#40 is the max level btw

[lovebugdotcom]

Had a nightmare last night that the next floor of Arcana Twilight came out but you had to be level 80 to access it 💀

[thawthebeez]

something that's genuinely kinda fucked up about figure skating is that no matter what, even if they skate the exact same program (same elements, same goe's, same pc's, everything), a woman will never be able to get the same score as a man. it is literally rigged in the man's favour.

[kittykatinabag]

The amount of quiet seethe I had today in my Hades runs is quite a bit.

My best run tonight was less than 10 hits away from what would have been my first clear. Two other runs tonight got to the top as well. I'm finally not dying immediately once I get to Elysium. Hell, my best run didn't even use a death defiance until the final battle, a personal record!

Yet, I get too impatient in the last 10% of health and take greedy risks.

And thus, there is no escape.

[thegreatyin]

on an extremely related note, for no reason whatsoever:

the scoundrel is finally continuing their Epic Discordance Adventures™!

good news: if caeru ever completes evolution i know exactly which advanced destiny im gonna go for

bad news:

[blubushie]

is it accurate to hc sniper as having a lot of junk orrrrr?

Uh.

Explanation under the cut so this doesn't take up a bunch of room in the TF2 tag (sorry folks).

There is NOT much space in here. My camper is a '78 btw, Sniper's is a '68 at the youngest which makes it even more cramped.

Also it very much depends on the size of the junk?

If you've been here more than a week you might remember me mentioning something about a GVW/GVWR—"gross vehicle weight" or "gross vehicle weight rating". This is how much weight a vehicle can carry while still maintaining its factory-level performance. LEGALLY, YOU CANNOT OPERATE A VEHICLE OVER ITS WEIGHT RATING. People do it anyway, but it is ILLEGAL and will void any manufacturer's warranty as well.

Now, if we're getting TECHNICAL, cars can take quite a bit over their rating. The rating is just for how well a car can operate in "extreme conditions"—ie, how well it can be controlled while driving over things like ice or rough terrain. By Ford's standards, the max weight that Mattie can bear while still operating reliably to manufacturer-guaranteed standards is 7500#. But if we're being technical, that is a VERY LOW ESTIMATE. Car manufacturers rate them low to avoid liability if someone puts the load higher and loses control. Technically, a '68 F250 alone can handle anywhere from 4000#-5500# in the tray without damage. With Mattie being a Camper Special, she's rated on the further end of that range. So while I won't damage her with my crap, I WOULD be operating a vehicle illegally.

And sure, there's a lot of road laws I don't give a shit about, but I obey them anyway cuz actions have consequences and I like having a driver's licence.

Tilly, the camper alone–

–Weighs 2400# dry. Mattie, the truck you see in the photo, has a GVWR of 7500#. Mattie herself weighs in at around 4100#. This brings the current total weight to 6500#, 1000# under the GVWR. But when you fill up the water tanks in Tilly fully, this bumps our total weight up to 3204# wet.

This gives us a difference of only 196# for the weight of my body (~130#), the weight of Misty (~40#), my clothes (~5#), my food (??, at least ~30# in tinned goods), and any equipment I have, like my rifle (~9#)—which would bring us over the limit.

So I don't fill my water tanks fully. I only keep things I NEED unless the difference is nonlegible (like a lucky coin in my wallet).

All this is to say that no, I don't reckon Sniper would have a lot of junk. He wouldn't risk damage to his vehicle by overbearing it, or risk his Good Driver status by ending up with a revoked licence for overbearing. He might have some bits and bobs stashed away in a lockbox somewhere, but he'd keep the total weight of them fairly low.

Also—telling you right now, wall decor does not last. That shit WILL fall off. The wall decor you see in the photo? Yeah that's hotglued in. And I still have to hotglue it in every few months again. I've tried those sticky frames and shit, nothing works against the bounciness of outback—or California—roads. It's a bitch! Keep in mind that Sniper would have to completely clean off everything on his countertops and stove and put them away in his cabinets in order to not have shit go flying everywhere. Which makes lack of storage even worse, lol

[maxemilianver]

WELCOME to the new trend of hating Max with excuses because you are a tiktok clown to admit that you hate the guy straight up! I literally saw this tiktok and you dont even need to take a second look at the comments to see that she is not "missing" cold celebrations, she just miss lewis winning and seb being on the grid and only added alonso for diversity (she probably didnt even exist when alonso was winning btw LOL)

Literally what a stupid shit to say and defend yourself with literally knowing that Max gets shit for everything he does, the guy is getting called arrogant for being confident and talented and you want him to emote every single week for what? For YOUR entertainment purposes? THE GUY YOU CLEARLY HATE? You want him to entertain YOU? I hate to use the DTS fan term as an insult, but this is what a DTS fan would say, i thought we were watching CARS RACE. anyways.

I usually do not comment on these things but the levels of passive nastiness fuelled me. Like go into the comments and she is literally hating Max straight up and saying that he should "celebrate" his every single 40 wins (he has 45 btw) because she simply wants him to. She is acting like she wouldnt hate his guts if he emoted like an npc after every single win. And then when someone confronted her with saying that Max gets way too much hate for simply winning, she literally says it didnt stop lewis. Then goes to comment about Max having no passion.

Honestly this made me so mad because like just say that you hate Max winning. Easy. Everyone says that. You dont need to find 38944748 excuses to hate the guy. What a clown.

[random-twst-things]

do u know what level crafter gauntlet open? I did searching yet find nothing like literally so i kinda clueless here

I hate how unclear some of the instruction are smh, I wish they make the tut much more detailed cus Im dumb and slow af

also please do share some tips for beginner I literally crying screaming throwing up ripping my hairs off over here cause I didnt understand a single shi

thxxxx and have a nice day btw🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻😘😘😘💕💕💕

- 🦙

The Crafter Gauntlet is unlocked at Room Rank 3!!!

I totally understand what you mean though, I had so much trouble trying to understand the game mechanics as a beginner 😭😭

I researched a bit and added a few of my own tips for beginners, hope this helps! 🩷✨

Some tips I can share for beginners would be:

Send and accept friend requests: When going into battle you're able to use their cards. Some of those friends could have some really useful cards to use. I've had many instances where a card from a friend that I needed really helped.

Do not skip events: Many events can give you valuable resources and materials. These events may not give SSR Rank cards but they will give you an R Rank or SR Rank card if you participate in them. They give gems, thaumark and keys and other useful materials.

Save your gems: The game is playable in f2p and gives a normal amount of gems to do so, but do save your gems and don't waste them unless you really want or need a card. When it comes to Sam's shop there is a set that comes with 10 magical keys and is only 250 gems though it's only available once a month. By buying this set, it does save you a few gems. A normal 10 pull is 309 gems.

