#so if you're interested in playing them but can't find resources -- i have some !! just message us !!

[pilfappreciator]

Brandi and Bruce’s S/o looking after the bakers dozen on their own, what shenanigans occur?

Anon this is?? Literally so cute what the hell??? Also referring to them as the "bakers dozen" is so genuis sfhjjfdadfggh—

Reader & the Bakers Dozen: babysitting solo

Includes: GN! Reader, mentions of polyamory, mentions of Vacay Lovers, slightly Parental! Reader, the Bakers Dozen

CW: Bruce Jr.

🍪 POV: your partners go off to some fancy convention to promote their business, leaving you to watch after all 13 of their kids. Chaos ensues

🍪 These little shits are already a lot to handle, so when you suddenly find yourself being the only adult in the house responsible for them? Yeah, babes, you've definitely got your hands full

🍪 Luckily, you've spent enught time at the Vacay Lovers household that things are at least a little easier for you lol

🍪 They definitely behave much better for you compared to other babysitters. Partly because you're smoochin their parents (and don't wanna get in trouble), and partly because they genuinely like you :3

🍪 But they're still little shits thru and thru, don't forget that

🍪 If they happen to have school? Chances are Bruce and Brandi already took care of their lunches and stuff before they left, so it'll be up to you to pick them up (WARNING: THE KIDS WILL TRY TO CONVINCE YOU TO GO ORDER AT THE NEAREST FAST FOOD PLACE! Unless you've got money for 13 happy meals, prepare to hit em with a firm refusal). Definitely helps if you blast some music in the van! They've kinda lost interest in Velvet & Veneer after learning the two literally tortured their dad and uncles...

🍪 Play Brozone. They'll go crazy and shout-sing along with Bruce's parts lol

🍪 Later in the day you can expect a few to come up to you for homework help. They might also wanna help with dinner, but fyi there WILL be a mess. Pasta sauce on the floor, flour all over the counters, stains on your clothes— the whole shebang

🍪 Want the least amount of casualties? Just let them set the table (no worries, all the plates and stuff are made of plastic ajdjakkala)

🍪 A few of them have some dietary restrictions tho so keep that in mind!! Luckily, you can always find a list of reminders/examples up on the fridge courtesy of lovely muppet wife Brandi <33

🍪 If the kids don't have school that day, then be prepared. You're gonna have very little time to yourself ://

🍪 Like they've each got their own interests and hobbies to keep them occupied, but sometimes they'll need you to reach somewhere up high, or for you to play tiebreaker/settle an argument, or they honestly just want you to join them for a game of hide and seek which???

🍪 "Aw, you sure you guys don't mind me joining in?"

"Yeah! Just cuz you're old doesn't mean you can't have fun, too!"

"...Gee, thanks :D"

🍪 They're merciless

🍪 They've all got their own set of chores they need to do. Each and everyone will try to worm their way out of them. All of them. Everytime

🍪 Sure, they can be a little hyper sometimes, but they're like 6-8 years old so that's expected. For the most part, they're all pretty chill

🍪 It's Bruce Jr. who you've gotta watch out for

🍪 He is a shit- stirer and I WILL FOREVER STAND BY THAT

🍪 This guy won't hesitate to rally his siblings into whatever plan he's been cookin in that feral little head of his. Prepare yourself because you're MOST DEFINITELY getting pranked. It's like a requirement or something

🍪 One nice thing i have to say about Bruce Jr. is that he's actually pretty resourceful. Like this little dude is using everyday household items like he's staring in his own Home Alone movie AKSJSJAKA—

🍪 Rest assured, tho, none of his pranks are seriously harmful or anything but like... at the end of the day, expect:

1) to be covered in craft supplies

2) your clothes/skin/hair a mess

3) to have one limb stuck in a bucket

4) all of the above

🍪 Honestly I feel like Bruce and Brandi would be surprised if they came back and DIDN'T find you sporting paint-stained clothes or with glitter in your hair. Maybe a few stickers slapped on your forehead??

🍪 The trick to dealing with this little agent of chaos is to either keep him separated from his siblings long enough so he doesn't manage to rope anyone into his schemes, or strike some kinda deal with him. Considering he's got 12 siblings, all of whom you need to be watching over at the same time, chances are the second option is your safest bet

🍪 Chances are he'll ask for something semi-illegal, or at the very least something that DEFINITELY requires adult supervision

🍪 DO NOT LET THIS BOY TALK YOU INTO BUYING ANYTHING RELATED TO FIRE. Seems like an easy task, I know. Unfortunately this little shit enherited his dad's charm so watch out o_o

🍪 He'll settle for a happy meal tho. Hopefully you didn't already cave and take him and his siblings out to eat earlier, otherwise you're spending even more money ajsjakkala

🍪 If any errands need to be run during your time there, you BETTER BELIEVE they're all coming with. You'll need to be incredibly vigilant during this time cuz these kids are even more rowdy in public than they are at home. If you're smart about it, you can turn the whole thing into a game! If everyone manages to grab everything off the grocery list in a certain amount of time or if they're able to find the best quality (but relatively cheap) brand of laundry detergent, then you'll buy each of them candy or something uwu

🍪 You can count on them to be cooperative, but like... bring the family child leash just in case

🍪 Cough cough (Bruce Jr.) cough cough

🍪 MOVIES BEFORE BED! It's a bit of a family tradition in the Vacay Lovers household. Yknow, just some way for the kids to spend time together before the day ends

🍪 You're most definitely gonna be playing tiebreaker when the time comes. All 13 of them have wildly different tastes

🍪 Absolutely no scary movies tho. They'll try to argue that theyre able to handle it, but at the end of the night expect to find yourself under a pile of frightened children who've ctawled into bed with you

🍪 Their collective nightly routine is literally?? So chaotic??? Like all of them are simultaneously trying to squeeze into the same bathroom just to brush their teeth... running in and out of their respective rooms... trying to sneak some extra dessert before bed

🍪 Literally never a quite moment in this household jshskakakam

🍪 You might have to read a few bedtime stories or sing a lullaby—

"Dad does it better"

"Just go to bed, Benji"

—but once they've settled in under the covers? Out like a light. They are unconscious the moment their heads hit their pillows

🍪 You'll probably have a mess (or two... or three) to clean up afterwards, but once they're taken care of? Dishes washed? Counters clean? You're more than welcome to crash on Bruce and Brandi's bed <33

🍪 Said couple returns home the next morning...

🍪 Just to find their kids drawing on your face with marker. Cross your fingers that none of its permanent 💀💀

Hope this was good! I know I call them all little shits BUT I MEAN IT AFFECTIONATELY OKAY AJSJAKA

Ngl I feel like this could have been like... more colorful? Like I was very general about the kids and their behavior as a whole, but now I'm super tempted to make a post describing each of them and all their little quirks! Just something fun to do that'll help me write them better in the future ;3

[bfdreaming]

So I've been playing another one of those idle cultivation games and since I can't not think about svsss, I started thinking about what a PIDW idle cultivation game would look like. It turned into something that would be better than the actual PIDW AND other games in the genre, possibly because it caught a very reliable whale early on... *cough*

You create your own character, but the default name and appearance is LBH, and it's LBH that appears in illustrations.

You start in Cang Qiong, on Qing Jing. You have been there for a few miserable years, your only friend being Ning Yingying. One day you happen to notice her standard cultivation manual is very different from yours despite having the same cover. You manage to steal a proper manual of your own so that your cultivation journey can finally begin!

Here we get a tutorial alongside the story. Basic systems are introduced one by one, like cultivation, cooking, combat, missions, pills, and equipment. You can access the love interest page, but it only has Ning Yingying on it for now, affection points already maxed. It explains that you can marry someone with max affection, but only if you have somewhere for them to live. All you can do here for now is talk to Ning Yingying.

At some point, the sect is invaded by SHL, and you get a portable grandpa out of it. He tells you about your likely demon heritage and gradually takes over the tutorial from Ning Yingying, who didn't know much more than you to start with. However, your demonic qi is currently inaccessible due to a seal and you're in the human realm, so there's a limit to how much he can help. If you seek him out on his own screen, he'll comment on whatever's going on, offer hints on what to do next, and if you ask for it specifically, dump lore. There is a hidden score that affects what he says. The more you consult him, the more he has to say. Most players don't trigger it to a noticeable extent because they aren't interested in reading through his lore dumps, but a certain whale did, and dutifully documented everything on the wiki.

Just when you've gotten into the swing of things, the Immortal Alliance Conference happens, and we all know how that goes. Your teacher's sudden but inevitable betrayal leads to another tutorial, this time in the abyss. It covers your demonic cultivation system, exploration, hunting, mount taming, and relics. Ning Yingying's portait is grayed out. (There is no Xin Mo.) You cannot progress your human cultivation at all.

Eventually, you escape into the demon realm, and Meng Mo leads you to the palace of the former demon emperor. It's keyed to heavenly demon blood, and keeps out anyone else unless you let them in. You're the only heavenly demon left that Meng Mo knows of, so it's safe, but dilapidated. Cue the home tutorial. With the right resources, you can fix it up one section at a time. Once a section is renovated, it can be decorated for some stat boosts. (After fixing up the first room, you MUST fix the kitchen and add the necessary basic furnishings. LBH does not give you any choice in the matter until the kitchen is useable.) Later, you can start adding rooms for wives. You can only have as many wives as you have rooms for.

With most tutorials out of the way, the game becomes less linear. You begin conquering your way through the demon realm, and there's both an official suggested route and some fan guides. However, once you've conquered a few regions, Meng Mo warns you that your demon side is threatening to overwhelm your human side, and if it gets much worse, it will be very messy. He can't help you with that, so he advises you to head back to the human realm and find another sect.

