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kitty-ray · 3 years

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Something Like Home

I wrote a fic that’s basically just Izuku and Katsuki cuddling away the nightmares because they deserve to be soft

Rating: T

AO3

Izuku leaves his door unlocked. It’s a habit from when he lived with his mom, the apartment being so high up that it’s arbitrary for anyone to want to break in. So silly of an intruder to come and lug their valuables down the flights leading up to Izuku’s childhood home. Thus, Izuku’s door has remained unlocked since he moved into the dorms.

Which is why, when he hears his bedroom door open in the dead of night, he doesn’t think it’s someone breaking but rather his mom coming to check on him. That thought is quickly dismissed, however, as he reminds himself that he isn’t back home. Still, there isn’t any panic until he feels the mattress dip. An arm wraps itself around him, and, before Izuku can turn around, he hears a familiar gruff voice.

“Don’t move,” Kacchan whispers then tightens his grip. His hands are shaking. “Don’t ask.”

Izuku doesn’t, and they lay like that until the winter sun’s rays peek out from behind the trees. He isn’t used to sleeping so late, not anymore, but Kacchan’s warmth is so comforting that he can’t help and snuggle in closer. His breath on his neck, the weight over his stomach, bare feet entangled with his socked ones… Izuku doesn’t want the moment to end.

They don’t speak of what happened. Kacchan comes back a week later. Izuku lets him.

Sometimes, Izuku wouldn’t be awake when Kacchan comes, and he’d find him in the bed in the mornings. Sometimes, Izuku would be awake finishing his homework and Kacchan would fall asleep before him. Sometimes, in the loneliest times, Kacchan wouldn’t come at all. Izuku won’t realize until those nights how much he relied on Kacchan’s warmth.

It is so very cold on those nights.

Izuku has nightmares. Bone-chilling, heart-wrenching nightmares that crawl from the deepest crevices of his mind and crushes his throat. He’d wake with a start, bolting upright as his face grew wetter and wetter. They happen less and less since Kacchan started sleeping with him, so Izuku started to forget they ever existed.

He grasps at his throat, determined to see if there was still flesh. His lungs are filled with blood as bile climbs up. He swallows it all down, down, down until he could feel his beating heart.

not dead not dead not dead dead dead

There’s a hand on his shoulder, and Izuku flinches so hard that he’s sure he pulled muscle. Covering his ears, he bends forward until he’s nearly touching his knees. Breathe, he tells himself. Breathe, damn it!

“Deku.” The hand is back, but it’s softer this time. He does not relax. “Hey, Deku.”

Izuku turns his head. He meets dark red eyes and bright gray moonlight. Back slumping, he sobs and leans into Kacchan’s hold.

alive alive alive i’m alive he’s alive

They don’t talk about the nightmare. They don’t talk about anymore that followed.

The next time Kacchan comes over, Izuku is watching a movie on his laptop. Kacchan collapses next to him, pushing him closer to the wall and glaring at the screen. He’s sweating, Izuku realizes, but he can’t tell from what. Probably a late-night workout, he reasoned.

“It’s almost over,” Kacchan grumbles. “Best part of the whole thing.”

Izuku hums his response. He hasn’t seen it (he hasn’t seen a lot of movies), so he takes Kacchan’s word for it.

It takes him a minute to realize that Kacchan’s arm is around his shoulders, and it takes him another minute after that to register the gentle strokes of his fingertips on his skin. Izuku rather likes the feeling, he decides. It’s soft and comforting and reminds Izuku that he is here and breathing and pressed up against Kacchan’s firm--

Okay, let’s not go there!

The absolute last thing he needs is to think about Kacchan’s sculpted abs or strong arms or his ridiculously handsome jawline.

He ends up thinking about it and (unfortunately? He doesn’t necessarily think it’s unfortunate yet somehow does at the same time) misses the end of the movie. Still, seeing Kacchan smile that small private smile and explain just how strong the main character is makes up for it.

“Let me pick now. Your taste in movies is boring.”

“Hey!”

Kacchan doesn’t remove his arm as he scrolls through the catalog. Frowning, Izuku crosses his arms and watches. He’s dubious of what Kacchan would pick (horror, psychological thriller, something so obscure and foreign that he would probably quickly lose interest as the other would get more and more enthralled) that when the movie title appeared on screen, he laughs.

The blond boy turns and scowls. “Shut up, this movie is great.”

“Bet you’ve read the book too.” Izuku teases. When Kacchan’s scowl deepens, another laugh escapes him. “Now that’s a surprise!”

With pink ears, Kacchan turns on the movie and promptly ends the conversation. Izuku sits with his mirth as the female lead prances through a field, her “one true love” rushing towards her before the fantasy quickly falls apart. He has to admit that it is cute, but his scatterbrain can only focus on someone else.

He doesn’t think anything of it when Todoroki comes into the room halfway through, a book in his hand. It’s presented to him before Todoroki places it on his desk. “I enjoyed it, Midoriya,” he says. “Thank you for letting me read it.”

“No problem, man!”

Todoroki nods then turn around. The door closes softly behind him, and Izuku turns his attention back to the movie. The protagonist is monologuing about--

The door opens at the same time Kacchan and Izuku spring away from each other. All three boys stare, wide-eyed, as they process what just happened. It isn’t a bad thing that Izuku and Kacchan sometimes cuddle (read: almost every night), but it most definitely isn’t something they speak about. Todoroki points between the two boys before asking, “So are you two like… friends now? Or something?”

He has never felt more relieved for Todoroki’s naivete. Kacchan relaxes next to him, too.

“Fuck off , Icyhot bastard! I’m in the middle of something!”

“Midoriya,” Todoroki fixes his gaze onto Izuku. It is so unnerving to not be able to tell what he’s thinking. “I’m glad you and Bakugou are finally best friends again.”

“Todoroki, no.”

“Leave, Icyhot!”

Todoroki wastes no time in leaving but not before giving the two boys a thumbs up. Izuku can’t suppress his groan, and Kacchan grumbles something about him being too damn nosy. It doesn’t take long for them to settle back in, but, by now, Izuku is only thinking about the absurdity of the two of them.

“Hey, Kacchan?” he whispers as the main characters ‘break up’. Kacchan only grunts in response. “Why do you keep coming in here?”

Kacchan says nothing, choosing instead to place his arm on the pillow behind Izuku. Something in the back of his mind wants Kacchan to hold him like before. Except, that moment is gone now.

His eyes drift close before both the movie ends and Kacchan responds. He’s only vaguely aware of Kacchan pulling him close again, his warmth completely enveloping him. Izuku dreams of Kacchan’s lips pressed gently against his forehead, he dreams of Kacchan fingers carding through his hair, and he dreams of Kacchan whispering to him, “Damn nerd.”

Katsuki keeps his door unlocked. It is not a habit he previously had but rather developed since moving in. Locking his door means a faster escape. It does not mean random intruders bursting through while he’s trying to sleep. Angry that the light dared to reach him during these precious hours, Katsuki sits up in bed. He watches as the intruder closes the door and shuffles towards his bed. He’s about ready to spring up when the intruder sniffles.

In the dark, Katsuki can just barely make out the outline of Deku. The tension in his shoulder eases away as Deku quietly lays down. He doesn’t face him, nor does he say a word, so Katsuki doesn’t either. He’s finally laying down and relaxed again when he hears the faint whisper.

“Can you hold me?”

Deku’s pulling Katsuki’s blanket up higher as he curls further into himself. There’s only silence and his heartbeat in the room as he struggles to figure out what to say. It’s only ever been the blond to ask (or lack of asking, rather); the fact that Deku so shamelessly crawled into bed with him still has him reeling. Still, he doesn’t hesitate much further when Deku whispers, “Please?”

It hits him then, as he’s pulling the smaller boy closer, that he’s shaking. Honest to God shaking. When was the last time Deku’s come to him--let alone anybody --for help? Something blooms in Katsuki’s chest, but he quickly stomps it down before setting it on fire. That’s for another day.

“I had a nightmare,” Deku whispers. He doesn’t turn to face him, but he does grip Katsuki’s hand. Tight. Strong. Shaking. “I… I didn’t want to be alone.”

He’s sobbing again. Okay, not the first time the nerd has sobbed in his presence, but still. It’s… weird? Katsuki has never been good at crying people, usually opting to yell at them to shut up and hope that they figure out their own inner turmoil without him. Except, this is definitely not one of those times. This is a “shut up, be quiet, and let the fucking nerd say his peace” time.

When Deku does turn around, his face is quickly buried in his chest, and Katsuki freezes.

Deku’s quiet sobs fill the room as Katsuki strokes his back. He tightens his grip on the boy and, ever so slightly, presses his lips to Deku’s forehead. His mother used to do that whenever he had a nightmare, and it always helped him to come back. Katsuki hopes it does the same for Deku.

“I dreamt--” he starts but is interrupted by a sob. “I dreamt that you… you died. That everyone died. And I was just left there, on my own, waiting for someone to come.”

Katsuki doesn’t need to ask to know what he’s talking about; the fingers on his chest are proof enough. Still, it doesn’t do much to ease the ache in his heart. Gently, slowly, he lays his hand over Deku’s and squeezes. “I’m right here, you dumbass.”

Deku sniffs. “I-I know that, but…”

He pulls Deku’s head to rest right under the crook of his chin, not giving the nerd to finish the sentence. “Go to sleep, Deku,” he whispers. “We can think about it in the morning.”

