#I’ve also heard some of the rumors during filming and I would politely ask for people not to talk about them in the tags. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin · 3 years

Note

Lily (from "Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus", what else?) and Lenin and maybe some other people? Watch "Heathers". Reactions? Or what they get transported there? Sorry, it's just that I'm in this Heathers-obsession phase and since I love your work so much (and the fact that Trotsky is kinda sorta like JD) I've been wondering about a crossover like that. I honestly have no idea what your answer to this will entail.

I’ve been musing on this one for a bit now but I suppose it’s time to dig in and answer.

First, I’m not usually a fan of the “X characters watch Y thing” so we’re going to avoid that. Also, to Wizard Lenin, it’d undoubtedly be yet another one of Lily’s weird 80′s movies that she loves so much and forces him to watch. It’s less gory than Predator, but dammit Lily, high school isn’t like this!

Getting transported there is a similarly weird story. It’s such a muggle setting that it really doesn’t mesh well with the “Sisyphus” cast. Why would Lily and Wizard Lenin be stuck in this high school in Ohio? Would they even do anything besides go “That JD kid sure is weird” and “Wow, the death count here is higher than Hogwarts!”? Point being, I can’t imagine they’d get entangled in the true plot of “Heathers” and at best would be providing riff track commentary on this crazy high school.

So, instead, let’s go the good old fusion route. Let’s make the world of “Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus” just a bit more like “Heathers” and see how it pans out.

Because “Heathers” is all about the destruction of society from within, we’re axing Voldemort. Sorry, Tom, you got stuck in a magical mirror, eaten by bears, or something after 1943 and are going to be Sir Not Appearing in this Universe. As a result, there’s no Voldemort, but the deep societal issues that Tom took advantage of very much remain and are flourishing.

In this world, Lily is still a god, but is not immediately recognized as such by being the girl who lived. Instead, she’s just a strange, dangerously overpowered, nuisance that nobody likes. And her home life is trash.

I imagine in the world without Voldemort, Death Eaters, and a second war Lily and James’ marriage quickly crumbles. This is mainly due to the stress of marriage but also due to having a gifted, ridiculously intelligent, and creepy child. Within a few years, Lily Evans has the audacity to do what is never done: she divorces her pureblood lord husband and tries to vie for child custody. She loses, of course, as she’s a muggle born woman, and is basically banished from ever seeing her kid again.

James never really gets over this, Ellie looking so much like Lily Evans certainly not helping matters, and over the years grows very cold to her. She’s not a son so is useless to inherit, she’s nothing like him, and she’s just an all around disappointment. James very quickly gets remarried for political purposes, marrying a far less scandelous pureblood witch from pick your prestigious family, and they have a son meaning that Lily is no longer heir.

Lily thus attends Hogwarts as essentially the half-blood Potter. She’s for all intents and purposes a bastard child, one barely acknowledged by her father, and is also weird. As a result I imagine she’s bullied relentlessly much in the manner Luna is. For years.

I imagine Luna Lovegood is her only friend, as the pair have bonded over constantly having their stuff destroyed and being locked out of their dormitories.

Enter Lily’s seventh year and thus the plot.

The outside world is looming and Lily effectively has no future. Despite being the daughter of Lord Potter, she’s in a similar position that Tom Riddle was. She won’t be hired into the Ministry or basically any position thanks to her dubious heritage as well as the fact that no one likes her.

Mostly, she just wants out. She wants out of the country where everyone knows exactly who she is and where she came from. Her best hope for this is employment with the goblins but she needs recommendations from a professor. Her best bet is Slughorn, but while he’s always been awed of her ability after seven years of Lily the charm has worn off. Lily has never received an invitation to the Slug Club.

Lily realizes that to get out she must become popular so someone can vouch for her to Slughorn. Not to mention her life might become slightly, slightly, less miserable. So, Lily approaches the Heathers. Much like in the film/musical, Lily offers her services to them for the fee of making nice, pretending to like her, and getting her an in with Slughorn.

This spirals out of control as the Heathers instead do the makeover and make Lily suddenly cool. She’s suddenly invited to parties, people talk to her, it’s a whole new world.

Around this time, Lily in the room of requirement happens to stumble across the diary (nevermind how he gets there, we’ll pretend Tom just never managed to smuggle him out of the castle). Tom has been trapped in there, dying, and Lily obliviously informs him that all his ambitions and sacrifices amounted to nothing. There was no dark lord after Grindelwald, she’s never heard of a Tom Riddle, and everything she describes makes it sound like nothing has changed.

Tom Riddle inexplicably vanished off the face of the earth leaving only the diary behind.

Naturally, Tom is very pissed about this, and sets about plotting how he can return, trying to get Lily to open up by asking her for help returning him to his body. Lily does him one better and just returns him to his body without any sacrifice, casually remarking that she’s always been like this as long as she can remember, fully accepting Tom to yell “SHE’S A WITCH! BURN HER!” to her face as everyone else does.

Tom, however, is floored and everything he’s ever known to be true is thrown out the window. He decides to make Lily his new pet project.

Unfortunately for him, by this point Lily has a Slug Club to attend, only it goes horribly wrong. The Heathers have purposefully set about humiliating Luna, Lily’s only friend, and Lily has to very publicly break ties with them even though it means sacrificing her only real chance of leaving the country with gainful employment. Worse, the Heathers promise wrath the likes of which Lily has never seen before.

Lily, devastated and despairing, goes back to Tom and confesses all the shitiness of her extremely shitty life and how she doesn’t even know what the Heathers will do to her now. Tom finds this a little odd, as Lily has quickly proven herself the most powerful person on the planet, but he’s willing to play along. More to the point, Lily and Tom’s relationship goes from 0 to 100 as he is not only the first guy to show interest in her but he’s very very interested and very very hot. When Lily decides to beg Alpha Heather for forgiveness, Tom notes that he’ll come with, he’s better with people than she is.

Tom, having hit a low point of nihilist rage thanks to Voldemort having amounted to nothing, poisons Alpha Heather and dutifully covers for Lily by writing her suicide note. This works. There is an ecstasy of joyous grief throughout the school as staff and students alike confess how they never knew the true Heather. Lily is astounded, Tom is ecstatic.

