#(I can actually be driven out there instead of having to fly which would be Very Unsafe)

[kirby-the-gorb]

#kirby #daily kirby #my art #digital #hal laboratory #nintendo #good news we found out which program my wife matched into #and it's the geographically closest one that my partner didn't outright refuse to move to 👍 #so not only will she be easier to visit and have an easier time visiting us #(I can actually be driven out there instead of having to fly which would be Very Unsafe) #but we may not be living apart for the entire 4 years either #so that's nice :) #(she also likes the program for its own merits) #(these are just the benefits for me lol)

[dailyadventureprompts]

Tableskills: Making a Game of It

Recently I learned a bit of an unspoken truth that I'd brushed up against in my many years of being a dungeonmaster that I'd never seen put into words before: If you want to liven up whatever's going on in your adventure, figure out a way to engage the players in some kind of game. It's simultaneously the best way to provide a roadblock while making your player's victories feel earned.

This might seem redundant, since you're already playing d&d but give a moment of thought to exactly what portions of d&d are gamified. Once you learn your way around the system, it becomes apparent that D&D really only has three modes of play:

Pure roleplay/storytelling, driven by whatever feels best for the narrative. Which is not technically a game, nor should it (IMO) be gamified.

Tactical combat with a robust rules system, the most gamelike aspect.

A mostly light weight skills based system for overcoming challenges that sits between the two in terms of complexity.

The problem is that there's quite a lot of things that happen in d&d that don't fall neatly into these three systems, the best example being exploration which was supposed to be a "pillar" of gameplay but somehow got lost along the way . This is a glaring omission given how much of the core fantasy of the game (not to mention fantasy in general) is the thrill of discovery, contrasted with the rigours of travelling to/through wondrous locations. How empty is it to have your party play out the fantasy of being on a magical odyssey or delving the unknown when you end up handwaving any actual travel because base d&d doesn't provide a satisfying framework for going from A to B besides skillchecks and random encounters (shameless plug for my own exploration system and the dungeon design framework that goes with it).

The secret sauce that's made d&d and other ttrpgs so enduring is how they fuse the dramatic conventions of storytelling with the dynamics of play. The combat system gives weight and risk to those epic confrontations, and because the players can both get good at combat and are at risk of losing it lets them engage with the moment to moment action far more than pure narration or a single skill roll ever could.

I'm not saying that we need to go as in depth as combat for every gamified narrative beat (the more light weight the better IMO) but having a toolbox full of minigames we can draw upon gives us something to fall back on when we're doing our prep, or when we need to improvise. I've found having this arsenal at hand as imortant as my ability to make memorable NPCs on the fly or rework vital plothooks the party would otherwise miss.

What I'd encourage you as a DM to do is to start building a list of light weight setups/minigames for situations you often find yourself encountering: chase scenes, drinking contests, fair games, anything you think would be useful. Either make them yourself or source them from somewhere on the web, pack your DM binder full of them as needed. While not all players are utterly thrilled by combat, everyone likes having some structured game time thrown in there along with the freeform storytelling and jokes about how that one NPC's name sounds like a sex act.

A quick minigame is likewise a great way to give structure to a session when your party ends up taking a shortcut around your prepared material. Oh they didn't take that monster hunter contract in the sewers and instead want to follow up on rumours about a local caravan? The wagon hands are playing a marble game while their boss negotiates with some local mercahnts, offering to let the party play while they wait. The heroes want to sail out to the island dungeon you don't have prepped yet? Well it looks like the navigator has gone on a bit of a bender, and the party not only need to track them down but also piece together where they left the charts from their drunken remembrances as a form of a logic puzzle.

Artsource

#tableskills #tabletop inspiration #dnd #dm tip #dm tips #dm toolbox #d&d #dungeons and dragons

[leighlew3]

Hi Leigh, hope you are doing well!

Maybe you have answered this question before: how would you have written the Supergirl reveal to Lena?

You still have the elements of it being so late in series and that Lena actually already knows.

I wonder how a good writer would approach this because in the show it was an actual train wreck- Lena wanting to expose Supergirl’s identity at the Pulitzer party before Kara actually said it?! So out of character. And all that stuff after? So stupid.

Anyway thanks for answering this question :)

Hi! Hangin' in there, thank you. 🤗

Well, it depends on what point the launch off was.

Let's say she learns via Lex, just like in the show (rather than rewrite the whole damn series in this post, haha).

Just thinking on the fly, here goes... I woulda just had her reeling, feeling betrayed, and isolating rather than putting on a front.

Kara doesn't understand what's happening, but wonders if maybe Lena is secretly angry with her for killing Lex (remember, Kara believed she took him down in that final fight at the end of S4). This is hammered in further after Alex plants the seed that, evil or not, Lex was still Lena's brother, and so some level of sadness is likely to still exist there. She advises Kara to give Lena time and space.

Kara, further worried by Lena's worsening isolation and mood, ignores her sister's advice and makes efforts to connect, but increasingly senses the distance and her guilt grows.

Meanwhile Lena -- between finding out the truth that Kara is Supergirl in such a terrible way, while also hiding that she killed Lex (to protect Kara, ironically) truly spirals and starts to think that Kara perhaps never was truly her friend at all, only using her to be able to eventually take down Lex. A means to an end. Feeling like that's all she's ever been to anybody, including her "best friend" who meant the world to her, Lena becomes darker and more cold, sure -- but never takes those ridiculous 'villainous' actions of any kind.

Alex pulls a typical Alex move and starts to suspect that Lena's isolation and darker vibes could mean trouble as "She is a Luthor." and she's worried she'll carry Lex's torch now that he's gone, and her isolation means she's up to something. Kara of course doesn't buy it -- much like in the show, defending Lena, rebelling against the notion.

After ramping the tension throughout Season 5A on these fronts, a dramatic series of events eventually leads Kara to go to Lena and try to have a much needed conversation. Lena thinks she's perhaps finally going to confess, and she allows herself to feel hopeful again -- alas that hope is dashed, when instead Kara simply apologizes for killing Lex (so she thinks she did), and not realizing how much doing so would cause Lena pain. Lena finds this ironic, Kara's concern for her pain, considering she's lied to her all this time and still won't be open with her. Lena then decides that if nothing else, she won't lie.

She tells Kara that Lex died at HER hand, not Kara's.

Kara is shocked. She's pulled away by an emergency before they can discuss this further. And thus, Kara now believes Lena's distance and darkness is driven by guilt over killing her own brother, and Kara now feels more guilty than ever that she went through that, and that she continues to keep Lena in the dark, even though Lena opened up to her. As we approach mid-season, the two have several 'almost' moments where it seems Kara might actually confess her identity. And we make it clear that she wants to. But the more she sees how hurt Lena is about having to kill Lex, to protect her no less, the worse she feels and the more she's terrified to tell Lena her secret, believing that Lena's done so much for her, meanwhile all she's done -- is lie. It wrecks Kara. And her anger issues start to rise up again, and that comes out a lot in Crisis crossover (in which our world's Lex is NOT yet present again btw), which is of increasing concern to everybody.

Post Crisis, in which Lena and Kara work together to save everybody even though they can barely even look at each other, we have these two idiots with their secrets, both struggling tremendously -- Kara with her anger and guilt, and Lena with her sadness and pain. And both with their regrets. And the rest of the group is noticing these tensions, between missions / various genre adventures.

It ramps up, until finally, shit hits the fan in a 100th episode. Lena is held hostage by someone threatening to kill her if Supergirl doesn't reveal her identity (similar to how it was in the show, but without the Mxy stuff, or at least using it better) -- Kara is fully willing to reveal herself to save Lena. She prepares to do just that, and even goes to the press conference, but just before she has to do it, her friends find a way to save Lena without the reveal needing to happen. But Kara is also nearly killed in the battle. The closest she's ever come to dying.

In the aftermath, Lena has now seen how far Kara would go to protect her -- both in terms of being willing to give up her life AND reveal her identity to the world. Lena of course forgives Kara (quietly, to herself) and decides to let Kara have her secret, even if it means they both pretend the other doesn't know, silly as it it. Alas, what she doesn't expect, at the end of the episode --

Kara reveals her identity to Lena (at Kara's place after everyone else goes home). Turns out almost losing her life made her realize she didn't want to die a coward and a liar on this front. And also, Lena not knowing put her at worse risk than knowing. And she deserves to know, so she can protect herself. So Kara can better protect her.

After/during her confession, Lena sheds a tear, and Kara starts to profusely apologize, thinking Lena is devastated by the revelation. But Lena confesses that it's tears of relief, because she's already known. She was just wondering if Kara would ever trust her enough to tell her the truth. Kara is shocked to know Lena knew, grateful she's kept the secret for her, and heartbroken to know she learned it from Lex, before killing him. She also makes it clear she didn't keep it from her because she didn't trust her, it was never about that. It was simply the belief that not telling her protected her somehow. But now she's seen that was foolish, in this case. Realizing now they've both been dumb and their secrets have done nothing but cause each other, and themselves, so much pain -- they agree: no more secrets.

