#because CC showed us this remarkable

[azure-steel]

So I watched AC again for like the billionth time a couple of days ago, and after an in-depth conversation with @ghostofnibelheim/ @roleplay-abiogenesis2 about it I've been thinking about it a whole lot since.

Like, I know the remnants are supposed to represent the difference facets to Sephiroth's personality;

Kadaj: Ruthless, cunning and vindictive. Incredibly intelligent making him the brains of the outfit.

Yazoo: quiet yet charming. Very attractive, Cool calm and eerily collected.

Loz: strong, tunnel visioned, immature, overly emotional and sensitive due to immaturity.

At least without looking it up that's what I get from their characters. They are all very extreme representations of everything that makes Sephiroth, well... Sephiroth.

But then there's Cloud whom they refer to as their "Big Brother" and "Black Sheep" even though his relationship with Jenova and Sephiroth as a whole is vastly different. Not a remnant as such, but a clone and the first and only largely successful one at that considering that it's stated in lore that Sephiroth's DNA cannot be replicated. But like, Cloud isn't a true clone as such, he's just been brutally tampered with to hold parts of Sephiroth/Jenova inside him which is where Sephiroth's obsession with him comes from.

Reunion is the mass joining of all of Jenova's parts to make the whole and Jen!Sephiroth needs the missing pieces Cloud harbours to make that whole. I mean I'm telling you what we already know, I'm just attempting to make it all make sense again in this rambling theory we have here.

Because the Remnants lack the ability to pinpoint where they need to look for Jenova's head in the movie. They know that's their goal, and they have the knowledge to know where to look for clues, but no direct attraction to the calamity's exact location where as Sephiroth did have this instinct about him, as does Cloud to a lesser degree. He knew what to do, and where to go, Jenova's goal etc. The remnants don't and rely on other sources to tell them their next step.

But it isn't until Kadaj gets a hold of Jenova's remaining cadaver that he's able to summon Sephiroth but... Is that really him? Or is this Jenova shape shifting again and showing Cloud what he fears and hates the most? (A bit like Stephen King's IT where the creature feeds on fear and and morphs into the things that you fear the most) or is Sephiroth and Jenova so interlinked now that there's no discernable difference anymore?

Because I always struggled with this part of the story. Crisis Core showed us that Sephiroth was actually a good man, with good morals. He didn't agree with his orders and actions but felt he had no control over them. Orders were orders and he'd been so heavily indoctrinated by ShinRa from a very young age to just do as he's told when he's told to do it.

It wasn't until Genesis literally sprouted a wing and flew away that he grasped the notion that being a free man was even a possibility and planted that seed. But even then, he just talked about "quitting" and getting away rather than destroying everything. He showed little to no signs of mental instability, only that he was desperately lonely and extremely unhappy in his situation.

Nibelheim happened so very suddenly. One minute he's of sound mind and the next he's utterly insane. The descent into that insanity was so incredibly short (where no one tried to help or even attempt to relate to his better nature of which he DID have one. You did Sephiroth so fucking dirty here, Squeenix...) that I feel we're lead to believe that he just gave up after finding out the truth which gave Jenova that chance, in Sephiroth's moment of weakness, to take over. I'm sorry, but ain't NO WAY this man, so calculated in his assumptions despite how sheltered he is would suddenly just be like I'M CETRA NOW LETS KILL EVERYTHING. It makes absolutely no sense.

But again, come AC we're again being forced fed the notion that Sephiroth is the one in control, that he's so intune with Jenova that he can continue to respawn and cause devestation because the planet can't digest him when he enters the lifestream...

... Apart from the fact that it actually CAN!

See, after the fight in AC, when Kadaj returns and is dying in Clouds arms, Aerith calls to him, and he is accepted into the flow of the lifestream, which tells me that the parts which make up the remnants are actually human, not alien. These extreme facets of Sephiroth are what made him HUMAN and NOT Jenova. That the two are so closely knitted together that the lifetream cannot split them apart on its own hense why Sephiroth is constantly being rejected by the lifestream, not just because he has a strong will to survive and exact Jenova's bidding, but also because his make up is so very complex, thus giving him this pseudo immortality as it were.

I mean, Angeal never came back, maybe that was a simple case of just not wanting to? I don't know at this point.

But my point is that I believe the remnants do not have Sephiroth's reunion instinct because their make up is wholly human, because Sephiroth was actually conceived naturally and birthed to a human mother despite being tampered with in the womb. But he was still a person before the hatred and the crazy and the remnants show us that.

[goldfades]

★ AND YOU SAY I ABANDONED THE SHIP / BUT I WAS GOING DOWN WITH IT / MY WHITE KNUCKLE DYING GRIP / SO HOW MUCH SAD DID YOU THINK I HAD, DID YOU THINK I HAD IN ME? / HOW MUCH TRAGEDY? / JUST HOW LOW DID YOU THINK I'D GO? ─── PB⁵ (part 1/2)

❪ requested -> paige and ex gf!reader that plays on iowa where theres a lot of tension on the court bc they ended on rough terms but u can see that they still care abt each other yet have to prioritize the game // hii could u write for paige x ex gf iowa!reader where they play against each other in the final four and everyone can tell theres sm tension on the court between them bc they ended on rough terms ? they still care abt each other a lot but r forced to put those feelings aside for the sake of the game (but they def had a talk afterwards) - u can make it so that iowa still won or uconn won i think either one would be interesting ! tysm ❫ part two!!!!!!!!!!

─ warnings | ANGSTTTTT!!!!!! mentions of transfers, fighting, paige being a BITCHHHH LIKE so mean (but its for the plot trust), banter at the end, mention of cc and kate martin, jealous!paige

─ ev's notes | tried a new format for the third little part thingy idk if yall like it but lmk (like the iowa game part)

⇨ missing out on updates? check out my wcbb masterlist!

JUNE 2022

Y/N L/N ANNOUNCES ENTERS THE TRANSFER PORTAL AFTER ALLEGED DISAGREEMENT OVER PLAYING TIME. In a surprising turn of events, UConn defensive star Y/N L/N has announced her decision to enter the transfer portal.

Despite the official narrative focusing on playing time, insiders report that L/N's decision is rooted in a desire to find a new environment where she can heal and focus on her game without the added stress of her recent breakup with Paige Bueckers, another star player for the Huskies. The emotional toll of the split has reportedly affected her performance and well-being, prompting her to make a fresh start at another school.

UConn’s coaching staff and teammates have expressed their support for L/N, acknowledging the challenges she has faced. "Y/N is an incredible athlete and person," said Coach Geno Auriemma. "We respect her decision and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors."

As L/N navigates this difficult period, she remains committed to her basketball career and is looking forward to finding a new team where she can continue to shine both on and off the court. While the specifics of her next move remained uncertain for a short time, it has now been confirmed that she will be transferring to Iowa.

Fans and fellow players have taken to social media to show their support for L/N, emphasizing the importance of mental health and personal well-being in the demanding world of collegiate sports. Iowa's coaching staff has expressed their excitement about welcoming L/N to the team. "We are thrilled to have Y/N join us," said Coach Lisa Bluder. "She brings exceptional talent and experience to our program, and we are committed to supporting her both on and off the court."

As Y/N L/N begins her new journey with the Iowa Hawkeyes, there is no doubt that she will continue to be a formidable presence in collegiate basketball. Her resilience and determination promise to make her time at Iowa just as remarkable as her tenure at UConn.

──

"So you're really doing it?" Paige's expression was unimpressed, bordering disgusted as she pushed herself between you and the door.

You sniffled, glaring at the blonde. "Get out of my way, Paige."

She crossed her arms, standing firm. "So that's it? You're just going to run away? Because of us?"

"It's not about that," you snapped, the weight of your duffel bag making your shoulder ache. "It's about me needing to be okay. And I can't do that here."

Paige's eyes softened for a moment, but she didn't budge. "Y/N, we're a team. You can't just leave us like this. Leave me like this."

You shook your head, frustration boiling over. "This isn't about the team. This is about us, Paige. I can't be around you every day, pretending like everything's fine when it's not. I'm not okay with being on the same team as you, do you get that, Paige?"

Paige's expression flickered with a mix of anger and something else — maybe hurt. "You think Iowa is going to magically fix everything? Running away doesn't solve anything, I promise you that."

You took a deep breath, trying to steady yourself. "This isn't running away. This is me choosing to put myself first for once. I have to do this."

"What happened to loyalty? As soon as things get hard, you're running away! How does that make sense?" Paige let out a bitter laugh as you bit your lip, trying your best not to blow up. "God, what is wrong with you?"

You couldn't hold it in anymore. "You shouldn't be talking about loyalty, Paige! You left me, remember? We've been through-"

"Don't you dare say it, Y/N." Paige's voice was sharp, but you pressed on, the dam of emotions breaking.

"We've been through so much together, and you just threw it all away! You can't expect me to stay here and pretend like everything's fine when it's not."

Paige's eyes blazed with anger. "Oh, don't turn this around on me! You think you're the only one who got hurt? You think it was easy for me to make that decision? You're such a selfish-"

"Selfish?" you interrupted, your voice rising, ringing throughout the locker room. "I'm selfish for wanting to protect my mental health? I'm selfish for needing to get away from the constant reminder of what we had and lost?"

"You're selfish for abandoning the team! For abandoning me!" Paige shouted, her voice cracking. "Do you have any idea what it's going to be like without you here?"

"You don't get to play the victim," you shot back, tears streaming down your face as you sniffled. "You're the one who ended things. You don't get to decide how I cope with that."

Paige took a step closer, her face contorted with rage. "Fine, go to Iowa. Run away like a little pussy. But don't you dare come back and expect everything to be okay. Don't you dare think you can just waltz back into our lives when it suits you."

"That's not what I'm doing," you retorted, your voice shaking as you averted your gaze. "I need this, Paige. I need to get away from you."

"Then go!" she yelled, her voice echoing in the empty locker room. "But don't expect me to forgive you for this. For leaving when things got tough. For being a pussy."

"Oh, really?" You laughed, anger filling your body. "Fuck you. I thought we could be mature, but apparently we can't."

Paige's eyes flashed with fury. "Mature? You're the one who's bailing when things get hard! That's not mature, that's cowardly."

You clenched your fists, trying to keep your composure. "You think this is easy for me? You think I want to leave? I'm doing this because I have to, not because I want to. I'm trying to survive, Paige!"

"Survive?" she scoffed, stepping closer. "What about me? What about the team? We need you, and you're just walking away."

"I'm not your crutch," you shot back. "You have no right to make me feel guilty for taking care of myself. This isn't just about you, Paige. This is about my sanity, my well-being."

Paige's face twisted with a mix of anger and hurt. "Fine, go ahead and leave. But don't expect me to be here waiting for you when you decide to come back."

"I don't expect anything from you anymore," you replied coldly. "I'm done expecting anything from you."

Paige's expression darkened further, and she took another step closer, her voice lowering to a venomous whisper. "You know what? Maybe it's good you're leaving. No one needs your drama and bullshit. You're not as important as you think you are."

The words stung, cutting deeper than you expected. But Paige wasn't finished. "And let's be real, Y/N, Iowa's not going to "fix" you. You're still going to be the same fucked-up person, running from your problems. Maybe if you weren't so broken, none of this would have happened."

You felt as though the air had been sucked out of the room. Her words were like a knife twisting in your gut. You blinked back tears, feeling your heart shatter into even smaller pieces. "You... you have no idea what I've been through," you whispered, your voice barely audible. "To get here, to prove myself to everyone."

"Clearly, I don't," Paige shot back, her voice full of disdain. "Because if I did, maybe I would've seen what a complete waste of time it was to care about you."

The finality of her words was like a slap in the face. You stood there, stunned, feeling the weight of her anger and your own heartbreak. Without another word, you turned and walked out of the locker room, each step feeling heavier than the last.

