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agena87 · 1 year

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1,2,3 pls

(beware, I wrote a full novel here XD)

You know what, I'll answer those not for one, not for two or even three characters, bur for FOUR: Simon, Seamus, Karl, and Agena because I have a looooot of background stuff to share about those four AND BECAUSE I CAN (and I KNOW that Seamus and Karl are, for now, just characters I introduced in renders, but I actually have stuff with them in my never-ending folder of screenshots to edit/post)(which I need to do soon).

How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have? *Simon: He HATES his father who's a bigot, a narcissist, a tyrant, and an all-around shitty person. All of his life, his father controlled every aspect of his life: who he could be friend with, what he should study, who to date, how to dress, EVERYTHING. It made him very self-conscious and was always making sure he was doing what was "right" growing up, which led to poor-self esteem later on, and a bit of paranoia (it got better in the last few years). It made him rather permissive with the people he loves, too, scared that he would turn into a control-freak like his father if he tries to exerts any kind of authority. *Seamus: They like to pretend to that their father doesn't exist, which was it felt like when they were younger, since the man was always travelling for work (that's what they call "having multiple mistresses/lovers to take care off while ignoring your family" in this household). Since Oswald (for it's their father's name) was never around, he didn't really have any influence on Seamus. *Karl: Finally a good father! Karl loves his father, who always was here for his children. His main influence on Karl is his open-mindedness. *Agena: Her father, Alfred, died when she was two, so she doesn't have any memories of him, and no influence on her. As for Seamus who raised her after that, she loves them. They mainly influenced her in the fact that you ALWAYS stick with your family/friends, that loyalty is the best quality to have.

Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have? *Simon: He hates her only a little less than he does his father, mainly because she was too drunk to do or say anything to him most of the time. In her defence, she was her husband's tyranny first victim (but it doesn't excuse the fact that she never defended/helped Simon). She was an ever-present and yet absent mother. Because of her addiction, he swore to never touch a drop of alcohol, and he never did. *Seamus: Hate is not a strong enough word to describe what they feel about their mother, Wendolyn. Maybe "loathes" is? Wendolyn was very abusive, both verbally and physically, especially with Seamus, who she despises. She spent years calling them names because of the way they decided to present themself, using the f-slur on a daily basis since they were about eight. She beat them for as long as they remember, and tried to send them to conversion camp when they were sixteen, which caused them to left home and never come back. Because of her, they can't handle people screaming. (She also is the shittiest person on the planet, since she actually is the one who paid someone to kill Alfred, her own brother). *Karl: Just like with his father, he loves his mother, even if she is a bit over-protective and waaaay too invested in her children's lives. From her, he learned to always help those in need. *Agena: This is a weird relationship that Agena and Carol have. Carol, who was rather young - but it's not an excuse - when she got pregnant with Agena, abandoned her as soon as she was born. She got spooked because of [REDACTED] regarding Alfred - not something bad, mind - and left him. It was only after she discovered her pregnancy. She actually thought of aborting, since she was scared that the [REDACTED] thingy would affect her baby, but after talking with Alfred, she accepted to keep it if her ex-boyfriend accepted to raise the kid himself, which he was more than happy to do. Then, when Agena was 13/14, she contacted her daughter, after her other daughter, Tabitha showed signs of [REDACTED] and her mother, Alaria, told her it was something present in their family too. Alaria never knew why Carol got rid of her newborn (nor she knew who the father was) until then, but it turns out that she knew Alfred's family, and after a bit of investigation, found that he was dead and that Agena was living with Seamus. Feeling guilty how she treated her daughter, Carol wrote to her to explain why she left her, and try to make amends. It took several years, but they finally met, and are now in somewhat frequent contact, even if their relationship is still a bit difficult.

Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings? *Simon: He has five older brothers and two older sisters. He dislikes them all, for they all are too much like their father, all about appearance and status. *Seamus: One younger brother, Reginald. As kids, they were the best of friends, but comes adolescence, they grew appart (mainly caused by Wendolyn). But in the last few years, they grew close once again. Well, when Reginald is not disappearing God knows where (he is very troubled and flees quite frequently). What they like about Reginald, is that they finally learned to stop listening to Wendolyn; what they don't like, is that they don't listen to anyone, even when people are trying to help him get better. *Karl: He has an older brother, Willi, and two younger brothers, Pertti and Reinhold. He loves all three of them (really, this family is a loving-one). What he likes about them: -Willi: his devil-may-care attitude -Pertti: his ambition and drive to reach his goals -Reinhold: his loyalty What he dislikes about them: -Willi: his stubborness (though he is just as stubborn, so he can't really say judge) -Pertti: his Lothario's ways (well, he actually doesn't care that he has relationships after relationships, but when it caused Willi and his wife to divorce because he had an affair with their sister-in-law and got her pregnant, well…) -Reinhold: his temper (once again, he's just as bad, so… kettle, cauldron). *Agena: She has a biological half-sister, Tabitha (which, yeah, not a scoop), and an adopted sorta-sister, Denebola ("sorta-sister" as in, they're not actually related other than as cousins legally - she is Seamus and Karl's daughter - but since Seamus is like a parent to her, she considers Denebola her sister). Both are a lot younger than her. She loves Tabitha, but their relationship can sometimes be a bit difficult due to the fact that Agena - even if she won't confess to it - is jealous that Tabitha was raised by their mother. As for Denebola, she's still a toddler, so it's impossible to not love her. She likes Tabitha's strong personality and Denebola's hugs, but she dislikes Tabitha's foul language (and bad influence on Alfie) and Denebola aggressivity.

Pfeeew, it was a lot (why did I decide to choose so many characters?).

#answer to ask #Anonymous #thank you nonnie #extra: all that we are and will never be

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lyradaisical · 2 years

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Excuse me for a bit, but I’m going to word-vomit here.

If you follow me on YouTube, I had previously made two Vograce review videos. I was set to make an update after my second one because there were some issues with my orders that I was working with customer service to fix.

Long story short, I have decided not to accept the resolutions they offered me. Ultimately, the biggest thing I lost, out of this whole situation, was my time. For anyone who is interested in reading about what happened or if there is any artist who is still debating what manufacturer to order from, buckle in because we're going for a loooong ride. I'm going to touch on details that I didn't cover in my review, mainly how this began and my experience with their service afterward.

First things first, Vograce reached out to me asking me to review their products. They offered three different options for compensation:

$150 coupon to use on their site

$70 coupon + $50 cash

$70 cash

I picked the second option because I was interested in checking out their stuff and the $50 cash was nice because I knew that the shipping cost was going to bite me in the ass. They sent me a list of things I was required to mention in the review video, which all seemed harmless enough. I've had another company reach out to me before and their demands were much shadier, so Vograce seemed legit to me.

Since I didn't have any designs to order at the moment, they shipped me a sample pack to review. I had to order the sample pack, which was $9.90 and the shipping cost was a whopping $20.18. I was refunded this cost. The products in the sample pack were genuinely very nice and my review reflected my honest opinions about them. Because of that, I was excited to place my first order using the compensation they sent me.

Order #1 January 21, 2022

6x 5 acrylic charm designs with no special coating

6x 1 acrylic charm design with star holographic on both sides

3x A6 spiral notebooks

3x A6 leatherette notebooks

Cost: $90.45

Shipping: $41.21

Total: $131.66

Out of pocket cost: ~$15

Since they liked my first review, they came back and asked me to do another review based on the order I put in. This time, I opted for the $150 coupon because there were some other things I wanted to check out.

Order #2 February 20, 2022

3x acrylic standees

10x 15mm washi tape

10x 30mm washi tape

100x 7cm heart memo pads

Cost: $156.57

Shipping: $51.17

Total: $207.74

Out of pocket cost: $57.74

Grand total spent: ~$73

I received my first order on March 21, 2022, so it took about two months. I gave them some leeway because Lunar New Year was within that time so they were on holiday. I let them know that I received the package and asked if my second one was coming any time soon because if it was, I could wait for it and review those items as well, even though I didn't have to. I just really wanted the review to be useful to fellow artists. My second order arrived on March 31, 2022.

At this point, I finally took the time to unpack and check everything. What I received was:

6x holographic acrylic charms

35x standard acrylic charms (7 each of the 5 designs)

3x A6 spiral notebooks

3x A6 leatherette notebooks

3x acrylic standees

11x 15mm washi tape

8x 30mm washi tape

50x sticky notepads

I'm not going to go into detail over what was wrong since I spent a ton of time doing so in my review video here. But basically, the notebooks were poor quality, dots printed only on one side of the page, the page count was wrong, I receive 50 sticky notepads instead of 100 memo pads, 8 instead of 10 of the 30mm washi tape, etc.

(Also, if anyone who is knowledgeable about shipping costs from China could confirm with me if these shipping costs were legitimate or not, that would be great! I had been suspicious of them overcharging on shipping to boost their profits, but since I don't have any actual knowledge on that, I won't say for sure.)

I spent about two days gathering my thoughts, images, videos, and screenshots and then made the review video. I reached out to Vograce and told them that I posted the review and that there were several issues with my order. As to why I made the review before contacting them, I felt that it would be a better reflection of what you could expect when receiving your order (in this case, a lot of errors). I also did not want to be coerced into not making a less-than-stellar review.

They apologized for the mistakes and then asked me to delete the review. Apparently, they didn’t like how critical it was despite the fact that I tried to be understanding about everything and was told by friends that my review was TOO nice. The way it was worded screamed 'scummy' to me. "Could you delete the video, first?" As if them fixing the order would be dependent on me deleting the video.

I replied back and said that I wouldn’t delete my review. I may have been compensated but I’m still going to be honest. And let's be real, my time is worth a lot more than what they sent me, considering how much time I spent working on the videos. I told them that I trusted they would allow me to be honest and that if I deleted it, it would be very clear that they’re only out to buy positive reviews.

They backtracked, of course, and told me that they prefer honesty as well and that they simply wanted me to add on to the review after they fixed any issues because they pride themselves on their customer service. To which I told them that I mentioned in my review that I would give an update. I even stated that I had faith that they would fix it. So they had no excuse to tell me to delete it.

Anywho, we get past this and try to work on resolving my order. I pointed out all the issues they had: wrong info on their website, wrong templates provided, broken pages, etc. Let me tell you, my husband was not pleased whatsoever about this because normally companies PAID people to do what I did (finding errors, etc.) and I was doing it for them for FREE. He was even more so irritated because he is certain I got ripped off on shipping (since his line of work has him knowledgable about the Asia and Pacific regions). But whatever, you know. I really just wanted there to be a decent company out there that we artists could buy reasonably priced custom merch from, and if Vograce could fix these things, that’d be great.

So we went back and forth and my god was this painful. There are obviously several people that handle correspondence, which isn’t inherently a problem, but the thing here was that there was no communication between them and they didn’t bother going through the backlog to get an understanding of the problem. Some of them also aren't as good with English as others. I had to repeat myself several times. All I simply wanted was replacement products but for some reason, it felt like I was pulling teeth.

For example, they were utterly confused about the memo pads. I was questioned about shape and design several times. I used their template. I sent the design. What is there to be confused about?

For the spiral notebooks, where the image was stretched, they supposedly fixed their template and told me to send in the design using the new template. But when I looked at it, it still did not look like the right sized template for printing an A6 book. I measured the book, I got measurements for everything, and got back to them but they were still adamant that they were right so I went “You know what? Forget the notebooks. We clearly aren’t going to agree on this so I don’t want them.” They offered a $5 coupon to cover it:

Fast forward almost a month later. Honestly, I was pretty pissed. “How are you these days?” I was expecting my replacement order to be delivered by now only for them to be like “Oh, turns out we actually can’t make it.”

I replied and asked if there was a reason why they couldn’t be made. I didn’t pick a custom design. AGAIN I picked the heart which is one of the standard designs. And the listing was still on their website. The reply:

I was screaming at this point, really. Never have I ever worked with a supposed professional company that was this incompetent. I didn't bother responding to this and just left it. This morning when I checked my phone, "Rachel" had gotten back to me:

I was just so done at this point because I knew that getting the items I wanted was no longer an option and I didn't want to buy from them anymore after this experience so a coupon was worthless, not to mention I'd have to put even more money out to cover shipping.

This was the reply that I sent before blocking them:

I believe that it will be best for us to end this collaboration here. I do not want the sticky notes or the coupon, as I am no longer comfortable with ordering from this business.

I have to say that I am disappointed with this experience. I really wanted to like this company. There is a level of irresponsibility and unprofessionalism within this business that I find unacceptable—lack of quality checking, mistakes on the website, poor communication amongst the team, offering products that aren't available, etc.

I'm not impressed with the blame towards the factory. A responsible business would put in the effort to find out what their manufacturer is capable of and would ensure this by getting samples of what can be made as well as ensuring the quality of said items. Instead, what we have here is a business that makes assumptions of what they can sell and advertises them for sale without knowing if the item can even be made or is of good quality.

Personally, I feel that it would be best for you to stick to the acrylic charms until you can reorganize and ensure that you can manage selling the other products. My statement from my review still stands: I can recommend this company for acrylic products and charms, but not for the other products.

I wish this company good luck in improving for the future.

I'm just so disappointed because I really really did like their charms (the clasps!) But because I happened to try out the other products, I inadvertently found out just how poorly this business is run.

I know many artists have had very pleasant experiences with Vograce and I totally get that. I had very pleasant experiences with them too, where the acrylic products are concerned. I don't want to deter people from writing this business off altogether because they did try to resolve my issues. It's just that it wasn't something that could be solved. But for me personally, I don't think I will buy from them again. If they do manage to get their act together after all of this, then that will be great for them. But the way they push responsibility onto others (their factory, the customers) just rubs me the wrong way.

#rant #review #vograce

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importantlovecolor · 3 years

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Zoids Saga Fuzors

Go to the Zoids Research Facility, and take the Core Active Ion Small from the left Chest, and the Hellcat Data from the right Chest. Go to the Item and Weapon Shop, and take the Emergency Retreat.

Zoids Saga

Zoids Saga Fuzors

Watch Zoids Fuzors

Zoids Saga Fuzors for Nintendo Gameboy Advance/GBA is a RPG game published by Tomy.

Game Boy Advance Zoids Saga: Fuzors. Tags: Zoids View.

Zoids Saga III: Fuzors (sometimes just 'Zoids Saga III' or 'Zoids Saga: Fuzors'), is set in the Zoids: Fuzors fictional world, and follows the actions of 'Will'. A good portion of the storyline parallels the Zoids: Fuzors anime. Similar to Zoids Saga there is one city (Blue City) which the player returns to after each segment of the story.

Zoids Saga

ScreenShots:

GBA ROM’s are Playable on Android With My Boy GBA Emulator

Play On PC With Visualboy Advance GBA Emulator

Zoids Saga Fuzors Info:

Release Date: February 23, 2005 Genre : RPG Publisher: Tomy Region : USA Languages: English Platform : Gameboy Advance Rom Type: .GBA

Download Links: Size – (4MB) ———————————————————— Direct

For Extracting Rar Files Use WinRAR or 7zip

Notes:

Zoids Saga Fuzors

For Multi Part Games You need to download all parts.

