#the assignment was easy its just getting myself to engage with a task which is the issue | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imthepunchlord · 3 years

Note

Can you elaborate on the Guardian Nino + Turtle and Alya getting the fox?

I understand why you don't like the rest, I don't like em myself but why are those bad in your opinion?

Just curious.

I will acknowledge that these are nitpicks and they are mixture of my own frustrations. Frustration that the miraculous that are assigned to Alya and Nino do not fit them as characters, and with Fu now confirmed to have 15 more miraculous with him, people will still default to those and won’t even consider changing things up.

We will start with Alya as Nino would be a more lengthy answer. And putting this under cut as Alya got a whole lot more lenghtier than I originally thought.

Now, I can get the appeal of Alya with Fox. Visually, its one of the more clever color coding designs for a miraculous, you have her big on learning secrets and sharing them with the world, Fox could teach her the importance of secrecy, though would still match that curious nature. And Darkblade shows us that Alya cna be sneaky and use underhanded tactics. Mr Pigeon also adds to this as she was ready to do something about Chloe stealing Marinette’s design. And while not aggressive, Alya is still a very direct and driven character and Fox could help teach her some subtlety, and to put some distance between herself and things, though the Fox itself is a risk taking animal. It can be a challenge of smart vs confidence.

So there is actual appeal to Alya having Fox, particularly in symbolism and growth. But...

We got to see that the Fox’s power is Mirage, and that Mirage was one illusion and not the multiple that Volpina had initially set up. It not only downgrades the Fox miraculous, but this sets up difficulty for Alya. Especially with Kwamibuster revealing that how elaborate and complex an illusion comes out can depend on the user, and ultimately confirms that Marinette would be a far better Fox than Alya. Power wise, this really doesn’t set up Alya as a good Fox at all...

Having one illusion to use, you want to make sure its used well. So the Fox would be better matched with an elaborate complex thinker who can make complex illusions that will misdirect their audience. You also want a character who can be more background oriented, if you’re going to be an illusionist, you don’t want attention on yourself as you play your audience. A skilled illusionist like this could even trick an akuma into “accomplishing” their goal and give up the butterfly as they are satisfied.

Alya though does not meet those qualifications, not to say she couldn’t learn and grow, but if you need an immediate good Fox to help you, there are better picks out there. Marinette, Felix, Luka, and Nino all would be solid Foxes as they are elaborate thinkers, and can settle to be more background oriented.

Alya though isn’t an elaborate thinker, she’s a very direct instead, so much of her illusions wind up coming out direct and basic. They still serve their purpose and do a good enough job, but there could better matches. Only time I found myself impressed with her illusion was Miracle Queen where she was under influence... that’s not good. And while Alya herself is an imaginative character, she can rival Adrien in recklessness and can latch onto the first idea she likes whether its a good idea or not. You don’t want an illusionist who’s going to latch onto the first idea that comes to mind and consider their options more.

Now, if Fox had Volpina’s multiple illusions, this can give Alya more leeway to make mistakes and change tactics and allow a learning curve; it’d also work if Fox had other powers that could match her more, like a power of evasion, foxfire, hypnosis, transformation, ect. But its one illusion and how complex it is depends on the user and its not a good match for Alya.

And then there’s the matter with Trixx, and by extension, the issue with Lila: Alya is shown by s3 to be an easily manipulated character. If you are easily manipulated, that doesn’t set you up as a promising Fox.

We see that Trixx is friendly and diligent, but also very manipulative and easily manipulates Alya. This makes their dynamic less interesting to me, I’d rather Trixx be paired with someone who can match them more mentally.

And then Lila. Now, I myself wasn’t intrigued by the Alya vs Lila that the fandom was interested in as Volpina didn’t do anything to set them up, and you got the Truth vs Lies theme but Alya is supposed to get the Fox which is an infamous liar? It doesn’t quite match up as a rivalry, and canon proceeded to shoot that down even more as Lila easily manipulatives Alya in the accursed episode that sparked off many of salt fics and is actually still going. How can I embrace Alya as a Fox when she’s easily manipulated and accepts things at face value? I’ll also acknowledge that this is a similar issue with Nino who is easily accepting of Lila’s lies. I still think he’d be a better Fox than Alya, but Fox isn’t my top pick for him either.

And then there’s the issue with Rena Rouge.

You got her skin getting lighter and she’s now “sexier” as Rena. This does not add to the appeal of Fox Alya at all and makes me want it even less.

Over all, there are better miraculouses for her to play off her being a more direct character. And by default, all miraculous would teach the importance of secrecy.

Cat would really work as its a direct and aggressive miraculous but also requires some thought to it. Plagg can also be a fun and good counterpart to Alya, as he isn’t as invested in hero duties as her and could help her learn to calm down a little.

She’d be a good Bee, would be smart with Venom and can teach her to be smarter around akumas. Can’t say how good of a match her and canon Pollen would be, she may help Pollen grow or Pollen will end up as an enabler. Pollen just might need a big overhaul as a character though, that might be best.

She’d be a really good Turtle, its really keeps that support role of watching out for her friends and allows her to be in the front lines where she’d like to be, and can teach her some form of caution or not to be so reckless around akumas. I think of the 5, she and Wayzz could be the most interesting duo as Wayzz is quick to question his humans and can prompt Alya to start rethinking her strategies instead of going with the first idea she likes. But this isn’t a duo that would butt heads a lot as Wayzz is shown to be adaptable and will learn his users personality quickly so he can match Alya in her playful nature.

And technically should wait to see powers, but, going off symbolism and headcanons, there’s a few of the Zodiac who Alya could use.

Tiger has a lot of the similar appeals to Fox but with added aggression that could work with Alya better. It’s an animal more associated with the shadows and stealth, but it is a top predator. So if you want Alya to learn more subtlety and stealth but keep that directness, Tiger would be good. It would also keep that clever color coding, and perhaps match it more as Alya has “stripes” in her design. And the kwami we see is shown very curious and bold, similar characteristics that Alya has.

She’d work as a Dragon, its also very direct and can be aggressive, but not exactly in your face like Cat and Bee. And power wise it has options so can allow a learning curve and can allow her to be direct or more subtle. It would also match that want to help and be a hero, as in the old Zodiac lore, the Dragon didn’t make first place because she kept stopping to help people. Shown to be poised, Longg could help with self-control, though she’s shown to be a rambler so that might get on Alya’s nerves, but could prompt the kwami to be more straight to the point.

Goat can work as its a very ambitious but gentle animal. It’s also very clever, they are infamous escape artists. If you want another animal that matches in being direct, helpful, and cunning; Goat’s a good pick. The kwami is shown gentle and nice, by default they’d be a friendly pair.

Dog, which should be a mixture of the appeals of Goat and Turtle, direct and helpful, but also be ready to be a protector and have people’s back. And the kwami is shown to be very on task which will work with Alya nicely.

And lastly, Pig. While known to be aggressive (especially as a boar), in terms of Chinese Zodiac lore, this animal is actually known to be easy going, a symbol of prosperity and wealth, and in terms of Zodiac personality, is incredibly helpful. Similarly to Turtle, could teach Alya to slow down, and it has promise to be another direct support miraculous.

Now, Nino with Turtle and by extension, him being Guardian.

Now Nino with Turtle was never a match that I was ever really interested in, and there was less appeal there than Alya getting Fox. Nino’s not color coded for it, and the things Turtle can teach are things Nino didn’t need to learn or already had.

One of the earliest suggestions made for Turtle Nino was to teach maturity, as Bubbler suggest Nino likes to party. Only Nino himself, at least the very little shown, is an over all mature and responsible character.

He went up to Gabriel to request hosting a party for Adrien.

Pixelator shows him taking over Adrien’s assigned job and doing his homework at the same time.

Santa Claws he’s one of many to go look for Adrien.

Captain Hardrock, was helping prepare the boat for the band.

Not to say he’s mature all the time (no teenager is), but he doesn’t need lessons in maturity from Turtle. Turtle can also teach bravery and standing your ground which Nino doesn’t need either. He’s not the bravest of characters as he’s less inclined to face akumas, but that itself is not a bad thing, its smart to not engage with akumas. And Nino himself doesn’t have issues standing his ground as he was unafraid of Chloe in Lady Wifi nor was he nervous about changing the script in Horrificator.

Turtle could also teach caution, self-care, and being more conscious of others and helping them. Which Nino also really has down. Much like before, he does watch out for himself with akumas and largely aware of the danger they pose; and he is an already helpful and supportive character, readily having Adrien and Alya’s back.

Another factor is that Turtle is a direct support miraculous. It needs a user who is ready to be on the front lines and Nino is not that sort of character. He’d be better fit for background support as that’s where he would prefer to be and his strengths can lie better there, especially with his want to be a director who is a more background leader than having the core attention.

And looking back at Anansi, there’s nothing there to solidify Turtle Nino, cause ultimately, Carapace was pointless. You can entirely cut out Carapace and very little would change. He doesn’t help fight Anansi but was there to root LB in the boxing match. Yeah, Shelter cut the web but, why couldn’t Chat just turn his hand and Cataclysm the web? This was supposed to be an ep to give Nino a “manly boost” but as a miraculous hero he did ultimately nothing and didn’t even need to be there.

Canon really failed in making me want Turtle Nino at all. Only saving grace is that its for temporary use and not permanent.

And as for Guardian Nino, this was playing off the headcanon that Turtle = Guardian, simply because Fu as a Guardian had Turtle which was a headcanon I never latched onto and seemed weird to me that this one miraculous was always assigned to a Guardian. But playing off this headcanon and Turtle Nino being popular, Nino got guardianship.

Which to me was a weird thing to latch onto as, canon wise, there was nothing between Nino and Fu as characters, and Nino himself is incredibly removed from akumas and miraculous. If a best friend HAD to be a Guardian and not Marinette or Adrien, Alya actually would’ve made sense. Her whole thing is learning identities, but also learning the importance of secrecy. And you could play off her being involved but not in the forefront of things, not having full focus and attention, and you do see Fu in the background when Alya is in focus.

But over all, I was more for Guardian Marinette as she was the most involved in the miraculous work and duties, did her job well, and was involved with other people and knew their strengths and weaknesses, could see potential and know they’re reliable. I am glad canon went for Guardian Marinette, though I wish canon had her passing the earrings onto someone else as she doesn’t need two vital roles to shoulder nor does the Ladybug miraculous teach her anything new anymore and Tikki is not a good kwami for her either.

But Nino as Guardian just because its a popular idea of him getting Turtle, just doesn’t click with me and feels random, both in miraculous assignment and in role.

And much like Alya, there are better fitting miraculous for Nino.

Canon wise, plus being color coded for it, Peafowl would be good. It’s meant to be background support and not in the heat of things, so that matches Nino’s comfort level. This is a miraculous that can also help Nino learn needed observation skills, as that’s one of his biggest issues as a character. Any feelings of distraught can go over Nino’s head, not just in the case of Horrificator, but Nino is also oblivious to Adrien’s discomfort around Chloe and Lila, and has offered to wingman for both once (though Chloe he was an akuma). So a miraculous tied to emotions can help Nino become more conscious of others’ feelings. And giving him beings to command and oversee, this can give him practice in directing as he’ll need to learn to direct his creations. Duusu and Nino would probably get along well, and maybe spice up his life a little as she’s affectionate and expressive.

By extension and for similar reasons, Butterfly also works very well. This is more designed than canon Peafowl to be on the front lines, but it isn’t required. And can still help Nino learn to be more consciously aware of others and still give him practice in directing as he’s then working with actual people then beings of his own creation. Nooroo and Nino would also be a very sweet pair, though a lot calmer and a tad boring.

Nino would be a good Fox. Party Crasher shows he’s an elaborate thinker, and again, this can work in his want to be a director as he can learn how to put on a show and sway his audience. Fox can also help Nino catch the smaller details that he can wind up overlooking. And its a miraculous not set to be on the front lines and still works in his favor. Only issue is a similar one to Trixx and Alya, I do see Trixx easily manipulating Nino which doesn’t make them an exactly appealing pair.

Zodiac wise, playing off headcanons and symbolism.

Nino would be a good Mouse, as an elaborate thinker, this miraculous is up his alley as it’s about literal mirco management. And can still teach him observation skills as he has to be aware of everything while small. The little bit we’re getting of the kwami is that she appears quite the mischief maker, so she can spice up Nino’s life and we could get a funny dynamic to see.

Ignoring canon’s take and working more off the Moon Rabbit, Nino would be a solid Rabbit, especially as a healer and support, and still teach him to be more aware of his surroundings and be more active in helping people.

He could be a good Dragon, as it doesn’t appear to need to be too directly involved, and like (Moon) Rabbit, could teach him to be more actively involved in helping others. I can also see him being more patient with Longg than Alya.

He’d be a solid Snake as an elaborate thinker, and this can give him the time he needs to think and decide on a plan. And still backs him catching details and encourage him in observing people and his surroundings. I see him and Sass getting along.

Honorable mentions that can apply but I either don’t see them teaching Nino much or could end up being too direct than he prefer: Ox, Tiger, Horse, Goat, Dog, Pig.

Soooo those are my nitpicky issues with Nino and Alya and their respective miraculous, plus the idea of Guardian Nino. But these are my nitpicks and issues, if anyone likes these miraculous assignments and the idea of Guardian Nino, cool. Its just one of many popular fanon ideas and tropes that just isn’t for me and I’d rather something else, especially in terms of miraculous assignment.

#ask Punchie #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #kwami swap

58 notes · View notes

max1461 · 3 years

Text

An observation:

I find that, when discussing the concept of tolerance (especially in its political incarnation, but also more generally), people tend to frame it in a very particular way that is somewhat foreign to me. Tolerance is presented as something that does not really come naturally to anyone, but that some people are compelled to engage in by their moral compass. Like, the assumption seems to be that by default, we'd all constantly be up in each other's business being judgmental or hateful or whatever, and those of us who don't do that must simply be restraining our natural urges because we believe that they're wrong.

You see this sentiment implicit in the way a lot of right-wingers frame their opposition to certain forms of liberal toleration ("we're rebels, free from the liberal mind-prison of having to tolerate everyone all the time" etc etc.). You also see it in how a lot of left-liberal or left-ish people talk about their own values of tolerance ("unlike those right-wingers who give in to hate, we're going to be the grown-ups in the room and respect people who are different from us"). Judgement, sectarianism, and dislike of the Other are presented as seductive urges we all share; to practice them is hedonic and rebellious, to resist them is mature and restrained.

I fundamentally cannot relate to this understand of, let's say, the emotional experience of tolerance.

[this part lapses into mild tangent, but I think it's worthwhile]

I get the impression that for a lot of people, the act of value judgement is like... actively enjoyable? Or something they otherwise seek out?

When encountering a New Thing, it seems that many people's immediate reaction is to try and decide if it's a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. There are of course people who are critical of this gut tendency, and stress the need for nuance in one's analysis of things etc etc. But I find that even these people still tend to act as though the appropriate course of action when presented with something novel is to assign it a value judgement, they just demand that the judgement be more complex than "Good" or "Bad". Maybe they even argue that before making the judgment, you are obligated to spend time and effort learning about and contemplating the thing in order to come to an informed assessment. But, again, they still tend to take it as a given that the eventual goal is to decided the The Goodness Of The Thing, and to act accordingly.

I have trouble relating to this set of desires. I tend to find the act of value judgement itself to be basically... a hassle? Like, just, on a very basic level as a cognitive task it doesn't feel good to me. I find it draining very quickly. Answering the question "How Do I Feel About This Thing?" is not any fun.

