#so my biggest goal is to get it above 8

[kafka-ohdear]

my face after getting totally 4 hours of sleep in 2 days

[leovenuslatina]

love galore💖

˚₊‧꒰ა ♱ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

what your future spouse will do to impress you

✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩

psa - tarot readings are not set in stone

take what resonates leave what doesn’t

you’re fully in control of YOUR own life

˚₊‧꒰ა ♱ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

* take a deep cleansing breathe

and pick a pile that calls to you *

✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩

✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩

{Pile One - 7 of swords, queen of pentacles,the world}

༝༚༝༚

what your fs does to impress you pile 1 is fix themselves!!!! they meet you and realize they need to show up as the best person for you so they go above and beyond to fix any of their flaws and even attend therapy to make sure they are the type of person that deserves you. to impress you your person will use money but not in a showing off kinda way in a way where they are being helpful. at any opportunity they can they they want to provide for you and support you they’ll want to take care of you to show you they’re the type of person you can marry and depend on, one that will be there your whole life. to impress you pile 1 they will commit quickly they’ll know they want you and only you and will be as loyal as can be.

༝༚༝༚

^extra^

abundance is my birthright

practicality

prosperity

wealth management

avoiding conflict

therapy

certainty

completion

positive

rewards

satisfaction

✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩

{Pile Two - 8 of swords, knight of cups, 4 of wands}

༝༚༝༚

pile 2 the way your fs will impress you is by showing up when you need him the most i see something happening where you need emotional support or maybe something has you really down early in the relationship. they will be there for you ! they will show you that they can be your shoulder to lean on when you need them the most. any problems or obstacles you may face you will never face them alone with your fs by your side. your person may be a creative and to impress you they will make you something with their bare hands just to show you how much they care for you! to impress you pile 2 they’ll introduce you to all their high profile friends who could maybe help YOU in any way like maybe you have a business or something and you fs will want to to everyone to make your business grow. to impress you they will always take you where you want to go just to see your eyes light up. you fs will want to help you accomplish all your goal they want to be by you while you reach your biggest dreams. i’m seeing your fs is a charmer !!! and to impress you they will always sweep you off your feet.

༝༚༝༚

^extra^

arrival

invitation

always want you around

new opportunities

dreamer

celebration

happiness

completion

pleasure

new beginnings

✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩

{pile three - 2 of cups, the sun, 10 of wands}

༝༚༝༚

to impress you my pile 3 your fs will offer you immediate friendship they will show you that they actually care about you and will want to get to know who you are completely before taking things further.

to impress you pile 3 they will always want you to experience the upmost happiness when they’re with you. like pile 2 your fs will want to see you achieve all your goal and help you as much as possible being like a cheerleader right by your side. some more things they’ll do to impress you is if anything comes up to both you they will stick up

for you right away. they don’t want anything to hurt you or make you feel bad like you’re own protector.

they lift you up anytime you need it and alway make you rest if you’ve ever taken on too many work projects. they will want to take care of you any way they can. they’ll impress you by always know your moods and almost reading your mind about anything you need.

༝༚༝༚

^extra^

love

partnership

mutual love

overcommitted

burdens

challenges

✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩✧༺┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦┆༻✩

[svcredveins]

An introduction to myself!

So first things first, I’m 23 and female (I will not mention my real name, you can call me Luna if you want or just my username lol). Was so unsure to post on here since I’ve created this account three years ago to share my heartbeat. I have also a huge passion of mine - to become a Porsche factory driver in the coming future.

So bear with clips here and there, I do feel weird though doing this to the public but hey, we’re all heart lovers right?

Anyway, reason is to actually just check up on myself every once in awhile and see how my little lady is doing and appreciate her. I’ve struggled with a lot of things in my life with responsibilities to my own health and with this motivation to check up on myself. I definitely need to workout. And since becoming a Porsche factory driver is my dream, as a sim racer, I need to workout anyway because once I get my pedals and foldable rig, I have to workout because my little arms and legs will not bode well after 20 minutes of driving haha. For now I’m just on a controller.

So with this account made, I must be more aware of myself and even not just physically, but mentally too. Even though this is to the world, seeing others share their heartbeats is a reminder to myself to appreciate how our bodies were made and on how fascinating the human body is and what it’s capabile of. Also with the idea of more self acceptance for myself that I am living and breathing human being with a heartbeat and that it’s okay to fail. This alone will help me go a long way with that mindset for my sim racing as well! Hehe. Sorry. I love my racing. But! There’s also something to add on to that.

The dream

I’ve always been the type of girl to love speed. Anything that gets my heart racing (pun intended) I enjoy. The sheer thrill of going over the edge and that is where I found my biggest passion - sports car racing. The adrenaline, the awareness of knowing your putting your body over the edge, the unknown of what will happen when battling against another driver...I love that feeling and racing gives me that feeling and it bugs me everyday knowing that I am currently unable to race due to money, however, that is my dream and I strive to achieve it!

You need to be so fit for and that includes being aware of your breathing and heart rate. But oh to go so fast around a track over 200kmh feeling like everything around you is going by slowly. Heart pounding, breathing heavily, heavy focus on one goal - to win...yes! Give me my Porsche GT3 Cup, GT3 R, and 963! Let’s go!

Two passions intertwined

So since I was a little girl, I’ve also had those rare occasions where I felt my heartbeat. It’s always interested me feeling the “lub dub” in my chest. These things just began to intertwine for me and it’s actually perfect because since I love the sense of speed and adrenaline with it, my dream job is to be a cardiothorasic surgeon and that makes a lot of money’s worth to get into sports car racing which is definitely expensive as ever! So that will indefinitely support my biggest passion. Two passions in one? Crazy right?! I’m very excited for my future, despite my personal mental issues, but I am a huge dreamer so that’s my goal. I’m trying to work through it!

I’m aiming to get a stemoscope and a pulse oximeter. I would love to record my little lady working hard during my sim racing sessions! I just need the proper equipment to do it with a chest monitor strap.

Thank you for reading this far if you have. As you can tell I am super passionate about both!

Editing

Fun fact about me, I also do editing! I do photo and video edits and have been doing it for about 8 years. Time has flown by quickly!

The photo above is the Porsche 963 behind the human heart, portraying my passion for Porsche and the strong desire to become their factory driver.

My heart

I’ll try to say some info about my little lady.

She is a strong one with fire in her arteries. After getting an annual medical checkup about a year ago, my doctor remarked that I have a strong heart which was actually comforting to hear from her not gonna lie, knowing that my little lady is a strong and healthy one!

Strong and healthy speaks loudly about my passion for Porsche and racing for them as a factor driver, and that’s actually really heartwarming thinking about it because of how much of a passionate type person I am so it’s remarkable how she beats so strong and confident! I cherish that.

Cardiophilia intentions

I’m more on the light hearted (no pun intended) side of the cardiophilia. I just enjoy the functionality of the heart, and being fascinated with it, but I don’t mind some dark cardiopheila. It does, however, have limits. A lot of limits.