Lily tries to return to life as normal, goes back to hanging out with Luna, but also has to introduce Tom to the school. Tom suggests she mind wipes everyone, that makes Lily uncomfortable, so she instead confesses what she believes is the truth in that Tom was trapped in an enchanted object. Dumbledore nearly has a stroke, but since Tom Riddle never became Voldemort, it’s more that this is a solution to an unsolved mystery and the castle is glad Tom isn’t actually dead. They’d thought he got hit by one of those muggle bombs during WWIII or whatever it was the muggles had going on.

HA HA HA HA, but no, Tom says in response.

In the meantime Tom gets to witness Lily’s weird and strained relationship with her father, his friends, and her younger half-brother. Tom points out that Lily seeking out gainful employment is unnecessary. Lily doesn’t have to be a part of society, like all these worthless people around her, she’s so powerful that she can do whatever she likes however she likes it. She can simply leave the country, she could become a dark lord even, there’s nothing stopping her. Lily’s never thought of it like that before, to become a true part of society, to be accepted on some level by that society, has always just seemed like the obvious path to her. What else would she do?

Due to this, Lily and Tom’s relationship continues to grow as they’re really the first people to see each other as they are. Naturally, this is when shit hits the fan. Thanks to Tom, Lily’s invited to another Slug Club with him (Tom can still become minister even if he was trapped in a book for fifty years! Slughorn says). Lily gets hit on and nearly sexually assaulted by some of the boys there, Lily gets out, but the next day rumor circulates around the school that Lily was in a threesome with them.

Tom Riddle sets up a ridiculous scheme in which he fakes their murder suicide where they confess to being homosexual. Lily is increasingly horrified. The school, once again, is in an ecstasy of joyful grief over the loss of these two, beautiful, oppressed, gay souls. Lily realizes that Tom is A Bad Dude (TM) and tries to confront him. He easily confesses he cares nothing about these people and has decided he wants to watch society burn. These are the people who thought he had died in the Blitz and did nothing. They are people who cannot and will not change. They’re the absentee fathers who dote on far less powerful, pureblood, sons. Tom has officially, completely, given up on the wizarding world and now he will destroy it as quickly and horrifically as he can. Lily, not belonging to society, can pour the kerosene on with him.

This is getting a little too gnarly for Lily and she dumps Tom.

Unfortunately, he quickly becomes exceedingly popular thanks to his angelic face, his natural charm and charisma, and his understanding of people. He passes around a petition for suicide and bullying awareness that everybody and their brother signs. What they’re really signing is pages from the diary which, much like Death Note, promises him both their magic and their life force.

Tom confronts Lily and admits he’s going to murder everybody, an entire generation of wizards and witches gone in an instant, AND LILY CAN BE HIS DARK QUEEN! Lily and Tom get into a fight, Tom accidentally murders the shit out of her and is devestated, only of course for Lily to wake up later after he’s left because she was unwittingly immortal this whole time.

Rising from the dead, Lily hunts Tom down before he can blow up the school, and sucks him back into the diary. Upon graduation Lily makes up with Luna, still has no prospects and plans to go and be homeless in India, has hesitantly gotten in contact with Lily Evans, basically has no contact left with her father, and has a boyfriend diary named Tom who might be let out in fifty years if he promises not to blow up a school.

#ask #anon #lily and the art of being sisyphus #heathers

37 notes · View notes

quazartranslates · 3 years

Text

Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH74

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

-----

Chapter 74: Castle Cry (I)

[Player Qi Leren has started the task: Castle Cry]

[Task background: In the middle of the night, three couples have come to the mountains in the outskirts of town to watch the stars during a once-in-a-century meteor shower. In the mountains, there was a European-style castle built during the Republic of China. It was said that it was built by a German couple who came to China to do business, and then it was abandoned because of a fire. The locals repeatedly tried to repair the castle, but each time there was an accident, and no one has set foot inside since. At midnight that night, the clear night sky suddenly began to rain with dark clouds. Six people were trapped on the top of the mountain, and the rain gradually worsened. One of them proposed to seek shelter from the rain under the castle’s eaves…]

[Task requirements: Leave the castle before dawn with a task completion degree above 30% to receive the reward of 20 survival days, with the chance for additional survival day rewards. If the completion degree is above 90%, you will receive a lucky draw once.]

[Data synchronization countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Synchronization complete.]

　　&&&

Qi Leren was awakened by the rain. It was raining all around him. Two couples were crowded under a tree. One of the girls with long hair complained coily: "Why did it suddenly rain?" The weather forecast clearly said it was clear."

Her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her shoulder to comfort her, but he couldn't smooth her unwillingness. She complained endlessly: "I wouldn’t have come for the once-in-a-century meteor shower if I’d known! My clothes are all wet. What can I do if I catch a cold? People who aren’t in good health can’t get wet”

"Luo Xueyi, you said you were coming. Now it’s raining and there’s no way. Let's leave and go home," another girl with short hair said impatiently, holding her boyfriend's arm and going down the mountain.

The long-haired girl named Luo Xueyi pouted and said, "You can't blame me for this. I didn't know it would rain. Besides, you and Xiao Hong also promised to come. It's so romantic to watch a meteor shower. Who knew it would rain..."

"The rain is getting harder and harder, and the mountain road is slippery and not safe. Let's find somewhere nearby and wait for it to let up." Xiao Hong, the short-haired girl's boyfriend, held her back.

"What if it just gets worse? Besides, there’s no place to hide from the rain here. After a while, even this tree won’t be able stop the rain!" the short-haired girl said testily.

"Oh, Nan Lu is impatient. I think the rain will stop in a moment. As for the place to shelter from the rain, look, it’s dry under the eaves of that old castle." Luo Xueyi pointed to the castle not far away, which was surrounded by trees.

There was no doubt that the several NPCs in front of them were going to die. Qi Leren decided to persuade them with the idea of saving one's life. It was inevitable that he and Dr. Lu would go to the castle, but these NPCs didn't have to stick out their necks: "I don't know if it’s safe to go there after years of disrepair. Let me go and have a look."

Dr. Lu sighed softly and said in a voice that only he could hear: "According to the rules of horror films, you can't stop an idiot from dying."

Sure enough, Luo Xueyi said with a delicate voice: "It's not safe, don't say that you believe that rumor. It's just an old castle, can't a ghost suddenly jump out?" She giggled and seemed amused by her own words.

"Obviously, this Luo Xueyi plays the role of the classic horror film character with a big chest and no brain. It’s very vivid," Dr. Lu spoke up.

Unexpectedly, she also added: "I know that you and Lu-xuedi are inseparable, but today we’ll be the third wheels, hehe."

