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an0nymousghost · 3 years

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simblr asks v2

here are my answers! find the questions here.

i wrote soo much ahaha. like however much you think i wrote, i wrote more than that. imo everything i write is gold though

1. are you going to buy the new pack (cottage living) when it comes out? no, it looks really nice but i legit never ever buy packs at launch, especially cause this one is a expansion and it will probably go on sale at some point

2. do you p*rate your dlc or buy it legitimately? buy it legitimately 👌

3. what’s your favorite world? brindleton bay, it gives like seaside cottage vibes. willow creek is good but it’s boring.

4. if you use a queue, how many posts per day do you set it as? 3 or 4. i used to do like 12 lmaoo what even was wrong with me

5. do you watch sims on youtube? yes, i watch mainly malixa, oshinsims, and msgryphi

6. what are your thoughts on the most recent pack? (dream home decorator) those sectional couches look good! but honestly im kinda annoyed because now it’s even harder to have all the items filled in when i place lots from the gallery. like i’m just saying like a lot of builds will use that pack probably and if i don’t get it then i can’t really use builds/save files

7. how many packs/kits do you own? lemme count

expansion: all - 10/10 game: 5/10 stuff: 9/18 kits: none xo

24/38 - 63%

8. what’s your origin id? is it the same as your url? 🤗 it’s in my title, it’s celeschul. it doesn’t look that nice in my title but i use celeschul in my package files and i’m guessing people search things like, “celeschul penny hair” or something like that in order to find my cc- so i keep it in there so the search results are easier. i do want to change it though..

but no it’s also not the same! well i mean it’s the username i use for cc. my origin id used to be an0nymousghost but i changed it. i wonder if anyone’s taken that one?

9. is your simblr your sideblog or main blog? main blog ✌️ my old blog @stardze is a main blog as well.

my old old simblr was a sideblog but it had like 1 follower and it literally a bot so i don’t think that counts. i have a multifandom sideblog though

10. do you have a cc finds blog? i wish. i was thinking bout it earlier and that would be sooo neat but sometimes i download stuff that doesn’t have a tumblr post attached to it, and also it’s stressful to keep up with so nah

11. are you wcif friendly? yes sir. in fact i bring the trouble of wcifs onto myself but doing them even when nobody asked.

12. what’s your favorite sized household to play with? (ex. 1 sim, 4 sims) gonna have to think on this one, honestly 1 sim is really fun and stuff goes by so fast. doing stuff with astrid when she was on her own, it was much more efficient.

for families, i haven’t done that in a while actually. 5, 2 parents and 3 kids is cute tho. why did i write this this is honestly such a hard question

13. if you have c&d, do you play with pets? i feel like i haven’t played with cats and dogs in forever. honestly i just have no paitence. noelle fae was supposed to get a cat (there’s a food bowl + cat bed in her house) but when summer vacation started, the amount of time i spent playing ts4 decreased a lot. (this doesn’t really make sense, i have a lot more time. honestly it just has to do with my recent obsession with a certain anime/manga and some other personal thing)

i did random nightmares in may though and i had pets frequently. g5 didn’t because sofia scarlett lived in an apartment, but g2/3/4 had cici, and g1 had all the cats. but that was back in march so it’s been a while.

14. what lifespan do you use? i really want to do aging off but then i feel like it drags on. but aging legit stresses me out, sometimes i just want to sit down and do some cas stuff but i only have 2 hours in real time and there’s like 4 days left till one of my sims’ birthdays.

15. if you own a lot of packs, how many of them have you actually played through? just so everyone is aware this question was made for me

i feel like eps require a specific save made for testing them out, but the only save i’ve ever made for an ep is noelle fae’s get famous save.

that is literally a lie - i made a save for island living with one of my 100bc kids, maisie acapella. i did actually post it on tumblr BUT then i deleted all the posts BUT i reblogged them on my alt account BUT i privated my alt account so i honestly forgot about it

i have never played through discover university or watched anyone do it on youtube, i’ve read gerbits’ story about it so i think i’m pretty qualified. i’ve always wanted to do one with periwinkle acapella but i never got around to it

another ep i know nothing about is get to work

i tried doing a eco life playthrough but i hadn’t watched any videos and i was like..what is going on. so i quit lolx d ;;;;; i mentioned it but the whimsy stories legacy was the first time i had played with the eco lifestyle features so technically i think i know what im doing

i got outdoor retreat literally on monday of this week so i haven’t played through it yet.

jungle adventure i still don’t know what’s going on. i remember last year before i bought the pack i was brainstorming, and wanted to do a ja playthrough with luna and cedar, who are a couple who i did a random legacy with and it was all queued to post when i deleted everything (if you’re wondering why, it’s because my queue was literally 200+ posts). except this time i didn’t save them to my sideblog so i lost them.

i still havent had a restaurant in dine out

also never did the vet thing from cats and dogs

i have no idea what that rock climbing thing is from snowy escape but i did most of the other stuff because rn g5

city living i did through psc stage 5 and also it was the first pack i bought anyways

the rest of them are either stuff packs or i ended up playing them through casual gameplay (seasons, parenthood)

16. what do you do as you play sims? (ex. listen to music) i listen to music most of the time, or listen to commentary youtube videos because i am an alpha chad. i also used to talk with my friends on voice call but i don’t do that anymore 🥲

17. which sims challenges have you tried? random legacy, whimsy stories, perfect sim challenge, 100 baby, legacy (just the plain get-to-10-gens one), random nightmares, berry zodiac, astrology legacy, apocalypse

i feel like im forgetting some.. honestly most of the stuff i did before simblr was either 100 baby (i love that challenge) or random saves that lasted for 2 seconds.

18. do you like the new(ish) hair swatches? nah.

i do appreciate that most cc hairs have a true (ish) black, thank god! and the fact that the hair update is what inspired me to update and fix a bunch of hairs with different issues is pretty nice. but will i use them? no.

plus it takes up like 5 gb? depending on how many packs you have.

19. post the latest screenshot you took 📸

i live in cas

20. what is the cc/ingame hair that looks the most like your own? i think that dream home decorator side part hair looks a lot like my hair. honestly i havent see much like my hair but that one is kinda-? close

21. who is your favorite sim of yours and what is their story? noelle and alari fae i think!

link to post

noelle is blonde and has blue-grey eyes. she wears purple contacts pretty often though (because she wants to 😌)

alari has light brown hair that is kinda curly, and she’s got pretty vibrant blue eyes.

they’re sisters, alari is 3 years older than noelle. noelle was 19 and alari was 22 when they got spotted

they worked as models when they were young adults. their jobs involved dyeing their hair blue/pink, and they would model like clothes and stuff. anyways, they were pretty successful. like not ultra famous but they had enough money to not work for the rest of their lives.

their modeling group was made of 4 girls, the others were named paisley autumn and they were green and red, respectively. some things are:

paisley and alari started dating during this

autumn was a single mother to a little girl named destiny

noelle dated many people during this but never ended up finding the one <3

when their contract ended after like 6 years, paisley and alari went to go live together and noelle decided to get into acting. so thats when get famous playthrough started!

there’s more but basically they’re like oc’s with sims on the side. xoxo

22. if you use cc, are there any cc creators that you have like ALL of their items? this is such a good question! i hoard hair very heavily (my folder is 11gb) i so i have like 97% from most of the popular hair creators.

i think i had legitimately EVERYTHING from simstrouble though, i went through multiple times to check and i also have all of her retired stuff.

i have everything from ridgeport i think-? because of the fact that she uploaded all her stuff in one big zip.

i think that’s it.. for a long time i also had everything by clumsyalienn, but then i ended up deleting it and only keeping my faves.

and looking at my collection, maybe ah00b? i might be missing a couple but i at least have like 99%.

23. what’s one pack you think is underrated? dine out, it’s laggy af yes but it’s such a nice thing for my sims to do.

24. what are your favorite sims stories/legacies? melons by gerbits always and forever

this question was inspired by this ask anyways so

25. if you could change one small thing about ts4, what would it be? most of my suggestions are pretty complex but literally just - when you add tray files, they appear at the top. my life would be so much easier

this took me literal hours to answer

#replies #replying to MYSELF

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musashi · 3 years

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sending u this ask as an opportunity for u to talk to me abt fi!! i love ur thoughts n words on things nd i don't send asks as much bc i don't have. good words to talk to u abt stuff but i rlly enjoy just. ur Passion nd stuff. autistic people r the best at talking abt stuff i stand by that we r just Epic. anyways if u wanna, i'd love to hear more about just... how fi sorta. changes, over the game? like the Little Things that show her starting 2 care abt link more, or becoming more "human"!

i love this whole ask. you’re right autistic folks r sexy as hell idk how the divine powers that be fit so much passion into my tiny body but i’m glad they made the attempt.

ANYWAYS FI. i don’t think i’ve ever actually laid this out because for the most part it is incredibly subtle and requires a lot of filling in gaps yourself, and i think that someone who cares less abt her can probably come away from it with an entirely different interpretation. fi’s development of actual feelings are a very sudden a mysterious thing, and i have a LOT of thoughts about them going in a lot of different directions so forgive me if this answer isn’t particularly linear or coherent. i’m not just gonna talk about her slow burn into feeling things, i’m also gonna talk about... why i think it happens.

we don’t get to learn a lot about sword spirits and how they come into being, other than it takes great power to enchant a sword with a spirit/temper a sword with one inside it. hylia obviously created fi and, presumably, demise created ghirahim, and they are pretty much as opposite as two people can be with their only real characteristic in common being precision, intelligence & otherworldly loyalty to their respective masters.

we thus don’t get to learn how much control the creator of a sword spirit has over what kind of spirit comes of it, if their personalities are organic to their experiences or crafted from the moment they awaken. what i mean by this is like... ghirahim could have been a cold, calculating AI like fi when he was first tempered and gained his dramatics over time, we have no idea how long he’s been alive in comparison to her, if his personality is so much more extroverted because he was allowed a life outside his blade whereas fi was isolated in hers for millennia. or if he just came into creation immediately ready to scream and stick his tongue in ppl’s ears.

i swear to god i’m going somewhere with this. ok. anyways.

