#i think someone already posted this pc

[seventh-district]

so was anyone gonna tell me that Neil Newbon is the VA for Astarion or was i gonna have to find that out myself when he suddenly started uploading his playthrough of the game on YT

[foone]

AAA games? Pfft. Indie games? Double pfft.

I only play games from the alternate history where Hillary Clinton was elected in 2008 and banned all video games. You can only imagine how weird their underground gaming scene is. People like to call unlicensed games "bootlegs" but they've got actual bootlegged games! I've played games about helping your grandmother in hospice care realize she's a lesbian by reading Sappho to her, at 2am in a speakeasy in Baltimore. The cops raided it the next night, hundreds of Gamers were arrested. They posted pictures all over Friendster of the Baltimore PD destroying the arcades with axes.

I nearly got busted once because I was imaging old disks from a 386 and someone tipped off the gaming cops that there was a copy of Commander Keen in there. I had to prove that I didn't know it, I was imaging the disks blind and then indexing them later, and I would of course turn over any contraband to the proper authorities.

I was already on a watch list because I'd been known to have some gamedev-related activities pre-ban. They can't arrest me for making games back in 2007 when it was still legal, but they do want to keep an eye on me since I have the skills to break the law.

Anyway that universe's bootlegs are mainly PC games. Can't really have console games if there hasn't been a console release since the Wii/PS3/360 era. At one point Nintendo threatened to release the Wii SDK so game devs in the US could make unlicensed games, but that didn't happen as there were quickly no functional Wiis left in the US, except for very rare holdouts that never move. PC games are easy to distribute samizdat and hide on a USB stick or CD-R labeled "nickelback".

Japan's games industry is still going, so the later Nintendo and Sony consoles still exist, but Microsoft got out of the business of course. They sold the franchise to Sega who were hoping to release the 360 successor (the Xbox One in our universe) as the Sega Phoenix but it never materialized, either through their own financial incompetence or because of pressure from the US. There's a lot of international treaties that the US has pushed "and this aid only goes through if you ban games" clauses into. That would have been an official UN resolution if the USSR hadn't vetoed it. For once, thank God for the security council, eh?

I mainly get my gaming news through Japanese gaming sites (through a set of VPNs, since they're blocked at the border firewall), and some tor onion site run by a weird guy in Minnesota who is obsessed with documenting all the underground US games.

There's a lot being worked on, but it's always a tricky trade off. Too much attention and the police might be able to track down the creators, and it's basically impossible to fund underground games, as the VISA/PayPal etc funds get seized immediately. There's a whole task force for that.

Anyway one of the weirdest differences between our two time lines is that they've gone back and edited out gaming from a bunch of movies. Those that they can, of course. War games was just banned because they couldn't remove the tic tac toe ending. The Net just removed the scene at the beginning where she's playing Wolfenstein 3D, by recording some new screen footage and a new voice over. She's fixing a spreadsheet in the new edition.

(Yes, I've seen The Net from this alternate timeline. On Laserdisc, of course. I'm just that kind of person!)

They even edited Star Wars. You know that scene where R2-D2 is playing holochess with Chewie? They edited it to be a board game instead of holograms, because that made it too "video gamey".

Technically it's not illegal to show gaming in a movie, but it needs to be an 18+ film and you have to show the deleterious effects of gaming and/or the gamesters coming to a bad end.

This has affected films less than you'd think, to be honest. They were never great about showing video games even before they banned them.

Anyway, go have fun playing your AAA games with hundred-million-dollar budgets. I only play indie games made by people under a constant threat of arrest for their art.

[amnestria-the-elf]

So we're all just supposed to be fucking grateful that Larian gave us "new Wyll content" (evil ending for a man who is canonically incorruptible, what the fuck) and simultaneously broke him again (giving low approval greetings to a romanced PC, what the fuck).

I... I just... the simultaneous feelings of rage and utter hopelessness are overwhelming.

Listen, if you've read any of my posts you know I have a pretty clear "Don't yuck anyone's yum" policy. If you think an evil Wyll ending is interesting, fine. But here's why it falls flat for me.

First, like I said above, Wyll is canonically incorruptible. It's literally the entire basis of his character. He is a man who was coerced into making an infernal contract to save a city and had to pay a horrible price for doing so, then spent seven fucking years alone in the wilderness doing his damned best to protect the people of the Sword Coast, while all along telling his horrible, abusive patron to just fuck off already.

Now, could you argue that during the events of the game, Wyll develops a taste for evil? Sure. There are plenty of opportunities for his villain origin story to unfold. But they never do. His moral compass never wavers. Turned into a devil? He feels shame, because it's an outward sign that he was doing things for Mizora that were morally wrong, and he didn't see it before. His approval rating for the PC shoots through the roof if you save Karlach, a sure indicator of his true moral compass. His father kidnapped? Fuck that noise, we're gonna save him. Rescue Zariel's "asset"? Ugh, fine, but don't get distracted from the real reason we're here. His father gets tadpoled? Oh hells no, we're gonna take down these assholes and save the godsdamned world. His father accuses him of being an agent of a devil and is super pissy about it? "Everything I did, I did for the people of the Sword Coast."

For fuck's sake, he will leave the party if the PC gets too evil, even knowing it means he'll probably turn into a mindflayer immediately. Even if he's romancing the PC. Unwavering moral compass. So giving him an evil ending without also going back and changing everything about his character just feels like lazy writing to me.

Which brings me to the second reason all of this rubs the wrong way. Wyll deserves so much more content. More romanced greetings, more reactions to other characters' choices, a final boss battle that is actually about him, a default ending that actually makes fucking sense (I have another post cooking about the Avernus ending, so I will leave it for now.)

And please, spare me your "But Wyll was rewritten after early access" bullshit. That's Larian's problem. They chose to listen to feedback and do a late-stage rewrite. They then chose to implement it poorly and never fucking fix it. Other characters, who already have far more content than Wyll, have had even more added over the course of the seven released patches. Wyll, on the other hand, has been sitting around completely ignored until now when we get this evil ending.

Many have rightfully pointed out the inherent racism steeped in all of this. I want Larian to be better. But as Maya Angelou said, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them." I already didn't have much hope about Patch 7 for Wyll, but this... honestly, this is worse than him just being ignored again.

The thing that kills me the most is that this is just going to be more fodder for the fandom to completely mischaracterize Wyll, for those who already haven't bothered to think critically about his character at all to just be like, oh, cool, Wyll is evil now. Nope. You've completely missed the point.

I'm just... so tired. I've worked very hard to put this little bubble of Wyll enthusiasts around me (hi friends I love you all!) so that I can hold on to some shred of sanity in this fandom. The world needs heroes of color. Just let Wyll be the hero in peace.

[allywthsr]

CHARITY STREAM | (l.norris)

summary: you and Lando stream 24h for charity! Lots of gaming and chatting

wordcount: 1.8k words

pairing: landonorris x fem!reader

warnings: none!

notes: tumblr wouldn’t let me post anything?? It’s late again!🥲

advent calendar

Lando and you started a new tradition this year.

This year you wanted to do a little charity stream during the holidays, where people could donate, and in the end, the money would go into different organizations. Shelters for homeless people, women’s shelters, and on your request, some animal shelters as well.

You two also donated twenty thousand pounds to kick things off, and you hoped people would give some of their money to a good cause, no matter how much money someone donates, every penny counts and is helping someone to survive. Especially during Christmas and the winter, it was harder for people that do not have a stable home to survive, eat, shower, or even go to the toilet. That was something, they didn’t always have access to, and that is why you and Lando decided to do this charity stream.

The stream is twenty-four hours long, a full day of streaming, mostly it will be Lando in front of the camera because the people want to see him, but you would join him. It’s going to start with some cookie baking, and then you go straight to the PC to play games, Fortnite, CoD, the Truck simulator, and the Santa simulator were already planned, just as a lot of talking to the chats and every hour you would explain and introduce one more shelter, you donate to.

And that’s where you were sitting right now, in front of the computer, next to Lando and the ring light behind his PC was providing you with light. Lando clicked on the start button, and the stream loaded, the first few hello’s and comments started rolling in.

”Hey guys, Y/N and I decided to do something new this year. Today we’re raising money for charity, not everyone is privileged enough to have a roof over their head, so we want to donate money to different organizations. Y/N and I are gonna stream for twenty-four hours, we’re playing different games, but first, we start with some cookie baking, I‘m going to switch you to the kitchen cam, and then we‘re going to cut out cookies.“

You prepared the cookie dough two hours ago and it sat in the fridge, waiting for you two to roll it out. Lando switched to the kitchen cam, and you two appeared behind the kitchen island, on the island there were many cookie cutters, flour, baking paper, and multiple rolling pins scattered. You opened the fridge and took the cookie dough on the counter, taking a piece of it and rolling it out with a rolling pin.

Lando started to press different cookie cutters into the dough.

”Chat, what do you think about my Santa?“

After a few seconds, comments came in complementing him, ”It’s not that hard baby, you used a cookie cutter.“

”She‘s always negative, chat, I don’t know why she’s even here.“

Obviously, he was joking, squeezing your hips shortly after he said that. The next half hour was spent cutting out the dough into small shapes with the cookie cutters and taking out baked cookies from the oven.

”Alright chat, we‘ll go over to the PC and play some games, maybe later we will go back to the kitchen and decorate them.“

You two sat at the PC and looked at the chat, reading some comments, donations were already coming in and Lando was thanking every single one of them. The count was already at two thousand of just viewer donations, some crazy people are out there and it astonished you. Now Lando sat in his gaming chair, while you sat in your chair and with your MacBook in front of you, Fortnite open and ready to play. You two were playing in duos and when the first game started, you two were freaking out. Lando wasn’t a pro, just like you aren’t, you were dying before you even picked up a gun and Lando wasn’t any better, stream snipers were making your life hard and you tried to play it for two hours but after not getting a win, it was time to stop playing that frustrating game.

