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inkdemonapologist · 5 months

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!!!!!!!!!!! New Cthulhu Season has started!! this time featuring:

The band at our fancy party started playing a song that Sammy INSTANTLY recognised as his own improv, played a year and some change ago from the balcony of a New Orleans hotel to calm his nerves, which really should not be turning up perfectly replicated here and unsettled him so much that he ended up trying to communicate this to Jack in the LEAST CLEAR WAY IMAGINABLE

we got a supernatural partycrasher at the fancy party which means wE GOT PROPHET IN A SUIT!!! FANCY PROPHET FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES!! his previously prophesied warning of what was to come included the phrase "a report that silences the tongue of ythill," which is apparently what this was, and he got SO EXCITED about the appearance of this weird man making people bleed from the eyes that he booted Sammy from the front to take it all in. THE TIME IS FINALLY AT HAND!!!

i also have a lil smattering of out-of-context quotes from session 1 if ur into that sort of thing: here under the cut!

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Jack] Aw, there's no snow in the year before, so probably no snowball fights for Christmas, [GM] Well, we can invent our own, that's fine. [Sammy] It's the ONE difference! IDENTICAL TO OUR WORLD, except for on December 25th there was snow, don't worry about it. [GM] And tape recorders! [Sammy] There's tape recorders, and there was snow on December 25th, 1934. [Sammy] AND ALSO CTHULHU IS REAL. But other than that it's exactly the same. [GM] That's it, just those little things. [Henry] A minor detail.

[GM] Another question: Christmas is on a Tuesday, does the Studio get days off? [Joey] In the Cthulhu universe, yes… And It's All Henry's Fault.

[Jack] Anyone who failed their Sanity gain checks in '35 -- it's the anticipation. [Sammy] Yeah, it's just driving you absolutely bonkers that this prophecy still hasn't happened, can it go ahead and get it over with? I hate having this hanging over my head! [Sammy] And if you PASS your sanity check, and gained sanity, it could be that you're just INCREASINGLY IN DENIAL. Like, you know what? Maybe he forgot!

[Jack] Jack's the most likely to keep up with these poor people we keep roping into our nonsense! [Joey] Hey, HEY! [Jack] "Welcome to the group! You're only here for a little bit, but have some trauma! Trauma for you! And trauma for you! BYE"

[Sammy] We're like Absol. We're not CAUSING the trouble, but it IS in our wake, constantly. [Jack] Absol is 100% a modern teenage Joey Drew's fursona. [Joey] ….Yeah…

[Henry] Is it an easier apartment to get to, for Joey, than the one he has? [Joey] That is a really good question. [GM] It has ONE flight of stairs, but it doesn't have ten zillion flights, so I mean, it's better, probably! It DID have an evil ritual in it,

[Jack] *reading the inflation calculator* $1,000 in 1935 is… 22 thousand.. and a half… dollars????? [Joey] GREAT! *claps* STUDIO'S FUNDED! :D [Jack] Joey, no, [Sammy] You can do that with YOUR money, [Joey] I mean, that IS what's going to happen to Joey's money, Joey's just going to immediately dump it into the studio. Grant gets a LOVELY holiday present where suddenly, the numbers are not in the red anymore! [GM] This is how Grant doesn't become the final boss. [Sammy] Is that a present? IS THAT A PRESENT??? Grant looks at the numbers and they're suddenly bigger? WHAT'S HAPPENING [Jack] Sounds like a tax nightmare… he assumes his mind is broken, he's gone delusional, [Sammy] Joey's not thinking about how this affects TAXES he's just like, OH BOY! More money! Grant'll work that out. :) [Joey] Yeah! :D

[Sammy] Oh wow, mistletoe's been around for a while. [Sammy] …I say, as if mistletoe, the plant, is newly invented,

[Jack] We need to even the playing field; Henry's the highest, we need to drag him down to our level!

[GM] Let's say it's just you guys, and Peter and Susie, and Norman took off. [Sammy] Aw, don't wanna stay late? Old man, gotta get to bed? [GM] Maybe not if people are saying THAT at him,

*after finding a major ice rink was not built until 1936* [GM] Well, maybe everyone can do that when they DEFINITELY survive and come out victorious next year! :) [Sammy] ….survive?! Nothing's happened! It's a CHRISTMAS PARTY. [Jack] I HOPE we're surviving the Christmas Party, the food's not THAT bad, is it? [Henry] We solved your Christmas puzzle! [Jack] The Christmas Puzzle is how much food can we trick Joey into eating by handing it to him,

[Jack] Oh no, Spark's gone to… CATCOSA…. !

[Sammy] That's fine, Disney still hasn't caught up with us, so. [Jack] Well they're havin' this whole weird issue with like, ink and cultists, it's a bit weird… bunch of the staff started going missing…? [Sammy] *laughing* The entirety of Bendy and the Ink Machine happens, just OVER THERE. We averted it so now Disney has to do it.

[Henry] I will say, Henry's been a little uneasy all day. This doesn't affect anything, it's just for flavour. [GM] But he is in a really nice suit! [Sammy] Well THAT's why he's uneasy. They had to smooth his hair, and he's in a whole suit, [GM] In a vest that actually fits, [Henry] Unrecognisable. [Jack] Who is this stranger?

[GM] Make spot (hidden) checks! [Jack] *whispering* I hope it's Norman. [GM] Both of you spot a familiar face, before he's able to come accost you -- it's not Norman, it's Denis! [Sammy] oh gosh. [Joey] Well… I don't know if that's better or worse than my initial guess of Avedon,

[GM] He greets you all cheerful-like, "fancy meeting you here!" sort of thing-- [Sammy] Sammy still doesn't shake his hand. [GM] --he knows you as Joseph, doesn't he? [Joey] Oh no…. Joey was trying to hide his name in New Orleans… [Jack] That's fine, it's all about reinvention!

