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texasthegreatdestroyer · 2 years ago

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Well. EA finally took a stance on pay walling, and creators are triggered.

It hasn’t even been a full day since this information has been released, and people are already losing their shit about it and saying some of the stupidest shit, and it’s... wow, I fuckin live for it. Someone get the popcorn, I’m down to watch mental breakdowns caused by getting kicked off pedestals. I want to give my thoughts on some stuff, and the first thing I want to address is the whole Felixandre supposedly talking about taking EA to court, which I haven’t seen a statement directly from him saying that, but I mean, with how money hungry these exclusive assholes are, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was something that left his dumbass gullet. (That and I’m sure it’s a passing thought most exclusive creators are having right now, so I’m gonna make a statement on it under the pretense of if this was true.) So here’s a little bit of a raining on the parade for all the perma paywallers who actually wanna take this to court. News flash!!! You’re gonna lose. No, seriously. Microstar vs. Genform is the only case on mods that realistically on par with what the Sims 4 community has been dealing with on mass, and it’s a case where the IP holder won. The defendant, Microstar, took a bunch of Duke Nukem mods, burned them onto CD’s and sold them. Genform sued their ass and won, setting the legal precedent we have today stating that profiting off of mods is illegal. Now I’ll give them some benefit of the doubt, this precedent is over 20 years old and very well could be challenged, HOWEVER. If Felixandre is suppose to be the case to turn the tides, well uh... I got some bad news for ya buddy. The Duke Nukem mods that successfully got Microstar sued were actual mods that transformed the game play. They were custom made game levels. They weren’t just the kind of mods you create, that being a mere reskinning of assets. Your little kitchen set is not transformative enough to justify allowing a bunch of random people the ability to profit off someone else’s IP directly through their programming. To keep it short and sweet for you, if legitimate gameplay altering mods weren’t considered transformative enough to win a copyright lawsuit, what makes you think your mere reskinning of assets in a game that simply only makes it look pretty is going to get a stamp of approval from copyright law? The answer is it won’t. So if you want to waste your time going after a multi-million dollar company for copyright in a lawsuit that you will objectively lose, be my guest. It would be so fucking funny watching you go bankrupt. Please, be that stupid. As for the stuff with Early Access creators. I have always supported the idea of Early Access, and the reason for this is because of the fact that it’s a happy middle ground were people can make a little bit of side cash for the work they do, and everyone still gets the content they want for free. However, EA has also done away with that. This isn’t the end of the world however, there are ways to adapt. If you’re skilled enough, consider taking it to a professional level. Get your portfolio out there, show companies what you can do, and get yourself working for legitimate game companies. Because realistically, that’s how it starts for people who do this stuff professionally. They build up a portfolio through making mini games, pushing their own projects, and mods. Creators can also, and I’ve been saying this for months now, essentially utilize a loop hole. You cannot profit off of cc it self, but you can profit off of the blender files. Sell your models to hobbyists and allow them to put your models in game. If someone likes what you do enough to put your work into the game, you will get paid for it. As stupid as it is, if people are willing to pay for blender renders, something that does not alter the game in the slightest and really just isn’t sims anymore, they will pay for models to put in the game. Additionally, @mack3030 made a good post on other things people can do to make up for the fact that Early Access has been done away with. Her Post: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/mack3030/691299466761961472?source=share It’s also important to note, that while I understand that getting a job can be a tough thing, especially for those who have a disability. (I get it. I am disabled myself, however, I unfortunately still have to take a job, even if destroys my body, because you do what ya gotta do to survive.) I understand those people are the ones who struggle the most with this, and that’s understandable, but Sims 4 cc was never made to be profitted off of. This whole thing with EA making a statement about mods and such is not anything we didn’t already know, that anti paywall people much like myself haven’t already said. If anything, EA is simply putting their foot down and saying that those rules still very much apply, and that the people who were breaking their ToS needed to shape up. From the start, this was never supposed to be profited off of at all. Even early access shouldn’t have existed. That’s not to say I don’t support it, but based on the ToS, it shouldn’t have, and Guru Drake should have known better before even speaking on it, because the community took his word as gospel, including anti paywall peeps who liked the middle ground provided, and because of that, a community got reliant on it, and now there’s a lot of confusion and understandable stress on how to deal with this, because some people’s lives have catered to this and it’s now being torn down around them. If early access had never existed, it would have sucked, yes, but it would have meant less people would be reliant on it in the first place. It means people would have a more stable way of adapting to situations like this where people are being stripped of the extra cash they needed. Now honestly, I think people should support their patreons regardless of the content, because those are people who actually need the money, as opposed to Cowbuilds and their 10,000 off of patreon alone which is likely gonna end up crashing around them, because I can tell you now, they’re likely going to be one of the first people EA comes after once reported, and I mean... Let’s be real here, would anyone be naïve to think that there aren’t people reporting her content now that it’s been made more possible to do so? The community has a chance to get rid of a well known doxxer in this community, I doubt there isn’t at least one person taking that opportunity as we speak. Hopefully creators can learn to adapt to the changes, but unfortunately that’s how it has to be, and EA is justified in doing as such, as it is their game in the first place. Over all, I’m glad EA has actually said something now, and has clarified that their stance on mods have not changed. Rather or not most of Patreon creators are going to heed their words is another thing entirely, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that’s going to end for those creators, but now this debate can finally end, and now the exclusive creators can seethe and cope. Again, they can talk about suing all they want, or leaving their community because they’re big mad, but uh. 1. Good luck with that. None of yall are gonna win, and 2. Good riddens. You won’t be missed, and half of your stuff is likely up on anti paywall sites anyways. Update: The new thing I’m seeing now is apparently Leosims and a few of her buddies are trying to loophole this shit with garbage word play that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. She’s sitting there talking about how she’s going to just sell regular meshes for conversion purposes now, which is all fine and dandy, and then turns around and says, “I’m going to make free Sims 4 conversions of those files to give to patrons.” (Not the public, patrons.) if it needs to be explained why that’s an issue, allow me to point it out. If you have to be a patron to get those conversions in the first place, then they aren’t free, and thus breaking EA’s ToS, and EA can still sue them over it. They can also deny them services and make it to where they cannot make Sims 4 content anymore. So really what it comes down to is Leosims is still going to do the same illegal shit she was doing before. And if anyone decides to leak her Sims 4 content, make sure you report her while you’re at it. She can also say that her “lawyer” said it’s fine all she wants, but these people have lied about legal interpretations in the past, going as far as to fake screenshots with EA employees to make their points seem more valid than they actually are, and additionally, I don’t think a lawyer would realistically potentially risk their reputation by telling them “If you word it this way, you can still do illegal shit.” because if theoretically this went to court, and Leo lost the case because the only basis to their argument is literal word semantics, then that would be on the lawyer. I’d like to think that most lawyers are smart enough to know that’s not a bright move.

#sims 4 #sims 4 cc #sims 4 cc sales #sims 4 download #anti paywall #sims community #sims 4 anti paywall #anti paysites #sims cc

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crazy-lazy-elder-sims · 2 years ago

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i love building full sets for my screenshots only to have 1/4 of one of the walls appear in it -_-

fr thou this “simple lookbook for simblreen cc” idea i’ve been working on has turned into something 50 times more complicated and im gonna have to show you guys every piece of it because im so proud of it but its gonna be one hell of an editing project T_T

it doesn't help that im having the best time playing i dont wanna leave the game to edit lmao

who knew this is what happens after a long ass period of staying away from the sims lmao

a bunch of wips if you may:

#TS4 #TS4 CC #TS4 EDIT #SIMS 4 EDITS #MY EDITS #ts4 wip #ts4 screenie #ts4 screenshots

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l-1-z-a · 3 years ago

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The Sims 2 Dev Twitter Thread Part 2 by Jake Simpson

Sims 2 dev thread part 2.

Starting a new thread so I don’t over burden the old one.

After Sims 2 shipped, I didn’t want to make expansion packs forever - the pace of development on those is intense, and I was burned out - so I went work on a console Sims project that was, unfortunately canceled. It was called Sims Next Gen.

It was going to be like the other Sims console games, only not made by a third party, but by some of the original Sims team. We got proof of concept up and had lots of mini games planned, that were way more console centric. But, we got canceled, during regime change at EA.

During Sims 2 dev, we had a TON of work done by external contractors modeling/texturing the myriad of objects the game required. However all animation was done in house. The sheer amount of content assets generated was massive,and there was a whole bunch of producers handling it.

One other thing I remember was that to balance the game, we actually had a really clever producer model the main decision making code inside of Excel, of all things.

He could start with the initial settings of all the Sims on a lot, and put a bunch of objects with data values, and then emulate the decision making of the Find Best action function that I had written and just loop and play the game.

The excel version could run over an hour and perform thousands of interactions, affecting the 8 motives, exactly as the main game did. That’s how we tuned the response all the objects gave the Sims, to ensure nothing was overpowered.

The idea was that you should be able to run the game, leave it to run by itself and after several thousand turns the sim should still be alive, but in an average state. He shouldn’t be able to maximize without player interaction, but also it should not die.

One of the biggest balancing issues we had with The Sims 2 was the introduction of different age groups, beyond the Kid/Adult of Sims 1. Adding babies, teenagers, and seniors, while it sounds easy, was not.

Part of the problem was, how do they age up? Should they animate? Should the model gradually morph over time? How long should each age actually last?

And that didn't even begin to cover the amount of scripting code we had to build to prevent age inappropriate interactions being available to the wrong age groups. Couldn't have seniors making out with teenagers, for example.

We had two degree of interactions with objects in the Sims. Basic interactions - turn on the TV, use the exercise machine, make dinner - were relatively easy, but still, we had to restrict based on age.

Teenagers shouldn't be able to make drinks, children shouldn't be making dinner or exercising, etc. But far more complicated was Social Interactions. Social Interactions are where one sim interacts with another.

The amount of code we had to limit these interactions, based on age and also relationship status, was huge and was made ten times more complicated because of all these new age groups. I remember the relationship matrix that each sim has was 10x more complex than Sims 1.

Sims 2 also had a few new features that just got cut for time reasons. For example, we actually had jewelry working about 6 weeks before we were due to go gold. It was a Skunk Works thing, that about 4 of us put together in the evenings.

We got it rendering correctly (which is hard - does a necklace go over or under clothing? Should it only be visible on skin?) and we could turn it on and off via script.

However, even though it worked, it got cut by production simply because the infrastructure around it all wasn't viable in time. How would you buy it? How would you select it to wear? The changes to the Sim dress system just wasn't going to get done in time. So, out it went.

Something else I wanted to address about Sims 2 dev was the role of QA. Now QA (ie testing the game) is often relegated to a separate division who really don’t interact with the developers much. In my opinion - born out of Sims 2 dev - QA needs to be a full member of the team.

We had some full time technical QA guys on the team, available all the time. If you had a bug that was hard to catch, you could drop into their cube and ask them to try catching it, and they’d do it and then call you when they’d done it, so you could go to their cube and see it.

I cannot overstate how MASSIVELY HELPFUL THIS WAS. All of us on the team used and abused these guys, and they kept coming back for me. This forever solidified to me the importance of QA and how they should forever be treated as part of the team going forward.

