#I’ll probably work on fake screenshots once I get a better understanding of the main r1999 art style

[iamthevampqueen]

Felt like trying to make an arcanists in a nutshell for my oc

[jjkfire]

taehyung x reader // fuckboy!taehyung // 2k words

You stare at the piece of paper before you. You’re so close. All you need is the middle tile and you would hit double bingo.

Wait, bingo? Why did you care for bingo?

See it wasn’t just any game of bingo. It was a special one. Each tile was a specific challenge, one you would have to complete and post on social media as proof. The challenges ranged from correcting your professor during lecture to kayaking to the middle of the enormous lake on campus to scaling the beloved statue right in the middle of the quad. Granted, you’ve picked the easier ones to complete but you think you’ve done pretty well so far. You’ve already managed to complete 8 of them. 4 straight across and 4 up. Almost forming a cross but you needed that middle tile, badly. Why? Well, this game of bingo boasted a prize of a semester’s supply of free burgers and fries. If that isn’t music to a broke college student’s ears, you’re not sure what is.

So, you’re one away from double bingo, only the middle tile standing in your way and maybe right now, you regret choosing this formation. Perhaps you should have gone for one of the rows or columns that didn’t have the middle tile… but, striking the middle tile meant you had to do one less challenge. Considering the fact that your professors are really beginning to pile on the coursework, you didn’t have the time to complete any more than one silly challenge. You groan about your predicament to Lisa, your closest friend who was this close to throwing you into the lake herself if you make her film anymore of your stupid videos for the bingo challenge.

“But that’s easy,” She laughs looking at the paper in your hand.

“Easy? It’s the middle tile for a reason,” You grumble.

Get 3000 likes on an original post that has some academic relevance.

Now how were you going to do that? It’s been weeks and you and well… the 10 other people who still bothered participating are still trying to nail that very tile. Considering that only 5 people follow you on Instagram, 3 of which are spam accounts… you don’t think you’ll be getting 3000 likes on anything, much less a post that was academically relevant.

“Just get a picture with Taehyung,” She hums. “He rakes in likes by the thousands.”

“It has to be academically related, you ninny,” You grumble, poking her in the forehead. “Taehyung and academics don’t really go hand in hand.”

See, Kim Taehyung is Beta Tau Sigma’s beloved fratboy. Loved, or rather lusted after by many, but also hated by many… usually, scorned women, of course. You’ve heard stories of him, many in fact, but they’re all the same. It’s always the same story about how they had a one-night stand with the handsome boy, how he oozed confidence, how he had them crawling back for more and of course, he obliges but it’s never really more than sex. The boy wears his fuckboy badge loud and proud and you guess you always found it quite ridiculous that the girls would come crying, bawling over the fact that he didn’t want to be exclusive. Of course he didn’t, you snort. It was practically written on his face. But you don’t understand, they would say. He was so sweet, he was so… different. But fuckboys are fuckboys, you smile. If you had a face like his, you’d probably do the same.

“Okay, but what’s the criteria? You just have to look like you’re doing homework or something, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s easy! I’ll get you your 3000 likes so I don’t have to follow you around campus and watch you make a fool out of yourself anymore.”

“Okay, but how? How does Taehyung fit into this? Just so you know, me roleplaying a schoolgirl while Taehyung smacks my ass doesn’t count as an academically relevant post.”

“That’s… actually better than what I had in mind but, you know that’s what Pornhub is for and unless you’re thinking of delving into amateur porn, I think we can skip that idea,” She laughs. “Just bring your notes with you to Beta Tau this Saturday and I’ll sort the rest of it out.”

“You’re not going to make me flash a tit in front of him are you? Because I absolutely won’t—”

“It’ll be PG, sort of… anyway, don’t worry,” She huffs. “Just, remember to be there, okay?”

You say yes and she reminds you a few more times during the week but as usual, when the day comes, you’re nowhere in sight. It’s only when your phone rings, the bass thumping in the background of Lisa’s call that you actually remember where you’re supposed to be.

“Please tell me you’re on your way here.”

“I… Yeah, I am,” You mumble, as you answer one of the last few questions on your online Chemistry quiz. “But look, I need to finish this quiz first because once I start it, there’s a time limit and—"

“You better get here in 20 because Taehyung is getting awfully antsy about being held back from his usual… activities.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there!” You yell as you attempt to change your outfit and answer the quiz questions, all at the same time.

There’s only 20 minutes left on the clock and you struggle to answer the quiz while you’re sat on the bus heading towards a frat house of all places. With one question left and only 8 minutes to go, you arrive at the front door of Beta Tau Sigma, pushing past the front door, ignoring the freshman that attempts to stop you from going in.

Lisa spots you instantly, dragging you towards the couch where Taehyung is seated. He looks absolutely annoyed, a deep set frown on his face with a solo cup in one hand and phone in the other. When you stand in front of him, he barely gives you the time of the day. He puts his phone away before he taps at his thigh, as if he was asking you to sit.

“Are you just going to stare at me all day or are we going to get this thing moving?”

