#the easiest way to prevent cheating

[zenjestrr]

a plague on the beast who invented honorlock

[mountainsoftreatos]

After the boys are settled back in London and Charles is still trying to figure out his feelings, I'd love a case where an old woman ghost hires the agency, telling them that her husband died decades ago and she wants to see if he has waited for her so they can pass on together. She describes their marriage as a grand love story. And Charles really latches onto the idea that this couple represents true love and how that might reflect what he feels for Edwin since he's never been in love before and his parents weren't a good example (similar to how he looked at Brad and Hunter in the Dead Dragons episode as reflecting him and Edwin being good guys and best mates).

So they investigate and are able to find the husband. Except it turns out that this woman is a dead witch who was responsible for her husband's death as revenge for him cheating on her and did some kind of magic that would prevent him from passing on. She lied to Edwin and Charles so that when they found him, she could continue to make him suffer in his afterlife.

After the boys save the husband (because he doesn't deserve to be tortured/obliterated) and the case is closed, Charles has this crisis that he doesn't know what it is to be in love and he's afraid he'll never know. And Edwin has to reassure him that like, he and Charles have already been together for 30 years, in a sense, and they'd never be like this witch and her husband. And that Charles already does love him in a way that is devoted and grand and wonderful. Edwin's happy if that never changes, but it would just be extra nice to kiss Charles. And it just hits Charles like a truck that if all it takes for them to go from friendship to romance is kissing, then it's actually the easiest thing in the world for him, to be in love with Edwin. And then they kiss, of course!

IDK, might write this eventually, but if anyone else wants to run with this idea, please go for it!

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

Hi! The original anon poster who started the garden AU!

I was thinking of a high school au too!

Lucifer, Adam, Lilith and Eve are childhood friends. Lucifer has always been in love with Adam.

Lucifer is still the king of hell, he was married to Adam in Hell after a lot of harsh ships. Something happens and they’re reborn on Earth. Lucifer is told if he can make Adam fall in love with him again, they’ll return to the life they had.

Lucifer believes the easiest way to do this is to have Adam regain his memories. He does this by repeating his actions in hopes it would spark something. He starts with wooing Lilith when Adam confided in him about his crush on Lilith. Then when Adam began to date Eve and Lucifer is able to get Eve to cheat on Adam with him. His actions succeed! But not in the way he expected…both Lilith and Eve regain their memories but not Adam. Lucifer only succeeded in Adam hating him.

Adam leaves their friendship group due to the betrayal - he thought Lucifer was his best friend. They had sleepovers and everything growing up.

Lucifer is comforted by Lilith and Eve who told him Adam will come around and forgive him, just as he did in the previous time period. They all expected Adam to come back and be their friend again….only he never did.

Adam ignores them all. He doesn’t talk to them. He’s completely broken their friendship with him. Two years have passed and they’re all on the verge of graduating school and about to go to university.

Stakes get high when they learn that Adam is going to attend a university on the other side of the world. Where God has decided he will die and return to Heaven. Now everyone is going overdrive before Sera is able to get her claws into the first man again…

The best way to prevent this, Lucifer decides is to reveal his true identity. Only it freaks Adam out even more because hello!! He had had sleepovers with the devil himself !

Adam has not just Lucifer to deal with chasing him through the school, but Lilith and Eve too. He just wants to service his senior year in peace…without any backstabbing assholes or two faced quacks.

That sounds like a wild fucking ride man!

Poor Adam, he can't catch a break lol

[marcusrobertobaq]

Why people often confuses Connor's deviancy with Hank's relationship status:

They got similar impacts after a point the story. Usually when the SI goes up are choices that also gonna impact Hank's rep positively. But as u can see they're totally unrelated, not only in the narrative but also the math system.

So, no... Connor doesn't deviate cuz of Hank. That's not true. I believe the devs themselves realized leaving a dialogue implying that would go against what they constructed and also becoming a plot hole when you're outside one specific route (an issue the game got overall).

(deviant Connor about Markus if dude got killed in Crossroads)

According to the narrative there may be 3 main reasons why he can choose deviating:

Amanda AI betrayal, when he also thought he mattered enough for CL to not lie to him (Daniel parallel);

Finding common ground with the deviants story, empathizing with 'em (esp the Tracis);

Realizing he ain't doing "the right thing" by helping the megacorporation to repress androids - he included, as they're using him as just some tool.

As he may have 3 main reasons to choose not deviating:

Believe deviants are extremly dangerous to humans, a threat to the country and to innocent people - and he's the one that can help preventing chaos from happening (CL propaganda);

Believe deviants are no better than "bad" humans he met along the way and that he's the one that can help prevent chaos from happening (CL propaganda + experience);

Fear of failing his mission, his whole purpose and ending up as 100% nothing (not useful) for Amanda - someone he got a level of attachment -, consequently ceasing to exist (dying) in the end (not even destroyed but the existence totally deleted).

In resume Connor's machine vs deviancy clash looks like a mix of doubts/conflicts about the deviancy situation + fear of "death" (ceasing to exist).

According to the narrative Connor's main topic related to Hank, something not impacted about the machine vs deviancy clash, is his worry and empathy towards Hank's trauma: mf's a traffic accident survivor, got a bad relationship with androids "cheating death" due to his own son's death as it's basically an INSULT when all the guy wants is having his kid (kids are quite a relevant topic in Connor's arc btw) back in his arms + the belief an android is responsible for Cole's death in attempt to ease his own sense of guilty.

All dude wants is Hank to overcome this trauma cuz it worsened things like suicidal tendencies and alcoholism - and also his hatred for androids.

Ain't only cuz these personal issues can make his job difficult but also cuz he starts respecting Hank and where mf came from after a point in the game, even if he "hates" the guy's guts.

I'd say Hank's experience alongside Connor in the case witnessing deviants stories confirming his negative opinion on humans made him realize he was being a coward this whole time attacking the wrong people:

and sadly his rep with Connor alone is what decides if the guy finally act upon his bullshit and "uses his suicidal tendencies" to fight for what he think it's right (telling law enforcement to fuck off definitely) or die in cowardice in his own house by his own hand victim of this same issue.

I can't help but say it's again continuation issues as this scene makes no sense when you're outside a very specific route.