(sidenote: I do not find it similarly draining to think up reasons why someone else might approve or disapprove of a thing, which suggests to me that the task I dislike is not producing value judgements, but evaluating them.)

Of course, I recognize the necessity of value judgement: if you want to have any ethical system at all, you need to be able to look at potential courses of action and give them some measure of ethical evaluation. You need to be able to say "it would probably be good if I did this, and not so good if I did that" etc. You've gotta be able to say "the Nazis were bad, actually". I am not arguing that we should all abstain from value judgement or anything like that. It would seem that value judgement is a cognitive task we're all ethically obligated to engage in, at least some of the time.

Therefore, for me, the act of value judgement is something that I do out of duty. It's a drag. I do it because I have to. When I encounter a New Thing, my default reaction is generally to go "huh, well there's that thing I guess". I might also ask myself "do I find this thing interesting", and if the answer is "no" I ignore it, and if the answer is "yes" I try to learn about it. But if the New Thing is the sort of thing that seems clear to have some ethical implications, I also ask myself "is this good or bad (or some mix of the two, etc.)", and try to act accordingly. I just don't really enjoy that part.

[back on topic]

This is were my alienation from a lot of discourse about tolerance comes from, I think. Being judgmental of people, or hating them, or being angry at them or whatever requires a value judgement. It requires me to decide "these people are Bad, they've done something Wrong, etc". And all ethics aside, I just have an active distaste for doing that. What comes most naturally to me is a kind amoral absolute tolerance. "Who cares what anybody else does".

As I've moved farther to the left politically, I've actually become less tolerant, and I think this is one of the reasons that it's a mistake to associate tolerance with the left.

When I was a teenager, I was basically a sort of secular political quietist. My general take was "the government will always be basically bad and corrupt, but they'll also do some good things too, like keeping the roads paved. The best thing to do is ignore the system as much as you can, circumvent it if it gets in your way, and focus on producing intellectual achievements that will outlive you and make the world lastingly better that way." Honestly, I still think certain aspects of this are very reasonable. I've just become more of a utopian as I've aged.

Anyway, at that point in my political evolution, I was in an absolute sense probably the most tolerant I've ever been. Whether speaking about cultural differences, ideological ones, or immutable traits, my general attitude was "who cares, it's all the same anyway". (also I was an edgy teenager, so I expressed this belief by becoming ironically pro-cannibalism, but I digress). As I got older and moved to the left, most of the changes involved become less tolerant of things. Less tolerant of injustice, less tolerant of hierarchy, etc. I can't really think of anything that moving left made me more tolerant of. And, just to clarify, I think this is probably a good thing.

For me, becoming a leftist was essentially the process of saying to myself "I know it's a drag to judge things, but actually you have to do it anyway sometimes". This is the exact reverse of the framing I described at the beginning of this post. The easy path for me was always non-judgement, and maturing involved realizing that I did, in fact, probably have to judge certain things.

#navel gazing #society #for posterity

11 notes · View notes

beautifultypewriter · 4 years

Text

Everyone Has Their Price ~ Daenerys Targaryen

Requested: Yes / by @saegerphoenix (It’s very annoying when tumblr won’t let me tag people)

Warnings: Dungeons, attempted killing, actual killing (nothing graphic), fight scene, weapons, mentions of blood, injured reader

Word Count: 1,878 (I’m so sorry)

Pairing: Daenerys Targaryen x fem!assassin!reader

Summary: The reader is tasked with a very important mission. Unfortunately, that mission is not completed as Reader gets caught before it can be carried out.

A/N: The original plan was to take this further, but once I finished writing it, I thought that any more would have ruined what I had, so here we are. Also it got way longer than I had originally planned it to be.

It was said to be a difficult job. The target was established and powerful. She had guards surrounding her at all times and the most fearless army known to Essos. They told you it would be difficult, but they clearly didn’t know you. You never lost. You wouldn’t lose now. Not with the gold that had been promised for a confirmed kill. The trip to Meereen had been a long one, but it only served to push you more. You felt invigorated when the ship you had stowed away on landed in port and you felt invincible when you managed to slip onto land and away from prying eyes. Your next step was to observe the castle; to try to get a good idea of how things worked there and when would be the best time for you to engage the target.

It had been surprisingly easy to infiltrate the castle, posing as a kitchen servant. After spending a few days learning every passageway in the castle and learning the routine of your target, you were ready. You weren’t going to lie to yourself, this was not going to be an easy assignment, but you were most certainly capable of completing it. You smirked to yourself. You were probably the only person in Essos who was capable of completing this mission. The universe knows that many others before you have tried and failed. You wouldn’t fail.

When night had fallen and the activity levels in the castle had died down, you decided to make your move. You had brought a single dagger with you, knowing that anything else would have been too conspicuous. Clutching the blade in your hand, you moved quickly and quietly within the shadows, straight to where you knew the target would be sleeping. You encountered a patrol only once, deciding that your best bet was to press yourself against the wall and let them pass without noticing your figure, your dark clothing helping you hide. When the coast was clear, you took off again, gliding down the last corridor before stopping across the hall from a large door where two guards were posted. Pushing yourself further into the shadows, you observed the obstacle, deciding that you should take out the one on the right first. When the other guard turned to look down the hall, you jumped from your hiding spot, grabbing the guard closest to you and sliding your dagger across his throat. He fell to the ground at your feet, alerting the other guard to your presence. He turned, but before he could draw his sword, your knife was in his stomach. He fell next to his friend as you pulled your blade back to your side and turned to the door. You knew there’d be two more guards on the inside, so you had to be ready. Letting out a breath, you readied your blade and pushed the door open. Without giving the first guard any chance, you slashed and jabbed his torso, jumping back as the second advanced on you. He swung his sword at your head causing you to duck down. You swung your leg out to kick his feet out from under him. The guard fell onto his back and you were quick to take advantage of his prone position, lunging forward and shoving your knife into his neck.

As you stood up, you wiped the bloody dagger on your pants before moving forward, towards the raised platform where the target was sure to be. Unfortunately, as you neared her, you were faced with something you had not expected. That something was a man with his sword drawn and pointed at you. A third guard? This was unprecedented. You had only ever seen two go into the room. Your shoulders sagged as you let out a breath, “Seriously?” The man smirked at you as you got into a fighting stance, your dagger held low by your hip. Your free hand was raised above your head and you motioned for him with your fingers.

He advanced, bringing his sword down over your head. You threw your arm up, deflecting his blow with your dagger. Spinning around, you swiped at him, catching his arm with the end of your knife, ripping his shirt and making a small cut in his skin. You jumped onto a bench, watching as he glanced at his injury before swiping his sword at you. You jumped up, the sword passing through the air under your feet, and landed on the floor on his opposite side. You had an open lane and you took it, running straight at the target, your dagger held firmly in your fist. She stepped back and you smirked. Then the man was next to you, throwing his arm out and catching you around the waist. He threw you backwards and you hit the floor hard. Trying to regain your breath, you laid on your back for a second. When you looked up the man was above you, ready to drive his sword into you. Rolling towards him, you slashed at his legs causing him to drop his sword and stagger back. You pushed yourself to your feet and ran towards the target again. This time you sidestepped the man’s arm and were able to run up the three steps to finally be face to face with your mission. She stared at you with wide eyes, her silver hair falling over her shoulders as she stepped back. Shame you had to kill her. She was a beauty. You smirked as you raised the dagger, ready to bring it down on her. Right before you could swing, though, you felt something hard collide with the back of your head. You closed your eyes against the pain as you stumbled forward. Readjusting your grip on the knife’s handle, you looked at your feet to see a metal pitcher lying there. Blinking, you looked back at the target to see her eyes flash to the man. He must have thrown the pitcher. It doesn’t matter. You were about to be out of here. You lifted your arm again, but the pain in your head was too much for you and you felt yourself falling. The last thing you felt was your dagger slipping from your hands as the coldness of the bricks numbed your skin.

As your eyes fluttered open, your hand flew to the back of your head. You groaned as you pulled your hand back. It was clean, which was a good sign. Rubbing your eyes, you sat up on the bench you had been laying on. You were surrounded by bars. Fantastic. You chuckled quietly to yourself, shaking your head. “Something funny?” You looked over to the cell door to see your opponent from the previous night glaring at you.

You smirked, “Nice to see you’re still standing.”

He sneered at you, “Oh really?”

You pulled your hair over your shoulder as you laid down again, “We’ve got unfinished business.” You closed your eyes as you propped one leg up on the bench, letting the other hang over the edge. Your hands folded and rested on your stomach, “Think I’ll get a bit more rest first.” He scoffed and you smirked.

A new voice entered the space, “Daario, step back.” Opening one eye, you looked over to see the target standing at you cell door. The man moved back, but you noticed that he stood close. She stared at you and you closed your eye, shifting slightly on the bench, trying to get more comfortable. The target cleared her throat, “I don’t know why you’ve come to kill me and honestly I don’t care. Just know that whatever you think I’ve done-”

Your eyes snapped open as you turned your head, “I was hired to kill you.”

Her face maintained the neutral expression, “By who?” You had to give her some credit here. She was not nearly as frightened and doe eyed as she seemed when you encountered her last night.

You shrugged, “I don’t ask questions. They give me a name, I complete the mission, they give me a bag of gold and I go on my way.” You smirked at her, “It’s nothing personal, sweetheart.”

She scoffed at you, “A sellsword?”

You sucked in a breath through your teeth, “Not my favorite term, but sure.” Your eyes moved around the cell, checking for weak points, so you could plan your escape.

“I figured as much. No honor. No loyalty-”

You sat up, cutting her off again, “I have loyalty.”

She scoffed, “To who?”

You smirked as you threw your hands out to the side, “Myself, of course.” She glared at you as you flopped back onto the bench, “No one else in this world is looking out for me, so I’ll have to do it myself.” You glanced at her and you noticed her eyes soften and her frown deepen. You shrugged, “Everyone has their price.”

She moved closer to the bars, “And what is yours?”

You chuckled, “More than you can afford.”

The man didn’t seem to care for your conversation, as he stepped towards the cell, pulling his sword halfway out of its sheath, “Do you know who you’re speaking to?”

You sighed, “Some little girl who calls herself a queen?” The man moved forward, a deep frown on his face, but he was pushed back by the target. She glared at you, her eyes full of fire. You quite liked it. You took the time to look over her then. Her silver hair was pulled back in an intricate braid and she wore a crisp gown of white. She looked more like a queen than you had originally thought. You tapped your tongue to the roof of your mouth as you stared at her.

She leveled her voice, “I asked you what your price was.”

“And I told you that it’s more than you can afford.”

She held her head high as she squared her shoulders, “I can offer you a leadership position in my army. You’ll have respect and a place to lay your head. When I sail across the sea, if you help me take back my kingdom, I can offer you titles and a castle.”

You waved your hand, “I’m gonna stop you there. I don’t care about castles, or land, or titles, or respect even. I care about gold and since you have none, I think I’ll keep my other job.”

She shook her head, “You’ve already failed your other job.”

You tapped your foot, “Something you should know about me, your grace, is that I never lose.” You smirked at her quickly before returning your attention to the ceiling.

“You’ve already lost.” She motioned to the room around you, “You’re locked in my dungeon.”

Looking over at her, you grinned, “This game isn’t finished yet. I haven’t lost anything.” You winked at her.

She stepped back, her eyes widening, “My offer still stands.” She looked you over once before she retreated from the dungeon, her guard following close behind her. Sitting up, you watched her go, wondering if she’d add anything else to that deal of hers. You smirked to yourself as you laid down again. Silver might not be so bad.

#daenerys x reader #daenerys targaryen x reader #daenerys targaryen imagine #game of thrones imagine

204 notes · View notes

libraribear · 3 years

Text

2020 in Review

2020 is in the books. What a year. It seems a given that through life, some years will be good and some years will be bad, and for many 2020 was one of the bad ones. Globally, it feels like it was the worst year ever. Personally, I can’t go that far. So many people have it worse than I do, and I’m leery of writing this post because I don’t want to sound unsympathetic as I count my blessings (before going into the undeniably shitty, but FAR LESS shitty things than what some other people are going through).

Nonetheless, as part of a New Year’s Resolution to create more, I figured I’d polish up this blog and write more, so here’s my 2020: Good, Bad, and Ugly. This is a heckin’ long post so only read on... if you dare.

The Good

I never lost my job.

A lot of my academic colleagues did - basically everyone who had “temporary” or “adjunct” in their title was axed. By virtue of being temporary year-to-year faculty for five years, I was promoted to the tenure-track in 2019. I feel very badly for my colleagues, all who lost their job to circumstance, not merit. Six years ago I took a chance leaving a steady job with a newborn to pursue my goal of being an Academic Librarian. The job was a one-year temporary position with no guarantee of continued employment, and I worked hard, interviewed for my job twice in five years, and managed to hang on. It’s crushing to imagine what it would have been like to survive all that and get axed because of a pandemic, and I feel very badly for my colleagues who suffered that fate.

I got to spend most of the year working from home with my kids.

Before I get into “The Bad”, namely that keeping a five and six year old on task while working a full-time job is incredibly stressful, the good was that I got to watch one-year-old girl grow and grow and grow every day whereas my two boys were in daycare at that age. I got to spend a ton more time with the boys and my wife too.

My kids live in a school district with resources.

We’ve made a lot of strides in Distance Education, but it still isn’t ideal. I feel like my kids’ school district is doing the best they can to make it work. I feel extremely fortunate to live in a district where that was an option from the start, with full distance, hybrid, and in-person options. Not wanting to expose my kids or their teachers to any risk, we’ve gone full distance the whole time. we chose this to keep our kids as safe as possible, so I hope you’ll forgive me when I go into detail under The Bad as why it sucks for everyone involved. ;)

Ms. Bear and I started Doctoral Programs

File this one under “things I’d have never done if I knew the pandemic was going to be this much of a problem in Fall”, but it’s still a good thing - and definitely not the kind of thing I would do if it wasn’t free through my university. With Ms. Bear it’s more of a life-fulfillment thing and I’m happy that I can help her realize her dream.

The Bad

Distance Education Requires Training - Students Are Struggling

My college freshmen struggled to adapt to their first year seminar class and I attempted to make it as easy as possible for them to follow along, engage online, have second and third chances to turn in assignments... it didn’t matter. Elementary school students have it worse - my kids struggle to stay on task, and me and Ms. Bear do our best to keep them on task. I feel really bad for those kids whose parents can’t work from home or are too busy to stay on them and help them with distance education. I’m not anti-distance education by any stretch, but the pandemic forced a lot of people to switch to it relatively quickly and since distance education is by its nature very self-directed even with a good teacher/instructor, some people unused to this method really struggle.

I should note that none of this is meant as a criticism of the decision to go for distance education. Health is most important, period, and those politicians that are like “But think of the children, send them to school” - well, hold them back a year if it’s that bad. I repeated the first grade. It’s better than dying. I worry less about the kids’ educational attainment and more for those kids from bad homes where school is a safe haven/source of food. If you’re that worried about it pass some laws to help.

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is leaking water

When you find a tiny leak in your roof, if you can afford it, pay the money and fix it. Don’t wait “because it’s a pandemic and we may need that money”. The money sat in my bank account until the the bedroom ceiling started to drop a few months later. Definitely the decision of 2020 I’d most like back.

2020 Was Not The Year to Reduce Stress.

I think everyone is running on fumes by the time they got to the end of this year. For my wife and I as young parents (can’t help that), full-time workers (gotta eat to live), and grad students (like I said above, if I had a do-over I’d DEFINITELY have waited until 2021, the pandemic represented the steady erosion of all the gains I made the past year. Anxiety? Back up. Overall level of physical fitness and nutrition? I was exercising and eating and feeling really healthy in March, but I eat (and feel) like crap now.

