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dcbbw · 9 months

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Dead in the Water (Rewrite Challenge)

This is my submission for @choicesprompts Rewrite Challenge.

Not gonna lie, when I first read about this event my first two thoughts were: “Not ANOTHER event!” quickly followed by, “As fanfic authors, all we do is rewrite.” Not to mention, I already have UnRomance, my rewrite of 9 ½ Weeks.

However, the more I thought about it, the more the idea grew on me. After all, I have plans (unfulfilled at the moment) to rewrite 16 Candles with Drake Walker as Jake Ryan, and possibly Striptease, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen and the movie starring Demi Moore, Burt Reynolds, and Ving Rhames.

So, I figured why not? Like so many others here, I initially took inspo from Grey’s Anatomy (and I still may write that story) but went with another version of dark and twisty: THIS iconic scene from How to Get Away with Murder.

Not sure I can do it justice, but gonna try. (My writing skills are rusty AF) I could have just rewritten the actual scene but wanted to provide readers with context/background while staying faithful (somewhat) to at least one of the show’s many Season 1 storylines.

So.Many.Thank yous to those who read this over in parts and pieces. Your encouragement and excitement over this story truly pushed me to finish it. To those who will read this, THANK YOU! Your reads, likes, comments, and/or reblogs are appreciated more than you will ever know.

Please excuse any and all typos, missing/extraneous words, and/or grammatical errors. MS Editor rates this story as 99% error free.

Story contains a couple of OCs, and my (and possibly Shonda Rhimes’) version of PB characters.

Song Inspo: Human, Rag n Bone

Word Count: 2,500

Pairing: Liam x Riley

Rating: M for Mature themes

Two weeks ago

The car drove silently through the empty streets of the duchy, streetlights occasionally and briefly illuminating the planes and angles of the driver’s face, and the knuckles of their hand on the steering wheel.

No one saw either.

The car entered the Warehouse District where the streetlamps were fewer, the buildings boxier, and the potholes were plentiful. The driver’s eyes squinted as they took a sharp turn into a narrow, dead-end alleyway, coming to a stop in front of a dumpster. They pulled a ski mask over their face and tugged a pair of leather gloves that had been laying in the passenger seat onto their hands before quietly exiting and retrieving the plastic-wrapped bundle from the back seat, hoisting it over their shoulder.

The figure was dressed completely in black: soft-soled shoes, shirt, pants, gloves, balaclava. They traipsed easily up the ladder that led to a building’s rooftop despite the plastic bag slung over one shoulder. The person was certain they hadn’t been seen or followed but surveyed the still-abandoned streets of the sleeping city below before heading towards the water tower.

With a grunt, they carefully shifted the heavy package to their other shoulder; it was literally dead weight. Their head tilted upwards, staring at the ladder that led to the tower’s catwalk. With a heavy sigh, they lightly trudged the few remaining steps to the steel staircase and began the long climb to the top of the water tank. The person maneuvered more slowly this time; one misstep and there would be two bodies found.

The goal … the hope was no body be found.

Their breathing grew heavier and was an outright pant once they reached the catwalk. They carefully placed the bag down before gloved hands began unwrapping and unrolling the plastic away from the body. As the dead woman was revealed, the person’s eyes raked over the body impersonally.

Her once shapely body was swollen with putrid gases; fortunately, the mentholatum gel the person had spread beneath their nostrils earlier in the evening prevented them from smelling anything foul.

Her flawless skin was mottled and bruised from long-settled blood. Lipstick still stained her lips, which were twisted in a grimace. From the struggle that ended in her death, or the fact that she was nobility wrapped in cheap plastic and tarp, no one would ever know. Her uncombed tresses had bald spots from postmortem hair loss and appeared to be the texture of straw. Her bare breasts were flaccid, nipples pointed downward.

Her feet were grotesquely misshapen from the bloat.

Reluctantly, their eyes pulled themselves away from the subject of a national manhunt and focused on the door; a combination lock kept the door sealed. Their hands went to the tool bag hanging from their leather belt, fingers extracting a pair of 12” bolt cutters. Eyes narrowed in concentration, they neatly cut the lock off before pushing the door fully open

Scooping the dead woman from the catwalk, and cradling the body next to their chest, the person entered the facility; it was pitch-dark and filled with the humming of pipes and pumps regulating the flow of water throughout not one, but two duchies. Operating by feel, the person came to a stop when they bumped the guardrail. With another grunt, they outstretched their arms and heaved the body downward into the tank of water that encircled the room from guardrail to floor.

There was a loud splash, then nothing. The person stood for a few moments more, thinking they should say a prayer for the dead or themselves, but they left without a word for either of them. Outside, they pulled the door shut, gathered the broken lock and sullied plastic, and made their way back down to the street.

At the dumpster, the person stuffed the plastic bag, the broken lock, the face covering, and the gloves inside. As they strode towards the car, they fished a cellphone from their shirt pocket and quickly dialed a number.

The call was picked up, but there was no greeting.

They didn’t expect one.

“It’s done,” they said tersely before hanging up, and climbing into the vehicle.

Present Day

Agata Laskaris and Elias Drakos were ex-lovers who both worked for the Cordonian Ministry of Environmental Health; on this afternoon they were partnered to inspect water towers throughout the Duchy of Krona. It hadn't been too horrible of a workday: The inspections had been cursory at best, and the pair had always worked well together. It helped that their breakup hadn’t been contentious.

Agata had (thankfully) come to the discovery that she was a lesbian. Elais didn’t blame her for her sexuality, nor did he feel he had been led on. What did sting, however, was Agata thanking him for helping her to realize that fact after their third romp.

Immediately after.

She really didn’t know how to let a guy down easy.

“What are your thoughts on the missing noble lady?” Agata asked as they crossed the rooftop, headed for the water tower’s ladder.

“It’s been a month. She’s either dead or run off somewhere. Probably never got over social season … to be considered the front runner and then tossed over for another? I’d been on the first thing smoking out of here.”

‘You would,” Agata teased as she began climbing the ladder. “Don’t look at my ass!”

“Your ass is looking at me,” Elias retorted.

At the catwalk, they both stared in puzzlement at the shut door missing its padlock.

“Who cut the fucking lock?” Elias grumbled.

“Probably teenagers. You know they like to climb the towers and lay on the catwalk on clear nights,” Agata offered dismissively. “It isn’t the first time this has happened and won’t be the last until we get the control panels installed. Now, come on! It’s our last tower of the day; let’s get the water readings and go grab a beer.”

Elias nodded, and entered the tank first, his ex close behind him. His fingers found the light switch easily, and they both blinked as bright fluorescent lighting filled the metal enclosure. Agata’s nose wrinkled at a faint stench, seemingly wafting from the water.

“Something’s off,” she remarked as she walked towards the opposite wall where digital thermometers and computer panels flashed numbers and temperatures.

“Aggie,” Elias rasped, his voice filled with dread.

Agata looked over her shoulder, slightly irritated. She really wanted that beer. “What’s wrong?”

Elias, his face pale, pointed his index finger towards the vast pool of water below, where a body clad only in red panties bobbed. “We’ve found the missing aristocrat.”

The Capital

The Queen sat on the side of her marital bed as she slowly hung up the antique French telephone, taking care to quietly place the receiver back into the cradle. Her French-manicured fingertips plucked at the lacy fringe hanging from the bed’s duvet, while her eyes studied the egret-colored Louis XV Savonnerie carpet beneath her bare feet.

The Queen was enamored with all things French, her favorites being wine, kisses, and perfume. Her husband provided with two of the three; his kisses were reserved for someone else … anyone else, other than his wife.

The King would beg to differ.

The monarch’s brow creased as she processed the telephone call:

She felt relief that the hussy had been found; she and the King had presented a united front regarding the disappearance, insisting the King’s Guard take lead in the investigation and closely collaborate with the Cordonian Ministry of Criminal Investigation and Public Safety.

The Queen hadn’t wished death upon the noblewoman, but this outcome at least guaranteed the two would never meet again on an earthly plane. And that was something to praise the Lord for.

But among the relief, there was trepidation; she now had to confront her husband.

One month ago, Bastien Lykel, Head of the King’s Guard, stood before his Queen offering her a plain cardboard box filled with items from the missing noblewoman’s bedchambers that would hopefully yield clues as to her whereabouts.

“Set it on my desk,” Her Majesty directed in a snappish tone as she plucked yellowed leaves from a floor plant sat in a far corner of her formal study. Her heels sank silently into the plush rug as she made her way to the wastebasket before turning to face the guard. “And not one word to the King. Do we have an understanding, Mr. Lykel?”

The sentry took in the Queen’s haughty expression and slightly arched eyebrow, then nodded. “We do.”

A satisfied smirk curled her lip. “Excellent.”

The Queen watched the door close behind Bastien, then made her way to the bar cart to pour herself a full glass of wine before seating herself at the bureau to sort through the box’s contents.

A red bikini top which smelled of chlorine. Obviously, the woman had gone swimming in her estate’s Olympic-sized indoor pool sometime between her last public appearance and her disappearance.

But where was the bikini bottom?

A day planner; the Queen idly thumbed through its pages, noticing that some days and dates were marked with actual events and appointments, while others merely had locations such as “coffeeshop” or duchy names scribbled across them.

Two positive pregnancy tests. The Queen stared at them dumbfounded while slowly sipping the rich merlot, her mind churning. Her hand absently drifted down to her belly, her fingertips trailing across her midsection. She and the King had been trying for a child, but all they had to show for it so far was a miscarriage.

She set her wine glass down a bit more harshly than intended before scrabbling her hands through the box, pushing aside parking citations, the woman’s wallet, and pieces of valuable jewelry as she searched for electronic devices.

But there was no tablet, no laptop.

Why? Where were they?

However, there was a cellphone that the guards had unlocked. The Queen snatched it up, her fingernails tapping furiously against the screen. Her heart was heavy and her breath ragged as she pulled up text messages. The noblewoman had been smart. Nothing incriminating there.

The Queen wracked her brain figuring out where else she could get confirmation of her suspicions, and then it hit her. The photo gallery.

It was filled with selfies of the missing noblewoman, her expressions varied: bright smiles, sultry looks, with and without makeup. Her locations varied as well: galas, gardens, the Eiffel Tower, New York City.

The Queen impatiently scrolled through photos of the noblewoman with members of court in both public and private settings until one picture made her stop. Her eyes widened before thinning in anger and resignation.

The Queen had always thought but had never known.

Until now.

She carefully set the phone upon the desktop, then picked up her wineglass.

Her maid came running when she heard the glass shatter against a wall.

The Queen sighed heavily before rising from the bed. It had been a long day, and even longer month. Her fingers nimbly unbuttoned her silk bouse, slipping it down over her shoulders and arms; her hands reached behind her to unzip her pencil skirt. The fabric whispered against the carpeting as it fell. Clad only in bra and panties, the monarch pushed her feet into plush slippers, and made her way to her vanity.

Seated in a straight back chair, she stared at her reflection in the mirror; the Queen’s face stared back at her. Flawless hair and makeup. Stately jewelry. Pursing her lips, she began removing her jewelry piece by piece: pearl earrings, pearl necklace, diamond-encrusted gold bracelet. She broke her gaze from the mirror to stare at her wedding ring, her fingers tugging and pulling at the circular metal.

She and her husband had a union, not a marriage. Had it ever been anything else?

The Queen stopped fiddling with the ring; it would remain on her finger. Her gaze caught sight of her elaborate, upswept hairstyle; her hand curled around the edge of her hairline as she snatched the wig off in one fell swoop. Beneath, her natural hair was short and curly with some frizz at the ends.

She closed her eyes, her fingers removing the false eyelashes by rote. The Queen tossed them gingerly into the nearby trashcan; they resembled hairy spider legs to her. She then reached for wipes to remove her makeup; she scrubbed lightly at first, then harder as rouge and foundation painted and stained the damp cloths.

Beneath the painted veneer she presented to the world as Queen of Cordonia, was a black woman named Riley Brooks. A former waitress from Brooklyn, NY. She had enough intelligence and personality to get Cordonian to accept her, but still the country hadn’t done so fully.

She was American, which meant foreign.

Even though Liam was Asian, he was only half-Korean and was never referred to as Queen Eleanor’s son. No, Liam was always the King’s son. The white King’s son.

No one but Liam knew what lay beneath her artificial beauty: the pockmarks, the scars, the dark bags beneath her eyes. How dark her skin truly was.

That was trust, right? And trust was a form of love, right?

Riley was staring at her naked face when the door to the bedchambers opened and Liam strode in, heading directly towards her. When he reached Riley’s side, he leaned in to give her a lingering kiss on her cheek.