A better summary would be: Connor doesn't deviate cuz of Hank, but Hank "deviates" cuz of Connor (due to bad design cuz Connor himself shouldn't be the reason he changes his mind but the whole picture imo).

I believe to fully visualize a character and context in a game like this we need to analyze each variation in the story, not only playing a specific route - the easiest one they call "full best ending", the one the game itself helps u to get - cuz it's easy losing context and also a good part of the character's range of expressions. When u do that u realize the character got a base that won't change doesn't matter how u play.

I'm offering y'all material to work with and go explore yourselves cuz i've been seeing some terrible takes recently and got "where tf is this in the canon bible?". What u gon do with this info ain't my jurisdiction anymore, my mission ends here.

[sol-consort]

Considering humans evolved to quickly recognize patterns for survival, do you think we'd irritate other species by being able to point out their natural camouflage or social ticks fast?

The salarians come to mind. They have a lot of social cues embedded within their genese. Mordin mentions one in ME2, where when salarians lie to each other. If it's for the safety or protection for the other person, then their body manages to convey it in a que. It's fully involuntary and can not be faked or suppressed, so their society knows not to question someone who gives this tick while lying.

But the key part here is that he compared it to human faking a yawn, saying that's how hard it is to fake.

Maybe he wasn't aware that faking a yawn is literally the easiest thing alive. You can fake an authentic yawn. Hell, you can even force a real yawn if you try without anyone being able to tell the difference.

The tick of each person is different. Some humans avoid eye contact when lying, other humans do it because they hate eye contact in general. Some humans remain calm under stress or pain while other humans become snappy they second they get a headache.

There are generalisation, of course. How else would you sell those "psychology tips and tricks to reading people" 15$ books? Like if a human isn't smiling they aren't happy.

But that's...bullshit actually. Diverging from the norm and social cues is not rare in humans. Be it from personal preference, personality or even just being neurodivergent.

Humans can show happiness without smiling, we can be sad without crying, we can endure pain without groaning, and we can perform any and all emotions authenticity. The more we try, the better at faking things we get. We can in theory do all of this.

Salarians can't, they have a lot of their own outer communication piloted by their unconscious brain that makes it involuntarily. A human can teach themselves to stop flinching when surprised and brute force an involuntarily habit away, a salarian can't.

And it makes sense for them why their brains locked them out of developer options when it comes to the settings of their own bodies. Much like our own brain prevents us from so many things because we can't be trusted with it. Having their social cues built in since birth and never having to struggle to fit in gives them more time to actually live their life. While humans have to go through the several phases of self discovery and endless crisis of why do I exist?

We slow blink back to cats, of course we are going to pay attention to each one of the alien races ticks and cues to replicate it back to them. Attempting to mimick a turian's purring while cuddling with them, learning to headbutt a krogan if we want to prove ourselves.

You know that phrase about giving a monkey a typewriter and eventually it will print hamlet out? That's humans figuring anything out. A thousand humans will attempt to replicate the salarians lying for safety cue and fail.

But eventually, something gotta give and one of us will make a dent. Like someone figuring out a new technique in a speedrunning community, at first only they can do it but eventually it will become the norm and standard expectation of every speedrunner to master.

Like there are some hardcore humans out there who learned to read and write in binary without a translator, imagine walking to a geth and having a casual chat in 1s and 0s.

Humans learn to mimick birds sounds, so well at times that we used it to capture them before by mimicking mating sounds. Human voice impressionists are a huge thing and there are so many of them.

If anything it's hard for us to live with the aliens without mimicking them, it's in our nature. Throw a human to the hanar long enough and they'll completely adapt to using "this one" when refering to themselves.

I do see some species hating it because we aren't all sugar and spice everything nice. We will use these things to cheat, lie and "hack" our way into their held by ducktape society rules.

Purring at turians to earn their trust quickly before betraying them. Using the lying for safety cue on salarians to get away with normal lies. Making the drell think our emotions are as strong and painfully concentrated as theirs to excuse some of our shitty behaviour that a normal human would call us out on.

Give us long enough and we will crack the asari code too. Figure out the loopholes in their justiciar's logic and use it to misguide them towards our selfish interests. Learn their whole song and dance to corner their government into giving the humans slack or else they lose face with the rest of their galaxy and their own people. Because the asari actually rely on a beautiful facade to keep peace amidst their people, much like elves shoot themselves in the foot by making their egos and worth based on the fact they're so much civilised and sophisticated than the rest.

I think the protheons would love it tho, or just javik in particular if you began mimicking him. He'll compliment you for finally deciding to evolve instead of remaining a degenerate primitive.

[writingonjorvik]

The After Stories

So I was musing to myself about how I thought narratively the Soul Riders were most likely to be set up as more cyclical characters for what I think the next major story arc is most likely to be, what I called the Witch Wars arc in this ask response, and I ended up doing more than the Soul Riders, so I figured I'd share those thoughts.

I'll start with the Soul Riders since I've put the most thought into their arcs, also they're the most important characters right now, so it makes the most sense. I really only think one of the Soul Riders should be in the next story arc as a major character, for a number of reasons, though I doubt that'll be the case. I'm also following the assumption that, based on what we've been told in plot about severing the connection between Pandoria and Jorvik meaning the Soul Riders will lose their powers, that after Garnok is defeated, the connection Aideen created with Pandoria is cut and they don't have magic, or they only have whatever magic is left.

Easiest first, Lisa. I think Lisa is going to return to her music career and take time to recover. Personally, I think the writers need a step back from Lisa. She went from being what I had always thought was the leader of the group in SSL (and in the books) to her country redesign and her being largely the party healer. And I think there is a really good story arc to have there. Not to lean into the trope that metal and rock are symbolic of rebellious phases, but I think there's a story you can tell about the eras of Lisa's music genres being reflections of her stages of grief, the more punk genres being her rage followed by her return to country music as acceptance, a connection with her mother, and a way to maintain that connection as she processes that grief. I think a lot of folks will conflate stadium & pop country with classic country music which does also hold a lot of punk values which sets her up for a return, but I also think a step back from Lisa post all of the crazy would give her time to recover and take that symbolism and make it material. So I think she should take a more minor role in the next story arc.

