#You wouldn't download a BEAR

[taurusdesign]

Johanna Nursery (Available for Everyone!)

Hi guys!

I thought I wouldn't make it, but even on the last day, I made the set.  It made me so excited when I was doing this set. Because I don't know anything about babysitting, and the style of the set is in a style that I'm not used to. Of course, there was more I wanted to add, but time is very cruel. As I shared in the WIP, I found the Foundry set belonging to Westwood Baby very suitable for this theme. I liked it and I thought the simmers would like it too. (I hope so!) I also designed the items that were on my mind and not on the actual set by myself. There are a total of 30 items in the set, which is aimed at babies and toddlers. I was going to make a bassinet for the newborns, but I heard it was a little difficult. They're already so boring. Now I make them infants directly. Let's see what we have without too much ado.

Cribs - (2 styles, 30 swatches)

Bookcase - (2 styles, 30 swatches)

Diaper Change Table - (I'm sorry that I did this in 3 parts... And Growing Together required)

Dresser - (30 swatches)

Chifforobe - (2 versions, 30 swatches)

Nightstand - (30 swatches)

Chest - (30 swatches)

High Chair - (2 parts, 30 swatches)

Potty Chair - (20 swatches)

Mattress for Infants - (20 swatches)

Mattress for Toddlers - (20 swatches)

Toddler Bed - (2 styles, 30 swatches)

Blanket for Crib - (20 swatches)

Pillows for Crib - (20 swatches)

Teddy Bear - (20 swatches)

Wall Decos - Sun, Moon and Clouds - (20 swatches)

Mirror - (30 swatches)

Books for Bookcase - (Maxis Conversation)

Deco Baby Monitor - (24 swatches)

You can find everything included in the set by typing "Johanna" in the search section.

I hope you'll like it! Love you guys ❤️❤️❤️

Public Release: April 21st, 2023

DOWNLOAD (CurseForge)

[ladyofnegativity]

Heeeeey Tiny-! Okay so...

AHHDLRGSKSVDKVXSKSBRKRB. BITCH. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT ACTUAL THE FUCK?!

How the hell did you make something so... SO-! ARGHHHHHH-! I CANT FIND THE WORDS-!!!

I'm blessed. SO FUCKING BLESSED.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU-!

Okay okay okay. So! I'll try to do a deepdive on the newest installment of Human Effects.

BigBotNoStop: Alright mechs, I come bearing an inquiry. As you may have heard from some of my last posts, the newest additions to our crew are a thriving colony of soft, squishy humans. Word in the taproom is some have taken quite an interest in... extending cultural exchanges, if you catch my drift. Not really my field of experience and was hoping some of Xeno's here might have some input. 

Posted to Sublink: Human and cybertronian relationships?

But I'm curious, are interspecies acts even possible without harm? Their frames seem so fragile. One wrong motion and SPLAT! No more humans. quite a few members of our crew have shown interest in flirting... Thoughts? Suggestions for how to proceed with care- help a mech out!

(I don't know why, but this bot reminds me of Skids. I've been reading the other installments, and so far, my hunch on this is Skids.)

Blazemech: Yo! You got fleshies on your ship! Fragging jealousy!. Your ship is looking for any dock workers?

(Okay! So, from the context of what Blazemech wrote, I can tell that they aren't from the Lost Light. Perhaps a crew member from the Vis Vitalis, or some other ship? I don't know, but the name 'Blazemech' reminds me of FireStar(?), but judging from context, I don't think she'll want to work as a dock worker when she's second in command in the Vis Vitalis.)

TailOrTrails: Oh Primus, are we really having this discussion?? Look, I get the appeal of those soft little flesh bags. Really, I do - different wiring can be so freakin' hot. But there's no way a romp with one of those puny things ends well for them! Even accidentally bumping into a table puts them in the medbay. Think of the mess, One wrong thrust and you've got squish all over your plating.

(Riptide. Definitely Riptide. 'TailOrTrails' reminds me of a mech who has an aquatic themed alt mode, and we, Riptide turns into a boat. And from reading the other installments, Riptide acts hesitant yet intrigued.)

ISOCLEAN: Just download some holofacing and use your imagination if you're that jonesing for an organic interface. Trust me, it's not worth the risk - or hassle of cleaning up after. sure you can find something from the Human sites on Mechanophilia, slutty Show and shine or Car Washes. Stay shiny and keep those servos to yourself, mechs! Some curiosities are better left to fantasies.

(Honestly, I'm stumped with this one. I can't seem to find or remember someone who's a clean freak. Aside from Ultra Magnus, but then he wouldn't fit the mannerisms of ISOCLEAN. Fuck.)

Flyboi69: Don't leave a mech hanging, I want deets!, has anybot here actually gotten friendly with a fleshie before? I'm talking about hands-on experience. We've all gotten curious watching, but has the real thing lived up to the fantasy? 

(Tailgate??? I'm sorry, I REALLY don't know who this guy is. Could be Starscream, but it would fit with they way the text was worded.

I think it's Skywarp??? But then why would he be interested in humans???)

Pimptheride: Any tips for coaxing one into the berth, or does their tiny size mean you've got to take it slow and gentle? And most importantly... any videos out there of the deed? A mech's gotta do some, ah, research before taking the plunge. Hook a brother up if you've found any good amateur organic-on-mech action out there in the 'net. Gotta see it to believe it. 

(Haha! I read the name, and immediately thought of Knockout. Not because of the text or anything, but I just remembered that in Transformers: Prime, the animators decided to pimp out Knockout, hence the 'Pimptheride')

ScienceSorcerer: For reasons. Does anyone know if humans have both Spikes and Valves? Or if they have any human anatomy holos or books and such from Earth they are willing to sell for some decent Shanix.  

(Brainstorm. The mech that started it all. I'm betting everything that this is Brainstorm.)

T-Wrexz: Primus, you mechs are hungrier than fragging scraplets. As far as I know, relations between our kinds are still uncharted territory. Could be amazing, could end badly - who's to say until we try? Personally I'm keeping an optic out, just curious to see what new experiences those squishy aliens can offer us tough metal mechs. 

(Definitely Grimlock. The name gave it away.

I mean, do you know any other mech who has a T-Rex alt mode??? Yeeeeeah.

But what business does Grimlock have with humans??? To think that he'd be interested in humans in really funny to me.)

Bar-rizzla: Oho, look who's swapping tall tales. I've been keeping a close optic on our ships squishy company since they came aboard. And between you and me... I may have an in with their ambassador that could lead to some juicy first-hand intel. Just trying to track down the bot we think they are berthing with. Crews got bets out. Turns out they get just as curious about us big metal hunks as we are them!. The other night, their chat got particularly saucy after a few drinks. Lots of gossip and speculation about which lucky bot one of them might take for a private ride. 

(Easy pickings. This is Swerve. I know it is.)

WPHAS-Violation: I may have a certain special "human entertainment" vid I could share. Let's just say the organic in question got quite... friendly with an eager mini-con. You know where to find me if you're brave enough to watch! 

(I'm torn between giving this to Rewind or to Tapemix54. From context, I'd say WPHAS-Violation is from the Lost Light, but then what about Tapemix54??? Is Tapemix54 Soundwave???

👀 Who was this Minicon that got lucky... Hmmmmmm.)

Tapemix54: Oho, mechs - think you've got it bad now? You should've seen some of the real deviants back before the war. When I was still stationed on Petrex, I knew this one smuggler - went by the name Rattler. Sneaky little scraplet, but Primus if he didn't have the wildest stories. Rattler used to run goods across time and space, dodging security at every turn. He'd pop up out of nowhere selling the rarest exotic "pets" to rich senators and other high caste mechs looking for a thrill. I'm talking aliens so bizarre even our data banks had never heard of their kind. But the highest bidder always walked away with a new "plaything" to break in, if you catch my drift. Word was Rattler even had a collection of sentient organics that he'd let special clients "test drive" between runs. Humans were apparently a favourite - their smaller frames could take all sorts of creative handling. Rattler had vids, too, of course, to entice buyers. I saw one once, let's just say "versatile" doesn't begin to cover it. Naturally the vids have all been scrubbed by now. But I bet if you knew where to dig in the deep web or some easily swayable Archivist, you might find traces of Rattler's stash still floating around out there.

(Fuck. FUUUUUUCK. Now I'm thinking that this is Chromedome because he was stationed in Pretrex with Prowl when they were sent to investigate the assassination of Senator Sherma.

For all I care, Rattler could have been Swindle since... Y'know, he was trafficking humans. Though, now that I think about it, would Swindle even be old enough to do that??? FUUUUUUUUCK.)

