#plenty of stuff is just coding and that's what transformative works are for

[an-ruraiocht]

90% of the time when i see reviews and posts saying "this book needed editing" i don't think the reader have any idea what editing actually entails. usually this is actually code for one of several "problems" with the book:

it's too long, or it's slower paced than this reader's preference. they believe "editing" would mean making it shorter

it has a heavily descriptive style, which the reader doesn't like. they believe "editing" means paring every sentence down to hemingway-style prose with no adverbs

it doesn't follow the very rigid "save the cat" style 3-act story structure, disrupting the reader's sense of narrative tension. an editor, they believe, would've made sure it did

there were a few typos or formatting errors, and they believe it's the editor's job to catch these (it's not, it's typically the proofreader and the typesetter who have responsibility for that kind of thing)

and finally, most often:

the author had different narrative priorities than the reader, who thinks an editor would have made the author change their priorities.

the thing is, there are actually issues with editors in trad publishing being overworked to the point where things aren't getting the thorough, thoughtful editing that they need to be the best version of themselves. there are plenty of badly-structured, poorly-researched, and clumsily written books out there. moreover copyediting is typically freelance and perhaps because of that, this is the area where i see the largest number of issues: continuity issues, grammar issues, factual errors etc that someone should've spotted and didn't.

but this is not typically what people's "this needed an editor" reviews are focusing on. most often it just means they didn't like the book and they've decided editing is an all-powerful force that would have transformed it into a book they liked. but that's not how it works. and disproportionately what this comment means is that the book doesn't match what current fashions have decided is The Correct Style to write in

"this book needed an editor" if it's traditionally published, it had one. like. by definition. it was an editor who bought the book. that doesn't mean the editor did a great job but they definitely existed. there were probably at least two (acquiring editor who does the dev edits; copyeditor who does copyedits), and the proofreader, and a bunch of other people besides.

also i think people think editors are the ones who like. implement the changes. but they don't. they give comments and recommendations and ask questions and the author is the one to act on them. the editor will not rewrite the book. they will not fix the problems themselves, they will highlight the problem and the author will figure out a fix for it, or they will decide they don't agree that it's a problem and leave it as it. and a lot of the sentence-level style stuff is entirely on the author so if they don't have an ear for the rhythm then nobody's going to fix that for them. editors do a lot less than people seem to imagine they do, tbh

anyway

for reference—

structural/developmental edits: is this chapter in the right place and does the plot make sense and is the characterisation consistent and effective

line edits: is this sentence in the right place and is it as stylish as it could be

copy edits: is this sentence grammatically correct and consistent/factually correct within the story/its world and do the spellings follow the publisher's stylesheet

proofreading: are there any typos in this sentence and was the formatting preserved correctly when it was typeset

[olderthannetfic]

Are there fandoms where the amount of male fanfiction writers significantly outweighs female writers? I think there was a survey or study that proved that female fandom goers tend to gravitate towards transformative ways of engaging with a work (so fanfic and fanart etc), while male members tend to gravitate towards archival methods (wiki, writing guides, etc). I know for a fact that there are plenty of male fic writers though. The only fandom I can think of where men dominated in fanfic circles is My Little Pony

--

Supposedly, Ranma had a lot back in the day, but I frankly doubt that they were an overwhelming majority.

Men don't all just compile canon wikis or collect action figures. The true difference I've noticed is that cis dudes are socialized to expect to get something for their labor. They, broadly and on average, show up more writing spec scripts or derivative but saleable works.

People researching this tend to be far too focused on the actual fic part, but I think it would be more valuable to look at it in the context of unpaid labor in general. Cis dudes do a lot of unpaid coding labor, but it tends to be stuff that will get very obvious payoffs from their communities, and it's directly relevant to getting jobs. Many of the less prestigious volunteer spaces are dominated by women. It's a whole brew of who expects what, who's underemployed and thus has the wrong kind of free time, who has job prospects beyond unpaid labor in that field, etc.

Anyway, maybe there are some more corners we don't know about, but I would not expect to find all that many fandoms of any real size where the men vastly outnumber the women.

[oneefin]

ec puzzle hunt 2

ecph2 write-up time! spoilers a-plenty - avert your eyes if you care, keep reading if you dare

for those out of the loop: the enchanted castle puzzle hunt, or ecph2, or ecph2024, was a very hard, decently long puzzle hunt featuring 45 puzzles at or near the difficulty of mit mystery hunt. i solved this with my group of friends on huh?, but we merged with a subteam of the mathemagicians for extra firepower (and to see what solving with them was like!). this turned out to be a very good decision

i thoroughly enjoyed this hunt and thought the puzzles were all written very elegantly, although some of them are definitely not for the faint of heart. there was enough tough, grindy, deduction-y, research-y stuff in the hunt for me to say that it's not really small team material, at least at my skill/knowledge level - so i'm glad we tag teamed for this.

what puzzles did i do/like?

anyway, let's talk specifics! here's the list puzzles that i personally made a major contribution to:

artifacts (game id + what to do)

oil and water (logic + extraction)

choose your own permutation (black box behavior)

sauce code (figuring out everything)

dichotomous key (fitting things into the second key)

musical numbers (logic)

ziggurats (coding the whole solution)

no clue matchmaker (first two extractions)

solution: meta bingo (4/5 of the subpuzzles)

music of the spheres (grunt work)

take me home, country roads (logic)

the escape artist (routes for both parts)

the tower meta (mapping + what to do)

chanel (solving for the variables)

quentin (finding the real solution)

escape the castle (this was just a big team effort at the end)

and the puzzles that i specifically admired for how stupidly hard they looked were:

a very long integer (lots of tough steps, esp for the second round)

the library meta (really tricky mechanic for the second round)

musical numbers (really difficult-to-track number theory logic)

on-site only - sorry! (astronomy knowledge check)

take me home, country roads (geoguessr knowledge check)

piece by piece (insane modern tetris logic)

THE BEAST (insane cursed scrabble logic)

there's plenty else i could name for other reasons, but let's just stick with that!

some images from the journey

rainy's taskmaster submission for "transform a work of art in the great hall in the most unexpected manner":

while thinking about the armoury meta, i spent 15 minutes creating a joke while a teammate was availlessly trying to get my attention in vc:

niv made the prisms for duality, which imo look way better than the prisms on the solution page for this puzzle

on piece by piece, david had an incredulity moment from having never seen a t-spin before

we heard teams found lots of ways to map out the tower meta, which took place in hyperbolic geometry, on google sheets - niv and i decided to tackle this by taking an image of the geometry and drawing arrows showing in what direction all the puzzles were. no spreadsheet necessary! this worked great for us

my miscellaneous solving stories

on the armoury navigation, right when we unlocked the ability to submit lists of states, the first thing i randomly tried (for no reason in particular) was sending in all-white followed by all-black in front of the sign that said 0, 63. this serendipitously turned out to be the exact thing you needed to do to solve it. you cannot imagine how i felt upon realizing that after doing it

another thing that happened: i cranked out the work for the first part of the escape artist, but i was having trouble parsing our extracted phrase FOES S WAS B-WARDS. i thought about it for like a full day and then it dawned on me while i was in the shower what this was actually supposed to say and what the second step was. i finished showering asap and we cranked out the second part before i had to leave for work that morning

THE BEAST was luny's biggest win during the hunt. we found some of the part-two answers (most notably STRYCHNINE) fairly early into solving, and we were having a hard time believing that there was a second, less good answer also hiding in there somewhere. we were eventually convinced after figuring out the hidden pawn promotion mechanic, which i can only describe as a monumental team aha effort given that we didn't have the armoury meta solved at the time! it looked like:

luny notices that every board has a p

...and that the p can be removed and the board still works

i notice that STRYCHNINE would work if there was an extra b on the board

i suggest changing the p to one of b/n/q/r, like in chess

david sees that the b spot is vertically above the p

david takes the p on each board, promotes it to the top, and starts finding working alternate solutions

we profit

okay, now about that final meta

this solving story is long enough to get its own header!

i think a lot of teams didn't notice that the answers to the metas in each round could be applied to their corresponding ghost puzzle until they solved everything and unlocked the hunt finale. so there were teams who were stuck on the last puzzle for a while because they essentially had to solve five brand new puzzles to get five brand new answers. we had the fortune to see this early!

for our team, we didn't crack any of the ghosts until quite late in the hunt - so we have a 106 hour solve time on chanel, and a 133 hour solve time on trelawney. the first ghost we managed to solve legit was midway through the fifth round, when we finally took down quentin. immediately after we solved it, david was thinking about all the state and element abbreviations we saw, and made a connection

we didn't know what to do with it yet, but it was obvious that this was related. the other two meta answers we had at the time, ENLIGHTEN ME and LIBRARIAN GETS ZIP, would obviously work for re-interpreting chanel and trelawney specifically - even if we didn't know how to solve those yet.

our first moment of actually getting both solves was on THE BEAST, where as i previously described, we found something that worked (crazily!) as the secret mechanic. we worked out what both answers would be, and we made sure to enter the second one first to see what would happen. sure enough:

unlocking the final puzzle requires all 5 metas and all 5 ghosts solved. the last of these to fall was the tower meta, and by the time we did this, we already had four of the alternate ghost answers written in our sheet - the only one we didn't know was ☄, for which we had just gotten the answer MAXED IT OUT. so we knew that we had a decent shot of completing this meta extremely quickly - we just had to speedrun the alternate ☄ solve, and then figure out what to do next.

luckily, niv knew exactly what to do with this answer, and the final meta we unlocked after locking in all 5 ghosts was straightforward for us. we ended up finishing the whole thing in just over 30 minutes, and when the hunt ended, that was the fastest solve time for the finale!

so we're all pretty happy with how that went, even though the ordinary answers for the ghosts took us such a long time :)

[manyblinkinglights]

Okay I am able to work with my script again after removing it from the project and re-adding it, I am now blocked on "How do I tell it to lock only two of the three axes on this rotation constraint?" since the old syntax doesn't work. Staffers have helpfully told me several times that they weren't aiming for a 1:1 scripting side experience but also there appears to be No documentation anywhere for me to look up what any of the new syntax is. I have literally only ever found staffers on Discord giving befuddled players code snippets, that is the only place I've found example syntax to copy.