At this moment, Qi Leren and Dr. Lu’s mood is: WTF?!

"Now I know why there are three couples in the background of this mission," Dr. Lu said in a cold sweat, "It turns out that this copy is still politically correct and there’s a pair of gays, but I have to firmly refuse this kind of pretending to be a gay couple."

Qi Leren gave him an oblique look: "You, Schrodinger's straight man, have nothing to refuse. You’d only protest when my pen is straight."

"No, I can accept playing gay, but I don't want to be gay with you," Dr. Lu said seriously.

"Why?" Qi Leren felt as if he’d been rejected.

"Because you’re taller than me, I feel like ‘that’ with you..." Dr. Lu looked dignified.

"Which one?" Qi Leren asked.

"The one who needs to be checked frequently to see the health status of somewhere."

"...You know a lot." Qi Leren was embarrassed.

"Stop whispering and keep up." While the two people talked in a low voice, Luo Xueyi had called them to rush forward, and they’d to keep up with it and come to the nearby eaves of the castle against the heavy rain.

The castle was very old indeed, and it didn't look particularly tall. It exuded the breath of old history in the night.

The two couples were still whispering to each other, and Qi Leren looked at these four NPCs quietly.

The task of "Castle Cry" was a copy task. He and Dr. Lu started the task and came to the copy world after preparation. Each copy world was almost a parallel world with large and small areas. Qi Leren suspected that the area of this copy was as big as this mountain. If he tried to go down the mountain now, he would likely be forcibly repatriated by the system.

The NPCs came with this copy, and there were different opinions about NPC players in this copy task. Some people treated them as real human beings, others completely ignored this group of NPCs, and there were even players who maliciously slaughtered the NPCs. Generally speaking, the NPCs did not affect the player's basic ending. Even if he killed all the four NPCs now, there would be no problem to achieve the simplest ending. However, there were some clues. If you wanted to dig out the so-called true ending, you might also need the help of NPC.

Qi Leren naturally has no abnormal hobby of killing NPCs. He was observing these four NPCs.

Luo Xueyi and Miao Bo were a couple, and Miao Bo was a model of the loyal dog boyfriend. Nan Lu, the girl with short hair, seemed to have no warmth towards Luo Xueyi, and her boyfriend Xiao Hong seemed to be completely ignorant of the subtle aura between the girls.

Shouldn’t be an important role, Qi Leren thought. He glanced at the time. It was 0:55 in the morning, and it was almost one o'clock. There was not much time left for them in the task. If it was bright at six o'clock, they only had five hours.

"This door doesn't seem to be locked. Is it locked inside?" Luo Xueyi said, while pushing the strong-looking door.

With a creak, the wooden door was pushed open halfway, revealing a dark space.

Luo Xueyi's scream almost broke the eardrums of several people. Nan Lu slammed her ears and said angrily: "What is it? It's scary!"

Luo Xueyi shrank into Miao Bo's arms and cried with tears: "The door is open, the door is open!"

"If you open it, we won’t go in." MiaoBo patted her on the back to comfort her.

Xiao Hong peeked at Luo Xueyi and echoed: "Yes, we’ll leave when the rain lets up, and we won’t go in."

Dr. Lu pouted and whispered to Qi Leren: "Believe it or not, there will be an accident soon."

"...To the letter."

Sure enough, there was a wolf howling in the dark mountain forest. The horrible howling pierced the rainy night and pierced the psychological defenses of the group. Luo Xueyi screamed again: "Ah, ah, there are wolves!"

"Don't yell, won’t you attract the wolves?!” Nan Lu also panicked, holding Xiao Hong's trembling arm. Xiao Hong was frightened by her and tried to pull away, but failed.

"How can there be a wolf here? This is impossible," Miao Bo questioned in awe as he was held by Luo Xueyi. “This area isn’t too far away from the city, and I’ve never heard of anyone seeing wolves.”

However, the howling sound that was getting closer and closer made the several young people panic. Compared to the rumors of being haunted, the wolves that were close at hand were more dangerous - Qi Leren, who had killed wolves, has reservations about this - the group chose to enter the castle to avoid it without struggling for long.

Sure enough, I still have to go in, Qi Leren sighed in his heart and dragged a reluctant Dr. Lu into the castle.

The stale smell came over him, and the wooden door was closed. Miao Bo proposed to find something like a table to block the door so as not to let the wolf in, and the rest didn’t object. The range that the flashlight could illuminate was very limited, and it was still dark all around. There were traces of smoke on the wall, which really looked like a fire had happened.

"How did this castle burn down?" Qi Leren took advantage of this time before the dangerous part of the task began, and took the time to inquire about it.

Nan Lu took Xiao Hong's arm and said somberly, "I heard that the lady who lived in this castle discovered her husband's infidelity, and in a rage, she killed all the people in the castle and set it on fire. You see, there are burn marks everywhere now."

Luo Xueyi, who had calmed down, said with a smile: "It's just a legend. I think it was just a fire at night that burned down the castle. It's been rumored about for a long time."

"Yes, Xiao-Lu, don't listen to this rumor," Nan Lu's boyfriend Xiao Hong also said.

Nan Lu didn't say anything.

Qi Leren's flashlight shone around nearby. The hall the the door entered into had hundreds of square feet, and its height was far higher than that of a normal building’s. The overhead lights hanging above were still gorgeous even after decades, but unfortunately they could no longer light up. Going further, he found two curved staircases leading to the second floor. A picture frame was faintly visible on the wall beside the stairs, but unfortunately the paintings in it had been burned.

"Qi Leren, where are you going? The floor of the stairs may be burned out. You'd better not walk around." Nan Lu saw Qi Leren walking up the stairs and called him back.

Qi Leren then went back and followed them to the side corridor, ready to find something like tables and chairs to block the door.

Suddenly there was a dazzling light in front of him, and Qi Leren walking at the end of the group suddenly saw the fire coming head-on from the depths of the corridor, coming towards them like waves!

What was happening? Why was there a sudden fire?!

The people in front screamed, running in the direction of the door, and Qi Leren turned and ran after a slow beat. Fortunately, the fire wasn’t fast, but it was too bright and dazzling, which almost made it hard to open their eyes.

"The door is gone!" Luo Xueyi's cry was full of panic, and several people were anxiously flapping at the wall that should have been the door. The fear of unnatural things suddenly washed away human reason, and the fire was getting closer and closer, which drove the young people crazy.