You're quickly found and taken in by Huan Hua Palace (and the game is linear again while you're here), where you can resume cultivating, and add the Little Palace Mistress and the Qin sisters to your wife candidate page. Once you've completed optional questlines for them, you can start raising their affection. However, you can't marry them yet because your home is in the demon realm and you don't want to out yourself.

The main Huan Hua questline is not optional, however, and it mostly consists of discovering what the Old Palace Master did to your birth parents. You end up outing yourself as a half demon (OPM already knew but now the rest of the sect does too) and have to leave. Luckily, Meng Mo has some kind of technique that will keep most of them from thinking about you too much when you're not in front of them, so no one will try to hunt you down or warn the other sects.

You still have to keep improving both sides of your cultivation, though, so you do have to find another sect. Thus begins a major gameplay loop: join a sect, meet the potential wives there, follow the sect questline as you advance, get found out as a half demon and have to leave, rinse, repeat. Meanwhile, you're conquering the demon realm. LBH apparently gets up very early in the morning. Don't worry about it.

A few sects in, you'll join Qiu Haitang's sect. Her own quest is locked at first, but the plot has you two getting somewhat close. Once you're revealed as a half demon, you tell her about how Shen Qingqiu was a huge jerk and tried to kill you once or twice. She seeks you out afterward, tells you her own story, and asks you to kill SQQ. She will begin travelling with you at this pint, but only for stuff related to this questline, which you don't have to do right away, or ever. Don't worry about it.

You can't just waltz into Cang Qiong, though, since SQQ knows you're a half demon. So you'll have to sneak in, but that means getting through the wards undetected. There are two ways to do this. The first, suggested by Meng Mo, is to recruit Sha Hualing, who broke in before. Recruiting her involves a pretty long questline but you can probably start it right away at this point. The second can be discovered by accident by recruiting Mobei-Jun, which involves a single difficult fight. (You'll probably end up recruiting them both anyway.)

Once you and Haitang are in, before you can get to SQQ, you're caught by NYY. After talking to her, she begs you not to go through with it. She knows he's been terrible to you, and she really doesn't know anything about the Qiu massacre, but he's like a father to her.

If you want to kill him anyway, you have to fight her to stop her from sounding the alarm. Once you kill SQQ, Haitang will be willing to marry you. NYY remains grayed out forever, her fate ambiguous. (Players suspect you killed her.)

Most players don't want to hurt NYY, and had perhaps been expecting to marry her, so most players agree to spare SQQ. Upon doing so, Liu Mingyan appears and reveals herself to have been listening in, and says you should kill him anyway because he killed her brother. (You may remember something about this from before.)

NYY protests that this is just a stupid rumor. SQQ gained nothing from LQG's death. He had no motive.

LMY says that SQQ hated LQG.

NYY says that he hates a lot of people but doesn't try to kill them about it.

You cough.

NYY amends that he doesn't usually try to kill them about it. At any rate, if he did try to kill someone, he would definitely not do it in a manner than would inevitably and obviously paint him as the only suspect.

LMY concedes that this is strange, and you mention an artifact you aquired in the Huan Hua plotline that allows you to speak with the dead if you go to where they died. So you all sneak into Lingshi Caves. (Haitang can't sneak out without you, so she comes too.)

Once there, your artifact picks up on a ghost in a chamber before the one LQG died in. You speak to a teenage boy who is frantic to save Xiao Jiu. Haitang says that this is what SQQ used to be called, and asks what he needs to be saved from. The ghost says he needs to be saved from the Qiu family, that everyone knows the older brother is cruel. Haitang is taken aback, and starts to protest, but the ghost is getting increasingly upset. You cut in to tell him that Xiao Jiu made it to Cang Qiong safely and became a disciple, and the ghost settles, remembering that he'd seen an older Xiao Jiu come to meditate. (That particular chamber has really awful vibes for anyone except SQQ.)

The ghost disappears, and you continue on to speak to LQG. He reveals that SQQ tried to save him, but was failing. LQG had a moment of clarity and realized that he was about to kill a guy that was trying to save him, so he killed himself instead. He apologizes to Mingyan before fading.

Now we can finally leave Cang Qiong. LMY will be willing to marry you IF your character is a woman. (Some players keep asking the devs to fix this glitch.) QHT expresses her frustration at her inability to get justice for her brother and the guards and servants. NYY, recalling that the teenage ghost claimed to be older than Xiao Jiu, asks how old he was at the time of the massacre. Haitang distractedly says they were both 14. NYY presses, did this young servant with no martial training single handedly take down all your family's guards?

QHT pauses, and confesses that she agrees it sounds odd, but that's definitely what she saw. She then asks you to come to the ruins of her estate and investigate with her. You automatically agree, and NYY tags along. (LMY left without saying anything while you were talking. Rude?)

Long story short, the locals and the ghosts confirm that QJL was a big jerk. The ghost of QJL starts ranting, saying all sorts of awful things wrt Xiao Jiu until he spots QHT, who has been crying silently. He tries to backtrack, but she asks you to disable the artifact. She's heard enough, and can't bare to look at her brother anymore.

Meanwhile, NYY has been putting together what the ghosts described, and thinks it sounds like a qi deviation, but that can't be right. You point out that QJL said he'd somehow killed a horse with a trick that sounded a lot like SQQ's signature move. QHT shakily admits that Xiao Jiu seemed to snap out of it when he saw her, and she'd been told he had carried her out of the fire, but she didn't believe it until now.

NYY sees that QHT's on the edge of a breakdown, and tells you she'll take it from here, gently shooing you away so she can tend to Haitang. NYY and QHT will be willing to marry you after this.

The quest self updates, prompting you to investigate other rumors about SQQ. Once you've done so, you get a quest update prompting you to talk to SQQ. You return to Qing Jing to confront him.

Though your protagonist has been relatively quiet thus far, most responses impersonal, LBH now has a lot to say, without your input.

"You" tell SQQ what you've learned, how there was a valid explanation behind every major complaint you've heard about him. How he isn't just a simple scum, how he's gone through a lot, how he still shows care for people, often in roundabout ways. So surely, surely he has a reason for how he treated you? Did he know you were a demon? Was he just trying to get you to leave on your own before you were found out? Did he throw you into the abyss because a heavenly demon could survive it, but could be trapped by cultivators? Was he actually trying to help?

SQQ laughs bitterly. No, he was legitimately trying to kill you, because he's an asshole. Maybe your investigations turned up some of the rare times he's been soft--mistakes, he assures you--but he really is an asshole. He's rotten and he always has been, and you're a fool to suspect otherwise. What are you going to do about it? Will you kill him?

You won't kill him, though. You already promised NYY, and you care about her more than you hate him.

You start to leave, then suddenly remember the ghost in the cave. You turn to mention it to SQQ, because if you had a dear friend die trying to save you, you'd want to know about it. But SQQ only looks confused.

You ask if someone did indeed promise to save him in the past. He says someone did, but he's not- he didn't- but he's right- Actually, SQQ just remembered there's something he has to do right now immediately, so get off his mountain already.

As you're leaving, you see him flying towards Qiong Ding.

[wes-breaks-your-kneecaps]

How I learned to read in my target languages (Part 2)

I will mention multiple others sources I used to improve my reading. Basically I would read for as long as I need to get 15 or 20 words daily.

I can't recommend WordSwing as much as I recommend DuChinese, but it's still worth using if you want to read more.

I don't remember using DuHanZi, but apparently I finished all free stories on it, there probably weren't a lot of them.

Once I had enough vocab and I was bored of DuChinese, I used a website, that I found on Reddit — www.mylingua.world.

It forms your recommendations on what news you can understand, based on your vocab knowledge. Once you see a word you've learned, you just mark it as learned. Gradually after marking more and more words, you see how much progress you've made and it's really motivating.

Would I recommend reading news to improve your vocab? Unless it's an article on your interests, I would say no. There's no need to force yourself to consume what you're not interested in to improve your language skills.

Another useful feature from this website is being able to add your own texts in chinese. Which significantly improved my reading skills in just a few months of reading fanfiction.

The main con of this resource is inaccuracy. While in most cases you won't notice it, some words on there have innaccurate translation. But don't worry, just use Pleco or an online dicitionary.

I have a dictionary I want to recommend to those of you who know Russian, it's name is PocketChinese. The app may be a bit laggy, but in a lot of cases where Pleco failed to explain a word or a phrase to me, PocketChinese succeeded. So as long as you switch between these two and mylingua.world, you'll probably be fine.

A few months ago they've set a limit on how many articles you can fully read weekly and on how many you can upload. But i assure you that even with the limit you still have a lot of possibilities to learn.

Just remember to bookmark articles you've found interesting, since finding them later is hard.

When I played games in chinese and had difficulties with writing down words to search for them I would use Deepl. It has a scan feature that allowes you to make photos of chinese texts. It automatically translates that, but you can also copy it and work with it.

My top resource is mylingua.world. Genuinely simplifies my life so much when I want to figure out new vocab in a new text.

[beemers-hell]

holds out cup

a bit of your thoughts on character designing? your characters are all so distinct and unique, I've been wanting to ask for awhile how you went about your sillies!

You fool. You idiot. You absolute buffoon. You have no idea what you've done. You have no idea what I am about to unleash unto you all.

Hi i am extremely autistic about character design so obligatory [read more] because I am gonna fucking TALK your EAR OFF about this shit, prepare for a fuckass LOOOOOOOOONG post

So the first rule of character design is to fuck around and have fun :)

Anyway onto the real shit:

P1: Foundational Shit

For starters, I'll link you to a post I made like 3 years ago on this topic, just to get some foundational shit out of the way!

