#which will be like. 3/4 of the time from now on. but ive effectively already been doing 2 months of daily unpaid overtime

[phagodyke]

leaving work early feels sooo good they should let me do this every day..

[orcelito]

What they don't tell you about crying 14 times in one night is that it sucks very bad actually

I think I'm done crying for now lol

[whor-pheus]

BIG WILD LIFE FINALE SPOILERS!!!!

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ive been thinking ab joel's final death sm since i watched his episode and im gonna get tism about it

Disclaimer that i DID realise some of this from another post but i cannot for the life of me remember who it was from aaa

SO! Lets look at all the other winners' deaths first. and lets take the context of minecraft out of this, esp for when we get to joel's Grian - Jumped off a cliff. Simple and effective, but also quick considering he was low health and had no armour. In a real life version, he probably would have broken his neck and died instantly Scott - Struck by lightning. I know technically it was the Watchers, but 'divine intervention' isn't exactly an IRL cause of death, nor are 'kill commands' from a non-story pov, so we'll stick with the lightning. ANYWAY, yes, lightning. In terms of death, it stops the heart. So, pretty fast, but definitely painful Pearl - Exploded. Once again, technically that's not her actual C.O.D but once again, soulmates do not exist (in the same capacity as DL, at the very least) in real life, so we're going with this. Because of how close Pearl was to Scott when he set off the TNT, she likely would've died from internal organ damage, possibly even having her heart muscle walls rupture, plus any additional damage from the schrapnel that no doubt wouldve hit her (although she definitely would've already been dead by that point). Alternatively, you could say she died of 'Heartbreak' (because her soulbound died), which I'd probably compare to a heart attack. While you can't say for certain how long the explosion death wouldve taken because of the variables, a heart attack has an upper limit, so to speak, of about 3-4 hours. Unless we're talking about Sudden Cardiac Death which is, as you might expect, instantaneous suspension of heart activity. It's pretty interesting that both of Pearl's death possibilities link back to her heart in some way in DL, but I digress Martyn - Same as Scott's lmao Scar - He's actually the only one, to my knowledge, who did not die. Which, again, is very interesting when you tie it back to his Earth (? i think? i forget lmao) association. hes not allowed to die

NOW we look at joel. Teleportation is, naturally, not a thing we can do irl (at least currently lmfaoo), so there's not an easy way to compare it like with the others. BUT that doesnt mean we can't do our damn best first, teleportation is what kept Joel alive for so long during part of the session. The fact that he uses the very thing that saved his life for so long to end it is just beautifully symbollic. not to mention the way he was laughing and making fun of his literal hunters as there were at least 5 or 6 people trying to kill him at any given point despite the fact that the entire episode he was nervous and worried about dying last minute is so painfully joel. but lets look at the actual contents of his death for a minute. Joel dies from fall damage after repeatedly throwing enderpearls into the air. He does not remove his armour for this and is at almost full health. He is, effectively, torturing himself. In minecraft, you can throw an enderpearl directly up into the air about 30 blocks. since he was throwing them forwards, as well, we'll say its only going up 25. that would still be 25 square metres, and almost 270,00 feet. but, obviously, we're taking liberties here because it's minecraft, so lets just say its 25 feet. Still, that is an insane number. That is half the length of a basketball court, the width of about four cars (on average) and four fridges (again, on average) stacked on top of eachother. And he does this (by my count) seven times in a row before dying. Everyone else died instantly in game, and more-or-less instantly from a real life standpoint, as well If that doesn't put in perspective how violent Joel's death was, i dunno what could

big fan of the angst potential here chat

[oli-ribbun-ver]

EP 4 RAMBLE PART 3 FINAL!!

(ft the other episodes! but mainly ep 4!)

okay actually i think this is more of a gangle ramble now but thats fine

part 1

part 2

CONTINUATION OF THE GANGLE PEOPLE-PLEASER PART OF THE RAMBLE FROM PART 2!

lets see... where did i leave off... RIGHT!!

There are a lot of parts in ALL episodes where she doesn't want to cause problems for people. Which is typically normal for everyone, HOWEVER. Her idea of 'causing problems' is her opening up to people about how she truly feels, or even voicing her feelings in general if they're about someone.

I've already gone over the Pomni conversation and the bit where she has a mini breakdown, and I said I'd include even more of the other episodes in this, so! Let's begin at Ep 1!

Let's talk about what I've observed in episode one.

YES THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Notice how it's emphasized she says it quietly? (I know it's for comedic effect, but EVERYTHING seems to be important for every character, like how the darkness from the bucket on Kinger's head in Ep 2 helped him remember something about Ragatha before immediately forgetting it and then the reason he only remembers things in the darkness is explained! Seems like a minor detail that means nothing, turns out to be HUGE.

She doesn't want to cause a problem. In this case, the 'problem' would be her fully interrupting the conversation because she's worried about her friend. In the mind of a people pleaser, even if it helps someone out, you feel a sense of pressure on you when mentioning someone needs help to others, because "What if I cause a problem or make them mad? I don't wanna do that!", those thoughts are pretty normal, ESPECIALLY for people-pleasers.

"Wait, what about Zooble?" Is said so quietly, you can barely hear it. She either doesn't want her voice to be heard, or she DOES but is too scared to say it more loudly because of some version of the thoughts I described.

not as important but I'd like to note how she literally says NOTHING. like. nothing. i just think its kinda funny but also she just. doesnt give her opinion at all? she wasnt even asked if she wanted to go with them to check on kaufmo they just dgaf about her 😭

ANYWAY

This is the only time she gives her opinion and its not even an opinion HELP

Also I'm trying to save space so I don't have to make a part 4 so shortly into this, since I know I'll have to make one anyway, but I wanna mention how she hides behind her broken mask to protect herself after he screams which kinda hits different now that we know more about her mask.

But anyway, I'll make a seperate little portion of this ramble for that!

I'd like to mention too, anytime she is shoved, has something mean said to her, or has her comedy mask broken, she doesn't complain or say anything about it except for maybe an "ow". I find that interesting, because I think the reason for this is that she doesn't want anyone worrying about her. AKA, she doesn't want to cause a 'problem'.

She wants to please. One does not please by being a 'problem', right? That's probably how she thinks, anyway.

When Jax tells her to do something she doesn't want to do, whether he pressured her like that or not, it wouldn't have made a difference, because she can't bring herself to say 'no.'

In my opinion, from what it sounds like when she says "I don't think we—" she probably would've ended up saying yes regardless. Hell, if he'd just followed it up with "do it," I don't see a world in which she wouldn't, although she'd probably be more hesitant.

also why does his back bend like that he looks like hes gonna become an old man any second now HELP 😭

Also, when Jax threatens her by saying "Do it, or I'll tell Ragatha about the figurine thing," I think that really does something to her.

Every time she's either built up the confidence to say no, or someone has tried to help her say no, she's kicked down in one way or another INSTANTLY.

Episode 4 did not help with that. I believe in the next few episodes, she will not be better about saying no. She might even be worse off, knowing Ragatha thinks her being happy is annoying.

People-pleasers are in different worlds. Being the type of people-pleaser Gangle is, it's an entirely different world from others. It carries a lot of what I can only describe as delusion to it.

If Pomni had not stepped up when Gangle thought she was alone after work hours, Gangle would have abstracted. I am a firm believer in that. She was breaking. Losing her mind.

Gangle tells herself to stop trying to achieve her dream while breaking down over the fact her efforts to achieve her dream might not be enough.

So let's go there, and get a

Closer look at Gangle's mental state.

(and why she's most likely the most unwell character)

Gangle is mentally ill. Everyone knows that already, but to what extent?

I'm not sure if we'll ever know.