“Sorry?” You question, unsure what he had meant by that and you turn to your friend for help. “Lisa, wait what are we—”

“Where are your notes, Y/N?” She asks before her gaze lands on the laptop in your hands. “Oh my god, you idiot. I meant like bring your physical notes not your online lecture slides,” She groans.

“Lisa, you said this would take 5 minutes,” Taehyung grumbles from behind you. “It’s been almost half an hour.”

“Okay, okay. 5 more minutes, I promise,” She sighs. “Anyway, quick introduction. Taehyung, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is Taehyung. Okay, now sit on his lap.”

“I’m supposed to do what now?”

Lisa doesn’t even answer you, simply pushing you onto his lap before she snatches your phone from you. Taehyung lets out a soft groan of pain before his arms circle your middle to keep you from falling off.

“You want your 3000 likes, don’t you? Well, we’re gonna get them.”

You don’t even know what to say because first, you didn’t even know what the hell was going on. You look down at your screen and you almost let out a scream as the countdown timer shows 3 minutes left.

“Look, I just need to finish this quiz question real quick and then we can—”

“Neat, you’re already in character,” Lisa smiles as she begins recording. “Yeah, just focus on your laptop. Pretend you don’t care,” She directs, to which you nod to, albeit a little confused.

Her friends stand behind her with their phones out and their flash on to provide lighting Lisa says. It’s certainly a bizarre sight to say the least. You’re in the middle of a dimly lit living room, everyone around you already half past drunk and the soft bass thumping from the basement where the main party is happening does little to help you concentrate on your quiz.

“There’s no need to be nervous, babe,” Taehyung whispers and you assume it’s because you’re practically shaking in his lap but what he doesn’t know is that it had absolutely nothing to do with him but everything to do with the fact that you now only had 1 minute left and you can’t quite figure out the question.

You hear Lisa say something akin to alright, action! but you have no idea what she’s really talking about. It doesn’t take you too long to figure it out though because within seconds, Taehyung is pressing open mouth kisses from your collarbone to your neck, his tongue leaving behind a trail as he slowly works his way up. You gulp, when he nips at your skin and you shut your eyes in an attempt to focus on the question instead, softly mumbling to yourself but it’s a mistake because you hear him let out a low groan as he presses you down harder into his lap, his hips grinding upwards. It’s soft but Taehyung smirks because he swears he hears you stifle a moan. His hand pulls you closer to him, his thumb just under your bra and he grumbles because he finds all the layers between you and him… annoying. Lisa is practically laughing as panic flashes across your face, obviously enjoying this more than you, but seconds after, it’s like you have a lightbulb moment and you smile as you move your finger across your trackpad, selecting your choice before you hit submit.

You turn your screen towards the camera pointing at your score as you grin.

“Ten out of ten,” You beam, surprising Taehyung who pulls away with his eyebrows furrowed.

“What?” Lisa asks, confused. “What do you mea—”

“I only had 20 seconds left too!”

“Oh my god, was that a real quiz?” Lisa queries as she steps closer. “You dumbass! You should’ve just used a screenshot and faked it! I can’t believe you—”

“Well I was trying to tell you that I had an actual quiz to finish but you didn’t want to listen,” You frown and Lisa doesn’t even look at you, simply typing away at your phone.

“You know sometimes it feels like I’m the only one with functioning braincells in this friendship,” She sighs. “Anyway, you’re welcome. That’s going to be 3000 likes easy,” She hums as she hands you your phone.

“Really?” You question as you watch the video, the clip starting with just Taehyung’s lips on your neck, your head thrown back as you have your eyes closed, eyebrows furrowed but it gradually zooms out to show your laptop in your hands and finally, you pointing to your screen and Lisa midway scolding you before it cuts to black and repeats. It’s oddly a lot funnier than you expected… even if maybe that wasn’t quite what Lisa was going for originally.

“Just the thumbnail alone would probably get you 1000 likes,” She smirks, but the way her lips curl up has less to do with her statement and more to do with the way Taehyung seemed to be undressing you with his eyes.

“Nice. Here’s to hoping we get our free burgers,” You grin, shutting your laptop before you tuck it under your arm. You tap at Taehyung’s hand that’s still around your middle, holding you in place. It’s a silent gesture to ask him to let go but he only clicks his tongue at you.

“And where do you think you’re going?” He asks, his lips ghosting the shell of your ear, his thumb smoothing out against the fabric of your crop top.

“Well, home, preferably,” You smile as you pull his hand away to stand up, hoping you look confident despite the way the low timbre of his voice had sent shivers down your spine.

“But what am I going to do with this?” He questions as he points to the tent in his pants. The boy was absolutely shameless.

“That seems more like a you problem and not a me problem.”

“But you caused it,” He frowns.

“From what? Sitting on your lap?” You question before you turn to Lisa. “So this is the fabled Kim Taehyung?”

“Fabled?” He asks. “Tell me, what do they say about me?” He smiles, hands resting at your waist, as if he was waiting for permission to pull you onto his lap again.

“I’m sure you know,” You sigh. “Though they neglected to mention that you’re the type that would come after just one stroke.”