fi in the beginning of skyward sword is, i think, how most people remember her--data-interested, icy, and detached. there is a reverence in how she addresses link from the start, even before he formally becomes her wielder, but beyond that she is calculating and precise and rarely wastes words. all of this kinda paints a picture of hylia creating fi, to me--breathing life into the spirit and willing her to be effective, be efficient, be loyal, and be sharp. when you have that image in your head, a lot of how fi operates makes sense--she wasn’t created to have emotions, because emotions get in the way of what her purpose is. hylia made a weapon and a servant, not a friend. it sucks to think about, but that is fi’s purpose.

the game is very careful, however, to show you it’s not that simple from the beginning. because hidden in Ice Queen Fi’s introduction is... a surprising amount of personality.

like this shit, where she straightup just dunks gaepora in the trash because his #Lore is out of date. it’s hysterical because you really do not know if she’s just a) an AI who doesn’t understand when she’s being kinda Rude or b) being snarky On Purpose. and that ambiguity in itself crafts this beautiful air of mystery where you, from the get go, don’t entirely know what to expect of fi all the time.

or this, which she says directly after link hesitates to accept the blade:

this scene, which people who have edgier takes on fi constantly use to paint her as intentionally manipulative, where all i see is... her using emotional validation to calm link down enough for him to take in what’s happening. a really important thing about fi is that she’s paradoxically an empath? she can read auras and detect emotion with extreme precision even if she’s incapable of feeling it herself in the beginning. so she knows everything link is experiencing here, understands that it’s holding him back, and takes care to deconstruct the whirlwind of emotion he’s collapsing under and explain to him why he can and should trust her words.

again this is all in her introductory scene. they write her very specifically to be a seemingly flat character with this... rumbling of something more going on under the surface. so much so that the first time you get to a sacred spring and fi, completely randomly, just starts skating across the water’s surface and speaking ancient poeticisms to you, you don’t question it. you’re not like hey, why is sword alexa doing a little dance? you just accept it as something fi is doing, because fi always feels like she’s at her job, and you don’t know how she acts outside of work, but you kinda feel like maybe you want to.

fi’s affinity for music is another way they insert humanity into an AI without making you think too hard about it. singing and dancing are inherently human, artforms are something we associate with the heart and soul. even teaching a robot to paint is, in itself, an art project crafted by a human hand. but you don’t really... consciously think about that, when you watch her do these things. you just kind of accept that she is this otherworldly thing guiding you. you don’t think about the contrast of this programmed assistant performing music alongside you in a sacred ritual. you’re just kind of like, yeah? i can’t JUST play nayru’s wisdom on my harp, i need someone who can sing and god put a vocaloid in my sword???

throughout the game, fi’s dialogue chains when you summon her don’t change in any meaningful way (besides based on what you’re carrying, where you are, etc) but as you near the end, there are a couple things of note. one that sticks out to me is what she says about one of the mid-game minibosses, who is also an artificial intelligence--

a lot of people laugh abt this line and make jokes about fi being hot for the tall handsome robot pirate and they’re valid. but the thing is, like, from the beginning of her mission, fi knew she’d essentially be dying once the world was saved. and early game fi has no hesitations about her part in things regardless, because, as we know, she wasn’t created to feel things like that. she wasn’t created to fear death, to grow attached to life or anyone in it, or to experience sorrow at the idea of saying goodbye. but this is mid-game fi, who still... never says anything she doesn’t deem entirely necessary, but she says this. for no discernible reason, she says this. it’s an unskippable dialogue option, one they WANT you to see and one that is different when you know where she ends up. admiration is already something you wouldn’t really expect of her, but it’s more than that--she’s longing for her own story to mirror it. by the sand sea, fi has started to realize she doesn’t want to go to sleep.

it’s another one of those moments where you’re kinda like, ‘haha, what, fi?' and then move on. another one of those moments where she kinda does something a little unexpected, but not so unexpected you question it too hard. fi excels at those.

before you go off to fight demise, fi stops you to warn you that it is the final battle, and you cannot return. and when you tell her you’re ready, she says this:

as i’ve said, fi doesn’t waste words. almost always, everything she says is for the purpose of efficiency, and rarely does she offer thoughts without fixed probabilities and ultimate endgoals in mind.

this is a sentiment.

it serves no purpose. it is purely an expression of devotion.

and because of EVERYTHING i’ve mentioned thus far, this line both hits you HARD as significant and foreboding in how suddenly tender it is, AND manages to read as in-character for her to say. because the way they write fi’s humanity is so beneath the surface, so easily missable, so hard for me to even lay out with concrete evidence despite the fact that i’m a person who reads a text dump of all her dialogue before bed every night.

but to me, what lays out fi’s inner workings best is actually her actual goodbye, and... not the moment most people would think, tbh? it’s not her tender farewell that speaks her emotions loudest to me, but the moment right before:

these lines, which would read as perfectly in character if it were early game fi, cut you. her complete and utter flippancy, the way she talks about all you’ve been through together as though it were nothing to her, the absolute coldness here after everything. you as a player feel kind of pathetic when she says this, like you were misguided in growing attached to her and thinking of her as a friend. and you KNOW thats the intended effect, because this is what link looks like:

he takes a moment in that last shot to like. swallow sadness and turn away from her, but even as he’s turning his head, he doesn’t take his eyes off her until the last possible moment. she hurts his feelings! why.

because it’s an act, is why. of COURSE fi loves him. of course she’s grown attached to him, of course she’s happy to have known him, of COURSE they’re friends. but fi was NEVER supposed to feel that way, she was never supposed to have the capability to love, and there’s no calculation she can run to set the uncertainties of that at ease within herself. so those lines up above is her trying her best to reset herself to who she was in the beginning, to snap herself back into the role of an emotionless servant to the goddess, to convince herself--not link--that saying goodbye won’t hurt. she’s trying to cope with something she has no idea was in the cards for her, and that’s why she’s seemingly so cruel for a moment.

all of this becomes apparent when she calls him back moments later and tells him how she really feels. there’s major whiplash because fi herself is Going Thru It. but essentially what’s happening in that moment is she thinks she knows what will hurt the least, but she miscalculates and backpedals and realizes even if saying goodbye hurts, it hurts less than pretending she doesn’t want to.

i think a lot of people overlook that line--“the most precious data i have on record.” fi, who contains multitudes within her. who contains knowledge immeasurable, the thoughts and feelings and stories of thousands. of civilizations, of gods, of countless ages passed. everything she holds within her is dwarfed entirely by what she feels for link, beside link. nothing in her encyclopedic knowledge can even compare to her friendship with him in the significance it has to her. like all things, fi has her own way of communicating her meanings, and this is her way of saying she really, truly loves him.

in addition, she very carefully does this after he abandons the sword, so it’s clear that it’s of her own will, not a part of her purpose as his servant. for this whole cutscene, up until she end, she drops the honourific and calls him just Link.

and while i see a lot of people debate if she truly does ‘feel,’ anything, like... she says it right here, she does. whether or not she was able to feel from the beginning or not, she can feel now. she has trouble putting words to those feelings, or explaining to herself and others where on earth they came from... but she feels now. that cannot be disputed.

happiness that she was able to know him. loyalty she wants to transcend lifetimes. sorrow at the idea of them having to part. gratitude that he took the chance, and did so beside her.

let’s talk about gratitude.

in skyward sword, gratitude is a tangible source of magic. it opposes malice, which as of botw is a reoccurring thing in zelda lore. skyward sword has two items--evil crystals and gratitude crystals--that represent malice and gratitude respectively. while the first isn’t entirely relevant, the second is something you’re actively encouraged to more or less harvest by helping people and basking in their thanks toward you. these feelings of gratitude are so canonically powerful in the zelda universe that they can turn monsters into humans entirely, and the outpouring of energy that event causes makes every monster & hostile creature within all of skyloft turn docile at once.

according to batreaux, the monster in question, this is well-established legend, the idea of gratitude granting humanity to the nonhuman. skyward sword literally said the power of love was canon.

the song that plays over the goodbye, of course, is called fi’s gratitude.

this is just one theory i have on the matter, but... whether hylia intended or foresaw fi to be capable of feeling human emotion or not, i do believe it was gratitude that woke her heart up. whether she was meant to love or not, link’s spirit contained within it enough love for the both of them, enough to touch her soul and rouse her from her cold and emotionless state. as always, through everything, they work in perfect tandem--his passionate heart touches hers as it sleeps, her wisdom holds him steady and level-headed.

when fi says “may we meet again in another life,” she says it like a prayer, because it is one--she knows hylia, knows that hylia loved link’s spirit just as she did, and knows that hylia of all people understands what the sword spirit is going through. and fi also knows that hylia immortalizes those she loves with cycles, with reincarnation, eternal life without the pain of never dying. fi doesn’t have a soul that hylia can bring back from death nor a physical body to revive, but she works with what she can--and so long as link’s spirit breathes anew, he finds fi. in a sunlit grove, with light bearing down on her, safe and warm and always loyal, even as the world rages on outside. fidelis, she was named for--“faithful.”

the fandom doesn’t really talk abt it, but fi is an angel. she’s an angel god sent to watch over one human, and when god said your mission is complete fi faced god and walked backwards into hell. her divine mission is long passed, but it stopped being about what she was fated to do long ago.

fi began to watch over link because he was her master. and fi resolved to stay forever because he was link.

#skyward sword #long post #hand of sorrow #wendy rambles #Anonymous #wendy answers

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hayjeon · 4 years

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Practical Tips on getting your fics out there!

I’ve gotten an influx of these types of questions here recently, and the more i thought about what i was gonna add, it became really long :(

disclaimer: a lot of the things i bring up are just from personal experience as a writer on this site, what my followers have told me they appreciate, and what i tend to look for when im looking for fics to read! If you don’t like these tips then pls move on :)

although i’ll mention them, i’m also not going to be focusing on cliche tips like “write for yourself” or “grammar issues” cause those are pretty obvious!

