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starker-raving-mads · 1 month

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For You: Part VIII

Rating: M for sexual situations

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After incorporating Tony into the penthouse and the rest of the tower, Peter found himself in a very familiar yet strange routine. He was spending all his time at the tower, now, having officially moved in. Being 18 and a billionaire - which still boggled his mind - made the transition easier. Reporters had finally found out where May lived and it wasn't until they had released a press statement via Friday that he had moved to the tower that they started leaving her alone.

The whole thing was surreal.

But he spent his days with Tony, May came over for dinner a few nights a week and updated him on FEAST and the rest of her goings on, he had lunches out with friends in hole-in-the-wall places (the only ones the press couldn't spot him at, they realized, after photos of Peter at a Panera ended up online), he went on patrol, and his classes started.

So while it was strange, it was also exactly the same as before. May, his friends, classes, and time spent with Tony. It was just a little different now, and Peter wasn't mad at the change in pace. Especially all the extra time with Tony. Because if it was just them in the tower, Tony was always out and chatting with Peter, going over ideas, talking about plans, just…hanging out. It was kind of amazing. And while Peter missed the physical things - like Tony moving him with wide, warm hands on his hips, leaning over his shoulder to look at his projects, putting a firm hand on his arm telling him he was proud - having the older man back like this was more precious to him than he could possibly say.

It was just like that, though, that the familiarity turned to something a little…more.

It was the end of the night after a long day of tinkering with Tony in the lab, handling SI business through Friday, chatting with May, and wrapping up his first week of college courses online. Peter was more than a little exhausted to say the least. It was a good day, really; he and Tony had found a nice little mystery of a bug in one of the projects that the older man had left over as a working component for a new mobile phone, a competitor (and upgrade) to the iPhone.

They'd pondered over it all day, then through out each meal, and even between Peter's classes. Eventually they'd let it drop because Friday had reminded Peter that it was 2AM and he had to be at a FEAST event for May at 10AM the next morning. If he was going to get rest, it had to be now.

But as he wound down in his (Tony's) room, his mind wouldn't shut off despite his physical exhaustion. It had been a busy day and he hadn't given himself any time to just stop thinking for a minute and let all the details percolate.

Sighing to himself, stretched out on the bed, he closed his eyes, arms crooked one on his chest and the other on his stomach. He let his mind wander, float in the liminal space where thoughts came and went without trying to focus them on one topic or another. Yet, inevitably, they always came back to Tony.

Tony's smirk when he was feeling playful, his eyes when they were happy, the way his hands moved in the air free and careless. Peter groaned thinking about those hands. They were so strong and capable, nimble and dexterous - god, the amount of dreams he'd had about those hands -

Suddenly, Peter was aware of the firmness in his pajama pants, his cock half hard from the images in his head. He thought about ignoring it - how weird it would be, when Tony was ostensibly right downstairs in the lab, doing whatever he did when Peter wasn't there - but decided that if this is what his body needed to fall asleep, he'd give into it.

After all, it had been five years since the last time he jerked off thinking about his mentor. He had plenty of time to make up for.

So he slipped the hand from his stomach, down under the waistband of his shorts and gripped his cock in his hand, fondling himself as he thought more about Tony. His face after Peter made him laugh, the crow's feet around his eyes, the sincerity in his voice when he was talking about how much Peter meant to him. The predatory way he glared when arguing, how dark his eyes got, how fierce his voice became -

Peter was fully hard then, cock leaking precum in his palm. He pushed his pants down freeing his cock fully, the softness of the comforter against his hard flesh making him moan. He arched his back making the fabric drag against the head and he gripped himself hard, then, hand starting to move in the up-down motion, fingers pressing against the vein on the underside, palm twisting when he reached the head.

He spread his legs, bringing his heels to his ass and ground down into the bed, his favorite fantasy playing out behind his eyes. Tony, between his legs, hard cock riding the ridge of his ass, saying filthy things to him, teasing him, mocking him. You want my cock so badly don't you, baby? Need it in your slutty little hole? And Peter begged in his mind, yes, yes, yes.

He spread his legs further, grateful for his flexibility, imagining Tony's large, capable hands dragging them apart, callouses tickling the soft skin of his thighs. He flexed his hips, thrusting into his hand, pretending he could feel a stiff cock just glancing his sensitive hole. Come on, Tony would tease, work for it, baby, show daddy how desperate you are for his cock. You can do better than that can't you?

Peter whined, back arching, and he was so close - so, so close already, just these few moments thinking about Tony, thinking about -

"Hng," he groaned, low and needy. "Fuck, fuck, need it, daddy - "

"Peter! I - "

The teen's eyes flew open shock and adrenaline pushing him right over the precipice he'd been teetering on, his orgasm painful and powerful as he locked eyes with ones the glowed, blue and wide. Hot ropes of cum hit his chest, the blanket having been pulled off while he was moving so frantically, one calf still draped in gray-blue fabric but not enough to hide the evidence of his exploits.

He'd never come down from an orgasm so fast.

"Mr. Stark! Uh, Tony - I, fuck," he said, scrambling to sit up, dragging the cover over himself. His hands were fumbling, adrenaline and nerves getting to him as he pulled the entire blanket into a big pile over himself, like a mound of sand burying his body at the beach. Like layers could hide his sin.

Tony said nothing, standing there, staring at him, frozen. His mouth was slack, hands still, mid-gesture. His eyes tracked Peter's erratic movements until after several long moments Peter stilled and, slowly, very slowly, Tony went to a tense position. Mouth closed, hands fiddly at his sides, eyes darting from Peter's head, down to the blanket covering his body, and back again.

Peter decided to pretend like nothing happened.

"Um," he cleared his throat. "Did you - did you need something?" His voice nearly cracked at the end, the pitch sharper than it had been in years from nerves. He could feel the blush furious under his skin, warming his cheeks and the back of his neck and the tips of his ears. They locked eyes for a second and it seemed to bring Tony back online, eyes going impossibly wide before he blinked out of existence.

"Fuck."

#starker #ironspider #peter parker x tony stark #tony stark x peter parker #peter parker #tony stark #peter x tony #iron man #spiderman #for you fic

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cody-00 · 9 months

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Immortality and Boredom: Euclase Analysis

Note: this has been taken from my Twitter thread, but there's some edits I've been wanting to make, and generally multi-platform access is a good thing, especially here with how tags work on this site as well the amount of Euclase metas already present here.

It feels a bit academically awkward to base this analysis off of Western philosophy knowing the series' Buddhist influences, but the former's concise terminology helps illuminate the series without any evident conflicts. Conveniently, I have only needed to base this thread off of one source: "Immortality and Boredom" by John Martin Fischer and Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin.

If one believes that immortality necessarily causes boredom, Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin have observed two notable ways in which one could make this argument. One way, coined as "content-boredom", argues that immortality would eventually exhaust the supposed finite amount of desires that would drive a person to live (Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin 355). This is partially shown through the Lunarians. Their desire to pass on stems from the resignation that they have done everything that could bring any sort of pleasure. The Lunarian's problems regarding immortality do not stem from content-boredom, for there is a more existential component present, but it is a real factor. Content-boredom is limited to the Lunarians, for they, outside of Kongo, have lived much longer than anyone else.

The other way to argue immortality that causes boredom is to say that an immortal life would not be constrained by time, and, therefore, lack a certain urgency. Lacking the energy to actualize one's desires and complete projects would make life dull. This is labeled as "motivation-boredom" (361). While perhaps not as intuitive argument as content-boredom, motivation-boredom is an application of the common practice of procrastination at its most extreme. Where one may put off a task until the last possible moment despite wanting and knowing that they should have started that task earlier, people who support the idea of motivation-boredom believe people can and will put off everything indefinitely since there is no last possible moment. Motivation-boredom is best substantiated through the Earth Gems, but most importantly, through Euclase, an elder gem who displays more apparent control over the Earth Gems as the series progresses. Showing how this is the case is what the real meat of this post is.

First of all, Euclase's role in demonstrating motivation-boredom is something only Euclase can properly do. The other elder gems (i.e. Yellow Diamond, Padparadscha, and Alexandrite), are caught in problems regarding immortality that are outside of boredom. The same reasoning applies to Kongo.

Ironically, they acknowledge the idea that immortal existence fundamentally differs from mortals in a psychological sense, but they (through their own admission) ultimately seem unaware of how motivation-boredom affects their judgments. Before any budding criticism comes to mind in how the previous tweet is phrased, Euclase does only mention that an immortal being's sense of danger being distorted—not necessarily an immortal being's sense of urgency being distorted. However, the following paragraphs should demonstrate the compatibility and sometimes interchangeability between the two traits. Euclase's distorted sense of danger is actually rooted in Euclase's distorted sense of urgency.

Relative to other gems in the series, Euclase's conversations take a lot of focus on temporality. There are many examples. In fact, Chapter 4, their first major appearance, foreshadows this tendency. The third image shows a juxtaposition between Euclase and Phos in valuing time.

Another example early in the series (one in which credit goes to Shamu, for he pointed this out during our note-taking process of this video) takes place during Chapter 7 when Jade reports that Euclase dropped their schedule and is in need of more time to reassign roles for the future. The reason is indirectly linked to Phos, which hints at how Phos will impact Euclase’s future.

Euclase, contrasting from the Lunarians, values the benefits that come from the lack of urgency. With infinite time comes the infinite opportunities for conflicts to resolve. The earliest moments where this sentiment shows itself is through Chapter 41 and Chapter 58.

While a bit digressive for this analysis, Euclase's word choice incorporates time once more to compliment Phos' condition by returning from the moon in Chapter 58. There is an irony here in that Euclase's support for the idea that a lack of urgency eventually will towards positive outcomes through patience is vindicated through Phos. Euclase's encouragement to Phos could have only happened through the systemic neglect that Phos is under.