"When-"

A distant bell came from the direction of the curved staircase: it was one o'clock in the morning.

The flame disappeared with the bell, everything illuminated by the firelight returned to darkness, and only a few people's flashlights lit up a small piece of darkness.

But even so, the group soon discovered the abnormality.

Nan Lu's voice trembled, and she murmured as if in a dream: "The traces of being burned are gone..."

With the bell, the whole castle seemed to have returned to the past.

-----

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

32 notes · View notes

saoirse-argentum · 5 years

Text

I decided it would be more entertaining (for myself at least) to answer these as Saoirse…So I did…Everything outside of the last set of Q and A anyway. Haurchefant also makes a guest appearance. XD

B A S I C S .

FULL NAME: Saoirse Argentum! NICKNAME(S): Sunshine and Somebunny. I’m told I have a cheery disposition and I love puns. AGE: 29. BIRTHDAY: 19th Sun of the 1st Astal Moon (Jan. 19th) ETHNIC GROUP: Viera, Rava. NATIONALITY: Gridanian. LANGUAGE(S) : Common. Dalmascan. High Ivalician. And I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out Mooglespeak….Kupo. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: I like them Elezen boys…and I’m a sucker for a handsome Dragoon. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Heteromantic and hopeless. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Eternally pining over Estinien. HOME TOWN/AREA: Old Gridania. CURRENT HOME: I still call Old Gridania home, but I spend a lot of time in Ishgard. PROFESSION: White Mage, Serpent Captain for the Order of the Twin Adder…Secretly a Gunbreaker…A bad one, but a girl can dream!

P H Y S I C A L .

HAIR: Brunette EYES: Green. FACE: Hmm. How did Haurchefant put it? You know what, I’ll just let him answer these next few. “If I had a star for every time her beauty brightened my day, I would have a galaxy.” LIPS: “Pink, supple and saccharine.” COMPLEXION: “Lightly sun-kissed.” BLEMISHES: “Not a one in sight…but her freckles…sprinkled like sugar and sweet.” SCARS: “None that I can see…Perhaps I should check.” “No.” TATTOOS: “A heart with my name on it, just above her breast.” “ALSO NO!” HEIGHT: “Approx. 5’8”. Short for a Viera…I could just keep her in my pocket.” WEIGHT: “A gentleman would never tell.” “130lbs.” BUILD: “Like a brickhouse.” FEATURES: “Long lashes, slender legs, and her breasts—” “Okay, you’re done here.” ALLERGIES: Bananas and cats…both of which I enjoy. A true tragedy. USUAL HAIR STYLE: Curled with angled bangs and styled to rest over my shoulder on one side. USUAL FACE LOOK: I smile a lot, I guess? USUAL CLOTHING: Thigh-high boots, skirts and dresses, and while in dungeons generally my White Mage robes.

P S Y C H O L O G Y .

FEAR(S): Loss. Letting my friends down…and the dark. ASPIRATION(S): Protect Eorzea, learn to be as good a fighter as I am a healer, and win the heart of Ishgard’s Grandest Grump! POSITIVE TRAITS: I suppose my empathy and optimism. NEGATIVE TRAITS: I can be stubborn and sometimes my shyness can be misconstrued as coldness. MBTI: INFJ (“The Advocate”) ZODIAC: Capricorn. TEMPERAMENT: Somewhere between Melancholic and Phlegmatic. SOUL TYPE(S): An artisan. ANIMAL(S): Vulpes Vulpes! Or the Astute Fox, a charming carnivore. VICE HABIT(S): I can be relatively reckless at times. FAITH: By the Twelve! GHOSTS?: Where?! AFTERLIFE?: Yes. There is something after all this. REINCARNATION?: I wouldn’t say it’s an impossibility all things considered. ALIENS?: I’m like 75% sure that Hildibrand is from another planet. POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: I’m a proud member of the Eorzean Alliance. EDUCATION LEVEL: I have a high desire for learning, so I study whatever I can, when I can.

F A M I L Y .

FATHER: I never met him and my mother spoke little of him. MOTHERS: Relme Argentum. SIBLINGS: Only child. EXTENDED FAMILY: Cassie Drauman…We’re practically sisters. NAME MEANING(S): Saoirse means “freedom” and Argentum is a metal so it’s considered “shining” in some circles. HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: None that I can verify. When I was kid, I heard rumors that my father was Hyur: Hilghlander who fought for Ala Mhigo during the Garlean invasion.

F A V O R I T E S .

BOOK: I love so many…but I enjoy a good romance story. DEITY: Menphina. HOLIDAY: Heavensturn. MONTH: October…there’s just a certain feeling in the air. SEASON: Fall PLACE: The Dravanian Hinterlands, near Matoya’s Cave! WEATHER: Brisk Autumn days with just a slight breeze…enough to stir the leaves. SOUND(S): Soft rain and crackling fires. Thunder and crunch of leaves beneath your feet. SCENT(S): The smell of earth after it rains. Strawberries and roses. TASTE(S): Whiskey kisses. <3 FEEL(S): Plush Velvets…Estinien’s hair. >_> <_< ANIMAL(S): Estinien…but really, puppies. NUMBER(S): 19 is my lucky number! COLOR(S): Pink and pastels.

E X T R A .

TALENT(S): My propensity for puns. BAD AT: Dance and tanking…which obviously go hand in hand. TURN ONS: Estinien is glaring really hard at me right now… TURN OFFS: Cruelty. Smelling like a Sahagin corpse covered in moldy stone cheese. HOBBIES: Reading, sleeping, and baking. TROPES: White Mage, Healing Hands, Girl Next Door, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and the Klutz. QUOTE(S): “To let evil do evil, to do nothing in its presence is the same as taking their side. Being a hero means taking a stand.” “I used to be good at wordplay…once a pun a time.”

M U N Q U E S T I O N S .

Q1: If you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about? A1: It doesn’t matter what I write, romance is usually central to the storyline, so it wouldn’t be any different with Saoirse. It would probably be a reverse harem style anime and all her party members would be beautiful men (standard archetypes) who want to protect Eorzea alongside her while vying for her heart. It would be called: All My Party Members are Bachelors. XD

Q2: What would their soundtrack/score sound like? A2: Probably a combination of Ayumi Hamasaki and Abingdon Boys School.

Q3: Why did you start writing this character? A3: She has a strong, bubbly voice and I spend so much time working on projects with more reserved heroines that it’s nice to break away from that without having to stress over my problematic perfectionism.