It wasn’t an insincere gesture, but definitely more routine than romantic.

“I just heard the Countess’ body was found today, in a water tower of all places,” he said as he straightened up to shrug off his suit jacket.

No response from Riley, who was moisturizing her face and neck.

“The Palace will release a statement this evening saying that a criminal investigation will be launched at the highest priority. Of course, we’ll go visit Godfrey and Adelaide first thing in the morning.”

“Of course. Madeleine was a valued member of this Court,” Riley replied dully as she resumed staring at her reflection.

The King threw her a brief glance, puzzlement in his expression. “You’re quiet this evening. Are things well with you?”

Riley’s fingers were pulling open one of the vanity’s drawers.; her hand curled around the cellphone.

“Liam?”

He adjusted his jacket on a hanger before turning to fully face his wife. “Yes, love?”

Riley pulled out the phone, already open to a picture, and held it out so Liam could see it. The photo was a dick pic, and not a selfie that had been sent. No, this picture was taken at eye level, up close and personal. Every detail was visible: the bulging vein along its underside, the curve to the left, the hand fisted at its base with the signet ring on the right ring finger.

Maintaining eye contact with her husband, the Queen asked in a steady voice that belied the sinking in her stomach, “Why is your penis on a dead woman’s phone?”

Tagging: @jared2612 @ao719 @marietrinmimi @queenjilian @indiacater @kingliam2019 @bebepac @liamxs-world @mom2000aggie @liamrhysstalker2020 @twinkleallnight @umccall71 @superharriet @busywoman @gabesmommie1130 @tessa-liam @beezm @gardeningourmet @lovingchoices14 @mainstreetreader @angelasscribbles @lady-calypso @emkay512 @princessleac1 @charlotteg234 @alj4890 @yourfavaquarius111 @motorcitymademadame @queenmiarys @choicesficwriterscreations

#dcbbw writes #rewrite challenge #trr au #htgawm au #writer on tumblr

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codealiaswave · 1 year

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I posted 1,352 times in 2022

That's 601 more posts than 2021!

10 posts created (1%)

1,342 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@onenillup

@spasticatt

@reinadelvudu

@emyryld

@dayenurose

I tagged 72 of my posts in 2022

#gambit - 50 posts

#remy lebeau - 42 posts

#rogue - 38 posts

#romy - 24 posts

#anna marie lebeau - 23 posts

#xmen - 11 posts

#x-men - 9 posts

#marvel - 8 posts

#anna marie - 6 posts

#fanworks week - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 81 characters

#rogue canonically being the daughter of sherlock holmes isnt talked enough for me

My Top Posts in 2022:

For the one scene ask…

I will always want to know more about ‘Devil’s Poison.’ 🖤

Or, ‘Entanglement’. That ons has me intrigued (I want to know how that one unfolds too. Which, I know, is not the ask, but I love your fics and realize I haven’t commented on them enough. So, I’m including it here.)

Hi @dayenurose! Short Answer: The one scene for Devil's Poison is basically all their time in Andorra. And Entanglement hasn't happened yet, so not giving any secrets away there. 😁 Devil's Poison was inspired by @ludi-ling's Dangerous Foreplay. I came across the piece during my early days of crawling Deviant Art. I kept coming back to it because I couldn't figure out how Gambit and Rogue would ever be in the situation of undressing while having a knife held to Gambit's neck. Plus, Rogue doesn't typically use knives, so another curiosity.

There was only one possibility that I could ever puzzle out in my mind and that was Rogue being contracted to kill Gambit. Then that brought out a whole other mess of questions like "who would contract her?" and "why would she honor that contract?". Devil's Poison evolved around those questions and became its own organic thing.

There was so much set up I had to write to get to the 'one scene' that by the time I got to it, I almost forgot what had inspired the fic. It had truly taken on a life of its own. I just barely remembered to get the original inspiration in before they started considering each other's situation and feelings. You can see it in Rogue's choice of dress, the way Gambit shoves her up against the wall, even Saunders' physical abuse of Rogue in his high-rise office. And of course, her preferred assassin's weapon - the 'precious' karambit (the thing she tells Jean-Luc is her most prized possession).

As for Entanglement, it was all inspired by one very bored night watching Nova because there was literally nothing else to do during lockdown than watch PBS. I was snagged right away by the intro's super simple definition of quantum entanglement. About halfway through, they described how the two particles that are quantum entangled could be separated by millions of miles but still react to whatever is happening to each other. While the show didn't outright say we all have quantum entangled versions of ourselves half a galaxy away, they heavily implied it was something we should explore/consider. And well, if I say too much more, it'll give away the 'one scene'. 😁

15 notes - Posted February 12, 2022

R&G Week 2022 (Day 2): Songs & Lyrics

Hey Y'all, I created a video for Rogue & Gambit Week 2022 to intro the YouTube playlist of some songs that have inspired several of my fics. (You can use FreeYourMusic to import the playlist into your preferred music provider.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2OBJjWbgAQ&list=PLaNuUR7X5wjSvK458pebj-IUm4TLV3Pp1

Warning: most are pretty moody (and girly), but I have a couple oddballs in there to break things up. The first is a nod to Kelly Thompson and the last is just silly, but one of my favs!

19 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

R&G Week 2022 (Day 1): Favorite Creators

So I'm going to be totally behind in my fic submissions, but I still wanted to participate in the other activities scheduled for Rogue & Gambit Week 2022!

The fan artists that are some of my favorites are @spasticatt, @ludi-ling, @cajuncajoleart, @art-of-urbanstar, and @nicopony79. Seriously, these if these artists hadn't straight out inspired me, their art kept me going when all I wanted to do was quit because the comics were going poorly.

I have many more saved in my DeviantArt too: https://www.deviantart.com/codealiaswave3.

For fan writers, just a few (and not possibly all) include @jehilew, @ludi-ling, @chellerbelles, @dayenurose, @applejacks1552, @ginger375, @xevg, @sandmansraven, @sasschijinx.

22 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

R&G Week 2022 (Day 3): Favorite Comics

I figured I'd create a visual representation of my favorite comic series or issues featuring Gambit and Rogue. After all, just a bulleted list is kind of boring!

In case you can't identify the comics in the pic, the series are:

Gambit Vol. 3

Mr. & Mrs. X

Rogue & Gambit

X-Men: The End

X-Treme X-Men

And the specific issues are:

Uncanny X-Men #348

X-Men Vol. 2 #24

X-Men: Gold #30

X-Men Origins: Gambit

24 notes - Posted February 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

R&G Week 2022 (Day 4): Favorite Fics

I'm totally getting ahead of myself here, but these are only some specific recommendations from authors who may or may not be on Tumblr:

All or Nothing by thesunwillalwaysshine98

Backseat Bliss by Gingr375

Natural by LadyCerise1891

all works by Jehilew, but especially Just Know Y'all Got Yours Comin'

Age of Shadows by hbcooper

Like a Thief in the Night by hbcooper

all works by Chellerbelle, but especially The Irony

Romy Etude 1 by jpraner

Dog Days are Over by just-beginning

A Roguish Gambit by Demon Flame

Activités Best Left Behind Closed Doors by RedPhoenix13

Voulez Vous by Liris

Playing Both Sides by Tamarai

You Are My Sunshine by Triangulum

Life is Good by Caustic Window

Baby It's Cold Outside by GrearBeloved

all works by Tamarai

As I Lay by SassC HiJinx

Blood Connections by Guarded Secrets

all works by Prexistence, but especially Guardian Devil

Southern Hearts by ragincajunlover

What Might Have Been by Stretch

all works by Eileen Blazer, but especially Eight Hours

all works by ishandahalf

We should Run Away by Caliente

Alone in My Shadow by Neurotic Temptress

Lucky Lolly by Natalia Vronsky

later works by dreamer's dawn (hehe 😉)

33 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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kickmag · 2 years

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The Dreams Of Peace Film Festival Founder Talks 2022 Competition

The Dreams Of Peace Film Festival is the brainchild of founder Khaliph Young. The competition invited creators from the African diaspora to share stories about their identity with one-minute mobile phone films. The call went out in 2020 after the world saw the George Floyd death at the hands of the police which was captured on a mobile device. Young's reaction to Floyd and the kind of race-splitting dialogue coming from then-president Trump inspired him to use the festival as a way to create a vision of harmony. The filmmakers presented their views of Black life with the moxie and brilliance of new auteurs determined to be heard in a world mired in white supremacy. In the following interview Young explains the origins of the festival and how the films will stream on the Volume channel via the Vskit and Ayoba mobile apps.

What can you tell me about your company ZenZenMobile?

We are a digital entertainment company creating lifestyle content on different platforms like mobile apps, Smart TVs and things of that nature.

Is the Dreams Of Peace Film Festival all about making people familiar with the Volume TV channel and the Vskit app?

No it’s really just all about bridging the continents acting as a bridge between African-Americans and Africans by creating films during a time when it’s a lot of racial injustice going on in America everything with the Trump administration, the killings and just the George Floyd thing so a lot of those struggles are different in Africa. We’re all African throughout the whole diaspora so even though they’re there and we’re here they’re still Black, we’re still Black so there’s a common ground. We just wanted to create an outlet for filmmakers to be able to share their stories with the stories abroad.

You said in your press release that independent storytelling is a pivotal tool in developing critical dialogues. Are there any films in the festival that are an example of that?

Yeah, I would think the film by Tony Strickland the smart social awareness art film. I think that kind of says it all and then there’s the film about S.U.N. the recording artist S.U.N. who we shine all the time it shows a lot of Black pride, Black connectivity, crossing the bridge, where we originated from and that sort of thing. So I think those two films kind of show that.

I see the competition requires content that deals with Black identity and it’s a competition, what is the prize?

The films were selected by our panel and then the film that has the most views on the different platforms will be selected as the winner. That filmmaker will receive an Adobe Creative Suite. That will be their prize.

I saw where the Vskit app has over 15 million users in Africa?

Vskit is like Africa’s TikTok type of app. They feature a lot of comedy but because we have a verified media channel our lifestyle content gets a lot of views. The Ayoba app has about 10.5 million users and our channel ranked 11th on that platform out of a hundred something other channels and we’ve had over a million and a half views we have about 200,000 active users for our channel. So that platform is like Africa’s Whatsapp. It’s a Whatsapp communication platform then it has entertainment. feature a lot of

I saw the films will start to stream on March 12th how long after before the winner is picked?

We thought we’d leave them up there for a week and then select the winners at that point.

Where will the films post?

They will post in the Vskit app and they will post on the Ayoba app. The apps have to be downloaded you register then search for Volume TV.

How can people keep up with you?

They can go to zenzenmobile.com everything we are doing is there.

Is there anything you want to mention?

Just that we’re excited to do our first mobile film festival. It’s been done but this is our first one and we’ve done film festivals on a variety of different platforms. First internet film festival in ’99, then we went on to PBS, onto films on Palm Pilots and pocket PCs then on to Roku. So now back to mobile since mobile is really driving everything.

You said you’ve been doing this since ’99 do you think there is a common theme connecting these mediums over this past 20 plus years?

I think the common theme is that there is such a demand for content. That demand is just continuing to increase and it’s created a whole creator economy. Social media and all these platforms but going back through screen sizes is the demand for content and everybody loves lifestyle content. And now accessing that content on your mobile phone just propelled it even further because now right in your pocket you got music, You got video, you got stories you got everything.

For more information about the festival go to www.zenzenmobile.com.

#dreams of peace film festival #khaliph young

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shakespeareintellectualbadass · 3 years

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@dailydestieldose and @casismymrdarcy have got me on a roll with Shakespeare destiel parallels so here's another one:

Beatrice & Benedick and Dean & Cas

In Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedick spend 99% of their time bantering and bickering and generally pulling each other's pigtails but with an undercurrent of real hurt. They have a lot of mutual friends, they move in the same circle, and despite having just spent some time apart (the men were all off at war) they immediately go right back to bickering. And they seem to know exactly what to say to push each others buttons - they know each other reeeaaally well.

And that's the thing!! They're exes!! They have history!! Something romantic happened between them in the past, and then something went wrong. The divorce arc parallels! But they have to be around each other because they have all these mutual friends - mutual friends who decide they're going to trick them into falling in love with each other. Their friend group splits in half, and they stage conversations for Beatrice and Benedick to overhear in which they loudly proclaim that the other is in love with them (side note: these are some of the funniest scenes in the play, I highly recommend David Tennant as Benedick, it goes on and off youtube but if it's up he's top notch in that scene. Equally, Kenny Leon's 2016 production of the play for Shakespeare in the Park is fucking stellar. It used to be on PBS but if you can find it anywhere it is Thee Much Ado).

