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marlynnofmany · 4 months

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Reaching

Being the tall person at the grocery store is nothing compared to being the tall species on an alien planet. Everybody here was hip-height at best, and my ability to grab things that would normally require a stepstool was very appreciated. I wasn’t the only Big Alien come to visit, since the courier ship was about evenly split size-wise, but I was definitely enjoying it.

Especially since the cargo we were meant to pick up was stored (for some reason) on high shelves.

“That’s everything from this one,” I said to Mur as I grabbed a final dusty crate from head level, bending down to place it on the hoversled. “What’s next?” I straightened up and stretched my back, ready for more.

Mur consulted a list on the communicator he held with one tentacle. “That was the ‘blue alcove.’ Which one’s the ‘round alcove’?”

I rotated in place, looking for round things in the alien barn full of mismatched architecture and empty stalls. The owner had decided to retire and sell their old junk, which meant getting us to deliver it to somebody else’s farm. They were paying extra for us to load it onto the ship ourselves. This farmer was either elderly and infirm, or out of bothers to give. Not that it mattered much either way.

“I see it!” Paint said, pointing a scaly hand upward.

I followed her finger to see a curved opening halfway up the wall. “That’s more of an oval, but everything else is square, so I guess that’s it,” I agreed.

Paint tugged the hoversled over, while Mur sat on top of the boxes with his list. Then they both waited for me, because they certainly couldn’t reach any of it.

“We’re meant to take everything up here, right?” I asked, leaning in to grab a bundle of what looked like hammers strapped together. They were heavy, but not to the point where I was at risk of dropping them on anybody.

“Looks like yes,” Mur said. “Can you get all of it?”

“Mayyybe not,” I admitted. “This alcove is pretty deep.”

“Oh, there’s a ladder!” Paint said, darting away. I was busy straining to reach a roll of wire, so I didn’t see what caused the loud snap. But I did hear her make a disappointed sound.

Mur laughed. “There was a ladder. See any others over there?”

I pulled the wire down and set it on the cart, only then getting a view of Paint guiltily dropping the decrepit piece of wood that had recently been half a ladder. There were two or three pegs sticking out of it, though the rest had stayed with the other half, which appeared to be bolted to the wall.

I winced. “Are we going to have to pay damages for that?”

“Eh, maybe,” Mur said. “Pretty sure the old farmer mentioned a number of things that were destined for the fuel pile anyway. We can let Captain Sunlight ask.”

Paint called over, “I don’t see any others.”

A look back at the near wall showed bolts that might have held a different ladder in place once. “New question,” I said. “What do you see that looks strong enough for me to step on? Because I can just climb up there with a little boost.”

Mur grumbled something about species that were always looking for things to climb. Since this was entirely accurate, I ignored him. Then he said, “Well, I’d suggest stepping on the sled, but it’s full of goods, and the brakes aren’t what they should be.”

“Yeah, no use risking that,” I agreed. “And I don’t need much. I could probably get up there with a running start, but I’d rather not bruise anything today.”

Paint trotted back over. “What about those?” she suggested, pointing out a stack of metal tubs that were probably meant for animal food.

We took a look. Some were rusty and unreliable, and they were all heavy — we had to tip the stack on its side to sort through them. But we found one at the bottom that felt sturdy enough. I probably wouldn’t fall right through it. Probably.

It sure was heavy, though. I dragged it over, leaving a trail through the dirt and alien straw, hoping I wasn’t about to ruin another thing that we’d have to pay for.

I’d just gotten it into position when a new voice asked, “What is taking so long?”

Trrili stood in the doorway, a looming black-and-red menace with mandibles and pincher arms. She looked impatient. She also looked like a giant praying mantis, but she always looked like that.

While Paint explained that the items were hard to reach and the ladder was pursuing an exciting new career as kindling, Trrili stalked over on her many legs. Ignoring me completely, she reared back and easily reached into the back of the alcove. “All of these?” she asked.

“Ah, yup,” I said, stepping to the side.

She pulled back to land with her pincher arms holding a large curved thing that had loops dangling from the sides. “What even is this?” she asked as she dumped it onto the sled.

“Looks like a saddle,” I told her.

She was already back up there, rummaging around with only her hind feet on the ground. “What for?”

I said, “Riding animals, I imagine,” then went to stand uselessly with Paint. We watched as our larger coworker loaded up the rest of the items.

“Why would anyone want to ride an animal?” Trrili asked, placing a segment of pipe between the boxes.

“Not everyone has hovertech,” I said. “And it’s nice when your transportation can watch out for hazards. And appreciate neck scritches.”

Trrili declared the whole idea absurd and unnecessary, fit only for species that got too familiar with their prey. None of this was a surprise to me. I’d heard her opinions on pets before.

But Paint was curious about what it was like to be carried around by a large living thing. Was it frightening? What if the animal went the wrong way? What was the importance of “neck scritches?”

I set about explaining horses to her. I might not be able to reach as far as Trrili, but this was definitely something I could do.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come! And I am currently drafting a sequel!

#my writing #humans are weird #The Token Human #haso #hfy #eiad #humans are space orcs #writeblr #writblr

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m00nlight-ramblings · 6 months

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BG3 Companion Modern AU Headcanons

These random thoughts popped into my mind and I had to write them down. I love these little weirdos, and some of them probably don't make sense but OH WELL.

Should I do a Part 2 with more companions?? Let me know - my inbox and requests are open!

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Astarion

This dude's got iPad kid energy - he loves to scroll Tiktok for hours.

He gets bi-weekly pedicures. And not the basic kind - the full on 1.5 hour long with the massage and the mask and the exfoliation.

His favorite holiday is Halloween. He plans his costume starting in August.

He'd be the type of person to be walking through a mall, see a Claire's, and spontaneously decide to get his ears pierced idk.

Is really into metal. Like, you'll come home and Metallica will be blasting and you walk into the bedroom and he's folding laundry and just like, "Oh, HELLO, Darling!" but will have to scream it over the volume in which he's listening to music

Will truly take an hour picking out the perfect wine to pair with your dinner...he's definitely a wine snob.

The cheapest article of clothing Astarion owns is from Banana Republic and it's an undershirt...everything else is ~*very fancy*~

Loves watching all types of vampire movies/TV shows. He can often be heard saying, "Oh no, they got that all wrong" under his breath.

He definitely reads like 1-2 books a week. He's recently really gotten in spicy smut books (he definitely got recommendations from BookTok).

For sure falls asleep to ASMR videos.

Gale

This man loves HGTV *queue Home Depot commercial music*

Has the most absolutely beautiful, clean home you've ever seen with about 30 bookcases CRAMMED with books. The books are the only disorganized thing in his home because he constantly is reading them, so alphabetizing them is useless.

Pinterest is his most used phone app. His boards are carefully curated. That man has a recipe/inspiration pic/quote for EVERYTHING.

Definitely volunteers at the animal shelter once a month. Often times has to talk himself out of bringing a cat home.

LUSH is his favorite store at the mall. He loves them bath bombs.

He THROWS DOWN at holiday parties...Christmas? Thanksgiving? The table is SET. The decorations are UP. He's wearing an APRON because he's been cooking ALL day. The playlist is PERFECT.

Speaking of holidays, he has matching pajama sets for everyone in the household. For every. Holiday.

Fall is absolutely his favorite season. "Sweetheart...have you ever watched 'When Harry Met Sally'? Perfect autumn movie...also I bought a new scarf today to go with my new peacoat. And mittens. And a new hat...it's getting cold outside."

He definitely has a Live. Laugh. Love. adjacent sign somewhere in his home

He definitely needs glasses to read. And he for sure has those librarian chains so that he can just take them off and they hang, instead of losing them.

Karlach

Absolutely loves to eat meals watching Youtube videos.

Imagine her in Times Square? She tears the M&M's store UP.

Is obsessed with documentaries. She often says things like "I can't believe there's so much stuff to LEARN out there!"

Definitely has a Squishmallow collection. And she rotates which one she sleeps with every night so they all get a chance.

Is absolutely the worst cook of all time but tries really really hard...however, she can make a mean boxed mac n' cheese.

Has an obsession with sugary cereal. There's always Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Fruity Pebbles in her cabinets.

Certified Switie for SURE.

Is really into astrology. Definitely has said, "Oh, you're just saying that because you're a SCORPIO" or the like many, many times.

Absolute Starbucks addiction (venti iced caramel macchiato, extra caramel).

Has monthly "girl's nights" (but everyone is invited) at her place. The rules are: pajamas only, junk food, romcoms, and a playlist of the best pop songs in the past 20 years.

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How'd y'all like it...should I make a part two with other companions?! Remember my inbox is open and I'm accepting requests!! I'd love to write some stuff so send it in!

#balders gate 3 #bg3 gale #gale fanfic #gale headcanons #gale of waterdeep #astarion #astarion bg3 #astarion fanfic #astarion headcanon #bg3 #karlach #karlach headcanon #karlach fanfic #karlach fan fiction #karlach bg3 #bg3 karlach #bg3 astarion

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mostchaoticbunny · 20 days

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hi i wrote smth. it's sun and moon x reader. it's just some fluff and it's Self Indulgent™ enjoy it or smth.

gender neutral, no use of "y/n", can be read as romantic or platonic.

you work at the daycare and someone was overworking, so Sun and Moon both decided. you needed a break.

Today was a.. wild day, to say the least. The kids were chaotic, more chaotic than normal, and made a huge mess. You had been cleaning up, while Sun cleaned himself up. The poor guy was covered in glitter glue.

He had noticed how you weren't taking breaks during your cleaning, like usual, but he saw you looked exhausted due to the kids, so he spoke up.

“You should probably take a break now!” He suggested while looking over at you with that usual grin as he scrubbed the dried sparkly glue off himself, while he sat on the play mat flooring. You turn to him, arms full of toys as you walk towards the toy bin.

“nah, i'm fine, thanks for offering.” You say simply with a shrug, which was your usual response to him asking you to take a break. You dump the toys into the box and look down at it, seeing the unbelievable amount of toys. “..that's alot of toys.” You mutter under your breath, before you look over at sun again, seeing all the spots of glue, and god knows what else.

“sun, i'm gonna be honest with you here, uh.. you missed alot.” You smirk, grabbing a wipe, and leaning over to help get the grime off of him.

“Oh, no, no, sunshine! I've got it! Go take a break, friend!” He said with that same cheery tone, and quickly grabbed the wipe out of your hand, scrubbing most of the spots vigorously.