Lisa lets out a low whistle, laughing silently at the way Taehyung’s jaw ticks. “I’d be careful if I were you, Y/N. This one doesn’t do too well with jokes.”

“I’m just playing,” You smile, patting the hand he had on your waist before you peeled it off. “I’m sure you’re everything they say you are,” You wink, taking a seat on the arm of the couch as Lisa hands you a drink.

“Why don’t you come find out for yourself?”

“I should, shouldn’t I?” You hum, sipping on your drink. “But there seems to be quite the line for that,” You laugh, using your cup to point towards a few of the many girls who were currently eyeing him up and down.

“Well, looks like you’re first in line to me though.”

You smile, loving the attention. The boy is smooth, you’ll give him that.

“Maybe next time,” You smile, before you lean down to whisper. “You’ll wait for me, won’t you?”

You don’t stay to hear his answer, sauntering off before he gets the chance to reply.

“Make sure to like the video, yeah?” You say, turning back just to flash him a grin and he simply answers with a thumbs up.

He smirks to himself as he watches you walk away, your hips swaying from side to side. Hmm, Taehyung wasn’t exactly a patient man… but, he’ll wait. In any case, you’re refreshing. It’s been a while since he’s had some fun.

[nikashepard]

2.5D zDepth Animations Tutorial

Due to the popularity of this post, I decided to write a simple tutorial for whoever wants to try the same thing with their favorite game. This method will work with every title that supports ReShade and Depth Buffer (and pretty much every static image you want to animate).

What is ReShade?

It’s more or less a mod that alters the original graphics, adding in more effects (like lens flare), different tones and fixing bad looking edges.

What is the 2.5D/Parallax effect?

2.5D is a method used by many editors to animate a completely still picture, from simple sceneries to characters. This creates a sort of 3D depth on your pictures, used a few times by many professionals to bring famous paintings and advertisements to life.

Note: This tutorial is mostly about scenery animation faking a camera movement and adding in a 3D space between layers. For the Parallax animation on characters I’ll write a separate guide.

What you need:

• The game (duh) (in this case I’ll use Assassin’s Creed Syndicate as example) • ReShade (I find myself more comfortable with a previous version, because I somehow cannot achieve the same results with ReShade 3+ at the moment. This should easily work with the latest version too, but for any problem or if you want to follow the guide better, grab ReShade 2.0.4f from here) • An editing program like Adobe Photoshop, anything that allows you to separate parts on layers and fill empty areas. • Adobe After Effects

A basic editing knowledge is required, along with a good understanding regarding Adobe programs in general. If you make graphics and gifs you’re already a step ahead, but you actually don’t need to be familiar with AE to do the animation.

The tutorial will include four parts:

1) In-game screenshot w/ Depth activated 2) Editing/preparation for AE 3) Compositing 4) Animating

Part 1: In-game Screenshot with Depth Buffer

1) If you are using ReShade 3+ you can follow this tutorial regarding its installation, otherwise copy the ReShade folder, ReShade.fx and ReShade64.dll (or ReShade32.dll if the game is 32bit) into the main game path (where the exe is, so to speak), then rename ReShade64/32.dll as dxgi.dll.

2) With ReShade 2 go to ReShade directory > Presets > Default and drag Shaders_by_CeeJay.cfg into Notepad, then scroll down to the very last line where you see a shader called DisplayDepth. Next to #define USE_DisplayDepth change the value from 0 to 1. With ReShade 3 press Shift+F2 and look for the same name, if you properly downloaded it along with the other shaders of choice it will most likely be already activated. It is highly recommended to set a hotkey for this effect so that you can easily turn it on and off in game (for example, #define Depth_ToggleKey VK_F12). 

3) Open Pipeline.cfg and look for the line #include EFFECT(CeeJay, DisplayDepth). Select it, cut it away and then paste it to the very top before any other shader listed. This will allow you to obtain smooth shapes instead of jagged edges (you should also play around with AA options, specifically SMAA and/or FXAA, both included in CeeJay.cfg). Sadly I’m not sure how the setup works in ReShade 3+.

4) Now that your options are properly set you can start the game. Find an area you like and want to shoot, then press F12 (or any other key you chose for it). If the game has a photo mode or custom made free camera tools, you should totally use those for the best results. You can check this post for a few listed titles and all their respective links.

ReShade allows you to automatically store your screenshots directly into the game’s folder by simply pressing the print screen key. This is how the scene looks normally, without UI and with the free camera activated.

This is what happens when you turn DepthBuffer on.

Note: If all you get with Depth is a fully white or black screen, chances are you need to “reset” by simply entering the fullscreen mode (and switch back to borderless/windowed if that is what you usually like playing with). ReShade usually reloads whenever you apply a modification to the settings, but if even after this the effect doesn’t show up it probably means the game has no DepthBuffer support (or there is some incompatibility somewhere, which may be related to other shaders).

Part 2: Editing

1) Grab your depth screenshot and open it with your editing program of choice, I use Photoshop. In order to animate this, you have to create different layers (renaming them for an easier use in AE, but that is up to you) being sure each hole is covered, or else the empty part will definitely show up in your animation.

