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astralfuchs · 2 months

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Given how “unique” a Miku concert would be I’m surprised Crypton themselves didn’t send some team members or equipment personally to make sure things are set up right bc other than some performers that might hide their face/wear disguises idk how many usual concert locations have something prepped for “holo” projections compared to Japan and their Vtuber boom (although I’d rather buy a plushie from a booth but hopefully at least the theatres would have good sound quality)

Sucks for any workers scrambling and getting hate/hope it doesn’t affect the sales of any other indie ppl performing their concerts

The weird thing is it worked before. I went to miku Expo 2018 in cologne and 2020 in Berlin. Both times it was an actual hologram concert with the same band as magical Mirai. Neither of these two locations had a concert like this before, I'm pretty sure. All of the equipment must've been toured around with thew Miku Expo crew. Going against advertising and expectations (basically all of these concerts, and like all of them in recent years were holographic) without notifying buyers beforehand and also not even afterwards when people keep asking is, to put it lightly, customer unfriendly at best and a scam at worst.

I arrived a bit late in 2018 since I only had standard so I don't know how it was there, but in 2020 people went around giving out free stickers and badges, or general stuff they got from other miku events. One of them seemed to be a huge meiko fan so when she gifted me something I gave her the meiko badge I got from the random gacha button bags. Stuff like that really made it feel like a community coming together, so reading that giving out badges, stickers, etc. wasn't allowed this year, even for people who specifically got an okay from cfm and also got their stuff stolen from is surreal.

I had vip in 2020 and as far as I know everyone got their vip merchandise, which doesn't seem to be the case this year, which makes no sense because you would know how many people at this location have the vip ticket. Another thing I read is that vip ticket holders were supposed to be let in earlier for merchandise and the concert hall but it didn't happen, which also worked flawlessly before in my experience.

Merchandise being not enough for everyone is sadly not new, I was in line for it in 2018 and when I was three people away the store people shouted they were all sold out, which was very much a bummer but I thankfully bought the penlight and t-shirt beforehand in the online store so it wasn't too bad for me and as I said I was quite late to the so definitely in the latter half of the people that got in. Still should've been more but I would chalk it up to being the first concert in Europe and them not having expected such a huge crowd maybe. How this is still the case 6 years later and in America where there were concerts way before 2018 is beyond me.

I don't know if this is because of crunchyroll (it probably is tho) but I can't say cfm is innocent either since they partnered with them and it's their job to ensure everything is up to standard, which clearly didn't happen.

For me, I was really happy to hear there was going to be a Europe one again, especially since I really loved it, it is such a magical experience so the last year's being online only made me super sad since it isn't the same in the slightest, but seeing it's also partnered with crunchyroll I decided against it. It's because I loved it so much that it really saddens me to see what is currently going on (also probably why I wrote so much, very sorry). Miku Expo is one of the best, magical and insane events you can go to as a vocaloid/piaproloid fan and I wish for all fans, people who've been in the Fandom longer and already have been to Miku Expo, and newer fans that didn't have the chance yet, to have that same experience but this is not it. This being someone's first miku expo experience is just a sad thing to think about considering what a massive downgrade the experience is. I hope there will be official statements soon and that the people who are currently experiencing it still have a good time.

#Sorry for long post #I sadly have a lot of opinions when it comes to vocaloid related stuff #Being in a fandom for almost 10 years does things to you #Miku expo #Miku Expo 2024 #My post #Long post #ask

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eegasleega-will-change-this-l8r · 8 months

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So I assume most fans who've gone down the MOTHER rabbithole have read the M3 interview thing (lots of cool and fun stuff if you haven't read it before!!)

Fassad gets brought up a couple times, but not toooo much

But as you can guess, I'm totally obsessed with what there is about him

So first off to set the tone, here's a song that apparently inspired part of his character :3

So this song is about (at least as far as I understand, only the first two lines are translated and I don't know Japanese XP) a woman whose cruel, I assume abusive lover has been sent to jail, and how she can only see him as kind and good

I could no longer see you, and for the first time, I knew love deeper than the ocean. Everyone says he's bad, but to me he was always a good person

These lines are what Itoi specifically says he had in mind when he came up with Fassad and the mouse and I just think that's a really interesting tone to imagine his character with Like how well did Fassad really treat the mouse? Like, the way I'm reading the song (the two lines of it that i know) is that she's remembering her lover as better than he really was - she can't see him anymore, and now she loves him better than she ever did before I think it's pretty easy to imagine that Fassad kept some of his crueler tendencies with the mouse (not nearly to the point of his treatment of, say, Salsa, but), but she remembers him for the nicer things he did for her (the mouse isn't gendered in the game or the interview but with the context of the song it just feels right to me, yknow?)

Gotta bring up Fassad and Salsa, too I've heard someone else bring this up and Itoi actually talks about it in the interview, but like The way you, the player, get to perceive Fassad through Salsa is really interesting Right off the bat, you probably hate him He's cruel and tortures a pair of monkeys for his own amusement But Salsa is too weak to really stand a chance against the enemies you face on his own To survive, you basically HAVE to rely on Fassad choosing to step in and help you So you have this abusive, awful guy that hurts you whenever you're around him, but you're also completely dependent on him Which is a really interestingly complicated relationship to have with him

Okay here's the big thing from the interview that informs so much of my view of Fassad's character

Fassad doesn't really understand the pain of others, you know?

That's it That single line is just So interesting to me It's not that he doesn't care He doesn't even UNDERSTAND There's no purposeful suppression of any feelings of empathy or compassion. He straight up lacks it in its entirety. To me, Fassad's worldview revolves entirely around its relation to himself. He sees everything through a very simple lens: "This will help me" "This will not help me" The first group he will throttle as much use he possibly can until it falls into the second group, which is useless and something that can be thrown away or ignored. He likes bananas. He will eat a banana to satisfy his craving for one. After that, he just tosses the peel on the ground and thinks no more about it. Whether something is helping him willingly, through being compelled, or being forced to against their will is something Fassad lends no thought whatsoever to. The Pigmasks do what they're told when he screams at them. Salsa does what Fassad says because rebelling brings physical pain. Claus has had his control over his own autonomy completely removed. The fact that all these people hate him is something that Fassad never bothered to consider.

And this egocentric selfishness is what leads to his downfall. I talked about how I like to think that Fassad's "death" in the fall of the Thunder Tower was Claus's doing in another post. The idea that his torture of Claus could bring potential consequences is something that Fassad never realized. After his reconstruction and repeated failures, he ends up tossed away, alone and pathetic, because he's lost his status and everyone that was previously obedient has no need to listen to him anymore.

On the other hand, you have someone Fassad was obsessed with: his best friend, the only person who gave him the praise and power he desired, King Porky Minch himself. Porky was absolutely terrible for Fassad. Enabling all his worst traits, pulling him further down the path to evil. I think Fassad and Porky are very similar in a lot of ways. In the interview, Itoi talks about how there's a distinction between good and evil, justice and injustice, heaven and hell, etc. People fall around the middle, where there's fun and games that aren't super orderly in the good sense, but nobody gets hurt. But the line's very blurry, and Itoi talks about how it was hard to know what exactly was too far over the line as a kid. (sidenote, it's really really interesting how often Itoi connects himself with Porky)

When I was young, there were a lot of times when I would be scolded for doing things that I'd done just for fun, because the teacher had seen it as naughty. And I thought, "Huh? The line is drawn…there?"

I think this is important for understanding both Porky and Fassad (and hoo boy am i gonna talk about it a LOT whenever i talk about Porky). Porky was in a terrible environment to learn about right and wrong. His parents were terrible examples, and anything he did that seemed totally harmless would be "bad" that he'd have to be punished for. His perspective would be totally skewed, and he wouldn't learn about how what really matters is how his actions affect others. If he lived a normal, un-Giygas-influenced life, and without Ness to be there for him and ground him with an alternate perspective, I think Fassad is what he'd grow up into. Resentful, selfish, unable to understand the pain of others. However. Fassad doesn't meet Porky when he's comparable to himself, he meets Porky at the end of a ?????-year long spiral into absolute, inhuman evil. Porky acts like a mentor and a seemingly benevolent friend, but really... it's just Fassad with a banana. Once Porky's squeezed all the use he can out of him, Fassad learns what it's like to be discarded.