And both Beatrice and Benedick, the moment they hear the other is in love with them, go "oh they love me! well guess I'd better love them back! I'm gonna love them back with my whole fucking soul."

"Love me! Why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending. They say the lady is fair; tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous; tis so, i cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter? a man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? No, the world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married."

"My friends think if I find out she loves me I'll lord it over her", "she would rather die than give any sign she loves me" (literally Cas), "I've never expected I'd get married", the fucking LIST of "beautiful and good and wise, except for falling in love with me cuz I'm not good enough for her", "I already love her back so much", "I'm gonna get a lot of shit when my friends see me in love buuuut it's worth it for her" - try and tell me these aren't Dean about Cas.

Benedick never really shuts up - he's a talkative guy (much like Dean), and once he gets started about how great Beatrice is he is really on a roll. He loves so strongly and completely (and he doesn't have Dean's self worth issues) so he jumps right to being all in.

Beatrice's reaction is, in fact, an incomplete sonnet (sonnets are Thee language of love in Shakespeare; they're 14 line poems with a specific rhyme scheme that are in iambic pentameter, which we think of as Shakespeare's signature style - 10 syllables in a line, divided into sets of 2, the first unstressed and the second stressed). It is also one of the only times she speaks in verse (poetry) rather than prose (like a novel) during the play - this is important because people in Shakespeare's plays speak in verse during significant moments or very emotional moments.

What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?

Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much?

Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!

No glory lives behind the back of such.

And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee,

Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand:

If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee

To bind our loves up in a holy band;

For others say thou dost deserve, and I

Believe it better than reportingly.

"The idea he's in love with me too has shocked me to my core", "I will never again be too proud or petty to admit I love him", "please please keep loving me, because I love you too", "I have been a wild untameable thing, but for you I'll be happy to stay at home and live a simple life", "we aren't even together yet but please marry me", "you're the best man I know" - hi this is Thee Castiel about Dean Winchester.

Beatrice is a very independent woman; especially for the time the play is written, she's still single at an age when most women were already married, and she refuses to marry because she loves her independence and doesn't want just anyone to tie her down. Until she learns Benedick loves her, she never expects to find anyone who will make her want to settle down. Benedick is much the same - he plans to live and die a bachelor.

Aaaand then they learn they're both head over heels for each other, and suddenly there's a whole lot more they want out of life. Suddenly all the stuff in their past, all the things that drove them apart, it all doesn't matter in the face of their love for each other.

In conclusion:

Banter as expressions of affection and also to cover up hurt over something that happened to drive them apart

The love for each other didn't go away though they're both just feeling unloved and lashing out

They always come back to each other, even if it takes a little outside interference

This has been another Shakespeare destiel parallel, thank you and goodnight

#please ask me about sonnets ill explain more in detail if this didnt make sense #thank you to amirah and may for being interested and inspiring me to talk about this more #shakespeare destiel parallels #much ado about nothing #deancas #shakespeare #long post

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argylemnwrites · 4 years

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Soooo...

I kind of just stopped writing my two pending series. Oops.

I am sorry that I kind of just went on an unannounced, unplanned hiatus for both Why Are We Still Waiting? and Fight or Flight. I don’t like when I can’t keep to a consistent schedule, or at the very least keep updates coming on a semi-regular basis. And even though no one seems to be really missing these stories or awaiting updates, I just feel like I have to give an explanation in case anyone cares.

So, between real life and “Tumblr life,” creativity has been low recently. Some of it is for positive reasons. I started a new job about four weeks ago, and settling into a new clinic and workflow has been where I’ve put almost all of my mental energy recently. Most of the writing I’ve been doing lately has been creating new note templates and parent info sheets, not so much my fic.

As a couple of you here know, I’ve felt out of place in this fandom for a very long time at this point. I’ve been here two years, and I have yet to really find a core group or any close friends, so loneliness has been high for me on this site. Combine that with waning interest and increasing frustration with PB’s current releases, and I’ve just been wondering what I’m doing here more and more often.

I’m pretty sure it’s the combination of these two situations that has me just not having any motivation or creative spark. But as the new job becomes less new, I do think I’ll be back updating my stories soon. I’ve found myself plotting and imagining on my drive to and from clinic over the past week, which tells me that I’ll have that itch to write these stories (which I still do want to tell) again very soon.

I don’t think I can promise updates this week (never say never, but I am just being realistic here), but by next Wednesday/Saturday, I think Fight or Flight/Why Are We Still Waiting? will be posting again. Thanks for patience from those of you who are still interested in these stories.

I’m adding my tag lists for both these stories just in case anyone is curious what has been going on, or if anyone who was previously tagged on these fics no longer wants to be tagged following the posting interruption here. Seriously, no hard feelings if you let me know you would no longer like to be tagged! I don’t want to annoy anyone! And a big thank you to those of you who still want to keep reading!

Permatag: @walkerswhiskeygirl @riley--walker @bebepac @oofchoices @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5 @mfackenthal @thequeenofcronuts

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @iaminlovewithtrr @ao719 @mskaneko @katedrakeohd @jovialyouthmusic @marshmallowsandfire @axwalker @kingliam2019 @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @princessleac1 @ladyangel70 @dcbbw @yaushie

Drake x MC: @no-one-u-know @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @notoriouscs @drakesensworld @drake-colt-lover-99

Fight or Flight: @masterofbluff @burnsoslow @bobasheebaby @shz256

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment: @shz256 @thequeenchoices @sunnyxdazed

#fic update #personal #kinda #sorry guys

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davebuckleslefthand · 3 years

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the USA makes me so upset! U.S. CITIZENS ARISE!

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 26, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol starts its work, former president Trump and his supporters are consolidating their power over the Republican Party. Through it, they hope to control the nation.

Trump this morning tried to assert his dominance over the party by issuing a statement in which he demanded that Republican senators scrap the infrastructure bill that has been more than three months in the making. Although he did not note any specific provisions in the bill, he claimed that senators were getting “savaged” in the negotiations because Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “and his small group of RINOs wants nothing more than to get a deal done at any cost to prove that he can work with the Radical Left Democrats.” Trump ordered lawmakers not to do an infrastructure deal “until after we get proper election results in 2022 or otherwise…. Republicans,” he ordered, “don’t let the Radical Left play you for weak fools and losers!”

The term “RINO” comes from the 1990s, when the Movement Conservatives taking over the Republican Party used it to discredit traditional Republicans as “Republicans In Name Only.” It reversed reality—the Movement Conservatives were the RINOs, not the other way around—but it worked. Movement Conservatives, who wanted to get rid of the New Deal and take the government back to the 1920s, pushed aside traditional Republicans who agreed with Democrats that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, and promote infrastructure.

Now, the former president is doing the same thing: claiming that the Movement Conservatives who now dominate the leadership of the Republican Party are not really Republicans. True Republicans, he says, are those loyal only to him.

He is using the infrastructure bill as a loyalty test. The reality is that an infrastructure package is very popular, and walking away from it will cost Republicans in states that are not fully under Trump’s sway. A new poll by the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC is the nonpartisan National Opinion Research Center affiliated with the university) finds that 83% of Americans, including 79% of Republicans and 80% of Independents, want funding for roads, bridges, and ports. Sixty-six percent of Americans, including 43% of Republicans and 53% of Independents, want to pay for it with higher taxes on corporations.

Walking away from those kinds of numbers seems like political poison, and yet the discussions to whip the bipartisan bill into shape seemed to veer off track today.

The demand for Republican loyalty is playing out as the January 6 committee gets down to business. Organizing that committee has driven a wedge through Republican lawmakers. After an initial period in which leaders like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expressed outrage and a desire to learn what had created the January 6 crisis, the leaders have lined up behind the former president. Emboldened, Trump’s supporters have become more aggressive in their insistence that they, not those interested in stopping a future insurrection, are the good guys.

After Republican senators rejected the establishment of a bipartisan select commission and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) set up a House select committee instead, McCarthy tried to sabotage the committee by putting on it two extreme Trump supporters out of the five slots he was assigned. He named Jim Jordan (R-OH) but pretty clearly expected Pelosi would toss him and put up with Jim Banks (R-IN), whom McCarthy had named the ranking member of the committee. Banks was on record attacking the committee as a leftist plot, and could undermine the committee’s work while getting enough media time to launch him as a national political candidate (his hiring of Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson’s son long before this indicated his hope for good media coverage for a possible swing at a higher office).

But Pelosi didn’t play. She refused to accept either Jordan or Banks, prompting McCarthy to pull all five of his nominees. She had already chosen Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) as one of her eight seats on the committee; yesterday she added Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) as well. Both Cheney and Kinzinger are Movement Conservatives, but they are not willing to jump on the Trump bandwagon.

Today, when PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked McCarthy what he thought of Cheney and Kinzinger’s participation on the committee, he called them “Pelosi Republicans.” He has suggested that they might face sanctions from the party for their cooperation with the committee.

Both Cheney and Kinzinger voted for Trump. Cheney voted with Trump more than 90% of the time. Kinzinger voted with him 99% of the time in the president’s first two years in office. Trying to make them into Democrats because they did not support the insurrection is a double-edged sword. McCarthy is trying to read them out of the Republican Party, for sure, but he is also tying the entire party to Trump, and it seems likely—from Trump’s rising panic, if nothing else—that the committee will discover things that will not show the former president and his supporters in a good light.

Today Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), chair of the select committee and of the House Homeland Security Committee, published an op-ed in the Washington Post. He noted that in a recent CBS News survey, 72% of Americans said they thought there was more to learn about what happened on January 6. He promised that “nothing will be off-limits” as the committee figures out “what happened, why and how. And we will make recommendations to help ensure it never happens again.”

Along with Thompson, Liz Cheney will deliver opening remarks from the committee before it begins to hear the testimony of Capitol Police.

But McCarthy and other Trump supporters are doing all they can to derail the investigation into what happened on January 6. The committee’s work is not a criminal investigation: that is the job of the Department of Justice, which has already charged more than 535 people for their actions in the insurrection. The committee will try to piece together the events leading up to January 6, along with why the response from law enforcement was so delayed. It will look at the response of the White House, as well as the funders and organizers of the rallies of January 5 and 6. It will look at members of Congress, and how they intersected with the events of that day.

Politico’s congressional reporter Olivia Beavers reported that McCarthy will try to counter the committee’s first hearing tomorrow morning with a press conference. Sometime later in the day, Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), staunch and vocal Trump supporters all, are planning a press conference outside the Department of Justice, where they plan to demand “answers on the treatment of January 6th prisoners” from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

One of the hallmarks of a personality like that of former president Donald Trump is that he cannot stop escalating. It’s not that he won’t stop; it’s that he can’t stop. And he will escalate until someone finally draws a line and holds it.

—-

Notes:

Cheney:

BrooklynDad_Defiant! @mmpadellanRep. Liz Cheney will be delivering the opening remarks of the January 6th hearing before Capitol Police testify. This should be...interesting.1,762 Retweets13,293 Likes

July 26th 2021

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-rino-rino-rino

https://apnorc.org/projects/views-on-the-infrastructure-bill/

Yamiche Alcindor @YamicheI asked Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy what he makes of GOP Reps Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger sitting on the January 6th Select Committee. He replied in two words here at the WH: “Pelosi Republicans.”842 Retweets4,461 Likes

July 26th 2021

https://www.oneillinois.com/stories/2021/1/8/kinzinger-voted-for-with-trump-before-turning

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/26/cheney-mccarthy-jan-6-investigation-500741

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/january-6-opinion-poll/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/26/bennie-thompson-jan-6-investigation/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bipartisan-infrastructure-talks-in-dire-state-ahead-of-pivotal-week/ar-AAMzKuV

Olivia Beavers @Olivia_BeaversGOP Strategy: 2 sources tell me House Rs — including members McCarthy picked to serve on the 1/6 select panel and then pulled & likely Scalise/Stefanik — will hold a presser tomorrow AM to try to counter Dems’ messaging about the 1/6 probe ahead of committee’s first hearing.103 Retweets269 Likes

July 26th 2021

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-riot-arrests-latest-2021-07-22/

https://www.justsecurity.org/77588/questions-the-january-6-select-committee-should-ask-its-witnesses/

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/where-things-stand-july-26-2021-tomorrow-sinister-counter-programming

https://www.axios.com/jan-6-graphic-footage-capitol-attack-041e0422-42b7-4f4b-8d1b-bc55612733b8.html

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #January 6 2021 #capital insurrection #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP

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bebepac · 4 years

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WIP 06.17.2020

Another WIP Wednesday is upon us, and I’m back to work. I work the next 4 days (Wed-Sat) so i’ll try my best to work on these stories and get them out, as always I will try, but can’t make any promises. I usually don’t have to work Saturdays, but unfortunately this one I do, so that eats into my writing time, which when I’m working, I do a lot of my writing time on the weekend.

