#Multiple outcomes

[nicholasandriani]

Daily Reading: Naming Conventions, and the 362,880 permutations of tic-tac-toe. On Screenwriting, Character Arcs, and Game Design

This morning, we’re exploring two significant concepts: the importance of good naming conventions in various creative domains, from scriptwriting to coding, and the astonishing multitude of possibilities within a simple tic-tac-toe game—precisely 362,880 possibilities! Imagine the potential for branching narratives here. In fact, this sparks an idea – what if we could craft a game that involves…

[schwarz-san]

Ho boy, do i like this take? I defenitely do. I cant wait for other peoples ideas as well.

A Revenant for The Red Knight

Your typical Dp x Dc Summoning AU, but with a twist.

Jason is having a bad time.

The most of the family to be honest.

Why? Cultist. In Gotham.

One that worship some kind of All Powerful Eldritch Death Outer God from Beyond and plans to summon the Thing to this plane of existence.

The worst part? Most of the bats are being use as sacrifice. Wait no, the worst part is that Jason is the main sacrifice.

They did contemplate whether to use Jason or the Demon child, but end up deciding to use Jason instead. Something about being having essence of Death and the Multiverse in his veins and you know what? He's not gonna touch that with a ten foot pole. Nope.

The demon child is lashing out like the unvaccinated feral racoon that he is, Dick is trying to escape and so does Bruce as well as trying to make sense of the Summoning circle that the cultist were using. The replacement is snoring, the asshole.

Hah. Thats what he get for drinking five mugs of expresso instead of sleeping then gatting tranq.

Also, fuck Bruce for not calling Constantine or Zattana the moment they smelled something supernatural.

God, he hates magic.

The cultist started chanting by then, speaking in a language that no one understood—huh? Well look at that. He could apparently. He could hear them chanting in that unknown language and english at the same time, its over lapping. Weird, its like it was being translated especially for him since the others didnt seems to show any recognition with the words the cultist was using.

Except maybe the demon child, but the others? Nada.

"—Ruler of the inbetween, Heed our call. Defeater of the Dark Tyrant. Master of Space, The bridge between Every Realms, The Great One, The Balance—"

Thats a fuck ton of titles.

The circle began glowing green and fucking Lazarus waters began to pour out and thats not fucking good.

Pillar of unnaturally Neon Red Fire emerge from the Circle and destroyed the ceiling and shook the entire ware house.

A tall armoured figure emerge as the pillar of fire began to settle out. It was floating above the circle, looming over everything in a terryfing manner. Temperature began to rise as the being's Unnayurally white gaze fell upon them.

It was… a knight? A knight cross over a biker??? It also had guns which is weird and is that a fucking Bat Insignia on its chest?

Pressure from all side crash over them as the beings gaze intensified before vanishing all together the moment its gaze fell on jason.

After what seems to be eternity, the being finally spoke.

"Huh. His majesty was right, I really was that stinky and fuck up before he find me."

???

The knight biker then remove his helmet to reveal his own face with a domino mask with his color pallete just inverted.

The doppelganger then pull out his gun and began shooting down the cultist all against the other bats protest. One by one the cultist vanished in to tin air as if they didn't exist all together.

He snapped his fingers and the rope that tying the burst in the same crimson flames and vanished all together.

"What the absolute fuck is going on here?!"

Or cultist used kidnap batfam and use jason as a sacrifice to the ghost king to summon him.

They summon Alternate version of jason who is a halfa and work as one of Danny's Fright knight: Red Knight.

[psilliguykai]

Gently places my Mind design on the table for ur drawing thing :]]

Heyo! Sorry this took a while but he’s here now!!! Your guy!!!

Agh I love this design and your art so much, both are gorgeous and just all around awesome aaksdmkdmc- tysm for the art req!! :D

[born2slippy]

Milex android AU ⚙️

(inspired by this post and this beautiful fic by @tea-with-cinnamontoast !!)

