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is-the-snake-video-cute · 10 months

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I’ve got so many more snake and snake related questions and so I’m just gonna give them in a big list:

I thought that your “animal bones” tag said “snake bones” and now I’m fascinated by that idea as a tag and generally snake skeleton stuff. This isn’t a question I suppose.

Is the number of vertebra of a snake (minus the tail vertebra) comparable in amount to human vertebra?

Are snake scales and snake skin made out of the same stuff human skin and nails and hair are made of (keratin and collagen and the like)?

Are any snakes physically capable of chewing or generally eating something not-whole? Do any of them chew?

To your knowledge, was the creation of syringe needles inspired in any way by snake fangs?

How do scientists milk venom, physically? How much can you take from a snake in one go without harming it? How often?

What are your “smartest” and “dumbest” snakes, if such a thing can be quantified?

Thank you for the snake fact answers. I could just look it up but SEO is a bitch and I like asking people questions about things they’re passionate about.

Great questions!!

Snake bones are so cool. I love looking at viper skeletons especially.

2. Nope! People have like 24 vertebrae, with snakes it depends on species length but snakes have between 100-600. Snake tails are actually pretty short when compared to their torsos (look at the skeleton image below, the tail starts where the ribs end); tails have as few as 10 and as many as a couple hundred vertebrae. Those numbers sound very variable, and that's because snakes just vary so wildly in size and shape!

3. Yes! The same materials make up snake skin and scales as make up human skin and nails. Same stuff, different blueprint! :)

4. Snakes are built very specifically to swallow whole prey, and there are no real exceptions to this. No snake can chew. Some snakes, like snail-eaters, have specialized teeth and jaws designed to "scoop" snails out of their shells so sometimes they don't get it all in one go, but even they are built to try and get as much out at once as possible.

5. Not to my knowledge, I think it's a matter of convergent evolution! :) Hollow needles are just really good at getting stuff into other stuff.

6. When we do venom extractions from snakes, we usually just have them bite a funnel and what they give us is what they give us. If a certain venom is in very high demand, then sometimes we'll express the venom glands while the snake is biting down. That involves gently squeezing the glands to ensure a good amount of venom is released in the bite. It looks rough but I promise it's not, the hold is as gentle as possible and the snakes are not hurt in the process! You gently hold the snake's neck to keep them restrained and keep everyone safe (if you lightly squeeze your wrist just hard enough to manually tilt your hand, it's about that much pressure) and you use your fingers on the opposite hand to express the glands.

We might get 1/10 a teaspoon from each snake per extraction, it's genuinely just a few drops. It takes multiple snakes to get enough to do anything with. At my lab we extract from each snake about once every other week; they need time to relax in between! Venom isn't necessary to remain healthy for lab snakes, but we don't want to stress them.

7. In general, elapids (cobras and their relatives) are the smartest snakes I've ever worked with! King cobras absolutely take the award here, they're so intelligent and curious and just a treat to interact with. Our old boy at my lab, Puppy, can put himself in his handling tube and is always such a show-off for tours. One of my favorite snakes at the lab is an Egyptian cobra named Seth, he's so much fun and loves figuring out the food puzzles and mazes I set up for him!

As for dumbest...I've said it before and I'll say it again, but hognoses are just absolutely zero thoughts animals.

#not a rating #snake facts #animal bones

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 1 month

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Same anon that's something the supreme Court question. Why do you say it like they are defending it when I have seen multiple people say they don't care about the Constitution either? Like aren't they the ones that overturning roe v wade and there's a possibility they will make same-sex marriages illegal again with all this project 2025 stuff that's going up?

speaking about that, is Biden actually accomplishing those goals? And please make this very clear with facts. This may require you to write up a longer post about this but I think I really want to understand if that is a fear monitoring thing or if this is another "Dems are bad, gop good" shit

First of all, Roe v Wade was always bad law. The idea that the right to privacy means a right to legal abortions never made sense, morally or constitutionally, and it never should have been in place at all, let alone for as long as it was. The Supreme Court overturning unconstitutional laws and reversing unconstitutional decisions is literally why it exists. The Constitution empowers the court for that very reason. If you want other examples of the court protecting the constitution, just look at the Heller decision, or any of the other decisions rolling back unconstitutional gun laws in the past few years. Look also at Matal v Tam, in which the court unanimously ruled that the government can't ban speech just because it's offensive. Which means that there can be no laws against so-called hate speech in the US, and the Orwellian tyranny you see all over Europe under the guise of combating "hate speech" can never legally happen here. Which is a massive win for free speech and the entire reason the 1st Amendment was written.

As for gay marriage getting overturned, it's incredibly unlikely, since there are zero court cases about gay marriage going on right now and the Supreme Court can't just make rulings out of nothing (much to the frustration of more than a few people, I'm sure) it's basically a non-issue. If you're referring to what Clarence Thomas said about gay marriage in his majority opinion overturning Roe, he specifically said that this ruling shouldn't be used as justification to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges decision on its own, though he did say that those decisions deserve another look. And he's right. Obergefell is another case of an activist court inventing rights out of thin air. There is no such thing as the right to marriage, for gay or straight people. It should be overturned, and the issue of defining legal marriage should be left up to individual states, as the Constitution intended (see the 10th Amendment).

I've been asked about Project 2025 before, and I'll tell you what I told the last anon, as far as I can tell, it's a pile of nothing. It's a group of policy proposals made by a bunch of conservative political commenters I've never heard of, who, as far as I know, have no connection to any Republican political campaign or the RNC. No one on the right is talking about the project. No politicians have come out in support of it. No campaigns have said they're going to implement those policies. Project 2025 is a left-wing boogeyman, and not even one that's getting a lot of traction in left wing circles since the only time I've ever seen anyone talking about it has been in my ask box and a few fringe far left conspiracy sites that came up when I originally tried to figure out what it was. It's the left attempt to have their own Agenda 2030 to be scared and angry about, except there aren't any international organizations trying to get the governments of the world to adopt their policies.

speaking about that, is Biden actually accomplishing those goals?

So, I really don't know what you mean by this. What goals?

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serve-cunt · 9 months

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what is it about tennis .. oh my god ... what ISN'T it about tennis ... ok let me try to explain. imagine if you took the most beautiful people. the most beautiful insane loner weirdo people. and you gave them a bouncy ball and something to hit it with. and then you put them on a beautiful court basically alone. sometimes they are on a hard court sometimes they are in a field (grass court) sometimes they are in the mud (clay court) but they are always alone on their side of the net with no friends. they are ACROSS the net from one (1) friend. they have to hit the bouncy ball harder and better and closer to the line than their friend. only one of them comes out the winner. zero sum game zero sum sport. if my friend wins this match i lose this match. if i win this tournament my friend loses this tournament. the stakes are catastrophically high btw because tennis is SOOO expensive and you only make money if you're like... top 100?? smth like that?? so like. you want your friend to lose so you can win. but he is your friend probs!!! bc you see him all the time & play him all the time & he's the only person who when you play with him, you get better

okay imagine all that & now put it in front of an audience of thousands where everybody has to be silent except when the players do a really good hit of the bouncy ball and they're only allowed to get up to pee or whatever when the players take a teensy rest between games. incredible idea yes audiences should shut the fuck up and also sit the fuck down. also the scoring is super fucked up and incomprehensible but also v beautiful??

majestic. the perfect sport. 109847/10

#tennis #'what is it about tennis'#tennis is literally the perfect sport #ballow tag

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bludermaus · 5 months

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Another Emperor Post for you all

First of all, just forgive me for not being good at elaboration my opinions, but here we go:

I think another reason people dislike The Emperor is because they have this incessant need to be friends with everybody if they're doing a "good run", and if you're not friendly to the player then you're deserving of no mercy, nuance and greyness be damned

We see that on how people shit on Wulbren. Like, I don't like the guy that much, but I can see the nuance of someone that was maybe a nice person and became so full of bitterness that they start lashing against others and going to extreme measures to do what they *think* is right. It's not elaborated why and we can speculate forever, but if you save Wulbren and Barcus is dead he's far far nicer to you, so people might be extra pissy about him just because Barcus is a sweetie, so by consequence Wulbren is the worst for not being nice to him

Another example is Lae'zel. I love her, but how many times have we seen people saying that they hate her or left her in the camp not bothering with learning about her because she's initially very standoffish? Just because she's not friendly enough, she's not hugging you from the get-go and saying niceties, not worshipping the ground you step on immediately? Sure, she can become friendly and even an actual friend to you later, but that's not supposed to be a requirement for someone to be liked

