#MAGIC SOFTWARE MACHINE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gabessquishytum · 1 month

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Dream's a software developer (I could see either as an architect for that large-scale view mentality or as the Senior level dev that keeps getting asked to move into management type positions and just straight up refuses because he's been doing code happily for the past fifteen years and doesn't plan on changing that now).

He enjoys his job enough. He likes computers and code. It functions exactly as told (for better or worse) and appreciates the straightforwardness of it all. He's a bit insufferable to work with, but if you have an issue, he'll readily help (just be prepares for critiques on your code in the process).

Hob works at the same company as Dream, but as a front-end dev. The work he does for his day job is kinda boring. All standard corporate style web design. No fancy scripts or fun colors. But in his spare time, he weaves Javascript and CSS like a wizard and creates magical, animated scenes across the page. Would it be easier to just make a video and play it on the page instead? Sure, but where's the fun in that?

Dream and Hob get paired together on a small side project for work. Hob does the front-end work, Dream does the back-end. They get on each other's nerves at first, until Dream spots Hob tinkering with his personal code on their lunch break and is honestly a bit in awe. He's found code beautiful in its own right (the way one appreciates a well-oiled machine) but he's never seen it wielded in such a fashion before. This is the moment he falls just a little bit (read: a lotta bit) in love with Hob. He was already starting to fall for that endless charm and wit of his anyways.

The company hits the first quarter of the New Year and with it come layoffs. Hob gets fired along with some other devs from Dream's same team (a younger pair of devs: Matthew and Jessamy). A fellow named Will comes along to help Dream finish the project in Hob's stead and Dream hates every moment of it. He misses Hob, more than he ever thought he would.

So, in an impulsive rush of anger and longing, he quits the company because how dare it toss someone as good as Hob Gadling out the door without a thought? He's halfway to the café he and Hob had started frequenting together when he realizes that he's just thrown away a career fifteen years in the making. But when he finally gets to the café and sees Hob tapping away on his laptop, he knows he's made the right choice.

Dream slides into the seat across from him and proposes that they build something wonderful together. So they create a small business of their own. They become a freelance web dev team (and steal Jessamy and Matthew as well) and with their skills combined, they take off. It's not huge, but for their size, they're incredibly popular. And Dream's certain he's never enjoyed his work more than when he's working beside Hob.

Later on, Hob proposes to Dream via a custom website with the most beautiful web animations he's ever seen before. And of course, he says yes.

(If you're curious about what inspired this, here's the website: http://www.species-in-pieces.com)

This is such a good concept for a story!!! I really really love aus where Dream and Hob are coworkers. Dream being the grumpy, awkward guy who hides behind his coffee mug while Hob is the popular, chatty one who tries to get Dream involved in fun office activities or socialising after work - it makes so much sense to me.

And Dream quitting his long-term dream job because he's mad that genuinely talented people have been laid off? I love it. Dream just has this inate appreciation for hard work and good art, and that's exactly what Hob (and Jessamy and Matthew) do. How dare the stupid company not understand that they're firing people who deserve to thrive and grow in an environment which actually appreciates them? Everyone is shocked that Dream has quit (not only that, he sends around an email to everyone in the company from the ceo all the way down to the work experience guy, outlining exactly why he quit) because he seemed to be the type to play by the rules and never leave his comfort zone. Apparently, Hob has really helped him bloom into a much more confident person, able to express his principles and strive for better.

And Hob isn't surprised, because he always knew that Dream had the courage, talent and ambition to strike out on his own. Maybe he just needed a bit of love and understanding. Which Hob is only too happy to provide.

Their work together sometimes involves long hours and stress, but Dream wouldn't ever want to go back to the slightly soulless corporation where he used to be. Even if he's tired and a little frustrated by Hob’s disorganised workspace, Dream is perfectly content. There's nothing better than curling up in Hob’s lap while he taps away on a line of code. Plus, he has a great time building their wedding website. Hob got to propose, so Dream gets to celebrate their upcoming marriage with his own expression of love through code. The theme colours are, of course, black and red <3

#kydrogendragon #the sandman #dreamling

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andmaybegayer · 9 months

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Hello. So what's the deal with computer chips? Let's say, for example, that I wanted to build a brand new Sega Genesis. Ignoring firmware and software, what's stopping me from dissecting their proprietary chips and reverse-engineering them to make new ones? It's just electric connections and such inside, isn't it? If I match the pin ins and outs, shouldn't it be easy? So why don't people do it?

The answer is that people totally used to do this, there's several examples of chips being cloned and used to build compatible third-party hardware, the most famous two examples being famiclones/NESclones and Intel 808X clones.

AMD is now a major processor manufacturer, but they took off in the 70's by reverse-engineering Intel's 8080 processor. Eventually they were called in to officially produce additional 8086 chips under license to meet burgeoning demand for IBM PC's, but that was almost a decade later if I remember correctly.

There were a ton of other 808X clones, like the Soviet-made pin-compatible K1810VM86. Almost anyone with a chip fab was cloning Intel chips back in the 80's, a lot of it was in the grey area of reverse engineering the chips.

Companies kept cloning Intel processors well into the 386 days, but eventually the processors got too complicated to easily clone, and so only companies who licensed designs could make them, slowly reducing the field down to Intel, AMD, and Via, who still exist! Via's CPU division currently works on the Zhaoxin x86_64 processors as part of the ongoing attempts to homebrew a Chinese-only x86 processor.

I wrote about NES clones a while ago, in less detail, so here's that if you want to read it:

Early famiclones worked by essentially reverse-engineering or otherwise cloning the individual chips inside an NES/famicom, and just reconstructing a compatible device from there. Those usually lacked any of the DRM lockout chips built into the original NES, and were often very deeply strange, with integrated clones of official peripherals like the keyboard and mouse simply hardwired directly into the system.

These were sold all over the world, but mostly in developing economies or behind the Iron Curtain where official Nintendo stuff was harder to find. I had a Golden China brand Famiclone growing up, which was a common famiclone brand around South Africa.

Eventually the cost of chip fabbing came down and all those individual chips from the NES were crammed onto one cheap piece of silicon and mass produced for pennies each, the NES-on-a-chip. With this you could turn anything into an NES, and now you could buy a handheld console that ran pirated NES game for twenty dollars in a corner store. In 2002. Lots of edutainment mini-PC's for children were powered by these, although now those are losing out to Linux (and now Android) powered tablets a la Leapfrog.

Nintendo's patents on their hardware designs expired throughout the early 2000's and so now the hardware design was legally above board, even if the pirated games weren't. You can still find companies making systems that rely on these NES chips, and there are still software houses specializing in novel NES games.

Why doesn't this really happen anymore? Well, mostly CPU's and their accoutrements are too complicated. Companies still regularly clone their competitors simpler chips all the time, and I actually don't know if Genesis clones exist, it's only a Motorola 68000k, but absolutely no one is cloning a modern Intel or AMD processor.