Chapters 60 and 61 display where motivation-boredom's consequences start to directly impact the plot. Euclase recognizes the threat Phos poses but fails to enact any action outside of sharing their suspicion to Jade and expressing an ambiguous threat towards Phos. Euclase failure here stems from two reasons. One is that Euclase misreads the identity of Phos. Lapis is a gem known for their analysis paralysis. Euclase, by believing Lapis has the most control over LaPhos, assumes that Phos would not follow through any plans with such haste. Furthermore, by predicting their actions through the Lapis-colored lens, they fail to consider what would happen if really is Phos in control, a gem that carries human-like tendencies to carry out tasks with an urgency.

The second reason originates from Euclase's inability to detect time constraints. Notice the juxtaposition between Euclase and Phos here: the threat not only fails to prevents the gems departing for the moon but actually hastens the result.

Even though Euclase manages to prevent a few gems from leaving the moon, it's a pyrrhic victory, suggesting once more how Euclase's inability to feel urgency causes negative results. Consider Rutile, whom Euclase successfully prevents from going to the moon. Rutile could have served as a pivotal piece in preventing the departure to the moon, for they were the only one to consider disseminating Phos’ plan to Kongo. Instead, Rutile’s psyche starts to take a turn for the worse in the series. Euclase’s failure here is multilayered.

Euclase starts to recognize urgency more due to Phos. Kongo's pending request for a self-imposed exile forces Euclase into action. Why Euclase feels compulsion to stay on Earth is slightly outside the scope of this post, but Euclase's argument for staying on Earth lies in identity and its connection to time. Note that Euclase's urge to make up each other's shortcomings results from Phos' actions as well as Kongo's response being tied to the relationship future life forms and the present day.

The scouting mission in Chapter 69 implies that Euclase's natural state is one that tries to maintain a state that avoids urgency when they can. Pad's analysis, considering their constant state of inactivity, suggests that Euclase's character has been unchanging for a while. The threat of Phos does urge Euclase and the Earth gems to respond with a defensive plan, however, as seen in Chapter 70. The following interaction between Phos and Euclase centers once more on time.

Euclase's decision for everyone to rest after the night raid lies upon the premise that relationship between Phos and the Lunarians is currently one of dysfunction. Urgency to act only comes when the danger is immediate and the time constraints are evident for Euclase.

When Phos is separated for 220 years, Euclase once again approaches the problem under the assumption that the amount of time to solve all the conflicts with Phos is not constrained by time. The following chapter shows Euclase's belief that Phos no longer endangers their safety; the small amount of motivation they have to ask Kongo to pray is caused not out of sympathy for Phos but instead of out consideration of the possibility that that Lunarians might invade.

While Euclase's reasoning to delay cleaning up during Kongo's birthday party may have justifiable reasoning, it does show how motivation-boredom even plays a part in casual situations.

Upon recognizing danger from Phos' imminent invasion, Euclase's response is to buy time, which seems rather indicative that their response to urgency is infinitely delay whatever causes urgency.

Through Alexandrite's action sequence, due to the positioning of Euclase at the start of the sequence compared to the other images, it almost seems as if Euclase is trying to delay inevitable danger by using their companions to buy time.

Based on Euclase's previous actions, their reasoning for their negotiation plea towards Phos expresses sincerity. However, as time has proven before, Phos shows that they need to be the danger in order for goals and desires to be reached. Euclase's shortcomings show that becoming immortal does not mean everything can be put off until later.

When wondering why Euclase fails to get anything done later in the series, a serious factor to consider is the influence of motivation-boredom. Euclase's passivity may not be entirely based on intentional callousness, for their existence and their relation to time distorts all decision making, and living as they have distances themselves from a perspective like Phos' and reinforces those distortions.

To wrap everything up, Houseki no Kuni frequently criticizes immortality. Does the depiction of both kinds of boredom claim are aspects that necessarily happen to those who have immortality? No. In a sense the two types of boredoms oppose one another, yet they coexist in this story. However, having these two kinds of boredoms correspond to a respective immortal species shows how these criticisms could happen to those who are immortal. Additionally, unlike content-boredom within Houseki no Kuni, motivation-boredom does not directly lead to unhappiness for reasons concerning the lack of energy to fulfill desires like its supporters suggest. Instead, the manga shows that those in power who lack urgency due to their immortality can lead to excessive and idle conservatism and eventual, destructive consequences by not recognizing and responding to time-sensitive issues. To me, that sounds more like a warning rather than a criticism.

The paper summarizes both types of boredoms, but interestingly, they reject these two concepts as sufficient reasons to oppose immortality. Originally, before making this post, I did not think either forms of boredoms had any merit, but analyzing Euclase has shown me that immortality would, while not necessarily causing motivation-boredom, a distortion of urgency within projects that would require it, thereby risking to harm one's quality of living. Furthermore, for supporters of content-boredom, reading "The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality" by Bernard Williams may interest you. For supporters of motivation-boredom, I cannot say I have read them, but Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin's response on content boredom is based off of Todd May's "Death" and Martha Nussbaum's "The Therapy of Desire".

Fischer, John Martin, and Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin. “Immortality and Boredom.” The Journal of Ethics, vol. 18, no. 4, 2014, pp. 353–72. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43895884.

#euclase #land of the lustrous #hnk #phosphophyllite #kongo sensei #houseki no kuni #rutile #hnk meta

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the-valiant-valkyrie · 4 months

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i think one of the biggest threats between people pairing solaris and the fabricator has to be the way that they conduct themselves- as far as we're aware from an external perspective. canonically, though the two of them work together frequently- resulting in horrifically lethal machines- they're about as different as they can be.

if you ask me, though, i don't think it's an issue at all. if anything, i think someone like solaris is exactly what the fabricator needs.

for never really getting a moment to herself in the spotlight, we know a surprising amount about the fabricator, and we can safely infer a whole lot more.

from the power that zor lends to her, she seems to be a very critical component of zoraxis. it's a sentiment the agency also parrots, regarding her as zor's runner up in regards to her own lethality. it does, however, come at the consequence of losing the majority of her free time. she's a diligent engineer to a fault, to the point where she'll sacrifice her own time and sleep in order to complete projects she's been assigned to. as highly as she regards herself, she puts zor before her- which, considering her conduct, seems to be quite a big deal for someone like herself.

and even beyond her work with zoraxis, we have to consider what she does with the rest of her 'spare time'. she's the head of a front facing fashion business that seems publicly unaffiliated with the megacorp, meaning even post 3, she still has just as much work on her hands as she did before zoraxis' exposure. people are still buying her products, and she's still rolling out new ones. as a renowned designer- someone who assuredly has the majority of her free time eaten up by the formalities and outings mandatory of socialites.

you can make a pretty solid argument that- as self important as she appears on the surface- she is running herself into the ground for everyone other than herself. her needs canonically come after zor's, and considering what little time she must have to spare after working on their projects, it seems her needs come after her clients' as well.

and then there's solaris. relatively new to zoraxis, so it seems, and without the same dedication to the company that her coworkers seem to share. she's dedicated to her work first, herself seemingly second, and the company third. it's the perfect blend of being a diligent worker and a horribly insubordinate employee.

do i think fabby would hate her conduct at first? oh, absolutely. being forced to work alongside someone who couldn't care less about the boss she so diligently devotes herself to? someone so unlike herself? so blunt and unrefined?

… i do think, though, after long enough, solaris is the perfect individual to turn into an unwitting lifeline.

solaris is the fabricator's only window into a world beyond the little pen she's caged herself in. a world where zor's every wish isn't her command. a world where her every decision and action isn't scrutinized- by her boss, by her clients, by the media, by whoever else she dares to keep close to her. a world where she doesn't need to perform for those around her to tolerate her.

solaris is far from polite society. and yes, that means she's inelegant and hard to parse. but that also means she doesn't bother to judge the fabricator on any of the standards she's been forcing herself to uphold.

solaris is a blank slate. a brief respite. an intellectual equal who doesn't layer expectations on her already broken back.

i do think it's something fabby wouldn't know to truly appreciate until she leaves zoraxis. until she realizes how suffocating life is when she's back to performing for everyone she knows. when she doesn't have anyone to affirm the invisible thought that zor's working her too hard… you don't notice what you have until its gone. john's gay ass isn't the only one masking is all i'm saying

#ieytd #the fabricator #commander solaris #long ass post but it's important. to ME.#the d*nt st*rve community would be eating this shit up. btw. my two million paragraph essay on women.#i should really be charging for this. but im nice. and also gay and yearning. so you can have my festering thoughts for free okay?? okay?#fabbylaris

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pkmnprofloblolly · 1 year

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I've always wondered, why is it possible to revive a cranidos from a skull fossil but impossible to revive a cubune's mother's skull? Is there something special about the fossilization process? Thanks!

very good question!

while we call it revival, the process of bringing an extinct pokemon back to life is actually a process of cloning. we're only currently able to revive a few select species of fossil pokemon, because there's been a lot of hard work put in to piece together a complete genome for the species, from what tiny amounts are able to be gleaned from fossils, and much borrowed from extant (non-extinct) modern relatives and reconstructed into an entire genome.

when you bring in a fossil for revival, it's taken back and parts of it are actually dissolved away. what's left are tiny preserved cells, in which one can find fragmented strands of genetic material. this material is taken, sequenced, and where appropriate, added to the known genome for that particular pokemon. every fossil you bring in could provide a new part of the genome, making every subsequent reconstruction more accurate to the original animal. repeated sections of dna are also useful for creating genetic diversity within the revived pokemon, so they aren't all just genetically identical to one another, making modern-day breeding projects more safe from the pitfalls of inbreeding.

the reconstructed genome of the pokemon in question is then used to create an embryo, which is artificially incubated and rapidly grown to an age suitable to join a trainer's team. this entire process, from extracting dna to growing the pokemon, has been so streamlined that it only takes a few weeks to months to get your pokemon after you bring a fossil in.

this genetic modification is actually why all* the fossil pokemon you're able to train are rock type. rock types are hardy, and much of their body is often made of rock rather than anything organic. the process by which the "test tube baby" pokemon is grown would lead to weak, brittle bones/exoskeletons and other significant structural problems due to the extremely quick growth without the rock typing. so, the varieties produced for trainers have been modified with genes from related living rock types (ie. rhyhorn and aron lines for fossil dinosaurs, klawf for fossil arthropods, and so on) to allow them to sustain that. "pure"-typed fossil pokemon do exist, but are created via traditional cloning methods. this takes much more time and effort to create with a much higher rate of failure, and are therefore relegated only to academics studying those pokemon.