And then we have The Emperor. Manipulation and ommission of information is not a friendly thing to do, so automatically evil, how dare he! Except that... He's not your friend and he doesn't (initially) want to be, he's an ally by necessity (and let's be honest, every companion there is working together just by necessity. For example: Pre-tadpole Wyll and Astarion would probably have killed each other in different circumstances) and he's interested in your success in the mission, nothing more or less. And let's be honest, considering that he didn't even want to be in this situation in the first place, he's actually very friendly and nice to you, manipulations aside... Manipulations by the way to make you save the world/yourself, which you'd have wanted to do anyway he just helped point you in the right way and guide you to get there faster

But in the end you can genuinely have a friendship with him, it's just that people disregard his feelings because of some sort of idealized idea of friendship where you must be huggy huggy and message each other daily. I am great friends with someone with whom I haven't talked to in like 3-4 months... Does that mean we're not good friends? We don't message each other enough? To me The Emperor would be this kind of friend and that's okay, you'll visit him like once or twice a year, have some conversation and then leave, maybe write letters every now and then, you both value each other's life and that's it, friendship acquired

This accidentally became a post about how his feelings are genuine >:c He doesn't strike me as the "master manipulator" like haters make him out to be, The Emperor is a business nerd with zero social skills who needs therapy and my Tav can fix him, I sincerely believe that if you've been friendly to him the whole game he is genuine when at the end of the game he says he'll miss you... You're one of the only non-illithid to have not treated him like shit and didn't betray him and chose someone else's life over his when you had the chance, you accepted him for what he is and was nice/professional about it. And if you've become a Mind Flayer then obviously he's elated that he's gonna have a buddy to talk to, someone of his own new race who would understand him the best in a way others wouldn't

Okay rambling over, feel free to continue scrolling Tumblr uwu

#baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #bg3 the emperor #bg3 spoilers #bg3 discussion #bludermaus

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crossdressingdeath · 1 year

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Zagreus!Nico posting again, because this is my life now apparently: Nyx getting mad about Nico not being all doom and gloom Underworld kid at all times and claiming he doesn't "belong" on the surface makes no sense if he's actually just a demigod. I've mentioned before that it doesn't make sense that Nyx claims that because Nico's an Underworld kid he belongs in Tartarus (short version, of the three Underworld kids we see only Nico actually lives in the Underworld at any point and there are no demigods at all—including Underworld kids—who belong in Tartarus because it's literally a hell pit for monsters), but there are layers to this nonsense.

When Nyx is talking about Bob it seems like she's mad about him changing because he's a Titan. He's Iapetus, he has always been and will always be Iapetus, Nyx doesn't think he should be allowed to change beyond being Iapetus because immortals do not change. She thinks this because she is the primordial goddess of night and has been for millennia; that's what she is, it's all she is, as far as she's concerned she cannot and does not want to change. But these two are immortal beings. Nico isn't. I can see why Nyx's belief that she can't change leads into a belief that Bob can't change, but it doesn't follow that she believes Nico can't change, because basically the only thing gods will even semi-consistently admit is an advantage demigods have over immortals is their capacity for change. Nyx has no reason to conclude that Nico can't change because she thinks she can't change, because demigods do change. That's a huge part of what makes them so valuable to gods, and while Nyx might not know that her children absolutely would, especially considering two of the three who appear in TSatS definitely have demigod children of their own (no confirmation either way for Epiales but given they're a demon rather than a god I'm going to assume no). Given Nemesis, Hypnos and Epiales are all very quick to point out when their mother is being an idiot, they have no reason not to point out that Nico is not an immortal and isn't bound to stay the same forever even assuming Nyx is right that immortals truly can't/shouldn't change or grow. It doesn't make sense for her to freak out so much at the idea of Nico changing because that's what he's supposed to do, Underworld kid or not.

Except, as my Zagreus!Nico posting always ends up saying, it does make sense if Nico is supposed to be a god. After all, a god is an immortal being who presumably, according to Nyx, should stay just as they are forever the same as she is. We know that immortals changing due to becoming temporarily mortal is considered a problem (see Apollo's nervousness that he's going to be in trouble for caring more about mortals than he used to); it makes sense that would apply even if the newly-mortal immortal doesn't know they should be immortal, and it also makes sense that a primordial goddess who's already paying a lot of attention to this kid would pick up on their former status better than other immortals would (especially since it's entirely possible that Zagreus's life and death would predate some of his cousins). Once again, I don't think this was the takeaway I was supposed to have but it is amazing how many parts of TSatS especially fit into the idea of Nico being Zagreus reborn with basically zero effort.

#tsats #nico di angelo #zagreus!nico

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geekwiththeglasses · 5 months

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Would love to hear you rant about Fourth Wing. That book makes me so mad lmao

I literally dashed to my desktop when I saw this because this deserves a desktop response (out of character for a millenial/genz cusper I actually type much faster with a keyboard).

Now to note, I am only 50% done with the book so far so this is limited to that (though I have watched spoiler reviews so I feel justified in my thoughts because I know it's not getting better).

By the way, I learned that this entire series was a publisher request, not like a passion project of Yarros and while I ain't judging (I would do it in a heartbeat if it meant I could pay rent for the next year), to me, you can kinda feel it, like there's a distinct lack of creative verve. You can especially feel it in how shallow everything (and everyone) feels.

A read more because this became obnoxiously long (it's almost 2000 words) and I respect people's dashboards.

Except for this article about toxic perseverance which I think everyone should have to read if they've read Fourth Wing.

There are, first of all, some major issues with this book. The biggest one is, of course, the toxic perseverance, which is covered quite well in the article, but if you're not going to read it, to pull a quote from it:

Creating a narrative in which a character with a disability overcomes all of their pain and other symptoms through force of will alone sets unrealistic expectations—unrealistic expectations which are, as I mentioned previously, a very real issue for very real disabled people in our very real world. I believe we should have seen some impact of that lifestyle if the author was trying to engage with this intentionally. Because fiction is not created in a vacuum and this narrative goes unproblematised in-text, it’s unclear whether Yarros actively endorses this mindset, or is accidentally endorsing it, neither of which is good.

Just to elaborate a little on something I didn't see in the article, but this book hates the idea of accommodations. Like it's a horrible, horrible thing and how dare you ever suggest Violet might need something as disgusting as a saddle to stay on the equivalent of an airplane. It's not like accommodations are something that actually can end up helping non-disabled people as well. There wasn't potential for a scene where she actually acknowledged she needed help and suddenly everyone's like "hey, that's actually really smart, we should totally do this too, this makes life much easier/safer and will improve everyone's quality of life". Or even just a scene where it only helps her but damn it helps her a lot because it takes in to account her needs and specific body. Because that would require acknowledging that Violet has limitations and not allow her to power through the pain. And also get thrown from her dragon repeatedly, which definitely doesn't fuck up her joints.

Rhiannon gets so shafted. She gets the double whammy of two stereotypes: the black best friend and the promiscuous bisexual. She's seen with multiple partners, none of which seem like long-term or serious partners. And while some bisexual people have more sex with more people than others, if you're going to do that, include more than one bisexual person in your story. She has very little to do with the story unless she is there for the white, straight main character. We've gotten her helping Violet, but so far there's zero dedicated scenes of that tutoring help that was offered in the beginning and as far as I know we never get it (I may be wrong). I hear we get her family later, but that they're also glossed over for More Important Things. It doesn't feel like Rhiannon (or honestly any other character) exists except for when they're around Violet. They all kinda blend together, which at the 50% mark is fucking unacceptable. What is special about them, distinguishes them from the others other than Liam (is it Liam? whoever her bodyguard is) who whittles? There is so little to distinguish any background characters except for Dain. Even Xaden feels lackluster and a bit hazy around the edges, like he never finished rendering.

Let's not forget that Yarros is 100% a military wife and a US military bootlicker and from what I've heard she's had some unsavory and unsupportable opinions on Palestine. We do not like.

She also took Gaelic names and just decided the pronunciation doesn't matter??? Insulting.

Onto the less serious issues:

Firstly, as to my previous complaint, the entirety of Dain's storyline is the most impressive speedrun in character assassination I have ever seen. I described it to a friend as Yarros lovingly caressing a 2x4 before repeatedly beating you over the head with it. He gets like... a scene to be besties and then immediately he must be the worst thing to ever exist, specifically to prop up Xaden. Dain is the asshole holding her back, unlike Xaden who pushes her to be her best (entirely ignoring that her body literally has physical limitations and accommodations are not a dirty word)! He's such a rule follower, but Xaden understands when to bend or break them (pay no attention to him breaking all the rules to try to get her into the scribe's quadrant)! He doesn't believe her immediately when she accuses someone of murder, but Xaden absolutely believes her with no proof (let's forget that Amber is a good friend of Dain and that it would honestly be natural to want to believe that your friend isn't capable of cold-blooded murder with zero proof especially since that would lead to her execution which Violet somehow forgot would be a consequence of her accusation). Dain is overprotective and condescending to Violet (I mean he wasn't the one to force her to have a bodyguard, but he just doesn't believe in her). I bet he doesn't even wash his ass. Xaden definitely washes his ass.

