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dilfbuck · 8 months

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hiiii!! if this isn't weird could you give us a lore / backstory / choices rundown for ember <3 her design is SO cool, I'd love to hear more about her!

teehee id love to !! she's currently eating the functional half of my brain like a black hole rn!!

(tw for domestic abuse in the second paragraph btw)

backstory ;

(this is still in development buuut-) formerly married to a dickwad of a noble sorcerer who essentially kept her as a pet :( she got curious one night and snuck into his study where she was coerced by a strange magic book that branded her left eye (her black smoky tattoo), imbuing it with the power to see enchantments and magical properties but at the cost of. well. everything. the book was destroyed after she received the brand her husband was furious when he found out that she "ruined" the magic he was hoarding for himself and attacked her with the intent to kill. he burned her badly on the left side of her body but she managed to escape and fled the city, leaving everything behind. she found solace in a church of mystra who took her under their wing, and she ended up pledging her life to mystra's service, becoming a cleric. her storm sorcery isnt solely from being a cleric of mystra bc she knew some magic before, but it's greatly bolstered by it, and she has access to more powerful invocations and healing magic bc of that! she spent most of her days traveling wherever the clergy sent her, as well as sometimes aiding paladins or groups of soldiers as a healer. somehow she ended up in baldur's gate and began to call it home.

morality ;

ember started the campaign as neutral good but that's definitely prone to change (if it hasn't already lol). while she tries her best to help those in need and has a soft spot for children, she has no problem with killing and can be equally destructive as she is gentle. she protected the druid grove but had no issue with slaughtering anyone who got in her way at the goblin camp & did the same at grymforge. she brought nere's decapitated head to the myconids. she also cares deeply for astarion (platonically) and wont let anyone lay a finger on him. she's also falling hard for gale rn but doesn't want to admit it and gets VERY flustered whenever there's any flirting between them fhfjfkf. she's deeply concerned for gale's whole netherese orb situation and after speaking with elmister she's begun to have some... doubts about mystra but is trying to rationalize them. she cares deeply about the whole party for sure but astarion, karlach, and gale are her besties atm !! she believes the tadpole powers are gifts to be used and trusts the dream visitor out of a hunger for power/control, as well as the desire for all of it to have "meaning" ie. she hasn't turned into a mind flayer yet so she must be special/chosen and is willing to eat out of the hand of anyone who affirms that belief. it doesn't help that she's beginning to develop some not-platonic feelings for this mysterious visitor either </3 she prefers intimidation to using honeyed words and is very defensive of the entire party. she takes charge on the front lines as a tank with her brutal maul weapon and is like. always covered in blood lmao

#askbox #thank u for asking about my girl !!!#my thoughts are always so disorganized so this took so long to answer fghfjfhfj

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franciya · 7 months

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About Elemental, I avoided it for months, first thing to turn me off was the fact it's a romcom, don't care for those, next.

Then I heard it's supposed to be an allegory about immigrants, just like Zootopia was an allegory for racism etc so I was like....huh..... still didn't see it in theaters though, broke Brazilian over here.

Now that it's on Disney Plus, I figured why not and did the whole "experience", I watched Carl's Date first, it was cute, then Elemental plus the documentary called "Good Chemistry" where the director talks about his South Korean parents for 45 minutes straight and what I have to say is.....

Watch this instead!

Dude talks about how his parents went to the U.S. separately, the Mom very tall, the Dad very short, they met at a Church, didn't hit it off immediately but ended up falling in love and having him, all the Dad had at first to support his new family was a rented hot dog cart, with that managing to save enough money to buy a property and build a grocery store from scratch, then another.

He also talks about how he hid his relationship with a white woman from his parents for 7 years, afraid of their reaction since his grandma died saying he should only marry Korean, no one else would ever be good enough.

And the entire time I was here like "Shit! I wanted to have seen THAT movie lmao!!!"

What we got instead was a passion project from someone who clearly wanted to tell a genuine story but had the hands of too many old, crinkled, white studio execs getting in the way, turning it into a bland, unfocused, ultimately unremarkable final product, it's sad, really.

All I think about is what could have been if creators were allowed to display their vision in it's full potential, at least it paid itself..... eventually.

#Pixar #Peter Sohn #Pixar Elemental #Disney Pixar #Disney Plus #From the few reviews I've seen the one I agree the most it's the one where a dude said the movie lacked subtlety #it was talking down to it's audience too much for Pixar standards telling us instead of just showing us and I 100% agrees #Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental

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thekillingmoonmoon · 2 years

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Hello darlings!

Due to my wee hiatus, I managed to miss my blog’s anniversary, my 350 follower milestone and I’ve barely made it back in time for my birthday. So, I’m throwing one huge celebration to say thank you. Thank you for supporting me, and thank you so so so much for sticking around til I came back

HOW IT WORKS:

The power is in your hands! Throughout the month of August, you will have the opportunity to vote on the next two series and decide on whose story I get to write. The highest voted ideas for each manga will be written next.

AND

I will draw one username at random from the list of voters to receive a personalised fic request.

What do you need to do to win:

Be over 18 (no minors allowed)

Be following me

Vote for one or more categories in the event

VOTE HERE

THE CONTESTANTS

jujutsu kaisen

1. ceremonials

looking for heaven, found the devil in me

Pairing: Geto Suguru x Reader x Gojo Satoru Warnings: NSFW, smut, blood, violence, death, religion, mlm (the geto x gojo is strong) Length: 5+ chapters #CeremonialsAU It's been ten years since Riko died. Ten years, and the Church of Light has fallen into a darkness that even the Holy Sun and Moon fail to illuminate. The Church is waning, and it needs the power of to Star Maiden to survive, the power it so tragically lost a decade before. But much has changed since Riko was chosen as the Star. Shadows run through the veins of the Church, tainting the blood of its proselytes, corrupting even the light of their Messiahs.

And you have been chosen. The new Star. The Holy Maiden chosen to lead the Celestial Church back into the Heavenly light. Despite the fractures in your own glow. Despite the shadows lurking in the wake of your new comrades.

2. cherry wine

Sweet and right and merciful I'm all but washed In the tide of her breathing.

Pairing: Vampire!Choso x Vampire Bride! Fem!Reader Warnings: NSFW, smut, brief descriptions of violence, blood, death, strong themes of religion, death, blood, Length: 5+ chapters #CherryWineAU There is a castle, high on the mountains above the town, where the Lord lives. No-one knows his name, but the townspeople fear him, fear the dark, fear the thought of him in the dark. He is to be your husband, he is to be your death.

3. cigarette daydreams

Funny how it seems like yesterday As I recall, you were lookin' out of place Gathered up your things and slipped away No time at all, I followed you into the hall

Pairing: Bodyguard!Fushiguro Toji x Naoya’s Fiance!Reader Warnings: NSFW, smut, blood, violence, death, “infidelity”, misogyny Length: 5+ chapters #CigaretteDaydreamsAU

Toji has nothing to live for. No wife, his kid sold off, and no job. Until he gets a call from the people he hates the most, the Zen’ins. You’re sweet, a little bit naive, and about to be dragged into the worst family in Jujutsu history. But will Toji escort you to your doom?