The nightmares are getting more and more frequent, and they’ve increased ten-fold since the war. Katsuki isn’t exactly sure if it’s his place to say something about it, but he also knows that the idiot won’t go see someone on his own. Besides, is it so hard for Katsuki to get one good night’s rest? Just one? Please?

Deku’s breaths even out, fanning across his skin. Katsuki sighs. Lately, there’s been some kind of weird feeling that arises every time he sees the nerd. He doesn’t know what it is, or, if he does, he doesn’t want to name it. Instead, he chooses this. He chooses physical touches. He chooses the quiet moments. He chooses to hold Deku in his arms as he cries himself to sleep. Yeah, that seems right.

They’re still tangled up together when they wake up in the morning, and Katsuki admits that he rather likes seeing the light bounce of Deku’s curls. It’s calm and comforting and something like home. He settles back in Deku’s arms, where it feels right, and grumbles, “Damn nerd.”

#bakudeku #bkdk #dkbk #katsudeku #cuddles #just boys being soft

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olitech · 3 years

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Thoughts on the Z Fold 3

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is an interesting device. While it is not the first foldable device made by Samsung, and not even the first foldable device on the market in general (though Samsung certainly was the first real company, I'm not really counting the horrible Royole Flexpai) for me personally, this is indeed my first foldable device.

So what is it like? For context, I am a long term Samsung user, having used the S2, S3, Note 4, S7 edge, S9+, and recently the S21 Ultra. Coming from the S21 Ultra the Z Fold 3 isn't that extreme in size, and folded it lies even better in my hand because it is less wide. Typing on the slimmer front screen is certainly something you have to get used to though.

The weight increase of 44 grams from the S21 Ultra's 227 grams to the Fold's 271 grams is noticeable. It isn't the end of the world or tipping the scale into "This is way to heavy" territory, but you will notice it when you handle them one after the other. The Z Fold 3 is, however you hold or handle it, definitely not a small or light device. Considering you have a foldable tablet in your hands, that fact isn't really surprising - it is kind of the point of this whole thing.

So If you want something small and light, you are definitely in the wrong market segment if you are looking at this phone.

The device can be unlocked with the fingerprint reader in the Power button on the right side, which I massively appreciate. I guess they can't yet fit an under display fingerprint reader into this kind of display due to size constraints and I am happy that's the case. I have an under display fingerprint reader on my S21 Ultra and my Galaxy Tab S6 and constantly have to retry with both of them to unlock these devices. These fingerprint readers have not yet gotten to the same level of performance the old ones are capable of, so I am really glad the "old" tech has made it into this device. If you want to unlock your phone with your face, that works perfectly fine, but in a world full of masks today the fingerprint reader is in my opinion the most versatile option, when done this way at least.

For my use cases, this thing is clearly overkill, I'll be really honest. Watching a Youtube video or TV Show is really nice on this device, especially if you want to watch classic shows like Star Trek The Original Series or Knight Rider, because the unfolded screens aspect ratio of 5:4 is really nice for those old 4:3 shows. 16:9 content is fine too, but there is of course quite a bit of screen real estate you are not using in those cases. But since this is more of a productivity device, 5:4 is the perfect aspect ratio in my opinion.

Typing on the unfolded screen is nice, but takes some getting used to. I have been using this phone since I have received it on Friday the 20th of August 2021, which has been 5 weeks now, and I still mistype quite a bit. I don't know why it takes me so long to get used to the split keyboard I use with Microsoft Swiftkey. When typing or swiping on the screen the crease of the folded display is very noticeable. When you watch or read something it quickly becomes absolutely not an issue, I couldn't care less. But you definitely will feel the crease with your fingers or even with the S-Pen.

Coming to the S-Pen, and the Note package available for this device. I like the S-Pen for the Fold 3. I have the smaller one of the two available since Samsung gave me the Galaxy Z Fold 3 Note package for free as a promotion for preordering the phone. The Note package contains a Super Fast Wall Charger supporting up to 25W, and this should have come with the phone itself in my opinion. I understand the environmental concerns these companies cite as the reason they don't put chargers into the box anymore, but for this price I simply cannot accept that this is the case. It just feels cheap when you open up such an expensive device and there is the phone and a cable in the box and nothing else.

I'm sorry but I have to start swearing for the next section of this article. You have been warned.

The Flip Cover that comes in the Note package is a horrible fucking mess and I don't want to meet whoever designed this thing because I would be scared of that person and the drugs they must have taken designing this thing. The cover doesn't stay closed, flops around like a flaccid dick and just feels like cheap crap. I cannot tell you how glad I am they gave that package to me as a free promotion for preordering, because if I bought this package and actually paid 89,90 Euros of my money for this cover I would have been fucking pissed.

Samsung, if anyone of you is reading this, you can do better than this. Much better. It feels like someone decided 5 minutes before production started "Hey we have this new folding phone, and we decided not to make a new Note, so why not combine the Pen with the Fold 3?" and wanked out a design on a napkin during dinner while the kids were screaming at them.

I am not a massive fan of the magnetically attached pens the Galaxy Tab Series and the iPad use, so I appreciate having a place to actually store the pen in, but the front opening part of that cover makes this thing completely useless in my eyes. And I think they kind of knew that, since you can take off the part of the cover the pen stores in - a fact I didn't see anywhere other then one single Youtube video made by the channel HighTechCheck in his video "Best And Worst Cases For Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3", here is the link, it's a great video in general if you're looking for cases for this phone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2TBKlm-R2E&ab_channel=HighTechCheck

There might be other videos showing this feature of the Note Flip Cover of course, but this is the only one I came across while looking for accessory videos for this device.

Continuing on with the S-Pen, I understand that they had to make a new version because people would've poked holes into their screens with the old one - the new one is spring loaded to prevent you from pressing the pen to hard onto the screen - but what I do not like about the new S-Pen (at least the little one, I don't have the bigger one to test this with) is that you can only use it on the inner screen of the Z-Fold 3. That's right, the smaller of the S-Pens available for the Z Fold 3 does not work on the outer display of the phone when it is closed. I do not know why that is. It works perfectly fine on my S21 Ultra screen, but not on the outer screen of the Z Fold 3. I find that very bizarre. The outer screen has Gorilla Glass Victus on it, it certainly isn't a matter of screen protection. And it works on the S21 Ultra, so what the hell?

I'm a tech nerd, so I love the technology behind the foldable screen and the new form factor this results in. But I don't write 20 emails a day on my phone, or write a book on it, or anything like this. I use the big screen on the Z Fold 3 mainly for content consumption, Google Maps occasionally, web browsing, looking a photos, stuff like that. I am not a productivity monster that actually does multi tasking with a device like this. It is a great phone and the continuation of a new era in mobile technology and screen technology, and I'm glad I could be here to support that change because this means cool things might come out in the future with this technology. Could I still do everything I usually do on my S21 Ultra? Yes, yes I could, easily. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I bought this thing, but for someone like me this is massive overkill, as it probably will be for most people. Most people who buy this thing with their own money might not agree with that I guess. They have to justify the price of 1800 Euro for this thing after all. But I prefer to be honest with myself, and with you.

This is not a sensible device. It is absolutely a fun device and a great look into the future of what will one day be possible with this display tech, not just in the smartphone world but with screens in general. Just like that rollable LG TV this is technology that can be used for so much more than smartphones - it doesn't even have to be foldable. Just being able to put a display around a corner like it is a plastic sheet and having that in a fixed position opens up cool possibilities, once the tech is even better, and most of all, cheaper.

So no, it doesn't make my S21 Ultra look like unusable crap when compared to the Z Fold 3 just because of the foldable aspect. But in my opinion that's not the point of this device. It is to further push along the technology and establish it so it becomes more common place. So it gets better, can be made better, not just because the manufacturer Samsung is continuing to work on it, but because they get feedback from users about the device. The more established and researched a technology becomes, the cheaper it can become, meaning better and new usage forms for this technology in everyday life. Take a screen like that, make it see-through and put it into my car windscreen. It doesn't need to fold for that, but it does have to be durable, and depending on the windscreen, at least bent in some form. Give me overlay graphics on my car window for navigation. Give me glasses not like Google Glass with a small area of a screen but have the glasses BE the screen with this technology in a see through version. Give me a Cyberpunk 2077 style visor. That would really be exciting for me. What this phone and it's display technology represent is what is more interesting and exciting for me than the device itself. But the device itself is still great and I do not regret buying it. If you're into tech and have the necessary funds for it, I can recommend it. Maybe you are even a person that uses this device to its full multi-task capabilities, who knows?

Speaking of which, multi tasking is a breeze with this thing, it's perfectly fine running several apps at once, not just switching between apps but displaying several at the same time since you now have the screen real estate to actually use it. Since I just launched my homepage (this will be the first entry on it, actually) who knows, maybe I will use more multitasking myself in the future when writing stuff on the go, reading and researching in the browser and typing a note on the side perhaps. I doubt it, since for real writing I really don't like to use the touchscreen, but if I have a quick idea on the go and I have time, I could definitely see this being very useful.

Battery life is not an issue either for me, last week I had a day where I watched 6 hours of Star Trek The Original Series on it at around 80% brightness and was around 65% battery when I stopped, which is pretty impressive in my eyes. I have the episodes on my phone, so I wasn't streaming them over the network in case anyone is wondering.

The software has so far given me no troubles, not all apps scale to the screen but they still usually work without issues, and many apps like Youtube for example are adapted to use the foldable aspect of the Z Fold 3 in several ways, like when you half-fold the phone, set it on a table, and have the video on the top and scroll the comments on the bottom. Or multi task by having one app on the top and other on the bottom, stuff like that works really well in most apps I am using, I can't really recall any app right now that had huge issues with the aspect ratio or the foldable nature of this device. Good job Samsung!