2) Make a selection around the areas you want to separate, I’m starting with what is close to the “camera”. Try to be as precise as possible to keep most of the details, especially around the character. Once you’re satisfied with your selection press CTRL+X to cut it out and then paste it into the same position, a new layer for it will be automatically created.

3) If you hide the layer you’ve just made, you will obviously notice an empty shape on the background right where you cut it. The easiest way to fill that properly is by selecting the layer (CTRL+LMB on it), inverting selection and going to Modify > Fill > Content-Aware.

As you can see the empty area has been filled completely, but a few fixes are required. You can use the clone stamp tool or the healing brush, in this case I choose the latter because it makes the process quicker.

It can be a bit tedious in some places... especially if there are a lot of buildings or trees, depending on your scene. Photoshop covered the outline using the existing content to generate the missing parts as I dragged the brush over it, but you may want to use the clone tool as well and even draw here and there where the brush failed.

Repeat the process for all the other layers you want to separate and then rename everything to know what you’re gonna edit in AE (again, this is optional). You can also make the back layer bigger to hide imperfections behind the other layers, which won’t be too visible while animating. Further edits will be done in AE later anyway.

Part 3: Compositing

1) Save the PSD file and load Afer Effects. I’m currently using the CC 2015 one, but even if you have an older version this method will work without problems.

Go to File > Import > File and select your PSD. 

Be sure the importer is set on Composition and Editable Layer Styles is checked, this is essential if you want to work on each layer.

2) Double-click on the left to preview the PSD and convert every single layer into 3D. To do so simply check the third square on the right, under the cube icon:

Now we need to add a Camera. Go to Layer > New > Camera and leave the options untouched (the default configuration should be okay for this).

3) Right under your preview you should see a button called Active Camera. Switch to Custom View 1 to move the layers and create depth between them.

All you have to do is select each layer in the lower panel and move it using the blue arrow (z direction) to push it backward or forward. Use the order you’ve got as reference for the best result, then change the view to Active Camera again when you’re done.

4) Now that you have changed the original positions you need to fix their size to fit the composition. Select all layers at once, press S and activate the little watch icon that appears followed by the effect name (Scale). You will see three values then; place your mouse over the 100,0% one and drag it to the right or left in order to resize the layer(s). Use the directional arrows to also move them up or down eventually.

The stopwatch is absolutely fundamental, because it tells where to place each frame in the timeline. Whenever you apply an effect or any modification you need to be sure it’s recorded at the very start, this way it will affect the entire sequence and you won’t risk to only see it taking action in a few frames later instead.

5) You can move the upper bars in your timeline to change the final time. A few seconds for this kind of animations will suffice, I always set it around 4s.

Part 4: Animating

1) Now we can finally animate, woo!!

It is highly recommended to make all the planes bigger than the composition, so that you can move them around without risking to get empty spaces. In this case we want to fake a camera movement with a sort of 3D perspective, like the gifs I’ve posted in that photoset.

Let’s start from the first layer. Click on it and press P (position) to store the current location on the first frame, then move the time indicator at the end of your sequence. I want the main layer to slide horizontally, thus I will move the red arrow on X axes.

As soon as your first animation is stored, another frame will be generated at the end of the timeline. After Effects automatically creates all the frames between the first and the last one, if you are happy with it select the second layer and do the same, then the third and repeat. You can also use the R (rotation) key to add more realism. Remember to ALWAYS check the stopwatch on frame 1 before doing anything else.

You can preview the animation with space bar, the rendering times change according to the amount of virtual memory installed on your PC.

For a nice camera shake you can follow this tutorial.

2) Once you’re happy with your animation you’re ready to export it. You can pick a simple video option, but that usually requires a second rendering in Sony Vegas or any other program for video editing to fix the bad-looking fps drop. I suggest you to export in frames instead, especially if you plan to make gifs. Go to Composition > Add to Render Queue, a new panel will appear on the bottom. Click on Lossless and pick PNG Sequence next to Format, then on Not yet specified (output to) and select a destination on your computer. Press Render, wait and it’s done! Again, the rendering times will highly depend on your RAM and composition size. The bigger, the slower; if you play in 4k you should reduce the screenshot size to a common 1920x1080 at least, even smaller after that for the final gif (tumblr has a 3MB limit).

Result:

Questions? Send me a note!

[annakie]

Thoughts on Andromeda, Part Eight

Previous Thoughts

Spoilers for Kadera (outlaw Planet).  Seriously, do not open if you haven’t finished that planet’s main storyline.

Peebee, despite me barely using her in the field, has made me a present.  This super endeared me to her, and I immediately respecced and dropped that swarming VI power to put Zap on the team, and haven’t regretted it since.

So, since I am romancing Liam I had barely used Drack (I brought him and Cora along for most of Eos sidequesting) and hadn’t brought Vetra out AT ALL.  This was a crime, so I decided that with going to an outlaw planet, my ex-cop... not quite boyfriend yet but interest would probably do better staying near the ship.  He seemed nervous and unhappy, and I didn’t want him freaking out the locals in the badlands.  Better to bring the two who are most used to hanging out with  criminal types.

