Game Check-in: "Buddy Mission BOND" [Mission 1]
Oct. 25th, 2025 12:12 amMission 1 - The Dog and the Beast:
So the line about 'cutting his arm off before he could shoot' from the opening was a throwback to their first meeting...
The sister's name is Alana.
Ahh the LP player made a mistake again whyyy. 😭
Lmao Luke cuffed him and Beast together to stop Beast from running off rashly. 😂
If Beast hadn't been convinced after Luke's speech about saving Alana and not losing family no one could've been.
So when Beast refuses to tell Luke his name, Luke can pick from these as nicknames:
-Luke No. 2
-Kitty
-Partner

It would've been hilarious to see his reactions to the first two. The LP player chose 'aibou/partner' but apparently that was the wrong answer, maybe you were supposed to tease him with 'Kitty' since he calls Luke 'Doggy'.
In any case, he did reveal his name as 'Aaron', though that's still apparently not his real name.

This happened after Aaron was chosen to deal with a situation, too funny. 😂
The bar scene where Luke acts out being a big fan of Kaitou Beast!!! And Aaron's reaction! Waait does Luke not know Aaron is Beast??
If picking the wrong answer lead to this I'm okay with it: Aaron punching the detectives is all of us, the players, sick of their bullshit. I've only seen two detectives worth anything and that's Luke and his father. Oh, and the guy who was with Luke at the funeral.
Luke picked their infiltration clothes but did he mean for Aaraon to wear the collar so open like that? 👀😆
...So the boss' actual name is AZIN and he made it sound Japanese with Eijin.. Am I right in thinking it's supposed to make you think of 'Asian', and his rapping and style in general, maybe he's doubly appropriating??
The way Aaron talks really is amusing. It's worse than Bakugou.
A third party sent that email that got Luke to help, Aaron was really going to go in all alone. Luke really helped with all the planning, Aaron was mainly good for the blunt force stuff;;
Seems like Aaron has decided to trust Luke, he's telling him about DISCARD wanting the 'chip'. He and his sister are from ハスマリー (I have no idea how this is written in English), a country in the Southern continent that's had ongoing conflict since ancient times. Years ago a research facility blew up there, but recently it came to light that there was a chip containing the previously thought lost research data - inside of the famous gemstone currently in the news. DISCARD found out Kaitou Beast was sending money and supplies to Ajito, the hideout that Alana is the 'surrogate mother for the kids' at. They kidnapped her to use her as bait.
Luke trying so hard to convince himself that Aaron isn't Kaitou Beast. 😅
Luke got Aaron to laugh his head off, cute! (Even if it was at Luke's expense hahah.)
I bet Luke got that bracelet Aaron stole from his dad? I'm glad he gave it back, though he did lecture him;; I think Luke is growing on him.
Uh-oh, the two are the suspects now?

Holy shit this scene was insane. The message over the radio about the suspects started off with some really eerie music and then Alana went crazy attacking them with crazy strength! She was clearly being controlled but WTF, how?!
...The punches keep coming. The same mark that was on Alana's neck was on his father's, meaning DISCORD got a hold of him somehow. T_T And it seems the guy at the funeral knew? I wonder if Luke can contact him?
Well, Luke's in custody, Aaron escaped with Alana... Aaron used あばよ, what a classic farewell...for now.
I'm worried if the LPer I'm watching will do the side-content, there's buddy episodes and side-stories plus a drama cd...
My Bright Diamond (50 Sentences: Original Character/Original Work)
Oct. 24th, 2025 09:17 pmFandom: Original Work
Theme set: Delta
Rating: R
Warnings: Disturbing concepts; non-con elements; brief violence
Notes: Crossposted to
( Read more... )
wreak
Oct. 25th, 2025 01:00 amMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2025 is:
wreak \REEK\ verb
Wreak means “to cause something very harmful or damaging.” It is often used with on or upon.
// The virus wreaked havoc on my laptop.
Examples:
“Ours is a geography of cataclysm: Santa Anas wreak their psychic wrath; the odor of disaster seeps from the street like that sulfurous egg smell of the La Brea Tar Pits.” — John Lopez, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sept. 2025
Did you know?