I have done a fanfic back in 2018 where I guess you could call it more on the dark side, but I do not involve myself physically in any of that, nor do I condone it. I’ll definitely write dark cardiophilia in some sort of form in books which I have in the past, as I’ve mentioned earlier, so anything else, I keep my little lady all out of harms way and treat her nicely. No resus, pressure, or poking. I do breathholds at times though, but other than that, I have one little heart so I must treat her well as she should be treated.

[threecheersforsuccess]

I've been yapping for too many years, so I need a living masterpost of the guides and blogs from my Tumblr and Instagram. I plan to create more long-form content in the upcoming months, and I will re-do some of the prompts listed. I feel some of my old work might be outdated, so please take my wording with a chunk of salt.

I'll update my with my content as I go.

Stuff from 2024

♡ What's in my bag? (2024)

My Motivation Education Video Series (2022-2023)

♡ Part 0: Something Much Needed Among Students: Motivation ♡ Part 1: Bare Bones Definition of Motivation ♡ Part 2: Self-efficacy, I think ♡ Part 3: Where is the control? ♡ Part 4: Reward or Autopilot ♡ Part 5: Determination to Continue ♡ Part 6: Personal Interest ♡ Part 7: Outside The Model ♡ Part 8: Where is the willpower? ♡ Part 9: Is stress even a bad thing? Note: I stopped because I did not like the short video format. I'm not sure if I may pick this up again, but I do think the lessons I learned from my readings are pretty neat :)

5am.Raining's Studying Challenge (2022)

Note: A challenge led by my cool mutual 5am.raining on Instagram. I slowly figure out how to make videos. It's a little wonky at the beginning, but I find my style! I made these posts in 2022 ♡ Poorly Filmed Day in My Life! ♡ My Studying Role Model... Haruhi from Ouran... ♡ Fave Leader in My Field: Carol Dweck ♡ What gets me in the mood to study? ♡ What I want to do with my degree... ♡ My Fave Reading Assignment ♡ Study Tunes ♡ How to get back into reading books ♡ Favorite study supplies ♡ Planning Routine (2022 version) ♡ Organizing My Desk ♡ What's in my backpack? ♡ Inspiring Film or Doc on My Field ♡ Imposter Syndrome ♡ "Study Buddy" ♡ Coping with Long Study Sessions

Flipd Productivity and Motivation Challenge Blogs

Note: I yapped so hard I won the productivity challenge. I wrote these around junior year of college (2021). ♡ Long-Term Destination, Short-Term Motivation: Living in The Moment ♡ Embedding Self-forgiveness in Your Self-Care ♡ Study Essentials ♡ The Importance of Play and Breaks ♡ Quote of Week Analysis: Self-Acceptance ♡ How I Plan My Everyday ♡ The Biggest Time Management Misconception I'm Trying to Get Over ♡ Recognizing Burnout (and Listening to Yourself) ♡ Building an Academic Support System ♡ Ways to Make Yourself Take Breaks ♡ The Challenges of a Positive Mindset ♡ How I Build Habits (based on James Clear's Atomic Habits)

Diana's Studying Challenge (2021)

Note: A challenge lead by my cool mutual dianas.desk on Instagram. I made these posts in 2021. Day 1: Challenge Introduction Day 2: What Gets Me Motivated Day 3: Cleaning My Desk Day 4: Study Tunes/Songs I Listen and Avoid Day 5: Current Books I'm Reading Day 6: Relaxation! Arknights Projekt Red Bullet Journal Spread Day 7: My Happy Place Day 8: Week Reflection Day 9: How I Plan Day 10: My Summer 2021 Work Routine Day 11: My Desk Essentials Day 12: Study Snack (Natto) Day 13: Digital or Paper Notes? Which is Better? Day 14: How I Self-Care Day 15: My School Bag Day 16: Proudest Achievement Day 17: Most Favorite Productivity App/Website Blocker Day 18: Work Buddies Day 19: Inspirational Quotes Day 20: My Favorite Place to Work Day 21: #MessyDesk Day 22: Guilty Pleasure Day 23: My Favorite Study Accounts Day 24: Study Methods I Do Not Like Day 25: Trying out a new place to work? Day 26: Part 2 of My Unconventional Study Tips (same as above) Day 27: My Outfit Day 28: Making a Gratitude List Day 29: My Aspirations Day 30: Today I learned… Day 31: September Goals

My Study Tips

Note: I wrote many of these either in 2020 or very early on (2017-2018). Super old stuff. ♡ Unconventional Study Tips Part 1 + Part 2 ♡ One Effective Memorization Tip ♡ Dealing with Bad Grades: What I Do ♡ How to get 800 on the SAT in Math and Full Points on Grammar ♡ Causes of Procrastination + Methods for Each ♡ How to Study When Unmotivated ♡ Making Your Discord Study Space ♡ Ways to Go to Bed Early ♡ My Super Ultimate Guide to AP Calc AB and BC ♡ Using Your Phone Productively (2018)

Journaling

♡ How I Journal (2017) ♡ How I Use My Notebooks (2018) ♡ How to Keep a Daily Journal (2020) ♡ How to Get into Creative Journaling (2022)

Dividers by @fairytopea

[grimalkinmessor]

6, 8, 15 for lawlight pleaseee!

🖤🤍

6. How do they make up/apologize after an argument?

Well, I'm certain that neither of them apologize, at least not verbally; they're both too prideful for it. I think that L makes up by giving gifts (read: bribes) when Light is angry with him, but that rarely works so he has to resort to making Light feel powerful in some way. Whether that's through revealing a secret/weakness or simply letting him top, that's up to you :3

Light is....more complicated, because while getting L to admit he's wrong is like pulling teeth, Light won't admit he's wrong at all. He's kind of incapable of it when it's something he gives a shit about. But, then, he kinda gives a lot of shits about L himself, so therein lies the problem. On smaller matters, Light can begrudgingly take 'defeat' and admit that L was right but not that he was wrong, but for everything else.... Yeah, the most you're getting out of him is a roundabout concession over something else that is far less important but still somehow ties back to the thing they were arguing about.

But L loves his prideful little monster, so he knows what to expect in the end really lmao

8. What do they love most about the other? Why?

For ME personally, L loves that Light is fucking insane. He's seen people like that before, of course, but they've never been on his level, never truly come to KNOW him like Light has, never mirrored him so exactly in intelligence and ruthlessness. Never gave him so much fun. Granted, Light's flavor of haughty insanity isn't what made L fall in love with him, but it is the biggest reason he loves him 🥰

For Light, he loves how much of a challenge L is. He never gives Light an inch, and if he does it's only to further his own goals and agenda. He's able to see through Light's lies and politeness down to the monster beneath—L is the only one who ever truly sees him. And Light can't help but love and hate him for it. But mostly love ;3

15. What songs remind you of their relationship?

I actually don't have that many for them, surprisingly! And what I do have is fairly generic, but I'll try and find some of my gems for you! :D

↑ Obligatory Junie & The Hut Friends song because I have to have at least one in every playlist and this one just fits the lawlight vibe ✨

↑ A bit of a classic one for me, again. If they beat the fuck out of each other regularly then this is my go-to song :3

↑ This one is Light to me 😌 Light descending into madness because he's realized his feelings for L and is disgusted with himself and listing all the things he hates about L, berating himself for falling in the first place all while the derangement takes over as he realizes he still has to kill him 💅✨

↑ IT'S T H E M YOUR HONOR LIKE PLZZZZZZ UNDERSTAND THIS IS THEM TO A T I CAN'T TELL YOU YOU JUST HAVE TO LISTEN 🙏🙏🙏

↑ I'm so sorry, I'm not usually a k-pop groupie but my little sisters were watching the music video for this one and it just SCREAMS lawlight I don't know how else to explain it 😭

↑ Me when L singing to Light. When L singing to Light before and after his death. wHEN NOW I'M IN YOUR HEAD AND THE RENT IS DUE—

↑ Same as above but reversed POV 🙏 Light can't get him out L is in him forever now 😌

↑ 🫣🫣🫣😳😳😳🫣 This one's pretty self-explanatory once you listen to it....