Second easiest, Linda should not be a major player in the Witch Wars arc. Firstly, Linda is arguably the Soul Rider we've spent the most time with. It makes sense why, she's an easy lore dump character, but that also is a reason why in it of itself. If Linda is always our source of worldbuilding, there isn't an opportunity for other characters to provide information that feels relevant, and also it takes that opportunity away from the player character to discover in their own exploration. But the biggest reason I think is that Linda has probably had the least amount of time to pursue her own personal goals. There is absolutely a story there to tell about how major achievement is a personal scale, you don't need to achieve the world in order to be successful, but I don't think that's a story SSO will tell and it also falls a little flatter when Linda is part of the team that did save the world from Garnok. But comparably, Linda has the least amount of achievement to her name. Like, imagine being able to see the future, not to mention be unquestionably intelligent, with very clear goals of going to university and pursuing your interests and expanding your skills as a writer, saving the world and then watching all of your friends' dreams of reality come true. Visions made material. Lisa's music career, Anne's success as a dressage rider, a model, going on to be a vet, Alex being set up to take over a culturally significant organization (which I'll come back to), and you. Seeing all of it, and never getting there. And then the visions start to go away. There was already the moral question of could Linda use her powers to cheat, not that she would, but I imagine the guilt of the idea probably prevented her from pursuing entry exams because, she could. See the future to see the exam answers to study perfectly. And the fear of it prevents her from applying. And now her powers are leaving, she has the chance to be honest about it again. To provide she was more than her role as the Moon Soul Rider. She deserves to take it and come back to the story a more fulfilled person.

Alex has a good opportunity to be semi-present. She has been set up to take Elizabeth's place and with the defeat of Garnok, there's finally enough breathing room to do so. Yes, I'm sure the druids will be thrown into more ordeals with the fallout of their magic, which leads into the Witch Wars and pursuing answers there, but someone has to take up the mantle now that the chaos of Garnok is passed. And we were told that was Alex. It's a huge responsibility shift for her too, one she's going to have to learn on the job. I'm sure she'll receive help but it's not like she can go to school for how to be the leader of a magical organization. And it's not like her predecessor is there to guide her. There's also the existing tradition that she's breaking by taking Elizabeth's place as the Lightning Soul Rider becoming the Keeper's leader, where the Sun Soul Rider would normally take that place. But these are unprecedented times, the druids are losing a major part of their magic, so maybe it's time for a change. I think that sets Alex up well to be both present in the story, as the leader of the druids supporting us, the PC, going to learn more about witch magic to help the druids, but also take a step back. She has to stay in Valedale now, be a present leader and coordinator. But of course, it's Alex, she's bound to show up for big confrontations.

Which leaves Anne as the last Soul Rider. And I think she remains present. She's the Soul Rider we got the least amount of time with, but she also has the least reason to settle down. She still has a lot of grief to process from her imprisonment. And, as I said in my last post, I don't think we will kill the Generals. They might die in losing Garnok as like, their life source, but I don't think we will kill them directly. I'll get more into them later, but at the very least, I think Darko survives and Sands dies. And that right there sets Anne up perfectly. In a post Garnok world, in a world without magic, and the man chiefly responsible for her imprisonment is still out there. If anyone is going to be desperate for her magic back, it's Anne. There is still an angry part of her that cannot rest, and so when magic starts to fade and the PC pursues answers with the witches, Anne is right there. Not to mention, if we do get a new quadrant of the map, portal magic would be great for teleporting in and then reconnecting physically after main story shenanigans through North Link. But particularly after we've seen Anne proving she's not only back, but she's among some of the most powerful Sun Soul Riders in history, losing that would be devastating. Anne pursues answers about magic, and is our primary ally moving forward from the original cast.

Also in all of this, the Guardians. We don't know if in losing their Soul Rider powers the Guardians survive (I think they will), but we don't know if the Soul Riders will be able to talk to them. Like does Aideen's Gift maintain itself. Of all the Soul Riders, Anne probably has the most experience of not being able to talk to her horse, and so I see her thriving in this condition of still being able to connect with Concorde in a way none of the other Soul Riders can because of her time working with Concorde as a foal. And I see that causing a rift with the Soul Riders too as suddenly Anne is the odd man out again, and now that their grief in losing that particular connection is broken, there is some true feelings coming out about how they expect Anne to help in a way she only ever got resistance or correction for feeling with Concorde.

Quick ones off the list next:

Fripp goes to sleep. I don't know if he dies, I think he probably like. Does whatever Aideen did and fades into the magic of the world. I think he comes back, but without the connection to Pandoria, he can't maintain his consciousness without more magic. It also gets him off the table for the same reasons I think Linda should back seat, he knows too much and that takes away from the player's ability to discover.

Avalon dedicates himself to supporting Alex in taking over the leadership role. He's more confident now and speaks up for her against the rest of the council and commits himself as her primary ally and mentor within the druids.

Evergray is going back to the North with us. Without a connection to Pandoria, he is still a magic researcher. Possibly even tasked with finding another connection back to Pandoria, which leads to whatever he was doing in the North. He also has the most connection with witches there.

Rhiannon is also going back to the North. She's a Warden, she knows more about magic outside of the Circles from her proximity to the witches, and the Wardens aren't, kinda aren't, are something other than druids. Not to mention, if the connection with Pandoria cuts off magic and possibly losing Aideen's Gift, Rhiannon is the most set up to help reestablish this connection. I think it will, it's Aideen's Gift to Jorvik, it was her own magic, but there's a plot there to connection with the Wardens.

Ydris leaves. I know he's the game's Internet sexy man, but we've honestly seen very little of him since Fripp's recovery and we know his goal is to save his home. If the connection is broken, Ydris goes home to Pandoria. He can return in a later arc, with I think what would be fitting, a redesign of his original model since time is soup there, but I see very little for him to do in a witch arc unless he can't make it back home, which does have potential in him being a begrudging ally as he's made like. Semi-human from being cut off from Pandoria.

Mrs. Holdsworth and Sive are obvious, it's called the Witch Wars arc, they would be joining as major characters. Great opportunity too to introduce Marzipan from concept work from forever ago here as our young witch companion.

I think Justin should get a baby arc just to give him a better ending. He should go train with the Wild Whispers before going to train with Herman.

