#have to meet like half of the requirements for my art major in just this last year which means lots of fucking art

[upsidedownsmore]

these last 8 months of college are going to be hell, might end up making more art than i ever have before but at what cost

[zhakyria]

I had the chance to commission Kahl'ryn from @psychededoodle. I have no words for how much I love this. Everything, all the details, the expression, the scar, the cybernetics, everything is so well done!!

And with this amazing portrait - I'm gonna talk a bit about Kahl and what he is up to in my Arclight AU. So... some rambling thoughts under the cut. :)

For reference: The Arclight AU is a melting pot of various sci-fi franchises. Star Wars, Farscape, WildStar, Star Trek, to just name a few. However, the core of it is Star Wars. A lot of the universe rules are Star Wars rules - such as how space travel works and the Force.

The major players from Star Wars include: the Galactic Empire, the Mandalorians, the Sith Empire, the Chiss Ascendancy, the High Republic, and the Grysk Hegemony.

Much like swtor!Kahl, arclight!Kahl was born in the Sith Empire. His father is the (now former) Sith Lord Xhai'tan. He was trapped in a burning building when he was a child, which is how he got the burn scars. He joined the Imperial Academy and joined Imperial Intelligence upon graduating. Some of his first missions included hunting down terrorists and stopping Darth Jadus. For his double agent arc however, he didn't infiltrate the SIS.

In Arclight the Sith Empire is mostly at odds with the Dominion from WildStar. So, Kahl is tasked with infiltrating the Dominion and carrying out his mission there. The Star Cabal is still a threat and Kahl eventually dismantles it.

Now things really start to diverge. You see, most everything from Shadow of Revan onward doesn't happen. So how does my boy meet Theron?

I made the executive decision that since the Republic isn't the same Republic as in swtor and isn't the power in direct conflict with the Sith Empire, that Theron would instead be from the Dominion. ((I know, I know, not the best allegory if you know anything about the Dominion - like they live up to their name. Does make it way easier for Theron to defect though.))

Then I needed the catalyzing event. Enter the Dread Masters. They were imprisoned by the Dominion, but they escape but with Emperor Vitiate dead (did I mention that? no? So, yeah Emperor Vitiate does die, and after a short war between the Sith, Acina comes out on top and takes the Throne - this is also the time of Malgus's first betrayal,) they go rogue.

Kahl is called in to help with the situation by Lana and she eventually wrangles the help of Theron in tracking and defeating the Dread Masters. Much like in Shadow of Revan, Kahl and Theron grow close.

Then the tradegy of Grismara happens. For those unfamiliar with WildStar. Grismara was home to the Mordesh. A elf-like species who were masters of science, alchemy, and art. They were arrogant and proud, sure of their own superiority. That was until the Everlife Elixir, developed by their most lauded scientist became their curse. The Everlife was meant to give immortality, and they trusted Dr. Lazarin so much that it was distributed worldwide. Then the Everlife became the Contagion. Everyone (and the lore implies everyone) slowly turned into super aggressive mindless cannibals (basically zombies).

Grismara was a neutral world on the edge of Sith and Dominion borders. Both sides were trying to ally with them, but when the Contagion broke out - the Sith turned their back on the world and the Dominion set up a blockade and quarantined it.

Kahl and Theron disobeyed orders to try and help the Mordesh. During that terrible year long attempt at saving the Mordesh, Dr. Lazarin made a small break through. He created the Vitalis Serum, which delayed the effects of the Contagion, but also required frequent injections. The remaining Mordesh were trapped in a half-life. They no longer age (they got their immortality) but they also are unable to have children unless a cure can be found.

Kahl and Theron organized for the last of the Mordesh, to escape. Taking them to the Odessen Coalition. A small and new coalition of planets that came together with the help of Xhai'tan (Kahl's father) and Thrass (who is alive and rescued by Xhai'tan - That is another books of thoughts so if you are curious about how Thrass fits in here feel free to ask.)

With the fall of Grismara, Kahl and Theron defect and join the Coalition. Kahl eventually commanding a heavy cruiser as part of the Maarasu Nighthunters - the Odessen Defense Force division in charge of covert operations and missions that take place beyond the borders of the Coalition. It is Kahl who finds Thrawn and Ezra where they have been stranded for 7 years (again another book of thoughts that I can talk about later). Kahl then goes on to support Thrawn, Thrass, Eli, and the others Chiss fighting to save the Ascendancy.

I'll stop there but....yeah so lots of thoughts.....enjoy!

[yinza]

Updated commission info! All prices listed in USD.

Flat Color: $65 for half-body, $85 for full-body

Full Color: $95 for half-body, $130 for full-body

Lineless Painting: $125 for half-body, $170 for full-body

A discount of 20% or more may apply to additional characters. Complex designs may increase the price.

Please contact me via email at yinza@yinza.com!

Additional details under the cut. You can send me an ask if you have any general questions, but please submit serious inquiries by email!

When you contact me, please provide the following:

For fan art: the full names of characters and their fandoms

For OCs: a simple description, e.g., “a human woman in plate armor”

A brief description of the interaction (kissing, riding a bike, etc) and any background elements

Your desired style (e.g., full-body flat color, etc). If there are specific pictures in my gallery that you like, please tell me! This is especially helpful, and I’m happy to give price quotes for styles that don’t quite fit my commission examples.

Any deadlines you may have; I will let you know whether or not I can meet them.

If you need specific dimensions, let me know! By default I work at 2550x3300px (8.5x11″).

If you would prefer your commission to remain private, please let me know up-front.

Once I accept the commission, you should be ready to provide reference images and details about character expressions and poses, etc.

I WILL draw:

Fandom characters, including those from fandoms I am unfamiliar with.

OCs and fandom OCs, including OC x canon character pairings. If you have no art/reference sheets, I can work from descriptions. Just please don’t give me their life story, only what’s visually relevant!

Anthro, armor, mecha, animals - these are all fine, but more complicated designs may increase the price.

Real people that you personally know, e.g., you and your friend hanging out or a portrait of your mom.

I will NOT draw:

Crisis Core fanart.

Anything of a sexual nature, including fetish art of fully-clothed characters. I will consider waist-up nudity provided it is not sexualized.

Excessive violence or gore.

Anything bigoted or mean-spirited towards real people.

I reserve the right to decline a commission for any reason.

Payment

I use Square invoices to request payment. Accepted payment methods include: credit/debit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or ACH. No Square account is required.

I accept payment up-front. I will not begin work until I have received payment. I may accept partial payment up-front for commissions of $200 or more, but you will not receive the completed piece until it has been paid in full.

Copyright & Sharing

By commissioning me, you are purchasing my services. You may share the completed commission with attribution, but you may NOT use it to sell prints or otherwise turn a profit. If you would like to purchase the rights to use my artwork commercially, I will require a written contract and it will affect the price.

Otherwise, I retain copyright over the work, and may choose to post it on my portfolio and social media. I will not post artwork of real people without permission from the subject(s).

How It Works

You email me with a commission request.

I will confirm whether or not I can take on the project, and may ask clarifying questions about your request. (I typically respond within a few days, so if you don’t hear back, check your spam filter!)

Once I have a clear understanding of what you want, I will provide you with a price quote and an estimated completion date.

If you agree to the price, I will then send you an invoice.

You pay the invoice.

Depending on the complexity of the piece, I will send you at least one WIP so that you can confirm the work is progressing according to your wishes.

Once I have completed your commission, I will send you the finished artwork.

At this point, you may request minor tweaks to the artwork, but I will not make any major changes.

[oldguardleatherdog]

Getting into “pup space” and staying connected: a step-by-step approach

For pup players, achieving “pup space” - also known as "pup head" or "dog head", where your inner canine spirit comes to the fore as your primary sense of self-awareness and your human capacity fades into the background for a while - is our goal each time we're on all fours. Finding a consistent and dependable way to get there and maintain that connection can be challenging and frustrating.

Getting ourselves reliably "down there" - another term I like to use for inhabiting the realm of dog, the environment from a dog's perspective two feet off the floor where we inhabit a physical plane and level all our own, where the pup head can be sustained as we move through space - takes time and practice, just like learning a martial art or taking music lessons.

And like Brazilian jiu-jitsu and playing the trumpet, focused study of the elements that can induce pup space, combined with daily reinforcement of what we learn from that study – e.g., techniques, styles, movement breakdowns and Aikido forms, major and minor scales on your instrument - is the best way to achieve consistency. Practice makes perfect. Each time we go down to all fours, we go down more smoothly and quickly, we go deeper into pup space, and we can stay down there a little longer each time.

When I’m coming from a “cold” physical and mental stance, i.e., the times when I’m out of my normal constant light trance state and have been required to be “fully human” – 100% human, 0% dog – for an extended period, I have a routine to launch me back into pup space that’s tailored specifically for a cold start.

Going cold happens under certain conditions when I’m away from my home/kennel environment: if I’ve been traveling for more than two nights; after a meeting away from home that doesn’t involve kink (yes, it happens for lifestylers too); even at home if Master’s been away for a week and there was no boarding kennel or dog-sitter available to look after me.

Here's my “Cold Start” sequence:

It begins with the body. From a relaxed state, positioned on the edge of a couch or chair, wearing my pup gear, centered, balanced, leaning slightly forward from the waist, hind paws easily on the ground, front paws on knees, arms relaxed. My body posture and stance are inclined downward. My breathing is regular, centered, from my diaphragm (not my chest), then…

Sounds start coming out. The air I exhale just grazes my voice box enough to make a slight low sound “mmm” – lips together, then open to “huuuuuuh, huuuuuh…” and then a more animalistic “ahhrrrrr, ahrrrrr”. If you have a screen nearby, load it up with spirals or similar hypno images (there are many excellent pup spirals on Discord and YT, collect ‘em all!); if not, focus on a spot ahead of you about 2 feet off the ground. If you start to glaze over or blur, go with it (if it makes you uncomfortable, pull up and refocus/reset, then go back into relaxed stance).