I am working on my last chapter of Scar Tissue before the Epilogue! Whaaaaat?!?!??!??!!?!? Thank you to everyone that’s liked, commented and shared this one. As It’s the first series I have completed. I’m sure if you messaged me about this story line, you guys know, my intent for Scar Tissue in the beginning was it to be a once shot, then I kept feeling like it had more potential, and then it evolved on me.

What are my fellow writers up to?!?!!?

Tagging: @queenjilian @burnsoslow @loveellamae @dcbbw @bbrandy2002 @nomadics-stuff @kimmiedoo5 @cordonianroyalty @cordonia-gothqueen @lodberg @glaimtruelovealways @custaroonie @texaskitten30 @janezillow @atha68 @my0123456789universe @kaitycole @indiacater @losingbraincellseveryday @furiousherringoperatortoad @marietrinmimi @hopefulmoonobject @annekebbphotography @sevenfuckslefttogive @ac27dj @queen-arabella-of-cordonia @ritachacha @mrsdrakewalkerblog @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @islandcrow @axwalker @sanchita012 @queenwalton @flutistbyday2020 @the-soot-sprite @gabesmommie1130 @mom2000aggie @jared2612 @gibbles82 @thanialis @ramseysno1rookie @lovablegranny @hopelessromanticmonie @datynasuha @storylineofnothing @coolpsychicempathhumanoid @cordoniaqueensworld @iaminlovewithtrr@thatdoctorownsme @seriallover99 @drake-colt-lover-99 @amandablink @kaishamarley @choiceswhodunnit @marshmallowsandfire @yukinagato2012 @princessemberphoenix @random-blog-of-random-stuff-etc @princess-of-fuckup @batgirlassociationofgothamcity

First up we have:

This is Who I Am

My Country is Burning Chapter 3

Bebe was completely exasperated. “Ellie! What is that in your hair?!?!?!?!?"

“I’m sorry Mommy."

"Is it chewing gum?"

"Yes, I fell asleep."

“With chewing gum in your mouth?”

Liam chuckled. Both of them had agreed Ellie was more like him, with her mannerisms and her seriousness. Maybe Ellie was a little bit like Bebe too. Bebe could fall asleep anywhere. When Bebe was pregnant with Christopher, she fell asleep mid sentence, talking to him, while eating an ice cream cone. It was only when the ice cream started melting down her hand, Liam woke her up. He thought it was hilarious, pregnant Bebe did not, and cried because it was a waste of good mint chocolate chip ice cream.

“Yes.” Ellie nodded.

“Where did you even get chewing gum from?”

“Uncle Maxwell.”

"He hasn't been here in two weeks?"

"He gave me the whole pack."

She noticed Liam walk out of the room.

"Go get it and bring it here."

"But Mommy…."

"Right now Eleanor Alexandria Rys."

Little Ellie stormed off, just as Liam walked in the room.

"Where's she going?"

"To get the gum your friend gave her."

"Don’t look at me like that Bebe. Technically, that's your brother you know, since House Beaumont sponsored you."

"I don't want to cut her hair Liam, she has such beautiful hair."

"You're not. Besides it's just hair. It will grow back."

Liam set the jar of peanut butter next to the comb.

"I mean it's different with Black hair. My hair doesn't grow nearly as fast as her's. Just the thought of us cutting her hair upsets me. Because in the Black World, our children have good hair."

"Is there such a thing as evil hair?" Liam played with Bebe's own curls, making scary, monster sounds. Bebe swatted Liam’s hand away from her hair.

"Yes there is, well bad hair. There has always been a negative connotation that darker skinned people’s hair is more coarse and thick, and harder to manage."

"Your hair isn't like that."

"I'm lucky. Without chemicals in my hair, when I wet it, it curls, or coils, just like our children's hair does. Not every Black person’s hair does that."

"Mine curls like that too, well it gets wavy."

"Yes, but we have different textures, Liam. My hair is more coarse than their hair, and the kid's hair is softer, than mine, but not as soft as your hair."

Ellie came back to the room in a huff. She handed Bebe the gum. Bebe raised her eyebrow giving her the Mad Mommy look.

"Miss Crown Princess, Queen Mommy is not liking that little attitude right now. It had better change fast."

"Mommy means business Ellie." Liam said as backup.

Liam looked at their daughter, who her face was still pink, with her arms crossed over her chest, with a sour, pouty look on her face. Even with her little mad face, he thought she was the most beautiful little girl in the world. No wonder he was the pushover, when it came to disciplining the children. Every time he looked at their children, he always thought that they made such beautiful children together.

"What are we going to do about her hair?"

"I already got it. Peanut butter. As many times as I got gum in my hair as a kid thanks to Leo. Ellie come here, Daddy will fix it."

Ellie looked back at Bebe. "Daddy, Mommy always does my hair. Do you know how?"

Liam's face registered shock, looking at Bebe for help.

"Daddy knows how to do this part to get the gum out, and Mommy will show him how to do the rest."

Liam pulled Ellie onto his lap, and worked the peanut butter around the gummed parts in Ellie's hair. Waiting for a few minutes then gently using the comb to get the gum out.

"Now we just have to wash it, so Daddy won't get hungry and add apple jelly to it too, and eat you up!"

He made munching sounds at Ellie as he kissed her cheek, causing her to giggle. He picked her up in his strong arms. Bebe followed them to Ellie's bathroom.

^*^*^*^*^* next story *^*^*^*^*^*

A Couple of Firsts

Pop’s Place Chapter 3

“So since your plan is for us to catch our dinner, I packed us lunch, Drake. Cuz there is no way in hell my F.A. is going to be on a boat all day starving to death. “

Drake laughed. “Don’t call yourself that Mia.”

She slapped her thighs. “What do you call that?”

“Sexy as hell.” He kissed Mia’s lips.

“Smart Man.” Mia giggled.

“I packed roast beef and cheese sandwiches, turkey and cheese, and because i’m a kid at heart, some PB & J as well. Some chips, some fruit, and sodas and water.”

“Damn girl, we are not trying to live on this lake for a week, and what kind of J?”

“My favorite, apple jelly.”

“Mine too Mia.”

“I just wanted you to have some choices. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I packed a little bit of everything.”

Drake smiled. He’d never had someone care so much about what he thought before.

“I’m low maintenance that way, I’ll eat anything. Turkey and cheese is fine, so is roast beef, even PB & J. Hell I’d eat one of each, if there was extra.”

“She smiled, you’re going out with a cook’s daughter, there’s always extra. That’s how we roll.”

She put the cooler on the table. Drake laughed.

“Where the hell did you find a hot pink igloo cooler at?”

“The Gentral, where else?”

( author’s note: The Gentral = Dollar General, a store that seems to be on every corner in the south, and you that was Walgreens, naw bro. It’s a Southern Thing, does a hilarious video where they are Dollar General execs, and they find out that they are not building new DG stores, that they are building themselves. HILARIOUS )

Drake smiled. “You 'bout ready?”

Mia grabbed her hot pink sunglasses. “I’m ready now!”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* next story *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

The Recovery

Scar Tissue Chapter 13

Riley and Liam had been going to therapy for almost 9 weeks. They had therapy sessions separately as they were dealing with separate things, and marriage counselling sessions together.

They walked in the office holding hands. They never walked into the therapy room holding hands. They were usually so tense, and nervous. The therapist noted this as a positive step in the right direction as they had taken baby steps.

Dr. Murdoch looked at the two of them.

“How have things been since last week? Queen Riley would you like to start?”

“Things went okay. We moved back into our chambers from my old room this past week. I’m sleeping through the night completely there, so is Liam. I’m not having those panicky feelings in the room anymore like I'm being watched.”

“That’s good to hear Queen Riley. Did you do two complete the date nights I assigned?

“Yes and no.”

“The dinner date went great, I really had a nice time with Liam. It was just so nice just being the two of us, and we danced, and it was beautiful.”

“So then the massage date didn’t go well then?”

“I have no problems when I touch him, but I clammed up when he touched me.”

“Because of Drake?” Dr. Murdoch asked.

“Yes.”

Riley is it okay for me to go to Liam for a little bit to talk to him about things?”

Riley nodded.

She could tell by Liam’s body language he was angry and frustrated after what she had said.

“I don't know what else I can do Dr. Murdock. He studied what I did so he could use it against my wife, to make her think he was me, and now he’s turned her against me. It’s like he has tainted everything I’ve done, because he copied me so perfectly with her. And I love my wife, and I just want to be able to make love to her again. Laying next to her and not being able to touch her intimately is killing me. The last time we tried to make love, She screamed. My wife screamed because I was touching her!!!!!! Our guards burst into the room thinking she was being attacked.” We haven’t been intimate in over 4 months now. I miss her.”

“You think I don’t miss you Liam? Of course I miss you. I still want you.”

“THEN YOU SHOULD TRY HARDER!!!!”

“I AM TRYING LIAM!!! WHEN YOU TOUCH ME, I SEE HIS FACE!!!!”

“We’re going to take a break. King Liam, I need you to step out a few minutes, so I can have a few minutes alone with Queen Riley okay?”

Liam got up and walked out slamming the door behind him.

“I don’t know if we’re going to make it through this. Dr. Murdock because I can't let him touch me. He needs a level of intimacy, I can’t give him. I’ve even thought about asking him if there is anyone he wants to go into a Cordonian Agreement with, until I am able to give him what he needs again.”

“No, Queen Riley, that's not the answer. I’m afraid if you go that route, it will permanently drive a wedge between the two of you. You have to work through this together. Can I ask you a question?”

*^*^*^*^*^*^* end of chapter teasers *^*^*^*^*^*

#bebepac writes #wip wednesday

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fridlyckans0 · 3 years

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Training Your Dog Humanely: Part One

Welcome the Dog to the Human World

Have you ever watched The Dog Whisperer and thought, 'Wow, that guy is amazing! What a great way to train a dog!" I know I have many times. Cesar Milan teaches one basic principle about dogs - a dog is a pack animal by instinct. According to Cesar, your job is to become the pack leader, a dominant Alpha male/female with 'balance'. I guess by 'balance' he means you should treat the animal fairly, as they would expect to be treated in a wild pack. He gets very good and fast results with this method. I won't say it's a bad method, but it's not the way I choose to train my dogs and here's why.

There's one thing very wrong with the 'you're the pack leader' concept - it assumes the dog inhabits a dog's world, and for you to control it, you must behave as a dog would, the Alpha male or female of the pack. For the majority of dogs who are family pets this means the owner will treat the animal as though it had only instinctual processes going on in its head, no rational thought processes. To refute that thinking go and watch these two short videos of Lucy's behavior: Lucy Remembers Her Ball and Lucy and The Vacuum Cleaner (links appear at bottom). A dog does not inhabit a dog's world unless it's in a pack of dogs, roaming the wilderness like a wolf, bringing down prey and sharing its kill. This is not your dog. Your dog wouldn't chase its supper if it went hungry for a week! It would no more kill a raccoon and rip its flesh apart than would your six year old child! If you do have such an animal it's a sure bet that it's a dangerous dog, one that causes people in your neighborhood to cross the street to avoid.

If you become the pack leader, you've descended into the dog's world. Having done so, the dog will integrate well with other dogs, live in a pack happily, know its place in the human pack, and generally behave well, but it won't reach its full potential. When you adopted the dog into your family, you didn't decide to become a primeval growler, (which can work if you have the cahones to back up the threats), you decided to introduce an animal into the human world. As the two videos show, Lucy is an animal with human-like tendencies developed to the full potential of her smaller dog brain. She, like 99 percent of dogs today, belongs to a family, has been introduced to human concepts, and lives in a human world. It's better that you train your dog to live well in your world, rather than you in its, for the sake of the dog and yourself. You will have a much better companion, and so will the dog. The dog will learn to love humans above dogs.

Lucy is a thinking dog. Lucy will position herself at the ready depending on where a person places their foot behind a ball. She correctly anticipates which way the ball will be propelled by the positioning of the foot. She also cheats quite badly, arriving at the destination of a tossed toy before it gets there. Her brain has computed where you're likely to throw or kick an object. Lucy knows which way you will kick a ball simply by shifting your weight from one hip to the other, without even moving your feet! Better than a goalie in football (soccer).