This turned out to be both a great and terrible idea.

I was told to go meet a contact before meeting with Slone Kelly.

Then this happened.

This... absolute scoundrel showed up and Annwyl’s heart jumped into her throat.

Oh no.  He’s a rogue with a heart of gold.

There are two types of men Annwyl likes.  Hell, lbr, my two favorite kinds of dudes in video games at all: Paladins and Rogues.  I cannot resist a good, upstanding, do-gooder as long as they treat you like a person and not an object, and a swave rogue with a heart of gold.  I had been sold on Liam for awhile, but Reyes... GOD DAMNIT.

So, Annwyl started flirting.  I haven’t had the commitment talk with Liam yet, actually they hadn’t even slept together officially, soooo....

Speaking of powers, I’m now level 41, finished out the combat passives and am now speccing into Barrier in the biotics tree.  I. AM. INVINCIBLE!!

The lighting and design of this place was amazing.  I loved just standing there, looking at it.  Like Aya, great design and visuals on the city.

I had been warned (Ok I alt-tabbed out and looked up a quick romance guide on Reyes to figure out if bangin’ him would kill my romance with Liam or not, also thanks to @saarkvansoor and @serayashadowharper for their answers) not to take Sloane up on her offer, so Anny quickly noped right out of there.  

I have approximately a bajillion more screenshots of Reyes.  Oops.

I’m gonna be really sad if this is the ONLY TIME we see Conrad’s sister.  Please give her appearances in all three games.  

And look, I know that it’s a little contrived that so many people we know have these relatives we’d never heard of who went with the Initiative but... I don’t care.  These little things make me smile.

Kadara itself is an amazing, beautiful place.  The toxic water was an obstacle that wasn’t super distracting all the time like the super cold heatlamps of Voeld.  It actually killed me once when I strayed too close during an intense firefight.

Kadara also had a couple of big references back to the original trilogy.  

First, this reference back to the Rogue VI quest from ME1 was great, plus all the Overlord talk from Knight.  I really enjoyed seeing another side of that project.

Then, the fact that ex-Cerberus scientists are there doing their even-too-evil-for-TIM experiments is interesting.  I didn’t grab a screengrab of the part where we learned that there’s some big, super-rich anon backer to the Andromeda project and that obviously feels like it could be TIM.  Because TIM/Cerberus was SUPER RICH, and even Jack Harper before being TIM was really rich.  TIM, obviously, knew all about the Reapers coming and would want to save Humanity at any cost.  Sending a huge chunk of humans out of the galaxy definitely sounds like a TIM backup plan.

Still, there’s a lot of non-human involvement in the project, which IDK if TIM would be OK with that or not.  Maybe by the time he got involved with the Initiative it was too late to not allow non-humans to participate, or he realized that the only way it WOULD work at this point is with help from all the races.   But why were Ex-Cerberus scientists involved if TIM was the backer?  

It does seem like maybe people weren’t vetted too much for the initiative.  So many people who immediately revolted and seemed A-OK with just going full-on outlaw definitely doesn’t bode well for careful vetting.

Anyway, this part of the plot is actually intruiging me more right now than the whole Kett thing.  It was nice to get to a planet where I was fighting more than Kett most of the time.

I wanted to punch whoever placed this cache in the face, which I guess made it a really effective hiding place.

Those mountains made for some really spectacular views, though.

Drack and Vetra had some really great conversations together, I really enjoyed having them along.  Nothing as gut-busting as some of the Jaal and Liam dialog, though.

So the galaxy is doing... okay, I think.  But seriously here’s my question... I’ve done as many side quests as possible on each.  Sure, new sidequests keep popping up and I have many companion quests to go, but... how am I only 52% done with this game?  What am I missing?  I guess I can only keep playing to find out.

Checked in on Scott.  Still sleeping.  I was really hoping he’d wake up and have more to say, soon.

This scene though?  Tears.  I also appreciated that my Ryder’s shirt was made out of the colors I’d chosen for my armor.  Though it doesn’t exactly work as a color combination for this shirt as well.

But hey, let’s get back to the real story on Kedara.

Reyes.

Takes me to a party where half the people want to kill me, then runs away.

Oh no, it’s a fake or real??! danger kiss.  What a fantastic cliche.

Hand holding running away?  Yes please.

Uncomfortable neck-craning kissing followed up by a romantic city pan-out?  Yep.

Sorry Liam.   Annwyl’s heart is now officially torn.

Ugh, Slone wants to hang out with me? Fine.  Let’s put this gang war to rest.  Now, to find the Charlatan!

SHIT.

I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING, WHY DIDN’T I SEE IT COMING?  I’M SO DUMB FOR NOT SEEING IT COMING.

Annwyl’s heart shattered.

You absolute asshole.

But you’re not an Anti-Angaran space racist, and your methods are slightly less detestable than Sloanes.  I played this scene both ways to see both scenes but... Reyes won the day.

You aren’t the man I hoped you were Reyes, we’re through.

But still friends.