↑ Again, self-explanatory, but also Light. Light-coded. For obvious reasons. But yes ✨

....Okay maybe I lied a little on accident I had more than I thought 😅

[deadbydangit]

Can I get male killers preferably pyramid head ghost face and the oni reaction to an 8ft killer s/o female preferably Sfw and NSFW

I know it's dumb but it's all my pea brain thinks about please drink water and take ur breaks when needed I love your stuff

Sure. I'm also trying to drink my water, so thank you for reminding me. I'm not going to say 8 ft exactly. I'm just going to say tall if that's alright. Please enjoy.

With a very tall female reader. SFW and NSFW

Ghostface, Pyramid Head, Oni

Ghostface

SFW

Daaaammmmnnnn!

Baby!

He may find it a bit demasculating to have a partner who is almost twice his size.

But, hey, that means there's more of you to love, right?

He's totally going to try and reach for things up high and whine for you to do it.

Only to cat call you.

"Wow, hottie up above."

But Danny also teases.

Like, he's an ass.

"How's the weather up there?"

"Can you speak to giraffes?"

"Can you see China from there?"

If he's being too much, just pick him up and move him.

Or, take his camera away.

That'll shut him up.

Or make him whine more.

He secretly loves it when you pick him up though.

The fact that you're tall means he has access to so much more of the world.

And you're cute.

That helps.

NSFW

Because you're tall, you're probably not as agile as him.

AKA, he can run underneath your legs and around you before you even realize what happened.

He'll always start by reaching underneath your shirt and groping you.

And, since he's closer to your waist, your pants go down next.

He can also pull down your panties just as easily.

You're at an extreme disadvantage with this sneaky little shit.

Danny likes to take you from behind since it's easier to surprise you that way.

He, however, doesn't like blow jobs from you.

Not because he doesn't like blow jobs.

It's because you really have to bend down and that's humiliating for him.

But he will gladly eat you out since he doesn't have to bend down as far.

It also makes your balance off.

So he can push you to the ground very easily.

He's not the biggest down there, but he sure has power.

His ultimate goal is to keep you on the ground.

When he cums, he wants to see if he can make it spill out of you.

Since you're so tall, he thinks you're also bigger down there.

He's not the smartest in that department.

At the very end, he likes to lay on top of you and fall asleep.

You make a good pillow.

Pyramid Head

SFW

He can reach your face without bending down.

And, he's only a few inches taller.

Finally, someone close to his own size!

The idea makes him feel less lonely.

With this, comes the fact that he can hug you at his level.

He doesn't look like he's holding a child's hand when he's walking with you.

He can dance with you properly if you'd like.

You can kiss him without him picking you up.

And he doesn't have to sit down to pet your head.

Dream come true.

To others, that might seem like a ridiculous thing.

But to him?

He finally has someone like him.

He feels so much more normal.

Despite the fact you are both similar in size, that doesn't equate to strength.

He is still stronger.

But that means he can still pick you up.

And he can still carry you.

Though he has to be careful because he has walked you into doorframes.

Laugh that off because he'll be very angry with himself after.

The best part?

You can give him all the kisses you want!

And, even better?

They can be surprise kisses!

He couldn't love you anymore!

NSFW

Just because you're the same size, doesn't mean sex with him will be any different.

He still wants to be as gentle as possible.

He always asks your permission with the point of a finger or nod of the head before doing anything.

However, since you are bigger, he doesn't feel as worried about being on top.

Only if that's okay with you though.

If it is, then get ready.

Because he finally feels like he's got some control.

He gets to set some of a pace.

He usually isn't satisfied at the end of sex with other partners.

Not because they aren't good to him, but because they have to be on top due to safety.

Just be careful.

The idea of a little control might get to him and make him a little rough.

Just let him know if it's too much.

Being able to see your facial expressions as he fucks you really turns him on.

Like stated before, he never gets to be on top.

He can last a long time and is finally able to actually release.

He cums a lot.

He always tries to pull out before.

But sometimes he'll cum in you.

Just to see how much of him you can hold.

Also, just for tonight, let him sleep on your lap.

Since he could never do so before.

Yeah, you're a dream come true.

Oni

SFW

Oh my.

Beautiful.

He's not used to seeing such tall women.

Seeing one close to his size?

Amazing.

Despite your size, you carry yourself with such elegance and grace that he can't help but stare as you move.

Please excuse him, he doesn't mean it.

He's just floored by your features.

Line Pyramid Head, he doesn't have to bend down to reach you.

And, similarly, you don't have to climb on something to reach him.

He loves cupping your face in his hand, and not having to bend over to do so makes him so relieved.

If he had a small partner, he worries he'd frighten them by looming over them then crouching down.

Like a hawk over a mouse.

Kazan also knows that he is always able to find you.

Which is super helpful because he has this constant need to protect you.

But he also feels a little better leaving you alone.

Most wouldn't mess with someone of your size.

But he is quick to defend you if needed.

He'll still call you 'his little cherry blossom' though.

It's his way of showing affection.

NSFW

Well now.

Since you are taller, he doesn't have to worry so much about crushing you.

Now this man has a size kink.

And you shatter that.

However, since you're larger, he can be rougher.

And does this man love being rough.

He's always on top.

It's a cultural thing about men being on top.

He loves the fact that he doesn't have to take you from behind.

You'll be fine with him on top.

And that drives Kazan wild.

Almost feral.

He's ripping off your clothes and growling before nearly tackling you to the floor.

And this man is huge.

But he assumes you're big enough to take it.

And, if you can, by God will he go.

He could last all night just thrusting into you, lasting multiple rounds.

When he finally cums, he takes pride in how full he can stuff you.

"My little cherry blossom, bare me a child."

He also has a breeding kink, and, since you're the perfect woman.

He has no doubts you'll have the perfect heir to the Yamamoka family line.

After, just once, he wants to see what it's like to be the little spoon.

He might ask for it more often.

No matter how tall, you're his little cherry blossom.

[devsgames]

The Exit 8: Some Thoughts

Recently I heard about a game called The Exit 8. It's a simple indie horror game that's about an hour or two long, made by a solo developer. I watched some gameplay and man I need to get these thoughts out of my head.

You are stuck in a loop in a hallway with the objective of getting out of the loop, a-la P.T. To do so, you need to walk forward through the hallway loop and search for "anomalies" - visual artifacts that stand out. If you spot an anomaly in the hallway, you need to walk back to the previous hall. If you don't spot one, you can walk forward into the next hallway. Repeat 8 times and win the game.