Me personally, I have a very rigid structure I stick to whenever I design characters, which is:

I must know what their personality is like

I must know what their fashion tastes are

I must know what their role in the story is (this one only applies if the character is even apart of a bigger narrative in the first place, obviously. I just am strict and don't make new characters unless I have a purpose for them to serve in my stories so it's hard baked into how I operate as a character designer lol)

By having these in mind when I design characters, shit becomes a WHOLE lot easier/more natural for me. This is because:

The personality of a character can usually be reflected in their design, whether it be a bubbly loud energetic guy who's dolled up in bright colors and playful clothing accessories, a commanding bossy stoic guy who's dolled up in subtle and professional clothing pieces, or even subverting this idea by having a character who acts one way but dresses in a way you'd expect from the opposite.

Knowing what kinds of fashion this character would be into in the first place makes it a whole lot easier to get ideas and look for resources on ways you can style them- Knowing the character would be interested in like, for example, scene fashion makes it far easier to look for the type of clothing they'd wear and find pieces that stand out to you so you can start experimenting with what works or what doesn't for that character.

Knowing the role they play can also help a lot when designing them, much like knowing their fashion tastes can. However, where knowing their fashion tastes helps in looking for visual inspiration, knowing their role in a story can help with their design in a thematic sense; If the character is supposed to be some kind of trouble maker rebellious kid, then you're probably going to wanna make them visually fit the bill (or, again, you might want to subvert the idea of what a rebellious little shithead looks like so you go for the opposite of what people imagine!) Ykwim?

Now with that out of the way, let's get some VISUAL EXAMPLES, using my guys obviously lmao

For an example of the personality thing, here's a page I made where I talk about my thought process behind the designs of some of my goons in regards to taking into account their personality (and aesthetic taste):

For an example of the story role thing, here's a page I made where I talk about my thought process behind the designs of Eb and Ben (+Neco and Alli) in regards to the role they play in their story:

I hope this gets the point across!

P2: Additional Stuff to Consider

In addition to the above section, there's also some other things you can utilize to try and make your designs stand out!

One such thing is brainstorming ideas for stand out design elements! Like, something that' makes them stand out from the crowd, or an element of their design that is so specific to them that they just can't be the same character without it. This thing in general is kind of vague by nature so here's some examples using my guys that I think get the point across:

You can also go the extra mile and give them little design details that just add that little extra bit of "oomf" to the character overall. Again, this is kind of vague by nature, but here are some examples I can give with my characters. Some of these doodles are OLD AS HELL so that's why the art style is outdated, but the point still stands!

You can also go the extra mile to try and diversify your designs by doing some structural tests with your characters. What I mean by this is by literally dumbing them down to their most basic attributes, or as I like to call it, "Run the Silhouette & Recognition Test" What I mean by this:

The Silhouette Test: Making a lineup of your characters and blacking them out so they show up as silhouettes, which allows you to check the readability and/or recognizability of your character's design, and if it's unique from your other characters!

Recognition Test: Make a lineup of all of your character's heads and/or bodies, and only draw their facial features/head shape and/or body shape/structure, nothing else. I do this mainly to help myself try to avoid face/body syndrome and I think it works pretty well for me!

Now, for my last extra thing; Remember my point about knowing a character's taste in fashion? This is applies here. Knowing your character's fashion tastes can make designing their main outfit, or any other alternate outfits you make for them, like SUPER fuckin easy. Here's a couple examples with some of my gals:

Raina likes real casual clothes, simple shit like crop tops/tank tops n' jeans, just styled to her liking. She's a simple chick with simple tastes! But there are noticeable touches, like how she has a habit of changing her earrings to match the occasion she's celebrating!

Eb likes grungy clothes, and adds flair to her outfits by dipping into a decora kei inspired style of accessorizing, which compliments her nicely since she loves customizing things to make them her own. She's not fully there with the extravagance of it yet but she's getting there!

Yume likes pastel colors and form fitting clothes, sometimes with loose jackets/robes to keep her cozy, with minimal accessories. She's also simple, but unlike Raina, she doesn't tend to try and go the extra mile with jewelry and/or makeup, not often.

Bank's a baby punk and is still finding her style, but it's clear she likes a lot of leather, spikes, chains, all that kind of shit. Dark colors, with minimal touches of her favorite color (pink lol), and some accessories like earrings, pins, and/or straps are enough to complete a look for her. And of course, any clothing article to obscure her face works for her!

I hope I don't sound fucking nuts I genuinely put way too much time into thinking about all of this stupid bullshit lmao

P3: Actual Examples of Me Working Through the Character Design Process

I figure if I show off examples where I was working on concept shit, that'd help put this into something digestible for y'all lol.

For starters, here's a doodle page I made back in 2021 when I was making small tweaks to a couple of my guys designs, which is why my art style looks old and some characters have their outdated looks lol:

Now, here's a MUCH more recent example of my concept process, where I was figuring out the idea for Namgi's new design (which is still being worked on atm lol):

Here's the concept pages I made when I was figuring out Majin's recent redesign:

And here's some concept pages I made when I I was figuring out the Possessed Form designs for my hosts!

I hope this is all actually helpful and not just like. stupid nothing shit lmao

And like, yanno, you don't HAVE to do/listen to any of this, this is just the kind of shit I've learned over the years that personally helps me with coming up with designs that feel fresh and distinct, at least for my personal tastes! Something I do might just not work for you, the design process is unique for everyone obviously. It's the same thing as your art style, everyone does shit differently lol

This concludes my Autism Ramble!!

[elicathebunny]

❥ CREATING CELEBRITY ENERGY AND STAR QUALITY.

Have you ever dreamed of being famous or having some sort of influence? (doesn't have to be a very exposed influence like celebrities have, it could just have star quality and inspire/influence the people around you in daily life). Using celebrity energy and understanding how to use it can completely change your life around and open new opportunities for you.

(I found the topic of how stars come up to be stars quite interesting and no I haven't applied any of this to my life. I just think that this is interesting.

These notes are taken from other people and are summarised from videos that they have created. If you tap on the links from titles you can find the OG creators.)

LOA, AUTHENTICITY + CONFIDENCE:

Think about Norma Jeane Mortenson, better known as her persona Marilyn Monroe using what is now called the "Marilyn Effect".

'Whenever Marilyn Monroe walked into a room, she carried an irresistible charisma - a compelling blend of confidence, vulnerability, and charm. That's the Marilyn Monroe Effect. It's the power to captivate and influence others by being authentically you. ' - Eye Mind Spirit

❥ AUTHENTICITY + COFIDENCE

Authenticity means also being polarizing.

polarizing = the general public has mixed feelings about them

Being authentic has a magnetic effect. By being real you will attract people who resonate with that. But you also going to push away people who don't so it creates love-hate.

Being fake creates like, but no one will ever love you. The only way to be loved by everyone is to be fake and be this social chameleon.

You're meant to be you with your "authentic magnet" through humanity and find your tribe and your tribe is not everyone.

Don't introduce yourself as a vibe that you can't maintain.

Own your vibe but also be willing to be judged and tested on it

"You're going to be judged regardless". You're meant to be rejected by people in this world.

Being judged for authenticity hurts but only being accepted when your being fake hurts even more.

The more times you have to affirm that you are confident, the more it reinforces that you are not confident by default.

❥ LAW OF ATTRACTION AND ASSUMPTION

LOA does nothing if deep down you know truly that you don't believe in it. You cannot fool yourself with 20 affirmations that you repeat to yourself in the morning yet still have negative thoughts throughout the day. "Why are you not confident? What is the source." Do the inner work. "What do you actually think is broken in you? Are you truly living or are you trying to justify your existence? Who are you trying to justify it to?"

CELEBRITY ENERGY AND CREATING STAR-QUALITY

❥ CELEBRITY ENERGY

Famous people act famous before they even become famous. You have to create the energy before the fame can come. But there is a difference between being famous and being a celebrity. You can feel the energy of a celebrity even if you're not famous, but not all famous people have celebrity energy. - Think about the fame difference between Charlie Damelio and Marilyn Monroe.

Creating this 'celebrity energy' is something that you will have to create in public which can be embarrassing. But if you want to be famous you have to be okay with putting yourself out there for judgement and you have to believe what you're doing before anyone else can see it.

The people in your life are going to perceive what you're doing as threatening because you are changing your identity and that is triggering for them.

You have to overcome your brain's natural wiring to play small and be willing to be 'cringe'.

Fame is just a resource of people's attention, an exchange of your consciousness and their consciousness. So you consciousness has to be as clear and as authentic as possible. Authentic to you, who you naturally are.

Acquiring fame requires a deeper level of trust: Believing that the people around you and in the world will love and support you.

It amplifies ALL areas of your life so if you're blocked in another area, you won't create it.

Your art doesn't actually have to be that good: The difference between creators and influencers who make it and the ones who don't is how much they believe in what they are selling.

You have to start performing as if people already love you and your art/content.

If you don't believe that you are wanted then you are going to put up walls and won't be able to tap into celebrity energy.

You do not need any more strategy - You are energetically not available for people to perceive you for who you really are.

❥ STAR QUALITY AND MARKETING

Halloween costume/Hollywood hair theory - Memorable and unique features that make you stand out that could possibly be recreated as a costume, for example: Jojo Siwa, Ariana Grande, Melanie Martinez, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Ice Spice, etc.

Learn how to market yourself, and realise you as a person are a brand.

Learn how to sell and market to others but also to yourself

Work on your public speaking, charisma and personality (your vibe)

[aclowntiny]

Hiiii!!! First I wanna say how much I really like your work! Also, I stumbled upon our Seventeen and Enhypen as Hogwarts students, but saw you didn’t have it for Stray Kids 😭 I know they’ve mentioned in 2019 what house they think they are, but you seem to have a much better understanding of the houses and I’m very curious to see what you would think their houses would be.