Team: When it comes to forming your team I recommend teaming them up based on the cards Duo Magic and Buddy Level. Train the cards that you would like, level them up and team them up based on Duo Magic/Buddy Level. The Characters give each other important boosts during battles based on their buddy level and could be a great help.

Lesson's: History lessons grant EXP that contributes to the cards level. The additional rewards are "Blooming Honey". Flight lessons grant EXP that contributes to the cards vignette level. The additional rewards are "Snacks". Alchemy lessons help increase the Buddy Level of cards, additional rewards are "Alchemy Tokens" and spell upgrades.

Card Ranks: Three different types of Rank cards. A R Rank card has a max level of 40 that can be extended to 60. A SR Rank card has a max level of 60 that can be extended to 80. A SSR Rank card has a max level of 80 that can be extended to 100.

When TWST allows you to pick a card to start the game, these are some beginner cards lots of people and I recommend (their info in there as well):

Riddle Dorm uniform – Highest ATK.

Leona Dorm Uniform – Highest HP.

Trey Dorm Uniform – High DEF and great healing.

Cater Ceremonial – His power boost is very good during the early game.

Rook Labwear – Decent HP and attack which helps beginners.

Malleus Ceremonial Robes – Gives power boost.

Card's: I recommend leveling and upgrading your cards one at a time. You want to upgrade all the cards or at least a few cards in each element. By doing this you can have a pretty big upper hand when doing battles because elementary bonuses play a pretty role in the game.

Tests: You should do these and try them as much as you do with the lessons. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know how much of a help doing these would have and didn't do them. Doing tests can give you interesting and good things when you get good results. They also help train your cards faster.

I really hope this can help you on your gameplay and journey for Twisted Wonderland!! ✨🍬

I can always go into more detail or add more things if they still seem a bit hard to understand 🫶🏽✨

[lord-pigeon]

The thing you're not getting about why genshin is worse is because events are not meant to be the primary source of quartz in fgo. It comes from your weekly log in, live streams, 50 day ten pull, ascending servants to their second last ascension, story quests, free quests and the ten quartz you get from doing ten of them, rank up and interludes and the quartz you also get for doing ten of those, and special occasions like anniversary and new year. If you do ten rank ups you get a ten pull and you can do this in maybe an hour or two, now try grinding a ten pull in genshin. It'll be a lot more time investing and taxing considering you're just pressing buttons in fate. Also genshin's odds are just lower and it bleeds whales way harder by making constellations do more than just damage and they make modern 4 stars suck without them. Yes genshin has a better pity but that isn't the be all end all, you need to get 5 copies to max a 5 star in fate where as genshin its 6 AND 5 copies of their weapons. I could keep going on about ways that it's worse all day long, especially when genshin has way more micro transactions and predatory practices like battlepasses and resin but take that fate is worse is utterly baffling tbh

Oh boy let's get into the math here because this is where the fun begins.

Don't get me wrong, I'll never defend Genshin's dogshit practices, but I have a personal grudge against FGO fans sucking on it when it's literally the bastard of the mainstream bunch. This argument is me pitting garbage against garbage to say which one is stinkier.

This gonna be long so I'm putting this under a cut:

Alright FGO dailies list (I'll use NA for FGO, since Genshin is a global server schedule):

Day 2=1 SQ, Day 4=1 SQ, Day 6=2 SQ and Day 7=Ticket (3 SQ equivalent)

Total: 7 SQ

Needed for a tenfold: 30 SQ

Weeks needed for a tenfold via Log-In alone: 4 weeks and 4 days. 32 days total.

It should be noted that if you miss a single day, it resets from the very start. You must log in no matter what. It might take but a few moments, but note, you have to.

Genshin dailies list:

10 Primos per Comm/action, total of 40, and a 20 Primo bonus for turning into Katherine

Total: 60 Primos

Needed for tenfold 1600 Primo

Weeks needed for a Log-In alone: 26 days total.

Genshin's big detriment is that while you never lose your place, you need to spend time on Commissions. It can be anywhere from 5-10 minutes, which is a bit of a serious timesink. It's a bit better with the Fontaine update but it's still a pain in the ass for those on the go.

Alright, but Lord, that's just raw Log-In, what about monthlies?

Monthlies are the same, since both give you 5 tickets/fates to use. Genshin is at the disadvantage here since you need to spend the stardust you get from summoning on it, but Fate also requires you to spend Mana Prisms. Fundamentally similar, it's just that Fate wins out by the small margin Mana Prisms are slightly easier to obtain.

What about pity?

Eat my ass, Fate's pity system just happened cause they were getting this ass beat monetarily and they gave up and did a base-tier QOL update. Six FUCKING years we waited for pity and its over 900 SQ??? ((330 pulls btw))

I saved a whole year and a half back for Musashi's inital release and I just barely had that shit. And that was events, dailies, so on and so forth. (I got her in three tickets so nobody come at me with the fact I'm just a bitter old bird who didn't get my cute girl.)

While there's the 50/50 mechanic with Genshin, that levels the idea of 180, and that's going to hard-hard pity. No matter what, you can, and will, at least get the character you want.

Now what if we include Weapon Banner, since people assume Weapons+Characters *must* go together rather than it just being BIS and disregarding the completely different game mechanics of turn-based FGO and action rpg Genshin (<bitter).

Weapon Hard Pity is 240 pulls. You get a Fate Point for 80 pulls if you don't get your directed weapon, and you get another one if you get screwed again. Two Fate Points guarantees the next 80 is what you want.

Now, that might equal 420 pulls, but there's a catch few people acknowledge: Soft Pity.

Genshin has a system that, the closer you get to that hard pity, the higher the rate goes up. Therefore, it's not often someone actually goes to the hard 80 or 90. I'm just using the hard numbers as a point.

FGO is a hard pity, nothing about the rates changes from Summon 1 to Summon 330. Plus no guarantee you actually even get something from those 330 pulls--at least in Genshin you get a Basic Banner character who has some measure of utility you can use to make progress.

Also FGO pity doesn't carry per banner, but Genshin's does, so if you get fucked over and wanna wait a few months, you have another shot instead of wasting all of it cause you got close but no cigar.

But what about upgrades? Constellations?

NP-bonuses are rather minor and not as key as say, Xiao C1 or Hu Tao C1, so FGO has the edge there. However, that leads me to the side point of:

Weapons.

Reasonably, everyone talks about how the 3-star weapons suck, yadda yadda. You get so many weapons from the game as welfare that are good and can be used by multiple characters. You don't need a 5-star weapon, just because you aren't hitting 300k a hit doesn't mean shit.

Genshin has a lot more versatility in team building than FGO tbh, since a lot of FGO's boils down to "Do you have Merlin/Skadi/Chen Gong/Waver/Tamamo/Castoria/Support Caster.png" that you can then use with any other character.

Not saying Genshin doesn't have that too with Qinqiu and Bennett, but due to the nature of Spiral Abyss, people have gotten smart about using others instead of just them cause it's a split up team system.