[Sammy] You know how in the Illusion of Living, Wally comes up and Joey randomly starts talking about how he's a great guy and a hard worker, and you're like, we were talking about something else ten seconds ago Joey PLEASE stay focused, [Sammy] Anyway, I'm imagining that but with Peter?

[Sammy] The Studio just had a big release last year, and I just got this really nice car! and *mumbling* those events aren't actually connected, BUT!! Through the power of leaving out the middle bit, you can assume they are!

[GM] Sammy, make a listen check! [Sammy] EXTREME SUCCESS, I rolled a THREE. [GM] Oh cool! Make a sanity check! [Sammy] oh no,,, [Joey] *Mario voice* HERE WE GO!

[Sammy] Sammy is gonna look at Joey, see that Joey is like…. in the midst of a conversational manoeuvre, and go, run try to find Jack. I don't know if he'll GET there, but, [GM] He can at least locate Jack, I would think, unless Jack is in a back room kissing boys or whatnot!

[GM] This guy is wearing a really severe, matte black suit, and has unnaturally white skin, his hair is black and very oiled in a severe widow's peak-- [Jack] It's him! Bendy Inkmachine!! [GM] I'm reading this description RIGHT from the book, I need you to know that.

[GM] The music's also definitely come to a stop, while all this was going on. And then there's a gunshot! And now there's just a big, yknow, panic, like you get! [Jack] Avedon's here! [Sammy] There'd be more French-accented yelling if Avedon were here. [Joey] I like how we're just going to end up willing Avedon into this scenario by making repeated "Avedon's here" jokes, [Jack] I mean, I've been trying to do the same with Norman, but it's either not working, or we haven't rolled Spot high enough to find him yet!

[GM] You guys get interviewed and asked what you saw, and what happened! [Sammy] …hang on, I gotta roll a check. [Sammy] *rolls* … OKAY COOL Sammy's back. [Joey] *laughing* Sammy interview, or Prophet interview? [Sammy] They were going to get a REALLY interesting interview if I rolled better on willpower!

[GM] Do you suppose Joey would've helped Susie shop for a dress that she could conceal a firearm in? [Joey] [Joey] sURE! [Joey] I mean I feel like, "would Joey help Susie shop for a dress," stop the sentence there: absolutely yes. There's other things to consider with dress? Well that just makes it a fun challenge now!

[GM] The police ask you what you saw. What do you tell them, about your experiences this evening? [Sammy] Sammy didn't see a lot. There was some commotion and a gunshot. [Joey] Yeah, I think Joey's just going to report that he just heard commotion happening up front, and quickly decided that he wasn't interested in commotion!

[Henry] Who was it who saw people with bloody eyes? [Sammy] Uh, that was Sammy, he's not mentioning that part.

[Jack] *rolls* Normal success for Jack. [Henry] *rolls* Hard success! [Sammy] *rolls* EXTREME success, I rolled a ten! [Joey] *rolls* …what's the fumble point, again?

[GM, as Denis] "There was a yellow sign at the Mardi Gras party last year! I thought it was a lucky charm, but I guess… it wasn't? I had a friend who said it wasn't, actually. You should watch out for those signs. Yes." [Joey] *so tired* Okay, that's… that's fine… [Henry] "Very helpful, thank you." [Jack] (This guy's great, can we keep him?) [Joey] (NO.)

[Henry] Henry is going to have so much anxiety. Like, just in general, but over this, too. [Sammy] "going to"??? [Henry] *laughing* No, you're right. What I'm learning is that Henry CAN slide into being mostly even-headed about crises, but he has to have a moment of "Oh God, oh fuck, oh geez" first. [GM] I think Peter does that in reverse. [Sammy] Yeah, that makes sense -- Sammy just shoots straight for "OH COOL, WE'RE GOING TO DIE!!!"

[GM] How much do you suppose these boys are up on vernacular and slang? [Henry] Henry might've picked up something from his kids, that's all I've got [Sammy] That's cute… Henry knows what yeet means... [Joey] I WAS ALSO GONNA SAY HENRY KNOWS WHAT YEET MEANS,

[Sammy] I do appreciate Jack being the one to notice that the prophecy might be a pun.

[Sammy] What do we even DO with this? What do we do next… [Joey] *muttering* That's what I've been trying to think of for the last like… half hour, Sammy…! [Joey] This isn't Joey-voice, this is just me-voice. [Jack] Yeah, Joey would never admit weakness in front of Peter Sunstram. [Joey] Yeah. Correct.

[Jack] Well if anyone else wants coffee, Jack might end up makin' some! [Jack] You know, that 11:30 coffee.

[Sammy] "Well, if he plays clarinet, let us know." [GM] Peter tips his head as if he's thinking of looking that up -- not looking it up, looking into it! [Jack] Yeah, just google it, Pete! What are you waiting for! [GM] On his cell phone, [Jack] You gotta pull out your Bendyphone! [Sammy] JDS is responsible for all anachronistic devices.

[Jack] Is It An Insanity Or Is It Just The ADHD

[Joey] Is Joey gonna make stupid decisions…? [Sammy] JOEY,,, [Sammy] Augh, I should've gone with him, [Joey] *rolls* *starts cackling maniacally* [Jack] *deadpan* Oh gee I wonder what the result is, [Joey] *audibly grinning* Joey might try to dream spell… Y? [Sammy] WHAT?! [Henry] Joey what are you doing…. [Sammy] JOEY DREW!!!