I think I'm just like, bad at this, there must be somewhere people go to find this stuff out, like maybe a secret file everyone else knows how to open. A staffer already told me that, I guess, modern code editors can like, fill in the namespaces they're supposed to be using automatically somehow...? I don't know anything about that... I have to type out myself whatever I'm "using," and no, I don't have a list of all the things I need to be "using," I had to search up people on Discord telling each other what they need to put at the top of their scripts.

But anyway. I can at least create all the gameobjects I need, give them names, and parent them together into a correctly-shaped Hierarchy. And I can create prefabs of the phys bone and contact scripts I need, and I can paste them onto the transforms that need them. And I can add the constraints I need, and the sources those constraints need, and the source weights that are necessary. My old code for updating project .anim files with constraint weights set by the user from the script still works. My old code for generating a poseclone still works, or will work with minor updates. That's a LOT I can work on for now. I don't know how to: lock individual axes, or set "free edit" flags so source and constraint weights can go negative. But there's plenty of time before I have to figure that out.

[mythandlaur]

Code: July Day 7 - Sports

Martial arts counts as a sport, right? (Disclaimer, I don't know anything about martial arts. In fact, I'm absolutely on Jeremie's side, here.)

...

"Hey, guys. So...what did you need me here for?"

Ulrich and Yumi are standing in the very center of the unoccupied gym, with a foam mat by their feet. When Jeremie speaks, they both look over at him in such perfect sync that Jeremie finds himself checking their eyes out of paranoia before the logical part of his brain kicks in.

Though, with the way they both simultaneously smirk at each other like cats that have cornered a very unlucky mouse, Jeremie can't help but wonder if whatever they have in mind might be worse.

"Hey, Einstein." Ulrich sidles over with his fists on his hips (probably because he's wearing his tank top and has no available pockets to shove them in). He looks Jeremie up and down, nodding to himself. "Not exactly gym clothes, but it shouldn't matter too much."

Oh no. Jeremie bristles. "I didn't know I was supposed to change--what's this about?"

"Relax, Jeremie, it's nothing scary." Somehow, the reassuring smile Yumi gives him does not make him feel any less growing dread, especially coupled with the glint in her eyes. "Me and Ulrich were just practicing the other day, and when we took a break, we got to talking."

"She said hey, you know Jeremie's been getting clobbered in the laboratory a bunch lately--"

"Okay, I didn't say it like that."

"--and then I said yeah, I wonder if there's anything we can do to help aaaaaand..." Ulrich gives Jeremie a feral grin. "We realized we've both been practicing silat so long that we could probably give you a few pointers."

Yep. It's worse than XANA thrashing him around the gym like a dog's old chew toy. At least he can't disappoint XANA.

Jeremie takes a step back, holding up his hands. "Why didn't you tell me this before I came?"

"Because you wouldn't have shown up," Ulrich deadpans, correctly.

"Now you at least have to hear us out," Yumi adds.

They both look incredibly pleased with themselves over this little entrapment, and in his heart, Jeremie knows he's already lost--the other Lyoko Warriors are the only people he's met so far that are as stubborn as he is. Which is a good thing, because if they weren't, they definitely would've given up on all this by now.

Still. "I don't see how this'll help. You can't stop a spectre by punching it."

"But you can slow it down," Ulrich counters, "I've seen it."

"Plus it's a great boost to your confidence."

"I'm plenty confident!"

"Sure, but when an attack targets you you fold like a wet rag." Jeremie leans back, surprised by Yumi's suddenly sharp tone. She seems to realize how that sentence had come out and winces. "No, I didn't mean it like that--I just..." She shakes her head, letting her sentence trail into nothing.

Ulrich glances at her out of the corner of one eye, clearly concerned. "Uh--maybe it'd help get Jim off your back about not being good at athletics?" he tries to offer.

"I can't. I'm just not cut out for that stuff, I'm not like you guys."

"You don't have to be," Yumi blurts out. "We just want to teach you a couple basics that might help you out. At least try it. Please, Jeremie."

Yumi's eyes are pleading, and Ulrich's brows are still knit in worry, though Jeremie can't tell who exactly the worry is directed at anymore. He really just wishes he could clip through the floor and disappear, but that's not an option.

After a stalemate that feels much longer than it actually is, Jeremie sighs. "Fine. I'll try it. But I'm telling you it's not gonna work."

The two brighten, and assure Jeremie that he won't regret it.

Jeremie regrets it almost immediately.

Even their pre-workout warmup practically wipes Jeremie out. It's true that what they're trying to teach him is pretty basic--just some stances and movement drills--but the two of them just seem to feed on each other's energy until he can't possibly hope to catch up. Yumi's abrupt transformation from caring but aloof friend to perfectionistic taskmaster nitpicking his posture is downright terrifying, and on the other side, Ulrich just keeps getting more amped up and intense, to the point where Jeremie worries Ulrich's actually going to ask him to spar. Their teamwork regarding his training is admittedly impressive--something Jeremie wishes they'd use half of on certain missions instead of turning them into an Olympic-level social gymnastics routine.

Jeremie genuinely does give it his best attempt, but his hands and legs won't coordinate the way he wants them to, he keeps losing his balance and flopping onto the foam mat like a dying fish, and he's fairly certain his hamstrings are about to start a riot in protest. Frustration quickly settles in despite Yumi and Ulrich's encouragement--they keep telling him things he needs to do better or practice more and he's clearly not good at it why should he bother--

He's not sure how long they go for, though it certainly feels like an eternity. However long it lasts, Jeremie eventually wobbles trying to match Ulrich's wide stance, falls over on the mat again, and simply refuses to get up.

"C'mon, Jeremie!" Ulrich's practically bouncing on his heels. "One more set!"

Thankfully Yumi, though her criticisms had been many, comes to Jeremie's rescue. "Actually, I think that's probably enough for right now."

Jeremie makes a strangled noise that he hopes adequately conveys his relief, rolling over onto his back and throwing his arms out to his sides as if trying to make a snow angel out of the sticky blue plastic. Ulrich looks vaguely disappointed, but nods, stretching his arms over his head. Yumi sits down next to Jeremie, also stretching out to touch her toes. It's probably some fell post-workout ritual, but Jeremie's not particularly interested in moving any more. He's already going to need to wash his sweat-stained shirt.

They sit in silence for a few seconds while Jeremie tries to catch his break, angling his face towards the gym lights to trace the smears all over his glasses. His hair's definitely unsalvageable, sticking to his forehead in messy clumps, and he can feel his own heartbeat in his arms.

He hears the door to the gymnasium open and tilts his head back, worried about a classmate (or worse, Jim) seeing him like this. The blurry shape he catches out of the corner of his eye is a familiar shade of pink.

"Aelita!" Jeremie quickly turns onto his stomach and tries to push himself up--his arms promptly give out and he crumples back onto the mat, groaning. "Bury me with my hard drives."

Aelita clamps both hands over her mouth, though it does nothing to stifle her loud snort. "I was wondering why you weren't answering your phone--no reason, don't worry." She looks up at Ulrich with a raised eyebrow. "What did you two do to him?"

"We were just trying to teach him some self-defense basics."

"Oh boy. I know you guys are coming from a good place, but I feel like you two doing that is like one of us teaching you computer science basics."

So is this what they feel like when he starts talking about math? Jeremie would really like to argue that it can't possibly be the same because at least his rambling isn't physically grueling, but he honestly doesn't have the energy.

"She's right," he says instead, looking over at Yumi. "I appreciate you trying to help, but I'll never be able to."

"We wouldn't have asked you if we didn't think you could do it," Yumi says, somewhat pained.

"Yeah, you've definitely got the stamina for it. Didn't you swim like half the waterways under the factory once?"