So Fassad really ends up in a miserable place. He hates himself, realizing finally that he's driven away everyone. He's alone, pathetic, broken, left to die in the sewers. It's a very harsh lesson, even if he probably deserved it. I do feel kinda bad for him.

But to end off with, there's one more relationship he had that I need to talk about.

The Magi

His "sisters" you could say.

The game doesn't give us much on their relationship with Locria, but goddd it's so interesting to speculate about. They're the people he would've been closest to, and we KNOW they cared about him, since they mention him repeatedly and are concerned about what might've happened to him (it's so sad to me that they all disappear without ever finding out). I think it was complicated. I've talked about how I see Fassad as someone who resented his place in the world, and I think his selfishness plays into that. He wanted the respect and attention of everyone and everything around him, and their love didn't live up to that. He felt isolated and uncared for, so he dropped them and went to live on his own with his mouse.

But I'm sure he also missed them at the end. They're the only people - aside from the mouse, who I'm sure he also misses - who never hated him. Even though he hasn't thought about them for the last few years, I think he'd know that they never stopped caring about him. He'd finally realize what he had, and that he'd just thrown it all away in his greed and selfishness.

Hm...

You know what'd fit really well for this, actually?

I could no longer see you, and for the first time, I knew love deeper than the ocean.

#earthbound #mother 3 #mother series #fassad #locria #emilyart #emilyramblings #i originally drew BOTH of his hands backward in that pic and had to fix them ugh #he's absentmindedly tugging her tail #even to her he's not considerate of how she feels

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septembersghost · 1 year

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I hate how some people are making jokes or telling us we can't be sad or that feeling heartache listening to five albums worth of her music right now is hard and we're connecting to her art "wrong" like jfc it's been one day and this is a devastating shock we can be sad for a minute!

absolutely cannot stress enough how completely and entirely NORMAL it is for people to be sad and shaken right now, and it doesn't mean we're interacting with her music incorrectly or too invested or confused and think she's our best friend or something, none of that is true, and people dismissing it as that are the ones seemingly missing the point. when someone you care about is hurt, you hurt for them, it's human. it doesn't matter that we don't know her directly, an inherent bond is in fact formed between us and her music, and there is no getting around the fact that her music is deeply personal and autobiographical, and that a significant portion has been shaped by and written about this relationship - which also isn't a bad thing, it's beautiful! that love was so real and so transformative and such an important lifeline, and we can be grateful forever that she met joe when she did and that he helped her through those terribly dark times and that they supported and loved one another the way they did, when they did. all of that is still true. it's not undone - it was rare, it was there! (to borrow from a different tune) - and they needed it and it served them in lovely ways for as long as it could. the "these songs were about my life, now they're about yours" mentality is all well and good, but sometimes a bit impossible, and that is okay to acknowledge! the idea that you must take context away and only relate them to yourself or your blorbos is a bit silly, they're still taylor's art and diary and life (and you can and should do both!). also i'm gonna be honest here, many of us do not have a love like that to apply them to, so of course the original meaning sticks a bit. fandom acting like it's a sin right now to be thinking of her within her own music and aching for that is ridiculous. that WILL fade with time, but there hasn't been time yet! everyone's just sort of reeling and trying to process. this is collective mourning for many different aspects of things, it's in fact going to be a different bit of sadness for each person even though we're sharing it together, and that's also normal! her music being intensely personal and lyrically poignant gives us that sense of connection and empathy for what she's experienced and what she's shared, and this is the only time when we've experienced her writing about this type of love, the amount of time it's lasted (we are by extension very used to joe having been a constant! six years is a lot! there are many newer fans who've never known taylor without him being a significant factor), and tbh i could go into further detail here about why it's hitting hard and the little griefs everyone has been sorting through today. you can be grateful something happened and grieve its ending, and the ending of any potential future that might've happened, you can hurt for another person simply because you care for them and wish them the best and want them to be happy. it's not invasive when we are fully aware of the boundaries there too. it's okay for the music to sting and be difficult right now because it's about a life that no longer exists - we will all go back to it and reclaim it and feel the warmth and love in it again, we will hold onto that gratitude (i will never not be thankful that joe was in her life exactly when she needed him and helped her the way he did, that she flourished so much personally and creatively in that time, she didn't have to do that work or find that strength alone and that's a wonderful thing too). it's all about understanding those emotions and giving them space and compassion. we need to give grace to taylor and joe, to each other, and to ourselves for anything we're feeling right now.

#*hugs you*#anyone guilt policing or shaming people for being sad or making mean jokes it is on. sight.#anonymous #letterbox #taylor swift #thrown out speeches #don't read the last page #joe alwyn

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leeyanyanyaaan · 2 years

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-archival-

scenario | crime fighting au | police x criminal | hero × villain au (technically could be)

Female!Outlaw (A) x Male!Law Enforcer (B)

(feel free to change the genders!)

- A has gone through a betrayal arc with the people she works with so she decided to take revenge

- B had a lover that passed away that A reminds him of, which is why he's always on her case, inside his heart hoping that she's actually a good person, although projecting the image of his past lover onto her, which is unhealthy

- At some point A has actually fallen for B, but knowing about how he only sees her as his past lover, she refuses to let him into her heart

- So back to the storyline, she's taken revenge and is watching everything burn down. B manages to find her

- "There were other ways to bring justice to those guys, you know?"

- "Hah, what did you think I could do? Call the police? And get myself caught in the process? Besides, I couldn't care less about justice, so for the last time stop lecturing me. I'm not a good person like you want me to be."

- B was about to protest, but decided to hold his tongue. It wasn't going to go anywhere; it never does. He changed the topic instead. "...still, this isn't like you... to take reckless decisions. You're usually more careful aren't you?"

- A scoffed. 'Well it's not like I have anything to lose.' she glances over at B '....Almost anything.' Again, she knew he'd just lecture her about the worth of living, so she decided to mess with him instead.

- "Heh, what if I did it to grab your attention? Steal your heart?" She snorted, cringing at her cheesiness.

- However, to her surprise, B silently approached her. He gripped her wrist, turning her around to face him, and put a hand on her cheek. The deep blush spreading across her face betrayed her bewilderness.

- "And what if you already did?"

- A's heart skipped a beat. But she shook her head, as if to not let it get to her. 'Remember, he's only saying that because he sees his past lover in you. He doesn't actually like you back. I was joking anyways ahaha...'

- When she felt B's hand wipe her cheek gently, only then did she realize that she was crying.

- 'Stupid fucking feelings...'

- "You've learned a long time ago about my past lover, haven't you? I know what you're thinking. I'd be lying if I said I didn't see my lover in you at first... but soon I've come to realize that you and her are two different people. Completely different. But even after realizing that... my feelings for you didn't die out. I started falling in love with you for you. For little things such as your witty little comebacks, the sound of your laughs, the rare sight of your genuine smile. I've fallen hard, you've completely captured my heart... It's also why I truly believe you're a good person at heart. You've shown that you have empathy for other people, I've seen how you... you don't want to be doing all the crimes you're committing, but you have no choice. You were in debt to those guys weren't you? You had to do it to survive. So stop convincing yourself that you're a bad guy, that you're not someone worth saving! Those who've been holding you on leash and collar, they're no more, so you don't have to continue this lifestyle anymore. You can still turn a new leaf, if you make up for the things you've done, and the weight will finally be lifted off your shoulder. So please..."

- A stepped away from him, sobbing silently as her tears refused to stop. B smiled gently at the sight. Never has he seen her so vulnerable, and the fact that she's no longer hiding from him... does it mean that she's finally opened her heart to him?

- He slowly approached her, warily putting his arms around her, not sure if she'd welcome the gesture. A let herself into his arms, fully embracing the sense of security she hadn't experienced before.

- Is it okay to love now?

End.