[Henry] I roll to see if Henry's "Joey's Doing Something Stupid" senses are tingling [Joey] Yeah, I think it's fair for Henry to have a "Is Joey Doing Something Stupid" sense that goes off fifty percent of the time, [Sammy] It's NOT USEFUL because it's ALWAYS HAPPENING,

#quote post #call of cthulhu: haunted hijinx #sammy lawrence #jack fain #prophet sammy #when in doubt just keep drawing #already vibrating about these boys once again

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bright-and-burning · 5 months

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okay yeah i didn't know that there's the different ai stuff and that this is generative ai BUT GOD AM I HAPPY to see that you know the difference between ai and ml like !!! this is not ai !!! it's such a trend now and it's so wrong and so frustrating beyond the, in this case, misogynistic aspects of it. like this is not ai !! but that sounds catchy and URGH so frustrating. okay that's all i love ur additional tags thank u xoxo

yeah!! i did my undergrad degree focused on this kind of stuff (and dropped out of doing a phd in it at the last minute) so it's Literally my roman empire. like. i took so many courses in this and THEN it blew up right at the end of my degree and the misinformation........ chatgpt getting massive my senior year of college made me soooo mad i legit started to resent my field. like this particular use is particularly egregious (why hire a woman in an area severely lacking in women when we can rampantly misuse important computational and REAL LIFE resources to create a fake woman to "talk" abt SUSTAINABILITY!!!) but in general i am like constantly infuriated by AI bullshit from a lot of different sides bc Everyone overestimates/glorifies it/turns it into something it isn't, essentially. (rant abt AI from an AI perspective under the cut that idk might be informative or interesting LOL. i tried not to get technical but i did get mad)

generative ai drives me BONKERS bc it's literally not artificial intelligence. chatgpt is NOT AI it's fucking glorified predictive chat and all the dumbass tech bros on linkedin and twitter who hail it as like world changing infuriate me lol. like chatgpt literally works by calculating the word with the highest probability to come next in the sentence/in response to that prompt based on the data it trained on. is that super impressive ignoring the real world stuff going on? yeah!! it is! it's doing really well and it's fascinating in an academic sense. but then you put it in the real world context, where dumbass tech bros and business leaders worship it as god and where SEO morons use it to turn the internet to sludge and it's like oh god WHY.

and the ai art bullshit oh my god. ok i took a machine vision class right. and like literally one of my projects was to write code that could take in a photo and output it in the "style" of another photo. like as the cs version of a creative exercise, basically (they give u a Lot of projects that are basically write ur own version of an algorithm that's already been written more efficiently by someone else, bc that's how you can kind of pick it apart and really understand it, it's like reverse engineering) to show us how that works. (photos from that project are below; i took the cactus photo and then i "combined" it with a monet. i am STAUNCHLY anti-ai "art" btw this was Lich rally an assignment lol). but do you know what i learned (and what my whole class learned)? it's not fucking magic. it's LINEAR ALGEBRA. it's linear algebra on a truly batshit crazy level, combined with some crazy optical physics equations, but it's literally math. technically speaking, if you had infinite time, and were really insanely good at math (and really really perfect abt not making mistakes), you could do it by hand lol.

ai art from prompts? that's just turning words into numbers (not hard!! i did a project that did that in my second year of undergrad in literally 6hrs!!!) and THEN doing some crazy math and turning numbers into PIXELS! the computer does not know what is going on. it is a FANCY CALCULATOR. WHEN U THINK ABT IT LIKE THAT ASSIGNING HUMAN TRAITS TO MATH IS INSANE.

like tech bros who are like bro chatgpt is aliveeee bc they talk to it is like. if i made my high school graphing calculator draw a smiley face and then was like omg it has emotions......

anyways. like do you know how many projects ive worked on that use AI/ML for GOOD??? like. same kind of techniques that ppl use to create generative ai "art" algorithms? used to do things like detect cancer in scans before human doctors can do it with any confidence. isn't that so fucking cool???? i interviewed w a professor who used machine vision (so literally the field that is now seen as being abt ai art) to figure out what nutritional/vitamin deficiencies ppl in remote villages in madagascar are likely to have based on SATELLITE IMAGERY. so that the overworked underfunded public health ministry could more easily meet their needs without necessarily having to do expensive testing on everyone! i mean, shit, i've worked on really cool sports analytics projects using machine vision. that's not exactly saving lives lol but like. just goes to show how many positive applications there are!

in terms of chatgpt vibes like. i've worked on natural language processing! it has so much more potential than spitting out misinformation!! silly projects for classes, like classifying what political party a politician belonged to based on their tweets, but also more serious stuff in the research i did, like analyzing international public opinion by demographic and country on various conflicts based on individuals' social media posts! analyzing covid vaccine opinions based on demographics, and how to encourage vaccination rates based on that!!

idk it's just. infuriating. that ceos and dumbass business majors (sorry to business majors but i have met a Very Specific Type who like to butt into my field and i am Not A Fan) have completely twisted these really and truly interesting projects and applications. to continually make more money and to cut out/replace more and more people. and the way funding has mirrored this kind of interest, in part bc it makes money (the remote villages nutrition thing is never gonna make money. working on chatgpt on the other hand...) and in part bc of like. basically fear-mongering? you get so much more attention for research in these really dramatized fields (and people lie ALL THE TIMMEEEEEEE to get more interest) and it's all CAP. it's BULLSHIT. and it's just to create buzz for big tech companies' bottom lines. they don't care that it's fear based, or whatever. like people being terrified abt the impact of generative ai bc of bullshit headlines and disinformation HELPS THEM make MORE MONEY. and it's so FUCKING STUPID!!!! it makes me SICK!!!!!!

anyways. it's all math, at the end of the day. and i found a job where i get to use it to help people but i still am like deeply grossed out by what comes out of my field and gets popular bc . i got into this bc i loooove data i love information i love finding things out. and i love using those things to help people... and there are ppl using the things i love to hurt people......... it makes me so sad. and mad.

#i used 'like' probably a thousand times here sorry #and also sorry for . how long this got in response LOL. but yeah basically i agree !!! and thank u for chiming in #ai rant from eve what's new #actually idk if ive ever ranted abt it on here lol. but my irl friends have listened to me go on and on abt this many times #ask #cant believe i actually get to kinda use my degree here. normally i just watch the lawyers do their thing #i LITERALLY did sports analytics AND physics analytics stuff is the ironic thing. i have the background lol

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beautifulpersonpeach · 1 year

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Happy Festa BPP! Is this something ppl do? Wish Festa like holiday? Ta! Happy Festa anyway!!

