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#i need to figure out what i'm going to do with all the stuff they sent me over the couple years bc i kind of just shoved it in that suitcase
Hello I am going on a holiday to Eryri next month & I like to read up about an area before going there... do u have any reading or documentary or podcast recs? I'm particularly interested in the ecology & minority language activism & like. Peoples history & rural lives! I know this is stuff u know about in Wales but idk if north Wales is ur region! Míle buiochas ón Eireann!
Fáilte go dtí an Bhreatain Bheag! Or croeso i Gymru. Exciting! Keep an eye on the notes for others chiming in with good recs for documentaries and the like, I'm going to just give a super quick guide
Okay, pronunciation guide for place names and that is here in written form and here in video form. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you try to use the Welsh place names rather than the English translations. Duolingo is flawed but serviceable if you want to hear and learn some basic phrases. If you can at least throw out a 'bore da' to people you pass/shopkeepers, you'll be very well liked. You don't need to be fluent by any means, but Making An Effort is seen as, like, the nicest and politest and most wonderful thing in Wales, and particularly in regions like Eryri.
Because! It's one of the biggest remaining Welsh language strongholds. If you look at language maps over time in Wales, a pattern emerges:
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And the current (2021) figures show this:
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And you are going to this bit:
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So you're heading into the Welshest bit in all of Wales! And the bit with the strongest and longest history of Welsh, too.
Which also means there's a lot of activism-related stuff in that area. It's probably worth you reading up on the history of Tryweryn (which was a bit further east, but sets the scene well); there was also a BIG thing a couple of decades ago where activists would burn down English-owned holiday homes (while they were empty in winter, not, like, with the English in them). This is because, in addition to the usual issues with the social impacts of holiday homes (driving up prices meaning locals can't live there, eroding communities, etc), holiday homes in Welsh language heartlands are a significant and tangible threat to the language. Even today, the issue of holiday homes is an extremely touchy subject, as is the issue of (mostly-English) people moving into the area because "It's so pretty!!!" and then not learning the language.
(Yet another reason they will love you if you Make An Effort)
Historically speaking, you'll be in a chunk of the country that was the ancestral seat of the last kings of Wales (Gwynedd). The final one, Llywelyn ein Llyw Olaf, was ambushed and murdered in 1282, which was the beginning of the end for fighting off English rule. In fact, Owain Glyndŵr later crowned himself king of Wales for about two years, but weirdly, no one acknowledges this as real kingship for some reason - if you google his name, he's always listed as a soldier or military commander, which really opens up a whole "Who gets to say when someone is royalty" debate, but he did actually claim descent from the House of Aberffraw anyway, so ultimately it still links back to Llywelyn.
Ecology! Temperate alpine. There actually isn't a global scientific distinction between hill and mountain, but most countries set an arbitrary height standard. This means it varies from country to country depending on how tall their topology is. Wales, however, bucks this trend, and instead decides based on what is formally referred to as 'land use' and colloquially referred to as 'Vibes'. If it's a hill, it's tamed - if it's a mountain, it's wild. This means Eryri is fairly short by the standards of tedious foreigners who regard mountains as a sort of geological dick waving competition, but it's in fact a whole mountain range; it's also older than Saturn's rings. And, crucially, it's very much sufficiently above sea level to have an alpine ecosystem.
There are three endemic (i.e. not occurring anywhere else in the world) species in Eryri, to whit:
The Snowdon lily. A small and delicate flower growing in protected and inaccessible spots on yr Wyddfa (formally known as Snowdon). Excessively vulnerable to trampling, so the national park keeps sections where it grows fenced off.
The Snowdon beetle. RAINBOW BEETLE.
The gwyniad. A sub-species of whitefish until recently exclusively found in Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), trapped there after the ice age and now developing its own genetic profile distinct from other whitefish. Some dickhead in the 80s introduced the ruffe to the lake for fishing, and the ruffe eats the gwyniad's eggs, so they've now transplanted eggs to Llyn Arenig Fawr nearby as a conservation measure.
There's also feral goats. And Welsh mountain ponies. Ooh, and, red kites - in the UK red kites were so heavily persecuted they eventually fell to just 7 breeding pairs in Wales. We established a protected zone and hired Nepalese Gurkhas to guard the nests and thus saved it from extirpation so successfully they later translocated Welsh birds to other spots in the UK. It's a big conservation success story, and now red kites are considered to be the national bird of Wales. They have a very distinctive silhouette, too, look for the forked tail.
Oh, and, we have a unique habitat type called ffridd, which you see a lot of in Eryri.
Final wildlife pictures to close:
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Anyway - have a great time! Enjoy muchly.
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randoimago · 2 days
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Hello again! Could I ask for bg3 Karlach, Gale, Dammon (if he's one of the npcs you write for), and Shadowheart's reactions to their s/o flopping onto them in a silent demand for snuggles?
Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
Character(s): Dammon, Gale, Karlach, Shadowheart
Note(s): I'm assuming this is after Karlach's engine is "fixed" since she would so confused and horrified if her S/O laid on her for cuddles and then burst into flame.
I also don't know if I've written for Dammon before, but I'm very happy to include him in my headcanons 🥰
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Dammon
Very time and place for cuddling with Dammon. He likes to cuddle with you, it's a nice way to relax and wind down from work.
Dammon would chuckle and kiss your forehead before wrapping an arm around you to hold you close. If he is busy with something else then he'll give you permission to hug him from behind so long as you behave.
But please don't fall on him when he's working the forge, he does not want you to get burnt from any of the very hot materials he works with. Even if you have some kind of fire resistance, he still would be devastated if you ended up hurt.
Gale
"Well hello to you too." Is one phrase he'd say with a grin on his face when you flop on him. If he's reading a book and you decide to lay against him then he's quick to start telling you all about what he's reading while you cuddle with him.
