#disengage from that which bugs you

[ineffablebookgirl]

When people say, "This fandom [insert some crappy behavior they don't like]" I think they really mean "Three people I refuse to unfollow who have crappy takes that feed my dopamine-outrage loop."

[jovial-thunder]

Pre-alpha Lancer Tactics changelog

(cross-posting the full gif changelog here because folks seemed to like it last time I did)

We're aiming for getting the first public alpha for backers by the end of this month! Carpenter and I scoped out mechanics that can wait until after the alpha (e.g. grappling, hiding) in favor of tying up the hundred loose threads that are needed for something that approaches a playable game. So this is mostly a big ol changelog of an update from doing that.

But I also gave a talent talk at a local Portland Indie Game Squad event about engine architecture! It'll sound familiar if you've been reading these updates; I laid out the basic idea for this talk almost a year ago, back in the June 2023 update.

We've also signed contracts & had a kickoff meeting with our writers to start on the campaigns. While I've enjoyed like a year of engine-work, it'll be so so nice to start getting to tell stories. Data structures don't mean anything beyond how they affect humans & other life.

New Content

Implemented flying as a status; unit counts as +3 spaces above the current ground level and ignores terrain and elevation extra movement costs. Added hover + takeoff/land animations.

Gave deployables the ability to have 3D meshes instead of 2D sprites; we'll probably use this mostly when the deployable in question is climbable.

Related, I fixed a bug where after terrain destruction, all units recheck the ground height under them so they'll move down if the ground is shot out from under them. When the Jerichos do that, they say "oh heck, the ground is taller! I better move up to stand on it!" — not realizing that the taller ground they're seeing came from themselves.

Fixed by locking some units' rendering to the ground level; this means no stacking climbable things, which is a call I'm comfortable making. We ain't making minecraft here (I whisper to myself, gazing at the bottom of my tea mug). 

Block sizes are currently 1x1x0.5 — half as tall as they are wide. Since that was a size I pulled out of nowhere for convenience, we did some art tests for different block heights and camera angles. TLDR that size works great and we're leaving it.

Added Cone AOE pattern, courtesy of an algorithm NMcCoy sent me that guarantees the correct number of tiles are picked at the correct distance from the origin.

pick your aim angle

for each distance step N of your cone, make a list ("ring") of all the cells at that distance from your origin

sort those cells by angular distance from your aim angle, and include the N closest cells in that ring in the cone's area

Here's a gif they made of it in Bitsy:

Units face where you're planning on moving/targeting them.

Got Walking Armory's Shock option working. Added subtle (too subtle, now that I look at it) electricity effect.

Other things we've added but I don't have gifs for or failed to upload. You'll have to trust me. :)

disengage action

overcharge action

Improved Armament core bonus

basic mine explosion fx

explosion fx on character dying

Increase map elevation cap to 10. It's nice but definitely is risky with increasing the voxel space, gonna have to keep an eye on performance.

Added Structured + Stress event and the associated popups. Also added meltdown status (and hidden countdown), but there's not animation for this yet so your guy just abruptly disappears and leaves huge crater.

UI Improvements

Rearranged the portrait maker. Auto-expand the color picker so you don't have to keep clicking into a submenu.

Added topdown camera mode by pressing R for handling getting mechs out of tight spaces.

The action tooltips have been bothering me for a while; they extend up and cover prime play-area real estate in the center of the screen. So I redesigned them to be shorter and have a max height by putting long descriptions in a scrollable box. This sounds simple, but the redesign, pulling in all the correct data for the tags, and wiring up the tooltips took like seven hours. Game dev is hard, yo.

Put the unit inspect popups in lockable tooltips + added a bunch of tooltips to them.

Implemented the rest of Carpenter's cool hex-y action and end turn readout. I'm a big fan of whenever we can make the game look more like a game and less like a website (though he balances out my impulse for that for the sake of legibility).

Added a JANKY talent/frame picker. I swear we have designs for a better one, but sometimes you gotta just get it working. Also seen briefly here are basic level up/down and HASE buttons.

Other no-picture things:

Negated the map-scaling effect that happens when the window resizes to prevent bad pixel scaling of mechs at different resolutions; making the window bigger now just lets you see more play area instead of making things bigger.

WIP Objectives Bullets panel to give the current sitrep info

Wired up a buncha tooltips throughout the character sheet.

Under the Hood

Serialization: can save/load games! This is the payoff for sticking with that engine architecture I've been going on about. I had to add a serialization function to everything in the center layer which took a while, but it was fairly straightforward work with few curveballs.

Finished replacement of the kit/unit/reinforcement group/sitrep pickers with a new standardized system that can pull from stock data and user-saved data.

Updated to Godot 4.2.2; the game (and editor) has been crashing on exit for a LONG time and for the life of me I couldn't track down why, but this minor update in Godot completely fixed the bug. I still have no idea what was happening, but it's so cool to be working in an engine that's this active bugfixing-wise! 

Other Bugfixes

Pulled straight from the internal changelog, no edits for public parseability:

calculate cover for fliers correctly

no overwatch when outside of vertical threat

fixed skirmisher triggering for each attack in an AOE

fixed jumpjets boost-available detection

fixed mines not triggering when you step right on top of them // at a different elevation but still adjacent

weapon mods not a valid target for destruction

made camera pan less jumpy and adjust to the terrain height

better Buff name/desc localization

Fixed compcon planner letting you both boost and attack with one quick action.

Fix displayed movement points not updating

Prevent wrecks from going prone

fix berserkers not moving if they were exactly one tile away

hex mine uses deployer's save target instead of 0

restrict weapon mod selection if you don't have the SP to pay

fix deployable previews not going away

fix impaired not showing up in the unit inspector (its status code is 0 so there was a check that was like "looks like there's no status here")

fix skirmisher letting you move to a tile that should cost two movement if it's only one space away

fix hit percent calculation

fix rangefinder grid shader corner issues (this was like a full day to rewrite the shader to be better)

Teleporting costs the max(spaces traveled, elevation change) instead of always 1

So um, yeah, that's my talk, any questions? (I had a professor once tell us to never end a talk like this, so now of course it's the phrase that first comes to mind whenever I end a talk)

[karniss-bg3]

I figured you’d be the right person to ask this question, why is Kar’niss’ skin super pale when he was originally a drow? 🖤

I had the same question myself and I did some digging a bit ago. All of the official drider concept art I've seen has depicted driders with dark skin, so it stands to reason that the transformation alone wouldn't be enough to alter his appearance. This leaves one interesting theory at play; Kar'niss was a Szarkai.