Citation: I didn't get a single 5-star Weapon until Year 2.5 of Genshin. Fun fact, I also didn't have a single DPS 5-star either (all I had since launch was Diluc and Venti), until fucking Cyno came out. I managed to play the game just fine.

Now in FGO NA, I was also there since Launch, and I didn't get my first SSR until the Solomon raids, in which I finally got Florence Nightingale. I was playing the game carried by Kiyohime, Salter, and throwing SQ at revives. And guides, christ, so many guides it made Arknights look elementary.

What about general SQ/Primo flow (the Anniversaries and whatnot mentioned)?

FGO, the year of 2023, had, according to a Reddit post which I can link if people want the source, is: 2571 SQ, tickets included.

This Reddit post involved Servant NP Ascension Quests, Events, Chunked Log-In Bonus, Live Streams, Bond Stuff, ect ect (also, stuff you can't do if you didn't roll them, the post was being generous with people getting what they rolled or had)

That is about 85.7 tenfolds. So, if you don't spend a penny and not miss a day of logging in, the average joe might get about 2, 3 hard pities on who they want. Presuming I'm doing the math right on that.

Genshin, in the year of 2022, had, according to another Reddit Post, roughly 100k Primogems.

That equals about 62.5 tenfolds, or over 620 Fates. Now, tossing that into the system with someone with the worst luck imaginable that wants a character, that's about the same amount of 3 to 4 guaranteed pities.

One might note that the numbers are about the same, and yeah, that checks. However, there's a lot of variables, such as Spiral Abyss for Genshin, and actually having the characters to do Interludes on.

Half-baked conclusion

FGO is a money sink, Genshin is a time sink. They both sink your serotonin. Nobody wins.

Look, I play both, I have grief with both, I have fond memories of both. I wouldn't have a stupid expensive Okada figurine sitting next to a custom Cyno plushie if I hated these games.

But they're gacha, they're both out for your money, it's just that one is just a raging cunt about the whole affair.

Reddit Post Citations:

[rakishhellion]

i just got all the achievements on neo twewy after weeks and heres some stuff i learned (no spoilers btw)

lets see

the one for being a frequent customer you get when that repeat option shows up on their menu

at tokyu hands you can trade 2 gem pins for another one, the pairs are rare metal and tektite, adamantite and orichalcum, and shadow and dark matter scarletite is an ultimate drop only

if you want to grind stats:

style - 300 cap (you only need 222) - air in a can (vegelovers - tower records)

attack - 500 cap - that spicy black ramen i forgot the name (suzu slurps - dogenzaka)

hp and defense - 999 and 500 cap respectively - tuna head (sby bbq - tipsy tose hall)

scramble slam sucks but heres how you get the rewards:

put the game on ultimate and reduce your level, you get more points this way

the way you get points is by doing beatdrop combos which means you need a lot of enemies that last

also theres a multiplier that goes up by 0,4x everytime you do a combo in battle up to a max 5x, save the enemy with the 3x until you max the multiplier

make the biggest chain you can with JUST ONE slam noise, thats enough to make the whole chain track points, also you can do chain battles with rival players too just let the noise get you then walk up to the player, once youre done, leave the area then come back so the noise respawn

anyways, equip the basic shockwave and force rounds pins so you slowly kill enemies, equip the rest of your party members with pins you want to grind just make sure they dont have x or y inputs

start attacking with shockwave, once the beatdrop circle shows up switch to force rounds only when its past half (delaying a pin gives it a bit of time to regen, enough to give you one extra full use), repeat the process with force rounds, you can make the most of the pins this way, its like, 5 uses of shock and 4 of rounds, a lot of combos

youre gonna make a fuckton of points this BUT chains are gonna be LONG AS FUCK, 40 minutes up to an hour, be warned

second slam is going to be a massive pain in the ass it took me 8 chains to do it (would be less if i remembered to reduce level)

theres a limited amount of the ion trade pins, theres a few you can miss, look it on gamefaqs i dont remember them, youre gonna need all of them for all the pins and threads

you cant get all the fp you need to complete the network by just doing quests and gold dives on regular days, youre gonna need some extra 15 points you get from a LONG dive in another day, its 10 rounds long and kinda hard, the last round is the worst, its two angry bears and a t rex noise (also angry) save a killer remix for this round, the t rex deals a fuckton of damage and if it eats one party member you wont survive the roar that comes next, watch out

hog healer and affinity weaknesses are your best friends for tough fights remember this

for the love of god grind pp on easy on another day, difficulty doesnt change the pp you get (i think the same applies to xp)

the noisepedia completion gives you a graffiti when you hit 80% but youre gonna need 100% for it to count on the save file complete percentage

ive seen ultimate shibuya hikarie w3d5 and ultimate cat street another day be recommended for money grinding but for the most part i disagree (bc i died often, you need high drop rates for these methods)

the way i do it is ultimate o-east w1d5, the chains last less than a minute and only give like 180 to 200 thousand yen, a lot less than the other methods but the short chains make up for it, this method is also good for grinding food (you do need to take the longest route for the tuna heads which can be infuriating considering the load times)

most secret reports are unlocked by defearting boss noise, 3 of them unlock by network completion, the last one only when you get all others, also boss noise respawn if you come back to the area so you dont have to redo the day like in og twewy

its safer to increase drop rate by threads than decreasing level remember that for annoying fights dont worry most abilities arent that good anyway (I NEVER GOT THAT ONE THAT SAVES YOU FROM A FATAL ATTACK TO WORK FUCK THIS GAME)

plague noise only show up on story fights so you cant chain them, go in with high drop rates, you fight almost all of them in quick succession in the day you have to go after that guy, w3d6 i think?

the last boss is the only boss noise you cant chain also for some reason you can soundsurf when it starts throwing balls at you, use that to get groove

for the superboss on another day i recommend using hog healer (to heal), fang defender (to protect yourself from its HIGHLY damaging dash attack wich you can also dodge, but i found it harder and using this pin fully heals you if you get it right), and a lot of pins you can use at once in an all out attack, if one party member gets attacked the other ones will keep going, i recommend using darkness pins since they can stun and pins with easy beatdrop conditions, use killer remixes only when the armor is up, most of the fight is dodging

just do the time trial on easy no one cares anyway

for the remind graffiti theres like one or two you can miss, again, look it up on gamefaqs bc i forgor💀

you dont need to get 100% drop for the worst fights, thats what killer remix is for, 75% is fine, its worse to make a long ass chain than it is to just do another fight

i need to explain how the killer remix drop rates work so heres how:

YOU DONT GET 0,5x PER PARTY MEMBER

thats why youre probably wondering why it isnt always 3x

the way it works is that you get a 0,5 per pin that has that little ready above it (thats what its for, i always wondered that) to get that ready you need to use that pin in a beatdrop combo either as the one that starts or the one that ends it

synergy abilities apply for the whole party strangely enough

theres a thread that gives you more time with pig noise, anyway brute forcing with killer remixes usually work no matter what

shiba is a toxic bottom

anyway thats all

as for what i think abt the game now that im DONE with it, love it honestly, and despite the fact it didnt meet sales expectations i think, im still hopeful for it, twewy survived bc it was so beloved by the devs i guess so theres that, also imagine if next games were on other cities famous for their urban culture that would be so fashion like

[goosetrainer]

Mari's Last Minute Tera Raid Guide # 11 - Empoleon

Ooof much trying, such fail. Found the solution tho, fear not :D I have a Florges set! Man I love Florges. Reminder that I can lend it via Home trading if needed

Apparently Skill Swap works in raids now. It wasn't always the case, right? I'm not going senile, right???