You switched to just talking to the chat, by now twenty thousand people were watching, and they had a lot of questions. It wasn’t like you were in a new relationship with Lando, most of his fans only knew him with you on his side, you‘ve been with him since he started his Formula One career, but you retold your whole getting-to-know-each-other story. Ditching questions that had anything to do with marriage or kids, you both wanted to focus on life and your careers and touch that topic later in life, a lot of people didn’t get that, and had to spam the comments. So you decided to play the next game, the Santa simulator.

Lando started off with collecting presents for different children, having to decide if they get something good or just a piece of coal. Lucas was not focusing on school but more on his hobby, no Lando had to decide what he would get, because of Lando’s own school history, Lucas got a big new bike like he wished. Marie was always a good girl, cleaning up behind herself, a good student, and always on her best behavior. Because Lando thought she needed to be more rebellious, she got some coal, but a new pair of slippers too, so she wouldn’t feel to... sad. Next, he had to take care of the reindeers, brushing their fur and feeding them before putting them in front of the sleigh, the last thing that needed to be done was to deliver the presents. Lando had to fly through the sky and ditch multiple obstacles, landing safely on houses without getting noticed by anyone. The sliding down the chimney and laying the presents underneath the tree was the hardest part, he had to do it as quietly as possible, so he wouldn’t wake up any of the kids. In the end, most of the kids weren’t happy with their presents and he wasn’t quiet enough, the mission was failed, but you two had fun.

Six hours in and eighteen more to go, next Lando wanted to play CoD, you had an important phone call, so you couldn’t join or watch him, but after two hours of discussing things with your and Lando’s management, Lando was still playing it.

”This is the last round, baby“, he said as you sat down next to him on your chair. You pulled out your phone to check some reactions to the stream, so far people were loving it. When the clock hit the next full hour, it was time to announce the next sponsor, this hour you talked about the Red Cross, what they did, and how people could help outside of the stream.

While chatting about that, Lando got touchy and placed his hand on your cross-legged thigh, caressing it gently. Immediately comments about that came in and people were swooning over Lando’s need of physical attention.

”Chat, what should we play?“

Comments were saying Fortnite or the truck simulator, so you two chose the truck simulator, Lando and you hadn’t played that game since lockdown ended and you even got a little excited. You linked your MacBook with Lando’s game and now you could play together, fulfilling quests and pushing each other off the street. The room was filled with laughter and screams, as the others always pushed the truck off or doing everything they weren’t supposed to do, like hitting different cars or turning the wrong way.

After Lando shut off the game, it was hour ten and you two got hungry, in between the games you‘d already prepared some snacks, but you needed an actual dinner, so quickly you boiled some pasta and made a quick sauce. You brought it to Lando and you two made an unplanned asmr session, most of the people loved how you weirdly slowly chewed your pasta and when Lando smushed around the sauce, you couldn’t contain your laughter in between bites.

Lando had a Lego piece he wanted to build for quite some time, but he never did, so he got the package out and poured out all the bags. What you thought would take an hour, turned out to take four hours, Lando got confused at some steps and had to redo them, as you were focused on a different step. But you never thought it would take you so long, stretching your knuckles and fingers after you finished.

After talking to the chat, you reminded Lando of the cookies that were still untouched in the kitchen and he quickly switched to the kitchen cam, where he sat and waited for you to prepare the chocolates and sprinkles. Lando wasn’t the most patient man, so mostly the cookies got dipped in the chocolate and maybe some sprinkles were put on the chocolate. But most of them were eaten before they could be decorated anyway.

Next, you did the gingerbread house challenge, if you were in the kitchen anyway.

With only six hours to go, and the struggle to stay awake, you drank multiple beverages with caffeine. You played another round of Fortnite, joined by Max F. and you even won one round, mostly because you got carried by someone, but the end result mattered.

Going in the last three hours, a lot of chatting and watching YouTube videos was done, compilations of Y/N and Lando being cute or the latest unboxed. In the end you raised over forty thousand pounds, saying goodbye to the chat when the twenty four hour mark was crossed. Lando ended the stream and you let out a big sigh, finally you didn’t have thousand of eyes on you anymore, with a stretch, you linked Lando’s and your hand together and pulled him to the bed, ready for a big nap.

[koko-loco-urlocalbbgirl]

Comments/Q&A on Degrees of Lewdity version 0.5.2.8

Hi! I decided to take some screenshots of the questions that caught my attention and share them here, but since it breaks the picture limit I put the text only. I might add more were I check the comment section again but you can add screenshots in the replies if I don't <3

1) What emojis does Lis like to use?

2) If PC doesn't want to take a bath, what will Lis(+Wren and Bailey) do and what will they say?

Vrelnir

1) Robin just uses hearts and happy faces. Whitney uses a lot of whatever fashionably represents genitals.

2) Robin and Kylar would be okay with it. Alex and Whitney would make fun of them. Eden would carry them to the spring and drop them in. Avery Would get angry. Bailey wouldn't care. Wren would find it odd.

Thank you very much, I was already thinking that it wasn't going to come out yet. I doubt it's possible, but will you ever add a way to "kidnap" NPCs like they do to us? I know it probably goes against what you want to do so take it as a question.

Vrelnir

You're welcome. A way to kidnap NPCs isn't planned, but I'll consider it when I get around vigilantism.

1. Would Eden use the cage punishment on the pc in front of their children?

2. How would the High love Lis handle their child with the PC inheriting PC's attractiveness. Let's say their child is being pursued by someone just like them? IE. Eden's kid being pursued by someone who wants to lock them away and is very violent both sexually and physically, Robin's kid being with someone who is extremely codependent to their kid's detriment, Whitney's kid being pursued by a bully who treats them like a sexual object to be passed around, Avery's kid being pursued by Someone much older than them who is very abusive, and Kylar's kid having a creepy obsessive stalker who can be very dangerous.

2a. What about Alex, Corrupted Sydney, Black Wolf, and Great Hawk?

2b. Would this cause the Lis to reflect on how they treated the PC?

3. Though there is no death in DOL what would (High Love) Eden, Avery, Whitney, or Kylar do if they caused the PC to die from physical trauma?

3a How would Bailey react?

4. Are there plans to make Alex darker to be more in line with the other Lis?

Vrelnir

1. Aye.

2. Eden wouldn't connect the dots, and would see the aggressor as very different from themselves. Whitney wouldn't either, but would be more receptive were it pointed out, and would feel terrible. Robin would get on well with them. Avery would intervene. Kylar would commit a crime.

2a. Alex would see themselves in them, and feel embarrassed. Corrupted Sydney is likely to encounter this very issue, and might be okay with it, though cautious. The black wolf would want to fight them. The great hawk would think them a good match.

2b. Aye, except Eden.

3. Eden would retreat deeper into the forest, where not even Bailey could find them. Avery would Continue as normal, for a time at least. Whitney wouldn't recover. Kylar would burn half the town, then vanish.

3a. With anger.

4. No hard plans, though that was the original intention.

I don't know if this has been noted before but, I think it was in one of the confessionary events, someone mentions the Christian faith. So far | thought the world of DoL had its own faith going on, so | found it weird to see a mention of that. Is it a mistake in the writing or?

Vrelnir

I think Winter mentions Christianity in connection with one of the antiques, but I don't recall explicit mention outside that. l'd need to take a look. Christianity does exist in the world of DoL.

1. What's Niki's favorite dish?

2. Does Niki has a favorite animal or pet? And if they do - how would they react to a PC with that animal's transformation?

3. When Niki mentions being glad about PCs safety during the photoshoot event post-underground farm it got me curious; were they thinking about PCs safety during that time before they found out PC managed to leave?

4. Are there any other future plans for Niki? Nothing too big or revealing but maybe tiny hints?

5. Any fun fact - or maybe not so fun fact about our photographer?

6. Does Niki get along with anyone at all from town? Not work wise but as friends?

7. Not a Niki related question! (Surprisingly) Did you eat well today? I hope so!

* Lilian Dimveil

I'm sorry, not Vrelnir, but I could answer 4! and 5? >W<

4. Vrelnir said, there's lewdity planned for Niki.

5. I don't know if you've seen it.but | remember Vrelnir saying that Niki isn't particularly romantic - is that a funny thing?

Vrelnir

It's no problem! I hope you enjoy the new scenes. You're not being a bother!

1. Chicken Tikka Masala.

2. They don't have a pet, but they like swans.

3. Aye, occasionaly.

4. Aye. There's more to come for their photo studio. There's also lewdity planned like Lilian Dimveil says.

5. They're not native to the town. Thanks for the response Lilian Dimveil.

6. Not in particular.

7. I ate well yesterday thank you! I had a pasty and Some veg for tea.

1. Who from the Lls would cry on their wedding with the PC? 1.2 The other Lls who won't cry, how would they feel?

2. I always imagine Whitney with my PC when | listen "Umbrella" from Rihanna, so if the PC declares that song to them, what would Whitney think/feel? (that one song that is like "Ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh' such an amazing love song!)

3. If a PC who has a long beautiful hair and loves it, gets attacked by some delinquents from school (not Whitney's friends) and cut the PC's hair into a neck length, and Whitney comes just in the moment when this happens, besides from attacking them back, what would they do/say at the crying and depressed PC? (anime cliché, sorry)

3.1 Just for some revenge, how would Whitney attack those delinquents? Imao

4. At the raining day at the park, when Whitney meets the PC again after the PC went missing, why did they leave after the hug? I tought they would like to spend more time since they missed them

5. When the PC is missing on town, how are Whitney's days? 6. When Whitney finds out the PC is missing, how did they take it?

