I overestimated my energy when I said I would be here later. Mainly because later has come and burying myself under the comforter and the pillows is tempting me. Mission failed, I suppose, trying again tomorrow—
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I've got a new d&d group and they're almost all new players, with some of them having played with me before in oneshots/ gotten a couple sessions into campaigns that fizzled.
There's the usual learning pains: No one's quite got a handle on the rules yet and is relying on me for which dice to roll ( it's a D20 friends, it's always going to be a D20 unless it's damage I don't know how many times I have to say that). Person A is nervous and over-talkative , person B is nervous and withdraws from conversation, Person C is always running a little late...
But what really surprises me is the difference between them and the group I've had going for 2 years now:
Newgroup THEORIZES in a way that I don't think I've ever seen despite playing this game for two decades. I'll ask them what they're doing and they'll have a multi-minute chat weighing the value of different options. They don't turn to ME, or ask me if things are possible ( which is what new players tend to do), they turn to eachother and ask if they think it's a good idea that they do X or Y and then what could happen from there. I'm trying to be a good DM and let them learn the ropes but it's FASCINATING response. For example; the barbarian says "I'll use my shield to pin the monster in place so we can question them about the villain" and before I can even get into my response another player will say "but what if I used my rope instead to tie them up?", meanwhile none of them have confirmed if the monster is in any way related to the villain or is capable of speech (it wasn't, it was a mimic fyi)
Newgroup is LASER targeted on their goal, which was a surprise as someone who was DMing for a party that purposefully jumped ship on the A plot ASAP and is actively resentful of anything resembling a main quest. Newgroup passes through a mining village that's been deserted after a recent attack by monsters which drove people up into the hills, a Classic rescue mission with a bit of a dungeon delve on top, intended to give the party some XP and magic items before they leave the early game and I stop pulling my punches. Newgroup stays just long enough to confirm that the monsters have nothing to do with the A plot and unanimously decide to leave the village post haste. Meanwhile I have to be careful about what information I drop to oldgroup, as if they catch a single whiff of villanious wrongdoing they'll drop what they're doing and divert their attention to wiping that threat off the map. I've now had to have multiple villains make peace treaties in all but name with this party because of their habit of knocking out rivals/threats/governments.
Because oldgroup know the game really well they're less experimental with what they want to accomplish. They know that things can be solved through class features/dice rolls/damage, and so those are their default solutions to most problems. Meanwhile newgroup has no IDEA what the limits of the game system are so they're trying clever stuff left and right. " Can I hit it in the eye with my arrow? Can I use this spell to find out if _____, Can we use the flying boots to _____?" They're asking genuinely good questions so often that it's made me want to play around with the d20 resolution system to get something more closed to the " drawback/mixed success" sorts of results you get in apocalypse world style games. ( I think I found a neat fix, more on that to come)
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ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS PART 5
🌹Chiron in 1st house people can't seem to relax in pictures. They always either seem tensed, drawn like a bow string in photos.
🌹Lilith in 4th in my opinion isn't just not getting along with the women in their family, but being and growing up alienated from their relatives and family. They loose touch with their ancestral roots or there is some sort of shame associated with their identity in that regard. It's like they almost try to reject that part of themselves when presenting themselves to others. they are ashamed of, in this case, anything to do with certain facets of their family.
🌹Count yourself lucky if an air sign comes to you with their problems, and ask for ur opinion. They may seem confident, just like fire signs and like they can handle it all on their own, but while fire signs bulldoze through the issue without thinking twice, the air people have come up with 1000's of ways this scenario could play out and are internally freaking out lmao
🌹Mercury aspecting Neptune people are either excellent liars and manipulators ( in the sense they can manipulate any situation to their advantage) or they suck at lying and everyone knows when they're bluffing. It's usually indicated by the positive or negative aspects, both planets make.
🌹I don't know where the bad rep about having Natal mercury Rx and communication comes from. people say They turn the influence of mercury inwards, an in some ways, yeah true. They may make the individuals think things much more thoroughly before they talk, Make sure their point is clearly communicated etc etc. This actually makes them an excellent communicator. It doesn't interfere with the expression of mercury in my opinion. For that, we have to look at the sign mercury's present in and the aspects it makes.
🌹Sun conjunct Mercury people usually read a lot, and the sign it conjuncts in can show their favorite genre or the themes they may like in their books. For ex : I have it in Libra and of course I'm a sucker for those sweet sweet romance and Smutty novels.
🌹Libras are NOT pushovers. we need to emphasise this more lol. They will look like they're fluttering around here and there trying to decide on something. But in actuality they have already decided and they just weighing the pros and cons of that. Yeah they are an air sign but they're cardinal air. You can't convince cardinal people to move a fingernail if they don't wanna lmao
🌹Uranus and or Mercury in 3rd house, the house of mind, have a lot of ideas. But they're all either scattered or they come and go in a fleet, with the person not even conscious of it, much less process it and write it down. But sometimes their ideas are electric and revolutionary, especially Uranus, solving stuff in very unconventional ways and surprising everyone with their eccentric genius.
🌹If an air sign texts u DAILY, keeps in touch with you DAILY, then they love you lmao.. they take a minimum of 3 to 6 business days to text people back..so if they do it daily, consider yourself occupying a high position in an air signs life 😂
🌹Venus - Neptune pisces venus 🤝 Venus Pluto scorpio venus : Falling for unattainable and elusive people and giving them more chances than they deserve.
🌹The ascendant of your ascendant persona chart also determines some of your physical features, it's not just your asc that determines your physical structure, and your ascendant of your ascendant persona chart isn't just how people see you. The sign your ascendant persona is in will contribute some factors in your appearance too. Along with the planets in 1st house if u have any.
🌹For example a sag rising with a Taurus in their asc persona, will have good thighs and legs but will also be very curvy and soft, with full lips and some venusian features.
🌹 Venus Pluto and scorpio venus people, being in love is their addiction. Not the person they fall in love with like most people assume, but the feelings their lover evoke in them, the way they lose themselves in their partner, and become one with them, that is their addiction.
🌹word of the wise : don't argue with people who have personal planets in Virgo. You'll be humiliated and proved wrong. Straight up. They don't get into arguments which aren't logical or which they aren't sure they'll win. So they go in prepared and armed. They're masters of rubbing Salt in the wounds
🌹 this is just a theory, but hear me out. Our 1st house and the planets in them have a large influence on our appearance. But..i also think, our 6th house plays a part in it too. Our 6th house affects our appearance too but in am indirect way. Our 6th house rules our health right and under that comes our weight, likes and dislikes in terms of food, our BMI etc.
🌹 case on point, me. So I'm a Sagittarius ascendant, and I have good hips and thighs. But I'm not tall. And I'm very much curvy. Although sag rising tends to produce that too, I've a fuller venusian figure. And i have Taurus in 6th house.
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I have a lot respect for you but it's frustrating to the discussion on fandom and racism boiled down to a few fic interpretation arguments and then thoroughly dismissed.
--
That's inevitable when the campaign gave off vibes that were so strongly at odds with its assertion that it wasn't about which fic is bad.
I think the other problem is that none of us have any actual answers other than better blocking features or more ways to customize search for a given user.
How do you solve racism?
I don't think callouts are that useful most of the time, though I will signal boost when fairly credible posts about situations like that TOG one come around. I think privately giving friends support is useful, but that's not something you do at scale or that you mandate for other people. I don't think that shadowbanning fic by removing it from basic AO3 searches is desirable. I don't think increasing one ship vs. another's content is meaningful. I do think posts about gross media tropes can be useful if they're well-researched.
I was watching a speech by Beverly Daniel Tatum the other day, and she was talking about strategies that work offline. A lot of it boiled down to raising kids in multicultural neighborhoods and sending them to diverse schools. She had some examples where it had worked, but getting people to stop being NIMBY assholes so that housing and schools can actually be fixed is extremely difficult.
I think a lot of problems in fandom are symptoms that show up far downstream of the actual causes, and it's not that easy to solve anything here. It's not that we shouldn't oppose racism, but most of the suggestions I've seen just don't address what's actually going on (like canon screwing over a character and making them less popular as a consequence). A lot of fandom activism strikes me as rats in a barrel. People cling to the illusion that they can fix things here because it's less daunting than the reality that they're going to have to fight Hollywood or that they're not going to see that much success in their lifetime even if they do their activism well.
A nonwhite friend said something to me the other day about just wanting to stop hearing about anti-racist activism in fandom, full stop. They don't come here for that, and they're tired. I think it's a common sentiment and is part of why more of the informed people don't weigh in.
I post the majority of asks I get. If people have stories about fandom racism, I'll post them. It's just that the ones I've gotten are all like "I was harassed for writing my own identity wrong" with a plea to chill the fuck out and stop assuming things.
If people have practical suggestions, I'll post those too. I just think few of us have any really useful ideas.
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FotD 1:
@joshgoodman: Thinking of some ideas currently; I've had this one circling my head. Somehow kim and Jim find themselves camping out like the kettlemans did (without the stolen money) to avoid being found by (insert threat here). Iris and fille are around 8 and 6 respectively
Me: That'd be cute! Fighting with trying to set up the tent, Kim would probably do most of it; Jimmy's threatening to slip a disk. Fille keeps asking what the hell we're actually doing out here. Iris tells her not to ask stupid questions.