Source:

https://twitter.com/JustJakeSimpson/status/1376017714695704577

#sims 2 #ts2 #the sims 2 #sims 2 beta #ts2 simblr #simblr #the sims 2 beta #Jake Simpson #game development #the sims #development #gamedev #twitter

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vermutandherring · 2 years ago

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The history of the series, its problems, and whether it has a future

Seriously, I feel sorry for those people who play on consoles and can't get a single piece of mods to make this game work. I spent myself so much time on reading forums, looking for answers and finally downloading mods to fix 'minor' problems. As much as I love The Sims with all my heart, despite the fact that I like creative aspects in The Sims 4, I absolutely hate 4th game. At this point 'Project Rene', how they call next game in this series, seems for me as a mockery of Will Wright's priceless legacy.

The Sims expanded the attainments of SimCity. After a century dominated by competitive games, the new series revealed a previously unseen aspect of creation. In The Sims, you don't rely on a developer who has already created the game for you and is now leading you by the hand to the goal. Now you are a creator who puts your own meaning into the game process and sets your own goals to achieve. The genius of the 1st The Sims game is so prominent, that in 2012, alongside with some other games, The Sims became a part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The inclusion of games in the museum collection was such an unprecedented case that this event caused considerable controversy both in society and among art critics. At least mention the article by British art critic Jonathan Jones 'Sorry MoMA, video games are not art', in which he contrasts video games with classical works of art in order to deliberately downplay the importance of games.

We did it guys. We proved to snobs that art is not only that which collects dust in the halls of museums, and not those terrible doodles that are sold for horrific sums. I would even say that of all art forms, video games today are almost the only ones that continue the traditional postulates and ideas that art has highlighted for centuries. It continues the eternal question 'what is life', it represents our perception of life in all possible variations, it shows to us what it means to be alive and so on and so on. As they say, 'Art imitates life'. So if you wanna mock your new friend when on your question 'What's your favorite video game' they respond with 'Sims', you better not. Just try yourself any of 1/2/3 game, and on the next day you'll see the world as Diogenes from his barrel. But not The Sims 4.

Does anyone remember what The Sims was about? I think y'all heard that story about Will Right's burned house and how it inspired him on making game about those 'eternal questions'. It perfectly recreates our pursuit of material goods, the desire for recognition and self-affirmation, achieved through social interactions. And what's the most important - the game rewards you with all of these in the end. And guess what? It doesn't have any sense. Any of your goal is a senseless idea, that you created for your own fun. Isn't that how life goes? Well, in The Sims 4 I have only one question all the time:

Sims 4 is not about any of social interactions or achieving wishes. Not only because it's a shallow representation of Right's ideas. But also because they simply don't work. I spend most of the game building something. And in those rare moments when I decide to finally turn to what the game is about, i.e. life simulation, my entire experience is spoiled by lags and bugs. Sims 4 is so lame that it's not even funny. You might say that this is not the worst case in the video game industry. Some video games been turned into gambling, other awful in general. When we still able to 'enjoy' Sims 4, there are games which literally unplayable. But none of the developers has yet been a parasite on the series so much as to squeeze money out of an almost non-working game for more than 8 years. I think that I'm still playing Sims 4 for the same reason as the rest of the players. We believe that one day something going to change and our sims will stop washing dishes in the sink on the 3rd floor. Maybe, it will be better in The Sims 5 and we finally get 'Sims 2 gameplay with Sims 3 possibilities'. But given the current state of things and how far The Sims has deviated from the original design, I strongly doubt it.

The idea of The Sims was so unique, that we haven't seen any other life simulators in these 20 years. EA's greed started drowning the series since Sims 3. Actually, I can't say that change of perspective in the 3d game was really bad. We all adore Sims 3 for its open world and limitless possibilities that turned the game almost into an RPG. Yes, we had less expressive social interactions and the memory system no longer played an important role. But we had a huge world to explore and live in. The problem which started to occur in The Sims 2, slowly started to erode The Sims 3. Game was poorly optimized, with silly amount of RAM to run such a big world. The Sims 4 got the worst from its predecessors, despite the fact that the map was cut. The game, which was designed to be loyal to weak computers, turned into a monster that devours not only the RAM, but also the player's nerves.

And let's not forget how much this 'pleasure' costs. We all chose to play The Sims with this money, but in reality you could buy one or even several works of classical art by some little known 19th century master. I feel myself like Jonathan Jones by writing this. But most of us love The Sims 4 not for what the game is, but for what it could be. I think, The Sims series will never be again what it intended to be.

Oh, and why I even decided to throw it all out. My butler can't wash dishes for whatever reason. Guess I'll abandon the game for next few months.

#sims #the sims #the sims 4 #the sims 3 #the sims 2 #sims 5 news #video games #video game review #video game history #my articles

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mellow-elbow · 3 years ago

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Hi! I know you've talked about it before, but what do you use to create references for backgrounds? I've gone through a bunch of your comics n stuff and can't seem to find any posts where you talk about it. If I remember correctly, you use an app of some sort, right?

buddy you've opened the best can of worms on earth

ok so first things first I use a lot of programs to create a scene but those only get me so far unless I really KNOW what I'm wanting the location to look like. For my Sonic comics it helps because most of the locations already exist in canon, but for the ones I'm taking liberty with? That's where you need to have fun and start DAYDREAMING!

For SA:R, when Amy uses one of her powers the world shifts and changes to have a more whimsical palette, similar to the Spirit World from A:TLA/LoK, Pixar's SOUL, and the Aether mod for minecraft because- for some reason- the worldbuilding has stuck with me for years and I can't get it out of my head.

Think about what the setting reminds you of in medias you've already seen, gather reference images of said media, and start working on your idea!

BUILD THAT BIH

so for settings involving nature (trees, bushes, rocks and shit) I've found that my favorite way of doing it is to just,, make it in Sims 4?? But I know not everybody wants to drop a bunch of money I don't blame u otherwise I use minecraft for simple shots (like hallways) and BLENDER! That shit is so handy. Don't stress about modeling or sculpting any of that who gives a flying fuck. Here what you do:

> look for free 3D game assets that are NOT a Unity asset or Unreal Engine file (it'll usually be an .obj or an .fbx! sometimes ppl are nice and just post .blend files tho)

> import that bitch into blender, turn the textures on

> profit

"But Mellow, where shall I find such assets??" I'VE GOT U HOMIE

KENNEY MAKES LOW POLY ASSETS (CARS, BUILDINGS, ROADS, SPACESHIPS???) THAT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD FOR FREE!! SUPPORT HIM IF U CAN THO

LITERALLY LOOK UP WHATEVER U WANT INTO SKETCHFAB AND IT'LL LET YOU PICK WHICH FILE YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD BESTIE

MODELS RESOURCE HAS TONS OF VIDDY GAEM ASSETS RIPPED FROM PREVIOUSLY RELEASED TITLES FOR FREE!! THEY RELEASE TONS OF NEW ONES ALL THE TIME!!!!

CREATIVE TRIO HAS SOME REALLY CUTE ONES ALSO <3

ITCH.IO ALSO HAS A BUNCH OF THOSE BAD BITCHES!!! HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVE CREATORS:

https://quaternius.itch.io/

https://fertile-soil-productions.itch.io/

https://devilsworkshop.itch.io/

https://theteaguns.itch.io/

once u have your 3D model of choice, import it into blender! learn the hotkeys for the program and fuck around for a while!! it takes a little while to get the hang of it but it's super useful and worth it :)

A screenshot of the basic Blender workspace. The Station Square hub from Sonic Adventure has been assembled below the X axis and a newer version is in the process of being built above it's predecessor.

the ripped model of the Neutral Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure 2

I also use Kenney's Kenshape and Assetforge to build more personalized, complex structures such as Amy's Hammer and the Master Emerald Shrine which are, sadly, still works in progress :( I'll try to update with more of my silly lil 3D projects soon!!!

#art ref #3d shit

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whatgaviiformes · 4 years ago

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10. Music Makers - Part 6 / Scenes from Gordon’s Bedside

Chapter Summary: Virgil and Gordon and music

You are Here - Final Section

Chapter A/N: In honor of 10 chapters of this concept, the plan is to give you a hell of a chapter 10 with a few moments in time strung together. I decided to go ahead and share what I have with you instead of waiting. Once the chapter has been shared in full over tumblr, I will post the full piece at Ao3 and FF.net. It may or may not make sense to remain as chapter 10 or be it’s own thing. Do share if you have an opinion. :-)

Adding also - this is the final bit. Thank you all so much for the reblogs and the likes, and the tags. The support has been wonderful and I am so humbled. I hope you have enjoyed. I am posting the last bit here, and tomorrow sometimes I’ll probably post the FF and Ao3 links for the story in full, but for now, this is for you tumblr. Thank you.

Part Notes: A thank you to @gumnut-logic for the read through because I needed another set of eyes on what is a complicated set of boys below. It’s been a whirlwind of a day.

For tunes this time - Green Onions.

***

Music Makers - Part 6/The Conclusion

“You want to do what?!”

“I want to use your accident as a simulation for training.” John continues to layer cream cheese onto his toasted bagel as he speaks, but Gordon has stopped his knife mid-spread, the heaping dollop of hazelnut hovering dangerously on the dull edge.

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not,” John says, his countenance severe as green eyes stare piercingly to meet Gordon’s shocked expression.

“O-kay” Gordon says slowly, placing his breakfast down onto his plate and pushing the breakfast meal aside. “Why exactly?”

The hydrofoil had exploded before anyone could ever have anticipated the destruction; there had been no time. The only way to use his accident for a rescue simulation was to admit what really happened. And while Gordon was grateful for what John had risked by hacking confidential WASP files to discover the cause of the accident, no good could from clueing in Scott and Virgil to the knowledge that it was sabotage, that someone – they still don’t know who - had tried to murder him and had succeeded for seven others. He planned to take the knowledge to his grave and has asked John to do the same. Which is why it was strange for their Thursday morning to start with such a suggestion.

The four of them had been running sims for weeks. There was nothing that would beat live testing the equipment and they had done test drives of the pods and ships, but running mission scenarios was different. Before they introduced International Rescue to the world, they needed to be able to trust each other completely, to know how to work the problem.

Scott had naturally taken to the role of commander, his instincts well in tune with countering the details of John’s “missions.” Since it was all simulations, Virgil would often challenge Scott’s decisions, walk through the equipment they would have at their disposal, and offer additional suggestions. Brains and Jeff had started to create practice rescues as well, so John got the practice he needed to best support communications.

Overtime, the rescues became more complex. They were all experts in their fields, so it was natural for them to lean into the rescues that met their niches, but when they went live that wouldn’t always be the case. Just yesterday, Gordon had given his family a crash course on how to best avoid getting the bends in a deep sea rescue, and Gordon has learned more about functioning in zero gravity than he hopes he will ever truly need.

Sometimes John and Brains would program the mission to have an urgency to it, sometimes it was a mission of precision. And they’d failed. A lot. A lot less lately as they started to get into the groove, but they always worked the problem until they solved it.