Check the FAQ Page For Extract RAR (Multi) Parts Guide, Dont use comment.

No Password on any of those game files we’ve uploaded, all files are Password Free.

If the file is damaged or shows RAR CRC Error, re-download them.

Check our notes, faq page, instructions Properly before you ask for help on the comment section.

For File Missing/Dead Links –> Request for Reupload.

Ibm lotus notes university hospital. You May Also Like Super Mario Advance 4 Super Mario Bros 3 GBA ROM Riverbed nightmare pathfinder.

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Status:Eps Seen: / 26Your Score:Add Detailed Info

Alternative Titles

English: Zoids Fuzors

Information

Type:TV

Status: Finished Airing

Premiered:Fall 2004

Producers:Tokyo Kids

Studios: None found, add some

Genres:AdventureAdventure, MechaMecha, Sci-FiSci-Fi, ShounenShounen

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

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Ranked: #61362

2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Members: 9,624

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Preliminary

26 of 26 episodes seen

slax(All reviews)

21 people found this review helpful

Overall1Story1Animation1Sound1Character1Enjoyment1

Ok, I'm a big Zoids fan, and as such, this review focuses on the differences between the styles of this and the preceding series, rather than an more general overview (I won't use Genesis as an example since that is of a vastly different style). Unfortunately, it is very negative. Firstly, let me start with the Story: Fuzors basically has no story whatsoever for the vast majority of the series. In the final few episodes, a backstory gets fleshed out and some continuity established, but as this only happens very late-on, it feels more like a justification for why the series occurred in the way it did, rather than an actual plot that naturally developed. Furthermore, the story it does eventually manage to establish is rushed, this, along with the generally poor translations, makes it difficult to draw any praise from the story. Now, this brings me to draw parallels with Zoids Zero, which also had a very skimpy plot at best. However, the biggest difference with the two series is that Zero is built around battles and comedy, and as such tries to give the viewer fluid fights and funny lines rather than a deep plot. Fuzors does not, and as such has no excuse for the lack of story. To continue with the story theme, I'll next discuss the Characters: While Zoids shows are not renowned for their characters, the development of the cast is not handled well in Fuzors at all. For instance, in the first episode, the character 'Amy' walks in to Mach Storm's headquarters and appears to anger some of the main characters. What the show doesn't tell you is that Amy is actually a member of Mach Storm herself. This fact makes it very confusing (to say the least) when she shows up unannounced in later episodes. This is probably the best way of describing the problem with the characters in Fuzors, it simply assumes you know who/what everyone/thing is -rather than actually take the time introduce them. This is especially true for the Zoids themselves. Many of the Zoids, such as Arosaurers and Gorhecks are totally new Zoids that fans of the previous series would not know anything about -and yet they appear on screen without any kind of introduction at all. To make matters worse, old Zoids that fans would be familiar with from other series are changed abruptly and without reason. For example, the Blade Liger is depicted in the other series as a very rare (if not unique) Zoid. In the first episode of Fuzors, three of them are shown. Another prominent example is the Fuzors variant of Gunsniper, which are all customised to be the same as Leena's heavily modified (and thus unique) Zoid featured in Zero. No explanation for either of these is ever given. This kind of 'thrust the viewer into the show' serves to confuse new watchers and disenfranchise fans, and is a great detriment to the series. Toward the end of the series, some of the cast's backstory is explained, however this is done in a very rushed manner and fails to justify the terrible job done in the first three-quarters of the series. Next up is the artwork. Well, the most important aspect of a Zoids show is the Zoids themselves, so I'll start with them. The models are all done in 3D, but the style is different to the previous series. The models themselves are very detailed, and try to stick closely to the real toy range, with small things like feathers and antennae being included. While such attention to detail may sound good, this is actually a detriment, as it severs to clutter the screen with needless 'wriggly bits' that only serve to distract the viewer. Furthermore, the models are all done in a very bland color scheme, with everything appearing 'cloudy' and dull when compared to the crisp, bright, colors of the previous series. Compounding this is the fact that most of these included features are simply never used. For example, the Liger Zero Phoenix never fires the bomb or guns that it has on it's back, instead RD usually uses his claws to attack from a distance, which is a big departure from the realism the highly detailed models try to emulate. While this might be excusable if everything in the series were done in the same style of graphics, this is simply not the case. Bullets and explosions are done in conventional anime style and as such stick out like a sore thumb. They just do not blend at all with the Zoids they are fired from or hit. But the most noticeable feature of the animation is the movement of the Zoids. The Zoids move in a very awkward and robotic fashion. All of the Zoids featured are extremely rigid and inflexible, thus their movements seem entirely unnatural and unrealistic. This is especially prevalent when the Zoids 'fall over', wherein they appear to do a backflip on the spot rather than actually collapse or stagger. This is easily the biggest complaint I have with the series, especially when comparing with the extraordinarily fluid animations of Zero. The backgrounds are bland and uninteresting, with very little stand-out features, and as such, the only positive thing I have to say about Fuzor's artwork is the character's design. However, considering that the characters are very unimportant (as they are usually obscured from view inside Zoids) this is largely a moot point. Finally, is the sound. Almost all weapons have high-pitched sounds, regardless of what they are actually shooting. As any mech fan could well appreciate, it sounds a bit ridiculous when super-heavy artillery makes a 'pew' sound. Furthermore, RD's voice actor has a very high-pitched voice, as do most of the supporting cast (such as Sigma and Sweet). As the viewer's ears are bombarded constantly by all these high-pitched sounds, it honestly gets annoying. Other: Well, there is no section for this, but the quality of translation is very poor. The names of Zoids are often mispronounced or downright wrong. Overall: Quite simply Fuzors is a very poorly made anime when taken from the viewpoint of a Zoids fan. The animation is awkward, robotic and dull, the sound effects are annoying and inappropriate, the translations are poor and the story only picks up toward the end of the series, but this simply come along far too late to salvage the series.

26 of 26 episodes seen

sylvanelite(All reviews)

11 people found this review helpful

Overall1Story1Animation1Sound1Character1Enjoyment1

This might sound like a harsh thing to say, but this is one of the worst series I've ever seen. The plot is terrible, and the voice actors are outstandingly bad. The fights are poorly strung together and are terrible to look at. This series was cancelled from US airways for good reason. Although it does get better in the latter half, it's not enough to recover from the terrible first half.

26 of 26 episodes seen

Daniel_mugen25(All reviews)

7 people found this review helpful

Overall7Story7Animation7Sound6Character6Enjoyment7

Zoids fuzors, just like Zoids new century, have teams who uses Zoids to battle each other for entertainment purposes in my opinion. It has been a good series especially when their Zoids combine with each other. Unfortunately, the story is a bit cliche. Teams battling each other for no explained reason(I might have missed it in the series though). I have only watched the English dub so far and the voice actors are good. Animation is a bit different from previous Zoids series but then impressive when they combine. All in all, it was a good series.

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a-master-procrastinator · 3 years

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7, 17 and 30 for the "OC most likely to" asks?

Thanks Raven!

7. most likely to be two hours late to their own event

Raen, without a doubt. Either because she forgot (I mean, she is smart and capable, but also kinda forgetful and just a disaster by nature) or because she has her priorities straight (it could be anything tbh, from finishing her breakfast to rearranging her wardrobe or spending some, uh, ‘quality’ time with Theron).

Honorable mention goes to Jaria because she doesn’t give a Hutt. She is the reason for people to gather, and now they are waiting and it’s uncomfortable for them? Too bad, she isn’t going to hurry up, too busy counting her credits. It’s highly unlikely to happen bc I don’t see why Jaria would arrange an event of any kind, but her behavior would be exactly that.

17. most likely to use any and all excuses to take off articles of clothing

(this screenshot bc i need to get used to the new hairstyle)

That depends on who’s getting their clothes off (themselves or others). If we’re talking about others, then Raen takes the spotlight again. It doesn’t always have to be for sexual reasons though (*unsuccessfully attempting to remove her helmet and gloves* ”Jett, take that armor off, we need to be disguised as pirates!” - “Only through my cold dead body!” - “Your cold dead body can’t provide the intimidating factor, and between the three of us only you can!”).

But I also came to a conclusion that one of my newest agents (that dude in the background) also has this treat, so he gets a mention (I’ll get better screenshots with him I swear). Zem (takes this name after Hoth, before that you either address him by full Chiss name or don’t talk at all) leaves an impression of a true professional, but he finds the lack of handsome men in his team disturbing so whenever meets someone fitting his definition of a ‘handsome man’ in the field, he attempts flirting to, you guessed right, eventually take their clothes off.

If we’re talking about taking clothes off themselves, than it’s definitely Vintu. He just needs to show off, and poor... well, everyone else have to put up with this.

Yes, I had to pick this specific shot.

Aaand another honorable mention, now to Bal’sara. She doesn’t want to take all clothes off, just show off her arms (they’re slightly more buff than on screenshots).

30. most likely to have had an embarrassing middle-school emo phase

Eh, what is ‘emo-phase’? I’m completely oblivious here, so let’s guess it’s Vestium and move on? He might or might have not been influenced by his sister. (did he get the tattoo during that phase? a mystery yet to be known)

#whew #words still don't come together easily but better than lately #in conclusion i have maybe 2 or 3 non disastrous characters #says something about me i guess #and no jett did not change her armor #swtor #oc:raen #oc:jaria #oc:zem #oc:vintu aka paininbarass #oc:bal'sara #oc:vestium #(and many more in my head)#theravenassassin95 #ask game #legacy (verse): lette #legacy (verse): seinna #legacy (verse): sinnomin

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years

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Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 9

• So in some ways this chapter is a refreshing change from the Walker Ranch, for the other...it does seem a little shoehorned-in and last minute to me. And...if the only chapter where Hana gets substantial content is one that sounds kinda last minute - that's usually not a good sign.

• Here is what you can block if you don't want to see this on your dash: #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs, #long post.

• TW: Discussions on controlling parenting, brief mention of infertility, rambles about my visits to my therapist and what I learned there - also connected to controlling parenting.

• Screenshot Credits:

Hana: The Abhirio YouTube channel and @youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal

Drake: The BizzysChoices YouTube channel

Maxwell: @itsbrindleybinch and @ladatheimpaler

Liam: @callmetippytumbles and me.

• I was happy to see Olivia but could the writers just...not make Hana sound so confused, to make Olivia's route look more appealing? Olivia may be more at home with some of these tactics but if Hana did as much research as her eloquent monologue on the Auvernese Hot Stones suggests she did, she wouldn't just be standing there going "me scared". I know logically Olivia's option needs to be the one having an edge, but there are ways you can work around that better.

• Title: Ladies' Night

Alternative Title: This is How Hana Does Her Research:

And This is How Isabella Does Her Research:

• "Just us girls", Isabella says. I'm going to get a headache from the number of times she says that while trying out new torture techniques on me.

• Liam warns the MC that this might be a test, Hana offers to come with the MC, and whoever her LI is, seems reluctant to send her off (though I have yet to see the Maxwell version of this, since in his friend route he seems encouraging of it once Hana steps up to be with us).

• Let's be honest, Hana is coming because she knows that more often than not her advice has been the only thing that had saved our asses. She KNOWS.

• Hana is also the genius who found the loophole in that message.

• DRAKE is the one suggesting Olivia as backup for our trip (I see a pattern here. Drake is the only one who recognized Olivia when she pranked him, now Drake is the first one recommending her name for this trip. What gives?).

• So I've played this chapter both with Olivia's diamond option, and without. Her duchy takes pride in its warriors and in shows of military strength, so she is more than used to their rhetoric. There is also an interesting juxtaposition given between fire (Auvernal) and ice (Lythikos), as one can see in the hot stones scene. The chapter is clearly set up in the expectation that you will buy this scene.

• Hana is fascinated by the architecture and modern glam of the place, but it is Olivia who hints that Auvernal may be facing financial difficulties, wondering what may be "hiding behind the glitter and polish".

• We finally meet Queen Isabella, and for a royal who wants to prove that they can do diplomacy as well as they can do blustering shows of machoism (like her husband), she seems to be failing big time.

• For all the "research" Isabella seems to have been doing on the ladies in the court, all she knows about Hana is that she has a penchant for horseriding, had a failed engagement, and wasn't chosen by Liam.

• What? Practically everyone has seen how well Hana performs at court. In my playthrough, her fighting skills both at the boutique before the wedding, and her role in defeating Anton, have become legendary. She became a Guardian of the Realm. If you're married to the MC she is a freaking duchess and I'm pretty sure the woman who married her would know deep down that Hana deserved that title more. Hana is a freaking fashion icon (as you can tell by what Ana says at her engagement photoshoot and when little Valerie from Lythikos tells her in Chapter 3). Like...like...this stuff is common knowledge. Isabella doesn't HAVE any other excuse besides "I suck so bad at reading up that my term paper would end in a single paragraph and be marked 'F'. Same goes for my pathetic excuse of a research team."

• Also why is Hana the only person getting dragged for not getting chosen? Even Madeleine and Olivia don't face this as much, and one of them was dumped twice by two Princes!

•

(Top three screenshots are mine, the second row is from @callmetippytumbles playthrough, and the third is from @youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal Hana playthrough).

The first choice calmly has the MC list Hana's best qualities, while the other two clearly call out Isabella on her clear lack of respect for Hana, who is a guest in her home that she should have researched about properly. The last option not only speaks of her best traits but also of her being the MC's wife (and by extension, a prominent duchess).

• Isabella and her pathetic excuse for an "apology". "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that would be such a sore subject". That's a non-apology, a "sorry you're so thin-skinned" apology. She isn't even admitting she's clearly wrong and hasn't done her homework. She's still saying that Hana is merely all of the things she mentioned - just snidely placing the blame on them for being so sensitive instead. Like...fuck you Isabella.

•

I think Olivia should remember that she's lucky Hana "happens to be the forgiving sort" too, because that's how she got away with saying exactly the same thing last book. I like Olivia, but...hypocrisy much?

• LMAO @ Isabella when she says Olivia that she recognizes her because "might recognizes might", and Olivia is like "funny. I don't recognize you". THIS TEA IS SCALDING.

• "There's more to Auvernal than Bradshaw's blustering", she says...after she's left a less-than-favourable impression two minutes into our conversation. Even Theresa Sutton from D&D Book 1 would do this better than you did, and there was literally no filter between her mouth and her brain.

• Isabella presents an over-the-top, flashy silver gown for the MC to wear, stating that wearing a dress from an Auvernese designer, in a modern Auvernese style, would signal to people the beginning of their "alliance" (jumping the gun there a bit, aren't you, Isabella?)

• Gaww at the LI reactions!