Seriously is one to spill all about what new interest he has or some cool discovery he's made while cuddling. Doesn't even mind if you fall asleep or don't know what he's talking about, he's very happy to talk.
While he likes to talk about his interests, he does make sure to ask about your day, what you've been up to, things like that as he lightly rubs your back or makes some minor illusion / dancing light show for you.
Karlach
Nothing needs to be said. You flop on her, she's pulling you into a tight (but not too tight) hug. Depending on where you're at, she throws you over her shoulder and just carries you around with her.
Karlach would never say no to cuddles. Even if she's upset. She's had enough space from others that you flopping on her is permission for her to wrap her arms around you. Might pepper your face in kisses, depends how she's feeling.
On the occasions when she has to leave camp to travel and do boring stuff while you stay behind then she'll hand you Clive, telling him that he better give you the cuddles you deserve until she comes back.
Shadowheart
Also time and place when it comes to flopping on Shadowheart. Just because she might be focused and trying to do something, or figure out what's going on with her goddess. Having you flop on her when she's concentrating makes her pout and give you the silent treatment.
She does enjoy giving you hugs and affection when she isn't preoccupied. Will pull you into her tent and just lay down and cuddle with you as long as you're both able to.
There's quite a bit of teasing and being playful when you're cuddling with Shadowheart too. You flopped on her for attention so she's giving it to you, her giggles carrying through the air as she pokes your cheeks or sides to get you to pout at her.
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Taglist:
@reo-the-leo @unhelpfulnpc
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squerlly · 2 days
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flames of desire chapter 10: A weakness?
Alastor X (f1! bunny reader) -NSFW!-
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Vox POV:
walking up I open the door, pink smoke filling the room "What's the problem, you better have a good reason for calling me up here!" through the smoke I see two glowing eyes looking at me "Alastor recently threw a party with the devils Princesa" annoyed electricity surrounds me "no need to remind me" "well he has something or somebody I want" "who? somebody that, owes you money..." "Alastor has a new toy, one he almost killed me over and I figured you could use this información~" A new toy? "you said, a person? who is this person..." "It seems the radio demon has a girl, a little bunny that stays at the shit hole" Stepping out of the smoke Valentino walks up to his monitors, pulling up a picture of Alastor and a little bunny girl together "what's her name" "she said her name is y/n, I met her on my search for Angel, she appeared at my club and I wanted to have some fun with her until well..." Alastor now has a weakness, this is something I need to take advantage of "call my assistant over and tell him to ready my drones, I have bunny to hunt down..."
your POV:
"A girl's day?" vaggie said bluntly "Come on it'll be fun" "Angel we have to include everyone in trust exercises, what about Husk or Alastor" "nahh they'll be fine right husky~" he says winking at husk "yeah whatever" "I think it will good for all of the girls and angel to bond" "see Charlie gets it" "ok but no more strip clubs angel" "calm down vagina its just some dressin up, nails, and skincare, ya know fun stuff" vaggie glares at him "come on y/n lets get you dressed up for smiles" "Angel!" Angel smirks as he drags us all upstairs.
we all decided to head up to Charlie and Vaggies room, Charlie said she had a box of nail polish, setting a blanket down on the floor we painted nails and talked gossip. "how about we paint ya nails red to match dark and creepy" vaggie looks at angel confused "are you and Alastor like together?" "hell yeah they are, did ya see the kiss they shared at the party~" Charlie squeals "You and Alastor are together!!??" I throw Angel a scowl "damn you!" "How did he confess to you, did he take you out, did-" "ok hun slow down" I just huffed out a laugh "The confession was... odd to say the least, and he does take me out sometimes" "aww that's sweet!" "Did ya guys fuck yet" "No Angel!, besides I don't even think he's into that kind of stuff" Switching hands Charlie moves on to the next one "Well I think it's nice Alastor has a special someone, he always looks so lonely" "lonely?" "smiles likes to keep to himself, that's why he has always been a big creepy mystery, and those who even look at him funny usually get splattered across the floor"
Charlie finishes painting my nails "They look surprisingly nice thanks Charlie" Charlie gave a bright smile "Good now it's my turn" Angel grabs my hand and drags me to his room "Angel what are you doing" "I'm doin' smiles a favor" he throws me a dress "put it on trust me~" skeptical but curious I head to his bathroom to slip it on "angel what in hell is this!!" walking out angel gave me a short dress, really short and had a deep neckline "just something nice~" "it's...very you" "it's hot, now let's go" "were are you taking me now!"
running upstairs he pushes me into what looks like an office? wait this is- "Angel!!!" "have fun smiles!" the door was already closed. "y/n?" turning around Alastor was already behind me "Alastor..."
Alastors POV:
curious at what was happening I caught a side glance at her dress, it was short, a little too short, I couldn't help but admire how the dress fit her form perfectly, it was tempting... "is there a reason you are wearing something so...scandalous my dear" "No I just- it was angels idea..." "are you sure that was angels idea" I lean in closer, my grin getting wider.