7. How many times did Whitney cried on those days?

8. Did they became more violent at that time or just silent and don't giving a fuck about anything?

9. After meeting the PC again at the hug moment on the park, when Whitney is leaving what would they do if the PC takes their arm and ask to stay with them a little longer?

10. Realistically, what would Whitney change on their way to treat the PC after they came back?

Vrelnir

1. Robin and Kylar.

1.2. Like they could cry.

2. Whitney would call the PC a slut, but they wouldn't be unhappy.

3. They'd say the PC looks just as slutty with short hair, as an attempt to reassure them.

3.1. It's hard to say. It would depend on their whim.

4. They don't like how emotionally vulnerable they feel.

5. Anxious.

6. Badly.

7. Never.

8. The become more surly, and quick to commit violence.

9. They'd shake the PC off.

10. They might not change anything.

1. You've said before that the orphans are both at awe and disbelief at PC taking Robin's debt, but what do they think about PC after completing the Loft, adding the pond and greenhouse in the back, and buying everyone Christmas presents on top of shouldering Robin's debt? Do the other orphans ever get jealous that we don't shoulder their debt too? 2. Out of all the Ll's, who texts PC the most to just chat? Is there a scale of who texts the most to the least?

Vrelnir

No problem!

1. Not jealous, though this might be explored in the future

2. Whitney would text the most, and Eden would barely text at all.

1. If Wren, Remy and Zephyr are in the same car, who will be the driver and what will Zephyr do in the car?

2. What's the impression of "villains" on Harper, a young and terrible person?

3. We know Zephyr likes Wren quite a lot. What's his opinion of Wren? Does he love Wren as a younger brother?

4. Are Charlie and Jordan classmates? I remember you said that Jordan once learned to dance from Charlie. What was Charlie's first impression of Jordan?

5. Is Niki in her twenties, too? Are he and Wren classmates, too?

6. Is there any personality difference between Jordan in high school and Jordan now?

7. If the PC went to the cabin to play cards with Wren, and Wren happened not to be there, what would other colleagues say to the PC? What will colleagues say to Wren when he comes back?

8. Will Harper fall into a coma because of the pressure of work? Or does he have a good plan for his working hours?

9. To what extent did the temple people overprotect Jordan?

Vrelnir

1. Zephyr would insist on driving, though they don't have a license.

2. The ones who know who they really are feel somewhat frightened.

3. They like Wren, but don't view them as a sibling.

4. Aye. Charlie liked Jordan, but was too shy to approach them for a while.

5. Aye, and aye.

6. Their personality has become more extreme.

7. If they were familiar with the PC, they'd let them know where Wren was. Otherwise, they might assault the PC.

8. Their plan is to take more stimulants.

9. Considerably.

1. Can you add a tiara/headpiece to go with the belly dancer and ball gowns?

2. Could you add a Little Red Riding Hood costume outfit with a handheld basket?

3. Maybe when you get to a certain level in the housekeeping skill, you could repair/make your own clothing?

Thank you for reading this, and I hope you consider incorporating these suggestions in the future!

Vrelnir

I'm glad you like it!

1. A tiara/headpiece for the belly dancer and ball gowns would be very appropriate.

2. This sounds cute.

3. This would fit.

If it's a coincidence that Pc looks very like Kylar's parents, does Kylar have some sort of paternal or maternal predisposition that makes Kylar close to PC?

Vrelnir

Nope.

1) Can you name a single redeeming quality for each villain (+Avery)?

2) Is Avery capable of genuine, romantic love towards the PC or would they still see them as an object even at max affection?

3) If in a scenario where the PC has escaped Eden and he's desperate to get them back, and asks Bailey where they are, but they've already sent the PC to a place like the UF/UB as punishment, would he be honest about it or lie? 4) Why does Kylar want kids so badly?

4a) Did they already want kids before meeting the PC?

5) Is Kylar deranged enough to take the PC being raped as them being cheated on at high/max jealousy?

*Lilian Dimveil

Hey, sorry it's not Vrelnir. but I think I can answer a little bit. Avery is actually one of the villains! Although they are LI, they are also villain.

2) In those past Q&A's of Vrelnir (some of which were Q&A's that he and other players privately messaged in Subscribestar) - it's very unlikely that Avery would be able to generate the kind of genuine, romantic love that you're talking about. Or, if they do have love for the PCs, it's almost impossible to detect.

Vrelnir

No problem! I'm keeping well thank you. I hope you are too.

1) They're all industrious! Briar has a good sense of style. Harper is smart. Remy has good taste. Eden is self-sufficient. Bailey is consistent.

2) Thanks for the response Lilian Dimveil.

3) They'd be honest, but maybe not blunt.

4) They want to be less lonely.

4a) Aye, but not with such intensity.

5) Aye.

Seducing Bailey felt so "taboo" that it was very hot. I don't like the removal of that mechanic... hope it's going to be re-introduced with even more depth in the future.

Vrelnir

I'm glad you liked the scene, and I hope you'll like what Bailey has in store for the future.

Hi! I have some questions:

1. In a scenario where PC was middle aged and their and Eden's kid was 18 like canon PC...If Eden's kid had a sexual/romantic relationship with Kylar, Whitney, Great Hawk, Gwylan, Mason or Doren, how would they react? In a scale from "tolerating" to "| hate you so much" where would the npc be according to Eden's View sexual/romantic companion for their kid?

2. Could you list who is the horniest and less horny out with the current love interests?

3. Were PC to go one day to town to never return until almost two decades later, what would Eden (at High Love) do? Would he keep looking for them or lose all hope and think they're dead? Would he try to get a new companion? How Would it be their reaction when PC returned to them, discovering it wasn't intentional their disappearance? (Either by being kidnapped or loss of memory that prevent them to remember where they lived and who was their beloved)

3.B. Similar to the previous ask, what would it be Eden's reaction to losing their kid, only to find them years later and discover they were living as an orphan at the orphanage? (In the hypothetical scenario where Bailey was unaware that baby was Eden's and the kid had 0 memories of their family) Would they blame or get mad at Bailey? Would they try to make their kid live with them in the cabin or would they accept if their kid preferred to keep living there?

4. Charles/Charlene will be a character capable of being found by PC in the future or are they dead/disappeared forever? Will we know more about presumed spouse/person Morgan's whos Charles/Charlene other parent?

5. Do you think Robin and Kylar could have common interests (such as animes or games they both like)? In case they do could you provide the genre they're both interested in?

6. Whitney is an only child? Do they live with both parents or do they have only one?

7. Was Avery born in a rich family or did he became a rich man?

8. How old do you imagine Morgan and Avery? In their 30s or above?

*Lilian Dimveil

Hi! I'm sorry, not Vrelnir, but I think | could help answer a few questions.

4. It may be explored in the future. And Morgan's content is being tweaked.

7. Rich family. Their family is old money.

8. 40s.

Vrelnir

1. Eden wouldn't allow their child to go to town.

2. It's hard to say! Eden might be the horniest, and Robin the least.

3. Eden would keep looking for them, and wouldn't find another companion. If the PC returned in the future, they wouldn't let the PC escape again. Especially if they'd been abducted.

3B. They wouldn't be angry with Bailey, but they would insist their child move to the forest.

4. It might be explored in the future, like Lilian Dimveil says.

5. They both enjoy games, though usually different ones. There might be some overlap at the edges of their interests.

6. It might be explored in the future.

7. 8. Thanks for the response Lilian Dimveil.

No problem. You're not bothering me. I hope you have a nice day as well!

+ I can't find the screenshot I made with the questions but here's Vrelnir answers (pretty self-explanatory what the questions are):

1. Bailey isn't planned to become a love interest, but they should have their stats in the cheat menu, ideally.

2. There's a plantperson love interest planned for the future, like Lilian Dimveil says.

[mcelroyfamilystaff]

It's MaxFunDrive! If you're already a MaxFun Member, all of this year's Bonus Content should be in your feed already - this year's TAZ BoCo is a one shot of Plato's Rave, with all three boys GMing while Clint is the only PC, and it is ART. The MBMBaM BoCo is a recording of the boys trying to figure out how to run that game, and it's so, so fun - honestly you could listen to either one first and I think it would work well, but imo listening to them plot how they think things will go first is a very fun way to go about it.

Sawbones has another Kid's Q&A this year, with Charlie guest-hosting along Syd and answering questions from young listeners, Shmanners has an episode and video all about emojis, and Wonderful! has a one-off return to Rose Buddies! If you're not a member yet and you wanna listen to all this great stuff, head on over to MaximumFun.org/Join and sign up at $5 or more a month! You'll get access to not just this year's Bonus Content, but all of the Bonus Content from every show, from every year we've done the Drive. There's a TAZ episode DM'ed by Matt Mercer, the Charlieverse episodes, the Prankee Doodle Dandy episode of MBMBaM, truly an abundance of s-tier goofs await!

Also we have so much other stuff planned for the Drive! We're gonna be streaming more or less daily on YouTube, starting with Griffin doing a Fuser DJ stream today at 10am ET, and then Justin and Sydnee streaming watching a buckwild Netflix movie, I Believe in Santa, around 1pm ET.

On top of all of that, we've set our own bonus goals for the Drive, starting with this: At 3,000 new & upgrading members, Fungalore will hear your wishes LIVE. What does that mean? That's such a good question. Only one way to find out! If you wanna see the rest of our goals, you can check 'em out here. If you want to stay up to date on everything we have going on this week, turn on notifications for our Instagram story, that's where we'll be posting all the time-sensitive stuff.

