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gender-buddies · 2 years ago

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Phase Three Artist Commentary

Yep, here we go again! Phase Three is finished and now I want to talk about the inspirations and thoughts on all the Buddies released for this phase. Check it out under the cut!

Girl and Boy: Yes, I am going to put these two together because they work as a pair and are inspired by the same things. I avoided designing these for the longest time because I needed something that would be unique, make sense color-wise, and NOT just be a pink girl critter and a blue boy critter. I wanted no assumptions, nobody who would take a look and say "Yep, that's a girl alright." So I started looking at animals that have the ability to change sex, because that is a common narrative for boys and girls - a lot of them are assigned those genders at birth but then discover they were something else. The entire Gastropod class is composed of snails, slugs, nudibranchs, and others that can change sex. I decided I liked the idea of having a sea hare or sea bunny as the basis, with some nudibranch-like details. Sort of a mix of animals. While they are related to snails, and Nonbinary was a snail, I made them anything but Water types because they needed to be different. I didn't incorporate anything that could be conveyed as "masculine" or "feminine" and I specifically avoided using too much blue and pink. I think a small cool-colored Buddy and a larger warm-colored Buddy was a good way to balance the two. I'm proud of these ones!

Fluidflux: I try not to make too many fluid identities into Water types or any kind of aquatic animal, but I really liked the idea of an eel that was both flowy and spiky. The face is probably my favorite part. The pattern flows and fluctuates between spots and stripes much like gender can flow and fluctuate. This design uses inspiration from dragons, ribbon eels, dragon eels, and fire eels - and it's the only common Buddy so far to have two elements!

Trigender: Since Pokemon decided to release a mutli-headed hot pepper plant design, I couldn't convince myself that my three-headed hot pepper Buddy would be a good idea. I wanted to design something that came in three parts, and I liked the idea of three inseparable animals. Capybaras are known for hanging out with other animals and I thought birds would be cute - both water birds, a kingfisher and a duck. Trigender is not the capybara nor either of the birds, but is the entire group together. Normally I would avoid going masc or fem for multigender identities but for this one, I like the feminine look of the capybara.

Autigender: A mud puppy, pretty much! I wanted an animal that felt like it properly represents the autistic experience, and I think a dog fits really well. Having it covered in mud from running around and playing also seems to fit because it shows excitability and hyperactivity, maybe even an unawareness or lack of care about getting dirty. I had a lot of fun showing movement by giving it a dynamic pose and having the mud flying off of it. Also there's totally an error with the highlighting, on the front paw in the foreground.

Genderpunk: I think it's pretty punk for a fox to act like a wolf. I sketched this as a wolf originally and then tried to change it to an animal that normally comes from a hot climate, but is an Ice element. I stuck with the wolf idea until it was time to do the line art, and I made the last-minute decision to make it a fox that happened to act and look like a wolf. Skulls are pretty punk, so I gave it a wolf skull to wear.

Genderflor: The entire group of these genders - Genderfae, Genderfaun, and Genderflor have turned out great so far and this one is no exception. The original idea was some kind of little pixie-like creature based on a bumble bee, but I wanted it to be surprising just like the others. I thought of animals representing nature, like the World Turtle with trees on its back, and I thought a big dinosaur covered in foliage would be cool. A gentle giant is perfect to represent nature.

Nanogender: A Buddy based on an isopod of course. So far, this one was the second-easiest to draw (Agender was the first) and I like how it turned out because of its simplicity. I wanted something small because of the "nano" part of the label, but I also made it an electronic critter based on the same word. It was originally just a sleek little robot with glowing spots and I added the wheels and wind-up key last minute. I wish I'd done more for highlighting though.

Xenine: Originally this would have been a phoenix with star-shaped patterns on it, but I'm going to use the fiery flying animal idea for other Buddies. This one was changed to be based on the Cetus constellation, which looks like a sea monster. I wasn't sure what to do with the fin down its back until I was ready to add color, and thought a starry galaxy would look cool. I kept the Stellar element even though this one would work well as a Cosmic type too, mostly because it's based on a constellation.

Cenrell and Faesari: I'm putting these two together because they go together. I knew right away that one would be Shadow and one would be Light, and then started thinking of how that could be portrayed. Something hiding in the shadows, something protecting the other. The original plan was a clam and a pearl, and then I wanted the pearl to be a frilly little fish to give it a more feminine look. Then I realized that pea crabs are what you would find living in a clamshell, so I decided Faesari would be a pea crab. As for Cenrell, the clam design just didn't look good when I sketched it out. Instead, I went with a pelican, where the mouth was sort of a clamshell in shape. I thought it was really neat to put Faesari in the artwork for Cenrell as a little easter egg. Pea crabs have markings that could look a little bit like a heart if you look at it the right way, so I put a heart on it and made it very cutesy. Both of these Buddies were a good way for me to introduce simple designs at higher levels, instead of making every level 4 Buddy so complex.

Gender Disobedient: This one breaks convention in a number of ways to highlight the disobedient nature of the identity. It's a snake that can fly and it's made up of different animal parts to make it more like a chimera. It also doesn't match the colors of the flag it's based on and instead, I came up with my own colors. It originally was just a big draconic snake with claws and feathered wings, but I had a lot of trouble making the hands look good. I tried paws instead and it came out a lot better! The flames on the head and tail were added just as I was ready to save the final image because it looked more interesting, but the first version would have had a crest of feathers on the head and feathers on the tail tip.

All in all, phase three took a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. The Buddy designs are gradually becoming more details and high-concept, incorporating a lot of themes that better fit the identities now than they did in Phase One. I'm looking forward to posting more of my design ideas in the near future! Phase Four will introduce a new element never seen before.

- ��

#gb.txt #artist commentary #phase three

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razieltwelve · 3 years ago

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Beach House (Final Rose)

The lawnmower’s startup sequence engaged shortly after midnight. His processors cycled through several streams of incoming data effortlessly to narrow down the reason for his awakening.

There.

His creator had posted drones around the perimeter of the beach house they were renting for their holiday. Those same drones had detected movement outside of the established norms. He took a handful of cycles to peruse the data and request further information.

The drones possessed more advanced sensors, but activating those might alert any intruders to their discovery. Instead, he relied on their passive sensor sweeps. The intruders were using advanced stealth technology, which had all but hidden their presence.

What they hadn’t accounted for was some of the local wildlife detecting them and responding accordingly. It was that wildlife that the drones had detected. The lawnmower issued and order, a passive sonar sweep at frequencies inaudible to both humans and Faunus.

The sonar sweep came back positive. Multiple intruders detected in an attack pattern designed to breach the beach house. A passive thermal scan revealed nothing. The lawnmower gave the mental equivalent of a frown. Thermal camouflage combined with visual camouflage. An Aura sweep would definitely be detected, so he withheld that order.

Instead, he alerted his creator and Thomas, the robotic polar bear that the kids had built.

His creator was at his side in moments. Her fox ears twitched as she kept her Aura calm and steady.

“I don’t know who leaked the location of our holiday, but we can worry about that after we deal with these guys.”

His creator’s wife joined them.

“I’ll go outside with Thomas and the lawnmower. Can you start trapping the inside. If they get past us...”

“I’ll be ready for them. They won’t get the kids.” His creator’s expression was devoid of its usual cheer. “I’ll give control over the rest of the drones to the lawnmower. Have Thomas go out first. He’ll draw their attention. If they’re smart enough to get this close, they’ll have a plan for you. Be careful. Once I’ve got this place trapped and shielded, I’ll lend support.”

“All right.”

His creator’s wife patted his chassis. “You’re with me.”

“Hey.” His creator gave him a sharp look. “Weapons free. No prisoners. Total war.”

The lawnmower processed the words. They were a very specific sequence, one that authorised him to do whatever he deemed necessary to safeguard his creator and her family. His weaponry was usually heavily limited to minimise property damage and permanent injury. Not anymore.

X X X

The lawnmower cut communications with Thomas. The robotic polar bear had already been briefed on the plan. Any further communication might be picked up if their opponents had sufficiently advanced scanners. Normally, the lawnmower made quite a bit of noise when moving around, but he had activated his stealth protocol.

A silencing field combined with multi-spectrum camouflage allowed him to get out of the house and into the garden without being detected. Of course, he doubted his stealth would last once the fight started. When the battle began, his opponents would undoubtedly abandon any attempt at stealth, which meant they would activate all of their sensory abilities to the maximum. Even his creator’s stealth protocols wouldn’t be able to completely conceal him.

It was a pity too that most of the drones he had access to on this trip were not suited for heavy combat. They had stunners and shields, but little in the way of heavy firepower. Oh well. He’d make do. Organics could be surprising fragile. The prongs on a stunner might not sharp enough to kill, but they could easily blind, and electric shocks at opportune moments could easily lead to openings he could exploit.

Not far off, Thomas lay in wait. With his heavily reinforced chassis and exterior built of energy- and force-absorbing materials, the robotic polar bear was ideally suited to draw enemy fire. Still, the lawnmower felt a stir of unease. His friend was sturdy, but their enemy would not have come here without proper preparations.

As his processor counted down the seconds until the operation commenced, he ran another passive sonar sweep. He fed the data to Thomas and overlaid it with his visual feed. Yes. If he looked closely enough, there were minute distortions in the air that matched the general locations of the objects the sonar sweep had picked up.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

X X X

Thomas roared, a handful of powerful speakers built into his frame unleashing a torrent of hideously loud noise pitched at frequencies designed to deafen or disable Faunus and humans alike. At the same time, the drones floating in the air unleashed powerful sensor sweeps designed to overwhelm their opponents’ camouflage. When that failed to reveal them, the drones fired their stunners. Powerful currents of electricity surged down the cables attached to the stunners, revealing their foes.

Several dozen White Fang elites.

Thomas charged forward and was greeted with a hell storm of fire. Heavy calibre slugs designed to tear through armoured Grimm and punch through reinforced concrete slammed into him. His inbuilt shields flared to fend off the assault only to fail a moment later beneath the sheer volume of fire. He staggered momentarily and then pressed on as the storm of gunfire ripped holes in his exterior and clanked off the reinforced interior casing that protected his most important components.

He closed in on his first opponent and swiped with one claw. With strength at least an order of magnitude greater than any bear, his blow smashed right through the Aura of his first opponent and ripped them in half. Panels along his side opened up and unleashed a salvo of buckshot into the White Fang around him. To his disappointment only two thirds of the weapons were able to successfully fire. He had already taken considerable damage.

Yet he was not concerned. Alone, he would have been picked off. His opponents outnumbered him, and his scanners indicated significant amounts of Aura in all of them. However, he was not alone.

X X X

The lawnmower catalogued the damage Thomas had already sustained with a mental frown. His friend had already taken serious damage despite his durability. Their opponents had come equipped for a war. Well, he would give them one.

He trundled up to the closest White Fang member and activated his primary close-combat weapon.

The shotgun was a much-loved close quarters weapon. He was equipped with twin automatic shotguns, each with a maximum firing rate of 300 rounds per minute. Rather than standard shells, he used tungsten tipped, fire-Dust composite shells. The tungsten would allow the heavy shell to punch through most body armour. However, upon impact, the fire-Dust that made up the bulk of the round would then be crushed against the tungsten tip resulting in immediate sublimation.

This in turn guaranteed a complete transfer of momentum from the shot to the target along with the creation of a literal cloud of molten material inside the target. In organics, this typically resulted in a successful centre mass hit simply evaporating the torso.

His opponent had impressive Aura reserves, several hundred times that of a civilian. In the span of three seconds, the lawnmower hit him a total of thirty of the tungsten, fire-Dust shells. His Aura withstood the dirty twenty-seven of the impacts before cracking. The three subsequent hits erased his torso and sent his limbs tumbling away.

Yet even before those limbs hit the ground, the lawnmower was already deploying more of his weapon systems. Nets flashed out. Aura could protect from explosions and gunshots, but nets could still be effective. However, instead of the usual shock the nets were designed to deliver, he upped the voltage by a factor of a hundred. That should be enough to incapacitate those he’d managed to hit. Once that occurred, it was easy to pour shotgun slugs into them until they ceased to be relevant.

In front of him, Thomas continued his assault, lashing out with mad abandon as missile pods in his back opened to fire their lethal cargo: clusters of mini-missiles designed to first overwhelm an opponent’s Aura before creating clouds of shrapnel that would shred flesh and pierce through body armour.

One of the White Fang managed to draw a bead on him, and the lawnmower braced for impact. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded against his side followed by several punishing impacts from anti-materiel weaponry. His shields, more substantial than Thomas’s, were able to bear the brunt of the impact whilst his smaller size allowed for more concentrated armour. Even so, a number of warning came up, and he devoted some of his systems to repair while ejecting one of his batteries.

The battery had overloaded due to the damage done to his shields. Tossing the useless battery aside, he had one of the drones rush to deliver him another as he diverted any additional power he had to his shields.

Someone leapt at him with a spear held high, and he took a trio of cycles to aim before shooting an electrified harpoon. His creator had originally intended it to be used to catch and stop vehicles, but it worked well enough to knock his opponent back. The angry flare of Aura informed him that his opponent was still combat capable, and he turned his twin automatic shotguns toward the White Fang member.

The night was lit up with the roar of his firepower, and his opponent staggered back under the barrage. They dodged in a desperate attempt to get clear, and he activated his tractor beam. He usually used it to manipulate tools or move bunches of leaves around. It wasn’t designed to stop someone with the Aura signature of an A Tier hunter, but it didn’t have to. It managed to trip them over, and his twin shotgun were able to lock on. His opponent did not survive the ensuing barrage.