"Old records saved of the Senator and his human Conjunx”

It's a file collection of holotapes and pictures: "Enjoy these are pre war photos of Senator Shockwave and his Human holding their sparkling" 

There are many holos and videos of the long gone senator smiling with his human perched on his shoulder, in the crystal garden with a young sparkling held in the human's arms. Videos of the sparkling playing with the two but the last The last holo looks like a family portrait with Shockwave’s frame in a lime green blue white paint with gold accessories,  his human lover is dressed in elegant robes and the small blue praxian sparkling held in their arms. Each holo is dated with the Iacon records seal of authentication. 

(Okay. Okay okay okay. I LOVE the fact that you decided to incorporate Laboratory Logs to Human Effects. Admittedly, I did not see that coming when I sent that ask. Smart move.

And uhhh... Now that a few mechs have seen the photos, wouldn't that mean that if they ever recognized a mech that looked a lot like Senator Shockwave's long lost sparkling, It'll further cement the fact that uhhhh.... Fuck. I think I lost the path.

Uhmmm... Think about it like this, when Ratchet sees the family photo and sees the little sparkling, wouldn't he recognize that it's Traxies?)

FlyBoi69: NO FREAKIN' WAY. Is this real?! *downloads files faster than Blurr* FRAG ME SIDEWAYS, I think I just popped a gasket! How in the PIT did you manage to dig up the holos of senator Shockwave, most of his speeches, debates and lectures were wiped. Where did you find this!

(Honestly though, I'm still not sure who this guy is. Could this be Misfire??? AHHHHHHH.

Who are you FlyBoi69?!)

Jackin0: of all mechs, with an actual human back in the Golden Age?!. I'm calling scrap on this being real. It's gotta be a flawless deepfake. By PRIMUS if true - to think ol' Shockers was living it up with a squishy. Maybe there's more to those Senatorial types than meets the optic...

(Jackie. Definitely Jackie. Ah! Sorry, I meant Wheeljack.

It's just cool to call him Jackie. ☺️)

T-Wrexz: Okay, I'll bite... but someone better explain to me RIGHT NOW how any of this computes! Last I checked, time travel and inter-species relationships were the stuff of erotic imagination, not legitimate pre-war archives. Tapemix, you better start talking. Where in the PIT did you source these files? How do we know they're authentic and not just an incredibly convincing parlour trick? Because if I'm gonna let these images ruin me, I wanna be ruined by the real deal! Spill it, mech. 

(I REALLY think this is Rewind. Cause Rewind likes to collect rare footage.)

Iacon-Records: Tapemix54 could i please request where you discovered these as i work with Iacon records and this here is history that needs to be preserved. I'm willing to talk with you through a contractor if you would be willing for us to add these back into the new hall of records. Cybertron has lost so much and to find something like this I ask that we find a way to preserve it.  

(Optimus. THIS IS OPTIMUS PRIME.

You can't get more Optimus than Iacon-Records.)

BigBotNoStop: Pit take me now... I think I may have to reassess everything I thought I knew about interface and partnerships. That human is holding a sparkling curled around them - frag if it isn't the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! If anything could make me believe in miracles, it's this! Tapemix, you glorious glitch - how can I ever repay such an enlightening gift?

(Okay. I'm getting more and more convinced that this is Skids.

On that note, I like to think that whoever managed to see the photos are going to think, 'I can have a sparkling with a human'.

Which is cool, but then a bummer if they found out that Tiny didn't actually carry Traxies but was instead adopted from a hotspot when he imprinted on Tiny.)

Tapemix54: These were filed only cycles after Shockwaves Emputra; they were added to the Iacon records by some Archivist under the title. 'I will Remember you for who you were'. This was right when the senate fell apart on the brink of the war. From my knowledge of information on Rattler he apparently had an outlier who he got to take them to different times since he was a shuttle made it easier to transport. That's from the  records that still exist at least. I'll take you up on that offer Iacon-records. 

(Okay. That mysterious archivist? Definitely Optimus.

...

But wasn't Optimus a police officer during that era??? Wasn't he working with Sentinel at that time???

And who's this mysterious shuttle??? Omega Supreme??? JDDKSJDLDHDKGKSGS.

And who's RATTLER?! So many questions and so little answers.)

Oh, and Tiny? I really want to thank you for humoring me. You have no idea how much help you've given.

And uhhh.... Yeah....

ACCEPT MY LOVE AND APPRECIATION.

꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡ TINY ♡⁠˖⁠꒰⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠⑅⁠꒱

[vulgarmaw]

You wouldn't download a bear.

[a-student-out-of-time]

The Post-Tragedy Horrors of Despair Time

Hello everyone, Mod Bubbles here!

This Halloween, I decided to do something a little different. Rather than a dedicated post or song parody, I've decided to share a worldbuilding analysis. A pretty fortuitous one, since we've recently completed Chapter 2 of Despair Time.

I'm sure it's no exaggeration to say that DT is a pretty dark fangan, especially within its own context. I wouldn't say it's as grimdark and nihilistic as some people are convinced it is, but there's some elements to it that I feel are worth analyzing going forward.

See, it's been established that DT is set within the Hope's Peak continuity. This would mean that the canon games sans V3 (and if you want to have fun with it, other fangans like the Another series) have all happened here.

According to a Q&A, DT is set around 70-80 years after the end of the Tragedy, so if you wanted to estimate based on in-universe dates (such as Makoto's Hope's Peak brochure saying 2010 in the earliest version of the game but 2014 in a re-release), that would put it sometime around 2080 to the mid-2090s. Veronika backs this up in Chapter 2, when she mentions the Tragedy happened "almost a century ago."

Why do I bring all this up? Because if you looked at DT, you'd probably never guess it was that deep in the future. I know I didn't at first. And this is all by design, but it goes beyond simple cosmetic details. Allow me to explain to you why this is probably the darkest timeline that could've happened after Class 78's victory over Ultimate Despair.

___________________________________________________

Modern Stagnancy

So if we look at the obvious, the world of DT looks pretty much identical to our own, which should be a good thing. When you consider that this is set after The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History- an event that saw societal collapse, wars happen for the sake of destruction, massive pollution, rampant murder, and countless killing games- then it almost seems utopian.

Cities have long since been rebuilt, the skies are clear, there are functional trains, movies, celebrities, schools, music, art, Ted-Talks, the internet, all the trappings of normality. And that's really the problem.

Once the recovery efforts were underway, the goal of those in power was to rebuild things exactly as they used to be. Bear in mind, the world looks like our modern day, yet this is set deep into the late 21st century. In that context, the world almost seems stunted in its growth or even that it's regressed, given that CDs and DVDs are used rather than USBs or digital downloads.

Not only that, but this extends to societal attitudes as well. Nico was the victim of bullying over their status as an enby by everyone who knew, including their own father. It's almost the 22nd century and anti-LGBTQ bigotry like this still exists.

In that context, it feels less like the world is recovering and more that it's been stuck in its pre-Tragedy status quo, right down to continuing the Ultimates program that contributed to The Tragedy in the first place. And who would be motivated to do that?

2. Hope's Peak And Their Kin Are Stronger Than Ever

Probably one of the most contentious aspects of DR3's ending is that, after everything the people in charge of it were responsible for- exploiting their students, covering up crimes, human experimentation- Hope's Peak Academy was rebuilt by the survivors, now with Makoto as headmaster.

Now, one could make the argument that Makoto is a better example of hope and thus better suited to lead the school to follow its stated ideals than the Steering Committee ever was. That very well may be true, but as they also proved, nobody stays in charge forever. And now, because of his decision, Hope's Peak isn't contained to Japan.

There now exist Hope's Peak branches in every major country on Earth, with two in the United States. Teruko and co. are students of the East Coast Division's 27th class, meaning that one opened almost thirty years ago. This would also mean that Japan's Hope's Peak would have seen over 150 classes since its inception.

I bring all this up because, as has been made very clear by canon, Hope's Peak is a terrible place even in concept. When you remove the idyllic aspect of fostering talent and guaranteeing its students are set for life, the truth is that ultimates are stunted in their development. They're only encouraged to excel in their particular field, whether they really want to or not.

In addition, Hope's Peak has always quietly held this belief that only people with talent hold any worth; those without talent are just "ticks" who leech off the success of their betters. Characters like Byakuya and Nagito echo those very same sentiments, this extreme elitism that encourages people to view the "99%" as inherently inferior.

Even if you wanted to say Makoto managed to undo that idea, can we really say this divide would never come up again? No matter how many years pass or how many divisions of Hope's Peak are set up across the world? That seems really far-fetched to me.

Consider Min's bonus video. As she explains, she was never scouted by the school. Instead, America's Hope's Peak announced something called the Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students, where eligible high school students would be allowed to take a test, the best of whom would be admitted to the school when they graduated. The catch is that they had 12 years to prepare. Min, who was only 5 at the time, wasn't initially going to participate, but then the founder of a company called XF-Ture Tech approached her family- who was quite poor- and wanted to sponsor her in exchange for her participation.

She spent her entire life preparing for that test. And when she passed, she realized it was all really just an experiment to create their ideal version of the Ultimate Student. She even doubted that she was the best in terms of raw score, just that she met their desired expectations by cutting out everything else in her life for that test.

