#no idea what the correct file size is

[flowersforthemachines]

The body proportion values of companions and a selection of other NPCs

Most companions and NPCs don't have unique body models. Instead, they use a set of body proportions defined in their preset files that feature settings similar to what you can see in Rook's character creation screen.

A list of body values for all companions and several NPCs (Solas, Teia, Viago, Illario, Evka, Antoine, Strife, Irelin, Elgar'nan, Rana) and explanations behind how some of those values work is hidden under the read more.

Note: if you are interested in values for any other NPCs, feel free to send requests through my inbox.

Upd March 28th: added Rana and Elgar'nan.

The values below likely represent the proportions in regard to a character's race/body type in the Character Creation (providing that idea is correct, Bellara's height of 0.8 would mean she's an elf of the female body type with the height slider set to 80%).

The following values range between -1 (minimum value, possible equivalent would be -100% in the CC) and 1 (maximum value, possible equivalent would be 100% in the CC): height, thin/heavy, waist width, shoulder width, pelvis width, hips height. The muscular slider is an exception, because it doesn’t go below 0. 

The thin/heavy and muscular slider value are basically just the NPC analogue of the body shape triangle you can use on Rook in the CC. So thin/heavy at -1 would mean that the character has the slimmest possible body frame, and muscular slider at 0 would mean that they have as little muscle as possible.

In addition to the values mentioned above, the character presets also include fields for glute, chest, and bulge sizes, but they are set to 0 for all characters in this post, so they are not included in the listings. 

Oh, and there's the hips height value. Idk what it does ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I tried to do some testing of it with Bellara and Tasash, but didn't notice any difference after changing it in their presets. The values are included for posterity, though.

Bellara

1. Height: 0.8

2. Thin/heavy: -0.5

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 0.2

5. Shoulder width: -0.2

6. Pelvis width: 1

7. Hips height: -0.2

Davrin

1. Height: 0.7

2. Thin/heavy: 0.05

3. Muscular slider: 1

4. Waist width: 0.5

5. Shoulder width: 0.3

6. Pelvis width: -0.6

7. Hips height: 0.3

Emmrich

1. Height: 1

2. Thin/heavy: -1

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: -1

6. Pelvis width: -0.4

7. Hips height: 0

Harding

1. Height: 0.5

2. Thin/heavy: 0.25

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 1

5. Shoulder width: -0.1

6. Pelvis width: 0

7. Hips height: 0.1

Lucanis

1. Height: -0.8

2. Thin/heavy: -0.4

3. Muscular slider: 0.1

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: 0

6. Pelvis width: -1

7. Hips height: 0.1

Neve 

1. Height: -0.57

2. Thin/heavy: 0

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: -0.4

5. Shoulder width: -0.15

6. Pelvis width: 0

7. Hips height: 0.1

8. Heels: 1*

*The heels value is listed only for Neve because she's the only character on the list who has it above 0. Heels value is used to imitate the shape of high-heeled shoes — you can read more about it here. 

Taash

1. Height: 1

2. Thin/heavy: 0

3. Muscular slider: 0.8

4. Waist width: 0.6

5. Shoulder width: 0.15

6. Pelvis width: 0.8

7. Hips height: 0

Illario

1. Height: 0.7

2. Thin/heavy: -0.6

3. Muscular slider: 0.1

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: -0.3

6. Pelvis width: -0.3

7. Hips height: 0

Teia

1. Height: 0.2

2. Thin/heavy: -0.8

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: 0.507

6. Pelvis width: 0

7. Hips height: 0.3

Viago

1. Height: 0.7

2. Thin/heavy: -0.8

3. Muscular slider: 0.2

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: -0.4

6. Pelvis width: -1

7. Hips height: -0.3

Solas

1. Height: 1

2. Thin/heavy: -0.5

3. Muscular slider: 0.3

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: 0.2

6. Pelvis width: -1

7. Hips height: 0.2

Evka

1. Height: 0.2

2. Thin/heavy: 0.1

3. Muscular slider: 0.4

4. Waist width: 0.2

5. Shoulder width: 0

6. Pelvis width: -0.5

7. Hips height: 0

Antoine

1. Height: 0.1

2. Thin/heavy: -0.3

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: -0.5

6. Pelvis width: -0.6

7. Hips height: 0

Irelin

1. Height: -0.4

2. Thin/heavy: -1

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: 0.6

6. Pelvis width: 0

7. Hips height: 0

Strife

1. Height: 0.5

2. Thin/heavy: 0

3. Muscular slider: 0.8

4. Waist width: 0.4

5. Shoulder width: 0.4

6. Pelvis width: 0.4

7. Hips height: 0

Elgar'nan

1. Height: 1

2. Thin/heavy: -0.6

3. Muscular slider: 0.4

4. Waist width: 1

5. Shoulder width: 0

6. Pelvis width: -1

7. Hips height: 0

Rana

1. Height: 1

2. Thin/heavy: 0.1

3. Muscular slider: 0

4. Waist width: 0

5. Shoulder width: 0.45

6. Pelvis width: 0.1

7. Hips height: 0

8. Chest size: 0.4*

9. Glute size: 0.25* - Reminder that other characters don't have chest/glute size values listed because they are set to 0. Rana is built different.

[golden-ebony]

Man Eater (3) 𓆩♡𓆪

♡ series masterlist ♡ previous part ♡

♡ Pairing: Logan Howlett/Fem!Vigilante!Reader

♡ Word Count: 3.0k

♡ Rating: Mature (but any additional parts may be explicit)

♡ Warning/Tags: fighting but by no means violent

♡ Summary: Leaving your past behind is never easy; teasing Logan makes it tolerable

♡ Note: i FINALLY have a proper vision for the series and i'm so so so excited!

It didn’t take you long to move into the X-mansion. You typically kept most of your things in storage, preferring to live out of a suitcase as you traveled from place to place. It always made it easier to leave on short notice if needed.

But you promised yourself you’d try to make it work at the school, hence moving all your belongings in. Leaving in the cover of night would be significantly harder now—unless you were willing to part with more than a few possessions.

In just a month, you’d settled into a permanent room and reacquainted yourself with your newfound teammates. Like Charles, they treated you with kindness and respect whenever your paths crossed. Occasionally, you even assisted them if it aligned with your own self-interest.

You had more interactions with Logan than anyone else. Despite knowing him for only a few weeks, you two were definitely getting closer. Friends? Maybe. True friendships were rare for you. Most of your relationships were transactional, impersonal. But with Logan, words weren’t always necessary to convey what the other was thinking or feeling. There was a mutual understanding between you.

Still, he loved finding new ways to get under your skin. And you were more than happy to return the favor. It was a brazen, tenacious dance that raised the tension in any room you were in, even when others were around.

Bantering with him was the only exciting part of your days. You itched to do something—anything besides train. The thrill of a mission was what you craved. Waiting for that “something good” Charles and Logan had mentioned felt like torture.

You saw the others come and go on missions a few times over the month. They’d be gone for only a few hours or a day, but that was exactly what you wanted. Your requests, however, were falling on deaf ears.

“I think I’m ready,” you reaffirmed to Storm as you finished a set in the gym. “I did great in the Danger Room, I train on my own, I’ve read some rather boring files. I’m ready!”

“You survived the Danger Room,” Storm corrected. “You’d do better if you actually worked with us instead of next to us.”

You huffed, hands on your hips. “I’m trying, alright? And I have been doing better!”

“You have,” Storm nodded. She glanced over, noticing Logan entering the gym with a group of students, and a sly smile crossed her face. “If bickering and flirting with Logan were a measure of improvement, I’d say you’re more than ready for a mission.”

Looking over your shoulder, you saw Logan talking with some students. You’d bet his training shirt was a size too small, hugging every ridge of his toned physique. You quickly turned away, not wanting to give him any ammunition for later teasing.

You shook your head, a smile creeping onto your lips. “Well, he’s annoying, and it’s something to do until I can actually go on a mission.”

Storm noticed Logan catching sight of the two of you and saw the tension between you thicken. Around the students, you both were more restrained, but that didn’t stop Logan from eyeing you across the room.

“Patience is a virtue,” Storm remarked as she passed you, knowing it was best to leave you and Logan to your own devices.

Turning, you watched as Storm said something to Logan before leaving the gym. An idea sparked in your mind as Logan’s gaze settled on you. You gave him a nod toward the wall, signaling for him to follow. He obliged, moving out of the students’ earshot.

Noticing the sweat-soaked collar of your shirt, Logan couldn’t help himself. “Already hot and bothered just by me being here, sweetheart?”

Your face remained serious, ignoring his comment. “Can you do me a favor?” You crossed your arms, your tone sincere.

Logan huffed, realizing he wasn’t going to get a rise out of you. He nodded, mirroring your stance. “Yeah, what’s up?”

You felt silly about your request. “Can you talk to Charles for me? I want to start going on missions, but no one thinks I’m ready.”

Logan shook his head, surprised. “Probably because you’re not ready.” You’d heard it from Charles, Scott, and Storm, but hearing it from Logan felt like a betrayal, even personal.

“You know better than anyone I can handle myself!” Your voice was louder than intended. “I’ve been doing this longer than any of you—well, except you.”

Logan raised a hand, signaling you to ease up. “Easy, sweetheart, you’ve only been here a month.”

“And it’s agonizing!” you snapped. “I know I’m still learning this whole team thing, but you said I could do something good here.”

“Then do something!” Logan shot back, as if it was obvious. Before you could retort, he continued, “Look, Charles has me teaching self-defense to these boys without their abilities. Offer to do the same for the girls.”

For the first time, Logan had managed to shut you up. You looked over his shoulder, watching the boys practice without his supervision.

“Yeah, we have missions, but this is a school. Helping these kids—that’s the original mission.”

You glanced back at him, huffing. “You sound like Charles.”

“Because he has to remind me of that sometimes.” He placed a hand on your shoulder. “And now I get to remind you.”

His firm grasp was oddly calming. Weeks ago, you would’ve swatted his hand away with a scold, but now his touch felt sincere.