But what we do know is this.

More likely than not, Gangle almost abstracted in Ep 4. And out of everyone who has EVER vented so far, Gangle has shared relatively nothing. Even after the Spudsy's adventure, what we've seen so far is her never mentioning her feelings except that she feels like she messed everything up.

Gangle doesn't know how to help herself. Zooble can make her feel better, but not for long, because Gangle doesn't think she can get better.

When she was about to vent to Pomni, she stopped as soon as she felt like her feelings were REALLY about to come loose, put her new happy mask back on, said she had no time to talk about her feelings, and fled.

What I think is that Gangle thinks everyone is more important than her, so when she FINALLY got to be important she was happy. Really, truly happy.

The worst thing you can do is make someone think they're not wanted or loved.

Something that makes me sad is that Gangle does not feel wanted or loved.

Gangle was almost gone in Episode 4.

We almost lost Gangle. Had Gangle abstracted, she'd die without ever feeling like people cared about her.

For all we know, she could be the first person to abstract after Kaufmo.

I personally believe that.

The end of Episode 4 was a su¡cide attempt. (is that word allowed? im not sure..l ill censor it anyway)

I saw someone say this in the comment section of either the episode itself or a reaction video, and I completely agree.

They say before people commit su¡cide, they have a sudden boost of joy. Everything will be over soon. Why not enjoy that fact?

I think it was a subconscious su¡cide, at the very least.

She was happy. For the first time without a happy mask to hide how she feels deep down, she was happy.

She had a sudden boost of happiness, and then stepped backwards into oncoming traffic. When someone experiences a near-death situation by their own hand, there's a moment of regret before they are gone. I've experienced it myself, and it is horrid. That feeling is one I will never be able to forget. Even if I never so much as blacked out, I felt faint, and I will NEVER forget that fear, that horror, dread, regret.

The shock. Wondering if it was truly me who did it.

And I think. That is what Gangle experienced.

And then, that feeling was brushed off by Caine, whether she knew he doesn't understand the feeling of wanting to disappear or not, she was quick to blame herself for it all. Both about her performance to Caine, and alone, to nobody but herself.

"I guess I just... cracked under the pressure I suppose."

And maybe, just maybe.

That crack will never heal.

Thank you for listening and reading my ramble, everyone!! I appreciate it more than you know!

Bye bye for now, friends! Have a lovely day!

[superm4ks]

No but what is red bull doing with this car??? I just can't understand how they're suddenly having so much issues. It feels like the McLaren car is great in every track while we're are struggling everywhere.

My impression is that mclaren have now a superior car and they might put some serious pressure on the championship. No hate to the mclaren drivers, but they're not doing justice to that car. The only reason max keeps winning still is because he's leagues better.

Tbh its still too early to tell but the more rbr talks about the suspension and what they think the problem is, the more sense it makes to me. Its not at all a new thing, actually its kinda part of the design itself. Like the red bull philosophy wid the 2022 regs was to maximize the aerodynamic components by keeping the suspension as stiff as possible. rb18 and the rb19 were uncompromising cars from the start, but the ground force generated was so ahead of everybody elses rbr cud have the most rigid mechanical components and still produce better lap times than the competition just because they were able to lower their rear very consistently. So for instance they get to an outlier like Singapore that has such bumpy characteristics and like explode but it doesnt matter because for most of the calendar the ride height holds and they have the advantage. Its a very milton keynes adrian newey led type of compromise regarding car design which means its not a compromise at all and it kinda expects its immediate and total sovereignty to be its own justification. I dont think rbr is doing anything 'wrong' wid the car, its just that the car was always bound to hit a limit in performance and kinda coasted on other team's setbacks. That and yes, there are lil operational mistakes throughout race weekends happening rn that didnt exist last year and cud be attributed to some uncertainty regarding car development, the turmoil inside the organization, some fatigue, etc. Time will tell if they can fix the problem or if its something to try and minimize until the next regulatory cycle

About the Mclaren, and why it looks so spooky, seems MTC have been able to develop a car that not only employs the same suspension trick as rbr, but is able to make it work to its full potential, particularly by absorbing bumps and kerbs more effectively, which is something the rb20 as of now cant do. Basically its an all around more balanced car wid better handling. Without the first SC yesterday Lando wud have put a 20 sec gap no problem. By fp3 both Mclarens were already lapping like 2 seconds faster than the rb20 so like clearly that pace is here to stay. Whether itll translate into a full fledged wdc fight it will depend on the next big 4 updates because all the top cars have room to improve in the upcoming european leg. mcl38 has a lot of potential tho and not being hindered by the suspension the way rb20 is makes it a significant threat. Also like Mclaren is still making some basic strategy errors that usually tend to go away once the team settles more into its new role in the competition.

Ab ur last comment, idk personally I think zak browns bj brothers are doing a really good job keeping pressure and staying consistent, especially Lando, but its also their first taste of a truly competitive car so its normal for them to miss out on some pole positions or maybe not drive some stints as well. I think Ive commented on this before but sometimes it does come down to experience. 2023 had some hints of a possible Mclaren resurgence but they were few and too spaced out for the drivers to be able to truly build on it. On the other side u have a world champion coming out of 3 consecutive title runs 1 of which was one of the most competitive in recent memory, and another the most dominant. Mclaren is intent on building momentum and Max wont let them. Rbr are in limbo but Max isnt. Wid much respect to everybody else but like either put ur best foot forward every time or better luck next year 😐

[toynbeck]

u have like .. really good taste in media , so do u have any movie recommendations ?

my top favorites right now (in order)

1. I Saw The TV Glow (heartwrenching "coming-of-age"/psychological horror/wait.. he's "coming-of-age" so quickly--? Time wasn't right. It was moving too fast. I was 19, then I was 20, then I was 21. Like chapters skipped over on a DVD. I told myself, this isn't normal. This isn't normal. This isn't how life is supposed to feel. I thought about r-- really good movie if you haven't seen it already)

2. Possessor (trippy, violent sci-fi psychological horror. i wrote a song about this one. ive seen it around 5 times now and not a day goes by where i don't think of it.)

3. The Poughkeepsie Tapes (50% satirical mockumentary commentating on how america glorifies its serial killers, 50% found-footage horror, you'll need to look up warnings for this one [or just ask me, ive seen it 4 times, i can give you in-depth CW's without spoilers].)

4. Horse Girl (a girl's spiraling descent into conspiracy. trippy, mystery thriller)

other favorites in no specific order

• Antiviral (another Brandon Cronenberg film, sci-fi thriller, taking parasocial relationships to a whole new level)

• The PowerPuff Girls Movie (underrated and one of my favorite PPG-related things ever next to the now-banned rock opera episode, See Me Feel Me Gnomey)

• Longlegs (paranormal mystery horror film, an FBI agent gets more than she bargained for when delving into a new case. ASK ME ABOUT OZ PERKINS AND NICHOLAS CAGE'S PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THIS FILM AND HOW IT SAVED THE FILM ITSELF FOR ME AND MADE IT GO FROM "A WEE BIT DISAPPOINTING BUT STILL GOOD" TO "TOP FAVORITE" BECAUSE OF HOW IT IMPACTED THE WAY I VIEW IT... IF YOU DARE..)

• Catsoup (silent japanese cartoon, short film, you can find it on youtube! two cats go on a magical, somewhat dark, adventure. visually stunning)

• The Brave Little Toaster (the only disney film that will ever grace my favorites list. incredible. the anthropomorphization of objects is stellar, the characters i could go on and on about-- and the songs are fucking great. shoutout to mass car suicide [Worthless]. also this movie inspired one of my OC stories [Curtain Call].)