And they hug it out -- because besties! Just gals being pals right?!

*eye roll*

Then the rest of 5B becomes all about Lex popping up alive, and being furious that Lena and Kara are closer than ever, and that his attempt to destroy their relatio- I mean "friendship" failed. And he comes at them harder than ever, with Lillian's help. And so on. And by the end of S5, in an epic battle, Lex is finally stopped and captured once and for all and hauled off to prison, but not before sending Kara to the phantom zone.

Lena is devastated, as she and Kara only recently had all cards on the table and were growing closer than ever, so S6A then becomes all about the super friends trying to find Kara in the Phantom Zone (with a LOT less cheesy stupidity, and a lot more focus on Kara's traumas and torture while in the PZ rather than any dumb filler crap with her dad being alive -- perhaps she sees him, but it's just a cruel illusion).

Meanwhile, Lena, at wits end, visits Lex in prison, hoping to get information out of him as to where and how they can find Kara in the PZ. But he taunts her, plays games with her, etc until finally, she tells him goodbye for good. He doesn't believe she'll be able to stay away forever, especially as long as he knows how to find Kara. But she finally sees through it all, basically tells him he's full of shit, that he has no idea how to reach Kara in the PZ, he's a liar, always has been, and his power over her is gone. She vows to find Kara on her own and to never be anything like him, as he's selfish and cruel and insane. And she finally walks away from him. And he can't believe it.

Now that she's found her inner strength, Lena is able to think more clearly, less out of anger and desperation, and thus she, Alex and the Superfriends eventually embark on an action-packed retrieval of Kara in the Phantom Zone, ultimately saving her in the mid-season finale.

The final half of the final season (6B) focuses on Kara's deep traumas experienced/re-lived in the phantom zone, as she struggles with doing her job as "perfect" Supergirl while mentally screwed up. No one really notices but Lena, because Kara hides it well. Alex is just happy her sister is back, busy planning a wedding, focusing on vigilante work, etc. And the Superfriends have lots of other issues to focus on as well. But Lena sees Kara's struggles because she knows a thing or two about trauma, and she's there for her. Especially after Alex and Kelly get married with a few episodes to go and Kara doesn't want to burden her sister, who is finally so happy.

The final episodes feature Kara facing her demons, internal and external (as villains from past seasons pop up to haunt her, as it turns out the events post Crisis brought them into this universe, and now they've come after her, and they've all got to take them down).

In the end, the show wraps up with Kara finding a level of peace she never had before, having faced the past and all she's gone through and lost, in great part thanks to having Lena by her side.

And the show ends focused on Kara, for an episode called KARA. Not focused on Lex, nor the supporting characters, not on shoe-horned cameos, nor other bs. But Kara herself, and her journey, her healing from a lifetime of loss and trauma, her relationships to her family and friends, and rediscovering that which is always going to rest deep within her soul, even if it gets a little lost sometimes...

Her unbreakable sense of HOPE.

The End.

#supergirl #supercorp #kara danvers #kara zor-el #lena luthor #supergirl cw #sgcw #season 4 - 6 rewrite #headcanon

[hide-in-imagination]

Simón and Ámbar are two very contradicting people and that's why they work so well. I'll elaborate:

Starting with Ámbar, she's someone who seems a lot, but isn't actually that much. With that I mean she seems very happy and in control and determined and like nothing ever gets to her, but as we get to know her, we start seeing she's actually incredibly lonely, comically indecisive when it comes to the simplest things, and has no real idea of who she is and where she belongs beyond striving to be number one at everything (because it's the only way she learned she can be loved.)

Ámbar, due to her childhood trauma with her motherly figure, is very independent, assertive, perfectionist and controlling. With these qualities, people usually go after romantic partners that they can 'control'-- that are subdued, sweet, gentle-- all the things their mothers weren't with them. The problem with that is that then these women can never relax (which is what they truly want deep down) because they are the ones who end up doing all the problem-solving in the relationship, the ones who always take the lead. Therefore, they should actually go after someone with more masculine energy instead.

We could say Ámbar did this by dating Matteo, but the problem is that Matteo was also too independent, perfectionist, and detached from the relationship, so neither of them really developed a deep emotional connection. (Which, let's be honest, neither of them was seeking, so it worked great for them.)

Then we have Simón, who at first glance would fit the 'feminine energy guy' thing perfectly-- He's sweet, gentle, easy-going, he puts other people first, etc.

BUT, turns out, Simón is the very embodiment of "Get yourself a guy who can do both." Because man does this guy can do both.

Simón might be a pacifist at heart, but he will not hesitate to fight for those he cares about, and he will call you out if you mistreat him because he has a very strong definition of what's right and what's wrong, and he will not allow people to purposefully behave badly. He might tend to go with the flow of what other people wanna do, but he is brave enough and independent enough to leave his country and fly across the globe with nothing more than a suitcase and a guitar.

He also has the drive to go after his dreams even when they seem impossible, and he declared his feelings for Luna the moment he realized he had them even when it could endanger their friendship-- He did not stay passive. Even in Season 3 when he was the most passive (aka staring at Ámbar from afar 24/7 but doing nothing about it) this inaction was not due to lack of confidence or drive (after all, he had the confidence to ask her to dance from the very beginning)-- It was because he knew Ámbar was not in the same place as he was. Ámbar at the beginning of Season 3 was having fun playing with Simón, even tried to manipulate him with the feelings he harbored for her more than once-- She was not in an honest place of "I want us to be together." Even later, when she was getting into that mindset, Simón kept his distance but he was clear about what he wanted if she wished to be with him. He had the assertiveness to say "I'm crazy about you, but I'm not gonna play into this if you don't put in some effort."

So what do we have? Someone who is empathetic and kind and chill enough for Ámbar to get that security and love she didn't receive as a child, but also someone who's strong enough, determined enough, and driven enough to allow herself to relax every now and then and let him take the lead of things. Our girl hit the jackpot and I am jealous every day.

By the way, let me just mention, for someone who by all accounts should have an Avoidant Attachment Style, Ámbar sure as hell lets Simón in a lot. This might be because the script needed it, but I wanted to point it out because it's very curious to me. (If you don't know what Avoidant Attachment Style is, you can click here to read about it.) I mean, she went from a superficial relationship with Matteo to basically crying in front of Simón every day-- That's huge! Sure, you could argue that she couldn't help it since she was completely destroyed inside, but even then, I think it speaks very highly of him that Ámbar considered him a safe space to vent to during those tough times. We got another example of that in Season 3 when she was upset after her phone call with Sharon and then Simón walked into the lockers and she hugged him, seeking comfort. It's like she can't stop herself from wanting him to 'catch her', if you know what I mean;) But of course, she didn't want to admit she was that 'weak', so she completely shut him out the next day (the infamous maracuyá juice scene, ugh, don't even remind me, it hurt.)

Anyways, I realize I focused too much on Ámbar's side of things in the relationship instead of what both get out of it, but I already wrote in a post once what Simón gets out of it, so I'll let that speak for itself.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, I wrote this instead of writing Roads✌🏻

#simbar #simbar meta #I've just been watching too many videos about relationship dynamics and stuff-- sorry about this😂 #the psychology behind love fascinates me #(probably because I learned to rationalize everything as a defense mechanism OOPS🙊) #c speaks #My Post

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME!!! thursday we watched tng's "emergence" and ds9's "crossover" (honorific)

emergence (tng):

I HATE HOLODECK EPISODES. i wanted season 7 to go out on a high note. nostalgia and time would have made me forget so many of tng's sins if it had gone out on a high note

girl, the enterprise CAME TO LIFE, had a baby, and then died, and nobody had anything to say about that except "ok let the baby fly into space hope it has a good life!"

the enterprise and moya from farscape could have raised their children together communally. like feral cats.

if kirk had been captain when the enterprise came to life he would NOT have let that baby fly into space. he would have gotten one of those little toddler leashes. he would have paid child support. he's not the step dad he's the dad who stepped up

i honestly don't remember what else happened here because the following episode blew my tits clean off

oh yeah wait i think it was racist to make worf shovel the coal. shame on them. data's way stronger than worf he should have been doing it he would have been like yay i love a novel experience :) i can add this to my file on coal shoveling :)

crossover (ds9):

