And through it all, the bread, the Games, even this hellhole in Thirteen, my love had transformed into the pearl. Beautiful, rare, and lasting.

Something I'll always treasure.

[delta-orionis]

Tuesday Again No Problem 4/2/24

I feel like this is one of those weeks where I was extremely busy but accomplished very little...

Listening

Earlier this week I felt compelled to go back and listen to some of the songs by AURORA that were featured in that Sky: Children of the Light concert from a while ago.

This song in particular is one that I'd love to create a music video for if I had the skill or patience.

Because I have Rain World on the brain, it brings to mind a slugcat (Survivor and Monk in particular) who are just focused on survival but slowly start to become aware of exactly why the world around them functions the way it does.

Watching

My Well There's Your Problem marathon continues. The most recent episode I listened to was this one about the Y2K Bug:

(Again, it's kind of cheating for me to put a podcast with slides in the watching section, but I haven't really been watching anything else...)

Reading

Fallow this week.

Playing

I'm back to playing Rain World.

I was putting off beating the Artificer campaign, so I finally said "fuck it", and killed the Scavenger king in a very anticlimactic way by just chucking a singularity bomb at them.

In other news, I started a Hunter playthrough. I'm going to admit up front that I cheated in extra cycles for myself because I know for sure I will not be able to beat the game in under 25. To be honest I kind of wanted to do a relatively normal run where I can take my time and also be a carnivore.

Oh, and I have slugpups unlocked, so I keep finding the little guys everywhere. (They're hard to keep alive, unfortunately...)

My adventures have so far included...

Getting bullied by squidcadas,

Watching vultures beat the shit out of each other,

And witnessing one of the strongest enemies in the game get electrocuted to death right in front of me.

I finally reached Five Pebbles today. I got to him by climbing The Wall by way of Chimney Canopy, which isn't the route I usually take. I also made the (probably foolish) decision to take the long way out and go through his interior to access the Underhang. That might have been a bad idea, but Five Pebbles is one of my favorite areas in the game and I didn't want to miss an opportunity to pass through it. The Underhang sucks, though. If I get too frustrated I might just go back up through the inside (since fast travel isn't available for Hunter).

Making

I haven't made much progress on my crochet projects this week. I am getting close to finishing that granny square tote bag, though. I started the tedious process of weaving in all the loose ends.

I've also been revising that post I mentioned last week about trying to estimate how big Rain World's iterators are. My initial estimate was WAY too big, I think, and I've been debating even keeping it in the post at all. For the sake of clarity it might be best to delete it, even though I went through the trouble of making some diagrams for it... I'll think about it some more.

In addition, I’m continuing to worldbuild for my iterator OC. I made a rough layout of their facility grounds:

The idea is that they sit on top of a mountain, where their rain freezes into several glaciers which flow down to the base. At the base are twelve dams which collect the water, arranged like a big clock.

This “clock” is broken up into six sectors which serve different functions, and have analogues to the regions from the game (noted above in parentheses). I’d like to make a more polished map, maybe some time in the future.

I also posted some doodles the other day (featuring the same OC being smacked in the face)

--

This coming week, I'm traveling to the path of totality for the April 8th solar eclipse. Because I'll be traveling, I can't imagine I'll have much to report in terms of the Tuesdaypost, but I guess we'll see.

[millerflintstone]

I made myself do Emma's revision class today for her most complicated thing that she knows - 3 beat butterfly weaves. I can do 2 beat butterfly weaves, which was surprising to me.

A butterfly weave is when one hand is doing a reverse weave while the other is doing a forward weave. It hurts my brain. Currently editing my practice vid

I survived for an hour and then I just got hit with a wall of tired and had to stop. I'm not particularly sleepy. It's just like my body said, "Ok, enough"

Unfriendly's going back to work tomorrow. I'm going to attempt some grocery shopping tomorrow and making Gigabyte's senior check-up appointment. I need to do some laundry, too. We'll see how the day goes.

[sawdusst]

Theft of a Crew (Coroika Pirate AU) Chapter 1 ⚓

Hi hello hi!!!!! We're back on the writing grind with another choose your own adventure type thing :D

Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring,, I hope you guys enjoy it :'D I had a bit of trouble arranging a few things but I think it turned out ok!

As I do with all of my posts, here's the link back to the main thread in case you'd like to read more about the pirate AU :D or— or re-read, I guess if you're already familiar with everything.

Anyways, enjoy!

[Word count: 1,128 + some revisions]

“Don’t forget we’re here to pick up some supplies that should last us the next couple of weeks,” Barreleye said, pacing back and forth on the main deck. He scribbled a few other notes on the yellowed sheet of paper, “We also should pick up a few ropes, the ratlines are starting to get worn out. I also think we should buy some extra sails. I'm not sure when's the next time we'll reach land."

=====

Barreleye walked onto the wooden deck, being met with a bright afternoon sun and a soft breeze that brushed through the piers. He held a tattered piece of paper in one hand and a quill in the other.

“I hope I can get myself a new jacket,” Tako mumbled as the anchor was lowered, “My old one's falling apart.”

“And I wonder if there’s any place where my tri-stringer could get repaired,” Mitsuami said, plucking at a stray thread hanging off the bow’s limbs, “For a fair price too, Hagglefish weapon shops are so overpriced.” 

“Tell me about it,” Hornmet interjected, “Seriously, twenty-thousand cash for just a check up??? And it’s just for them to look at it?? As if I don’t already do that every day.” 

Barreleye laughed, "I'm honestly just glad to be here. I might stop by a few gift shops myself."

Port Mackerel was a bright and luminous town that was famous for two things: pickpockets and bountiful markets. By sundown the town had a soft and warm glow with the streets lit up by lanterns that hang from one street light to another. It was certainly a city of life and one that never seems to rest. 

Once the crew was finished docking the ship, some of them hopped off while other crewmates decided to stay behind. 

“We’ll meet back here at sundown,” Barreleye said, “Don’t forget about the supplies! I’ll see you guys later!” 

Barreleye and Mitsuami walked down a cobblestone path, passing by an assortment of merchant stalls as they entered the town. They passed by an old, wooden board with withered wanted posters plastered all over it. The ink on the yellowed paper was starting to fade, the bounties barely legible. Newspaper clippings and other posters were stuck onto the board with short daggers. Barreleye had his hands tucked in his pockets with nonchalance as they passed by the wooden board. Mitsuami held her tri-stringer in her hand, following after him and occasionally stopping to look through shop windows. Her pet salmonid rested on her shoulder while they looked around. 

Barreleye and Mitsuami walked past the merchant’s stalls that displayed a colorful array of trinkets and other mementos. They passed by a stall with a merchant claiming to sell wood from an “island of shadow” when it was really a bunch of logs painted pitch black. 

They walked past another stall directly next to it that sold pieces of a ‘cursed mirror’, which were just regular shards of glass with a yellow tint from regular wear. 

“Do you think they’re real?” Mitsuami asked, “I’ve heard no one’s survived a visit to the shadows before… except for maybe a few rare cases…” 

“Really?” Barreleye responded, “I didn’t know if it was possible to escape from that island or not. I’ve heard the inner coast of the island is too strong for any boat to sail properly. Once you’re there you’re pretty much doomed.” 

“I’m not really sure what to make of it,” Mitsuami replied with a sigh. 

While the two were walking, Mitsuami couldn’t help but feel as if they were being watched. Sure, it was a town with a huge pickpocketing problem— they still had those to look out for. However, whenever Mitsuami glanced over her shoulder— she noticed a silvery blue inkling standing somewhere amongst the citizens passing by.

They wore a white shirt with ruffled sleeves and a pair of dark pants. There was an empty holster for a dagger on their waist. They looked exhausted. Their eyes were dull and emotionless. But as other inkfish passed by, the inkling would disappear into the small crowd.  

As the two walked, Mitsuami could feel someone was watching them from the passing crowds. She looked around cautiously, holding her tri-stringer close to her chest. Everyone else around them seemed to be minding their own business. She gently tugged on Barreleye’s arm.

“Captain, something doesn’t feel right,” Mitsuami said out of the blue, “Something’s— off.” 

The two stopped walking as Barreleye turned to face her. He tilted his head with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I-I’m not sure, actually,” Mitsuami replied with a shrug, she then laughed it off, “Maybe I’m just being extra cautious— you know, cause of all the pickpockets around this part of town and—”

“Did you see something?” 