your POV:
my knees felt weak, "what's the matter, my dear" "S-stop it.." "Oh but I'm not doing anything unless you would like me to~" At this point, I was trapped between him and the door "Hmm I have always wondered if you taste as good as you looked" Pulling me closer he leaned his head down to my neck, feeling his warm breath I lift my head "you wouldn't mind if I had a little taste, would you?" "n-no..." his teeth rake against my skin penetrating the soft flesh, enough to draw blood but it wasn't painful, I grip his shoulder as he licks the warm crimson liquid "Just as I suspected, Sweet like candy~"
he lifts me up carrying me, setting me on his desk he stands between my legs, that same sadistic grin lingering on his face "I do like this dress...to bad it's going to be torn to pieces" lifting his hands he takes a claw to the dress, tearing a long line down the front with ease earning a gasp as I sit exposed
"such pretty noises, let's see how many I can get out of you" grabbing my legs he pulls me forward, laying me out on the cold polished wood of his desk, pulling my panties down he tosses them to the side "my my what a mess, how about I help you clean up" with a smirk on his face he positions his head in between my thighs taking a long lick between my folds, I grip the edge of the desk my knuckles turning white and back arching "Alastor please..." I whine desperation in my voice "Well how can I refuse such a plea~"
with no hesitation, he skillfully works my clit with his tongue using his fingers to stretch my sensitive walls driving me closer and closer over the edge, I throw my head back trying to suppress moans and whimpers, feeling a knot form at my core I buck my hips as Alastor picks up his pace "p-please I'm..." and with a few more strokes of his tongue and thrusts of his fingers my release washes over me, my legs trembling.
lifting his head Alastor takes his fingers, licking them clean "were not done yet, my dear" Unzipping his pants he uncovers his hard length, sliding into me with no resistance he started at a slow sensual pace, gripping my hips he harshens his thrusts hitting a spot I didn't know I had causing me to let out a cry of ecstasy, I shoot forward holding on to him like my life depended on it muffled moans leaving my mouth "let this be a lesson not to wear such attire in my presence my dear understood?" his voice was raspy, the static that I grew so accustomed to now gone "y-yes.." "speak up my dear" "yes!!", and with one last harsh thrust I saw stars, his own release filling me completely "lovely~"
taking a moment to catch our breaths he picked me up once again fazing through the floor we reappeared in his room, he sets me on the cold counter of his bathroom sink as he runs hot water for a bath "Apologies for being so harsh my dear" setting me in the hot water my body relaxes as I glance at him "do you not feel tired?" "It's going to take more than such activities to tire me" Just how fucking good was his stamina! "well why don't you join me" "I would cher but..." he let out a sigh "alright I will"
Alastors POV:
taking off my last bit of clothing I slip into the hot water behind her, I look up to see her staring at me wide eyed, she takes her hand to my chest brushing her fingers over one of my many scars. "who did this...what did this" she gives me a sympathetic look, taking her hand I place a soft kiss "a story for another time, do not worry about me" she frowns and I take my hand to her cheek "smile my dear, you're never fully dressed without one~" she smiles, that smile I loved so much the smile that I feel defeated my own, she takes my hand lacing our fingers together, with closer look I notice her nails were painted "I see you like my color?" her face flushes and I smirk "Charlie painted them, Angel said they matched you" "there perfect!" dragging her closer I hold her against me taking in her sweet scent and feeling her smooth skin "I love you Alastor~" hearing those words, my chest felt warm, love an emotion I thought I would never succumb to, but it felt...good "I love you to y/n"
OMGGG this chapter took 3 DAYS to write but it's here and with more spice~ I hope you all love this chapter and have a lovely day/night!!!
-squerlly
@pooplyface1423 @strippezzz
for more content and chapters click this masterlist
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doberbutts · 1 day
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The other thing I liked about Being Human (US) is that the core cast are all incredibly flawed and damaged people who still love each other at their core and genuinely want things to work even though they make spectacularly stupid choices at times along the way.
Aiden is incredibly easy to trigger due to his laundry list of past and present issues and when he's triggered he doesn't shut down or go quiet. He gets ANGRY. He gets *violent*. There was a joke between my friend and I when we watched over the summer and holidays that he was a big fan of using neck snaps to solve his problems but was startlingly bad at dealing with the fallout except by continuing to kill people to cover up his problems. When he fights with Josh he gets personal, he's so combative and confrontational, and he wears that prickly exterior whenever someone sees through the stone mask and pokes at a fleshy bit a little too hard.
But we also see Aiden break down and cry. We see him sobbing uncontrollably as he loses control again and again and again. Every time he manages to scrape together a bit of happiness before either he or someone else fucks it all up and it blows up in his face. He wants to stop. He doesn't want to hurt people anymore. And he can't figure out how to do it because it's like hurting people and driving them away or killing them is the only thing he really knows how to do.
So many times while watching I would yell "talk to your fucking friends asshole" and he would continue to either shut them out or get close but lose his nerve halfway through and remain silent. He wanted that connection very badly and simply couldn't make it happen. The few times he did open up to Josh or Sally he was well received, which I think was really a bright point in the writing because it showed the audience that the problem was that Aiden couldn't figure out how to be vulnerable due to [redacted plot things] rather than because his friends were jerks.
And overall I think that balanced well with Sally, who's various exploits *also* usually blew up in her face, and Josh, who oscillates wildly between "sad and more than a little afraid of himself" and "picks weird hills to die on because it's literally the only way he manages to feel any amount of control in his life". Josh and Sally both frequently vent about things to Aiden, but he almost never reciprocated until pretty close to the end of the series. He hides things from them, he dodges questions, he finds convenient excuses to not talk about stuff, even when they prod and pry to get something out of him.
He only explains after things hit the fan and everything goes to shit. Usually, because his friends have been there to catch him when he falls, and he has to tell them *something* about why there's so much blood on his hands (sometimes literally) yet again. And they get mad at him, but ultimately they forgive him, because fuck, a werewolf and a ghost aren't really in any place to judge now are they. Even then, it's not usually the whole truth.
(And it's interesting, in the what-if scenario where they weren't there to catch him as he fell, just how bad things got)
But then he's afraid he's going to lose Josh, and he's afraid he's going to lose Sally, and he's afraid he's going to die, and he goes to Josh, and he says "I'm scared, and I don't know what to do".
