CritterKeeper

Which is why the rule should be, don't have sex with drunk people. If you want to have sex, don't drink. That way there is no question of whether you were too drunk to consent, or whether your partner was. It's no different from the law which says you can't drive a car if you're drunk -- sure, maybe driving while drunk would be fun at the time, but the potential consequences aren't worth the risk.

Rape isn't about sex. It's about control. Being raped by a good-looking guy is *not* less evil than being raped by an ugly one. It's having something done to you and being unable to stop it, losing control of your own body, having your choices taken away from you. I would think one important factor would be if one of them got the other drunk with the intention of getting them to the point that they would do things they normally would not do. Having grown up in a college town, there are a lot of girls who would go to a party just wanting to have fun, and a lot of guys who would go hoping to get a girl drunk enough that they could have sex with her. It's not necessarily inherent to the individual people, it's a cultural indoctrination. If a person is not intending to have sex, but decides to have just a couple of beers, they may not be drunk enough to lose all inhibitions, but they may have lost enough control to make it easier to convince them to try a taste of a delicious fruity alcoholic drink, and to drink the rest of it once they've tasted it. And that drink makes it easier to get them to take the next one. Some people are expert at judging just when to stop feeding a victim drinks, and start caressing and kissing and turning their uncontrolled thoughts in another direction. People observing from the outside are very bad at judging when someone is too drunk to consent. And if the victim complains afterwards, the rapist can claim they were drunk, too, and it's nearly impossible to prove they weren't if enough time has passed that their blood alcohol would have dropped.

Tedd might know her as "Dad's secretary is named Lavender" from phone calls and casual conversation, or he might have gone to his dad's office a few times and know her as "that Uryuom who works for Dad," or even, if he was the right age, "that totally sexy may-have-helped-inspire-FV5 Uryuom who works for Dad." Would Tedd have gone to her dad's office? Or is his job too super-secret? Hmm, come to think of it, who looked after Tedd while his dad was at work when he was little? I've seen no hint of a beloved nanny or au pair or day care or anything, so it's pretty wide open. Maybe Lavender used to take care of him when Dad had to work. Tedd was very matter-of-fact about Will and Gil, didn't seem surprised to see aliens Uryuom-Americans talking to Edward in that flashback, and Edward didn't appear to be trying to keep them hidden from Tedd, or worried about Tedd seeing them. I get the feeling Tedd grew up a part if his dad's world, at least in an ancillary way. .....and I think I've talked myself into a new headcanon....

Dan's been hinting so strongly about Edward and Lavender, I'm not even sure it's enough of a reveal to warrant an "Oh, snap!" at this point. :-D I'm glad to see Tedd's dad is getting a little joy and, ah, relaxation in his life. I hope it helps him to deal better with his offspring's gender fluidity. I'm *really* hoping that the eventual Talk between them winds up being similar to the one between Tedd and Elliot, where Tedd finds out she's been worrying for nothing. Hmm, which will come first, Tedd telling her dad she's gender-fluid, or Edward telling Tedd about him and Lavender?

In very, very broad strokes, but I'm sure they'll be filling in at least some details eventually. I just don't think she'll be ready to hear more about it yet. As it is, I'm betting her first meeting with Ellen when she knows about her origin will be very weird for both of them. (Does Ellen know that Ashley knows as much as she does know? Was she completely aware of everything? I need to go re-read....) Agreed. They definitely don't need to get into the secret-lab-Damien-violence aspects. I'm not even sure she needs to know Grace is part space alien yet, just that she's a strong magic user. Grace will probably find it awkward and stressful to continuously lie by omission, though. She may or may not get far enough along to want to experience magic herself, Ellen's beam or Tedd's FV5 wand or whatever. But seeing Tedd switch back and forth casually during the party would be pretty minor. In her state, even that may freak her out at first, but hopefully with enough liking it to counter that. She did say the more contrast the better for her, though.... Yeah, Nanase's fairydoll spell is another fairly benign one, as long as she doesn't get into details like Fae Punch and feeling their pain when they're destroyed. Actually, given that Arthur specifically asked that Ashley study magic under Tedd, I would be very surprised if he didn't assume she'll be exposed to Tedd's magitech in the process. Actually, finding out that a wizard does something so mundane as teach history might be reassuring. It's all in the presentation, I suspect. Basically, I feel this party should be much more about Ashley getting to know Elliot's friends and becoming comfortable talking with them in general. Talking about magic in particular can wait, and is likely less threatening done one-on-one at a later time. A little bit of active magic, just to make it clear that they all know about magic and would be comfortable talking abot it, but definitely *not* making magic the center of attention. Unless Ashley really wants to get into it now, of course, and even then better to keep to relatively safe stuff. Although, if she's really fearful, mentioning Nanase's Guardian form might be reassuring.

I don't think it's a good idea to overwhelm Ashley with too much magic at this party. She's already a bit freaked out. Let her get to know everyone as people first, maybe start a few friendships, and mention that everyone there knows about magic so if she wants to tak about it with any of them, it's okay. Maybe a couple of non-threatenng bits of harmless magic, like Tedd switching between boy and girl, or Susan letting little Nase and San charm her with their adorableness. I'm not even sure now would be the time to get into Ellen's origin story and Tedd's magitech. Let Ashley get used to this stuff in a non-threatening way first, and once she's calmed down and relaxed, then start introducing other, weirder stuff.