(*oh, and, uh. dr. cara liss, the scientist responsible for the reproducible genomes of the galarian fossil pokemon, has.. unique methods of combining genomes of pokemon she claims are the same species that lead to the bizarre mishmashes that are dracozolt, arctovish, and the rest. while she's obviously an incredibly skilled geneticist (note how the galarian fossils are not rock type like mentioned before but can still grow and live just fine, even despite being what they are), basically nobody agrees that these pokemon were ever real. their component parts, though, were, and have been restored in full in some labs around the world.)

so, to get back to your actual question: theoretically, you could take the marowak skull a cubone wears, and grow a pokemon from its dna. however, it would just be a new individual cubone, with the same genome of the marowak. it would not be the same individual deceased marowak, without any memories or anything like that.

[ooc notes below cut]

felt the need to put a few notes on this one since it differs a lot from the real world without much disclaimer- i like to imagine that the pokemon world is just a better timeline where dna is hardier and lasts much longer.

in real life, dna is incredibly fragile. it usually degrades in even very, very well-preseved remains on the order of hundreds or thousands of years, far from the dozens-hundreds of millions needed to sequence the genomes of animals like pachycephalosaurs (cranidos) (66mya) or anomalocaris (anorith) (500mya). there is some real old dna out there, though- i found out in researching this ask that environmental dna from about 2 million years ago was just published on a couple days ago, giving a snapshot into an entire ecosystem. that's unbearably cool.

however, in real life, we HAVE recovered actual soft-tissue preserved cells from even more ancient remains. that's what i based that dna extraction process on- people have dissolved away the mineral content of dinosaur bones to reveal actual osteocytes (bone cells).

oh, also the test-tube grow-fast baby thing isn't real either. irl clones are implanted into an enucleated egg of a surrogate mother the same species and born like any other baby. this is the "traditional" cloning methods mentioned earlier in the post.

#pkmn #cranidos #ask #pkmn irl #pkmn rp

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code-es · 11 months

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Hey, I saw you like React, can you please drop some learning resources for the same.

Hi!

Sorry I took a while to answer, but here are my favourite react resources:

Text:

The official react docs -- the best written resource! And since react recently updated their docs, they are even better imo. This is your best friend.

Chat GPT -- this is your other best friend. Need specific examples? Want to ask follow up questions to understand a concept? Want different examples? Wanna know where your missing semicolon is without staring at your code for hours? Don't be afraid to use AI to make your coding more efficient. I use it and learn from it all the time.

React project ideas -- the best way to learn coding is by doing, try these projects out if you don't know what to do or where to start!

Why react? -- explains beneficial concepts about react

Video:

Udemy react course (this one is paid, but udemy often have big sales, so I'd recommend getting this one during a sale) -- I have been continously referring back to this course since starting to learn react.

Web dev simplified's react hooks explanations -- I found these videos to explain with clear examples what each hook does, and they're very beginner friendly.

About NPM -- you need npm (or yarn) to create a react project, and for me working with react was my first step into working with packages in general, so I really recommend learning about it in order to understand how you can optimize the way you use React!

How to fetch locaIly with react

How to fetch from an API with react

Alternative to using useEffect in fetching!?

debugging react

And, speaking of using AI, here are Chat GPTs suggestions:

React.js Tutorial by Tania Rascia: This tutorial is aimed at beginners and covers the basics of React.js, including components, JSX, props, and state. You can access the tutorial at https://www.taniarascia.com/getting-started-with-react/.

React.js Crash Course by Brad Traversy: This video tutorial covers the basics of React.js in just one hour. It's a great way to get started with React.js quickly. You can access the tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBws8MSXN7A.

React.js Fundamentals by Pluralsight: This course provides a comprehensive guide to React.js, including how to create components, manage state, and work with data. You can access the course at https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/react-js-getting-started.

React.js Handbook by Flavio Copes: This handbook provides a comprehensive guide to React.js, including how to create components, work with props and state, and manage forms. You can access the handbook at https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-react-handbook-b71c27b0a795/.

#code-es #programming #react #web development #resources #codeblr #progblr #compsci #software development #coding

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manonamora-if · 1 year

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How do you do the planning to create an interactive fiction game? I have the general idea for an interactive fiction story but I'm a complete mess when it comes to organizing and planning. Where do I even start?

Hi Anon!

I was waiting for this question to appear at some point, lol :P I spent all day on this....

Create your Interactive Fiction Game

Last February, I detailed my process when working on CRWL. You can read that post here. It is not a perfect (or even good) template to use, since it is specific to that project in particular. I also have a list of programs I am using/have used when creating my projects here!

But, yes, organisation and planning is VERY important when you want to tell a story, no matter if it is in a game or novel. But unlike a novel-like story, you need to add coding on top of it. I would say these are the two big components of IF.

Disclaimer: I am not the Voice of Knowledge when it comes to creating IF, takes this information with a grain of salt and do some research too! :)

Long post, so breaking the post. Here's a Table of Content

1- Gameplay/Visual (aka Choosing your Coding Program) 2- Planning your Story (or Why it is better to start small at first) ~ ~ A- Game Pattern ~ ~ B- From Pattern to Outline ~ ~ C- From Outline to Writing ~ ~ D- Writing Tips 3- Coding the whole thing ~ ~ A- You are stuck ~ ~ B- Test everything ~ ~ C- UI Customisation 4- Publishing and Marketing ~ ~ A- Publishing your game ~ ~ B- Regarding marketing ~ ~ C- Scheduling Updates and expectations

1- Gameplay/Visual (aka Choosing your Coding Program)

Though the story is very important (obviously), it is important to know what kind of gameplay and visual you want for your game because it will dictate what kind of program you should use:

Do you want to make a Visual Novel? Then you might want to look into programs like Ren'Py.

Are you gravitating towards parsers (player entering words/sentences to advance the story)? Inform might be what you need.

Do you just want to give players choices? Twine formats and ChoiceScript seem to be the most popular ones on Tumblr.

Note: There are waaaayyyy more programs that those four, and you may be able push the possibility of what a program can/is supposed to do with enough coding knowledge.

Even in each category, some programs will be more complicated to learn than others. For the Choice-base games for example, ChoiceScript is considered one of the easiest to code in terms of logic and formatting of code. In the same vein, the availability of tutorials/community* to help will make a huge difference in learning the program. And finally, some programs may require some knowledge of other languages (ex: HTML/CSS) for further use/customisation.

Note: While most may be in English, there may be even tutorials/communities in your language! (if you are ESL)

And finally, you may want to think about the visual aspect. Some programs/formats will allow you more customisation than other, whether it be text formatting to complete customisation of the base UI (how the page looks). For example, in Twine (SugarCube/Snowman especially) , you are only limited by your knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

P.S.: Some programs, like ChoiceScript, are not open-source.

A good way to know what kind of program you want to use is to look at tutorials online and test it yourself too.

2- Planning your Story (or Why it is better to Start small at first)

Now that you've settled on a coding program, it is time to work on a story.

If it is your first time, the best advice I can give you is to start with a small and contained stories. The learning curve can be daunting when starting, more so if the project is complicate and long. Starting short and easy won't feel too overwhelming, you will learn what works best (or doesn't work) for your creating process AND it makes it easier to learn coding in your chosen program. Starting with a full-blown RPG with extensive Combat Mechanics and hundreds of long-ass quests is not a good idea if you've just begun with the program.

You can even take advantage of Jams to test your skills/ideas or request feedback on IF Discords Communities or in the IF Forum.

But whether your story is large or small, the planning part should be very similar.

A- Game Pattern

So you have an idea for your IF, great! Now let's think about patterns, or how will the story be told. Do you have a linear story in mind leading to one important finally choice? or do you want a lot of branching with many endings? Or even a lot of choices culminating in one final event?

Knowing about pattern will help you plan the story and define important events to happen. It will also make you think of variations to take into account and what kind of action you'd need to reach a certain part of the story. Obviously, you don't have to stick to one pattern (as you work more on the story), but it helps.

I really like this blog post detailing the different patterns of CYOA games. [I used it when creating MtP]

B- From Pattern to Outline

With that general idea of how the story should pan out, we can start fleshing it out a bit more. I often use the "Funnel Technique" when I create my stories (big picture to small details), but it may work more for linear stories rather than very branching ones. It goes something like this:

Start with your general idea: genre, theme, world, time period, etc... But stay general. You don't need to go into too much details at first.

List your big events and make a timeline: what is the conflict to push the story forward? why does it happen? what does character should learn from it? what can they do to resolve it? etc...

Do the same with other smaller plots (if you have them!): every plot needs a reason for it to happen.

Combine the timelines: not only some beats will need to happen before others (especially if they are the catalyst of the next one), this will help you to know when to introduce a certain character/lore/etc...

Delimit your chapters: with your timeline, you can now break it off into smaller chapters (you can include what important action/information each chapter should have).

And here is your outline!

During this process, it is a good idea to keep note of everything you can think of: characters background/personality, important lore of your world, etc...

It is also then where you may want to think of aspects to track (relationship, choices, etc...) and give it a name.

