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awakentheeldritchabomination · 2 months

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First Random Writing Dump

CW: mentions of self harm and emotional abuse

As decreed by the poll, most of ya’ll seem fine with a little bit of word vomit, and since I have some time, I’m just gonna spew a bit of my thoughts on my version of Charlie so far. It won’t be much, just a jumbled list of rough ideas. I don’t know how set I am with these, but here goes:

- They may or may not be renamed

- They use they/them pronouns but don’t correct people who misgender them; they find gender to be an odd concept, and they can’t quite grasp why people care so much about it

- They know a lot about human history but have not personally interacted with many people beyond what is necessary (until later)

- Their capacity to empathize with the plight of humans comes from guilt, their mother, who is still going to be Lilith… maybe…., a horrific chance encounter, and their relationship with V (gotta pick a name for her lol)

- Still, growing up in a privileged position largely removed from the sinners’ reality while being surrounded by reminders that these people invited suffering through their own wickedness has given them this sense of innate superiority; they are semi-aware of the fact that their elitist mindset exists and is not…great…but they prefer to bury it under toxic positivity and pretend it’s not an issue

- They have been trained to fight (heaven and hell are still basically at war, after all), but they’ve never had a real battle, and they’ve certainly never killed anyone before; the weight of dealing death terrifies and paralyzes them

- They are aware of what they are, and they deeply fear what they are capable of

- They are not very well acquainted with their demonic form, and they’d rather not be; it’s often triggered by ugly feelings they don’t want to confront

- Yeah, they’ve got some things going on deep down. Beneath the sunshine and rainbows and genuinely good intentions, there’s this raw, wriggling darkness, gnawing on their insides like maggots; they don’t know why

- Spoilers: it’s the manipulation and emotional abuse Lucifer subjected them to as well as the resentment harbored against both parents for deciding to bring a child into a realm meant as an eternal torture chamber for evil people; they don’t consciously recognize the abuse they experienced because of strategic subtly, gaslighting, and isolation from other experiences. Both they and Lilith know something about Lucifer is off, and it creates this eerie, underlying fear that permeates every interaction, yet neither of them know how bad it actually is; Also Lilith likes to make excuses just like: “Oh, don’t be like that. He’s just doing whatever coz he loves you :)”

- Their warring sides will come to a head; the anger inside them will boil over, and they will be a terror

- Lucifer cuts them off after a falling out that occurs because of the hotel proposal; they will only be accepted back once they’ve “come to their senses”

- Charlie and Alastor have a weird relationship; they’ve got this yin-yang, mirrored image thing going on; they:

1. Are both biracial and are torn between different worlds

2. Have distanced themselves from one (their blackness. Yeah, Charlie is technically half black. But it’s a little more about their relation to the whole of humanity for them), but while one is actively trying to seek it out, the other has been conditioned to avoid it

3. Are performers (which will play a role in discussions of identity, y’know, what it means to perform an aspect of identity; what is whiteness vs blackness; queerness vs heteronormative ideals; how we generally define them and individually express them. But it’s also just “hey, we both like doing a thing. Oh, wow. Neat.”)

4. Have a volatile amount of anger that makes them violently lash out

5. Have strictly opposing yet similarly extreme moral principles

this will also be present in their designs (they have opposing coloration: blue vs red, white on black vs black on white, etc.); then there’s the wolf vs deer thing… I feel like I’d need a separate post to go through all that. I feel like this is already a lot lol

- They kinda feel conflicted about being friends with Al because he allows them to cut loose a bit and have fun, and they weirdly enough have a bit in common….but like…. dude ate people…..uhhhhhhh (does that make them a bad person if they like a literal murderer?), but then they think “I’m not supposed to judge. I’m supposed to help (and I’m totally fine….right….?). Meanwhile, V’s just like, “No, babe, please judge”

- They don’t like absolute silence, and they don’t like being alone; it allows their mind to wander into dangerous places; since Alastor is a literal radio that spits out music and static constantly, they sometimes just seek him out when their thoughts are too loud. Like, he just becomes a sentient noise machine for them basically

- Charlie’s got a habit of chewing on things when they’re nervous—pens, the inside of their cheek, their nails—coz dog (or….wolf….dragon….thingy); it’s usually harmless, but when they feel especially bad, they bite themselves (sometimes they bite the stuffing out of pillows as a substitute); when they start to more aggressively gnaw on their nails, V usually tries to guide their hand away

- They hide under the bed when they are feeling particularly miserable and anxious

There’s a lot more crap brewing, and I didn’t go into as much detail as I could have…. But I think that’s enough for maybe the week idk. If anyone’s at all curious, I might make another post about V or something.

Leave thoughts in the notes if you wanna!

#hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel redesign #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel rewrite #charlie redesign #hazbin charlie redesign #Hazbin Charlie rewrite

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kangaracha · 4 months

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NEVERMORE: MONSTERS & MOVEMENTS

the governmental and musical powers of the clé

Read NEVERMORE | Content List

STRAY KIDS & THE SIX

Throughout all of the Clé's living history, these two forces have been present; two groups, locked in eternal battle for control, new versions of themselves always coming back with new music to light up the worlds. They are called one at a time periodically, when the Miroh or the Clé itself gets bored or stagnant and needs to be moved again; each time another comes, it signifies the end of the reign of the other, until a new version of them is called and the cycle starts again. The only time this has not happened was most recently, when The Six created the Moment to stop Stray Kids and extend their reign past its ending point, spiralling the Clé into an era of blank, faceless art and soulless music, and eventually into time being frozen itself.

THE ISEKAI

The Isekai are the supporters of The Six, a nameless and faceless army that stands behind them. They are near-mythological within the Clé, particularly in Miroh - whether they are real people, or summoned into being out of someone's imagination, the regular people of the city cannot decide. The Isekai are responsible for a number of tasks across the Clé, from peacekeeping to the keeping of the ghosts in Injeon, to overseeing Geomijul and District 9, and whenever someone crosses The Six, they are there.

THE DOKKAEBI

A rebel organisation created in Miroh and Levanter, by a group of people enamoured with the hidden tales of the Clé before The Six came. Their purpose is to remove everyone from power and let the Clé itself become its own governing body again, even if this means a return to a more difficult and nomadic lifestyle in an ever-changing world, fighting against the tight control of The Six which keeps the Clé stable and allows life to run as it would in a 'normal' world outside of its borders.

The dokkaebi are viewed more as a nuisance than anything else by The Six, leading to them being named after a race of mythical, mischievous goblins. They were defeated in the third Moment, where most of them were caught and the rest scattered across the Clé, forming small cells or living in isolation to avoid further punishment, which remains as their current state at the beginning of Nevermore.

SORIKKUN

Sorikkun is the superpower of the Clé, a word to describe people who have the ability to read or manipulate the world in some way. It manifests in many different ways, and sometimes isn't even noticed by the person who wields it; it is just a part of life, something that makes them stand out from the crowd a little more than others. It is tied to artistry, affecting musicians and artists and creators of different pieces of culture, those who already affect the world and the people around them with the skills they have.

There are a lot of different powers that come from being sorikkun. Glitches fall into this category, the inability to be fooled by anything in the Clé, the innate drive to go against the grain. Some can open doors between worlds in one way or another, or can hear what the different worlds are saying or feel their intentions. Others might manipulate things like the winds that blow through Miroh and Levanter, signifying a change in fortunes or circumstances, or see between the worlds in mirrors and windows, or to places outside of the Clé.

THE GWOEMUL

The Gwoemul is a monster that has crawled out of the dark corners of the Nevermore, the in-between of all the worlds, the lining of the universe. It is a world-eater, an immortal outside of the realm of time or purpose, a hungry beast wanting to devour all of the life in the Clé simply out of boredom. It doesn't even have a physical form, its shape changing on any whim it pleases to suit the world it has found itself in.

Like the Clé, it is born from the natural rhythms of the world and is especially tuned into music. Its favourite meal is people's voices; not their physical ability to make sound, but the emotion and intention behind their words, their ability to sing or speak and to have it resonate with others like them. It is capable of far more though; as shown in its singlehanded destruction of Injeon, where it turned every physical being into a ghost, a fraction of a soul left wandering around as if it never died.

The Gwoemul is a sly and devious creature, and capable of pettiness too - once crossed, it delights in the pursuit of revenge. The Six in particular have crossed it several times - and so, even though the potential of its resident's voices is an enticing enough meal, its driving force is to escape the corner of Geomijul it is imprisoned in and make its way to Miroh, to devour everything in its wake and finally cut The Six down to size.

GLITCHES

Glitches, simply, are people who cannot fit into the crowd. They are a type of sorikkun that is more common than the others. Where everything in the Clé moves to a rhythm, like a charmed snake or a sailor hearing a siren call, they move against it, creating their own burst of melody over the top of it. They are cursed to be individual and other, to float between worlds without ever being held by one, as no door can close to them, no ground can trick them into staying - and under the rule of The Six, they are cursed to be outsiders too, looked down upon and shunned as criminals by a society that no longer understands what their gift is for.

THE MOMENT

This is a weapon created by The Six to ensure their victory over anything that might end their rule prematurely. The Moment is a kind of combination of sorikkun power and science, made to manipulate the Clé into running time backwards. Every use of it ebbs away at the life force of the Clé itself, breaking down the very fabric that holds this universe together.

#stray kids #skzcu #nevermore #roo writes

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itswavelengths · 2 years

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Everything in Moderation

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The team at NVIDIA Studio released this video late last month showing off their new and astonishing "RTX Remix" tool for remastering PC games and I haven't stopped thinking about it. Taken at face-value the software allows developers and modders to easily and visually update assets and lighting in older games through some clever tricks and assistance via AI upscalers, sprucing them up enough to be considered truly remastered works. To be transparent: I am not a game developer, but I have been doing some digging into actual developer reactions to this and the term "wizardry" appears frequently. The ability to automate processes that needed to be done by hand, or to visually see changes made to textures and modeling reflected in real-time is a game-changer for the kind of work the modding scene has been painstakingly toiling away on for decades.

And although the focus of the presentation seemed to be aimed squarely at said modding scene — there are multiple times in which the presenter mentions they "can't wait to see what the community will do" — I do find it interesting on a high level that NVIDIA sought to make this tool in the first place, knowing full well that the remake and remaster side of the game development business has ballooned in recent years. The line between those two terms has never been blurrier, but there's no denying that we can't go a week without hearing about some long-dormant game being revitalized for modern consoles. For NVIDIA to not only recognize the business need for a better suite of tools to coincide with what can be considered its own mini-industry, but to provide such a huge collection of innovative concepts into the fold means we'll likely be seeing many projects coming down the pipeline soon. And by "soon" I mean it's likely that NVIDIA has already been helping shuttle multiple game remasters simultaneously through the RTX Remix pipeline behind-the-scenes for months. Not only are there credible rumors of remasters for Bioshock and Mirror's Edge in the works, but NVIDIA themselves unveiled a trailer for an RTX edition of the first Portal:

youtube

The realities of the games industry being... well... an industry... means IP-holders and publishers will frequently overlook the benefits of just porting an old game to new hardware, but given a cost-effective tool like this to hypothetically expedite the process I'm hopeful more forgotten classics will return in some playable form. Although remastering a game isn't quite the same as preservation, a desire to revisit and rerelease previously unplayable titles will usually be a net-positive in my book. One concern I keep mulling over though is the tendency to lose nuance in the process of remastering a game. In the past I've been critical of "next-gen ports" just adding ray-traced lighting to higher-res textures and calling it a day. There are times I've found in which relying on technological fixes end up removing the artistic intent of talented world and level-designers using hardware constraints to their advantage.

The PS5 version of Judgement comes to mind here in which, despite higher fidelity textures across the board, scenes previously awash in the vibrant glow of Kamurocho's neon nightlife take on a more realistic contrast at the expense of the original's atmosphere bringing out the best (and worst) in the city streets. Personally I think this is a case of early adoption — even the Portal with RTX trailer linked above seems like it's overdoing its lighting effects at times, sliders pushed all the way to the limit making previously highly-visible scenes take on a new and unintended darkness. While the tendency right now is to show off how powerful and exciting ray-tracing and AI-upscaling can be, developers will slowly start to incorporate them the way they do all other effects: with a light touch. There was a time when particles and destructible environments were all the rage as well, and every single game was littered with exploding bullet-hole-laden walls and floating motes of dust obscuring the player's view.

But I have faith in the future here, everything in moderation.

---

One last note here is a point in the video in which the following wildly disappointing sentence pops up:

Morrowind RTX is a technical showcase and is not currently under active development.

Sad!!

⏆

#Youtube

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twistedmusings · 3 years

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Wake Up From Your Dream

A/N: I don't even know what I can SAY to this one except...I think I was so angry at not writing that I wrote smut outta SPITE? Can I be so angry with myself that I write Malleus smut to just get something out there? I guess I can. Anyways this ask certainly let my imagination fly q wq

Warnings: Non-con making its way into dub-con, manipulation, impregnating sex and Malleus realizing that family is really important.

You needed to find your way back to Night Raven College.

It has been so long since you’ve been back there, laughing and walking around as if there was no trouble in the world. Nevermind that you weren’t anywhere close to home and nevermind that your family was seeking you out.

As long as there was a possibility of you finding your way home, you had pretended that everything was going to be alright.

You were still a stranger to this world, you had no ties to this world and there would be no reason for you to stay once Crowley found your way back home. It was wonderful making friends with such a variety of people and watching them all grow in their own way. The way you knew you would grow from this experience as well.

Watching Ace and Deuce really come into themselves and their Unique Magic, watching the dorm leaders step into their positions of power and truly start to make a name for themselves that would help them out in their own version of the ‘real’ world. Riddle had gotten a wonderful position befitting of his family name, Leona was actually graduating, Azul was said to open a Monstro Lounge in the Coral Sea while Kalim had started investing time in his father’s trade without having Jamil help him. Even Idia was starting to take strides in his own field!

And you were proudest of Malleus. One simple conversation outside of Ramshackle had turned into a friendship you thought you would never forget. It was so wonderful to see him interact more with students, shyly following after you as you pushed him to talk more to others despite his position. That was what college was for, right? To experience new things and find your future--

You just didn’t think that Malleus would take it that far.

Was it because he was spoiled? No, even though he was born in a monarchy he still did his best to remain kind to others, especially his subjects. You were sure he was going to make a kind king in the future, even if you never got to see with your own two eyes.

You pull the hood over your head as you enter a bath house, the fae receiving you with a curious look and a smile as you hand her 2000 madols.

“Will you be booking a room tonight as well?”

“Just a simple shower and bath, that is all.”

If you were to make a guess, you were in the borders of the Valley of Thorns, a more rural area compared to the now rather modernized capital. You had stolen enough money to get you by for a few trips and you knew that places like these were the best at getting you directions. It had been a bit of a grueling trip, testing your knowledge of the fae language as well as avoiding questions about who you were and why you so desperately needed to make your way back to such a prestigious college. In a sense, you kept it minimal.

You needed to get back home.

“It’s fine. You’re fine. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

The mantra you kept repeating to yourself was whispered under your breath as you removed your articles of clothing slowly, still looking around to see if anybody had followed you in. But this is what was raising all of the hairs on your body, wasn’t it? This constant vigilance that didn’t let you sleep at night. You needed to relax, no one else would come this far.

You feel the fatigue melt as several days of walking are washed right off your body, a smile slowly creeping up on your face as you wash the dirt and oil from your hair.

It would be fine.

You would make it to Night Raven College and sneak into the Hall of Mirrors before wishing yourself back home. Crowley had said that they had pinned down the world you lived in and only after you make your wish would the connection be broken. This most likely meant that the connection was still intact since you didn’t even get a chance to to look at the mirror before you were whisked away.

Everything was going to work itself out, that’s the most you could promise yourself.

The bath is heavenly, the temperate water cooling you down from the hot shower as you look around.

There were no other patrons.

“Good.”

You lean back and press your head against a soft pillow of towels, enjoying the silence as you feel your worries soften while thinking back to what you would do when you were back home. It had been so long since you’ve seen some of your friends, your family was probably worried sick and you still had your own plans you wanted to get through.

If you had time, you could maybe drop by to see how your first year friends were doing?

Or were they in their third year now?

Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?

Your eyes close as you let yourself relax entirely, almost succumbing to sleep.

Only for a hand to grab your throat, the other covering your eyes as you hear a familiar chuckle that tenses your body up and breaks your heart.

“I am afraid we will have to postpone this shower.”