"What? When did I do that?"

Ulrich scratches his head. "Um, I swear I remember Odd saying that..."

"No, I remember it too," Aelita hums, putting a finger to her chin. "Because Odd had to bring him all the way back to the factory to run the Return to the Past and neither of them looked very good. It was one of the really early attacks, something about a gas that got into the factory..."

Ulrich snaps his fingers. "The laughing gas attack, that was it."

Yumi grimaces, rolling her eyes. "Ugh. Talk about simpler times."

"Okay, first of all, that was two years ago. Second, it was adrenaline because my life depended on it--which, might I add, would also cover any other athletic feats you might be thinking about as examples. Third, that was swimming, it's totally different!" That was probably the only somewhat-physical thing Jeremie wasn't terrible at. "It still got me, anyway."

"Still..." Yumi trails off again, chewing on her lip as if she wants to say something else. "...This might've been a little...intense. Sorry, Jeremie. How about you get something sweet from the vending machine on the way back, my treat."

The prospect of candy in the near future is just energizing enough to get Jeremie to push himself into a proper sitting position. Aelita laughs quietly behind a hand, though he can't tell if it's at him or not.

"...m'sorry, too," Jeremie mumbles. "Guess I should stick to the computer, huh..."

"Hey, it was your first time. You can't be good at everything right off the bat."

Jeremie bites his tongue.

He drags himself back onto his feet with help from Aelita and Yumi, straightening his glasses and sweaty clothes. "At least you tried it?" Aelita offers.

"True," Jeremie replies with a shrug, rubbing his aching elbow. "But I think I'm gonna keep letting you guys do the fighting, if that's okay with you."

[mmx-code-crimpphire]

Headcanon - Delta Nano Development Part 2 - Code Expansion

Okay, so you know about the code expansion explanation in the last headcanon I wrote that was based around how Robot Masters were experiencing things, including Rock, Night Man, and especially Blues?

Well I did also say that Blues' Independence development was a big part in the development for X's free will AI. That is way more advanced than Blues', not for the fact that it can just evolve faster. That wouldn't be possible without the data collected on code expansion on Robot Master's experiences themselves, and studying what the properties of the Roboenza can do on Robotics itself and developing the technology to prevent any viruses from corrupting X's data.

NEW CHAPTER ON AO3!!

Reading @oofitsbethi's "Fallen Savior" fanfic, I thought that was definitely an interesting concept, and it definitely made the most sense. Since, to my knowledge, I do not think X's AI was ever explained in canon, and I hardly ever think of stuff like this on a dime. I usually ask other friends for help on stuff unless I know everything about the lore itself and how it works in canon. What I can do to change it slightly but still make it work.

I had my fair share of doing stuff like that in the Transformers fandom (albeit, I was still a beginner writer back in the day- any of you guys remember what fanfic I wrote, whaddup), so I had plenty to work with, and there was a lot to go off of in terms of terminology and mechanics, technology, hardware and software wise in terms of how machines and the Cybertronians themselves worked.

Here, for the Megaman fandom, from my understanding, we get the basics of how the Robot Masters work and what they do, and that's it. We get a few tidbits here and there for actual mechanics, but that's about it. We barely get an understanding of how X's AI even works. And it's based on variations of how it does, based on what version of the X series you're looking at.

All of those variations make sense if we put them all together and make it a less cohesive and complicated AI on what it can do. Since it's supposed to be forming what leads to X's potential. Same thing for his free will and how fast the code expands internally and doing whatever the fuck he wants.

Of course, some explanations of this coding needs specifics as well, such as the expanding code preventing viral infections as mentioned previously.

This is an explanation of more than just the "magic" element to Delta Nano, now, isn't it? Well, I don't blame you, since it does touch upon the technicalities of technology and the energies behind certain powers.

Now, I'll also go into a brief tangent that Delta Nano isn't equipped with chips officially. Hoooo nononono. They are installed into the Reploid's system once they're tweaked to their liking, and it's been tested multiple times. Axl and Lumine's cases are exceptions to this rule- sort of.

See, they have crystals they still use, the first four being prototypes, so they're unstable, and the other four are perfected, so they're controlled better by their owner aka Lumine. It doesn't have to be strictly connected to crystals, per say, but they do have the option to use crystals, and it's usually used up to four or less. Mostly one or two, since most reploids who want to use it don't know if they'll feel well controlled to use up to four, which is an understandable reason. It’s a breeze for both Axl and Lumine, but that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze for any other Reploid.

Would X want to have Delta Nano, is the next question. And to answer said question, no he wouldn’t necessarily want it. Now, his armors do come with them overtime, though they still aren’t utilized within his regular everyday armor. As he doesn’t use his armors very much to begin with, except with the moment for them to be presented and that's pretty much it. The exception being the Blue Jay Armor, but we'll also have to get into that another time.

He doesn’t feel he needs them. Except, he didn't realize he had it all this time, except it’s not brought out to its full potential. The Blue Jay armor harbored his Blue Jay wings he obtained, and his own code expanded to keep them after realizing he could, especially after Zero had acquired his own wings, them being Phoenix wings.

What about Zero's dark powers, you also may be asking? Well, that just staves off from the evil energy and maverick virus he master carries. Along with the experiences and memories he gained since being found after gaining amnesia. I'll probably make a part two to that as well. Maybe.

But that's all I'll input unless I make more development on Delta Nano again.

[pocket-roblox]

Explore Grimoires Legacy – Magic, Action & Endless Progression

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably grown up watching epic anime battles, daydreaming about casting powerful spells and mastering the arcane arts. Grimoires Legacy, a Roblox RPG inspired by the universe of Black Clover, takes that exact fantasy and drops it into your hands. From the very first moment I stepped into its sprawling magical world, I was hooked. And hey, if you’re starting your journey, don’t forget—there are working Grimoires Legacy codes in the game that’ll give you spins, rewards, and a real head start. Trust me, they’re more than just fluff—they can save you hours early on.

But let’s get into the real magic of it all. Why has Grimoires Legacy completely taken over my game time? Let’s dive in.

A World That Feels Alive and Yours to Shape

There’s something truly special about stepping into a game where the world feels alive—not just pretty textures slapped onto a map, but an environment that breathes, evolves, and challenges you. Grimoires Legacy does just that. The world is open, expansive, and absolutely dripping with magical charm. From ancient ruins to dense forests, sparkling towns to eerie wastelands—every zone begs to be explored.

But it’s not just about walking through beautifully crafted spaces. The magic here lies in the freedom. You create your own character from scratch, shaping not only how they look, but what kind of magical legacy they’ll carry. There’s this thrill you get when you finally roll that one grimoire you were hoping for—it’s like the stars aligned just for you. And believe me, I’ve spent hours spinning and re-spinning, hoping to land something rare and devastating.

Grimoires That Define Your Destiny

Let’s talk about the real stars of the show—grimoires. These ancient magical tomes are what define your powers, your identity, and your role in this universe. Each grimoire offers a set of unique spells, from elemental blasts to healing circles to teleportation and devastating area attacks. But it’s not just “get spell, cast spell.” No, Grimoires Legacy takes it a step further.

You can develop your spells, combining and upgrading them to suit your playstyle. I remember the first time I mixed a control spell with a blast spell—I felt like a true wizard, manipulating the battlefield and wiping enemies in one fluid combo. And when you start dueling real players in PvP? That’s when the real depth kicks in. Timing, prediction, creativity—it all matters. I’ve lost fights where I had stronger gear, simply because someone outplayed me with smarter combos. And I’ve also had those sweet, clutch wins that make you want to jump out of your chair.

Team Up, Level Up, and Conquer Together

One of the best parts of Grimoires Legacy is the social side of it. While the game’s fully playable solo, there’s something magical about teaming up with friends. Whether you’re farming tough bosses, helping a newbie buddy get their first grimoire, or just goofing around with teleport spells—it’s the kind of multiplayer that actually feels fun.

Leveling is satisfying, and it never feels like a grind if you pace yourself. The sense of progression is baked into every system—from increasing your spell mastery to unlocking new races and classes. You can genuinely see your character grow from a clueless magic student to a world-shaking mage. It’s not just stat boosts, it’s a transformation you feel.

And the game gives you plenty of reasons to keep going. There are missions, side quests, secrets scattered across the world, rare items to find, bosses to defeat, and new places constantly being added. It’s one of those games where you log in to do “just one more quest,” and next thing you know—it’s 2 AM.

Customization and Style That Reflect You

Let’s be honest—half the fun in games like this is looking cool while blowing stuff up. Grimoires Legacy nails the style factor. You’ve got tons of customization options, from clothing to accessories to weapon skins. And when paired with flashy spells and animations? You feel like an anime protagonist, especially when you're standing in the middle of a battlefield with your cloak billowing and your enemies flying backward from a charged spell.

The developers clearly know their audience, too. Everything feels built with love for anime and fantasy fans. Whether you’re recreating your favorite look from Black Clover or inventing a totally original design, the game gives you the tools to express yourself. And that’s something a lot of games miss.

