arduinna

I'll try to remember to upload the pic later. It's not a very good picture, but then, I was wary of trying to get too close.

****************

( Read more... )

jesse_the_k

The American Foundation for the Blind is researching AI:

( details on how to participate )

In addition to the environmental and ethical violations which LLMs/AIs depend on, the endless hype and inaccurate performance make me shudder and growl. Yet I admit I’ve used neural text-to-speech voices for casual audio reading. The neural voices require an internet connection and they lose intelligibility at speed. They’re best as substitutes for human readers.

Blind computer users set their on-device system text-to-speech (TTS) at high speeds. Three hundred to five hundred words per minute are often cited. For screen reader applications, a robotic voice is a feature, enabling bits to flow from device to brain with minimal interpretation.

Neural voices produce much higher quality than system-level TTS. When fed appropriately coded input, they can laugh, whisper, and sound sarcastic as well as "analyze" an essay to produce a "podcast" dialog between two synthetic discussants. Some samples here: https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/

But I know well the expertise that skilled human narrators bring to their work—whether it’s commercial audiobook production, volunteer alternative-format creation, or podfic elves making magic. I don’t want a world where those jobs are outsourced to computers.

On the gripping hand, I remember when skilled Linotype operators--many Deaf--were obviated by computerized systems where reporters keyed their own copy. I used the bridge technology of phototypesetting, as well as pioneering desktop publishing. It's expected that admin workers now create flyers and graphs and charts.

Have you tried neural voices? Recognized them on YouTube or TikTok or your recent tech support call? Do you have thoughts for or against?

thawrecka posting in

c_ent

Shared Warmth (1056 words) by thawrecka
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 黄金台 - 苍梧宾白 | Golden Terrace - Cāng Wú Bīn Bái
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fu Shen/Yan Xiaohan
Characters: Fu Shen (Golden Stage), Yan Xiaohan
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Slice of Life, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:

Two moments in their relationship in which Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan take care of each other.

adafrog posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Saturday to midnight on Sunday (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33616 Daily poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 27

How are you doing?

I am okay
17 (63.0%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
10 (37.0%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
9 (33.3%)

One other person
13 (48.1%)

More than one other person
5 (18.5%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

thawrecka

This was my assignment:

Shared Warmth (1056 words) by thawrecka
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 黄金台 - 苍梧宾白 | Golden Terrace - Cāng Wú Bīn Bái
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fu Shen/Yan Xiaohan
Characters: Fu Shen (Golden Stage), Yan Xiaohan
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Slice of Life, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:

Two moments in their relationship in which Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan take care of each other.

But first I wrote this pinch hit, because I saw it on the PH list while I was actively watching Pluto, and got inspired:

Preludes and Endings (Arr. for Piano) (1854 words) by thawrecka
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Pluto (Anime)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Paul Duncan/North no. 2
Characters: Paul Duncan (Pluto), North No. 2 (Pluto)
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Canonical Character Death, Angst, First Kiss, Robot/Human Relationships
Summary:

Paul Duncan uses the time they have to reach out for North no. 2's hands.

The Pluto fic did better than my Golden Terrace fic, and I can't say I'm surprised. The former was just better, and even though I signed up thinking I could write the latter I really struggled.

After this I'm taking a break from exchanges until Yuletide. I did a bunch over the last year, and it turns out instead of giving me the joy Yuletide gives me they mostly made me stressed. I did read some great fic, though, and got to write some interesting stuff.

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

Art is by Steve Yeowell.

( Scans under the cut... )

vivdunstan

Tonight at dinner tried my 3rd low or no alcohol cider, with Sainsbury’s own brand low alcohol medium dry cider. It’s 0.9% alcohol, 0.5 units in the bottle. And it’s the best one I’ve tried yet. Great smell, and an almost scrumpy like taste. Win win!

Next weekend will fingers crossed be Sheppy's low alcohol cider. If our local Tescos has it in stock.

I am pleasantly surprised that Somerset-raised Martin is having a similar reaction to the low/no alcohol cider tastings as I work through them!