I was wondering if I could request a similar sort of headcannon for them 🥹 Thank you!

Heck yeah! Can't believe I didn't do this sooner tbh but I love this so here we are 😌 I agree, not necessarily that I'm the best at the job, lol, but that people just go for very generic ideas of the houses (Gryffindor is cool, Slytherin is evil, Hufflepuff is nice/silly, Ravenclaw is smart) rather than the true reflection of where they'd be hehe! Like Ravenclaw is actually also known for being artistic and eccentric, Slytherin for strong determination, Hufflepuff for acceptance and breaking tradition, Gryffindor for being the other self-sacrificing house. So sometimes people just say "I'm a Gryffindor because I'm a good guy!!!" anyway rant over here's the actual content we want🤣

🏰 Stray Kids as Hogwarts Students🔮

Bang Chan

☆ Some kids got sorted instantly, but with one Christopher Bang the Hat took longer. Muttered to itself a lot as it waffled between his qualities, dubbing him hardworking and courageous and ambitious and loving. He couldn't help but flush under the hat's words, almost not hearing when its voice finally bellowed "Gryffindor!”

☆ Being Pure-Blood was only ever a phrase on a family tree for Chris. Who one’s ancestors were, what they looked like, or how much money they had said nothing for their value- only their choices and character did that.

☆ It’s only a formal class for one year, but he adores Flying. The feeling of freedom and getting to have some time outside is heaven for him. Defense Against the Dark Arts is another favorite for the similar reason of being able to get active and challenge himself, even literally facing his fears.

☆ Astronomy is very cool to him, but he finds having to fill in the same charts week after week a bit repetitive and not the best use of his time, frankly.

☆ Gryffindor’s Quidditch captain! He plays Keeper, working with great patience and synergy with the rest of the team to keep the goals clear.

☆ Blessed is the only word Chris can think of when he realizes how many happy memories he can pull from- not everyone can say that. As the word comes to mind, his wand lights up, producing a shining silver wolf standing majestically, protectively, before him.

Lee Know

☆ "You're an interesting one," came the Hat's comment upon touching Minho's head, "you've certainly got your priorities...whatever those are. A unique mind for sure. Better be Ravenclaw!" Some of Minho's friends had teased him as a Slytherin, so he was a bit surprised. Not that he would let his house define him entirely.

☆ He hates the reputation and unnecessary pressure that comes with being a Pure-Blood. It’s stupid and not worth debating in Minho’s mind. The only benefit is just the resources and opportunities he might get, and it’s tempting to turn those down on principle. Money and status don’t matter to him at all and there’s a part of him that wants to ‘sully the bloodline’ just for the hell of it! Luckily his parents don’t care either.

☆ Potions whiz. One of the few who actually get it and enjoy the calm, precise art and its beautiful results and wants to go N.E.W.T. with it. He’s also great at Care of Magical Creatures, naturally focused on the well-being of animals and other living things over his own excitement or whims.

☆ Having a fear of heights, Flying is not it for him. No thanks. He passes, but barely, and in his mind it’s not a skill he plans to use.

☆ Naturally, Minho opts out of Quidditch signups, but instead joins the Gobstones club because he thinks spraying the losers with stone juice is funny. Also gets invited to the Slug Club for his Potions skills and influence.

☆ No one is surprised when Minho closes his eyes, focuses, and boom! Produces a little glowing cat bursting from his wand with a few swipes of its paw to groom its nonexistent striped fur.

Changbin

☆ "Quite a softie underneath it all, eh?" Beneath the weight of the tattered Hat, Changbin strikes a bit of a pose. "Got a lot of ambition, but you've also got a lot of...that. Hmmm..." The Hat muses for a few more moments. "At the end of the day, this one’s a Slytherin!” Pride flows through Changbin’s veins- he doesn’t care for the reputation of producing dark wizards, the potential snobbery. All he cares about is showing his ambition to be the best if he puts his mind to it.

☆ He’s a Half-Blood, but both of his parents are wizards so his familiarity is much more with the Wizarding World. He wants to understand Muggles better to connect with them, too, as well as Muggleborns.

☆ Taking Muggle Studies helps with this and learning about another culture is quite fascinating to him- technology especially is amazing, like that’s what people do instead of magic? Wires of captured lightning? Sounds pretty magical to Changbin. He gets into tinkering with technology because of this. Another class he enjoys is Defense Against the Dark Arts. Changbin loves feeling ready to protect himself and others, so that’s the class he spends the most time practicing and taking notes in. He always thinks of his friends and his sister as he does so.

☆ History of Magic is boring, though, Changbin wants to cast some spells! At the end of the day, where certain spells come from don’t matter to him as long as he can use them. However, the idea of showing up in a ‘great wizards’ history highlight one day is appealing to him…

☆ His strength comes in handy serving as one of Slytherin’s two Beaters. The other teams are lowkey afraid of the Bludgers Changbin sends their way because they know how hard he hits!

☆ Bets are flying on what his Patronus animal would be, a pig or a rabbit. Pig is the most popular choice, mostly in jest, but shushing them all Changbin focuses all the great joy he’s expressing…and out leaps a rabbit! Not just any rabbit, though, but the massive, fluffy form of a Flemish giant rabbit that has everyone laughing and Changbin grinning, reaching out to it.

Hyunjin

☆ Nearly the second the Sorting Hat rests atop his head, it's shouting 'Ravenclaw!' Hyunjin himself can't be surprised, really, not when he's heard talk of the great artists in that house. In fact, pride glows in his chest as he joins his table that the Hat could see that in him.

☆ The Hwangs are an old wizarding family. Hyunjin has a lot of opportunities because of this, but fights against the idea that he could be any better than anyone else because of a name. Rather, he is often seen lifting up Muggleborn classmates and highlighting struggled of other magical people.

☆ Ancient Runes comes naturally to Hyunjin, something about his eye for detail, symbols, and decoding. Language is an area of interest for him so that class is like a beautiful puzzle. Astronomy grants Hyunjin so much art inspiration as well as time to relax and appreciate the gifts of nature and their inherent magic.

☆ There's no one class he hates, but like a lot of students Hyunjin has a harder time focusing on all the information getting dumped on him in History of Magic.

☆ Hyunjin’s extracurriculars include the Muggle Art club where he hones his painting skills and the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, where he plays as the team’s Seeker.

☆ Expectations fly as everyone wonders what the next Hwang’s Patronus will be. Will he get a stag, the majestic animal associated with famous wizards? An eagle, symbolizing his house? Not at all, in fact what Hyunjin summons is a beautiful, delicate silver dove that lights upon his shoulder.

Han

☆ “Don’t be so shy, kid, you’ve got heart.” “Really? Thanks bro.” “Yes, that’s what I’m talking about,” the Hat chuckles, “this one’s a Hufflepuff!” Jisung’s eyes go wide. He wasn’t expecting to get Hufflepuff, but if the hat says so, well, who is he to fight it? It’s nice getting the kindest house, too- maybe he’ll make a lot of friends.

☆ As a Half-Blood, the heavy weight of prejudice never really fell on Jisung. Half-Bloods tended to fall between the cracks as having already been sullied, just middle ground. As he witnesses bullying more and more, though, his passion grows to somehow help others and remind people that nobody can help who their ancestors married.

☆ Charms are quick, snappy, spur-of-the-moment but effective in a pinch, and Jisung likes that. It's fun and he can cast charms as quickly as he cracks a joke or comeback! Ancient Runes brings him a lot of inspiration from history and other languages that he loves to bring to his songwriting.

☆ Flying, thank goodness, isn't enforced every year! It scares him, frankly, and he'd much rather stay on the ground where he belongs.

☆ Because flying isn’t his favorite, no way in hell is he doing it with giant leather and metal things trying to smash him. Nope. However he’ll happily watch and commentate, hence him taking the mic and giving very entertaining descriptions of everything that happens. He’s also in the Frog Choir, always trying to get them to perform one of his compositions.

☆ Jokes around that he’s going to get a massive Patronus animal like a bear or a lion, but once he sees the embodiment of his joy skipping from his wand as a little quokka, he can’t even be embarrassed, just smile!

Felix

☆ "Well, you're just a delight, aren't you?" Felix couldn't tell if the Hat was being sarcastic, but still he chose to respond in kind. "I try!" At that, the Sorting Hat chuckled. "Yes, this one's a Hufflepuff for sure!" His sister had told him as much, but Felix couldn't complain- he liked the idea of being a Hufflepuff!

☆ Felix is a Muggleborn, so he takes in every step of starting school with wonder…though it is a bit overwhelming feeling like everyone’s speaking another language sometimes. But then again, magic candy! Brewing potions!

☆ Absolute wonder at Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. Felix is so gentle and good with every living thing, they practically request he be the one to handle them and that makes his heart burst with joy and honor! He also loves Potions, thinking the idea is so classic and cool, plus despite what most students say it’s kind of relaxing to him.

☆ Transfiguration dropped lower on his list when they started using living subjects. Sure, the idea that anyone and anything can grow and change and exist in many forms is really inspiring, but those poor mice and birds!

☆ Slug Club inductee part two! Even though he’s a Muggleborn with no direct influence, Felix is such a good student and avid potioneer that he’s a shoo-in. He also plays Quidditch as Hufflepuff’s Seeker.

☆ Felix isn’t sure what animal he’ll get, but he certainly isn’t expecting multiple! The entire class is shocked when a whole brood of chicks tumbles forth from his wand, eliciting shock and charmed coos alike.

Seungmin

☆ "This one's a bit of a surprise now," the Hat commented upon being set atop Seungmin's head. Seungmin couldn't help wondering what that meant and if it was bad, how to prove the Hat wrong. "No, lad, all you just did was prove my point. Looks can be deceiving, after all. Slytherin!" He wasn't sure what he expected, but that might not have been it. Sort of made sense, though- he could have fun with that!