In its early days, wreak was synonymous with avenge, a meaning exemplified when Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus proclaims “We will solicit heaven, and move the gods / To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs.” This sense is now archaic, but the association hasn't been lost: although wreak is today most often paired with havoc, it is also still sometimes paired with words like vengeance and destruction. We humbly suggest you avoid wreaking any of that, however, no matter how badly you may crave your just deserts.
sad news for those who know obi_ki and her son Alan
Oct. 24th, 2025 10:45 pmDaily Happiness
Oct. 24th, 2025 07:36 pm2. I love this picture of Jasper so much. Those big eyes! The little glimpse of pink tongue!

Fannish Stuff
Oct. 24th, 2025 10:10 pmI've gotta admit, one of the biggest things that annoys me about Critical Role is their refusal to add content warnings of any type even now that they're prerecording. It was one thing when they were properly airing live, because that just wasn't possible, but now? It would definitely help to at least have an option to know in advance that an episode was going to include certain topics. They gave warnings for the Divergence miniseries, so it's definitely possible for them to do. They just... don't do it most of the time.
Let's see... I finally managed to get my Yuletide sign-up done earlier this afternoon. It took a lot longer than I was expecting, but I got it in so that's a relief. I'm having a few regrets about not trimming down my list of offers a bit more than I did, but that happens every year so we'll just see how it goes.
The Dragon Age Reverse Bang's deadline is Sunday, so my artist and I are both hurrying to get everything finished. My brain's a bit mush right now despite me napping after work, because A. I slept like crap and B. I think that I might be coming down with something, so I think that I'm going to go to bed in a bit so that I can plan on getting up early and curling up with my laptop to spend the day writing until I get this ever-growing monster of a fic done.
Subject or object?
Oct. 25th, 2025 02:58 amI feel that logically speaking one ought to write "found himself the object of an assessing gaze", but my first instinct was to put "subject"; certainly he was *subjected to* the other character's thoughtful look :-)
Tuesday, October 14: The Greenbelt
Oct. 24th, 2025 07:11 pmIt was a very beautiful fall day. There were lovely colors, it was warm, and it was all around fairly perfect to be out.
Much gold! And the creek down in the corner.
Liked the view looking up. The sky was also just extremely blue.
Look, it's Bella!
Eleven more pictures:
This time we walked past the other two mosaics on the road bridg:
A boxelder bug nymph!
Ducks on the creek! And some nice fluffy milkweed seeds.
A late chicory flower.
More ducks and colors!
This goober.
(This was right after she took a wade in the very cold creek, immediately got the zoomies from being overstimulated by the cold, rocketed around for a bit, and slammed into my shin hard enough to make both of us yelp, lol.)
Flowers!
We went down to the little stone house for a bit.
It's Bella again!
Really nice colors!
I love the color of these geraniums, but it also seems like a fake color, haha.
Weekly Reading
Oct. 24th, 2025 05:56 pmMurder in Matrimony
The ending of this felt like it was wrapping up the series, which is fine because I'd already decided not to read any more. ( antisemitism )
The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
Finally finished this! It was actually really interesting, I just kept not reading it in favor of other things. In school Prohibition was passed over as basically like "it happened and then they repealed it", with the main focus of the early 20th century going towards the World Wars and Great Depression. I had no idea that Prohibition was so tied to the revival of the KKK, for example.
Artistic Buildings and Homes of Los Angeles
A very short book that is mainly pictures of buildings and houses in LA in the late 1800s, built by architect Joseph Newsom. The book has a forward and introduction written in 1988, and then the rest is a direct replica of a book put out by the architect to showcase his work, complete with ads that ran alongside the photos. It's very neat. Found it in a Little Free Library in the neighborhood.
Don't Hang Up
An Audible Original by the author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. He's done quite a few Audible Originals (the one below being another) and they're all short and free with my subscription, so I gave them a try, but none of them have been great. This one was interesting enough, but the MC was an asshole. He's a radio DJ who's been recently demoted to the midnight shift and one night gets a caller who tells him to stay on the line or a woman gets killed. Had some good twists, but it was just fine, not amazing.
Find Us
I really wish he would stick to writing stories set in Australia. This is the second one of his set in the US and there are always nitpicky things that bug me lol. Also if I'm reading an author from another country, it's because I want to read stories set in that country or at least with characters from that country (especially with an audiobook). But that's just minor stuff. This one felt like it really should have been longer (it's four hours, so about novella length). The MC is a former police detective, now working secretly for the FBI, trying to find school killers before they act by approaching kids who show red flags on social media and forums. One day her own kids go missing and she doesn't wait for the police, convinced she can find them herself. This had some interesting twists but I felt like the aftermath could have used more focus.