As you stepped outside, the cool evening air did little to soothe the burning pain in your chest. Iowa was waiting, but now it felt more like an escape from a nightmare than a fresh start. You knew you could never go back, not after what had been said. The bridge between you and Paige was not just burned — it was incinerated.

Driving away, tears blurred your vision. The future was uncertain, and the path ahead seemed daunting. But one thing was clear: you were done with Paige, done with the hold she had over you. It was time to find a place where you could heal, far away from the person who had just torn your heart apart.

──

NOVEMBER 2022

"Welcome, everyone, to what promises to be an exciting game tonight!" The commentator's voice boomed through the arena. "We have Iowa facing off against Ohio State, and all eyes are on Y/N L/N, the transfer from UConn. Let's see how she gels with her new teammates, especially standout stars Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin."

"Y/N L/N, the former UConn star who made headlines with her controversial transfer, had seamlessly integrated herself into the Iowa lineup. Her defensive prowess, combined with her sharp shooting skills, had brought a new dimension to the team's gameplay."

"And there she is, folks! Y/N L/N, number 89, making her presence felt on both ends of the court. She's been a force to be reckoned with tonight, shutting down opponents left and right while sinking those crucial shots when her team needs them most."

From the moment the game tipped off, Y/N was in her element. She moved with a grace and confidence that captivated the audience, her presence on the court undeniable. Within minutes, it was clear that she had found her rhythm with her new team.

"Clark passes the ball to L/N... she fakes, drives to the basket... and what a beautiful layup! L/N puts Iowa on the board first with an impressive move."

The crowd erupted in cheers, and Y/N's teammates swarmed her, sharing her excitement. Clark gave her an encouraging pat on the back as she jogged back on defense.

"That's the kind of play Iowa fans were hoping to see from L/N," the commentator continued. "She brings a fresh energy and versatility to this team."

As the game progressed, Y/N's synergy with her teammates became even more apparent. She seamlessly integrated into the flow of Iowa’s offense, making smart passes and setting effective screens.

"Clark with the ball now, looking for an opening... she finds L/N at the top of the key. L/N drives, kicks it out to Martin on the wing... and it's a three! Kate Martin nails the shot, and L/N gets the assist."

Kate Martin and Caitlin Clark were all smiles, high-fiving Y/N as they took a moment to savor the play. The three of them were quickly becoming a formidable trio on the court, their chemistry undeniable.

"Y/N L/N is not just playing well—she's thriving," the commentator observed. "Her ability to read the game and make those around her better is exactly what Iowa needed."

In the second half, Y/N continued to shine, her defensive efforts just as impressive as her offensive contributions. She hustled for rebounds, dove for loose balls, and her tenacity was infectious.

"Ohio State struggling to get past L/N's defense... and she steals it! L/N on the fast break now... passes to Clark, who finishes with a perfect layup! What a dynamic duo!"

As the final buzzer sounded, Iowa secured a decisive victory. The scoreboard read 82-67, and Y/N's performance was a significant part of that success.

"And that's the game! Iowa takes the win, and what a debut for Y/N L/N. She finishes with 12 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. An all-around stellar performance."

"And there you have it, folks! A stunning performance from the Iowa Hawkeyes, led by the dynamic trio of L/N, Martin, and Clark. With players like these, the sky's the limit for this team, and the rest of the league better watch out!"

As Y/N waved to the cheering crowd, she couldn't help but smile. This was the fresh start she needed, and it was only the beginning.

──

"Great game tonight, ladies!" The reporter started, a broad smile on her face. "Y/N, this was your debut with Iowa, and you were nothing short of fantastic out there. How does it feel to be part of this team?"

You smiled, your eyes twinkling with a mix of relief and joy. "It feels incredible. The support from the coaching staff, my teammates, and the fans has been amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better start here at Iowa."

Caitlin, sitting to your right, nodded enthusiastically. "Y/N has been a fantastic addition. Her energy and skills have really brought a new dynamic to our team."

Kate Martin chimed in, a playful grin on her face. "Yeah, she fits right in. It's like she's been here all along, like seriously."

The reporter continued, "Y/N, you and Caitlin seemed to have an almost telepathic connection on the court tonight. Can you tell us a bit about how you've built such strong chemistry so quickly?"

You glanced at Caitlin, who gave you an encouraging nod. "Honestly, it's been pretty natural. Cait is such a smart player, and she makes it easy to connect and play off each other. We've been putting in a lot of extra time together, and it's really paying off."

Caitlin added, "Y/N is a hard worker, and her basketball IQ is off the charts. We clicked from day one, and it's only getting better."

Kate, not wanting to be left out, jumped in with a laugh. "Don't forget about me! The three of us have really gelled as a unit. We push each other to be better every day."

You put your arm around the blonde, earning a laugh from her. "Don't worry, Katie we wouldn't leave you out."

The reporter smiled, clearly enjoying the dynamic. "It's great to see such strong teamwork and friendship! What's next for this Iowa team? How are you planning to build on tonight's performance?"

You looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "We're just going to keep working hard, stay focused, and take it one game at a time. Tonight was a great win, but we know there's a lot of work ahead of us."

Caitlin nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. We have high expectations for ourselves, and we know we can achieve great things if we stick together and keep pushing."

Kate leaned in, her expression serious but with a hint of a smile. "We're aiming high. We want to make a deep run this season, and with Y/N on board, we feel like we can compete with anyone."

The interview wrapped up, and as the cameras turned off, the three players shared a group hug, your bond clear for everyone to see.

As they headed back to the locker room, Caitlin threw an arm around your shoulders. "You did great tonight. Welcome to the team, officially."

Kate added, "Yeah, we're glad to have you, Y/N. And this is just the beginning, trust."

──

"The fuck," Paige grumbled as she watched the post-game interview on TV, bitterness clear on her face. Nika and Aubrey exchanged amused glances as they watched Paige, who's eyes were glued on the screens.

Despite the fallout with Paige, you were still close with the rest of the team. You wouldn't let Paige get in between you and your old team, no matter the circumstances.

Paige's gaze finally averted from the screen, looking at the girls. "Does this shit not bother you guys like, not even a little bit?"

"Nah, P." Nika responded as she sighed, leaning back on the couch. "We're proud of her."

Aubrey continued, her tone gentle but firm. "I mean, you guys dated and shit. There's bound to be some bitter feelings, y'know."

Paige scoffed, crossing her arms tightly. "Yeah, well, it still sucks seeing her over there, acting like everything's fine."

Nika gave Paige a sympathetic look. "I get it, Paige. It's hard seeing someone you care about move on, especially after everything you two went through. But she's doing what's best for her. You have to respect that."

Aubrey nodded in agreement. "And honestly, she's killing it over there. Seeing her happy and thriving makes us happy, too. It's not about choosing sides—it's about supporting our friend."

"Did you hear her?" Their words went in one ear and out the other, her gaze turning back to the TV. "Oh Katie! We'd never leave you out. Like shut up," she mocked as Aubrey let out a laugh.

It was obvious she was jealous, it was a rare sight for the usually, confident blonde. Nika and Aubrey exchanged another glance, this time with knowing smiles. They could see right through Paige's facade.

"Wow, Paige, are you actually jealous?" Aubrey teased, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Never thought I'd see the day."

Paige rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the blush creeping up her cheeks. "I'm not jealous," she protested, though her tone lacked conviction. "I just don't like seeing her act all buddy-buddy with them."

"Sure," Nika said, leaning back and stretching. "It's just because she's happy and thriving without you, right?"

Paige shot her a glare, but there was no real heat behind it. "Shut up, Nika."

Aubrey laughed again, patting Paige on the shoulder. "It's okay to admit you miss her, Paige. We all miss her. But she's doing what she needs to do, and we have to respect that."

"I do respect that." Paige interjected, her voice defensive. The three of them quieted down, continuing watching the TV. "I guess she has a thing for blondes," she mumbled under her breathe.

"Come on, Paige!" Nika groaned as Aubrey began to laugh uncontrollably. "Stop encouraging her, Aubrey."

Paige rolled her eyes, a faint smirk playing on her lips despite herself. "What? It's true. First me, now Kate. Seems like she has a type. Blonde, 6ft and hoopers, I mean..."

Aubrey wiped away a tear from laughing so hard. "Oh my god, Paige. You're insane."

Nika shook her head, trying to suppress her own laughter. "First, you are not 6ft. And maybe it's time to focus on your game and let Y/N do her thing. You can't keep dwelling on this."

"Yes, I am! With shoes, I am." Paige sighed, the humor fading from her expression. "And I know. It's just hard, you know? Seeing her so happy without me. Without us."

Aubrey softened, leaning in to give Paige a reassuring pat on the back. "You'll get there. It just takes time. And who knows, maybe this will be a good thing for both of you in the long run."

Paige nodded, her eyes drifting back to the screen where Y/N was still beaming in the post-game interview. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Nika stood up, stretching her arms above her head. "Alright, enough of this. Let's hit the gym. We have a season to focus on, and we need you at your best, Paige."

Paige took a deep breath, standing up as well. "You're right. Let's go."

Aubrey joined them, a supportive smile on her face. "That's the spirit. And remember, we're here for you, no matter what."

↳ make sure to check out my navigation or masterlist if you enjoyed! any interaction is greatly appreciated !

↳ thank you for reading all the way through, as always ♡

[pen-and-umbra]

(The last one on Sephiroth's breakdown reimagining in the Remake trilogy. Notes I and Notes II

Herein lurk spoilers.)

In contrast to FFVII OG, where Sephiroth's breakdown was introduced as a sudden event, with his life-long search for origins mostly implied rather than spoken aloud, Crisis Core revealed Sephiroth had been digging through ShinRA's science archives for years before embarking on a fateful mission. Indeed, the compilation of FFVII has seen a shift in the character’s portrayal, with Sephiroth becoming less of a silent and aloof enigma and more of a layered personage. As a result, his breakdown ceased to exist in its isolated form. We are aware of the chain of events that preceded it.

Thanks to CC, we know that Sephiroth was obsessed with discovering facts about his own history, especially his heritage, to the point where he would shut himself up in the archives to read documents. We also know that Genesis used this fixation as a means of pressuring Sephiroth into cooperation.

To Genesis, the existence of such a pressure point was a known quantity, which suggests that Sephiroth's attempts to uncover his past had been a well-known or recurring endeavor. And one thing is clear from Sephiroth's reaction: Genesis' comments struck a chord with him, primarily because they targeted his fear.

FFVII Ever Crisis takes things a step further, emphasizing Sephiroth's determination to learn more about his mother, to the point that he would carry a photo of her to investigate. Furthermore, Sephiroth is troubled by an offhand remark that he might be a cyborg—a non-human entity—and appears to take the remark to heart, holding on to it long after making acquaintances with Glenn's team. And thus, there's plenty to infer from these instances. 

For starters, it confirms that Sephiroth's desire to discover his origins dates back to his adolescence. The way he talks in regard to inquiring about his mother suggests that his attempts are recurring. He “knows it's not cool to ask about his mother,” which presumably means that someone *systematically* brought this up to him before he was dispatched. To someone, Sephiroth's asking around appeared childish, immature, or uncool, or else came across as a nuisance that needed to be nipped in the bud.

One can wonder if the objective of these snubbing attempts was to dissuade him from looking into the topic further. This raises the question whether the “uncool” comment first came from the people behind the Science Department, in particular those who took part in Jenova Project.

Secondly, it confirms the presence of a fear—or suspicion—of not being human. Sephiroth got so fixated on the “cyborg” comment because it stirred something that had already been there. That which had preoccupied him. This detail shows that the thought was neither caused by seeing Hollander's experiments nor was it planted by Genesis, as it precedes those events. Indeed, Ever Crisis suggests that this anxiety, this nagging feeling of “never being one of them”, has been present in Sephiroth's mind for much of his life. In fact, one could argue it was the driving factor behind his search for family. Not so much a need to belong as a search for evidence of normalcy to dispel any lingering uncertainty. "Proving" misconceptions about himself wrong too, as he is keen to point out to Glenn in Ever Crisis.