Szarkai, which translates to "ghost spiders", are albino drow. This is a very rare mutation that affects only 0.1% of the drow population. Their skin tones are so light in fact that they are able to pass as surface elves with little trouble. Some would think that this would make them outcasts but in fact Szarkai were viewed as a blessing of Lolth, hence their namesake.

There are some interesting crossover traits between Kar'niss and Szarkai that lean me more toward this theory, such as: -Szarkai look almost identical to drow outside of the skin tone. However, they have also been known to have minor deformities. The most notable is "gnarled and claw-like hands" which we know Kar'niss to possess. Originally I thought this was due to the transformation, but now I think he may have had it prior to the change.

-They are very adverse toward combat, preferring to let others do the dirty work so to speak. When the player engages Kar'niss in a fight one of the first things he does after his multi-attack is cast sanctuary on himself, protecting himself from harm and forcing his companions to take the hits. I also saw a video where someone cast banish on Kar'niss and when he returned he disengaged, healed himself, and ran from the fight. Now this was likely a bug, but it'd be on brand for Szarkai's desire to escape a fight rather than engage in it.

-They were mostly used as spies and gathering information since they could easily blend into surface societies. While there isn't much evidence that Kar'niss has much training in this field, what stuck out to me was the professions Szarkai favored. One of them is bard, and we have at least some notion that Kar'niss is linked to one musical instrument by way of the spider's lyre. I recall someone commenting asking if the lyre may have belonged to Kar'niss at one point and while I can't say with certainty, if it was and Minthara was merely holding on to it then it'd lend credence to him being a bard formerly. That and he's super pissed if you play it poorly!

-I haven't done a playthrough with Minthara in my party so I am not familiar with all of her dialogue lines. However, she does know Kar'niss in some capacity and the lyre is used to call him. Her last name is Baenre which is one of the most notable drow houses in all of Menzoberranzan, famous for Jarlaxle the leader of Bregan D'aerthe. I say this because Szarkai seemed to be far more common in noble houses, which Baenre would be. This could, even if loosely, establish a link between them.

IF this is true, that puts a very intense spin on Kar'niss' potential history. Szarkai were protected, considered valuable, and their existence kept secret. They were removed from drow life, and even kept in far safer conditions than others. This didn't mean they were shielded from the cruelty drow are known for but it was a different kind of cruelty. Often trained from a very young age to be spies and saboteurs, and subsequently being shipped to human cities to do as ordered. It makes me wonder what Kar'niss could've done to incur Lolth's wrath to the extent she warped him into a drider. Betrayal? Failure? Weakness? Or perhaps Lolth just really wanted an alabaster pet, it's hard to say.

Thanks for the ask!

[airrec]

Let's talk about the relationship between "personal level redemption (i.e. one character starts making changes for the better)" and "the corrupt institution/context in which the characters are developed to hurt each other".

Now, one or two characters reaching the point where they say "that's it, no more, I don't want this, this is not right, I am choosing not to continue on this path" is great, don't get me wrong. Redemption (AKA the path towards trying to do better, to make reparations, to not repeat the mistakes of before - forgiveness is not an obligation here, only that the character has recognised their hurtful actions and has ceased them and is now trying to do better) on a personal level is so important, and should not be diminished in value.

However, it is also simply and factually true that when it comes to the context in which certain characters have made those terrible choices or been forced to become something they otherwise might never have become, that in order for there to be actual long term solutions, those corrupt systems, those violent institutions - those must be dismantled. These things must stop in order for the system to not just keep on chugging, to not just break the next set of characters as it broke the last ones.

Sometimes, a character cannot realistically meaningfully travel very far down their path to redemption before something changes or shifts within that system in order to allow them that. For example, a character who is constantly on the defensive because people are hunting them down to try to kill them doesn't have the option of not defending themselves (usually with violence) unless they choose to die at their hunters' hands. Even if they do not start fights, they can't disengage if others start them first; in order to stop, others must also stop.

It is unfair, in contexts where there is a great and systematic corruption, to place the onus of a "happy ending" on singular people if there is no intention of dismantling the system that gave birth to such horrors. How cruel, how unjust, to take one person and say to them, "this is all, totally and completely, your fault, and it is your responsibility to change because you are the thing that needs fixing here."

Think of it like climate change: yeah, sure, putting your rubbish into the correct bins and reducing your personal carbon footprint etc is helpful. But what change you can make, if you make it alone, if you make it isolated, will never meaningfully chip away at the global level of pollution caused by the whole system. What needs to happen is a lot of people banding together to force the system to change, and for those who benefit from it to be held accountable. Because that's the other element of tragedy: there is nearly always someone benefitting from the tragedy, and it is not often those who are the most blamed or slandered.

Yourself may be a good place to start, but it is not where it ends. It is a long hard road, to the recognition that there are many factors that contribute towards tragedy - to the personal choices of characters, and to the reasons they made those choices in the first place; the action = reaction, the consequences, the pressures, the emotional and mental factors, the physical factors, the numerous interweaving stories of everyone trying to protect them and theirs, and sometimes in doing so hurting others.

Redemption and understanding how tragedy came to be is rarely as simple as we want it to be, and this complexity is a feature, not a bug. If you want to be able to point at someone and say "there; that is the bad thing" then 99/100 times I would first take a good look around to see what made the bad thing bad. Then I would take one good look at yourself in the mirror, and ask yourself if you could have been the bad thing, too, if things had shaken out just that little bit differently - the answer might not be one that comforts you.

[star-going-supernova]

Prompt: when he wakes up in lost and found, Gregory makes a surprising discovery in an adjacent janitors closet:

the real Vanessa, who Vanny kidnapped, tied up and has been impersonating for a while.

Gregory rescues Vanessa and they escape through the vent before Vanny enters the room, she uses her remote to designate Vanessa as a target for the animatronics to eliminate as well.

Tumblr generated prompt number 27! I gave it a bit of a different ending, mostly to wrap things up at a ficlet length, lol. 

What’s Behind Door Number One?

Gregory glared as the lost and found’s screens turned off, leaving him alone. He just had to go and get stuck inside a building with the creepiest security guard ever, huh. And a jerk of one too. He rolled his eyes and shakily got to his feet. His head ached from being knocked out—like, seriously? Seriously? What was wrong with her? 

There wasn’t much of interest in the room he’d been locked in, so he zeroed in on the vent. All he needed was a screwdriver or crowbar or something. He poked around the desk for a minute before turning to a slim door, the type that led to narrow closets. 

The door was weird, though. The deadbolt lock was on his side, which seemed pretty useless. That wouldn’t keep anyone out, the dolts. 

He flipped the switch, heard the heavy clunk of the lock disengaging, and pulled open the door. 

Oh. Okay. That—hm. Technically, that answered the question of the wrong-side lock. Sure prompted a lot of new questions, though.