I know I've been a bit AWOL, BUT it's been a little while and I'm wondering how things went with this? Were they able to culture whatever bug is in there and get you on the right antibiotic to save the bone? Can they take out just the affected bone and leave the rest of them? How are you doing after surgery? Anything we can do to help you get through the recovery?

I picture Grace's antennae being more like cephalopod appendages, which can be extremely adaptable.

There are magical systems where what the caster thinks is true is the major determining factor in how their magic works. So, if they think a spell takes a lot of energy, but they can draw that energy from a local thunderstorm, or the emotions of a rock concert or cult or orgy, or from ambient heat, then they are able to do so. At one point Harry Dresden took advantage of the ambient heat thing to freeze wet pavement beneath a pursuer and send them sprawling by casting a fireball into the air. If someone in such a world believes that a baby's first giggle is more powerful than a hurricane, well.....

Yes, it was definitely just transformations that couldn't be used for healing. If you have wrinkles at 45, and transform to a saved pattern of yourself at eighteen, no more wrinkles. If you have a gash in your leg, and you transform into that 18-year-old self, then you become a teenager with a gash in her leg, and possibly a worse one. Chop off a hand, and you can't just grow it back by using a saved pattern of yourself from before your dismemberment. I kinda hope her wand can detect and nurture that spark of healing ability. This party could use a cleric, and there's absolutely no doubt what her alignment is....

Or a CT/MRI and a 3D printer, they're already using that combo to make custom-fitted implants in our world....

I've seen "FBI Surveilance Van" or "Link Here for Identity Theft" or the like many times before, but today I just spotted a new WiFi server ID, "Tell My WiFi Love Her"!

I dunno, I think they require you to have a degree to run one of these places. Bingo! I almost spelled it out, but at the last minute I thought the books line made it too obvious to need it. Yeah, our library is pretty cool. They just remodeled and added a Makerspace/Fab Lab, with everything from paints and sewing machines to a laser cutter and 3D printer. Unfortunately, I think they cut back on actual *books* during the remodel, and not all of them made it back to the shelves afterward. I wish they'd checked who had been checking out the less-read or more-worn titles, and offered us the chance to buy them -- I'd have loved to take home the Black Widowers mysteries!

We have a fantastic video rental place in my town. They have almost everything I've looked for, and if they don't have it they'll get it from another branch. They have all the Doctor Who DVDs and more recent seasons in Blu-ray too, they get all the HBO and Showtime and such series, they have tons of classics. They charge $1/night, but that only kicks in after one to three weeks, if you return it before then, it's completely free! They do the same thing for books, but they're only from 10¢ to 25¢ per day after the first three weeks. And despite having this great place as competition, we still have a couple of different video rental places still going strong.

Sarah, you seem to have missed your cheeks when you put your own sunscreen on, your cheeks are getting all red....

If he ever isn't, we'll have to check on the habits of bears in the woods.... Some people would never admit to the existence of such a thing as an Islamic Golden Age. And you passed up the opportunity to tell us "Who else?" If there are any young nuclear researchers on here, you have now increased the chances of one of them actually naming such a molecule that last one. Just ask Eriovixia gryffindori or any of the other species named for Harry Potter references, or Stephen Colbert, or the wasp that twists its abdomen like Shakira, or various other minor planets, organisms, laws (I especially like Newton's Flaming Laser Sword, much sharper than Occam's Razor), chemicals, or units of measurement. Biologists are definitely the biggest culprits here. Everyone knows the name Stephanie Clifford?

"Free pets are the most expensive!"

One of the local makerspaces is also home to meetings of TOOOL, The Open Order Of Lockpicks. They have sets of padlocks with from one to six tumblers, and sets of lockpicks anyone attending can use to pick them, starting with the easiest and working your way up. They'll usually have a few other types of locks to try, and some kind of a lecture or demo (or occasionally drinking games). The one thing they can't do is sell anyone their own set of lockpicks, as it's illegal in Illinois. You can possess them, but you can't sell them, kinda like alcohol during Prohibition. ;-)

Anyone who objects to using they/them for singular should be required to use thee/thou for singulars, too. Let's have some consistency here! ;-)

For some reason this brings to mind the working title Jim Butcher had for the first Harry Dresdan book, Semiautomagic. I have yet to meet a thermostat where you didn't have to flip a switch to go from heating to cooling or vice versa. No idea why they do it that way. There are certain times of year it would really be nice to be able to cool during the day and heat at night without any human intervention....

Sounds lousy. I hope it's worth it, and overall it saves you significant pain!

Surely, Ashley should be showing solidarity with her new compatriots? ;-)

Comic's up! Nice to see Elliot isn't the only one who can have a revelation when getting introspective. We definitely need to start a Magic Users' Support Group in Moperville. Maybe a Spellcasters Anonymous?

Theaters here have pretty nice seats, there's even a couple of theaters with every seat a recliner with a tray you can swing over to enjoy a meal while watching the movie. They'll deliver to your seat during the movie, but that's annoying to everyone trying to watch that they have to walk in front of to get to you. There are some regular theaters that have a few double-wide seats, often next to the gaps for wheelchairs and scooters.

That's assuming Van has told his mother about what happened to him. Magic kept him longer than the other two, and we really don't know what Magic had to say to him, other than it not being a good idea to tell Tedd right away. Maybe telling his mom would lead to her contacting Tedd before Magic thinks it's appropriate.