Lucy knows several hundred concepts and commands, from Jump In The Boat, to Don't Go In The Street. She rarely plays now but when she was younger I would throw her ball into the street (a rural highway) and when she realized the ball had gone out of reach, rolling into forbidden territory, she would put on the brakes and stop before crossing an imaginary line. That line used to be a piece of yellow rope lying across the driveway about 20 feet from the street. After she learned the concept the rope was taken away, she was allowed to go out to pee on her own; I could trust her not to go past the imaginary line. That concept, Don't Go In The Street, is central to a dog being able to live happily in the human world. It's the difference between a deer or a raccoon crossing the road and your pet's thinking. It has learned that highways (a human construct not appearing in the dog pack vocabulary) are very bad.

Dogs have rational thought processes. Dogs have emotions. Dogs also have a conscience. Dogs learn to love. Dogs have language skills and can understand about five hundred human concepts with words. None of these things are in a puppy when you get them, they are learned behaviors.

A dog cannot do differential calculus, that's obvious, but it can reason out how to manipulate an owner into giving it food. Lucy was given a treat every time she asked me to go pee outside. If she gets slightly hungry, she has learned to ask to go outside, wait for thirty seconds and then come back in the house to get her reward. She will do this every hour or so until I've clued in and watch her. If she doesn't pee, the rewards stop, and so does the manipulative behavior since it's now a waste of time. But that shows you a dog can manipulate people. It isn't surprising really; a dog manipulates its owner many times during the day. If you rattle its leash, it will waken from a dead sleep and circle, pant and bark at the thought of going for a walk. That is doggy manipulation. The dog is saying how happy they would be if they went for a walk, and you're feeling guilty already if that wasn't your plan.

So higher reasoning aside, what can a dog do? It can learn. A dog can learn so many things you'd be surprised. If you simply teach it what it needs to know to function well in a human world, it would knock your socks off. Every day that Lucy and I wake up, we tell each other with hugs and kisses how happy we are that we have each other. Lucy loves humans, so much so that she almost ignores dogs. Can they make her food for her? Can they throw her ball? Her stick? Her little teddy bears?

There's a Border Collie in Germany that can remember any one of two hundred and fifty toys. Alan Alda of Mash fame visited this dog for Nova on PBS. The dog has all her toys in a big pile in one room. In another room she is shown a miniature sample of the desired toy (about one fifth scale). The dog leaves, enters the room with the massive pile of assorted frogs, teddy bears, squirrels, puppets, dolls, devils, Muppets, rummaging around and returning quickly, and surprisingly, with the correct toy. She does this flawlessly, even when it's a new toy that she's never seen before.

But once you've taught that dog human concepts, it's no longer a canine - it's a Canine Sapiens, a hybrid between dog and Homo Sapiens (which is Latin for Thinking Man). It cannot happily go back to the pack. Without wishing to conduct such an experiment, I went to England for two weeks and Lucy went to the kennel. The kennel belongs to a reputable breeder and Lucy had her own 'penalty box' (cage) placed inside a three by six foot kennel. There were other dogs there so you'd think she'd be fine, but these were 'Pack Dogs', dogs that the breeder keeps solely for breeding. One barks, they all bark. One runs around the yard, they all run around the yard. Lucy was having none of it, and their primitive antics had her stressed out. When I returned to pick her up she went wild with joy! She ran around the truck about ten times barking, crying, tail wagging, face licking, and all manner of expressions of love. I began to speak with the breeder about England but Lucy jumped into the truck through an open door and barked her head off so loud that she could not be ignored. "I guess I'm being summoned," I told the breeder. Man, was she happy to get out of there!

This is why several universities in the U.S. have stopped teaching gorillas and other primates American Sign Language in doctoral theses. Once the studies are over the animals are returned to cages in the zoo. No more riding around in cars for you! No more ice cream cones for you! The animals, now capable of reasoning to a degree, are back in cages languishing for the good old days with their human friends, unable to relate to the other primates around them. The universities have decided that it's unethical behavior to abandon them once they've formed attachments to their trainers. You need a PHD in behavioral psychology to figure that out?

It can be frustrating to try teaching a dog an advanced concept. If you find yourself yelling or getting frustrated with the dog simply back off. Stop. The problem is too complex for her present state of understanding and she doesn't know what you want. The solution is to break the problem into smaller steps. You didn't learn algebra before you learned to count, add, subtract, divide and multiply. You didn't learn to multiply until you learned to add the same number three times to itself. Dogs have similar minds to humans, except that they're somewhat limited in potential. But if you give the dog credit for being able to think with the ability of a three year old child, you'll be surprised at what they will learn.

Your dog has a conscience. How do I know this? Your dog dreams, which is a sure indication of a bifurcated mind with a conscious and a subconscious. The dog dreams after having a good day, or a bad day. When they've had a good day, they fall asleep and within five minutes enter the REM phase of their sleep pattern. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement, and it happens almost right away in dogs. In humans it takes about an hour and thirty minutes. During REM sleep the dog can be whining, barking, chasing, wagging its tail, eating, chewing, swimming. You'll recognize a dog who is dreaming when you see it, trust me, but what that dream indicates is that it has a subconscious mind that's free to relive the experiences of the day. If it has a subconscious mind then it must have a conscious mind, because you can't have one without the other, unless it's in a coma.

if you need more information fridlyckans kindly cheakout our site.

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collegeessayguy · 3 years

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If you’re applying to competitive universities, at some point you’ve probably had that moment when you raised your eyes to the sky and thought to yourself “What’s the point? Is the Ivy League worth it?!”

(And then if you were feeling dramatic, maybe you screamed “Why is college important?!!! DO I EVEN NEED TO GO.”) You’re not alone! Most humans who’ve navigated the college application process have asked themselves these questions at some point. We’re here to answer them and also ask you some important questions of our own. I’ll start by saying that there are many good reasons to pursue an Ivy League education.

You’ll get a great education. You’ll have some of the brightest and most well-respected professors in the world. You’ll make connections with up-and-comers and their rising tide might lift your proverbial boat.

Are Ivy League schools better? In many ways, you could say yes.

But.

It’s also totally possible to get a great education, well, almost anywhere.

If you’ve ever wondered if the Ivy League is really worth it, read on.

4 REASONS WHY AN IVY LEAGUE EDUCATION MAY NOT BE AS LIFE-CHANGING AS YOU MIGHT THINK

1. IF YOU’RE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN YOUR EDUCATION, YOU CAN GET A GREAT ONE ANYWHERE

When you’re actively involved in your education, you can learn a ton–at almost any school, from almost any professor. What does it mean to be ‘actively involved’ in your education? You probably already know. It means completing all the required readings and maybe even some of the optional-but-suggested readings. It means taking part in class discussions and asking questions. It means staying after class to chat with the professor, attending office hours, and taking part in study groups. Outside of class, taking an active approach to your education takes many forms. It means taking advantage of all your college has to offer–whether you’re attending a community college, state school, or Harvard. Here are a few specific ways to do that:

Visit your school’s Career Services Office. A degree from a prestigious college doesn’t mean the job offers will start to roll in like magic. You still have to build a great resume, apply for jobs, interview well, and compete with lots of other students at your school who are vying for that same job at that prestigious law firm/investment bank/start-up. One of the most underutilized resources on campus is the very office whose job it is to help you, well, get a job. Set an appointment with a career counselor, tell them what your hopes and dreams are, and ask them for advice.

Talk to professors and faculty. If your academic advisor or professor has experience in an area or industry that interests you, stop by during office hours and pick their brain. Ask them about their own career path to get a sense of what you’d like your own to be.

Take on summer internships. For 99% of jobs, having actual, real-life work experience is far more important than your alma mater. It’s a great idea to start interning the summer after your sophomore or junior year. Whether you’re helping a local business level-up their social media game, clerking for a county judge, coding for a start-up, or working on an organic farm, get experience and figure out what you love and don’t love to do.

Getting a research position, becoming a tutor or TA, or joining clubs and student government all enhance your college experience. Attend campus college fairs and information sessions. Make use of the alumni network. Don’t wait for the opportunities to come to you. Go out and make them!

2. DON’T BE A SMALL FISH IN A BIG POND

How you feel about yourself and your likelihood of success is more related to your relative position to your classmates than it is to the institution that you graduated from.

That’s what Malcolm Gladwell argues in a great talk at Google Zeitgest in 2013 on a concept he calls Elite Institution Cognitive Disorder (EICD).

Here’s the short version:

As humans, we are more likely to make self-assessments about ourselves and potential for success based on the people that are immediately around us, not the world at large. As a result, we “tend to overstate the significance of elite institutions and grossly underestimate the cost of being at the bottom of a hierarchy.”

He’s got some fancy numbers about SAT score distributions and publishing rates by PhDs at elite and non-elite colleges to prove his point.

If you find yourself obsessing about whether the Ivy League is worth it, consider watching his entire 19-minute presentation below.

But.

What does this mean for you?

Don’t just go to an Ivy League school for the sake of going to an Ivy League school. First consider whether or not a college will allow you to be a standout leader and graduate in the top 25% of your class (as opposed to the bottom 25%).

3. GETTING A ‘SENSIBLE’ DEGREE FROM AN ‘IMPRESSIVE’ COLLEGE GUARANTEES … NOTHING

That’s almost painful to read, isn’t it? It’s much more comfortable to believe that the ‘right’ degree from the ‘right’ college guarantees success and happiness for years to come. In addition, people graduate each year from Ivy League colleges with degrees in business, engineering, or marketing and struggle to find jobs they like. Likewise, every year, people graduate from less high profile schools with degrees in philosophy, art history, and gender studies and go on to become fulfilled, professionally successful adults. The CEO of Paypal has a philosophy degree! The CEO of American Express has a history degree! Former PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer got his A.A. at a community college!

Building a career and life that fulfills and supports you takes decades. It doesn’t begin and end with your undergraduate degree.

4. “SUCCESS” ISN’T LINEAR

You’ve seen this graphic, right? It perfectly captures the reality of “success.” When we see people accomplishing awesome things, we don’t see the years of mistakes, backpedaling, and sidestepping. We see Einstein’s Nobel prize, not the fact that he didn’t get into the Zurich Polytechnic School. We see that J.K. Rowling is the most successful author of all time; we don’t see her divorce, single parenthood, or her 12 rejection letters for the first Harry Potter book. When we look at Stephen Spielberg, we see Jaws and E.T., not the three times he was rejected from USC. It’s tempting to believe that an Ivy League education will put you on an escalator towards “success,” but that’s not necessarily the case. An Ivy League school can give you a lot of great resources but It probably can’t help you choose the right career path, predict how your life and interests will change over time, and it certainly isn’t the only path toward personal and creative fulfillment.

More than anything, it’s important that you choose the school that’s right for you. Maybe that school happens to be an Ivy League school, but maybe it’s not. Whichever school you choose, know that you are in charge of your success and, as Frank Bruni so aptly put it, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be.

#appblr #college #Ivy League #Harvard #Yale #Columbia #Princeton #go to college #college admissions

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inspiringwhilerespiring · 4 years

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Get to know me?

Yoooo - yall remember Myspace, and people would blog survey posts lol. Well thats me, I’m people. And I just wanna write my lil heart out and avoid all of my real life responsibilities. So found a lil questionnaire thing and I’m gonna fill it out. Also lowkey like doing this every so often so I can look back on it and reflect and see how much I may have grown/changed/shifted viewzzz ya feel? :)

Sooo here yall go <3

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

My neice maybe?

2. Are you outgoing or shy?

People who know me would tell me to put outgoing, but I honestly feel shy on the inside, so it just depends.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

Literally anyone lmao fuck this quarantine

4. Are you easy to get along with?

Definitely

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

Lets hope so

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

Kind souls <3 always notice how they talk to their friends and family, but even people they don’t know like servers or janitors, etc. that shit matters heavy.

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

Probably not

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

A few homies

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

Nah not really, just depends

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

Not sure -it’s been a min since I had a “deep” connection or convo that I can remember - but was probably with my bestie R’Bo

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

“Google that shit” lmao me, giving advice to my friends

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

TOUGH!!!! After Hours by The Weeknd is up there, Cayendo by Frank Ocean (been jamming his shit HAARD lately) and Inside Friend by Leon Bridges & John Mayer….but also been listening to albums - like Childish’s new album, Floreyyy for lo-fi shit, and also got into 070 Shake recently just to name a few.

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

FUCK YA

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

Yeah budddyy

15. What good thing happened this summer?

Idk, my bday party was lit?? And lots of river floats happened

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

Lol

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

Cant deny that there isn’t so yaaa

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

19. Do you like bubble baths?

Yes

20. Do you like your neighbors?

Just moved, so don’t know em

21. What are you bad habits?

Procrastination lol and biting my nails

22. Where would you like to travel?

Literally ANNNYY-fuckin-WHERE!

