#i got triggered by the scores on the platform

[savage-rhi]

Magenta 😥

[moreespressoformydepresso]

I’m working on a thing where all the tributes of the 10th Hunger Games won separate games, ultimately leading to president Snow getting his shit rocked because he sucked from the beginning and TBOSAS proved that, and I was thinking about how all the tributes would have won their games. The way you play the game and what led to your victory will probably have impact on how you cope and what exactly triggers PTSD. I’ve been mostly focused on Lamina and Treech because I love the district 7 tributes they’re built different, but I’ll try to come up with as many as possible for this list:

Velvereen was a career, and scored multiple kills while working with them, but ultimately the alliance broke apart as their members died off in their attempts to hunt down others. Velvereen, being less murder-happy, didn’t get revenge killed, nor did she get overwhelmed by a tribute she attacked, which left her as the last of the pack standing. She won because her last opponent used a melee weapon and she used throwing knives. Thanks to the advantage she had by not only having a long range weapon, but also a lifetime of training to hone her accuracy, she ended their would-be-battle swiftly and took the win.

Facet was also a part of the career pack, not necessarily hunting people down but going out of his way to kill whoever he came across that wasn’t a career. His weapon of choice was a spear, and he won by leaving the career pack when the water got a bit too hot under the team’s feet, and spearing the last tribute like a cannibal-style meat skewer.

Sabyn made full use of her superior health and knowledge of building structures in an urban arena. Aside from using her skill with the mace to bludgeon people to death, she also used it to hit all the weak points in the structures and collapsed walls on top of people. She took out the last remaining tributes by collapsing a building on top of them and killing off the survivors with her mace.

Marcus spent most of his games using his vastly superior physical strength and more well-fed state to his advantage, knowing most of his allies were waiting for the moment they thought they no longer needed him to get rid of him. His solution was to run awa- just kidding he killed them all in their sleep and used the intellect everyone thought he lacked for the rest of the games until the final fight, where he bashed the other tribute’s head into the rocks and then choked them to death.

Teslee wins her games by using her knowledge of electronics to reactivate the mines around the starting platforms and hiding in the cornucopia when there’s only four people left. When the mutts drive everyone to the middle of the arena, they’re subsequently blown up.

Circ wins his games in similar fashion to Teslee, except he gets forced to help the careers with his intellect and knowledge of technology. In response, Circ uses his intellect and knowledge of technology to trick the careers into protecting him and handing him weapons until he no longer needs them, then having the plan they made him execute literally blow up in their face and electrocuting several of them in the process. The last career is killed when Circ evades their attacks until they hit an electrical line with their fully metal weapon.

Coral probably won the same way she almost did in the movie. She was part of the career pack and made sure to be the one to backstab their allies first. There is no little brother figure for her to be worried about, nor are there snakes designed to kill every last person in the arena, so she has all the room and time she needs to handily shish kebab the last tribute and claim victory.

Mizzen doesn’t have as much brutal efficiency, nor the physique that Coral did even though I’m aging him up. He instead wins by mixing her strategy with the tried and true method of staying away from the things that could turn you into a pincushion. It’s like Marcus’ approach in reverse, starting with intellect and finishing with brute strength. He joins the careers, but as soon as things go slightly south he takes out the biggest threat when they aren’t paying attention and runs for the hills (or ocean, because district 4). He lures the last tribute to a body of water by pretending to run away and using the dark so they don’t see the cliff coming, and once they’re in his territory he uses his net to catch them and his trident or knife to finish them off.

Lamina cries so much in the lead up to the games that everyone, including her mentors, have given up on her. Once the games actually begin she surprises everyone with her strategy and skill with an ax, climbing a mountain high enough that people can’t kill her without going up themself and only coming down when she has to. When she does, she stockpiles water and food so she can stay up as long as possible while waiting for the others to whittle down the numbers. On one of her runs she finds a tribute who had a run in with the careers and was tortured almost to death. At their request, she puts them out of their misery. At the end of the games she’s barely got a scratch on her and is still at peak health for the circumstances. She’s forced to come down by the gamemakers, and all but one tribute is killed by the mutts. However, they’re so badly hurt that they beg her to just finish it and end their torment, at which point she hands out a second mercy kill.

Treech won his games by focusing on survival during training and pretending to be very bad at wielding an ax, only showing enough skill to avoid suspicion since he’s from the lumber district. He used good looks and charm during the interview to gain sponsors and talked about home to set up a proper sob story to get sympathy. He used the confusion of the cornucopia to snatch some of the supplies further away from the cornucopia and stays hidden from other tributes for the entirety of his games. Thanks to his stealing from everyone, including the careers, without getting caught, he has enough screen time to maintain his sponsors without putting himself in too much danger, especially before he gets his hands on an ax. His only kills occur during the final minutes of the games, where he jumps the last three careers once he realizes they won’t fight each other until he’s dead and waiting for the capitol to send mutts is more dangerous. He uses the element of surprise to jump the careers, cleaving one in the head and throwing his ax at the career with a long range weapon, before using his knife to injure the last tribute while stopping them from fatally wounding him until he manages to pull the ax from the body of the second career, turning to avoid a swing and gain momentum before swinging down and planting his ax in the last kid’s neck, killing them instantly.

Bobbin lost his arm in the games (I cannot see him as someone that isn’t Knox Gibson), and killed someone with a needle since he knows five ways to do exactly that. After losing his arm, he stayed alive by sewing it and several dangerous gashes closed so he wouldn’t bleed to death. He tripped the second to last other tribute using thread from his clothing and they got ripped to shreds by mutts that had been released into the arena. The last person was killed with that same thread, a brick, and yet again a needle.

Wovey used her perceived disadvantage (again, I cannot see a Wovey that isn’t Sofia Sanchez) by making everyone believe she’s weak. The arena was an industrial terrain not unlike district eight, which meant hiding was a piece of cake for her. Also, she used her knowledge of these kinds of buildings to lead whatever tribute was chasing her around until they were in a prime place for her to strike or ran into another tribute to strike for her. The last tribute was pushed into a machine, which crunched them to death.

Sheaf used her agility to her advantage, and luckily there was a sickle in the arena for her so her strategy became to rush at people with melee weapons, who would then predictably prepare to block a head-on attack, only to duck past them and cleave them in the back. She won her games by tiring her opponent out and decapitating them.

Panlo picks up on skills easily, and in the three days he had at the training centre he learned to shoot pretty decently with a bow and arrow. He’s best with a sickle, but they didn’t have those in his arena and he’d rather stay long range so bow and arrow it was. Nobody expected him to become so proficient so quickly, and since none of the careers used bows Panlo waited until after the bloodbath to run to the cornucopia and grab the set, as well as some supplies. He spent his games scoping out good sniper posts and shooting anyone who got too close for comfort, winning the games by waiting for the last two to finish duking it out and shooting the winner in the stomach, then finishing it with a shot through the chest.

Tanner won his games by joining an alliance (not the careers) and relying on their numbers to keep others from attacking him for as long as possible. During the final fight he uses his strength to wrestle the other person to the ground and uses his knife and experience from working in the slaughterhouses to gut them.

Brandy wins her games by using everything she knows from the slaughterhouses to kill the other tributes. During her last battle, she wrestles the other tribute to the ground and snaps their neck.

Dill is also aged up, and used her fragile state to play innocent before dropping all sorts of deadly things on people’s heads from the trees and poisoning them with her knowledge of agriculture.

Reaper is basically Thresh if Thresh hadn’t died so the capitol could have their star-crossed lovers death battle (you cannot tell me the storm didn’t have that exact purpose, the mutts are more ambiguous). Physically intimidating and strong, but deciding to lay low for most of the games rather than going on a rampant murder spree. He refuses to play the game and doesn’t kill anyone until he and one of the careers are the last two standing. The skirmish ends with Reaper scoring a revenge kill for his district partner, who was killed by this tribute.

Jessup used his strength to to intimidate the other tributes into steering clear of him. He joins the careers right until they’ve got one more dangerous tribute to get rid of, at which point he knows it’s time to cut his losses and run away. He keeps the careers alive, because he needs them to get rid of the other tribute and he’s lower on the priority list, but he knows that once that kid’s gone he’s the next to go. So he subtly stalls them until a night where it’s his turn to watch and grabs as many supplies as he can quietly get his hands on and leaves them behind. Another tribute stumbles across them and gets rid of half the pack, but that’s not Jessup’s concern. He wins the games by smashing a bottle over another tribute’s head and stabbing them to death with the shards.