This provides a broader perspective on his infamous “ever since I was a child, I knew I was different <…> special”. While OG may have alluded to Sephiroth's admitting to being aware of his superiority (“special” and “different” bearing a haughty connotation), the extended compilation plays with the idea of “different” bearing a negative quality to it, with Ever Crisis, Crisis Core and FFVII Rebirth all proposing an aversion to the idea of being a lab-grown, subhuman specimen. After all, as Sephiroth himself puts it after meeting Glenn, all he wished was normalcy—to lead a normal life. 

With that in mind, we can only speculate as to what factors made young Sephiroth question his origins. Was it merely the performance and treatment difference compared to others in ShinRA's SOLDIER project? The silence/ridicule policy and withholding of information he apparently faced when trying to ask the wrong sort of questions? Or witnessing first-hand how inhumanely the likes of Hojo treated lab specimens as well as the prospect of never being able to fit in to be treated as an equal, ergo lacking the same rights/agency as test subjects? One can only guess. Ultimately, it is the presence of this insecurity that leads to his downfall, whether one interprets Nibelheim events as falling under Jenova’s spell or an onset of insanity. 

Whether or not it was Jenova who forced Sephiroth to read “like a man possessed” or his own stubbornness, Gast's notes left him with only two options. Either he admits to being a laboratory-created being, “born” from a 2000-year-old monster, as declared by Genesis, or he embraces the idea of being an Ancient. Either he is “not a human,” as he had feared all his life, or he is above humanity. A mind is a delicate thing that will do anything to survive. Sephiroth had been in a pretty dark place by the end of Crisis Core. Should one choose to interpret Nibelheim events as a result of Jenova's interference (as discussed here), it would not be hard to see why a little nudge to the basement library was needed to push Sephiroth into embracing alien ideas and influence. Fear is an excellent manipulation tool, and Sephiroth's fear played well against him. For him, the alternative—admitting to being no better than pod-grown “abominations”, in Sephiroth's own words—was unthinkable.

If one construes the Nibelheim sequence as a result of a mental breakdown, as evidenced by Sephiroth's anger outburst, unstable commentary in the basement, and what could be interpreted as shame, it likewise becomes clear why he clung onto the idea of being an Ancient. In order for his mind to keep its sense of self, it needed to escape facing the terrible; the legend of the Ancients thus offered an easy escape route. He would no longer be a subhuman with no coherent reason to fight (per Elfe from Before Crisis), someone used as a tool by ShinRA or Hojo and having his humanity denied or questioned, but he would be an entity superior to humans with clear reasons for fighting and even a clearer sense of purpose.

Regardless of how one interprets the picture, one thing is certain: succumbing to fear or trying all possible to avoid confronting it are understandably human traits. It's ironic that Sephiroth's dread of not being human and not belonging with humans drove him to become non-human, both physically and metaphorically. After all, it was his lifelong uncertainties and fixation with discovering the truth that served as a catalyst for the chain of events that led to his metamorphosis in the Northern Crater and, subsequently, the decision to abandon his human memories in Lifestream Black.

Written by @pen-and-umbra

[letomills]

TS2 CC downloaders & creators discussion recap

Under the cut is a recap of the feedback gathered from the comments, community replies and reblogs on this thread. Thank you for taking the time to give your input! I tried to organize everything clearly in categories, with what was most often brought up at the top of each. I hope I didn’t forget anything. If I did, or you feel I didn't do your point justice, or you didn’t get a chance to say your piece, feel free to comment (I can always make edits). The text in brackets [] is my own remarks that I'm adding to the report.

About CC in general:

The people clamored for clear swatches/pictures that show which file corresponds to which recolor, so we can pick and choose what to keep.

Many people would like creators to put their usernames in their file names (or object descriptions) so they are easier to trace back to later. Two creators had counterpoints to this. One who has a long username said: “as a creator, I don't like to be told how I should name my files (besides identifying the thing clearly, which I think we really should do). If I've made the effort to make a thing, take previews, upload it, write the post etc. Just spend 5 seconds of your life renaming the file to whatever is convinient to you, I'm not going to add 16 characters to each of my files to include my username (I still think that longer names = longer loading time).” The other creator said: “As a creator, I don't want to put my full username in tooltips (just SB) because some hair names are quite long and I do not have the time to re tooltip the names.”

On the topic of file names, many people agreed that creators should not put special characters and spaces in their file names, to optimize loading times. One creator clarified: “the filenames should always have _ instead of spaces, as apparently this allows the game to load them easier/faster [...] underscores should be the only kind of special character in them” [use the Bulk Rename Utility - see tutorial by @ilovethesims2cc].

Still on file names, a Mac user said they dislike when file names are too long because apparently long file names are enough for Macs to shit themselves [sorry if I misunderstood, never had a Mac].

Several people mentioned disliking poorly optimized CC (one person listed: “bulky for no reason, unused bump maps, comically large or duplicated textures, things that could easily be repo'd but are not”), one person pointed out: “There is no reason a TS2 object needs a texture bigger than 1024x1024 unless it’s a special case like a skybox.”

One person said they dislike when a CC post lacks basic text info about what the download is. On this note, another person said they dislike when a creator isn’t clearly stating what mesh their recolors are for.

Two people asked that creators state their stuff’s polycounts.

Two people said they dislike when the recolors for a piece of CC are only available merged together, as they want to be able to easily choose which they want to keep. On the other hand, someone who “takes all recolors anyway” said they would like creators to offer a merged version of their recolors [you can merge CC to reduce loading times using LazyDuchess’s CC Merger].

One person recommended avoiding just using “here” as hyperlink text, but instead describing what you are linking to, so that if the link gets broken we still have a chance to find the thing. In the same vein, they and another person advised against reliance on an image alone to give info about the download. As we know, images can disappear, and a Google search won’t lead to the item if your post has no text that Google can detect.

About the images that creators do show, one person mentioned a download not having a proper preview as their pet peeve. On previews, two people recommended that the piece of CC be clearly visible and the main focus. Two people said they like when a preview of the item is included in the archive (“helpful when looking through old CC”).

One person said they appreciate when creators give two download links to two different hosting platforms, in case one of them ever breaks.

One person asked for creators to always test their stuff before uploading [it should go without saying but we do see egregious things to this day]. Their pet peeve is “CC with obvious issues that can’t have been tested properly in game! Don’t just look at it in build mode or bodyshop, actually use the item in live mode. Have a Sim wear the clothing or use the object!” They pointed out as an example that some CC lights don’t light up. Someone else said: “if there are minor imperfections, that's ok! But let your downloaders know what to expect.”

One person said that they enjoy reading detailed descriptions of CC: “Share your inspos, what went wrong, tag the pieces you used if you are Frankenmeshing because I might want those items too! Creating and sharing is deeply personal, don't be afraid to share a part of who you are in your downloads if you feel comfortable doing so.” [If I may offer a slight counterpoint, I think detailed technical info + proper crediting should always be frontloaded. And then, in a separate paragraph, you can write about how you made this because your grandma used to wear something similar on those cool autumn days back when you were 6. But please, don’t expect your audience to have to parse through your life story to get the basic info they need to even understand what the download is.]

On subfolders: one person mentioned that they dislike when individual files are placed in subfolders; someone else said they don’t like many subfolders within an archive; a third person said that when downloading a ‘bulk’ CC pack, they dislike when each item has its individual subfolder (unless the object has dozens of recolors).

One person said they dislike downloads that include a large number of things that aren’t all part of a single coherent set.

One person said they dislike gift/mega packages that don’t give the possibility to pick and choose what you’re downloading.

One person asked that creators compressorize their CC, unless there is a good reason for not doing so, reason that should be stated [yes please! Use jfade’s Compressorizer, found on this page].

One person said they like when creators who make recolors give a link to the mesh they are recoloring whenever possible, even if the mesh is included.

One person mentioned appreciating when creators include base PSDs in their downloads [they were talking about hair specifically but I suppose it can be done for other things too].

About Bodyshop CC specifically:

Many people mentioned disliking when a piece of clothing lacks a fat morph (as one person put it: ✨“its literally bigotry”✨ [iconic]), or has a fat morph that's blatantly a quickly WSO’d afterthought. Someone said: “Absurdly shaped/clipping fat morphs that were most probably never tested in game before uploading are pretty annoying”; someone else said: “I make male content and am constantly flabbergasted by some of the UM Top fat morphs that make no attempt to align with Bottom items, or look completely ridiculous. [...] WSOs are a great starting point, but that's just it: a starting point" [I couldn’t agree more]. One person added that clothes should also have preg morphs.

One person really wants tooltips. Someone else further asked that creators give actually helpful tooltips to their recolors to make it easier to identify which recolor corresponds to which file [you can use CatOfEvilGenius’s Tooltip utility to give your recolors tooltips that correspond to their file names].

One person mentioned gaps in meshes being their #1 pet peeve [putting this in this section because I’m assuming they’re referring to Bodyshop CC].

One person asks that creators give their accessories unique BIN numbers to make them layerable with other accessories.

The same person would like creators to remember to delete the inapplicable ages in their accessories [this also goes for hairs].

The same person also appreciates when creators make custom thumbnails for their accessories, “especially for accessories that are not on the face”.

The same person said: “Accessories that are 'part of the sim' (like ears, tails, etc.) should be showerproof”. Another person had the same request: “Body part accessories (such as animal ears, tails, horns, wings) should be available for all types of clothing.”

One person appreciates when hair meshers specify if their hair is animated or not.

One person would like to see more hairs for toddlers and children.

For geneticized skintones, one person said they find it helpful when the genetic number is indicated in the file name.

About Build & Buy CC specifically: 

Several people said they dislike when CC objects are set to an absurd price (like a couch for 1 simoleon) [this can be fixed with Pick’N’Mix’s Object Relocator], and two people added that they dislike when an object’s price isn’t congruent with their stats (like when an expensive bed has a low energy score). A creator further said: “whats worse is sometimes items are cloned from a very expensive item, and then the creator has reduced the stats shown in the description, but the bhav still has very high ratings, or sometimes it can be the other way around, an item might have been cloned from a cheap one, then their displayed stats are set to 10 but the bhavs still have low ratings”.

Three people said that they really appreciate when creators state which category their object is in and what the price is. One person said they appreciate when creators give info about how their object functions (“Is it just deco? Does it have hobby enthusiasm?” etc.). For complex objects, they like when there’s a video to show how it works. 

One person said they dislike when creators place objects in categories that don’t make sense. Someone said more specifically that they like when objects are put in categories other than deco/sculptures or deco/misc.

One person said they dislike blank object descriptions or object descriptions that were left the same as that of the Maxis object that the piece of CC was cloned from.

One person said they don’t like when objects aren’t enabled for quarter-tile placement [can be fixed in simPe or with the Object Relocator].

One person said they dislike non-functional objects (like a sofa that’s a sculpture).

One person brought up two experiences they and their friend had with CC beds that didn’t have unique GUIDs and therefore would override other beds. In the same vein, someone else said they dislike when a creator forgets to mention that their CC is not custom but default and will override something in the game.

One person encourages creators to learn about the TXMT settings of objects (e.g. should an object be reflective?) and praised @pforestsims and @shastakiss for their CC in that regard. Another person said they dislike when an object is too shiny, which is also a TXMT setting.

One person said they dislike “transparent cut out textures”. [I quote because I’m clueless about this:] “I’ve seen this a lot on TS3 or other game conversions, where the texture has been imported without enabling transparency, and you get ugly squares around draw handles and such. Import the texture as DXT 5 and enable AlphaTest in the TXMT.”

One person said they like when 4t2 conversions have several subsets.