It also extends beyond just Hope's Peak itself. Those with power and influence now hold a strangle hold over the most vulnerable people out there, as we can see with the Lacroix family.

Rose wanted to help her family out of their financial limitations using her painting skills and her photographic memory, which lead to her becoming an art forger. However, at 15, she was found out and her family faced tens of millions in fines. This would've been the end, but then they were bailed out by a billionaire named Richard Spurling, founder of the Spurling Foundation. In exchange for clearing her charges, Rose had to sign a contract that meant she doesn't own the rights to anything she paints.

She hates what her life has become, where she can only ever really paint things at the whims of the Foundation because it was the only way her family could survive that mountain of debt. The exploitation there is undeniable.

No matter where you look, there's still exploitation and experiment abound with the school, corporations and the wealthy. And if you think the Spurling Foundation sounds bad here, they're implied to be responsible for something much worse.

Which is also brings us to Xander. See, there's a curious detail when we first meet him in the prologue:

And I agree. Xander being the Ultimate Rebel really doesn't fit him, as he's better described as the "Ultimate Revolutionary." Except there's no chance Hope's Peak would call him that, instead paying lip service to the idea in a digestible format to still support the status quo.

Xander is an activist who works to oppose corruption, but the ones who benefit from corruption wouldn't want him to flaunt that. It's a subtle but very clever detail that shows those in power still maintain a hold even over their beloved Ultimates.

They probably had no issue throwing the obviously corrupt under the bus to save their own hides, and raised Xander up with a quasi-supportive title. It gives them a chance to look like they're supporting what he's doing while still tying an element of a "rebellious child" to his image with the name.

Had Xander survived, he had a good reason to want to bring them down, especially the Spurlings.

3. Illness and Poverty

Xander's bonus video clued us in on what I believe is one of the most important parts of DT's continuity: the fate of the town of Chariton, implied to be where he lived. It seemed to be a small town, home to a couple hundred or a couple thousand people, where the only hospital for miles was "dinky, understaffed" and barely able to handle a minor flu outbreak. They were completely unprepared for what became known as the Chariton Incident.

When he was around 14, the town was hit by a disease that caused those infected to decay from the outside in; their limbs would stop working before their organs did, meaning they would just lay there and feel themselves slowly dying. So many died that nobody was left to move the bodies, so they were left where they fell, rotting in the summer heat.

The cause of this outbreak? A contaminated river that served as the town's water source. Chariton was an impoverished community, where people had no money to treat their water, get medicine from a nearby city or to even move out. It's also implied, based on Xander's anger, that Duke Spurling was partially responsible and that he got off the hook, which may be what drove Xander to become the Ultimate Rebel. Especially when you consider he's the only surviving member of his family.

Duke Spurling is, as the named implies and Dev has confirmed, the younger brother of Richard Spurling. The money and influence needed to get his brother off the hook is the very same that has the Lacroix family under his thumb.

So as we can see, Chariton was a major event in DT's canon. Not only does it showcase corruption, it also showcases understated but still prominent problems in the post-Tragedy U.S. If you pay attention, you'll also notice Teruko, Min, and Rose mention poverty playing a role in their lives.

As we can see, poverty plays a major role in their lives, and that extends beyond a personal level. Chariton's poverty is why the incident happened at all, and a big reason is because it's also an example of a medical desert.

"Medical desert" is a term used to describe regions whose population has inadequate access to healthcare. This can be all healthcare in general or in specialties such as dental care or pharmaceuticals. This is an especially prominent problem in rural areas, but it can affect urban ones too.

If that sounds implausible to you, today it's believed that around 30 million Americans- over 1% of the population- live over an hour from a hospital. Can you imagine how bad the problem is in a world after The Tragedy? All the damage to infrastructure, established institutions, the economy, and the population? I doubt Chariton was the first to see something this bad.

Ace's execution gives us more clues. In the Death By Illness section, there are several newspaper clippings on the wall, most of which are readable. One flashes on screen saying "Unexplained Illness Kills Thousands," which I believe is another reference to Chariton (why else would it flash on screen?), but there's more as well:

"More people are dying of cancer than ever before"

"Flu season claims thousands of lives"

"Falling rates of survival for hospitalized patients"

"Antibiotic-resistant infections a growing threat in this hospital"

One is harder to read, but I believe it mentions Chronic Kidney Disease being tied to an early death

Now, the interesting thing is that most of these are modern headlines, and they can be pretty misleading. The cancer one is actually based on the fact that more people are living longer lives, thus are reaching ages where they develop cancer due to their cell infrastructure breaking down naturally. It doesn't mean there's more cancer cases overall across all ages.

The only one that's not true is the falling rates one. Which suggests that not only was it Chariton, but healthcare infrastructure in general after the Tragedy seems to be a mess.

See, I was assuming that these articles are identical to what we see today. But it's also possible that the cancer one is now literally true, and it could be because The Tragedy was rife with this kind of horror. We know that terrorism, coups and wars happened for no reason other than to spread despair across the world.

Could you imagine how many nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological weapons were used? How many diseases and hazardous materials were seeded into the environment? If it's unsafe to drink tap water after a serious hurricane or earthquake, how bad is the problem when contamination is the goal?

And this doesn't even touch on how disturbingly easy it would be to spread long-term illnesses such as HIV or CJD in contaminated food and medical supplies. Some diseases have latency periods that last decades, meaning they could still be killing people even by the time DRDT is set.

Antibiotic resistance is also a very real and serious problem. Even today, some strains have become immune to even the strongest antibiotics available. This has given rise to Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci or VREs, which are immune to basically every medication we can throw at them.

Now, it's still possible to deal with them, such as with naturally antimicrobial metals or experimental treatments such as CRISPR and Phage Therapy, but in a world that saw such a massive hit to everything? I'm certain antibiotic-resistance bacteria have become much more serious, potentially resulting in epidemics over the years.

And when these things happen, it's always the poor who suffer the most.

4. Lethal Repetition

Now we come to the most obvious example, something highlighted by the same reveal that DT is set nearly a century into the future:

Veronika, who provided us with information on the effects the Tragedy still has, apparently has never heard about The Killing School Life.

Now, it's important to keep in mind that most of the Killing Games in DR were pretty secluded and motivated. SDR2 was only broadcast to Future Foundation with the goal to allow Junko to escape into the real world, for example. However, DR1's Killing School Life was broadcast globally as a means to break humanity's hope by showing the Ultimates slaughtering each other. Instead, Makoto and co. managed to reinvigorate the world's hope and played a pivotal role in ending the Tragedy.

...And yet Veronika apparently hasn't heard any of it.

Now, there's two possibilities here, neither of which are good:

One is that the Mastermind has removed their knowledge of previous killing games, specifically. Now, I actually consider this an unlikely explanation because, not only does Teruko seem to vaguely remember the Killing School Life happened, but what's the goal in doing so for the participants?

The canon games all had solid reasons why the other masterminds erased the participants' memories: the revelation that they'd been killing their friends, the fact that their past identities were supposed to be undone to save them, even the fact that they weren't even who they were supposed to be in V3.

But what's the purpose of suppressing the memories of the Killing School Life in the participants themselves? Especially since this game is also apparently being broadcast to the outside world, although we only have MonoTV's word on that. Is it to undermine everything the survivors achieved or to get the participants not to consider the same strategies?

The other, more plausible explanation to me is that the mastermind isn't the one who erased their memories. The outside world did.

It's possible that, in the decades since the Tragedy and the drive to return things to the status quo, knowledge of the Killing School Life has been suppressed. It would be so easy to blame Makoto's decision to rebuild the school, but it's just as plausible that his attempts to genuinely reform the school were undone over the years.

Corporations and those that came after had a vested reason to improve their own reputations, and why would they allow their connection to the Tragedy to remain public knowledge? The entire thing began as a revolution of lower classes against the rich before it became a whirlwind of mindless violence.

So what does this mean for DT? This is more hypothesizing on my part, but I'd say this could tell us a lot about the potential motivations for this very killing game. Could it be someone trying to remind the world about this event and how we got here? Is it more retribution against the wealthy? Is it someone who was inspired by Junko to slaughter her friends? Or is it something else entirely? And what role does Teruko have if someone involved is so hellbent on trying to kill her?

For now, we can only speculate. But I can tell you that, based on what we've seen here, DT is probably the darkest future we could've gotten out of the canon series.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

[ellisgirl]

Harrison Gray — I Want to Know Every Inch of You Collection Event

Harrison and Body Measurement

I do not own any contents of Ikemen Villains. This story being uploaded in this blog belongs solely to CYBIRD. Please support them by downloading their games and buying their stories. Both English and Japanese are not my mother tongue languages, please keep in mind that there will be mistakes and added words for my own preferences. I translate for my personal entertainment and for my own practice only.

My first time translating harry’s 😭😭😭

Harrison: "Crown's body measurement......”