Lucy Gray Baird wins by becoming the capitol favorite for her games. Her “performance” leads to her getting more sponsors than even some of the careers, which allows her to stay alive without having to put herself into much danger to get supplies. She wins by singing to snake mutts until they recognize her scent and stop attacking her, at which point she has venomous sentient weapons in her arsenal which she makes full use of, taking out two tributes with snake bites and ultimately distracting the last other tribute with them, using the opening it gives her to kill them.

I genuinely cannot think of anything for Hy, Sol, Ginnee or Otto for now, sorry 😅.

[edgecallskating]

How I Make Figure Skating gifs at SPEED

Fishing this from my notes because I think this is a fun question! If you'll permit me, a brief digression into how I do this!

I used to do live figure skating commentary on The Bad Place™. The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter moved fast, so if I didn't get my gif up quickly it would get swamped in the hashtags and feed. So I got really, really good at making gifs on the fly during comps. So! Here's what I do: I have the broadcast running in two sessions: master live stream on the tv, gif stream on the laptop. I load the laptop session first so that it runs ever so slightly behind the tv stream. This gives me a couple seconds of buffer before pulling the trigger to capture video. I have Giphy Capture sized and ready over the stream on my laptop. Watch, capture, repeat. While the judges score or during the flood, I start cutting and uploading. I've streamlined my naming convention for files to conform to the convention SkaterName_CompYear_CompSegment_ElementName. I can search everything quickly based on any one of those slugs from my drive. Everything's filed by skater as well. Mid-way through the season I'm familiar with most of the programs, so I'm reasonably prepared for the Good Bits and can pay attention to those while the event is live. After the first couple of skaters I also know if the replay videos after the performances are worth paying attention to and capture accordingly. I'm also a former, long-time skater, so I like to think I have a skater's sense of what's likely to be memorable or noteworthy. I like calling attention to small moments in addition to the big ticket elements. But yes, I am fast! I do appreciate that I don't have to move quite so quickly on tumblr. If I don't get a gif up in the first 5 minutes after a skater's performance it won't disappear into the slobbering maw of The Algorithm. I really like that tags on tumblr stay active long after the competition is over, so gifs have a much longer life and more people enjoy them. THANK YOU to everyone who likes and reblogs my stuff. I do this entirely for fun and it gives me a lot of happiness to see so many people love these little sparkling moments of a sport I love. Big hugs to all of you!

[ghostxrose]

Of Monsters and Men | Bakugo Katsuki x OC

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven |

Tags/Warnings ~ Fem!OC, angst, hurt/comfort, eventual fluff, enemies to lovers, potentially triggering content, universe-typical violence, Enji Todoroki (yes, that is a warning, he's trash), character death, (more tags to be added as story develops <3)

Note ~ Loveliiiieeessss!! Let me know what you think of the story so far!! If I'm being totally open with yall this story is my passion project and I'm a bit hyper-focused on it.. but if yall have any xReader ideas/requests don't be afraid to hit that ask button! Obviously, I love writing for Katsuki, but I'm also comfortable writing for Izuku, Shota, possibly Hawks.. If you have a request just send it in and I'll let ya know if I feel I can accomplish writing something up to your expectations! Enough of my rambles, enjoy the read! <3

Enji had managed to keep up his neutral facade despite the bubble of pride that had welled up inside of him at the sight of his daughter piloting his old Jaeger. He even congratulated himself for being correct in his assumption that Azusa and Bakugo would Drift well together. Watching the two exercise perfect control over Bravo Inferno and perform little tricks was admittedly quite entertaining. That was until his bubble of pride was harshly burst by the sound of the system’s AI telling Loccent that the pilots had gone out of alignment.

He watched with masked panic as Iida and Aizawa tried to get the two pilots stabilized again. Fear and embarrassment flooded him when he watched the arms of Bravo Inferno rise, the Jaeger’s palms beginning to glow molten red. Rangers and techs hurried out of the Loccent Command Center as seasoned Rangers cleared the observation platforms just outside.

“Pull the main power line!” Enji had shouted to Aizawa before he could even think about what else to do.