“i'm fine, lemme help you.” You were obviously lying to him, and yourself, by saying you were ‘fine’, as you felt absolutely exhausted but still powered through the tiredness to help Sun as you yanked the wipe back and somewhat gently scrubbed his back, getting.. unknown marks off of him.

He turns his head around so he could look at you. Suddenly, he stood up once you got the marks off, picking you up casually. While you squirm in his arms, he just continues skipping to the break room.

“sun! put me down!” You yelp, trying to get out of his grasp. “Nope! You are taking a break, Sunshine.” Sun said with a smirk, setting you down on a chair, patting your leg. “sun, i'm not a child.” You roll your eyes, sighing softly as you relax in the chair. Sun looks at you, the little smirk still present on his face.

You grab your phone, and look at the time. Nearly the time when the lights go out. You look back up at sun, and he tilts his head curiously (more like his head rotates at an angle).

“lights are gonna go out soon, sunny.” His head goes back to normal and he nods.

“I know. Moons gonna make you take a nap.” Sun said simply with a small shrug, he crouched, looking at you with the usual grin now. He reached out towards your phone, and quickly unlocked it, entering the camera app.

Before you could grab the phone back, Sun stood up and put one hand on your head to keep you sitting, while his other hand took a photo of himself. “sun, what are you doing?” You question, lifting your head up into his hand, and trying to fight his hand off your face.

“I am.. taking a selfie.” He said, before thinking for a moment, putting the phone in his pocket. “Is that what they call it? Selfie?” He asked, thinking out loud.

You sigh into his hand, before trying to bite his metal palm. He looks down at you confusedly, trying to figure out what you were doing.

“..Are you trying to eat my hand?” Sun asked, followed by a confused laugh from him. you stopped, and spoke into his hand, even though it was gonna be muffled by it.

“correct. it doesn't taste good.” He lifted the palm of his hand up, but kept his fingers over your face, so he was still holding your face, but you couldn't bite his hand. “That's very.. unsanitary.” He said, and sighed softly, shaking his head.

“Oh! Moon is about to come out. See you later, Sunshine!”Sun said cheerfully, taking his hand off your face and patting your head while he walked off. “wait, my phone?–” you said, and he just shut the door.

You hear a loud clank indicating the lights are about to go out, just as he shut the door. You sat in the dimly lit break room, not sure what to do. You were honestly so tired, but this uncomfortable chair probably wouldn't be great for a nap. “..damn it.” You mumble.

Then the break room door swung open, making you jump slightly, until you saw those glowing red eyes in the doorway.

“Language.” Moon said blankly. You only sigh,and stand up from the chair, looking up at Moon. “hi moon.” You greet him, and he just.. oh so casually, picks you up, putting you over his shoulder. As if you were a cat.

He started walking out the room, towards a spot on the floor, which had a couple blankets and a pillow or two.

You didn't even try getting out his arms, just allowing it with a soft sigh. “Nap time.” He said, lifting up one of the blankets, setting you down on the other one. “really? now? i still have stuff to clean up, don't i?” You ask, while he covered you with the other blanket, and put his hand over your mouth, sitting down in a criss cross style.

“Shush. It's nap time” you bite his hand, which you instantly regret, as he didn't react and it tasted like how you expected, metal. “your hand tastes bad too.” you say, muffled from the hand on your mouth.

“Then don't do that.” he said quickly, and removing his hand from your mouth, wiping it off on his pants.

“Now then, go to sleep.” you sigh, looking up at him with a clearly annoyed expression.

“nuh uh.” You stick your tongue out and try to uncover yourself, but he quickly slid his hands under your back, laying you in his lap.

“Will you sleep now, Moonflower?” Moon asked, looking down at you in his lap, with your completely confused expression. You look up at him, shocked and confused on how he did that so fast.

He grabbed the blanket that you had previously been covered with, and put it over you carefully. His expression had been basically the same until now, where his smile had softened.

You finally respond to his question, looking at him still. “..yeah.” You mumble, sighing softly. “Good.”Moon pats your head, as you shift a little bit, getting more comfortable in his lap. One of his hands rested on your stomach, and the other went to his pocket, grabbing your phone, unlocking it.

You saw him tap something on it, and you assumed he entered camera. “.. How do I turn off the flash.” moon asked, looking down at you with the phone in one hand. “uh. the little lightning bolt.” he made a “Hmm.” noise, and tapped it again.

You heard the shutter noise from the phone, telling you he took a picture of himself, like Sun did. “Okay.” he put the phone back in his pocket, and his hand stayed in his pocket.

You could feel yourself drifting off to sleep now, leaning against the side of Moon's stomach, snuggling against him. Moon's hand left his pocket, going to the side of your head.

“Sweet dreams, my moonflower.” He said in that soft tone, that you only ever heard when he comforted kids during nap time. You sigh contentedly, feeling him play with your hair as you finally fall asleep.

★ end ★

thanks for reading or whatever i'm unsure if this is even good 💔

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captain-lessship · 1 year

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Creepy Pt. 2

So much had happened in the last few days. You and Ajax ate so much cotton candy that you were set for another year only to rousted out early over news of a murder that apparently didn’t happen: How someone could be dead and then not dead was beyond you.

Rowan, the kid who was apparently killed, was then expelled. He’d always been a little weird which was saying a lot in a school designed for weirdness.

You would be lying to say you were suspicious and worried so you decided that you could and probably should calm your nerves.

You had been painting a music box when you heard a knock on your door.

“Come in! It’s unlocked.” You chimed.

You heard heavy footsteps walk in, you turned and jumped a little when you saw her.

“Hi..”

“Hello. I need you to do something for me.”

“What is it?”

Wednesday’s expression didn’t change when she lifted the broken cello bow. You smiled as you quickly got up and walked to her, you held out your hands. She gave it to you.

“Is it fixable?”

“Anything is fixable.” You said looking at exactly where it broke, ideas coming to mind on how to repair it.

Wednesday looked around the room. Peaceful ticking and small chiming catching her attention. She stiffly walked to a dark box where she saw a rotating pair of bats.

“Did you make this?”

You lifted your eyes, you blushed a little, “Yeah. I made just about everything in here.”

Her dark eyes stared at you. “Is it your power?”

You shook your head, “Sort of. I can mold and form any material into what I want, kind of like clay but there’s so many parts to each of them that I just make the pieces separately and work on putting them together.”

You walked to your work bench and laid the broken bow down. “Do you need it fixed right now? I could start working on it. It’ll only take a minute and I could drop it off at your dorm.”

She looked at you then to the bow, “It was a gift so I don’t want to leave it with an acquaintance. Could I watch you fix it?”

You smiled, hands shaking as you sat down. With a long breath out, the wood fibers extended, slowly blending into each other, interlocking and pulling the pieces back together. You softly smiled, “It’s beautiful wood. Who gave it to you?”

She looked you up and down.

“You don’t have to tell me. We have only met like twice.” You said.

She took a seat on the box that was next to your workbench, “My Uncle gave it to me. I don’t get to see him often.”

You looked down, “I get it.”

She looked at you with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“My Aunt took care of me a lot and she moved to France.”

“Why France?”

You smiled, “Mainly as an act of defiance. What about your Uncle?”

“Asylum.”

You laughed a little.

“I am serious.” She said.

“No, I know you are! That’s why it’s funny. It’s like when something is obviously about to go wrong and someone does it anyway. Like walking on ice.”

She just looked at you, the corner of her lips barely moving upwards. You smiled, “Do you want to take the bat music box? I saw you looking at it.”

“I would like it. Enid said I need to add decor to my half of the room.”

You got up and got it, Wednesday followed behind you. You turned the small key on the side and slowly a melody began to play and the bats rotated.

“It’s nicely made. I appreciate it and the repair you did on my bow.”

She walked to the door, you watched her walk to it before saying, “It was nice to talk to you. Goodnight, Wednesday.”

She turned her head, acknowledging you. “Goodnight.” She opened the door and walked out. You sighed softly and then an idea popped into your head.

You walked to your shelf and grabbed glass, granite and coal dust.

Wednesday walked through her door and to her desk, where she sat the music box sculpture. She cracked her knuckles and sat to work on her novel but something, rather someone gave her writers block.

She found herself zoned out, staring at the leathery wings of the bats. She thought of you: why were so nice? She had done nothing in return and she doubted herself ever doing so yet you gave her something that anyone could tell took focus and you repaired her gift.

With a turn to her type writer, she began typing, it was a letter.

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salemsimsrender · 10 months

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Beginner Blender Tutorial Basic Render: Part Three (Adjusting Render Settings, Adding Lights, and Rendering!)

(Continuing from Part Two)

Step 1: Adjusting Render Settings

I exclusively render in Cycles, and though I'll be doing some Eevee runs for the sake of tutorials, I'm going to share what I know today and show you how to set up a Cycles render the way I do

Navigate to Render Properties and select "Cycles" in the Render Engine dropdown

If you have an older system, leave CPU selected If you have a newer or beefier computer, select GPU complete I render on a MacBook Pro, so I'll select GPU

Under Sampling -> Viewport, make sure you click on the Denoise, this will clean up our render preview so we can more easily see what the final result will look like

Under the same Sampling tab, adjust your Max Samples to match mine (32 in the viewport and 128 in the render window, this will speed up your render time)

Click into Output Properties and select "Render Region" and "Crop to Render Region", and change the frame rate to 50fps In the Output tab, change the Color Depth to 16 Nothing will change in our 3D Viewport, but the settings are ready to go

Step 2: Adding Lights

Right now, if we were to change our mode to Rendered, we'd have nothing but a black box. This is because our sim is in a cube with no light source Let's add some lights! For portraits, I like to use a combination of Spot and Point lights You add in lights the same way you add in the camera and the cube, either by clicking "Add" in the top menu or with Shift+A on your keyboard and selecting Light -> Spot or Point I'm going to add a Spotlight first I like to add in lights in Rendered view, but be careful using rendered view as it ups the chances that your Blender will crash

I added in a spotlight but it appears that nothing happened Objects are added into Blender at the Cursor point. I never adjusted mine so it's at the center of the axis, meaning below my sim's feet and outside of the box Using G and X,Y,Z, I'm going to move my spotlight up

Now the light is above her, but I want it shining on her, so I'm going to rotate it forward Rotate objects using the R key and X,Y,Z directions on your keyboard

That's not bad, but I want more dynamic light. I'm going to add two more spotlights for 3 point lighting

This is looking better, and you can see where my lights are and how they're oriented Now let's adjust the background Select your cube in the Outliner panel and navigate to Material Properties Click "new" in the bar Then navigate to your Shader Editor window and you'll see a Principled BSDF Node is here

We're not going to do anything too fancy here, just change the color of the cube and some aspects of how it looks Change the color of your box using the color wheel then adjust your nodes to everything is set to zero except roughness

You should have something like this (of course use whatever color compliments your sim best)

I don't want the background to be super flat, so I'm going to adjust the Metallic value on mine Now I have this:

I like the lighting but I think it might be a little too bright Let's adjust it a little In your Outliner panel, select one of the spotlights then go to "Object Data Properties" (the little lightbulb)

I'm going to adjust the Power to 5 and click off multiple importance and click on shadow caustics, like this:

Do the same for all three spotlights and you should have something like this:

That's better, but let's draw attention to her face with a Point light Add in a point light the same way as a spot (shift+A, light -> point) or Add in the top bar) and move it in front of her face

This is obviously way too bright, so let's adjust it like we did for the spotlights I've changed the radius and adjusted the power to 8, as shown here:

Here's the result:

That's much better! Normally at this point I would probably change her hair and add in jewelry and make minor adjustments to this and that, but for the sake of this super simple beginner render, we're ready to go! Before you run your render, save this file somewhere easy to find. I'll be using the same file for future tutorials!