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Would love to hear your thought on meowrails break up and who they end up with?! Especially interested in Hal <> Nepeta!

Ok! Just a disclaimer before anything: this is not at all saying you shouldnt ship the meowrails, this is just a canon discussion blog and I have noticed... some stuff... but ship whatever you want, I literally don't care, all HCs are valid, etc. etc.

"Everyone has an important job to do." This is a phrase that gets repeated in Hivebent a few times, which makes it important, as Homestuck often uses repetition to build up an "internal lexicon" and deliberately highlight when situations have similar connotations (Hussie discusses this on their Formspring). So what's the context for this specific phrase? Well, it shows up three times, and for at least two of those times, it's associated with failed moirallegiances.

GA: But It Just Means Theres Got To Be Someone Around To Keep An Eye On Them GA: And If Not Me Then Who GA: Everyone Has An Important Job To Do AG: Ok, so you're spying on me. Kind of creepy! Man, m8y8e you should get a l8fe.

And

CC: I will need to connect after my goofball moirail does so I can keep my goggles on )(is nefarious escapades. CC: Its a toug)( job but its important! Everyone )(as an important job to do.

So, okay, apparently the context of this phrase is "this person is in a moirallegiance that will NOT work out"... well, here's the third time it pops up (though it's the first time chronologically):

Your best pal of all is A LITTLE BOSSY, and people wonder why you even bother with him. But someone has to keep him pacified. If not you, then who? Everyone has an important job to do.

So... hm. This isn't the only thing I have to say about meowrails breakup, but it is the most prominent one, and maybe the most damning, depending on how much weight you put into Homestuck's oft-deliberate use of parallels.

Maybe something a bit more damning is the way Hussie speaks about them in the book commentary? Pretty much every time they turn up, he has some comment to make about how Equius doesn't really "need" Nepeta, and about how he tends to talk over her and usurp her agency, like so many shitty boyfriends IRL.

We don't know much about Equius yet, but we get an awful lot of info about him with this excerpt. He's racist, a huge snob, doesn't like swearing, is stern and controlling, has a patronizing fondness for Nepeta, and thinks archery is cool because of its association with nobility. Combine this with the snapshot of his room we'll see soon, and suddenly we have an extensive character portrait. This was all important to establish quickly, because it helps us understand in record time that Equius is in fact one of the greatest characters ever created.

Equius says he appreciates that Nepeta's angry. I guess meaning that he respects an angry disposition, like his own. Especially early on in his characterization, it's suggested he has anger issues (like him taking his rage out on robot dummy combatants). But I'm not sure this trait holds up. Over time, he seems to show a lot more passion about his weird stuff, his passion for archery and muscular horse men, his submissive obsessions, his deference toward those higher on the hemospectrum and fetish-like indulgence in depraved attraction toward those lower. Ultimately he comes off more as a ridiculous nerd, with a soft spot for a lot of silly and creepy shit. My view on this is, it's not that the text lost track of the fact that he was supposed to be angry. It's more that this was his initial state of mind early on, and the more he started blowing off steam with his various indulgences (Aradiabot, etc.) the less he had to be mad about. We just meet him at a really high-strung point in his life. I think it's more accurate to say his "anger" is a form of hyperintense focus on being stern, aloof, proper, and averse to nonsense, which is a facade serving to cover up his inner personality, which is barely in control at all. Like Nepeta suggests, deep down he wants to play the kinds of silly games she plays. He wants to let go completely, and indulge every ludicrous and depraved whim he has. His arc tends to be more about caving to these indulgences, and all the mixed consequences that follow, than resisting them.