Even knowing what he did about the bomb that had been placed deep in the hydrofoil’s engine, Gordon’s knew his accident was…unsolvable.

“But how are we supposed to solve for the impossible, John?” John doesn’t answer; he just looks at Gordon patiently, pointedly. Waiting. “Oh my God, you want to give them a Kobayashi Maru!”

John nods. “Yes.”

“No, I don’t like it,” Gordon says, shaking his head.

“Look, we will do everything we can, and we will still lose people. Scott and Virgil—” the and you goes unsaid “—need to understand that! They’re getting too complacent, and they need to understand the stakes. We can’t save everyone.”

“We understand the stakes,” he argues, but John is shaking his head vehemently.

“No. You don’t. You all have shown you’re going to be a hell of a team, honestly,” he says. “But it’s all been puzzling through the situations, how to use the pods. I need a way for it to feel real, and I can’t use the avalanche, so —"

“Don’t you DARE.”

“I’m just trying to find something—"

“John, stop.” Gordon says, grasping at the redhead’s shoulders and gently shaking him. “I need you to turn off rescue work here. How can you even think to do that to Virgil? What exactly are you trying to prove? I didn’t think you would be so cruel.”

Gordon can’t fathom what would possess John to pressure his brothers – Virgil who, he clearly has mis-understood, and Scott, who after two months MIA, had been returned to his family with an honorable discharge and a pair of haunted eyes and agitated reflexes that were mere phantoms to what they imagine he went through captured behind enemy lines. If training in the Air Force was anything like WASP, Gordon knew just why and how Scott closed himself off from feeling at times.

John pales. “I’m not—”

“What is Virgil supposed to think if you give them the avalanche and they can’t solve it?” Gordon feels heat flush up his neck. “What if they can solve it? I don’t even know what’s worse, but I won’t let you do it! I won’t!”

“I know. Look, I know, Gordon. You haven’t let me finish; I said I am not going to use to avalanche,” he says, urging Gordon to understand. He knows how difficult this is. He’s been going through it in his head for days before mustering the courage to ask Gordon. “Just let me start over.”

“Fine. But get to the point.”

“Tell me - when is the last time any of you used someone’s name on a rescue simulation?”

The question takes him by surprise. He knows they receive the victim’s name in the scenario briefing, but he can’t remember a time when they used names. The simulations were life-like enough that they could role play if they need to, yeah, but the point was to practice with the equipment. But then, they had been exceeding expectations there lately.

“How about the last mission? Do you remember the victim’s name? How about his age?”

Gordon stares blankly at his brother. He thinks it started with a B, perhaps. Brandon? Bradley?

“It was Randy, and he was 8. Virgil geared up with the Jaws of Life, moved the cross beam to save him, and got him out of the fire to safety. You don’t even know why the boy froze, do you? It was because he was scared. Randy was deaf and he didn’t hear a thing Virgil said. Virgil can’t do ASL in the exo-suit, and for the entire simulation he faced away from him. Virgil may have gotten him out, but he didn’t give him very much trust in International Rescue.”

“Yeah, but he would still be alive if it were a real situation.”

“Gordon, the situation was never about the fire. It hasn’t been about learning the equipment for weeks. Please. I am not trying to be heartless. I just… don’t know how else to make it feel real to them. And I am worried.”

“So, what? You’re trying to make a point about their compassion, and yet you’re showing them none? I don’t want any part of it,” he growls. “And you make your own no-win scenario. Leave mine out of it.” Gordon slides his chair back and storms off.

After a few seconds, John too retreats to his room, after wrapping up the two uneaten bagels for later. He has a lot to think about.

***

Gordon finds Virgil in Thunderbird 2’s hangar, checking her over for the test flight they are planning to undertake after simulations today. His dark hair is swept underneath a large headset that could appear to have a safety function to protect his ear drums, but no, Gordon knows they are his older brother’s preferred set of sound blocking, bass pumping, wireless headphones.

He'd bought them for him himself, as a thank you after one of his more difficult nights, and he knew from experience how immersive the sounds were through the speakers. There was no one else around other than Gordon, which Virgil had yet to realize, and so it was a sign of just how focused Virgil was in his work.

Gordon steps further into the hangar and observes the adoration Virgil puts into his careful touches as he checks the green supply ship. Over the past year and a half, Virgil has channeled all of his creativity and ingenuity into her build. Thunderbird 2 was what Virgil needed, his special project to distract him from the burdens of Gordon’s injuries as he healed.

He sits down on a crate and closes his eyes. Virgil had sacrificed so much for him. If anything, the simulations had shown just how eager Virgil was, and John didn’t know their brother well enough if he felt Virgil was forgetting the stakes. Virgil knew the stakes better than anyone. The idea for International Rescue had been born from loss after all. A loss that Virgil was a breath away from being part of.

How can he possibly blame him for his excitement to share Thunderbird 2 with the world? For getting lost in the details? The problem was the simulations would always be awkward for him. He compensated for his lack of acting skills by leaning into what he knew well, which was his patience, knowledge of machines, and an innate talent for challenging Scott.

Gordon didn’t need a simulation for him to have the upmost faith in Virgil’s compassion. John hadn’t been here to know how tenderly Virgil cared for him while he was healing and so he couldn’t see what Gordon could: that when it was real and when it mattered, Virgil’s heart would only be focused on the people they were trying to save.

A no-win scenario would break him.

When he opens his eyes again, Virgil is still oblivious to his presence, but he’s abandoned his wrench and with his hands free has started to dance, his head bopping, energized with the beat that only he can hear. A shimmy and a spin and he finally catches sight of Gordon, who laughs with the scene. Virgil is so in his element today, and the joy Gordon feels is so counter to his anger from earlier that morning.

“Hey!” Virgil calls, a little louder than he realizes with the headphones still around his ears, but he removes them as he realizes and walks over. “How long have you been there?”

“Not long. Whatcha listening to?” Gordon can hear the pulse from the speakers.

“R&B Soul.” Virgil pulls the headphones off his neck and sets them around Gordon’s ears. The cool blues bassline vibrates through his bones and he too rocks his body with the music for a couple seconds.

“S’cool. I like it,” he says, before relinquishing the headphones back to his brother.

Virgil accepts them back, his eyes suspiciously bright as he places them around his neck once more. “Sorry,” he says chuckling lightly at himself. “It’s just – you’re dancing.”

“I know. Who would’ve thought?” He grins devilishly as he attempts a pirouette and fails.

“I did.”

“Yeah, yeah you did.” Gordon goes quiet a moment, whispering, “Thank you.”

“You really don’t need to keep thanking me, Gordon.”

“Yeah, I really do.”

***

After dinner, Scott finds Gordon sitting on the edge of the pool, swinging his feet in the chlorinated water. It’s wild to think that after all this time, Thunderbird 1 is waiting below for her first mission.

“You skipped simulations today.”

He grunts. “I know. How did it go?” He knows Scott will assume he skipped for his health.

“Well we need an astronaut, that’s for sure.” A space mission. That’s… different. “We could use you tomorrow if you’re up for it. We still haven’t been able to launch correctly and it’s John’s program so he’s not talking.”

“I am not a space guy, Scott.”

“Yeah, but three of us are better than two,” he urges. “We’ll figure it out.”

***

Mayday! Mayday! Impact imminent.

He can’t get the sounds of John’s pained voice out of his head, panicked calls for help that they have been trying for hours to reach.

Over and over.

Until finally, they did reach Thunderbird 5, and after so many times hearing his brother die, John had programmed for them to see it.

“We’re too late; run it again,” Scott had said, pale. “Okay, how do we improve our launch speed this time?”

Then for another three hours, they kept trying to tick off time, to get there faster, until their time plateaued and yet they still were unable to save their sibling.

The mechanical voice – All systems offline. And the screams for help fade to nothing, and Virgil knows what to expect. It’s been torture. Virgil collapses in front of the too white, too pale, too dead figure and screams for it to stop, ripping off the virtual headset.

His knees are weak, but he dashes to John all the same – he needs to see him, to feel him alive. But John’s expression stops him in his tracks.

“It’s not solvable.”

John shakes his head, his expression tight. “No.”

Betrayal flashes through Virgil’s eyes.

“What the hell, John!” Scott shouts and Virgil jumps at the volume. He puts his hand on Virgil’s trembling shoulder. “How long were going to do this for?”

“I-I didn’t think you’d keep running it that long!”

“Of course we were going to keep running it, John – you’re our brother. We would never give up on you. God dammit!”

“I’m sorry, look, Gordon was right-”

“Gordon knows? Is that why he’s been skipping? I thought he was hurt.”

“No, no. Well not really, but–”

Scott eyes flash, and he leaves the training room in a flurry of angry curse words. Virgil cringes as the door slams.

“Virgil, I mean it,” John pleads. “I am so sorry. I didn’t think you’d stay in there. I really didn’t.”

His fingers twitch, as he starts to feel life back in them again, his heart suppressing the vision of red hair caked with blood and unseeing green eyes. John is not the most tactile of people, but despite being quite tall among the Tracy family, his shoulders slump and he seems so small.

John is still his younger brother, though, and he’s upset, and they both could use the hug Virgil had been wanting. He covers the rest of the distance to John and envelops him in his arms.

“Damn you,” he whispers into red hair, and yet he never wants to let him go.

***

Scott is livid. Gordon is absent. John is remorseful. Alan is unaware, lucky kid.

Virgil feels sick. He taps on his watch and calls for Gordon. “Where are you?”

Through the communicator, the aquanaut responds that he’s on the beach by the dock and invites him to join if he wants. Virgil wants. He needs to get out of the villa. Maybe get some fresh air as the sun ducks beyond the horizon.

After a few moments gathering himself, he begins the trek down. In his left hand he carries a guitar, in his right he holds his shoes, as he steps carefully over the granules of sand towards his brother.

Gordon is already strumming on the ukulele when he approaches.

“Did you know?”

“I had an idea,” Gordon admits. “I didn’t agree with it.”

Virgil hums, plopping down next to him on the large beach blanket he’s laid out along the sand. Virgil likes the guitar, and it’s a lot more portable than a baby grand piano. But also, there’s just something powerful about a beach bonfire with the sound of plucked strings.

It's easy for Virgil to fall into chords that complement Gordon’s melodies, and they aren’t playing anything in particular, but it’s seamless when Gordon passes the harmony to Virgil. The ukulele transitions to the accompanying chords, and Virgil smiles thankfully, nodding as he picks up one of many underdeveloped melodies in his head. Virgil fingers fly along the frets, and it's apparent in his loosening posture when he starts releasing the tension in his shoulders.

Gordon places his uke in his lap after some time and leans back into blanket, content to listen to his brother’s playing.

The gentle notes drift with the tossing of wind currents, until suddenly Virgil rounds out a melody with a sigh.

“I think we need to talk.”

Gordon nods and offers to call John and Scott if Virgil will start working on the bonfire.

John was keen for the invite, knowing he would need to be called on before his apology for the error would be accepted, but Scott had taken some talking to. After he left, he’d gone for a run along the bluffs and had settled a bit away. He finally agreed to come join with Gordon’s persuasion, but he would be a while yet.