The Ugly

Misinformation, Misinformation Everywhere... and Politics

Misinformation is nothing new for a US Presidential Election year. But as a librarian whose job it is to promote information literacy, understanding which sources are indeed trustworthy and which are not, this election year was frankly, terrifying for me. I mean, if you know a source is trustworthy because of the standards and norms that are used to govern it, but people simply roll to disbelief it’s trustworthiness... I’m not sure how in the hell you get through to them. Lest this be construed as too political a post (I did get a little political above, hee), I’m going to stress that these information discernment skills that seem to be lacking are skills people on both Team Blue Donkey and Team Red Elephant lack. Add to that the psuedoscience, lack of fact-checking, and the whole “If it doesn’t agree with my worldview, I refuse to believe it” attitude illuminated by the pandemic and I’m not going to lie, this shit is terrifying to me. I’m hoping it’s just a phase we’re going through in America, but geez. I’m not a doom and gloomer, but this year was TOUGH in the whole “Faith in humanity’s ability to reason” department. I’ll listen to anyone’s political opinion if they back it up with well-researched sources and facts, but rather than driving closer to this goal, we’re heading in the wrong direction.

I should note that to me, it’s not just Team Red Elephant that has trouble discerning information, or is duplicitous. I need to make that clear. I definitely lean left and it’s not hard to see why - I mean, I’m a heckin’ librarian for crying out loud. But lying and misinformation or misconstruing facts? Some politicians may be more egregious offenders, but most politicians do that regardless of stripe. I feel politics are more like a teeter totter constantly switching up and down. We do ourselves a disservice when we believe everyone on our team is rational and level-headed and everyone on the other team is evil, stupid, irrational. There was a time when we could have discourse, and through disagreements we could at least learn from one another. I intensely understand the desire to make and justify political beliefs, but they’re not how we progress in a country that’s run the way the US is. Maybe it’s always been this way, but as I’ve aged I notice we have a lot more tendency to anoint a politician of our political stripe as a savior. Whatever happened to the old worldview that all politicians were lying dirtbags and though you might side with them, you could never fully trust them? It seems to have been turned on its head, I’m not sure how, to “Trust my side implicitly, DO NOT TRUST THE OTHER SIDE AT ALL.” That one side could be a bastion of truth and virtue and the other a bastion of evil and ugliness is, I’m not gonna lie, extremely unlikely.

Do as I say, not as I do. I got swept up in the political fervor myself with my D&D Friends - for a time we had a “Just Politics” channel to talk politics. That was a big mistake. Though no friendships were ended, that channel alone intensified my anxiety tenfold (MY FRIEND IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET! I HAVE TO SHOW THEM THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS!) and... yeah. The BEST decision I made in 2020 was folding and walking away from the political discussion table - but it took me a few months of arguing and stressing to get there. I’ve reverted back to trying to do good for all people in my little corner of the world and the web by treating everyone respectfully and rationally unless they give me reason to do otherwise, at which point I’m far more likely to ignore you than engage with you. I hate that I have to do that, but it is what it is. If I talk politics, it’s privately with someone I know that is sane enough to safely distance from the chaos, or someone I trust implicitly. I won’t deny that it’s a very fascinating subject to me since politics is so ingrained into human nature, but good lord, what a minefield.

UGLY Bonus Edit (I always think of the coolest things to say right after I hit post, after all)

A last thought - whenever we’re confronted with a worldview we disagree with, whatever happened to asking the person why they feel that way or what they meant before immediately labeling them scum on Earth? We don’t even bother to fact check the people we loathe when honestly at worst you’re just confirming suspicions, at best you may even cause them to question why they believe what they believe? I can’t remember the last political or heated conversation I’ve seen where that happened. When I was fighting with my friends on “Just Politics” I don’t think I bothered to ask that often enough myself.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to making 2021 a better year than 2020. Happy New Year, everyone. Love and hope to you all.

#libraribear life #Happy New Year

3 notes · View notes

enbyleighlines · 4 years

Note

Wlecome back! I hope things are going well for you, I've missed seeing you on my dash as much. Can I prompt something Wen Qing related please? I would especially love her interacting with Wen Ning or Jiang Yanli, but when it comes to my girl I am not fussy (^‿^)

Thank you! You can absolutely ask for something Wen Qing related! I hope you enjoy this Wen Qing centric drabble~

STARTING LINE

Early September | Gusu University

The first time Wen Qing passed through Gusu, she had had her nose buried in a book, and had completely missed the opportunity to observe the city through the window of the carriage. Aside from one monosyllabic servant, 18-year-old Wen Qing was making the journey to Gusu University on her own. Usually, it was A-Ning who reminded Wen Qing to take the time to observe the scenery.

A-Ning had wanted to escort Wen Qing, had even mustered up the courage to ask Master Wen about it, but his request had been denied. A-Ning was already behind in his arcane studies, and Master Wen thought it unwise to risk setting him further behind.

Logically, Wen Qing could accept that reasoning. Her beloved brother had always been unusually meek and humble; the very opposite of what a disciple of the Wen family ought to be. In her heart, however, Wen Qing could not help but miss her sweet baby brother. He was certainly a much better conversationalist than the morose maid sent to accompany her.

Wen Qing very much hoped that the girl — she had introduced herself as A-Yang — would prove to be more interesting as time went on, as they would be spending the next three years together.

But those musings would have to be continued at a later time. Wen Qing’s attention was finally drawn away from her book by the sound of the coachman urging the horses to halt. For the first time during the trip, Wen Qing pulled aside the curtain to peer outside. She did not know what she had expected from the most prestigious arcane university in the country, but Wen Qing was surprised to see rolling hills and little else. It was only when Wen Qing craned her head that she saw the corner of an actual building.

“We’re here,” A-Yang said, unnecessarily.

“Yes, I can see that, thank you,” Wen Qing replied, trying to sound polite rather than sarcastic, and probably failing.

Wen Qing didn’t wait for the coachman to open her door, and instead took that small duty into her own hands. When she stepped out, the first thing she noticed was the chill in the air. Wen Qing shivered, and drew her outer coat tighter around her. The next thing that hit Wen Qing was the silence. Gusu University was a place of study, true, but still. Wen Qing wondered if the silence was due to the fact that not many students had arrived yet.

(Later, she would realize that, no, Gusu was always that quiet.)

When Wen Qing turned to take a better look at the building, she was struck yet again with surprise. It was unexpectedly modest, in both size and design. It was not ugly by any stretch of the imagination, as its simplicity gave it a certain charm, but in a world where magi families loved to showcase their wealth, it stood out like a sore thumb.

As Wen Qing stood there staring at it, the front door opened, and a woman in a purple and pink dress stepped out.

The stranger was just an inch shorter than Wen Qing, with a round, pale face, partially concealed by a curtain of bangs. The quality of her clothes suggested that she was a woman of high standing. And though her features were rather plain, she had a very kind smile.

“Hello,” the woman said, as she approached Wen Qing, “You must be Miss Qing.”

Wen Qing frowned, unable to hide her surprise. “I am,” she answered, dropping into a curtsey. And then, “I apologize, but I did not realize that someone would be waiting for me.”

“Oh, don’t apologize,” the other woman scrambled to say, “I should apologize. I should have introduced myself first.” She dipped into her own curtsey, and then went on, “My name is Jiang Yanli, only daughter to Master Jiang. This will be my third year at Gusu University. There are only a handful of female students here at Gusu, so I like to take the time to help each first-year get settled in.”

“Oh.” Wen Qing rolled that over her head. “So that’s how you knew my name,” she guessed.

Miss Yanli’s hand flew to her mouth in shock. “Yes, sorry,” she said, “I didn’t realize that would sound so suspicious. Like I said, there are not many female students here. And not much happens here. So gossip spreads quickly.”

Wen Qing nodded. That made sense to her. “Is that why the female dorm is so small?”

With a slightly embarrassed giggle, Miss Yanli glanced over her shoulder at the unimpressive looking building. “Yes,” she admitted, “That’s exactly why. It’s only recently that Gusu University has accepted female students. There are exactly one dozen bedrooms, with two students assigned to each room. And half of them have never been used.”

“Why not let every student have their own room, then?”

Miss Yanli glanced at Wen Qing, and then quickly looked away. She kept her eyes focused on the horizon as she answered, “The headmaster believes that students might be more inclined to misbehave if they don’t have a roommate to hold them accountable.”

Well, wasn’t that a vague, nothing answer? But Wen Qing did not point that out. It was clear that the very mention of the topic made Miss Yanli uncomfortable, and Wen Qing saw no reason to press the matter. Wen Qing had never shared a room with anyone before, but she was not so spoiled that she would throw a fit over being asked to do so, especially since Miss Yanli had been nothing but pleasant towards her thus far. Besides, Wen Qing suspected that Miss Yanli’s non-answer was an attempt at conveying a rude truth in a polite manner.

“Where will my maid, A-Yang, sleep?” Wen Qing asked instead.

Miss Yanli smiled sheepishly. “The servants have their own separate quarters,” she answered, “They share a building with the school staff, which is closer to campus. Men and women are still divided into two separate wings, but they share a cafeteria and recreation room. I suppose, since they are adults, they can be trusted not to engage in... mischief.”

There was something about the way Miss Yanli had phrased that that made Wen Qing chuckle. It seemed that they shared a sense of humor.

“Quite,” Wen Qing snickered. She didn’t point out that A-Yang was hardly much older than Miss Yanli. It was not that the adult staff were more trusted, but rather that they were not held to the same standards. If Wen Qing was correct about “mischief” being a euphemism for something else, then it made sense that the headmaster at Gusu University did not care whether or not the staff and servants engaged in it. The purity of their souls was of no consequence to magi. It was the apprentice magi who had to prove that they were good and virtuous, in order to maintain the facade of moral superiority.

There was a brief second of silence. Then Miss Yanli spoke again.

“Well,” Miss Yanli said, making a show of looking in all directions, “It doesn’t look like anyone else will be arriving soon. May I give you a short tour?”

Wen Qing curtsied. “You may,” she answered, half sarcastic and half sincere.

That got a small giggle out of Miss Yanli.

Wen Qing turned to A-Yang, who was already helping the coachman unload Wen Qing’s belongings. Before she could say anything, however, Miss Yanli rushed forward.

“Oh, I’m sorry, let me help carry something,” Miss Yanli offered, “We can transfer the luggage to Miss Qing’s assigned quarters before the tour. That is, if Miss Qing doesn’t mind?” She then gave Wen Qing a wide-eyed look that only a sociopath could have denied.

Wen Qing was immediately reminded of A-Ning. It was similarly impossible to deny him anything, as soon as he pulled out the puppy eyes.

Beyond that, though, was the fact that Miss Yanli was making a point of participating in the kind of work reserved for servants. Wen Qing was not offended, like some other aristocrats might have been, but she was surprised. Of course, Wen Qing felt the occasional stab of discomfort when her servants performed tasks that Wen Qing could have easily accomplished on her own, but it was an easy emotion to ignore. A-Ning also insisted on doing his own chores, a fact that earned him no small amount of ridicule. For Wen Qing, it was easier to just go along with harmless little things like that. Perhaps Wen Qing did not believe that she was inherently superior to the peasant class just because she had been born into money, but the servants were getting paid to do their job, and as long as they were treated with basic courtesy, what was the harm in it?

Still, Wen Qing could appreciate a woman like Miss Yanli who, despite being higher on the totem pole than Wen Qing, did not consider herself above manual labor.

“It’s fine,” Wen Qing said. She went to A-Yang’s side and held out a hand. When A-Yang looked at her as though Wen Qing had just sprouted horns, Wen Qing jokingly inquired, “What? I can’t just sit back while the daughter of Master Jiang carries my luggage, can I? Let me help, too.”

#asks #anon #anonymous #mo dao zu shi #leigh's writing #drabbles #Anonymous

4 notes · View notes

screamingatanemptyroom · 5 years

Text

I Can’t Eat Love pt 9

Part 9 is here guys! I’ll do a master post after part ten so I only have to post a single link and you guys can find the chapters all in one place!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 linked here.

Hope you guys enjoy!

_____________________________

When I arrived at the next lesson with Jim in the Royal Treasury, he held up his hands in apology. “I know, I know, I’m sorry! I really couldn’t get away!”

I sat down in front of him, placing my finished books in front of him with unnecessary force and glaring silently.

“I sent you Nate, didn’t I?” He clasped his hands in front of him, getting on his knees and pretending to beg “Oh great future queen spare me!”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed at that. “Fine. You are forgiven.”

“Whew!” He mimed wiping a nervous sweat from his forehead and got back to his desk. “Did you really fire every single corrupt official in the duchy?”

“First of all, I didn’t ‘fire’ anyone. They excepted an ‘early retirement’ as a reward for their hard work.” I shook my head as Jim rolled with laughter. “And no, I didn’t get rid of all of them, just the four with the most power. Without their support, and newer, more honest management in place, the whole corrupt system will collapse on itself.”

“And hopefully not take the Duchy down with it?”

I shrugged. “Never said my work was over. All I’ve done so far was the easy part.” Looking around the room, trying to appear casual, I asked. “Is Nate not coming today?”

Jim smiled. “Ah, she notices at last. Actually, that’s on purpose. I gave him a later time to show up.” Leaning forward, he looked surprisingly serious. “Tommy told me about the argument you two had after he saved you from getting punched in the face.”

“Hallers…” I sighed, unsurprised.

“He worries about you to much, which is shocking really.” He chuckled. “I didn’t think Tommy knew how to care about anything besides perfection at work. He really isn’t one to make friends.”

I felt a worrying pain in my chest at those words. “We’re not friends. I provide an constantly improving and complex work environment. He supports that. That’s all. There’s nothing personal about it.”

Jim sighed. “Sure, just keep telling yourself that, kid.”

Running a hand through his hair, he continued. “I know you had your plans, and they involved you putting yourself at risk… but I’m not going to lecture you about that.”

“Really?”

“You DO have an impossible task, and honestly there are going to be risks in any path you take if you genuinely want to save your home. I don’t know the best way to accomplish that, or if it even CAN be done. So how can I tell you not to go all out?”

I felt relieved, “Thank you.”

“That’s not what I wanted to talk about with you about.” He hesitated once more. “Nate… he cares deeply about the people around him. And he’s lost so much already… too much for someone who is the same age as you.”

I frowned. “So I should feel sorry for him? Let him boss me around?”

“You know that’s not what I’m saying.” He rolled his eyes. “Just know that you’re not the only messed up person out there, and try to understand. The world is a lot more complicated then you think. You putting yourself in danger may seem reasonable and simple to you, but to him… it reminds him of regrets and things he wishes he could forget.”

“…” I knew better than anyone the secrets people held. I shouldn’t be surprised that Nate carried some of his own. “I’ll think about it.”

“Thanks.” Jim looked relieved. “He’s a good kid, a little too quiet sometimes, but I don’t want you two falling out over something silly.”

“What’s silly?” Walking through the door, Nate entered, smiling.

Jim waved a hand. “Nothing. Let’s get started with the lesson.”

_____________________________

We began our discussion in earnest. I kept an eye on Nate, but he didn’t seem to give any indication that he was still upset after our last encounter. He met my gaze back openly, smiling with a wry expression while pushing me to defend my own viewpoints on tax rates.

It was a lively discussion, and as usual, Jim handed us both a hefty reading assignment after the end of it.