(Screenshots: Drake's from BizzysChoices' Youtube channel, Maxwell's from @ladatheimpaler, and Hana's from Abhirio's YouTube channel)

• Olivia's best moment in the chapter comes when she has to complete the saying "when all you have is a hammer" ("smite them with the hammer!" Olivia offers enthusiastically). They're talking about Bradshaw, who Isabella's telling us would rather strong-arm people into doing his bidding. Babe you're not exactly very different in that respect 🙄

• Isabella lays two major tests to us - one is to have us give her military troops (who greet the guests with a parade) an impromptu rousing speech, and the second is to withstand the punishing heat of the famed Auvernese Hot Stones massage treatment. Of course, she hides her plans behind her "all shared between friends!" demeanor.

• What Olivia does throughout is draw upon her knowledge of warrior mentality, to explain what Isabella has in store for you. This meeting isn't just a message sent to the MC to remind her who she is dealing with - it's a way for Isabella to gauge whether the MC really will count as an ally in terms that they are familiar with. Remember - Auvernal who is perhaps in not as great a financial state as they lead us to believe - perhaps needs Cordonia more than Cordonia needs them - so in their eyes the alliance is falling through anyway, but Isabella is also going to figure out who she is dealing with.

Which is why Olivia - who lives and thrives in a similar type of community - is able to capture the pulse of what Isabella is doing to them.

(First four screenshots are from a playthrough where I chose Olivia's diamond option, and second from a playthrough where I didn't)

Hana's own mentality differs to a large extent from this. She is competitive, she has the ability to put up a good fight and defeat an opponent (esp one who underestimates her)...but her larger attitude doesn't exactly favour war. In a lot of ways both she and Liam operate on similar mindsets - yes war is necessary, yes when the situation calls for it we can put up a good fight...but at the end of the day both of their belief systems lie in a King Fabian outlook of "safety is important but a society thrives when there is space for art and culture to thrive".

In some of Olivia and Hana's exchanges you can see that Hana is the more artistic and whimsical of the two - which is why her ace move at the end involves both introducing Isabella into an aspect of their own culture, and on wine, which Hana is more than fairly familiar with. Her interests lie elsewhere and so she may not be able to get into their heads and suss out their motives as well as Olivia can, but I'm pretty sure if she's researched so much that she knows about their Hot Stone spa treatment, she would have at least a more generalized knowledge of this than the screenshots suggest.

• We're now at a plaza where Isabella has arranged for the Auvernese military troops to do a parade for the Cordonian guests. It's both a way of convincing the MC to pick them, and it's a veiled threat if she doesn't.

• My failplay of the speech brought up this gem:

Poor Hana, having to cheer for us even when we fail. She's the real MVP!

• So basically getting the speech right is simple, whatever is rabble-rousing and reminds the troops that the Cordonians also admire strength and valour and bravery, works for them. If you fail in this task, then Isabella takes over and rouses the troops on her own before dismissing them.

• Isabella FINALLY admitting that Hana's a skilled diplomat and does amazing research. LMAO bitch she even knows what your favourite fucking vintage is and all you know about her is her failed engagement? Admit it Izzy, you're a failure.

• The next is the traditional Auvernese Hot Stone spa treatment, which Hana tells us is tied to the geography of this country. There is a fair bit of natural volcanic activity in Auvernal itself (no wonder they're a people that operate in metaphors of heat and fire!) and the hot stones used in this therapeutic massage treatment come out from that. (they're most likely referring to basalt stones, which are used in hot stone therapy in a lot of different cultures. And it's true, the heat and the medicinal nature of heated basalt stones are supposed to relax muscles, help with pain management, stimulate the circulatory system, among other things. In Ayurveda, the treatment is called Shila Abhyanga and is done with circular stones of different sizes).

• There is nothing therapeutic about this trip, though, sadly. Very often this kind of treatment is used at particular spots on the body (most of the time I've seen these stones placed along the length of the back). It's not "grab someone's forearm and burn it with a stone". Isabella's attempt is clearly to expose us to pain and see how much of it we can take.

• Some of the MC's "stronger" responses are 🔥 🔥 🔥 lol, like "I've read Twitter takes hotter than this".

•

The MC and Olivia has come far enough in their relationship - either as friends or as people who grudgingly respect each other - that Olivia will stand up for her even when she shows weakness.

• Interestingly, if you do succeed in this "test", the narrative describes Isabella's face as lighting up with a "small smile...and she eyes you as if seeing you in a new light" (the fail option shows her looking smug). Which...given her behaviour in the wine scene, I think requires closer inspection!

• One of my favourite lines this chapter is when Olivia tells Isabella that she can endure hotter stones but chooses not to, because "Lythikos warriors prefer ice in their veins". I can of like the juxtaposition of geographies used in their language - Auvernal seems to have volcanic activity, so heat features more in their language, Lythikos is situated close to the Alps, so snow, ice and winter are their signs of endurance. Basically both communities operate based on the logic that endurance to pain is what heightens your strength. "If you can breathe you can stand, if you can stand you can fight".

• Hana struggles with the hot stones, in a scene that reminds me of Book 1 where she struggled with her first bite of a Cordonian apple. Hana tends to be quite open when she has a strong reaction to something, and is often not able to hide it even if she wants to. Which honestly I find quite refreshing about her.

• Isabella in a fail play can be a real asshole, making snide remarks and then flipping the blame onto the people who react to what she says. When she insults Hana and the MC reacts, she doesn't bother to admit she is wrong - instead flips the blame on them so that it seems more like they're the sensitive ones. If you don't succeed in the hot stones test, and Hana and Olivia respond to her jabs, she tells them "there's no need to get defensive. It's all in good humour, of course", and makes them seem like the thin-skinned ones. Honestly it's that part of her attitude that is a problem, rather than the actual snide remarks. That she will create a negative situation then act like you were the cause.

• Now apparently it's time for petit fours (and I'm a little sore they only describe the vanilla buttercream coz I would have totally loved to see descriptions of those Auvernese sweets in detail!) and casual chatting. Olivia cautions us to figure out what the catch is, and Isabella is mildly impressed by the MC's directness, but she tells us about her intentions (to make the alliance official - including the parts where our child must be promised to one of their twins) either way.

• Isabella eventually softens as the conversations go ahead, confiding in the group that before the twins were born, conceiving was difficult for her. The MC has the opportunity to share a secret of her own (either homesickness, or feeling pressured into becoming a parent, or tiring of the politics and the pretence). Hana - married or otherwise - isn't allowed to say much here, to the surprise of absolutely no one.

• Olivia distracts Isabella at some point with barbed compliments post this confession session, allowing Hana and the MC to plan their next move. Most of this day has gone into Isabella testing us, seeing if we measure up, her games. Hana now gives us an opportunity to turn the tables on her.

• This is where Hana has a clear advantage. Just as warrior communities, battle strategy and defence is Olivia's forte - culture, cuisine and the arts are clearly Hana's. She knows about the Hot Stones on a cultural and geographic level even though the mentality escapes her, she has even read up on Isabella's preference for wine and has observed her closely enough to understand Isabella's competitiveness, and suggest a tactic that could help us gain an edge over her.

• The scene begins with Hana charming Isabella into showing them her wine cellar and suggesting a drinking game. In a callback to the Madeleine drinking game scene in Book 3, Hana mentions Cordonia's Most (which was what they played with Madeleine), but zeroes in on "Two Truths and a Lie instead". Here is what you see from each of the women:

MC:

Two Truths -

Being in love with Liam even when he was engaged to Madeleine/Coming to Cordonia for Liam then falling for her LI.

Second truth is dialogue dependent (never regretted coming to Cordonia/fended off her kidnappers with her own hands/impressed by Isabella (no)

Lie -

Never been blackmailed. Isabella however believes this one is true and loses.

Olivia:

Two truths -

Greatest fear is failure to be perfect

Counted every exit before entering the cellar

Wanted to kill the MC when they first met (Isabella assumed this to be a lie)

Lie -

Came to Auvernal unarmed because she trusts Isabella (she clearly didn't do her research with Olivia either).

Hana:

Two truths -

Greatest fear is failure to be perfect (Isabella assumes this to be the lie).

Always envied the MC

Lie -

Dyed her hair pink as a teen.

Isabella has two rounds of this. This is what the first round is like:

Two truths 1.0 -

Never wanted children

Married Bradshaw for money

Lie 1.0 -

Dismissed a servant for over-steeping her tea (what did you do then, kill him? 😱)

Two Truths and a Lie 2.0

Now, we don't know for sure which one is the lie, since that game is never completed (I suspect it's the one about being born into the royal family?) but we do know now that Bradshaw never actually has seen or done combat firsthand, even though he can strategize and order troops and he's won several medals for "combat". This is the state secret that the scene promises, which will give us an advantage in the future chapters.

• Thoughts I had while reading this scene:

- The one from the MC about fighting her kidnappers is very much a callback to TCaTF. A major development for Kenna's character in Book 1 is to prove she is different from her ancestors - that she will fight alongside her people, not make them fight for her. The turning point of her story in Book 1 is when she tells Gabriel - her guard and guardian - that that instead of depending on him, she will fight the leader of the mercenaries herself.

- Also, LMAO @ Isabella believing our guards defeated Anton for us. Izzy my courtiers and I literally used scissors and shoes and clipboards to defeat assassins in a boutique. Mara and Bastien could never.

- As I mentioned before, the drinking game tradition is a callback to Madeleine's scene. But with less of forcing Hana to butter up to the woman who abused her for our convenience, and more space for her to actually talk.

- I'm going to take notes of those exits, thanks Olivia.

- There is a whole bunch you learn about Isabella here and there are hints that she feels stifled in this environment. Her first choices for the game revolve around truths about her married life: the fact that it was a political alliance and that she never actually wanted children (which adds another layer to the pain she speaks about when speaking of the struggle she had to conceive, because then it comes from a place of immense pressure and probably means that she felt extremely isolated and alone at the time). When Hana talks about how conflicted she is, it's Isabella who offers her ways to release that fury and energy (screaming, breaking glasses). Interestingly, she speaks of these things as what she does when she "feels the walls closing in".

- One thing to notice as well, is Isabella's reaction after she has realized she's spilled out the truth about Bradshaw's military merits. She shrewedly notes what our intentions must have been, and calls us out on them, but there is little to no anger involved in the moment. She only notes that "Cordonia gets more and more interesting", and while the game does not continue, Isabella does seem eerily calm in the aftermath. I don't have any concrete ideas yet what it must all mean, but there are a few ways it could go. She could either be pushing back in her own way against Bradshaw and the Auvernese royalty, or have another card up her sleeve that she knows we don't have a clue about yet.

- Hana gets to elaborate on her 'truths and lies' if the MC asks: she speaks about her envy for the MC emerging from the fact that the MC is confident, bold and questions her self-worth a lot less than Hana has learned to. The other two are tied to the aftermath of the controlling parenting she has grown up with. With the pink hair option, she speaks of her parents as if they are still there, still can control her choices, as if she cannot remove herself from the fear that she will disappoint them even if they are physically away from her.

Hana: Are you kidding? My parents will kill me!

MC: I think you're a little beyond their reach by now.

There's a lot said there in so little.

My favourite, though, is the one on 'perfection'.

I love the idea of perfection as being something to be frustrated by rather than something to aspire to. Hana speaks of this striving for perfection starting out as something she did to 'earn' Lorelai's love, and how that became something she kept doing over and over until it became her default - leading to the point where she can no longer be imperfect even though she has the opportunity and the support system (even if it's really not that great of a support system). And with a lot of kids who survive that kind of controlling, emotionally abusive parenting - that's normal. I guess I could simply sum it up as: You can take Hana out of Lorelai's home, but it won't be that easy to take Lorelai out of Hana.

I'll come back to this later, because there's some things I'd love to expand on with regards to this.

- Which Olivia opening up is promised if she is around, she doesn't really do that. Most of the stuff she says in this scene is pretty much standard for what she's shown so far. But I'm alright with that, because let's be honest the times when Hana is given even a scrap of space over Olivia, are rare. The writers will be only too happy to give her other opportunities.

- At the end of the scene, you get to address what Hana said earlier, while you are cleaning up the cellar. You either tell her you'd love to see an imperfect Hana (which is the lighter option, where they think of crazy things she can mess up, like burning toast, putting cutlery in reverse order, or playing every note on the piano wrong. Silly stuff. I know it's meant to be a joke...and maybe that's the root to why she doesn't get to actually be imperfect and affected and stuff. Because even in a scene about imperfections, it still feels like the writers won't take her actual conflicts and issues very seriously, and will not leave her the space to actually be a mess about things that would weigh down anyone).

The second option is more serious, and I really like it. The MC speaks about finding it harder to forgive Lorelai for everything Hana has gone through. Hana is still uncomfortable with the idea of resenting her mother, even though she's at the stage where she knows how wrong Lorelai is. She reasons it by speaking about how everything good came from Lorelai the same way everything bad came from the same mother. I'll be getting back to this bit soon as well.

- There is a tiny romantic scene following this if you're married to Hana, mostly kissing.

• Now that our work in Auvernal is over, it's time to get back to the ranch. BECAUSE MAXWELL BEAUMONT IS STRESS-DANCING AND THAT IS NEVER A GOOD SIGN.

(Screenshots: Drake's from BizzysChoices YouTube channel, Maxwell's from @itsbrindleybinch and Hana's from Abhirio YouTube channel)

- Alright so in Liam and Drake's playthroughs they talk to the MC directly. Maxwell's too, and he is panicking and speaking in capslock. In Hana's, Maxwell is still the one the MC is talking to, since he is the one in charge of this one thing.

- I love how Drake thinks Maxwell "stress dancing" means things must be better now but Liam knows it's a bad sign 😅

- BBBB. Maxwell could've just simplified things for himself and called it B-Quadrupled or B^4 or something. Be like Karan Johar, who saw three Ks and one G in his film title (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham)...and said "yeah. Let's call this K3G".

• So now I'm guessing the aim for the next chapter is to keep it a secret until the time Bertrand is expected to be at his party. Or something. Idk.

• We're going...from deep conversations and political maneuverings...to this. Okay. Okay 😐

• General Thoughts:

- Okay...so the thing Hana says about perfection and wanting to please her mother. Phew. That dialogue hit me. Pretty hard.

(Please don't take anything I say right here as hard scientific fact, I am merely saying this as a client to a therapist who learned something from her, and am applying something I've learned into this sequence solely because it speaks to me on a personal level)

I've been going to a new therapist this year. A very accomplished hypnotherapist, fantastic in her field. We've been doing a mixture of talk therapy and hypnotherapy because I have a LOT of issues and they're all tangled together and it's all a big mess at this point.

One of the things we talked about was how centered my entire concept of "worth" was around smartness. Intelligence. Intelligence the way my parents perceived it, the way I saw it in school. At some point I said something...something related to smartness and worth and how you couldn't be anything if you weren't smart idk...and she stopped. Stopped and said, "that sounds like a parent tape" (wish I remembered what my exact words were).