Words begin, then degrade. Starting with fully-articulated human words, a three-word simple phrase -“Good boy Bruzr” – I repeat the phrase audibly in a half-whisper just loud enough for me to hear it, and as I look at my spot and feel myself heading down and forward to that spot [dog wants to see and sniff it already], I’m half-aware of my paws coming from my knees up to my chest and they start rubbing the sensitive spots (I’d stroke myself if I could but in this kennel, dogs don’t touch themselves, haven’t done it in 14 years for real).

As I repeat my doggy mantra, my tongue lolls out, making my words degrade into unintelligible speech, becoming “owooo, owooo, owooo” and I lean forward and down, then –

[gotta smell the spot NOW] and boom! I hit the ground, full-on 100% dopey happy dumb mutt Bruzr, just the way Master likes it, barking up a storm and howling my head off! and I'm where I belong, where I'm meant to be.

It's a repeatable process - a sequence of actions that I step through the same way each time I start from cold, involving body, sound, light self-hypnosis, breathing and relaxation, and a moderate nudge I give myself by speeding up my breath to rev up for the launch off the couch.

This all comes together to set up an unobstructed flow of energy starting at my physical center of breath (your breath is the closest thing to your spirit and serves as a key to unlock its power), taking my body to all fours in a smooth, unified, natural way.

I want to emphasize that this set of techniques is what works for me. How did I settle on this sequence? Practice, practice, practice. Trial and error over decades, going up and down thousands of times. But that doesn't mean you need to log that kind of mileage to get consistent and effective results!

You can do this solo. It’s important to be able to achieve pup space connection when we are alone; this is how confidence in a sense of the “pup self” is developed and made stronger.

If you want to try this method out and see how it fits, you can follow the steps and techniques as I describe them here, and/or you can take this sequence and use it as a flexible template, a baseline for creating your own sequence using elements (music, lighting, indoors/outdoors, etc.) that help you achieve relaxation and focus.

Change your usual setting. Experiment with your starting posture and stance. For vocalizing, play with sounds and words until you find that “sweet spot” that flows smoothly. Got a playlist you like that helps you trance out or get motivated? Let it rip!

One more thing: Be easy on yourself. No one, regardless of how long they've been a pup, achieves a 100% connection to full headspace 100% of the time - it’s ok to be frustrated. Keep practicing and give it the time you need and deserve.

During a play session, it's not uncommon for the link to fade and reset multiple times. Years ago, I was given a helpful trigger: When the connection drops, I take a deep breath and expel it with the same “ahrrrrr” sound I used in my sequence, restoring the connection and taking me deeper into pup space.

Don’t sweat it when it happens; jump right back and reset the connection. Our link to pup space can be mischievous and quirky, just like us! You’re not “doing it wrong” – there’s no such thing in Pup Play – you’re persistent, determined, doggedly sniffing out that signal! Trust that your connection will strengthen and become more persistent over time.

Practice, explore, refine, find what works, do it regularly and often, and you will be rewarded with positive results and deeper, dependable connections.

Thanks for reading! You’re the best pup! Yes, you are!

In Service,

Alpha Pup Bruzr (Animal J. Smith)

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 11.2

“How did you meet these two?” Verona’s mom asked. That put her on the spot.  “Group project.” “What kind of project?” Aaaaa.

big mood Avery, I am continually impressed with how many technically-true statements the other two manage

“Fake pork on a bagel?” Avery scrunched up her nose. “With tons of barbecue sauce and stuff, looks like,” Lucy added. “On a bagel?  I dunno.  Fake meat I’ve tried is maybe half mediocre, squint-and-you-could-interpret-it-as-meat stuff,” Avery said.  “And the other half was real sad.  My siblings looked at the turkey slice stuff and they went from making fun of the vegetarian stuff to feeling sorry for me.  And making fun of me a little, still.”

even leaving aside the fake meat aspect, I am deeply weirded out by the idea of a barbecue pork bagel sandwich. A bagel should have smoked salmon and cream cheese! You can add tomato/red onion/capers if you want, or I guess do something with eggs and/or salad. But not meat! Especially pork, that's just bizarre

“If it’s decent then you could come back and have it again,” Verona’s mom said. “I dunno, I don’t want to ruin a whole meal though.”

this is why I just always order the same thing at a restaurant once I've found something I like

“It’s a generation thing,” Verona said, still talking in a tone like she was laying sage wisdom down from above and having fun at the same time.  Verona was being very Verona and it felt a lot like Avery had felt when she was just getting into the flow of these two, after Miss had introduced them.

I think Verona is feeling very off-balance still, but also the sudden release of being away from her dad, and is being very outwardly herself to work through her emotions

“Lox and cream cheese with double helping of black olive and red onion, please, poppyseed.”

aside from the olives this is respectable

“I’m not into art as a career, though,” Verona said.  “And like, who even thinks about careers at thirteen?” “Me either, with sports,” Avery interjected.

that's probably good, those are two careers that are very hard to actually make a living off of

“It’s an advantage, if you can tackle a new project without feeling like you’re leaving behind the things you really want to do.  I get excited about any new venture, and I think I can sell people on that excitement and make things happen.”

have you considered becoming a startup CEO

“What have you done?” Verona asked them, mock-horrified, even though she looked like she was enjoying herself at the same time. [...] “What have you done?” Verona asked her mom and Lucy’s mom, exaggerated.  “Have you no mercy?”

ok, this is very stressful for Avery and coming at a bad time, but I'm also with Verona that it is very funny

(I am an only child)

“Just the one, I think,” Jasmine said.  “She works for the whole hospital, and doubles as IT, I think.” “That’s not nearly enough,” Connor said.  “One health information specialist?”

pour one out for that poor poor IT/information worker. That's not nearly enough, and you can bet they're being drafted into any project that needs a bit of code or analysis done

also ngl I would read more of the parents talking about healthcare data analysis, I wonder if wildbow has personal experience with it? I have a friend who does basically the job that Connor has, and it's not something people tend to think of when they think either "healthcare work" or "tech work", so it seems oddly specific

Avery focused on that, drew on the connection, and channeled it.  Snowdrop raised a paw, ‘thumb’ extended, then went back to sleep. She adopted the omnivore scavenger’s palate.

oh that's a neat benefit. I was going to say probably not useful for anything major, but actually it would be a live-saver in the Hungry Choir ritual, and I bet there are other practices that require eating something gross

“Avery!” Avery flinched like she’d been slapped in the back of her head. Her dad.

... that is a strong reaction. The lingering head injury, or his reaction to her coming out?

“Here,” he said.  He reached into his pocket and got his wallet.  He pressed a card into her hand.  Then he turned to the cashier.  “My daughter has my card, Connor Kelly.  She has my permission to use it.  That okay?”

this feels like guilt

“I really can’t think of much I need,” Avery said.  “Some shirts, maybe, shorts…” “Two hundred dollars?” Verona repeated. Avery shook her head, looking around.  “While Snowdrop is leveling up in- I don’t even know what to call it.  Intensity of fashion?  I feel like I should do something similar but I don’t know what.”

to echo a fandom desire from early-mid Ward: shopping trip!

time for a butch makeover montage

“This is what she does,” Verona said.  “Hey, while you’re doing that, Ave, buy your basics, I can think of some things to buy for Tashlit.  I have some money too.”

aww

“In ten hours, yeah,” Lucy said.  “And then I got stressed because I knew not sleeping before a day like today which might really matter…” “Yeah.  I get that.” “Made it even harder to sleep because I was stressed.”

that happens to my partner sometimes, it always sucks

“It did suck and it was lonely but I get it.  It’s cool.”

on the one hand Avery's right that Lucy was also going through it and this was understandable, but on the other I'm not thrilled how quickly she goes "This was bad for me but it's fine."

“I like the idea of sticking by one another, it’s just tricky sometimes.  People are… personality-wise I see us all as jagged, weirdly shaped things, and we try to mesh together as best as we can but sometimes…” “Yeah.” “The mesh isn’t perfect and we bounce off one another or something and that doesn’t at all mean I don’t care or I’m not in your corner.”

hedgehog dilemma

Avery shook her head.  “He smacked me in the back of the head near the brain stem and that can give you gnarly headaches that last for a whole month.  But when he said I could have the post-concussion thing, he was saying I could have mental difficutlies or problems for the rest of my life.  And that’s when, you know…  I was spooked.”

fucking christ that's terrifying no wonder you were spooked

“You know that you’re like… cool, right, Ave?” “I don’t, no.”

ouch

“I don’t mean sunglasses and slicked back hair cool, or snowboarder chick cool, or leather jackets type cool, I mean-”

she could be those if she wanted! maybe. actually no, sweet and earnest kind of gets in the way of most of those. but she could still get a leather jacket.

“These are your measurements for cool?  Sunglasses and slicked back hair?  What?” Avery asked, smiling.

... is Lucy's metric for cool just Zed

“Do we have to move on?  Because calling me cool is awkward but defining what you see as cool is fun.  Who’s a cool guy, Lucy?  One cool guy you know.” “I had a point I was getting to.” “First one off the top of your head.  Is it Zed?”

called it!

“What’s the commonality between those guys?  Tymon’s a bit laid back, especially when you put him with a bunch of these practitioners from uptight families, and George is sort of above it all.  Tymon’s from a big drug-spirit summoning family and George partakes…” “Not really the direction I was thinking.” “Very angular faces.  Sharp chins, defined cheekbones…”

lol

“Is this punishment?  For leaving you hanging while I moped?  Are you channeling Snowdrop’s chaotic spirit?”

what goes around comes around! otherverse runs on karma

“Oh, they both have longer hair.  Are you into longer hair?  I can understand that.” “The longer hair is a plus.”

fits with liking indie rock/pop I think? I don't know music. Or guys.