You nodded. “Alright, I’ll talk to Charles about training some students. But will you talk to him for me?”

Logan playfully hummed as if he was weighing his options, “I’ll vouch for you when the time comes,” Logan decided, shooting you a smile. He turned back to the boys, seeing them get a bit more rowdy under no current supervision. “I’d invite you to watch, but I think you’d distract the boys” he teased as he squeezed your shoulder. The look in his eyes was more mischievous than anything.

You picked his arm off your shoulder, sensing the bait, “Distract them or distract you?”

Logan eyed your leggings and cropped shirt. Your partially exposed abdomen and arms were dried with sweat, but Logan couldn’t get your smell out of his head. It was almost dizzying. It had been getting worse over the last few weeks. Your smell was all over the mansion on every goddamn surface in every goddamn room. He only found refuge in his own room. However, Logan was nothing but honest.

“Mainly the boys, but…” Logan stepped a little closer, taking a proper deep breath to inhale your scent, “I ain’t above your charms either.”

You deeply inhaled, your exhale resulting in a chuckle, “For a man that’s seen my case files, you have to know where that charm can lead you.”

Logan shrugged at your point, “For a woman who claimed she couldn’t possibly be a part of a team, you’re sure itchin’ to go on a mission.”

“So?”

He shrugged again, taking a few steps back with a playful gleam in his eyes. “First impressions aren’t everything.”

You watched as Logan went back to the students, immediately getting their attention when he spoke up. As you walked past the group to leave the gym, you noticed how attentive the male students were actually being, focusing on every word Logan was saying. And whether Logan wanted to say Charles made him do this or not, you could tell that he enjoyed it. If he said no, it wasn’t sincere. You knew a liar when you saw one.

After your conversation with Logan, you spoke with Charles. He was excited to see you take initiative in assisting the children. You didn’t have the heart to tell him it was Logan’s idea, but if Charles really wanted to know, he had his ways of figuring that out. You didn’t push the idea of going on missions to him again. That was your idea.

It only took Charles a day to find groupings of female students that were interested in your lessons. At this point, you didn’t interact with the students much. You were more of a lingering figure in the hallways. This was the students’ opportunity to size you up as well.

As you stood there in the gym with 12 girls staring at you with their judgemental eyes, you felt a bit exposed, a little vulnerable. You had grabbed their attention, and now you were slightly regretting it.

“Uhm, so, self-defense is important…your abilities won’t always save you. It may not be safe to use your abilities.” You nodded as if you were convincing yourself. Some of the girls nodded as well, giving you some semblance of confidence. 

“I’m not…” a curly haired girl began as she looked at you. Her brown eyes were wide with hesitation, “I’m not a fighter.” A few of the other girls muttered in agreement. 

“And you don’t have to be.” You tried to reassure them with a soft smile. “I’m not asking you guys to pick fights or…even like to fight. It’s just important to the Professor…important to me that you guys know how to protect yourselves. No matter where you go in life.”

Pride was a feeling you were familiar with. Usually that pride stemmed from your own work. And these girls were right; they definitely weren’t fighters. However, watching these girls take your advice, follow your movements, even laugh when they made a mistake, you felt pride outside of yourself. Even over the course of an hour, you saw the improvement. Their movements were more fluid as they learned to strike and block.

You could see that the hour was winding down. It flew by as you watched the paired up teens practice these simple moves on each other. Your mind was already racing with ideas on what to teach next. Sighing with contentment, you clapped to grab their attention.

“Alright, that’s gonna be all for today!” you told them, only holding some of the girls’ attention. The others were still playfully fighting at this point. “Same time next week? Yeah?”

A number of the girls nodded as they began to grab their things. When your eyes turned toward the door, you spotted Logan leaned against the doorframe with his large forearms crossed. You looked smitten with himself as he watched you interact with the students. You playfully narrowed your eyes with a soft smile.

You turned your attention back to the girls who were grabbing their bags, “And if you don’t remember anything from today, just remember to never pull your punches. What you lack in experience, you can make up for in ferocity, alright?”

The giddy girls all were quick to say their thank yous and goodbyes as they passed you. Some said bye to Logan, too, as he moved out of their way. 

With hands shoved in his jean pockets, he approached, “They don’t look half-bad,” he remarked, referring to the students. “And you look pleased with yourself, sweetheart.”

You bit your lip to hold back a smile, knowing Logan was going to use this as ammunition on why he’s always right. But a part of you didn’t care. “You were right; these are good kids. And I may have had fun,” you admitted as you grabbed the spray bottle and pushed the mop to clean down the mats. Logan walked beside you with raised brows as you began to clean up.

“Oh, I was right? That sounds good coming off your lips,” Logan teased, lightly shoving your shoulder.

“Don’t get used to it, Wolvie.” You eyed him as you turned around with the mop around to toward the other end. Noticing his sweats and t-shirt–that damn tight t-shirt again–you motioned to the equipment toward the end of the gym. “Are you here to work out or bother me? Because the weights are down there, brute.”

Logan's mouth quirked into a wry smile at your question. Walking next to you, he could smell your scent, a mix of sweat and your own natural scent. It made him feel oddly relaxed yet infuriated. He let his eyes drift down to your body as you pushed the mop.

 “I was, but,” His eyes lingered on your form before taking the mop from you, tossing it against the wall, “now I wanna see if what you’re teaching these girls are any good.”

Logan backed up, giving ample space between the two of you. You cocked your head, interested in the dare but still hesitant. The tension was already stiff in the gym with anticipation at the mere mention of a fight.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” you shot back, already beginning to stretch your arms, “but if you wanted a personal lesson, all you had to do was ask, Wolvie.” Your tone teased him, bringing a gleam of challenge in his features.

In the empty gym, you both took your stances across from each other, sizing the other up. The thrill of anticipation and adrenaline began to flood your bloodstream as you mentally refamiliarized with how Logan fought during the Danger Room. Brutish is how you’d described it.

“You gonna keep your claws to yourself?”

“Gonna keep your knives to yourself?”

You dramatically rolled your eyes. You unsheathed your knives, darting them to a nearby board in a show of faith.

Logan cracked his knuckles, a smirk playing on his lips. “You sure you want to do this? I wouldn’t want to hurt you, princess.”

You rolled your eyes, shifting into a defensive stance. “The only thing delicate around here is your ego.”

With a sudden burst, Logan lunged forward, aiming for your midsection. You ducked, the rush of air from his punch sending a thrill down your spine. You pivoted swiftly, landing a sharp kick to his side. Logan staggered but quickly regained his stance, admiration creeping on his lips.

“Not bad,” he admitted, his tone teasing, “but you’ll need to do better than that to impress me.”

You couldn’t help but grin, “I already know I impress you.”

You darted in again, your movements a blur. A quick jab here, a feint there—Logan parried some strikes but let one slip through, catching him right on the cheek. The surprise on his face was priceless, and you took a moment to bask in it. If Logan could bruise, he was sure he would have.

You winced, a playful lilt in your voice, “I don’t pull my punches, Wolvie.”

Logan dryly chuckled, rubbing his cheek, “Alright, sweetheart.”

With a mock glare, he lunged again, relying on his size and strength. You ducked low, narrowly avoiding his grasp, and then executed a spinning kick that nearly knocked him off balance. He stumbled, caught between frustration and admiration. 

“Gotta say, I like the way you move for me,” he remarked, genuine awe shining through.

“You wanted an up close show,” you shot back, grinning as you moved in again, launching a series of rapid jabs. Logan blocked a few but let one slip, landing solidly on his jaw again. He staggered, a laugh escaping his lips. “And I aim to please.”

As they exchanged blows, the gym echoed with their banter and laughter. You weren’t even exclusively on the mats anymore. You were moving around the equipment, against the wall. Logan tried to pin you against the wall, but you slipped out of his grasp, executing a swift spin that brought you behind him once more.

With a burst of speed, you locked him in a tight hold, your bodies inches apart. Logan struggled, muscles flexing beneath their grip, but you had the upper hand. “You’re not getting away that easily,” you teased, leaning closer, their breath brushing against his ear. You felt Logan ease up.

“Don’t know if I want to,” Logan shot back, breathless yet exhilarated. 

Feeling your cheeks reddened, you pushed Logan down, pinning him to the padded floor in a swift maneuver with knee and forearm. You positioned yourself over him, yours faces inches apart. Logan didn’t appear defeated; he looked pleased with himself despite the pressure on his abdomen and chest.

You were pleased with yourself, too…for more reasons than one.

“I won,” you breathlessly stated, a small smile on your lips.

Logan’s eyes darted between your eyes and your lips. He unconsciously licked his lips before another smile grew on his face, “Then why do I feel so damn lucky?”

You would’ve expected your heart to slow at this point, yet it stayed elevated as you looked down at Logan. His hazel eyes were now a dark green. It was over. You could release him, but you didn’t. Against your better judgment, you nuzzled yourself close to his ear, hearing his breath hitch.

“Because most men barely make it out with their lives when I get ‘em like this.”

It took everything in Logan not to groan as lips grazed against his ear. Yet, he couldn’t help the hand that partially gripped your waist, feeling the warmth radiating from your body.

“Not the worst view to take in before the slaughter.”

Your mind was fuzzy being this close to Logan. It only worsened when Logan gripped you. Your entire body was buzzing, screaming to pull away. Still, you stayed, only slightly shifting your weight off his chest. The competitive gleam in Logan’s eyes was replaced with something softer, sensual even. Your breathing slowed, but your heart was racing a mile a minute. 

Even Logan couldn’t seem to piece together another quip, a retort. All his thoughts had been stripped away, replaced with only you. You were consuming every ounce of his senses except the very one he craved the most. As close as you were, it wouldn’t be difficult to obtain. Yet, Logan was reluctant because even in the tenderness of your eyes, he saw a flash of something–he almost missed it—that he hadn’t seen in you before.

Fear.

“I gotta talk to Charles,” you quickly stammered as you lifted yourself off of Logan, not even thinking about facing him again. As quick as you said it, you were heading for the door. Logan could only muster the faint call of your name from the floor. He wasn’t surprised when it didn’t stop you.

