#don’t have as much variability in what effects you can get.. i can still get a lot of different effects if i finess things just right

[cherry-pop-soda]

tagged by @corrode-in-repose to do this little challenge showing the before and after of editing my gifs!! sorry i took so long to get back on this and tysm for tagging me this is so fun!!!!

i def have a very different and more unorthodox method compared to most people who make gifs so this’ll be fun!!! there doesn’t seem to be specific rules to this challenge so i guess ill paste in some gifs (unedited on one side and edited on the other) and talk about them/my process :^)

ofc the change in this video isn’t very stark since it was pretty vibrant to begin with, and bc of that i tried to amplify and work with the colors i already had. I made them all a bit cooler to emphasize the green and purple and made them more vibrant and saturated. i also increased both the sharpness and definition but softened them again very slightly when I was converting it over into a gif to offset the pixels.

i wanted to use a few gifs from this set bc there’s such a clear difference between the edited and unedited. The original video was super dark and shadowy and although it had that green undertone, overall it was dull and lacked vibrancy in any of the colors. so to get the effect on the right, I raised the exposure and brightness pretty significantly. usually i would also lower the contrast to offset the blackness of the shadows, but that wasn’t working for these and i decided i wanted to keep a bit of the higher contrast look this time (usually i do not). I increased the saturation and vibrance but I also greatly decreased the warmth of the gifs bc the color was originally appearing more yellow, and i wanted a vibrant green instead. i also increased the tint to offset how much the vibrance and saturation effects were turning his face green in the first gig (although i didn’t do this in the second one bc i wanted to leave the green for the effect of him looking through the lens). i also added a dark vignette effect on the gif with the lens thing bc i wanted to amplify the effect of it looking like a lens, and also offset the increased brightness.

bc I don’t use photoshop or ezgif to edit my gifs, my process is more like messing with a bunch of sliders with different effects until i get the look i want. however I do use ezgif just to convert the files from video clippings into actual gifs (the final step of my method). what I do in ezgif is a whole other discussion bc i am still figuring it out… as of now i just increase the frame rate and optimize my gifs for static background, and then compress slightly as needed to reduce the sometimes large file sizes caused by increasing the frame rate. it’s worth it though, i don’t seem to lose much quality and the higher frame rate makes my gifs less choppy which has been an issue i’ve noticed in the past. anywho, moral of the story is, i have a bit of an unusual method for making gifs that i hope some of you might find interesting to hear me ramble about :)

[bougiebutchbinch]

Okay so I don’t think my ask went thru bc I sent a link to a fic and I forgot that Tumblr doesn’t like actual links on anon. Anyways, ignore this if you still received the other one! I saw this fic and immediately thought you’d devour it… but I saw someone else already sent it to you! (The professional dom one :3)

I cannot stress enough how much that fic makes me insane. I had to close my laptop screen no less than six times so I could walk away and gather myself before continuing on. Because holy crap. Anyway! I also read another fic that I thought you would like, however, it is a Scott/Logan fic. I’m not sure if you jive with that so I’m not going to link it here unless you’re chill with it. 

Top!Logan who mauls the life out of his very willing, very enthusiastic partners will always be something I will eat up like a fish deprived of water. I don’t have many mutuals who vibe with poolverine as hard as I do that I can send these to, so as the designated Top!Logan and Trans!Poolverine connoisseur of this corner of the internet… I am gently placing this on your doorstep. 

It is so solidified in my mind that Logan will try to devour his partners whole if they’re wanting and willing. He wants to bite and claim what’s his. But I also see him wanting that exact same energy back. If you will allow me to elaborate here for a brief minute:

Logan would want to feel like he belongs to someone else just as much as he wants his beloveds to belong to him. In this case, Wade. He and Wade are obviously matched in ways that others cannot even begin to comprehend. Wade matches his crazy, as Logan matches his. Physically, mentally, spiritually, these two are made for each other. 

That being said, Logan would be just as disappointed that he cannot be marked as he is that Wade cannot be marked—not for more than a few seconds, at least. But does that stop them? Fuck no. Absolutely not. 

The pair of them getting to it, approaching a state of mind that could only be described as delirious off one another, and Logan is holding the back of Wade’s neck, lifting him up a little so he can kiss his dearest, his beloved, his Wade.

It’s a biting kiss, more teeth than anything, but it’s loving. Wade knows it’s how Logan gets when he’s in the heat of the moment, but there isn’t anywhere else he’d rather be. But when Logan pulls back, he keeps Wade’s face close to his neck and shoulder and states with no room for argument or doubt… “bite.” And who's Wade to say no to him? Especially when he says it like that... the man makes a very compelling argument.

Anyway! Logan would want to be claimed in return. Their healing factors certainly get in the way sometimes, but they’re smart. They can get creative with it. It’s been ages I feel since I sent that ask about the dog tags… but I think you get the idea. They have options, and they have all the time in the world to figure out a way to make it stick. Logan is nothing if not loyal and hopelessly devoted to the people he loves. *^-^*

I LOVE ALL OF THIS TIMES A THOUSAND!!!!!

I'm sorry for not answering your previous ask - I get a lot of asks, but my spoon-level is VERY variable. I'm dealing with a lot of academic work on top of my already hectic and unpredictable work schedule! That + disabilities means that lots of EXCELLENT content gets buried in my askbox, because I just do not have the energy to scroll through some days.

It's not a comment on the quality of the content in any way, or my enjoyment of it! Just a miserable effect of The Disabilities Being Disabling. I can't change my inability to look at every ask - but I do genuinely apologise.

But GODDDD yes, I love that fic SO MUCH. It ate my brain, spat it back out, then ate it again.

I'm not into Scogan.... YET. But I could be convinced!!!

And - YEAH. I am just incapable of seeing Logan as anything BUT helplessly devoted in his love <3 man is so desperate to care for people and shower them with affection and bring them happiness - even if it's hidden beneath a very gruff exterior!

[rebornologist]

Gosh, do you know how much your works are valued??? I hope you do since for some, especially me, these works have been the only thing fueling my ten year long love for khr~ Anyways is it OK to request for college and romantic headcanons of Giotto?

♡♡ hiii dear! Thank you so much for your kind words. If you don't mind, I've just compiled all of my Giotto HC reqs instead of making multiple posts, since there is a (variable) amount of overlap between them.

♡ Giotto in College & in Love ✧

༚✧⁺˳₊˚‿︵‿︵‿୨୧ ⁺˳₊ ♡ ₊˳⁺ ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿˚₊˳⁺✧༚

Giotto was not particularly outspoken in class settings, but he was a fine student and fairly active and keen to engage with the local community. He went in undeclared and eventually settled into political science because it was simply what interested him, in addition to a lot of philosophy and some studio art electives. He’s a good writer, and can whip up a crazy effective grant proposal. He enjoys creating things with his hands, such as pottery, forging simple metal jewelry (namely rings), and painting. As he got caught up with work more, he got less and less time for those creative hobbies.

He participated in a lot of direct action groups on campus and ran for some position in the legislative branch of the associated student government. He had a group of close friends that included G and Cozart, and the group would be found floating around, sitting on grass in the quad or in the student community building’s meeting rooms, discussing various things that may or may not be related to student gov.

Giotto is a pretty hopeless romantic, in the way that.. he has a tendency to see the world through rose-tinted glasses, firmly believing in the good of humanity. While he romanticizes the grind, his partner would likely be the one that reminds him to take a step back and rest. He’s surrounded by people with big hopes and dreams, as he should, but it can be a little too inspiring. He’ll lose a lot of sleep because he spends time thinking about the good and the bad and the ugly and the beautiful.

His partner is always there to listen to him ramble about his hopes and dreams, but they’re also there to ground him, remind him to pay attention to them, to get ready for bed, snuggle up, meditate, literally anything to take his mind off of what his next move is. Sometimes, the next move should just be.. nothing, for now.

They remind him that they want to go into the ceramics studio next week, and he pauses. His breath is held still in his chest as the constantly turning gears slow almost to a stop, and he takes a moment to process before he exhales audibly, with a soft smile “...it’s been a while, huh?”

Initially, he was very formal in the way that he pursued his s/o-to-be. They started as colleagues or friends, and something about them just.. caught his eye. For being such a well-spoken man, he cannot put to words what exactly made him feel so strongly about them, but he feels it very viscerally. He opens doors for them, bringing them tea and coffee, gifting them a little painting or a handmade mug, before finally mustering the courage to ask them out to dinner with a whole ass bouquet of flowers.

I don’t see him as anything but a friends-to-lovers type of man. Even on a first date, the dialogue and banter flow as usual, and there is a natural chemistry on top of their preexisting friendship. He tries his best to pace himself in terms of what is considered a “natural” progression of the relationship, but it’s almost as if he knows that he’s all-in with his partner from the get-go. His loyalty and devotion is unmatched.

One time, as a joke, his partner referred to him as their husband. He malfunctioned right then and there. If he had a tail, it would have been wagging. He laughs it off in front of his friends, as if that was a regular occurrence. Afterwards, on the way home, he hits them with the “Do you really think of me like that?” silence… 30 seconds later, he speaks up again as he is driving, “Hypothetically, when do you think is a good time to get married?” It’s adorable. It does become a regular occurrence after that.

I have written a bit on this before, so ngl.. idk what other bases.. to cover

He’s confident, but he doesn’t have a huge ego. The times where he feels most egotistical, actually, is when his partner is so painfully attracted to him. He’ll catch them gawking at his hands as he adjusts his watch and jewelry, and a playful smile dances across his features, golden eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Like what you see, dear?” He fans his fingers out, displaying the rings on his finger, before flipping his palm upward and gesturing salaciously for his love to come closer.

Is really sweet and enjoys teasing and worshiping every inch of his lover, just so that he can take note of every reaction. He’ll notice every little gasp, every flinch, twitch, whimper, etc. He loves a vocal partner.

Sex is something that he enjoys taking his time with, so if there’s something that you want to leverage to pull him away from his work, that might be it. He tries really hard to stick to his scheduled activities, but he doesn’t mind getting distracted by his s/o for longer than planned. At some point, he starts to account for that when he plans for the day or the week.