The die of a Motorola 68000 (1979)

A classic Intel 8080 is basically the kind of chip you learn about in entry level electrical engineering, a box with logic gates that may be complicated, but pretty straightforwardly fetches things from memory, decodes, executes, and stores. A modern processor is a magic pinball machine that does things backwards and out of order if it'll get you even a little speedup, as Mickens puts it in The Slow Winter:

I think that it used to be fun to be a hardware architect. Anything that you invented would be amazing, and the laws of physics were actively trying to help you succeed. Your friend would say, “I wish that we could predict branches more accurately,” and you’d think, “maybe we can leverage three bits of state per branch to implement a simple saturating counter,” and you’d laugh and declare that such a stupid scheme would never work, but then you’d test it and it would be 94% accurate, and the branches would wake up the next morning and read their newspapers and the headlines would say OUR WORLD HAS BEEN SET ON FIRE. You’d give your buddy a high-five and go celebrate at the bar, and then you’d think, “I wonder if we can make branch predictors even more accurate,” and the next day you’d start XOR’ing the branch’s PC address with a shift register containing the branch’s recent branching history, because in those days, you could XOR anything with anything and get something useful, and you test the new branch predictor, and now you’re up to 96% accuracy, and the branches call you on the phone and say OK, WE GET IT, YOU DO NOT LIKE BRANCHES, but the phone call goes to your voicemail because you’re too busy driving the speed boats and wearing the monocles that you purchased after your promotion at work. You go to work hung-over, and you realize that, during a drunken conference call, you told your boss that your processor has 32 registers when it only has 8, but then you realize THAT YOU CAN TOTALLY LIE ABOUT THE NUMBER OF PHYSICAL REGISTERS, and you invent a crazy hardware mapping scheme from virtual registers to physical ones, and at this point, you start seducing the spouses of the compiler team, because it’s pretty clear that compilers are a thing of the past, and the next generation of processors will run English-level pseudocode directly.

Die shot of a Ryzen 5 2600 core complex (2019)

Nowadays to meet performance parity you can't just be pin-compatible and run at the right frequency, you have to really do a ton of internal logical optimization that is extremely opaque to the reverse engineer. As mentioned, Via is making the Zhaoxin stuff, they are licensed, they have access to all the documentation needed to make an x86_64 processor, and their performance is still barely half of what Intel and AMD can do.

Companies still frequently clone each others simpler chips, charge controllers, sensor filters, etc. but the big stuff is just too complicated.

#computer stuff #silicon #vlsi #ask #video games #thehylianbatman

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greed-the-dorkalicious · 10 months

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All the discussion around AI lately got me thinking about an incident recently in which a guy got his ass sorely beat by the vocal synth community

For those of you not familiar, “vocal synths” in the electronic music sense typically refers to programs like Vocaloid, SynthV, UTAU, Alter/Ego, DeepVocal, etc., digital instruments that allow composers to create, as the name implies, synthesized vocal tracks. The way they work is that they draw from libraries (referred to as “voicebanks” or VB for short) of special studio recorded* vocal samples from singers singing different syllables at a consistent pitch. The program then splices these together and adjusts the pitch to match whatever notes you put in- You want to do All Star, it’s gonna string together “[suh][m] [buh][di] [wuh][n][s] [tO][ld] [mi]” or something like that. Basically it’s an extremely complicated sampler.

(*unless you’re using UTAU or another build-your-own-vocal program in which the “studio” is only metaphorical, and is sometimes somebody’s basement with a Rockband mic plugged into a laptop.)

Now, there is no threat of vocal synths putting actual singers out of a job. Even the best vocal synths always have a bit of a robotic sound to them, and the voicebanks take hundreds of hours of recording time from you know, actual singers. Any piece made with vocal synths has to be worked by a human hand in a process called “tuning” in order to sound any good, whether you’re trying to make it sound human or leaning into the robotic sound. This isn’t something that’s being done on a corporate scale to cut costs- This is something pretty much exclusively being done by small scale indie music hobbyists because we fucking love Hatsune Miku and her weird buddies. Most folks are less interested in doing something that sounds 1:1 like a human voice and more in going beyond what humans can do to make shit like this

youtube

One of the leading vocal synths right now is Synthesizer V (SynthV), created by a company called Dreamtonics. SynthV offers fancier versions of some of its voicebanks, which are called “AI” voicebanks. These use machine learning trained on, again, professionally recorded and legally licensed vocal samples to help make songs sound a little bit more smooth, a little bit more in line with whatever singing style you’re aiming for. Everything else previously mentioned still applies: They’re still painstakingly recorded and programmed, you still need to tweak it yourself to get it to sound just right, and it’s still never going to sound 100% like a human. And that’s fine!

For this next bit y’all are gonna have to trust me because the tweets all got deleted, though if anyone wants I’m happy to pull up screencaps of talking shit about it with other vocal synth folks when it happened lmfao

So basically. Since ChatGPT type grifters have convinced people that “AI” means “magic plagiarism button”, back in April some dipshit NFT guy on Twitter started complaining on an official SynthV update post that SynthV (which he apparently believed to be called “Dreamtonics”, the name of the company that makes it) should allow people to make voicebanks from “their own voice”, insisting that it would be easy and PROFITABLE!™ to do so. He also clearly did not actually mean “their own voice” but rather “the voices of celebrity singers shamelessly lifted without their consent”, which was made extra obvious from a tweet on his own page that was like “Teehee people in monitored Twitter spaces don’t realize their voices are being recorded and fed into AI!” which he then deleted after I linked it on the thread about SynthV. lol.

Dude proceeded to get whupped by actual vocal synth people basically saying shit along the lines of “Yeah we can all tell you just want to commit cheap plagiarism, jackass” and “Dude why are you here when you clearly don’t understand the very very basics of what this software even is” and “Go make an UTAU voicebank if it’s so easy then”. (UTAU being a Japanese freeware program that hasn’t been updated since 2013. Creating an UTAU voicebank is complicated and takes a lot of time and technical knowledge.) He still refused to learn the basics of how vocal synths work, and proceeded to ask if “UTAU or Diff is most compatible with Dreamtonics”, a question absolutely no one could make any sense of? Lol.

Anyway, I don’t have anywhere in particular I’m going with this, I just think AI grifters are morons, and it’s obnoxious how the vague and misleading term “AI” has gotten nigh-mythologized by shady tech companies to the point that people can’t tell the difference between perfectly reasonable assistive technology and magic plagiarism.

Btw, fun fact for anyone who’s wondering, there do in fact exist legally/morally questionable UTAU voicebanks spliced from outside vocals. These are called “jinriki” voicebanks and not only do they take the same amount (if not more) of hard work as any other voicebank, they’re far from the insta-Beyoncé this dude was aiming for, and instead they sound um. like this

youtube

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chemicahs · 2 months

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Thinking about how we had mechanical intelligent robots in fiction before we had common computers, and even before the idea of advanced programming (or any programming at all) -> machine learning -> true artificial intelligence. We had the idea of the machine being alive before machines had software complex enough to ask the question if it could realistically become alive. When “robot” was just powered by clockwork and gears with magical thinking powers. People have been thinking about living robots since before it became an actual hypothetical possibility in science fiction

#sludge

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breadnabreadd · 8 months

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✦ Oh boy! Here we go.

I created a LMK Au just for funsies. A furutistic, high technologic world with cyberpunk vibes! (Because I absolutely love this type of aesthetic)

✦ the picture above is just a quick drawing I did of Macaque in this AU. I will get into details about the AU while showing a few infos of a few LMKs characters alongside with their designs. (Just a reminder I'm still creating the AU and it's my first time making one. It might be a little messy, so I apologize if it gets too messy--)

Oh! And by the way, the characters on this AU follow the same basic formula as the original characters. So it doesnt have much changes, other than the world they live in, their clothes and a few events.

✦ MK, The Monkie Kid

• Its the same thing as our little MK from the animated series, he works at Pigsy's Noodles as a delivery boy, is the Monkey king's biggest fan and is his successor and pretty much the basic stuff.

• He learned about the Monkey king with Mister Tang. He is a huge fan.

• Tho he isn't a great expert, he knows how to how to fix computer cases, machines and vehicles and build stuff by using old pieces (he learned with Pigsy and Sandy, just in case his delivery vehicle breaks in the middle of the road or a something start malfunctioning in the noodle store). As we can see, he works more in the hardware part.