And Josh stops, and realizes that Aiden has never asked him for help, not really, and has never actually been vulnerable with him, and has always worn the brave and stoic face even as things are melting down at catastrophic levels. And he says, I'm here.
Aiden is such a bad victim and he makes some real stinkers of bad choices along the way but they make sense for his character once you learn about all the shit that's happened since he became a vampire and how fucked up things got for him before he realized he needed out. And he backslides and he backslides and he backslides but he keeps trying because what's the point if he doesn't at least try.
Anyway the hill I will die on is that this show would have done numbers on tumblr if it came out slightly later. Ah well.
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Thoughts on ESDM
So one of the like... three or four main reasons I moved out to Colorado was to learn and try out ESDM - or Early Start Denver Model. For those that don't know, its a relatively new but highly regarded (albeit some traditional ABA fans dislike it apparently, go figure) due to its active incorperation of developmental and attachment based studies + having some of the most robust research
The thing that has me humoring it at all is that they really dont do any discrete trial training (DTT) or any dedicated "work time" and everything is based in pro-stim play therapy
I heard of it first from my time in university cause the university I went to actually had one of the largest labs participating in research for the treatmenr and I heard it actually from one of their autistic researchers which they do actively look to hire on the labs page
I ALSO ran it by a vibe check from what my therapist (autism specialist, hates ABA) to see what hes heard and thought of it and he hasn't had extensive access to it, but all hes heard and seen is positive stuff and had no outstanding concerns
And so as a hardcore traditional ABA hater who would rather die than do traditional ABA again in ANY form under even the "best clinic" - I was genuinely just curious to see what the hype is
I'm honestly a skeptic despite what I've heard, but I'm on day three of training and (honestly have been doing petty tests to see how dedicated they are to supporting neurodiversity by not only NOT masking actively just stating any reserves I have and dissing traditional ABA whenever I get the chance) so far... I hesitantly want to say I think its living up to the hype???
Tomorrow is when we talk about how we handle "challenging behavior" so I'm KIND of waiting for the second shoe to drop cause if it does at any point in training, it would be there.
But genuinely, compared to what I saw in ABA clinics and even the non-ABA special education (for kids with extra support academically, developmentally or emotionally) classrooms, the kids genuinely seem to be having a much better of a time and actually wanting to be here.
It'll probably be a few months of actually working here before I have a firm stancd about what I think about it but I figured Id document some thoughts and observations I had on the treatment as I didn't see much of anyone talking about it in any "hey I actually hate ABA but do acknowledge that some neurodivergent kids need early support that create a high demand for care that is hard to meet with the current structure of mental health care and availibility of therapists and so I would really like to genuinely see something not traumatizing that can help" cause I personally am hesitant to trust "research" on anything based on ABA cause "research" exists for ABA as well
Anyways Ill be making this a thread of journal-ish things.
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lawrencesbunnxiii · 15 hours
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𝙇𝘼𝙒𝙍𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀 𝙊𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍—"𝙈𝙔 𝙋𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙄𝙊𝙐𝙎"
A/n: Got an idea for co-worker Lawrence oleander lol<3
"𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚❟ 𝙞 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚❟ 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪"
tw: Murder, Kidnapping, Stalking, slightly too detailed descriptions with blood and injury!!!
₊˚⊹ ♡ ʚ🔪ɞ ♡ ⊹˚
Saturday, November 2nd, 9:00 Pm...
Saturday night, the start of a weekend, and a time to relax, right? No worries for the rest of the day, possible partying, and just a day to be by yourself or whoever, doing whatever.
the rain outside dripped down on the windows with soft patters, the soft hum of a tv show on the tv in the back, the silence linguring in the air, it wasn't something that bothered you. Atleast, not now. You sat on the couch comfortable, the week was tiring and a relaxing day was deserved after that madness.
this week was restless, constant bossy commands from your boss, running around the shop helping out and puting items back on shelf's, all that madness. Customers weren't better, this week even a random lady got angry at you and your coworker "for not doing your job right". What a pain in the ass.
the really only tolerable person there was your coworker, Lawrence Oleander. it didn't seem like he talked to you much, but he seemed to talk to you more than anyone else you seen him talk to. You've learned somethings about him, about his hobby with plants, and gardening, his black tattoo on both arms, his slightly nervous and introverted personalitly and how easily it can change to annoyed and pissed off.
Despite everything, he still made work easier and tolerable for you, since he was actually the only person who actually to seem to be doing his job. You wish you got to know him better outside of work but, you weren't sure if he even wanted to talk to you, and if he was talking to you because he had no one to talk to? you never figured that out.
Ofcourse, since the week tired you out, you eventually drifted off to sleep, the soft rain and rumble of thunder put you to sleep almost in a instant, but you were glad it did, you weren't sure if you'll dose off to sleep anytime with the many thoughts filling your mind, about everything.
₊˚⊹ ♡ ʚ🔪ɞ ♡ ⊹˚
Monday, November 4th, 10:02 PM.
You sighed as you took off your dirt and water scattered dark green apron. the convience store you and Lawrence both worked at had a gardening center, and since the two of you shared the shift where you'd be the closing shift aswell, it was automatically that boss wanted you two to water plants.
It's already 10:02, meaning it'd be closing time soon, Lawrence was helping a woman find a last minute item to purchase, a smile crawled up your lips at the sight, as you went to put some stuff in stock quickly. Lawrence went ahead and helped the lady, before going to you to help with materials to put in stock.
"Need some help?" he asked softly, his voice was oddly soothing and soft, that's what lots of people liked about him. You smiled a tad bit more brighter and warmer at his offer, a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks as you did, "yeah, it might go faster for us both to put all this in stock before closing up." he nodded, and went ahead to grab materials to put in stock.