Codes That Actually Matter

Now let’s circle back to those codes I mentioned earlier. In most Roblox games, codes can feel kind of “meh”—a few coins here, some generic boost there. But in Grimoires Legacy, they’re actually impactful. You get spins (which are used to reroll grimoires and races), bonus XP, and other rewards that genuinely help you build momentum early on. For new players, this can mean the difference between getting stuck and finding your rhythm.

There’s always a fresh batch of codes floating around—usually dropped on the game’s official social channels or Discord. I make it a habit to check once a week, and I’ve been rewarded more often than not. It’s a small thing, but it makes the game feel more generous, more alive, and more connected to its community.

Final Thoughts – A Game That Grows With You

If you asked me a few weeks ago what I was playing, Grimoires Legacy wouldn’t have even been on my radar. But now? I’m logging in every day, not because I feel like I have to, but because I genuinely want to see what happens next. There’s a depth here that’s rare in Roblox RPGs. It respects your time, rewards your curiosity, and gives you the freedom to become exactly the kind of mage you dream of being.

Whether you’re a die-hard anime fan, a sucker for open-world exploration, or just someone who loves casting massive fireballs while dressed like a magical outlaw—Grimoires Legacy has something for you. And with new updates always on the horizon, it’s one of those games that feels like it’s only just getting started.

So yeah, if you’re ready to pick up your own grimoire and carve out a legacy in a world brimming with magic, there’s never been a better time to start. Just make sure to grab those codes first—you’ll thank me later.

[waldronconstruction]

How Do You Create a Renovation Budget?

So, you’ve decided it’s time to renovate. Maybe you’re upgrading your kitchen, adding a new bathroom, or transforming an outdated space into something modern and functional. Exciting, right? But before you start picking out fancy tiles and high-end fixtures, there’s one big thing you need to nail down: your renovation budget.

Without a clear plan, costs can spiral out of control faster than you’d think. And let’s be real—no one wants to be halfway through a remodel only to realize they’re out of money. So, let’s break down how to create a realistic, well-planned renovation budget that keeps your project on track without nasty surprises.

Figure Out What You Want 

Before you start crunching numbers, you need a clear vision of what you’re trying to achieve.

Are you updating your home to increase resale value?

Do you need to make structural repairs before cosmetic changes?

Are you aiming for luxury upgrades or just some practical improvements?

Is this a DIY-friendly project, or will you need professionals?

Your goals will shape your budget because different renovations have different costs. For example, a simple bathroom refresh will cost less than a full kitchen overhaul or a home addition.

Make a “must-have” list and a “nice-to-have” list. If you need to cut costs, you already know where to compromise.

Get Ballpark Figures for Costs

Once you have a plan, it’s time to get realistic about how much it will cost. Some rough national averages for home renovations look like this:

Kitchen remodel: $15,000 – $50,000+

Bathroom remodel: $10,000 – $30,000

Whole-home remodel: $50,000 – $150,000+

Basement finishing: $20,000 – $50,000

New roof: $8,000 – $20,000

Of course, these numbers vary based on location, materials, and labor costs. High-end finishes or custom work prices might be higher in Lake County, IL.

Call local remodeling companies like Waldron Construction to get estimates that reflect real pricing in your area.

Get Quotes from Professionals

This step is crucial if you’re hiring contractors. Labor alone can take up 30%–50% of your budget, so knowing what you’re getting into is essential.

Get at least three estimates from reputable contractors.

Ask for itemized quotes to see where your money is going.

Check online reviews and ask for local references.

Make sure your contractor is licensed, insured, and bonded.

If a quote sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Lowball estimates often lead to hidden fees or shoddy work.

Plan for the Hidden Costs

Here’s something many homeowners don’t think about: unexpected expenses.

Even the best-planned renovations can hit a snag. Maybe your contractor opens a wall and finds old electrical wiring that needs to be replaced. Or you discover your plumbing isn’t up to code.

Always add 10%–20% extra to your budget for surprises to avoid a financial meltdown.

Other “hidden” costs to keep in mind:

Permits & Inspections – Depending on the project, these can range from $200 to $2,000.

Temporary Housing – If your home is unlivable during renovations, you might need to stay elsewhere.

Eating Out – A kitchen remodel means a lot of takeout. That adds up.

Storage & Moving Costs – Where’s all your stuff going while your floors are redone?

Decide on Funding

Not everyone has tens of thousands lying around for a renovation. If you need financing, here are some common options:

Cash Savings – The cheapest way to fund a project (if you have the funds).

Home Equity Loan – Borrow against your home’s value at a fixed interest rate.

HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) – More flexible but comes with variable rates.

Personal Loan – Higher interest rates but no home equity required.

Credit Cards – Only smart if you can pay off the balance fast.

Local lenders in Lake County, IL, may offer better terms on home renovation loans. Always compare rates before making a decision.

Prioritize and Cut Costs 

If your dream renovation is over budget, don’t panic. There are plenty of ways to trim costs without sacrificing quality:

Choose mid-range materials – You don’t need marble when quartz looks just as good.

Keep the layout the same – Moving plumbing and electrical lines gets pricey.

Refinish instead of replace – Can those cabinets be painted instead of ripped out?

Look for sales and discounts – Off-season deals can save thousands.

DIY what you can – Painting, demolition, and simple installs can be done yourself.

Track Spending Like a Pro

A budget is pointless if you don’t stick to it. Keep every receipt, invoice, and contract organized. Use budgeting tools or apps like:

Mint – Great for tracking overall expenses.

HomeZada – Designed for home improvement projects.

Google Sheets – Simple, customizable, and free.

If costs start creeping up, adjust in real time instead of waiting until you’re over budget.

Work with a Trusted Remodeling Company

The biggest key to staying on budget? Hiring a contractor who knows what they’re doing.

If you’re in Lake County, IL, a company like Waldron Construction can help you:

Plan your renovation from start to finish

Give accurate, realistic pricing

Handle permits, subcontractors, and timelines

Deliver quality work without nasty budget surprises

Ready to Get Started?

Creating a renovation budget doesn’t have to be stressful. With careful planning, realistic expectations, and the right team, you can turn your home renovation dreams into reality—without financial regrets.

Thinking about remodeling in Lake County, IL? Contact Waldron Construction today for a free consultation and see how they can bring your vision to life—on budget and on time.

[taken-universe]

There's never been really a "me"

I've never existed.

I thought all along I was going to transform into something that I could call "me".

The fact is, after all of the things I've experienced washed away my sense of some kind of self, I was expecting to find a raw diamond, something that I could really take into my hands and to forge into whatever I saw fit. A kind of root code, that I could finally work on.

I thought I meant to be something. And I thought that this something, this project, this "new me" was going to present itself the moment the process was over. Silly me.

It turns out , this so called "me" is a series of little "I's" that I experience everyday, moment by moment, and these little "I's'" represent a tiny frame, each of the overall "me" that I'm meant to experience and be at that given moment. This sense of self can vary tremendously depending on wich interaction and objective I'm working on that moment. And what & who defines these objetives right now are mainly people that I could call much more strong "I am's" than me. And that doesn't feel as good as it used to feel when I was a person who could identify with a more well established Ego, preferences, likes and such. But I doesn't feel as bad as I used to either, when I could shut myself down for days and weeks of pure despair and self-pity, when something I planned, hoped for and nurtured so bad would or could not happen, just to discover later that nobody besides me would really care about it.

I feel empty right now, as an expression a friend invented last week, like a flying plastic bag, wandering around like time never existed, cause it has no function but only to be a certain thing with a certain use, on a given moment, and then be forgotten. I could float on the bubble of right now, in the timeless, emptiest and holiest space of Nothing, just to discover then, and never discover now, such thing as a sense of "I" ever existed. And if the concepts of "Time" and "I am" are equal, I should experience the creepiest existence of being nothing, at the same time I'm Everything, cause I'm here writing these meaningless stuff because of the sum of all the moments that led me here that are equal to a sense of "I am" divided by all the tiny frames that I lived. And this "I" is experiencing the flow of time, and the birth and decay of the most beloved things, just to see them fade away and be replaced by other beloved things that are going to rot and decay, just as the same of myself.

But I'm finding comfort in nothingness, and I'm learning to make peace with it. All my life I tried to be something really meaninful, something my inner child would be proud of. But it won't happen, cause I simply don't know how to be and how to build anything. I have plenty of qualities, but they do not include a strong sense of Self, much less coming along with these impecable & infallible set of values.

And now with the current state of things I must discover a reason to continue to experience these brief frame moments that I can call myself something other than Nothing. I have no such thing as courage, and I'm so tired from life now that I could sleep on the verge of an event horizon. However, for some reason, I now ended up living near this cluster of raw psychic power with some really weird and powerful people conceptually floating in it, and passing by me, and I happen to be married to one of them, and strangely enough he happens to love me more than I love myself. If I could describe the feeling of this realization, I would use the term "unexpected".