“Yeah I—” Mitsuami turned around, seeing the passing inkfish behind them all appeared to be normal. She tilted her head with confusion. “Huh… that’s weird. I could’ve sworn that—” She trailed off mid-sentence and looked back at Barreleye. “I could’ve sworn I saw someone was there…” 

Barreleye turned around, looking in the same direction that Mitsuami was. The two looked carefully at the crowd before Barreleye shrugged. 

“Maybe it was just someone passing by?” Barreleye suggested, “It could just be someone going the same direction as us.”

“No… No it’s not like that,” Mitsuami replied, “It was like— they were watching us. I-I’m not sure, I think I’m probably just being overly cautious— like I said earlier.” 

Barreleye had a look of concern on his face. He took one last glance towards the bustling crowd and busy streets. There was nothing wrong. Everything appeared to be normal. Businesses were operating as usual and merchants were talking to possible buyers. 

“Oh… right—” Barreleye replied, then turned back around, "What was it that we were looking for?"

"The weapon shop?"

"Oh! Right! We should get going then," Barreleye said.

The two continued, eventually arriving at a brick building with a large display window out front with a variety of weapons on display. Barreleye and Mitsuami stood at the front, looking up at the large sign. 

“You don’t have to wait for me if you don’t want to,” Mitsuami said, “I could just meet you back at the ship at sundown, like you said earlier.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, drawstring bag of coins. “Hopefully I have enough for a repair.”

Barreleye reached into his coat pocket, taking out his drawstring bag and handing it to Mitsuami. “Here, you could just borrow some from me if that isn’t enough. I think I’ve got at least three or so thousand in there.” 

“What? No, no, captain it’s okay— I don’t like owing inkfish money—”

“You can have it,” Barreleye insisted with a smile, “It’s just for a repair. You can pay me back another time!” 

“Thank you Captain..” Mitsuami replied.

Once Mitsuami left, Barreleye looked around and wondered what he should do next. 

=====

thank you for reading!!!

im sorry if there wasn't much for this chapter— and also sorry for apologizing so much it's probably growing bothersome HDHDJNFJDNFJ

have a nice day/night!! :D

[mthollowell-writes]

Author Ask Tag Game!

Thank you so much to @axl-ul for the tag! You can find their original post here!

Even though it was my @missaddledmiss blog that was tagged, I'll be using my writing blog to tackle this one.

You've given me the prompting I needed to finally talk about the beast of a WIP I've only been hinting at thus far. I'm choosing the Festival of Shadows (tentative title) for this tag game.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it? I'm not sure there's a lesson per se. The story is a murder mystery that becomes a monster hunt, though the monster becomes harder to identify as more dark truths and conflicts of interest are uncovered. The story at its heart is a quest for truth which often requires a deeper examination of the darkness within each of the characters and the darkness they choose to tolerate. The story is about how ultimately, to get through a problem, you have to let other people help you. You don't have to do it alone. (Collective action for the win!) So I guess, that is a lesson though one that requires a lot of sacrifice and vulnerability for everyone involved.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)? The story takes place in the fictional American town of Hollow Grove. It's where strange things happen: where vampires, werewolves, zombies, and other mythical beings are tolerated, where the macabre is rather commonplace. For the longest time, I struggled to characterize the town beyond its eccentricities because I couldn't decide where it was. When I settled on the Midwest, a lot of things clicked into place. I drew a lot from that culture, horror media, and true crime. I also draw a lot upon history to inform the text, especially 19th-century trends like Manifest Destiny/ settler culture and progressive movements of the 1970s and how all that informs the present (circa 2017).

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person? Mariela is trying to piece together how a dark magic ritual leads to the deaths of several members of a fringe cult within Hollow Grove and how that may tie back the Edelhaus Coalition (the main political and religious power brokers in Hollow Grove) and her own troubled family history. I simply want to tell her story, along with the stories of the rest of the cast. And I guess, how the past still influences the present, no matter how long ago it may seem. Certain things stick with you. Certain things shouldn't be brushed off because "it happened so long ago."

How many chapters is your story going to have? This monster is projected to be 65 chapters give or take a few. We'll see what survives the editing process.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it? This is an original work. As for posting, I haven't made my mind up about that yet. I'll cross that bridge when I finish it.

When and why did you start writing? I started the Festival of Shadows story back in 2017 as a fun weekly challenge to myself for the new year to flesh out all these new characters I created for Hollow Grove and to flesh out the world itself. The earliest draft ended up taking a whole ten months to complete. I then put the story on the shelf until about last year when I completely revised it from the ground up. I started a second (first) draft but was forced to put the story on pause again to flesh out certain plot threads neglected in that one. This has truly been a long labor of love.

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow? I'm going to interpret engagement as encouragement so by that logic my advice would be to have fun with it and write the stories you want to read. As long as you start there, you'll go far. I know of a lot of lovely people in this space and can't wait to see what you all do and how we can help each other reach our goals.

Sorry if this was all written out a bit clunkily. This is my first time talking about all this publically but I enjoyed the practice and hope to improve.

Now for tagging!

Very low-pressure tagging @acertainmoshke, @ryns-ramblings, @nonsenseramble, @palebdot, @friendlyshaped, @rmgrey-author and anyone else who would like to participate!!!

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

june 13, 2021 12:25 p.m. uncle paddy's house

[jasmine] also, yes, i'm here, too! we heard you all were descending over here to fix a plethora of broken house issues, so we came to be nuisances.

[chelsea] yep, just to hang out! especially since we aren’t any help. i don’t even know what a fucking flathead screwdriver is.

[jasmine] babe, it’s, um, kind of in the name.

[chelsea] it’s actually flat?

[jasmine] no comment.

[paddy] to answer your question, though, yes, i was in a band! am still. it’s not like we broke up, we were just busy being parental figures and trying to survive decades of increasing economic hardship in the forgotten small towns of america.

[jasmine] wow! you are full of surprises.

[grant] so what’s on the setlist? do we get a taste of your perfect celtic punk rendition of “the devil went down to georgia?”

[jasmine] shut the fuck up, i need to hear this song right now. tell me you have a recording.

[paddy] VHS okay?

[jasmine] oh, VHS is even better.

[paddy] excellent. i'll pull out all the old “concert” footage later.

[paddy] but see, grant, i would love that, but i don’t think that would make lilly very happy. she’s happy to let me provide music, but i doubt that song makes the cut. i'm annoying, but i don’t intend to annoy my daughter-in-law. would i do that, jasmine?

[jasmine] nope! you’re always very nice and normal to me.

[chelsea] you just save all that bullshit for us, eh?

[chelsea] also, about the song: i kind of think lilly’s folks are too uppity for that.

[chelsea] i mean, they’re very nice! but they literally live in beverly hills. they’re new money. i don’t know if they could stand to hear a celtic punk garage band singing a country song.

[grant] for what it’s worth, i would allow you to play that song at my wedding. actually, i would insist upon it. it’s a vibe and it’s a vibe that i love. it’s chaos and i appreciate chaos. i'd want that and, hmm, i don’t know, you could go for full traditional folk songs. i am also a big fan of the band’s “authentic” works.

[chelsea] the big question is would päivi ever agree to any of that? i doubt it.

[paddy] oh, honey, i think that question is a bygone.

[grant] so...i got some news for you. it’s slowly making the rounds.

[chelsea] there’s no wedding because it’s a shotgun elopement?

[grant] jesus christ, no!

[chelsea] i'm kidding!

[grant] i'm offended. unlike some people, i know how to pull out.

[chelsea] unlike my father. and shannon’s brother. what's up with our family and dudes having kids out of wedlock?

[grant] also unlike the guy päivi slept around with.

[paddy] oh shit!

[chelsea] i'm sorry, what did you just say?

[grant] you heard me.

[chelsea] i guess i should revise my first question then. how about, um, "would any person of any gender actually agree to that?"

[paddy] oh, there has to be someone else out there with a sense of humor. someone who appreciates culture. a real family person.

[grant] i'm really surprised at how quickly you all accepted what i just said.

[chelsea] i mean, i'm shocked it happen suddenly and in that way...but was a girl like that going to settle down for a lifetime with people like us? no. i kind of figured it would end one way or another. sorry.

[paddy] agreed.

[grant] and none of you wanted to, i don't know, share your opinions when i told you i wanted to propose?! did you just hope things would work out?

*car door creaks outside*

[paddy] let's table this for now. i don't think i have a good enough answer for that yet.

[chelsea] okay! get to work, boys!

[jasmine] we'll be here. watching. standing.

[grant] menacingly?

[chelsea] wee-woo.

[grant] wee-woo!