Now, this conversation happened around a month ago, and I'm no professional in this field, so I'm paraphrasing what she explained, but she did talk about how some things get embedded in your subconscious as "tapes" or "files", and how at some points they become essential beliefs. It could be a simple moment that was nonetheless important to the child, that crystallized into a life truth for them, even into adulthood. And that would go for things that you picked up or learned from your parents as well. Learned behaviours and mindsets...that you grow up to believe as fact - and to remove yourself from them would be to remove yourself from everything you have ever believed to be true. It would be a destruction of a belief system, and building yourself back from out of that rubble would be scary.

- I wound up seeing Hana's inability to turn off "Perfect Hana" through that lens. I feel like she grew up with that "parent tape": I must be perfect to be considered worthy. I must be perfect to be loved. The only way I can gain my mother's love is by being her perfect daughter. And part of why she can't switch it off is because it became an entire belief system, the foundation on which her parents build this personality she has. If that is destroyed, the Parent Tape must be saying, then what will be left of her?

- This may explain why she continues to explain, justify, make excuses for Lorelai. Lorelai is a HUGE part of her life. Was a HUGE influence on who she was and what she became. Even when she is going in a direction completely opposite to what Lorelai initially intended, Hana does it by overcompensating, by stressing over whether she is being controlling merely for planning the perfect wedding, by worrying about what kind of parent she will be to her own child. While she acknowledges freely that her mother was wrong and pushes back when she is able to, she is not really at the stage where she can fully accept the sheer levels of damage Lorelai (and by enabling and encouraging this type of parenting, Xinghai) has wrecked on her self.

- In a lot of ways, Hana is still that child. The one who craved her mother's love. The one who grew up constantly questioning her own worth. And learning to validate that child and give her a peaceful ending is going to be a long, arduous, painful process.

- You can bet I have been thinking about this more than Hana's own writers have. By now I just know it.

- There was a part of me that CHEERED when I saw the MC (finally!) stand up for Hana. There's a part of me that...honestly...just shrugged and said "too little too late".

- I'm tired at this point. Really, really sick and tired of how people in the books are allowed to underestimate Hana and talk shit about her, and how little space the narrative gives to letting her either push back against that, or to allowing us to stand up for her. This chapter is one of the rare times that happened without the focus being on how wonderful the MC is. And I mean very rare.

- Married to Hana or not, the MC is the woman who let Madeleine get away with her bullying. Who didn't bother to look out for Hana, and continuously used her. Who didn't bother to find out how Hana was in NY after Hana had fought with her own father and left his house for her. Who (optionally) allowed Olivia to get away with talking shit about her, and who didn't ask Hana if she was comfortable before including her in a conversation with her bully. Who (optionally) can cry about not getting pregnant soon enough (today of course, that role was filled up by Isabella)

- Also isn't it ironic how Isabella, the same woman who speaks about not being perfect and allowing yourself the space to let out your emotions...is the same woman who chooses to talk ONLY about Hana's failures? Who sounds A LOT like Hana's own mother? So while those words about imperfection are true, the person speaking them is a truckload of trash.

- When it comes to a foreigner insulting Hana, then somehow it becomes magically appropriate for the MC and Olivia to pretend to be offended. But at home? In their own court? Hana rarely gets that kind of support. And she rarely gets the chance to push back either. An Olivia can call her a failure and claim "Hana hasn't so much as touched the ladder while I'm at the very top", and all Hana is allowed to do is glower in fury and then it's conveniently forgotten. By the MC.

Like sure it's nice that the MC gets to treat Hana with respect this time around, and pay her some attention. But where was this protectiveness when Hana needed it the most?

I'd have liked a moment like this earlier, or if the narrative actually was fair in terms of their treatment of Hana. But her issues, her feelings, her pain, has always been on the backseat. I'm not going to be grateful for scraps like these.

- That's the other thing. This chapter...feels a little last-minute. Not only is the gown in this chapter a very, very recent one (an anon pointed out it was added only a week or two ago), the chapter itself is all over the place. Isabella claims to want to show the group that there is more to Auvernal than Bradshaw's blustering...but in essence what she's showing us is pretty much the same thing. She is still issuing us veiled threats, and strong-arming us into becoming allies. Her tactics are still scare tactics and they are not as subtle as she or the writers believe they are.

- Even in this chapter where another person is allowed to feel pain over her years of not conceiving, Hana is hardly given space. Think about that for a second.

To me...if this chapter was a recent addition - that means the only chapter where Hana actually gets a tiny amount of space to herself...is a last minute choice. And that's not a good thing. In fact it reminds me of Book 2, where Hana was given an AWFUL scene in Chapter 8 (the fashion show scene, which focused more on Penelope than on Hana) and no appearances in the chapter after, and then given two good scenes (patisserie scene and library scene). Those two good scenes...came before they virtually ignored Hana and her background to focus on literally anyone else (after which Hana was not even seen in NY). Just because Hana gets a decent scene (a scene that isn't even hers, actually, a lot of it is about Isabella) once in 9 (NINE) chapters, doesn't mean that she's going to get good development from now on. For all you know this could be a carrot conveniently dangled to keep people satisfied for another 5-6 chapters of the same ol' focus on the male LIs instead.

- Wonder what Olivia is upto and what Liam might know.

- Also wonder why we didn't get a lot of info on Eleanor in her own home.

- Also for a country that is the maternal home of Cordonia's king, there's precious little shown about their interactions with him. In fact there's very little space Liam gets to actually operate as a King - either in this series or the previous one.

- This week, I will not be doing my usual QT for Book 1. There's an essay I've been itching to do, about Kiara and Penelope, and I'm going to devote my weekend to diving into that! Would anyone like to be tagged??

- Anyway! Until the next chapter, guys.

#the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #long post #hana lee #olivia nevrakis #controlling parenting tw #infertility tw

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jaredhollyheiditruth · 5 years

Text

Solicitation of Minors, Part 1 (Chai)

The second issue facing and affecting Jared Knabenbauer (whose name I’m SURE I’ve misspelled elsewhere!) are the accusations against Jared of seeking out minors to “groom” while using his star status and blogs as recruitment tools. While my blog on the Heidi/Jared breakup and fallout was as neutral as I could make it while still addressing the facts, I will be far more aggressive in this post because of the implications herein and the fact that this issue involves serious criminal allegations.

As someone that grew up with a child molester, as someone that was targeted by a rapist, I understand the importance of treating an accuser’s claims seriously.

It is my belief that all accusers should be taken seriously. They should be heard, listened to, and feel valid and safe in making those allegations, and the proper authorities should investigate all claims made to the fullest extent of the law.

However.

The accused has rights, as well, and no accuser is above scrutiny. There is a very bold line between taking an accuser’s claims seriously, and believing them outright without any doubt, question, or expectation of evidence. Our legal system is built upon the Presumption of Innocence, that any accused is presumed innocent of the accusations against them until they are found guilty. It is not Jared Knabenbauer’s responsibility to prove that the allegations against him are false, and his silence is not an indicator of guilt! The first thing a criminal defense lawyer tells you is to keep your mouth shut with regards to any criminal allegations because despite your best intentions, you may inadvertently say things that can be twisted and used against you in court. Sadly, in today’s social media-charged society where people share details about everything from their vacations, to their grocery shopping trips, to the contents of every single meal, being silent is often treated as evidence of guilt.

First, I want to make clear the allegations against Jared. Jared is being accused of swapping nude photos and engaging in sexual conversations with minors. This, in and of itself, is not a crime.

Yes, you read that right.

To elucidate, it is a crime to knowingly transport, ship, receive, distribute, sell, possess, solicit, or access any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

In other words, if someone posing as an 18 or 19 year old sends you nude photos of themselves, but they’re only 16 or 17, you’re not guilty of a crime as the law is written, because you have to knowingly receive images of underage children, simple as that. The reason for this is because our legal system is based upon a concept known as Mens Rea, or “guilty mind.” It means that an individual’s intent has to factor into whether or not they deserve punishment for an act they’ve committed.

This is entirely different from the concept of Ignorantia juris non excusat, more commonly phrased as “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Ignorantia juris non excusat applies when you are committing a crime but do not realize it’s a crime.

For example, you cannot fire a handgun at a target in your back yard and avoid legal penalties because you didn’t know it was illegal to discharge a firearm in a residential area. The fact of the matter is you did a thing that the law says you can’t do.

Jared’s situation is different, because the law itself requires the accused to know the age of the person they’re interacting with when they do it, otherwise you cannot prove they knowingly interacted with a minor. This is the reason Chris Hansen’s team on To Catch a Predator take care to explicitly make sure their targets see and acknowledge the “age” of the decoy, because they’re unlikely to get a conviction on the basis of “We thought the decoy’s age was obvious!”

Think about it. If the law didn’t require the recipient to know the images contained minors, a person could easily set up a blog with a bunch of “barely legal 18 year olds,” post pictures of 16 year olds, and then anyone that went to the website would be guilty of accessing child porn. Odds are, if you’ve spent any time at all looking at porn on the internet, you’ve probably stumbled across a picture or two of a late-teens minor that either lied about their age or just uploaded a pic from their phone without even caring about the legality of it. Do you think you should be charged with a crime just because you trusted an adult website to fully and carefully screen every single model and some slipped through the cracks?

And, before I go on to the allegations, I’d like to point out that there have been many people that have confirmed that Jared did, indeed, engage in age checking and state multiple times that he didn’t want kids in his blog.

There’s also the fact that people admitted to having to omit or lie about their ages because Jared was known to boot people that were underage.

At one point, a user by the name Brenn recalls a time where they revealed to Jared that several minors had been posting to his blog, and Jared’s response to finding out about that was to nuke the entire blog.

I should note that, when Jared was informed about minors posting to his blog, he only had two possible options if he wanted to avoid violating federal child protection laws.

1. Report the blog to the FBI and implicate the users as distributors of child pornograpy.

2. Delete the entire blog.

He chose the latter option.

Now, with all of that said, let’s look at the allegations. Rather than do this as a timeline, I will address each accuser one at a time. There are only three, so this won’t be hard.

On April 4th, an individual going by the Twitter name Chai sent an email to NormalBoots, a media company specializing in video game-related content with whom Jared worked, along with many other individuals, including Holly Conrad. In this email, which Chai titled “Regarding ProJared’s Sexual Grooming of Minors,” Chai detailed his interactions with Jared, which he further expanded upon with a full-blown statement to Twitter that reads thusly:

However, as is typical with Twitter, people pressed Chai. They wanted to know more. This was when Chai admitted outright that he had absolutely no evidence to back up his claims.

I apologize for the poor quality of these screenshots, but shortly after posting his statements, Chai went to great lengths to bury his statements, though archived samples and screenshots taken by others still exist.

In addition to admitting he had no evidence to support is claim, Chai took time to answer a few other questions:

Now, the fact that Chai has no evidence of his claims is, itself, no reason to immediately dismiss them. Not everyone keeps extensive screenshots of interactions they make online unless they’re planning on savoring or using them later. In fact, as I said before, the authorities should take those claims with absolute seriousness and investigate them, and we the public should be willing to hear Chai’s words openly. However, further digging has resulted in new information that makes Chai’s claims and testimony a bit harder to swallow...

On November 2017, Chai posted an extensive blog entry detailing a head injury he suffered on November 9th, 2015. This would have been just five days after he turned 16, his date of birth having been confirmed by an archived copy of his old Twitter profile, seen here:

In this blog, posted in 2017, Chai describes suffering a head injury during gym class, and the severe, terrifying symptoms he underwent - symptoms I doubt I would be strong enough to endure - in the months and years that followed. The blog itself is very extensive, taking up several pages, and would be cumbersome to quote or paste here in its entirety. However, the entire blog can be found directly via archive by going here:

https://archive.fo/CEpgE

A full-image snapshot of the blog can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/sIJ7FlY

According to Chai’s own blog entry, the sheer misery of his experiences during those first few months must have been excruciating torture.

It’s probably a blessing he claims he has no proper memory of that period of time.

Now, the experience Chai describes suffering from during that period of time is, without a doubt, something I would never wish on anyone, even my worst enemy. However, if you do the math, that means that Chai cannot properly remember anything that took place between November of 2015 and May of 2016. When did he claim to have sent Jared that first nude along with a tagline of “16 no more?” Oh, that’s right...

So, allegedly, the first nude image Chai claims to have sent to Jared, wherein he states that he’s 16, occurred during a period of time that he can’t properly remember, and what memories he has exist as “snapshots.”

However, let’s continue giving Chai the benefit of the doubt. Let’s speculate in his favor for a moment and say that sometime after he wrote this blog, he started to remember things from that period, and somehow, those memories were clear and unaffected by the significant traumatic brain injury he suffered in late 2015. Chai describes the life he was living between late 2015 and August of 2016.

He was in and out of the hospital, sometimes for days at a time.

He was in constant pain at all times, and would suffer from seizures every few minutes that caused incontinence, falls, and fainting spells.

Such severe fatigue that he was sleeping for 16-18 hours per day.

Such severe depression, pain, and spasms that he was effectively bedridden.

Hallucinations, both auditory and verbal.

Hearing voices telling him to kill people, which got louder and louder each day.

Severely bad short term memory and large gaps in long term memory.

Inability co concentrate

Loss of coordination that prevented writing.

Slurred speech and psychosis.

He states that in August of 2016, he was “somewhat better” and was able to stay awake for 8-10 hours per day, but that the psychosis (that is, the violent thoughts) was getting worse, to the point he told his mother that he’d kill her if she didn’t take him to the hospital. He spent several days in the hospital before having a massive headache that temporarily crippled him, and explains that after this headache, the voices had miraculously disappeared entirely, as had the spasms and headaches. From there, he explains that his life got better and his symptoms rapidly healed over the ensuing year or two that followed.

Now, I don’t tell that story to humiliate or embarrass Chai. If anything, anyone that had lived through these events deserves nothing short of praise for their strength. I tell this story because, when you think about it...something doesn’t add up. Regarding that blog, there are two possibilities:

1. That the blog is truthful, and contains a description that best fits Chai’s recollection of the events surrounding a very unfortunate and painful accident. If this is the case, it means Chai is a strong individual that survived pure hell and came out the other side with a smile.

2. That the blog is a lie, which would imply that Chai invented the entire ordeal in order to garner sympathy from those that read it.

Now, we can’t access medical logs or contact any hospitals due to patient privacy rights, nor would we have any right to pry into Chai’s private life, which is why I’ve limited my digging only to information that has been submitted to the internet by those it concerns. However, no matter which of these two scenarios is the truth, Chai’s testimony hits a brick wall.

If it is true, then it means Chai’s memories of most of the year 2016 cannot be considered reliable. By his own admission, he is only able to recall bits and pieces of events that took place during that time. Furthermore, I think we can all agree that if you were living that sort of life, it would be overwhelmingly difficult to find the mood and motivation to go online and start trading nudes and engaging in sex talk with someone, to say nothing of the difficulty of finding time to do that and study while you’re only awake 6-8 hours per day and spending much of that in and out of the hospital, and even if he did manage it, we can’t rationally place much (if any) faith in the integrity of his recollection of just how those interactions with Jared went, especially in the absence of any corroborating evidence what-so-ever.