Virgil has the fire roaring and Gordon has stepped away to talk to Scott by the time John arrives, picnic basket and roasting skewers in hand. Virgil turns from stroking the fire and accepts the picnic basket, peeking inside.

Marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers. Hell yeah.

When Scott approaches, Virgil is playing a tune on the guitar, and Gordon and John both have their skewers extended over the flame, marshmallows browning in the heat.

He is disgusted by the angry shriek of the alarms that sound in his ears at the sight of John, but he swallows down the memory, as he joins his brothers around the fire.

They are not sure what to say to each other, the smoke rising between them and drifting into the night sky, but Virgil’s music is soothing against the tense air, and it’s obvious who is still struggling to the most to meet each other’s gaze.

Gordon shrugs and picks up his ukulele to join Virgil’s song.

A lightly browned marshmallow enters Scott’s field of vision, and he follows it to meet his brother’s apologetic eyes.

“Thanks.” Scott nods, taking the treat. He’s not one for sweets as much as his siblings are, and he can’t remember the last time he had an actual all out s’more. But John knows that, knows Scott’s preference, and has quelled his instinct to stick his skewer in the fire itself to burn it black the way he likes it.

He's furious with him, but he still feels warm at the thought.

“Okay, let’s talk.”

John starts. He explains about the simulations, the number of missions he’s designed to try to get them to focus on the nuances of the people they were to be saving (even many of these are new even to Gordon), and how he was so desperate to get them to feel something. How after days of trying, and days of running worse and worse scenarios in his head, he felt he needed to do something drastic to create a no-win scenario that would challenge them beyond how they had before.

“I’m so sorry, Scott. Virgil,” John finishes. “I knew it would be rough, I just didn’t think you’d be in there that long, repeating it on a loop like that. It must have been torture.”

“It was,” Virgil admits.

“We needed to save you, idiot,” Scott says at the same time.

John is quiet, nodding. “Too real?”

It’s Scott who says yes. “Okay, so how were you involved?”

Gordon frowns at him. “I wasn’t.”

“He knew what I was trying to do. But didn’t agree with it. He didn’t know exactly what I programmed.”

“Be glad,” Virgil tells him. It’s awkward, after hearing John’s explanation, describing to John and Gordon exactly how the program had made them feel, the desperation, the awful loop of the same terrible result over and over.

“Well thanks for the nightmare fuel, I guess,” Gordon says. His brown eyes are dark, thankful that the secret of his accident is still safe, but so torn at how seriously John had taken his words to make something up. “Wait, is that something that could happen?”

“Anything can happen. That’s been the whole point.”

“Well, not if we have a say in it,” Scott proclaims. “We are Tracys. Never give up, remember?”

“But John’s right too. The reality is we can’t save everyone,” Virgil adds with a nod in John’s direction. He doesn’t agree with the methods and will have nightmares for days, but he understands how this whole mess started.

Gordon strokes the fire, adding, “Not going to stop us from trying, though. Hand me another marshmallow, Virgil, please.” Virgil does so, and Gordon squishes it slightly, before promptly tossing it in John’s surprised face. “Don’t be stupid next time.”

The marshmallow hits the center of John’s forehead, leaving a trail of sticky sugar there before it drops silently to the sand. Virgil smiles down at the guitar, suppressing his giggle with a series of notes, while Scott’s laughter is carried into the sky with the rising smoke, and John himself snorts at his own predicament.

Gordon wipes his hands on his shorts to clean off the remains of the marshmallow on his fingertips, before he picks up his instrument as well and joins Virgil in his song, just as he will for years to come, as they both will, and just as the four of them – and eventually five – will come to know each other’s steps as naturally as they know their own.

#Gavii Scribit #scenes from gordon's bedside #chapter 10 music makers #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #thunderbirds fanfiction #Thunderbirds are go

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whyeverr · 5 years ago

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Evergreen Harbor Redux | The Waterfront

"An old port building now owned by the community, The Waterfront is always the "next" revitalization project, but seems to have a hard time getting the love and attention it deserves."

So, it turns out that imagining the history of a build and then taking its future down three separate paths is a lot of fun! (And also super time-consuming!!) I decided to make the original facade of the ‘old port building’ look a lot more historic—and also a lot more decrepit. A more modern expansion project on the rear of the building was abandoned midway, leaving large amounts of the structure exposed to the elements and accessible to anyone adventurous enough to visit—despite a dangerous lack of safety railings. Today, its primary use is as a garbage dumping site, though some prefer to use it as a concrete canvas for tagging, a basketball court, or an improvised venue for local DJ sets.

Of course, the community can think of several differnt ways in which The Waterfront could be better utilized. Each revitalization project takes a different approach in giving this run-down old building a new life. But one thing is for certain: there is always a dumpster on the lot! (Biggest pet peeve about EA’s Community Space projects!) Click the links for more preview images:

Community Garden: The abandoned expansion project is completed and partially enclosed. Outside, greenspace and reclaimed wood replaces much of the concrete. There are planter beds everywhere! Verdant blooms blend brightly with splashes of graffiti inside and out.

Marketplace: The historic facade of the Waterfront is removed, exposing the structure of the modern expansion. Patio space has been expanded to make room for an eclectic selection of food stalls, and inside there’s room for all kinds of vendors to sell their wares.

Maker Space: Industrial steel walls complete the expansion project to create an open air warehouse. There’s space for creative pursuits of all kinds, even a digital makers space inside the newly renovated old port building.

I hope you enjoy this EA lot renovation! I am super excited to tackle more lots in this gorgeous new world! (In case you’ve missed it, I’ve also recently completed my renovation of The Shipping Views.)

Lot details:

Lot Type: Community Space / Community Garden / Marketplace / Maker Space

Size: 40x30

Location: The Waterfront, Evergreen Harbor

I’ve used from all packs freely here—in particular, lots of Eco Lifestyle, of course! But also a fair amount of City Living, Get Together, and Seasons. As always, I have not used any CC.

Please enable bb.moveobjects on when downloading to ensure proper placement of the lot!

Download via the Sims 4 Gallery here / here / here / here (apparently you can only share one lot subtype at a time, even though it’s just one lot type???? sigh) or grab all the tray files at once via Sim File Share here. Please don’t re-upload or share without credit. Thank you!

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thesimpireblr · 5 years ago

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Welcome to Sims Petersburg Imperial Palace!! A private tour of HIM Tsarina Alexandra Private Apartments

Welcome one more to Sims Petersburg Imperial palace, the official residence of the Simpire Monarchs and my never-ending undergoing building project for the Simpire simblr story :).

This project wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing contents of numerous creators, many researches and photos but ,most importantly, The Winter Palace Research blog (for floor plans and old photos of the palace in use) and the amazing Hermitage museum 360º tour!!

Without them it would be nearly impossible to build this palaces as close as I can ( and as sims 4 allow😅)!!

Thanks to all!!!

Now let’s start our exclusive tour through HIM Tsarina Alexandra Private Apartments, hope you enjoy the tour as much as I’m loving building this Palace :)

Her Imperial Majesty, Tsarina Alexandra Simnov of Simpire, welcomes you into her Private apartments on the official residence of Simpire, the grand Sims Petersburg Imperial Palace. Since Her Imperial Majesty is not in residence, for she is visiting Her sister-in-law, HIH Grand Duchess Anastasia Duchess of Oldenburg, a special permission for our so requested tour of HIM Private Apartments in the Piano Nobile, was finally granted. ( just finished them 😅)

Arriving at the Imperial Palace from the Grand Palace Square, we find it’s main formal façade. HIM’s Private apartments face the grand square and the private garden of the palace and is located in its southwestern block

As we head to the southwestern block of the palace and climb through one of the ramps, we find HIM private entrance, this entrance leads directly to the private apartments of the Tsarina and is used whenever HIM arrives at the palace and wants to go directly to Her private quarters.

Entering throw this doorway and turning right we find the October Staircase the grand ...

... entrance to HIM private apartments. Restored and redecorated after great fire that destroyed the palace in 1837 the monumentality of the entrance was accentuated with sculptures and reliefs.

Today this room does not bear its original name and instead of HIM Grand Staircases, It was changed into October Staircase. A name chosen in memory of the revolutionary events of October 1917, when those storming the Palace entered the building by this route. The Staircase gives access to all of HIM private apartments, from the left we get access to the State Rooms of Tsarina Alexandra private apartments and from the right Her most private rooms...

We will take the door of the left and start our tour through the State Rooms of Tsarina Alexandra private apartments... please follow me...

The first room in our tour is HIM Own Staircase Landing a passage room that gives access, in one side, to the Hall of Cuirassiers first room of HIM State Rooms, and in the other side...

... to HIM Own Corridor leading to the Small Fieldmarshal Hall, that we will visit shortly, some small rooms and a staircase... now please follow me and we will continue our tour to the...

...the Hall of Cuirassiers. This hall is part of HIM state rooms and, at the same time, the first of the Military Halls. It is in this room where a Garrison of the Imperial Guard was an d is placed to protect and receive HIM (as in the last post) on formal occasions in Tsarina Private apartments.

continuing with our tour, this hall leads from one side to the Military Halls and in the other side to...

... the White hall. This magnificent hall was designed by Alexander Briullov in 1841 before the wedding of Grand Duke Alexander Nicholaevich (future Alexander II and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.

This tremendously large ceremonial hall, elegantly decorated with shades of white, is used for various celebrations and balls. The sculptural decoration of this hall designed for the Heir to the throne, and his wife, became the embodiment of the future Tsar reign, calling to mind the might and greatness of Simpire and symbolizing the flourishing of the arts...

This great hall connects manny rooms around it, from one side the Hall of Cuirassiers, the Gold Drawing Room, the Green Dining Room and HIM Private corridor. Now If you may follow me we will enter...

...The Gold Drawing Room. This room redecorated by Alexander Brullov in 1841, is notable for the opulence of its decor and its abundance of gold leaf. Ita was originally based on the Bavarian kings’ throne room in the Munich Residenz.

This Drawing Room is used for receptions, dances, and dinners for guests- in this room guests who just arrived wait for the private audiences. In December the Gold Drawing Room would be decorated with Christmas trees: each member of the Imperial Family have their own personal tree, with a table nearby for presents.

This magnificent Hall connects the white hall from one side, the green dinning room and the crimson Drawing room. Now let us take the door in our right and enter the...

Green Dinning room. In 1840, A. Briullov designed an interior staircase between the Gold Drawing Room and the White Hall in the apartments of Empress Marie Alexandrovna on the 2nd floor of the Winter Palace. As the rooms of the Empress had no space for books, she arranged bookcases on the walls of the staircase landing.

There was no dining room in the apartments of Alexander II and Empress Marie. They ate their meals with Nicholas I’s family in one of the three dining rooms in Empress Alexandra’s suite. In 1850, A. Stakenschneider demolished the staircase and created the green dining room in the rococo style we see today.

There are no windows in the dining room. The three doors that led to the Gold Drawing Room, White Hall and service pantry allowed the architect to add three fake doors for symmetry. The table extends to seat the 24 chairs and is normally used for small family dinners, meetings and receptions.