[paddy] is that from fucking spongebob?

[grant] you understood my mitch hedberg joke earlier and now the spongebob thing? good for you!

[chelsea] wow. lookie here! maybe you are cool after all.

[survivor-trinidad-and-tobago]

Episode 6: "you joined a Zoom call with two people who look fucking identical, did you not think people would connect the dots?"—Kolby

In this round: Lexi is medically evacuated; Zee finds an idol; a tribe swap switches things up again, bringing 3 tribes back down to 2; Raffy's soul leaves his body during Celebrity; and Zee thinks Raffy has a vendetta against her because he shared the absolutely shocking revelation that AJ and Zee are, in fact, identical twins

Soca Confessionals

Astyn

Champ

NEW TRIBE YAY! I’m so sad that Lexi got medevacted, I know she would’ve been an easy number for me going forward, but she left me 40 TT dollars so SLAY my social game! Raffy said that I’m very good at playing dumb LOL honestly I’m just a ditsy person in general. I would’ve loved to make a big move on Raffy had Lexi not got medevaced :( Honestly idk where I stand with him but he is probably coming after me so oh well. As long as I make it to merge, I feel pretty okay in my position. I’ve made good enough connections to know a lot of information and not be a threat. Everyone knows that Zee and AJ are sisters now and that’s so funny because I called it day 1. Also the fact that Kaleigh gave me her vote and now she doesn’t have a vote is so slay omg I love her she’s so sweet and I got her back 100%. Kolby Eman and I have an alliance that I feel really solid in and im assuming we are going to tribal so hoping for a good ole blindside

Eman

At first I was afraid. I was petrified. BUT I SURVIVED

And I was excited to continue working with Tony & Kolby.

I even confessed it to the VL how excited I was about it.

SO OF COURSE there was a twist and another swap.

So, I've still got Kolby.

And there's Champ who's been like boats passing in the night with me.

And Astyn who's already messaged me, so I've gotta see what they're all about.

And Jack seems nice.

And of course Raffy on who's good side I need to remain.

And then Lexi the enigma.

We'll see.

I've already revised my celebrities list a few times trying to be less esoteric. (It originally included Missy Copeland, Angela Merkel, and Mao Tse Tung)

--

Life comes at you fast.

First, thank God for Champ! I've wanted to work with her since day 1 and now we're finally there. She called me right after the challenge and we totally bonded and agreed that we need to bring Kolby in on things and I think we're good. A strong 3.

Where things get interesting is that Astyn and Jack have also expressed an interest in working with me. And from Jack I learned that he and Raffy don't have a vote next tribal.

So basically Kolby, Champ, and I could control the vote if we wanted to. Presuming that whomever we target either feels confident or doesn't have an idol.

I was feeling on the bottom with this shuffle and I don't anymore. This could get interesting.

Goat or GOAT?

--

PEE ESS

If it seems like I'm a little obsessed with my extra vote, it's because I am.

This is my third game and my very first tangible advantage and I've only been watching Survivor since the actual debut (see also: I am OLD) and I'm determined not to squander this, so in classic Survivor fashion, I will be overthinking everything associated with it.

Kolby

Jack

Raffy

My tribe is the worst. I don't want to be here. Apparently everyone and their mother on this tribe has no grasp of pop culture. I'm writing this as we are losing this challenge. I don't wanna be dragged out for another 30 minutes just to lose. Please someone end my suffering all of these people are getting on my last nerve with this challenge. From not knowing who Dracula is to Jack showering in the middle, I've had it up to here. I'm over it.

Calypso Confessionals

Zee

Ok hello hello, welcome to Zee tries to write longer confessionalssssss. I've been hella tired since that movie challenge, and I feel like I mellowed out A LOT. Let's recap a little bit here, I put my entire Calypsussy into the Movie challenge, like hardcore. I'd had the idea of the Wes Anderson style trailer since Thursday, when they put the challenge on hold, so that babey was SIMMERING, until they restarted the challenge(which I didn't even know if they'd do, honestly). Did I sort of take over the challenge when I woke up? Sort of. But I didn't steamroll anyone or anything. I'd been asleep at least 7 hours when the challenge was dropped, and nobody said a thing about it, so I copy pasted suggestions from the host chat, and gave a vague idea of the plot, which was kept vague until I edited. Middle of my day friday people said they liked the idea, so I asked for clips, and Champ and I called because she said I was the only one working and putting out ideas, and she felt bad lol. So she and I decided to be the "stars" of the movie trailer, and we shot a bunch of stuff, and then I gathered clips from everyone, and I shot my own clips for TWO DAYS, since I missed my bus home and stayed over at my friend's house. Then I edited all day Sunday, wrote the voice over and had to expand on the vague one line of plot I'd kept, but in the end it turned out great and we won first place even though we didn't have an advantage! I had a creative vision and I would have been damned if I didn't see that shit through.

As far as round four goes I didn't really do much, I woke up to having been sat out of the challenge, which seemed like a pretty fun challenge, but it's alright I guess. They did discuss it without me, but also they wanted to just lock everything in which is super valid, and it meant I HAD to participate in the next challenge, which is dope. We ended up getting first place again I think, which is very slay, and Astyn got a perfect 8/8! I do keep getting nothing from my idol hunt, which sucks, and Sally fucking swindled me out of 5TT$, like ma'am, please.

Round five was FANTASTIC, and I really think helped me bond with the team a little more. I also(and this might come back to bite me later) told Champ about the fact that I got the read reciepts on disadvantage from a hunt and not the excursion, and she said she was shocked bc the way I wrote it, it seemed legit, so maybe if she thinks that, so does everyone else I originally told. Again, I'm realizing I probably didn't need to tell anyone I got anything bad, but I did feel at the time like if I said I got nothing, nobody would believe me, but anywho now Champ knows. But I'm really hoping she and I stay allies, because we talked and bonded a bit more through being put on the same tribe in the swap, so hopefully that works out for us. Other than that, Champ and I called at 10pm my time, and began to practice Codenames because we both hadn't really played before, and didn't really know what to do. Colin and Jack came in a bit later, and the four of us played until the time of the challenge, which was at 3am for me, so my brain was definitely off by then. Somehow though we managed to pull through and secure second place, probably in part thanks to the five hours spent practicing lmao. At one point Colin and Jake(who were on a team opposite Champ and I) gave the hint meat, and so we went with wings, walrus, and pie. We probably would have(technically) tied with Soca, had it not been for the fact that when Jake gave the hint of body, I went with Disease instead of wings. But regardless, Jake Colin and I stayed on the call until the results were announced(Champ went to go watch survivor with her dad, mega slay) and we were all relieved to be safe from tribal. Trinica did give us shit for walrus meat though lmao, but it's the only thing Frikkie wants to eat so.....

With the Maracas Tribal, I wanted to stay up for the challenge to drop, since I know everyone talks about it without me lmaoooo. SO I set an alarm for 12:45 and plopped myself down to sleep. After some Zs, I woke up to see we had been SWAPPED AGAIN. My little heart cannot handle this, but upon waking up I realised that this actually could be exactly what I need for my black widow brigade plan, since I'm making allies with the ladies across tribe lines, though it seems like we're running low on those. BUT KALEIGH AND I ARE BACK TOGETHER ON ONE TRIBEEEEEEE. I woke up to the alarm at almost 1am and that was the first message I saw. Sadly Champ got taken to another tribe, I'm sending her all my luck, since I know she might need it. Kaleigh and I plan to call later today to update each other on everything, and I can't wait to hear how it's all been going for her. Do I trust anyone still? Oh absolutely not, but I am vibing with everyone. Alex IS on our tribe again, which makes me nervous because I don't really trust him because of his bio, but still I'm interested in this challenge. I put a lot of gay Icons(plus David Tennant) in my celebrity list, I also Included Jenna Ortega for Wednesday if we need one worded answers for round 2. Thank god it's at a decent time. I hope we win again, and I feel like we might, but I also sucked ass at that song challenge a bit back, so we'll see. I need to update my idol hunt document, but now that Kaleigh is back, maybe I can get some info from her again...we'll see.

