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I saw this post by @astropixie about how it’d be nice to review fics on AO3 as you read. A little while back, because I was so in awe of the Clexa fic writers, I made this userscript (can install on Firefox by using Greasemonkey and on Chrome and Opera by using Tampermonkey) so that I could do just that. It doesn’t have the wattpad or soundcloud functionality, it’s just a little thing added on to a page, not something supported by the site itself, but it’s better than nothing. 

The userscript is available here: http://pastebin.com/vYBCYWu4

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I gamba

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Chapter 14 is going smoothly. Again, very short, but it’ll be really getting the ball rolling. A bit less descriptive too, but it’ll be really clear why as you read

#Sandy updates #Updates

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shoutout to dr. ratio's duck. legit my biggest regret for not getting his lc, but I needed to save my funds for penacony. maybe, maybe, on his rerun, I will finally cave and get my rubber ducky png...

#sandy blabbles #hsr #dr ratio #dr ratio hsr #veritas ratio

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greetings. i am liberated and will churn out ch14 hopefully by the end of this week. as I said in ch13's notes, it WILL be short, maybe around 5k, and is mostly there to act as a jumping off point for ch15.

#sandy updates #updates

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aventurine being associated with ace of spades and all, makes me very suddenly remember cayde-6 :(

i miss those days where ace of spades was ultra meta...er, well, I never was actually very good but I remember getting killed by it a ton and killing a ton of ppl with it

#sandy blabbles #aventurine hsr #destiny 2 #mention

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Re: Ravengard & Wyll's Contract 'Choice'

BG3 Spoilers for Act 3 & Wyll's Quest

Everyone's gotta lay off of Wyll!

Now, disclaimer, I did do things out of sequence. I never attended Gortash's coronation because 1. I was fully intent on killing him and 2. Wanted to level up and do a ton of stuff before facing him. I thought it was an obvious trap, so I decided to blow up the Steel Watch and stuff and save him for last. Apparently, Ravengard's supposed to be at the Iron Throne after the coronation, but because I never went to the coronation, my bro was still waiting beside Gortash to appoint him Archduke. This means that Ravengard's just...dead. Like, nothing you can do about it. I tried killing everyone but him and he was still hostile, and when I used Non Lethal on him he just died anyway

(Weirdly though, even though I used non-lethal on Ravengard AS WYLL who said, and I quote: "Father, no! That was no killing blow!" He talked like I just killed Ravengard? Like, no. Everyone else even says it must've been the Absolute or something, which is why he dies even with non lethal. AND YOU WERE THERE, WYLL---

I assume there's no dialog for this approach or that it just bugged out, for some reason. Either way, just really weird and also a bummer. Defo never skipping Gortash's coronation, now that I know he won't immediately kill me and that doing so doesn't mess up Wyll's quest in this way for me)

Case in point, Ravengard? More like DEADgard. Hahaha. Im sorry please don't leave

So Mizora, bonafide bitch, comes into my camp with a contract offer and whatnot. And Wyll's gotta choose between either bringing his Ravengard back to life at the cost of his soul, or letting him stay dead and breaking his contract.

As an aside, I really, REALLY hate that unlike with other companion's story quests, you HAVE to make this choice for him. There's no option where you let HIM make his own choice. Which just really rubs me the wrong way? A large theme of this game so far as been the autonomy over oneself; the freedom of choice, the freedom that one has to pursue the life one wishes to live. Most of the story's about regaining lost autonomy (since having a tadpole in your head really doesn't help with that), and so many antagonists want to strip people of their autonomy. Gortash outright says, in one of his journals, that free will is the enemy of progress, and that in order to progress to peace, that it has to be stripped in order to form a collective (and that's a fine philosophical discussion, but pursuing would make this post x25 longer).

And yes, there is the case of Astarion's personal quest, where there ISN'T an option to let him decide himself if he wants to ascend or not. There is story justification for it, since he does need your help in order to carve the runes, but speaking aside from that, I think in this instance, it's fine. At that moment, Astarion is literally being faced with two choices: 1. Live as a spawn for the rest of his life, susceptible to the sun and forced to live in the shadows, forced to constantly sate his hunger, live as he has for the past miserable 200 years, or 2. Obtain such power that he doesn't have to face the drawbacks of being a vampire, but more importantly, it's the choice that, to him, screams: You won't be hurt. That's a really tempting choice, coupled with 200 years of suffering and torture, and the fear and trauma that has instilled with Astarion. Astarion ascending is a result of his fear of being hurt, but in the process, he hurts thousands. Thus, being given the choice to let him ascend or not becomes either allowing the cycle of trauma to continue (as Cazador was abused by his master, Astarion abused by Cazador, Astarion is just the next vampire master whom will continue the cycle), killing thousands of people, or pushing Astarion to realize that he can be better than Cazador and break the cycle. He even admits that he needed that little push, because he was just too enraptured by power to think of anything but it.

TLDR; Astarion's quest does have legitimate justification as to why there isn't a 'Let him do as he wishes' option, as there is with Shadowheart's quest for example. There is absolutely no reason why you can't just let Wyll make the decision between...reviving his father at the cost of his soul, or letting him remain dead in exchange for his freedom. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE QUESTION OF AUTONOMY, one that the game has made clear, time and time again, that these choices are best made by the individual whom it affects. To be honest, this is a small thing in the larger scheme of things, but it still just really irks me.