There was a person in the cramped little closet. And, in a doubly freaky turn of events, she looked exactly like the stupid night guard. 

Gregory stood there for a minute, half wishing he hadn’t opened the door. Her eyes were closed, and she was handcuffed both at the wrists and the ankles. She was slumped against the wall, and he really hoped she was just taking a nap and not, like, dead. 

He reached out and poked her cheek. Her nose wrinkled, and she sniffed before shifting around a bit. Her eyes cracked open. 

Gregory scooted back a bit, just in case. The woman did a double-take at him, eyes widening. 

“Oh my gosh,” she said, hoarse. “You’re a person. A real person.” 

“As opposed to…?”

“One of the dumb animatronics. Holy—I—look, kid, just, what time is it? Are your parents around? Or literally any adults?” 

“It’s the middle of the night,” Gregory told her. “And there’s only the creep-o night guard.” 

The woman lurched forward, nearly face planting when the handcuffs around her ankles hindered her balance. “No! Not her! Does she know you’re here?”

“Yeah, she locked me in here. She’s awful. Why do you look just like her?” 

“She’s impersonating me,” the woman stressed. “I swear, I’m the real Vanessa.” 

Gregory nodded slowly. “Yeah, okay. I’ll believe that.” He stepped closer and crouched. From one of his many pockets, he removed his homemade lockpicks. They were a little iffy on the heavy-duty locks like on the lost and found door, but handcuffs? Easy peasy. 

Vanessa watched with bated breath as he freed her. “Thank you,” she choked out. “Thank you, thank you. Okay, this is—we’ve gotta get you out of here. She wants to hurt you.” 

“I know that,” Gregory said. “Do you have a screwdriver by any chance? I dropped my Swiss Army Knife somewhere in the raceway.” 

Vanessa opened her mouth, but he’d never find out if she knew where some tools were or not, because somewhere outside the room—but way too close for comfort—came some oddly paced footsteps and ominous humming. 

“Get out of sight,” she whispered urgently, and as he ducked beneath the desk, she closed the closet door and hurried over to crouch beside the door leading out of the lost and found. 

Gregory peeked out of his hiding place and watched with increasing bewilderment as a bunny skipped up to the window. It had to be the security guard because the animatronics just didn’t move like that. Her bug-eyed suit head tilted this way and that before she sidled over to the door and pushed it open. 

“Gregory,” she sing-songed as she hopped inside. “Are you hiding? Don’t you want to play?” 

As soon as she reached the middle of the room, Vanessa stood up behind her and, to Gregory’s impressed glee, full body tackled the bunny. The imposter cried out as they crashed to the floor. Vanessa shoved the head off, and it was weird, seeing both of them like that. They really did look identical. 

The imposter bucked her hips to try and dislodge Vanessa, but she turned to flailing wildly as Vanessa wrapped her hands around her throat. She snarled down at the imposter and mashed her face into the concrete. 

“You face-stealing monster!” she growled. “How do you like it, huh? All those kids you hurt—how does it feel being on the other side?” 

And with that, she smacked the imposter’s head soundly into the floor with a crack, and the night guard went limp. 

“Wow,” Gregory breathed. “Think you can do that again with the animatronics?” 

Vanessa sat up and brushed her hair out of her face with a huff. She sent him a wry smile. “Guess we’ll find out, huh?” 

[ducktracy]

I'm not sure if you've been asked this before but: Your thoughts on Duck Amuck vs Rabbit Rampage? Both have a very similar premise and I was just wondering which one you think works better.

DUCK AMUCK ALL THE WAY! i have my obvious biases of course… but i do very earnestly think that Duck Amuck is a much more superior cartoon and works better in every way. i admittedly think Rabbit Rampage is one of Chuck’s worst cartoons, but this is somewhat a compliment in itself because if that’s what a dud looks like for him? then you’re doing something right.

Jones’ Bugs is not sustainable for the cartoon, whereas the premise works perfectly with Daffy. (it helps that the initial concept was tailored TO Daffy and his needs.) i could see RR working better if it was the more reactionary Bugs of Bob Clampett’s or Friz Freleng’s, but instead the whole short feels very awkward in that Jones’ Bugs is trying to be something he’s not. i was initially happy to see his Bugs get with mad, because i love the thin-skinned Bugs of yesteryear, but after awhile kept asking myself when it would end and came out feeling annoyed rather than impressed. Bugs wouldn’t let that fly. he’d put a stop to it after a minute, whether that’s taking care of the source problem or just disengaging entirely.

Duck Amuck works so well because Daffy is one of the most versatile fictional characters ever created. he is incredibly adaptable, and the crux of the cartoon is all ABOUT adaptation—how can Daffy (or Bugs) still be seen as themselves when they’re being forced away from their core identities? how does Daffy as a four-legged, flower headed, flag toting amalgam still manage to read as Daffy first and foremost?

Daffy’s outbursts (or disarmingly polite concessions) work because they feel so genuine. he’s a reactive, emotional, responsive creature of impulse. likewise, there is an overwhelming sympathy in Amuck not present in RR. Daffy isn’t asking for the hijinks to stop entirely (at least, not early on)—he just wants something he can work in. he’s willing to adapt! can’t be one of the Three Musketeers? you’re doing a farm scene instead? fine. it’s not ideal, but he’ll do it.

it also helps that Daffy has such a natural extroversion. interaction with the audience is a core part of his character and has been since the very beginning. when Bugs talks to the audience, it’s funny, but you don’t feel like you’re on the same footing as you are with Daffy. Bugs will give you the time of day to crack a punchline or dubious expression at you, but is largely invested in himself. Daffy is one of the only characters who can talk, show off, confess to, and bargain with the audience and have it feel totally natural. i always like to default to this clip as an example. nothing of it feels forced or pedantic, it doesn’t feel like a “special privilege” or just a narrative device that he’s taking time out of his day to talk to us—how lucky are we! it’s just an instinct.

as a result, with both cartoons having the characters converse to an entity off screen that simulates the illusion of them talking to the audience, Daffy feels natural in this regard. it feels stilted and odd for Bugs to do the same. there isn’t that same exact friendliness or organicism that’s present with Daffy.

also, the ending for both: Elmer is the one causing Bugs all of this turmoil????? really?????? this complete rube of a man whose soul has been shattered multiple times by Bugs, even/especially in the face of deadly weapons? having Bugs as the animator in Amuck makes perfect sense. like. of course it would be him. who else? who else barely has to lift a finger for Daffy to be crushed by his own impulses? the reveal in RR just feels totally lame

regardless, i will give RR this: it is animated ENTIRELY by Benny Washam and nobody else, which is an incredible feat in and of itself. Washam draws some particularly appealing Bugses, so there is a lot of eye candy to be had. regardless, it just does not work for Bugs at all. i know i have my biases (Daffy will forever be my favorite fictional character and i personally am not a fan of Jones’ later Bugs), but i do just believe that the two don’t even compare, Duck Amuck all the way!