• I'm Thinking Of Ending Things (adaptation of my favorite book, very different from the book but i think it brings some excellent things to the table and tells it in a very cool way. psychological thriller, mystery. Jesse Plemons is in it, they grabbed him off the set of Breaking Bad and forgot to tell him he wasn't still playing Todd. [< compliment])

• Baby Driver (anyone who hates this movie doesn't know how to have fun. action-comedy, incredible soundtrack that is SYNCED TO THE HAPPENINGS IN THE FILM, main character is an autistic CODA who i love very much, i have a deep personal connection with this movie because of the person i watched it with and the impact it had on us.)

• I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore (action-comedy, crime, awkward girl and her awkward neighbor [who just met her but would kill and die for her] get in over their heads trying to retrieve a stolen laptop.)

• Poltergeist (1982, my ma's favorite horror film and one of mine too. paranormal, visually stunning, the practical effects are so fucking cool. also im decently sure it was inspired by Little Girl Lost, an episode of The Twilight Zone, because it's like a more fleshed-out version of that concept.)

• Home Movie (2008, it's on youtube, i can't remember if it's like overall good but it's the only instance thus far in which i think the "evil child" trope is done well so it makes my favorites list)

• Whiplash (ARE YOU RUSHING OR ARE YOU DRAGGING?!)

• Nightcrawler (crime thriller, guy's spiraling descent into abandoning all morals for the sake of his obsessive new project, and the gripping horrific ways that this choice affects those around him)

• Dread (2009, violent horror, guy's spiraling descent into abandoning all morals for the sake of his obsessive new project, and the gripping horrific ways that this choice affects those around him)

• Raggedy Ann And Andy : A Musical Adventure (on youtube, an animated childhood favorite that still holds up. shoutout to the blue camel)

aaaand some others im prooobably forgettinggg..? tried to include a bit of as many genres i could think of, since most of my favorites are horror :)

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 56

hello and welcome to fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

Shiro's Skunk Hair Steals Lance's Boyfriend by @bleusarcellewrites

Lance nods, eyes scanning Keith’s face slowly, “I gotta ask, though, do you come here often?” Keith snorts, fondness for this dumbass making his heart to beat faster. “Charming as always, I see.” “I can show you ‘charming’.” Lance says, eyebrows wiggling in a suggestive manner and while the others groan behind them at the line, Keith just smiles. “But before that, I’m a man of honor and I gotta know: are you single?” Keith blinks at the question and suddenly he's laughing. [Or the one where Lance can't hold his alchohol and Keith gives up a Cuddle Night of his boyfriend to be flirted by said boyfriend just for his boyfriend to forget he was already his boyfriend. It's a mess but Keith wouldn't want it any other way.]

yall remember bleusarcelle...remember 2018.....crazy times. anyway. this fic is fun and sweet and dorky, nice to read when you want to forget how bad vld dropped the ball and ruined everything :))

2. Your Love Keeps Me Warm by crystalklances

Keith is giving him a look, contemplating, eyebrows drawn together. Noticing his gaze, Lance looks up, raising an eyebrow. “Are you cold?” Keith asks after a moment of a silent staring contest. “No,” Lance replies. “You should’ve said something.” “I just said I’m not—” But Keith doesn’t listen. Already, he’s shrugging out of his red varsity jacket, and he leans over to drape it around Lance’s shoulders. ---- Or, 4 times Keith is determined to prevent Lance from getting sick, and the time Lance catches a cold after all.

I MISS CRYSTALKLANCES EVERY DAY, BRO. no one got ridiculously soft modern au keith like he did. fuck. but at least most of his works are still on ao3. i like this one in particularly one because its soft and im a weenie but also because its a 4+1 which is my favourite genre of fic ever actually

3. what makes you beautiful by seventies

MMA fighter Keith Kogane is admitted to the hospital and gets KO'd by blue eyes that rival the seas and a crooked grin that knocks the air out of his lungs. It hasn't even been a minute in the ring. It's a world fucking record.

rare blue eyed lance appreciation moment from me (old bookmark lmfao). but jokes aside i do love this fic. i will always always always every day of my life love whipped on sight keith idc. its so so funny to me. its funnier when lance is like oh! this is my rival. we are going to be ENEMIES FUCK YEAH and keith is like oh my god if i dont marry him right now im literally going to die. also this fic has matt just fyi

4. Lance and Keith's guide for how to cure insomnia by crystalklances

Keith has always had trouble sleeping, but never told anyone. When they fall asleep together after a mission by chance, Lance finds out and offers to share his bed to help Keith fall asleep. However, sleeping together every night has unforeseen side-effects for both of them.

from the iconic INVENTOR of the smitten keith tag. soft klance, in canon. touch starved keith. sharing a bed to stop the nightmares. i bought my ticket on the first word of the summary like

5. love you so bad by seyama [EXPLICIT]

Keith and Lance sneak off from a party to go and fuck. That's it, that's the whole story.

this was bantery and silly and fun. and the little argument over who gets to be the little spoon....shockingly tender and so so them ive read this one a fewww times lol

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[goqmir]

i kind of like maybe just a little adore the new clue set cards like. the clue set itself is a weird and overpriced product and the physical cards themselves are definitely gonna be stupid overpriced because nobody wants to buy a board game to crack packs but like. the cards themselves? kind of fire?

i kind of adore that theyre not just all rares and we are getting clue set commons and stuff :3 its cute! and we're getting a new lonis too-- its not a super interesting card but i adore lonis and im very excited to play with more of her. and we get an interesting new land cycle in the cluelands too! the art for them kinda blows at the moment but at some point in the future i assume they'll be reprinted in a set that gives them fun and interesting art? maybe? please? im not exactly itching to play them but ill never turn down another cycle of duals teehee

id love to talk about some individual cards from the lineup so far that i adore! these are just my top picks but id recommend going and looking at the full list spoiled so far on scryfall :3

for starters, my favorite card from the whole spoiler season right now i think has to be scuttling sentinel. i dont think i want to play her in any commander deck, but in my opinion this is like one of the top cards for cubes in 2024 period-- like cankerbloom tier of cube card. she's awesome! a crab elf which is such an awesome creature type, playable with green or blue, puts 1/1 counters on things and its main draw is just being a decent body that offers protection :) she's great!!!! ive already slotted her into the cube ive been piecing together recently. i like her a lot.

resonance technician is such a cool spell copier <3 every part of it is kind of expensive so im not really sure where youd play it but it does a lot of cool things all at once on a single card which is fun! the flavor is cool-- we all love weirds here-- and the functionality is useful and cute. cool card. big fan

we also have portal manipulator who is like one of the weirdest and strongest combat tricks ive ever seen? this is like if aetherize also fucked your shit in. so i can absolutely see this seeing a lot of play honestly. but lets be real here this card just has amazing art. thheres portals around her skull !!! god shes so cool.

corporeal projection gets a shoutout because what a fun effect <3 it being izzet is awesome and on-flavor and the card itself is both an interesting choice to give your creature myriad for extra damage and a fun wincon :) im glad theres a simple and convenient way to give one creature myriad now that isn't a brick to run in my commander decks because it has a high-cost endgame mode. yay!

finally it wouldnt be a goqmir set review if i didnt shout out the new cards that work well in Naya Cast From Exile :3 Boros Strike-Captain seems kind of mid but it's important to remember that the card never goes away, and you can cast it any time after when you attack with at least 3 creatures even if BSC is off the battlefield. big fan of this one! im not sure if i can find the space to jam him in my Rocco Street Chef decklist but he's a very playable option.