After slowly standing, Logan noticed your knives still jammed into the wall. Your favorites, no less. Pulling them from the wall, Logan took the knives with him. 

You’d be looking for them eventually.

He couldn’t wait until you did.

note: love hearing y'all's thoughts or if you wanna be tagged ♡

🏷️ list: @absxntmxnded @sarcazzzum @cashmerephalaenopsis @m1cky-y-y @wowitsafemale @kneelforloki @hello-lemons @devoetee @montyrokz @qxuanii @steviebbboi @mooneyloveydovey @yourworstgf @needz1nk @ayamenimthiriel @lulawantmula

[hexcoreviktor]

you people think you are so great just cause you put together some gifs

dude what 🤡

ah yes, look at me, everyone! over here on my tumblr blog always acting like some big shot! look at how revered us gif makers are, with an abysmal like/reblog ratio and folks constantly stealing our stuff without credit :')

you people are part of the reason that more and more gif makers just don't even bother anymore; you have no idea how much work it actually is, you've probably never even opened photoshop once in your life, but you think you get to decide 'it's not that hard.' do it yourself then. pay for photoshop or try to find a free version that actually works, learn how to use it, pay for a vpn so you can safely download files, buy external hard drives cause man, you're gonna need so much space for all those GBs you're downloading since you need high quality files, get a player to screencap, cross your fingers photoshop (or your entire computer) doesn't crash when you load the screencaps, crop and resize your gif, make sure your sharpening settings look right for the file quality you're using, TRY TO MAKE UGLY FUCKING SCENES LOOK NICE SOMEHOW with 20 different layers, change said layers a bunch of times to get rid of grain, add subtitles (and don't you dare get anything wrong or have a typo), save your gif...but beware! it might just take ages and then it turns out it's over tumblr's size limit, so you go back and delete frames until it's finally right, and finally make sure your gif is running at the correct speed. go and do all of that for 2-10 gifs that look kinda decent, and then tell me again it's not that hard.

anyway. i don't even know what you think i did to warrant this message, i post my gifs and that's it. none of us think we're saving the fucking world lol, but at least stop talking down to us, and don't act like you'd have a whole lot to look at on here without people making gifs for you. have a nice day.

[mehilaiselokuva]

Finnish university unspoken social rules (+ handy rules for exchange here)

Because someone gave me this idea in my first unspoken rules post! Same disclaimers as before: these might vary or not be true at all. Just what I and others have observed! Some of these might also be pretty universal so take what you need!

If you get a pair of student overalls, you might need to know the "unspoken written rules", a.k.a. these rules that apply to overall wearing. You might not be told what these rules are or that they even exist but you Must Not break them. Read up!

The faculty are your equals. You can drop Mr. Mrs. and Professor when speaking about them (unless you are in an especially formal situation). It varies from person to person what the students call them so listen in on the Finnish students; they usually copy what they hear the most. Some of my professors are called by their first name and some by their last name.

More on above: you are expected to email your teachers/professors as soon as you have a question. Email etiquette is usually very relaxed. Teachers will generally not care if you send a "Hi (last name). How do I open this file. Thanks" type message.

You might think of the finns as very shy people, but university might be one of the big expectations. Usually, during orientation week, everyone is looking for friends. Do not be shy to interrupt anyone and ask for directions! We have been there once too!

Studying at the campuses and libraries is common, but remember to check if your university labels study spots by type. Our university has different types depending on how loud you can be and if you can eat snacks there or not. It's a big no-no to bring your friends to chat at the no-food-no-eating-no-keyboard-noise spot!

You might come from a country where university is still done on paper, but here everything is digital. You usually need some kind of digital device to access files and stuff. I myself write my notes on paper but have my phone with me and access anything through that. (You might come across mysterious and cool if you handwrite your notes as digitally typing your notes is more common!)

Most exams are digital, so if you have an exam coming, check what kind it is (paper or computer) and bring what applies. Not bringing in the correct medium might automatically fail your course if your teacher is strict!

Depending on what kind of course you are taking, review the conventions for citing things & essay forming. I have found that the Finnish standard is different to some other western conventions I have come across. Ask your instructors right away if you have questions. Some instructors want you to use different citing styles or require certain font sizes!

Faculty generally do not care if you can't make that 10am lecture on monday. They are tired too. They had a few sunday afternoon drinks just like you did. Take notes on the first day of the course on this! You do not need to email or contact your teacher for being late or not showing up. (varies greatly by teacher and course so remember to check what each instructor wants)

Student organizations hold many types of events, many of which include drinking. Inquire from your organization if they offer alcohol-free drinks at a function if you need to. Often, some alcoholic beverage might be included for free in the ticket cost you pay. Be ready to be around drunk people if you decide to enter such event.

I could go on and on honestly! I wish I was informed about some of these rules when I first entered the university world...

[avatar-anna]

Margaritaville

based on this tiktok that i saw today!

Young Dad! Harry x Young Mom! Reader Universe

"Why the hell is my daughter dressed as a margarita?"

Y/n stared down at the group of boys sitting on the floor of her hotel room, watching with glee as Simone teetered around as a tiny cocktail.

All five boys looked up at her, a mix of emotions on their faces ranging from deer in headlights to the picture of innocence. Harry stood up from the floor and walked over to Y/n, his lips immediately finding her cheek for a quick kiss. He could tell she was mostly surprised, not really mad—at least he hoped. Dressing Simone up like a margarita didn't seem like a terrible idea when Louis approached him with the idea. It seemed harmless. Now he wasn't so sure.

"Just a bit of fun," Harry promised. "And look she loves it."

"She loves the attention," Y/n corrected. "She's two! She can't—Is that salt on the rim?"

"Mommy look!"

Y/n's attention swiveled to the toddler in like green. Simone's hair was pulled back into two tiny buns on the top of her head, each one adorned with a little green bow. She was sporting a huge smile, clearly happy to have her father and all her uncles fawn over her. Because of their busy schedules, she didn't get to spend much time with the members of One Direction, but when she did, the boys treated her like a little queen.

"Wow, melon!" Y/n cooed, not wanting to spoil her daughter's fun.

"I'm a marita!" Simone said, not quite getting the name right.

Y/n's grin was wide, but Harry could see right through it. He knew he was in for it later. For now he was safe, but when he was alone with Y/n? Perhaps a Simone-sized buffer was necessary the rest of the night. He was not above using his daughter's cuteness to get out of a lecture.

"Who made you this awesome costume?" Y/n asked, her voice light.

"Uncle Louis!"

"It was more of a joint effort, really," Louis said from his spot on the floor. When Y/n shot him a look, he was quick to go back to studying the pattern in the carpet.

"You look amazing, my love, but maybe we should change into your other costume for trick-or-treating?"

"I like this one!" Simone declared.

Y/n fought the urge to sigh deeply through her nose. She could only imagine the stares she was going to get walking around with a tequila toddler. But if her daughter was happy, she saw no reason to spoil the fun. The last thing she needed was a tantrum over a wardrobe change.

"Okay, Simone. Margarita it is," Y/n said. Then she turned to Harry's bandmates. "Isn't there a party you should be getting ready for?"

The boys were quick to scramble to their feet. Each of them said their goodbyes to Simone, kissing her cheeks and the top of her head. They said goodbye to Y/n too, murmuring their apologies as they filed out of her small hotel room. Y/n tried to suppress her grin, but it was difficult. She kind of liked that the boys were slightly afraid of her.

"I'm sorry about this, really. The boys got excited and she wanted to wear it and—"

"It's fine, H, promise," Y/n said sincerely. She knew the boys meant well. "It's just...I already get the stares, you know?"

"I'll get her to change," Harry insisted.

"Don't," Y/n said, shaking off her negative thoughts. She sometimes got caught up in what people thought when she and Simone were out together. Maybe walking around with her toddler dressed as a margarita would cause more stares, but her daughter was happy, and it wasn't like she even knew what it was anyway. It would be a funny story to tell in the future. To Harry, she said, "Let them stare. If she's happy, I'm happy."

Y/n grinned, the initial surprise and annoyance at the margarita costume wearing off. It was rather cute. And, "It's really well constructed."

"Louis was planning this for a while, I think," Harry said while both of them admired the craftsmanship of Simone's costume.

"You have a costume for tonight?" Harry asked when they were mostly alone. Simone began playing with her costume, running her hands over the bowl that surrounded her with great interest.

Y/n shrugged. "Not really. I bought cat ears and was just going to call it a day. As for you..."

Walking over to the unused bed in her hotel room, she pulled back the comforter and worked the loose sheet off. Harry gave her a knowing look before she tossed the sheet unceremoniously over his head. The sheet stopped at his shins, revealing dark jeans and a pair of scuffed boots, though the shifting beneath told Y/n he'd probably crossed his arms.

"Now no one will know it's you under there."

"I can't see."

"We'll cut holes before we go," Y/n said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Watch her while I draw on some whiskers, will you?"

Beneath the sheet, Harry rolled his eyes. He pulled it off and sat back down, whipping his phone out to take as many pictures as Simone would let him. She smiled and posed for some, but her attention didn't last long. Harry and Y/n both loved to take pictures of their daughter, but she was usually an unwilling participant.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, love bug?"

"Why did Uncle Louis say maritas will give me a baby sister?"

Harry's head bent as he tried to hide his laughter as Y/n shouted from the bathroom, "I'm gonna kill him!"

[love--and--venom]

I Make You (You Make Me): Chapter Two

Chapter Summary: You spend time with the Enhypen boys to strengthen the new bond. An eerie phone call sets everyone on edge.

Warnings: Ni-ki is almost hurt (don't worry he's okay), Heeseung is lowkey pervy for a sec, creep phone call, slut-shaming?, google translate

Series Masterlist

You walked through the HYBE building flanked by Ni-ki and Jay, the rest of the boys following close behind. 

“So since your soulmark was physical, how did you find out we’re your soulmates?” Jay asked as half of you stepped into the elevator. The other half of the group waited for the next one.