Speaking of Herman, he comes back briefly because his brother, Coyote, is in northwest Jorvik, so that gives us a connection into the not magic stories and exploring the cities there. Also, that sets up CHILL to come in with GED and we can have that semi-mundane arc too.

On to bad guys!

GED first, there's no reason why these guys wouldn't be back or even thriving without DC competing with them. They're low stakes bad guys, they've been basically run out of southwest Jorvik, they're very likely to be back in a new region.

I already said it, Mr. Sands dies. Look, his wife is dead, the devil he made a pact with dies, and he was human. There is no reason that he survives unless we get the redemption arcs I've discussed before happen, which are not remotely set up in the story. The man is death flagged, I don't make the rules. Turns to dust, bye.

Darko survives. I think having Darko be less present now means he can be set up to do the whole take over the vacuum when Sands is gone. Maybe he sees the writing on the wall, this is a kids' game and Garnok is going to lose. So he stops trying to go for Sands and bides his time. And when that happens, guess who steps in. A magic inventor with the remnants of resources to continue to be a problem and no competition anymore to do so. The rest of DC is goons, now he gets to horde a black market of magic to himself. DC dissolves, all the assets relocated before charges could be pressed. No charges to press on a dissolved company, the leading members of the board dead in a freak accident of their own making, there's no one there to hold responsbile. And Darko wasn't a General, he was just their inventor, conveniently missing from records, assumed dead, ready to be a main antagonist in the next arc under a new evil corporation.

I don't think all the Dark Riders die. The least likely is Erissa. She has gone through so many iterations just to finally get released, Erissa survives. Escapes capture even. Blends in, disappears, starts whispering into powerful ears. She becomes a problem. She also looks like a kid, they're not going to kill her for a slew of age rating reasons.

Because that's the thing, the Dark Riders aren't human. They're different kinds of aliens, by our best guesses. From different worlds too. Katja's ice world and Sabine's dark star are not the same places. If anyone survives the break from the pact with Garnok, it's these four.

Jessica is iffy, she is arguably the least developed. Of any of the Dark Riders to team up with Darko, I see it being Jessica. She reads as having a need for control, and suddenly cut off from her magic, either from being more injured than the others or the loss of the portals powered by Pandoria's magic, I think a reluctant deal with Darko for some scraps of magic to survive, that's where Jessica lands.

Katja leaves. She does not care about people. Of anyone in the story to become a permanent cryptid, it's Katja. She just goes back to being the Ice Witch of Icendell, if not through that portal. She's here because of her pact with Garnok, I see no reason for her to stay. She isolates herself until she can recover enough power to be a menace again.

Sabine is difficult but I see her as the character the community most wants to have a redemption arc (for various reasons), as well as the story setting up the most for a redemption arc, but I don't know if SSO would go there. Sabine has a riding club, she's made connections, however trivial to her now, on Jorvik. And something else, she's discovered a new kind of power, one she could never possess on her Dark Star home. People, control over people, working together to achieve more power. There is no civilization to control back home, it's a world of beasts, hunters, predators, there is no civilization, nothing to control, just survival. There are here. And so while I see her probably still being fairly narcissistic about it, I also see a story where Sabine recognizes that she can only have that kind of authority if she protects this new home. Very Greed from FMA kind of character twist. So she is a partial ally then, but it opens the door for more opportunities of, maybe not altruism, but more potential for good.

I think that's everyone who's a primary NPC. But let me know who I missed. Or if you think otherwise.

[rayatii]

Ladies, gentlemen and gentlefolk, this is the complete speedrun of the actual plot of L'elisir d'amore in my Sims 4 gameplay!!

The majority of people following this gameplay have voted yes to advancing the season to summer for the sake of the plot, so I did so using the cheat "seasons.set_season 0" (I had some trouble finding the correct code, and I forgot if this one is correct; 0 is for summer specifically).

Anyway. Nemorino giving Adina a bluebell as a romantic gift 🥰🥰 she likes it! (also I'm unable to have Nemorino care for these goats and sheep, and it's becoming a disaster.)

Belcore giving Adina a Romantic introduction! Yes, right inside Nemorino's house. (yeah sorry for the bad lighting)

🎶 Come Paride vezzoso porse il pomo alla più bella, mia diletta villanella, io to porgo questi fior 🎶

(aka Belcore is doing the "offer rose" interaction)

First kiss! Yes, in front of Nemorino.

🎶 Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera... 🎶

Nectar-making!

🎶 Obbligato, ah sì, obbligato! Son felice, son contento 🎶

(aka a bottle of wine magical elixir of love as a gift from Dulcamara)

*glug glug glug*

🎶 Esulti pur la barbara per poco alle mie pene 🎶

I wasn't able to get the jealousy emotion needed, but I guess making him actually piss his pants is close enough...

I tried so hard to have Nemorino witness Belcore's proposal, but oh well.

The butler at Adina's place keeps rotating between Sanook and Loario, so please bear with me.

Nice setup for the wedding!

Meet Shaowen Messina, Uncle Pepe's new housemate! I used him to facilitate some things for advancing the plot.

Anyway, back to our regular programming!

Nemorino fishing to complete the event thingy. I don't know why he is in a swimsuit, but I didn't change him because I wanted to ogle him just a little... 😏

(I think I have a little bit of a crush on Nemorino..? I sometimes wish I were Adina 😅)

Cooking the fish he caught! He has really improved in cooking. Well, not surprising when you have both the Off-the-grid and Simple Living lot challenges.

Belcore persuading him to join the military (I later had Nemorino actually join the Military career. And I did it from Dulcamara's home bc his off-the-grid household prevents him from using power.)

🎶 Venti scudi? 🎶

(well technically 100 simoleons; the closest I could get to a signing bonus was a "friendly gift" of 100 simoleons, which was the smallest amount available.)

Adina asked Giannetta to be her Sim of honor 🥰 This is as an apology for my followers who are not very happy with me portraying opera!Giannetta as a random peasant (which she is!) rather than Adina's friend.