Epilogue!AU

- After some time and circumstances A finally gets a clean slate. B is overjoyed but they don't get together right away because A needs more time duh lol. B IS WILLING TO WAIT HOWEVER LONG IT WILL TAKE IM AJSBSKSBKSNS HE REALLY WILL

- Gentlemanly and cheesy, he's always lowkey flirting with her but always being a gentleman with her. IT DRIVES A'S HEART CRAZY AND ANNOYS HER AT THE SAME TIME. Bro she's really playing hard to get but B is just as persistent LOL

- WHEN THE TIME COMES WHERE SHE WILL ACTUALLY ACCEPT HIM TO BE LOVERS HE WILL BE SO HAPPY I THINK HE'D CRY TEARS OF JOY AND THANK HER PROFUSELY AJBSMSSSHBDMS

- Pretty much the same predating era only this time he has the ✨dating privelleges✨ now... sort of

- To A's surprised he's never made any physical advances with her apart from holding her hand. She realizes that he's being cautious about her comfort. While she does find that sweet it's also bothering her. So what does she do? TAKE MATTERS INTO HER OWN HANDS

- After a simple park date B walks her home as usual, but before he leaves, A tells him to wait. He turns around and suddenly the girl has her hands on his cheeks and initiates their first kiss YES GO GIRL

- IT HAPPENED ALL IN A SPLIT SECOND. By the time B came to his senses, the door was slammed shut with A nowhere to be seen. He did, however, catch a glimpse of her very red face ahehe

- BUT THEN THE REALIZATION THAT THEY ACTUALLY KISSED CRASHES DOWN ON HIM AND NOW HES A BLUSHING MESS. He walks home with a stupid grin on his face LOL

- BECAUSE A CERTAIN FRIEND OF MINE CALLED HIM A MALEWIFE I CANT UNSEE IT ANYMORE AKSBKSSNMS A cant cook or do any housechores to save her life so all of that is B's thing. He lives alone so he's an expert at it 👌✨ Cooks hella good too get you a man like that LOL

- Now that I think about it I think A appreciates Acts of Service the most, but secretly loves Physical Touch. B is someone who gives Words of Affirmation and does Acts of Service, but enjoys Quality Time the most

- ngl their differences in mindset, esp A's stubborness and difficulty to trust, leads to small quarrels initiated by her mostly. B always apologizes first but A would eventually apologize as well.

a/n: gosh i have so many stuff that ive written but theyre all over the place (notes, docs and my one oc channel in a server w my friends :"D) that i have to find them all OTL for now these ones are from my notes

#scenarios #ship scenarios #otp scenarios #imagine your otp #otp #otp ideas #ships #outlaw x law enforcer #police x criminal #hero x villain #writing #otp writing #writing prompt #writing scenario #writing au #writeblr

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northropi · 11 months

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Worldbuilding Ramblings About Sitting In A Chair In A Car In The Future

As I don't think these ideas are developed enough to put on the * advanced blog * yet, for which I'd also like to have some pictures, I'll go over them here. It's important I get to this fairly quickly because it's sort of part of the "Bible" of background information that leads to me intentionally using terminology I'm normally nitpicky about in weird ways to clear up what has become, in the setting, a pretty ambiguous set of cases, and also knocking out a second bird with this stone in explaining why all the tanks only have one crew member. Plus it's also cool, I think. Today, class, we'll be talking about the roles and terminology of combat and military logistics vehicle operators.

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Let's start off by also clarifying that among what are at this point in the timeline human successor factions there's four big power players in terms of having an industry for designing and procuring heavy equipment on a large scale, as opposed to Freelancers and Scavengers who, while significant, are mostly, well, scavenging stuff, or purchasing it secondhand. These groups are RegMil, Polis, MercNet, and The Other One (there'll be a name eventually).

RegMil is what it sounds like, survivors of the Regular Militaries of the world, holed up in old industrial centers. Polis is in the process of attempting to rebuild the old world in their image. MercNet and The Other One are on broadly good terms but are two sets of Mercenary cabals who snatched a lot of the world's military industrial complex to sustain themselves, at odds with each other because MercNet became, well, the Mercenary Network- and The Other One isn't so much The Other One so much as The Other Groups That Share A Similar Technology And Strategy Base As Distinct From MercNet With The Shared Belief That Assimilating Into MercNet Would Be Bad For Them. Now, what does this all mean up front?

RegMil's unit organization and the technology built to serve it broadly follow the old militaries, and likewise RegMil retains old terminology. A Pilot means the same as it does to us. Polis is broadly the same but with the caveat that They Are Insane. They're a whole oil drum's worth of worms but in short you may be able to scroll down far enough that you'll see this is one of those settings where the superheroes aren't good, and Polis is built around them- using them as symbols of its authority. Its military gives paper tigers a bad name, with equipment essentially made by techbros, designed for photoshoots flying next to the asshole with laser eyes, all in the name of old oligarchs being able to stay above a shattered populace. A lot of the unit organization does change because of this, but Polis is hesitant to divert too far from RegMil's basic approach to combat vehicles.

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And now things get interesting. The Mercenaries, both MercNet and The Other One, have manpower issues. The Other One is still reasonably conventional depending on perspective. Those of you who've been here for a while are likely to remember that a lot of the lore here is retooled from an older pipe dream project that had a different setting.

The Other One's technology broadly carries over from a set of technological factions that were essentially supposed to be for people who like coordinating with friends and had a grimdark flavor.

This is in contrast to MercNet and their forebears being designed around tight coordination being distinctly beneficial but not necessary to the degree that you need to get to know people, and a more bleak-but-not-really-THE-bad-guys flavor, and the thing is in the new setting The Other One is no longer the "bad technological" faction like their forebears were.

MercNet can mostly carry stuff over but I still have a lot to figure out for The Other One, even after the name, to make them work. They've gone from baddies to rivals, and maybe not even rivals so much as the equivalent to the "lancer" archetype in a party. The one thing that I know is going to change for sure is, as said, they had manpower issues as a root cause of their divergence from RegMil- which is the opposite of the issues they had in the old setting, which was very much "we have reserves." By contrast, I'm not sure exactly how to handle The Other One in this setting. I'm thinking some clone/mind uploading shenanigannery where they have the same problem of being expendable but are semi-immortal, giving them gruff, nonchalant personalities and more time as individuals to be characters. Factions of grunts who are getting mulched constantly but are pretty cool with it. If that all sounds like a technical leap, MercNet isn't that much less out there- but let's finish these ones first.

The fact that this all used to be the skeleton for a vidya is probably gonna show here, as a lot of these are set up as explanations for mechanics for groups operating either as tight squads or as multicrew vehicles. Distinctions between Pilots, Drivers, Gunners, etc remain. Basically a person could pick the loadout for a vehicle hull they put together, and if another groups up with them they'll slap their own loadout of a turret onto an available spot, and so on, allowing for quick entries and exits from the group before the vehicle is spawned in- unlike MercNet and indeed RegMil, they just build shit on-site like instantly. Depending on group size and the hull the Driver picked this could go from a one-crew casemate design to a two-crew turreted tank to a three-crew gunner-driver-commander tank with an RCWS and advanced sensors and so on, ending with capital ships with eight crew. Increased brute force and situational awareness, plus the ability to just respawn until infrastructure is destroyed, would balance the three-crew tank fairly well against the one-crew MercNet tank, and maybe I should get to that.

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So if waking up tomorrow realizing you now exist in a disassociated state of being where you're likely to die a hundred times before being killed and seeing that your boss wants to use you to test some new totally ethical chemical weapon on today (you'll make overtime for it, it's fine), you know, all that, if that sound like it has some existential implications, MercNet's approach isn't much far behind.

MercNet realized they lacked manpower, but decided to tackle the issue more directly. They saw things like tanks and ships and many aircraft requiring multiple crew as a massive source of bleed, and so decided they would, at any cost, figure out a way to just put one person into each and have it be just as effective. This happened to work like a charm, and allowed them to essentially take the same approach for entire logistics chains. And finally we get to discuss how a Pilot is driving a tank and a Driver is piloting a plane.

The MercNet key to all this was a neural interface system combined with advanced onboard computers- not quite AI per se but definitely "smart" on some level. This, rather than vehicle type, is what distinguishes the different terms, and it's come to have even deeper implications as this miraculous technology worked its way through their infrastructure. Cybernetically-enhanced vehicle operators could not only run missions alone, but could perform a lot of upfront maintenance alone, using enhanced physical strength to perform jobs that may take several crew members. This often reflects in the layout of the associated vehicles- construction techniques such as larger but fewer joins and fasteners that a strong but imprecise maintainer can go through rapidly, outright trivializing some of the hardest parts of maintenance work. The more precise jobs could be entrusted to engineers who, similarly, could be interfaced with an entire factory of otherwise automated precision machinery, and together, operators could deposit key systems at "deep maintenance" hubs, cycle in a replacement subsystem, and run a mission as the engineers finish their work in what may be a matter of mere hours. They operate stealth bombers like you operate a fucking microwave.