Florges lv.100

Tera type: Steel

Ability: any~

Item: Shell Bell

Nature: Modest (/Mild)

IVs: all max except attack and defense

EVs: 252 sp.atk., 252 sp. def., 4 HP

Moveset:

-Tera Blast (TM)

-Calm Mind (TM)

-Skill Swap (TM)

-Moonblast (level up) / Psychic (TM) / Energy Ball (TM)

Usage:

First things first: do yourself a favor and flee immediately if you see you have an NPC ally with Intimidate (Arcanine, Staraptor, Tauros).

Empoleon has an ability that raises his special attack twice every time his stats get lowered by the opponent, so you're very easily starting the battle with an enemy with +4 sp. atk. if you try it with Intimidate. Don't do it!

The same ability is the whole reason I'm bringing Skill Swap: I checked the NPC list and there's like. 3. Of them. That can't lower Empoleon's stats in any way, and that's a very small number and we do not want to lose our sanity resetting for them (if you DO want to lose your sanity, though, I won't stop you. They're Clodsire, Dudunsparce, and Heracross).

The max speed is needed to act asap and possibly before one of your allies tries a stat-lowering move; if that's not enough and you see Empoleon's Competitive being activated, again, flee. It's not worth it

The following strategy works pretty reliably, but the remaining time is very little. Do not lose too much time thinking and waiting.

The main reasons for failure are: Competitive activated at least once, time ran out, you got freezed, and failure to trigger both player stats resets soon enough (see below).

Now that the foreword is over, to the battle. Once you have non-Intimidating NPCs, mock that penguin's pitiful attempt at Blizzarding you (but flee if it freezes you...), then QUICKLY use Skill Swap. That'll take care of Competitive permanently! Congrats! You can forget about it now! 50% of the battle is done!

And now for the boring part. Florges have astronomical special defense, but they're still weak to Flash Cannon. Which is why we need the steel type tera btw. You ARE going to die, but not before the third turn. Until then, you're going to use the non-tera-blast damaging move (so, Moonblast/Energy Ball/Psychic), twice. (Re: choosing the move: Moonblast is more powerful because STAB, needs no TM, and has a chance of lowering the opponent's special attack; the other two are basically the same move but in different types, they have a chance of lowering the special defense instead. The secondary effect doesn't activate all too often anyway, so choose whatever. Energy Ball may be sliiiightly better than Psychic but only if you end up with Arboliva as an ally - it gets more powerful with Grass Field). Once you come back from the inevitable K.O., use the same move once more so that your tera orb is charged.

This is where you have to start keeping count of the moves you used: Empoleon resets your stats at 80% HP left and at 50% time left; they should happen very closely, but make sure you trigger both asap. Terastallize as you start using Calm Mind; 3 Calm Minds in a row and 2-3 Tera Blasts should be enough to reach the 80% HP treshold, while the time will pass regardless. The time-triggered one should activate first in my experience; you'll have to attack once or twice more to activate the second (it's not easy to see, but it should be slightly to the left of the mid-point between the left-most end of the shield and the 100% HP point).

Once you see the second player's reset (and probably Empoleon's stats reset too), you can start setting up again. The time bar should be at around 30-40% now, it may seem too little but should be enough. It's pretty straightforward from now on, 6x Calm Minds in a row (ideally you should not need to heal now) and then as many Tera Blasts as needed. The main difficulty now is that at some point, towards the end, Empoleon starts acting twice each turn; not too worrisome for your HP since you'll be beefed up by then, but it wastes precious time for nothing and there's a chance he'll use Ice Beam - which could freeze you. Just keep spamming A to attack and pray (I suggest putting Tera Blast in the first slot because of this).

I have won once with literally 0 time left, and once more with enough time bar to cover the clock symbol (so before you see the warning that the pokémon is collecting energy), so it's doable but may be scary. May need a couple of tries.

Also: I didn't pay too much attention to the NPCs except to avoid the ones with Intimidate, but if you're having a hard time you may want to reset some more for better ones: Sylveon has a move that can lower Empoleon's special attack; Umbreon, Drifblim, Arboliva, and Gardevoir can lower his special defense; Bellibolt can use Light Screen and paralyze even during the shield. If you need to go to these lenghts, I suggest checking the trick to keep the same NPCs for more than one raid, I should have the link in a past guide!

TL;DR: Skill Swap, Moonblast/Energy Ball/Psychic x2, die, Moonblast/Energy Ball/Psychic x1, terastallize, Calm Mind x3, Tera Blast x1-3, keep attacking until you're sure Empoleon reset your stat modifications TWICE, Calm Mind x6, Tera Blast xwhatever, be quick.

Pros:

-no DLC no version exclusives required

-any ability will do

-once you're terastallized you'll basically not die, very reliable

Cons:

-needs a tera type change

-lots of setting up + one inevitable K.O. will leave you very little time (unless you somehow manage to drop Empleon's special defense. I couldn't)

-you have to avoid some common NPCs

-crits and freezing are rare but can happen and they will ruin the entire run

I'll stop adding the screenshots because it's too many steps and I hope you guys believe me by now...

[oshygoshy]

all abt me!

⟡ my mbti type is infp, and my starsign in pisces

⟡ i prefer the moon and stars over the sun

⟡ i am a silver jewlery wearer

⟡ my fave color is gray - either a light blue gray or a dark stormy blue gray

⟡ my fave food is nachos

⟡ my fave milkis flavor is peach or apple

⟡ i play flute somewhat decently

⟡ some of my favorite songs? umm idk im indecisive, but i like the artist indigo la end, a little bit of jazz, mostly indie pop and rock according to spotify. or maybe destati from kingdom hearts?? i love orchestral osts and such probably bc im a band kid at heart but not. a weird one i promise okay?? or classical music?? super basic but la campanella like the piano ver, the last minute or so where it's played so intensely and pretty freely, i love hearing different interpretations of it? or maybe- [cut for length]

⟡ i love painting my nails and having long nails

⟡ im really into pokemon! i have a lot of favorite characters and pokemon; i love alolan and kantonian ninetales, glaceon, altaria, frosslass, lopunny, milotic, galarian ponyta, gardevoir...etc. just all the cute pokemon lol. and i love N (duh), cynthia, iris, arven, wallace, and steven. PROUD diantha defender.