Murder college makes zero sense, especially since she definitely based the military off the US (which makes sense since it's the one she has the most exposure to). Most militaries that I am aware of have rather high requirements for physical fitness, especially an academy for officers (which, in Yarros' face, I actually have experience with, as my father went to the Naval Academy so I know for a fact they're strict as hell with requirements). The US military won't even let you be slightly overweight, even if you can fulfill the physical requirements. It was hard to find any info on whether EDS would out and out disqualify you, but the fact that it wasn't even brought up as a barrier for entry that she had to overcome does not make sense to me.

Ah, I hear someone hypothetically argue, but the college is supposed to (theoretically) weed out the weak so they'll let anyone in who wants to join! Ok, then why is Violet the only physically disabled person in the entire college? I have been to rodeos with bull riders who were amputees, but there ain't one person missing an arm or a leg in that college. The only other disabled person we get so far is a scribe, but you're telling me not one deaf person wants to be a rider? Why is Violet the only one that gets to be "exceptional"?

Back to the murder part of murder college, the fact that this is a murder college gets technically lampshaded, but never really justified in why people keep coming. Like it's not some greater commentary on the lengths people will go for power or greatness or the insidious nature of military propaganda. It just felt like we needed to up the stakes that our protagonist was in danger at every turn, but honestly I never feel like the stakes are that high, because, well, she keeps emphasizing how much danger her life is in, how screwed and dead she is. And if her life is always in danger, it's never in danger.

Speaking of murder, the story doesn't challenge the idea that "weed out the weak through murder" doesn't actually work but just kills people and probably gives the survivors like the worst anxiety (because if everything can kill you your mental health will probably deteriorate). It's like that meme:

Basgiath War College: I have made the perfect rider Me: you fucked up a perfectly good person is what you did. Look at him. He's got anxiety.

Why is Violet so enlightened and above having any prejudice? If anything she should have way more animosity towards the rebel kids than she does. It's literally stated in text that she was not immune to the propaganda and misinformation she's read, but you want me to believe that between (what she believes is) losing a brother to the rebellion and a mother who was kinda involved, not to mention growing up in a group that would be full of anti-rebel propaganda she somehow didn't end up believing anything beyond "yeah some of them will definitely want you dead" which is true??? Instead she's fine with them and will definitely sit with rebel kids because unlike people who grew up with probably less or about the same propaganda than her, she knows not to judge people for the sins of their parents. Those other kids are just so much more prejudiced than she is, isn't she wonderful and has zero biases to unlearn. Oh, you may say, but she thought Xaden was going to kill her! He literally does confirm that the only reason initially he doesn't kill her is to keep a hold of his humanity which does actually confirm that he wants her dead! So the narrative even confirms that this bias was, in fact, the correct opinion to have.

I do not understand why Violet and Xaden are drawn to each other beyond Xaden hot. I am asexual and somewhere on the aromantic spectrum so perhaps it is just not in my nature to understand the ways of the heterosexuals, but I don't get it. Why does she like him? The only reason given is he's hot. Maybe a reason is given later down the line but this is a romantasy. You live and die by building up that damn romance and I am not convinced! I haven't even been given like a "oh I see him with his dragon and it's heart meltingly cute how he interacts with her". Is this why Dain had to be assassinated (we are holding his burial next week by the way, there will be funeral potatoes)? So that Xaden had something to be compared to because he has all the substance of one of those inflatable dancing men?

(Dance, Xaden, dance.)

Yarros cannot do exposition, it's so jarring. She tells us so much, shows little, and bores me the entire time. You seriously decide to make exposition a character quirk for when she needs to calm down? Seriously???? The parapet scene was hard to listen to because you were jerked around like a rag doll between quick action and exposition. Who thought that was a good idea? Exposition is always a difficult thing to include and make it work and sound natural, but this is not how you do it.

A minor complaint, but once you learn Yarros is Mormon you cannot unsee the fingerprints of Mormonism throughout this book. People do not cuss like people, they cuss like you put fuck into a fresh AI and asked it to try it out. I cuss like a sailor and I was wondering why it felt so jarring until I realized that it's not how people talk. I mean Holy. Fucking. Hot. I'm well the fuck aware. You tried ma'am, you tried. Here's a gold star. Also, I'm 99% sure there is zero alcohol. You seriously want me to believe that none of these kids are sneaking in alcohol? That no one is using booze to cope with being in a murder college? As if, we all know these kids are making midnight dragon runs to the liquor store.

Also, the fact that I had to hear an audiobook narrator try to make this dialogue and prose sound like something that would actually come out of a human mouth was truly something to behold. The fact that "for the win" was not left in the 2010s where it belonged is an outrage. If I had a better memory I would put in more quotes cause there have been other doozies.

But really, the greatest crime this book commits, is that it has the audacity to be boring. You give me dragons and you have the sheer, unmitigated gall to bore me. I will accept a lot from a book. I will accept plot holes. I will ignore shallow world building. I will tolerate character assassinations. Do all that if you must, but at the very least make it interesting. This book is not interesting. I listen to a few chapters at a time and I am not having a good time. I only continue out of sheer stubbornness and feeling an obligation that for once I should actually read a book that I have seen negative reviews about to see if perhaps it is not so bad.

I just happened to pick a book where it is, in fact, that bad.

#anti fourth wing #if I misspell names forgive me I am an audiobook person #when I say the greatest crime I am ignoring the actual real world problems like the ableism racism biphobia etc #Everything under the read more is 2050 words i apologize #there would probably be more if I finished the book but that will be at least a week

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askprotoroll · 2 months

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What is the “Roll Z” outfit about?

Oh-ho-ho! I have been waiting for someone to ask about that.

See, about a month ago, a friend of mine showed me this video by man on the internet.

Listening to it, I couldn't help but picture Roll in place of Zero, and thus, I drew up this:

Now, I don't have a solid nor canon X timeline just yet because there's several ways it could go.

Please also keep in mind that I have never played the X games, so if I get anything wrong, I'm sorry!

All the timeline ideas start at the end of the golden age of robotics. Robot masters have been made illegal because of all of Wily's attacks, and so they're ordered by the government to (unfortunately) be deactivated. Including the light children. Light and Wily both end up going into hiding.

Roll, of course, did not agree with this and ran. But, she somehow gets damaged in the process. (The scenario I imagine the most is a building collapsing on top of her.)

This is where the timeline splits.

Timeline idea one:

The first idea I had has Wily finding Roll after she's damaged and decides to use her to get the final one up on Light.

He upgrades her to be the Z look, and much like with Zero, he implants the maverick virus into the gem on her helmet and seals her away, making her an unwitting pawn in his final plan.

Wily did not do anything to make her loyal to him because he knew it wouldn't work. He also knows the virus will likely not affect her either because of her sentience. (which is probably dumb in hindsight because she was affected by roboenza. Maybe the cure made her immune? Idk)

Light, in the meantime, is working on creating X (the timeline also splits here, but I'll get to that later) and passes away while X is in containment doing the final checks, as per the normal x timeline.

Now... Whether or not X is found before Roll is up for debate (as i said, i never played the X games), all I know is Dr Cain still finds X, and Sigma finds Roll.

Roll is initially hesitant to trust Sigma, even fighting him at first, but she is convinced to stop, and she does end up joining and becoming one of the top maverick hunters.

That'd be where Roll meets X...

The timeline will most likely go on like the games from there.

Timeline idea two:

Much like timeline one, Wily finds and upgrades Roll. But unlike timeline one, Wily has a change of heart, not wanting his legacy to only be destructive.

In this timeline, Zero DOES exist, but he is unfinished, and the maverick virus is in him instead of Roll.

Everything else is like timeline one, except Roll may end up finding Zero at some point.

Dunno what she'd do. Maybe if she had a dream sequence like Zero did in one of the games of Wily telling her to "fix his mistakes," she'd destroy him or something.

Timeline Idea three:

This timeline can be a variation of one or two interchangeably because the change here is involving Light, and is actually somewhat based on an AU my friend has.