The Mac user among us would like creators to resize their walls and floors for Macs, otherwise they show up grey in game.

About lots specifically:

Two people said they like when creators show the floor plans of their lots.

[antimony-medusa]

I read your post on boundaries and the MCYT community recently and have been thinking about as posts that contradict it cross my dash, and I’ve been reflecting on how a lot of what we call “boundaries” are more just like. Community rules? Like take “no sexualization,” for instance. If I’m talking to someone at my workplace, I am not comfortable with them making sexual remarks about me. If someone did, I would tell them so, and not engage in that conversation with them. That’s an actual boundary — something governing how people interact with ME that I am in charge of enforcing. I don’t say “no one is allowed to think anything sexual about me at work ever or tell their friends I’m hot” bc that’s just insane and none of my business, quite frankly. Streamers are well within their rights to say they aren’t comfortable seeing people sexualizing them in their chat or like very publicly on Twitter, but saying no one can sexualize them ever is actually just a community rule, not a personal boundary. Based on how I understand what a boundary is, it can’t be boundary breaking to do something that a creator definitely will not see, because the creator isn’t interacting with the content, and boundaries are about governing comfort in interactions. And saying “I don’t want there to be sexualization or sexual content about me in the main tags bc my main audience is children who browse those tags and they shouldn’t be exposed to that” is a reasonable enough rule to ask your community to follow, but it’s just straight up not a boundary? Like am I misunderstanding what a boundary is? I’m confused bc I’m seeing all this stuff about boundary breaking content and how it’s disgusting even if the creator will never see it and I just don’t get it?

Yeah, I think this is a situation where we're using words to mean something they don't technically mean (see also, "lore"), and then this leads to us also having community arguments about what is acceptable, and it's all totally unnecessary.

Cause the workplace comparison is a good one! If I was telling fellow coworkers how hot they were when they'd said they didn't want to hear that, or walking up to the barista and saying that I wanted them to weigh in on the porn I'd written about them, that would be workplace sexual harrasment and, depending on the severity of the situation, literally a crime I could be charged with. Absolutely inappropriate to do, and I can't express how extremely fair it is that streamers get to say no to that. I am FULLY in support of CCs setting those limits for their spaces and think it's healthy and we all need to respect that.

But "boundaries", as a term, is technically about controlling your own behaviour and people's access to you. You set a boundary and say to your parents "if you bring up grandkids at the christmas meal I will be leaving", or "if you mention [latest discourse] on my blog I will block you". It's about controlling your experiences via your own behaviour and the stuff that you actually see. CC equivalent is saying that any sexualization or shipping in their chats or replies will lead to a block or a ban. That's them controlling their own experience and that's A-ok. Asking a CC to weigh in on what sort of fan work they're comfortable being shown, that's also about them controlling their own experience and is totally fair.

Asking a CC to weigh in on what sort of fan work exists in general— that's not boundaries any more, that's something else entirely. The closest equivilent is companies trying to control what sort of materiel their image or trademarked material show up in, I think? Which is a thing you can do when you're licensing your image, but isn't actually a thing you can do with fan works. Celebrities get to say no they're not going to appear in a commercial advertising an oil company, because they have a moral disagreement with oil companies, but that's because the interaction there is a company offering to pay them money for their image and them declining the money. That's not how fan works operate. The celebrity isn't in a position to decline the money for their "image" being used, because no money is being offered, because the fan isn't making money. It's not a copyright/licensing situation, it's fan works. The celebrity shouldn't be part of the conversation at all, because they should never see that.

And like, there's issues of impersonation or endorsement where it's bad form to do something that looks like it comes from the celebrity, as though they approve of what is being depicted, which is why AI voice lines and deepfakes are being increasingly spoken out against. But man, someone writing Captain Puffy's and PearlescentMoon's cubitos kissing each other on Ao3 and keeping it on Ao3 is not a situation where celebrity endorsement or licensing or impersonation comes in at all. That's a conversation totally within the fandom, without the creators involved. And I really disagree with asking the creator to treat all of fandom like their community, which they should moderate and like, control their image and make kids-and-advertiser-friendly, because that's not how fandom works and also that is unfair to ask of them.

Can one or both of the creators say they don't want to see that? Totally fair. That's a boundary. Can they say that it shouldn't exist in their main tag that kids check? I'm on the side of tagging things to keep them away from minors and people who don't want to see it anyways, rock on. That's a community rule. Can they say that it should never exist ever, anywhere on the internet? That's just not how this works. A) that's not how fan works have ever worked, fan works are for transforming and celebrating existing canon, not for creator approval, and we should stop shoving all of them in creators' faces or asking them to weigh in, B) "boundaries" is entirely the wrong word for what's going on there, like you said. Cause is the mere existence of a thing in a seperate space infriging on the creator's experience and reasonable for them to control? That's what a boundary is, this isn't. C) This isn't even community rules that it makes sense for them to moderate! When you are talking about an entirely different space, cut off from the CCs, doing their own thing to the characters, with age barriers and trigger warnings built in, "boundaries" isn't the right term, but also this doesn't make sense as a space that we're inviting creators into to moderate. This is a seperate space, and stories or art in it aren't hurting people, even if the cc's wouldn't want to see that or even want them in their main community tabs. So yeah when it comes to us enforcing our own community rules, keeping creator boundaries and community rules in mind, the mere existence of a thing does not seem to me like the end of the world. A lot of people have come out and said that all our work needs to be sqeaky clean and able to be shown in the creator's chat, as though the creator is moderating the space and their personal boundaries are involved. And (listing things yet again, this is a post of lists), first of all there's a real focus on sexualization in that case and never on things like family dynamic or kidfic or gore or whump that could also make creators uncomfortable if it was shoved in their faces. (But somehow when anyone brings up those "boundaries" everyone comes to the conclusion that something entirely off on the internet somewhere and never shown to the creators is not going to harm them. Curious.) And second of all, I just disagree that that's a good way to run a fandom community. This is a space for fans, not for the creators, bringing up the "weird stuff" publically to creators is incredibly cruel to people who shouldn't have to see that, AND it's a bad atmosphere for creativity to always want the creators to approve things, fandom is for saying "fuck the man" and doing your own thing. Just tag it to keep it away from people who don't want to see it, and filter the tags for your own experience. Keep everything in its own space and you're good. There's tons of stuff in the fandom that isn't to my taste, ranging from characters that just don't do it for me to tropes that are active turn offs to people writing and undertagging things in ways that is concerning to me. We have got to learn to say "that's not for me" and "that's not for the cc" and put it away (block if you have to) and move on.

[modelbus]

hi!!!!! im new but ive read a lot of your work and its amazing!!

anyway, i was wondering if you could write a either hurt comfort or childhood friends to lovers, as a cc!tommy x fem!reader ?

it would mean a lot thank you !!! 🩷🩷

Why not both? Cue evil grin, mwahaha ;) ALSO! I’m back with that mcyt stuff!!

Pairing: Cc!Tommyinnit x Fem!Reader

Fighting Friends

You’ve known Tommy for as long as you can remember. Apparently memory formation starts when you’re about 6, so you knew there was a time before him, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.

There’s a photo on your desk, framed with a cheap plastic frame. Both of you as kids, him wearing sunglasses and holding a Nerf gun up to your head as you’re caught in the act of stabbing him with a foam sword (he shot you in the forehead after the photo). The picture just about sums up your guys’ relationship. It doesn’t need to be worth a thousand words, just two: fucking chaos.

Or, that’s what you two normally were.

It was a stupid argument, even you knew that. A silly remark you took too hard, something that stung too deep. He said it during a vlog, too. A quip about rather dying than dancing with you. And with those few words, you stupid crush-addled heart shriveled up and was shot through.

So you had retaliated with a poor jab, and he didn't get it, and it all blew up in your faces. To the point where your messages have sat empty for three whole days. There's no "GET ON MC" message from him, no impromptu "Movie now." Just pure radio silence.

And you hate it.

You loved Tommy. Adored the hell out of him, unfortunately for you. And not just because you had a traitorous little crush. He's your best friend. The type of person you always knew would be there.

Right up until he wasn't.

It’s funny how much colder it seems to be now that he’s gone. Winter’s blowing in, like it was just waiting for him to vanish from your life before taking over. It leaves piles of snow that you dredge through to get to your favorite cafe, braving the wind chill just for a semblance of comfort.

You used to go here nearly daily with Tommy, making you dependent on the warm atmosphere that you haven’t been in since five days ago. Have you mentioned how much you hate fighting with Tommy? The disruption to routine, the fucking ache in your heart…

It’s a bit pathetic, honestly. But that’s simply what you are without him. One half of a soul.

The bell chimes, and you drag yourself over to your normal table and pull out your laptop. Even when your world stops, the actual world keeps spinning, meaning you have work to do.

“Hey sweetheart. No shadow?” Your head jerks up, instinctively smiling at Laura, the aged worker who always serves you.

“Not today.” You sigh. “He’s… busy.”

“Too busy for you?” Her eyebrows raise. “That boy will show up eventually for you.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh, trust me, hon. He’s got those eyes when he looks at you.”

Hell if you know what that means, but you smile at her anyway.

“Want your usual?” She asks.

“Just a water.” You shake your head, the idea of a hot chocolate without Tommy seeming just sad.

Laura nods then heads off as you turn your attention back to your laptop. In the bottom right corner a Discord notification pops up from Wilbur, but you ignore it without even reading the message. You can respond to him later, which you’ll probably do at night while in bed. Procrastinating sleep, per usual.

A mug is set in front of you—definitely not water—making you look up at Laura in confusion. Hot chocolate, complete with your usual whipped cream.

“I—“

“Someone else ordered it for you.” She answers before you can even ask, a sparkle in her eye. Before she steps away, she leans closer and whispers, “I told you that boy adores you.”

Your eyes scan the surrounding area, seeing Tommy almost instantly. Blond hair messed up, his favorite hoodie and jeans on. He makes his way to you, looking sheepish.

“I’m sorry.” He blurts out the second he’s close enough. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Laura step away. “I was an idiot, and I shouldn’t have said half the fucking things I did—“

“At least sit down.” You interrupt, knowing damn well he’d stand there and apologize all day.

Almost instantly, he drops into the chair across from you. You quietly close your laptop, leaving the two of you staring at each other in awkward silence.

“You ordered me hot chocolate.” You say just to break the quiet.

He ducks his head. “You always get it.”

The acknowledgment that you didn’t want to get it without him hangs in the air.

“What’ve you been up to?” You ask politely. Small talk is strained and stupid; you’ve never had to do this with him before.

“Recording and shit. Made a mod video with Schlatt and Wil and Jack. You?”

You drink your hot chocolate while the two of you talk, the argument hanging heavy over your heads like a storm cloud. When you finish the drink, there’s some unspoken consensus that you’ll leave together, him stepping ahead to hold the door for you.

“I scrapped that vlog, by the way.” He’s saying, referencing the one you had filmed with him. “Wasn’t enough content to put in a video.”

“I’m sorry.” You say, frowning, knowing that it was your argument that had made it such a short filming session.

“Why the fuck are you sorry?” He asks, staring at you like you’re an alien. “I’m the one who made that argument a whole fucking thing.”

“You?” You echo. “That was definitely on me, I was so snappish!”

“Bullshit, I started it!”

“In what fucking world did you start it? That was me, Tom, I acted like a little bitch about that one—“

You’re silenced by something, warmth covering your lips before it’s gone as quick as it was there. It’s not until he’s four steps back that you realize what just happened.

He kissed you. He fucking kissed you.

“Fuck— I didn’t— I didn’t meant to do that!” He exclaims, eyes wide. “I mean— Wil told me to just go for it, but I told him he was fucking insane man, I didn’t— I keep fucking this up, don’t I?”

“…so that was an apology kiss?” You ask, confused.