Step 3: Rendering!

Once you've done all the setup, rendering is actually super easy Make sure you switch your 3D viewport back to Material Preview (rendering while in rendered mode has a tendency to make blender crash) Then go up to the navigation bar and select Render -> Render Image

A new window will pop up, and your render will begin!

Rendering time will depend on how complex your scene is and how many assets you've added in. Ours is very simple so mine says it'll take about 6 minutes

And it's done! Save your render and either post it or edit it in your favorite photo editor!

UPDATE 7/17/23

As you can see, my render was looking very glowy. I didn't know why (there was no glare node in the compositing settings or anything that would cause this, or so I thought), until I adjusted the roughness values on my sim.

Now it looks like this:

So if yours is looking glowy, adjust the roughness to 0, then back up to 10 and that should fix it!

Homework:

Your Render School homework is to create a simple portrait render using these tutorials and tag me in it! I can't wait to see what yall make!

Please leave any questions in the comments below or send an ask and I'll help as best I can!

Happy Rendering!

#salemsims tutorial #render school tutorial #sims 4 render #tutorial #sims 4 blender tutorial #blender #render tutorial #sims render tutorial

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raguna-blade · 25 days

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Struck with the very real, and very strange, revelation that I actually for real would be down with a fully paid gacha game. With the stamina, with the daily whatever, with the rotating banners, all of that.

But Very Specifically, Under the Conditions that there are no additional payments for anything at all, except for, functionally, Expansion packs. I could say DLC and that'd be Technically correct, but I mean Expansion Packs in the old sense of the term of what amounts to effectively a whole ass game that interfaces with the base game.

Yeah man we're just adding a whole ass game mode you could lose yourself in. Here's an extra 30 Characters Banners that'll be fitted into your rotation, and a set of rebalances for everyone to keep them in line. You can turn this off in the menu if you like, no big.

Because i sit here and think about it and like...I like the general vibe of gacha games actually, but actively hate the monetization. And while there's definitely space to say that yeah man if you took out the gacha bullshit a lot of these games would be better and I won't even argue with you because like Yes. I don't think i've encountered one that I think would be made WORSE by the removal of such bullshit, at the same time like...I am unironically enjoying myself?

Which feels weird to admit the more I think about it. I like the limited playtime saying "Hey you can play as much as you want within this period but then you gotta put it down" especially when the gameplay is actually pretty good and interesting? I like the Hey tick these boxes stuff dailies.

Which...Actually no, that's not weird in the fucking least is it? People do that shit all the time with animal crossing and company, stardew and all those, and while those allow for MUCH longer play sessions, the sentiment I think isn't so far removed as be unreasonable. I just wanna do a thing real quick and dip out, done.

Like there's an obvious thing here, I think, that if you DO do a game like this (and i'll be honest I want to kind of do it) you probably should just add a free play mode or something. Bring back cheat codes or whatever, but hey if the core game is good and people wanna play it why not right?

hm...

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emmettkellyboomer · 1 year

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Ezekiel: Homeschooled so never had the opportunity to until he was on Total Drama and smoked with Tyler at Playa Des Losers. Now he eats that shit up. Sprinkles in on his food like it’s a seasoning. Goes rabid over some good kush.

Eva: No. Absolutely not. She would never do anything that would get in the way of her training. Izzy probably tricked her into eating a pot brownie once and she freaked the fuck out. Has not forgiven Izzy since.

Noah: Smokes once in a while but isn’t too into stoner culture. Prefers Indica dominant hybrids.

Justin: I can’t see him smoking weed but he probably does some super hard drugs once he makes his big break modeling. He probably judges his stoner castmates for smoking weed or eating edibles meanwhile he’s snorting cocaine for breakfast.

Katie: Does smoke once in a while, but only with Sadie.

Tyler: Doesn’t let a lot of people know he smokes because he thinks it’ll get in the way of his athleticism, but he does smoke pretty often. He’ll buy edibles off of Geoff and take them before going to games--not one’s he’s participating in--and those gummies will turn him into the best cheerleader anyone’s ever seen.

Cody: Really wants to but is too scared. I don’t think he realizes how many of his fellow TDI castmates are stoners and would help him through his first time. The first time he did smoke weed, he was with our favorite Team E-Scope! With Eva babysitting and Izzy bringing the weed, he was set for the ride of his life.

Beth: She doesn’t like the smell so she’s never wanted to smoke. She had to pick up Lindsay from a party once where she got too high so she has a reputation for being really responsible around drugs.

Sadie: Does smoke once in a while, but only with Katie. Prefers edibles but hasn’t had any in a while.

Courtney: Would never admit to smoking. Would not have even dared to step near a dispensary if it hadn’t been for Bridgette smoking her up for the first time. Duncan was only slightly pissed she was willing to smoke with Bridgette before she was willing to smoke with him, but now that she’s more comfortable being high she’ll smoke with him and Gwen every so often. The first time she smoked though...oh she was so paranoid. Bridgette had no idea what to do so she called Geoff in a panic.

Harold: Used to be so disgusted by weed. He was turned off by it for the longest time because he associated it with people who picked on him like Duncan. But after a couple years of judging his friends for partaking he finally went to a party where he joined a nightmare blunt rotation of Duncan, Gwen, Team E-Scope, Lindsay, and Sierra. He took one hit, not thinking it would do anything, and he was high as a kite. Now he smokes on the weekends.

Trent: Smokes after shows with his band mates but he’s the “responsible one” so he never goes too hard.

Bridgette: Smokes every day. She’ll go to classes/work high and deals to all of her friends. She knows her terminology well and is able to recommend what strains are best.

Lindsay: Smokes occasionally if she’s at a party but does not like smoking alone. She has never bought weed in her entire life.

DJ: Was also very scared the first time he smoked. He was with Geoff, Bridgette, and Duncan and the three of them coached him through it and told him everything he should expect. Now he’s a pro at different smoking tricks. He’ll pull a french inhale and everyone he’s smoking with will freak out over how cool it looks. Even so, he doesn’t smoke too often.

Izzy: Regularly take edibles and always insists on going on adventures with Noah and Eva. Owen and Cody sometimes tag along too. Izzy prefers sativa because she hates feeling drowsy and loves the hyper feeling it gives her. She has an edible subscription box which sends her different gummies every month.

Geoff: Never not high. He hasn’t been sober in ages and he’s living his best life. He makes brownies and other baked good edibles for every party he throws and he’s infamous for how delicious they are. Everyone buys from him and Bridgette but he gives his friends discounts because he’s such a good friend.

Leshawna: She’s the responsible one. She’d rather watch over her friends and make sure they’re safe then actually smoke in a big group of people. She’d absolutely smoke one-on-one with Gwen or Harold but not in a big setting.

Duncan: Smokes all the time with Gwen and will join Geoff and DJ from time-to-time. Once Courtney starts smoking he’ll have weed on him at all times just in case she actually does want to smoke. He’d never miss the opportunity to smoke up his princess. He loves indulging in stoner culture and will attend music festivals and cannabis conventions just to meet the people there.

Heather: Does not smoke. Tried it once. Hated it. She secretly judges people like Bridgette who smoke on the regular. But she pretends not to care.

Gwen: Smokes pretty often with Duncan but really prefers edibles. She loves gummies and will buy brownies from Bridgette and Geoff on the regular. Favorite stoner activity is listening to music and staring at her ceiling.

Owen: Yes. Loves it. Doesn’t smoke regularly but will at parties. He’s the life of the party whenever he takes a bong rip or pops a gummy bear. Everyone loves being around him when he’s stoned. He’s just a very uplifting, happy guy.

Sierra: She smokes CONSTANTLY. She’s writes her blog posts after taking a hit and has to check them the next morning for typos. She used to be very against smoking because she was convinced she would screw up her brain beyond repair, but now she has a joint or her vape on her at all times.

Alejandro: Does not smoke. He doesn’t like what it does to his head so he usually ends up people watching with Heather at parties and making snarky comments about all of their stoned friends. Luckily everyone is too high to notice the flirty tension between them.

#total drama #total drama island #tdwt #tdi #tdi cast #td gwen #td bridgette #td sierra #td cody #td courtney #td duncan #td dj #td geoff #td owen #td noah #td izzy #weed mention #stoner headcanons

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alinelovelace · 9 months

Text

Gif tutorial by Alinelovelace

Alright, I'll be doing 3 things here today:

1.) Sharing the programs and websites I use

2.) Showing y'all a tutorial on how I make my gifs (this is my first tutorial, so if anything doesn't make sense, don't hesitate to message me, send me an ask, or comment on this post!!!!!)

3.) Sharing some resources by insanely talented gif makers (because I learned how to make gifs by following tutorials)

It's probably important(?) to mention that I use a Windows laptop

A.) Programs and websites:

ezgif: to make my gifs and do light editing

You can make gifs with video clips or screen caps. I'm not advanced enough to use screen caps, though they're supposed to make gorgeous gifs. I use ezgif to make the actual gif and edit the timing (which I end up having to tweak on Photoshop but...)

I also like ezgif because no watermarks!! I will do anything in my power to get rid of watermarks from websites and editing programs because they bother the hell out of me!