While you don't have to research things at this stage, it may help you if you are working with a topic/setting you are not familiar with.

C- From Outline to Writing

Now that you have your outline and your timeline, you are closer to writing :D You could decide to write away, or you could plan your chapter a bit further.

I usually do the later, as it helps me think of possible places to include choices or variation for the player. [This is also where the graph comes into place] I even go a bit further and plan each passage (text screen), making notes of what the player will see (dialog, action, description...) and if there is variation to include. This last part is very much detailing work, and helps me with writing.

After all this, it's time to write!

D- Writing Tips

Here are some stuff that I do to help me not get overwhelmed when I write and help me to be organised when I code:

The "one page per screen" technique, where you add breaks between each screen/passage, can be helpful to demarcate each part of the chapter/scene you are writing. Headers or links with a table of content can also be helpful !

While it matters little at the beginning, tracking choices and consequences of those choices and important variables will help with continuity and variation. For example, if you give the player the choice to set their height, you should take this into account if the MC goes into tight spaces. Similarly, if the player chooses to confront someone, the next page should probably not have a romantic tone.

Use colour code, comments or formatting when writing to separate choices (link list or cycling options, etc...) or variation for a tracked variable (ex: tone of voice, physical change, etc...) from the rest of the text. This will help when coding.

While writing, if you get ideas to include further into the story (ex: new choice, mechanic, sub plot, etc...), write it down on a separate page and only come back to it when you are do writing the part/passage/scene/chapter. A sudden idea might seem fitting but may push you towards a dead-end.

Edit Edit Edit! 1st drafts are awesome, but it can always be improved [Cough cough, not calling myself out at all, Cough cough]. Using Grammar Checks is immensely helpful (more than one, since none will focus on the same aspect of writing). And Beta/Sensitivity readers are godsent!

3- Coding the whole thing

When your story is ready (or part of it you are ready to release), you will need to code it.

The best advice I have for this is to code your story first and make sure it works. It can be tempting to deep dive into the formatting of the page (especially if the program you chose enables you to customise it extensively). An IF can look amazing, but if it breaks everywhere, it is not going to be fun to play.

A- You are stuck

And don't worry, it happens to every one! Coding can be a difficult puzzle to solve, even with the solution right under your nose.

The most important advice I can give is to always refer to the official documentation or look for tutorials online (other may have come across the same issue before you).

If nothing helps, there are often coding communities (that focuses on the format/program you are using) where you can ask for help (Discord/Forum, etc...). Do not be afraid to ask for help!

B- Test Everything

And when you are done, test again. Testing/Playing (whether by yourself or with Beta Readers) is the only way to catch errors.

Similarly, if you want to add some custom code to your project or use a built-in functionality, but don't know if it works, the best way to find out it to try it out! Read the documentation, play with the code and test it.

C- UI Customisation

This part will be highly dependent on which program/format you are using. While CSS/HTML is the same anywhere, it's implementation can differ greatly. Be sure to check the official documentation about the matter.

If the program allows you for customisation, this can be loads to fun to edit your UI to make it look however you want. Like the previous point, this can need a lot of testing too.

If you are just starting, having the basic UI is just fine :) You can always change it down the road. But if you want to zhuzh it up, here are some elements you can consider when editing:

Colour palette fitting your story. Steer away from bright colours if your story is dark, and vice versa.

Image in the background can make text hard to read. Having a block of colour between the text and the image will make reading much easier.

Colour contrast is IMPORTANT. Readability is easy to mess with when having multiple colours, use this website.

Simple is usually better. A complicated or busy page will be distracting. Stick to simple.

Use a template. This is more of a SugarCube comment, but if a template is available (and you like the vibe), use it. It will make editing your UI easier (tag or link to the creator in your game page/post).

If you can: remember to make your project as accessible as you can (with your knowledge). Colour contrast (maybe dark/light mode), Font change (font, size, etc...), limit or toggle animated text/images, etc...

4- Publishing and Marketing

A- Publishing your game

There are many places on the internet where you can publish your IF projects. Different formats will congregate towards different websites. For example: Dashingdon hosts only ChoiceScript, Itch has anything and everything, Steam will require a fee to publish there. You can also host your projects on other platforms or your personal website (ex: Neocities allows it), though you might want to stick to places where there is an established readership. In any case, follow the selected website's instructions for publication.

If you have a working and published demo (or finished game), I'm nudging you to create a page for it on the IFDB. There, people can leave long reviews and rate your games! You can also Archive your project to preserve it. [SAY NO TO LOST HISTORY]

B - Regarding marketing,

If you are lucky, the algorithm god will pick up your game and show it to everyone. You'll get thousands of readers and hundreds of ratings. You'll always be on everyone's top page and you will go viral.

But if you are not (like most of us), you can start building a readership on social media. Tumblr had a substantial community for IF, Twitter has quite a lot of game developer, Mastodon is a thing I think?, and there are a handful of Discords and Forums dedicated to Interactive Fiction. Having a presence and be reachable is unfortunately important.

Some random points:

Announce your project before you publish it, but be close to be ready to put it online when you do so!

Do not "sell" your project on something you are not sure you can achieve (ex: game mechanic, complicated romance, etc...), just to set expectation.

Have an introductory post with a synopsis and links to the game/demo (if available) and important known aspects (genre/theme/TW). Depending on the genre, you may want to include short intro of some characters.

Make pretty pictures for your posts/game page (Canva is free-ish)

For ChoiceScript: having a CoG Forum page seem to be important for reader interaction and getting feedback.

On Tumblr: submit your project to directories like @interact-if, follow and interact with other IF authors, answer asks, do Tumblr stuff...

On Itch, consider introducing your published project in the Community section, write devlog for updates or discussion, answer comments, review other IF games...

Discord: some IF/Coding discord allows you to promote your projects there, take advantage of that.

Be upfront about your boundaries and keep them! (less marketing, more of a social media interaction thing)

C- Scheduling Updates and expectations

Unfortunately (and I say this as someone who is really bad at it), having a regular update schedule may be the best thing you can have for your project, especially if it is a long WIP. This can help keep your readers engaged with your content. If you have longer breaks between updates, writing prompts can be a nice substitute.

If regular is not possible (which is totes super fine! don't burnout on something fun), have clear communication about the state of the project. Set specific upload dates (ex: 12-Oct-22) when you are close to release it, have vague ones (ex: end of the year) when you are in the early stages. This will help with expectations and disappointment.

Do not promise more than you can do. That's pretty self-explanatory. And fix bugs you receive as soon as you can.

AND! And I can't stress this enough. IRL should always come before updating your WIP/publishing content. You should never force/push yourself to do so if you are not enjoying it. Do not be like me and hurt yourself. No amount of notes/readers is worth the hurt!

TLDR: Do not be like me, be better.

Right. I think that's it.

#coding support #IF creation #tutorial #how to create IF #manonamora

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barilleon · 11 months

Text

Arcanolinguistics Companion Blog

Arcanolinguistics, my article about verbal components in spellcasting for 5e, is out today in MCDM's ARCADIA. Please check it out! This blog post is a small dive into what went into its creation. Today marks a milestone in my career: the best thing I've ever written by far, which serves as a love letter to 5e and the people who made it worth playing for me.

When I build a character for a TTRPG and there’s an option for a language-based skill or power, I take it. One of my first D&D characters, Thavma Sanguine, was built with the linguist feat, the spell comprehend languages, and the anthropologist background from Tomb of Annihilation. Thavma was—like me—young, curious, and desperate to connect with the people around her. After years of academic study, she was eager to put her skills to the test in the real world. Language was an extension of that.

Immediately upon her creation, Thavma was captured by drow and taken to the Underdark, where the prisoners all spoke different languages. She used her abilities to bring people who did not understand each other together, to hatch an escape plan that only worked because everyone was on the same page. The DM of that campaign (you might know him, his name’s Willy Abeel) picked up on the fact that I really enjoyed exploring the game world through language, and the rest of the campaign was full of little moments for Thavma to puzzle through bits of text or linguistic differences to move the story forward. From there, our shared table started to develop some interesting linguistic trivia, some of which you can read in the article.

Playing Thavma, who was also a Wizard, made me super aware of spellcasting components. Most of the time you don’t really pay attention to them, but I feel like there’s so much storytelling potential there. I wrote a blog post about getting the most out of material components once. After that I started wondering about verbal components. Thus the idea for Arcanolinguistics was born.

On Collaboration

As of its release, Arcanolinguistics is the best thing I’ve ever written. This is in no small part due to everyone who worked on it. At dinner the other day, Hannah and I rounded up how many people it took to make, before it ever even made it to playtesters: two developmental editors, two line editors, four cultural and sensitivity consultants, two artists, and two (haha) writers.

I never intended S.A.M. to be a co-author on the article. But when I sat down to write, actually take my messy outlines and notes and put them into something for somebody else, no words came. This happens often, and like every professional I’ve developed a toolbox for fixing it. Sometimes I will start my day with a writing warmup. A quick blog post, opinion piece, or stream of consciousness to get the words flowing. Like a warmup sketch, but with words. Since at the time S.A.M. was a student in one of my home games (at Thavma’s institution, no less!), I decided to write research notes from its point of view. The more I wrote, the more I realized that S.A.M. wanted to write the article. So I let it.

This work would not exist without MCDM, especially Hannah. I only pitched this article because I know that MCDM was the only place with the passion and the resources who would help me make this article what it was supposed to be. The pitch was a risk from the start. It needed heavy development, consulting, and playtesting, and right now for a freelancer like me MCDM is the only place that can make that happen. I cannot stress enough how much of a gift ARCADIA has been to my professional development. I learned a lot on this project, pushed myself, and made something I never would have without these resources.