It’s really funny when he hits them up with the, “hey babe… my sweet.. angel, darling… I know that we have our date tomorrow afternoon, but.. I have a meeting that evening..” his s/o knows exactly what’s coming, “are you available to.. start earlier so that we can have more time together?” UM YES.

Is not particularly kinky himself, but super open minded to trying out anything that his partner may be into. He loves to please, so he’ll definitely at least be open to hearing about any fantasies they would want to fulfill. Some things are off the table, he’s not a huge fan of play that revolves around non-consent because he’s kind of.. a softie through and through, but he dabbles in praise, gentle degradation, being a pleasure dom, etc.

He’s a little more interested in group play than you’d expect, because he’s fairly romantically monogamous, but if a partner asked to bring other people into a sexual scenario, he’d be like, “oh.. oh, yeah.. are you thinking of [redacted]?” IDUNNO Y/N ARE YOU?!?!

✧ a/n: rb with who u think redacted is

[dailycharacteroption]

Book Review: Pathfinder 1E Core Rule Book

And so we begin something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: Book Reviews!

In this special, I’ll be taking a look through various Pathfinder and Starfinder books that I own and generally talk about Their content, their artwork, and other things that offer pros and cons about them.

And what better way to start than with the Pathfinder core rulebook!

Ah yes, the storied ancient times of 2008. I had just graduated high school and was getting into community college. Before that point, Pathfinder had already been writing adventures for 3.5 D&D as a strange and controversial ploy to tap into the market of RPG gamers that had rejected 4th Ed. However, they had no intention of stopping there, starting with their Core Rulebook, which took the info in the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide of D&D 3.5 and revised it in preparation for the launch of their very own system and products.

What was tricky about this was that some things, such as summoning spells, had to be designed for a book that was technically not out yet: the Pathfinder Bestiary, so the writers had to figure out what monsters were going to be in the Bestiary but not be shared with the Monster Manual counterpart (which is why the 3.5 PHB has all the different sizes of giant spider/centipede/scorpion on them whereas Pathfinder did not, for example).

All in all, this was the effective launch of a new product off the bones of an old one, which really hadn’t been done to this scale before, pushing the limits of what was outlined by the OGL. It was rare, fun, and exciting times, and nobody can claim that Paizo didn’t succeed in that regard.

But let’s get down to it with the actual content of the book!

Now, it’s going to be literally impossible to list the content of the book without comparing it to the D&D work it was based on, so I’m not going to even try there, but first off, compiling the Player’s Handbook and DMG into one book was a good move on Paizo’s part, for while it made for a hefty volume, it was still less expensive to prospective GMs than the PHB/DMG/MM combo of D&D.

Inside, the actual content works hard to refine the formula of 3.5, developing a design philosophy that rewards the player for sticking with things instead of punishing them for diversifying. Favored classes are now picked by the player on start with no restrictions, and said favored classes reward you with bonuses rather than reducing skill points.

Speaking of which, skill ranks are no longer super costly for going outside your class skills, and while you get numerically less, they reward much more, giving bonuses for the class skills as well. Furthermore, the skills themselves are consolidated, with several being merged into one skill (such as Spot, Listen, and Search all being Perception now)

Furthermore, Classes had all been refined as well. Pathfinder introduced new versions of old abilities, such as making certain class abilities available for a number or rounds per day instead of daily uses of variable value that then run out, such as barbarian rages and bardic performances. Meanwhile, clerics gained the vastly superior channel energy, and if they actually wanted turning/rebuking undead in their arsenal, there were feats for it, and the system for doing so was simplified compared to the frankly absurd original system. And then there were quality of life tweaks like giving druids, paladins, and rangers options for not having animal companions (and making companions much more clear-cut), barbarian rage powers, rogue talents, and the like, and of course, giving sorcerers bloodlines to really help diversify them. (Not to mention giving sorcerers and wizards better hit dice so they don’t keep dying at first level.)

Meanwhile, while feats remain a core part of the system, they made little tweaks to old favorites and added important new options, including something as simple as “have another rogue talent” or “have more rage rounds per day”.

And spells! The spells in the Core Rulebook are pretty much all lifted from the PHB, but their design aesthetic was shifted, with save or die spells dealing massive damage instead of instant death (protecting player characters and monsters alike), while the polymorphing spells were much more balanced: adding set abilities at certain levels instead of just letting you become anything and potentially break the game with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Monster Manual, alongside other quality additions.

And moving on from the player-centric options, the GM stuff is somewhat stripped-down, but still very important, ranging from advice about how to build encounters to NPCs as well as general environmental rules and the like, all very fun and important stuff.

Throughout the book, the art also really helps convey the aesthetics and vibe of the world of Pathfinder, with not just primary Pathfinder artist Wayne Reynolds, but a dozen or so other artists as well. Additionally, the art helped bring to life the example “iconic” characters that became the stand-in representation of typical members of each class. Admittedly, a lot of this art is borrowed from the 3.5 books that came before it, but we’ll forgive that. It was their first book of an entirely new system, and that borrowed art was pretty dang good.

Additionally, each chapter sports an opening with a few paragraphs describing the scene of the chapter splash art, which really conveyed that the iconic heroes depicted therein were, you know, characters with personality, not just example art. Which I feel is an important thing when trying to depict a game where players are meant to bring their own characters to life. (I should note that Seltyiel, the iconic eldritch knight, and later magus, was the only one of the prestige classes to be considered a true iconic with his own lore, while the others were only just character art. Probably because he was specifically F. Wes Schneider’s baby).

Overall, the core rulebook has a lot going for it. It took everything we already knew from 3.5 and refined it to be less forcing players to build their characters in certain ways via punishment, and more rewarding them for choosing to build their characters a certain way, while also balancing and changing assumptions about certain feats, spells, magic items, and even the underpinning of how XP was awarded and NPCs were built. Not to mention all the effort to make it seem like the underpinning of a living world through the art and descriptions (name one thing about Pelor in D&D other than his domain list and the fact he’s a neutral good sun god. I dare you).

Now, that isn’t to say that it’s all peachy keen, though. In their efforts to make the core book mostly setting neutral, the core book fails to give more than a few paragraphs about the planes, which is fair, they were still hashing out their cosmology at the time. Additionally, a lot of the book’s novelty at the time was based on the changes that it had made to various otherwise familiar things. Some of that impact is lost if Pathfinder is the first RPG you pick up, and for all it’s simplifications, Pathfinder remains a very crunchy game with a lot of moving parts (I still get new players that struggle parsing the fact that “natural armor” is an entirely separate bonus and not a specific type of armor bonus), all of which can make it much more intimidating to get into compared to 5e (i.e., the one thing that 5e has over either edition of Pathfinder.)

And I think that will do for today. If there is any final thoughts I have, it’s that for it’s humble beginnings as a new system which was little more than a revision of an older one, the core rulebook was, and remains, an important lynchpin of the system (the core book being important? Shocking.), but as we do more of these reviews, we’ll also see how other books shaped the system and the lore. Look forward to more this week and in the future!

[whumpcereal]

behavior modification, part twenty-two

master list here. picks up where part twenty-one left off. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. thanks to my @oddsconvert and @darkthingshappen for the sprints that led to this getting turned out so quickly.

content warnings for: EXPLICIT noncon, conditioned whumpee, intimate whumpers, physical violence, broken bones, blood, negative self-talk, loss of consciousness, adult language

part twenty-two, a job well done

Jack spends the night in his basement cage, and Ivan does not clean him up. When he wakes to the sound of Ivan’s footsteps on the cement, his skin feels stiff and tacky, his hair brittle and ropey. But he doesn’t hurt. Not really. He’s used to it, isn’t he? 

He takes Ivan down without question, Ivan’s taste mingling with Seligman’s, and then he eats his yogurt from the spoon that Ivan brings to his lips. It doesn’t occur to him to reach for the spoon; he takes what he is given, and that is enough. 

“You did a good job last night, Jackie,” Ivan says, ruffling Jack’s hair. “A very good job.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jack rasps. His throat doesn’t feel quite right, and he is glad for another bite of cool yogurt; Ivan strokes the bulge of Jack’s Adam’s apple as he swallows. 

Ivan shrugs. “Praise for a job well done is always deserved.”

“Thank you,” Jack says again. 

He stares at his bare knees; he doesn’t remember the last time Ivan let him wear shorts. But it’s better that way. He is always ready, always accessible. That’s what’s important. 

Isn’t it?

This is the hardest time of day, when the drug begins to lift. There is a part of Jack that hates the anticipation of finding out how his day will be spent, a part of him that hates that he would rather be tucked between Ivan’s legs than left alone in his cage. It isn’t fair that those are the confines of his life. It isn’t fair that he is here. He squeezes his eyes shut as a memory from the night before rises unbidden. 

That’s right, Mr. Kenyon. You are the star pupil, aren’t you?

Jack flinches. He was, once. He was a person. He was going to be someone. Instead, he is something. 

But Jack knows better than to fight it. There’s no point. The only way out of this is to comply, to let himself be trained and taught. He should have realized that years ago. Maybe then, the lesson wouldn’t be so hard to learn. 

“Now, I thought we might change up our schedule today,” Ivan says, setting the spoon on the steel table with a tight clack! 

Jack’s stomach sinks. They do not deviate from the schedule. 

“Sir?” 

Ivan smooths Jack’s hair away from his forehead. “Do you remember much about last night, sweet boy?” 

Jack’s cheeks flush. Yes. He remembers. Sort of. At least, he knows what they did to him. What he let them do. 

His throat suddenly aches. 

“Yes, sir. I remember.” 

Ivan smiles. “That’s good, Jackie. You know, we haven’t talked much about the sedative and how it makes you feel. But you’re always such a good boy after you have your evening water, aren’t you?” 

“Yes, sir,” Jack whispers. 

“Do you think you can be a good boy without it?” 

