#larp and life

[guardevoir]

Why is it that I, haver of no patience, endurance, object permanence, or general good sense, am also so terminally attracted to gigantic mammoth projects that nobody with two braincells to rub together would want to attempt?

(also, why is that project I'm rotating in my mind like a well-done blorbo never the stuff I'm supposed to be working on? I literally have a whole fucking masters thesis to write, about a topic I actually like (and which I will talk about at length if anyone asks, hint hint))

Anyway.

I can spin, crochet, knit (badly) and weave (in three, soon to be four, different flavors). I've sewn things before. I've been severely eyeing nålbinding for a while and actually do have a needle for it.

I am mightily tempted, positively entranced, by the idea of making a whole outfit by hand. Spinning, potentially dyeing, making it into clothes, the whole deal. Bottoms, top, layering for warmth, accessories, all handmade completely from scratch. It would be the project of a lifetime. It would take a lifetime.

The only thing keeping me safe right now is that wool directly on the skin doesn't sound like a great time because even if it ain't itchy, it would be kind of a pain to wash, I don't trust myself to spin a cotton or linen yarn that's both fine and sturdy enough to weave with, and I think a crocheted base layer would be too bulky.

(Also I'd probably have to deal with the Vague Dysphoria of skirt, because I am *not* sewing pants, but I'd do it for the aesthetic. Also, Secret Pants might be a fun third option)

But dear fucking lord, the lure of the "Strange Temporally Displaced Pasture Gremlin"-Core outfit is strong.

[rqbossman]

hey Alex, hope you’re well!

seeing your empire pics, I realised I’ve never actually seen your bare arms, or your cool celtic-looking sword tattoo. Does it have a special meaning (besides being cool)?

So I don't actually have a tattoo! That's just a temporary one I put on for Empire. I always wanted a full sleeve but I doubt I will ever get one. I am too flighty in my passions and nowhere near cool enough. (also makes certain aspects of my career harder.) Fun fact though, it was so hot than I now have tan lines in the shape of that tattoo which is pretty great!

[breelandwalker]

Funny thing I've noticed as a longtime LARPer and dedicated Critter who just started playing Baldur's Gate 3 (my first experience with the more recent version of the franchise, having previously played Dark Alliance) -

I am pretty damn good at TTRPG battlefield strategy for someone who's never really played TTRPG.

Like, to the point where my husband (a much more experienced gamer and habitual hack-n-slash all-fighters combat player) took several tries and a couple of party member resurrections to get through a battle that I managed in one shot....with a party of mostly magic users.

The conversation afterward went something like this:

"Wait, you got that in one? How'd you do it?"

"Well, here was my strategy going in.... [quick rundown of distributing potions and useful items between party members, prepping situationally-appropriate spells, using ranged attacks and bonus actions wherever possible, remembering to heal people, and making sure to get in a surprise round on turn-based mode before starting the fight proper]"

".....you had a STRATEGY?"

"....................you DIDN'T?"

I think I just might be good at this. 😁

[alkalische]

hit me with your best 'nicheknights where the operators have potentially hilarious dynamics'

[unironicallycringe]

I know everyone on Tumblr and Twitter regards people who are 25+ or god-forbid 30+ to be in fandom for nefarious purposes only and should be doing adult things like having a shitty 9-5 office job and then getting home and staring at a beige wall.

I'm here to tell you that my experience being 30 is largely unchanged from being 20, except I now have better communication and empathy skills from years of therapy and also from gazing into the void. Also I have more bills and stress, which means I value my time being able to enjoy a hobby like playing with metaphorical Barbie dolls.

Also, I can offer you such gems of lived-experience advice like "you may have a quarter-life crisis in your twenties as adulthood comes stampeding over you, it will suck absolute ass but you are not alone and you can do this."

Anyways shout-out to the age range who are not-elders-but-regarded-as-such-online-for-some-reason. I met a 60+ person playing my cool new gardening sim game and he's legit af. I am baby compared to that guy and he's still vibing. You're allowed to be part of online communities at any age as long as you respect the people around you.

[birdylion]

Folks with too many hobbies and not enough time, how do you keep track of your hobby projects?

[oceanwithouthermoon]

anyways let me take a break from my usual brainrot so i can spread my yumekai disease

yumehara and kaido are literally perfect for each other but they just arent grown enough to know it yet.. theyre both chuunibyous and are actually really similar to one another but both of them are too immature to truly see one another for who they are, chiyo because shes looking through rose colored (practically love poisoned) lenses and shun because shes a girl..

neither of them are ready for romance but chiyo tries to jump in headfirst whenever she gets the chance with any guy she can (mostly just cuz shes childish, but also a bit comphet of her🤥bi chiyo is something to consider..) while shun just fully does NOT think about it at all

they both just need to grow up a little bit before they can get to know each other for real, and then theyre perrrfect😋👍they prob get together in college and are lame losers together

[arkon-z]

man i just want to BE her, so bad.