Hannah was always there to hop on a call and talk over spell ideas or brainstorm ways to make effects work. A lot of the effects in the article are very different from their original ideas. Without Hannah, much of them would have been super overpowered, confusing, or just plain wrong. It’s hard to add a system like this on top of spellcasting and make it click, but I think we did it. She found not one but FOUR consultants to work with us. It was important to us to do this right, from the outline stage to the end.

Kathryn and Hakan provided amazing insight for the early drafts. I’m a hobbyist; I don’t know what I’m doing. But they helped me find the right words and guided my concepts in the right direction. Yes, they were consulting on my article, but it felt like my own personal crash course in all things language. I learned about a bunch of amazing linguistic concepts thanks to them. And though I didn’t get to work directly with Rogan or Basil, their notes and suggestions made this piece shine!

The testers at MCDM are unrivaled. They built a spreadsheet for every language and every official 5e spell that the language could possibly affect. They caught some edge cases that were devastating, and devastatingly funny. My favorite was the entry for casting ray of sickness in Goblin, which just read, "Ray of Vaccination?"

I offer both my awe and apologies to Sadie and Amber, for sending them a behemoth that was so large it took two editors to tame. The final product is clear and usable and flows great thanks to them. They’re the reason you can bring this to your table instead of just considering it abstractly. They’re also the reason we got the Dohma Raskovar joke on Orcish!

Speaking of, there is always Willy, the co-creator of the personal playground inside my head. I didn’t ask what he thought of the Dohma joke. Maybe I should have, considering Raskovar is his character, designed for Flee, Mortals! But after I sent the bit in to Hannah, I just told him I did it and he laughed. I got to turn a question about wording into a love note just for him.

On My Interest in Linguistics

Linguistics (specifically sociolinguistics and the history of language) has always been an interest of mine. I love reading about the origins of language, how it’s evolved over time, and how a language’s structure can shape its speakers’ way of thinking. I’m not an academic; I can’t elaborate on that. But I can point you to some people who can. People I read and watched whose work served as research and inspiration for this article include:

The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way, by Bill Bryson Lingo and Babel, both by Gaston Dorren The Story of French, by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow The Linguistics Crash Course with Taylor Behnke on YouTube Conlang 101 from David Peterson (creator of Dothraki) on YouTube My favorite ttrpg: Dialect, from Thorny Games (imagine my surprise and delight when Hannah brought on this linguistic duo to CONSULT for my article!!! Holy shit!!!) The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker Exploring Language, a collection of essays compiled by Gary Goshgarian The Language of Thieves, by Martin Puchner Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger Legends of Localization blog, run by Clyde “Tomato” Mandelin A Language Family Tree in Pictures illustration by Minna Sundberg, for The Guardian's "Case for Language Learning" series.

If TTRPGs can be power fantasy, then mine is being able to use many languages, to connect with and understand as many people as I can. Not just in the /comprehend languages/ way (which I’ve likened to Google Translate), but in the authentic way, where you start to get the jokes and nuances, where you can forge relationships and shift your own perspective. I’ve been studying French on and off for over a decade, but I wouldn’t call myself any good at it. It’s hard! I don’t have anyone to practice with, and I’m also super shy in real life about speaking foreign languages. That’s why I wanted to add a fail-forward mechanic for language learning in the article. I want to believe that even though I’m not a toddler anymore, and my adult sponge-like mind has been left for many years to dry by the sink of knowledge, that I can keep working at it and get there someday.

On 5e Design

When I turned in the final draft of this article, I thought it was going to be the last major 5e thing I ever worked on. This is because I turned it in in January 2023, and you remember what happened all those years ago. While things have worked out differently and I am still designing in 5e, I sought to “leave it all on the page” with this one. It is, in my opinion, the purest expression of my 5e design philosophy: it’s fanfiction all the way down.

I liken my career as a 5e designer to my experience as an incredibly niche fanfic author. I like finding the little cracks in canon and filling them in, adding nice little layers of things that could have plausibly happened within canon and supporting them with as much textual evidence as possible so that people reading can accept it as their own headcanon. I think these are important skills to have for a designer of someone else’s game, especially when there’s a lot of other third party material competing to be incorporated into your table.

I found a niche in the 5e system—spellcasting components could be cooler and tied more to the world—and I filled it. While language is very much setting-based, I tried hard to use as much textual evidence as possible when forming these concepts. Devils have forked tongues, elves live everywhere and can all understand each other somehow, the dwarvish writing system is by far the most common in use. So I hope these ideas can conform to your own table, too.

But if they don’t, remember that everything not discussed at your table (yes, even official material) is fanfiction. Take it or leave it! If your table’s world doesn’t have the same languages as the SRD, maybe you can still find a way to map my rules onto your world. Or maybe it’ll inspire you to write brand-new rules for your own languages. As a writer and designer of fanfiction, nothing would make me happier.

#my blogs #dnd 5e #mcdm

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fourseasonsfigs · 4 months

Text

Building Block Figs - Basking in the Sun

Following up on yesterday's Beautiful Fight Scene in the Middle of the Lake Part One and Two, we have another building block set!

I won't go into all the backstory on these sets (please refer to Part One for a lengthy story), if only to keep this at one post instead of another two-parter.

The name of this set is actually just "Tavern". This inspiration for this scene is actually my favorite scene in the show. It's the Basking in the Sun scene from Episode 12, where they are drinking in front of the tavern and talking about good and bad people. Wen Kexing has my favorite line: "I just feel, that to be alive, to have the sun shining, and having someone’s name for me to call, is so good".

Both A-Xu and I agree, he's right.

Before we get started, a few specs: this set is 1,726 pieces, measures 8.4 x 16.8 x 12.8 cm, and is rated 11 hours of assembly time. This is the longest rating out of any of them, with two others clocking in at 10 hours each. I will say that I have found their assembly times to be extremely accurate.

Here's what the finished model is expected to look like, along with the directions for each piece. As you can see, we have both figs, the tavern table, the (open) door behind A-Xu, and a lantern.

Once more into the breach! The kit looks so small and innocent there in it's box, doesn't it? It doesn't look like 11 hours at all.

Like yesterday's set, this comes with the small black utility tool, the sticker with the tiny image of the finished set, and the QR code for the directions.

You'll notice there's already quite a few bricks sorted behind the unopened box. Those are all the left overs from my previous projects in this line. I didn't want to waste all the time I had put into sorting the bricks, and since the color palette is so limited, I end up using the same ones over and over again.

It really doesn't look that bad, huh?

In order to encourage myself and give myself a sense of satisfaction from completing a piece, I skipped over the figs and went straight to the easiest component - the lantern.

It was indeed quite satisfying to finish this up and put it to the side.

Next up is the tavern door. I admit when I saw this I was a little confused - I know A-Xu was leaning up against a pole kind of thingy, but the background with the flags didn't really register to me. So, I went back and watched the scene again, this time for the background:

It looks pretty good!

It was a lot of building up. As I mentioned in the last post, they don't have thicker bricks, so it's all 1-ply bricks here.

Looks good! I like how they have one of the doors open.

Well, at this point I could no longer put off the main part of the set. Nor did I want to - I was excited to get into it.

Onwards and upwards!

I'll save you the bulk of the gory assembly details, but here's a shot of my counter with all the sorted bricks all lined up, along with the base that I have just started working on. You can see what I mean about the limited size and color palette. By limited I don't mean as a criticism, it's just what we have available to work with. 3 different colors of blue, 3 different colors of grey, and then pretty much just one of each other color.

As you may recall from the last post, here's a sample of the directions from one of the sets. It looks flat and 2-D here, but I can pinch and swipe my phone's screen to rotate completely around to see from all angles. You can also see the step's bricks listed there, along with the left arrow to go back if you need to check your previous work, and the circle with the number of how many steps you have left. As you can see, I'm pretty far from the end.

Here's my progress that matches the corresponding direction. I haven't gotten very far, here!

It's been funny for me to watch the progress of light and shadow across these pics - you can literally see time passing with the day going into the night!

At this point, I had finished the base, was well as the bottom robes of A-Xu and Lao Wen. You can see the steps behind A-Xu, and the table they are both leaning on.

Last progress pic (a couple days later). Now you can really start to see the figs take shape!

Here's a little bit of a better illustration of how I can rotate the instructional image to see different areas. Only 46 more steps here to go!

And here's the final assembled piece. I love it!

The way they modeled the poses are just excellent. We have Lao Wen's relaxed sprawl here, and A-Xu's equally relaxed pose on the stairs.

A little peek through the open door.

You'll notice that A-Xu's drinking gourd here is a pretty neon shade of orange, and that one of the dishes on the table is a similarly neon shade of green. This is again due to the limited color palette - there's no light brown or light green in this world.

Their hair is not as dramatic in this scene as it is in the fight scene from yesterday, but that makes sense, they're just basking in the sun. I still love it - we have A-Xu's multicolored guan and Lao Wen's silver guan rendered in tiny brick form.

They decided to show exactly how happy A-Xu is here by giving him a big smile! The same neon orange color as the gourd, unfortunately.

You can see here the way they have rendered the robe's drapery. And Lao Wen's little black boot there.

A full view of A-Xu's big orange smile! I could remove it if I wanted - as you saw, I have plenty of leftover bricks. I could take the orange off all together (which I think I will) or just leave on a little bit for his cheeks.

Here's the official Basking in the Sun figs to show the size up against these figs. This set is quite a bit bigger, but still not too bad, space wise.

Let's get a couple close-ups of our main stars...

A-Xu's smile is so funny! You can also see his bangs here, which I really like, and a little more detail on his robe. I think they did a fantastic job on the robes in general. Very evocative of the show.

Here's a top down view, with a particularly nice view of the hair crowns.

Ah ha! I was able to squeeze in one last picture before I hit the 30-pic limit. Here's our bottoms up pic - not very good I know. It's hard to do these ones with the bases.