Aizawa was on the task in an instant, pulling at the large cable with all of his might. Finally, with one last grunt of effort, he pulled the plug from the control panel. Enji looked out to the Jaeger, watching with hidden relief as it began powering down. That’s when the anger began settling into his bones.

~~~~~~~~~~

“This is exactly why I wanted to pilot by myself! If she hadn’t gone out of alignment first, then none of that other shit would have happened! You’ve seen my damn sim scores, you know that I would never fuck up like that if it was just me in that Jae-”

“That’s enough, Ranger!” Enji’s sharp tone effectively cuts Bakugo off from his ranting. “You know damn well that you cannot pilot a Jaeger by yourself, no matter how good your simulation scores are-”

Bakugo exasperatedly cuts Enji off, acting like a petulant child, “You’ve done it before! You brought Mighty Endeavor back on your own-”

“Because my co-pilot died! Yes, I finished off that Kaiju and dragged my Jaeger back to the Shatterdome by myself, but I had to because my co-pilot was dead in his harness right next to me.” Enji bites out, anger twisting his features as he steps closer to Bakugo whose mouth is clamped shut with eyes averted to the floor.

“And do you know what happened after I got back from piloting that Jaeger by myself?” Enji asks half rhetorically, but he pauses and waits for an answer anyway, and Bakugo shakes his head.

“I became so sick from the radiation that I was bedridden. My body burned like I was on fire and I could barely keep conscious. For three fucking days, I was like that.” Enji grits out before he releases a tired sigh and partially turns away from Bakugo. “We still do not have the technology to run single-pilot Jaegers, and I refuse to purposefully put any Ranger through what I went through. Marshal Aizawa and I will talk about what happened today and decide what to do about your co-pilot pairing. You are dismissed, Ranger.”

Bakugo bows slightly and, surprisingly enough, leaves without another word. Enji takes a moment to recollect himself, trying to calm the anger racing through his veins, but then there’s a knock at his office door. Crossing his arms to hide his clenched fists, Enji tells the Ranger at his door to come in. The metal door squeaks as it opens and closes, Azusa walking into the office. She doesn’t sit but rather comes to stand a couple of feet in front of Enji. Her face is neutral, but her eyes hold a bit of anxiety among the rage and her anger only aids in fueling Enji’s own.

“Marshal Todoroki, I-” Azusa begins, but Enji doesn’t let her get very far with her sentence.

“What the fuck happened out there, Azusa?!” Enji starts, immediately letting his anger boil over as he lays into her. “You know, one look at your simulation scores would lead anyone to believe that you would be a strong candidate for becoming a pilot! But what I saw happen out there was pathetic and embarrassing! Who would have thought that the Marshal’s daughter would pull a fucking stunt like that causing another Ranger to fail! You let your co-pilot down today, Azusa! You let me down! You were an embarrassment to every single one of the Rangers observing!”

By this point, Enji is too caught up in his anger to even realize that Azusa has started silently crying in front of him. He can’t stop himself from yelling, can’t stop himself from spitting venomous comment after venomous comment. Deep down, very deep down, he knows that she didn’t do anything substantially wrong, but his pride and his ego won’t let him quiet down.

“What you displayed out there today was that you are no better than the Rangers that just got dropped here from boot camp! No child of mine would have made such an embarrassment out of the Todoroki name like that! You almost caused hundreds of deaths and millions of dollars in damages! Do you realize that?!” Enji spits, his shouting echoing off of the walls of his office as Azusa cowers in front of him.

What Enji says next slips too fast from his mouth to stop in time and he regrets them as soon as the words are spoken, “Toya would be incredibly disappointed in you! You don’t even deserve to pilot Bravo Inferno!”

A sharp gasp knocks some reality back into Enji along with the weight of the words he just shouted into his daughter’s face, and he looks down at her. Horrified shock fills her features as much as it does his, but sharing his shock is immense guilt. Enji is at a loss for words as he tries to think of how to take back or amend what just flew from his mouth. Floundering, he just stares at Azusa’s tear-soaked face, her hurt practically palpable in the air around them.

“Azusa, I-I didn’t mea-”

“Don’t.” She states quietly, making Enji’s words die in his throat. “I-I understood you loud and clear, M-Marshal. Permission to be dismissed, Sir?” Her voice is strained as she speaks and she’s just barely able to stand up straight and look Enji in the eye. All Enji can do is nod since the lump in his throat won’t let him speak.

He watches helplessly as she flees from the room, the door slamming shut behind her. Stunned by his own behavior, Enji slowly moves around his desk to sit down. Leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desk, he buries his face in his hands. He doesn’t know how he’s even going to attempt to fix this kind of fuck up. He isn’t sure that Rei will be able to soothe over the hurt that he’s caused. She may not even be willing to offer him advice on the situation, not that he would blame her.

Enji spends more than a few minutes recollecting himself before calling Aizawa to his office. He’s exhausted now, all of his anger replaced by insurmountable guilt. He let his ego, his pride over his esteemed reputation, win just like so many other times in the past. Enji is the one who let Toya down today, not Azusa, and he fears that he really won’t be able to get his daughter back now.

Knocking pulls Enji out of his spiraling thoughts and he clears his throat before telling Aizawa to enter.

Aizawa enters the room quietly, closing the door behind him before he makes his way over to the chair in front of Enji’s desk. Aizawa just stares at the man for a few moments before letting out his famous tired sigh.

“What happened today was nobody’s fault, Enji. We both know that the chances of something like that happening during a team’s first Drift is highly possible. I’m just surprised that it didn’t happen with more of the other teams.” Aizawa says as he leans back in the chair, tipping his head back and closing his eyes.

At Enji’s silence, Aizawa decides to move the conversation forward himself, “So did either of them request a different co-pilot? I’m sure we can switch the teams around, make it work.”

“No,” Enji utters exhaustively, deciding to end his silent brooding. “Bakugo just requested, yet again, to pilot by himself but I sorted that out already. We’ll keep Azu- Ranger Todoroki and Ranger Bakugo as co-pilots for Bravo Inferno, but we won’t send them out on any deployments until they go through a few more trial Drifts.” He states as he clasps his hands and rests his chin on them.

Aizawa straightens up in his seat, raising a questioning eyebrow at him, “I know that I kind of just advocated for them, but are you sure you don’t want to try putting them with other Rangers? I witnessed, just as you did, that they have the potential to work well together, but if they go out of alignment again and neither of them can bring the other back.. They won’t make it out in the field like that, Enji.”

“That’s why we’ll have them run through a few more trial Drifts. If this was a one-off type of situation, then they’ll be just fine. And if it happens again, we’ll either see if they can bring each other out of it or we’ll pair them off with other pilots.” Enji firmly states with a bit of frustration.

Aizawa relents with a sigh, scrubbing a hand over his face, “Fine. I’ll have their Jaeger sent to one of the Bays with less foot traffic so that when they try again tomorrow there’s less of a chance for catastrophe if something goes wrong again.” He says as he types out the message on his tablet, then sends it to the crew in the Shatterdome.

Aizawa then looks up at Enji, the man being able to read him like a book after working with him for so long, “So how hard were you on her?” His tone is knowing but free of any real judgment.

“Too hard.” Enji admits reluctantly before continuing, “I said things that I shouldn’t have.. I wouldn’t blame her if she honest to god hates me now.” He finishes quietly.

“Well, I don’t know shit about parenting, so it’s up to you to figure out how to fix it, but do you want me to go talk to her?” Aizawa offers with tired nonchalance.

The perpetually exhausted man has worked with Enji for so long that Azusa along with her siblings sees Aizawa as family, or a mentor at the very least. Azusa has always gone to Aizawa if she needed to talk through some stuff, especially after Toya’s passing. So, Enji ponders the offer for a minute, thinking that it may help Azusa to have someone to talk to after what all just went down.

“It’s up to you, Shota,” Enji says with a long sigh. “She may not want to talk to anyone right now.” He says with defeat, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his hands over his face.

“Well, I’ll try stopping by her bunk, knock a few times, and if she doesn’t answer then I’ll leave her be,” Aizawa says as he stands up, wincing a bit when his knees crack loudly. “Try not to spend all day cooped up in here, Enji. Go get something to eat, scare the new Rangers, just anything to get you out of this office.”

Aizawa’s attempt at humor doesn’t do much to pull Enji out of his self-loathing, but he appreciates it all the same, “See you later, Shota.”

Shota leaves with a half-assed wave and Enji is left alone with his thoughts, once again. He thinks about stopping by the family bunker to see Rei, hoping that Azusa hasn’t talked to her yet so that he can have a few moments of peace with his wife before he tells her himself about just how badly he messed up this time.

Note ~ Lemme know if there are any tags I should add! I love and appreciate you, Lovelies! <3

Taglist ~ @tomiokasecretlover

[scarefox]

btw something many people on certain video platforms don't seem to be aware of, since so many people fall for it, is comment baiting....

Ya know when video creators ask you questions in the video, something they could easily google themselves, it's because they want you to feed the algorithm with your comments. Making their video more relevant, which gives them more click traffick which generates them more money. Reaction folks like to do that. Which sometimes is fair game (they also bait you with negative looking thumbnails even if the reaction is positive). Some of them actually have genuine questions they could look up but having the fans answer it is a good way to engage and bond with your audience while also feeding the algorithm. That is okay imo, not much different than entertainer who get paid for entertaining and chatting with people. The more elegant version would be to ask people to put their opinions on a topic in the comments and then chat with them.