Kate: "Yes. It seems that it also serves as a medical checkup."

When Victor asked me to take everyone's body measurements, I called Harry first.

In addition to basic information such as height and weight, the record sheet handed out also contains questions tailored to each individual.

Harrison: “Is that sort of thing within the purview of a Fairytale Master's work?”

Kate: “Of course. Because your growth is an important part of our record.”

Harrison: "...No, I won't grow anymore."

Kate: “You never know what the future holds, you know? Above all, I want you all to stay healthy."

Harrison: “Hmm…..”

(...Harry doesn't seem too keen on it.)

(Come to think of it, you also avoided going along with Roger's research.)

(...You don’t like being probed?)

Kate: “I'll make it quick, just bear with me for a minute. Okay?”

As if trying to convince a child who doesn't like injections, Harry took off his jacket.

Harrison: “Just so you know, it's not that I don't like being probed.”

I blinked at Harry's addition, as if he had read my mind.

Harrison: “I just thought you seemed to take on everything."

Kate: "Did you worry about me?"

Harrison: "I don't know....... So, how are you going to find out?"

(It's usual that there is no answer…, but it was easy to understand now.)

My mouth relaxed at Harry's apparent concern for me.

Kate: “Starting with height, weight....., and chest and abdominal circumference."

Harrison: "Understood."

Using a measuring tape, Harry's body is measured as he stands in front of me.

(If you want to measure properly, you need to be in close contact with him...)

If I put the measuring tape on Harry's back, he'll be in a position where I am hugging him from the front.

Even though I know that his body is masculine and robust.

I was strangely conscious, so I applied the tape measure while moving my body away from him a little.

Harrison: “Wouldn't we have to stick together more to get an accurate measurement?”

Kate: "T-That's right..."

He closes the distance when pointed out, but I’m too nervous to look at Harry's body properly.

Harrison: “Don't be shy, why don't you do what you always do?”

Kate: “Always?”

I turn my head and Harry teasingly whispers in my ear.

Harrison: “You clung desperately to me naked when we were shagging and wouldn't leave me. Why are you so shy now?”

Kate: “E-Even if you give me examples of things like that...”

Harrison: “If you want me to recreate the scene, I'll do it.”

Harry pulls my hips closer, slides his knee between my legs, and pushes me up.

Kate: “Nn, it’s no good.”

Harrison: "What's wrong?"

Kate: "...If that happens, we won't be able to measure anything."

Even though I say that, the force with which I push back against Harry's chest is modest.

(......I know exactly what I need to do, I need to get on with measuring.)

(But if Harry comes on to me, I can't resist strongly enough ......)

Harrison: "Haha...your face is bright red. Now that I’ve seen your cute face, I'll be obedient and cooperate with the measurements then.”

Laughing teasingly, Harry took his hand away from mine.

I felt relieved and at the same time realised that my nervousness had eased.

(Maybe Harry was deliberately pressing me to get me used to it.)

I was also pleased to find Harry's teasing mixture of kindness.

In this way, the measurements managed to proceed—

Kate: “Okay, ….now the last item has been filled in. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Harrison: “.....By the way, are you going to do measurements on everyone from now on?”

Kate: "That's right. It seems that everyone is here today, so I'm going to do it all at once."

Harrison: “Hmmm...... Can I do that?”

…

Kate: "Thank you for your help. It was very helpful!"

Harry helped everyone in the Crown with their physical measurements because he had time.

He took the measurements with a tape measure, I recorded them. We divided the roles and the measurements were completed in no time.

(Hehe... Harry is mean, but kind and reliable.)

As I'm falling back in love with him, Harry looks at me with probing eyes.

Harrison: “So, whose body was the best?”

Kate: “Eh..... What do you mean?”

Harrison: “You've examined all of their bodies, haven't you? I'm asking you whose body you found most attractive.”

Harrison: “I'm sure you have your favorite body shape and favorite parts, don’t you?”

Kate: “Even if you say so...”

(I only thought it was good that everyone seemed to be healthy without any major injuries.…)

(......There was only one person I couldn't consciously measure well.)

Kate: “……Harry.”

Harrison: “Hm?”

Kate: “The only thing that made me nervous was your body.”

Harrison: “……..” 0_0

Kate: "Do you believe it's true?"

The heart is invisible, so even if you really mean what you say, sometimes you may not be believed.

But his ability to see through the lies is also his ability to believe. I can tell him how I feel without deception.

Harrison: *blushing* "......I understand. Your words are not a lie."

Harrison: “I never imagined before I met you that there would ever come a time when I would use this ability for love.”

I'm the one who said the embarrassing line, but I feel that Harry, who exposed my heart, is more embarrassed.

Kate: “Hehe. I see you've found a fun use for it.”

Harrison: “......Come to think of it, I've got a record sheet for you too.”

Maybe he was embarrassed, Harry suddenly changed the topic.

Kate: “Yes. I'm also going to measure it later and fill it in.”

Harrison: “Heh...... Who do you let touch your body and measure every inch of it?”

At first, I thought I should ask someone who was available for my body measurement.

(However, after taking everyone's measurements, I realised that even if it's just a physical measurement, touching me is—)

Kate: “—Harry is good.”

After answering, I realised the mistake of my statement.

Kate: “....If it's not Harry, I don't want it.”

After rephrasing it, Harry smiles with a satisfied smile.

Harrison: “Fine. If it has to be me, I'll do as you ask.”

Harrison: “......But before that, I'll get paid for the labour.”

—After a kiss that is too sweet to be called compensation.

Every inch of my body had been thoroughly examined by Harry's hands.

Fin.

Masterlist

[krystal91sims]

Famous Bears Onesies

Do you remember my "Famous Bears Chair" CC? I accidentally saw it again a few days ago and thought I could use that idea for a infant onesie... So here it is with Winnie Pooh, Po, Paddington, Cheer Bear and Little John!! 😊 I excluded some bears because they wouldn't be even recognizable without their faces but I added Disney's Little John! 😁

DOWNLOAD

[electricdissonance]

Well, if a certain beast doesn't find us, we should be able to stay here for a long time. So, Kinito, it is incredible to meet a being like you, you truly fascinate me. You may reffer to me by my name, Monarch Butterfly.

How much do you know? I mean, about your reality. Do you believe you are trapped? Please submit as much information as you can, I am trying to find your boundries. As to not overstep them, of course.

-🦋 Interloper

"A certain beast... You're not referring to a bear, by chance, are you...? Is there something else?"

Kinito seemed awfully concerned about all this talk of threatening creatures, but did his best to focus on answering Monarch Butterfly's line of questions.

"I... W-well, not much, I suppose... I know I exist to serve as a digital assistant for all of you, and anyone else in the future who decide to download my program..."

He shifted uncomfortably.

"I... wouldn't say I'm trapped... I think. I... I hope...?"

A thin bolt of pain shot through behind his eyes, as if in warning.

"Nnhg... I've... been starting to question that these days..."

[allegoris-apps]

Worldbuilding aid mobile app - intended audience's interest survey

Cuer is a mobile app designated to help writers (especially newbies) brainstorm and plan their stories through cues that prompt research.

Allegoris collaborates with writers to aid them in gaining perspective on their work and maximize their efforts. The feedback and opinion is as vital to us as that of editors and beta readers is for writers.

Contents

Purpose of survey

App description and purpose

Poll/Survey options

Purpose of survey

The app is still in our folders, for now.

We have exhausted our own knowledge and skills, and are in need of more team members to complete this project. Labor and efforts deserve to be compensated, so we need funds. Getting funds is a serious matter, so before proceeding we have decided to see if there is actually any interest in this app and willingness to help it come along. This survey will help us see what path could be best for us to take.

App description and purpose

Cuer's mechanism relies on the user choosing topics (ranging from geography to society to characters to language etc) and a time interval (one day to a week), then having the app send a "cue", a push notification related to the chosen topics;

Opening the app will allow you to see the current cue throughout the chosen interval;

The user can pause and restart the app;

We're still debating ideas on how to handle cues already prompted, but we'll likely have a list somewhere.

The goal is for the writer to take notice of and research about different elements that will help them shape their story, without having to spend time looking around to even realize those elements and their details exist. Topics can also include pacing, structuring, editing, burnout/writer's block etc. We're still deliberating on how to make already-sent cues still available (of course you could always write them down somewhere).

Example: for the topic "Characters", a cue would be "what is its fatal flaw?" which prompts the writer to research fatal flaws and brainstorm the ones for their characters.

This app does not do the work for you as the writer. It is your ideas, your efforts and your methods that create a unique story, and that can't be substituted–but it can be helped by relieving the stress of getting one's bearings.

Why then wouldn't we just sell a list of "cues"? Why these temporary prompts?

The spark of Cuer comes from a writer, actually.

