#hoping I did the image description and plain text right

[lowpolydoll]

✨Hi! I’m Ace, a polyamorous agender aegosexual aegoromantic lesbian, he/it. This is my alterhuman side blog.✨

I am a minor.

Fancier intro post and OC rp/info under the cut, it got longer than I expected

(To avoid confusion I want to preface this by saying I’m not a system, I just post in-character of my kins whenever they feel strong and generally enjoy talking as them.)

[Image Description: A divider with short, yellow and brown zigzag lines on the right and left sides, and a top row of sharp canine teeth in the middle. End ID]

Welcome to The Blog of All Time, fuckers. /j /lh

[PT: Welcome to The Blog of All Time, fuckers. /j /lh. End PT]

I’m the cooler and better Ace, also known as Nilsae (Nil-say), your favorite god with a superiority complex. I dunno how often I’ll be the one posting, but you can expect me to be around every now and then.

[PT: I’m the cooler and better Ace, also known as Nilsae (Nil-say), your favorite god with a superiority complex. I dunno how often I’ll be the one posting, but you can expect me to be around every now and then. End PT]

I’ll save you from having to hear my sob story, but I’m essentially the embodiment of everything the loser Ace wishes he was. That’s the entire reason I was made in the first place, and then that turned into me just becoming a punching bag character with a sappy backstory. Bleh.

[PT: I’ll save you from having to hear my sob story, but I’m essentially the embodiment of everything the loser Ace wishes he was. That’s the entire reason I was made in the first place, and then that turned into me just becoming a punching bag character with a sappy backstory. Bleh. End PT]

If I post it’ll likely be about my dads, my home, or general things regarding my sappy backstory, and it’ll be under #orange bitch posting!!. I’ll let the loser explain the rest now.

[PT: If I post it’ll likely be about my dads, my home, or general things regarding my sappy backstory, and it’ll be under #orange bitch posting!!. I’ll let the loser explain the rest now. End PT]

[Image Description: A divider with short, yellow and brown zigzag lines on the right and left sides, and a bottom row of sharp canine teeth in the middle. End ID]

[Image Description: A divider showing the image of dark grey and black storm clouds. End ID]

Hello! I’m the Ace that will be posting most of the time.

[PT: Hello! I’m the Ace that will be posting most of the time. End PT]

This is my side blog to be cringe on since I’m too nervous to do so on my main blog, teehee.

I’m a confirmed siberian/amut tiger therian (this one is my main), a Minecraft slime, endermen, and brown sheep kin, and a dollkin + plushkin.

I’m questioning if I’m a great eared nightjar therian and/or a bearded vulture therian, and I’m also questioning being some sort of music-kin.

As seen above, I’m also an ockin, with that other Ace being my generic self-insert for everything and my #1 bully. /j

It seems broski was too lazy to actually say anything, so I guess I will:

The other Ace is a bisexual demigirl and uses strictly she/her. She’s currently my pfp, so if you want a ref for her just look at that. Her name is technically also Nilsae, thought she’d prefer not to be called or referred to as that since it brings up bad memories of who she used to be.

She’s from a Dragon Ball Z/Super AU that exists in my head, and was raised and trained by Beerus & Whis with a Vegeta & Bulma from a different reality being her biological parents. She’s also technically had three lives, the first ending in absolute disaster, the second being much better, and the third taking place in the canon Super timeline. She was also trained by Daishinkan and a version of Belmod that was the Omni-King in place of Xeno.

She’s totally not an overpowered Mary Sue OC, nooo of course not. /j

If there’s ever a situation where both of us are talking on one post, I’ll be using purple and she’ll be using orange and red.

[PT: If there’s ever a situation where both of us are talking on one post, I’ll be using people and she’ll be using orange and red. End PT]

Only other thing to mention really is that I’m a gay little self-shipper and a BIG tsbs enjoyer. I only constantly watch eaps, but if a sams or laes episode looks particularly interesting I might indulge in it. Also, because I know this fandom is, uh, not the best at times–

I am aware that fnaf and tsbs are not the same thing! I am aware that the va’s do things other than tsbs! I am aware that canon Sun x Moon is not incest and that not all Sun and/or Moon content is related to sams! I am just here to enjoy the silly little robot show, I do not assume everything is from the silly little robot show. /nm

Back to the self-shipping part, ASKFDJGFHKGL SUN MODELS. SUN & SOLAR & ECLIPSE & EVIL SUN & RUIN & LORD ECLIPSE & HELL EVEN FRANC– WHAAAT WHO SAID THAT

Biblically accurate Sun >>> Sun with a face

I do also like Monty, but them and Earth are just too frickin adorable, so generally I only partake in canon SB Monty.

…

Welp, I think that’s everything! :)

[Image Description: A divider showing the image of dark grey and black storm clouds. End ID]

[Image Description: A meme with the top half reading “breasts” and the bottom half being a close-up picture of Cringe Foxy staring at the camera. End ID]

[startrekdescribed]

i'm the one who made the star trek pride post, i was wondering how to add alt text to an image properly? i've always struggled with it, that post is literally the only time i figured out desktop captions as well

Hi!

Okay, let me first say that I am an exclusive mobile user, I'm not sure if it differs on the desktop instead of the app. And, in reference to the pride post, several people pointed out that it did have text, you just needed to click onto the image to see the caption. But that just wasn't there on mobile, I click the image and it's just an image with no caption.

However, I know on mobile that there are three little dots you can click to add it.

[Image description: a screenshot of a post in progress, the post has two pictures on it, on the right-hand corner of each image are three little dots, circled to show where they are. Clicking it brings up the option to add alt text. /end image description]

Clicking that will give you a small box to write your description.

"Alt text. Adding a description of this image makes your post more accessible for individuals using a screen reader."

You get 4000 characters, so spaces, punctuation, and spelling matter.

Once added there will be a small box in the corner. [The pink bear photo has a small black box in the left hand corner labelled, "alt."]

However, I always find that the box is quite faded, I don't notice it when I do use mobile browser unless the OP or someone tags the post as, "ID in alt."

But, with the added text, you get given a box of your description in the middle of the image post. [Image description: A photo of a light pink water bottle, it is shaped like a bear, has two black eyes on its face and a small black nose. The tummy of the bear says, "smile" in a pink font."]

Although, plain text captions are always the preferred method of writing an image description. Alt text can be quite glitchy, people also have trouble with using it, so plain text captions are the preferred way to go.

And if you do use alt, and I come across the post, I will just copy and paste your caption into plain text anyway.

I hope this helps.

[beasticlesbirdlingsandboys]

@gendernewtral

I don’t know how long ago you asked for this, or if someone else answered in the meantime, but here’s a plain text description of the comic:

The first panel shows a map of the USA with some states highlighted. There is a cartoon Canada goose in the lower right corner, with a speech bubble saying "Did you know all these states have native names?"

In the second panel the goose says "Connecticut is from the Mohegan word for Quinnehtukgut meaning beside the tidal river. Minnesota is a Dakota word for sky-tinted water. Utah is derived from the name of one of its tribes, the Ute people. Beautiful.  

The third panel shows the goose standing in front of a lake with a speech bubble saying, "Interesting right? Us Americans haven't had the best education regarding this land's Indigenous history nor its present! But it's never too late to educate yourself and those around you.

In panel four, the goose continues talking in speech bubbles over an abstract background, saying "What? You thought I couldn't be American because I'm a Canada goose? Canada, USA, pff. My people are older than these names. I was born in California, but I live in Ontario during the warm months. I heard some of your kind used to live freely like that too.

In Panel five, the background shows images of police, people behind a wire fence, and a Native American person holding up a bottle of water. The Goose says "Huh, it's almost as if borders are just imaginary lines drawn by those in power for political gain instead of reflecting and respecting the history of the land itself and those that have always lived there!!

In panel 6, the goose flies away with a bunch of other geese, saying "Anyway, we're off to Toronto. Sure hop you guys sort this mess out soon! The fate of the planet kinda depends on it!" The caption reads Acknowledgement is the first step. Find out whose land you're on at native-land.ca and learn about the path to a more just future at landback.org or via #landback. A signature at the bottom of the panel reads mariah-rose marie / @biophonies

End description

Hope this helps.

ah, i’m so bad at posting here. acknowledging this Day of Mourning from the lands of Kiikaapoi, Peoria, Potawatomi, Myaamia & Ochethi Sakowin people, aka Chicago, derived from a native word for garlic (mmm��) which is really suitable for me because I live here now 🌱🧄✨

whose.land are you on? talk about it over dinner this weekend with your fam & what it means to give the #landback. considering everything, listening & learning from indigenous people is the least you can do.

[thankyoumskobayashi]

PSA CAT SCAM

hey everyone i have found the most recent iteration of the cat scam. the scary thing is that it looks like a real person's blog, full description, blog theme, and everything

this message has been improved to make the reader feel bad for saying no. plaintext for the above image reads: Hi! Im really sorry for coming across like this, i hope im not stepping out any boundary, just in need of dire help right now as my cat needs some emergency treatment and im on financial bind. Im trying to raise some funds for him and I’m hoping that you’d be so kind to help us even by just spreading the word out. I made a post about it on my blog and pinned it, i know times are tough right now for and its a few days before Christmas, just wanted to atleast get the care he needs before its too late. I feel so bad 😭 i hope you would consider, also pls if maybe answer the ask privately or send me a message instead? its just that people sometimes tend to get weird on these things. 🙏😭

end of plain text. did reading that make you feel bad? good, that's what it was designed to do.

they have a full blog description even if some of it is nonsensical. unique icon and blog color scheme and some cartoony header.

plaintext for this blog's description from the second image above reads as follows: She/Her/ | 31 | Cat and Vampire coded | Have claimed dibs on the silver wolf at recess xp | Just a girl out here trying to find her way through this hell of a life. I still don’t know what I’m doing so if I over step a boundary please inform me also

end of plaintext for description.

they have reblogged some overwatch shit. it's just a shame that their first post was from yesterday as if they made this blog for scammy purposes

i'm not censoring this url because maybe someone out there knows how to report scams (i have forgotten or tumblr simply doesn't have an option for it.) anyways, this person has been blocked, so be careful they might improve the scam in the future.

[missluckycharms]

You, Me and Harry make three. Part One.

Summary: Joey, Izzy and Harry are in a poly relationship. They're head over heels for one another and they can't seem to keep their hands off each another, even when they really need to.

Harry is the Harry Styles, the man who is known for being so open and lovable. He's nervous to let the world see his girls, what would his fans think If he was dating two girls at the same time? And they all shared the one bed and home? He doesn't want to know, he wants them all to himself.

This small story follows the three and their rendezvous together behind the scenes.

Masterlist.

Warnings: Switch!Harry, Mommy kink, slight Daddy kink, FxFxM threesome, fingering, oral sex f+m receiving, Male + Female penetrative sex, Female + Female sex, spanking, choking, hair pulling, sneaking around (?) masturbation and mentions of it, degradation kink, praise kink, dirty talking, anal play, biting, polyamorous relationship.

Warnings apply to both first and second part!

Word count: 3.6k words.

A/N: There will be a part two, keep your eyes out for it. I also envision the women with Blonde and Brown hair, but you can apply any hair colour you want to this scenario, I just wanted to give a description to people who find it hard to imagine people :)

—

Adrenaline.

It's rushing through Harry's veins as he finishes his last concert of his first ever world tour. His body covered in sweat from singing Kiwi and total of three times and his suit jacket is for a fact dripping from all the dancing he did, his body isn't exhausted, no, it's hyped up and he could go out and perform again if he could.