But seriously, I freaking loved this whole sidequest.  Someday I’ll have to side with Sloane.  Maybe someday I won’t romance Reyes, and someday he’ll be a character’s main romance, but not anytime soon.  

Loved this whole bit so much.

But also?  I can completely understand why you’d be mad if this is only one of your two choices for your preferred sexual orientation.  I’d be mad, too.  Reyes was, for me, a great fling.  I don’t know what happens if you decide to commit to him later, but considering he’s down on a planet and you’re the pathfinder, I can’t imagine it’s a super fulfilling relationship gameplay-wise.

[ts-caymanislands]

Ahrre’s Jury Question

Alright hello lads and congrats on making it til the end. I'm bad with introductions so let's jump in.

First off thank you both for having good speeches and not the usual parade of fancy words with all the substance of a water soup or the "I was this omnipresent being literally jesus and masterminded the game" kinda overselling bs.

Also thank you for not talking the goat to the end, idk if it was the best move but at least it makes for a fun FTC and an adequate ending to what I see as a pretty good season.

Now Daniel I'll start with you since I read your speech first.

To start with I respect how willing you were to work with anyone, including TJ who from what I heard used to be some rocky stuff between you two before the game. This willingness also shows in you decision to flip on the bois and I think it was the correct one given your position since you weren't in a winning position within it. However that raises my first question.

Doesn't it say something about your game being weaker if at that point Vilma and I had bigger chances of winning over you? When we all had the same opportunities to play the game? In other words why were you at the bottom in terms of "winning merit" in that alliance instead of at the top and how is that not a bad thing?

Secondly you did mention you had Nick giving you a heads up during the Elsa vote as to what was going to happen, does this mean you: A. Knew the vote wasn't gonna go your way and decided to just sit there and watch Elsa go, why? or B. You weren't actually told about everything that was going on. Or is there something else I'm missing?

Now the here's the main weak point I see in you as a player, and that is that you're simply a bad liar or at least you were during this game, which in a game about deception you would think it's a pretty big deal.

Starting with the Nolan vote for some reason you made the decision to not show up in the bois alliance chat during the entirety of that week, did you honestly expected that something like that wouldn't raise a flag? Truth is it was obvious you were flipping which is bad if you're trying to blindside someone I would say....The only reason why I didn't do anything about it like tell Nolan or something is bc I wanted him out and was only voting Alex in case he played an idol. Maybe if you bothered to read the situation you would've realized that and spared yourself from having to awkwardly "leave someone in the dark" and no Vilma was not super close to Nolan, if you payed attention to what was going on it was pretty easy to tell she wouldn't throw the alliance under the bus just for him. So that's no excuse for not bothering.

Now this leads us the most unnecessary and mind baffling part where you told Vilma you had screenshots of Nolan throwing your and my name around. Which was not only not true but screenshots were also against the rules and your blunder got tribal delayed lol

AND THEN you told me you never talked to her about voting Nolan. Fully knowing she was probably the one that let me know and we were close so it would be your word against hers.

And yet you did it basically killing your chances of ever being seen as trustworthy against.

Why? Lmao, like what even was the benefit of such an insignificant lie?

Then when you said you were voting Alex at F7 when it was obvious no one in his right mind would do that considering all the threats that were around, like you weren't even trying.

And then you basically did it again with Bryce too at F6 never messaging anyone and simply saying alex when asked (and no being in the mountains is no excuse, plus you did the same the past two votes) and all this lack of care or knowledge about how to lie almost got you voted out and can still cost you the game.

So my final question for you is why such a shitshow in that regard?

Alright so now with Nick

Honestly I can't say as much about your game since after we swapped for the first time we weren't on the same side. But I think it was that time we were apart is what set us up against each other come merge, since none of our allies really overlapped plus it had been a while since we were last together

And this is why I find the lack of premerge goods on your speech disturbing. So you said you had alliances with everyone else outside of the bois when merge hit.

So tell me how did each of those alliances came to be, when and who was in each?

Back to the merge I do believe however I made an effort to reconnect, maybe not the biggest but communication is a two way street bud plus at least I have the excuse of playing two other orgs at the same time.

Additionally TJ did connect with me better witch really makes you wonder why that was the case with him as opposed to you.

So now you tell me your theory, why do you think that was?

Additionally I want to ask you, Did you knew about the split vote idea during the Elsa vote? How?

Anyhow some flips and flops later and it's F6

So ofc the idea to split votes  between me and someone else is the way to go. Yet for some goddamn reason I cannot wrap my head around you decided the other half of the votes were gonna go Bryce's way who was your ally, forcing him to play his idol.

So why on Earth didn't you make the split between me and Daniel instead of me and Bryce?

Since if I was Bryce I would be like excuse me what the fuck and you're costing yourself an idol that can come in handy next vote and most importantly Bryce's potential loyalty. Hell you said at F3 either guy was taking you to the end but I'm not so sure Bryce would've.

Which leads me to my final question:

Between Daniel and Bryce who would've you taken of you had won that final immunity?

Anyhow Nick and Daniel, that's gonna be it for me sorry if I made this a bit too long but oh well that's what she said? Looking forward to your answers and good luck!