• He likes to collect the old pieces of old devices that people throw away in the city's old graveyard. It's like a type of recycling. (That's also how he find the Monkey king's staff but that is a thing I will tell in details in another day--)

• He loves to draw!!! Hooray!!! He also likes to play games. Is always playing video games with his best friend, Mei, on the arcade or online.

✦ Mei, The White Horse Dragon Girl

• She's a programmer/developer of softwares (Yes I know that in I drawing I said she's a "hacker but a bit clumsy" but actually i wanted to say shes a programmer. I was sleepy, it was 2 am, and my brain wasn't braining 😰😰😰---) with a few knowledge about hardwares. She created her technological helmet system with MK's help. (Her helmet it's similiar to Iron man's helmet from inside.)

• She built her own motorcycle, again with MK's help. She participates a lot motorcycles race just for funsies.

• Loves to play games. I guess I could say she is quite of a professional gamer? She play to win. But when she is playing with MK or with other friends, she doesnt care losing or winning, she only cares about enjoying some quality time with them.

✦ Liu'er Mihou, The Six Eared Macaque.

• Pretty much same as the original Macaque. (Lost his eye in the past with a fight against Sun Wukong. Omg betrayal. Yknow the deal-)

• Here he is a Hacker/Cracker.

"But what is a cracker?" You may ask. Now it's time for my nerd/TI studant side take over. A cracker it's a mean hacker. The cracker breaks/attacks the systems and webs for their own benefit, which it's for illegal purposes. Now a Hacker it's actually a job, which their purpose its to find the security breaches and ways to how break it, so then they can make the security stronger and prevent invasions/attacks at the system.

With that being said, Macaque is a hacker/cracker. So he makes defense systems to himself and breaks into other systems for illegal purposes.

• He got these gloves that helps him hack things better, he created it himself. He create floating holograms like it's a tablet screen and can hold on these holograms using these gloves. With a simple touch he can steal database from a device and hack it's system. (He can hack machines, computers, tech weapons and even the light system.)

• He got his shadow magic too, same as the original one. Shadow clones, shadow portals... but he kinda makes a fusion between his magic and the technology he invented to himself. (Before anyone say it. YES! I got heavily inspired by Sombra from Overwatch. 😔)

✦ The Monkey King, Sun Wukong

• Yeah, the Monkey king. The great sage equal to heaven. The silly who made a havoc on heaven---

• HE GOT THAT HUGE MECHA WE SAW IN THE ANIMATED SERIES BECAUSE HE DOESNT LIKE USING HIS KAIJU FORM !!!

But he doesnt use the mecha much. It has been CENTURIES since he last use it. Now MK is the one who uses it because he is Sun Wukong's successor.

• That's not his "Monkey King" royal clothes. It just some casual/comfy clothes to use in everyday life.

• He already knew who MK was. MK is a stone Monkey just like himself. Wukong have been watching the kid grow up from far. He grow a bit attached to the boy.

Sun Wukong surely wasn't expecting to MK being able to lift his golden staff, so he think in the opportunity to make him his sucessor and teach him how to use his new powers. (Yes, I was lisiting to "the horse and the infant" song. How did you kn--)

Oh God. That explanation was long.

✦ Welp, that's all for today!

I will post more stuff about the AU in the future. And I still need to think a name for it...

It is clear I got heavily inspired by Cyberpunk, techwear, overwatch, New Gods: Nezha reborn, Arcane and other stuff. I'm sorry, BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT AESTHETIC AND VIBES!! HHHHHHH-

✦ I'm a huge nerd. 🤓

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sunshinesmebdy · 3 months

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Moon in Virgo: Tidy Up Your Biz and Harvest Financial Abundance

Astrologers, rejoice! Business gurus, unite! Because under the meticulous gaze of the Moon in Virgo, it's time to blend cosmic wisdom with practical strategy. Get ready for a potent mix of grounded energy, keen analysis, and a sprinkle of earthy magic ready to boost your business and finances.

Virgo's Virgo-ness: Picture a spotless spreadsheet, a perfectly balanced budget, and a to-do list so organized it whispers sweet satisfaction. That's Virgo's domain. When the Moon dances through this earth sign, it brings a laser focus on details, a knack for efficiency, and an urge to declutter both your physical and financial spaces.

Business Benefits:

Sharpened Skills: Hone your expertise, take that online course, or finally master that new software. Virgo's energy fuels learning and skill development, making you a powerhouse of knowledge and competence.

Channel your inner Hermione Granger under the Virgo Moon! Devour knowledge like polyjuice potion, mastering that new software with flick-of-the-wand ease. Whether it's an online course on astrological forecasting or the intricacies of blockchain technology, Virgo's studious energy makes you a sponge for information, transforming you into a confident, competence-wielding powerhouse ready to tackle any business challenge.

Streamlined Operations: Virgo loves a well-oiled machine. Use this lunar phase to audit your business processes, identify bottlenecks, and implement systems that save time and resources.

Don your efficiency hat, because under the meticulous Virgo Moon, streamlining your business becomes a cosmically ordained quest. Scrutinize processes like a celestial accountant, unearthing time-sucking bottlenecks and banishing them with automated spells (aka, handy new systems). Watch as email chains unfurl into streamlined communication channels, meetings morph into laser-focused action sessions, and your once-chaotic workflow hums like a perfectly tuned engine, freeing up precious time and resources for your entrepreneurial magic to truly shine.

Networking with Purpose: Quality over quantity is Virgo's motto. Connect with potential clients or collaborators who share your values and expertise. Think strategic partnerships, not random coffee chats.

Forget the business card bingo of generic gatherings – Virgo's discerning Moon demands quality connections. Seek out collaborators and clients who mirror your values and expertise, like kindred spirits drawn together by constellations of shared passion. Think chess match, not cocktail party. Craft targeted pitches that resonate with their specific needs, and cultivate strategic partnerships that feel like cosmically ordained alliances. This intentional networking isn't about collecting contacts, it's about igniting mutually beneficial collaborations that propel your business towards the stars.

Marketing Magic: Craft targeted campaigns that speak directly to your ideal customer's needs. Virgo's analytical prowess helps you understand your audience and deliver messaging that resonates.

Under the analytical gaze of the Virgo Moon, ditch the shotgun marketing blasts and unleash laser-focused campaigns that whisper sweet nothings to your ideal customer's soul. Virgo's eagle eye pinpoints their deepest desires and pain points, transforming you into a messaging maestro. Craft content that speaks their language, addresses their specific struggles, and showcases your solutions like the missing puzzle piece to their perfect life. Let go of generic pitches and embrace storytelling that resonates with their values, because under this lunar influence, targeted marketing isn't just effective, it's downright magical.

Financial Fortunes:

Budgeting Bliss: Break out the spreadsheets and get granular. Categorize expenses, track income, and create a budget that feels secure and sustainable. Virgo loves a balanced bottom line.

Spreadsheets sing and budgets balance under the Virgo Moon! Unleash your inner accounting alchemist and transform financial chaos into crystal-clear clarity. Categorize expenses with the precision of a cosmic librarian, track every penny like a moonbeam, and craft a budget that feels not like a restrictive cage, but a beautifully organized, secure haven for your financial future. Virgo craves equilibrium, so find that sweet spot where income and outgoings waltz in perfect harmony, leaving you feeling abundant and empowered, the maestro of your own financial orchestra.

Debt Disposal: Tackle outstanding debts with renewed determination. Negotiate better terms, make extra payments, and experience the liberation of financial freedom.