The terminology, accordingly, has shifted- and just in time for the terms around infantry to also shift, as to allow for small drone infantry-esque units to be distinguished from living infantry "Soldiers-" but we're focusing on vehicles.

Drivers are the most basic, logistics and transport runners who operate under low stress and wouldn't be able to do much if stress came to them. They draw generic vehicles from a common motorpool, which they also collectively work to maintain in a relatively conventional manner (offset by these being, like, just fucking cars, so it's not hard), with many of them sharing and little personal connection to any- which is good when they have to dive from the thing and let it roll off and explode if anything goes wrong. Their neural interface system is, uh, not.

Then is an intermediate form, Riders. Riders are sort of infantry-hybrids with a limited neural interface system. This makes it easier to quickly initiate and break a connection, which is good, because they're essentially going to ride a light, semi-expendable vehicle in, and then do their thing on foot, probably having to go back and forth immediately if something happens... And that leads simply enough to EVA Infantry, who use more substantial vehicles with advanced equipment and a somewhat stronger neural interface to work with them, allowing them to go back and forth fluidly at the cost of being compromised at either role.

And finally, Pilots. "Pilot" in this context is reserved for only users of full neural interfaces for vehicles, but is applicable to anyone who is. Cybernetic equipment varies depending on what they pilot. Tank pilots are often built to withstand trauma and possess extra strength to be able to handle repairs on the fly; Aircraft pilots may lack as much strength to conserve weight and life-support requirements, and may be reliant on exoskeletons to perform maintenance duties (which can sometimes be carried on the aircraft, even though that kinda counteracts the advantage of not being heavily-built).

And at this point you may be wondering if this costs them any humanity, which is stupid, that's an arbitrary thing to value. Stability, though, yeah, that's in the gutter. It turns out that when linked to their vehicles, Pilots offload a huge amount of mental processing to the vehicle's computers, and because they tend to spend lots of time with it by necessity, this can quickly turn into a dependency. A Pilot away from their vehicle may struggle to sing the alphabet or add more than two numbers together. That sort of thing. Pilots also become too attached to their vehicles for their own good, on an emotional level. Up until separating out a "core" of the computers that the Pilots could take with them during escape, it was horrifically common for Pilots to simply not bail out. Putting a lot of data into that compact, carry-off core alleviates the mental block around it, because it makes them feel like they saved the vehicle.

And on that grim note, well, this went long. It'll probably be split into articles that link back and forth when I do it for real.

#oc lore #worldbuilding #info dump #lore

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katherine-mcnamara-archive · 4 years

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there's nothing wrong with making connections through other characters though? i swear the rpc is full of babies who just want their character to be special and loved and popular.

No nope nada we’re not doing this.

When you, as a person, look at a female character and want to plot that your two have a connection/know each other, not because you like HER but because she’s friends/related to/connected to/dating, a male character that you want to jump on. that’s just shitty.

and lets be real it is only really plotting a connection, y’all would never thread with the girl y’all are using to jump on some e-dick you like the look of. you don’t even properly read the dude’s bio lmao half the time you can’t even spell the dude’s name right.

Do you really want to get into this ok.

How many times have you done this to men? been like you know what I’m going to plot a connection here and then ignore them and their player just so I can get close to this female they’re dating/friends with? YEAH ZERO EXACTLY.

Female characters are only of use to the rpc when they serve a purpose of jump starting y’all with a male you like.

While we’re on that if y’all don’t stop ignoring trans men and women and aro/ace men and women and nb people too i will come out of your mirrors and choke you!

You all condemn female characters enough for things you praise men for.

You want examples? okay here’s two from RECENT personal experience. people can feel free to add on.

Sofie: (mexican lebanese - bisexual) bounty hunter has a wide range of contacts want ad for a found family type of deal she’s extremely perceptive personable,has a good humour, extremely loving to people she’s close to, family orientated, protective. other traits etc. snake mom. we’re a powers site (she has animal communication as a power) and she loves her two venomous snakes she calls her daughters more than anything, she’s protective of her, they are of her. human rights activist animal rights activist teaches self defence in her spare time. she’s happy, she’s confident, she loves herself.

Just from that brief description, you’d think she’d have an easy time plotting? she would if she was a man. I get four reactions to Sofie and y’all know whats coming.

1. straight up ignored / ”i’m not racist but her attitude makes me uncomfortable” 2. asked for threads just to “put her in her place/knock her down a few pegs.” (male rpers only reaction to her so far) 3. people just assume she’s easy and dtf any time and oversexualise tf out of her and it makes me extremely uncomfortable. 4. they use her to try to get to my best friends male character and ignore me any time i try to plot these “friends”.

Cassia: (white - bisexual) hacker she’s extremely smart, has a genius level iq she’s dealing with ptsd and anxiety shes in recovery for being an alcoholic from a traumatic experience she was abused when she was younger so she has low trust in men. preferring women’s company. she’s a genuinely nice person, she’s quiet, she shows her affection because she’s bad with words. she’s protective of her friends, she’s even more protective of other women. she uses her powers (electrokinesis) and her hacking skills to hack into databases and help women/people in danger in general. she’s so damn loving when you get to know her. has an adopted son she raised and kept alive when she was in captivity. she’s funny, not to toot my own horn but her reaction to stress is humour. like people start arguing and she peaces out through the window and scales the drain pipe. she ain’t here for it. Again, prime to be a good friend/more/easy-ish to plot with right? HAH y’all wanna know the reactions I get to Cass? I’ve posted a few horror stories before. but here’s some points.

1. she’s terrified of guns/authority figures. first thread with a person and he goes OFF on her about his right to carry and then taunts her with it. player then OOC calls her a bitch and stuck up because she wasn’t instantly all over him/she was cold to him. 2. people assume she’s a bitch so often with the only evidence being that she has anxiety and is quiet around new people. 3. people try to put her in threads with alcohol because they think it’ll be fun to test her self control. nobody really takes it serious because it’s not drugs. so people use it as a joke. 4. trying to thread with females is a pain in my ass, like she’s specifically geared as more towards threading with them. but people are not interested at all. 5. the misogynistic comments towards her past are usually made by women rpers. 6. on the addiction topic, someone didn’t like that she was being friends with the man said female rper wanted her char with so on purpose left out alcohol beside her and then the player joked about it OOC. 7. people trying to knock her down a few pegs also. 8. or they try to befriend her/plot connections with her just to get to the one of the two men she knows. never any of the females.

another point for both of them is that people keep treating them like absolute shit, as if that would somehow prove to the men these rpers are after that these girls are connected to. that they are better than cass or sofie. and I just sit here like ????? i don’t know about anyone else but if someone was literally being gross to me, to try to impress my brother or a friend i know they would drop them like a hot potato so I have no idea why people think that’s a good idea in the rpc.

Also I know my friend Alyx, has way more worse stories and shit of what people have done to her females, not jsut to try to get to my males but just for daring to exist so like. choke anon.

#Anonymous #Ask #rpt #rpc #rpa #rpcha #rp #i'm sure i forgot some really bad things but #the shit i've repressed is unreal #also i know this isn't as bad as what people who've been around longer #have endured

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canon-notcanon-warriorcats · 2 years

Note

So... where's that proof that "Scorchfur was listed as an apprentice by accident" thing you were talking about? If it's really true, you wouldn't have any issues showing it to us, right? Because by not showing it you only make yourself look bad and makes your claim less valid when you can't back it up with evidence. I've seen you this ask at least two times now, and you keep ignoring it. So I believe that there was no claim whatsoever and you're lying for whatever reason until we get proof.

more like 3 or 4 times

anyway

i don't have the proof on hand that either scorchfur wasn't meant to be an apprentice or wasn't meant to be listed as the father originally because it was years ago and i swore it was on the wiki but it no longer is and i don't have the energy to do any deep diving

so i'd like to address some things

1. if the information was incorrect and none of the writers ever actually addressed this and i was misinformed or misremembering, that's my mistake and i apologize