1. accessibility of your blog

when you’re trying to get your name out there, make sure that you’re creating an inviting experience for any potential followers! this includes:

a memorable url! be creative!

have some fun designing your blog’s aesthetic! (i love cute blogs because it reflects a bit of the writer’s personality), and (i prefer blogs with white backgrounds because it’s easier to look through/read, say, in contrast to a pitch black one where the words need to be white!)

put your masterlist link in your bio (even better if you can link most recent fic! found this most helpful when i revisit authors that i like and can easily see if they’ve updated or not)

an organized and easy-to-navigate masterlist (personally, i prefer masterlists organized by band, instead of types of fics ie. i hate when i have to choose between drabbles, oneshots, and series masterlists; i really prefer to see them altogether!) --> see section 3

organized tags (if you’re going to be posting a lot of non-fic-related content like pictures or videos, tag them properly so followers can sort through and find your fics easily!), or (if you’re going to be writing in different mediums like drabbles, or answering asks, make sure to use a unified #mine or #writing or #fics to centralize your content)

2. get your name out there!

write write write! once you have some fics that show your talent, don’t be shy!

join writing groups: when i first started out, I joined a bunch of groups that would reblog my fics in the midst of the content of much bigger writers; these blogs developed a following, and as a result of my content mixing in with bigger blogs’ content, so did my own tumblr! there’s been a stigma recently with these groups, but im sure you can find one thats supportive and not clique-y!

send your fics to rec pages: what’s the harm? the only bad thing that can happen is that they ignore you! who cares! get out there!

if you can do the above, i really encourage you to ask your fave writers for advice/to read your fic: again, the worst that can happen is that they say no or don’t respond or don’t have enough time, but it’ll be a good opportunity to get some feedback! i for one read (or try to read) every single rec that falls into my inbox. if i like it, i’ll #rec it, and if i don’t, unless the writer asks me for feedback, i move on!!

utilize your tags!!: i’m not entirely sure if this is still the same or not, but from my memory, it’s the first 3-5 tags that matter the most? so utilize them well; push back the tags that aren’t really relevant (ie. #writing, #fics) and push more the main subject line of what you wrote (ie. jungkook fluff, bts smut, namjoon angst). these will populate your fics into the tags better!

headers!: when i’m scrolling through an infinite page of fics, the headers catch my eye the most; try being creative! you can find a lot of info out there on how to make ur headers super aesthetic, but i can share my tips too! --> see section 3

3. your masterlist

here are some practical tips!

organize by band, not type of fic/member/centralize your masterlist: i went onto a blog recently and clicked their bio mlist link to find a page full of 20~ish “JUNGKOOK MASTERLIST”/ “JAEHYUN MASTERLIST” and when i clicked on each one, they only had like 2 or 3 fics per member. i think it would’ve been better if she’d centralized all her fics! that keeps whoever is looking interested and more likely to click on another fic while browsing

add info about the fics!: when scrolling through a masterlist, it’s easy to get lost; try to add some snippets of info (ie. a short sentence you liked from the fic, a quick summary, a description of the au/scenario, or even a header!) this all gives some info about the fics you have tagged!

headers: this isn’t a requirement, but i personally love a good header on fics i read and i love making them myself as i finish up a fic and get ready to upload it; here are free sources: unsplash for HQ stock pics, crop/edit/filter in VSCO, and then add aesthetic script with fontcandy)

try to fill it up!: after i visit a blog after reading one good fic, i usually browse through their mlist to see if there are any more that i’d be interested in. if there’s a lot to look forward to, i’ll almost always follow; try to write as much as you can in the first few months to try and fill up your mlist and give blog viewers a reason to visit your blog again, follow, or even reblog your content!)

4. try not to reproduce cliche fics:

honestly tumblr’s writing community (and armys) has grown insanely these past few years and, unfortunately, even from my perspective, in the past 3-4 years, all the writers have sort of become blended together in my brain. but, i can say that the ones who consistently stand out are the ones who produce consistent content and think outside of the box!

i tend to gravitate towards fics that have really interesting plotlines (ex. btssavedmylifeblr’s VOID is always a surprise to read because it’s sO unique! i usually don’t read ot7 fics but this one is legit my fave)

I know it’s tempting to try and just write typical smut fics to try and gain some traction, but tumblr is already too overloaded by that kind of content; try to write something that’s special and unique! this will set u apart from the thousands of other writers here --> see next section

5. create unique fics:

this is also personal to my writing style, but i get so bored writing just casual fics about the members, and it affects the fics i choose to read too; i prefer unique fics which you can achieve through:

circumstance/au: create a fun au!; don’t just create an arranged marriage, create an arranged marriage in joseon dynasty, or between a werewolf and a hunter! (shameless self plug); don’t just give me friends to lovers, but give me spiderman!jungkook friends to lovers! (ie. cupofteaguk’s exchanges)

jobs: give them out-of-the-ordinary jobs; don’t just give me enemies to lovers, but give me rival!anchors who end up loving eachother! (ie. jimlingss The Newscasters)

fun dialogue: create good back-and-forth, (something i’m still working on!)! this will help your characters develop personality, and that way, readers will start to develop that themselves as well (ie. dad!yoongi from insemination wars by prolixitae is such a specific character that i love so much!, or obiwrites’ garden characters were so memorable!)

create memorable personalities: don’t give me a flat character, try to develop 4d personalities in all of your characters! (im still working on this too!) this way you can really make an impression on your followers! a great way to practice/recognize this is: “Ask my Character.” Can your followers ask a specific character a specific question, and would you be able to deliver an answer that is very specific to that character’s tone/voice/personality? If yes, then ur doing well! If not, try to think of ways that you can make tht specific character from a specific story, really unique and separate from your other characters.

6. some practical writing tips

be yourself, write for your own pleasure, blah blah blah; yeah you know already haha but here are a few more practical tips!

grammar check: if you can, try and hone your grammar! makes for an easier read

write like you: i personally LOVE this by obiwrites, but even the way she writes exudes her personality and is so specific; try not to be caught up in adding hundreds of synonyms and exquisite language; in fact, simpling it down and being more concise and honest with your writing is better than a superfluous sentence; this will also give ur characters so much more dimension and funk

use those commas/sentence variation: try to use more commas; this will feel like you’re the narrator to your own story; it also makes it more fluid to read in my opinion, over those short. clipped. sentences. (ie. “he came over, sitting down on the corner of your bed with an expression you’d never seen before” over “he walked over. he sat down, looking sad.”)

half-half dialogue/narration: a fic with too much dialogue can get confusing, and a fic with too much narration can get dry; try to balance them out, and weave in and out of each!

quality over quantity: don’t feel burdened to write a 30k word fic. in fact, i think some of the shorter fics (ie. any of versigny’s stuff) made a bigger impression on me over the longer fics because they were short, left me wanting more, and were just so high-quality in such small quantities. try out your hand at drabbles and one-shots, and don’t feel too burdened to try and develop a series right off the bat!

abandon pigeon-holes: i’m guilty of this; i start series and then end up with no vision for the stories and they end up giving me writers block. its okay. just stop or discontinue them or leave them on a hiatus; it’s okay. your priority is yourself, and if abandoning certain works are part of that, then go ahead. it’ll help you progress more.

and finally.......

i’ll add more as they come up! but if you liked this, then pls lmk! i’d love to give more tips and tricks; i think i started this blog 3-4 years ago when there weren’t as many writers here, but im glad you’re thinking of starting out/wanting to grow more! don’t feel intimidated! it’s not all about the notes/followers but creating a blog you’re proud of.

so write what you’re proud of, or interested in, and keep going. i truly thoroughly had so much fun writing this post. if there are any writers who read through this and have some more advice, pls msg me!

all the best to you!

#writing tips #story talk #if ur a writer pls lmk if theres anything u wanna add #if ur a reader then pls lmk any questions or comments!

207 notes · View notes

capsicrew · 3 years

Text

semi-live reactions to the LL;

Okay well, I think I'll just summarize.

All notes below the cut.

As expected, the live letter is focusing on job adjustments and additions. -They're trying to make major abilities across all jobs maintain a 60 or 120-second cooldowns, with some exceptions. With the intention being to align more of those "burst windows," in parties, especially in endgame raiding/content. -They re-emphisize that not all abilities will be on these 2 timers and YoshiP specifies Ley Lines will remain 90 seconds and regrets BLM being "neglected" lmao. "Everybody gets their burst, then I come in 30 seconds later with my lay lines"

Okay, job action video before they get into specifics, lets see what I can spot lmao;

[originally I had all my reactions to the trailer here, to keep organized, I'm combining that with the specific job notes]

That was a lot, sorry lmao. I think instead of typing more, I'll just add notes about the jobs as they go in depth after my first impressions above ^ Sounds like Summoner has the most hype with the audience. They made a comment that Summoner is now Ultima Weapon lmao.

Job Class notes: Tanks; -I guess using certain buffs in combination with certain skills increases their benefit? Not very specific, but I guess an incentive to think more about which cool downs you use and when and in concert with other skills. -Combo chains will no longer be broken when using ranged attacks. Nice! Sounds like this is being added to melee dps as well. -Looks like both Phys and Magic Damage will differ and be an important aspect? They sure talk a lot about this but I'm not sure the practical application. I guess just in determining to use tank skills that decrease either phys damage or magic damage? I guess they just adjusted some stats through the game and are just saying the numbers will be different so raiders don't piss themselves.

YoshiP is a cat boy lmao. Yoshi-nyan dskjfl lmao "I'm 48 years old!"

-Paladin: Trailer: [Looks like updates to skills and attacks with new graphics, or just new skills. Don't know PLD well enough to say for sure. Looks like Passage of Arms also included an attack of some sort while the PLD was immobile. 3 new attacks that look like AOEs that rain swords down on the enemies in various forms.] -Requiescat is no longer depending on MP value. -Ah, the sword-rain is a new 3-part combo starting with Confiteor (the level 80 PLD skill) -Gap closer is now 20y instead of 15y. -No drastic changes otherwise. About what you can expect from ShB with just other tweaks to match overall gameplay changes.

-Warrior: Trailer Reaction: [Has a cooldown that gives you little fire embers aesthetically. Looks like base combo attacks might get buffed.] -Abilities that increase damage are now extended (and even triggered) by the AOE combos. (instead of having to weave-in, like, Storm's Eye in the middle of a combo, especially for AOE combos) -Onslaught and Upheaval no longer drain the Beast Guage. They're now on a charge-use basis, I guess? And Onslaught will have a new combo move. -New skill being added when using Inner Release. Inner Release now has 60s cooldown, increasing use-frequency.

-Dark Knight: Trailer: [New/updated aoe attack, and can cast a shield on a single party member. Frey summon looks more in synch, but I haven't used that a lot so idk if that's different.] -Salted Earth will now just be placed at your feet (instead of being a placable aoe), and now combos into a new move. YoshiP admitted to having a macro to do this pre-EW, so they all decided that was silly. -lmao, Fray/simulacrum will also be sure to learn new skills as the player does. -Single-target defense buff. -Delirium cooldown decreased to 60s. -Gap closer also increased to 20y, like PLD.