And for American friends, cider here = British cider, which is very strong, and usually very alcoholic. Not just apple juice. I'm trying to get a fairly authentic British alcoholic cider taste in no alcohol or low alcohol. And having mixed success, but finding some good ones.

And it is definitely helping my IBS type problems.

squidgiepdx

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merryghoul posting in

doctor_who_sonic

Do you have a Doctor Who community or a journal that we are not currently linking to? Leave a note in the comments and we'll add you to the watchlist (

doctor_watch).

Editor's note: Because of the high posting volume and the quantity of information linked in each newsletter, doctor_who_sonic will no longer link fanfiction that does not have a header. For an example of what a "good" fanfic header is, see the user info. Spoiler warnings are also greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Off-DW News
Blogtor Who's Friday Video of the Day is the UNIT case file for the Zygons from Doctor Who's YouTube channel
Doctor Who News: Issue 621 of Doctor Who Magazine
Blogtor Who: The cast of Ghost Light to reunite at Utopia
Blogtor Who's Saturday Video of the Day is Big Finish's trailer for their audio Snare from The Ninth Doctor Adventures
Blogtor Who reviews Big Finish’s The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Return of the Doctor

(News from

doctorwhonews_feed and

blogtorwho_feed, among others.)

Communities and Challenges

dw100: Challenge #1058: refine

Discussion and Miscellany

purplecat with a postcard with an image from from Smith and Jones

Fanfiction
Completed
Stuck by

badly_knitted [Three, Jo | G]

Recommendations

paranoidangel recommends the fic sparking joy by

TechnicolorRevel [TARDIS, Nyssa, Bill, Charley | General Audiences]

If you were not linked, and would like to be, contact us in the comments with further information and your link.

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purple sky with stars. Text reads, "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid_guardian.dreamwidth.org"

Hi, welcome to our second instalment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Join us to watch half an episode a week (at your leisure) and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!

Episode 1, from 22:28

Summary: Guo Changcheng is having a day! After being dangled from a window and falling, now he fails at tailing Shen Wei and Li Qian, takes a lost grandma home, and promptly runs into a shadowy attacker! But action hero Chu Shuzhi comes to the rescue. Shen Wei studies Zhao Yunlan's file, and we get our first YOHE flashback. Zhao Yunlan, who has concluded the attacker mistook Lu Ruomei for Li Qian, tails Li Qian and has another intense encounter with Professor Shen. The Shadow Man attacks Li Qian at the university, but Shen Wei protects her - until he's thrown off the roof, just as the SID arrives. The team meets the Black-Cloaked Envoy for the first time.

Shen Wei protecting Li Qian on the rooftop

Quote:

Zhao Yunlan: "Tell you the truth, I really don't know why, but from the moment I saw you, I've had this feeling like we've known each other a long time."

Shen Wei: "Who knows, maybe we really have met before."

Detail:

One of my favourite details in this half of the episode is the Envoy's very dramatic arrival on the rooftop - storm clouds and lightning and time stoppage and all. The best part about this is something a first-time viewer can't know - that this is clearly a choice on Shen Wei's part. He's looking to make an impression, hee! :D

Questions:

What's your favourite moment or line in this half of the episode? Anything you noticed that you'd completely forgotten about, or never noticed before? How literally do you take Shen Wei's "I've searched for you for 10,000 years"? What do you think Zhao Yunlan is thinking when Shen Wei just gives away that he knows about Dixingren? If you were on that rooftop when the Envoy took the Shadow Man away, would you speak up like Xiao-Guo? And if you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how this compares?

(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)

And here is our schedule - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

iamrman posting in

scans_daily

Writer: Steve Englehart

Pencils: Tom Derenick

Inks: Mark Farmer

Aquaman continues to be absolutely bloody useless.

( Read more... )

smallhobbit posting in

drabble_zone

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mrshamill

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Current Mood: sad

xandromedovna posting in

fic_rush

AHHH sorry I thought I already did this! I guess that's what I get for trying to think about writing in this economy... Anyway, the Rush will be next weekend, 19-21 Sep. Calling all mods past, present, and future! If you can, please claim an anchor post or indicate you'll be in the general vicinity.