“What? No! I meant I was sorry for kissing you without, Y’know, asking.” His cheeks flush, and it’s not until someone shoves past you that you realize you’ve both stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

“It’s… it’s fine. Okay, I mean.” You say, almost positive your cheeks are the same shade as his.

Tommy nods. “So I didn’t totally fuck this up?”

“I think you fucked it up a long time ago, Tom. I’m doing charity work sticking around you.”

He laughs, elbowing you as you start walking. “I’m the one doing charity work! I’m a fucking millionaire, you should be paying to be in my presence!”

“Oh, yeah, you kissed me for charity too, huh?”

“Wha— well I— that—“

You laugh loudly, having to look away from him to catch your breath. This was your Tommy, this was what you missed.

“Oh, you asshole!” He groans. “Fine! It was fucking charity, how about that?”

Shrugging, you can’t help your grin. “Just don’t make it charity next time.”

His steps falter, but when you look over at him he’s beaming. “Deal.” He announces, but doesn’t make a move to kiss you again.

“…are you not going to—“

“I have to surprise you. That way it’s fun.”

Oh boy.

[lonewolflupe]

Blizzard Blend (One-Shot)

This is my entry for week 4 of The Clone Wars Winter Spectacular 2024 / @clone-wars-winter-challenge! This one's rather short, because I had a very hectic week and couldn't find the time for something more extensive (but I think this little ficlet gets the point across).

Summary: Cody is trying to finish his mission report after some intense events Rating: Teen and up Tags: fluff, codywan (subtle) Words: 556 Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-2224 Commander Cody Prompts: First Snow / Fluffy Blanket Read this one-shot here on AO3 week 3 < | ↓ | > week 5

22 BBY, Caliban

Straight after the Battle on Caliban

Caliban was merciless at night. The wind was so sharp and cold, it felt like it ripped straight through the flesh and froze the bones. An infinite curtain of snowflakes made it nearly impossible to keep a clear visual on the surroundings.

At least the thermal tents sheltered the troops from the worst as they awaited their delayed pick-up. They had camped in the shadow of the grey stone mountains after regrouping, the frigid tundra stretched out in front of them. It was barely visible through the persistent blizzard.

Obi-Wan came hurrying back inside the tent, his icy breath shivering as he zipped down the entrance behind him, shutting them off from the freezing outside world. He took off his jacket, recreating a miniature snowstorm as he shook it clear from any snow.

Hunched over a datapad behind an improvised desk, Cody didn't look up when his general entered. He was lost in thoughts, his mind preoccupied with composing his report, determined to finish it before their pick-up would arrive - if the blizzard ever allowed it. He rubbed his cold fingers, hoping to warm them to make his work easier.

“Was this your first snow, Cody?” the General informed, his lips sliding in a comfortable smile as his moustache and beard were dripping from the melting frost. “Outside the simulations, yes,” came Cody's somewhat distant reply. Obi-Wan smiled affectionately; he knew he wasn't going to get a proper conversation out of the Commander until the report was finished. But it didn't stop him from trying anyway.

“And what are your thoughts on it?” he continued, trying to get a look into that brilliant head of his. Cody shrugged casually, still not averting his gaze from the datapad in front of him. “It was soft. And cold,” he remarked curtly, adding a few more words to his report in the process.

“I can sense some similarities right now,” Obi-Wan shot amused, Cody’s only reply being a faint grunt as the General turned around to make them some fresh tea. The Jedi was looking forward to feeling the steam warm his face and the hot liquid flow through his body. He would have liked to use some local herbs for his blend, but it seemed like nothing usable could grow on this frigid moon.

When the water was finally hot, Obi-Wan prepared two mugs and filled them cautiously, as if it was some sort of ritual. “So how’s that report coming along?” he asked entertained, but this time, there was no reply at all. With the steaming mugs in his hands, he turned around to face the Commander.

Cody’s cheek laid resting on the improvised desk, the datapad beside him still showing the unfinished report. His breathing was slow and constant, whilst his closed eyelids twitched as he was processing all the recent events in his dreams. Obi-Wan’s lips slid into an affectionate smile.

Carefully, he put down the mugs on the desk, before grabbing his cloak from a corner of the tent. He draped it around the Commander’s shoulders tenderly, thinking he deserved a more fluffy blanket, but this was the best he could do under these circumstances. “Don't overwork it, dear,” he whispered, as he tucked in the Commander, before retreating to enjoy his tea in silence.

[starsreminisce]

Asking about Seers again because I think SJM may not expound on this power. We know seers in ACOTAR can see the future. Other fantasy stories define their seers as those who can peer through time (past and present, not just the future) and space. What do you think is the extent of Elain's powers as a seer?

For Elain, Lucien, and Helion, all three present with powers of location and sense. For Elain, hers is similar to sensory tracking ( use sense and locate other people and/or objects by focusing on them, allowing them to find their location and sense their environment.) but I don't know the mechanics for Lucien and Helion. I think of theirs as a radar. Your thoughts?

SJM has delved a little into seers in both ToG and CC, distinguishing them from mystics and oracles in CC, where they are part of the witches subsect. This makes me wonder if Elain might be the thread that connects the two series, especially since she is the closest to Papa Archeron.

You may be right about how other series treat seers but I've always felt that SJM wants to portray this through the Archeron sisters: Feyre, who can look through memories, represents the past; Nesta practices Still training (meditation), focusing on the present; and Elain would be able to look into the future.

I do think that Elain can dreamwalk (visit dreams, get visions from dreams) and might even act as a mouthpiece, sort of like how the Oracle of Delphi works, but I would love SJM to delve more into her powers. From what I can tell, in ToG, seers seem to work in groups, at least for the Crochan Witches, and Baba Yellowlegs was a seer whose magic was suppressed when we were introduced to her. Lucien seems to be linked to Elain's powers, as her visions get clearer when he’s around and disappear when he’s not. Lucien also has many ties with the number 7, which is significant in CC, and there is a lot of folklore IRL surrounding the Seventh Son.

As for the second part, it's another link connecting Elain to the Day Court. I believe Helion is similar to Elain in tracking the Suriel but more refined, given that he found the Lady of Autumn at the nick of time and Feyre when she was with the Suriel. The Suriel said she saw two brown eyes looking at them, and since Helion found Feyre after they died, it could be the same as Gwyn's remark about timing during the Blood Rite followed by Az's statement that timing is the key to spying.

I still don't believe that Lucien's mechanical eye is as powerful as he makes it out to be. I think he uses it as a cover for his actual powers since Vanserra's sons grew up knowing to mix truth and lies and not reveal what they know.

Speaking of Vanserras, I think Lucien also uses his keen sense of smell, exhibited by both Eris and Gwyn. He found Feyre in ACOMAF when he received a tip from his contact in the Night Court and then tracked her scent. He also returned with Vassa and Papa Archeron in a month despite knowing very little to start.

I think it's a significant declaration for Elain to wish to become reacquainted with her powers as she becomes more accepting of her transformation and wants to be more useful. Her story is eerily similar to what Feyre was going through in the beginning of ACOMAF. I do think this is intentional, to show that Feyre was never meant to stay in the Spring Court to reach her highest potential, just as Elain wouldn’t thrive in the Night Court. Not every change of environment has to be volatile or due to trauma. Some places are just meant to be temporary and leaving because it no longer serves you, isn't something to be frowned upon.

Thanks for asking!

[aisquaredchoco]

Yay...my internet's back! Erm, actually just switched to another provider because the previous one's been refusing to repair for months..

Also, a long message coming ahead. If you're not a fan of lengthy sentiments in the form of a wall of text I'd tell you to skip this.

Well here goes one last rambling...a lot of realizations came to mind during those days of inactivity so...

I realized I've been expecting too much from this community, when in reality I have not much of a place in it. I'll wholeheartedly accept that I'm only up to this point of achievement. Less expectations, less disappointments. No more whining, hopefully.

This is not a farewell post however, but just to let you guys know that I have decided to no longer put too much effort so as not to expect anything in return, and therefore will not be doing as much cc as I have been doing before, just so I would expect less from people and to make sure that the things I'd love to have in my game are the ones being shared publicly. One reason is that I was thinking that I might be doing things in rush that their quality might also have been compromised and that some of you might have been quietly critical of it (though I accept such feedbacks you know). Another reason is that I have to learn to not expect anything after giving something as I've said above, because I admit I had an ambition of becoming a 'household name' in the simblr community and thought one way of achieving such status is that you have to give something to the community so that they recognize you as someone who adds something useful in their games. I apologize for having this way of thinking, I only realized now how greedy (for attention and fame) I became after being able to learn making cc thinking these efforts should become recognized. I know I should rid myself of that mentality and as others have pointed out in some of my 'whiny' posts I must make things I want for my game and share them out of heart not because you're only expecting good feedback from people. And that might be the reason why I suddenly felt 'tired' from creating, because I've been stressing myself out from those said above.

But I will not completely disregard the good things some of you have said to me, reassuring that my efforts don't go wasted by telling me you love what I make and put them to use in your games (though I know I'm asking for too much if I was expecting them to be shown off on your game screenshots). I want to tell you that every like, reblog, and nice remarks that you were giving are very much appreciated. You have done so so much to me, although I admit I took them for granted. Apologies as well if I seemed ungrateful with how you show support on my works.

And also, because I also handle xto3conversionsfinds, I have a looooooot of backlog to catch up on so that will take a hell lot of time queuing conversion cc posts before making time for me to sim.

So see you around folks...even though I'll be just a lurker most of the time. I hope 2024 will be a better year for me, and everyone!

[hologramcowboy]

I try not to compare Gen and Danneel/the Ackles and the Padaleckis, but sometimes I just can’t help myself, and this past weekend was just too on the nose to not voice my thoughts. And I’m not saying these things to start a competition or shame Danneel. It’s just interesting how two women can have so much overlap/similarities and still be completely different. Execution is everything people!

Gen’s outfits from the con in Salt Lake this weekend were remarkably similar to Danneel’s outfits at Cross Roads Con back in March. Both women wore all black outfits with chunky black shoes. I’m guessing the thought process behind both their fashion choices was neutral outfits so they didn’t clash with anyone in the photo op but still stood out, and comfortable shoes for the long day. However, Gen looked great at her con and Danneel looked like a cheap clown throwing together outfits from the last of the clean clothes in her suitcase. Gen’s pieces were nicely tailored, nothing was attention grabbing and she hit that sweet spot between professional and casual. Danneel’s clothes at cross roads were poorly fitted, and she managed to look too costumey and too casual all at once (I’m still not over the fact that she showed up to an event fans spent big money on wearing track pants). Gen’s glam was very reminiscent of the clean girl trend, Danneel looked like she hadn’t showered in days and was just putting on another face of makeup every day for the last week over the old face. And again, I’m not trying to shame Danneel by saying these things. But pride in your appearance goes along way in a professional setting, and cons are a job. None of us would never show up to work looking sloppy.

And even the con behavior is so different. All of the stories from crossroads made it clear that all interacts with Danneel were very quick and impersonal. No cute stories, just fans trying to turn her not visibly cringing into being the best interaction they’ve ever had. There are so many tweets from RICC and FanX Salt Lake of fans talking with Gen about books and their shared hobbies. And Gen has reposted fans sharing their photo ops thanking them for their time on her stories after both cons.

The difference between their husband + wife panels was not unexpected, but it really just put into perspective just how bad Jenneel performed at CC. And their stans will try to say we can’t compare because there are no recordings, but we’ve seen enough clips, pictures and transcript tweets to know that it was awful. Jared and Gen are both really in tune with one another, and know how to work an audience. Their panel was playful and personable. Jensen and Danneel were so stiff and and distant, both with each other and the audience. They were constantly trying to one up the other and get all eyes on them, no interest in sharing the stage with their “partner”. They’ve lost all ability to pull over the happily married charade, and yet still insist on doing so. They had two angles to work off of that con, their personal and their professional lives, and they failed on both fronts.