Ditch the debt demon and embrace the warrior spirit under the Virgo Moon! Channel your inner debt disposal dragon, breathing fire upon outstanding balances with renewed determination. Hone your negotiation skills like a celestial diplomat, securing lower interest rates and crafting repayment plans that fit your budget like a cosmic glove. Make extra payments with the fervor of a moonbeam illuminating a dark cave, watching those numbers shrink faster than a vampire in sunlight. Embrace the sweet liberation of financial freedom, feeling the weight of debt lift like a cosmic spell dissolving, leaving you empowered and ready to conquer your financial Everest.

Savvy Investments: Research, compare, analyze – Virgo's energy is perfect for making informed investment decisions. Seek advice from trusted professionals and prioritize long-term stability over short-term gains.

Transform into a celestial stockbroker under the Virgo Moon! Put on your research goggles and analyze potential investments like a cosmic detective, comparing, contrasting, and sniffing out hidden risks. Consult trusted financial oracles for guidance, but ultimately, let your own Virgo-honed discernment be your compass. Prioritize long-term stability over fleeting trends, building a portfolio that grows like a well-tended celestial garden, not a gambler's dice roll. Embrace the slow and steady path, for under Virgo's meticulous gaze, informed investments blossom into financial freedom, one calculated decision at a time.

Unexpected Windfalls: Keep an eye out for unexpected opportunities to increase your income. Virgo favors those who put in the work, so your dedication could be rewarded with a bonus, a new client, or a lucky windfall.

Keep your antennae tuned to cosmic whispers under the Virgo Moon, for fortune often favors the prepared! Your dedication and sharpened skills could attract unexpected boons like a bonus shimmering out of thin air, a new client drawn by your newfound expertise, or a windfall landing softly as a celestial feather in your lap. Remember, Virgo rewards hard work, so keep hustling, honing, and learning, and trust that the universe may just surprise you with a bonus chapter in your financial story.

Bonus Tip: Embrace the earthy magic of Virgo! Surround yourself with green spaces, incorporate crystals like citrine and jade into your workspace, and practice grounding exercises to channel the Moon's practical energy.

So, there you have it! The Moon in Virgo is your invitation to tidy up your biz, fine-tune your finances, and reap the rewards of your focused efforts. Remember, success is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself, celebrate the small wins, and trust that under Virgo's meticulous guidance, your business and finances will shine.

Now go forth and conquer, astrologically savvy entrepreneurs! Your financial stars are aligned.

#Moon in Virgo #Virgo Moon #business astrology #Astrology business #finance astrology #astrology updates #astro #astrology facts #astro notes #astrology #astro girlies #astro posts #astrology community #astrology observations #astropost #astro observations #astro community

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tropes-and-tales-archives · 3 months

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Whistle Down the Wind, Chapter Seven

Word Count: 3234

TW: Pining, unrequited love, angst.

AN: Part of a series. The series masterlist here.

Sonny dragged himself home to his empty apartment, and for the first time in a long while, he got drunk. He worked his way through the remainder of a six-pack he had, and when that was gone, he helped himself to a few of Nicole’s alcoholic seltzer waters. They were disgusting, but they did the trick. Then he laid on the couch, one foot planted on the floor to stop the room from spinning. He tried to think.

You had raised valid points, he admitted. He did date traditionally beautiful women. He started to take umbrage to your claim that they were mean or boring, but when he thought about that – maybe you had a point there too.

The middle school teaching aide you had mentioned? She cheated on Sonny and likely had never been faithful at all. The hedge fund manager absolutely hated children and had been offended when Sonny had casually mentioned that he was looking forward to fatherhood one day. The girl he met at Fordham only had one passion – reality television – and that relationship fizzled when he got tired of trying to keep the plotlines of the various shows straight. And now there was Nicole.

She was sweet sometimes. That had been true, but your comment was also true. What kind of girlfriend made her guy feel bad about his looks? If the genders were swapped, would he be so blasé about the way she treated him? If Tommy treated Bella that way, wouldn’t he beat the shit out of him?

He had a lot to consider, but the alcohol obliterated the final few functional brain cells and he passed out.

He woke up to Nicole coming into the apartment. She had caught an earlier flight because she missed him, she said. She took a note of the empty beer bottles and seltzer cans but didn’t say anything. Instead, she made her way to the kitchen and made him breakfast.

The next few weeks passed, and Sonny waited for the next blow up with Nicole, but it never came. She even helped him get the apartment ready for his nieces’ visit. For the past few years, Sonny took a long weekend with the Morino girls: they lived in Connecticut, and Christmas in New York could be magical. They came to visit their uncle and do all the cheesy tourist stuff – skating at Rockefeller Center, hot chocolate at the Christmas Market, Radio City Music Hall.

Usually you joined him for that long weekend. You would make the girls your patented gooey brownies and play board games with them and play little Christmas carols on your instruments. This year, though, Nicole would be taking your place. She seemed up to the task though. She told him that she was looking forward to it.

Maybe the sweetness in her would win out after all, he thought.

********

Sonny showing up on Thanksgiving evening completely ruined your comfortable high, and now you were too worked up to sleep. You paced a bit and considered smoking a bit more, but you didn’t want to wake up still stoned. You finally settled down in your workspace. You opened up your songwriter software.

You wrote music for everyone you knew. Everyone in your life – friends, family – had a theme song, a melody that flitted through your head when you were around them or thought about them. Your bandmates, Alicia and Jen, each had their own themes. Alicia’s was heavy on woodwinds; a low and mellow bassoon overlaid with flutes and piccolos. Jen’s was a booming brassy piece like a Sousa march. Bella’s theme was pure ‘80’s pop rock: keyboard interlude and electric guitar and drum machine.

Sonny’s piece was a complicated weaving of piano and strings, the two happily playing off of each other. You saved it on your computer…and started writing the reprise. You pulled out your cello, and then your violin, and recorded new string sections. The same theme, but sadder. More minor chords.

By the time the sun started to rise, you had rewritten Sonny’s theme. You saved it as a reprise, then closed your laptop.

Then you moved on. You started going through your stuff, determining what you would keep for your move – and what you would leave behind.

You met up with Bella a week later for lunch. She was finally starting to show, and you felt a pang of regret that you’d miss so many milestones in her life.

When you told her, Bella made it perfectly clear that she felt the same way: she spent the first few minutes chewing you out about the inferiority of the west coast, then segued into ranting about how her brother was an idiot and that you shouldn’t leave because of him.

“I’m not leaving because of Sonny,” you replied with a sigh. “My life has felt on hold for so long, and I want a fresh start. You’re married now with a kid on the way. Sonny is going to be engaged soon.” You shook your head at her. “I want all of that, but I don’t feel like I’ll get it here.”

“You’re not gonna find it in Los Angeles,” she snapped. “You’ll be sitting in traffic too much to find a nice guy.”

“Well, I’m not gonna find it here,” you snapped back. “Not when your damned brother acts like he’s not interested but then tries to kiss me when I say I’m leaving.”

The scowl on Bella’s face disappeared. “He tried to kiss you?”

You nodded. “I told him that I was leaving New York, and he leaned in to kiss me.” You scoffed. “He’s just upset that his emotional crutch is leaving.”

Your friend looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe he has feelings for you after all.”

“No.” You pushed your plate aside, your lunch only half eaten. Your appetite had vanished altogether.

“But maybe,” Bella insisted. She leaned forward, one hand placed across her growing stomach. “He looked so sad at Thanksgiving when he realized you weren’t coming. And he kept watching you at my reception.” Her forehead crinkled in thought.

“No,” you repeated. “Nope.”