Q4: What first attracted you to this character? A4: I really like writing from the perspective of a character who doesn’t take herself too seriously…It makes writing dialogue enjoyable because I don’t have to stress about whether or not she’s actually funny so long as she finds herself amusing.

Q5: Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5: Sometimes she’s a little too passive or naïve. I think part of that is because I’m so used to playing as a healer that I forget she can be strong in other ways.

Q6: What do you have in common with your muse? A6: We’re both hopeless romantics and we both enjoy really simple humor…so easily amused.

Q7: How does your muse feel about you? A7: I dunno, let me ask.

“Are you French?...Because Eiffel for you.”

Ha!

Q8: What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with? A8: As a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, her most interesting interactions are with grumps or others with her sense of humor. Either way the banter is generally amusing.

Q9: What gives you inspiration to write your muse? A9: Listening to music is one, but drawing is another one. I love drawing Saoirse with other characters and imagining scenes or interactions to bring to life visually and that generally spurs my writing.

Q10: How long did this take you to complete? A10: About two hours…because my dogs and significant other really enjoy distracting me, but it’s cool because I enjoy it too.

#FFXIV #Final Fantasy XIV #FF14 #haurchefant #haurchefant greystone #Saoirse Argentum #its the survey that never ends #or does it?#it does #viera #rava viera #white mage #my muse #character profile

13 notes · View notes

dcubtless-blog · 5 years

Photo

𝔰𝔦𝔩𝔞𝔰 𝔞𝔪𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔲𝔰 𝔤𝔯𝔢𝔶𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔢. ➝ INTRO.

hello there everybody !! i’m emmy ! i have two dogs, am deathly allergic to avocados, and it’s been a hot minute since i’ve been in a supernatural-y rp, so i’m v v excited to be here and write with u all ! enough abt me -- here’s some more info about my werewolf baby SILAS, the youngest greystone ( so far ) and one of the faces of the crimson pack.

☾ ° ⋆ ( luke hemmings. cismale, he/him, zipper + brockhampton. ) that’s SILAS GREYSTONE hanging in that gang of friends? i heard they’re a part of the CRIMSON pack. rumor has it they’re 19 years old. currently, they’re posing as a STUDENT at NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, and during dark you can always find them going home to THE BRONX by CAR.

silas is a nineteen year old college sophomore at new york university. he’s currently studying jazz composition, and you can bet pretty certainly that you’ll find him performing in nyu’s various jazz combos or playing the occasional gig at a fancy dinner party for money.

since he’s part of the greystone family, he’s sort of ‘privileged’ in that he was born and raised fully aware and proud of being a werewolf. in fact, it’s somewhat ingrained in him that he’s superior to newly-turned werewolves and whatnot, but he’s trying to unlearn that because he knows it’s disrespectful and unfair

his past/background is pretty loose rn bc i’ve yet to plot out his connections w his family, but this will be updated w some family info when it’s established !!

he’s extremely taciturn to the point where he’s almost difficult to talk to; he’d just much rather spend time by himself than in the company of others

has a tendency to come off a bit rude ?? doesn’t know how to play the polite game is all

despite that, he’s VERY protective over his pack ( as most wolves are ), especially his family ?? don’t fuck w the greystones is all i’m sayin !

he’s also a much different person around other pack members and his family -- much more talkative, and his sense of humor is quite sprightly instead of his usual dry sarcasm

he comes off sort of airheaded, since he’s not the fondest of school, but get him talking about film or literature and you’ll have him rambling for hours. he loves narrative art almost as much as he loves music

also he’s always tired ?? sleepiest boy on the planet i swear

extremely critical of himself. as one of the youngest members of his family/pack, he constantly feels an internal pressure to be better and to surpass the people around him, considering he’s supposed to sort of ‘climb the ranks’ as he gets older

has a pretty serious case of youngest brother syndrome, in that he’s just got those moments of rash immaturity that he’ll most likely never grow out of

sort of turns his nose up at authority ?? probably isn’t gonna b moved up in the pack hierarchy anytime soon bc he has a thing abt just not following the rules

v reckless, currently has a casual love affair w various drugs; will call u at 3am to ask for a ride home, piss fuckin drunk

has some anger issues he’ll need to hammer out eventually so pls,,,,, somebody piss him off & let’s get this character development bread !

also !! here’s some wanted connections i’d love to have for si:

intra-pack clique ( 0/3 ) ➝ other crimson werewolves that he most likely grew up with, trained with, etc etc. they sit in the back and fuck around during pack meets, pull pranks on the alpha together, u get the gist ( also it would be so cute if this were the other 3 5sos boys let me DREAM )

childhood friends ( 0/∞ ) ➝ some people silas has known his whole life and probably have blackmail material from his 7th grade scene phase

party friends ( 0/∞ ) ➝ do they know silas’s favorite color? maybe not, but they absolutely have seen him dislocate his wrist trying to do cartwheels on slippery grass after doing 5 tequila shots.

exes ( 0/2 or 3 ) ➝ silas has definitely had a few serious relationships ( at varying degrees of serious-ness ), most likely through high school or just recently in his first couple years of college. he swings all the ways, so this could literally be anybody ( & listen. i’m such a sucker for exes on bad terms so gimme dat )

forbidden friendships ( 0/∞ ) ➝ silas knows he’s supposed to, like, stay away from other species for his own safety, but he can’t bring himself to give a shit !

that’s all i got for now, but pls hmu if you’d like to plot something out ! my ims here on tumblr are always open or u can hit me up on d*scord at cermet#4735 !! v excited to write with u all <3

#𝖘𝖎𝖑𝖆𝖘 𝖌𝖗𝖊𝖞𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖓𝖊. ☾ ° ⋆ musings.#nightsbound:intro

6 notes · View notes

lastsonlost · 5 years

Link

Aziz? redemption ?

AZIZ DIDN’T FUCKING DO ANY GOD DAMN THING WRONG!!!!!!

God, I love being white,” said Louis C.K.

“Here’s how great it is to be white,” the comedian went on: “I could get in a time machine, and go to any time, and it would be fucking awesome when I get there. That is exclusively a white privilege.”

The bit, part of his 2008 special Chewed Up, was emblematic of C.K.’s approach: poking fun at the inequalities of American society, while simultaneously acknowledging the ways they benefited him.