-Gunbreaker: Trailer: [Either I don't play GNB enough or most of it looked the same except one cartridge aoe skill at the end lol. They do have a 3rd cartridge that can be stored, though.] -The Gnashing Fang+Savage Claw+Wicked Talon (lvl 60 skills that use a cartridge for the first skill) combo will now be reduced to a single action that switches between the 3 skills, to reduce the space it takes on the hot bar. -Continuation will now (only?) follow Burst Strike. I'm not 100% sure if they're saying Continuation is getting an additional action to follow Burst Strike and will also combo with the Gnashing Fang combo, or if it's JUST Burst Strike, now. -Getting a 3rd cartridge, as I noticed. -Gap closer also increased to 20y.

Melee DPS: -Feint will now decrease both physical and magical damage on the target, but the physical debuff will be more potent. (sounds like Addle will get a similar change) -Again, combos will not be broken by using ranged attacks. Consideration for when phys dps needs to move away from targets for aoes and such.

-Dragoon: Trailer reaction: [Got some flasy moves that look like new aoes, but mostly just new attacks looks like. Summons two dragons for some kind of ultimate end-combo move. And has a flowery attack that reminds me of FF9's dragoon flavor with Freya] -Increasing the AoE rotation. A lot of jobs could use this, so this was on my hopes list for EW. -Adding new actions if you do your base rotations right. lmao They comment on how flashy they are, which is true. -Sounds like many skills are being increased in power rather than adding a bunch of new skills to fill our hotbars. -Blood of the Dragon will now be a trait, rather than a skill that needs to be kept up constantly. (nice!) -Spineshatter Dive (DRG's earliest gap closer) will now have 2 charges instead of the one use, for increased mobility. -Lance Charge (self damage buff) has recast time decreased to 60s. Battle Litany (party crit buff) recast decreased to 120s.

-Monk: Trailer: [Has a new gauge added to its other, but no greased lightning gauge. Collecting more stickers ala BRD and SAM. Looks like their gap closer was updated to stack or be used multiple times quickly. Impressive looking attacks and aoes, but I don't play MNK enough to comment much lmao. Hope its less tedious!] -DAMN LOOK AT THAT JOB ART -Greased Lightning gone forever, so; -Chakras unlocked at a lower level. -New system; After using Perfect Balance, the player can use a new skill called Masterful Blitz. How the Blitz executes and what it does will change depending on what skills the player uses while using Perfect Balance. (much in line with Sabin's Blitz skill in FF6, it sounds to me). -Sounds like the player needs to use skills with some thought to maintain a balance of yin and yang chakras. Sounds like the translator is trying her best, but I think it'll come across better with some practice or seeing it in action better than the job trailer. -Oh, they are going to show a video-- -Showin off Thavnarian a little bit, lol -Each skill seems to have a specific association when used in Perfect Balance, that then add to either Yin or Yang (not final names sounds like). And if you get a charge of each, the next use of the skill unleashes a larger attack. I guess it's similar to trying to get three specific suits as AST. -I guess more/better info to come during the media tour. -Perfect balance with have a 2-stack charge, charging every 40s. -Sounds like some or more MNK skills will have their directional requirements removed to make this new system more manageable. -Shoulder Tackle (gap closer) is being removed, and is being replaced with a new gap closing action. Sounds like it wont do damage, but can be used to close the gap between both enemies AND allies (like Aetherial Manipulation with BLM). It comes with 3 stacks! Thats a lot of movement at once, with 30s recharge per charge.

-Samurai: Trailer: [Looks like Meikyo Shisui (the buff that lets you use your sticker-granting skills without doing the full combo) either has a massively reduced cooldown, a way to refresh it faster or just a second charge. Looks like the same is true of Tsubame-gaeshi (the skill that lets you use a sticker-using skill a second time)(I swear I don't have these names memorized, I only know their pictures. I'm looking them up). Possibly a new attack that uses meditation stacks, or I just forget what the level 80 skill looks like. Finishes with some kind of massive attack. So just lots of deeps for SAM.] -Mid-combo attacks that grant buffs can now also be obtained from aoe skills as well, like WAR. So that you don't either have to perform a single-target combo in the middle of fighting multiple targets, or don't have to just go without those buffs. -I was correct; Meikyo Shisui and Tsubame-gaeshi now each have 2 stacks. -You also get the mid-combo buff if you use the final move of a combo under the effect of Meikyo Shisui. Nice nice! Exactly things I wanted for SAM.

-Ninja: Trailer: [omg, a skill that grants auto-Huton I love it <3. Either Bushin now ends with a finisher skill (like automaton queen), or NIN has a new ranged attack. Oh shit!! A gap closer that actually does damage! Looks like it combos off of Raiton (lightning ninjutsu). Oooh, and there's a second follow-up lightning attack as well! NIN is gonna be interesting!] -New actions linked to Raiton (lightning ninjutsu), Doton (dot ninjutsu) and Huton (that ninjutsu you need to have on all the time for decreased weaponskill cooldown) being added. -Single action to apply the effect of Huton added * 0* <3 <3. Both applies it and resets the timer. -Additional actions added while under the effect of Bunshin (the level 80 skill). For just ninjutsu, I think? -Tried to not get the ninjutsu actions even more complicated. No 4th sigil lol. -Shadow Fang (ogcd dot skill) is removed :(

-Reaper: Trailer: [Starts with some kind of charge attack? Gap closer leaves behind a portal (very neat!). Guage looks like a combo of MCH+DRK. You need 50 of the "heat guage" to summon the void monster. The monster didn't come out of the portal that was left behind, but it disappeared when the monster appeared. Oh, the gap closer is more like NIN's Shukuchi, or maybe like SAM's movement options. The Reaper teleported "backwards" and left another portal, used a couple ranged attacks then TP'd right back to the portal. Very neat. Looks like the monster never stays out permanently, but is summoned in a few ways, finishing with a timer that upgrades attacks. Kinda like DRG with dragon imagry.] -Reiterates that attacks are done with the scythe and the avatar in combination, or "serve as the avatar's vessel" to use more powerful attacks. -Has party utility, granting a buff or two. -"Unique and specialized actions give them an edge in specific combat situations" ??? Seems to refer specifically to the portal movement skill. Shukuchi+Aetherial Manipulation. -MCH-like UI tracks two guages: the Soul Guage on top in red, which slowly fills and is used to use attacks in tandem with the avatar. The Shroud Guage is on bottom in blue, and fills as attacks using the soul guage are used. Once it fills up, it allows you to become the avatar's vessel to do even bigger attacks. Very similar to the Automaton Queen in use, it sounds like. -The one I called the DRK-looking seems to actually be more like SMN's Bahamut gauge, and simply acts as a timer to tell you how long you'll have the avatar using you as a vessel. -Switched to the video. Tiny Lala reaper lmao. -Looks like the portal ability works like DNC's An Evant--you charge in a single direction for a set distance, but Reaper has the ability to port back to it for a certain amount of time. Looks like 15 seconds with maybe an additional effect if you do it within 10 seconds? -Oh! The movement skill is actually two actions that allow you to "en avant" forward OR backwards, then teleport back -Looks like the character very visually changes form while acting as a vessel for the avatar, including equipment and some evil eyes. More than just the glowing eyes WAR has for inner beast. -Mentioning that with the gauges, the job isn't really one you charge up to a burst like others, but is rather just a building crescendo. -They're not talking about it, but it looks like the "you are the vessel" gauge either expires based on a timer OR the execution of a certain number of big attacks. -There's gonna be a couple positional-based skills, but just ones involving the avatar. Similar to DRG which only has, like, 2. -Sounds like a fun job, I'm please looking forward to it. -No LB3 shown yet. YoshiP comments that the "big flashy move" Zenos uses in the Benchmark trailer is basically the Reaper's LB3.

--break time--

Ranged DPS: -Just the comment about phys dps # values changes that they've already been saying. -Timers on Troubadour, Tactician and Shield Samba have been decreased to 90s.

-Bard: Trailer: [New addition to their gauge, looks like 3 icons that keep track of what songs have been played. The gauge also says what song is currently playing, though idk who needs that. New cone aoe, looks like--Maybe an aoe version of Refulgent Arrow? Some kind of buff or party skill that uses the 3 saved icons from playing each song once, no indication of what it does. Finishes with either a new move or one that combos off of Apex Arrow, the last skill brd learns in ShB.] -Why does she look so surprised in the art? -As I noticed, playing each of the 3 songs once each grants a new action for a party-wide buff. -New action to follow-up Apex Arrow, as I also noticed. -Battle Voice cooldown reduced to 120s (from 180 :o! ) She also says Wanderer's Minuet, but that's one of the base songs already on a timer of 80s?? That doesn't seem right.

-Machinist: Trailer: [Some kind of large shotgun! Looks like an ocg aoe, but they used it very shortly after bioblaster, so its not on the same cooldown as air anchor/bioblaster. Standard combo might have slightly new animation--the bullets look like they're hitting harder or smth but it might just be a trailer thi--there are cars behind him lmao tHEY HAD CARS IN GARLEMALD THIS WHOLE TIME. Anyway... OH SHIT It looked like they just shot a bunch of BUZZ SAWS! Oh, and they just used Drill. They have Drill AND Air Anchor. Oh, Queen Automaton's final move looks bigger.] -New Skill; Chain Saw! (many folks were expecting this after they started theming many of the MCH skills after Edgar's skills in FF6. Chain saw was basically the only one missing) -As I noticed, new action for Automaton Queen. No word on the missing Bishop... -Reassemble will have 2 charges (!) They then specifically advice to keep it constantly in use lmao -Job is mechanically the same, but there will be some ability updates (like that shotgun).

-Dancer: Trailer: [Looks like they get some kind of scremin berd that does some feather attacks but doesn't cost a feather guage. Looks like a follow-up combo with Saber Dance as well. Improvisation seems to have a follow-up or possibly a new effect when it ends. Not clear what it does.] -Instead of the single-target and aoe skills having separate effects, they will be shared between the two versions. (presumably; originally you needed different weaponskill buffs to execute Reverse Cascade (single) or Rising Windmill (aoe), but now their combo moves can activate a buff to use either of them). -New actions added after successfully using Technical Finish, Improvisation and Devilment. -Again, job is mechanically the same--mostly just some tweaks and evolution into level 90. -AoE weapon skills will transform into the dance step buttons the way the single-target ones do. -Espirit gauge will fill more consistently rather than randomly.