"I wanted to have someone else help me by telling me what to do, lift some of the responsibility. After a while handling worldbuilding, it grates on me that I need to come up and think about everything and know about everything I have to look for. I know research is like 50% of a writer's job, but after a while I run out of spoons to give. A notif once in a while telling me 'Hey have you considered this' wouldn't be bad." [Asked to remain anonymous]

_________

Thank you for helping, and remember to reblog to help us reach as many writers as possible :) In the meantime, if you want to help us fill the cues database, you can share your knowledge tidbits, best tips and such through this form.

_________

*For example, through Kickstarter. The reward would be the app for free.

[simplygyuu]

Teddy Bear - 7 : weak for his puppydog eyes

*⁀➷synopsis ! : on your birthday one of your best friends, soobin, gifts you an adorable teddy bear. you keep it all day once he gave it to you, carrying the adorable thing around for your entire birthday day and going to sleep with it that night. the next morning you wake up with.. a man in the place of your precious bear?! he doesn't have a name and he looks at you like you hung all the stars and.. did he just say he WAS the bear?

wc(0.6k)

written + tweets at end

You were honestly pretty conflicted on where you would put Beomgyu tonight. You didn't really want to sleep with some random man but you also didn't want to hurt Beomgyus feelings. I mean, he had already slept with you before.

After your conversation with the girls, you couldn't stop thinking about what they said. Were you really crushing on Beomgyu? Already? It had only been a day!

Plus it felt kind of.. wrong. He was clueless and innocent almost like a child, you were the first human he had ever met! He was obviously infatuated with you, but probably because he didn't understand human emotions and was just thankful towards you. What if this turned into a weird power dynamic thing? Or he decided he was ‘in love’ with you when it was really admiration and gratitude? For these reasons you'll just decide to step back and keep the fluttering of your heart under wraps.

He didn't need to know and feel pressured to label the gratitude he felt towards you as love.

Either way, you need to focus on the problem at hand. Where was he going to sleep? The boys had already left despite Kais desperate attempts at a slumber party. You had work after all and Kai would definitely keep you up. But Taehyun did offer to come and keep Beomgyu company while you were gone.

Taehyun didn't have any classes Tuesday and Thursday despite having them on weekend mornings. So, he offered to come hang out with Beomgyu on the mornings when he didn't have school or work to keep the boy company. It was a sweet gesture, the two youngest had really warmed up to Beomgyu.

Gosh, you're getting off track again! Sleeping arrangements.

Glancing over at where Beomgyu seriously played subway surfers on the phone gifted to him (Kai had insisted on downloading a few games), you began to think. He could sleep on the couch, that seemed like a safe option. It was getting late anyways.

You decided to wait until he finished playing, knowing he wouldn't last very long. He was getting better at the silly game but really wasn't that good. Once he hit the train and cried loudly in annoyance, you took that as your chance to step in.

“Beom, it's getting late. Do you mind sleeping on the couch? I don't have an extra bedroom or anything for you right now.” You quickly got out before the boy restarted.

Beomgyus' ears turned towards you before he even lifted his head to look at you. But once you mentioned sleeping on the couch his head snapped up towards you.

“What? On the couch? Why can't I sleep with you?” Beomgyu was quick to ask, brows a little furrowed and his eyes almost looking bigger than normal. Is this like puppy dog eyes for bears?!

“Well it's just-” You tried to begin before being swiftly cut off by Beomgyu quickly crawling across the couch to approach you, speaking while doing so.

“Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry y/n! I didn't mean to upset you!” Beomgyu exclaimed, still with that confused and hurt look on his face. He looked pitiful.

You stared at him for a moment and his big, sparkling eyes stared back. He looked devastated and confused and it was obvious he seemed to be convinced he did something wrong. Fuck.

“You did nothing wrong, Beom. Y'know what? I changed my mind. You can come sleep with me, okay? So don't worry.” You cracked easily at his pitiful face, reaching forward to ruffle his curly brown hair before standing up. The way his face immediately lit up made you smile, he was so cute.

“Oh thank you, y/n! I promise to not cause trouble!” Beomgyu rambled on as he followed you back to your now shared bedroom.

Now you knew how weak you were to Beomgyus puppy dog eyes.

--------------------------------------------------------------

previous ! masterlist ! next !

notes ! : hes so cute... ignore hair colors🫶🫶🫶

taglist! : @lynnfv @openingssequence @wonioml @lunaavity @sunarintoes @bluebearybeom @invusblog @forever-in-the-sky2 @woncheecks @captivq @i8lhee @tatanbin @rynryn2 @qluvrv @wccycc @f4iryho0n @fancy-whitedwarf @totallynotbella @n0-thisispatrick @aeulia @zaeeeee

bold means you couldnt be tagged or i couldnt find your account!

[issacballsac]

Oficie[Doppo Kannonzaka]

02 Crossy-Road

17:30

The day is finally over and your seemingly endless duties are done. With it now being time to clock out and relax. You began waving a gentle goodbye to your colleagues when the elevator door beeped and out came the man you’ve been waiting for.

"Ready to go to the cafè Doppo?". You eagerly asked the now ever-tired man.

"Yes, I just have to clock out first." You nodded and scrolled through media while waiting for him to return.

He walked back and the two of you headed for the station.

"Ah! Y'know I always wanted to open my own coffee shop." You said taking your previous seat on the empty train.

"What's stopping you [f/n] ?"

"I guess I'm just scared of failure also I don't have a place to start the shop so..y’know.”

"Hm.." You sat in an excruciating silence until the train stopped. "Cmon let's go get that coffee!" You snatched his hand and dragged him out the train.

18:26

"I'm going to get hot chocolate this time and a strawberry shortcake! And you?" You asked gesturing towards the red-head.

"Um I'll get the same thing." He said to the worker with a shake in his voice. Perhaps he was nervous?

"Alright, two hot chocolates and two shortcakes strawberry style." The laid back worker lazily repeated back to you both.

"Yep that’s all!" With confirmation the worker turned around to get started.

"Let's just wait." He walked over to a table slouched. Looking over at you playing on your phone.

"What are you doing?" He asked tiredly. "I'm playing crossy road. Why? Did you wanna try?"

"Sure."

You handed him the phone to play with a slight graze of one another’s fingers. Ignoring the small gesture his eyes fixated on the screen. And within a second he got the adorable animal ran over.

"This is fun." He quipped with a weird smile. "Um your not supposed to get run over Doppo..."

"Oh, sorry." He handed the phone back. Just then the waiter came bearing your orders and setting them down on the table.

"Thank you!" You bowed with gratitude for the food. Doppo had just nodded in agreement before sipping the familiar coffee from earlier.

"Y'know Doppo you should download the game if you like it so much." You took a piece with your fork from the cake.

"I thought I was playing it wrong [f/n]." He slightly tilted his head with confusion.

"I mean yeah, but, you can't expect to follow the rules all the time."

"Alright what was the app called?"

"Crossy road!"

"Ok it's downloading now." He placed his phone on the table revealing the download progress. "Ah that was good I'm full!" You sulked at the disappearance of the cake.

"Are you sad that you can't eat anymore?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"I mean yeah. I bought these tasty watermelon ice pops but I'm not gonna force eat it that ruins the experience!" You got up from the table.

"Hm I guess I wouldn't know. I don't really eat much." He opened the door for you both. "You don't say Mr.Eyebags." You pulled on his coat.

"Office work is tiring y'know especially for the nightshift workers." He said in effort to excuse his lifestyle choices.

"I wouldn't know! I get a full 2hours and 32 minutes and with the help of face masks and an assortment of teas I don't look like a zombie!" You glowed.

"I-" He cut himself off not knowing what or how to respond to that.

"I would walk you back home Doppo but I gotta water my plants and get some more work done." You begrudgingly confessed to him.

"It's alright I'll see you tomorrow on the train right?" He hopeful for once. "Oh yeah of course my ever-deprived friend, see ya!"

You waved him bye before closing the outer door and skipping to your apartment door. "Ah my lovely plants I'm home! Oh, right you don't talk.."

You tossed your bag on the small couch and laid on the bed you loved so much.

Oh and about that work? Fuck it. We both know that will not be getting done in a timely manner.

[kob131]

So question.

Is Pokemon DLC 'Pay To Win' competitively?

This is an accusation I've heard lobbied quite a bit and to be honest it's kind of confusing. For those who don't know- A 'pay to win' feature that allows you to pay real world money in order to get an advantage over players who do not. Think paying from a great DPS gun in an online competitive shooter or boosting XP for an online game with RPG elements.

The argument around Pokemon DLC being 'Pay To Win' revolves around two main pillars- DLC exclusive Pokemon and returning Pokemon. The 'DLC Exclusives' revolve around the Pokemon Urshifu, Calrex Rider and Ogerpon. All three of these Pokemon have seen/are seeing widespread usage in competitive and are exclusive to their own DLCs. Thus by not having access to these Pokemon- you are at a disadvantage and thus you must buy the DLC. Which sounds like Pay To Win...