⟡ some of my faves from genshin are probs kaeya, hu tao, and yae miko! c1 hu tao haver, PROUD c6 kaeya owner, and yae miko...well, she's a work in progress! i don't play much anymore and couldn't care less about the meta (NOT copium for my inability to 36 star btw). my favorite element is cryo! i am a mona and raiden wanter, but in reality? a c3 jean haver.

⟡ i also play hsr! my team rn is a (barely functioning) mono quantum team. i love seele and fu xuan sm, screw the meta i love pink and purple. my fu xuan is like level 60 rn with no light cone (whoops) and my seele is fully maxxed out from her first banner tho so i kindaaa need to work on my team...also i have no 2nd team for any of the late game content (literally all my funds went into the crappy mono quantum girlies) so it's just me and my level 40 gepard against the world

⟡ some of my faves from haikyuu is everyone!! thank u and good night they are just so squishy and cute i love them all dearly...i will say though that i am an unfortunate akaashi, suga, hirugami sachiro, and kenma kinnie. no do not ask abt my mental health we're working on it ok (denial)

⟡ my favorite series overall is probably haikyuu, it's just so coming of age and feel good and nostalgic EUGHAFAI i heart it so much

⟡ my fave movie is prooobably spirited away. maybe. i think.

[cashfire2003]

New health advice to everyone.

I'm removing most processed sugars and ultra-processed foods from my diet. These foods have been correlated with diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's. This doesn't mean I won't ever eat them but it does I'll avoid them as best as I can by opting for whole nutrient-dense food sources.

​

Training with weights using good form and progressive overload. Building strength and muscle in the upper and lower body is paramount to living a quality life into the later stage of life. I'd rather be the oldest person in the weight room than the youngest person in the nursing home.

​

Adding 2 types of cardiovascular training to my workout regime: Conversational cardio and High intensity cardio. I'm using these to improve my V02 max. Conversational cardio is a type of cardio that allows you to speak at a conversational pace. High-intensity cardio exercises (Sprinting or HIIT) that challenge your heart and lungs to their maximum capacity.

​

I will remind myself that a workout is only 1/24th of a day. I will aim to be active throughout the day rather than relying on my workouts. A great way to do this? Walking outside. Getting 8000 steps a day has been correlated with a 40% decrease in all-cause mortality and comes with incredible brain-boosting benefits.

​

I'm doing mobility drills every single day. Mobility training helps you develop healthy, strong, and functional joints while improving your capacity to move. If I'm going to live an active lifestyle I need to supplement it with mobility training.

​

I'm doing daily meditation for at least 5 minutes a day. This can be in the form of a sitting mindfulness meditation or a walking meditation. Meditation strengthens areas of your brain responsible for memory, learning, attention, and self-awareness. For me, it has been an incredible tool to lower my stress levels, decrease anxiety, and increase the pause between stimulus and response.

​

I will eat until I'm 80% full rather than aiming to be stuffed. This helps me limit calories and feel more energetic after a meal while putting me in touch with my signals of fullness. The more room I leave in the stomach the better I feel.

​

I will be optimizing for nutrient-dense sources of protein in my diet. If you're lifting or living an active life you need to keep, if not build, muscle. Muscle is one of the most important organs in your body. It helps us maintain balance and preserve bone density while enjoying vitality and independence in our latter stages of life. What helps us build muscle? Protein. I'm aiming for .8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight to be on the safe side.

​

I will be intentional in building a community of friends around me. The one constant I see with people who live long lives is strong relationships. In a world where it is so easy to be isolated, we need to get out and be with others. Aside from living longer, our relationships will act as the bedrock for a quality life. We weren't meant to live in isolation. We were meant to live with others so get out there and start reaching out.

​

I will work on my mental gym every single day. Something I realize with people who get older is that they split into 2 separate groups:

​

​Group 1 is where the vast majority of people go, which is to be more bitter and pessimistic about the world around them.

​

​Group 2 is less crowded. It's where they see the world as happening for them instead of to them. They remain positive and optimistic regardless of their circumstances. We are training this every single day whether you realize it or not. Btw the second group has been shown to live the longest. I know which one I'm choosing.

​

I will replace worry with perspective. Worrying is wasted energy. It does nothing for us other than draw us deeper into the depths of the things we fear. I won't fight worry but replace it with perspective. Perspective helps us shape reality in a way that serves us. It can help us see the other side while also showing us solutions to the things we fear the most. The cool thing is we have control over our perspective so why not use it?

​

Putting my phone far away when I'm with my children. The phone is both the best and worst invention on the planet. We need to start using it as a tool and avoid using it as a crutch especially when we're with our kids. Something I realized is that they are always watching. We don't want their memories to be of daddy or mommy looking at their phone when they wanted attention so I'm putting it away in a place where I can't touch it. Usually, that means another floor of the house.

​

I'm severely limiting my alcohol intake. I'm not opposed to sharing a glass of wine with my friends from time to time. But if I'm being honest I have a tendency to make it a habit if I'm not careful. So I keep my alcohol intake to special occasions and avoid drinking to the point of being drunk.

​

I'm fixing my sleep habits to ensure I'm getting both the right quantity and quality of sleep. If sleep were a pill it would be the best legal performance-enhancing drug on the planet. It's not just about getting the right amount of sleep. You want to be getting the best quality. Click here for a quick guide on the protocol we use with clients to improve their sleep quality.

​

I will choose to live in environments that suit my family's personality. Our environment is the invisible hand that shapes our day-to-day reality. My spirit just feels better when surrounded by nature and good people. Life is too short to live in places you that don't fit your way of livin'.

​

I'm getting in coaches for my biggest weaknesses. This can be in the form of DIY courses or investing in personal coaching. A coach will help you close the gap between where you are and where you want to be faster than trying to figure it out on your own. Yes, they do cost money. In fact, the last one I hired was $24,000. But I'm at the point in my life where I'm optimizing for time not money. This doesn't mean you need to spend as much as me but I highly recommend getting coaching of some kind. They're the best combination of the right information, implementation, and accountability.

​

Each year of my life will be dedicated to learning a new skill. It could be playing an instrument or learning a new language or learning how to make Youtube videos, which is something I'm learning this year. This will help me keep my brain young by forcing it to create new neurons through learning. Also, being able to play Wonderwall on the Ukulele would be pretty awesome.

​

I'm optimizing my body to be in line with my circadian rhythms. Our circadian rhythm is the physical, mental, and behavioral changes an organism experiences over a 24-hour cycle. Light and dark have the biggest influence on circadian rhythms, but food intake, stress, physical activity, social environment, and temperature also affect them. Here's a quick guide on how to attune your body to your rhythms.