In closing, I will say that when I told my husband I was putting together the "Tavern" scene set of building blocks, he got a puzzled look on his face and said, "which tavern? weren't they at taverns for like half the show?"

Fair. Very fair!

Material: Plastic building blocks

Fig Count: 504

Scene Count: 34

Rating: Let's drink!

[link to the Master Post Index]

#word of honor #word of honor merch #wen kexing #zhou zishu #wenzhou #figthusiast

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jennycalendar · 10 months

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jenny/ethan?

(also, jenny/giles/ethan, but i am currently quietly going feral about jenny/ethan as i try to work out my massive AU project that may never be finished, so. i want to hear your thoughts on both because these are my favorite rare ships in this fandom.)

SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS. most of them spill over into my own personal complicated emotions about/writing ideas for this notion. not sure if this qualifies as a "brutally honest opinion" or if it's just word vomit but Oh Well. Can't Help It. Jenny And Ethan Create Feelings.

ok so like. jenny and ethan are my two favorite guys. ethan, however, is much more.... how do i put this? fic remembers that he's a human person. there is a solid subsection of calendiles fic that really just treats jenny as a lipsticked paper doll that makes giles happy, but when ethan is in fic, there's almost always this detailed, thoughtful portrayal of what's going on in his head and how he as an individual relates to giles, despite jenny being in more episodes than him. (it's the misogyny. and i hate it.) so i don't spend a lot of time writing ethan because, like, ethan is fine! he does not need my help! and if i wanna read gorgeous fic about ethan i can find it without scrounging! finding fic for jenny that goes into that kind of thought and detail is a little tougher.

so that is an important backdrop re: my very complicated feelings every time i think about jenny and ethan at the same time! but another component is this: i fucking love jenny and ethan. both of them as individuals say so much about giles (i.e. that he likes women who can throw him around and men who he can throw around) and both of them are SO smart and terrifying!!! i do have Opinions re: jenny perceiving giles as a complete individual vs. ethan's fixation with Turning Giles Back Into Ripper, but 1) that's another thing entirely and 2) i think that a timeline where jenny/ethan could happen is a timeline where ethan is so much more emotionally mature. so i shall leave it as a footnote and move along.

ANYWAY. i didn't realize this until i started writing this all up, but part of the reason i've never written anything for jenny/ethan is because of that aforementioned misogyny in the way fandom reads ethan vs. jenny. i have always been a little nervous that exploring jenny/ethan means i am a hop, skip, & a jump away from that corner of fandom full of giles stans who violently despise jenny, and every time i entertain the notion my brain is like "but celia, then you're spending time thinking about ethan, and everyone has done that to death. the dearth of jenny fic that explores and appreciates her as an individual even within her relationship with giles is so much more pressing a concern to you!!" and then i put that box down and go back to another jenny fic, because that makes me less sad.

but i do love jenny/ethan as a concept!!! a lot!!! despite my reticence to explore it in fic! i think so much of it is just -- i have been worried about writing smth and having to deal with chilly reception + disinterest from people who like ethan and don't like jenny. the dislike of jenny has waned in recent years (iiiiiiii have suspicions about why this is but they sound HORRIBLY arrogant so i will try to keep my head normal sized) but i am still a lil squirrelly about it because.

third reason and most important reason.

jenny/ethan would FUCKING SLAP. and i want it too much to be objective about it.

like, first of all, jenny and ethan connecting in the wake of giles's death is smth i have thought about so many times and in so many different ways. usually i tend to have it skew platonic/ambiguous simply because i think i like the idea of them having this Unexplainable Tragedy Bond after being impacted by this man for such a strange short moment (and also because, in my head, i often just see ethan as gay, because i think that creates a lot of interesting tension in the Bisexuality Metaphor that is the normative vs. non-normative internal conflict within giles + ethan's insistence that the non-normative is the Only Real Answer) but the fact remains that the connection is there!

i have thought a lot about ethan teaching jenny about chaos magic as a brand of magic that's accessible to her/makes sense to her, and i do think that he'd be deeply fascinated by her interest in computers for, hilariously, the exact same reason giles hates them, which would piss her off to the extreme. (he LOVES the "soulless numbers-running automaton" aspect of it all because there are SO MANY WAYS TO MAKE EVERYTHING BREAK. and now he gets to figure out NEW WAYS TO BREAK THINGS. this is GREAT. he is NOT listening to jenny's furious tirades re: how computers aren't soulless. he's going to bring down the mainframe.)

i also think that ethan and jenny would verbally spar in a way that would actually terrify giles. like, both of them are often much quicker than him (it's why he likes them!) and so against EACH OTHER??? TERRIFYING. but jenny would win, because jenny absolutely always wins, and i think she would take it as a BIG win when she manages to actually trip up ethan and get him flustered. she is probably the only person in the world who could manage to do that. (except for nora but i'm not legally allowed to say anything about what may or may not happen in future installments of potential fics.)

i can truly never decide whether i like ethan + jenny as friends or ethan/jenny in a way that skews romantic, tho, bc like i said, i like the notion of ethan as not attracted to women! creates a lot of interesting messiness about his insistence that giles needs to return to him to be truly happy, his determination that giles is living a lie, etc, and i love the level of misunderstanding and limited perspective that that adds to giles/ethan's relationship. BUT i also love ethan in general and i think ethan/jenny could be so fun? and also so unexpectedly tender?? jenny is exactly the kind of unhinged academic that ethan is a sucker for, and i do really love the idea of these two people who make GILES look emotionally vulnerable finding a way to let their guard down around each other. both of them are little wet cats trying to make themselves look big, after all.

mostly i am just like. i want this in a way that goes beyond logic to the point where i never talk about it on main because it feels TOO self-indulgent to justify & Cite My Sources About, especially when i have these pre-existing headcanons for ethan that would conflict with jenny/ethan's existence! but at the same time it would be SO FUN, and also the level of charged tender romance that jenny and ethan could manufacture as two people with BIG hearts who are DESPERATELY trying to hide that level of love.... like, WHOA.

jenny/giles/ethan is obvs elite tier, in any configuration, whether or not it involves jenny/ethan. giles has two hands. i don't have much else to say about that one bc i think we all know it's the best thing in the world.

(and also please please please tell me more about your massive au project that involves jenny/ethan. i will definitely give you an insider scoop on some secret fic in exchange....)

#asks #brutally honest asks #HM. should i give them a tag?#jenny x ethan #gje #there we go. :)

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cattyanon · 1 year

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Since I'm distracted by working on a fic, and I saw a somewhat similar AU in the Sonic au tag, I've decided to just go ahead and post about it...

Project Lightspeed (aka Wisp Sonic)

Note: I messed up on some of the color positions with the first drawing but there's another drawing that's more accurate!

(Above picture is his modern design)

The second artificially made lifeform on the ARK, Project Lightspeed Sonic uses a combination of the Cyan Laser and Ivory Lightning Wisps that were forcefully infused to him to run at the incredible speeds he's able to reach.

He isn't actually aware that he'd been infused with the power of the Wisps or his origins in general until Sonic Adventure 2 happens. To say he react well to everything is kinda an understatement...

As for how he ends up on Earth and all that? Well first we need to establish a bit of background.

Peoject Lightspeed, as he was referred to on the ARK, didn't get the same treatment as Shadow. In fact his treatment was much worse. While he was also created with the help of Gerald his double purpose was different from Shadow's. As for why I say double purpose? Well there's the main purpose they're presented as and then there's GUN's true purpose for them.

Project Shadow's main purpose was presented as finding a cure for Maria, while GUN's true purpose was for him to be The Ultimate Lifeform.

Project Lightpseed's main purpose was presented as being able to quickly help people get to safety or to a hospital, while GUN's true purpose for him was to be an improved version of The Ultimate Lifeform. And this time they'd ensure everything they could to keep him away from Gerald's much too caring hands in an attempt to mold him to their liking.

While technically Sonic is more powerful than Shadow, he's unaware of certain abilities he possesses which makes it so when they fight they're on more equal footing. He can not only do everything Shadow can but better, but he's also got his own unique chaos abilities... that I still need to figure out.

Btw the reason he only has one inhibitor ring is because, due to secretly being an improved version of The Ultimate Lifeform, his energy is much more stable than Shadow's.

So due to how kindhearted Sonic is, their attempts to mold him to their liking made them very unhappy with him. He'd constantly get punished for not obeying their orders. Punishments started out as more grueling testing and hurting him. When that didn't work after a while they decided to try some different methods, eventually finding that submerging him in water was the most effective in getting him to do what they want. At that point the only thing he'd still try to refuse to do is kill.

The reason it was so effective is cause he's not only made up of mostly energy, but it so happens that one his main components is lightning. So combine those two things with the fact that water and electricity don't mix well? Well needless to say that constantly submerging him in it causes his hydrophobia to become extreme.

And then eventually the ARK raid happens...

Knowing he's likely going to die anyways and since he was in the general area, Gerald takes pity on Sonic and helps him escape. Sonic easily trusts him since he's one of the only people to not hurt him. Gerald does his best to escort him to one of the multiple escape pod zones, informing him of what he'll need to do if Gerald is unable to make it with him. Which is good since he doesn't. The way it happens is that he ends up having to stall some guards, subsequently resulting in his arrest.

Sonic makes it to the pods and manages to escape, but not before obtaining even more trauma. So much so that he ends up repressing his memories of the ARK in general.

Unfortunately the pod ends up malfunctiong because of Sonic's powers going on the fritz due to the stress of the situation. Speaking of stress, he manages to essentially short circuit himself and enters a self induced coma as his body tries to fix itself. It doesn't help that he's subconsciously using a fraction of his energy to power the pod's essentials. Most notably life support and stasis.

The pod ends up crashing into Westside Island, causing the locals to investigate. Locked from the inside and short circuited, the islanders are unable to open it or see inside. Eventually they give up and, being too heavy for them to move, wind up just making a scrapyard around the pod.