Photoshop: for the rest of my editing

This is where I recolor and add text.

A great alternative to Photoshop is Photopea, which I've used before I "obtained" Photoshop. It's FREE and online, so you don't have to download anything! I highly recommend it if you really want to get into gif coloring !!!!

Currently, I get my videos from torrents (bc I have a wide selection for my family to watch on our tv). But I used to use the Xbox game bar on Windows to record the clips I wanted on online streaming sites (unfortunately there's not a whole lot up and running anymore), then cropped and cut them. If anyone's interested in that, I could probably post a separate tutorial for that another time :)

There's also screen cap websites out there and YouTube. And probably dozens of other ways to get videos that I don't know about!

Video cutter

If you use full length episode videos and don't know how to crop them on your laptop (like me)

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

B.) Tutorial:

I'll be remaking the first gifset I ever made since I've learned A LOT since then! It should be pretty simple since there's only one set of subtitles.

Another time, I could do an edit tutorial like my That 70s Show ones. It's just taking the same concepts as this tutorial though, and playing around with colors, fonts, and font placement.

1.) Find your video/screen caps:

Since I no longer have the video from my first gifset, I just googled "Mulder throwing pencils season 10" on YouTube. After finding the video, I copied the link and pasted it into a YouTube to MP4 site ((this site has never given me popups or tried to get me to download something that isn't my video file)).

2.) If your downloaded video clip is short enough, you can just stick it into ezgif. If not, you may have to cut it using a website or a computer program.

Ezgif.com -> video to gif -> browse -> select your file -> upload video

3.) After clicking upload video, you should find yourself on this page:

If you need to do any kind of video editing (cropping, rotating, resizing, etc) this is the place to do it! This is also where you make your gifs.

For the first gif, I don't need to change the start time, since I'm starting at the beginning of the video. 0 seconds is fine. But for the stop time, I'm going to play the video, pause where I want my first gif to end, then press "use current position" by end time.

I don't usually touch the settings for size, FPS, or method. If the gif doesn't have a lot of movement, I check "optimize for static background"

Then press convert to gif.

Here's the product I got. Since it's such a short clip, it moves a little fast for me.

I'm going to click "speed" which is below the gif. You're brought to this page:

This is completely up to you for speed, but I find that between 60% and 85% end up looking good. If you don't like it, just change the number in the box and press "change speed". I ended up with mine at 65% of current speed.

A little better, right? The gifs that turn out best are 3 seconds to 10 seconds in my experience. This one is 1.5 seconds, so it's a little fast.

After that, rinse and repeat for every gif you need to make.

4.) Editing time! This is for Photoshop (if you use Photopea, I very much recommend this tutorial. It's very well explained!)

Go ahead and open all of your gifs once Photoshop is booted up. Then click window -> timeline

Now you have a handy dandy little timeline on the bottom.

The first thing you're going to do click play and decide whether or not your gifs are running at the speed you want. If yes, move on to next step.

If not: click on the three lines -> select all frames -> little drop down arrow. You should have a variety of times available to choose. Usually, I click other, then put somewhere between 0.04 and 0.08 seconds. Click play again. If you don't like it, try this step again.

If you need to crop your gif, three lines -> select all frames. Press "c" on your keyboard and crop accordingly.

4a.) Color editing

This is where things get complicated. Just remember coloring is subjective and everyone does it differently. This is just an intro to the different tools most gif makers use to alter color.

You don't have to use all of these! I definitely pick and choose depending on how I want the coloring to look. When I'm making a gif set, my coloring isn't as adventurous as when I'm making an edit. It doesn't feel worth it to give away my settings for this gifset since it changes depending on the coloring and lighting of the scene.

All of these tools can be found under "create new filter adjustment layer"

• Brightness/Contrast

This one is the easiest in my opinion. It's pretty straightforward. The more you drag brightness the right, the brighter your gif gets. The more you drag contrast to the right, the higher the contrast is.

• Curves

This adjusts lighting with color values. It's another tool that's hard to explain. I just drag the little circles on the chart until it looks good

• Color Balance

Like every other setting, exactly what you do with this tool is up to you. Color Balance adjusts the overall tint of your gif. I recommend editing highlights, shadows, and midtones for the best results.

• Channel mixer

This one is one of the most complicated tools when making gifs in my opinion. It's best for getting rid of weird colored tints (think the blue coloring in Twilight). I'll just link a tutorial here for it. I don't make enough gifs to know how to explain it.

• Selective color

Hands down my favorite tool, though not only specifically for gif making. This tool allows you to select a color (reds, yellows, greens, cyans, blues, magentas, whites, neutrals, blacks) and edit each color group. For example: my skin in photos usually has a weird red tint. I can edit the reds in my photo using this tool to make it look less abrasive.

You just play around with the different colors and bars for each color until each color group looks good. I recommend hitting the highest value to see how the color changes/what parts of the gif are affected by the change.

In the instance below, I wanted to see how magenta affected the blue colors, so I dragged magenta to 100. Now, knowing what kind of color changes magenta will make to blue, I can adjust accordingly.

Messing around with the each color put me here:

• Vibrance

Another pretty self explanatory tool! Vibrance and saturation bars make the gif colors more colored and vibrant.

• Applying the filters to all frames

Shift click to select all the filters, and drag them above all the layers. They should now be applied to all the frames.

If not, select all frames with the three lines menu drop down like before -> click the little eye to turn off visibility, then click it again to turn it back on. You should be able to see everything now.

In order to carry the same colors from gif to gif, I take pictures of each setting and edit each filter adjustment layer accordingly. I side by side compare and make adjustments if the coloring doesn't match quite right. I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I'm not experienced enough yet.

4b.) Subtitles

This part isn't too bad. For subtitle text, I use Calibri. Myriad pro bold italic and Arial are also really good options though!

• Text

Go to the sidebar and select text. Drag yourself out a box approximately where you want your subtitles. Type whatever you want. If you don't like where it is, click the move tool and drag it wherever you'd like.

Here are my text settings:

• Blending options

Right click your text layer and select "blending options" at the top. I edit stroke, which adds an outline. I also edit drop shadow, just because it adds a little depth to the text

• Applying to all frames

Drag the text layer to the top, just like you did with the adjustment filter layers when coloring. The same troubleshooting applies.

5.) Exporting

I know there's other ways to do this, but this is the way that makes the most sense to me.

Select all frames on the timeline -> file -> export -> save for web (legacy) -> save

With everything together, you go from:

To:

I had the subtitles in two parts because my first one had the subtitle in two parts (consistency).

Happy giffing!~~

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

C.) Resources:

This is a collection of resources both for Photopea and Photoshop

Photopea Resources:

Photopea giffing tutorial by @heroeddiemunson

Photopea gif coloring tutorial by @heroeddiemunson

Photopea removing yellow tint tutorial by @lacebird

Photopea gif making tutorial by @aragarna

Photopea gif making tutorial by @ashleyolsen

Photopea changing background color of gifs by @benoitblanc

Photoshop tutorials:

Giffing tutorial by @dqmeron

Subtitle tutorial by @itsphotoshop

Blurring gif backgrounds by @clubgif

Inverted colored text tutorial by @spaceslayer

Gradient text tutorial by @tawaifeddiediaz

Gif coloring tutorial by @logangarfield

Color consistency tutorial by @clubgif

Channel mixer tutorial by @zoyanazyalensky

#gif #gif tutorial #mine #photoshop #alinelovelace

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nitewrighter · 1 year

Note

okay hi i have a lot of prompts and stuff to suggest bc i am the person that spent all night reading the kids continuity fic

- aedan and rei domesticity they are so cute

- aedan growing stubble, running out of razors, asking the twins for a razor and they flex and say they use hard light razors. then aedan having to ask jack where the razors are because he doesn’t know (this would probably be around the time he asks him about reaper LMAO)

- marti aim training with amelie?

- obv there’s already been a lot of gency but maybe some of them talking about rei and aedan and being nosy

- more genji pleeeeease he’s so cute <\3

Argh I have a really strong Marti idea but I've got a bit of brain burnout and my idea for her doesn't really match what you're describing and also I haven't written Aedan and Rei in what feels like ages and I miss theeemmmm. Also I like the idea of having some kind of... honeymoon post-Dragonback stuff and also Live Mercy Reaction.

-----

The afternoon sunlight was blazing outside, but Aedan could hardly tell with the windows tinted. He was chewing on his thumbnail as he watched a holographic projection of Andrea's cells. The sample wasn't nearly as stable as he'd like, given the fact that it was mixed with his own blood, but Morrison and Reyes's DNA at least made it easy to quickly distinguish the cells before they morphed back to nanites. She was virtually gone from his system at this point, so he knew any creeping feeling of her still in there had to be purely psychosomatic.

He managed to identify and isolate one of Andrea's neutrophils before it was destroyed and scan it quickly enough to create a rough holographic projection, and he rotated the projection in the air, frowning. He heard the whoosh of the lab doors opening behind him and said, without turning around, "Do you think I could get a blood sample from Morrison?"

"Maybe if you sneak up on him," a voice that was clearly not Mercy's spoke up from behind him and he glanced over his shoulder to see Rei holding two bento boxes.

"...thought you were your mother," he said blankly and Rei made a crinkly-eyed, pressed-lip smile at him, "Sorry--that was weird, wasn't it?"

"Not that weird," said Rei, setting the boxes down on the desk a safe distance from the monitor's keyboard and pulling up a chair, "It's nice that you finally have more lab privileges."

"You missed a lot in LA!" Aedan spun in his chair slightly to face her, "I mean, Marti and the others definitely trust me more than the old guard, but still, there's been a lot of progress!"

"'People will let you experiment with their blood' progress?" Rei arched an eyebrow.

"Well... no. But I was thinking I might be able to delineate the effects of the SEP serum better and isolate the stabilizing factors of his DNA if I have a sample," Aedan had fallen back to his previous train of thought.

"You've been at this for hours," said Rei, looking at the hologram.

"I just... wish I was able to find out more before my body destroyed all evidence of her," murmured Aedan.

"Well, what do you know so far?" asked Rei, looking at the projection.

"I know she's stable--incredibly stable."

Rei snorted.

"Well not mentally, obviously, but cellularly. I've never seen such seamless transitions between nanite and cell. I mean I thought her nanite secretions weren't as prominent as mine because she wasn't working with a biotic rig, or--you know, because she was kicking my ass, but I think mum managed to really perfect the metabolic processes with her," he made a kind of flailing, spread fingered gesture at the white blood cell hologram with both hands, "Just... specimen."