[miriamforster]

So I’ve tried my ”release spiders, summon ogres, draw out Razlin, ENJOY THE CHAOS” strategy at least three successful times now and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who gets bored with the goblin leader quest.

If you like giant battles with like 20 people that take a long time and are unpredictable enough to keep you interested, this is for you.

1. Release spiders

2. Blow Ogre horn

3. Snipe Razlin from the unlocked doorway to his room and run the hell away.

Notes:

1. You absolutely can do this if you haven’t befriended the spiders. They’ll mostly chase the goblins first so as long as you don’t run by them and draw AoO, you should be okay.

2. You need a rogue by the spider door to start. Both for lockpicking purposes and to disengage to get by unallied spiders and goblins safely. Stab the guard first, then on your turn, lockpick the door and open it. When the spiders come out, disengage and start running to the right hand side of the room.

3. The person at the door to Razlin’s room needs misty step. Since it is a bonus action, you can hit Razlin and when the battle starts, dash away and misty step to get out of range, preferable to the right side of the spider pit. I used Gale because magic missile lets me hit Razlin and a couple goblins, to make sure I draw out everyone. NOTE: YOU MUST GET RAZLIN INVOLVED BEFORE THE MAIN FIGHT ENDS.

4. The person with the horn needs to be in the great hall. This is where the fights get unpredictable because you don’t know where the ogres will appear. Usually it’s on the left or right balconies for me. Depending on where they appear and who they fight first, it might take them longer to get down to the main hall, which means you have to kill more goblins yourself, Last time I did it, I blew the horn while standing on the back right stairs, which worked pretty well.

5. The name of the game is STAY ALIVE so you need a lot of healing spells, or a lot of potions or both. Also some of the goblins can curse or blind you so if you have access to remove curse and lesser restoration, those are good to have on hand. I like having a dedicated healer for this fight to free up spell slots for the damage dealers.

6. The goal is to get all of your party to the right hand side of the hall, (the side where the torture room is, and the path to the worg pens) Razlin and his crew generally come down on the left side, so this leaves fewer enemies for you to deal with. There’s high ground for spells, and there’s a ladder if someone needs to get into the rafters for any reason.

7. Once you’re all there, don’t spread out the party too much. You need to be in healing, helping and buffing range. (Rafter person is an exception.) If the ogres are engaging with Razlin, and no enemies are in range, heal and wait.

8. Keep an eye on Razlin’s health and the health of the ogres. They have never killed him by themselves in any of my playthroughs, but once you’re in position you can snipe him with spells and arrows. The balance here, if you can swing it, is to ideally get the ogres killed or take their health down enough so you can take them out before the battle is over. So don’t kill Razlin before he does good damage to them. BUT you do want him to be at least half dead or more before he turns his attention to you, otherwise bad shit will happen.

9. Once Razlin is dead, evaluate the ogres and the goblins left. If they’re still in battle, let them fight. If the leader is dead and you passed the persuasion check to hire them for free, any ogre survivors will just wander away at the end of battle. (May work if you agreed to pay them too but I never do lol) Regardless, you want the leader dead because Cool Loot so if he’s not, then make it so.

10. Mop up any leftover enemies. Last time I did this it worked so well that my Tav got bored and went to kill the goblins outside the worg pen door before the battle was fully over. It’s a good time to get the priest of Loviatar too, if you can. (He bugged for me last time.)

So there you go! Everything I’ve learned from doing GIANT CHAOS FIGHT in the goblin camp.

I’ve also discovered this doesn’t draw out Minthara, so you can save her for last if you don’t want to worry about reinforcements coming.

(Scream all you like Eye, no one will save you 😈)

Anyway, give it a try if this sounds fun. Make sure to save first!

(Edit: this does come with a risk of glitches, just because of the sheer number of people. Not recommended for an honor run.)

[dangersam]

Happy Holidays everyone,

I've just released another update, with a bunch of new parts!

Clutches

These attach two axles together, one with a fixed attachment, the other with a rotary bearing. The clutch can be engaged / disengaged with a key press, which will smoothly lock / unlock the rotary bearing.

Clutch Gears

These are a type of spur gear that attach to an axle with a rotary bearing only. Similar to regular clutches, they can be engaged / disengaged from the axle they're attached to.

Brakes

Wheels already have built in brakes that you can optionally enable, but these separate brake parts allow you to brake an axle without needing to use a wheel. The brakes attach to an axle with a rotary bearing, and to the part you want to brake against (e.g. a beam) with a fixed attachment.

Angle Sensor

You can attach an axle to this sensor, and link a display to it. It'll show the axle's current relative angle, RPM, etc.

There are a few other tweaks and improvements too, here are the release notes:-

New parts:-

Angle sensor.

Clutches x3 and x4.

Clutch gears x1 to x3.

32T and 48T Hi & Lo bevel gears.

Disk brakes x3 and x4.

Added brake calipers to wheel brakes.

Added setting to speed / altitude sensor to use imperial units.

Parts and materials are now listed in order in UI.

Bug fixes.

[truckfreaks]

for the "questions I think would be fun to be asked"

2, 17, 28, 31, 34!

2) show us a picture of your handwriting?

oof ok!

17) name 3 things that make you happy:

bugs, plants, and making people laugh!

28) do you collect anything?

oh lord yeah. i collect specific kindsa toys and electronics??, i guess would be the big catchall for what i've got... i like to pick stuff up on a deal and see if i can clean/fix it. i have a big collection of old, weird virtual pets (many are tamagotchis but many are not!), old cameras and camcorders, muppets things, knockoff/bootleg plushies or figures... oh, and i also collect divination tools, like tarot decks... and things that are tarot-adjacent, i guess (like, i have two decks of Clow cards from cardcaptors that i translated a japanese guide for which outlined how to use it for divination...) and some of my virtual pets are ALSO divination tools! (angelscope and miraiscope come to mind.)

31) are you messy or organised?

i have to be pretty organized! i live in a small space so i do my best to make the most of my storage... but sometimes i fall behind like anyone else! :)

34) any pet peeves?

mmm, yeah, kinda! it annoys me when i get caught up in my own fatalism... i do my best to disengage from this! i also dislike when people very clearly are being overly nice to me for something because they want or need something... like, i'm not scary, just ask! :) i am very very very bad at any communication that is not direct so when people toe around making their point or telling me something in a straightforward way, i can get very confused! this also applies for when something is obviously bothering a person, but they refuse to acknowledge it. i understand the boundary of saying "yes i am upset but i do not want to talk about it at the moment", that is valid and i do it myself! but it is very confusing to me when someone refuses to say even that. also: one sided conversations! it is difficult for me to engage with someone if i am not really getting much back! i try not to make assumptions but i will worry i've done something to upset them or make them uncomfortable, or perhaps i am just being "too much" and i need to back off.