☆ He can’t help wondering if the Hat chose as it did because he’s a Pure-Blood, taking Salazar’s old favors into account. Then again, he did just throw a cheating Gryffindor under the bus in class…

☆ Thinking logically is no trouble for Seungmin, so Arithmancy isn’t a bad choice for him. Connecting relationships between numbers and their power just makes sense to him- eight is his lucky number, after all. He also frequents the Potions dungeon, but that’s mostly just to brew the photo solution that grants his personal art projects motion!

☆ Defense Against the Dark Arts is a fun and active class, but it's boisterous and people take the duels too far sometimes.

☆ Frankly, he didn’t have time to join the Quidditch team due to his other extracurriculars, being an avid Frog Choir singer and the Hogwarts paper’s photographer.

☆ Everyone is sure the student everyone sees as a puppy will get a dog for his Patronus. Imagine their surprise when he casts a tanuki! Cute and cunning, no one can deny it matches him perfectly in the end.

I.N

☆ He forgot the Hat could read his thoughts. “So you want a house where you can show your talents and look out for people, huh?” Flushing, Jeongin just nods with a faint, bashful smile. “Well, better be Gryffindor, then!” He’s surprised, thinking maybe he’d have gotten Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff- he isn’t particularly brave, is he? “Trust me, kid, you’ll find your way,” the Hat promises, and do its eyelike folds wink?

☆ As a Half-Blood, he has knowledge of the Wizarding World, but also life outside of magic. Having one Muggle parent means one person getting yanked into the world of wonder, after all! Jeongin is proud to understand both sides of his world and guide his friends on how Muggles really live.

☆ Details don’t escape Jeongin, so he loves drawing star charts for Astronomy. Transfiguration is another favorite of his for similar reasons: he enjoys the focus, the idea that he can reshape objects into something greater or something new. It feels symbolic, poetic.

☆ Potions stresses him out because it's so easy to burn things or measure wrong; even if little details usually fascinate him, he can be a bit clumsy with the required finesse.

☆ Joins the wizard chess club, art club, and plays Quidditch- what can’t our baby bread do? Jeongin becomes Gryffindor’s Seeker, one especially known for turning the tides of the game for his team completely!

☆ He can barely contain his excitement that day in Defense Against the Dark Arts when it comes time to cast Patronus charms! He wonders if his animal will look like him and he certainly gets his wish when a charming little desert fox pops forth.

[foone]

As the person I follow who does reverse engineering, do you have any suggestions for finding resources on reverse engineering Android apps?

Specifically, there's an app I'm playing with, where after seeing the structure of the "export as Markdown" output I want to know what the internal structure and representation of the data is. The end goal of understanding it is to be able to add certain kinds of data dynamically, rather than up front. That's certainly doable typing in raw markdown, but being able to do it "app style" would be more convenient.

The google Play Store entry does not mention any open source licenses, or looking for the source code and hopefully a git repo or something would have been my first step.

(I'll probably need to bang together a crappy app to do what I really want regardless, but maybe this app's data structure would be more convenient than doing so with markdown.)

So, android stuff:

First you need the APK. You can do some trickery with your phone to pull it over the ADB connection if you install the android SDK, but generally I just google "app name APK" and you'll find some greymarket site that'll give you a copy.

Secondly, APKs are just ZIP files (JAR files, technically, but JAR files are also just ZIP files!). Unzip them and you can find lots of interesting stuff, often.

For disassembling/decompiling them, my go-to program is jadx. It's a java decompiler that's been around a while and can natively open APK files and decompile them. There's some weirder new APKs that it can't handle (something to do with a newer bytecode revision, I think?) but I can't recall the details on how you handle those. Those are rare, in my experience. jadx is pretty good, but you'll occasionally find methods or entire classes that it just can't figure out, and it'll give you a bytecode dump. I don't yet have a good solution for those, other than "get good at reading JVM bytecode".

If you're dealing with games, another useful thing can be UABE and dotPeek. These are unity/C# tools, but you would be surprised how many android games (and non-games!) are actually unity under the hood.

Bluestacks can also be useful, because it'll let you run the app on your desktop and that can be handy for things like running WireShark to log all network traffic.

Speaking of logging, the other handy thing I've done is enabling android developer mode on my phone to get to one specific option: Bluetooth HCI snoop log.

Now, actually getting that log is tricky and varies from phone to phone, because for some reason manufacturers like to move it around, but it's one of the best ways to reverse engineer bluetooth communication stuff. You basically turn on the log and everything your phone does to communicate with your Smart Toothbrush or whatever will be logged to a file, then you can yank that file over and stuff it into Wireshark.

So... hopefully some of that is a helpful start? I've not done a huge amount of Android reversing so I'm not super familiar with the tools used, but these are the ones I've got on hand for when I do.

also sorry for all the horny robotgirl posters who saw "android reverse engineering" in the tags and thought this was gonna be about taking them apart with screwdrivers and rooting around in their insides. Not today!

[stromuprisahat]

You came here for Ravka. I came here to chain you to my stove.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 18

Skip your duties (that can help feed the country) to watch me be cool doing stuff! Anyone less important would do it for me!

This could've been sweetly melancholic if:

a.) The country they live off weren't collapsing and a few of Alina's lightballs could grant them at least a drop of much needed resources.

b.) Grisha don't get sick... and what has Alina's childhood, adolescence and life in Cofton been like? Malyen truly isn't bothered by it, is he? Either he's an idiot, who didn't connect the dots, and doesn't see it as weird, that Alina HAD been sick for such a long time, or he simply doesn't give a shit.

c.) Other Grisha... if he can't have her as ordinary otkazat'sya, he's willing to settle for ordinary Grisha. As long as she's NOT special, and has plenty of time to focus on him.

d.) As stupid as their party date was, it could've been something to distract Alina from her duties and the pressure put on her. This wouldn't be even spending time WITH Mal, just watching him be the skilled cool guy.

e.) Of course he hates the place that made Alina MORE than him. If it weren't for her time in Little Palace, she wouldn't even think about wanting more than to follow him around like a lost puppy.

Perhaps put some effort in it?

If Mal can so miraculously fit in everywhere, what's stopping him from taking his duties seriously? Not just mope around near Alina, but try to truly become captain of her guards? Learn about strategies and best ways to protect her, exercise and train action with the twins, look for more guards, train them and WITH them, consult Botkin...

Do more than just go where he's invited, act as if he WANTED to PROFESSIONALLY protect Alina instead of playing hero, when others can see it?!

Not to mention he can make himself useful even at those parties. If he does notice nobles hate Grisha, he can at least make a list. They're careless around him, why not listen? Why not consult with Nikolai to learn who they might need?!

He isn't there for Alina, he's there to drag her back into obscurity as soon as an opportunity arises.

Now, that he's doing something FOR Alina, he misses their period of stagnation, when she was slowly killing herself.

He admits it, while caressing her self-mutilation scar aptly representing their relationship.

And here Alina should pull: Never deign to deny. Instead her puritan shame kicks in.

I know Malyen isn't friends with anyone in Os Alta, but if he weren't such a jerk, he could've catch Nikolai for a moment and discuss a strategy. It's not like Kolya doesn't have an interrest in this too. ...and knows how to deal with Court gossip.

I think "We need to discuss what to do about everyone thinking you're a whore." could be added to post-strategy discussions with Alina too. If Malyen can sit in Alina's council AND act like her captain of guard, they deffinitely DO have to spend time together.

If only he'd become interested in reality and its requirements, quit seeing himself as a knight in shining armour, destined to save feeble helpless Alina, and acted according to her actual needs and requirements.

Perhaps sort his priorities differently and instead of bringing up his one-night-stand with Zoya and inviting Alina to make fun of Suli focus on your damn fucking job!

And you didn't read my mind!

And Alina accepts all the blame.

This could be Malyen spiralling. Or simply jumping to another reproach as soon as Alina attempts to address the previous one.

valid concern

digging into Alina's fear of corruption

reminding her right after she chose it (so the stress is really her own doing)

Yup! This is the crux of the matter.

Alina might operate under faulty assumptions, she had to be physically dragged back to Ravka, but eventually she's attempting to DO something.

Malyen saw what the system does to people like him, to his friends... so he decided to pack his gf and bail on it all. And when he finds himself back in the middle of it all, he's simply waiting to drag her away from it again, no matter what SHE wants.

The Collar is temporary, her position of Saint is temporary, her leadership of Second Army too.

They reacted to life-changing events in a way that made them two diametrically opposite people, but Mal's sticking around in hope for Alina's regression. And eventually he gets exactly that for all his trouble.

I'll keep the rest for an extra post since some extra shady bitch is chiming in.

[dreadfutures]

impressions from the hades ii technical playtest

absolutely chock full of spoilers but also theories

Amazing gameplay, feels just as good as Hades 1 with improvements and creative changes. So many different builds/play styles will be possible. in the dev stream they talked about melee close quarters vs sorcery ranged, but I find myself doing HEAVY spellcasting while also stacking in heavy melee boons on the knives, and mixing and matching.

The boons have a few familiar perks but so many of them are new and creative, even for gods we know from the first game. All of them feel really good.

The SOUND EFFECTS are amazing. The sounds of your weapons change based on the boon equipped to each attack. the sounds of the arena change depending on the god at the end (if any). Nothing and I mean nothing makes the dopamine go off more than the sound of Hephaestus' boon blasts when I do my fan of knives and they all explode. PING PING PING.

I find myself doing "resource runs" and "story runs." they do overlap. It's tough to only have one harvesting item equipped at a time and I spent so much time looking for silver and looking that my eye has started slipping over the lone spirits who gives you psyche, even when Selene leads me to them lol. I do like that they have her guiding light, but it is subtle. I also like the way you can pin certain items when you're in a run so you can remember what you needed for a recipe.