-brief complaint about BRD's songs not applying to the BRD themself. They've gone with "no comment at this time." YoshiP-lease

Casting DPS: -Like Feint, Addle has been changed to reduce both magic and physical damage dealt by the target, with the magical debuff being more potent.

-Black Mage: Trailer: [Has a new addition to the guage that looks like a larger fire/ice needle. Activated when they switched to Astral Fire from Umbral Ice via Fire 3. Looks like they used it to cast some very nice looking fire/ice attack that refreshed the timer on Astral Fire. The special new needle also activated when they switched from A.Fire to U.Ice. The Ice move they used to switch was also new, though they still had Blizzard 3, which they opened with. Looks like Freeze granted 3 ice needles instead of 1. The new fire/ice move was also used in U.Ice mode and refreshed the timer. New fire move transitioning back to A.Fire, which they use instead of Fire 4 in standard rotation--new aoe? Flare, Despair and Xenoglossy appear to be the same.] -Enochian is now a trait! It is automatically applied when under the effect of either A.Fire or U.Ice! Rejoice! Apparently this was a long-ruminated decision. -As I noticed, new actions are available while switching correctly between A.Fire and U.Ice. Apparently its more than just the fire+ice attack. -BLM is considered "pure dps" like SAM, so they focused on its attacking ability rather than other party utility. They specify "no raise" lol -Firestarter/Thundercloud procs have had their timers extended. -Fire 2 and Blizzard 2 are each going to get buffs, increasing AoE damage. They joke about the japanese names for what is basically now Fire 5 and Blizzard 5 and what their offical names are, lmao. They had to go to the "FF Brand Committee" to nail-down the japanese names of these spells, with no precidence of spells of this level. Sounds like he's leaning towards High-Fira and High-Blizzara rather than, like... Firgyo or something completely different, lol. -Sharpcast now has a second charge.

-Red Mage: Trailer Reaction: [Has 3 buttons added to magic meter, which filled with melee attacks (both the aoe one and the normal single-target combo). Jumped back with what looked like a brief healing bubble. All 3 charges spent on what looks like an aoe version of verholy/verflare (verdispair?). Verholy looks like it was buffed, or is possibly an aoe version, and Scorch (the final rdm combo) looks updated as well, and is followed by a big aoe-lookin move that does damage in a wide row between the rdm and the target, similar to DRG's Nastrond.] -New action coming after Scorch, as I pointed out. Lots of thorns. -Verflare, Verholy and Scorch will now all be AoE attacks, added as part of the AoE rotation [in addition to their current use?] -Adding a party-wide defense buff. Probably that verassylum-looking skill I noted. Apparently its just called "Magic Barrier" rather than something fancy or ver-y, lol -Amount of mana in the guage used for weapon skills has been reduced. Manafication seems to add a full use of the melee-skills for free, rather than affecting the mana gauges. -Potency of Displacement and Engagement will become the same value, so there's no dmg loss in making the right choice.

-Summoner: Trailer: [Right off the bat I see they have a carbuncle instead of an egi? Curious about the update to the Bahamut gauge which looks like it has a stop-light of gemstones under it--same colors as ifrit, titan and garuda. Standard attacks with some updated graphics, so just, like, Ruin 5 or smth. Summoned Bahamut right away, no "Dreadwyrm Trance" phase. Bahamut seems to have a new attack. oh SHIT OH SHIT. NO EGI, MOTHERFUCKER JUST SUMMONED GARUDA REAL. Garuda appears briefly and uses a big attack. She's gone, but the emerald button is now Garuda and has a timer--all of the summoner's attacks look different, and the carbuncle is using the garuda-themed attacks. Summoned Titan now! Uses Landwaster, and now all the summoner's attacks are earth-themed. I Think I know where this is going-- Yeah, there's Ifrit with Hellfire, and now all fire-based attacks, which appears to include a gap-closer and a follow-up melee attack. Carbuncle stayed the same color throughout, so I think we'll still keep the carbuncle glamors, maybe get more colors I hope? Summon Phoenix looks the same.] -Summoner completely reworked for the 4th expansion in a row apparently, they can't keep getting away with it-!! -DoTs GONE! No Bio. No Miasma. I guess too many people complained about it. -As mentioned, Egis are gone, and the summoner now fully summons Ifrit, Garuda and Titan. Okay, they are not literally the Primals, but are nicknamed; Ifrit-Ruby, Garuda-Emerald and Titan-Topaz. Just mostly for lore-compliance... summoning is bad in this world. -Again, as I noticed; the Summoner's abilities are augmented depending on which has been summoned. -I guess they largely wanted to address the down time between summoning bahamut and phoenix where you're just standing around casting Ruin 3. -Base rotation is as I outlined above; You summon Demi-Bahamut, which gives you the power to summon the 3 primal-gems in turn, augmenting attacks as you go, then ending with the summoning of Phoenix, which lets you then summon the three primal-gems again, then back to Demi-Bahamut. No more 50-step opener or w/e lmao -Order doesn't matter--they did Garuda, then Titan then Ifrit in the trailer, but they can be summoned once each in any order. They emphisize planning on when you want to have each summon (including Bahamut and Phoenix) during fights and different phases. -Actions on the hotbar will change automatically as each primal is summoned, rather than needing 4 or so different set-ups, lol. -Summoner will keep Resurrection. But apparently it only just BARELY survived. -Display size is customizable for the carbuncle, but is only client-side. Also for each of the summons. YoshiP has some very small primals. Tiny-Titan is especially good, lol -Sounds like all glamors for the carbuncle/egi will remain, including the primal egis. The Emerald Carbuncle is used in the trailer and the live letter video because its what YoshiP likes most. -Each summon has 2-stacked special skills executable while summoned, such as Ifrit's gap-closer and melee move. -Summoning the primal-gems has a little bit of casting time to offset the amount of power behind them. Sounds like Ifrit has a longer cast time than the others, so maybe they're each slightly different. -All of Titan's attacks are instant-cast, while Garuda leaves an aoe floor dot at the target (which was an egi skill previously). -apparently did their best to not turn SMN into BLM 2 lmao

Healers: -Adding single-target buffs to all healers. -Reduced cast time for offensive spells (!!!) -Limit break area has been increased to 50y lmao, then the guy applauds it. As someone who has suffered the shorter range... I get it. -As they said before, they're splitting between 2 "pure" healers (WHM and AST) and 2 "barrier" healers (SCH and SGE) -Decreased cast time for certain healing skills, nice!

-White Mage: Trailer: [Glare II. Oh, looks like they planted some kind of flower on the battlefield? WHM Earthly Star, maybe? Looks like it explodes in a wide range of healing magic either periodically or with certain triggers (looks like it took damage from an enemy aoe and responded with an auto-medica or something). Finally an update to Holy that isn't *quite* as blinding. ...okay, now I watched it again and its still pretty blinding lmao] -Adding a "functionally and visually distinct" restorative field action. So... Earthly Star for WHM. -Beyond the global changes, though, little is changing about WHM, it will be relatively the same, being the base "pure healer." -Update to Holy, which also helps add lillies to the job gauge. -Fluid Aura, if you remember that, has been removed lmao. -Divine Benison is gaining a charge.

-Astrologian: Trailer: [Looks Minor Arcana just draws one of the 2 minor arcana cards, rather than "transforming" a currently drawn card. This card has its own space on the guage, so it can be held while continuing to draw/use regular cards. Oooh, a very nice looking buff to Gravity, which is followed by an attack(maybe also a buff like Assize?) that looks like shooting stars overly a wide range--very pretty. Some kind of shield or delayed heal--looks similar to SCH's Excognition.] -Being changed into a "pure healer," as has been discussed. -Diurnal and Nocturnal Sect are both being removed, and actions that were affected by this will now only have their Diurnal Sect effect. -Neutral Sect (level 80 skill) will have its effect slightly adjusted to add barrier effects to the adjusted skills. -Divination is receiving some adjustments. Now it can be used under "normal circumstances" ??? -I guess its including new enhancements for the user depending on the seals used? Not very clear on these points. -Redraw is no longer a charge action, and can only be used once after using Draw. -Adjustment to Minor Arcana, as I noted above. -New AoE spell that heals allies and damages opponents (the shooting star skill). Largely to balance with WHM having a great aoe in Holy, but making it different enough that the 4 different healers still have individuality.

-Scholar: Trailer: [My main. Adlo either gets buffed or might have a new animation. Looks like they used Sonsolation without transforming the fairy into Seraph. Updated basic attack, Broil III or w/e. Looks like a new aoe heal/shield or update to Succor. Power/animation update to Art of War. ... that's it??] -Oooh, a new ability that increases the party's movement speed--like Pelotan, but keeps its effect during battle. They don't say exactly how much faster compared to Sprint and Pelotan, but says it wont stack with Sprint. Apparently the base action is meant to be a damage reduction buff with the added benefit of speed increase. -SCH was aleady their base for "shield type" healers, so it's largely the same with more focus on the shields and barriers. -Getting a "powerful enhancement" that can be cast on a single party member. -That's it. :(

-Sage: Trailer: [Not sure what to say since this is new. Appears to use a gauge resembling a cross between BRD's and AST. Graphics on attacks look very nice. Cool beam attack! Ooooh, and a gap closer?? Looks like they also have an instant-cast aoe that damages opponents and heals party members.] - "Possesses all the actions essential for a barrier healer." Thanks. -Seems to have increased number of skills that attack and heal/shield allies simultaneously. Seems to work similar to AST's Synnastry--you specify a party member and when you attack, that party member gets passive heals. -Has a DoT that... applies when it feels like? -Adder's Gaul. Some charge in the job guage that powers instant-cast skills. -Also the gap closer. They say it's a very technical job and difficult to explain in just words. -Looks like the Sage's gauge is passively filling constantly, even outside of battle, until it fills 3 charges. -The Synnastry-like skill (Cardia) can target the self as well. Like a constant Regen as long as you're dpsing. Useful for solo-play. -I guess you have the one base attack, but can press a button that augments it into the DoT version. And it seems it can augment other attacks as well--looks like changing one skill from a base healing move to a shielding move or adjusting how aoe heals or attacks appear. -Looks like it's a decent amount to memorize and use, but no more than some other jobs, and it looks pretty fun in that technical aspect! -Lots of comparisons to Gundam from the chat regarding the sfx, lol

Huh, nothing about BLU. Weird.