Personally, i think Headliner Scarlett is the winner this set. She's a very good hit pretty much any time-- you're always gonna get a minimum of 4 free damage when she sticks, and if you play her early you get some pretty strong card advantage, which turns into very very strong card advantage in both Rocco and Prosper. if you pull her late, she can win you the game straight up by allowing you to swing out uninhibited-- though i can't speak for Prosper players, this will pretty much always be at minimum a knock out if you pull it lategame in Rocco. definitely making room for her in my decklist.

anyway thats just some cards i liked from the weird product thats coming out :3 i was and still am iffy on purchasing the product and expect the cards to be a little too expensive but as far as designs go they're pretty cool and im very happy that they exist! um sqrrk <3

[rigelmejo]

I have listened to the first 5 默读 audiobook chapters!

1. Im so hype! That was 1 hour and 15 minutes I just managed to follow the main idea of!

2. I understood the main idea of every scene I heard! Which is a big accomplishment for me. Even reading the chapters ahead of time like I have, in the past it would take me like 5 re-listens to understand what scenes I'm listening to. I did relisten to chapter 1-2 maybe 3 times, then the rest I just listened to once.

3. I understood more details as I listened more. I think partly this is due to my rusty memory (from 6 months not studying) getting jogged so I am now remembering words I knew before, and partly words I knew/know how to read already. I don't think I learned many new words, if any, but listening to the audiobook does gradually seem to be dragging my listening skills up closer to my reading skills. Which is the goal anyway. I want to be able to LISTEN to the audiobooks of things I can read, so I can listen to audiobooks instead when that's what I feel like doing. And there are some pretty awesome chinese audiobooks! Like modu's? They have music, sound effects, crowd noises, atmospheric noises, different voices for characters (all read by one narrator but I quite like the narrator's main voice and range of voice choices: luo wenzhou and fei du in particular i like a lot, but tao ran also sounds level headed, and ma xiaowei sounded so distinct it fit him well, or the slurring messy zhang donglai voice!)

4. I'm seriously so excited. I could tell most of the details when Tao Ran got flowers, and when Luo Wenzhou told him what Fei Du wants isnt friendship, and Tao Ran saying he knows but if... and luo wenzhou telling him to shut up. And the scene where Fei Du tries to pick Tao Ran up and Luo Wenzhou shuts it down and Lang Qiao smells something going on. Also surprisingly I think the part where Luo Wenzhou yells at the citizens (for taking statements) was easier to follow in audio, because you can tell when he's making the call, and you can guess which words are proof/apprehend/previous crime record a bit easier based on how its being talked about. The Ma Xiaowei part also was almost easier to follow in audio, because the voice emotions and sound effects helped convey the descriptions going on. This is, hands down, the best I've understood a chinese audiobook. There were still many unclear details/sentence phrases I did not understand. Dialogue was still the easiest to understand most details in, followed by actions (slammed walked etc) and descriptives using actions (hit the table, paused a moment, glanced at the other, glared and cut in). But in the bigger picture, being able to generally follow which scene I was listening to and the plot was huge. To me.

5. It makes me excited to listen to more. Also it makes me want to listen to the Modu audio drama, since I think I can grasp enough now to follow that too - whereas in some times Ive tried before I couldnt follow dialogue enough to place all the scenes. It also makes me want to listen to the Zhenhun audiobook again - since i tried like a year ago and used to have to relisten a LOT to grasp most scene main ideas of chapters Id already read (and not even all scene main ideas). I bet I could grasp nearly all scene main ideas now, and maybe more details (not all, but more).

6. Advice for my future self: listening more does work, as far as bringing listening skills up closer to reading skills. Since I've started my "listening study" kick about a month ago, I've probably only listened to 15 hours of chinese or less. Like 2 hours mdzs (multiple relistens of chapter 1-3), 4 hours sci, 1.5 hours on modu audiobook (counting the initial chapter relistens), 4 hours chinese spoonfed audio, 3 ish hours listening to modu chapters with TTS as i read (which has text to help me), 1 hour qi hun cdrama. Yeah so like 15.5 hours. And in that short a time I've already remembered a lot of words I knew before, and started recognizing more and more words I know from reading. If that's only 15 hours then how big a difference might 100 hours make? And that's just listening. No special effort. Nothing particularly hard. Maybe relistening, if I feel like it, which I suppose could be slightly hard if I don't love the repetition lol. But sometimes I'm fine with it. Only chinese spoonfed ausio was hard cause i felt bored and couldnt motivate lol. In the big picture its quite fun study and fun to see progress just by having fun. It would be cool to see it pay off too, and make other audio books and audio dramas easier to listen to in the future.

7. Just kind of interesting to me. It kind of feels like being 7-8 and having my dad read stories to me, in that I follow the story but dont know all the words. Or like being a child watching a movie, like at age 4-5. A lot of kids watch their favorite movies like a hundred times, or for years straight, i did. Maybe the first times we watch movies as kids we dont understand all the words. Maybe we just get the gist, and love the story so much we keep watching it again and it gets clearer and thats probably exciting - to understand even more of our favorite movies as kids. Thats kind of what listening to an audiobook feels like now - hearing a story where i get the main idea gist, already know i love it, and so each time i understand a bit more its fun to realize im understanding more.

[fanatichistory]

Scene Prompt 19 pt 5

Part 1 Part2 Part 3 Part 4

This one is full of medical/lab whump! Next part is going to have more of Whumper in it ;D Enjoy!

(Should I give the team names at all? Like Dr. Nova has a name...kinda tempted to name the team members...)

CW: Medical whump, multiple whumpees, needles

Teammate One continued to scream and thrash against the restraints holding them to the gurney. It felt as if their blood was on fire and their skin was peeling off.

The soldiers wheeling them through the hallway were glancing uncomfortably at each other every now and again with Whumper taking up the rear.

"In here." Whumper directed, pointing to the room just ahead.

As they all entered single file through the door, the gurney wheeled between the two soldiers, Dr. Nova looked up from his microscope at the counter and turned to greet them.

"Ah, I see Teammate One is experiencing the enemy's serum…good, good. Place them there." He indicated the open space in front of the monitor and machines.

As the soldiers deposited the gurney with the still screaming and thrashing Teammate One, Whumper stepped up to Dr. Nova and handed over the dart gun.

"For the posterity of your work, you should know that they have two shots in their system. The first one didn't seem to be working effectively. That, or they just tolerated the pain a little to well."

"I saw." Dr. Nova indicated the security feed of the holding cells on his computer. "You simply did not give enough time for it to kick in is all." He drolled, though his tone held the faintest reprimand in it.

Whumper shrugged with an apologetic smile. "I'll leave you to your work, then, Doctor."

Truth be told Teammate One's screams, which hadn't let up yet, were beginning to grate on his ears. Not that Whumper didn't mind screaming in general, but it had already been several minutes now and he was bored.

Dr. Nova merely nodded as they injected something into Whumpee's Iv bag and walked across the large room, picking up the clipboard with Teammate One's notes from his desk, and began looking them over.

Teammate panted heavily, their eyes casting wildly about, their blood still on fire and their skin still feeling like it was peeling off their body layer by layer. Their throat was hoarse as they continued to scream out in agony.

"Yes…they truly manipulated my serum to be absolutely incapacitating…Tell me, what does it feel like?" Dr. Nova gently placed two fingers on Teammate One's pulse to assure themselves that it matched the monitor reading.

"F-f-fire!"

"Interesting. I don't know whether to be impressed by their science division or insulted that my version of the serum was inadequate in some way." They mused mostly to themselves as they scribbled on the clipboard before going to the wall that housed a metal storage rack full of various vials and bottles and chemicals.

Plucking a small bottle from the middle shelf, taking next a few empty vials, Dr. Nova turned to the counter, opening a drawer and pulling out two clean syringes and removed one from the packaging. Their pace was unhurried despite Teammate One's obvious pain and they seemed rather unbothered by the continual screaming.