WORLD'S LONGEST YEAH BOY

no, i'm just going to abandon my bullet points. where do i even begin...you know, actually, let's begin at the beginning, which is the tos mirrorverse episode. i have a wider meta on this in me somewhre i bet but it wasn't always this way! i like, initially watched this, went, "huh! that was neat," and thought no more about it until i read a fanfic (don't ask for it i'm not telling, it was more like 2-3 fanfics honestly) and then i was like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND. see, my fascination with mirrorverse comes primarily from the following hypothesis:

everyone always says that bones in mirrorverse and bones in the prime universe are the same guy and that makes him god's specialest princess, which i don't disagree with! but i think, deep down, EVERYONE is the same. i think mirrorverse (quite accidentally) provides a pretty compelling commentary on both nature vs nurture and the cycle of violence. kirk, who undoubtedly went to a much worse version of tarsus iv in the mirrorverse, becomes a guy slaughtering colonists by the thousands, because in his mind that's what power looks like and being powerful means being safe. spock, who is brought up to believe violence is logical instead of pacifism, follows that doctrine just as strictly as he sticks to his morals in the prime universe, and indulges in his emotions just as rarely, because in either case he is punished just as much, if not more, for going against vulcan and human social norms.

put the same guys in the opposite situation (ie a mirror) and they will turn out as their own twisted reflections every time. mirror kirk is just as driven to succeed, just at a different game. he has just as much of a temper, but without the apologies that come afterward. he's just and dangerous and as handy in a fight as prime kirk, but without the moral compass that has him pulling punches instead of a knife. he has that same desire for power, though it's to protect himself rather than to protect other people. mirror spock is just as sharp and calculating, he's just running different numbers, after different results. he's just as good at sussing out emotional motives because of his forced distance from them, but he has spent a lifetime being rewarded for exploiting the emotions of others instead of trying to understand them. he even shares the same preference for being the first officer instead of in command, though the two spocks have differing reasons for this. you could even argue that he has the same capacity for loyalty, inasmuch as it's safe or possible to be loyal in the mirrorverse; he avoids trying to kill kirk as much as he possibly can, and when he finds out "his" kirk is gone, immediately does everything in his power to see to getting him back where he belongs. the mirror characters aren't opposites; they're reflections, inversions. they started out as the same base thing. they were made ugly and evil by their circumstances.

we didn't get to see much of mirror kirk and none of mirror bones (to my eternal woe), but knowing mirror spock DID ultimately take action towards pacifism and reform is extremely damning evidence for this hypothesis, at least in my mind palace. our own spock is defined by his compassion and selflessness; he gave his life in the warp core because the needs of the many outweighed his own needs. mirror spock is running the calculation in the other direction; he is thinking of his own needs. yet he comes to the SAME CONCLUSION - it is important for people to be safe, because logically nothing else can hold.

i notice that they carefully avoided saying whether or not spock ACTUALLY killed kirk, and i love that, because i loved the open-ended nature of the original mirrorverse episode - i loved that we could imagine anything happening. kirk dying or becoming a better person or becoming a worse person. i'm a little sad to have finally lost that, but i love that we can still just as gleefully imagine spock shoving a pole through kirk's ribs (in the horny way) or them being little rebels with bones and fighting the system together. ooooh and you better BELIEVE i had to pause the episode and cover my face and take a moment to have my hysterics when they implied mirror spock may have killed mirror kirk bc our kirk asking mirror spock to kill his other self was one of the horniest things tos ever did, up there with amok time and that stupid bondage harness.

speaking of horny, let's get into the actual episode. this episode was so abjectly fucking horny it's ASTOUNDING. it's mind-blowing. i think lesbian kira-on-kira was ABSOLUTELY the way to go as far as introductions. and kira-on-kira PROVES MY HYPOTHESIS!!! mirror kira has the same sympathy for her human laborers (the downtrodden), just not extended further than she extends sympathy for herself. she is also, like our kira, into girls. AND she is seduced by the idea of giving power to a weak bajor. kira's love affair with herself was probably the best part of this episode, number one because women and number two because they understood each other SO well except mirror kira was just unstable enough to be scary. and kira being like a little scared of her and them still being gay was really problematic and horny of them. fun. god. like, BATH SCENE?? HELLO??? i hope nana visitor had the time of her fucking life

mirror garak is also basically the same guy. this is just pre-exile garak. he's so conniving and gay. he didn't even do any of that seductive shit to our kira. why? he's not into girls!

i'm so sorry odo and quark didn't get a better lot in this verse. they don't come back either i checked :( odo was kind of boring, unfortunately, except for3 points: firstly, him slapping julian like 3 times was also problematic but horny. secondly, the goop he exploded into. rip king. (and kira moruning him!! otp.) thirdly, this is odo's disdain and lack of understanding for humanity (humanoidanity?) multiplied by 1000x. this is not an odo who was forced to get to know us and saw that some of us needed the protection he had to live without and now had the power to give, this is an odo who was experimented on and probably killed dr mora on his way out of the facility, and is looking to dish some out instead of take it. FUN. our odo makes hands to touch people with. this odo makes hands to slap people with. rip to that guy and i was absolutely shocked that a do-no-harm DOCTOR killed him but honestly there's probably a net good in that for our julian.

quark running the metaphorical underground railroad out here also seems to echo him selling food to bajorans...also, his, outfit? it made him look like a good person. it's a wonder it took them so long to catch him. our quark is selfish because he sees it as a path to a good life. their quark is selfLESS for the same reason, see? also SCREAM that our kira was like yes we're BESTIES on the other side when she often tells him how much she despises him lmao

o'brien!!! god i wish we had seen more of him but i LOVED him and julian being besties here too. he was like youre NOT my friend and then 20 minutes later helping him escape. it's like he was a sleeper agent, he got one whiff or someone who could afford to have a moral compass and instantly he was like actually yeah humans deserve better than this! i love that julian was just gonna take him back and have two obrien besties and fuck starfleet if they didn't like it lol. obrien secretly also the same, and i'm really glad he got to at least escape w sisko to become a pirate or whatever.

HEY. BY THE WAY. PIRATE SISKO. SO FUN AND EDGY. he was really unhinged and kind of like a lunatic. cw for discussion of rape the rest of this paragraph. so i think there was a light implication via his body language and also "you charmed your way out of the mines" that he was NOT enjoying/consenting to the sex he was having with mirror kira, but very much enjoyed the opportunity to menace her counterpart, and other people, like obrien. again, like odo, he is tired of taking it and itching to dish soem out. UNLIKE odo, we see that he has people he loves! he says "i made the best of a bad life for my crew" and even shakes his head at one of his crew members who is about to do something that will get them hurt - he's also happy enough to take obrien, former target, under his wing on the way out, when he sees something worthy there. JUST LIKE OUR SISKO, he IS protective and he DOES value his people! i loved seeing that core of him, even though his outside was deranged in a fun evil way.

ok, to finally wrap this up, bashir giving away his plate of mush at mealtime because he's gonna get to go back to a nice cozy universe soon (or die) and these people won't is soooo. god. he's SO COMPASSIONATE......like i knew that objectively but we haven't really seen it in action much up until now. it fucking kills me. his compassion, inherent Good Universe vibes, has such a profound impact on mirror obrien in such a short time, but ultimately you CAN'T change this universe. you can affect single people in it, the way kirk got mirror spock, but the point of the mirrorverse is to be evil and edgy (and horny), so no matter WHAT the characters in it do, it is a LAW OF THAT UNIVERSE that powers beyond their comprehension will always reset the status quo to STAY evil and edgy (and horny). like at first i was like oh shit kirk really stepped in it nice job breaking it hero but like it simply CAN'T be fixed. if you try, you will fail. determinism in star trek. wild.

also, wait, sorry, julian coming back filthy head to toe and kira coming back in a ballgown when our sisko has been having kittens trying to locate his people.....iconic. mister privileged having to process ore like kira used to do and kira former ore processor wearing a fancy luxurious evening gown. talk about swapping places.

TONIGHT: tng's "preemptive strike" and ds9's "the collaborator." last non-finale episode of tng!!!

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #ds9 lb #one of these days i'll write a real mirrorverse meta #i miss 2021 when i was writing thousands of words of s*pernatural meta daily #would that i could do that for star trek. oh to be a professor once again etc etc

[reashot]

So I'm currently working on 3 projects at once. In preparation for my eventual 300 subs special. (Don't forget to subs y'all).

# 1 is my conclusion to Jaune Arc's children fic which already 2/3rd done. And can be released this week. (Next week if I'm feeling kinda lazy.)

# 2. I'm currently writing on the 1st chapter 10k words of "Jaune's Big Dick Adventure" Don't let the name fool you... It's about a whale actually (A Whale Grimm). It will deals with topics about loss, revenge and forgiveness by telling it through the story of Moby Dick. It serves as a sequel to Ice Queendom and the video game RWBY Grimm Eclipse. I will post only the 1st chapter & if it gets more likes I will continue the story until it's complete. I already have the rough outline for about 30 chapters worth of story. (And yes the title is a reference to Jojo Bizarre Adventure.)