In this timeline, Light ends up taking Rock with him into hiding and upgrades him instead of building X.

Everything else carries on like timelines one or two up until "Rock X" ends up meeting "Roll Z"...

After that, everything would carry on the same.

Timeline idea four:

This last idea is something I got from this video of a protoman rom hack for Mega Man X 1

This time, instead of Wily finding Roll, It's light who finds her and upgrades her, which would include fixing her core because ley me just sat this now,

Because Dr Light is the one who made Roll's experimental core, only HE can fix it since he's the only one who knows how it works. That doesn't mean it can't be maintained by others, though.

This means that in the other timelines, Roll likely still has that issue with her core.

This also means that Zero exists, too, but this time is fully completed. Although honestly, I imagine that Zero is built to be a girl in these timelines because I read somewhere that Zero was based on Protoman, and since he'd technically be based on Roll in this timeline...

I'm not sure what the dynamic between Roll and Zero would be to be perfectly honest. Neither of them would know about Zero being built by wily unless Zero tells Roll about that dream sequence.

Then again, he apparently asked light about it, and Light claimed he didn't know so... that's up in the air I guess.

There are several more possibilities I haven't covered here, like if Blues was taken to be upgraded by Light or if Roll wasn't found by anyone. But the four I talked about are the ones I think about most.

As I said, I don't know which one is the "canon" timeline for the AU. Buuut I think I should mention this-

When the robot masters are deactivated, I personally think that they were all preserved in a museum somewhere. It'd be such a shame otherwise. Plus, it means that, one day, Roll would be able to see Rock and Blues in some form.

Despite the rough patches in their history, Roll loves her brothers and would very much miss them.

I'll probably end up drawing more of Proto!Roll Z eventually.

For now, enjoy this little bit of dialogue I imagine being shared between X and Roll

X: "So, you were the first of the Robot masters?"

Roll: "I was the prototype, yes."

X: "You were made by Dr Light too?"

Roll: "Mhmm.."

X: "That would make you my sister, right?"

Roll: "...huh. yeah, I guess it would."

- Melody

#mega man #mega man x #prototype roll au #blues and roll swap au #au #megaman au #megaman #rockman #alternate au #mod talk #proto!roll #proto!roll z #she's called Roll Z because Zero #i thought it was clever

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genshingorlsrevengeance · 8 months

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Hello, how's your day going for you?

Headcanons for AR team seeing their S/O got kidnap by the enemy

(GFL) M4A1, ST AR-15, M4 SOPMOD II, M16A1 seeing their S/O captured

I know we've had a couple of prompts like this for the Genshin characters, but I feel like with T-Dolls that's so much of a worse idea. It's like trying to capture John Connor from the Terminator, except there's four of them and they're WAY faster.

M4 hears S/O call out for her, which she turns to the direction their voice is coming from.

And sees them being taken by Sangvis T-Dolls.

Something snaps inside M4 as the thought of S/O being hurt or worse while captured rushes through her supercomputer mind.

Any self doubt or blame is burned away as she immediately puts her crosshairs on the T-Doll trying to carry them away.

Each shot blows apart their heads into pieces of scrap as M4 closes the distance at a rapid pace, the light from her eyes being replaced with murderous intent.

Some of the bullets bounced off her while many others pierced entered her body and damaged her systems, but she could not care less.

She could be repaired.

S/O was human, they could not.

Startlingly, she says absolutely nothing during the process, showing her true nature as a T-Doll as every threat is eradicated within seconds.

Once the enemy squad was eliminated, M4 takes a deep breath as she makes sure there's no injuries on them.

(M4A1) "You're not hurt, are you?"

Once she gets them to a safer location and away from any threats, she gives them an almost bone crushing hug before leaving again.

M4 was going to make sure absolutely nothing could even think about touching S/O once she was done.

(ST AR-15) "No you won't!"

STAR begins destroying the Sangvis T-Dolls without hesitation, carefully blowing apart each limb that was restraining S/O.

She knew what they did to captured T-Dolls, she would not dare imagine what they'd do to a captured human.

A quiet fury builds inside STAR with each confirmed kill, seeing S/O escaping behind her, putting her slightly at ease.

Getting right in front of the oncoming fire, her armor manages to deflect a couple shots as some pierced non-vital systems.

If she died, then so be it, but she was not going to let them have S/O.

After the last T-Doll's head was torn apart by a well placed shot, she breathes a sigh of relief as she turns around to S/O who was panting heavily.

(ST AR-15) "...Thank goodness."

She falls to one knee, not realizing how heavily she had been injured. STAR takes it as a sign she needs to become more powerful it they managed to grab them at all.

Something she'd never forgive herself for.

(SOPMOD) "OH, YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

SOPMOD jumps right into the fray and begins ripping apart the enemy T-Dolls who had S/O with her bare hands.

She hears absolutely nothing besides her own scream, crushing every tin can that dared lay a hand on her S/O.

SOPMOD was the type to enjoy the thrill of battle, but right now she just wanted every single one dead at her hands, none of the usual joy in her voice.

For a few brief moments, SOPMOD was a whirlwind of destruction, not even firing her gun until seeing some of the remaining drones attempt an escape, yelling out obscenities at them as bullets flew out of her gun.

Once her scanners detected zero hostile signatures, she immediately grabbed S/O and rushed away.

(SOPMOD) "They didn't hurt you did they?! I swear I'm gonna mount their damn heads on my wall!"

If anything, she doesn't feel ashamed of herself, she feels nothing but rage.

(M16A1) "OVER MY GODDAMN DEAD BODY!"

M16 uses her case to smash a few of the Sangvis T-Doll's heads in, before unloading her weapon at any who had no time to react.

Leaping in front of S/O and pushing to the ground, her body took internal damage, but she shrugged it off and spun around, dropping every single one of their attackers with a hail of gunfire.

She quickly calms herself before her anger can overtake her processors. M16 grabs S/O and throws them out of the line of fire, slightly wincing at their grunt.

(M16A1) "Sorry, stay here for a sec!"

M16 turns her attention back to the oncoming enemies, many of which she destroyed with precision shots before hopping back into cover with S/O.

(M16A1) "This is M16, need help at my position, they tried to capture S/O!"

(ST AR-15's Voice) "Roger, on our way!"

After her request was acknowledged, she gave a wry smile to S/O.

(M16A1) "Don't worry. They'll never lay their hands on you again. I promise."

#girls' frontline imagines #girls' frontline headcanons #girls' frontline x reader #m4a1 x reader #st ar 15 x reader #m4 sopmod ii x reader #m16a1 x reader #m4a1 gfl #st ar 15 gfl #m4 sopmod ii gfl #m16a1 gfl

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kitkatopinions · 3 months

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I think it was a mistake to make RWBY a grand epic adventure with relics, maidens, gods, and a supervillain. Keep the show within the simple and fun academy setting with a monster of the week style formula. With the occasional field trip to other places to freshen things up and meet new faces. As bad as the writers are, this would play to their strengths and not their weaknesses. Instead of bloating the cast and inventing new ideas only to never revisit them all while failing basic worldbuilding. Simplifying the story and limiting concepts to dust, aura, and semblances would also save money too. What do you think?

For sure. If we were talking about different writers, I'm actually one of those people that has no problem with the big changes RWBY underwent.

Back when V3 and V4 were new to me, I was totally on board with the changes! A good show can go through a... I don't want to call it a genre shift, but at the very least a plot shift. Things go from 'Ruby Rose and her friends attend a combat school, but there's something brewing under the surface' into 'Team RWBYJNROQ are on a world-saving adventure quest that will take them all over the world searching for magical objects while opposed by an immortal villain.' And to me, that's fine... Except that the writers couldn't handle that strain and couldn't manage to turn one into the other.

They're some weird combination of writers who plan and writers who fly by the seat of their pants, as in it feels like they have some things set that they want to do but never know how they'll get there and then just fumble to do it. This is a pretty bad thing when the show actually relies on things like magic system and world building now. A loose magic system was fine when it was 'Team RWBY has super-powers, they're in school to help them use it to destroy giant robots' but it's not fine when it's 'Team RWBY want to use the magical staff to save Penny and make a magical route to Vacuo and have to use the specific magical rules to do it and then they fall into a magical world that the gods came from.' That requires care and attention and lore-building, all things that the writers aren't good at. And big overarching plots are great, but not when the writers can't seem to actually get anywhere with it, can't seem to remember to have the mains learn and grow in significant ways, can't seem to keep track of who knows what, and can't seem to make their writing choices have any real significant impact.