It will be interesting to see if Danneel and Jensen try their hand at another husband and wife con, and if they learn anything from the Padaleckis.

Couldn't agree more. Gen has a warm energy and she knows how to style herself without falling into ridiculous. She styles herself gracefully. Wish I could say the same for Danneel.

The main difference between the two is that Gen genuinely loves her husband, Danneel has proven time and time again that Jensen is just her ticket to fame, for this reason I will never like her.

[outcasts-redeemer]

Alternate Ever After AU

So this AU is pretty rough so stay with me.

Everything is the same up until the Rusted Knight takes off his helmet only to show red hair and piercing green eyes. That's right its Pyrrha Nikos.

How you ask? She doesn't know. She just woke up here and is confused on everything except for the fact that she knew her friends were coming and that she needed to stay to help them.

RWBY makes some guesses and Ruby, seeing the second person she failed to save, now alive again. starts to visibly crack. Her team and Pyrrha see it happen but in the end they don't have time to talk because the Jabberclones are still out there.

Thus they begin walking to Pyrrha's village where she has lived for the past few years.

Over the course of the journey, holes in how Pyrrha acts start to take shape. How she's constantly perfect, how she says the right thing all the time, how good of a fighter she is despite RWBY having more real world combat experience than her. Weird things continue to build up when she looks at her reflection and sees Jaune looking back at her on the cloud bridge.

And when they come to the fork in the bridge they meet the cat again and Pyrrha instantly treats him like an enemy but states she has never met him. The CC on the other hand treats her like an old friend and says some cryptic stuff and uses they/them to talk about Pyrrha.

RWBY in the end decides to trust Pyrrha and continue on their journey.

Fast Forward to a few episodes as those stay the same, They finally reach Pyrrha's village where she presents Crecent Rose to Ruby. Ruby's confused on why she has it and Pyrrha admits that she doesn't know and that it was the one thing she had when she woke up in the Tree.

The events of the village happen the same as in canon and Ruby ends up still teaing herself due to Neo's actions and Neo ends up getting Catnapped.

Fast forward a few more episodes while WBY_P are fighting NeoCatt we see Ruby at the Blacksmith's workshop walking through the weapon vault and she sees Crocea Mors in its shattered form. The Blacksmith remarks that it was a good weapon and the owner of it knew what he wanted to be which made it one of the more easier molds to make.

Ruby goes wide eyed and asks what happened and the Blacksmith shows Ruby Crocea Mors's actual journey.

At the same time Pyrrha wearing her helmet gets hit by Weiss's attack and ends up getting tossed into the smoke of the tree and enters the hallucination dimension and she sees Alyx standing there holding Jaune's shield.

Back with Ruby, she watches horror struck as Jaune lands on the beach with Corcea Mors bloodied and broken, watches as he grabs the clock fruit, watches him as he waits years and ages until he finds Alyx and her brother, watches as he attempts to travel the fairy tail path only to get more and more unhinged until... She watches him die via poison, alone, reaching for Crescent Rose.

Back with Pyrrha we watch as Alyx steps forward and tells her what happened to her with the CC and tells her of her final wish being for Jaune to be given the chance she took from him before the two of them are engulfed by light

Ruby glances at Crocea Mors and grabs it before turning to the Blacksmith and starts to speak only for the Blacksmith to hold her hand and say that the debt for that blade is already paid for and the owner is waiting for it.

And then offers Ruby Crescent Rose with a smile.

Ruby takes it, looks into her reflection on the blade and nods.

Back at the Tree _WBY are fighting a losing battle and are struggling to fend of NeoCatt and her many clones until Ruby breaks free of her tree cocoon and attacks her from behind sending her flying only for her journey to be stopped by a shield bearing golden twin arcs sending her flying back into the middle of the two warriors.

Ruby and helmeted knight than go ape on NeoCatt beating the ever loving shit out of them but strangely the knight is only using Jaune's shield and his fists while Ruby is using a broken sword and Crescent Rose.

The fight ends with NeoCatt being killed by the newly freed Jabberwoky while _WBY watch on stern faced.

Ruby walks up to the knight and hands him Crocea Mors and smiles before reaching up and pulling off the helmet to show a bearded and tired looking Jaune with white streaks in his hair.

_WBY end up freaking out with Weiss grabbing Jaune's face and fretting about him because he's looking haggard and old and Mature.

Jaune than tells his story and they all look to Ruby as she doesn't really react and she shrugs and says that she already got the story from the Blacksmith and hugs herself before asking what really happened to Penny.

Jaune goes quiet and Weiss places her hand on his shoulder and nods to him which gives Jaune the strength to tell them what happened and how he was still amping her when he stabbed her which caused him to feel what she felt.

Ruby nods and then truly breaks down which causes Jaune to break down which ends with them all hugging and kneeling.

After that Little shows up ready for battle and Jaune gifts him Juniper and says thank you to her before watching the two walk off to fight the Jabberwoker.

RWBY and Older Jaune then step through the portal back to Remnant.

[roundbellyramblings]

Britt's Maxed Out Tits

Another story using Maxi Corp, created by @expansion-growth-fanatic

Brittney Boulders used to be a record-holding porn star: Largest breasts. Technically, the largest implants, as each boob was 20000 cc. But since nobody came close to her cup size, she proudly took the title of biggest in general. In her most popular video, she gave two men a tit job at the same time and their cocks never touched. With that much saline, she stood out and was famous even if people found her boobs tacky or trashy.

Brittney retired from her career and settled down. She never reduced her breasts, she was proud to hold the record and she liked the attention she got from them. She married a former co-star and they had a baby. As time passed, things changed. The baby girl grew up into a beautiful college student. Brittney began to stand out less from the introduction of Maxi Corp. Her shirts and bras were no longer unique to her alone. It never bothered Brittney, she was happy with the money she spent to make herself the way she was.

Brittney was sad when she lost her title. A girl in California had grown to 50 feet tall. She wasn’t the bustiest around but when everything scaled with her height, her breasts took up the most volume. The record was changed to mean largest breasts compared to body size. But even that didn’t last for Brittney. She went from “Largest breasts” to “Largest augmented breasts (Non-Maxi Corp)”. It was a mouthful and didn’t sound sexy, so she stopped using it to brag about her implant stuffed boobs. But it didn’t stop her from showing them off.

Brittney never returned to the role she once had, but taking saucy pictures was a habit she would never kick. Her revival online was smaller in scale than some hoped, but still welcomed by all. She was happy to share her beauty with paying customers, especially now because she could brand herself as a milf. Tits her size weren’t hard to come by, a bottle of Titty+ would get the job done. But she knew what men (and some women) wanted. Her tits were fake, but her talent was all natural.

Brittney sat on her bed, dressed in only a shirt and underwear. She pulled the bottom of her shirt to show off even more cleavage. Puckering her lips, she winked into the camera when her phone suddenly began to ring. Seeing her daughter on the caller ID, Brittney quickly sat up and answered.

“It’s rare for you to call so suddenly. Are you alright?” Brittney asked, frantically.

“I’m better than alright! My second puberty is kicking in! I’m so happy with how I'm growing!” Emma squealed over the phone.

“That's wonderful Em! So what is it? Are you getting some big boobies like your mommy?” Brittney asked in a teasing tone.

Emma paused, before stuttering out an answer, “I, um, I don’t…”

“Oh, I’ll call Christophe! He hasn’t made me a bra in quite some time but I'm sure I can get him to make something for you sweetie!”

“You don’t have to do that mom.”

Brittney’s eyes lit up as she remembered something. Her lips curled into a devilish grin as she spoke.

“I'm sure your boyfriend is pleased with your changes. Is he treating you well? I want to meet him, he sounds so sweet from the way you gush over him.”

“Oh my gosh, Mom! You can't just…” Emma was flustered. Her parents were so casual about the topic of sex and constantly made sexual remarks. “I don't know if he’ll be able to come over break.”

“Are you embarrassed about bringing your boyfriend home to two ex-porn stars? He won’t mind my boobs, women all over have similar sizes.”

“No, it's because of your boobs specifically,” Emma said bluntly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brittney asked, offended.

“Your implants. They're so old. Boobs should have some jiggle. Yours are weird, with how hard they are.” Emma spoke frankly. “I have to go, class is starting.”

“Oh, Ok. Bye Em, I love you.” Brittney said quietly.

She brought the phone away from her ear, only to find that Emma already ended the call. Dropping her phone into her canyon of cleavage, Brittney looked at herself in the mirror. Her shirt was stretched thin. Her two massive tanks of saline blocked her view of her stomach. She gave a few poses, cupping her breasts and giving herself a wink.

“Old? As if.” Brittney scoffed.

She was undeniably a bimbo turned milf. Her hand lingered on her boobs. She tried to give them a pinch only to find that her skin was stretched thin over the implants, as she couldn’t grab any. She then squeezed her boobs together. There was a slight compression, but Emma was right. Her boobs were rock hard and didn’t even jiggle when she let go.

“Ricky? Could you come here for a moment?” Brittney yelled out.

Footsteps made their way to the bedroom, where Richard opened the door. He found his wife posing in front of the mirror and found himself aroused. He never would have imagined he would have a fetish for back muscles, but seeing his wife’s back flex to hold the 40 pounds of implants she had, it made him hard every time. Her ass and hips were no joke either, but there was no competing with the modified and enhanced boobs.

Walking up to his wife, Richard hugged her from behind. He groped her boobs, causing her to smile. After a quick kiss, he raised an eyebrow as to why he was summoned.

“Do you like my implants?” Brittney asked innocently.

Richard's mind and body froze. There was never a moment that Brittney second guessed her implants. She told him that she would do anything to make her boobs the biggest. Likewise, there was nothing in the world that would make her downsize.

“I’m thinking of getting rid of them,” Brittney said while still rubbing them.

Richard wasn’t sure what was going on so he spoke objectively, “Your skin is stretched thin. If you take those out, you’ll have really saggy and flat boobs. I don’t think either of us want that.”

“Getting rid of isn’t the right term, then. I’m thinking of replacing them. They seem, I don't know, outdated?”

“Replace them with what?” Richard asked, intrigued and aroused.

ONE MONTH LATER

Richard went to open the door. Waiting on her porch was a young couple. They didn’t seem like salespeople, but they both looked like they worked at a gym. The woman’s face was turned, speaking to the man. She had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Richard wasn’t sure if she was dressed in workout gear or if that’s what women’s fashion was nowadays. But what he was sure of is that her pants emphasized her thick thighs and fat ass. Her crop top showed off her chiseled abs. The man had a familiar face but Richard couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Can I help you?” Richard asked politely.

“Dad, it's me,” the woman said, almost offended.

Richard’s eyes widened in shock. The last time he saw Emma was when they helped her move into her dorm. She was a skinny brunette that loved baggy sweaters. Emma was never fond of gym class, so seeing her as a bottom heavy gym bunny caught him off guard.

“Oh, Emma! I couldn’t recognize you with, um,” Richard needed to find an excuse quickly, “With your hair like that! You grew it out and dyed it. When did you go blonde?”

Emma was not impressed. She put her hands on her plump hips and pouted. Richard noted that the boyfriend’s eyes were glued to her jiggling ass as she shifted her weight.

“Mom never told you about my second puberty, did she?”

“No, she did not.” Richard said as he hung his head in defeat. “I’m guessing she forgot to tell me that you and Jack were coming as well?”

“It’s Jake,” the man spoke up.

Richard winced at his second mistake. He opened the door fully and simply let them in, not wanting to embarrass himself more.

“No, this is a surprise for Mom too. Where is she, anyway?” Emma said as she sauntered inside. Richard couldn’t help but notice that Emma changed how she walked to put more sway into her hips. Jake was obviously enjoying it.

“Upstairs. She’s either still in the shower or getting dressed. Go up and say hi.”