	GMT	EDT (Boston)	CDT (Chicago)	PDT (Seattle)	BST (London)	CEST (Berlin)	AEST (Brisbane)	Designated Mod
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Hour 36	11am Sun	7am Sun	6am Sun	4am Sun	12pm Sun	1pm Sun	9pm Sun	glinda
Hour 42	5pm Sun	1pm Sun	12pm Sun	10am Sun	6pm Sun	7pm Sun	3am Mon
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Round Ends	midnight	8pm Sun	7pm Sun	5pm Sun	1am Mon	2am Mon	10am Mon	xandromedovna

tentaclemod posting in

raremaleslashex

All Creators have been revealed!

Thank you to all participants, and many many thanks to the pinch hitters for showing up again and again ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎ I hope you all had fun!

If you have urgent suggestions for improvement, feel free to comment on this post or write a mail to tentaclemod@gmail.com. Other questions and input are welcome as well!

nilchance

( day 2 postop )

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

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thistleingrey

It's time for Microsoft Voice Access!

A few days ago, I noticed that the roving from the spindle workshop had introduced very tiny critters to my active knitting projects, kept adjacent. Off they went to chill, one ziploc bag in the freezer and the rest waiting at the back of the fridge. That meant starting a different knitting project. I squelched my initial idea of fine-gauge, two-color brioche for a shawl (to use up certain yarn skeins) and chose the pattern from my Ravelry queue that scares me the most.

Yesterday I washed a swatch, the start of the first sleeve. I guess the designer pulled very tightly on his recently discontinued yarn, of a type that snaps if you look at it funny (BT Shelter). I'm using a yarn with slightly more heft, gained via the last of my in-kind shop samples, and I was able to have a second go at a sleeve on smaller needles ( before a minor accident )

iamrman posting in

scans_daily

Writers: Steve Englehart and Gerry Conway

Pencils: Herb Trimpe

Inks: Jack Abel

The Hulk and Betty return to Hulkbuster Base, only to be immediately set upon by the Abomination and the Rhino.

( Read more... )

selki

Yes, I did post once in June, but I want to circle back to Memorial Day weekend since I went to and volunteered for two SFF conventions (virtually) that weekend, and I want to talk a little more about SFF and reading and the other convention since then.

Balticon: a nearly-local convention with a big virtual track. I attended a few virtual panels/events, and virtual-assisted a little. I loved getting to hear the Baltimore Gamer Symphony perform -- the tech support for it, including streaming, went really well, and they sounded great! I ended up dropping my Patreon support for one author because her comments on a topic she should know about were so head-shakingly wrong and self-contradicting (wrong in opposite ways, within 5 minutes). I wish her well, but there are so many others to support. I'll probably virtual-volunteer again for Balticon, because I want cons to keep having strong virtual elements.
Wiscon: all-virtual, and many great panels, although one was really angering (and yes I left comments: the moderator trashed the panel subject, in which those of us who were attending should have been presumed to have be interested). I zoom-hosted one. The most fun was the exhilarating fanvid watch party, so well curated, with a super lively chat in Discord. Next year will be virtual too, and I expect to volunteer again.
Reading/listening/podcasting: I did a lot of reading this spring and summer to vote for the Hugos. I also guested on one podcast soon after the finalists announcement to talk about the Hugo Awards (overall) and the best novel finalist I'd read at that point (which ended up with my top vote), and on another podcast's later three episodes about the Best Short Story, Novella, and Novel finalists. We all had a lot of fun and were able to speak both enthusiastically and critically without yucking others' yums. Anti-colonialism ran rampant through a lot of what I read and liked. I loved Ray Nayler's phrase "extraction zone" in *The Tusks of Extinction*, describing everywhere but the few rich cities/people that want and extract more and more and more from everyone else. I think the phrase "extractive capitalism" helps a bit when I'm trying to talk about the most harmful end-of-the-spectrum of capitalism without being dismissed as a wild-eyed radical.
WorldCon: I virtual volunteered again, virtual-hosting many events especially in the early hours to allow panelists from around the world, especially Africa, to participate. That was important to me. Virtual attendees came from 43 countries, and 12 countries had 6 or more attendees each! I was really happy that so many countries participated. I tried not to overdo it, but signed up to do an extra hosting session at the last minute for at least one that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't stepped up, and it was a great panel. Many of the panels I hosted/attended were good. I signed up to virtual-volunteer for the next WorldCon. I was pretty happy about the Hugo Award winners. But, I was disappointed at the Hugo award announcement messups, the late apology of Seattle WorldCon, and the inadequate apology of the announcers (see comment).
Capclave next weekend: Nope, even though it's local and short-story oriented, a rare bird. I was thinking "Would it really be much higher risk to attend a few panels masked than to go shopping masked?" and went so far as to look at their website and the programming, but there is nothing at all about safety or accessibility, and one weekend away, their Code of Conduct page is literally "TBD". I can see what they're prioritizing, so I shall prioritize myself instead.