Let’s now return to the Gold Drawing Room and continue our visit to...

... the Crimson Drawing Room or Study. This room serves as a transition between HIM Private and State Rooms. The room was decorated by Briullov in 1841 and reworked by Stakenschneider in the 1860s.

The room gets his name from the silk fabric color. The rich red color of the walls and curtains combines perfectly with the white stucco highlighted with gold leaf decorations on the ceiling. This room was, and still is, the setting for small concerts in which celebrated musicians and singers participate.

The crimson drawing room is used by HIM to receive relatives and personal guests as well as study to the Tsarina.

Now if you’ll follow me into the next room...

... HIM Boudoir. The boudoir was created for Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna 1841, by Briullov and lately reworked, by HIM request, in 1850′s by Harald Bosse one of the leading architects of the 19th century.

Bosse produced an interior in the Rococo revival style in white, gold and Red and with a alcove is framed by a rich and elaborately shaped arch with caryatids.

This room is used by the Tsarina to entertain family meetings and some more close friends.

Following the tour, the next room we will enter is...

... HIM Tsarina Alexandra’s Bedroom. This bedroom was created for HIM Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna by Briullov In 1840.

The deep blue color of the walls contrast perfectly with the white and gold exquisites arabesques of the vaulted ceiling, pilasters and columns.

The interior of this room gets a sense of dynamism from the combination of the coved vaulted ceiling, over the main part, and cross vaulting above the sleeping area. The cubicle marked by a pair of columns and silk drapes to enclose the bed area. Although a part of HIM Tsarina Alexandra Apartments the Bedroom is used by both sovereigns.

TIM’s Bedroom gives access to, from one side, HIM bathroom and, in the other, the more modern and private rooms. Let’s follow our tour to the...

... HIM Bathroom. After the revolution and the transformation of the palace to a museum this bathroom was destroyed. After the restoration of the Imperial Regime, Their Imperial Majesties started the reconstruction process of the main apartments as they were. This bathroom was made to resemble the one Marie Alexandrovna had in this same room, but with the modern amenities. Let us continue our tour to the...

... HIM Dressing room. Briullov in 1841, decorated the dressing room all in pink; draped walls in pink fabric, curtains, upholstery, bed covers. The door on the left of Marie’s dressing room led to Alexander’s library and on the right to her bathroom and bedroom.

But, in 1845, Briullov redecorated the dressing room in dark blue using silk damask on the walls. He added the frieze along the top of the walls that incorporated Drollinger’s paintings of Peterhof, i.e. the Farm Palace, Gothic Chapel, etc., that are still to be seen today.

A small door hidden behind the screen on the right led to the staircase to the 1st floor children’s nurseries.

This room connects HIM’s apartments with HIM the Tsar apartments and to the Small Fieldmarshal Hal.

We will continue our tour of the palace through the door in the back, the one that connects HIM dressing room to...

... the Small Fieldmarshal Hal...

...it is in this hall where a garrison of the Imperial Guard is placed to protect HIM’s bedroom. Here we can find portraits famous of Simpire rulers and today this Hall is used for small receptions, private concerts, meetings, dinners and larger events for the 1st Spare apartment.

This Hall connects Her Imperial Majesty’s private apartments, the Dark Corridor, the 1st Spare apartment and HIM Own Corridor leading to the October staircase.

Now let’s see HIM’s most modern additions to the palace, Her private and most daily used rooms...Passing through HIM Own Corridor...

....HIM Own Staircase Landing...

...The October Staircase and pass throng the right side door this time into...

... HIM Private Corridor. This corridor links the October staircase to HIM Modern Dining room, Modern drawing room, the Green Dinning room and the White Hall... for this corridor a contract between classic and modern was chosen... let's continue to the...

... Modern Dinning room...

... since the revolution and the later palace conversion into a museum, many room where simplified and lost their royal appearance, a fact that allowed the current monarchs to leave their mark in the palace. In these 3 rooms her majesty decided to use dark wall colors to contrast with the rest of the rooms in her apartments and decorated with a collection of modern and contemporary art.

With the intention of representing the best of Simpire artists on the Imperial collection, and being a well known patron of the arts, His Imperial Majesty Tsar Nicholas III Simnov decided to invite all of them to paint the vaulted ceilings, walls and other objects in some of the palace rooms.

In HIM’s Modern Dinning the artist invited was the well known painting МАКСИМ КАНТОР.

Following the tour we will enter...

... HIM modern Drawing room....

Here a dark grey wall color and modern furniture was chosen to contrast with the new striking red vaulted ceiling...

... for this room His Imperial Majesty chose the famous painter Vitaly Komar... this set of modern rooms connect directly to...

HIM Tsarina Alexandra bedroom... Now, I’m sorry but we have to leave the apartments... just got the information that Her Imperial Majesty’s car is arriving at the square... having already seen all the rooms in our tour, please follow me as we exit through the Palace inner courtyard...

Hope you enjoyed our tour through HIM Tsarina Alexandra Simnov Private Apartments of Sims Petersburg Imperial Palace. Those will be some of the palace rooms featuring in the story!!

Sorry for another very long post, but I could not find a way to reduce the number of photos 😅.

Thanks to all the cc creators that made the most amazing content!! to @felixandresims for the always amazing architectonic and decor objects, @harrie-cc for building inspiration and re-colors, @thejim07 and @the-regal-sim for the amazing paintings, sculptures and furniture, and many others that created wonderful objects (sorry if I forgot someone)

Hope you continue to enjoy the story and the many other buildings, still WIP, I’m working on (Sorry if I never show the full building, but I’m always working on so many projects at the same time and the first parts I finished are the ones needed for the Story, in this case HIM Tsarina Alexandra Simnov Private Apartments. Next to be visited will be His Imperial Majesty Tsar Nicholas III Simnov Apartments :) )

#simpire #ts4 #monarchy #simnovdynasty #gen1 #sims royalty #sims 4 royal #sims 4 royal family #sims 4 royalty #simsroyalty #royalfamilychallenge #simblr #ts4 monarchy #the sims #the sims 4 #simpire imperial palace

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danjaley · 4 years ago

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Story Process Challenge

Tagged by @nocturnalazure in the text, but I hope this counts :)

1. Your writing process - show us a part of your script or explain how you write your scenes. Do you write in screenplay format or novel format? Etc, etc.

Sims-stories I write in digital format almost exclusively and usually in dialogue form. Here’s the first page of “Wild Hunt”. It all started out with Lavinia’s character description and stayed there a very long time. Then it also has a stock of Gothic names, which is copied from another document, hence the German headline. Being me, I sometimes leave some silliness, like the extra-characters. (The thing about the blacksmith was that when these ‘barbarians’ caught an artisan, they sometimes crippled them so they couldn’t run away, but had to work for them. Unfortunately I couldn’t fit such a character into the story. He’s still there from brainstorming days)

This is the market scene from Chevalry, along with a lot of cut scenes. I always quote this as an example why some of the best scenes aren’t even there in my writing. The text is green because I used this to mark it as the story-in-the-story. (The expression ‘shock-blanket’ is a reference to an episode of Sherlock. Some expressions (”slain” “daughter to”) are also borrowed from Shakespeare-plays)

2. Scene building - show us you in the middle of scene building through pictures, gifs, or a video. Explain what is the best thing about scene building and what is the worst!

I rarely take pictures of half-built sets. Wherever possible, I prefer using places built by experienced builders. I have zero sense of architecture. A square small place is the most I can be trusted to do myself. Generally I prefer to work with decor and plants. This travelling cart was a different kind of challenge. I built it on a 10x10 lot and it had to be placed first, before I constructed a new set around it. On the second picture you also see the cleverly camouflaged mailbox :)

3. CC/Pose Making - do you make your own cc/poses for your scene? If so, what is your process like to create? Do you just go off the top of your head? Do you use reference photos?

I think it’s safe to say that I’m a pose-maker. Although I make a lot less poses than I used to. Partly because of time, partly because I don’t like the washed-out Blender under Windows 10 :/ In the heyday of Chevalry, I would quit the game and pose the scene myself, if I wasn’t 100% satisfied. Though the only scene I ever posed start-to finish was the haircutting-kiss. Nowadays, I rather try to work with existing poses. Back when I took requests, I sometimes worked with reference pictures, and they do give the scene some extra depth. The scene modelled after a still from “Anastasia” really taught me how much detail the artists had put into their characters’ expressions, and this translated back to the resulting poses.

4. Getting in the zone - What do you do to get in the zone to work on a scene? Examples include: show us your playlist you use when working on a scene, what’s your go-to scene snack/drink, etc.

I kinda miss living on my own, when I could dedicate a whole day to shooting a battle-scene for Chevalry. But in fact I decided to tell this story then and there because I knew it was the perfect time of my life for doing so. I’m super shy with music, and I have a limited music-library (by modern standards), which I listen to over and over again. Many of these songs have influenced characters, but can’t even bring myself to hunt them up on the internet.

5. Screenshot folder - give us a look into your screenshot folder to show us just how much goes into ONE scene for your story. (Scrapped pictures encouraged!!!)

Here is Of Chevalry, end of Chapter 6. The green ones are reference shots for depth of field blur (I don’t use Reshade). The ones with Sarmanna in a bath-suit are for editing her hands back into the picture, when they clipped through the dress.

MCarric Scenes, most recent: You’ll notice there’s a lot less greenscreen blur nowadays. I usually draw it with the blur-tool now. I still need to find a good occasion for this lovely rainbow I captured...

6. Captions - are you a caption on the picture kind of storyteller or captions in text box type of storyteller? Why? Do you do both?

Although I am more of a visual storyteller, I very much prefer the text in the post. I’m very given to typos and spelling errors and I’d hate having them baked into my pictures. Also I find the text easier to read in the post.

7. Editing!!!!! - explain and show us your process editing a scene through a video, gif, or picture. A Before and after will suffice if you aren’t in the middle of editing a scene as you answer this.

I like editing my pictures in a way that makes them look like they had been like this in game all along. Here’s Sarmanna in a bath-suit again. In cases like this one, you can even bring out the feeling a bit more. I could have dug her left arm out of the skirt. But as she’s feeling very shy and vulnerable in the scene, I made it look like her arm was close to her body. I also have a photoshop action which gives this slightly desaturated old-painting look to the images.

8. Throwback- show us an ANCIENT story scene you did in the past and explain how you would do the scene differently today!

In 2014 I tried to tell the backstory of Anja Tilney, a Maplethorpe Island inhabitant. It was the first time I tried messing around with poses, and I remember I included this shot because Simmagmeg had just released these poses which meant much to her. This scene I still think turned out cute, but on the whole I wasn’t feeling the story any more, after a while. It was rather simply constructed, but still I felt I couldn’t do it justice with my skills back then.

I just reread it for the first time since (here...), and it isn’t quite as bad as I remembered, but back then I scrapped the project and decided to stay well away from Sims storytelling in the future...

tagging @arielovessims, @thethingshesaidthesims3, @windermeresimblr, @unsimspirational

#tagged

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loadpeace872 · 3 years ago

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The Sims 4 Killer Mod Download

Bloodborne Aspiration. Based on Vampires “Don’t Sleep Alone: Your Guide to Meeting, Dating,.