23. Do you have trust issues?

Hmm I wanna say generally no, but I also always keep it one hunnnid with myself, and as much as I’d like to say I don’t have any - I think I def have insecurities with myself, that have the potential to become “trust issues” in certain relationships, but overall no. I live by the whole “you have my trust til you fuck it up” mantra

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

Coffee in the morning lately, missed it and forgot how energized it makes me - gives me time to wake up and reflect/set daily goals

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

Stomach forever :((((

26. What do you do when you wake up?

Scroll on my phone, pee usually, or feed my cat lol

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

Tanner maybe?

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

My mom or my best friend R’Bonney - but any of my close friends and fam honestly

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

Not directly

30. Do you ever want to get married?

Lol ok, so this is always changing…but lately (and by lately I mean the past few years) its been a no. I’m open minded though and am aware that I’m always changing my mind sooo who knows

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail?

yeppperoo

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

Honestly, those aren’t my “thing” lollike id prob laugh or be awkward or just have to be hellllla drunk - but like I wouldn’t mind Jason Momoa and Tom Hardy tossin me around

33. Spell your name with your chin.

hjaylkee

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

Scocer back in the day - actually went and kicked it like a week ago for the first time in YEARSSSS - felt so damn good

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

TV, music forreeevverrr

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

Lol story of my life

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

“Soooo” then probably ask a question or some shit lol

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

Hmmm…definitely have to be funny/have a good sense of humor. They’d have to be open-minded for sure. Up for trying new things, places, cultures, food, music, etc. Just have an adventurous spirit I guess when it comes to that. Have a good line of communication/openness - and just be able to have a deep/intellectual convo about anything and everything. Bonuses: taller than me, likes cooking, and going to music shows.

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

Amazon lol I hate shopping

40. What do you want to do after high school?

To go back to high school :( lmao so much id re-do, cant believe its almost been a decade

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

Hell yeah, this is life my dudes, dont take it so seriously - we all fuck up at some point or another

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?

Something is on my mind for sure, or im just tired lol

43. Do you smile at strangers?

Yeah

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

DAMNNN WHAT so hard - I guesss if I had to pick, space…just because it’s more rare/harder to do I’d think.

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

My cat lol with his meowing ass

46. What are you paranoid about?

Lowkey a lot lol

47. Have you ever been high?

48. Have you ever been drunk?

Who hasn’t????

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

naw

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?

Black probably, like half my wardrobe

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

Of course

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

My bad habits

56. Favourite colour?

Yelllllow :)

57. Favourite food?

Oh gaaawwd, literally anything - lately: PB&J’s, fries, wings, Mediterranean, Mexican, pickles, ice cream, ramenzzzz

58. Last thing you ate?

Pistachios

59. First thing you ate this morning?

Cofffeeee w creamer

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

Idk, not off the top of my head - maybe something back in elementary

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

Nah

62. Been arrested? For what?

Yeah lmao

63. Ever been in love?

Yes

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

No its really not that interesting and idc to type it out

65. Are you hungry right now?

24/7/365

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

Lol yes a few of them <333

67. Facebook or Twitter?

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

Tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now?

Noooo

70. Names of your bestfriends?

R’Bonney is number 1

71. Craving something? What?

Foooood, and companionship? Lol

72. What colour are your towels?

Idk, random, mostly blue

72. How many pillows do you sleep with?

A lot lol

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

Lol no, but I have my one from my childhood in my room

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

1 - shout out to you Mr.Fluffy

75. Favourite animal?

I am fascinated by sharks; and like gators/crocs. But I have mad respect for elephants, they’re sooo damn smart and beautiful.

76. What colour is your underwear?

Dont have any on

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

BITCHHHH CHOC

78. Favourite ice cream flavour?

All of them

79. What colour shirt are you wearing?

Tie-dye

80. What colour pants?

none

81. Favourite tv show?

Game of Thrones prob

82. Favourite movie?

Avatar or Shawshank Redemption

87. First person you talked to today?

Sissy

88. Last person you talked to today?

Friend on FT

89. Name a person you hate?

No one, maybe Trump? lol

90. Name a person you love?

Everyone, fr fr

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

Nah

92. In a fight with someone?

Nah

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

Not enough <3

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

Not enough <3

95. Last movie you watched?

The Decline on Netflix, short lil foreign oil, was deep/interesting

96. Favourite actress?

Not sure-Sandra Bullock? Or Meryl

97. Favourite actor?

Denzel or Morgan Freeman

98. Do you tan a lot?

Nah not anymore honestly

99. Have any pets?

Yessss

100. How are you feeling?

Mediocre

101. Do you type fast?

102. Do you regret anything from your past?

Im sure

103. Can you spell well?

104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

Lol im nostalgic af, so yes

105. Ever been to a bonfire party?

Yes litttty tittyyy

106. Ever broken someone’s heart?

Probably :(

107. Have you ever been on a horse?

Hell yeah brother, I’m from TX

108. What should you be doing?

So much shit lol

109. Is something irritating you right now?

The fact that I ain’t doing all the shit I should be lol

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?

Yooo yes

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

Prob my sister or my mom?? Lol I cry a lot, idk and idc

113. What was your childhood nickname?

Hayls?

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

Yes

115. Do you play the Wii?

Back in the day

116. Are you listening to music right now?

Surprisingly, no

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?

Nah, unless maybe if its homemade

118. Do you like Chinese food?

Yeah occasionally, more of a Thai food chick or Japanese

119. Favourite book?

Kite Runner

120. Are you afraid of the dark?

Low-key sometimes lol

121. Are you mean?

Hell noooo

122. Is cheating ever okay?

Ok, this is an interesting one lol I mean no, it’s not “okay” - since it usually constitutes lying/hiding/hurting someone - BUTTTT, for a lack of a better term - I wanna say it’s “normal”? But thats because I, personally, am on the fence about the concept of monogamy. Like no, I’ve never cheated nor experienced that in return - but the whole concept of monogamy and like that a person can love and only love or be with one person is WILLLLDDD and I can’t help but note that its a social construct that we, as a society, are conditioned to from the time we are born. Idk if that makes sense bc im high af lol but those are my thoughts…like to sum it up - cheating is fucked up and sucks, but at the same time its not all that surprising/shocking anymore, like borderline “normalized” just as divorces are and shit, so I feel like bc biologically we aren’t made to be with one person lol. I don’t condone it tho. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean?

Hell to the naw naw

124. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Hmmm idk about that one, but also can’t deny it

125. Do you believe in true love?

Yeah of course, you’re talking to a hopeless romantic

126. Are you currently bored?

I guess we could say that

127. What makes you happy?

Food and close, loved ones

128. Would you change your name?

Nah, too much paper work

129. What your zodiac sign?

Cancer, with my lil moody, sensitive ass

130. Do you like subway?

I did lol

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

Story of my mf life lol literally all my exes are “best friends turned lovers” situation, so guess it would just depend lmao

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

133. Favourite lyrics right now?

Lol oh godddd; ok off the top of my head - Tupac - Keep Ya Head Up is what comes to mind; just a timeless song and the lyrics are still relevant/apply to this day and idk just really resonate with the message behind that song <3

135. Dumbest lie you ever told?

Idk, but it was probably SO dumb, and told to my parents lol

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?

Either or, lately open so my cat can go in and out lol

137. How tall are you?

5’6 mayyybeee 5’5 actually lol

140. Summer or Winter?

Fall!!

141. Night or Day?

Def a lil night owl, always have been

142. Favourite month?

April and October for weather at least

143. Are you a vegetarian?

No but I try, and go through phases, I’m definitely mindful the older I get and more focused on my health I become

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

FUCKIN ALLLLL

145. Tea or Coffee?

Coffee but I like tea too, just seem to drink coffee more regularly

146. Was today a good day?

The grateful-to-just-be-alive in me wants to say yes lol but idk, felt off/unaccomplished and cried a lot, so no.

147. Mars or Snickers?

Snickers

148. What’s your favourite quote?

“This too shall pass”

149. Do you believe in ghosts?

Sure why not

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?

“After all, what he had always wanted was just that: to know new places.” -The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

#survey #about me #haylee #thoughts #mine #questions #ask me anything #ask #lets chat #be my frieeennnddd

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loulougoingsolo · 4 years

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I love you, too, Terry Crews!

I’m confused. I could have sworn Terry Crews has been on GMM before, and based on every search I did on the interwebs, he hasn’t. I’m apparently having a private Mandela effect moment, and I have no idea where it came from.

But hey, Terry Crews IS on GMM today, and turns out, he is just as much a big, goofy sweetheart of a man as he's character, Terry, on Brooklyn 99!

Brooklyn 99 is possibly the best comedy series I’ve ever watched. We currently have the first 5 seasons available on Netflix here in Finland, and it kills me to know that there is more to watch, and I can’t see it yet. I love the show. I love every single character in the show. And I love the fact that Rhett and Link are sitting around the same tiny table with Terry, eating tiny tiny food. Because, you know, of course these larger than life guys need to make an episode with teeny tiny foods.

GMM, the Mythical crew, and Rhett and Link, have the ability to get even the biggest (pun so not intended) celebrity guests to relax, but Terry seems completely at home. Well, apart from the table being a little bit low. But these three have the kind of comfortable chemistry that makes me think they hang out together all the time outside of work. He just fits right in.

So, the game today is to try to figure out which of the adorable little plates of food contains an extra nasty. In the first round, Rhett is the dealer of the baby pancake stacks, and one of them has a bitter agent in it (kinda like 008, lol, Link!). Terry resorts to the lifeline of asking Rhett for expert info, but can Rhett be trusted? Probably not.

We are only under 5 minutes into this episode, and Terry is already confessing his love to Rhett, and after such affection it feels unfair that he ends up with the bitter pancakes. It is heartbreaking! But at least, now everyone knows that this is a serious game!

The next round, with Terry as the dealer, presents us with three mini tacos, one of which has been spiced up with wasabi and vegemite. Taking a whiff of the tacos doesn’t really reveal any hidden secrets, but there is something enjoyably surreal about this scene:

Turns out, being direct doesn’t help in this game, and targeting Rhett directly is too obvious a choice to fool even Link, who successfully sends the nasty taco to Terry. Even with all the love confessions today, my favourite thing may be, how Link reacted to his triumph. He is a taller than average man sitting by the tiniest of tables, and somehow, he still manages to look like a giddy little boy (did I say I love him?).

In the final round, it’s Link’s turn to deal the PB&J sandwiches, and attempt to make either Rhett or Terry pick the one with ghost pepper in it. Link’s problem is, he has a friend who knows him better than anyone, and Rhett figures out his tactics immediately. Squeezing the sandwiches doesn’t reveal anything suspicious, and although Terry graciously leads them all to prayer, in the end, Link fails at his own game, and is left with the spicy snack. But at least, Terry loves him, too, and that is worth all the hickups.

In GMMore, the guys rate bad Yelp reviews from different places in Brooklyn in a game called Brooklyn Whine Whine. I’ve never used Yelp, and my ideology in giving reviews in general is to either say something positive and constructive, or just keep my mouth shut. I assume that if a restaurant is bad, they’ll realize it soon enough without me complaining about something trivial. Not that I’ve ever really had a horrible experience in a restaurant - despite once eating in a very suspicious Indian restaurant in London, which I later found out, had been re-opened after a cockroach infestation only few days prior to our visit. Not the best meal I ever had, but it was a fun night, so why complain?

(I agree with Link that rubbing Rhett’s ego by complimenting him on his game face is not needed. He’s smug enough as it is about winning without being asked to become Terry’s manager.)

I had to go listen to the Usher song to see what all the fuss was about with cutting it midway, and yeah (ha!), the Ludacris part is pretty crucial to the song. Now when are we going to see the Rhett and Link vlog where they go to the club? I want to see Link in a club environment. I have a feeling that would be awesome. But the yelp review was a tad excessive. For the second one though, I agree that pregnant women should always get to do what they want. They are doing the heavy labour (literally) for our species, and that should come with certain priviledges.

Poor Terry, trying to look at Link for confirmation about Aileen Wuornos (who was of Finnish descent, and the female serial killer whose story was told in Monster) - I’m pretty sure Link has not seen this movie. The yelp review was bad, but the movie is great, and Charlize Theron is amazing.

I’d really love to see what Link’s first and only Yelp review was. It must have been pretty bad to get deleted. I remember him mentioning it at some point, but he didn’t actually read it, did he?