"Iris, don't call your sister stupid"
"I'm not! I said her question was! There's a difference!"
Did they bring any food?
Me: In my timeline, one of the main tragic things is how this life weighs on Kim's sanity. She never really got over the trauma of the cartel following her back in '04, that's when the sheepdog dreams started; that's when she started believing in God, simply because she felt like someone or something was watching her and plotting against her at all times. Especially after Jimmy dies, paranoia really starts to consume her. She becomes a powerful mob boss nearing the end of her life, but no amount of security measures bring her peace of mind. Once Jimmy's out of the picture, things start to get a little Howard Hughes.
But yeah, even while he's around, he is sometimes worried she's getting neurotic, but it's not like he can't empathize; he never stopped looking over his shoulder either. Out here in the woods, every rustle in the grass could be a mountain lion or worse.
Him: They brought enough food for a week, but then they'd have to catch and cook their own. Which Jimmy might have an issue with.
I think a mountain lion would be the least of their worries, it can be scared away; a cartel member with a gun/intent to hurt kim/her family isn't as easily scared away.
Me: Why do you think Jimmy would have a problem? Just not very good at hunting/fishing?
Kim considered taking a gun, but they both decided it would create more problems than it would solve. Even if Fille or Iris don't play with it, firing off a wild shot into the bushes could be a really bad idea; they're hiding from the law on fraud/extortion/other non violent charges. If she accidentally shot a cop who was coming to arrest them, now they're both back to looking at life. Not losing custody is always the top priority.
Even killing a "Made" man/woman would just incite retaliation. If the mafia kills them, best to just pray they'll spare the kids. Starting a shoot out would just be loud and dangerous.
I guess if they really believed the kids were in danger, they would have to give them up and leave them with someone, but thankfully it's never come to that.
Him: Based off of Jimmy's character, I'd think he'd have a terrible time hunting and fishing, yea. Also, he might have an issue with killing the animal he's able to retrieve.
I think kim would settle for a bow? Not sure if she has an archery background; iris would LOVE that. Fille could care less.
But who would they leave them with, is the question? Mike is dead, so is dawson. The church is questionable
Me: I don't think Jimmy would have a problem killing an animal. He might be squeamish, but he was never a pacifist or vegetarian.
Highly doubt they would have thought to bring archery supplies. If they run out of food, they should just head back into town.
And when all else fails, they always have the option to call a social worker themselves. They REALLY don't want to do that, they've been trying to keep the kids safe off the grid. But nothing is worth endangering their lives. Even Fille would be unhappy in that arrangement.
Pretty sure "My parents only abandoned me because they're traveling con artists. But they promised they were coming back once the mob boss is dead" is foster home for "please beat me up for telling such outrageous lies".
Iris would look out for Fille, but who's looking out for poor Iris? In the eyes of any conformist parent or teacher, Iris would be labeled a troubled child with behavioral issues. Even if their foster parents accepted their queerness, and that's a big if, nobody's going to listen to their indoctrination about the reasons shoplifting is a public good. Probably end up getting put on Ritalin or some shit.
Still, as long as Iris knew where they came from, why they feel this way all the time,they could at least try to fit in. In the timeline where Iris was born in 2005 and Kim gave them up out of guilt for what happened to Howard, Iris's life was terrible; just grew up confused and angry. Tarzan might not know what a human is, but he would still know he wasn't an ape. Kim saw these futures; even aborting them would be less cruel than leaving them to be raised by someone else. Iris needed their parents; they were the only ones who understood, the only ones who could shape this overgrown hedge of wild energy into a countercultural topiary. No matter what other childhood trauma they absorbed, the worst thing you could ever do is leave them without direction or purpose.
Him: Squeamish, that's the word I was looking for. But if it comes to survival, what wouldn't he do for his family?
Him: I wonder if the social worker would be an option? Kim wouldn't want to put the kids through that, they would find the best option one way or another.
Ah yes, Ritalin. Or as I like to call it, the zombie drug. That shit doesn't work and fuck any doctor who puts kids on it
Me: No matter what happens, at least Iris and Fille have eachother. It's not that Fille can't feel that Wexler-McGill blood in their veins; Fille is different from Iris by choice, not nature. But as the youngest in the family, as the last one always in pool when it comes to mischief, she can see how recklessness never leads to anything good.
Fille is better at pretending to be a "good kid" but she'd still feel deeply alone without her big sibling.
If she was left alone, Fille would probably be a troublemaker too. She's only such a square and a goody-goody because that's the only way she could have rebelled in a family of rebels.
Him: Ah, so fille chooses to be a goody two shoes because that's not what people expect when they see that family.
I don't think they would be apart for long, even separated by the foster care system if it came to that. Those two would always find a way back to each other
Me: Main problem is Jimmy and Kim don't want to admit failure a first time, because CPS is going to be breathing down their neck from then onward. For some reason, as long as the kids are biologically yours, most bizarre parenting choices are accepted as long as the government hasn't already labeled you a bad mother.
When Love Quinn was brought back by Dolores, the thing she wanted most was to see Henry again. But Dante and Lansing are good dads, and showing up in Henry's life now would just upset and confuse him. Admitting that she deserved to lose custody of her son was the hardest thing she's had to do, but it's for the best to just move on, try to be better moving forward.
Him: Do Love and Henry ever reunite? Or are those days behind them?
Me: Probably when Henry is older.
Iris probably would ask for archery lessons after reading the Hunger Games. Iris was always outdoorsy, but this probably is just a phase.
Him: What kind of phase would fille go through, if you had to guess?
Me: Well both siblings do have an interest in music. Iris learned to play the guitar from Jimmy; Fille would probably go ahead and find herself a piano teacher.
Him: I feel like iris would also take an interest in drums, maybe?
Me: Sounds about right.
I mean Jimmy and Kim want to encourage their hobbies. This is what the money is for.
Him: Iris would take an interest in archery, drums, and guitar while fille does piano, and maybe...swimming?
Me: Yes Fille loves the ocean. Probably cus of that goldfish soul.
Him: Ooh! Kayaking!
Me: I think Iris would be more into motor boats
Him: Boats are fun. Maybe they could take a vacation to the great lakes/some type of beach.
FotD 2:
Me: I guess yesterday I was also thinking about them making a big score, and then taking the kids shopping for new clothes. The kids complain, but it's still fun dressing them up like little dolls.
Him: I didn't think iris would go for that? Maybe fille
Me: Well Iris has always loved dress up, but plain clothes shopping is always a little boring for kids.
Me: Kim saying "Try this one on. It's a little bit big but you'll grow into it... hmm no; that's actually too big, you'll be tripping and face planting all over"
Me: But yes, those two love shopping for the family. I mean Jimmy and Kim have been eachothers gay best friend stereotypes since all the way back to law school, but the last time they actually spent a substantial amount of money like this was a few years ago at Babies-R-Us. Since leaving the church, it's mostly been consignment shops. Nothing fancy that wasn't secondhand.
Which is why they want to get each of the four of them a new outfit that will last for next few years
Him: I don't think jim + kim would contribute to chains if they didn't have to. Always choosing places like goodwill over walmart
Me: Nah they'd still go somewhere nice. Kim's love for shiny things outweighs her communist sympathies.
She wants to pretend she's not materialistic, but low-maintenance bitches don't drink thousand dollar tequila or wear real gold.
I mean Goodwill is fine and all, but this is Prada man! She's only human!
Honestly Kim's hypocrisy with how she identifies with class I think is a really interesting facet of her personality.
This is why wealth redistribution campaigns always fail: first of all, in order to adequately navigate the upper class, the revolutionary already typically needs a middle class education or better. And second, even if an army does manage to steal from the rich, the leader finds it hard to actually give those winnings to the poor instead of just pocketing it. Kim hates rich people... except for herself; that person is a lucid and benevolent matriarch who DESERVES to be managing the money!
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ও DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA x Reader Headcanons
This one was a long time coming but it's here!! As with the J one, the more direct stuff is under the cut! I really enjoyed this and had the ideas for a while, just never wrote them down.
Enjoy ও
✧
The only way you're getting close to him is if you somehow become a part of his routine. He likes patterns and is very adverse to unnecessary change, and if you're a part of his comfortable to-and-fro, you have the chance at getting his attention. If you're lucky, you'd see him about once a month. If you're really lucky, once a week.
He's very, very analytic. Analyzing people is the reason he so easily makes the distinctions between who he does and does not consider worth his attention; those first few seconds, a full thirty if he's intrigued, can determine whether or not he'll be willing to strike up harmless conversation. If you're lucky, he'll shrug part of his headphones to the side to better hear you. If you're really lucky, he'll take them off and fully turn towards you.
The first conversation you have with him, he'll spend the majority of it analyzing you more than being involved. He's distracted, yes, but by you—he'll even ask seemingly irrelevant questions for the sheer sake of weighing your answer. The second time around, or if he becomes satisfied during that first meeting, he'll be a lot more expressive or borderline content. Which isn't saying very much.
Most conversation that veers towards himself gets redirected or not answered in full. There's very simple things he'll answer (if he's in a good mood,) yes, but anything marginally personal will result in a non-answer or another question.
An example of this is that you will never know his "real name" in the same sense that you will never know the full extent of his life before this city. Whatever moniker you come up with that appeases him will suffice and all you need to know about his past is that he was raised far enough from this city that he could clearly see the stars at night.