muccamukk

(The first of which I read in May, but it wasn't Hugo homework, so we're putting it here.)

Maybe this is a Story about Water by Jessica Wiebe Schafer
I posted one of these poems. Lovely collection reflecting on God, womanhood, family connections and connections to nature, and how they might all be the same. Local author I stumbled on in the library, which suggests I should randomly grab books from the library's poetry section more often. (Have I since done so? No, I have not!)

A Default World by Naomi Kanakia
Read this for queer book club, which I've been very bad at actually attending. Contemporary satire, I guess would be the easiest genre description.

A South-Asian trans woman ends up joining a San Francisco share house, which is full of bright young things, tech money, and hedonism. Our heroine is trying to figure out how to get someone to pay for the gender-affirming surgeries she desperately wants, but keeps getting sucked into whatever bullshit her housemates are on, namely planning a big kink party that's somehow for great justice.

Most of the book is about skewering the hypocrisies and double think embedded in the mostly white, mostly straight, mostly upper class twenty-somethings who want to think that their sex parties are going to bring about the liberation, but aren't really that interested in the day to day lives of actual real marginalised people. I would say this discordance is played up for effect, and that the space I've seen aren't quite that bad, but also SF is kind of its own beast, so I'd also believe it's not exaggerating reality. The core points certainly hit, though maybe got a little repetitive.

I had complicated feelings about the heroine, who loathes almost every other character almost as much as she loathes herself. It was admittedly difficult to spend that many pages with someone who's that crushed by dysphoria that much of the time. I did like how the book handled her getting sucked into the social scene, and how the tension kept ratcheting up in regards to whether she would make the moral choice or the self-interested one. I was very much rooting for her by the end, even if everyone in the book was kind of terrible.

Will keep an eye on this author.

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman
Grabbed this off the library's seven-day read shelf, not realising it was the second book in a series. I would, if possible, read them in order, as this is very much a serial adventure situation, with the action of the second book directly following on the first. However, it did explain the events of the first well enough to follow along with what was happening, and it was fun on its own.

A pair of spinster sisters in Regency London deal with a variety of crises events, including someone trying to kidnap their house guest, a gentleman's society maybe murdering women, one of their would-be lovers being a highwayman while the other's a Bow Street Runner, and various knock on effects of the previous book. It was fun! I wouldn't say there's a lot more to it than hijinks, though it seemed to be trying to take on serious topics, but I enjoyed the hijinks. There's a scene later on in the book where five or six groups with competing interests are chasing each other around the countryside in the dark, which I always love.

It ends on a slight cliffhanger setting up the next book, which I'm not that invested in, but might read on a rainy day.

Red Boar's Baby by Lauren Esker
This stands alone, more or less, but if you enjoyed the lore from the previous books, you'll see it again here! We get the return of the highly-motivated koala, which made me very happy.