Jack’s head bobs up. It’s the wrong thing to do–he isn’t supposed to look at Ivan–but he can’t help it. “What?” 

Ivan ignores the infraction, his fingers still playing with Jack’s matted hair. “Oh, you must not have heard us. Last night was a baseline reading, sweet boy. I know you’re a good boy when you’ve been dosed, but I don’t know for sure that your obedience holds up without it.” 

“I–” 

Ivan tips Jack’s jaw shut. “We’re not having a discussion, darling. I’m just preparing you. That’s kind of me, isn’t it?”

Jack’s head sinks between his shoulders. “Yes, sir. Very kind.” 

“That’s more like it.” Ivan smirks. “It’s important that we see the effect of our independent variable, isn’t it, Jackie?” 

“I promise–you don’t—you don’t have to–” 

“I don’t have to be so kind to you,” Ivan interrupts. “That’s true. But I do have the burden of completing basic research, and you, sweet boy, are my research assistant, aren’t you?”

Jack shakes his head. More like a guinea pig. A lab rat, he thinks. 

He wishes he couldn’t think. He wishes he could have his water, that he could float into the ether, that he could be done with this endless training and go home to Joe. No matter what’s waiting for him there, he will be good. He will prove to Joe that he’s worth the trouble he’s caused. 

“So, your job today is to try your very best to demonstrate the efficacy of our training protocol without any chemical intervention.” 

And the thing is, Jack knows he can do it. But just now, he doesn’t want to, and that scares him. He isn’t supposed to want for himself; he isn’t supposed to disagree. If he knows his own mind, everything will hurt so much more. 

“Jackie? You’re shaking.” 

“I’m sorry, sir,” he mumbles, grinding his hands against the cement floor. 

“Are you afraid, sweet boy?” 

Jack only stares at the floor. 

Ivan tucks his fingers beneath Jack’s chin and forces him to look up. Ivan’s hazel eyes are soft when they meet Jack’s. “Jackie, you can do this. I know you can. Don’t you want to be a good boy?” 

“Yes, sir,” Jack whispers. 

“I know you do. You’re such a strong boy. Such a smart boy. You did it last night, didn’t you?” 

“Yes.” Jack’s voice is barely audible, and he can feel tears starting to prick the backs of his eyes. He is not strong or smart. He is nothing and no one. 

“Then, you can do it again. There isn’t really any difference between last night and just now.” 

But there is a world of difference. Last night, Jack was safe in the blurry arms of the drug. He knew what was being done to him, but he couldn’t feel it, not really. Now, he will feel everything. He will know just how much he doesn’t want it. And that will make it so much harder. 

Which, Jack supposes, is the point. No one cares how or what he suffers. He isn’t a person anymore. 

“You’re safe, aren’t you?” Ivan says. He scratches behind Jack’s ear and thumbs at his cheekbone. 

Jack nods, even though he knows he isn’t safe at all. 

“That’s a good boy. Remember, you’re an instrument of pleasure, my darling. No one wants to hurt you. They only want to love you.” 

Another nod, but this time, Jack’s tears break free. One slips against Ivan’s thumb, and he brushes it away. It feels like love, but Jack knows that it isn’t. He knew what love was once. Or, at least, he thought he did. Maybe he wasn’t very good at it; maybe he misunderstood. Otherwise, he would be at home with Joe right now. 

The tears come faster. 

“Oh now, Jackie. You’re gorgeous like this, aren’t you?” 

Jack is supposed to say thank you, but he can’t seem to make the words come. Instead, he nuzzles against Ivan’s hip. It is as much gratitude for the compliment as it is a plea for mercy. 

“Aww,” Ivan chuckles. He strokes Jack’s dirty hair and down the back of his clammy neck. His fingers move over Jack’s collar, rubbing it against his scars and broken skin; Ivan hasn’t needed to deploy the collar in a long time, but Jack’s skin has never quite healed. “You’re remarkable, Jackie. You’ve made so much progress.” Ivan’s grip tightens, his thumb and forefinger squeezing hard at the base of Jack’s skull. “Don’t let me down now.” 

Jack hisses in pain. He tries to draw back from Ivan, but Ivan’s fingers only press harder against him.

“If you fail,” Ivan snarls, “I will make sure Joe knows it.”

“No!” Jack tries again to pull himself up; Ivan doesn’t give. “I’ll be good! I promise I’ll–” 

Ivan yanks Jack’s head backward by his hair. “Yes, you will be. Or it’ll be the hood and the sack; we’ll have to start all over. And who knows if Joe will be willing to wait.” 

Jack can’t stop crying. He doesn’t understand. What Ivan’s asking him to do–no, what Ivan is forcing him to do–is something Joe would never expect of Jack. How can this be what Joe wants for him? 

But Jack should know better than to be so selfish. What Joe wants is all that matters, and Jack did not give it to him before. All that Jack is supposed to want is to make Joe happy. If this will make Joe happy, he will do it. 

He just thought that Joe wanted him to be happy too. 

And maybe that’s what the trouble is. What makes Jack happy should be making Joe happy. Jack should be glad to perform whatever service is required. Glad that someone loves him enough to try and make him better. He isn’t worth it; that much he knows. He should be grateful. 

Why isn’t he grateful? Why does this hurt so badly? 

“Now, stop your crying, sweet boy. Are you ready for Dr. Seligman to join us?” 

Jack is not ready, but it doesn’t matter. He does not matter. Better if he accepts that. Better to stop fighting. Ivan is right. 

Jack swipes his forearm over his face with a sniff. “Yes, sir.” 

“Good!” Ivan slides his chair backward and reaches down to take Jack’s hand. “Let’s get you up and ready, sweet boy. Position one, right there in the middle of the floor. Look sweet and show Dr. Seligman how good you are.” 

Jack lets himself be pulled to his feet, and he accepts the kiss that Ivan presses to his cheek without comment. Ivan runs his hands over Jack’s bare arms until he reaches Jack’s hands, and then he laces Jack’s fingers together in front of him. 

“Stay, Jackie. Just like that.” 

Jack stays, and Ivan disappears up the stairs; unlike the night before, he locks the door behind him. 

Jack wants to break to his knees. He wants to bury his face in his hands and cry until he doesn’t feel anything at all. But he is a good boy. He stays on his feet, and he stares blankly at the concrete wall in front of him. He will not move. He has to be a good boy, or Joe will never want him again. 

But Jack isn’t usually left alone with his thoughts. Normally, he is plugged or drugged or caged or teased. Just now, it is quiet. Just now, he can think. And for the first time, Jack wonders if he wants Joe. How can he face Joe again, knowing the way Joe’s lied to him? 

Jack stares hard at an eye fixture that juts from the wall. He’s been tethered to that eye a few times. Leashed like a dog. Because that’s what Joe thinks of him. What Joe expects him to be. 

Jack swallows a sob and digs his fingernails into his knuckles. He should have known better than to trust anyone. He should have known that he would never be worth more than his body can offer. It’s always been that way, and now, he knows, it will never change. 

The door swings open again, and Jack straightens his spine. He won’t fight. There isn’t any point. If this is his life, he may as well accept it. 

“Here he is,” Ivan sing-songs. 

Seligman bustles up to Jack, taking a handful of Jack’s ass and giving it a squeeze. “Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed are we, Mr. Kenyon?”

“Yes, sir,” Jack answers, letting his eyes fall to the floor again. He knows the rules. He will follow them. He is a strong boy. A smart boy. A good fucking boy. But there are still tears in his eyes, and they burn. 

“Our Jackie’s very brave,” Ivan says, flanking Jack’s other side. “And he’s going to be a very good boy, even without extra help, isn’t he?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Excellent,” Seligman says with a smile. “You know, Jack, that what we’re asking you to do is something that all Romantics need to be able to handle, don’t you? Often, owners like to share their pets' gifts with others. Really, this is an opportunity for you to show off.” 

Jack closes his eyes, trying to ignore the twist in his stomach. There are no limits, he realizes, no bounds. He really is the whore Bill always told him he would be. 

Fine then. If that’s all he will ever be, he’ll be a good one. 

Jack nods again, even as his chest tightens. “Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.” 

Ivan kisses his cheek. “I knew you would come around, sweet boy.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

Ivan moves behind Jack, running a firm hand over Jack’s chest and pulling Jack flush against him. Jack can feel Ivan’s arousal against his ass, and he grinds backward–not hard, but enough that he knows Ivan will be pleased with his initiative. Ivan chuckles softly and lets his hand trail over Jack’s belly and down to his groin. 

“If you’re very good, Jackie,” Ivan whispers in his ear, “I’ll make sure you’re rewarded.” 

Jack is already hard; his mind and body are losing track of one another. He forces himself to swallow the lump in his throat and lets out a soft moan of almost-pleasure. 

“I’ll be good, sir. I want to be good.” 

Jack can feel his heart squeezing inside of him, but he ignores it. Let it break. He doesn’t need it anymore. 

“I know you do.” Ivan’s teeth sink into Jack’s earlobe, and Jack cries out. “That’s it.” A warm hand slips over Jack’s cock. “Aren’t I good to you, Jackie?” 

“Yes, sir,” Jack pants. 

“Do I have to be?” Ivan picks up speed. 

“No, sir!” 

“That’s right. Now, bend over, sweet boy. There won’t be any preparation this time. Show me how good you can be.” 

Jack folds over, and almost instantly, Ivan breaches his entrance. Jack cries out, but it is the wrong thing to do. Seligman doesn’t wait, doesn’t make any request; while Jack is screaming, the other man shoves inside of Jack’s mouth. For the first time in months, Jack gags, but Seligman only thrusts harder, shoving his way past the base of Jack’s tongue and into his throat. 

It wasn’t like this yesterday. 

There is only pain, and this time, Jack cannot escape from it. He tries to let his mind go, to surrender, but it is too much. Both men are moving to their own erratic rhythm; Jack feels like he’s being ground into a paste, like all that will be left of him when they are done is a lump of boneless flesh. Even so, Ivan’s hand doesn’t stop moving around him. Jack is supposed to be grateful, but it hurts. 