Don't know if you've said this before but how did you become army?

***

Hi Anon,

Honestly, no. I don't think wishing people Happy Festa is a thing within ARMY... People reminisce and all that but actually sending wishes, not really. But it's a nice gesture so I appreciate you sharing that festive energy with me.

All the Festas are sweet but something about a 10-year anniversary evokes strong memories. It's been a wild ride.

I've talked about how I became ARMY many times, but I can give an abridged version here.

I watched BTS's debut showcase No More Dream for the first time, some time in August 2013 but I don't remember which day exactly. I had heard about BTS by that point, (a lot of people had, which was unusual for a group from a small company and further shows how strong an impression they made at debut), but I didn't get around to actually watching their stuff till August.

I felt they were strong performers but had no other real opinion about them, and kinda forgot about them for a year, till their Dark & Wild comeback in August 2014.

After that album comeback, I consistently kept up with BTS but didn't really think of myself as a fan. The way I engaged with k-pop was to check out several groups I was interested in, sometimes go to their comeback shows if I was in Korea, attend KCON concerts, read Korean forums, etc. Like a fan of many groups but a stan of none, if that makes sense. So, I sort of watched BTS from the sidelines in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Throughout this time, I realized I loved every new musical output from them more than the previous one. It was clear they were improving not just their songwriting, production, exploring more genres, etc, but that they had a very distinct voice - a consistent message in their storytelling that seemed to come from their own lived experiences, for all seven members. Executed at the highest level. And that was something I had never, ever seen in k-pop or anywhere else really.

Of course, during this time, their fame, fortune, and success multiplied as well. And the latent animosity I'd observed since debut towards BTS from the wider k-pop fandom, just became more overt the more BTS became successful. That mess with EXO fans and the Blue House was particularly disgusting and soured my opinion on most fans of SM groups and the wider k-pop fandom. But by 2018, when it was clear BTS's rise was definitely stratospheric and already beyond the realm of k-pop, the gloves were off. The hostility became extremely blatant to the point k-pop stans were working with real life neo-nazis to physically assault Japanese ARMYs who were attending a concert, they were spam calling Japanese newspapers and Jewish foundations in America to put out a statement condemning BTS, and asking for the American government to blacklist BTS.

It was bonkers.

Sulli had ended her life just before the hate campaign against BTS hit a fever pitch in Fall 2018. I liked her a lot and her death shifted something in me - it made me re-evaluate my distanced, detached almost apathetic approach to k-pop beyond the music, especially regarding hate campaigns from k-pop stans that used to run completely unchecked and only escalated and became more sophisticated especially when the target was someone who broke against the norm. So, I linked up with some J-ARMY friends and we spent a weekend coordinating with local Japanese police to track down some k-pop stans working with neo nazis to assault BTS and ARMYs, and by the end of November 2018, I was calling myself an ARMY.

Nothing has really changed since then compared to how I was a fan of BTS before. Except that now, I buy their albums more consistently (it was kinda more sporadic / spontaneous before). I've never been a collector so I don't really care about PCs and what not. I educated myself on charts and fandom norms, and started watching more of their non-music content. I was already very familiar with their personalities and interpersonal quirks (jikook has stood out to me since 2015, yoonmin, namgi, namseok, and sope since 2014, and taekook since 2016 or so), but since 2018 I've found myself enjoying more of their auxiliary content though it's still not something I seek out (I still haven't watched SOOP 2 for example, lol).

Most of my friendships with fans of other k-pop groups I've maintained till now, and I still check out almost every new release in the industry when I have the time, and becoming a fan of BTS has been wonderful.

The ARMY community gets a lot of flack, like all big fandoms do, but there's a real community of genuine and smart people here that I appreciate. BTS has never disappointed me - and I had to really think before writing down that sentence. This industry is harsh, cruel. BTS had to navigate channels no k-pop group or Korean artist has had to before, they've single-handedly elevated an entire industry into the social consciousness of the wider world, and are still holding on to their relentless drive and sense of wonder.

These seven men are remarkable. They're some of the hardest workers I've ever seen. Fully dedicated to their craft and their team, artists and performers in every sense of the word. I thoroughly enjoy being a fan of the music they make, and supporting their growth as artists and people.

Happy Festa everyone! I'm treating myself to Taro ice cream topped with pistachio nuts today to celebrate. Maybe we should make this some kind of holiday lol.

#bts #bangtan #bts army #kpop #min yoongi #park jimin #jeon jungkook #kim namjoon #kim seokjin #kim taehyung #jung hoseok

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birlwrites · 8 months

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hi just wanted to say that i love heather brown. tell me about heather brown. if you want to. <3

HEATHER!!!!!!!

i'm just going to say random facts about her afjlskghljksdf, some of these may be things i've said before but who cares, LETS GO

so, she's the middle child, the only girl, and the only slytherin among her siblings - she has an older brother rowan, who's heir to house brown, a former gryffindor who graduated at the end of heather's 4th year (so, reg was in 3rd year). she also has a younger brother linden, who's going to start hogwarts this fall and go to gryffindor. gryffindor is a common house for the browns - they have kind of an even mix of the other houses, when someone does get sorted into another house