The back cameras are on par with the S21 Ultra, so they're in my opinion top, but I'm no expert. What even I notice is the inner camera under the display. No longer is there a hole punch style camera, this one is actually under the display, which drastically decreases the performance of that inner camera. It's usage for video calls I guess, but for a device in that price range I think I would've been fine with a hole-punch style just to get the better image quality. I've made a comparison video on Youtube, comparing the front camera of the S21 Ultra and the Z Fold 3:

https://youtu.be/h5uQ1IQeIvE

The Z Fold 3 is a tech nerds dream come true, and really does whatever you need it to do. Whether you actually need all of that and if it is worth the money is for you to decide. If you already have a tablet you use for media consumption, and if you aren't a huge productivity fan or need one device that does it all and can carry nothing else, then I'd say no, you don't need it. But you might still want it just the same, like me.

Sunday, October 3rd, 2021.

Oliver Weber

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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Pluralistic: 25 Mar 2020 (National Emergency Library, Kaiser threatens nurses, no more O'Reilly events, White House pastor's coronavirus funnies, automatic bill-relief notices, Mat Ricardo's lockdown TV, Xi's internal enemies, coronavirus meets immigration detention, doctors hoard choloroquine, toilet paper separator, Conzealand goes virtual, the Postal Plan, Volante's masks, and more!)

Today's links

Internet Archive lifts lending restrictions on ebooks: They're calling it the "National Emergency Library."

Kaiser threatens to fire Oakland nurses who wear their own masks: They're treating positive patients from a cruise ship with insufficient PPE.

No more O'Reilly events: We've been here before, kinda.

Trump's Bible study teacher thinks coronavirus is God's wrath: For homosexuality, China, environmentalism, Catholics, and women in the workforce.

A chatbot that petitions companies for financial relief during the crisis: Donotpay's robot lawyer is here for you.

East London showman Mat Ricardo's Youtube playlists: Lockdown TV for "comedy, variety, circus, magic, dance, music."

Xi's enemies sense weakness: Autocracies are only as good as their last crisis-response.

Locked down in a lockup: Coronavirus meets immigration detention.

Doctors hoard choloroquine: MDs to lupus sufferers, "Drop dead."

Toilet paper separator: Covid crafting for household essentials.

Conzealand goes virtual: The first time a Worldcon isn't in person since WWII.

Posties are key to America's emergency response: The only agency that could deliver covid meds to every US household in a single day.

Volante's masks for covid responders: Streetwear for Superheroes.

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, current reading

Internet Archive lifts lending restrictions on ebooks (permalink)

The amazing people at the Internet Archive maintain a digital lending library: they buy and scan one copy of every book (pretty much every book, ever) and lend it out to one person at a time.

They've just announced that during the crisis, they are lifting the one-borrower-at-a-time restriction and allowing unlimited borrowing, "to meet the needs of a global community of displaced learners". They call it the "National Emergency Library."

https://blog.archive.org/2020/03/24/announcing-a-national-emergency-library-to-provide-digitized-books-to-students-and-the-public/

It's got more than a million titles.

https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary

They're calling on all who can afford it to buy books to support authors and booksellers during the crisis, Authors can also request to have their titles removed:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QjErbouWG7pUlzcxPcRk4YEtbYs8ItlVTgLa1DfGh68/edit

It's a bold move, but it's got widespread support. Here's a list of endorsers. I signed on too.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vkl3RX4CzpRTQsoG1tsdHC0foYiU7A8U_Vt1UyVboP8/edit

Kaiser threatens to fire Oakland nurses who wear their own masks (permalink)

Nurses at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland are treating patients from the Grand Princess cruise ship, at least 21 of whom have tested positive for covid-19. The nurses are working without adequate PPE, thanks to a national shortage (and asshole hoarders).

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/21/oakland-coronavirus-hospital-kaiser/

Nurses who report for work wearing their own N95 masks have been threatened with immediate dismissal for "insubordination."

Akela Lacy from The Intercept asked Kaiser's Marc Brown about it, but he ducked the question.

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/24/kaiser-permanente-nurses-coronavirus/

The nurses say that their supply cupboards are locked down, and they're being asked to treat potentially infected patients whether or not they can find someone to unlock the supply cupboard.

No more O'Reilly events (permalink)

I attended my first O'Reilly conference in, I think, 1997? And I sponsored my first O'Reilly con, the first P2P con, in 2001 (?). I spent years on the committee for the Emerging Tech conference, and I've keynoted more O'Reilly cons than I can recall.

These events have been some of the most important gatherings I've ever attended: places where I made lifelong friends and collaborators (I first met my wife at an Etech con), and learned so much.

This is (obviously) not a good time to be in the event business. For perfectly good – and nevertheless so, so sad – reasons, O'Reilly has just exited the in-person conference business.

Forever.

https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/from-laura-baldwin.html

"Without understanding when this global health emergency may come to an end, we can't plan for or execute on a business that will be forever changed as a result of this crisis. With large technology vendors moving their events completely on-line, we believe the stage is set for a new normal moving forward when it comes to in-person events."

The covid collapse feels a lot like the post-911/dotcom crash moment. That was when we lost the Etech conference, whose focus had always been "what are the most speculative things the weirdest nerds are doing?" No one had a budget for that kind of thing after the crash.

The dotcom crash and the loss of Etech were hugely traumatic, but there WERE silver linings. Etech's crash begat FOO Camp, consistently the best events I've ever attended – small gatherings of smart weirdos who programmed their own conference in realtime.

It also created a brief moment of breathing space in tech, which had its origins in driven tech enthusiasts but had been steadily colonized by buck-chasers who upped sticks and quit when the money disappeared from the sector. For a brief moment, mid-decade, people who wanted to build meaningful technologies for users – not investors – could hire engineering talent and find office space. That was ended by the finance bubble that shattered in 2008, but for a while there, it was good.

It's brutal to think that I'll never go to another O'Reilly con, but my hopeful inner voice tells me that there might be something as wonderful on the horizon as FOO Camp. I'm so sorry for all the O'Reilly conference staff, who are amazing and have done so much good work.

As O'Reilly CEO Laura Baldwin writes, "No offense to 'Netflix and chill' but how about we move toward 'Code and conquer' as our new mantra during these trying times?"

Trump's Bible study teacher thinks coronavirus is God's wrath (permalink)

Wanna hear about an extreme religious far-right bigot who thinks that coronavirus is God's punishment for Chinese excess, American tolerance for homosexuality, and environmentalism?

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/24/trump-cabinet-bible-studies-coronavirus/

Ralph Drollinger is an evangelical pastor. He says Catholicism is "the world's largest false religion." He says women working outside the workplace is against scripture. He runs Capitol Ministries, whose goal is to have 200 ministries in 200 world capitals.

Drollinger may sound like a garden variety Christian Taliban, but he's awfully distinguished.

For one thing, he runs regular Bible study classes…at the White House.

His scriptural lessons: God would approve of kids in cages. God also wants lower taxes on rich people.

His twice-weekly Capital Hill Bible classes are regularly attended by 52 GOP lawmakers, sponsored by Kevin McCarthy [R-CA] and John Thune [R-SD].

His Wednesday White House Bible study classes are attended by Ben Carson, Betsy DeVos, Alex Azar, and Mike Pompeo. Pence, too!

His organization has received official endorsements from Joni Ernst, James Lankford and other GOP senators.

This anti-Catholic, homophobic, sinophobic, anti-enviromentalist, lunatic is squarely in the mainstream of Republican thought.

A chatbot that petitions companies for financial relief during the crisis (permalink)

The $3/month DoNotPay service has added a new covid-19 service: automatically petitioning the companies that bill you for mercy based on the coronavirus econopocalypse.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/25/21192765/donotpay-rent-bill-delay-chatbot-coronavirus-extension-laws-pandemic

Using a chatbot, you determine which of your bills are eligible for relief. Then it generates a "compassionate and polite request" seeking help. If the company does not comply, it follows up with a firmer letter citing relevant state/federal laws.

https://donotpay.com/

East London showman Mat Ricardo's Youtube playlists (permalink)

Under normal circumstances, showman MatRicardo is either traveling around doing his juggling and conjuring act, or hosting amazing variety show nights in east London. Neither of those are an option, now, obvious.

Instead, Ricardo is curating playlists of "comedy, variety, circus, magic, dance, music and other kinds of culture and entertainment to distract and amuse."

https://www.matricardo.com/blog/2020/3/17/lockdown-tv

https://www.matricardo.com/blog/2020/3/24/lockdown-tv-week-2

Highlights:

Kids in the Hall: "I speak no English"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vgoEhsJORU

Gene Kelly: "Summer Stock"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFJrV3pI5Zs

"The Knife-Throwing Mother & her Children (1950s)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHxodb2uUhQ

Mat Ricardo: "How to charm a German audience"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ECcHLvRYA

Xi's enemies sense weakness (permalink)

Autocracies are intrinsically unstable because their have-nots (who tend to be numerous) believe that they have no path to becoming haves, and see no legitimate purpose to preserve the social order.

China has stabilized its autocracy by simultaneously lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty and by using internet surveillance to both neutralize dissidents and spot its most corrupt and dangerous politicians.