--

"How the fuck did none of you know who DRACULA was. NOBODY. Anyway, WE WON AGAIN. And I found an Idol last idol hunt, but it's no big deal I guess. It's nice to have it but I feel like this idol is going to be like one of those stickers you get but never stick anywhere because you're afraid that it'll be in the wrong spot or be ruined and besides you think it's really pretty anyway, so might as well just keep it. Anyway we slayed so hard in the Celebrities challenge that multiple people on the other tribe asked if we could end it early out of mercy. Lexi got med-evaced so Soca isn't going to tribal, so idk what's going to happen there, or what they're doing, but we're at thirteen players now, which means a merge could be close, and I'm ready for it. I don't know what I'd do in the merge, because I try to put my whole ass into these challenges, and if I can win them, why wouldn't I? The only problem is that doing so would put a huge target on my back, and then the one time I don't win, people would immediately target me as a huge threat. Unless.....if I just win win win, then I have this idol, and I can use it on myself if I don't win, kind of like a safety assurance. But if I did that, I'd have to keep winning until almost final three, otherwise if I lost another one after using the idol, they'd just get me out then.

I'm interested to see who still wants to ally with me when the merge happens, because it would appear that Raffy is out to get me. To get to the bottom of this, let's flashback to last night when Kaleigh and I called to catch up after the challenge. We talked a lot about some mostly pointless stuff just like life, but we also talked about what was happening on the tribes we got put on. Sadly I didn't have much to say, since my tribe was veeeery quiet, and we kept winning so we didn't really have any drama. It's going to be interesting going to tribal though, especially with people who have already been to some. It's like watching an action movie with a war veteran, you're like "ooooh explosion" and they're like "[grizzled war voice]you wouldn't understand the sacrifices I've had to make to survive". I also have no idea if I can trust anything Kaleigh says, for all I know she could be lying to me about practically everything, that's the problem with this game, I don't fully trust anyone. Does Kaleigh know that I told a fib unrelated to the game in the beginning? Yes she does. Does she know WHAT it is? Nope, all she knows is that it was pointless, and started as me not wanting to correct people. She told me she wrote in all her confessionals about how much she missed me, but again, I have no way to know if this is true or not. Anyway, back to the point. She told me that Raffy told Alex, who told Steven, who told her, that I'm related to AJ. So it would appear that Raffy has been spreading this information to make people more wary of me and my game. Which is also a bit annoying because AJ has been especially harder and stricter on me than she is with anyone else, she even marked me as unemployed instead of a student in the bio in the beginning. She's extra hard on me because she doesn't want people to think she's playing favorites, and judging by the fact that I didn't get a winner's pick yet, I'd say her favorites are in other places. Regardless, there's no FRIENDLY reason for Raffy to spread this info, so it would appear he's out to get me. I would however like to use some of his own words and sentiment against him come tribal, if I'm asked a question about the rumors, because I know last game he and AJ had mild beef bc she kept saying he knew the host, and that he had hosted before and knew a lot about the games and was a challenge threat, and he could see those because tribal council there was posted and everyone knew what went down on the opposite tribe's tribals. I'll use his words of(vaguely) "I want to be judged for who I am in this game, and how I play here, and not for anyone I know or how I've played in the past." you know, something to that effect.

Oh also it's kind of random but Kaleigh and I have decided to conduct an experiment on Alex, since we both agree that the way he's acting in DMs seems very tailored to the way each of us talk, and kind of seems like a persona of himself that he's putting on specifically to charm us. Which makes us(or at least me) nervous, because of the info that he put IN HIS BIO. I still can't get over that, man revealed his entire strategy in his intro post, and nobody seems to have noticed lmao. Anyway, to test our theory, I've decided to start saying yassssss a lot in my messages with him, and see if he takes that and starts using it too. Because I already use a lot of double or triple letters, and he's been using it too, but ONLY with me lmao. So yeah, that's a little bit of fun we've got going on now."

Alex

Okay, a very successful 24-hours. We finally took first in an immunity challenge so I'm steadily raking in the TT$, and me and Michael worked SO well together in Codenames which has fiiinally helped us start talking more. I liked his vibes immediately so I wish we could have been talking throughout the entirety of our time on Soca 2.0 but better late than never. I've still got the rest of Soca Elite with me, too, which rocks. Colin already, reached out, which is cool, since he and Zee are the only in's to find out what was going on over at Calypso. I'm wondering if Zee worked some magic to rebuild trust from that first summit or if I can kind of play their information off of each other. I at least feel like I'd be secure were we to go to tribal. Less certain of what could happen over on Soca 3.0. Soca 1.0 still has a majority but with Kolby and Eman being sequestered from everyone else, Raffy and Champ's history, the Calypso 2.0 of it all, and not knowing anything about Jack or Astyn, I feel like there's the potential for some shakeups. Fingers crossed I make it to merge, I think things are going to just keep getting more exciting.

Colin

this swap has breathed LIFE into my game, I'm so grateful for it.

it's a little scary not knowing very many people on the tribe. Michael and I were both on OG Calypso, Zee and I were on Calypso 2, and then I know Steven from prior games, but then everyone else is new to me. But everyone is pretty active and I'm having great conversations!! It's giving me a lot more energy in the game, feeding off of everyone else's vibes.

I need to get some allies on this side, as all of my existing alliance is on the other tribe. I'm looking at Zee and Alex rn, they seem like great allies. Strong players are good to have on your side.

With us crushing this round's immunity, I think we just have to survive one more round till merge, so I'm feeling confident!!

Here are my tribe first impressions that no one asked for!!

Alex - kinda my fave. Very easy and fun to talk to. I wanna get close with him, he's someone I wanna get to know better. Kaleigh - loving the energy. haven't gotten to talk to her much, but I think she'll be someone fun. Michael - was pretty quiet on OG Calypso and didn't get a chance to get to know him before the first swap. I think he's a bit more active now, but I don't really have too many thoughts about him in the game as of rn Steven - in general, I would die for Steven. he's great and super nice. i value every game we get together because he's such a genuine person. i think we're two very different players so we usually don't get paired together strategically, so we'll see what happens in this game! Tony - seems really nice!! maybe kind of an underdog in the game. a wildcard mayhaps. Zee - a force to be reckoned with. She's passionate about the game and the challenges specifically, I know she's always going to give her all. Definitely a valuable ally to have but idk how far I wanna go with her yet.

Tony

And just like that I’ve reunited with so many folks from my previous tribe! It’s a bittersweet reunion seeing that Eman and I were split up :( but I trust that she is playing a strong game on the other tribe. Now that I’m here I gotta make sure that I’m pulling my weight given that I sat out of the last challenge. No telling what’s gonna happen next!

Michael

Not going to tribal again so the game is pretty stale. Tony and I are going to work together. I also entered an alliance with Alex, we need to pull a few more people. I also need to let Tony know about Alex. I just think nothing is really going to pop off until the merge, which I hope I'll make

Steven

Kaleigh

welp we had another swap. by some miracle?? or just a twist of fate, alex & steven & i are all still together, but on calypso now - michael too, though he still hasnt talked game to me. ZEE IS BACK. which i am v happy about. then we have colin and tony. raffy is on the other tribe. which is JUST FINE WITH ME! we had our little celebrity game today and we fuckennnn DOMMMINATED it was so fun and also kind of sad/hard to watch raffy going like “ok, the original vampire. like, you think of a vampire, that’s this.” and his team being like “oh! uh! twilight! edward…edward cullen! robert pattinson!” and literally not get it at all, and then on my turn i get dracula and go “Transvylania, vampire” and like my whole tribe in unison immediately goes DRACULA. LMAOOO LIKE DAMN i could feel raffys frustration in that moment. um ya so they did a mercy ruling in the 3rd round bc we were so far ahead. their team actually requested it lmao sheeeeesh. but then no tribal bc lexi was medevaced. that looks so ugly written down.