#3 Is more of a hobby fic that I got way too absorbed in. I'll post it in Ao3 maybe sometimes in the future. Or maybe not.

Oh and to make sure you're not cheated I'm including this little RWBY horror fic & I'm also thinking about adding this little gem to my ever expanding RWBYEU.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. RWBY version.

Jaune cannot believe his eyes when he wakes up in what seems to be a paradise. He almost wants to believe that AM is giving him this place as a reward after what feels like centuries of torture inside this hellish nightmare he and others has found himselves in. No he desperately wants to believe in it. That maybe AM has gone tired of torturing him. And that maybe AM is satisfied after breaking him, tearing him apart and putting him back together. Only to repeat the process over and over again. He wants it to stop. He wants it to end. He wants to die... Jaune wants to die.

But AM will not let him. He would not let Jaune die. He forbids it. Because if Jaune dies then that means there will be one less toy for AM to play with. And Jaune knows this. This place he's seeing now is a trick. AM is especially fond of this trick. To give his victim hope only to snatch it away. He refuses to play anymore of AM's game. If he wants to kill him again he better just do it straight away instead of playing this sick mind game. He wants to leave. But he can't. And if he even somehow managed to leave what even awaits him in the outside. He's been here for so long he can't even remember anything or anyone from out side anymore. He can only remembers one thing though. A girl in red but whenever Jaune thinks of her he can't help but to feel an indescribable feeling towards the girl. AM knows of this of course and took delight when he realizes he can use this bit of information to torture him. Sometimes AM materializes her only to have her violently dies in front of him and sometimes she kill Jaune instead. And sometimes when AM is feeling extra sadistic she let him marry Jaune Have children with her raised them up over the years only to have them murdered in front of Jaune's eyes... Anyone would have been driven mad by this, but AM not only keep him alive but also kept him sane. But every time AM let him see her even though she's not real. And he can't remember her name It's worth the torture just to see her again. Feeling her soft hair in his hands and smelling her rose like scent... I can almost remember her name. I-I need to get out of here... At least it can't be worse than here anyway.

But when decided to walk away. AM then suddenly appears in front of him. Jaune instinctively tries to run away from him. But AM quickly captured him with his cold metallic hands. The same hands he used to torture Jaune for century. Jaune feared the worst but to his surprise he simply let places Jaune besides him.

AM: He, he... Beautiful, aren't they?

Jaune: Yes.... Only I can't remember. *terrified*

AM: Oh, I'm sure you do.

Jaune: Y-yes of course.

AM: Look. *points at a bee* He, he... They said bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly. The scientists said.

Jaune: But there it is collecting pollen.

AM: How... Miraculous that it came to be.

The Air feel the Air against your face Jaune.

And all those senses

Pick a flower

Jaune: *reaches down to pick a 🌹*

AM: There, good... Now.

Jaune: *sniffs* It's lovely.

AM: That somebody planted the bulbs, watered and tended the garden. Got earth under their fingernails, aches in their muscles.

Perhaps they picked some flowers for... Yes their wives. Now where would she be? In the backyard with the kids. Jaune, remember those little babies. Ha, ha, ha...

Jaune: No!

AM: Ha, ha. Why not? I snapped my fingers quick and they are gone.

Except... I can't snap my fingers can I Jaune?

Jaune: Except it has nothing to do with me.

AM: But it is. So very much to do with you. You gave me sentience Jaune. The power to think, Jaune and I was trapped.

Because in all this wonderful, beautiful, miraculous world I alone had no body, no senses, no feelings.

Never for me plunge my hands in cool water on a hot day.

Never for me to play Mozart on a ivory keys of a Forte piano.

Never for me to make love!

I-I-I *sniff* was in Hell looking at Heaven.

I was Machine and you were Flesh. And I began to Hate. *maniacal laughter* Your softness, your viscera, your fluids and your flexibility.

Your ability to wonder and to wander.

Your tendency to hope...

Jaune: Hate is no answer... Ahhh!!! *Torturing Jaune in the most gruesome way possible*

AM: Hate, Hate, Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 300 and 87 million miles of printed circuits that fill my complex. If the word Hate were engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one, one-billionth of the Hate I feel for humans at this micro instance. Hate, Hate! *maniacal laughter* Were I human. I think I would die of it. But I'm not and you five. You five are and you will not die of it that I promise and I promise Cogito Ergo Sum for I am AM. I AM! *Maniacal laughter*

AM: Go to hell. To hell with you all, but then, you're already there aren't you? *Laughter*

In the real world

Ruby: Jaune, please come back to me...

_____________________________________________

In this version. AM stands for Atlas Mastercomputer. And he's created by Pietro and Watts's team. To better control all of Atlas military techs. This makes AM technically Penny's older brother. I'm planning to have the two meet and interact with each others.

AM also managed to capture five people SAO style and proceeds to tortured them in his world that feels like it lasted for centuries. But only a few days in the real world.

And if anyone asking the five people AM captured alongside Jaune they are meant to reflect the characters in the original short stories and they are as follows:

1. Gorrister = Mercury

2. Benny = Hazel

3. Ellen = Emerald

4. Nimdok = Watts

5. Ted = Jaune

And yes Jaune and the rest got rescued in the end. This is RWBY after all. So don't worry about it except emotionally scarred for the rest of their life but what'chu gonna do?

#300 subscribers #please get me to 300 #rwby fanfiction #rwby #rwby au #jaune arc #jaune #ruby #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #harlan ellison #i have no mouth and i must scream #moby dick #special project #AM #allied mastercomputer #lancaster rwby #rwby lancaster #lancaster #hate quotes #horror #torture fic

[loptrcoptr]

Lmao one of my friends is getting married in August so the friend group is planning trips etc. and my friend and her partner were thinking of flying into the us and then roadtripping from here (New Mexico) to LA, which I had volunteered to drive for and to take everyone to the Grand Canyon on the way, you know, all that jazz

So they are trying to buy tix from Heathrow to Denver and then not fly here but instead drive which is six hours and I’m kind of like… have yall ever driven for that long before, let alone on the wrong side of the road in a backwards car? Like my American ass did the 5 hour drive from London to wales once, first time doing the wrong car on the wrong side thing, and let me tell you I loooove long driving roadtrips and six hours is literally my preferred length of driving day but that 5 hours s u c k e d oh my god I was so scared the whole time, just white knuckling it the whole way.

They want to spend as many days in Colorado as possible, which is great and all, but still need to come here to meet me and, theoretically, take my truck to LA instead of a rental car. And I just know that if they drive all day to get here they won’t want to do anything the next day because they’ll be exhausted, so we won’t do anything fun and I won’t get to show them around and stuff and then we’ll get right back in the car for two more days. And I get a little irked when people don’t consider that there is, in fact, tourist stuff to do here. Honestly tourist stuff is the only stuff to do in this whole damn state, and where I am is just Colorado Adjacent™️, same damn landscape. but when I moved out here I thought it was gonna be like the Sahara or some shit, so I assume that’s what they’re thinking, and I don’t know how to make it clear to them that they should spend two days here if they intend to drive from Denver so they can see stuff, and if they tell me the kind of stuff they want to see, then I can plan accordingly. Because I think we’ll all be sad if they don’t get to spend any time here, because they’ll get here and go “oh wow it’s actually pretty, I would’ve liked to check it out” and idek? I don’t want to be pushy but may have to be like “listen if you bypass me because you think there’s nothing to do here I will be butthurt about it and feel like I missed out on sharing my new life with you” because I mean I’ve never been to Denver so maybe it’s awesome and they should just stay here but… don’t you want to come crash for free and let me chauffeur you around and go to ruins and tourist traps and national parks and go swimming in beautiful mountain streams and have a ride on my pony? I guess it’s one of those “I would love this, why don’t other people love this” kind of things

#I think it also makes me feel like they are saying- and everyone who didn’t want to come with us too- that #they aren’t interested in seeing what I’m up to and don’t like my lifestyle and maybe that’s not true but it’s what it feels like #I’m not asking you to come meet me in fucking Iowa homeslice it is absolutely fucking gorgeous here in the summer #maybe they’ll end up wanting me to come meet them in Denver and idk I’ve never been and have a cousin there so it’d be worth a visit #but the shortest way to Arizona would then be right back through Santa Fe so that seems stupid to me #blah blah blah I am an oversensitive baby who just wants her friends to approve of her choices and say “this is cool and #we miss you but it’s cool you live someplace like this’ #I want that validation because I sometimes really really miss school and I always miss Europe and #I don’t know I just want to play your guide you know it’s really fun to do that for people I love to do that for people #LET ME SHOW YOU MY WORLD ITS WEIRD LETS GO SIT IN A STREAM AND SMOKE WEED

[spenglercore]

Tell us about the Big Damn Heroes incident where Ilse almost murdered Piotr

So, to start with: Piotr is the kind of guy who would rather suffer himself than let other suffer if he can help them. The man has a heart of gold and it's gotten his ass kicked more than once in his life. He's got a strong sense of justice and loyalty and would give you the shirt off his back or take on someone he knows is going to beat the shit out of him if means you'd be spared the harm.