Here's [S] Equius: Seek the highbl00d, another playable RPG game. [...] But Christ, why am I talking about that garbage when we are about to review some truly choice material focusing exclusively on your favorite meowrails. It is a great illustration of their tragic dynamic; deeply committed and caring partners in the diamonds quadrant, and yet compromised by Equius and his stubborn class-driven faults, his pathological reverence for his superiors, his forced and probably not genuinely felt sense of disdain for lower bloods like Nepeta, and ultimately his failure to rise above these flaws when presented with a real test of character and friendship. A test imposed, of course, by a boorish murderclown, who from this point onward just ruins fucking everything, constantly.

Hussie is an unreliable narrator (of the "he's deliberately playing a character who's biased, opinionated, and sometimes wrong, because a major theme of Homestuck is that you have to question who's telling the story and if they can be trusted" variety), so it's difficult to parse exactly what he's saying is salient, especially since he talks so damn much. But even so, he constantly goes out of his way to highlight how the meowrails DON'T work out - which is even pretty canon in the comic.

In Hivebent, the two are established as working along this dynamic: Nepeta soothes Equius's anger issues, while Equius keeps Nepeta from recklessly endangering herself (for example, prohibiting her from LARPing). But as Hussie says, Equius's anger problems become basically nonexistent by the time Murderstuck rolls around, and his actual problem is his overindulgence in his fetishes; meanwhile, his bossy, controlling attitude to Nepeta was always kind of suspect, but it actively becomes a source of frustration to her that she can't wait to shirk (he bans her from talking to the humans, and she goes behind his back to do it anyways - even celebrates when Karkat gives her express permission).

In the end, they die for their failures as a moirallegiance - despite being fresh off a feelings jam in a pile, and so, supposedly at their least likely to hurt themselves or others, Equius's horny gets him killed (Hussie has always maintained across multiple platforms that Equius could've easily overpowered Gamzee, he just chose not to because Hot), and Nepeta doesn't listen to his orders to stay put. In later conversations with ARquiussprite, Equius is always framed as the one here who was wrong - who failed to keep Nepeta safe and has something to apologize for. I think it's also pretty important to notice that in the bubbles, Equius is never seen doing so - but IS seen being really weird to Aradias - fully implying that he's actually been avoiding taking accountability to Nepeta in favor of indulging in his fetish shit, out of shame and guilt.

As Hussie says, the meowrails are an important relationship, and when I say they don't work out, I don't mean they shouldn't have been together in the first place. On the contrary; I think they actually were good for each other, way back on Alternia. Nepeta DID keep Equius's frustrations in check, and Equius DID keep Nepeta out of trouble. But as time went on, Equius just got really comfortable with treating Nepeta like an object he owned - something convenient, which he can use when he's feeling sad, and ignore otherwise - and Nepeta started growing frustrated with his increasingly petty control. They grew as people, their needs changed, and they stopped being good for each other, but they stayed together - out of inertia and sunk cost fallacy on Nepeta's end, and on Equius's end, because it was convenient and pleasant (for him) and useful (for him) so why would he throw it away?

While this is something I think could potentially be worked out with relationship therapy, the thing with Homestuck is that it's big into the idea of soulmates, especially in the pale quadrant (which is described with that exact term). Its ultimate thesis on romance is that, while you have to do a lot of personal work in order to be the kind of person who can BE in a soul mates relationship, ultimately a relationship SHOULD have an element of just... easy compatability, idiosyncracies clicking together in just the right way to bring out the best in both parties. It's idealized, and there's criticism to be made about that, but that's still ultimately how romance kind of functions in Homestuck. The perfect match is out there for you, and while you have some growing to do in order to be ready for it, it's supposed to be easy once you get there. Consider how Eridan can calm Karkat down literally just by talking to him normally, or how Sollux regularly outright professes that Feferi's just fucking amazing - these are relationships where the involved parties don't need to tell themselves "everyone has an important job to do" with grit teeth to justify keeping the relationship going.

Meowrails lacks that inherent compatability, according to the evidence, but of course, that brings up the question of who they SHOULD date in pale instead. Hey, did you ever notice that Dirk (and by extension, Hal) are EXTREMELY Equius-coded?