Tears well up in the corner of your eyes as you hear the sound of footsteps into the area, most likely the royal guard.

“Lilia--”

“You’d do well to stay put lest they chase after you.”

The hands covering your eyes pull back as you see a teasing smile looking down pitifully at your fresh set of tears.

“It has taken far too long to find you, Your Majesty.”

-----

“HUMAN!”

“[Y/N]-san!”

Lilia smiles as he leads you by the hand, the royal guard following close behind as Sebek and Silver join him.

“He might have already woken up, Father.”

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU KNOW WHAT MY YOUNG MASTER HAS GONE THROUGH?”

“Sebek.” Lilia looks at his charge, “Quiet. Malleus might still be sleeping.”

Silver takes one peek at you, trying to meet your gaze but pulling away when he sees that the veil Lilia had put on you is blocking anybody’s stares from seeing your face. In fact, the second in command had put you in one of the traditional outfits for fae royalty, complete with a light veil that flowed down from the silver circlet placed on your head.

“Excellent.”

Lilia turns his attention to you and laughs.

“He has been absolutely miserable since you left. It was quite a surprise to all of us when you managed to leave the palace walls. None of us thought that you had really done it, especially him, and it really was a hassle to search the palace up and down to see just where our little human had run off to.”

His voice drops to a whisper as he brings your hand up to his lips.

“I’ll make sure to punish you for that later.”

The older fae leads you along as you finally reach your destination, smiling as he knocks on large wooden doors while pushing you slightly to stand in front of everybody.

An answer he was going to get by the end of the night.

“Malleus.”

No answer. He tests the doors and nods when he sees they are unlocked, opening them as he leads you to step inside so that you both could see the figure drenched in moonlight, looking out the window as if awaiting for an answer.

Lilia waits for his other charge to say anything but shrugs as he looks at you with a smile and a bow.

“We are glad to have you back, Your Majesty.”

The door closes with a loud click as you turn your eyes to look up at the imposing figure, your nails digging into your fingertips enough to draw blood as you try to hold back from screaming and shouting at him to stop acting like such a child. Yet you do not wish to anger him, at least to save yourself from any sort of harsher punishment.

So instead you make your way over to the bed--

Only for the fae to turn around, grab your wrist and slam your back into the rough stone wall. Bright green eyes glare down at you as you wince in pain, still looking away from him but letting out a yelp when Malleus’s fingers grab your chin and force you to look at him in the eye.

“Why did you run?”

He really had no idea, did he?

“Because I don’t belong here--”

Malleus tightens his hold on your wrist.

“We’ve discussed this before, child of man, you belong here just like anybody else, you are my Queen--”

“Malleus wake UP!”

You push against his hold but the fae’s hold gets tighter, most likely leaving a mark. But that wouldn’t deter you, not anymore, you were going to tell him.

“I’m not from this world! Coming to Twisted Wonderland was just an accident! A stupid, stupid accident that no one bothered to fix! And just when we were close to making it right you---you--!”

Shit, you’re crying again.

“I have people waiting for me. Just like you had a family waiting for you. I came to the Valley of Thorns thinking that I was supporting you during your coronation but you just--made a decision entirely by yourself and announced me as yours! Why did you lie to me? To them?!”

Malleus’s hold softens as you finally let your tears flow freely, wishing to wipe them away only due to how weak they were making you look.

“...did you not say you loved me?”

“I did! I did but--Malleus after what you did I can’t--”

He lets go of your wrist only to cup your face as he leans down to press his lips on your cheek, his tongue licking up the warm tears as you grab hold of his wrists to try and push him away.

“Do you miss your family?”

You nod as he moves to kiss the corner of your eyes.

“More than anything…”

The dragon fae hums, letting his lips stay where they were a few seconds longer before chuckling as he pulls you close.

“I see--I really have been cruel to you, haven’t I?”

Your heart nearly leaps out of your throat at his words, hands clutching at his robes as you quickly nod. Maybe this was it, maybe it had taken you breaking down to let him see reason?

Please. Please!

“...A family.”

Malleus’s words are like dripped honey as a thought formed in his head, the thought taking shape and form as his hands clutched you tighter.

“Then we’ll just need to make a family of our own…”

-----

Hands clutch at his sheets as Malleus takes in the shape under him.

How beautiful could you be? How complex? To him it was as if not a day had passed since you first met. What had been mere curiosity had delved into deep affection and blossomed into a love that Malleus would only read about in fairytales. The sort of books that led him to believe in soulmates, in happily ever after’s and the possibility of spending the rest of your life with the one you loved.

And yes, you weren’t a fae, but the power of his magic was grand enough to keep you tied to him for the rest of eternity.

His lips can’t help but seek out yours as he thinks about how he is the one who will decide when you die.

This love hadn’t started out like this. What he felt for you had been a bit more relaxed, a lot softer and dreamier. You had confessed to him after his Overblot incident and he had gladly accepted your feelings. He was still keen on finding you a way home and promised himself to not let any moment be wasted in thinking how you soon would be far away from him.

Every day was spent happily with you, the rest of the school year flying by as you both enjoyed the time you still had together.

But Malleus was still a dragon at heart, a fae that yearned and longed to take and take.

So when thoughts about you leaving started to make their way to the forefront of his mind, not even your constant love and affection could keep him from his instincts.

You would leave him to go back to your world. Go back to the normal and the familiar. As you walked your path, you would eventually find someone that enchanted you the way he had, all ending with you walking down a beautiful aisle to your now beloved.

A person that wasn’t...him.

As the days of his third year started to run to a close, his hold on you had become a lot tighter, his kisses a lot more possessive and in the end he had invited you to watch his coronation as he entered his fourth and final year.

With his announcement of making you his Queen.

“Malleus! Please I can’t--I’m not ready--!”

He let Lilia make up some story about you not returning to Night Raven, fooling Crowley into believing that you had found your future in the Valley of Thorns with him. The announcement of you taking up the role of Queen had been surprising but Malleus had woven the story in such a way that there had been talks of having it printed for others to read.

It was a wonderful ending to your love story, you ending up in his arms. But something was missing…

Malleus was glad that you had given him the answer.

Both of your knees were on either side of his waist, your hands clutching at whatever they could as his cock buried itself deep into your cunt. The veil was long forgotten as his robes and your own are thrown carelessly around the room while you wail and scream at being broken into by such a thick length. The small sight of blood on his cock made Malleus smile as he pushed in further, the tightness that was pushing him back slowly opening up for him as he watched you do your best to fit him inside.

It would be fine, you would be fine.

With a growl he finally bottoms out, two hands holding your hips and forcing you down to take all of him as the tip of his cock pressed right under your womb--

He shivers as you tighten up again, leaning down to lick up the trail of tears on your cheek before eating up your tiny whimpers with a hungry kiss.

“Here...right here is where our family will start.”

A large hand takes yours as Malleus puts it right over the small bulge on your stomach, your eyes growing wide as you realize just how deep inside he is. He kisses you again, not daring to break away as he lets a trail of saliva dangle from his lips to yours, the clear liquid disappearing into your mouth as your body relaxed and your eyes grew hazy.

“Do you love me, child of man?”

It was a simple question, but your brain seemed muddled from his kiss. Dragons tended to excrete a certain liquid as they got ready to mate, the experience painful even within his own species but being eased with the help of saliva, sweat or cum.

And with the way he was pressed against you, his sweat matted on your skin as he let more of his spit drip down his tongue and onto yours...surely the answer would come the more you two worked to start your family.

Malleus hardly gave you any time to recover as he started to move, his eyes entranced with the way he disappeared into you with each thrust. Your mind was still muddled but your body was already eagerly accepting him, your legs wrapping around him slowly before locking him in place as he repeated the question.

“Do you love me, child of man?”

You open your mouth but the only word that comes out is a plea for him to go faster.

Which Malleus gladly listens to.

It didn’t take long for him to start pounding into you at a brutal pace, every thrust having the tip of his cock slamming against your womb as your toes curled from the pleasure of taking him so deep. His cock disappeared inside your tiny cunt, shaft now coated not just with blood but with your arousal as well. The bed creaked in protest while the sounds of the bed frame hitting the wall helped him keep time, Malleus leaning back down to kiss you again as your lips this time part eagerly and sucked on his tongue while your hands clutched his shoulders and horns.

Cries turned into happy moans, your sad and abandoned look now one of pure ecstasy as your pussy flutters and tightens around him, pushing him to go harder and harder so he could---!

“[Y/N]--!”

Your legs close tighter around him as you bury your face on the crook of his neck, your orgasm being ripped from you unexpectedly as Malleus halted his movements with a stiff body. He drops his head on your shoulder as your legs keep him in place.

“Malleus...ah--!”

He groans as he paints the inside of your walls white, the warmth of his cum filling your womb to the point that what you hadn’t taken merely dripped out onto the now stained sheets. Malleus lifts his head to look down at you, smiling as he sees your eyes staring up at him eagerly despite how much you had protested before.

“A family…”

You smile as Malleus nods, your hands going all the way to your stomach as you feel the warmth start to twist your brain even more.

“A family with you…how wonderful…”

Arms wrap around him as Malleus kisses a trail from your shoulder to your lips. He just needed to ask you one last time.

“Do you love me, child of man?”

With a hum, your answer is whispered into his ear as Malleus closes his eyes as he realizes that this is where his happily ever after would finally start.

“I love you Malleus, more than anything else.”

#twisted wonderland #malleus draconia #malleus x reader #twst mc #twisted wonderland x reader #twst #twst smut #twst imagines #fem reader #twst x reader #adult section #requests #//and to those who have been sending me nice messages #//thank you q wq

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neversleepagainau · 3 years

Photo

please do not repost my art.

~~~

at long last, im so excited to announce that this ask blog is officially open! many people know I’ve been working on this intro for roughly five weeks, and I’m very excited to finally share it- possibly as excited as I am to FINALLY begin telling this story!!!

first of all, tumblr completely ruined the quality of that last panel- if you wanna see the full sized gif (warning you now, it’s enormous), you can find that here! And, if the gif is hard to read/hard to view, there’s a static version of this panel below the cut!

There’s also a ton of extra information that could answer some questions you might have, as well as a list of potential triggers to watch out for in the future! However, it is really long, and when I say really long, I mean it’s chapter-in-a-book-long so please don’t feel obligated to read it unless you have extra questions/have some bad triggers you wanna make sure to avoid.

Otherwise though, I can’t wait to see what kind of questions you guys send these two! One has to wonder… where in the world are they headed off to in the dead of night…

First of all, here’s the static image of Panel 8, as promised!

And now for some extra info on things going forward.

On every single canon update, there will be a description of themes in this story that could unsettle or discomfort some viewers. I’ve included tags to blacklist, and explained exactly how these situations might arise so folks who are sensitive to this kind of thing can prepare themselves accordingly!

I would recommend at least skimming this list if you know you have some bad triggers! This story will never get too dark or intense, as I’m attempting to stay true to the original spirit of MSA, but this doesn’t mean it won’t touch on those themes at all.

also, in regards to how much of this art is hand drawn by me- the honest truth is 99% of this is entirely freehanded. I took colors from the videos, but otherwise only used them as reference. However, if I ever used a canon asset to help me, I will always specifically say what exactly was borrowed directly from canon in a way that was more than just using images as reference and taking colors. for this post specifically, I’ll word it a little differently, but this will all be much tidier in the future.

the van asset is 97% freehanded by myself- I did take measurements of the canon asset, and marked my canvas so I’d know the width and height of the van, and vaguely marked where the tires would be.  I did trace the antennae ontop, as well as the cloud decals, one of the curves on the right side of the windshield, part of the door window at the very bottom lefthand corner, and the rear view mirror. The logo was not recreated, I directly took that and just altered the colors to fit the van. Other than that, everything you see on that van was freehanded. The van was also the only thing I used a canon asset to help me with for creation of it, meaning that the rest of the art in this introduction is entirely freehand.

moving on from that- updates will not take an entire month like this did. i will not be doing eight full color illustrations for every single update, and for right now, at the minimum, they’ll happen weekly! i can provide more information going forward once I work out how I’m going to go about things a little better, since things won’t be as huge as this introduction was. don’t worry though, the quality of the art itself will stay the same throughout the whole story!

and yes, lewis and vivi are in this too! there’s a big cast of characters, and lew and viv are just as much at the center of this story as arthur and mystery are- don’t worry, you’ll see them plenty soon enough!

finally, before we get to the content warning stuff, if you ever have any questions about how I’m running things, or need clarification on anything, please let me know! I’m happy to explain things in more depth if needed!!! and now, here’s the last chunk of this INCREDIBLY long introduction. ~~~ WHAT FOLLOWS IS A VERY LONG (!!!), IN DEPTH LIST OF THINGS VIEWERS MIGHT ENCOUNTER IN THIS STORY THAT COULD TRIGGER THEM. If you are not super sensitive or have very intense triggers, you don’t really need to read what follows unless you want to. Otherwise, I would at least skim this, so you know what tags to block so you won’t have to see this type of content.

Don’t let any of this worry you too much, by the way! This story is very likely not ever going to get extreme in any manner, I just like to be very cautious, just in case!

Also keep in mind that you can always ask me to add tags to a post, and it’s highly unlikely I will refuse said request. If I do, it will be for a very good reason, and I’ll explain it thoroughly, as well as remain open to any discussion about it. With that in mind, here are things to be aware of:

CHARACTER DEATH/REMOVAL FROM STORY: There may be characters in this story that you will get attached to that end up dying or not being in the story at all or as much as they were before. This story has chances for different outcomes depending on asks, but there are some things I have set in stone and a few of them involve these themes, so please be mindful of that. The tags to blacklist to avoid updates that touch on this specifically are #character death or #character removal.

DISTURBING CONTENT: This is vaguely worded because it is a bit of broad umbrella. There may be themes of body horror, gore, violent/upsetting/disturbing depictions of death (not any worse than Lew’s death, if it ever is I’ll be sure to specify ahead of time), creepy/unsettling designs and environments, so on and so forth. The tag to blacklist to avoid updates that include anything I consider to be disturbing to view is #disturbing content.

ANGST: This story will get sad, and broach on themes of abandonment, loss, trauma, depression, paranoia, self-hate, and things in this nature. What I can immediately promise is this story will NEVER have themes of suicide or self-harm. I do not feel this story needs to go there, nor do I wish to take it there. Also, while there is angst, I do not believe in beating characters up mercilessly- the angst is for the story and their development. This is not going to be a story that is only angsty. However, if any sort of angst upsets you, the tag to blacklist to avoid updates that include heavier, angstier themes is #angst.

PARANOIA: A few of the characters often get a sense of being hunted or followed, or something lurking around the corner, which can be upsetting to some viewers. A few characters may occasionally have moments where they express their anxieties in depth. The tag to blacklist to avoid updates that include heavy mentions of paranoia/depictions of it/make the characters (and potentially audience) feel paranoid is #paranoia.

UNREALITY: Lewis has some powers that can warp space and create illusions, and potentially will be in situations where he uses them in ways that could mess with people’s perception of reality. This can be very uncomfortable for some people to view, so in updates where this may happen, the tag to blacklist is #unreality.

SUGGESTIVE THEMES: This story will NEVER be explicitly NSFW, and will rarely ever feature these themes at all. It is mainly for the occasional joke here and there, but absolutely nothing more. However, if any implications of something slightly more adult make you uncomfortable, the tag to blacklist here is #suggestive themes.

ANIMAL HARM: Mystery may enter situations where he ends up getting hurt during this story, though he will never endure any kind of situations that mimic real life animal abuse. If seeing an animal be harmed in any way remotely upsets you, the tag here to blacklist is #animal harm.

~~~

If you made it all the way to the bottom, you’re a champ!!! While posts will definitely not be this long going forward, I really appreciate you taking the time to read this!

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28onlythebrave · 3 years

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'The Wicked Powers' theory regarding the plot based on Arthurian legend

I was looking for some infos about twp and i found this:

I had completely forgotten about this info CC gave us and because I have recently studied the Arthurian legend, I decided to look more into it. I think one of the most interesting things about the Arthurian legend is the Sword In The Stone/Excalibur.

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur's lineage) are in some versions said to be different, though in most incarnations they are the same. In Welsh, it is called Caledfwlch. It was forged at the Isle of Avalon.