But under Xi, internet surveillance has primarily become a weapon for spotting and neutralizing dissidents, and less so a way of spotting self-dealing technocrats and shutting them down. This created "authoritarian blindness," which meant Xi didn't spot or respond to Wuhan in good time.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/24/pluralist-your-daily-link-dose-24-feb-2020/#thatswhatxisaid

This failure ruptured Chinese public confidence in Xi, and emboldened his critics. Ren Zhiqiang (a party "princeling" whose father was a top Mao official, who made a fortune in real-estate and has been an outspoke Xi critic) issued a "viral" jeremiad against Xi this month.

Ren's post, "An official call to arms against Xi: The clown who insists on wearing the emperor's new clothes," spread on Twitter and other foreign services (he has been banned from Wechat for years).

https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/as-virus-recedes-in-china-anti-xi-revolt-spreads/

Ren disappeared shortly thereafter and is said to have been sentenced to 15 years in a secret prison near Beijing where his interrogators have been ordered to mete out "harsh treatment" to the 70-year-old.

Ren is a bellwether for other Chinese power-brokers, many of whom resent Xi and his power-consolidation techniques, such as his 2018 corruption purge that preferentially targeted corrupt officials who supported Xi's rivals.

https://web.archive.org/web/20181222163946/http://peterlorentzen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lorentzen-Lu-Crackdown-Nov-2018-Posted-Version.pdf

These grandees have been sharpening their knives for Xi for years, and coronavirus has made him vulnerable. Ren was the first to turn on him publicly, but I'm sure he won't be the last.

Locked down in a lockup (permalink)

You know what's more terrifying and frustrating than being locked down at home during a coronavirus pandemic? Being imprisoned during a coronavirus pandemic, crammed in with others, deprived of soap and supplies.

It's very bad in regular jails and prisons, but if anything, it's even worse in ICE's gulags, where thousands of law-abiding long-term US residents – and asylum seekers – have been detained by the Trump administration in order to please his sadistic base.

For example, Ian has lived in the US for 20 years. His wife and children are US citizens. He was detained while awaiting a decision on his spousal visa. His wife is a nurse treating covid patients. His children miss their father.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/03/24/everybody-s-scared-panic-at-immigrant-detention-center-after-positive-coronavirus-test

Ian has a heart condition that puts him at severe risk if he contracts coronavirus. He's in a 40-person dormitory with a recent arrival from China who is exhibiting symptoms.

He's in NJ's Essex detention facility, which is serviced by Corecivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America, a notorious human rights abuser with a long history of beltway banditry while running private prisons. Some detainees there are on hunger strike.

One of the medical staffers there was confirmed by ICE to have contracted coronavirus. The next day, ICE denied that he was medical staff. ICE would not comment on the contradiction.

(Image: Fibonacci Blue, CC BY)

Doctors hoard choloroquine (permalink)

After Trump made misleading statements about the safety and efficacy of treating covid-19 with chloroquine, members of his cult began dropping dead of overdoses on the antimalarial drug.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/health/arizona-coronavirus-chloroquine-death/index.html

But it wasn't just low-information Trumpers who took the advice to heart. Pharmacists are seeing surges in massive orders of chloroquine from doctors and even dentists who are self-prescribing in order to hoard, and then lying about it when the pharmacists ask for explanations.

https://www.propublica.org/article/doctors-are-hoarding-unproven-coronavirus-medicine-by-writing-prescriptions-for-themselves-and-their-families

This hoarding behavior deprives people who rely on chloroquine for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus of their medication during a pandemic emergency.

"People are losing their minds about this product. We're selling so much of this stuff and people are just stockpiling it prophylactically if anybody in their family gets sick — they're just holding on to it." -Brian Brito, Miami pharmacy owner.

"Currently, both nationally and in West Virginia, some prescribers have begun writing prescriptions for these drugs for family, friends, and coworkers in anticipation of Covid-19 related illness." -West Virginia Board of Pharmacy

Toilet paper separator (permalink)

The Toilet Paper Splitter: a DIY project to separate a single two-ply roll into two single-ply rolls. Requires two paint rollers, a couple bolts, a rubber band, and some stiff metal for a handle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JEfCAFHcPk

Conzealand goes virtual (permalink)

The World Science Fiction Convention began in 1939, when 200 sf fans who'd come to New York for the World's Fair gathered together (while explicitly excluding the leftist "Futurian" writers, who held their own counter-convention).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_World_Science_Fiction_Convention

Since then, there have been 77 Worldcons in total, one per year, excluding 1942/3/4/5, during which WWII intervened.

This year's Worldcon is Conzealand, the first Worldcon in New Zealand. Except it won't be. The organizers have wisely decided to move to a virtual event.

The hotels are allowing for cancellations, though there's some work to be done to allow the organizers to do mass cancellations for their group block. Different airlines have different rules regarding cancellations.

https://conzealand.nz/hotels?utm_source=CoNZealand

They're expecting to offer limited refunds to participants who don't want to a virtual con experience. They'll be offering a new online rate by April 15, and kids memberships are refundable now (but they ask you to forebear as their own personal funds are on the line).

Potential panelists are requested to put some thought into how they might help a virtual con with its programming.

This is incredibly disappointing, of course.I know the organizers and visited Wellington and the venue, both of which are incredible.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/03/25/conzealand-special-announcement

I've been looking forward to attending for years. But it was the right call to make. it won't be the last such disappointment, either.

Please consider supporting the organizers by buying an online membership once they're offered and attending the con from wherever you are.

Posties are key to America's emergency response (permalink)

The USPS is amazing. A fully self-supporting federal agency that provides universal service as well as good, well-paid jobs with benefits and pensions. It's also a vital lifeline during crises.

https://www.wired.com/story/us-postal-plan-coronavirus-vaccine-doomsday/

Since the Cold War, posties have been integral to America's crisis plans. They were once deputized to catalog the dead and the living after a nuclear holocaust, distributing Safety Notification Cards (POD Form 810). Mail trucks would have been repurposed as ambulances.

Both Obama and GWB integrated posties into their plans for biological attacks, planning to have masked and gowned letter carriers deliver Cipro door to door (the "Postal Plan").

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-medical-countermeasures-following-a-biological-attack

As the DHS noted in its prep documents, the USPS is the only federal agency that could knock on every door in America in a single day.

When (if?) effective covid meds are available, it's likely a postal worker will deliver them to you.

Now is a good time to remember that the GOP have been trying to dismantle the universal, self-funding, vital USPS for decades, so that private carriers like UPS and Fedex can cream off the most profitable parts of its business and leave rural Americans in the cold.

Volante's masks for covid responders (permalink)

I've long admired (and worn) clothing from Volante Design, whose "streetwear for superheroes" is made by well-paid, onshore workers and is cosplay-adjascent — the kind of thing you can wear out and about, but also to a con.

Now, they're making masks for covid responders.

The masks are made from cloth and can protect N95 masks from contamination as they are reused (they have a pocket for this purpose). They can also prevent you from touching your face, and partially contain coughs when medical masks are not available

https://www.volantedesign.us/

They're seeking donations to cover the cost of making these and shipping them to orgs that have requested cloth masks:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1txEanDkIrJ5GNfSk-zlXkTlB-bQPNRN_Y69qEwmdme8/htmlview

A $105.50 donation lets them make 50 masks. They're also selling them on a sliding scale to those in need.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Matrix online game hires real actors to play in-game characters http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-matrix-online/598441p1.html

#15yrsago Fox is advertising on Grokster, also suing to put Grokster out of business https://web.archive.org/web/20051018083600/http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=28535&Nid=12722&p=244505

#15yrsago US sabotaging efforts to create humanitarian copyright and patent policies https://web.archive.org/web/20050916104840/http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/2005/03/25/united_states_v_wipos_development_agenda.php

#15yrsago Ex-coder's account of life as a bike courier https://web.archive.org/web/20050323071902/http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548

#10yrsago Profit-sharing arrangements among Somali pirates https://web.archive.org/web/20100323020702/https://www.undispatch.com/somali-pirates-buisiness-model

#1yrago Peak Indifference: are we reaching climate's denial/nihilism tipping point? https://www.wired.com/story/we-might-be-reaching-peak-indifference-on-climate-change/

#1yrago London developer makes last-minute changes to lock poor kids out of "communal" playground https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/mar/25/too-poor-to-play-children-in-social-housing-blocked-from-communal-playground

#1yrago Chinese censors incinerate entire run of a kickstarted Call of Cthulhu RPG sourcebook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Urosc-JEY

#1yrago The Vessel: a perfect symbol for the grifter capitalism of New York City's privatized Hudson Yards "neighborhood" https://thebaffler.com/latest/fuck-the-vessel-wagner

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Wendy Hanamura (https://twitter.com/whanamura), Geekologie (https://geekologie.com/), Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/).

Currently writing: I'm getting geared up to start work my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Data – the new oil, or potential for a toxic oil spill? https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/23/data-the-new-oil-or-potential-for-a-toxic-oil-spill/

Upcoming appearances:

Quarantine Book Club, April 1, 3PM Pacific https://www.eventbrite.com/e/quarantine-book-club-cory-doctorow-tickets-100931360416

Museums and the Web, April 2, 12PM-3PM Pacific https://mw20.museweb.net/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

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ruler-of-turtle-kind · 3 years

Text

21 Lighthearted Questions

Thank you for the tag, @olyollyoxenfree ^^

1] What’s the last thing you did that made you feel proud of yourself?

I beat a really hard boss in Breath of The Wild!

2] What was your last inner chuckle about?

People being funny in Among Us

3] What’s your favourite flower?