But yesterday I saw a clip on tiktok... so freaking obvious bait, it was painful. A dude reacts to a MV of Jeff Satur, he got requested by his audience (who definitely mentioned the name in the link they sent him), he literally has the yt video open with the title there on his screen and then asks the whole time "OMG who is this guy??" also titled his video with "please tell me who this is" to trigger every eager fan out there to infodump in his comment section...

Stop being so easily manipulatable please... that one was so cheap it annoys me that it worked on hundreds of people.

Not that this example is harmful in any way but it hurts to watch it play out. Would be worse if you actually pay money instead of your time to answer his question.

I am begging everyone who is wandering on social media, to learn how these sites work, how creators on these sites earn money, how the algorithms work.... that way it's easier to see when you get tricked by it. Also if we are at learning how things work: also look up the term "gamification" since some social media sites like tiktok use that.

(don't get me started on how emotionally manipulative (& intentionally addictive) tiktoks UI, algorithm, ads and especially the (emotional) reward system are already by itself ... should be illegal actually. it's only missing that it plays happy jingles and gives you virtual coins for opening the app and rewards you for every video you watch with a public high score. they are worse than metas & xitters user engagement system while providing zero safety for mental health except the mediocre filter that doesn't work and a screentimer even I have to use to not doomscroll forever)

[hanjisungs-bigtittyg0thgf]

Kinktober Day 7: Phone sex with Felix

Trigger warnings: none? pls let me know otherwise ❤️

Content warnings: names (baby, baby girl, princess, sweetheart, dirty girl, pretty girl), guided/mutual masturbation, dirty talk (‘bout all they can do in this situation 🥴), mc chokes herself, they exchange nudes?, really just pushing gamer!lix honestly like this whole thing is entirely self-indulgent.

Summary: After meeting a sweet guy while gaming, you both finally work up the courage to let the conversation shift to a more intimate topic

Word count: 3146

Tags: @hyuckilstan @mork-ly @wubbster @critssq @skzgallll

Kinktober master list

Smut below the cut

mikasaswife: happy seven months of having me in your life 💁🏻‍♀️

✨lixie✨ is online

✨lixie✨ is typing…

✨lixie✨: you said that last month, dork 😆

✨lixie✨ is typing…

✨lixie✨: i’ve been keeping track of it too 🙊 wanna play for a bit? i’m off today so i’ve got all the time in the world 😝

mikasaswife: ofc! lemme grab something rq and i’ll hop on 🥰

✨lixie✨ is typing…

✨lixie✨: hah cute

You didn’t see his message until you returned and your cheeks went a soft pink. You’d met seven months ago over Rocket League and grew close pretty quickly. You followed each other on various social media platforms and you learned he lived in Australia, which was disheartening considering you were on the other side of the world.

Within about three weeks, he started subtly flirting with you, telling you how good you looked in your latest Instagram post and acting surprised that you were single when you got on the topic of sexuality and your dating history. It was always little remarks and you always welcomed it, oftentimes giving him the same energy, but you weren’t sure how to address your feelings with him.

mikasaswife: not as cute as you but ok

✨lixie✨ is typing…

✨lixie✨: lies but ok 🥴

✨lixie✨ is typing…

✨lixie✨: i’m calling now 😌

You accepted the call as soon as it came in, already on the home screen and waiting for him to join. “Hey cutie.” As soon as you heard his deep voice, you smiled softly. “How was your day?”

“It was good except for that coworker I told you about a few weeks ago. How’d you sleep?” You hoped he’d just answer the question instead of trying to discuss what happened but you weren’t that lucky.

“I slept fine. You should really report him, y/n.” His voice was laced with concern and you sighed softly.

“I can’t. You know I work in a male-dominated field, that’ll just paint a target on my back.” You shook your head. “Plus it was online, they probably can’t even do anything about it. It’s fine, Lix.”

“It’s far from fine if you’re still having issues with him three weeks later.” He pointed out bluntly. “But I understand you don’t wanna talk about it so I’ll leave it alone.”

“Thank you.” A comfortable silence settled between you as you prepared for your first match until he finally spoke.

“Hey, I’m sorry if I made you upset.” Okay, maybe the silence was only comfortable for you.

“I’m not upset, I promise.” You smiled as you spoke, hoping it carried over in your voice. “I can’t be mad at you even if I wanted to be.”

“Is that so?” He sounded like he believed you. You could imagine the smile he was wearing right now and your heart fluttered.

“Mhm. I’ve tried.” You hummed as the game started. He got the jump on the ball and the battle began. It didn’t take long for your opponents to snag the ball and Felix went after them.

“You’ve tried to be mad at me?”

“Well it’s not fair how perfect you are.” You shrugged, assisting him as he made a play that sent the ball well over halfway down the field. You watched as he scored the first goal and grinned.

“I’m not perfect.” He chuckled softly, quietly cheering over his victory a moment later. The sound sent a delicious chill down your spine as your mind raced with inappropriate thoughts. “Now go steal the ball, princess.”

You wanted to protest but the name surprised you and you simply complied, racing towards the center of the field. Your opponents got the jump but after a few seconds of chasing, Felix came to your rescue and you ran the ball to the goal, scoring a second time. The game was halfway over by then. “Atta girl!”

You bit your lip at the praise, trying to suppress a smile. It was ridiculous how he was getting under your skin. By the end of the game, you were a mess. You had a massive crush and it was times like these that made it painfully obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that you were really into Felix.

You were back on the home page when you decided to bug him a little. “So…’princess’ huh?”

“You seem like the princess type.” He hummed in response, not backing down like you’d anticipated. “I noticed you didn’t argue back when I said it, did you like it that much?” He teased, his tone dripping with playfulness. Now was your chance.

“Maybe I did.” You tried your hardest to sound nonchalant but you weren’t sure it was very effective.

“Just maybe? I guess I’ll have to try harder then.”

“I guess so.” You slumped in your seat as you listened to his breathing on the other end of the call.

“Can I be honest with you?” You felt anxiety settle in your belly at the thought of him telling you he was only messing around but assured him he could confide in you, not expecting what he said next. “I haven’t explicitly said it, I’ve only made cheeky comments here and there but…I really like you and I’ve been trying to keep this PG for months but I want you and I feel like I’m gonna fall to pieces if I don’t make a move.”

Your stomach and heart flipped simultaneously at his confession as your breath hitched. The silence was long and awkward but finally you found your voice. “You’re not teasing me are you?”

“One hundred percent God's honest truth. I can’t seem to get you out of my mind and right now I’m thinking of some less-than-innocent things.” You weren’t sure how it was possible for his voice to sound any deeper, but it did and it went straight to your pussy.

“Lixie…” You heard his breath hitch at the name and your imagination began to run wild. He’d look so pretty with his head thrown back, right on the edge from just your hands... “I don’t think it’s any secret that I feel the same way, that I’m thinking about the same things, but…how are we supposed to navigate this?”

“I’ll come visit you or get you here somehow. I’ll figure it out, sweetheart, because I feel like I’ll go insane if I don't have you in my arms. But why don’t we just enjoy each other for now?” His voice was warm and inviting and you couldn’t bring yourself to say no to him. You didn’t want to.

“Yeah okay…” You bit your lip and shifted in your seat, stifling a sigh when the seam of your jeans pulled taught across your already-aching cunt. “Can we? I want you too…”

“I’d be an idiot to turn you down.” You could hear his smile in his voice before his tone changed to one of more concern. “If you feel uncomfortable at any point, please tell me, okay?”

“I will, Lix.” You assured him and heard him shift in his seat.

“I like when you use nicknames instead of my full name.” He sighed. “Is it okay if I do the same?” You hummed an affirmation and he continued. “Tell me what you’re wearing, baby.”

“I’m in jeans and that purple crop top you like so much.”

“Can you send me a picture?” He would’ve asked you to turn your camera on for a video chat but he wanted to be able to look back at this for a while. You didn’t hesitate to grab your phone and take a picture on Snapchat, posing so your face wasn’t in the frame and your fingers loosely curled around the spaghetti strap of your crop top. You giggled softly as he cursed softly and saved the photo in the chat before speaking again. “So pretty…anything underneath?”

“Just a lacy black thong, no bra.” You offered up quietly and listened as he took a sharp inhale, placing your phone back on the desk.

“You’ll have to show me sometime, baby. That sounds hot as fuck.” He groaned softly and you shuddered, shifting in your seat again so your jeans hit just the right spot. “Why don’t you pull your top up and give your tits a little squeeze for me, hmm?”

You did as he asked, sliding your hands up your torso and under your shirt. You lifted it, bunching it below your chin, and let out a hum of contentment as you cupped your breasts and gently squeezed them. You then wet your middle fingers and teased your nipples, gasping at the sensation. “How’s it feel, princess?”

“Feels good, Lixie.” You sighed, letting your head rest against the back of the chair. “Wish it was you though. It’d be so much better if it was your mouth on my skin instead of my hands…”

“It would…” He agreed. “I’ll make it happen one way or another, baby girl, don’t worry.” You whined softly at the name and he chuckled. “You like that name?” You nodded but remembered he couldn’t see you so you offered a pathetic ‘mhm’ and he laughed again, deep and rich, drawing another sound from you. “Do you wanna take off those jeans, baby girl?”