Wallace tended to lighten his hair and wear shirts with wild geometric or fractal patterns, prints, and/or colors.

oh that's neat, I love a good geometric pattern. I am now rooting for Wallace, sorry Tymon

At Tashlit’s instruction, such as it was, Lucy sat on the log by the fire and then rolled up her shirt as much as she could without being indecent

this is a very Avery this to notice and way of phrasing

It was gnarly.

no wait I take it back, this is Avery phrasing

3:00pm. “Of course.  I’ll help,” John said. Verona, Avery, and Lucy held papers, guaranteeing privacy.

oh, so they're doing the rounds of their allies. Tashlit, John... I wonder who else? Probably Alpeana, Crooked Rock might have put them in contact with the ghouls, maybe they'll talk to Guilherme and Toadswallow. I think this will go fine, my concern is that helping the girls arrest Edith is a good way for a secret conspirator to ward off suspicion

John nodded.  He took the little games that Verona had brought and set them aside, bending down briefly to slip them into his bag.  There was also a collection of darts Avery had grabbed on impulse.  No dartboard, that had been too expensive.  Just darts.  She figured John could improvise.  He seemed to like it.

cute that they're bringing gifts, and I do like it as part of this recruitment process. Too small to be a bribe, but a show of friendliness and respect. Reminds me of how ritualized gift-giving worked between allies and vassals in ye olden times

“Sorry,” John said, settling into a sitting position, moving his bag to be closer to his foot.  “If that’s too much.  All I mean is- be prepared for this to not go the way you need it to.  Even if it comes to you getting hurt, cornered, imprisoned, if you have plans or things set in motion, you don’t want to think ‘I should’ve’ in the moment before you have no options.  Be prepared.” “What does-” Lucy paused, swallowing.  “What sort of thing would we need to do to be prepared?”

gods this is sad to have to think of. Write letters for your families, for Zed and their other allies at the school? Put together a will for the various powerful items they have? I don't know if Avery would need to make arrangements for Snowdrop

Jessica had sent a picture of herself and her girlfriend in their house.  It looked small but it was packed with decorations, to the point that some stuff was sitting on the ground around the base of some of the tables next to a futon.  Avery was fond of the stone carvings and she’d asked, and Jessica had sent pictures of some.

good to see they're still in contact :)

“Avery! Sheridan, Kerry, Declan! Dinner!”

it has just now struck me 1) how deeply irish all these kids' names are (except, oddly enough, for Avery) and 2) what a deeply unfortunate name Kerry Kelly is

Kerry K.J. Kelly

oh gods and she has another K-name for a middle name. Poor kid.

Her dad addressed the table.  “This is going to be a brief but very important family discussion.  And I do mean discussion.  We need to talk about something serious.” Avery had already spent the day on high alert, and she didn’t miss the fact that her mom reached over to place a hand over Grumble’s.

well fuck, this is bad timing. With the attention on Grumble, is he moving to a nursing home?

“On the upside, there are ice cream bars for dessert,” her mom said.  “So let’s tough this out.”

so I have some bad news about that

“Rook is trusting us with information.  Our doppleganger and cancer stick are with the candle spirit,” Lucy told her.  “They were out there.”

aw, I was hoping Lis wasn't involved

“I’d do something else, I think.  I think of, I dunno.  A house without a floor.  Ropes and things.” Verona laughed.  “That’d be out there.” “Isn’t it?  Or a loft with enough open space on the second floor where you could have a big hammock or something stretched across, like they do in tiny houses.” “That’s neat.  I can see it.  Path-y.” “Yeah, with doors and windows out to Paths.  Maybe so you can peek through?”

this seems wildly inconvenient, but a neat visual. Might be hard to move around quickly though, which could get annoying for Avery

“My mom was talking about passions and not having any one particular passion for herself.  And that’s cool, but like, how do I decide on a place to call my place of power if I do something like that?  How do you define a space and make it cool if your approach to practice or to the world changes all the time?”

I mean I've only seen a few months of Verona's life, but art, magical knowledge, diagrams, things that are weird and gross and fleshy.

“I know this sounds awful, but… countermeasures for John?” Verona asked.

this sucks, and I don't think either John or Tashlit will be issues, but considering how worried I am about the real culprit remaining hidden through this conflict, or even aiding the girls, I'm glad that they have countermeasures prepared for everyone

The blackness behind her deepened.  The Sable Prince stepped out of the darkness behind her.  Trees rustled and leaves went still, branches creaking and bowing.

oh hello!

Avery could see Edith’s face, and she saw the moment that she recognized that the Sable Prince was there. All fight dropped away.  She let Matthew hold her shoulder. Surrender, just like that.  Which didn’t mean this was over.

... huh. Easier than I thought! Though of course the real challenge will be getting information from her

[timpac-capstone]

Week 5

Started watching "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!" this week, it's a 2020 anime about making anime. I'm only 1/3 through the series and when I started this series I thought this show would be about the process of making an anime from the ground up. While that is true it mainly focuses on the struggles of getting an anime made due to outside forces rather than the actual process itself. An example being that Eizouken are under a time constraint to get their animation finished before the school budget meeting and now they are forced to compromise with where they should cut corners such as some scenes not having color or a different scene made by a computer program. It brings to light the struggles of balancing time constraints, budget, hardware/personal constraints, and compromising between the story of the animators and the needs of the producers. I actually like this plot rather than what I formally thought it was, I definitely am able to connect more to the characters due to me having to meet deadlines for my capstone so I definitely want to watch it all the way through.

This Wednesday the RedShift art club had a presentation night about character design. This was a golden opportunity for me because it gave me a chance to get general information about what goes into designing a character and I got to see what the thought process is for people who are experienced and those not experienced in making characters. I was pleasantly surprised on how informative of a presentation my classmate Janelle made, I definitely went into this thinking it would be half assed and we would be more focused on having fun redesigning characters than trying to learn something useful. The four main principals in character design are Focus, Shape language/Exaggeration, Color Palette, and Silhouette. I also found out that Janelle uses Paint Tool Sight for digital art and Krita for animation.

Finally! I got around to drawing in Krita. So far it definitely feels no different to drawing digitally in Photoshop but that may be because I was only using one brush. Instead of using a tablet to draw in Krita, my roommate let me borrow his touchscreen pen laptop. It had its own set of complications, I had to restart the laptop 6 times because the cursor was bugging out, but I want to say it felt a bit easier to draw. I at least knew the exact direction my line would be going in but I was still having trouble making my drawing exactly how I wanted it to look. It came out fine but I definitely need some more help in terms of how to sketch and layer those sketches and colors.

REFLECTION:

It was nice being able to watch an anime for research purposes, it's like killing two birds with one stone, if I don't get anything out of it well then at least I got it out of my plan-to-watch list. It was also nice to do something that wasn't on my computer and interact with some Stevens students who aren't in my major. It was also a big eye-opener that if I'm really struggling with something I can ask my classmates for help cause they definitely know a lot more than I do. Next week I'm going to hammer out the script for my animation so most likely little to no research is required and I'll just let my brain put what it has been thinking for the past couple of weeks into writing.

[katy-133]

Demo Feedback - Chronique des Silencieux

Feedback for the demo of the game Chronique des Silencieux.

Archiving from June 23 2023.

Things like general thoughts, reactions, and suggestions for the full game.

Housekeeping/Context: I'm an industry animator who hobbys as a game developer. I have around 9+ years of game dev experience, having made (directed, written, drew, programmed) 10 games (mainly visual novels or other narrative-driven games) and been involved in an additional 17 games (either as a voice actor, additional writer, artist, playtester, or animator). I've also been a narrative/design consultant for additional games during pre-production. Please keep this in mind, as while I have developer experience, it is mainly in a different medium of games.

I've also read that Chronique des Silencieux's demo is a work-in-progress and is subject to change in the full version. I will be keeping this in mind while writing my notes. The game appears to be finishing up production (given the estimated release date), so any changes would need to take that into account (meaning, I will not make structural game mechanic suggestions nor any suggestions that would require a major overhaul).

With all that in mind, these are my notes. First impressions before playing: I love detective games. Any game that looks like it will make me feel like a detective and capture that "Eureka!" feeling I get from Agatha Christie novels instantly get my attention, and Chronique des Silencieux did just that.

The screenshots showing the game's various mechanics (particularly using red string to spot contradictions Papers Please-style) drew me in. I also found the ligne claire art style of the game very appealing (I am a fan of Tintin).

The trailer showing the player opening the drawer and moving the papers within looked like it had a good "game feel" to it. The resistance of the draw opening (requiring a click and drag instead of a simple click) helps to invoke the textile feel of what it may feel like to open the drawer in real life. I love games with good game feel. It's a sign of smart design.

Performance issues: The demo has considerable performance issues. The PC I used was a work and gaming laptop (I can use the heavy 3D animation program Autodesk Maya and 3D FPS/RPG game The Outer Worlds on it just fine), and I could not finish the demo (I reached talking to Solange a second time after first meeting Victor) due to the slowness of the game. From the main menu, the mouse moved with slowed input. Frames lagged so much I thought the player character was moving in slow motion as he walked. GUI like the stamp album book would crawl in instead of slide in through a smooth animation. The keyhole jumpscare I accidentally missed because the music sting played way before Solange's animation of her eye staring back at me could even start displaying through the keyhole.

The beginning conversation at the train tracks I ended up missing half of because the mouse input lagged: I would click once and the game would think I'd click twice, which would skip dialogue prematurely.

These dropped frames are a major performance issue and I would place that as the highest priority out of all my notes here. Players who have less speedy PCs than mine will only have greater difficulty playing it (as the Nancy Drew fandom has showcased, fans of detective games tend to favor laptops and non-gamer setups), and the lag is already leaving the demo in a near-unplayable state at points. Changing the game's Quality to the lowest setting did not lessen the effect.

Fortunately, the solution for this is fairly easy to solve. The game needs to have its optimization changed so that the game is not using so much power (CPU, Memory, GPU) at all times. This can range from where the game is pulling images from and when (example: The game does not need to load all images for the game, it just needs to load what the player sees and will immedietly see), to what the engine is searching for through the game's script (programming) when the game is left idle, to things like archiving files in the playable build (that currently aren't archived but can be). The game uses Unity as the engine, so I suggest using the engine's (as well as the Unity community's) pro-optimisation tools and features.