Periwinkle ^^

4] A thing you accomplished today?

I got dressed and worked through my anxiety.

5] What’s the most beautiful word in the English language?

Petrichor or however it's spelled

6] Favourite way of dancing?

Swaying and/or wiggling to the music

7] If a rogue managed to unlock access to the secret chamber of your home/lair/mansion, what would they find?

Treasured stuffed animals

8] What’d be your perfect sleep accommodation?

A good bed, a decent pillow, a fluffy comforter, a stuffed animal to cuddle, and my husband to warm me

9] Favourite fruit?

I have no idea anymore. It used to be strawberries, but too many of those have been tart rather than sweet. I think either bananas or pineapples?

10] If you could grant one wish to another person, who would that be?

I'd fix my dad's physical problems

11] One thing you like about your physical appearance?

I have pretty eyes.

12] One personal trait you like having?

I'm creative.

13] What happened the last time you got goose bumps?

I yawned and got chills randomly.

14] What’s a movie you feel deserves more love?

A Monster in Paris. It's my favorite animated movie. It's got great music, fun characters, and a good story.

15] What’s a song you need people to hear at least once?

O Holy Night by The Cruxshadows

16] If you were a dragon what would you horde?

Stuffed animals and books that I like.

17] What Olympic sport would you love to excel at?

Fencing! Fencing fencing fencing. I love it. I wish I could take classes, but I don't have money.

18] What do you think is the worst kind of minor inconvenience?

When you have to sneeze, but it just will NOT happen

19] What’s your favourite natural phenomenon?

Lighting owo

20] Favourite childhood TV show?

Oof. Probably MLP;FIM

21] Which televised stereotypical high school group would you belong to; jock, cheerleader, goth, band geek, nerd, punk, prep, other?

Theater kid with some goth overlap. If I was a character in a high school tv show, I would probably be the overly dramatic tries-too-hard-to-be-spooky theater kid who gets waaaay too into her role as Lady Macbeth.

I'm going to tag @kunaiman @asakano and @manda-kat

#friend #friends #thanks for the tag #tagged #i was tagged #tag games

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sagittariuswritings · 4 years

Text

smile. (1/?)

A/N: It’s kind of long for just an introduction to the series, but I enjoyed writing it.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader

Word count: 1.9k (This literally filled up like five pages on google docs and it felt like I was writing a chapter book but what do i knoW)

Warnings: None, really.

Steve had a whole list of books he planned on reading, and since he had a day off, he figured he might as well put that list to some good use. He had his little notebook full of things people had recommended to him. Things he should discover, since it had only been two years since he was unthawed. He still hadn’t got to listen to the full album that Sam had recommended to him. He only listened to about three songs when he was recovering in the hospital from the fall off of the helicarrier. As soon as he’d healed up, he went straight back to work. Which was not surprising for the people that knew him personally. If he wasn’t kept busy doing something, he might lose his mind. He was a good man who loved to work. It wasn’t like he could really help it.

He pushed open the door to a small local library, reaching into his back pocket and taking the small notebook out. Closing the door behind him, he opened the notebook, and flipped to a page with a list of books upon books. One of the books had been The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Steve was intrigued. He was more of a history nerd, really, but the title of this book definitely intrigued him.

Not wanting to bother the librarian who seemed to be busy reading already, and hadn’t noticed Steve, he made his way to where the fictional books were. It had been so long since he walked around a library. He normally just went to a store and bought those small really thick books you’d find in a single aisle of a grocery store. “The ones for old people.”, Natasha would tell him. “Maybe you should get a pair of reading glasses while you’re at it, old man.” She’d even said.

After about ten or fifteen minutes of no luck, Steve grumbled something like “Gosh dang-it.” under his breath. He made his way to the front desk, and the librarian was still reading.

Her y/e/c eyes skimmed across the paper intensely, almost as if she was having a staring competition with the book itself. This can’t be happening, she thought, her eyes wide as the scene unfolded in front of her. Her favorite character got stabbed, and she let out an audible gasp. A loud “NO!” slipped passed her lips shamelessly, not caring that she was in the library she worked at. She grumbled some curse words under her breath that Steve couldn’t quite hear, it was so quiet, and she slammed the book shut, putting it on the desk.

Shutting the book seemed to have brought her back to reality, because she looked up, and another gasp passed her lips. “Oh my word, I’m so sorry, sir! My favorite character just died, and, well, you see, pretty much everyone refers to me as a geek or a nerd, so I guess you just witnessed my inner nerd or… geek… I don’t know-- I’m sorry, again--” She blabbered on, embarrassed now. “How can I help you?”

Steve suppressed his laugh that dared to break free from his lips, and cleared his throat before he spoke. “It’s quite okay, ma’am, really.” He offered her a little smile, his eyes glancing down to the name on the desk. It read Y/n Y/l/n, and he looked back over to her. “Y/n, is it?” She nodded. “Y/n-- Does this library happen to have The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien in stock?”

She looked at him blankly. He must not know anything about the series. “...Which one…? The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy, sir, the first book is The Fellowship of the Ring, the second book is The Two Towers, and the last book is The Return of the King.”

He looked at her, surprise written in his futures. “...All three, I suppose. Why not?” He shrugged with a small smile, uncertainty in his futures as well, though.

Y/n read the uncertainty in his futures, and offered him a soft smile. “I think that’s a great idea. Lucky for you, I just brought them back from my place. I’ve read them plenty of times before, but it’s nice working at a library. You don’t have to buy your own copies or pay rent.” She winked, still smiling. She stood up out of her chair, and walked into the backroom behind the giant desk she was originally sitting at.

She came out of the backroom with a frown on her face. “I’m afraid I forgot them… Here, how about this: I get off this shift in about two hours. Come back here at exactly 2pm, and I’ll grab the books from my place and give them to you, free of charge. You look like a busy man, and I don’t think you’ll be coming back for a while.”

It was one of her specialties. She was able to read people quite easy, almost like a detective. If she looked hard enough, she might be able to tell you what your job or hobby is. Her friends nicknamed her Sherlock, and so she of course nicknamed her bestest friend Watson.

“Uh… Yeah, actually… I’ve got a full schedule most of the time, this is my one in a million day off.” He answered, unsure. He didn’t know how Y/n didn’t recognize him. If anything, going into the library, he expected to be noticed upon first glance. He was so used to it, and honestly, it was a relief to not be asked for whatever a selfie was every second he walked down the sidewalk.

“What do you do?” Y/n curiously asked. When she saw he took a moment to reply, she spoke up before he could. “Sorry-- You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I’m just a curious person.” She sheepishly shrugged. “Gets boring here in the library when barely anyone comes in.”

“No no, you’re fine. I’m Steve Rogers. I worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. before it fell out. Now, I’m an avenger.”

Her jaw seemed to slacken when she heard who he was. “Steve Rogers? You mean Captain America?” She asked, dumbfounded.

He seemed to regret what he said as he nodded, but his regret disappeared when she said. “My sister is a huge fan. I’m not gonna be one of those annoying people that constantly ask for pictures or autographs. I wasn’t here during the attack on New York. I was in the Faroe Islands for a few months.” Y/n cut herself off, feeling herself about to explain in full detail of why she was there, how much fun she had, etc. It was a bad habit of hers. If she started speaking about her passions, it would be hard to make her stop.

A wave of relief washed over him when he heard she wasn’t about to ask for anything of him. “Faroe Islands? I’ve never heard of it…” Y/n’s eyes seemed to light up when he said that, obviously excited. Not many people had heard of the Faroe Islands, and she was more than happy to explain it to people. But she didn’t want him to feel like he had to stay there.

“Since it’s your day off, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of things to do, so, how about when you come by here at 2, I’ll explain on the way to my apartment. Deal?” She offered him her hand to shake on it. Steve gladly shook it, his small charming smile gracing his lips. “Deal. See you at two, Y/n.”

“See you, Cap.” She grinned at him, watching him leave.

-------------------------

2pm came faster than Steve expected. He was in the middle of ordering a sandwich at Subway when he realized it was 1:45. Thankfully the sandwich-maker was quick and finished his sandwich within 2 minutes. Subway bag with sandwich inside in hand, Steve ran down the blocks to the library.

Y/n was on her way to the doors of the library when the doors burst open, and Steve ran into her. Y/n lost her balance and almost fell, but Steve’s strong arms wrapped around her waist to keep her standing.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry--” Steve quickly spoke, his eyes flickering over her face to make sure she was okay. It surprised Y/n so much, that it took quite some time for her to finally speak up.

She cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah, I’m fine.” She quickly nodded, offering a reassuring smile. “Promise.”

Steve got caught in her y/e/c eyes for a moment before he realized he was staring. He removed his arms from around her waist after making sure she could stand.

“Do you wanna get those books and get a history lesson on the Faroe Islands, Steve?” She asked with a small sheepish smile.

“I don’t see why not. I could use the information.” Steve smiled back at her. He turned and opened the door for her, letting her walk out.

Y/n locked the doors behind them before turning and starting to walk with him. “So, first things first, the Faroe Islands are off the coast of Denmark. It’s a total of 18 islands, and it’s absolutely gorgeous there. You get from island to island by either ferry or underwater tunnel. It’s actually really cool. It’s a lot like Iceland, which some people might mistake photos of the Faroe Islands for Iceland. My absolute favorite location on the Faroe Islands, was Lake Sørvágsvatn…”

As she went on and on, before they knew it, they were at her apartment. “You can come in, if you want.” She nodded to the inside of her apartment after she unlocked the door.