In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur's possession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, the first tale to mention the "sword in the stone", Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve. In this account, as foretold by Merlin, the act could not be performed except by "the true king," meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. As Malory related in his most famous English-language version of the Arthurian tales, the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur: "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born." After many of the gathered nobles try and fail to complete Merlin's challenge, the teenage Arthur (who up to this point had believed himself to be son of Sir Ector, not Uther's son, and went there as Sir Kay's squire) does this feat effortlessly by accident and then repeats it publicly.

The identity of this sword as Excalibur is made explicit in the Prose Merlin, part of the Lancelot-Grail cycle of French romances (the Vulgate Cycle). In the Vulgate Mort Artu, when Arthur is at the brink of death he orders Griflet to throw the sword into the enchanted lake; after two failed attempts (as he felt such a great sword should not be thrown away), Griflet finally complies with the wounded king's request and a hand emerges from the lake to catch it. This tale becomes attached to Bedivere instead of Griflet in Malory and the English tradition. However, in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently Malory, early in his reign Arthur breaks the Sword from the Stone while in combat against King Pellinore, and then is given Excalibur by a Lady of the Lake in exchange for a later boon for her (some time later, she arrives at Arthur's court to demand the head of Balin). Malory records both versions of the legend in his Le Morte d'Arthur, naming both swords as Excalibur. In some tellings, Excalibur's scabbard was also said to have powers of its own, as any wounds received while wearing the scabbard would not bleed at all, thus preventing the death of the wearer. For this reason, Merlin chides Arthur for preferring the sword over the scabbard, saying that the latter was the greater treasure. In the later romance tradition, including Le Morte d'Arthur, the scabbard is stolen from Arthur by his half-sister Morgan le Fay in revenge for the death of her beloved Accolon during the Fake Excalibur plot and thrown into a lake, never to be found again. This act later enables the death of Arthur, deprived of magical protection, many years later in his final battle.

Now, do you see the connections there?

The sword

There are many important swords in tsc such as, Cortana, Heosphoros, Pheosphoros and The Mortal Sword.

Cortana is based on the legendary sword Curtana, attributed to Ogier the Dane and the legendary knight Tristan. The real sword, Curtana, also known as the "Sword of Mercy", is a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British kings and queens and is one of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Cortana is owned by Emma Carstairs.

Heosphoros is a family sword of the Morgensterns, Clary was in possession of it until she used it to kill Sebastian and the Heavenly Fire destroyed it. However, both Heosphoros and Pheosphoros (which was owned by Valentine and then Sebastian) still exist in Thule and Janus is in possession of both of them, in fact, Heosphoros was likely never even owned by the Clary Fairchild of that world, nor was it used on Sebastian. Janus took possession of the sword at one point and began to wield it, and then he took the sword and Sebastian's Phaesphoros with him to Ash’s world (aka the “real” world).

The Mortal Sword also known as the Soul-Sword, Maellartach, and Angel Blade, is the second of the Mortal Instruments given by Angel Raziel to Jonathan Shadowhunter. The Soul-Sword is primarily used to compel Nephilim to tell the truth, mostly during trials. Shadowhunters who wish to have their claims tested and proved may submit themselves to "trial by the Sword," during which a suitable judge, often a Silent Brother, sometimes the Consul or Inquisitor, wields the sword and places it in the hands of the deponent, where it adheres and cannot be removed until the judge wills it. Downworlders and mundanes cannot be compelled by the Soul-Sword, thus preventing the Sword from becoming used by the Shadowhunters as a general tool for interrogation.

The Sword can also have a dark purpose, if intended. Originally, the alliance of the Soul-Sword is seraphic, its power drawn from Angel Raziel himself. However, Valentine Morgenstern discovered an ancient spell to reverse the alliance from angelic to demonic, through a process called the Ritual of Infernal Conversion, where the Sword is seethed until red-hot and cooled four times in the blood of Downworld children: a child of Lilith, a child of the moon, a child of the night, and a child of the fey. With its demonic alliance, the Sword can be used to summon demons and allows its bearer to have control over them.

In September 2012, the Sword was used to question Annabel Blackthorn, who subsequently used it to kill Robert Lightwood and Livvy Blackthorn. It was shattered when Emma struck it with Cortana. Emma and Julian later acquired a version of the sword from Thule, claiming that the Iron Sisters had repaired it and used it to force Horace Dearborn to tell the truth about his involvement with the Unseelie Court and his schemes to gain the position of Consul.

I believe that in twp we will see more of Heosphoros and Pheosphoros in use, but I also think we’ll have a new enchanted weapon, one that will rapresent Excalibur. But if the sword is a parallel with Excalibur, then who is Arthur? In my opinion, the owner of this enchanted weapon will be Kit Herondale and let me tell you why. Arthur was a normal teenage boy who wasn’t aware of his lineage until he pulled the sword out of an anvil. We have three main characters in twp, Kit, Ty and Dru. Guess who is the only one who didn’t know he was a shadowhunter and wasn’t aware of his lineage? Kit. Also, the Arthurian legend is Welsh folklore. Which shadowhunter family is of Welsh orings? Yeah, the Herondales.

I assume The Mortal Sword will once again come in hand, except that this time it's a thule version of it. Also, the only other person who has an analogue arc to Kit's is Clary, and that's why I think the both of them will play a big role in the killing of Janus. Especially if you think about when Jace was once killed with the mortal sword by Valentine.

The lake

In a version of the legend where the sword of the stone and Excalibur are two different blades, Arthur breaks the sword of the stone and is given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake at the enchanted lake.

The correlation here is obvious, the enchanted lake in tsc is Lake Lyn, also known as the mortal mirror of mortal glass. Ingesting the lake's waters can be poisonous to Nephilim, but it has no effect on Downworlders. Faeries have been known to drink from the lake, saying that it gives them true vision; for the Nephilim, the water causes hallucinations and may even drive them to madness. Among the Fair Folk, the lake is known as the Lake of Dreams or Mirror of Dreams.

The Lady of the Lake is a name used by several fairy-like enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. They play pivotal roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.

The Lady resides in an enchanted realm, an otherworld the entry to which is disguised as an illusion of a lake. I think she may be in fact the Seelie Queen. It would make total sense for it to be her because of her correlation with Kit (the only known living descendant of the First Heir of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts), Ash Morgenstern (the son she had with Sebastian, who is half shadowhunter and half faerie) and Janus (whom she has an alliance with).

According to her backstory in the Vulgate Merlin, the Lady of the Lake was a daughter of the knight Dionas (Dyonas) and a niece of the Duke of Burgundy. She was born in Dionas' domain of Briosque in the forest Brocéliande. Which takes us to the next point.

The forest

Brocéliande, earlier known as Brécheliant and Brécilien, is a legendary enchanted forest that had a reputation in the medieval European imagination as a place of magic and mystery. Brocéliande is featured in several medieval texts, mostly related to the Arthurian legend and the characters of Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and some of the Knights of the Round Table.

Here too the correlation is obvious, the forest in Idris is called Brocelind. In September 2012, a portion, specifically the center, of the Brocelind Forest was blighted with dark magic by the forces of the Unseelie King, making the area a space where Nephilim runes and adamas-weapons would be ineffective. Making it, in fact, an echanted forest, like in the legend.

Soooo these were some of my thoughts, if you found something more please let me know cause I really like all of this lol.

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maxismatchccworld · 3 years

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Patch Notes

PC:1.69.54.1020 / Mac: 1.69.54.1220 Console: Version 1.35 Happy Holidays Simmers! It’s time to go back in to Create a Sim! Where in this update you will find 100+ new skin tones, customization sliders for skin tones and makeup, and three improved base game hairstyles! Every skin tone now has a value slider that allows you to change the light to dark value of that skin tone, unlocking a much wider variety of skin tone options for you to play with! You will also find that our skin tones are now filterable to warm, cool, and neutral tones (as well as miscellaneous that covers our occult skin tones).

The new makeup sliders add more choices and opportunities for you to customize your Sims, and express your Sim’s style! Hue, saturation, value or brightness, and opacity are now available to modify on the makeup. We have locked some of the sliders where it did not provide an optimal experience or make sense for the makeup. Expect us to continue our work on these issues into the future to provide you with more. In addition to the customization opportunities provided, you can also save custom swatches as you tweak your sliders to get the perfect look. When you click on the swatch (for skin tones and makeup) as you modify the sliders, you will have an opportunity to save your custom settings, so you can re-use it later without having to remember your perfect looks! Did we mention that we made some hair updates? We did - we updated a base game child hair (cfHair_BraidedPonyTail), and we added a second version of that hair that removes the baby hairs (cfHair_BraidedPonyTailPlain). And we updated a base game male hair that you may find difficult to recognize from the original hair (ymHair_flatTopTextured)!

We have updated the Main Menu!... Again! The idea behind this change is to create a more cohesive experience and give Packs a more proper space as we continue to grow our content lineup. As a nice bonus, we highlighted the Gallery in a more meaningful way to inspire you.

-SimGuruGnome & SimGuruRusskii

Now onto the fixes:

Sims 4

Sketching so much that the Digital Sketch Pad just quit on you? Never fear! Freelancer Sims that use the Digital Sketchpad will now be able to complete designs without being reset abruptly.

Happy Birthday to all! Sims will now properly Age Up. Adulting is hard but they will make it, don’t worry.

Fixed an issue in which Doors, Windows, and Arches had cutouts when being reflected in Mirrors. Rorrim Rorrim no eht llaw, ohw si eht tseriaf erutaef fo meht lla?

Sims that do not have the Fishing Skill, or have not been Fishing at all, will not get notifications about identifying Fish. THEY WERE FISHING WITH THEIR MINDS.

The following careers have added the “Take Vacation Day” option, yay!Editor Russkii note: I didn’t want to add each line in each pack for this fix, it would have looked weird and robotic so that is why I chose to do one bullet point for all in this section.

Child Sims will no longer forget they are in their Sleepwear when they go to school. Though in these times of Work and School from Home, I don’t blame them one bit.

The Sweet Escapes Country Toilet will no longer be Comfortable AND Uncomfortable at the same time… There can only be one!

Sims with the Best Selling Author Aspiration can now complete their task of writing 3 Best Sellers.

Fixed an issue in which resized objects would disappear when they were part of downloaded Gallery items.

We revised our Careers (Pack specific and not) and we made sure there were no Chance Cards that were repeated constantly.

We noticed we had added the option to Clean Up Toddler on kitchen and bathroom sinks for both Toddlers and Children by mistake, so we removed it for both age groups from the sink… but how would have they fit? Like… how? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

Build Snowpal interaction is no longer available on non-natural ground (For Simmers that own Seasons and/or Snowy Escape). That's why it's called a Snowpal, not a Floorpal!

Gardener (Seasons)

Military (Strangerville)

Lifeguard for Teens and Conservationist (Island Living)

Law, Education, and Engineer (Discover University)

Civil Designer (Eco Lifestyle).

Get to Work

We made a clarification on the Xenophilia moodlet when interacting with Alien Sims. It should no longer say “From Discovering Aliens” but now it correctly reads “From Interacting with Aliens.”

Fixed an issue in which childbirth was not possible if Simmers changed the color swatches of the Surgery Tables. Now listen, I have heard about renting whole hospital wings for a birth in real life and other eccentricities, but this… was really something.

Get Together

Male Sims will no longer get Pregnant after receiving calls from NPC Sims.

City Living

NPC Sims will now text and call with invitations to Festivals. I personally welcomed the calm and quiet of my phone not beeping about constantly. But I can’t miss a Festival!

Sims rejoice! Yard sale customers will no longer invade their Home Lots and use Household objects. It is a Yard Sale… OUT in the yard, not an Open House.

Did you ever regret trusting some Sims enough to give them your apartment keys to constantly get visits from them for Milk and Juice? You can rest assured that they will no longer visit you for this purpose. I think some neighborly love is appreciated, but this went beyond the proverbial “May I have a cup of sugar?” type of situation.

Fixed an issue in which interactions to participate on GeekCon contests would not appear when interacting with objects.

We decided to give a bit more clarity when displaying the location of Festivals, so now it will display as “Near <insert location>” and not a distinct location that is not entirely correct. This is true for Festivals in Snowy Escape as well.

Cats and Dogs

Pets will no longer sleep in random places when told to sleep on their Pet beds. In my world they can sleep where they are most comfortable, my conspiracy… allegedly.

Seasons

Sims can now Shower in the Rain… Jury is still out on Singing and Dancing.

Sims will no longer “lose” their shovels when performing other autonomous activities while performing the interaction “Shovel Snow.”

Our friendly neighborhood Snowpal has been properly renamed to Chill from Chil. Everything I knew before was a lie… a LIE!

Ever felt like the Holiday spirit has just been too much to handle, and Father Winter starting to show up everywhere and not letting you do much of anything getting a bit… out of hand? Fear not! Father Winter will stop replicating himself* to spread holiday cheer. *Note this fix is not entirely retroactive, new saves should see this without issue. Existing saves will correct themselves over time.

Get Famous

Duck Security SCROO9E Super XL Smart Vault will no longer disappear after Sims Woohoo in it… you can say Woohoo can be romantic and magical, but maybe not to this extent?

NPCs from the Actor Career sometimes would never show on Set, making gigs impossible to complete. We've spoken with their union reps and everyone has agreed to stop this ridiculous strike. What were they striking about? Was there even a Strike? We may never know.

Island Living

Mermaids and other Occults should no longer be able to make hybrid occults. How were they making them? Oh boy, I'm not sure if it's appropriate for me to give you the mermaid-birds and spellcaster-bees talk.

Randomly generated Mermaid Sims will no longer be seen without some features in affected Simmer Saves. However this fix is not retroactive, so it should be seen fixed in new saves.

Pizza delivery to Lagoon Look Lot has been fixed to arrive promptly. This is Sulani Deep Lagoon Pizza, home of the 2x1 Mermadic Kelp Pizza and the Salty Llama Combo, may I take your order? <Descriptive Simlish on the line> Uh huh… uh huh… <Indescribable Simlish on the line> Yes, we now can ACTUALLY deliver to Lagoon Look… <Interrogative Simlish on the line> Yes, we told our delivery Sims that they need to deliver it there and not keep the pizza for themselves… like give it to the actual client. <Surprised Simlish on the line>

Discover University

Has this ever happened to you? Your Sim is ready to make an offering to the Sprites only to find a crystal stuck without being able to move it? No longer a problem, Sims now can remove offerings so all their rituals can resume. Sprites rejoice.

We fixed an issue for our Console Simmers that wouldn’t allow them to close the Humanoid Robot’s Behavior Module Menus correctly.

Fixed an issue that would cause items to be repossessed when loans were fully paid. That is NOT how it worked Repo Person… NOT how it worked.

Sims with Research & Debate Skill 3 or higher will no longer be able to “Convince to” with Toddler Sims.

Masquerade Secret Society Masks are now properly unlocked in Create a Sim when joining the Secret Society.

Fixed an issue in which Heckle animation was sometimes not being performed autonomously by Sims while playing Ping Pong.

Eco Lifestyle

Fixed an issue that triggered the Off-the-Grid notifications after traveling to different Lots in Evergreen Harbor, even when they are not labeled as Off-the-Grid.

We spoke to all Eco Inspectors, and they have agreed that they should NOT be charging the Energy efficient appliances fine if your appliances are fully upgraded to be super efficient and amazing. I mean all that work and still get fined? Not in this house!

Fixed an issue in which some placeholder text was showing in notifications after Dumpster Diving.

The Americana Station Speakers will now play Music… as the prophecy foretold.

When the We Wear Bags N.A.P is active, Grim Reaper will not be partially invisible when appearing on a Lot. Grim Reaper contributes!

Living the No Appliance lifestyle? We’ve got news for you! Sims will no longer be penalized for not having “Eco-Friendly Appliances.” No appliances, no fines!

Snowy Escape

Vending Machine Canned Soups and Drinks won’t spoil anymore. Time to stock up!

Sims can no longer go on Hikes while holding their Toddlers.

Space Heaters will now be able to be placed on Lots from Inventory. Sharing the warmth everywhere!

Fixed an issue in which the Shoe Removal Sign in 5-1-2 Kiyomatsu was not working properly. We also added Shoe Removal Signs in 5-1-1 Kiyomatsu and 2-4-2 Wakabamori.

Sims will now be more visibly furious when having the appropriate furious sentiment toward other Sims. “Yes, I’m mad!... No! This IS my furious face!”

Fixed an issue with some animations that would stutter while Snowboarding or Skiing. We also made sure that Sims with a high level of those skills would not always choose the Bunny Slopes.