The lawnmower directed some of the drones to ram themselves into the weaker members of the assault. He detonated the drones in the faces of the White Fang members. Most survived, but they were still blinded. In their moments of weakness, the lawnmower calmly fired a salvo of his own mini-missiles. Unable to dodge, many of them were killed outright in the ensuing explosions. Others staggered into the traps his creator had prepared earlier. Claymores might be relatively primitive, but they were incredibly effective against opponents without enough Aura to protect them. He had the drones handle the rest. Picking up a heavy rock and bashing someone over the head was hardly an efficient way of doing things, but the drones could do it well enough to opponents who were barely mobile and lacking in Aura.

Every now and then, his and Thomas’s attacks were joined by flashes of Aura as his creator’s wife discretely eliminated unsuspecting members of the White Fang with her Aura constructs. Good. She was keeping herself largely concealed. In the chaos it was doubtful that anyone would notice her attacks, so she should still be able to catch the most powerful members of the White Fang attack team off guard.

X X X

Thomas noted the damage he’d sustained. Two of his limbs were barely operational, and he was relying more on his inertial manipulators to move. However, he was still a large, heavy machine, which meant simply ramming his opponents was a completely viable option.

Most of them were already running low on Aura as his barrage of mini-missiles had been able to catch the majority. Furthermore, the lawnmower was laying down a hellish storm of fire with his shotguns. Hitting a target at long-range with the shotguns would have been difficult even for the lawnmower’s advanced fire control systems, but this was a phone booth fight with the majority of their opponents no further than fifteen feet away. The chaos also made it easy for their creator’s wife to strike without giving herself a way. A razor-thin Aura construct to the heart would be impossible for most organics to notice in the midst of the battle. Likewise, a noose tightening to slice a throat open would be easy to miss with explosions, gunfire, and lasers everywhere.

As a sword stabbed into his side and glanced off the reinforced armour around his power source, Thomas twisted and bashed his barely working front right limb into his attacker’s skull. His attacker flopped to the ground, and he took a split-second to gauge the distance before dropping several canisters of gas onto the ground.

With their full Auras, his opponents would simply have been able to ignore them. Running low, however, the poison gas stood a decent chance of working. Of course, he and the lawnmower would be fine. There was a flash of light. Good. The lawnmower was using his lasers. Lasers weren’t all that useful against a skilled and powerful opponent with their full Aura, but against someone without Aura, they could easily disable or kill.

Thomas lumbered forward, swatting aside on White Fang after another as they tried to shake off the effects of the gas. A few tried to get around him and the lawnmower only to come apart in clouds of gore as the lawnmower triggered the mines his creator had laid earlier in the day.

As another White Fang faltered, only to be crushed beneath his bulk, Thomas considered the battle. They were doing well -

BOOM.

X X X

The lawnmower used his tractor beam to slow Thomas’s flight to a manageable level. The robotic polar bear slammed into a tree. One of his limbs broke off, and his chassis gave an ominous creak. Almost all of the White Fang were down, but the two that were left had made short work of the rest of the drones and had devastated the impromptu defences his creator had set up.

The lawnmower braced himself for battle. Both of the targets were at least S Tier with Aura signatures measured in tens of thousands the capacity of normal civilians. Simply put, he was not equipped for battle of this level. Nevertheless, he would continue to do his best.

He unleashed his shotguns again, only to have them dodged. Scowling, he switched to lasers. They were far faster but less able to do damage. The attacks were ignored, and he found himself crushed into the ground as his shields flared to halt an attack that would have turned a typical truck into a tin can. The pressure on his shields increased, and the ground gave way beneath him. This was enough force to reduce a house to kindling, and it was only increasing.

The other high-level White Fang headed for the house. The lawnmower bit back a curse. He was currently unable to intervene. Thomas shambled back onto his feet and fired a salvo of bullets that were dodged with contemptuous ease.

The lawnmower gave the mental equivalent of a sneer.

The would-be assassins were getting overconfident.

There was a reason his creator’s wife had yet to intervene.

X X X

Lumina had to fight the urge to wade into battle as the beach house’s defences were destroyed and both Thomas and the lawnmower found themselves on the receiving end of beat downs. Thomas was barely functional, and the lawnmower was only still in one piece thanks to the absurdly strong shields Vanille had given him.

But there was a reason for this.

In battle between S Tier individuals and higher, the first blow could often be the decisive one since people with that kind of power could generally warp combat in their favour so heavily that regaining the initiative became impossible.

As one of the assassins ran toward the house, Lumina readied her attack. It was a monomolecular ribbon of Aura reinforced with a full twenty percent of her total Aura reserves. Her target continued to rush forward, and Lumina struck. In a split-second, the ribbon wrapped around the White Fang member.

There was a brilliant flash as her opponent’s Aura flared to try to protect them, but Lumina gestured sharply. The ribbon tightened. Had the ribbon been wider, the Aura in it would not have been as densely concentrated. Her opponent, who was certainly skilled and powerful, had already instinctive deployed a dense, full-body protective shell of Aura.

It was actually more Aura than Lumina had put into the ribbon, which meant her opponent had some very impressive Aura reserves in their own right. But Lumina’s Aura was concentrated over a far smaller area. The result? Her Aura ribbon sliced through her opponent’s protective shell in a quarter of a second before tightening around them.

Lumina didn’t hesitate. She let the ribbon tighten completely, and her opponent fell to the ground in pieces.

With her opponent dead, Lumina turned her attention back to the lawnmower. His shields had finally given way, and his battered form flew threw the air. She used a sliver of her Aura to form a net to catch him. Despite the damage he’d taken, he continued to shell away with his shotguns and lasers. He even fired a few nets.

Her last opponent dodged all of the projectiles with ease. They were good. Very good. Just then, her communicator blinked. It was a signal from Vanille. Lumina took a step forward and gestured. Swords and spears of Aura rained down on her opponent.

Stifling pressure formed and then erupted outward - some form of air or gravity manipulation - and she leapt back to avoid the worst of the blast. Instinctively, she formed a sphere around herself, and just in time as her enemy launched a barrage of projectiles at her at super sonic speeds.

Lumina replied in kind only for her projectiles to be batted aside. Interesting. Why had her opponent dodged the lawnmower’s attacks? Was it to conserve power for fighting against her?

Lumina shook her head. She could worry about that later. Right now, she needed to keep her opponent occupied. She unleashed another barrage and then created a monomolecular net. Her opponent must have seen what had happened earlier, and they threw themselves clear.

Which was exactly what Vanille was waiting for.

X X X

Vanille took a split-second to check her aim. Having a binding rod that could transform into a rail gun was great.

X X X

Lumina bit back a smirk as her opponent’s Aura flared. A projectile slammed into her at roughly thirty times the speed of sound. The impact sent out a shockwave that would have knocked any normal person over, and the explosion that followed courtesy of the projectile’s exotic payload lit up the whole night.

Extending her senses, Lumina was only faintly surprised that her opponent was still alive. However, their Aura reserves were far lower than they had been. As her enemy struggled to get their bearings back, Lumina rained more Aura constructs down on her. They fought to fend off the assault, but Lumina wasn’t done. A tiny, incredibly thin snare formed and tangled around her opponent’s right ankle. She tightened it, and her opponent’s foot came off. They screamed, and their focuse wavered. A split-second later they went down, impaled by dozens of Aura constructed. Lumina beheaded them just to be sure.

“Any other threats?” she asked the lawnmower.

X X X

The lawnmower scanned the area. There was no point hiding anymore. His powerful active scanners swept over the surrounding terrain. There were no more remaining targets. However, just to be sure, he dispatched the few remaining drones into a defensive formation and had them run their own scans.

That done, he trundled toward Thomas. The polar bear was badly damaged, to the point that he could no longer move under his own power. The lawnmower stopped at his side and began repairs. They would have to acquire new components to get him fully operational again, but he should be able to fix Thomas up enough for the robotic polar bear to control his own movement again. Thankfully, his most important components had survived serious damage.

X X X

Author’s Notes

One of the best shots the White Fang had at Vanille. The attack team consisted of two S Tier or higher hunters, several A Tier or higher and everyone else was B Tier. However, Thomas is exceptionally tough, and the lawnmower was designed with anti-hunter combat in mind. The attack team was also put together with Lumina and Vanille in mind. They were not prepared for Thomas, the lawnmower, and a garden that had been trapped. Even without Thomas and the lawnmower, Lumina and Vanille could have won, but it would have been a tricky fight.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

I also write original fiction, which you can find on Amazon here or on Audible here.

#final rose #fanfiction #lumina #oerba dia vanille #lawnmower #thomas

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everygame · 4 years ago

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Cinco Paus (iOS)

Developed/Published by: smestorp Released: 12/02/2015 Completed: n/a Completion: 33 games, 632 points. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

So, Cinco Paus, then. It’s a game I’ve resisted playing for ages and ages largely because I wasn’t that into Michael Brough’s previous games (I somewhat liked 868-Hack, but I didn’t find it very compelling somehow?) but we got to a point where Metanet’s Raigan Burns just bought it for me so I decided to give it the old college try.

Cinco Paus is incredible. It’s also frustrating, unfair, probably taking the piss when it comes to time investment, and yet something that I managed to lose more time, more intensely on, than any game I’ve played in ages. Like legitimately losing 14 hours to it within the first three days.

It’s an easily misunderstood game, so I’m going to outline (first of all) that you absolutely should play it, unless you’re easily addicted to rogue-likes, in which case you probably shouldn’t. Basically, it goes like this:

You’re a wizard.

You have five wands that you don’t know the behaviors of; each wand does five things. Your goal is to compete FIFTY sets of five levels, which are five by five, by getting to the exit on each level.

Wands do a variety of things. You learn by shooting them (drag them to your wizard and point them in a direction; you can’t use them directly against a wall.) They don’t tell you what the thing they do is unless they do that thing so you can’t tell if it hurts an enemy unless you hit an enemy. But you also can’t tell if it does something good that requires it not to hit an enemy (the “buried treasure” ability) unless it doesn’t hit an enemy!

All the explanations are in Portuguese, so ignore them and just look them up here.

You can pick up items.

Books teach you one thing one wand does.

Gems. Collect five gems and you can unlock an artifact (you can have five) which do one (powerful) thing.

Keys. Collect five keys, which you can only do via wand shenanigans (there’s one key per level, and that always gets used up to unlock doors) and you can find a secret level (a hidden door on a wall that doesn’t contain an exit/entrance already) which will upgrade an artifact. Each artifact can have five upgrades. They’re extremely good.

Potions. Heal you one point. This is valuable, but if you’re at full health you can ignore or transform these.

Treasure. It’s just points! If you’re going for score, these are high risk because they give you nothing else. Transform ‘em early if you can, I say.

After a set of five levels, everything resets except for your gems, keys, score and artifacts. So you “keep” some progress.

If you die: you lose everything and start again.

Oh, and every set of five levels is basically the same; the layouts are close to random, but the selection of enemies you face are consistent; level 3 in your fiftieth game will have the same possible enemy selection as it would have in your first game (recounted in this excellent guide).

You die if you lose your hitpoints; you will generally die because an enemy hit you.

Enemies move after you do, semi-randomly.

If you walk into a space next to them, they will hit you. Do not do this! Make sure they move next to you, and hit them.

There are shrimp, lizards, toads and roosters. You don’t want to slug it out with the toads and roosters.

There are also Ghosts, who are weird; they will hit you if you move next to them, but if you are next to them and you move towards them, they’ll move away. That means you can’t kill them without a wand, but is also means that you can move and not get hit by them even if you think you’re trapped!

That’s… a lot. So you might be asking, what the hell am I doing?

Try and learn as much about the wands as soon as possible each run. If you can, track all the big things a wand can do (did it hit a wall, an enemy, etc).

Don’t get hit, and especially never ever get cornered (two enemies next to you) unless you have a big power that will pay off and kill them. On the first level, if you’re deep in a multi-game run, carefully slug it out with lizards if you would otherwise have to fire at point blank range. There are too many ways for things to go wrong on that first level and taking a couple of hits is more survivable than turning a lizard into a rooster, and then having the beam bounce off corners and duplicate it several times (and then teleport you in the center of them. Which could happen.)

Do whatever you can to get as many gems as early as possible; if you can dupe them, do so. If you can use transform on books/potions/treasure to try and get a gem, do it.

Do whatever you can to get as many extra keys. Upgraded artifacts are so important.

Above all: survive. If you’re fucking up a level, just do whatever to get to the exit. Don’t get greedy. There’s always the next level, or at worst the next set.

Right. So that reads as insanely complicated, I think, but the beauty of Cinco Paus is that it’s actually extremely simple. While there’s a lot of things a wand can do, the things you can do are limited, so the play-space is always extremely understandable (the map is always 5x5; you know you’re getting a particular set of enemies next time, etc.) It’s actually extremely elegant.

The thing about Cinco Paus is that it’s the closest I think I’ve come to truly seeing genius at play in game design. Like, ok, maybe that sounds absurd, but I mean like when you think about a piece of art or music where you think “oh, I could do that” and you probably could, but it’s the idiosyncrasies of the artist that make it something far more interesting and unique and you sort of second guess any critique of that.