This is who I am, Jack tries to remind himself in between panicked breaths. This is all I am good for. This. This. This. He closes his eyes, but they pop open again when Seligman’s pubis slams into his nose. 

This time, it is his body that resists; his mind is a knot of animal panic. Jack’s hands flail wildly, slapping at Seligman’s gut, but it throws him off balance, and he chokes. Seligman doesn’t stop moving, and Jack coughs, trying to expel the intrusion in his mouth, but Seligman only seizes Jack by the hair, keeping him in place. The edges of Jack’s vision start to tunnel. His hands reach out again, scrabbling now, but Ivan reaches for them and pinions them against Jack’s tailbone. Ivan’s hips shove forward again, brutal and hard, and Jack’s face explodes with pain. He tastes his own blood the next time Seligman thrusts forward. He can’t even try to scream; any will he might have had has been pushed and prodded somewhere so deep inside that he may never reach it again. 

And then, Jack is gone. His knees buckle, and even though they do not let him fall, even though Ivan and Seligman brace his limp body, Jack isn’t there at all.

taglist: @oddsconvert, @darkthingshappen, @whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump, @sparrowsage, @aut0psy1, @mylifeisonthebookshelf, @termsnconditions-apply, @darlingwhump, @squishablesunbeam, @dont-be-gentle-please, @deltaxxk, @irishwhiskeygrl, @keeper-of-all-the-random-things, @hold-him-down, @peachy-panic, @whumpyblogthing, @sowhumpful, @considerablecolors, @ramadiiiisme, @sunnie, @sadboysanonymous, @panic-whump

[android-and-ale]

Historian's Perspective on Vulcan Time Zones

This was supposed to be a quick response to something on a Discord. As you can see it turned into 750 words on the history of Earth time measurement, time zones, and my opinion of how and why Vulcans would use time zones. If you're into Vulcan vs Human cultural minutia, enjoy diving down this rabbit hole with me!

Vulcans, with their canon innate sense of time, would in fact still have time zones - but they wouldn’t use them the way we do today.

Here on Earth, time zones were a secondary effect of trains. Before trains, people had a lot of different means of telling time, but they mostly revolved around dawn and dusk. You can still see that today in Jewish and Muslim timekeeping. We’re in the month of Ramadan right now. Fasting is from LOCAL dawn to local dusk, not the time of those events in Mecca. Shabbat starts at local dusk on Friday night. The whole idea of tying human time to precise minutes would be nonsensical for pretty much everyone living before the industrial revolution.

Hours also used to be variable in length, based around good old dawn and dusk. So for the Romans the “first hour” was literally the first hour after dawn. They divided the daylight into 12 hours (because Sumerian math is persistent AF). During summer, one “hour” was about 75 modern minutes long, while during winter, one hour was 45 minutes long. An hour was a division of daylight, not a collection of minutes.

Up until the industrial revolution this was fine. If you needed precise timing for a chemical reaction there were surprisingly accurate measuring devices, but those weren’t applied to everyday life. 

Christian church bells and Muslim Adhan calls to prayer followed the dawn to dusk modified hour system to let people know what time it was. In Christian literature, you find a ton of references to different churches hourly bells tolling for a solid 3-5 minutes back to back. 

It was part of the rhythm of the day. Many church clocks didn’t even have minute hands, because yo didn’t need them. In daily life, you honestly didn’t need to know anything more precise than “half” or maybe “quarter” past a specific hour.

Time zones as we know them were literally invented by train companies. It was the only way to ensure the trains ran on time. You can find tons of contemporary writing about how “two of the clock” could mean damn near anything. If you’re trying to get meat butchered this morning in Chicago to New York city on quickly melting slabs of ice so it’ll arrive in time to be taken to shops and sold before it spoils, you really need your trains to run on a dependable schedule. 

So I say:

1) Vulcans would have time zones because they are the most logical means of scheduling long distance transportation and distribution. 

2) Local time has little to do with time zones. Vulcans in canon have an innate sense of time in a way we humans do not, so really, the point of time zones is just ensuring transportation and distribution networks are efficient.

3) Nimoy infused a lot of Judaism into the lore of Vulcans. As such I think their innate time sense would also be tied to a dawn-to-dusk schedule. (The modern idea of starting a new “day” in the middle of a late night sleep cycle is very weird and totally ahistorical.)  Therefore Local time is still linked to dawn and dusk. It’s also useful to know what time dawn and dusk are for people halfway around the world. That way you can efficiently schedule meetings with them at mutually convenient times. Once more, we come back to time zones. 

If you want a real world example of how No Time Zones fucks you up, look at China. There is officially One Time Zone in all of China, even though geographically it would be cut into 9 if you followed the same lines everyone else uses. That means a normal meeting at 10 am for someone in Bejing is at what we would consider 1 am at the furthest point west. But 1 am is legally “10 am” for them. If you don’t have to deal with Bejing on the regular, then the clock numbers have zero correlation with the way people in those places actually live their lives. 

I suspect what a lot of people really object to is daylight savings time. 

Vulcans who use local dawn and dusk to define their days would find this equally nonsensical. 

Now if you want to get weird with it, you could make all VSA starships use ShiKhar Central Time, regardless of where the crew is from. 

[rootvegetableboy]

cm dev log #10 - august 2024

happy september, everyone! i burned the shit out of my dominant hand this month, so, things weren’t necessarily as productive as i would’ve liked… but progress was still made for sure :)

here are a few things i worked on in august!

player death:

i did this at the very beginning of the month, as it was one of a few things necessary to release my first playtest. (more on that later!) like a lot of things i put off for months because i thought they’d be way difficult, this was a lot simpler than i’d thought it would be.

there are not a lot of moving parts to this! when your hp reaches zero, your player object is destroyed, and the death screen fades in. pressing enter at the death screen will reload your most recent save.

cutscenes and dialogue:

previously, conversations and dialogue in the game were pretty static, so i introduced an object called “obj_camerashift”. when called, this object can move both the camera & which direction the player is facing, giving the effect of the player “looking” at certain things mid-conversation.

i made a few other small changes to some dialogue-handling objects, as well. the aiming/shooting cursor now disappears when a textbox is on screen—i found being able to move the mouse around during conversations a little distracting, and i think it looks a lot more seamless this way. i also implemented an object that keeps track of plot/story related variables! surely i will not use intimate knowledge of the player’s actions against them :)

arson?

you can now set fires

fun for the whole family!

playtest one?!?!

do you guys remember last month when i said “i would love for people to playtest within the next couple months”

well… i actually moved way quicker than i was expecting and released playtest one at the beginning of august! i put out some feelers for who all would be interested back in july and was able to get a bunch of people to participate and share their feedback with me. i’ve been hearing a lot from fellow game devs about how important early and frequent playtesting is, and now i can finally say, with pride:

oh my god i get it. i am WAYYY to close to the trees. and i am so, so unbelievably grateful to everyone who took the time to test, because it really opened my eyes and gave me a much clearer picture of where things are at. let’s take a look at what people thought, and most importantly, what i learned! :)

standard enemies:

i chose to go with a goldilocks-style rating scale for the post-playtest survey. i felt like this would help me focus on the individual player’s perception and experience, because i had a lot of different ranges of skill level in playtesters. (my partner defeated the miniboss on their first try, but to my knowledge almost no other player was able to do this!)

this is a summary of responses about the difficulty of the small-scale enemies. i found it helpful to switch back and forth between the summary of all responses and individual responses when analyzing data, as often people would explain what occurence led to what choice. for example, i had one person rate Bug entirely “just right” for every category, and they explained in their written response that they enjoyed the threat level that the speed of the bug posed. i had another person rate Bug’s overall power & movement speed as “too difficult” for the same reason cited: the enemy’s speed! however, the person who found it too difficult also expressed that they don’t have much practice on keyboard&mouse games. you can start see where dev decisions start to get both more simple and more complex with access to all this info…

the summary of all responses is very helpful for analysis of overall player trends, though. i was pleasantly surprised that people tended towards finding the snake a little too easy overall (i <3 making things more difficult). i wasn’t expecting people to be so divided on the bug’s damage, so that’s one of the categories where teasing out individual responses is a little more helpful.

miniboss:

this is the most beautiful graph in the entire world to me right now.

the clear overall trend towards “just right” is so exciting for a first playtest!! it’s also a huge relief to know that the core gameplay is legitmately enjoyable. i had several people express that the miniboss fight felt rewarding because they were able to watch themselves get better at it. that feeling is exactly what i’m going for in terms of difficulty, because it’s one of my favorite feelings to have: knowing that it’s not any special levelling or number getting me through the fight, it’s just me and my skill.

though it’s really exciting to read about the aspects people enjoyed, i got a lot of insight from those that found this too easy or difficult as well. one person who found the fight too difficult suggested a small wait (”a breath or two”, they said!) between attack patterns, as they were getting very quickly overwhelmed. (i think this is a great idea!) i had another person who found the fight a little too easy in every category, and mentioned that they were able to complete the entire fight without using the player dodge mechanic at all. this is interesting to me because a lot of the people who seemed to struggle with the combat struggled with using the dodge mechanic specifically. actually, this is a pretty good segue…

player:

testers were rating the relative strength/weakness of each category offered here as opposed to “difficulty”. though, it’s sort of the same thing in this case…

anyway, as you can see, the dodge was pretty divisive.

i believe there’s multiple issues here that are compounding each other. the first is the dodge animation: it was very quickly drawn and i don’t think it gives anything in the way of juice or satisfaction to use. it’s also not even really an animation, i just change the player sprite to a static image depending on what direction they’re facing. because of this, there isn’t a clear “beginning of dodge → end of dodge” visual progression, so i think players get confused on when they’re actually invulnerable.

the second issue is the timed length of the dodge itself. playtesters only got 15 frames (or a quarter of a second) of invulnerability, which is just really difficult to consistently execute. this is especially affected by another issue about the player i had several people point out: the player hitbox was much taller than it was wide, so dodging attacks that were coming at you vertically became especially hard to pull off.

rest assured, playtesters, i have heard your cries! i have already changed the length of the dodge to 22 frames (a little more than a third of a second) and squashed the player hitbox significantly shorter. a full dodge animation is on the list of things to draw as well—hopefully these changes will help.

so it was less of a “work on actual game content” month and more of a “pace back and forth across my apartment thinking very hard about survey results” month. i’m glad it went this way though! it gave my hand some time to heal and gave me a lot to think about. i’m excited to tackle september. i don’t think i’ll do another playtest for at least a few more months, though… it was a lot of work to set up…

as a final note, in two months project cm will be one year in development… i’m thinking i will reveal the name of the game at that point. it could be nice to know what “cm” stands for…

that’s all for the august log. see you in a month!