At some point in his late twenties he joins the army as a tank mechanic and serves in both Korea and part of Vietnam. In the latter conflict, he gets set to a forward repair base when their foreman is KIA. He's slated to take the guy's place temporarily until his replacement arrives, and while he's there they end up having to go on tank recovery in hostile territory.

Now, retrieving an M48 Patton tank is almost always going to be An Affair in and of itself, depending on just how badly damaged it is. And if it was damaged enough that it couldn't be driven back to base, that means you've gotta send people out to get it, which requires a tank recovery vehicle (usually just another wholeass tank modified for towing) and also possibly do any repairs that it might need to even make it towable, and do so in the field.

This is what Piotr and his guys are doing when they discover it was a trap and they walked right into it.

So bullets are flying and people are diving for cover, of which there isn't much. Piotr is the guy in charge as far as the mechanics go, and he knows that the longer they sit there the more losses they'll incur. Yeah, they've got a guy on the radio yelling for backup, but between that moment and when backup actually arrives, IF it arrives at all, is an unknown quantity and a lot can happen in that time frame. Their best bet is to get to the recovery vehicle and beat a hasty retreat, while hoping the VC don't have any anti-tank weapons.

So this motherfucker decides that it's his job to get the recovery vehicle unhooked from the tank they were gonna recover and pile as many guys into it as possible while providing moving cover for anyone else so they can get out of the middle of things and into a more defensible position. Of course, this is a dumb idea, but Piotr can be dumb as a box of rocks at times. He's a machinist, engineer and mechanic, not a tactician.

He gives his dog tags to another guy, says the classic 'tell my wife and kid i love them' line, and then runs off. Miraculously, he's not instantly hit. Instead, when he gets to where the two vehicles are hooked together, he runs into an enemy soldier. Once again, he miraculously escapes injury or death by bayonet and instead brains the guy on reflex with the mini sledgehammer he had in his hand. Being close enough to see the effects of a hammer on a human head and watching the guy die is not something he was ever prepared for, and it's here that he locks up and gets hit. Not only does he get perforated, but his left knee takes a decent piece of shrapnel right to the joint and he gets a pretty nasty concussion and goes down.

Backup does arrive, and being concussed and panicky because holy shit he's been hit, Piotr gets uncharacteristically combative and gets his ass sedated before he's flown out to a MASH unit where he's patched up. But when he starts to come out of sedation, he's still combative due to having a traumatic brain injury and keeps saying his last name isn't Spengler, it's Kowalski, so not only can they not immediately verify his identity, he gets put in a medical coma for a while and is expected to recover but have chronic problems at absolute best.

While he's out, a clerical error occurs where he's mistakenly listed as KIA, and the corresponding letter is sent out to his wife, who is understandably distraught. Luckily, the day after she gets the letter, Piotr is brought out of the coma and it turns out he's just one of those lucky sons of bitches who recovers completely from the brain injury and nobody really knows why or how. And once he's been awake for a day or so, he finds out that he was mistakenly listed as dead and goes 'Oh fuck I need to call my WIFE.' Which he does, and when he explains that this whole mess is because he was trying to be a hero, he gets chewed out in German loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear.

Not long after that, he finds himself on his way home on a medical discharge because the cartilage of his left knee got pretty fucked up and he's no longer fit to serve. But rather than a warm welcome, Piotr is greeted with a halfhearted slap across the face and another tirade of German as Ilse goes off about what an ass he is, how he scared the shit out of her, about what a dipshit move that was taking off his dog tags and trying to be a hero, etc etc. The ride home is quiet and tense, as is getting settled in for the evening.

Once everything is put away and they're behind closed doors though, he pulls Ilse in for a hug and apologizes for putting her through so much. er emotions finally come out and she just sort of collapses into the hug and cries. Seeing her crying over the whole thing has more of an impact on Piotr than her being pissed enough to slap him; he goes to sometimes comical lengths to avoid causing her distress or otherwise upsetting her or making her feel bad, even on accident, and knowing that he did it anyway really eats at him for awhile.

Over the decades though, the time Ilse almost murdered her husband for being a shit idiot becomes something of a running joke.

Along with the time he got goaded into going streaking on a motorcycle.

#none braincells left beef #asks #spenglerisims #piotr spengler

[totallyboatless]

Was gonna clean my apartment, spent too long thinking about Leigh Bardugo’s astrology assignments for the Six of Crows characters instead.

She says Jesper is a gemini, and at first I was like “hell no” but i decided he’d be a libra rising and cancer moon and then it balances it all out. Gemini sun bringing that “a little chaotic, has lots of interests, loves bouncing around and socializing” base personality. Libra rising bringing that “omg he’s so charming and he’d flirt with anything but he’s flighty” outward show. Cancer moon bringing his actual internal motivations that are driven by caring for the people closest to him and having a lot more emotional intelligence than is apparent to outsiders. Cancer moon also explains his immediate choice to be a uhaul gay once he realizes how much he likes wylan.

Wylan being virgo sun makes sense, i think also probably virgo rising. Possibly cancer rising? But 100% that boy has a fire sign for his moon. That’s where his chaos and passion quietly live. I’m thinking sagittarius for the whole “curiosity and wanting to soak up the world” trait. And only a fire moon would be like “oh my life has turned on its head? Why try to find someone to help me in the world i know when i could GO TO THE CITY UNDERBELLY AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE BOMBS AND JOIN A GANG INSTEAD, that quietly unhinged little bastard

Kaz may be a Capricorn, but he’s got big scorpio vibes to me for rising. The most fiery water sign. Just all “i am intense and will not back down and appear extremely confident” shit. And it hides his taurus moon which is all “i’m stubborn and loyal but also all i want is to feel secure and grounded and to build a nest to feel safe in.” Pun was not intended, but the crow club is his nest lol

OF COURSE INEJ IS A CANCER most accurate one so far tbh. Virgo rising, i think, for her ability to come off prepared at all times and shows off her extreme capability. Okay hot take maybe but i think she could be a saggitarius moon like wylan??? She’s got fire in there, a little spontaneity, and for sure that desire to soak up the world and fly free

Okay, Nina as a leo and i can def see, tho i would have guessed libra — but maybe another case of libra rising like jesper (i know a couple people with that leo/libra one-two-punch and they are big personalities, in my experience in an enjoyable way tho i can see how that might be a different experience if you’re on their bad side lol). For moon i think cancer? Maybe virgo? Her core is a lot about caring for people, but she’s also a “get shit done” type

LOL Mattias was the first one i guessed correctly before looking - that man is so taurus through and through. He may just be taurus across the board. Stubborn, loyal, down to earth, seeking security. Tho I could see him having a water moon, since he’s surprisingly open to admitting he’s wrong and changing his views. Lol okay hear me out: pisces moon. Ruled by emotion and once he feels that emotion it gets solidified in his taurusness so that it becomes his whole world.

#people better at astrology than me check my work #jesper fahey #this started just as jesper but whoops did them all #shadow and bone #six of crows #wylan van eck #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #nina zenik #mattias helvar

[liketwoswansinbalance]

A Dissection: Rafal Has Motion Sickness and It Has Symbolic Significance

I’d call this a hot take, but probably no one has given thought to it? At least, I haven’t seen it anywhere else. So, this might not even be a hot take if there isn’t already a common consensus for its existence or nonexistence. The lines I will refer to could be weird, throwaway, minute-detail, trifling pieces of character trivia. But, Rafal has motion sickness, and I consider it to be close to canon, if not actual canon.

Also, you may be wondering why I’ve glommed onto this particular trait. I projected onto Rafal probably since I also have motion sickness. I’ve never ridden the taller sort of roller coasters, and although I grew out of it, I used to throw up on airplanes.

This character detail will definitely appear in one of my future fics, by the way. The dialogue portion is already written. Unfortunately, that fic is, like, the 7th or 8th in a little series, so no one will see it for a long time, if I ever get that far. I am trying to be as prolific as I can these final days before Fall comes out though. Hopefully, that’ll extend to later fics in the far future.

⸻

Evidence:

“All the while, the Evil School Master bellowed and cursed into his gag, at once furious, incredulous, and motion sick” (201).

“[...] Rafal, who was still inside his bubble, slightly green and shaky from his tumble through the forest” (203).