You didn’t bother to respond, immediately standing up and taking your pants off. You opened Snapchat again and set the camera to record, making sure your face was out of frame as you hooked your thumbs in the waistband of your thong. You swiveled your hips teasingly, pretending to take your panties off before turning around. You showed off your ass, jiggling your cheeks with your hands, and then pulled your top off before cutting off the camera.

“Baby? You still with me?”

“I am. I’m with you, Lixie.” He groaned at the name as you quickly cut the end of the video so it didn’t catch you turning around and hit send as you sat back down. You didn’t say anything else as you waited for him to open your message. You heard his phone buzz on his desk and bit your lip as you listened, watching the message change from ‘sent’ to ‘opened’.

He inhaled sharply through his nose then cursed under his breath. “Jesus, y/n, you’re killing me. Can I save this?”

“You can.” As soon as the words left your mouth, you got the notification and giggled softly. You didn’t expect him to send anything back but you were pleasantly surprised when he sent a photo of his tented gray sweats, captioned ‘this is your fault, princess’. After a beat of silence, during which you admired his bulge and his hand resting on his thigh, you spoke again. “Can I save this?”

“You can.” You immediately hit save and leaned back in your chair, placing your phone back on your desk. “I want you to run your hands down your body and tease your thighs, baby girl. Tell me how it feels, what exactly you’re doing.”

You wasted no time in running your hands down your torso before allowing your fingertips to graze along the insides of your thighs. You gasped at the sensation and lightly dragged your nails over the skin there. “Feels good…’m just barely touching my thighs, lightly scratching myself and imagining it’s your hands instead.”

You were starting to sound worked up and by this point, he was so hard it hurt. “Tell me more. Do you wanna touch yourself?”

“I do…can I?”

“You don’t need my permission, baby. Go ahead and touch yourself. Tell me all about it.”

“Are you?” You asked quietly as you slipped a hand into your panties. “Can you tell me what you’re doing too?”

“I am.” He confirmed, taking a stilted breath. “I’m just touching myself through my sweatpants right now, listening to your pretty sounds. I’m so fucking hard right now…”

His soft groan made you impossibly wetter and you whimpered as you finally ghosted your middle finger over your clit. “Good…I can’t be the only one this turned on.”

“And just how turned on are you?” His voice was a low rumble in your ears and you clenched around nothing as your free hand adjusted your headset.

“I’m fucking dripping, Lixie.” You whined, a small pout forming on your lips as you dipped a finger into your wetness. You dragged your arousal up to your clit and sighed at the sensation. “God I wish you were here right now, I just know your hands would feel so good…”

“Mm what about my mouth? I could eat you out forever if you’d let me.” You whimpered at the thought and stood abruptly, shoving your panties down your legs and dropping them with your jeans. You settled back in and draped your legs over the armrests of your gaming chair, immediately slipping your hand back between your legs. “Hey baby?” You hummed in response as your fingers circled your clit before teasing at your entrance. “Can you moan my name? I’m dying to hear it.”

You let your eyes slip shut and slid two fingers in your dripping cunt, a small moan tumbling from your lips as your palm ground against your clit while you stretched yourself open. You allowed yourself to imagine him knelt between your legs, fingers plunged deep inside you, and called out his name as you clenched at the thought. “Fuck, Felix, please…” Just as you moaned for him, your phone buzzed. You grabbed it and opened the Snapchat video he sent you, biting your lip when you saw the tip of his cock peeking out from his waistband, already drooling on his belly as his thumb brushed back and forth across his sweats. “Oh- can I save it?”

“Of course, princess.” You quickly saved it and bit your lip as you contemplated what you were about to ask. Before you could speak though, he beat you to it. “Baby…can we turn our cameras on? We don’t have to but I’d certainly like to see you.”

“I was about to ask the same thing…” As soon as the words left your lips, he switched his camera on and you were met with the most beautiful sight you’d ever seen. He was reclined in his gaming chair, shirtless and with his dick out. You wanted to reach through the screen the second you saw him. He settled back and waited for you to turn your camera on, wrapping his hand around his thick shaft as you tried to force your eyes away long enough to complete the task at hand. “You’re so fucking pretty, Lixie…” You whispered as you turned your camera on.

You saw his cock twitch in his hand and you weren’t sure if it was because of what you said or because of the way you presented yourself to him. Your LED lights paired with a lamp in the corner made you glow and your pussy glistened in the purple lighting. “Holy shit, baby girl…” His voice was strained as gave his cock a single tug before releasing it. “God I want a taste…can you tell me how you taste, princess?”

You eagerly stuffed your messy fingers in your mouth and sucked them clean with a moan, your free hand kneading your breasts. “So fucking sweet. It’s so good, Lix.” You watched as he began to slowly work his dick, resting his head back against his chair and peeking out at you.

“I’m gonna get you out here so I can taste you for myself, I swear.” He let out a moan in a pitch you weren’t expecting as he jerked off and your pussy clenched. “Bury my head between your legs for hours and make you shake…”

“Please do.” You slid your fingers back inside yourself and curled them, searching for your g-spot. You gasped when you found it and called his name as if it was him touching you. You heard his breathing grow ragged as he watched you, both of you barreling towards the edge as you fingered yourself.

The image of him fucking his hand would forever be burned into your mind and you couldn’t even pretend to be mad about it. He was turned on by you. You were the reason he was touching himself. You were the reason he called out to you and warned you of his impending orgasm. “Gonna fuckin’ cum, princess-”

“Do it. Show me how gorgeous you look when you let go, Lixie.” You begged, eyes locked on the image of his angry red cock on your screen. Your words sent him spiraling and you watched as his cum landed all over his belly and hand, more desperate moans falling from his lips.

A lazy smile spread across his face as his moan turned into a chuckle. “Your turn, sweetheart.” He teased, obliging you when you asked him to taste himself. “It’s good but I’m willing to bet it’d be a thousand percent better mixed with yours. Maybe I’ll cum inside and eat it out of your pretty pussy.” You made a pathetic sound and he smirked. “You like that idea?” You nodded and gasped when you gently pinched your nipple.

“Fucking love it…” You nodded, your free hand moving to your throat. “I’m so fucking close, oh my god-” You keened, carefully restricting blood flow as you choked yourself.

“Yeah? My dirty girl gonna cum for me?” The name was the last straw and you cried out an affirmation as your legs clamped shut around your hand, liquid bliss filling your veins as you came undone. “Look how pretty you are when you cum…I can’t wait to get you like this by my own hands, princess.”

He coached you through your orgasm and listened as you repeated his name over and over, trying his damndest not to get hard again. After a couple minutes, your breathing began to even out and he sat up properly in his chair, grabbing a couple tissues to clean up with. “You did such a good job, pretty girl.” He cooed and you smiled softly. “Why don’t you clean yourself up and if you’re feeling up to it we can play another round or watch something together? Or if you’d rather go to sleep we can hang up and-”

“I do wanna sleep but if you hang up on Discord it better be to call me back on Snapchat and talk with me until I nod off.” You teased as you righted yourself in your chair. “Your voice is so warm and comforting. It’s nice to fall asleep to…” You added and he smiled softly at you, eyes full of adoration.

“Okay, I’ll call you there. Go get cleaned up and let me know when you’re ready.” You nodded and muttered a soft ‘goodbye’ before he ended the call.

✨lixie✨ is offline

[lyraoctaviawrites]

Welcome to the Octaviaverse!

This is the side blog for @lyraoctavia and I will be posting everything relating to my writing, artwork, music, games, etc here from now on. I thought it would be better to split the two to keep things more focused on the ridiculously expansive interconnected universe I’ve created over my many years as a human being, featuring literally dozens of ideas because I am a slave to my own creativity and my work is never finished. Sound good? Of course it does!

What kind of stuff do I do?

Writing: I like to write stories, usually fantasy, with epic, sprawling worlds, intricate magic, sarcastic and often completely ridiculous humour, identifiable characters with a ton of emotional development and campy ass villains who will entertain you so much that you’ll want to grind them into a fine paste with a large boot. However, I wouldn’t be adverse to also writing some slice of life stuff too. I am a certified Alice Oseman fangirl after all. I tend to not shy away from commenting on certain serious issues (e.g. abuse, death, self harm, attempted suicide) as well, so a lot of my works contain trigger warnings. However, I don’t enjoy writing explicit sexual content or stuff with a ton of blood and gore so don’t expect any of that.

Games: I am currently a game design student so most if not all of my game ideas are just that. Ideas. Ones that I will undoubtedly be crafting into the incredible experiences I know they have the ability to be. Most of my ideas are for platformers or RPGs with very little in-between and will all have, hopefully, perfect blends of story and gameplay. I personally hate when a story based game is bogged down by too many cutscenes, especially if the gameplay isn’t really that interesting so I’ll always try and strike a balance or find a workaround. My games all have amazing stories to tell but a story ain’t all a game is. Might as well make em fun first, right?

Music: I got a little less to say about this one. Most of my music writing is for my games that don’t exist yet, so I literally have hundreds of tracks just kinda sitting around waiting for me to use them. Sometimes I make other music but that’s rare. Most I’ve got for now are a couple remixes and the score concepts I’ve made for an animated series of Into the Phantasm (please gods let this happen, it would slap so dang hard).

Art: I draw cartoon characters and that’s about it. I am not a professional artist by any means, but my silly little guys can’t just stay sitting in my head forever, sometimes I gotta put ‘em on a page, even if I ain’t some modern Picasso.