Unfortunately I did so many harvest runs that I actually got all the recipes before I had a chance to USE forget me not on a run so.... woops on that fated list lol.

We are maybe going to romance Moros or Nemesis (probably both are options?) but maybe not both at the same time? since they're siblings technically (technically) (I wouldn't mind though). I love all these children of nyx and want to protect them and smooch them all.

EXCEPT. Mel is a Silver Sister, with Artemis and Selene. Does that mean she's gotta be a virginal girl squad? lol

I love sister Artemis. I love that she throws snacks!!!!! which is even more endearing bc it's fried and a chocolate bar and soda. I wonder if sometimes I hear a note of disapproval from her and I wonder where her plot will go later. Selene it's said may not be able to reach us in Tartarus, but Artemis might.

Speaking of found family.

I fucking adore Odysseus. I love Od. So. Much. Like I loved Achilles but Od is such a good girl dad for Mel, and his pep talks are the best and so sensitive ;_; what a guy I love him.

I think? that Hecate's familiars must be placeholders, since they're just little statues that vibrate when you give them treats. I can't wait to see where they go in the full game.

It's an interesting take on Hestia, that she hates everybody. It makes me wonder if we'll see Hera or not, since I kind of expect that behavior from Hera.

Hephaestus and Demeter and Aphrodite remain my favorite boon givers.

As far as I can tell there is no fishing rod in the playtest but there will be in the full game and I'm excited.

Arachne's self esteem hurts me 😫 I love you little bug!!!! I wonder if we'll find her shop in Olympus or in Tartarus -- and I worry about her. At least Athena is too busy to bother her! I hope! I love Mel's different outfits.

The amount of pets that Mel gets to have is delightful. I love her frog so much.

Hecate is fascinating. She is SUCH a mother, she is SO compassionate to Mel and trying to build her up! She is wry and dry but never cruel or negative. I love her sm. Poor Mel has some low self esteem and understandable doubts and is putting so much pressure on herself. And I really wonder about Hecate's relationship with Persephone and the house of Hades and with nyx. Nemesis says something that makes me wonder if Hecate is innocent. Either way I don't think she'll really be a villain. My heart would break if so. Mel would break.

Mel is so sweet and pure. ;_; and she says "death to chronos" so coldly. When she says "Hence I go" I just hear her as a little baby playing hide and seek with Hecate and it gives me so many feelings.

I want to know about Mel's arm!

I can't wait to see the other regions just from the Crossroads, since there's currently two doors we can't enter.

Also what are we going to DO with the fish?

Very exciting stuff.

[loupy-mongoose]

I don't know how you shade things so perfectly! I'm excellent at blending colors but I can't shade even if my life depended on it!😅🤣

How do you do it so good? Could you lend me some tips?

First off, thank you very much, but I refuse to accept my shading as "perfect". I'm proud of how far I've come, but it ain't perfect!

Tips... Hmmmm...

I have a pretty good understanding of the characters' and objects three-dimensional shape in my mind, so when I shade I subconsciously keep in mind how the light will affect them and where shadows will form.

Don't be afraid to look at books, references, tutorials, and Youtube videos! Take advantage of the vast library of resources at your fingertips!

I've spent a lot of my teen years watching speedpaints--Twarda8's Pokemon paintings on Youtube are old favorites of mine. Ironically their playlist called "Junk'n'Old" played a MASSIVE part in my artistic upbringing. One man's trash is another man's treasure~ I've also looked at many many mannnyyyy tutorials over the years, some of them multiple times, taking in how different shapes affect the shadow outcome. For example, sharp cut-offs will result in solid lines of shadow, while rounder shapes will have softer transitions from dark to light.

Take, for instance, my latest masterpiece; The eyebrows are meant to somewhat sharply overhang the eyelid, so they cause a sharper shadow cut-off.

While rounder parts of the body have smoother shading.

Mix and match them depending on the shapes present! (Hopefully that's coherent enough. X3)

A few extra things;

-Different light sources and surroundings can influence shadows as well. For example, the sun will create sharp, defined shadows, but clouds will soften the shadows considerably.

-When shading colored artworks, try to avoid using pure black to shade. If possible with your tools, use a darker color set to the Multiply or another darkening blend mode. Experiment! (I have another post about my painting process here if you're interested, although the canvas size in that may be incorrect now.)

-Find brushes you're comfortable with! I don't want to advocate that an artist can't be good without certain brushes, but I do think it's important to love the tools you use. But also don't feel like you have to stick with them for eternity--Every once in a while I get dissatisfied with my brushes and tweak them a bit, or dump them for others.

-For doodle shading like the above, I scribble in rough chunks where I want the shadow to be, then smudge and erase them as I see fit. All on a separate layer from the line-art, of course.

That may be more than you bargained for, but you can pick and choose what you want to take from this, if anything at all. I just felt like dumping. Happy shading! ^w^

[itsbenedict]

Games I Played In 2024 And Whether Or Not I Thought They Were Good (Part 4/4)

[1] - [2] - [3] - 4

Alright- here's all the games that I played but haven't completed yet. Some because they were bad, some because I forgot, and some because I just didn't find the time.

Umineko Redacted: Some Kind of Sunny Little Dream

This is an Umineko fangame that takes place in... kind of an impossible fragment? Like, completely not compliant with canon, it's not possible it could've gone this way- but then, if so, what's the point of divergence, and why'd it end up like this? There's characters who can't exist at the same time as other characters, so they must be other characters using those same identities for reasons I can't puzzle out.

I'm only like halfway through, but I last played it in like February, so I probably need to refresh myself on what's going on and what theories I had before I finish it. A real head-scratcher.

Zet Zillions

This is one of them Spire-like roguelike deckbuilder things, with some interesting mechanics. In addition to block and damage, you're also managing "population", a sort of secondary damage type where you can bombard various huge space enemies with disposable minions to take down their defenses or convert them into damage. There's also a card-combining system that compensates for some of the variance in needing to manage three resources with limited card draw, and...

...well, it's hard as hell. It's really hard to generate block, so you usually end up damage-racing stuff, and the additional complexity leads to a lot more moments where you find yourself in no-win scenarios. Tuning your deck and finding OP combos is vital- you really can't muddle through with an unoptimized goodstuff deck.

The flavor and story of it is pretty fun- it's very Gurren Lagann inspired, visually and tonally, but you're playing as, like, the remnants of an explicitly evil rapacious space empire who've been imprisoned in a time loop to stop them from conquering the galaxy? Your crew is a bunch of like, sitcom wacky evil lunatics who love violence and blowing shit up (except for your completely superfluous diplomat guy, who is weary of these antics but doesn't really object that hard to all the violence and blowing shit up. That's the whole game, after all.) 100% villain protagonists. It's... a little less funny than it thinks it is, but there's some charm to it.

There's also a kind of cool map navigation mechanic? Like, unlike in STS or similar, where you go in one direction down a branching map, the maps here let you go back and forth as you please- as long as you can stay ahead of an encroaching superboss who's chasing you, and who you can technically fight at any time to end the run if you think your build's good. You can kind of push your luck and kite it to snag additional resources if you're clever.

I've beaten several runs, but the progression seems to revolve around a final boss who's loop-aware and keeps throwing more problems at you to cheat you out of your final victory every time you think you've won. Not sure where it ends, or how it resolves.

Pokémon Vanguard

Man, I want to like this game- there's a lot of creative regional variant designs, and visual polish, and fun gameplay concepts- but there's a few things that just make it unplayable for me.

The main problem is the level cap. There's a hard level cap, past which you stop gaining experience, and it's keyed to story progression. In theory not a terrible idea... but it's so insanely low. Like, you start the game and can't level up past... I think level 8, initially? And it advances like one or two levels at a time with each story event. Your entire party is going to hit the cap like 15% of the way through each story segment, and so you'll be spending the majority of your time in difficult battles that provide no reward whatsoever.

This is deadly poison to an RPG. You cannot do this, ESPECIALLY in Pokémon. It sucks all the fun out of the game! Instead of having fun exploring the world and building your team, you're just racing from story objective to story objective so you can get out from under the yoke of the arbitrary "you can't progress anymore" number! It's awful!

(And there's sidequests! Why on earth would you add sidequests to the game when you can't possibly benefit from doing them?! It just means you hit the level cap even sooner!)

That, and the story's not much to write home about yet, as least as far as I got. It has the Pokémon Reborn problem where the story is about this huge ensemble cast of OCs who you do not know and do not care about, and very little work is done to endear these people to you. After like seven hours of gameplay (with no speedup or fast-forward feature) I'd hit level 17 and experienced no story- just a bunch of faffing about running errands for randos.

Normally this wouldn't matter much to me- Pokémon's never had good story (well- actually as of SV it has had a good story once, but you get what I mean), and that's fine because the actual thing you care about is developing your team and progressing in the game. But Vanguard doesn't let you do that- it takes a knife and stabs all the fun out of the core gameplay, holding you hostage to a story that, being as generous as possible, takes too long to get going.

Donkey Kong 64

Here- here- here we go!

From ages 5 through 8, I owned a Nintendo 64 and a grand total of three games. Two of them were Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium, which I played the hell out of and got very good at. And the other... was DK64.

At age 5, I could not make heads or tails of DK64. The camera controls frustrated me, I didn't understand the logic of the level design, I couldn't figure out how to progress, I was terrified of the big spiky bees... it wasn't a good time for me! So I rarely touched it. I never got any further than Angry Aztec, and even that was with my cousins' help.