Contrast that with a set he performed in December 2018, a little over a year after he admitted to masturbating in front of women without their consent. During the December appearance, apparently at a comedy club on Long Island, C.K. joked that Asian men are “all women” and poked fun at school shooting survivors and gender-nonconforming teenagers, according to BuzzFeed News.

“They tell you what to call them,” he complained of teens who use the pronouns they/them. “Oh, OK. You should address me as ‘there’ because I identify as a location. And the location is your mother’s cunt.”

Imagine thinking the best way to resurrect your career after admitting to sexual misconduct is to mock trans people and Parkland gun violence survivors.

2018, during which his standup special and the wide release of his film I Love You, Daddy were canceled, seems to have wrought a change in C.K. Where once his comedy offered a fresh look at established power structures, he now seems set on ranting about kids today and their pronoun choices.

Fellow comedian Aziz Ansari has followed a similar trajectory. He once decried sexual harassment in his act — and addressed the issue in a nuanced way on his show Master of None. But in 2017, a woman told the website Babe.net that he had pressured her for sex — Ansari said he had believed everything that happened between them was “completely consensual,” and that he was “surprised and concerned” by her account.

After the incident, his comedy took on a different tone: In a fall 2018 appearance, he made fun of online debates about cultural appropriation and complained that nowadays, “everyone weighs in on everything,” according to the New Yorker.

The bigotry in C.K.’s set is disturbing, especially coming from someone who seemed at one time to have a relatively clear understanding of how power works in America. But what is also striking about C.K. and Ansari’s post-#MeToo material is its banality. Before they were publicly accused, these men wrestled with thorny questions of identity and power in ways that, while not always satisfying, were usually thought-provoking. After the allegations, they began parroting tired complaints about political correctness.

Of the many people accused of sexual misconduct as part of the #MeToo movement, C.K. and Ansari seemed like they might be uniquely equipped to reckon with the allegations against them, perhaps even adding something to the public conversation around #MeToo. Instead, they have retreated into boring and offensive stereotypes, perhaps playing to those who never thought they did anything wrong.

We’re all worse off for their decision, missing out on the art C.K. and Ansari might have created if they’d been willing to really face their accusations, and robbed of the opportunity to see two intelligent and thoughtful men really wrestle with the implications of #MeToo. In a time when more and more of the accused mull their comebacks, it’s natural to wonder what real redemption — complete with an acknowledgment of harm and a commitment to atonement — might look like. Apparently, Louis C.K. and Aziz Ansari will not be the ones to show us.

Louis C.K. used to talk about violence against women. Now he makes fun of genderqueer teens.

Before #MeToo, Louis C.K. was beloved by many for his often self-lacerating comedy. In his standup and on the autobiographical FX show Louie, he portrayed himself as a sad-sack weirdo disturbed by his own sexual urges — he once called himself a “prisoner” of “sexual perversion.”

C.K.’s work could be offensive, as when he complained that he missed being able to use a homophobic slur (and claimed, unconvincingly, that the way he used it had nothing to do with homophobia). But some hailed his comedy as feminist, and he showed a remarkable ability to mine humor from the dangers and biases women face — a difficult feat for a male comic.

“How do women still go out with guys when you consider that there is no greater threat to women than men?” he asked in a 2013 special. “We’re the number one threat to women! Globally and historically, we’re the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women.”

But C.K. was also the subject of long-simmering sexual misconduct rumors — and in November 2017, four women told the New York Times that he had masturbated in front of them or asked them to watch him masturbate (a fifth said that he masturbated while on a phone call with her).

In a move that remains unusual among men accused as part of #MeToo, C.K. admitted to the allegations against him. “These stories are true,” he said in a statement to the New York Times.

“I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want,” he added. “I will now step back and take a long time to listen.”

But as many have pointed out, the listening didn’t last very long. C.K. was back onstage in September 2018, less than a year after his pledge to step back. In an October appearance at the West Side Comedy Club in New York, he addressed the fallout from his sexual misconduct revelations, saying he’d been to “hell and back” and that he’d “lost $35 million in an hour.”

While many were critical of C.K.’s comeback attempt, West Side Comedy Club host AMarie Castillo told the comedy website LaughSpin that the comic “was so genuine and reflected on how weird his year was” in his October appearance. “Sounds to me he is owning up, acknowledging, and trying to figure it out,” she said.

But in a December set, he didn’t sound much like someone trying to figure anything out. In audio posted on YouTube, apparently from an appearance at the Governor’s Comedy Club on Long Island on December 16, C.K. poked fun at gender-nonconforming youth, Parkland school shooting survivors, and Asian men, among other groups. (The club was unable to confirm to BuzzFeed that C.K. was there that night, though multiple people posted on Instagram that they had seen him perform there.)

“You know why Asian guys have small dicks,” he said at one point, according to Patrick Smith and Amber Jamieson of BuzzFeed. “’Cause they’re women. They’re not dudes. They’re all women. All Asians are women.”

C.K. also said he thought it was ridiculous that the term “retarded” was now viewed as inappropriate, Smith and Jamieson reported. When some listeners appeared shocked, he responded, “Fuck it, what are you going to take away, my birthday? My life is over, I don’t give a shit.”

C.K. has not responded to a request for comment from Vox.

Aziz Ansari once included a sexual harassment storyline on his show. Now he’s complaining about Twitter outrage.

Ansari’s comedy has always been more lighthearted than C.K.’s, but he hasn’t shied away from difficult topics. In a 2015 Netflix special filmed at New York’s Madison Square Garden, he asked women in the audience to raise their hands if they’d ever been followed by a “creepy dude,” according to Eren Orbey at the New Yorker.

“Yeah, that’s way too many people,” he said when hands went up. “That should not be happening.”

The second season of his Netflix show, Master of None, also included a storyline about sexual misconduct. Ansari’s character, Dev, teams up with celebrity chef Jeff Pastore (Bobby Cannavale) for a show called Best Food Friends. But Dev is forced to make a choice when a female crew member reveals that Chef Jeff repeatedly harassed her. The episode, which aired before #MeToo gained steam in fall 2017, felt true to life, as Isha Aran pointed out at Splinter, “from the fears victims face in going public to the misogynist skepticism they’re met with when they share their stories.”

But in January 2018, a woman going by the name Grace told the website Babe.net that Ansari had repeatedly pressured her for sex while the two were on a date. She called it “by far the worst experience with a man I’ve ever had.”

“We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual,” Ansari said in a statement on the allegations last January. “The next day, I got a text from her saying that although ‘it may have seemed okay,’ upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned.”