It's a bittersweet moment ending the tour he thinks, on one hand he has more time to himself, more time for friends and family but on the other hand he doesn't get to do what he loves every night for at least another year, which is perform for thousands of people.

The crew is cheering and slapping him on the back as he walks off, the band following him as they all congratulate one another on completing the whole tour. There's tears, tight hugs and even a champagne bottle popped by Mitch, for someone who seems emotionless he was the most emotional one amongst them all. He basically cried into his champagne flute.

Harry pulls himself away from the crew celebration after an hour or two, his phone buzzing in his back pocket non stop as he tried to converse and have a fair well party with his whole crew — he knew exactly who was texting him, and they won't be happy he isn't responding like he usually does.

His phone is filled with messages, some from Joey and some from Izzy and a few more in the group chat they all have together. Harry is scrolling through them all as he sits in the back of the car on the way to their hotel room. He lets out a shaky breath when he sees two photos — one of Izzy wearing a bright pink lingerie set, her dark hair all around her while Joey wears a dark cobalt blue set, her platinum blonde hair vibrant against the lace.

Izzy is laying down as Joey looks at the camera between her legs, the picture being from Izzy's perspective while the second photo is similar, but this time Izzy's panties are off and Joey's head is nuzzled into her pussy.

If anyone knew what Harry Styles was hiding behind the scenes they would be shocked, he's hiding two beautiful women who are in plain sight for all his fans to see, the pair helping out the crew and makeup department on tours while only the three of them know what they do behind closed doors. It's somewhat thrilling to have this secret, it's spurs them on more and even makes them act out and fuck one another in public places, such as Harry's dressing room or even his tour bus when all the rest of the band is asleep — they all seem to get off on their little dirty secret.

Harry never wanted to hide his girls, he feels guilty for doing so. But to protect them and himself from the hate and backlash they would get for this, he settled on keeping them himself only. Sure, there's times where they'd want to go to a restaurant, hold hands all together and feed one another dessert like couple do, but they have to settle on a professional looking dinner, each spread around the table with a large gap between them all as they try and keep their hands away from one another, cameras flashing outside and update accounts flashing the images labelling Harry to be at a business dinner.

It does take a toll on them, some nights they all cry together and hold one another when one of them has to leave and see family, they all aren't ready to tell their families so when one leaves it's like something is ripped from them, it's like they're missing a piece of themselves. Harry is the one who's away a lot, giving the media to calm down on the speculations that Harry is dating one of them — it's mainly always Joey because she's blonde and seen as "Harry's type" because of that, both of his girls are his type.

They take small vacations together, the three of them locked away in a villa in Italy or even in Spain, their own private space to lounge by the pool together or even show affection to one another more openly around the foreign country — but then cameras show up snd Harry is immediately hurrying the girls inside as he pays off the paparazzi to not leak the photos.

It's tiring, they're all exhausted from hiding, but it's what they have to do.

Harry chuckles darkly as he looks at the photos, his hand sliding down to palm himself through his suit pants as he types out a message with one hand, a lazy smile on his face as the driver doesn't suspect a thing.

Harry: told you both to wait, you know what happens when you disobey me, my girls.

It's not long after he sent the message that he's parked outside the hotel, the driver opening his door as a security guard walks out and helps Harry into the hotel under all the preying eyes of fans and paparazzis who seem to love blinding him every second with their flashes and asking him ridiculous personal questions that you wouldn't even ask someone who is on trial.

His security guard walks him as far as the elevator, Harry saying he can do the rest by himself — but in reality he didn't want anyone but him to hear the sweet little moans that are probably coming from his suite right now.

"Couldn't even wait two hours for Daddy, huh?" He says deeply walking into the room, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up as the two girls both look at him on the bed, Izzy nearly passing out from pleasure as Joey smiles evilly from where she's sat between Izzy's legs.

Izzy makes grabby hands at Harry which he immediately melts at the sight, she's the more submissive one in the relationship, leaving Harry and Joey to be the more dominant ones, and when Harry is submissive it's usually Joey fucking Izzy before him as he watches.

"Feeling good pup?" He asks Izzy brushing a strand of her hair from her face, her eyes glazed over and mouth slight parted as Joey teases her, sucking and nipping at her clit as Harry rests beside them both.

"Yes Daddy" Izzy says softly, licking the thumb that Harry brushes over her bottom lip, he slowly pushes it into her mouth as she takes it in with a small whine and suckling noises are heard from her pretty mouth.

"That's a good girl. You enjoying yourself down there?" He asks Joey more sternly, she loves when he's stern with her, while Izzy loves it when he dotes on her.

"Mmh yeah, such a pretty tasting pussy" she teases him, keeping her eyes on his as she licks a big stripe up Izzy's centre, Harry's cock twitching in his pants at the sight as Izzy keeps sucking on his thumb.

"Hope you've had your fun puppies, because you both know how Daddy hates it when you disobey him" he says with a small laugh, the two girls looking at him as he removes himself from the bed, standing tall as he strips down to his boxers.

"C'mere my girls, wanna feel both of you suck my cock" he says palming himself as he watches Izzy cum on Joey's tongue before they both jump off the bed and into their knees.

"I'm only obeying because tonight is your night, prepare for you to lose all control tomorrow, Daddy" Joey says, Harry already knowing she means what she says as he smiles at her.

"I'll look forward to it Jo, darling" is all he says as he runs both of his hands through each of their hairs, one hand on Joey's head with her hair wrapped around his arm, as the other has Izzy's hair wrapped around it, guiding them both to his clothed cock.

"Take me out, go on, know you both missed Daddy's cock" he moans out when they both palm him through his underwear, their hands immediately pulling down his boxers as he kicks them off, standing tall as both girls look up at him innocently through their eyelashes.

They both flatten their tongues and run them up either side of his cock, Harry immediately tightening his grip on their hairs and throwing is head back a little as he grunts under his breathe at the feeling. They both suck the head of his cock, their tongues in each other's mouths a little as they dance along the slit collecting his pre cum as he nearly buckles under the feeling and view he has of his girls.

"That's it, suck Daddy's cock" he breaths out through moans, his eyes fighting to stay open so he can watch every move his girls make.

The room is filled with heavy grunts and moans, small whines and sucking sounds from them all, Harry throwing his head back as he curses loudly into the air, Joey and Izzy working on his cock fast and messily just how he likes it. He's nearly scent into a frenzy when Izzy focus's on his head and pumps the rest in her hand while Joey sucks his balls into her mouth, dribbling and moaning around them which vibrates through Harry's body sending shivers all over and erupting goosebumps on his skin.

"Need to fuck you both now, onto the bed" he says sternly, taking their heads away as they both whine and try to get back onto him. Gentle slaps to their cheeks cause both girls to scurry over onto the bed, kneeling down and watching as Harry rests onto the bed, back against the head board as he begins to stroke himself.

"Izzy, do you wanna ride Daddy first? Yeah?" He asks and he chuckles lighty when Izzy nods in excitement, crawling onto his lap as he welcomes her into his embrace.

"Joey, sit on my face, gonna eat that pretty cunt of yours while I fuck our darling little Izzy" Joey smiles darkly at this, both of them looking at Izzy who's smiling cheekily against Harry's chest, her petite frame lost in his broad one.

Harry lays completely on his back, Joey coming to sit down on his face, as Izzy teases herself with the head of his cock. Joey faces Izzy, their mouths immediately catching in a sloppy kiss as Harry helps Izzy slide himself into her. She doesn't move, she grinds down a little as Joey's tongue explores her mouth, her tattoo hand holding the petite girls face as Harry holds onto Joey's plush thighs, his face nearly being smothered but he loves it — he wants to be smothered by her thighs always.

"Look at you Izzy baby, taking me all, such a good girl for me" Harry says lowly, looking at Izzy from between Joey's legs as Izzy begins to move, Harry immediately grabbing Joey's thighs and sitting her flush onto his face, his nose resting on her tightest hole as his tongue flicks and sucks at her pussy.

"Ride Daddy's cock Iz, fuck yourself until you cum like a good girl" Joey whispers to Izzy, her hand holding the girl by the jaw as she speaks to her, their lips inches apart as Izzy falls apart on Harry, the feeling sending her into oblivion as she bounces harder and faster, erupting guttural moans from Harry.

"Is he making you feel good Jo?" Izzy asks, her voice a slight tremble as she moans loudly watching as Joey grinds herself down onto Harry's tongue with force.

"Yeah, but you're making him feel so much better baby, hear him? Hear him moan into my pussy because of the work you're doing?" Joey asks as Izzy smiles lazily at her, her words making her go faster and faster on Harry's cock which ends in him meeting her bounces with thrusts of his own.

"That's it, fuck her Daddy, fuck her so good" Joey moans out loudly, grabbing Izzy before she crashes down onto Harry, holding the girl in her arms as Harry fucks up into her with all his strength.

"Fuck, yes right there Daddy" Joey moans out, Harry fucking his tongue into her while he fucks Izzy hard, the two girls holding onto one another as Harry pleases them both.

It's not long before they both cum with screams of his name and a mixture of Daddy between them all, Joey being the loudest as Izzy is barely able to speak or keep her eyes open over how fucked she is.

"Feeling okay puppy?" Harry asks when Izzy is laid out on his chest, his cock slipped out of her as she comes down from her high, Joey beside him as they both cradle Izzy and help her calm down.

"M'okay, just tired Daddy" she slurs out, the two helping her lay down onto the bed, Joey laying beside her as Harry positions himself on top of a smiling Joey.

Izzy turns her head to watch the two, Harry immediately bending down to kiss her softly as Joey kisses Harry's jawline and runs her hands over his bare chest lightly, her fingers playing with his dangling necklaces as her legs wrap around his waist, ankles locking behind him.

"My two pretty girls, all fucked out" Harry whispers as Joey pushes her hips up to him, signalling she's ready as he pecks Izzy's face before pulling away and focusing back down on Joey.

"Eager little thing aren't you? Such a slut for Daddy" he says to her, their lips inches apart as Izzy gasps at his language, Joey smirking and enjoying every last word that drips from his mouth towards her.

"You're also a slut for me Daddy, don't lie" she fires back, Harry shaking his head as he lines himself up with her pussy.

"Right now, you're my little slut, take it all for me, yeah?" He says kissing her chest as he pushes himself in, her moans immediately filling the room as Izzy runs her fingers over the lace bralette on Joey's skin, her head right next hers as they both look up at Harry.

"Come on Daddy, fuck me like a whore" Joey whines out as Harry begins to pound into her harshly, his balls hitting her ass as she sets a fast pace that has Joey's eyes rolling into the back of her head.

"You're going to hard Daddy, gonna hurt Jo" Izzy says nearly crying, Harry immediately bringing a hand to her face and cradling it as the other cradles the back of Joey's pulling her hair lightly.

"She likes it hard baby, she likes Daddy to wreck her pussy and call her his little slut" he says softly and calmly to Izzy who pouts before pecking his lips.

"Harder Daddy, please" Joey moans out, Harry immediately thrusting faster and faster as he holds both of his girls in his arms, Joey's legs wrapped around him as Izzy pecks his bicep every now and then with small giggles.

"Yeah? Want it harder, does my little slut want it harder? Does she want me to fucking wreck her and make her unable to walk for days?" He asks sinisterly as Joey babbles and moans under him, her words slurred and her eyes leaking tears at the intense pleasure she's feeling.

"Wreck my pussy Daddy, fucking ruin me, yes!" She screams out when Harry hits her spot over and over again, Izzy's small fingers now rubbing circles over her clit as the two of them coax her towards an orgasm, which hits her hard and fast.