Sims 4 Serial Killer Murder Mod by Studio Of Drama DOWNLOAD This is a custom script mod so it shouldn’t conflict with any other mods or override in-game I. Build Buy Mode Unlocker ID: SC4-137510.

Become The Ultimate Serial Killer In The Sims World! DOWNLOAD NOTE This mod was merged with the Extreme Violence Mod. Interactions from this mod are available in that mod as well. Mod download link + Full description of the mod: to install the mod, extra.

Are you looking for the best Sims 4 Mods to use in the game? If yes, this post is specially written for you. Here, I will tell you about 30+ Best Sims 4 Mods that’ll help you enrich the overall gameplay. From new traits to abilities, and more things, these mods will help you tweak the game according to your style.

Contents

1 20 Best Sims 4 Mods that you Must-Have

20 Best Sims 4 Mods that you Must-Have

The Sims 4 is very popular life simulation game that has more than 200 million monthly active players. The main purpose of this game is to create a Sim character and control its life to explore different personalities that affect how the game turns out. Sims 4 Mods help you gain an edge over other players by providing special abilities, traits, and other benefits.

Here, I will list the Best Sims 4 Mods that you must have. You can download and use these to make your game more exciting and better.

1. Height Sliders

Sims 4 allows you to spawn Sims of many different widths with the Create-a-Sim tool but they don’t allow you to change the height. The Height Sliders is a very useful mod that allows you to alter the height of your Sims. You just need to click and drag the feet of your Sim in the Create-a-Sim tool to change its height. Multisim mac os x.

2. Become a Sorcerer

Sims 4 Murder Mod

Become a Sorcerer is a very interesting mod that lets your Sims sling magic spells that are able to suck the sadness out of a friend or attack the enemy with a bolt of lightning. If you miss the magic of previous Sims, this is the perfect mod for you to use.

3. Turbo Careers

Turbo Careers mod allows you to alter the career choice and settings for all adults and two teens. It makes the career function like the active careers from the Get to Work expansion. You should try this mod to make your in-game lifestyle very interesting.

4. Gender Preference

The Gender Preference mod allows you to change the preferences Sims have for romantic partners. You can make them like a gender more or make them love both equally.

5. Old French Village

The Old French Village mod allows you to add the beautiful village with old-school cottages to make the in-game world appear more classy. You can choose from ten houses of varying roofs, and you’ll also get a pub or a cafe based on what you like more.

6. Bunk Beds

The Bunk Beds is a very useful Sims 4 mod developed by Ravasheen. This mod lets you create working bunk beds that you can orient in multiple configurations. It is a very useful mod to keep bigger families in small house projects.

7. Private Practice

The Sims 4 Serial Killer Mod Download

Private Practice is one more useful mod that adds health insurance, optometry, pharmaceuticals, more diseases and plastic surgery to your game.

8. Custom Food Interactions

The Custom Food Interactions mod adds new possible interactions to cooking equipment along with a framework that allows you to craft a fridge full of custom meals from other modder’s kitchens. It is a useful mod to enhance culinary creativity.

9. New Personality Traits

The New Personality Traits mod allows you to add more than three traits at a time to your Sim’s personality. It has a long list of traits with each one having a special advantage to boost the other aspects of the game. It is one of the most useful and must-have mods to have on the Sims 4 game.

10. MC Command Center

The MC Command Center is an impressive mod that allows you to tweak virtual aspects of your Sim’s lives. Kms activator for microsoft office 2016 mac download 2020 windows 7. You can use it to be the God of your Sims and fully control them and their worlds. There is a huge list of abilities, controls, and settings that you can use with this mod.

11. Risky WooHoo

The Risky WooHoo mod allows you to increase the chance of a female to get pregnant. It comes with a variety of different percentages risk and you can adjust the chances according to the place where the Sims are having the act.

12. Build your own Houseboat

The Build your own Houseboat mod allows you to convert the game’s decorative boat models into proper houseboats. You can use them to make your Sims live on water if you are bored of making them live on land.

13. Replace Paintings

The Replace Paintings mod allows you to replace the default paintings from all the categories. You can use it to replace the paintings that your artist has created with the cool images from the internet.

14. Have Some Personality

Have Some Personality is a very useful Sims 4 mod. It allows you to control how the Sim’s personality work in a very versatile manner. This mod provides you a huge list of changes that you can make in the background and alter the overall gameplay.

15. Get a Job

Get a Job mod allows you to choose a career for your Sim from a long list of unique and interesting careers. You can make your Sim become a sports agent, stockbroker, tattoo artist, zookeeper or any other special man.

16. Meaningful Stories

Kingdom rush collection pc full espanol. The Meaningful Stories mod allows you to change how the environment like the paintings and other items affects your Sim’s moods. You can also use it to block extreme mood swings. All this makes you mod feel more human and you can churn out better stories.

17. Explore Mod

The Explore Mod is a very interesting mod developed by KawaiiStacie. It adds some really amazing actions and activities that your Sims can do on their own without you needing to follow them. This can help the Sim boost their relationships from their close ones.

18. No Death Murphy Bed

No Death Murphy Bed is a simple but really useful mod as it saves your Sim from dying under the Murphy bed. Bootloader unlock software. So, you can use as many Murphy beds as you wish without worrying about the death of your Sims from them.

19. Off-Grid Bath and Shower Tubs

The Off-Grid Bath and Shower Tubs is a useful mod that lets you add custom bathtubs, shower, and other bathroom equipment for your Sims. These items really affect their moods to alter the stories.

Killer Mod The Sims 4

20. Life’s Drama

Life’s Drama mod allows you to add a bit of controversy to Sim’s lives. It is an exciting mod that offers many possible scenarios like your Sim trying to see a couple arguing from the window or a bride running away from her wedding, and many other scenarios.

12 More Sims 4 Mods that are Worth Trying

Here are 12 more Sims 4 Mods that are so wonderful that you must give them a try once. You’ll surely find them becoming your instant favorites.

Sims 3 Killer Mod

Conclusion

These are all the best Sims 4 mods that you can use to make the gameplay even more fascinating. If you know some more good mods, do let us all know in the comments. That’s all for this post. I hope you like it. For any queries, or doubts regarding anything written here, reach up to me using the comment box.

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denotday · 3 years ago

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Maybel Rhodes: Protectress

Itchy arms. My armbumps bumps take over life and chew my head off like a black mother. Even the sleeves of this sweater craddle these potholes as an english muffin craddles butter. But I'm more than my bumps and I'd make a quip on Fergie, but I'm no Joan Rivers. I'm small, meager. At eighteen, trying to find myself, live my own life. Typical teen drama, boring narrative, sob story. bored already. But know what isn't boring? I like strawberry shortcake and cheeseless pizzas. I have hopes of becoming a journalist and actually leading a career as moreof a Clark Kent than a Mary Jane or whatever the fuck that bitch's name is. Mary Anne? That used to be the name of one of my teachers. Going off; just thinking these thoughts while skateboarding to highschool.

Stay on the sides, away from cars, on the sidewalk, not too close to the white kids. White kids mean white mess, white messes mean cops who sweep the streets and take all the black kids with them in the process. I'm not a racist, just a black kid trying to stay alive in white america. Thank god I'm a weak bitch, one who cries for black men, one who doesn't face real issues like projected aggression. I'm a butterfly, something that men swat away and don't care about until MeToo movements. Gotta be careful but not too careful, kind but not too kind, firm but not a bitch, bitch but not a faggot. faggots suck.

No one thinks to ask these questions, here this thoughts. They see a black woman, better yet, a black female child. Worse thing to live in a ghetto. Sike; I say that I'm black and in a ghetto and get sob points. Fucking racist. I'm skating to one of those Fresh Prince schools. Didn't move on up, I'm simply moving; parents are mid class well grounded and guess what? My parents are still together. Probably breaking up soon but still breaking barriors of broke baby daddies and black slutty whore mothers who don't believe in abortion.

That's humor in of itself. A black kid skates into a white neighborhood with white sidewalks and doesn't have a nigger daddy and nigger mommy. What can be said by those PTA suburban soccer moms who want to demonise me and my own? Or am I palatable and a token black?

Making good grades, going to class on time. Only thing is, I don't have any friends to call. Even if I had one of those top quality iPhone 411s, I still wouldn't want to burden myself with filling up those high-techy contact lists. It's all bullshit after all, just capitalistic bilge. Something to fill the void without actually trying to let the public know that the void they're filling chalks up to capitalism. But again, those little tangents? "What does this have to do with having friends?" Everything. I don't give a shit, I accept shit. I tell things like it is, speak with lisps or change it up by sounding like an oxford professor.Not going to just abandon stream of consciousness 'cause class just started. This aint sims 4 and life ain't something that can be controlled; sped up or slowed down for the sake of an other's pleasure. I'm learning about shit that I'll never use like economics. That's shit that the government gives the state to teach, a little but not enough for highschoolers to overwhelm the system and decide "fuck student loans".

Not too bad here, though. Not all just "fuck hyschool" and teenaged angst. I go to the library, read books, go on my computer, listening to some Biggie and MFDoom and Tribe. Guess I am a nigger. Nigger-me and my nigger music. Even tththough it's they inspiration for they cracker music. Hate on us enough to keep us down but keep us up enough to steal from us. Today I'm reading some teen dystopian fantasy novel that I don't feel inclined to share with you guys. And no, it's not Hunger Games. It's Gunger Hames, the cousin of the franchise. Whoops just gave ya'll the name sorry. Either way I'm into that. Idea of a not-so-distant-future; humans making mistakes that fuck up the planet---disregarding that fact long enough so that the white main character can get it on with someone from the other side. Modern day Romeo and Juliett.

End of lunch, going back to class. It's back to back all day; boring teen shit that nobody cares about. Raising hands, answering questions, not understanding anything by the end of the day. Getting by is my motto. Long enough to get an A in the class and be on those ivy league watchlists. Even if I have to bust my ass to pay for student loans. Leaving highschool after all that non-work---no friends to lie to, no one to walk with, just me and my skateboard. These white paths not dirtied by brown except for my dirt body moving at the speed that a skateboard will go. Shift right here and there. Move away from rocks so that I don't fall headfirst. It's good shit. Here and there there are stone pebbles, blunts from---ironically enough--- the white kids and sharp object that I can't identify. FUCK. I don't have time to move around it and I can't just run offf. My leg'll get cut by it. Gotta just build up enough speed to roll over. Rolling...rolling...here it comes. Crouch down, focus, focus, pump speed anddddd....it stops my speed and loosens one of my bearings. Now I gotta walk the rest of the way back to my white little house with a white picket fence. Man screw--haha pun---this object. I have to use my 20/20 vision to find some small silver bolt that'll practically blend in with this bright ass sidewalk. Fuck white America.