4. bad reputation

A girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do An' I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation

Pairing: Biker!Sukuna x Stripper!Reader Warnings: NSFW, smut, descriptions of violence Length: 3 chapters #RoadhouseBluesAU His name burns, scorching your tongue hotter than his kiss. You know better than to follow Sukuna into his Hell, but what if you fall for the flame?

tokyo revengers

1. the city

don't call it a fight when you know it's a war

Pairing: Toman Timeskip! Hanma Shuji x Fem! Reader / minor Kisaki x Reader Warnings: NSFW, smut, drugs, blood, violence, death, guns, sex work, “infidelity”, Reader is as off the rails as Hanma Length: 5+ chapters #TheCityAU Your life ended the day you were sold to Toman. Your life as the eldest daughter of a Yakuza Legend ended, but you lived on, as the forgotten property of Kisaki Tetta. Forgotten, abandoned, until Hanma Shuji stumbled, bloody, beaten, and laughing, into your boring world.

2. wishlist

I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up

Pairing: Bassist! Akashi Takeomi x Fem! Reader / a little Guitarist! Wakasa x fem! Reader Warnings: NSFW, smut, childhood friends to lovers, idiots in love, brief descriptions of violence, brief descriptions of drugs, grunge Length: 5 chapters #WishlistAU The Black Dragons started as a dream, a dream born in the Shinichiro’s grease-stained motorcycle workshop, born between beaten-up machine parts and the strings of Shin’s old guitar. Now, the Black Dragons are legends, returning home after a record-breaking world tour. Five years have changed you, but your childhood crush on Takeomi hasn’t.

3. villains of circumstance

There's no magic bullet, no cure for pain What's done is done, 'til you do it again Life in pursuit of a nameless prey I've been so close, I'm so far away It's so hard to explain, so easy to feel I need you now, nothing is real Save me from the villains of circumstance Before I lose my place

Pairing: 1920s Gangster! Tokyo Revengers x Fem!Reader (character to be decided) Warnings: NSFW, smut, brief descriptions of violence, drugs, sex work and death Length: 5+ chapters #VillainsOfCircumstanceAU There is a life of gold and glamor deep in the grease and grime of the downtown districts. There is no law, only the lawless, and the lowlife gangsters who run the show. Lowlifes, murderers, and thieves, and you’ve never been in better company. Because here, in the darkness and the dirt, you can fulfil your dreams and desires. [same format as RoadhouseBlues AU]

4. gun in my hand

Why did love put a gun in my hand? Oh, was it for redemption? Was it for revenge?

Pairing: Bonten! Hitto Kakucho x Undercover Detective! Fem!Reader x Tachibana Naoto Warnings: NSFW, smut, violence, guns, drugs, death, Sanzu, grief, blood, mental health Length: 5+ chapters #GunInMyHandAU They took your partner, so you’ll take down their entire world. With the help of your friend, and fellow detective, Tachibana Naoto, you infiltrated Japan’s most dangerous organisation, Bonten. With the sole goal of tearing Sano Mikey’s empire apart from the inside, you find yourself rapidly losing touch with yourself and your morality as you get more and more entangled with the organisation’s earnest third-in-command

DISCLAIMER: all work here is original, please do not copy, repost, or use without permission. All images/gifs are either my own, sourced from popular media, or retrieved from royalty-free sources.

#KillingmoonLunarNewYear #toji x reader #choso x reader #gojo x reader #geto x reader #ryomen sukuna x reader #hanma shuji x reader #takeomi akashi x reader #kakucho x reader #naoto x reader #ran x reader

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adamwatchesmovies · 7 months

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The 13th Friday (2017)

To call The 13th Friday "a movie" strains the definition of the word. Only writer/director/producer Justin Price could tell you what happens in this film. It makes no sense and even if it did, most people wouldn’t have the willpower to make past a few minutes’ worth of footage.

“Somewhere in Texas is a house said to be so haunted that a church was built on the property and the family that lived in the house was never found”.

…What?

Those were my thoughts as the pre-title card appeared. That sentence gives you an idea of what we're in for. I can’t make heads or tails of it. Let me give you a favour and properly explain what The 13th Friday is “about”.

A group of friends are partying at a supposedly haunted house. Inside, one of them becomes possessed after opening a demonic puzzle box. They learn they must sacrifice 13 people - one each month - to lift the curse that now falls upon them.

Now we sort of know what to expect but the title feels like a misnomer. Don't worry, this will be rectified an hour in. At that point, we finally get some direction from a character - a drug dealer - who has supposedly encountered this curse before. Until then, you have to sit through performances so agonizing you can only conclude that all the actors were friends of the director or cast for their chest size rather than their talent. And before you get too excited, no there is no nudity in this movie.

It’s been a year since that fateful night (or maybe it’s less, the characters’ dialogue makes this disputable) when Allison (Lisa May) develops soe second-thoughts about this whole “murdering people to save ourselves” business. Unfortunately, she and her friends have lured twelve people to an underground cavern to be devoured by demons. As they have to do this once a month, it means her remorse is coming in after a whole year of killings. They're almost done. Her friends have no desire to stop now. When they try to make her the next victim, she escapes and the demons start going after everyone. Cue the horrendous special effects. We’re talking unconvincing to the point that you'll wonder if they weren’t meant to be funny. In one scene, a character stands in the middle of traffic and is “suddenly” struck. Except you can clearly tell that she sees the vehicle coming and that the car is driving in the lane BEHIND her. Computer effects are used to try and make you believe otherwise.

There’s so much wrong with this movie you could write a novel about it. The supposedly abandonned, haunted home the friends visit at the beginning has a meticulously mown lawn and the inside is not only furnished; it’s spotless. The plot and characters are so poorly established you have no idea what’s happening even before the curse's inconsistent rules. It is impossible to determine who the protagonist is, how many people the demons are after or how to break the curse. People die BEFORE the puzzle box is opened but we’re never told why. Then, the rules are suddenly re-written, as if someone suddenly remembered the title.

Down to the last minute, The 13th Friday finds a way to botch every aspect of filmmaking. The ending makes no sense and then, it just stops. Cut to credits. Even those, it can’t manage to do properly, as some of the names/titles are covered up with a plea from the filmmakers to find them on Facebook. I did, but considering they haven’t posted anything since 2016, I doubt my comment on the page will lead anywhere.

The 13th Friday is among the worst films I’ve ever seen. This isn’t something I say lightly. There isn’t a single aspect of this production done right. It’s appalling. No one but those with the lowest of low standards could even sit through it, much less have a good time. (November 13, 2020)

#The 13th Friday #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Friday the 13th #Tristan Price #Lisa May #Jose Zuniga #Antonio Villarreal #Deanna Grace Congo

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vecnasrevengerp · 11 months

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welcome home COLE MONTGOMERY (cillian murphy fc)

hope you brought your tissues with you! be sure to check in at home or to your hotel and don’t forget to always look over your shoulder. this is hawkins, after all.