Izzy Fabulous’ Star Simmi Rank was just too fabulous so we had to correct it to be one star less than displayed. Don’t worry Izzy, you are a full 4 stars in my book, you are that fabulous to me.

After much debate of whether it is the Cave Shrine or the Mountain Shrine for Hiking destinations we finally decided to just call it Mountain Shrine.

We revised the Snoop-Proof Bamboo Blinds and it is now possible to drop’em like they’re hot with the Thousand Words Window.

NPC Sims will no longer “take over” the Slopes for themselves for an indefinite period of time, now they will be sharing with all Sims the joys of the Slopes.

Fixed an issue in which Sims would get highlighted in the Sentiment Panel as if receiving new Sentiments every time traveling is involved.

Sims with Rock Climbing Skill 7, or higher, are able to autonomously climb the Tall Wall (Such tall! So much wall!). There is no need to not face what makes you uncomfortable… autonomously.

Had a chat with Yamachan and asked if he was ok, he seemed to start random conversations and then randomly say goodbye without reason. We are happy to report that he is OK now and will try not to do that. Give us a hug Yamachan.

Food Stalls at Mt. Komorebi Festivals won’t be closing shop randomly during Festival hours anymore. <guitar and piano intro> Closing time, open all the Stalls and eat all the food in the world...Closing time, turn all the lights on and let Yamachan greet you heeeere…

Create a Sim asset ymHat_EP10HelmetGoggles has been fixed to no longer display clipping around the neck area as well as we made sure no facial hair is removed when wearing this asset.

Dine Out

Experimenting with photo frames will no longer use the same picture of an Experimental Meal when displayed.

Hot Pot meals are now part of Restaurant Menus! I miss the times I would go to eat Hot Pot at a restaurant. One of my favorites has a conveyor belt that carries your fixings never leaving your table for a thing. *happy sigh*

Vampires

Vampire Sims will no longer be affected by temperature, so they won't be constantly obsessed with lighting fireplaces trying to get warm.

Post edited by EA_Leeloo at 6:30PM

Source: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/984647/december-7th-2020-patch-notes

#s4 patch notes

182 notes · View notes

mybg3notebook · 3 years

Text

Astarion and Power - Part 2

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were made up to the game version v4.1.101.4425. As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information.

Additional disclaimers about meta-knowledge and interpretations in (post)

The number between brackets [] represents the topic-block related to (this post), which gathers as much evidence as I could get.

Astarion: abuser / victim

Disclaimer about interpretation victim/abuser: I’m not a fan of bringing the allegory to the plain explicit comparison with serious stuff from real life, but the fandom seems to focus a lot on this aspect and therefore I would like to share my opinion on it. This topic may be sensitive for some people. Be aware of it.

If we are going to engage into the comparison abuser/victim, from the section (Backstory: Mortal Astarion) we can assume that mortal Astarion was developed as an abuser so far the facts we got from the game/interviews. There is little doubt about it with the bits of information we have in EA. Maybe the full game or a retcon of his past may change this in the future.

As a vampire spawn, Astarion presents a duality abuser-victim that comes from the archetype of the “bad behaved victim”.

(Squeezing him in the shoulder. You try to connect, to let him know he's not alone- but he twists like a snake.) “No, I don't need your pity. I don't need anything from you. Go back to your wet dreams and leave me be.''

As a slave under Cazador’s power, humiliated and physically and psychologically tortured, he becomes a victim. He displays many of the most common behaviours of traumatised survivors: dismissal of the actions he suffered (humiliation and cruelty), sensitivity or violent rejection of gestures of pity, paranoia (for the abuser to appear at any moment), reiterative dreams focused on the abuser or their tortures, pride that may reach into arrogance of having survived tough situations. Considering that survival mode is his default, he can turn any of these aspects into tools to manipulate any potential benefactor (he may care little about). As long as he has a protector, he would do anything at his disposal to keep pleasant and agreeable to that benefactor (this characteristic is a permanent, constant, and obvious trait in his character).

But he is not a mere victim, he is also an abuser. And this aspect has been studied in psychology and sociology: it’s not a surprise that a good amount of abusers were victims before. There is a psychological process that can make victims prone to harness as much power as they can in order to avoid the abuse, and in doing so they become abusers. The fact that they can inflict similar or the same trauma on someone else, shifts the power imbalance they had always perceived in their life: the ex victim—now abuser—finds psychological relief. They find a way to perceive themselves as not powerless anymore, and this process can cross limits, making them enjoy when causing the same torture they suffered before. This is the (extremely brief and simplified) process known as the transformation of victim to victimiser (in a general violence-related way, not necessarily focused on sexual abuse), which tends to affect, so far the statistics show, a group of victims.

With this brief introduction of the topic from the real life (this is why I dislike so much these comparisons, serious stuff brought into a fantasy world always feels like dismissing the real life issue) we can understand that Astarion has acquired a twisted taste to enjoy the same torments he suffered on himself, but applied on creatures he considers lesser: animals and weak creatures [3,4,6,7,11]. There is pride in his survival [14]: he follows the philosophy: “if I could survive it, you could do it too, otherwise, you must perish”.

He enjoys humiliation [6,10], despite being one of the most sensitive aspects that could trigger a violent reaction in him when Tav tries to humiliate him (dialogue about the Bedchamber Master). He enjoys the power he can have over others, over their wills [11], and aspires to have the control of the tadpole, at first to be free of Cazador’s influence, but as long as the game progresses, his intentions become clearer: he wants to control the tadpole to become powerful: the most powerful vampire of Faerun and bend everyone’s will [12]. This aspect is also ironic and hypocritical since Astarion displays violent reactions against mind control or against any intervention of his mind, so it’s something that triggers him in particular (video here).

He also has a taste to enjoy cruelty on animals [4], maybe because of all the resentment he has against them for having been the only means to sustain himself (he is directing his cruelty and hatred to the wrong group of living creatures though). And he also finds entertainment in murder and bloodshed [2,3,13], just because of it, most probably because all these abuses are proofs that he is now “more powerful” than those suffering it. However, part of this could be explained due to the Dark Desires element of the vampirism, to be fair. But considering Astarion’s backstory, I would say that vampirism only deepens his already evil traits.

Also, as a comment aside, I like to highlight how all this characterisation defies the romantisation of the archetype of the “good victim”. A good victim is—explaining it briefly and oversimplified—the one who encourages to spread goodness, self-sacrifice; their pain is hidden and/or used to improve, tends to be a highly empathetic person in front of similar abuses they suffered. It’s the antipode of the “bad behaved victim.” Which is basically all what we see in Astarion: selfish, violent, whimsical, cruel, psychopath.

In conclusion, we can see Astarion as a vampire spawn who embodies the duality of Victim-Abuser.

However I would like to note that this is not a char where we can see how the victim becomes an abuser exclusively. In Astarion’s case, it is even more twisted because in his past he was a victimiser. His character lies on a Schrodinger duality: he was an abuser when he was mortal, he is an abuser and a victim at the same time as a vampire spawn (his torments can be understood as poetic justice since Astarion embodied the—corrupt—Justice himself), and he aspires to retake his abuser position in the future (so far EA allowed us to see it or the description of his characters in Larian’s web page), enjoying all the potential that the power of the tadpole can give him to “bend the will of others''.

Astarion’s story represents topics that should allow us to think about how abusers are created, how they could also be victims, and how victims are not always free of evilness. Astarion also embodies the concept of how far punishment makes sense, how you can punish the abuse if there is no justice, how to punish evilness when it’s placed to have control of the Justice itself. How could we understand the punishment of evil creatures when there is no repent but a deepening of their evil nature? And finally… Would any victim not desire for their abuser to have a punishment like Astarion’s?

I like to think that Cazador also represents the “modern prison system”, where criminals are gathered in panoptic structures (in this case, Astarion’s mind), tortured in many ways, while society expects them to recover. There is also the concept of how and when recovery is not possible anymore, because let’s be honest, saving people from dark paths is not always possible. Real life psychopath, serial rapists, and a broad amount of creatures who revel in torture and murder are beyond salvation. If we consider Cazador and Astarion as mirrored figures, it makes us think about how much of all of his story is about the eternal cycle of violence and about evilness without salvation. Also, this reflection of one on the other makes us believe that if there is no salvation for Cazador, there shouldn't be salvation for Astarion either; if Astarion can be saved… Cazador should too (after all, we don’t know anything about Cazador’s story). So many things to think about.

All these aspects and topics to think about are what make Cazador-Astarion dynamics worth understanding with a realistic and dark perspective of evilness, without woobifying Astarion as sadly a big part of his fandom does.

As a note of colour to finish this section, it’s interesting to re-read the paragraph I had written in the first part (Astarion and Power - Part 1) where I briefly described Cazador. If we replace Cazador by the word Astarion we will obtain a curious result:

>>>Astarion has a particular pleasure for control, especially the one related to people’s will (we can see this pleasure progresses over time, increasing it. His need for freedom turns slowly into wanting to have control on everyone, because with power he can do everything he wants to). He enjoys cruelty, humiliation, and torture (read the analysis post done (here), there are dozens of facts showing it). He enjoys playing psychologically with his victims. He also likes to give false hope, making his victims believe that there is hope, removing it right in front of them (the Arabella’s approvals about making her parents believe she is alive when she is not, Mayrina’s hope of reviving her husband).

There are so many questions left in the air: has Cazador imparted Justice? Is 200 years too long for a punishment? I don’t believe there is an easy answer here. First, because we are mixing serious real-life dynamics in a fantasy setup, with the twisted componen of vampirism (a fantasy element always considered an allegory of abuse, power, and rape) and second, despite the analogy is there, and the comparison can be done lightly, Astarion has a particular backstory, with a particular amount of meta-knowledge that makes those answers even more complicated.

Astarion’s Pain and Shallowness

Back scars scene (full Datamining info)

A pair of videos that pjenn has posted about Astarion’s scars on his back (1) (2) shows that he needs help to read it since he can’t see it in reflective surfaces due to his vampire nature. We get from the narrator:

* He might be sneering, but you can see pain in his eyes. He needs help, but doesn’t know how to ask. *

What we can infer from this is that Astarion, whether mortal or spawn, never asked for help, and if this is true, I’m confused. If he truly doesn’t know how to ask for help… what had been happening with all the previous interactions he had with Tav? Implicitly asking for help against Cazador? The only answer I have to explain why 25 hours of game with Astarion asking for help against Cazador are suddenly erased and now “he doesn’t know how to ask to”, is that all those 25 hrs are about manipulation. Not a true, honest, clean asking for help. There is not much to say about this scene since it’s entirely under work so far.

Mirror scene (full Datamining info)

This scene is mostly about vanity and, again, manipulation.

He doesn't remember the colour of his eyes, and he barely remembers his face. As a vampire, he can‘t see his projection nor cast shadows. He explicitly says that he misses vanity, and even though it may be an honest loss he feels, he doesn’t miss the opportunity to use this moment as another hook to throw at Tav to keep them under his control as well as testing how deep his charm has reached Tav (If Tav shows appreciation, Astarion knows he keeps them under his thumb).

This scene basically shows that, even though evil characters/abusers also suffer (maybe the game would make us reflect eventually about Cazador’s pain?), and Astarion is stating his pain for losing things he appreciated: petty vanity (he can’t see himself in a mirror) and his memories (he has no memory of the colour of his eyes and his face is vague), he is still using all these moments to keep on working on his survival manipulation:

“(Vanity) is an indulgence, I’ll grant you that, but a weakness? A well-presented face can open a lot of doors.”

He has a personal drama, as he stated it at first, and the focus of all his conversation is always about how what he lost was a means for an end too.

If Tav is the one engaging into being his Mirror, Astarion engages to appraise the reach of his presence in Tav. If Tav simply states it’s a decent face, Astarion will push the engagement for that appraisal. If you mock him about his age and skin, he won’t be offended (after all the moment is not meaningful for him, it’s shallow), and he would insist on a proper praise, because he is trying to taste the ground.

The moment was meant to be used, and Astarion did it. It was not special to him:

"Mirrors are not much use, but being reflected in someone's else's eyes? I could do much worse.

If we do not derail the conversation in the funny moments where you can mock his beauty, age and skin, we keep gathering more information about what Astarion values the most:

Tav: “Is it all what you want? shallow praise?” Astarion: "Hardly, there is also gold, sex, revenge, quite the list, really. But failing any of those, I will always settle for shallow praise."

There is another option in this scene where Tav says that vanity is a reasonable price for vampire powers, but for once, Astarion is not so eager about this power, because it comes with Cazador. He knows that the price is way much bigger.

Tav: “Vanity is a small price to pay to have vampire powers”. Astarion: "To you. To me it's just another thing that Cazador took from me".

The only moment when you can get a more emotional reaction is when you mock him about age/beauty/skin. That is how shallow this scene is. If you are a githyanki and your compliments are a list of raw facts about his persona, even if they are good or bad, Astarion can’t appraise Tav with that, and gets frustrated.

Personally I think this scene has little value per se beyond the comedy, and even less value in terms of lore when you have Disguise spell available for so many characters. Anyone can disguise themselves as Astarion and he would finally see what he looks like… so… more reasons to show how cheap and shallow this scene is. Maybe that was the intention. Maybe it needs more work since, after all, it’s datamining info. There is not much to say about this scene since it’s entirely under work so far.

The concept of Redemption/endings

Among the (Datamined information) we have a set of gems under the name of Drunk bear (1) (2) (3) scenes, which speak more about Astarion and his relationship with Cazador and Power.

Tav: “You can start over. You can be better than what he made you.”

Ast: “Exactly. I can be better than him. Stronger, more powerful, more- oh, you meant “be kinder”? Pet bunnies, that sort of thing? I’ve no objection to being nice, of course. Once I have the power to bend others to my will.

T: “You think power lets you do anything free from consequences?”

A: “Well… yes. You can’t look at the world and tell me I’m wrong.”

T: “The strong have a duty to protect the weak”

A: “They’re doing a piss poor job, then. The strong had two centuries to pluck me from torture, but no one came. No, it was the mind flayers that rescued me. They gave me a gift: the strength to take my own freedom. I’m embracing this power- you should too.”

T: “You are free now. That’s what matters.”

A: “Is it? What good is freedom if I'm always watching in the shadows? No. I will be safe when I'm powerful enough to grind cazador into the dust. Powerful enough to do whatever the hell I want.”

T: “Power corrupts. You’d do well to remember that.”

A: “Oh I hope so. A little corruption sounds fun. I spent centuries as the victim of a corrupt man. It was the mind flayers that plucked me away from that.”

So far we see in this scene, Astarion reinforces his evilness, his desire for power, not just enough to save himself from Cazador’s claws, but to control other people, even though mind control is a triggering effect when it affects his own will. I believe in this interaction we see the contrast of the story that Astarion narrates mainly: the abuser who found a more powerful abuser. We shouldn’t forget he comes from a past where he was a corrupt magistrate. These words have almost a hypocrite meaning here. Astarion was a magistrate, by definition, someone who held power and should have helped those in despair, but he was corrupt and did not care. When he became a spawn, he ended up on the other side of the imbalanced power. He was the one asking for a powerful entity to help him, and none came, suffering a similar fate of despair than those who sought in him the concept of Justice and Power Used For Fairness. Like Astarion’s victims found freedom when a twisted creature like Cazador was incorporated into this situation, Astarion was free when the Mind flayers saved him from Cazador.

I will not repeat this again: Astarion, so far in Early Access, looks like the story that could explain why Cazador is who he is. These scenes bring once more, another of the many proofs along the game where we see that Astarion has not learnt anything from his torment, he has not improved, he has turned into a more twisted and evil man than he was when he was a mortal magistrate, and there is no intentions to become a little more sympathetic.

This brings me to think that, at least in EA, glimpses of future paths for Astarion may all be related to different degrees of evilness.

First of all, we need to remember that Astarion is an evil character, and if we assume that what Sven said in several interviews doesn’t change, Larian is going to break the style this worked in bg1 and bg2, not making big shifting of the alignment in companions. For this reason I think these endings would entitle variations of evilness.

Astarion keeps repeating over and over his opinion about power as the only means to have access to his freedom. And as long the game evolves, he began to reinforce the importance of having power to “do whatever he wants”. Considering his tastes (how much he enjoys cruelty and bloodshed) we can agree that Astarion “doing whatever he wants” is not a good thing for Faerûn. He finds murdering a fine show, an entertainment. Certainly Astarion is a child of Bhaal in his fullest.