My PC specs are the following, which I'm providing to help out with recreating the lag issue:

Through Speccy:

After playing the demo, I tried to find out through YouTube videos if other players had similar performance issues. YakWaxLips appears to have had a similar issue with framerate and stopped playing at a similar point in the demo that I did: (x)

Camera behaviour: The camera window in this game often feels too tight and close. Giving the player the ability to zoom in/out would be a way to alter this, or the pull out the camera if you don't wish to give the player that option.

The camera also gives an uncomfortable and claustrophobic effect while exploring, as I can see ahead of the player character less than I would be able to see ahead of myself walking in real life. The camera smoothing's length (of time) is slow enough that it causes the player character to appear to be faster than the camera can keep up with. Meaning, when you walk/run someplace, the faster and further the player travels, the less distance you can see ahead of the player character, giving the feeling that the player is "running blind".

Suggestions to solve this would be to add a Mario-style "speedup-push-zone" (when a character starts walking/running, gradually push the camera to travel ahead of the character to show more of what's ahead of him and less of what's behind him, then centre the camera back on him when he stops). If you'd like to keep the camera close when talking to NPCs (to keep the feeling intimate), you can program a region lock on the camera that activates while talking to characters.

For more information on this, please consult Itay Keren's GDC talk, "How Cameras in Side-Scrollers Work": (x)

While this video seminar is about side-scrollers, game developers of isometric games can also apply these tricks.

Side-note: The issue may also be caused by the frame-skipping (slowing down the camera), so optimising the game may solve both issues at the same time.

Lack of text options: There's a surprisingly minimalist amount of options in the settings menu, and none for text. This is surprising for a narrative-driven game that relies on the player reading. These are some suggestions for text preferences:

Font Choices: The choice for players to switch all text to OpenDyslexic and other reader-friendly fonts.

-Plain text overlay: Some players may have trouble reading cursive fonts in clues/documents. An in-game button to add an overlay of the same text in a simple font would allow better leigibility.

-Text size: Even if you do not plan to port to the Switch (bigger text for smaller screens) or console (bigger text for screens further away), an option to make text bigger helps to make the text easier to read for some players.

-Text to speech toggle: For visually-impaired players. Unity has text-to-speech audio as a built in plugin for devs to add to their games.

-Text speed slider: A slider to speed up the time it takes for text to appear in the text box. Slider at 100% is instant.

-Kerning slider: Slider to change spacing between characters (letters).

-A rollback option: This would be in-game rather than in the settings screen. A hotkey (usually mousewheel) or button to see previous text. This is for the benefit of players with motor disabilities (ie. nerve damage, etc.) and often mis-click and accidentally skip text (so having a history/log screen to show previous text would not be useful in this situation). The drawback is that some players may try to use this to avoid mistakes, but "points of no return" can also be programmed in to block rollback at key moments.

-Language switch hotkey: A hotkey the player can press in-game to instantly switch between French/English. Bilingual players praised Disco Elysium for having this hotkey, voicing that they were surprised more games don't add it, despite the minimal amount of programming required to implement it.

Accessibility is an important role in game development as it allows players from various walks of life to enjoy games.

Animation inconsistencies: This is me nitpicking and is the lowest priority out of my notes. I noticed one continuity error in an animated cutscene. When Blanche comment's on the player character's black eye, the cutscene's various shots switched the black eye to his right eye instead of his left (a think it was two shots with a right-side black eye, the rest left-side). While this isn't plot-important in the demo, later visual continuity errors may become plot-relevant (for example, which side he got the black eye could be a clue to who punched him--a left-handed or a right-handed person). This is just a word of caution to look out for things like this in the full game, as I can only view the demo.

I also want to add that the animation in this game looks attractive. There is a lot of artistry on display here in the demo and trailers alone. The cutscenes being fully animated were a pleasant surprise and the idle animations as the characters talk adds life and personality to them.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to seeing the full release of Chronique des Silencieux.

[varjopeura]

🎯, ❤️, 🥊 for any/all of the blorbos! I'm curious about the lot of 'em. :D

🎯 -What do they do best?

(I'll include a few word introductions of the blorbos here too, gives the answers just a little bit of context)

Todenmukaisuus (or Tomu for short, since her name is so. fucking. long. Fun fact: her name would directly translate to Veracity!) is my current D&D character and main blorbo, a light-hearted tiefling rogue running from her past and trying to make friends with everyone she meets. Tomu would love to claim that she is an excellent liar, swindler and snake oil salesman, very good at persuading people to pay money for things they definitely should not buy - but she isn't half as good a liar as she wants to be. Yes, she's very good at crafting her fake potions and forging papers, but the moment she tries to cook up a good hoax in practice she ends up being way out of her depth. Her actual talents are in the crafting bits. (Like, don't get me wrong, she actually should be very good with the lying too, she definitely has the stats and skills required for it - she just can't for the life of her roll any good when she attempts deception.)

Glimmer, my precious, my favourite, my literal ray of sunshine, is a tiefling cleric of the Dawnfather Pelor, devout in her worship of powers of light and good. Glimmer is a healer in both physical and spiritual sense. She knows how to treat a wound, be it with magic or stitches, and while she's patching you up she's going to do her best to get your mind at ease, too. Whatever worries you, she'll make sure it's not your problem anymore - whatever you've done is more than enough, you are enough, you are loved, she loves you. And whatever it was that worried you, those are now Her worries, her burdens to bear. She's way too good at taking responsibility in things she can't change, and exceptionally good at worrying about stuff.

Lila is a young half-elf with a newly found sorcerous talent and a found family consisting of a major criminal organization. Currently deeply involved in a war between said organization's different factions. Lila has a natural affinity to magic that mainly has to do with death and undeath. She is a trained liar and manipulator, as well as a thief and smuggler. I'd still consider her true talent to be Following Orders. She will do anything and everything her criminal family requires her to do, and no matter how hard the task, she will keep going at it until she finds a way to succeed. Left at her own devices, she will usually either freeze or do something extremely stupid, but when someone else is there planning things and giving orders she really shines at executing the plans.

Aalo is my character in our Vampire: the Masquerade campaign! She's a professional art photographer and hobbyist ghost hunter, and these days also a horrifying undead abomination vampire, plagued by prophetic visions and unpleasant hallucinations. Aalo has spent her entire life studying all things paranormal and occult, and her strongest skillsets lie in using that knowledge to her benefit. She's also useful to have around for some light breaking and entering, but other than that? She is actually kind of useless, I love me a pathetic woman :D

(ohhh this is going to get Long, isn't it?)

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

Todenmukaisuus' favourite memory is actually a fairly recent one! (Mainly because the good memories of her past are now shaded by feelings of heartbreak and betrayal - the wonderful memories of hangout sessions with your best friend aren't as wonderful after you've realized the horrifying amounts of abuse and gaslighting that same friend subjected you to). But even ignoring that, the enchanted bubble bath shared with a whole bunch of new friends would've made the list of Tomu's best memories. Her party had just arrived to a new city, one that she'd wanted to see for ages, and were staying for the night in a Super Cool Wizard Tower with a Super Cool Wizard living in it. Attached to their room was a small bathroom with a bathtub enchanted to always stay warm, with fresh water constantly pouring in in a gentle stream. The walls were covered with shelves filled with dozens of little bottles of perfumes and soaps and bubble solutions, all of them of delightful and exotic smells and colors. After weeks on the road and months running from her past, that kind of luxury in itself was a dream come true! But the most important thing was that there, crammed into a one-person bathtub with two other people, playing with the floating bubbles and laughing and play-fighting, Tomu felt really and truly safe and happy for the first time in gods know how long. At that moment she realized she wasn't traveling with these people because of some duty or debt or even convenience, but because she Actually Liked them. They were Her people, and this was Her city, and everything was going to be okay after all.

One of Glimmer's fondest memories is from a time she was very young, so it's more of a series of brief recollections and feelings than an actual scene. She was maybe six?, seven? at the time, spending her time learning how to read. It was a particularly beautiful day, so her teacher took their lessons to a nearby park, where she could study sitting under a great oak tree. Glimmer remembers the warm sun on her skin, the sounds of birds, the painstaking process of slowly turning the symbols on paper into spoken syllables and words; a deep sigh after a challenging sentence, a laugh, her hand brushing the soft green grass; her fingers finding a four-leaf clover and picking it up; her teacher agreeing to save the lucky clover between the pages of a book; the feeling of having a mutual secret and the spark of friendship forming between the teacher and the student. Glimmer still carries the dried clover with her in her adventures, as a personal treasure from her past.

Oh, Lila gave me the hardest time with this one! She vehemently refuses to pick a single memory among many happy ones - the good times before the Bad Stuff Happening were good, that's the end of it. No need to dwell on memories when there's things to fix in the present.

The absolute highlight of Aalo's life and undeath was her first art gallery exhibit. The rush of seeing her works on someone else's walls, the same works that were so often described as off-putting or unnecessarily macabre, and seeing people actually Looking at them, interested in them. Interested in what she had to say with her art. Appreciating her vision. She never quite figured out the right words to describe her feelings at that time, but nonetheless she's been chasing those same feelings over and over again ever since.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

Todenmukaisuus loves encountering anything New and Interesting and Exciting, be it a new person or item or activity. She loves traveling to places she hasn't yet seen, loves getting swept up into unexpected adventures, and loves spending her money on useless but beautiful gifts for her friends. She absolutely fucking hates touching anything dirty or gross or otherwise icky (unless it's some poisonous substance you can squeeze out of a defeated monster, then it loops right back into the 'interesting new things' category, for some reason).

Glimmer enjoys the simple things in life. Baking fresh bread, sitting down with a cup of tea after a day's hard work, finding some peace and quiet in meditation. And, altough she might not readily admit it, she really loves casting Fireballs. What's not to love in a big fiery boom! She hates spending prolonged times outside of daylight, and talking to pompous people in positions of power.