​

I'm avoiding injuries by working out smart. As we age the body takes a longer time to recover and heal. The best way to not get injured is to start everything slow. Here's what I mean...

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If you're playing pickleball for the first time don't go at full speed. Allow your body to get used to the movements a few times before pushing to the limit.

​

Or..

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If you're starting to lift weights for the first time in a while avoid trying to lift what you did in high school. Focus on form and lift weights you can handle that don't challenge you too much.

​

I'm not taking my health TOO seriously. This may fly in the face of everything I just talked about but there's a point where caring too much about your health becomes detrimental.

​

This is where someone can become scared of eating certain foods, constantly stressing about their health, or feeling the need to over-optimize every part of their life to the point of not enjoying it. I treat everything I talked about in this article as a lifestyle rather than something I "gotta" do to be healthy. If I do something that is not in line with this list I avoid beating myself up about it and focus on making the next rep as good as I can make it.

A good life has minimal regrets

In his book Outlive, the author Peter Attia talks about the marginal decade, which is the final decade of our lives.

The marginal decade is about how you want to perform in your latter years and most of it is about doing normal things like picking up your grandchild, driving a car, or walking up and down stairs.

The things I have talked about in this article are about setting up my marginal decade to be an epic one.

Death, to me, is a feature in life, not a bug. When used in the right way it can push us to create things we've always wanted to create and do things we've always wanted to do.

It can also be used as a way or organizing our lives now so we can enjoy the final years later.

This is how I intend to live out my current and future years. Hope it brought value to your life.

Onwards and upwards 🚀

[tishinada]

I'm not a completionist, though I do have a main who has done quite a bit. I don't repeat things I didn't consider fun on my alts.

While I love New Game+, it isn't the same as repeating the story with a new protagonist with their own backstory, etc.

Even though I love Zas, my main (and I've never had an OC I considered a main before, btw), sometimes I don't want to do the next DT MSQ or highest level dungeons. So I jump over to an alt who is at a point in the MSQ that I feel like doing at that moment or I just want to spend some time with.

I have one alt that I play frequently (post-Shbrs), and 3 others I play off and on (2 in Stormblood and 1 in HW). And 5 or 6 in ARR for when I just want to goof around but might level in the future. And I have a few I created for fun and may or may not ever play.

I do create most alts on a Road to 90 world because it's so easy to level. One of my Stormblood alts is an arcanist main (which I enjoy, but probably wouldn't have done without the double XP). I might actually level one of my alts as a BM there because of the double XP (one of the few classes still below 40 on my main, sigh.)

Admittedly, I have a long history of being an alt-oholic because the fun part of "rpgs" for me is creating fleshed out characters. But at the same time, having only 5 OCs I play regularly is a fraction as many as I have had in other mmorpgs (My record was around 240, with a significant percentage at max level lol.)

people who have alts on ffxiv

how do you do it /g

[littleharpethcrossfit]

Sunday, 13 August, 2023.....Warmup......Push Press.....Ladder WOD.....Curls

The Admiral led our afternoon session in a warmup.

Warmup

4 Rounds

10 Scap Pull-Ups

10 Scap Push-Ups

Strength

Push Press: 2 Reps EMOM X 10 Minutes

Work up to a 2 Rep Max

Bernie/Armando=185 Ed=175 Timmy/Dyer/Smoothie=145 Herb=125 Dana=115 Rodney=105 Alicia=95 Cheri=85 Linda/Coach/Warren A/Sue=75 Shannon/Kayla/Sandy=65 Big Lew=Biked Others=?

LADDER WOD

10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 /

One Dumb Bell (50/35/20)

Even=Right Arm Odd=Left Arm

Single Dumb Bell Bench Press

Single Dumb Bell Row

/ 100m Dumb Bell Carry After Each (10X)

Bernie=11:25 Timmy=12:50 Armando=13:40 Kayla=13:45 Alicia=14:22Cheri=14:32 Smoothie=15:25 Ed=16:00 Shannon=16:10 Herb=16:20 Sue=17:19 Dyer=17:50 Dana=17:53 Rodney=18:40 Warren A=18:52 Sandy=20:53 Linda=21:53 Coach=24:11 Lew=Biked forever

Cool-Down

Single Arm Dumb Bell Curl 10 / 10 5 Sets

There was approximately 30% participation.

Notes:

Warren A and Big Lew finished the morning session at 0830. Big Lew didn't do the workout and only biked 1000 cal as is his accepted custom post shoulder surgery. By 0930, both were sending me insulting text messages demanding that their WOD results be blog posted. Sometimes some people are even more un-enjoyable members than Robert.

The aforementioned dinner at the Schwartz's last PM was better than anticipated. The food and drinks and newly met company were very enjoyable. Unfortunately, Herb deliberately stacked the deck with 2 Orthopedic Surgeons versus 1 retired Anesthesiologist. Reporting of events will be understandably biased, but I think that the Anesthesiologist wound up superior due to his CV having the extra boost of a CrossFit Level 2 Coaching Certificate.

Permanently precious Kayla brought a coffee cup I was to give to Miss Linda. It had a sweet picture of Jasper reclining in his field. As I was trying to carry the cup plus 10 other things into the house, I dropped the cup and broke it. Suicidal thoughts prevailed.

Esther and Miss Linda brought home a new pup this afternoon. She is from the Davidson County Rescue, is about 4 months old, and has the same name as Alicia's dog. Our Penny is authentically copper colored and we will stubbornly keep her name. You might wonder about the rapid recovery of grief from Jasper The Wonder Dog's death, but 10 days is probably twice as long as it would take them to get over my sudden demise.

The new layout and function of TUMBLR is not allowing me to post results with 5 blank spaces between entrants. Of course I type them that way, but TUMBLR jams them in back-to-back. Kayla keeps telling me to change to some other engine (sp?) but she won't take the time to actually show me how.

Due to these changes in TUMBLR the love offers from within 2.3 miles of the Barn continue unabated. It is surprising how many desperate housewives there are living in Brentwood. Accordingly, this makes me appraise our Mom gym members in a different light. They don't care that I am almost 79 y.o and all they want is a credit card to prove my sincerity. Somehow this seems much more legit than how some of the girls at the Barn search on-line for life-time Dad's for their many future children. BTW, none of their prospects have come to the Barn so that I can inspect their portfolio's.

Tuesday at 4 PM.

[huggingtentacles]

Godslayer is ASS to build around for meta levels. It's a primarily Dex weapon with insane requirements, and you want to cast spells on top of that.. I guess their armour is very light.

This would be the build for "Casual meta". 40 Dex is okay damage but more importantly you get max casting speed with Radagon's icon. 50 faith is exclusively good for your casting, GSG doesn't actually scale with faith all that well at all. 23 endurance and 20 mind so that you have *some* stats to fall back on to sustain your build's needs for stamina and FP. 60 vigor. Obviously.