Most of the time his expressed emotions are fairly dulled down. He's pleased, neutral, or furious. That's about it. It's rare that he'll show more than that.
Rare, at least... until "certain things he's quite unused to" consume so much more of his everyday life than he's ever been used to.
Certain things like... kindling bonds that he figured he'd never need to have again. After all, things like these are very, very distracting from his work. It would be difficult to do anything if all that sits on the forefront of your mind is someon—er, something else, no?
Emotions are sorted into categories. Whatever category this is is one he hasn't touched in so long he'd forgotten it was there.
And to some extent, it's one that he's... he's unsure if he even wants it. It's distracting. Admittedly, it is akin to a breath of fresh air, but he doesn't need that! He's perfectly fine with his work, with his purpose. He doesn't need anything to take him from it.
He doesn't need any distractions.
... But by the time he's willing to admit to himself just how far things have gotten, he's already drowning.
And by all the stars above, does he hate it.
He hates it more than anything else. Does that stop it by any means? No. No, it does not. But oh, does he wish it could. That would make his life far, far easier.
Because the way he loves is... it's almost chaotic and, arguably, almost as destructive as his implosions can be, though on a level much more psychological than physical. He loves to the extent of destruction and driving himself mad trying to figure out the "object of his affections" like they're simply a puzzle to be solved.
Which, to an extent, you are; you are an enigma that he simply cannot understand because, to his logic, the mere concept that you might "love" him does not make sense.
If it isn't somehow "proven" to him to be a kind of absolute fact, and it's something that he wants himself? He'll obsess over trying to prove it beyond hypothetical interactions, because
Even if it is presented as fact to him, it would... take some time for it to fully "click" together in his mind. It still doesn't make sense, but somehow it's... there's reason to believe it is true. Even if he doesn't exactly know what that means, either.
No matter how much he personally wants it to be true, if it doesn't click, he'll chide himself to no end for "misconstructing your intentions." The more he cares about the specifics of your "intentions," the more... erratic he'll grow to be around you over time.
And even then, there's so many different meanings to that one flimsy word, isn't there? Being as literal as possible, you just mean that you care about him to a great degree (which in and of itself is difficult for him to believe, but if it's true, he can't... dispute it, can he?) How is he supposed to know what you're actually referring to? You could mean that you simply greatly value the friendship you have, or that—
... If it isn't clear, you'd have to sit him down and spell it out to him in the most direct and concrete phrasing you can fathom to fully ease his conscience. Which would likely provide more questions that it'd be wise to be prepared to answer, unless you're good on your feet. The first of which being:
"Why?"
Why, because he has to prove you wrong. Because he doesn't want you to be. Because he feels like he'll snap if he can't make sense of this any longer. Because he knows how to answer that for you, but he needs to know how you would answer for him.
Because he needs to know if you mean it.
But... after that, if you can finally manage to get through to him... it would go a lot smoother.
Maybe he'd allow himself to finally enjoy this. Though, it'd take a while longer to figure out what that means.
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Familiar Spirits AU rambles
Thinking about my Ghost Trio. Something about the rule of three is so symbolic in multiple ways, both religious and from a story-telling perspective. Perfect for Caleb, at least in this AU. And by god I love writing him, he is absolutely miserable.
There's also just the fact that.. sharing a body can be a challenge at times. And I deal with that personally, and so it's pretty personal to me. They mean the WORLD to me.
Caleb is a very flawed individual. Not a bad person, but he's made plenty of mistakes that he acknowledges and hasn't totally forgiven himself for. In life and death he garnered many unhealthy habits that he still tries to fall back on at times, so it's a struggle of self-improvement (even after death.) One of said bad habits is.. isolation. He thinks staying away from everyone and anyone will help to not get them hurt, and because of this he's dampening his own well-being. Got to work on that, Mr. Wittebane!
And he's also the "middle" child of the three, and so he behaves as such. Since they consider themselves siblings despite all being part of one being? Confusing, yes, but in a way they're all there to learn from each other and the goal they have is to find peace.. otherwise they won't be able to pass on.
Spryth is what one would call.. the impulsive younger sibling. She's a bit chaotic, overly active, runs mostly on instinct (she is a ghost beast after all, with a harpy side) and above all else she is highly emotional. Whereas Caleb tries to stifle many of his emotions, she is filled to the brim with them to an exaggerated degree. When one of the others is feeling sad and she happens to take the front seat, she will try her best to find the root of the issue and solve it, even if she doesn't fully weigh the consequences of how she goes about it. Sometimes this works, and other times it doesn't. As a bird, she's also highly nurturing and tends to act as a caretaker to her brothers.. and gets very sad when she can't help, or when she screws things up.
Blythe is.. the angry older brother. I wouldn't call him evil, but the way he shows care and who he shows it to are a bit skewed. He has a hard time showing empathy and expressing certain emotions, but there's only so much you can do for that when you're a wraith. He's also prone to.. not really regretting his actions so as long as they allowed for survival or if he gets what he wants in the end-- typically his siblings' happiness though due to the fact that he's got empathy issues, he kind of just does what he thinks is best even if there were other ways to go about it. Where Caleb is riddled with guilt, Blythe hardly feels it, not even for some of the things that happened in Gravesfield (yes, they all remember that, though they only became their own "entities" after Caleb's death.)
Like I said though, he isn't evil. He means well SOMETIMES. The difference is, though.. he is not a "good person." Not wholly evil, but not good. He can care, but if you gave him a kitten his first instinct would be to give it back rather than nurture it.
They're LOSERS. They mean the world to me and I think I'd die without them. This AU is my everything.
Have some doodles of the three ghost siblings
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incredibly stupid physics problems
(crossposting from cohost)
i posted this in the secret fox flux $4 discord channel last night and it reveals A Problem
i mean, a problem besides the barrel's layering being kind of dubious
the pistons stop trying to extend as soon as they're blocked. and here, you may notice, the one extending left pushes the slime a little bit before giving up. this turns out to be caused by a combination of:
the piston is "moving", but it's not using the normal motion machinery (obviously), so it doesn't actually have any velocity.
when object A tries to push object B, if it determines that object B is moving away from it faster than A is moving, it doesn't bother. i don't remember what specific problem this was meant to solve, but it does make intuitive sense — if i'm pushing a boulder down a hill then it's just going to roll away from me and i am going to accomplish nothing. if i let the push happen, i'd make B move even faster (however briefly) which is silly.
as long as the slime is walking towards the piston, everything is fine. but the slime immediately notices it's blocked on one side, turns around, and starts walking the other way. now the slime has a leftwards velocity, but the piston has zero velocity, so the piston thinks the slime is speeding away from it. but that isn't happening, and the slime is still there, so the piston thinks it's now blocked and stops extending.
love it. chef kiss. pushing objects is the hardest thing in the world. anyway i guess i can think of two potential solutions here
① delete the special case for a pushee moving away. checking velocity in the middle of the (hairy) push code is already kind of weird, and it's only done for this specific case. it also shouldn't matter; even if we push something slightly this frame, if it really is moving away from us, then it should be beyond our reach next frame anyway.
i suspect this is a leftover from an older and vastly more complicated iteration of the push code that tried to conserve momentum and whatnot — in which case, doing this even for a single frame would have made A and B look like a single unit, combined their momentum, and given both the same velocity, which means B slows down. so that's bad. but that was an endless nightmare of increasingly obscure interactions so i eventually gave up and scrapped it all. the current implementation won't let you simulate newton's cradle, i guess, but that's not the kind of game this is so whatever?
on the other hand, if i'm wrong and this is still important in some exceptionally obscure case, it would be bad to remove it! exciting.
(if you're curious: what i do now is give lexy — or other push-capable actors — a maximum push mass, and then when she tries to push something, i scale her movement down proportional to how much she's pushing. for example, rubber lexy's push capacity is 8, and a wooden crate weighs 4, so she moves at half speed when pushing one crate and at zero speed when pushing two. i think if a sliding crate hits another one now, they'll both just move at the first one's original speed, but friction skids everything to a halt fast enough that it mostly doesn't come up.)
② give the piston a fake velocity to fool the check. i might want to do this anyway for stuff like climbing, where the player is moving but is considered to have zero velocity because it's being done manually. but lying like this feels like it'll come back to bite me somewhere down the line.
anyway this is just the sort of thing i bumble into occasionally. hope it's interesting. i should probably go try to fix it now
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my thoughts on fo3
The intro is fine. A bit dramatic for my taste but its okay. The starting screen is actually kinda fun and got me excited for the game even though it's a bit annoying to skip it each time. The intro starting screen music is okay though it showcases what i think their whole intention was with this game. They wanted it to be Epic. Fo3 is an Epic tale of Goodies against Baddies. okay.
The vault 101 intro sequence. Genuinely not as bad as the temple of trials in fo2. The idea in of itself is Not bad! Leading the player through a tutorial in the vault where all mechanics are showcased including resolving conflicts with speech and finding alternative methods to problem solve can be done interestingly but this isn't it. I don't really care about seeing my character grow up with my stupid dad. Also the G.O.A.T exam. Come on bro.
fo1 was actually supposed to have an intro sequence in the vault but they decided against it. It would be more fun if my character already had an assigned job based on what i chose on the creation screen. Whatever.