I mean listen. This game looks like shit. Just shit. It’s disgusting to look at. I hate it. But maybe that’s totally still necessary to what it is. And I honestly think the decision to make all the text in Portuguese is… problematic? I know it came from a genuine interest in using the language (Brough is, or was, learning it) but that it’s used to make the game more mysterious and alien (for everyone except people who can speak, as he admits, the sixth most spoken language in the world) is kinda… I just don’t think it’s good.

And the thing is, for me it doesn’t add anything. This game could, I think, look crazy polished and feature some brilliant UI and be in English; like it could track all the things you’ve learned in a big database; fuck it could even cross off all the things you’ve tried. The game would still be extremely challenging, and if anything, more enjoyable as a puzzle.

But… would that actually be better? I’m not sure. I really can’t tell, because it’s a bit like saying Van Gogh should have just drawn normally.

So, you know, here’s to the iconoclasts. Fuck knows I’d probably have been a better games journalist if I didn’t put my best writing in a printed zine, you know? I still did it the way I wanted to.

I suppose the question might be though: why have I stopped playing? Well, I died frustratingly in the middle of my greatest run ever as it turns out Roosters had unlocked a way to warp me three runs ago and, despite being well prepared, I was warped by one where I was surrounded and literally couldn’t survive (some people might quibble.) I didn’t feel any rage, I felt pretty proud of getting that far, but the idea of starting the grind again made me really bored.

You see, in order to get to the point where Cinco Paus is really fun, you have to put up with the “starting grind” where with no artifacts yet you have to play loads of times trying to get a good start and get a few artifacts going. That’s potentially hundreds of games, and after bumping up against that for a few days I just said fuck it.

I know, you can’t question genius by my own parameters here, but I think about a similar genius (uh, actually not similar) Jeff Minter, and how he came up with that genius “high score save” where it just saved the game at your highest score each level and you could restart there. You could always restart too. Here I wish I could just pick a random artifact or two and start at level 5 or 10 with less score, even. Because it’s the getting of those that are the ball-ache when you’re so weak and shitey.

But look. It’s probably good. I kicked my habit. But I’m glad I played it. I’m better for it. I’m still not watching the Wire though.

Will I ever play it again? Maybe if he updates it, which I think has been rumoured. I’m taking a big break from Brough but I’ll be back for Imbrouglio though. Actually excited.

Final Thought: There’s no daily seed here, which might have kept me playing, but I realize that he can’t really do that because one person could just tell you what’s coming, plus doing fifty levels is, what… 8 hours or something? It’s wild that I want a game where everything is so restricted to five of anything still maybe streamlined a bit more. But as I said, what do I know? I’m not a genius.

#cinco paus #games #gaming #video games #smestorp #michael brough #ios #text #txt #review #game guide #guide #faq #iphone #ipad

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chicago-reeed · 5 years ago

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PHCK ME - Reed900 Fic Rec List

Hello!!! You might not remember, but awhile back I mentioned I had the start of a fic rec list that I planned to post (which I never did). To celebrate all 1K+ of you, I thought I would finish the list for you! It is my duty as a loyal reed900 servant.

DISCLAIMER: This list of reccomendations was made purely out of personal opinion. I by no means want to discredit any other fics/authors. Some may not agree with my choices, and that’s totally understandable. I just wanted to share these fics because I personally enjoyed them <3

I didn’t include some fics because they haven’t been updated in a long time, or I didn’t remember them enough to give them accurate reviews. Also, I’m sure there are many more fics that I forgot to put on here (these are from my ao3 bookmarks). I might include them in a future update.

Anyways, all of my recs are under the cut! There are a lot!! I had eight pages worth of them in my documents haha

Mint Condition - by itsdefinitive - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 18/? - Reed could see what they were going for there -- the whole infallible super-soldier thing. A monument to testosterone made perfect, cast in steel within plastic. It was actually really creepy. Maybe that was on purpose.

The first reed900 fic I read, and it’s honestly what got me into the pairing itself.

Charon - by Vapewraith - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 20/20 - Gavin Reed, a mess of a human being, just wants to be left to his self destructive tendencies. RK900, an android designed by the most brilliant minds in the world to be the perfect machine, is desperate to grasp the full range of emotional freedom now afforded to him. The two will need to find an equilibrium before their incompatible personalities—and an eccentric serial killer with a dangerous piece of tech—swallow them whole.

I can’t even describe how much I love this fic. I’m a slut for horror, and there’s plenty of that in here. It might just be my favorite. Definitely recommend.

Two Sides of a Vaguely Similar Coin - by ZombiBird - Mature - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 13/? - RK900 is lost.

It’s been months since the Revolution and he’s still no closer to figuring out what the hell he’s supposed to be doing with himself. He feels like an outsider in his own body. Completely detached, nothing more than a quiet observer; like he’s looking down at the world through a layer of glass instead of fully living in it.

Gavin Reed is a temperamental asshole.

This isn’t news, okay? Gavin’s fully aware of what he is. He burns bridges instead of building them. Bites hands instead of shaking them. Would rather drown in a sea comprised of the consequences of his faults and misdeeds than try to change the way he is. Because people like him? Maybe they deserve to drown.

[Alternatively: Both lost in different ways, Gavin and RK900 try to figure their shit out and end up learning that, sometimes, it takes two people who have absolutely no idea what the hell they’re doing to get a goddamn clue.]

I don’t remember much about this fic, if I’m honest. Not that the story is forgettable, it’s just been awhile since I read it. However, the title definitely stood out to me so I know it was very good :P

Captcha Encryption - by Cerulaine - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 18/? - It's a little over a year after the android uprising and it's still the end of the fucking world.

Back in the day when things became shit he used to enjoy a drink or two. Or Five. It all depended on how long the shift ran. After 'The Accident' he can't even cough without Nines breathing down his neck anymore.

He just wishes everything would go back to normal, but if there's anything Gavin has learned it's that you can't unring a bell once it's been rung.

Or whatever. Fuck if he knows.

Similar situation to the last fic: I don’t remember much about it (my memory SUCKS), but I do remember thoroughly enjoying this one.

Daydreamer - by Pence - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 21/24 - Large purple bruises twined prettily around the corpse’s throat, every finger defined in perfect cruelty. His eyes tore away from the handprints as a cold finger traced the lightning strike scar across the center of his face—drawing his attention to a small, blue lipped smile.

“Do you think you’ll ever leave this town, Gavin?”

________

When a series of Detroit murders are linked as originating in his hometown, Gavin Reed is unwillingly assigned the case. Fowler insists that his history with the place and people will hugely benefit such an investigation.

He was fucking wrong.

This fic is one big holy shit moment tbh. Really fantastic. Really makes you wonder why these authors aren’t paid to do this.

All Aboard the Underground Railroad - by Senjihae - No Rating - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 11/? - What starts as sticking it towards his half brother evolves into something with the potential to rewrite android history as he knows it. Gavin doesn't realize what he gets himself into until he is mistaken as the 'Android Messiah' of all things. It's not like he goes out of his way to help them, but his life gets a lot harder once Hank is assigned a shiny new boy toy ('sent by CyberLife').

Things only get worse when he's gifted a heap of metal of his own ('sent by Elijah Kamski').

(Yeah, fuck off Elijah)

Very interesting fic. Gavin is RA9 so that’s a thing. A nice slow burn!

Dragon Become Age - by errantwheat - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content Warnings - Chapters 11/? - Y’all wanted me to write dragon age!au so I did :)

YES! YES! YES! DRAGON AGE AU! YES! YES! YES! (it’s really gud)

Warmth - by TheRedPaladin101 - Teen and Up Audiences - No Warnings - Chapters 1/1 - Gavin frowned, the aching in his shoulder fading from his mind for a moment. “Then give me my jacket.”

“Your jacket is in no condition to keep you warm,” he stated. “For now, use mine and stay warm while we wait to head back to the station.”

----

Five times RK900 gave Gavin Reed his jacket, and one time Gavin gave his in return.

Very wholesome. Lives up to its title. Some good ole hurt/comfort!

Letifer - Terminallydepraved - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 19/19 - Gavin Reed is a DPD beat cop determined to make detective by any means possible, and putting an end to a string of murders looks like the quickest way to accomplishing that goal. Unfortunately for him, he fails to account for the real culprit— or the thought that perhaps he isn't the only one on the hunt for a killer.

(Now with cover art by Leetmorry!)

I love beat cop!gavin. It humbles him. And vampire!nines is scary and amazing. Love how the author wrote both of these characters (and the others too!). I definitely recommend this one!

A Strange and Beautiful Creature - by LittleLalaith - General audiences - No warnings - Chapters 7/7 - Scientist Nines is called in to Amanda's lab to assist with a new discovery - a genuine Mermaid.

While Amanda is indifferent to the creature's circumstances, Nines builds an unlikely connection to the specimen and they grow a little closer than either of them expected.

(AKA Gavin is a sassy sea slug and Nines thrills in breaking the safety protocols)

Mermaid au! Nines wants to save mermaid Gavin, and it’s all very wholesome.

I Think You Do - by spotlightonmringenue - Teen and Up Audiences - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 16/? - “Son of a bitch, there’s another one. What the fuck is it doing,” Gavin says, grip going white on the gun as the android continues to stare at him without acknowledging Connor.

“RK900, my name is Connor. I’m part of a group called Jericho that recovered you from Cyberlife’s Production Center late yesterday. We are currently in the Detroit Police Department Central Station. Are you feeling okay?”

“It doesn’t feel shit,” Gavin mumbles, resisting the urge to step back as the RK900 takes a step closer. It holds out the cup, and Gavin’s eyes dart to it for only a second before flipping between Connor and his doppelganger.

“You requested coffee,” it says, and Hank sighs, leaning back against his desk while rubbing a hand over his forehead.

Quality ‘enemies to friends’ content. Nines is intimidating. Gavin is confused. Good times.

Flying with Crooked Wings - by UnCon - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 20/? - “Listen, kid,” Gavin started, cutting off the desolate child. Sure it was sad his dog had died but it wasn’t Gavin’s fault no one taught the little twerp chocolate was a dog’s kryptonite, “he’s in a better place, alright, so if you’d just stop asking for him to come back—it’d be much appreciated.”

“You promise?” the eight-year-old asked, his big brown eyes looking like glass—fragile and sparkly.

“Yeah,” Gavin lied, looking away as he did it—his halo going a bit crooked. To be honest, he wasn’t sure where dogs went after they died, only that he was tasked with calming the little boys and girls who despaired after them—at least until his punishment was up. “So just, you know, go to sleep and all that.”

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In a world where angels and demons inhabit the same earth, both searching for a way to overthrow the other, both failing--Gavin sits right in the middle, with a crooked halo and a pair of wings to match. It's not enough to be a bit mischievous, however, he also has to get caught up in the demon brothers' scheme to take over heaven. Perfect.

Really good! This fic has the interesting dynamic of Gavin as an angel and Nines as a demon. Check it out!

The Red String Will Still Connect Us Ten Thousand Miles Apart (and to the moon and back) - by Jillflur - Teen and Up - Content warnings - Chapters 5/5 - Gavin, an ‘unlovable’ man without a Soulmate. He was used to it, never had one since he could remember. However, that little fact changes when he wakes up one day and realizes that he suddenly has a Red String connected to his ring finger. It only gets worse when months later, an android walks into the precinct who apparently is his new Soulmate!

Can androids even have Soulmates?!

To make everything even more complicated, a sudden new killer is on the Streets, and he murders people by cutting their Red Strings!

A soulmate fic by our very own jillflur! So good. Amazin. I love the red string trope so much. Yall should big read.

the prince & the reed - by Pence - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 2/? - "I wanted to marry you," the prince murmured, polished armor gleaming as he stared down at the injured man--icy eyes tinged with sadness. Regret.

A guttural scream ripped from the soldier's throat as a heel dug into his wound, arm coated crimson from his weeping shoulder.

The soldier's teeth were stained pink as he jerked his chin up to grin toothily at the other man, bloody fingers scrambling down his thigh in search of the dagger tucked into his boot.

"Then drop to your knees and ask me properly, Nines."

Okay this fic is only two chapters and hasn’t been updated in awhile but GOT DAMN do I love how the author set this medieval fic up. I’m a slut for the medieval au’s, so that’s just extra points.

Not a teacher but I can teach you a thing or two - by Adishailan - Teens and Up - No warnings - Chapters 20/20 - Gavin owed the walking hunk of plastic. He owed him. Ugh, Gavin hated owing people stuff. It gave him a horrible feeling in his stomach, like indigestion, except worse because it involved emotionsTM. This, coupled with the fact he was pumped up with drugs and suffering a concussion, was why he was about to make a terrible, terrible mistake.

“‘Kay. Fine. Thanks or whatever. Lemme know if you ever need anythin' prick.”

RK900’s LED went yellow at this, and this time Gavin was pretty sure he was doing the processing thing. It was still yellow even when he nodded in a serious way and said:

“That would be useful.”

Oh man this one is BIG CUTE! It’s so soft, and is a fantastic slow burn. I totally recommend this fic.

O May I Join the Choir Invisible - by BanishedOne - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 13/? - Gavin Reed was a new inmate at a prison where the infamous killer, R. Nathan Kearney, was on death row. Circumstances led to an unfortunate encounter.

Okay don’t quote me on this but I think you can find the rest of this fic on Twitter. It was posted in a bunch of seperate posts and it was really confusing but there was definitely extra chapters. You can find the post here (or at BanishedOne on twitter). Other than that, this is a really good fic! The boys get into a lot of trouble!

Neon Maps - by caffienefueledfeels - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 11/11 - Everyone has their limits. Gavin is about to discover several of his own.