i talked w zee after the challenge and we caught up, got a bunch of info, feeling v solidified in the bimbo alliance. also talked to steven tonight. zee and steven both said they thought we’d merge @ 12, and what choice do i have but to believe theM? LOL i’m not doing any research on that! i messaged w tony briefly last night, asked him how his experience was on maracas, he rly dodged it and was like “the vibes were off with nick and tanner.” like, my brother in christ, we all know exactly how off the vibes were. they are gone! this is not helpful! obviously it seems like he and eman and kolby must be TIGHT, but he didn’t say shitittt and apparently alex asked him today about the excursion and he was j like “haha excursions are not my fave!” WHAT?! LMFAO WHAT ARE YOU DOING MY GUY!!!! like, what MUST be ur only solid alliance (eman and kolby) aren’t here! you gotta share info to build trust and get in where you fit in! like i get feeling like ur vulnerable and being uncertain about who to trust, and also… plz trust me :)

anyway, i feel very solid with zee now, and steven and alex as well. i don’t know what da fUUCK is gonna happen once we merge. maybe i’ll try to talk game with michael tomorrow. idk. oh i told zee that raffy told steven that she and aj are siblings and she is soooo pissed, UNDERSTANDABLY! like truly he did not need to share that info, even tho it seemed (based on what zee said) that someone else had asked about it and been thinking it. so anyway she is like ok raffy’s gotta go. she said she’s gonna try to fake ally with him once we merge, which, like, good luck girl… but if she’s successful in faking an alliance and then voting him out that tribal will be extremely delicious. she also said champ will totally work with us, which i believe! tho champ and raffy played together last season… also steven said raffy said that champ is good at playing dumb, which i’m like, what are you even talking about? like pretending to be a bad player? idk. i am getting a LOT of info from both steven and zee tho so that’s sick and like, maybe will help me out later. like raffy telling steven that aj+zee are siblings absolutely destroyed any potential game he had with zee, who actually seemed eager to work w him before hearing that LMAOOOO SORRY RAFFY MAYBE YA SHOULDA PRETENDED TO WANNA WORK W ME!! but ya zee said too that colin and raffy were in an alliance w astyn andddd drea so i know colin and raffy are allied, and i think zee was feeling good about colin and potentially working w raffy but i think that might not be the case anymore.

ok so my only strategy in this game so far is to win as much as possible (duh, and my teams are crushing it) and to do as many phone calls/video calls as possible bc that is truly the easiest way to tell if someone’s bullshitting AND it’s the best way to build trust and get info bc ppl just looooooooove to chitty chat. god yunno i will say it’s not ideal that alex+steven see zee as a big target and zee thinks alex is like playing a rly good game (is he?). it’s not ideal that my two alliances are gunning for each other. gonna have to fix that. i’m not even CLOSE to being ready for zee to go. who the hell has the idol(s)?? also kinda offended i havent been a winners pick since round one?!?!??!?!!?! who’s gettin those?!

[diaryoftheunidropout]

DAY 2

I'm waiting for the metro that'll take me to see my uni best friend. A voice on the speaker said they were going to read a few verses of poetry. The voice was very sweet and the poem about being in a maze and not searching for a way out. I hope I hear it again because I'd love to be able to write down more of what it said.

I have no idea how I'm going to tell my best friend that I'm dropping out. We're spending the evening together, and I can either tell them as soon as I see them, or while we're having dinner, or only at the very end of the evening when we're parting ways. I'm afraid if I tell them straight up, it'll ruin the evening for the both of us, but if I don't get it off my chest ASAP, I fear I'll be anxious the entire evening and won't get to enjoy myself at all. We'll see. But I don't want them to ask me questions like "have you revised for the test" and having to lie to that, and only tell them the truth later on.

Since I made the decision to drop out, I've felt three different emotions: 1) relief 2) guilt 3) sadness. Today I've been feeling very sad, maybe a little lost too (and for the past 10 minutes, probably a bit angry because the metro is packed and parisians are really slow and someone accidentally stepped on my feet, but that's another story).

I haven't fully grasped why I feel sad yet, but I think it might be because I've dreamed and fantasized about this moment for so long that I subconciously convinced myself I would heal immediately (not true obviously). I think I may still feel guilt about resting, like I don't actually deserve it. I don't know. All of this is a lot of process. I'll keep updating this blog!

UPDATE 4 AND A HALF HOURS LATER:

The announcement to my uni best friend went kind of wrong, which didn't help with the fact I was already feeling like utter shit. I didn't tell them right away, I waited until we were sat at the restaurant but hadn't ordered yet. They reacted very calmly but I could feel they were disappointed. They tried to make me change my mind but quickly enough they understood that was impossible. They told me all the things that could go wrong with my plan (not being able to find a job, not healing, hating my new studies and not being able to keep up...) and no matter how many times I said this was a life or death situation for me, they didn't seem to understand the gravity of it all. I'd say the first 20 minutes of our dinner were really tense, but then we were able to mostly change the subject and things felt a little more like they usually do.

But looking back on the entire evening now, I think that, mostly, they're angry at me for "leaving them behind", which really puts me in a Nick-Nelson-in-Volume-5-and-in-the-Nick-and-Charlie-novella type of situation. And this just puts me down even more because on top of having to bear the guilt of dropping out and the fear of the unknown and all the sadness that I ended up in this situation, I also have to deal with the knowledge I'm probably hurting someone I love and care about. Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but I think they're just afraid me leaving uni means I'm giving up on our relationship, when really I am NOT. I think I could see their anger through all their tiny "mean" jokes that they never usually do, like telling me I'm "boring" out of nowhere. It's so obvious to me that we'll remain friends... and it seems like it isn't to them. I hope that just like Nick and Charlie, our relationship survives this, and that eventually, I gain their full support. We're mature enough to talk. If they won't tell me what's on their mind and heart, I will. But right now, I'm saddened by their reaction and it just makes me want to distance myself, which is the opposite of what I intended to do in the first place. I want to believe fighting for our relationship is worth it.

Also, someone I was really hoping to get encouragement from regarding me dropping out didn't reply to my message although I saw they've been online... they might have just missed my message, or I don't know. I think that would have cheered me up a little.

Now I still need to tell my grandparents, my other uni friends, and my Chinese teacher whom I loved very much. That's for another day though. I'm so mentally exhausted from today.

Bye for now xx

"I think that I love you but it's hard

Just to be around you

Don't hate me, but you're not

Don't hate me, but you're not what I thought you was

Don't hate me, but you're not

Don't hate me, but you're not what I thought you was

You said that I'm really fucking boring

Well that's rich coming from you

'Cause when you rain you're fucking pourin'

I can't win, I can't lose

And it's cool if you don' wanna hang and get loose"

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

(I ask this politely and curiously) why do you view faith as a disease? Have you always felt this way or did the conclusion come later in life?

The first part of your question is the longest one, so bear with me.

Firstly, I'm going to define what I mean by faith and how I use it on this blog, as history has shown that things go off the rails very quickly if I don't.

faith | fāTH |

noun

1 complete trust or confidence in someone or something: this restores one's faith in politicians.

2 strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

The first definition is a synonym of trust. That's not how I use "faith." When using definition #1, I use the word "trust" specifically to be clear about what I mean.

#2 is "belief without proof." Typically this functions as belief not just in spite of a lack of evidence, but because of a lack of evidence. This second definition is what my blog is about.

These two definitions are almost completely polar opposites, as we'll see in a moment.

==

The crux of it is that you cannot use faith to come to truth. There's nothing that someone can't believe based on faith alone. Everyone's faith based claim is held to be true, but all faith claims can't be true.

As Dr. Peter Boghossian points out, Islam claims Muhammad was the last prophet of Yahweh/Allah. Mormons say that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Both are faith traditions that their believers hold to be true. They don't even have to refer to the same god, but they're incompatible beliefs. One of them is wrong. Probably both. Neither of them will admit it. Neither of them can tell. There's no mechanism for putting them together and figuring out which one, just "I have faith," "no, I have faith."

If faith can lead to false beliefs and prevents the believer from finding out they're wrong, faith is a bad epistemology (epistemology refers to how we decide what is true).

Truth is not just derived merely from a correct answer, it's also being able to tell the limits of that answer and explain why it's correct. On a math exam, it's common for the teacher to still award you partial-points if you show the working was correct but made a late-stage arithmetic error, because it demonstrates you know the process.

If you just spit out the answer and don't explain how you got it, nobody can tell if you understood it or just got lucky. Lottery winners are sometimes heard to say something like "I knew it, I felt it, I knew somehow I was going to win, I just had this sense." No. You guessed and you got lucky. That's not knowing. Especially since thousands of other people probably had the same feeling and sensation and didn't win.

Truth isn't just about all the "hits," it's also about all the "misses." People pray to pass the exam and they do. They pray to beat cancer and they do. What about everyone who prayed and didn't pass the exam or didn't survive the cancer? God has something else in mind or works in mysterious ways. That's the same as not being able to derive truth. You can't tell when it will work and when it won't.

Truth may also have limits on it. That's why science is conditional. Earlier models of physics were later discovered to be a subset of a larger superset of laws of the physical universe. Quantum mechanics exists because we figured out that the laws we'd determined break down at the quantum level. There's a still larger story to be explored that is not yet fully answered.

Truth is also contingent upon being able to test or evaluate it. That's why all scientific principles are falsifiable and defeasible. Falsifiable means that there are known ways it could be shown to be false. Defeasibility means that a principle may need revision to be more accurate.