( spoilers )
My Home Hero vol. 4
presenting: my first book!
Oct. 25th, 2025 01:16 am(the anon period is over and so i, with pride and befuddlement, present my first published book!)
Desiccated Empire
Once, there was a vast Empire, capable of controlling nature itself.
Josvarh’s first cargo run goes catastrophically wrong when giant tentacles tear their airship right out of the sky, sending it crashing into the desert. He and Captain are forced aground, where they’re found by a mysterious stranger speaking an unknown language. ‘Chad’ is from no place Jos knows, but inordinately pleased to meet them—even with the language barrier.
Now, there is only sand.
The town at the edge of the desert lies abandoned, with no clues as to its fate. Their ship is lost, dragged into the desert by the mysterious tentacles. And in the night comes another monster: a spear-wielder of great skill and relentless attacks. Driven into the sands, they’re forced to fight for their lives as they seek shelter underground, dogged by unnatural monsters.
And what once was lost shall be found.
- no romance
- 111 page novella
- ebook on amazon/available in kindle unlimited
- part of a multi-author writing/publishing challenge
😍 purchase link 😘 storygraph 🥰 goodreads
(please note that it was automatically attributed to another Devin Moore on goodreads)
Edit: i forgot! i scheduled Desiccated Empire as a kindle countdown deal between nov 1-8 (i think)
fully slipped my mind, i was very sleepy when i did that orz
Cigarette, Alka-Seltzer, career to the back of the place
Oct. 24th, 2025 06:20 pmI have just discovered that Bill Nighy has a podcast. Apparently it launched on my birthday. It is the half-hour ill-advised by Bill Nighy. I am as we speak listening to the first episode which I selected at not very random considering there are only three so far:
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where you are on the planet. Welcome to ill-advised by Bill Nighy—and the clue is in the title, particularly on the first word. The risk of getting to my age is that you can not infrequently be mistaken for somebody who knows what's happening or how to carry on, and you only have to take a quick look around the world to see how that's going, and how my generation are managing the planet, for instance. I mean, you may have picked up a few things along the way which might be of use, like, I don't know, parking, or online shopping, or not taking cocaine, obviously. But other than that, in all the big important things, I remain profoundly in the dark. But I try and keep a straight face when people start acting weird.
After which he immediately begins to tell the listener about his recent eye operation. It does eventually pertain to the nature of the podcast, but frankly it was such an ideal segue for a programme that bills itself as "a podcast for people who don't get out much and can't handle it when they do . . . a refuge for the clumsy and the awkward . . . an invitation to squander time" that it won me over to treating it as an audio drama whose laconically anxious and slightly acid narrator has a very good fund of self-deprecating stories that wind their way around to some species of advice, defined by Nighy as "not actually making things worse." He sounds unsurprisingly like his interviews. The difficulty of extracting information does not improve just because I like the speaker, but apparently I will now make the occasional effort for actors, too.
Update: the parking is a lie. Nighy spends most of the introduction to the second episode explaining that he cannot and never could park successfully. "I'd drive miles to find somewhere where you didn't actually have to park, you could just leave the car." Well done, Reginald?
第四年第二百八十九天
Oct. 25th, 2025 07:43 am宀 part 3
牢, sturdy/prison; 宙, eternity; 定, to fix/secure ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=40
语法
-ever with repeating question words (I love this form)
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/repeating-question-words/
词汇
主持, to host; 主动, active; 主任, headmaster; 主意, idea; 主张, opinion; 自主, autonomy ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/
Guardian:
我知道我可以这样笃定🎵, I know I can be certain this way
谁能令其再次生长发芽,谁就是天选的大族长, whoever can make it grow and bud again will be the tribal leader selected by heaven
这都是他们的主意, it was all their idea
Me:
宇宙太大了。
石头剪刀布,谁输谁买单。
The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, in print!
Oct. 24th, 2025 11:42 pmAnyway, my epistolary novella The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo is being republished by indie press Homeward Books and for the first time, it will be available in hard copy form! With a jazzy new cover featuring art by Kim Nguyen, it is SO cute and chic. Homeward Books are fundraising to put out their first two releases (Jade is the second) and you can pre-order both via the Kickstarter here.