So let's see what happens next.

[sirijanu-redux]

Lark and Rosethorn are textually confirmed in will of the empress! It's in other characters' reactions to Daja learning she herself is a lesbian

switching from leaving comments to sending an ask: yes i believe Daja is a lesbian! i *thiiiink* she has a girlfriend in one of the later books? but i only read the main two quartets and listened to Melting stones so i'm not sure. Lark and Rosethorn were confirmed gay (on twitter i think?) but it's never explicitly said in the books, only heavily hinted at

I've read the majority of Tamora Pierces tortall/circle books so if you ever wanna talk about them :eyes: just lmk

Oh yeah Lark and Rosethorn was the most obvious 'hint' I had back then 🤣 two ladies who live together who use most of their limited 'screen time' on hovering around each other and using polite double speak to describe their relationship? They're lesbians Harold. Okay maybe not lesbians idk if they're bi or something because again, not that far, but definitely picked up what was being put down.

Personally I think I would have liked if Pierce could have flat out stated in the books, but I also understand that she had some trouble getting into certain characters' heads due to lack of lived experience, and she wanted to make sure to do it right if she was going to add representation, and I can respect that. I know she said she really hesitated writing Briar for that reason, she knew how to write little girls growing into women but was afraid she'd do her little boy growing into a man an injustice.

I do really appreciate that she takes the time to listen to fans who gently guide her when/if she does fuck something up, and that she makes the effort to make her books enjoyable for all readers who want to read strong female-led stories.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Hey sorry to bother you but do you have any ideas on a reimagined Tiamat/Tiamat worship? I've come an inspirational roadblock trying to figure out why anybody would worship a greedy power hungry (and pretty one note) evil dragon lady? Why does Bahamut get all the love?

Monsters Reimagined: Tiamat, Goddess of Primordial Waters.

Alright folks, strap in. This is overhaul has been a long time coming and is one that've I've been thinking about since long before I started this series, or even this blog.

Like most of the evil gods in d&d, worshiping Tiamat is silly. She's a one note god that cares nothing for her followers and has zero actual ideology. She exists solely so that there can be a god of evil dragons, but I'll get into that below the cut. TLDR: Rather than the clunky default version, you should use a riff on the ancient babylonian deity she's based on/steals the name from. The original Tiamat is a water/ocean goddess that's said to also represent the primal chaos from which all things spring. With her consort she gives birth to the first gods, then transforms into a great monster to battle her children when they try to pre kill her lover. From her body the earth itself is created, and are great monsters born. I think this is an amazing foundational myth that you can use for any campaign world, and gives plenty of reason for people within that world to worship Tiamat into the present day.

What's wrong: Right of the bat I'm going to say I never liked how d&d does dragons. Color coding them for our convenience decreases a lot of wonder when it comes to facing off against a such an iconic foe, and the way that their personalities have become codified over time further limits our ability to tell stories about them. I'm going to save my actual gripes about this canonization for a monsters reimagined focusing on dragons, but for the time being, I'm going to say that Tiamat's design looks a little silly and needs an overhaul on optics alone.

Next comes the divinity part: Tiamat isn't just THE mega evil dragon, she's THE GOD of evil dragons, which is silly for a bunch of reasons.

Why would dragons need a god? Dragons are ego given form, and the only worship they engage in is worship of the self.

From a cultural perspective, Gods are also creations of societies, reflecting the elements that society deals with or the ideologies that govern it. Dragons don't have a society or a culture, they're loners and alpha predators that can talk who may on occasion insert themselves into the culture of other civilizations either as a covert agent or by installing themselves at the top.

No mortal would worship Tiamat as she explicitly DOES NOT CARE for her followers, and only shows up if there's something in it for her. Even though she's listed as a goddess of greed, it's not like she embodies some kind of ideology that will enrich her dedicated followers: If you get too rich and worship Tiamat, she's going to show up and TAKE YOUR STUFF FROM YOU.

Lets fix it: We don't talk enough about bronze age cultures in d&d settings. Sure, there'll be remnants of the not!roman empire laying around, and there'll be ancient elvan enclaves or antlantis inspired lost civilizations.. but generally these things are so far off in the distant past that they're disconnected from the campaign's actual chronology. Much like LOTR or GoT, the faux-medieval period is presumed to have gone on forever, sometimes for tens of millennia, with no progress ever being made save for the occasional apocalypse to stagger back from.

In my own writing, I've been playing around with something I call " The Dawn Age" this is a semi-mythic era that served as a sort of trial and error period for the gods, as they made things, gave shape to the world, and figured out how they'd run things from thereon out. Like any alpha test, things go very wrong, very many times, and the gods and other nacient creatures of that time need a few attempt to figure out what works.

Tiamat and the bones of her original Babylonian mythology fit into this idea perfectly: one of the original creator deities that shaped the world out of the astral sea. Collaborating and conflicting with other powerful demiurges as they defined what would and wouldn't be for the plane our heroes would one day trek across. Tiamat eventually came into conflict with a group of semi-divine entities that had arisen from her creation, who wished to stop her chaotic reshaping of reality and institute a more settled and orderly process ( for a myriad of reasons, ranging form self preservation or the appreciation of what might be wiped away in her next revision). These entities would defeat Tiamat and use the power they stole from her to shape reality as they liked it, putting a gradual end to the dawn age and letting reality solidify and progress into the current chronology.

To bring it all Together:

In a way, Tiamat is the world itself, or at least the underlying primal forces that keep it in a cohesive shape. She is worshiped by those cultures with ancient knowledge for her miracle of creation and lifegiving, and remembered by others as a destroyer who would have gladly kept the world in a state of primordial chaos, destroying whole civilizations for the sake of an inspired whim.

Tiamat's primordial chaos and the way her essence was used to shape the world also explains why it keeps spitting out monsters, strange creatures arising from the wilderness with no explanation in ever more astonishing variations. In a way, she is still creating: seeping in through the cracks that formed since her defeat.

Titles: Spring of Origin, Primordia, Mother Hydra. She who wets the clay. The maker unmade 

Signs: plantlife growing in the shape of animals, verdant springs, scale patterns on rocks,  Her destructive aspects are heralded by tarpits, snakelike creatures with multiple heads, or water acting unnaturally.

Symbols: Entwining serpents, hydras, spiraling pictograms. A Tree with snake-tails for roots. Her destructive aspect is represented by interlocking maws full of fangs, usually in a jagged star pattern. 

Followers: Perhaps one of the first "nature" deities, Tiamat's influence is less an ideology than it is a push towards creation and flow, and works guided by her end up becoming verdant and fruitful. Mystics may seek Tiamat’s influence to invoke a flow of ideas or the “will” of creation, while healers may channel her primal vigor to encourage new growth and stave off old rot.  Those seeking to embody Tiamat’s more destructive aspects often resent the world the way it is, and wish in some way to restart the process of creation and perhaps even usher in a new dawn age. These groups or individuals are often outcasts from civilization, and seek a radical return to nature or opposition to forces that would “tame” the wilds. 

Spaces that that flow and erode are sacred to Tiamat, such as riverbends, swamps, coastlines, deltas, springs, as well as less obvious places such as caves or lavaflows. Creatures and cultures that dwell around or within these areas may feel the mother hydra's influence

Adventure Hooks:

A temple to a more modern deity is famous as a site of pilgrimage for its healing spring, but suffers a dramatic turn of events when their main attraction starts producing poisonous tar instead. Requested by a friendly acolyte of the temple, or  Employed by one seeking healing and looking to force the issue, the party must delve down into a nearby cave system to discover the origin of this blight.  . There they find an ancient altar to Tiamat that was the source of the spring’s healing abilities, which was desecrated by unknown hands. Before the party was able to investigate, strange creatures begin to emerge from the tar, seeking victims.   After teh beasts are dispatched, the party can piece together clues that it was a particularly zealous acolyte in the temple, who scorned the existence of a “heathen” shrine on their patrons holy ground. 

There is a strong connection between Tiamat and the Yuan-Ti ( who some believe directly obtained their flesh reshaping magic by studying Tiamats primordial influence).  Likewise, there is a strong connection her and Pharika, a serpentine goddess who is said to have shaped the world and its monsters with secret knowledge entwined within them. A priestess of this newer goddess of affliction and cure seeks the party’s help in exploring old sites sacred to Mother Hydra, but may run into some fundamentalist snake cultists guarding the ruins. 

Depending on which canons you follow, Moradin Allhammer, god of craft and dwarvenkind, was part of the coalition of beings that rose against Tiamat and her primordial tumult, with his epithet originating in the ability he gained from defeating the Spring of Origin, and the labors he undertook to give shape to reality afterwords. Some religious hardliners have decided to finish what their patron started, and have begun a witchhunt against a local enclave of Tiamat worshipers, claiming them to be an origin of a spreading plague. 