Evolution is falsifiable. It could be shown to be false if we found a bat with bird DNA. Or found a Precambrian rabbit. Evolution is also defeasible. It has been revised in the light of DNA and other discoveries. It didn't mean evolution was wrong, or that the larger idea was inaccurate, but we have a better understanding of how it works that explains more. Darwin's work is largely irrelevant at this point.

==

Faith can do none of these things. Its validity cannot be tested, its working cannot be demonstrated, and it cannot be falsified. Indeed, that's a supposed virtue of faith.

"Nothing could convince me that God is not real." See: Ken Ham. This is held to be a virtue. It's not. Since faith cannot be used to derive truth, it means a steadfast commitment to believing on irrational grounds.

And this is why I always use "trust" to refer to definition #1 from all the way back at the beginning. Trust can be falsified. You can figure out that you have been betrayed or that your trust was misplaced. You can grant conditional or qualified trust to new people. I don't have "faith" that my light will illuminate on when I turn on the switch. I have experience with it turning on, I know reasons why it may not turn on (globe is broken, light isn't plugged in, didn't pay the electric bill), and I don't have to invest more "faith"/trust in order to make it switch on. this is why the two definitions (above) are pretty much opposites. Nothing about trust-faith (definition #1) functions like faith-faith (definition #2).

Here's the interesting thing about ideas that are unfalsifiable. It means you cannot determine whether they are wrong. If you cannot determine whether they're wrong, correct and wrong look identical. If correct and wrong look identical, then you can't claim to be right any more than you can determine you were wrong. What you have is an incoherent proposition. Because by making it unfalsifiable, it's not only not-false, it's also not-true.

==

Truth is not always comforting. It's not always intuitive. It's doesn't need to conform to our preferences or our expectations. Deriving truth is a difficult task, and it can only be done by taking our egos and our identities out of the equation. Faith encourages, or even demands that you identify with the conclusion of a particular god, obscuring any path to truth. Evidence that your "dearly held" beliefs might not be true becomes a personal attack rather than a mistake in reasoning that can be corrected by adjusting your conclusions.

Humans have many cognitive flaws. We see patterns that aren't there in random events, we're prone to cognitive bias (only look for evidence that confirms existing beliefs) among others. These are the result of our imperfect evolution. The tribesman who mistakes shadows on the leaves for a tiger that isn't there will survive and go on to procreate. The tribesman who doesn't see the tiger that is there may not. They were useful to reproductive success, but they're not useful to knowledge and obtaining truth.

Faith is one of the few cognitive flaws that humans have consciously invented outright and seen it as a moral obligation to instil in others. (Another is victimhood culture.)

This cripples the ability of the faithful to learn. It actually creates a literal, cognitive learning disability. It retards the faithful individual's ability to update their understanding of the world based on new information, and discard old, outdated, incorrect notions.

Something that those who want to sell you a faith-based tradition, belief or ideology pretend is a good thing.

But we need an accurate understanding of our world to navigate it. How can we make good decisions when our truth-deriving mechanism is faulty, like faith is?

“Faith doesn’t have a corrective mechanism. It leaves no room for one to revise their beliefs… If your beliefs aren’t in alignment with reality, then you could be mistaken about what’s good for you. And if you’re mistaken about what’s good for you, then you can’t change the external conditions in your life to help you flourish as a human being.”

– Dr. Peter Boghossian

==

The quote from my subtitle is derived from one of Boghossian's lectures. I've had some... shall we say... "feedback" over the years about my blog title, and while I still have no intent to change it, I think his phrasing is more accurate and also more universally applicable, since it can also be applied to non-religious beliefs, such as conspiracy theories, antivax and Woke ideology. They are all faith-based but are not explicitly religious.

When I heard him say it, I realized it was a synonym of sorts for my blog title, and also a more useful explanation.

Here are two videos where he goes into more detail what I'm talking about:

https://religion-is-a-mental-illness.tumblr.com/post/669908807667843072 (Short video)

https://religion-is-a-mental-illness.tumblr.com/post/670180706514796544 (Longer lecture)

==

If you are a person of faith, my question to you is how, or even whether, you could determine that you were wrong? And if you have no way tell if you were wrong, how can you claim to be right? "I just have faith"?

==

The answer to the second part of your question is much easier.

I'd have to say that something always sat wrong with me when people said things like "faith is a virtue."

It's never made sense to me, but I couldn't figure out quite why until later in life. I didn't have the tools to understand epistemology, truth claims, fallacies, formal logic, and many other things that have helped me see how useless faith is, as I had intuitively concluded but not been able to articulate.

[nerdythebard]

#19: Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt

This one's for the Pride, Gods and Goddesses!

The wildlife of Ancient Greece bows down to Artemis, the Huntress. For her worshippers, she provides protection from danger and the best game to hunt. Those who offend her, may find themselves a prey for her arrows. Tread carefully, and weigh your words when speaking to her.

Next Time: The 3-in-1 House special begins!

Now then, let's see what we need before the Hunt:

High Single Target Damage: Artemis's arrows seek out enemies one by one, sometimes in a rapid barrage, sometimes in a countless volley that darkens the skies.

My Trap Card: One of her signature skills is setting up a trap of living vines, that incapacitate enemies and deals damage.

Calydonian Boar: Artemis's Ultimate Ability summons her pet boar, Tusky, to aid her in battle and stun her foes.

---

Artemis is an elf. What kind of elf, however, is another question. I was considering making her a Pallid Elf from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, because of their connection to the Moon and Artemis being one of the lunar goddesses... but I've decided to Keep It Simple Stupid, and go with a Wood Elf. We get a +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom, 60 feet of Darkvision, proficiency in the Perception skill, and advantage on saving throws against being charmed because of our Fey Ancestry (also, magic cannot put us to sleep). Elves don't require as much sleep as other races, and thanks to their Trance feature, they only need 4 hours to gain the benefit of a long rest. We speak Common and Elvish, and thanks to our Elf Weapon Training we gain proficiency with longswords, shortswords, shortbows, and longbows. Our base walking speed is 35 feet, and Mask of the Wild lets us hide even in lightly obscured areas.

Since Artemis spends most of her time in the wilderness and visits Olympus very rarely, we're going to make her an Outlander. We gain proficiency in Athletics and Survival, we are proficient in one musical instrument (Apollo insisted), and we learn one language of our choice. Our Wanderer feature gives us exceptional memory when it comes to recalling geographical features and landmarks, and we have higher chances of foraging food and water for us and our party members.

ABILITY SCORES

Dexterity is obviously our highest stat, it will fuel the majority of our abilities. Constitution is next, we need Hit Points to draw a lot of fire and especially if we're the ambushing type. Wisdom follows, it's gonna be useful for spells and we're pretty street... err... forest-smart.

Intelligence is next, it's going to be useful for Investigation and Nature checks, but not much besides that, so it's in the bottom tier. Follow that up with Strength, our primary weapon uses Dexterity, but it's good to have a backup plan. Finally, we'll dump Charisma.

CLASS

I don't think there's anybody here who believes Artemis is anything other than a Ranger. We're going Revised Ranger start-to-finish. Rangers start with a d10 Hit Dice and [10 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points. We gain proficiency in light armour, medium armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. For Artemis, I think going with a longbow and studded leather armour is the best long-term bet. Maybe also a dagger or two, and a shortsword in case we're forced into melee combat. Our saving throws are Strength and Dexterity, and we get to pick three class skills (Animal Handling, Insight, and Stealth).

Level 1: We start by picking a Favoured Enemy. We choose one type of creature (beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, or undead). We gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against our chosen creature type and an advantage on Survival checks related to tracking these creatures. Unfortunately, 'men' is not an option here, so choose whatever fits your campaign.

We also get the Natural Explorer feature. As the master of navigating through wilderness, we now:

ignore the disadvantage of difficult terrain;

have an advantage on Initiative rolls;

have an advantage on the first attack roll against a creature that hadn't yet acted during combat (on our first turn).

This feature also benefits our party. If we travel for more than 1 hour:

difficult terrain doesn't slow us down;

the group cannot be lost safe for magical means;

we remain alert to danger, even if tracking, foraging, etc.

we can move stealthily at a normal pace;

we find twice as much food as we normally would while foraging;

we know the exact number and sizes of creatures we're tracking, plus we can tell how long ago they were in the area we're in.

Level 2: We start by picking our Fighting Style, and it shall come as a surprise to nobody that we're going with Archery, which gives us a +2 bonus to attack rolls we make with our ranged weapons.