“I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture,” Ansari concluded, presumably referring to #MeToo. “It is necessary and long overdue.”

By fall 2018, however, his tone sounded different. In a Connecticut stop on his “Working Out New Material” comeback tour, he complained about Twitter users debating whether a teenager’s prom dress constituted cultural appropriation, according to Orbey.

“Everyone weighs in on everything,” he said. “They don’t know anything. People don’t wanna just say, ‘I don’t know.’”

He also decried “the destructive performativity of Internet activism and the fickle, ever-changing standards of political correctness,” according to Orbey. He compared left-wing Twitter users to Trump supporters (“at least with the Trump people,” he said, “I kinda know where they stand”) and accused them of competing with one another in a game of “Progressive Candy Crush.”

“One might have hoped that, nearly a year later, [Ansari] could find a way to reckon with one of the movement’s messiest lessons: that even men who wish to serve as allies of women can, intentionally or not, hurt them in private,” Orbey wrote. “Instead, like other men who have reëmerged in recent months, he seems to have channelled his experience into a diffuse bitterness.”

Ansari has not responded to Vox’s request for comment.

If C.K. and Ansari can’t reckon with the allegations against them, can anyone?

Allegations of sexual misconduct against C.K. and Ansari hit fans hard in part because of the thoughtful nature of their comedy — these were supposed to be the good guys.

The accusations prompted fans and critics to reevaluate both men’s work. At Splinter, Aran notes that despite its sexual harassment storyline, Master of None’s second season displays some underlying misogyny. Dev’s relationship with love interest Francesca, in particular, sends the message “that a woman’s initial reluctance can be chipped away at, that indifference is a wall to be torn down.”

C.K., meanwhile, had been telling masturbation jokes for years. As Melena Ryzik, Cara Buckley, and Jodi Kantor reported at the New York Times, “he rose to fame in part by appearing to be candid about his flaws and sexual hang-ups, discussing and miming masturbation extensively in his act — an exaggerated riff that some of the women feel may have served as a cover for real misconduct.” His film I Love You, Daddy, which was initially scheduled for release in November 2017, dealt with a relationship between a famous filmmaker and a 17-year-old girl.

And C.K.’s December set does recall some of his earlier work — the man who complained about teens today and their pronouns is clearly the same one, for instance, who expressed nostalgia for a time when he could use homophobic slurs without being criticized.

Still, C.K. and Ansari were somewhat unusual as male entertainers willing to delve into issues of power and privilege and talk about the ways men hurt women.

That’s what makes their current material so surprising. Ansari and C.K. aren’t just avoiding the subject of #MeToo — they’re going in the opposite direction, complaining about political correctness and outrage culture when their comedy once sent the message that women were absolutely right to be outraged.

Their new work is reactionary — crude jokes about Asian men wouldn’t be out of place at a Trump rally — and it’s dated. C.K.’s complaints about they/them pronouns aren’t just offensive; they’re also tired, well-worn platitudes parroted by everyone from psychologist Jordan Peterson to TV host Piers Morgan. C.K. may think his new material is edgy, but his rant about young people today sounds like it could come from Grandpa Simpson.

Some have speculated that C.K. is consciously courting a more right-leaning audience with his new material after losing the trust of his previous fans, and it’s certainly possible that he and Ansari are pivoting to please the people who were eager to explain away the allegations against them — those who think sexual misconduct only matters if it rises to the level of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, or who believe that men who are accused deserve swift and unconditional forgiveness.

Whatever the case, the trajectories of C.K. and Ansari are doubly disappointing — first, because men whose work had a feminist bent were accused of hurting women, and second, because they let those accusations destroy the nuanced social awareness their earlier work displayed. Apparently, C.K. and Ansari were only interested in challenging the status quo when they remained unchallenged — once women spoke out against them, they performed the comedic equivalent of packing up their toys and going home.

That’s sad for all of us. We don’t get to see the comedy these men could have created if they’d wanted to face, rather than flee from, our current moment in history. And we don’t get to see two thoughtful entertainers bring their talents to bear on a project that matters to all of us — figuring out what it should look like for men accused as part of #MeToo to apologize, atone, and move forward.

Ever since the #MeToo movement gained mainstream attention in 2017, there’s been a lot of talk about what accused men can do to redeem themselves. Now, more than a year in, it’s certainly possible to imagine some of the accused truly reckoning with their pasts — Dan Harmon’s apology for sexually harassing a writer on his show offers a view of what that might look like. But it’s hard to hold out much hope for such a reckoning on a large scale when two men who seemed like they, of all people, might be able to look deeply at their own behavior have instead chosen to pander to those who would excuse them.

______________________

AZIZ DIDN’T FUCKING DO ANY GOD DAMN THING WRONG!!!!!!

24 notes · View notes

andrewdburton · 4 years

Text

How to prepare for a natural disaster

My world is on fire.

As you may have heard, much of Oregon is burning right now. Thanks to a “once in a lifetime” combination of weather and climate variables — a long, dry summer leading to high temps and low humidity, then a freak windstorm from the east — much of the state turned to tinder earlier this week. And then the tinder ignited.

At this very moment, our neighborhood is cloaked in smoke.

I am sitting in my writing shed looking out at a beige veil clinging to the trees and nearby homes. The scent of the smoke is intense. My eyes are burning. After everything else that's happened this year, this feels like yet one more step toward apocalypse. So crazy!

Fortunately, Kim and I (and the pets) are relatively safe. We're worried, sure, but not too worried. Our lizard brains make us want to flee. (“Fight or flight” and all that.) But our rational brains know that unless a new fire starts somewhere nearby, we should be safe.

Here's a current map of the fire situation in our county. (Click the image to open a larger version in a new window.)

The areas in red are under mandatory evacuation orders. (And the red dots are areas that have burned, I think. They added the dots to the map this morning.) Residents of areas shaded in yellow need to be prepped to leave at a moment's notice. And the areas in green are simply on alert.

See that town called Molalla? That's where my mother and one of my brothers live. My mother's assisted-living facility was evacuated to a city twenty miles away. My brother and his family voluntarily moved from their home to our family's box factory. But even that doesn't feel 100% safe. (The box factory is located just to the left of that cluster of red dots at the top tip of the yellow area around Molalla.)

Kim and I live near the “e” in Wilsonville. We're more than twenty miles from the nearest active fire. We should be safe. But, as a I say, we're worried. So, I spent much of yesterday prepping for possible evacuation.