And she literally went all the way to Dulcamara's place in StrangerVille to ask him to be her officiant 😂

I waited one day in order for the Japanese food stall to open in San Myshuno. Even so, it wouldn't open for some reason, so I literally had to buy a whole-ass one from Build Mode and hire a vendor right in Uncle Pepe's penthouse 💀

I beg my followers forgiveness, but in the end, I was unable to kill off Uncle Pepe with bad pufferfish nigiri (after I had either him or Shaowen learn the recipe, it wouldn't come out poor quality, and I wanted to waste as little time as possible), so I resorted to have him die of overheating (there was already a heatwave so it made things easiest).

More wine elixir of love from Dulcamara! (and yes Nemorino is in his swimsuit again bc he took a dip in Dulcamara's pool.)

🎶 Dell'elisir mirabile bevuto ho in abbondanza 🎶 (he's sad bc I killed off Uncle Pepe. Him autonomously getting the news was beyond my control.)

Giannetta flirting with Nemorino was the closest I could get to the scene of the village women swarming him. It would have been way too difficult and chaotic to reproduce. (and yeah, I tried really hard to have her do it in the presence of Adina and Dulcamara.)

Seriously, Belcore? You're gonna swim right before your wedding??

This does not make it much better 💀

I guess Dulcamara making a speech could be an okay replacement of "Io son ricco e tu sei bella"... Shame My Wedding Stories doesn't have any option for singing. (Yes, I used My Wedding Stories for the wedding. It's pretty okay in most places, they probably fixed most of it by the time I got to use it.)

(Anyway, I wasn't able to find a wedding dress for Adina that I both liked and found to be her style. Also tangentially related, but Sims 4 really gotta step up its wedding veil game.)

THERE IT IS!! Adina is calling off the wedding!

Babies emotionally connecting 🥰🥰 (also Principessa complaining about the heat.)

🎶 -Sappilo alfin, sappilo: tu mi sei caro. -Io! -Sì, mi sei caro, e t'amo, t'amo! 🎶

(aka first kiss!!!!!!!!!)

Unfortunately, Tumblr won't let me upload more than 30 images per post, so the rest will follow in another one.

[skyboxeye]

Capturing the ambience of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

This cult Xbox title launches pilots into dogfights above a handful of locales, each with its own auditory footprint.

Running the game

At the time of writing, the two dominant Xbox emulators offer significantly different experiences. Cxbx-Reloaded is performant but exhibits some (minor) graphical issues. Much more significantly, it sometimes crashes which can prevent the completion of story missions.

If your system can handle it, you can use Xemu. Or, continue using Cxbx while skipping missions (see below) to avoid any problematic portions in the game.

Installing DLC and title update

Xbox Live is no longer operation for original Xboxes, but fans have archived this content, and made it easy to install. Before installing it, you'll want to apply some rendering-improvement modifications - see below.

Widescreen

Extract the game's content and apply this hex edit, courtesy of Esppiral and retroszur, to the game's XBE. Once again, please note it is for the XBE with DLC:

Find:

00 00 80 3F 8B CE E8 31 09 03 00 F3 0F 10 06 F3 0F 10 4E 0C F3 0F 11 44 24 40 F3 0F 10 46 04 F3 0F 11 44 24 44 F3 0F 10 46 08 F3 0F 11 4C 24 50

Replace:

00 00 40 3F 8B CE E8 31 09 03 00 F3 0F 10 06 F3 0F 10 4E 0C F3 0F 11 44 24 40 F3 0F 10 46 04 F3 0F 11 44 24 44 F3 0F 10 46 08 F3 0F 11 4C 24 50

Unlocked framerate

To unlock the framerate, find:

01 00 00 00 5B 83 C4 08 C3 D8 0D 58 36 29 00 89 46 10 89 4E 14 E8 D6 30 0C 00 5F 89 46 18 5E 33 C0 5B 83 C4 08 C3 CC CC 83 EC 08 56 8D 44 24 04

And replace:

00 00 00 00 5B 83 C4 08 C3 D8 0D 58 36 29 00 89 46 10 89 4E 14 E8 D6 30 0C 00 5F 89 46 18 5E 33 C0 5B 83 C4 08 C3 CC CC 83 EC 08 56 8D 44 24 04

You'll want to apply this timing fix along with it. Find:

00 00 7A 44 00 00 20 41 30 B7 01 00 C0 93 01 00 90 93 01 00 70 52 01 00 90 AD 01 00 00 2C 13 00 80 76 0E 00 80 52 01 00 60 28 0C 00 60 28 0C 00 90 52 01 00

And replace:

00 00 FA 43 00 00 20 41 30 B7 01 00 C0 93 01 00 90 93 01 00 70 52 01 00 90 AD 01 00 00 2C 13 00 80 76 0E 00 80 52 01 00 60 28 0C 00 60 28 0C 00 90 52 01 00

Capturing footage

To record footage from The Pandora, which serves as the Hunters' hangar, we can remove the HUD elements present at plane selection. The easiest way to achieve this is capture one of the HUD-less frames during the short transition between mission selection and fighter selection, and render it as an overlay on top of our recorded hangar footage.

I don't know of any Xbox emulators which support texture mods. If such an option existed, we could replace the textures which make up the HUD. We could also try to manipulate the extracted texture files, and run the modified game. But I didn't try either of these.

The HUD is briefly hidden when your plane is shown exiting the Pandora to enter a free-roam area. I tried getting this state to persist using Cheat Engine, but failed.

Extracting sounds

My favorite tool for extracting Xbox files is wx360 v1.6.

Crimson Skies has a ton of audio directories. We're most interested in Pandora_Internal, inside the UI folder, and the dedicated ZIP archives for each locale (AX, CH, LC, and SH). There are some other streams in the general archive as well.

To convert the Xbox audio files we can use vgmstream (I recommend the command line tool) or VLC. I found the results were slightly different - personally in these situations I tend to trust vgmstream.

After comparing in-game recordings to simple asset loops, I believe that the game somehow specifies loop start/end points for its ambient streams. I'm not sure where this information is stored however - perhaps the SDB files inside the data archive?

For mission areas, it seems like the game crossfades relevant ambient assets by about 5 seconds to create a continuous loop.

Skipping missions

You can use CrimsonData.txt files from completed saved games, or use cheats to speedrun the game. However, I couldn't get the former to work - presumably there is some kind of checksum system at work to prevent cheating or DLC piracy. There are tools to re-sign saved content but the one I tried doesn't support Crimson Skies.