In a little patch of weeds growing like black fists raising in the air I see the bolt and the responsible party for tossing me off the board. I raise my foot to crush this sonnofabiscuit like a bug so that some white kid's bike tire doesn't get licked---mind you this should be considered community service---and I figure that I won't ruin my rubber soles on the glass, so I'll just pick it up and toss it into the sewer. I put the bolt in my sweatpants pocket to keep it safe. I bend over again to peer at the crack in the sidewalk that I'll punt to the other side of the street where the other half of the street lives. It has tribal markings on it and must be, gasp, an ancient arcane ruin that'll give me superpowers. Kidding, you dumb bitch. "Why am I talking to myself this way? Jeez, some self-improvement classes would be nice". It's a bracelet made of some sort of beads. Kindof pretty but caked up with dirt and sand like no-one's business. I'm no Rocket Racoon so I just leave it. Even if I felt that it was interesting enough, I'd have to clean it off and disinfect it. It would just ruin the material underneath. Hm. Hm. Hm. Hm. Hm. Hm. Lemme stop; for real, in this white bread neighborhood, I might be able to get it appraised and pawn it off for some money or at the very least, see if it's worth keeping. I know; "this is the start of every horror movie", every tv show. I get it, but I'll cleanse the jewelry before wearing it. It's fine. It's fine. Hope it's fine. Jeez.

I put the bracelet in my other pocket away from the bolt and walk back home. The soles of my feet hit the white pavement and my feet move in the fashion of jubillee ferris wheels. Slowly rise in a circle, fall in perfect arch. Walking is divine poetry in of itself. Not too long now. A little further. Feels like the day is stretching. Still light outside and the summer-brink of fall--air is warming my rectum. "Oh god, what's with gays and their rectums". You know your g-spot is in your ass, men. It feels good for us too you know. Nice coolness for the butthole----rectum is for men, butthole is for women. I think. See? Not a Cliff Huxtable type; don't know everything. Not an Urkle. Conversations with myself like this are truly golden (ponyboy).

Fondle the silver piece, twist it in lock, get somewhere new. Novel design, simple concept. My rubber soles give me cat-walking abilities and I edge up the stairs. Hear shuffling downstairs in the kitchen. But the smell of musky forest wood with a hint of olive tells me that it's just my father. I'd announce my presence but this isn't a sitcom and I have a phone that I can use to text. Who talks nowadays?

On the table near the keyrack, I scoop into my pockets in search of the goods. The warm cotton touches the cool silver bolt. Set it aside to attach it to the skateboard later. "Why not now?" That'll be a problem for me to solve tomorrow. "Procrastination isn't good" Yeah I know. I've read the same 1990's health pamphlet that the health teachers give out. I hug my side to reach around for the other pocket. Same warmth, same feeling of comfort except...it's a new sensation. Hollow and porous. It's either bone carved into beads or plastic. Hope to...Well, not God, maybe I hope to goodness? Goodness? What am I? A preacher? Maybe that's why I like 16 year old boys. Anyway. It's too white over here for it to be bone. Unless it's some cracker who brought over some hoodoo shit and dropped it somewere. Great. Gonna burn some incense to cleanse it. Then gonna toss it somewhere so that it can't hurt anyone. Wait. It doesn't FEEL menacing. No darkness, no coldness, there's a comfort to be had. I don't see any visible engravings, no bite marks no arcane symbols. It may be safe. Just to be sure, I'm keeping it downstairs for it to curse someone else in the house. I rise up the stairs into the wide landing. Step, rise, step, rise, step, rise. Before I get to the top, I feel funny. Not sick funny or CURSED funny, but someone-is-in-my-presence funny. Strech my neck to look over my shoulder. Not too far to show interest but far enough to see what's going on---it's my dad handling the bracelet.

I whip my body around and I suppose this gives him a start.

"Hey, just got back from school. I'm pretty tired which is why I didn't want to talk. Found that bracelet in the sidewalk cracks before my skateboard broke. I wouldn't touch it if I were you. Don't know if it's cursed or not."

"Cursed? Bee, this is a genuine Sudanese artifact."

"Huh? When'd you turn into a archeologist? Or are you just nerding out about a 'special interest'"

"Har har. Nothing like that. This area used to be an auction town for slaves shipped from Sudan. Martinsville, Pennsylvania wasn't necessarily known for it's 'clean hands' you know. Gentrification made the area look nicer but its history is still pretty shit-covered."

"Ah, I remember now. I heard about this in history class" No I haven't. I don't even have history. Just want to stop talking to him about some dumb bracelet. "Can it sell for big bucks at a pawnshop?"

"I mean, sure if you'd like to get rid of it. Better to give it to the local museum though! It looks to me like it's made out of elephant tusks. Pretty well preserved too! The wearer must've been some warrior. They only wear these types of jewelry if they're the village's protectors. That's what I've read online anyway. You know how the interweb is though. Could be false."

"Oh wow. Ivory? That's a pretty dirty trade. Don't want to give something like that up to white people who continue to promote the trade. This'll just make the ivory market worse. I may keep it; I just wonder if it's cursed or something. I'll ask a local witchcraft practitioner to check it out tomorrow. Can I have thirty bucks for an appraisal along with an after-school snack?"

"Thirty? What're you going to buy? A salmon dinner with asparagus and steak? I'm not giving you Carabbas money. I can do 18. Enough for some street food."

"Not enough for the appraisal!"

"I'm sure the person will be able to work something out for you. You look twelve. You can play the 'Uwu I'm a baby who has no money, please help me out adult!' card. Or, how about this: pretend to be doing a research project for school on Sudanese slaves in the area. Just act like the school lent you the bracelet for the project"

"So lie?"

"I call it embellishment."

"I see"

I reached into his calloused palm and stole its contents, As a thief, I ran upstairs away from the site of the crime, away from the demons that lurked beneath the stairs. That's customary practice when going up stairs, right? To haul ass like there's no tomorrow like we're that black chick from Scary Movie? Sounds about right. I heaved and ho'd swinging my body back and forth up the stairs. Snaking my way into my room where I burrow for my after-school nap. That's what I tell my parents anyway. What I really do is blaze up in my room and turn on the fan. Gotta keep the smoke minimal. "Such a typical teen". Yeah, whatever. Like your generation wasn't popping ass and drinking bathtub wine when ya'll were young, Get outta here.

It's a good high. Kind where you'd listen to lofi and eat peanuts just for the fun of it. Another bong hit. Satisfying. I'm just leaning back on my sofa; it's firm and uncomfy but when I'm blazed, don't none of it matter. I could lose all of my words...give up....let....go.....

"...."

"What is this energy I'm feeling? So warm and electric. Is this love? Am I so sexually frustrated that I'm in love with a bong? Shit, I fuck with that. That's pretty words. 'I'm in love with my bong'. Such nice love. haha."

I'm hungry and it's four am. The weed has worn off. So tired man. Gotta go downstairs for some chips or something. Hungry to the max. Munchies munchies munchies for the weed monster. What a drug.

I creep down the stairs and up once more. My bare footpads cling to the hardwood and leave sweat prints in the shape of my stompers. During my ascent I leave crumbs. Have the house feeling like a Brother's Grimm story. I satisfy my snack desires as I prepare for school in the next hour.

Running water on my arms. Three passes of lotion on arms and legs. Can't be the ashy black kid that look like they an African living in a dirt house. Ain't able to help the rough patches that coat my body but I can help keep my skin moisturized.

A'ight. Got my fit got my board. Just have to screw the bolt back on and find the bracelet. Shit. Left it upstairs. I'm already late as hell. Rushing up the stairs. Search for the bracelet, find it, get out house. Objectives objectives. I spot it from afar and gravitating toward it, put it gingerly in my pocket. Kindof like someone would with a used tissue. Aren't humans gross? I mean, snot? Bacteria-filled snot? Nasty. Thoughts gone, make brain go from thinking to doing. descending now. Board in arm, door opens with the flick of the wrist and just like that, I'm outty. Deck on ground I put my best foot forward and ram it onto the hard cement to push myself forward. Sorry foot, betrayals sure do suck.

School begins, in class siting in a chair. All day, several hours. Ah, the beloved system at work. Great to know that there are adults who "work" all day by keeping kids seated in a chair. Very progressive, America. Library break? I think so. On my laptop, I pull out webpages on the pocketed---the word reminds me of 'closeted---bracelet. NOW I'm imagining a gay bracelet. hilarious. Great. Typing 'Gay Bracelet' into the search bar and am getting rainbow plastic bands. Ya know, the ones that they sell at Hot Topic during pride month.

"Damn, I'm getting sidetracked" She mutters to herself. Imagine if life were a story being told by some omnipotent force? omnipresent? Think that's the word.

With a bit of typing and a bit of focus. Swift movement of hunched fingers. All is complete, then some. Ogdle: "common of the Azande warriors were pieces to signify their status such as septum tusks, mouth disks, necklaces and other adornments. Bones and tusks were common materials of such articles."

Crazy how this history is hidden. Power was taken from us and buried so deep. We're the originals but every piece of history buried underground. Hidden, secretive Big Bad America. Tale fit for young people all over. Democracy, boo yah.

Train whistle blowing through the air. No train nearby, just the sound of a change in the block. I put it all away, sweep it into my bag. Everything is so messy, so fast. On schooldays like this, it feels hard to even take time to breathe. But I get by since the system wants me to. Think I'm going to skip. Not that the next two classes even matter in the long run. "Such a poor black baby, representing her race so poorly". Yeah yeah. Not the black chick that highschools would put on a recruiting card.

Just another push....door after door falling at my fingertips. The same once that touch the coarse sandpaper of my board. Foot on, foot off. kick once, twice, thrice, now we surf the cement. Now it's time to visit good the kind old black woman who practices witchcraft on dolls. That's what you'd think right? No, they're native and keep old customs within the community. Everyone calls them---agender--- Sage. Nonbinary native americans are actually more common than people think.

Before selling the bracelet to some old rich white drudge of society, I wanna be sure that the bracelet can be cleansed first. I mean. To give away black history to the white man? Hellll no with multiple "l's". It is a pretty long ride there, even on a board. Rumbly road. Pebbles everywhere. Thousands of little rocks acting as smaller wheels vying to fling me off. It's too much.

Mumbling of my own. "Where's gentrification when you need it?" Alright, yes I get it. It's a bad joke. Of course gentrification is bad. Blah blah. Time to pick up my skateboard I guess. Walking on this ground feels just as bad as suicide. Feaful of getting my ass flung into the afterlife. Few yards left....or at least fifty feet. Forty eight, forty five, forty-however-long.

Ended up reaching it after twenty minutes. This trip better be worth it.

"Hi there, Miss Sage. Mind checking out this bracelet for me? I need to check it for a curse or evil energy. My cheap father didn't give me enough for a full appraisal but what can you do with nine dollars?"

"For nine? Not much, doll? What was your name again? You look young, do you have an adult's approval for this?"

"Oh, right. You've got me. It's for a school project. School each student a historical object to research. I figured you'd be able to help me get an 'A' on the project, you know?"

"Your manners are lacking but you seem young, so I'll let you pass. Allow me to take a look at it, if you please?"

God. Full-fledged adults really are something else. I'm only eighteen, not eight. Guess I look younger than I am----

Sage starts burning this wood that's tied with string. Incense maybe?

"That incense?"

"It's a closed practice really, so I don't want to expose anything. But it is a form of incense that I prefer to use to cleanse the spirit of objects and areas."