So here's the thing. Hal's favorite alpha kid is Roxy, who is also pretty Nepeta-themed, being a cat-associated Rogue. They regularly flirtLARP with each other, but when we get a glimpse of this so called flirtLARPing, it's actually Roxy almost, but not quite, getting Hal to admit that he's actually not really that into Jake, he just feels obligated, as an extension of Dirk, to make DirkJake happen. They almost, but not quite, have a feelings jam.

Meanwhile, Hal outright calls his conversation with Dirk, as Dirk grapples with whether or not he should kill Hal, a "feelings jam", and Dirk also has a convo with Caliborn about how maybe he should consider the merits of selfcest.

What these interactions hint at, to me, is Nepeta <> Hal, and Equius <> Dirk... and I think if you consider it from the standpoint of their personalities, it works, too?

Nepeta is pretty consistently shown to have a knack for knowing how other people actually feel. Her shipping charts are incorrect in terms of compatability, but she's got a scary knack for reading intentions and desires - as befits a non-destructive Heart player. She's able to pinpoint that Eridan's advances on her are insincere, but he's not that bad a guy; she notices that Karkat is a big softie who loves his friends so much; she correctly reads that Equius is a big ol' goofball who loves to play games. Hal, as a Mind player, and even more as originally being a Dirk splinter and an AI, is deeply distressed by his lack of "self"-hood; it's Roxy who calls out first and most blatantly that he's clearly his own guy with his own real feelings, which seems to be why he gravitates toward her. Nepeta would do this even harder, since it's kind of her entire Thing, and I think Hal would really appreciate that, since Hal is at his worst when he thinks he's acting in someone else's best interest (Sylph lol).

Meanwhile, what Nepeta really needs IS an enabler. She's a rebellious soul with radical ideas about how the hemospectrum is stupid and dumb, and she's RIGHT and she should SAY IT. Hal's amazing at giving people what they "want", pulling strings to ensure DirkJake happens, while also framing it as something that Jake would want - this bombastic, action hero kiss-in-front-of-a-volcano. Nepeta's clearly attracted to characters with Equius-esque qualities, but after spending so long with Equius, who does nothing but push her down with a patronizing "hush, greenblood, it's for your own good," I think she would do well with an insane partner in crime who instead goes "fuck yeah girl, let's make this shit happen." Especially since her personal insecurities are that other people will find her dumb and silly (an impression that Equius certainly didn't HELP with...) - having Hal in her corner going "uhhh you're literally my favorite and I will engineer situations to fall directly in your favor?" would be a huge help to her.

I'm actually not entirely sold on equius <> dirk - they're maybe too similar? - i have in my notes here john <> dirk and equius <> jake. idk. the shipping web starts to get complicated

[teddy-bear-d]

I think what we can gather from this gritho team up (finally) is that they are essentially efficient and coordinated chaos

[somecunttookmyurl]

ooh i have a question about betting odds actually because i never understood how you could have like 1:10 instead (bigger number on right) like. would that not mean you pay them money? why would anyone ever place a bet on odds like that?

great question! common source of confusion.

so with betting odds the first most important thing to remember is this: you always get your initial stake back if you win

the odds are then what you get back on top of that

if something is 10:1 that means for every £1 you bet, you will get £10 on top if it comes true. a £1 bet would therefore come back as £11 (your initial £1, + your £10 winnings)

if something is 1:10 then for every £10 you stake, you gain £1. so your hypothetical £1 stake comes back to you as £1.10. something 1:10 is so basically guaranteed to happen (there's a 90% chance it does, 10% chance it doesn't) that bookies aren't going to give you much of a prize for saying it will. similarly most people won't bother betting on it because getting an extra 10p simply isn't worth the effort it took to do it in the first place.