Last but not least, thank you. Truly, from the bottom of all of our hearts. Whether you can afford to join or not, y'all's support is the reason we all get to do this for a living, and it genuinely is a joy to get to spend our days making these goofy things in hopes of bringing a little levity to someone's day. Means the absolute fuckin' world to us. We hope you have an absolute blast during this Drive, you deserve it.

[utilitycaster]

Talking as players outside the game is an incredibly important part of having good PC/PC D&D relationships, and obviously the characters involved in the relationship talking to each other in meaningful ways is crucial, but I think the importance of talking in-game in depth to other people is really underrated, in that it not only tells the other player what your character is feeling without having to reveal it in-game to them, but also serves to engage other characters in the story and deepen those platonic bonds to the point where they might even serve as confidants or wingmen. To give a bunch of examples and what they achieved:

Vax telling Gilmore he didn't want to string him along made it clear out of game that his feelings towards Keyleth were his priority, even though it happened where the other characters were not able to hear.

Similarly, Vex giving her blessing eventually after her initial resistance signaled to Liam that this would not be a major break between the twins.

Vax asking Vex what she intended to do about her feelings for Percy served not only as an opportunity for her to voice them to someone; it also serves as a big green light for Taliesin as Percy to kiss Vex later that episode (which he had already from Vex's resurrection ritual, but it underscores it).

Pike talking about Scanlan with Keyleth and Vex allows her to make it clear that she does ultimately like a lot of things about him despite sometimes being annoyed, and her talking to him through her earring while Scanlan is very much not there but Sam is at the table also serves as this kind of green light.

Jester asking Veth about kissing in relationship to Fjord lets Travis know where Jester is at and invests Veth in-game in the relationship.

Caleb asking Jester if she's "sweet on [Fjord]" lets her openly reassess her feelings after an intense arc and also indicates in-game that Caleb has noticed.

Beau waiting to hear the sound of thunder signals to Ashley (who was not at the table but who was presumably staying updated on events) that Beau has feelings for Yasha; it also allows those playing Yasha (often Matt for pure RP and Travis in combat) to return that flirting, since the baseline was already established.

Possibly the most obvious example, but Beau and Fjord's conversation on Rumblecusp not only clarifies to the whole table where everyone is (opening the door, for example, for the scenes in the beer garden a few episodes later of Caleb having Fjord and Jester dance together and Caduceus encouraging Yasha to pursue Beau) but very much serves as a green light to Ashley and Laura respectively. This is then mirrored by them talking after Beau has asked Yasha on a date and Fjord and Jester have kissed, and everyone involved can "debrief" with their partners not present in-game.

As mentioned, this is mostly about PC/PC relationships because PC/NPC is an inherently different dynamic mechanically though still should be a conversation, but Veth describing Yeza and Jester asking Caleb about his feelings about Essek both give Matt clues for playing these NPCs and how things might be received.

FRIDA mentioning their crush on FCG to Deanna means it's not a complete surprise to Sam, since it is a very sudden relationship, and lets him prepare and decide how FCG would feel in the moment, and also establishes how Deanna will feel about it.

Similarly in the C3 Uthodurn arc, Fearne going to Chetney about Deanna is an incredibly good move from Ashley (to the point that talking about this is what led me to write this whole post). It lets Travis play out where Chetney is. It lets Aabria therefore hear not only where Chetney is, but also know that Fearne is potentially interested. It establishes a ton of the dynamics for a relationship that out of game everyone knows will not have a full campaign to play out since one of the characters involved is a guest. And finally, it signals to Christian as FRIDA what the situation is in case Deanna confides in them.

[awsugar]

speaking of questions that exercise very mcr specific muscles in your brain. i was perusing mychem tumblr the other day and came across a masterpost about the SS/mayo blog frerard lore (i’m aware frerard is not PC these days thanks obama). i’ve been a dedicated fan for over a decade now and my brain is an mcr lore bank but i had literally never heard of this. do you know about it and if you do what are your thoughts

omg yea. ss/mayo is crazy. and unfortunately a lot of it has been lost to time and its not even saved on wayback. theres some stuff thats convincing, theres some stuff thats not.

so like lets preface this by saying that the ft willz myspace? confirmed to be frank. and obviously the stuff posted on skeleton crew, those screenshots of ft willz works that look like theyre on burnt paper? yea so those are confirmed and those are real fully frank no questions.

i personally am a skeptic of other accounts that claim to be ft willz. like the tumblr? i do not think thats frank. and i think that came at a time when people had already really speculated or figured out that ft willz WAS frank. so like i think the tumblr is honestly just someone who was pretending to be frank and managed to sort of emulate his style but yea i don't think it's him. i think the reason some of the stuff hits so hard in a frerard sense is because that was intentional by the person writing it. you know.

anyway ss and mayo. there were two blogs on blogspot started in 2007 i believe that fans thought were frank and gerard. well it started with mayo (its-mayonaise.blogspot.com). that blog is still up and so are a lot of the posts but i think a lot of them have been deleted as well, and not saved anywhere on wayback. im sure theyre on someones hard drive out there but i haven't seen them. then a blog appeared called iamthemodernprometheus.blogspot.com. some of those posts are still up but most are gone. that was ss/sss/shitsubou shita/frank (allegedly). ss started interacting in the comments on mayo's blog. and i think i may have read some mayo blog posts back in the day but i haven't been able to find them to answer this one. i just remember when i joined the fandom most people thought it was gerard.

now here's a couple things of evidence. THIS is a blogspot comment thread where people who have saved some of ss' blog posts put them in the comments. and yes obviously it could be an elaborate hoax by two fans who were invested in frerard. but like these things were being posted as it HAPPENED. you know? idk i wasnt there in 2007. but 2007 was when the fanfic took off and we really informed a lot of our perception of what happened with frerard on things like ft willz/stuff that happened on stage/and a lot of these posts really fit into the timeline. i would recommend reading that because its kind of hard to believe its like. a teenager pretending to be frank. it really just SOUNDS like frank. and he's really writing blog posts. basically to gerard lol. it gives the impression that they were on tour together (projekt rev) and doing the Thing but like there was def tension going on behind the scenes and we already know that thats true. frank didn't like eliza and thought gerard was moving too fast, the imnotokay.net post came from someone in mcr's camp that ppl thought was frank (or maybe brian) and then tbh its happening again?? just months later? it makes complete sense that if frank thought gerard was moving too fast with eliza that he DEFINITELY thought he was moving too fast with lynz getting MARRIED to her backstage just a couple months? after breaking off his engagement with eliza. anyway just read the comments. its very easy to believe its frank.

and then the other peice of evidece i found in this reddit thread: x comment in particular by u/ReallyKapu. they say that they have always gone by Kapunua online and that they met frank at a lm show, gave him a hat with the inscription 'sss' inside and later on he thanked them for it on the blog.

sure enough:

from what i've read it seems like the blog was actually a community. there were people who followed it and made friends in the comment section. and it does seem implausible but it looks to me like frank saved all of his gifts from tour and then made this post specifically thanking people for them. the person who claims this is them also says that they don't think mayo is actually gerard but that frank thought it was.

and i've seen stuff saying that if it wasn't gerard it was probably someone close to the band because they had like information that was posted on the blog that wouldn't come readily available (or make sense) until the show the next day.

anyway, i wasn't there for this. i was on the forums and twitter and tumblr for a LOT of mcr history but this was a little before my time and i think if i had been there OR if the blogs had actually been preserved in some way that i might be able to form a better opinion. i think theres a lot of evidence for frank, not sure about gerard. but i won't claim that it's true either bc we really don't know and this one i don't think we ever will!

[its-your-mind]

Some Thoughts on the importance of physical touch and connection for the Hells: A reflection on the new animated intro.

In general, I think the Hells are a really strange and special group, especially for a dnd party. They pretty much laid all their baggage on the table within the first week of meeting each other (What the Fuck is Up With That?) almost as a litmus test: "hey, here's all the shit that comes with being me, last chance to run away if that's too much."

and none of them did. and they all kept choosing to stay, even as shit got even weirder and more and more disturbing answers came to light. I think that continued choice from all of them - to stay - is what makes the bonds between the Hells so deep and so special.

okay trauma analysis and party dynamics is a DIFFERENT POST but it was all RELEVANT INTRODUCTION bc the CHOOSING TO STAY and the KNOWING EACH OTHERS' SHIT are like. key components to understanding why I am so feral about this. okay hopefully you will understand. the body of my essay is below. it has pictures. it got... too long. so. it went under a read more. yw. anyway click below if you want a very detailed analysis of an animated intro that is literally only one minute and thirty seconds long

For the first bit, character intros for Fearne, Orym, Imogen, Ashton, there’s no physical contact.

BUT. First intro of hells as a team. Ashton Trauma Flashback interrupted by laudna approaching slowly from beside him with her hand gently in front of him to signal her presence without startling him, and THEN just talking at them. Bringing him out of those flashbacks. Reminding him where he is and who he’s with.

And tbh? For Ashton? Touch is always iffy, so this is almost a more understanding and kind way to bring them out of the flashback. Just physical presence is good! UNLESS. (unless) first actual touch. Fearne stealing their coin purse, so gently that they don’t even notice it (FLIRTING THROUGH THEFT callowmoore my beloved)

(also grabbed the cap that shows her with his coinpurse these fucking ANIMATORS)

okay pt 2 FLYING OFF THE AIRSHIP

Ashton's first instinct and priority is grab laudna’s hand bc he KNOWS she is made of paper mache and he is ALWAYS watching out for her out of the corner of his eye bc she is breakable and he’s not gonna let her break bc he KNOWS what it’s like to be breakable and need someone to catch you when you’re falling but ANYWAY. he grabs her he uses his hammer as a fulcrum to throw her at Imogen

because OF COURSE he knows that the safest and most comfortable space for laudna is in imogen’s arms. and the two of them wrap their arms around each other and hold tight Superman style bc ofc they do and once laudna is in imogen’s arms she’s absolutely delighted by this whole situation bc OFC SHE IS

(tf do you mean I can’t add more than ten images on mobile UGH fine I’ll finish writing then draft and move to PC the images are IMPORTANT TO MY POINT anyway insert lesbians here) (note from future mind: I have decided that these pic descriptions i left for myself to grab the right images are fucking hilarious so they’re staying in yw)

Then fearne (who had been on her way in that direction already) swoops under Ashton to catch him as he flips over from the momentum so he can land on her giant bird back and she can fly him away.