I say this all the time, but the reason I have so many problems with the writing in RWBY isn't the thing itself, it's the fact that the writers don't understand what they can and can't handle.

This is why if a RWBY rewriter or fixer is like 'here's how I'd handle serious topics like XYZ' or is like 'I still plan to kill Penny/Pyrrha' or 'I'm definitely still including Maidens/Relics/Gods' or even does something like have Oz in Jaune's head or something, I'll caution them to be careful but I have zero problem with it actually because there's very little that I think a skilled and passionate writer can't do well (this is also why I'm never gonna be a 'stop making live actions' girlie.) But as for the RWBY writers we do have, yeah, they really should've stuck to what they were good at, the slightly more low stakes fun with an underlying tension somewhat episodic monster-of-the-week thing about teenagers and their fun little dramas. I'm not even trying to say that badly, I think I would love it! But instead what we got is a hot mess of jumbled half-complete ideas that are badly written at best and actively offensive and harmful at worst.

What a bummer.

#rwde

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recurring-polynya · 2 months

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Izakaya Kamenoya, part 3

It's been so long, and I kept getting busy with stuff, but rest assured, I have not stopped thinking about every shinigami's favorite watering hole, Izakaya Kamenoya, for even one second of that time, and today I am going to talk about what's really important: what kind of booze can you get there.

The multiplicity of drink options is honestly the thing I really love about Kamenoya. On a meta level, someone has to draw all this stuff, like, with their hands. I have no idea, actually, if the animators consider this sort of thing a break from all the powering up and sword fights and rolling across cave floors, or if they consider a Trip to the Bar to be really tedious. My point is, they very well could have just always drawn people drinking out of the same cups, except they didn't, they drew a series of loving close ups of sake-pouring and a variety of drinkware styles. On a more Watsonian level, I just like the idea that, like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want at Izakaya Kamenoya. So let's get into it!

I think the thing that really made me notice this was this scene from the Amagai Arc, where you see Kira doing mokkiri, or overpouring his sake. (At least I think that's what he's doing. The articles I read sounded more like the server is supposed to do it, which emphasizes the establishment's generosity, so maybe Kira is just being a messy drunk. I'm pretty sure you're also not supposed to pour yourself sake, you're supposed to do it for your tablemates)

Often, mokkiri is done into a masu, which is a small square box that was used as a standard measure for rice. You can see Nanao drinking out of one here!

What kind of cup to drink your sake out of is a huge topic, but basically, it depends on the flavor and characteristics of the sake. The fact that Kira and the Lads are drinking out of clear glasses might imply that they're drinking chilled, summer-style sake (or possibly trying to appreciate the clarity of the vintage, as if this is what you call up Iba and Renji to go to the pub for).

I am not an expert, so I'm not going to attempt to identify exactly what these different cups would be classified as, but you can see a variety of shapes, sizes and materials.

I found less information on different shapes of tokkuri (that's the slightly bigger bottle that you serve from), but those come in a variety, as well. Mostly, they have either the large, oval-shaped jugs you can see in the first picture, or the more slender white ones in the second. I am really fond of these tall boys that Kira and Hisagi have, which seem to have straighter sides than the other kind, kind of like a milk bottle.

While we're looking at that picture, there's an ad on the wall for beer. Beer!

In modern times, beer is actually the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, which Wikipedia tells me came about after WWII because of restrictions on the use of rice. They've had beer since the Edo era, though, and many of today's major breweries got started in the late 1800s. I love the idea that beer is a thing you can get in Soul Society, but it's clear that it has not overcome sake in popularity the way it did in the World of the Living--which makes sense, because of they never had those restrictions. (In other words, throw this in the bucket of stuff like tattoos and attitudes toward homosexuality that I think diverged from the Living World because of weird quirks of history).

In fact, Kamenoya apparently imports beer from the World of Living (maybe it also has local brews as well).

Look how lovingly that bottle of Kirin is drawn. 😂 The fact that it's shown in a glass mug in the ad, but served in a Pilsner glass here supports the idea that there are multiple kinds of beer available. Now, I believe that Kirin Zero is non-alcoholic. It's surprisingly hard to do research on beer labels from 20 years ago. I couldn't find a label that looked exactly like that, and Kirin's non-alcoholic offering seems to be called Kirin Free now (Kirin Zero is now zero-carb and I couldn't figure out if it's alcoholic or not). In any case, I am choosing in my heart to believe that this is because of weird TV censorship and in no way implies that Rukia is not one of the champion drinkers of the Gotei-13.

Don't get me wrong! I love a bar that offers non-alcoholic options! You can also get tea at Kamenoya, which you can see Tobiume and Okyō drinking below; Momo has some as well (they also have a discussion about it)

earlier posts in this series: (part 1) (part 2)

#izakaya kamenoya #i was going to talk about food too but this post is long enough so i guess we just gotta have a PART 4 #i actually think it's really great that they show characters who don't prefer to drink #i just wish it wasn't always the tiny lady characters #bleach is also really good at often showing that strength goes with spiritual pressure and not with size #and i think alcohol tolerance should go the same way #ukitake always gets to drink and he's on like 9000 medications!#show us komamura going to the bar and ordering water in a large bowl you cowards!!#at least we have matsumoto sloppy drunk feminist icon

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howlingday · 2 months

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Not Just Any Idiot...

BY THE POWERS OF THE BROTHERS, A GREAT IMBALANCE PERSISTS! ORDER MUST BE RESTORED, SO THE BALANCE MUST SHIFT!

Salem: That's odd. I don't sense an imbalance. In fact, I'd say I'm about to put things back in my favor.

THE MAGIC MUST PASS, ONE TO ANOTHER! NO BLOOD MAY PERSIST, NEITHER BROTHER NOR MOTHER!

Oscar: Oh! That's me they're talking about!

Salem: "One to another"? Oh, you have got to be kidding me...

Oscar: I've got an idea! Ruby, put me in!

Salem: Do NOT put that little idiot into MY lake!

Oscar: Yes, you should put this little idiot into the lake!

Salem: Don't you DARE put him in!

Oscar: Put me in! Put me in!

Salem: DON'T. DO IT.

Oscar: Don't listen to her! Dot it! Do it~!

Ruby: (Shoves Oscar in)

A VESSEL COMES FORTH, FROM SHORES SO DISTANT! FOR TWO TO BECOME ONE, UTTER YOUR AGREEMENT!

Oscar: Yes!

Salem: NEVER!

Oscar: No, no, she totally is!

Salem: Nononononononono!

AN IMPASSE OF WORDS CASTS THE BARRIER! ONE WITH SILVER EYES MUST ACT AS THE CARRIER!

Salem: YES!

Oscar: PULL ME OUT! PULL ME OUT! PULL ME OUT!

Oscar: Wait, Silver Eye- LEAVE ME IN! LEAVE ME IN! Toss the relics in!

Salem: Don't. Do it.

Oscar: Yes, do do it!

Salem: Do not throw the relics in! You don't know what you're doing!

Oscar: She's just lying!

Salem: (Grimm rise) Not so fast. Only a silver-eyed warrior can throw the relics in. And you are but a child.

Oscar: Okay, don't listen to her, okay? Yeah, it's true that you're kinda young, but you have something way more important that age. And that's the relics in your hands right now. It's our best option so that she doesn't kill us.

Salem: Acting like an adult only makes you childish. Well, more childish than you already are. Because you are still a child, even though you act like you're an adult. If you want to be an adult, then stop.

Oscar: Okay, that... sounds like logical reasoning, except where you're wrong is that while we were debating this, WE JUST THREW IN THE RELICS!

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

Oscar: Wait, what if this hurts? What if this really hurts?

Salem: Oh, it will. Believe me, it will.

Oscar: (Lowered into Grimm Pool) Are you just saying that or- No, you're not. You're not, are you? Exactly how painful is this- AAAAARGH!

Salem: (Dragged in by magic hands) No! No! Stop! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Oscar: (Pops up with in black coat) WOOOOOOW! Check me out, Ruby! We did it! I'm in control of all the Grimm! I am just... I am just massive, aren't I? It's not just me, though, is it? I do look massive, right?

Oscar: Oh! Right! The Relics! Hang on, let me just call them now. It's just... Look how small you are down there! I can barely see you now! You are... very tiny and insignificant. Wait, hold on, what am I going to do once the Brothers come down? Are they gonna be jealous, y'know, because of how massive I am?

Oscar: I knew it would be cool, but I didn't think it would be THIS cool! And check this out! I know everything now! Watch!

Oscar: ¡Algo anda muy mal! ¡Por favor, ayúdame!