He felt Rei's hands lightly but firmly close around his shoulders

"Should I be concerned you're gushing about the girl who collapsed your ribcage?" Rei cooed, rubbing her thumbs at the tops of his shoulder blades, "And her perfect, perfect cells?"

The initial touch gave Aedan an involuntary shudder, but he melted into his seat as she worked at the knots at the back of his neck. "A lus na gréine, you have nothing to worry about. She's my sister from another amnio... nister... tank..."

"Okay that is low blood sugar talking." Rei slipped her hands from his shoulders and grabbed one of the bento boxes, plopping it in his lap, "Eat." She grabbed her own chair and bento box and sat down.

"It's just.. a weird relief in a way," he said quietly, still looking at the hologram, "One of the reasons I was made was to help try and find ways to stabilize Reyes. But if anyone's going to save him, it's her."

"Yeeahh it is a weird relief that she's going to save the guy who wants us all dead," Rei agreed, stirring up her own box. Aedan saw green. Some kind of salad?

"...I don't think he wanted you dead," Aedan said.

Rei looked up from her own bento box to him.

"There was a moment back in Urdr when we were shuffling through in those stolen uniforms, you were still a bit drugged up. He looked right at us and I could have sworn he knew it was me, he knew something was off, but he just... let us go."

"Well he must have changed his mind if he's sending Daughter Dearest after us," said Rei, taking a bite.

Aedan scoffed. "He could barely look at me knowing what I was, there's no way he would agree to--" Aedan caught himself and his face dropped, "...there's no way he would agree to Talon making another him."

Rei's chewing slowed. "...so it's messing him up just as much as Jack, probably?"

"Probably," Aedan shrugged.

"Eat," Rei said again, pointing at his bento box with her own chopsticks, and Aedan shuffled his chair slightly away from the holo-monitor closer to her, opened his own box, and started eating across from her. It seemed to be a loose interpretation of a sushi bowl, brown rice and surimi and edamame, with extra greens and a sliced up hardboiled egg on the side, all drizzled with sesame oil and soy sauce and doused with furikake and red pepper flakes.

"Avocado..." Aedan said, "The Californians got to you."

"Don't knock it. You need monounsaturated fats," said Rei.

"I'm not--thank you, for making this," said Aedan. He took a bite and immediately felt the calories hit in the only way they can when you've forgotten to eat for a lot longer than you'd care to admit.

"It's just tossing a bunch of stuff together in the mess hall, it's a lot better equipped than it was when I was a kid, really," Rei held up the bento box, "But I had to bring these from home."

"Back home with the folks, huh?" Aedan perked up in his seat, poking around.

Rei huffed through her nostrils, choosing her words as she chewed. "It's nice... " she said slowly.

Aedan considered leading with 'But..?' to prompt her to say more, but decided humor might be the better route.

"Ah, but you've tasted the freedom of Hollywood," Aedan waved his chopsticks around, "And so the tinseltown dreams have taken roost in your heart. Your soul forever unsatisfied until you're once again in the dazzling spotlight."

Rei snickered. "I was a stunt. And... it was weird. Using all my training to.. pretend to fight--even if it was as my childhood hero. And like, the whole time I had this nagging feeling that even if I could make a career out of it, I'd always feel a hole where the dragon was. And I felt like... everyone back here was throwing themselves into danger while I was licking my wounds and bouncing around in silly costumes. But now I'm back here and... I don't know. We fly everywhere. We go on these missions, but the world feels smaller somehow. It feels like a wall's come back up."

"You're telling me that squatting on a rocket launch facility and traveling pretty much exclusively for missions feels limited compared to having free rein in one of the biggest cities and entertainment capitals of the world?" Aedan smiled.

"Okay, when you put it like that--" Rei cut herself off to chew some more surimi.

"I felt the same way about Oasis," Aedan shrugged, "Even if it is a young city, it's done everything in its power to draw the greatest minds from all over the world. One of the tourism boards wanted to bill it as 'The New House of Wisdom' except that got shot down because it felt a little archaic, potentially orientalist, possibly muscling in on Baghdad's tourism... and also like it might be inviting disaster. But, point stands, you felt special while you were there. Chosen."

"And you miss all your fancy 'son of the minister of genetics' perks," Rei smiled.

"Not nearly as much as I used to, these days," said Aedan, "I might either be going crazy or Jack might be onto something about that 'building character' stuff."

Rei snorted. "Maybe I'm just being weird about moving back into my childhood room."

"Well I should let you know that in your absence I've upgraded the dormitories into quite the bachelor pad. Convinced the twins to put in some hard-light privacy dividers, moved some of the extra beds into storage...the holo-projector was always in there, but I have a couch now!"

"Aedan O'Deorain, are you inviting me to your place?"

"Door's open," said Aedan, shrugging.

Her mouth just quirked off to one side in a smile and they both continued eating, letting that percolate in the air between them.

Rei was scraping up stray edamame beans and bits of furikake from the edges of her bento box when she noticed Aedan had set his empty bento aside and his attention was drifting back to the giant hologram of the neutrophil, his expression hollow and searching. He had pretty much inhaled his food, which was good, but Rei had seen enough of Marti, Samir, and her own mother to know when someone's brain had driven them into a rut that they weren't going to get out of without help.

"You know, if she's already out of your system, it's not like you'll find new data now that you can't find later," said Rei.

"Mm?" Aedan looked back at her.

"You need a break," said Rei.

"But---there's the flow factor," said Aedan.

"Oh, the flow factor," said Rei, rising from her seat.

"And like, yes, this is probably trauma talking, but I want to feel like I came away from that fight with a bit more than memories of a giant hole in my chest."

"Aedan," Rei braced her hands on both of his forearms on the seat's armrests, "We did."

She looked at him expectantly with those big, dark gray eyes, and his own eyes widened. Technically, it had been a mission accomplished. They had set out with the intention of getting the dragon back, and, miraculously, they had gotten it back, even if it was far from the circumstances any of them actually imagined getting it. Surviving an encounter with Talon when none of them were really equipped for that level of combat was nothing to sneeze at, either.

And there was the other thing, Aedan thought, as Rei's mouth closed on his.

Surimi and hard-boiled egg, in general, are not the optimum pre-making-out foods, and Aedan honestly could have used a nap and a shower in either order, but after hours of staring at blood samples and holograms of the woman who had nearly killed him, just the sensation of having Rei on his lips made none of that matter. That itch wasn't gone from the back of his mind, though. He wanted to do more, to claw just a little further ahead in this fight, to find something that would turn the tide. He wanted the fight to be over. He wanted the world to feel open for her--for her to go to LA or Oasis or wherever she wanted, to not have to worry about everyone back here.

She sank into his lap and his arms wrapped around her, letting even those stubborn thoughts melt away, if only for now, if only for a few moments. He hefted her up in his lap and he felt her breath puff out of her nostrils in an amused sound--maybe he was adjusting her to get to a more comfortable position, maybe he wanted to get the point across that he had put some muscle on with Marti's team, but either way she dove into the kiss hungrily. Aedan's arm curled around her more, trailing up her back, as his other hand brushed down her hip.

And then there was the vwoosh of the lab door opening.

"Aedan, I'm going to need to commandeer the holo-projector from you for a minute, one of my colleagues sent---" Mercy glanced up from her tablet to see Rei and Aedan, staring at her, tangled up precariously in one swivel chair.

"...Rei," Mercy said, straightening herself up in the doorway.

"Mom," Rei said, not making any movement to get out of Aedan's arms.

"Eh--" Aedan squeaked, sheet white with ears redder than his hair.

"I can come back later," Mercy said with a terrifying blankness.

"Mom--" Rei started, but Mercy put both hands up as the door whooshed close in front of her once more.

Aedan's heart was pounding in his ears. "She's going to kill me."

"She's not going to kill you," Rei rolled her eyes.

"She's going to kill me," said Aedan, his mind blank with terror.

"Aedan, we're adults, it's fine."

"You didn't tell her!?"

"I was going to tell her," Rei gestured vaguely, "You know... when I figured out how."

---

Genji was at Athena's main monitor browsing through some old Blackwatch files when the door opened behind him. He caught the barest reflection of her silhouette before turning around and brightly greeting her with, "Angela!" before quickly realizing that she was panting hard and her hair was disheveled. "Did you... run across the Watchpoi--?"

"When were you going to tell me?" Mercy's voice was almost a growl.

"Tell you... what--?""

"Our daughter! And the clone! I mean--the boy! Moira-clone-boy!"

"Aedan," Genji said easily.

"They were in the lab... c-canoodling!"

"Canoodling?" Genji repeated.

Mercy huffed out a tense breath, "...kissing," she clarified.

"Oh," said Genji, visibly relaxing.

"Did you know about this?" Mercy briskly closed the distance between them.

"Well... emotions did get a little high in Shirakami-Sanchi, but it wasn't really relevant to the mission debriefing."

Mercy just folded her arms in front of him.

"And... I figured it was Rei's business to tell you."

"Well yes but--" Mercy caught herself, now coming to terms with the fact that she had raced over her out of an outrage that she was far from being able to articulate, and the more she thought on it, the more (frustratingly) her sense of her right to outrage seemed to slip away from her.

"I feel like we've had this discussion before," said Genji.

"We said there was a possibility, that's very different from them making out in the lab."

"Oh no! Not the lab!" Genji said with clear amusement, "No one's ever made out in that lab before!"

Mercy's shoulders slumped and she looked at him sourly.

"I'm sorry---" Genji caught himself, "Obviously, I've had more time to come to terms with this, and I was there when things... started, sort of--"

"What do you mean 'sort of?'"

"Well it's in the debrief that both Rei and Aedan were missing from our campsite when they encountered Andrea. Rei's debrief says she was going back to the pond to try summoning the dragon again, and Aedan's debrief said he had headed away from the camp to relieve himself, but... I'm not ruling out the the possibility that they also could have snuck off together."

"They were sneaking off together under yours and Hanzo's noses!?"

"Honestly with the state Rei was in during that whole trip, it seems pretty unlikely that they were doing that," Genji murmured.

"Genji..." Mercy pressed her knuckles to her forehead, the burn of outrage now simmering down to exhausted frustration.

"Look--don't worry about that. What I'm saying is, when we let her go off to LA, we agreed we would trust her judgment, right?"

"Yes..." Mercy said slowly, lowering her hands.