Rangers also get access to Spellcasting. Wisdom is our spellcasting ability, and we do not learn cantrips or rituals. We also have a limited number of spells we can learn. We start with two 1st-level spell slots and two spells:

Hunter's Mark is a Ranger's staple. The spell puts a brand on one creature within 90 feet of us for 1 hour (concentration). Until the spell ends, we deal extra 1d6 damage whenever we successfully hit the creature with a weapon attack. We also have an advantage on Perception and Survival checks related to tracking the marked creature. If the branded target dies before the spell ends, we can use a bonus action to mark another creature.

Snare consumes 25 feet of rope to create a concealed trap on the floor. It lasts for 8 hours. A successful Investigation check against our Spell DC reveals the trap. Creature that walks into the trap's space must make a Dexterity saving throw or be restrained until the spell ends. No concentration means we can set up multiple traps, as long as we have the spell slots (and rope) for it.

Level 3: Thanks to Primeval Awareness, we can now communicate with beasts using some basic emotions and simple ideas. We can learn the beast's emotional state and whether it's under any magical effect, it's needs (such as food and shelter), and actions we need to take for it to not attack us. Additionally, we can meditate for 1 minute to determine the location of our favoured enemy type within 5 miles of us. We learn their exact number and a general direction and distance from us.

At this level, we also get to pick our subclass, our Ranger Conclave. Once again, I am very predictable and nobody is going to be surprised when Artemis joins the Hunter Conclave. Our starting feature is Hunter's Prey, which lets us choose one of three options for fighting a specific type of foes: Horde Breaker is useful for swarms and large numbers of enemies. Once per turn, whenever we successfully hit a target with a weapon attack, we can make another attack (with the same weapon) against another creature that is within 5 feet of the first target.

We also learn another 1st-level spell: Zephyr Strike is a useful thing when enemies get a little too close for our liking. We use a bonus action and our movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for 1 minute (concentration). Once before the spell ends, we can give ourselves an advantage on a weapon attack roll, and the successful hit deals extra 1d8 force damage. Whether we hit or miss, our movement speed increases by 30 feet until the end of that turn.

Level 4: First Ability Score Improvement of the build! Let's put one point into Dexterity and one into Strength. More AC, better attacks, and better damage!

Level 5: We get a subclass upgrade. For this Conclave, it's Extra Attack. Now, whenever we use our action to Attack, we can make two attacks instead of one.

We also unlock 2nd-level spells: Animal Messenger lets us charm a Tiny beast within 30 feet of us (a squirrel, a bird, etc.) for 24 hours. Until the spell ends, the animal can deliver a short message (up to 25 words) to a specific location (which we've previously visited) and a specific person we describe to the messenger. The animal travels about 50 miles per 24 hours (if it's a flying creature) or 25 miles (for other animals).

Level 6: Our Favoured Enemy feature gets an upgrade. We can choose another type of creature (aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants) to be especially effective against. Our attack bonus against both favoured types is now a +4, and we get an advantage on saving throws against spells and abilities used by those enemies.

Level 7: Another Conclave feature! Defensive Tactics lets us choose one of three defensive options. Many of the stronger monsters use Multiattack, so the Multiattack Defence option is going to be useful for us. When we're hit by an attack, we get a +4 AC to all subsequent attacks dealt to us made by the creature until the end of the turn.

We can also get another 2nd-level spell: Magic Weapon turns a non-magical weapon into a magical one for the purpose of overcoming resistances, and grants it a +1 bonus to both attack and damage rolls for 1 hour (concentration).

Level 8: We get one more ASI. Time to cap our Dexterity to 20 with those two points.

We also get the Fleet of Foot feature. We can now use the Dash action as a bonus action on our turn.

Level 9: We don't get new class features here, but we do unlock 3rd-level spells: Conjure Animals lets us summon fey spirits that take a corporeal form of animals of our choice. We get several options, but to get Tusky, we only need the "One beast of CR 2 or lower" option, which a Giant Boar fits under. The summoned beast is friendly to us and our allies and it is summoned for 1 hour (concentration).

Level 10: Halfway through the build, and we get the Hide in Plain Sight feature, to reach Drax levels of stealth. When we want to hide on our turn, we can choose to sacrifice our movement for this turn. If we do so, creatures attempting to locate us receive a -10 penalty to their Perception checks until the start of our next turn. We lose this benefit if we move, attack, or fall prone. On our next turn, we can choose to keep hiding without moving and use the feature again.

Level 11: We get another subclass feature. Multiattack lets us choose one option to deal with many enemies. Volley lets us make a ranged attack against all creatures within 10 feet of us, as long as we have the ammunition to do so. We roll separate attacks for each creature.

We also learn another 3rd-level spell: Protection from Energy gives a creature we touch resistance to one damage type of our choice from the following: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder for 1 hour (concentration).

Level 12: Time for another ASI. Let's put two points into Charisma to eliminate the negative modifiers.

Level 13: We unlock 4th-level spells here: Freedom of Movement lets us give one creature we touch immunity to magic-induced paralysis and restraint, ability to ignore difficult terrain, and magic cannot reduce their speed for 1 hour. The target can also sacrifice 5 feet of movement to automatically escape non-magical restraints.

Level 14: At this level, we get the Vanish feature. We can now use our Hide action as a bonus action. Additionally, we cannot be tracked by non-magical means, unless we choose to leave a trail.

Level 15: For our final subclass upgrade of the build, we get Superior Hunter's Defence. We get to pick one of three available defensive options: thanks to Evasion, if we're subjected to a saving throw that would result in us taking half damage on a successful save, we instead take no damage.

We get another 4th-level spell: Locate Creature gives us direction and distance from one creature familiar to us that we name, as long as it's within 1,000 feet of us. The spell lasts for 1 hour (concentration) and fails if there's running water at least 10 feet wide separating us from the target.

Level 16: Another ASI! Let's raise our Wisdom by 2, to get a little bit better with our spells.

Level 17: We unlock 5th-level spells here. Swift Quiver grants us unlimited ammunition for 1 minute (concentration). On each of our turns, we can use a bonus action to make two attacks with the ammunition stored in the quiver (crossbow if it's crossbow bolts, arrows for bows, etc.). The ammunition lost is immediately replenished.

Level 18: We get Feral Senses. We are now aware of any invisible creature within 30 feet of us (if we're not incapacitated/blinded/deafened and the creature isn't hiding) and our attempts to attack an invisible creature do not impose a disadvantage on the attack.

Level 19: For our final ASI of the build, we shall raise our Constitution by two points for those tasty Hit Points.

As for the final 5th-level spell, Conjure Volley lets us multiply a single piece of ammunition we fire in the air. Hundreds of copies fall in a volley from above in a 40-foot-radius 20-feet-high cylinder at a point within 150 feet of us. All creatures within the cylinder must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 8d8 damage (half damage on a successful save)

Level 20: The Ranger's capstone ability is Foe Slayer. Once per turn we can choose to add our Wisdom modifier to one attack roll or damage roll that we make. We can choose to add it before or after we roll, but not before any effects of the roll are applied.

---

And that is Artemis, the Huntress. Let's see what we got:

Well, first of all, we're an absolute powerhouse of archery. We got many bonuses to our attack and damage rolls, hinder the enemy's movement, and track them to the ends of the earth. We're a great ambusher that can get around the battlefield quickly (35 feet of movement... or 65 if we use Zephyr Strike) and support our party members.

Our AC is 17, we have a +5 to our Initiative, and we have 168 Hit Points on average.

Unfortunately, we had to sacrifice Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma, which are very common saving throws, so we might have a problem with shaking those off. Better hope there are some healers in our group of hunters.

---

And that is it, you guys! We'll take a little break from the gods next time, as we get... well, back to school ;) I'll see you for the next one, hope you're having a great day!

- Nerdy out!