If it is false, it means that the story - either in part or in whole - has been falsified for the purpose of garnering sympathy for Chai from those that would read the blog. While this act alone could simply be considered deplorable for the level of deception involved, it would also establish that Chai has a pattern of lying to the public in order to get them to feel sorry for him, meaning it’s not ethical to believe his claims without some evidence to corroborate them.

Either way, the blog does say one thing for certain: Chai’s claims about his encounter with Jared, based on the timeline of his cognitive injuries and the fact that he cannot provide a single shred of evidence to corroborate them, cannot reasonably be accepted as reliable, because either he wasn’t in any condition to participate in nude-swapping and sexting, or he’s remembering events that might not have happened, or he’s lying about the entire thing. We can’t prove which of these possibilities, if any, is the truth, but there’s far too much there to simply dismiss outright.

Update: Direct references to Chai’s surname have been removed from this blog at the request of third parties not directly related to these incidents.

#jaredhollyheiditruth chaiandcharlie

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theaccountsonpoint-blog · 6 years

Text

7 Common Mistakes Made by Fitness Businesses

Once people decide they want professional fitness help, they’re spoiled for choice. Take my local shops for example - there are four gyms/fitness studios within 100m of each other! The flipside of this is that people also tend to lose motivation or forget about their fitness goals quite quickly.

What does this mean for you? Well, unless you're one of the mega fitness brands, you've got to work your butt off to attract and convert new clients. Then you've got to pay close attention to other aspects of your business or you may not be able to retain those clients, or profit.

I’m not a personal trainer and have never run a gym, I just want to share the results of surveys/interviews I’ve done with close to 100 fitness professionals (both clients and non-clients).

Here’s the shortlist.

Things to avoid when you’re running a gym or personal training studio

These common mistakes are here to help you. As you read, just remember:

- Everyone makes some or all of these mistakes at some point.

- It's valuable to pinpoint problems so you can set a path for continuous improvement.

- These mistakes are VERY inter-related. If you fix one thing it will improve other areas too.

1. Working too hard/long hours

Many of us start a business for a better lifestyle but, sadly, it is much more common for business owners to be working an unhealthy number of hours each week.

If you've started a fitness business and you're feeling overworked and underpaid you need to know that you're not alone - you're in the majority. This ultra-competitive industry requires that you put yourself out there on social media and everywhere else possible so that you have a good shot at success. This means failure is very public. Maybe that's a good thing? Some of us work better under pressure.

If you don't have anyone helping you with your clients, your day is probably something like this....

- Get up at 4:20am for the early sessions

- Work your butt off during the day to get things done

- Take breaks whenever you have a few moments

- Try to look energetic for the evening sessions

- Get home late

- Post and comment on social media

- Then, just when you try to sit down and relax you get client messages or new enquiries via Messenger. You can't ignore those!

Sound familiar? This 'mistake' is actually a symptom of other root causes mentioned below. I think everyone starts out working like this out of necessity. It's manageable in the beginning due to the excitement of it all - but it's not sustainable.

2. Not having a well defined target market

How do you compete with 24-hour gyms or massive franchises that have a seemingly endless marketing budget? The answer may be to narrow your focus on a target market, or to specialise/niche.

If you haven't yet niched it might be because you're worried that specialising in something may deter other 'would be' clients. Well it might deter a few. On the other hand, if someone is looking for a new fitness solution, what is it that would currently attract them to your business rather than a super well known and trusted brand?

Being unique and promoting your point of difference has three advantages:

1) It tends to attract the sort of people you want

2) You’re more likely to provide an amazing service that will keep them with you

3) They’re more likely to spread the word

Is there something about your business that people would actively search for and when they find you they would think: This is it!

3. Poor financial management

Fitness businesses aren't alone on this one. Poor financial management is the leading cause of small business failure.

The thing about the fitness industry, is that most trainers or instructors are working to build up their client base and can't really spare time or money to manage the finances properly. A lot of people spend more time and money on marketing to increase revenue - but don't stick your head in the sand. It's important to know your numbers even if they’re pretty small at the moment. Knowing your numbers may provide extra motivation for improvement.

If you already have the finances sorted when big changes happen, such as registering for GST or suddenly making a bigger profit, then you won’t be caught off guard. The tax office doesn't accept ignorance as an excuse and having a tax debt makes running a business much harder.

4. Not creating systems

"Let systems run the business..." Michael Gerber

But who has time to develop systems when they're starting a business? Well, when you consider that 94% of problems with a business are systems driven and only 6% due to people (Deming), it makes sense to work on the 94%.

Here’s the good news: you already have systems for your business, even if you haven't documented them. You just need to get them out of your head.

Years ago, I used to type up static manuals for business processes but that's all changed. Now we create an online directory of every process and fill each module with video and screenshots or easy-to-update text.

This seemingly boring task seems way more interesting when you consider the big benefits:

- Improved quality

- Improved client satisfaction

- Improved client retention

- Increased referrals

- A more professional perception

- Increased perceived value and higher fees

- Optimised marketing

- Optimised sales

- Optimised training

- Optimised management

- Improved team satisfaction

- A higher business valuation

- The prospect of franchising

I'll stop there but, honestly, the implementation and continuous improvement of systems is what separates the leaders from the pack.

5. Going it alone

"... and let people run the systems" Michael Gerber, again

Most fitness businesses are started by one or two people who are running all the sessions themselves and trying to balance all other business tasks in their down time. This is OK in the very beginning but then it's common to get stuck in 'no man's land'.

You'll become too busy to do anything properly and your business will suffer, not to mention your mental health.

There are some tasks that could actually be done better by someone else for a cost that makes sense. Consider things like cleaning, bookkeeping, social media management…

Then, imagine finding an amazing trainer/instructor who could handle 12 sessions a week. Your time could then be spent on business improvements that are much more valuable than running sessions. If you're worried about what your clients would think, don't worry, you can focus on retention activities that may make them even happier than they were before.

The business is so much more valuable to a buyer once the separation of owner and operations is complete. In fact, it's nearly impossible to sell if you haven't done this to some extent.

And one more thing about going it alone... wouldn't you like to have a holiday?

6. Thinking you can't afford or not ready for the software you need

Software can seem expensive but there are so many benefits.

I have noticed how those who make the leap and fork out for good software suddenly find themselves signing up more clients. They become busier with more clients and couldn't imagine coping without the software.

On the other hand, those who hold off seem to be constantly struggling.

Why is that? Maybe it's because the software gives a more professional appearance, which attracts customers.

Here are a few reasons it can make life easier for you and your clients.

Good software efficiently manages payments. This gives you a consistent and predictable cash flow. The majority of fitness clients actually find this better than having to have the right cash or purchase 10 packs through a weird system. Direct debit is set and forget - for them and you.

It also efficiently manages bookings or scheduling. Clear communication around schedules is vital for your business. Why wouldn’t you optimise that?

This sort of software can help you grow. Maybe it's the retention work you can do with the software that gives the competitive edge. Or perhaps it’s the marketing capabilities they include if you integrate them with marketing apps.

However it happens for you, after some growth (if not from the start) you'll need good accounting software - not only to help you stay out of financial trouble but also to know your numbers, set targets and monitor your performance.

“That which is measured, improves”

Peter Drucker

7. Thinking you're too busy to spend time on service and satisfaction

To be honest, there were tonnes of "being too busy to..." type mistakes in the survey responses, but there was a lot of overlap so I've narrowed it down to the three key areas.

I've also changed the title of the mistake from "being too busy to" to "thinking you're too busy too". My reason for this is that these things are so important in the fitness industry that if you don't attend to them regularly they will come back to bite you.

They're not just “nice to haves” - they're critical.

If you spend hours on social media each day, that's great, but it may be more effective to to spare a bit of time on:

Improving your services (REFERRALS, CLIENT ATTRACTION AND RETENTION) You're probably already continuously educating yourself on health, fitness and nutrition. That learning is an amazing building block for new services and the continuous improvement of existing services. Service improvement is a leading determinant for referrals, client attraction and retention.

Checking customer satisfaction (REFERRALS, RETENTION) Trying to sense the vibe of customer satisfaction probably isn't good enough. You're probably too busy to have one-on-one chats with everybody, so consider using your software to periodically send out a three question survey. This could highlight problem areas fast, shows changes over time, and let you know the winning elements that shouldn't be changed.

Checking team satisfaction (TEAM RETENTION, CLIENT SATISFACTION, REFERRALS) How’s the team doing? This should also be systematically checked. Even if you've got bulletproof hiring and training systems, when a team member leaves it's a major disruption, and a black hole for money and your time.

Keeping your team highly engaged and proud of the business should reduce team turnover and mitigates the risk of them leaving on bad terms. You need to look after your crew so well that they don't start looking for work elsewhere or, worse still, decide to build up their own client base in direct competition with you.

Some of the fitness people who helped with this article had ways of lessening the impact of these 7 mistakes through additional revenue streams like online coaching, online training courses and product sales. I'd love to hear about your fitness business if it's immune to any of these 7 mistakes. I’d also love to know I've missed anything so get in touch in the comments section to add your experiences.

by:

Simon Birdsall

#fitness #health & fitness #gym #gymowner #personaltrainer #onlinetrainer #fitnessexpert #fitnesspeople #trainer #fitnessinstructor #business #fitnessbusiness

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thekillingmoonmoon · 3 years

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heyyyooo!

how have you been this week? how was cake and roommate!!

there is something so satisfying about a fattened notebook, and the little crinkle each page turn makes. i'm really bad at marking up notebooks. i feel like i don't want to ruin it with whatever i'm wanting to make notes on. unless it's for school or something, then i don't mind.

to completely judge a book by its cover i'm going to have to agree that hamlet is the one i would position cover-out on a bookshelf! i was gifted a set of books that are supposed to be displayed as a colour gradient but... that's not how i arrange books, so the idea is lost and all the brightly coloured spines are scattered among all the other books in my shelf. oop.

ah i made a note for the philodendron and the jp peace lily for when we get flowers in the spring, thank you! let's also hope the are immune to my vampirism, or perhaps i should consider growing garlic XD

ouuuuuuu i've been thinking about the threads in this xmas au since i read it. one, because i was trying to come up with a name for it (best i could do was 'claus and effect' and i've also tried to come up with some slay/sleigh related pun. it's not working), and two, i got mischievously sentimental while i was trying to think up the funny bits. warning, i'm not funny anymore lol. anyway! holidays with bonten.

for koko, i feel like he wraps the presents himself, all neat creases and tidy edges, minimal amounts of wasted paper, and just the right amount of tape to keep it sealed. and they're neatly arranged into their own little piles like trees, because he refuses to put up the real tree. sanzu sends the screenshot of the biscuit-making but omi hears about it (poor guy has heard eeeeeverything about this breakup), takes his advisory role seriously and says it's xmas, ease up on poor koko. so after some consideration, sanzu does. by sneakily taking a candid photo of koko facing the piles of presents and no hint of holidays in the rest of the room, slapping a cool-toned filter on it, and sending that to her with a single text "all he is for christmas is blue." and because she's done well healing past the hurt, and know how the holidays are for him, she sends him a small tin of the almond horns she'd baked. it's a christmas miracle of a truce between the two, if only for a few weeks. yes, sanzu is occasionally sweet. yes, i am playing favourites.

agreed agreed agreed that ran has already bought the best gifts, both quality and sentimental wise. god i'm such a softie for redrose!ran. i can't make any excuses for menace!sanzu when it comes to the haitanis though, so i'll leave him be for this one. for ran and rindou, i could see them also having a christmas miracle of a truce because at the end of the day, they're still brothers who relied and trusted only each other for the longest time. everyone in bonten breathes a small sigh of relief. (i told you, i got stuck in the xmas haze. the holidaze, if you will). i like your idea of the three mikey moods! his one and only warning that he's moving from dorayaki to murder mode in the meeting is him calmly reaching over and stuffing the untouched part into a mouth.

i'd like a happy medium between really effing dry heat and humid heat. it snowed for a bit over the past few days and i'm just... tired and cranky all the time now, haha x_x and not at all the nice snowy scene i described, just a depressing grey.

since you said proper little pizza oven... i'm imagining the one from back to the future, haha. and about the biscuits, i need to know what happened with them!! what kind of flour did she sub? what was the end result? flat and brittle? i'm one of those people who love reading about recipes and collecting them but never make a habit of consistently making any. (though i am pretty good at making a burnt basque cheesecake, even though it's the easiest thing ever but looks like i've spent more time on it than i actually have XD)

lol okay i'm really glad i'm anon because i'm always really shy about sharing music so... to be a little different i'll name my top song for each year i've had it. for 2021 it's blackpink - lovesick girls, for 2020 it's massive attack - paradise circus, for 2019 it's the midnight - shadows (uppermost remix), for 2018 it's the internet - special affair. no judgement pls! 😁💐

helllo hello!

Cake and roommate was delightful, although the driving was not! I got caught in a cloudburst on the way home and the sillies in front of me didn't have ANY lights on? very scary. but I came home in one piece lol.

This week has mostly been procrastination, I'm afraid - but I will complete what needs to be done... eventually...

i also had the phobia of messing up a nice notebook, until I started using the very boring and ugly school notebooks as bullet journals. And now I have no problem breaking in a notebook with my scribbles. I get very frustrated with my handwriting though, but I feel like everyone has that issue.

Ooo - please share your preferred method of organising books! is it height-based? colour-based? alphabetical? chronological? does it at least make sense? (mine does not, in any way)

'Claus and effect' had me cackling, I'm not gonna lie. Like, suffer the consequences of your actions, Bonten boys! Except you, Ran, you're just too fucking happy to be here.

Koko is 100% the present wrapper - the others try to bribe him to wrap their presents (Koko only does it for Mikey, because Mikey just looks so fucking sad when his mess of wrapping paper and tape falls apart) and Koko will 100% unwrap the presents for you, and FOLD the paper for next year! (my gran did this - thanks Great Depression Era parenting - and I've semi adopted this, if only to decrease the volume of rubbish accumulated at the end of unwrapping. I save bows though)

I'm losing it at Sanzu's very sincere attempts of reconciliation (there's still no ways he's going to be of any assistance to the Haitanis though)I think Sanzu's fairly fond of Koko - they've been together since the very start, and I'm sure Koko has cleaned up a fair bit of Sanzu's messes and funds the drug habit, albeit reluctantly. Sanzu also probably has your number because of the amount of times you've had to come collect a tipsy Koko who keeps mumbling sad things about Inupi and Akane and just generally bringing down the Vibe at the Bonten party.