[raspberrykraken]

So last night I finished the Diablo 4 campaign. And then immediately started finding all the Alters of Lilith. Because the next big push of content is on July 18th when the pre patch drops and you need 3 things done so you can go into Season 1 with maximum effiency.

Finish the Campaign

Clear the entire map

Collect all Lilith Statues

Logging in on the 18th or after with the character who has all these 3 done the most lets your seasonal characters have these things too!

Theres other details dealing with these things but these are the core aspects of what’s coming. Because if I think about the story of the campaign I am going to scream.

Note: at the time of working on this, July 12th, 2023 on twitter Joe Shely announced you don’t even have to complete the campaign to count it as completed. You play it partially and then turn around in the menu to skip the rest. I am livid. I am beside myself. I voiced my thoughts on Twitter about it and go no response. Because its so bad they know it and are offering people a way out. Wonderful.

I have played all the other games. And honestly trying to provide any kind of rank to them doesn’t do anything. The problem is how much time people have spent with each game forming strong opinions about them and Diablo 4 is new. The drip of content has only just begun for it. And it seems like every patch notes they nerf Barbarians again or fix some bug that makes them unplayable.

The Lore has always been cooking in a crockpot since Diablo 2. With books and speculation. Which is why Diablo 3 felt like a betrayal with its more “cartoonish” approach and throwing key characters aside for the sake of brevity. Letting the narrative get highjacked by a npc and then having the deal with those consequences. It both “advanced” the story, brought Heaven to its knees, and the rewrote its ending in its expansion. Honestly you can argue they have been trying to course correct since 3 and still are with 4.

The following will be me screaming into a pillow over the story because no wonder my coworker played it with his friends and was confused as heck with it.

In Diablo 2 you are dogging the Dark Wonderer who inserted the stone into his head to protect the world from Diablo and becomes corrupted. You are always one step behind them roaming the world, seeing the destruction and chaos of Hell. Overtime you do meet Inarius who is bitter about his fall and the creation of Sanctuary. You make other friends along the way, all the while trying to help as much as you can. Eventually leading to a climatic battle where the World Stone that the Barbarians had been guarding for generations to be shattered and left in a what if moment with Sanctuary no longer being shielded from both sides.

In Diablo 4 you are dogging Lilith and Elias. Roaming across this intrepid world making friends, trying to make people better. All the while in high quality cutscenes Lilith and Elias are doing “bad” things. I mean having other people sacrifice their friends, family, children, animals to her is totally bad. Because she is a cocreator of Sanctuary. In a way Inarius uses the Church to do the same thing in the name of holiness and righteousness, rejecting sin and putting to death the sinners. It’s an interesting dichotomy that doesn’t give the player time to think about.

In previous games we have never met her, heard her side. We have met Inarius before and he’s as bitter as he’s always been casted to the mortal realm for his involvement in cocreating Sanctuary. The Heavens have disengaged with him, don’t want him back because he had sex. And the children they had were too powerful for their own good. Only to be narrowed/mentioned to one. Rathma who we don’t get to meet either.

All we get in the end of this “journey” the narrative gets highjacked by npcs sailing off to the end of the world, which the world is super flat btw. Sanctuary is like small Pangea. To find and defeat Diablo and Baal because Mephisto is already in the stone/influencing the entire game from the start. Giving no room in this narrative for Lilith or the player character. How fatherly.

Also in the ending moments the Church has turned on the player character and Lorath. Never thought about or mentioned again. Just go the Tree of Souls, start doing bounties! Explore the map! Collect statues! Do pvp! Get back to the Diablo 3 mindset! Get to level 50 and move up a world tier! Also Season 1 is coming, get ready for that!

The gameplay loop is good, I just see where Blizzards heart is now. It’s not focusing on the narrative anymore. And thats where I am with this. Frustrated and a shame. Because Blizzard promised more lore and story with each seasons and adding on to the campaign. Definitely doubting it.

[iamsupereugenio6]

Saddest Goodbye....

First of all I apologise if you may find this message awkward or you may feel that I'm bugging you but I guess this is probably the right time to message you since this has been eating me up for over weeks now. I don't really know and understand on to what happened to us since it's not clear to me why you stop responding to my message from the last conversation we had,which i felt that I'm being ghosted for not knowing if I did something or say something wrong to put some grudges on you but then again if I did.. I heartily and sincerely apologise Bab

I'm not hoping to whatever gap between us may be fix as easy as but bear with me and hear me out.

Going back to those days we spent time together being on my happiest place being with you until this "unknown event" which seems we just suddenly parted ways for "unknown reason

I get it totally being in a relationship was never been your priority and ME being as a second, third or last on the lane was REALLY OK and I did respect you for that with no complaints and rebuttal

I don't blame you or myself if this relationship fell into pieces maybe because i know for a fact that this is gonna happened with our both differences

Obviously, I wouldn't want to disengage with you and I still would want to be your good friend, kahit platonic or you want still to continue and start over again to where we left off. However, if this still messes you up and puts your emotions in a stir, then I would also understand if you distance yourself from me but one thing I'm requesting is to let me know so I know where to pick myself and start to set my foot forward.

Again Bab I wish you nothing but the best. Your kind soul deserves so much more and your efforts and feelings reciprocate the way you wanted to be. Thank you and I don't regret meeting and having you in my life. ❤

[gun-witch]

Venting about “Acceptable Targets” and Bigotry.

Fair warning, this is me just speaking my mind with no real concern for formatting or making any kind of coherent point. I’m just venting.

And a TLDR if you don’t wanna read it all: There’s a problem in Leftist spaces with deciding certain bigotries are okay, I used antitheists going from attacking genuinely harmful kinds of Christian faith to attacking all Christians to attacking marginalized religions as a way to explain the issue, but this happens in many other ways.

I’ve been trying to reduce my time on twitter lately for mental health reasons. It’s the kind of site that just highlights the worst kind of people imaginable. When I made the account I currently use, I did my best to block liberally and curate things as much as I could, because I know twitter is just an awful website full of awful people.

For a while, it really seemed to work. The times politics came up on my feed, it was like it is here, curated, people having reasonable reactions to the horrible things that happen in the world. Yeah I also got into the occasional argument with right wingers, but honestly, it’s easy to disengage when you know they’re just not operating in a worldview that remotely resembles reality.