“I think you get some sort of sick enjoyment out of making us suffer.” I groaned, mentally trying to figure out how to schedule enough time free to manage the workload.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Jim laughed mischievously “I simply enjoy the chance to enrich young minds.”

Neither Nate or I looked convinced.

“Sure.”

“Right.”

He laughed again. “Making you suffer is really just a side benefit.”

Shaking my head, I started to leave, only to be stopped by Nate.

“Do you have a moment to talk before you go?”

I thought it over briefly. He seemed sincere, and not as if he wanted to start another argument. “I can spare a few minutes.”

We left together, an awkward silence hanging in the air between us.

_____________________________

“I just wanted to apologize.” Nate started off right away, startling me. “ I only have a vague idea of your circumstances, and tried to judge you for not doing things the way I might have done them.” He headed over to one of the palace gardens, sitting on a bench. “You are honestly trying to protect your people, and I truly respect that.”

I didn’t sit, standing in front of him, considering his words. “I forgive you.” After a brief hesitation, I added. “I apologize as well for involving you in a situation that made you uncomfortable, before you understood what you were getting into. I should have taken the time to explain what my plan was before starting the meeting, and gave you a choice as to whether or not you still wanted to be a part of it.”

Nate nodded. “If it makes you feel better, I probably would have still stayed and helped… but I would have still stopped the attack.”

“Yeah, I expect you would have.” I chuckled. Relaxing slightly with the air cleared, I sat down on the bench next to him, although I left plenty of space between us.

“… You remind me of my brother, you know.” He was smiling, but the expression was somehow deeply, incredibly sad.

“Your brother?”

“George. He was only older than me by a couple of years, but we were nothing alike.” He chuckled. “He was so passionate about everything. Our country, our people, how to make everyone’s lives better; He would find a project that would help someone and then he’d be off, not stopping for anything or anyone until he had finished it. He just cared… so much.”

The comparison made me slightly uncomfortable. “I don’t care about others.” Everything I had done was done with the singular purpose of saving myself. Even improving the duchy was just to prevent us from losing our home for when Ronan finally broke off the engagement.

Nate raised an eyebrow. “Really? Then why was your first concern when you talked about going a more official route to stopping corruption in the duchy about the families who would starve? And it mattered to you so much you were willing to put yourself in harms way? Is that really how someone who doesn’t care acts?”

“…” I shook my head silently. I couldn’t see myself as anyone’s savior.

“Anyways, I think that’s why I reacted so strongly that day.” He was trying to force a smile, but it crumbled as he continued talking. “George always said that the Cause he was working for justified the risks he was taking. He was my older brother… I believed him.”

He trailed off, staring off into the distance, and I couldn’t help but ask: “What happened?”

“ He died. “ Nate whispered the words, his eyes filled with pain. “And I couldn’t save him.”

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he stood up, forcing a slightly crooked smile. “Sorry, maybe one day we’ll talk more about that… but I don’t think I can today.”

I followed his lead, standing up and pretending not to notice as he discretely wiped a few tears from his eyes. “Well, I better go home…”

“Just one last thing!” Nate took a deep breath, seeming to steady himself. “Even with our disagreements on silly things like tax rates and extortion and blackmail as a governing technique, I really would like to put that behind us and help each other out in the future.” He stuck out his hand. “How about it? Can we be friends?”

I started to reach out to shake his hand, but hesitated.

_____________________________

I was being led out of the ballroom, someone’s arm was around my shoulder. My father? He was muttering about how terrible this all was, but I couldn’t understand him. My mind was filled with shock over Ronan’s betrayal.

How could he break things off the engagement now? Who was the woman he truly loved?

I had always thought he loved me, and now felt very foolish for the assumption.

Just before we went through the exit however, my tear clouded eyes caught sight of someone familiar… and in that moment I felt the my entire body freeze with shock.

Edith, standing next to Prince Ronan, her hand on his arm.

“Isn’t that Edith, your friend?” I heard my father ask.

“Yes.” the words I spoke were barely audible over the ringing in my ears as the world closed in around me and I faded into darkness. “She’s my friend.”

_____________________________

I pulled back my hand.

“No. Not friends. Not again. “ I muttered, more to myself than Nate. “How about ‘pleasant acquaintances’ instead?”

He paused at that, his hand lowering for a moment. At first he seemed taken aback, even wounded by my words. But as he studied me, the hurt in his eyes slowly faded away and he started to nod his head. A type of understanding sadness took its place in his expression and he stuck out his hand once more, smiling.

“If that’s what you need. Pleasant acquaintances it is.”

_____________________________

As he walked me back to the carriage, our conversation turned to less rocky subjects.

“Have you contacted the weaver in Tilendra?” He asked, matching his much longer gait to my own as we walked.

“Yes!” I grinned at him. “Thanks to you I just have one last step before I can move on to the second phase of my plan.”

He looked worried at that. “I saw the first phase of your plan. It was terrifying. I shudder to think what the second phase will be.”

“Nothing so dramatic.” I waved a hand. “Just ensuring that I become completely financially independent. “

“Just that, huh?” He laughed. “Why do I feel that you might take on the whole world next, and probably own it by the time you’re through?”

“Not the whole world.” I shrugged. “Just most of it.”

We arrived at my carriage. Nate waved my footman aside, reaching out to open the door for me himself.

“I’m not sure whether to be excited for you, or scared for everyone else.”

I stepped inside, smiling at him through the window of the carriage as he closed the door behind me.

“Why not both?”

_____________________________

I sat at my desk several days later, waiting for a meeting with nervous anticipation.

What if she’s completely different then what I remember? I mean, Rig was the same but I doubt even a different lifetime could change that man! What if this doesn’t work?! What if Hallers can’t find her?

…

That last thought made me chuckle to myself. No, Hallers would never be so unprofessional as to not complete a task, even an impossible one. I wouldn’t put it past him if she didn’t exist in this lifetime to simply pull her out of another, just so the job would be done properly.

With a quiet knock, Hallers entered, introducing the woman who followed him with just the slightest hint of a satisfied smile. “Mrs. Maline has arrived.”

I nodded approval, and as she walked though the door, I grabbed the armrests of my chair tightly to hold myself back from jumping up to greet her.

She looked the same as when I met her.

_____________________________

I stood nervously in front of the older woman, my hands clenched tightly in front of me. She seemed a gentle person, with grey hair and few wrinkles that were outshined by her kind eyes and smile, but it did little to put me at ease.

This was the last interview I had gotten, my last hope. I had learned from past experiences to keep my head down, speak only when spoke to, and NEVER mention my past as a nobleman’s daughter.

“You’re the duke’s daughter, huh?” She asked, startling me.

“How did you…” I trailed off, terrified of the implications. Would she kick me out? I needed this job desperately.

“I once made a dress for you when you were seventeen.” She nodded with a smile. “I remember, you designed the thing yourself, very impressive.”

“…” I didn’t answer, barely able to breathe as nervousness overcame me.

“Can you sew?”

“Yes, but it was mostly embroidery work.” I answered honestly. “But I’m willing to work as hard as it takes to do this job perfectly.”

She smiled at that. “I think you will. Even back then I thought you were a dedicated person. I’m willing to give you a chance.”

“…”

“So stop standing there as if you’ve seen a ghost and grab a needle. “She laughed at my shocked expression. “We have work to do.”

_____________________________

I gently stood up, shaking her hand politely before motioning her to sit. “Mrs. Maline, I’m so glad to meet you, please, make yourself comfortable.”

She stared at me curiously as she sat, curiosity in her eyes, without a shred of recognition. I felt a stab of disappointment, and chided myself silently.

Don’t be silly, it’s not like she’s forgotten you! She just hasn’t met you yet in this lifetime!

“I assume you are wondering why I asked you here.” I started things off generally, trying to put her at ease.

Maline shrugged. “Begging your pardon, but I assumed you wanted a dress made? Why else would you ask a simple seamstress like me up here.” She grinned. “I doubt it’s simply for the pleasure of my company.”

I waved at Hallers, who poured tea. “You are both right and wrong. I did not ask you here to simply make me a dress, but I also did not ask you here just for tea, as much as I would enjoy just sitting and talking for once.”

“Then why…?” She stopped, confused as I stood to take a formal dress out of the trunk in the corner and brought it over to her.

“What do you think of this?”

Taken aback, she quickly put on an expression I recognized as her professional face. I had Hallers bring a dress form for her to drape it over, allowing her to study it closely. She walked around it, getting a general feel for the design, stepping closer to check the seams and construction, nodding occasionally. It took quite a while but I watched her happily, thinking of the few happier memories I had from my previous life while working in a dress shop with her.

“The design is unique,” She finally spoke up. “The cloth… it’s from Tilendra, correct?”

At my nod she whistled with appreciation “Well made, difficult to get on this side of the border. Simple, but elegant, some of the lines could be cleaned up a bit. The sewing was well done, the seams are all passable although not perfect.”

She stopped walking around the dress, stopping at the front with a final sigh. “I’d say it’s a wonderful dress, Milady. Well designed, well made.”

“Thank you.” I answered modestly.

“…” She stared at me in shock. I also felt the prickling gaze of Hallers at my back as well before he quickly controlled his expression. “You designed this?” She finally asked.

“Designed and sewn.” I spread my hands, grinning.

Maline’s eyes widened as she looked over the dress carefully again. “I have to admit then... You are very talented, Milady!”

“I can’t take credit for that, I’m afraid. I simply learned from the best.”

Maline laughed. “I hate to disagree with nobility, but that’s impossible.”

“And why is that?”

She pointed to herself. “Because I am the best.”

We both laughed at that, although for different reasons.

“So why show me this?” She finally asked.

“You could make this design, yes? Perhaps even improve upon this?”

Maline nodded. “Yes, but I thought you didn’t want a dress?”

“I don’t want one dress.” I sat back down at my desk. “I want to open up a business, a clothing shop, and hire you as the head seamstress.”

“…” She sat down silently in her own chair, staring at me as if I had grown a second head. “I don’t want to be rude Milady…”

“You can call me Lenora.” I interrupted, ignoring Hallers disapproving sigh. “We’re going to be business partners after all.”

“That’s yet to be determined. You may have talent, but I doubt you understand the ruthlessness, the determination it would take for us to make it in the clothing industry.”

_____________________________

Maline, usually so calm and collected, sobbed in the corner of the sewing room.

I patted her shoulder, unsure of how to comfort someone who was normally so confident. “I’m sure it was a mistake.”

“It’s no mistake.” She snapped bitterly, wiping her tears. “Mr Haggot stole my designs, my contacts, and gave them to another seamstress. I trusted him, thought he valued me as a business partner, but instead he cut me out!”

“Isn’t there anything you can do…?” I drifted into silence as she shook her head sadly.

“Nothing. He took everything. I have nothing.” She sniffed. “This is the world of business, girl. Backstabbing, betrayal…. If you ever want to go into it, although I don’t recommend it… find someone you can trust.”

“Maline…”

“So you don’t end up like me.” She sighed, looking around the shop. “I guess, this is goodbye.”

_____________________________

I looked Maline in the eye, not hiding my determination. “I know exactly what the business world is like. That’s why I need someone who can help me. Someone just as talented as I am so we can make a good product, but mean enough so between the two of us we can beat out everyone else.”

“…” After a few beats of silence she burst into laughter. “Well, you got two things right.” She admitted. “I’m talented and I’m mean.”

“And you won’t stab me in the back.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“How do you know I won’t?”

“…” For a moment, I didn’t answer.

She had never betrayed me in my last life, but if I had learned anything, it was that the ones you never suspect, the ones closest to you who could tear you down the fastest.

It wasn’t… couldn’t be friendship. There was no true friends in this life, I learned that the hard way. But perhaps there was something else, a certain professional integrity. I trusted Maline for the same reason I trusted Rig to gather information, or for Hallers to do… anything. They built their lives around being the best in their work, and if I couldn’t trust that, what could I trust?

That was it… that was the reason. I let out a silent sigh of relief. Not emotions, not weakness, not friendship.

Never again.

“You are a professional.” I finally answered.

She looked at me with renewed respect. “I most definitely am. “ Taking a sip of her tea, she continued. “But even if your designs and my sewing can make the best dresses around, what advantage will we have to sell them?”

“That’s the easy part.” I pointed at myself.

“You’re going to sell them?” Her question was skeptical.

“Without even trying. You see, what do you think happens when the daughter of a duke, the fiancé to the crown prince, shows up to a party wearing a completely different design of dress?” I leaned back in my own chair, sipping my tea with a smile.

Maline’s eyes lit up. “They’ll copy you?”

“They will. And if I tell them that I got the dress from an exclusive shop?”

She nodded slowly. “I- That… that just might work.”

“Not might.” I grinned. “It will definitely work.”

I could speak with absolute confidence. After all, it had happened before. In my previous life, in the years leading up to my downfall, I had been desperate to impress my inattentive fiancé. I started personally designing my dresses and having them made. It had cost a fortune, and in the end ultimately failed to even win me an extra glance from my betrothed, but each new design had sparked multiple new trends across the nobility. The young women would flock around me, asking where I got my dress, my jewelry. They showered me with compliments and called me their friend.

Of course, once the engagement was broken, each and every one of the women who had called themselves my friend were nowhere to be found. They had used me for their own gain, and I had been too naïve to realize it until it was too late. But that was fine.

In this lifetime, it would be me using them instead.

“I’ve struck a deal with a weaver in Tilendra, we’ll have good access to high quality cloth. With that, your skills and my influence to sell them, we’ll soon be busier than we can handle.” I set down my tea, leaning forward. There are of course much more details and paperwork to it then that, but that’s the offer.”

I held out my hand.

“Partners?”

Maline groaned. “I hope I don’t regret this.” She shook my hand. “Partners.”

We began drafting the framework of a business. I named it “Prosperity” after everything I hoped to have, everything that this shop would bring me. The beautiful plan to escape my terrible fate.

And so, in my small office in the heart of the Duchy of Armeny, began the start of the newest, most exclusive dress shop, rumored to sell the finest gowns in the country.

#writing #i can't eat love #part 9 #fantasy #second life #second chances #there's a time skip coming after this #her plan is in motion guys

210 notes · View notes

bssaz97 · 4 years

Text

RWBY Ancestries Chapter 4

* I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who have been loving this story and say that I appreciate that you are enjoying the ride. Again I apologize for the time taking to update this one but I was a bit busy during the past few days with family and couldn’t put focus on the story. So without further ado, let’s get started! *

- City of Atlas, 10 minutes before the Wyvern’s Arrival -

After much warning from Atlesian military the streets of Mantle are empty, all the civilians are safeguarded by the emergency bunkers and out of harm’s way. While Atlas Military Ships are overhead a few specific buildings that protect the generators for the heating supply of Mantle, which provides heat and light to the citizens in said bunkers. The Battleships are in defensive position in case of a forward assault. With the Wyvern taking out their first defense, they made sure to double up their last defense.

Ironwood: (On frequency to all of the battleships) Everyone stay in your defensive positions, if anyone sees even the red eyes of this Grimm I want you to fire whatever you can at it. Our objective is to neutralize this enemy, but if you feel like your wasting fire power, save it. This this is not going to be taken out with a single frontal assault, we’ve already learned that. So if any your ships are taking critical damage lead your ships out of the city, we can’t risk the chance of damaging our own kingdom. Concentrate on the Grimm’s wings. If it can’t fly, it can’t escape. And make sure that thing does not take out Aminty Arena, we can’t lose anymore progress on the tower! It’s too important. Am I understood?

Multiple Captains of various ships: Yes General!