God bless Takeomi. He's listened to so much. just let him retire. He looked over sanzu's message to you and he just had no idea why sanzu was laughing so hard? Koko is blue? he's sad? why is this funny? Haruchiyo, stop laughing. He's also heard every possible theory under the sun regarding what's going on with the Haitanis. Sanzu is so curious, and just assumes that Takeomi's and Mochi's silence on the matter means they want to listen to his theories. sanzu's even more confused when the Haitanis declare a truce for the holidays - like why are you talking to each other now? don't you hate each other? is the war over? Both of the brothers just look at him blankly - Mikey is finishing his plate of food rapidly - maybe we should switch to a party game...

a side note - nether of the Haitanis can wrap a gift. Bless them, they try, but Ran has settled on paying someone to wrap his presents. It's the inside that counts, right? the fact that he didn't actually stick down the tape doesn't matter, and he knows you understand. Rindou has yet to catch on, although he has recently discovered the power of the Gift Bag (why wrestling wrapping paper when you can just pop it into a bag? genius!) Can one of them PLEASE talk to Sanzu and Takeomi about this though? Takeomi wraps things in fucking newspaper and packing tape, and there's no shortage of times when he's gotten distracted and left his lighter or cigarettes (or once, his whole fucking gun) in your present. Sanzu, just, uh, doesn't wrap anything. It gets handed to you as is, maybe still in the plastic bag he bought it in. But he does buy it himself. So that's a win? Kakucho's presents are charmingly self-wrapped. They're not as perfect as Koko, there are a few crinkly bits and he did eventually give up on wrapping that very weirdly shaped gift and put it in a bag. But everything is done with a lot of love and quiet dedication. Mikey's too. He's actually spent hours in multiple malls looking for the perfect gift (none of them were perfect. He had to get Koko to help him order it) his card is also barely legible, but there's so much thought and care put into his gifts that you can't help but cry tears of joy for our saddest little crime boss. Mochi gives you gift cards, or a card giving you him and his credit card for the day, so that you can spend the day doing whatever you like with him, getting precisely what you want (there have been too many occasions when Mochi has bought things the wrong size or colour and he feels so awful about it)

oo, new music for me to look up! I don't judge music tastes, just vibe with what you love - and then like an evil little music raccoon I will steal your recommendations and add them to my collection >_<

alright, enough Bonten Christmas, else you're going to actually make me like Christmas. I'm sorry to hear about your grey snow days - hopefully you get some decent wintery days soon <3

oh lordy the Back to Future pizza oven... that is a food sin..

as for where the biscuit recipe went wrong... I'm honestly too scared to ask - i think she might have used the wrong flour, but I'm not sure what.

!!!! cheesecake!! is it fairly easy to make?? if so, please drop the recipe!

anyway! thank you for stopping by <3 sending love to you and I hope you have a good end to your week xx

mwah!

#killingmoon answers #killingmoon anons #🐰🌙: 💐 anon

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nardaviel · 6 years

Photo

Part 4 / ?, now with pets and vampire stalkers.

Once again this is a long and image-heavy post, but at least this time some of the images are of a cute Sim kitten. I finally bought all the updates for Sims 4 so goodbye to all my spending money for this month, but now I can play it again.

I was super excited about getting Kinatsuen a cat, but I wanted them to have the exact cat I picture when I imagine them having a cat so I couldn't adopt any of the stray kitties or any of the ones on the computer. So I just made her as a kitten in Create A Sim from the Manage Households option, since there was no other way to do it... but we can say, for story purposes, that they went out and adopted her.

Their new gallery portrait. En looks like he's about to pass out. She's too cute for him to handle.

I also changed Atsushi's aspiration to Master Chef and Kinshirou's to Soulmate, because I felt bad having En make progress on his aspiration while they were stuck longing for a family. (Also they weren't getting all the useful satisfaction points you get for doing aspiration things.) Once they've finished these aspirations, I'll give them the original ones back.

I start playing the household and

this is what I find. Don’t abandon Hou-chan like this, she’s just a kitten ;-;

She’s so adorable, though. She is an affectionate, clever, and friendly kitty!

Atsushi admires her cuteness. This seems like a place for a Lion King joke, but I don’t want to detract from the cute.

It's late so they all go to sleep. Hou-chan follows Atsushi into the room to sleep near him even though she has her own bed al;sdkf I'm just... really charmed... I love her...

She's so needy... wow. My other Sims' pets aren't like this at all. The affectionate trait is powerful. (But it's cute!)

Kinshirou fixed a broken sink, and now he's rummaging through the discarded bits for useful parts. I took this screenshot just because it's such a strange sight.

He’s pissed off that he had to do something so disgusting. Poor baby.

There’s a big market for Kinshirou’s thoughts on etiquette.

I wish I'd bothered to come up with custom names for the other two books now because it's funny to see things like this but oh well, I guess. He was still learning! His titles weren't very good yet.

This painting perturbs me. Hou-chan is the only saving grace of this screenshot.

Fuck. I hate chance cards. H a t e. ...All my legacy Sims and my City Living girl would set up in the street (if they were in the painter career), because they're all that type. But I think En just wants to give up... An excuse not to work, what could be better...

En's laziness worked out for the best this time. It's a shame about the money, though. They're a bit broke.

Before work, Atsushi makes a bunch of quick salads so his boyfriends don’t have to cook. (That is to say, I’m working on his new aspiration.)

Kinshirou and En have a date scheduled, but En comes home tense from work (even though he earned his salary, despite what that chance card result said). So he goes to join Kinshirou in meditating the tension away before they leave.

Sadly, Kinshirou gets bored, and the TV bores him even more because the action channel just isn’t cultured enough for him. You can’t make this stuff up, I swear... And by the time he’s over it, En is asleep. So their date is postponed. There are no screenshots because I was hoping they'd get it together and I wouldn't have to go into so much detail lol

But Atsushi gets promoted! So the night isn't a total waste. He's a mixologist now.

Yes, darling, we’re all very proud.

I don't know why he doesn't have glasses in his work outfit, by the way. I didn't design it.

His hours are even worse than before, from 6pm to 2am. But he gets three days off now instead of just two, which is a relief.

Meanwhile, Hou-chan loves her little toy bird so much that she wants to take it with her everywhere, even if that means she has to glitch and walk around stuck in it.

Atsushi, savior of kittens.

Atsushi wants to play with her with the wand, since that seems safer, but she wants to use the litter box. So he follows her into the bathroom... Let her have some privacy, Atsushi...

Meanwhile, En paints a masterpiece-quality painting! Aside from being necessary for his aspiration, that's just really cool!! I'm proud. Not sure whether to keep it because it's pretty or sell it because it'll sell for a lot...

Nothing really to say here. This is where the camera ended up when I exited screenshot mode, and I thought it looked pretty so I took another screenshot.

I put it in Atsushi’s bedroom because his bedroom is a bit bare. It can live with the Enatsu painting.

Gross, Hou-chan.

Okay, well, En is off to work, but Kinshirou and Atsushi can go on a date, at least. They decide on a nice, classy dinner date at a restaurant I built for them. It’s as boringly built as everything else I’ve done before now (I’ve learned how to build cooler things but it came too late for some of the buildings in their save...) which is why I didn’t take a screenshot but it looks okayish on the inside, I suppose.

LMAO... I forgot I gave him that suit... oh my god... he looks so proud. Atsushi is politely keeping his thoughts to himself.

They're shown to the one semi-private table in the establishment. Probably because Kinshirou is from a good family, even if they themselves don’t have much money.

Gosh, they’re cute.

(I am really, really sorry for those little lightbulbs and plus signs and sparkles. They signify that a lot trait is having an effect on a skill that a Sim is building. They’re incredibly annoying in screenshots, but there’s no way to turn them off. It eventually occurred to me to get a mod for it, but only after the end of this post...)

It takes their food some time to arrive, but at least it gets there, which is more than I can say of the last time I tried to go on a restaurant date in TS4. They don’t mind. It gives them lots of time to talk! Something about Kinshirou’s drink puts him in a flirty mood...

En comes home from work while they’re out. He got a promotion, so he’s in that bizarre outfit again. Luckily, I don't have to see it except in his little portrait at the bottom left.

To put the finishing touch on an incredible date, they kiss passionately on the top floor of the restaurant.

Kinshirou makes this face when Atsushi first grabs him, but he gets into it.

Looks like I spoke too soon.

Kinshirou got sick on his date, and now he's itchy. Hm.

Their reward for such a good date! It’s just decor, not actually drinkable. If all goes well, they'll have these littered around the house eventually.

Kinatsuen receive an evening visitor, a friend of Atsushi’s in another save where I recreated demon AU but emphatically not his friend in this one. Fortunately, they're smart! They know not to invite a vampire into the house.

Less fortunately, Kinshirou is outside expanding Atsushi's garden. Maybe, he thinks, if he stays off to the side of the house, his dazzling gold suit won't catch Vlad's eye.

But the medicine has made him energized, and he needs to get all that energy out somehow. Kin-chan, sweetheart, not in your nice suit... although maybe ruining that suit would be for the best.

En and Hou-chan just became friends! She must have been giving him advice on his painting. ...Also I forgot to change him out of his promotion clothes.

Now that the vampire has left, Kinshirou is free to return to his kitten.

She is honestly unbelievably cute.

Atsushi comes home from work, exhausted and reeking from a night behind the bar, only to find that he can't even sleep in his own bed. His boyfriends missed him so much, they went to sleep there themselves.

En's bedroom may be messy, and he may not ever put the condoms and lube away, but it's closer than Kinshirou's.

Must have been a rough night. En still thinks he looks hot, though. Sometimes having a slob for a boyfriend is a plus.

Enatsu and Hou-chan morning domesticity. En is addicted to painting, I swear. Mixologists and bars aren’t as bad as En and his easel.

His second masterpiece is even prettier than his first. They're both impressionist paintings so I suppose Sim En is an impressionist painter. That suits him, I think. Unfortunately, painting a masterpiece means he'll go to work in a confident mood when he'd be better off inspired, but you can't have everything.

Again... Why is it always En who gets in trouble at work...

My headcanon is actually that En wouldn't judge, but, since that's not an option here, he would want to talk about his passion. En is always ready to share his thoughts.

THAT'S RIGHT. Although it's a bit sad because I still think En would defend her, if anything.

Atsushi needs to improve his mixology for work. Instead of making yet another drink for himself or wastefully practicing and then throwing out the results, he makes a pet drink for Hou-chan. :D

The window for Kinshirou to sell his books to a publisher. A screenplay about the magical boys’ revenge will definitely fly off the shelves, I agree.

No story value, just cute.

With Atsushi at work, En and Kinshirou decide to check out a community lot (not as a date). I actually made it for Atsushi, but... he'll get here someday. Basically, one of the expansions introduced all these food stalls and a bunch of recipes (honestly like 20+ in total) that you can learn how to cook only after tasting them. But it's hard to track them all down in the places the game initially put them because they rotate, so I just made a foot stall lot.

Unfortunately you can only have so many stall vendors on a lot at a time, so it'll always look like half of them are closed... But I'm still proud of it? I think it's a cute lot with nice Kinatsuen colors, and it'll help Atsushi to have this one place to go to. I'm proud of all the lots I built for them, actually, even if they’re often not very interesting-looking.

The moment they arrive, Kinshirou goes straight to the Japanese food stall without the least bit of prompting from me. En chooses some spicy Vietnamese food, but by the time he gets to the table, Kinshirou is already halfway done with his dango. I want En to get used to spicy food ASAP because it's out of character for him not to be able to tolerate it. It wasn’t until I started watching them eat that I remembered Sims also have to learn how to use chopsticks... En, I don’t think that’s now they work.

Getting used to spicy food.

En: Kinshirou, help! Help me, it hurts! My mouth is on fire!! Kinshirou: Ahh, that was so good... such delicate, mild flavors... :’D

En is grumpy because he wants a vacation, even though they literally got back from one like a week ago. I think this is one of my all-time favorite screenshots just because it's the opposite of what would be IC for them.

Luckily, I put some bubble blowers on this lot, so he can relax a little. Don't make that face at me, En. This is for your own good.

...En put in the flirty flavor that makes you angry if you choke, and Kinshirou choked on his very first blow. I guess it's not such a surprise, though. The bubble blowers are basically just game stand-ins for drugs, and Kinshirou would be the absolute worst person to get high with.

Kinshirou: Ow ow ow ow ow! That hurts! En: Yeah, how's it feel, asshole?

En: Wait, shit, ow! Kinshirou: You deserve no better for taunting me.

Kinshirou’s face is adorably pinched and angry here. But En is angry now, too, so they go home and go to sleep, after losing some friendship points. That didn’t quite go according to plan. Tomorrow night will be better.

A Hou-chan’s-eye view. Kinshirou was in the middle of eating breakfast, but she was too cute to resist.

En took some pictures of Hou-chan and put them up on Simstagram (lol) and !!! I've never had a pet get so many followers immediately like this. Everyone loves Hou-chan.

I shouldn't have complained about En always getting in trouble. Now it's happening to Atsushi too.

Atsushi is annoyed that his coworker would steal and put him in this position, but he would rather just keep quiet to avoid a confrontation. Maybe someone else will handle it...

Still better than causing a scene.

They're finally out on a date! Making identical pleased expressions. Kinshirou's taken En out to a museum because he's a cutie deep down and he knows En will like it. I didn't build this one orz I meant to make them a museum but I turned it into an arts center instead. En will enjoy that more, but he needs to look at things in a museum right now for his aspiration, so...

Their animations continue to be creepily in sync as they admire the artwork.

It looks for all the world like Kinshirou's just made a dirty joke about the painting they're looking at, but...

...this isn’t the sort of work that would make Kinshirou think naughty thoughts. It would take even En several seconds to make an innuendo out of this.

But then Kinshirou autonomously offers En a public massage... Maybe he's just in a mood.

They spend the rest of the date in that room, mostly on that couch, sitting and talking. So there’s not much to say about it. But it’s awfully cute.

Sadly. they have to go home early, because En has to work the next morning. He would rather just quit his job, but Kinshirou won't let him.

He doesn't want to let on to En, which is why he's walking behind him, but he’s ready for the date to end. He’s exhausted.

The collection grows.

(I know one is more forward on the bar than the other. It's not my fault. I don't understand the rationale behind slot placement in TS4.)

Guys! Guys! stop eating! Pay attention to Hou-chan! She's just a little kitten and she's lonely!

Kinshirou is writing my fanfiction for me so that I don't have to. Although I suppose that means he's writing about an alternate world where he and his boyfriends live in a fantasy setting with some dude named Arima, and this Arima guy gets romantically involved with them all.

(I don't actually intend to have a sequel to Veil named Kidosen. I just wanted him to write a sequel and that's the title that came to mind.)

Their house, the most boring-looking house in the world, but now with two boring stories! I promise, when they move onto a bigger lot, I’ll do better.