[CILLIAN MURPHY, CISMALE, HE/HIM] When’s the last time anyone heard anything about [COLE MONTGOMERY]? Old friends remember them as [INTELLECTUAL and ARTISTIC] but also [SELF-INVOLVED and PRETENTIOUS], no wonder they’re still known as [THE COURTROOM PHILOSOPHER] around town. Today, in 2006, they are [35] and some people say they remind them of [fighting the good fight, reading theory for breakfast, losing himself in booze and sex, motivational speeches by che guevara and malcolm x]. [nikki, 25, she/her, ctz].

Walden Cole Montgomery was born on April 23, 1971 to Margaret Mongtomery and Dale Smith. They weren’t exactly high school sweethearts– Maggie was sixteen and Dale was nineteen when they met. At seventeen, she was pregnant with Cole. When her parents found out, they were quick to kick her out, adamant that they wouldn’t support a child conceived outside of marriage. So, just four months before Walden made his grand appearance, Maggie picked up and moved from Vancouver, Washington to Depoe Beach, Oregon to live near Dale. Dale was sort of around for the first few years of Cole’s life, though mostly he just blew into town to ask Maggie for money after he lost big gambling or needed bailing out of jail for roughing up whatever girl he was seeing on the side. For a long time, Maggie would give him whatever he wanted, hoping he’d stay and be a father to his son. Of course, he never did, and when Cole was four, Dale left for good, moved to Florida with some younger girl.

They didn’t have a lot of money; Maggie had dropped out of high school when she’d gotten pregnant with Cole, and though she considered going back or at least getting her GED, she never managed to get the timing right. Maggie worked as a hairdresser and had dreams of opening her own salon one day, when the money was there, but with a growing boy, that dream continued to be shelved. They did alright, but Cole distinctly remembers waiting in the long lines at the food pantry on Saturday mornings and the stream of guys his mom brought around who helped with rent or bought dinner. Despite it all, he had a relatively happy childhood. Maggie adored him– it felt sometimes like she was trying to make up for his father, the way she doted on him. Even after her long shifts, she’d come home and read Cole whatever story he’d picked up at the library, or help bind together the “book” he’d written that day, or, on really rare occasions, help him sneak into the church on the corner and teach him something on the piano. Cole always thought of his mom as his best friend, and felt like he didn’t really need anyone or anything else.

When he was in fifth grade, Maggie lost her job at the salon. Rather, the salon shut down– business just wasn’t what it used to be, and the owner forfeited the property in favor of cutting hair out of her living room. That left Maggie with nothing but her last paycheck, which was barely enough to cover rent in a good month. Between what they got from the food pantry and what she could scrape together with the remaining dollars of her check, they always had something to eat. Always– she would never let her baby go hungry. But, the power was cut off, then the water a few days later. All it took was one report from a nosy teacher who’d noticed Cole was falling asleep during class, seemed a lot hungrier than usual at lunch, and that he’d started turning in work late. Cole was taken from his mother when a judge who didn’t know them from Adam declared that as long as she was unemployed, her home wasn’t the right place to raise a child.

So, he was sent to live with his dad in Florida. To this day, Cole isn’t sure if he would’ve preferred being put into the system– he’d heard the horror stories from kids in his class, but he was sure his dad was worse than all of them. He was a mean drunk, and he disapproved of Cole from the second the social worker dropped him off at the shitty duplex in Pleasant Glade. He had a problem with Walden’s name (it was queer), had a problem with his long hair (that’s for girls), had a problem with his stature (he was too damn skinny), and he certainly had a problem with Cole’s smart mouth. He tiptoed around the house for a few weeks, doing his best to stay out of the way. But things came to a head one night, and Cole wasn’t fast enough to dash out of his dad’s reach. He’d always been on the small side, so he knew he was no match for his dad physically– he did the only thing he knew to do and stole fifty bucks for a bus ticket. Obviously, nobody was going to sell a bus ticket to an eleven-year-old, but his mom had already been called. The next day, Cole was picked up by the aunt he’d never met– Maude– and taken back to Oregon to reunite with his mother. Maude had been kicked out of the house, too, when Maggie was just thirteen adn they’d lost touch. The Montgomerys were just as accepting of their oldest daughter’s attraction to women as they were Maggie’s bastard son.

But, in a way, their reunion created Cole’s most favorite memories in the world. In the same way that Maggie doted on him, Maude adored him– he was her mini-me, following her to work and helping her at the supermarket and sitting in on her board meetings. Having both Maggie and Maude around not only helped keep things stable financially, with Maude able float them until Maggie got a new job– Cole noticed a change in his mother, too. He was too young to know it then, but Maggie came alive. She had a family again, she felt like she belonged, like not everything was up to her. And things went back to normal– mostly.

Maggie and Cole’s relationship changed as he got older; it got more complicated. First, there was the gay thing. He was thirteen when it hit him, that as much as he’d heard about love and romance and classmates having their first kiss, his path would look different from theirs. He didn’t want any of that with girls. Honestly? The thought grossed him out. The only thing that made him sicker was the idea that his mother would be heartbroken that her son was different, that she’d never get grandkids. So, he pushed it away, buried any “wrong” desires he had in his books. And… he never stopped to consider why Maude hadn’t had any kids, or why she only seemed to hang out with women. (He didn’t put those pieces together until he was well into college.)

By eighth grade, it was clear to Cole’s teachers that he was smart; more than a voracious reader, he was quick-witted, persuasive, and incredibly gifted at piano. Playing was Cole’s refuge, and though he’d never been classically trained, he spent hours after school on the piano bench, playing anything from Bach to the Beach Boys. In high school, he began playing gigs for money– bar mitzvahs, alumni dinners, birthday parties. Together, Maggie and Maude sprung for piano lessons from the nearby music school, which ultimately led Cole to audition for several colleges. Maggie was thrilled, and quick to brag to whoever would listen that her son was a prodigy and that he was going to become a concert pianist, a household name! Cole loved his mom and wanted nothing more than to make her happy, to bring in enough cash that she could finally have a house of her own… but in his reading and involvement in local politics, he’d become utterly disenchanted with the idea of living a comfortable life. Apathetic, detatched. Still, school came easy to him and though he often challenged assignments, he continued to do well. So well, in fact, that he landed a full-ride scholarship to Stanford for Music.

Cole was completely convinced he was going to turn it down, feeling his time would be better spent doing volunteer work, canvassing, and diving into the world of grassroots organizing and unionization. After all, Oregon was a hot spot for union organizing in the 80s, and Cole never felt more alive than when he was at a rally, feeling the rush of solidarity with his neighbors, the buzzing in his veins when he was chosen to speak on behalf of the workers for the first time at seventeen. But, he couldn’t bear to ruin his mother’s dream– a second dream he’d ruin by existing. So maybe he was wrong to go to college for her, but Cole figured it was the least he could do to pay her back for the eighteen years she’d cared for him.

In August of 1989, he packed up a duffel bag and hopped on the train to Stanford. He knew immediately that he didn’t fit in. His ripped jeans and well-worn tennis shoes were a stark contrast to the pressed khakis and boat shoes of his peers. But, Cole had always been an outsider– a contrarian– and figured he’d lean into it. Rebrand a little. He grew his hair out, got his ears pierced, and joined the local workers rights advocacy group. He quickly became known for arguing (monologuing) in class, and though it fulfilled a deep need to put yuppies in their place, it didn’t exactly earn him any popularity points. Cole was a loner, but he didn’t care– every weekend his peers spent partying, he spent composing something at the chapel piano, at a rally for civil rights, or neck-deep in the library preparing some manifesto to force upon his classmates. It didn’t take long for him to solidify his degree plan: Music Performance and Philosophy with a minor in Spanish which he tacked on because he’d taken it in elementary and enjoyed the classes well enough.