"And you do like Aedan--I mean, I know it's been hard for you, overcoming everything you know Moira is capable of, but you two really have come a long way since he's joined the team."

"He is a good lab assistant," Mercy conceded, before muttering, "Though clearly he's gotten a bit too comfortable in that lab."

"Plus... it's not like we can really judge on the whole 'falling in love with your rescuer' thing," Genji stroked a knuckle down her jawline.

Mercy's lips were pursed, but a smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth as she glanced off.

"And if it's any consolation, I know he's still terrified of you," said Genji.

Mercy snorted. "It is fun to put the fear of god into him," she mused. She paused, still not meeting his eyes, before sighing and slumping her forehead onto his shoulder. "I'll be fine," she said, her voice reverberating against his cybernetic chestplate, clearly trying to convince herself just as much as him, "It will be fine. I can be calm about this."

"You really ran across the watchpoint, huh?" Genji brought his arms around her and rubbed her back a little.

"...yes," she admitted, and he just chuckled and set his chin on her head.

#I recently watched Legion of Superheroes and Supergirl/Braniac-5 have SUCH Reidan energy #sunshine girl who's a little aggro and awkward genius clone no one trusts--it them...#reidan #gency #follow for more gency kid facts #moiraspawn

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scotianostra · 1 year

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15th December 1900. An investigation subsequently concluded that it was on this day, probably in the afternoon that the three Keepers of the year old Flannan Isles Lighthouse disappeared.

On December 7th, 1900, Donald MacArthur, Thomas Marshall, and James Ducat arrived at the Flannan Isles lighthouse to begin their two-week rotation as keepers of the lighthouse. The Superintendent of Lighthouses, Robert Muirhead came with them to do a routine check of the lighthouse and speak to the men. He made certain that everything was in working order. He then spoke with James Ducat about some difficulties they were having with the heavy mist that commonly surrounded the island. The men then said goodbye to the Superintendent and he left.

The lighthouse was regularly monitored from the mainland by telescope. This way, if there were an emergency, the men could signal for help. Unfortunately, there was the problem of the mist. The lighthouse was seen on December 7 and December 12th. The lighthouse was also seen on December 15, by a passing ship. The crew noted that the light was not shining, as it should have been. It was not seen from land again until the 29th, well after the men should have ended their rotation.

The ship that was to deliver the men’s relief and bring them home from the Flannan Isles lighthouse was delayed until December 21st, because of a run of bad weather. When the ship, the SS Hesperus, arrived at Eilean Mor, the men on board expected to see a flag flying to indicate that the keepers had noted their arrival and would be deploying a rowboat to retrieve their relief. However, the flag was not flying, nor did the men respond to a siren. A landing craft with two men on board was launched from the SS Hesperus with two men on board.

When the two men reached Eilean Mor, one man, Joseph Moore, went up to check the lighthouse for the three missing men. He found the entrance locked. He unlocked the door and entered to find the Flannan Isles lighthouse unmanned. The clock on the wall had stopped. No fire was in the grate, nor had one been there for a few days. Oddly, there was a meal sitting at the table. It looked like someone had set it down with the intention of eating it soon, but left it untouched.

Whatever had happened to the men, it happened to them suddenly. There was nothing anyone could do about it with so few clues. So four men, including Moore, stayed on the island to operate the lighthouse while everyone else left.

The records of the three Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers were subsequently inspected. It was discovered that Eilean Mor was hit with a strong storm on December 14. The last entry was made on the afternoon of December 15. It simply stated:

“Storm ended, sea calm. God is over all.”

Superintendent Muirhead concluded that the men must have been taken by nature when they left the lighthouse to repair storm damage to a storage container outside. One of his theories (the most likely) was that a large wave came upon the men while they were working and swept all three of them into the Atlantic Ocean, where they died. This the story my Uncle Eric believes to be true, he worked on Flannan and many other lighthouses during the work to automate them all in the 1980′. Muirhead, wrote in his official report:

“I am of the opinion that the most likely explanation of this disappearance of the men is that they had all gone down on the afternoon of Saturday, 15 December to the proximity of the West landing, to secure the box with the mooring ropes, etc and that an unexpectedly large roller had come up on the island, and a large body of water going up higher than where they were and coming down upon them had swept them away with resistless force.

I visited them as lately as 7th December and have the melancholy recollection that I was the last person to shake hands with them and bid them adieu”.

Muirhead’s theory is largely regarded as truth. The only other alternatives seem to be that the men left of their own accord, they were kidnapped, or some other ludicrous speculation. Unfortunately, the bodies were ever recovered, so there is no way to be sure.

In the years following, other keepers claimed to hear voices in the salty air screaming out the names of Thomas Marshall, James Ducat, and Donald McArthur.

In “Mysterious Celtic Mythology in American Folklore”, author Bob Curran writes: “For many local people, there was little doubt that they had been spirited into the otherworld.”

#Scotland #scottish #lighthouse #lighthouse keeper #Flannan #dissapearance #mystery #history

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braintapes · 4 months

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been playing a metric shitload of pokemon these past few weeks and its got me cooking in my mind. the kinds of battlers i think the hotel podcast characters would be:

First, overall, I think the Staff would all have weak teams at first in different ways, but then later on you battle them a second time (maybe after fighting the New Crew) and they've got beefed up 'Mons that you have to actually work to beat.

The Lobby Boy's first team is frail. I'm talking like, Wimpod, Magikarp, Slakoth, stuff like that. Litwick. First stage evos or Pokemon that kinda hinder themselves more than they're useful. Golett with Klutz or smth. The first battle's a cake walk. But these are Pokemon with pretty powerful evolved forms once you get there - Slaking, Gyarados, Golisopod...you get the idea. You fight him the second time and he hits you like a truck with highly powerful mons.

The Manager's team is designed around entry hazards. The Manager manages, she adapts. She knows she's going to take a hit, but she's going to make absolutely sure you get punished for landing it. Bulky, defensive mons that can take a beating long enough to set up spikes, stealth rocks, etc. Maybe also a Sharpedo for Rough Skin and to tie into her fish/ocean creature theming. Middle evos for the first battle maybe, full evos and more type coverage the second time? Also a focus on status setting, just to be extra painful while you slowly lose

The Owner's team has plenty of decently powerful Pokemon...but they are horribly set up. Bad abilities, poorly applied movesets, the works. Mons with Intimidation but which don't take advantage of it, ones that get Heavy Slam but aren't, uh, heavy enough to make good use of it. A team that would be kinda scary to go up against if he knew what he was doing. Which he does figure out by his second battle. Maybe he gets to use one of the cool gimmick features like Mega Evolution or Gigantamaxing or something. Idk about specific Pokemon, but I do know for sure he should have a Dusknoir. It's just right to me.

The New Crew, overall, take advantage of different battle formats. So while you don't rematch them, they come out of the box with strong teams focused on good synergy. If you could rematch them, they'd probably do some of the fun stuff the battle facilities in the games do, imposing restrictions and interesting limits.

The Bellhop and Concierge are fought as a unit in a double battle. The Concierge plays defensive and support, with bulky/hard-to-hit mons that set up screens, boost ally stats, and weaken enemy stats. He probably also enjoys taking advantage of things like confusion and infatuation/immobilization. I like the idea of him using normal types and 'regular' seeming Pokemon, perhaps.

The Bellhop has the strike team. She hits hard and fast with strong physical and special attackers. Favors moves that hit multiple times or have additional effects, although with all the stat boosts the Concierge is stacking her with it's really just overkill at this point. Pokemon with abilities that boost their stats maybe, or with abilities that nullify moves of certain types? Need to think on that more.

The Auditor's team is designed for support, but...a little too much. You fight her in a rotation battle, which (iirc) play like single battles but with some advantages. Still, I don't think she'd be a complete wash and she can keep her own Pokemon healed up throughout the fight and stall you out (again i dont remember rotation battles as much as double battles so i could be wrong on this. will have to research). Bug and ghost type user I imagine. I think she should get to have Aegislash, I know it's a sword and not a knife, but it's still a wicked blade. Also she gets a Banette bc I thought it'd be fitting for either her or the Manager.

Madam Hotel's first fight is a wash. Full of seemingly random and seemingly useless gimmick Pokemon. Chimecho absolutely has to be on her team because I need it to be on someone's team. Mimikyu, Eiscue, Zorua, a focus on disguises and damage absorption, but fairly easy to deal with once you've figured the gimmick out. Until you get to the very end of your team and thBLAM. BLACEPHALON BLAST!!!!!!!!!

The Hotel Herself does not fight fair. She rotates constantly between Ultra Beasts, Legends, Pokemon from the Staff and New Crew teams, thematically appropriate mons, she'll switch out a Pokemon from the box mid-battle because she can. She's gamebreaking and she knows it, and she's really just toying with you and having her own fun.

Her strategy is high risk, high reward. Fun, explosive plays in a literal sense - self-destructing moves, extremely powerful but low accuracy moves, anything relying on luck to hurt you. All of her team has accuracy and critical hit boosting items and she spams healing, revives, pp, constantly. It's an endurance game, like the most unbalanced and poorly designed of romhack battles cranked up to 100.

If you can outlast her somehow and win, she just kills you out of battle anyway

thank you for coming to my ted talk . smile :]

#SORRY FOR THIS WALL OF A POST i didnt mean it to get this long #ive just been thinking a lot. i now understand the idea of team comp/strategy as self expression.#and how that can apply to showing a characters personality #so im thinking less abt specific mons and more style. how would they approach a battle situation #disclaimer i still dont know anything about pokemons strategies or how all that works. still v new to me

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cheswirls · 2 months

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xx preview :)

Her hand slowly falls from his chest once her breathing has returned to normal. “My parents–”

“Are probably worried,” Sabo finishes, not letting her close that train of thought with what she’d asked previously. “We should call them, hm? Let them know where you are.”

She looks away, biting her lip to betray her nerves, and Sabo tries something else.

“You don’t have to talk to them just yet. We can pretend you’re still asleep, if you’d like. That way they get updated and you go home faster.”

She takes the words in and does another cursory look around the room. Then she points to herself. “Who else was in here when I woke up?”

He smiles. “Just me.”

“Then.” She swallows. “Can we pretend I’m still asleep for everyone out there?” She points to the curtain. “Just for a little bit longer?”

Smart girl. If she’s still unconscious, then they still have no one to contact. His smile widens. “Tell you what. If you give me your name, I’ll keep your secret for another hour. Then we’ll call your parents together. Deal?”