(Pics: It’s fine to touch Ash if you’re saving their life)

(also not pictured: chet staying on the ship but losing his hat, orym grabbing it out of the air, imogen casting fly on fcg right before she catches laudna, fcg flying over to grab orym) All of this happens in six seconds by the way. One round of combat. These animators are fucking incredible.

BACK TO CHARACTER INTROS laudna who is ofc alone and in the dark at the bottom of the Sun tree, reliving her past…

(Pic: sad lonely laudna)

right up until Imogen puts her head on her shoulder, and the darkness burns away into light. She doesn’t say anything, or talk with laudna - all it takes is that physical reminder that she’s not alone anymore, that there is warmth, that she is surrounded by a family who loves her so much they chose to turn down comfortable beds in a lord’s manor so that they could join her in sleeping at the bottom of the Sun Tree. (Fav lil detail - fearne wrapped around Orym like he’s a teddy bear, and holding tight to laudna’s blanket to make sure she can’t go anywhere.)

(Pics: THE POWER OF LESBIANS AND FOUND FAMILY)

fcg. Fuck. Starts with their flashback, with their red eyes and their buzzsaw, but almost immediately we see Ashton reach out to grab their shoulder and Orym whip out a vine to tie up their saw.

(pics: reaching out even if it might hurt youuuuu)

Imogen goes on her knees and wraps her arms around FCG’s other side, and the rest of them all gather around him, holding him to keep him and each other safe, but mostly just grounding him in the present by surrounding him physically until the flashback fades and he’s once more aware of his surroundings.

(Pics: what the fuck they just need to be held)

(once shit has calmed down fearne uses this opportunity to pick Ashton’s pocket again. Flirting through theft).

(Pic: fearne is a menace to society)

final fight scene. fuck yes.

(Pic: IT’S THURSDAY NIIIIIIIIIIIGHT)

This is mostly just giving all of them room to be badasses (as they deserve) - but there are some things!! First!!

(pics: THESE WITCHES BE BITCHES minus fearne sry fearne we miss u but you are on fire and laudna is made of wood currently)

Imogen and laudna casting spells back to back, trusting each other to take care of what’s on their side. Inseparable, even in a battle where their party has scattered to fight other enemies.

BUT. The BIG thing though in this sequence. Maybe my favorite part? Idk I don’t have a favorite. But!! Orym. taking out four of Otohan’s shadow knights. then facing off against her personally!! And it’s one-on-one, because this was Orym’s task alone - to find the person who attacked his leader and killed his family. He’s angry, but mostly he’s honed-in and focused and determined. This is his mission.

(Pics: WHO’S JUST A LIL GUY NOW HUH)

But then, when Otohan pushes him back…

(Pic: fuck. shit. fuck. im. fine. anYway. them.)

FCG and Ashton are there right behind him, and they put their arms out and catch him so he doesn’t fly back any farther. And there’s this look of surprise on his face, because once he lost Will, he never expected there to be anyone else standing behind him, ready to catch him. And yet, here they are.

(Pics: fuck yes fuck yes fuck yes GOOOO ORYM!!!)

They give Orym a push forward and follow behind him, and he walks back towards Otohan with confidence. Lil grin on his face, brisk walking pace - he even does a little fancy sword swoosh! Because maybe he’s not strong enough to take out Otohan on his own. But the thing is, he’s not alone anymore.

(Pic: THEY.)

None of them are alone. And whenever any of them forget, or slip into old habits and memories, the rest are right there to reach out a hand to remind them.

Building a family out of broken pieces is difficult even without an apocalypse. But the Hells have shown each other, over and over and over, often with their actions even more than their words, that they really are dedicated to this family that they've built together. This intro fucking slaps so hard and the animators deserve so much praise for how incredible this intro is

[milkemie]

Hi Kemie!

I have a question, I'm thinking about investing in PC and I was curious what PC setup do you use. I was scrolling through your Tumblr for past 10minutes but I can't find any post about it so I just wanted to ask, sorry if you published something about it already but I really can't find anything.

I love the quality of your content and your content too of course. Your sims are beautiful and have heartwarming vibe to them. Keep going and don't listen to haters. You're my favorite sims content creator out there <3.

Sorry for my bad English, it's not my first language :(.

hii! ♡ what a coincidence! someone asked me what my pc's specs are but i answered right as you sent this question! you couldn't have seen it yet so just in case, i'm going to list everything i use to make content so that everything can be listed in one post:

PC SPECS:

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 500GB

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

Cooling: Watercooling Azza Galeforce 120mm ARGB here is the link of the pc i actually got, though it has changed a little bit, the pc now has a AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU while mine was AMD Ryzen 5 5500

KEYBOARD & MOUSE:

i use a logitech mk470 keyboard & mouse, i like them because they don't make as much noise as my previous keyboard and mouse, i found it annoying how i could hear myself clicking and typing in my youtube videos

MONITOR:

KOORUI Gaming Monitor 27Inch, PC Monitor 165Hz, FHD (1920×1080) (HDMI, DisplayPort) here is the link (this is very optional but i needed a second monitor to be able to keep track of OBS as i film my videos, but instead of buying a second monitor i decided to just use my iPad Air 5, which i also use to make cc!)

MIC:

Razer Seiren Mini

thank you for supporting me ♡

[maximumzombiecreator]

Heya, you made a post recently about players getting the wrong expectations from AP podcasts for their own performance and experiences in D&D. The way you described it was almost exactly like something I recently saw at the table, complete with the getting into their own head and thrown off from unexpected interactions and then frustrated. Do you have any advice on how to deprogram, so to say, someone from this mind set and help them enjoy their time with the game more? Apologies if this is something you already wrote about and I just missed it

I ended up writing like 1500 words on this so let me put it under the cut.

So, there are a couple different approaches to this that I think work. The first, if they're willing to play a different RPG, is to play something with a different "play posture." That is, rather than playing a game where the players have a single PC over whom they have agency and nothing else, play a game that is more collaborative or where a player is expected to control multiple characters. For instance, I like introducing players like this to Blades in the Dark, where I'll have every player make two characters in the crew to begin with, and the core mechanic of flashbacks encourages players to take a greater amount of narrative control. I find this pushes them far enough outside their expectations that they're forced to take it on its own merits, and this helps them develop a more at-the-table style of play. Then when they take that back to more trad-style games, they can use the skills they developed and find a greater comfort level.

That said, playing another, stranger game after getting frustrated at their first game is a lot to ask of someone, so it's not at all something I'd take for granted.

In terms of helping at the table, the first thing is to recognize when it's happening. I tend to ask new players to my table what TTRPG experience they have, and one very big reason is that if someone is coming mainly from actual plays, I know to watch out for this.

What I try to do when this happens is pull back the abstraction level and talk about what's happening in a "discussing the characters" way. In particular, what I am most looking to avoid is making the player feel embarassed. That can make them defensive and blame others, or it can make them spiral and want to quit, it's a terrible feeling. So, for some specific examples of things I'll notice and ways to respond:

If the player is freezing - I'll pause the active roleplay, briefly summarize the current situation, and ask how their character is feeling. "So, Alice sort of came into this conversation expecting to bond with Bob, and got a lot of, I think, unexpected hostility back. What's Alice feeling in that moment?" By describing the situation, I am helping to clarify to all players what the current scene looks like. Maybe Bob's player doesn't realize that he's responding to a friendly overture by being a huge dick. Alice's player might be freezing because she came into this with a scene idea that isn't happening, but by making clear what the current scene is and asking her feelings, I'm giving her a chance to make a character choice even if she doesn't instinctively know how to turn that into a productive scene. Even if she decides Alice is feeling like "I want out of this conversation" I can then frame that as creating a tension between these two characters going forward. My goal is, basically, to frame this as a successful scene, just not the one Alice's player planned. To be clear that she didn't fail at making a roleplay scene, she succeeded, it just wasn't the scene she expected.

If the player is getting frustrated - I'll usually try to tweak their out of character frustration into in character frustration. Pulling back to discuss the scene again, I'll say something like, "So, Charlie is really stonewalling Alice here, not giving her any information, and it seems like Alice is getting frustrated by that. What does that look like, what does she do?" Again, describing the situation sets a ground level clarification for all players, but it also lets Alice's player save face. She's not getting frustrated, her character is, and that's good drama! It also gives me the chance to cut the scene short if it's not going to be productive. I can turn to Charlie's player and say, "So, seeing Alice react that way, does Charlie respond any differently, or is he gonna keep stonewalling her?" And if the answer is the latter, I can tie a neat little bow on the scene and move on. Once again, I'll frame this as a successful scene, as establishing a future drama.