Eventually, it was closing shift, Lawrence had already punched out, he walked towards you dressed in his normal clothes without his apron. "could you lock up?" he asked, "sorry, I just....have somewhere to be," he apologized, looking away gazing at the ground. You nodded, "sure, thats fine." you responded, "thanks," he smiled softly before exiting to the parking lot.
Punching out and locking up wasn't anything new of course since there have been times you've done it yourself, by yourself. But what was new was that odd vibe someone was watching you, you never felt like that at the workplace at all. But you brushed it off,
"it's nothing, I'm fine, it's just dark out and I'm alone I'm just paranoid." You thought, trying to soothe your nerves. Shaking it off, from the side of your eye, you swore you saw something but it was your imagination only...right? Maybe you need more sleep this week than you thought was enough last week...
pt2 ??
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artist-issues · 3 days
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Been a while since we've heard, how did your readthrough of the Harry Potter books go?
Hey! Ho! I forgot to update on that didn't I? My bad!
I haven't worked out all my feelings about it! The last book was so...odd. I felt frustrated through the whole thing. Most of the books felt like you were waiting to figure stuff out—the main characters would try to get information and solve problems and fail or cause more problems in the process, but there was usually some secondary goal they consistently had hope in. Like, maybe Harry Potter can't figure out who's trying to kill him, and has constant setbacks in that. BUT, their secondary goal, winning the Tri-Wizard Cup, is usually...hopeful. They're usually doing well with one of their two main goals, and then the climax happens, and they lose something important, but ultimately ene on a hopeful note. You know, Harry wins the Tri-Wizard Cup, but Voldemort's back and Cedric is dead, that sort of thing.
But. In the conclusion of the series, it felt like the main characters were getting nowhere, in their primary goals AND their secondary goals, for so long. Then the ending, the pacing of it all, felt rushed. And I didn't love the plot device of the Elder Wand, or how in the climax of the book, when Harry is fighting Voldemort, they stop to have like a twenty-minute conversation about all the exposition the reader needs to know to understand how Harry is about to beat him—and Harry was basically insufferable for the whole book.
that was my initial impression. It might age better if I go back and re-read. I definitely like some of the Messianic notes of Harry dying for everybody—then picking his life back up again to defeat the bad guy once and for all.
and they killed Lupin. Which. He's my favorite I thought he had the most interesting "character arc" of any of the adult characters. It seemed like his biggest fear was inadequacy as a father, heightened by the fact that he's a werewolf, so he thought he'd make his son's life harder and more shameful by even being alive...so as part of that interesting character flaw, Lupin tries to kamikaze by going on the run with Harry. Then he goes back and resolves to live with his wife (who he wrestles with the safety of loving) and child (same wrestling match) because being present as a father and husband is the right thing to do, regardless of how difficult it is for you.
And then he dies anyway.
So it's like. What the heck was the point of that? Makes the lesson he, as a character, was teaching, hollow. Like "Living as a good father is harder than dying a martyr—but I'm dead, so I don't have to worry about that, I guess the thought was what counted."
And people will say to me "nooo he was willing to take risks and sacrifice! He sacrificed his life! To make a better world for his son!"
Yeah okay but we already had self-sacrificial love impacting an orphan's life through the death of parents in the main character. Lily and James Potter did that. Already got that lesson. Now tell a story about how just going on and living your life for someone, say to day, especially when it's hard and they might not thank you for it, is also self-sacrificial. I thought that was the mini-story Lupin's character was telling, on the side of the main plot. But then no, Rowling just repeats herself. She just starts an interesting thing and then finishes it in the least-interesting way.
I feel like one of the basics of storytelling is "create a character that needs to learn something. Then put them through the hardest circumstances so that they're forced to change into what they need to learn." Dying in battle was not Lupin's hardest circumstance. You know what would've been? Killing Tonks, his wife, so that he's forced to raise their son alone and still stay—or keeping them both alive, but Lupin's curse is worse than ever after the battle. Or just simply keeping them both alive, and putting a little nod in the epilogue to how Harry's kids defend Lupin's son from bullies, and it's hinted at that society still doesn't accept werewolves and their lives aren't perfect, but they're all sticking around for each other.
I mean you don't even get to have Tonks react to Lupin's death. And the only Weasley that was killed was one of the twins—don't get me wrong, that's still horrible. But if you're trying to make a point about the losses of war, kill a character who is one-of-a-kind to the audience...not one-of-two.
Also, the thing with Snape and Lily didn't hit. Haven't analyzed why, yet. There's something to be learned about showing and telling there. I mean, what the author showed me for seven books was a mean and nasty man who loved nothing. I experienced it with Harry. I tasted the sting of the insults and the cruel remarks and the unfairness. For seven books. You know what's less powerful? A handful of pages quickly info-dumping the idea that no, he was in love and acting out of unrequited love all along. Like anti-heroic Snape is a compelling idea to be told about, but it's not nearly as strong as the experience of being shown villainous Snape, moment by moment, book by book.
Same thing with Dumbledore's emotional reveal of his own history. Like. Okay. But you only just now told me I should care about Dumbledore's family, in the last half of the last book. I don't feel as badly about him and his family as I would've if you'd slowly shown me who they were, even in memory, for the last seven books—like she did super well with Lily and James and Sirius.
anyway. Those are my half-baked thoughts. I was also...running a super high fever and reading the last few chapters at 1 in the morning, at the time. So they're super underdone thoughts. Thanks for asking!
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charaznablespeteevee · 12 hours
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Would you share your thoughts on the Gundam you've seen? I added the first one to my list based on your posting about it (mostly the transition Char posting, he sounds like a fascinating character) and am not on Twitter to see your liveposting
Good question!! It seems like you want to know if I'd rec them so I'll answer based on that.