sometimes you get funky odds like 9:14 or 17:2 but they all work the same way. the left number is what money you get (on top of your initial stake) if you bet the number on the right. bet £14 and win? get an extra £9. bet £2 and win? get an extra £17

tldr odds 'the other way' don't mean you owe them money, it means your additional payout on top becomes fractional. 1:100 truly would not be worth it because you'd have to bet £100 to get a whole extra £1

[nebuladreamz]

Thinking about how if i ever had the opportunity to make. a mascot horror game or story that i'd have it take place right before the eventual Big Fall of the establishment

[Big ramble under the cut lmao]

Something something reuse how I thought for Security Breach we'd play as Vanessa and the five nights formula was doing the shift but slowly discovering through each shift that Some Shit is happening and she has to stop it (directly before we found out Vanessa was Vanny/Vanessa was the security guard's name)

LIKE!!! I fucking adore how a couple of standout mascot horror games have been [primarily Indigo Park, I'm willing to give it a shot and it's deadass because of Rambley and his role as an AI assistant], but a lot of what I've seen personally (stares at. Fucking. Garten of Banban), it's a lot of post fall. Always investigating or going through the abandoned place where shit's gone wrong (thank you BATIM for starting the chapter-based formula -bangs head-)

But like. I've always thought about what it would be like for a mascot horror game to take place before the fall, or even during it depending on the execution.

Before the fall, you're either a kid who's a regular at the establishment (daycare, amusement park, whatever) or even an employee working there-

(or even MORE interestingly, if we go with a chapter-based thing or even similar to FNAF in terms of there's a set thing for whatever, the POV keeps changing between different people- wait I'm cooking. i'll get back to that later actually)

-And slowly as it all develops, you watch as everything begins to just. Fall apart. Employees leaving, the place coming down into disrepair, something's up with the main mascots of the place but you don't know what (at least in universe, we all know this formula as players)

Actually, coming back to the changing POVs, you can even draw in inspiration from DBH (I only watched gameplay back then oops) where the perspective changes between different people. A child enjoying their day, a first time employee, a long time employee, a parent of a child. Hell, depending on things, you could even have a moment where (depending on the location) you play as a fucking burglar looking to steal shit (before getting. Fucking bass boosted)

And eventually there'd come the inevitable end where it all closes down, leaving whatever living mascots inside to rot (insert Abandoned by Disney line here /j)

LIKE!!! I want to see people expand on the formula!! I want to see people fuck around and find out!!!

Honest to god, I might take this and run with it myself cause now I'M getting ideas.

[whinesandwhimpers]

reader who doesnt stay exclusive with one person. right now, you're dating four guys, all similar in some ways but also different and just...perfect. They all dont mind that you're dating other guys.

If only you knew they're all teammates together.

[dumbasswithapen]

Decided to try realistic drawing on a whim (never done this before. Scary.) and since it’s pride month I figured id draw Real Actual People who are queer! So here’s a drawing of @neitherabaron

(reference picture under the cut. Sorry I twitterstalked for it. I was not about to draw without a good reference)

(P.S the eyes are kind of creepy I KNOW and I am SORRY)

[6blackfilin9]

Winged serpent

Nothing More - Let them burn

Nothinh More - Funny little creatures

———

He’s set in his ways firmly and the effects of his curse mark finally start to sink in

Such as

U know

Insanity

[deiaiko]

#22.4 Result

Even though his team had more members, Khun did not anticipate the speedster in Agni's team who managed to steal the princesses' tags in just a few seconds. Basically leave half of his team's fishermen immobile right from the start.

Khun managed to stop Dan with lighthouse flow control, and Rak was able to steal Dan's black tag. Yet Agni managed to undo the flow control and free Dan before Rak could take back the tags that Dan had stolen.

Endorsi was then given Laure's tag and fought with Gyetang, while Anaak was given Shibisu's tag and fought Agni along with Rak. Ran didn't lose his tag and had been countering Novick since the start of the game. Surprisingly, they seemed to be on par with each other. Khun didn't know who won by the end, since he was too busy trying to catch Dan, who managed to steal Hatz's tag at one point. 