Steve walked in behind her, looking around. The first thing that caught his eye was a giant shelf with books on them, camera lenses, two camera bodies, and so much more. “You’re a photographer.” He noted.

“Very well, Sherlock!” She teased, shutting the door behind her. “That’s why I went to the Faroe Islands. Well, I’d always wanted to go there and photograph the landscape, but I was contacted by National Geographic, because I signed up for some sort of random pick thingy, I dunno, but I was chosen, and I had the time of my life there. I wish I could go back, but… Money’s short right now, and it sucks.” She sighed, walking over to the shelf.

After a couple moments, she let out an “Aha!” and pulled out three books off of the shelf. “Here you are, all three of the books.” She handed him the stack.

Steve took the stack, brows raised. “How long are these each?” He asked a little warily. “Well over 400 pages. Good luck, soldier.” She chuckled.

“Thank you, really. I’ll return them to the library as soon as I’m finished with them.” Steve smiled down at her.

“Anytime! Here,” She turned around and jogged to the dining room table, grabbing a notebook and ripping a paper out of it. She scribbled an assortment of numbers on it, and handed the paper to him. “If you have any questions or something about the books, just call me. I’ll probably always pick up.”

“Sounds like a plan, Y/n. I’ll see you around?”

“I’ll make sure of it.”

With a wave goodbye, Steve was out of her apartment, and Steve was left with a sudden interest to get to know her even more.

#steve rogers #steve x reader #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america x reader #marvel #avengers #quite a bit of self insert here bc i'm a photographer and a lotr nerd #soft!steve

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questionairesforme · 4 years

Text

1] What's the last thing you did that made you feel proud of yourself? hmm maybe how i've handled the pandemic these past few weeks

2] What was your last inner chuckle about? a terrible, terrible meme that wasn't funny at all lmao

3] What's your favourite flower? i love all flowers, i guess my favorite is always the one in front of me

4] A thing you accomplished today? i witnessed the daylight saving times yay

5] What's the most beautiful word in the English language? hmm that's a tough one, i dont know

6] Favourite way of dancing? i just love dancing out of control to some ridiculous song

7] If a rogue managed to unlock access to the secret chamber of your home/lair/mansion, what would they find? wtf

8] What’d be your perfect sleep accommodation? uhh

9] Favourite fruit? strawberries, pineapple, watermelon

10] If you could grant one wish to another person, who would that be? my grandpa

11] One thing you like about your physical appearance? my eye color

12] One personaljty trait you like having? honesty

13] What happened the last time you got goose bumps? i ALWAYS get goose bumps, i think the last time was during a new girl episode, I'm not sure what scene tho

14] What's a movie you feel deserves more love? I'm not really into movies tbh

15] What's a song you need people to hear at least once? das boot ist voll

16] If you were a dragon what would you horde? books

17] What Olympic sport would you love to excel at? sprint

18] What do you think is the worst kind of minor inconvenience? having a cold

19] What's your favourite natural phenomenon? northern lights

20] Favourite childhood TV show? hotel zack n cody

21] Which televised stereotypical high school group would you belong to; jock, cheerleader, goth, band geek, nerd, punk, prep, other? oh wow i have no idea.

0 notes

magic5ball · 4 years

Text

Nature Trail to Hell Arc II: Watt Outta Hell (5)

Chapter 5: Dropping the F-Bomb

Then there was F-Bomb.

The funny thing was, even though he was supposed to be my partner, that douchy velociraptor was probably the gang member I knew the least about. Nine of the ten times I saw the guy, he looked like he wanted to punch me. The other tenth, like he wanted to slit my wrists. Whenever the guy could, he’d push me off on one of the other guys, or just ‘forget’ to supervise me when I was building my first tommy gun. Out of potatoes. (He insisted that last bit was to teach me to ‘improvise’, but I dunno.) Also unlike the others, I didn’t recognize him from Jurassic Park. A-Hole was the one that did the famous door unlocking scene. Schizzle and D-Bag chased the two kids in the kitchen. Hoe was in the scene where they fought the T-Rex in the museum. Heck, even Weena got in on the action (she was the dinosaur that spit poison at nerd guy)! But F-Bomb? I could reenact that film by myself I knew it so well (and I often did, to my little bro’s chagrin), so I can ensure you, he was not in the thing at all. His body was covered in soft downy feathers, like a pillow. When I asked everyone about this, they just told me things like “F-Bomb is a jerk” or “Don’t go prying into his business”, which to my little kid ears meant “find out everything you can about the little guy. Everything.”

I also spied like a little kid, which mostly meant I would stare at F-Bomb while he was doing crap until he told me to leave him “the fork alone!”

This wasn’t that often either, since he spent most of his downtime in his room: a little hole with a door right behind A-Hole’s desk. I thought it looked like a rabbit hole, if the rabbit were secretly a vampire with an unquenchable thirst for intensely graphic violence.

Once a week Hoe insisted we do therapy to help ‘release our inner frustrations’. First I was worried, since if her sessions were anything like what my Mom sent me to, we’d wind up knowing more about ourselves then we ever wanted to know. And believe me, I’ve met myself, and you do not want to spend longer with that guy than you need to! Instead, we would ‘vent’ our anger by drawing pictures with crayons. But being Deinonychus who lacked opposable thumbs (save yours truly) we’d all get frustrated and slam out crayons into the paper until they bled, or as close to bleeding as a crayon can possibly get. They we’d draw death, in all its most gruesome, horrible forms. There were mutilations, lacerations, Velossi screaming as their brains melted from the inside, coming out of their nose. (Well, except for D-Bag. He’d draw something like, say, a scarecrow in front of a television wearing a sippy hat and say it represented ‘Death of the Mind’) On a good day, I’d learn fifty graphic new ways to torture someone, both physically and psychologically.

So why am I telling you this, you ask? Because F-Bomb drew the nastiest, most horrid pictures out of all of them! In fact, I’ve contractually required to never speak of them ever again since one of my peer readers had to be sent to an insane asylum (Also Carl, if you’re reading this, I’m really, really sorry about that!) though I will say this: all the pictures involved someone getting very close to F-Bomb’s door. And if that wasn’t enough to drill the message into your head, he taped these to said door, like a little kid proud of his artwork (just don’t tell him I said this, okay?)

So what do you think ten year old me did when F-Bomb and A-Hole were away? Go on, guess.

Between F-Bomb’s room and the door, there was a tunnel, ceiling so low I had to crouch to get through. It kind of reminded me of the time I climbed up a slide when I was six, except instead of shocking me with static electricity, everything was covered in this sticky red stuff. Overall, I’d say it was an improvement. The tunnel finally let out into what I can only describe as a veritable wonderland of plastic figurines, cheap dime-store manga, cheaper fake swords, and a pile of trash that’d been there so long it had fossilized to the floor. Besides every single wall being lined with shelves full of some knickknack or other, the only major features of the room were a small table with a T.V. on it (the old kind, with the antennas sticking out on top and a video tape player) and facing it, a bed so soft and fluffy I nearly mistook it for a cloud at first. And sitting atop this bed was a pillow with a life sized girl printed on it. I must have stared at the girl pillow thing for ten minutes, trying to grasp what it was, or for that matter, why everything in the room was in near perfect condition; not a single thing damaged or horrendously mutilated in any way. In fact, everything kind of smelled like lavender bath soap, which was really weirding me out. But my attention always kept returning to the dumb girl pillow (or is it pillow girl?), with her creepy oversized eyes and yellow meatballs in her hair. She looked kind of funny, actually.

Suddenly, possibly the greatest temptation I’d ever faced came over me. I wanted, no, I needed to do something stupid and uncalled for to that pillow. For some reason, this always happened to me whenever I was alone in a room I didn’t belong. I always had to disrupt something, whether it was switching around a pair of books in my Mom’s study or touching a Monet original when nobody was looking, if I thought I could get away scot-free, you can be sure as sin I’d do it. But halfway to getting my finger towards my target, I briefly remembered that one scene from Aladdin where the monkey touches something in the treasure room and nearly kills everyone. Was it really worth the risk, I wondered? This was a dangerous sociopath’s private horde, after all. Then I remembered the funny scene where the Genie starts singing and stopped caring.

My finger carried onward to its’ destination in dramatic slow motion, finally touching down on the blank surface where her nose should have been to the loud booming of bass drums. My head erupted in a triumphant crescendo as the soft cotton beneath gave way as my finger touched silk so soft it was practically liquid. For a brief moment my head exploded in euphoria at having entered another domain. The domain of the pillow. Now, I’m no artist, but whatever that one guy was thinking when he painted God touching fingers with a regular joe, it was exactly what I was feeling. Man, it was glorious!

That is, until half a second later, when I heard the rapid clack-clack-clacking echoing through the tunnel. By the time I turned around, F-Bomb was already standing in the tunnel’s entryway, redder than Mars and emitting a smoke that smelled a lot like gunpowder.

“WHAT. THE FORK. ARE. YOU. DOING. HERE?”

#My writing #Nature Trail To Hell #deinonychus #velociraptor

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365daysofj2 · 7 years

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Comme Tu Veux (Library AU, 7/?)