The original Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) absolutely I would rec to literally any anime fan. Both because it is a genuinely good anime, but equally because it's like. You know how people say you have to read the Bible to get all the references to the Bible in literature? It's like that. Gundam is one of the Bibles for anime. It's in everything. And you won't realize this until you watch it.
It's also a very good science fiction show just in general. The major characters are all great, the drama is compelling, and while some of the animation has not aged well, the newtype stuff has some super neat effects that are gorgeous to see on a big screen to this day.
It's also super accessible, the full show is available on Crunchyroll or if you don't want to commit watching a 43 episode show the three compilation movies are on Netflix and are a very solid alternative.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) - they got a big budget upgrade so everything is Bigger and More. More robots, more character drama, more romance, better music, and some bizarre segues into how men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Absolutely worth a watch if you liked the original Gundam because it continues to follow a lot of the original characters.
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986) - technically "skippable" if you consider 0079, Zeta, and Char's Counterattack a trilogy, which it kind of is. ZZ focuses on an almost entirely new cast of characters and the first half of the show is VERY heavy on the comedy before jumping directly into some of the best anime I've ever seen for the second half. The mood whiplash is kind of divisive among fans. Personally I like it and the characters are great. Worth a watch if you like what you've seen so far.
Char's Counterattack (1988) - caps off the gayass Amuro/Char rivalry and is just an amazing movie in general. Gorgeous visuals, and the final 15 minutes or so are a series of emotional gut-punches the likes of which I've rarely experienced in media. Must watch IMO.
War in the Pocket (1989) - six episode OVA featuring entirely new characters. This is a truly fantastic little series that lets you into the lives of a small handful of likeable characters and how their lives are affected by war. It's Gundam so guess how that goes. I liked it a LOT and recommend it. BONUS: This is a GREAT "starter" Gundam. It's short, it's very good, and you don't need to know anything about Gundam going in. There's a few references to prior lore, but they aren't anything major and a newcomer could easily figure it all out from context.
Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) - this is a movie that was originally going to be made into a TV show and it shows, they stuffed far too much into too little time and it suffers for it. So unfortunately this is the first thing on this list I probably wouldn't rec. That said the characters are pretty fun and the ending is very good, so you can do a lot worse if you're bored or a completionist.
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993) - this is what I'm watching right now! I'm a little over halfway done with it. This is all new characters and there are some interesting new concepts. For example the first twenty or so episodes were set on Earth so you got some really gorgeous scenery during mobile suit battles that made those scenes really visually distinctive compared to say, a battle in space. That said it's yet to really "pull me in" the way most other Gundam series did. For now I'm still waiting to see if it will do that or not.
Witch From Mercury - I'm assuming everyone knows what this is. It's gay as fuck, what can I say, and it's the entire reason I fell down into this Hell to begin with. 10/10
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mattodore · 4 months
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found out while putting together matthias's oc page that his name has the exact same etymology and meaning as theo's name...
i’m sure this is information matthias is very normal about…
#theo is in fact a gift from god so jot that down !#river dipping#i've been throwing myself into oc stuff bc i'm not doing hot mentally which is... tbh when i do my best writing 😭#none of this is new tho i wrote the bios and 'at a glance' intros months and months ago when i first made an oc page#which is why i do plan on rewriting them but for now i'm leaving them like this... so i guess the echthroi page is done?#obviously echthroi has more characters than this but i haven't taken new screenshots of everyone yet...#i put the gray cas bg back in my game a few days ago only to completely forget i wanted to take new headshots for the oc page 😭#like these are just placeholders... i want the backgrounds to match the oc page. oh... or maybe i could just do transparent pics?#i think i remember vyx made a post abt how to do that... will look into that when i open the game again. rn i'm at my keyboard 🧑‍💻#like i am writing new things! started a google doc for theo yesterday and have been writing on it here and there since then#i've already cried in there... lmaooo. i like oc pages for sure but i think a huge google doc is what i really need to keep track of things#i drop so much lore in tags on here and it's like! river write that down somewhere else or you'll lose it 😭#like i fr have never actually written down any of the info i've shared on here. i've just had all this oc knowledge stored in my brain.#so i went through and copied over a tonnn of tags and posts i've made into google docs but i just know i'm missing things i've probably#said in the tags of their core tagged posts... 🧍 if my blog didn't have so many posts i'd have an easier time going through it but 🤷#and on top of that i've been making a bunch of posts about theo and matthias on my main acc. which is like 🧍 well great now there's more#i'm gonna lose track of...... i fr have gottt to get into the habit of actually putting things down in theo's google doc!!!#i'm just trying to figure out the best way to format it all but i've downloaded a few templates that i've been messing with.#...anyway. if it isn't obvious i'm trying to get back to posting on here. i'm opening my inbox now with the intent to just.#sit here in my inbox until i can get myself to reply. lads... avpd is actually so torturous i'm not kidding.#i feel like i'm dying trying to get myself to interact with people sometimes even despite how badly i want!!!! to interact!!!#theo and me and our avoidant trauma responses holding hands and skipping around together
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the-busy-ghost · 1 year
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Alright uninformed rant time. It kind of bugs me that, when studying the Middle Ages, specifically in western Europe, it doesn’t seem to be a pre-requisite that you have to take some kind of “Basics of Mediaeval Catholic Doctrine in Everyday Practise” class. 
Obviously you can’t cover everything- we don’t necessarily need to understand the ins and outs of obscure theological arguments (just as your average mediaeval churchgoer probably didn’t need to), or the inner workings of the Great Schism(s), nor how apparently simple theological disputes could be influenced by political and social factors, and of course the Official Line From The Vatican has changed over the centuries (which is why I’ve seen even modern Catholics getting mixed up about something that happened eight centuries ago). And naturally there are going to be misconceptions no matter how much you try to clarify things for people, and regional/class/temporal variations on how people’s actual everyday beliefs were influenced by the church’s rules. 