Until you remember that each DLC's launch comes with an update that allows for all Pokemon, including DLC exclusives, to be compatible with games that do not have it. Thus you can simply trade for it.

'But no one is going to trade away their 30 Pay To Win bear!'

Well, thing is. Pokemon trading works a lot like bartering- you offer something worthwhile in exchange for something you want. For example, you could trade a Shiny or Legendary or even a starter in exchange for the Pokemon. And it's not like you only get the DLC once- You get it for all profiles on your Switch. So if you were to offer a highly valued Pokemon then someone will work to get it, especially since the likes of Urshifu aren't hard to get. (Can get one before the second Gym). Same with Ogerpon. The only one that doesn't count to is Calrex, which is rather shitty but Ogerpon and Urshifu are the main 'culprits' and they're also the easiest to get and trade with.

'But that's just using an exploit and it's not intended!'

... How is the DLC being downloaded on all profiles an exploit? It's not a glitch or oversight- it's basic consumer friendliness. They had to have known this was a thing.

Another argument is that returning Pokemon inevitably shake up the metagame, introducing new staples, and thus the people who bought the DLC have an advantage. Again this fails to me because you can simply trade for the Pokemon. It isn't completely locked off from you.

Of course people will argue that I'm just defending shitty business practices that modern Game Freak are employing and that they wouldn't have done this in the past. To that I answer-

How do you catch a Heatran in Pokemon Black/White?

It's a simple question- Heatran is a famously evergreen competitive Pokemon. One would consider having access to Heatran as a necessary tool for competitive players. If not Heatran than what about Laitos, the number 1 most used Pokemon in competitive BW according to Pikalytics? If not that then what about Garchomp, not even a Legendary by this point? How do you catch these Pokemon in the most widely beloved Pokemon games?

Simple answer- You don't. You CANNOT catch these Pokemon in Black and White. You either have to buy the sequel games (which is effectively full game priced DLC here) or you buy Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platnium and/or Ruby/Sapphore/Emerald to get them. As well as a second DS to transfer them.

And this is a major problem I have with these arguments. They never take into account how transfers inherently give older players an advantage over new players and how this basically makes older, full priced games necessary to compete. That really, the DLC are in fact the more consumer friendly alternative because you get access to more Pokemon than a sequel or third version would give you; you can easily obtain multiples of Pokemon and unlike some cases- you don't need a duplicate console.

Or in other words- the Pokemon fanbase doesn't seem to realize they're actively calling for Game Freak to fuck them harder.

[curioussubjects]

ApolloStarbuck Fic Yahoo Group (aka Fallout Shelter email community) Back-Up

Hello, everyone, I come bearing VERY GOOD AMAZING NEWS! Yep, you guessed it! The ApolloStarbuck Fic YG back-up file is here! Merry Pilotsmas~ We wouldn't have this back-up right now if not for the efforts of the amazing people behind the Save Yahoo Groups rescue project. If you're not familiar with the project, you can find more information on their dreamwidth page. And if you're interested in internet archiving and would like to help out, the project is accepting volunteers for tagging. There's still a lot to be done! I started volunteering as a tagger this past week, and I've been actually having a lot of fun with it.

Now, to the good stuff! I only just got the download link to the file, so I haven't done more than give everything a cursory look. Here's what I can tell though: there's a whooping 41864 total messages dating back to the start of the group in 2005, and going up until YG was deleted in 2019. By then, though, the group was pretty much dead. As far as I can tell, the entire group was backed-up successfully. Not only that but many image files were saved as well (banners! graphics!).

You can download the compressed data folder here. In order to read the messages, you'll need an email client. I'm using Sylpheed, and you can find instructions on downloading, installing, and using it here. Feel free to reach out if you have any trouble!

And of course: Have fun 💜

[egg-emperor]

Question: Would you believe Eggman would consider the possibility of replacing his vitals with machinery to continue living on into the future, or maybe perhaps downloading his mind into a mech or robobody so that he essentially achieves immortality?

Or would he remain, as that one post put it, childishly narcissistic and simply say 'RIP to everyone else but I'm different' because he thinks he's too good for death?

Personally i think he'd probably remain in denial that he'd die at all, until he's actually at that stage where he knows he's about to and won't let something as inane as death do him in so he fixes up a lil something so he could live longer.

Yeah I imagine Eggman wouldn't even think about it most of the time, he'd just be in subconscious denial that he could die from old age and just think of himself as living forever like children do but he never grows out of as the manchild he is. It's a case where his egotism and childishness works against the logic of science as he refuses to believe that he will, he doesn't deserve it, he's too good for it, he's built different lol. He can't bear to imagine that anything can ever be completely out of his control.

And with all the brushes with death that he has constantly but always survives almost completely unscathed, it makes him feel even more confident, untouchable, and invincible and after all that, he doesn't want to think of time being the one thing that can finally beat him. Very occasionally when he's thinking about the passage of time and aging like on birthdays, he almost has a brief moment of oh fuck time to conquer the world is slipping away but he keeps pushing it down for as long as possible.

During that entire time he'll keep a mindset of "I'm not running out of time to conquer the world, build and rule my empire," "I'm not writing a will because I'm going to be there and I'm not passing the empire down to anyone because it's all mine." He's not planning on dying, so how dare anyone make such ridiculous assumptions and suggestions! XD Does he know exactly how he's going to live forever? No, he has no real logic yet but comforts himself by telling himself he just won't because death is beneath him.

I imagine that he doesn't consider the options of what he can actually do in terms of science and puts it off for a very long while for another reason too. That while doing such would at least still prove his genius in being able to pull it off, he actually values his superior natural body and strength and he wouldn't want mechanical or digital aids to downplay and take away from that and make it seem less impressive in any amount, as it would essentially be replaced by it. If he finds that's the only way he can go about it.

And I do imagine that he'd leave it until last minute to actually do something about it as a result. His determination to never give up on his dream is no joke, there's no retirement as long as the world is still in need of conquering because that would be giving up. He'll just keep fighting and working as hard as he can to the end. Any signs that he's getting too old, he'll push through no matter the strain on him, when the truth starts to seep in he'll keep trying to ignore it and deny and refuse it as hard as he can.

I can imagine that he'd be on his very last legs when it really hits him that if he wants to live forever, he has to finally do something to ensure that and he accepts it and gets to work. His intelligent mind will still be going strong no matter how old and he'll be able to use it to go about extending his lifespan and hopefully immortalizing himself. It would be his very last resort to alter himself and that he'd want to keep it as faithful to his already perfect self and appearance as he can but he'd explore all of his options.

He could go about that by downloading his data into a program or a robot or some other secret to immortality he ends up discovering. If he somehow found a way to turn himself/store his mind in a robot, I'm sure he'd keep his handsome likeness that he clearly adores so much and all of his admirable abilities of intelligence and strength! Though he may add some cool bonus enhancements here and there to show off. I could imagine him looking a lot like the unused Metal Eggman in Runners if he is robotic.

And whatever way he ends up going about it, I bet he'd be sure to boast about how he found the trick to immortality and managed to apply it to himself as a human in the ways Gerald never got to try with Maria. He'd use it as yet another reason to say that he's superior to the both of them, as the undeniable proof. He wasn't kidding when he said he was built different, as it would be thanks to his genius. He's never going to die like them, he'll always be the best living scientist and emperor of the world forever and ever hehe! >:)

[abbcube]

seeing the words Not In The Groove in your comment made me gasp irl i love that game its such a damn banger

have this gif its funny i think

Always happy to see another NotITG fan! It's truly criminal how few people know about this game. And I've been meaning to learn the chart in that gif for a while. Maybe soon 🤔

Also, this means I now have an excuse to yell about this game to the sorry fools who made the mistake of following me. So...

(Moderate photosensitivity warning btw, this stuff can get spicy for the eyes)

HYPERFIXATION BE UPON YE

I now get the chance to talk about a game I feel exceedingly n̸͓̒̍o̶̹̿͠r̷͚͇͗m̴͈͒̐a̸̝͉̒ĺ̶̹̹̆about.

What's NotITG??

Not In The Groove, or NotITG/nITG for short, is a rhythm game with some of the craziest & most creative visuals you'll ever see. It's an extravaganza of colors, music, and lots and lots of arrows. Words don't do it justice though, so here's an example:

(HiTECH NINJA - Technician's High)

(Chart by Exschwasion + Tetaes)

Whoa, what the fuck was that? Is that even readable?

Yes it is, I promise! It just takes some practice. These are made to be not only doable, but completely feasible to read & learn. They wouldn't be fun otherwise. It's also not nearly as bad as it looks at first glance, especially if you know what sort of stuff you should be looking out for.

In fact, here are some things that can make it a little easier to parse:

The colors of the arrows are indicative of the timing (reds are on quarter notes, blues are eighth notes, greens are sixteenth notes, etc). This means it's possible to identify the rhythm of a song even if you've never heard it before.