On the surface Exit 8 really isn't a game for me: I've grown to be fairly critical of indie horror in recent months- generally I find a lot of it to be excessively mindless and afraid to push new ground or innovate, in favour of repeating tropes in the hopes a game goes viral. Also honestly, I don't even think the merits of Exit 8 is due to it being a horror game - in fact I could argue the 'liminal space' and horror tropes within it aren't even necessary to the core experience at all.

Rather, Exit 8 is fascinating to me because the gameplay is unique, simple and also incredibly effectively designed. Everything in the game from a player's perspective is dirt-simple to intuit, and that's where the beauty lies.

When I'm designing a game mechanic my biggest and ever-looming question is often "how intuitive is this for a player to just implicitly understand"? How much work will be involved in communicating how this mechanic functions? Designing a game mechanic is incredibly easy and anyone can do it, but the big challenge is actually getting the player to understand that mechanic as-designed. Thanks to this, it's easy for a mechanic to suddenly explode into feature creep as you try and communicate it to a player.

Take pressing a button, for example. First you need to find an available and intuitive input for it (it could be E, F or LMB on a keyboard and mouse, but players may not always know what binding it is in each game). Then you need to present that control as feedback to the player in a way they understand how to interface with it (usually UI). You need to choose if this is presentation when you're within the context of the interaction, or a persistent one (in-world prompt vs. a hotkeys menu). You need feedback for interacting with the thing (what does it do? Does it animate? Light up when you're looking at it?). You then often need to explicitly teach that as an element of your game (as players don't often have the same level of understanding if a mechanic isn't obvious). You then need to take this idea and balloon it out to consider the scope of how this might interact with other systems (like movement, camera controls, physics, etc). You then need to implement it in a way that is universal to any object being interacted with. Then you need to make sure all those interactions work and continue to be obvious throughout the experience.

Adding one feature can balloon into way too many features and forms of feedback if left unchecked, and I think the beautiful thing about Exit 8 is that it's so simply designed it doesn't need to struggle with any of that. It doesn't explain itself not because it needs to build a mystique, but rather because it just doesn't need to in the first place. In my opinion as a solo developer, this sort of experience is the peak goal.

There's one (1) sign that explains the looping gameplay mechanic at the beginning and nothing else beyond that. No prompts, no interactions to learn, no hidden complexities. The Steam page itself touts that "The game is only available in Japanese and English, but if you understand the above description of the anomaly, you can probably play it all the way through."

Player movement controls are a cultural understanding in games, and that's the only interface the player has with the game so it doesn't really need to be explained. Things that result in fail states look unnerving or dangerous, so there's little misunderstanding around intention buried around threats. Plus, the whole game takes place in one enclosed environment so the player often intuitively knows what to expect (and what not to) at any given time - another reason the 'simple hallway' setting is extremely effective framing for a game like this. The possibility space is so small and focused, and yet the game still manages to be engaging the whole way through.

The most expensive thing developer-wise to build in this game I would imagine are the fail states, which are bespoke cutscenes - everything else is intuitive enough to need no elaboratiom The implementation in Unreal I imagine would be so simple there'd be few hiccups. Anomalies are often simple tricks that only slightly deviate an environment: a sped-up animation, a change of material to a different one, scaling an object slightly, changing a texture etc. Levels are probably streamed via Unreal's sublevel systems, based on players going through triggers. You could honestly make this game in a game jam and it wouldn't be an unreasonable expectation. It's just so simple and effective.

In many ways, this is exactly the kind of game I think more devs should aim to make; it's not about being the biggest or the fanciest, but rather the most intuitive and simple to understand that anyone can play it and get the experience with few barriers to entry. It's hard to make a game that is so stripped down of everything and yet is still a ton of fun to play, and I'm impressed how well this game does that.

Content of Exit 8 aside I find myself constantly coming back to marvel at how well-designed it is and how to take some of those lessons and impart that approach into my own games.

[numinously-yours]

Pick a flower: For your May

Happy May everyone! I hope it is warm and sunshiney where you are. Wisconsin is a beautiful 63 and sunny!

As I like to do with a new months, we're looking at three questions:

What do you need to leave behind in April?

What obstacles might May bring?

What can you bring with you into May?

Then I have a theme/word corresponding to your month.

Pick a flower from above and find your group below

Group 1: Nurturing Practicality (Queen of Pentacles)

What do you need to leave in April? Three of Wands rev.

Leave behind your comfort zone. You played it safe in April, thinking you didn’t have what it takes to accomplish your goals/dreams. There could have some some delays that occurred and maybe those seemed like “a sign” to not go for it. Signs can be confusing! But this is a new sign to let you know to keep going when you know it’s what you want.

What obstacles might May bring? Knight of Cups rev.

With that in mind, you may find yourself overdoing it in May. Find a balance for yourself. What pushes you juuust enough out of your comfort zone without it being a complete 180? Or, before you act, create a vision for yourself on how you want it to play out. Perhaps start with writing & drawing your biggest hopes out of the situation. Then look at it objectively and see what is realistic. Maybe you can’t spend thousands of dollars to fly to Paris and explore fashion. But, can you go to boutiques in your hometown and see what beautiful items are right in your back yard? Inspiration can be found in a lot of places.   

What can you bring into May? Queen of Swords & Nine of Wands

As you enter May, enter with courage and unbiased judgement. These cards (all of them!) are screaming “TRUST YOUR ABILITIES!” I know that you’re scared, but you really can do it. There are things about yourself that you haven’t even discovered yet. Having the courage to pursue the scary things is going to be so worth it. If there is anyone in your life who is making you feel badly about the decisions you’re making, this is your sign that setting boundaries with them is GOOD. Even if they are someone you love and appreciate, you are allowed to set boundaries. (Boundaries also take courage and are a form of self-love).

Group 2: Possibilities (Page of Cups)

What do you need to leave in April? Three of Swords

I have this feeling of overwhelming sadness and disappointment. You’re grieving something. I am not going to tell you to stop grieving, because grief is a process, but what I do think you should try to leave behind is the idea that it never gets better. It is hard to believe, I know, but it DOES. Each day it will hurt just a little bit less, even if you don’t feel it at the time. You may still think about this situation daily – I’ve thought about my grandma every single day for the last 8 years since she passed. But now it comes more often with smiles than with tears. I just say that so you know you’re not alone with grief regardless of if it's the loss of a person, a job, or anything else that was important to you. I just wanna give you a hug 🤍

What obstacles might May bring? The Magician rev. & The Queen of Pentacles

There may be a motherly figure in your life this month who tries to keep you down. They may also be grieving this same situation and think that you “moving on” is you not caring anymore. But, that’s not the case. Taking care of yourself and moving forward doesn’t mean you don’t care. Two things can be true at once: you can continue grieving AND work on healing. It is likely this person doesn’t have the tools to do their own healing so they want others to wallow with them. It is not your responsibility to take care of this person’s feelings, no matter how much they mean to you. You can grieve with them, certainly, but you are allowed to have a boundary that says, “I need to step away from this so I can keep myself healthy.” (ps, this queen of pentacles REALLY wanted to come out. It showed itself to me like three times while shuffling and then it finally came out. Group 1 might have some messages for you, too!)