Always the contrarian, Cole didn’t mind a little heat! He could take whatever jokes were hurled his way, and was always ready with a snarky response. But, growing up didn’t exactly fill Cole out, and when his rich, meathead classmates started sniffing around to figure out his sexuality, he knew his twiggy frame wouldn’t get him very far. And if they got wind of the fact that he spent every Friday night at a gay bar outside of town? He knew it’d be a constant stream of black eyes and bruising and maybe worse. It was during one such confrontation after class– Chad or Brad or Dan was upset that Cole had bested his buddy in an argument about stoicism or something– and was accusing him of being queer. If Cole believe in God, he’d have thought Sonia was an angel, the way she swooped in and saved his scrawny ass. They instantly hit it off, so faking their relationship came naturally; Sonia was one of a handful of people who could put Cole in his place, and one of even fewer who seemed to like him because of, not in spite of, all of his grandstanding and sarcasm. They’d play the game during college to take at least one target off of Cole’s back (and for Sonia herself to fly under the radar) and “break up” just before graduation. No one would be the wiser! They still keep in touch, because as much as their arrangement started as a mutually beneficial deal, they grew fond of each other.

If Sonia turned things around for him, Max Mayfield changed the trajectory of his life. They met in History of Marxism, and immediately bonded over their common enemy– Paul fucking Worthington II, some edge lord frat boy who loved to play devil’s advocate, and who was no match for either of them, much less both of them together. An after-class beer turned into five which turned into Cole crashing on Max’s couch, and the next week they signed their first lease together. Though they’d lived incredibly different lives– and there was a lot about Max Cole didn’t know– they were both outsiders, they both gave way more of a shit about the state of the world than they cared to admit. They both viewed college as a waste of time, and questioned why a fancy piece of paper that most of their peers bought instead of earned entitled them to a better job than their friends in the city– or the farmers and miners and blue-collar workers back home?

Cole would’ve dropped out if Max hadn’t convinced him to declare pre-law. She hardly had to convince him, honestly, just laid out the facts. He loved to argue, he gave a shit about human rights, he was good at sounding smart and pretentious to impress other assholes– and he could do all of it for a bigger cause than himself. It made a hell of a lot more sense than becoming a concert pianist, anyway. So he applied to a few law schools, and to Cole’s surprise, got into most of them. He got his acceptance letters from Harvard and Stanford the very same day he was arrested with a group of students in downtown, at a peaceful protest to raise the minimum wage. Thankfully, Max had already started doing her civil law homework and helped him get the charges dropped.

After passing the bar, Cole began his labor law career. Like Max, he wasn’t ever in it to make money, but he wasn’t exactly upset when that started happening, either. He learned pretty quickly that if he wanted to take on pro bono cases, he had to make time to go after the big targets– the corporations that relied on immigrant labor and child labor and cut corners. His first big payout came from Chevron, and pretty much immediately after, Mayfield & Montgomery was founded. Having their own firm was ideal, not having to answer to anybody but himself and his clients gave Cole the freedom he thought would make him happy. But it didn’t. Not really. He was glad he was successful, and he got a rush every time he fucked over a corporation or helped somebody not get fucked, but, like, existentially? He was still miserable. It was nothing booze and sloppy sex couldn’t fix– or numb, at least.

He passed the next few years that way– hook ups, drinking every night, knocking out cases and “making his mark,” getting arrested every now and then for demonstrations and the like– but, scary enough, it felt empty. Lonely. Cole was eight hours away from his family, but it wasn’t that. He had Max, and he’d gotten especially close to a few of his clients and their families. He didn’t spend a single holiday alone (or without several trays fo tamales in the freezer). As much as Cole tried to ignore it, the pang in his chest when he saw clients celebrating with their families, or couples dancing at the clubs, even when he met his aunt’s giflriend– wouldn’t go away.

Lately, though, his existential loneliness hasn’t been Cole’s sole focus, thankfully. Max left for Indiana two weeks ago, and didn’t specify when she’d be back. She left her clients in his care, which was mostly fine until she stopped picking up the phone. When Akeem Bell took off in lieu of showing up for court, Cole jumped on the excuse to track Max down– though, really, he’s starting to worry about her. Something about the way she’d always talked about her time in Indiana, the details she always left out, left him feeling… uneasy.

extras:

https://www.pinterest.com/godstruckkkk/cole-montgomery-%2B-20-yrs/

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1so05IkyGkqN2EUcoRcqyw?si=9a2ec445a97040ca&pt=5c3ca17145073016daecff7bc71cde5e

#submission #accepted #cole

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devilmass · 7 months

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In the only pew that is kept in shadow due to distance from the large, stained glass windows, reclines a softly snoring figure. Dark sunglasses shade his eyes, mouth partially open, his stubbled chin lightly stained with either grime or something he had previously eaten. Although his repose seems total, there is an ominous presence to him. Perhaps it is his attire. The leather jacket covered in military patches from years long past, and badges one would expect from the peacemakers from the world, a worrisome sign when used as adornment. But it is more than that. There is a hostility that lingers even in this relaxed state. He snorts, smacks his lips, wetting his dry tongue briefly, before languorously stretching his legs out as best he can manage, head lolling backward. “Howdy father”, he says raising his arms up, revealing a tattered t-shirt (“Largest State Carnival in Georgia!”). Though he uses the honorific, it is clear there is a lack of respect in his tone. Dirty hands fold over one another atop his stomach. Ankles cross with a metallic clatter; spurs knocking together, his muscles tense, then relax as he reclines with a grunt. He is intent on returning to his slumber, whether or not he is observed while doing so. “For he grants sleep to those he loves”. @savagecowboy

rodrick page isn't the delusional type. he'd like to think that there was a clear, glowing red line between sanity and insanity and he made a point never to toe at it; but there were times when things just didn't feel right. like the crackle in the ear before a storm, rodrick could feel that someone, or, rather, something was coming. when he looks outside, the feeling of being watched gathers under his lungs where his fear rests. the property was quiet and dark, the softly lit window of his deacon the only light at all. beyond the big house, the church sits darkly, empty but no more bereft of life than his own heart and body.

something wasn't right.

with some apprehension, and clad in nothing but his house coat and rattiest boots, the preacher pushes onto the porch and down the front steps. the walk was a short one, a brisk jaunt in his step when he takes the well - worn trail towards the church.

when he pushes open the worn, white doors rodrick twists his head inside and looks towards the alter. a beam of moonlight yawns through the stain glass, but even that is a null void amongst the blackest of room's.

“ atch'you dewitte ? ”

the floor creaks under the preacher's monstrous weight, a whine that accompanied every step that takes him towards the alter. he makes it to the end of the aisle before a voice startles him into a complete 180.

“ whoa - whoa there. 'bout scared the holy spirit right out m'body! ” his rabbit heart beats in his chest frantically, pounding in his ears and squeezing his lungs something awful. a hand comes to steady himself against the pew and the other grabs his house coat, trying to wedge it closed; the fact that it held no draw string only made it that much more difficult.