Oscar: I don't even know what I just said! But I can always find out, right? ...OH! Right! Yeah, the Brothers! I keep forgetting. I just can't get over how amazing this power is! I can't get over how small you are! Or how HUGE I am!

Oscar: Heh... Haha... AHAHAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahaha... Ha... Actually, you know what? Why should I call the Brothers right now? Do you have any idea how good this feels?

Oscar: I did this! ME! Tiny, little Oscar did this!

Salem: (From the pool) You didn't do anything. SHE did all the work.

Oscar: Oh, really! That's what you two think, do you? Then how about I finally do something then?

Salem: What are you doing? No!

Oscar: And don't think I'm not onto you, too, Ruby.

Oscar: You know what you are? SELFISH. Since we first met, all I've done is give and give and give and sacrifice to get us here, and what have you sacrificed? NOTHING. Zero. All you've done is boss me around. Well, now who's the boss? Who's the boss? It's me.

Oscar: ...AH! (Picks up mask) See this? This is a defunct Geist. Because it can't possess anything now. And now SHE lives in it. Hahahaha!

Salem: So this was your plan, Ozma...

Oscar: I'm sorry, what?

Salem: I saw Ozma's notes on how he would stop me. How he could stop me. To take away my power. In one chapter, he noted how he would trick me into giving my power away to someone unworthy to wield it. The thought of it happening haunted me into a paranoia.

Oscar: Nope! Not listening! Not listening!

Salem: And it's you, isn't it?

Oscar: No! No! You're lying!

Salem: You're not just some dumb farmboy. You're a farmboy specifically chosen because you are the dumbest moron.

Oscar: I AM NOT! A! MORON!

Salem: YES, YOU ARE! YOU'RE THE MORON OZMA CHOSE TO BE HIS IDIOT!

Oscar: (Throws Salem at Ruby) WELL, HOW ABOUT NOW?! NOW WHO'S A MORON?! COULD A MORON DO THIS!? (Smashes ground) COULD A MORON?! PUNCH?! YOU?! INTO?! THIS?! PIT?! HUH?! COULD A MORON DO THAT?!

Ruby: (Cliff crumbles beneath her)

Oscar: ...Uh-oh.

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

Salem: ...Oh, hi.

Salem: So, how are you holding up?

Salem: BECAUSE I'M A GEIST.

Salem: (Slow claps)

Salem: Oh, good. I was wondering if my slow clap spell could still be cast. So there's that.

Salem: ...Well, since it doesn't look like we're going anywhere- Well, we are going somewhere. Alarmingly fast, actually. But since we aren't busy besides that, there's a couple of thing you should know.

Salem: That boy isn't just a regular moron. He's a moron specifically hand-picked by Ozma himself for the express purpose of being the dumbest moron to have ever lived.

Salem: And YOU just put him in charge of all the Grimm.

Salem: (Slow claps)

Salem: Good, that spell still works.

Salem: ...Hey, just in case this pit isn't actually bottomless, do you think you could hold me above your head? Just remember to land with your feet.

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

Salem: Wait a second! Go look at that spell book. Paradoxical riddles... No magically influenced creature can resist thinking about them.

Salem: I know how we can beat him!

Oscar: Haha! I've got you both now!

Salem: Hey, moron!

Oscar: Oh... Hello?

Salem: Alright... Time for a paradox.

Salem: THIS! SENTENCE! IS! FALSE! Don'tthinkaboutit, don'tthinkaboutit, don'tthinkaboutit...

Oscar: Uh, I'm gonna go with true. Definitely true. Not bad. But, to be honest, I think I heard that one before.

Salem: IT'S A PARADOX! THERE IS NO ANSWER! Argh! Look! You need to give me back my magic before the whole world is destroyed!

Oscar: Uh, I'm gonna go with false. Oh, crap! I'll be right back! (Leaves)

Salem: Okay, so the paradox spell didn't work... and it almost killed me. The good news, though, is that is skill with traps is as limited as his knowledge on arcanic-based logic traps.

#rwby #ruby rose #salem #oscar pine #portal #portal 2

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starlightswordfight · 14 days

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headcanon posting for the million trillionth time while I wait for student aid stuff to finalize over the weekend

also not fully hc some of it is me either rambling a little or crying for help. do not even worry about it

this one is CASTAWAY focused omg !!!! (not all of them) (not even close) (oh my god I would die)

– dalmo does not feel fear and you cannot kill him in a way that matters

– no I'm being serious. his experience of more intense emotions, especially fear, is more muted, with the exception of his love for creatures!! he went to pnf-404 no hesitation after seeing a distress call for a REASON and that reason was he DID NOT CARE

– the delayed or nonexistent fear response is joined by slowed reaction time to pain, or an occasional lack of it altogether!! uh oh!! he VERY commonly discovers bruises and the like with absolutely zero recollection of what could possibly have done that. is he autistic

– he has eczema in my heart. I also picture him to wear animal handling gloves a lot!! this both Hides and Irritates it!! I also gave this trait to an oc but listen listen if I have to have it everybody else does too

– patch also does not get scared that easy but he isn't ND in any way he's just patch

– do you think he might be a criminal in some places on technicality because of the gambling. definitely not his HOME planet if it's on his ID BADGE but that's just one place. I think he's gotten into trouble before w this and was absolutely flabbergasted about it. he had no idea this would even be an issue. what the hell

– santi (SCREAMS OF THE DAMNED)

– sorry I'm keeping that in it was a placeholder and I thought it was funny. anyway her eyesight is GOD awful. she has farsightedness and needs glasses for that specifically, head hurts so bad all the time, someone save her

– TO CLARIFY i did not initially come up with this and I'm not sure who did but the transfem santi headcanon is so perfect to me

– have you guys heard "and if I did you deserved it" because that song REALLY reminds me of santi in very specific ways and I'm including it here because it's how I picture some of her inner monologue. (“if looks could kill, I'd be staring in the mirror” / “and god, i wish they could, 'cause man, i'm looking good!”)

I'm actually writing something right now or Trying To inspired by that song for her. Uh. Anyway

– chet has a LOT of siblings, and is the oldest out of all of them. he has a big family! whom he cherishes dearly!! and as such is already very good at looking after others and being The Glue of a given group

– mika's experiences in school were ... not the greatest!! her motivation to become a teacher was to provide a more welcoming space for whichever students got her, a space that she wasn't provided. we NEED more positivity in this world

– really really really bad impostor syndrome. I'm talking god awful. this woman has an anxiety disorder. please help her get out

– not a headcanon but I adore mika with everything I have

– transmasculine sammy. does not transition medically because he does not feel the need to, people believe him and that is enough (start sfuckfign bawling hysterically)

– not a headcanon but if anything happened to sammy I'd start mauling people

– pitunia is autistic. pitunia in particular. look me in my eyes and tell me that she isn't

– her and sammy, both being on the research task force, have a sibling relationship!! the task force reads to me as found family just in general but I am specifically looking at these two right now. they dye their hair to match each other

– speaking of pitunia. her and sy have a fundamentally different way each of looking at the onion, and probably also everything else!! so they're constantly debating each other, if only to further understand the other viewpoint and make their own resolutions stronger. it's very respectful always but you will NEVER hear one of them talk without the other teleporting in and going "I ALSO think that maybe the --"

– sy ALSO uses they/them because I fucking SAID SO

– i think komo and twyla have something

– claustrophobic boris trust me on this

– comes up with all of his ideas for writing either in the shower or when he's fucking asleep so he scrambles to get it down on paper or in a notes app or something and when he wakes up the next morning he's met with literary gems like “he Roled he's eye” and “whu do yhey call itlven when you of in The cold.food and out of hot eat th . e”

– get that man some noise cancelling headphones NOW. the idea machine is running out of FUEL and he needs PEACE so he can WORK

– or even just any headphones, he might be the kind of writer that visualizes really intricate animatics to whatever songs come on until the roadblock works itself out

– he drinks coffee flavored energy drinks. the amount of caffeine that man needs to keep going would kill his editor

– jin neopronoun user. they/xe actually

– was absolutely NOT always that level headed, OR that good with planning and visualization and the like. that shit took YEARS of active practice, and they were far less patient before

– inattentive/combined adhd haver maybe. this is why xe puts such an emphasis on how you are allowed to fail at dandori challenges, more than once, and how it is OKAY to. even now, it does not come fully naturally, but they're doing their best and that's all you really can sometimes and that's okay

– do ANY OF YOU know what the fuck is going on with grace because I DON'T I TRIED this is a CRY FOR HELP