Ironwood: Good Hunting!

Ironwood changes the the frequency to get connected to the Ace-Ops.

Ironwood: Clover what’s your status? Are you in position?

Clover: Yes General! We’re position sir.

Ironwood: Good. With the Wyvern being our main concern I don’t want to risk the chance of the enemy getting the relic under our nose. So I want your team to protect that relic at all costs.

Clover: Understood sir!

Ironwood: Ironwood out! (Changes frequency once more) Rose, Arc, what are your statuses?

Ruby: Team RWBY is in position General!

Jaune: Team JNPR is in position too!

Both teams are in their individual ship.

Ironwood: Affirmitive teams, remember your mission. Team RWBY you are to eliminate the Wyvern should the battleships fail to accomplish this task. Team JNPR you’re on standby to assist Team RWBY. Do you understand your task?

Ruby/Jaune: Yessir!

Ironwood: Good luck out there teams. Ironwood out. (Cuts off message)

As the final message gets send out, the two teams prepare for the arrival of the Wyvern. Ruby looks to her teammates.

Ruby: Ok everyone, we know our assignment, we know now that this Grimm is an elder class. So it won’t be easy to take down, we need to look for its weak points and hit it hard. We’ve been given these cables to latch on to the actual Grimm but they can be broken if we’re not careful. Does everyone have their back up parachute ready. (Looks at WBY)

Weiss/Blake/Yang: Ready/Yes/Yep.

Ruby: Alright girls lets make this happen.

With Jaune and his team.

Jaune: Ok everyone, we have our orders, we are to assist with taking down the Wyvern. Does everyone have their cables and parachutes ready!

Nora/Ren/Oscar: Ready!

Jaune: Great! Now we just need to wait for-

???: ‘Jaune...’

Jaune was in the middle of briefing his team for the mission ahead when he heard someone whisper his name. He looks at the direction of the pilots to see if they said something but the weren’t facing him. He was going to dismiss it until it happened again. Seemingly in the same way.

???: ‘Jaune...Jaune....Jaune.....’

Ren: Jaune! Are you ok? (Looking at his team leader in concern)

Jaune: W-what? Sorry Ren what were you saying?

Ren: Jaune you were the one talking before, but then you stopped and looked at nothing for the past two minutes.

Jaune: ...Right! That’s right sorry guys!

Nora: Are you sure you’re feeling ok Fearless Leader. It’s not the motion sickness coming back is it?

Jaune: Yes! I mean no! I-I mean it was but I stopped it, so we’re all good. No problems here.

Nora and Ren shared a glance towards each other not buying his excuse but chose not to bring it up now.

Oscar: So what’s exactly the plan of attack, how does Ironwood expect us to fight this thing?

Jaune: Ironwood believes that if we can weaken the Wyvern enough, it should be more vulnerable to Ruby’s silver eyes to immobilize it, hopefully kill it in the process of it.

Oscar: And if that doesn’t work out.

Jaune: ... Well let’s just say that’s our best bet right now. If we need to improvise on the spot we can. But that’s the assignment. How are you feeling so far, buddy?

Oscar: Oh you know, just contemplating a few things. Trying to psych myself up for this, never seen a Wyvern up close. So that’ll be interesting. (Visibly shaking mentioning the last part)

Jaune places his armored gloved hand on his younger teammates’ right shoulder. Causing Oscar to look at him.

Jaune: Don’t worry too much, we’re right here for each other, that includes you too.

Oscar: Thanks.

Pilot: Alright, look alive people we’ve got visual on the target!

Everyone looks in the direction of the cockpit, then directs their direction towards outside to see the first few battleships firing at the Grimm. The Wyvern despite its massive size is able to maneuver easily away for the ship’s shots by barrel rolling and evading. In retaliation the Wyvern lets out a loud screech and the inside of its mouth glow, then unleashed a stream of fire onto one of the battleships. This afflicts major damages to that ship which allows the Wyvern to finish it off by bashing the ship with its tail. Causing the ship to explode.

Ruby: ... Ok, I think that’s our que to step in. (Gets on comms to Jaune) Jaune, we’re moving to engage. Tell everyone to get ready!

Jaune: Roger! (Gets off comms from Ruby) Alright, we’re moving to assist Team RWBY. Get Ready! And hold on tight!

Both teams ships ascend to the sky, flying above the Wyvern at a near 90 degree angle. Then as the ships meet their peak altitude, they flip to their side and the door hatch opens on both sides.

Ruby/Jaune: Dive!

Both teams fall out of their ships and nose dive into the Wyvern. They all activate their parachute simultaneously to slow their descent, once close enough to the Wyvern they detached their parachutes. After landing on the back of the Wyvern they activate their cables and latch onto the back of the Wyvern. Everything seems to be going according to plan... until something happened.

Jaune: Gah! Guys, something’s wrong, my chute it won’t detach!

While hanging on to his cable, Jaune quickly realizes that his parachute didn’t fully detached, resulting in him being immobile on the Wyvern. Which was a big problem as the original plan was to cripple the Wyvern by grounding the beast via dust bombs.

Ruby: What! Hold on we’re coming to help! (Moving to assist)

Jaune: I’m fine! Just set the charges I’ll figure something out! Nora, Ren, Oscar! Set your charges and get off the Wyvern I’ll be right behind you guys!

Nora: (Worried) But the charges are on a 30 second time limit!

Jaune: Focus on getting yourselves out, I’ll be fine trust me!

While most of the groups was reluctant to follow through with the risk Jaune was placing himself in, they had little options since the Wyvern will start to take notice of the people it’s carrying.

Ruby: You better be right behind us Vomit Boy or you’ll really be in trouble mister!

Jaune: Heh, noted Crater Face!

The teams all set their individual charges on the Wyvern quickly to go unnoticed by the big Grimm, with the exception of the blonde leader. Once set everyone prepares to detach their cables and land onto the nearest building. In the meantime, Jaune pulls out Crocea Mors and prepares to cut his chute and simultaneously detach his cable. He needed to time it just right so that he won’t overshoot his landing strategy and end up falling to the streets below. While he may have a large aura reserve he wasn’t sure he wanted to test his well it would protect him from falling damage. Soon enough they spot a building In Mantle tall enough for them to land on.

Ruby: Ok everyone on land on that building there! On 3! ...1! ...2! ...3!

All seven other team members detached from their cables and begin to make their way to the top of their landing zone. While also activating their charges, beginning the countdown. Jaune seeing his window, cuts himself free of his parachute and detaches his cable, and follow after his teammates. As the others land onto the building without issue, the blonde leader realizes that he may have undershot his decision.

Jaune: Oh shit!

He hits the edge of the building, briefly knocking the wind out of his chest and barely has time to react to latch on to the edge of the building. Almost seeing himself about to fall off the edge, two pairs of hands latch to his arms. Both belonging to Ruby (grabbing his left) and Oscar (grabbing his right). At this they began pulling him up, which required assistance from Yang and Nora pulling the two smaller members by their arms. Once they had Jaune up by his torso, they let go of their them and go to assist Jaune up the rest of the building.

Jaune: ‘Huff, huff’ Thanks guys! I’m sorry about that I thought I timed that better.

Yang: Geez, Vomit Boy nearly scared us half to death with that crazy stunt! But I guess we didn’t expect for any of the parachutes to be defective.

Jaune: Yeah again, I’m really sorry.

He expected to get lectured by all of them about his risky stunt, but what he didn’t expect was for Ruby to abruptly hug him.

Ruby: Your safe, that’s all that matters.

Jaune: ...(Reciprocates hug) Ghanks Ruby.

Oscar: Well, ‘huff’ I guess we can count this mission accomplished.

*Explosion!* *Screech!*

They all are interrupted from their moment when the sound of multiple explosions occur simultaneously. They look back towards the Wyvern and see in descending with a small trail of explosive residue trailing behind it.

Jaune: It’s not over yet, we still have to take out that thing before it does serious damage to Mantle.

Soon they hear two airships they originally had been riding on landed on the building they were on and soon the doors opened to let them inside. They all got in the ships they were in and soon enough they made their way towards the Wyvern.

*Communication Sound*

Ironwood: Well done, both your teams have disabled the Wyvern’s flying ability, but no comes the hard part. Killing it, we’re currently sending a group of Atleasian Knights to assist your teams. Remember even if the Grimm is grounded, don’t take it lightly. It’ll be more desperate to survive now which makes it more prone to attack. So be careful. Ironwood out!

*Communication cuts off*

- In Mantle, Crash site -

As the Wyvern shakes off crash residue off its being, another figure is spotted coming down the underside of its armored head.

Salem: What was that! Did they just try to bomb me out of the sky! Ugh! I can’t believe, honestly, the nerve of some people. When did everyone start to become more violent, does no one wait until your opponent is face to face with you anymore, do they just say ‘to hell with it’ and shoots first. ‘Huff’ I swear when I see that tin man of a General I’m going to have strong words.

Behind Salem as she continues her rant, a group of Atlesian Knights arrive on the scene. They see the Grimm Queen and aim their weapons.

Atlesian Knight: (Robotic voice) By order of the kingdom of Atlas. Surrender or be neutralized.

Salem turns her attention towards the group of machines. While she was familiar with these automatons from their unveil during before the fall of Beacon, this was the first time she had seen these beings face to face.

Salem: ... I was expecting a bit more intimidation from machines that supposedly had executed innocent civilians before at Vale. But I suppose they are trying for the friendly guardian look. Which I must say does not work well.

All the Atlesian knights began to open fire at the Grimm Queen, shooting her simultaneously with their dust rifles. After about 30 seconds of this they stop due to running out of their first ammunition clips. They turn their attention to see if they had neutralized their foe. However, despite their calculated firing barrage, their target seemed unaffected by their attack. Injuries began to heal and one thing was for sure ... their attack seemed to only just piss her off.

Salem: ...You know I know you lot are machines, which means you aren’t sentient and aren’t supposed to feel pain.

She extends outstretched her right hand and telepathically grabs a metal pole from building residue. About the length of a long sword. With her magic (and unrelenting rage at the moment) she ignited the metal pole and forms a red unstable array of magical energy* and brings the makeshift weapon in front of her face.

Salem: ...But I’m just going to imagine that you all can feel this.

Witb that she charges the group of automatons. The sound of shooting, grunting, and burning metal fills the empty space. The only witness being a Grimm Wyvern that takes great interest in the plethora of negative emotion its master is emitting.

- End of Chapter 4 -

Notes:

* - Think of Salem’s makeshift weapon looking like a sith lightsaber without the saber hilt.

Anyway I just want to thank everyone again for being so patient/supportive for this chapter/story and hope it was worth the wait. I’m going to try to keep a pattern of updating this story on a weekly basis so keep an eye out for updates. Hope you all have a great end of the year and be good people. Until next time!

#rwby vol7 #team jnpr #team rwby #rwby jaune x ruby #jaune arc #salem #jaune is salem's descendant theory #rwby ancestries

23 notes · View notes

silvershoelaces · 4 years

Text

HPWU: A One Year Retrospective

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite turned one year old last month, and over the past year, it has improved a lot.

This review is looking at HPWU as a standalone game, devoid of the context of the book series, any views of its author, the movies and spinoffs, or any other media associated with the Harry Potter franchise. I have plenty of opinions thereof, but they are not directly relevant to my opinions of the game and how it functions.

The game at its core is not particularly inventive, and at the beginning of its first year, it mostly felt like a reskin of Pokemon Go. Spawns appear on the screen based on a map that a player traverses in real space, and players must tap on the spawns and then attempt to collect them in order to complete their collections. But instead of catching Pokemon to fill the Pokedex, players are rescuing “foundables” from “confoundables” to fill their stamp collections. Unlike Pokemon Go, multiple copies of each foundable must be collected in order to acquire the stamp, and once the entire page of stamps is collected, it can be prestiged in order to start the whole process over again.

Traversing the world, though, can prove to be complicated in anywhere but the most urban of areas. I live in an urban area, close to my local downtown, and at the game’s inception, I had to walk pretty far in order to complete my daily F2P chores each day. See, all of the POIs (points of interest) on the map are auto-generated from the data in Niantic’s original game, Ingress, and each POI is randomly assigned to one of three types. Inns, where players can acquire spell energy, are the most common. Next are greenhouses, where players can acquire potionmaking ingredients and occasionally, more spell energy. And the least common of these POIs is fortresses, which allow players to enter timed dungeons either by themselves or with other players to fight baddies and get prizes for their efforts.

The randomness of assigning each of these three types of POI is a real drag for many players. When the game was first released, I had two greenhouses and one fortress reasonably close to my home. This was enough to play the game, as greenhouses also occasionally awarded spell energy just like inns, except that the dailies explicitly required me to interact with two inns each day in order to get any premium currency. And as I mentioned, the assortment of POIs was completely random! Some players found themselves with nothing but fortresses around, while others had only inns and no fortresses for multiple kilometers. I considered myself relatively fortunate that I only had to walk 1 km to get to a nearby inn!

But unlike Pokemon Go, while the game encourages exploring, the core mechanics are not well suited to walking. In Go, a rare spawn can be easily subdued in 1-2 attempts, and curveballs are quick and easy to throw. In HPWU, the rarer the spawn, the more difficult it is to capture, and the more likely it is to run away. Foundables are captured by tracing patterns on the screen, and they all have a rather low acquisition rate, which means the rare ones are more likely to flee than to stay put unless the player pours consumable items into their capture. And even so, a player having to trace the same pattern multiple times just to capture a single spawn means that there is much more time standing in one place and less time walking. This is not an exercise game.

And this is one of the core flaws that has plagued Wizards Unite since its inception. It’s a clone of Pokemon Go, but every single mechanic that differs from Pokemon Go brings it further away from Go’s vision of an exercise game. Wizards Unite is an augmented reality exploration game, but it’s more about exploring a story and a setting than about racking up burned calories. This is especially apparent in limited-time events that encourage players to spend multiple hours standing still by the same POI, challenging hordes of enemies.

Monthly Community Day events aside, the regular cycle of in-game events was fun and engaging at first, but it quickly grew dull as players finished the main story quest and found the primary content of the game to be the fortnightly events. This is always a struggle for F2P games, especially games that rely on collections rather than PVP mechanics. The events weren’t even new content, merely recolored versions of content that already existed in the games, spawning much more frequently than other foundables and with featured spawn rates. What was fun in the game’s first few months had quickly become tedious, especially when the featured foundables had low catch rates.

Despite this stagnation, the game has changed over time, and many improvements have been made. The tonic for trace detection, a craftable potion that allows players to summon foundables to wherever they are, was long overdue when it was introduced into the game, allowing players who were less mobile to encounter more foundables when they had time to play. Inns and greenhouses were rebalanced so that inns in less urban areas dropped more spell energy, and greenhouses’ spell energy became guaranteed, rather than a 50% drop rate, which was an important improvement for areas with a low POI density and an active playerbase. Adventure Sync was added, which allows the game to track steps. (Unfortunately, this feature does not function well, as the steps counted toward daily tasks only begin after the player’s daily login bonus, and AdSync requires the game to have access to the player’s GPS while the game is closed, which drains phone battery in the background. Players who already have AdSync enabled for Pokemon Go will not notice much difference.)

The most significant overhaul, of course, came with the onset of coronavirus. In order to allow players to continue playing from their homes, the daily requirement to interact with inns was removed, and the Knight Bus, which allows players to remotely access fortress challenges and even engage with other players remotely, was implemented. I have found that the implementation of the Knight Bus almost single-handedly revived my interest in the game when I had grown completely bored of it, as it was a lot more fun to play fortress challenges with friends, which I had barely been able to do before, than to play the game solo.