What can you bring into May? The Chariot & Four of Cups rev.

Okay, I’m copying the text right from Biddy Tarot because it is PERFECT. From the Chariot:

“Others may try to block you, distract you, or drag down the pursuit of your goal. But The Chariot is an invitation to draw upon your willpower and home in on what’s essential to you, so you can push past the obstacles in your way.”

I don’t know how this CAN’T be about the obstacles above. As you move into the new month, bring with you introspection and self-care. Know that it is okay to say “no” when you know you don’t have the energy to participate (in a heavy conversation, in an outing, in someone coming over). Exhausting yourself for the sake of others is only going to take away from the healing. Find the things that ground you, do some meditation, and just “be”.  

Group 3: Self-prioritization (Seven of Swords)

What do you need to leave in April? The Hierophant rev.

Take the need for external validation and chuck it! You don’t need that moving forward. You know what your values are. You know what motivates you. And you know that it’s not in the majority. In the past, this has prevented you from taking action or doing what you felt was best. You didn’t want to stir the pot and that makes sense. But, it’s time to give yourself permission to trust your gut and do what is best for yourself.

What obstacles might May bring? The Chariot & The High Priestess

The biggest obstacle in the upcoming month is your subconscious. Going against the grain IS scary and your subconscious will probably try to save you from the discomfort of it. But you have the strength, willpower, and determination to power through. People may try to convince you to stick to the status quo and, yeah, it would be easy to just do it. But, is that what you actually want? Fighting toward what you DO want is going to bring you out stronger on the other end.

What can you bring into May? Five of Wands

An open mind. Something this card suggests is having discussions about the conflict that may ensue from you following your own path. People may try to manipulate you into staying the same or tell you that you’re a bad person because you’re going your own way. But, this is coming from a place that’s important to them. Can you discuss why they feel that way? What is their end goal and how can your new path still lead you to the goal? Just because you aren’t doing life the same way, doesn’t mean that you both can’t be successful. Remember: having an open mind doesn’t mean changing minds. If they’re still frustrated that you’re not coming back around, but you’ve had a discussion, they need to work through the frustration. You did your due diligence.

Group 4: Open mindedness (King of Swords)

What do you need to leave in April? Ace of Cups

The ace of cups usually indicates love – receiving it, giving it, being it. As I think about what this could mean in terms of leaving something behind, I think it might be the hesitancy to open up to love. You are full of love, and I think you know this, but you might be protective of it. It’s okay to take down your shield in order to let the love move onto others and to let it flow to you.

What obstacles might May bring? Seven of Cups

I don’t know if this is necessarily related to the above, but an obstacle you might face in May is the lack of gumption behind ideas. You have a lot of ideas in your head on what you want to do, who you want to be, how you want to interactive with others, and where you want to go. But, you come up with so MANY ideas that then you find it hard to execute them. Take time to analyze your ideas and see what is realistic. Think about ways to prioritize all your ideas. What is most important to you? What has the most impact? Can you actually do them all?

What can you bring into May? Knight of Wands rev.

This card really reiterates the obstacles and how to overcome them. In reverse, the knight of wands acknowledges all of your creative energy. It’s this energy that gets you excited and inspires all of these ideas in your head. But, the card also acknowledges the need to slow down. Remind yourself that you don’t have to do everything all at once. If you are struggling to prioritize, try to think of alternative methods of achieving your goals. Maybe there are baby steps you can take toward each so you feel like you are accomplishing them all. It might go slower, but could help you feel less overwhelmed. Lastly, keep an open mind. There will be things that happen which are out of your control. Take a beat, readjust your expectations, and get back at it.

[lucawrites11]

i saw this tweet so you know what it's time for...

The Tillies Have a Problem: How Do They Solve It?

First of all: What is the problem?

The backline, they have conceded 8 goals in 2 matches. That is a HUGE problem. Mackenzie Arnold isn't the problem in goal, she's been consistent. The problem is Clare Hunt.

The front line, they can't score and they struggle with no striker to act as a focal point in the box and to play through and only one truly in the squad.

Katrina Gorry has been returning from injury and been consistently poor in midfield.

The solution to most of these are simple especially in the frontline. I'd propose a frontline that looks like this in an ideal world.

It's not too positive, Australia needs to take on a defensive shape for the match against the USA in order to deal with their threats going forward. Gallop as a naturally central midfielder and alongside the talent in the wings of Fowler and Foord, the players can track back with speed and leave Heyman forward as a focal point of a counter attack. However, this requires Yallop to be fully fit which may not be possible.

In the case that she isn't, this is my proposed line up. For both of these line ups, Heyman does not seem able to play a full match but I would like to see her play the first half to place Australia on a good front foot with confidence going into a second half where an early substitution could see Vine replace her in both line-ups. This again allows for trackbacks but brings on Australia's more talented attack.

The next problem is the midfield pairing. Kyra Cooney-Cross needs to be there. Katrina Gorry shouldn't and Clare Wheeler should. Wheeler has been so consistent when she enters that field of play and has been crucial in defensive and attacking movements. Her passing is exceptional and painfully underrated. Gorry can be a player that Australia turn to to bring the fire off the bench.

And the biggest problems: The Defence.

The tweet above proposed a backline where Torpey takes on a role at left back. However, her natural positioning is as a right back and she's relatively inexperienced. As a result, I would prefer to see a line up like this.

Catley is very effective as a CB and I believe her and Kennedy can partner with each other very effectively. Ellie has not played much at LB but she's an experienced player with an experienced head that Torpey doesn't have. I believe the Tillies will get enough from Ellie at LB and will get the best from Torpey and that combination is needed.

Alternatively, Polks could be brought into the backline to create this.

Where Carpenter and Catley can be used to their fullest and an experienced CB is brought into the backline. Polkinghorne has been more effective and consistent across the backline this season than Hunt and I would prefer to see her but she's had little play time which is concerning.

Now please stick any of these pictures together to create the full line up :))

Do people want Spain next?

[cha-melodius]

2023 Fic Year in Review

I've been doing these for three years now, and they always grow each year as I get tagged in other year-end posts that make the rounds. Feel free you grab it if you want to do your own review! And I’d like to add a hearty thank you to each and every person who’s read my fics over the years, y'all continue to make this a joy!

2020 Review | 2021 Review | 2022 Review

AO3 Username: chamel  My Page: Link  Active Fandoms:  Red, White & Royal Blue: 20 works The Man from UNCLE (2015): 8 works Loki: 5 works New Fandoms: None thank GOD Total Number Of Completed Works/Word Count  This Year: 33 works, 278k words  All Time: 113 works, 1.27 million words

This year a little movie that came out in August absolutely destroyed these stats lmaoooo. Most Popular One Shot (by kudos): This Year: Always Where I Need To Be (RWRB, Alex/Henry, T, 5.5k) All Time: Class(room) Warfare (RWRB, Alex/Henry, T, 7.8k words)

Most Popular Completed Multi-Chapter (by kudos):  This Year & All Time: Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood  (RWRB, Alex/Henry, E, 20k words)

Events/Challenges: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Gift Exchange 2023, The Brownstone Anniversary Fic Exchange, Halloween Huh?