[adhderall]

well as you can see besides being ugly as all fuck I'm also extremely bitter so that doesn't help at all in making me appealing. but it also comes with the territory you see, being treated as a hideous freak of nature for your whole life kind of does things to your psyche.

also going into shit in the tags as an extreeeemely jaded individual who's been on every side of the discourse and KNOWS it all VERY PERSONALLY so I know many people will find all sorts of different reasons to hate me (if they want ig) because I'm ~politically homeless~ at this point because I'm sick and tired of everything but whatever

(also fuck I ran out of space in the tags so another post maybe idk. )

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets: Free Day Thursday- Viper

Following the prompt from the poll: Haven finds out Jak isn't there for them. We pick up right after the boys fight Veger's robot in the mines and come up at the edge of New Haven.

"This place looks as bad as my old bedroom back home," Daxter scoffed. His keen eyes darted this way and that, looking for any sign of their fugitive.

"Jak! Over here!"

Jak tensed at Samos’s voice. He didn't sound surprised to see them. Onin might have warned him he was coming. Onin...she would be a problem if not dealt with. He'd have to consult with Damas about her.

When Samos called him again, sounding less sure of himself, Jak realized he hadn't reacted at all. Samos doubtless expected him to leap to attend him, as he had been thoroughly trained to do.

Did he want to blow his cover?

Hm. No. Not yet.

Jak turned on his heel and for a moment his heart leaped.

"Keira!"

Samos was forgotten as he rushed towards a shimmering wall that divided the waterfront from New Haven. A force field? Since when did Haven have force fields?! Jak made a note of it. Damas wanted reports; he was a captain now. He had power. That meant he needed to do things right.

"Jak!" Keira's entire face lit up. "I told you, Daddy. I told you I could feel his energy!"

She slapped her hand against the force field, ignoring the sting.

"You're alive-! Jak, I'm so sorry! I- I tried to get into the trial, they wouldn't let me in the building-! Or, or Tess, or Sig! They arrested us when we tried, didn't let us go until they'd taken you away!"

A warm glow spread through Jak's chest. Someone had fought for him. Keira had fought for him! And Tess, and Sig! In a city of vipers, he still had true friends.

Jak placed his own hand on the energy field, feeling the dull burn of its eco as he spread out his fingers over Keira's.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I don't blame you three. Not for any of it. Not for anything. I...I missed you."

Keira sniffled. "I missed you, too," she croaked, "What's it like out there? They say it's...it's nothing! That there's no way to survive! But you look-"

She cut herself off and blushed.

"What's really out there?"

Jak looked up at Daxter and smiled. Daxter nodded back. He didn't know what Jak was going to say, exactly. He'd never been a talker -- he'd really really never been a talker -- but Daxter had seen how proud of their new home Jak got. He couldn't help wanting to know what the big lug would say. Would he talk about the beach he loved so much? About Damas?

To his surprise, Jak only stared earnestly at Keira and whispered back, "Freedom."

Keira closed her eyes. "Freedom," she sighed. "I...thought I had that. Not so sure, now."

"That's why I came back."

Jak took a more guarded posture, casting his eyes about.

"I can help you. But I need your help, too."

Daxter opened the little communicator they'd stolen from the dead metalheads and retrofitted into a small holoprojector. The face of Thrax rotated above the plate, tattooed and scowling.

"You seen this guy?" he asked, waving the holo, "Name's Thrax. Real disreputable character."

Samos blinked at them in shock. "Jak, please, there isn't time! The passages under the palace, they must be terribly important!"

Jak spoke over him, raising his voice slightly. "He's a fugitive from justice. Wanted for treason. I'm under orders to bring him back, dead or alive."

"Under orders?"

Keira's face twisted with concern.

"Whose orders? Ashelin's?"

Daxter scoffed and slid down to sit more comfortably on Jak’s shoulder.

"As if! We have new friends. And they respect us! Heck, they actually like us!"

"And we respect them," Jak added, "So people trying to murder the man who saved my life don't get to walk away. Not from me."

Keira's jaw was tight. They both knew how she felt about him killing hu'men. One day, maybe she would let herself understand that it was no different from the enthralled Lurkers her father had sent Jak to kill when he was far, far too young to have blood on his hands. One day she would have to turn around and face that truth head-on. But Jak was beginning to understand at last that as long as Samos kept her within reach, it would be hard for her to slip the blinders off. It had taken exile for him to be free of his.