“At the end of my audition, I went up to shake everyone’s hands. When I touched Ni-ki’s –”

“Riki.” You raised an eyebrow at the maknae. “Ni-ki is my stage name. You’re my soulmate, you get to call me Riki.”

“When I touched Riki’s hand,” you grinned and over exaggerated your correction. “The band on my left pinky started burning, then changed to purple. And I gave Riki colors.” Jay hummed and nodded in understanding. The elevator opened and you filed out to wait in the lobby for everyone else. Once the group was all together, you left the air conditioned building for the warm, sunny sidewalk.

“Should I call a car or do we want to walk?” Jungwon asked as he and the other idols put on face masks. 

“It’s really nice today, plus it’s only, like, fifteen minutes. Let’s walk,” Jake decided. There were no arguments so you trailed behind Riki with Heeseung and Sunghoon talking adamantly to your right. You really only half-listened to their lighthearted debate. You tilted your head as you watched Riki take in all of the new colors the city had to offer. 

You had a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach.

You inched closer to Riki as the group approached a crosswalk. The pedestrian signal changed to ‘stop’ but Riki continued walking, distracted by a woman in a highlighter green t-shirt. You lunged forward and harshly tugged Riki back seconds before a driver sped by, looking at his phone instead of the road. The two of you stumbled back, nearly losing your balance before Jay caught you. 

“Oh my god, Riki.” You kept your arms wrapped firmly around his middle. He gaped at the fading tail lights of the car, dropping a hand to rest on your forearm.

“Okay, you walk in the middle of us until you get used to seeing color,” Jungwon ordered after you reluctantly pulled away from your youngest soulmate. 

“Can we please get home without walking into oncoming traffic,” Sunghoon sighed and took Riki’s place at the front. The pedestrian signal changed again, and you set off toward the dorms, unaware of the camera pointed at you from across the street.

The rest of the walk was, thankfully, uneventful. You arrived at the same time as the delivery man carrying several bags of take out. Everyone filed into the living room of the dorm. Sunghoon set the food on the coffee table while Jake went to grab plates. You sat in the middle of the couch, the spots next to you quickly snatched by Jake and Heeseung. Everyone else fanned out across the room, sitting in a haphazard circle. 

“Okay, how do we do this?” You asked once you all dug into your lunch. 

“We could play 20 questions,” Jake suggested. You shrugged, not having any better ideas. It wasn’t exactly 20 questions. The boys went around the circle asking you questions that everyone had to answer. They started out as the typical small talk topics: favorite foods, what you went to school for, favorite color, where were you born, do you have siblings, and so on. After almost thirty minutes, the boys got bored of those questions.

“If you had to choose one song to play every time you entered a room, what would it be?” Jake started down the rabbit hole of increasingly strange scenarios. 

“Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 50 duck-sized horses?” Everyone agreed on 50 duck-sized horses (“just kick them!” was the hypothetical plan of attack).

“Were you one of those kids that ate paper or grass?” Yes, obviously. Every kid does that at least once. 

“What do you call a question with no answer?” You had to spend the next ten minutes explaining what a paradigm was to a group of idols.

“Which one would you prefer: have no nose but have really good smelling fingers or be blind but have a really nice smile?” What the fuck are you talking about???

“Are you a virgi–” several pillows smacked Heeseung in the face before he could finish that one. “OW what the hell?!”

“Dude, we just met her like an hour ago! Don’t ask pervy questions,” Jay scolded, prompting the older boy to roll his eyes. “You’re going to make her uncomfortable.”

“I am a virgin,” you answered after considering it for a moment. They were going to find out at some point, might as well have that be now. Seven pairs of eyes snapped over to you. 

“HA!” Heeseung pointed at Jay then slung his arm around your shoulders. “See, she’s fine with it! Now, who–” 

“Nope, you get one,” you interrupted him before he could ask any other embarrassing questions. 

“Anyway,” Jungwon shot Heeseung a pointed look. “How long have you lived in Korea?”

“Almost eight years,” you replied, relieved at the change in topic. 

“Do you know any languages besides English and Korean?” Sunghoon asked, now going out of order from the circle.

“Polish!”

“What? Why Polish?” Jay scrunched his nose at you.

“My dad is Polish. He met my mom when they were on a business trip. She left Korea to live in the US with dad. But when I was 15, they got divorced. Mom and I moved back to Korea to be closer to her family, and dad’s side cut me out, so I don’t get to speak Polish much anymore,” you summed up with a one-shoulder shrug.

“Can you say something in Polish?” Jake requested.

“Cześć, jestem Y/N. Rozmawiam z Enhypenem po polsku. Nie mają pojęcia, co teraz mówię*.” A chorus of impressed “oooo”s bounced around the room. From there, the conversation flowed easily for the rest of the night.

Over the next couple days you were practically inseparable from the boys. In fact, the only time you left their side was to go to your apartment and pack a duffel bag. You went with them to every dance rehearsal and recording session. The HYBE building was much less scary now. The clinginess was, according to Google, very normal for newly bonded soulmates. But today they had a shoot that you were absolutely not allowed to attend, despite protests from the idol group. 

So you sat in their living room, alone, for the first time since your audition. After doomscrolling on TikTok for the majority of the morning, you decided to be at least somewhat productive. You pulled out your laptop and continued your job hunt, just in case you weren’t allowed to work with your soulmates. You've lost count of how many applications you’ve submitted at this point. While in the middle of entering the same information that was in your uploaded resume, your phone buzzed with an unknown number. 

“Hello?” You’ve been picking up every call lately since they could be a potential employer. All you heard on the other side of the call was soft static and breathing. You pulled your phone back to make sure the call was actually connected. After giving the other person a few more seconds to speak up, you moved to end the call.

“Hi, Y/N,” a smooth feminine voice stopped you right as your thumb hovered over the ‘end’ button. “You’re such a pretty young woman, Enhypen are a very lucky group of boys.”

“Who is this?” Your voice was steady despite the growing pool of anxiety twisting in your stomach.

“I wonder if you plan to whore yourself out to Enhypen, just like the other girls bonded to an idol group. TXT... Xikers... P1Harmony... and now Enhypen. What will Engene think of you?” Your blood ran cold.

“Who the hell are you?!” There was a sinister chuckle, then the call cut off. Your heart beat loudly in your ears. Your fingers shook as you moved through your contacts, looking for Minjun. The group wouldn’t have their phones on them so they could focus, but you needed to tell someone. As if he read your mind, a call from Minjun interrupted your frantic searching.

“Y/N, what happened?” Jungwon must have taken the manager’s phone. “Why are you so scared right now?”

“Jungwon, I need to talk to Minjun,” you urged the leader. Turns out Minjun was not a mind-reader, but Jungwon feeling your emotions was a close second.

“But–”

“Please, Jungwon, I’ll fill you in later. I need Minjun first.” You fought to keep your voice steady. You heard him sigh, then some shuffling.

“Miss L/N?” Minjun’s permanently serious tone eased your nerves slightly. 

“Minjun, something weird just happened.” You quickly recounted the call from the strange woman. “What if she’s watching me right now?”

“The dorms are the best place for you right now. Security officers take the safety of their occupants very seriously. However, it is extremely concerning that this woman knows of you as well as TXT and Xikers’ soulmates. I’ll be notifying their managers immediately, and we will coordinate a police report.” You slumped into the back of the couch, reassured by just how efficient Minjun was. You heard a muffled conversation.

“Can you tell me what’s going on now?” Jungwon was back on the line. You sighed heavily.

“I’ll go into more detail once you’re all back, but it looks like someone wants to expose the soulmates of idol groups.” You really didn’t want to explain the whole phone call two more times. 

“Alright,” Jungwon reluctantly agreed. He was pulled away from the call when several people shouted for him. You locked your phone and shut your laptop, deciding it was time for a nap.

*Hi, I'm Y/N. I'm talking to Enhypen in Polish. They have no idea what I'm saying right now.

This is according to google translate pls dont come at me

Btw, this chapter kicked my ASS. I'm kinda struggling to write this one, lads.

Permanent Taglist: @furfoxsake22 @babygirlskz98 @miniverse-zen @holly-here @corgilover20

Series Taglist: @wildtigerlili @jiyeons-closet @laylasbunbunny

[spacechild-glitchypix]

How to position facial features for the Our Life sprites

Idk how many people need this tutorial (especially since I kinda sat on it for like a month...whoops) but I noticed people were starting to make more sprite edits and videos using the in-game sprites and I thought having this tutorial might help for those of you who don't know exactly how to place the expression layers for the sprite.

Part 1: What am I talking about?

Ok so some of you may be reading the post title and thinking "what the hell does that mean?". For those who are unaware, if you decompile OL1 and OL2, you can find the sprites used for the characters in the game. These files are generally in character folders that contain all the bits for each sprite as well as several versions of the sprite itself in different outfits. All these base sprites files look a little like this

You may have noticed the glaringly obvious detail that Qiu here is missing most of their face. That's because there are several seperate images used for their eyebrows, eyes and mouth. The reason they're all seperated like this is to give more creative freedom over expressions than what would be allowed if there were just already a set number of sprites with set expressions

However, if you want to make a spite edit video, that means you have to piece all the expression layers over the sprite and, since the expression layers don't have the same canvas size as the sprite, you have to actually place them on the face yourself. This can lead to stuff like this.

If you're looking at this and thinking it doesn't look quite right, you're correct. This is the issue you're noticing

This is generally what happens when you try placing expression layers by eye, you end up sort of assuming you've got the right spot when you're actually slightly wrong. And this is gif just shows the facial features in the wrong spot vertically

So, I've explained the problem, now how do you fix it? It's simple actually.

Part 2: The actual tutorial part

What you'll need:

The sprites and expression layers you need (this tutorial assumes you already have the game decompiled. If you don't and have no idea how to do so, here's a tutorial for just that)

An editing software that has a tranform tool such as Photopea, Photoshop, GIMP, etc.