But it would help if historians studying the Middle Ages, especially western Christendom, were all given a broadly similar training in a) what the official doctrine was at various points on certain important issues and b) how this might translate to what the average layman believed. Because it feels like you’re supposed to pick that up as you go along and even where there are books on the subject they’re not always entirely reliable either (for example, people citing books about how things worked specifically in England to apply to the whole of Europe) and you can’t ask a book a question if you’re confused about any particular point. 
I mean I don’t expect to be spoonfed but somehow I don’t think that I’m supposed to accumulate a half-assed religious education from, say, a 15th century nobleman who was probably more interested in translating chivalric romances and rebelling against the Crown than religion; an angry 16th century Protestant; a 12th century nun from some forgotten valley in the Alps; some footnotes spread out over half a dozen modern political histories of Scotland; and an episode of ‘In Our Time’ from 2009. 
But equally if you’re not a specialist in church history or theology, I’m not sure that it’s necessary to probe the murky depths of every minor theological point ever, and once you’ve started where does it end? 
Anyway this entirely uninformed rant brought to you by my encounter with a sixteenth century bishop who was supposedly writing a completely orthodox book to re-evangelise his flock and tempt them away from Protestantism, but who described the baptismal rite in a way that sounds decidedly sketchy, if not heretical. And rather than being able to engage with the text properly and get what I needed from it, I was instead left sitting there like:
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And frankly I didn’t have the time to go down the rabbit hole that would inevitably open up if I tried to find out
#This is a problem which is magnified in Britain I think as we also have to deal with the Hangover from Protestantism#As seen even in some folk who were raised Catholic but still imbibed certain ideas about the Middle Ages from culturally Protestant schools#And it isn't helped when we're hit with all these popular history tv documentaries#If I have to see one more person whose speciality is writing sensational paperbacks about Henry VIII's court#Being asked to explain for the British public What The Pope Thought I shall scream#Which is not even getting into some of England's super special common law get out clauses#Though having recently listened to some stuff in French I'm beginning to think misconceptions are not limited to Great Britain#Anyway I did take some realy interesting classes at uni on things like marriage and religious orders and so on#But it was definitely patchy and I definitely do not have a good handle on how it all basically hung together#As evidenced by the fact that I've probably made a tonne of mistakes in this post#Books aren't entirely helpful though because you can't ask them questions and sometimes the author is just plain wrong#I mean I will take book recommendations but they are not entirely helpful; and we also haven't all read the same stuff#So one person's idea of what the basics of being baptised involved are going to radically differ from another's based on what they read#Which if you are primarily a political historian interested in the Hundred Years' War doesn't seem important eonugh to quibble over#But it would help if everyone was given some kind of similar introductory training and then they could probe further if needed/wanted#So that one historian's elementary mistake about baptism doesn't affect generations of specialists in the Hundred Years' War#Because they have enough basic knowledge to know that they can just discount that tiny irrelevant bit#This is why seminars are important folks you get to ASK QUESTIONS AND FIGURE OUT BITS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND#And as I say there is a bit of a habit in this country of producing books about say religion in mediaeval England#And then you're expected to work out for yourself which bits you can extrapolate and assume were true outwith England#Or France or Scotland or wherever it may be though the English and the French are particularly bad for assuming#that whatever was true for them was obviously true for everyone else so why should they specify that they're only talking about France#Alright rant over#Beginning to come to the conclusion that nobody knows how Christianity works but would like certain historians to stop pretending they do#Edit: I sort of made up the examples of the historical people who gave me my religious education above#But I'm now enamoured with the idea of who actually did give me my weird ideas about mediaeval Catholicism#Who were my historical godparents so to speak#Do I have an idea of mediaeval religion that was jointly shaped by some professor from the 1970s and a 6th century saint?#Does Cardinal Campeggio know he's responsible for some much later human being's catechism?#Fake examples again but I'm going to be thinking about that today
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hikeyzz · 23 days
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age gap kink go brrrr
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icewindandboringhorror · 11 months
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Bad news, got back from the vet and my beautiful baby son is going to have to be put down soon, probably tomorrow or the next day, so send him best of wishes for his next few days~ Luckily, he's actually not in a lot of pain (for now, hopefully he won't be) and is acting pretty normal, so I'm hoping he won't suffer at all and everything will be peaceful for him.
#pet death tw#death mention#let me know if I need any other tags#I would post something to help pay for his euthanasia expenses or etc. but I don't know of any secure methods#since I don't know much about stuff like that. I've heard that like on paypal and ebay and stuff people can still get your real name#and some information from their payment receipts or whatever sutff like that. thats part of why I've held off on selling clothes and sculpt#res for so long is trying to find a way to do it that's the most safe. aside from literall yhaving to start an llc and open a business bank#account and run everything on an entirely sepreate thing just so it has no association with my name and etc.#and obviouskly I don't feel like figuring out all of that stuff right now lol#I am busy just trying to make my beautiful meatloaf son comfortable and spend some time with him whilst I can#It's sad. but I'm glad the issues were caught before he was in terrible pain or anything. So suprisingly it was actually a pretty easy#decision. I would rather him go out while he's feeling okay and relatively content then wait until he's in severe#pain or extremely lethargic or etc. So it seems all very sudden but . It's better that way for him.#anyway#of COURSE this has to happen during a heat wave also.. hhrgghhh...#more fuel for my vendetta against summer lol.. Not that it's the season's fault but. something bad happening in the winter#vs. seomthing bad happening in the summer which just adds an extra layer of 'oh yeah on top of everything else#you're going to be sweating and nauseous and chronically uncomfortable!' is like.. >:T#Also for him. part of the issue is lung cancer which has spread and caused a bunch of fluid to build up in his stomach (which is what I#noticed. even though he's acting perfectly fine and normal his stomach was weird and bloated suddenly)#but if part of the problem is his lungs (which look absolutely crazy on xray) then him breathing in hot shitty thick air is definitely#not as comfortable as if he were able to be nice and cool and snuggled in some blankets. etc. etc.#ANYWAY ghhb... send him much luck and positivity!! Really hoping he can make it through the next day or so without#taking a turn for the worst. So hopeing for a peaceful quiet exit and not like tramatic sudden things. etc. etc.#cross your fingers pray to your gods whisper to the night sky so on and so forth. whatever you do that's meaningful to you.