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0012

Hm. Turns out that temporary stat changes are slightly more complicated than I thought they would be I’m sure I’ll figure it out—it’s probably as easy as having a constant I can reference and then using a variable to adjust it from within the status effect—but it’s not there yet. Since the code for the status effects runs every frame, if I get the formulas wrong I’ll absolutely nuke the target’s stats into the dirt, which isn’t ideal.

After last week’s success with the Burn status I quickly threw together the Bleed status effect, a stronger version of Burn. This status is special in that it’s exclusive to Critical Hits, providing more payoffs to that playstyle.

Speaking of the Critical Hit system, I adjusted that code to make it a bit more robust, and to allow it to interact with the rest of the damage code, allowing me to create other payoffs that trigger when you land a critical hit, for example, the bleed status, or healing the player.

Around this time I encountered a bizarre glitch that crashed the game if I shot a destructible crate, something that isn’t currently in any builds but that I implemented ages ago. At the time I couldn’t figure out what was causing it, but I ended up fixing it later incidentally while fixing another game crashing problem.

With no idea what’s causing the crate problem I continued working on the upgrades that I’d been working on already, the ones I mentioned a moment ago: healing on Crits and inflicting Bleed on Crits. I also added the upgrades that allow you to actually inflict Burn status, as well as an upgrade that increases your chances of inflicting a Status Effect.

Around this point I remembered/discovered that due to the fact that my bullets and explosions share a damage code, explosions now crash the game because they lack about 90% of the functionality that bullets have now. Fixing this was simple but took me a bit longer than I’d like. All I did was add a few conditional statements that made sure the relevant variables existed before trying to call them. For some reason this also fixed the crate problem.

I am now, however, faced with a problem. Certain upgrades are only meant to be acquired once, such as the added Burn status. You can’t add that twice. I thought I already had a way around this, but I don’t actually think it will work the way I want it to. The way that I shuffle the upgrades is by storing them all inside of an array which I can then randomize into a temporary copy of the array, allowing me to use a reference to the original array, ensuring they do the thing they’re supposed to do. I think that the solution I was already planning on using will still work, but in a slightly more roundabout way.

Much like how I store the name, description, and effect of each upgrade as a variable so I can reference them later when the player gets them, I intend on having a variable that checks how many times the player can get any one upgrade, and then go through the array and remove any that can no longer be chosen. If I remove them from the main array, their positions will shift and the variable references won’t work, but I should be able to remove them from the temporary array that shuffles them all.

We’re almost at the end of June now; this is the last DevLog before July, which means sometime this week I’ll have the next build posted and the next What We Can Learn article.

No rest for the wicked.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my Tier 3 Patrons, Haelerin and Christos Kempf!

Support me on Patreon

[olderthannetfic]

Alright I got kinda a bananas questions for you, but how much time do you think should be divided up between work, hobbies and people. Actually wait more specifically what do you think is a good goal to just sit down and do work, but like actually doing work. Like sitting down for 90 minutes and finishing something not working on said thing for 5 hours then finish it. Over the past couple years I kinda erm, just sorta stopped? My mental health has steadily going to shit and covid fucked that all to hell and I was spending so much time in what was essentially a state of panic(didn’t realize it at the time, but that’s essentially what was happening) that I was too exhausted to do anything and just kind of stopped. I didn’t realize it the time but now that I’m finally getting better Ive noticed how little I was doing and how doing little really negatively effects me. Its become a good marker for me to check that I’ve been actually painting, seeing friends, going for a swim but sometimes it still all goes belly up and I’m trying to figure out what is a good goal.(and whats a good marker for when fucking up) Like a realistic long term goal I can strive for and keep track of. I could real easily just say “go for a swim everyday” but that feels unrealistic. In fact I put exercise in same spot as painting so it would be more like “do hobby for an hour a day” but even that feels like a lot. The thought of that feels exhausting so at least for me it should probs be do hobby thing at least 5 times week. Big goal is to swim 3 times and paint twice or vice a versa. its just hard to do that and then I’ll feel like crap and then notice that I haven’t exercised at all for 8 days and I just don’t move around enough to do that. I’m like a dog or walking house plant that needs to go outside and move around for sunshine and blood flow otherwise I start to physically and mentally feel awful. Its just hard to notice you know? Ugh its annoying because there’s so much shit. Its not just that I need some kinda exercise I also need to do some kinda hobby thing for me and other shit that I like to do. And that isn’t even including the work I need to do. I wasn’t even working before I cannot express enough how much of “doing nothing” I was doing. I’m doing better know with meds and therapy and what not and it is helping but I’ll still get home at 7 and just look at my phone and do some combo of read fanfictin/ play sudoko till I get tired and fall asleep. Then I wake up and shocking, I’m still on bullshit. Sometimes its feels to much to shower (at least with that one I know that I can get away with one at most 2 days with out shower so if I didn’t shower the day before I can mostly just force myself into the shower) that’s what I’m trying to figure out for everything else so I can look at my self force my self to stop looking at phone and paint a shitty flower or something. I was doing pretty good but The other week I house sitter for a friend and was immediately back on bullshit. I barely left her apartment the entire time I was there I’m sure that if I actually went to class, got exercise, painted (I brought all my paints then did fuck all) I would have been able to get more work done. I think Im only actually productive when I’m actually getting up and doing crap. I’m in a contact state of “working” and doing nothing but time is moving forward. I have no idea what this anon is. Ugh whatever I’ll submit it anyway

TL;DR trying to be better at actually do stuff and not doing fuck all. Any idea on what’s a good goal to strive for and what’s a good marker for shits getting fuck go for a walk

--

Social time is going to be extremely variable. I'm an extrovert and thus lots of social time is no problem. I also do okay not seeing people though as long as I'm busy.

Exercise should be prioritized above most other things, much as I hate this. You should be doing something basically every day. I agree that swimming is likely not realistic on that schedule, but maybe a walk around the block? It sucks, but forcing yourself to get off your ass every day will help with the rest of it. Also, exercise that takes you out of the house, even if only briefly, requires that you put on clothes, which is also helpful.

Get off of social media. If you're having trouble managing things, now is the time to take a break from anything that involves doom scrolling and time just disappearing.

(I say from my bed where I'm wearing the dirty sweatshirt I slept in and no pants while answering asks instead of working on my next novel. Hmm...)

It's obviously important to you to prioritize painting, but I see the difficulty there: you have to get set up and clean up afterwards, and you can't leave paints sitting around or they dry out. I'd try to schedule one longer session per week for now. If you have something else like sketching, you can schedule more frequent shorter sessions because that's easier to pick up and put down without a lot of prep/cleanup.

I do find little morning rituals like making tea helpful. They pry me out of bed and add some structure to my day.

[supportivecircle]

Sonic Wisps Warlock Patron Homebrew Part 1: Level Features

I recently posted about the Sonic-themed DnD Campaign I ran over the past year (and some few months in 2020 before a year break). If you’re in the center of that venn diagram of “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Dungeons and Dragons”, know that you are not alone and I am here for you my sweet angel chao (tiny celestial, lawful good). Good ol’ Circle Dad has some content to quench the thirst of content for us weirdos. In the post I showed a snippet of the Warlock Patron subclass for the wisp alien creatures of Sonic, directly inspired by Whisper the Wolf, and to be used by one of my players who was drawn to the  warlock class. I can’t confidently say how balanced it turned out. Outside of any major stuff that was already adjusted in the document as we played, I don’t think it was too crazy, but the player was not a veteran DnD player who could probably find stuff to break here. I’ll post the individual pages and give some blurbs about how they shaped up in practice.

So starting off, the expanded spell list. The player immediately took to the flavor of Chaos Bolt, but if I recall I don’t believe they took any others from the list outside of Haste, and we had gotten up to player level 9, so they had the whole list to pick from. Spiritual Weapon I wasn’t sure of, and never got to effectively test outside of Whisper herself using it early on at a lower level, it wasn’t too crazy cause its damage scales every 2nd level and Warlocks only get 2 slots per short rest so they’d be dedicating their resource to a longer damage over time spell compared to a full on Lightning Bolt. The flavor is perfect though for people who like to get creative with integrating wisps into the weapon appearance. Creativity was the main goal with this subclass because I knew the player would want options without being overtly super powered. The Variable Wispon feature gives them a similar function to the Order of Scribes Wizard in allowing for damage swapping of spells. In theory, this allows for lots of fun flavoring of spells to match the different wisps energies. In practice, it was good, but my player also made it a goal to never repeat a wisp between short rests and to cycle through them cause they loved their wisps equally. Some wisps will probably be more appealing in general to players who are looking to capitalize on gameplay vs character flavor and RP. It could be adjusted to have a limit per day of how many element swaps you can do if its a problem. Easy fall back is always Prof+CHA per Long Rest if it’s a problem for whatever reason. Maybe keep it free to use on EB so the player can always have that feel of their subclass playing a role. A personal note for knock-on effects of this ability is that the player felt a bit of freedom in picking spells because it was no longer having to so much look at damage types, but rather what the spell straight up did. Fireball vs. Lightning Bolt has the element taken out of the equation and for the player it became about damage, AoE, durations, and extra effects. Certain spells became more appealing because they wouldn’t be locked behind an unwanted damage type. The flavor we used was the same as how Whisper’s weapon functioned of the wisp flying into the gun, and turning the handle knobs to get different effects n stuff. Mechanically, a Warlock can still cast spells without their focus, so if a player is found without their focus in combat it can be flavored as the Wisps just unleashing direct hell on enemies compared to focusing through the gun. If your player ends up upgrading their focus or being given a new experimental version, it will make sense thematically that raw Wisp spells are weaker because their focus will have a +1/+2/+3 and be built to enhance them. Food for thought.