[shop-korea]

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FRONT - OF - THEIR - HOUSES - BABIES -

SLICED - KIDS - NECKS - SLICED - TRUE -

THROATS - TODAY - KOREAN - GIRLS - R -

THE - AIR FORCE - OF - BTS - GAY - BOYS -

VERY - GAY - EVERYWHERE - NCT - GUYS -

AESPA - ITZY - RED VELVET - BLACK PINK -

SUPER M - AS - THEY - BUY - THEIR STUFF -

SCREAM - CONCERT - GIRLS - BUY - BUY -

AND - LIVE - THEIR - KOREAN - STARS -

31 STARS - KILLED - THEMSELVES - AS -

THEY - KOREA - ARE - HERE - TUMBLR -

FANDOMS - I - LIKE - US - GIRLS - OF -

PILIPINAS - STILL - THERE - NOT HERE -

SMALL - COUNTRIES - 'BIRDS - OF THE -

SAME - FEATHER - FLOCK - TOGETHER' -

PINAY - VISITOR - ONLY - HERE - UNTIL -

18TH - ALWAYS - SMILING - AT - ME - 2 -

THE - PILIPINAS - I - MISS - OTHER - THAN -

OWNERS - OF - AKLAN - BUFFET - ONLY 1 -

WHO - SMILED - AT - ME - NEXT - GIRL -

MASK - 'STAY - AWAY - FROM - ME' - AS -

SHE - WAS - WITH - TOMBOY - AS - SHE -

PINAY - GOES - ALL - THE - WAY - WITH -

NON-VIRGIN - PINAY - BOTH - ARE - NOT -

MARRIED - IN - US - AS - LESBIANS - ITS -

LEGAL - PINOYS - HERE - NEVER - YES -

SMILED - AT - ME - I - HAVE - 2 - DO - IT -

THEIR - WAY - THEN - THEY - SMILE - AS -

NO - OTHER - MALE - CAN - SMILE - AT -

ME - AS - THEIR - GIRL - OF - THE POOR -

PUBLIC - SCHOOLS - NON - COLLEGE -

GRADUATES - WE - TURN - 2 - TOKYO -

SEOUL - CHINA - 2 - LOOK - 4 - TALLER -

MALES - MORE - BEAUTIFUL - RICHER -

COLLEGE - GRADS - PRETTIER - YES -

COUNTRIES - HIGHER - TECHNOLOGY -

BEST - PART - I - KNOW - THEY'RE - NOT -

RICH - THESE - PINOYS - PINAYS - AS XO -

THE - FUTURE - WE - WEAR - ARMANI -

AND - DIAMONDS - ROLEX - WATCHES -

BETTER - LUGGAGE - MORE - TIPS AND -

NOT - MIND - THEY - DON'T - SMILE AT -

US - GREAT - PRIDE - OLD - MALE - FR -

CUBA - TRIED - 2 - SLICE - MY - FACE -

2 - GET - MY - LUGGAGE - HANDBAG -

80 LBS - 15 LBS - 3 SPANISH - SPEAKING -

MALES - TRIED - 2 - STEAL - MY LUGGAGE -

OFFERS - FREE - SHOWERS - 4 - ME - WAS -

HOMELESS - THEN - ALL - WANTED - 2 BE -

NAKED - IN - SHOWER - WITH - ME - THEN -

TOUCHING - MY - BODY - KISSING - MY -

NECK - FACE - 4 - FREE - SHOWER - 4 -

THEY'RE - CATHOLICS - 333 YEARS - SPANISH -

KILLED - MANY - 2 - MAKE - ISLAM - PILIPINAS -

4 WIVES - ALLAH - CATHOLIC - CHANGE - OF -

GOD - SPANISH - COUNTRIES - ARE - ALL YES -

CATHOLIC - AND - THAT's - SPANISH - WORDS -

AT - MIAMI - THEY - CATHOLICS - SHOW LOTS -

OF - BREASTS - BUTTOCKS - INFACT - SEE -

THU - PANTIES - WITH - TONGS - BECAUSE -

THEY - WORSHIP - GOD - 'DIOS' - WOW - SO -

AS - U - KNOW - CATHOLICS - ARE - NOT -

BORN - AGAIN - FILLED - WITH - HOLY -

GHOST - THEY - DON'T - SPEAK - YES -

TONGUES - THEY - BELIEVE - PURGATORY -

4 - REPENTANT - STILL - EXIST - PARADISE -

CLOSED - AFTER - JESUS - ROSE - FR THE -

DEAD - THE - SPANISH - SPEAKING - IN -

THIS - HOMELESS - SHELTER - NONE - HAVE -

ROSARIES - HARD - 2 - BUY - AT - MIAMI - YES -

FILLED - WITH - SPANISH - SPEAKING - AND -

NON-VIRGINS - ALL - OVER - AND - PROUD -

ANYWAY - WAS - RAPED - AND - THE - YES -

CITIZEN's - ARREST - TICKETS - BUT - WE -

ARE - NOT - GIVEN - ANY - MIAMI - POLICE -

WEAR - BLK - OR - BROWN - PANTS - IN THIS -

BEAUTIFUL - NEAR - WATER - WEATHER - & -

PROUD - ARMED - WITH - OUR - TAXES BUT -

FLORIDA - THEY - STILL - ARE - AND - FL -

ONLY - GRANTED - CONCEALED - CARRY -

YOU - THINK - U - WHERE - IN - TEXAS -

ONLY - EXTREME - HEAT - AND - SUN -

NO - MAGNIFICENT - WINDS - AND - IT -

IS - HOT - COLD - HOT - COLD - VERY -

UNPREDICTABLE - WEATHER - LUV IT -

THUS - KNOWING - TUMBLR - AND -

LONG - TYPING - BECOMES SLOWER -

CONTINUING - THIS - MANGA PINAYS -

PUT - TABLET - SIDEWAYS - 2 - CLICK -

SAVE - U - CAN'T - ADD - IMAGE - AT -

SOCIAL - MEDIA - TUMBLR - 2 - ACCESS -

WHAT - IT - DID - GAVE - SHARE - AT THIS -

YOUTUBE - FR - AMAZON - GAVE - SHARE -

WASN'T - THERE - B 4 - AMAZON - SILK -

BROWSER - BOOKMARK - TUMBLR -

PAGE - HOW - 2 - TYPE - ANYTHING -

HOW - 2 - ADD - IMAGE - SO - WE'RE -

NOT - DEFEATED - PINAYS - IN - PH

[skies-diary]

With birth rates dropping, particularly in developed nations, world leaders are pushing people to have more children to combat an aging population. Think Shinzo Abe in Japan and the newly revised 3-child policy in China. While I can't think of western examples quite so on the nose, the child tax credit and infrastructure bill's focus on childcare in America may be trying to push citizens towards reversing the falling birthrate.

However, many people still aren't having children. Some simply dont want children, but with others, I see a variety of topics as cause. Fear of the world we'll leave our children due to climate change, lack of finances for a child (whom are very expensive), wanting to focus on their careers, ect. One thing I rarely see brought up, however, is the deteriorated quality of modern-day family life.

I have a sister who worked at a daycare. It enrolled children up to 5 years old, and was open from 7 to 5 every weekday. My sister would tell me how some parents would be sitting in their car, idling outside the main doors, at 6:45. The same parents wouldn't be back until 4:50, sometimes 5:00 exactly, to pick their children up.

Think about it. 7 AM to 5 PM is 10 hours. TEN HOURS a day these kids were apart from their families. Most of these kids were 3 to 5. 3-5 year olds need 10-13 hours of sleep daily. Let's go on the low side and say your kid needs 10 hours. Factor in the two hours of rest time from the daycare, and that's 8 hours left.

So you drop your kid off at daycare for 10 hours. You bring them home and they need to sleep for 8. That's 18 hours a day you and your child are apart, which leaves 6 hours a day you have together. 6 hours out of a day, where parents still have to do things like clean the house, prepare meals, do laundry, ect. How many hours are you really spending with your kids at that point? 3 or 4 a day?

Its disheartening, to say the least. What really hurts, though, is things dont have to be like this. For most of human history, things weren't. For most of our history, families lived together, not apart. Most children lived in the same community as their parents well into adulthood. Children spent all day with their families.

I remember Republicans pushing a return to school very hard, saying it would make kids happier to return to a "normal" schedule. However, it turns out many children were actually happier during the lockdown. And why wouldn't they be? They got a taste of what life was like when things slowed down, and they had a chance to live and spend time with their families.

Late-stage capitalism is insidious. It locks survival needs like food, shelter and healthcare behind paywalls. It causes untold mental duress, particularly to the poorest and most vulnerable in the system. One thing I rarely see addressed, however, is the effect it has on families. How it literally rips children from their parent's arms once the six weeks of maternity leave are up, and work starts again.

I want children. I'd love to have kids, truly. But why bother while living under capitalism? Even if I had kids, I'd only have them for six hours a day. Even less of that would be quality time. How well would I even get to know them? How well would they know me?Would you even truly consider that to be a family?

The 2020 lockdown was one of the most stressful periods any of us can remember. Yet, many children were actually happier during such a dark, stressful period, because their daily schedules were no longer warped by capitalism's demands on their parents. And that really says it all.