"C'mere, wanna kiss you both before I cum" he moans out, his hips slowly down as his two girls push their heads together so Harry can bend down and take both of their mouths at the same time, their tongues everywhere as they all moan and grab onto one another.

"Come on Daddy, cum for us" they both moan out, looking up as Harry kneels on the bed over the two of them, their hands on their boobs pushing them up as he strokes himself fast, his eyes rolling back and his body covered in sweat.

"Gonna look so pretty painted in my cum, my two pretty babies all fucked out beneath me" he moans out, their tongues out flat as he finally cums, spirts and ropes of his cum coat their chests and some splashes up onto their tongues as they swallow it greedily, their fingers rubbing through his cum painting them more as Harry watches in awe, completely spent.

"I love you both, so much" he says smiling at them, their faces glowing and their own smiles on their faces as they look at him like he's the best thing in their worlds — which he is.

"We love you too H, right Iz?" Joey asks Izzy who's trying to fight off sleep, her small nod and smile is enough for Harry as he coos over how cute she looks, her cheeks blushing at his complements as Joey kisses her face all over making her giggle out, Harry kissing Joey's as they all attack one another with kisses gently with laughs in between.

"Think it's time for a bath, huh?" Joey laughs out as Harry agrees, Izzy laughing also as they both lay next to one another covered in Harry's release.

"Don't move, I'll be back" Harry says, the pair of girls whistling and cheering him on as he runs to the bathroom butt ass naked, his laugh loud as he wets two wash cloths with warm water.

"Are you two ever gonna not laugh at my ass?" He asks kneeling over them again, one hand clutching a cloth and washing Izzy while the other washes Joey and gets rid of his cum from their skin.

"It's funny! It's so soft and squishy looking when it jiggles!" Izzy laughs out, Joey beside her nearly snorting as she laughs along, Harry laughing and shaking his head as he throws the cloths into a laundry bin.

"You have a cute butt Mr Styles" Joey says kissing his nose as he flops his body down onto them, one of their legs resting on his waist as he rests his head between their breasts, both of their fingers running through his hair.

"We can't stay like this" Joey is the first to speak up in a few minutes, sleep nearly taking over them all before she realises they need to clean up and get ready for bed — Izzy needs to do her skincare routine while Harry needs to drink his nightly cup of tea.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Come on, bath time" Harry groans, grabbing his boxers and sliding them back on to avoid anymore comments on his bare ass, the two girls avoid eye contact with him as they bite back their laughs looking at one another.

"I can hear you both laughing!"

"We aren't laughing!"

"Yes you are!"

"Nope!"

The three of them have been dating for almost a year now, everyday bringing something new but their love for one another grows by the second. Harry cherishes small moments with them, heck, he cherishes all moments with them. When they step outside together Harry addresses them as part of his crew to not raise any suspicion. But all he wants to do is scream at the top of his lungs that these two beautiful women are his girlfriends.

Just as Harry is filling the bath, adding Izzy's favourite bath bomb and setting out Joey's favourite body wash for her, a shout and a hard knocking is heard from behind the front door to the suite, causing the two girls laughs and conversation to stop.

They look at him as he holds up a finger to his lips, shushing them both as they nod watching as he heads for the door. He opens it slowly, only revealing his head. Jeff stands outside, his hand running through his hair as he jumps when Harry opens the door.

"There's fans outside, they won't leave until you come out. Please just walk out and show your face or something" Jeff says nearly passing out with anxiety, his hands shaking from how nervous he was being bombarded with the fans who are lined up outside the hotel at nearly midnight.

"Okay, I'll be down in a few" Harry sighs, knowing guilt will eat him alive if he doesn't see his fans, but he'll also feel guilty letting the girls bathe alone and be without him for awhile again.

"We heard, go down to them. We'll have a bath and you" Joey says walking over to Harry, Izzy beside her as they hold hands, Izzy shorter than the two as she looks at them softly. "Can bring us all up some wine when you're coming back up, sound good?" Joey finishes as Harry smiles looking at them both.

"Yes Ma'am's"

[princess-of-purple-prose]

Hey! 💞

You recently reblogged my art with an ID text (Thanks a lot! 💕), describing the image, and I have doubts about that. Can you help me, please? 🥺

Since the beginning of my account, I usually describe my images through Alt Text, Tumblr's tool. But now I'm really not sure if that's enough or not. 😖

Would it be better if I described it directly in the body of the blog, as you did, and not use Tumblr's Alt Text? (genuine question)

I thought I was on the right track using Alt Text, but knowing this mode of description that uses blog text confused me as to what the best form of accessibility would be.

And sorry for the sudden question! In case you can't answer, I'll understand. 😊

(Also, English isn't my native language, so I definitely made some grammar mistakes. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.)

Anyway, thank you so much for reblogging my art. Your tags made me happy 🥺💕 Every interaction is very important to me and you were so sweet! 💞

Hi!!! You're so welcome!! First of all, it's AWESOME (caps: awesome) that you're using alt text, and my bad for not realizing you'd already put it in this really good art! I'm on mobile and can't tell, rip. I'll replace my ID with yours (and a translation hehe)!!!

To answer your question: from what I know, putting descriptions in plain text of a post (above any captions) is the most accessible kind of ID! Alt text is great for people who use screenreaders, but it can be glitchy, and most importantly, not everyone who needs IDs uses screenreaders, which means they have to go through extra steps to access the alt text. (Also, tumblr alt text displays on pc as white text against a bright purple background, which can be eyestraining and too low-contrast to read. No clue why they did that)

I'm so glad you asked me, and you were perfectly understandable!!! I hope all of this makes sense, you can totally feel free to ask me to clarify if it doesn't!! Your art made ME (caps: me) happy, your rendering was gorgeous and I'm in love with how you made kirishima a little darker and made bakugou's eye the brightest and also the only one looking directly at the viewer :)) I hope you have a wonderful day!!! 💜💜

[quailfence]

[Image description: Fourteen gifs from Season 2 of Good Omens. Each gif has the name of a virtue or vice, its definition, and a quote from GO. Crowley has virtues, and Aziraphale has vices.

Gif 1: Hope: a combination of the desire for something and expectation of receiving it, associated with trust, confidence and wishful desire. Quote: “And I would like to spend – ”

Gif 2: Pride: defined either as the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's own importance, or as a reasonable self-esteem, or as confidence and satisfaction in oneself. Quote: “I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you.”

Gif 3: Charity: derived from the Latin caritas, a word commonly used in the Vulgate New Testament to translate the Greek word agape, a distinct form of love. Quote: “The angel you knew is not me.”

Gif 4: Gluttony: an over-indulgence or over-consumption: it is necessary to eat in order to live, not to live in order to eat. Quote: “I’m like you, now. A demon.”

Gif 5: Prudence: the ability to judge between virtuous and vicious deeds, with regard to appropriate actions at a given time and place: the Roman goddess Prudentia’s attributes are a snake and mirror. Quote: “Not kind. Just off my head on Laudanum.”

Gif 6: Sloth: comes from the Latin for ‘without care’: unlike the other seven deadly sins, which are sins of committing, sloth is a sin of omitting. Quote: “Cut off the demand side of things as well as the supply.”

Gif 7: Justice: there are two kinds of injustice: the one, on the part of those who inflict wrong, the other on the part of those who, when they can, do not shield from wrong those upon whom it is being inflicted. Quote: “Jump out that window.”

Gif 8: Envy: in Latin envy translates to ‘nonsight’: it begins with the frantic sense of emptiness inside; one must be blind to perceive it, but envy is a selective blindness to what one already has. Quote: “I got it right the time that mattered.”

Gif 9: Temperance: the Latin word tempero means, more broadly, proper balancing or mixing, particularly of temperature, or compounds: hence the phrase ‘to temper a sword’. Quote: “Let there be light.”

Gif 10: Greed: it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. Quote: “You didn’t really sell all my books?”

Gif 11: Fortitude: the mental or emotional strength that enables courage in adversity: courage faces, fortitude endures; courage is for action, fortitude for suffering: in this sense, fortitude differs little from constancy. Quote: “I'm a demon. I lied.”

Gif 12: Lust: an excessive love of others, insofar as an excessive love for man would render one’s love of God secondary. Quote: “I knew the angel you were.”

Gif 13: Faith: formerly viewed as a light that dispels the darkness and illuminates the way, but later came to be understood as a leap in the dark, to be taken in the absence of light. Quote: “We could have been us.”

Gif 14: Wrath: anger comes from the Old Norse word for grief, and developed into the Middle English word for sorrow, trouble, and pain. Quote: “I forgive you.” End description.]

[Plain text: Let there be matter, let there be gravity, let there be everything from pages 11 to 3,000,602 inclusive... (Funny if I did the good thing and you did the bad one, eh?)

Good Omens Season 2 + the seven virtues and the seven sins. End plain text.]

Let there be matter, let there be gravity, let there be everything from pages 11 to 3,000,602 inclusive... (Funny if I did the good thing and you did the bad one, eh?)

GOOD OMENS SEASON 2 + the seven virtues and the seven sins

[literaryeagle]

For my seventieth Evangelion book review, here is EVANGELION Millennials 2, published by Poplar Sha. This is a new mook (magazine-book hybrid) that came out just a few weeks ago, and as you can probably guess by the title, it is a sequel to the first EVANGELION Millennials (which I covered back in my sixty-sixth review). So this is another mook that is focused on fashion, which is why the cover art in the above image shows Tentative Name: Rei Ayanami wearing a hoodie over her plugsuit. Wow, she looks super stylish like that!

Of course, this publication has new looks for the other pilots as well. Check out this illustration of Asuka, Shinji, Rei, Kaworu, and Mari:

The pilots are wearing clothes from the RADIO EVA brand. Even the bandanna tied around Kaworu's right ankle is from RADIO EVA! By the way, this mook is not available in English or French (although there are a few little bits of English text here and there), but there are plenty of full color pictures. There are also some extra special goodies… more on that later. Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

After the Table of Contents, this mook starts with a recap of the first three installments in the Evangelion New Theatrical Edition (AKA the “Rebuild” movies). This recap mainly consists of several pages of screenshots, accompanied by brief story descriptions and quotes from the movies. There are also a few trivia questions about the dialogue, plus some pics of the Eva pilots in their plugsuits.

The next section is the MAI YONEYAMA Drawn Illustration Collection, which showcases art that Mai Yoneyama has done for the RADIO EVA clothing brand, including the first two images shown in this review. And yes, the cute cover picture of Asuka and Shinji from the first EVANGELION Millennials is also in here!

This is followed by the EVANGELION GOODS 2020 section, which starts with a catalog of new stuff from RADIO EVA. As I explained in my review of the first EVANGELION Millennials, the RADIO EVA brand specializes in everyday wear, and many of their garments tend to reference Evangelion in a subtle way. For example, here is a dress that has flowers on one arm, with the Spear of Longinus embroidered among the flowers:

Usually I find that RADIO EVA's clothes are a bit too plain for my tastes, however I have to admit that dress is kind of cute. Good job, RADIO EVA!

For those who don't need subtlety and would rather express their love for Evangelion in a more overt way, RADIO EVA has a few things for that as well. For example, one of the items shown below is a tote bag that has a Mai Yoneyama illustration of the Eva pilots:

In the above image, the two items underneath the tote bag are subtle ones again. The first is a simple purple hair tie that says "NERV" (the purple color is supposed to represent Evangelion Unit-01), and the other is a red key ring (the color represents Asuka). Oh, and for those who prefer more character merchandise, at the bottom of that page is a figurine of Rei wearing RADIO EVA clothes.