Current WIPs

Into the Phantasm (epic fantasy 5 part book series)

Finished works

A Penguin’s Tale (stop motion movie)

News

The prologue of Into the Phantasm (the first three chapters) is available to read and the book 1 rewrite is going smoothly. Hopefully it’ll all be available soonish.

A new project is peeking its head over the horizon and may very soon be upon us like a mighty storm. For now, I shall call it Project Jeans. Stay tuned for more information.

[alittlebitofdebris]

Poverty isn't always what people imagine, and I'm facing that really hard lately.

I grew up in poverty. I boiled water for baths when the gas was almost always out.

I lit bonfires in my living room to keep warm and cook finger foods.

I went weekends without eating until I could get to school on Monday for breakfast.

My house was littered with things we didn't use or need because my mom was afraid we might one day need them and not be able afford it.

Our animals often went without food.

I'd walk an hour to the library in any weather to charge a cellphone my friend had given me.

Now, I have a nice home. My pets are well fed and spoiled as much as they can be. I have a smart phone, a computer, a TV. I have pretty things that bring me moments of joy.

I have beautiful things, neatly organized all over my home.

But still, I find myself in financial stress and all the illusions come crashing down.

My friend passively mentions a phrase I barely remember the context of, "you're kinda still living in poverty". I know this was meant for validation of my struggles. I know there was no ill intent.

But now, I find those words echoing in my mind any time I try to spend $5 on something to bring me momentary joy.

I feel the weight of guilt knowing that being mentally disabled has forced this experience on my spouse. I feel like a burden to my friends for not contributing more or needing them to spot me for lunch.

Today was the second time I woke up from dissociating on the floor of the kitchen crying. Likely, I was triggered by having no safe foods.

I hate saying I have no food, I've had no food before.

I have mayonnaise and nearly expired deli meat. I have a can of beans, some ramen and some soup that I hate that got mixed into an old grocery pick up order that I was scared to throw away or donate just in case. There are two frost bitten corn dogs left in the freezer. I have running city water to drink.

But still, I'm sobbing on the floor of my kitchen because even if I wasn't autistic, even if I could stomach a food that isn't my safe food right now, I'm still so scared.

What if I eat the last bite of food I have for a while and forget to cherish it? What if I waste it by throwing up because I'm so anxious? What if my husband needs it to have the energy to get to work?

I have 4 followers here, but the thousands of followers I have on other platforms don't seem to notice or care that I keep spiraling about this. They think the free wigs I get sent, the medicine I take, the makeup and clothes I wear...

It all makes it seem like I'm okay. I'm doing just fine. Really. The looming debt we acquired, the bad credit scores, to get to a mildly safe point in life... It all doesn't seem to occur to them.

But the truth is I'm not. I'm not okay. I'm fighting the urge to beg for donations because I don't know what other choices I have. But I hate needing help. I hate it so badly it causes me physical pain.

[mariacallous]

On Monday, X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America (MMFA), a nonprofit, alleging that a recent report showing big name advertisers appearing next to antisemitic content on X was an attempt to “destroy” the company by encouraging advertisers to pull their money.

Shortly after, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced that it would be investigating MMFA for “potential fraudulent activity.”

Neither X nor the Attorney General’s office responded to questions about whether these moves were coordinated.

“This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence,” says MMFA president Angelo Carusone. “Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”

But it is likely not just this report from MMFA that has stopped advertisers from spending on X. Last week, Musk appeared to endorse the antisemitic “great replacement” theory in a post, leading many advertisers, including IBM and Disney, to pause or pull ads from the platform entirely. It was the latest blow to X’s shrinking ad revenues.

Early Saturday, Musk posted on X that he would file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters, along with a screenshot of a document in which X alleges that MMFA “misrepresented the real user experience” on the platform.

“These lawsuits quite clearly are triggered not by an offense, but by Musk losing advertisers. And it’s quite clear they’re leaving because of what he said,” claims Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit watchdog group that is also being sued by X for their research. In the suit, filed in August, X alleges that CCDH had cost the company “at least tens of millions” of dollars in advertising revenue and other costs. CCDH’s reports showed how disinformation and hateful content was allegedly able to remain and circulate on X. The suit alleges that CCDH accessed the data to show this by using another nonprofit’s Brandwatch account.

“To be a victim in that lawsuit is incredibly expensive. It’s incredibly time-consuming,” says Ahmed, who estimates that CCDH has had to spend more than $250,000 in legal fees to defend itself. Ahmed worries that these types of lawsuits could have a “chilling effect” on other organizations monitoring X.

In the suit against MMFA, X claims that “99% of X’s measured ad placement has appeared adjacent to content scoring above the Global Alliance for Responsible Media’s brand safety floor”—an advertising industry standard to prevent monetization around harmful content—and that MMFA had “manipulated” the platform’s algorithm to return results that, the suit claims, are otherwise rare.

In response, X CEO Linda Yaccarino claimed that “not a single authentic user on X saw IBM’s, Comcast’s, or Oracle’s ads next to the content in Media Matters’ article.” Yaccarino added that “only 2 users saw Apple’s ad next to the content, at least one of which was Media Matters.”

But users on X have been running their own experiments, sharing screenshots of ads running next to content returned when users searched terms like “heilhitler” and “1488,” a hate symbol.

“Holy shit. If you search HeilHitler, you get a ton of ads. I literally just got the German Government's ‘come live in Germany’ ad on the search,” user @ErinInTheMorn posted. “Media Matters was not lying.” WIRED was not able to replicate these results, and it appears as though ads are no longer running against this and similar terms.

Taking aim at nonprofits, Ahmed says, might backfire on Musk. “I think it's really important that people understand that this is a man that you're doing business with, and that if you advertise on that platform, you're essentially endorsing the behavior.”

Since Musk took the helm at X, the company has seen a steep decline in advertising revenue, which comprised about 90 percent of its revenue at the time of purchase.

One of Musk’s first moves as owner was to lay off nearly everyone at the company working on trust and safety—the roles that ensure that hate speech, disinformation, nudity, violence, and other inappropriate content are kept off the platform. And as many experts feared, hate speech did increase after Musk took over. In response, some advertisers have pulled their spend on X amid fears the platform is high-risk.

In an attempt to right the ship, X brought on now-CEO Linda Yaccarino, an experienced advertising executive from NBCUniversal. But Musk has remained the focal point of X, and though the company said in October that it was seeing some of its marquee advertisers return, a different study from MMFA found that these advertisers were spending 90 percent less than they had before Musk took over the company.

Shannon Jankowski, interim director for US free expression at the nonprofit PEN America, claims that X’s choice to file its suit in Texas is “arbitrarily choosing a venue that’s known to be conservative, that’s likely to favor Elon Musk and X.” Texas also doesn’t have any laws on the books that prevent “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPP lawsuits, she adds, meaning that it will be more difficult for MMFA to get the case dismissed or recover any legal fees from X.

“It can bankrupt those organizations to try to get rid of these lawsuits,” Jankowski says.

But whether or not X’s lawsuit is successful, or the Texas Attorney General’s investigation returns anything, Jankowski worries it will hamper future accountability work. “If he can just file a frivolous lawsuit in a conservative venue, and then potentially trigger government-level investigations, it’s just really going to deter organizations from wanting to dive into this work.”

[seaofthethives]

Sea of Thieves: Expanding Horizons with New Adventures and Epic Quests

Over the last five years, Rare's been leveling up Sea of Thieves with tons of new content, making it a great choice for players looking to buy Xbox games. We're talking pets, fireworks, and epic quests called Tall Tales that are basically mini-games on their own, featuring crossovers with The Secret of Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, you can stumble upon all kinds of adventures everywhere—in shipwrecks, caves, and cool locations—so you can just cruise around, find cool stuff, and dive into side quests. It's like the pirate version of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Seamless Cross-Play and Cooperative Adventures

The PlayStation 5 is finally getting in on the action with Sea of Thieves, joining the lineup of Microsoft games hitting Sony's console. Newbies are gonna find a perfect match to the Xbox version, with all those gorgeous visuals, like the super realistic water, lit sunsets, and tropical vibes. Seasoned players can easily sync their Xbox accounts, and cross-play with PC and other consoles is a breeze. You start by picking a boat, inviting friends, or joining a random crew, and then you're off. Yeah, you're still collecting loot and building rep with different guilds while stealing from other players, but there's so much extra fun. My kids and I spent way too much time at Dagger Tooth outpost, throwing buckets of puke at each other. We took tons of screenshots, especially when I crashed our ship into a pier and they had to take pics of their characters pointing at the wreck. This game is all about the goofy moments and having a blast.

Enhancements and Cross-Platform Play Coming to Sea of Thieves