He even mocks Tav when they comment about looking for self-improvement. “I can be better than him. Stronger, more powerful, more- oh, you meant “be kinder”? (...) Once I have the power to bend others to my will.” This is Cazador speaking.

So, considering these details, I would suggest (predict is a too strong a word for this) that we have chances to three different kinds of endings and their variations:

The first one, screaming in all what Astarion does: Astarion becomes a full vampire and ends up as the next Cazador. If his approval is high (or some hidden requirement is met) he can turn his lover into another full vampire. If these requirements are not met, in a spawn, repeating the cycle that Astarion suffered but now, on Tav.

The second one could be with Astarion killing Cazador remaining as a spawn and an agent of chaos and bloodshed. Maybe his relationship with Tav may help to have certain control on him (since we had seen that Astarion so far has been asking permission to kill npcs when the situation arises, so the MC could be turning into a master of choice.)

The third one, finding the cure of Vampirism, and letting Astarion continue with his life of evil corrupted magister.

Some people ask about the possibility of a Redemption arc. I hardly see it (especially if I keep in mind how bg1 and bg2 worked, they never offered a “real” redemption arc, just small shifts here and there.)

Redemption could be acquired, according to these fans, using two mechanics.

Astarion feels compassion out of the blue. He starts to have guilt for his past sins and develops empathy, despising cruelty. How? Who knows, so far in EA it has not been seen even once a hint, a scene, a bit of meta-knowledge in that direction. Honestly, so far we’ve seen, this option seems impossible to me, because Astarion has tons of chances to use the meta-knowledge of his approvals and disapprovals to show regret and empathy, and never happened. His character was always focused on himself, his vanity, his pain, his entertainment (which implies constant approval of cruel actions and torments and humiliation to others, especially the weak ones), his survival. If there is a character more far away from empathy right now in EA, it is Astarion. How do you start a redemption arc without the character showing compassion? No way.

Cure Vampirism. Vampirism is a curse, and therefore in the Forgotten Realm can be cured. But this, under no circumstances, can be considered a redemption arc. There is no redemption at all. The curse is lifted, and Astarion can return to be the same cruel magister he was before. No arc about remorse and empathy.

His character is the story of an abuser who found a greater abuser and became a victim of the latter, seeking to return to his previous power position but stronger. Despite suffering this abuse, that could be understood as poetic justice (more like accidental justice) at certain point, he never developed empathy for those sharing his conditions. In fact, he cares little to inflict on others what he has exactly suffered. I hardly believe there is something else going on “in layers” in him at the moment, since the meta-knowledge provided by the approval/disapproval shows otherwise. My point is, I see little material here showing change. But again, this is EA.

We can see how this exact detail is managed with Shadowheart, from her we know even less than with Astarion because her memory was erased, but so far, we know she has some soft spots that were never shown explicitly, so Tav is oblivious to this information while the player knows it.

This post was written on April 2021. → For more Astarion: Analysis Series Index

#astarion #bg3 early access #bg3 meta

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taggedmemes · 3 years

Text

SENTENCE MEME ⟶ TERRY PRATCHETT'S MEN AT ARMS / PAGE 1 - 6 (web version) tenses and wording have been altered slightly for ease of sending! always feel free to tweak the sentence to fit your muse.

'assassin's don't cry at a death, otherwise they'd never be stopping.'

'it was never meant to be like this.'

'any chance of a bone? no, no, sorry, bad taste there, forget i mentioned it.'

'he is a rough diamond and a good soul deep down.'

'such people need watching. preferably from a safe distance.'

'sometimes on my day off i go and sit in the cellar and hit my head with an axe handle, but it is not the same.'

'the world is full of old swords. and grindstones.'

'they're all descendants of people for whom survival and paranoia were prime survival traits.'

'there is no lake of blood too big to wade through to put a rightful king on a throne.'

'i couldn't say he actually terrorises much. not as such.'

'if you're going to have crime, it might as well be organised crime.'

'he's a man with a very pointed sense of humour.'

'i don't like the way he always knows what you're thinking before you think it.'

'that's how much it would cost to have him killed.'

'one can't help feeling that it would cost a lot more than that to make sure he stayed dead.'

'what happened to pride? what happened to honour?'

'no one dares remove him because they think it will make things a little worse for themselves.'

'my god. he actually does believe it.'

'what's so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? the real work's already been done.'

'he's the type of person who always takes laughter personally.'

'the problem with destiny is that she is often not careful where she puts her finger.'

'he's going to be a gentleman of leisure.'

'which way to the, you know, the... er... you know, the young ladies, right?'

'he's not as young as he was.'

'people will be queuing up to get arrested.'

'he's got a face like a join-the-dots puzzle.'

'just never get between him and a mirror.'

'i don't think he likes the new recruits.'

'my mother had me by adoption.'

'there's eighteen dollars of mine that i won't see again.'

'aren't you going to chase the man?'

'he promised me he was going to give it up, too. oh well.'

'once you've been here a while, you'll understand how it all works. eventually. but it does all work. you'd be amazed. it all works. i wish it didn't, but it does.'

'i'm sorry about this, but it is for the good of the city. it's nothing personal.'

'i didn't mean to hit you that hard! i only wanted you out of the way!'

'why'd you have to hit me at all?'

'nothing personal, he said. i'm glad it wasn't anything personal. i should hate to think i've just been killed because it was personal.'

'it has been suggested that i should be more of a people person.'

'it's very hard ot make friends in my job. in your job too, i suppose.'

'one minute walking along, the next minute dead.'

'the rich eat off gold plates and live in marble houses.'

'you'll have a case of indigestion to which the term 'blast radius' will be appropriate.'

'silly little bugger.'

'it must be the attraction of opposites. she's more highly bred than a hilltop bakery, and he was disqualified from the human race for shoving.'

'i can't help noticing that you still has got there what appears to be a double-headed throwing axe.'

'worst thief in the world.'

'it's going to be dreadful.'

'they get along like a house on fire. ever been in a burning house?'

'like all good vendettas, it doesn't really need a reason any more.'

'he's not stupid. he's direct, and honest, and good-natured and honourable in all his dealings.'

'he's genuinely, almost supernaturally, likeable.'

'yeah? you even know who your father is, do you?'

'i could take you with one hand behind my back!'

'thin-skinned? they're trying to kill one another!'

'he's going to die, isn't he?'

'he's said to have the body of a twenty-five year old, although no-one knows where he keeps it.'

#KIND / IN CHARACTER.#KIND / SENTENCE.#BASED ON / LITERATURE.#terry pratchett #men at arms

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slugtranslation-hypmic · 4 years

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Here’s a pet tax!! This times he’s nuzzling against my arm!

Btw here’s your excuse to talk more about Dice. Or,,,any of Fling Posse! Have fun!

Oh, you enabler, you. Thank you for this opportunity and for the bunny picture.

A collection of thoughts on Dice and why he may very well be the most important character to Ramuda. Put under a cut for some slight TDD spoilers.

Dice’s Personality Traits

Compared to the other two nosy Nancies that make up Fling Posse, Dice himself is the king of minding his own business. While he does display definite interest in his friend’s lives - see asking Riou about his favorite food in the ARB event “Riou’s Kitchen” or discussing Gentarou’s latest story in FP/M chapter 7 - he tends to avoid discussing topics that make others feel uncomfortable.

This can make Dice appear oblivious, but Dice is much more emotionally observant than most characters give him credit for. Let’s take chapter 14 of FP/M for a great example of this. I’ll link it here, and I encourage you to read through it again paying careful attention to his facial expressions.

Dice begins the chapter deep in thought and adopts a solemn facial expression for the next few pages. Something is clearly preoccupying him.

However, the moment Ramuda appears, Dice begins acting much more animated and begins playing along with Ramuda in an attempt to cheer him up. Note that Dice observed Ramuda acting out of sorts for the entire battle in the previous chapters and hasn’t seen Ramuda awake since (according to chapter 15). He’s likely greatly concerned. It is arguable that his reactions are entirely food motivated...

... except for the fact that he returns to his previously somber state the moment Ramuda is no longer looking at him. Dice also doesn’t immediately accept Gentarou’s suggestion that Ramuda is trying to keep up appearances for their sake.

At the restaurant, Dice begins to play up the cheerful glutton again and attempts to directly cheer up Ramuda by operating under the assumption that Ramuda is disappointed by their loss.

When Ramuda goes to leave, the art emphasizes Gentarou’s concern, but the silhouette of Dice (and the lack of any bulging cheeks or cups carried up to his mouth) in the final panel indicates that he has once again returned to his more serious state. In this scene, Dice recognizes that something has gone terribly wrong.

Each member of Fling Posse is a performer putting on an act, and as noted by Ramuda’s reaction to Gentarou invading his privacy, Ramuda feels most comfortable when each actor plays his part. Dice is aware of this and thus acts the cheerful idiot for Ramuda in these scenes because he recognizes that Ramuda needs that stability.

If I may demonstrate another quick example, take a look at the scene from FP/M chapter 12 and compare how Dice acts without (first image) and with a visibly distressed Ramuda (other images) in the room.

The FP/M mangaka also says (in the afterword of volume 3), “I think [Dice] might have a good poker face and be able to control his facial expressions even when he’s flat out broke. But his posse doesn’t seem to understand that.“ Dice’s poker face is a boon here when he can use it to help the ones he cares about.

For Dice does care very greatly. Dice minds his own business and doesn’t make any overt actions as long as his friends are capable of handling situations on their own. However, the moment he recognizes that they are in over their heads, he takes swift and decisive action (which, in turn, can be harmful to others).

Take this scene in FP/M chapter 10 as a great example. Prior to Gentarou grabbing Hifumi, Dice was firmly a bystander, but he immediately leaps in when the situation escalates. Notice that he removes Hifumi from harm’s way but also serves a shield for Gentarou and focuses his attention on Gentarou’s wellbeing.

He then offers Gentarou physical reassurance with a hand on the shoulder and an out to the situation, which would have allowed Gentarou to move on as if his mask had never slipped if it were not for Hifumi’s next comment. Dice also shuts down Hifumi before it can escalate any further.

Although Hifumi is attempting to justify himself because he doesn’t understand Gentarou’s reaction and doesn’t see what he did wong, Dice recognizes that this statement also denies Gentarou the right to express his feelings on something which is clearly an enormous deal to him.

By labeling Hifumi’s comments as “disrespect” and “hurting people” while simultaneously stressing that this topic is “important”, he allows Gentarou the right to feel upset at Hifumi’s comments. He also continues to use defensive posture in order to keep Gentarou physically safe (which must be an intentional choice on the artist’s part, as Hifumi mirrors this pose a few pages later as he begins to defend Doppo). Even though Dice’s reaction crosses the line when he, in turn, begins to hurt someone else, removing Gentarou from the situation, validating his feelings, and making Hifumi stop is exactly what Gentarou needed but was unable to provide for himself.

Dice is a damn good friend and an exceptional person. If you ever find a friend like Dice, don’t let them get away from you.

Saving Ramuda’s Life

Let’s switch gears for a moment to take a look at what goes on in Ramuda’s mind. As a disposable pawn for the Party of Words, Ramuda has an atypical view of the world. He genuinely enjoys the company of others and can form real bonds, but his primary motivation in life is fully self-centered: keep himself alive. Every order he receives comes with the caveat of, “Failure brings death.” The fear of death is enough to drive him to betray his closest friends in TDD, even Jakurai, who clearly means a lot to him.

^ TDD chapter 13. Ramuda receives an order from Ichijiku to handle the Jakurai side of things in the TDD breakup and reflects on the time that Jakurai saw who his true personality and not only accepted it but welcomed it.

Bear with me if you’ve seen me talk about this before, but Ramuda’s ability to feel emotions is considered a fluke. Ichijiku describes it as a “malfunction” and a “nuisance” for his job. She also describes Ramuda himself as a “failure” and “worthless”, sometimes to Ramuda’s face.

Ramuda internalizes this. Notice’s Ramuda’s reactions to slipping up and having an emotional outburst in TDD chapter 9 and FP/M chapter 8.

The former of these features Ramuda looking frightened (either due to concern of losing his life for revealing more than he should have done or fear that Jakurai will consider him as “worthless” as everyone else does), insulting himself, and self-harming. While the insults and self-harm are as stereotypically cute as the rest of Ramuda’s facade, the core idea remains that he believes showing his true personality is as idiotic and worth of punishment as everyone else believes. The lack of self-worth is ingrained in him.

The slightly more grown-up Ramuda in FP/M does not react as dramatically, but I really want to draw your attention to the question, “Was I spooky?” It’s worded in a deliberately silly manner because of Ramuda’s speech style, but he is asking his supposed friends if the real version of himself is frightening. Tell me, Dice. Does seeing me scare you? Do you want to run away now before it’s too late? It’s an innocent question on the surface level, but considering the about face his last friend turned after learning more about Ramuda’s real life and job, this question demonstrates that Ramuda’s view of himself has hardly changed for the positive since then.

(Also please observe Dice’s reaction. The pause is him getting into character in order to cheer up Ramuda after a clear emotional upset.)

Therefore Ramuda is a person running entirely on self-preservation but with no sense of self-worth. He sees himself largely the same way Chuuouku does and expects everyone else to do the same. This greatly limits his worldview and prevents him from considering possible other options besides, “Do or die”.

If most of the other cast members found themselves in Ramuda’s shoes, they would have the knowledge and ability to consider other options such as running away, asking for help, or fighting back. Yet Ramuda never considers any of these. He does not have the life experiences the other cast members have to consider making any of these options. He has never observed them or had an outside source present them as options to him. Once the order comes down the pipeline from Ichijiku, it is set in stone. He can hate the order - take a look at another illustration from TDD chapter 13 - but he considers its execution inevitable.

This is why the order to hypnotize Jakurai in FP/M chapter 11 hits him so hard. Now “do or die” has become “die or die”, and his only decision comes down to the nature of his death.

Yes, this situation could have been avoided by talking to Jakurai. Jakurai gives him multiple opportunities to speak up before and during the battle, but Ramuda doesn’t have the ability to recognize those as options for help. In Ramuda’s book, people don’t help him. “Help” doesn’t exist.

In fact, the entire TDD situation could have been avoided as well if Ramuda had trusted his friends, spoken up, and explained the situation. Jakurai (not to mention Ichirou and Samatoki after a fashion) would almost certainly have helped, and that seems to be what Jakurai was waiting for. Once he pushed Ramuda too hard by accident and caused an outburst, he stepped back and waited for Ramuda to come forward on his own terms. But that’s utterly foolish, because Ramuda doesn’t operate on his own terms either. Ramuda doesn’t have his own terms. He lives and thinks the way the Party of Words wants him to think, and if the Party of Words does not want him to speak up and ask for help, then he will never, ever be able to.

The beauty is that Dice is not Jakurai. As mentioned above, Dice minds his own business up until the point a friend of his is over their head, and it’s when Ramuda starts to pull out the True Hypnosis Mic in order to kill himself for Chuuouku that Dice finally acts.

As is the case with Gentarou up above, Dice acknowledges that he doesn’t fully understand the situation but offers physical reassurance, advice, and the implicit argument that Ramuda’s real strength is something of value. Dice writes the word “help” into Ramuda’s dictionary with genuine love and affection.

While Ramuda still can’t consider any option other than “do or die”, it is Dice and Gentarou’s intervention that imbues him with enough self-worth to even consider placing his own wants and needs above Chuuouku’s.

It is this that lays the groundwork for The Loneliness, Tears, and Hope of a Puppet and gives Ramuda the basic agency to even consider acting for himself and, contrarily, acting in line with consideration for other people. It’s this that allows him to avoid ruining Jakurai’s life a second time and this that allows him to accept Gentarou and Dice’s promise of friendship. In the drama track itself, once again it is Dice and Gentarou intervening and challenging Ramuda’s preconceived notions in order to save his life.

Gentarou absolutely plays a vital role in this as well, but it is Dice that chooses to make the first move. Had he not said anything, Ramuda would have used the True Hypnosis Mic and died onstage in front of the audience.

It is sometimes the tiniest of actions and the smallest pieces of support that make all the difference. Sometimes all it takes is someone being unafraid to reach out and flip a die over so it lands on a different number.

#not a translation #asks #dice arisugawa

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mirrerover · 3 years

Text

Big Plans

“You know shit’s never gonna fucking change, right?” Jason makes to grab for his Zippo. Remembering Dick will happily remove his nuts from his waxed sack for even contemplating smoking inside Dick’s apartment, he stops. His fingers twitch with irritation, nothing like a little nicotine deprivation to start the day. “Gotham’s a gothic nightmare where corruption runs thicker than blood and Blüdhaven’s worse, somehow. Like looking in a funhouse mirror. Uglier. More warped.”

