Papers, Please (2013)

Jan. 30th, 2026 01:46 pm
pauraque: Guybrush writing in his journal adrift on the sea in a bumper car (monkey island adrift)
[personal profile] pauraque
In this game, billed as a "dystopian document thriller," you play as a customs official at the border of a fictional country. Each in-game day, you have to process as many entrants as possible, cross-checking their documents for any inconsistencies. Attention to detail is critical, as you're paid for correct checks and fined for violations. But as you continue to play, the number of required documents and the arbitrary rules around them multiply, suggesting the tightening grip of totalitarianism, and making it harder and harder to do well enough to provide for your family.

interface showing overlapping immigration documents, a conversation with a person trying to enter, and silhouettes of people standing in line and armed guards beyond

The story unfolds as a series of ethical quandaries. A woman just wants to visit her son, but she doesn't have the right papers—can you afford to take the financial hit if you look the other way? How would you pay for your son's medicine? An underground revolutionary group wants you to let their agent cross the border, but can you trust them, and what if you get caught? What would your family do then?

cut for length )

Papers, Please is on Steam and GOG for $9.99 USD.

[community profile] snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 15

Jan. 29th, 2026 09:18 pm
lightbird: http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/ (Default)
[personal profile] lightbird
Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.


Challenge #15

How Did the Fandom Snowflake Challenge Go? Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.


I completed all the challenges, but just like every other year I was better about interacting with other people's posts early in the month/challenge than I was later in the month when everything got hectic offline.

Previous Days
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Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
elrhiarhodan: (Qui/Obi)
[personal profile] elrhiarhodan
Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 69 — A Child Is a Missile Into the Coming Generations
Author: [personal profile] elrhiarhodan / [tumblr.com profile] elrhiarhodan / [archiveofourown.org profile] elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Breha Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Pong Krell, The Traitor, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived). Bail Prestor Organa/Breha Organa
Word Count: ~ 6500 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Once again, non-graphic reference to child-murder, cannibalism

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: While the kitten-shaped Avatars of the Force distract Oban from the Darkness, they don’t make him forget what has happened to him. As Obi-Wan spends time with Oban, he finds him a heartbreaking mix of typical little boy and oddly mature ghost.

For his part, Oban is just glad to be back in the Temple. He just wants to know what has happened to all of his clan mates, even though they must have grown up and become knights by now.




From All The Spaces Between Times: Chapter 69 — A Child Is a Missile Into the Coming Generations (On AO3)


Meta — A Child Is a Missile Into the Coming Generations )
pauraque: drawing of a wolf reading a book with a coffee cup (customer service wolf)
[personal profile] pauraque
This is the third and final part of my book club notes on As the Earth Dreams. [Part one, part two.]


"deh ah market" by Whitney French

A pair of cousins bend time and space to connect with worlds and relatives past. )


"Paroxysm" by Zalika Reid-Benta

A woman isolating from a new virus starts hallucinating. )


"Just Say Garuka" by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga

Two teenagers test a friendship over magic carpet flying practice. )


the end

I think the group did not end up being super jazzed about this book on the whole, and I felt similarly. There were a few stories I liked, but some felt like maybe they needed another pass for cohesion, and the collection leaned thematically grim in a way that I had a hard time connecting with. Oh well, they can't all be winners.

The group plans to continue with The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories.

[community profile] snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 14

Jan. 27th, 2026 12:14 pm
lightbird: http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/ (Default)
[personal profile] lightbird
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text


Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Continuing the theme from Day 13, Shakespeare! And by the way, [tumblr.com profile] socialshakespeare, which I recced yesterday just posted their sign-up for the next play they're reading Antony and Cleopatra, for those who might be interested in getting involved.

For those of you who appreciate The Bard of Avon and would like to get back into reading his plays and/or watching performances of them, or dive deeper in, I've got sources of all kinds!

Folger Shakespeare Library, of course, where you can download all of his works for free.

Links to Video Performances!
YouTube Shakespeare Network

Twelfth Night: 2025 Shakespeare in the Park production starring Lupita Nyong'o and her brother Junior playing the twins Viola and Sebastian. You need a PBS sign-in to watch online, but this is a particularly great production of this play and well worth it. Sandra Oh plays Olivia, Peter Dinklage plays Malvolio.

Fandom!
Here is a link to all posts in my #shakespeare tag on Tumblr, which includes all kinds of goodies, including: the usual fandom works (art, mood boards, gifsets, etc. for different plays); reprints of his sonnets; links where you can watch recorded performances of various plays; descriptions of performances that people have seen; descriptions from teachers of their students' class projects; fantastic meta on the various plays, including short clever posts, and even shit-posts that manage to speak volumes.

Some excellent recent posts include:

Meta: The Role of the Plague in Romeo and Juliet

Meta: Macbeth and Parental Grief

Student Projects: some highlights from my students’ romeo and juliet modern interpretation projects

Excerpt from Professor David Daiches' A Critical History of English Literature, Vol. 1: this is a screenshot with image ID by me. A fantastic excerpt on Hamlet and Othello, and moral outrage.

So much good stuff to explore!

Previous Days
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13

that's it, 843 days later.

Jan. 27th, 2026 01:05 am
roga: coffee mug with chocolate cubes (Default)
[personal profile] roga
For the first time since - I want to say October 7th 2023, though technically it's 2014 - but 843 days after, as of today, there are finally no more hostages in Gaza, living or dead.

I legit didn't think we'd get here. I hoped, but realistically, I was sure some would still be missing forever, lost to the fog of war and time. The big weight off was in October this year, when the last living 20 came back, but now, today, the final marker, and something families - and hopefully, maybe, this country - can begin to try to recover and move on, for real.

(Recovery also means getting rid of current leadership amen, which, easier hoped for than done. But I hope.)

Time to start collecting - packing away - tossing out - all of my yellow ribbons and flags, from my car, from my porch, from my bag. It's about time.

Link and creativity/art update

Jan. 27th, 2026 11:54 am
china_shop: A beautiful warm curlicued cartoon heart in pinks and reds and yellows (heart - warm)
[personal profile] china_shop
Ughhhhhh! *hugs to everyone, all of you, so many hugs and then some more*

For those who need it, [personal profile] troyswann linked to her art-blog post Gardening in the Rubble, about continuing normal life while the world is on fire.

*

Lately, I've been having trouble focusing on written words, so the fic edits are going verrrrry sloooowly. I don't think these are going to count as late [community profile] fandomtrees gifts anymore, but I'd still like to finish them!

I've also been continuing to mess around with art. Current status, for future reference. ) In conclusion: noses are the worst, followed by lips, followed by eyes. Ears are also terrible.

Aaand now my right wrist/base of my thumb is furious at me, owww, because of course I chose a new hobby that involved a ton of detailed/controlled handwork. Should've taken up singing instead. *poutsigh*

(no subject)

Jan. 26th, 2026 03:59 pm
watersword: A path through the woods and the words "le chemin battu" (Stock: le chemin battu)
[personal profile] watersword

Is it possible to post about planning my big trip later this year, and how beautiful the park looks in the snow, and the pistachio biscotti I baked, while Minnesota is under siege by the federal government, who have hired thugs qualified only to lick freezing-cold metal poles?

I hung some calligraphic art yesterday, which has Pirkei Avot 2:16 on it, right next to my desk, where I can see it every day as I email my reps Carthago delenda est ICE and DHS must be abolished.

Stand With Minnesota.

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