“ r - mh, ” rodrick clears his throat, swallowing thickly. “ reckon the shepherd loves the wolf in his own way. we all need to eat. ” gentler now, trying to overcome his fear of the dark while he speaks directly into it's mouth, the preacher stands up straighter and a red moon beam falls across his eyes.

“ y'need help, son? ”

#savagecowboy #this got long #but consider: um its spooky season and we deserve to set the scene #more importantly that rodrick is a coward #and wouldve ran if he were closer to the doors

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atlanticcanada · 11 months

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Nova Scotia wildfire leaves residents scrambling to save pets

Thousands of residents have fled their homes as a fire remains out of control in the Upper Tantallon area of Nova Scotia.

Lisa Parsons was evacuated from her home in Westwood Hills on Sunday afternoon.

She was glad to be safe, but as an animal lover, Parsons knew her job was far from over.

“We’d already gone and broken into someone’s house to get their cats and dogs,” said Parsons.

But once Parsons made it out of the evacuation area, she realized she needed to turn back to save 18 dogs trapped at an overnight daycare.

“The person to call for animals is me,” said Parsons.

When she asked a police officer to let her get through the closed street, Parsons says she was told they had buses to evacuate people but little could be done to save pets.

That’s when Parsons made a split decision to run through the brush to get to the daycare.

“Even if I have to walk the dogs, we’re getting them,” she said.

With blood and cuts on her legs, Parsons managed to save all of the dogs. Many have already been picked up by owners. Others remain at an evacuation site in a local church.

“It was an ordeal,” said Parsons. “It was horrific but I had to get to the dogs.”

HATFIELD FARMS

Hatfield Farms is a familiar Halifax-area landmark, located along the Hammonds Plains Road.

The farm was included in the area under evacuation orders, which meant owner Brian Hatfield had to move into action to evacuate animals.

Hatfield was on the road all morning Monday moving his horses.

“Friends I never knew I had came to help,” said Hatfield of the swarm of supporters who showed up to help save his horses.

A wedding ceremony was taking place Sunday afternoon on the farm when soot began falling from the sky.

“We just kept on going through the wedding and looked up at the sky,” said Hatfield, adding smoke was coming in during the ceremony.

After the vows and rings were exchanged, it was time to evacuate.

“We put away all the horses and got them out by bus,” said Hatfield.

Hatfield says his property has so far been spared from wildfire damage. He considers himself lucky.

“Back to regular farm work,” he said. “Life goes on and we got to get back to work.”

PAWS & SUPPORT

The Nova Scotia SPCA has sprung into action, offering a place for residents of affected areas to keep their pets safe.

The organization issued a press release Monday urging those who are evacuating to text the SPCA at 902-229-8620 if they need a temporary home for their pets.

In addition, the SPCA is expanding its Paws & Support program, which will help provide shelter for pets displaced by the fire.

The program, which was originally designed to take care of animals in situations where their owners were in hospital or fleeing domestic violence, has helped evacuate 86 animals, as of Monday morning.

Donations to the Paws & Support program can be made online.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ana Almeida

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/30qc2QP

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

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reasoningdaily · 1 year

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Mississippi Today: Bills aimed at Jackson remind of apartheid, Lumumba says

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, with City of Jackson Communications Manager Melissa Payne, fields questions during a community meeting held to update the public on the water system, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2022, at College Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba on Monday lambasted state lawmakers’ ongoing attempts to strong-arm city leadership through legislation that would remove local control over judicial and drinking water systems.

In the current legislative session, lawmakers have introduced the following bills:

HB 1020, which would create a new court to oversee cases within Jackson’s Capital Complex Improvement District with judges appointed by the state Supreme Court and prosecutors appointed by the state attorney general.

HB 696, which would expand the boundaries of the the district.

SB 2889, which would put the long-term control of Jackson’s drinking water system under a board mostly appointed by the governor and lieutenant governor.

SB 2338, which would prevent cities from charging for water based on property value, a plan Jackson’s new third-party manager is proposing as a way to lower the cost burden on poorer residents.

The mayor spoke to the pattern of recent attempts to remove control over issues in Jackson from the 83% Black, majority Democrat city, and put it in the hands of state leaders; all of Mississippi’s statewide elected officials are white Republicans.

“It reminds me of apartheid,” Lumumba said Monday. “They are looking to colonize Jackson, not only in terms of them putting their military force over Jackson, but also dictating who has province over decision-making.

“They put this military force over us, and we’re just supposed to pay taxes to the king.”

Lumumba also called out HB 370, which would allow voters to recall municipal elected officials. Critics of the bill argue it was aimed at removing Jackson leadership, although the bill’s author, Rep. Shanda Yates, said she didn’t introduce it with the city in mind.

The mayor has frequently criticized the role of state leaders over the past year. Last April, Lumumba called the Legislature “paternalistic” and “racist” after a dispute over the appropriation of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. In their handling of the funds, lawmakers attached extra oversight over Jackson’s spending of infrastructure money that wasn’t required for other cities in the state.

Last fall, after a combination of flooding and broken pumps shut down the capital city’s drinking water system, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that the state was taking over Jackson’s water operations. After both initially said that the city and state were working together, Reeves and Lumumba spent weeks launching public attacks against each other.

The federal government recently appropriated $600 million to directly assist Jackson’s water system; that money is part of a total $814 million in federal funds that will go towards the city’s water and sewer projects.

Lumumba said Monday there has never been an investment like this before, referencing that Flint received $100 million in federal funds to aid its lead crisis. He said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann expressed doubts that Jackson could secure such funding without the state’s help.

“(Hosemann) said that I needed to look at a possible relationship with the state, because what did I think, Biden was going to write me a check?” Lumumba said. “I recently told (Hosemann): ‘I do, and he did it.'” Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (left) and water system’s third-party administrator Ted Henifin, answer questions regarding the current state of the city’s water system during a town hall meeting held at Forest Hill High School, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Mayor hasn’t seen proposal yet, appointing new public works director

Asked about last week’s proposal from the city’s new water manager, Ted Henifin, Lumumba said he hasn’t yet reviewed the plan, and couldn’t speak to specific ideas in the plan, such as charging customers based on property values or creating a nonprofit to govern the system long term.

Lumumba did say the city was getting ready to announce a new interim public works director; the previous interim director, Jordan Hillman, is now working for Henifin’s organization, JXN Water.

The mayor said the city is hiring a recruiting firm to find a permanent director, and added that the new director will no longer be handling the city’s drinking water.

Asked if management of the drinking water system would remain with a separate entity long-term, Lumumba said “it’s too early to say.”

“I will say my interest is not just to run (the water system) and operate it for the sake of running and operating it,” the mayor said.

Lumumba will host a town hall to discuss the latest around federal funding and Henifin’s role on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Forest Hill High School.

#Bills aimed at Jackson remind of apartheid #Lumumba says #Jackson Mississippi #systemic racism

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foreverpraying · 2 years

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St. John Chrysostom, bishop and Doctor of the Church

Photo by Carl Christian Peters

Life of St. John Chrysostom

The ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his name means “golden-mouthed”) from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics.