Dragons often nest in long abandoned temples to Tiamat because these sacred spaces are natural laylines, which attract wyrms the way that hot stones attract other reptiles. When an earthquake causes a shift in layline energy, a local dragon begins seeking the expertise of mystics and other scholars to “get the power back on”. Starting out disguised as a socially malajusted noble ( the nobility is a disguise, they have no idea how to talk to people), this dragon is not above returning to its original form and kidnapping a bunch of geomancers and terrified academics to see its mission through.  

[roosterbox]

Fic Rec Friday 4/7/23

Title: A List Checked Twice

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: M/M

Fandom: Hannibal (TV)

Relationship: Nigel (Charlie Countryman)/Adam Raki

Characters: Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Adam Raki, Chiyoh (Hannibal), Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter

Additional Tags: Fluff, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, pure undiluted fluff guys, Marriage Proposal, cousin!Hannibal Lecter, Married Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, Wedding Rings, Gift Giving

Summary: Long before he met Nigel, Adam made a list of things he wanted to experience with someone else, one day. As years spent single passed by, he forgot about the list... that is, until Nigel finds it. Plenty of fluffy surprises ensue.

———

Today’s rec comes to us from the varied and interesting world of the HEU - the Hannibal Extended/Expanded Universe, lol. More specifically, this is the ship known as Spacedogs. Honestly I didn’t expect to love this ship as much as I did, but wow. They are amazing. Also, it’s nice to have a character that is explicitly, canonically, 100% unequivocally autistic. Not coded as such, but textually referred to as so. It’s one of the concepts of Adam as a movie. Which is great. Idk how well they represent it in the movie (haven’t seen it!) but hey. You know what they say about the thought and how it counts.

Now about the fic.

This is some sappy ass stuff, my dudes. So sweet and lovely. They just *clenches fist* love each other so much, it’s ridiculous. And one reason I think this pair is so nice together - for all their differences in personality, despite one being neurotypical and one not, they understand each other. And like in any good relationship, they bring out the best in each other. In 95% of all Spacedogs fics, my man Nigel is WHIPPED but good for his Star, and he’s especially so in this one. He’s determined to show Adam that he loves all of his little quirks and idiosyncrasies. Even the ones that others looked down on. Also, no spoilers, but this fic features one of my favorite ridiculously sappy and romantic tropes in any romance story ever. Like it’s silly, but I can’t help but melt any time I read it.

And that ending, man. Bringing in the Hannigram for a cameo? The final cherry on top?? *chef’s kiss* That’s one bit that comes up every now and then in Spacedogs stuff: having either Nigel or Adam (or both!) be related somehow to Hannibal or Will. It’s not always a guarantee, but I love it when it happens, lol.

Call your dentist after this one, guys.

———

Next Week: *rubs hands together with evil glee* Oh man, time to get serious. It’s time for y’all to join me in rarepair hell. You might say that Spacedogs is rare, but here is their AO3 page:

And here is next week’s ship:

Yep. I’m bringing the pain. You may be wondering which ship it is? Your homework, if you want to prepare yourselves, is to watch the movie Welcome to the Punch and, after lamenting about what a terrible movie it is, please come join me in the abyss that is this pairing. This sailboat of a ship. That’s right, we getting Jacob/Max all up in this bitch.

Catch you on the flippy flop!

[mcalhenwrites]

We're still not ready for the "there are plenty of queer creations out there, and if you supported them, you'd see even more" conversation, are we? Seems like we're not. This extends to f/f content as well. It would involve supporting indie creators more, and the goals are more often "I want my queer or f/f ship to be canon and have lots of fanart" or "I want people to really like the work I make and for everything to center around my ideas of what should exist" and not so much about celebrating queer creations we might enjoy. (And let's face it, we won't always enjoy some of it.) But let's paint it as other people having moral failings or being hateful in some way, right? /sarcasm

I favor m/m in my writing (both original and fic). I'm a trans man and have been out since before I dipped my toes in fandom. I came out as trans in late 2003. I didn't know what yaoi was. I barely had any access to representation, and I latched onto the scraps I could find. Sunday nights, I huddled in front of a muted 13" television screen in a corner of my room, closed captioning on so I knew what was being said, using a blanket hanging from my bunk bed to hide it in case my mom decided to walk in. What was I watching? Queer as Folk. (US version.) It honestly changed my life. Getting online more and more later on introduced me to fandom, and that introduced me to a whole world of queer works. I was thrilled! It didn't matter if I didn't like some of it. I would sift through yaoi and yuri until I found the stuff I did like. But guess which one I spent more time on? I write a lot of BL. It's not really anyone's business, though. It shouldn't be the sole indicator that there's a moral failing here or that I hate f/f. I write too much f/f for that to be true, but I'll go into why saying that doesn't actually matter in a little bit. I have a hard time listening to people who make up excuses for why they never read books or even sometimes other people's fanfiction, but oh hey, here's my writing and it's actual representation, and I wish more fanart of my ships existed! And then they cry that there's nothing out there. And claim the love of BL as the true enemy.

...So fun fact, I own a lot of queer books. A lot of books in general. But lots are queer.

This is a haul of like 90% of the books I got last year:

It'll be tough to see a lot of the titles in this giant pile, but... There are a lot of queer relationships depicted in these books. This is barely a chip in my wishlist of queer books I'd like to read! (Most of these were gifts or secondhand, because I'm pretty broke.) And out of them, wow, some f/f happens to be there! Either as main characters or side characters. As canon ships. (But even if there wasn't any f/f there, you don't know who I've kissed in my life, the people I've loved, the people I wish I could've been with. You don't know my personal values, the improvements I want for the world. You don't know shit about me by finding out I like to read, write, and watch BL. And I don't owe you any of the reasons.) The point of this post and that image, however, is to say that queer creations fucking exist in large numbers. There's hardly a shortage. I'm crying at how little I can keep up with it these days, especially in a scary world with book bannings and little shits wanting the Hays code back. And here's the deal: creators get shafted. Sometimes, they have to quit creating (as much or at all) just to make a living. Some post on AO3 (cough) because fandom is wonderfully transformative and we have some itches to scratch. Being supportive is always better than tearing them down. And when you start uplifting the work you like, instead of yelling about the stuff you don't, suddenly there are publishers and film makers taking note. They're recognizing what's in demand. In many ways, they've already started to. (Although you should probably keep supporting artists and be wary of companies, but sometimes companies uplift important artists and that's cool too.) Your friends and online circles are seeing these titles and characters and ships and might even find themselves intrigued. But when you just yell about stuff that's not going the way you want it to, it's actually satisfactory to deny it to you. I'm not big on giving entitled people the content they crave. I do what I want, and I have been known to keep my work to myself because of demands and complaints. I don't stop creating, but it's not yours to have, it's mine. Some people just get tired of the harassment and sweeping generalizations about the kind of person they are, because innocuous creations are blown out of proportion by people with their own agendas. Some people create more of what you might hate out of spite. Others give up sharing, because while everyone is focusing on all the things they hate, that person's creations that might've been up your alley gets fucking buried. Ignored. And then they don't really see the point in sharing. In a world that is brimming with hate, where some people do using writing to profit on hate (jerkoffrolling), maybe your enemy isn't... people (queer or not, none of your business btw) creating queer art!

[joshslater]

End of Shift

Similar stories and bonus material on my Patreon.

My life is over. I've been playing a high stakes game, and somehow landed on one side of the odds all the time, but my luck was bound to run out sooner or later. I guess I should be happy that it turned out to be later, but it sucks no less. I got sloppy. I was looking through the items near the cashier, as always, trying to mostly use reflective surfaces to see what was going on, as always. I need to be within 15 feet or latency becomes an issue. Some old lady still using the old wallet was buying KokaKola and a pack of Ziffs. This would be easy, as always. I discreetly pressed my watch as she was ready to make the purchase, activating my EM-swiper. I wouldn't take much, a few credits more. She probably wouldn't notice it, or think the store stiffed her, or think she bought two packs of Ziffs and lost one. I'm not stealing to get rich, just to get by.

As the EM-swiper went off a high pitched beeping starts behind me. I barely have time to turn my head enough to see the charging police officer, before he slams me into the side of a KokaKola fridge. Shit, I hadn't done a survey pass through the store as I always do. I could barely register what he was screaming in my ear. "Drop it," I realize, and let go of the magazine. He must have thought I had the EM-swiper in my hand. He told me to put my hands against the wall and performed a pat-down. It's only him, so he must be off duty or not on a real patrol. He empties my pockets on the cashier table. Nothing of value, and certainly not something incriminating. I may not have been fortunate enough to afford academy, but I'm not stupid.

"You are detained under suspicion of committing proximity fraud. Do you understand?" he asks me in that commanding yet bored tone of a laborer having to recite corporate bullshit, only in his case it is in the pretense of justice. "Yes," I answer him. He doesn't have anything on me or he would have arrested me right away. Probably. "Put this on to acknowledge you've read the Citizen Rights Act and agree to an investigation in this matter." He hands me a pair of handcuffs to put on. I hesitate for a second. He is behind me and in the way of the store exit. I can stall for time and tell him to recite the CRA, but that immediately counts against you, as it is your duty to know it. I have no choice but to put them on. It's the latest model. I haven't seen any up close before. Light, thin, all metal, no key hole. Probably opened remotely or only inside a police cell or some shit. I put them on.