"Ah, didn't mean to intrude. I'm glad that there are still practices that you keep to yourself. Nothing like the White Man stripping us of our culture."

I got a soft chuckle out of them. Glad that they're able to lighten up a bit.

"..."

"OK, so here's what I've found. There's immense energy here; the power coming off of this thing is tremendous. There's nothing negative about this piece. How'd you ever come across it, again? School, you said? Shame that you'll have to give it back. Something like this would provide a large power surge to spirituals. I'd pay a pretty penny for this."

"Mhm"

"Wonder how the school even came across this. I tell you what. Ask your school where I can find something like this and perhaps I'll give you a little something for your intel, huh?"

"Oh. Sure. I'll just--uh---"

"Right, right, right. The bracelet, I'm sorry. Really, it's more an anklet truly, but--ya know what? I'm sorry. Here ya go"

"...take it from ya. Thanks."

"No problem. Come back with more info on the anklet. That'll be your payment for my time"

Got 'caught in a lie it seems. Don't know how I'll snake my way out of this one.

"Brrrrrzzzzz"

Shit, it's five. My dad's probably looking for me.

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

Chapter two:

" You skipped class? Bee, I know that you're better than this."

God moms bitch too much. Must be the nursing job coupled with her daily acting gigs that make her so aggro.

"I hear ya, mom. I just had some research to conduct after school..."

"Research? Which kind---?"

"The school kind. I don't know what else you want me to say. I'm sorry for skipping lasses. I got too overzealous and went in over my head. It won't happen again."

"Tskk. Better not. I know that I'm gone almost every hour of the day, but please give me a break, baby. Please just listen to your father and follow the rules. All I ask."

"Mhm, even though he-----you know what, nevermind. Am I dismissed? I have to write up today's school report to type"

Phew. Gonna hit the bong now to calm down from this encounter.

Fuck homework. .... ..... Mhm.

Five minutes passs. Fifteen, twenty. Maybe not minutes. hours? seconds? Time is too funny. With LEDs on, the vibe is fatallll. Still have to open a window to let out the smoke but gosh is this magical.

Mhm magic. Does it even exist? Doubt it. It's all science, right? ....

.....

Right. Like, this anklet. Not real power. Not real magic. Just something people believe in. Like God. It's all faith.

"So, theoretically, I could even put it on my person and nothing would even happen"

"And, so it begins"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT VOICE" and why am I screaming?

Get off, get off, get off! Something's dripping on me.

"Tears, they're tears"

Oh god, I fucked up. I knew that I shouldn't have smoked that much. Knew it'd bite me in the ass one day. Now I'm fear-crying. I NEVER FEAR CRY.

It's all a dream maybe. Go to sleep, Bee. Just take a weed nap.

"Ba ba bang"

A booming voice raspy from coffee withdrawal.

"Everything OK in there Bee? You're about to be late for school."

Shit!

No time for conversation. Move it move it move it.

"'Cmon Bee. I'll drop you off at school on my way to the college".

Bookbag? Check. Board? Check.

I feel the rush of air against my cheeks as I fly out the door and jump into the getaway car. Fast, but atleast I'm not Furious. Dad and I chat it up all the way until the tires cross the smooth pavement of school grounds. Departing words are exchanged along with "I love you's" and "knock 'em deads".

That familiar sound. Principal as the school conductor. "Chooo". Just as it drones, my body moves to the steps of teens dragging their feet toward their dreaded first classes of the day. The light of morning cradles the marble arches of the school entrance until the sun starts to suck in the morning cold to blow out midday warmth.

"So, who are you, voice? What's your angle? Typing ensues. The screen watches my fleeting pupils; left, right, side, side. Wouldn't be surprised if the computer got whiplash from me. One scroll, two, three. Read a page. Nothing. Another website. Up and down; my fingers are cramped now. Nada. New Oogdle search: "Can I hear voices with weed smoking." Now I have a hit; "yes weed can have you seeing voices. Many aren't even your own. Maybe lay off the TV for a while."

"Thanks 'BouncyNina29'. Quora is one hell of a place." Guess it must've just been the drugs then. Hilarious, me hearing some voice. "Gotta lay off the bong smoking".

"Shhh!!" Some nerd in a striped beanie raised a finger to pursed lips.

Sorry, sorry....Jeez. "My bad" You know what? Maybe I can visit----

the train whistle interrupts my 11pm "ball" with myself. "Dammit". OK. Maybe I can bribe one of the delinquents behind the school to take my place in English. Teacher's not there anyway; the sub won't know the difference. Time to go pay someone off.

"..."

"Here ya go, five dollars."

"A'ight and you said what room that English class in?"

"301 B man. It's at the end of the third floor, right wing. Hard to miss and---remember---my name is Maybel Rhodes. Just fake like you're doing some work and no one will even notice that you're not me. I'm a loner, so, that'll work."

"Mhm hmm. I hear ya Maple"

"MayBEL"

"Yeah, that's what I said"

Scoff. In a smooth curvular motion, I plant my feet on the board and race to Sage's before their store closes.

As I approach, they're putting a silver key in a lock. Gah! The store closed.

"Miss Sage---"

"Gah! Don't do that!! Scaring me and sh--I mean, 'crap'. Scaring me and crap. Look kid, I'm closed right now but we open tomorrow. By then, I'll have the energy to discuss your school's anklet with you. Actually, about that. Do you have intel on where the-----"

"Yes, yes. About that, see...I lied. I didn't really get it from the school. I found it on the ground somewhere."

"'Found it on the ground somewhere' is code for 'I don't have money to pay nor do I have anything else to provide'? Am I getting warmer?"

"Look Miss Sage, I'm really sorry. Hey---look at it this way. I'm in debt to you. If you'll just help me with one teensy little thing, I'll ask my dad for some food money and will give you every cent he gives, alright?"

"Kid, that's not how an adult runs a business. Call what I gave you yesterday a 'freebie'. You're banned from the store. Good night."

Wait. "Wait" Their stride is aimed toward their silver camry. Yeah, I know a camry. Did you expect them to be riding a horse? Racist. Sage acts as though they don't hear and gets into their seat, key in ignition. One twist away before exiting the rocky parking area.

"IT SPOKE TO ME" Yup. That is how I yelled it. All caps, woke some birds up even. Just like in those Loony Toon cartoons. Is that why they're called "Loony Toons" 'cause they're loony cart----

Now they exit their car, slamming the heavy metal door. "What did you say? It...SPOKE...to you? What do you mean 'it'?"

Mhm Mhm. Just prepping my throat. "I wore it on my ankle and I heard a voice that has never existed before in the chasms----"

"Stop the theatrics"

"....Chasms of my mind. It was a male. Around your age in old-timey-ness."

"Har har."

"But it's the truth!" Why won't they believe a magical voice but insist that sage, a random plant, purifies the air?

Their chest contracts and expands in a sigh. Sage closes their eyes for a second. I could practically smell the gears turning. Need some WD-40, really. "Fine. Come by the store Saturday. That way, no one will be in to eavesdrop."

"Deal!"

"And bring actual MULA this time or else we won't have our little discussion". Crud.

"...."

"What are you thinking Sage?" No response. I paid one hundred fifty dollars for this after BEGGING both my folks (who think I'm using it to enroll in some after school sport) to slide me some cash so that I can 'better myself as an individual and actually do something with my time as well'. Lies are no good.

"Shh! Let me think, please!" Sage subverts their attention from me back onto the tarot cards laid in front of them----exactly where the bone anklet (bonklet) lay in silence

Ten minutes pass before Sage gives me the break down. "So, as I've said before. The anklet carries some heavy energy, something similar to passion and justice. Very potent stuff. That's what the spirit realm is saying, anyway. When you were---ahem--- HIGH----"

At this point I look away

"...You honed into that energy and that's why you heard the voice"

"Hm. So, how do I hone in on that energy now? Is it something I can control conscious?"

"Look, I dunno kid. Just, be safe. Meditate beforehand so that you are actually able to chime into the anklet's power source. Don't want to darken the talisman's power or anything."

"Sure, sure" I am literally out the door before Sage utters the second part of their sentence. I buzz with excitement at the opportunity and the best part is? I'm basically a super! Hoo ho. This is awesome.

There's an empty industrial facility near by Hawesome Li Cosmetics. It went bankrupt several decads ago. I'm pretty much the only one who knows about the place. Excellent ground to skate on---smooth as butter. Either way, it's empty and no harm will come to anything or anyone nearby. Any damage that I do will be to the building nearby, which no one cares about anyway. "So, it's just me and you buddy." Blunt in hand, I blaze it up. "Time for the magic to happen."

It's a slow high. The high takes as long as a flame reaching the wooden stick of an incense rod for the high to hit. Upwards of thirty minutes. So I wait. It feels like time warps. So I meditate. So I clear my thinking and reach out to the anklet.

"Mhm, Anklet, tell me who you are?"

"What?? You can hear me?"

"Yeah man. Who are you, why you speaking to me?"

"Why would I tell you? I don't even know yer name"

Tiring. It's like talking to a wall.

"Hey, I heard that!"

"Maybel. My name's Maybel. What's yours? Let's start there."

"Nat."

"Like Nat Turner? The rebel slave?"

"Don't know who that is, this 'Nat Turner'. Just knew my master gave me the name." How progressive. "So...I suspect that I'm dead."

It's not easy news. I get it. But hey, the north won. That's something, right?

"Well, I guess it is....you know, I had a name before all of this...."

"......"

"......??"

"......."

So, are you going to tell me?

"You may call me 'Asim'."

"I'll call you Ase."

Don't call me 'Ase'. Too late, Ase. Hey, how old are you anyway? 12? 11? My name is ASIM, nothing else. Fine, grumpy. ASIM. I'll call you Asim, Asim. Where'd that name come from anyway? What does it mean?

"Let's find out, shall we?"

"...It feels electric! (Boogy woogy woogy). Such power, this wade in...glory."

Are you a God?

"Blasphemy!" Then what are you? How are you able to lay such energy unto me?

Look, I don't know either, alright? But what I do know is...we're both negr---

Black. We don't say that word anymore.

"Black, then... Perhaps I'm connected with you due to our shared skin?" We stopped being related millenia ago. Millenia? Not familar with that word.

"Long, long ago. We don't share any common ancestors. It was all a lie." A lie? You don't believe in a God? I'm moreso spiritual; creation is a possibility not something I'm invested in. I believe in forces of the universe. "But not a God? So, this can't be some spiritual connection. We're too different." So perhaps a soul connection? A link between our spirits.... What else do we have in common? A slave and a black kid?

"Hatred of the white man? Wanting justice against them?"

"War. Destruction"

"Yes."

"No, I don't want that. I'd prefer peace." There may be no PEACE without WAR.

"A lie. Violence is not the answer. Kindness is."

"'Kindness' doesn't resolve problems. 'Kindness' doesn't end racism. 'KINDNESS' was the one that slept at my feet while I was lashed! "

"..."

Asim?

"..."

Andddd you're gone. Great. Well, I'm going to head back home, then. We can hang out again tomorrow. "Head back" means leave. All right, see you.

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