This outing, we get a road runner who's a SAR pilot for the National Parks Service fake dating a wild boar who's running the local shifter police department. (If you're new to this genre, they're shape shifters who can turn into animals, but primarily have human forms. This is not Zootopia.) Together, they have to deal with a probably-kidnapped baby, the probable kidnappers, mad science, and there only being one bed. This series pretty much always hits for me, and as usual it balances the action adventure/mystery plot with the romantic tension, and doesn't base either on silly misunderstandings or anyone carrying the idiot ball. I really liked the backstory to how the fake dating started out, and the barriers to the main couple getting together felt real. They were very sweet together, which helped. Also, there's a fantastic action scene towards the end of the book, that really played with most of the characters involved being shape shifters, and we got a bunch of new lore.

Really enjoyed this, looking forward to the next one.

JUSTICE FOR MATEO! (Who was not mentioned in this book, which is why he needs justice.)

badly_knitted posting in

drabble_zone

This week's challenge is:

Time

Reminder of Rules

Entries should be 100, 200, or 300 words exactly, excluding titles and headers.
Please place the body of your entry behind a cut.
Tag with the appropriate Challenge, Fandom, Type, and Ratings tags. If a tag for your fandom doesn't exist, leave a request on the Tag Request post and I'll create the tags you need. You can request as many fandom tags as you want.
You don't need to use the challenge word or phrase in your drabble, though you can if you like.
Each challenge ends when the new challenge is posted, but if you're a few days late that's still fine.

NEW RULE: DOUBLE AND TRIPLE DRABBLES ARE ALSO ACCEPTED ;)

Have fun!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

geraineon

Before my recent book thoughts disappear into fedi because I didn't save them where I can tag and find, I'm gonna copy/paste them here!

As mentioned in my post here, someone started translating a lot of Konohara Narise's books last year and have been quite prolific. And so, I picked up a few to read:

Bluebird アオイトリ

Summary on Novel Updates:
This age-gap Omegaverse story follows Kawachi, an Omega striving to live as a Beta, whose plans are disrupted by an unexpected incident just before his 35th birthday.

Inukai, a young Alpha from the sales department who has secretly admired Kawachi, steps in to help, intertwining their lives in ways neither expected.

This is a heartfelt story of love, family, and personal growth between a devoted younger Alpha and a kind-hearted Omega pursuing a new path in life.

Thoughts: Ahaha while I was reading, I was thinking, "ah, she has a lactation link" and yep, she said so in the afterword 😂 would have loved to read her initial pitch to her editor, which was "Alpha uke." Also, please do not trust the summary. It is not a heartfelt story of love, family, and personal growth. Not really XD

More thoughts under the spoiler!

I guess one can squint and say that the "personal growth" here is Kawachi, the omega, accepting his life after his choices have all been forcefully taken away, and "love" as idk, Inukai babytrapping Kawachi into staying alive. The depiction of postpartum depression was ouch, and really, Kawachi's life was awful!

He was ready to be done with heats forever (doctors said that omegas with such mild heats can go into what's pretty much heat menopause [is there an omegaverse term for this? XD] if he continued to stay virgin, but as he approaches "heat menopause", things might get unpredictable... and yep, his heat came stronger than he has ever experienced before and he was caught unprepared because the mildest dosage of heat suppressant which had worked in the past, stopped working. And tbf, Inukai checked on Kawachi out of concern, but that triggered his rut and then they both lost it, and oops, pregnancy! also they were both non-conned into sex by their omegaverse physiology. Inukai was already in love with Kawachi at that point (unfortunately for him, Kawachi was straight, dating a woman, and was gonna get married), so he was going to marry Kawachi anyway, but Kawachi didn't want that. Well, Kawachi had just lost his shot at being rid of heats forever, he tried hiding his pregnancy from his fiancee who found out anyway and then they broke up because he couldn't bring himself to tell her that he was raped due to a heat accident. Ah, and also because of omega male's body and how they handle pregnancy, abortion was impossible, apparently (lol, Konohara-sensei, you just wanted to make sure there's no way out, huh). And now his heats cannot be suppressed by any medication, and even sex therapy (basically, a dildo with deactivated sperm that can be pumped in) did not work. He needed Inukai, and he rather die than have sex with Inukai again. And so, after Kawachi gave birth and experienced his heat again, Inukai forced himself on Kawachi, made him pregnant again and forced a mating bond, to keep him from his passive death wish. Then both of them started living together in a weird, kinda domestic situation, except Inukai feels like an outside to Kawachi and their son (later, sons), while Kawachi is still grappling with this whole situation and figuring out how to accept Inukai.