Moving on, the next part of this mook is a catalog of some items from the Evangelion Store, including a mug and a T-shirt bearing the name of the next movie, Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. After that, there is the OFFICIAL SHOP GUIDE section with pictures and info about various Evangelion shops in Japan. The stores are described in both Japanese and English, to make things easier for tourists... once it's safe to travel again, I guess. Sigh.

Next is the EVANGELION NEWS section, which covers some Eva-related merchandise, events, and exhibits. For example, one of the exhibits is a huge Evangelion Unit-01 in a pool of LCL, located in Kyoto. This Eva is so big that you can pose for a photo standing in the palm of her hand!

After the NEWS, there is a page promoting the Eva Extra mobile app, and then an advertisement for the Evangelion Battlefields mobile game. Here is the Evangelion Battlefields ad:

And finally, on the back cover of the mook, you can see poster art for the upcoming movie Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. Yay! Sure, you've probably seen this image online already, but it's nice to actually own a physical copy! The picture shows Shinji standing on train tracks. Here it is:

Yes, Shinji is there. He's standing in the distance, so he's very tiny in that picture. As for the film's release date, as you've most likely heard by now the movie was originally supposed to come out a few months ago (June 2020), but unfortunately it had to be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So the Japanese text at the bottom of the poster simply says "Kinjitsu Koukai" (Coming Soon). Sorry, folks. I know that's disappointing for many people, however it's understandable that safety should come first. Until then, I hope you all stay healthy and safe, so when the movie does come out we can get excited together!  (EDIT, March 2021: The movie's new release date is March 8, 2021!)

Anyway, that's it for the mook itself, which is only 35 pages long. But wait, we’re not done yet! As I mentioned before, some extra special goodies are included. The first item is a white T-shirt that says "The Beast", courtesy of RADIO EVA:

If you're wondering why "The Beast" is written backwards, it's because of Mari's words "Invert mode. Backdoor code... 'The Beast'!". So the designer was inspired by the words invert and back, get it? Well, that and I'm pretty sure the font is a reference to The Beatles. I would make a joke about playing the Evangelion movies backwards to listen for hidden messages, except that actually works in the Evangelion 2.0 movie, during the scene when the Dummy System is activated inside Unit-01! Seriously, it's creepy.

Anyway, getting back to the T-shirt, it's one size only, but of course people come in different shapes and sizes. So in case you're concerned about the fit, I have translated the shirt's measurements as stated in the mook...

Length: approximately 70 cm

Width: approximately 52 cm

Shoulder Width: approximately 46 cm

Sleeve Length: approximately 21 cm

Sleeve Width: approximately 19 cm

I hope that helps! Moving on, the second bonus item is a RADIO EVA sacoche (pouch) with a cross-body strap. It can carry small items, such as a wallet and/or mobile phone. Check it out:

In case it's not clear in the above photo, the pattern on the sacoche consists of Evangelion heads. Here's a closer look at the pattern, so you can see it better:

Overall, I think the best thing about EVANGELION Millennials 2 is Mai Yoneyama's illustrations. She has a good eye for detail, and I think she draws some great poses as well. However, most of RADIO EVA's clothes aren't really to my taste, so when it comes to fashion-related publications I prefer Mode EVANGELION and Mode EVANGELION2. That's just my personal opinion, though. If you love RADIO EVA, you'll probably find this mook a lot more interesting than I did. And that's cool! There are plenty of brands that make garments inspired by Evangelion, so it's nice that they cater to different preferences.

So if this mook (or the included goodies!) looks interesting to you, then please support the artists by purchasing it if you can! Check if your favorite source for buying Japanese books has it, and if not then ask them if they can order it for you. ^_^

Well, that’s it for my seventieth Evangelion book review. I have plenty more Evangelion books to discuss, so keep checking my blog for new reviews!

[jackalgirl]

Telling vs. Showing

I had posted an excerpt from the Turkey City Lexicon a while back, about "Telling Not Showing", which is one of those things that writers are recommended not to do.

Violates the cardinal rule of good writing. The reader should be allowed to react, not be instructed in how to react. Carefully observed details render authorial value judgments unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling us "she had a bad childhood, an unhappy childhood," specific incidents--involving, say, a locked closet and two jars of honey--should be shown.

I was thinking about this the other night -- and I stress that it came to me by itself, please please don't anyone think I'm calling you out on this, because I am not -- and thought it might be fun* to provide an example. Stick around (under the cut) if you're interested.

* I lie. Aethel and Felix told me to write this, and woke me up early to do so. Fine. I'm done, you two, may I please go get some more coffee? Thank you.

Telling

Felix found Aethel in the galley, reading one of Max’s books. He made a face, wondering why she was reading it. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her why — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so he sat down and asked anyway. She looked, he thought, a little relieved to be interrupted, which did not really surprise him. She was very much willing to tell him about it, and in fact confirmed his suspicion that she found the text…how did she put it? Tedious. But she was reading it to better understand the way the people in the Order think, so she was determined to read it anyway. Good luck with that, he thought, and got himself something to eat out of the fridge.

versus Showing

Felix found Aethel in the galley, a book open before her on the common table and a line between her eyebrows. It must be one of Max’s books, he thought. He sat down and she looked up. Perhaps he was imagining it, but it appeared to him that she had a look of relief on her face. “Watcha readin’, Aethel?” He asked her. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her a question like this — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so in this particular moment, he hadn’t hesitated. “One of the vicar’s books on Scientism,” she said, confirming his guess. He made a face. “Ugh. Why? You’re always arguing with him about it.” And driving him nuts. Another point in her favor, actually. “It’s important to him,” she said. “And what’s more, it’s important to this colony. It would be foolish for me to dismiss it. I want to understand it better.” Felix gestured at the book. “Is that helping?” Aethel let out a sigh. “Alas, no. It is tedious.” “That’s why I like serial books,” Felix grinned. He tilted his head. “Why is it, ah, tedious, though?” “The author uses words like a collector,” she said. “But not like an artist.” Felix tilted his head and his expression must have told her he didn’t get it — I don’t get it — because she leaned back and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you remember the Sprat Fancy party in Byzantium?” She asked. Felix felt his face screw up again. “It was awful.” At first, Byzantium had impressed him. It was so clean! But eventually he realized it was as full of trash as the rest of the Colony — just higher-class trash, is all. Plus, the people there were always looking down on him — worse than the crew of the Groundbreaker, if that was possible. Or worse than the crew had been, before I helped Aethel fix the heat. Now they liked him well enough. But in Byzantium, nothing the crew had done had changed the Byzantines’ attitudes towards them. Their disdain is baked in, Aethel had said at the time. And speaking of baking, Aethel said, “do you remember the food?” “Ugh. Do I ever. The prettiest food you ever saw. Tasted like shit, though.” “What would those people have thought of a Boarst Pocket?” Aethel asked. “Ha!” Felix drummed the table with his hands in amusement. “They’d hold up their noses, for sure. Something that plain and simple?” “And yet, it is delicious?” “Yes,” Felix spoke with the conviction of a dedicated cultist. Aethel nodded. She tapped the pages in front of her. “This book is like the food in Byzantium. It is concerned about its appearance, and about all the different colors it can show you — it is very pretty. But it tastes like shit.” “So why are you eating it?” Felix asked, then remembered she’d answered him earlier. “Because you want to understand the system,” he said. She nodded. “I think of it as reconnaissance,” she said. “At some point, I’m going to have to deal with Order people who are higher ranked than Max. I need to understand what they think — or at least, what they’re telling people they think, which may not be the same.” “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they all turned out to be a pack of hypocrites,” Felix said. “I’ll bet it’s all a show for power.” “Perhaps it’s not all a show for power,” Aethel suggested. But then she relented. “But yes, I tend to think that in the end, that’s the Order’s primary goal.” All that talk about Boarst Pockets made him want one, so he got up and got one out of the fridge. “Would you like one, boss?” He said, waggling the packet, knowing her answer in advance: “No thank you, Felix,” she said politely. He chuckled to himself. I don’t get how she can like spratwurst and not like boarst. Some things just defied understanding. I hope she has better luck with that book.

I liked writing this, because it gave me a little epiphany for another scene (the "Sprat Fancy" party) and an opportunity to put Sprat Fancy magazine into the actual fic, as opposed to it remaining as something of a joke.

[ Image description: cover of "Sprat Fancy", showing an adorable pink-splotched, white sprat from above, looking up at the camera with her gorgeous black eyes. Text reads: "Sprat Fancy Magazine - your guide to Halcyon's Fancy Sprats" and "Volume 22, Issue 8, 2 bits" with article leads: "Sacred Beasts: The Role of Sprats in the Faith", "Refuge: Keeping your precious sprat safe from marauders (and hungry neighbors)", "Ooo La La! Jolicoeur Haberdashery releases an all new line of fancy sprat fashion! Get a sneak peak of the latest on the Byzantine spratwalk!", "Place Your Bets: Your comprehensive guide to this season's All-Colony Fancy Spratstravanaza - who's in? Who's out? You may just be surprised by this year's contenders!" and a corner flag: "Ask Doctor Sprat". The cover image is captioned: "'Bakonu' by Captain Pearl Jenkins. With this large beauty take 'Best in Show' from Lord Reginald Kim III?" End ID. ]

Sometimes, having to write stuff out like this (especially between major scenes) is really daunting, because it generally doesn't come to me all at once like the major scenes do. I know, right from the get-go, that this is going to be a time-consuming process (I call it "sausage making"), and it's scary when I don't immediately see a clear way forward or understand how it will turn out. But I find that once I get going, the characters are happy to cooperate. And it's always worthwhile, because most of the time, I get some kind of revelation or epiphany (as above) that makes the story better, or maybe it's just neat and makes me giggle. But that's reason enough.

This is part of the pros of showing versus telling, in addition to giving the reader more to discover, understand, and react to on their own (rather than simply telling them how to react, which is what you want to avoid). The obvious con is that it takes so much longer. I would think that telling would be useful in contexts where you just don't have the column space, or are limited in the number of words you can provide. And I think it could also be useful -- used judiciously -- if you're deliberately trying to hide something from the reader.

But if you've been telling instead of showing because the amount of work you can see in front of you daunts you (or you just can't envision how it's going to go), I can only say: give it a try. You'll be surprised at what the characters are just waiting to tell you, if you only give them the chance.

[pinkys-plan]

The Search for the Baby

Buckle up because this is a long one. There'll be a tl;dr at the end, so feel free to skip past my riveting story if you so please.

So, my dear friends, I am on a quest.

Recently, I happened upon a tiktok user (Gosh, aka @ alluropinionsrirrelevant) asking for help finding a toy they owned as a child. You can find that video here but for those of you for whom that is not an option, the description is as follows:

It was made from 2003-2008. Exact year unsure.

It was a cartoonish baby, sitting, who was wearing a propeller hat (without the cap part. Like a propeller beanie)

It would cry and vibrate, and its pacifier was a button that calmed it down when pressed

It had a microphone in the stomach so you could talk to it to soothe it

The arms were loose and could move around freely

In the comments were some extra pointers, as they told people who made suggestions which ones were incorrect. For example, it was definitely not a Cry Baby doll, nor was it any kind of realistic looking baby doll.

In a second tiktok, they state that this baby was not really a doll per se, but was an entirely plastic figure that could fit on the palm of your hand.

Most importantly, however, they were absolutely certain that it looked EXACTLY like the picture they drew.