So the rest of the subclass features. Level 6 is where the Wisp Patron is meant to pop off and change gameplay style substantially. Unfortunately, this is rather late if you are starting at Level 1, and until this moment, most of the subclass’ feature is the element swapping. For someone like me, I’m straight pogging. I have an Order of Scribes Wizard already penned up entirely for the next campaign I’m playing in and I’m all about modifying spell descriptions. For others, it could be underwhelming. There is a “solution” later in the document in the form of an invocation that gives 2 free uses per long rest. I put “solution” in quotes because in all the games I’ve played in with my friend groups, warlocks get the Agonizing Blast invocation as a core-kit feature because of how integral it has become in the modern Warlock equation. So logically, having AB frees up an Invocation slot for something like this to let the player have more fun with bonus actions/wisp stuff outside of reflavoring spells. There’s a lot going on with the wisps in this, I wanted the Color Powers to be fun but not amazingly strong, they are meant to be half-spells as you’ll see in the following pages. We didn’t get to Level 10 but it’s a damage resistance it’s nothing insane. There’s flexibility in it cause it’s the name of the game for this subclass. I followed the general pattern of Warlocks having a defensive feature at 10, and some flavorful cool stuff at 14, which in this case is mostly aping off the big damage of stuff like Fiend but with a Blind feature as opposed to “disappear for a turn as you hurtle through Pinhead’s summer home”. Blind can be rough against some enemies, but this late in the game, a lot of tougher enemies might also just have Blindsight. Like I said I can’t say how balanced a lot of this is in the average game. 

I’m not going to go into all the Wisp Powers in this post, but I wanted to post a little teaser of one of the pages, cause I really like how it turned out visually. There’s four pages of these to look forward to, along with the accompanying blurbs. I’ll post that part tomorrow. I’ve got a lot to say about how some of them turned out in practice, and almost nothing to say about some others that didn’t get used cause it wasn’t in that player’s playstyle. When the whole thing has been uploaded across three posts (Level Features, Color Powers, Invocations+Familiar), I’ll post the whole PDF in its entirety, or just a link to a copy of the Google Docs file so people can copy it and edit it in browser as needed on their own. I don’t know jack about using the images from the comic, but I ain’t making any cash off this and it was just meant to be a little homemade subclass with spruced up visuals. Hope that’s all good. Please don’t come at me SEGA I’m just a little circle guy im jus a small widdle circle noooo im just a little birthday boyyyyyy nooooo.

[l-e-morgan-author]

Writing Newsletter #2: April 2024

Still not figured out website hosting, so this is still on here. I also haven't edited the two stories I plan to provide as a signup gift, so that's not ready yet. Anyway, if you want to be on the taglist for this monthly newsletter, say the word and I'll add you.

Writing update

My main project is still Patience, Changing. The mental health aspect to it has been more pronounced in the last few weeks, although my writing has been variably swift. I’ve enjoyed getting to know my characters, and am eager to work on more that fleshes them out after I’ve finished with this; I’ll probably write a novella about both Connie and Hannah at some point. Novellas are an incredibly freeing medium: they can be filled with Plot, or they can just be a whole lot of vibes packed together. They won’t be the Best Novella Ever, of course, but it does give a chance to explore vibes without necessarily having a significant amount of plot going on.

I’m getting closer and closer to Hannah’s death. I know I’m going to have to go back and write her properly into the story, since she barely occurs and her death is going to have a significant effect on Patience. I’m not looking forward to writing it, but anyway. It has to be.

As far as word count goes, I’m up to 115k total, being around 35k written since last month. Most of that is on the novel, with some drabble work (some of them shared and some put in the novel so effectively serving double duty) and a couple of specific scenes from different planned novellas (like the one I wrote for the Furious Fiction that didn’t get anywhere but I’m pretty happy with—that’s 500 words or fewer). My momentum is not as strongly forward carrying as it was, but I think that’s just something that varies anyway. I’ll be glad when I finish this novel; I hope to finish writing it this month and then do further work on novellas while I let it rest, or perhaps back to the Inklings story I am tentatively titling Metamorphosis of a Girl, Hadassah’s story. I could go back to Hands Made for Gentleness, but that may be darker than I should be looking at at present. I’m not entirely sure what this month will bring, hence.

Reading update

Since last month, I’ve read a bit more of Walking on Water and Cry of the Raven. I’m loving both of them. I’ve also completed Wintergirls (a reread—an excellent though disturbing book), Billabong Adventurers (reread—one of my favourite books), Billabong’s Daughter (reread—also one of my favourites), The Sound of Music (another reread—and one I absolutely loved, more than I expected) and Captain Jim (another reread—the Billabong books again).

So all of the books I’ve read recently have been rereads, but I’m really enjoying them. I’m currently reading From Billabong to London, Cry of the Raven, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Walking on Water.

Ramble

Oh hello, it’s the ramble section again. My mental health has been comparatively amazing lately, which helps with some things but means that I’m not doing as much “aaaaa I’m feeling So Bad let me Write The Pain Away”, which is… both good and bad. It’ll take a bit to adjust to feeling Like This (positively), and I’m still struggling with motivation and all that (in part because, interestingly enough, a lot of my motivation in the past has been stress-related, and now that I’m not as stressed (either that or Too Stressed) I’m not sure how to motivate myself).

I’m sure I’ll figure something out here presently. Anyway, please contact me and let me know what works best or what you’d most like to see! I need the advice.

Drabble

I Will Be With You

I need someone to guide me, Connie wrote in her diary. I need someone who I can believe to tell me that it’s okay to care about myself. I know all the stuff the psych says about being worthy of attention and love but I don’t believe it. I need someone to believe in me, I think. But I don’t know how to find someone who’ll do that in a way I won’t just discard what they say like I do so many people. I need someone who’ll be there. But then again—they say the sun rises every day.

No photo of Ransom this time, sorry!

[eldritchsurveys]

1180.

1. Do you enjoy rhododendrons? >> Sure, they're very pretty.

2. Have you ever met someone who supports Nazism? >> On the internet, yeah. Fortunately not in meatspace where they can actually do something to me. 3. If you’ve ever been to another country, what was the best thing you did there? .

4. Which is your favorite print: Plaid, animal, stripes, spots, other? >> Plaid is the one I dislike the least...

5. Have you ever owned a cell phone for over a year? If so, was it still working well? >> There is no way I would voluntarily get a new phone after less than a year. That is horrifying to me.

6. What’s the worst sickness you’ve ever had? >> Food poisoning. Also, the sickness that comes with bad menstrual cramps.

7. What do you enjoy more: Fairs or circuses? .

8. Is your favorite animal something you can have as a pet? . 9. Are you good at gardening? >> I am not because I don't practice it.

10. What was the last classic novel you read? Did you enjoy it? >> Hmm... I have no idea. 11. Do you think you would actually read any of the epic poems, such as Beowulf or The Iliad? >> Probably not. 12. Are you the type of person who feels guilty after eating junk food? >> I don’t feel guilty after eating anything. God, what a concept. :/

13. Tell me about a time when you felt like you had no real friends: >> I always feel like that. It might be a side effect of having no fulfilling friendships (aside from Sparrow, I suppose, but the "fulfilling" part is, uh, variable).

14. Have you ever felt betrayed by someone? If so, what did they do to make you feel that way? >> Possibly. I never use this term so I don't have an associated memory handy.

15. Which is better: Xbox 360 or PS3? Or are you someone who doesn’t care? >> I don’t have an opinion.

16. Have you gotten registered to vote yet? >> I am registered.

17. What do you like best about your favorite actor? How about favorite actress? >> Usually what makes an actor a favourite for me is that they do something to me, viscerally. It's something like attraction, I suppose. Certainly as hard to explain.

18. Tell me how you’re feeling in another language: .

19. Would you rather drink water all day or Coca Cola all day? >> Water. I rarely drink Coke in the first place.

20. Name three movies which have a soundtrack you really love: >> Requiem for a Dream, Speak No Evil (2022), Sunshine.

21. Do you think Gatorade tastes refreshing or just gross? >> I don't know, I haven't had Gatorade in years.

22. What’s the scariest video game you’ve ever played? .

23. Do either of your parents get angry over small things? . 24. What is the most dramatic TV show that you watch? >> I don't really know how to measure this. I mean, Riverdale is basically a soap opera, so I guess that? 25. Do you still watch VHS tapes? >> I have not watched those since the early aughts. 26. Have you ever visited one of the states that doesn’t have sales tax? Was it a nice change? >> I have not.

27. Have you ever had Dutch Brothers’ coffee? >> I have not.

28. What are your grandparents like? Are they nice or mean? . 29. Do you own any pet fish? What kind of fish are they? .

30. Do you have a turntable and vinyls that you regularly play? >> I do have these things but I don't regularly use them. It's just so much more of a hassle to do so than it is to just play Spotify. Also, I don't think my record player has Bluetooth capability and I usually listen to music through wireless headphones.

31. What is the most irritating thing that a boyfriend or girlfriend has ever done to you? >> I am so easily irritated by people that this is impossible to determine, lol.

32. Have you ever thrown up from being so nervous? What was happening that made you so nervous? >> I have not.

33. Would you rather be uncomfortable but fashionable or comfortable but unfashionable? >> I will always choose to be comfortable, but I don't think that excludes me from being fashionable. It just requires some cleverness.

34. When was the last time you took your pet to the vet? What was wrong with it? . 35. Have you ever known someone who was in an abusive relationship? >> Well, yeah. Unfortunately, that is extremely common.