A conservative promoting racism, transphobia, homophobia, etc. is really easy to disregard because they’re so ridiculous, that any sensible person isn’t going to take them seriously. You can just post information on why they’re wrong and move on, it’s very easy to disregard what they think about you.

But, more recently, I’ve noticed bigotry creeping its way into leftist spaces (online, I’ve yet to see anything of this outside of the internet). Sometimes it’s the familiar, TERF talking points dressed up as progressive. I’m sure you all know the type, people who wanted to exclude nonbinary people when that was “new”, people who want to exclude neopronouns or xenogenders, or otherkin or whatever else. They’re usually really obvious, and having been one of these people in the past I know exactly what to say, I just tell them what made me realize the harm in gatekeeping and exclusionist thought. Usually, people ignore them, because Leftists usually know better.

Usually.

If you know me outside of tumblr (which most of you do, I’m not exactly big on this site, and I don’t want to be either), you know that antitheism is THE bigotry that pisses me off. Not because it affects me, I can write off transphobia, acephobia, etc. pretty easily even when they’re actively making my life harder, I’m just good at not letting things get to me emotionally. The real reason antitheism gets under my skin is that it’s just different enough from the big “isms” that a lot of genuinely good and well meaning people fall for it.

See, when I inevitably check the profile of someone being nasty over religion on twitter, saying that because I’m a priestess I’m the same as a Christian priest and therefore naturally evil, I often have a lot of mutuals with them, and they’re otherwise an outspoken leftist.

Antitheism is something that a well meaning atheist who sees the very real harm done by the biggest religions in the world can fall for. On the surface of it, it makes sense. A surface level reading of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the “big 3″ religious texts in the eyes of many activists, would have you believe they promote some really nasty stuff. If you don’t know that the Bible was written as a compilation of conflicting beliefs, and that cherry picking is a feature and not a bug, you could be forgiven for thinking Christianity is evil by default.

And on top of that, you experience hate and violence from Catholicism, American Protestantism, and so many other sects. Eventually that violence just becomes “Christianity” to you.

Then it becomes “Abrahamic” religions, because to the uneducated, Abrahamic means Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and as far as you know, these religions are identical. You haven’t done the research to know how ridiculous this idea is, and you won’t because nobody has prompted you to.

Then, because the only preachers you hear are from Christianity (which you’ve already decided represents two other completely different faiths), and you never talk religion with someone who isn’t trying to convert you (really, why would you?), that violence you experienced becomes “religion”.

Religion becomes synonymous with conservativism, fascism, and every other political ideology that we rightfully write off as harmful. So then when you meet a Gnostic, a Jew, a Pagan, a Satanist, a Native American who believes in the religion that’s intrinsically tied to their culture? You look at them and you see a Nazi.

The very important aversion to hateful ideologies is hijacked, you begin to hate marginalized groups in the name of opposing bigotry.

It gets worse though, because from there, antitheism becomes a gateway bigotry of sorts. I’m sure everyone’s heard the statement “religion is a mental illness” at this point. The antitheist becomes so attached to their bigotry, that when they realize a religion isn’t harmful directly, ableism comes in to save them from introspection.

This happened on a large scale a few years ago, in the mid 2010s we saw a lot of youtube channels and social media pages dedicated to opposing religion turn their sights on “social justice warriors”. I remember these channels promoting this hip and new thing called “the alternative right”, what they described as a secular form of fascism, a “good” fascism, because they were so deep into hating religion that they forgot why religion was bad to begin with.

This isn’t unique to antitheism by any means, like I said before it happens with exclusionary movements like transmedicalism, anti-mspec crap, and one could even argue it’s got something to do with how transphobic “feminism” rose to prominence.

I think more people should be aware of how radicalization happens, more critical of what we consider “acceptable targets”. Racism isn’t bad because of the race aspect, race is bad because prejudice itself is wrong, attacking groups of people who lack social power is wrong.

Because it isn’t the big corrupt churches you hurt when you label all religion evil. It’s the marginalized faiths. The Pagans, the Jews, the Muslims, the sects of Christianity which do genuinely preach love and compassion. Focus your criticisms on groups in power, not people who seem similar at a glance.

And this applies everywhere, transphobia and exclusionism toward transmasc people also come from a fundamental misunderstanding of what male privilege is. I’m really only using religion and antitheism as a vehicle to talk about a more general issue because it’s the one that’s on my mind.

[professionalautomotive]

What To Do If Your VW Jetta Reverse Gear Fails to Engage

Struggling to shift your Volkswagen Jetta into reverse?

What’s going on with your vehicle? Why is it acting in such a weird manner? And most importantly, what can you do to troubleshoot the issue? These are among the topics we have discussed in this article. Therefore, it is recommended that you read this post all the way through.

Why Your VW Jetta Reverse Gear Might Fail to Engage

#1- Insufficient fluid levels

When was the last time you had your Volkswagen’s gearbox fluid checked? Has it been a while? This fluid aids your vehicle’s transmission system with many different things. By reducing friction among moving parts, it minimizes wear. By facilitating the dissipation of heat generated during transmission operation, it prevents overheating. Besides, it helps with gear shifts.

If there is an issue with this fluid or its level has dropped below the recommended amount, you will experience all sorts of shifting-related issues. So, if you’re struggling to put your VW Jetta into reverse gear, there is a possibility that the gearbox is running low on fluid.

#2- Clutch issues (Manual transmission)

A properly functioning clutch is essential for smooth gear shifting. What it does is… it temporarily disconnects the engine from the transmission―to facilitate a smooth transition between gears. Since it deals with engine torque, it can run into troubles every now and then. Its key components… especially those involved with torque transfer, can malfunction over time.

The clutch plate, clutch disc, and release bearing can malfunction due to regular use. Defective components might prevent the clutch from properly disengaging… which could in turn hinder the reverse gear engagement.

#3- Faulty gear linkage

This is yet another noteworthy reason why you might struggle to put your VW Jetta into reverse. The gearbox is a very complex system… made up of many different parts. Want to know what else is as complex as the gearbox??? Yup, you guessed it right… the linkage that connects the gear shifter to the transmission.

If the gear linkage is misaligned or damaged, you might need to put in extra effort to engage reverse gear. Some of the other issues that you might encounter because of faulty gear linkage are… incorrect gear selection, delayed response, and more. Have the issue diagnosed at your earliest convenience to prevent escalation.

#4- Electronic issues

Even if the odds of electrical issues preventing reverse gear engagement are very low… we can’t simply rule this out. Sensor malfunction, a flawed transmission control module, bad wiring, short circuits, faulty switches, poor ground connections, and software bugs… are among the electronic issues that might interfere with reverse gear engagement in your VW Jetta. Not fixing such flaws in time… can contribute to expensive repairs down the road.