At this point, my interest was piqued. I am an incredibly stubborn person and I enjoy, more than many things, being right. I also enjoy helping people because who doesn’t get a kick out of seeing others smile?

I decided not that I would have a little go at finding the baby, but that I was going to find it no matter what. 100%. I would not rest until I had solved this mystery.

So, off I went to google. I searched so many terms and I very quickly understood why so many people thought it was a Cry Baby. It looked very similar to the Cry Baby dolls I was seeing (as pictured, hopefully below)

But, over the years, I’ve had many memories of things that people have insisted were wrong about but turned out to be totally right, so I wasn’t going to let the internet tell this poor soul that they were wrong and that this was what it was. Gosh says it looks exactly like the one they drew? Then it looks exactly like the one they drew and I was not going to cease until I could find one that matched it far beyond a reasonable doubt.

I found a few contenders. For example:

This little fucker seemed similar enough. Entirely hard plastic? Check. Similar position? Check. Electronic? I think so. Probably cried too, by the looks of it. But there were obviously holes in this theory - no propeller hat, no microphone hole on the stomach, no free movement in the arms, plus there was a bottle that surely Gosh would have mentioned if the real baby was supposed to have one. So, not it.

This carried on for a while, finding things that were sort of similar but not quite, then discarding them because they weren’t close enough for me to be satisfied.

Then I typed the words ‘baby figure toy 2003’. This got me nothing. Then I added a sneaky little ‘electronic’ on the end and didn’t even have to scroll down.

Right there, on the right hand side of my screen, was the baby. There was no question about it, this was it. There’s no point going through all of the things that were the same because this little chunk of plastic was the spitting image of the one Gosh drew.

I went to the site, looking for a name, and that is when I found...

...nothing. I’d found the baby on an auction site and it was literally just labelled ‘baby doll��� in Spanish. The seller didn’t know the name of this thing. I then reverse image searched it to see if any more were around. Nothing.

I left a comment on the original tiktok, telling them the good news and the bad news, relaying that yes, it did exist, they weren’t making it up, that it was yellow and purple, with little ‘G’s on the feet and it was made in 2003 by Sega and Hasbro but that I couldn’t give a name for it. I also sent a picture on Instagram bc apparently you can’t sent pictures though tiktok dms??

Anyway, I pressed on.

Sega and Hasbro are huge, so a toy made by both companies must have some kind of documentation somewhere, right?

Wrong.

No matter what I searched, there was nothing. I couldn’t find the name of the toy, other pictures of the toy, any kind of box or advertising for the toy. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

The only thing I did find was a blue version with different hair. It was on Reddit and the poster had put up the picture in hopes of finding the answers that I, too, was looking for.

I could have left it there but, as I said before, I’m stubborn as all hell when I want to be, especially when I’m procrastinating, so I had all the time in the world to identify this little plastic child.

I searched high and low, through Sega and Hasbro toy archive sites. I eventually found this Sega toy timeline graphic, which I thought was going to be the jackpot:

But was actually sort of useless because when I scrolled to 2003, as you can see, there’s nothing there. It says that year is listed somewhere else. 

Okay, so just go there, right? Wrong again, because when is anything easy?

I go through a whole bunch of these long exchange reports, or whatever they were, that allegedly contain the list of toys Sega produced in 2003 (I’m not entirely as knowledgeable about Japanese stock exchanges as I apparently need to be) and, once again, nothing.

I try to find toy catalogues from 2003. I went on the wayback machine for Argos in 2003. This was all to no avail, but eventually, I found a tiny lead.

On the 2003 version of the Sega Toys Japanese website, there was a toy called プチベビ (which google translated as ‘Petit baby’). By no means was this the exact toy but it was very similar. It had the same body type, with the same moveable arms and microphone bellybutton. The head was different, just a plain face without the pacifier, and these infants were not bright yellow or blue and were also dressed in little animal onesies.

Okay, so was this like the Japanese version of the toy? Possibly. Probably.

Other than that, I have nothing. I’m still going through the 2003 Hasbro site but that’s probably a dead end.

So, dear friends, I am now turning to you for help. If you owned this little yellow and purple baby (or the blue one), knew anyone who owned it, or know anything about it, please talk to me. If you have the box still or the pamphlet that may have come with it, please reach out. If you have access to toyshop catalogues from 2003-2004, or just any catalogue from that time from a store that may sell toys, please get in touch.

I’m really hoping this post gets around because I’m immensely intrigued by this toy and why it has seemingly been lost to the void, so I’m desperate for answers.

An extra tiny lead on the name is that the line of toy might be ‘Gaga’ or something of the sort, which Gosh recalls it may have been called, and makes sense with the ‘G’ that is on both toys.

TL;DR:

(ID: Wanted poster with a photo of the Baby. Below the photo, the text reads: ‘Looking for any information about this toy. Do you have one? Do you remember its name? Do you still have the packaging/any information that came with it? Please share!’)

[onewaigu]

Soulmates

Genre : soulmate!au

Theme : fluff

Pairing : Harin(Onewe) X Reader

Description : people your age were thinking about who their soulmates were. you were more interested in a certain boy who already knew who his soulmate was.

The concept of soulmates having their fates intertwined together by a common connection seemed like something out of a fairytale. Since your whole life, you had become accustomed to seeing people find their soulmates. Which always left you wondering, when were you going to stumble upon yours?

As if someone was listening in on your thoughts, your foot got caught in a pavement hole which sent you stumbling. You closed your eyes to brace the impact but it never came. Instead, an arm firmly curled itself around your waist and pulled you back to your feet. There was no need to turn around to know who this person was because as soon as you heard a strangely familiar laugh, you instantly knew it was your bestfriend, Ju Harin.

He slung an arm around your shoulders and slowed down his pace to match yours. He was towering over you so you had to look up to meet his face which annoyed you sometimes.

“Clumsy as usual”, he humoured while showing off his pearl white teeth.

You punched his arm lightly and shook your head at the insult.

You loved having Harin as your bestfriend because not only was he kind but he was also easygoing. Always managed to make any day better just by his witty and funny jokes.

Sometimes you wonder if there was ever a chance for your friendship to become more than it was if the world didn't depend on the idea of soulmates. People would be free to feel whatever they wanted towards whoever they wished to be with. That's the reason why to you, the concept of soulmates sucked.

It sucked even more because you knew Harin had already gotten glimpses of his soulmate while you only dreamt of homework and stress. On the inside, you were kind of jealous of the girl that would end up with him. Although, if it really was meant to be, then you promised to abandon any feelings you had for him.

“You would not believe what I dreamt about last night”, he told you excitedly.

“Is it about your soulmate?”, you teased him and wiggled your eyebrows suggestively.

Even though you didn't want to talk about soulmates, you felt bad dismissing Harin's excitement so you had no choice but to resist the painful throbbing in your heart.

“Yeah, I actually saw her face!”

Ah. It hurt.

“Well that's good, right! Now you could go meet her and hey, you could even ask her out on a date”, you masked your sadness with a smile.

“I'm a little nervous to reveal myself to her because she's someone I know”, he mumbled softly as an obvious shade of red crawled up his neck.

“You're lucky she's someone you know, mine's probably some creepy pervert”, you shuddered in disgust at the possibilty.

“Hahaha I really doubt that, Y/N”

“I'm just saying, there's a possibility”, you exclaimed without any hint of seriousness in your voice.

After that, the two of you just talked about random stuff till you reached the school buiding.

The rest of the day was boring. Everything waskill the usual routine. When you got home though, you had the greatest shocking news of your life.

Through a text message from your best friend, you got to know that he was going to ask his soulmate on a date. You were frustrated. He only saw her face once that day and now, he wanted to go out with her without taking his time to think over it. As much as you were happy for him finding his soulmate, you couldn't just ignore your feelings. You sunk your head into your pillow and that was how you spent your entire night, crying over a broken heart till you fell asleep.

Drums.

You jolted awake in the middle of the night. Sitting upright on your bed, you placed your hand on your forehead in confusion. Was that a glimpse of your soulmate? Whatever it was, you buried your face in your hands as you sobbed quietly. The last sign of hope that Harin was your soulmate was gone because..Harin didn't play drums.

You dreaded the moment you had to face Harin in the morning.

It wasn't making it easier for you when Harin kept on approaching you more than usual. He was an absolute nervewrack. He would stumble on his words and constantly shake his leg. He told you that he was honestly nervous and afraid the date wasn't going to go well. Giving him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, you reassured him that whatever he had planned, you were sure that anybody would fall for him.

Like that, the rest of the day went by in a blur. You were trying hard not to think about Harin's date while he was busy panicking over it.

Once you were home, you immediately entered your room and plopped yourself on your single-sized bed. You were exhausted and drained but as soon as you heard a notification on your phone popped up, you rolled on your bed lazily and reached for your phone. Swiping the screen, you saw that you had a message from Harin. Glancing at the time, you were confused because he should already be on his date. Without thinking much, you read the message.

Hey Y/N, could you come over my house? I need some help preparing for the date :)

You typed furiously before clicking send. When that was done, you got up from your bed and grabbed your black hoodie that was hanging from a chair. Slipping it on, you left your apartment to go somewhere familiar with the image of your reply still in your head.

Sure, Harin :)

Knocking on his door, you hid your shaky hands in your pockets. Why were suddenly feeling nervous? It's not like it was your date-

The door clicked and opened to reveal your bestfriend, Ju Harin. Just like that, you were speechless. No words could truly describe how handsome he looked standing in front of you. He didn't need a suit and tie to look good. Cladded in a simple striped t-shirt and plain jeans, Ju Harin had completely taken your breath away by his charms.

“Uh Y/N?”

You unfroze yourself from your daydream. You could've sworn you saw a little smirk.

“You needed my help?”, you tried to sound cheerful.

“Mhm, could you put this blindfold on?”, he hummed as he unclenched his fist to reveal a black cloth.

Before you could question him, he explained that he wanted the date to be perfect so he wondered if you could stand in for his soulmate for a dry run of the date. Truthfully, you applauded his dedication to planning a perfect date even if you weren't his date. So in the end, you agreed.

You wanted to grab the blindfold and wear it yorself but Harin beat you to it. He shifted behind you and wrapped the black cloth around your eyes, tying it at the back. You felt yourself stiffened as his fingers brushed the your ears lightly. You mentally scolded yourself.

“Okay, I'm going to bring you somewhere now”, he whispered in your ear, his close proximity caused your cheeks to blush.

You couldn't see anything but you did feel Harin locking hands with you. You took in calm breaths.

It didn't take long before you finally stopped getting dragged by Harin.

“You can take them off now, Y/N”, he said.

Fumbling with the knot, you took the blindfold off your eyes. You had to blink a few times for your eyes to adjust to the surroundings.

When it did, time stood still. His normal living room now had beautiful fairylights hanging on the walls. The dining table at the side had vanilla-scented candles and a vase filled with baby's breath. The atmosphere of the whole living room was perfect for a chill yet romantic date. Your heart involuntarily clenched.

Harin, who was at your side, walked to the middle of the room. How you didn't notice it at first was a mystery but there it was, a drumset sitting in the middle. Your eyes shifted to Harin who had drumsticks in his hands.

“So here's the part where I tell you that I lied“

“Y/N, I didn't need your help with the date cause you are my date”

You didn't understand.

“Remember how I said she's someone I know? Did you ever think about the fact that the only girl I've ever talked to..is you?”