If you're not into the whole social pirate thing, you can totally play solo on a sloop. There's even a safer waters mode on a private server where you won't get jumped by other players looking to steal your loot. And for PS5 newbies feeling overwhelmed by all the content, Rare's got your back with an easy maiden voyage tutorial mode that covers the basics. They’ve also upgraded the UI and onscreen messaging throughout the game, making quest selection screens more detailed—handy if you’ve only got a little time to game with your buddies. Before you know it, PS5 pirates will be joining their Xbox pals in crazy adventures.

Cross-Platform Adventures with Seamless Progress

Playing solo in combat encounters can be a tense ride. If you come across another lone player, it’s thrilling trying to balance repairing your ship with taking them down. But facing off against a group is overwhelming; sometimes your best bet is to hightail it out of there and hope they let you be. It's beyond frustrating to spend time on quests, load up on loot, head to cash in, only to get jumped at the last minute and lose it all. Sea of Thieves on PS5 comes with some cool PlayStation upgrades like DualSense haptics, adaptive triggers, and built-in mic chat, plus trophy support. Returning players will love that their progress carries over from other versions, and you can team up with pals on Xbox or PC. Getting Xbox achievements on my phone when I scored a trophy was a nice touch—it shows how seamless things are getting across platforms.

Sea of Thieves in 2024 Offers Imaginative Fun and Unique Sandbox Experience

While Sea of Thieves isn’t as complex as a traditional RPG or MMO (you can’t upgrade your weapons or boat—everyone gets the same gear), it offers a unique role-play experience somewhere between acting and childlike make-believe. You're pirates on the high seas, fighting sea monsters and digging up treasure, but also goofing around, playing instruments together, or launching each other out of cannons. Whether you’re on PS5, Xbox, or PC, Sea of Thieves in 2024 delivers its own brand of imaginative fun, free from the grind of skill trees and leveling up. You’ll laugh, sail, and drink grog until you’re sick. It's a unique sandbox experience and a true gem.

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

May

hello friends! sorry i am late because i had so much going on by the end of May/start of June including end of semester exams that i completely forgot to write a post in time (typical me lol) but worry not, May post is gonna be filled with so many stories!!!

so for this May i'd like to nickname it as Full of Friends May Mayhem because i felt so happy throughout the entire May as i spent lots of quality time with my best friends and experienced many exciting new things 🥺💙

first up, watching How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies หลานม่า with soon-to-be doctor, Chintia! it's been long since i saw her because we were both very busy, me with school and her with finishing med school national competency exams... we had lunch together and spent literal hours chatting about anything and life updates. then we watched หลานม่า to see Billkin and Tu in action - they were amazing actors! the film itself was great, it made me miss my grandma so much, but i'm familiar with grief that i only cried a bit at the ending. the scores are heavenly but i still can't find it anywhere online huhu

next is Ortho Ul's social charity and gathering at Bali! this will be my second time joining a department event but first time to have it in such big scale (every resident from every active year, all lecturers, staffs, and even alumni joined the trip!) and it was awesome!!! 3 days and 2 nights filled with fun, really! day one we had the social charity at a junior high school in Kuta and then a 4-hour bus ride to Menjangan (where our resort is located!) day two was for snorkeling session (that i bailed out because i was worried my thalassophobia would be triggered) and i spent time island hopping instead! day three was our journey back to Denpasar and then flight to Jakarta. our schedule was sooo packed and we lacked sleep but enjoying the time together was priceless experience. on day 2 we got to showcase our 'talent' and did a short musical as an introduction of us the new recruits 😂 i remember eleven of us still making time to rehearse for the musical between so many assignments and projects and other duties... as the gathering has pirate as the theme, i made sure to incorporate Petualangan Sherina soundtracks and also pirate themed film scores, i wrote the screenplay, and designed some of the choreos. and it all came together nicely with our lecturers praising our performance 🥺

third is Ortho Ul 2018-2019 graduates' farewell lunch! this one was so enjoyable as well, our recently graduated orthodontists seniors treated us lunch at Park Hyatt hotel, i tried and loved all the food 🤭 there were also game and photo sessions, i feel so welcomed into this huge family 🥺 honestly getting into postgrad feels like entering a whole new world, so many new people, new connections, unexpected but still pleasant surprises!

these days i find it extremely easy to find happiness wherever i go, in whatever i do, and with whoever i'm with... no matter how trivial things can always find its way to put a smile on my face 😂 getting consecutive green lights on the way to school, arriving on time at the MRT platform as the train came, finding cool shades under the trees, spending time with my classmates even though while being under so much pressure, finding new film scores albums with 10/10 tracks, the feel of the wind on my face every time i ride back home, days filled with laughter and tranquility and calmness, discovering my old passion for kdrama (you all NEED to watch Lovely Runner, and meet my daughter Kim Hyeyoon and my son Byun Wooseok the loveliest people ever), interacting with my international mutuals, my fav songs came on shuffle, trying good food at new places, coldplay new era is coming!!! life is full of wonder, alhamdulillah...

things i've never dared to dream are approaching, and i'm super excited of what's to come (lots!!!) the best is yet to come insyaAllah 🤩 i hope life is also as beautiful as it is to you, my friends. see you on the next post! 💙

[onyxeagle171]

Asteroids Postmortem #7

In week 6 we received the opportunity to develop our elevator pitches for asteroids game. I'd been keen for this part in particular, as while I wasn't particularly inspired for my elevator pitch, I was excited to develop a game that was so different in construction compared to week 3-5's platformer.

Differences were everywhere, but the key ones revolved around the top down aspect, as well as the inclusion of obstacles to avoid - naturally this should involve a health system, and maybe even a scoring system for the player.

To avoid the cookie-cutter sameness of many asteroids games, I decided to do away with the very linear progression of typical asteroids, with asteroids planned to come from any direction, not just the top of the screen. To aid the player in this more free form approach, they are given the ability to aim their weapon independently of the ship itself - a mechanic existing to give the game a unique twist, something outlined as important by Fullerton on page 21, under "Designing for Innovation".

When I started creating the game in Gdevelop, I decided to use free-use assets from Craftpixel than the provided ones, as they had worked very well last week in making the game more vibrant. Finding an excellent ship sprite for the player;

Spliced together, four images from Craftpixel's free 'Asteroids' pack combine to form a nebulous background;

The final asset necessary for any good asteroid game is - unsurprisingly - the asteroids themselves. In this case, there was a conveniently included set of sprites included with the Craftpixel assets, already in a sprite sheet ready for splicing.

With my assets collected I got to work. The player sprite was given animations for moving, and set up with 3 key components of Asteroid games - lives, movement, and true to the name, a blaster. The unfamiliar part of this experience came when I had to actually set up an implementation of the Lives and Scoreboard system - it required global variables and linking those to text objects on the screen, along with triggers linked to asteroids being destroyed and hitting the player - a particular inclusion I was pleased with was the "force field" surrounding the player's ship, which changed colour based on lives. Looping the screen, I manually placed asteroids going at different directions so that they would naturally drift over time and prove a challenge for the player to evade.

circa Astro Blaster

When it comes to the design process, I wish I'd clearly outlined all necessary requirements I'd like to see in the game from the get go - I had somehow completely forgot how important a continuous and varying gameplay loop could be, and by the time I realized what was missing, it was too late.

Looking back, the major aspect of the prototype I would change is how many variants of asteroids I would have - as it stands they all went the same speeds, leading to a big no in games - needless repetition. Things could have been shaken up even more if I'd worked on adding 360 degree randomly generated asteroids, as they were hand placed in the current prototype.

[errisland]

A3 development.

For A3 our team decides to use Chris's pitch from A2, because he's got the highest score in the team, also we all agree that a platformer game is more interesting.

Also we decided to change the name and theme for the game. The overall mechanics stay the same, just the aesthetic theme will be different.

Because we want to make the aesthetics to be presented as a forest/jungle environment, the name will be changed from 'Star Leap' to 'Verde Venture'.

When I opened the prototype, the first impression is the game is very primitive, but the mechanics were all properly implemented, except for one thing.

The blue box is set as a teleport device, and when player collide with the blue box, they will be teleported to the green box at the top left corner in the image, but somehow when I walk into the blue box, the character got stuck inside it and cannot move out of it.

I was confused at first because the logic in the event seemed fine to me

When player collide with blueblock , move the player to where the greenblock is.

But after doing some research, I finally figured out why, and it looked very obvious after knowing why that would happen. It was becasue there was no interval for the teleportation, so that when the player walks to the blueblock, they got teleported to the greenblock, and then triggers the teleportation from the greenblock. Then it became an endless loop, and it happened so fast that it looked like the player was stuck in side the blueblock.

Once that was figured out, the solution because clear too, just add a cooldown for the teleportation to prevent endless teleporting.