-YoshiP about choking seeing how long it took them to get through the first part lmao

--break time--

-Reiterates/clarifies that Summoners will retain their egi glamors.

Battle Adjustments: -Raid Finder for Savage duties will specifically search for one pure healer and one barrier healer each. -Normal Duty Finder will remain the same, regarding healers (just one healer queue).

-In the Party Finder, people making parties can specify pure/barrier healers for the party they're making. -Addition to Party Finder to filter for players that have "yet to receive weekly completion rewards." -Searching for parties will now exclude parties you cannot join due to their "one player per job" requirement. Based on YoshiP's experience playing lol

-"Trials with weapon drops will now drop a weapon coffer in addition to the original weapon reward." Folks will still get a direct drop of the weapon, but also there will be a coffer for folks to vote on loot for weapons. -Final parts of hard raids up to 3.5 (Bahamut normal and Savage and Alexander Savage) will drop a weapon-specific coffer in addition to its original loot -High-end raids through SB will drop gear coffers as well in the same way Eden Savage does.

-"Conditional enhancements" can be separated in their own category on the HUD. Proc-type buffs (firestarter, straight shot, etc.) These elements can also have their sizes changed individually if you want them to be more noticeable.

-Improvements to "ground target functionality." -Includes an option to prevent the target from moving beyond it's placable range. We play with controllers, so idk how much this applies.

-New HUD element in the party list that shows which letter target (or # ally) the party members are targeting when they cast spells/abilities. -They specify its main uses are to see which target in a group the party is targeting easier or; -even better; can show which party member a healer is currently hard-casting Raise/Resurrection/Etc on so the other healer can know they're being raised and target another party member or w/e. -Doesn't work for instant spells/abilities because the element wouldn't have enough time to show up, lol

-players with 0% HP will have an empty health bar above them, which originally only showed if someone had the "always show health bar" UI setting, rather than "only when HP is below 100%"

-Unreal trials going away for a bit. Oh no, I'm very concern... -Just because of the raised level cap and the job adjustments, before they tweak the unreal trials to fit the new changes. -Planned to return in 6.1 -No comment on the rewards only available from doing this.

-Belts gone. Can't wear 'em. Can't get 'em. No new notes on this. -The Very Special Belt you can get in Eureka: Pagos for a speed boost will be replaced with a ring and can be exchanged for the belt. -After 6.0 releases, you can no longer extract materia from spriritbound belts; buy or sell belts; use belts for leves or supply missions or use coffers that contain only belts (from quest rewards). -But you can still RETRIEVE fused materia in belts. Belts can still be sold to npc vendors, be desnythesized, used for expert deliveries or be... thrown away. -PANTS FRALL DOWN NOW -More Downscaling of values. I don't really care about this.

-HQ Item Removal??? -"Prevents the unintended procurement of HQ items via gathering and other activities, reducing overall inventory bloat." -Gathered items, enemy drops, Tokens and Non-craftable materials "obtained from certain content" will no longer come as HQ. -Pre 6.0 HQ items will stay HQ, but they will no longer provide bonuses when crafting. -Crafted items (including crafted items only used for crafting, like flour or ingots) and Gear will still be available as HQ. These HQ items will remain functionally unchanged. -Gatherer skills that used to increase HQ will now be adjusted, mostly to affect item yield instead. Fishers will be adjusted as well. The catch's size will still be taken in consideration. -And, of course, Quests, challenge log entries and achievements that require HQ items will be changed accordingly -More details in next Live Letter

-Aethernet Updates: :o -Adjustments to teleportation fees. -No more upper limit to teleportation fees. :) pain -Teleporting across the world will be over 1200 gil, but teleporting to Norvrandt, the fees will be cheaper -Fees to nordvrant are considered via map distance between mor dhona and the crystarium -Other fees have been reduced, so closer teleports will be much cheaper. -In game economy. [ancientaliensmeme.jpg] -Updates to the Aethernet UI, sure. Will include a more detailed list and a map to help with navigation. -Progress towards Fisher's Intuition will remain even after logging out. Fair. Weird time to log out, but things happen.

-Data Center travel system scheduled to come after 6.0 but before 6.1.

#ffxiv #endwalker #live letter #6.0 #spoilers

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fan-clan-fun · 4 years

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Canon Clans Suffixes (with name changes)

Because I find it fun to scrutinize “The Sacred Texts” with a scalpel and a magnifying glass, I like to revamp little things like naming. So here’s my attempt at giving some iota of consistency to this messy world we love. My goals here are to stick to traditionalism, but also throw in some suffixes I personally love and give them meanings. I’ll also include some canon cats whose names I’ve changed to fit this system.

Lovely! Its always helpful to see personal interpretations and preferences for suffixes, everybody has a few they really like!

-claw: a skilled fighter. Classic pick. Cats who get this include Tigerclaw, Hornetclaw (Bramble-), Lionclaw (-blaze), Shrikeclaw (Ivypool), and Juniperclaw.

I see you are changing a lot of the prefixes as well! I do admit I like Shrike and Hornet as prefixes, and Shrikeclaw does seem to fit her quite well.

-cloud: a calm, easygoing cat. Also a classic. Whitestorm has been renamed Whitecloud to fit this and Tree’s clan name is Ashcloud.

-face: a particularly handsome or beautiful cat. I gave this name to Amberface (Berrynose), Tipface (Stemleaf), and Mothface (-wing)

Honestly giving Berrynose a name with the -face suffix would help to explain a lot of the stuff involving him lol.

-fang: good fighter and good hunter. From what I heard, Sparkpelt seemed to need this suffix, so she’s renamed Sparkfang. I don’t know who else would earn this though.

-feather: a medicine cat skilled at reading omens. This is my standard pick. It also lets me keep names like Goosefeather and lets Jayfeather keep his suffix (but he’s renamed to Juniperfeather). Shadowsight also gets this suffix, becoming Shadefeather.

An interesting choice, though I am curious as to why this one was chosen (besides name consistency), what is the reasoning behind it? Do omens often come in the shape of birds? What connects -feather to spirituality?

-flower: a nurturing cat. Many cats get this name. Cloudflower (Moon-), Snowflower (-fur), Willowflower (-breeze) Goldenflower, Aspenflower (Ferncloud), Whiteflower (-wing), Daisyflower, and the one notable tom case, Rockflower (Fernsong).

Pretty standard, although I do like that you give Fernsong a -flower name. I may not have read the arcs past Omen of the Stars but he does have that reputation of being a nurturer.

-foot: a fast cat, also a classic. Spiderleg becomes Spiderfoot and Harespring becomes Harefoot.

-fur/pelt: a cat with nothing really notable about them. Alderheart, Tigerheart, and Kestrelflight become Alderpelt, Adderpelt, and Kestrelfur respectively. Bluestar’s warrior name is still Bluefur.

-heart: a cat with strong morals. Rookheart (Hollyleaf), Rimeheart (Bristlefrost), Mudheart (Hawkfrost), and Smokeheart (Cinder-) all get this suffix, as does Fireboy over here.

I am so glad that you have given both Holly and Hawk the -heart suffix, I think it really does fit them quite well. I will probably fiddle with names a bit when the times come as well for my own writing and giving these two the -heart suffix is one of my plans.

-leaf: a medicine cat skilled in the healing aspect of their job. Spottedleaf got this one, as did Speckledleaf (Brambleberry), Fireleaf (Flametail), and Willowleaf (-shine). I think they may shake things up a little with -root and/or -berry and/or -bark.

Out of curiosity, why would only medicine cats shake it up a little with suffixes? It seems like none of the other suffixes have any of the same meaning.

-nose: an intuitive cat skilled in tracking. Only two notable characters get this, Dovenose and Maplenose (Leafpool).

I actually think these name changes work quite well, and do fit Dove’s power and her abilities.

-path: a cat with an affinity for mentoring. I noticed Rosepetal had five apprentices, so I gave her the name Rosepath.

I’ve heard whispers that -path was used by some people as a mentoring suffix, which is really cool!

-storm: a cat with a turbulent disposition, also classic. Crowstorm (-feather) and Beetlestorm (Breezepelt) get this, as does Dapplestorm (Blossomfall).

I mean the suffix sure does fit those cats.

-stream: a strong swimmer. Silverstream gets this obviously. Not sure who else would get it though because I’m only including it for traditionalism’s sake. It’s not one I’m particularly fond of.

Thats interesting, Im curious as to why? Maybe another suffix like -creek or -leg would be preferable if you dont like the sound?

-stripe: a tabby with distinct stripes. Graystripe gets this and so does Honeystripe (-fern). There’s also -speck and -spots for the other tabby types

-tail: an agile cat, very classic. A lot of cats get this. Cherrytail (Squirrelflight), Birchtail (-fall), Wisteriatail (Twigbranch), Honeytail (Heather-), and a bunch of bg characters with -spring, -leap, or -flight in their names.

-throat: a skilled orator, linguist, bard, storyteller, or just a well-spoken cat. This is a very rare suffix and no notable characters get this.

So I am actually very curious about this, because if a suffix is so rare, that you cant name a cat in the series at all to have it, why is it on the list? Would any cat even remember it if isnt in use? What kind of requirements would you have to have for this suffix, since I cant imagine that there would be many (if any) teenagers/young adults who could be considered masters of speech or storytelling at the 12 moons most cats get their warrior names at. I would suggest if you want to keep a suffix on the list, it should have at least one usage in the clans, else they would forget about it.

-whisker: a prudent hunter. I can’t think of anyone I changed to -whisker on the spot.

And here are some other suffixes I’m indecisive on.

-pad or -shade could be a stealthy cat. Even if I accepted one or the other, it’d be hard to pin down who would get this.

Personally I do think that having a stealth suffix is a pretty good way to expand a more traditional system, because its also a very useful skill. While it can be used in hunting (and some might say a whisker cat is by nature stealthy), a stealthy cat has a separate but partially overlapping set of skills. It does seem like you havent gone through all the names in the many many books so far, so I am sure there are a few cats somewhere who could have qualified for this suffix if you choose to keep it.