He's broke, barely scraping along, and struggling to keep an aggressive black-mailer off his back. On top of that, the grey-eyed distraction in his bed is about to test his heart in more ways than one.

Cyberpunk fic!! Super interesting! Go check it out!

Computers Are Elaborate Cat Beds, Actually - by errantwheat - No Rating - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 6/? - “Marvelous find, Gavin. They’ll promote you for this, surely.”

Gavin pulled an exaggerated frown. He was awfully animated for a robot. “Jesus, What kind of human are you? I’m waving a fucking kitten in your face and you’re still a bitch.”

Really cute. I’m pretty sure there’s some art to go with this fic. Super duper cute reverse au!

More Than a Woman, More Than a Bride - by AvixiLynn91 - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 38/? - When Gavin’s life is threatened for the last time by a violent gang expanding the production of a new drug in Detroit, Captain Fowler must come up with a plan for his safety. Perhaps forcing a marriage between Nines and Gavin wasn’t the best solution he could come up with...

Oh man. This fic. Let me tell you. I’ve been with this fic since the beginning and it is one hell of a roller coaster XD. The author updates constantly, it’s really impressive.

More Like You - by Mooneye - Teen and Up - No warnings - Chapters 1/1 - “This next bit’s going to get awkward. I’m going to interface with you.”

At that he could feel the collective confusion in the room. His eyes darted up to look at Hank and then Nines. They both seemed eerily still and were possibly thinking that Gavin had surely lost his mind.

Gavin has kept his prosthetic arm, with good reason, a secret from humans and androids alike for as long as he’s had it. The prospect of losing Nines threatens to unravel everything, but perhaps it’s worth the cost.

The idea of Gavin (an android hater in-game) having a prosthetic-android arm is definitely interesting!

An Unforeseen Union - by AvixiLynn91 - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 16/16 - Gavin and Nines are sent undercover to investigate a slew of brutal murders at a gay counselling and therapy resort for androids and humans. They're forced to pose as a couple, but soon feel their relationship becoming more than an act as real feelings develop.

I loved the dramatic whodunnit vibes in this fic! It gets crazy :P

The Great DPD Kink-Off - by connorssock, LittleLalaith, Skye_Willows, Stujet9rainshine - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 24/24 - It started out as a bit of rivalry and turned into a competition. Who was the kinkiest android in town?

If you like smut, then read this. That is all I will say.

The Black Nights, The Long Dark - by bvssbot - Explicit - Content warnings - Chapters 8/12 - translation of an amazing russian fic тёмные ночи, долгая тьма (the dark nights, the long darkness) into english

An unknown catastrophe was the reason Gavin ended up stranded alone on a godforsaken Canadian island. Having almost made peace with the thought of living in solitude for the rest of his days, he saves the life of a pilot named Richard, whose airplane crashed in the middle of his humanitarian mission.

Shit, I loved ‘The Long Dark’ and I love this fic. I don’t speak russian, unfortunately, so I must wait to read the end. But this is still amazing and you all should read it.

Detroit: Outlast - by Cardboardghost - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 1/? - Connor Upshur is a down on his luck reporter, who spends his nights getting drunk and passing out at home. A mysterious email calls him to Mount Massive Asylum, owned by the Cyberlife corporation. Armed with nothing but a camera and his wits, Connor must brave the asylum's horrors and find way to save the people Cyberlife stole from him.

Gavin Park is a beat cop looking for a more well paying job. So when an offer to work private security at the Cyberlife corporation all but falls into his lap, how could he refuse? Gavin quickly realizes things are not what they seem, and in an attempt to expose Cyberlife, he ends up further in their clutches. Now he and Connor must work together to claw their way out of the asylum's depths, and the familiar faces that wait inside those walls.

This fic only has onw chapter, but go check out Cardboardghost’s art if you finish reading this!! They have provided so much quality content for the Outlast/DBH crossover I didn’t know I needed.

Gin & Tonic - by limchi - Explicit - No warnings - Chapters 8/? - People didn’t like Gavin Reed. Gavin Reed didn’t like people. It went together like gin and tonic, you can’t have one without the other. Nines hated him and he hated Nines. Those were the rules they played by, the rules that couldn't be changed - until fate decided they could.

It turned Gavin into pretending to dislike and Nines into a dense idiot with a crush, unable to grasp the concept of love. Both in utter denial. The catch: gravity worked against them, pulled them together at a frightening pace. Push against and defy the rules of nature or go along the prevailing forces?

Your friendly neighborhood reed900 fic. Very epic slow burn and fluff (and a hint of angst tbh). I definitely recommend!

Bitter Half - by turnabout - Mature - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 5/5 - Gavin Reed was born unmarked, and had spent his entire life expecting to die like he lived - alone. It isn't until Tina points out the new serial number on his chest that he realizes everything is about to change. Whether that's for better or for worse is up to him.

I’m a sucker for soulmate fics and this one does not disappoint!

K-900 - by Serazimei - Teen and Up - No warnings - Chapters 3/3 - Gavin and Nines were a great team. Unfortunately they were both huge workaholics. That's why when Nines' body gets busted on a job and the needed parts aren't available yet chaos is inevitable. Needing to choose between waiting and potentially being of no use at work or participate in one of Kamskis experiments and transfer his mind into an Android dog the decision is easy to make.

Who knew being in a dog body could become such a hassle? Not Nines, that's for sure.

Nines is a pup!!! I don’t believe I’ve seen a fic like this yet, so it’s really cool!

Thanks I'm Hating It - by Lupo (LupoLight) - Explicit: only suitable for adults - No warnings - Chapters 4/4 - Gavin goes to a fast food burger joint and Nines judges him. Then he realizes that Gavin isn't as much of a dick as he used to be, except he is, but in a different way. He isn't sure how to react to this knowledge.

QUALITY reed900 content

Bloodstains - by DeviantAlicee - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 12/? - Nines is an interrogator & detective for the DPD with a dark past. His thick skin & smarts helping him to be one of the most valuable members of the department. He's cold & daunting.

GV200 is one of the first police android models who's partnered with a cruel beat cop who not only hates that his partner is an android but doesn't think GV can feel any of the cruel things he does or says to him. The android doesn't speak up due to the fear of being shut down.

Nines has no clue that the android he bumped into at a bar is in fact a police android. He just thinks that he might be somebody in need of some help. But, as time passes by & a new drug that can be used by androids begins to circulate, Nines begins to realise the situation is a whole lot more convoluted than he originally thought.

This is a really interesting reverse au! Check it out!

Team spirit - by ilse_writes - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 4/4 - Someone had the unholy idea to go camping with the department, all in the name of 'team building'. Gavin is not liking it very much. That tall instructor with his haughty manners and cool eyes... that one he likes very much.

I don’t think I’ve seen another au quite like this one. Very epic content, can we hit Gavin Reed?

Wake Up - by SkySquid22 - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 6/? - “Gavin!”

GV200 slipped out of his stasis. He didn’t get a chance to open his eyes before a file came down on his face, smacking him.

“And here I thought tin cans didn’t sleep.”

Something was wrong.

Something was very very wrong.

DIS GOT ME F U C K E D U P!!! Bruh @skysquid200 really out here shaking my world with this fic. I was hollering while reading this like I got HYPED

Natural - by Erik_Heinrich - Teen and Up - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 1/? - They are all wing people.

Gavin gets partnered with Nines. As expected hes not too happy about it, but their partnership seems to be going well. That is until spring comes along. Nines wings seem a bit fidgety and Gavin is nesting. Nines doesn't realize he's been trying to court Gavin, and Gavin is just as oblivious.

or. They are both complete idiots the whole time

WING FIC WING FIC WING FIC!!!! Yall dont know how long I’ve looked for a reed900 wing fic. My homie @phckingusername out here doin God’s work <333

Thank you all so much for 1K!!! Being able to hop on Tumblr everyday and talk to you guys makes me so happy!! I really hope I didn't f up this rec list anywhere lol. Hope u guys like it!!

#thank yall so much #i cant say it enough #dbh #detroit become human #gavin reed #rk900 #nines #reed900 #fic rec list #reed900 fic recs

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blackphoenixalchemylab · 5 years ago

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Harvest Moon + Friday the 13th

The Harvest Moon is sailing toward us, arriving nonchalantly on Friday, 13th 2019 as if that’s a perfectly normal and acceptable thing to do. The nerve!

But we are here for it, and you, with a cluster of Lunacy offerings to sweeten the season and ward off any unnecessarily hard luck.

Here’s everything you’ll need!

++ A LITTLE LUNACY

HARVEST MOON

Harvest Moon is celebrated in almost every culture, and the bounty of the season is marked in a myriad of ways. Harvest Moon touches the Equinox, the festival of Janus, the culmination of Homowo, the “crying of the neck” in Cornwall, and the Women’s Festival of the Moon. This is a day that celebrates abundance and beauty, fertility and progress, and the light of this full moon blesses new undertakings and reunites lost loves.

The Harvest Moon, by definition, is the Full Moon that falls closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and thus, it shares some of that Sabbat’s characteristics. This Full Moon was thus named because it rises within half an hour of the sun’s setting, in the Northern Hemisphere, and at this time farmers are able to work longer into the night by the light of this Moon. As the year draws to a close, the Full Moon rises an average of fifty minutes later each night, with the exception of a few nights surrounding the Harvest Moon, which only rises 10-30 minutes later. This moon is also, to the human eye, the fullest and largest of the year’s Moons, hanging gloriously huge, yellow and low in the night sky, and many lunar illusions play tricks our eyes at this time.

The Harvest ushers in many celebrations, including the Equinox and the Festival of Janus, God of Doors. Janus is the Roman Lord of Gateways, beginnings and endings, and transitions. Thus, the Harvest Moon is a time for blessing new ventures, the onset of new and progressive phases in one’s life, and rites of passage into adulthood. This time of year also marks one of the Festivals of Dionysus, Lord of Ecstasy and the Vine.

This Harvest lunacy blend combines the autumnal scents of dry leaves, mulling spices, balsam fir, pine needles, cedar, juniper berry, clove, saffron, damson plum, white sage, yarrow, and lily twined with Dionysus’ sacred grapes and ivy, a bounty of apple, black fig, and pumpkin, and the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, all touched by a gentle breath of festival woodsmoke and sweet wine.

(Don’t forget, you can also purchase Dan Santat’s Harvest Moon illustration, pictured above, as a tee shirt!)

++ DUETS

A fresh batch of simple, two-note perfumes!

👯 LIME AND WHITE MUSK

Startlingly invigorating!

👯 RED AMBER AND OUD

Fierce, warm, and animalic.

👯 TUBEROSE AND MANGO

Sweet and strangely sensual.

👯 BOURBON VANILLA AND YELLOW CARNATION

An absurdly happy scent.

👯 RED ROSE AND TOBACCO ABSOLUTE

A filthy, heady bouquet.

++ FRIDAY THE 13TH

13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate…

…because there were 13 present at the Last Supper.

…Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur’s death.

…Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia’s suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king.

…In ancient Rome, Hecate’s witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven.

Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi.

The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins:

…Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th.

…On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights.

…In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose.

To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters:

Theodore Bundy

Jeffrey Dahmer

Albert De Salvo

John Wayne Gacy

And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit “Jack the Ripper” and “Charles Manson” into that equation.

More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn’t exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears.

For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number…

…In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity.

…The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death.

…The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”.

Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around.

…In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions.

…It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number.

…There are 13 Archimedean solids.

AND…

…There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded.

Says a lot about the US, doesn’t it?

This version of 13 is a departure from our usual theme for this ongoing project. So many of us are going through so much right now; it seems right to make an oil that contains 13 herbs, flowers, and resins of peace, tranquility, and grounding: lavender, litsea cubeba, sandalwood, ylang ylang, king mandarin, patchouli, blue tansy, Roman chamomile, bergamot, Oman frankincense, angelica, hops, and borage.

++ VIRGO SEASON

VIRGO LOCKET

The Zodiac lockets have returned! Exquisite, elegant, and exclusive to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

These are heavy lockets, thick with silver, and are perfect for use as a perfume oil conduit. Dab your favorite Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab concoction onto muslin, velvet or cotton, and place the swatch inside the locket. Your body will warm the silver, and the locket will exude pure, unadulterated scent.

The Zodiac lockets are hand cast 925 sterling silver that has been partially gold washed using a method popularized in the 19th century, and each is adorned with at least one stone corresponding to the sign the locket represents. Each locket’s bale sports one of the BPAL logos: the alchemical symbol for brimstone. Portions of the face of the lockets have been deliberately tarnished. They measure approximately 1.25″ in diameter. These lockets are heavy. They are not fragile, filigreed pieces; they are durable, extremely weighty with silver, and are suitable for your most adventurous airship excursions.

These lockets are exclusive to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and were created by and for Black Phoenix. They cannot be found anywhere else in all of Heaven and Earth.

Each piece is hand cast.

Our lockets come with a 24″ nickel-plated iron chain.

The Zodiac lockets were designed by Alicia Dabney of Elements and Artifacts.

VIRGO SOCKS

Created in the USA by the wonderful people at Sock Dreams for Black Phoenix, these socks are exclusive to Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab!

They’re made from 80% cotton, 15% nylon and 5% elastic!

...Also, PSST! Guess what? We’ve freshly restocked our REVENANT RHYTHM!