Putting it all together

Render your properly looped assets on top of your footage and any overlay to eliminate HUD elements.

[judas-isariot]

I accepted this sub jobstudying IA to protect teacher. I did so I can find a way to protect artist and now I feel like I understand stuff to help us.

So, I talked about it. I have to study IA mecanism and (kinda) reverse engineer it has part of my job had the new member of the plagiat prevention team (aka, a bunch of university engineer nerd stuck in an old bulding with computer). I have to understand ways it work so we can teach people how to recognize IA art and prevent cheating in university.

I feel like I am going through a whole arc so quickly about it (call me DR. Strangelove) but let me give you a good and a bad news about what I have gather that can help all artist:

Bad news about IA art softwares :

Delecting your art from your blog, website, internet WON'T prevent his internalisation in the machine.

Story time: I was doing my usual report the other day (I have to do report for Eric the math guys who study ChatGPT) and I saw pass a submission with a drawing in it. Obviously not the OP art because I recognize it. It is Leahfuhrman, love his work, they delected their blog after IA ressurgence to prevent the machine from learning his art style... Wait... THEY DELECTED THEIR BLOG TO PREVENT EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING TO HIM NOW. So yeah, people keep other people artwork sometime, I know I do for inspiration when internet is off, but I won't repost it, or send art to an IA (except mine for test but I am not a good artist anyways). But people who are less involve and less educated about it 100% do.

You are not safe by delecting your art. (BTW, If you come across LeahFurhMan. Tell him it happen with his art and I am sorry to be a witness to that)

Good news about IA Art Softwares:

HE SUCK AT FANART !

None of the try software can draw me a Kirby, and this is kirby ! everybody love kirby, he is the easiest to draw and it is not like nobody know him, he is kinda famous.

And the more obscure your blorbo is, the less likely he can draw something even CLOSE to it. The IA is actually really confuse about character who aren't IRL people. He mistake franchise, character and even type of game and when he cannot draw you what you want, he either give you a mess or a waifu for... Internet reason I do know.

By the ways I take that time to ask you. Do you have question about thoses IA ? Do you have idea or curiosity for me to study for you ?

Unlucky, the state I live in, hate artist and is pro IA. I would love a legislation to pass about it and be able to input my own experience but the truth is : The state kinda want to cut our fund right now...

Because we are kinda bothering them being a bunch of engineer free thinker, left wing, helping education and they might believe we are communist wanting to share knowledge for free (which I am lmao).

So really. I want to help artist, maybe I can help on any kind of apply pressure.

Bonus good news ?

IA software censor more and more word to not be ask to draw pornography but also combinaisons of word :

For exemple you cannot put "Woman" and "Raptor" (Yes I know it is specific but I was thinking about jurrasic park) in the same sentence, because it is really scare of porn, again.

So if you see massive cock art or soft nudity of any kind, be assured, it is not IA !

[csial]

CSIAL: a single muse, mutuals only rp blog featuring Osial, Overlord of the Vortex from Mhy's G.enshin Impact. Run by Charlie, 31, they/them, GMT.

If I'm not here, I can be found at the following: @resolutepath | @ncrthlandbank | @bardictales | @loiyaltie

I play g.enshin on the eu server, uid available for mutuals at request. I also play HSR & F.GO on EU servers and those uids are also available at request.

A STUDY IN: the burning embers of an ancient grudge, the ties that bind, the consequences of actions, that which lurks beneath the surface, living in the lion's den, coming to terms with a world you no longer belong to, jealousy and loyalty, biding one's time & the divine who did not rise.

AFFILIATES: daybreakrising (exclusive beisht)

MAINS: daybreakrising, maquiscursed (Shenhe, Neuvillette), vishapsking, alatusatlas / shameofice (Kosume), snowtombedstar / vagrantminor (Beidou) & sylvctica.

VERSES. || DOSSIER. || CONNECTIONS. || MEMES. || INTEREST CHECKER.

Rules beneath cut:

FOLLOWING; I follow people I want to write with / enjoy the style of writing of.  Takes me a while to follow back sometimes due to busyness, so please don’t be disheartened immediately if I don’t follow back on the same day especially as this is a low activity blog. No rules, no follow generally. I will not follow minors and tend to follow a 21+ rule generally. I also will not follow blogs that don’t use a tagging system as it prevents me being able to filter content for my dash should I need to. I will unfollow as needed to curate my own dash experience.

HARD NOS: teacher/student relationships, aged up minors exclusively for nsfw content, Kaeluc / incest, infidelity/cheating threads, pregnancy. I won't interact with any of the above. A personal trigger is cancer which I have blocked. I cultivate my dash for my experience and encourage you to do the same. I'm here to enjoy writing and I will softblock / unfollow if anything impedes on that. It's all about the experience.

REBLOGGING; Please don't reblog my hcs, I put a lot of work into them. Exceptions are if your muse is included / I wrote it for you as part of a meme. Reblogging to save things I have written for you if you enjoyed them is always okay (e.g. drabbles / hcs).

INTERACTION; Mutuals only. Inbox calls / memes / yelling at me on ims / discord about muse bonds are the easiest way to interact. Filling in the interest checker is also highly encouraged! If I see an inbox call I’ll like it, and  anyone I’m mutuals with is welcome to do the same whether we’ve  discussed or not. Same goes for memes. 100% support the idea of building pre-established bonds, I really enjoy having some idea of the vibe we’re going for, but absolutely happy to wing it too. I am slow. Things take me time and I write half my interactions out in notebooks on lunchbreak / while travelling so bear with me. This isn't my only blog.

DUPLICATES;  Great taste in your muse choice! Just for this muse I'm going to say I'm not particularly keen on engaging unless we are friends already. I've put a lot of work into building my Osial and I'd prefer not to interact with duplicates. Know I am cheering you on though, it's great to see others caring about him!

REPLIES/THREADS; Hobby not job. We go at our own pace here, replies happen when they  happen. I use queue/scheduling liberally. In terms of continuing asks, I  don’t mind continuing asks, but also will drop if I can’t see where  something is going. Please do the same!