Lila loves to drink expensive wine in good company (or cheap wine in Really Good company), she loves going out to all the super fancy places and behaving like a real and proper upper class girl would, but more than anything she loves getting into dumb and completely avoidable trouble, going 'yes and' to bad ideas until she's horribly tangled in a very bad scenario, and then desperately wriggling her way out of it. She hates having to make actual Important Decisions without someone telling her what to do.

Aalo's favourite activity in the whole wide world is to uncover secrets, dig up dirt on people, and solve mysteries, especially of the supernatural kind. She also deeply loves photography, including every step of the process from planning elaborate ideas and weird technical tricks to actually developing the film. She hates staying still and spending her nights alone.

[tortoisebore]

hi! i also want to become a designer of some sort and was considering graphic design. i was wondering if you had any tips or school recommendations for it

yesss i have all the tips! ✨✨✨ long post warning

okay so i have a BFA in communication design and illustration. the school i went to was really tiny but had a great program when i was there—feel free to dm me & i can tell u all ab it—but my advisor was the person that made the design department extremely competitive in our area & he’s recently left the school (and is rightfully suing them over it lmfao there’s some crazy tea) so i wouldn’t recommend that specific university anymore for that reason and about a million others. but there are lot of universities that i considered before narrowing to that one that could be interesting to you too, dm me & i’ll give u a list!!

howeverrr, the big thing that made me choose my school was that their design program was more focused on teaching us to be art directors rather than designers/production artists. i didn’t realize what a difference this made until i was applying for internships as an upperclassman and found out that i was beating out applicants from other schools because those students could create great prototypes, but their ideas for their designs were weak. in my experience in my jobs and working with clients on my own, half of good design is having great ideas, so if the art director path sounds more interesting to you, i would say you should consider programs that require less production/design execution type classes (multiple levels of printmaking and typesetting, a million digital design courses, etc.) and more marketing/branding classes (some names of some of these kinds of courses at my school were integrated marketing design, elements of design, graphic design I & II, & advanced graphic design).

the ability to form strong ideas is an invaluable skill in the design world, and one that will allow you to go for art director and creative director positions rather than staying an entry-level graphic designer. those kinds of positions also come with big pay raises once you get there✨but it’s also perfectly fine to want to be the person that does all the actual design work and executes ideas from your creative directors, so if you want to just be a designer, definitely go after schools that give you allllll the production skill courses. my current job is a great mix of creative leading and design execution, so both of those things are super useful to me now

you can find out a lot about a school’s design program from their required course lists for their design degrees (which should be on their website somewhere) and talking with their design dean/advisor, so i would also encourage you to set up a campus tour/meeting with the dean or even just reach out via phone or email if you think a certain school might be a good fit, or if you have questions about what their courses are like

all schools are different in what they require for admission, too. my school didn’t require a portfolio to be admitted, but our entire first year of art and design courses were created to weed out the kids that weren’t serious about design, or just weren’t good enough to be there. we also had a portfolio evaluation at the end of our first year, and if our advisor didn’t pass us, we were required to drop the program and change majors (i kid u not, i started my first year with about 40 other design majors and graduated with four of them). make sure you’re looking at what the schools you’re interested in want to see portfolio-wise before you apply (if they want to see anything—some don’t and that’s great!!)

also if you’re anything like me, i went into design because i grew up loving art (drawing specifically), but didn’t think i could figure out how to make a career out of it. because i had all the fine art skills and zero design skills, graphic design did not come easily to me and there were multiple times in my first year that i debated switching majors (to english—editing/publishing was my backup plan!). so if you do pursue it and find yourself struggling to switch to a design mindset from a more artistic one, don’t be discouraged!! that is super normal, and it was commonplace with me and all the kids in my program. if you work at it, the design mindset will come to you, and any artistic skills you might have will translate into your work as a designer, so you’re not abandoning that original creative part of you. i did a lot of photorealistic graphite portraits before college, things that required a lot of tedious detail and perfection, and that translated into my design career in that i love grids and sorting information into perfect pretty layouts (i’m really a print layout designer at heart).

it is also super super super easy to learn about graphic design online!!! i use youtube tutorials for animation on a weekly basis in my current job. if you have access to adobe creative cloud (photoshop, indesign, illustrator, after effects, etc.) you can get on youtube and find a tutorial for literally anything you could ever want to make. this is a greattttt way to build your familiarity with the programs and make some cool stuff, maybe even things that you can throw in your portfolio

if there’s anything more specific you wanna know or just wanna chat ab it, dm me!!

[tiredassmage]

15 questions, 15 mutuals

Thank you for the tag @captainderyn!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Possibly a great, great(?) grandmother I never had the chance to meet, via middle name, though it’s been... probably at least a decade since I heard that tatter and I’m not sure how correct it is, lol. I’m... not particularly close to a vast majority of the family, tbh, given Drama(TM). Mom picked by meanings though. I know that was very important to her.

2. When was the last time you cried?

I... think I cried a little about a week and a half ago in one of my classes. Not because the class, I promise, lol. We watched the pilot episode of a show called Station Eleven in class and that was a gut puncher.

3. Do you have kids?

No, thank you. My pets and my OCs are all I need, lol. Very ace. Not my personal cup of tea.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Mmmm. I wouldn’t say regularly. It has its moments and I’m sure I was a bit more brutal with it when I was a kid, but its purpose isn’t generally helpful in areas where I need to communicate. I think most of the things I say sarcastically now are probably in regards to fictional characters. xD

5. Favorite time of day?

Late evening, in that like seven - ten pm range. Generally evenings. I’m absolutely not a morning person. If I’m up rather early, I’m tired later in the day. Evening tends to host “me” time.

6. Eye color?

Good ol’ reliable brown. (I need more brown eyed ocs, tbh?) Fun fact: eyes are kind of what enchants me, irl and I probably tend to be a bit invested in fictional character eye colors, too, lol. They’re beautiful. I have no other explanation. That said, I’m very shy about eye contact until I feel more comfortable with people/get to know them better.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings, if I’m picking between them and scary. I don’t do horror, I am baby. I can be enraptured by a decent thriller and loved a good crime drama TV show. I can kind of do paranormal stuff sometimes, but I can scare myself just thinking a little too hard about it, so very hesitant.

8. Any special talents?

Mmmm... nothing nontraditional, I suppose. I had a few music teachers tell me when I was younger that I have hands that would’ve been great for piano, but I wasn’t super interested in pursuing musical interests outside of, like, basic school requirements. I did chorus for a while, but was kinda eh. I did enjoy acoustic guitar, but, again, not exactly enough that I ended up doing anything with it.

9. Where were you born?

Rural northeastern US of A. I miss having a fall season, but decidedly not enough to give up the warmth of living much farther south.

10. What are your hobbies?

Largely video games, lol, if it was hard to tell. I’d like to do more drawing and get into digital art. I am majoring in Digital Media Design, after all. One of my hopes is to properly play around with a tablet I bought myself over the summer while I take a break from courses. I desire to draw my blorbos, haha!

11. Do you have any pets?

Two ball pythons, the loves and amusing occasional nuisances of my life! They made a brief appearance on my main here. There’s also two dogs in the house, James and Cooper. Cooper is definitively my mom’s dog, however, and, jokingly, my little brother. (He’s her favorite. We all know this.) Cooper is... ??? We think a Collie mix. And James is a Basset-Lab, both adopted about a year or two apart, if I remember right.

12. What sports do you/have you played?

Oh, actual eons ago, I briefly played soccer (probably not very well) when I was very, very small. I have ridden horses (I miss them, Brent), but primarily only in schooling shows and I did participate for a few years in my barn’s summer gaming series just at Walk/Trot. I used to ride low-level jumping courses. Competitive sports haven’t ever really been my thing, particularly to participate in. I would’ve called riding one of my hobbies while I did. It’s an expensive one though and a bit of a tricky one to get back into when balancing college and part-time retail work. My mom and I try to stick to our developed tradition of selecting a local trail riding venture to attend every year for my birthday though that keeps that connection outside of whatever I vicariously pick up through games, lol.

13. How tall are you?

5′5ish. A smidgen shy, but that’s what they put on my license.

14. Favorite subject in school?

Histories and sciences. If I wasn’t so averse to writing research papers and math, I have genuinely considered majoring in either area. Unfortunately, my university doesn’t have a program for meteorology (weather and natural events are a somewhat more recent interest of mine) and video games evidently have some staying power as my interests, so that’s how I ended up in DMD.

15. Dream job?

I’m honestly not sure anyone has a really solid answer to this question, lol. I certainly don’t. I... went into DMD partially because it was interesting enough and I genuinely felt college would benefit me somehow. While I like my pet store job, it’s not exactly where I’d like to spend the next twenty years, even if I am a creature of habit that balks at change, lol.

So, theoretically, I’m studying DMD and entertaining the idea of a minor in creative writing because characters have always been one of the most important aspect of games to me. The idea is to maybe pursue a focus on character or scenario writing, but I... really don’t know, lol. I’m still largely clearing prerequisites and other structural graduation requirements, so I haven’t really dug into the focus areas of my degree yet and I definitely still doubt that I know what I’m doing or if it’ll genuinely be something I can pursue.

It’s definitely scary and I absolutely struggle with that uncertainty, but it’s also a process of just trying to remind myself that it’s a skill and therefore it is something I can develop if I put the work in - that’s the whole purpose of taking classes, after all. It’s something I’m trying to be more conscious of because I have found it very easy to slip into the student mindset of doing things just for class, so I’m still not sure what all I have as far as presentable skills or how to showcase them. But that is... off the base question, I suppose, lol.

So, work in progress!

Uhhhhmmm, this one’s sort of a mix idk who to tag for, lol, so I think I’ll leave this one open? Muts/followers, feel free to say you’ve been tagged if you’d like to do this one!