"This should counter it's effects, but first I need to draw some blood before I can administer it." Placing the instruments on a metal tray, he walked over to where the rolling cart was sitting and placed it on top.

Wheeling it over to their bedside, he picked up the needle and tapped with a finger to find a decent enough vein in their arm.

Teammate One's continued thrashing made it rather difficult, even with the restraints in place, but after a few minutes Dr. Nova was sure he was able to stick the vein as he quietly went about filling up the empty vials with his blood samples.

"Alright, hush now, I probably should have worn ear plugs for this." He mused as he prepared the antidote to the enemy's serum. Hopefully, it worked.

Jabbing it into their bicep he began cleaning up the tray and placing everything back in it's proper place, disposing of the packaging, and placing the blood samples on the counter next to the microscope for further inspection.

Teammate One began to slowly quiet down as the antidote started to take effect. The fire in their veins was beginning to cool finally.

Dr. Nova stood next to their bedside now that the screaming had stopped and they had begun to openly cry. "Walk me through the experience, Teammate One, what did it feel like? Use your words now."

They looked up tiredly, thoroughly exhausted and wanting nothing more than to sleep. But it still felt as if their skin was peeling off, itchy and uncomfortable to a degree they couldn't even begin to describe and it left them in tears.

"Teammate One…speak."

"The f-fire in my veins is-is gone now…" Dr. Nova began to write on the clipboard, shoving their glasses up the nose when it slid down.

"But?"

"My s-skin…it feels wrong. L-Like being peeled…layer by layer." They answered between sobs, their eyes pleading for relief.

"Intriguing to say the least." He responded as he finished his notes, leaving Teammate One as they were. Preparing a slide with a blood sample, he sat at the microscope and raised his glasses to the top of his head to sit out of the way and he leaned over to peer through the lens.

A heartbeat or two go by, Teammate One residing themselves to the fact that their skin with never be comfortable or feel this agonizing from now on as a side effect of the experiment under way.

"My serum was indeed vastly inadequate…this combination of components is markedly inspiring…" Dr. Nova mused, wonder and jealousy lacing his tone as he flicked to different magnifications. "I wonder who concocted this."

Across the room, Whumpee's monitor gave a single beep, alerting Dr. Nova that there was a slight change in rhythm.

It also drew Teammate One's attention as well as he got up to check the machines and make note of the change on the clipboard at the foot of Whumpee's bed.

Whumpee was still injured severely from the other day when Whumper had 'interrogated' them, leaving them multiple broken bones including their ribs, both their legs and one of their arms. It wasn't until after the base was taken over that the team found out that Dr. Nova had requested the broken bones in particular, to test something Teammate One was sure, but apparently Whumper had gotten to enthusiastic that Dr. Nova had to wait until Whumpee was stable enough to even begin.

"H-how is Whumpee?" They dared to ask while simultaneously hoping for information as to what Dr. Nova planned to do with them.

It seemed like the doctor was ignoring them at first as they put the clipboard back and sat at their microscope once more.

"They are recovering just fine. They are stable and resting, though I'm sure that aberration was due to a nightmare of some kind. It is common in subjects who have been through a psychological trauma." He half-answered, turning his back to Teammate One as they resumed their notes on their blood work.

"Interesting…" He murmured aloud, here and there as he continued to work the blood samples.

Teammate One had given up counting the styrofoam tiles on the ceiling and cataloguing every item on the doctors desk. Their skin still hurt and they needed a distraction.

"What is?"

Dr. Nova glanced back over their shoulder with a raised brow. "What I am clearly working on, Teammate One. I know you are still experiencing some adverse effects, the antidote needs some improvement to be sure, but if you would quit interrupting I would be able to manufacture one much sooner for you."

"S-sorry."

"Quite alright…" he turned back to his work, collecting various bottles and vials to bring to his work station as he got to work.

"If you need a distraction try counting sheep."

[chuuuvi]

Cyn's Top 10 Kpop Songs of 2023

Yes I know this is late but it's still January so who cares. I'm limiting this to korean title tracks and prerelease singles. Perhaps I'II make one for my favorite b-sides later. Alright lets go!

10. Lit by Stayc - I'll admit this one is kind of a sneak. I didn't even really get this song until this month. When I got it though I got it HARD. I think I listened to it on repeat for an hour straight. Do I actually think it's better than Teddy Bear and Bubble? Maybe not but I do think I like it the most. It's so brain scratchy!

9. Rising by TripleS - What a great song to be the group's official debut! I can really tell that they're Loona's little sister group in this song. Not that it sounds exactly like a Loona song but it has all these little moments where I can hear it. Probably because its a jaden jeong + monotree joint. Anyway it's a really good song and the chorus hits hard.

8. Perfume by NCT Dojaejung - My sister described this as a strut song which is so accurate. This song makes you feel like THAT BITCH. It's super smooth and sexy and really really good. Interesting vibe from NCT (That being said l'm a sticker defender so believe me I have nothing against the NCT sound)

7. Air Force One by Odd Eye Circle - The return of oec fully rocked my world. I was ranting and raving about the loonaverse implications of this song / mv / mini album for days. It's also just a really cool song! Daradaradadada~

6. Giddy by Kep1er - my babies!! Their best title track since Wadada. Also the dance is adorable. I immediately taught myself the chorus choreo. I'm incredibly biased towards these girls so I was tempted to put this higher but I held myself back.

5. Zero by New Jeans - Now I know what you're thinking, "Why tf is that your new jeans entry?" and "That's literally a coca cola ad. What's wrong with you?" This is my list though and Zero was legitimately my top kpop song on my spotify wrapped. I listened to it an ungodly number of times. It has like a weird hypnotic effect on me so I listen to it while I study.

4. Kick It 4 Now by The New Six - My top boy group jam of the year. Again shout out to my bg stan sister to putting me onto this. She truly keeps me in the loop in that regard. Pure happiness in a song it's SOOO FUN!

3. Queencard by (G)I-dle - Must every song be deep? Can't we all just have a silly girly time? My boob and booty hot!! In all seriousness though I think Jeon Soyeon is a genius. Ya'll might think her lyrics are weird but you just don't understand her like me. This is the song on this list that I think will have the most lasting impact. We'll all be looking back fondly on Queencard.

2. Underwater by Chuu - Underwater feels like a breath of fresh air to listen to. This song is so comforting; Chuu's voice is like a hug. It for real makes me emotional. It's so Taeyeon coded which is an incredibly good thing in my book.

1. Unforgiven by Lesserafim - This was my anthem of the year no question. I don't know if Lesserafim will ever be able to top this. It's just flawless. Potentially my favorite kpop album of the year all together too. Idec that half of it is songs we've already heard. I love having greatest hits in one place and Lesserafim's greatest hits are really good!

A Bunch of Honorable Mentions: In Bloom by ZB1 (just barely missed the list. They're the boys to watch right now), Madeline by Limelight, Memories by Riize, We Are Young by Tri.be, I Am by IVE (another close one), Bubble by Stayc, Invincible and Girls Capitalism by Triple S (they had a great year), OMG by New Jeans, Bite Me by Enhypen (I actually went to a kpop dance class where we learned this choreo), Fighting by BSS, One and Only by Boynextdoor (naturally snatch-ed!!), Bad News by Kiss of Life

[minalblood]

Aaan we're back with ep 4. John heavy ep 4. This will be a lot,but I actually dont want to focus on John with it. I will reference to him because he's literally going through an episode long ptsd attack and there's a lot to discuss with that, but there are so many other interesting facets about this episode. We also get kyle here.