The logic here is to introduce a scene variable to check if the player has teleported within the last 2 seconds. if the player has, change the variable to 1, and starts a timer to count 2 seconds, once it reaches 2 seconds, change the variable to 0 again for the teleport condition.

[zaned]

Platformer Postmortem

As the development period for my first game, the platformer has finished, it is good to look at what I did during the process and what I learned from it. As it was the first game I had built in GDevelop, basically, everything I did was new and had its own challenges. The first one I faced was simply getting the player to stand on the ground, as whenever the game was started, the player sprite would just fall through the floor. I came to later realise that I was using the wrong sprite, and that was why there was no collision between the player and the floor, which, to be honest, still doesn’t make much sense to me, but I got it to work, so oh well. From that point, I added movement and animation to the player so that they could walk and jump. I say I added it, but all I did was give the player sprite the player behaviour, which proved to be a hurdle in the next thing I developed the dash.

As I hadn’t created any events to make the player move, I had no idea how to create a dash, so the first thing I tried was simply moving the player from one point to another. This ended up letting the player escape the confines of the level, though and didn’t look much like a dash but rather a teleport. From there, I realised I could add a force to an object, which was the end method I used. When adding the force to the player, I struggled to find the right amount of force as no matter what size the force was, it didn’t feel right to me. I did end up settling on a number, but I did discover one interesting thing about GDevelop. From what I understand GDevelop doesn’t like big numbers, as one time, when I set the dash too high, the player could travel through blocks, both horizontally and vertically, regardless of collision.

After I had made the dash, the next thing I made was the coins/collectibles, which ended up teaching me how to destroy objects, add sound events and, most importantly, use scene variables. Whenever the player comes into contact with a coin, it triggers an event that causes the coin that was touched to disappear and a small chime to play. It also changed a scene variable ‘score’, which would update the score counter. One small issue I have with GDevelop is that events are checked every couple of milliseconds, so when touching a coin, it would delete it at different points, and using the dash, the player can go straight through a coin without collecting as they dash through it faster than the events are checked.

If I were to remake the platformer with any changes, I would probably make my level bigger. I spent most of my time working on the mechanics rather than the level, so while it is initially fun, it doesn’t have much replayability yet. Along with that, I would add hazards like spikes or pits so that there is a consequence for a player messing up. Along with hazards, I would need to add a respawn feature, and while most people would just send the player back to the title screen, I would respawn them at a set point on each screen. Ultimately, I think a platformer can do many different things I could change or add are infinite, and it would be worth my time to revisit this style of game in the future.

[allsonicgames]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers

Original Platform: Board game

Original release: 2019

Where to get: Limited availability, currently a few copies left on Amazon.com in the USA

Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers is quite a meaty Sonic board game. It can be played against each other, or you can have a card-controlled boss character (if you have a boss expansion – I have Dr Robotnik and Shadow, but Metal Sonic and Infinite were also available. Bosses can also be played as a normal character). The aim of the game isn’t simply to reach the finish first (although that does trigger the end of the game), but to score the most points by collecting rings and defeating badniks.

The track is built from very large card pieces, with rinks, badniks and rocks placed on them accordingly. You place two, followed by a turn (the person who first enters the turn will then place the next two). In total, there will be two turns and six sections of track. Each round, all players will pick an agility card form their hand and place it face down, flipping them over once all players have picked, they’re flipped over and resolved in order of the number on the card.

Each card consists of two sections. The top will have an optional action, this can increase your speed, let you perform a spin (to defeat enemies) or move a couple of spaces. Movement in this section can include moving to the side if you want (which lets you change lane). The second option is the main movement, which will be running, jumping or a choice of either. The distance is based on speed and must be forward (the rulebook is very unclear about this, as it’s quite poorly written), even if it means running into enemies.

There are four badniks which have different rules. Motobugs affect players running through them, but not jumping, Crabmeat will hurt enemies jumping past the spaces above and below them. Buzz bombers will hurt players running in front of them, and spinners will affect jumping enemies moving through them. Landing on them (or spinning through crawling enemies) will destroy them, giving you one point. You get a card explaining how they work, but it is a lot to remember to do while playing the game.

As you collect rings, they go on five piles, with the rings this round going on the smallest stack. When you get hurt, you lose all your rings and place them on the spaces around you. This can be devastating near the end of the game, so you’ll want to defeat badniks as you won’t ever lose their points.

There’s also a bit more regarding terrain types and how they affect speed, and expansions will add even more options. Battle Racers has a lot of maintenance to remember, so it’s very easy to mess up a game by making a mistake because you missed something that should affect your speed. It all feels a bit more complicated than it needs to be, but is a lot of fun nevertheless.

When playing against a boss, the boss will have a stack of cards that determines their actions. The next card is revealed when all players reveal their agility card and their action will take place based on the number on it. Bosses will have different abilities. Dr Robotnik will place new obstacles, while Shadow will defeat enemies and collect rings as he moves through them. Bosses start with 10 rings and hitting them will make them lose two. If they get hit with no rings remaining, then they are removed from the game (this rule only applies to players during a solo game, so nobody is eliminated and forced to wait for the others to finish).

When playing with other players, you are still competing to get the best score, but if the boss passes the finish line first, all players lose. When playing Solo, you still need to finish first and are awarded a rank based on how many points you have. I managed an A rank against Shadow, but got hurt near the end of racing Dr Robitnik and only got a D.

Each character has a special ability, but the retail game only has Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy. The deluxe version I have (which was Kickstarter only) has a lot more, while a few more were at an even higher tier. The models are quite nice, although Sonic does fall down quite easily. It’s a really nice looking game, with fun gameplay (once you get the right rules), but the amount of stuff you have to remember and pausing the game to set up the next sections of track add a lot of maintenance that makes it a pain to play at times.

[your-dietician]

When will mortgage rates go down? Brace yourself, economists warn house hunters that rates of 7% may be the ‘new normal.’

New Post has been published on https://medianwire.com/when-will-mortgage-rates-go-down-brace-yourself-economists-warn-house-hunters-that-rates-of-7-may-be-the-new-normal/

When will mortgage rates go down? Brace yourself, economists warn house hunters that rates of 7% may be the ‘new normal.’

When will mortgage rates go down? And will they go down anytime soon?

“Anyone forecasting mortgage rates needs to have a lot of humility,” Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda Research, a housing market-research platform, told MarketWatch in an interview on the Barron’s Live podcast.

“You’re basically trying to forecast what happens to the 10-year, what happens to the Fed, what happens to inflation… all of those assumptions have to be right for your mortgage-rate forecast to be right,” she added.

Rates remain at 7.12%, as of Tuesday morning, according to Mortgage News Daily. That’s a 20-year high, based on historical data from Freddie Mac FMCC.

“‘People will adapt.’”

— Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda Research

Looking at where the economy is heading right now, Wolf said. In fact, Zonda expects mortgage rates to remain above 5%, and possibly going up to 8%.

“That could be wrong,” Wolf stressed, “because our model doesn’t really have many examples of inflation being this high and quantitative tightening and the changes to the short-term interest rate happening this quick.” 

Others say it’s time to get used to the new higher interest-rate environment. “When I bought my first home, our mortgage rates were 7.5%, 8%,” Christine Cooper, chief U.S. economist and managing director at CoStar Group, told MarketWatch in an interview.

“It was part of life — and now new home buyers, they’re getting a little sticker shock,” she added. “But in five, six months, or a year, we’re gonna think, that’s just normal … we’re just going through this period of transition … people will adapt.” 

Will the housing recession destabilize the economy?

Likely not, according to one expert. 

Sure, home prices may drop as demand falls, and people pull back on buying. 

“I cannot dismiss the possibility of a much larger drop in demand and house prices before the market normalizes,” Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said during an event on Thursday. 

But he added that he wasn’t worried that a correction would trigger a wave of defaults and destabilize the economy like the last recession. 

“Because of relatively tight mortgage underwriting in the 2010s, the credit scores of mortgage borrowers today are generally higher than they were prior to that last housing correction,” he explained. 

“Also, the experience of the last correction taught us that most borrowers only default when they experience a negative shock to their incomes in addition to being underwater on their mortgage,” Waller added.

Got thoughts on the housing market? Write to MarketWatch reporter Aarthi Swaminathan at aarthi@marketwatch.com

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