"Turn around, pick up your stuff, and exit the store." I do as told, turn around and begin to pick up my stuff and put them back where he took them. It's an older police officer. None of them young, jacked up types. Perhaps he is one of the fair ones. But then I am the criminal, so what good would that do me? There's a small, black duffle bag by his side. So he is on his way home. Perhaps he is tired. Perhaps I can shake him. Have Leo remove the shackles and then stay low for a fucking long time. Or this just doesn't amount to anything more than a slap on the wrist. I walk towards the door, him behind me.

"Nice watch," he says, pointing at my wrist as I reach or the door.

He knows. Unless I can get away now my life is over. All I can think of is the monstrosities the state churn out as punishment. Equal part labor force and sadism. I open the door as little as possible and as soon as I am through I dash down the block. I don't dare look behind me, but I don't hear him in pursuit. Halfway down the block I swerve into the alley that cuts across the building and out on the block on the other side. If I can cross that block and then down south I'm in the park and there are plenty of places to hide there.

My hands are not on fire. This surprises me as I look down on my hands, screaming in pain. There is a high pitched sound coming out of the handcuffs, like capacitors charging, but it is continuous. The pain emanating from my hands is something unlike anything I've ever experienced before. My legs buckle. I know I need to move, somehow, somewhere. It's just so difficult to think of anything but my hands that are not on fire. It would probably be a good idea to not scream my lungs out, but I don't really have a choice in that.

Just as suddenly as it started it stops. I'm still writhing in pain, but my hands are not on fire in a much more comforting way. "The payment proxy is in your watch, is it not?" the policeman asks, standing a few steps away. I'm panting, I realize when I attempt to answer him. Panting and sweaty. I can't manage to speak. I just nod my head.

"The state vs. item RK-220553 finds the defendant guilty to breach of contract with the state, executed by judicial AI 5" he reads off his handheld screen. I'm confused to what just happened. "No trial?" I manage to wheeze out. "You entered into a cooperation contract when you put on the handcuffs, as you are aware of as you claimed to know the Citizens Rights Act. Disobedience at that point allows for immediate trial by AI as long as no forensic work is needed." He sounded like the same bored cop as he was in the store, reciting memorized text for the thousandth time.

I struggle to get up on my feet. Not only am I shaky, but having my hands locked together makes it surprisingly difficult to get up. "You know, this is bad timing," the cop starts. "I was on my way home and don't have all the standard gear. It's supposed to be a swift punishment, for deterrence, but there is really only one thing I can do." Why is he so apologetic? He opens the bag and pulls out a fucking tactical human transformer. I've never even seen one in person before. He turns it on, selects something on the screen, and points the device towards me. "No, I can..."

This time I am on fire, if only so briefly. There is a blinding light, a pulse of heat, and the smell of burnt plastic. As the transient heat subsides it keeps falling colder and colder. I'm naked. All my clothes have been singed from my body. My watch is gone. My shoes are gone. Underwear gone. And, I realize, my hair is gone. The cop keeps punching in selections in the menus of the devices. I manage to get up on my feet. "Stay on the ground," he tells me. Not so much as an order, but as an advice. I sit down again and he trains the device on me.

I don't know how to describe it. It's not pain exactly. There is something about rewriting the code and cellular structure of your body while your brain is engaged that makes it give up in disbelief. "This can't be what's actually happening," it thinks and gives you completely nonsense sensory interpretations. But it also gives up on all other tasks. Time becomes irrelevant. Critical thinking put on hold. When the device stops you are utterly confused for seconds. Possibly by design, but it makes sense that you can't rewire the brain in flight without some glitches.

"I want you to stand up," the cop says in a firm voice. "Who?" I ask, still dazed, just to make sure. "You. Get up on both feet. Take this." He throws an orange bundle to me, and I feebly grasp for it but my one arm yanks the chain to the cuff of the other arm. The bundle brushes by and lands on the ground next to me. He looks disappointed, more at himself for thinking it would work than on me for not catching it.

I look down at my hand and see something orange in my grip, but it is not the orange that interests my but the grip. My arms, thin from lack of food and nimble from grabbing P2 storage modules out of vendor racks. are enormous. Big, well defined muscles with popped veins going up and around them. They look longer than before and even the hands are larger than they used to be. I can see that not only my arms are different. My chest is all lean and strong-looking as well, the legs have these weird lines showing different groups of muscles under the skin, and I can almost bet that the ground is further down than it used to be. Orange! I'm holding something orange in my hand.

"I only have an emergency kit with me, so not very many options for you I'm afraid. If you had come with me I think they would have found some better use for you, but as I said, I didn't have much to chose from beside himbot," the cop said while putting some beat-up looking boots from his bag next to me. He grabs the chain between my cuffs, and both of them pop open instantly, and he folds them up and begins to place them back into the cuff holder in his belt.

There was something he said that was important. Like, really important. I feel cobwebs like I had just been awakened from a deep sleep. "Put on the jock," he tells me, and again I am confused, but of a different kind. It's like I urgently need to know what he means, somehow. "You're holding them in your hand." I again look down at my hand and see the orange piece of cloth, which obviously is what he meant. I flip it around in my hands and finds it to be an orange jockstrap with a generous pouch. Looking down I also see the reason for that, since my dick and balls are large. Much larger than I remember them to be. I don't want to keep him waiting, so as quickly as I can manage, with my balance a bit off, I manage to place one leg in each loop and pull up the jockstrap. It neatly collects everything in front into a large orange ball.

Himbot! That's what he had said. It's like the government robots but human. What was the I and M now again? Wait, those are just mindless sacks of muscles roaming around doing whatever menial task is available.

"Himbot?" I ask him. "Yes, you are a himbot," the cop answered. "Put on the shirt."

I immediately grabbed the orange bundle from the ground I assumed to be the shirt. To my delight I was right and with just a few tries I managed to get it on me. It isn't a real shirt, but one of those without arms, whatever they are called. Quite a lot of skin showed. The shoulders were bare, as were the sides and the nipples unless you positioned the strings just right. Stringers! It's called a stringers, or something close to it. I feel so tired thinking of words.

"And the boots"

I grab one of the boots. There is something missing, but I'm not sure what it is. I has something to do with the small holes, I think. Well, the large hole is missing a foot, so I put one in it. Then I put the other foot in the other boot, and looked at the cop to see if he approved. He looks about the same. Good enough I hope.

"Face me and raise your hands" I comply immediately. He is pointing the large gun at me again. I don't like it, but I must do what he says. He presses a few buttons and then there is a sharp headache.

"Who are you?" "Himbot 220553." "What is your assignment?" "Walk along path 228-red responding to requests." "What types of requests?" "Any type of requests."

[ravensmind]

Happy RobRae week 2021! Here's my day 1 prompt fic. There will be an extended smuttier version coming soon. Might only do this prompt this year just due to things I have going on, but I'm still writing! Hope you enjoy this 😃.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13863436/1/Finals-and-a-First

~RavensMind~

RobRae week 2021 

Day 1: Gotham Academy AU

Finals and a First

Finals week. Two simple words that had the power to make anyone quake with anxiety and while he may do a good job of hiding it, Dick Grayson was no exception. Luckily for him, he had a solid group of friends who had each other’s backs. They mostly studied as a group when they were free, unless their class schedule or extracurricular activity demanded they improvise. Gotham Academy was not known for caring about its students' friendships or whether they had free time to study together or not. Dick was on the football team and they did not have practice that day, so he was free, but Victor, Kori, Garfield, and Tara were all at meets or practices or matches or just in class, only Rachel was able to study with him, and that presented a challenge. Dick was enamored with Rachel, infatuated with Rachel, could not stop thinking about Rachel, and she had no idea because he just could. Not. Tell. Her. 

Even though Rachel Roth, the quiet, reserved, sarcastic, smart, violet-haired girl was sitting only inches away from him at the same table in the library, he could not look at her, as he had some paranoid feeling that she knew exactly how he felt when he looked at her. Normally, he would play off of his other friends, but now they were alone. He hid in his textbook, pretending to be very interested in some words located near the spine of the book in some rose colored block of text. Out of frustration with his own inner turmoil, he picked up the noble they’d been assigned to read and chucked it into a nearby bookcase.

“Are you okay?” Rachel asked in a frustrated tone.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why?” Dick returned.

"You’re just not usually this quiet, is all,” she replied.

“Guess I’m just nervous,” he said.

“About our finals?” 

“Yeah,” he said, thanking the universe for that excuse.

“I didn’t think you got nervous over stuff like this, at least I don’t think I’ve seen it. Wait ‘till this gets out, the chill, cool captain of the football team is freaking over his final,” she teased.

“But you wouldn’t tell anyone, right?”