Ok, I’ve never not eaten a pizza I ordered, and although some of them haven’t been perfect, I’ve never complained about them either. I might complain if the pizza cost a fortune, but even a bad pizza is still something with a crust, tomatosauce and molten cheese, and there is only so far you can go wrong with that.

The roach review is pure entertainment. If you need to complain, at least do it with a sense of humour. I give 5 stars to that review. And, I give 5 stars to this GMM episode!

#gmm #gmmore #gmm 1687 #rhett and link #terry crews #tiny foods for big dudes #brooklyn 99 #brooklyn whine whine #perfect episode #perfect guest

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fridlyckans124536fan-blog · 4 years

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Training Your Dog Humanely: Part One

Welcome the Dog to the Human World

The conscious mind contains the rules construct - the things I'm allowed to do, as well as the things I'm not allowed, but want to do. The subconscious mind contains the entire spectrum, desires, memories, emotions, autonomic functions, but it's missing one important thing - the rules construct. It's ungoverned. If you accept this, then you accept that a dog's brain is constructed similarly to ours and is capable of many of the same things our brain can do. To love, to feel guilty, to think, to desire, to reason, to manipulate, to trust, to obey, to not break certain rules. A dog learns within four months of age not to pee in the house. Amazing when you consider that it spent the first 10 weeks at its mother's breast. How then, if it did not have a conscious mind with a rules construct? By instinct? By pack mentality? No, from learning, which you will be responsible for.

So that's where it starts: by giving the dog some credit for being able to think. If you don't you'll be treating her just like The Keller parents treated their deaf and blind daughter Helen. Helen Keller became a successful author and public speaker but only after a miracle worker, Anne Sullivan, decided to credit her with a brain that worked. Her parents had written her off as backward. That's your job, to be the miracle worker for your four legged Helen. Don't credit the dog with thinking ability and it won't learn anything useful.

Your dog is handicapped in several ways. The first is that it devotes ten times more of its brain to odors than we do. It devotes one tenth of its brain to visual information than we do. A dog can have a cookie right in front of it, but when it's searching for it using scent, it can't see it. A dog seems to shut off its visual memory in favor of olfactory memory. When they are sniffing you can hear the nose whoot, whoot, whoot, as they sample quickly for a trace. They also move their heads when sampling so they know which direction to go. You'll learn to redirect the dog's brain to become a listener and a watcher while giving your lessons. They'll learn faster when they know they're being taught something. With a visual and verbal clue, your dog will pay attention, "Aha, the Master is trying to show me something important."

Your First Lesson: The Binary Method

I have always had it easy training my dog - I live alone. If you have a family, all of whom suddenly are doggy experts from watching the Whisperer, tell them all to take a hike. If they won't go, then take the dog out for a walk in a private setting. Be alone with the dog, period. No distractions. No other dogs or people. You are the only sensory inputs that the dog will have to deal with. This makes the job much simpler. When you've taught the dog one simple thing, make sure that all family and friends use the same method of communication. The dog has a limited capacity, which is high enough, but it will be wasted if it has to learn three ways to sit, six ways to come here, and so on. If it's your dog, take responsibility and get other people to address the dog in your manner or leave the animal alone.

Your dog learns very quickly and easily using the binary method. With the binary method, the dog learns quite a lot and quite fast. They also learn by association. The binary method is how we begin a dog's training and it works wonders with puppies or new dogs. The association method is for later, when your dog has learned the basics and is ready for more. We'll talk about the binary method first, and association in later parts of this article.

What is the binary method? Binary means two. There are two things that your dog has to learn from you. That's all, just two. Everything else follows from there. Once they've learned those two things, you've got it made in the shade. Your dog will become the most obedient, happy little fur creature on the street. And she'll be ready to learn more. Once a dog has picked up the binary method, there's no going back, she now thinks like a human.

On my walks with my dog, I show her off to people and tell them about the binary method. "There are two things your dog must learn and once it has, she can learn everything else. Do you know what those two things are?" I ask them. I'm amazed at the responses I get, and have yet to hear the correct response. "Patience and humility," one guy says. I haven't taught my dogs humility yet, so I have to refrain from laughing at some of these stabs at a very simple concept. Does he think I'm prepping her for Divinity College?

What are those two things you must first teach your four legged Helen Keller? Here we go - Yes and No. Yes, you are allowed to do something. No, you are not allowed to do something. That's the first lesson to teach your dog. Once he/she has learned these two concepts, everything else you're trying to get it to do will be very much easier to accomplish. Two things, hence the binary method.

How do I teach the dog these two seemingly simple concepts? First, replace the word Yes with the word Okay. The word No remains No. So that's what you want to teach the dog. Okay, and No.

If you have a dog that doesn't like food, take it back, get a refund, it's probably not a dog. If your dog does like food and is attracted to a certain treat then have a bag of those treats at the ready. The smaller the treat, the better. Small treats permit you many repetitions of the lesson until the dog catches on. It can take many repetitions of a lesson before the dog learns, but it will surprise you how few times a dog must be shown something to learn it completely. Usually, a simple concept is learned in under ten repetitions.

Tell the dog the following, "Lucy! Watch!' and point to your eye with your finger touching your face under the eye. Do this every time you begin a lesson. Repeat it a few times and then begin the lesson. At first, it's meaningless to the dog, but it will pay off later, because the dog will have learned YOU ARE TEACHING SOMETHING.

Now place the dog in the sitting position on the floor or ground. Say 'Lucy, Sit' clearly and distinctly as you do it. The simpler the command the better. One syllable, how much simpler can it be. When the dog is sitting and only when the dog is sitting, put at least one small treat on the floor about one foot in front of her. Give her a treat for sitting. Leave the other food in sight close by.

Always, always preface an action command with the dog's name. "Lucy, Sit", "Lucy, Come Here." There's a very good reason for this. The dog learns its name firstly, but more importantly, she learns that she is being addressed at that moment. When you are with a group of people and don't use her name here is what the dog perceives: "... bla bla bla bla bla bla bla - sit - bla bla bla bla bla." The 'Sit' got lost in all the bla bla. The dog has tuned you out because you're all talking gibberish and boring her to death. Give the dog a warning that something is coming. First pause your talking and say 'Lucy!" Pause until you notice her react, then give her the command - "Sit!", making the hand gesture as you do.

All dog training is to be done with 'theatre'. I believe the dog responds to signals first, and since they're accompanied by voice commands, they will respond to the latter on it's own at a later date. Always, always give a command with hand signals or other types of visual clues to start. I call it 'theatre'. I have a 'Come Here' signal which my dog can see and responds to even when she's too far away to hear: I flap one arm up and down by my side.

So going back over the ground already covered, tell your dog to 'Sit' by placing her firmly but gently in the sitting position. Give her a treat when she sits. When you say 'Lucy, Sit', make a hand gesture by putting out your outstretched hand. Any dog that is worth its salt will not immediately obey this command, he/she will lunge for the food on the floor. That's instinctual behavior, to eat. Dogs, especially Labs, can write the book on 'There is food, therefore I eat'. This is what you're hoping for the dog to do. There are few things that motivate a dog more than food, especially a pup.

Wait a moment. When the dog lunges from the sitting position to reach the food, this is where you jump in. Place your hand, palm and fingers outstretched firmly, right in front of her face and say in a loud, unmistakably officious tone 'NO!" Like a traffic cop. No, means no, you twit, and if you move that car one inch more I'm hauling your idiot behind to jail. That's what I mean by theatre. The hand is thrust forcefully, the tone of voice is severe and stentorian, and the look on your otherwise pleasant face is mean and ugly. You could also preface the whole charade with a 'Psssshhhht!" which distracts the dog momentarily and has her focus on the source of the strange noise.

Once you've given her this very theatrical admonition, sit her back down, and say "Wait until I say OKAY," emphasizing the word OKAY by pointing to your lips. The dog at this point is merely confused. After three or four attempts to lunge for the food she will sit back down and wait. She won't go for the food. Make certain that she doesn't get food until she does what you wish. This is key. It isn't cruel. You're using positive stimuli to get a desired result. Your boss does it to you each week with a paycheck.

The dog has learned by association to sit. It's from pleasurable stimuli. Every time I sit he gives me a treat. The best thing to do is to sit so he'll give me a dog treat. I don't know what the hell he wants but I do know to sit. I don't know why he's blocking me from getting that food over there, but he's nice enough when I sit down, so I'll sit down.

Once the dog has learned to sit and stay quiet without lunging for the food, then you will permit her to get it. You will say in a soft and light tone, 'Lucy, Okay get it," and point to the food.

Here's what the dog is thinking. If I go for that food he's going to yell at me and put me back here and say "Sit' again. I'm not going for it. I'm sitting here. If I sit he gives me treats. If you've waited until the dog is unsure of what to do at this point, you've done the right thing. Your dog is afraid to go for the food and won't lunge at it. It will ask permission with head movements toward the food. At this point it hasn't a clue what OKAY means.

So now you'll show your dog what okay means, and gently lift its bum off the floor and allow it to approach the treats, all the while saying 'Okay, Lucy, get it' in sweet tones and pointing to the food. You may even move the food closer until it's within reach for the first few iterations.

When he says OKAY and pushes me toward the food, he seems to be saying it's quite alright if I go get it. So that's what OKAY means. Eureka, I get it!

With about five repetitions of this exercise your dog will have learned the difference between Okay, I'm allowed and No, I'm not allowed. It actually learned the two concepts using the association method, but it now has a tool, called the binary method, in which all other behavioral concepts are learned. Everything, from Come Here, to Heel, to Don't Go In The Street will be so much easier to teach. Many things must be learned by a dog. No pooping or peeing in the house. No jumping on people or other dogs. No barking when not called for. Come Here, Sit, Inside, Outside, Go to Sleep, Get Up, Get down, Stop That, Be Quiet, Get In, Get Out, Heel, Lie Down, Stay Here, Wait... the list is quite long.

All learning must be reinforced. When you start to learn multiplication in math, your teacher will thoroughly review addition first. She will also teach the advanced concept of multiplication by using the addition lessons as a stepping stone. "Add ten plus ten. How much is that? Twenty. Right. How many times did we add ten? Twice. We added ten two times to get twenty. How much, therefore, is Two times Ten?" Teach furry Helen, the Okay and No commands every lesson before teaching her to Come Here, or to Wait Until I Say Okay (Stay). Furry Helen will be as quick to learn this concept at three months of age as a child of eight can learn the times tables.

A dog is very much like a human in intellectual developmental abilities. In this one lesson, your four legged Helen Keller has learned very many important things. One, you are in charge of everything. Food, most importantly. Two, cooperation means positive stimuli such as love and food, defiance means negative stimuli, such as disapproval and denial of food. A dog, as a member of a family seeks approval and positive reinforcements and avoids negative stimuli. If it prefers negative stimuli you've got a neurotic on your hands. Neurotic dogs, like people, are made, not born, and now is the time for Cesar to do his magic because this is where his method outshines all others, rehabilitating a neurotic dog. Thirdly, your dog has learned when you're trying to teach it something to help it fit into a family of humans. Lastly but most importantly, the dog will have learned the binary method and will even learn to ask permission like Lucy does when she wishes to sleep on the couch. She stops and waits for an OKAY before jumping up. fridlyckans

Remember, if a lesson goes badly, don't allow yourself to become frustrated with the dog. Step back, break up the problem into two or three steps. Above all, give the dog some sweet love, treats and a play period after a training session, no matter how it went. If the dog is play obsessed like Lucy is, use the play sessions for training as well.

Keep watching this space for Training Your Dog Humanely: Part Two. And give me some feedback in the comments section, please. For more interesting videos of Lucy go to my FB page and browse my public videos.

Ed Schofield is a writer from Nova Scotia, Canada. His e-books can be found at Amazon.com.

Videos of Lucy's behavior:

Article Source: http://www.fridlyckans.com/

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crazy-loca-blog · 4 years

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Personal thoughts on Blades of Light and Shadow, Ch. 1-2

Note: As the title says, these are just personal opinions on Choices books and chapters. Of course, you may agree or disagree with them, I only use this platform to express my thoughts on what I read every week and what I’d like to see in the next chapters, because none of my friends play Choices so I have no one to comment the books with.

So… would you believe that this is actually the second time I write this post? I tend to write the posts in Word first so I can check the spelling and because it allows me to write even when I don’t have access to Internet… and I have no idea what happened the other day, but I was working on this post and TRH review when Word stopped working, it closed and I lost everything… I was so mad! But here I am.

I’m going to try do my best with this book, for two very specific reasons: the first one is that this is actually the first non-romance book I write about, so that’s definitely a challenge… and the second one is that sometimes I’m not the best at understanding these books and my MCs are killed quite easily because I tend to make the worst choices, so I’m a little slow when trying to find the excitement in these books.