2. we still don't have any background information on scorchfur, we don't know where he came from and there are no books during that time period that include any sort of pov where we would see scorchfur either being born or if he joined shadowclan when he was an adult and given an apprentice name while he was training, like how russetfur was given the new name russetpaw when she joined shadowclan or how egg was eggpaw briefly in skyclan, it's not like thistleclaw or pinestar where there is an actual pov and on-screen undeniable evidence, there is absolute free-reign to headcanon what the scorchfur and snowbird situation is and i, personally, would rather not add an additional creepy pairing when there is a perfectly valid headcanon explanation that can be used instead and contradicts absolutely nothing in the canon books

3. that being said, i still have asks in my inbox from late march that i haven't gotten around to answering yet because answering them would be a lot of energy, i do not have the energy to answer every ask all the time, sometimes answering stuff can be incredibly draining and i've been working on allowing myself to take my time and even taking breaks from tumblr for multiple days at a time, this isn't my job, i don't get paid for this, i have other things to do and things to deal with, i cannot always answer everything or at least not in an immediate way or sometimes i don't WANT to answer something or don't have a good reply, this point isn't exactly entirely referring to you, anon, i'm more taking this opportunity to say this in general to everyone that i cannot always answer things and i cannot always answer in a timely manner and i'm sorry if that upsets some people, i've definitely gotten at least one or two people who've gotten really upset with me for "ignoring" their asks, even when they're on anon so like i can't tell who they are or what asks they sent

alright, hopefully this explanation is better than how i was answering stuff before now that a few days have passed and i don't feel like i'm being pinned into a corner over things i didn't do, so my apologies for not answering while i got myself in a better headspace and not feeling as irritable/aggressive or frustrated, and also my apologies if i ever sounded too aggressive or lashed out too much

#like this ask is still kinda accusative but a couple of the other asks weren't AS mean sounding #and i figured i should just actually answer now that i've been able to think over how i wanted to say things

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osamiiya · 4 years

Text

Pairing: Tendou Satori x Reader

Type of fic: Angst (But make it like, the middle to end)

TW// Death, panic, slight panic attack

Summary: Tendou's in love, and he'll stay in love, because, how could he forget you?

A/n I'm back baby, also I cried while writing this so good luck 🤩

Songs I listened to while writing: Love Like You (Caleb Hyles) , Be my Mistake (The 1975) , Mr Loverman (Ricky Montgomery), Lonely (Noah Cyrus), She used to be mine (Jessie Mueller), Before you go (Lewis Capaldi)

"Satori~" Tendou turns around, grin only growing as he hears your sing song voice call from around the corner.

He watched with bated breath, letting out a soft sigh and a heartwarming smile, as he holds out his hands and pulls you into his chest. Taking a deep inhale and exhale.

"How did you sleep?" His grin is soft, and those who've only seen a sinister smile on his face from volleyball would be surprised at how full of love and adoration it held. Truly, Tendou's paradise from the rest of the world, a breath of fresh air from those who found him creepy or weird.

No, you weren't like them. Ever since the beginning you were always the first to jump in to defend Tendou, who had just started to shrug off the looks and whispers of those around him.

"The best sleep I've ever had."

"Yeah?" Tendou sways the two of you in his arms slightly, his tall and thin frame trying it's best to keep you warm from the fall air.

"I had a nightmare." Tendou hums, clearly not worried about it.

"You did?" Tendou's heart squeezes in a way he can't describe as you look up at him with innocent eyes.

"Yeah, your bus was in a car crash." He hums, chills running down his back as remembers the rush of feelings that accompanied the dream.

"Well, I'm here now, besides it's just a dream." Too engrossed in his conversation with you, Tendou isn't aware of the worried look Semi sends him and then Ushijima.

But before he can formally say anything, Ushijima interrupts him.

"He'll be ok. He always is."

---

Tendou's absolutely sure that the looks he's gotten from people in the halls have passed just staring because he was weird looking, there was some underlying message in the stares now, something he couldn't decode.

"Don't mind them Satori." You tug on his uniform blazer, marching ahead of him slightly, eager to get to the convenience store.

"You know y/n. Eating ice cream in the winter leads to all sorts of bad things." Tendou leans over you as you pick out an ice cream from the ice chest, hands coming to your hips and subconsciously rubbing circles into the uniform fabric as he pretends to compare the different ice cream types, as if he wouldn't get the same ice bar he always got.

Tendou's eyes sparkle with happiness as you pick out a new flavour, turning over your shoulder to smile and show him the ice cream you picked.

As always, Tendou pays. Something about how you can repay him later, maybe when a manga he really wants comes out.

"Satori, do you want to try?" There's a mischievous smirk playing at your lips as you hold out the ice cream. After stopping on a park bench, not to far away from the school, the two of you just couldn't wait to have the slowly melting ice creams.

Instead of licking the ice cream as you expected him to do, Tendou leaned over and planted a kiss on your lips, humming as he pulled back and licked his tongue over his lips, smirking at your bewildered expression.

"Tendou." Ushijima's curt voice pulls both of your attentions away from eachother and to the stoic boy above you.

"Ushiwaka, sorry we didn't get you an ice cream. You don't like them anyways, but I did get you..." Tendou trails off, rummaging through the white plastic bag you had acquired at the store, a polite smile on the underplayed college student's face.

Tendou lets out an 'Ah ha!' as he procures the mint chocolate flavoured protein bar you've seen Ushijima eat during practice before.

Ushijima takes it from Tendou's outstretched hand, a polite and curt thank you as he sits next to Tendou.

"We were about to talk about the literature project." Tendou hums, sending you a wink and taking a careful bite of his ice cream.

"Tendou, y/n is gone." It's like ripping off a bandaid, it hurt to see his best friend push himself deeper into a fantasy he created of his own imagination.

"Silly Ushiwaka, they're right-" Tendou's stomach drops as he turns and sees you with a sad smile spread over your features, eyes glassy.

"No, they're- Ushiwaka they're right here." Tendou's confused, was this a prank?

"Tendou, y/n's bus was in a very bad accident, and they didn't make it out of the hospital." Tendou lets out a dry and nervous laugh.

"No, that was my nightmare last night, there's no way..." Tendou's blood runs cold and his hands are shaking.

'Not my Y/n. He's talking about the wrong Y/n.' Tendou's thoughts are too quick for him to keep up with, quick breaths coming out in short bursts.

Words are trapped in his throat as he looks between you and Ushijima. Ushijima's face uncharacteristically full of pity, and your's sad, a tear rolling down your cheek.

"Ushijima I think I need a minute." Ushijima nods at Tendou's serious voice, on the verge of breaking, and gets up, walking a good distance away.

"You're gone?" Tendou's hands are shaking as his voice cracks, wanting to reach out to you.

"Satori, listen to me ok? I love you. Don't ever forget that." A tear rolls down Tendou's face as his thoughts become clearer by the second.

What was once incomprehensible static in his head taking the shape of a word, then two, until they formed a sentence.

'Y/ns gone.'

A sob claws it's way out of Tendou's mouth, and he feels like he's in elementary school again.

"Make sure you don't give Goshiki too much of a hard time ok? He's always trying to impress you guys." Both of your hands are on Tendou's face at this point, and it scares him that he can't feel you, your warmth gone, your presence hanging on by a thread.

"Always eat enough ok? I know you don't have a big appetite, but don't get sick while I'm gone ok? Don't skip out on your meals, please." There's tears running down your face, and Tendou finally notices how you're not really there, tears falling quickly, like rain on the bench.

"You're not here?"

You stop wiping his tears away, giving him a sad smile and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm at Tokyo Cemetery, darling." A bone shattering shiver rolls through Tendou as he lets out another sob.

"You can't go, I need you." Tendou's shaking, trying to suppress a scream in pain, his body overflowing with realizing and pain.

"You've been in denial Satori." You wipe his tears and leave a kiss on his cheek, and it kills Tendou inside because he can almost feel it. He wants to feel it. Tendou wants to feel your lips on his cheeks.

"Be good ok? Remember how we were going to go to Paris? Take my memory there, take me around Paris using that photo in your wallet. Kiss me goodnight, don't forget me." Your voice is strained and Tendou can't breathe.

"You hear me Satori? Don't forget me, ok?"

"Ok." He manages, it comes out forced , and very much real. A contrast to the life he's continued to live with you in his head, his body and mind now painfully aware that he'd been walking around like a husk of his last self, his mind entertaining the hope and the denial that, you y/n, were still alive. And Tendou could kiss you, and hold your hand, and see you in his jersey one last time.