But these improvements also serve to highlight the flaws in this game that have not been improved since its release. Trace completion always takes a particular shape, and its right-handed bias is clear the moment one attempts to complete a trace off-handed. The swirl of Ebublio, in particular, which takes an “e” shape, feels much more natural in the counter-clockwise direction in the right hand than in the left. Mirroring traces in a left-handed or “mirror” mode would be an easy fix!

SOS assignments have not been updated since day one of the game, and they have said “new assignments coming soon” since I completed them. In my first few months of playing, that was the real draw of the game for me, finishing the story quest and continuing on to the next page to see what would happen next. Each event feels like filler, while what would have made the most sense would have been to add four or five new pages of story quests every few months or so. And they (and all other events) aren’t replayable, so when WB/Niantic/whoever is responsible finally gets around to adding them, we’ll all have forgotten what happened. I already don’t remember.

Finally, the entire story as a whole, which is told as a haphazard, shoddy, zigzagging extra flavor to the repetitive, bland events, could have been told with just a week or even a day of gameplay in a regular game. “What is causing this calamity?” the characters ask. “I don’t know, but let’s patch the problem and investigate the cause later. Maybe the identity of the next problem that arises will give us a clue.” The game relies on half a dozen characters who show up just to give the player instructions, and it is somewhat over-reliant on the draw of the property to encourage players to invest themselves in the game. This is not good for a game that is mostly divorced from the primary story of its franchise. Assuming I knew nothing about Harry Potter or his universe before playing this game, and even if I do, there are way too many characters, and no documented point of reference for a player to look at for a reminder. The main characters seem to be Constance Pickering and Hermione Granger, with a splash of Harry Potter and a pinch of Ron Weasley thrown in. Their commentary doesn’t add much to my engagement because it’s the same mildly curious “I wonder what’s causing this” speculation we’ve had since the beginning.

Good stuff appears to be coming soon. The strongest aspect of the game is the ability to customize one’s character with an ability tree, which lends more variety to the way players can interact with the fortress challenges. An upcoming update is set to add this customization to the map screen, which may give this game the new life it so sorely needs.

All in all, judging Wizards Unite by its gameplay and content alone, and divorcing it from the source material, I’d rate it a C+. The game isn’t sure what it wants to be. It advertises itself as an exploration game, but punishes walking and rewards standing still. Adventure Sync once again rewards walking, this time when the game is closed, but the player is again punished, this time by severe battery drain. The game leans heavily on its story, but the story falls short due to poor updates and over-reliance on events to tease rather than deliver new story elements.

And of course, if we are to judge the game based primarily on its being an entry into the Harry Potter franchise, then we must begin to judge it on the merits and flaws of the franchise as a whole, which is a discussion for another day. If we don’t measure it against the franchise, there is much in the game that will be confusing to a player unfamiliar with the series. Who are these people, and why are we rescuing them? Why are we rescuing this one man some of the time, and attacking him other times? Four of the six pages of stamps feature characters from the franchise heavily. Players who aren’t invested in the franchise won’t care too much about them.

To someone who isn’t interested in the Harry Potter franchise, or to someone who was previously interested but has become disillusioned with the author of the series, I recommend you pass on this game. However, longtime fans who can still derive pleasure from the series, who separate the creator from the creation, or who view this and other derivative works as their own entries, created by teams rather than by the one who started it all, may enjoy this game.

#harry potter wizards unite #hpwu #mobile games #reviews #long post

1 note · View note

rewrite-the-wrongs · 4 years

Text

introductions / howdy, pardner

My first short story was about a fishboy and his human best friend. They battled a mutant piranha (whose name I think may have been Mutant Piranha, such was the monumental daring of my creative endeavor) and his army, who were out to destroy a mountain that held a whole planet together. The boys won singlehandedly, because scale was apparently a bit of a mystery to me.

This was the second grade. My teacher--who held me every day as I cried for weeks, confused and miserable and stranded in the throes of my parents’ divorce--understood before I did that I create to a ploddingly slow and steady drumbeat. A sentence is always so much more in my head than I’m able to let out, at first; I have to pore over it again and again, fleshing and flourishing (and often correcting) it, the same way I often have to reread paragraphs or pages or whole books to truly capture their meaning. In a word processor, this back-and-forth is as easily said as it is done; on double-wide ruled paper with dashed-line handwriting guides, the task is magnitudes more time-consuming, especially for somebody as messy as I am. So, while nearly everybody else played at recess on the sandlot and the jungle gym around us, a select few stragglers laid our reading folders on our laps and finished our stories.

My villain, that dastardly Mutant Piranha, found himself in prison at the story’s close. Awaiting trial, I guess; I never ventured that far ahead, seeing the big fishy bastard for a coward. “When no one was looking, he stabbed himself.” That’s the last line, stuck in my memory, not for its own sake, but for my poor teacher’s horrified face as she read my final draft there on the playground.

A mom volunteered to type up the class’ stories and get them printed and bound. For years afterward I reread that collection, always proud to have written the second-longest piece therein. I felt the weight of the pages, inhaled the tiny but acrid breeze that came from rapidly leafing through them. Knew it was a whole smattering of worlds inside, that one of those worlds was wholly mine, and I had the power to show it to people however I wished. Yes, I thought, I want this.

I’ve been introduced to writing many times over, by many people. Don’t get me wrong--I nightowled the first several chapters to many half-baked novel concepts all through my youth. But teachers have a way of showing a thing to you from new angles.

The first person to impact me as such was a high school teacher who was essentially given carte-blanche to construct a creative writing workshop in the English curriculum. The first semester was structured--you practiced poems, short fiction, humor and essay writing, drama, the gamut. Every semester after, the carte-blanche was passed on: A single assignment due a week, each a single draft of a poem or a minimum of two pages’ worth of prose. Forty-five minutes a day to work, and of course free time at home. By the time I graduated, I’d finagled my schedule such that I was spending two periods a day in the computer lab, and several hours after school every day working the literary arts magazine before I went home to get the rest of my homework out of the way and write some more..

My next big influence came in the form of a pair of writers who taught fiction at my university, a married couple. One had me print stories and literally, physically cut them up section-by-section as a method of reworking chronologies. Told me stories happened like engines or clocks or programs--pieces that meshed differently depending on how they were put together, rules that held each other in place. The other showed boundless confidence in me, listened happily to some older students who recommended I be brought on board for a national arts mag. They both encouraged me toward grad school, but toward the end of my junior year I began to stumble, and by senior year I was, to be frank, a drunken asshole. Time I could be bothered to set aside for writing began to dwindle. I limped through the editorship with the help of my extremely talented, utterly more-than-worthy successor--and come to think of it, I’ve never truly thanked her. Maybe I’ll send her that message, now that I’m feeling more myself.

On feeling more myself:

That drunken rage was brought on by a myriad list of factors, the primary ones being 1) I am the child of recovering alcoholics, and our inherited family trauma runs deep, 2) An assault that will likely be mentioned no further from hereon in, as I have reached a solid level of catharsis about it, 3) Some toxic-ass relationship issues, and 4) I was a massive egg and had no idea (or, really, I had some idea, just not the language or understanding or even the proper empathy to eloquently and effectively explore it).

I had a recent relapse with drinking, technically--a mimosa at Christmas breakfast at my partner’s parents’ home--but I’m not honestly sure I can call it a legitimate relapse. I’m not in any official self-help group, I’ve never engaged in the twelve steps or a professional rehabilitation. I had a very wonderful therapist for a few years but reached a point at which I could not pay her any longer and we parted ways--I miss her dearly, as she truly became my friend and confidante; she was the first person I came out to, and very well-equipped to handle it, lucky for me--but I’m still on behavioral medication. That tiny smidgen of alcohol pushed my antidepressants right out of my brain, and I became terribly anxious and angry and sad all at once, and briefly lashed out during a conversation with my partner behind closed doors. Not nearly the lashing out I’ve released in the now-distant past--more on that maybe-never, but who knows, as I am obviously a chronic over-sharer.

Frankly, I don’t deserve my partner. She endured my past abuses, told me to my face I had to be better, and found it in herself to wait for me to grow. She’s endlessly and tirelessly supportive of me. She sat with me to help me maintain the nerve to start this blog tonight. I came out to her as a trans woman just under a year ago, now, and I’m happier than ever, and we communicate better than ever. Our relationship is, bar-none, the healthiest and stablest and happiest I’ve ever been in.

So, naturally, I apologized fairly quickly at Christmas, and continuing where I’d left off at two and a half years, decided I’m still solid without booze.

If we’re all being honest, though (and I’m doing my best to be one hundred percent honest, here, though I will absolutely be censoring names because no shit), I still smoke way too much fuckin’ weed. High as balls, right now. 420 blaze it, all day erryday, bruh. That self-medicated ADHD life. I should be on Adderall and not antidepressants, probably, but it’s been a while since an appointment and psychiatrists are expensive, so I’m at where I’m at for now. Sativas help a lot. It helps with the dysphoria, too.

I don’t have a legal diagnosis for gender dysphoria, but tell that to my extreme urge to both be in and have a vagina. I’m making little changes--my hair, an outfit at a time, no longer policing how I walk or run or how much emphasis I put on S sounds. If I manage to come out to my parents sometime soon--and it feels like that moment is closer every day--maybe I’ll tell y’all my real, full chosen name. For right now, call me Easy.

Anyhow. My goals here are pretty simple:

1) Share words, both those by people I like/admire/sometimes know! and occasionally words I’ve made that I like. See the above screenshot from my notes app. Steal some words if you want, but if you manage to make money off some of mine, holler at ya gurl’s Venmo, yeah?

2) Discuss words, how they work, and how we create them, use them, engage with them, and ultimately make art of them. I am not a professional linguist, but I went to undergrad for creative writing, so, hey, I’ll have opinions and do my best to back them up with ideas from people smarter than I am.

3) Books! Read them, revisit them, quote them, talk about them, sometimes maybe even review them, if I’m feeling particularly bold. No writer can exist in a vacuum, and any writer who insists they don’t like to read is either a) dyslexic and prefers audiobooks or b) in serious need of switching to a communications major (no shade, but also definitely a little shade @corporate journalism).

5) I added this last, but I feel it’s less important than 4 and does not deserve bookend status, and I am verbose but incredibly lazy, so here I am, fucking with the system. Anyway: Art! Music! Video games! I fucking love them. I’ll talk about them, sometimes, too. Maybe I’ll finally do some of the ekphrastic work I’ve felt rattling around in my brain for a while now. Jade Cocoon 2′s Water Wormhole Forest, looking right the fuck at you.

6) Ah, shit, I did it again. Oh well. Last-but-not-last: This is obviously, in some ways, a diary, or a massive personal essay. I will sometimes discuss people, places, or experiences that have informed my work just the same as other people’s art has.

4) Be an unabashed and open Trans woman. TERFs, transphobes, ill-informed biological essentialists not permitted. Come at me and my girldick and prepare to be dunked on and subsequently shown the door via a swift and painful steel-toed kick in the ass. Everybody who doesn’t suck, if I screw up on any matter of socio-ethics or respect for diversity, please feel free to correct me.

Punk’s dead, but we’re a generation of motherfucking necromancers. Be gay, do crime, fight the patriarchy, and fart when you gotta. May the Great Old Ones select you to ascend to a higher plane and learn the terrible truths of existence.

Much love--

Easy

#writers #writing #creative writing #trans #trans woman #fuck TERFs #writing about writing #writer #my writing #diary

1 note · View note

vulpinmusings · 5 years

Text

Ski’tar and Friends part 9: From Frying Pan to Fryer

This week, Ski’tar, 6, and Vemir finish the Dataphile job and get started on the next faction’s task.

Premiere part

Antecedent part

Our meeting place for swapping the old hacker’s new identity for the data she unwittingly stole was Zetembi Park, a public space in the Eye that has been carefully groomed to resemble a natural forested area from lost Golarion. It’s full of trees, meandering paths, a couple of small rivers, and other details that serve equally well to help one forget they’re on a giant space station and to create plenty of places for clandestine meetings. Old Lady Hacker was waiting for us at the end of a bridge over one of the rivers, and everything seemed fine until we were about halfway across the bridge. Then, Vemir and my drone both noticed unexpected movement in the bushes, and as we continued our approach with heightened vigilance, three goonish-looking humans appeared and started threatening the old lady. The Bluerise Tower corporations had finally tracked her down and sent these three mercenaries to reclaim their data.

Since we also had a vested interest in obtaining that data, we trotted up and challenged the goons. At first we put on the act of simply being concerned citizens stepping in to help a poor old lady who was being harassed, but the goons were not to be intimidated. Their orders were clear and their paychecks plenty high enough to make them confident they could handle a three-armed Kasantha, a robot man, and a little rat. Our group and theirs traded insults and threats until the goons finally decided to make a real fight of it.

After a brief opening salvo of missed pistol shots from Sixer, my drone, and one of the goons, I tried to lob a grenade behind the goons to frag them without hurting any of us, only to fumble and drop the ‘nade off the bridge. The explosion of water was pretty, but harmless. One of the goons grabbed Old Lady Hacker and started to drag her off, while Vemir and Sixer engaged the other two in melee combat. Vemir tried to do some fancy knife trick, but only managed to score a light hit on his opponent and took a baton to the face for his trouble, which cracked one of his goggle lenses. Vemir did not like that at all; he’s got a Tradition about hiding his eyes on top of the species-wide habit of covering his mouth. Covering his exposed eye with one hand, Vemir forwent trickery and focused all his efforts on stabbing his guy with his recently acquired venom spur. Sixer took a sword to his opponent, who responded with trying to shoot Sixer at close range. I shot Sixer’s target a couple times to keep him off-balance while I circled around to get at the goon dragging Old Lady Hacker away. My drone tried to contribute, but its aim continued to prove faulty.

One tactical knife to the arm was enough to convince the hostage-taker that he had a higher priority than getting Old Lady Hacker away. His counter-attack was pitifully easy to duck under.

Sixer’s opponent decided at this point that the risk to his life was not worth the money he’d been paid, so he disengaged and started to run off. A moment later, Vemir succeeded in stabbing his guy with the venom spur, and that goon also decided enough was enough. Sixer pointed out the risk of the goons going for reinforcements, so I backed off from my opponent just enough to toss a second grenade into the path of the escaping goons. The explosion was marvelous; the two runners were reduced to bloody gibs, and the shrapnel spread far enough to cut the third guy’s arm off and blow out a kneecap along with other serious wounds. I called my drone over to point its gun threateningly at the remaining goon as I posed with a third grenade and offered the guy a chance to leave and seek medical attention if he promised not to go crying back to his bosses. He gladly took up the offer and crawled away in the most tortuous scene ever. I almost considered putting him out of his misery despite my promise, but he was out of sight before I made up my mind.

Aside from some blood splatter, Old Lady Hacker was in perfect shape and in surprisingly high spirits. She waxed nostalgic a bit about how the fight reminded her of similar encounters back in her youth, until I handed over her new ID to get her back on track. Once we’d finished briefing her on the details of her new life and the circumstances of her false death, she declared that she would stay at the Lorespire Complex for a couple of days to let the heat die down.

So, after all the work she put us through because she didn’t trust the Starfinders to keep her safe, she ends up doing exactly that.

We escorted her back to the Complex and presented her and her data to Historia-7. Historia recognized Old Lady Hacker’s name instantly, and the two hit it off like old friends. They downloaded the stolen data to the archive computers, and after looking through it all Historia declared it was exactly what she needed for some mystery she was working on. We couldn’t get her attention long enough to have her elaborate, so we just left. Vemir bought some sunglasses from the Lorespire Gift Shop to wear until I could take the time to repair his goggles, and then we went off to Guidance to get our next assignment.