Troubleshooting The Issue

- Check for error codes: If your VW is not showing any interest of shifting into reverse and you have no clue why it’s acting like that, the very first thing that you should do is… use an OBD-II scanner to scan your vehicle for error codes. Retrieval of such codes can help pinpoint the exact issue. 

- Examine the gear linkage and cables: Cables, bushings, and other important parts of your vehicle’s gear linkage need to be thoroughly checked for signs of wear, damage, and misalignment. Replace any worn components and adjust the linkage if misalignment is detected.

- Look for transmission leaks: Your gearbox’s ability to engage reverse gear will be hindered if there is not enough fluid available to support the shifting process. Keep an eye on your VW Jetta’s gearbox fluid level. If the fluid is leaking out of the system, locate the source and have it repaired as soon as possible.

- Contact professionals: If the issue persists despite your repeated troubleshooting attempts, it may be time to call in certified technicians.

Key Takeaways

If you’re finding it hard to shift your Volkswagen Jetta into reverse, it could be due to one of the following reasons;

- Your gearbox lacks sufficient fluid... necessary for proper gear engagement

- Its clutch is not working as it should, most probably because of a defective part

- There is something off with its gear linkage―it’s likely damaged or misaligned

- One of the key electronic components of the gearbox has failed

Whatever the reason may be… have it fixed.

[josiebelladonna]

well, i was planning on taking the summer off but something is going on with alex, though. again. except this is worse. much, much worse.

(think i’ll just come on here sporadically from here on out)

so yesterday, i learned alex uses the waking up app for meditation. i had to look into it because i never heard of it and initially, i completely get why he uses it: it’s meditation based on agnosticism, which is brilliant because it’s hard to find anything like that that doesn’t go all religious on us (really, just ask me how fucking frustrating it is to do research on what the hell spirituality has to do with sexuality and not find things that go on about god and the bible and whatnot).

there are a couple of things about it that bug the hell out of me, though.

aside from the outlandish price—$120 a year following a 30-day trial, like bro, hulu doesn’t even charge that much—if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

the guy who started the app, sam harris, is an atheist, which on its own sent a red flag to me, sorry not sorry. i identify as an agnostic for several reasons, notably the fact that every atheist i’ve ever met is a preachy asshole. they’re basically just like the hyper religious nut jobs but they use logic rather than god to undermine you. the app’s modus operandi is basically teaching you to become aware of the lack of sense of self inside until you become one with everything.

aware of the lack of self inside. something about this felt so off to me when i read it, because i learned a long time ago that you don’t need something or someone to “complete” you: you’re whole as is. you’re a whole person as is in the grand scheme of things. if you’re becoming aware that your sense of self is weak, then it’s probably a psychiatric issue. i hate how holier-than-thou its intent is, too, like “this is the way, the real way, not that conventional meditation crap :)”, which is such an atheist thing and it really is no better than the bible thumpers who do the same thing but with god at the helm. it’s like the creepy, foul-smelling twin of solipsism, which says that the sense of self is the only thing that exists.

i saw a quote on quora (don’t judge me) that said, “if you’re tapping your way to enlightenment, you’ll never get there.” quora and reddit are both littered with edgelords and people who talk out of both corners of their mouths, but that caught my attention because i have realized how much better i feel staying away from here. hell, within the first week i was feeling better.

as for meditation/mindfulness… i’m no guru (in fact, I’m furthest away from something of a guru), but it’s really just about stopping to smell the roses. hearing your own breath and focusing on that for some 5 to 10 minutes. it’s being aware of your thoughts and behavior, of your mind and body. it’s about calming your thoughts for a few minutes. and it’s something that you do over the course of your life by nature, not by some fucking app that costs $100+ and only works 10% of the time anyway. if you do it enough, it’ll become part of your personality. it’s not a quick fix, either, so you’re going to have bad days, days you don’t feel like it, and in my case, you’re going to unearth some things. if you’re tapping your way to mindfulness, you’ll never get there.

i don’t have any idea how long he’s been using the app, he didn’t specify but i think it was around the solstice when i noticed a shift in alex’s behavior—i say the solstice because that was the last time he did a livestream and he acknowledged me again. he would like my comments when no one was looking—in fact, i still anticipate him doing that because it always made my day and made my heart skip a few beats. he would come onto my stories constantly just to watch.

now, it’s like someone reprogrammed him from the ground up. he’s been weirdly disengaged. he actually disparaged things like pastries and baked goods—when the man loves his cannoli and pie, and every time i make babka (or anything jewish), i think of him. i got into jewish cooking because of him—my support of israel definitely plays a role but it goes back to him. plus, i’m a baker next to an artist and writer now, baked goods are part of my bread and butter now (as is literal bread and butter) so imagine how that made me feel to see him say that. “holidays are for indulging”, indulge when you feel like it and there’s nothing wrong with you for feeling these things, either.

i’ve been mindfully eating since last july. i lost a ton of weight. but i’m a baker, a bread maker, a pastry chef. the other day i was eating this big burger with caramelized onions and french fries and i still woke up with a slim belly the next day. i’m about to make another key lime pie during this freaking heat wave and the last one i made, i was still able to keep my weight down (i actually lost weight). if you’re having a problem with cravings, it sounds counterintuitive but don’t ignore them: if you want a piece of pie, have a piece of pie, but just have the one slice and eat it slowly so you enjoy every aspect of it; you don’t need multiple. this is literally how you stop those cravings in their tracks. and i have actual medical science to back me up on this, too.

i genuinely don’t get his logic here like… there’s nothing inherently wrong with temptation. a little party never killed anyone. it’s all about balance (he’s a libra, libras love balance… at least i thought they did). it really does feel like that toxic diet culture i grew up with in the 2000s but with a different coat of paint. all i see here is a slippery slope: the man of my dreams is on a slippery slope and there’s nothing i can do. a phony attempt at meditation is taking advantage of his flaws and foibles and blowing them up.

i have no doubt that fucking g*psy definitely had something to do with it, too. becoming one with her and leaving me behind in the dust as if I’m the other woman: i may be in love with him but you got another thing coming if you think i’m the other woman.

it’s such a shock from the alex of the last three years, the alex i got to know and fall in love with and put me out in the open.

this whole time i’m thinking of a quote from ron swanson: “people who buy things are suckers.”

i want my jerk back, you toxic cunts.

[jstevh]

Video prompt suggestion

Was back at chatbot arena at lmsys.org and asked AI models to give me a prompt for a video highlighting how AI can amp your journey like a moving walkway.

First is again ChatGPT like previously. Somehow I end up getting a lot! Which is ok but I don't even know the models until I pick a conversation as best.