“Dammit, Y/N..you're my soulmate”

“I don't care if your soulmate isn't me, I just need you to know that I've been in love with you since the day you stood up for me against others”

Blinking your eyes, you felt a tear falling. You didn't realise you were crying this whole time. It all made sense now and you felt your heart warmed by Harin's confession. All that worrying and it turned out that Harin's been your soulmate all this time. And you were his.

You were overwhelmed by emotions but that didn't distract you from the sight of the drums. The only thing that didn't make sense to you. Why were drums in your dream?

“Ah, the drums”, Harin cheekily grinned.

“I kept it a secret because I didn't want you to think I'm lame”, he scratched his head with his drumsticks.

Wiping your tears from your eyes, you smiled softly at Harin, “You're absolutely amazing, Ju Harin”

His face reddened in an instant but he kept his composure. “Uh- so with everything planned, I think it's time for me to make you fall for me”, he shyly looked away from you.

Now, it was your turn to blush because that sounded really familiar as if someone he knew had said that to him the other day.

[a/n]

someone was craving for some harin content 🤷‍♀️ of course I was tempted to write something fluffyy > <

stan weus and ju harin please stahp being rude boi

[tarotchariot]

Affirmators! cards review + pick a card

As you may be aware, I enjoy using affirmations and sharing them. Naturally, my attention was drawn to a card deck simply for positive affirmations.

I have a fair collection of tarot and oracle cards, and haven’t gotten anything new in a while. So of course, I am very excited to share a review of these affirmation cards, pictures and insights available from them. This is simply a personal desire, and I am so bursting with excitement to share a pick a card at the end.

So why don’t we have a look together?

Factual start: the creator and writer of this deck is Suzi Barett who lives in the US.

To begin with, the outer box is very hardy, well designed with slightly embedded text. I am absolutely a sucker for the texture available on packaging or boxes - makes it feel luxurious. The title reading “Affirmators!” has a shine and reflection whenever you move the box. There are other little details I appreciate, with the gold shiny dots on the border as well as the stars with the rainbow.

On the back it is what you would expect, a few example pictures of cards, with a summary which I pictured, but will also provide text for:

“It’s been proven* that making positive statements out loud can radically improve your mood, relationships and life experiences. We’re not ones to argue with science**, so we’re giving it a shot! Forty cards offer unique daily affirmations without the self-helpy self-seriousness - plus ten bonus cards to boost you on your toughest days!”

Another thing I noticed very quickly, was text on the outer edges that were amusing, and just nice to see - adding to the experience.

Delightfully, when I had taken off the packaging to hold the box, it revealed - easily and smoothly - the way you would access the cards. I was surprised and tickled by this, and I enjoy the way you can very simply slide the inner box out from both the top, or bottom.

The colour is very bright and pleasing to the eye, and striking. The way to get hold of the cards (other than just tipping them out like I tend to) is using a black tab, as pictured. Overall the way these cards are stored is pleasant and very natural.

Inside, what I am met with is a very colourful combination, and an introduction card, as well as a side card advertising others for different spheres of life. (which was so tempting by the way)

It’s a very simple introduction, inviting you to just be yourself, be creative, do what you want with them, basically. 

The quality of these cards are ok, objectively speaking - I’ve seen better, I’ve seen worse. They are flexible, not the strongest, however they aren’t too weak. There’s nothing to complain about, but I do wonder if they will wear easily from use. The back is the same as the picture presented on the box - the unicorn, rabbit, rainbow - just a basic version without the shine. The border is a plain white.

After noticing this, this is when my pick a card reading commences!

Final thoughts:

Overall I really do appreciate the value. The text is amusing, although some might find it difficult dealing with the long text descriptions. Personally, I enjoy them and love to read all the way through. 

The card stock isn’t amazing, but it’s acceptable in my opinion. The packaging is amazing and creates a really positive experience.

The vibe, the energy, the impressions from what is written or illustrated is very positive, peaceful and amusing. I do not regret purchasing these cards at all - they are genuinely a delight. The bonus cards are text with no images, which is a little disappointing but I’m fine with it. However, at the same time, the bonus cards can be an indicator if used in readings, and I value the addition.

I recommend them, for people just wanting a bit of positivity or peace in their lives, or if readers want to incorporate them with divination techniques.

PICK A CARD READING

From left to right, please pick a card/number/gem for your affirmation. It's worth it to have a moment and be in a quiet space, and breathe deeply 3 times, asking what will help you feel/think more positively.

You can either let your intuition guide you to a card, a stone might speak to your or you might hear a number in your mind. There are many ways.

The stones from left to right are: rose quartz, amethyst, clear quartz.

STOP HERE

Have you chosen? 

...Go on then.

_____________________________________________

CARD 1 - ROSE QUARTZ

You got a bonus card! This is so exciting!

I love how it mentions to get greedy. In reality, it’s not greedy at all to want the best for yourself, and the happiest life! But however you might feel about it - gleefully say/write/think what you want. Say it with verve, speak it with excitement because you know you definitely should have the nice things.

And it’s true! You are magic!

__________________________________

CARD 2 - AMETHYST

I love this card so much! Whether romantic, platonic or business you deserve the best! Many times, we tend to lower our expectations, or find it hard to accept kind people into our lives from insecurities. Today is the day to really build yourself up! You are amazing, and who wouldn’t want to know you? There are some people missing out! My personal recommendation for you would be to do a list of 3 (or more if you’re feeling it) wonderful qualities that you have!

Take this as a wonderful indicator if you’re searching for a partnership too, that you are worthy of much more than you even imagine right now!

__________________________________

CARD 3 - CLEAR QUARTZ

Group 3, this gave two cards and you may not be able to see the text clearly. I will write it out here for you, if you have trouble:

Peacefulness:

“I have a peaceful, tranquil, and untroubled heart. This is where I choose to spend my time. I can bring guests... but any person, thought or event that brings drama or chaos is not invited. My heart is special property, and I’m going to keep it that way so we can all keep enjoying it and I can get my security deposit back.”

Engagement:

“Today, I make the conscious choice to engage with the world in an active way. I’ll take a new route and talk to strangers. I will smell flowers and pet dogs, and maybe walk around barefoot for a while if I’m not inside a 7-11. At the very least, I’ll have a day that’s slightly more interesting than average. And at the most, I’ll have a startling epiphany or make a friend who will change my life forever. No pressure.”

Together, I can’t help but think these cards can mean you are feeling protective over your heart, or well being and could be finding it difficult to get out there again and trust. I feel it’s likely saying you have the wisdom and boundary setting skills available to ensure you do get out there, or socialise, and still maintain integrity, refusing to accept negativity or drama. You can still have fun!

________________________________________________________

This turned out to be rather lengthy, and I just want to thank you for the interest, and your staying power. 

I’ve just been so excited to share this, and I hope the pick a card may have lightened you up - I know it certainly did for me!

Have an absolutely wonderful, glorious and most amazing shiny sunny day!

[moralanxietystudio]

Buried In Words - Roadwarden Devlog

(Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG in which you explore and change a hostile, grim realm. It combines mechanics of RPGs, adventure games and Visual Novels, and you can now wishlist it on Steam!)

Since the middle of December, working on Roadwarden is mostly about writing new events, dialogues and quests. There were almost no updates on social media - I don’t have time to draw (aside of some inventory icons), and by popular demand, I try to avoid deeper spoilers. I’ve written quite a bunch of stuff, but the results won’t do for exciting screenshots.

I’m  currently focused on designing and filling up Howler’s Dell, the largest settlement in the game, so there’s a LOT of important character interactions to introduce, including quests, merchants, and lore. But in the meantime, some major changes have also been introduced:

 1. The game over screens

In the original Roadwarden’s Design Document, there were no game-overs. You could get significantly hurt during your journeys, but never to the point where you’d hit a brick wall that would make the further progress impossible. You’d need to rest and heal your wounds to participate in some events, but you could always move forward.

I’ve finally decided to change it. In most situations, reaching 0 HP won’t result in an instant death. But in some scripted encounters - usually when facing an overwhelming opponent while being completely unprepared - your character will be broken.

Still, I hope to make it as player-friendly as possible. Did you forget to save your game? Was autosave ran in an inconvenient spot? You can jump back in time a bit, no strings attached.

In various European cultures, the winged hourglass is an image related to the ephemerality of life, and it has became an important part of the Viaticum fantasy setting over ten years ago. Since there’s no single “canonic” design, I’ve had an opportunity to experiment with various approaches.

 2. New “regular” font

The text has now more space to breathe, the letters have more personality, and thanks to the serifs, it’s going to be easier to keep track of the lines you read. Everybody wins:

While the majority of feedback that I’ve gathered shares my enthusiasm, I’ve also seen some words of criticism. It’s still possible that the font is going to be replaced with a different one, but I’m convinced it’s still a step in the right direction.

Even if the font is going to be replaced again, this little feature will be kept in the game. The good old “select a font” setting now showcases a small frame that explains the most significant traits of the regular font and the pixel one. Even though the pixel font looks cool on screenshots, it won’t be gentle on your eyes.

 3. Updated inventory menu

From now on, pointing at an icon in your inventory will showcase not just the item’s brief description, but also its name.

This update was essential due to the constantly growing number of items added to the game. Usually, the player will keep using or loosing some of them as they complete more quests or take a part in more unique interactions, but you may reach a point when you’ll see a couple of dozen of icons at once, and they may start to get a bit blurry. When there was maybe 20 items in the entire game, clicking an icon to see the broader description wasn’t a large problem, but it became clear that it was a short-sighted, flawed design.

 4. Redesigned armor system

I’m not gonna lie. The gambesons that were present in the demo? They were a placeholder, waiting for a better idea to show up. And here it is.

The original two “types” of armor were related to the character’s class selected at the beginning of the game - the Warrior gets the good stuff, while both the Scholar and the Mage have a piece of trash, since they couldn’t afford anything better.

I was expecting to introduce some encounters “better” armors later in the game, and also script interactions where the better armors help you survive major injuries or even death, but I felt it was not good enough. This approach doesn’t introduce much decision making, and it introduces sort of a boring stagnancy.

The new system offers three “levels” of armor. The level 1 - “A Worn Gambeson” - offers you little to no protection. If you want to be saved during some difficult encounters, or maybe get less hurt when you screw up, you want to get to at least the level 2 - “A Decent Gambeson” - which is given to the Warrior class at the beginning of the game.

Upgrading armor requires getting in touch with a tailor, and paying them to do some fixes for you. However, when the armor “saves” you, it often also gets damaged. Its level decreases.

The 3rd level of your armor - “A Fine Gambeson” - follows the same rules. Wearing it will save you from most wounds, but during this process, it may also get torn, downgraded to level 2. As the player, you have to decide how many dragon coins you are willing to invest to keep yourself in one piece.

So simple, yet so much better. And I can still decide to introduce levels 0, 4, 5... Depending on  what will turn out to fit the larger picture.

 5. Updated journal menu

The journal has received the very needed scrollbars, which appear only when there’s too much text to fit in a single window. From now on, I don’t expect that the player will just “figure out” that they can use a mouse wheel, or drag the text box. Nice and easy:

Also, when you select a chapter (like “Quests”) or a specific entry (like the “Necromancers?” quest), the button is now highlighted, what will help you keep track of what you’ve been clicking through:

Also, unlike in the game’s demo, the “People” chapter is now cohesive with the “Quests” formatting. Originally, these sections had different sizes, what didn’t look as good as I intended.