Anyway, since I had Wyll's very fate and autonomy in my hands, I ultimately made the decision to have him break free of his contract. Bro deserves better than to be stuck in Avernus for eternity, after all, and if Ravengard is as good as everyone says, this is the choice he'd want Wyll to make as well. Ravengard's already dead, and there's no reason to disturb that for like, what? 10 more years of leadership? I was tempted to let Ravengard revive to help rebuild the city, since like, he's maybe the only noble who actually has the people's best interest at heart, but one man isn't enough to disrupt an entire system. We have revolutions for that. Jokes aside, that was the choice I came to, even if I have the nagging feeling it might not have been what Wyll would've then (but then again, I got approval from him, so maybe not). Also, I do not trust Mizora the Bitch to not do something like 'Okay Wyll, Absolute is gone, your next task is to kill your own father.' I get what they were aiming for with this choice, but for me, it was an easy one to make.

But now, oh boy boy, here we come to what REALLY irked me.

WHY IS EVERYONE SAYING WYLL SACRIFICED HIS OWN FATHER???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firstly, there was no sacrifice at play. Like, AT ALL. Ravengard was already dead, at the gates of the City of Judgment! If anything, choosing to bring him back would be a sacrifice: you'd be sacrificing Ravengard's retirement (bc if he's as good as everyone says, he'd probably be chilling in heaven). Let the man sip pina coladas for eternity or something.

So, literally, the only sacrifice here, is Wyll sacrificing his soul to hell for an eternity to bring his father back. Wyll breaking his contract doesn't sacrifice shit. It's not going to leave him guiltless; I've no doubt that Wyll would feel guilt that he didn't save his father, but ultimately, it's like saying that letting people stay dead is a sacrifice and morally reprehensible, all because you didn't want to go to a devil and doom your soul for eternity. That doesn't logic, dude.

It's likely that this might be reaction dialog to a different choice you could've made with Wyll if you've seen Gortash's coronation, which, for the writer's sake, I hope is the case. But it's still really, really frustrating. Stop guilt-tripping Wyll like this!

Ultimately, it just felt really clunky. The Blade of Frontiers quest isn't marked completed yet, so there may yet be a chance for the writing to eek out and make me eat my words, or at least overlook it. But whatever that was, I really, really hope they can either rewrite it, or learn from it and not repeat the same mistake.

Anyways, there's an actual Essay that I have to turn in, so I'ma go do that. Thanks for reading, hope you've had a good day, and remember to stay hydrated.

#reblogs

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Prey

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ah yes the inherent conjunction of eroticism and horror

#hsr #black swan #acheron #seriously that animated short WAS PEAk #beautiful in so mnay ways #literally breathless over here

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AVENTURINE WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE FINAL PHASE. MY WILL IS STRONG BUT IM AFRAID ACHERON IS EVEN STRONGER…HOW WILL I PULL THROUGH WITH YOU AND YOUR LIGHTCONE FUCKKKKKKKKK

also doesn’t help that the Acheron black swan trailer was fruity as fuck and sure, I’m straight, but also sexuality is a spectrum and I wanna be sandwiched—

#sandy blabbles #Hsr #Honkai star rail #Im super hyped for this update #The last time I’ve felt this hyped was when I finally got bg3 #please time skip me to its release #So I can play it #The best part is that finals will have been concluded so I can focus wholeheartedly on this #THE HYPE IS REAL

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putting this here to remind myself of the greatest moment in my life

#sandy blabbles #furina #genshin impact #i love her sm #on another note she and alex would get along rlly well I think

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all of tumblr tomorrow, march 15th:

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Heya, sorry for not updating any sooner. Finals are coming up, and I have two research papers—both which are taking me a lot longer to do than I initially thought. That and I still have to study. I was also working on a commission for @/twst-charity whenever I did have the free time to write, so I’ve not made much progress beyond a loose outline and a sentence. I’m now finished with that commission, but finals are sort of starting to hit, and I’ve not finished any of my two papers yet.

I’ll try to continue working on POTI, but unfortunately the next chapter might get delayed until early April. I want to focus on school first.

#Sandy updates #Updates #Paint Over Thinning Ink

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alright i am sick of yt to mp4 sites being shady and full of viruses and finding websites that seem to be working and then don't work (looking at you y232 (no hate, just frustrated))

so HERE'S HOW YOU DOWNLOAD YOUTUBE VIDEOS WITH VLC!! VLC FREAKIN RULES!!

get your youtube link

open vlc, go to media > open network stream

paste your url in the box and PRESS PLAY!

wait for the video to open then go to tools > codec information

copy the entire file location (click the box, then ctrl-a to select all, then ctrl-c to copy)

paste into your browser of choice (i use firefox)

right click video and press "save video as", choose your file format if you want

DONE! NO VIRUSES OR SKETCHY STUFF!

the quality might be a little crummy but if you don't mind that, then shabam! video on your computer! then you can email it to yourself and have it on your phone too if you want! if you need a guide with pictures wikihow has you covered my friends

happy downloading and stay safe on the internet :D

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Tumblr Code.

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Late but happy 2024 from your favorite vices 🥳🥳 ジェルー/Jade x Rook