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koch56-blog · 4 years ago

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Perception Cameras - A Buying Guide

There is a wide game plan of observation camera decisions accessible today. On the off chance that you are needing to add reconnaissance cameras to your home security framework, you might be a little overpowered by the entire of the alternatives open. Regardless, with a little evaluation you will have the decision to discover the surveillance cameras that best suit your specific circumstance DIY home security camera .

Regardless of whether you are checking for home recognition cameras or observation cameras for your business, you'll need to look at all of different alternatives and pick an educated choice.

You'll first need to pick wired perception cameras and remote observation cameras. The two sorts have their central focuses and insults. Wired cameras everything considered have an inflexibly predictable relationship with the record contraption and are consistently hard to interfere. Regardless, they should be arranged into your home or office. This regularly recommends once you've picked their position, you're left with it. Moreover, it may not be conceivable to design cameras in all zones. Remote cameras can be set any place and they can be moved effectively if significant. Regardless, maybe their sign might be vexed every now and then.

The choice on where to put your cameras is in like way an immense one. Do you need them to record everything that happens, inside and outside your property? Is there are unequivocal zone that is an objective for vandalism? Do you need them to go about as a verifiable obstacle to awful conduct or would you rather have them record from an inflexibly shrouded district? The circumstance of your cameras will pick an incredible arrangement comparably as what kinds of observation cameras you need.

You will in like way need to pick in the event that you need uncommonly separating recognition cameras or full disguising ones. Incredibly separating cameras are generally more sensible than full disguising perception cameras. They are significant for general utilize and can see an unrivaled than typical extent of detail. High unpredictability cameras if all else fails work more conspicuous around evening time than covering cameras. Covering cameras are dynamically useful at picking little subtleties, for example, the shirt shade of somebody that has broken into your property. These require a light source to work by and by. Utilizing disguising cameras in absence of lucidity will acknowledge account only a dull screen. A few cameras can switch among disguising and significantly separating depending in the wake of lighting conditions.

In like way note that on the off chance that you are anticipating recording in low light conditions, you have to review this while introducing your observation cameras. Not all perception cameras see well in absence of clearness. An essential method to fix this issue and outfit your property with additional security is to introduce lighting in districts where your perception cameras are recording. Not exclusively will this give you increasingly essential film, in any case it will in addition discourage convicts who routinely prefer to work under the front of shadowiness. There are additionally infrared perception cameras for shooting in dull conditions. These might be important on the off chance that you should pick the decision to film in a dull territory. Some recognition cameras have a "night mode" that licenses them to accordingly change to infrared shooting when vital.

Exactly when you have picked where you are going to put your observation cameras and whether you should shoot in disguising or particularly separating, you should pick such a camera you should utilize. Two of the most commended sorts of observation cameras are bend reconnaissance cameras and shot discernment cameras.

Bend cameras are one of the most extensively saw and most standard kinds of perception cameras. They for the most part come in either diminish and additionally white and are cameras encased by a domed covering. This bend is helpful for specific reasons. To the avoidance of everything else, it is routinely hard for somebody taking a gander at the observation camera to comprehend what bearing it is pointing. This awards you to ensure a more noteworthy zone since nobody will know totally what you are shooting. The bend can comparably offer affirmation to the camera itself. The drawback is that these perception cameras don't if all else fails work exceptionally in low light conditions.

Slug cameras are slight, round and void perception cameras. They are regularly exceptionally useful and their course of action makes them a momentous terrible conduct prevention. Slug cameras can in like way be outfitted with infrared cutoff points so as to permit them to record around evening and in low light conditions. Regardless, these cameras are not normally considered vandal check in isolation. They ought to be set in regions where they can't be effortlessly played with.

As should act naturally obvious, there are a great deal of essential choices to mention when purchasing home objective fact cameras or business observation cameras. By contributing some essentialness considering the total of the components being alluded to and picking a decent decision, you'll see that your perception cameras will help you plausibly and proficiently diminish and forestall awful conduct.

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endless-bestiary · 5 years ago

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GREAT BEAR

I'll get the obvious out of the way first: yes, this is a regular bear but larger. The addition of moss to its chin does not a monster make. Why discuss a creature that one could go outside and see in the real world, then? There are two reasons. One, just like how there's merit to including realistic fantasy fauna in your game, there's also merit to including entirely real animals to hold your new ones next to; and two, the sheer hilarity of how the Dragon Age: Inquisition devs included a setting that just makes bears incredibly deadly. That alone warrants an inclusion with the rest of the monster roster.

I'm not going to talk about the conjectural history of the evolution of bears, or even rate what I think of them. Nature has me covered on both fronts there - bears are the terrestrial apex predator to end all apex predators. (It turns out that putting a bunch of sharp objects on an unstoppable wall of muscle works pretty well.) Instead, I want to talk about why you'd put real animals in a game next to things like dracolisks, fearlings, and the dwarves from DA:O.

When you're crafting a fantasy bestiary, the first (and often best) place to start is with the real world. See which shapes work and which don't. Which adaptations beget entire new branches of evolution and which are immediate dead ends. Certain things never show up in particular biomes because they're just impractical or worthless. Wolves don't grow fins because they have no need for them. Snakes don't develop cubic sections because that would just make them terrible snakes. Using nature as a guideline allows you to modulate your game on the scale of realism to fantasy, and more importantly, serious to silly. That cube snake could show up in a game with a sense of humor, since watching a terrible snake clunk around as it tries to get up some stairs is grade-A funny. On the other end of the scale, a tonally serious game like Warframe could never include it without breaking immersion. Instead, serious games take cues from nature to streamline the player's visual understanding of the enemy and help keep them immersed in the world. Dragon Age is one of those more serious games, and so its fauna is closer to the realistic side of the spectrum. When you want a realistic, tough, scary apex predator, sometimes it's best to just go with what works. DA's animals keep familiar shapes to make the world feel more grounded and allow the magical elements to stand out, even when you're expecting a fantasy romp.

On the subject of grounding your setting, the second benefit of using real-world animals is to help pull the more outlandish animals into line. Say I'm running through the woods, having just finished a battle with two magic wolves, a flaming slug, and a cloud of flesh-eating winged rats. Those are all suitably weird for a fantasy setting. If I then run into a Regular Vanilla Bear With No Extra Parts, my brain connects the dots and says "Hey, wait a minute. If this place has bears, which are normal to me, maybe clouds of flesh-eating rats are normal too!" Allowing your players to recognize things on an instinctual level does a ton for your world's cohesion. The designers of DA:I clearly wanted their world to feel just a little more fantastic than our own, with twists on existing animals rather than a totally new web of life, so they opted to make mostly new animals and include a few classic hits like the family Ursidae to make things feel more comfortable. That's not to say DA has trouble making interesting monsters - Envy Demon, I'm looking at you - but they chose to concentrate their weird where it counts.

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF: LITERALLY JUST A BEAR/10 DESIGN COHESION: AGAIN, JUST A BEAR/10 BEAR: BEAR/BEAR PERSONAL RATING: BEAR

#monster #monster review #Dragon Age #great bear #professor shields #...#bear.

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gale-gentlepenguin · 6 years ago

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Miraculous Ladybug au: Brokenhearted Part 2

(Part 1) (Enjoy the heart wrenching part 2)

“I am surprised how intricate and yet unpractical some of those designs were back then. Wasn't it impressive Marinette?” The teal tipped hair musician commented as he and his black haired girlfriend walked out of the museum.

“Yea...” Marinette said despondently, her mind was clearly somewhere else. The musician was able to tell.

“I was hoping that the victorian era fashion exhibit would be able to cheer you up.” He said with a soft sigh.

Marinette looked at her boyfriends fading smile and felt horrible for being so disinterested.

“No, Luka its not that. The exhibit was really cool.” Marinette assured. “I... I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Its about Adrien.” Luka stated instead of guessing. He knew that the blond teen model was on her mind. He had been aware of her crush on him, he also knew that she had said she had given up on pursuing him romantically. She would mention him in passing when talking about school or her friends, but aside from that he hardly heard about him.

“He got taken out of school. Its been over a week since it happened.” Marinette explained. “Nino is especially devastated. His dad has him on lock down.”

Luka felt bad for assuming that it had anything to do with romantic feelings. These thoughts were the concerns of someone who missed her friend.

“Thats terrible. Is he able to at least text or...” Luka inquired.

“No, total lockdown. Nino said that if his dad even saw anyone from his class show up at his gate, he will send Adrien to America.” Marinette’s worry was clearly present, she didn't want her friend shipped off to another country.

Luka placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

“I am sure it isn't as bad as it seems. In fact, Ill go talk to Adrien. See if I can find out any details.” Luka assured.

“But his dad will...”

“I am not from his class, or yours. As far as Mr. Agreste is concerned, I don't exist. Don't worry about it Mari.” He smiled as he assured his girlfriend that he has a handle on the situation.

She smiled and kissed his cheek.

“You are the best.”

_______________________________________________________________________

The blond teen had finished his lessons for the day and was laying on his bed, he was reading a book that he hadn't touched in years. Honestly trying anything and everything to avoid thinking about his life seemed like the best solution.

He heard a knock on the window. He didn't know what to expect as he sat up from his bed and walked to the window in his bathroom, there he saw what appeared to be a familiar face smiling at him. It was Luka, Marinette’s boyfriend.

“Hey Adrien. Could you open the window? I don't think I can hold on much longer.” The musician asked as he held on to the window seal.

Adrien quickly helped the boy in to help him not fall to his death.

“How the heck did you get up here?” Adrien asked. “Im on the second floor.”

Luka placed his hand on his chin as he was about to say something. Adrien had noticed a familiar ring on his finger deciding it would be better to cut him off there..

“You know what, its better if I don't know.” Adrien interrupted. “Better question, why are you here?”

“I heard about what happened. It isn't cool that your dad has you locked up in here. I wanted to find out if there was a way that you can get free somehow” Luka explained.

Adrien turned away from the musician. More focused on the fact that Luka was now holding his miraculous. Even though he knew Marinette was ladybug, he didn't actually expect her to take his suggestion so seriously. Seeing it now, was more of a slap to the face then anything else. Part of him wanted to laugh at the absurdity. Someone out there must really like making him suffer.

“There is no getting out of this Luka.” Adrien spoke, his words having an unexpected bite to them.

“Aren't you going to at least try? You need to stand up to your dad. Don't your friends matter?” Luka asked, his concern and frustration pushing out of his normally calm persona.

Adrien wanted him to leave, he didn't want this conversation, not with him of all people.

“I am surprised you would want to help the guy who kissed your girlfriend to be free.” Adrien stated with an unnerving calm tone.

“Excuse me?” Luka asked, clearly confused by his words. “What did you say?”

Adrien turned around looking Luka in the eye.

“A few weeks ago, I kissed Marinette. I am surprised she didn't tell you.” Adrien restated, now with much more venom. His tone and words coming off as something he would normally describe as ‘Chloé-like’.

“That isn't... you are just trying to get me mad aren't you?” Luka rationalized.

“You are very astute, I guess that is why you are such a good boyfriend. But I wouldn't lie just to spite you. It isn't my style to lie.” Adrien answered.

Luka turned away from Adrien.

“I know we weren't best friends, but you are different then the Adrien I know. I know that this isn't you. Is it because of what your dad did that is making you like this?”

Adrien shook his head.

“You know, I thought that my worst fear would be being locked away in this mansion. But I faced a much worse fear recently, making my previous fear a lot more tolerable.” Adrien explained.

Luka turned back to him to see the blond teen trying to hold back tears.

“And that is?” Luka pressed.

“Losing my soulmate.” Adrien answered, just barely audible.

Luka looked at him and shook his head.

“You are taking a rejection way too seriously.” Luka commented.

That is what made Adrien snap. Before the musician could even react. Adrien had slugged him in the face.

Luka nearly fell over from the force of the punch. He looked at Adrien with shock and anger, seeing the teen with tears in his eyes and clearly furious.

“Okay, thats how you want to play it.” Luka said as his patience has now reached its limit.

He charged at Adrien. The two exchanged several blows, Luka was older and slightly taller, but Adrien was more athletic and had a lot more experience in fighting then the musician. It was clear it was one sided and favored the blond model. Luka had gotten a clean hit on Adrien’s stomach, but the teen wasn't as fazed by the punch as the musician would have liked. Adrien returned his punch with a series of blows that left bruises and bumps all over the teen.

Adrien finished the fight with a punch to the face hard enough that it knocked Luka over his couch, leaving him dazed for a bit.

Adrien grabbed a towel and threw it at Luka.

“Clean yourself up and leave. If I call for help, you will be fighting in a prison cell.” Adrien explained as wiped the small amounts of blood on his face. He saw a black cat Kwami floating over Luka’s head. Adrien saw the pleading eyes of the cat kwami. Adrien wanted to take back his companion right there, but her resisted, he wasn't Chat noir anymore.

Luka sat up wiping his face with the towel.

“If this is the person you are now. I am glad you are kept away from Marinette.” Luka said as he stood up. “Thanks for the towel.”

He tossed it to the side and started climbing out the window. The black cat Kwami looked at Adrien one last time, before he had to go back to Luka. Adrien saw that the cat had mouthed the words ‘I miss you.’

“I miss you to Plagg.” Adrien spoke to the air.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Ow...” Luka winced as his violet tipped hair sister dabbed his bruises with a cotton swab. “Could you not press so hard Juleka.”

“Seems your low tolerance to pain explains why you got beat up so bad.” Juleka commented as she continued treating his bruises. “You are lucky mom is out with her boat buddies or you would probably get in trouble.”