If the player is shutting down - I'll look to give them an outlet for their desire to play their character, but ideally one that they don't expect. Come to them proactively with a roleplay scene that they can respond to. If I'm playing with players I know well, I'll usually have one or two I know can be prompted to be an accomplice in this. In a moment of downtime, I'll ask Alice's player what Alice is doing, and then prompt the other player. "Dan, you notice Alice getting pretty deep into her cups, she seems troubled, what do you do?" I may need to nudge Alice's player a few times in this scene, if she's really shutting down, but I find for these players asking the one-two combo of "What are they feeling?" and "What does that look like?" gives enough to keep things moving. If I don't have an accomplice I can trust in the party, I'll try to do the same with an NPC. In this case, I do feel I need to keep things shorter, but it's vital to keep the player from detaching entirely because things aren't going how they'd like. If I'm doing it with an NPC, I'll try to create a specific unusual context to give the player something to respond to. It won't be an NPC coming to them to ask, "hey buddy how ya feelin'?" it'll be the barkeep asking for a hand moving some huge kegs, or a travelling scholar asking for directions, and sharing some philosophical musings, or whatever. I'm looking to pitch them a softball, but one they haven't already formed an opinion on. I'm trying to get them used to roleplay as listening and responding.

If the player is doing alright, but demotivated by things not going how they want - I'll try to catch this at the end of the session with a bit of retrospective. I'll call out a scene they were in that didn't go how they wanted, praise some specific aspect of what each character did in the scene, and ask how they felt about it, and what they think their characters will do going forward. "That scene where Alice went to try and talk to Eve about the heist plans, I love how Alice is watching the other characters and picking up on their skills. Eve's response was kind of unhinged but in a really interesting way, I feel like it comes through that she's a bit unstable. How were each of your characters feeling about that interaction? Do you think they'll approach each other differently after that?" I want to place attention and importance on scenes that might feel like treading water, and to make them into narrative fodder that the player is going to reflect on, rather than dismissing as being bad or wrong.

All these also apply if it's a scene with an NPC they're having issues with, except that I am usually more malleable to adjust my reactions if I feel it's appropriate, or to clarify where the NPC is coming from if I think the NPC's reaction shouldn't change. Overall, I'm really trying to coax my Alice into a place of understanding that scenes that don't go they way she wants are still great, honestly even better, because the chaos and variety of play, the unexpected responses, are what make TTRPG storytelling good. I want her to feel like she didn't play wrong because things didn't go like she wanted, and neither did the other players, and to teach her to respond and react to the unexpected.

All of this, of course, comes with the caveat that this is what works if the player is otherwise fine, but a bit actual play-brained. A fairly frequent comorbidity, however, is the player with main character syndrome, whose frustration comes in part from everything not warping around them and the other players not being wowed by their cool, badass character. When this happens, I have less success deprogramming people (and honestly, less energy to commit to managing their play experience), but it's still possible. The biggest thing I'd add, in this case, is that I will really try to frame my prompts in such a way as to encourage Main Character Alice to appreciate the other characters more. Rather than just asking her how Alice is feeling, I'll specifically ask about how Alice is perceiving and responding to the other characters, and make her spotlight more dependent on reacting to other PCs. This can go badly, if she reacts to other PCs by belittling them or otherwise sucking, but once that happens it becomes a "talk about it out of play" issue entirely and I don't think there's any point addressing in game.

[mintharabaenrelore]

I wasn't satisfied with my previous post on Orin and Minthara, so here is the updated, more organized version.

Remember, on the Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki, Orin is described as Minthara's "former abuser".

"The drow woman was the only survivor, favored by Orin as the shapeshifter's new toy. She personally took Minthara into the towers' cellars and held the drow as the Absolute infected her with a mind flayer tadpole, making Minthara a True Soul.

The mental control of the Absolute deluded Minthara's mind. She found herself being almost infatuated by Orin the Red. The drow eagerly absorbed the shapeshifter's every word and took up arms in service of the new goddess."- Forgotten Realms Wiki

"Because of course she had great admiration and almost love for Orin"- Emma Gregory, Minthara's (very talented) VA

What do we know?

Minthara is terrified of Orin- she says so herself. She does not believe she can protect herself from her and asks the PC to do so.

Ketheric Thorm sent a True Soul and 2 novices to Menzoberranzan, 'preaching a message of togetherness'. Minthara killed them. She then used a 'simple act of necromancy'- likely Speak to the Dead, but as I said in my timeline, corpses don't speak to their killer, so I don't know how she did this. They informed her where to strke, and so she went to Moonrise Towers with a retinue of warriors and assassins. As she referred to them as 'her men', I believe they were all male.

She met Ketheric at a feast, he proposed an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzan. During all of this, Orin was at the foot of the table, and Minthara notes she should have been more wary of her- the 'pale woman'. Then, Orin spoke for the first time. Minthara caught only her name. Orin then climbed across the table, 'a dagger in each hand', skipped toward her, 'slicing' the throats of her men as she passed by them. Ketheric held Minthara still, a hand on her shoulder, 'the grip tight enough to crack bone'.

Orin stood before her and touched a dagger to her eye, 'drawing out a tear of blood'. Why did she do this? It's possible it was to prepare for the tadpole's insertion, but knowing Orin, I believe she just likes stabbing eyes- that's what she does to whoever she kidnaps, after all. Anyways, Orin said, in these exact words, "I want this one." This is where things get vague.

Ketheric gave her permission, and Minthara never forgave him for 'handing' her to Orin. In fact, she says "For that, I hope Myrkul hollows out his bones and lets them be dust." Minthara was then taken 'below'- by Orin herself, I believe. (Whether that means she was dragged to the colony or injured already or something else, I can't be certain.)

Minthara was kept for days in the mind flayer colony by Orin herself. She was forced to watch as her men were processed as food and thralls. When Orin kidnaps someone, she appears to use a paralysis of some sort, so I theorize that's how Minthara was 'forced to watch'. Unsurprisingly, Minthara has 'grim' memories of the place.

Two contrasting statements are made about exactly how Minthara was tadpoled, but both directly involve Orin. Either Orin placed a tadpole in Minthara's eye herself, or she 'held' her down in a 'cocoon of flesh' (which may or may not mean a mind flayer pod; Minthara is familiar enough with mind flayers by this point that I think she would say so if it was) and 'laughed' at her fear as a mind flayer forced a parasite into her brain.

From that point on, Minthara was brainwashed, devoted to the Absolute. Orin was the Absolute's Chosen, who she believed to be speaking for her, and so Minthara 'worshipped' her. She thought she had found a home, a purpose, a new god. All her hopes and ambitions, encompassed in one person... or so she believed.

She says, "Orin was by my side. She told me that the Absolute had chosen me to be a True Soul. Blessed and adored. Now I know those memories are lies." Based off of the Wiki, I think she means Orin was lying to her, not that this never occurred.

One must ask, if Minthara was associating Orin with the Absolute, if Orin made the same connection, is she showing some sort of affection?

Whatever the case, during this all, the gruesome memory of her indoctrination was obscured, as during banter with Shadowheart, Minthara notes "I am glad my memories of the infection are not so clear."

Minthara didn't stay in the mind flayer colony for long. She says, "My indoctrination - my infection - took place at Moonrise, but I did not stay here for long. […] Ketheric recognized me as a soldier, and took me into his army immediately." Less fortunately, this doesn't mean she wasn't still seeing Orin from time to time.

At some point in the goblin camp, Orin may have visited her as a goblin says the Moonrise Types rarely visit Dror Ragzlin or Priestess Gut so the PC must be here for Minthara. Minthara has a flashback or a vision in which she listens as Orin 'whispers in her ear', getting closer and closer in a distinctly sinister manner. In Gut's scene, she is standing away from Gortash; in Ragzlin's, he is bowing. This makes Minthara's unique because 1. there is movement and 2. the power imbalance is evident, yet less so than in the other two.

How did Orin view her?

First off, why did Orin single Minthara out? Why did she choose her?

Remember, Orin wasn't supposed to kill Minthara's fellow drow. Here is the note found in Ketheric's room that references Minthara's "recruitment"-

“Sweeping up individual drow renegades is not giving us the cadre of Lolth-trained veterans I want for our staff and officer corps; we must be more ambitious. Agent Xilvre, True Soul 113, will be commanded to infiltrate Menzoberranzan itself, ideally House Baenre, ostensibly to proselytise on the behalf of the divine Absolute. I think Xilvre will be convincing in this role.

This intrusion will excite outrage among the Baenre matrons, who can be counted upon to send a warband to exterminate whoever was so rash as to promote anti-Lolth apostasy in their home. Xilvre will have left a clear trail back here to Moonrise Towers, where the warband will find, not a circle of ragtag heretics, but an army in the making. I will parley with the drow leader, but as we negotiate her warband will be ambushed, and every drow warrior we capture will be tadpoled. This accomplished, the warband leader will meet the same fate, and thus we shall acquire our cadre of hardened Underdark warriors. And all it will cost us is the life of loyal Agent Xilvre, but he is, truth be told, a tedious enthusiast and I will not miss him."

Here are some potential reasons that Orin spared her.

As Minthara herself points out not once but twice, she and Orin have similar traits. Orin also appears to understand her trust issues, as she says- when she kidnaps her and is impersonating her- that she believes the party will soon turn on her.

Orin is desperate for affection, devotion, because the Dark Urge was always Bhaal's favorite child. Minthara, a paladin, is just about the most devoted person you could ask for.

Perhaps, on some level, Orin missed Durge and wanted a replacement who was similar to them- deadly and cunning, a leader.

"I gave you this command because I saw something in you. Your efficiency- your ruthlessness- your killer's instinct."-Ketheric. This is why Ketheric valued her; perhaps Orin felt similarly.

But what do I believe, personally?

Orin is sadistic, we know this. She enjoys breaking her victims, physically and mentally- especially resilient ones. So, while it's unpleasant to think about, I believe the most likely reason is that Orin simply wanted to see someone so powerful and self-contained suffer.

I also think that Orin's childish personality is at work here, in some sort of twisted curiosity or fascination with this beautiful, ruthless stranger.