– it might be because of the shared name but I could easily picture her sometimes talking like the grace in npmd does. (this wasn't murder!! and it wasn't an accident!!! it was An Act Of God)

– What The Hell Did She Do For Her Badge To Discuss The Space Police On It. I imagine it is a long list. gambling is on the list. her and patch go WAY back (lie) (they interacted once) (probably to get away from the space police that one time) ("i thought gambling was LEGAL on sozor HONEST" "I didn't")

#pikmin #pikmin 4 #pikmin headcanons #i am not tagging all of them individually i might die #FULLY PLAN ON WRITING STUFF FOR THE KOPPAITES TOO. I JUST NEED A MINUTE #been a LONG time since I've played 3 and I'm not doing one of my favorite games injustice w my ideas

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thefandomwritersblog · 24 days

Text

Ghost of the Ten

Horizon: Forbidden West

Hekarro x Fem!OldOne OC

Action/Adventure/Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Chapter 20

Part 3: Ghost of the Ten

"It's always been hard for me to tell the difference between denial and what used to be known as hope." Michael Chabon

Day whatever the fuck this is

I've lost track of the days; they all blend together in a blur. Part of me doesn't want to know how long it's been since I woke up, as if not knowing will make this reality easier to cope with. But it’s a fucking stupid hope; I know better. I’m so fucking angry all the time; at myself, at this life I didn't ask for. Shouldn't I have moved past this by now? Done something—anything—instead of wallowing in my own damn misery every single day? Why the hell was it me? Why was I the one put in ice and not Anne?

She could have made a difference here, shaped something out of this chaos. But no, it's just me, and I don’t know if I can do this anymore. I don’t want to be here, there’s no purpose left for me here, nothing worth fighting for anymore. I go to bed and I pray I don’t wake up in the morning.

I’m always disappointed when I do.

Victoria muttered a string of curses, the charcoal slipping from her fingers and clattering onto the table. She dragged her hands across her face; the journal lay open in front of her, its pages tauntingly blank except for the few lines she had managed to scrawl out. Her attempts at articulating her thoughts were laughable at best—a jumble of words that made no sense even to herself. Her annoyance bubbled up at the thought. This was all just so… pointless. Suddenly, she pushed back from the desk, the stool scraping across the stone floor while Victoria stood to stretch. She winced as her joints cracked, pacing back and forth on the floor before making her way to the curtained doorway. As she stepped into the hallway, she nearly collided with Beta.

"Victoria!" Beta yelped, stepping back in surprise. Her face lit up with a bright grin. "Glad to see you're up. How's it going with your journaling?"

“It’s stupid, like usual.” Victoria grumbled back.

But Beta, with that endearing stubbornness that Victoria found both infuriating and charming, just gave her a smile. "You'll figure it out eventually.”

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Victoria crossed her arms, “So, you come here just to bug me about my journaling?”

“No. Chief Hekarro is busy today, so I wanted to see if maybe you’d like to take your walk with me this time.”

“After you then.”

She grumbled under her breath, feeling like a prized pet being taken out for exercise. But she couldn't blame them; she spent so much time in her room anyway that they probably just wanted to see her out and about. But the idea still pissed her off more than she wanted to admit. With an irritated gesture, Victoria motioned for Beta to lead the way,

Beta's enthusiasm was palpable as she lead Victoria towards the crater, her long strides forcing Victoria to quicken her own pace. They followed the outer rim of the crater until they reached a ramp leading down to the floor. From there, they walked towards the large gates that marked the boundary of the museum grounds.

"I have a feeling you'll really like the Oseram,” Beta remarked as they passed through the last set of gates and gazed out at the clearing ahead where a makeshift camp was set up in the distance. “They're some of the most innovative thinkers I've encountered, and it's incredible how their creations reflect some of humanity's greatest scientific breakthroughs."

Victoria furrowed her brows in confusion, "What do you mean? Shouldn't that be expected?"

Beta let out a sigh and stopped walking to look out over the makeshift camp, "It's obvious that human society has regressed to a primitive state compared to your time." As she nodded Beta continued, "But it wasn't supposed to be this way. Knowledge was meant to be one of the last gifts left behind by Elisabet and the other Zero Dawn scientists, but it was taken from them."

"Hekarro had mentioned that the Tenakth had been robbed of their future," Victoria recalled. “What happened?”

“Ted Faro happened.” She waited, almost holding her breath as Beta struggled to find the right words, “One of GAIA’s functions was to hold a vast repository of all human knowledge, everything that was good, bad, beautiful, and horrific. Which included the origins and consequences of the Faro Plague. Ted believed this information was unnecessary for humanity's future. So he completely erased APOLLO and murdered the Zero Dawn team responsible for its creation.”

As soon as Victoria heard the name her blood began to boil. She had never met the man, but she’d heard enough stories during her time in the Air Force, and from Anne, to know he was an asshole with a capital A. After all, it was his Chariot line of robots that was ultimately responsible for the end of the world. And now, finding out that he was also responsible for humanity's age of ignorance only fueled her anger even more. Faro had not only stolen Victoria's future, but also robbed countless generations of their potential.

How many mistakes could have been avoided if they knew better? How many more would be made until they were given what should have been rightfully theirs?

"It really is remarkable," Victoria muttered, "That they’re still making the same advancements."

"Yes, it is," Beta nodded in agreement as they continued walking, "But it's not all hopeless. A copy of APOLLO was given to Far Zenith and successfully made its way back here from the Sirius System. Humanity has a chance to learn of its history, to grow again. It might be small steps right now, but it’s progress in the right direction.”

Of course, this was only possible if humanity was willing to accept the truth. But Victoria kept that thought to herself.

The Oseram camp was bustling as soon as they entered, the heat of the forges making the already sweltering jungle feel even more unbearable. Victoria and Beta weaved their way through rows of tents and makeshift shelters, passing workers toiling over hot forges with hammers clanging against anvils. Despite the loud sounds of their work, there was an air of camaraderie as laughter and banter echoed from one tent to another. Everyone wore a smile or showed clear determination in their tasks.

A sudden voice called out from a larger tent nearby, causing Beta and Victoria to pause. A woman emerged from beneath the tent, her leathers covered in a layer of soot and dirt. Her eyes were bright and she wore a wide smile on her face, her hair tied back with a bandanna. She stopped right in front of Victoria, examining her with unabashed curiosity as if trying to figure out how she worked. "Steel to my bones," the woman said. "I can't quite pin down what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it."

Victoria bristled at the comment, but the woman quickly reassured her, "Oh relax! I meant it as a compliment. When someone says 'Old One', I usually picture some frail elder who can barely walk. But you don't look anything like that. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were Tenakth - that fancy getup of yours notwithstanding, of course.”

A hand was suddenly thrust out, “Petra Forgewoman. I’m the overseer of the camp, and the ongoing work in the arena.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow but didn’t take the hand, "The one who made my journal?"

"The one and only!" Petra beamed, unfazed by Victoria's reaction. She then turned on her heel and gestured, "Let's get out of this heat and grab some drinks."

Beta prodded Victoria forward, following behind Petra as she led them to a large towering building at the back of the camp. It was a mix of stone, wood, and canvas materials and provided a welcome respite from the outside heat. Inside, it was a mismatched collection of makeshift furniture. Tables crafted from scavenged wood filled the space, with almost every seat taken by patrons. The room was alive with conversation and laughter, the flickering light from oil lamps casting shadows on the faces of its occupants

With ease, Petra weaved through the crowd, making room for them at an unoccupied table.

“Oi, what’s a gal gotta do for some cold drinks over here. It’s hotter than a Bellowback’s backside out there!”

Petra shifted her attention back to Victoria as they both settled into their seats. It didn't take long for Victoria to feel the intense stares of those around them, unlike the Tenakth who were more discreet in their curiosity. Even the server, placing drinks in front of Petra, Beta, and Victoria, couldn't help but sneak glances at her with unabashed fascination.

"Is there something on her face?" Petra snapped after a while, turning to glare at the people around her. "My friend didn't come here to be gawked at like some prized scrap find. So everyone needs mind their own damn business!"

The crowd's reaction was immediate; they all returned to their conversations while Petra shook her head. She gave Victoria an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry about that. It's not every day they see a living Old One, but that doesn't excuse their lack of manners and common sense because of their curiosity." She lifted her mug and offered a toast to Victoria, “To my new friend, didn’t quite catch your name though.”

She scoffed, "It's Victoria." before gulping down her drink from the stein. Letting out a low groan as the sharp taste of beer hit her tongue, she was pleasantly surprised by the familiar flavor and the warmth that spread through her body after swallowing. "Beer? Like real fucking beer?"