Emma went up the stairs, her yoga pants barely being able to contain her expanded curves. Her fat ass almost clapped with every step. Jake began to follow after her, or rather her jiggling booty, but Richard held him back.

“I know what it's like, women are sexy, but I have two rules.” Richard said sternly, holding up a finger. First rule is no tears. If you make my little girl cry, I’m kicking your ass. You understand?”

“Yes sir”

Richard held up another finger and continued, “Second rule is no babies. If you make her a mom before she graduates, I’m ripping your dick off. If you try to be a wise guy and make her waddle across the stage when she gets her diploma-”

“I understand.” Jake said, as he tried to put some distance between the two of them.

“WHAT. THE. FUCK!” Emma screamed from upstairs.

Quickly pulling in the boyfriend, Richard spoke in a faster and hushed tone, “Now that I have the intimidating dad stuff out of the way, let me tell you something. Emma is a lot like her mom. That’s a problem for us because they are both terrible at communicating. They mean well, but you need to learn how to figure out what they’re thinking and just agree with them. Arguing is not worth it with these ladies.”

Looking up, the men saw Emma fly down the stairs with a red face. A short sprint, even with the caboose she had, should not make her exhausted. Emma was clearly flustered and blushing.

“Dad! What did you let Mom do to herself?” Emma accused.

“Technically, she didn’t do anything. The staff at the store did the math and injections.”

After that phone call a month ago, Brittney decided to give into Maxi Corp. If they could make everybody have boobs as big as hers, imagine what they could do with her boobs. Brittney had a consultation and even paid commission for somebody to do the math for her. Her breasts were stretched tight from the implants, so her one rule was that her breasts could not sag. It took a week, but Maxi Corp was able to calculate the exact doses needed for Brittney to have her new dream tits.

The two college students looked up in awe while Richard looked on with smug approval. Brittney’s breasts now dwarfed her entire body. In fact, the trio could only see her head and shoulders. Brittney’s boobs were perfectly round and almost touched the floor. Her dress showed “little” cleavage, as her boobs were mostly covered. But there was still a yard of her breasts that could visibly be seen squeezed together. She held onto the rail and slowly descended the steps. Her breasts jiggled and shook the entire way down as she had to kick and feel for the next step.

As Brittney reached the bottom, Emma and Jake could take in all the changes. Brittany had taken out her implants and filled herself up on TittyMax until her skin was equally as tight. The change meant her tits were larger, heavier, and much softer. They were so big that Brittney had to take several doses of MaxiGrow and Muscle Max just to have the space and strength to carry them around. Brittney struggled to touch her nipples with her implants. Now, she couldn’t even see them.

“Jakey! Come give mommy a hug!” Brittney said with an eager smile.

Jake was frozen in place, a hormonal college student could only handle so much boob. Brittney simply engulfed Jake into her cleavage, resting her arms around his head.

“Mom!” Emma yelled, now red with anger.

She stomped her foot, making her booty and thighs jiggle. Richard hid his smile as for the first time, Jake’s eyes weren’t glued to his daughter’s posterior. Brittney fixed her hair and then turned to face her daughter.

“What’s the matter Em? I thought you said boobs should have some jiggle.” Brittney said as she swayed side to side, the only way she could jiggle her breasts while staying in place.

As her mother walked towards her, Emma had to look up. Brittney now stood seven feet tall, but nobody ever noticed from far away. Emma gulped, she could never recall a time her mother seemed mad or upset.

“Like mother, like daughter. You get horny when you're upset. How else would I come up with the idea to get tits like these?” Brittney spoke bluntly. “Go take your boy toy upstairs, I am not walking up those again. There's some Maxi samplers on the nightstand.”

Emma was mad that her mother was right. She needed Jake to fuck this frustration out of her. With a grunt, she turned and stormed off, grabbing her boyfriend's hand and leading him to the stairs. The couple ran up the stairs, Emma’s cheeks clapped together as Jake eagerly pinched and groped them.

“Meeting my parents isn’t going to be anywhere as fun as this,” Jake retorted as pull Emma’s pants down to give it a good smack.

“Shut up and fuck me.” Emma said as she swallowed various pills from the bottles on the nightstand.

Downstairs, Brittney and Richard gave each other a suggestive look. The couple didn’t have to lean over the counter or move to the couch, Brittney’s tits were a makeshift water bed. Opening her dress and standing inside her cleavage, Richard began to make out with his wife. Brittney’s boobs began to ripple as the tit job enveloped Richard’s whole body.

[ladyhindsight]

I have a real problem about how CC is biased about some characters! She treats Stephen as the garbage of the Herondale, but acts as if Celine were a poor victim when she was the vilan of the fucking situation! The woman was obsessed with the guy since she first saw him, spent years learning about mundane culture just to have a subject to talk with him and got into the circle with the sole purpose of seducing Stephen and spliting him from Amatis. She would put Amatis down and as someone out of Stephen's legue because she considered she wasn't pretty enough for him while she considered herself of his level. She accepted two innocent people to die only so she could get herself on Valentine's good side and felt no guilty over it. Some people say she didn't do anything wrong since they were her parents and they put her through violence, but a person's intentions say a lot about her. She only found out they were her parents in the day of the trial, she didn't spend a thought on them even after Valentine said they would die. And the same goes with Amatis. Celine made sure Stephen wouldn't get hurt in the process of him being given to her because she realised how dangerous Valentine really was, but she didn't care what would happen to Amatis as long as she got him. Stephen was a coward as CC has remarked before, but had Stephen been the better man, he would be a widower man. Lets face it, had Stephen refused leaving Amatis, Valentine would have sent Hodge to kill her and Celine didn't care what happend to others as long as she got Stephen! Plus, I searched about her flower, wisteria, and found out that when associated with love, this flower means obsession. In the end, Celine is the one that showed complete lack of any morals and is excused because of age (even though she knew it was wrong to go after a married man), because her parents were awful and, mainly, because she was Jace's mother. Celine was awful, destroyed Amatis' life and yet readers don't care, they desliked Amatis mainly because she wasn't Jace's mother. And yet Stephen is always judged by CC and readers when he was a victim of Valentine and Celine, specially Celine. In the book of flowers, Celine's flower is associated with regret, but she didn't regret her actions as she never tried to fix her mistakes, she only regreted the consequences she had to face. And yet CC always talks about Celine with fondness while she reffers to Stphen as not a very good person and no empathy towards Amatis even though she had a hard childhood as well, being abandoned by her parents, having to finish raising herself and Lucian all by herself, losing everything (Lucian "died", Stephen left her and she became a paria from her circle's friends), lived a life of solitude with no family and friends, and yet CC and readers showed no empathy towards her. I just wanted CC and readers to be fair, as they weren't withSteohen and, specially, with Amatis.

I’ve always had a certain type of feeling about Stephen’s treatment as a character and a Herondale. Though Tessa bashes him, though Jace feels strong antipathy towards him, though the narrative—on the surface and somewhat generally—condemns Stephen and his part in the Circle (the Circle altogether), there are some bits that feel like edging on that Herondale favoritism but never going over the line just to be safe. Narrative gave leniency if not complete absolution for Jocelyn and Luke for their relation to Valentine, being his wife and parabatai respectively, as if those facts themselves frees them of culpability and responsibility. The writing never goes too deep into Jocelyn’s choices and psyche, instead Hodge is used as a vehicle to explain her and her marriage to already supremacist and racist Valentine (since he became more extreme in the later years, he already held tight onto some ideologies before that) and to free her from the same kind of judgement Robert and Maryse face.

Though Stephen was originally grouped with Maryse and Robert, the more Jace began to learn about him, more of the “extenuating circumstances” surrounding Stephen’s actions and choices were brought forward. His doubts, his receptivity to Valentine’s manipulation, his willingness to please him, whatnot. Maryse and Robert had to wait for their characters and part in the Circle to be unwrapped far longer and after a lot of bullshit bashing done by characters like Luke. Stephen never received such treatment from the writing. I am not saying the characters in the Circle should not be complicated or that the reasons behind their actions and belief systems aren’t conflicted or complicated (recommendable that they are lol), I’m merely trying to point out the lack of proportionality in the narration and writing when it comes to the different members of the Circle (that I think exists).

That being said, I think Céline’s character opens up more in the The Wicked Ones, and it’s not necessarily the pretty picture some readers like to associate with anything to do with Jace. I don’t know, is it hard to accept that neither his parents were particularly good people? Had they lived, would they have become better like Robert and Maryse had the chance to? I don’t know if Céline being murdered in the end is what brings up the empathy towards her when she is written otherwise doing pretty vile stuff and having less empathy towards others herself.

Her wikipage says that “Cassandra Clare has stated on Tumblr that Céline did not commit suicide and was actually murdered by Valentine Morgenstern, with the implication that it had actually been Hodge Starkweather himself who did the killing, and that the reason it is not mentioned in the books is because the characters, aside from the two involved, believed that Céline killed herself.” Which makes sense but is also such a cop-out because why did they kill her in the first place? In the narrative sense, her suicide made more sense because if she were to kill herself, the baby would’ve died with her, forcing Valentine’s hand (and Hodge) to cut the baby out of her dying body. Now there is no actual motive behind such a gruesome deed or why Valentine wanted Céline dead. Her previous actions—engineering to get Stephen all to herself and such—don’t build up to her murder being the consequence of her actions (comparably in Game of Thrones/ASoIaF you can see the trajectory of events and choices that lead to Rob’s death). Céline’s alleged suicide was associated with Stephen’s death, so it’s not exactly like there was a hurry to kill her a month before the delivery of the baby because of the Uprising.

I haven’t really read anything Clare has said about Céline, but going by your word and how generally Herondales in the series are, Clare’s fondness of Céline is most likely something to do with her being very young and impressionable and having suffered horrible abuse which underlines her later behavior. If we consider Jace for example, abuse victims acting out and being assholes and inconsiderate of feelings and needs of others it not exactly something Clare frowns upon. Amatis was definitely thought less of. I mean Clare was fine with Clary breaking Amatis’ property and dinner ware in her teenage rage fit and stealing Amatis’ gear without her doing anything about it. Seriously though, I don’t think the writing really ever considered Amatis’ story with the same consideration as you have highlighted here.

[usafphantom2]

China’s J-20 Isn’t A “Dominating Aircraft,” USAF General Says

Oliver ParkenPUBLISHED Sep 13, 2023 7:00 PM EDT

Chinese J-20 aircraft on the runway

PLAAF

General Kenneth S. Wilsbach, the head of Pacific Air Forces, has offered new comments regarding China’s growing fleet of J-20 stealth fighters. Compared to the capabilities of the U.S., and those of its allies and partners, the general says that the J-20 does not constitute a "dominating aircraft at this point" — a statement which is broadly in line with insights he made on the type last year.

Wilsbach’s remarks were given at the 2023 iteration of the Air & Space Forces Association's annual symposium ongoing just outside of Washington, D.C., which The War Zone is attending. The only operational stealth fighter within the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the J-20 first flew in 2011. Precisely how many of the type have been produced since that time remains unclear, although best available estimates suggest somewhere in the region of 160-200 airframes.

Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones and Gen. Ken Wilsbach, Pacific Air Forces commander, participate in a panel called “Preparing for Global Competition” during the 2022 Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, September 19, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Nick Wilson

"I don’t think that it’s a dominating aircraft at this point, compared to what we have [in terms of stealthy F-22 Raptors and F-35 Lightnings]," Wilsbach highlighted. "They’ve done some good copying… pretty much most of the technology from that airplane [the J-20] was stolen from the U.S."

Chinese J-20s on the runway. PLAAF

Wilsbach was unequivocal in his conviction that the capabilities of U.S. aircraft, combined with those of allies and partners, could counter any potential threat from J-20s. This multi-national coalition of partners, which regularly trains with high-threat scenarios in mind, would prove extremely difficult for any Chinese aircraft to counter, according to the general.