“Yeah, okay.” She nods slowly. “It’s Bonney. Bartholomew Bonney.”

“Spell it,” Sabo says, and quickly pens it out on her forms as she does so. “Perfect. Let me check a few more things, Bonney, then I’ll let you get some more rest.”

“Do you have water?” she asks. “My throat is all scratchy.”

That makes sense, considering the tube she’d had down her esophagus during surgery. He confirms and rises to grab the cup he’d filled with ice water earlier, turning the straw in her direction and letting her take the plastic in both hands before releasing it.

“How old are you, Bonney?”

She moves her lips from the straw to answer. “Fifteen!”

Hm. Younger than he’d thought. “Do you know your weight?”

“Forty-three, I think? Mm!” She perks up. “And a hundred and fifty-two centimeters!”

“Very good.” Sabo smiles as he scribbles the numbers in. “Blood type?”

“Oh.” Bonney shakes her head. “I don’t know that one. Mom is type A, if that helps?”

“That’s fine.” He leaves the box blank. “We had you on O when we did your transfusion. Nothing wrong with that if we need another.”

“Transfu-what?” She makes a face. “Is that what this is?” She points to where the needle is embedded in her right wrist.

“Close!” Sabo clicks his pen and leans forward. “You’re on a morphine drip, so that would be an infusion. A blood transfusion is where you get new blood pushed into your veins.”

“Huh.” Her eyes drop, Sabo notices, to his nametag. She mouths it twice before trying to say it aloud. “Anything else, doctor Say-bo?”

“Sah-bo,” he corrects lightly. Bonney flushes and he chuckles, finally leaning back. “I’m not a doctor yet. I’m actually finishing up medical school. This is one of my final rotations.” He sets the clipboard down and puts her water cup to the side when she moves it in his direction. “Let me check your eyes real quick.”

“Huuuh.” Bonney leans back, lost in thought. “Saaaaaaaaabo,” she tries again, drawing the vowel out. “Wait, my eyes? What for?”

“Checking pupil response.” He returns to her side with a light in hand. “I want to walk you through a few things to make sure your brain is working properly.”

Bonney carefully keeps her eyes wide as he shines the light into each, doing her best to hold still. “Did something happen to my head? I don’t remember hitting it or anything.”

Sabo puts the light away and uses her left hand to test some motor skills. “Not physically, in that case. We weren’t sure, so we were being careful. Always good to be cautious.” He clears his throat, trying to think of a simple way to explain the next bit. “When you lose a lot of blood, your body can’t resupply any to your brain as quickly as it can to other areas. Too much blood loss for too long starts to affect how your brain functions, so I just want to make sure things are normal.” He has her do one more thing and then smiles, satisfied. “Which they appear to be.”

“Oh, goodie.” Bonney leans back again with a big sigh, the tension dropping from her shoulders in a comical manner. She sits quietly while Sabo scribbles notes onto her file.

Sabo doesn’t consider the quiet a bad thing until it’s not quiet before, Bonney sniffling behind his back. He looks over his shoulder and stops writing in alarm when he sees fat tears streaming down her face. Her hands are clenched into the thin sheet she’s pulled up to her waist, and her legs are curled up so her knees are even with her neck.

Sabo sets the clipboard down and hurries over. “Does it hurt?” he asks, referring to her side. Her new position leaves her torso straightened out enough to where it shouldn’t really bother her, so he leaves her be instead of trying to uncurl her.

“No,” she chokes. “I just–” She bites back a sob. “I’m so stupid! I don’t know what I’m going to tell my dad.”

Sabo minutely relaxes and does his best not to sigh. He’s not . . . really great at this aspect of patient care. But, well, he’s done alright with her so far. And her hour wasn’t up yet. It wouldn’t be fair for him to grab someone else to better console her after he’d already made her that promise.

He settles heavily on the free space on the cot and tries to think about what Ace would do. Ace had always been better with kids than Sabo. He’d come home from his rotation in pediatrics and talk Sabo’s ear off about how much the staff loved him; meanwhile, that same staff had barely tolerated Sabo during his own rotation in year three. (It was fine, he’d decided after brooding about it for long enough. People had different strengths, and working with young people clearly wasn’t one of his. At least not at this point in his life.)

Sabo isn’t Ace, though, and Ace isn’t here to tell him what to do. He has to figure out what works for him.

“You can always tell me first,” he starts with. “If that makes it easier. I’m bound under oath, so anything you say to me will stay between us.” A little white lie won’t hurt. Not if it earns her trust, anyway.

Bonney looks conflicted about this prospect. She’s still crying, quiet hiccups shaking her form. But she’s looking at him like she’s thinking over the offer. Her arms move up to wrap around her knees. She winces when the movement pulls at her side.

“I won’t think you’re stupid, no matter what happened,” he tries, lowering his voice to try and be softer. “I’m just here to help, remember? Maybe telling someone will be good for you, too.”

Bonney’s head drops to her knees in defeat. She nods, the motion pulling at her hair. “Okay.”

Sabo wants to take her legs and jerk them so they’re straight, if only to fix her posture so she’s not aggravating her wound. He resists, though, not wanting to risk her retreating into her shell. Instead he sits there calmly, hands in lap, waiting for Bonney to pick her head up and start her story.

“I was messing around with a friend,” she mumbles, voice hollow. “He brought one of his parent’s handguns to try out, and we were just having fun trying it out.” She lifts her left arm and mimes a shot. “The, uh, recoil? It was awful, especially because I’m so scrawny. So he helped me with a shot, except I got stubborn about it, and between the two of us we discharged the gun.” Her hand drifts back to her side. She’s crying again, voice warbling the more wet her face gets.

“I told him it wasn’t his fault but he wouldn’t listen. He drove me up here when we couldn’t stop the bleeding, and he wanted to come in with me, and I made him leave because I didn’t want him to get in trouble!” She starts sobbing again, breathing erratically, shoulders and entire body shaking with the effort.

Sabo didn’t want to scare her, so he hadn’t said it, but having a minor with a GSW meant they had to let law enforcement know there’d been an incident. They’d probably come in to talk to Bonney after Sabo leaves and everyone is alerted that she’s conscious. To know that there wasn’t an actual crime involved is . . it’s a strange comfort, at present.

“He won’t get in trouble,” Sabo promises. “You don’t . . .” He hesitates, visibly, but Bonney’s attention is on him now, so he continues. “You don’t have to tell anyone else what happened if you don’t want to. That’s between you and him.”

She bites her lip again, shakes her head. “My parents won’t like–”

“I don’t mean them. Or, just them,” Sabo amends. “I’m talking about anyone else in this hospital. Anyone at all. No matter who they are. I’m glad you told me, because if something had happened that we didn’t know about, and it was information that we needed in order to treat you, then it would be very important to know. But we’ve already pulled the bullet out of you, and your life isn’t in danger, so this stays between us. Okay?”

Bonney nods frantically.

Sabo can’t resist, so he tacks on, “if you end up in an emergency situation again, you should always let a medical professional know how you got injured. They’ll keep it to themselves – they have to – and the more information there is to go off of, the better treatment you’ll receive in the end.”

Bonney nods more. She’s sniffling, and still sorta crying, but she’s not being as loud about it, like she’s trying to stop.

“And–” He can’t believe he’s about to offer to do this, but he hates seeing her so miserable. “–if you need me to tell your parents for you, then I can try. But considering it was an accident, it might be better for you to try yourself.”

“Yeah, okay,” Bonney whispers. “But do you– Um. Do you think you could tell them it was an accident? So they don’t worry?”

“I can do that,” Sabo promises. “Are you ready to let them know you’re here?”

“Yes,” she mumbles, crowding her face close to her knees again. “And some more water, please.”

Sabo does her one better: he brings her a handful of tissues and a full cup of cold water. While she fixes her face, muttering a thanks to him before blowing her nose, Sabo tucks her chart safely under his arm.

“I’ll be right back, Bonney.”

#op #writing #sabo #jewelry bonney #i had theeeeee best time writing bonney n ginny n kuma #esp bc bonney's already been introduced in present day #i was supposed to write abt the pediatrics ward in the present actually #i wrote this instead like a month ago n have not thought abt it since

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neon-dynasty · 1 year

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Gathering Friends

I collect Planeswalker cards. Ever since I opened Sarkhan Vol in a Shards of Alara draft, I've been in love with the card type. It's like calling in a favor from a friend, except instead of getting a ride to the airport, you get dragons.

Look at that card! It may not seem special now, but imagine seeing something like this for the first time. The curved art border, the transparent rules box, the character literally popping out of the frame. It was unlike anything ever seen in the game before, at least outside of joke sets. The introduction of Planeswalkers in Lorwyn was probably the biggest impact on Magic: The Gathering in the franchise's history.

The rules for my collection started off simple: 1) Every printing of every Planeswalker card 2) If there's a premium and a non-premium version of the card, only the non-premium version counts

Then they got a little more complicated as new ways of getting Planeswalker cards came about: 3) Prerelease promos that are identical in every way to their main set counterparts don't count (this would go on to exclude promo pack cards with the foil symbol stamped on the image, as well as reprints with the little symbol on the bottom left of the card) 4) Cards given out as prizes don't count 4b) Heroes of the Realm cards DEFINITELY don't count 5) Lottery cards don't count (1/30 Collector Booster, serialized, other assorted nonsense)

Then came the big one: 6) Special foil treatments do count, so long as they have different collector numbers

That last rule was tough to decide on, because it walked back the lottery stipulation for the foil etched cards in Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. However, the textured foil cards in Double Masters 2022 were different enough from their main set counterparts that it felt right. It's also a very expensive category. As it stands, I can't afford to collect all of those, but we'll see what the future brings.

I'm currently pretty far behind with the collection, missing around 91 out of the 687 currently available Planeswalker cards (excluding 18 cards that land outside of the rules, of which I do own 7). It's mostly a bunch of inexpensive cards, less than ten dollars each, so it's doable. I'm thinking of buying everything worth less than five bucks in one go, and then completing the rest set by set. The last (and only) time I had a complete collection was during Amonkhet, so I'm in no rush.

It's definitely a first world problem, but damn if they don't print FAR too many cards these days. I love collecting these things, but because I don't let it get in the way of my real life, the backlog builds up. It's especially annoying because there are three or more different versions of each Planeswalker card in each set nowadays. I rarely feel the thrill of opening one in a pack anymore, because it's only one of a dozen or more mythic rare cards I need from the set. Phyrexia: All Will Be One is certainly an outlier, but I added thirty-five rows to my spreadsheet in anticipation of the set's release.