Anyway, this has a sweeter/happier ending than the usual Konohara. I was expecting more tragedy/angst considering how this relationship started. I would have loved to read Kawachi (the omega)'s thoughts on the relationship too, because after the awful beginning, the pov switched to Inukai, the alpha male. I would have loved to read how Kawachi worked through his reactions at having all his choices and basically what he wanted as his future taken away.

Other scattered thoughts: I don't think I've read stuff that mentioned the diversity of heat experiences (like the diversity of period symptoms/pain/discomfort), so that was interesting. And how that can change over time too and get worse/less bad.

Translation link: https://itoshiikoto.blogspot.com/2024/12/bluebird-illustrated.html

A Disgusting Guy　嫌な奴

Summary from Novel Updates:

Miura is a rough and self-centered man who was Sugimoto’s “best friend” in their school days. Sugimoto visits Miura in the hospital for the first time in 12 years, as he is bedridden with illness. The strange relationship between the two begins again and develops into an unwilling cohabitation. Is this friendship, love, or obsession?

Thoughts: Well, this summary is more accurate than Bluebird's! Classic Konohara experience - I already wanted to strangle/shake the main character in chapter 1. And that was the POV character.

More thoughts under the spoiler!

Tl;dr, Kazuya pretended to be friends with Miura during childhood and kept the pretense as a kind friend so hard that he cornered himself into the position of Miura's best friend, out of fear of Miura because he once saw Miura being violent to another kid and he wants to maintain his image as the kind person who is liked by everyone. And Miura definitely fell in love (obsession) during childhood and was devastated when Kazuya deliberately moved away and cut off contact, swearing their mutual friend Onodera to secrecy. Years later, they reunited because Onodera asked Kazuya to visit Miura in the hospital (Miura now has a chronic condition).

Somehow, Miura ended up living with Kazuya who at first continued to try to pretend, but over time, masks came off and he told Miura he actually hated being with him, and Miura decided that it's okay, he doesn't need Kazuya to like him, he just wants to be with Kazuya. And continued sticking to Kazuya, and Kazuya never called the police on Miura. And then Miura forced himself on Kazuya. And somehow that became a thing and Kazuya got used to it and now that's their relationship. One man who cannot let go even after finding out that his childhood best friend actually hated him the whole while, and the other man, initially trapped by his desire to be "liked by everyone" and fear of violence by Miura, now have resigned himself to living together with Miura who had forced himself on him.

BL but without the L. Ahaha.

Kazuya at the end of the story:

Even sitting there and looking at his face, I couldn't think of anything to say — even the usual "How are you feeling?" It seemed too much trouble to voice something I didn't really mean.

Miura at the end of the story:

It's the same thing over and over again, just like the words I once threw at Kazuya. Even now, we're going in circles. I said I didn't need his heart. I knew all too well that even if I said I wanted it, he wouldn't give me a single piece. And yet I couldn't leave him. I can't leave him.

Both of you need intervention.

I haven't even mentioned the bit where Kazuya was going to get married and his fiancee was "stolen" by his student on the day of their wedding (it was a willing bride-napping), Miura had a dead son, Miura's father who was disabled, died crushed by a cupboard and nobody knew until the body started rotting because Miura was not there (and the reason Miura wasn't there was because he followed Kazuya to a fancy top school [but Kazuya really wanted to get away from Miura which was why he tested for the fancy top school because he thought Miura wouldn't be able to test in, AND THEN HE DITCHED MIURA ANYWAY, LEAVING THE SCHOOL]). So much happened, and I felt like I've watched them make all these bad choices for themselves their whole lives... Idk if I can say I enjoyed it (a little hard when I am frustrated at the characters), but it was an interesting read.

I'm not sure if I'd have translated the title as "A Disgusting Guy" but idk what I would replace it with (unpleasant?), so it stays.