More reflections, stats, and planned fics below the cut!

Additional Random AO3 Stats

By number of fics: 85% one shots, 15% multi-chaps

By word count: 52% mult-chaps, 48% one shots

Ratings by number of fics: 48% T-rated, 33% E-rated, 15% M-rated

Musical artists contributing highest number of titles: Jeff Tweedy (Tweedy/Wilco) & The New Pornographers, tied at 3 each

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?  Somehow I topped my word count from last year by 10k, which I was not expecting. That said, this year was right about average.

What’s your own favorite story of the year?  God this is a hard question this year because I wrote a lot of fics I really really love. For one single fic I'll go with Nova, Baby, because I love the story and I've got a lot of lovely feelings about it.

Did you complete your writing goals from last year?  The Goal: I want to complete a few large multichapter fics, which will probably mean my one-shot production goes down. I completed one long mulitchap, and then a few mid-length (~20k) multichaps. I think I wrote more of those than I have any other year. Surprisingly, my one-shot production wasn't super significantly decreased.

Do you have any writing goals for the New Year? Ok, I gotta come up with something. My goal is to have a similar mix of fics as least year, and also to write my first collaboration with @cricketnationrise, which will be a long multichap.

Did you take any writing risks this year? Wrote on a topic outside my wheelhouse (therapy 😬) and also posted a fic in a fandom where there weren't a lot of fics in similar genres (action/spies). Now that's no longer true, but at the time it was really freaking nerve-wracking.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Every fic I write in a fandom that's not RWRB? 😅 It's hard to complain too much, especially considering what happened to my numbers this year.

Most fun story to write: All the Old Showstoppers, Will You Brie Mine?, You're the Perfect Gift for Me. Silly RWRB boys being silly, basically.

Biggest disappointment: Again, I feel like it's hard to complain when I have a fic that's closing in on 4k kudos. The goalposts keep moving, don't they, though? I still live in fear of pouring my heart into a multichap and having what will count as "lukewarm" reception, when before this year I didn't have a single fic above 1k kudos.

Biggest surprise: Most definitely Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood. Like I figured it would do pretty well (I hoped, since I put so much into it), but holy shit?? I still can't really believe it's on page 2 of the tag by kudos? And honestly also Always Where I Need To Be, this little one-shot about David stealing glasses.

Coming soon/planned for 2024:

False Dichotomy (RWRB You've Got Mail AU)

Kissed Out (RWRB pro-pool players AU)

RWRB 1940s noir AU

RWRB conductor/piano soloist AU

RWRB hockey AU (with cricket)

A shitload of prompts from my fandom fest

Extremely delinquent MTH fics

TMFU art thief/gallery owner AU

Thank you for the tags on your end-of-the-year fic reviews @loki-is-my-kink-awakening, @kiwiana-writes, @rmd-writes, @lizzie-bennetdarcy, @indestructibleheart, and @welcometololaland!

[oh-no-another-idea]

Writer positivity tag

Tagged by @cherrybombfangirlwrites SO long ago you wouldn't believe. Thank you, lovely!

1. What motivates you to write?

Half pure enjoyment, half the beast inside me demands it. The beast keeps ya going when the enjoyments are few. ;)

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

I love this bit here from my wip Cemetery Sisters:

The idea stayed, lingering like the condensation on Madeleine's ice water glass. An illusive definition of family dripped down and over her fingers, a question of grief and love left a ring behind on the table. “Is it going to give you purpose in a healthy way?” Miguel asked, like he was some kind of therapist and not a boy with a circ saw. “Are you asking me if I’m going to get obsessed with results that exist only in my head?” Madeleine retorted, pulling the lemon wedge from her glass and slurping it. Her teeth tingled.

3. Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

Most all of them do! But I definitely love thinking about my boy Tim Alabaster from a wip of only vibes at this time. He's a magician framed for murder, and I adore him :)

4. What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

When you know just enough about the characters and the arc of the story that you can see it taking shape and the words are flowingggg

5. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I'm good at dialogue, I think, at having different voices and humorous jokes.

6. What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

I love how supportive everyone is, how you can get so many wonderful glimpses of others' work through tag games, how there's really a story for everyone out there.

7. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

I enjoy trying to put down 300 words per day. More often than not, I end up writing way more than that, but it's a nice attainable goal.

8. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

In Stars and Ships there's a city on a planet that's built on tidal flats--all the structures are on stilts and at low tide canoes are tied up and hang up above the sand. I still like thinking about all the implications of the setting...

9. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Don't be hard on yourself, and take a rest. Sometimes, just not holding yourself up to other standards and sleeping is all that's needed, and sometimes pursuing other creative outlets really helps me! Read, draw, go on a walk, talk with friends. The writing is still inside you, it'll be there.

10. Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

Everyone I meet on here is kind and wonderful! Thank you to everyone who boosts me up from all over the globe. Your kindness really inspires me. And also beloveds @sleepy-night-child @drippingmoon @sleepyowlwrites @reneesbooks @chauceryfairytales

@charlesjosephwrites @eccaiia @ashen-crest <333 Hugging you guys!!

Everyone^^^ consider yourselves tagged if you'd like, and also OPEN TAG for everyone else that sees this!!

[farasen]

Leon BPD post

Now, a little disclaimer beforehand: I'm not an expert in mental diseases nor personality disorders, I'm not a psychiatrist or even a psychologist, my knowledge is pretty surface-level. I'm not affirming anything and understand that this is a children's cartoon so the following is nearly impossible to be true, and I'm definitely not trying to offend anybody on purpose. It's just me mumbling about my headcanons, and I'll be interested in hearing your ideas about Leon's mental state, cause he's truly a character tbh.

First of all, what is BPD or borderline personality disorder? It's a mental condition in which person's has drastic mood swings, instability in relationships and self-image.

One of the biggest signs of BPD is fear of abandonment, which Leon clearly shows in s1e8. Actually this is the episode that makes you question his mental health state the most, but I digress. So, in this episode he struggles with feeling left out because of all the lies of some dude, though he never had a good reason to even consider this. That could be connected to paranoia, as he most likely assumed the worst about others and how they view him if his initial thought is that his friend are ganging up on him.

That also leads us to another sign of bpd: unclear self-image. In the same episode Leon has these moments where everyone saying that they should leave him behind and kick him out of the group. Thus, we can assume, that deep inside Leon is not that confident. Furthermore, he always does something to make himself seem to be the best. For example, s1e2 where he wants to be the one to score the final goal or s2e12 where he almost leaves the team to live his dream.

Those moments mentioned above in the 8th episode can be considered as a sign of dissociation too. That is when he breaks down after reading "Marlon's" letter. The voices he hears and the whole change of the surroundings into gray, which, I guess is an artistic choice, however, it still represents him being at his lowest and losing touch with reality.