Luka sighed.

“Juleka, how would you describe your friend Adrien?” He asked curiously, which seemed like a sudden topic change.

“Well, he is polite, nice to a fault. Way more tolerant and understanding then anyone, even more then Marinette.” Juleka answered. “He is almost as naive and kind as Rose.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Luka retorted as his sister put the bandage on his cheek.

“Well he was more of an acquaintance then a friend. But I know Marinette was super into him before she dated you.” Juleka explained. “While I have been wrong about people before, Marinette is a great judge of character.”

Luka felt his sister’s comment touch his heart. The Adrien that he talked with today was a bitter, angry, and a very cold person. Was that his true self? Was that a front to get him to leave? It was hard for him to decide.

“You stay here, I am gonna check to see if we have ice.” Juleka said before leaving the room. Once she left the room, a black cat Kwami popped out of his jacket.

“What do you think about all of this Plagg?” Luka asked.

“I believe that wasn't the real Adrien you saw. I could tell. He was hurting.” Plagg gave his opinion.

“You and my sister seem to believe the same thing.”

“He knows you're chat noir.” Plagg dropped the bombshell.

“What? How would he know that?” Luka asked alarmed.

“He saw me when he knocked you over the couch, I got flung out.” He lied. ”I flew back into your jacket, I think he noticed.”

Luka sighed.

“Great... thats another thing on the list to worry about.” Luka commented.

He noticed his phone buzzing and grabbed it to look at it.

“15 missed calls from Marinette.... yikes.” Plagg commented. “You should probably call her back.

“Yea... I also have a few things I need to ask her about.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Adrien laid on his bed looking up at the ceiling. He knows for a fact that his emotions were crossing the line. He knew he should have an akuma flying in any second to get him, but nothing. He sat up from his bed when he noticed a black Butterly fly at his window. He watched as the akuma seemed to be fluttering around the window, as if debating whether or not to go in. Curious on why the akuma hadn't just barged in he decided to walk towards it.

_______________________________________________________________________

“There was a lot of hostility coming from Adrien, so much so that it attracted the akuma away from my initial target. “ The villain in the purple suit spoke aloud. “I shouldn't use him for my schemes, it would be cruel to do so. Come back my akuma. Do not let that boy distract you.”

He watched as the Akuma flew back into the room. It landed on his palm.

“Lets see if I can locate that original source of pain from early...”

He heard the sound of glass smashing. A blond teen had fallen through the window.

“Adrien!” Hawkmoth called out in surprise.

Adrien got up dusting himself off, thankfully he didn't cut himself on glass. He looked up to see the evil masked villain of Paris looking at him in disbelief.

“Hawkmoth? What are you doing in my house!?” Adrien exclaimed as he got into a battle stance.

Hawkmoth looked at the angry teen and sighed deeply. He wasn't going to fight his son.

“Its me Adrien.” Hawkmoth spoke softly. “Nooru Dark wings fall.”

Adrien watched as Hawkmoth had transformed into his father, Gabriel Agreste.

“Father?! You're hawkmoth?!” Adrien looked at him with a flurry of emotions.

“Adrien, its time I told you everything.”

______________________________________________________________________

(Thoughts? Do you want more of the Brokenhearted au?)

#ml #ml au #miraculous ladybug au #miraculous ladybug #brokenhearted au #lukanette #adrienette #heartbreak #ml angst #Plagg #juleka couffaine #luka couffaine #Marinette Dupain Cheng #Adrien Agreste #hawkmoth

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theangrypokemaniac · 5 years ago

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@its-whitetomorrow

I appreciate that you take the time out of your day to read my witterings, and respond to them in detail, but I'm somewhat intellectually limited and it takes a while to write an answer.

The final one is a bit of a problem. The original post is long, your bit is long, and my addition is probably twice both put together.

Did you know Tumblr has a limit: no more than two hundred and fifty text blocks per post? I discovered this from experience, unsurprisingly.

I think the only solution is to split it across several posts.

I wasn't going to say anything, but I suppose I should.

I started this blog last May, to relieve the boredom of my main embarrassment, whose only likes (all three of them) were from porn bots.

It wasn't even meant to be about Pokémon. I'd left the fandom years previously. It was odds and ends, but I happened to find a few silly screen shots so wrote a couple of joke remarks, not expecting a ripple of interest.

Within a couple of hours I got more notes than t'other's managed even to this day. I had the idea this was where I was more at home, so I started taking it seriously.

My pseudonym was just daft thing I'd made up previously, to reflect that, whilst still in love with old days, I'm not exactly pleased with how it's gone.

I thought it might stand out as memorable, plus I like acronyms, so it affords me the opportunity to call myself 'T.A.P.'

In the early days the focus was on the 'maniac' aspect. Anger as a description didn't fit at all. The farther back you go, the more stupid and clownish it gets. It's not been like this all the way through!

Seriously, it used to be an entertainment blog, designed to make people laugh. It's all ages: no swearing, no porn, nothing to put anyone off.

(This post under discussion contains the only profanity I've ever deployed. I thought saving it up might add some oomph.)

I mean it, it's was all light-hearted ridicule. Every so often, there would be a slightly cutting remark, but mild compared to now.

Then, last September, someone I spoke to regularly, who assured me we were friends, suddenly cut off all contact.

At first I wasn't aware of it, but by October it became too glaring a silence to ignore.

I thought rifts started because of massive disagreements, but as far as I remembered our last exchange ended normally.

I found out by accident that the reason for it was because I am repugnant and morally inferior and so swollen with my own ego that the existence of others doesn't register. Instead they are but soulless droids built to worship the great T.A.P. mollusc.

Well that was news to me. I had no idea I came across like that. As far as I knew, I was on my best behaviour when we interacted.

I was polite. I tried to be ingratiate myself. I kept talk to the fandom. I didn't pry. I attempted humour when the opportunity arose.

I thought I'd done all I could to be liked, but apparently I hadn't. It was a revolting experience for them, for all of saying they loved me and I was 'honey'.

It really, really, really got to me, and the feeling hasn't abated, if anything it's worse.

As I said, I don't know what I did wrong, and because I don't, I can't mend my ways. If I am this repellant waste of flesh I'd like to change, but if I'm not told my offence, what am I meant to do?

If what I thought was the best I could be wasn't good enough, and instead was so sickening I don't deserve their presence, then I have no idea how to interact with people.

Maybe every time I respond to someone, thinking I'm at worst, civil, is really grotesque conceit, because my arrogance is so extreme I'm not even aware it's there. In my head it sounds normal.

It'd be too easy to scoff that they were the one with the problem, but, given all the arguments that happen in life, it can't always be someone else's fault. It's got to be you at least once.

They obviously think they were justified, so who's to say they weren't?

You may say not to let it worry me, that I should just get over it, and you'd be totally right. Being bothered makes me feel pathetic and petty on top of the rest, but this is me you're talking to, not a sane person. Self-hatred is more instinctive to me than breathing.

I always dwell on the negative. If one hundred people were assembled, ninety-nine of whom declared me the most wonderful being ever to live, and one remarked I wasn't all that special, it's him I'd remember.

It's called ghosting because that's what happens. There comes a moment when you accept that, no, it's over, rejected again, and it's like realising I'd died, and had been gone for a while.

Except I hadn't noticed the process, so I was always dead in a way, and they spoke to the silvery silhouette left behind, until that too dispersed into untraceable nothingness. Again, the silence is my fault for dying, not theirs.

I feel there's no point in messaging anyone, because I'll only disgust them too. Some blogs encourage contact, and when I see it I always think:

Yeah, but they don't mean YOU.

If it's another person I already spoke to, I can't shut up. I bombard them with text in the hope they know I don't think they're a menial droid. Every one I immediately regret, and wish I could take back, because that will irritate them until I'm just a sad, nagging past.

The Ghost-Maker used to reblog 99% of my work. This dropped to nothing overnight, so not only am I worthless, but so is everything I do.

Posts G.M. didn't like got 0-5 notes. Ones they did had 20+. Many a time, it took their reblog for anyone else to notice.

It was like others used that blog as a filter to pull the fool's gold from the murk of this one. Once their favour evaporated, so did a lot of the goodwill from elsewhere, so it's was as if Tumblr agreed I was scum.

Saying that above just shows they were right, because it takes one smug bastard to believe their existence registers with anyone else.

Please don't think I'm demanding likes, that my stuff deserves them, although as I'm arrogant I am. It's just that 99% to 0% is a bit of a fall.

Up til then, I held back much of what I thought about the current state of the anime, as they liked it, but now I have no reason to stop.

If I'm to be accused of all these vices I might as well have them. I'm dead, so who cares what I say? No one listens to a ghost.

It's not that I'm unconcerned if I upset anyone, it's just the truth that I don't matter enough for what I write to be valued enough to offend.

As a ghost, I think of this blog as invisible. It's there, but not really, so how can anyone mind?

Incidentally, the first week I was here I got blocked by someone who hates all fans from the Nineties. I don't care about that, as they sound like a cretin, and I'd have to be defective to gain their approval.

I just want to say I find that moronic. I don't hate new fans at all. I wouldn't block someone because we disagreed.

Blocking denies people access to your blog, stating they don't deserve your ART. That's arrogant to me.

Blocker likes Ghost-Maker, but...

Ever since around October, I've progressively become angrier and angrier. Whenever I'm here or Pokémon enters my head, it just reminds that I'm pond slime, about the most crude, malformed half-life freak you can envision.

I don't like being here anymore. I keep intending to leave, the site and the fandom, and set fire to it all before I go, wipe away the slug trail to spare people's stomachs.

I kept quiet until now, but holding it in just made it more intense. If I may describe myself in ridiculously flattering terms, I feel like a shaken champagne bottle, but the cork is welded in, so the only option is for the glass to shatter.

If anyone's reading this, wondering where the fun went, well this is why I flipped. The red mist won't clear. I can't see beyond it.

I won't name Ghost-Maker, because I don't want to start anything, plus most will take their side. They may see this as they still rifle round these parts occasionally for posts that aren't mine.

Well done, Ghostie. You're the lucky one. We'll never meet and you haven't seen me. Pity the poor sods I've encountered. There must be vomit trails across the land provoked by my vile condition. I wasn't aware of this until you let me in on the secret.

There's an English television presenter called Caroline Flack. She killed herself yesterday and everyone loved her. I feel guilty that I'm alive and she's not.

#Pokémon #Tumblr

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aguilarsparks7-blog · 6 years ago

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Ideas, Tricks, And Advice For the Organic Garden

Gardening is a good sophisticated hobby, but it doesn't need to be confusing or even difficult. Picking to back garden naturally means learning regarding several details, including the soil's acidity or even what sort of insects live in your garden. If a person are inexperienced with horticulture, making the switch to be able to organic strategies might turn out to be a challenge for you personally. An individual can do it very well by removing advantage of typically the advice that will offered below. Plan your current gardening accordingly to the weather. In the event that you live in an location where the floor freezes through the winter, perform not plant whatever before frost is estimated. If you live in a new warmer area, take the split during the excellent months connected with summer for you to avoid wasting too far waters. If you have plants that are tall in height, support them with blind levels. It will prevent tall plants from drooping over if they are hefty using blooms, which can seem very messy. Support hiking shrubs with a good lattice to keep the rambling vignoble under control in addition to to prevent them all by invading another seed place. Create a one of a kind views with some sort of hanging container. A hanging basket total of spring or summer flowers can easily brighten upwards a bare walls or even a uninspiring back lawn. Some sort of regular hanging holder consists of wire and provided having moss. The tree is helpful in maintaining humidity. You are able to generate a spectacular display by simply not only planting in the baskets itself, but by putting hanging plants in typically the gaps in the insert mesh. Often the mesh together with surrounding moss with guarantee that the vegetation continue to be secure. Often see the item label before making use of yard chemicals and keep compounds in a safe spot out of the get to of children in addition to animals. 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imjustthemechanic · 6 years ago

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Our Own Demons

Part 1/? - A Bolt from the Blue Part 2/? - A Different World Part 3/? - Stark At Home Part 4/? - Pot Roast Night Part 5/? - Space-Pie Continuum Part 6/? - Energy Signature Part 7/? - Miss Potts Part 8/? - Bot from Beyond Part 9/? - Even the Odds Part 10/? - Miss Potts Arrives Part 11/? - Truth Hurts Part 12/? - The Third Reality Part 13/? - Thor and Odinson Part 14/? - The Tesseract Platform

What if Tony Stark really were the villain of the Marvel universe? How would that work? Tony himself is about to find out, as he battles his inner demons (and some outer ones, too) across a multiverse of infinite possibilities.

The Thor Tony knew had an annoying habit of summoning Bifrosts willy-nilly, with no regard for things like whether the lawn had just been mowed – so he was pleased to see this Thor do it from the top level of a parking garage, where the only thing the touchdown would scorch was the asphalt. With the Odinson thus on his way, the rest of them boarded a chartered jet to Washington, where Hill said SHIELD had something that could help them. Tony just hoped that wouldn’t be when this reality’s HYDRA infestation decided to make itself known because that would just be ridiculously inconvenient.

Dr. Ross stayed in New York, apparently having some kind of prior commitment there, but Miss Potts came with them, and so did Jane Foster. She sat across from Tony and his double, chattering happily with the hammer resting on the seat beside her.