Fast forward a little less than 50 years when a certain two tailed fox comes across it while looking for some scrap to use. Curious as to what could be inside when he's unable to open it, he makes something to tow the pod to his shack and it ends up becoming his own little pet project.

One day, while the fox is out, the blue and yellow hedgehog in the pod finally wakes up.

The amnesiac stumbles his way out of the pod and falls onto the ground. And of course it's that moment the fox finally returns home.

And while the fox had no idea what to expect from the stranger, something he defientely wasn't expecting was for them to be terrified upon seeing him.

(The red rings aren't inhibitors but rather cuffs that they used to help keep him in line aboard the ARK)

It takes a while for the currently nameless hedgehog to even think about trusting the fox. People meant bad things happen to him, even if he doesn't remember why. He ends up subconsciously curling into a ball and stays that way for a while, baffling the fox as to when he eats or drinks.

(They much later learn that he doesn't need to eat or drink as he's able to sustain himself with his own energy)

And while the hedgehog doesn't talk he eventually gives the fox a chance, who he'd nicknamed Tails in his head, and becomes overprotective over him. From there they slowly but surely come to view each other as brothers.

#So yeah that's Wisp Sonic's backstory #He's very traumatized :<#Sonic au #Project Lightspeed au #Sonic #Angst #Sonic the hedgehog #Wisp Sonic #Tails the fox

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behindthewox · 1 month

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Did we just get a brand new and asked-for major site feature? Yes, we did!

(I'm just a wee bit late to blog about it)

Not just one either, there's been a few things added recently and I'm starting to wonder what's going on. I can't remember the last time we had this many updates in the span of only a few months, it's usually been a twice-a-year thing which (at least to me) made it feel like WoX was an abandoned side project that was no longer actively being worked on. Many of my negative feelings and opinions are deeply rooted in that feeling of abandonment that has emerged over the last few years, and I don't think I'm the only one with those thoughts. I'm hoping that this is more than just a "let's do all the things" frenzy, maybe even the beginning of a new era where we will see users' suggestions and feedback being heard and implemented on a regular basis.

Seeing active development taking place is important, showing that WoX is still developing and there's room for change and additions. The updated changelog is a vital component in this. It's also uplifting to see user requests being fulfilled, giving the sense that users are an important and valued part of the site development.

It'll take more than a few shiny features to make a real difference though. It's easy to make an effort and do something great for others as a one-time thing, earning appreciation and gaining a positive response. It's been done many times in the past, and while the features are still appreciated the boosted spirits quickly fall when nothing else happens for months on end.

To really make a difference this needs to become a regular thing: regularly making an effort that users will see and be aware of, regularly taking users' ideas and feedback into consideration and acting on it, and regularly making appearances in the form of updates and fixes.

Things that are new are exciting, uplifting and fun. It's a lot more fun to make new things than to repair old stuff, it's human nature and I think most of us can relate to that. Sometimes we can leave old things behind and only focus on the new and exciting, but more often than not we can't just abandon old creations merely because we get bored with them.

When you plant a new plant, you don't just water it once and forget about it - you need to water and tend to it regularly to keep it alive. It's the same with WoX sites and features: you can't just create a feature or function and be done with it, you need to return to it again and again when bugs appear and things don't work. At some point you might need to make changes and improvements so it works better.

So yay for new features and hurrah for the much needed positivity, but don't forget the balance between new and old. The old features that need updates and bug fixes won't get the same positive response as a new feature, but not fixing things makes it look like no one cares anymore. Adding new features whilst seemingly neglecting old features isn't a good look for a business.

So, much as I approve and appreciate the recent new features, what I'd really like to see is bug fixes and work to improve on what's already there. Shiny new features might momentarily distract people from the bugs and flaws, but it won't fix them.

#wox #wox site #wox site features

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crazilust · 2 years

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Ambition through the signs (pt. 1)

Hello every one and welcome back to this series where I analyse personality traits through each and every signs and ranking them, just for fun.

My definition of ambition for this ranking will be : someone's who has a "strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work".

Please check your Sun, Moon or Mars. You may also look at other placements, such as houses. I would suggest 1st, 6th, 7th and 10th.

Scorpio (#3)

Scorpio is pretty high up in the list, let me tell y'all. With Scorpios, it's easy. They will simply not give up. Why do you think they get made fun of so much for being obsessed with people? Sure, it applies to their crushes, but it also applies for their goals. Once they have a goal in mind, they will simply not. give. up. y'all. it's actually kinda scary, and they should be careful of that because on the other hand, they also have a hard time letting go of toxic situations.

Advice: My advice to you dear Scorpios is to assess if that goal you've been giving your all to is still aligning with your values. I know you're only satisfied when you get what you want (and even then...) but it's important to realize when something is just not for you anymore... You got this.

Pisces (#5)

Water signs in general are underestimated. When it comes to anything related to ambition, intelligence, etc, water signs are not really considered. Well, I'm here to shake the cards a little, if you'll allow me. Pisces are ruled by Jupiter, y'all (traditionally). In order to have ambition, you need to have the imagination the back it up first! C'mon! Whenever Pisces get an idea of what they want in life, they start building a whole lifestyle around it and then get to work. Please do not forget how good of a manifestor they are. Not only do they get what they want, but they will put the work to back it up too. If you don't agree, I'd say you probably met a Pisces who was not in a good enough mental state to put in the work into their ambitions (cause, yes, sometimes they can kinda dwell in their misery...). But yea, anyway, I'd say they're up there.

advice: be careful of your mindset, Pisces, it's litteraly your biggest strength. The same way you can create big things out of thin air, you can create a misery mindset out of a minor inconvenience as well. be really cautious with your thoughts, i'd say.

3. Capricorn (#8)

Ugh... This one is going to be controversial. But I have to say it. Alright. Yes, Caps are ambitious. I'm not gonna deny that or take this away from them. Because they're a Cardinal sign, they will always have ideas of starting something on their own, be their own boss, etc. Plus, as an earth sign, they will also have that visceral need to have material stability which can push them into having big ambitions. BUT. There's two reasons why I wouldn't put Caps any higher. First of all, just like any Cardinal sign, they like to start shit... Don't like to finish it, most of the time. I feel like we don't talk about this enough. We say that about Libras, Aries, Cancers but Caps? We forget them. I don't. Y'all don't finish your shit. Which starting projects is a sign of someone's ambitious but to me, someone ambitious is also disciplined. Second reason is that Caps are pretty traditional. If they have a spouse that brings big money or a job that pays good and they're satisfied... Yep. They'll stay.

advice: Be careful not to stay too much in your comfort zone. I feel like this can be your biggest flaw sometimes.

4. Aquarius (#6)

Aquarius are pretty high in the list, I would rank them as number 6, honestly. For multiple reasons. First of all, Aquariuses are always turned towards the future. They're always thinking on how to do things differently, how to evolve. Which is a big component of ambition. Second of all, they also have always some sorts of big plans going on for them. They always tryna do something not just for their community, but for humanity as a whole. You'll probably never know about the project they're actually working on, but for sure, it's big. Third, they also have a god complex, for most of them🤣. Which, let's be honest, in order to succeed in life, you kinda need to have. That kind of "My idea is the best and it'll work even if no one but me believes in it". I f*ck with that.

advice: My advice for Aquarius would be to share their projects with people. Let people know what you're up to. Even if you don't really have a solid plan (is that why you don't wanna share?). Maybe you'll meet someone that can help you sort it out.

5. Sagittarius (#7)

Any sign ruled by Jupiter will be ambitious, y'all. To me, the planet that rules expansion, knowledge, luck, etc. can have no other choice but to give its native a huge ambition. I know that Sags don't really look ambitious because they can sometimes seem aloof and lost in their thoughts. But man, do they have big plans. Let's not forget that one of the main themes of Sagittarius is "freedom". They will do anything for it and won't sacrifice for no one. In that same regard, in order to achieve freedom, most of them will come with some elaborate plan in order to "get out of the rat race". Most Sagittarius find that through art, they can achieve this freedom (I feel like this can also apply to Pisces, btw). So their ambition can be channeled through art, or traveling, for example, which, for some people, may be considered less ambitious. The only thing with Sagittarius, is that sometimes, they can get lost in their plans becaude they're simply too big and they won't start the work. Being mutable signs also, they get bored way too quickly and start another project before barely touching the last one.

advice: work on your discipline, as this is your most fatal flaw. your plans lack realism sometimes, which can be a good thing, but it also makes you feel overwhelmed too fast. one step at a time.

6. Aries (#4)

Aries, as being a cardinal sign, is a pretty ambitious sign. Not only are they a cardinal sign, but they're also the first one. For the most part, Aries will find a way to be their own boss, one way or another. While freedom is important to them, I feel like their main theme is being the authority, THE first one to achieve something. Most will feel attracted to entrepreneurship because it grants them that authority that they so crave. While they still share that cardinal flaw to leave things hanging, Aries' desire to be the first one to achieve things (the pioneer archetype) is stronger than that and for the most part, once they set their mind on something, they rarely give up. Let's not forget that Aries are ruled by Mars, just like Scorpio and they share that same determination and grit. They rarely give up (which just like Scorpio, can become a flaw).

advice: the main reason some Aries are not ambitious is when they feel that they have no chance at becoming the best, or that they're not the first to achieve things and then, they'll give up. Aries, you can be a little childish sometimes, so I'ma need you to get up, get off of your victim mentality and try, try, try again! (it's all love 🤨❤️)

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

and we're doneeee ! I hope you liked this post and the second part will be out shortly :) xx

love you,

dolly x.