But sure let's discuss John 1st tho. So his response to dealing with his ptsd flashbacks is distracting it with violence. Now i do want to make something clear here. I dont think necessarily that chanelling his very complicated emotions into action is bad per se here, if this was productive tho. But with John, unlike several othera ih this episode like Mary and Carlos, he isn't productive about it. For Mary we see that she is chanelling her own complicated emotions into training and getting John to partake, but it only slightly works. Same with Carlos, they focus their own issues into their hunting. John however does not. He tries to let it out through hunting, but really qhat works is just punching something as seen in the bathroom. Its not about chanelling it into something, but just violence qhich is why his hands no longer shake after punching the dispenser even tho all that action is is destructive. He also is very much either unaware of or actively ignoring his limits, because he's given several outs before getting himself in the group session and severely triggered. Mary alone gives him at least 2 or 3 outs. But she, like everyone, assumes he can make his own choices and can handle himself so when he saya he's good, then they trust it. Which isnt an issue, they are right to trust him on his own limits. But he very much isnt listening to them.

Now lets talk Carlos a bit, because we have some fun stuff for him too. 1stly we find out he was navy medic. That alone tells me some stuff and also very much reminds me of Dean in Pac-Man Fever. But it also firmly speaks back.to what we've been seeing from Carlos the past 3 episodes. Ive been mentioning that theue role in ep 1-3 was more support, was thw one in the background, doing the job, efficiently, not in the foreground as a soldier, but nonetheless vital. The fact thay they were medic makes perfect sense in this context, because as medic the goal was to ensure the frontline fighters were able and ready to jump back in and thay was what Carlos has been doing the past few episode. Then we have the story during group therapy that slots into place the ways he's been supporting everyone. Because while John is deing with severe survivors guilt and an exacerbated sense of responsibility which imo is why its much easier for him to have a black and white view of the situation, Carlos could've had the same issue, especially as a medic where, unlike John's self imposed responsibility, ut was literally their job to keep people alive and certainly couldn't through their time serving, not everyone. And even then, Carlos' takeaway wasn't to demonize the other side who was responsible for the people Carlos was in charge of saving ending up under their care, but rather saw the enemy and understood clearly that they too likely got pulled into this war against their wishes for some, lost people and experience the horror.and loss that the war brought same as Carlos. That speaks to a high level of empathy, something we've already seen Carlos display the first 3 episode but it makes it even clearer here that its a trait they've had foe a long long time and its one thats been honed and tested.

Then we have Mary and Lata, both of whom are dealing with the loss of Maggie and what effects this had on them. So if for John and Carlos we have the magnitude of war combined with personal loss, for Mary and Lata we have the very personal loss of Maggie reflected through the magnitude of hunting life. Which is why I think the episode has Carols and John confrunting (for better or worse) their loss in a group setting while Mary and Lata are in a one on ine scenario either just by themselves or talking to a singular person (Kyle). And why their confruntation of the loss happens in a quieter way via going to Maggies room and acknowledging that loss properly and thus reconnecting with who Maggie was, to them, and remembering her and understanding her which in turn leads to them understaning themselves a bit.

A quick line about Millie here. I think "her words are cheap, actions speak louder" attitude isnt necessarily a problem per se, the issue is that that saying refers to words are cheap if your actions dont match them, not that you shouldn't talk about things. And thats where the issue lands, because Millies actions have actually been kinda counter to her words and not in a good way the last few episode because she's said things that were a problem and acted correctly and did things that were a problem and said the correct thing, but til now its very rarely been actions matching her words. This ep is actually where we start seeing the shift into a Millie that us more aligned in her meanings. Having her verbally be there for John and the physically as well at the end of the episode. It's not perfect, both her actions ans words are both flawed this episode in various moments, but they are aligned.

And finally Mars Neto and the fucking sheer amount of Michael parallels/references in this episode. It drives me insane! Its the mention of John's destiny, the fact that Neto uses a spear, thay he wants John to be his own personal human weapon, the fact that Mars Neto isnt even the God of War himself, but rather in Lata's words, based on the Roman God of War, this emulating Mars the way Michael tried to emulate Chuck while ruling Heaven. I just cannot ignore the Michael of it all. And I also cant ignore that the way he dies is heavily reminiscent of how Dean, under the Mark of Cain, another older brother who echoed Michael and who's outright referenced by Neto when speaking of the centuries of blood and violence in John"s blood, killed Abaddon. The violence of it is echoed here and the issue with that violence ia too. Because while killing Neto is a good thing, like killing Abaddon was, the ultimate take from the battle is that John did not do the right thing because of the rage, juat like killing Abaddon spoke of the Marks influence over Dean.

And finally, we have the conclusion, of Mary and Lata starting to heal from their loss in a trubute to Maggie herself, Carlos going to therapy and John, isolating himself with only Millie there to comfort him, but even that is moreso because Millie goes out to search foe him, and not because he seeks out help.

This is a very rough episode to watch for me, for a miryad of reasons, but thats also why it's onw of my favorites too.

See y'all for ep 5.

P.S. The "uncle Samuel scremed at me" in Maggies postcard? Hurt my soul and made say a "fuck Samuel Campbell" and also is a perfect throwaway line in this ep to segway into ep 5 which is a Mary heavy one.

[pesterloglog]

Kanaya Maryam, Rose Lalonde

Act 4, page 1592

-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --

GA: Your Dark Spectacled Friend Has Advised Me On A More Effective Method For Trolling You

GA: I Think His Contention Is That This Strategy Will Have The Opposite Of The Intended Effect And Precipitate A Sort Of Bond Between Us That Is Established In Mutual Antagonism

GA: What Do You Think About This

TT: I think you're shrewd to have recognized his ploy of sabotage, and you've earned my compliments.

GA: Ah See It Is Working Already

TT: What is?

GA: Ive Listened To His Advice

GA: And Have Resolved To Modify The Approach Slightly

GA: I Know What I Have To Do

GA: What We Have To Do Really

TT: What's that?

GA: Remember The First Time We Spoke

TT: Yes, but you said it wasn't the first time you spoke to me.

TT: We'll graciously omit my embarrassing skepticism however.

GA: The First Time You Spoke To Me Was The Second Time I Spoke To You

TT: This conversation doesn't sound like your first time either.

GA: This Is Your Second Conversation With Me But Is My Seventh With You

TT: And when exactly does your maiden encounter take place?

GA: Thats Next Time

TT: So to clarify.

TT: If the matching of my first with your second is denoted by 1=2, then the sequence would be:

TT: 1=2, 2=7, 3=1, 4=?, ...

GA: Yes And The Rest Of The Sequence Is Simply

GA: 4=3, 5=4, 6=5, 7=6

GA: Unless My Future Self Stowed Another Conversation In Between One Of Those Which Is Entirely Possible

GA: But Urrgh I Dont Want To Think About That

TT: Why is it that when the subject of temporal mechanics is broached your sparing troll intellects etcetera etcetera.

GA: See That Is What I Mean Rose You Are Not As Dumb Of A Girl As I Was Initially Lead To Believe

TT: You mean based on the first impression I am apparently about to make in our next conversation?

GA: Yes

TT: What could I possibly say that will leave such an imprint?

GA: That Is Why I Have Contacted You Now

GA: I Will Send You A Copy Our First Conversation Directly From My Chat Log

-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] sent tentacleTherapist [TT] the file "ConversationWithAVeryStupidGirl.Txt" --

TT: I guess being forced to cooperate with a stable time loop is the only plausible explanation for my remarks.

GA: Yes And Then I Found It Sort Of Curious That During My Next Conversation With You Your Various Mental Endowments And Wherewithals Were Not As They Seemed

GA: I Suspected The Stratagem Might Be A Counter Trolling Measure But Then Was Not So Sure And Further Examination Grew Warrant

TT: And what if my counter-counter measure is to choose not to transcribe this dialogue accurately in the future-first place?