Another very important sign of bpd is instability in relationships. That often goes along with black and white thinking, which means there's no gray area for those people. It can lead one to either adore or absolutely despise a person. And sometimes the switch can happen in the blink of an eye. Now I don't really remember Leon having a "favorite person", but he does change his attitude towards people who do not what he's expecting from them. Take s1e9 for example, Leon changes his opinion about Markus after finding out he was playing for the other team. While it seems reasonable at first, later on he still refuses to change his mind and even acts as if he doesn't know him. Or in *guess what episode* 8. Marlon immediately becomes his enemy after some lies in the school newspaper. And it's not only about his brother, but the whole team, since all of them were saying bad words about him in his delusions. Also s2e4, a moment with Willi. Yes, everyone thought he abandoned them, but Leon was the first to jump into conclusion...again.

What can also outline bpd is mood swing. Honestly, I can’t remember Leon having those, but I remember one moment from s1e3 where they all came to the field and Leon was like «screw it, I’m out». Maybe that counts as a mood swing? Also, perhaps, the way he acted in the 8th episode can also be considered as a mood swing

Speaking of impulsiveness, it’s definitely s1e1 when he challenges Siegers without thinking. Plus he gets in verbal arguments a lot, though it's more about anger issues.

Now let’s count how many BPD symptoms he has:

Fear of abandonment - yes

Unstable relationships - yes

Unclear or shifting self-image - yes

Impulsive, self-destructive behaviors - yes

Self-harm. Suicidal behavior – no, but obviously you can’t put that in the kid’s show

Extreme emotional swings – mmm, even though there are some moments with it, I wouldn’t say so

Chronic feelings of emptiness - no, not really

Explosive anger - yes

Feeling suspicious or out of touch with reality – yes

6/9 which is enough to get diagnosis.

Another question that can occur: why is he like that?

Well, things that cause BPD can be different, but we wanna look at the child neglect. I’ve already talked about Wessel’s family, but I feel like I need to mention it again. So my theory is that their mother left when they were still at the young age, so their dad had to raise his sons by himself. That could’ve caused trauma for Leon, which later progressed into BPD.

In conlusion,

And I think that’s all I wanted to say. Idk, if you liked this stuff I might do a similar thing with the rest of the gang.

[knightleysbookshelf]

Mid year book freakout 2024

Total books so far: 33

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2024

the crazy thing is i haven't had any 5 star reads this year (unless they were rereads). I just haven't found something i REALLY vibe with. but the closest to 5 stars would be Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe. I thought is was really beautiful and expressed so many real emotions when it comes to living outside the gender binary.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2024

just now realizing i have been reading mostly standalones this year, but i did read the All Our Hidden Gifts trilogy by Caroline O'Donoghue. Not bad!

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

i really want to give The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell a try! i've heard it is a tough read, but it seems so interesting

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

I AM SO EXCITED FOR COMPOUND FRACTURE BY ANDREW JOSEPH WHITE!!!! i have had it preordered for months now! i have LOVED his other two books and i have to assume this one will be good, too! i can not wait until september!

5. Biggest disappointment.

haha i have had a few disappointments this year, but i think the biggest one was A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab because i had hyped it up for myself so much. i really enjoyed most of her other work, and this was just not hitting the same. i loved the world building, but one i got near the end i realized that i didn't care about any of the characters. she didn't spend enough time getting the audience invested in their lives. i did not finish the trilogy (and i had made the mistake of buying the box set)

6. Biggest surprise.

speaking of this author, the biggest surprise was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. i know i am a few year late to the hype for this one lol, but i just assumed that it couldn't be as good as everyone was saying. but i ended up really enjoying this one! it was such a cool premise and it was so fun to go on the adventure

7. Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)

all of these questions are really making me realize over many books i've read this year that i just did not enjoy. there really hasn't been a new author that has grabbed me. :( i am hoping this changes by the end of the year!

8. Newest fictional crush.

this isn't "new", but it is the newest (it has been close to a year). i love kaz brekker with my whole heart.

9. Newest favorite character.

see previous LOL

10. Book that made you cry.

nothing so far! :(

11. Book that made you happy.

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang! cute graphic novel about gender expression

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

mentioned the book above, but i got the deluxe version of Genderqueer, and it is a very nice hardcover.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

oh so many! my main goal is to finally have a 5 star review (NOT a reread)! the main books i am hoping to get to are Gideon the Ninth, Legends & Lattes, 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and The House in the Cerulean Sea.

i tag anyone who wants to do this! just say that i tagged you, lol!

[underwater-i-will-go]

right. keeper rambles.

if you know me to a certain point, you'll know that i'm so into keepers it's driving me insane. someone doing their literal job? watch me analyse that for hours. pope's performances tonight reminded me so much of pickford v man united at home last season. saved 8 out of 10 shots on target. couldn't remember the last time i'd seen him perform like that. like to say he was still in nt mode since it was straight after the march qualifiers this year.

perhaps that one time i saw us play at the bridge against everton back in season 21/22. mental bastard he is. looked superb in orange, too. forever yearning to relive that night, anyway. he was INSANE. i was freezing to death and i ended up catching the worst cold of my life when i was back home but it was so worth it. i sat down by the pitch, right behind him practically. wonderful. had a hard time focusing on the game, and as awful and betraying as it may sound, i hated when he conceded. my worst moment x

i admire that man so endlessly, could talk about him saving everton's ass from relegation for hours, never getting tired. like when he saved maddison's penalty, which ended up LITERALLY saving everton from relegating, sending leicester down instead. that combined with his save against bournemouth in minute 78 on the last day of the season, they would also have gone down if it hadn't been for that one save. also doucouré's goal of course, but that's not what this about.

now before i will make this all about pickford ... pope tonight against milan. THAT excellence. haven't been following newcastle (burnley before, in matters of pope) for that long to have seen him do a lot of great saves, but the just in the first 20 minutes of tonight's game i was proper starstruck by his performance. kept saying how amazing he's doing. kept a clean sheet despite milan's constant pressure.

simply beautiful to watch that was. mind blowing. i think that it's not even just about physical attractiveness at this point, but also about ability. the things i would do. honestly a firm believer that whenever one of my fave keepers (those being pickford, pope, steele, trafford and ramsdale, although i can't stand arsenal so i don't really care when he does good saves for them) they deserve the absolute biggest fucking halftime bj. as a treat. or after the game, too. all of the ones mentioned above. i'm here. but my recent newly found love for pope has me crawling up the walls, he's in my head 24/7, and seeing him DO ALL THAT tonight has made physically respond in ways i will not further discuss.

i love keepers, did you lot know?

(felt like adding these just for the vibe)

[pathfinderunlocked]

Unlocked Siren - CR5 Magical Beast

A Pathfinder Unlocked version of the Siren.

Artwork is official Pathfinder 1e artwork from Bestiary 2, copyright Paizo.

The original stat block for a Siren is insanely deadly.  It blasts everyone within 300 feet with an AOE will save (with a pretty high DC for its CR), and if you fail, you either fight your own allies or stand there and wait to die.  Worse, it lasts until the Siren’s silenced or knocked out.  A big chunk of the party will usually fail, and even one person failing is enough to make the encounter extremely deadly.  If half the party fails, the fight is almost certainly unwinnable, unless you get very lucky and crit the siren to death right away.  The original stat block also gives no indication of what kind of action it is to start or maintain the Siren Song ability.

Most of the monsters in my Pathfinder Unlocked series are attempts to make a creature more interesting to fight without changing its difficulty, but in this case, I believe that the actual difficulty of this creature is wildly different from its CR and from its intended difficulty.  So in this case, I significantly nerfed the original Siren in order to bring its special abilities in line with its challenge rating.  Its stats are unchanged, because those were fine; it’s just the Siren Song ability that was insane.

My goal was to keep the general original strategy of being able to attack the creature to break your friends free of the song, but make it more fair and more interactive, and drastically reduce the number of rounds that affected PCs lose their turn and sit there doing nothing.  So the biggest difference between the Unlocked Siren and the original Siren is that my version’s Siren Song ability ends if the creature takes damage, instead of only if it gets knocked out.  The captivation effect also has a secondary break condition.

As an aside, the above artwork is NOT how I ever imagine a Siren looking.  It’s a good thing they have nice voices, because they're built like radio stars.

Siren - CR 5

This creature has the body of a hawk and the head of a beautiful woman with long, shining hair.

XP 1,600 CN Medium magical beast Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +15

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural) hp 52 (8d10+8) Fort +7, Ref +11, Will +6 Immune mind-affecting effects

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good) Melee 2 talons +11 (1d6) Special Attacks bardic performance, siren’s song, sneak attack +2d6 Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +12)

3/day—cause fear (DC 16), charm person (DC 16), deep slumber (DC 18), shout (DC 19)

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 19, Cha 21 Base Atk +8; CMB +8; CMD 22 Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Finesse Skills Fly +7, Knowledge (history) +10, Perception +15, Perform (sing) +13, Stealth +14 Languages Auran, Common

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bardic Performance (Su) A siren may use bardic performance as a 4th-level bard (9 rounds/day), and can use countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence (+2), and inspire courage (+1).  It can start these performances as a standard action.  Levels in the bard class stack with this ability.

A siren can use a bardic performance at the same time as its Siren Song ability.

Siren Song (Su) As a standard action, a siren can begin to captivate creatures with a song.  It can continue this silent song as a free action on each turn thereafter.  When a siren uses its Siren Song, all creatures except for other sirens within a 60-foot radius must succeed on a DC 19 Will save or become affected by one of its songs (see below).  The effect depends on the type of song the siren chooses, and continues for as long as the siren continues its Siren Song and the target remains within the radius, and for 1 round thereafter.  A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by any of that siren’s Siren Songs for 1 hour.  These are sonic mind-affecting effects.  The save DC is Charisma-based.

Continuing the Siren Song is a free action, and changing which song it is singing is a standard action.  Whenever a siren that is performing a Siren Song takes damage or is subjected to an effect that would require a concentration check when casting a spell, it must make a concentration check (typically with a +12 bonus) to maintain the Siren Song, treating it as a fifth-level spell.

Creatures that fail their saving throw behave in one of the following four ways, which the siren chooses when it begins its Siren Song.

Captivation: A siren’s song has the power to infect the minds of those that it touches, calling them to the siren’s side.  A victim under the effects of the captivating song moves toward the siren using the most direct means available.  If the path leads the victim into a dangerous area such as through fire or off a cliff, that creature receives a second saving throw to end the effect before moving into peril.  Captivated creatures can take no actions other than to defend themselves.  A victim within 5 feet of the siren simply stands and offers no resistance to the siren’s attacks.  If the captivated creature takes any amount of damage, the effect ends.  This is a sonic mind-affecting charm effect.

Fascination: Affected creatures are fascinated.

Obsession: An obsessed victim becomes defensive of the siren and does all it can to prevent harm from coming to her, going so far as attacking its allies in her defense.  The victim is not controlled by the siren, but views her as a cherished ally.  This is a mind-affecting charm effect.

Slumber: The victim immediately falls asleep, rendering the creature helpless.  While the siren is using its slumber song, no noise will wake the sleeping creature, though slapping or wounding it does.  The creature wakes up on its own 1 round after the siren ends this song.

[aspiringpolymath]

Mid Year Reading Check In

I compiled this at the end of June, so it's not up to the minute accurate, but a good indication of how my reading year has gone so far. I tweaked the questions a bit to suit my reading style. If anyone sees this and wants to answer them PLEASE tag me so I can see what you are reading!

Mid Year Book Check In Questions:

Did you set a reading challenge; if so, how’s it going? (AKA How many books have you read?)

Best book(s) you’ve read so far?

Best sequel or book in a series you've read so far?

New release you haven't read yet, but want to?

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

Biggest disappointment?

Biggest surprise?

Favorite new author? (Debut or new to you)

Newest favorite character (for whatever reason)?

Book that made you cry or saddest book you’ve read?

Book that made you happy?

Favorite review you've written this year? (Can be glowing or a takedown)

Favorite cover for a book you've read this year?

What books are your priority to read by the end of the year?

Answers:

According to GR, I’ve read 239 books (tho I prefer ‘title’ since some are pretty short. I read a mix of novels, novellas, shorts and manga/comics.) My GR goal is 365, so I’m ahead of schedule!

Bests

Manga - Restart After . . . duology by Cocomi

Graphic novel - Mamo by Sass Milledge (ff ya)

Non LGBTQ+ romance book - The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (still casually queer)

Short book - Bisclavret by K.L. Noone

Standalone mm romance book (there are not a lot of these, lol) - We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian (I didn’t want it to be over, so I really took my time.)

3. Three way tie between The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian, Malibu by Emmy Sanders, and Out of the Wild Night by Marina Vivancos. Oh, and Muscle Cub by Slade James!

4. Loads, but I still haven’t read The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles and I really need to get on that.

5. I’m looking forward to the next volume of Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide by Mone Sorai. Oh, and Gentle Chaos by Tyler Gaga (ghosthoney on IG and TikTok)

6. I was most recently disappointed by How To Say I Do by Tal Bauer - not hugely, just wasn’t what I was hoping for.

7. I was really pleasantly surprised by Show Me How to Trust by Ray Celar. I didn’t have high hopes after book 2, but this one really took the time it needed to with the characters. Not a perfect book, but really lovely.

8. I’ve read a couple of short things by her in the past, but this year Crystal Lacy has become a new go-to author.

9. Sal from The Demon’s Mate by Delaney Rain, and maybe Collin from Off-Ice Behavior by Hannah Henry.

10. Some I’ve already mentioned made me cry, but I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain by Will Walton made me cry no fewer than five times. It’s a weird prose poem YA book about grief and generational addiction, I thought it was so well done. A book that made me cry mostly happy tears was Keep Me by HJ Welch.

11. The audiobook of Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green made me legitimately lol.

12. Well, the one that has gotten the most likes on GR is my 1 star of The Right Wrong Number by Katie Warren, but I did like my pithy review for So These Rude Grumpy Arrogant Jerks Fall In Love and It’s Gross by TJ Land. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5353619286

13. The Roger Crenshaw books by Taylor Titmouse have amazing covers, and illustrations inside, too.

Also, Haunt, Heart, Havoc by Freydís Moon has a super striking cover.

14. I’d like to get back to In Memoriam by Alice Winn. I started it, but there were holds and I knew it was going to get very sad. Oh, and this probably should have been listed above, but I also want to get to Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly soon.