The Dad thing is fucking stupid and I can't believe they did the 'find your missing relative' AGAIN in fo4. They really thought that was an amazing premise.
I would genuinely prefer it if it was something like. Oh no! The vault door broke and now you have to leave! Like genuinely anything other than this. Anything. I'd rather go hunting for a Vault-Tec toilet brush than my dad
The fallout starting mission doesn't have to be Epic. People should find their adventure by Adventuring and not because their stupid dad went missing. I don't care about my stupid dad. It stifles the roleplaying potential. No matter what your idea for a character is they're always the child of this Guy.
And once again most bethesda games are better when you ignore the main quest. But FALLOUT games led you carefully through the main story and you would discover all the additional stories along the way and in the end you were satisfied with a high-stakes conclusion you were invested in. Also we shouldn't just be satisfied with a bad main quest just because the world is big and there's a lot to do.
I'm going on a tangent but I actually start to think open world games are actually disadvantageous to role-playing unless Each spot on the map is a whole separate quest that can be resolved in any way. Which is incredibly resource intensive. It's better to have a smaller map and a shorter story where you can Really roleplay how you want. Bethesda games are basically dungeon crawling with some roleplay and survival mechanics strapped on top (if you're lucky). Not even saying dungeon crawling is bad but after the amazing roleplaying of fo1?... Bigger and more Epic but really shallow
Graphics: sometimes pretty good, most of the times Boring
Audio: HUGE downgrade from fo1-2
oh! i liked the radio! i like three dog and the way he comments on what you're doing. the song rotation gets pretty old though
Megaton. You, a random nobody, walk into a city. You get offered to disarm a Nuclear Bomb the city is built around. For 100 caps no less. I wonder if this guy offers everyone who comes in to disarm the bomb? I was genuinely expecting some kind of quest to pop up relating to disarming the bomb but no. You just walk up to it and press a button .
the choice here is - do you want to kill a lot of innocent people for no fucking reason (baddie choice 😈) or are you normal.
the karma system. it was always a thing in fallout so i don't consider it an inherently bad. HOWEVER. the whole game being built on making a choice between Baddie 😈 and normal is fucking stupid. There aren't actually many choices where you actually have to weigh the options for anything. most people who aren't doing a purposefully bad person playthrough will always go with the 'good' choice. And obviously the game always decides for YOU what is good and what is bad. the thing is, obviously killing people, pickpocketing, purposefully doing bad things for no reason should carry a karma penalty. but not EVERY choice should dictate if you did 'good' or 'bad'.
A lot of the times in fallout 1 you had to think for yourself if what you're doing is the right choice. And a lot of the times you wouldn't find out until the end of the game or not at all! we will go back to this.
AH ALSO. IT'S INCREDIBLY ANNOYING that looking through containers and reading terminals gives you a karma hit. you can only really find out information by talking to people and passing a speech check instead of actually looking for clues for yourself. unless you want a karma hit and/or to every npc to turn hostile. they understand how it works in dungeons but not in cities. stupid...
this is specifically a problem for me with terminals and holotapes because i love reading terminals! but i also don't want to risk it. you know with the way bethesda code is even if you weren't spotted hacking a terminal the npcs will just randomly turn hostile.
i'm not finished. it really annoyed me that most quests immediately have a 'let me pay you' option. and obviously at a certain point you have enough caps that you just don't care about paying.
the thing is that it discourages doing anything but the easiest possible option. why bother looking for an alternative solution to anything if you can just pass an instant, poorly written speech check or pay?
Oh... I actually liked that if you did very good people come up to you and give you stuff. Sorry I do like that. There are actually good things about Some choices in this game! Like how some special encounters appear based on your choices! That's actually good except you're not guaranteed to see it. I do enjoy if your choices have a real-time effect instead of just appearing in the ending.
I also like how having neutral karma actually has benefits and is arguably the best option instead of just being really good. I wouldn't know though because im a goody two-shoes👼
I liked moira and her quest. Her voice acting was great.
It's incredibly annoying how many quests just have people fighting for you for no reason. You had people fight for you in fo1-2 too but you had to EARN it. Hordes of immortal npcs didn't just appear everywhere you go to help you. Oh my fucking goddddd... This is about the time I stopped taking the game seriously because i realized there will just. be people covering for me no matter where i go. most of the main quest i barely pulled out my gun. why even put me against enemies at that point?
Rivet city is annoying to navigate but who cares. You have a quest marker anyways. Here's what i think. these games are purposefully not built with NOT having a quest marker in mind. npcs have routines and walk around so finding them is a big pain in the ass. you basically Have to have a quest marker pointing to an npc or you will spend an hour running around trying to find That One Person. Fo1 had the benefit of maps being small and all npcs being stationary. so you just had to remember who is where.
The maps and quest are also just not built for you to explore and find solutions for yourself. you just have to run around and shoot people and pass speech checks (if you're lucky). you could actually complete most quests in fo1 without fighting at all, and it was actually INTERESTING! most of the time just going and killing everyone was the most boring option. it sometimes felt like a puzzle game even. in the way you had to find a creative solution BY YOURSELF!!!!
to be fair making a 3d game that is easy to navigate compared to a 2d game where you basically see everything on your screen is way harder. but you have a multimillion budget so go figure it out. they can definitely do it but then you would maybe have to shrink the map. and we don't want to do that. we want More Bigger and Epic-er and more Awesome Stuff.
A reappearing theme in fo3 for me is 'this idea is interesting but the execution is really bad'. This is the quest that really pissed me off with its 'good' and 'bad' choice. THIS seems like a good opportunity to let the player decide what's the best option. but no. the game decides what's good and what's bad. even though arguably you could make an argument for either ending being 'better'. WHATEVERRRR also the themes of american patriotism, anti-communism and xenophobia are really mishandled in this whole game but we'll get to it
the infamous 'stand around and listen to people talk' technique. anybody noticed that this basically never happened in fo1-2? it reqally makes me wonder if good storytelling could happen without this... hmmm...
i'm getting tired....
okay so here's the thing. i was actually struggling with finding ammo and my equipment breaking down throughout most of the game. i actually enjoyed that! i was actually scared of enclave soldiers and super mutants walking around because i thought i couldn't handle them at all. but then i realized they all just die from a few hits. the most challenging enemy in the game is probably the giant radscorpion. ONE scorpion gave me more trouble than a whole vault of super mutants and several rooms of enclave soldiers. sigh.
the repair system. i actually don't mind equipment breaking down and you having to repair it. the problem is having to carry around so much garbage just in case you will need to repair your stuff. why the fuck can npcs repair anything but i can't? it kind of defeats the purpose for investing into your repair skill and i would know this because i prefer using the sniper rifle. which is IMPOSSIBLE to fucking find. i would rather carry around scrap parts to gradually repair my stuff or repair it at a repair station.
also the armor works weirdly in this game. it feels like all tiers of armor are basically made of tissue paper. because why does a radscorpion take out half my health in 1 hit when i'm wearing power armor. this applies to enemies too.
actually a lot of npcs encourage you to carry trash around which is annoying. bring me scrap metal! bring me books! bring me nuka cola! you need a lot of inventory space is what im saying.
do i even have to say anything. this is an insult to even try to compare this guy to the master. wooow.... the president is a compuuuuterrr.... who gives a fuck.
Let's talk about your plan for the purifier.
oh also am i the only one who was reminded of the citadel from half life 2 ... except bad
investing in speech in this game is almost a punishment because of how bad the writing is. there were actually moments in fo2 specifically where i had to facepalm from how dumb a speech option was but HERE. Its ALWAYS really bad.
liberty prime. i genuinely felt like i was in a marvel movie in a bad way. i don't even want to say anything anymore.
the brotherhood of steel are goodies and the enclave are baddies. see, the enclave armor even looks evil 😈 its not actually explained or shown why we should be against them. they just show up and theyre baddies and our dad kill himself. why shouold i care. and then the president shows up and explains their motivations and kills jhimselv.
the brotherhood of steel might as well be the whiterun guard with how full of character they are. whatever . i don't mind the brotherhood being changed to be more open or whaever but maybe keep SOMETHING of their characterization and principles. or anything. instead of them just being 'the good guys'
oh what they did to the super mutants is really bad too. remember the leutenant? remember marcus? remember any kind of gray morality in the game? no yeah they're all cartoony idiots except the two guys who were exiled for not being idiots. i dont care. i just dont care anymore
im tired now . the ending is stupid why shoudkl i care about being a hero. why should anyone die when theres a guy in the room who can do it so everyone survives. why is the ending narration shames you for not killing yourself for no reason. i dont care.
oh. no ending slides too. whatever.
ASND THE THING IS THAT THE WHOLE IDEA OF PURIFYING THE WATER SOURCE IN THE WASTELAND COULD HAVE BEEN ACTUALLY INTERESTING. wasted potential
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The Boys Who Wouldn’t Grow Up - Chapter 20
Summary: Marko, Dwayne, and Paul are ready to take down the head vampire and restore David and Maria's mortality. Even with their combined skills, things could still go wrong if they're not careful.
WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: CHARACTER DEATH (character is a kid), Violence, Blood, Stabbing, Burning, Threats
Credit to bonniebird for the gif (which is of Sam in that awful LB sequel lol)
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The day had finally arrived. The day when all vampires would die. To think that mere days ago, the Johnson family had just come to California for an uneventful summer with Grandma. Now one son was corrupted with vampirism while the other was ready to take down the monsters who turned him in the first place.
It wasn’t going to be an easy task to complete. Between Marko still training to fight and David being weak in the day and still very new to his powers, the odds weren’t entirely in their favor. They were most certainly going to need the help of some professionals if they were going to solve this vampire pest problem.
After a restless night, Marko woke up at the crack of dawn to call Dwayne and Paul again. He gave them all the information Maria had shared with him and David the night before. They needed to know all about the powers Michael had if they were going to plan accordingly. The two brothers took note of everything their friend had to tell them, and after packing supplies and weapons accordingly, they devised a plan.
“We’ll come get you both at 6 pm,” Dwayne explained. “It’s cutting it pretty close, but we really can’t afford to have the shop closed another day. Just use that time to train like we taught you”
“Yeah! And tell your big bro to get some shut-eye,” Paul added on. “He’s gonna feel like shit when he wakes up, but at least he can rest when he can”
Marko looked over at his brother on the bed. Even with the blackout curtains fully closed, he was buried deep under the blankets. The deeper he was in the darkness, the better. He must have gotten comfortable enough because he was fast asleep.
It was a good thing their father would be busy today because the last thing Marko needed was a distraction.
"Got it. I'll see you guys then"
After hanging up the phone, he decided to leave David for a while. A look of worry was stuck on the curly-haired boy's face as he gathered a stake for his practice session in the yard again.
It was only made of wood, yet it weighed down his hand as if it were the heaviest iron. Vampires were going to be slaughtered today, and some could be at his own hand.
Whatever it takes to save my family, Marko thought to himself as he gently shut the door.
It was a nerve-wracking few hours, but at least Dwayne and Paul were good on their word. At 6 on the dot, they were riding up the driveway, their motorcycles kicking up clouds of dirt as they went.
Marko wasted no time in dragging David out of bed. Despite sleeping all day long, the eldest sibling moved like he hadn't gotten any shut-eye in days. Groans and curses were thrown Marko's way as he helped David down the steps. For the sake of the situation, he would ignore any complaints.
"Jesus Christ, your brother looks like hell," Paul noted.
He and Dwayne were fully ready for battle. Each set of hair was tied back and their faces were marked with light camouflage makeup. They wore thick boots and gloves with packs of weaponry in their bags. It made the naval dirk Marko has stashed in his pocket look like a toy.
"Thanks, I feel like I was just there," David replied sarcastically.
"Remind me again why I don't just leave your ass here to sulk in private?" Marko sassed him.
Even still, he helped David properly sit down on a chair by one of their grandmother's suits of armor. He was already winded just from the steps.
"Because we'll need all the help we can get. Even as a lookout, it's important to have everyone ready if need be," Dwayne explained.
"Besides, I need to get Maria out of there. She's not one of them, she's a prisoner…"
The other three looked at each other while David pouted over his lover. He clearly cared about her despite everything that happened. In a way, it further proved that he wasn't one of the monsters. He could still be saved with the humanity that lingered.
The Murray brothers sat beside Marko and David, the expressions on their faces now much more sympathetic. This wasn't just a search and destroy mission, it was also a rescue mission. They weren't to take that lightly.
"We'll get the lady outta trouble," Paul assured him with a friendly smile. "Just tell us what the leader looks like. We find him, stake him, and the others are destroyed too"
It made David's stomach churn to think of Michael. The boy he thought was his best friend was instead a force of chaos that corrupted everything in sight. To think about the reality of how Michael manipulated him left and right still infuriated him.
"His name's Michael," David mumbled. "Around my height, brown curls, blue eyes, and he's the oldest one. You'll know him when you see him"
That was all the hunters needed. With a nod to each other, they gestured for Marko to follow them. The only problem was that Marko couldn't get his brother to move. David was barely clinging to consciousness.
"There's absolutely no way he's gonna stay on the back of your bike, Marko," Dwayne pointed out. "We're gonna need a different ride to their hideout"
While the other three were wondering what to do, Marko knew right away what they could use at a time like this. He'd be in serious trouble, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Grandma's gonna kill you when we get home," David mumbled from the passenger seat.
“Rather it be her than a bloodsucker”
Marko was at the wheel of their Grandmother's Eldorado. Though guilt for taking her car was overwhelming him beyond words, it truly was a matter of life and death. David was slumped over in the passenger seat up front while Paul and Dwayne stayed perched in the back. He silently hoped his Grandfather wasn’t turning over in his grave as a result of this.
The sun was beating down on them all, bright and hot. It wasn’t anything new to the human boys, but for David, it was like being suffocated. Though it was insufferable, he’d do his best to stay strong and endure it. He wasn’t going to stay like this forever, nor was he going to let Michael go and poison the life of someone else.
“When we get there, we all stick together,” Dwayne ordered. He was sharpening his stake with a pocket knife, getting it ready for whatever monster he came face to face with.
“Don’t anybody try to be no hero! If your ass is in trouble, get the hell outta there,” Paul added.
While sleepily giving his brother directions, David wondered just how this was going to play out. Surely if he was feeling weak, so would the Lost Boys. He still hated the idea of Marko going in there to face those demons, but his little brother had his heart set on being the one to free him. They had been through so much together, and if this was all going to end, he had to have faith in Marko.
He used to see a sweet, scrawny kid whenever they were together. Now with determined eyes and a focused expression, David truly saw how grown up his brother was.
The car was parked in the dirt at the top of the cliff. Dwayne and Paul each had to hold him up so he wouldn't stumble and fall down the worn-out staircase. Marko led the way, finding the main entrance that David had only ever navigated through at night. Sunlight was streaming inside, showing off all the worn-out features of the dilapidated resort.
"Yeah, this is definitely a vampire nest," Dwayne said. "They love settling down in abandoned places like this"
David remembered how much he worried the boys were homeless and that this was the best they could do. Turns out this was the perfect place for them.
Before he could even think of moving further, something caught his eye.
A white piece of fluff hidden in a corner of the room. Curious, he broke free from the others and slowly made his way over to the item. Getting close enough allowed him to see what it really was.
It was the teddy bear he gave Maria the night they all went to play games on the boardwalk. But now it had a new, gruesome feature. A claw had sliced at the throat of the stuffed animal, blood staining the fur surrounding it.
This was a message. A threat. Michael must have done this to frighten Maria enough to the point where she wouldn't leave. You try something, you die.
"You guys go kill that son of a bitch," David sneered. "I'm gonna find Maria and get her out of this hellhole"
Nobody questioned him. Paul and Dwayne took off first to find an entrance to a lower level in the cave. Marko gave David a pat on the shoulder before following them. Though thoroughly exhausted, David managed to stay on his feet long enough to search the cave for Maria. If she was still half-vampire like him, then he could get her out of this place for good.
To his utter relief, she was in her room. Just like after their night together, she was snuggled up under her blankets, trying to ignore the pain of the sunlight streaming in order to get some proper rest. David had been barely comfortable with the black-out curtains. He couldn’t imagine how miserable she was feeling.
“Maria?” he whispered. He kneeled over her on the bed, gently nudging her so she’d wake up. Her beautiful brown eyes peeked open, making David feel a sense of relief. “Hey, sweetheart. I’m getting you out of here. We gotta go now”
Though exhaustion was what most clearly presented on her face, a hint of panic overwhelmed her. She knew just what Michael and his sadistic little brothers were capable of, and she was scared of what they’d do to David if they found out he was here.
“N-No…I can’t…”
“Yes, you can,” David urged her.
He didn’t hesitate in taking action. Fighting back the pain in his muscles, David scooped Maria up into his arms, carefully holding her as he made his way back to the entrance they all came in. She whimpered softly in his hold, discomfort and fear overwhelming her senses. It was all such a scary situation. There were no second chances. If they were caught, it was all over.
David grunted in agony from the number of steps outside the cave he had to climb. If he was still fully human, he could have carried her with absolutely no problem. But the sun above was brutal, and it made his legs buckle and shake. It was a miracle that he was able to set her body down on the seat in the back before he collapsed beside her.
All of his energy was gone. If Marko and his friends were going after those vampires, they were on their own.
*********************************
“Watch your step! The rocks here are sharp!” Paul warned the others, taking the lead down. While he and Dwayne moved around rather gracefully, Marko was a bit clumsy, not always finding the best footing as he followed them.
Still, they all stayed close together, always making sure everyone was safe the further they went into the cave. The air was icy, as no sunlight would ever touch such an area. It was the ideal space for a vampire to hide away when the sun was out, and if there were vampires around, they all had to be on their guard.
Once the last sliver of light was gone, the boys all got their flashlights out. Powerful beams spread out, allowing them to explore the space better. Marko kept his light on the ground so he could see where he was stepping, but Dwayne and Paul had their lights pointed up at the cave ceiling. They were on the lookout for the monsters.
“Vampires have the features of vampire bats in their blood,” Dwayne explained to Marko. “It’s what lets them fly, gives them sharp teeth to bite, and claws to grab onto things better. Not to mention it helps them sleep”
“Sleep? What do you mean by that?” the curly-haired boy asked.
"You’ll see what we mean once we find the fuckers,” Paul chimed in.