'Y/ns gone.' And with that Tendou's back to the reality he hates, where you're gone. Tendou can't breathe and his mind feels like it's a tape recorder on 3x speed.

His heart is beating and his hands are grabbing for something to ground him. Seeing his best friend break apart, Ushijima speeds over, taking big steps and allowing Tendou to grip tightly to his shirt, sobbing loudly.

"I didn't get to say goodbye." He chokes out, burying his head into Ushijima's stomach, letting out a yell of pain and heartbreak.

Ushijima feels his heart constrict at the demonstration of his best friend's pain, the red haired boy screaming into his maroon shirt, soaking through the fabric as he rests his hand on Tendou's head, rubbing it in a way he's seen you do it before.

"I loved them and I couldn't say goodbye." Tendou screams, voice raw and filled to the brim with pain, lanky body shaking violently.

"I didn't get to kiss them one last time. I didn't get to tell them I loved them. I never got to take them to Paris like we planned. I never got to give them my volleyball jersey and see them in the stands, cheering for me one last time."

Tendou and Ushijima stay like that for what seems like hours, Tendou buried in his best friend's embrace, needing to be grounded from his raging thoughts.

"I loved them Ushiwaka." Tendou whispers, no longer shaking, voice and eyes hollow.

"I know Tendou." Ushijima tried his best to sound gentle, he knows that Tendou needs it.

"I didn't get to say goodbye." Tendou's like a broken record as Ushijima helps him get off the park bench, plastic bag filled with two uneaten melted ice creams picked up and thrown out.

"We were going to see the eiffle tower." Tendou whispers from his bunk above Ushijima's.

Body heavy with exhaustion, he's about to sleep when he sits up suddenly, hands panicked as he searches for something.

"Tendou?" Came Ushijima's voice from the below bunk.

"My wallet, where's my wallet?" He's stammering and his voice is raw from sobbing and his hands are shaking as he looks.

"Tendou." Comes Ushijima's calm voice as he gently hands Tendou the wallet.

Immediately Tendou opens it, digging through to find the picture he's sure he kept in there.

Pulling it out, he smiles gently, all run out of tears, as he brings the photo shakily to his lips, kissing the photo gently and smiling, looking into your eyes, frozen in time, no idea of the future, just pure happiness.

"Goodnight, my paradise."

---

Permanent Taglist

@sachirou-senpai @prayerofthehaim @ryusex-wife @x-ia-n @wompwomphq @elianetsantana @jovialnoise @yuujiya @peteunderoos @curiouslilbeast

#Anyways what did you think.#*?#tendou angst #tendou x reader #tendou imagine #tendou satori x reader #tendou satori #tendou satori angst #haikyuu angst #haikyuu x reader #tw// death #tw// panic #tw // panic attack #tendou scenario

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much-ado-about-whumping · 2 years

Text

Taste of Ashes

Previous installments for Callistos: [Bite the Hand that Feeds] [Canvas] [Paying Dearly] [Callistos Masterpost]. I'm gonna go ahead and give this whole series a blanket warning of Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.

A fresh and exciting CW all its own: aftermath of suicide attempt (off-screen, non-graphic)

Other CWs: suicidality, near-death experience, past non-con, past abuse, past self-harm, brief mention of conditioned behavior where rape survivor tries to offer himself to someone sexually (that explanation is longer than the moment in the text tbh), dissociation, past objectification, past dehumanization, depersonalization, brief mention of medical restraints, potentially unrealistic institutional handling of a suicide attempt because I wanted things to get a titch easier, uhhh hurt/comfort on the scale of being handed a pocket-sized umbrella in a category 5 hurricane

The full post is under the cut this time. <3 More context in the end notes.

For a few minutes, Callistos is dead.

For a few minutes, he feels nothing. There's nothing to feel. It's gone, the body others can act upon, the walls that failed to keep him safe. It's all gone. He doesn't even feel the nothingness - it's just oblivion, the vacuum of space, a total absence. He doesn't see a light. He wouldn't go towards it if he did - what's a light ever done for him?

But they save him. They restart his heart, patch him back together. They make him talk to doctors, who make him talk to more doctors. The first round of doctors doesn't understand him - one of them cuffs him to the bed with medical restraints and gazes at him in utter revulsion when he licks his lips, opens his legs. They give him medication that takes the edge off the pain. He sleeps a lot.

It's hard to feel his body. Sometimes he realizes he's crying, or rocking, or shaking, and he doesn't remember when he started. He has nightmares that he can't remember when he wakes up. Some things feel like they happened to someone else. Some things feel like they never happened at all - but he has the scars, so they must have, right?

He talks to more doctors, who help him talk to more doctors. These ones understand him better, seem to sense that he can't get better unless they leave him room to breathe. They give him choices. He tries to care, tries to choose.

He isn't ready to go back to his shitty little apartment. He knows he'll try again. He knows he'll do better, this time. Something deep, deep inside him doesn't want that to happen. Some quiet voice inside him wants to live.

They aren't forcing him to stay. They know that wouldn't help. They're trying to let him make his own choices, trying to encourage him to get what he needs. He qualifies for special programs, they tell him. The government will pay for the care he needs because he's at such high risk. Unspoken, he hears: the high rates of suicide among refugees like you looks bad for the state. Someone has a lot of money riding on you getting better. But he also knows that Someone isn't his doctors, and he doesn't have any better ideas.

They hook him up with a residential program. He's free to come and go, but the days have a suggested structure. He has doctors and counselors and trauma specialists. He has a physical therapist. He hadn't realized he was scarred inside, that the amount of pain he walked around with wasn't normal. He has support groups. He has floormates. He gets reminded to eat.

He reads a lot, old things, things written by people who've been dead longer than his homeland has even been there to run away from. He reads the ancient Egyptian book of the dead. He reads about the ancient Sumerian afterlife, and he can taste the ashes in his mouth. He's been there, he thinks. He lived there for a long time.

He thinks of the people who have devoured him, and for the first time in a long time he feels a spark. He hopes they fucking choke.

---------------------------------

Context: At some point his homeland's government collapses, and Callistos (along with many of his compatriots) flees across the border to a Slightly Better Country with Rather Better Laws. He tries to adjust. Trauma hits him in waves. I don't know what happens in between, but eventually he attempts suicide, and help gets to him in time. I'm not sure if I'll ever write that part. But here's this! <3

#bel's ocs #bel's writing #callistos #suicide attempt cw #suicide mention cw #past noncon cw #depersonalization whump #derealization whump #dissociation whump #ptsd manifesting as depression #please see the in-post CWs for more!

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itsbenedict · 3 years

Text

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 3

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Saelhen and Looseleaf, having acquired a band of allies to keep them safe on their entirely bogus quest to fulfill "Lady Noeru's" succession rite on behalf of the college, set out on Suika Highway towards the jungles of Thunderbrush. On the road, they face two extremely deadly combat encounters.

After checking in on the writhing hellpit they opened in Yoshimimoto Plaza (it's under control, they threw some nets over it), the party heads out onto the highway. Customs by the overland roads couldn't give less of a damn what they're bringing out of the city, so there's no scrutiny and they're well on their way.

A good thirty miles or so into the grassland, and the party has to make a perception check. Looseleaf is the one to nail it- her antennae pick up on a suspicious rustling in the tall grass by the side of the road. And even those with slightly worse rolls notice...

There's a green dragon circling lazily in the sky above them. This is bad, because dragons are... well, chromatic dragons like this green one are malevolent and extremely deadly giant monsters, is the main reason, but the other reason is that dragons are... cursed, is what the common understanding is.

To speak with a dragon is to be condemned to some sort of great misfortune, brought about by your own hand. You know the Simurgh from Worm? Listen to its song for too long, and you become sort of a sleeper agent of self-destructive carnage? It's like a diet version of that. Whatever path your conversation with the dragon puts you on, it's invariably bad for you, somehow. The metallic dragons, who're ostensibly "good", will still ruin your life in some way just by talking to you, even if your immolation does some good for the world on the way out. Nobody wants to talk to a dragon.

Luckily, they don't have to- this one seems content to circle way up in the sky, not saying a word to them. Instead, they just get attacked by a direwolf and several horrible monsters.

The whole party botches their Arcana rolls to determine what the heck these things are.