SHIPPING; I’m invested in building relationships of all kinds, so please, if you'd like to ship (enemies, friends, allies, romantic etc.) reach out and let me know. I am open to exclusives for romantic ships only if the dynamic we build is strong and it makes my writing partner more comfortable and am unlikely to ship with more than 2/3 of any muse anyway. Osial is polyam and bisexual, and considers himself demiromantic. Beisht is always a part of his dynamics. See this hc for a full explanation. My Beisht is written by the incredible daybreakrising and we are exclusive.

SHIPPING PT II. While I have been hesitant in the past to discuss not s.fw content, I am open to currently providing we have an establised dynamic either ic and/or ooc (e.g. we're friends but you're not interacting with osial yet). Please bear in mind that it is something i will only discuss with people I am comfortable with. Suggestive content is still fine. We'll see where we get with threads etc., it'll likely depend person to person.

SPOILERS; Osial is in prison so he is never up to date in terms of content. That being said I will occasionally mention newer nations or characters and if these are recent releases I will tag anything spoiler-y.

[cntoesussie]

chat im gonna add onto this because yes

obvi the Administrator is the main principal

They treat Pauling (the office secretary) like shit (which is not too far off from canon i think)

They're always pushing work onto her (as per usual)

who would be the counselors? idk

also Scout's Ma also teaches physics there, i don't make the rules

ranking the teachers (mercs) from who has the hardest to easiest classes:

9th - Pyro:

good luck trying to understand what they're saying

it's not that the class is hard, it's just difficult to understand them

this (usually) causes most kids to fail their classes

idk how they haven't gotten fired yet

8th - Spy:

really harsh grader when it comes to assignments and stuff

forget a detail about a character? that's 5 points off your assignment buddy

choke up during a performance? oops, that's another point off

people are scared to take choir and theatre bc of him

but he just wants D E P T H

after all, how're you going to do things accurately if you don't know everything about it?

7th - Soldier:

Okay, when it comes to history with this dude, throw all prior knowledge out the window

he is going to skew your worldview like never before

students mainly get things wrong bc they hold onto things from previous classes

but there's very few written assignments anyways

most of one's grade comes from performance in hands-on activity

oh, your team lost the battle? immediate 60% on the grade

but if you try, you physically CANNOT fail his class

the worst you can get is a 60

6th - Medic:

his class isn't hard, per se

it's just- full of stuff that might make one uncomfortable

he also is very chatty during lessons, which could be distracting

but sometimes, it could be useful to listen, because you can blackmail use the information for later assignments

also, hope you don't mind handling actual organs

5th - Sniper:

i put him here bc he's wildly inconsistent with difficulty

it's mainly dependent on what class he's subbing for that day

but in the classes he actually teaches, he's really laid-back

but in SAT prep, good luck, cuz he treats every day like the day before the test

some people say it's worth it tho

4th - Demoman:

actually pretty good with chemistry (at least, practically)

he teaches it in a way that prevents nerves, which prevents shaky hands, which prevents accidents, which prevents fires, explosions, death, etc.

just don't get blown up

also the textbook is your best friend because it's hard to hear him sometimes

also, he doesn't demand perfection, which is good for those in his band classes

he encourages growth

3rd - Heavy:

generally slow-paced, in-depth

he's a little lax on due dates, mainly because he understands if people have to handle things outside of his class

genuinely likes reading what his class writes, provides excellent constructive criticism, which gives students an incentive to actually care about the class

he also really cares about the students in general, he worries a lil too much if a student's regularly absent or when someone who is almost always there is missing, or if they look like they're having a bad day in general

very strict about cheating, though. they will face no mercy

so, if you're authentic and willing to learn, you're golden

2nd - Engineer:

i don't care what anyone says, this man can TEACH

i think he likes mixing elements of different classes together sometimes

there are several construction projects throughout the year

some of which he kept

he knows how to teach practically, so nobody can really say that 'math is pointless'

only odd thing is that he has a poster like this:

1st - Scout:

yeah, it's gym class, what did ya expect

he ain't the most well-liked gym teacher at first (mainly bc of mandatory participation unless you're hurt, sick, or otherwise absent)

but he genuinely likes his students and wants the best for em

and, as a coach, yeah, he ain't the best

but he cares. a whole lot.

and almost everyone who's had him as a teacher/coach has known him on a personal level

sorry guys im not normal about these people

tf2 mercs except they’re teaching classes at my high school for no reason whatsoever other than that i’m feeling self-indulgent

Scout:

I know his ass would be a gym teacher

either that or a coach of some kind

health class might work too

i’ve seen teachers teach both so it might work out

he might not be the best teacher though

but the class likes him methinks

Soldier:

he’d be a history buff i think

i can just imagine him teaching US history his own way

barely abiding by the curriculum

i think it’d be a lot more hands-on than most history classes

a lot less written work and a lot more reenactments

because yes

he might also be a coach too

but idk

Pyro:

Financial algebra, statistics, and economics :thumbsup:

Demoman:

First thought would be chemistry

but then i was thinking about how he could teach stuff like concert or marching band

i think he’s good with music

not me with the baseless headcanons again

but idc

Heavy

i think he’d be a good English teacher :]

slow-paced, but in-depth

he wouldn’t move on unless everyone got something

i don’t think electronics would be used in his class period

so get ready for some writing

a lot of writing

either that or library science

or Russian (if the school offers it)

Engineer:

okay

engineering is a low hanging fruit

so that’s an option

but have you also considered guitar, geometry (or any core math class really), physical sciences, and/or speech?

i think he could do any of those tbh

he reminds me of my current geometry teacher kinda

he prolly talks to the other math teachers in the hallway about video games and stuff

he’s a dork /affectionate

Medic:

Health, biology, anatomy, sports medicine, forensic science, medical technology, ORCHESTRA

his ass is teaching ALL OF IT

bro has his schedule BOOKED

he’s bouncing around the school

rushing from class to class just like he’s a student himself

he’s an old man, how does he handle it?

cocaine the extra organs he had sewn into himself

how did he pass the background check?

idk

Sniper:

he’s giving substitute teacher

no but imagine your teacher not coming in one day and having fucking MICK MUNDY there instead

he’s either a sub or he teaches stuff like small animal care or herpetology

also SAT prep

i think he’s surprisingly good at taking tests

Spy:

i think he teaches piano

and choir

and theatre

bro is stressed out bc these are such performance-heavy classes

but it’s his fault for taking up all these classes

maybe he needs a bit of Medic’s help with management

he’s out for a couple days and winds up with a bunch of extra organs

[fitliferegime]

Spider Curls: Muscle Worked, Benefits, Alternate & Tip

If you want to build a bigger and stronger bicep, you should add spider curls to your arm workout routine. Why are spider curls so vital? The spider curl is one of the most effective bicep that mainly targets the short head of the biceps. The spider curl is essentially a chest-supported curl, so we're working to isolate the biceps as much as possible. In this article, we are going to explain: - What Are Spider Curls? - How To Do Spider Curl - Muscle Worked During Spider Curl - Proper Form and Tips - Other Ways To Do Spider Curls - Set, Reps And Frequency - Benefits Of Spider Curls - Best Alternates - FAQs

What Are Spider Curls?