Marko was still determined to find these creatures, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. This was still so new and overwhelming. All he wanted was to protect his brother and father. If he panicked at any point, he would be potentially putting their safety at risk. He needed to be brave, no matter what.
He wanted to ask how much longer they needed to travel through the caves. If they were getting closer. But just as he opened his mouth to talk, Dwayne slapped a hand over it, silencing him completely. Marko was baffled by such an act. That was, until he looked up.
Four boys. Sound asleep…..and hanging upside down from the rafters.
It was a good thing Dwayne had covered Marko’s mouth because the smaller boy immediately began screaming into the palm from the sheer shock of the sight. Vampires did exist. Sure, he had seen David with such changes, but now everything felt so much more real. Those were the vampires who went after his brother, and they had to kill the leader.
Dwayne let go when Marko had calmed down enough to stop shouting. His heart was still pounding rapidly, but at least he could keep quiet. While Dwayne and Paul looked for the right weapon in their supplies to use, Marko didn’t dare look away from the monsters.
David wasn’t joking when he said they were just kids. The three boys next to the eldest were so young and innocent looking. But if David said they were killers, then he wasn’t going to question it. Looks could be deceiving.
“Gotta make this quick, clean, and silent,” Dwayne explained, his voice low in volume. In his hands was a sleek-looking crossbow. Paul helped load an arrow into it, making certain it was as sharp as possible.
“We shoot the leader, we get the hell out. The kids will be destroyed once Michael is gone, so we won’t have to worry about being chased afterward,” Paul added.
Marko nodded, backing up to give the brothers some room. Dwayne pointed the crossbow upward, ready and focused to strike. Paul held his arms in place for extra support. The more steady the aim, the better.
There was only one problem. Marko was so focused on getting out of the way, he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. Without warning, a loud bang came behind him, the sound of a massive rock pile crashing down from his foot knocking it out of place.
Though Dwayne shot right away, it didn’t take even a second for everything to go wrong. The closest vampire to Michael woke up from the sound of the rocks. His golden eyes locked on the three humans and the weapon aimed at his brother. Though the speed of the crossbow was fast, the boy was faster.
Without hesitation, the blond-haired boy threw himself in front of Michael, taking the arrow straight into his chest.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”
An inhuman screech echoed across the cave, rattling the walls and piercing the eardrums of the humans on the ground. Thick, dark blood poured from the wound in the kid’s chest, spewing onto the rocks and dirt below like a waterfall. The three other vampires woke with a start, immediately overcome with horror at the sight just inches from them.
Their shrieking was demonic. Loud and ferocious. It overwhelmed Marko, Dwayne, and Paul to the point where they cowered in fright, terrified of what to do after missing their target. Dwayne fumbled with the crossbow in desperation to reload it and shoot again. Unfortunately, the vampire that he hit came down fast and hard, nearly landing on top of them with blood splattering all over. There was no way they could attack with the thick, sticky liquid coating their fingers.
That was a big problem, considering Michael had them right in his sights. He had a fire in his inhuman eyes, and it burned them to the very core.
“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!!”
Not wanting to stick around to give him the chance, the three hunters took off as fast as they possibly could. They shrieked in terror as they frantically ran over the rocky passage they had come through. The walls of the cave rumbled around them, still unstable from the vampires and their screams.
“OUTSIDE! We gotta get outside where the light is NOW!” Paul urged Marko, dragging him along to keep up with him and his brother. The vampire screeches were close behind them, as Michael was hot on their trail.
The beam of light from the outside space was so painfully close. It was harder to move with their shot nerves, keeping them unbalanced and clumsy, but they couldn’t give up. Paul and Dwayne led the way, urging their friend to keep up with them.
Marko was able to do just that until a clawed hand pinned his leg down.
“FUCK! HE’S GOT ME!!” the curly-haired boy cried out. He stumbled to the ground in a panic as the vampire held his leg in place.
Dwayne and Paul immediately began to work to pull Marko towards the light they were so close to touching. They urged their friend to fight and do anything to get Michael away. He screamed and kicked the monster repeatedly in the face with no success.
“Let me go! PLEASE!”
“YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE ME, CHILD,” Michael hissed, a long, serpentine tongue slipping past his fangs.
Marko's stomach was twisting and his heart was slamming against his ribcage. Sweat poured from his forehead as he tried to think of a plan. He needed a weapon. Anything.
The naval dirk. The one his grandmother gave him. While Paul and Dwayne kept trying their best to break free, Marko dug a hand into his pocket, grabbing at the weapon.
With great swiftness, he swung downward and thrust the blade into the flesh of Michael's hand. The monster howled in pain, the same dark, inhuman blood flowing from the wound. Marko wasn't going to let go now. He tugged Michael's hand in the opposite direction, using the blade handle to bring him closer and closer to the light.
"GUYS! HELP ME PULL HIM INTO THE SUNLIGHT!!"
Dwayne and Paul grabbed on tighter than ever, giving their all to pull the vampire into the sunshine. With Michael in a weakened state, they moved his arm with more ease. His wounded hand was pulled out of the darkness and ignited in flames when it was hit by the light.
Any fight Michael had was destroyed as he released Marko and cowered back into the shadows of the cave. His wound was cauterized by the fire, and now instead of bleeding, he was badly burned. There was no way he’d be following them now. The hunters didn’t waste any time taking the chance to run back to the car.
As they climbed up the stairs and used the car to take off in a panic, Michael watched silently from his hiding place. The humans may have won the battle, but the vampires would win the war once the sun went down. All he had to do was wait a couple of hours.
“See you boys soon…”
Tag: @britany1997
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Hear me out stucky+edibles for the first time = absolutely bloated and gorged Steve and Bucky
First things first, I've never tried weed. I'm not of legal age yet, and I also have control issues 😎 I'm so cool, lmao.
So, I don't really have a desire to try weed, nor is weed isn't something I'm super interested in generally. I do have friends that LOVE weed, though. I have experience by proxy, not personal experience. Idk how accurate anything I write would be
That being said...
I do like intox kink 👀
And I bet weed (and specifically the side effect of the munchies) would amount to an absolute orgy of gluttony for Steve and Bucky.
The boys stoned equals constantly hungry boys. And constant hunger turns into constant feeding, or, at least, constant grazing. Never not doing the motion of hand-to-mouth, packing down. Always making up new combo foods, like the time they order too much domino's and too much McDonald's and decide the only way to solve the problem is to put their burgers and fries on their pizza and stuff it all down together. They're beached after that.
In general, no matter the occurrence of getting high, they end up being so fucking out of it.
Flying like kites yet remaining firmly on the ground, weighed down by all the extra weight they've put on since discovering the incredible world of edibles. They're so lazy, zoning out, and riding out their highs on opposite couches where they can take up all the space they need, just sitting back on their widening asses, pinned under gurgly guts. Arms supporting their dome-like bellies as if they're pregnant. Major food babies.
Also, sometimes, while chomping down edibles, they forget that they're eating edibles (they're just so good! they taste so good!) and so they go in hard on the snacks and end up much higher than they mean to. So, they also end up hungrier than they mean to. Getting higher and hungrier means they order and order and order all different types of takeout, plowing through it, not even recognizing how full they are (or how much money they're spending) until neither of them can move.
They can't sit up over their packed guts that hang out of the bottom of their extremely tight shirts and rip the seams of their sweatpants at the thighs, hips, down their ass, or wherever their extra weight can escape. Blowing up. They can't move around. Not at all 😮💨
And things are only going to get tighter from here because takeout is greasy and fattening and sugar and, just, full of all the worst things that taste the best. The worst things that're mouthwatering and that promote bloating. Steve and Bucky think they're round now? Just wait 30 minutes...
They'll be so big that they'll be amazed with themselves, caressing their own bellies, waxing hazy poetic words about how fit to bursting they feel. Heavy and stuck like whales. No! Like that ship that got stuck in that canal. Or, no, not like a ship, that's the wrong shape and not heavy enough. They're round and heavy like the whole planet. Earth. And, God, do you think Earth feels bloated before volcanos erupt? All that pressure. Wait, wait, wait, can you imagine swallowing the whole planet? It'd be so heavy and make you so round. And it'd be hot too, right? Like, the core is lava or whatever.
They're full and high and stupid, and it all makes them conk out into food comas pretty fast. By the time they wake up... it's time to start all over again.
Steve and Bucky waste all of their days high and stuffed. Is it really a waste when it feels so good, though???
Eventually, when they're forced to not eat any edibles for a whole day (and, Jesus, those 24 hours feel WAY longer than they should) for some event they absolutely cannot attend even a little high Steve and Bucky will look down at their bellies falling out of their clothes and pushing solidly into their laps, they'll look at each other and try to figure out where all this fat came from. All this blubber that's so soft and malleable and delectable when their stomachs aren't stretched to the max from having no pauses in their days' worth of eating. Their fat tummies are so cushy under exploring, sober hands. Do we really look like this? How did we not realize? How did we put on so much weight without noticing? Like, we were high, hell yeah, but how were we that high that consistently? And... why does it turn us both on so much?
(I just reread the ask and realized you asked for the first time they try edibles....... I'm so dumb lol. Oops. Not exactly what you wanted and super short, but I hope you enjoyed still ❤️)
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ooo just saw your top 5 tropes and do you have any good trapped under rubble recs?