If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.

Source of picture: WashArchdiocese on Twitter

His lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man.

His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam’s fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were. When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards.

Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became excited in the pulpit, John was a sure target for criticism and personal trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine foods. His faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia, provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and chastity were concerned. His actions taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor were viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy, uncanonical extension of his authority.

Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia were determined to discredit John. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel and impious Herodias were associated with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.

Source: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-chrysostom

Quotes from St. John Chrysostom

Source of picture: https://acatholicrose.tumblr.com

"If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find Him in the chalice."

"Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness."

"Be ashamed when you sin, don't be ashamed when you repent. Sin is the wound, repentance is the medicine. Sin is followed by shame; repentance is followed by boldness. Satan has overturned this order and given boldness to sin and shame to repentance."

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sidehugsnsideblogs · 2 years

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FCSU #70 Traitors

Allie-Jayne and Abigail managed to broker an agreement after Abby's ill-fated escape attempt. Get an education first and when you're an adult you can go back if you still want to. Abby reluctantly accepted and threw herself into catch up lessons with her aunt and uncle, desperate to bring an end to her exile. She chose to see the coming years as a test from Heavenly Father to see if she could remain faithful even while watching her entire family fall into the degeneracy of the townies. She clung to her familiar diet, books and clothing. She rose at five am to pray and fell asleep every night listening to recordings of Royce's sermons.

Unbeknownst to her mother, Abby also kept writing letters to the jailed Prophet. All FCSU members were required to send him monthly letters reporting on others, confessing their sins and delivering their tithes. Abby had volunteered to collect and deliver mail each day so she was able to hide her correspondence. She detailed the sins of her family: Teresa practiced townie medicine and worked outside the home, Isaac performed womanly housework activities and preferred not to rule over his family, the children were faithless and had no knowledge of the Word at all and they were corrupting her brothers too! Laughter bounced off every wall in the home, the boys ran with the dogs and behaved like beasts. They wore townie clothes and attended townie school and scarcely knew they’d originally been children of God.

Austin and Alex had both donned townie clothes and hairstyles. They were doing well in their studies and set to enroll in school that fall. Andrew at least knew the word but he'd become tense and argumentative whenever Abby brought up their religion. He was angry, so angry at the Prophet and all his "little men." Abby understood that the construction crew wasn't treated very well but she fully believed it was a test one must face in order to become worthy of a first wife and family. Every conversation ended the same way: "When was the last time someone was deemed worthy? Someone young, with no connections to the Prophet" He'd ask, exasperated. Unable to answer Abby had to let it go.

AJ herself was beginning to embrace townie culture. She was enjoying cooking all sorts of meals that had been banned by the church. She and Teresa would have the occasional glass of wine at dinner. She could teach Avery her imagination skill without Charlene admonishing her. She was free! Or at least she was in theory. Her body and mind still plagued her with terrible dreams, she still flinched every time someone came up behind, as though it was Elden coming to paw at her. She hated the sound of doors opening and closing at night, although she knew Elden would never again sneak into her bed at night as he'd done for many years, often when she was half asleep.

Teresa picked up on her sister's symptoms and after some gentle pushing was able to get AJ into therapy. Slowly but surely she began to improve. She even started mapping out a plan for herself and her kids. She loved cooking and she was damn good at it, so why not find a job in a restaurant? AJ applied for a job at the little fast food kiosk in the hospital where Teresa worked. She cried happy tears when the call came that she'd got the job! Finally, she could start saving up to move out. Every morning AJ and Teresa would get up early and go to work together. The work was fast-paced but AJ got the hang of it really quickly. It seemed like finally, everyone was on the upswing.

And then the threats began. The letters Abby was sending to Royce had Teresa and Isaac's address on them. The FCSU goons came out in full force to retaliate against the man who'd betrayed the Prophet. Large trucks with tinted windows parked just off their property line and stood watch all day. Isaac received phone calls every day from his family condemning him and his actions. Even his own mother called to voice her disappointment. She said they could have handled the matter within the family, without the involvement of townie police. The worst part for Isaac was finding out that they all knew. His brothers, his father and even his own mother knew how cruel Royce could be, how cruel was was being, and no did anything to stop him. No one tried to protect him. Their solution was to give Royce special treatment. Give him a wife or two and keep him close to the watchful eye of his father. Emotionally exhausted, Isaac had to quit his job as a teacher. He just couldn't do it anymore.

The harassment escalated. Bags of excrement began to appear on their porch each morning. It was no longer safe to walk the dogs. More than once Teresa caught the men in the trucks taking pictures of her children playing outside. Enough was enough. The more time everyone spent cramped into the house, the worse the mood became. The children were grouchy because they couldn't play outside anymore. The dogs became bored and destructive for the same reason. Tensions were rising. One day Autumn couldn’t take it anymore. She went to AJ and told Abby was sending messages to Royce. This was how he’d gotten their address and phone numbers. AJ believed her. She confronted Abigail right away. Abby immediately knew who’d ratted her out. She shunned Autumn as a "master traitor" and ousted her from the room. She had to move downstairs to sleep on a mat on the floor. Autumn was also trying to keep to her faith, wearing long dresses and piling her hair high but she was happy to expand her palette with some of AJ's new dishes.

Allie-Jayne felt horrible that her daughter's actions had caused so much stress for the family. Teresa and Isaac would sit up late into the night talking about moving. They didn't feel safe in their dream home anymore. They were looking into off-grid type cabins and mountain hideaways. AJ didn't bother asking if she was welcome to come with. She knew they were trying very hard not to blame Abby for ratting them out to Royce. She was a brainwashed child, after all. But something in the air had shifted, the atmosphere had become tense. No one said it outright but AJ knew they'd overstayed their welcome.

#fundie sims #fcsu #fundie tumblr #fundiesims #sims 4 story #cult blog #sims 4 #the sims 4

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

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Yellow police tape now cordons off the drinking place in the South African city of East London where 21 teenagers died in unexplained circumstances.

A forensic team has been going through the site at the Enyobeni Tavern to try to understand what exactly took place.

There were no visible injuries on the bodies of the deceased, the authorities have said, so a crush seems an unlikely explanation.

Some have said the victims were poisoned, but this is not confirmed.

South Africa's liquor board has said the owners of the tavern would face criminal charges after allegedly breaching licensing agreements.

Some family members of the victims have been gathering at the tavern to try and find out the latest news.

Among them was Xolile Malangeni.

His 17-year-old daughter, Sinako, snuck out of her home on Saturday night but never returned.

"[She] always loved and took care of me when I was ill," her father told the BBC with tears in his eyes.

Alongside her there are 20 other victims in a nearby mortuary. Post-mortem examinations have now been completed but one person remains unidentified and the provincial authorities have called on possible family members to come forward.

The youngest of those who died was 13 and the oldest was 17, according to Police Minister Bheki Cele - but a detailed list of the victims has not yet been produced.

The minimum drinking age in South Africa is 18, so they should not have been allowed in.

"The venue was packed. Entrance was free... and free alcohol was also being dished out. We started drinking and having fun with others," a 16-year-old girl who did not want to be named told the BBC.