“I really do enjoy our little morning pep talks,” Dick replies, closing the last two buttons on his dress shirt before tucking the fabric into the waistline of his pants. In general, Jason would say he prefers the Kevlar-enhanced, ass-hugging suit Dick prowls the night in—but there’s something to be said for a crisp, white button-down with the sleeves rolled up, forearm veins on display. He doesn’t know how the Blüdhaven criminals are faring but, personally, he wouldn’t mind letting Detective Richard Grayson slap some cuffs on him. Let Dick work him over hard in a surveilled box until Jason cracks, raw and bloody under the harsh fluorescent lights.

“These fucking places,” Jason grumbles, tired and cranky from watching Dick getting ready to leave, all that warm, gold skin about to slip right out the door. “It’s not something anyone can fix. Nothing short of dropping a bomb on the damn place and razing it to the ground.”

Dick sighs, running a hand through his hair. It’s getting longer, strands brushing the bone of his jaw. He’s no stranger to this; Jason and the trash he talks. Words pouring out of him sharp as knives, the blades full of blood. Just endlessly spewing shit.

“No point to it all, huh?” Dick leans a hip against the dresser, arms folded, eyebrow raised. There’s an ease to him that’s inherent; the way he owns his body, his space, every room he’s in. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to lure me back to bed.”

Jason thinks it over. Admits, “not originally,” and lets his legs fall apart slowly. Nude body lounging against cheap, synthetic pillows, he’s got Dick’s low-rent sheets strategically draped across his crotch, all tasteful and shit. Just like the Renaissance paintings cluttering the hallways of the Wayne Manor. None of the shameless, naked peacocking Dick gets up to after sex. No, Jason’s classy. Artful. The signature Jason Todd brand. “But are you feelin’ down to fuck?” he asks.

Dick throws his head back and laughs. Really fucking laughs. Eyes scrunched up and shoulders shaking, all charisma and beauty and warmth. Laughing like that, it’s suddenly easy to see how a group of metahumans chose Dick as their leader despite his lack of superpowers or how the Blüdhaven Police Corps would accept him as their own despite him being the ward of Gotham’s favourite billionaire asshole. There’s something about Dick like there’s something about Bruce. Something captivating and inescapable that would make you launch a thousand ships for them. Burn down entire worlds for them. Jason’s not sure Dick’s aware of that. And in a way, Jason thinks he understands the Joker better than Bruce ever could.

Dick’s laughter fades too slowly, and Jason would be annoyed but there’s a tightness to Dick’s pants that wasn’t there two minutes ago, and Dick’s always laughing. Joyful and happy. Like those are easy feelings to conjure and easy feelings to have. As if getting out of bed isn’t like crawling out of a dark pit every morning and as if life isn't like taking a suckerpunch to the gut, over and over.

“Wish I could,” Dicks says, and Jason swears he sounds like he means it. “But I got big plans today. Gotta save a city.”

“‘Save a city.’ Jesus Christ. More like go get shanked in the gut.”

Dick shrugs and slips on a watch. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

The other bats all have their day jobs. The Police Detective, the Socialite, the rising Tech Wunderkind, and Jason’s personal favourite: the Student. Jason derives no small amount of pleasure from knowing that Bruce and the Demon Spawn get to suffer through the worst of it. Like an ill-fitted suit, Jason hopes it pulls and itches every time they’ve got to slip their disguises on. It shows how removed they are from the rot and the grit and the filth of what is Gotham. The gore at the core of it all.

That’s where Jason lives, at its epicentre.

He’d fallen into it naturally, being a crime lord. It had been a logical first step when he’d come home, head full of green fumes and rage. He’s proud to say, he puts the organized in organized crime. Outshines even the worst of them in calculated vicious violence. The crime part of the job, Jason can admit he’s gotten more discerning about. There’s no peddling drugs to kids or bleeding junkies dry, no people traded like cattle, and he doesn’t like selling guns to the lowlifes clogging Gotham’s streets. So, he’s become a parasite instead. Infiltrates a crime organisation and eats it from the inside out till it finally collapses. Scraps the dead beast for parts and money.

It’s not something Jason talks about with this version of Dick. His shady deals, his underground moonlighting. Never with a cop like the one making his way to the bed right now, uniform tight over thick thighs and a sway in his hips that’s nothing less than sexual warfare.

“Try smoking in my bed again, Todd,” Dick warns, looming over him. He stops whatever threat he was going to utter, disrupted by Jason grousing at him to fucking let that go already. Perfectly pleasant, Dick does exactly that. Just stares at Jason with a face far too naked and utterly too fond. Something’s creeping under Jason’s skin at the sight of it—an itch he doesn’t know how to scratch, unable to decide whether he wants to kiss the prick or break his perfect face instead.

A little lower, there’s a bruise peeking out of Dick’s collar that looks like a handprint. Jason had put that there last night. Violently. Not even the fun kind of violent but the messy kind. The kind where something hunts Jason through nightmares and his body acts before his sleeping brain has had the chance to catch up—that kind of violence. Maybe a better person would wallow in the guilt and remove themselves from the situation. Not Dick and Jason. They just get better at hiding the batarangs and guns. The 200 pounds of well-trained muscle and murderous reflexes are a little harder to counteract but Dick’s no babe in the woods. Besides, Jason’s not exactly the first lethal bitch between Dick’s bedsheets.

Dick smiles. A teasing thing full of soft edges. “Mornings are hard. Aren’t they, Sugarplum?”

“Fuck you to hell.” Jason groans with feeling, hating the hard lumps of Dick’s mattress when he sinks back into them. “Just get lost already, Birdbrain. There’s no fucking point to you with your clothes on.”

“Nice to know I’m not completely useless.”

Jason wants to fight that far too favourable self-assessment. Would fight it, were he not half a pack of Lucky Strikes and three cups of coffee short of mustering the energy. Which is also the only reason he’s letting Dick press an off-centre kiss to his forehead. A shitty place for a shitty kiss from a shitty person, if you ask Jason. Very much Dick Grayson’s style.

“Try and behave, Little Wing.” Dick’s already moving away from the bed and shrugging on a jacket. “I really like this place. Got three South facing windows and none of the neighbours run a meth lab.”

“Prime Blüdhaven real estate,” Jason mutters darkly.

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Dick takes one last look at himself at the mirror, shoots Jason a tacky wink because his existence is a curse, and promises under his breath something that sounds suspiciously like I’ll be back or I’ll miss you. Another twenty seconds later and Jason hears the front door lock click back into place.

His day is wide open now.

There are things to do but there are always things to do. At any time, Jason’s got about forty things in various stages of motion. Always working on something. Someone. Bigger games than the one he’s running on Dick right now, lighting one up in his bed.

Blowing smoke up into the air, Jason decides that today he’s going to crack the safe Dick keeps behind the panel in his closet. Perfectly harmless, really. Just him fishing through some of Dick’s case files—maybe even solving a few, if he’s feeling charitable. And for tonight, there’s that Malaysian place three blocks over that does a better Rendang than anything he’s found in Gotham. Dick never shuts up about it. Like he’s never going to shut up about the cigarette smell seeping into the wallpaper.

Jason smirks. Solid options. He still has last night’s terrors painted on the back of his eyelids and the feeling of Dick’s neck under his hand but they’re slowly fading. And Dick’s got him covered, said he’d take care of the big plans, so Jason doesn’t have to. And next time, when Jason’s Dick and Dick’s Jason, he’ll have Dick covered too. Jason will tackle the big plans while Dick raids Jason’s fridge and leaves wet towels all over his apartment. Jason knows it’ll happen. It has happened. Just not today.

Maybe tomorrow.

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

@wethatake thanks for being the beta and basically a co-writer. You suck but I love you. <3 Here’s to hoping that your sad little sack of a co-worker doesn’t kill you. XD

#jaydick #jaydick-flashfic #jaydick-flashfic: big plans #jason todd #dick grayson #mirre writes

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mischiefthedreamerx · 3 years

Text

To Be Glorious & Free

Synopsis: Lady Loki visits young (kid) Loki in a dream, he feels lost and ashamed of who he is but she has a few words of wisdom to be shared.

A/N: Just an idea, nothing that’s logical but it’s a fanfic so it doesn't have to make sense 😂 Also Ik nothing about Loki in the comics, this fic doesn't really fit in the mcu either so just take it as it is. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I kinda imagine Lady Loki as Eva Green XD

- - -

Radiant white light blinded his vision. Young Loki placed a hand to cover over his squinted eyes. The radiance was warm and comforting. Though the feeling quickly faded when a thought entered his mind;

Was this Valhalla? At least he was grateful to have died a peaceful death in his sleep.

Loki still felt the rise and fall of his chest, the soft texture of grass between his fingers, the sound of soft winds. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, the mysterious light was the blazing sun. Loki rubbed his eyes; he was in a field. The sky was the perfect shade of blue, in fact, the whole place seemed too perfect to be real.

He studied his surroundings in hopes of finding a way out. Instead he saw a large beech tree in the distance. A darkened figure sat against it, hidden in the shade. If this was a dream, his dream, surely he'd remain safe from any potential threat. He hoped so anyway.

Loki began his walk towards the giant tree that swayed gently with the wind. The figure was shadowed by a hood that covered most of their facial features. Loki kept a few metres away to analyse this guest in his dream.

Young Loki struggled to keep his composure in order to stay calm.

The firmly built figure was dressed in some kind of green leather dress with golden armoured plates on the arms, accessorised with a black corset. The dress had a long slit on each side of the hips to reveal tight black trousers and boots underneath.

Loki felt his heart hammer in his chest.

The finely dressed female let out an amused laugh of the richest honey. The dark hood was was removed.

Waves of long black hair fell in place accompanied with piercing blue eyes painted in thin layers of black. A small horned headband rested around the forehead.

"I was expecting something more glamours than a field. But this shall do." She said, looking around at the view. Her voice spoke in confidence that demanded to be heard.

Loki attempted to swallow down his anxiety. "W-who are you?" He asked.

This..version of Loki rolled her eyes. "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to.” She patted the ground next to her underneath the tree.

"Sit. You're wasting time." She commanded. Loki obeyed silently and sat down. He felt captivated and almost jealous at this future version of himself. She began to inspect him, eyes moving up and down.

"You still have such a long way to go." Her voice sounded like Mother's, though it was lightly edged with darkness.

"Are you from the future?" He asked.

"Yes and no. I'm just one of the many version of who you'd wish to become one day." She responded. Loki pulled up his knees and wrapped his arms around them.

"Of someone I can never become." Young Loki said in small voice.

"Nonsense. You can become whoever or whatever you wish to be, you know you have the power to do so. The only thing stopping you is your own fear." Lady Loki said, she made it sound like an easy thing to overcome.

Loki felt his chest tighten. "Fear of what others may think of me." Though still so young, there were whispers of what many thought of him. A growing shadow amongst warriors.

"It's too late to fear what others may think of you, they have already decided." A hint of sadness laced her voice. "You are not responsible for how others perceive you. Show everyone you are better than them. They are the weak minded fools who follow what they have been taught, never having the courage to think for themselves."

Loki locked eyes with his female self, he could feel the confidence radiate from her.

"They are not free." He said, both of their lips mirrored a smirk.

"You are learning well. The world follows their little pathetic paths that are controlled by others. But you, us, are glorious and free." Lady Loki brushed a gentle hand along her younger self's cheek. "We make up our own rules.”

Loki closed his eyes, savouring this strange moment. These were the words he needed to hear for so long. A part of him did not wish to wake up. A brief pause of silence fell between them as Lady Loki waited for a response.

"But it's.. it's not natural to be..." Loki wasn't sure how to word this correctly

"To be both, or neither, somewhere in between." His female self shrugged. Loki nodded.

Lady Loki let out a chuckle. "Says who? There are many unnatural things in this world. Take our idiotic brother for example, " She joked. "It is only considered unnatural because others find it uncomfortable. Many tend to fear those who are different. I find being normal rather tedious."

"That is true." He mumbled to himself.

"We are not the only ones who feel this way. There's a realm that is more..progressive and accepting, a realm of those who are similar to us."

Loki turned, appearing surprised. Surprised that he was not the only one. It brought him a sense of comfort that a world so far away lived beings similar to him.

"Where is this realm?" He asked.

"On Midgard. They are only mortal, they live such short lives."

"I've heard of that realm." Though he did not know much about it. It shocked him that mortals seemed to be more accepting than those who lived far far longer.

"Believe me, it's not a very exciting place to visit. I've had my fair share of fun with them” Well she wouldn’t exactly have called it a fun time...

"If they are more accepting then I'd much rather be there anyway.." Loki sighed.

Lady Loki's eyes widened. "No." She pointed a finger at him. Loki let himself laugh at her response.

"I see they do not like you very much?" He dared to ask.

Lady Loki moved in closer and smirked. "Not quite. They just couldn't handle all of my glory." She spoke proudly, twisting a strand of long hair with her finger. Young Loki let himself freely smile.

This.. dream gave him some hope but the fear still remained strong underneath.

"Let me ask you something." She said in deep thought. Loki nodded.

"Do you believe women are weak creatures in need of protecting?" She asked.

Loki frowned. "No, of course not!" He said in dismay. He knew many strong women, his mother especially. Her magic was something to truly admire and even fear at times.

"Good. Do you believe their appearance dictates their worth?"

Loki shook his head. "No that's completely absurd!"

Lady Loki chuckled. "If only you could see the look on your face, young one.”

Loki felt slightly embarrassed. "Why ask me this?"

She let out a soft sigh. "Because it is what many people believe. It's something that has been ingrained in us since we were children, in story books, in legends, when we are young it is easy to subconsciously believe these ridiculous ideation." She tapped the side of her head. "We both believed this without even realising it.” It took a great amount of years to break away from it all, she only wished it hadn't taken so long.

“Oh and also, it’s possible to be both beautiful and strong at the same time.” She added with a wink.

This had never come to Loki's attention before, it was a lot to take in in such a short amount of time. He realised how much the idea of fear truly controlled everyone so easily, even him.

She continued; "No matter how hard you try, you'll never stop others from judging you no matter what you do, it's inevitable. You could pretend to fit in to avoid it all but that isn't who we are. Not when we were born for greatness. "

Lady Loki's prideful speech soon began to loose its confidence. "My only advice is to not strive for too much, it will only leave you disappointed."

Loki could see the hint of sorrow in those ancient eyes.

"Power is addictive." He commented, he was afraid of asking what sort of things had happened to her. Or maybe he did not wish to know at all.

With a frail smile, Lady Loki replied; "If only I knew that before it was all too late."

"It's never too late to start over." The words that left his lips sounded rather naive, though perhaps it was true in some ways. ".. are you happy?"

Happiness seemed like such a childish word.

Lady Loki tried to suppress a laugh for the sake of her younger self.

"Is anyone ever truly happy?" She responded.

A question in response to another question. Typical. Loki wasn't surprised.

"You're avoiding my question."

"It's one of our many talents." She replied, but Loki wanted an answer.

"It's my dream, I deserve answers. Skip the fancy philosophical responses for once."

Lady Loki raised an eyebrow, she should at least have the courage to be honest with her younger self, right?

She leaned back against the tree, eyes lost into the distance of the vast field, struggling to come up with a response.

"For awhile I forgot what it even meant to be happy, I was lost within myself, consumed by rage, never satisfied with what I had. Some people are just cursed to never feel satisfied and I've come to accept that as a part of my life... but now, after many years, you ask if I am happy... then yes, I am happy." She risked turning her head to meet her younger self's curious eyes.

"Liar." He whispered. Lady Loki's face tightened with anguish, a hidden fist began to clench but nevertheless, she smirked. She was unsure if it really was a lie or the truth.

"Guilty as charged." She said. "Lying may be our native tongue but we have yet to believe the lies we tell ourselves." She then began to stand up. "Looks like our time is up."

“Why so soon?” Loki stood up too. "Please don't go. I still have so many questions." Eyes pleading upwards to his older self. She was truly a beautiful sight to behold, so much power with a single look.

"All in due time. You'll find all the answer you seek soon. Don't forgot what I have told you or this would all have been for nothing." Would he even remember this dream when he woke up?

"Then can you promise me one thing before you go?" He asked. Promises weren't exactly her forte but she'd try to make an exception.

"Go on." She urged him.