The triad decided to spend some of their hard-earned money on a home addition. Their bedrooms are on the second story now and they have a bathroom with an actual bath in it (this was half the purpose of the remodeling; it’s a tragedy for them not to have a bath). Atsushi's kitchen is slightly nicer as well, with a better fridge and some aesthetic improvements. But the household now has exactly §301 to its name. No interior screenshots because the only really new thing is the bathroom and it's not exciting enough to be worth a screenshot. The bedrooms are almost exactly the same and the upstairs landing is completely empty because they ran out of money. The most interesting things here are the sad, neglected plants...

Atsushi, savior of plants (as well as kittens). He still needs to work on his herbalism. He’ll get to that at some point.

This is the problem with the goddamn bar. You tell a Sim to start mixing drinks and suddenly it's all they want to do. As soon as he stops needing to level mixology for his career, that thing is getting sold.

Even Atsushi himself dreams of a day when he can rid himself of the bar. He is trapped.

At least Hou-chan is proud of him. Or maybe she just wants another one of those pet drinks.

Atsushi suffers from a moment of self-doubt. Is he doing the right thing, encouraging Hou-chan to drink? She's only a kitten...

But she looks so happy.

Yeah. He made the right choice.

...no story value, just cute.

She reached 250 Simstagram followers with this very stylish pose. Her charms are irresistible!

But her love is reserved for Kinatsuen, and for this toy. She can’t stand to be parted from it.

LMAO

Not only does Atsushi barely even know his name, but he's also already married?? Nah, dude, if you want to cheat don't drag Atsushi into it.

Atsushi: Eheheh... *nervously ignores phone*

Atsushi doesn't have work for a couple of days, so he has time to relax and chat with Kinshirou while Hou-chan communes with her ball and takes a nap.

Atsushi: (Okay, time to try that pickup line I read...) So, Kin-chan... what underwear are you wearing? Kinshirou: Atchan. Please, spare us both.

Meanwhile, that lady who makes weird art bothers En at work again, and he comes out on top again. Maybe she should give up. Luckily for her, he should get promoted today.

Atsushi is sick. :C He's trying to meet his death with brave stoicism and honestly judging from how he looks I don't blame him for thinking the worst.

But all he has to do is take some medicine! All better. Time to go find Kinshirou and celebrate his return to good health, if Kinshirou has forgiven him for that pickup line.

Why is he making that face in the middle of WooHoo... Dare I even ask... Kinshirou, I would have thought you'd be more experienced by now...

Then again, Atsushi is completely satisfied afterwards. So maybe he liked it.

I feel like I go on about how cute Atsushi's Sim is but honestly they're all adorable. Also, this screenshot made me realize they just WooHooed with a window wide open looking down onto their street.

Like... he doesn't even go to work in those clothes. I don't get it.

But as you can see he got promoted! He's now an Imaginative Imagist, whatever that means. The painter career doesn't have the most informative job titles.

He honestly doesn't even want to be in the official painter career. He can't wait to get given a super nice easel so he can work from home like Kinshirou, who, by the way, is making the most money by far out of the three of them right now. I suppose that's fitting.

...He and Atsushi wanted to have a date tomorrow, but now that he's been promoted, he has to work. :\ Atsushi's due for a promotion too, so I guess they’ll see in a couple of days what his new schedule is like.

On the other hand, En gets off work an hour earlier now, and Atsushi still doesn't work at all tomorrow, so maybe they can have their date anyway. They were just planning to hang out at home anyway, in true Enatsu fashion.

It was at this point that the My First Pet stuff pack was released, and, well, long story short, they have a hedgehog now. Guess what its name is?

Don't do it, Kinshirou. Don't fall for it again...

orz.

But he goes to find Atsushi afterwards, just so that Atsushi knows he still cherishes his friendship more than he does a hedgehog.

Hou-chan has something to say, loudly enough that Kinshirou is startled.

Kinshirou: What's wrong, Hou-chan? What is it? Hm? Hou-chan: *sad meowing ;-;*

She needs attention, it turns out. Kinshirou is happy to oblige her whenever she wants. Unfortunately, En is lost in his art and barely even noticed her meowing.

Atsushi has made his first foray into gourmet cooking! He's pleased with the results, but he wishes his boyfriends were here to enjoy it with him.

Better late than never. Look how happy he is! It's like in episode 11 when he's feeding the defense club his curry.

I didn't quite manage to get a screenshot of Lilith at the door, but why do vampires keep knocking on the front door after dark?? It's scary. Maybe the boys just smell delicious or something? At least there hasn't been a vampire break-in, I suppose.

Hou-chan is suspicious of Zundar...

...and WISELY SO what the fuck??? What did they do to Zundar? What does this mean???? I have literally no idea. It popped up just as I left the home lot, so if he did something to trigger it, I'll never know...

While En is at work (orz), Atsushi is taking a trip to the newly-opened Arima Community Garden. They need some people to help do some preliminary work like planting before anything can be harvested.

(This is my way of explaining away gameplay limitations in terms of storyline. I made this lot so that Atsushi didn't have to run around the world finding things to plant, and also so that I had a place to put my modded insect spawners. You need insects for herbalism, but I didn't want to fill their home lot with bugs. But you have to have your Sims plant things on community lots, even if you put the seeds there with a cheat.)

While Atsushi works on the garden, Kinshirou learns chess from a very red individual named Kengo Fujita who's a member of what is essentially a chess club. Maybe they'll become friends! Atsushi wants to hold a dinner party soon to show off his cooking, so the three of them need friends, or at least people who'll accept an invitation.

Atsushi is working hard, but it’s a big task.

Eventually, Kinshirou resigns himself to getting dirt stains on his clothes and steps in to help.

Gardening boyfriends! Kinshirou looks like he's ready to stab himself with that spade. The light has changed and the shadows are longer. They’ve been here for a while. En is home by now, hopefully having a nice nap.

It’s late by the time they’re done. For dinner, they have hamburgers from a plate some stranger left on the table. That’s not what I would do myself, in their place, but they both survive it.

A solid day’s work! But it’s past midnight now and they just want to go home. Don’t judge me for the terrain paint, I did my best.

En is a sweetheart and waited up for them. In the background, Hou-chan remains vigilant.

That painting right there is a masterpiece worth almost two thousand Simoleons. En has an amazing talent.

These are, hands down, the best screenshots in the post.

At work, Atsushi once again refused to report that the cash in the register was low, and it once again got taken out of everyone's tips. Whoever did it the first time must have learned that they could get away with it.

Wtf he's back

They know they're being hunted.

Kinshirou: Perhaps he'll go away if we pretend that we didn't hear the bell. If he has no hope of getting inside... we need to act as though we think we're alone. En: Sure. But how do we do that?

En: Oh, I get it... I like the way you think.

Vladislaus: *watching through the door* They're completely oblivious to my presence. Amazing.

En: We might as well make it convincing, right? Right? Kinshirou: Is this something that interests you, then? Being watched? En: What if it is? Vladislaus: I can't believe they haven't noticed me. Their front door even has windows.

En: What are you into, then? Boyfriends should talk about stuff like this, right? Kinshirou: Oh, well... there are a few things, I suppose... Vladislaus: This is absurd.

En: Mm. Actually, why don't you tell me later? Kinshirou: Wh— oh... Vladislaus: *peers through the door, trying to get a better view*

Vlad is a pervert. Wow. I never knew. No wonder he and demon AU Atsushi are friends.

It worked!

Kinshirou: Oh, thank goodness. Maybe we should invest in some garlic braids. En: We can talk about it later.

This is such a sweet screenshot. Kinshirou can already tell that En is planning some sort of mischief, but he's so relieved that the vampire left before Atsushi got back that he's just amused and indulgent.

Oh, no... with all the vampire scariness and relieved WooHoo, they forgot to refill Hou-chan's food bowl...

(Don’t worry, Kinshirou came downstairs and did it. I just forgot to take a screenshot.)

Atsushi is a line cook now! Look at his fancy clothes! He must wear contacts at work. (That's my excuse for why he doesn't have glasses in his work outfits, and I'm sticking to it...)

His work days haven't changed, although he starts and leaves work four hours earlier now, so he won't be getting home at 2am anymore. He and En won't have a day off in common for a few more days, assuming En doesn't get promoted again in the meantime and get another schedule change. But they'll get their date. They’re determined, and so am I. If all else fails, Atsushi can take a vacation day and En can call in fake sick, and they can hang out with Kinshirou all disapproving in the background.

With the day's salary and his promotion bonus, they're able to expand their house again!

A boring deck to go with their boring house.This is the real reason for making a second story. More than the bath, I wanted to have room for a deck so that they could have a hot tub. :D They now have a grand total of §10 so it's a good thing they have lots of leftover food.

When will they move into a new, less ugly house? When will En get to quit his job? Will En and Atsushi ever get to go on a date? Will there ever come a day when I don’t end one of these posts with a question about En and Atsushi? What in God’s name did that notification about Zundar mean? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but we can find out together next time.

#boueibu #kinatsuen #enkin #kinatsu #enkinatsu #did we ever decide on a ship name i have no idea #less enatsu because their schedules still conflict but SOMEDAY #my post #sims 4 kinatsuen #looking at some of these screenshots makes me realize how pointy i made their chins but i must have had a reason #i spent hours in CAS on each of them tweaking their faces #maybe its just that i think sims look awkward from some angle if they dont have them?#idk its been ages since i went into CAS to make a sim

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technicaldr · 6 years

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How to Remove Bad (or Fake) Google Reviews - and Dispute Them

Anybody has the power to critique your company without ever visiting your store or coming face-to-face with your employees. For most businesses, reviews are a great way to build a positive reputation. However, they can also be a nightmare if an angry customer or competitor has a bone to pick with you.

But that’s not the only problem.

Shady competitors may try to use online review platforms against you. If you doze off behind the wheel, you might wake up to find countless fake Google reviews blasting your business. What’s worse, most people can’t tell the difference between a real customer and a fake reviewer.

But don’t worry. We’ll help you spot the frauds and show you exactly how to flag and remove bad Google reviews in this step-by-step guide. Here’s what we’ll cover:

How to spot fake Google reviews Tips to respond to negative reviews How to flag and remove Google reviews Follow up and monitor progress Protect your reputation Need help rebuilding your company’s reputation? Contact us to learn more about our enterprise reputation management offering.

Why it’s important to fix bad Google reviews It’s practically a guarantee that your business will get negative reviews at some point. That’s why it’s imperative to stay on top of feedback across all review platforms. It’s estimated that 91 percent of consumers read online reviews. They’re usually looking for negative experiences and to see if you attempted to make things right. If they don’t like what they find, they won’t buy from you. That means a poor online reputation could cost large companies millions of dollars and might even destroy a small business.

This isn’t to say that all negative reviews are terrible. On the contrary, they can build trust. No business is flawless, so an enormous pile of perfect ratings may smell like a pile of something else to savvy customers. Instead, a sprinkling of neutral feedback creates trust between the brand and the consumer. Bad Google reviews also give you a chance to improve your business. Think of them as free and honest feedback about what isn’t working.

Whether reviews are real or not, you still need to do something about them before they damage your company’s credibility and tarnish your hard-earned reputation. Step one is to find and remove fake Google reviews.

1. Evaluate your Google reviews Regularly check for feedback on all review platforms, including Google, Facebook, Yelp and Ripoff Report. Larger companies should monitor review sites daily, while a weekly check-in will usually suffice for smaller businesses. Here’s an article that explains how to Google your business to find comments that may not have bubbled up to page one yet. It’s also smart to set up Google Alerts for your brand so nothing slips through the cracks.

If you see a dreaded 1-star review, don’t light your torches and form a mob. Instead, take a breath, calm down, and come up with a clear strategy to rectify the situation.

Bad Google reviews happen for many reasons, but most come from customers who’ve had a negative experience with your company. For example, perhaps someone received a faulty product or was insulted by rude staff. But sometimes complaints are just plain false. Disgruntled former employees, sneaky competitors, and spammers may be out to get you. Read criticism carefully to figure out who may have written it, and why.

Tricks to spot and remove fake Google reviews Compare suspicious complaints with your sales records. Can you find any matching transactions? Here’s checklist to help you spot fake reviews:

The buyer isn’t in your point of sale software system Purchased items and/or the transaction date doesn’t match their complaint

No customer service calls on record Lack of detail (e.g., they haven’t named any specific employees) You noticed a surge of bad reviews in a short period of time There’s a connection between the reviewer and a competitor

2. Always respond to negative reviews Rapid response is your best weapon against customer complaints. Never, EVER ignore a review, true or false. Addressing complaints quickly shows third-party readers that you’re serious about providing quality customer service. This is your chance to show others that they won’t have the same bad experience.

Tips for responding to a negative review Contact the reviewer directly: Sometimes it’s best to talk offline. If you can get people on the phone, you may have an even better shot at calming them down. But don’t forget to revisit the original review and explain how the dilemma was resolved.

Take the proper tone: The right tone can turn a bad experience into a positive review. Don’t make excuses. Don’t get defensive. Keep things short and sweet. Maintain professionalism and own up to any mistakes you may have made. Swallow your pride and apologize, even if you’re not the one at fault. Most importantly, thank the consumer for their valued feedback.

Never threaten a lawsuit: Just don’t do it. Technically, you can sue someone for online defamation in some cases, but even if you win, you’ll likely lose in the long run. Lawsuits draw negative attention, and the media backlash from suing a consumer will scare off other clientele.

Offer to fix the problem: If the reviewer has a valid complaint, work with them to solve it. Address the employees involved, replace the faulty product, and make things right for your customer. But don’t make empty promises. Instead, follow through with everything you guarantee. Most negative reviews can be flipped around if the customer sees that you are willing to make things right.

How to respond to a fake Google review (yes, it’s necessary) It’s critical to respond to all reviews — especially if the review is fake. Although you might know the review isn’t true, your customers may not. So before you do anything else, address their issue and apologize for their discontent. Then tell them that you are unable to find a record of their transaction. This sends a message to fraudulent reviewers that you’re onto them while appearing helpful to potential customers. Finally, offer to remedy their issue and give them your contact information (email and/or phone number). We’ll discuss the next steps you should take in the following section.

3. How to remove fake Google reviews It’s usually possible to have a bad star rating removed if you can prove that it’s fake, inaccurate, or inappropriate. However, only the original author can delete truthful complaints from your company page. In the case of false reviews, though, you should take action as soon as possible to erase any trace of them.

Google’s review policy You can dispute Google reviews and request that they be removed if they violate any of the following guidelines:

Spam and fake content: Content must be genuine. Google will remove false information intended to boost rankings. Off-topic — Content must reflect an individual’s experience at a location. Irrelevant social, personal or political commentary will be removed.

Prohibited content: Google will remove illegal, locally restricted, sexually explicit, offensive, dangerous or derogatory content. This includes hate speech.

Conflict of interest: You may not review your own business, a current or former employer, or a competitor’s business.

How to flag fake Google business reviews Google Maps is the easiest way to flag reviews and complaints. Find your business listing on Google Maps, and click on reviews. Next, identify any false reviews using the tips we shared above. Finally, click the three vertical dots on the right side of the Google business review and select “flag as inappropriate.” That’s all there is to it.