I SURE DO!!!!
Tv Episodes:
Stargate SG-1 2x05
Hawaii Five-0 4x19
Arrow 7x20
Torchwood 2x12
Teen Wolf 3x12
Krypton 2x09
Hudson and Rex 2x14
Stargate Atlantis 5x01
Lost 1x07
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Lost in Space 2x05
BBC Casualty 34x01
Transplant 1x01
Castle 6x11
Agents of Shield 5x22
see this whumptober set for several examples
Fanfics:
My OCs:
Lucifer - Before I Go by Kay_kat: Chloe finally knows— finally believes the one thing that he’s been telling her since the beginning. That he is the Devil. By some miracle they’d worked past it and picked up where they’d left off, solving crimes together and maintaining a loosely defined and somewhat confusing personal relationship. He’d told her a lot of things since she found out, only... there is still one thing that he hasn’t told her that weighs on him every time he sees her beautiful face. It threatens to slip from his lips every time she rolls her eyes at one of his puns. The feelings that had bloomed that night on the balcony. So, when he ends up trapped under a building, with Chloe by his side as he struggles to hold on, will the feelings he’s been keeping inside finally spill free? He’s not sure he can go without telling her.
Hawaii Five-0 - Baby, Stay With Me by Horndog333: Steve and Danny are trapped inside when an explosion destroys and levels a parking structure. Danny is seriously injured by the falling cement and debris. Seeing no way out, Steve confesses something that will change both of their lives forever.
Leverage - but don't you shake alone by tragicallynerdy: Trapped in a collapsed building, an injured Eliot and panicking Hardison do what they can to keep each other alive, safe, and whole.
911 - Thicker Than Blood by altschmerzes: Bobby and Buck are in a parking garage when part of the structure collapses, trapping them both inside. The collapse itself isn't too bad. The problem is that Bobby can't find Buck, and is too concussed to remember that Buck is no longer on the blood thinners that could make even a minor injury lethal. Bobby struggles to communicate to the incident commander outside, a stranger, as well as to Athena, exactly why it's so important that he remain inside the collapse. But Buck's never left him behind, even when ordered to. He's not about to betray that in return.
Murdoch Mysteries - S-O-S by Horatio13: He was pinned in a pretty tight pocket, but not tight enough that it was impossible to breathe. Uncomfortably difficult, yes, but definitely possible. His ears were ringing. Something sharp was stabbing in his thigh. He couldn’t feel his fingers on his right hand, but he couldn’t see enough of them to figure out what the problem was. He could feel something wet and sticky starting to pool underneath his legs and stomach. Well, thought George numbly. This is fun.
Loki - you must know you are beloved; by unintentionallyangsty: When Loki risks his own life to save Thor's, he ends up trapped aboard the Statesman in a room quickly draining of oxygen. Thor is, understandably, less than thrilled at this development.
911 - the urgency of now by wayfarer: Buck is pretty sure the universe is actively trying to murder him at this point. There’s just no other explanation. In the last two years he has been blown up and subsequently crushed by a fire truck, suffered from a pulmonary embolism, nearly drowned in a tsunami and now this. How many times can he almost die before it stops being an accident and starts being some kind of cosmic hit put out on his life? Or, a building collapses on Buck and Eddie. Confessions ensue.
Tony Stark - To Prove a Hero is Allowed to Have Some of His Own by Era_Penn: Or, five(ish) times Tony thought a teammate would leave him behind, and one time he knew they wouldn't. (Chapter 7)
The Man From Uncle - One Day in Morocco by el_spirito : A fulfillment of the following prompt: One where they're in a building that collapses for nefarious reasons and Napoleon is injured and Illya, it turns out, is severely claustrophobic, so Napoleon has to simultaneously try and keep the giant Russian calm and not die. Featuring trapped boys, determined Gaby, and Waverly being great.
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The Zodiac Trial
The Zodiac Trial is an investigative visual novel clearly inspired by titles such as the Zero Ecape saga, where a group of characters find themselves taking part in a deadly game and trying to survive it. Let's face it, the game clearly doesn't have a big budget, and suffers from this in certain respects, but its storyline does have certain qualities. Unfortunately, I didn't get hooked enough, mainly due to the construction of the game as a whole:
❤ The game's strongest point is undoubtedly its storyline; it's well-built and fairly coherent, and the desire to solve the case kept me going right to the end.
+/- On the other hand, the quality of the writing varies too much from one route to the next; in some, the tension builds up gradually and events can surprise in a positive way, while in others things happen too quickly and the game takes no time at all to build up a general atmosphere or a feeling for the characters. Perhaps it's a pacing issue, or maybe just lazy writing.
+/- Some nice atmospheric music, but a lot of music that doesn't go with the scenes at all (having super happy music just because the characters are relaxing a bit isn't consistent with the context and totally breaks immersion).
+/- On the whole, I like the chara-design, but the drawings are still very amateurish, with problems with the proportions of the bodies. I also found the illustrations much less accomplished than the character sprites.
✖ Backgrounds that have too much of a blurred/realistic photoshopped effect, it's not very pretty.
✖ The game has 13 main routes, each with 4 different endings (making a total of 52 unlockable endings), which are not always clear on how to reach them, and a flowchart is sorely lacking to at least give you an overview of what's left to unlock. Because of this, you're forced to start over and over again, which becomes tiresome even with the use of the skip option. I admit I've missed endings out of boredom….
✖ Also, many of the endings are totally useless and add nothing to the main plot; I feel that the game has tried to be too greedy in terms of content, but on the contrary, this has weighed it down for nothing.
✖ In the game's description, it says that we'll be solving puzzles…. frankly, if that's why you want to play it, forget it. There are very few puzzles to solve on your own (sometimes it's the narration that does it…ok) and they're all about finding codes. What's more, some of them involve remembering details from other routes, the problem being that there's no notebook to record your discoveries, so unless you have an excellent memory, you're left wishing you'd taken notes the day before ;;
I salute the efforts of a small studio to have wanted to propose an intriguing story, and I really feel that this was done with a love for games of the same genre, but the game sincerely lacks maturity in my eyes, especially in its construction, with overloaded branchings and writing that isn't always consistent. For the curious, at least try it out for its scenario!
➡ My personal VN ranking (in french)
➡ My Steam page
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Hi. I often fear that I’m incapable of loving and having feelings for other people. I have super high empathy, but at the same time I feel kind of empty and distant from the people in my life. Not that I don’t care about them want to help them or hurt when they hurt etc, but I just don’t feel anything personal about them no pull towards them. I wonder if it wouldn’t make a difference in my life if they weren’t there. I can’t fully understand this. And I worry about it, since I also really yearn for close relationships and companionship. Or maybe it’s just the avpd and the fact that I can never really be fully open and present, but I do worry that it’s not it or can’t be solved. Do you or your followers have similar experiences of know what this is?
I guess I'd first like to say that when I talk about having low empathy myself, my definition of empathy is the ability to feel an echo of other peoples' emotions and/or put yourself in their shoes. I think you can have low empathy and still care about people.
That being said, I have definitely just felt a complete lack of emotional connection to loved ones at some points in my life, even for long periods.
Sometimes it's because I'm overwhelmed by the expectation to care about people and things I don't even want to care about, I withdraw from the people I do want to feel connected to. I think the ability to feel connected to people can be affected by how overwhelmed we are with emotional expectations elsewhere in our lives. I know when I'm overwhelmed by anxiety and expectation, I start to feel emotionally unavailable.
Sometimes it's anhedonia from depression. I don't usually experience clinical depression so the times it has happened in my life I notice very strongly. If someone were depressed most of the time though, they might not realize they're experiencing anhedonia.
All that being said, I think my base level for feeling love and connection to people is muffled compared to people without avpd. Like I know I care about the person, but it can be very difficult for me to feel it. Like emotional lidocaine or something, and I suspect that's an emotional defense mechanism from a fear of criticism and rejection that's happening without me even thinking about it.
Any followers please feel free to weigh in!
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If there's a cat in an environment that's wring for them, like a multi cat + dog household and one cat can't stand cats or dogs, do you feel that medication can help or is rehoming normally the best route? Is it right to use medication instead of rehoming, when it's clear that stress is caused by something unchangeable in the environment (kids, other pets ect)
I think there are a lot of moving parts that go into a decision to re-home versus attempting medication. There are a LOT of "unchangeable" variables that actually wind up being rather easy to work around, depending on what it is. It's important to weigh every aspect of the cat's life, too. What is the human realistically willing or even able to do?
Medication is also absolutely not a fix-all. If there is a true reason that the cat can't be in that environment, you can medicate for everything under the sun but it's still not solving the root issue. Medication works best in tandem with problem-solving, but unfortunately a lot of folks simply see it to the first step of getting the medication.
I'll use my own cats as an example. Heimdall is currently on Fluoxetine. This prescription was written while I had a foster cat in the house, and Heimdall was extra stressed because while in the past, he had dealt GREAT with fosters, but this one needed a little more attention than Heimdall was used to. Because of this, he started over-grooming himself and licked all the fur off of his tummy. He was tested for allergies and other illnesses that could have caused hair loss, but the veterinarian came to the conclusion that it was stress-grooming. Trying to keep him from grooming was an okay first step, but he would just lick around any shirt or onesie we put him in.