Loki fiddled with his fingers. "Promise me you'll be happy one day." He said in a quiet voice, he knew how silly this sounded.

Lady Loki fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I promise." She said, though they were both not satisfied with her response but it would be enough.

Then she spoke again; "A promise for a promise then; promise me you won’t give up. Your story has only just began."

Loki nodded.

Lady Loki closed her eyes and began to fade away. He wanted to reach out to stay for awhile longer but it was no use. They shared a smile together before she had completely vanished away, a trail of glistening sparks flew up with the wind.

Sleep soon arrived to take Loki back home.

Loki drifted off and fell backwards thinking he'd fall on the grass but within an instant, his eyes opened wide as he awoke on his bed. He pulled himself up, moving his legs out to the side, feet touching the cold floor. A slow and steady sigh exhaled from his lips. He remembered.

He would not tell anyone, it would be his little secret. Though like all dreams, they are soon forgotten.

Loki got up and walked to his full length mirror, looking at his reflection. Placing a hand against the glass and holding his head up high, Loki spoke these words like a sacred prayer;

"Your story has only just began."

- - - -

A/N: As a trasguy who likes feminine clothes but is often scared to wear them, this felt really nice to write 🥺💚

#lady loki #mcu fanfiction #marvel #loki #loki fanfic #thor #the avengers #loki odinson #loki oneshot #female loki

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thesims4blogger · 3 years

Text

The Sims 4: New Game Patch (December 7th, 2020)

There’s a new Sims 4 update available for PC/Mac and Consoles. IPC:1.69.54.1020 / Mac: 1.69.54.1220 / Console: Version: Console: Version 1.35

Happy Holidays Simmers!

It’s time to go back in to Create a Sim! Where in this update you will find 100+ new skin tones, customization sliders for skin tones and makeup, and three improved base game hairstyles! Every skin tone now has a value slider that allows you to change the light to dark value of that skin tone, unlocking a much wider variety of skin tone options for you to play with! You will also find that our skin tones are now filterable to warm, cool, and neutral tones (as well as miscellaneous that covers our occult skin tones).

The new makeup sliders add more choices and opportunities for you to customize your Sims, and express your Sim’s style! Hue, saturation, value or brightness, and opacity are now available to modify on the makeup. We have locked some of the sliders where it did not provide an optimal experience or make sense for the makeup. Expect us to continue our work on these issues into the future to provide you with more. In addition to the customization opportunities provided, you can also save custom swatches as you tweak your sliders to get the perfect look. When you click on the swatch (for skin tones and makeup) as you modify the sliders, you will have an opportunity to save your custom settings, so you can re-use it later without having to remember your perfect looks! Did we mention that we made some hair updates? We did – we updated a base game child hair (cfHair_BraidedPonyTail), and we added a second version of that hair that removes the baby hairs (cfHair_BraidedPonyTailPlain). And we updated a base game male hair that you may find difficult to recognize from the original hair (ymHair_flatTopTextured)!

We have updated the Main Menu!… Again! The idea behind this change is to create a more cohesive experience and give Packs a more proper space as we continue to grow our content lineup. As a nice bonus, we highlighted the Gallery in a more meaningful way to inspire you.

-SimGuruGnome & SimGuruRusskii

Now onto the fixes:

Sims 4

Sketching so much that the Digital Sketch Pad just quit on you? Never fear! Freelancer Sims that use the Digital Sketchpad will now be able to complete designs without being reset abruptly.

Happy Birthday to all! Sims will now properly Age Up. Adulting is hard but they will make it, don’t worry.

Fixed an issue in which Doors, Windows, and Arches had cutouts when being reflected in Mirrors. Rorrim Rorrim no eht llaw, ohw si eht tseriaf erutaef fo meht lla?

Sims that do not have the Fishing Skill, or have not been Fishing at all, will not get notifications about identifying Fish. THEY WERE FISHING WITH THEIR MINDS.

The following careers have added the “Take Vacation Day” option, yay!

Child Sims will no longer forget they are in their Sleepwear when they go to school. Though in these times of Work and School from Home, I don’t blame them one bit.

The Sweet Escapes Country Toilet will no longer be Comfortable AND Uncomfortable at the same time… There can only be one!

Sims with the Best Selling Author Aspiration can now complete their task of writing 3 Best Sellers.

Fixed an issue in which resized objects would disappear when they were part of downloaded Gallery items.

We revised our Careers (Pack specific and not) and we made sure there were no Chance Cards that were repeated constantly.

Build Snowpal interaction is no longer available on non-natural ground (For Simmers that own Seasons and/or Snowy Escape). That’s why it’s called a Snowpal, not a Floorpal!

Gardener (Seasons)

Military (Strangerville)

Lifeguard for Teens and Conservationist (Island Living)

Law, Education, and Engineer (Discover University)

Civil Designer (Eco Lifestyle).

Editor Russkii note: I didn’t want to add each line in each pack for this fix, it would have looked weird and robotic so that is why I chose to do one bullet point for all in this section.

Get to Work

Get Together

Male Sims will no longer get Pregnant after receiving calls from NPC Sims.

City Living

NPC Sims will now text and call with invitations to Festivals. I personally welcomed the calm and quiet of my phone not beeping about constantly. But I can’t miss a Festival!

Sims rejoice! Yard sale customers will no longer invade their Home Lots and use Household objects. It is a Yard Sale… OUT in the yard, not an Open House.

Fixed an issue in which interactions to participate on GeekCon contests would not appear when interacting with objects.

Cats and Dogs

Pets will no longer sleep in random places when told to sleep on their Pet beds. In my world they can sleep where they are most comfortable, my conspiracy… allegedly.

Seasons

Sims can now Shower in the Rain… Jury is still out on Singing and Dancing.

Sims will no longer “lose” their shovels when performing other autonomous activities while performing the interaction “Shovel Snow.”

Our friendly neighborhood Snowpal has been properly renamed to Chill from Chil. Everything I knew before was a lie… a LIE!

Get Famous

Duck Security SCROO9E Super XL Smart Vault will no longer disappear after Sims Woohoo in it… you can say Woohoo can be romantic and magical, but maybe not to this extent?

NPCs from the Actor Career sometimes would never show on Set, making gigs impossible to complete. We’ve spoken with their union reps and everyone has agreed to stop this ridiculous strike. What were they striking about? Was there even a Strike? We may never know.

Island Living

Mermaids and other Occults should no longer be able to make hybrid occults. How were they making them? Oh boy, I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for me to give you the mermaid-birds and spellcaster-bees talk.

Randomly generated Mermaid Sims will no longer be seen without some features in affected Simmer Saves. However this fix is not retroactive, so it should be seen fixed in new saves.

Pizza delivery to Lagoon Look Lot has been fixed to arrive promptly.

This is Sulani Deep Lagoon Pizza, home of the 2×1 Mermadic Kelp Pizza and the Salty Llama Combo, may I take your order?

Uh huh… uh huh…

Yes, we now can ACTUALLY deliver to Lagoon Look…

Yes, we told our delivery Sims that they need to deliver it there and not keep the pizza for themselves… like give it to the actual client.

Discover University

We fixed an issue for our Console Simmers that wouldn’t allow them to close the Humanoid Robot’s Behavior Module Menus correctly.

Fixed an issue that would cause items to be repossessed when loans were fully paid. That is NOT how it worked Repo Person… NOT how it worked.

Sims with Research & Debate Skill 3 or higher will no longer be able to “Convince to” with Toddler Sims.

Masquerade Secret Society Masks are now properly unlocked in Create a Sim when joining the Secret Society.

Fixed an issue in which Heckle animation was sometimes not being performed autonomously by Sims while playing Ping Pong.

Eco Lifestyle

Fixed an issue that triggered the Off-the-Grid notifications after traveling to different Lots in Evergreen Harbor, even when they are not labeled as Off-the-Grid.

Fixed an issue in which some placeholder text was showing in notifications after Dumpster Diving.

The Americana Station Speakers will now play Music… as the prophecy foretold.

When the We Wear Bags N.A.P is active, Grim Reaper will not be partially invisible when appearing on a Lot. Grim Reaper contributes!

Living the No Appliance lifestyle? We’ve got news for you! Sims will no longer be penalized for not having “Eco-Friendly Appliances.” No appliances, no fines!

Snowy Escape

Vending Machine Canned Soups and Drinks won’t spoil anymore. Time to stock up!

Sims can no longer go on Hikes while holding their Toddlers.

Space Heaters will now be able to be placed on Lots from Inventory. Sharing the warmth everywhere!

Fixed an issue in which the Shoe Removal Sign in 5-1-2 Kiyomatsu was not working properly. We also added Shoe Removal Signs in 5-1-1 Kiyomatsu and 2-4-2 Wakabamori.

Sims will now be more visibly furious when having the appropriate furious sentiment toward other Sims. “Yes, I’m mad!… No! This IS my furious face!”

Fixed an issue with some animations that would stutter while Snowboarding or Skiing. We also made sure that Sims with a high level of those skills would not always choose the Bunny Slopes.

Izzy Fabulous’ Star Simmi Rank was just too fabulous so we had to correct it to be one star less than displayed. Don’t worry Izzy, you are a full 4 stars in my book, you are that fabulous to me.

After much debate of whether it is the Cave Shrine or the Mountain Shrine for Hiking destinations we finally decided to just call it Mountain Shrine.

We revised the Snoop-Proof Bamboo Blinds and it is now possible to drop’em like they’re hot with the Thousand Words Window.

NPC Sims will no longer “take over” the Slopes for themselves for an indefinite period of time, now they will be sharing with all Sims the joys of the Slopes.

Fixed an issue in which Sims would get highlighted in the Sentiment Panel as if receiving new Sentiments every time traveling is involved.

Sims with Rock Climbing Skill 7, or higher, are able to autonomously climb the Tall Wall (Such tall! So much wall!). There is no need to not face what makes you uncomfortable… autonomously.

Food Stalls at Mt. Komorebi Festivals won’t be closing shop randomly during Festival hours anymore. <guitar and piano intro> Closing time, open all the Stalls and eat all the food in the world…Closing time, turn all the lights on and let Yamachan greet you heeeere…

Create a Sim asset ymHat_EP10HelmetGoggles has been fixed to no longer display clipping around the neck area as well as we made sure no facial hair is removed when wearing this asset.

Dine Out

Experimenting with photo frames will no longer use the same picture of an Experimental Meal when displayed.

Vampires

Vampire Sims will no longer be affected by temperature, so they won’t be constantly obsessed with lighting fireplaces trying to get warm.

It's here – and a day early! Today, a free game update brings you 100+ skin tones, customization tools for skin tones and makeup, three improved base game hairstyles, and a main menu makeover. Available now to all The Sims 4 players! pic.twitter.com/p7QIIkI74d

— The Sims (@TheSims) December 7, 2020

A huge thanks to @Xmiramira @EbonixSims @MiaZaff1 @RaonyPhillips & @catherinegYT for the candid conversations & constructive feedback! Their input, representing their viewpoints alongside their player communities, was instrumental to current & future improvements. #GameChangers !

— The Sims (@TheSims) December 7, 2020

Every skin tone now has a value slider, unlocking thousands of customizable options. In addition, we made improvements to both new and existing skin tones, including strengthening the quality of suntans and sunburns.

— The Sims (@TheSims) December 7, 2020

#news #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #game patch

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letamreviews · 3 years

Text

A Response - Cuties (2020): Missing the Point

Text Aloud (3:18) version removed (for licensing reasons). Audio version to be done (eventually).

This here’s a refined version of a short write up I originally made in response to a movie peep’s review for Cuties, in which she explained how much she was against the ”voyeuristic camera.“

(page break included just before Minor Spoilers)

And~ here we go. The close-up shots are to bring us back to the reality of the situation. To make it clear that these 11 year-olds are imitating the adults they see in media and, in doing so, knowingly sexualizing themselves (but without full understanding). To avert the camera for us would be to maintain a lie of the matter. That things aren't that bad. That "yeah, they're dancing provocatively, but it's nothing to be too worried about." Four moments make clear the seriousness of what's going on clear, 1) the age lie, 2) the begging, 3) the dancer proof, 4) the nodding head. Hell, anybody who wants the film removed or restricted from adult viewing is essentially demanding that others stop providing the option of seeing the world. Kinda like telling news channels not to show footage of atrocities.

Since I never got around to writing a full essay elaborating on my standpoint, see the following videos.

female perspectives

I watched Cuties and it was Disturbing - caffinejedi

The Cuties conversation is infuriating. - For Harriet

'Cuties' was CHAOTIC...and Complex. - Tee Noir

male perspectives

WE WATCHED CUTIES & ITS COMPLICATED - Aba & Preach

If you want to PROTECT KIDS, shows like Dance Moms need to go. - Aba & Preach

to actually see kids of various ages dancing to today's music like it's completely normal

Ciara - Level Up - Choreography by @thebrooklynjai

Ciara - Level Up (official music video) - Ciara

As far as examples of the worst things they did in the film goes,... I don't really want to search for any. Fortunately, Aba & Preach bring up a few in their first video and show some in the second. Here’s one of them.

Next Generation Dancers - Sierra Neudeck - TJ & the Lil Mama's - Sierra Neudeck

tl;dr: The close-up shots are a dark mirror into which society must either gaze or voluntarily avert itself from.

06/12/22 Edit: For reasons involving flags, I’ve personally cancelled Aba & Preach. The links will remain because I don’t feel like digging up other male perspectives. 🤷🏿‍♂️ 08/13/23 Edit: Tee Noir‘s video has been added to the “female perspectives” list.

Clarification:

While the N-word is typically used in Aba & Preach’s videos, I don’t take kindly to the term. What I’m getting at is do not test my patience with it. No, I don’t owe you an explanation. Do some research instead.

Addition: (Minor Spoilers)

I just realized/remembered something while going through my screenshots. The baking soda scene was representative of their age and parenting. Notice the method Angelica used to help Amy’s wound heal faster. Not the product. How she went about it.

Instead of water, she used spit.

Instead of licking her finger, she spat/drooled on it from above the open bag of baking soda.

Instead of doing it neatly, she leaves a mess on her forehead.

It’s debatable how much of this is reflective of their age vs parents’ lack of taking the time to teach them things, but ‘eh. Truth be told, though, the fact that she knows a trick like that makes me wonder about her home environment, especially considering her conflicts with her older brother.

Real quick, tho. There’s also the noticeable neglect of her younger siblings the more she gets into the popular / cool / internet famous lifestyle. Could write an essay on that shit alone, but fuck it I’m done.

#Essay #Response #Cuties #2020 #Missing the Point #i really like it #Watched: October 2020 #Netflix #?/10

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selenophiliaa · 3 years

Text

Are things that are hard to physically move also hard to imagine moving?

Stephen J. Flusberg & Lera Boroditsky

Abstract

Are objects that are more difficult to physically manipulate also more difficult to mentally manipulate? In our study, participants interacted with wooden objects modeled after the figures from Shepard and Metzler’s (1971) classic mental rotation experiment. One pair of objects was easy to physically rotate while another pair was difficult. They then completed a standard mental rotation task on images of these objects. Participants were slower to mentally rotate objects that were harder to physically rotate when they engaged in motor imagery. Further, this cost accrued with increasing angles of rotation. We verified this was the result of motor imagery by showing that the costs can be eliminated by using a strictly visual imagery strategy (imagining the objects moving on their own). These results reveal a striking constraint imposed by our real-world motor experiences on mental imagery, and also demonstrate a way that we can overcome such constraints.

Imagine you are redecorating your office and wondering what the room would look like if you rearranged the furniture. When you imagine moving the couch and the small reading lamp to the far wall, do you feel like you have to put in more effort to imagine moving the heavy couch? That is, do the properties of the couch that constrain your physical interactions with it, such as its weight and bulk, also constrain your imagined interactions? Here we ask this very question: are objects that are more difficult to physically manipulate also more difficult to mentally manipulate?

To explore this issue, we created a novel adaptation of the classic Shepard and Metzler (1971) mental rotation task (see also Shepard & Cooper, 1982). In the original experiment, participants were presented with two images of three-dimensional block objects and had to indicate whether the objects were identical or were mirror-images of one another. Response times were linearly proportional to the angular disparity between the objects, suggesting that participants were mentally rotating the objects in order to solve the task. These results, along with related findings have been used to argue that there is a close relationship between perceptual processing and mental imagery (Kosslyn, 1980; Kosslyn, Ganis, & Thompson, 2001; Kosslyn, Thompson, & Ganis, 2006; Shepard & Cooper, 1982).