Considering -ear or -eye to mean a skilled scout, but that’s overlapping a lot with -nose’s territory, so I’m hesitant in including it.

I agree with you when it comes to -nose, and since -nose already seems to be uncommon, I would think sticking with nose is sufficient.

I considered -stone for the meaning of “a very loyal and dedicated cat”. Not sure about it.

I do like -stone as well, but unless you have a specific cat in mind I probably wouldnt include it.

I’m thinking -pool could be for a wise cat, but I’m not sure about that.

-shine is a cute suffix, but it’s rather hard to work with because it doesn’t mesh well with a lot of prefixes. I could use it to mean “upbeat and cheerful” and give it to Briarlight, but it’s not exactly easy to work with.

-frost is an amazing suffix, but it’s sort of the opposite of -shine. It sounds good with a lot of prefixes, but it’s hard to pin down a meaning for it.

I really like -light as a suffix but dang if it isn’t a monster to work with. It has -shine and -frost’s problems, but I really like it and don’t want to give up on it.

-breeze is a pretty solid suffix, but I’m afraid it’ll be redundant. -foot is pretty solid and I can’t really change that because traditionalism. Maybe it’s like -fang? I’m not sure.

Similarly, I like -thorn and -blaze as suffixes, but they’re pretty hard to work with when you already have names that fill their niches and have the “one suffix per meaning” rule that stricter traditionalism has.

Yeah I see your concern for most these last suffixes. As lovely as they are, unless they have a good solid place in you writing, and cats you can immediately think of using for their names, I wouldnt be too worried about incorporating them into your clans.

Anyway, there’s my suffix list! I hope you enjoyed! And if you have any suggestions, please let me know because I am not bright. Thank you!

#warrior cats #clan culture #warriorsworldbuilding #submission

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crazycat-88 · 5 years

Text

Male Lizardfolk Gulrez x Reader (SFW) Part 1

Here’s the second story in my series Modern Monsters: In The City. It features a lizardfolk who’s design is based on a leopard gecko, and a gender neutral reader.

A huge thank you goes to the amazingly talented @thetravelerwrites for proofreading & editing this piece.

Wordcount:4,727

You came from a small backwater town, populated only by humans, with not a single monster in sight. A fact, which residents there were incredibly proud. Monsters didn’t come to your town; if by chance one ended up there, they never stayed long. Folks made any and all outsiders feel entirely unwelcome, so that it was incredibly difficult for them to live there. Of course, officially it was illegal to discriminate against non-humans, but it certainly didn’t stop the folks in your town.

You felt a bit like an outsider yourself there and the majority of the residents treated you like one too. You’d moved to the town to live with your grandparents when you were eight years old and you’d been far too opinionated, as far as they were concerned. You didn’t agree with their way of thinking, finding them to be incredibly ignorant and small-minded. So when you inherited a flat in the city and a small amount of money from an aunt you never even knew you had, you didn’t even think twice about leaving that town behind to start a new life in the city.

Standing in your new home and taking a good look around, you sigh. Your aunt had left a lot of stuff behind, which would take you weeks to sort. Deciding you didn’t mind too much but weren’t in the mood to start now, you decide to go out and explore the city.

The streets were bustling with both humans and monsters alike, just going about their business taking no notice of one another. You relished in the fact that you now lived in a place that it didn’t matter what species you were. You’re startled out of your musings when the sky suddenly opens up and rain starts pouring. Spotting a tea shop you duck in to get out of the rain.

The door jingles as you enter and closing it softly behind you, you gaze around in wonder. Instead of walls there are bookshelves full of books from ground to ceiling. A spiral staircase stands in the middle of the shop which leads to another level with even more books. Tables and chairs occupy the floor space and towards the end of the shop stands a glass counter filled with a variety of sweet treats and behind it you spot rows upon rows of multiple tea blends.

Serving behind said counter is an avian creature who looks like an owl, wearing a modified smart beige suit which make them look more like a teacher than a server. Approaching the counter you note that they have a heart shaped face and a hooked beak, on which was perched a pair of glasses.

‘‘Good afternoon,’’ he calls. ‘‘What can I get you?’’

‘‘Afternoon,’’ you say, smiling as you eye the shelves. ‘‘There are so many options, I’m not sure which blend to try.’’

‘‘If you like, I could choose one for you and if you don’t like it, you can have another. On the house,’’ he says, head bobbing.

‘‘Alright, sounds good,’’ you reply. ‘‘Thank you.’’

You watch as he turns and takes one of the shelves, hiding it from your view. Waiting for your tea, you turn to gaze around the shop searching for a free table, and your breath catches as you catch sight of a lizardfolk, sitting and reading. They are the cutest thing you have ever seen.

Their face and head is a patchy light yellow and white colour and they are covered in dark brown spots, you trace their pattern with your eyes all the way down to the back of their neck until their shirt obstructs your view. Scanning their chest and arms you see they are lean and fit looking. Your gaze falls to their hands which are a pale white colour, and you spot five sharp looking claws which are delicately cradling the book. Turning your gaze back to their face, you see they have large green eyes with slitted pupils, a snout with two little nose holes, and mouth naturally shaped into smile.

You giggle suddenly when their tongue flicks out, licking their nose. Quickly turning back to the counter, you spot the owl watching you, clicking his beak in what you can only assume to be amusement as he hands you your tea. Flushing with embarrassment you quickly pick up the tea and mutter a quiet thank you.

Finding yourself a table by the wall of books, you choose a book at random and sit yourself down, getting comfortable. You spend your time there reading, sipping at your tea and sneaking peeks at the lizardfolk who is seated a few tables along from you. After twenty minutes of sitting you spy the lizardfolk standing up and note that they are tall, around six foot in height. Catching sight of their tail, which is paler in colour than their head, mostly white with dots of yellow, but with the same spotted pattern, you have to stop yourself from squealing aloud. You hadn’t thought that they could get any cuter!

You watch as he leaves the shop, sending a quick wave to the avian as he goes. Sighing, you go back to reading. An hour and two further cups of tea later, you head home yourself, knowing that there’s work to be done.

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

Over the next two weeks you fall into a routine. In between sorting through your aunt's belongings, you visit the tea shop daily. You’ve become friends with the avian, who you’ve since learnt actually owns the tea shop and is named Latham. The lizardman you saw your first day there comes in often and while you continue to steal glances, you haven’t dared to approach him.

As you’re sighing watching as he leaves the shop one day, wagging his tail as he goes, you’re startled when Latham sits down opposite you. You raise your brow in question as he clicks his beak in disapproval at you.

‘‘What’s wrong?’’ You ask.

He scoffs, ‘‘When are you going to ask him out?’’

You flush. ‘‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’’

‘‘I’m not daft,’’ he clicks. ‘And you're far too obvious.’’

‘‘I know,’’ you say, groaning and letting your head hit the table briefly before raising it to face him again. ‘‘It’s just… he’s gorgeous. There’s no way he’d be interested in a human,’’ you say, shaking your head.

‘‘You don’t know that for sure,’’ Latham replies, tilting his head in a manner which would be impossible for most other species.

‘‘I know...’’ you sigh. Deciding to turn the tables on him, you ask ‘‘What about you then? When are you going to take your own advice?’’

‘‘What? I… don't know what you mean...’’ He chirps, looking flustered head bobbing like mental.

‘‘I’ve seen the way look at ‘Miss Pretty’ over there,’’ you say, chuckling and nodding in your fellow humans direction.

Turning his head to look where you’ve nodded he suddenly lets out a small chitter, which he cuts off quickly, turning his head back towards you but looking down at the table flustered.

‘‘Thats… different’’ he says quietly, feathers ruffling.

‘‘How is it different?’’ You say, eyeing him.

Clearing his throat, he replies ‘‘I don’t even know if she likes monsters, nevermind a feathered bird like me.’’ Taking a deep breath and clicking his beak, he looks at you with glassy eyes. ‘‘In my experience, humans tend to prefer the monsters with mouths rather than beaks,’’ he mutters sadly.

‘‘You never know if you don’t ask,’’ you reply sympathetically.

‘‘Easier said than done,’’ he says, exhaling a breath and shooting you a pointed look.

You nod, but anything else you might have said is interrupted by the doorbell jingling. Latham gives you a nod and then he dashes back behind the counter. Packing up your things, you start to head off, waving goodbye to Latham as you go. As your approaching the door, you catch sight of Latham’s crush, eyeing the avian, with a soft smile on her face. With a smirk, you set off for home.

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

A few days later, as your going through your bills and outgoings, you realise that you’re quickly running out of money. Your aunt had only left you a small amount, and while you loved living in the city, it certainly wasn’t cheap. You needed to get a job.

You spend your day searching for jobs and you apply for all you find suitable. Though one in particular has specifically caught your attention. A bar and restaurant called The Bears Den is advertising for waiting/bar staff, claiming to be a popular hot spot for both monsters and humans, they require people with experience in the industry, excellent customer service skills and a warm and friendly attitude.

It sounded like the perfect fit for you. You had experience in the service industry, and while you had found it boring back in your hometown, you imagine it would be much more fun with a more varied clientele. You thought your customer services were up to par and you had an excellent attitude. You really hoped you’d hear back from that one; a job in a bar and restaurant would be the ideal place to meet new people and hopefully make new friends. Apart from Latham, you didn’t know anyone else in the city and you were starting to feel a little isolated.

You’re happily surprised when the manager of The Bears Den calls you the very next day asking if your available, and agreeable to a preliminary telephone interview. Happily agreeing, you answer all his questions to the best of your ability. It goes well and he asks you to come in for an interview with the owner in the morning, hanging up the phone with a squeal you go raid your wardrobe for suitable clothes.

Standing outside The Bears Den the following morning, ten minutes early, you take a moment to inspect the building. It is painted black with name painted in gold lettering. It looks smart but not fancy. The building itself takes up half the street it’s so big, and the doors are high and wide. You find them locked when you try to open them, knocking instead, they are shortly opened by an avian creature.

Introducing yourself, he nods and welcomes you inside. He introduces himself as Daemyn, the manager, and offers you a seat asking you to wait while he checks if the owner is ready for you. Nodding politely with a smile, you watch him until he’s left through a door beside the bar, then gaze around taking in your surroundings. It's even larger inside than what it looks from the outside, with more than half the space taken up by seating. As well as a bar, there’s a stage and small dance floor. A couple of pool tables sit in one corner and you spot large glass doors at the back which look like they lead to an outside area.