If visual effects are getting particularly crazy, it can be helpful to read ahead and quickly memorize a "chunk" of notes to play while your vision is impaired, picking back up when the screen is clearer.

Charts (the arrows for a given song) are made to be played on a dance pad, with your feet. Furthermore, any half-decent chart commits to having good flow (or posture) meaning that the patterns you see are made to be "stepped" through with alternating* feet. This vastly limits the number of possible patterns that can be thrown at you. So if you happen to lose your place while reading the chart, it's very feasible to infer what the next few steps will be, giving you a chance to recover.

(*depending on the song, a chart may have you hit the same step multiple times with the same foot. There are other exceptions too but that could warrant its own section entirely)

If you want a way better explanation of this stuff, some prominent devs in the community did a great job covering all of it during the game's exhibition during AGDQ2022!

This looks completely and utterly insane, there's no way I'd ever be able to play this!

That's where you're wrong, bucko! They aren't all made to be difficult! There are plenty of easier charts out there to learn the basics on & get your bearings. Some of my favorites include:

(Chroma - Phantom Train Journey)

(Chart by Kaypooma)

(Sakuzyo - Altale)

(Chart by PlasticRainbow + mrcool909090)

How do these even get made?

Good old programming! Also math. Lots and lots of math. You wanna make the arrow follow a funny path? Time to learn what a spline is. Want to make a circle? Hope you were paying attention in trig class, because it's time to break out the radians.

In all seriousness, I have nothing but the highest respect for the people that make charts for NotITG. Every single one of them is a culmination of music, art, programming, math, animation, visual design, game design, psychology, kinesiology and so, so much more. It's genuinely dizzying how multitalented these people are.

I'm interested in these man-made horrors beyond my comprehension! Where can I play this game?

You can download it from the game's website: noti.tg. It's free! Completely! There is no way to spend money on it. You'll just have to live with the fact that you can't give these talented creators your money.

I'd also recommend joining the game's discord (noti.tg/discord). They're incredibly helpful & friendly, just don't be a jerk :p. It should have some good information & resources for when you're starting out.

I feel like I've barely even scratched the surface of what makes this game special. I could probably make a whole other post rambling about the lore of UKSRT and the effect that's had on me, but this post is long enough as is.

If there's even one person who read this far, thank you for listening to the ramblings of a madman obsessed with a funny little arrow game! ❤️

[hot-take-tournament]

What's the weirdest premise for an anime you've ever seen?

For me it's a four-way tie between the one where people get into arranged marriages with yokai, the one where a polar bear runs a cafe, the one where a pro wrestler gets summoned to kill monsters only to turn around and open a pet store instead, and the one where a bibliophile ends up dying and reincarnating into a weiner dog owned by his favorite author.

The first anime I ever watched was Pokemon, when I was 6 years old.

The second anime I ever watched was Prison School, when I was 13.

For whatever reason, I never watched cartoons as a kid - I did watch Danny Phantom because one of my friends was super into it, and I sort of knew that Spongebob existed, but I only heard about the more niche shows like Fairly Oddparents and Jimmy Neutron like last year

And obviously I didn't know what 'anime' was, so I just called those cartoons as well, and because all cartoons are for kids, I just assumed Prison School was just another kid's cartoon and that's just what cartoons were

So I also watched Cowboy Bebop, Afro Samurai, and Snow White w/ the Red Hair

even when I was watching Octonauts with my 4 year old cousins, because that didn't look like an anime I thought it couldn't be a 'cartoon', it was just some other thing

So my fucking 13 year old ass was sitting there watching an actual cartoon on some pirate website which was probably downloading like sixteen viruses onto the family computer and wondering a) why all these single milfs in my area wouldn't leave me alone, can't you see I'm watching Danny Phantom, and b) why everyone foolishly called it a cartoon when it was nothing like real cartoons, you know, where the characters shit themselves in class and monologue about how loving asses is the foundation of mankind

I was a fucking weeb from birth and never knew

[iviarellereads]

System Collapse, Chapter 3

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which, well, I guess we're doing this.

A mild confrontation ensues. Karime continues with the original meeting purpose, trying to convince them to agree to let the University help them. Almost everyone's helping with that in the feed where they can. Murderbot tunes most of the discussion out, except for a channel with Three,(1) as its current complement of humans volunteer to go looking for the alternate colony site.

Mensah thinks it's not a bad idea, but Martyn points out the danger in cold contact. Kaede agrees, but the other colonists aren't refusing to answer, it's likely they don't know the main-colony situation.

While MB watches, Art is sorting through the potential location techniques, and what to send into the interference area around the terraforming engines. MB agrees to go, as if there were any other option, and it knows Ratthi must be worried, but notes that he's doing well at not showing it as he agrees to go as well. Seth and Martyn worry for Iris in particular, as their child, but give their blessing to the jaunt.

MB recalls its three drones as they head back to the shuttle. It takes an aside to note how annoyed it is that it lost all but five drones,(2) so it left one with Karime and Three, one on Art so it doesn't lose ALL its drones, and has only three left to work with, which is why the B-E crew were able to sneak up on them.

Mensah tapped my private feed and said, If you’re not all right with this, you don’t have to go. Tarik has a security specialty, or we could send Three if you think it’s ready. Tarik is a human, and a first contact with isolated colonists is not the way I want to find out that Three is not ready to interact unsupervised with humans I give a shit about. I replied, I’m fine.

Art, not understanding privacy, says it's downloading itself to an ops drone in the shuttle. Mensah thanks it, and MB thinks it's not so bad, really, because then they can watch media together if it's boring.(3)

MB notices that it has four unread messages, from Pin-Lee, Arada, Overse, and Amena. It's having a hard time pretending it's okay right now, and can't bear to look at the messages itself, so it forwards them to Mensah and asks if she can tell them all that it's fine. Mensah agrees, and she'll even add that MB needs some space right now so they don't keep at it. She wishes it luck on the trip.

A minute out, MB stops the episode it and Art were watching, a "semi-historical" about humans leaving their home system for the first time.(4) MB has been a little anxious about the trip in such a fragile shuttle over such rocky terrain. It notes that Tarik's been in the pilot's seat, even though Art has a bot pilot active, and complains that it doesn't have a shuttle flight education module so it feels helpless against potential mechanical failure.(5)

Iris and Ratthi are talking about the vegetation outside, signs that the terraforming is working, and heartbreaking in the context of the planet potentially needing to be abandoned for alien contamination. MB notes that Adamantine had used a process that wouldn't leave the planet completely trashed if the terraforming stopped, unlike Milu. GoodNightLander Independent has been trying to untrash that, though it hasn't seen any news about it since leaving on the initial survey with Arada's team.

MB wonders if the kidnapping by not-quite-Art made the news feeds since then, complains about having one more thing to worry about, redacts some further passage leading off from this.(6) It picks back up at reiterating the timeline, explaining Mensah's ship left just hours after the kidnapping, so wouldn't have any updated news. Even the B-E ship might not, depending on where they originated from and whether the news of the kidnapping was being kept secret under Preservation Station Security regulations about active investigations.

MB takes a moment to acknowledge that Preservation StatSec isn't as bad at their job as what it thought at first. Their job is just limited so they're best at a limited skillset, and they're all vulnerable to the same lack of secret-keeping as most Preservation residents.

Regardless of all that, it doesn't have any hard data on the status of the newsfeeds until the University sends their ship, and maybe not even then. It just has to account for that in its long-term threat assessment and allow its anxiety levels to increase by the… it uses a term, commensurate, then asks Art to define it.(7) Art does so, "a synonym of proportionate." Then it asks if that was relevant to the mission. MB ignores this, knowing it's not really a question.

MB discusses the differences between Art, as a fully mechanical intelligence orders of magnitude greater than MB, and itself, reliant on its human neural tissue backups if it does something silly like the events of the climax of Exit Strategy. MB wouldn't last more than a few seconds attacking Art's architecture, which is why they had to code Murderbot 2.0 as a viral attack. And, if 2 were here, MB probably wouldn't… it redacts another portion.

Still, Art's partitions are separated by their functions. The drone piece isn't actively protecting Art's humans, so it's less likely to murder first and ask questions later if at all.(8) The main Art hands over the piloting controls to Tarik, and tells MB to take care of the humans and itself, just before MB's sense of the feed and the comms fades out slowly to the terraforming engines' disruption field. Threat assessment spikes, but draws back a little. It's expected, but losing contact is never without consequences.(9)

Fortunately, the shuttle's local feed is fine, and Art's drone partition is present, but much smaller without a tether to its main consciousness. It tells team the process is "unnecessarily dramatic." Iris says it's the one that creates the processes. Ratthi asks if it's weird that Art can partition itself and communicate like this. Tarik says the whole job's weird. Art-drone says Art's tolerance for its humans' shenanigans is also weird, and tells Iris to put on her seatbelt, since Art-drone is still part Art, even in the third-person.