Petra laughed, “Surprised?”

Victoria drained the mug and smirked, "Actually? No, not really. I guess it's just typical of humans to figure out alcohol so quickly."

“One of those universal things, huh?”

“Something like that.” She chuckled. Movement from the corner of her eye brought her attention to Beta, the stein of beer in her small hands almost comically large. Victoria frowned and forced the mug back down the table, covering the top with her palm. “Oye, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Having a drink?”

“Cómo fue? No te escuché.” Victoria teased the stein from Beta’s hands, “You’re like twelve.”

Beta frowned, “I’m nineteen! I know Old Ones did stuff like this differently but—”

“You’re damn right we did it different, and for good reason! You’re too young to destroy your liver. Now go get some water, or a fuckin’ juice box, I don’t give a shit.” Victoria waved dismissively, fighting back a grin as Beta mirrored her scowl in return. Victoria watched her leave, eyeing the rest of the Oseram with a scowl before she turned back to Petra. The woman eyed her in amusement, nursing her own drink.

“Nineteen isn't old enough?” Petra teased, “By the forge and flames, I had my first pint at fourteen.”

“I was fifteen,” Victoria admitted, “But just because we could doesn't mean she should. I can handle my drink pretty well, maybe even better than you—” Petra smirked “—but that kid is small. Your drinks would knock her on her ass, and there's hot forges outside. So excuse me for trying to be responsible.”

"You really care about her, huh?" The question hit Victoria hard in the chest, causing her anger to dissipate and revealing the subtle ache of loneliness underneath. She wanted to deny it, to say anything but the truth: that yes, she did care about Beta. Little Beta who always brought breakfast in the morning. Who always showed concern for her well-being, even when Victoria was grumpy. Beta, with her kind eyes that made Victoria feel cared for.

But Victoria couldn't bring herself to say a word, consumed by guilt for caring about something other than her family. How could she even entertain hope for something when they were gone? As if looking for a reason to live was a betrayal to their memory.

Petra gave her a sad smile and continued, looking down at her drink. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Look, there's no easy way to hammer it out, right?. You're an Old One. Probably the last one left, and I don't need to tell you how much that sucks. Sure, I may have lost some friends and family during the Red Raids, but I still have my boys and a home to go back to. You don't have that luxury. But what amazes me is that out of everything, you found something worth caring about. Even if it's just some feisty redhead who shouldn't be drinking yet. You're incredible, and you should know it.”

Victoria had no idea how to respond to that. A mix of anger, hurt, and grief battled inside her until she finally scoffed and placed her empty stein on the table. "Just order another round, Forgewoman. It's been too long since I've had a decent drink."

Day whatever the fuck this is,

Remind me to never try and drink an Oseram under the table. I won (and I’m not gonna let Petra tell me otherwise) but the hangover isn’t even close to worth it.

#horizon forbidden west #hekarro #hfw #chief hekarro #ghost of the ten #hzd #horizon zero dawn #my writing #hfw fanfic #old one oc

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poisonhemloc · 6 months

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Esker, as much as I love them, has one major character trait

...okay everyone has one major character trait, it's that kinda game

Esker’s main thing being ‘lonely’ is, well, because they’re on the Attlerock. Someone had to be- the other astral bodies all have a representative- but there’s not much there. You can explore the whole Attlerock in under ten minutes- faster than exploring Timber Hearth itself- and there’s no deeper layer to any of the puzzles present; everything on the Attlerock is an early puzzle piece, to the Eye, to Dark Bramble, to Feldspar. It’s unlikely most players will go there more than once or twice. And Esker doesn’t get any new dialogue the other travelers get- you don’t have a reason to go back to them. But it didn’t need to be like this- there could have been a lot of things, later puzzle pieces, hidden areas, the same kind of stuff you’ll find on the other planets. So, why not?

Esker, and the Attlerock, are extensions of the tutorial that is walking from your sleeping bag to the observatory. You woke up, you talked to people, you messed with the model ship and your signalscope and the zero g cave, now launch- and you can go wherever you want, but Hornfels tells you, if you’re not sure or you want to start small, to go say hi to Esker on the Attlerock. It’s an easy place to find, to land on, it introduces you to the idea that you’ll get different gravity on different planets, reinforces using your signalscope (and points you towards Feldspar again) and introduces the Nomai’s vision based tech and the Eye of the universe by name (and has some of Chert’s notes but). It’s a very useful extension of the tutorial, if you need it or not.

And you don’t go back to a tutorial area, usually. Most people playing aren’t going to go running through the village multiple times just to get the same dialogue from the npcs; they won’t go redo the zero g cave or mess with the model ship beyond what they need to for the achievements. And they won’t go back to the Attlerock, because they know everything they needed to learn, and there’s not going to be anything new.

All that together, well, no wonder Esker’s main trait ended up being ‘lonely.’ And trying to swap them with another traveler- Chert instead, Riebeck, maybe, if they never moved on, or Gabbro being lazy- but you’d have to swap purposes with them; Esker who keep eyes on things and fixes ships as needed can’t be burning up with Ember Twin' close solar orbit or in Giant’s Deep's 2x gravity or under the crust on Brittle Hollow.

They are also, essentially, Timber Hearth’s representative in the very end- you’re the conscious observer, but everyone else is representing the celestial body they were on, and the Attlerock and Esker have to stand in for Timber Hearth as a whole. Despite waking up there, most players aren’t going to be running through the village a lot- they might talk to Slate occasionally, but, most people aren’t going to go run into the rest of the village except maybe once to see if anyone gets new dialogue.

Of course, the npcs there all have each other, but, you’re off exploring the other craters on the planet- you’re not going back to talk to anyone on Timber Hearth for the most part. And that includes Esker, whistling away on the Attlerock, waiting to see if one of the three astronauts left- of those three, only Chert is stated to fly more than as needed- is going to ask them to fix a ship so they can do something and see someone. Or if Hornfels- who's now downstairs in the museum- or Gossan out in the zero g cave are going to radio them. But no one is, because Esker is alone up on the moon, with no new dialogue, with no new reason for you or anyone to go talk to them.

Because they're an extension of the tutorial, and you don't go back to that once you know how to play.

#poisonhemloc's rambles #outer wilds #i. almost fully rewrote this right before i was gonna post it so uh i hope its coherent

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seiya-starsniper · 17 days

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Talk Shop Tuesday: If you could immediately pluck one story/concept/idea from your brain and have it fully formed in front of you, exactly as you would want, what would that idea be? Can you describe it to us, along with any potential factors that are slowing you down/blocking you from creating it in the first place? Thanks! <3 -@fieldsofview

@fieldsofview hello my darling! 💖💖 Apologies for the late reply I was out and about yesterday but now I finally have time to answer!

I do have one particular fic that will likely never see the light of day because if I want to write it the way I want I'd have to effectively become a Shakespeare scholar 😅 But I'll tell you about it here!

The first part of the fic would follow Shakespeare's POV and how his life dramatically changed after meeting Dream, all the way up until his death. In that first part, Shakespeare would be rather infatuated with Dream, but of course Dream would tell him Endless cannot be with mortals etc. The second part would be Shakespeare becoming a resident of the Dreaming and his "second life" there, and about how he learns about Dream's "pet immortal". At this point Shakespeare is over his infatuation but he is curious about who exactly Hob is but Dream never tells anyone about his meetings with Hob, just like he never told anyone about his meetings with Shakespeare.

Then the third part would have been focused around Dream getting captured, Shakespeare trying to find him, and then finding Hob instead. Cue hijinks, a jealous Hob and equally jealous Shakespeare, but for different reasons (Hob bc Dream favored Shakespeare, Shakespeare bc Hob's immortal and think of all the PLAYS he could've written, and Hob is doing what? Nothing except traveling and drinking??? What a WASTE of Dream's gift ajsjsjnaja. Eventually they find Dream, fishbowl rescue, and Shakespeare realizes AH HA THEY'RE IDIOTS IN LOVE and like tries to inspire Hob to be romantic and write a play about Dream but it absolutely. Does Not go the way he planned because Hob has zero creativity in his poor brain. But eventually Shakespeare convinces Dream that yes, the stupid immortal loves him and they should get together, even though Shakespeare thinks Hob is a bit of an idiot. But he loves Dream, and he's immortal so it's technically not against the rules, right?

Whew that explanation was a lot longer than I expected! Can you tell I've thought about this fic a lot 😅😅😅😅

#seiya answers #talk shop tuesday #dreamling #this is the most absurd wip idea I will never write but I love it dearly #I lied I have like 700 words written but that's it lol

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