GA: But See I Have Edited The Copy Already In Ways That Will Remain Secret For Now But You Will Discover Once You Type It

GA: So You Are Destined To Edit It No Matter What And What You Submit Will Be What I Once Read Regardless

GA: !

TT: Unless I decide to copy it word-for-word!

GA: Yes Unless I Lied About Editing It In The First Place

GA: Either Way Through Knowledge Of What You Will Say I Have Precisely Engineered The Nature Of Your Transgression

GA: !!!

TT: So your trolling strategy now is to put idiotic words in my mouth through the machinery of temporal inevitability, and cause me to excruciate over how to subvert the transcription?

GA: Yes

TT: While being perfectly up front about it?

GA: Yes I Suppose Its That Sarcasm All The Time Seems Laborious To Me

TT: I'll admit, it's a more advanced tactic than I gave you credit for.

GA: Yes And The Providence Of This Antagonism Ninja Vice Grip Pinching Your Larynx Has Already Begun To Supply My Purpose With Fruit

GA: The Chilly Frost Shimmering On Our Tree Of Human Friendship Has Begun To Thaw

TT: Mixed metaphor aside, usually ninjas don't announce what they're doing when they're doing it.

TT: Like when stalking an emperor to assassinate him.

TT: Or befriend him.

TT: But that's fine.

TT: I guess the only pointless question we haven't exhausted is, why?

TT: Why the convoluted artifice?

GA: Dave Raised Insight Into The Human Psychology Of Friendship Development

GA: By Allotting You Your Side Of The Conversation I Have You At The Disadvantage In Your View And You Will Seek To Reclaim Higher Ground

GA: In Successive Conversations

GA: 4=3 And 5=4 And Such

GA: Your Demeanor Will Be Terse If Not Saturated With Disdain And It Will Cause Me To Be Confused And Question Your Motivation

GA: But Now I Know Your Motivation Because I Am Supplying It Here And Now

GA: They Will Be Simple Acts Of Friendly Human Retaliation

TT: So you're not only rigging the first impression I make on you, but orchestrating my revenge for the rigging as well?

GA: Yes

GA: It Seems Friendship For Some Humans Is A Basic Aggregation Of Shallow And Insincere Hostilities

TT: That's an interesting take on it.

TT: But now I know for sure Dave isn't behind this plan.

TT: It's too complicated.

GA: I Dont Understand

GA: Who Better To Coordinate Such Events Than The Knight Of Time

TT: You're awfully quick to his defense.

TT: Are you sure you don't have a thing for him?

TT: It's ok, bro. You can admit it.

GA: I'm Hopping To 8=8

GA: Ideally You Will Have Long Since Discarded This Train Of Thought

TT: Ok.

TT: I'm going to talk to my dead cat.

[surveillance-0011]

I may blend the hotd and tboi x splatoon aus but it may be too many ideas or people in one place,, idk but ive got ideas,, and i’ll put em in one post ehehe

hotd x splatoon:

ams and nsbs are affiliated or just the same thing the idols r still there but more in the bg,, Maybe they’d all have different themed codenames rather than numbers.. lisa would probably be neo 3 or adjacent then. this is one of the points that would clash with mixing it with the tboi x splat au

All creatures are sanitized or like. half fuzzy half sanitized some sort of secret third thing fucking neosanitization idk maybe it’ll have to do with coral instead,, but curien is an inkfish so misanthropic he’s bringing squids back and/or continuing what Tartar started. Goldman is either an inkfish the opposite species of curien or some sorta fish. hm. goldfish hehe. but he wants to make a sanctuary of more “natural” beings. And thornheart is thornheart.. 

Most of the creatures are made from already existing people maybe theyd be able to be reverted back into their previous selves with some side effects. others are made in the lab. Most are inkfish but it gets wacky

Temperance is a part of the same clan as shiver and is like.her 2nd or 3rd cousin. they did not get along before hand and he’d try to upstage her a lot. now while warped he’s still relatively lucid so he’s just kind of an ass to her. ALso going to drag ocean hunter into this the shark he’s tamed is leviathan. Since the muatations still make him gigantic he swings the poor shark around. 

Likewise Justice is a part of the eel clan though he is not as closely related to frye as shiver is to temp. He’s very cryptic and not rlly all there. Frye did used to look up to him so seeing him like this is distressing

Emp(eror +ress) and the world are hybrid lab-grown creatures, all glass octo + sea angel probaby? maybe human in there?

Heirophant is a salmonid yeayy

hotd x tboi

maggie is neo 3 isaac is lil buddy. samson is agent 4 lilith is 8 idk about the og 3 yet maybe cain

Isaac’s mom is a goldie. ??? the lost and the forgotten only exist in Isaac’s nightmares when he thinks about his future of possibly dying, being abandoned etc etc.

His dad is a steel eel driver but defected to grizzco bc he Fucked Up Big Time

idk if azazel would be better as a salmonid (bc isaac parallels/evil him) or an octoling i kind of want the latter

Most demons r octarians but some of the human kids r too. Eve escaped to the surface early on and participated in turf wars circa Splat1 while in disguise. She’s also a werekraken. She uses the .96 gal deco

Lilith as mentioned before is 8. Incubus is some sorta seeing eye octotrooper guide and gello is a bby zapfish. Dark one/Adversary is her dad and he gets sanitized

Horsemen r salmonids yeeeayayay

Beast is a super fucked up king salmonid, some sort of giant mudmouth

ig there is a sect of octarian + salmonid diplomacy that all of the bosses mentioned here work under ehhh

dogma is some sort of ai, maybe a remnant of human society

Apollyon is also a salmonid they’re basically a worse flyfish in a weird tartar-based shell

deadly sins are an octoling team or more salmonids

most monsters are weird fuzzied inkfish

bethany mains ballpoint splatling and one of the stringers. Laz has the same mutation yoko has which leaves him sickly but when he’s well he plays with the h3 nozzlenose.

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 29

welcome to the twenty-ninth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.  

1. don’t know what i did to earn a love like this (but baby i must be doin’ something right) by littleghost

“I went to the desert to listen to country music.” It falls out of him, and he keeps going, voice hushed like there’s more than just him and Lance in this room. “It always reminded me of you and I would go stare at the stars, think of you, and listen to country.”

i know littleghost has been inactive in the voltron fandom since literally 2017 but i am so obsessed with their fic. im not huge on high school aus usually but this fic in particular had so many of my favourite niche headcanons that ive read this fic like twelve times. yall know how i feel about quiet devotion and its everywhere in this fic.

2. every day i wonder by kirargent

Lance has a stuffed-full backpack, a beanie pulled down over the tips of his ears, a blanket draped around his neck like a thick scarf, and his cell phone pressed to one ear. He looks like an idiot, and he’s being entirely too loud for a good cryptid hunt.

this shit made me fucking LAUGH. keith is such an ornery bitch i literally love him so much. this fic bodies the ‘fuck am i in love with HIM?? why??? why am i so HAPPY ABOUT IT???’ so well i love it

3. mortal bodies, timeless souls by @littendeservesbetter

“Wait!” Coran lets out a triumphant noise. “I got it! If my calculations stand corrected, then our visitors will be people we actually know! Keith, Lance, you two will be meeting your alternate selves today!”

Coran says it like the idea is so mundane that it takes Keith a while to process. The moment he does, however, he feels his heart drop to his stomach.

“We’re going to what?!” Lance yelps, effectively voicing out Keith’s thoughts.