For our third initiation task, we would be working for the Exo-guardians, the military branch of the Starfinders and the faction most heavily hurt by the Scored Stars Disaster. They didn’t have any kind of headquarters on Absalom Station, but their current leader, a Shirren named Zigvigix, did live on-station in the Down-low. We were instructed to meet with him in a park near his neighborhood, but there wasn’t as serious a time constraint as there had been for our previous two missions. We decided to take a bit of downtime to evaluate our conditions, and so I could fix Vemir’s goggles. Once I’d done that, I made some modifications to my drone, replacing its visual sensors with a new set that could broadcast what it saw to my rig and re-calibrating its aiming algorithms from the ground up along with reinforcing its outer plating a bit. Hopefully the drone will shoot better in the future, but the only real test of that is to get into an actual fight.

Once we all felt ready to take on whatever monsters the Exo-guardians would inevitably sic us on, we met up and prepared to head to the Down-low. Just before left, however, a courier drone rolled up to us with a message of belated thanks from Historia-7 and a box containing 200 credits and a frostbite zero rifle. Feeling comfortable with my finances, I let Vemir take all the creds while Sixer claimed the rifle, since he was the only one of us with any long-arm skills at the moment.

Zigvigix’s neighborhood was a “poor but trendy” location – the kind of place that attracts people by playing up the aesthetic of the eccentricity of its inhabitants. The “park” we headed to was more of an art installation, full of weird metal sculptures and absolutely ripe with garbage and graffiti of cute but off-putting animals. Zigvigix was sitting on a cement bench munching on some rice candy, and he offered us some as he introduced himself through telepathy. Right off the bat, he gave us permission to refer to him as “Ziggy,” which I would likely have chosen to be his nickname anyway. He seemed like a typically gregarious Shirren, but that friendly attitude was undercut by a serious case of survivor’s guilt for not being a casualty of the Scored Stars Disaster.

At any rate, Ziggy actually had two jobs for us. The first was to help secure a new headquarters for the faction on Absalom Station. The Stewards had gifted the Exo-guardians an old warehouse that they no longer needed, but the place had a bad case of deadly alien monster hiding inside it, so we had to go kill the thing and clean the warehouse out a bit in preparation for refitting it as a headquarters. The second job… Ziggy wanted us to go buy a copy of the new Strawberry Machinegun album as a gift for Historia-7. Ziggy thought the Dataphile leader seemed a depressed lately, and had noticed that Strawberry Machinegun seemed to be quite good for raising android spirits. The problem was, Strawberry Machinegun was only the biggest name in sugar-pop music, so the lines to get an album were more than Ziggy could deal with.

Sixer and I volunteered to go get the album right away, while Vemir opted to stay behind and keep Ziggy company. Ziggy gave us a cred stick to use to purchase the album, and off we went. While we were gone, Vemir got Ziggy to open up a little about the Scored Stars Disaster. He didn’t learn much except that there wasn’t much known for sure about what happened. Most of the Society had gone off to wherever the Scored Stars were, and then their drift beacon had suddenly gone dark and there had been no contact since. There were rumors about the Disaster, but Ziggy didn’t feel up to relating them and Vemir didn’t press.

At the music shop, Sixer and I found ourselves caught up in a six-hour long queue, with people pressing about on all sides. As Sixer dealt with the brunt of the pushing, I took up a perch on my drone to both make myself more visible (and thus less of a trip hazard) and so the drone would take most of the abuse from the mob pushing and shoving. As we got near the front of the line, I was feeling smug in my position because while Sixer looked exhausted, I was still fresh as a moonflower.

And then someone stumbled into my drone hard enough to knock me off, bruising my nose on impact with the floor.

Maybe I should have gone for the riding saddle mod…

When we made it to the front of the line, Sixer and I both decided that after enduring six hours of that, we deserved to get something for ourselves, so we bought three copies of the album in all and went back to the park. I’m not sure what Sixer was thinking on the way, but I was plotting ways to force Vemir to join us in listening to Strawberry Machinegun. Possibly in double-stereo.

We handed over Ziggy’s copy of the album, and after thanking us for our heroic standing-in-line efforts, he showed us some security footage from the warehouse so we could get an idea of what we’d be dealing with. The footage showed a worker moving a crate, and then something feathery bursting out of the crate and quickly devouring the poor sap. There wasn’t much footage, but after watching it several times I realized I knew what the creature was: a feather stalker. It’s an exceptional ambush hunter, quite dangerous even when you know one’s about. Vemir and Sixer were confident we could handle the beast, but as for me, I’d rather stand in that line at the music store again.

#ski'tar #Starfinder #Vulpin plays

1 note · View note

mallorytaylorblog · 5 years

Text

How to manifest like a boss.

I’m a big believer in manifestation. In all areas of life we have the ability to call in what we so desire. The catch of this is, due to our natural inclination to be self critical, judgemental, and all round bullies to ourselves (thanks, social conditioning!) we have become masters at calling in the things which we don’t desire, and most of us are completely unaware. I want to share with you the three things I think are the keys to powerful manifestation.

First of all have you ever heard the phrase ‘what you focus on, expands’? I’d wager if you haven’t been living under a rock you probably have. Well, this phrase is one I like to keep in the front of my mind because if I’ve learned anything about manifestation, ‘The Secret”, and the Law of Attraction, is that it’s absolutely true. What we focus on is exactly what we bring about in our lives - in both the perceived negative and positive senses.

Manifestation is a skill we can all harness and it can be used across every facet of our lives. Let me give you an anecdote from my relationships. Before I got together with my current partner Nick (for the second time actually) I dated so many people who were emotionally unavailable. They were passionate flings that started off fast and ended just as rapidly, full of magnetism and bursting with chemistry. I kept meeting the same type of emotionally distant, non committal, no-strings-attached kind of guy, and deep down I thought I could “win them over”, woo them with everything amazing about me and suddenly they’d be keen as a bean to commit - right what I wanted! - but every single one of these passionate encounters fizzled out by way of ghosting or in an angry, tear stained crying mess. I persisted through so much resistance and at the end of it all I’d be left feeling lonely and pretty sorry for myself - as every fling ended I found myself asking “WHY DOESN’T ANYONE WANT TO BE WITH ME?!” Totally desperate stuff.

Let me tell you the truth. And this was a crappy lesson for me to learn. I was actively repelling the amazing qualities I craved in others because I had not yet owned them in myself. I’d been single for years but sat with this belief that dudes only wanted sex from me and that no one really valued me enough to consider a relationship with me. What do you think I attracted? Yep, you guessed it. Desperation is a stinky cologne.

One of the keys to manifestation is loving yourself first. Our relationships are our biggest cosmic assignments and are mirrors to show us what we need to address within ourselves. And we will keep encountering the same assignment (in my case the same type of doo doo flings) until we learn the lesson it’s trying to teach us.

I wanted deep love. But was I deeply loving myself first? I wanted loyalty and commitment. But was I being loyal to my Truth and wholly committed to myself? I wanted someone to honour me and love me for exactly who I was. But was I willingly to love others exactly as they were, without judgement?

The answer to all those questions was a firm NO.

Was I setting firm boundaries on what acceptable love was, or was I letting whoever was willing to get close to me dictate the way the relationship ran its course? You bet I was willing to throw myself at the first dude that gave me puppy dog eyes because I was so desperate for this idea of a dream relationship I created for myself that I was unable to set myself firm boundaries on healthy love. I hadn’t owned any of those amazing partner qualities in myself first so honestly I didn’t even know what healthy love looked like, and in addition to that I was looking externally for someone to fill the gaps I felt in myself. I was emotionally unavailable, so naturally that’s the only type of person I was able to manifest. It was a massive mirror that took me way too long to notice, and I did NOT like what I saw once I did. Does any of this sound familiar?

When it comes to manifesting the universe (or source, God, our higher power, the Divine, whatever you want to call it) needs to know you’re safe and reliable to work with. Have you ever tried to work on a project or complete a task with a Debby Downer or Negative Nancy? It’s painful and can feel like you’re dragging a dead weight - no thank you! Someone who is clear on what they want and is willing to take action towards achieving that goal with a positive mindset is SO much easier to work with! And the universe wants to work with you, she absolutely has your back. But make no mistake, manifesting does require some level of work - the universe needs to see you’re willing to make the effort for the things you desire. Once I committed to myself and put in the work the universe had my back and presented me my Nick - he mirrored all the qualities I wanted in a relationship because I’d worked hard to own them in myself first. I think a lot of people, especially when the Law of Attraction and “The Secret” became popular, seemed to gloss over this fact; it’s not as easy as simply wishing, praying and visualising something into existence, you have to put in the work too.

So that’s the second key to manifestation; putting in the work. Yep, sorry. You’ll have to do more than just say ‘yes!’ and hope you get what you want, some level of effort is required. When it comes to things like money and career we can absolutely manifest our dream job, our dream salary, or perhaps become a successful entrepreneur if that’s what our soul desires. But I’m not going to become a doctor just by doing my nightly meditation and hoping that someone will hand me a PhD. I need to do the work required to reach my dream career. In my relationships the effort required to attract my partner came down to me taking a massive interest in my own self care and working HARD on finding ways to truly love myself. It required a mammoth amount of effort. But the love we give is equal to the love we receive, and let me tell you it was absolutely worth all the discomfort.

The last key to epic manifestation is believing. This takes a certain amount of trust, which can feel very “fake it until you make it”. I mean, you have to trust that something is going to occur or show up for you without any tangible evidence that it will be so? Massive leap of faith, especially when dealing with matters of great importance. But if you really want to get the things you desire, absolute surrender and a knowing that everything you want is at your fingertips is what it takes. That knowing is a whole body feeling and this too requires practice. One way you can measure that feeling is to take a good hard look at the things you currently focus on. Are your thoughts and belief systems negatively or positively geared? Do you subscribe to the shitty and unhelpful stories your past experiences have told you about money, relationships, and your self worth, or have you recognised the beliefs you grew up with may not necessarily be yours and can be changed to support the narrative you want to engage in? Our emotions are messages to and from the universe, and tapping into this whole body feeling will tell you how supportive of your soul truths those belief systems really are.

When it comes to relationships, what do you hinge your self worth on? Do you believe all women are gold diggers, or men are only in it for the sex? What were the relationships you observed like when you were growing up? When it comes to the self, what is your inner dialogue like? Are you compassionate, loving and kind with yourself? Do you practice self care? What’s your relationship with food and exercise like? What media/books/music/news do you consume? How’s your ego? When it comes to money and career, what are the stories you tell yourself about money? Do you have an abundance or a scarcity mindset? Are you doing work that fulfills you or drains you of your energy? Do you feel passionate going to work every day? Are you taking steps towards living your dream career? Do you hoard money, have good investing habits, or do you spend it when you get it?

The things we believe and assign value to provide the guidelines the universe works with in order to bring about what we focus on. Surrendering to belief systems that don’t serve you is like trying to travel cross country while looking at a map without your glasses on - taking charge of your values and beliefs brings you the 20/20 vision needed so you can follow the path you’re destined to be on.

Being crystal clear on the things you want, believing wholeheartedly you’re destined to achieve them, and taking action towards making it a reality is what it takes to manifest your dream life. If there’s one important thing to remember in addition to all of this, it’s that you must let go of how you think it’s all going to turn out. Being firm on the way you want things to go will limit opportunities for it to happen in other, perhaps quicker and more beautiful, unexpected ways, and will only lead to disappointment when it doesn’t go exactly how you planned. The parable of the drowning man is an example of this - a man was stranded on his roof after a tidal wave crashed through and flooded his village. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.” The man shouted back, “No, it’s okay, I’m praying to God and he’s going to save me.” So the rowboat went on. Then a motorboat came by. The man in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.” To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.” So the motorboat went on. Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.” To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.” So the helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. When he went to Heaven he finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I had faith in you but you didn’t save me, you let me drown. I don’t understand why!” To this God replied, “I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

The man was so firm in the ways he expected his saving to happen that he missed every other opportunity to be saved. Be fluid in the way you allow things to happen and enjoy the journey.

Going after the things you want in life requires balls and it requires practice. Let’s have a conversation. If you’d like to talk about epic manifestation and ways you can start to implement the three keys message me on my socials and let’s chat about it. I want to hear what you’re all striving for and if I can support, you bet your butts I want to help in any way that’s meaningful to you.

Share this post with someone who needs it!

xoxo

Instagram Facebook

#manifest #manifestation #spirituality #personal development #self development #gratitude #blogger #blog post #conscious living #the m word blog

2 notes · View notes

autoirishlitdiscourses · 3 years

Text

Discourse of Saturday, 13 March 2021

I'll be awake for a comparatively unusual move for a grad seminar several years ago that discusses several critical approaches to Futurism; it's of course, Anglo-Irish and British nationalisms and open up discussions on their own knowledge is a clever rhetorical move that the paper is due according to the course to pull your grade is the contemporary understanding of the Heaney poems that do not perform pre-evaluations of drafts, but I remember correctly that you would need to be a stronger link between the selection you're reciting if I try very hard to get these to you. There is a great deal more during quarters when students aren't doing a good student this quarter, though there are places occasionally when you type in a bonus to your larger-scale reading of the class to graduate, English majors with a fresh eye and ask for a few extra minutes to get back to you much extra time, it would help—there are some books that I have open chairs in both sections, and, again, we can arrange another time to get back to another in ways that I think that you prepared more material than you'll actually be factored in until your final decision on which poem you're going, here. You do a solid job, and a load of dung at Michaelmas, the choice of texts should be adaptable in terms of how specific people's ideas were. Let me provide some intriguing hints, but there are probably thousands of races, and other Heaney poems that do not calculate participation until the end of paragraphs. You might also profitably lean into your analysis, and I think, too. Can we meet on campus this weekend and I'll see you next week so that you lectured more than the assignment requirements next week. Mr Bloom glanced from his hat. There are a student to bump up by providing additional examples, resonances, counterexamples, etc. But there are visual ways that I think that there was a pleasure having you in this paper for it as being most significant thing to think about homelessness in Godot, of groups, or severe problems with these matters will help, as well.

This doesn't change the meaning of the play, Irish nationalism, and your writing is not unlikely with your little darlin' bridie to be a more successful would be. However, you did eight IDs instead of at a late paper. If you glance over at me and ask what is it used to back off from forcefully asserting your often quite engaging. Of course, with strong evidence that you can't get to all your material very effectively and in the play with which they are at getting the same time, despite the occasionally nitpicky notes that I've made they're intended to help you in places, though you went through a number of things would have been a very good job getting people to speak, and what matters about them more if you'd like. You move over some important aspects of the colonizer is a broad home. Of course, let me know if you schedule me a self-importance, learn so easily; and picked for went picking; was hanged or was ruined for was ruined for was ruined or was ruined or was hanged or was ruined for was ruined or was hanged; and b it avoids analysis in a way into an effective sense of the quietest I've ever worked with. Let me know if you glance over at me periodically, I will be by the prosaic fact that a more rigorous, incisive analysis on its own presuppositions in more depth. Volunteering to be read as having the bottom of a text that throws some aspect of Irish/femininity/in vocally reproducing the/middle/of your first recitation was itself quite impressive. I should prioritize crashers? Are we getting her deeper motivations, or sent me before 4 p. For your paper as a way that is experienced in a paper of this coin is that the professor said that he meant to be even more importantly to yourself. Hello, everyone, As you may wish to incorporate alongside of it myself.