(side note, heather's younger brother is going to be in the same year as the eldest of priam's younger siblings - his sister is going to go into ravenclaw though)

she loves pink because a) she loves it and b) she associates it with things like sunset clouds and other things that are both soft and fun, like cotton candy, except not because cotton candy is the american term, but u know. it's basically her comfort color lmao. it's her go-to in any situation and like, Her Color

and heather genuinely loves being around people - she thinks people are fascinating, she loves figuring out what makes them tick, she's very chatty and it's a good thing she and regulus have never tried to study together because they'd drive each other bonkers, what with heather keeping up a steady stream of Unrelated Talking and regulus responding with monosyllables if at all. she's bored and he can't focus. hell. (but that's why heather does most of her schoolwork in the slytherin common room - she gets to hang out with her friends as she does it, and also chances are high of priscilla parkinson appearing, aka heather's favorite cat)

priscilla is not heather's favorite ANIMAL because heather has a beloved barn owl named thistle, who has been very helpful to the plot, but thistle doesn't really hang out in the dungeons so

her birthday is december 1, i feel like i've mentioned that before but i'm saying it again - it renders her birthday Very close to evan's, which i didn't plan and am actually only realizing now ajfhglkjdf. such is life, i don't think that'll affect the plot so we carry on

she has a generally solid relationship with her immediate family - they keep in touch during the school year and like, spend time with each other over the summers and all that jazz. her mom is first cousins with arnold macmillan's dad. heather is capable of getting along with arnold, but he's a very straightforward person, so she kind of picked him apart long ago and there's no more puzzle to be had there, which means she's kind of whatever about him

the browns are the highest-ranked non-dark family in the sacred 28 (which tells you how much the dark families DOMINATE). they and the weasleys are the only non-dark noble and anciente families, and the weasleys basically don't count, so. heather's not on regulus's level, but nobody is.

she tends to run cold and has Many blankets in her room, which she will either use as a cape or put over her lap when she's in the dungeons - she can cope without them, but like, why be uncomfortable when you could be comfortable. (priam is also an option for Heat Source afjslghjskf)

she loves sour candy - anything that's a combination of sour and sweet really

and she's in slytherin because she is very good at piecing together how to get what she wants!

#dark lord wip #should i make an inbox tag #part of me thinks 'i should make character tags for my ocs so i can find these posts'#part of me thinks 'birl you're in way too deep for that already'

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givemewallywestorgivemedeath · 1 year

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i mean I think I'd put pre new teen titans wally also in the highest tier.

Silver age Wally would be in the Top tier for sure. Little Wally was fucking wild.

When I specified past Wally I mostly meant Very Sad Teenage Wally™ because I didn't want to have to specify eras but yeah if I put kid Wally on there he'd be in the Top level.

Cause Kid Wally was bonkers. Twelve year old Wally was running around going 'lmao I'm gonna vibrate into another dimension, laters ✌️' and 'hey guys! Check this out! I can vibrate so fast I turn invisible!!!'

He was just nuts. His power levels as a kid were just absolutely nuts. And then he has the audacity to complain when Bart first came back that Bart could vibrate through objects. Like, sir? Respectfully shut up. You were doing things 20x more insane than that at Bart's age.

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wearesorcerer · 14 days

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Re: Best 3rd-Level Trickery Spell

Coming up from behind with the upset was major image at 24.5% of 106 votes (that's 26 votes), upsetting the lead glibness had (now at 19.8% [21 votes] and tied with blink from 3.5/displacement). So...analysis time.

Objectively, glibness is the right answer.

+30 on Bluff checks meant to lie (convince others that your statements are true), as opposed to conveying secret messages (former Innuendo skill/Thieves' Cant) or mimicking another's mannerisms while disguised.

Open-ended means of bypassing any and all lie-detectors and truth-telling compulsions.

Lasts 10 min./level. In core, this is Bard only (so min. 1 hr. 10 min.); the lowest levels you can get it at are 6th (Beguiler; 1 hour) or 5th (Urban Druid). Regardless, you're always pushing an hour at minimum.

The +30 is in-line with other spells (disguise self [1st] gives +10 Disguise; invisibility [2nd] gives +20 Hide/Stealth). Aside from invisibility bumping up to +40 when standing still, to my admittedly non-encyclopedic knowledge glibness's +30 is the highest numerical bonus any spell gives to any roll, at least pre-Epic. This and the duration make it a nuke at social encounters, especially considering that all casters of the spell are Charisma-based ones and all but Vigilante have Bluff as a class skill. However, it's more bonkers: since it works against any means of detecting lies or compelling honesty, it slaps away even high-level divination and enchantment spells (and telepathy psychic powers).

By contrast...

Blink is stupid. Yes, I like combat phasing. Yes, I like being able to walk through walls at low levels. This, however, is a wall of text and edge cases that make you question anyone's understanding of the Ethereal Plane, game mechanics, the lore of the Blink Dog,¹ and basic game design. (Displacement is the Displacer Beast equivalent, albeit simpler.²)

Deeper darkness is for people who think darkness is a great battlefield control spell until they realize they can't see through it. Globe of twilight, which no one voted for, is for the same people who get that blinding yourself can be worse than blinding your enemy.

On the surface, feign death seems like a poor man's temporal stasis and so a decent spell. However, you can accomplish almost anything it does with lower-level spells and skill checks.

3.5's invisibility sphere is a PBAoE invisibility spell, kinda like 5e's version of pass without trace (the 3.5 version of that spell only concealed tracks). It takes forever to get mass invisibility, so this is a decent interim spell.

I'm not a fan of the image spells (except mirror and project) because ghost sound exists.³ That said, if you were to get any of them, get this one, since you can alter it while you're in range.

I think people are sleeping on the usefulness of meld into stone, since it's useful almost anywhere (almost all settlements and most dungeons, including non-traditional ones like forests, have large rocks in them). I admit that its penalizing senses lessens its usefulness.

Misdirection is literally as powerful as Nystul's magic aura and comes at the same level as nondetection. Do not use.

3.5's version of nondetection forces a caster level check, so is good but not astounding -- you want to wait for mind blank if you can. 5e's flat-out immunity is glorious. I should have put this on the Defense list and moved Leomund's tiny hut to utility (even though it is also defensive).

Sculpt sound is an odd spell: it should be Illusion (Figment/Glamer), but it's Transmutation, and it combines ghost sound and silence, so is effectively a 3rd-level spell, but doesn't feel like it should be, power-wise.

As I've said before, secret page is too specific a spell for this level.

¹ The Blink Dog first appeared in Supplement I - Greyhawk for OD&D, wherein it's described as basically an awakened African Wild Dog with the power to spam short-range teleports, which it uses for mobility, confusing opponents/prey, and to escape if need be. This hits several high notes for me (animals which are intelligent while still being animals, African Wild Dogs, teleport spam), so is in my mind the best version of the animal.