Spider curls are a bicep isolation exercise that you perform on an incline bench. The easiest way to do them is with dumbbells; however, you can also use any other equipment such as EZ-Bar, barbell and dumbbells. Spider curls are a type of bicep curl that works the short head bicep muscle. During this exercise, your chest is against a bench that prevents you from cheating or using other muscles, such as your back and shoulders. There are different ways to do a spider curl to build a bigger and stronger bicep. - Barbell spider curl: Allows heavier load but less range of motion. Challenges stability. - EZ bar spider curl: It helps to reduce stress on the wrists. Good option for people with wrist pain. - Dumbbell spider curl: Allows greater range of motion. Each arm works independently. - Reverse grip spider curl: Palms down to target brachioradialis. - One arm dumbbell spider curl: It is a great way to balance muscle and strength development. - Spider hammer curl: The neutral grip is also effective to train forearm. Want to take your gains to the next level? Discover your daily calorie needs with our free TDEE calculator

Read the full article

[7central]

i don’t believe for a SECOND, powers or not, that five would tolerate middle/high school in s4.  that brat would kick a social worker right in the balls if someone somehow found out about the 13 year old kid who’s too busy doing old man shit and betting on poker to go to school. do not kid yourselves.

but if they DID do the school route anyway, he would definitely come so close to murdering a clingy teenager who ends up being coincidentally useful in a stupid ass way.  like five’s “friend” getting him the worst fake id ever and knowing which gas stations are the easiest to steal booze from which just so coincidentally leads him to the right clues for the main plot.  but then five’s “friend” doesn’t understand intro calculus so he nearly kills them out of frustration and ends up just cheating for them instead of trying to explain.

preventing an apocalypse may be stressful but it’s nothing compared to being 13.  and if u think, ‘but hey, five is very smart and resourceful, he’ll be fine in the real world,’ you’re forgetting something very critical about the brief period of time that five spent in the real world, way back when he was actually a child, which is that he was homeschooled. he will die out there.

[markrosewater]

Hey Mark, is there any reason we couldn't get basic lands in landscape orientation? As long as it is clear that the cards are tapped it would not create problems (however you may need to switch all lands in your deck to the new landscape-mode horizontal art to prevent confusion and cheating). But it would give you so much space for awesome artwork!

Lands tap more than most permanents, the opponent needs to be able to track what mana you have available, and their orientation is the easiest way to tell if they’re tapped or not, so having land art be horizontal is very problematic.

[sigridhawke]

Toei Vampire AU - 9

Episode 9/32

Capmon’s New Appearance

AO3 collection link

Slowly but surely, Mao and Yugi fall into a kind of routine with each other. Hiding the vampire becomes easier although there are still moments of urgency as Yugi fears they will get caught despite the fact that Mao can turn invisible.

In their first days of interaction (read as, Mao willingly gave up the information as a means of bargaining.) Yugi had come to learn the easiest way to keep Mao in check, was to dress himself in silver; the offending metal ranging from mildly unpleasant to straight up burning the vampire’s skin.

While most burns would fade after approximately ten minutes, there was one mark in particular that never seemed to fade. On closer inspection the mark looked more like a stab wound than a burn from metal on skin.

To say Yugi was curious was an understatement, but Mao was reluctant to reply with anything more than, “What silver can do to me.”

The mystery of Mao was the continue lingering on the back of his mind, but also one he knew he would have to work for the answers.

A spanner would be thrown in the works when Capsule Monster Chess obsessed Warashibe comes into the scene; trying to win over the affection of Yugi’s classmate and friend, Miho with gifts and CapMon capsules.

When his attempts become less than appropriate and he would not back off, including but not limited to disguising himself as a member of the kitchen staff in the Domino High School Cafeteria, Mao decides once more it was time to take matters into his own hands.

Warashibe lures Miho (Yugi following along) into a game where the consequence of her losing would result in her having to accept her fate as Warashibe’s ‘sweetheart.’ She accepts the battle and some manner of fortune, Miho’s anger at Warashibe consistently getting stronger CapMons would lead to Yugi discovering Warashibe was cheating.

Miho declared herself the rightful winner as she was not cheating and tried to leave with Yugi only for Warashibe to try and prevent them from escaping.

A large beam falls knocking what Mao assumed was both Miho and Yugi out and it was now the vampire could not hold back any more. Challenging Warashibe to a shadow game and emerging the winner with Warashibe likely to never bother Miho or Yugi again.

Mao however, was not as observant as he initially thought; and he turned to find Yugi had witnessed what had transpired.

[theblackbookofarkera]

Zingshishan

The zingshinshan is an undead creature from Tauxi folklore said to be the spirits rich merchants who died having cheated on their taxes. Appearing as bloated zombie-like beings with thousands of coins stitched to their skin these nightmares have the smell of rust, blood and iron. The zingshinshan is a vengeful creature that blames all around him for his terrific state and attempts to punish anyone and everyone. Perpetually believing themselves a victim and lashing out at others only deepens the zingshinshan’s torment and prevents its soul from attaining peace.

The zingshinshan kills with brute force mauling its victims with its fists and elbows. The evil spirit claims their victim’s wealth sewing what coins they had onto its desiccated body. It is said the easiest way to destroy a zingshinshan is to push them into either a blessed well or fountain where they will drown, unable to rise out of the water under the weight of their ill begotten wealth.