Benedict I. (GM): None of you have any idea what these things are. They're small, roughly humanoid, and... they look sort of like they're made of mud and tangled grass. They're wielding knives, some multiple knives to a hand, and they look vaguely ethereal, not quite real- possibly animated by something. The dire wolf is, of course, charging you- and the other monsters are following suit. They screech and hiss with obvious hostile intent. Roll initiative!

The party dismounts from their giraffes, since they're not trained for combat and the party isn't trained in mounted combat.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ruffians," she mutters, with the approximate tone a non-elf might use to say "fuckers."

The party's two new melee combatants take up position in the front, while Vayen... stands behind the giraffes, doing nothing. The direwolf lunges, closes in, and... misses entirely, as Oyobi dodges gracefully out of the way. Razzafrazzin' elves...

Then it's Orluthe's turn, and he...

Benedict I. (GM): Orluthe looks around nervously- not at the wolves, but at the party. "Don't... tell anyone about this," he says, and pulls something from his pack. It's a warball helmet. Custom-forged. Looseleaf: Uh. Okay? Is what Looseleaf thinks, in response to this. Benedict I. (GM): I... don't think either of you two would have the context to know what this means, but Oyobi's jaw is on the floor. Looseleaf:Didn't realize that playing warball was apparently something to be ashamed of! Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Your weird secret is safe with me," whispers Saelhen, in the bushes. Benedict I. (GM): Orluthe dons the helmet, and as he does so, he seems to grow larger. There's a shift in his stance, and you hear a growl from beneath the helmet. He howls- and Zero, you're in control of his combat actions here. So what's he do?

Hm.

Orluthe(?) goes ahead and attacks with his halberd, and- being a paladin- opts to SMITE. He impales the thing and burns its wound with divine magic for more than half its health- and then Oyobi's turn comes up and she slices the thing open with her longsword. The party's choice of allies specialized in melee fight seems to be paying off!

Of course, now the other monsters get to take their turn, being unfortunately still alive. One charges at Orluthe and whiffs, but the other... uses some sort of crude slingshot, and hurls some sort of crackling ball of energy at Looseleaf.

Benedict I. (GM): Being hit by this thing suddenly makes you seize up. You remember... Looseleaf, tell me about a time you wanted some physical object very very badly, but didn't get it. Something it hurt you to not have. Looseleaf: Once, when Looseleaf was young, there was a traveling caravan that brought into town a collection of what looked like books for sale. Looseleaf being herself, she of course wanted to buy some of them- but nobody in town would let her go near the vendor! Something about 'inappropriate for young childrens' eyes' and 'mature content warnings'. To this day she's still more than a bit resentful of that, and also she has no idea that the traveling caravan vendor was actually selling basically porn mags. Her memories are interspliced with imaginary counterfactual ideas of what might have been in those books, which are almost certainly not at all what the books actually contained. Benedict I. (GM):You remember that incident, vividly. All that emotional pain, compressed into a single instant of agonizing desire. It leaves you momentarily short of breath, and you take three psychic damage.

Looseleaf attempts to retaliate, but scores, um... a critical failure.

Luckily, that's the last thing these monsters have go right for them- the next few turns are a barrage of successful attacks and AoOs from the party's heavy hitters. Orluthe cuts one in half, provoking a disturbingly human-sounding ghostly wail as it dies. Saelhen throws a dagger from her hiding place in the grass, and...

Benedict I. (GM): Nice! The second dagger takes off this thing's head. It hits the ground with a squelch, and there's another human cry of agony. farnham: "HAH," goes what must be a very large and triumphant and majestic bird in the brush.

As soon as the combat is over, Orluthe returns to normal, and the dragon circling overhead... just flies away, apparently losing interest. Wonder what that's about.

Looseleaf attempts to Soul Read the corpses to learn more about why they were attacked, but unfortunately... the wolf corpse doesn't remember anything unusual that stood out to the spirits of its decaying body parts, and the spirits of the mud and grass left behind by the other monsters only recall being uprooted from the ground and forced to attack people- the spirits animating them seem to be gone.

They are able to figure out what those things were, though- they were Greed Echoes- some sort of evil spirits that echo strong emotions they encountered, and form homunculus bodies with which to act on those emotions. Greed Echoes like these were probably leftover from highwaymen and bandits who've attacked travelers on this road before- playing out their ugliest intentions.

It's weird, though- these are the grasslands, not the mountains. Monsters like these tend to come up out from below mountains, so it's not too common to see so many of them this far from where they spawn.

Moving on, the party reaches a point where the wild grasses suddenly stop, replaced by a uniform tall green grass- corn, apparently. Cornfields mean farmers, and farmers mean civilization.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "How delightfully rustic." Benedict I. (GM): It's not much longer before you see buildings down the road- it looks like the center of a farming village. There's a sign, as you enter the town- "WELCOME TO CORN". Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...how rustic."

They roll into town and notice not much of interest- it's a pretty standard farming village, with a Temple of Diamode (the hypertraditionalist family-values goddess Orluthe claims to be a cleric of), an inn (apparently very busy, with a lot of people going between it and the temple), and a branch of the Deathseekers' Guild (the adventurers' guild, which is very up-front about how dangerous it is to fight monsters as a career).

Orluthe looks a little nervous around the temple, so they head first to the inn. They enter, and they're immediately met with a riot of colors. The inn is packed with halflings in fancy outfits. Not like, rich people fancy, but down-home farmer fancy. Lots of flower patterns and the like. There's a band playing music in the back, and a bunch of halflings dancing while others chug whiskey and hoot and holler. The human innkeeper is struggling to keep up with all the mugs that need washing.

Discounts are in the cards, though- the bearded guy with the whiskey steins is happy to see out-of-towners joining the celebrations- a very proud father, he is, as his son Merrick was just married. This is the wedding reception, and in his mind, the more the merrier.

He puts forth something of a challenge: his son claims that city folk can't dance, see, and he, a dissenting opinion, wants to demonstrate otherwise. So, if the party can defeat his son and daughter-in-law in a dance-off... he'll pay for the night's stay!

How does a dance-fight work? Exactly the same as a normal combat, except the hit points are made up and the actual stats don't matter. You substitute your performance modifier on your rolls! Maybe you have a battleaxe, so you roll to attack with your battleaxe, and what that really means is you're doing a wild swinging dance move that really wows the crowd.

Enemies, meanwhile, know different "dance styles", inspired by CR-appropriate monsters I picked out of the monster manual to non-literally fight in a nonlethal dance battle. The happy couple are a pair of Duergar warriors, squaring off against the party's two squishies.

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The combat is- well, there's not much to it, just a bunch of back-and-forth attack rolls, ultimately decided by clever use of flanking and attacks of opportunity. Looseleaf tries her best, but her Performance modifier isn't nearly as high as Saelhen's, as she's not the daughter of Kanzentokai's Dance Emperor. She does do a cool thing where she leaps into the air and does a wing-assisted pirouette thing, but all that accomplishes is taking her out of the fight for a bit- and concentrating fire on Saelhen.

Their rolls are pretty bad for a while, but things turn around once they outmaneuver their foes and pull off some attacks of opportunity.

Benedict I. (GM): So, you two- describe your combo dance move that totally floors these two. With musical accompaniment, s'il vous plait Looseleaf: okay you know how in ballet there's a move that's, like, one dancer picks up the other dancer and hoists them in the air turns out that move is a lot more effective if the lifting dancer literally has wings. Saelhen du Fishercrown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRoWiTcO7dk Saelhen gladly lifts Looseleaf, and for good measure gives her a little acrobatic toss and flips her in midair, catching her on the drop. Looseleaf: just to add insult to injury, looseleaf uses a whole conjunction of her fancy-schmancy special effects spells- minor illusion to create the effect of golden butterflies flapping around themselves, druidcraft alongside her wingbeat to scatter a bunch of her seeds and have them bloom into flower instantly Saelhen du Fishercrown: She's breathing heavily but... actually enjoying herself, despite the obvious competitive streak motivating all this. Looseleaf: it's a lot of visual spectacle on top of the move itself, and that's what puts the icing on the cake. Benedict I. (GM): There's raucous applause from the audience, and Aridrey is beginning to flag. She laughs, and- it's all she can do to keep up with Merrick, who's himself starting to have trouble keeping up.

(Meaning, while she's still his dance partner, she's "out", and no longer a battlefield presence.) Merrick, wifeless, tries to counterattack, and...

...makes the mistake of trying to copy their moves.