“Maybe yes though.” Bella was gazing at some spot over your shoulder, and you could tell that she was deep in thought. “Sonny never visited me at college until you became my roommate sophomore year. And he was the one who suggested you could stay with us over the summer between semesters….”

“Bella, stop it,” you cut in. “I’m not his type.”

“You don’t know that,” she replied. “You know, he never was a cinephile before he met you – then he was suddenly into artsy movies. That became your thing together. Then you started hanging out together for other things…”

“Because Tommy was out of prison then, and the two of you paired off.”

“You had your movie nights, your dinners together. You had those Christmas weekends with Theresa’s girls.”

You sighed. “Key word being ‘had.’ Past tense, Bella. I’m looking to the future now.”

********

The long weekend started poorly. Theresa and her husband dropped the girls off on Thursday evening, and then they headed to LaGuardia for their own little couple’s retreat. Their marriage was struggling, and they were taking advantage of some time away from the kids to rekindle the proverbial spark.

About a minute after their parents drove away, though, the girls started to act out. Mia was openly hostile to Nicole, only giving monosyllabic answers to her questions. Emma asked where you were at least three times after Sonny explained you weren’t coming. And Sophia kept asking where the brownies were.

“No brownies here,” Nicole declared. She reached out and poked Sophia in her round child’s belly. “Brownies are nothing but carbs and sugar and fat.”

Sonny cleared his throat. “We’ll order some dessert after dinner,” he promised.

“But what are we even going to do today?” Emma whined. “I’m bored.”

“Well, you know we usually stay in the first evening,” Sonny reminded her. “We play games and make dinner…”

“What’s for dinner?” Sophia broke in. Her eyes lit up at the possibilities. “Nonna’s chicken parm?”

Nicole laughed lightly. “I’m making dinner tonight,” she told the girls. “Baked chicken and roasted butternut squash. It’s paleo.”

Mia scrunched her nose at this, and Emma asked, “what’s paleo?”

It went downhill from there.

-----

It was Friday night, and everyone was miserable. Mia spent so much time on her phone that she just kept it plugged in constantly. Emma and Sophia were tired from skating at Rockefeller Center, and they were cranky because they had wanted hot chocolate after skating, but Nicole had made a comment about calories, so they decided against it.

Then halfway home, Emma changed her mind and cried because it turned out she really did want the hot chocolate. But then it was too late, and Emma wailed because apparently there was only one place in the entire city that had hot chocolate and the mix in Sonny’s apartment would never compare.

Then Nicole snapped at her. She told her that crying was for babies, and Sophia got in on the act, calling Emma a baby until she cried so hard that she was gagging and choking on her own ramped up emotions.

Then Emma had hauled off and smacked Sophia hard enough to make her cry, and Nicole fled to the bathroom. Sonny found her there half an hour later, perched on the edge of the tub and scrolling through her phone.

Then Liv called with an emergency – Amanda was home with Jesse, who was sick – so Sonny had to go in. He got changed quickly and told Nicole to hold down the fort while he was out. She only glared at him as he pulled on his coat and left.

********

You were knee deep in your vinyl collection, trying to figure out what to keep and what to take to L.A. The problem was that even after three passes through the collection, you only had five albums you were willing to part with. And two of those were duplicates of ones you were keeping.

Your phone chirped from somewhere behind you, and you groped blindly for it until you had it. It was Bella’s niece, Mia. You sighed and answered.

“Hi, Mia,” you said, but the teenager was already talking. “Whoa, slow down,” you told her.

You got her calmed down enough to explain the situation. The girls were in the city for the annual Christmas holiday trip. Uncle Sonny got called out to work, and Nicole was left in charge. But then Nicole left to go out for a drink with friends and left Mia in charge, which was fine at first. But then it got later and no one was there and there were weird noises coming from the hallway and Emma swore that she saw a face looking in the window even though Sonny was on the eighth floor of his building.

“Okay, okay,” you replied. “Let me call Sonny…” but Mia cut you off.

“Uncle Sonny isn’t picking up his phone,” she said. You could hear how shaky her voice was and realized that despite her teenaged bravado, she was probably scared too. The girls lived in a cozy suburb in Connecticut, so the city was obviously much more than they were used to. “And neither is Aunt Bella. And I don’t want to call mom and dad…”

“Okay,” you repeated. You stood up from your place on the floor and made your way into the bedroom. “Stay inside, and I’ll be there in ten minutes. I’ll call you when I’m there.” You hung up and changed out of your pajamas into a pair of jeans and a band t-shirt. You grabbed your coat from the entryway and left your apartment.

Sonny’s place was only a few blocks away, and even with the icy sidewalks, you made good time. You dialed Mia when you were outside, and you walked her through how to ring you in. When you reached Sonny’s door, you knocked lightly and listened as Mia undid all the locks. She swung the door open, and both Sophia and Emma flew out and hugged you fiercely.

********

It was one in the morning when Sonny got home. The case was a sexual assault on the subway, and he had spent hours lining up witness statements and talking with transit police. He was exhausted when he slid his key in the lock, but at least everyone would be asleep. He could have a beer on the couch and unwind.

The apartment was quiet, but when he made his way to his kitchen, he noticed that someone was asleep on the couch. He looked closer, and in the weak light he saw you. He felt his heart lurch at the sight of you, and for a moment, he didn’t even question why you were there.

You were curled up on your side with one of Sonny’s couch pillows underneath your head. Your hands were drawn up by your head, and he could just make out one of them twitching. It made him smile – how many times have you fallen asleep at his place, and how many times has he watched you play music in your sleep?

He set down his coat and made his way over to perch on the edge of his coffee table, just watching you. Your hair was loose, and your mouth was parted slightly as you breathed, slow and steady. He watched your twitching hand and wondered what you were playing in your dreams. Your cello, most likely. You could play just about any instrument, but your cello was your favorite.

He reached out and took your hand very carefully in his. He didn’t want to wake you, and for a moment, he didn’t. He felt your hand squeeze his, and he felt tears spring up in his eyes. He couldn’t imagine his life without you in it.

Your hand spasmed in his again, and he watched you wake up. Your eyes opened slowly, and he watched as you looked at him, realization washing over you.

“Hi,” you said groggily. You pulled your hand from his and sat up, running a hand over your hair and then rubbing your eyes. “What time is it?”

“A little after one,” he replied. “What are you doing here?”

You tugged your hands through your hair, finger-combing it and then pulled an elastic off of your wrist to put it up into a messy ponytail. You looked him square in the eyes and gave him a bitter laugh.

“Interesting story,” you said. “Your beautiful and ‘actually quite sweet’ girlfriend went out drinking with friends and left your nieces here.” You stood up and stretched, and Sonny stood up too.

“I saw that I missed calls from Mia,” he replied. “She didn’t leave any messages though.”

“Yeah, well, they got a hold of me instead.” You peered up at him. “They were terrified, Sonny. They aren’t used to the big city, you know.”

Sonny rubbed the back of his neck. “I know.”

You opened your mouth to say something else but thought better of it and snapped your jaw closed with an audible click. Sonny felt exhausted and irritated.

“Just say what you’re gonna say.”

You shook your head, and there was an awkward silence between you for a moment. Then you gave that bitter laugh again.

“Why was Emma asking me if her Nonna’s cannoli are part of the paleo diet? What kind of person tells little girls that they need to count calories, Sonny? Who leaves little girls alone in an unfamiliar city?” You looked up at him. “People can’t help how they look, whether they’re born beautiful or talented or boring. But being a dick to kids? That’s a choice, Sonny.” You turned and walked away, making your way to his entryway. He followed you and watched as you pulled on your coat and slipped into your snow boots.