Jared can’t wait to hear what Jensen’s surprise is. All he knows is that he’s supposed to wear nice clothes and they’re getting on a train, so he can bring snacks if he wants to. He doesn’t know where they’re going or what they’re doing when they get off the train, and Jared is thrilled. All Jensen would tell him is that they’re covering both of their areas of interest this weekend. Jared rings Jensen’s doorbell, although he’s starting to wonder if he should ask Jensen if he can just start letting himself in. They’ve been officially dating for two and a half months now, and while Jared’s not going to ask for a key or anything, he thinks he should get front-door-opening privileges. Jensen lives in the safest neighborhood in the entire township—it’s not even on GPS, and unless you live nearby, you wouldn’t even know it’s there—so there’s no reason he needs to keep his door locked all the time. Although it’s Jensen, so he probably does anyway. Jensen opens the door. He’s wearing a gray argyle sweater vest (Jared’s favorite, actually) with a crisp white shirt and black trousers, and he looks every bit the stuffed-shirt librarian. But he grins when he sees Jared’s black Deathly Hallows sweater and gray trousers. “That’s perfect, actually,” he says with a chuckle. Jared’s eyes widen. “Really? It’s a Harry Potter thing?” “Of sorts,” replies Jensen with a smug smile. “You’ll find out soon enough.” Jared hoists his BB-8 bag higher on his shoulder. He’s got his iPad full of comics and Rifftrax videos, which Jared said to bring, and Jensen said he’d watch one of Jared’s movies if Jared listened to some poetry. “You got everything? Water, snacks, entertainment? It’s not a super long train ride, just about three and a half hours.” Jared nods. “I’m ready. Let’s do this mysterious thing.” Jensen grins and grabs his leather briefcase. Jared rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “God, you are such a nerd.” “You’re a nerd, too,” retorts Jensen. “I’m a geek,” Jared corrects him. “There’s a difference.” “Tell me on the way,” says Jensen, nudging Jared out the door. Jensen locks up and unlocks his Mercedes. Jared didn’t think Branch Librarians got paid that well, but Jensen explained that his family was rich by central Pennsylvania standards, and he’d bought both the car and the townhouse in cash. He didn’t have any student loan debt either, which made Jared so unbelievably envious that his head actually hurt. Jared clambers into the front seat and swings his bag into the footwell. Jensen turns on the car and immediately the stereo comes on speaking a language that Jared can’t immediately identify. “What is that?” Jensen blushes. “It’s Harry Potter à l’École des Sorciers—i.e., Harry Potter in French.” Jared stares at him. “Harry Potter in French. Because you couldn’t be caught dead reading an American children’s book?” Jensen shrugs, apparently unoffended. “I wanted a challenge.” “So you speak French? That’s real useful in an inner-city library.” Jensen’s face falls. “Yeah, I mostly wish I’d taken Spanish or Mandarin in school.” “Your school had Mandarin?” “The college did.” Jensen backs out of the parking space and points them toward the train station. They’re going to Middletown instead of Harrisburg because the parking is free there. It’s one stop further east, but it’s only a few minutes’ difference. They board the train and get a whole row to themselves. There aren’t many people on the train yet. Most people will get on at Harrisburg. Jared opens his bag and gets out his iPad. He opens Comixology and starts catching up on Injustice: Gods Among Us Year 2. Jensen gets out his own tablet and opens Kindle to something Jared can’t identify because once again, it’s in French. “Showoff,” mutters Jared. Jensen puts his arm around Jared. “Does it really bother you?” Jared shrugs. “A little. I’m an actual educator and I feel stupid next to you sometimes.” Jensen kisses his temple. “I don’t mean to make you feel inadequate or insecure. I’m just a really huge nerd. Believe me, you’re superior to me in a number of ways, not least of which is your ability to socialize like a normal person. I mean, you can talk to anyone. I envy you that.” Jared forces a small smile. “Is that my superpower?” Jensen nods, grinning. “That and being really, ridiculously attractive.” That makes Jared smile for real. “You’re not so bad yourself in that area.” “I look like a nerd, and an effeminate one to boot. You look like Conan the Librarian.” Jared laughs at that. “Conan the Librarian. I really want to get that on my nametag now.” “I dare you to put that in as a print request,” teases Jensen. “You know I actually will, right?” Jensen chuckles. “That’s what I love about you.” He kisses Jared’s cheek. “Well, that’s one thing out of about a thousand.” Jared grins and tips Jensen’s face towards him so he can give him a proper kiss. “We should compare lists sometime.” “My list is in French,” replies Jensen, but he quirks an eyebrow to show he’s joking. “You should teach me French,” says Jared between kisses. Jensen grins. “I would love that.” “How do you say, ‘kiss me’ in French?” “Embrasse-moi or fais-moi un bisou,” answers Jensen. “Embrasse-moi,” repeats Jared as best he can. “Ouai, comme tu veux,” says Jensen, capturing Jared’s lips for another kiss.

* * * They arrive in Johnstown about three hours later. Jensen calls them a cab, which takes them to Hoss’s Steak and Sea House. “This isn’t the surprise, right?” Jensen laughs. “No, we’re eating first. Then we’ll head to the concert hall.” After they eat, Jensen gets them another cab and they drive to a college campus. The cab lets them off at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, and Jensen leads Jared to the concert hall inside. He hands their tickets to a student usher and she hands them two programs, which is when Jared sees what the surprise is. They’re at the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra’s performance of The Music of John Williams. Jared smiles so wide he can feel the stretch in his cheeks. “Oh my God, this is awesome!” Jensen grins and takes Jared’s hand as they walk to their seats. “I figured it was the best of both worlds.” Once they’ve taken their seats, Jared draws Jensen close for a passionate kiss. “I love it, thank you. This is perfect.” Jensen grins and takes Jared’s hand in his. “You’re very welcome. I’m glad you like it.” Jared sighs happily. “You’re the best boyfriend ever.” Jensen beams. “Je t’aime,” he whispers as the lights go down. Even Jared knows what that means. “I love you too,” he whispers.

#j2 au #j2 fanfic #j2 #365daysofj2 #gratuitous French

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nerdarchy-blog · 5 years

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Ever wonder what D&D cleric spells you should take at early levels. We go over it for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. We look at tier 1 D&D spells for clerics. We break it down by attack, buff, defense, overlooked, utility, and the bonus iconic spell category.

5 Go to Tier 1 D&D Cleric Spells Video

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5 Go to Tier 1 D&D Cleric Spells Video Transcription

Ted: “Today we’re going to do another video talking about clerics.”

Dave: “Yeah, we’re going to have to have faith to make this one work.”

Ted: “If our viewers out there, you watching, if you’ve got the power, if you’ve got the belief in us, we can be able to reveal the go to spells.”

Dave: “Our belief is not strong enough, we need more Ted.”

Ted: “Do you believe?’

Dave: “Do you believe? Welcome to the Nerdarchy I’m Nerdarchist Dave, and as always I’m here hanging out with this nerd.”

Ted: “Nerdarchist Ted.”

Dave: “Maybe it’s your first time hanging out in Ted’s basement. It’s a place where we like to talk about views, news, and home brews for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons and sometimes we talk about other role playing games.”

Ted: “If you don’t want to miss a single video, then don’t forget to crit hit that subscribe button and attune to that notification bell.”

Dave: “Now when we did the wizards, Go to spells, we include it fifth level, which is not tier one. Tier one is only one through fourth so we’re going to get it right this time and we’re only going to include spells from first and second level. For our go to cleric spells.”

Ted: “Right now. Cleric is something that’s, you know, you know, dear dear to my heart, it is my favorite character class. I like having the religion in D&D with all of the awesome options that you can have but, you know, that leaves to, well, what spells do we wind up taking So we’re gonna dive into it today.”

Dave: “So we’re going to do the same breakdown. We’re going to do the five goto spells plus one bonus spell. We’ve got attack, we’ve got buff, we’ve got the defense,”

Ted: “we’ve got utility, we’ve got iconic, and we’re going to add in that overlooked.”

Dave: “All right, so let’s dive into it. Our first one is attack spells . A ton of great choices for the cleric, but what’s our go to?”

Ted: “All right So the Go to is got to be hold person, Eh, it’s one of those things that a lot of people like, yeah, you know, it’s not that big a deal. But as we dive more into the conditions and we realized how insane it is to be paralyzed, it’s just crazy. You’re cleric casts hold person on your bad guy. And all the melee characters run up and just annihilated because the attacks come with advantage and any attack that it’s an automatic crit.”

Dave: “Long as they’re within five feet. Yeah. Well, as I sat the melee attackers go in, so hold person is actually a very old spell. It came from the very beginning and it’s always been like the staple of the cleric, so you know, being able to restrain people and hold them in place with your magic. It is a second level spell and action. The cast range of 60 feet and it lasts a whole minute. As long as you concentrate on it. Choose a humanoid that you can see within range. The target must succeed on wisdom savings throw or be paralyzed for the duration. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another wisdom saving, throw on a successful save. The spell ends on the target. Now you can also cast at a higher level spell and for each spell slot you’d go above. It’s going to allow you to affect another target.”

Ted: “You’ve got multiple options when it comes to using this. Either you can do it to, to restrain an attacker that you don’t have to kill them. You can cast it as a higher level spell, hitting multiple targets or you know, straight up, I want that guy done. As I said, you cast it all, everybody runs it on the thing that can attack back and you’re just proceed the crit after crit after crit.”

Dave: “So next up we’re going to go to our go to buff spell. There are a lot of good choices for cleric, but one of them just really stands out more than any of the others. To me, what do you think that’s going to be?”