"Those that were outside were trying to force their way in. Only two bouncers were at the scene to control the crowd. That's when people started collapsing, they were dropping like flies.

"I thought they were just passing out because they had too much to drink. Many others including myself escaped through the windows. My friends are dead now and we've all been left traumatised."

"They die[d] as they danced. They dance, fall, and die - literally. Others would just feel dizzy, sleep on the sofa, [and] die," South African website News24 quotes Mr Cele as saying on Monday.

The tavern, a two-storey building, sits amid residential properties in a densely populated area of East London's Scenery Park township.

It has been the focus of a lot of community anger, residents said. They had previously complained to the police about the noise and the late opening hours.

It is not clear why there were so many young people there on Saturday night. The owner has been quoted in local media as saying they had come to celebrate the end of school exams, having gone there after a "pens down" party ended elsewhere.

A birthday party was also being held at the tavern.

Two of the victims died either on the way to hospital or in hospital, but the other 19 died inside the venue itself.

They were found slumped over tables or on the floor.

On Monday afternoon, community members gathered in a church hall near the tavern for a subdued prayer service. Between hymns people spoke about the tragedy of parents burying children.

The tavern's entertainment manager, Promise Matinise, told the BBC that he saw people collapsing one after the other in the early hours of Sunday morning. At first he assumed they had passed out from drinking too much and then realised that some had stopped breathing.

Earlier, he said, bouncers had struggled to control the large crowds that had entered the establishment.

Speaking on Sunday, Oscar Mabuyane, premier of Eastern Cape province where the tragedy happened, did not give possible reasons for the deaths, but condemned the "unlimited consumption of liquor".

Visiting the scene, he said: "You can't just trade in the middle of society like this and think that young people are not going to experiment."

#nunyas news

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xedenbound · 2 years

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Starter for @cullxtheherd

It was car trouble that brought Aideen to Hope County- she'd been planning on driving through the area, never mind that she had no idea where she was driving to. The plan had been to drive, and drive she had; days of highways between her and her husband (her entire life, really) and only now that she was forced to stay in one location did she feel she had any breathing room.

There really wasn't a plan. She had no idea what she was doing or what her next move was going to be, other than knowing that going back was not an option.

Nothing we can't handle, the mechanic had told her- lucky her she hadn't been in one of the stretches of country when it happened, though.

Waiting for her car to be fixed they pointed her across the street for where she could grab food. Her stomach was in knots and Aideen didn't know if she could keep anything down despite knowing objectively she should eat.

It didn't dawn on her until she's picking at her fries that tomorrow would be Sunday, and for the first time in her life she wouldn't been at church. Short of a dire illness at 11 o clock on the dot every week she'd parked herself in a pew; first with her family, then next to her husband.

Not tomorrow though.

She'd been so frazzled she hadn't even thought about it.

Right now she had nothing to do but think, observing the seating area where she was and seeing a cork board with flyers pinned to it. Bored with the fries, Aideen stood and walked to the board, examining it. Different flyers for items for sale- property, farm equipment, a litter of puppies. Business cards pinned in various areas and- the design on the flyer was what caught her interest first, a stylized version of a cross.

It looked like a flyer for some type of revival. Aideen toyed with one of the tabs at the end, debating to herself. She could probably find a regular church around here, but something about the fyier called to her.

- -

And that was how Aideen found herself at the specified date and time, parking her now-fixed car in a pasture amongst the other attendees. She had no idea what to expect yet still found herself surprised by the number of people. Some were walking towards the large tent set up, others mingling and talking.

Shoulders drawn up tight, she folded her arms across her belly as she navigated her way through the throngs. If a handful of people looked like they were about to greet her, they never quite got the chance before Aideen was moving through the next group.

She'd enjoyed socializing with the people at her church, at least until a few months ago when she'd starting distancing herself from everybody and anybody. There was a comfort and familiarity there, and forget about feeling like she'd jumped into the deep end- she felt like she'd thrown herself over a ship railing and plummeted straight into the ocean. With half a mind to retreat back to her car and leave at any given point in time, she managed to talk herself into at least seeing what this was all about- that was the point in showing up, was it not?

Eventually she settled herself into a spot on a back pew – near the exit-, taking a breath and willing herself to relax. Being high strung was not the best emotional state to be in considering her physical state, but Aideen's life was in a total free fall and honestly she still had no idea what was going on or what she was going to do next.

Right arm still banded across her middle, while she waited for things to start she fiddled with her wedding ring. “No idea what she was going to do next” included dealing with that, didn't it? She was leaving her husband, or at least was going to try to. But him finding out about the baby-

He'd just use the baby to keep her.

God she was stupid. She really had no idea what she doing.

Distracted by her errant thoughts as a gaudily dressed man introduced the man on the flyer Joseph Seed, Aideen found herself calming down as his sermon started. The anxiety drained from her posture, shoulders dropping and the grip on her belly loosening slightly, though her arm still rested across it.

Or at least she did, until she felt the first waves of nausea crawling through her. Whoever coined the term morning sickness must have been a man, she decided, because with both this pregnancy and her last one (even if she tried to not think about that one) it had not just been in the morning; usually it struck whenever the timing was most inconvenient for Aideen. Like now, when she was supposed to be paying attention, not having her eyes glaze over as her focus shifted less on the man speaking at the head of the congregation and more on whether or not she was about to embarrass herself by throwing up in public.

She found herself trying to hold out despite having no idea how long this was going to be, (Maybe she could gauge herself in a regular mass where she had an idea for how the pacing went, but here she was completely out of her depth) and that realization was enough to have Aideen standing from her spot in the back, bolting out the exit right behind her before she could cause any sort of disturbance.

There was a trash can, that was more of a barrel with a liner inside it that could not have been anymore conveniently placed because she was at the end of her rope for how long she could stifle the bile crawling up her throat. Grabbing her hair out of the way, the contents of her stomach found themselves in the trash can without much preamble or fuss. She should still have napkins and a bottle of water in her car, hoping to make herself at least somewhat presentable before trying to sneak back in quietly.

When she was finished she paused for a moment, taking a few deep breaths; looking up, she visibly startled upon realization she wasn't alone.

#this is obnoxiously long Im so sorry lmfao #kept looking for new constellations;#the rabbit and the wolf;#cullxtheherd

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jcmarchi · 2 months

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Getting A-Ok with AI - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/getting-a-ok-with-ai-technology-org/

Getting A-Ok with AI - Technology Org

In June, a federal judge fined two New York accident attorneys for submitting fake legal history in documents supporting an aviation injury claim. The lawyers blamed the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT for developing bogus judicial opinions and citations.

For some time now, AI-assisted technologies like ChatGPT have been transforming industries across the board including the legal profession.

With its ability to process large volumes of data far beyond the capabilities of mere mortals, AI is helping lawyers when it comes to electronic discovery, vastly speeding up the process of collecting, exchanging and reviewing information related to specific cases — especially when it comes to reviewing hundreds of documents.

Law practices also are using AI tools for document management, due diligence, litigation analysis and more. For example, litigation analytics by judge, firm, etc., are available on places like Lex Machina. And other AI tools are helping with research tasks, even reviewing lawyers’ draft briefs and suggesting new cases.