Benedict I. (GM): He hoists Aridrey above his head, and tries to spin her around the same way, and... they've been dancing all day, they're tired, and this is their first real attempt to improvise. "Wh- Merrick, wait-" Saelhen du Fishercrown: MERRICK I'M SO SORRY Benedict I. (GM): And she collapses on top of him, to laughter from everyone, particularly his dad. Saelhen du Fishercrown: (saelhen stifles giggles extremely well because a noble lady would never)

The battle seems more or less over, but Merrick is determined to see this through- breaking into a furious solo jig that puts the floor in grave danger of scuffing. None of his efforts land attacks, though- ultimately, Saelhen finishes the fight by delivering the ultimate humiliation- successfully copying his moves, a storm of fancy footwork. When the dust clears, the jig... is up.

Benedict I. (GM): His father laughs. "What'd I tell you, son? Don't get a big head, aye?" He slaps five gold pieces down on the counter. "Get 'em some rooms, Jonnem!" Merrick... he's been thoroughly humiliated, and doesn't take Saelhen's hand at first. Then Aridrey comes over and pulls him to his feet. "C'mon, honey. Grace, right?" Merrick vibrates for a moment, then lets out a sigh. He goes to shake your hand. "...Ffffffffine dancing," he says. Looseleaf: "That was a lot of fun!" Looseleaf is vibrating like crazy. Just hopping all over the place, like she hasn't quite gotten the dance bug out of her system yet.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: ("For what it's worth, man," she whispers, letting her gracious victor's smile collapse into a slightly shit-eating kind of grin. "That could've gone either way.") Benedict I. (GM): Meanwhile, Oyobi and Orluthe... I was going to say the outcome of their match would match yours, and I guess I'll stick to that, but Orluthe does not know how to dance, and Oyobi is drunk as hell. Orluthe may not know how to dance, but he knows how to hold on for dear life, and keep Oyobi vaguely upright as she flails around wildly. It's probably for the best that Saelhen's attention was elsewhere, because she would not have been able to keep a straight face at Oyobi's scandalous dance moves. Whatever's going on over there, the crowd is loving it- so all together, that's another 400 XP divided four ways.

With that victory, the party gets to stay the night for free. The next morning, they report the Greed Echo encounter and the dragon to the local Deathseekers' Guild (getting 10gp for their trouble, and turning a profit on this pit stop.) And with that... it's back on the road to Thunderbrush, next time!

#twofaced jewel #tfj log #d&d 5e

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bigboxofbees · 5 years

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Quicksand / Störst av allt

This is a swedish Netflix original series (the first one!) about a school shooting, so the following analysis/review will include discussions around that topic. There will also be some smaller spoilers (if you don't want those, you can stop reading after the second image. The show sets out to explore the main character's involvement in the shooting. A thing that makes this show interesting is the fact that Sweden has no history of this type of crime. It jumps between flashbacks to the present, the present being when she was found all the way to when the verdict was being read. I would like to mention that I would not recommend this show to anyone who feels like the topics of gun violence, suicide and sexual assault might be too much for you. They do show the shooting, there's mention of suicide and it has a rape scene.

In short terms, the show can be described as a Romeo and Juliet story. It's a whirlwind "love story" that ends in death. It's about two 17-yearold (later 18-yearold) teens, Maja and Sebastian (fun fact: the actor is a singer, he almost made it to eurovision), who've known eachother since they were children. Sebastian has been away for a year, he and Maja meet again on a night outside a night club. It's been made clear that Sebastian is the kind of guy who "can get any girl". He's rich and popular, yet suddenly only has eyes for Maja. She is your average girl, according to herself. Her family has money, but cannot afford the lavish lifestyle of Sebastian's family. It's the classic rich and troubled guy falls for the girl who doesn't see herself as special. Right after they met, Maja is going on a 3-week vacation to France with her family. Sebastian (and his father) meets up with Maja in France as a surprise, and this is where their love story begins.

Maja and Sebastian falls "in love" fast, it's unclear how long their "romance" lasted, but the timeline of the show seem to only stretch about a year. Although it is important to note, this timeperiod was very intense. They spent days (or possibly a week or two) alone on a luxury yacht the same week they met, Sebastian threw a huge party (drugs and alcohol included), she learned details about him and his family, they were in an accident and they went hunting with her grandfather (fun fact: my mother was in one of his movies in the 80s!).

A side character who's also of importance is Samir (fun fact: played by a former Youtube vlogger, whom I've seen live and he's fucking awesome, just putting it out there). Samir does not come from a family like Sebastian's. He does not understand what Maja sees in Sebastian, because to him Sebastian is nothing but a spoiled rich drug addict. However, he does seem to care about Maja, so perhaps his words come from a place of concern with a touch of jealousy. Sebastian seem to have made Samir his enemy, and there are definitely some racist remarks towards his parents who are immigrants from the middle east. Cheap shots indeed, but this shows that Sebastian is afraid of losing Maja to Samir; the intelligent son of immigrants who does well for himself, unlike Sebastian. He probably sees Samir as both above and below himself in a sense.

Another noteworthy character is Maja's best friend Amanda. Maja describes her as someone who "pities everyone, but equally pities herself", as "self-centered, but cares so much about everything". When Maja confesses that she may no longer be in love, Amanda (who's at least fairly aware about Sebastian's issues) says that "some people would've left him, but you aren't leaving him". She appears to be rather loyal to Sebastian, despite being friends with Maja first. Perhaps because she likes the perks of being that close to Sebastian and his way of life? However, when she learns more about what's going on the tone changes somewhat, she realizes things are bad.

Fast forward, Maja finally decides to break up with Sebastian. This is around the time when things are starting to really spiral out of control. Sebastian's father is not a great parent (I'm being generous here), an example of this would be when Sebastian is in the hospital and neither his father nor his brother comes to visit, they are on vacation. His mother is no longer in the picture, what happened to her is unknown, but there was a disturbing comment about her and his father clearly does not like her. This all becomes a lot for Sebastian, the disappointment, the drugs, the jealousy; his only escape was Maja, and she broke up with him. Maja feels even more responsibility over Sebastian, so she kind of stays with him. Maja can't bring herself to leave him, not even after he assaults her. In court she mentions that she "wishes he had hit her harder" so that she wouldn't feel so guilty about leaving him.

Maja is being detained for being suspected of murder, attempted murder and assisted murder. She is not completely innocent, that much is clear from the start, the question is what her involvement actually was. Maja doesn't seem to be able to picture herself a life after the shooting. When her legal team says "we all want you out of here" she responds with "out to where?". Perhaps she didn't plan that far, perhaps she doesn't feel like she has anything left or perhaps she didn't plan on making it out alive. What actually happened I won't spoil.

The scenes in the courtroom brings up a couple of interesting aspects of the trial. First we have witness tampering. The police didn't handle the main witness properly and therefor the witness' memories weren't clear. What this teaches us is that even if someone is not telling the truth, they may not be lying. Because by talking to other people, your memories can be altered, especially in situations like this. Another thing is the media, which played a role in the trial. As Maja's lawyer puts it: "She was already found guilty before we started". The media had been running stories about how horrible she was, which affected everyone in the courtroom. The last thing I wanted to bring up was victim blaming, we see the classics of "Did you say no? Did you report it?" and "Why didn't you leave?".

The show certainly sets out to humanize the people of the shooting, however, it does not try to romanticize the events nor their relationship. It starts out as this fantastical love story, but turns into a very toxic relationship and a downward spiral. If anything, it serves as a cautionary tale, because sometimes we can't save those we care about. Sometimes it's best to walk away.

As a final note, it does not however explain why it happened, we never got a clear motive. All we know is that the teacher had called for a meeting about Maja and Sebastian, and this is where it happened. But, perhaps, the lack of a motive is intended as a message. People do horrible things, maybe they don't always have a clear reasoning behind it; perhaps it was irratic and impulsive with no clear motive. But I would say that the shooting isn't the most central part of the show; it's their relationship. It's not a show about a school shooting, it's a show about how a relationship can turn toxic and spiral out of control.

I absolutely would recommend the show. It keeps you glued to the screen and you can easily watch it in a day (I did). It explores interesting topics and you're never quite sure whether or not you should be rooting for Maja until the very end.

#störst av allt #quicksand netflix #netflix original #netflix series #netflix #swedish series #i spent way too much time on this

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