Step 1: Open up the sprite you want to use in your image editing software of choice and import in all the expression layers you want to use

Step 2: Open up the transform tool on your editing software. Where this is may vary, on Photopea and Photoshop you can open up either through the shortcut alt+control+t or clicking on edit in the top bar and selecting Free Transform from the menu. If you don't know where the transform tool is in your software, I'd suggest looking it up

(A showcase of where the tranform tool is in Photopea and Photoshop)

(What the transform box should look like

Step 2.5 (This might be photopea specific, idk if other software does this): If your transformation tool box looks like this, cancel out of the tool (using the little x button on the top bar) and then open the transformation tool back up again. Make sure you're not selecting multiple layers and also make sure you didn't open the tool with the transformation controls tick box from the top bar. If none of that works, just delete the layer and grab it from your folder again and try again

Step 3: With the transform tool still open on your desired layer, move the layer so that it snaps against the corner of your canvas. Your image editing software should automatically have layer snapping enabled but, if not, I suggest looking up how to turn it on. If it doesn't have this, the best suggestion I have would just be to make sure the corner of the transform tool's box and the corner of the canvas allign. Zoom in if need be. You then repeat this process for the other expression layers (and any other layers that aren't automatically allighned like the blush layers or the tear layers)

(Notice the red lines that show up when it snaps against the corner)

Step 4: Export your sprite file because that's it, you did it! Now you have a sprite with the layers placed in the right spots! Isn't that great!

...(maybe I should've chosed a happier expression for this...)

Anyways, I hope this helps!

[piratesexmachine420]

For future reference (my own and others), if your TI SilverLink USB cable stops working and starts showing up as "TUSB3410 Boot Device" or similar under device manager (AKA this issue on TI's help page), this is how you can fix it:

Download the TUSB3x10 EEPROM Burner. This is a Windows-only program, but to my knowledge will work on basically any windows machine from XP on -- so long as it's got USB ports. No clue if it'll work in a VM. (You might want to consult this user's manual.)

Download the SilverLink firmware. I got it from here, and compiled it from their de-compilation. It's just a standard 'make' to build. The output file you're looking for is called "ti_graph_link_silver.eep".

Rename "ti_graph_link_silver.eep" to "ti_graph_link_silver.bin".

Open the TUSB3x10 EEPROM Burner, click on the options dropdown and click "Show the 'Program Full Binary Image' button". (page 7 of the manual).

Select the entry under "Computer" labeled "TUSB3410 EEPROM Burner Instance (1.00)".

Set EEPROM size to "64Kb".

Set "File Path" to point to "ti_graph_link_silver.bin". (The renamed .eep, not the original .bin)

I don't know if the VID, PID, Manufacturer string, Product string and Serial # need to be set manually or not with a 'Full Binary Image' burn. Just to be safe, I set VID to 0451, PID to e001, Manufacturer to "Texas Instruments", Product to "TI-GRAPH LINK USB", and checked "Not Serialized"*.

Click the "Program Full Binary Image" button (yellow triangle with the exclamation point), and proceed with the write.

Unplug and re-plug your cable, and it should show up as a SilverLink again!

Additional notes:

The reason that this happens is because the SilverLink cable (revision b, at least) is based on the TUSB3410 microcontroller. That microcontroller's boot process involves checking for an I2C EEPROM containing program code. If it finds that EEPROM and its contents are properly formatted, it'll copy that code into internal RAM and start executing it. If it can't find the EEPROM, or its contents aren't properly formatted, it'll fall back to looking for boot code over USB. Thus: "TUSB3410 Boot Device". Your cable has, in essence, forgotten who it is and and is begging for you to give it a purpose.

The default page-write buffer size (32 bytes) and I2C bus speed (400 KHz) in the burner app are already correct, so no need to change them.

*I don't remember exactly what the Manufacturer string, Product string, or serial number fields were set to pre-corruption. Likewise, no idea about the advanced descriptor options. If someone wants to send the output of lsusb -v -s [whatever their silverlink's bus/id numbers are], I'd really appreciate it!

You might be able to skip the header rigamarole by taking the ti_graph_link_silver.bin file directly ("directly coming from the compiler") -- but I again I don't know exactly what information is in the .eep file and what isn't. Are the PID and VID encoded somewhere in there? I peeked with a hex editor but have no clue. If someone has hardware lying around they're willing to experiment with/potentially brick, I'd love to hear your results!

If you mess up and accidentally forget to do a "Full Binary Image" write, or otherwise brick the firmware, you can force the TUSB3410 to fall back to USB boot mode by opening the plastic shell around the PCB (one Torx screw under the sticker, then just normal plastic tabs) and shorting the right-bottom (Vss) and right-top (SDA), or right-bottom (Vss) and center right-top (SCL) pins of the EEPROM (the chip labeled "24LC64") as you plug it into the USB port. You may need multiple attempts. This works because it temporarily convinces the TUSB3410 that the EEPROM is missing/corrupt, and thus it decides to fall back into USB boot mode -- until you reset it. It might be better to do this with a ~1k resistor instead of a jumper wire, but IDK I'm not an electrical engineer. All I know is that shorting Vss and SDA worked for me. Again, would love feedback.

No clue what causes the corruption in the first place, or how long this fix will last. It might be because the EEPROM's write protect pin is set to "write enable"? It could also just be degrading hardware, for all I know, so no idea how long the fix will last. All I do know is that everything seems nominal right now (immediately after performing this procedure).

[danielsarmand]

Heyy, do you have a tutorial on how you make your gifs? They’re so crisp and beautiful, I wanna start making gifs but idk where to begin

hello!! first of all, thank you kindly!!!! i'm always stunned when someone genuinely appreciates my gifs 😭

second of all, please do!! gifmaking is such a fun hobby, i wish it were a tad more rewarding but truly it's a great creative outlet for hyperfixations.

now, i personally don't have a tutorial but that's only because i myself have learned from a bunch of other ones during my years of trial and error and my technique has nothing that's original to it. i can, however, tell you which tutorials i turn to whenever i need a refresh + some tips i have started implementing on my own!!! i'll put everything below the cut.

the tutorials are this one and this one; the first one is a more general step-by-step one and the second one is for adding noise to gifs when they don't have it naturally, which imo greatly helps with making gifs look more hd.

as for the tips:

whenever possible, and if your pc can handle processing them, try and find files that are at least 1080p. 2160p isn't really necessary unless you're making close-up gifs (though i almost always use it if i can find it), but a 1080p file is only legitimate if the size of it is 1.5gb+. anything below that is not actually hd, no matter the claims.

with videogame footage, i generally record my own gameplay and take screencaps from there. when i want to gif youtube videos or anything i can't download by my usual means, i use 4k video downloader.

i used to take my screencaps with kmplayer, but i've been using mpv over the past few months and i find it works more smoothly. kmplayer did serve me well for years though, and the installation isn't as gimmicky, so go with that if you find it easier!

when it comes to resizing the gif (image > image size), i always leave the mode on bicubic automatic; for a time i used to pick bilinear, but i later learned it was the reason why my gifs didn't look how i wanted them to look.

i generally sharpen my gifs with the same action pack mentioned in the first tutorial i linked, but i do also add an unsharp mask layer to make it extra crisp and detailed. these are my settings for it:

whenever i'm giffing something that is not available in Real HD (like youtube videos), i add a step to my usual sharpening by using a set of plugins from topaz labs; now, i have absolutely no idea how i installed them when i did years ago, and i have no clue how to find them anymore, but i'm sure tumblr has answers somewhere. specifically i use topaz clean. i'm pretty sure you could achieve a similar enough result by adding a gaussian blur level to the sharpening, though; either way, my settings for topaz clean are:

when it comes to coloring, i never use .psds, i make the coloring from scratch for each scene, and most times i use multiple colorings per scene. it will take a little while to find your footing with color correction perhaps, but then again, each gifmaker has their own style and that's what's fun!!! one thing i've taken to doing most times, however, is adding an exposure layer towards the end of my coloring layers and upping both exposure and gamma correction based on how much or how little the gif can tolerate; i find it helps a ton with making gifs look hd on mobile, which is notoriously hard to achieve because mobile hates gifs. also, i have a pretty heavy hand when it comes to contrast and to darkening blacks, because in my experience that also helps with resolution.

when i go to save for web once i've finished making my gif, i tend to pick the combo adaptive+diffusion. very rarely i switch from adaptive to selective, but only if adaptive makes the gif look weird, which is usually not the case.

this should be all, i really always follow the same process and it's pretty automatic by now lmao. forgive me for yapping at length, but i hope this can be helpful to you or anyone who might want to try their hand at gifmaking! i'll update the post with my settings asap. thanks again for the love 💕

[tarithenurse]

Inhuman

Fandom: MCU Pairing: Bucky x fem!reader, eventually Loki x fem!reader, Stucky, more (some canon, some not). Word count: 2223. Contents: Surprises and potentially new allies. A/N: Any questions are welcome. Please comment and like and reblog. Let me know if you want a tag.

Chapter 31

... Reader’s PoV ...

“So how did it go?” Steve’s stopped you on the way down to the training room.

There is not a lot for you to do except await orders. All the top dogs are getting their assets lined up, ready for the next move as soon as they get the green light.

“With?”

“Bucky. Was he fine with me not being there?” Big, concerned puppy-dog eyes are looking at you.

“Yeah, he was a bit confused of course, but he took it okay mostly.” You’re trying to keep the voice light and easygoing.

Like a cat, he pounces on the choice of words right away. “Mostly?”

“Well…yeah. He did break my ribs at some point…” Seeing the shock and horror flash in Cap’s eyes, you instantly regret having said it. “He said sorry and really, it was an accident and –”

A different voice distracts you both. “[Y/N]! Just a moment please.”

Coulson is waving to you from the other end of the hallway where he and T’Challa have come from one of the op-rooms. Needless to say, Okoye is hovering nearby.

Excusing yourself to Steve, you join the two men and start walking with them the way you’d come from as you exchange pleasantries before the leader of SHIELD gets down to business.