Translation link: https://itoshiikoto.blogspot.com/2024/06/a-disgusting-guy_20.html

clauderainsrm posting in

therealljidol

You've got questions - I've got answers!

Maybe. For some things. Let's try this! Some from emails and some from a thread I was directed to so that I could know the sort of things people are curious about.

On this particular vote:

- Will the intersection totals count as your total votes, or just your individual totals. The individual votes.
- How will bye weeks count toward the total. Bye weeks are 0 votes. I considered doing the "average" but that wasn't anywhere in the original requests for this structure. Trying to maintain that integrity to the request.
- Doesn't that make it lopsided for people with bigger friends list? How would that work in a regular season if we did it that way? IMO, it wouldn't. But as a one time thing, it's interesting, which is why it ended up on the Wheel. :)
- Will you provide a list so we all know how many votes we have in total? Maybe. Full disclosure, I haven't even done that for myself yet. I have no idea how far "ahead" or "behind" anyone is going into this week! I need to do that this weekend!

The Wheel:

Is the wheel going to ever allow people to come back into the game?
There are *counts* 5 different scenarios allowing for different variations of people coming back into the game. 6 depending on how a specific special power is used. :) Sooner or later, odds are the wheel is going to land on one of them, and probably soon.

Do you remove options from the Wheel once they are used?
Most of them. There are a couple in there specifically designed to come up again. But they haven't come up yet.

What happens if we get down to the Final 5 but we haven't hit the "come back into the game option?" We proceed to the end game. That's the nature of the Wheel. Like I said, it could last a week and it could go on for the rest of our natural, and unnatural lives.

The Killer(s):

How many Killers are left in the game? There is absolutely no way I'm going to tell you that. :)
That said, the pieces are all there. You know we started with between 1-3. The original(s) don't even know how many we started with, or who the others are! I also tell you when there is an empty vial found, and when there isn't. Which considering you also know that the Killers have two choices: Recruit or Poison. If no vial is found, you know what they picked! You can do the math from there, and I've seen some people are doing that.

- Was a vial found this week? I can now reveal, yes. Yes there was an empty vial found.

- What is the criteria for who for an Accusation? What is the criteria for the Killer(s) in who they choose to poison? I'm not you. I can't decide what your criteria is. I assume that everyone has their own strategy for both of those things. For the former, I'd say it should be "Who do you think a Killer is" for the poisoning/recruiting - who would be the best choice for further whatever agenda you have in the game!

- If a Killer is eliminated during a poll, will you know? Yes. You will know.

- How does the Accusation work? Is it majority vote? Yes. The majority of you have to agree. If the Killer is Person X and 40% of you think it's them, but 60% think it's Person Y, you are going to officially accuse Person Y. The Killer(s) work on the same principle. They have to reach majority on two issues: Recruit or Poison and then who to either recruit or poison. In the event of a tie that cannot be broken, the Wheel would decide between the choices.

- How does the antidote work? Does the person taking it know if it works or not? Yes. Or rather the person who wins it knows. If they drink it themselves, they know and if they give it to someone else, they know that as well.... and so will the person drinking it.

- How does it taste? It has a bit of a minty lemon aftertaste that once you get used to is quite pleasant. :)

Participation

- Yeah. It's been down. Some of that is the small numbers we have and some of that is that I'm not driving engagement like I normally would be doing. Haven't been in a good place in awhile. I need to be doing more of this and less of *points the rest of the world*

How are you Gary?

- Not great. Some days MUCH better than others. Proud of Celena who has been accepted to every single grad school she's applied to so far. Cynthia's birthday is on Monday, so that's weird not going all in on it... and my birthday is coming up at the end of the month and really not sure how I want to celebrate it. If anyone wants to send me massive amounts of cash though, I'll figure something out! :D (Note to self - find people with massive amounts of cash, who want to give it to you!!! No, I won't send them to you!!!)

How are YOU?

I can't answer that. You go ahead and answer it below.

Ask any other questions you've been having below and I'll try my best to answer them.

superfangirl1 posting in

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