“Everyone has a choice. You deserve better than this, Sonny,” you said sadly. You nodded towards the guest bedroom. “Your nieces deserve better too.” You turned to leave, but Sonny reached out and took a hold of the hem of your coat, tugging you back.

“They missed their honorary auntie,” he said, not looking at you. He focused on his hand on your coat, his long fingers holding fast on the heavy wool of your pea coat. “I missed you too.”

Another awkward silence filled the room until it was pressing down on Sonny. He felt like his chest was going to collapse under the pressure. He felt like if he let you walk out that door, he’d never see you again. He knew, from talking to Bella, that you were starting to pack and search for a place in L.A. You reached down and tugged your coat out of his grasp. He watched you reach for the doorknob, and so Sonny made a choice.

“Jailbait,” he blurted out. You dropped your hand from his door and turned to face him, completely confused.

“That’s – that’s what my roommate used to call you,” he added. “Remember Dave?”

You scrunched your face in thought and then nodded. “You had that place in Brooklyn.”

Sonny nodded. “We had just graduated, and you and Bella crashed with us a few times when you were in college. When you had concerts in the city and stuff.” You nodded at him, so he continued.

“Dave always called you ‘jailbait.’ He’d joke around with me that you were so much younger than me, and that you looked even younger than that. It became a routine when he knew you were coming to visit. ‘Sonny likes ‘em barely legal,’ all that.” Sonny scrubbed his hands over his face, still not able to look you in the eye.

“It made me feel weird,” he admitted. “You were this adorable kid the same age as my sister, and I liked you so much. Dave figured it out and started calling you ‘jailbait,’ and it made me feel like a pervert. And then I got to know you, and I liked you even more. But I didn’t know what to do, and you were so supportive and nice, even when I was dating other women, that I thought, ‘at least she’s my friend.’ At least I had that.” He looked up and saw you staring at him. “But I don’t even have that anymore, do I?”

You started to answer, but there was a key in the lock at that moment, and Nicole pushed her way into the apartment. Sonny could smell the alcohol wafting off of her, and he saw his girlfriend’s face as she took in the pair of you.

“What the f…” she started to slur, but you cut her off, catching the door before it slammed shut.

“Good luck with all this, Sonny,” you said, looking at him sadly. Then you turned to face Nicole, who was glaring at you.

“And I hope you choke on a carb,” you told her before you slammed the door on them.

-----

Sonny broke up with Nicole that night, and then again in the morning, when she was sober and could remember it. He tried calling and texting you a few times, but you didn’t respond. He’d give it a few days. Maybe he’d surprise you for Christmas.

#sonny carisi #sonny carisi imagine #sonny carisi x reader

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thesirencult · 8 months

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hey do you do birth chart readings?

Yes, I do read birth charts and I love doing it.

I see astrology as an art and myself as an artist. Astrology is a cheat code for life. It can help you unleash and run towards your highest potential. I love servicing people (Venus in Aries/6th house) and cultivating an entire succulent experience for them. After all, you don't get your birth chart read everyday. It's very rewarding to get messages of people who have found a deeper meaning after reading their personal books.

Even though I've read over 300 birth charts, I still enjoy doing my "reading ritual" : lightning my candles, putting on some sensual tunes and diving into an ocean of stars.

I mostly do PDF readings, as I believe written words hold a lot of energy within them and while channeling, words flow onto the paper.

My readings take longer to deliver, as I like to "sit on" the energies and walk through the paths the stars have created multiple times, checking in with my intuition, to provide the best possible experience.

There is one thing though. I only work with clients who are spiritually ready and open to seeing their soul RAW & BARE.

I also do synastry readings (I love love), business readings and solar return chart interpretations.

I love astrology so much I have built a software, utilizing my experience, AI and machine learning, that will help people explore their chart by themselves. This is not a simple birth chart generator, like the ones people use to sell charts on Etsy, but it's affordable and quick. Like dipping your finger in warm chocolate fudge, naughty, delicious and making you want more. I put my heart, soul and a little bit of magic behind it.

I have began experimenting with a new style of reading in the past year. Clients who want to dive deeper in a specific part of their lives and birth chart (career, shadow side and healing, love life etc.) can request a reading only on that. I then explore the birth chart through that specific prism.

You see, some stars have been dead for thousands of years, yet their light still reaches earth till now. The moment you took your first breath on earth universe had decided that this is the perfect time for you to come here. It had already decided which stars would have been shining.

#pick a card #pick a pile #tarot #pac reading #tarot reading #pick a picture #pick a photo #astrology #future spouse #soulmate #birth chart #natal chart #zodiac signs #synastry #thesirencult

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caelos-legacy · 1 year

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Random stupid question i just got

If CaelOS is Abandonware, what if U/N got a download package for t, and ported it to github or something open source? what would happen if that happened, then?

like if more people could see and you know, USE it, would that result in multiple copies of Sun and Moon being made, each with their own thoughts, their own minds, their own memories?

Sure, all installs of CaelOS from that would lack the magic teleportation camera, but still, i wonder what would happen.

i think the assistant software isn't inherently connected to each other, like having a massive storage server, which would make sun and moon the one and only

but i think it would be fun if they instead had a server which would function as a forum? basically one machine needs to know some experience on how to deal with a situation, it connects to a server to ask the question, and other machines could receive it and respond with their own experience. so kinda to exchange data to keep the instances updated with similar knowledge to handle similar situations

the servers are dead though so that would sadly make them completely independent :(. but since they're sapient maybe if a community formed the same could be accomplished through any means a human could use, like a discord server

TL;DR: normally they would be able to "talk" to each other to catch up on gaps in knowledge, but that needs a dedicated server. otherwise they're fully independent copies.

#ask post #worldbuilding made on the spot strikes again yay

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ladyniniane · 6 months

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FE OC WEEK DAY 1: Introduction

I’m so excited to participate in @fe-oc-week! Please note that English isn’t my first language.

Allow me to introduce my FE3H OC, Maeve!

❧Name: Maeve Fresnay

❧Age : 21 years old in 1185

❧Affiliation: Holy Kingdom of Faerghus

❧In short: A magician serving lady Gladys of house Eilyn, a vassal of house Fraldarius. Maeve joins Dimitri’s army after the time skip as a part of the reinforcements brought by Rodrigue. Sweet, elegant and sensitive, she isn’t a soldier by vocation but is willing to protect her friends and bring an end to the war. A skilled singer and musician, Maeve brings a lot of color and joy to her lady’s entourage. She may not look like much, but possesses a lot of inner strength and bravery. She has been separated from her older sister and his looking for her. She also gets along very well with Dedue and later falls in love with him.

❧Click here to read her story! (It's in French, but it should still work with the help of a translation software ;) ).

❧Apparence: She's 1m70 tall, with pale skin and long wavy black hair that she ties up in a bun (with hairpins that can be used as weapons) or keeps unbound when she can. Her eyes are dark brown, her face oval and her nose slightly upturned. Her smile gives her dimples. Her clothes hide her battle scars.

She usually wears a knee-length tunic, pants and boots with her magic staff tucked in her belt. She always has a pouch embroidered with a robin that her friend Vigdis made for her. While fighting, she wears a gambeson and armor pieces to protect her limbs, allowing her freedom of movement and substantial protection. As a civilian, she always wears elegant dresses, her favorite colors being red and blue.

Maeve almost always wears make-up, especially red lipstick (this detail was inspired by a real historical female fighter: Kumander Liwayway!). She does so because she wants to keep some beauty and color in her life. This coping mechanism allows her to stay in control of her appearance and hide the damages caused by the war. In battle, she also wears dark eyeshadow to give herself a more ferocious appearance and bolster her confidence.