”I’ve got a special task for you and you have to leave right away. I’d rather have done it myself, though the idea does make me apprehensive, but it seems I’ve postponed it too long.”

”Not the best pitch talk…” Whatever it is can’t be really dangerous, because Coulson is smiling big now.

... ...

Whatever you do, don’t lie.

The words are echoing in your head despite the sound of the road and the engine. You’ve been driving for about three hours, passing north of New York, and if the information is correct, you should only be ten minutes away now. You’ve passed through a smaller town called Purdy’s or something like that and the road is following a lake where the last rays of the setting sun behind you is being amplified.

When Coulson told you a few hours ago what the mission was, you really thought he was kidding around. But no.

“When you get to the school, ask to speak with the headmaster. He is the leader of the place but also the representative that seem to be most open to helping humans.”

It hadn’t made much sense, at first. Then it dawned on you. This ‘school’ is the one you’ve read about in some of the files as the safe heaven for mutants. The kids are normally born with their powers, although they get stronger or develop around puberty. At the school, they are safe from a world that doesn’t understand or accept and they can learn to control their powers without risking the lives of others.

“Whatever you do, don’t lie to him. We think he might be a mind reader.”

“Like Wanda?”

“Stronger…or maybe different. We honestly don’t know.”

The grand plan is to ask them for help…or at the very least warn them about what has happened. Yet driving up the tree-lined lane towards the big mansion, you are painfully aware of how little you’ve got to go on. And you’ve gotten almost no instructions on what you can say.

Still…would it matter if the man is a mind-reader?

Coming to a halt near the front stairs, you feel tiny. From what you can see, the building should easily be able to house over a hundred people…and there is no indication of how much is stretching out behind across the fields.

In the dusk, you had been able to see a forest in the distance but because the lane leads straight up towards the Scottish castle-looking school, the building now blocks any view of the landscape behind.

Inside are various-sized figures of all shades of particles…all of them with a je-ne-sais-quoi that you never before realized you have seen previously. It’s similar to Inhumans way of swirling when you look at them with the eyes closed, but it’s also different. It makes you feel more normal, even though you own distinctive pattern isn’t quite like theirs.

There is no reason to postpone it any longer. Getting out of the car you take a deep breath before scaling the steps towards the big front door.

To you amazement and worry it swings open just as you lift a hand to grab the heavy bronze knocker. Of course, coincidences could have allowed someone to be on their way out, but that’s the ting: there is no one on the other side.

Bracing yourself, yet again, you step in and allow the door to close with a clonk behind you. The hall is grand. Wooden panels are lining the walls and soft plush carpets are covering most of the stone floor. High above is an impressive chandelier, that floods the room and the staircase at the other side with soft, shimmering light. A scent of food makes your stomach rumble. It’s coming from down the hallway on the left side of the stairs and that’s also where most people seem to be. 30 or so kids of all ages?

What is not revealed is where you should head towards to find the headmaster.

“Hello?”

There is movement right above you on the gallery that leads to or from the top of the stairs. Walking out into the middle of the hall, you can turn to look up at a woman with white hair that doesn’t seem to fit her age.

“Pardon the intrusion…” You have to turn with the woman as she walks around and then descends.

“I thought, I heard the door, but I assumed it was one of the student.” Her voice is kind, but her posture is guarded, ready to…to what?

“Ah, I’m afraid I’m a bit too old to claim that right.” Standing stock-still seems like a good idea until she’s had a chance to assess if you pose a threat. “I was hoping to speak with erm…Professor Xavier.”

“Have we met?” Her eyebrows that now are arching aren’t white, it’s just the hair on her head.

“Sorry. I’m…[Y/N]. We haven’t met...” Where the hell am I going with this.

Your hand is hovering in the air between the two of you for a fraction too long before she grabs it and shakes it briefly.

“I’m Storm. Welcome to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. I’m afraid you can’t meet the professor. You didn’t come here on your own accord though, so who send you?”

“Phil Coulson. He is the director of-”

“The director of SHIELD. What does he want from us?”

“Your help. Or at least to warn you. It’s a bit complicated really.”

Turning around, she heads back up the stairs and you decide it’s best to follow.

Upstairs, there is one way to go deeper into the mansion and the wooden panels on either side are interrupted with regular intervals by doors. Still, you’re showed into what seems like a mix between and office, a library, and a classroom.

Instead of normal desks and chairs for the student there are plushy armchairs and couches with a variety of coffee tables scattered in between. Underneath a spiralling metal staircase that the seats are facing is a blackboard featuring notes about Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger. Further into the room is a heavy desk placed strategically in front of the impressive windows.

“Please wait here.” The lithe woman leaves you standing alone in the room before you can object or accept.

There is a lot to take in, mostly the envy of not having a room like this yourself. Maybe less messy though. On every surface are books and scraps of paper. And there are plants and several boards of chess all apparently in progress. You can’t see where the spiral staircase leads to, but you know better than to investigate despite the curiosity. Instead, you take off the jacket and sit down on a low puff to close the eyes. The plants are waving lazily in deep auburn and purple colours.

Storm has been briefly out of range. Now she reappears downstairs, this time accompanied by a…an…a mutant. That’s most likely the politically correct way of describing him. He is humanoid, but the mutation has made him appear more like a beast than the man he is. He has a strong blue glow to him that extends into fuzzy mane and fur covering nearly all of his body. His face is warped into something that looks more like a lion’s. You are reminded of some American politician in the news back when you were a teenager.

It won’t be long before the two of them are here, they are only two doors down so as a polite way of showing what you can do, you go to open the door for the two mutants to enter sitting back down on the puff.

Just as nervous and unsure as you were on the drive up here, just as calm are you now while watching the blue fuzzball and the black and white woman approach. The worst that can happen is that they decline giving any help.

“Thank you for seeing me.”

His grip is strong and slightly fuzzy from the hairs on the back of his hand. Storm closes the door behind them before taking a seat in a couch.

“Hank McCoy or Beast and not at all.”

You were expecting someone else entirely. “I’m…I was asked to talk with Charles Xavier…”

“Unfortunately you are too late for that. He passed away several years ago. It’s Storm and I that try to keep the place running.”

“Sorry for your loss.” Well…then I have to talk with them instead...it’s not like Coulson to not be on top of the intel.

“I’ve seen you in the news coverage from San Francisco and I’ve been puzzled as to your skills. Tell me about yourself,” professor McCoy prompts.

Pulling up the trouser legs slightly, he sits down, and you have to admit that he is handsome in a way…clad in a three piece suit with matching tie and handkerchief poking up from the breast pocket. His eyes are yellow with slits as pupils like a cat’s, but they are kind and curious as opposed to the yellow glare of Vasiliev’s eyes.

“Alright. I’m [Y/N]. No code name as of yet. I used to just be a normal human being, a nurse. But then a part of my DNA was activated and I became something else.” You wonder how much he already knows.

“An Inhuman. Rather an unsettling name, some would say.” There is no blame in his voice, nothing to indicate that it is his opinion.

“Perhaps, but having a name for our kind brings a feeling of belonging. A name is just a name, but the people behind it is what gives it meaning.” Something you probably understand very well.

“Valid argument. Still, many Inhumans have joined SHIELD, if any organization at all…yet, you are affiliated with the Avengers too?”

“At SHIELD, I work in the infirmary mainly, and with the Avengers I’m still finding my role. After I’ve become what I am, I’ve found a way to use my skills…”

“What can you do?” Storm’s voice is like the lash of a whip.

“I can sense and manipulate living cells. To a greater extend in myself that in others.”

“You were healing people in San Francisco…that’s what you were doing. But you didn’t heal them completely?”

“Storm, many powers can have a drawback” the blue man says calmly. He must be a patient teacher.

“Indeed. Anytime I heal or change, I use a lot of energy. That day there were so many people wounded and dying and hurting. If I should have any hope of helping them all, then I had to triage carefully and only fix what was strictly necessary. All I could do was prevent death.”

“What do you mean by change?” McCoy’s voice is still kind but there is an edge to it, making you flinch.

“Change appearance. I can look like almost anyone, all I have to do is manipulate my own cells.”

The two of them are exchanging glances before McCoy turns to the envoy again. “So why have you been sent here?”

There is a lot to tell and for it to make a bit of sense, you start all the way back with the Infinity Stones and Thanos before jumping to the time where they first found out about Vasiliev and what he had done to Inhumans, then the explosion and all the atrocities that followed. It takes a while, but both mutants are patient listeners, only asking questions a few times.

“…and now with both Bruce and Thor missing things are looking pretty bad. I don’t know exactly what Coulson is hoping that you can do, but you have to be warned at least.”

The two exchange glances and Storm crosses her arms.

“We’ll need to discuss this among ourselves,” McCoy answers and you nod. “We have the kids to consider.”

“I understand.” You pull out Coulson’s business card and scribble your own number on to it too with a pen left behind presumably by a student. “Please...any questions or...contact us.”

[icantshutupaboutfrenesi]

The origin of Bluenos Album Art

TLDR: I have no clue where the album art came from after this post, i either find a lyric page scan or buy a Blueno CD (with zero garuntee of finding my answer)

(yeah we staying on topic after my last post)

I have no clue why this shower thought came to me a few days ago but damn it couldn't leave

so now Im looking into it lmao

My first instinct is to look for the origin on Tineye, maybe when it released or around that time there was some old ass dude on Limewire or Something Awful talking about it. Having a starting point close to release could've been really useful.

My closest hit was 2014, pretty lame

I still wanted to check these out though, cause you might never know

I first went to tok2.com (the top one), i did this somewhat cause of it being the oldest hit, and also being the only hit being a GIF.