[andstilliam]

Got a sleep score of 87 with 8 and a half hours and I still woke up exhausted, so I went and got a cappuccino from my favourite cafe. Skipped my morning chem class. Chemistry is really stressing me out. If I could drop the course, I would, but I can't because chemistry is fundamental to my major. I need the intro credits. Thankfully, for neuroscience, a 70% is not a required grade for chemistry. I do need a minimum of 70% in biology and and psychology to get into the Neuroscience program.

I like chemistry. I just haven't studied it in well over a year and so I have to review all the concepts from scratch. Additionally, I have chemistry 3x a week this semester and there's 2 pieces of work due before and after every class. So it's a lot of work and I haven't completed any of that so far because I'm literally catching up on basic review. The grading scheme for the course is also really weird and I'm still trying to understand it. Not to mention the GPA scale for this school generally speaking is off the charts. It's not like this anywhere else. It doesn't stop at 4.0, we have 4.3, like what even is that? I don't really understand the purpose of that.

I dragged myself out of bed this morning for a psych lab that I realized doesn't start until the end of September. So here's my reminder to check the lab schedule because I did the same thing for chemistry on Wednesday; showed up to a lab that hadn't started yet lol.

3 courses is full time at my school, so I'm glad I'm only taking 3 courses. Plus I knew it'd hit different taking pure sciences compared to CS.

Still waiting for 1 more person to drop the online psychology class within the next 4 days so I don't have to attend labs in person.

Anyway, I chose this school for a variety of reasons:

1) Minimal entrance requirements. I took the Arts route in high school so it wasn't even required to have grade 12 calculus or any of the pure sciences (though it was recommended). I took a few junior and senior credits to prepare myself, but it was not an academic requirement for the program.

2) Course flexibility. Most programs for both CS and Neuroscience require physics, up to 3 levels of Calculus, Linear algebra and Discrete functions. This school had the least math and no physics. Not that it's a barrier or advantage per se, but I thought that was different. It also meant that for CS in particular, I could take introductory courses that were applied in nature rather than spending the first 2 years of my degree taking pure sciences and maths before learning applicable concepts. The Neuroscience program is slightly different because you have to meet the requirements before declaring the major and so you do have to spend the first year taking the required chemistry, biology, psychology, math and stats courses. But again, that's only 1 year and you can still take electives on top of that.

3) They have a Bioinformatics minor. Bioinformatics programs are usually not accessible to undergrads. They may have a course available, but an actual major/minor is a rare find. This also means that I can easily take CS courses without being a CS major. A lot of CS departments are incredible exclusive and you cannot take a SWE or SWD course without having been accepted and declared as a computing student, which is an increasingly competitive program to get into.

4) Co-op opportunities. Less competition than bigger cities.

5) Research. Everyone knows U15s have outstanding research funding and variety in types of research offered to students and the community at large. At least, that's what's advertised. They are also open to undergraduate students whereas some other U15s are exclusively for graduate students only.

6) Unique programs. They have a grad program in Medical Neuroscience. Who doesn't want a Neuroscience degree with the term "Medical" alongside it? LOL........

7) Combined Honours programs. Double majoring is easier when you can split the courses for each major in half instead of doing 2 majors at once. Some schools will allow double counting, but only up to a certain number of credits.

8) Low CoL compared to a big city where I'm from. I can raise a family out here and own property.

[theanimeview]

[Event Review] Anime Pasadena 2023

By: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee

TL/DR

This was a very enjoyable and well-attended mid-tier convention (around 15,000 attendees) with a lot of official vendors, art vendors, and English VAs hosting panels/meet-and-greets. Spend one day if you’re mainly planning to shop; spend two days if you also want to attend panels. Plan to arrive as soon as possible in the morning because once parking at the convention center fills up, additional parking structures in the surrounding area will require a good amount of walking to get to and from the convention.

Location: Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E Green St, Pasadena, CA 91101

Date: 4-5 November 2023

I attended for Day 1 and spent it mainly on shopping and slightly on exploring. The venue was an appropriate size given the scale of the event. It felt spacious enough to house all the vendors, main stage, gaming area, photo op zone, and still had open floor space in the hallways to sit, rest, or eat. I also appreciate that there was an information table at the entrance to each building in the venue.

Food options abounded, starting with a couple of food trucks that had incredibly long lines in the outdoor plaza on Green Street and a conveniently-located Starbucks that was part of the convention center itself. The location in downtown Pasadena also afforded attendees a wide variety of surrounding restaurants. My friend and I ended up getting lunch at the soft opening of a new restaurant a couple of blocks away called “Tokyo Chick.” They had a banner up across the street from the convention center to attract hungry con-goers who didn’t want to wait for up to an hour for food from the food trucks. Considering how busy it was at Tokyo Chick, we liked that the wait from the back of the line to receiving one’s food was around half an hour. Everyone was required to take their order to-go, and the to-go boxes were placed in a Tokyo Chick-branded reusable polyurethane bag that could be brought back to the restaurant for a discount on your next order. If you find yourself at Tokyo Chick in the near future, I recommend trying the karaage!

Health and Safety Policy

The Pasadena Convention Center states on their website that they are in ADA compliance with everything from designated parking, to restrooms, to service animals. As is somewhat standard now across California conventions, there was no strong encouragement to wear masks, and masking was entirely up to individual preference. While I did I see several attendees wearing masks, the majority of people were not and I did not observe any pressure or harassment of masked individuals by unmasked ones, or vice versa.

Vendor Hall & Artist Alley

Cosplay Areas

Cosplayers freely roamed the venue and were concentrated most heavily in the outdoor plaza on Green Street. This area is where people could best admire the cosplayers from afar, or interact with them and ask for photos.

Entertainment – Attendee Experience

Once we made it to the front of the registration and badge pick-up line, there were no more long lines to contend with (not counting the lunch lines)—just convention fun! Between the Entertainment Hall, Cast Panels, and Artist Alley, I spent the majority of my time in the Artist Alley and enjoyed every moment.

Of course, every mid-size and larger anime convention worth one’s salt has a Main Stage, and true to form, the one here was playing a lineup of anime soundtrack cover singers, emcee jokes, and trivia contests with the audience. The photo booth area on the same floor as the Main Stage had many banners of popular anime, but the views were always obscured by people sitting on the floor or at round tables in front of them, so they were not very accessible for photo takers without having to ask for people to move. There were also giveaways to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Anime Pasadena, but we arrived too late and decided not to participate since they had run out of everything we would have been interested in. However, other than these small letdowns, we had a great time and experienced a lot without feeling overwhelmed.

One lingering question I had about the convention management was that there was a dedicated convention center staff member in the Entertainment Hall (Dragon Hall Z) catching everyone at the door and verbally directing them to go straight downstairs towards the Main Stage area. The whole ground floor was off-limits to convention attendees for undisclosed reasons. It would have made more sense to have physical cordons, like retractable-belt barriers, and a sign put up to communicate this in addition to having a staff member present to ensure compliance.

In closing, Anime Pasadena was time and money well spent, and I encourage any anime fan who will be in the LA area in early November to plan for next year’s convention!

Final Judgments

Venue: 5/5

Staff: 5/5

Organization, Layout & Management: 4.5/5

Organization, Media Use: 5/5

Attendance: 5/5

Affordability: 4/5

Overall: 4.75/5

–

[xtrablak674]

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

When I get there, I will tell you.

Shit, I am fully grown and I still don't have a clue how to answer to this question. It's not that I wasn't decisive as a kid or even a young adult, I just never really got to one definitive answer.

My first career was stage management. I was in a performing arts high school and though I enjoyed performing, it didn't seem like a solid option as a career. Since it was simple, I made the transition to working backstage, then stage managing in my senior year, as opposed to being on stage for our Spring drama festival, the rite of passage for all drama majors to pass through before graduating.

And like most things over the course of my life, I was very focused and thorough about this. Stage managing an off off Broadway show during my senior year, and I think I was an intern at the Roundabout Theatre Company at the same time. I wanted to get started on my resume early. Then went off to Ithaca College for their theatre program with a focus on stage craft and management.

Broadway was the pinnacle of this less than a decade pursuit, I was the production assistant on a Lincoln Center Theatre production and I had arrived! It was impossible to even consider off off Broadway again, after seeing how glorious it was working on a production with an actual budget and a full staff. As I have mentioned before I hadn't really paid attention to the nepotism thing, and didn't work my budding connections to get a more permanent place on Broadway like a contemporary of mine did. So I left theatre all together for the corporate world and never looked back.

My second career as I like to phrase it in the press releases was advertising. Albeit that is where I ended up, its not necessarily the destination I had in mind. I applied to a temp agency, and albeit I had a very impressive resume for a young person having worked in one field since they were in high school, I didn't necessarily have all the things required for working in an office setting, I wasn't that far removed. Just needed maybe a little better typing speed and a couple of more applications to learn, but I was a quick study.

My big jump-off was being assigned to an agency known as Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, at the time I was sent there initially just to set up food for meetings, subbing in for the regular person who did that job but was away. As I sat to get my timesheet signed for the day, Janet Koss my supervisor noticed me on my laptop, which I had bought really just to show off, I was so proud I had save my home pay on my European tour with Black & Blue and bought my first real Apple computer brand new!

She asked me what kind of programs I had on my computer and if I knew them, I said yet. I have Word, Excel, Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop, you know the basics. She asked do you know how to desktop publish, I said yes I had worked on newsletters and flyers for several non profits I had volunteered with, and put out my own zine to my college friends. She said why don't you come in again tomorrow.

I left this agency three and a half year later as the department head of the interactive department, with a staff of seven to ten people working under me.

Now my recent inheritance has given me the option of not working. I still sometimes go through mixed feelings about this. Because even though I always joked about a trust fund, well partly. I enjoyed working, I enjoy solving problems, I enjoyed smoothing out issues for my co-workers to make everyone's job easier. I adored shocking folks with what my hair style would be and what outfit I would be wear everyday, adding a bit of colour to everyone's day. Albeit I am not one for shallow interactions, I loved the surface level social interactions with my fellow employees.