How to dispute a Google review Google might not remove a flagged complaint as quickly as you’d like, if ever. To speed things along, you can also personally contact Google and ask them to take it down. To do so, visit your Google My Business profile again. Next click on the “support” option at the bottom of the left side navigation panel.

After clicking “support,” a help box will pop up. To email Google and dispute a review, you’ll need to click through the following list of help topics:

Need more help > Customer reviews and photos > Manage customer reviews > Email support

Then follow these three steps.

Submit your phone number or email address along with a screenshot of the suspicious review, and you should receive a response in one to two days.

If your situation is especially pressing or you still haven’t received an adequate response, try tweeting directly to @GoogleSmallBiz. Explain your predicament and how the negative Google review violates their review policy along with any images you have. Finally, if you have evidence that the complaint qualifies as slander against your company, you can fill out a Google form for a legal removal request.

If you’d rather ReputationManagement.com do the work for you, contact our team to learn more about our white-glove reputation management service.

Fixing bad reviews on other sites

Facebook Bad reviews aren’t limited to Google. Whether you’ve created an official Facebook page or not, your customers could be talking about you there. What’s worse, you may have started a page years ago and never gone back to address reviews that could be piling up. Check out this post to learn how to remove bad Facebook reviews.

Yelp If an inappropriate review hasn’t already been filtered out by Yelp’s algorithm, you can report. If moderators find that the review breaches their content guidelines, it will be taken down. However, fake reviews often slip through the filters. Read our full article about how to remove yelp reviews to learn more.

Ripoff Report It’s much trickier to get rid of Ripoff Report reviews. The only way to remove a Ripoff Report is to pay them an exorbitant amount of money. Otherwise, the platform refuses to take down complaints because they believe comments should be preserved to expose patterns of bad business practices. That means you’ll have to resort to reputation management strategies to push these results down. Learn more about Ripoff Report removal here.

Contact outside organizations if necessary If you can prove that a competitor left a fake Google review for your business, report them to the Better Business Bureau and your local Chamber of Commerce. Of course, you should also inform the owner of the competing business privately and politely that you know what they’re doing and that you’re taking action to protect your reputation. If the matter continues to escalate, it may be worth filing a lawsuit.

4. Follow up and continue monitoring Check up on bad Google reviews: Did you make up for a negative customer experience? Did you offer a refund or other compensation? If you believe you’ve resolved the issue, reach out and ask for their current feelings about your business. They may be willing to revisit or remove their original review.

Sadly, many review sites push edits to the bottom of the original complaint. But you should still update the report to show how important customer satisfaction is to your company. If the platform doesn’t allow for any changes, consider asking for another review that reflects the better experience. If he or she agrees to edit or remove their Google review or write a new one, be sure to leave a comment thanking them.

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Ask happy customers for reviews Ask your customers what you’re doing right and what you could improve. If they seem to have positive sentiments about your company, encourage them to leave a review and show your gratitude to the ones who do. Here are some helpful tips to get Google reviews:

Ask immediately after a transaction. Include calls to actions on receipts and email newsletters. Post a list of review sites near your front door or cash register. Encourage feedback in your store and on your company website so consumers can air their grievances privately instead of posting them online.

Never buy or fabricate reviews, bribe your customers, or obtain too many good reviews in a short period of time — this looks just as suspicious as a sudden onslaught of bad reviews. Expand your online presence

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nardaviel · 7 years

Photo

Part 3 / ?, wherein they go camping, much to Kinshirou’s dismay.

This is a long, image-heavy post. I’ve had it ready since like December but I never bothered to post it until now because I stopped playing the game for a while and I’m lazy. If you’re reading this on my blog and it’s done the obnoxious thing where it doesn’t show readmores, just click the date <3

You probably don’t remember where we left off because it’s been ages since the last post. I didn’t remember either. En had just gotten his second promotion in a few days; the game continued to insist on sending him home from work in an awkward outfit on promotion days. Kinshirou had just published his etiquette manual, and I had finally learned how to keep Atsushi from being miserable when he got home from work. However, En and Atsushi’s work schedules still kept them from spending much time together as a group.

En’s latest work of art is a beautiful, subtle masterpiece. I know that because I, an ignorant philistine, see the art of a 6-year-old, but an art gallery was interested enough to pay $50 more than he usually gets for large paintings.

This is kind of sweet, but he and En aren’t even engaged yet. Calm down, Kinshirou. It’s amazing how well the game knows them asd;lfk

Atsushi has been promoted to caterer!! A $10/hour raise so that his hourly wage is no longer a pittance, a $368 bonus, and a coffeepot. His work hours start an hour earlier and end two hours earlier, which still isn’t very good :\ but look, he’s so proud of himself.

To get to the next level of his career, he has to start learning to mix drinks. I’ve dreaded this moment because the last time I bought someone a bar to level mixology, they never wanted to do anything else again except mix drinks. I took it away in the end.

Kinshirou wakes up, sees that En’s gone, and goes to find him in the bathroom just so that he can kiss his cheek.

Since he’s awake now anyway, En paints an Enatsu painting and then a Kinatsuen painting, one after another. I can’t bring myself to sell either of them. The Kinatsuen one is going to stay where it is, but I’m putting the Enatsu one in Atsushi’s room, because it’s kind of bare at the moment.

En’s suave kiss is different than Kinshirou’s was. I assume it’s because he and Atsushi aren’t boyfriends yet? But Atsushi still seems charmed.

And now that they’ve drawn my attention to that oversight, Atsushi asks En to be his boyfriend.

You can imagine your own dialogue here. You’re all so dirty-minded.

En is into it, though.

He immediately kisses Atsushi on the cheek. I’m glad all the Sims think that’s as cute as I do.

Now they can all go on a much-deserved(???) vacation :D En and Atsushi have to take some vacation days to do it, but they want to spend some time together as a triad.

They’re going camping! For four days. It’s cheap, and they’re still a little broke. En and Atsushi are nervous, but willing to give it a try. Kinshirou...

..yeah.

Their home away from home. There are cabins and houses you can rent, but... like I said. They’re broke.

Kinshirou decides to start his vacation by practicing horseshoes. If this is all they have for entertainment, he’s going to master it.

But En doesn’t like that attitude.

En: Come on, cheer up, it’ll be fun. Kinshirou: Hmm... Maybe so, then.

Kinshirou: ...but I’ll still win at this game. Move.

As you can see behind them, Atsushi has been setting up their tents.

He’s also the only one to introduce himself to the park ranger. In other words, he continues to be the only useful Sim.

En is a miracle worker wtf

Once Atsushi’s done the boring stuff, he can join his boyfriends and spend his time being cute and flirty, as was the point of this vacation.

Kinshirou lights the fire for no reason. You’d think after part two, he’d have seen enough fire.

En... get up. What if Atsushi drops that horseshoe?

He does get up, finally. He has important painting to do.

Yes, I did add the easel to the lot before I brought them here. This vacation is costing $3 more per night than it otherwise would have.

So much excitement for a mediocre toss. And Atsushi can’t pretend to be impressed because he’s besieged by bugs.

Maybe En is trying to develop a style reminiscent of a young child’s?

Meanwhile, Kinshirou is still struggling with horseshoes.

So it’s easy, but you’re still bad at it? Got it.

Atsushi reassures him until he’s not embarrassed anymore...

...so now snobbish boredom is his dominant emotion. Look at that face. Why does anyone tolerate him?

If you’re wondering where En went, he’s taking a shower in here.

Atsushi’s first attempt at grilling!

En is drawn back by the promise of Atsushi’s excellent-quality(!!) baked potatoes. They’re sparkling! Atsushi’s so happy :D

Happy boyfriends, although Atsushi is again plagued by bugs.

Help him

Kinshirou wanders off in the middle of a conversation and goes to sleep. En is glad to have an excuse to do to the same.

Atsushi goes to the bathroom, but doesn’t return. When I check on him, I find him like this:

He’s stargazing. <3 But that’s not the spot I would have chosen, myself.

The next morning, Atsushi happily makes breakfast. He seems to be moving past any fire-related trauma from his near-death experience in part two.

Kinshirou also goes to the bathroom and doesn’t return. When I find him, not only is he making unnecessary food, he’s making exactly the same thing as Atsushi, except

wth a lot less skill behind it.

He burns himself. :c Just go eat breakfast with the others, Kinshirou.

Kinshirou: En, isn’t Atchan wonderful? He makes the best food, and he’s always so kind...

En: Yeah, you’re right. Atsushi’s great.

Atsushi looks so embarrassed... Change the subject, guys.

They’ve ventured out to the national park! They’re learning how to fish in case Atsushi ever wants to use fish in a meal.

They keep gaining friendship with each other and with this girl, even though none of them have said a word. Maybe words aren’t necessary when you’re fishing buddies.

Kinshirou catches two fish before either of the others catch anything. So when Atsushi catches one...

...he’s super excited.

Finally, to En’s incredulous annoyance, it becomes clear that he won’t catch anything in that spot.

Poor En-chan.

...poor En-chan.

There, back to normal.

Before they give up altogether on En learning to fish, they’ll try this one other spot. I just really want En to learn how to fish a;lskjf ...but the fish are too crafty for him here, too.

This is the face of a man who no longer cares.

Catching the fish made Atsushi confident, so he decides that En will be real impressed if he shows off his muscles. ...It’s sweet of En to humor him.

I see you back there, bear man. Fuck off.

I said fuck off.

If the last screenshot had you wondering, Kinshirou is telling an unbelievable story.

God damn it they’re all tense now

Kinshirou mocks the bear costume because I’m annoyed he’s annoyed about the situation. Then the three of them leave, so that they aren’t tense anymore.

Atsushi cooks his fish while En entertains them all with an adventure story :D

He follows up with a ghost story. Atsushi hangs on his every word.

Kinshirou chooses to find it amusing.

................ I forgot that ghost stories summon ghosts.

Oops.

He doesn’t stay long, though. The ghost that haunts the picnic table...

What has En done?!

En: Holy shit, my bad. Kinshirou: Well done, En. Good job.

Atsushi, in the background, is preoccupied. He’s exposing himself to the source of his fears in order to lessen the fear. No ghosts will get in the way of his exposure therapy.

They go back to their campsite, where the ghost is not. Kinshirou hopes that if he goes to sleep, he’ll be less freaked out about the ghost in the morning. En has other ideas for how to dispel his tension. Atsushi never even noticed the ghost to begin with, but he’s happy to go along with En.

...at which point I remember that this is the first Enatsu WooHoo! Congrats, guys. They get a happy moodlet from good WooHoo, as well, like En and Kinshirou did that once (except theirs was from “spectacular” WooHoo but ok whatever).

Kinshirou and Atsushi have never had a WooHoo so good they got a happy moodlet. I guess En is just really good at WooHoo.

Morning activities c:

Atsushi made this meal twice and it was poor quality both times. Fish tacos 2.0. At least he’s not so heartbroken about it this time.

This screenshot has no narrative value. I just thought it was cute.

The food was so bad it made them all feel sick... Oh, well. Atsushi is still learning.

En... I know you’re a slob, but there are limits...

“From the moist depths of the trash, En has recovered: 1 baconite.” Congratulations, En. Was it worth it.

It wouldn’t be a Kinatsuen Sims post without a screenshot of Atsushi looking distressed. This is why I put you in your tent to relax, Atsushi!! Just rest for a little while, you’ll feel better soon.

He takes it out on the bugs instead. I guess that works too.

This is the moodlet Kinshirou got after he and Atsushi WooHooed:

But this is Atsushi’s:

Kinshirou, you worry too much. Atsushi liked it, see? It looks like I spoke too soon about no happy moodlets from Kinatsu WooHoo, although it’d have been nice if they’d both gotten it.

But Kinshirou must not be too mortified, because he accepts Atsushi’s offer to be BFFs.

...and only afterwards did I realize that you can’t have multiple BFFs, and there’s no mod to make it possible. I guess it doesn’t matter too much, but poor En.

This is the only couple that hasn’t WooHooed in a tent yet. They should have a turn.

...but really that’s only an excuse to get them doing something else so that Atsushi can wander off and harvest wild things guilt-free. I want him to learn herbalism.

He identifies things by eating them, which makes me nervous. But the WooHoo back there seems to be going well.

lol.

Kinshirou now has two concurrent WooHoo moodlets. I’m proud of him.

Desperate for culture and civilization, he decides to view this big statue. But the bugs have other plans.

Dont look so resigned, En. Maybe it’ll go better this time.

(It did go better! He caught a fish. But I was following Kinshirou around in his herbalism journey and missed it.)

This again... If they can’t learn that every time you poke a fire with a stick, the stick catches fire, maybe they should just stay away from fire.

Because En is a lazy Sim, he doesn't jog when he has to go long distances like the other two do. As a result, it takes him a million years to go places. They all started to head back to the campsite at the same time, but Atsushi has already cooked and eaten dinner, and Kinshirou has burned a stick as well, by the time En deigns to show up.

After dinner, Atsushi asks Kinshirou to go stargazing. <3

There aren’t many screenshots for the next day because they don’t do much of anything interesting. That’s largely because they sleep very late.

Kinshirou, pls

This is not the time to hit on Atsushi. Atsushi is fighting the eternal battle against the bugs.

Or so I would have said, but whatever En does here, he manages to get Atsushi’s attention.

...then he turns and starts talking to Kinshirou asldjkf

Atsushi: Hey... En-chan... I’m still up for... you know... you didn’t forget already, did you?

They all keep rolling whims to get married to each other but hey don’t have enough money or friends for a nice wedding yet asdl;jfk and they would be sad in the end if they had the quick, boring type of Sim wedding. They’ll have to daydream quietly about it for a little while longer.

En ends the trip with another story. Not a ghost story this time, though. He learned his lesson. This is a fairytale. Soon afterwards, when he and Kinshirou are stargazing, Kinshirou gets homesick :C Poor baby, he’s not meant for camping.

The next day, without fanfare or screenshots, they head home. I think their vacation was good for them, but Atsushi has no vacation days left, so lets hope he doesn't set himself on fire again before he earns another one.

Will they ever get to see the community lots built and chosen especially for them? Will they get a cat? Will I, in fact, pick up The Sims again at all? When in the world will En and Atsushi have compatible work schedules so that they don’t have to run away into the wilderness to be together? Only time will tell.

Epilogue:

The lion is En’s idea of a painting that inspires confidence.

#boueibu #kinatsuen #enkinatsu #enatsukin #?!?!?!???!?!?! im sure there are other ship names but does anyone check any other tags #w/e #my post #sims 4 kinatsuen #i rly want to play them some more but i have $110 worth of xpacs and game packs to buy and that intimidates me #but i want to get them a kitty ;-;#anyway i thought id post this since its been sitting on my computer for ages waiting to be posted #will anyone even look at this idk but now ill be able to say i posted it #im not proofreading it rn ill do it later

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