I tried simply googling tok2.com, and i got a security alert (great)

I then went to the website via Wayback machine instead, which had 2 snapshots from May 3rd 2005 and June 7 2023 (wtf)

My Japanese is incredibly bad (so i used google translate)

please please please correct me if i get anything wrong

i tried my best comprehending a language Im only at unit 11 of Duolingo with and it seems this is rather a website for hosting music or selling music

Scrolling down i eventually find what were looking for and a list of contributors to the album too! (when looking for a contributors list before i could only find Fusako and Daisuke, but it seems i didn't look hard enough lol)

now seeing the GIF i save it in hopes Tineye finds something else

its 10 seconds of a still image and Tineye doesn't give me any new results (Lame af)

despite this i still have the contributors (No evidence to confirm this right now) list that's part of the webpage so i start looking into the people on there

i first start with Yoshie Tsunoken

to which im then taken to longer contributor lists on websites like rate your music and last.fm, but assuming these are reliable (like i said, no evidence to prove as of now) these don't even list who made the art, just instruments

oh well

i go back to my 3 other hits on Tineye

Discogs doesn't have a contributors list as of now

my next two (and last) are websites for Chinese Football(whether its the band or actual football, i don't know) , they have different domain names, both lead to the same website, and both images of Blueno Tineye hit have the same file name, they also have the same resolution and file size.

despite this I go back to the archive to look for snapshots of the websites.

all links have no archived Urls (and opening either website without archive gives an error)

there were also two websites with unavailable webpages, but just like these two the images are the exact same and redirect to the exact same website, just different domain

as for what avid Chinese Football fan was listening to Blueno, idk.

I then went to their Youtube topic channel and Youtube music (i forgot about these) and also found nothing

I still had one last idea though.

I decided to check my Frenesi CD's for if they listed who made the art, maybe if Frenesi did such Blueno could have too.

(these are my CDs, and i eventually plan to scan the lyrics page and the photograph on the back)

Considering all of these list who made the art for Frenesis albums there could be a possibility Bluenos CD does too

so now i either:

1: pray to the lord i find a scan/image of Bluenos CD lyric page in hope of a contributors list

2: buy one and do it myself

I have zero evidence to prove that either one of these will work :\

I will probably update on this soon (CD page scans or the actual art we looking for)

[starqueensthings]

Hi pals!

I’ll still be travelling when you’re seeing this and haven’t watched the finale, so I don’t have any new content to share, but last week (maybe longer? I don’t know— rainforest brain lol) I posted a poll asking if anyone was interested in seeing a snippet of my editing process, so here it is feat. possibly one of my favourite Wrecker moments.

I use a myriad of different software depending on: my mood, what computer/tablet I’m using, what the image looks like, and how much energy I’m willing to put into it lol In this video, I’m using Lightroom on my iPad.

The three main factors I look mostly closely at when I’m editing shots are 1. lighting, 2. noise, and 3. resolution (read: clarity).

This image required pretty minimal work so it’s probably not the best example, but ah well. The process in the above video is as follows, and please note the video had been sped up to 2x for file size reasons lol

The first thing I’ll do is see what the auto edit function defaults to. Often times it overexposes the image, resulting in significant colour noise, but it gives me a decent idea of what I should expect in terms of colour corrections and exposure mapping. The auto edit function wasn’t terrible in this case, but did produce some colour noise, mainly on Wrecker’s chest plate, his sleeves, and the officers hat. Once I’m done the initial scope out, I’ll exposure the image as high as possible to crop it— usually with the subject being as centered as possible.

This software lets the user tweak the bones of the image individually in three ways, all of them very quickly demonstrated here. The first is the curve method which I despise and NEVER use— because it alters multiple aspects at once, I don’t feel like I have the same degree of control as the other methods. Next is HDR setting (the default upon import) using the sliders on the right. This is effective for images that are already pretty well lit, and does give me a little more control, but most of the time because the screenshots are so dark, I’m editing in SDR mode.

Once I’m satisfied with the exposure/lighting, I’ll move on to correcting colour distortion and saturating the image. This software also provides three methods for colour alternation and I’ll typically use all three in conjunction with each other. Colour mixing is extremely crucial when it comes to reducing odour noise and distortion. Because this software lets me isolate certain colours to adjust their hue, saturation, and luminance, I can typically reduce most of or all of the colour noise. However, it does have its limitations. In this particular post, desaturating the colour noise in Crosshair’s rifle coincided with blanching his skin tone, because this software does not let me isolate certain areas of an image. It was also important to me to emphasize the warm tones from the sunset in the background for the overall mood of the shot, so I opted to remove what colour noise I could and leave the rest. (You can’t win em all… especially when the starting image is near-black lol)

Correcting the colour distortion in this image was not particularly difficult, desaturating all purple tones removed the noise from his chest plate, and shifting green tones to something near a yellow instead removed the noise from his sleeve. I didn’t notice the colour noise on the officers hat until a little later, but that was pretty easily corrected too.

Once I’ve fixed the colour noise, I’ll shift to toning the overall image. Wrecker particularly looks good in cool tones, but It’s nice to contrast a cool tone background with the warmth of his skin.

Once the toning is done, I’ll move on the image clarity. I don’t have the means to alter the actual resolution of the image, but I’m particularly picky with balancing texture and clarity. Wrecker always looks the best with texture and clarity increased, because it brings out the scarring on his face and further humanizes him, but overdoing the texture can also emphasize pixelation. Once that’s done, I’ll reduce the overall noise only slightly (doing too much makes them look airbrushed and unnatural), and whatever is left of the colour noise (too much of this setting makes them look like ghouls LOL)

This software also offers a series of preset alterations/filters briefly shown in this video… but I’m not the biggest fan of any of them. I’m a bit of a control freak and would rather tweak each aspect individually to the degree that I like, instead blanketing the image with present modifications and then undoing certain aspects.

Before exporting the image I’ll do another once over and make sure I’m happy! In this case, I opted to go back in and add some darker tones back into the image. I don’t do this often, particularly when they start so damn dark, but I wanted to keep the focus centrally on Wrecker’s radiance lol

That’s about it. If I’m working on multiple edits in a set, this software lets me just copy and paste the settings, so the following images only require extremely light tweaks and take almost no time. And that, I’ll export, autograph, and upload!

Thank you for attending this unprofessional Ted Talk.

[theerastour]

Graphics tutorial requested by anonymous

All made with adobe photoshop 2023 (you can find free downloads of cracked versions on here occasionally, photopea.com is also good I've heard) I'm assuming basic knowledge of photoshop/similar editing platforms and their tools, but you can always message me or comment if you are confused about anything!

Also, I used keyboard shortcuts sometimes to change the size of a brush or toggle the brush options, I'm not going to annotate this because it's a lot but here is a resource for basic photoshop keyboard shortcuts

Firstly, the sizing of your edit matters! Max sizing for best quality on Tumblr is 1280 x 1920. If you want to put to put two images next to each other sizing should be 640 x 960.

Next, always try to find the highest quality picture of whatever you're using. Good resources include taylorpictures.net, 4k Taylor Swift, and if I can't find them here I do a google image search of my photo to see if any other websites have a bigger/hq file.

This video is a couple clips I screen recorded for you to see my process and demonstrate a few different tools I use regularly. I added timestamps for you to follow along as you read the rest of this.

Here's a photo of my workspace I am working with and what I will do first is cut out Taylor from this photo and move her to my correctly sized canvas. There are multiple ways to cut out an image in photoshop, the easiest I've found is the select subject function and using the quick selection tool (see toolbar beneath the photo). Other tools include the magic wand tool, lasso tool, and quick selection tool which I will show later.

Now you will see that my selection isn't perfect, so I will use the quick selection tool to fix a few areas that I'd like to manually select/correct. This isn't totally necessary at this stage as you can always perfect your cutout in the next few steps, but it does help save some time.

This is where I'll use the quick selection tool to either subtract or add to my selection. There are keyboard shortcuts to toggle between + and - to make this quicker.

See my screen recording of the process from 0:00-1:07

Now that we have our image selected and cut out, I copy and paste it to my canvas I want to work with (size 1280 x 1920) and this is what I've got:

As you can see there's a few spots that need cleaning up in order to make our cutout perfect. You can do this with the eraser tool, magic wand, quick selection, or lasso tool.

See my screen recording of the process from: 1:08-3:50

Now that we're happy with our cutout, we can play around with it in any ways we want! Typically you're gonna do things like change the background color/texture, add elements with the square/circle tool to create what you're looking for, overlay elements and/or textures, and finally recolor it to your preferences.

This part is where you can try new techniques and play around to find what you like. I recorded some of my process of playing with different ideas and elements until I got to something I was happy with! The video explains the tools I was using as well

See my screen recording of the process from: 3:51 - the end

I hope this helps you with creating graphics in the future! The fun thing about photoshop is there are multiple ways to get what you want done. I showed you my way but there's plenty of other techniques and methods out there to try if you're unable to achieve what you want!

Best of luck and feel free to reach out to me if you are struggling/have questions! <3

[numinousmysteries]

Dancing the Tandava (3/10)

[on Ao3] @today-in-fic

Washington, D.C. 1993

It’s only a few months into her assignment on the X-Files and Scully has made it a point to arrive at the office on time. Still, her perplexing partner always manages to get there first. It’s as if he sleeps in this underground lair or he’s afraid to leave her alone in his sacred space. Neither would shock her.

She doesn’t have a handle on Mulder quite yet. His intelligence fascinates and intimidates her. Trying to keep up with his mental leaps leaves her breathless. His ideas are out there, but his hunches are correct an eerie amount of the time. The unexplainable phenomena she’s seen piques her innate curiosity even though none of it fits into her framework of the coherent, reassuringly knowable universe.

He has every right to treat her with disdain. He had her number as a spy (albeit an unwilling and increasingly disobedient one) from their first meeting, and her doubting nature and innate need to play by the book only slows him down. But he seems truly interested in her thoughts and ideas even if they don’t align with his own. She was mortified when she nearly stripped in front of him on their first case to show him the marks on her back, but he never made her feel embarrassed.

Her job is to keep tabs on him but the more cases they investigate together, the more inclined she feels to protect him and his work. Her loyalty is slowly shifting from the establishments she’s long unquestionably trusted to Mulder and his singular quest.

When she shows up this crisp November morning, he’s already at his desk thumbing through a file. He’s wearing thin, wire-framed glasses and a tie with a dizzying, Escher-esque maroon and olive pattern. She thinks he’s handsome, then pushes the thought away. Getting involved with superiors and co-workers is a habit she’s actively trying to break.