At age 30, I realized- hey, wait a minute! I was five back then! Of course I sucked at video games! Surely if I go back to it now, it'll make way more sense and be easy to fully experience.

And nope! No, this game just sucks every ass! Wow! The controls and camera are godawful, and the level design is a surreal nightmare where cause and effect refuse to come within 100 feet of each other. Doing things will just randomly cause other, unrelated things to happen halfway across the map, and it loves sticking timers on those things for no reason at all. The camera control is based on discrete movement intervals, and objects and walls block the camera very easily. The game frequently wants you to scramble down a narrow path, and you can't rely on the camera being at an angle that lets you do this smoothly, so you'll constantly be falling off of stuff it ought to be trivial to not fall off of.

On top of that... there's this system where levels contain color-coded collectibles and switches that only a certain Kong can interact with, and this really does nothing for the experience. It just means you need to backtrack to various parts of the level as a different guy to pick up some bananas that were intangible for no reason before. Their respective abilities don't vary enough to make this re-traversal interesting- it's just a waste of time.

Also fuck this guy:

Supermarket Simulator

Another game in the "the Game Grumps were awful at it and I had to see if I could do better" genre, cousin to Home Safety Hotline. It's pretty simple! You have a store- you buy products, stock shelves, sell the products at a markup, ring up customers, and try to expand. Keeping track of inventory and staying on top of customer demand is decently fun.

It's... like, fine? Very basic. The issue is that the main progression loop just slows to a crawl like ten expansions in. If you want to upgrade your store- get more space, stock new types of products- you have to buy renovations and product licenses. Product licenses let you buy more expensive and popular products and make more money to buy more expensive product licenses... in theory.

In practice, basically all products have the same randomly-fluctuating profit margin- yeah, they're more expensive, but that means they're more expensive to stock up on. So once you reach a certain point, the amount of cash you're bringing in stays roughly constant, even though you're dealing with more customers and more volume. And the progression prices... seem to assume that you're experiencing some kind of idle game-style exponential progression in income?

Which... you're not. You're super not. There's so many levels of progression in the game, each half an order of magnitude more expensive than the last for very little benefit, that you're basically never going to complete the thing in a human lifetime. The balance is way off. That kinda sapped my will to continue, so I put it down.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

I've always perceived a difference between the 2D Mario games and the 3D ones- one that isn't just down to the extra dimension. They've got very different design philosophies- and nowhere is this more evident than in Super Mario 3D World, which is a 2D Mario game that just happens to have three-dimensional movement.

It's very weird! You've got the exact same "map full of linear levels with a flagpole at the end" design, the same kind of stiff movement and powerups, the same "collect three secrets I mean four secrets and make sure to hit the top of the flagpole at the end" structure... it feels completely different from your Galaxies and your Odysseys and stuff.

I've always found these Mario games kind of lifeless and unpleasant compared to the more open 3D Marios. The way you're on a timer, the way the "secrets" are the real progression and you feel like you're missing out and failing the level if you don't get them all, the super-linear level design, the less forgiving health and damage system... I don't like it.

That said, due to stubbornness, I did 100% every world... up until the last super-duper-final "crown" bonus world, with the one ultra-hard level you have to beat as all the characters. I got stuck on that one, because holy shit, Rosalina's level is nonsense. Fucking, the galaxy goombas who don't die if you jump on them, on moving platforms so you can't ground-pound them reliably? The gauntlet of gaps that you have to dash across and sometimes just slip in between? The switch jumps that demand perfect timing and sometimes just drop you through the floor? I got past all that, past the magikoopa fight on the falling floor, and then- fucking hell, there's this whole gauntlet of spiky swings after that? And no mercy raccoon leaf for failing too many times? Jesus christ! This shit's disgusting!

I'm gonna beat it eventually though. And then maybe I'll figure out how the heck I'm supposed to get to that "Bowser's Fury" mode that's supposedly its own little open world game thing? No idea how that's triggered.

UFO 50

This one I didn't finish because it's fifty games! Yeah! Like 50 fully-featured fake NES games! Are you kidding me? I'm not finishing that!

I did play "Porgy" to completion, though, so I'll talk about that one.

Porgy is a metroidvania where you play as an ecologist in a submarine, trying to figure out why everything in the ocean suddenly wants to kill her! That's basically all the context you get for most of the game, until you beat the final boss and get an explanation.

The game itself revolves around scavenging submarine upgrades from a huge world- huge enough that initially, you don't have enough oxygen to reach all its depths. If you run out of oxygen, you have to retreat to your sub hangar without all the loot you collected, so you've got to plan around that.

Oxygen is the everything resource. Oxygen depletes when you move, it depletes when you fire stun torpedoes, it depletes when you dash, and it depletes when you get hit by enemies. Your health bar is also your everything-else bar, so you want to be collecting upgrades that increase your max health or decrease the rate at which it depletes. It's a good design decision, simplifying what you have to keep track of.

Where things get complicated is the upgrades. You can increase your max health and torpedo range and stuff as much as you want, but all the other progression stuff- a drill for going through dirt walls, bombs for destroying cracked stone, a light for seeing in the dark... you can only equip four items at a time. And that's tough, because there's a lot more than four different types of thing that can be in your way! Meaning every time you set out, you need to decide which traversal powers (and other upgrades) are going to be necessary for exploring the place you're trying to scope out. Sometimes you're wrong, and you gotta head home and figure out a different loadout!

It's all just very tightly-designed and satisfying to play, with tons of collectibles and secrets to hunt down. Really good stuff.

oh and the rest of UFO 50 is all games of similar complexity and quality, it rules, check it out

-

And that's it for 2024! I'm gonna do a roundup post with scores later.

[1] - [2] - [3] - 4

[ride-thedragon]

At this point I think as a fandom, we've lost some of the crackship charm we once had. I can look up Ashara Dayne and Ser Davos and find results, But Nettles and Helaena have nothing. It's time to rectify that for my favourite girl and try to inspire some fanfics. Feel free to add more.

1. Daeron and Nettles

Think Enemies to Lovers, Captive of War drama like Jaime and Brienne or just some good old Gwen and Arthur-inspired love. Ivy by Taylor Swift coded, a She's all that inspired affair. I genuinely think that he's just trying to be there for her with this one. It happens and neither of them realise until You're in Love starts playing.

2. Baela and Nettles.

They would give the pot calling the kettle black in every argument. The Princess Bride-esque dynamic between them. Very Graham and Megan from but I'm a Cheerleader. Sapphic Pinning and Resentment should be its own genre. Sir Chloe's Michelle is my vision. We can even make a throuple with them and Jace or Alyn. Truly, I think they but heads until they kiss, building on resentment. I also think they would be the coolest couple.

3. Addam and Nettles

Kaz and Inej core.

But in all seriousness, I think Addam being loyal and Duty bound and Nettles challenging that idea is delicious. Solider of Duty x Solider for the People. A modern-day Persuasion story but gender-flipped if we put our minds to it. See you Again Kali Uchis and Tyler the Creator, that's all.

4. Nettles and Helaena

They just deserve better. That's all. Give me cottagecore sapphic romance with my best girls involves. Like the young lesbians from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. Lesbians raising kids together. Sheepstealer and Dreamfyre hatching eggs for the nieces and nephews. I just-

It would be so cool, I will by Mitski sentiment is already attached.

5. Alyn and Nettles

Now that we are here obviously she apologized for Sheepstealer, she doesn't need to but she did, He tries not to like her but can't help it. She wins him over and they hatch him an egg or something idk. Think The Princess Diaries: Royal Engagement, Mia and Nicholas, Flipped the movie if you will. Jealously plots would slay. For the song choice think Shameless Camila Cabello. Please remember that Alyn is younger than Netty by 3/4 years though.

6. Rhaena and Nettles

See now this is classic Friends to Lovers, Emma and Harriet if gay, perhaps, Bend it Like Beckham core definitely. Sofia by Clario inspired. Nettles doesn't leave Rhaena out because she's without a dragon and the same happens inverse. Sapphic confusion however, like Rhaena doesn't understand at first why she feels that way.

7. Nettles and Jace.

Now for the Mr Knightley and Emma Woodhouse of our time, the Kate and Anthony of Westeros. The potential for her just not listening to him when he tries to tell her how to ride a dragon. Or when she talks to him about the people he'll rule over eventually, Ygritte and Jon style. She's also the only bastard who doesn't look Targaryen, he can relate to that a bit. I think she's Fierce and he's Stubborn. Ungodly Hour by Chloe x Halle for them.

8. Nettles and Alys.

The Fire Witches of Westeros. I think they will be perfect as a ship. American Horror Story-esque characters. The two Witches in the story are obviously my favourites. It would be Jennifer's Body meets, the craft meets, and Suspiria. Willow by Taylor Swift becomes them.

This one was also a bonus more or less.

Anyways I just need to start to get a baseline story for my girl by the time the show gives her to us. So we have a general sense of direction, I'm tired of the mischaracterization of my baby. She's smart, resourceful, Cunning, Fearless, and not entirely loyal. She also curses, enough for it to be a character trait. Please remember this for her, I'm tired. I also know that Daemon loved her but she's too much fun as a character to limit her to him romantically in all her fanfictions, it is an interesting narrative to explore while we don't have exact answers but he gets romantic ships with anyone. She deserves more.

[officalroyalsofpierreland]

Restarting the Revolution

Prime Minister's Office, Windensen, Pierreland

Emile: It is clear that the Emperor will not heed reason. Vanessa: Wasn't the Empress there? That could explain it. Emile: He is like that even in private sister....he is obstinate. He thinks that I am seeking to ruin the nation. He can't see that the other nations are draining us of our resources! Vanessa: According to our source, he is known to be stubborn but also, our international relations is his legacy brother. Emile: speaking of that, how was that? Vanessa: Interesting for sure.