Now, at USC Gould, AI is becoming more present in the classroom in both curricula and as a teaching tool.

“Probably a quarter of USC law faculty are experimenting with ChatGPT in the classroom,” says Professor D. Daniel Sokol, the Carolyn Craig Franklin Chair in Law and professor of law and business.

“The general-purpose technology of AI is being applied across areas of law and different functions within law,” Sokol adds. “And like most law schools, we’ve had offerings here and there that focus on AI-related issues, but not in a comprehensive way.

“We’re now trying to achieve this with our curriculum. The idea is to create a greater sense of coherence both in our existing course offerings and what we need to do to fill in gaps when it comes to AI.”

Two New AI Offerings

In May 2023, USC Gould began offering a Master of Science in Innovation Economics, Law and Regulation (MIELR).

The joint course with USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Department of Economics is a STEM-designed course about big data and machine-learning innovation through the lens of antitrust privacy, data security and intellectual property law.

And now in the works is a new AI minor for undergrads.

“If not the first, it will be among the first course of its kind,” Sokol says.

Undergraduate students began enrolling in a data analytics class this fall to apply toward the new minor, expected to launch in Spring 2024. Students in the JD program also will be able to enroll in a new data analytics course in 2024.

“We want to be thought leaders in the AI space — innovators on the teaching and the research side,” he says.

Many Questions Remain

How big has AI become?

No greater authority than Pope Francis has come out with a warning about the need to be vigilant about its use, saying it must be used ethically. He specifically called out the fields of education and law in remarks he made this summer.

“The Catholic Church has 1.2 billion people under its jurisdiction,” Sokol notes. “For most of these people, these guidelines are like binding law even though they aren’t binding law.”

Professor Jef Pearlman, director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic (IPTLC) at USC and a clinical associate professor of law, says AI touches vast of areas of law.

“Certainly, IP is a big one,” says Pearlman, noting a flurry of recent lawsuits involving AI and intellectual property.

At least one person has filed a patent application on behalf of AI as the sole inventor, Pearlman says. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the concept. That same person also tried to register a copyright on behalf of an AI tool. The copyright office and a federal court both turned down that request, saying human authorship is required. But just how much human inventorship or authorship is required is still an open question.

Regulation remains a big question when it comes to AI and the law, Pearlman and Sokol agree. Questions about central regulation vs. companies relying on self-regulation have been asked in many areas of law, and are now being considered in the context of AI, the professors say.

“It’s both old and new at the same time,” Sokol says. For now, USC Gould will focus on the best ways to equip its students to answer these and other questions when it comes to AI.

Says Sokol: “We’re trying to make AI more relevant in a way that faculty and students understand the value and the problems of this technology when it comes to legal processes and outcomes — both the costs and the benefits.

“AI matters now and is going to matter more, so we should get ahead of this.”

Source: USC

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

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dzthenerd490 · 2 months

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Documents of Interest: Locations of Interest

Description: Locations of Interest or Nexus Points are large areas of land that have either a few anomalous properties, a lot of anomalous properties, or have barely any normal qualities. Some of these areas are under the protection of other Groups of Interest or are too close to civilian life; therefore, containment is nearly impossible. Instead of labeling them as anomalies and containing them they are instead recognized as area's where the anomalous is allowed to exist and live freely with many restrictions, a few restrictions, or no restrictions. What these locations are, where they are located, and how the Foundation deals with them are all labeled in the list below.

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- Nx-AA: Eureka, Southern Oregon

Area Class: Free Port

Situation: Created by the Global Occult Coalition back when it was still called the Allied Occult Coalition and under the direction of one of the original top scientists as well as one of the founders Albert Einstein. Is the main place where the Global Occult Coalition develops its top-of-the-line gadgets and weapons as it is populated by the smartest and most talented people in the world. Though of course more often than not due to poor planning and bad management things get out of hand and often their ACPA allies (mostly the SCP Foundation) have to step in to bring back control.

- Nx-AB: New Marais, Louisiana, USA

Area Class: Free Port

Situation: Brought under foundation control after the explosive growth in the Conduit population back in the 2010's. Now under Foundation control it no longer exists on the map, since it no longer exists the Foundation has allowed the small city to manage and cultivate itself with limited Foundation regulation. Instead, the Foundation uses New Marais as a place where humanoid anomalies can live freely so that anomalous Foundation staff can vacation there. It is also where the main headquarters of the Anomalous Employment Division is located. It is a city where anomalous humanoids can live and grow up naturally, if talented enough they will later be employed by the Foundation.

- Nx-AC: Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan

Area Class: Asphodel

Situation: A city in Tokyo that for one reason or another is home to a large number of abnormal, freakish, and even anomalous humanoids. Police, government officials, and other influential people in the city are often Foundation personnel, GOC agents, as well as followers of the Church of Maxwellism. This city is highly exposed to the public and suffers underground gang wars leading to a lack of control of the Foundation or any ACPA organization for that matter. Mobile Task Force Hermes-8 "Phantom Police" are the main Foundation force that maintains order within the Nexus Point.

- Nx-AD: Archios, Isla Nublar

Area Class: Free Port

Situation: Created in 1993 after Site-Dino was created as a place for Foundation staff and allied Persons of Interest to live alongside freely. Made to help gain trust of Persons of Interest and let them live somewhat normal lives alongside the anomalous and the Foundation. A means of building trust and kinship. Built with top of the line defensive and fallout shelters, considered the safest and best place to live. Often an area of consideration for retirement for Foundation staff.

- Nx-AE: Gravity Falls, Oregon, USA

Area Class: Asphodel

Situation: A small town so isolated that its can't even be found on the map. A seemingly normal town that is actually home to numerous anomalies. These anomalies range from ridiculously funny to completely horrific. Because the town is extremely isolated the Foundation doesn't have to intervene regularly especially since casualty ratings are shockingly low. Regardless the area is regularly monitored, and a majority of the events are left to the jurisdiction of the FBI: Unusual Incidents Unit or their superiors in PENTAGRAM.

- Nx-AF: Penguin Highway, [data expunged], Japan

Area Class: Dunwich

Situation: A Japanese area that has space and time distorted with large bubbles everywhere and penguins acting as the solo protectors of all life in the area. Essentially chaos in all aspects, especially since randomly beautiful and EDM music is played seemingly from nowhere yet for everyone to hear. Considered one of the safest areas outside of Foundation or Global Occult Coalition due to the penguins not even tolerating bullying. Is a regular area where the Dark Dragon's hang out. Because of fear of penguin attacks Persons of Interest and Group of Interest members have made a silent agreement to never attack one another, regardless of how hostile tensions are outside the Nexus Point.

- Nx-AG: Cate's Crossing, Louisiana, USA

Area Class: Asphodel

Situation: A small but strong American town with all the essentials of a good town. Is even surprisingly home to quite a few of the wealthiest people in the US. Is also however, suspected to be the home to an ancient god who survived the First War known as "The Hungry Eye". It is because of his presence that quite a bit of anomalous activity has been reported in the area. It is also the birthplace of SCP-AVC one of the most essential SCPs to the Foundation. Seems to also be a safe haven for many extraterrestrial Species of Interest on earth.

SCP: HMF - Document of Interest Hub

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