“Morning, Scully,” he says, without looking up.

“Morning,” she replies, coming to sit across from him. “Anything interesting?” She gestures to the file on the desk.

“That depends,” he says, taking off his reading glasses and making eye contact with her. This boyish smile and the gleam behind his eyes are already familiar to her. They’re signs he’s found a case that’ll likely lead them into trouble. It both scares and excites her. “How interested are you in the Fouke monster, a.k.a. the Southern Sasquatch, a.k.a. the Swamp Stalker?”

“I have to admit it’s never crossed my mind,” she says.

“Oh, Scully.” His smile widens. “You’re in for a treat.” He turns the file around so she can read it. The first thing she notices is an amateur sketch of a Bigfoot-like creature with red eyes.

“A giant, hairy creature first spotted in Fouke, Arkansas, in the mid-nineteenth century, the Fouke monster has been described as being over 10-feet tall with glowing blood-red eyes. In 1971, Bobby and Elizabeth Ford of Fouke reported that the creature had broken into their home. A neighbor actually shot at it, and supposedly made contact, but it wandered off into the night. That was the last sighting, until a week ago when a group of teenagers camping out at nearby Boggy Creek say he got into their tent and stole all of their rations, including two family-size bags of Doritos.”

“Is Doritos theft a federal crime?” she asks him with a raised eyebrow. He better have more evidence than the shaky testimony of some teenagers to go off. “Or do you just want to go Sasquatch hunting?”

“By the tone of your voice I can tell you’ve never had the pleasure of goin’ squatchin,’' he says, his hazel eyes lighting up as they meet hers. It’s almost enough to make her blush.

The shrill ringing of the phone on his desk interrupts them before she can respond.

“Mulder,” he answers. She can hear the garbled sound of a male voice on the other end of the line.

“My what?” Mulder shouts into the phone, startling her. “Who is he?...Okay, we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

He hangs up the phone and turns his attention back to her. “Change of plans,” he says. “The Fouke monster will have to wait. We’re headed to Montauk. East End of Long Island.”

While she’s partly relieved she won’t have to interview a bunch of stoned teenagers about their alleged monster sighting, the rapid shift in Mulder’s attention gives her whiplash.

“What’s in Montauk?” she asks.

“A historic lighthouse, the shark hunter who inspired Jaws, and actually decent surfing for the East Coast,” he says, grinning at her.

“And yet why do I suspect you aren’t going to ask me to pack a wetsuit?” she asks.

He gives her a shoulder shrug and a pouty lower lip. “I wouldn’t stop you.”

“Seriously, Mulder,” she says, starting to lose her patience. “Why are we going to Montauk?”

“A disoriented young man has appeared at a decommissioned army base and specifically asked to speak with us.” He’s already up out of his chair digging through a filing cabinet.

“Did he mention what he’s so desperate to talk to us about?” she asks, trying to see what files he’s gathering.

“He says he’s from the future. The year 2023 to be exact.”

Scully laughs. “Mulder, that’s ridiculous. He’s probably some UFO fanatic who wants to meet you.”

Mulder shakes his head. He’s taking this seriously. “I think you overestimate my popularity,” he says.

“What about Max Fenig? He said he’d been following your work for years and that he’s not the only one.”

“Well, no one else has ever claimed to be my son before,” Mulder says. “Or that you’re his mother.”

She’s immediately taken back. Mulder has proposed a lot of improbable theories and ideas during their partnership, but this one might be the most ludicrous. He’s already grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair but Scully raises her hand to stop him.

“Mulder, wait,” she insists. “I don’t have to tell you how ridiculous that is. While I can’t speak for you, I know I don’t have a child, and I can say with total certainty that we’ve never had one together. Besides, you said ‘young man.’ How old is he?”

“I don’t know,” Mulder responds. “The officer said early 20s. He didn’t have any identification with him.”

“We were children ourselves 20 years ago,” she says, barely resisting an eye roll. “I can all but guarantee you this is someone pulling a prank.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” Mulder says. “But I have a feeling we should check this out. It’s not just what he said, it’s where he turned up.”

“Montauk?” she asks, confused.

“Not just anywhere in Montauk. At Camp Hero.”

“Yes, a decommissioned army base as you said,” she repeats.

“A supposedly decommissioned army base,” he grins. “CIA operatives at Camp Hero have reportedly been using extraterrestrial technology for experiments on everything from mind control and weather manipulation to the creation of wormholes for time travel. The project allegedly shut down in the 1980s when the base closed, but I’ve heard rumors that the work never stopped.”

He flips a file open on the desk facing her. Inside is a black and white photo of a giant radar tower and a hand-drawn blueprint of a building with rooms labeled “hypnosis lab” and “carrier oscillator.”

She tilts her head at him and squints. This is a lot, even for Mulder.

“So your theory is that you and I have a son who’s traveled back in time to—what? Come say hi?” she asks.

Mulder shrugs. “You said it yourself in your thesis: ‘Although common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not.’”

If she did believe in time travel, this would be the perfect moment to return to her undergraduate days and choose a new thesis topic for her future partner to one day quote back to her.

“I know what I wrote, Mulder,” she says. “But that was a theoretical argument not a practical one. I was discussing the possibility of time dilation, an expanding or contracting of relative time as it’s experienced. There’s no science or technology that would actually allow someone to move forward or backward in time.”

“No science or technology that we know of yet,” he counters. “Let’s see what our boy cooked up in 2023.”

There is always the option not to leave with him—to stay in the office and write up a report while he goes chasing what is almost certainly a dead end—but she knows she’ll never choose that door. Instead, she retrieves her coat from the hook on the back of the office door and follows her frustrating, beguiling partner.

[jarebear20]

What people need to understand about nexus mods when others report mods

I'm getting tired of people on other sites not really understanding the big deal when there are people calling for mass reporting of a certain mod.

This came to mind when I saw a few posts (both here and on reddit) of a mod whitewashing Wyll, a character from Baldur's Gate 3. While people here were more than happy to report the mod for its anti-blackness, some on Reddit were confused at what the big deal was.

Before you immediately dismiss those people as racists, let me explain what I see as their pov. There are plenty of mods hosted on Nexus that are outlandish. Its not uncommon to see a mod in any game that makes a character have more boob than body. Hell, there are mods for BG3 to give variation on dick size.

If these sorts of mods aren't your thing, the general consensus is...just don't download it. It's an idea I can easily get behind.

This is not the case with the whitewashing mods.

What people fail to realize about those mods is this:

THEY VIOLATE THE NEXUS TERMS OF SERVICE

yes, I know its easy to joke about no one reading the TOS anywhere, but in this case, it's kinda important.

if you look under their file submission guidelines [link], specifically under 'Inappropriate Content'

Changing an NPC's ethnicity (including features tied to that ethnicity) are not acceptable. It doesn't matter that you were just 'playing around with modding stuff' and chose to upload the mod to the site.

IT IS VIOLATING NEXUS TOS. full stop.

Nexus isn't trying to be 'woke' or 'politically correct' by looking into these mods after they've been reported. The user, by making an account, agreed to follow their rules and then violated them.

Nexus, by removing these mods, aren't saying that they shouldn't exist. They're just telling the people that make them that they won't host them.

Got a problem with that? Then make your own modding site.

[ranahan]

Amatakka phonology drafts

So I had a fun a conversation about Amatakka phonology with @adragonsfriend and I ended up throwing together a few quick and dirty tables to keep track of whether what I was saying even made any sense. And I thought why not throw them out here in case anyone else finds them interesting.

Before we get any further though, here’s @adragonsfriend’s document which has 100 times more thought put into it.

And for a fun comparison, here are some ideas of how I might approach putting together a phonology & IPA representation for Amatakka. Maybe some of you conlang enthusiasts will enjoy looking at how different end results two people can get from the same source material! As you can see, there are no correct answers in language construction—it’s as much an art as it’s a science.

Look at the Phonology-tab. And please ignore my notes elsewhere, they’re by no means an analysis of anything, just my attempts to figure out how the language is put together.

The big caveat emptor here is that I haven’t made any kind of a systematic study of Amatakka (an original language constructed by @fialleril—not me!). So what I have here are half a dozen different possible consonant and vowel inventories that I threw together based on some hypotheses I made from looking through the dictionary file put together by @booklindworm. The next step would be to make a systematic analysis and try out these different options, see which ones work the best, where they run into problems, and make adjustments or new hypotheses as needed. I make no guarantee of any “rules” here actually being true—they’re hypotheses about what the rules might be.

All of the consonant inventories happen to be very heavy on fricatives. I actually like that a lot, because it calls to mind the secrecy of the language, whispering, and the low-grade susurration of slaves talking with each other where the depur doesn’t hear them.

I made vowel inventories of different sizes to figure out how having more or less than the Roman alphabet’s 5 vowel sounds would work.

Some goals I had in mind when putting this together (which I’d attempt to achieve were I to develop this further):

Naturalistic phonology (i.e. make it make sense from a linguistic perspective)

Preserve the original characteristics and aesthetics of the language

And because most of the people who would likely continue working on it are not dedicated conlangers or linguists, the system should also:

Have as few rules as possible

Have as few irregularities and exceptions as possible

Have as intuitive spellings as possible (no unusual digraphs)

Any respellings should be intuitive alternatives to the spellings that have been published before (e.g. leia > leya or leyya) and shouldn’t be too numerous

Based on @adragonsfriend‘s comments, I started from the assumption that Amatakka is mainly a spoken language and that the spellings (especially of personal names) might be “Basic-ized”. So I did consider it acceptable to respell some words (e.g. Camie > Kami, Rasca > Raska) and insert some strategic vowels in a few words to simplify the phonotactics (in order to achieve both “preserve the original character” and “have as simple rules as possible”).

Edited to add: Forgot to add explicit permission, but if anyone finds anything useful in my drafts, feel free to grab it and make it your own. Original Amatakka is of course not mine to give permissions for.