So… I have to admit that the expectations on this book were so high that I was worried. The last time that people got super excited about a book was before the release of Across The Void, and unfortunately things didn’t go as expected. Also, we were finally having a non-romance book after a really long time, so this seemed like a whole new world, especially for new players. Fortunately, things seem to have had a good start.

There are so many things to be excited (or at least happy) about! Not only we finally have a new book where we can choose our gender, but now we can also choose our species! As I read in some Facebook group, “now I understand why they were reusing the OH faces in almost every single release during the last year”. Probably the only complaint I have had about our MC is that we didn’t have a chance to choose our hairstyle. BUT… it seems like there is an explanation for it and that there is some specific reason why we couldn’t change the default hairstyle. Someone on a FB group asked PB about it, and they just said they didn’t want to give us any spoilers… so… now they really caught my attention and I can’t wait to discover the real reason behind this.

Another amazing feature in this book is that we had the chance to choose our own skills. And this is probably the smartest move that PB has made in a long time. Can you imagine the amount of possible combinations? And all of them take you through different paths! Not only you get to unlock certain choices if you have certain skills, your XP points are also affected by these skills and your species. I can definitely see people replaying this book over and over for a long time, just to have a chance to choose different skills and to unlock different choices.

The final item I felt I had to talk about before moving to the plot were the “special effects” (I mean the full size images in movement). And I’m really sorry to be the dissenting voice here, but I wasn’t as excited about them as everyone else seemed to be. Sure, they were pretty good, but I don’t think they were mind-blowing as many people think, especially because they’re not different from what we’ve been seeing in other books during the last year. So even though they add up an amazing touch to the story, they’re the same kind of effects we’ve been seeing for a while now, so I don’t understand all the hype for them… I actually think it’s an overreaction… I mean… I get this is a new favorite for a lot of people, but even our favorite books are not perfect… you know what I mean?

Of course, you may have a book with amazing features… but that means nothing if you don’t have a good plot (how is that ATV comes to my mind… again!). To be honest, I don’t think I can talk about the plot itself yet. If you really, really loved the first two chapters, you may want to kill me, but there is a good reason for me to think that the plot hasn’t begun to fully develop yet. Sure, a lot of things happened (three dead people and one brother who disappeared is huge for the first two chapters), but I got this feeling that the writers decided to take things slow, so for now they kept the focus on introducing the characters, exploring places and explaining us what we’ll be doing (and where we’ll be going) throughout this book. If you ask me, I’d say this was a brilliant move. They definitely learned from their biggest mistake in an adventure book (I will never forget when we had to pick a side on ATV and we had no idea why they were fighting in the first place) and now we know exactly what’s the path that has been set for the rest of the book, we know what we’ll be doing, we know what we’re looking for… they made sure that we understand the book before playing it.

As I said before… with 20 new MC possibilities, 3 different species, and lots of combinations in terms of skills, this is definitely one of those books that people will be replaying for a long time. It has lots of the elements that fans look for when taking a book to a God-tier level, it focuses 99% on adventure (did you notice that I didn’t even talk about the LIs?), and it’s a breath of fresh air for a company that last year completely forgot about this genre (biggest mistake ever!). So yeah… this release makes me feel that PB truly listens to what the fans have to say about the app. Great job!

#playchoices #choices stories you play #blades of light and shadow #choices blades of light and shadow #blades of light and shadow choices #bolas #blades #choices bolas #choices blades #bolas choices #blades choices

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humansoulsarg · 4 years

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Recap - artifact555 video solve

In the early days of this blog, some of the solves weren’t documented as cleanly in one post as has become the pattern. In reviewing the solutions to Pangent’s publicly available videos, it was discovered that a few of them could use a newly compiled summary solve post. So here goes the first of those, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVWfnqiuVXk Binary title: artifact555 Video begins with a warning about flashing images, and whoo boy, those happen. There’s lots of shots of the cube, glitching in colors and flashing, and interspersed with possible flashes of Lottie, and some more interesting effects. The sound is also ‘interesting’. The cube is alive. There doesn’t appear to be any coded content in the video, but the description has some things worth investigating. almost-binary in the description, replace the ‘O’s and 'C’s with '0’s and '1’s to get actual binary for: xV_OQ4CQqE8

This is a YouTube ID: https://youtu.be/xV_OQ4CQqE8 - A video with binary title 'theline’, showing Lottie 'speaking’ but the audio sounds computer-generated and states:

There are some things we as a species weren’t meant to know

This video also contains some pastebin links in the description, more on those later.

Back to the text in the description of 'artifact555’:

imgur bAqfpxr

This is theoriginal MSPA ad which was the trailhead for this ARG imgur jbUD1v0

This is a nonogram, popular in those days. Can be solved manually or with tools like http://a.teall.info/nonogram/

Interpret the squares as binary:

011010110111101001110110 011000110110011101110001 011010000110001001110111 011110010111100101110101 011101000101011001101011 011000100110111001100010 011011010110101101110011 011001110111010101100011 011101100110110101101001 011011010110111101111001 011011010111001001100111 011110100111001101110001 011011000110111001100111 011001111111111111111111 kzvcgqhbwyyutVkbnbmksgucvmimoymrgzsqlngg Vigenere with key 'conscioushumansouls’ (and add spaces): i like it here it Isnt quiet can you hear the waves imgur 7Foyrsz

Kcode - read off the RGB values of each square In decimal they are: 49 53 32 104 111 117 114 115 32 102 114 111 109 32 116 104 101 32 99 101 110 116 101 114 32 111 102 32 116 104 101 32 115 111 117 114 99 101 0 15 hours from the center of the source xV_OQ4CQqE8 is a YouTube ID leading to: https://youtu.be/xV_OQ4CQqE8 unlisted video with binary title: theline Contains several Pastebin links in the description: PB CBiWsY85 https://pastebin.com/CBiWsY85 - hex title: themoth contains binary text encoded as Vigenere with key 'guineapix’ which decodes to:

I have a friend, let’s call her C. Let me talk about C for a minute. The wonderful and terrible thing about C is that she’s a moth drawn to flame. For a few years now I have supported her in everything she’s done. She’s reckless. If she were a character in a movie, she’d see an explosion and run toward it while most people are running away. She’d run into the burning building and inhale the smoke while taking notes on how it affected the building structure. And she’s probably the one who caused the fire in the first place. Metaphorically, I mean. She gets results only because she loves the danger of it. She’ll come up with a solution and write it down without knowing if it’s right or not. She’ll try it a dozen different ways, watch the entire thing fall to pieces in a dozen different, irreplaceably expensive ways. Destroy everything while taking notes on the wreckage. When she’s done she’ll clean up the mess and she’ll understand the problem on a molecular level, from the inside out. She’ll be standing in the catastrophe she created, with a thousand pages of notes on how to do it right next time. I believe she’s the greatest genius I’ll ever know. And she’s a disaster. A walking disasterpiece. Her mind makes leaps that other minds can’t, because they understand that actions have consequences. She knows that messes can be cleaned up, and systems rebuilt. So she plays with fire. Well, not every mess can be cleaned up. You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube. Now that I’ve typed that I’m not so sure. She could probably figure it out. She’d ruin a lot of tubes of toothpaste in the process. But hey, toothpaste is cheap. The Twitter archive is still broken because of her, but I suspect if she hadn’t been fired she’d have fixed it within a few days. And because of her we did figure out how to decrypt the deleted data. It’s a slow, manual process, but it’s all there in some form or another. I wonder if that was X’s plan all along, somehow. He remembered Sandy Bridge, and figured if there was smoke there there was fire. He followed a trail of clues and now he’s taken everything. It’s not C’s fault. She did what she always did. She made a mess so that we could learn something. Maybe something we shouldn’t have been messing with in the first place. There’s this object, Artifact 555, alias The Cube. I’m not going to ask where it came from or how X’s father got it, because I value my life and my career and I know that questions have consequences. I’m not going to ask what it is, either. But I don’t have to. C is asking. What I know is this: X, because he’s an asshole, sent the three of us photos of this thing. It’s hard to see and harder to look at but I’d describe it as a glass cubic box with reflective blue matter inside. When I looked at the photos of this thing, I was filled with a paralyzing fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Afterward I was sick for two days. Leslie was sick too. Even her cat was sick. I don’t know how that’s even possible. I don’t want to know how that’s possible. But then, I’m not a moth drawn to flame. C was at the store when she saw the photos. Just on her phone, not even on a big monitor. She fell and hit her head. E had to come and get her. She didn’t walk straight for days. Now, a normal person’s instinct would be to get the hell away from this thing, and get the hell away from X, who used it as a weapon. Another kind of woman with another kind of mind would have changed her name, left the country, called in an exorcist and dedicated her life to rejecting satan and all his ways. Instead she signed the world’s worst contract and said she’d be back to work on the second. Because she’s a moth drawn to flame. She loves the mystery and danger of meddling where she shouldn’t. I know that right now every cell in her body is screaming out wanting to know what this thing is, even if she has to burn the world down around her to understand it. Well, that’s just who she is. X knew that too. He knew that if he shouted “DANGER” at her with a megaphone and police sirens and flashing lights five hundred feet tall, she’d come running toward that kind of danger. She can’t help it. For years, I’ve supported her in everything she’s done. I hope I never have to regret that.

PB i1pxP041 https://pastebin.com/i1pxP041 - hex title: gnixob (reversed: boxing) It’s almost-binary again, replace the 'C’s and'O’s with '1’s and'0’s then reverse, then decode as binary, then Vigenere with key 'argentina’ to get:

Another question. Let’s say there’s an object. Let’s call it “an object.” I looked at a few photographs of this object and became violently ill for reasons passing understanding. It was a couple days before I could walk without worry. The others in my group had a similar reaction. Here’s the question. What happens when I see this thing in person? And work alongside it for a long period of time? What exactly happens to my sanity? Happy Boxing Day.

PB sd7MrRX5 https://pastebin.com/sd7MrRX5 - hex title: analog Contains binary, Vigenered text with key 'argentina’:

Okay, I’m calm now. The Cube reacts to electrical stimuli. It even reacts in a predictable and reproducible way, suggesting that data can be imprinted on it for later use. X’s father must have known this. Someone must have run tests, suggesting this could work for data storage, if we could only understand how it works. Well, we don’t need to understand the Cube. And it doesn’t need to understand us. We’ve been thinking of this thing as digital, thinking how can we connect to it, like it’s a hard drive. But it’s not. It’s squishy, it’s meat, it’s liquid, it’s practically a brain. It’s analog. Do you understand? When I was a kid, we had cassette tapes. We had vinyl records. A vinyl record isn’t made with digital data. Vinyl doesn’t understand and interpret the music, it’s just plastic. And the needle is just a needle. There is no artificial intelligence there. But when a song is playing, you can etch the vibrations of that song onto that dumb plastic, and the needle will react the same way to play it back again. Magnetic tape is dumb too. It doesn’t need to understand and interpret the signals being sent through it. It just needs to be able to play them back accurately. VHS tapes of movies, cassette tapes of music. Did you ever record a computer program onto a cassette tape, and then play it back? You could just play the sound, all of this whirring and beeping, and your Apple II or Commodore 64 would understand what the tape couldn’t. The original analog medium is a book. The pages of a book don’t understand the data written on them. But the writer understood, and the reader understands, and that’s enough. We don’t need to understand the Cube. We don’t access that data by plugging in a cable. We don’t learn its language and it doesn’t learn ours. It’s a book. We write something on it, and then we can read it later. So. Let’s say I set up a server which reacts to data. And we test the Cube’s reactions to the same data. And we test it and test it and change the way we deliver the data to the Cube, until the reaction matches. We don’t need to speak the Cube’s language. We just need it to react in the right way when we speak ours.

PB 18E6yhak https://pastebin.com/18E6yhak - hex title: repair Contains binary, Vigenere’d text with key 'argentina’

Questions for this Christmas, asked of nobody but myself. The first question is whether or not data can have a soul. This is a question with two possible answers, so for the sake of argument let us assume the ridiculous - that the data of a soul can be saved, and that this does not disprove the existence of the soul as a theological concept and construct. Let us say that data can have a soul. The second question is, what if that data stream becomes broken and corrupted, in the way that souls also become broken and corrupted? If we save the data, do we save the soul? And if so, do we save it in a theological sense or merely on a technical level? What exactly would we be tampering with here? It’s four AM. I’m drunk. I should go back to sleep.

#video #unlisted video #puzzle #puzzle solution #human souls arg #submission #13ago

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