First off yes, like you said yes you and Vilma were bigger threats. In my opinion this was due to the fact you were did have more of a driving force pre-merge, which I explained that I wanted. I never wanted an early target painted on my back once merge hit from all of the premerge business, so I let you and her take the credit. I feel like I was one of the driving forces come merge, but if I would have been premerge as well, my fate would have ended up exactly like yours. So this was an actual strategy not me lacking skills.

Now about the elsa vote, yes nick did tell me he thought that I wasn’t getting any votes. Then I went to you in pms hinting that nick said the votes were swinging towards Elsa on their side. Also, I didn’t want to get blamed for leaking nicks words and have blowback in later rounds from someone like nick or tj Bc I foresaw needing to work with them.

Ok yes, I know what happened at with the Nolan vote was messy, let me clear it up. So yes, I had planned on flipping this round.

Screenshots: Ok so, yes I did tell vilma I got screenshots from nick. I admit, I kind of exaggerated, BUT I wanted to get my point across and I didn’t realize screenshots were not acceptable. SO, nick actually did come to me saying nolan was throwing out your and my name. Additionally, he said he’d provide  “proof” if I needed it. I never meant to lie about the part where nolan said certain things because I honestly believed them to be true and had a lot of evidence to support it, it didn’t come out of thin air. I went a little to far with the “screenshot” part to get my point across but he did offer me proof.

Ok I think there is confusion about me going to vilma. I did NOT go to her telling her about the Nolan vote until two minutes before day change when votes were about to be read because I knew nothing could change that quickly and wanted give her a heads up. I never went to her to try and flip her, just to let her know. When I told you I messaged her at tribal I meant that it was literally so close to tribal it had no effect on the game. I knew you and her were close, so why would I have reason to lie?

And yes I never messaged in that alliance. I felt like if I chose to be fake and tell an outright it would totally cut all connections. So I thought it better to not say anything and give an explanation after. Yes, you could have gone to nolan, but with him not being in the alliance and playing both sides I thought there was a high probability against it. I get that this is a game of lying, but some lies are unnecessary and I didn’t feel like I needed to. So between those three things I never meant for them to be major lies and have it appear as such a shitshow.

At final 7, yeah that was a little messy. I knew you had lost all trust in me after all of that. I just threw out Alex because I knew he was an easy target and no one could really throw me under the bus when using a name like that. If I had said tj, then that could have been used against me and forced them to lose trust in me.

I never meant for that shitshow to happen and truly believe it was a major misunderstanding, and some poor explaining on my end. I truthfully thought some of those things weren’t lies, beyyou are right, it would make absolutely no sense for me to do that. 

At final 6, I understand if you don’t believe me, but I truly had no cell service. I have pictures of me trying to message my host chat without service and of all the animals i saw including bear, deer, and coyotes. I hope this clears everything up

I read your question once through, but it’s a lot. So I’m gonna go over it again and respond to each thing in order. So sorry if it feels a bit all over the place.

1) So premerge we obviously had our Lagarto alliance. During this time, I really built strong relationships with Daniel and Bryce. I knew Daniel from outside of this game so I came in knowing I wanted to work with him. But we had actually never played together before so I still had to feel it out and make it clear to him that I REALLY wanted to play the game. Me and Bryce also just hit it off really well. I found him extremely funny and enjoyable and really worked to build that bond up socially. BUT then we swapped. And the only person I was the same from Lagarto was Kailyn…. (who was pretty much inactive). HOWEVER, I ended up bonding with Nolan and TJ extraordinarily well. Nolan was obviously very smart and into the game and I just loved his attitude. Then, TJ and I simply just think the same way with everything. Me and TJ actually made an alliance with Jacob and then later, Nolan asked us for an alliance and we created one with us 3 and Kiler. Joey was also on this tribe, partially on the outs, but I got good vibes from him so I also kept him informed on the votes and my alliances made sure he voted with us. THEN we get yet another tribe swap. And this time, Daniel and Kiler chose to bring me and TJ to their tribe (on Pirata). Clearly they BOTH thought they could trust my vote and they both thought I was an asset to their game. But this also prevented me from meeting new people.

So, When we merged, the alliance between me/Kiler/TJ/Nolan stayed in tact and because we worked well with Joey and because the others worked well with Lexi during their swaps with her, we  all came together to create a group of 6 (and ended up voting out Elsa). YET, outside of this 6, my early bonds with Daniel and Bryce held up, and they told me what was going on outside of my group. To the point where as soon as we merged Bryce told me that you/Vilma/Daniel/Elsa had a group as well. And so not only did I come into merge being close with TJ, Daniel, Bryce, Joey, Nolan, and Kiler, I ended up in an alliance with Lexi (someone I didn’t talk to before merge due to us not being on the same tribe), and my alliance instantly decided to target Elsa someone else I didn’t talk to.

And if all of that is hard to believe, Look at the first competition in which, I made it to the final 2 in a competition where everyone was able to take out someone they didn’t want to win.