One interesting thing about the way the game is now, rotating out of Standard doesn't affect the price of cards very much after a few months. Prices stabilize much more quickly than they used to, and they don't drop as drastically anymore. I no longer feel like I should wait until rotation to clear the backlog a bit.

As a final note, I recently discovered the existence of this card:

It's a prize for Japanese store tournaments. It doesn't count toward the collection (though I do have the other three alternate art promos in this series), but I want it very badly. I've been trying to figure out how to scrounge up a couple hundred bucks to get this card, and feeling ridiculous because there's no excuse for spending that much money on a Magic card, especially one I'll never play.

I enjoy collecting these things, even during times when I'm not actively playing the game with friends. It maintains my connection to the hobby, and gives me a reason to keep up with the story and the game mechanics. On the flip side, sometimes I feel trapped by what can seem like a monumental endeavor. I often wish I could divert the attention I spend on this elsewhere.

In the end, though, Planeswalkers are the reason I still play one of my favorite games in the world. If I hadn't started this collection, I would certainly have moved on from Magic years ago. For something that brings me so much joy, I'm glad I've been able to stick with it for all this time.

#mtg #magic the gathering #planeswalkers

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shares-a-vest · 1 year

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Fruity Four Advent Calendar, Day 14: Decorating

Prompt List

Eddie, Nancy and Robin convince Steve to decorate his house for Christmas after being left home alone for the fourth year in a row. But he’s being a difficult grouch about it. That is until he finds the perfect ornament to hang on the tree.

This ended up being longer and angstier than I had planned whoopsie. I’ll be back on the 17th. I totally need to finalise rl Christmas stuff because it's just too overwhelming. Whyyy is Christmas just this endless stressful time every single year???

‘Steve Cries Over a Christmas Ornament’

Steve finds himself standing in Hawkins' last operating gas station, rotating a stand of cheap, last minute Christmas decorations as Eddie, Nancy and Robin stand in an aisle arguing about beer. That's when he spots it. An oversized, glittering ornament, hanging precariously on the stand and sticking out like a sore thumb amongst delicate red and green trinkets.

He smiles, possibly for the first time since the others had practically broken his front door down after Dustin had blabbed and told them his parents were going away, yet again for Christmas. It would mark the fourth in a row and Eddie (new to this heartbreaking revelation) had decided to do something about it. Which is how Steve ended up spending his morning off hauling his mother’s dusty Christmas boxes in from the garage in the snow. The others, of course, didn’t help and instead stood around debating whether he should buy a plastic store-bought tree or a real one.

"I'll just go buy a plastic one," Steve had insisted, annoyed at the lack of assistance. "I'm not spending weeks sweeping up pine needles."

A modest green tree was sliding around in its box in the back of Eddie’s van when Robin had demanded they stop for beer and candy, an indication to Steve that the trio probably wouldn’t be helping him decorate the house either.

He tucks a six-pack under his arm and plucks the ornament from off the display hanger, glitter comes with it, falling onto the sleeve cuff of his sweater, a red and white hand-knitted sweater Dustin’s mum gifted him for Christmas last year. He looks it over, chewing his lip in thought as his eyes glaze over the shimmering glitter.

"What's ya looking at?" Robin asks, craning her neck over his shoulder as he jumps and encloses the Christmas decoration in his hand.

He whips around, hiding the ornament behind his back as Robin sets a six-pack on the counter.

"Nothing," he insists.

"Whatever," she says, further filling the register space with some impulse purchases she grabs at the front counter. "Stop being a grump."

"I'm not", he retorts.

Knowing he’ll likely have to foot the bill, he begrudgingly grabs his wallet. Robin merely shrugs, the earflaps of her winter hat swishing as she hauls the beer back under her arm. As she does so, Nancy and Eddie load up more purchases, seemingly having settled their loud argument, save for a few defiant glances as they set their chosen candies on at the register.

After some awkward lingering and quizzing from the others, Steve manages to stay back and pay for the silly (not-so-little) ornament and shoves it in a bag he doesn’t let out of his sight for the trip back to his house.

The quartet spends hours assembling the tree, all because Robin and Eddie feel the need to comment on Vivianne Harrington’s choice of a gaudy red and gold Christmas motif with every ornament and decoration they unwrap from the Christmas boxes. Nancy spends the duration of their decorating time untangling Christmas lights and it is possibly the only task Steve has ever seen her truly struggle with.

At one point he finds himself up on a ladder with Eddie conveniently spotting him on the ground as he adds some finishing decorations around the living room, loathing to admit actually enjoying it.

"Eds, is it straight?" he asks, holding a ‘Merry Christmas’ banner up over the fireplace.

Eddie, in a total trance and staring at Steve’s butt, shakes his head.

"Nope, absolutely not."

Nancy and Robin burst into laughter from the couch, having abandoned helping entirely after the tree was finished. The noise sets Steve off into a series of wobbles. Eddie places his palms squarely on Steve's butt cheeks, pushing him forward against the ladder rungs. He makes a shrieking sound as Robin positively cackles.

"Can you two help?" Steve snaps, looking over at the girls positively rolling around on the couch in hysterics.

"Nope!" Robin says, popping the 'p' and shaking her head, hair frizzing as she holds up a beer can.

"We are relaxing!" Nancy nods in agreement, waving around a takeaway Chinese menu. "Anyway, Eddie said he’d spot you."

Steve looks down at a grinning Eddie, still cupping his behind. He flashes his teeth in an even wider, and not-at-all-innocent, smile.

The girls eventually decide on their Chinese order and leave to get it, even though Robin is even more unfocused when inebriated. Steve bides time in the living room and decides to turn off the light switch to bask in the full effects of the Christmas scene that has been absent from his house for years. As he flips the switch, his heart drops at the sight and tears quickly well up at the sight of the tree.

His tree.

He steps closer and takes it in, hugging himself tightly as he blinks away tears. Not a moment later, he feels Eddie behind him, snaking his arms around his middle and hooking his chin on his shoulder. Steve promptly pinches his nose in a further attempt to stop his tears and turns on the spot, Eddie not detaching himself an inch.

"What’s wrong?" he asks, shocked, brows furrowed.

"Nothing," Steve replies in a low mumble before adding a little more upbeat, "I have something for you. Just… let me get it."

Before Eddie can say any more, he disappears and bounds up the stairs to his bedroom to retrieve the Christmas ornament he had bought at the gas station from its hiding spot in a box on his unused desk.

When he returns, Eddie is still standing where he left him, eyes wide in thought as he stares at the decorated Christmas tree and chews at his nails. Steve holds out the ornament and practically shoves it in Eddie’s hand before looking down.

"This is for you," he mumbles, sniffling. "To hang on the tree we bought."

At that, he bursts into tears.

In a split second, Eddie's arms are around him again, although his hug is tentatively loose.

"M’Sorry," he says, crying into Eddie’s shoulder and stating the obvious, "I never cry."

He hiccups as he white-knuckles Eddie’s (or, his) sweater.

"I know, Steve," he says with a faint hint of a laugh.

Steve pulls away to look at him. Eddie gives a little squeaking gasp at the sight of him, nose red and cheeks wet with tears.

"Oh, Stevie," he whispers, reaching up to gently comb his fringe back as he furrows his brow and worries, "Was all this one of my dumber ideas?"

"No, no, no," he replies, shaking his head. "I-I… I love it."

Ever the contagious crier, Eddie is welling up too. He gulps heavily and gives a faint smile as he tilts his head in the direction of the couch. They sit and Steve continues sniffling away as Eddie holds out the ornament, slipping it onto his ringed index finger to examine it.

In the low light of the living room, it was perfect, the black glitter covering the bulk of the castle (looking like a rip-off of Cinderella’s) glimmers subtly. The contrasting silver details of the roof, window frames and door shine brighter, looking like snow covering some dark and sinister castle straight out of one of Eddie’s DND campaigns.

"The Prince’s Castle," Eddie declares as the ornament twirls precariously on its thin string, his grip on Steve’s shoulder growing a little tighter.

"I think there’s enough room in it for his Bard too," Steve adds, ungraciously wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

Eddie chuckles, "Okay. That was very smooth, Steve."

Steve gives an unconvincing laugh as he rests his head on his shoulder. He feels Eddie’s hand come up to the back of his head, fingers moving through his hair.

"I cried when we were all in the hospital after everything," he explains, eventually breaking the silence. "A bunch, actually."

Eddie merely hums and continues combing his hands through Steve’s hair, a little more purposely now, as he always did when he was listening to Steve talk.

"I cried when Robin was finally allowed to come into my room and when she told me you were okay," he continues and closes his eyes with a sigh as Eddie continues twirling the castle on his finger.

They only stir in the darkness of the living room when Nancy and Robin burst in the front door, loudly rustling bags as Robin excitedly recites the whole Chinese order.

"We’re back," Robin sing-songs as Nancy holds up their food. She glances over, not noticing in the dim lighting that her best friend has been crying, "Oh, the two of you are being gross lovebirds."

She continues on into the kitchen as Nancy follows along, shaking her head.

"Don’t bitch if I eat all the spring rolls because you are too busy making out with your boyfriend, Steve!"

Steve straightens up on the couch and wipes his eyes.

Eddie’s quirked eyebrow disappears under his fringe as he hesitantly asks, "You okay?"

"Yes," he replies, reaching out to hold his boyfriend’s hand as he considers what to say next. "I just really like you being here with me for Christmas. And I wanted to give you something to show it."

Eddie leaps up from the couch and offers a hand.

Steve takes it and Eddie quickly wipes under his eyes with his free hand before leading him across the living room and back over to the tree. Eddie looks it over, his dark eyes twinkling even more than usual from the Christmas lights. Steve watches as he pokes his tongue out in concentration, carefully deciding where to hang the castle.

He grins when he finds the perfect spot, about halfway up the tree, facing the living area. He hangs it on a branch, being careful to hook the string further onto the twig so it won’t droop down and slip off. He quickly bends the branch underneath it up slightly so the heavy and oversized castle has something to sit on for extra security. It’s perfect, tucked in between some Christmas lights for maximum shimmering.

Once he is satisfied with its placement and certain it won’t fall, he looks over to find Steve positively beaming at him.

"What?" he asks, a grin creeping across his face.

"You have glitter in your hair," Steve says, reaching up to pick his fingers through his curls.

#StrangerThingsFestiveFun #the fruity four #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #steddie ficlet

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