"What I will tell you is if you compare just aircraft to aircraft, you take the training that our people [U.S. Air Force] get. Interoperability with [U.S.] allies and partners… the Chinese [are] probably still at a pretty big disadvantage because of the way we train, especially with [our] Korean allies and partners."

"[For the Chinese] a fight that would be China versus us [the U.S.]... that makes their math pretty easy, but if you make it China versus the U.S. plus the other countries… their math gets pretty hard to do… When I think about some of the recent exercises that we've done together with our allies and partners like Talisman Sabre, and Northern Edge, [and] Valiant Shield earlier, you know, there's some extremely high-end exercises that are happening. In the past, when we've done some of those large coalition-type exercises… the level of complexity is reduced, so that everybody can participate. We're not doing that. We're making it a high-end, if you want to play you show up and you execute."

"And so I've used the example of last year, in [exercise] Pitch Black… we had almost 20 nations participating in a night[time], high-end surface-to-air missile take-down … It was super complex, and everybody that was playing, which may surprise some of you some of the nations that were playing in the exercise, but it was really well done and well executed. And we're seeing that exercise after exercise."

Two Chengdu J-20s at Airshow China 2016. Alert5 via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-4.0

Wilsbach was also pressed on the potential threat J-20s could pose for Taiwanese forces at the symposium, and how Taiwan would defend itself, if China were to conduct a military intervention across the Taiwan Strait. U.S. military officials have suggested that the PLA may be in a position to successfully execute a cross-strait intervention by 2027, if not sooner. For Wilsbach, the Chinese threat against Taiwan shouldn’t be pigeonholed to the J-20:

"They [Taiwan] have to have systems to be able to [prevent] the J-20… By the way, the J-20 is limited in my view to Taiwan. What is a major threat is the other aircraft that can come in and drop, draw their weapons on Taiwan, you know like their H-6 bombers, and then not to mention all the ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. So, you know, if I was Taiwan, I wouldn't be overly concerned with the J-20 at this point… they need to be concerned about it, but there's a lot of other things that they also need to defend themselves against to be that tough target we spoke about earlier." That is quite the statement as Taiwan’s most advanced fighter is the F-16V, with additional new-build Vipers on the way. Other upgrades are in play for the other fighters in its inventory. The island’s ever-evolving ground and sea-based integrated air defenses are also a factor here.

As Wilsbach himself indicated, his most recent assessment of the J-20 is broadly in line with the comments he made at the 2022 iteration of the Air & Space Forces Association's annual symposium. At that event, the general noted how J-20s "weren’t anything to lose a lot of sleep over," but that, "Certainly, we're watching them [China] closely and seeing how they… operate them." This viewpoint was supported by Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Q. Brown, who was also speaking at the 2022 symposium: "Well, I'm like General Wilsbach… [The J-20 is] not something to lose a lot of sleep over, but I'm gonna pay attention to it."

Two J-20s break formation, November 2018. emperornie via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-2.0

It should also be noted that Wilsbach has cited concerns with other Chinese aircraft in discussions on the J-20 in the past, too, including long-range command and control capabilities such as the KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft. As we’ve noted previously, KJ-500s are regularly used to support combat aircraft flying sorties around Taiwan. In general, China has rapidly expanded its airborne early warning and control aircraft fleet while the U.S. has decreased its own, although the addition of the E-7 is now on the horizon.

If senior U.S. Air Force officials remain only moderately concerned by the rise of China’s J-20s, this likely has much to do with the capabilities that service will leverage in the not-too-distant future. Currently, the Air Force is developing various air combat capabilities under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) framework. This includes work on a sixth-generation crewed combat aircraft, various tiers of uncrewed platforms, as well as new sensors, weapons, and battle management systems. Lockheed Martin and Boeing are currently competing for the crewed combat aircraft contract, with Northrop Grumman having recently removed itself from the running. The Air Force hopes to pick a winner in 2024. Older 4th generation fighters are being reduced in numbers, but are also receiving critical upgrades and new ones with unique capabilities — the F-15EX — are being added to the fleet, as well. Meanwhile, the F-22 and F-35 fleets are the ‘tip of the spear’ of the USAF’s tactical aviation roster.

Lockheed's crewed component of NGAD. Lockheed Martin

With that said, the recent comments from Wilsbach clearly reinstate confidence that the U.S., alongside its partners and allies, retain the technological advantage over China’s current fighter aircraft designs.

Contact the author: oliver@thewarzone.com

[penig]

So, in the category of Silly and Impossible Sim Challenges, I wonder what mods, cheats, and mechanics you'd have to use to make Murderbot in Sims 2?

Murderbot is a construct of a type called a SecUnit made of cloned human tissue, extremely complex hardware, and software that integrates with both and makes the hardware look simple. Its primary function is to protect, so it has energy weapons in its arms, superstrength, superspeed, a certain amount of self-healing, and can handle multiple sensory and data inputs, utilizing scout drones and a kind of universal internet/virtual reality environment called "the feed." It can, quite literally, fight a running battle with multiple opponents, hack multiple systems, track what's going on in other locations that it has camera access to, communicate and make coherent plans with other intelligent entities over the feed or through direct verbal communication, and worry about what's going on in places outside of its sensory reach, all at the same time. A lot of its time, however, has been spent monitoring a peaceful environment for threats and hacking systems while consuming media.

It can pass as a human augmented with cyborg technology, and has altered its height and its hair production to make this easier. It also runs subroutines to mimic random human movement when it wants to pass. When it doesn't want to pass, it becomes noticeably uncanny valley.

Corporations abuse their SecUnits functions quite a bit, and install governor modules in their constructs that punish them by directly acting on neural tissue, in case they protect the "wrong thing" (like, workers instead of equipment) but after a certain horrific incident, Murderbot hacked its governor module so that it could do whatever it wanted to. It then kept doing its job, lying low and watching media, because it didn't know what else it wanted to do; only what it didn't want to do. This backstory has left Murderbot full of rage and anxiety. It is touch averse and doesn't like being looked at directly or making eye contact with people. Sometimes it has an Emotion and it wants privacy for that.

It is AAA - agender, asexual, and aromantic. It literally has no sex organs, and being used to spy on clients 24/7 has left it not only indifferent to but deeply repulsed by sex - it fast-forwards through sex scenes in media. It doesn't even like the word "relationship," yet its favorite show is a long-running soap opera, and it tracks the personal relationships of its clients closely (ostensibly for security reasons; if a married couple who treat each other and it well retreat to a room it can't monitor they're more likely to be having sex than plotting against it, while two people who hate each other may break out into violence and require intervention to prevent them from damaging each other and/or company property).

It derives operating energy from a rechargeable battery pack of remarkable productivity and longevity. It could mimic eating or drinking, but what it consumed would just sit in a lung till it could be expelled and that's gross. Most human bodily functions repel it more or less, though it isn't disgusted by seeing people eat. It doesn't sleep but occasionally goes offline during recharge cycles, mostly to avoid conversations it doesn't want to have.

The obvious thing is to make it a servo, which should deal with some of the motive-based things; but the first thing you'd need would be a servo default that looked like a humaniform sim, onto which you could add layerable CC accessories. Its bare feet are a particular problem as they are never explicitly described, but the text makes it clear that they're not remotely like human feet. However, as I understand it (I have never played a servo), servos are on the same gender binary as humaniform sims, so we'd need a lot of androgynous CC, too. Its preferred clothing styles are hoodies and loose pants with lots of pockets (for carrying drones and tools and evidence and stuff; it also has secret compartments in its torso, which we fortunately don't have to worry about because of the inventory mechanic), and it wears boots with most outfits. Oh, yeah, and it can detach extremities and still operate them like drones, which I don't think we can simulate but so far in the series it's only done this once. Another difficulty with servos is that Murderbot's core identity is SecUnit and it resents being asked to do mundane chores outside of its function, while Servos were designed and coded with the notion of a housekeeping bot in mind.

Using an editing tool to set its gender preference at -100/-100 should be sufficient for the asexual/aromantic part. Zero social points is obvious; but nice points are a problem. Murderbot is capable of extreme violence even when its rage isn't activated (its rage is usually activated) but it's never unprovoked violence. It would never walk up to a stranger and flick their nose or otherwise pick a fight. It would recoil from flirts or solicitations to dance or play, but if you did get it to play catch with you, it wouldn't throw the ball at your head - it'd be more likely to aim precisely at your hand so that it's almost impossible for you not to catch it. In a lot of ways it's high nice, but the nice gestures are entirely inappropriate to it.

Active and playful points are another puzzle. Murderbot can stand still for hours, perfectly happy, watching hour after hour of media and scanning for threats, but it can also sustain heavy mental and physical activity for similar stretches of time. It takes life very seriously but has a snarky sense of humor and an endless capacity for media consumption.

Honestly all the personality points are like that. It's scrupulously tidy but isn't down for cleaning up after anybody - that's one of the things drones and cleaning bots are for. It's cripplingly shy but you only have to look vulnerable and it will adopt you as a client and protect you with its life and then some, even if you're not very nice to it. (We only see it happen once, but it has no reason to lie when it says that multiple clients have shot it.)

Aspiration is hard. It likes winning fights and Popularity is the least sexy aspiration, but the idea of it actively wanting to make friends with people or throw parties is absurd. Fortune sims are very sexy and though Murderbot likes getting paid so it can get its own gear and doesn't have to pirate shows it's not much into money otherwise. Pleasure and Romance are right out. Family would be...technically doable but so, so weird in so, so many ways. And Knowledge...well, it's very smart indeed, and highly knowledgeable in its areas of interest, but it's also prone to using words it knows are wrong but can't be bothered to correct, and it complains about the low quality of learning modules provided by the company it was owned by until the end of the first book, but never provides itself with better ones.

It would have to have max body points and stuck smart milk syndrome, but otherwise start play pretty ignorant.

Probably you couldn't really do it satisfactorily at all, but I'm willing to hear suggestions from simmers who have read The Murderbot Diaries, or have played nonhuman sims before and know where the CC is.

[twinklecotton]

Flushymsie/kumatrait/Julie=Mirtylebuns/lilah

I'm worried that when you come back, you won't have any change or repentance. My worries came true, you didn't copy my sims but you still copied my style. Don't tell me that the style doesn't belong to anyone and everyone can use it. This sentence is not for you, a person who completely copies others without any shame. Are you happy when people looks at your work and thinks of me?

You hysterically described me as an egotist who doesn’t allow anyone to use the same CC or style as me, and called me Queen Lumi. Have you forgotten this? What I clearly said was that you copied my sim, In this community, have you seen whose sims have exactly the same looks, makeup, or even hairstyles and accessories? Don’t be too ridiculous. The changes in your style that you showed to prove you didn’t copy only prove that you changed from you to me, and finally copied me completely.

Stop pretending that you are such a loving and positive person. I retain all your hateful remarks against me. Including your remarks that you were crying and shaking with depression. That was the reason why I chose to give you a second chance at that time. Until I was told that you were still claiming you suffered these months of cyberbullying.

At that time I stopped any friends who wanted to speak for me because I was afraid that would be another reason for you to complain about being bullied. When I only blocked you, you should just shut up. I was plagiarized by you and I still had to be taught and mocked by you? Said I need psychotherapy? Said I committed crime? Said I’m obsessed with you?

It's me who wants to beg you not to be so obsessed with my style, sims. I feel creepy out and disgusted.

Now you want a fresh start? Do you want to look back and see what you’ve done to me? Changed name but you don't feel guilty? Please be honest about what kind of person you are. Now it's your turn, feel the full hatred I felt from you at that time.

Do you remember you said that I avoiding a fight with you? I didn't even fight with you and you said I bullied you? what do you want? Now I'm here, as you wish, when you want to forget everything and pretend that nothing is wrong.