Suddenly, his lighthouse was no longer being interfered with by Agni, and only then he saw that Endorsi had joined hands to fight Agni after rendering Gyetang immobile. With Agni's attention diverted by three main powers, Khun was finally able to immobilize Dan. However, he only managed to retrieve one white tag, since all the other stolen tags were already handed over. He gave the white tag to Hatz to get him back into the game, but by that time Gyetang was also back on his feet, so they were sent to fight each other.

Ten minutes went by too fast. Khun slumped to the floor and finally took some deep breaths. Clearly, Agni's team didn't go easy on them, and he was lucky enough to keep his tag. 

"I see you've given your best." Agni said as he caught Ran in his arms before he fell face flat onto the floor. Ran must've swallowed the lightning pill halfway through the fight, and Khun didn't really know how to feel about that.

Khun looked up to the second floor balcony where Bam and Grace were talking. He could feel the corner of his lips pull up when he saw Bam looking bashful as Grace ruffled his hair.

"Gather up everyone," Agni called them, still holding Ran's limp body. He looked like he was about to pass out himself, though. Handling both princesses and Rak all by himself while still assisting his other team members was really impressive in Khun's opinion, even if it was only for ten minutes. 

Everyone, including Agni's team, sat down in a loose circle, exceptions being Ran who was laid down in front of Agni and being tended to, and Laure who was sleeping soundly on the floor behind Hatz. Most of the others looked worn out and some were even hiding a limp, but the moment Gyetang and Dan started to excitedly recount and compliment everyone, his team was easily drawn into the conversation.

Bam and Grace came to join them a moment later, bringing bottled water and a first aid kit. Grace offered to check on each one of them, which unsurprisingly started from Agni. Though Khun declined his offer when it was his turn. He didn't get any bone-shattering hits, so he was fine. Grace didn't look happy with it, but he moved on.

Meanwhile, Bam distributed the water, bandages and ointment. Then he decided to go sit near him and Rak, to Khun's delight. It felt like their missing puzzle piece was finally fitted back into place. 

"It's nice…to be with everyone again." Bam mumbled to himself, yet Khun heard him clearly. And so did their friends, who were looking at Bam wistfully.

Bam was holding his knees that were folded close to his chest, making him look small and closed up. Golden eyes were shadowed from view by his long bangs. It was like there was still an invisible wall that divided him from everyone else, keeping him unreachable. Khun itched to touch him, to get rid of that wall and pull Bam back to him, to what they used to have.

There was so much yet so little to talk about, and Khun felt himself hesitating, especially with this many eyes on Bam. He finally understood why Agni set the tag prizes as is.

Khun touched Bam's arm with his fist, and smiled tiredly when Bam turned his head at him. "It's good to have you back, Bam." 

Many emotions flashed in those golden eyes; disbelief, fear, sadness, hurt, longing, relief, joy. Even though he had heard the story from Bam, Khun still couldn't imagine how much suffering Bam had gone through during all those years they were apart. How lonely he must be, and there was nothing Khun could do to fix what had been done. But when Bam finally smiled back, crooked like he just fixed himself back together, Khun vowed that he'd never let anyone take anything away from Bam ever again.

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[bigskydreaming]

The thing that kills me about the Star Wars prequel trilogy and why I will die on my hill that my problem is not that Star Wars is a tragedy, its that its a badly written tragedy, is that Anakin Skywalker was at his closest to being a good Jedi when he was ten years old.

[white-weasel]

Sometimes I think about just how much of a petty bitch Kristoph Gavin is and I laugh. Like truly one of the top haters of all time

[prodbyton]

making the next wtg chapter…. lol… haha… what do yall think is gonna go down 😋

[deconstructivesurgery]

when she's a bad bitch but she sends you into liver failure and you have to spend every second in her presence locked in or else you die