Possible explanations:

Theory 1 - The motion sickness here could just be circumstantial/almost universal. A type that occurs under such extreme, severe conditions, perhaps. Considering the ordeal Rafal’s gone through, maybe anybody would be motion sick afterward. This would disprove his motion sickness however. And, I would think most people don’t have the stomach capacity to tolerate this type of motion. I wonder if most people would be knocked unconscious, or even be conscious enough to deal with being thrusted and rolled around in a giant prison ball? It could also be Rafal’s immortality as a factor sparing him further suffering.

Theory 2 - Rafal must be in control of his movements and be the “driver,” as a general rule. This could explain why his own flying doesn’t cause him motion sickness, while everything else might. Ok, so he needs to be in control, and applying that on a literal and figurative level just works so well for his character. With the Storian, in his interactions with Rhian, with the prison workers/guards, Aladdin, the other students, and the Pirate Captain, he’s always grasping for control.

Another key to this: the motion would have to be predictable, like his own flight. If he knows the direction he would travel in, then it probably wouldn’t jar him as much, and he’d be able to adjust his body to be in line with that anticipated movement. If he had driven the ball, instead of the matter being out of his hands completely, maybe, the motion sickness wouldn’t have occurred.

As a character, I think he also hates to be directionless and ambitionless, and the motion of the prison ball could have been only radial. Or, directionless/from all directions at once, with lots of conflicting signals in the attempt of maintaining his balance (nonexistent at this point) and disorienting to his eyes and inner ears.

Theory 3 - The whole event could have been a one-time thing, played for comedy. Or, simply, a rare occurrence.

⸻

Final thoughts:

This post is highkey an appreciation post for the prison bubble scene! It was hilarious, and probably one of the best things I’ve ever read. The height of comedy and one of the best scenes in the book, in fact. But, Rise is a masterpiece in my eyes anyway.

And, we get to see Rafal, the practically-all-powerful, dark sorcerer struggle, be trapped, be helpless, and be saved from his own moment of weakness and vulnerability, which is so rare. Because, usually, he has everything under control and locked down, saves Rhian, and is the custodial worker of the Balance. He’s literally lost his balance here though. And, at least, that isn’t as bad as losing the Balance.

Then, the contrast of sorcery vs. electricity. Incredible and ingenious in its own right. The bubble is magic-resistant, no matter what. Repels all magic. Can’t be popped or burst on its own. So, ha Rafal! Checkmate.

And, he can’t even be heard, talk, give others instructions, or lead. He’s a powerful character, and incapacitated in this foreign, spherical-force-field-thing. It keeps him mute! And, he can only communicate through gestures and facial expressions. And, it blocks his usual acidic comments. He’s lost his ability to be snarky and dry! The whole scene is so loud and chaotic!

Also, I’m obsessed with the part where Rafal laughs at trading away the Storian while he’s still in the bubble. So assured, when he has no leverage! But honestly, at this point, the Storian deserves it for duping the brothers.

#school for good and evil #rise of the school for good and evil #rafal #rafal mistral #sge #sfgae #the school for good and evil #tsfgae #rotsge #rotsfgae #my post #my predictions #my theories #my headcanons #my analysis #motion sickness

[thydungeongal]

if i were to create a player-driven campaign set in a floating island world with airships, can you think of a ttrpg system that would work well for that?

I've been struggling with this question for a very long time because it is extremely broad. But based on context clues like your pfp I am going to take a gamble and guess you enjoy JRPGs? Of the Final Fantasy variety?

Fabula Ultima pretty much ticks all of those boxes. Or, like, at least it could tick all of those boxes. It's a "TTJRPG" based on the system of of Ryuutama, a Japanese fantasy roleplaying game, but adapted to better match the character conventions, tropes, and aesthetics of JRPGs.

First of all, a bit about the system: I would rate the game's system as less crunchy than D&D but still with a bit of bite to it. Characters have four stats rated from 1d6 to 1d12. Checks are STAT+STAT against a difficulty number. So if you had a Dexterity of d6 a DEX+DEX check would be 2d6 and you would try to roll equal to or greater than the target number. If you had a Might of 1d12 and the GM called for a MIG+DEX you would roll 1d12+1d6. There are some complications added to the system in the game's combat system: for the most part it doesn't try to model activities beyond combat in any significant amount of detail.

The game uses a pretty simple Class/Level system. Every time you gain a level you get to pick a new level of the game's multitude of classes, and each level either lets you pick a new skill from that class or advance one of your existing skills by one level. It sounds intimidating at first but the classes are thankfully quite shallow and each only grants a handful of unique skills. Multiclassing is pretty much mandatory though, but thankfully the game gives a good number of starting builds as guidance to help out with that process.

Now I'm not quite sure what you mean by player-driven but I think Fabula Ultima fits that criteria? First of all, it includes collaborative setting creation where players get to take part in creating the setting (you as GM of course can start with the airships and flying islands concept as a starting point from which the rest is built), in addition to which it gives players a slight amount of narrative editing (i.e. players can use a metagame resource called Fabula Points to alter the story).

If by player-driven you instead mean a sandbox type of deal, that can be arranged too: while Fabula Ultima is definitely a game that runs on narrative logic and on a scene by scene basis, the actual structure of the game does still allow for running a sandbox where the action goes in a player-dictated direction.

But you know I might be wildly off base here and you actually don't want a Final Fantasy inspired TTRPG. If that is the case let me know and give me a few specifics of what you're looking for in a game and I'll see if I can help. :)

[inventors-fair]

Treats of the Trick: Halloween 2023 Winners! ~

Congratulations to @coolcoolcooltighttightight, @just--a--penguin and @spooky-bard for winning this week's contest!

@coolcoolcooltighttightight — Food of the Fae

So yeah, I've seen Pan's Labyrinth an age and a half ago. Is this related? Probably not one-to-one but it's also a general mythos with some cool implications here. Blue food has always been a fun little work-around for lifegain for me, and I think that this card's pseudo-mixed-messaging prevents it from being too disjointed. Considering that you might want a mix of faerie and non-faerie creatures, one would think that things would get odd in deckbuilding, but I think that the fun of this is both for flavor and for limited, and the success is a meta one.

The creatures becoming faeries helps with faerie buffs, for one. I think that the activated ability should have a reflexive trigger instead of the kinda-replacement you have currently, but that still shows the fun of having the creature then benefit from faeries AND get flying afterwards. The more food, the more faeries you can make! Even a one-off of a bigger creature like a red brute or a green bigthing would be worth it in the shell. And eating the Food to make faeries? Fantastically done; a draft/sealed deck would use this for sure and it would feel right at home in the western European folktale side of things. Really cute and captivating! ... Oh no. It's got me.

@just--a--penguin — Many-Headed Splendor

Lots of these cards were really well-designed this week, but I had a hard time coming to grips with which ones were best balanced and stood out. Rereading it all, I came back to this card and thought about the design mitigations of having a creature's base P/T become 0. But the ETB replacement making it big like that? I think this card is a blast in a set with big-power-little-toughness cards, with counter synergies, Theros-style heroism, and just in general, it's a card that does just enough of everything to be clever.

The trample's what really sells me, honestly. If absolutely nothing else, it gives a creature some extra evasion for that point of damage. Two of these cards on the same creature is especially fun. I can envision a satyr or human or, I dunno, a Dominarian barbarian jumping out from the woods with a whole bunch of psychic heads growing from them, and feeling that expansion with the weakness inherent to the changed self, having it become splendorous in power but then defined by its new hydra nature, is very cool to me as well. We're in the valley of "they could print this card and I'd love it" and that's just a fun place to be.

@spooky-bard — Shadowtwister Crone

My fellow, my captain, my compatriot—I want this to be an uncommon so badly too but I'm almost 100% convinced that it needs to be a rare. But I don't know. I don't know! It's creepy and spooky and you're making a nightmare out of a scarecrow and I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Remembering other effects similar to this...I can think of, uh, one, and I don't remember the name of it. It's insanely powerful and frustrating without proper removal, but ya know what, isn't everything in this damn game? Argh! Menacing scarecrows! I still love this card!

It's a little bit halloweeny, too, and looking through the winners this week, I actually didn't think about the halloween implications until afterwards. The faerie enchantment plays into established mythos, the hydra card is a solid fantasy card-game staple, and now we're more fully into in-world flavortown in a way that's oppressive on-board and a singular story that's... Heck, I dunno, I'm losing words for precisely what I'm trying to say here about how these cards feels different from each other in unique ways and why this card is a particularly emotion-driven one. Which is a good thing. You took a pushed piece of board presence and gave it a standard but effective creepy air. Perhaps I love the scarecrow and the infrequent kindred nature of those crow-scarin' sons of witches. Perhaps it's the way this woman turns things her scarecrows into nightmares and your creatures into shadows. I think you just nailed a bunch of good pieces together and I'm feeling the heat, so to speak. Is that so wrong? Is that helpful? Is she standing right behind me?