“The prevailing theory,” she said, “is that a new reality is created every time a decision is made. Not a human decision, of course, we’re not that important on a quantum level. But every time a particle has to choose a spin state, for example, one universe branches off where it goes left and one where it goes right. The vast majority are nearly identical to their neighbours, because they’re separated by only one particle.”

“I think we’re a few particles apart,” said Tony.

“He comes from a world where Stark Industries is still a thing,” his double said.

“That’s gotta take several particles at least,” Tony agreed. “There’s other differences, too. Dr. Ross’ old boyfriend is still alive, and she doesn’t do the Hulk thing.” He paused. “And Thor and Odinson are the same person. How did that happen, by the way?” Tony nodded at Mjolnir.

Foster glanced at it. “I… I don’t know. I just picked it up,” she said. “When the hammer fell in New Mexico, Odinson went into the SHIELD compound to get it, and I went with him because they’d impounded my research and I wanted it back. He tried to lift it and couldn’t, and I really don’t know what made me think it would be a good idea to try, but I did, and I just picked it up.” She lifted it in one hand. “It feels feather-light to me, but it actually weighs nineteen point one-eight kilograms. I weighed it.”

“I see.” Tony smiled. He wondered how Thor back home would have taken it. Probably very well, really – he adored Dr. Foster. “Any theories how that works?”

“None,” she sighed, setting it down again. “I mean, I understand that on some level the hammer itself is intelligent and able to judge who is worthy, but I don’t know how you qualify worthiness. Odinson says it’s because I’m completely unselfish – all I want is to gain knowledge and share it with others. But does that affect my brain waves or something? What does that psychological quality confer on me as a physical quantity that Mjolnir can read? What’s so funny?” she asked, as she noticed Tony doing his best not to giggle.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just… for all you’re totally different, you’re also exactly the same as the Jane Foster in my reality. It’s great.” Tony looked at his counterpart, but found the other man staring out the window, drumming his fingers impatiently on the arm of his seat.

“Well, maybe we are just a few particles different, then,” Foster said.

A bit later, she got up to use the washroom and left Mjolnir lying in the aisle seat. Tony reached over and grabbed the leather strap on the handle, but when he gave it an experimental tug, it wouldn’t move. It was as if it were part of the structure of the plane.

“The airplane seems to lift it okay,” Tony observed, settling back in his seat. “You think the plane’s worthy?”

His double did not answer.

“I’m leaving,” Tony reminded him. “Soon I’ll be gone and will never darken the door of your reality again.” Was the other still annoyed about what he’d said that morning, or the simple fact that Tony had slept in closer proximity to Miss Potts than he had?

“Beth texted me,” said the other. “She wanted to know if I was okay, and then she asked if you were going to be okay and how long you’d be in town for.”

“She and I had a couple of dates in my universe,” said Tony. “Didn’t work out for us, but maybe you’ll have better…”

“Just stop,” the other told him. “You’ve done enough! If you say one more word I’m gonna get up and slug you.”

When it came to social interactions, Tony could be just a bit denser than a self-proclaimed genius really ought to, but that got through. He shut up.

They landed at Dulles, and from there drove to a warehouse in Alexandria, where SHIELD kept what Hill described as ‘odds and ends’. She let them in with a keypad, and consulted a directory before escorting them into an elevator to go down.

“What are we looking for?” Tony asked.

Hill hesitated. “So Loki came to Earth in your reality, too?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Tony. “So he must have had a gateway to enter. I got that when I had JARVIS take a look at SHIELD’s computers – they’d built this platform to try opening a wormhole, but could never get it to work until Loki can through, because there was nobody at the other end.”

His counterpart brightened. “But we’ve got a platform here, and they’ll have one in his reality, so as long as we can find a third one we can transfer him home!”

“Every so often I remember why Ginny keeps you,” said Hill with a nod. “Do you know what they did with it?” she asked Tony.

“No, but SHIELD never gets rid of anything,” Tony said.

“Even when we should,” Hill sighed. “Once we got rid of Loki we cleaned it up, put it in storage, and never touched it again. It’s still here, just waiting for something useful to do with it.”

“Then I hope the one in my world is, too,” said Tony. He wondered if that were what had given his double in the unknown third universe the idea for all of this… had he been allowed to do more playing with SHIELD’s toys, and stumbled across the secret to interdimensional travel? And having done that… what had he decided to do with it?

What would Tony do if he discovered an alternate reality on his own? Besides the scientific equivalent of poking it with a stick to see if it twitched, he couldn’t imagine. He certainly couldn’t think of anything he would go looking for there – he might go investigate his alternate self, just to see what the guy was u p to, but why would he kick that other Tony out of his reality? Had that really been an accident?

The only idea he could come back to was that the third guy’s universe had somehow gone all wrong and he’d hoped to make a new start somewhere else. Even then, it didn’t seem like a Ton thing to do. When Tony found himself having to rebuild his life after Afghanistan, he’d done so on a foundation of fixing his mistakes. Surely any hypothetical other would feel he owed it to his own reality to do the same, rather than just jumping ship. Unless there were so little left that it didn’t matter… but what could possibly cause something like that?

He knew he wouldn’t like finding out.

They found the wormhole platform in a back corner of the warehouse with boxes piled on top of it. It didn’t look particularly secure to Tony, but Hill went and checked a panel in the wall, then nodded and turned to talk to the group.

“This is normally guarded by an infra-red laser grid,” she explained, and pointed at a bank of windows overhead. “It’ll fire stun wires at you and then summon a dozen or so agents from the guard houses upstairs and on both sides. Are you absolutely confident they’ll know who you are?”

“Yes,” said Tony. “And based on what was happening in my reality when I left, I don’t even know if they’ll still be at their posts.”

His double pulled one of the boxes off the pile and peeked into it – it was, for whatever reason, full of blue and white 80’s kitchenware – then set it aside on the floor and looked the platform over. “That’s it?” he asked.

He had a point. It wasn’t a terribly impressive-looking thing. The device was quite literally a platform, with steps up to it and conduits around the edge. The only high-tech bit was the set of connectors designed to draw on the tesseract. Rather than a physical Faraday cage like the mesh in the suits, the activated platform would surround itself in an electromagnetic field that behaved the same way, distributing the energy to create a contained wormhole. It didn’t help that the equipment was scorched and slightly melted from the sheer quantity of power that had been forced through it by Loki. The demigod’s shadow was literally burned into the platform, and Tony wasn’t sure he liked the idea of standing in those footsteps.

“We’ll have to apply the tesseract in two bursts with different resonant frequencies,” Foster said. “That’ll put you in Reality D, then send you on to A, without disturbing the robot-builders in C. Theoretically.”

“Theoretically.” Miss Potts folded her arms over her chest and frowned, clearly not liking the word much. “What happens practically if it doesn’t work? Does Arno end up in Reality C with his enemies? Are more of those robots going to come through?”

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted, then had to add, “I already told you, my name’s not Arno.”

“Yeah, but we already have a Tony,” she pointed out.

Foster hefted Mjolnir, and her clothes transformed back into Asgardian armor, lightning briefly crackling over her. “I’ll get the robot,” she promised, voice echoing.

“What about you?” Miss Potts asked Tony.

“I’ll improvise,” he said. “I’m good at it.”

She was still unhappy. “I don’t want you to have come all this way just to get hurt on your own doorstep,” she said. “After all, somewhere out there is another one of me who’s depending on you.” She smiled fondly, and Tony returned the expression without even thinking about it. He’d heard that note in Pepper’s voice before. That was the way she sometimes talked about him when she didn’t know he was listening.

“She’ll be glad to have me back safe and sound,” Tony assured her. “And if I’m not, I’m sure she can come to my rescue.” She’d done it before, after all – Pepper had saved him from Stane, she’d gotten Hammer locked up, she’d kicked Killian’s ass… no wonder Rescue was the name of her superhero alter-ego. It was perfect for her.

“Good to know she’s on top of things,” said Miss Potts with a nod.

Tony’s instincts told him to kiss her, but he didn’t – she wasn’t his Pepper, and her Tony was standing just a few yards away, moving boxes with a sullen expression on his face. Tony had to shake his head a little when he saw the guy. Hopefully someday he’d grow a spine and just kiss her on a rooftop as was meant to be.

They cleared the platform, and then Foster, still in her guise as Thor, stood on top of it and summoned the Bifrost. It touched down in a roar of psychedelic colours, overlaying Loki’s scorched footprints with its own intricate patterns. There was the Odinson, holding an object that looked like a smaller version of the crystal tube Thor and Loki had taken the tesseract home in. This had a small crystal in the middle, pulsing with blue light.

“Oh, good,” said Foster. “I’ll have to thank him next time I drop in.”

“I’ve already done so myself,” Odinson replied, “but you know he likes to see you.”

Tony and his counterpart took the container and carefully connected it to the wormhole platform, with a bare minimum of speaking to each other. It was obvious that the other was still jealous, and Tony found himself very troubled by that idea. He was used to people telling him they were jealous of his lifestyle, of his money, his brains, and his superhero hobby – but they didn’t know any better. They didn’t know what each of those things had cost him. The idea that another one of him would feel the same way seemed all wrong.

So as they finished up, Tony brushed off his hands on his pants and told his double, “you’re a lucky guy, you know.”

The other glared at him. “Now you’re patronizing me.”

“No, I’m not,” Tony said. “You might not have some of the stuff I do, but you also don’t have to live with some of the things I’ve done.”

“And you don’t know a damned thing about what I’ve done,” the other said.

#fanfic #tony stark #iron man

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harrison-abbott · 3 years ago

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SWITCH AND STARTLE VERSUS THE SOUND

The alarm starts shrieking. They haven’t heard it in a long while and it makes almost all of them jump; moods switch and startle versus the sound. Somebody drops a cup of coffee in the staff room and the cup goes bursting across the floor alongside a lukewarm brown and the colleague blushes and runs to the corner to where the brush and dustpan is and begins brushing the china up and then he mops it and he’s quite lax about it all because he doesn’t think there is actually a fire on. He thinks it’s just a drill. There is a fire on. Engaging, rather. It’s just that only a handful of people in the basement know about it. The basement where the cleaners work and this is quite a big building and the flames have erupted in quite a freakish fashion and it’s actually happening.

(One of the tumble dryers where the cleaners dry the uniforms exploded. Literally. Albeit the explosion was quite soft and did not seem like gunpowder and only one of the ladies was there when it happened and nor did it look that impressive. It just stopped working and kind of died, with this sloggy cough, and then this smoke started pumping out of its innards. And she, the lady, was slow in reacting and she ran through to get her friends to see what’d happened and by the time they got altogether in the room the tumbler was now prickling with flames; small licky flames orange and purple. And, umm, they panicked. And sought about looking for a fire extinguisher. There was no such item on this basementgroundzero floor. They looked about feverishly, amongst the old machinery and the general mess of the arena and it took them minutes to realise the situation and then one of them, one o the male cleaners, ran upstairs to the first floor and found a long red canister o chemical foam and ran back downstairs with it and got into the washingmachine/tumbler room and he had to stop at the door because it was pumping with smoke and it whacked his tonsils. … He coulda been a hero but he was too scared. As were all the others. So instead he dropped the canister and hit the FIRE ALARM button. Was kinda fun smashing the glass. Exhilarating would be a better word. Then they all ((the lil gabble of cleaners, five folks in total)) ran up stairs to the other colleagues, who had just been struck by the alarm, and began telling them what happened, and one of them yelled, “Somebody call 999!”)

This is indeed a large building.

There are over seventy employees and 95% of them still don’t know that there is an actual fire alight downstairs and that it’s gaining confidence. And so they’re mostly pissed off that they have to slug outside and wait in the cold October day, and it’s raining too so they get their coats and umbrellas. Why would the Boss randomly do an Alarm check at this time, a busy Friday afternoon?

About five miles away in the city the fire brigade receive a telephone call and they hear a panicky woman. She’s tricky to make out. They’ve been lazy all day, all week actually, and this actually sounds quite serious and they all refuse to admit that they get excited as they rollick into the engine/truck/vehicle and roll out into town ready to confront a blaze.

Back in the office building the folks are gradually learning that this is a serious situation and the security men are heading up to the upper halls to tell as many as they can that this is NOT a drill and that they need to get out, fast. The security men feel important for once, necessary, and they like it, despite being scared themselves. … Downstairs the flames reach the bundle of towels and uniforms in the basket by the main door which have already been dried, in said tumblers, and haven’t been taken upstairs yet, and when the fire gets them they erupt happily and the whole thing takes a new course, twists a heightened direction and the flames begin to flirt with the ceiling and the walls and they have this infamous insular coating, the inner materials of the walls, which are highly flammable because this place was built fifty sixty years back when the architects weren’t meaning to be malicious and were only naïve.

The designated ‘fire-drill area’ is in a corner of the car park which is fairly close to the street and a supermarket on the corner of said street. All of these colleagues are now congregating in the carpark and on the street the customers come out of the supermarket and they wonder wtf is happening and they ogle and twitch their eyes about and then a fire engine hurtles into view and volume fairly impressively and the bystanders stop and wait around to see what’ll happen because they’re curious … As are the workers. There is a perverse delight in all this. And before (all this) the floors between them, those who worked on different floors, were all a bit shifty and suspicious and rude to one another, but now they are all friends and feel like they could be in a movie and they’re trading tales and bartering info and it’s all a nice great break from work.

When the firemen race into the building with their equipment, it’s the best bit.

They stay in there for quite some time. By now perhaps 150 have amassed on the street. (The reporters will be here fairly soon; somebody will have made a call: a hack will turn up gleefully soon.)