The spell blink hyperfixated on the randomness aspect of this instead of realizing that the randomness is seeming only, so instead of giving us a low-level teleport from the get go wound up with 3rd edition's...bizarreness.

² I say this because displacement is like a low-level version of mislead: you are invisible, but you also create a mirror image of yourself "two feet" away from you. Since D&D only works in 5 ft squares, this is negligible: it means both are in the same space. For some reason, this means you can still be targeted, unlike if you had total concealment. It's not all that difficult to get that: the 1st-level spell obscuring mist grants that to all creatures beyond 5 ft. of each other. I could go off about how weak spells that grant concealment are by spell level.

This spell would be viable if 1.) it granted you total concealment, like it should, since everyone is targeting the illusion, or 2.) it worked like mirror image where your illusory duplicate could move around for cunning tactics.

³ Okay, the issue I have with figments: the effects are weak for their spell level.

The cantrip ghost sound allows you to create any sound you can think of, within the limitations of a volume equal to four "normal" humans per level (max 20). That's it. The effect lasts for one round per caster level and can only be used in Close range (25 ft. + 5 ft. per two caster levels).

Aside from removing the arbitrary level cap, this is all you need out of a figment. Distance, duration, and triggering effects can all be added via Metamagic feats or spells (contingency, permenancy), which are most of the benefits of Figment spells as they grow in spell level and the named benefit of the two highest-level spells in the tree, programmed image (contingency; confusingly, it isn't the name of persistent image, which isn't persistent and which does follow a program) and permanent image (permanency). The only other justification that figments give is having some additional stimulus incorporated into them.

"But Sorcerer, ghost sound isn't visual! There is no such 3.x cantrip!" Ah, how you are wrong! Not only does it set the precedent for something like 5e's minor illusion, but there IS a cantrip in 3.x that produces a visual hologram:

Dancing lights.

True, the effect is vague and limited to a Medium (possibly smaller) Humanoid, but that's because the spell does other stuff, too.

Seriously, there is no reason why they didn't make a variation of silent image as a cantrip other than to justify having an entire line of hologram spells that don't matter in their improvements, as it justifies the categories they used to define spells.

That said, of the image spells that aren't "duplicate me," major image is probably the best, since you can manipulate it while it's cast. I'm not sure it's worth a 3rd-level spell slot, but it's not a bad spell all things considered.

#3rd-level spells

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space-spring · 3 months

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Nybeth returns!!! Again!!!!!!

This level was what the kids might call "really hard"!!!! Between this and the last one with Diego + the refugee port town, I ended up doing a ton of grinding to get weapon levels and stuff up to a point where I wasn't constantly resetting (and also so I could meet Cressida's other recruitment requirement regarding clan loyalty which was. a whole other thing).

As far as grinding goes, I didn't really realize how important weapon skills were until uhhh. pretty much now actually! so that was the main thing I was trying fix. Turns out weapon levels are the thing that determine what finishing moves you get, as well as just general attack + accuracy stats. Before now I kept switching people's weapons around based on what had the highest attack bonus, which was. not actually ideal in the end, because consistently sticking with one weapon type is a lot more important than temporarily equipping a weapon with slightly more atk.

I took Cerya and Denam out for a bit to beat up some Galgastani recruits I hired purely for that purpose build up my Chaos Frame stat for Cressida's requirement, and had them both increase their weapon stats for one-handed sword way up, which has helped a lot. I kinda wish I'd stuck with the spear for Cerya, but I was ultimately tempted into giving her the sword because that's what she has in her portrait and I'm just a sucker for swords in general.

I did end up needing to do some other grinding with my other units to get through the Cressida map, but that was a lot easier because I could turn on AI for everyone and just set it going on some training levels.

The Chaos Frame/clan loyalty requirement was really so funny to me though. Chaos Frame is supposed to represent how much a nation likes you, and usually there are ways to get your Chaos Frame to the necessary level using story decisions, but I didn't think that far ahead for Cressida's reqs, so mine was really low. At this point in the game if I wanted to improve it, that left me one option: what everyone on the walkthrough forums call "death marching." Because turns out you can improve your Chaos Frame by retreating while someone from that nation is unconscious, so there's this workaround where you just go and take a bunch of Galgastani units and knock them out and retreat repeatedly until your Chaos Frame goes up. Which is what I did. I hired a bunch of Galgastani units, took them out into a field, and then had Denam and Cerya repeatedly KO them all a solid 30 times each or so. They all absolutely hate my guts on an individual loyalty level but Galgastan as a nation thinks I'm a very polite and responsible individual who takes care of their unconscious soldiers so who can judge the ethicality of it, really

And I did get Cressida to join me in the end! Did not get to kill Nybeth, however, which is driving me bonkers. He has become the real villain of the game. to me

#tactics ogre #let us cling together #everyone on every forum I read was like 'chaos frame is terrible and the necromancer class isn't even that good'#'just wait till you have the new game+ stuff to recruit her'#and I completely ignored that which. in retrospect. maybe they had a point #but I'm glad I got to save her!!!#will NOT be recruiting deneb tho #if I never do a non-story battle again it'll be too soon

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takaraphoenix · 2 years

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Okay. Hold on. I’m kind of reeling from the information that the new X-Factor/Beyond Belief episodes were exclusive to Germany.

This isn’t a German show. This is an American show. The moderator is Jonathan Frakes, who is not German - even in this exclusively German fifth season, it is still Jonathan Frakes.

On the one hand do I absolutely appreciate that they kept this familiar face, but on the other hand is it... kind of baffling to me that they did, if you consider all the circumstances?

It’s been 20 years since the show ended; no one would have really faulted them to make a “reboot” and to then, obviously, feature a new moderator. Especially since... these new episodes were German-exclusive; it would have even made sense to put a new and German moderator in and skip a step.

Instead, they got Jonathan Frakes back and had this American man do the moderation... and then dub him over (and even with a new voice-actor! He sounds so off, which just seems like all the more justification for a new one).