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supercantaloupe · 5 months
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apparently i'm already halfway done my musicology degree??
#i wanna talk about me#between the course i did in undergrad and the frankly ridiculous number of courses i'm taking this semester#apparently i'm over halfway done already#i know the musicology portion is a smaller load than the library science portion but like#man it was weird walking into my advisor's office and him looking me in the eye and saying like 'oh you're almost done'#three courses is all i have left for a master's. Man#well i'm gonna spread those out over the next year and a half...and probably pick up an extra elective here or there while i can#cause idk man i like studying music history...even if i don't Have to i like taking the classes and learning#(esp if it's gonna be paid for by my fellowship as long as i'm still here)#well i need to figure out. how the hell to get in touch with a library science advisor now.#i emailed yesterday and haven't heard back#but i don't know what i'm doing for that degree going forward rn#other than. i guess taking 552. but i KNOW there's other specialty and elective courses i'll need to take too#and i want to take stock of what shit i'll have to take in summers too cause i know some of the courses are only offered in summer#(need to find out if any of my fellowship scholarship can go towards summer courses. i'm guessing not...)#weird. it's weird. i don't know what i'm doing here#anyway#meeting with my advisor went okay i at least know what i'm doing now re: the music stuff#didn't cry which is good but man i hate how my voice started to break more and more the longer i was in there#and when i talked about how i put too much on my plate this semester and am struggling to keep up with all the work#and he asked me if i've been reaching out to anyone for support. or if i had people to reach out to#and i just had to sit there like. uh#define. support?#i have a couple friends at least that i chat with about stuff like that sometimes but not always cause i don't want to bother them too much#but like. it's not like i can ask someone else to write a research paper For me#or it's not like i can control when my coworkers get sick and i have to cover their time in the office#and this didn't come up at all (and i'm glad for it) but jeez it's not like i can control global political conflicts!!#it's hard for me to focus on getting enough work done in small chunks of time in the best of times#let alone when my fucking hamster brain is on high alert for getting hate crimed in public if my necklace is too visible or something#idk. it's a lot man. i bit off more than i could chew this semester even before the world fell apart
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monty-glasses-roxy · 4 months
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I apparently won the bonds again and as soon as I check my emails I have one from YouTooz like "HEY LOOK WE HAVE THE CUTEST FUCKING GUYS TO SELL YOU NOW COME ON YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SINCE YOU ONLY EVER BUY THEM WHEN YOU WIN COME OONNN YOU KNOW YOU WANT CUTE LIL GUYS WE PROMISE WE'LL ONLY CHARGE A KIDNEY FOR POSTAGE TO YOUR COUNTRY THIS TIME-"
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greppelheks · 2 months
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These days I'm mostly realizing I'm getting older because I'm suddenly looking after my parents more and more often, now that they're getting more vulnerable with age.
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dan-crimes · 8 months
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I love writers I love when they ramble on abt characters and their motivations, their core values and the reasons why they react to things in certain ways and having character interactions work off of each other due to their differing ways of viewing the world and in general I just love character analysis
#as someone who loves humans and human behaviours and figuring out why people react to things the ways that they do#uhhh I'm actually surprisingly really bad @ writing characters with those same traits 😅#unless it is smth I can connect to on some sort of level like a few of my characters have issues that I specifically relate to#thereforee I can understand the ways they act in certain circumstances#BUT when it comes to characters that are like almost entirely outside of my wavelength it's pretty hard for me to understand how they work#and it's pretty basic habits and behaviours I just fuckin lack them in general#like the concept of clinginess or abandoment issues or wanting to stay around people who treat you badly or jealousy or missing people#also love like I understand my type of love but my type of love isn't typical from what I've seen from others#even some of my own past issues like dealing with trauma have kinda been lost on me especially bcuz I'm the type to ignore stuff#like I just ignored it til it came back to bite me in the ass and had to just kinda struggle with it and go completely numb#until I got tired of feeling that way and pulled myself outta it step by step and my various negative ways of thinking elude me#since I just gradually built myself up and rearranged my brain so that all negative thinking eventually turns into dust#whether be positive or purely neutral until I'm able to handle it better#REGARDLESS I try to get a sense of what these other traits are like and how exactly they work for people but it is VERY difficult for me#bcuz the stuff is just such an alien emotion to me like people get REALLY emotional about things that simply aren't a problem for me#and I wish I could understand why and what goes on in the brain that causes that but my brain just doesn't work that way#SOOO me trying to make characters of typical issues I see people having DOESN'T really work when I have no idea what's going on#like IN GENERAL my characters need to have more emotion behind them but the emotions I need them to have are#like I said before. something I totally lack ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so I have no idea how to do it#I mean I think I need like a check list I need to make a list of traits my characters have in general cuz I never write anything down#it'd be easier to figure it out if I had words to go along with it and then I could figure out the behaviours behind those words#plus I need to draw my characters cuz I'm very much a visual person I can't get as good of a feel without some visuals along with it
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