Ted: “And that’s going to have to be aid. So duration is eight hours, casting times single action. There’s no savings for him because it’s a, it’s a buff. We don’t, we don’t need to worry about, you know, saves. So it’s range is 30 feet you’re spell bolsters are allies with toughness and resolve. Choose up to three creatures within range, each targets hip point and maximum increases by five for the duration. So five extra hit points, not temporary. Five hit points added to your Max and your current for eight hours. That’s amazing.”

Dave: “It is. There’s no concentration that goes with it. You can pump this spell up to give even more hit points. And it also means when you get damaged and they get lowered by healing, you can bring them back up and have it. So it’s, it’s just a really strong buff spell.”

Ted: “So it was a low level spell that you can be able to use. And let’s face it, when you’re getting ready to fight that, that big bad who we’re talking campaign big bad and you look over at that Bard who’s got 99 hit points as a max and there’s that chance of that guy going to have, you know, power word spells now might be a good time to apply that.”

Dave: “So, uh, speaking of buffs spells, you might learn a buff your game up with D&D Beyond the sponsors for this video, which we’re giving our handy dandy devices available so that we can read this spells to you as we go along, which is super convenient. We’re not lugging around heavy big books with us. You know, just this lightweight phone, all the information right at our fingertips. Everything that’s come out for 5th edition, Dungeons and Dragons, that’s official content is on that site. If you have it unlocked, but there’s a bunch of free things you can do over there. Anything in the SRD or the basic rules is over on D&D Beyond. You can use it for free. You can build characters over there. Uh, they have articles, they have videos. There’s a ton of information.”

Ted: “If you’re trying to figure out what spells to pick for your cleric or your wizard or any, any spell caster, you’ve got the ability to pull up your D&D Beyond, go into your filters and limited by spell level, by school, by source material so that you can be able to go in and quickly look through what are your options as opposed to, you know, as I used to do, I’d pull out the player’s handbook. You got to look through, okay, what spells do I have access to I have to look through the entire index of options of okay. All the spells listed alphabetically here. I can just go, go through cleric spells in the player’s handbook for first and second level, all fit in once one scrollable page on D&D Beyond.”

Dave: “ Super convenient. Jump down to description and go check out some D&D Beyond.”

Ted: “All right, so what category are we going to next Dave?”

Dave: “Next we’re going to go to defense. So with that to go into our defensive spells and we’re ready to go with shield of faith. There’s a couple of reasons why I like this one.”

Ted: “All right. Now shield of faith we’re talking about at first level spell, so you’re going to get access to it right away. It’s a bonus action to cast so you don’t have to worry about, you know, uh, action economy or this, this being lost. You’re going to get to be able to do this. A shimmering field appears and surrounds a creature of your choice with an range which is 60 feet by the way, granting an a plus two bonus to ac for the duration, which is 10 minutes.”

Dave: “This is really nice cause you can increase your armor class or a party members armor class. It’s a great spell that you can use to defend yourself or someone else at the party. 60 foot. That’s a great range. Last for 10 minutes, only drawback, it’s a concentration, but overall for first level and second level of defensive spells, this one’s a great one.”

Ted: “There’s very few things in the game that are actually going to wind up adding to your AC. Uh, so getting a first level spell that you’ve got to be able to throw on there and have it stay 10 minutes actually has the chance, especially if you’re doing a dungeon crawl to last through multiple combats. So single first level spells going to be able to help you out from multiple. So next up we’re going to talk about utility spells. And there was definitely some debate here because there’s a lot of really good options. Uh, I think this is where cleric really has the ability to shine with utility, but you know, there’s something that’s going to certainly have to stand out.”

Dave: “Yeah, we went with zone of truth. We thought this would be a great spell for a cleric in those a utility situations, especially for interrogations or you’re trying to figure out if someone’s lying to you or not. It’s also going to facilitate a lot of role playing.”

Ted: “That was why I really put it, put it in there. There was, there was a couple of other things that were high contenders but to me Zone of Truth speaks highly to this is a role-playing spell whether you’re trying to deal with in our inner party conflict, NPC on PC conflict, or just you know NPC on NPC. This is a great thing that you can, you can be able to pull out and you know have at your disposal is a second level spell. It’s a casting time of an action. It lasts 10 minutes. It does require a charisma save, but it has a a range of 60 feet and then once you put it out it is a radius of, or sorry, a sphere of 15 feet from the point you choose and you know anyone who fails, they’re save in that zone is unable to willingly tell a lie. That doesn’t mean you can’t deceive. It’s up to the uh, you know, the person in there as to how they want to creatively word, uh, their, their statements and what have you. But I think it can be a lot of fun. And if you’ve got someone who’s really, you know, slick and suave, you can still mislead. You can still misdirect with telling the truth.”

Dave: “ Yeah. You create a magical zone that guards against deception and a 15 foot radius sphere senator on I point of your choice with them range until the spell ends. A creature that enters the spells area for the first time on a turn, we’re starts his turned there must make it charisma saving, throw on a failed save creature can’t speak a deliberate lie while in the radius, you know, whether the creature succeeds or fails on its saving throw and effected creature is aware of the spell and can thus avoid answering questions to which it would normally respond with lies. Such a creature can be evasive and its answer as long as it remains within the boundaries of the truth. This very much makes me think of like the, the classic fey that can’t actually speak lies but they deceive their asses off all the time.”

Ted: “Now we we’ve you know, shared on the, on the, on the channel different book series that we, you know, we really enjoy and you know, the one time it’s like, oh you know, you know, I can’t tell a lie. It’s like, but that hasn’t stopped you from deceiving people for for the hundreds of years.”

Dave: “Absolutely. So next up we are going to go to are overlooked spell. Now this category we found a little difficult because I feel like there isn’t a lot of overlooked spells when it comes to the cleric. The cleric they have a smaller spell list then the wizard and you know, I feel like we, we know a lot of what their spells did. So we went with a spell that we consider overlook just because we don’t see you get a lot of play at our table, although it really is a great spell.”

Ted: “So that’s going to be sanctuary first level spell bonus action to cast . So if you really want to be cheesy, you could technically, you know, attack with a cantrip and then casts sanctuary. Totally being Super Cheesy, but you ward a creature within range against attack until the spell ends. Any creature who targets awarded creature with an attack or harmful spell must first make a wisdom saving, throw on a failed saved the creature must choose a new target or lose the attacker spell the spell doesn’t protect the word creature from area effects such as the explosion of the fireball is awarded. Creature makes an attack. Casts a spell it effects an enemy or deals damage to another creature. This spell ends, your range is 30 feet. The duration is a minute. So it’s basically, you know, it’s a one, one combat use thing, but it has a lot of use because let’s face it, you know, how many times do you have an animal companion, an NPC that you’re trying to escort somewhere that is just there to, you know, try to stay out of the way. So great spell that you can use on them if they’re not going to be attacking anyway”

Dave: “or if you’re the cleric and you’re basically want to just buff your allies and heal them. Having sanctuary on you is going to be a great spell because it’s going to cause you to not be a target while you’re still eating your party and assisting in the combat even though you’re not directly damaging the enemy.”

Ted: “If you’re the type of caster like Dave says, that doesn’t want to actually be aggressive. It was a perfect spell to use.”

Dave: “Also, it’s always worth pointing out whether spells or concentration or not. This one is not. So that means you could be concentrating on bless and healing the party. Why you have the sanctuary in effect as well. Now lastly we come to our iconic spell right? So we have our five go tos plus the bonus and the bonus in this case is the iconic spell. And when you’re talking about cleric I can’t imagine anything is going to come to mind before actually healing the party.”

Ted: “Yeah, there there’s so many references out there to you Oh, where’s the cleric, cleric cleric, and all they are are, you know, the healing engine for the party. Now look within 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. You don’t have to play that kind of a cleric. But over the many years of playing in this game, everybody says, well that’s the role of the cleric. They got to heal the party. So the best way to heal the party is going to be cure wounds.”

Dave: “Yeah. Cure wounds. Uh, you know, in previous additions it’s slightly different names, but it’s an iconic spell. It’s been there from the beginning. It is essentially what the cleric was designed to do. Even though you can do other fun, cool things with the cleric, I think, you know, they’re best known for their healing. Even in video games, they’ve come up with roles that are based off of the cleric. And that role was called healer. So for our first level of cure wound spell, it’s touch. It’s one action. The cast, it’s instantaneous. Uh, you don’t have to worry about saving, throw it cause it just happens. A creature you touch for gains, a number of hit points equal to a d8 plus your spell casting modifier. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs at higher levels when you cast the spell. So using a spell slot that second level or higher, the healing increases by a d8 for each slot level above first.”

Ted: “So pretty nice. And let’s face it, the d8 is much better than the healing word of a d4.”

5E D&D Spells

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Dave: “Yes. It is a yes that I would say it is twice as good, but yes, that is our go to tier one cleric spells. Uh, if you went to check out the cards, you can find our Go to tier one spells for wizard. And as we pointed out, we goofed a little bit in there, but it was still a lot of fun to shoot that video. Go check it out. There’s a card floating around here somewhere , go take a look at that. Hey, do you want us to do the, the higher level tiers? Do you want us to do go to tiers for other spell casters? We got a place where you can let us know and that is down in the comments below. While you’re at it, don’t forget to like share and subscribe.”

Ted: “On your way down to do all those things with Dave is asking, don’t forget to stop by the description and check out the link to D&D Beyond so that you can go check out all the awesome stuff over there on DnDbeyond.com.”

Dave: “So until next time.”

Both: “Stay Nerdy”

5 Go to Tier 1 D&D Cleric Spells Ever wonder what D&D cleric spells you should take at early levels. We go over it for…

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