36. If you smoke/drink/do drugs, do you feel insulted when someone tells you that it’s bad for you? >> If someone tried to tell me that, I would be extremely irritated at best. I am quite capable of evaluating personal risk and making informed decisions, thank you.

37. Do you like skiing or snowboarding? >> I have never done this. 38. Do you find government buildings dreary and uncomfortable? >> Sometimes, but mostly I don't think about them at all.

39. Name the last horror story you read. If you can’t remember any, name the last horror movie you saw. >> A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck. It's a novella about a Tower of Babel situation, pretty neat.

40. What happened the last time you were embarrassed? .

[slimmestslime]

funny au information NOW [launching furniture via telekinesis]

MY FUCKING HOUSE. IT IS IN SHAMBLES

also your wish is my command. prepare for a wall

for things to make sense, i should give background on the spearheader of the au. aka, why the au even fucking exists. and once i do THAT then i’ll explain it so its not just. “ok how the fuck did this happen”

so to get it out of the way. i have this very particular oc, Tuppoi, whom i post abt on and off but ive never really explained. mainly due to the fact that if i were to explain her properly then any post would become the equivalent of the great firewall of china. but for au’s sake i’ll summarize what the fuck she is, how she do, and how she created another timeline. aka this au

tuppoi came from an AAHW cloning batch that uses fuckn, dna samples from prior to marshmellow madness when animals theoretically existed. there were 3 others in her batch but we’re only focusing on Fuckhead right now. her sample contained mostly lizard & skink dna, and some chromosome fuckery later, heres why she has four hands. some dissension shit later of “this job fucking SUCKS” and her technical brother was wounded in the crossfire of escaping, while also being slapped into a coma due to tuppoi’s own medical malpractice. she cant Medicbag. this caused her to want to revive him, so she put her talent of technical machinery to use and started to produce weaponry to raise funds to bring em back. this wasn’t enough though, so she switched to android manufacturing. many monopoly money later and she’s risen to the top where she can start asking around for those to revive her brother. which, smthn abt a fragmented S3LF later, she decides that she HAS to attract the attention of stygian in order to bring him back. monopolization and “fuckoff SQ” later, stygian arrives like the mercy from overwatch gif and revives her brother for shits and giggles then despawns (this is a pissass explaination but the visual works). this causes tuppoi to realize that death is a meaningless concept in nevada if you truly can just bring someone back from the dead, since she didnt fully believe it prior. and once she discovered what the fuck dissonance is (after one of her androids got killed), she got set on “resetting” nevada to its former glory, prior to the nexus’ downfall and prior to any improb drive activation. the “default of nevada” as she’d coin it.

so a fuckton of going back and forth between the SQ and purgatory shit later (the SQ deems her as a threat, and fuck i don’t blame them!) she opens a gate, nether portal, whatever to purgatory to let a very fucking dangerous thing out to scorch nevada. and with the help of her fuckass improb drive ipad infected with a null variable, which effectively bypasses the theoretical admin system of nevada (think like a pc), she completely reset nevada. though in canon she both succeeded AND failed due to an interloper completely splitting the process and causing her timeline to splinter off from the current, instead of completely resetting the nevada they resided in.

tldr, tuppoi is a fucking smug asshole and with the help of “i know too much for my own good”, she fractured reality because she saw the current reality as too easy, and went to make reality into her own vision.

okay are you still here. i didnt scare you off right. okay cool, so now about the au she successfully created and the shit you actually ASKED ABOUT,

the au Tuppoi created can best be summarized as “if cyberpunk 2077 took place in nevada, and if everything was a theoretical utopia”. everything is so technologically advanced that atleast every grunt has an augmentation of some sort. and where the SQ was trying to uphold the status quo of the machine, the SQ here is trying to completely break it in order to cause anarchy, out of sheer distaste under Tuppoi’s utopian and ever-so-subtle dictatorish rule.

a bit more context on to how the au was created, once tuppoi was slapped into the new timeline they were thrown immediately into when marshmellow madness was about to happen. so to prevent THAT and from a certain null integer spawning, with the power of her fuckass improb drive she completely deleted it. and since improb drives hadn’t even been conceived yet; it was freeroam for her to do whatever she wanted, to be perceived as a god and to shape nevada into her molding. and so her second course of action was to completely revoke The Maker’s admin role and to merge a certain fuckshit with The Machine, basically turning a degrading and almost deceased imac into a modern day gaming computer. so now, tuppoi has complete reign under nevada!

ok i fucking deviated BAH. morw about the au since this is not an exclusively tuppoi ramble even though she is keenly tied to it.

the au, the terminal au, named as such since. you can take terminal alot of different ways and also >computer terminal. grunts are effectively under a hivemind to stay “correct” and to follow their assigned tasks, their goals. much like actual madcom canon except the machine got fuckshit pissy about that not being followed. though here since every grunt is augmented, they’re hooked to the machine’s server which forces them to behave and not “act out of line”, making it VERY difficult to dissent, BUT. the SQ (which i probably need to rename huh) managed anyway from varying points;

doc being a super hacker and able to reroute past the machine’s connection, dei just turning off connection to the machine and doing the same thing for sanford— connecting to doc’s server if needbe for hacking purposes, and hank just. Well. Fucker is 80% bionic so he’s sort of relying off doc anyway, so he’s hardwired to doc’s server. really most of this can be summarized up to “me and the boys avoiding the school firewall”

jebus likely exists but not in the way you’d think, im still thinking about him but he’d be a savior in his own way, crackpot ate shit and died aka i dont even know if he exists considering in the au, nexus city didnt even get established, tricky i need to think about but he’d either be Mostly organic or Mostly mechanical, i cant tell. bro has to have a stark contrast somewhere and im still debating. employers only half-exist but their role isn’t “all-powerful overseeing gods”, its “forced into overseeing districts of nevada from their stations”, so every employer is forced to be the auditor since tuppoi does Not trust anyone. not even with creative mode she just Doesnt trust anyone, and she has no need to in hindsight.

phobos also doesnt exist. Shocking. or well, maybe crackpot&him could exist but they’d be so rewritten. maybe they’re a warhammer40k terminally online club idk LMAO.

feel like i should elaborate on both doc & hank’s designs so far but i think they’re self explanatory. doc has the Big Computer on his hip and is shaped like a hackerman, also has lightup sketchers cause he would. and he’d pull up his pc with holograms so that shit’s neat i think. also of course he’d be able to hack stuff, but his skills are Greatly Enhanced when his pc is on, at the tradeoff of him risking being discovered by tuppoi due to so many anonymous and heavily encrypted packets being sent to her server (the machine).

and hank is 80% bionic and 20%? mechanical, playing into the “this fucker is a MACHINE.” and the reason for him being so augmented so much, is that revival sort of Doesnt exist. yeah. death is fucking Permanent, and stuff like medicbags is a scarce find (can you tell tuppoi made this timeline.) so the only way to efficiently heal yourself is to augment yourself. Which is why hank looks like a fucking soldat on destiny steroids. and why he has that big fuckoff blade which can be replaced for other parts (but thats mostly to make him kill quicker) but by fucking god im not drawing them!! one of them is a railgun reconfigured into a rifle, and i’m NOT DRAWING THAT !!

but yeah. key takeaways;

— tuppoi (terminal) au is cyberpunk 2077 but nevada and everything is a utopia governed by Fuckshit Von Tupperware

— dissenters want reality fucked up and nuked because in every timeline they hate tuppoi (mostly true)

— tuppoi’s character arc is “i miss my brother -> “Reality is pointless and so is progression, it’s best if it was all reset and built anew under a more purposeful gaze.”

— i need to ramble about these fuckshits more so thank you for invading my home, throwing my furniture around like a gmod prophunt map, and asking for This

as a bonus heres terminal tuppoi & int i never posted because i forgor

[sarahshot1st]

Convergence hype made me finally write this idea down

“DAMMIT!”

Ekko collapsed to the ground as the portal spat him out. Jorkan was at his side in an instant, trying to help him to his feet, but Ekko shoved him away.

“No, no, no, NO!” He punctuated each repetition with a fist to the ground - imitating the way his big sister had dealt with her frustration without realizing it.

It didn’t seem to help.

“It’s okay boss,” Jorkan consoled, “we can try again - recalibrate some of the frequencies - you’ll get it eventually, I’m sure -”

Ekko cut him off. “Don’t you get it? There is no next time. This was our last shot, and I failed.”

The vastaya cocked his head, bat-like ears twitching in confusion. “But … you literally have all the time in the world. Remember?” He grinned hesitantly. The joke - one which the spunky leader of the Firelights himself had coined, and was fond of cracking - felt forced.

Ekko shook his head. “That was our best chance,” he repeated, “and it wasn’t enough. We optimized all the variables, and I still wasn’t able to make it back farther than a few seconds.” He shook his head in frustration. “Maybe with more practice, I’ll be able to ride the waves of space-time better, but -”

“I’m afraid that will not make a difference, my dear boy.”

They both turned to where a hooded figure stood in the shadows. The effect was intimidating - until you noticed the speaker’s diminutive frame.

“You will not be able to greatly extend the duration of your chronological jaunts, no matter how much training you undergo,” Heimerdinger said, pushing back the cowl of his cloak as he stepped out of the shadows. “A few minutes, perhaps even a few hours - but never as far as you would need to achieve your goal.”

Ekko finally rose to his feet, huffing in derision. “And how would you know? It wasn’t your fancy Piltie hands that built the Z-Drive.”

The former Councilor brushed aside the dig, recognizing it as a product of the boy’s current frustration, and not any resentment towards his heritage. A shared love of learning and discovery had helped bring the two brilliant minds together, just as it had brought together the founders of their society. But with the stakes as high as they were - stakes of a very personal nature - Ekko’s patience was bound to run thin.

Ah, lad, the wizened yordle thought, you are gifted for one so young. That, unfortunately, will make accepting failure exceedingly difficult.

Heimerdinger kept his voice calm as he responded.