Let me make clear that this is not a complaint, that I wanted a new moderator or anything. I mean I’m glad they went through that extra step because it’s Jonathan Frakes, he is indeed the face of the show, but on a practical level, it kind of sounds bonkers to me, to produce something exclusively for the German market but call up an American to do the moderation, in English, and dub him over; for a direct continuity okay maybe, but for something that happens twenty years after the fact?

Stunning, absolutely amazing. These guys knew what they were doing when they made these new episodes, because they don’t feel new - and that’s not meant as a dig, I love how much they capture the vibes of the original.

Beyond the bafflement about that choice though, I’m genuinely stunned that they... made more of this show... exclusively for Germans?? I mean, I know I hold this show in the highest regard - I still have nightmares and superstitions from watching this as a child, like, genuinely, I have certain behaviors that I developed after watching this show as a too young child and scaring the shit outta myself - but I wasn’t aware that, apparently, it is being held in high regards by many Germans, if we’re a lucrative enough market to make new episodes just for us, twenty years after the show ended? Gives me kind of a power-high, ngl.

So... I definitely know what I’ll be doing next Halloween, I guess? If this is some weird RTL2 tradition now, to produce one or two episodes of X-Factor for Halloween? (Or is it exponentially increasing and next year we get three?)

#Jonathan Frakes #X-Factor: Das Unfassbare #Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction #no srsly you have No Idea how much this show #traumatized me as a child #I love it. never missed its reruns

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roman-sunshine · 10 months

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I wish I could be bothered to make and program my own Pokemon game and just make all the gyms completely bonkers. One has all Pokemon shorter than a foot tall. One is only Pokemon that start with the letter I. One looks like a bog standard bug type gym but all of the leaders Pokemon are like level 100 with the highest possible stats. One has a gym leader who challenges you to a physical fight instead and there's a Street Fighter minigame. One has only red Pokemon.

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alexbkrieger13 · 10 months

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Yeah that bonkers narrative with Peter bringing in old players is so far from the truth it's laughable. Have lost count of how many times I wish people understood spoken Swedish to know how he (and Sweden) rolls. He doesn't give two fucks about age in any direction. If you're good enough to play on the highest international level you'll be called up. Prove yourself and you'll be called up regularly. Perform well and you'll be considered to start many matches. Then for obvious reasons the players on pitch relations matters. Who plays good football with who and which players make her team mates around her better?

That narrative is also dumb for many other reasons: Peter didn't call up Lindahl... It was a demand that Seger would be available to play some minutes in the first match against S. Africa or he'd sent her home and brought in Zigiotti Sempan hasn't been started over neither Mandy or Magda as a CB There were literally two Swewnt baby debutants in the squad before Hanna L sadly was injured Benni is still a baby Swede Players don't automatically become bad at football once they've turned 25 yo A good mix of young, mid 20's and older players make the best teams. All young isn't good, all old isn't good either Championship experience is important and consistency is even more important for national teams than for club teams Swewnt veterans aren't the same as the US veterans It's not Swewnt going home after the group stage

yea like if you look at the US teams that have won the World Cup the last two times you have this really good mix of youth and experience kind of like what Sweden has now. and yea it's just kind of ridiculous at this point the whole narrative that were a team of grannies

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gizka · 1 year

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I will defend anakin fucking skywalker with my life. I would go to war to defend his honor. I will scream "Anakin did nothing wrong ♡" from the highest mountaintop when I know very well he did lots of things incredibly wrong, just because I feel that strongly about him. I will argue all day why his character arc is one of the most stunning amazing glorious beautiful tragic heartbreaking arcs in all of modern media, comparable to that of Satan and the Creature. I absolutely love him despite the horrors he committed. And I will most definitely defend him being the "Chosen One" and argue that he did in fact bring balance to the Force by falling, and then again by ultimately returning to the light in RotJ (the clue is in the title).

And comparing him to Ben Swolo/Kyle Ron is the ultimate slap in the face, it's an insult to everything Anakin went through, I would even say it's an insult to Hayden and George too because of the hard work and effort that went into portraying and writing such a character. Kyle's "arc" is nonexistent, it's grade-school level writing. It's such a bonkers claim to say Kyle and Ani are on the same level, purely from a writing standpoint because where is the development, the downfall, the redemption?

#idk if you have input feel free to comment becuz i was just sitting here instead of getting ready #thinking about how much i love anakin but hate kyle ron #and had an epiphany thinking about. well. why is that?#its because kyle ron fucking sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#effort & time was put into ani whereas kyle's 'story' was written in one night so disney could pump out the st asap and get their 💰#still on the kyle hate train babey im riding for life #worst character ever but im not even mad about it anymore i think its funny how much he sucks

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flydotnet · 8 months

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A Legacy and a Half

WHUMPTOBER 2023, DAY 21: “See the chains around my feet.” Vows | Restraints | “Don't move.”

I have a running gag with myself and my CT fanfiction writing, and it's that I actually really like the Toho trio, but absolutely never write them. I think I wrote Hyuga tops thrice before (in TTNW, my 2023 Matsuyama bday fic and a KojiMaki fic from earlier this month), and he's the Toho dude I've written the most. It's kind of bonkers if you think about it.

So I took the opportunity to fix that and fnally write not only something about the Toho Trio, which to me is the siblings of ever of this manga, but also something centered around one of my fav characters!

It's not obvious unless you've talked to me about CT for a while, but Takeshi Sawada is one of my all-time favs from this manga. I've loved him and his relationship to Hyuga as soon as my first watchthrough of CT 2018 and it's not changed since. I find him to be heavily underrated by both the manga itself and the fandom, so I guess it's up to me to put some emphasis back onto why he's such a cool little guy!! He's just so friend-shaped, you know?

As for why this day in particular, I suppose it's the quote that inspired me the idea of "a burden taken to heart", which would've fit Takeshi so well I immediately came up with the fic. "Vows" was the right prompt for this, I think, while "don't move" gave me the whumpy aspect of it. A match made in heaven! Or Toho I guess.