#astro community #astrology #astrology notes #astro notes #astro observations #aries sun #scorpio moon #scorpio #capricorn #aquarius #moon #astrology observations

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citrinemystic · 1 year

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Spellcrafting from start to finish: Travel Companion

It's probably hubristic of me to post this, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Step into my metaphorical parlor, and take a peek at how I construct a spell. This is not the only way to do it, this is just how I did it in this particular case.

The first step is identifying the need. In this particular case, my need was a safety charm for the road trip I had planned.

The second step is deciding on a method. I chose to create a physical charm in the shape of a bunny, using this pattern. There were a few reasons for this decision. One was I associate rabbits with luck, so the shape was a good fit for encouraging good luck while driving. The second was the fact that I could include whatever correspondences I wanted in the stuffing. The third I'll mention is that I knew I could create it with ease, since I've made such stuffed bunnies before, and I knew I had all the components I would need already. In general, I try to use what I already have in my spells and workings, partially because it's the responsible thing to do, but also because I already have spent way more than I've needed to on witchy shit.

The third step is to design the spell, which in this case meant deciding on what correspondences to incorporate. I was intentional in the color I chose, how many stitches were in each row, what stich pattern I used, what stone I would use, and what herbs I would use. I chose things I associated with safety, protection and luck.

I was less discerning about the material of the yarn and stuffing, mostly because of the whole using what I have concept. I also chose a psalm to pray over it, but I didn't choose that until after the bunny was constructed. I intended to make use of a psalm from the beginning, but I didn't start the project with a particular one in mind.

The fourth step is to make it happen. I grabbed my yarn and needles and knit the base square,

... put in the stitches for the head, and put the selected crystal in with some stuffing to form the head and then sewed up the back. Next, I grabbed my bag of "activated" herbs and put that and stuffing in the body,

And then sewed it up so that everything stayed inside.

My final step was to select the psalm, and then say it over the bunny. I said it multiple times when the bunny was first created, but I intend to refresh the spell periodically by saying that same psalm over it again.

So there you have it, a vague recounting of my constriction of a spell. I'm happy to answer any questions, and welcome discussion of different processes and methods, but please be respectful in comments about my, and anyone else's, practice.

#witchcraft #witchblr #spellcraft #witchy arts and crafts #magical correspondences #knitting #magic spells

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lunarsilkscreen · 4 months

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JavaScript Frameworks

Step 1) Polyfill

Most JS frameworks started from a need to create polyfills. A Polyfill is a js script that add features to JavaScript that you expect to be standard across all web browsers. Before the modern era; browsers lacked standardization for many different features between HTML/JS/and CSS (and still do a bit if you're on the bleeding edge of the W3 standards)

Polyfill was how you ensured certain functions were available AND worked the same between browsers.

JQuery is an early Polyfill tool with a lot of extra features added that makes JS quicker and easier to type, and is still in use in most every website to date. This is the core standard of frameworks these days, but many are unhappy with it due to performance reasons AND because plain JS has incorporated many features that were once unique to JQuery.

JQuery still edges out, because of the very small amount of typing used to write a JQuery app vs plain JS; which saves on time and bandwidth for small-scale applications.

Many other frameworks even use JQuery as a base library.

Step 2) Encapsulated DOM

Storing data on an element Node starts becoming an issue when you're dealing with multiple elements simultaneously, and need to store data as close as possible to the DOMNode you just grabbed from your HTML, and probably don't want to have to search for it again.

Encapsulation allows you to store your data in an object right next to your element so they're not so far apart.

HTML added the "data-attributes" feature, but that's more of "loading off the hard drive instead of the Memory" situation, where it's convenient, but slow if you need to do it multiple times.

Encapsulation also allows for promise style coding, and functional coding. I forgot the exact terminology used,but it's where your scripting is designed around calling many different functions back-to-back instead of manipulating variables and doing loops manually.

Step 3) Optimization

Many frameworks do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to caching frequently used DOM calls, among other data tools, DOM traversal, and provides standardization for commonly used programming patterns so that you don't have to learn a new one Everytime you join a new project. (you will still have to learn a new one if you join a new project.)

These optimizations are to reduce reflowing/redrawing the page, and to reduce the plain JS calls that are performance reductive. A lot of these optimatizations done, however, I would suspect should just be built into the core JS engine.

(Yes I know it's vanilla JS, I don't know why plain is synonymous with Vanilla, but it feels weird to use vanilla instead of plain.)

Step 4) Custom Element and component development

This was a tool to put XML tags or custom HTML tags on Page that used specific rules to create controls that weren't inherent to the HTML standard. It also helped linked multiple input and other data components together so that the data is centrally located and easy to send from page to page or page to server.

Step 5) Back-end development

This actually started with frameworks like PHP, ASP, JSP, and eventually resulted in Node.JS. these were ways to dynamically generate a webpage on the server in order to host it to the user. (I have not seen a truly dynamic webpage to this day, however, and I suspect a lot of the optimization work is actually being lost simply by programmers being over reliant on frameworks doing the work for them. I have made this mistake. That's how I know.)

The backend then becomes disjointed from front-end development because of the multitude of different languages, hence Node.JS. which creates a way to do server-side scripting in the same JavaScript that front-end developers were more familiar with.

React.JS and Angular 2.0 are more of back end frameworks used to generate dynamic web-page without relying on the User environment to perform secure transactions.

Step 6) use "Framework" as a catch-all while meaning none of these;

Polyfill isn't really needed as much anymore unless your target demographic is an impoverished nation using hack-ware and windows 95 PCs. (And even then, they could possible install Linux which can use modern lightweight browsers...)

Encapsulation is still needed, as well as libraries that perform commonly used calculations and tasks, I would argue that libraries aren't going anywhere. I would also argue that some frameworks are just bloat ware.

One Framework I was researching ( I won't name names here) was simply a remapping of commands from a Canvas Context to an encapsulated element, and nothing more. There was literally more comments than code. And by more comments, I mean several pages of documentation per 3 lines of code.

Custom Components go hand in hand with encapsulation, but I suspect that there's a bit more than is necessary with these pieces of frameworks, especially on the front end. Tho... If it saves a lot of repetition, who am I to complain?

Back-end development is where things get hairy, everything communicates through HTTP and on the front end the AJAX interface. On the back end? There's two ways data is given, either through a non-html returning web call, *or* through functions that do a lot of heavy lifting for you already.

Which obfuscates how the data is used.

But I haven't really found a bad use of either method. But again; I suspect many things about performance impacts that I can't prove. Specifically because the tools in use are already widely accepted and used.

But since I'm a lightweight reductionist when it comes to coding. (Except when I'm not because use-cases exist) I can't help but think most every framework work, both front-end and Back-end suffers from a lot of bloat.

And that bloat makes it hard to select which framework would be the match for the project you're working on. And because of that; you could find yourself at the tail end of a development cycle realizing; You're going to have to maintain this as is, in the exact wrong solution that does not fit the scope of the project in anyway.

Well. That's what junior developers are for anyway...

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autumnalwalker · 11 months

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Heads Up 7 Up

Thank you for the tag, @druidx (albeit under the guise of @nine-blessed-hero).

Passing the tag to @blind-the-winds, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @papercutsunset, @nightshadetheghost, @cljordan-imperium, @alesseia, @writernopal, and an open tag for anyone else who wishes to participate.

Pulling this from the next chapter (15) of Empty Names. Doing 7 paragraphs instead of 7 sentences, so hiding this one under a "Keep reading" line.

“Where does all the ice come from?” Ashan asks as the testing chambers close, leaving said ice to safely melt into the chamber’s cleaning system.

Lacuna tilts her head to the side. “What do you mean? It’s an enchanted ice spear; it freezes things and makes ice. Well, maybe more like it manifests the idea of freezing things? In theory, based on the simulation results it should be able to totally encase someone and just put them in stasis to be thawed out later no worse for the wear, unlike normal ice. Haven’t figured out an ethical way to actually test that though, so probably best not to try it.”

“But where is the water for all that ice coming from?”

Lacuna shrugs. “I don’t know, same place as your barriers and fire?”

“My conjurations are all simply energy manipulation,” Ashan corrects that terrifying answer. “The barriers are pure impartations of kinetic friction onto an area of space with no material component. The fire is the controlled ignition of the oxygen in the air. The frost and mist that often forms around me is merely a side effect of rapidly lowering the ambient temperature to fuel those other processes causing the same changes on humidity the same as any mundane overnight cold front would. What it is not is a violation of the conservation of mass. Or at least, not beyond the limits of an anchor world’s ability to stretch.”

“Ooohhh, so that’s the difference between conjuring and summoning,” Lacuna says. “Fascinating. I’ll need to go take a look at some of the source rituals the program drew from for the enchantment sequence later.”

Ashan dearly hopes that whatever that spear is doing is only a variation of summoning. But even then, where is that water being summoned from? An elemental plane? The nearest ocean? A random comet orbiting the solar system? For all any of them know it could be ripping the bodily fluids from some unknown, distant victim, killing someone every time the spear’s magic is used. That last one is highly unlikely with the Autogenesis Principle in play, but the point is that Lacuna is casually experimenting with magic that would normally take experienced mages and enchanters decades to master without even knowing the answers to such basic questions about how it works. When Ashan asked her several days ago what such complex, high-output rituals use as a power source for their casting without a strong ambient aether field, ley lines, or other such element lacking from an anchor world (even a pocket dimension with loosened anchoring such as this), she had given the frankly horrifying answer that the power generation issue had been solved before she joined the project and she had never gotten around to reviewing that part of the legacy code so she just took it as a given that it worked safely and stably.

#In which Ashan (a classically trained wizard) is horrified by Lacuna's casual self-taught and AI-assisted approach to magical mad science.#In Lacuna's defense she isn't *totally* ignorant of how the systems she's working with function.#It's just that most of her programming on the AI ritual project dealt with interpreting user input instead of core backend functionality.#writing tag games #writeblr #tag game #heads up seven up #heads up 7 up #my writing #Empty Names

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