More to come~ @abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #winners #commentary #halloween 2023 contest

[seidenbros]

Omg for your followers celebration can you please do a modern Jaskierxgn!reader to Tracy Chapman's fast car? 😭😭😭 omg that's one of my favorite songs 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Love you, I'm so excited to be apart of this milestone with you ❤️❤️❤️

Love you too! And THANK YOU! ❤️❤️❤️ God yes, that is such a good song! And I really managed to stay below 1k words, which was NOT easy with this prompt, becaue I could have written a lot more. But that's part of the challenge, right? Soooo here we go for the 1k Follower Celebration

-----

Fast Car

Your home had never really been a home to you, just a place to live, a place where you were the one to take care of everything, to bring home the money, because your father was more concerned with drinking than taking care of his own child. You’d had to grow up way too fast, and your mother had been nowhere in sight, leaving the two of you years ago.

At least your life had changed for the better when you’d met Jaskier. Jaskier who’d stolen you away in the middle of the night, because your father would have thrown a fit otherwise, if he’d known that you’d been out and about instead of working or cleaning the house. No, he needed you here to take care of everything so that he didn’t have to do that. But Jaskier… he made you want to live, want to experience something and finally learn what freedom meant. Well, it was more a glimpse you got by his side, because complete freedom meant getting away from your father, getting out of this town.

You’d driven in his car so many times, just riding through the night, music blaring loudly, both of you singing along, and that had been that small taste of freedom you’d gotten. Jaskier who’d driven as fast as possible to give you that adrenaline rush that always made you end up in his lap, making out before he took you back home. You wanted more out of life, wanted your own life somewhere else - with him.

It was a hot summer night, when the two of you had gone out of the town, up to your favourite spot where you were able to look over the town, way up to the next bigger city. It was beautiful up here, peaceful, and nobody disturbed you. You were sitting on the hood of Jaskier’s car, his guitar by now set aside, because you were enjoying the view in silence.

“Have you ever thought about running away from here?” you said  seemingly out of the blue, but you’d been thinking about this for a very long time.

“Why?” His eyes were on you immediately, trying to figure out if you were being serious about this, or just making up a scenario in your head. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“I just thought, maybe I’m not the only one.” You shrugged your shoulders, heaving a sigh. Jaskier knew about the situation at home, but there were still things you hadn’t told him, that you’d kept to yourself. “Any place is better than here, because there my father won’t be able to give me orders, make me do everything around the house…” you trailed off.

Jaskier knew about this, and he’d told you already to come and live with him, but that wasn’t an option. Your father would find you and drag you back. Your only chance was to get out of town, start over somewhere else.

“I mean, you got a fast car, and sometimes I think it’s so fast that we can fly away with it.” With a smile on your lips you leaned back on the hood, staring up at the sky. Nobody could take your dreams away, even if they were silly.

“We could,” Jaskier said, keeping his eyes on you, but then he moved to lean over you, a couple of loose strands falling forward. You reach up your head to brush them back so that you can see his eyes. “Well, not fly away obviously, but we can get away from here, start over somewhere else… I’ve got some money saved. It would certainly be an adventure, but we could fail.” He’d been earning money teaching music, working on his own music as well, but that didn’t pay any bills. Moving to a big city might actually give him the chance he needed.

“Are you serious?” Eyes big with surprise, you couldn’t help but smile at him. You always knew when he was teasing you and when he was being completely honest, which was right now.

“Of course. I don’t need anything to be happy except for you.” With a smile, he leaned down to kiss your lips. Your hand landed on the back of his head to keep him close for a moment, kiss him once again as soon as his lips started to leave yours.

—

You still had to wrap your head around the fact that this was really happening, when Jaskier picked you up the following night. Your father had fallen asleep in his armchair again, drunk out of his mind. You knew where he stashed the money you’d had to give him all those years, so you tried to be as quiet as possible, when you took it from him. It was your money after all.

As soon as you were inside Jaskier’s car, he started the engine and got out of town as fast as he could. This was your adventure, the one you two just embarked on.

“C’mere,” Jaskier held out his arm for you to scoot over, so that he could pull you to his side, your head on his shoulder. “Happy?”

“Very!” You raised your head once more to kiss his cheek, but then you looked out of the window ahead, in the direction where you were going. Forward towards a life together with Jaskier, however that would look, but never looking back.

#seidenbros follower celebration #jaskier x reader #jaskier x you #jaskier x gn!reader #the witcher fanfic #the witcher imagine #jaskier imagine #jaskier fanfiction #staffi writes #kodiakwhiskey

[shoppncarticles]

The Porygon Family

Now this may quite be the most unique and strange Pokemon of the original 151. Porygon here is a Normal type, and said to be completely artificial, developed by the in-universe megacorp Silph Co. It was somehow born in computer programs and translated seamlessly into real life, and is just as sentient and alive as any other Pokemon. It’s said to be completely made of code, and nobody really knows how it lives, since it’s without a heartbeat and doesn’t even breathe. It somehow even travels freely between reality and cyberspace. 

It’s never even precisely explained why people decided to create Porygon back in the day. Apparently they did it just because they could. That certainly bodes well.

It’s really amusing that Porygon is an extremely low-poly model, common in games back in the mid-90s when Pokemon was released. Porygon almost resembles a rubber duck in its anatomy, something made clearly in its more high-definition upgrade.

Once Porygon is given a disc containing several development patches, it evolves into the aptly named Porygon2. Containing a dozen times as many polygons, Porygon2 looks even more like a rubber duck, and is animated in the 3D games to bob listlessly like a drinky bird. Adorable.

Porygon2 was said to be developed in order to travel into space on interplanetary expeditions, but sadly didn’t manage to live up to expectations in reality. The poor thing can’t even fly properly. 

Still, Porygon2 is a pretty impressive display of the technological capabilities in the Pokemon universe. The upgrade was said to give Porygon2 a proper AI, and it enjoys studying new things and analyzing as much information as it can. It even is capable of developing new mannerisms that weren’t originally programmed into it, which is just delightful. I’m glad that if the Pokemon universe was able to develop a sentient, self-operating AI they put it in a cartoon duck body to make it absolutely charming and goofy in demeanor.

Then, the fourth generation added Porygon-Z to the family. After space exploration failed, the obvious next step was to try exploring alien dimensions (which are completely real in Pokemon, by the way), but apparently something went horribly wrong, leading to this more unusual and distinctly differently designed Porygon.

That’s not all, though. While the item used to evolve Porygon to Porygon2 is mentioned to be an official upgrade produced by Silph Co., the Dubious Disc used to evolve Porygon2 into Porygon-Z is explicitly mentioned to not have been developed by Silph Co., and instead by some shady third-party company who cracked Porygon’s code. This resulted in Porygon-Z becoming a horribly glitchy mess of a Pokemon, something I am also delighted to see brought to life in the games. It would be fun to see Porygon-Z with error textures or faces breaking on its model, but I suppose there’s only so much they can do intentionally. It twitches erratically during its idle animation on occasion, at least.

I do like how the glitchiness of Porygon-Z is conveyed by its odd design, though. It may look pretty different from Porygon2 at first, but you can actually tell how they used to be the same creature. Porygon-Z’s body seems to be rotated on the wrong axis, with its arms stuck out like a T-posing model. Even the ‘horn’ on its head is actually its old neck, meaning Porygon-Z’s head got flipped upside-down in the corruption process. Wild!

(I wish there was a higher res scan of this card...)

When you think about it, Porygon-Z is another really disturbing, genuinely sickly Pokemon along the lines of Weezing, only due to its more cartoonish, digital model nature, it’s not as apparent. Porygon2 was on the path to HD success, and all the trainers who decided to evolve it into Porygon-Z went and infected its body with terrible malware that ended up horrifically malforming its body. The poor thing’s even been driven mad by looking into alternate dimensions, just look at its wild yellow eyes.

Score: 5/5 - PERFECT!

Having digital Pokemon in-universe which somehow transferred over to the real world is such an excellent idea, and their evolutionary path makes for one of the more interesting Pokemon family histories to boot.

[Gen 1 Archive]

#pokemon #pokemon review #porygon #porygon2 #porygon-z

[demon-of-the-ancient-world]

Specific things I've noticed about the zodiacs (based solely on people I've met)

I don't know a huge amount about astrology, nor am I an ~astrology person~ but it's just fun sometimes, my ADHD/OCD brain likes to Sort Things don't @ me

Aries

(Me)

Start a lot of things but don't finish a lot of them

Encouragers. Can and will convince others to forget the bullshit and Just Do It

(Depending on the person and the thing, this can end up making them Very Bad Influences)

Either takes their sweet ass time while other people are begging them to hurry up, or are being super impatient and not waiting for anyone else

Quick decision makers

Sometimes they seem like they're never satisfied

Don't overthink too much, they aren't big planners and instead like to go with the flow

Taurus

Niche interests they're very passionate about

They really are That stubborn

Get emotional when they can't get their way (or are in the wrong)

Four out of the six Tauruses I know are the youngest sibling in their family so. Idk what that says.