Fig. 1 The four wooden Shepard and Metzler objects used in physical rotation training

Surprisingly, however, much less attention has been paid to the relationship between our actual physical experiences with objects and our subsequent ability to represent and manipulate those objects in our minds. On the one hand, there appear to be tight links among perception, action and mental imagery, both in behavior and in the underlying neural circuitry (Decety, 1996; Jeannerod & Frak, 1999; O’Craven & Kanwisher, 2000; Parsons, 1987; Porro et al., 1996; Schwartz, 1999; Thomas, 1999; Washburn, 1916; Wexler, Kosslyn, & Berthoz, 1998; Winawer, Huk, & Boroditsky, 2010). On the other hand, what often seems to separate our imagination from the everyday world is that it appears free from the constraints imposed by the physical environment. Indeed, people often imagine actions or events that they have never seen or never could experience themselves. We can imagine ourselves riding on a beam of light, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, or making a hook shot from half court. This begs the question, to what extent do our experiences with objects in the real world impinge on our ability to represent and manipulate those objects in mental imagery?

In the present study, participants first physically rotated wooden Shepard and Metzler-like objects. Crucially, one pair of objects was easy to rotate while the other pair was more difficult. Participants then completed a mental rotation task consisting of images of these objects. We were interested in whether motor imagery would be affected by the participants’ physical motor experience with the objects. Indeed, participants were slower to mentally rotate objects that were more difficult to physically rotate. To confirm that these effects were specific to motor imagery, we tested another group of participants with instructions to use a visual rotation strategy instead of motor imagery. In this case, participants’ motor experience with the objects had no effect on mental rotation speed, confirming that the effects were specific to motor imagery. These results reveal that motor mental imagery is constrained by our real-world motor experiences, but these constraints can be avoided by using an alternative mental imagery strategy.

Experiment

The experiment consisted of three parts: (1) physical rotation training with wooden Shepard and Metzler objects, (2) a mental rotation task consisting of images of the wooden objects and (3) a brief exit questionnaire.

Methods

Participants

Seventy Stanford students (34 females, 36 males) participated in exchange for payment or course credit. Sixty-four of the participants were right-handed while the remaining six participants were left-handed.

Physical rotation apparatus

We constructed four Shepard and Metzler-style block objects from small wooden beams (Fig. 1). The objects were approximately 15 cm tall and had small holes drilled into the center beam to allow them to be mounted to the rotation platforms. The objects came in two distinct shapes with two instances of each shape. One instance of each shape was painted blue while the other instance was painted red.

We also built two rotation platforms to control the rotational affordance of the objects (Fig. 2). Each rotation platform consisted of a coffee can with an axle installed in the bottom and a freely rotating wooden paddle inside. The objects could be mounted on top via protruding metal rods. One device was filled with sand, making it more difficult to rotate when an object was mounted onto it. The other platform was left empty, making it easier to rotate. Both devices were painted black, and their inner workings were visually obscured from participants by wooden covers.

Fig. 2 An image and schematic of the rotation platform used for physical rotation training. The wooden Shepard and Metzler objects were mounted on the rods protruding from the top

Physical rotation training procedure

Participants were trained on all four of the objects. One object color was assigned to the rotation platform filled with sand (hard to rotate) while the other color was assigned to the empty platform (easy to rotate). Thus, for a given participant, both red objects might be hard to rotate while both blue objects would be easy to rotate, and this was counterbalanced across participants.

When the participant arrived in the laboratory, one object was already mounted on the appropriate platform. Half of the participants rotated the hard-to-rotate objects first while the remaining participants rotated the easy-to-rotate objects first. Participants were instructed to stand at arm’s length from the object, grasp the object by the center beam with their right hand, and rotate it as far as they could clockwise and then counterclockwise. This step was repeated for the left hand. The object was then removed from its mounting by the experimenter, rotated 90° and remounted in a new orientation. Participants then performed the right- and lefthanded physical rotations in this position. This process was repeated twice more until the object had been manipulated from four different orientations. At this point the experimenter replaced the object with the other object of the same color and participants replicated the physical rotation regimen described above for this second object. This whole procedure was then repeated for the other pair of objects on the other rotation platform. Finally, participants went through this entire process again from the beginning, so that by the end they had manipulated each object twice. The training session lasted approximately 8 min.

Mental rotation stimuli and procedure

The mental rotation task was conducted on an Apple iMac computer using Matlab software and the Psychophysics toolbox (Brainard, 1997). Stimuli consisted of full color digital photographs of the physical objects described above. Each object was photographed in eight different orientations. These orientations were chosen to allow for the unambiguous identification of each object from the digital image. Objects that were the same shape but different colors were photographed from the same angles so that the only way to distinguish them from the photograph was by color.

On every trial, one of these 32 images appeared in the left half of the display, subtending 12-15 cm by 12-15 cm depending on the orientation, angle and shape. Either the same image or a mirror-reflected version of the image appeared in the right half of the display. The image on the right could be rotated 0°, 60°, 120° or 180° clockwise in the picture plane. Every possible trial based on the combination of these images was used exactly once in this experiment, yielding 256 unique trials. The order of trials was randomized for each participant.

Participants were instructed to press the “F” key if the left and right images showed the exact same object and the “J” key if the objects were mirror-reversed images of one another. Feedback was given after each trial in the form of a pleasant ding or buzzer sound for correct and incorrect responses, respectively.

We were interested in the effect of physical motor experience with the objects on participants’ ability to imagine manipulating the objects. Further, we wanted to test whether any effects would be specific to motor imagery. To this end, participants were tested in one of two minimally different conditions: motor imagery instructions or visual imagery instructions (following Kosslyn, Thompson, Wraga, & Alpert, 2001). Instructions in the Motor Imagery condition were: Imagine that you are grasping one of the objects with your hand and turning it until it aligns with the other object. In the Visual Imagery condition they were: Imagine that one of the objects is rotating by itself and turning until it aligns with the other object.

Exit questionnaire

At the end of the experiment, participants rated how difficult it was to engage in the type of imagery they were instructed to use (1, extremely easy to 10, extremely difficult), how often they used this type of imagery during the task (1, never used it to 10, used it on every trial) and how difficult it was for them to physically rotate the objects from each color category (1, extremely easy to 10, extremely difficult). This last question measured the effectiveness of the physical rotation manipulation for each participant. Finally, participants were asked: “What do you think was the purpose of this experiment?”

Results and discussion

Data from six participants (3 females) were removed prior to analysis due to error rates greater than 30% on the mental rotation task (N = 4), failure to complete the exit questionnaire (N = 1), or because the mental rotation computer program crashed before the participant completed all trials (N = 1). These participants were replaced to make a counterbalanced set of 32 participants in each imagery condition. The resulting final set of 64 participants had a mean accuracy of 87%.

Manipulation checks

Participants rated the objects that were mounted on the sand-filled rotation platform (mean = 6.2, SD = 1.8) as significantly harder to physically rotate than the objects mounted on the empty rotation platform (mean = 2.2, SD = 1.4), t(63) = 17.4, p < 0.0001. They also reported using their assigned type of imagery on most trials (mean = 7.83, SD = 1.53), and further reported that using this imagery was moderately easy (mean = 3.98, SD = 2.05). There was no difference in reported imagery difficulty (t(62) = 0.91, p = N.S.) or amount of assigned imagery use (t(62) = 1.23, p = N.S.) between the two conditions.

Fig. 3 Reaction time by angle of rotation, with separate lines for how difficult the objects had been to physically rotate during training, and separate plots for each imagery condition

Mental rotation results

Mirror-reversed response trials were treated as distractors and therefore not included in the analysis. Only correct trials were analyzed. Trials where the RT was more than 5 SD slower than the mean RT across all participants for a given angle of rotation were excluded, leading to the removal of less than 1% of trials.

Our first analysis consisted of a mixed-design, 2 (physical rotation difficulty: Easy vs. Hard) × 4 (angle of rotation: 0°, 60°, 120°, 180°) repeated measures ANOVA with imagery type (Motor vs. Visual) included as a between-subjects factor. In line with previous studies of mental rotation, the linear effect of angle of rotation was significant, with RTs increasing linearly with increased angle of rotation, F(1, 62) = 394.66, p < 0.0001 (Fig. 3). This effect did not vary by imagery type, F(1, 62) = 0.09, p = N.S. There was no main effect of physical rotation difficulty, F(1, 62) = 1.25, p = N.S. However, there was a significant physical rotation difficulty by imagery type interaction, such that participants who used motor imagery (but not visual imagery) were overall slower to mentally rotate objects that were more difficult to physically rotate, F(1, 62) = 6.31, p < 0.02 (Fig. 4). In accuracy patterns, there was no main effect of difficulty of rotation (F(1, 62) = 1.28, p = N.S.), and no interaction by imagery type (F(1, 62) = 0.55, p = N.S.), ruling out a speed-accuracy trade-off.

To further explore the relationship between physical rotation, mental rotation and imagery type, we ran a separate 2 (physical rotation difficulty) × 4 (angle of rotation) repeated measures ANOVA for participants in each of the two imagery conditions.

For participants who used visual imagery, there was a significant linear effect of angle of rotation (F(1, 31) = 177, p < 0.001), but no main effect of physical rotation difficulty (F(1, 31) = 1.31, p = N.S.) and no interaction between physical rotation difficulty and the linear effect of angle of rotation (F(1, 31) = 0.81, p = N.S.). For participants who used motor imagery, however, in addition to a significant linear effect of angle of rotation (F(1, 31) = 222, p < 0.001) there was also a main effect of physical rotation difficulty (F(1, 31) = 5.23, p < 0.03); RTs increased linearly with increased angle of rotation, and participants were overall slower to mentally rotate the objects that were more difficult to physically rotate. We were further interested in whether mentally rotating an object that is difficult to physically rotate imposes a fixed cost, or whether the cost accrues over angles of rotation (as it would if one were physically rotating the object). For participants who used motor imagery, the interaction between physical rotation difficulty and the linear effect of angle of rotation did not quite reach significance, F(1, 31) = 2.99, p = 0.094. One intriguing possibility is that participants who did not perceive there to be much of a difference between the objects during physical rotation would not show much of a difference during mental rotation. In the exit questionnaire, participants rated how difficult it was to rotate objects of each color during physical rotation training. From this we obtained a physical rotation difference score, and we repeated the above analysis excluding those participants whose difference score was smaller than one standard deviation away from the mean (N = 4). The average difference score for the remaining 28 participants was 5.03. This analysis revealed a significant interaction between physical rotation difficulty and the linear effect of angle of rotation, F(1, 27) = 5.41, p < 0.03. This result demonstrates that the cost of mentally rotating an object that you perceive as difficult to physically rotate accrues with increasing angles of rotation (just as it would if one were physically rotating the object).

Fig. 4 Overall cost of mentally rotating an image of a more difficult to physically rotate object for each imagery condition. The difference scores were obtained by taking the average difference in RT between images of the hard-to-physically rotate objects and images of the easyto-physically-rotate objects, collapsed across trials with a rotation angle of 60˚, 120˚, and 180˚. Error bars represent standard error

The fact that physical experience with the objects had an effect only in the motor imagery condition and not in the visual imagery condition helps confirm that these effects are specific to motor imagery (and not simply a function of demand characteristics or more general response biases). Participants in both imagery conditions had the same physical experience with the objects and in the exit questionnaire were equally likely to predict that hard-torotate objects would be slower to mentally rotate (6 and 5 out of 32 participants in the motor and visual imagery conditions, respectively). Participants using motor imagery were in fact slightly more likely than those using visual imagery to make the opposite prediction that hardto-rotate objects would be faster to mentally rotate (5 and 1 out of 32, respectively). The disconnect between people’s explicit predictions and the actual RT patterns observed reflects the fact that RT in the context of mental rotation is an implicit measure, one that participants are unlikely to intentionally modulate. All participants were motivated to complete the task as quickly as possible, and it is improbable that participants explicitly chose to slow a subset of their responses, and only in one of the conditions.

General discussion

We find that things that are more difficult to move in the real world are also more difficult to imagine moving, but this is only true when we engage in motor imagery and does not hold for purely visual imagery. That is, our previous motor experience with an object matters when we imagine moving it, but not when we imagine the object moving on its own. These results suggest that while we may automatically activate the motor representations associated with objects in some tasks (e.g., Chao & Martin, 2000; Tucker & Ellis, 1998), motor information is not necessarily activated in all tasks. This is consistent with previous work showing that our present motor state (or recent motor experience) can impact judgments of things like walking distance or the steepness of a hill in some but not all task situations (e.g., Proffitt, 2006; Proffitt, Stefanucci, Banton, & Epstein, 2003; Schwartz & Holton, 2000). One common thread across these studies may be that when people make a judgment by imagining themselves acting in the world (e.g., physically rotating the objects, walking across a room, climbing a hill), their judgments are affected by their previous or immediate motor experience (even if this leads to errors in judgment or costs in reaction time; see also Schwartz, 1999).

What are the mechanisms underlying motor and visual imagery that may give rise to this pattern of results? There appears to be a tight link between real and imagined actions. In recent years, many researchers have converged on a view of mental imagery that proposes that the same cognitive and neural systems that underlie perception and action also underlie imagined perception and action (Decety, 1996; Jeannerod & Frak, 1999; O’Craven & Kanwisher, 2000; Thomas, 1999; Winawer, Huk, & Boroditsky, 2010). Support for this view comes from a variety of sources, including behavioral and neuroimaging studies. For example, the time it takes to imagine an action is tightly correlated with the time it takes to execute that action (Jeannerod & Frak, 1999; Kunz, Creem-Regehr, & Thompson, 2009). Further, many of the same brain regions are activated for both imagined and executed perceptual and motor actions (Decety, 1996; Kunz et al., 2009; Porro et al., 1996). For instance, imagining faces and places selectively activates visual brain regions responsible for processing these stimuli (O’Craven & Kanwisher, 2000). Indeed, imagining a particular visual scene (e.g., of downward motion) can even adapt direction-selective neurons and cause a measurable motion after-effect illusion, in the same way that adapting to real downward motion would (Winawer, Huk, & Boroditsky, 2010). On this view, then, mental imagery is constituted by the (covert, partial) reinstantiation of the same set of perceptual-motor processes that would be engaged during the actual performance of a given action or perception of a given object (Decety, 1996; Thomas, 1999).

Adopting this framework helps situate the findings from the present study. During physical rotation training, participants learned about the motor affordances of the objects and stored away these experiences in memory. Previous research suggests that people can rapidly calibrate their perceptual-motor systems in this way and integrate new information with respect to their goals in order to plan and execute actions (Rieser, Pick, Ashmead, & Garing, 1995). The dissociation between patterns in motor and visual imagery in our mental rotation results suggests that the motor information participants stored away was reinstantiated only when participants were trying imagine the motor actions, and not when they imagined the objects moving on their own. This study offers behavioral evidence that motor and visual imagery draw on different cognitive processes, supplementing previous neural evidence (e.g., Kosslyn et al., 2001). It appears that people recruit different types of information into their mental imagery in a principled fashion: when they imagine physically interacting with objects, they include motor information, but when they do not imagine themselves acting on the world, they do not.

These findings raise some interesting questions about the way experience interacts with mental imagery. For example, what kinds of previous experiences can have an impact on motor imagery? If instead of performing a motor action yourself you simply observed another person performing the action, would the ease or difficulty with which they performed it influence your ability to imagine performing it yourself? More generally, what are the kinds of information (e.g., visual, linguistic, etc.) that can impinge on, constrain, or even enhance our motor imagery?

Conclusions

Are objects that are more difficult to physically manipulate also more difficult to mentally manipulate? Participants who engaged in motor imagery were slower to mentally rotate objects that were more difficult to physically rotate. Further, the cost of mentally rotating such objects accrued with increasing angles of rotation (just as it would if one were physically rotating the objects). Strikingly, this was true even though participants only had a limited amount of physical experience with the objects, the easy- and hard-torotate objects were identical in shape (they differed only in color), and the effect was observed in an implicit RT task where participants were motivated to work as quickly as possible. Finally, we verified that these effects were specific to motor imagery by showing that the effects can be eliminated by using strictly visual imagery (imagining the objects moving on their own). These results reveal that motor mental imagery is constrained by our real-world motor experiences (and that these constraints can be avoided by using an alternative mental imagery strategy). So, the next time you imagine redecorating your office, you can save some time by imagining the couch moving itself.

#articles #linguistics #psychology

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