Vanessa: He wasn't particularly forth coming. But when I mentioned who I worked with, he perked up. Never expected a revolutionary to come from them.

(italics, memory)

Vanessa: What secrets do you have? ???: Many that you are interested. I was close to the family years ago. Vanessa: You were at it's heart. What changed? ???: I went against the Emperor. It was either exile or prison. I chose exile to keep my family together. He was at least kind in that respect.

Vanessa: What's in it for you? ???: I get to hurt the old man and his beloved institution. Now let us discuss my compensation prior to me giving up these secrets

Vanessa: He wants his titles and status back. Emile: That is insane! Did you find out what he knows? Vanessa: I told him that I couldn't discuss compensation until I know what he knows and he said he wouldn't say anything. Just that they could destablize the Emperor's popularity with the people. Emile: That could be anything!

Thaddeus (Emile and Vanessa's Grandfather): It could also be political gold. Something to finally bend the Emperor to our will. Emile [scoffing]: I'll have more luck bringing this before the Commons! Thaddeus: With your slim majority? I don't think so. Lorraine...you're being awfully quiet. Did you speak with Devonshire? Lorraine: I did. He is finding things...difficult. Apparently the Crown Princess of Lunaria is influencing the Crown's push for power. He's trying to find other ways to cut at that woman but their easiest target left the royal family. Thaddeus [scoffing]: Well he should've seen that coming, honestly. What do you think we should do with our own issue with a meddling woman?

Lorraine: Well, we cannot get rid of her. It would bring the nation together against us, which will not do... Emile: Have the Emperor take her off the council! The Crown Prince and Prince Henri are of age, they can be the Imperial representatives and the Empress can go...cut ribbons or some other bullshit- Lorraine: Careful young one. Your predecessor failed because he was too vocal in his opposition to he Empress. Too obvious. Besides, the Empress is one of the Emperor's closest advisors....he'd rather kick out his own heir than his wife. Thaddeus: You have a plan? Lorraine: We go for subtle approach. Let's influence from the inside out. Emile: How do you propose we do that?

Vanessa: I've heard…that the Crown Prince is emotionally vulnerable- Thaddeus: Still? It's been years since the Ionian business! Lorraine: No no…He's over that according to Marius...It's supposedly someone else…but, I say….we put someone in his path. One of us. If the Empress can manipulate the Emperor, we should play the same game and install a loyal Crown Princess.

Lorraine: And I have just the person in mind.

(Mentions of the Duke of Devonshire and Crown Princess Minerva of Lunaria from @simsroyallegacy)

[magical-regical]

Y'all okay,

I started playing 'What in Hell is Bad', it's basically an 18+ version of 'Obey Me' and yea this game is spicy.

Anyway, big surprise, out of all the sexy demons I've interacted with so far, two of them I've done the sideways tango with, my favorite character is this guy

Who's not even a demon. He's the childhood best friend character.

But plot wise he takes care of the MC before the whole demon thing, knows how to cook, and I'm pretty sure was ready to search through the entire world to find them when they had to take and extended visit to Hell.

What more could you want in a man? A decent dic— according to MC he has that too so check mate.

More thoughts about the game itself under the cut if you're interested.

I just finished chapter one, and can I just say this game is hard, in every sense of the word.

It's a new game by a smaller developer so it's full of bugs but I've heard the devs do try their best to patch them ASAP so I don't hold that against them. Aside from my boy Satan not hitting water enemies, even though devs said they patched that a few updates ago, it's mostly QoL improvements that can be made to make the game just overall more enjoyable including but not limited to:

A pity system? Maybe? I don't know if this game has pity or not on their gacha machines and if they do I'd like to know how screwed I am because I have no self-control and have been doing single pulls on the hot boy gacha instead of saving up and doing 10-pulls so I wanna know if it's better to do 10-pulls or if it literally makes no difference because I just go until I hit pity like in arknights.

Skipping the cut scene that plays when you gacha because I swear that's one of the main reasons you can't play this game in public no matter how discreet you try to be lmao

Opening multiple chests at once and levelling up multiple times in one go because as far as I know, right now you need to click one by one for both of these.

Maybe a thing where it just takes you to the part of the story you're currently in instead of making you click through chapter select and scrolling to it.

A shortcut button to the gacha screen, secret club, and dark sanctuary (resource grind stages). They're core aspects of the game yet you can't get to them without going through the home screen.

Auto deploy and auto play for the resource grinding stages

Setting an L-rank character (side note, it's really funny that the highest rank of cards is rank 'L') as your homescreen boi is really awkward because it always ends up zoomed in on one part so you can't actually see the full boi.

This last one I feel like is just a personal thing but why is it three red keys per single pull for the hot boy gacha? Three just feels like such a random number lmao. Ig they mostly want you to use the red gems, which are grind-able to some extent, to buy the keys from the store.

Overall tho, I enjoy it. I like the tower defense like combat system and being able to move units around is actually pretty fun. So yea give it a try, see if it's your cup of tea.

[shootertron-stuff]

PSA: Imperial Fists

Just because Imperial Fists are content to stay in one place and have a high pain tolerance doesn't mean you can just shove them in a tiny enclosure and hit them whenever you like. Surviving does not mean thriving! Imperial Fists, owing to their training and self-image as stoic soldiers who never complain, are good at hiding the fact they are suffering, especially around caretakers they consider heretics.

An Imperial Fist's natural environment is a spacious fortress filled with enrichment. They actually have a wide range of interests, and need room to express their natural behaviors, like swordfighting and scrimshaw! Many Imperial Fists enjoy reading about galactic history, as well. I recommend investing in a void battle strategy board, a library, a gym, a cork gun shootery, and an armory full of dummy weapons (so they don't hurt themselves playing). Don't be afraid to tap into public resources, though express caution when leading your Imperial Fist out in public, especially around the Lost and Damned.

While Fists are famed for their pain tolerance that can even become masochism, with some even enjoying the pain from broken bones, regular pain sessions are not the same as hitting them when you're mad they're destroying the furniture in their tiny cells in boredom. They will come to resent you and become even more destructive.

Instead, set aside time each day (or week, if you can't manage every day) to spank, whip, and/or zap your Imperial Fist, making sure to praise them for taking it so well. Rogal Dorn's lads thrive on routine.

If you cannot find a Pain Glove, there are commercially available electrostimulation machines that can also stimulate their pain receptors.

If you heed my advice, you slowly will develop a genuine bond of trust with your Imperial Fist, and they may even cook and clean for you like a true homemaker.

[kivaember]

new ac6 au idea help me

okay so i've been playing pacific drive since it came out, and it gave me SUCH brainworms for a post-apocalyptic AU of AC6. In BULLET POINT FORM:

when the Fires happened (the first one), it occured just as a coral collapse started to initiate

this basically fucked up rubicon and its now the bermuda triangle of space

anyone who lands on it don't come back and no sensors or satellites can penetrate the thick crimson cloud that covers the entire planet (looks like jupiter from the outside now, with storms and the like)

still, corpos gonna corpo. so after a few decades when nothing changes, they send a few reconnaisance groups to the planet

some manage to report back before vanishing, and the reports are: laws of physics have been screwed up, nothing makes sense, and everything's trying to kill them

Corpos sent their ac squads bc if its dangerous bring guns

They vanish, and after sending a few more they throw up their hands and are like, planet's haunted. fuck it. no coral ever now

ENTER WALTER

who's been closely observing this whole thing for a while

paranoid this effect will spread to other systems, as ambient coral levels are rising in the vaccuum of space around the planet

sends 621 to the planet's surface with strict orders for him to find 'watchpoint alpha' which should have a functioning comms array that can send through heavy coral interference

621 crashlands on the surface and man, what the hell is this scp shit

anyways, there're still ppl living on rubicon, but they've adapted to the fact that they're stuck in a reality-warped nightmare and roll with the weirdness

they have acs, but they're such precious resources that they're only deployed whenever they're gonna do a big expedition for a resource haul when identifying a safe passage opening up to some intact ruins or old foundries

most of the time they're trundling around the planet's surface on old MRAPs or jeeps, harvesting resources where they can

the redguns and vespers who were sent before have kind of like. settled down there - those that survived, anyways. bc they can't leave, but they can't survive without working together either. so there's like an uneasy alliance between the native rubiconians, the redguns and the vespers. as well as various independents that landed and learned to survive

AYRE OF COURSE IS IN THIS

so sentient coral do exist, and they tend to possess random objects

ayre in this case has possessed a car :| 621's gonna drive it

anyway 621 and ayre come across rusty, who's a scavenger for his rubiconian outpost - and the pilot of STEEL HAZE - and tl;dr rusty takes 621 back to the warrens

621 saying he has a mission to reach watchpoint alpha, bc then he and walter can "fix" rubicon

(621 is unaware of the "burn all the coral" plan. walter only told him they're fixing this mess)

rusty's interested, but says reaching the watchpoint is dependent on the conditions. he may have to wait a while

THEN POST-APOCALYPTIC ROAD TRIP AND FALLING IN LOVE while ayre plays wingman

anyway i had to get that idea out of my mind and writen down. ac combat is super rare and is only done when redguns and vespers scrap over a big haul of resources, and even then they try not to damage each ther too much, bc if their acs get too damaged, that's it. it's not being fixed with their limited resources.

rusty who's never been a spy. born on rubicon when it was already messed up and thinks this is normal. oh hey so the landscape is constantly shifting and transforming a mile long field of grass into an acidic bog that'll chew through metal in seconds? haha yeah that happens. it is what it is. oh those manniquins you see on the road sometime? yeah they multiply when you're not looking and try to creep up on you. they explode. yeah that's normal. it really is!

god rusty would actually be incredibly weird in this. even 621 would be side eyeing him...