Anyways, I think Orin viewed Minthara as a plaything, a pet project, a toy. (Actually, considering the Forgotten Realms Wiki, this is canon.) Something she could hurt or use, something that would praise and adore her, 'worship' her, "adore" her (according to the Wiki). A fascination, an obsession, to whom she could manipulate however she pleased, to whom she could be God. Minthara's blind devotion was filling a void within Orin, sating that craving for approval and love.

It's confirmed Orin physically harmed Minthara- "I have faced Orin before and she left scars on me that will never heal. She will enjoy adding to them" and "I will dissect her for laying her blade on me again" (this confirms that Orin used Bloodthirst on her, as this is Minthara's line when she is Orin's victim and is freed during the battle) are two examples.

The note on Orin enjoying scarring her and how Minthara later says Orin will 'tease and toy' with them until she 'tires of the hunt' is also telling.

The treatment of Minthara by her lessers and superiors also suggests she was Orin's toy and everyone knew it- Balthazar refers to her as the PC's "pet drow", Zealot Malik says to "keep her on a tight leash",

I also think that Minthara was directly influenced as Orin's own "Chosen" or plaything, because she was far more bloodthirsty than usual; her torturers claim she was distracted by her desires for bloodlust, murder, and chaos, which sounds distinctly similar to our least-favorite Bhaalspawn. (Well. My least favorite Bhaalspawn.)

Did they have romantic relations?

I couldn't come to a conclusion previously, and while the evidence is imperfect, I think it's likely. (Remember, Minthara was under mind control and therefore not a willing party; which is obviously bad.)

I have a few reasons for thinking this.

Take the Grand Infernal Painting, for example- we know that Orin is capable of more than just bloodshed, she can make things weird. And Orin's impression of Minthara when she kidnaps her- "Will you watch when the others kill me? Will you hold my head back while they cut my throat? Will you whisper goodbyes as I gasp and bleed? Tempting tempting tempting. But not yet. Not yet." Take her statement about Minthara in the sewers- "Her skin will make a pretty pretty tapestry." In fact, take "I want this one," "I worshipped that woman", "Orin was by my side" etc.

When you ask Minthara "An old flame?" about Orin, she replies, "Jealous? You needn't be- when Orin is in my hands, her agony will nourish me." She also says "During my time in the cult, I came to know one of his"- Ketheric's- "co-conspirators all too well- Bhaal's blood-letter, Orin."

But I will remind you, there is not solid proof, just implications.

"It is hard to believe she is dead, after everything she did to me"- Minthara Baenre on Orin the Red

"We were both born of trauma"- Minthara Baenre on Orin the Red

[pommpuriinn]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪. 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝑒, 𝑒𝓈𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑜 5

๋࣭⭑ pairing ๋࣭⭑- idol!yeonjun x superstar!oc x idol!jungkook

๋࣭⭑ synopsis ๋࣭⭑- a love triangle between Hollywood’s sweetheart, Korea’s golden maknae, and Gen Z’s IT boy. Estrella is a very busy woman who never had time dating with all her photoshoots, movie offers, recording sessions, dance practices, and public appearances. As she’s doing a little world tour promotions for her latest mini album ‘You & Me’, and let’s just say that stop lasts a little longer and it becomes a little too interesting.

๋࣭⭑ a/n ๋࣭⭑- this is a filler chapter, but I hope y’all still enjoy 🫶🏼

Korean = italics English = normal

outfit | makeup | hair | nails

Today is the pop up event for fans to visit and buy merchandise such as clothing items, albums, cute pc holders, and other little trinkets. Estrella even came early before opening to sign posters and even the huge picture of herself on the wall so fans could take their cute photos. Estrella took time taking photos in the different photo ops so she can post later. “I’m glad my vision came to life.” Estrella was planning this event for months since this pop up event will not just be in Korea. She would make 3D models on her iPad making sure everything was perfect. “Oh my god, Estrella you have to see how many people are lined up.” Daya grabs Estrella by her hand and pulls her towards the entrance. Starrys started cheering and pulling out their phones to record Estrella, who immediately started giving fanservice; waving, heart poses, and blowing kisses at all the starrys by the entrance.

“Estrella, can I talk to you for a minute?” Megan pulled Estrella’s attention away from her fans. “Yeah.” Estrella quickly waves ‘bye’ before following Megan. “So I just received a bunch of calls from different entertainments here asking if you will allow their idols to come visit because they are a big fan of yours. I just didn’t want to give a quick answer before I had a talk with you.” Megan always included Estrella in decision making. “Yes, but my starrys will not wait outside longer than the opening time just because an idol is in here. My starrys have been waiting since the middle of night and I will not let them wait any longer.”

Estrella obviously really cares for her fans and always wants what is best for them, plus seeing how dedicated they are to coming to her events and waiting for hours on end just to see a glimpse of her, or just to make sure they buy the merch before it sells out. That’s why when celebrities come to Estrella’s events she doesn’t treat them better nor give them special treatment. They will receive the same like all her starrys get. Because she sees how other celebrities act with their fans when their celebrity friends come or how they make them wait even longer because their “friends” are in there looking around taking their time buying everything.

“For sure, I’ll call them back and tell them.” Megan goes back to business leaving Estrella to finally open her pop up. Before Estrella could open the doors the staff made sure to tell the fans not to act too crazy around Estrella when they get inside since she’ll be there helping them and checking out their items. Once the first set of starrys came they were already freaking out in the entrance way because there stood Estrella helping the staff pass out exclusive photocards.

After a couple of hours helping starrys find the right size, finding out if they have more in stock of the photocard holder, checking out starrys at the register, and helping taking the photos for starrys in the photo ops. Many videos went viral joking that Estrella is those managers doing everything and running that pop up like the military.

“Lunch time boss.” Sana giggles, guiding Estrella away from the register. “We got pizza in the back and a special someone came.” Estrella furrowed her eyebrows trying to think who it would be. Since lots of idols came to the pop up and were just as excited as starrys were seeing Estrella in person.

“Our star is here after working so hard.” The staff laughed seeing Estrella's tired face. “We ordered pizza,” Sana plated two slices of pizza for Estrella. Luckily the pop up staff created a little green room for Estrella’s team to chill in while Estrella worked the floor. Estrella wanted to start eating, but she wanted to know who was the special person to see her. “Hey who’s the-“

There was a knock at the door causing Estrella to whip right around seeing the one and only, Choi Yeonjun. He has a pink flower bouquet with him making Estrella grab and pillow hiding her flustered face. Her staff never saw Estrella so shy since she’s always so confident and is never the one to break. The whole room pointed at the shy Estrella hiding from Yeonjun’s eyes. “Why, why?” He comes closer to Estrella, confused about her flustered state. “Why the flowers?” Estrella asked while placing the pillow from her face on to her lap. “I wanted to give you a little congratulation on your successful promotional week.” Yeonjun handed over the bouquet to Estrella. “Oh my god, thank you.” She pulls him into a hug. Yeonjun was a bit taken back at the friendly gesture, but nonetheless wrapped his arms around her, hugging Estrella back.

After the hug Yeonjun realized that she had yet started eating, so not wanting her to go back out there with an empty stomach he started encouraging her to eat. “You're welcome. Start eating, you need energy to go back.” Yeonjun rubs her back, while taking back the bouquet, gently placing the flowers on the table letting Estrella to eat. If the staff didn’t know any better they would’ve thought Yeonjun was her boyfriend with how he’s treating her.

“Should we leave the two?” Daya whispered to Sana, who was watching the scene in front of them. “Yeah.” Sana nods her head grabbing Daya’s hand. “Hey, we should let Estrella rest alone. Let’s help at the front.” Sana gets all the staff members out. Before Daya and her head out last, Sana sent a quick wink towards Estrella who wanted to roll her eyes, but held it in.

Now that Estrella and Yeonjun were by themselves she decided to make the first move. “So…what’s the real reason why you’re here? Did you miss me that much, mm?” Estrella raised her eyebrow at him, while wiping her hands with a baby wipe to get the pizza grease off her fingers. “Maybe~” Yeonjun smiles, while playing with Estrella’s jog string that was hanging from her fluffy skirt. “How cute.” Estrella chuckles. “But I also wanted to come and support you. I am a fan too, you know.” Yeonjun leans back into the couch they’re sitting on. “You must be living every fan's dream right?” Estrella gives Yeonjun her signature sweet smile many fall for. “Not yet.” Yeonjun’s dream is to be able to bag Estrella and make her his.

The two make intense eye contact with each other feeling the tension in the room. It is so thick you cut it with a knife. Estrella moves closer while placing her hand on Yeonjun’s cheek caressing it. Yeonjun was instantly wrapped around her finger as he leaned closer into her touch. Yeonjun was also closing the gap between them.

*knock knock*

“Estrella 5 minutes!” Megan’s voice was heard through the other side. The two quickly went back to their places. Estrella looked at Yeonjun while giggling, causing him to laugh too. “Are you free tomorrow night?” Estrella asks, while crossing her right leg over her left. “Why not tonight?” Totally whipped. “I have plans tonight jjunie.” He could hear his heart beating louder with hearing his nickname coming from her lips. “Before I head out,” Estrella grabs a piece of paper and a marker from her Vivienne Westwood shoulder purse. “Here so you don’t miss me too much.” Estrella says, as she writes down her number with an xo at the end. “Bye~” she pets his head before walking out of her green room.

Yeonjun sat there still processing what’s written on the paper. “The woman you are Estrella Blue.” He sighs, dreamily.

taglist»-♡→ @iveivory @jjkluver7 @lively-potter @angie-x3 @herebyaccident0 @mitchko11

[where-is-vivian]

here comes the sun, tulululu ☆

Evan: Why is he pouting like that? It's been 20 minutes already. Barty: It's because he's expecting a dance from someone... whose name starts with P and ends with otter. Dorcas: Do you think he can hear us?