❧Theme song : Free, Florence and the Machine + Passacaglia della vita, Stefano Landi

❧Her pinterest.

❧Personality: Maeve has a luminous personality. Smiling is her way to stand against adversity and she's at ease in most social situations. She likes having fun and has a passion for music. She often sings or plays her lute, finding pleasure in playing for others and entertaining them. Open-minded and curious, she enjoys learning new songs and meeting new people.

Due to her sensitivity, she’s extremely receptive to other people's emotions, sometimes to the point that she absorbs them like a sponge. Her mind works very fast and she’s plagued by anxious thoughts, that can even become morbid and tries to hide them with more or less success. To deal with this, she needs to find an occupation or talk to someone as she hates being lonely. She can cry after difficult events as she releases all her pent-up emotions.

Her receptivity allows her to assess complex situations. Maeve is indeed lucid, clever and observant. She’s for instance able to analyze the information regarding the Tragedy of Duscur and suspects Lambert’s opponents of being the true culprits. She shows a lot of emotional maturity for her age and knows how the world works.

One of Maeve’s major traits is her bravery. Even though she's now used to fighting, she was scared at first and laments the use of violence. Yet, she won't give up and will stand alongside her friends. This is another proof of her generosity. Despite all the horrors, and even if she sometimes feels like it’s too much, she will never give up. In combat, she’s efficient and focused, capable of much courage.

She wants to be seen by all as a reliable ally and secretly has self-esteem issues. Being the youngest member of her friend’s group, she was at first the "little sister" and the one with the least battle experience. She doesn’t want to be seen as such and feels bad when others have to reassure and comfort her.

She likes flowers, pretty clothes, make-up and accessories. She tends to accumulate objects and is sometimes tempted by some impulse purchases. The circumstances of the war have, however, taught her to deal with these these.

Read her introductory chapter!

❧Skills:

Strengths: Reason, faith

Weaknesses: Heavy armor, bow

Maeve possesses great offensive power. She favors fire and thunder spells such as Thoron, though she also uses Sagittae. During the story, she learns to master Ragnarok.

Her faith list is more limited, with practical spells such as Ward. She’s notably able to cast Seraphim, making valuable contributions against demonic beasts or the Titanuses.

Maeve is, to her regret, a mediocre healer. She can only treat superficial wounds and only with great effort.

Her older sister taught her unarmed self-defense and the use of a stiletto. She’s able to pull out her blade very quickly and take advantage of her foe’s surprise.

Stay tuned for her relationships and backstory!

#fe oc week #fe3h oc #fe3h ocs #maeve #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #ocappreciation #thank you for organizing this event!#that's amazing #let's goooo #i'm so excited

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blushingsnail64 · 1 year

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(PART 2) "Alan"

Human reader on a space team with larger, scarier, and stronger alien teammates

My writing and framing styles are still changing as I'm very much still new at this. Thank you for y'alls support. <3

I hope you like it @hnowu ! :)

[SFW] [FLUFF] [PLATONIC]

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

Description

Alan, unlike you and Ursha, actually works outside of the loading bay/cargo hold. He was a very tall, lengthy lookin guy. He had quite beautiful blue skin with hints of green and grey stripes, kind of shimmery. He had a very long neck with a roundish head that came to a point at his chin, with very large very deep blue eyes. You could only see his pupils if a light was in his face. You could say he kinda looks like the stereotypical "👽" alien although that may be offensive to say. He had a fish like quality to him, in a good way of course. He was about 7'0 and had fine tapered limbs. His hands were very similar to a humans, but long and thin.

End of description

He worked in the "brain" of the ship as the crew liked to call it. The command center, the helm, etc. he worked towards the back away from the navigational work area, handling hardware or software problems while also looking over radars, level gauges, and some more. Others have this job as well, mainly when he goes to the rest of the ship to check the wellness of the machinery.

You saw him quite a lot when the crane in your department stopped working, which kept you from doing a large portion of your job. It took him about a week to fix, and in that time you two would discuss things like your families, home planet, country and town. He told you that a holiday from his country was going to happen soon, in the next two weeks he believed. Apparently it was centered around a good harvest season for mushrooms. You may have related it to thanksgiving, which he would love to hear about.

He said it all started from a historical event where there was some sick noblewoman, a woman who had done amazing things in their society, but the sickness was said to be incurable. That is unless they found a certain magic mushroom for her to eat. Many people in the city foraged for days, bringing in hundreds of mushrooms to be inspected. Just before she was about to pass, the mushroom was found. She regained her strength and carried on being a pillar of society for many more years. Since then, the people had hosted a mushroom festival every year to remember that great effort, and to celebrate our friends and family with the time we so luckily have with them.

At least, thats what he remembered about it. He explained that he couldn't possibly manage to get back to his family since you all were so far away on a big shipment, but he hoped to video call them. You also discovered he had been the medic previously, before the company hired a new one so they could promote him to the control center where that role was desperately needed.

He was very gentlemanly, and would off his hand when you were getting up and down things. Since he was very much larger than you, you sometimes felt like a kid. But he never teased you about it, unlike some others. The crew from the brain could be a bit snobby. Even towards scary people like Ursha. You were an easy target sadly. There have been times where he's talked to about it, having overheard his crew mates saying not so nice things. He apologized on their behalf stating they really weren't mean and were just a bit insensitive. You assured him it was fine.

You also talked about basic things like your favorite music genre. He said his was jazz and blues, along with a few genres you didn't quite recognize. If you believe he's old fashioned, he'd be more than willing to show you his favorite songs and hopefully change your mind.

All of this came to an end, sadly. The crane was fixed and he'd hardly have time to talk while he was doing his regular checkups on the machines.

He did leave you with one final question though,

"Would you perhaps like to join me when I call my family this weekend? I'm sure they would love to see you and hopefully you'll enjoy the festivities, even through the screen."

#alien x reader #alien oc x reader #oc x reader #original character x reader #original alien #original alien character #alan #alan x reader #original work #small writer #new writer #platonic x reader #platonic oc x reader #platonic alien x reader #platonic alien oc x reader #platonic original alien character x reader

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possumcollege · 1 year

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We have to understand this is magical thinking right? Do any of us believe only derivative, commercial-looking work is going to going to suffer if this junk is allowed to take hold? If only we each cultivated unique, challenging, exciting new styles, we'd be safe from- Ope! Nope. Nevermind.

Turns out, scavenging, amoral, shitbirds really like unique, challenging, new styles. They're drawn to them like pigeons to a gutter full of fries. They lick their lips over anything they think will add flavor to the mathematically-churned filler they've made out of others' creative work.

None of the top 5 burgers you can buy from your car are good, but damned if they don't make the people who own their names a lot of money. AI trawlers don't need to make good work to get rich, they just need good enough. Stirring in a dash of your quirky, unorthodox, personal style might just be what they think gives them that edge to stand out until it falls beneath the next fresh thing.

This isn't about who will be good enough to avoid being ground up to pad the portfolios of ravenous parasites. This threatens all of us who create images and stories with our own hands, hearts and minds. If you can't understand that, then your best hope of not becoming their next meal is to remain so thoroughly mediocre as to be beneath anyone's notice.

For the rest of us we need to speak up and stay mad as hell until we get the protection we deserve. We need to demand regulation that prevents image generating software from operating like a dragnet and treats any product of that image trawling like the fucking unethical deepfakes they are before the VC firms and lobbyists get their bizarre, blurry little digits into legislative pockets.