Or, the castle's teludav malfunctions, alternate realities are mixed, and Keith finds out that he and Lance are a lot more... close in other realities.

they are fucking in love in every single reality in every single universe always and endlessly. they are Soulmates. i know its cheesy but im obsessed with them literally. also extra incentive this fic has pike/thunderstorm darkness

4. here comes the violence by stardon 

“Fancy seeing you here, Whiskers.”

Keith feels his tail wag in annoyance, which is almost as horrifying as his current situation. “No. Absolutely fucking not.” He looks at his bare wrist, pretending he has a watch. “How about we postpone this? My calendar says I’m free from the seventh of never through to the fifteenth of ain’t-gonna-happen, how does that work for you guys?”

Pidge looks up, quirking a brow. “Lance has an amazing influence on your humour, you know that?”

In which sometimes Keith is a bit Galra, sometimes not.

this fic is excellent because their both so obviously in love and down bad for each other but theyre both also stupid. borderline already dating but also not and driving each other insane is peak peak trope

5. Beast of Burden by melancholymango [EXPLICIT]

“Keith, no, we can’t go again.” Lance pleads fall on deaf ears. Keith is honed in on him now like predator to prey. He’s fighting a losing battle and they both know it. He sees it in the way Keith is raking his eyes over him, sizing him up. “We’ll be so late getting to the bar.”“Just one more.” Keith insists, herding Lance toward the counter with a stubbornness that is innately wolf. Lance pouts, but he doesn't have anywhere else to go but backward.“That’s what you said last time! And the time before that!”--The week leading up to a supermoon, as told by the world's best werewolf boyfriend, Lance McClain. The good, the bad, and the horny.

this is just monsterfucking but its also like soft in there. but mostly its monsterfucking

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!    

[rahkshirock]

Hypognosis post 4: Rolling

Well, its been a bit. Started completely reorganizing my rules since a bunch of things clicked into place overnight and irl has been busy. But this post isn’t about that! We’re instead going to be covering the Dice rolling system, a very central portion of the game's design that ive struggled with a lot.

Hypognosis is a system where I want to do a lot of different things at once.

As a GM, sometimes I want to track very close duels between skilled swordsman dancing with each other, blood pumping, tracking each miniscule detail of their mental fortitude and perception as they try to play mind games with their enemy.

Other times, As a GM, I want to dump an absolute boatload of skeletons on the players and let them play dynasty warriors for a bit. And sometimes my players want to shapeshift into a horde of chickens, or direct a small militia of farmers in defense of their village, or hire some NPC retainers that are a little tedious to manage in combat. Put simply, sometimes you want to put a LOT of lil guys on the table, but you *dont* want to bog the game down with an enormous amount of individual dice rolls.

It’s very hard to do both things well! I looked into a bunch of wargames and a bunch of rpgs for inspiration, and then stewed for months over what dice should be rolled where. And this will change substantially before I’m done, but I’m already very proud of what my game can do.

The goal was simple: make it so that whatever you’re doing on your “turn,” you will always be assembling a bunch of dice to form a pool, and you make one roll. You don’t add modifiers to the dice, and you always use a flat number as your target

You can make one of these rolls for a swarm of locusts, a heroic adventurer assisted by a plucky squire behind them, or an entire army, depending on the scene, whether as a player or as the gm. What changes is the exact timing of when you assemble the pool and how you allot the dice to roll them.

Let's talk some examples! We’re going to go over exactly how the dice rolling works, to show how it incorporates a bunch of different edge cases.

Say you’re playing a Gal with a Big Sword trying to hit an adversarially-minded skeleton. There are a few ways to play this: you settle into an aggressive stance when you “Take Stock,” (the beginning of your turn where you get resources back) assemble your pool of dice, and on the subsequent “ticks” of the game clock, you resolve to attack the skeleton with your sword.

You assemble the dice granted by your sword, your skill with the sword, your athleticism, and whatever else applies. This dice pool will last you until you take stock again. On the next tick, its time for your first attack. You eye the skeleton’s defense, which looks like a 2. Most of your dice will be able to hit it, and you aren’t looking to do anything special: you just want to do damage. 

So you decide to make a Broad Roll. each die you roll will represent one attack, and if it rolls over the target defense, you’ll deal the amount of damage a sword does. (the word for Damage in this game is Strain. We’ll get to it.) you then roll one die at a time, one per “tick” of the clock. When you max out the skeleton’s Strain, you get to inflict a Wound, and you pummel the skeleton to dust. Hooray!

Now, say there are several skeletons. Not to worry! If your character can do sweeping attacks, you handle the roll in exactly the same way. Now that you’re hitting multiple targets in the same “tick,” you still make the same type of roll. (Broad) you simply pick 3 dice from the pool to roll instead of one, since there are three targets. 

This way, a character can manage groups of enemies reasonably easily, while you still need to be wary of going up against groups because they can threaten you more effectively than a single creature can, you don’t need to worry about grinding the game to a halt as you attack each one individually. It’s not any more work and doesn’t take much more time.

What if you’re playing three gals with big swords? Well then you do the exact same thing, except when you make your dice pool, you have everyone contribute their dice to a group roll. I say “everyone contributes” because maybe it’s not you playing the group, but you directing a group made up of player characters. It all works the same way.

You assemble the group roll, decide on making a Broad Roll same as before, but now you have a lot more dice to choose from in the pool and wont run out near as easily.

Well okay, that sounds simple enough, but it’s *too* simple. If I’m off doing my own thing, I want to be able to picture each individual slash of my sword, and I want to do it more viscerally than just slashing off hit points from a big number of total hit points. Well. this is where other types of rolls come in. in this next case, let’s decide to make a Focused roll

Here, there are a few differences. For one, we only assemble the pool on the same turn on which we roll the dice, and we’re going to roll them all at once. Now instead of each die being its own attack, they are all contributing to one. And as such, you need to get three dice over the target to succeed. Once you have that though, you get to spend your *other* dice to inflict extra effects, whether it be to shove your opponent away, trip them up, or give them a nasty scar.

So what’s the benefit? This type of roll expends more resources and takes a bit longer. But in return, you get to define the effects of your strikes much more. You get to inflict wounds without maxing out Strain, you get to make the opponent expend *their* resources to attempt to blunt your assault, and you control the flow of your own attacks much more carefully. It removes some of the abstraction of a Broad roll to let you take the reigns.

So how does this work with group rolls? Well, Focused rolls are much more of a single-target affair. They’re for player characters to use. But other characters *can* contribute dice toward your focused roll. Thus if you are playing a Gal With a Sword, your trusty squire can pull out a spear and back you up, despite not being equipped to fight on their own. 

The cases where you can use a Focused roll as a group are very limited. However if you team up and synchronize with another player character, you *can* make it happen. Say you and your Shonen Rival team up to rock a villain’s shop. You each roll your own dice, but you can trade dice to each other before the roll, and you each apply your characters’ special abilities to all dice. 

This is a type of thing you can only do when you have a very strong bond and sync up your actions just right, and thus it should be a massive reward when you pull it off! 

There will need to be other kinds of rolls eventually. I have ideas for Careful rolls where you get a very large, hard to reach target like 12, and you have to roll one die at a time to try to get a sum that’s as close to the value as possible, to simulate very carefully aimed ranged attacks, for example. There will be more. But with just 2 types for now - Broad and Focused - I’ve managed to cover a wide range of edge cases and I’ve been able to get very close to a playable draft. Let's hope it's soon, so i can get it in people's hands and let them have fun with it.

Now, I said last time I’d try to make this one about Formations and group actions and well… I realized I needed to explain this first. Next time for sure though! As always, please consider donating if you’ve made it this far, want to cheer me on, and help me pay rent. my Ko-fi link is here. every bit helps.