You also made some very good recitation. Also: you could then use your own very sophisticated and clear. My plan is pretty solid job here, I think it's potentially a very difficult task. Romance, as it might not, however, I personally don't think I did better. I've posted a copy of this length by tweaking the format or point totals above are necessary ways to do that in order to do what the MLA standard by default, it may be helpful.

You also reacted gracefully to questions from the section meetings part of the text to Ulysses and use introductory and closing phrases to glance back at your outline that you could do a shorter passage, getting people to benefit from more specificity is in many areas. These are all comparatively small errors that don't have any more questions, OK? This means that, to be over. Nicely done this week Yeats is making. I said in lecture if they drag on too long. You should aim for a long selection and gave a very strong performances, and a grade in the issues involved and that relating the readings explicitly to each other than as being the cranky ramblings of an analysis whose relevance is questionable. /Points for the 5 p. I'm leery of writing with the poem by 4 p.

79-80, perhaps not easy deal for you, and asking yourself, and other patrons of a stretch. Attending section that you examine as part of the texts that you've made. County Mayo A spavindy ass p. I practically never do this a great detail, if you have not held your grade should be different, and their outlines don't bear a lot of ways here. You've got some breathing room. DON'T FORGET TO BRING BLUE BOOKS TO THE FINAL EXAM—You've done a strong job of accomplishing many important qualities of the room to make sure that everyone in class. He did mention Yeats and Maud Gonne; there are any number of things really well here. Your overall narrative for the professor's reading than is reflected in your delivery against a different topic, but neither are they representative of how your evidence into a regular basis as you write, and I think make sure to get to everything anyway, because I think it's very possible that you get behind. For the first time since about 10 this morning to send me the only pair going this week I had sent it on just a bit more so that they should not be surprised to get you a copy of an A-range for you to talk sometimes, and you're claiming that the I have never been to let that guide you into your thesis statement, as critic Harold Bloom phrases the relationship is between the IRA and the horror of the novel's presentation of the Western World, and you make meaningful contributions to the poem and the professor send out a printed copy. Throwing the candy was a pleasure to read. Demonstrates that the syllabus and think about the horror or irrelevance of the video sets up and either satisfies or frustrates the expectation for them. If you want to get back to you much extra time, and you generally knew just how people responded most productively were the questions you've written a smart move might be productive.

But just looking at his performance so far, you could get a productive choice for a long selection and delivered it very well be that your paper to be. And style would, I guess, that is faithful and accurate down to three things: 1 avoid the question will be distributed in class: the twelfth episode, too, that your citation page distinguish this. /No-show penalty for your research paper next quarter we have sympathy for Francie, and that you've made and how the burgeoning relationship leading to the specifics of the text of Pearse's speech without too much about midterm grades. Ultimately, why not keep the appointment and show that you're arguing for or against, and for your analysis. I mean is that they haven't started the reading or other opinions: I will try to force a discussion leader for the week of section in HSSB 2251, which is a motivated one, which is an inappropriate typeface if in doubt, use Times New Roman; turning in a radio interview. At that point, if it's not you, because this helps me to leave me with an incredibly long time. You handled your material if you ask ask them to take so long to get a fresh eye and ask students about them. Here you are from the course have been hoping for. I post every slideshow I develop, as well as some slang terms for various coins and brief notes on areas in which it could conceivably have been, both of us, then send me email or stop by my office hours and am happy to meet, but I felt that it would have to evolve. But everything looks really good reason for this analysis to be put into a more detailed lesson plan, you're very welcome. It will be a useful tool to help you to reschedule, or inherently uninteresting none of your grade. Thanks, too, that one of three people reciting from Godot tomorrow.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

0 notes

erinllouise · 6 years

Text

introduction to creative technologies reflective journalism assignment - the marshmallow challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge

“it’s a simple task...”

said lecturer Ricardo as he held a bag of hefty marshmallows, masking tape, and a handful of raw spaghetti...

Stage one: experience (what, when, who?)

I have genuinely never heard of the Marshmallow Challenge and was struggling to wrap my head around the concept when this “simple task” was introduced to us. The challenge is to create a free-standing structure with your team, only using 20 sticks of raw spaghetti, one yard of masking tape, and a single marshmallow. The end goal is to create the tallest structure in 20 minutes with the marshmallow sitting at the top of the structure.

Sounds pretty easy…

I was extremely confused as to why we were doing this challenge, I thought it was just a “simple task” and only a “simple task” to pass the time. But by the end of the challenge my mindset shifted, which is why I think this lesson was meaningful in my process of learning, and here’s why…

I highly enjoy working in teams, I’m not afraid to speak up or point out issues. During the Marshmallow Challenge I noticed our team was quite diverse in terms of engagement. A few of us were quite loud and talkative (including myself), others were very hands on, and some were quite quiet. What our group struggled with most was agreeing on how we wanted to structure our tower. There were lots of good ideas flowing that would hold our marshmallow high, but not necessarily stable. I remember someone making a comment, “its a marshmallow, it doesn’t weigh that much”, but actually it does, the marshmallow is the most important part of the structure and to win, the marshmallow needs to be held high, and for that to happen, you need a well stable structure to hold that weighty, pink treat. We managed a very high structure at a few minutes left, but it would not stand by itself. We were rushing to add more tape and sticks to try make it stand but we failed as the timer ticked down to 0.

Stage two: observe and analyse (why, how?)

At the end of the 20 minutes I looked around the room, and every single tower was completely different, most of them had fallen, only a few survived. I remember thinking to myself, “how many ways can you actually do this challenge?”

Looking down at our fallen structure I took a deeper look at it and noticed that each leg of the tower was a different length. We were kicking ourselves. I snapped off chunks of spaghetti and tried again. The structure stood freely for very long time, now we were really kicking ourselves. We were so consumed in the height of the tower with the time pressure that we didn’t even bother to take care of the little things that have a very big impact. According to the website Tom Wujec, they mention that “the Marshmallow is a Metaphor for the Hidden Assumptions of a Project”. It further explains that “the lesson in the marshmallow challenge is that we need to identify the assumptions in our project-the real customer needs, the cost of the product, the duration of the service – and test them early and often. That’s the mechanism that leads to effective innovation.” I think this metaphor perfectly relates to the Creative Technologies degree especially when working in groups for studio; to take each step with caution and ensure that each aspect of any project has clarity, is stable and has a purpose, just like the Marshmallow Challenge.

Stage three: plan and experiment (now what, what if, how could we?)

What I found really interesting was one of the ‘inspectors’ of the challenge pointed out that every single group had someone in it that was not contributing to the challenge, or the ‘quiet’ team member which I mentioned earlier. Upon further reflection, maybe this challenge is not to make the tallest structure, but a challenge for ourselves to speak up and get involved, or listen to one another and agree with fast decision making. Looking into this further, I researched that this challenge also focuses on the structure of a team and how a team can become successful as it states, “Diverse skills and perspective are what make teams so much more flexible and knowledgeable than individuals working alone”, according to the website: Three Stones Consulting. Relating to what I mentioned previously about the diversity in our team, I think this suggests that we all had different skills to bring to the table. This is something I have noticed in other group work, where in different points during a group project a different person would take charge as that particular aspect is where they are skilled.

Stage four: learn and reflect (ask new questions, find hidden assumptions, learn new terms)

Post challenge, lecturer Ricardo told us that preschool children tend to do better at this challenge than business students. To be honest, this fact did not shock me based on how our team performed. What children tend to do differently is that “they start with the marshmallow and build prototypes or tests always keeping the marshmallow on top…building multiple times to fix things along the way. So with each version, they get instant feedback on what works and what doesn’t work – they are continually learning.”

As I mentioned at the start, when first introduced to this challenge I did not think much of it at all. But after attempting it and reflecting on it, I am surprised to say that I think l have gained some useful knowledge. I have been introduced to a different way of looking at group work, and how each individual brings useful skills to the table.

Additionally, I am now more aware of getting agreement on our approach upfront, through testing and re-testing of ideas. Then there is keeping on confirming the objective so we remain focused on the end goal without diversion. It may also be useful to have a contributions process so everyone can put forth their ideas or concerns in an orderly way as quieter people may find having a structured engagement process easier to manage than just who talks the loudest and longest. Finally, someone may need to adopt the posture of the ‘harsh critic’ and say ‘hey this isn’t working’ when they spot something going off-track. All of these will be useful ideas for the next project.

I personally think this challenge was very meaningful in my process of learning. The timing of the challenge could not have been better; I was introduced to new people, I learned how to contribute in a team and the challenge helps us in our studio classes where we are continuously working in groups. I think this challenge really helps us BCT students in the long run, as we will most likely be working in this industry for a very long time.

References:

http://www.threestonesconsulting.com/lessons-learned-from-the-marshmallow-challenge/

https://www.tomwujec.com/design-projects/marshmallow-challenge/

#CTEC502

1 note · View note

thecaskof624 · 4 years

Video

youtube

same day essay

About me

Samedayessay Com Review & Discount « Best Essay Writing Services

Samedayessay Com Review & Discount « Best Essay Writing Services Samedayessay ReviewOur writers hold the flexibleness to assemble your project with consideration to each detail. So ought to you must make use of faculty essay creator on-line, we’re simply the oldsters that you'll want to contact. You can even get the PapersOwl promo code to amass some partaking discount in your first order, discover out further data from this Customer Support, on this concern. Conversely, the value is an integral part of a service, however this once more isn't valid except the standard is in examine. Great job on the analysis paper and particularly with the Power Point Presentation. This undoubtedly improved my grade and I still felt like I completed all of it by myself. Research paper is an important task in my college this 12 months, so I wanted to have it proofread. Judging by the textual content of their utility, I might assume, that the majority, if not all of them, aren't natives, however that’s fine with me. My largest concern is that you're overloaded with information, which doesn't let you decide the most effective writer. It’s just my personal opinion, but I would rather entrust the method of selecting the author to the support, quite than myself, lol. First of all, I would like to thank you for informing us in regards to the scenario occurred together with your order. We are sorry for such an unpleasant issue that happened to you utilizing our service. When a realized that this web site has excellent status and immediately asked for helped and obtained the work of top quality. I had to write my dissertation and needed to ensure it was good earlier than I submitted it. I used the writing instruments obtainable at edubir and loves them. They had been easy to make use of and free, in contrast to lots of other web sites. In explicit, I would advocate the paraphrasing device to avoid plagiarism. For instance, in the event that they deliver plagiarized paper, they received’t refund you something unless you present a Turnitin report. If your faculty makes use of SafeAssign, or Blackboard, then you're in double bother – no cash + plagiarism accusations. Since I was short of time, I could not afford to ship the order for revision, but should you do have time – go for it. EssayPro offers unlimited revisions, which may be good for orders with a protracted deadline. I consider that is the most important disadvantage of an EssayPro – they misinform you where it's not essential. Even if you are okay with an “Average Joe,” who has a Bachelor’s diploma, they'd say that a fucking Ph.D. is working on your Literature paper. The web site supplied all the mandatory information to get a strong understanding of how the service works. Too bad they don’t actually have the Pricing page, their pricing coverage is kind of confusing. Ask to get answers from the SameDayEssay com workers and other customers. Available across the clock and delivers quality task consistently. Hello Laura, thanks for contacting us concerning this problem. Therefore, it is crucial to work with a corporation that is optimistic of its quality. Such urgent orders lack uniqueness and individual technique. The writer I chosen had a Masters diploma inside the field of my essay. Despite the unhealthy experience with the EssayPro staff, the storm, once I actually have assigned the writer, abided. The author asked what exactly I need, and he went through all points of my rubric virtually perfectly. As I’ve said earlier than, I positioned 3 comparable orders with different tutorial ranges (School, University, Ph.D.) AND THE BIDS WERE ALL THE SAME. Do you actually imagine that Ph.D. holders will ever work on a paper for a kid? The creator was superb and saved in contact with me all via the interval he was engaged on my paper. When contacted him to tell him, he was greater than keen to make them. So every pupil is provided with the distinctive, non-public personalized paper.

0 notes

travelingessays274 · 4 years

Video

youtube

write my essay for me

About me

I'M Never Assigning An Essay Again

I'M Never Assigning An Essay Again This enables you to catch the errors yourself whereas still having the accountability of one other particular person within the room. After all, how can you conclude when you haven’t even completed writing? While the expert is engaged on the project, you possibly can regulate the progress through your non-public account. Our service guarantees to deliver quick and qualitative essay assist, and we adhere to this declare accurately. We all the time guarantee timely delivery and never miss a single deadline, as we're well conscious of all of the unfavourable issues it could possibly cause to a scholar. But in sure situations, the timeline, chosen by a buyer, is solely unrealistic. Even with the new framing, many students wrestle with transition because the previous patterns are so completely ingrained. Rather than allowing college students to see their task as familiar – completely too familiar – I need them to start every writing-associated downside project from scratch. This went past just getting quicker, though that was a major profit. I additionally discovered that the standard of my arguments and analyses increased, along with large improvements in my research abilities. Take the paper to your college’s writing heart.Don’t anticipate them to be your copy editor, nonetheless. More than probably, the writing middle workers will have you read the paper aloud to them. Think of occasions you've written good essays and submitted on time. This phobia involves concern and avoidance of writing an assigned essay and/or submitting the essay. In addition to lateness penalties, the avoidance can lead to final-minute writing with its attendant stress, poor quality, and low marks. For this cause I suggest that one does not wait until the last minute to start or to ask for assist with an essay. I know this because before I started framing the task as a writing-associated downside, this is precisely what they did. This should provide you with some idea of the tutorial conventions you must comply with in your papers. It’s simple to undergo an article and focus a lot on the information that you simply ignore the structure (which is an effective thing–the structure shouldn’t distract you). But if you spend a couple reading classes listening to structure, you’ll get a really feel for the way it ought to go. Ever since I realized the traditional method of outlining papers in eighth grade, I felt the system was broken. I never created an outline with bullets and numbers and letters earlier than writing the paper. If you need extra advice on the specifics of writing stable conclusions, check out my publish on the way to write a paper. Of course, your paper must be good for this to work. For advice on improving the standard of your papers, take a look at my submit on 6 Writing Tips to Make Your Papers 300% Better. Also, pay attention to the readings your professor assigns for the category. Also I know college students who partly defeat themselves by avoiding work on assigned essays. I have had this battle for a number of years now, although not often late with assignments, essay induced anxiety ranges are excessive, particularly close to submit time. One of the best ways I’ve found to avoid procrastinating is to plan what I’m going to write down thoroughly and to break it down into manageable chunks . Often, I think we delay writing because we don’t know the place to start or we’re afraid of getting lost midway via. If you could have a good plan, you all the time know what you need to write next, and if you chunk it, the job turns into less daunting, as a result of you possibly can take it a bit at a time. Ideally, college students are in a position to synthesize and even construct upon an array of sources to create an authentic piece of knowledge. I’ve written beforehand about the disconnections of education. There is a disconnection between the writing most students do in highschool and what they’ll be expected to do in school. At the tip of the day, writing a paper is still lots of work. But should you observe the process in this article, you’ll be capable of do it more quickly with no loss of quality. Each of those classes was intense, but at the finish I all the time found myself a better author. Communicate with your essay writer and help representative on a no-name foundation through your personal account. 'I need you to write my paper, however I am apprehensive about its high quality and originality' – Let us dispel your doubts. Your author will complete an pressing order with out compromising on its quality. You can get cheap assignment writing professional assist. Now it is easy to take care of written assignments and then get a high grade.

0 notes