2) You’re right. looking back at our messages, we did actually attempt to reconnect with each other so I apologize for that. I feel like our lack of communication later in the game made me feel like there wasn’t much at merge. But I do think we both gave it a shot. But because I knew about your alliance, knew you were a duo with Vilma, knew you and Vilma were AMAZING at competitions, and simply had other allies, it was hard to think that we’d ever work together. Like, we did attempt to talk about votes early on too. But I knew you were bullshitting me the whole time and that made it so much harder to trust you. For example, I DID know about the Split vote plan to save Elsa and get rid of Joey because Bryce told me about it. So while I continued to be real with you and let you know I was voting Elsa, you kept telling me lies and so I knew you weren’t actually trying to work with me. You were just trying to get your vote through. So after a few rounds of this, I knew that we were simply against each other.

And as you said TJ was able to connect more with you. But (1) he didn’t really have the same connections I had, so he needed to (i.e. he didn’t have Bryce and he thought Daniel was closer to me so he went for you instead). and (2) Because I knew everything you were doing (since Bryce let me in on it), I knew that it’d be VERY unlikely I’d have your vote and instead relied on keeping Daniel’s and Bryce’s instead.

3) Like you said, splitting was obvious. But who do I split it on? Bryce is super loyal to me. Daniel’s loyal to me. TJ is loyal to me. So with all those allies, the only 2 people I want to leave are you and Kiler.

But at this point in the game, Daniel and TJ did not have much trust in Bryce. They both consistently questioned if we had his vote, and when F6 started, Kiler was pushing to vote out Bryce. So… if you look at it from Tj and Daniel’s perspective, you’ll see that they think we have 3 votes and just need a 4th to split it. They don’t trust Bryce (since Bryce actually lied to Daniel about voting Vilma and TJ and Bryce just didn’t talk much) and comparatively Bryce was OBVIOUSLY a bigger target than Alex ever was. So for them, knowing Alex wanted to vote Bryce anyways, they thought they for sure they had 4 votes and that we would be getting either the biggest threat, you, OR the second biggest threat, Bryce out that round (outside of ourselves, ofc)

Thus, when I finally convinced them to split in general (because you were claiming you were randomizing your vote, weren’t talking to me despite needing votes, and being very vague with Bryce and Daniel from what I heard so I couldn’t split it with you), I was assigned to vote you and not Bryce. So if I were to say ANYTHING else, they’d definitely question my loyalty and realize just how close me and Bryce were.

Since I knew that Bryce had the idol, I had no reason to risk them questioning my loyalty. Instead, I told Bryce they were after him. I explained that they assigned me vote you so unless he was certain he had you (which he never was), I couldn’t do anything to help him avoid a tie.

Additionally, I had an idol and assumed TJ wouldn’t vote me at final 5 anyways. So I knew that I needed to at least try to get you out (even if you did tell Bryce you were voting with him). Why? Well, you easily could’ve won your way to the end. BUT I also knew that I could use the idol to save me AND Bryce the next round. If you and Kiler decided to vote me, we knew TJ likely wouldn’t. So I could Idol myself and me and Bryce could just vote out one of you guys (since our 2 votes beats TJ’s one). OR if you, TJ, and Kiler wanted to vote Bryce, we could use the idol on Bryce, and me and him could vote out someone else there as well. So either way, we were both likely safe.

And since Bryce gave me the idol, I think he truly understood all of that (and since we didn’t know what you were doing, he never had a reason to question my loyalty since me flipping my vote didn’t help him any)

4). Honestly, going into it I wasn’t sure who I’d take. Bryce was easily my closest ally throughout the whole game. But I also knew that Daniel would never have voted me out because we knew each other outside of the game. So either way, I was gonna be a massive dick to someone. I honestly believed I had a chance to beat either. They both flipped at the same time and they both voted with me each round. When Daniel flipped he legitimately asked for you and/or Vilma to make Final 5. And I purposely took out you and Vilma because of that (and because you guys were threats in general). So, I knew I was had more control over the game than he did (and always knew more than he did because with the information me and Bryce shared with each other, no on win the game was able to do anything against us without the other one finding out). I also had MUCH closer connections than he did with people. Because TJ, Bryce, Kiler were all willing to get rid of him at any point. While, TJ and Bryce were not willing to get rid of me. On the other hand, Bryce literally gave me an idol and voted with Daniel and TJ even though they didn’t trust him. Due to his trust with me, he literally put himself in a position where people wanted him out (i.e. F7 and F6). So I think without me convincing Daniel and TJ to vote out Vilma and you instead (or me warning Bryce to use the idol), he would have been in massive trouble.

Long story short, I wasn’t sure. I knew Daniel personally outside of the game, and was in another Org with Bryce (where I could win $100). So, I can’t tell you I knew exactly what I was gonna do since I was never put into that position. But, I think I would’ve brought Daniel. Because I knew that he didn’t really have that much control over the votes, that I literally created his worst nightmare at F5 (i.e. him not having a shield), and because I think Bryce had better connections with the jurors that I wasn’t really ever close to (i.e. You, Vilma, Elsa) so it was more likely for Bryce to get those votes than Daniel