We were treating the symptoms and not the cause.
So we got him on Fluoxetine after some trial and error with some other medications. We knew the foster was a temporary thing, and once the foster went to their forever home, Heimdall stopped licking his tummy.
We've decided to keep him on it because he's doing VERY well. At the end of the day we picked this boy up around 3-4 years of age and we don't know what his home life was like prior, so having the lower dose in his system helps him deal with stressful situations that cats like Seymour and Sif (that I had since they were kittens and were able to condition them myself) can easily shrug off.
But also this means we understand that fostering cats is stressful for Heimdall, and because of that we've since stopped fostering, at least for the time being. Once Heimdall himself crosses that rainbow bridge we'll revisit, but for his own mental and physical health, the old man needs familiarity.
ANYWAY all that is to say it's a tough situation, and at the end of the day pet experts can't give owners the answers, only the tools. I can tell someone that a cat isn't a good fit for their home until I'm blue in the face, but it's their cat and their home. If they're not actively harming the animal there's nothing I can do, so all I can do is offer alternative advice. And because "Oh you're having this problem with this cat? Get rid of the cat" would make me a pretty unpopular cat behaviorist, I usually wind up recommending meds, especially since it'll actually get folks to take a cat to their vet for the problem when all I know about the situation is what someone puts in the tumblr ask box.
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The Car Ride [S3:E17]
A short discussion Jim and Ed have while they're driving to the meeting with the Court of Owls. The main topic? A certain mayor that's allegedly dead.
So I've watched Gotham. Actually, that's a lie. I binged Gotham in a week and now I'm watching it again, but with my mom because no one is safe from my fixations.
Watching Gotham means I got a new OTP. OT3. OT4 even considering I do ship Oswald and Ed and Jim and Lee all at once in a funny, mad little poly relationship. It's not even that far from canon, honestly, it's Gotham. Everyone slept with everyone at some point. But that's a later topic (soon, maybe).
This ficlet came to me because, honestly, I wanted to make fun of Ed and Jim. Especially Ed, considering he's so madly in love with Oswald but won't admit it. So, here are the two of them, calling each other out on their own bullshit.
And tbh I'm very proud of this one!
You can also find it on AO3.
*
They were driving.
The road to the harbor was quiet, and so it seemed way longer than it was in reality. They both knew it, they knew very well what that road looked like. Yet none spoke up. Not even the radio was playing. Just two, lost men, a cop and a cop murderer drowned deep in their thoughts.
Jim was tired. He didn’t sleep well for what seemed like ages by now, the road was dark, the car was quiet and his eyes felt strained. Lately there was no time for a break, his brain was running every hour of the day, to figure out the court, to protect the people of Gotham. To not think about Lee and Mario and the heavy, heavy guilt weighing his shoulders. To not think about the mayor, gone and dead by the hands of the very man taking the passenger seat right now. Sure, Cobblepot was a menace, a criminal and an insane murderer, but having him around was normal . It was something Gordon got used to, even despite himself. To think that he was really dead right now was… unsettling. And added to Jim’s pile of things to not think about.
The anger was bubbling softly in his abdomen, but he didn’t want to let it win. Instead, he let the tiredness take over. The kind that made his brain into a mush and his muscles into cotton candy, that could melt and let him fall any moment.
That would be more pleasant than sitting by Nygma right now.
The other man seemed emotionless. He was looking straight ahead, on the pitch black road, his eyes dark and unfeeling. He looked like a statue yet it was far from what was happening inside of his head. Contrary to Gordon, he couldn't make them shut up. But oh, he wished for it so much. For the thoughts, screaming at each other, to quiet down. He was lost, caught in a crossfire between Riddler, yelling about murder, revange, betrayal and raging like a monster and Ed, spilling riddles that had no sense. And in the middle was he, trying to focus on the goal, on the riddle that he had to solve, otherwise the two voices would drive him mad. Madder than he already was.
And detective Gordon, quietly driving them to the place of meeting, seemed to be an anchor. No, not because of the images of his suffering that Ed used to play over and over in his head since Arkham. Actually, it was because of the riddle. Jimbo was always a riddle, so righteous, always nice to Ed when they still worked together, sharp and quick with his deduction. Yet still morally gray. Knowing stuff that normal cops shouldn’t know. Like right now. Jim Gordon, out of all people, just had to know about Ed’s goal.
Still, the silence between the two men was long and awkward.
“What happened between you and Penguin?” The sentence felt like a violation. As if Jim grabbed the silence between them and ripped it in half with his voice, causing Ed to recoil in almost physical pain.
“What?”
“I’m just curious. You two seemed… close. And suddenly he’s dead.”
The implication was there. Oswald got close to Ed, he died. Miss Kringle got close to Ed, she died. Isabella-
Nygma didn’t know if it was intentional, but he took it as such. It was Jim he was talking with. Detective Gordon, smart and sharp and dangerous with his deduction.
“He killed someone close to me. It was revange.”
The word shouldn't feel so bitter on his tongue, but Ed still had to lick over his lips to get rid of the after taste. He thought that, in the darkness of the car, Gordon wouldn’t see.
“Was it worth it?”
The question felt weird, out of character and, to both men’s dread, hung in the air between them. Nygma saw how Jim cringed briefly, then furrowed his brows. Ed licked over his lips again.
“What’s with the chit-chat, Jimbo? Does it really matter? He’s gone. I was sure that you, out of all people, would be happy about it.”
Ed sounded irritated, bitter and, somehow, also weird. He knew it. He used all his strength to calm his nerves, to focus on his goal. And then he saw how Jim clenched his jaw, doing the same thing.
“Criminals murdering criminals should suit my book,” he said with voice gruffier, more annoyed. “But it’s still a murder.”
A soft laughter filled the car. Nygma smiled one of his wide, creepy smiles at Gordon.
“Don’t tell me you also wanted to put your hands on poor, ol’ Oswald? Considering how much of your hair turned white because of him I shouldn’t be surprised, but Jim , he was your mayor!” Jim kept quiet, focusing on the road. He shouldn’t have spoken. “Or… am I missing a clue here?”
“He should just go back to Arkham.”
“Oh! A fate worse than death for him! Cops really are sadists, aren’t they?”
Again, Jim didn’t answer. He met doctor Strange more times than he wished for. Usually, he tried to not think about the kind of therapy Penguin had to indulge.
Something on his face had to sell his thoughts to Nygma. He wasn’t sure what it could be, but Ed always had a knack for noticing tiny details.
“He was a criminal, you’re a detective. It was inevitable one of you had to die at some point. The only riddle here is: why do you suddenly care ?” Ed’s glasses glimmered dangerously. “You always seemed to hold a soft spot for Oswald. Is it because you let him live? Or because he considered you a good friend all this time? Is it the- maybe? Nobody wants me, But those who never have me, nobody wants. What am I? ”
Ed shut down his loud thoughts, waiting for an answer. Gordon could hear Harvey’s voice, calling him an idiot in his head.
But he indulged.
“Guilt. But no, I didn’t feel guilty about him. That sounds awfully honest though, Ed.”
Jim smirked, hearing a harsh inhale through the nose. He hit right in the spot, didn’t he? The anger, bubbling in his stomach, was making him vicious and petty and Nygma’s reaction gave him a short lasting joy. And now, that he took the initiative over their discussion, he was not going to let go of it.
“In any way, who cares . Oswald is dead. It’s time to forget about him,” hissed Ed. For a reason Jim would never speak about he tightened his grip on the wheel.
“You say so, and yet here you are. Penguin’s gone and you run around like a lost puppy, searching for its master. Kill random people, play with police, get yourself into schemes bigger than you. It’s like you lost your purpose and are frantically trying to replace it. What happened to the ruthless cop murderer that framed me? With a smart guy that had a plan for every occasion? What happened between you and Penguin, Ed?
The way Nygma got red was almost amusing to Jim. He never showed his emotions like that.
“I don’t need him,” huffed the criminal. “I never needed him, especially not with emotions getting in the way. He was naive and that was-” Suddenly Ed cut off and got quiet. Jim felt a piercing, furious glare on himself. It didn’t get rid of his smirk, nor the anger swirling in his stomach happily.
“ I can fill a room or just one heart. Others can have me, but I can’t be shared. What am I? ” He asked the riddle, thanking himself for that one night at the bar with Lucius once he was back from his break. Harvey was antsy about being reminded of the whole situation. And Gordon had fun.
“...loneliness.” Ed sounded crestfallen.
“Don’t you have to answer my way?”
“That’s enough .” Nygma chuckled but it sounded forced. Jim smiled wider, more proudly. “I don’t know what’s the purpose of your games, detective Gordon, but I suggest that we answer it the way of the person who’s holding the gun .”
Gordon knew Ed wouldn’t shoot him right now, he still needed him. But still decided to go with the other man’s suggestion.
The silence was back, but not for long.
Suddenly Ed chuckled and shook his head. He looked at Gordon again, a cunning smile on his face.
“You know, detective, if I didn’t know better I’d think you also sound awfully honest. Wouldn’t that be just pathetic of you, though?”
The anger in Jim’s belly was gone, leaving only tiredness so strong it was making him nauseous. His face fell, darkened and he felt a need to just punch Nygma to shut him up.
“We’re close,” he said, instead of answering, bringing back a heavy silence between the two of them.
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