“No. Lucky you, I don’t think anyone would believe me.”

“That the only reason you wouldn’t say anything?”

“No, because I don’t know that I believe you either,” she replied, toying with a strand of her hair with one of her slim, almost pale fingers.

Dick chanced a look at her and was surprised to see a playful smirk on her face and a strange look in her violet eyes that he was not sure he had seen before. He tensed a little when he realized he had slipped up and looked at her. Did she know? Was he screwed? The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable and get on her bad side. She had enough trouble dealing with the gossip and judgmental teachers for her goth vibe and overall lack of shits to give attitude.

At one point, he heard Rachel had been summoned to the dean’s office for violating the dress code by wearing black knee highs over fishnets and foregoing the standard blue skirt for a black one. Her response was that technically she was in compliance, as there was no rule about a specific color skirt, or that she could not wear anything in addition to the socks on her legs, and she was a model student. Aside from snapping at a teacher or two, she was rarely in trouble, and he knew she had good grades. She still kept that style, even though more teachers voiced their disapproval, but they ultimately could not do anything without changing the dress code and it was not worth it. After he heard about what happened, Dick helped her out by changing the color tie and slacks he wore from blue to black, as his popularity would make her style choice far less controversial. He had mostly done it to help her, but he also liked being seen as more of a rebel. He stuck up for her when she was being picked on and she was always quick to shut down anyone who was bad-mouthing him.They had grown a bit closer as a result, though neither really acknowledged it to the other. 

He swallowed and considered what his options would be if she dug deeper. He hoped that he could talk his way out of whatever accusation she was about to make. He shifted in his chair and cleared his throat.

“What makes you say that?” he asked.

“Hmm. Well, you’ve never really stressed about tests before. When Gar complains, you calm him down and put together a plan to study, so I’m pretty sure you’re more level-headed,” she replied.

“Doesn’t mean I’m not nervous.”

“No, but I think it’s less likely that it’s about the exams. Now that I think about it… you kind of acted like this last time we hung out. Maybe it’s about one of us,” she thought aloud.

“Like I said, I’m nervous about finals. It’s, uhh, just been a lot for me this time. It’s our last year and I don’t want Bruce to be harder on me if I don’t measure up,” he said, injecting a little truth, desperately hoping it would help sell his lie.

“I suppose that’s fair, but I still don’t think it’s that.”

“Why’s it matter? It’s not like I’m hiding anything that would hurt people. I’m just stressed!”

“You’re hiding plenty, but that’s not the point. It matters,” she hesitated before continuing, “because I don’t like seeing you stressed. It’s like I can feel it and I want to help you. Something’s clearly eating at you and I hate seeing you try and bury it like it’s not there.”

He sighed and looked  down at his book. He stared down at the page as he felt the swelling of emotions that rose from his heart. He wanted to spill everything, but knew that it would not be fair to her, to dump everything at once and give her a massive choice to make about them. He cared about her and she clearly cared about him, so he thought he might be able to at least give her a hint or two. She was dealing with more than enough, she didn’t need his problems too.

“Okay...don’t laugh. It’s about a girl,” he said.

Rachel perked up and tilted her head. Dick swore her eyes lit up, but that may have just been a trick of the light as someone passed by the window near them, book in hand. 

“I’m not going to laugh! What’s making you so nervous? I seriously doubt you’d ever need to be stressing over a girl, plenty throw themselves at you, though I guess that could be tough too.”

“She’s different. I like her, but she’s never really said if she likes me or not. I hang out with her quite a bit and we have fun, or I think we do. I'm just not sure if I want to take a chance and mess up a good thing.”

“You’re being ridiculous.. Clearly she likes you enough to spend time with you, you should have had some kinda obvious sign by now. Some girls tease you or act a certain way around you, others might be more blunt, but you have to know at this point. Though, it would help if you said who she is,” she teased knowingly.

“Hah, yeah, it is a little silly,” he chuckled, “You wouldn’t tell her though?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m interested, I need to get ready for the big reveal, lots of pyro and speakers to set up,” she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, “No, of course not, idiot. You know you can trust me. Why the secrecy, though? Is it... Kori?”

She leaned forward with interest, almost teetering on the edge of her seat.

“No, uh, but you’re kinda close,” he said, anxiously shifting in his chair.

He watched as she went quiet and crossed her legs in her chair, sitting up a bit straighter as she considered the possible remaining options. He hoped she had thought of herself first.

“I admit, I could see why you’d like Tara, she’s pretty easy to talk to and knows what she likes, which isn’t common,” she said, tracing her bottom lip with her finger, “I think she can be a little insecure though, so you may want to keep that in mind.”

He wondered to himself if she was toying with him.

“It’s uhh, it’s not Tara, either,” he admitted, his cheeks turning red.

Rachel’s cheeks also reddened as her mouth formed a coy smile, and she went quiet. Her fingers played with the edge of a page in her textbook as she looked away from Dick toward the door before snapping back so her eyes met his.

“Oh. So, I think if you like her, you really should say something. I’m not sure if I know *exactly* how she feels, but I’d want to hear you say how much you like me. I’d like to know how I made you feel… if I was her,” she teased.

“Are you sure? I uhh, I’d hate if I came on to her too strongly, she’d shut me down and it would mess with the friendship she and I had,” he asked, undoing his tie and opening his school blazer a little. He was feeling very warm all of a sudden.

“I don’t think she would let that happen, Dick,” she replied, leaning closer to him, “You should probably tell me who she is...so I have a better idea.”

He took a deep breath and smiled at her, letting the moment last, enjoying the hopeful, expectant look on her face.

“Her name is Rachel,” he said, edging closer to her.

Dick felt his heart pounding in his chest and he swore his face was burning as they both got closer to each other, until his lips were inches from Rachel’s. Neither looked around to see who else in the library might be watching, and the idea that anyone else even existed was as distant as another planet. Her eyes closed as she pressed her lips to his and he eagerly kissed her back, hardly believing this was happening. Their heated kiss was interrupted by the sound of the librarian reprimanding a classmate of theirs at another table on the other side of a bookcase. Rachel smiled at him, biting her lip while she studied his face for a moment.

“That. Is what you get when you tell the truth,” she said.

[kenyizsuartblog]

Dragon Design Adventures #1 - Hetra 2.0

Now you guys can see some of my more messier sketches. Musings about character design process below, read through if you are interested!

---

So Hetra. My dear sweet Hetra.

She's a tough code to break, not gonna lie.

My first go at her ended with a Western-style design, with some colorful feathers. Functional, nothing ground-breaking. Something felt off about her, so I put her in the background and focused my efforts on another team member, Shirqi. Glad to report, she had been a success. But Hetra kept eluding me, because the root of the problem reaches far earlier than her first design.

Originally, I wanted the final team to have six members, however while I had had plenty ideas for the first four, the last two were just... there, in the "well, they have to be there!!" kind of spirit. You know, six dragon species, plus one human, seven magic number, all that good jazz. I'm very big on stuff like this, I admit. But currently... yeah, I think four is enough. There may come a day, when I get such a good idea for the last two members that I just have to include them. Or there may not come a day. Or I could eventually design the two races, without them being part of the core group. Anything goes.

I have originally intended for each member to reflect one "type" of dragon in their design - Western, Eastern, drake, Wyvern, maybe a wyrm or a full-on sea dragon, some more obscure versions of dragons, you get the picture. I would still like to preserve this line of thinking, even with only four members.

Marada is a tried and true Western dragon with an aquatic spin on it. Amphibian at its finest.

Shirqi is a very "modern" take on dragons, mostly covered in feathers, with some special wings. Very cat-like, more mammal than reptile.

The fourth member will more than likely be based on Hungarian dragons who are vastly different than the usual myths. Partly because I am Hungarian, of course, I'm absolutely shameless about it, sue me. But also Hungarian dragons have certain qualities that can fit well with what I have been planning for Four and his species in the story. So I have actual reason for this decision! (Man, I can't wait to get to him. Hetra comes first, tho.)

But Hetra? With the other two members gone for now, she could be the "Eastern dragon" of the group.  Of course, not a full-blown Chinese dragon god of the Wind, no no no. Too easy. I want something just a bit extra. Something with leather wings - perhaps a harpy eagle kind of structure, broad but short wings for good maneuverability but weak long-distance soaring. Shirqi and Marada have that last part covered anyway. I am truly wondering if a long body can work with a broad wing. In silhouette, it might - a long and graceful creature when the wings are closed, but a surprisingly broad "paper kite"when flying. I must think on this more. Also, not entirely sure where this "butterfly vibe" came from, but I am liking it. She is a regal character who will have to go through a massive transformation in some sense, after all. Let's see if I can keep it.

Do feel free to share your thoughts on the matter. Lord knows, a fresh pair of eyes never hurts! Thank you for reading. Extra thank you, if you share your thoughts!

(Yes, I do draw other things besides Doc Ock. I am just as surprised as you guys are, trust me)

2022.02.05.