“It is not a matter of knowing the mathematics behind the operation, but rather the principles. You are attempting to create a device that will allow you to change the past - and therefore, the present. You take the very fabric of reality in the palm of your hand, and toy with it the way a child tinkers with a set of gears. That is well - a testament to your remarkable ingenuity. Doing so, however, carries great risk. Place too much strain on the system, and the gears might just break.”

Heimerdinger placed a consoling hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What you have managed to accomplish already is truly remarkable - and I suspect that you will continue to find ways to perfect the process. But eventually, you will reach barriers - limits not even one such as yourself can break. The universe itself will restrain you, for reality cannot allow itself to be torn asunder. To do so would risk catastrophe.”

Ekko shook his head, face contorted nearly into a snarl. “Well, then the universe is just going to have to learn to play by my rules for once.”

Heimerdinger sighed. “And what would you do, my boy, if you achieved your goal? If you managed to travel back to that fateful day, and save your family from Silco’s machinations?”

“I - I would rescue them! And then - then, I’d finally get the life I should have had. A life with them in it!” He turned away, though not quickly to hide the droplet of water sliding down his cheek.

“And you would have no reason to ever create this remarkable piece of technology,” Heimderinger said gently. “You would have everything you ever wanted, and so you would have no reason to struggle against the hands of time. The person you are now would be gone, replaced by a completely different Ekko - one who would never found the Firelights, or create the Z-Drive. All the good you’ve accomplished would be gone, just like that.”

“They’re worth that!” Ekko suddenly burst out, spinning to face them. Jorkan backed away, but Heimerdinger stood his ground. “Mylo and Claggor deserve to be saved just as much as any of the people here in the Sanctuary! Just like Vander! Just like -”

He swallowed, suddenly growing very quiet.

Just like Powder.

Heimderinger was silent for a moment. This was not a time to offer contradictions.

After a long moment, Ekko sniffed away his tears, breaking the silence.

“I know what you’re going to say - that I can save far more people with the Z-Drive than I could going back to get my family. That I have to measure the good I could do for myself with the greater good I could do for my community. Well, I don’t buy that. If I go back and stop Silco, there won’t need to be a Firelights, because Vander will still be in charge. So there.”

“Actually, that’s not what I was going to say.”

Ekko arched an eyebrow, almost a challenge.

“The value of your own family versus the families of these present here is a philosophical dilemma you will have to grapple with on your own - one I dare not weigh in on. Regardless, I fear it is a conundrum not worth pursuing - for I believe it impossible for you to travel that far back in the first place. The strain on the continuation of casualty -”

“We already discussed the paradox conundrum!” Ekko interrupted. “We proved that I can change the past without breaking the timeline.” They had started off performing simple experiments, allowing Ekko to see how many bolts Heimderinger had placed into a sealed bag, then pulling one of them out - changing the outcome in real-time.

“A few seconds, yes,” Heimderinger agreed, “because we determined that the Z-Drive acts a focus for your time-travelling. But what happens if you travel further past the Z-Drive’s creation? You will no longer have a device to stabilize the space-time continuum.”

Ekko fell silent. For once he had no response to one of Heimderinger’s challenging questions.

“When you set out to create this device, you were determined to undo the tragic events of your past,” Heimderdinger said consolingly. “A worthy endeavor , if there ever was one. But in making this outcome the ultimate goal of your attempts, the foundation of your reasoning for creating the Z-Drive …”

Ekko groaned - a mixture of rage, frustration, and grief - bitter, begrudging acceptance, mixed with an unwillingness, an inability, to accept defeat.

“...I’m afraid you made that outcome the one possibility you will never be able to achieve.”

Ekko snatched the Z-Drive off the ground, slinging it back around his shoulder.

“You don’t know that,” he snarled, “and until I give up, you can’t prove it. Jorkan, fetch me the spare crystals from the workshop. I’m going to need more soon.”

Heimerdinger shook his head, retreating back to his corner. He didn’t turn around as a loud BWZING announced the device’s activation, followed a few seconds later by a string of curses as the frustrated boy collapsed to the ground once again.

Those two sounds continued long into the night.

[nickgerlich]

Nice Model

While our initial reactions to AI-generated text have been mixed at best, ranging from concerns about accurate writing to fears among academics that they might be duped by machine-written papers, it is now proving possible that AI can be used for good.

Of course, we can still use our ChatGPT and Bard to write thank you notes and cover letters. But now, we can also leverage AI’s strengths with images that have been customized by users themselves. Levi’s is among the first to use AI to supplement the use of human clothing models, and instead rely on machine-generated images tweaked by users themselves.



And if I were a model, I would be scared right about now, too. This could displace a lot of primping, posing, and strutting people.

Levi’s latest effort allows users to effectively build their own model online so that it best resembles them, from skin tone to body type, and myriad other variables. You thus get to see clothing visually displayed on a “model” that more closely resembles you.



There are other considerations as well, most notably Levi’s commitment to DEI, which stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. While it has long been possible to accuse companies of biases in their use of models, now you can make your own. Talk about inclusivity! While there are state governors spending sleepless nights trying to figure out how to dismantle DEI initiatives, along comes a company announcing its intent to swim upstream.



Furthermore, Levi’s sees AI models as contributing to their sustainability commitment as well. Simply put, AI demands fewer resources, and once the online shopping experience is over, the avatar can vanish. What is uncertain at this time is whether your personal avatar can be stored for later use, so you don’t have to re-create it.



Levi’s has partnered with Lalaland.ai of Amsterdam to create the new AI models. Lalaland.ai is a digital fashion studio, and their work is so good that it is difficult to pick the AI model from the real one. Take a look at the photo comparing the two, and try to pick the AI. Good luck. I’ll let you know the answer at the end.

Selling clothing online has always been a challenge, because fit is a critical issue. While AI models do not solve all of the problems, it goes a long way toward helping answer the age-old question, “What will this look like on me?”



Companies have tried their hand at virtual models for much of this century, but with little success. Just last September, Walmart announced it was launching Virtual Try-On whereby customers could upload a photo of themselves, and then garments would be superimposed upon them.



Join me in saying, “Eeeew. This sounds creepy!” I would not want to do that. Walmart does not need a visual of me. There are plenty of photos of me on the interwebs, and if Walmart really wanted to see what I look like, they could just Google it. Never mind that I don’t buy much beyond groceries at Walmart, I would not be willing to do this. And that goes for any other retailer. You may as well put cameras inside fitting rooms.

As long as customers are comfortable manipulating the AI engine to create their own avatars, this is likely to fly. The push to achieve DEI goals is laudable. And when it comes to sustainability, this will do more than just go light on resources. It will save money in the long-run. Models aren’t cheap, nor are the photographers who shoot the photos and videos.



I suspect we are just on the cusp of where this AI thing will take us. We only thought—a few months ago, mind you—that this would be the end of us all. This is a model I can live with.

Dr “It’s The One On The Left“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

[t1gerlilly]

Muskopolypse IV: 1,2,3,4 let’s have a bot war

There are a couple things I can’t quite figure out about Musk or Twitter. I’m a person who likes patterns and finding the gaps in them... and there’s little things niggling at my brain that makes me wonder if we’re on the brink of a bot war. Let me explain.

Musk keeps saying “Twitter has more users than ever before”, which on the face of it doesn’t sound wrong. I mean, rubbernecking always draws a crowd, and since you don’t need an account to just read twitter - it’s easy enough to believe that all the headlines would draw people in to see what’s going on.  Except...I don’t really think it’s that likely. Folks who study these things have seen over a million twitter accounts closed in the past two weeks, and that’s quite likely to be real users. The thing that bothers me is that Musk keeps tweeting it out and I doubt he thinks it’s true either. For one thing, he’s publicly said he thinks Twitter has a high percentage of bots. Given his staff cuts, it’s likely that problem has gotten worse, instead of better. After all, there’s no reason for bots to leave - they’ll be infesting twitter as long as it lives. It’s also easy to see the usage numbers as an assist by Musk’s Russian backers. They likely are the ones who clued him in to the vast numbers of bots on the platform and are probably using bot networks to prop him up with good usage stats for advertisers. The irony being, of course, that high usage stats are great IF YOU HAVE ADVERTISERS - but otherwise just run up your bills. It’s like extending the hours at a restaurant where no one is eating - you still have to pay labor, electricity, and heating costs, but you have nothing coming in. So Musk must think that he’s performing a mind trick on marketeers (like mousketeers, but more obsessed with SEO) by convincing them that his platform is a good place to advertise through usage stats that he’s implying are real people, not bots. “These are not the bots you’re looking for” - Sith style (or Microsith, since we’re talking software).

And here’s where my brain is niggling at me and I wander into the land of the speculative. So at first I was wondering about the Ukrainians, whose PR strategy, especially around social media, has been so effective in helping them get international assistance (an existential issue for them). Learning that Musk, whose assistance with his starlink program has been variable, despite the priorities of the US military, is in bed with the Russians and taking over twitter has got to worry them. At first I wondered why they weren’t targeting Twitter - it’s a rich target that’s wide open right now. It wouldn’t be hard to take it’s availability stats down to the ground. But then they’d have to give up their own efforts. They could flood it with content that would drive away advertisers, but that might be to obvious a tactic and get backlash. Social media cyberwar is an indirect psyop and the people who are best at it tend to think orthogonally to the rest of us in very twisty ways. So I’m not sure I can guess what they’ll do. But right now, I think most people are waiting for the shot across the bow by the Russians. 

It’s pretty clear that the Russians stayed away from obvious meddling through twitter for the US elections, to avoid escalating tensions. But it’s just a matter of time before they start using it as a weapon. At a minimum, they’ll have effectively captured one of Ukraine's most effective funding and recruiting tools. I doubt they’ll stop there.  Given that Twitter is one of the most important geopolitical battlefields for propaganda, if you extrapolate these kinds of concerns from the interests of the Saudis and Russians to extend to other global actors, you can see that Twitter could trigger a cascade of bot interaction, much in the same way that automated systems for stock prices or other systems that model human behavior can be triggered. Vast bot networks churning out content from pseudo-humans to increase division and violence.