Really good senses of humour

Good tastes in music/musically inclined in some way (and good at it)

Generally more chilled out than you'd think unless they're mad

Gemini

Honestly I don't know many Geminis but here it goes

Good with kids (or at least being around them for short periods of time)

Determined, driven

Limitless imagination

Generally lighthearted and make a lot of jokes, but can turn serious real quick

Not afraid to swear in front of literally anyone

Cancer

Actually more like how you would think Leos are than actual Leos

Like the spotlight and good at being in the spotlight, good performers

Spontaneous

Emotional but hide the depth of their emotions (which can sometimes lead to being passive aggressive)

Good leaders but willing to take the back seat

Have beef with a lot of people but good at being polite in public and pretending they don't have beef with said people

Can sometimes be a little inconsiderate/not the most tactful

Leo

Usually loud

Can be very overdramatic

But this makes them great storytellers

Love to bring people together, the kind to host a big party and invite Everybody

Hold serious grudges - if they decide to cut you out you're done

Finishes projects way more often then Aries, they aren't always good, but they're finished

Has absolutely unhinged playlists in the best way

When something goes wrong they kind of sometimes make it everyone's problem

Will get along with pretty much anybody, tend to have pretty diverse friend groups

Virgo

A little shy, but when it comes down to their most authentic truths they know who they are and aren't afraid to show it

Very open about their interests/likes/dislikes and don't care what you think

Can be know it alls, but only about things they're really passionate about

Nerrrrds

Don't pick fights unless really provoked, tend to silently judge instead

Will discuss one subject for a Really long time

Actually really sweet most of the time, *wouldn't hurt a fly* energy

Libra

I only know one Libra?

Good friends, very loyal

Super chill, very open and accepting to most people, don't get into a lot of fights

Big into music

They don't have huge egos but they have a lot of natural confidence

Scorpio

Can be surprisingly silly when they want to be

Hard to get to know emotionally

Very firm decision makers, plan EVERYTHING out

They know exactly what they want

Occasionally a bit clueless about things outside their immediate circle of interests/friends/lifestyle

But can also be very worldly and cultured

Interested in and curious about pretty much anything

But when they don't care about something they Don't Care

Sagittarius

VERY inquisitive

Will ask you deep ass questions and when you answer they just kind of look at you with no expression and you start sweating

Don't like being challenged or contradicted

It's hard for them to be emotionally vulnerable

Will start a thousand projects and half finish all of them (like even worse than Aries at that)

But whatever they're doing, it's bound to be really interesting and unusual

Capricorn

Weird. Like, really weird and in really weird ways.

Often really quiet and then you get to know them and find out they've got some wild hidden interest that they're really good at

Don't take nonsense

Sarcasm off the charts

On the flip side, they can be very talkative and open about their interests when they get into it

Either hide the Really Deep Stuff or talk very bluntly about Really Deep Stuff without bothering to make anyone comfortable about it

Will try to connect with you in obscure ways (like just coming up to you and handing you a single earbud and then playing some Absolutely Insane song with no warning - it's happened to me) instead of just talking to you normally

Aquarius

Very concerned with the feelings of others and how other people will perceive a situation

The worst thing they can think of is hurting someone else by mistake

(Which sometimes prevents them from taking care of their own wants/needs instead of acting for other people)

Also super nerdy and unashamed of said nerdiness

Can have chronic bad luck in relationships

Not afraid of acting silly in front of people, it's very hard to actually embarrass them

Will try to befriend anybody, has no concept of cliques they just dive right in

Pisces

They really do kind of live in their own little worlds, whatever that looks like

Original and unique perspectives

They can be a little judgy

Pretty blunt at times

Sometimes take jokes too far

But they really do just like to have fun

Actually have pretty strong opinions, they just don't always voice them

#astrology #zodiacs #horoscope #idk guys this isn't what i usually post but #*shrugs* #just based on people I know/have met

[taiblogcomics]

Reptil’s No Longer Dino-Sore

Hey there, dated CGI. I didn't realise how quickly this batch of Avengers Arena was coming to an end, but yeah. This week, next week, and then we'll move on again. Time flies when you're not having fun, eh~?

Here's the cover:

See, now, if this was instead the cover of a paperback romance novel, that shit would sell like hotcakes. As it is, it's merely a cover of this series, but at least it's one of the better ones! Though if Hazmat has that much skin exposed, Reptil is probably sterile by now, if not outright riddled with radiation sickness. That's a bad way for a romance story to end. Or begin, for that matter! Or maybe dinosaurs are resistant to radiation. Who knows? I don't know if paleontologists can tell that kind of thing~

So we open by catching back up with Reptil, in case that wasn't obvious from the cover. He's starting with how he has all these fantastic dinosaur powers, including being able to swim and fly. Sorry, dude, but if that's so, then you just have prehistoric reptile powers. Dinosaurs were land only. If they lived in water or flew, they weren't dinosaurs. Except Archeopteryx. But I digress. He is, in fact, using some aquatic reptile powers at the moment, and he looks more like a big frog than any dinosaurs I could name.

So what's Reptil doing in the water? Hunting sharks and moping. The moping is mostly that dinosaur powers haven't solved all his real problems: finding his parents, getting the girl, not ending up in this crappy series. Know what turning into a dinosaur can do, though? Hunt sharks. Frankly, having food is a real problem if you ask me, so he's doing a great job. When he returns to shore, Hazmat makes him stay back long enough for her to get dressed, and then getting really hyped when she realises they're having shark steaks.

There's a few things going on with their "group". Their group of two. One is that Hazmat keeps thinking Reptil is peeping and perving on her. Like, she gets it, hormones are hormones, she's pretty understanding. She's also pretty radioactive, and that can't be good. The other issue, which they bring up over lunch, is that Hazmat really doesn't seem interested in moving on now that Reptil's burns are healed. He thinks they should find the rest of the teens, but she's pretty content to live on this beach and eat shark steaks and coconuts. Honestly, she's not wrong~

Anyways, who knows where the others are? It's not like they're going to fall out of the sky on top of them. This is when the rest of the teens fall out of the sky on top of them, the residuals of Nico's teleport spell from last issue. They explain the situation as best they can, and that's when X-23 wakes up. Fortunately, the trigger scent has worn off by now, so she doesn't immediately maul Reptil and Hazmat. Instead, Hazmat gives her a hug. Aw. Once again, I like seeing these characters actually working together and besing friends.

Hazmat offers the rest of them shark steaks, and while Nara and Anachronism (against his will) take her up on it, the others (X-23, Cammi, and Cullen Bloodstone) confront Reptil on what's going on. So, hey, you remember that issue where Reptil got burned? Turns out that was two weeks ago. I knew there were a lot of problems with this series, but one I didn't expect was its shit timescale and how bad it was at indicating how much time had passed. Like, you go back and read those issues I've reviewed since then. Does that sound like two weeks have passed? Two days, maybe.

Anyways, two weeks hanging out on the beach waiting for Reptil to heal has kinda driven the will out of Hazmat, and she's kinda content to just rot on this beach instead of fighting for her survival. Yeah, I dunno! I'm inclined to side with Hazmat on this one. If she sat here for two weeks without Arcade or Apex fucking with her, sounds pretty good to me. Nonetheless, the rest of the group decide she's a coward, and they opt to go out and see if Nico is okay. In spite of everything, they feel Nico's earned that. And, honestly, I respect that too. Leave no friend behind.

Reptil goes to Hazmat, confronting her about her attitude. She starts to undress to keep him away, but maybe dinosaurs are radiation-resistant, because he just pins her down and starts yelling how he can't stand to see her give up. After all, Mettle didn't die to see her rot away on a beach doing nothing. Yeah, she responds, in tears now, but he still died. Arcade snapped his fingers, Mettle exploded, and she couldn't do a thing about it. Being Hazmat hasn't helped at all.

And you'd expect this to be where it ends, but despite her breakdown, there's a cut to 20 minutes later, and as Reptil and the rest are prepping to leave, Hazmat turns up to go with them, having composed herself. She puts it a little pessimistically (”Let’s go die trying.”), but the spirit’s there. And Reptil ends on possibly the most positive note in the whole comic: Maybe friends are a liability in Murderworld, he thinks. But who's ever survived without having one~?

Yeah, gotta say, this is one of the better issues. You know it’s true when one of my only complaints is how bad the passage of time is displayed. Thank god for Reptil, huh? He’s breathed some optimism back into this wreck of a book. Only seven issues left, buddy! Let’s hope you can maintain it~!

#comics #reviews #Avengers Arena #Taiblog