Update! Barely three hours later, things have changed. Now Molalla is under a mandatory evacuation order. My brother can't go back to get anything. He didn't film his house and belongings, so he simply has to hope for the best. Meanwhile, the level two alert has been shifted to cover more of the county, including the town where I grew up (Canby) and the surrounding areas. The caution zone ends at the Willamette River, which is maybe four miles from us. Kim and I are on edge. Here's the latest update to the evacuation map…

The scariest part of all this? The main fire that's threatening these communities is zero percent contained. Zero

Natural Disasters

We Oregonians don't have a protocol for emergency evacuations. It's not something that really crosses our minds.

While the Pacific Northwest does have volcanoes, eruptions are rare enough that we never think about them. And yes, earthquakes happen. Eventually we'll have “the Big One” that devastates the region, but again there's no way to predict that and it's not something we build our lives around. (Well, many people have been adding earthquake reinforcement to their homes, but that's about it.)

In the past fifty or sixty years, the Portland area has experienced four other natural disasters.

My father used to talk about the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, a cyclone that blew through area when he was in high school.

On 18 May 1980, Mount St. Helens blew its top. There was plenty of warning before the eruption, though, so most everyone had cleared away from the peak.

On the morning of 25 March 1993, we had the “Spring Break quake”, an earthquake of magnitude 5.6. (This was also my 24th birthday, so I personally call it my “birthquake”.)

The Willamette Valley flood of 1996 was pretty spectacular.

Now, in 2020, we're experiencing the worst wildfires the state has ever seen. That's roughly one disaster every ten or fifteen years, and it's the first one during my 51 years on Earth that's made me think about the need for evacuation preparedness.

Kim and I have been asking ourselves lots of questions.

If we were to evacuate, where would we go? What route would we take? What would we carry with us? How would we prep our home to increase the odds that it would survive potential fire?

Let me share what we've decided and what we've learned. (And please, share what you know about emergency preparedness, won't you?)

youtube

Evacuation Preparedness

The first thing we did was brainstorm a list of things that were important to us. Without reference to experts, what is it that we would want to do and/or take with us, if we were to evacuate.

Our animals (and animal supplies).

Phones, computers, and charging cords.

Important documents from our fire safe.

A bag for each of us containing clothes and toiletries.

Sleeping bags and pillows.

Sentimental items. (We have no “valuable”.)

Create a video tour of the house for insurance purposes (be sure to highlight valuable items).

Move combustible items away from the house.

After creating our own list, we consulted the experts.

In this case, we looked at websites for communities in California. California copes with wildfires constantly. (And, in fact, Kim's brother and his family recently had to help evacuate their town due to wildfires!) For no particular reason, I chose to follow the guidelines put out by Marin County, California. I figured they know what they're talking about!

The FIRESafe MARIN website has a bunch of great resources dedicated to wildfire planning and preparedness. I particularly like their evacuation checklist. While this form is wildfire specific, it could be easily adapted for other uses, such as hurricane preparedness or earthquake preparedness.

The ready.gov website is an excellent resource for disaster preparedness. It contains lots of info about prepping for problems of all sorts. You should check it out.

Creating a Go Kit

FIRESafe MARIN and other groups recommend putting together an emergency supply kit well in advance of possible problems. Each person should have her own Go Kit, and each should be stored in a backpack. (In our case, I have several cheap backpacks that I've purchased while traveling abroad. These are perfect for Go Kits.)

What should you keep in a Go Kit? It depends where you live, of course, and what sorts of disasters your area is susceptible to. But generally speaking, you might want your kits to contain:

A bandana and/or an N95 mask or respirator.

A change of clothing.

A flashlight or headlamp with spare batteries.

Extra car keys and some cash.

A map marked with evacuation routes and a designated meeting point.

Prescription medications.

A basic first aid kit.

Photocopies of important documents.

Digital backup of important files.

Pet supplies.

Water bottle and snacks.

Spare chargers for your electronic equipment.

That seems like a lot of stuff, but it's not. These things should fit easily into a small pack. Each Go Kit should be stores somewhere easy to access. Kim and I don't have Go Kits yet, but we'll create them soon. We intend to store them in the front coat closet.

Writing this article reminds me of one of the first posts I shared after re-purchasing Get Rich Slowly. Almost three years ago, I wrote about how to get what you deserve when filing an insurance claim. This info from a former insurance employee is very helpful (and interesting).

Final Thoughts

I spent much of yesterday prepping for possible evacuation. This isn't so much out of panic as it is out of trying to take sensible precautions. I gathered things and put them in the living room so that we can be ready to leave, if needed. If authorities were to upgrade us from level one to level two status, I'd move this stuff to my car.

Also as a precaution, I moved stuff away from the house and thoroughly watered the entire yard. (Not sure that'd make much difference, but hey, it can't hurt.) I created a video tour of the house that highlights anything we have of value. And so on. This took most of the afternoon.

This morning, I can see that the neighbors are doing something similar. We're all trying to exercise caution, I think.

Kim and I will almost surely be fine. Although the smoke is thick here at the moment — it's like a brownish fog, and it's even clouding my view of the neighbor's house! — there aren't any fires super close to us. And barring mistakes or stupidity, there won't be any threat to our home.

Still, it's good for us to take precautionary measures, both now and for the future. And it's probably smart for you to take some small steps today in case disaster strikes tomorrow.

Updates!

The situation here in Oregon is evolving rapidly. I'm going to use the space at the end of this post to post updates. These will be fragmentary thoughts, for the most part — not coherent paragraphs.

Here is a terrific Reddit post about what one person wishes they'd known when evacuating for wildfire.

Last night, it became clear that the family box factory really could be in harm's way. We're worried. We're not freaking out yet — it's a good distance from the fires and it's located in a “prairie” — but the workers there are trying to formulate some sort of plan for if things do go bad.

There are crazy rumors floating around that the fires were started by far-left political operatives. This is blatant bullshit and it pisses me off that (a) anyone would believe this idiocy and (b) spread the (unsubstantiated) rumors. It's causing actual issues as armed vigilantes are threatening people now because they're worried they're liberal firestarters. Simply insane.

Kim and I intend to spend most of today (Friday, September 11th) prepping the house as if it were indeed going to get hit. We realize that it probably won't, but better safe than sorry.

That's it for now. More later.

from Finance https://www.getrichslowly.org/emergency-preparedness/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes