#that's even if i /could/ change the preset controls

[autistickaitovocaloid]

Decided to button map the pony town controls to my pswhatever-the-fuck controller. It's going average.

[dcxdpdabbles]

ok but imagine

batman with gun tim time travels to the past but instead of trying to seduce baby tim to the dark side he,,, ignores him

after all baby tim is young and pragmatic he'll realize that company policy is ineffective and kill people gets shit done

no bwg!tim has more important things to handle

like killing the ppl who murder his boo danny

and he knows exactly who to target

bonus points if tim and danny aren't dating yet

extra bonus points if they haven't even met yet

The plan was simple really. Time travel and start the correct way to handle criminals early. Take out the people that had taken from him the only person he really loved.

His past self was still running around trying to talk the Bats down from murderous rage, and while that itched, it was a lesson he needed to learn in order to finally wake up and properly get things done.

Tim saw no reason to track him down. He's stubborn as a mule, he can admit that, and his past self heartily believes that the crazy bastards should be locked away instead of put down. It would be ages before he could get close to getting him to listen to what Tim had to say.

Time, ironically, is not something he has to waste. The machine that brought him back had preset departer times. If he missed it then Gotham in ten years would be without it's Batman.

The carefuly iron control he has over the city would be questioned, and some fools would try to make a power grab in the sudden vaccum Batman had left behind.

So while it would take years for his past self to come to his senses, it would happen on its own, and Tim was alright with waiting for it. What he wouldn't allow to repeat itself was the death of his lover.

His plan involved killing the people that killed Danny. What Tim forgot in his grief was that those very people were the ones to raise Danny.

Yes, Jack and Maddie Fenton had killed their son in an accident. The ray gun that they designed had been faulty and had exploded in wide outburst instead of shooting straight.

It was meant to paralyze the ghost for capture.

Instead, it attacked ghost cores in horrific, fast-acting disintegration. Tim remembers the blast washing over him, the green ripples doing nothing to him as a human, and for a brief second thinking it funny that their gun was just a fancy light show, only to hear Jack Fenton's cry of celebration.

Then Danny's scream of agony.

His skin had been falling off, and Tim had been rooted to the spot watching his boyfriend, his lover, his entire moral compass melt before his eyes.

He had watched Maddie's smug face break into hysterical grief when Danny's ghost form vanished, and the sluggish body that fell to the floor with a splat had been her son. The two scientists had reached Danny first, and the fools had begged him to hold on.

As if they were not the ones to have done this, indirectly or not.

Danny's last words had been "I forgive you. I love you"

and then he was gone. In seconds his Danny was lost. He had died painfully, unfairly, and all because his parents had believed in their bigotry so purely they never saw reason to change their minds, even when there were signs their son was part of the group they loath so much.

The Fentons hadn't even been charged with Danny's death. It was deemed an accident; the worst they had to do was pay a fine for their blast, knocking out the power. All because ghosts were not protected under meta laws, and Danny was no longer recognized as human.

Tim hated them more than any villain in the world, hated that they lived well, Danny did not.

His own comfort was that they couldn't live with themselves either. Jack Fenton had taken his life the night after the funeral Jassmin had planned for Danny. Maddie Fenton had lost her mind, speaking to the air as though her husband and son were still there, and was moved to an asylum by a grief-stricken daughter.

There she died of a broken heart.

Tim took care of Jazz, he felt that Danny would have wanted him to, but she was never the same again. She was one of the first to agreed with him that Batman had to stop people before they went too far.

That thinking "they'll come around" was no longer an option. She made him the bullets for the gun that killed Bruce's parents, and she was the one that watched that same gun put down the Joker.

It was the first time she smiled in years.

All that hurt because of these fools.

Tim wasn't going to let them hurt anyone anymore. He aims his gun at the shaking forms of Jack and Maddie Fenton, their pathetic attempt to fight him off, were nothing comparied to his training.

He had them on their knees, bound to hold still, and with one push of his finger, the toxic outlook on ghosts would die with them.

But foolish-loving Danny wasn't about to let him put them in the ground where they belonged. The boy had thrown himself in front of them with a cry, throwing up a shield seconds before the bullets found their mark.

The Fenton couple gasped while Danny turned to them with clear worry. "Are you alright?"

Tim felt as if though he was kicked in the chest, seeing the boy- for he was a boy. How had he forgotten that his love died so young? Now with all the years under Tim's belt, did he truly see how pre-maturely Danny had died.

He was as beautiful as the day Tim lost him, but he was far too pure and innocent now. Tim's killing was a necessary that ruined him, while Danny remained kind and forgiving till the end.

He can't stop the rush of air that threathens to burn tears into his eyes escape him. Thankfully his training kicks in and Batman is able to shut everything that was Tim in his mind.

All that remain was the mission within human shape.

Danny growls, voice as cold as his ice core "Who are you?!"

"I'm Batman"

"Liar!" The boy hisses, thin pieces of frost growing around his green shield. "Batman doesn't kill!"

Tim scoffs, "Killing is the only way to stop more death."

Danny doesn't respond. He merely shoots a blast at him, momentarily dropping his shield, and Batman rolls away. He will overwhelm the boy and get him out of the way.

Then, he will do what he came to accomplish. Danny must know that, for he sees the moment, he shuts away his own human part and melts into Phantom.

The young ghost who took on a King for his people and became the hero that supported Red Robin above all else.

Phantom leaps at him, and Batman meets him halfway, each wearing emotionless expressions that promise a fight to the bitter end.

[heilos]

Having loud thoughts again, but you know what would be an absolutely baller idea for tumblr's layout? Everything being a full widget system, especially on the dashboard. I'm just using this as an example, but the old UI for deviantart, dated as it is now by website standards visually, worked off a widget like system where you had so much control over how your profile page was displayed. Certain elements/boxes could be dragged and placed on your page and then adjusted via preset options or through a bit of light coding shenanigans. Imagine that, but with the tumblr dashboard. Instead of being stuck in just one format, you could drag your navigation bar to the left or right or if you don't like that you could pull it up top instead. Or you could have a widget on the side bar like xkit does for tag tracking, or trending tags or just not have any of that on the dashboard. Or how about a widget purely to keep track of recent mutuals that will take you directly to a full list in one click or a widget listing your current que ect ect. All of these being movable pieces yeah? The main point being the ability for a user to rearrange their dashboard to their liking for the best personal navigation with the least amount of clicks. I think the idea of drag and dropping UI elements is taken for granted on most current social media sites even though it's extremely intuitive once you understand it's a feature that exists and how clunky things feel when you don't have it or it's taken away. There's personal website builders that already use widgets pretty frequently, so why not extend that to bigger websites that rely on plenty of consistent user navigation daily? Like imagine updates that could be about adding in highly requested new widgets or adjusting functionality of current widgets to perform better based on user feedback. I am not a coder so I don't know how difficult it would be to implement a robust widget system for a large scale social media website, but it's been on my mind for years now with trying out all kinds of beta art sites before. I really think something like that would be worth the investment for a place like tumblr and potentially cut down on a lot of discontent over layout changes.

[leonaquitaine]

On the subject of generative AI

Let me start with an apology for deviating from the usual content, and for the wall of text ahead of you. Hopefully, it'll be informative, instructive, and thought-provoking. A couple days ago I released a hastily put-together preset collection as an experiment in 3 aspects of ReShade and virtual photography: MultiLUT to provide a fast, consistent tone to the rendered image, StageDepth for layered textures at different distances, and tone-matching (something that I discussed recently).

For the frames themselves, I used generative AI to create mood boards and provide the visual elements that I later post-processed to create the transparent layers, and worked on creating cohesive LUTs to match the overall tone. As a result, some expressed disappointment and disgust. So let's talk about it.

The concerns of anti-AI groups are significant and must not be overlooked. Fear, which is often justified, serves as a palpable common denominator. While technology is involved, my opinion is that our main concern should be on how companies could misuse it and exclude those most directly affected by decision-making processes.

Throughout history, concerns about technological disruption have been recurring themes, as I can attest from personal experience. Every innovation wave, from typewriters to microcomputers to the shift from analog to digital photography, caused worries about job security and creative control. Astonishingly, even the concept of “Control+Z” (undo) in digital art once drew criticism, with some artists lamenting, “Now you can’t own your mistakes.” Yet, despite initial misgivings and hurdles, these technological advancements have ultimately democratized creative tools, facilitating the widespread adoption of digital photography and design, among other fields.

The history of technology’s disruptive impact is paralleled by its evolution into a democratizing force. Take, for instance, the personal computer: a once-tremendous disruptor that now resides in our pockets, bags, and homes. These devices have empowered modern-day professionals to participate in a global economy and transformed the way we conduct business, pursue education, access entertainment, and communicate with one another.

Labor resistance to technological change has often culminated in defeat. An illustrative example brought up in this NYT article unfolded in 1986 when Rupert Murdoch relocated newspaper production from Fleet Street to a modern facility, leading to the abrupt dismissal of 6,000 workers. Instead of negotiating a gradual transition with worker support, the union’s absolute resistance to the technological change resulted in a loss with no compensation, underscoring the importance of strategic adaptation.

Surprisingly, the Writers Guild of America (W.G.A.) took a different approach when confronted with AI tools like ChatGPT. Rather than seeking an outright ban, they aimed to ensure that if AI was used to enhance writers’ productivity or quality, then guild members would receive a fair share of the benefits. Their efforts bore fruit, providing a promising model for other professional associations.

The crucial insight from these historical instances is that a thorough understanding of technology and strategic action can empower professionals to shape their future. In the current context, addressing AI-related concerns necessitates embracing knowledge, dispelling unwarranted fears, and arriving at negotiation tables equipped with informed decisions.

It's essential to develop and use AI in a responsible and ethical manner; developing safeguards against potential harm is necessary. It is important to have open and transparent conversations about the potential benefits and risks of AI.

Involving workers and other stakeholders in the decision-making process around AI development and deployment is a way to do this. The goal is to make sure AI benefits everyone and not just a chosen few.

While advocates for an outright ban on AI may have the best interests of fellow creatives in mind, unity and informed collaboration among those affected hold the key to ensuring a meaningful future where professionals are fairly compensated for their work. By excluding themselves from the discussion and ostracizing others who share most of their values and goals, they end up weakening chances of meaningful change; we need to understand the technology, its possibilities, and how it can be steered toward benefitting those they source from. And that involves practical experimentation, too. Carl Sagan, in his book 'The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark', said:

"I have a foreboding […] when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness."

In a more personal tone, I'm proud to be married to a wonderful woman - an artist who has her physical artwork in all 50 US states, and several pieces sold around the world. For the last few years she has been studying and adapting her knowledge from analog to digital art, a fact that deeply inspired me to translate real photography practices to the virtual world of Eorzea. In the last months, she has been digging deep into generative AI in order to understand not only how it'll impact her professional life, but also how it can merge with her knowledge so it can enrich and benefit her art; this effort gives her the necessary clarity to voice her concerns, make her own choices and set her own agenda. I wish more people could see how useful her willingness and courage to dive into new technologies in order to understand their impact could be to help shape their own futures.

By comprehending AI and adopting a collective approach, we can transform the current challenges into opportunities. The democratization and responsible utilization of AI can herald a brighter future, where technology becomes a tool for empowerment and unity prevails over division. And now, let's go back to posting about pretty things.

[octuscle]

Hey support

So I decided to go to my first fetish event at a club next weekend, but being a shy always in my own head kinda guy I was a little anxious about the whole thing. So I thought, I might find some temporary presets or changes on Chronivac to last for the night to get me out of my own head and make me feel more at home with being at the event.

I think I messed something up though, cause although the changes are suppose to be temporary and only for the day/night of the event, I can’t put my finger on it, but things seem to be changing in my daily life right now, over a week before the big day.

It's Sunday morning. According to your memory, you had a quiet Saturday evening on the sofa. Chips, Netflix, a bit of wanking. A perfectly normal Saturday evening. But why the hell do you have this hangover? And the apartment smells of beer and cigar smoke. Full ashtrays in the kitchen. Empty whiskey glasses. Full condoms on the floor. A few jockstraps. Empty poppers bottles. What was going on here yesterday. And where did that hairy, snoring fellow on your sofa come from?

It's 6pm when you finally get rid of the fellow (hottest Sunday morning sex ever), you've tidied up and cleaned. Now you feel like a cigar. But not at home anymore. You've just got rid of the smell to some extent. But now you need a whiskey and a cigar.

You actually thought that the stranger on the sofa owned the biker boots and the leather jacket at the coat check. But he left your apartment wearing just one of the jockstraps from the kitchen floor and a pair of tracksuit bottoms. But now you're standing in front of your hallway mirror with one of the jockstraps, a 501, a white T-shirt that doesn't fit at all badly, the boots and the leather jacket. And you like what you see. There are cigars in the leather jacket. And as if remote-controlled, you walk through the evening streets until you find yourself standing in front of an inconspicuous door in the basement of a side street. You ring the bell. The doorman greets you with a fist bump and says it's good to see you back. Your regular seat at the bar is free. Your whiskey and ashtray are ready before you can even take a seat. You like Sunday evenings here. No curious tourists. No hustle and bustle. Real men who want their peace and quiet. And maybe a quick fuck. The fellow who disappears into the toilet had clearly made eye contact with you beforehand. You follow him…

Monday morning. Shit, you could have stayed in bed for another hour. But you have to look good at the weekend. And you have to go to the gym before work. And you're still wearing the urine-yellow and cum-encrusted jockstrap from yesterday. Your cock never gets limp when you wear it. Your PA shines through the stretched fabric. Fuck, you're so horny that you have to jerk off in the shower. And with every movement, your PA gets a little thicker. And your circumcised foreskin comes back. As you stuff your sweaty clothes into your gym bag and put on your suit, you think wistfully of your leather jacket. You miss the smell of masculinity in your work clothes… And the creak of leather.

On Tuesday after work, you get changed and go to your favorite barbershop. Hair radically short, beard in shape. On the Friday before the party, you only need to have the contours corrected once. You're actually always here twice a week. Great atmosphere. You're not the only man sitting in the styling chair in leather jeans. And with a cigar and a glass of whiskey, it's almost like being in your favorite bar. And once you've changed your clothes and had your hair done, you can see what's going on in the bar. As you might expect, not much. But Hendrik, the Danish barman, plays with your nipple piercings. And just before you leave, there's a submissive skinhead who first serves as your urinal and then gives you a blowjob. Good evening!

Yesterday was a normal day at the gym, but on Thursday you realize that the big fetish events are in town this weekend. There are more men than usual at the weights in the morning. And the men are bigger, more muscular and hairier than usual. It smells of sweat and musk. The air is full of testosterone. Damn, there's more than one ass you'd like to fuck. And a number of fellows obviously wouldn't be averse either. But you won't cum until tomorrow night. You want maximum pressure on your balls. You spend the evening with leather waxes, brushes and polishing cloths. Boots, pants, jackets, shirts, harnesses… There's a hell of a lot of black leather to polish to a high shine. Your new fullsleave has healed perfectly. The new sling is hanging, the St. Andrew's cross is fitted and tomorrow morning you'll swap the cotton sheets for black leather. You are a neat freak. But planning and preparation is everything!

Today is Friday, so you can wear leather trousers to the office. The dirty jockstrap and cock ring underneath. The white button-down shirt will be changed quickly later. You don't want to waste any time.

You change in the barbershop to the cheers of the other customers. Zac takes the opportunity to trim the fur on your chest. There are already long queues outside the club. You don't care. You just walk through to the entrance. You greet the doorman with a handshake and a French kiss. He returns the favor by grabbing your bulge. Fuck, your balls are about to burst. The party can start.

Pic found @my-gear-smoking-favourites

[speeps-highway]

hiya speeps! love your mods and videos, they have fueled my sonic hyperfixations very well! anyway, in one of your older videos you briefly mentioned how sa1 having cutscenes play over top of gameplay was why characters could "make faces" in that game but not sa2. could you go into more detail as to why this is?

In SA1 the cutscenes are done like an RPGMaker event, it has a library of event-specific functions to control characters/objects etc. and forms a list of them as one big script.

Here's an example from one of Sonic's events:

Here's what a few of them do:

EV_MovePoint2: Move a character to coordinates with specified speed and acceleration. There's also a simpler, less used version called EV_MovePoint that does the same thing but at a fixed speed.

EV_SetAction: Give an object an action (Model+Animation) and textures. You can also specify the speed of the animation, whether it loops and (if another EV_SetAction is playing) how many frames to interpolate to this animation from the previous one. (Think every time Sonic moves his hands around while he says "Ah Yeah this is Happenin'", that uses it)

EV_SetFace: Give a character a list of preset facial animations to do (Each letter in the string corresponds to one) . It only works on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Tikal - no other character has faces. (Except for Big, but the game will do an out of bounds crash since he only has 6 faces instead of 20)

EV _Wait: Pause the event thread for X frames.

Here's some others that aren't in that image:

EV_CreateObject: Creates a blank object, usually used for props by giving them an appearance with EV_SetAction.

EV_PlayPad: Plays back recorded user input, Sonic Team used this whenever they wanted Sonic to jump or do a spindash.

While this way can make everything look stiff at times, it's pretty flexible and easy to play with in a mod. It's also why the game has 8 character slots and why Eggman, Tikal and event ZERO are technically player characters.

The best part about it is that the two aren't mutually exclusive, you can call anything from an event in during gameplay and vice versa, the game does this itself a few times too, like setting a flag that keeps the hint monitors active for the Twinkle Park scene.

The faces are part of the characters themselves and they'll switch to them at any time if the relevant values are changed, so I managed to figure out how to do it in the Dreamcast version in 2017. (Funnily enough, also August).

As I said above with EV_SetFace, there's only 20 faces to hold up the entire game's dialogue with (even fewer in actuality given the ones either reserved for blinking or unused) and they seem to be focused more on expression than speaking, at least for Sonic and Knuckles, which is why a lot of people find them goofy.

There's only one situation the game uses the animations for outside cutscenes - when the player gets hurt, they'll do one of their screaming animations for a few frames. (There's also a funny issue where Sonic does it after hitting Knuckles in his boss fight)

Anyway, you can call any event animation, any face and even spawn event objects (such as Chaos event actors) whenever you want in that game. Usually the only thing they need is their textures loaded.

Here's a few things I did when I first figured out how to do it:

SA2's cutscenes are full 3D animations (like Blender) in the game's event folder, everything in them is entirely separate to the gameplay stuff, so the in-game characters have no mouths or cutscene-specific animations to play around with.

It meant they didn't need to deal with gameplay limitations (like player physics) and were easier for them to test as they have a fixed timeline rather than relying on in-game sequences to fall into place.

They also had much greater control over character expressions. The mouth and head are separated and they aren't limited to the list of 20 faces. Here's a bunch I dug out a few years ago for Amy's brow alone:

They used to be really annoying to edit (I had to use a Hex Editor) but I think the SA2 Modding community has had breakthroughs since. Still, I suck at 3D modelling so I prefer SA1's.

I decompiled all of SADX PC's event scripts a few years ago so if you want to learn exactly what they do (and change them, as it's in mod form) take a look:

[rebouks]

hi! do you have any tips for making good quality screenshots in ts4?

Hi! Let's see what I can come up with..

LIGHTING/GRAPHICS MODS Easy to use/install, lighting mods can change the look of your game drastically with little effort! I use a few:

no-glo

no-blu

graphicsrules override

I use this camera mod too, much less drifty...

Softerhaze makes some bomb ass lighting mods too.. I just switched from twinkle toes to sunblind and I am in LOVE - gamechanger lemme tell you.. so pretty! LOOKIT!!

RESHADE I'm still using g-shade at the moment but after recent events, I'll probably end up switching back again when I can be arsed. The effects you can achieve with reshade presets are amazing tbh.. and it's real fun to mess around with and create your own! Tho lots of people have made awesome ones if that's a bit much for you. If your PC can't handle it all too well you can always just switch it off until it's time to take screenies as well.

COMPOSITION Kinda hard to explain but basically, composition is what's in your frame and how you line it all up. I'd recommend reading some photography guides to get the gist of the concept.. but honestly, the more you mess around the more you'll get the hang of it. I've always loved photography and sims screenies really aren't so different. If you use reshade there's even some templates for thirds/the golden ratio etc you can slap on top for practice. Personally I don't use 'em cos I prefer my own judgement (that sounds rlly obnoxious but we're rolling with it). I found a template to show you what I mean! (ngl I was stoked that the first screenie I thought of for being a good eg. almost perfectly fit into this golden ratio shit LOL) but let's keep in mind how long I scooted around to get a good shot of this.. pretty sure I deleted about 10 other failed shots of this but shhhh, it's trial and error!

ANGLES/FOCUS The way you take a shot and how you angle it can change the whole feel of the image. For example.. in this image I tilted down and bit and filled over two thirds of the shot with the man, he's a big character and quite an intimidating guy so I think it helps get the idea across without pointing it out (at least I think so but idk I could also be talking outta my ass)

Similarly in these two shots below.. the first with the guy on the left gives the feel that he's in control here. The "camera" is tilted above him slightly and he's all up in your face, making the woman look much smaller in comparison. BUT! If you flip around to the second image, tilt down a bit and switch the focus to her, it makes him look more insignificant and less in control. I hope this makes sense??

EDITING/PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS ETC Personally I don't use photoshop actions but there's plenty out there to do the work for you! I think Intramoon? maybe.. has made a few but idk, you guys feel free to jump in with any suggestions! You can also smooth, fix stuff, change the mood/lighting, all sorts.. my advice on this is patchy at best tbh cos I just faff around until I see what I like lmao.. which leads me on tooooooo...

FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT Lol.. but seriously! I don't know what I'm doing. I've never taken any classes or read up on much, I always just jump in and see what happens. Fuck around with reshade, fuck around with camera mods, fuck around with composition/focus, fuck around with photoshop or gimp or w/e.. just mess about for a while and have fun! I promise you'll get better.

[nectar-cellar]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

i am so late to this but thank you to everyone who tagged and mentioned me!! i loved reading your answers, i love being nosy.

let me get this first q out of the way:

Who's your favourite sim that you've made?

it's a tie between my 2 little meow meows pictured above 🥺

amir because he's the oc i'm most attached to and have most fully developed

vlad because i just love the way his sim turned out and he's such a fun character to think about

if they ever met, vlad would be like "greetings." and amir would be like "bro what the fucckkk" 😭

speaking of vampires i also love the idea of au-vampire-amir being this ashamed, existential crisis having vegetarian vampire who struggles with controlling and hiding his bloodlust.

i never get bored coming up with ideas for those 2.

rest of my answers below the cut :3

What's your favourite Sims death?

it's been YEARS since i intentionally made any of sims die. i barely do gameplay these days and i am attached to the sims i make. but when i used to play sims chaotically, i preferred to "accidentally" murder sims by fire instead of deleting the pool ladder. i would furnish their houses with the cheapest stoves and fireplaces, and sit back and watching the inevitable unfold... it was the final destination fan in me.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

i can't live without alpha hair and i love a well done piece of alpha clothing.

Favourite Mod?

CmarNYC morphing penis 😐

for a sfw mod, pose player was truly a game changer, can't play without it.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

i never bought any of them 💅 the first one i p*rated was late night because umm a fancy city, bars and clubs, celebs and vampires, 2000s hoe clothes... what more could you want!

Do you pronounce live mode or aLIVE or LiVing?

a-live!

Have you made a simself?

no ❤

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

if we're talking about TS4, i think the ginger hair colour is okay and the grey too. for TS3, i don't use any of the default hair colour presets.

Favorite EA hair?

i've tried so hard and i just cannot enjoy any of them compared to the alpha cc hair available. in my opinion this is the least offensive one, the "teddy" from the store:

Favorite life stage?

young adult

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

i'm in it for cas and the storytelling medium

Are you a CC creator?

hehe...

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

i consider all the people i frequently engage with to be my simblr friends!! 💗

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

i've considered recording, editing and uploading speed CAS videos but it seems like a lot of effort 😭

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

i've always preferred creating masculine male sims/characters, that hasn't changed throughout the years. i've learned how to take better pictures, how to style my sims better, how to create the kinds of clothes i want to style them in, and i've learned my preferred slider settings and facial features/proportions. i make the same "genre" of male sims over and over and over again, so my style hasn't really changed, but my skills have improved and i've solidified my aesthetic which i am proud of :D

Who's your favourite CC creator?

i really can't pick a favourite because there is just so much sheer talent and a thriving cc community even today, but if i had to pick one, i would say rustynail. i used the shit out of their cc back in the day. everything my sims wore was straight off the runway darling... rusty brought glamour and high fashion to the sims! an inspiration.

How long have you had a simblr?

since even before 2013 😭 tumblr was my main social media for many years LMFAOOOOO and i made a simblr after following many ts3 blogs, being wowed by their screenshots, and i wanted to join in on the fun and wanted to download all the cool cc people were making... that was the start of my ts3 obsession !

How do you edit your pictures?

i use a gshade preset i made, then i mostly just crop and add text in gimp. i don't have the patience to edit my pics.

What expansion/ stuff pack is your favourite?

late night duh and seasons is a close second because it just makes the game so much more immersive and beautiful. pets is also a top one because it adds so much to the game, it's such a well thought out pack in my opinion, and what life simulator can be complete without pets?

[trainingdummyrabbit]

Tell us about The Guys what's their dynamic like

ok thats kind of on me for starting with the hardest character dynamic first

so. cocoa and luci. they're both characters that, narratively, are barely expected to be characters at all. let me explain. im entering unskippable cutscene mode. sorry <333

luci takes the role of the silly lil ai assistant... kinda. shes not supposed to be. shes Supposed to be just a basic guide/support mechanic, but she sure. Isn't. it was an accident. dont worry about it. nobody else did.

cocoa is cocoa. she wasn't always cocoa, but now she's all there is. easypeasy ^w^ she's like if an npc was a person, mostly. she just kinda stands or wanders around until shes needed, rarely speaks beyond basic preset responses, she just goes here :] shes just a silly lil thang, kinda confused but got the spirit, etc. And Also She Happens To Be The Highest Ranked Agent Here. dont worry about it. nobody else did.

they also happen to be, most likely, the two characters to change the most across the entire throughline. with like one exception, maybe. which is what makes this hard. im not going to waffle about too long, dont worry. probably. ill try.

so for a while it seems like...

...aka they dont seem to notice each other much at all. and it stays that way for pretty much the entire throughline! bbbecause everyones too busy running about to worry about The PA Voice and Their Shockingly Chill Coworker. unfortunately, The Problems.

see, they're both burying the lead. Hard.

because luci is The problem. Capital. as something that Super isnt supposed to be conscious (let alone alive,) she has a Lot of shit to figure out. and a Lot of issues. it takes a while for her to figure out her bearings (no thanks to everyone else, who was too busy squabbling about a "data compromise" and ""trying to find a new manager"". eyeroll.) but more or less, she's decided:

1) humans are fucking annoying. they worry about so much mess, care about all the wrong stuff, and insist on shoving it on other people. unfortunately, they're also deeply entertaining. theres 100% a superiority complex going on there. 2) she has Got to become something else. she wants something. deeply and desperately. its just... well, she's still figuring out what that is.

luci, as a character, is obsessed with Character and Relevancy. the deepest throes of passion and hatred, desire and purpose. to know for certain what your place is. (this doesnt say anything about her.) those that burn brightly like that never seem to die. not truly. (this says absolutely nothing about her.) to become a single, unshakable, irreplaceable star. (this means absolutely nothing about anything to her.)

and one of those things that grabbed her attention the most was that of abnormalities. irreplaceable, undying, bastions of Meaning. That was what it was. unfortunately, as Emotion isnt one of the things that she's inherently built with, it becomes a bit of an issue.

thus begs the question: how do you bring out that spark in something? and well, that's not a question she has the information to answer. however, if theres one thing shes good at, its Fucking Around And Finding Out ! and well, if there's some collateral damage or casualties about it, well. oops. not like they ever cared about death and the like here before. soooo whatever ^w^

and well, she has to practice her ominous dialogue with Someone who won't rat her out, soooo...

cocoa, on the other hand, is... well, she's different, for sure. that wasnt always her name, for one. or i guess, it always was. if i tried to explain her entire deal id be here another 10 paragraphs or so, but to make a long story short... living under the specific pressure that the city pushes onto its residents is taken better for some than others. cocoa is not one of these. the constant pressure of needing to provide and prove your worth to forces beyond your control put a ridiculous amount of strain on her, and even still, it could decide to snuff you out without a moments notice on a whim. and well, there's little you can do when you're someone like her.

its something she tried to bottle up for a long, long time. unfortunately, making it into Lcorp did not, in fact, help with this At All. and all of that dread and paranoia, the misguided self loathing, and the sheer inescapability of it all... well, of course she snapped. it wasn't anything loud, bombastic. just quiet. quietly, whoever it was that she used to be had vanished in an instant, snuffed by her own hand, before anything else could get the chance to do it first. and what remained was cocoa! a name to an absence. more Function than Person, she simply... became what was needed of her. and nothing more. and unfortunately, with how everything else was... this change slipped completely under the radar. for all except for one witness.

it doesnt mean anything to her. (it cant mean anything to her. not yet.)

all of that happens before the story even begins.

unfortunately, a superiority complex + the inability to process your own flaws + being allowed to be in control completely unchecked for an extended period of time allows luci to. spiral. to put it bluntly.

it becomes a horrible little race to figure out what exactly is going on before too many people end up dying in horrible ways. luci simply watches them run in circles like little mice. by the time they manage to scramble together enough to confront her, its a tiny group of maybe 4 against luci... and also cocoa. who, in trying to avoid thinking too hard about the meddling that luci was doing and the holes poked in her persona by the rest of the cast over time, has once again completely shut off in favor of simply doing whatever was asked of her. and well, luci was technically the one who had the authority to be dealing out directions, so... well. not gonna think about it too hard. shes had to suppress other agents before, so...

this, ultimately, becomes where cocoa's arc comes to a head. as stable as she seemed, turns out she was constantly teetering on a very dangerous edge. that edge between allowing outside influence, the bravery and will to push, to face uncertainty and risk... and erasing yourself entirely, forgoing the harms of failure and performance in favor of becoming something more akin to a tool, unable to perceive, but also unable to be hurt.

luci believes she knows cocoa. she's seen the depths of her-- she thinks-- has seen the dissatisfaction, the fear, the rage, the desire to reach and tear what she wants from anyone she can reach. for just a brief moment, she'd seen all of it, just before cocoa became... cocoa. and she sees herself in that. sympathy was not something that was afforded to her. it was not in her capability to feel that attachment. (it doesnt mean anything to her.) they were the same, werent they? held back by things out of their control. (it means absolutely nothing to her.) so it would be a kindness-- no, an act of pity, to grant this one the ability to truly Feel that, to Understand the self in its entirety. grant her that freedom. (it means absolutely nothing about anything to her.)

but to cocoa... this was just another will overriding her own. the reason something snapped-- she wanted to do good. to be good. but this world does not allow it. shes angry, yes. more than anything. but shes angry because of her own perceived uselessness. more than anything, she's exhausted. that buildup of anger and resentment-- it was something she desperately didn't want to inflict on others. so instead, she turned those teeth inward, and tore herself out for the crime of feeling. she doesnt want to act. she doesnt want to run. she doesnt want to be anything. she just wants to rest.

luci, insistent on her correctness but inherently oblivious, convinced she is giving a gift to someone she has done nothing but harm. and cocoa, afraid to let down the veneer of distance, to allow herself to want and hope-- afraid to take on the responsibility of being a Person again. but these two werent the only players in the game.

and well. cocoa makes her decision.

[inazuma-fulgur]

In pain whenever someone insists that being naked around children, like in general, is bad

No cloths = pedo (this here is slightly exaggerated but some people actually say that. With words.)

Because nakes = sexual and sexual = bad and impure and children = pure and innocent and without agency

Waiting for the day where changing your childs diaper also becomes sexual and pedo unless *insert arbitrary metric*. If I had to imagine it'd probably be more terf shit, a la all men are horny monsters or only parents of the same SEX as the child should be allowed to.

I will nopt discuss further complications around childbirth because none of this makes sense anyway

I find it especially jarring when other queer people make arguments like that.

Like, y'all can't look at other people and be normal about it. It's not weird to be naked, you are weird for being unable to confront nudity without having secondary thoughts about it. You are the one uncomfortable with it so no one else is allowed to be comfortable with it?

Thinking about FKK (something I don't even know an english term for. Mom told me she and her parents often went to fkk places, because older people still found nudity more normal than we do I'd guess. Maybe they were an outlier but I can't shake the feeling that the younger people get the weirder and less tolerant they get of nudity and other peoples bodies.)

Every year when there's kink at pride discourse I can't help but think about how I wouldn't give two shits about people fucking in public, like it wouldn't be any more annoying that people blasting music and being loud, that's it. It definitely wouldn't smell as bad as some other stuff, like fireworks for example.

I also can't help but think about one of my friends from school who very amused told an anecdote where she went into her parents room while they were having sex when she was a little kid. Shocker, nothing happened to her. Plain seeing sex doesn't hurt, unless you already have been traumatized or smth. Also most of these super weird puritanical ideas only work under the assumption that children have the very same understanding of everything us adults do. Which they don't. How could they, they're learning everything about the world still. Explain it to them so that they can keep themselves safe, you'll have to do it regardless some day.

Go listen to what they're curious about, teach them at the pace they want, answer what they ask.

Because even if I say they don't have the same understanding of things us adults do, that doesn't mean children aren't smart and capable of understanding the bigger world, expanding their horizon.

People like that, in my opinion, just hate children.

Want to control them. Mold them into copies of themselves, perfect what they feel isn't perfect about themselves.

That's not how you treat another person, give kids agency and let them explore stuff. Let children be curious and nosy.

Teach them about consent, because consent isn't just sexual.

Teach them general things that are useful and good.

Teach them about their bodies and signs to look out for, built trust so that when they hit puberty and their needs and experiences change they will talk to you, ask and share what they feel and see. And then expand their horizons more

Please never raise children with preset ideas of how a well raised child has to turn out, with ideas of a fixed process with a fixed result, where certain things are off limits and shouldn't be allowed because they could lead to people growing up who don't fit your personal ideal(s).

Diversity of thought does not mean "diversity until I can't personally understand/relate anymore, beyond that it's evil". The only evil thing is you limiting the beauty and vastness of humanity

Children won't ever fit into your preconceived notions and that's a good thing, we're constantly learning and ideas are changing, and I'm not blaming you for growing older and having bigger more pressing worries and growing out of touch a bit, just don't denie others because of that.

The only way for children around you to be exactly like you is for them to grow up under the exact same conditions as you. But the world around you is changing constantly, even if you feel like YOU are a constant I assure you, you aren't.

Not even siblings or even even twins have that work out for them. Everyone makes different experiences, spends their time differently, cares about different shit. For better and for worse.

Embrace the potential for the worse, because it will lead to the better future you dream of.

If bad ideas are off limits and can't be talked about those ideas can't be challenged.

And if new ideas can't be brought forth nothing better can come into existence.

Yes new ideas will be not just good, there are bad ones. But that's why we discuss and make an effort, that's why we try things to see whether they work or fail.

We can't create the perfect world through logic in our heads and then execute it. Because humans aren't rational, logic is kinda fake even if it isn't, embrace that. Failure is human, failure leads to growth.

Many good things came from experimentation and theory but also from testing and trial and error, brute forcing stuff. Taking what works and optimizing it. Taking what didn't work and tweaking it slightly or taking notes on what has to be avoided in the future.

I love humans, I am human

I wish we would all stop dehumanizing each other constantly

[astraltrickster]

One of the things I'm imagining that could potentially improve a lot of online lives is a more controllable Snapchat-like "self destruct" feature that doesn't necessarily delete your posts after a certain period of time, but automatically sets their visibility to a more private setting, and you can change how this behaves both by default and on a post-by-post basis.

You have your fairly common (and should be more common) time of posting visibility settings of "public/followers only/friends only/whitelist (close friends) only/only me", or whatever else may be relevant. You have a time selector with options such as "1 day/1 week/1 month/3 months/6 months/1 year/Never/Custom", after which you can select ANOTHER visibility setting that it will automatically be changed to.

So, I might have default settings of "Public -> 1 year -> Friends Only" - meaning that 1 year after I post something, it automatically changes privacy settings so only I and people on my friends list can see it, though for more personal things I might change it to "Public -> 1 month -> Private (or even delete)", or for art and other things I want to keep out there, "Public -> never change".

If you wanted to get more into it, you could even change default settings by tag or have multiple preset security profiles in a drop-down menu - I could make it so adding my personal or art tags automatically changes the default settings to the alternate profiles shown above, and/or I could just select those profiles independent of the tag.

I'll probably make a mockup of some description later but I think it would be a useful concept to build on.

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

Alexandra's Evolution Chapter Seven: Fare-Dodging Creepy-Crawly - Part One

Fandom: Primeval Wordcount: 4.7k Warnings: Insects, injury, hospitals

Stephen goes Underground to find Nick, and is bitten by the same creature that killed the pest-controller. Alex goes with Stephen to the hospital while the others try to find a way to save his life.

Read on AO3 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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A shouting match is about to break out at Arsenal Underground Station. Alex Hart is standing at the top of the defunct escalators still holding Leek’s map and tracing the lines of the tunnels with her finger. She’s already poked one hole in it. Abby Maitland is raking her hands through her hair, carefully enunciating Stephen and Nick’s names into her microphone even though she’s getting nothing back but static. Her voice is the undercurrent to Oliver Leek’s thorough dressing down of Alex,

“Over the last few weeks I’ve watched you do some stupid, irresponsible things to try and get the professor’s way, but this is beyond the pale.”

“You hire us, then you don’t let us do anything to actually make a difference, you just send in guns, we’re trying to help.” Alex is still staring down at the map. Abby is edging closer to her, watching Leek out of the corner of her eye between glances at her phone to check for updates from Connor. She’s still trying her headset. She’s still not getting anything. Leek isn’t about to let Alex have the last word.

“That’s the thing with heroic gestures. Succeed, and you look wonderful. Fail, and all you do is leave everyone a bloody great mess for me to clean up! Well congratulations Alex, you might just have condemned half your team to death.”

“You weren’t going to do anything-”

“So you and your uncle took it upon yourselves to solve the problem for me? You thought you could handle this? There is protocol set in place for these occasions-”

“What protocol, leaving Nick down there to get killed by a fucking centipede?” Alex snaps back, her eyes moving from the map to Oliver so quickly they may well be clicking into a preset position, “And you thought we’d just accept that, did you?” Leek moves into Alex’s personal space, voice falling dangerously low,

“I thought you were capable of doing the job I personally stuck my neck out for you to get, all three of you. I - idiotically I see now and considering your history I should have changed my mind earlier - thought the three of you could do as you were told.”

“You didn’t do your research very well.” Alex does not make any effort to lower her own voice. She’s entered a staring contest with Oliver Leek. She does this with Nick when they butt heads. She’s never tried this with Leek.

“Connor!” Abby’s voice, light and hopeful, soars above the sharply pointed words being passed between Leek and Alex.

Connor has arrived, reliable laptop bag slung over his shoulder. He’s wearing the blue shirt again, the slivers of it they can see making it easy for Abby and Alex to track him weaving around the soldiers. He’s wearing a hat again. Alex doesn’t quite understand the hats, but now really isn’t the time to ask. Abby takes hold of Alex’s arm and pulls her away from Leek in Connor’s direction. The three of them invade the patio tables of a café across the road from the station so Connor can set up his laptop and trawl through his database.

“What do we know?” he asks the moment his laptop wheezes to life. Alex spreads the map across the free space of the table.

“Over-oxygenation, we think Carboniferous. There are spiders with scorpion features but they’re not the issue.” Alex answers while redrawing her lines on the map with a pen that had fallen out of Connor’s bag.

“The only other creature we’ve seen is this centipede, a huge centipede, I…” Abby hesitates, glancing at Alex, “Could that be what’s attacking people?” she asks. Abby leans over Connor’s shoulder to watch him navigate through his website.

“Okay, Carboniferous, so it’s probably an Arthropleura. That’s a centipede on steroids, basically, longer than any of us are tall. It’s more or less blind…good sense of smell and touch,” he feels more and more like Rd-D2 when he looks up and finds both Abby and Alex staring at him, “I mean, this thing is pretty big and scary looking, but it’s more or less timid. It’s the kind of bug that’d stick to the kitchen at parties.”

“The description matches but the temperament is way off.” Abby replies.

“It ate dead wood and leaves.” Connor points out. Abby frowns,

“So it’s not poisonous?” 

“No way.”

“What killed the pest controller then?” Alex asks, “Not the spiders, not this artho-whatsit-”

“Someone’s dead?” As Connor’s concern spikes, the pulse in Alex’s neck stops jumping. Maybe the creature that had killed the pest controller has already gone back home. She hopes that’s the case, doesn’t particularly fancy crawling around miles of London Underground looking for a bug. Or more accurately, being left on the surface while the others crawl around miles of London Underground looking for a bug. Abby starts to explain the pest controller. Alex doesn’t hear the explanation. There’s a commotion at the station entrance, the soldiers Leek had sent down after Stephen stamping their way up and off the escalators with shouts of medic, stretcher, ambulance. Medic. Stretcher. Ambulance.

Alex’s backside has hardly touched the hard plastic of the chair before she’s sprung towards the train station again. Abby and Connor turn, confused, and then there’s a clatter as Connor knocks over his chair in his attempt to get up as quickly as possible.

Nick. Nick’s there, he’s fine. Stephen’s not. He’s there. He’s not fine. Nick’s got most of his weight, Nick’s the one propelling him forward. Stephen seems to be trying to walk but his feet aren’t cooperating. Nick’s managed to pull one of Stephen’s arms around his neck to support him. Alex trips, manages to turn that trip into a dive to duck under Stephen’s other arm. Her bag hits the bone of her hip, but the sharp starburst of pain that fires is far more dull than usual. The band in her hair snaps. A second ambulance had turned up at the station once Ricky had arrived at hospital, and it’s towards this vehicle that Alex and Nick push Stephen.

“Paramedic!” Alex has never heard Leek shout before, “Ryan, report!” He asks for Tom Ryan, but it’s Nick that answers.

“He’s been bitten by the creature, the centipede-”

“Arthropleura.” Alex supplies.

“-same wound, same symptoms as the pest controller,” Ryan, having jogged forward when Nick had taken control of the report, helps them get Stephen down and onto the stretcher that’s been wheeled out. Stephen’s shaking, and he’s looking up at the sky but he doesn’t seem to be seeing. Nick takes hold of his chin, gentle as he turns Stephen’s face towards him, “That poison’s going to destroy his nervous system.”

“Tell them about Helen.” Stephen’s voice. Hoarse, forced, taking a huge amount of effort. There’s blood trickling down his neck, coming from a puncture wound in the flesh that connects his neck and his shoulder. Alex’s hand goes to his throat, looking for a pulse.

“Helen?” Alex and Leek repeat the name at the same time.

“He hallucinated her.” Is all Nick says in answer, resolutely turning away from Leek. The stretcher is rolled away, out of their reach. Alex’s hand comes away red. She stares at it until Nick’s fingers enter her peripheral vision and take hold of her wrist. He’s pulling his sleeve over his own hand, wiping the blood from her palm. “Get that off,” he mutters, not particularly addressing her, “You have to go with him. Alexandra,” her first name in its entirety pulls her attention, “They won’t take me, they’ll only take family. You have to go.”

“Niamh.” There’s a clamour of voices, Abby, Connor, soldiers. Stephen saying her mother’s name.

“He means you.” Nick says. He lets go of Alex’s wrist, and that’s her cue. She inhales quickly, deeply, through her nose and turns to the stretcher. She can feel her heartbeat at the base of her skull. Her clean hand moves to rest on Stephen’s forehead. Temperature. He’s sweating buckets. His blood is still stuck in the lines of her palm.

“Not Niamh, Steve. Naimhan Stevens.” That had been a joke between them, he had told her. Stephen chokes out a laugh, repeats the phrase.

“You look like my sister-in-law.” Stephen tells her. Alex swallows hard before she replies,

“I know. What do you feel, Stephen?”

“Like I’m dying,” he answers. She clicks her tongue. Through laboured breathing, Stephen smiles, “Invoking Nonna?”

“We’re moving,” A paramedic announces, grabbing hold of the handles of the stretcher and pulling, “Are you coming?”

“Yes. Yes.” Alex replies. She gathers her hair as if to tie it, then remembers the bobble had broken. She accepts the hand the other paramedic is holding out to help her up into the ambulance. When she looks out the doors, in the split-second before it slams shut after the stretcher, she sees Nick. Hands firmly balled in pockets, shoulders set. Face blank. Bad news. Abby and Connor each hover over a shoulder, Connor with a hand clamped on top of his hat. Abby’s hand has creeped up onto Nick’s shoulder and is gripping it so hard her knuckles are white. Nick turns and marches away as the door closes. Alex leans over and lifts Stephen’s wrist to take one of the hair ties he still wears - a habit from his mid-nineties-long-hair phase he still hasn’t lost - and makes an attempt to tie her hair back but strands stick to her bloody palm.

The paramedic is moving quickly, strategically, peeling the black jumpsuit off the top half of Stephen’s body and then cutting his t-shirt away from around his shoulder.

“Do you know this man?” The paramedic asks, blindly reaching for a pack of antibacterial wipes and passing them back to Alex, “Wipe that blood off before you touch anything. Tell me what you know.”

“He’s Stephen James Hart, born thirteen-oh-three-nineteen-seventy-three. He has no allergies, no current illness and is on no medication-” Alex rattles the information off, trying to answer all the most likely questions as quickly and concisely as possible.

“Smoking, alcohol, drugs?”

“No, not since last week, and no. Blood type O-negative. Uh…” she’s not sure what else she can say.

“That’s good information to have, thank you. Who are you?”

“Alexandra Louise Hart, I’m his niece. Also O-negative.”

“What happened?”

“Two people have been patients in your hospital in the last twenty-four hours suffering from insect bites. The first was a pest controller who died a few hours ago, and the second was a soldier who simply had an allergic reaction. Stephen has been bitten by the same thing that bit the pest controller.”

“By what, exactly?”

“An insect.”

“An insect?”

“That’s all I know.” It feels like a lie, the words sit heavy and sour on her tongue even though she’s telling the truth. She can’t explain it. She’s not sure if she’d be arrested or sectioned if she tried. 

“Are you hurt?”

“No. No, I’m fine.” Alex answers. She tries pulling her hair together again, and succeeds this time. The lack of hair in her eyes, invisible strands trailing across her cheeks, helps a little. Stephen’s croaking under the oxygen mask, trying to pull at the belts that are across his body to stop him from rolling off the stretcher.

“We’ve got to keep him calm, Alexandra.” The paramedic tells her. Alex shifts to kneel on the floor with her knees apart to steady herself as the ambulance swerves round a corner.

“Steve. Stephen,” her hand finds his forehead again, checking the temperature with the back of her knuckles before moving her hand to his cheek and then taking it away in favour of pulling his hands away from the straps, “Stephen, you’re in an ambulance. I’m here. It’s okay.”

“Bloody well isn’t.” She can just about decipher his words through the oxygen mask.

“We can pretend,” Alex replies, “We can pretend.”

“Bright.” Stephen says. Alex shades his eyes with her hand, using the other to anchor herself to the stretcher that’s secured to the floor.

“Night-night.” Alex growls in the voice Stephen used to use for her teddy bear when she was still in primary school. He chokes a laugh.

“Keep him talking, keep him awake.” The paramedic tells her.

“Do you feel nauseous?” Alex asks. Her uncle grunts an affirmative response. “Can you see alright?” A negative reply. Again, “Bright. Blur.” Alex does her best to cover his eyes. Then, “Nick.”

“He’s back at the station, he’s okay. Everyone’s okay. You just had to be the drama queen. Leek’s steaming, says we were playing at being heroes.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“That he hadn’t done enough research.”

“Good girl.” He laughs again.

“We’re almost there,” the paramedic tells them, Alex switches her attention to her, “You’re doing well.” Alex nods. When she looks back to Stephen she lifts her hand away from his eyes to check on him. His eyes are closed.

“Stephen? Stephen?” her hand finds his uninjured shoulder. She doesn’t dare move it for fear of hurting him.

“Keep him awake!” the paramedic calls, shaking Stephen’s leg, “Stephen? Mr Hart? Can you hear me?” the ambulance turns and, unprepared, Alex loses her balance. 

***

Alex slumps in the hard orange chair she’s been provided with. Hospital chairs only ever seem to come in orange or lime green. The doctor, surname Lewis, had done her best to treat the pest controller and has been given Stephen’s case. A call from Leek had given access to the pest controller’s records from his stay in the same room she and Stephen are in now. She can track Stephen’s symptoms by it, and she knows what’s going to happen next. Alex swallows hard and leans forward to put the clipboard down on Stephen’s shins. He’s unresponsive, convulsing. Stripped to the waist so the bite is easily accessible, oxygen mask securely fastened. His heartbeat is erratic but it’s there, trackable on the same screen that’s displaying his blood pressure. The bleeding has slowed with his heartbeat, but he’s lost more blood than the pest controller because the centipede had bitten him in a different place, so a blood bag has been hooked up to an IV stand.

She sits back and crosses her legs, covering them with the red blanket she’s been provided with. She’s always run cold. That she knows she inherited from Stephen’s side of the family. Doctor Lewis is sitting at a desk in the next room, a nurse comparing notes with her. When she catches Alex’s eye, Alex holds her hand by her ear and makes the sign for phone. Lewis nods, holds up five fingers, and taps the nurse's shoulder so he follows her out of the room. Alex dials Nick. He answers on the first ring.

How is he?

“Not dead. Yet. But dying. He’s dying, Nick,” Alex’s chest is tight in a way she’s never felt before, “He’s fitting, they’ve got an oxygen mask on him and they’ve started a blood transfusion.”

Did they learn anything from the pest controller that can help us? 

“Only that they have no treatments here that’ll touch him. They gave us one option, antivenom.”

Say again? Antivenom?

“An antivenom would give him a chance, but they’d need a sample of the actual venom in the first place to find out if they had anything that would counteract it, he doesn’t have enough time for them to trial-and-error.”

A pure sample of venom?

“What, you know how to milk centipedes?” Alex’s laugh is hiccupy.

I have an idea. 

“Nick?”

You stay there. Keep an eye on him, alright? Can he hear you?

“He’s not responding, but they’re pretty sure he can.”

Tell him I love him.

“I will.”

I’ll call you later. He’s about to hang up, she knows it, he isn’t one for formal goodbyes, she has to dive in now-

“Nick?”

What?”

“He didn’t hallucinate Helen, did he,” It’s a statement, not a question, “When he was responsive he was totally lucid.” There’s a pause, she can hear the background noise of the others fading with Nick’s decisive footfalls.

No. No, he didn’t, an irritated sigh crackles over the line, Helen’s alive. Helen’s alive. Helen’s alive and Stephen’s dying. It’s backwards. I wasn’t sure, that’s why I didn’t say anything, but she gave Stephen a message.

“A message?”

She wants to meet. On the other side of the anomaly.

“Nick-”

I’m not doing it. Not now.

“Good,” there’s no reply, “I’ll call if there’s any changes, okay?”

Alex plugs her earbuds into her iPod to avoid the happy-go-lucky song on the radio and leans forward. She links her hand with Stephen’s shaking one and whispers Nick’s message to him. Just talks to him. Helen’s alive that’s fucking insa- 

She gives him the other earbud so he can listen to David Bowie with her. She keeps whispering, mouthing the lyrics and waiting for the doctor to come back.

Alex doesn’t hear the footsteps that approach the room, then stop, but she does hear when something hits the door, like whoever it is hasn’t put the brakes on hard enough and their foot kept going when their brain stopped. Thinking it’s the doctor, she pulls her earbud out, cutting a verse short, and moves towards the door with the blanket tight around her shoulders. She can’t see anyone through the meshed glass of the window, so she opens the door. Looks to the left. The right. There’s no one in sight. Alex shrugs and goes back to her post, trying to sit in a slightly different position so her legs won’t go numb. Her phone jangles, not the McFly song but the standard text-alert sound.

Still on?

Oh. Reality. She’s due in Cambridge in two hours. She’s not going to be in Cambridge in two hours. She’s still going to be at the hospital, Stephen halfway through a blood transfusion. Living? Dying, still? Can she lie? How would she lie? ‘Hi, was measuring wind speed to calculate the frequency of spatial-temporal rips in the atmosphere, lost track of time,’ perhaps. Or maybe, ‘I know this is the third time I’ve postponed this date but I have a really good reason, I just can’t tell you or you get arrested and I never get to see you again.’ 

She settles for, In hospital. S in accident. Am ok. Using a single thumb to type, she punches out as few letters as possible so she can keep a hand on Stephen. She watches the screen, waiting. Reading and re-reading her message until the reply pops into existence,

Which hospital?

After answering this she sends texts to Nick. Then Connor. Ryan. Abby. Asking for updates. She chews on a fingernail for something to do until Doctor Lewis comes back.

“Are we any closer on you telling me what really happened?” She asks with one well-plucked eyebrow arched.

“No. It wouldn’t help.” Alex replies, making sure she makes eye contact with the doctor to convey her seriousness.

“Elaborate?”

“I can’t.” Alex shrugs. It’s out of her hands.

“What are you, MI5?” The doctor asks with a quiet chuckle. Alex shrugs again. “Alright,” she relents, “Now that he’s somewhat stable, is there anyone we should inform? Next of kin, wife, kids?”

“I’m all the family there is,” Alex answers, “And his partner’s still at the station trying to get a venom sample for you. He was there when it happened.”

“I understand. I’m afraid there isn’t much we can do until then. Keep his oxygen levels up. Make sure the bleeding doesn’t start again,” at Doctor Lewis’ signal, the nurse moves forward and begins the process of changing the shoulder bandage that has gone from the colour of white wine to red, moscato to merlot. Stephen twitches, though Alex can’t be sure if it’s from pain or from the sensation of the cloth peeling away from the open wound. Alex wraps her fingers around his thumb. In that moment, she’s a child. Knee-high. Doctor Lewis checks her watch, the glass face flashing in the sun as it turns, “If he follows the symptomatic path of the pest-controller, the convulsions will get worse, and sooner rather than later. It will be unpleasant and upsetting. You don’t have to stay in this room, even in the hospital, if you are unable to do so.”

“I’m staying.”

“He will be strapped to the bed to prevent causing himself harm.” Doctor Lewis adds. Alex’s mind’s eye creates the image without permission. She repeats her earlier statement. Doctor Lewis nods once, curtly, and moves around the bed to hover over the nurse working on Stephen’s shoulder. Stephen’s hand squeezes, most likely involuntarily, instinctively, but Alex squeezes back. She doesn’t know if he can feel it, separate the feeling from what’s happening to his shoulder, his neck. His head twitches, pushing back into the pillow. Alex mumbles quiet comforts in Italian, rising from her chair a little. She'd be in his eyeline if he could see. It doesn’t matter where she is, he can’t open his eyes to see her, but she feels more present watching his eyelids move. A leg kicks hard. Alex’s free hand clamps down on the corresponding knee.

“I understand, but if I thought I was dying I don’t think I’d want to be left alone.”

“Of course,” Doctor Lewis nods, “We’ll be here. Should we expect anyone else?”

“If a Professor Nick Cutter arrives, he’s the one with the venom sample.”

“We’ll let the front desk know, they’ll let him straight through.”

“A Juke McCall might turn up, he can come through.” Alex adds, her phone jangling again in her hand. Doctor Lewis nods again, glancing at her nurse to make sure he has also heard, 

“I will tell you that while speaking to Oliver Leek on the phone we were told to allow certain people in if they arrive, including a James Lester?”

“That sounds about right,” Alex lifts a necklace to her mouth and pushes the wedding rings strung on it between her back teeth, “That’s fine.” Not that she could stop them. 

***

Nick arrives first. Before Leek. Connor and Abby were stopped at the front desk, but Nick just kept going as soon as he heard the room number. He first pauses - briefly - to hand Doctor Lewis the venom sample and tell her next to nothing. The second time he pauses is to greet Alex, ruffling her hair as though he’s petting a dog, asking if she’s alright and waiting for her reply before he goes to Stephen. Alex wraps the wire of her earbuds around her fingers so Nick doesn’t get clotheslined by it. He’s careful here. Presses the back of his hand to Stephen’s forehead instead of kissing him. Takes his pulse at the wrist, not under the jaw. Sits opposite Alex and waits.

“You’re not going to make it to Cambridge in time.” Nick doesn’t look at Alex when he says it. With a glance at the door he takes Stephen’s hand. Alex leans back and lifts her feet to set them on the metal frame of the bed.

“He’s coming here. Swinging by your house to get him some overnight stuff.” Alex replies.

“He knows where the key is?”

“Yeah.” Nick’s eyebrows lift, then lower. Then he nods. He’s wearing his approval face. “What’re we going to do?” she asks. Nick lets himself look at her. She’s blinking rapidly.

“We…we’ve done what we can. You stick with me, you’ll be fine. Whatever happens. Alex? Whatever happens. We’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. She told us to get her a sample of the venom, we got her a sample of the venom.”

“How did you do it?”

“I got the centipede to bite me. Connor found something to wrap my arm in that the mandibles couldn’t get through, sellotaped a freezer bag to it.”

“Thank god for zip-seals, I guess.”

“Ah, don’t bother with him, just thank me.” Nick quips, and his wee smile is back. Alex laughs, just a little. Doors swing open in the distance, letting the sound of Connor and Abby bickering into the corridor.

“No, Connor, this one.”

“She said thirty two, it’s that way.”

“No, she said twenty two.”

“She said twenty six.” Alex calls. A shock of white-blonde hair peeks through the door, and the rubber soles of Connor’s shoes squeak as he brakes.

“How’s he doing?” Abby asks, her voice losing its edges as though she’ll wake Stephen up if she talks any louder.

“If they find an anti-venom that can counteract the arthropleura venom, and if it takes, it could be two hours before it has enough of an effect for him to regain consciousness.” Nick explains.

“If it takes?” Connor echoes.

“It’s a fifty-fifty chance. They could cancel each other out or attack his system together,” Alex elaborates, “Came pretty close to the second option the last time he got a snake bite ‘cause we didn’t know what had done it.” 

Leek enters the room, sliding smooth shoes over linoleum flooring with minimal sound. He must have trained himself to walk like this so he can be as close to Lester as a suit jacket without their supervisor serving him a restraining order. He picks up the clipboard detailing the pest-controller’s time at the hospital that Alex had abandoned.

“They’re running tests now to see if they have a polyvalent antivenom that could work, and a secretary is phoning round the nearest clinics and hospitals to check their antivenom supplies.” Leek’s talking quietly too. What is it about hospitals that make people lower their noise levels to library settings? Tucking the clipboard under his arm, Leek reaches forward to the bottle of hand sanitiser that’s attached to the bed. Alex had only just gotten the sting of it out of her nose.

“This shouldn’t have happened. We should have been able to assess the situation so we knew what the real danger was. Ricky, your soldier, would have died if none of us had been there. Stephen might still die because we didn’t have access. This shouldn’t have happened.” Nick’s voice isn’t at library settings. He knows the hospital doesn’t care. He knows there’s no one around to file noise complaints. A pair of nurses at Doctor Lewis’ desk, trying to watch the conversation without being obvious. They’ll be more confused than ever. Leek hesitates, looking from Stephen to Nick. It had taken him a while to twig what the connection between them was, and now he knows that makes going against either of them that much more complicated.

“You’re due your two-month review soon. I will set up that meeting with Lester and you can discuss this with him then. I agree that going guns-first is not working for you.”

“Because we won’t let you kill the creatures.” Abby points out. Leek doesn’t deign to reply. His phone rings, and he chooses to answer that instead, leaving the room altogether. Abby scoffs, disbelieving, “Look, I know it’s hurt people, but it’s not like it was hunting them. It was scared.”

“Abby, we understand. Stephen would understand. They’re wild animals in unknown environments.” Nick assures her. Abby shoogles her shoulders and asks the nurses where she can get a chair for herself and Connor. Alex pushes her music back into her ears, keeping the volume low enough that she can hear the steady beep of the heart monitor. She sticks the rings in her mouth again, and her foot bounces against the floor. Nick leans forward, elbows on his knees, turning a bead bracelet that Stephen had bought him in Budapest over and over between his fingers. 

Doctor Lewis wheels a trolley into the room twenty minutes, twenty hours, fifteen seconds later, set with instruments and syringes and gloves. Abby pulls Connor out by the elbow. Nick doesn’t move a muscle. She talks them through the process. She gives them the statistics. She gives Alex a fresh clipboard with a form that she as next of kin has to fill out to give consent on Stephen’s behalf. To risk his life, to save his life. She reads it out as she writes with the attached pen. Doctor Lewis gives them the option to leave again. They refuse. She preps the antivenom. She makes no promises.

[dynamicreactions]

God of War: Ragnarok Accessibility Review

God of Ragnarok is my first time playing a god of war title did it live up to the hype and was it accessible let’s talk about it.

What’s up, dynamite, some Kennedie, and welcome to the level, where we talk about accessibility in gaming and my experience as a disabled gamer. I’ve heard wonderful things about God of war and what a fun game it is but it’s completely a different thing to experience it for yourself and I’m happy to say that the experience of this game is so beautiful, so immersive and so accessible that I really enjoyed it we have over 70 accessibility features to cover and some small suggestions on what to improve so let’s get into this menu overview.

Menu overview:

When you first open the game you’re greeted by the accessibility presets option and the screen reader. You can’t really edit the settings within the presets in depth on this screen so I suggest picking one if you need it and then before you start playing going into the accessibility menu and thoroughly going through your options.

In the accessibility menu you have: The accessibility presets

The audio menu includes audio cues for those on the blindness spectrum similar to the navigation system in the last of us games.

Combat accessibility which includes aim assist and lock-on camera controls that sound like something from a late-night infomercial. —————————— *Do you have trouble keeping your camera centered do those pesky gods and goddesses keep evading your deadly blows no matter how hard you try with the delay in your finger movements? INTRODUCING: Ragnarok AIM ASSIST the god of war game mechanic that not only has 1 but two modes to help you behead those pesky celestial beings with accuracy and flair!

Want the classic auto-aim experience? Simply set all your camera settings to classic for a clean experience hitting the enemies on your screen. But if you want the eyesight of an omnipresent OP GOD classic plus auto target plus and priority plus are the settings for you. SNIPE THOSE ENEMIES OFF-SCREEN WITH A 360 NO SCOPE THE BEST ESPORTS PLAYERS COULD BE JEALOUS OF

ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS FOR THE STELLAR PRICE OF 59.99 BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE ORDER NOW AND WE’LL INCLUDE OUR NAVIGATION PACKAGE WITH AUTO PICK-UP ESSENTIALS AND ESSENTIALS+ AND NEVER MISS AN IMPORTANT ITEM AGAIN. WE’LL ALSO INCLUDE OUR TRAVERSAL Assist you’ll never have to worry about pressing a button to bolt climb, descend or crawl ever again. all this could be yours for the stellar price of 59.99 order now at playstation.com.

ORDER NOW —————————————- Controller settings: You also have complete remapping, multiple tap, and hold options for your buttons, and auto sprint to name a few controller settings

Visual settings: For visual settings, you have high contrast settings, reduce flashing, and visualization contrast, you can have a controller overlay to see which buttons you are pushing on screen and you can also change the size of your UI text.

for the high-contrast display. You have multiple colors and multiple settings for each of the things you’ll be interacting with in-game and you can also make the cinematics high contrast. You also have motion sensor Aiming if you want to use that instead of using your joysticks

For subtitles and captions, you have a preview of what your subtitles and captions will look like and you have subtitle sizes and color options to look at as well, as well as background choices and subtitle caption blur

And you also have an audio glossary for the entire navigation system

Now, how do all these settings work in practice you ask? My answer is great. The only gripe I have is that I wish you didn’t have to toggle auto-target and on the way, I’m on and off I wish it was kinda automatic as it so I didn’t have to keep pressing the R3 button because it does get a little tedious but overall this game is super accessible even for the navigation system when I’m doing side, quests or doing some secondary puzzle thing that’s not in story mode it helps me get around to those places without that much trouble.

The team at Santa Monica really did keep their promise when they drive to match the accessibility of the last of us games completely and totally and I’m really proud that I got the chance to review it so I say pick it up it’s very accessible for everyone across the spectrum. Don’t be afraid to pick it up. Go to a friend's house and try it yourself. I know accessibility is different for everyone but I have a feeling that if this is your first god of war game it will fit all of your needs, if you are disabled, if not most of them, it is a beautiful immersive, heartwarming adventure, and I can’t wait for everyone to be able to experience it today.

Don’t forget to tell me what you think about the game. Is there an accessible feature that I missed that you really want and that you really like leave it down in the comments below and don’t forget you deserve accessibility that’s on the level.

[hoshuha]

ENTRY 7: PROGRESS SO FAR

Intro | Verses | Pre Chorus | Chorus | {Roughly}

SONG OVERVIEW:

tempo: 4|4 BPM: 80

Keyboard section:

Starting with the intro, I decided to play a D major 9 and Gm9 chord on the keyboard, voiced as notated on the picture above. The voicing choice for the second chord (Gm9) was inspired from previous experimentation mentioned in a previous diary entry- the stacking of 5ths and roots help to thicken the sound. Additionally, the bass and top notes of both chords are the same which prevents any potential dissonance created within the change. This proved imperative as these chords highlighted a modulation in the chord progression; when the Gm9 is introduced, the song modulates to the parallel minor: Dm, from D major. At current, the keyboard section is introduced for 2 bars, then removed entirely- to improve, I may add more keyboard lines to produce a bedding for the guitar sections. For example (as with the intro), if a major/minor 7 chord is being played on guitar, I could play an extended version (a 9 or even 11) on the keyboard.

Guitar section:

Throughout all sections of the song, I used a variety of extended chords such as major/minor 7,9 and altered dominants- these extensions are a staple mark of Neo Soul. Drop 2 and 3 chords voicings were also used consistently, allowing for better control of voice leading and providing a bassline alongside the melodic embellishments. Furthermore, melody lines were incorporated into all parts asides from the pre chorus- adding musicality to the underlying progression, merging chromatic notes and chords from different keys together. All of this helps to create a consistent smoothness and direction within the song.

In terms of picking technique, I used hybrid picking alongside thumb slapping on beats two and four. This method was inspired by Melanie Faye who regularly uses this technique as a replacement for drums as it adds percussion. Hybrid picking allows me to play multiple sections of the song at once (bass and melody line) and gives me the flexibility of how I want to play a chord (arpeggiated/strummed).

Although Neo soul is very smooth to listen to, dissonance is often created by the use of altered dominant chords. I specifically like the sound of the dom7b13 (root on the Low E string) as it provides a wide range of intervals and pitches. I have used them throughout the song to create a demand for resolution and to aid with modulating. However to improve, I would like to create some embellishments within these chords, perhaps using notes from the altered scale as a way of creating even more tension. Additionally, I would like to add a few solos/lead lines into some of the verses to create more colour. Overall, I am very happy with the musical side of the song.

PLUGIN SETTINGS:

Keyboard

Using the "Neo Soul Keys Studio 2" vst, I decided on the "08 Len's Mark II" pre-set which included chorus, reverb, compression, delay and EQ as part of the effects chain alongside four different amps. In general, I found this combination to work extremely well as I only needed to tweak the chorus widener very subtly from the original preset to get the best sound. However, due to my lack of substantial knowledge regarding the use of EQ, these sliders may change once I have gathered enough research in this department. Additionally, it is clear that a master compressor will be needed to control all the amp sims; the keyboard's peaks are significantly louder than that of the guitar and thus does overpower it within the mix (Again, this is something I will be researching next week) .

Guitar

For the guitar section, I used the Neural DSP: Archetype Plini vst- specifically using the clean amp head/cabinet combined with a reverb pedal and compressor. The Neo soul genre often utilizes a very clean tone, hence my amp selection and lack of any gain pedals. This provides clarity for chords and dynamics within my playing- both of which are essential due to the use of hybrid picking and percussive string slapping throughout. Too much gain or distortion would create a muddy tone that simply wouldn't fit the genre.

The Reverb pedal has the 'space' setting turned up to almost maximum which creates a full, warm sound- this helps to emphasize the percussive elements created by slapping the strings as it reverberates each slap.

As with the keyboard section, there will be more work needed on the compression and EQ for this section; The Low E string is somewhat overbearing within the mix, providing too much bass.

Conclusion

Overall, I am very happy with the general tone of both the keyboard and guitar sections- each amp sim creates a very natural Neo Soul sound. However as previously stated, it's now time to research EQ/compression and start to incorperate it within my mix. Furthermore, Adjusting the general output level of the keyboard section will help to merge both instruments more naturally. I could also create a stereo effect by arming two tracks, one panning left (100%) and the other panning right (100%)- this may improve the arrangement.

I am happy with the progress I have made so far- the research has been slower than expected due to work outside of this course needing to be completed (I had no control over this). However, the creative/musical side of the project has gone smoothly as I feel like the song is near completion. The main focus this week is to complete the production research and implement my what I have learnt into the song itself. Filming and documenting my process along the way will follow, finishing with the reflection essay.

[octuscle]

Hello, I'm the wrestler bear from a while ago. After my 30 days ended, my app started glitching and started adding even more presets? By the end of it, the last preset pretty much mixed all the other presets before it and selected itself without my consent, please tulungan mo ko di ko alam ang nangyayari natatakot na ko!

Okay, this looks like a hacker attack. I could talk about security settings, but that won't help you now. I have contacted our IT administration. They suspect that the remote control of your app was started somewhere in the Philippines. Is that so? You are in Manila? Okay, so the hackers obviously also used the teleport function.

Good news: We have control over your account again. But the system is a bit unstable, so we will delete your account right away. Please reset your entire mobile device completely and get back to us when all security updates are done. Then we can reset your account, but it will take a few days.

Before I delete your account now, I will make a few quick changes to your profile. You went to the international school, so your English should be pretty good now. And I got you a job as a personal trainer in the gym at the Sofitel. The concierge is informed that you also make room visits.

[princessmia-tarot]

Heyy i would be grateful to receive a free reading!

What does J want to tell me or let me know?

Thank you so much

M (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

Hello M (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠),

Before I begin if you or anyone who sees this reading could respond to this poll, it would be much appreciated (open 3rd-10th Oct) <3.

I'd be happy to provide you with a reading to uncover what J may want to tell you or let you know, using the symbolism of the Wheel of Fortune.

The Wheel of Fortune is a card that represents cycles, destiny, and change. In the context of your question, it offers the following insights:

Changes are in Motion: The Wheel of Fortune suggests that there are changes or shifts occurring in J's life or in your relationship with J. These changes may be a natural part of life's cycles.

Embracing Destiny: J may want to convey that some events or developments are fated or part of a larger plan. They might be encouraging you to embrace these changes with an open heart and a sense of destiny.

Adaptation and Flexibility: This card encourages adaptation and flexibility. J might be suggesting that you remain open to the ebb and flow of life and be willing to adapt to new circumstances or opportunities.

Optimism and Positivity: The Wheel of Fortune often carries a message of optimism. J may want to remind you to maintain a positive outlook, even during times of change or uncertainty.

Cycle Completion: It's possible that a cycle or phase is coming to an end, and a new one is beginning. J may be signaling that it's time to let go of the past and embrace what's ahead.

Trust the Process: This card encourages trust in the process of life. Sometimes, events may seem out of our control, but there is a larger order at play.

Stay Mindful: J may be reminding you to stay mindful of the opportunities that arise during times of change. Sometimes, the turning of the wheel brings unexpected blessings.

In summary, the Wheel of Fortune suggests that J may want to convey a message related to changes and cycles in life. It's important to remain adaptable, positive, and open to the flow of events. Trust that destiny is at work, and be mindful of the opportunities that come your way. If you're uncertain about the specific message, consider reaching out to J for a conversation to gain further clarity. 🌟🔄🔮

xx

Mia💗

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