But honestly I would recommend carrying this build all the way to 200. It's still active multiplayer, and you will feel much more comfy with your stats.

Big damage from both your sword and casting. Big boy poise with high endurance. Comfortable mind. Basically everything you'll ever need.

Oh btw Godslayer's is a funny sword with a funny moveset. If you care you can learn some combos:

https://youtu.be/WoiJ2QBF7h8?si=1hPydYLnAGuKr9_y

I assume you wanna do a whole playthrough with it. I'll also assume you wanna beat Caelid Godskin apostle with no summons as early as possible. Get this setup:

Radagon's Soreseal, Bloodhound's Fang, Blood Grease, Boiled prawn. I think this would be doable.

I mean it you're a god gamer you can grab it at level 9 with a standard sword do whatever you want

Anyone have advice for a Godskin Apostle build? I plan on using the Godslayer Greatsword and the relevant incantations, but I've never actually made a competent spellcasting build. I specialize in bonk real hard.

[deiliamedlini]

WIP Wednesday

I wrote this last night and really don’t know where I’m going with it because I wrote another section of this that’s completely different from this first part, but I’m having too much fun so this might become a long oneshot or like a two/three chapter short fic eventually. I signed into my Guild Wars account for the first time in forever to watch the chat and apparently Lion’s Arch isn’t as interesting as it used to be. Not that any of that is really relevant. 

This is Zelda and the Champions as internet friends playing a MMORPG video game called Hyrule Warriors. 

~

Zelda Harkinian loved Fridays. Not that it was a rare thing to be obsessed with the weekend, but she maybe loved it a little too much. After a week of lesson plans, and cleaning the classrooms, and sneezing students, and emails asking for an extension on a paper that wasn’t even due yet, she relished the escape the weekend provided. Granted, she still had to grade about a hundred tests, but that was a problem for Sunday or even Monday.

Smiling down at her roommate, a kitten she’d raised when she found it in the street all alone, Zelda fed her girl—whom she’d named Duchess because she had every intent of treating her like royalty—and played with her for a bit before throwing down her bag in her room and then grabbed a water and a granola bar before heading to her desk. She flipped her laptop open and booting up Hyrule Warriors, her favorite open world MMORPG.

Her internet sucked, so she grabbed her phone to aimlessly scroll to see if there was any news or updates. But it was pretty dull.

Instead, she thought back to how this whole weekend ritual began.

She’d been in a cavern just off of Death Mountain for about three days killing fire keese, lizalfos, and beamos. As a mage, her AOE skills made short work of the larger groups, hitting them all at once. It was especially useful here because her main specialties were water and light, but she struggled when boss fights came out. The NPCs weren’t great teammates, and she constantly found herself resurrecting far from the boss, only to make a long run with a health penalty that ended with her getting killed again, until her heath penalty was maxed out and she had to restart for any hope of succeeding. As a mage, her light armor made her vulnerable to physical attacks, and this boss was very physical.

Zelda didn’t like interacting with people in this game. It was massively popular, and the chat was always running. Sometimes, she’d just sit at an outpost and watch people talk. Her favorite interactions were often the random ones. She’d begun to look up the acronyms everyone used in chat just to understand them better. WTS= want to sell.

Indigo2421: WTS: Guardian Short Sword 4k rupees

Indigo2421WTS: Guardian Short Sword 4k rupees

Indigo2421WTS: Guardian Short Sword 4k rupees

Britneigh4Horses: WTS My mother. 1 rupee. Will pay postage fee.

But after her days of suffering in the lonely caverns in Death Mountain, she relented.

A quick search had her hands shaking, but she typed quickly so she couldn’t back out after she’d hit enter.

xPrincessZx: LFG Dodongo’s Cavern

Holding her breath, she’d waited in the hopes of a private message being sent to her.

One did.

(PM): ThunderstruckQueen: What missin are doing there?

(PM): ThunderstruckQueen: Mission*

(PM): xPrincessZx: I have to kill the Dodongo boss for the main story

ThunderstruckQueen would like to join your party.

Biting her nails, she’d accepted.

(PM): RockRoast12345: Still need someone?

(PM): xPrincessZx: Yes! That would be great! Thanks!

RockRoast12345 would like to join your party.

That had been how it started: A goron warrior with a Warhammer and some serious defensive moves joined as the tank to take as much damage for the team as he could stand, and a Gerudo Paladin had joined her party. Zelda was jealous of the purchase-only red hairstyle the Gerudo had for her character. She had a sword and shield, but her body flickered with elemental lightening magic. In-game purchase effects.

They’d defeated Dodongo with ease, and had gone on several missions together that day, taking down their storylines with relative ease. But they couldn’t function with the NPC healer who barely functioned at all.

So, ThunderstruckQueen had taken to the map chat and put out a request.

ThunderstruckQueen: I found someone. She’s a Zora Cleric. Level 40

RockRoast12345: Let her in! I want to get this one over with

Rutella Zoran IV would like to join your party.

After that, the four of them realized they worked so well together that they’d formed a guild. The Champions. ThunderstruckQueen paid the guild fee, bought a hall, and began decorating it with merchants, and chests. Zelda still shuddered, wondering what she did to have so many rupees ready to go. Needless to say, she made herself the leader.

Some days, they didn’t play together. Other times, only two of them were on. But on weekends, they all came together.

But it had been a Monday when Zelda played, and she’d been alone. Having already tossed her tissue box across her room in frustration, she debated making a new character with more defense, but she sucked it up and went into the Castle Town map, ready to ask for help. She couldn’t wait until she could get to be a higher level. As it was, she’d only gotten to these level 40 areas as a 32 because of Rutella.

Suddenly, a random Hylian man in green with a fancy sword and shield ran up to her and bowed. Zelda scoffed at her computer screen, unsure if she was supposed to respond.

She didn’t need to.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: Hey Princess

(PM): xPrincessZx: Hello?

(PM): WildKnightOut2: Jst wondering if u have a spare flower crown from yesterday’s festival. Missed it. Will pay

Zelda pulled up her inventory, forgetting she was still wearing her flower crown from the Flower Fest. It must have been what tipped him off. In fact, she had four spares.

(PM): zPrincessZx:  Yeah, I do. Come to the chest and I’ll trade.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: Thx

She’d never done a trade with anyone who wasn’t in her guild, so she’d felt nervous running to grab it.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: How much u want?

(PM): xPrincessZx: Actually, I’ll give it to you free if you’re willing to help me with a quest? Or 10k.

WildKnightOut2 would like to join your party.

She accepted and watched his character appear in the corner of her screen.

WildKnightOut2: That’s a rip off, btw. Crowns are with 15k at least. Don’t undersell

xPrincessZx: Thanks. I didn’t realize. I’m still kind of new.