6. Dolmen updates

Just to make it clear - the game receives a whole bunch of updates and bug fixes every week, and I don’t plan to list dozens of small adjustments just because. But this one is pretty fun for me, since it shows the progressing level of attention to detail, and the evolution of the game’s design. : )

Since the day I’ve introduced this area to the game’s prototype, I was unhappy about the low amount of visual changes it had to offer. No matter what you’d type down to solve the puzzle, the only clues you’d receive were presented in text.

The updated dolmen required some rewrites and a fair bit of drawing, but from now on, once you find something that provides a significant clue, you’ll also see a visual feedback that’s going to reflect your discovery. It will help you backtrack the older information, and focus your attention on more successful guesses. Oh, something new has showed up? I guess it’s important!

7. The world map reworks

Some of those updates are difficult to spot without a looking glass. Some percentage of the “bushes” have different colors now and a couple of new shapes; the forests and trees now cast shadows; the lake nearby the Southern Crossroads has more details; the river in the east is broader; there are new hills nearby Tulia’s Camp...

But it’s the eastern part of the map that has seen some major updates. It’s filled with hills and mountains, and because of it, it provides more limited vision than lands in the west, covered with plains and swamps. Previously, this disproportion was quite a bit larger, and I’ve decided to town it down a bit. I hope that the effect I’ve had in mind is still clear to spot.

 8. More “stable” text boxes

When the player points at an icon, it usually creates a text box with a related description. From now on, more of these text boxes will be anchored to specific parts of the screen, instead of showing up in an area related to the player’s cursor. It should make the information less chaotic, and won’t cover other icons anymore. Also, there will be no more situations when the text box is partially outside of the game’s window.

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

Thank you for taking a look at this devlog, for your support and kindness. Remember, you can also find me on Twitter and Facebook, and the game has a Steam page on which you can add it to your wishlist. Have a great day!

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 36

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 35]

Last time on No Driver’s License, the party managed to beat what should be the final combat encounter. They caused Honoka Midarezaki to witch out, leaving behind only Katou Kimiko, and... well, is that going to be enough? Because... Emiko beat Ibara to snagging Kimiko’s Soul Seed, and the situation might demand further defusing.

So, the big question- are we reviving Kimiko, here?

Emiko vehemently denies any intention of doing so, but... well, Fumi-chan’s still being a little shit.

Ibara points out that they’ve got other options on hand, but Tama-chan refuses to do the reviving, too- she intends to just put her on ice and keep her from reviving indefinitely. And... Nishi’s on her side, here. That leaves zero willing Incubators.

Emiko’s in no hurry, though- she’d rather just have everyone here back the fuck off, please.

There’s more arguing that wants to happen, largely because Emiko and Sakura want to do it- which Ibara is opposed to doing here, now. Yukari and Makoto are more or less behind her, on that count.

Emiko ends up agreeing- she would rather not bring Kimiko back to life here, surrounded by enemies and liable to panic and lash out.

Tama-chan and Nishi try to urge the team to take out Emiko while they have the chance- they sort of haven’t been around for any of the... learning about the cannibals and how they’re maybe redeemable, and just see a chance to put a stop to them. Yukari explains that they want to recruit the cannibals, which... the Incubators are rather surprised by. She explains her plan, but Tama-chan has doubts.

Meanwhile, in the rocket, Makoto and Sakura are catching Hekima up on the situation with the cannibals. She, like Tama and Nishi, is not convinced recruitment is viable- but for different reasons.

Sakura explains that they intend to rewire magic itself to not work that way. Her plan for that, though, is pretty ambitious- her step 1 is “use magic to bootstrap a superintelligence, and have that fix magic for us”.

Answering her questions means looping her in on... the whole Hell Engine thing, and the Devil, and they’re not sure whether to divulge all that right now. An inquiry re: her personal motivations is made, wherein she affirms that all she wants is to survive.

Sakura only then notices Nishi’s presence, and asks her some questions about hacking the Hell Engine to rewire magic.

Hekima keeps pushing to be told about their mysterious source of Grief relief, not allowing the subject to be changed. They’re... still not sure if she can be trusted, though.

Sakura’s ensuing Heart roll is... middling. Hekima doesn’t exactly react angrily to that, but...

Back at the ranch- I mean, back on the moon but like a dozen meters away- Yukari and Tama-chan are still going at it over the cannibal plan.

Ibara tries to get things back on track.

That’s... good enough for Yukari, who tries to cement that stance. If she can prove they don’t need to eat anyone anymore, will Emiko commit to not doing soul cannibalism?

Emiko’s not really ready to commit to anything, and she’s worried everything is a trick, and doesn’t like how Yukari won’t actually explain what the plan is. Ibara tries to put it in plain language, which gets her a little more cooperative.

Yukari and Ibara describe the Hell Engine and the Devil in... terms vague enough to not give Emiko enough information to fuck with them, but enough to give her something to work with. Emiko’s final stance here is... she isn’t going to just immediately go along with it. She’s going to go home, revive Kimiko, and talk with her and Yoshe as a team about whether this is a good idea, before committing to anything.

That agreed upon, it’s time to go home. Ibara goes and checks on the crew in the perfectly functional rocket ship they have, where they’re still trying to figure out Hekima.

WELL I SURE HOPE SO

Meanwhile, Yukari has one last thing to do before they take off. She wants to get Orino to shrink down the Hell Engine so it can be made portable- and more importantly, able to be hidden from the cannibals if they find out what it is. Seina helps her track Orino down with the pre-existing telepathy connection they made when they arrived.

Ibara and the others, though, are getting impatient- and Yukari can just teleport home, right?

So they... sorta take off without her. Sakura rolls a crit on Heart to pilot it home, and Ibara... assists.

That all goes... mostly well. There are some Things that happen when they land, but let’s resolve Yukari’s quest first:

Tama-chan is here chiding her and calling her an idiot, but mainly about the “telling the cannibals about important stuff” thing, and not the issue at hand. Yukari... takes it as kind of a revelation, though.

Yukari has a whole spiel about how she isn’t sure if Honoka still exists, what that relationship will be like, agonizing over that...

She goes on for a while about how maybe she’s broken and intrinsically evil and just ought to embrace her destiny as a plotting villain who doesn’t care about other peoples’ feelings. Tama-chan sort of ineffectually tries to derail that.

Yukari eventually comes down from her self-loathing high, and decides against pressuring Orino further. Tama-chan still isn’t happy about the cannibal plan, but acknowledges that she can’t really stop it, and vanishes. (By “vanishes”, I mean she self-destructs the Kyubey she’s piloting, and auto-recalls her gem to her base, but same deal plus some gold rings for Yukari.)

Meanwhile, on the way to Earth, some stuff happens. First, Makoto gets in contact with a friend:

Before I can show you what happens when they land, though, I need to rewind to a non-player omake that happened simultaneous with the session. 

Rather than paste the whole thing: Olivia Gumm is in the bunker, working on her manga. She’s mostly on track to meet her deadline, but then Takamine Mitsuki shows up, and starts to ask questions. Olivia draws a fantasy yuri manga which is supposed to be all-ages, but she’s not sure if the Takamines are traditionalists and isn’t sure whether to explain it to Mitsuki. 

Mitsuki turns out to be pretty open-minded when Olivia starts explaining, and from what she says about what her parents have said about the subject, Olivia won’t get in trouble for corrupting their daughter or anything. Mitsuki eventually runs off to ask her mom more about “homerphobia”, and- whoops, then Olivia breaks her pen.

Meanwhile, with Ibara’s delinquent buddies...

After some arguing over whether they’re going to go investigate, settled by Ibara’s sister Nano threatening to sic Ibara on them if they don’t quit making a ruckus, they go and find the source of the knocking.

The delinquents push past the barricade, ignoring Olivia’s horror at having broken Reiko’s rules, and find... no one. She’s missing. (She’s been kidnapped to the moon by the Devil.) Shibu fires off some texts to Ibara:

So, that’s what happened while they were gone. As they re-enter the atmosphere and regain cell reception, Ibara gets those texts.

Sakura lands the rocket in the Gyoen National Garden, the park where Reiko’s bunker is hidden. The thing’s decked out in Somebody Else’s Problem amulets, so they’re fine muggle-wise. Ibara heads down to check in on Reiko and the bunker inhabitants.

As it turns out, Shibu was able to keep Nails from contracting, despite Nails being extremely excited to be told that she has magical potential and could contract. So, that’s a bullet(?) dodged, at least. Everything down in the bunker seems pretty much fine.

Seina also heads down there- with Cho clinging to her arm, in front of her parents, an embarrassing situation that will be addressed in a couple sessions.

After checking on the bunker folk, Sakura is the first to head upstairs and outside, where she meets...

Sakura has... a bit of a breakdown, worrying about her purified trauma tracks. She’s worried about a feeling like life is pointless.

(Sheesh, Hekima.)

Sakura ends up asking Hekima to take a look inside her head, see if she can find out what witching did to her. Hekima is totally up for it, it seems.

They spend a while psychoanalyzing her, through Hekima’s maybe-not-super-reliable lens of pulling on true and false statements and guessing about the underlying neurology. Hekima’s verdict is that Sakura is just... very susceptible to emotional manipulation, prone to mood swings and wild behavior in response to minor stimuli. Hekima, as an old-school magical girl, is more than happy to catalogue her mental weaknesses.

And then... well, Hekima has her mancatcher around Sakura’s neck, and the thing to remember is that this sort of exploratory brain imaging stuff is not the primary function of the ability. The primary function of the ability is to forcibly read someone’s mind. When Sakura says she’s done and asks to be released...

They make contested rolls, and it’s close, but Hekima barely beats her.

(The ability description was cribbed from an unused character sheet Farn made, which I decided to remix a bit to make Hekima.)

So, the result of that is...

She tries to say “I can’t tell you that”, but fails, because that’s a lie- she can tell her that, she just won’t. Instead, she continues on the obfuscation tack.

Then Sakura tries to punch her, but fails her roll.

So... that’s not ominous.

Next time on No Driver’s License: Sakura and Yukari have a heart-to-heart over some curry, and Makoto pays a visit to the cannibals to see how their team discussion has been going. I’m sure this will all wrap up super-neatly.

[teamghosts]

Simulator 🖥

Markus yawned and leaned back in his chair. He looked at the time on his computer and noticed it had just gone to 11:30 p.m. He rubbed his eyes, which were sore from looking at his monitor since starting the stream at 6 p.m. He looked at his Twitch chat, which all read the same.

"This is so boring!"

‘No one plays this game anymore’

‘Get a better game pls!’

‘Kill yourself. "

Markus quickly blocked the last person. Of course, he wished he could afford better games, but his part-time salary was a pittance. 

"Guys, if you comment that, then it’s a straight block."

He was annoyed but used to these trolls by now. 

"I’m doing the best I can. Now I know a lot of people don’t like this game, but Small Life Sim is an enjoyable game. "

He despised it. Another low budget rip off that was behind so many ad walls that he regretted paying to remove them. 

He was trying to become a full time content creator, putting in numerous hours every day, but it was hard. All his gaming buddies were already affiliated and getting 10, 20, and even a lucky one was hitting 45 viewers per stream. Markus, however, was only averaging 2 on good days. The grind was hard, but that was the sacrifice, he told himself.

He was fed up, tired and hungry. Markus ended the stream in the hopes that he would find a game that pulled in the viewers.

He sat in his kitchen eating cheap noodles that tasted like cardboard. How long will he have to live like this? His dreams seemed so far away every time he woke up in his crappy flat. 

He scrolled through his phone eating, looking at full-time jobs that he was so close to applying for. He stood up to go to his room to sleep. That’s when it happened.

PING!