"I'll...I'll keep an eye out, and let you know if I see anyone like that." Keira swallowed hard. "It's been...I've been trying to get Veger's shield walls down. He cut Torn off from the city council hall, trapped him down on the waterfront. I think it's-"

Her voice trailed off, then, almost too quietly to hear,

"It's like...divide and conquer."

Anger hissed between Jak's teeth. "Of course it was Veger. He's had his hand in everything, hasn't he?"

He slammed his fist into the force field.

"He's the one who blew up the palace! Five hundred people dead, and for what?! So he could get to some catacombs underneath?!"

"And," Daxter said grimly, "so he could get the guy descended from the last ruler out of here. That guy is high on delusions of grandeur. Real heroes throw him off his groove."

"Catacombs?" Samos broke in, finally seeing a gap in the conversation that he could wedge himself into, "There must be something important down there for him to go to such lengths! Well, you're just going to have to find whatever it is before he does!"

"Oh I am, am I?" Jak asked.

Somehow Samos failed to hear the edge of danger in the boy's voice. He prattled on, patronizing as ever.

"Now, first you'll need to find another way into this section of the city. Take the sewers into the Port, then find a way north to reach us."

When the boys stayed still, looking at him through half-lidded eyes, it finally seemed to occur to the old man that he couldn't just give orders and expect them to be followed blindly anymore. With a touch of chagrin, he added, "And Jak...we're...sorry, for what happened. We should have stopped Veger."

"Yes." Jak turned his back. "You should have. Maybe you wouldn't have war on your doorstep if you'd acted."

"War?" Samos questioned, "With the metalheads?"

Daxter rolled his eyes. "Stumpy-boy, metalheads are about to be the least of your worries."

Jak took a few steps back, eyeing the buildings around him. Then he nodded to himself, got a running start, and launched up the side of the nearest row house.

Winds bless the guy in the youth barracks who'd taken the time to teach him free-running.

In no time at all he was on the roof with only a slight straining in his muscles to show for it. The shield wall only extended about a storey above them. Fair enough, they'd just have to follow the roofs to a higher building and cross from there.

Daxter flipped his goggles down over his eyes and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he scanned New Haven.

Pah. "New Haven". More like New Main Town. All he saw were the rich elite who had survived Veger dropping the palace on their high class district. Where were all the former inhabitants of the North Slum and Water Slum? Shoved into the ruined Main Town or crowded into the waterfront, he had no doubt.

"By the forges, I really hate this place," Jak whispered beside him.

"I don't blame ya, pal," said Daxter grimly. "Not even a little bit. C'mon, let's find Tess. If anyone knows how to find our guy, it's her."

Thrax could run. But there were only so many places he could hide.

Part Two planned for tomorrow

[mgdln333]

[kookiecamera]

Youssef: “Why are you like this??!”

Assane: “💕☺️✨like what?✨☺️💕”

[rqbossman]

Hi, The picture of you at Empire on Instagram looked absolutely awesome!

Could you tell us about:

1: Your character, how you made him and ect...

2: How you managed to get such a cool costume!

And 3: How the event was?

I've been looking into possibly going but I'm fining the costuming and character creation (mainly backstory) difficult, and I'm a bit nervous about what it'll be like when/ if I go there.

1: Character was kept low-key since I needed to get lay of the land at first event. I just researched the nation our group voted to join and then reverse engineered from there.

2: Costume = is mostly Etsy with some Amazon thrown in for stuff I couldn't find elsewhere. I don't have the time to make stuff from scratch but I am pretty crafty so can customise/ resize etc. So the armour was ordered then i did some leatherwork to fix it up and reshaped it.

3: It was like when I first played Dnd. Brilliant but I regretted not trying it 20 years ago! I am NOT a veteran and there are many more knowledgeable people than me on this site but from my humble perspective I would suggest don't worry too much about backstory and focus on just getting a few bits together first. I went ridiculously overboard for my first event because that's just how I role on special interests.

[joculatrixster]

NEVER let someone tell u bigb started adding lying as his main personality trait only in secret life bc im watching his last life pov RIGHT NOW and its his favorite activity

[thornaelle]

Lyra Gwynnen, Roerik Grimson and Finthor of the Ordo Cervi Council for @mmalveaux!

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

You know what? The kids at my college may not have known how to drive but at least they drove fast (let's ignore the fact that this was a big part of the problem). The people in my hometown? Slow as shit. I have been here two weeks and I have illegally passed two people already because they are so fucking SLOW. Never done that before in my life. They drive like they were raised by police officers. I'm begging you to put your foot on the gas. The pedal can take it, I prommy. I fucking prommy. Jesus fucking christ.