Then the firemen come out and the expressions are awful. And nobody can see what’s up with the building block – it all looks so normal.

The police are already on the scene, by the way. The narrator should have mentioned already. And the firemen speak with the police and none of the civilians can here what’s being discussed, they only watch on and wonder. And then the policemen come down to the civilians and tell them to evacuate the area, get away from this carpark, it’s not safe here. There are many cops, telling them what to do, and they have harsh urgent voices and it’s best to obey them. There is no direct order of where to go, but they must bail. And that they do. There will be no riot today. Universal confusion. No unit is quite in control. On you go. And as they do move there is the thespian/movielike/gung-ho entrance of a new fire engine, fleeting up to the area, followed by sister vehicle behind that, all in the nice October rain and its sky comfily darkening.

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gabriellapatterson-blog · 7 years ago

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insidethegiftbasket · 4 years ago

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Stats Club 101 - Counting and Basic Rates

Evan’s Note: Hey, look at this! Another new contributor. We’re growing faster than Ortiz’s ass after the steroid needle hits it. Anyway, everyone say hi to AJ and yeah, go ahead and make another one more when you bring cupcakes to class next week.

———

While Evan, Sam, and now Julio are breaking down players and series previews, I’ll be focusing on the NUMBERS! and SCIENCE! that surround baseball. Before you even think about yawning, let’s be clear: you’re a baseball fan. You do like those things in this context; you just don’t realize it. Hopefully I can help demystify the decimals and acronyms and spinning and launching, making it a little less scary and giving you a new perspective with which to think and talk about our beloved sport.

First up: The first installment of a dive into baseball statistics.

———

It’s no surprise: baseball is numbers-heavy. Likely because it can be mostly described by discrete and well-defined events, baseball lends itself to digits upon digits upon digits. The spectrum of fan acceptance of this spans from those developing modern sabermetrics, to those who blame the Inevitable and Imminent Downfall of the Sport (100+ years and counting!) on anything outside of “traditional” stats. In-between you have everyone else: fans who don’t care either way; those who care a little either way; those who want to understand but find it all so damn intimidating; and even those who think they get it but carry major misconceptions (looking at you, r/baseball and your abuse of ‘regression’).

Well regardless of where you sit, Welcome to Stats Club! We’re gonna take a close look at the classes of baseball metrics, where they come from, and how to interpret them. Before we kick things off you should know of a few key rules:

The first rule of Stats Club is: Stats are not bad.

The second rule of Stats Club is: Stats are not bad!!

But seriously, statistics are tools. Saying a specific stat is fundamentally bad because it doesn’t tell you something it wasn’t designed for is like saying a screwdriver sucks because it can’t hammer nails. The formula is what it is: what’s potentially bad are the inferences you draw from it.

For example, suppose I make a measurement that is the total number of apples and oranges in my fruit basket: I call it 'wAO’. It’s very specific, sure, but it’s still carrying information. And although it only counts those two fruits directly, you may be able to infer what’s happening with the rest of my fruit supply if you know how much my basket can hold; e.g. a low wAO may mean I have bananas and kiwis too. But if you’re wrong, that’s not the fault of wAO. Rather, your methodology is flawed by not accounting for your own assumptions. Keep this in mind as we step through baseball statistics, especially when we get into sabermetrics.

A third thing to be aware of is: unless stated otherwise, baseball stats are not predictive. They are records of the past, and we assume things will stay mostly the same going forward. But this is an assumption, and depending on what we’re talking about it can be a pretty bold one.

Part I. The Counting Stats

<Hits, home runs, RBIs, strikeouts, innings pitched, etc…>

Ah, it’s the most basic category: the stuff you can literally count. Counting stats get scoffed at because of how simple they are, but they’re at the core of everything that follows. After all, you can’t build a model of player production without having raw data to throw into your equations.

As I mentioned earlier, baseball is a nice sport from a statistics perspective because it can be almost completely described by counting stats, which are descriptions of discrete events. A batter does or doesn’t reach base; a pitcher either gets a strikeout on 3-2 or he does not; and so on. Compare to, say, soccer, where it’s not so easy to cleanly describe and quantify the details of player performance.

I say almost completely described because fielding remains a challenge. Errors are an attempt, but errors are a divisive counting stat because they’re uncharacteristically subjective for baseball. Like with soccer where we’re trying to measure continuous and complicated events, advanced analytics are really the only way to quantify fielding in any detail. But we’ll save that discussion for a later post.

Part II. The Rate Stats

Counting’s great, but raw numbers can get large and unwieldy and difficult to interpret. We solve this by normalizing them, i.e. dividing the count by some standard unit. Then we get a rate, or measure of how often something has occurred (remember: baseball stats are not inherently predictive). BA is the rate of hits per official at-bats; OBP is the rate of reaching base—hits and walks and hit-by-pitch—per plate appearance; and so on.

For pitchers, Earned Run Average (ERA) is earned runs per inning pitched times nine, which just scales the rate to an entire 9-inning game. There’s also Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched (WHIP) which says what it is right in the name. On baseball-reference you’ll find SO9 and HR9, which are strikeouts and homeruns per inning, respectively, also times nine for the same scaling as ERA (for whatever reason pitchers get their rates expressed as whole numbers while hitters are stuck with fractions).

Let’s illustrate the first two rules of Stats Club by looking at the much maligned BA. It’s perfectly reasonable to measure how often a batter reaches base via a hit. Hits are exciting! There’s a crack of the bat, the ball goes into play, and the fielders scamper to unsuccessfully throw the ball in before the batter-turned-runner can reach. Not to mention, making contact with a small 90mph projectile and placing it where it can’t be fielded may be the hardest thing to do in all of sports, so getting a hit is always an impressive feat.

But none of this is to say hits are the only things that matter. If you’re trying to get on base you don’t really care how you do it, and from that perspective a walk is just as beneficial as a single (even if Nick Johnson’s knowledge of the strike zone is slightly less dramatic than a clutch Gio Urshela double down the line). Thus the problem is not in BA being what it is, but rather in old-school baseball minds deciding it is the be-all, end-all of offensive measures. So definitely celebrate high batting averages, but don’t use it to definitively say one player is better than another. There are more appropriate tools for that.

Part IIa. OPS and Other Fun Rates

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) is technically a rate, but it’s unique because it rather unceremoniously—but somehow very comfortably—smashes two other rates together: OBP, and the intimidatingly named SLUGGING PERCENTAGE (SLG), which is bases per at-bat.

The idea behind adding the two is straightforward. In baseball you want to generate runs. And you do this by either getting on base or by hitting the ball so you get a lot of bases. Hey, that’s OBP and SLG! So if we add the two together we get a number that kinda captures a player’s rate of run creation. Hence, OPS.

There was a time when I ignored the first two rules of Stats Club and hated this number. Since the same hit is captured in both OBP and SLG, isn’t it double counting? And wait a second, OBP and SLG have different denominators; you can’t just add them! But as I went through my career I realized I was overthinking it: OPS is fine. Between 9am and 5pm on weekdays I’d call OPS a basic heuristic. A heuristic is a broad concept: it refers to any good-effort way to get a solution or estimate to a problem. Heuristics are explicitly not meant to be optimal or perfect: they just need to be justified by the designer. And OPS can be justified! Aside from the conceptual idea of run creation, it can be shown that OPS tracks with—and even has some level of prediction for!—actual runs scored. So there you go.

But be aware that even given that, we’re still inferring things about run creation from OPS. Inferences still rely on assumptions and interpretations and there was a desire to get more precise. Stats guys wanted a more refined tool to directly measure production. One of these tools is called weighted on base average (wOBA), but we’ll discuss that later when we dive into advanced metrics.

Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) is another fun one. BABIP also has its description in its name: it’s like BA, but instead of hits per at-bats, it’s hits per balls-in-play (i.e. it ignores strikeouts and HRs). BABIP is used to gauge the statistical un/likehood of a hitter’s performance. The logic is as follows:

Major league ballplayers have a baseline level of fielding skill. That is, there are zones in which any competent player should be able to field a ball and record an out. That means there are also zones where that fielder won’t be able to make a play, and thus the batter—if he places it there—will get a hit.

Given all that, we can expect a ball in play to be a hit about 30% of the time. If a hitter’s BABIP is far below .300, the implication is that fielders are making spectacular plays. And since spectacular plays are spectacular for a reason, the hitter is probably getting “unlucky”. Or perhaps he’s hitting into crazy shifts. Either way, a good hitter will adjust his approach and/or benefit from defenses being less spectacular. As a result, the expectation is that in due time he will see his BABIP regress upward towards .300. And if his BABIP goes up, so will his BA.

On the other hand, if a BABIP is far above .300, it implies the hitter is getting lots of bloop hits, which he certainly isn’t planning. Or maybe he’s beating defensive alignments, which any competent defense will recognize and adjust to. Whatever the reason, we’d expect his BABIP to regress down towards .300, accompanied by a drop in BA.

(BIG NOTE: Player skill is a factor here too! Elite hitters will be better at finding those gaps and can maintain a BABIP of around .350, while the worst hitters may sit as low as .260. If we know a player’s true BABIP after seasons of playing, we can have a good guess of how his BA may trend based on BABIP.)

For a while BABIP was THE indicator of statistical un/likelihood (or un/luckiness). This is why we curse the BABIP gods when one of our guys is “robbed” or when a team--probably the Rays or mid-aught Angels--bloops us to death. But thanks to Statcast, BABIP has been given a partner. Because Statcast logs everything about batted balls, we can, in real time, know exactly how often that type of contact (launch angle, exit velocity, etc.) has resulted in a hit vs. an out. No more inferences required! You know this stat as expected batting average (xBA). But more on that later.

Remember: Stats Are Not Bad. This is some cool synergy between classic rates and new-age Statcast. Use xBA for real-time analysis, but turn to BABIP when trying to project long-term trends.

Part IIb. Time to Normalize…Again!

Rate stats exist to make counting stats more readable, but it’s still not obvious what rate is a good rate. This is something you had to learn when you first got into baseball: you weren’t born with the knowledge that a .330 BA may win the batting title, or that a 5.36 ERA for a starter is disappointing. Rate stats are a useful tool but they don’t tell if a rate is what you want.

Enter the “pluses”, mainly OPS+ for hitters and ERA+ for pitchers. These are essentially the raw rates normalized by the league average rate, times 100 (so it’s not a fraction) with a few other adjustments. This gives a direct comparison to everyone else in the league over that period of time. If a pitcher has an ERA+ of 101 it means he’s in the middle of the pack, whereas an ERA+ of 205 means he’s 100% better than the league average pitcher. Similarly, an OPS+ of 90 says a hitter’s inferred run production is 10% worse than the rest of the league. The pluses are my favorite to look at because they’re nice clean numbers that quickly provide a lot of information.

Baseball-reference iterates on this with tOPS+ for player splits. This is the player’s OPS for that split, e.g. the month of April, normalized by his OPS for the entire year. This lets you quickly check out fluctuations over months, counts, and other situations.

Ok, two caveats here. First, the pluses are also adjusted by a “park factor”, which is a number that describes how pitcher- or hitter-friendly a stadium is. If two pitchers have the same ERA but one plays in an extreme hitters park, he will have a higher (i.e. better) ERA+ because the park factor adjustment accounts for how he has to work harder.

Secondly, because of how OPS+ is calculated—it actually sums what you could call OBP+ and SLG+—an OPS of 90 doesn’t exactly mean 10% worse than league average OPS. That’s why, in the example above, I said 10% worse run production instead. And now we’re bordering on more abstract concepts that may require additional tools to describe...

———

--And that is a good place to end today’s lesson. To recap: we started with counting to collect raw baseball data, and then we normalized those counts to get rates. To easily compare those rates we normalized again, but with a twist: to be a fair comparison we needed to adjust for the quirkiness of the various ballparks. And that’s not exactly something you can just count. You need a model, and more specifically, a model that checks out.

Furthermore, what about our sharper version of OPS? How do we more accurately and directly measure run production? And since errors are a weirdly subjective stat, and because hits themselves depend somewhat on defense, is there a way to meaningfully evaluate a pitcher’s performance while somehow ignoring hits and runs?

The search for answers to these questions gave rise to the advanced metrics, or “Sabermetics”. wOBA, FIP, WAR and others are newer heuristics that use the history of baseball stats to develop models of performance. Next time we’ll dissect a few of these to better understand what exactly they’re telling us.

— Extra Credit —

< A place for footnotes and other remarks for the nerdiest nerds >

Throughout all this I’m going to use the statistics meaning of regression, which means a trend. The concept of regression towards the mean refers to trending towards a true average. It does NOT mean “To arbitrarily get worse”! Baseball fans routinely mess this up and it leads to very bad analysis! Much more on that later.

Isolated Power (ISO) is a rate like SLG, but it only counts doubles, triples, and HRs and gives them weights of one, two, and three, respectively (It can also be calculated as SLG minus BA). As you can guess from its name and its components, it’s a heuristic used to capture power hitting.

Here’s a fun quirk. A player’s OBP is always higher than his BA, right? Not necessarily! Check it out:

Two players with identical BAs for this game but very different OBPs. What’s happening here? It’s the sac flies! Since SFs count as a plate appearance but obviously not as getting on base, they go into the denominator of OBP but not the numerator. So if a player has more SFs than BBs, it won’t affect his BA but it will bring down his OBP. Of course, no actual major league player should have more sac flies than walks over any meaningful period of time, so this is mostly an early season quirk.

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