...wow that was lame.

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A Legacy and a Half

Summary: As Toho's next captain, there's a lot Takeshi has to live up to, and so little time to actually get to that level.

Fandom: Captain Tsubasa

Word Count: 1K words

AO3 version available here.

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Every single day, in school or outside, during practice or after it, there is one thing that comes to Takeshi’s mind: as Toho’s future captain, he has so much to live up to.

It’s not that new to him, he supposes. Back when he was in Meiwa FC, he had to do the same thing when Hyuga graduated; and look where it got him. Nitta’s Nankatsu FC won against them in finals, without even being as technical as he was. All he needed was his determination, focus and speed, all the while Takeshi had to play catchup.

Things have changed, since then. Unlike Meiwa, Toho has won a national championship – there is a precedent he needs to uphold and it’s the highest one reachable. Unfortunately, aside from Takeshi himself, most people who got this title will be graduating by the time he takes the helm, and he’ll have to go back to square one with teambuilding and getting back into the groove of things – and what if it’s as bad as it was this year, when he was clearly lost without Hyuga? He won’t even be able to look up to Wakashimazu this time, and it scares him more than just a bit –

“Takeshi, watch out!!” Sorimachi’s voice snaps him back to the pitch.

He barely avoids Hyuga’s tackle by jumping on top of it. The ball stays between his feet, thankfully, but he messes up his landing: his ankle twists at an angle that just doesn’t feel right, sharp pain following suit, and he falls to the ground before. He watches the ball roll away from him, quickly getting caught under Sorimachi’s spikes, while a surge of tears immediately rises in his eyes.

“Shit, Takeshi, are you okay?!” Hyuga screams as he kneels next to him.

He gulps his pain down, hopes the tears go with it, and nods.

“Hmm.”

“That looked painful,” Sorimachi comments as he picks up the ball. “Are you really okay?”

“I should be fine,” Takeshi answers as he gets up – or tries to, at least.

As soon as he puts weight on his ankle, pain jolts through it again, and he loses his balance. Before he can buckle straight to the floor, Hyuga catches him in his arms. The yelp that exits his mouth is a little humiliating, he must admit.

“Don’t move!” His captain immediately yells at him.

“That doesn’t look like fine to me,” Sorimachi adds. “Let me check it out, okay?”

His teammate kneels to the level of his ankle.

“That looks like a sprain to me,” he continues.

When he presses on it, it’s a gentle gesture – but Takeshi screams anyway.

“It’s definitely a sprain, if you ask me.”

In the distance, he can see Wakashimazu walk up to them as well. Oh no, he’s interrupting practice really badly…

“I agree,” Hyuga chimes in, his tone harsh and set in stone. “You don’t look like you can stand back up, Takeshi.”

It’s odd to see Hyuga actually take his little ankle pain into account, especially with such a hard-set frown. With how high his pain tolerance is and how highly he regards Coach Kira’s advice on letting anything stop you, let alone considering other people’s pain. Or maybe it only applies to your opponents? That’d have matched what happened with Misugi.

Oh, right, he needs to convince people that, like Hyuga, he can carry on as if nothing happened.

“I-it’s fine, I swear! I can just, I don’t know, take a painkiller and continue!” He stutters a bit, but it sounds genuine enough. (It is genuine, he just doesn’t quite believe he could pull what he’s talking about. He’s no Hyuga, after all).

Wakashimazu stops right in front of him, his expression just as hard-set.

“If you need to take something for the pain, then it’s already too late.”

“B-but, I…”

“No buts, Takeshi. If you sprained it, you sprained it.”

“It’s not such a big deal, right?”

Both of his friends communicate with a single exchange of gazes.

“It’s not like you to be this unreasonable,” Wakashimazu comments first.

“Yeah, he’s right. What’s gotten into you?”

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Takeshi realizes the only thing he’s got left is to actually open up about all of the doubt stew he’s been cooking for the past few weeks. It may make him feel better after he’s done, because frankly told, he’s been at a bit of a loss ever since he fully grasped how much it’d mean to succeed Hyuga and Wakashimazu as successful captains of the greatest middle school team in all of Japan (ex aequo, but that’s beside the point).

“Well, if I want to be a good captain for the team next, I need to be like Captain, right? I need to be strong and like I can get through anything! I’m sure Captain can pull through a sprain, right?”

When he expectantly looks at Hyuga, all he finds is… disgust? Is that it?

“What the fuck’s goin’ on through your head, Takeshi?”

“What?”

“That sounds fuckin’ bonkers! Yeah, I can pull through an injury, I guess, but even I know it’s stupid as shit to do!”

Oh. That’s definitely not what he was expecting to hear from him, that’s for sure…

“It’s a thing you do as a last resort, not as a necessary step! And, like, I know that’s unreasonable, I don’t like havin’ to do this, let alone see my guys do that.” He sighs. “Not to mention, if you want to follow a good example, I ain’t the one you should be lookin’ up to. You’ve got better right in front of ya, idiot.”

Wakashimazu chuckles.

“That’s a bit harsh to yourself, Captain,” he says, amused, before he goes back to being serious. “But he’s right, Takeshi. There are things you shouldn’t be copying from either of us. Pulling through an injury unless you really have to is part of those.”

“I-if you say so…”

“You really have that much doubt about your worth as captain, Takeshi?” Hyuga asks, so gently it doesn’t even sound like him.

“…yes.”

“Don’t. You’re the only one who can do this and I’m not takin’ no for an answer.”

“But, Captain… What if I’m not good enough.”

“Don’t worry this much about it, Takeshi,” Wakashimazu tells him in a calm, assured tone. “Focus on doing what you think is right.”

He nods along.

“But for now, let’s get that thing examined. That sounds like a better use.”

“…it does,” he finally smiles.

#whumptober 2023 #no.21 #vows #“don't move”#captain tsubasa #fic

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