WildKnightOut2: Howd u get out here then?

xPrincessZx: I had a run from a friend in my guild.

WildKnightOut2: Got room for a warrior in there?

Zelda introduced him to the other Champions when they’d signed back on, and after a few weeks, Zelda had leveled up enough that she didn’t need to constantly rely on a teammate. But still. She liked Wild the best after ThunderstruckQueen.

They’d brought in a Rito Ranger named TheBestYouveNeverMet, which immediately set Wild off.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: should I aggro a group over so he has to fight them for us?

(PM): xPrincessZx: No! Don’t do that! I’ll get sent over to deal with them!

(PM): xPrincessZx: HEY! I SEE YOU ON THE MAP!

(PM): xPrincessZx: WILD GET BACK TO THE GROUP

On the mini-map, she saw a hoard of red coming at them and rolled her eyes before joining TheBest to kill them with area attacks. Rutella stayed back to heal them, but Thunder and Rock both continued on, unfazed.

ThunderstruckQueen: Wild you’re an idiot

But that was then. This was now.

They’d been together for months as a guild, and now, the six of them knew how the others worked.

If Wild or TheBest took off on their own, no one would follow. They’d both been killed numerous times in an attempt to piss the other off. Zelda had learned to stay with Thunder and Rock. Rutella flitted between running back to revive the idiots, or sticking with the smarter members while letting them heal on their own.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: u wound me

Zelda chuckled, but he wasn’t done.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: After all ive done for u

(PM): WildKnightOut2: u leave me to die

(PM): xPrincessZx: Don’t run off next time

It was a Wednesday when she and Wild were playing alone, so they freely used party chat for ease. She’d surpassed his level, and towered as a 93 while he was an 87.

WildKnightOut2: Hang on. Fuzzball wants food

Zelda stared at his character on her screen, wondering if he looked anything like that avatar. Blonde hair, muscular, piercing blue eyes. She’d made her character look like herself, so it wasn’t hard to imagine others had. Plus, he was the only Hylian. She highly doubted that RockRoast12345 was actually a giant rock-man, or that Rutella Zoran IV was a short fish lady.

She knew everything about these people except their names, faces, and voices.

She knew that ThunderstruckQueen was a single mother who called her daughter Ri on chat. She was a chief of police, and had a few hundred of her force to look out for. Still, she wanted to quit soon to join the military reserve forces now that her daughter was getting older. Devoted and loyal, Thunder occasionally snapped when everyone would start fighting with each other, though it was usually directed at TheBest and Wild, the annoyance sometimes extended out to others.

She knew that RockRoast12345 was older than all of them and had a young grandson. He’d bonded with Thunder over their children at first, and then, without meaning to, they became the parents of the group. Recently, Rock had retired from working as a supervisor in a mine, and gaming had become his way of relieving some of that boredom. But he told the best stories when they were idling around, just stories about anything, and they were always captivating. Also, he was afraid of dogs.

She knew that Rutella Zoran IV was the daughter of a politician. She cared for her little brother like he was her own, and sometimes, he took control of her character, proudly revealing that his real name was Sidon. She was in school to be a doctor, and that made her family prouder than anything. She lived and breathed for her family.

TheBestYouveNeverMet was a pilot. His schedule was the most hectic out of everyone’s because of the flights, but he was sarcastic to the core, and sometimes, the sarcasm was simply rude and definitely didn’t translate well over chat. He was superior, and since he’d been playing the game longest, he thought it entitled him to make more decisions. But Zelda knew from her private conversations with him that deep down, he was sweet and caring. He’d always be the first to ask her how her day was, and he’d learned some of her students’ names to ask if they’d been nuisances.

But Zelda spent the most time talking to WildKnightOut2, so she knew the most about him. At first, they’d bonded over the fact that they both had cats. His was called Fuzzball, an orange, fat cat that needed to exercise more. He’d tried to leash him, but Fuzz wasn’t interested. Sometimes, Fuzz would crawl over the keys, send Wild running, and send chat a long stream of letters.

He was funny and made comments in her private chat while they were playing that had her roaring at times.

He was a rock-climbing instructor and in his free time, he was a free solo climber. When she’d looked it up, she’d been horrified to see that he basically climbed mountains without a harness or ropes, and a fall could kill him. She’d asked if he was good at it, or just did it for fun, and his answer had been an ambiguous “yes.”

She knew about his family. He didn’t live near them, but he kept in contact with his grandparents, his father, and his little sister.

WildKnightOut2: k back. Where we going princess?

xPrincessZx: I need to farm for new armor out in the Haunted Wasteland. Do you need to do anything?

WildKnightOut2: I need to help u farm in the haunted wasteland. What do you need?

xPrincessZx: 10 Rubies

WildKnightOut2: damn ok I have 2 u can have so u only need 8

xPrincessZx: Thanks. How’d that party go last night?

WildKnightOut2: Sucked

xPrincessZx: Cool details

WildKnightOut2: If ud been there, ud have hated it

xPrincessZx: Why?

WildKnightOut2: Bunch of self-absorbed idiots. Like TheBest is

xPrincessZx: Lol. He’s not that bad.

WildKnightOut2: if u say so

They headed into the Wasteland looking for red poes that had rare drops for rubies. She and Wild took out a few groups before they started to struggle. Neither could play and talk at the same time fast enough to warn the other that something was happening, and they both ended up at the shrine of resurrection more times than they cared to admit.

xPrincessZx: Hey Wild. This might sound weird, but do you have that gaming app where we could just maybe voice chat?

xPrincessZx: Unless you’re not comfortable with that. We can invite the others, and when we play together, and it would probably make life a thousand times easier

xPrincessZx: But it’s okay if you don’t want to

WildKnightOut2: yeah I have it

Oh, Zelda thought to herself. That was easy.

xPrincessZx: Do you want to add me? I have the same name

She watched her phone like it was food in the microwave, only occasionally glancing at her computer to see if Wild had sent her another message. She drummed her fingers and her leg started to bounce until her screen lit up.

WildKnight has sent you a friend request.

She hastily hit accept and grabbed her headphones from the drawer before typing into her phone.

xPrincessZx: Your name is missing a few things here.

WildKnight: Yeah HW already had someone with this name so I added on

xPrincessZx: The meaning completely changes

WildKnight: which do you like better?

Zelda froze, unable to make her fingers type. Was he flirting? Was that how people flirted online? She was really good at reading body language cues, and that was always how she knew someone was flirting. But this? There was no context! How was she supposed to know?

xPrincessZx: Which fits your personality more?

That was a safe way of getting out of answering while still sounding maybe like she was flirting. Right?

WildKnight: this one

Zelda’s face warmed up and she put her head in her hands, unsure how to respond. How does she respond to that? What if he wasn’t flirting? What if he was.