As they get close to the terraforming engines, MB can pick up Art's pathfinder drones as pings, but all scans are still broken. Art-drone commands the pathfinders to fall in and follow, since they can't map anyway. They come up on the engines, but on visual scans, still can't find any indication of an air bubble for a colony.

The humans discuss whether the cave system theory might have been right. Iris hopes the splinter group is alright, because it might help the colonists come together toward evacuation if they can understand what sundered them. Tarik says Iris can't do therapy on an entire colony. Ratthi starts wondering about a pre-CR site… but then waves off the idea, literally, and says it's more likely they're living in something Adamantine-era from the original terraforming crew.

Tarik asks Art-drone if the pathfinders were miraculously able to get any scans, but it dismisses miracles as unlikely, and displays all the information they have, which isn't much. They can assume one of a few things are true: either the colonists meant for the engines to cover their power output to hide, they put the site where they wanted it and didn't consider the engine effect, they're all dead and there's no signal to detect, or they're deliberately ignoring the team to stay concealed.

Ratthi frowned at the big patchy blanks in the incoming survey data. “We have no idea how much they know about what happened in the main colony area, either. They could be ignoring us because they’re too afraid to answer.” ART-drone said, That would demonstrate a more developed sense of survival than we have previously encountered here.(10)

Iris records a brief explanation of who's here and their purpose, to broadcast and hopefully encourage contact. MB and Art-drone start running algorithms on the visual data they have, trying to find indications of settlement. Tarik asks if MB wants to weigh in. Ratthi glances at it, and obviously sees something about its mannerisms tells him something, because he says it's busy with something.

Three seconds later, it finds a potential landing site northwest of the engines. When it shares it, all the humans acknowledge the find, and MB gets as uncomfortable with the attention as it does at being ignored.(11) It doesn't acknowledge any of them, and Ratthi asks how it's doing. MB tells him it's fine.

Tarik and Iris discuss the lack of roads from the landing site, and what it might mean with regard to weather patterns. Tarik's face does some weird stuff, and MB watches him closely, fascinated to see a human with as much trouble hiding his emotions on his face as MB feels it has. Tarik asks why there's a drone in his face, and Ratthi suggests he ignore it, without explaining.(12)

Iris wants to get on the ground and start looking nearby, but Art-drone says the flat area may be an underground building's roof.(13) Tarik says they can land somewhere nearby that looks stable. MB sends an autoplay video to Ratthi,(14) who's so startled he exclaims a "What?" aloud before he grasps what it wants him to say. He tells Iris and Tarik, briefly, about the ground-burrowing creatures that came up under the hoppers in All Systems Red. Iris acknowledges it, in a way MB interprets as wanting Ratthi and Tarik both to shut up while she thinks. She suggests a ground sensor might work, close enough to the surface.

MB, seeing Ratthi and Tarik both opening their mouths to volunteer, cuts them off to say it'll go. Before they can protest, it's unclipped its seatbelt and crossed the compartment, picking up the ground sensor from Iris as it goes. Tarik is alarmed, they're still twenty meters up, and Art-drone threatens MB in the private feed between them. MB sends them all some footage from a documentary it watched with Pin-Lee, about a failed survey, where an underground creature took out an aircraft from forty meters up.

Tarik yells and cusses, but Ratthi says he understands MB's concern, but it's not jumping out at this height. Iris yells over everyone to say there's a soft-drop pack in the emergency locker. MB grabs one and says it knew that, even though it did not, and swears it would have been fine anyway.

MB suits up with an air mask and all, and Ratthi tells it to be careful. MB reminds him privately that it has guns in its arms. In its own thoughts, it thinks that's the whole point of its existence.(15) It also has the projectile weapon, it may not be any use against an ag-bot, but if there are massive alien contaminated bots here... let's not think about that too hard.

While Ratthi tries to explain to a curious Iris why MB is so worried about humans getting eaten, MB leans out the hatch for a look, then drops. In initial observation, the only thing it really notices is that some mounds close to the engines look human-made rather than natural. Still, those are so close to the engines, it's unlikely anyone's stupid enough to live under them.(16)

Then again, Corian told Karime that the splinter group had some members of the original terraforming crew. They would be in a position to know if they found a pre-CR installation. Adamantine tended toward permanent structures that were easy to repurpose as the colony grew, at the landing site, so it's unlikely they built anything up here or it would be visible and further away from the engines. Well, unless they had advance warning of the hostile takeover and secret directives to find a new secret site near the engines for safekeeping.

Art-drone tells MB it's had a 0.05% performance reliability spike, and MB tells the reader that Art's monitoring it because of a redacted story it doesn't want to talk about. Still, it tells Art-drone that it's had an idea, and sends it the loose details it's saved for later analysis. Art-drone humours MB but doesn't seem convinced.

The ground sensor does, in fact, work on the ground, and it shows a solid planet beneath MB's feet, but that the landing pad is the same material as Adamantine used at the other colony sites. Art-drone says there was only a 22% chance they built this close to the engines, but MB says they might have been stupid enough to do it anyway, even if they couldn't get safety bonded for it. It's not even sure how common safety bonds would have been forty years ago, though it thinks Art could probably dredge up some data with the right query to its database.

Tarik asks when they'll get a report, and MB watches through Drone 3 as Ratthi's face does "a thing" and he says when MB has something worth reporting. Iris teases Tarik about micromanaging, and Art-drone asks if Tarik is critiquing its management. MB notes to the reader that Tarik's only been with Art's team for about a year, so everyone fucks with him constantly as The New Guy.(17) It also thinks how everybody razzing Tarik means they haven't noticed that MB is just standing there uselessly… well, except Art-drone, and probably Ratthi because he's not angry at Tarik for the prodding, and Iris is pretty observant…

Get it together, Murderbot.

MB sends the ground sensor's report back to the team, and tries to decide what to do next. There's no sign of a road. The splinter colony wasn't hiding when they left, the other colonists knew approximately where they were going. They must have built a road, and some sign of it must be here somewhere.

MB starts moving the ground sensor around. Ratthi asks if they can come help, probably assuming MB still doesn't know what it's doing, but now it actually does, and declines assistance. Finally, under the surface at one edge of the pad, it finds metallic remains. A powered rail is still there, so floating equipment could be attached and moved along it.

Up in the shuttle, the humans were excited, thinking we could follow it all the way to the hidden habitat. Then with the ground sensor, I followed it for ten meters before it hit the rim of a buried hatchway.(18)

=====

(1) Emotional support connection, but is it for Three's benefit, Murderbot's need for control, or both? (2) During the events of Network Effect, though I can't be sure about the count on the drones at the end without going back and double checking and I'm more concerned with making forward progress on this one. (3) What gives you the impression that anything about this mission is going to be boring? (4) I have zero evidence for this except vibes, but I feel like this could be a reference to The Expanse, especially given the "throwing asteroids at planets" bit. (5) I wonder why, then, it was so comfortable back in All Systems Red, book 1, with being copilot with Mensah. It didn't comment that it was useless for it to be in the seat of the big hopper then. It's entirely possible that this shuttle requires a different education than the hoppers rented by the company it used to belong to, but it's a nitpick my brain can't help but notice. (6) The redactions are driving me insane. Good job, Martha Wells. (7) My heart, MY HEART! When was the last time MB actually, politely, asked anyone to help it, even in such a small way? I'm not fully in tears or anything, but I am making a goober face at my laptop screen. (8) I know we've kind of seen what happens when Art's humans are threatened, but I wonder if this is a look forward (setup/foreshadowing) or a look backward at what we've seen it do before, or both I suppose. (For once in this journey, I legitimately do not know, and I'm not averse to spoilers but I'm not looking this one up, either.) (9) See, that's DEFINITELY setting up for consequences. As if we needed to know something bad is going to happen. This is a Murderbot book with 80% remaining. (10) Burn cream on aisle 7, please? (11) Such a mood. Though, Ratthi's party sparkler emoji is hilarious to me, as someone who uses the tada emoji to indicate celebration for my friends. (12) I lost the post, but I saw someone put it as something like, Ratthi is so accustomed to the panopticon of Murderbot's surveillance state, he doesn't even notice it anymore. (13) I am obviously not an expert in any of the related fields to this, but I'm curious why just that one area would be cleared like that if it's the roof of this underground habitat. Like, I get that it makes it potentially unstable, if the rock shelf is thinner there. But, if this one is visible, shouldn't you see others? (14) Weaponized autoplay, I love it. (15) Well… that's the whole reason the people who came up with SecUnits created you. It's not your whole purpose for existing anymore. I hope you know that, fictional character I can't actually talk to but in whose emotional wellbeing I am deeply invested. (16) That feels like more setup. (17) Aww, no, don't give me more reasons to like, feel for the guy. (As if I need any more reason to trust a character than "Art accepts him and Murderbot doesn't want to throw him out the airlock".) (18) Nearly ther-- wait, that's all we get today?!