Which is a reason the whole work from home thing isn't very attractive to me, albeit my home is beautiful and I live alone, if I am going to work with folks I want them to experience the full me, not just a 2D version on a Zoom call or my digital fingerprints in the Slack channel.

Since I am a childless bachelor, work was one the places I socialized to a point, I always drew very strict boundaries around work. When the work-day ended I was off the clock, no emails, no drinks, no going out to the club with my co-workers. I had and have a very rigid boundary there, not to say I haven't become friends with co-workers I just think appropriate boundaries are very important to a good working relationship, so no one's feelings are hurt or treated inappropriately.

But back to the start of all this, KIDS DON'T GROW UP, its a trap! And its also okay not to know what you want to be when you do grow up, there are a lot of us grown-ups who still haven't a clue what we really want to do, and some of us end up trying a little of everything or other stay with something that doesn't necessarily float their boats, but pays the bills. Find what works for you, and hopefully something that brings you joy, life is just too damned short for you to be stuck doing a job for thirty forty years that didn't bring you anything but a check.

[Photo by Brown Estate]

[olderthannetfic]

Hello! I don't know who else to asks that knows a bit more about ao3 but won't require me to go off anon. I came across this post recently: icantbebotheredsstuff(.)tumblr(.)com/post/681001917886906368 . I don't know much about maintaining sites so I'm not sure if this is true or not so I want a bit of an explanation (or debunking) of it. I block most anti-ao3 people cause they're usually antis and many of them are already spreading this post but I haven't seen anyone say anything against it yet.

--

Ah, what dumbassery will it be this drive season?

Oh, I see: it's the nitpick the financial reports genre.

If you haven't seen these, they pop up every 6 months and are the more faux-reasonable end of the anti-ao3 posts. People make them because combing through old tax reports to argue about what some particular dollar amount means is tedious, so they don't get thoroughly debunked. In other words, they're sealioning.

2014 was when I left the org because it was too time consuming and I had personal life shit going on. As I recall, it was a fairly wanky period with much worse management than now, and plenty of ex staff had beef, both justified and not. I'm not surprised someone left a salty review, but also... it's 2022, and the org has been through major upheavals since then.

"with how ao3 hasn’t exactly updated their site in a major way in the better half of a decade and the fans over inflate server costs, that extra money has to be going somewhere."

LOL.

That right there should be enough to tell you this person is an idiot. Sites shouldn't be updating in a visibly major way. If they do that, it means they're making a fucking mess like all the social media redesigns we all hate so much.

"But they haven't updated!" is a favorite anti rallying cry. But all sites experience tech debt. All sites need to constantly change as browsers and server software change. I think some people imagine that code just works forever, but that's not realistic when your code interacts with other people's.

Note: This post was made on a dummy account to protect my identity. I will not be responding to this post on any accounts and just want to make these issues public. AO3 continuously makes more money than it needs and that money could be better spent supporting minorities. Have a nice day.

This is also telling. Someone who knew their shit and who wasn't just angry that we're donating to AO3 instead of to them would suggest another nonprofit with similar aims of preservation, free speech, and supporting the arts.

I have no idea what the $13k is. That amount is nothing. It could just be the expenses from an in-person board meeting. I remember the first time we had one of those, and people were beside themselves about how ever meeting in person (like all normal orgs do and like massively helps your online working relationship) was a tasteless luxury. (Never mind that we picked a spot where two board members already lived and housed everybody else in a shitty motel to keep costs down.) The second time, the most suspect expense was the plane ticket from Turkey. Why Can't The Non-American Just Stay Home was the message. Gross.

--

The biggest fallacy in all of this genre of post (and they pop up anew every year) is that AO3 made its drive goals, so it has "enough".

AO3's initial drive goals are always some lowball nonsense designed to make us feel good when we blow past it.

AO3 ought to be expanding to protect fan art more. AO3 ought to have some paid staff because of how this helps with longevity and not putting an unfair burden on volunteers. There are a lot of things AO3 could do if it had more person hours (which are generally more of a problem than cash for hardware).

AO3 has "enough" to keep the site open, yes. That doesn't mean it should stop there. That's what you do if you're running an archive yourself and you ask users to pay you back hosting costs. It's not what an arts organization does.

[pastxlscorp]

Bully! Mitsuya Fanfic (pt.1)

Chapter I: Inception

✿ Word Count: 2.1k

✿ Pairing: Takashi Mitsuya x reader

✿ Topics covered: (Eventual) Enemies to lovers trope, Y/N POV, tsundere-Mitsuya, bully! Mitsuya, fem. reader, minor manga spoilers, Bully! Mitsuya headcanons from last post

He lifted his large palm, coated in silver and black rings to match his attire. He was wearing a black mock turtleneck that matched his jet black hair. In his youth, he had lilac-colored hair that was either in a buzz-cut or grown out to a mullet. Now, he sported his black hair in his college-years. He was studying to become a fashion designer, a dream he had since his youth after his love blossomed for sewing. It had begun as a chore in order to keep his sisters satisfied and happy, saving money from buying toys by simply creating them himself. As he practiced it more and more, he began to realize how intricate fabrics were. How beautiful colors could come together and form the prettiest structures and designs -- how even the ugliest colors would look elegant if you paired them properly with the right colors, or carefully took apart the threads to create something new. You on the other hand were not studying to become a fashion designer, but rather a photographer. In your youth, you were a free-lancer in art and a quiet overachiever. You had many different career options open to you, but nothing really opened you up in the way art did. You participated in many different types of art, you loved painting, sewing, embroidery, name it, you’ve probably dabbled in it. One day, your class was introduced to your photography unit and all the puzzle pieces fell into the designated places, the pieces being lost and untouched for years. Nothing brought you more joy than snapping someone’s photo on the street to surprise them with the way the sunlight beautifully encapsulated their figure. Nothing brought you more joy than taking an eerily aesthetic photo of the rain pouring on the people below your building as a lady frolocked in the rain below, eager to rejoice in mother nature’s beauty.

Truthfully, your relationship had not started out the way it was now. With his palm ever so elegantly shoving you to the floor, your photographs spilling out of your portfolio as you hit the cold tile floor, protecting your chest by landing on your elbow and knee. Snickers, chuckles, giggles-- they all filled the hallway after seeing you collapse. Only a select few actually took pity on you, including one of his loyal followers, Hakkai Shiba. Mitsuya was usually followed around by two close-friends, Yasuda-san and Hakkai. Yasuda-san was also a fashion major, while Hakkai was planning to become a model. Mitsuya was very well respected amongst the campus for many different reasons. Firstly, he was gifted with the intellect of sewing intrigue designs that made everyone sigh in awe. Secondly, pretty-privilege. You hated to admit it but Mitsuya was a very attractive-looking man, his hair was always fluffed to the right extent, he was well-dressed, and leading into the third reason, he was smart. Despite being a part of the Tokyo Manji Gang, otherwise known as Toman, as one of the second division captains, he was able to manage schoolwork as an overachiever and was known for his intellect. Not to mention, keeping his division in check along with his two younger sisters AND the sewing club that he managed at his school? It was no wonder he was seen as the perfect boyfriend, he had all of his together. This was the reason why his disregard of you was seen as acceptable, everyone assumed you must have done something wrong for him to treat you this way, right?

Incorrect assumption. You have never done anything wrong to Mitsuya-- in fact… you don’t really remember doing anything to him, period. You both met by chance in his home-economics club, which he decided to suggest to the college board upon seeing there was not a club that actively encouraged sewing. At the time, most participants on campus were graphic designers, artists, not really looking to take the fashion industry by storm as Mitsuya was. However, he was able to persuade the board and even got petition signatures to seal it all off. He was the president of the club and upon seeing the posters taped in the hallways, you instantly took the opportunity to get any extracurricular activities on your transcript. He welcomed you into the club but it wasn’t like you got that much of his attention-- after all, the club filled up quickly with Mitsuya’s admirers. Although, shortly before he began his cruel treatment and behavior towards you, it actually seemed like you two were becoming friends. He would begin to check on you a little more frequently than the rest, tapping your shoulder with a warm smile, asking you how your project was going. You would show him your small projects, nothing too big as it had nothing to do with your major, but projects that you enjoyed and had fun doing nonetheless. He seemed most amused by the sweater you created for your dog by letting out a soft chuckle. In return, he showed you the sweaters he made for his sisters, who were now teenagers. It became a routine for him to walk over to you after checking up on everyone else and talk until club hours were over. He’d find anything to talk about and it made your heart swell with how he actually took the time out of his day to make sure you didn’t feel alone. You were sure he had picked up on how you lacked friends in his club, he was clearly trying to make you feel welcome and you couldn’t help but begin to admire him even more than you once had.

One day, however, it suddenly changed. His demeanor was suddenly cold and unwelcoming to you. You noticed when you walked into his club as you normally did, taking your seat. He did not visit you within the 10 minutes it usually took him to check upon everyone else. It took much, much longer, so you simply assumed everyone needed more help than usual. However, when he came over to your table, his words startled you so much that you pricked yourself with your needle, rushing your eyes to meet his own at his sudden harshness.

┃ “Looks like someone isn’t paying attention.”

The venom in his words made your cheeks flush with a tint of red, noticing some of the club members staring at you, also in surprise of his harsh tone. You open your mouth, quickly questioning his behavior, all of your words coming out panicked, in fear you’ve done something wrong-- something to disappoint, or upset him.

┃ “What do you mean, Pres? My projects have never been an issue before.”

┃ “Nicknames are a privilege. Call me by my proper title.” He snapped, your peers widening their eyes, for he never required anyone to call him by his last name.

┃ “...President Mitsuya, I apologize. However, you can’t just--”

┃ “Look around,” he motions his arm towards the surrounding students working at their tables, sewing much larger projects and others measuring their models for their designs. Your right eyebrow began to raise in confusion, he had never minded your small projects. Yet, here he was, embarrassing, no-- humiliating you in front of your peers about how minuscule your projects were in comparison.