Have no idea how well prompt works. Posting anyway.

Prompt for AI to Generate a Cartoon Illustrating Coding Analogies with Airport Walkways

Title: "The Coder's Journey: From Manual Coding to AI Assistance"

Frame 1: Traditional Walking - Coding Without AI

• Description: Show a character at an airport looking at a long, empty hallway. The character looks determined but a bit overwhelmed.

• Caption: "Starting the journey: Coding from scratch without assistance."

• Details: The character has a backpack labeled 'Manual Coder', and the hallway has signs like 'Bug City' and 'Debugging Valley' ahead.

Frame 2: Walking on Moving Walkways - Using AI as a Tool

• Description: Now, the character steps onto a moving walkway. They're still walking, but with a noticeable boost, and a smile shows their increased speed and ease.

• Caption: "Enhanced journey: Using AI to speed up coding while still guiding the process."

• Details: Show speed lines to indicate motion. The walkway is labeled 'AI-Powered Walkway'. Signs along the side show 'Efficiency Lane' and 'Faster Outputs'.

Frame 3: Standing Still on Moving Walkways - Fully Relying on AI

• Description: The character is now standing still on another moving walkway, moving quickly with no effort. They look relaxed, maybe even a bit disengaged, holding a coffee.

• Caption: "Effortless travel: Fully relying on AI to do the work."

• Details: The character's bag now says 'AI Reliant'. The scenery zooms by, with blurred signs like 'Instant Results' and 'Minimal Learning'.

Frame 4: Reflecting on the Journey

• Description: The character stands at the end of the walkway, looking at a map of the airport (symbolizing the project landscape). They appear thoughtful, evaluating their journey.

• Caption: "Reflecting on the balance: Efficiency vs. Understanding."

• Details: The map shows different paths like 'Full Control Route', 'Balanced Pathway', and 'AI Express Lane'.

Additional Instructions:

• Style: Cartoonish, with bright colors and expressive characters to keep it engaging and informative.

• Audience: Aimed at both novice and experienced coders, and people curious about AI's role in coding.

• Output Format: Four panels that can be shared as a single image or as separate frames for clarity.

This prompt is designed for AI systems capable of generating illustrations or for artists looking to visualize this concept. If you're looking for an AI that can turn this into a more dynamic video or animation, you might explore AI tools like DALL-E for images or look into simple animation software where you can import images and add basic movements. However, for more complex animations, professional software or services would be necessary, which often requires sign-up or subscription.

-------

Other model was Reka Core. Gave a storyboard format.

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Here’s a simple storyboard outline for your cartoon:

Scene 1: Arrival at the Airport

• Visual: A character (could be any anthropomorphic figure, like a person, animal, or even an object) arrives at the airport, looking a bit overwhelmed by the long walk ahead.

• Caption: "Starting a project without tools: Every step requires effort."

Scene 2: Walking on Your Own

• Visual: The character starts walking down the concourse, clearly putting in effort, with a determined look but also a hint of strain.

• Caption: "Manual work: Slow and steady, but all effort is your own."

Scene 3: Using the Moving Walkway

• Visual: The character steps onto a moving walkway. Their expression changes to one of relief and effort is visibly reduced as they move faster without expending as much energy.

• Caption: "Assisted by tools: Less effort, more speed. You're moving faster, with help."

Scene 4: Standing Still on the Walkway

• Visual: The character, now on another moving walkway, stops walking altogether and leans back, looking relaxed but unaware of their surroundings.

• Caption: "Over-reliance on tools: Comfortable, but where are you going? You're not in control."

Scene 5: Conclusion

• Visual: The character realizes they've missed their gate and rushes off the walkway, back to walking on their own.

• Caption: "Balance is key: Use tools to aid, not replace, your journey. Stay engaged and reach your destination."

You can sketch this out or describe it to an artist or use a storyboard creation tool if you prefer a digital format. While I can't generate the animation for you directly without using a specific service, this storyboard should give you a clear idea to visualize or share with someone who can create the animation.

[thecosmicace]

The journey from the lower portion of Sargasso's living quarters up to the Star Wolf private suites is like ascending from the depths of a squalid, overcrowded slum to the opulent living quarters of a wealthy and privileged elite. As if the lower portion of Sargasso Space Station is a separate world from the luxurious Star Wolf living quarters on the top levels of the space base; these rooms crowned only by Wolf's office, a room-turned-hiding place of Star Wolf's leader, mostly inhabited by an unorganized mess of paperwork, documents, and other bookkeeping data. The dividing line between the living spaces, though imaginary, is clear and unmistakable like the sectioned-off seating arrangements on a commercial airplane. The general living area is cramped and crowded, like the narrow economy class seats at the back of the plane. The carpets are threadbare and the walls sport many stains, giving off the same dreary and tired feeling as a budget airline cabin. In contrast, the Star Wolf living quarters comes across like the luxurious first-class cabin. The polished steel floor sports a few plush rugs that are deep and inviting, and the walls maintain a sleek aesthetic that inspire the mercenary squadron's signature space fighter that seem to glow in the healthy lighting. Each member of the team is granted their own individual and unique bedroom, complete with a large, comfortable bed, plush carpeting, and a private bathroom. The walls are decorated with artwork and memorabilia, items which mostly come from the individual homes and collections of those who they belong to. These expensive comforts are not at all lost on the team's newest member: Kit.

Wolf approaches the door to Fox's private living quarters and raps two of his knuckles against its metal surface. Leaning his head against the door and listening for any sound to emit from within the room, or perhaps to catch the sound of the door's lock disengaging, the lupine holds his breath in order to enhance his ability to hear. "Ya in there, kiddo? It's me." Wolf almost sounds embarrassed to reveal himself to the room's occupant through the door. "I'd like to bug ya for a sec, if you're not totally sick of the wolves in your life by now..."

The room Kit was residing in was covered in posters, neon lights, and shelves lined with games. A complete clash to the atmosphere the cold metal walls and the rest of the place felt. The fox was currently laying on his bed, his now longer fur covering his face. He had cut it himself, a jaggy mullet he was quite proud of. The few times he's been resting from tackling mission after mission he can't help but get lost in his thoughts like he was now. The soft baggy shirt he had been in was Slippy's old robotics club shirt. Clutching it, he could feel the guilt from leaving welling in his chest. How much he really missed him. Before he could spiral any further he was distracted by a light rapping at his door, followed by Wolf's comforting voice. relieved at the chance for a distraction. "Pfft, of course not! If it's just you, you can come on in" He winced at how raspy his voice came out at first, he hadn't realized he was so affected. He also quickly realized what he was wearing and pulled his blanket up as a way to cover it. "What's up? You doing okay?"