(yes it's the part 2 of the wolfstar yule ball AU I posted yesterday 🎶 I finally got my PC back, so I'm productive now x) )

[just-watch-and-calculate]

a failing hard drive (and a mental health revelation)

(written by an adhder off their meds: I will go off on tangents)

(the data seems to be safe now)

(this post is about two things which feels a bit weird but the point I want to make is somewhere where both things overlap)

a lesson I learned from this:

back up your data! do it now! yes, NOW!

it started a few weeks ago when I changed linux distro from suse to arch (though it also started earlier. human starts are hard to define. me and my neurodivergence and my pc and hard drive and my mental health struggles that most if not all nd people have in some form didn't just pop into existence when I started installing arch).

I had unplugged two of my drives to protect the data on them from any mess-ups during the install process. (I should've made backups, yesterday evening would have been less scary that way).

the installation went fine, but it took a few days due to mild lack of sleep and me not using archinstall, but I succeded. (and after accidentally uninstalling the login manager on my laptop and briefly reprioritizing to fixing that because I couldn't get the gui to launch manually without the login manager)

and I was proud of my setup. one minor thing, the drive my /home folder (that's where the user accounts' data is) started its off-on spiel it sometimes did when the cable wasn't plugged in properly. (at that point it had not seemed alarming. I had unplugged it prior and was already familiar with this happening)

it had messed up something with i3, I rebooted, it was fine. I knew what drive it was because I can hear its whirr and the clacking of the head going into its off position when it turned off. I love how it sounds. that I can hear how it is 'alive'.

so I opened my pc, unplugged the drive and plugged it back in. and it was fine for a few days.

after it had happened (or maybe only after the 2nd time it happened on arch) I also looked up if there were tools to assess drive health and installed the smartmontools package. I do not know if I would have been a bit slower in noticing when my drive started to fail, maybe the sounds alone would have worried me enough. quite possibly not. ultimately the s.m.a.r.t. output got me to start a backup of the raw data though, but not by actually warning me directly of imminent failure. it estimated about 20000 more hours of use (edit: that is untrue. I just misinterpreted something).

I think it also went off-then-immediately-back-on a few more times before and after that; but that and the following were the two instances that caused my OS tho struggle before the hard drive failed.

after the second time it happened, upon rebooting, the drive would just do its off/on routine while fstab was trying to mount it on 2 consecutive reboot attempts but failed. mildly panicked I booted the live arch usb I had previously installed from and tried to figure out what to do. I didn't back up my data then. I should have. I had planned to set up backup automation then but not yet got around to doing so. I should have done so.

it was unlikely to be the cables' fault, but yet again I unplugged the drive and plugged it back in. yesterday I found out why that was futile. it did its off/on routine after I'd tried getting a more taxing game to run, but i3 was fine, and so I continued, mildly worried. the second time it happened, not long after, I checked the s.m.a.r.t. data. Because I'd sent all the interesting bits of the data to someone the day prior, I was able to look up how it had been before. still, it estimated about 20000 more hours of drive use (edit: that is untrue. I just misinterpreted something). but the count of PhyRdy->PyNRdy was off the charts. from about 300 in a prior power cycle it rose to above 18000. then, eventually it even reached 19000. online advice on this was: back up your data. now.

and so I did, finally, back up my data. the easiest option with now ramping up andrenaline (and a cold I was still recovering from) was using dd. I made sure the infile and outfile were the right way around and off I went, copying all the disk contents to another disk. (or rather, the contents of the partition I was mainly using)

it went ok at first. then the occasional off/on, going by how the drive sounded. ok, I hope you make it, buddy. please, at least long enough to save my data.

then it wasn't just clack-spin-down-fully-then-spin-up-again. it was stumbles, the clack sounded different, had different timing, it didnt spin down fully before spinning up again. (for clarity: by spin down I refer to the motor inside reducing in speed until it is off, like when shutting down my pc.)

the copying stumbled. a bit past halfway it stopped. i/o error. disk dump (dd) had exited. smartctl just told me "inqury failed". my os seemed to think the disk was still there. it just wasn't responding. not presumably unmounted this time, just not responding. the last temperature readout had been a bit above 40°C. high, but it should be fine, right? the PhyRdy -> PhyNRdy statistic was 19806 at last readout. my hard drive was definetely failing now. dying.

I called someone with more IT experience than me; adrenaline was definitely kicking in now. we opted to shut down my pc and try getting the rest of the data after waiting 20 minutes. giving my hard drive a break. it did not make its usual sound when shutting down. it must've spun down at some point before and not spun up again. I braced for the worst, for the first half of the dd to only contain the data I've had older backups of and for the rest to be lost.

my hard drive had just needed some rest. ddrescure came to the rescue, I copied the remainder of the data with not many auditory "complaints" by the hard drive. then turned off my pc to unplug that drive. it could rest now. it had done its part. I no longer needed to fear that my data would be lost. as of writing this I'm combining both halves of the backup on it into one file to mount it and see if my data is intact. odds are looking good but I should make sure. (as of my 2nd draft I'm mounting the file. fingers crossed.) (as of finishing the 2nd draft of this fsck reports the backup's filesystem as having a bunch of errors. I hope my data is salvageable. mounting the file worked but that is a lot of errors from fsck. gonna do a full ddrescue now.) (the ddrescue is nearly finished; the two halves should be recombinable now, ddrescue just has important syntax differences compared to dd. my data is most likely safe.) (the data backup seems to be fine now!)

I miss the way that hard drive sounds. I miss hearing it start. I miss its hum. I miss the hard drive that, quite literally, made my pc home. I only was at home on arch once I had moved my user data to the new home directory. (finally it wasn't my deadname anymore. being trans was now, accidentally, a way to keep my suse and arch user accounts nice and separate)

/home was home, and now it was failing. dying.

how odd, to be feeling (slight) grief for a hard drive.

and now for the mental health realization:

I've anthropomorphized that hard drive in some places in this post. while it was actually failing I was somewhat doing that most of the time (you can make it, buddy! please, please just try to keep going a bit longer. once my data is safe you can get a break.)

and I realized why that is.

one part of it is just that I have the tendency to anthropomorphize things, like the chocolate snowman who I found out had a name only after I had already eaten it. I felt sad, and a bit silly. I'm never buying chocolate with a name like sammy again.

but there's more to it; and it isn't coincidence that I am putting this in a post about a failing hard drive, rather than that chocolate snowman. not only did I humanize that hard drive when it was "struggling" - I also do it the other way around: taking "schedule maintenance or the equipment will schedule it for you" also as a reminder to take the breaks I need because when I need them they will happen eventually. so I better listen to my body and take breaks when it isn't already a bit too late.

I'm treating myself like the machines I humanize because when treating myself as human what sneaks in is treating myself as someone who should be this good little neurotypical girl. treating myself as who I learned I should be instead of treating myself as me.

treating myself as human has failed somewhat. between being trans and being ace and being neurodivergent, I'm not human in the way I was taught I should be. and with this baggage, I need a better angle at this to be able to take care of myself in a way that will allow me to heal.

I stopped trying to view self-care through my neurodivergent mask. it's not this vague lifestyle thing. it is the basis of my well-being.

I started viewing it as 'self-maintenance'. maintenance is important. it is basis for continued operability. that much is simple. it is specific to what is being maintained. I couldn't exactly have treated my hard drive as a dripping faucet. it would have been nonsense for me to try and save my data from my windows installation which I'm much less experienced with. (and besides, it's windows. I actually use OS as an analogy for my neurodivergence sometimes, I do think it works in many aspects. there are many different linux distros. mine takes a bunch of extra work but works better for me.)

it would be nonsense to try treating myself like a neurotypical person. because I'm not. and it would be nonsense to view this "self-maintenance" as something to do only whenever I've got time between my failing hard drive and uni and having gotten sick. it is important.

short bonus bit - the magnus archives has helped me cope with the fear I felt for my data a bit. and since it continues being an intense interest of mine I'd like to discuss that. just beware of spoilers, I'm not sure off the top of my head when the concepts I'm talking about below stop being spoilers

it is interesting that one of the hypotheses of what is going on with the failing hard drive is that the temperature is somehow why that drive is failing - considering the lightless flame is all about things like this data loss. so hi desolation, I hope to never meet you again. please do not cause the digital equvialent of a housefire (overheating(?) /home) ever again.

running the full ddrescue now, it seems putting a cold pack next to it calmed it down. poor thing really was suffering from heatstroke at normal operating temperatures it seems

[venusmage]

Before I make a short post about a recent development regarding my D&D game, I’d like to direct everyone to some actionable resources to aid Palestine if you don’t have them bookmarked already.

Daily Clicks to help Palestine || E-Sims for Gaza || Education on Palestine

This is being posted on my art account because I frequently get asked questions about the game I run and this would eventually come up. TLDR: I had to kick a player.

All posts on my blog regarding this player or their character have been removed. I do not want anyone seeking this person out trying to find who it is or harassing them. I think they have problems that need to be worked through and may be suffering psychologically. However I am not going to run a D&D game for someone who defends Zionism and the genocide Israel is currently perpetuating, let alone implies that me and my friends are antisemitic for being pro-Palestine.

It's over and done with, and the remaining players and I have decided to restart our current campaign. I just wanted to explain why a few posts with a large number of notes are missing, or why a PC is missing. Big thanks to you guys for being so invested in my art and the wonderful stories I get to make with my friends. Please bookmark the links above and do your part to support Palestine. Antisemitism is never acceptable, but criticizing Israel is not in and of itself antisemitic. Free Palestine.