┃ “Your peers all have their mind set on a big project or several larger projects. Yet, here you are with your small little trinkets. They’re working hard, and you’re doing the bare minimum to have your work completed for this club.”

Tears began to prick your eyes, questioning what his true motive was here. Surely, the projects weren’t the issue. This… this was too strong of a switch-up. Something had triggered this outburst of his, but you weren’t sure what. He was always stressed, all the time actually-- had he perhaps overwhelmed himself and he was taking it out on you?

┃ “(Y/N).” Your name so violently came out of his mouth, as if it had just crashed on cement. It wasn’t the silky and softer voice you were accustomed to hearing when speaking with him. “Get your head out of the clouds. Are you listening?”

┃ “Sir… I mean, President Mitsuya, with all due respect, you seem to be… unfairly targeting me. Some of these students are creating something as simple as a sweater for their friends, why is something for my dog any different?”

The rest of the club began planning your funeral. While never seeing him this upset on school grounds, they have heard about how foul he could get with his division members. Questioning him was bound to make him explode. They all froze, eyes drifting to Mitsuya for an incoming scolding.

┃ With a harsh grab, his fingers glide under your chin as he lifts it up to meet his face directly. “'You questioning me?”

┃ “N-no sir! I mean no disrespect, I just-”

┃ “You’ll be staying after club hours.”

┃ “B-but sir I have-”

┃ “I was NOT asking.” He half-shouts, dropping your chin from his harsh grip as he makes it back to the front of the classroom where he continues to work on his own projects. Your fellow club members pitied you at first, but after seeing how harsh he got later on with you as the bullying continued, they assumed this was the result of an external conflict.

You don’t remember what he told you after club hours. He was yelling something about how you were stupid, a dumbass, and well, you get the rest. Cruel words were thrown at you as if the day before he wasn’t so fondly helping you with the sweater for your dog-- helping you perfect the stitch of his name. Any time you questioned him or flat-out denied his accusations and heinous words, he would yank your chain and pull you so you were right in front of him as he stared down at you. It was enough to scare you out of ever providing a rebuttal, and you soon learned that as the bullying continued.

Now, here you are, on the floor, calmly collecting your portfolio photographs, not even phased by his now-normal harassment. Usually, a shove would be enough to appease him, but today it seemed like one of those days where he wanted more. He walked over to your kneeling figure as you collected your portfolio, your head turned away from him to avoid giving him any form of satisfaction.

┃ “What do you say after you bump into someone?”

┃ “I didn’t bump into you, dickhead.”

With a swift motion, he forcefully grabbed your chin and forced you to look at him, his lavender eyes piercing straight through you. He was clearly unsatisfied with your response.

┃ “What do you say after you bump into someone, skank?”

Every time you questioned him or talked back, you knew it simply made him angrier. You quickly learned that him acting out was his way of earning your attention, but for whatever reason it was, you couldn’t figure out why. What you did learn, however, from your many other incidents with him, is that he would praise you when you were obedient. Eager to get this over with and save yourself any more humiliation, you replied:

┃ “I’m sorry.”

┃ “I’m sorry…?”

┃ With a sigh, you continue, “I’m sorry, President Mitsuya.”

He smirks, now satisfied with your answer. He taps your cheek with his right index finger and replies:

┃ “Good girl.”

You swipe your face away from his grasp and continue collecting your photographs, along with your notebooks and planner that had slipped out. Mitsuya scoffs as you once more retract your attention away from him and walks away with Yasuda-sun snickering. Hakkai, however, stays behind and examines you for a few brief moments. He walks over to you and begins helping you organize your bookbag. You look up and smile-- despite his silence, his eyes offered every form of apology he could give you. You had learned Hakkai was afraid to speak up to Mitsuya because he was his best friend and was afraid any talkback from him would only result in a deeper hatred for you. You didn’t mind, however, you just appreciated how Hakkai kept you grounded. He helped you remember you didn’t do anything wrong, this was Mitsuya’s doing and his alone. Hakkai was always well-dressed as well, you noticed. He was wearing an incredibly long trench coat with beautiful shades of baby blue, ocean blues and a bright orange that made everything pop. It covered a black mock turtleneck that seemed to be matching the one Mitsuya was wearing and in fact, Hakkai also seemed to have an earring on one ear, similar to Mitsuya. It appeared that he deeply respected Mitsuya, his outfit seemed to be heavily inspired by his own. With everything settled in your bookbag once more, he offered you a pat on the head with a smile as you nodded and thanked him before running off to your first class of the day.

✿ a.n. // I finished this chapter while finishing my AP Psychology hw. I had started writing it and then idk why but I was re-reading the manga and went “wait, now what if we have Hakkai and Yasuda-san…” and ta-da, take my 2.1k words of pure a$$. If this chapter does well, I’ll be sure to upload it on my ao3, too. special tags for @the2ndl and @bren-heron because they both really wanted a fic out of this concept. I hope you enjoy loves <3

[maddieheart]

Tetrahelix's avatar

Tetrahelix

Jun 30, 2007

Watch

P

LITERATURE

Physics Physical

Deviation Actions

This is a story I found on dev art it’s not mine it’s by tetrahelix

The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is a coincidence. Really.

Kevin:

Meet me in the Quantum Physics Lab tomorrow at five. I've been working on something really cool that I think you're going to love. Don't be late and don't tell anyone. See'ya there.

-Annabelle

Despite my reservations, I still made it here five minutes ahead of time. Finding the Quantum Physics Lab locked, I let out a frustrated sigh. After a moment, I heard the door unlock and Annabelle stuck her head out.

"Kevin, get in here." Her voice was in a harsh whisper and she was looking up and door the hallway like some cornered criminal.

"Sure," I replied while entering the Lab, "What's this about, anyway?"

Annabelle looked over the hallway one final time before shutting and locking the door.

"I've been working on a new invention that I think that you might find interesting, given your interests and major."

"Annabelle, what does quantum physics have to do with medicine?"

"Go back two hundred years and ask what acoustics has to do with medicine."

"Huh?"

"Kevin, I just created the greatest invention in medical-no, in technological history!" With that statement she pulled the tarp off of a nearby table to reveal a small metal disk and two earplugs. Although the earplugs looked normal, the metal disk had two buttons, one green, one red, along one of its radii.

"What is it?"

"A quantum stethoscope!"

"..."

"You have no idea what I'm saying, do you, Kevin."

"Not the foggiest." Although I have to admit, in hindsight, the metal disk did seem to resemble the head of a nursing stethoscope.

"Sit down, Kevin."

"Okay."

"Now; where to begin. Do you know what quantum entanglement is, Kevin?"

"...no"

"Well, it's a little complicated, but in basic terms..." Annabelle spent the next half an hour explaining to me what quantum entanglement is and how it allowed for the creation of a "quantum stethoscope," but the limit of what I understood is that the quantum stethoscope is an acoustic stethoscope, but with just the earpieces and a chestpiece. No tubing or anything of that nature. The sound is apparently transmitted via "a stabilized entanglement between the chestpiece and the earpieces."

As a practical tool, it required no power and gave much clearer sound than a traditional acoustic stethoscope, as the "tubing" was, according to Annabelle, infinitely short, no matter the actual physical distance between the chestpiece and earpieces. Another boon came from that "short" distance: no matter how far you separated the pieces, it still worked even better than if the pieces were still connected by tubing. Hypothetically, a doctor on Earth could diagnose a patient in Andromeda. In real time.

"...and it has one other feature that I think you're going to love."

"What feature is that?"

"Watch."

Annabelle picked up the earpieces and put them in my ear. Once she was sure that they were in properly, she picked up the chestpiece and walked over to the other side of the room. She then completely opened her blouse and placed the chest piece directly under her left breast.

LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub...

Her heart was racing, although I couldn't be sure as to why.

Then, I heard an electric crack, and Annabelle took the chestpiece and sat it on the table...

LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub-LUB-dub...

...but the earpieces continued to emitted the sound of her savagely pounding heart.

"How..."

"How can you still hear my heartbeat, even though I don't have the chestpiece on anymore?"

"Yeah."

Annabelle walked over to me, unbuttoned my shirt, sat down on my lap, and put her right hand over my heart, which was not beating quite as fast as hers, but was rapidly catching up.

"Well, to put it simply, the same way that the chestpiece is entangled with the earpieces, the skin over my heart is now entangled with the diaphragm of the chestpiece."

"So is that what those buttons on the chestpiece do?"

"Yessir!" She gave me a rosy-cheeked grin. "Green entangles the diaphragm to whatever it's touching and red breaks the entanglement."

"Wow, Annabelle. I'm impressed." I smile at her.

LUB-dub-LUBDUB-LUB-dub-LUB-dub...

"Really?"

"Really really."

LUBDUB-LUBDUB-LUBDUB-LUBDUB-LUBDUB...

"You don't know how much that means to me, Kevin."

"I think I have an idea."

Annabelle blushed.

LUBDUB-LUB'LUBDUB-LUBDUB-LUBDUB...

"You know, Kevin, my heart's really pounding hard. I mean, I can feel it in there."

"I can hear it."

"Wanna feel it? The way I'm feeling you."

I felt my breath catch. She was asking me if I wanted to put my hands upon the throbbing skin beneath which the most secret of my desires wildly thrashed with animal ferocity, even as the marvelous sound sound from within filled my ears.

I slowly raised my right hand toward her, unsure of where she desired it to fall. Sensing my hesitation, she reached out with her left hand and gently took hold of my right, guiding it beneath her left breast, over her apex. I could feel the tip of her heart hammer against the palm of my hand, even as its savage tattoo echoed in my ears. I wasn't touching anything "important," but it was close enough to make me both very exited and very, very nervous.

Her face was red with a blush even as she leaned up to put the side of her nose against the side of mine. She was close enough that one slip would end in a kiss.

"So, Kevin, what do you think about my invention?"

"This."

And I kissed her.