I cannot stress this enough, this kind of thing will negatively effect artists of every description. If the software can't replicate your medium yet, it's because they haven't tried hard enough. 2D, 3D, animation, if it can be converted to a set of 1s and 0s, it can be averaged out and reassembled. Maybe not well but it will be good enough to replace people.

This is already effecting translators and copy writers and it's bearing down on anyone who writes for a living. The technology is already scary good at replicating styles and getting close enough for companies to treat qualified translators and writers as the machine's babysitter, only proofreading for glaring instances of nonsense. Read the stories of translators tasked with holding the thing's uncanny hand and they'll tell you that they're being hired to edit work that is frequently useless without human intervention. If you've watched any video with auto-generated captions you've seen for yourself how dodgy it can be.

Companies can run these programs for the cost of license and electricity, and pay qualified humans as little as possible for "quality control" while holding up the product of that person's labor as proof of what the technology can do. They are already using lies to shore up their own reputation while diluting the quality of acceptable work and disenfranchising skilled human creative labor.

For writers, this has already been going on for years. It's a virus that just jumped species to a visual medium. How far it spreads and the damage it does will be determined by how we fight it now.

The last three years should already tell us what a grim fucking prospect that is.

#ai art theft #ai art generator #ai art #AI #working artists #artists on tumblr #visual art #no ai art #no to ai art

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solradguy · 7 months

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Please at some point if you can write about how those 2 panels in beginning and what they mean to you the begin content is always so good and also really enjoy how rough the drawings where for it UGH

Yess god I love Begin so much. Honestly, it's like a 7/10 star scifi novel at best; it's a pretty standard "guy gets monsterified by evil science" plot. But Sol/Frederick means so much to me and that book did more for his characterization than almost any other piece of GG media has before or since, imo.

I picked this thing apart like a carcass so readmore because it goes on for miles. A thorough dump of my thoughts on what I have labeled as "begin pic 12" in my GG Begin scans folder. Vague suicide mention warning for when I start talking about the personal stuff near the middle.

What I love about those two panels is that it's the first time we get to see Sol after he gets turned into a Gear and it's a downtime moment. It's 6 months after Asuka betrayed him and he just finished whatever mechanical process was required to complete the first Gear cell suppressor headband. He's actually unplugging it in the second panel on the left. There's a third panel below these where he's picking up the headband and there's a strong focus on how monstrous and gross his hand is as an effect of the Gear cells, but it's not quite as interesting as the first panel here.

It's so small. This is the only time we ever see or hear a (canon) description of what Sol's personal living space looks like. They DO show him at some kind of house at the end of Strive, but it's barely fleshed out. There aren't that many details or strong hints in that scene like there are here.

I've talked about this potted plant in the window a lot, it's my favorite detail in this illustration.

It's not clear what kind of plant it is though. Maybe some kind of succulent with how stiff and solid the leaves look? Something Sol doesn't have to worry too much about taking care of—low effort in case he has to leave for a long time or forgets to water it. But like... Where did he get this plant? The building he's living in is described as a rusty shack out in the middle of nowhere, so I doubt the plant was there when he moved in. He must've picked it up somewhere and brought it back. Why?

Sol calls himself a monster multiple times throughout Begin and it's pretty clear how keenly aware he is of his rapidly vanishing humanity. He knows his time is running out and he's trying to slow it down by making the limiter headband but that's only a temporary fix. Asuka betrayed him, Aria might be dead (or worse), he can't even blend in with normal humans anymore, and the only animals that are like him are mindless war machines. Sol is completely and absolutely alone.

Except he's got that plant.

The plant doesn't have feelings, it can't judge him. If he goes mad and becomes a rampaging animal like the bear Gear at the end of Begin, the plant won't know or care. Sol got that plant from somewhere and whether he takes care of it or not, it's something else for him to think about. A single purely organic thing in his rusty, machine-littered, shack. If he can't bring himself to do anything else on a given day, if the Gear cells are screaming too loudly and he just wants to say fuck it all and rip everything apart, he's got that tiny little potted thing that only needs sunlight and water. Daisuke probably didn't even think about it that hard when he was designing this scene, but I have hahah I appreciate this little plant. There is a lot of thought put into the layout of the things on Sol's desk though, so perhaps Daisuke did have a motive putting the plant there too.

Sol's desk space is about what you'd expect. A tiny toolbox under the light, notes, wires, balled up scrapped papers, books (likely on magic and software engineering, probably something on wiring), the corkboard up above that has a map with marked out locations that are implied to be locations of places Asuka might have gone since the research lab him, Sol, and Aria worked at exploded (referenced in the epilogue). The rolled tubes on the right may be maps or computer schematics for Sol to reference for making the suppressor.

Based on the position of his hands in the other panels, that thing near his elbow must be whatever was compiling something onto the suppressor headband. I don't know what those are directly in front of him by that dark tower. They look sort of like computer chips/boards? Too low detail to know for sure.

The rest of the scene around his desk are just cabinets and drawers without much unique/outstanding detail. Nothing unique or outstanding enough to base anything off of, just set pieces.

For purely personal reasons, I love this illustration because I spend a lot of time sitting at my own cluttered, dimly lit, desk working on projects that keep me sane haha. Sol's arc through Begin is relatable too, in a way, with regards to gender and body stuff. It's easy to read a lot of the Gear things as an allegory for transitioning for people that didn't have a very smooth transition or that took a long time to accept that's what they are. I fell into that latter category for a long time. Once puberty hit, I realized that I didn't want to be like a woman, but being trans was bad? All depictions of trans people that I knew were jokes or were things like drag, and none of them were women into men. I didn't know a single depiction of a trans man until I went looking for it myself as an adult. They were all tomboys that rescinded their masculinity and became petite girls in pastels. Or they were villains that died and were made fun of.

So. I just didn't know you could do it. I thought that maybe there were just never any women that felt like men or that they were something other than a woman. There was no one to talk to about it, no resources to look up, I hated myself over it because it was a bad thing meant to be kept to yourself. I grew my hair really long to cover my chest and only wore baggy/layered clothes to smooth out my unfortunately curvy waist. On top of this, I have also been 6'5" since I was about 14. I didn't fit in with the women at school because they saw me as a man and I didn't fit in with the men because, biologically, I was a woman. Through all of this, I had to move with my mom across the country to live with a literal nazi because I knew if I didn't, she'd do something stupid (I was right in that she didn't want to because I was there). My friends wanted me to stay and live with my dad but I didn't know how to tell them that I couldn't. I didn't tell them when I was leaving and just left.

I had no friends, no one else was physically like me, there was nothing for me to relate to or find inspiration in. I don't know what kept me going, in hindsight. Everything pissed me off all of the time. All I had was my sick cat, metal playlists, and art. Man, did I have art though.

My art teacher let me skip Art 2 to go from Art 1 directly into Advanced Placement Art (AP Art) because I was graduating that year and she saw potential in me. For our AP Art final portfolios, we had to do a certain set of pieces with fixed themes (portrait, abstract, specific mediums, life study, etc) and then another set of something like 12 that were wholly original illustrations connected through a single, personal, theme. The theme for my original pieces was that monsters have no friends because they're big and scary and no one else is like them, but that they still need love because they're just trying to find their place in the world. Lol. I wish I still had the short essay I wrote about it, but it was so long ago...

I don't really know what was keeping Sol going at the end of Begin either, when he's living in that shack so far from his own home, alone. But I get it though. Sometimes something activates in the human spirit when shit's got it out bad for you that makes you want to keep going. It ended up working out for me. My mom's still alive, I have friends again and I know who I am now despite being a weird biological anomaly. It's working out pretty well for Sol now too, it seems, despite it all.

#asks #gg begin #suicide cw #long post

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walks-the-ages · 11 months

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