His phone lit up with an email notification. He sat down and opened the message.

Dear Mr. Crampton,

We here at Diaboli Games would like to invite you to be part of our new Beta test squad for our upcoming game, Simulator. We choose up-and-coming video game streamers and video makers to test out our projects and allow them to exclusively show off our work. 

Please find a stream key invitation below.

Simulator is a life simulation, but unlike any other.

Yours sincerely,

Malik Diaboli

Diaboli Games' CEO

Markus had to read it twice. He couldn’t believe it. How had they found him? The stream key was at the bottom of the email. Suddenly wide awake, he almost sprinted to the computer and turned it on.

He quickly entered the key into Steam and the page popped up. It was beautiful.

The screenshots showed detailed options for a life sim. Choice after choice, he would be able to do anything. It was as if every life-sim game had been crammed into one. He downloaded the game.

When waiting, he checked the description but it just read the same as the email.

'Simulator is a life simulation but unlike any other. "

But it did have an extra line, "DO NOT USE YOUR REAL NAME."

Confused about the odd line, he brushed it off as some sort of security detail. When the game was fully downloaded, he couldn’t open it fast enough.

It looked like every other text-based simulators. Plain background with buttons that lead into options for actions. 

He added a fake name and created a new life. He could feel his eyes getting heavy, so he didn’t bother with looking at the options for when you are growing up. He aged up year after year, reading the in game events that happened until his character was 18.

That unlocked every option, so he wanted to explore a bit. He pressed "lifestyle," and another menu popped up, and it was everything. options for social media, acting, music, and crime. He clicked on each one, and they had hundreds of options that a player could choose from. He was spoilt for choice.

He thought about trying them all, but he wanted to enjoy it and he was too tired right now, so he decided on crime. He pressed it and read through the options like gangs, mafia, and the internet, but settled on robbery because he liked the image of the burglar.

Again, options came up, and he thought the other games might as well quit because this one was going to be the champion. He clicked to rob a local shop and had to complete a mini game where he had to collect items and not get caught. He came close to getting caught, even when the armed police arrived, but he managed to escape with almost a thousand pounds.

At this point, his head dropped down and he jerked awake. Too tired to even sit properly, he saved his progress and dragged himself off to bed, where he was practically unconscious when his head hit the pillow.

Markus opened his eyes slowly to the buzzing of his phone. He reached across the dresser and looked at the caller ID. Why was his mum ringing him?

"Hello" Markus answered, his voice croaky with tiredness.

"Markus, are you OK?" She said, with some worry.

"I’m fine. Why are you ringing?"

One-Stop Shop was robbed last night. Armed police and the lot. You must have heard the sirens. You live down the road from them. "

Markus jumped out of bed and peeked through his blinds. Sure enough, the bottom of the street was cornered off and there were two police vans blocking the road.

"I must have slept through it."

"You could sleep through the end of the world. Stay safe ok? "

"I will do, talk to you later." He ended the call and got ready. He checked social media and the robbery was all over it.

IN A LATE NIGHT HEIST, AN ARMED ROBBER GETS AWAY WITH A GRAND.

He got lucky. His estate wasn’t the best, but it had never had an armed robbery before. After a few minutes, he left for work and made sure to check his windows and doors were locked.

Markus worked part time at a small clothes shop in town. On a good day he got five customers, but on a normal day it was more like two. The boring day ahead always filled him with dread, but at least his colleague Joey was a laugh.

Markus had just stepped into the shop before Joey ran up to him.

"Mate, how about that robbery?" Joey said excitedly.

"I wish I could have seen it live. I was asleep," Markus said.

"I did catch your stream last night."

"Cheers mate. Why didn’t you comment? "

"I did. Don’t you remember BadLad69?"

"That was you?"

"Do you like the name?"

"Not the most original"

Markus yawns while covering his mouth. He went over to the stock room and shifted boxes as Joey worked the till.

"What time did you go to bed?"

"I ended the stream when it was almost midnight before playing a new game I was invited to test." Joey’s eyes lit up.

"You got invited to test a game! Congratulations mate" They high five.

"Yep. It’s a life simulator, so right up my alley. "

"What’s it like?"

"Amazing. There are like a thousand different options to choose from. I’m going to enjoy playing it fully tonight. It has mini games, so it's not just clicking. I robbed a shop in it last night before I went to bed. "

"That sounds like a great game. Is it realistic? "

"Very realistic. When I robbed the shop in the game, the police showed up and armed police. It’s a pity they sent it to me so late. I could have played it all night. Time does go fast when playing. It was 1am when I stopped playing. "

"That’s a big coincidence!" 

"What is"

"1am is the time the shop was robbed." 

Markus was taken aback by this. He thought he definitely should have heard something. "Did they say how much was taken?"

"Close to a thousand pounds from what I’ve read"

Markus almost dropped the box he was carrying. It was a crazy thought, but could the game be involved? His mind was racing.

The day went by with barely any customers, but Markus could barely think. His thoughts were occupied by the game. Joey even noticed, asking if he was OK a few times, but Markus could barely muster a grunt in response. 

Finally, his shift came to an end, and without saying goodbye, Markus left and quickly headed home.

When he got home, Markus went straight to his computer. The game loaded where he had left off, fresh from robbing the shop. It was necessary to know how literal that was.

He scrolled through the options and needed to find something that would show immediate results. Everything would probably take a while, so he tried crime again. That did give immediate results before.

He chose crime and looked over what he could do. The Internet looked promising, so he clicked and read through the options such as blackmail and hacking. Without thinking, he chose hacking. which gives him options for multiple websites. every social media platform, news site, and business

Which one would make headlines quickly? A news site would be big, but social media... now that would cause a panic.

He chose Facebook, and that made another mini game come up. This was a click game where he had to stop an arrow in the green in the middle. He waited till he recognised the speed patten and clicked.

SUCCESS. He let out a sign of relief and clicked for results.

According to the game, his successful hack meant that Facebook was down. He logged on from his phone, but it seemed to be working fine.

Disappointed and feeling crazy, he threw his phone on the bed. Of course, it didn’t work. It was just a game, after all. He was being crazy. Why would a video game affect the real world.

Markus started laughing at the absurd thoughts he had all day. He thought it was some sort of evil game. He had to post something.

He got his phone off of the bed and went to Facebook. He opened the app but it crashed, so he tried again only for it to do the same. He tried it on his computer but it just buffered.

Freaked out, he googled Facebook and article after article appeared.

FACEBOOK HAS BEEN TAKEN OFFLINE AFTER HACKERS GAINED ACCESS TO THE MAINFRAME.

Markus looked on with horror. This proves it. This game caused events to happen in the real world.

With unknown power at his hands, what could he do?

To Be Continued...

Created and Written by Lee McShane

[eigwayne]

Friday Night Conlanging Bonus- Sound Inventory

This is a little bonus follow up to last night’s Friday Night Conlanging. I mentioned I compiled the onomatopoeia words for barking and howling, and based the sound inventory on that. Since it’s already done, I see no reason to wait until next Friday to post it!

This is basically the process of going from a list of words to a sound inventory loosely based on that list, and it got long. Click the Read More for the process. Only interested in the sound inventory? Click it and scroll to the bottom.

First, I dumped the whole table from Wikipedia into Excel. I use Excel because I’m familiar with it from work, but in theory, the table could copy to any spreadsheet program.

Then, I created a chart that listed the words or halves of words, and their first, second, and third “letters”, which is the onset, nucleus, and coda in short words, but I did separate some clusters so I could count individual sounds. I wasn’t interested in being perfectly accurate in any way; I just wanted a feel for the sounds used. This was super tedious because I did it by hand. You could probably figure out a way to make Excel do more of the work, but it would have taken me longer to figure it out than to type the syllables myself. I’m “familiar” and even “comfortable” with Excel, but that doesn’t mean I know all the functions or want to read Excel articles all night trying to figure it out. 

So far, I had something like this:

[Image description: A spreadsheet with the top part of the pasted Wikipedia data on the right, in four columns showing the Language, “cat meowing” words, “dog barking” words, and “dog or wolf howling” words. A second, very plain table to the left shows the “word”, “letter 1″, letter 2″ and “letter 3″ for the first couple syllables in the “dog barking” column. Only 5 to 7 rows of data are shown for each one: the viewer can infer they continue offscreen. End description.]

Because I was only separating the bark words into 3 letters or sounds, some of them worked nicely, some did not. In the example above, Albanian’s “ham ham” can be reduced to “ham” H-A-M, but Afrikaans’ “woef” is four letters and reduces to W-OE-F. Another Albanian word, “uof-uof”, reduces to “uof��� and the vowels are separated to U-O-F. Again, I was going for feel and a rough idea, not precision, and wanted something is each of the 3 columns so my next step would work better.

That next step? A Pivot Table!

If you don’t use spreadsheets, Pivot tables are useful things that basically compile and redisplay your data table. I’m sure it’s much more technical but we’re not really here for the Excel lesson, right? (I hope not. I can use Pivot tables but not explain them.) 

Anyways, I basically made Excel read the second table and count letters for me. I couldn’t get it to display exactly how I wanted (again, not an Excel expert, and Pivot table results depend on how you set up your data), so I pasted those results into a new, fiddled with some things, and changed the source of the Pivot table to the new table. THEN, I could get it to display what I wanted. Example below:

[Image description: Two plain tables in a spreadsheet, the left-hand of which is the same as the previous image. The right-hand table has blue column headers reading “Row Labels” and “Sum of count.” If you’re familiar enough with Excel, you can tell it’s a Pivot Table. More description follows in text so for now, end description.]

Again, I’m only showing the first couple lines. The first table is the same as the second table from the first picture. Next to that are the first Pivot table results. What that shows is the “phoneme”, the letter data in the center cells of the first table, the “count” and the “position”. Position is actually the “letter” column from the first chart, renamed, and the count is how many times that “phoneme” appeared in that column. 

And on the right of the image is the Pivot table results of the second table, arranged by position and count because that’s what my brain needed to parse this and make the sound chart. There’s probably an easier way, but this work is already done so I no longer care. Your take-away from this is that 1) Pivot tables are useful, and 2) if something’s not working for you in your personal work, rearrange it until it does.

So now I could parse the data and I can tell what sort of words dogs make in human languages. All this to see what sort of sounds a humanoid-dog-wolf creature would most likely make! 

Next, I decided what sounds would be in the proto-language itself. I’m not comfortable making some sounds so I left those out; this is for a setting for novels and authors get asked how things are pronounced, so if I can’t say the words, it’d be awkward, right? Anyways, I agonized over the vowels, as I always do, and which “r” sounds to use because “r” is surprisingly complicated. And finally, I ended up with this:

[Image description: An IPA-style chart labeled “Pulmonic consonants” with the m, n, ŋ, p, b, g, f, g, h, w, and r showing. The sounds t, d, k, s, z, ʒ, and l are marked with an asterisk as “later addition, may not appear in all dialects.” The vowel chart is to the right (and unlabeled, apologies), with the sounds i, u, o, ə, ɔ, and a, and with ɯ, ɪ, e, and ɛ marked as possible later additions. End description.]

The placement on the vowels is a little messed up; formatting a vowel chart in Excel is a nightmare. But that’s where we’re starting! Next time, I’ll be second guessing my choices so you can see the decision-making in progress (and also because I’m second guessing some choices).

Thinking about making your own language? Check the previous entry in my “friday night conlanging” tag for resources. Want to learn more about the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA)? Have some links!

http://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/ http://ipa.typeit.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet http://www.ipachart.com/ https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/full-ipa-chart