Daemyn returns after five minutes and asks you to follow him to the office. Nervously wiping your palms down your trousers, you get up to follow, working on controlling your breathing. Passing through the staff room, you note that it looks meticulously clean and tidy. Your soon at the office door and Daemyn gives one sharp knock, slides open the door and beckons you in. As you do, he slides the door closed softly behind you.

Your gaze immediately lands on the man who’s rising up from behind his desk, standing to an impressive height of around six and a half foot. He looks somewhere between forty and forty-five, with salt and pepper hair and evening stubble. What really strikes you about him though is his width, he has broad shoulders and big arms, and as he shakes your hand you see that his hand engulfs your own. He introduces himself as Bernard and gruffly tells you to take a seat.

You manage to get through the typical interview questions with a smile on your face, and you think it has gone well but Bernard gives nothing away. He then goes on to tell you opening hours, service hours, what your shifts hours would be, asks if you would be willing to work shifts behind the bar if necessary and so on. Combing through your resume again, he suddenly shoots you an intense look.

‘‘You’re from East Oaks?’’ he asks, practically growling.

Cringing, you nod, adding, ‘‘Not originally, I had to move there as a child to live with my grandparents.’’

‘‘You are aware this is a popular establishment for monsters, aren’t you? In fact, most of my employees are monster folk too… This won’t be a problem for you, will it?’’ He says, literally growling.

‘‘Of course not,’’ you reply, shaking your head. God, he’s intimidating, you thought to yourself.

Sitting back in back in his chair with a sigh, still staring intensely, he huffs ‘’When can you start?’’

‘‘Wait, you mean.. I have the job?’’ You ask, shocked.

‘‘Month’s trial, like everyone else,’’ he replies.

You nod, smiling. ‘‘I can start immediately, thank you so much…’’

‘‘Welcome to the team, and don’t disappoint me’’ he says gruffly, pointing to you with a glare.

Promising him that you won't, he escorts you out. Relieved that you have gotten a job, and the job you wanted, you walk home with a big smile on your face.

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

A week into your new job and you couldn’t be any happier. You’ve met just about all the staff, bar two who are off for personal reasons, and you’ve just about learned all their names. Bernard wasn’t lying when he said a lot of his employees were monster folk, there's only three other humans, the rest are a very varied mix of monster folk. All of them are lovely and welcoming, some more so than others, and you’ve already struck up a couple of friendships.

The ambiance at work is fantastic as well, your really happy to come into work and often it feels like you aren’t even at work. While you might still find the boss scary and intimidating, he’s well liked by all the staff. As long as everyone’s doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, he’s very laid back, allowing the staff to fool around and have a natter during the quieter periods. According to Ayaan, a great big white tiger Rakshasa who’s one of the more chatty bartenders, Bernard likes to act like a grizzly bear but he’s really more of a cuddly teddy.

The following week flies by just as fast. Spending your lunches at Latham’s tea shop and working in the evenings, you were pretty content. You had made lots of new and interesting friends, had a great job and your new home was looking the way you wanted. Overall you were feeling a lot more confident, but still not confident enough to take Latham’s advice to ask out that lizardman. Not that you could if you had wanted to, he hadn't been into the tea shop for two weeks...

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

You were laughing, Nathifa a gnoll and a fellow server, was hilariously funny. She also just happened to come in to work with her wrist in a cast that evening. It wasn’t funny that she had broken it, but the story of how she had broken it was. Hearing it, you couldn’t help but break down in laughter, tears falling down your face. Hearing Ayaan behind you asking what the two of you are cackling about, you turn to answer, only to stop in shock.

Oh shit!

Standing beside Ayaan is the lizardman from the tea shop and he’s looking at you in shock. Both Ayaan and Nathifa are watching you both with looks of confusion.

‘‘I know you!’’ He says with a grin, recovering first.

You feel like your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth, heart beating fast, you can do nothing but nod in agreement.

‘‘Ooh, tell us the juicy details,’’ Nathifa cackles.

Laughing, he replies ‘‘No juicy details, we just seem to really like the same tea shop.’’

‘‘Tea shop? Seriously? Can you guys get any more boring?’’ Ayaan laughs, shaking his head and walking off to attend the bar.

You watch as Nathifa turns to follow him, heading to set the tables, muttering under her breath. Facing the lizardman again, you note that today he’s wearing a green shirt that matches eyes and jeans. Managing to introduce yourself, you offer him a hand to shake. As he takes it you note his hand feels smooth and cool to the touch.

‘‘I’m Gulrez, nice to officially meet you,’’ he grins, and you watch as his tail arches and starts wagging.

‘‘Yeah.. yo-you too,’’ you stutter, staring at his tail in fascination. ‘‘I should… uh… get back to work.’’

Feeling like a complete idiot, you turn and practically run into the kitchen, hearing him mumble something about speaking to you later, you shake your head in despair. Crap! Why couldn’t you just talk to him. You had no problem speaking to anyone else in this place. And why of all places did he have to work here, you think to yourself groaning.

You avoid the bar for the rest of the night, but you find yourself looking his way often, most of the time he’s busy serving customers or chatting to Ayaan, but occasionally you see him watching you with a puzzled frown. You don’t hang around when your shift finishes that night and head home feeling a bit miserable. Your really glad you have the following day off, and you hope the time and space away will be enough to regain your composure and not act like a fool around him.

You go to Latham’s tea shop the next day for lunch as usual, only realising when you're standing outside the shop that it’s possible you might see Gulrez there. Briefly you consider turning right back around, but then realise how foolish your being. Taking a breath, you enter, hearing the familiar jingle of the doorbell. Looking around you exhale a breath seeing that he isn’t here. Shaking you head at your own foolishness, you go order a tea and make conversation with Latham. Plonking yourself down in a chair, you grab a book, and start reading.

You’re startled when someone pulls out the chair opposite yours and sits themselves down. Looking up with a frown, you’re surprised to see Gulrez sitting there looking nervous.

‘‘Hey,’’ he says quietly, swallowing.

‘‘Hi,’’ you exhale, nervously.

‘‘What’s that your reading?’’ He asks, nodding to the book in your hands.

You’ve forgotten. Looking down you check the title, you then show it to him to see.

‘‘Is it any good?’’

You nod absently. Gulrez’s voice is low and deep and it’s having an interesting effect on your body, making it hard for your brain to function.

Sighing, he asks, ‘‘Look… did I do something to offend you or something?’’

‘‘What?’’ You reply, looking at him shocked. ‘‘Of course not.’’

‘‘Are you sure? Because you’ve barely said two words to me and Ayaan told me last night you were acting really odd.’’

Inhaling deeply, you reply, ‘‘Yes, I’m sure.’’

‘‘Okay… So what's wrong then?... Is it the way I look? You’re not… scared of me, are you?’’ He asks, looking startled as if that thought had just occurred to him.

‘’What? No, of course not! Why would you ever think that?’’ You say incredulously.

Exhaling, he explains, ‘‘I thought that maybe you had seen me in here watching you, and then suddenly showing up at work last night… I just realized that could come across creepy…’’

Shaking your head smiling, you start to reply when you register what he had said. ‘‘Wait, you were watching me? In here?’’ You ask, shocked.

‘‘Yeah… You’re telling me you never noticed?’’ He asks dubiously.

‘‘No! Never…’’ you reply, shaking your head honestly. You cannot believe it. All that time, stealing glances at him, and he was doing the same? ‘‘Why? Why were you watching me?’’

‘‘Oh… Well, I uh… just, I thought you were beautiful. Are beautiful!’’ He says stuttering, hitting his palm off his head. ‘Ugh.. I’m such an idiot.’’

Giggling, you shake your head. ‘If you’re an idiot then I must be one, too,’’ you say. Taking a deep breath you tell him that you would often watch him when he came in to the shop.

‘‘Really? You’d watch me?’’ He asks, shaking his head in disbelief.

‘‘Yes.’’ You nod shyly, unable to meet his eyes. ‘‘I thought you were really cute the first time I saw you in here. I’ve been wanting to approach you for awhile but… couldn’t seem to find the courage.’’

Playing with your fingers, you meet his eye and watch as Gulrez grins widely, showing off his row of many sharp white teeth. ‘‘You think I’m cute?’’ He chirrups.

Biting your lip, flushing, you nod.

Chuckling, he replies, ‘‘I’m glad. I wanted to ask you out the first time I saw you, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it.’’ Shaking his head, he pauses to take a deep breath, and continues. ‘‘I’ve never… approached a human before. At first I was just worried you wouldn’t be interested in dating a monster, and then I thought that you and Latham might be… dating, I guess.’’

Laughingly, you shake your head. ‘‘No. We are definitely just friends,’’ you say, looking over at the avian. You see he’s standing, eyes glazed, staring at the human girl that he doesn’t have the courage to approach. You look back to Gulrez. ‘‘I found this place as soon as I moved the city and fell in love with it. Coming in everyday, we would talk all the time and he became a good friend.’’ You smile fondly.

‘‘I understand how you feel,’’ he smiles, looking around the shop. ‘‘This place is a bibliophile’s heaven.’’

‘‘It is that, and a tea lover’s,’’ You say, grinning.

Chuckling with a nod, he asks, ‘So, what brought you to the city?’’

You explain to him about your awful hometown, how an aunt you never knew you had, had left you a flat in the city in her will, letting you escape that place without having to worry about how you would be able to afford moving. You tell him that you’ve since discovered from your aunt’s journals that she had been disowned by her parents, your grandparents, for falling in love with an orc and that they had run off to the city to live happily in peace far away from the bad memories of that place.

He listens attentively as you tell him all this, shaking his head when appropriate, and when you explain to him that you feel upset that you never got to meet her because of your grandparents prejudice and bigotry, he clasps your hand in his own and rubs his thumb claw gently in circles around your palm.

Shaking your head to expel your sad thoughts, you smile and ask him about himself. He tells you that he’s always lived in the city, that he’s worked part time at The Bears Den for three years, as a side job while he studies medicine. You frown and squeeze his hand in sympathy when he divulges that his father died in an accident shortly after he was born, leaving his mother to raise him and three sisters.

Suddenly laughing, he says, ‘‘Being the only boy in the house was interesting, and I was the smallest, so my sisters never let me get away with anything.’’

‘‘Do all your mum and sisters still live in the city?’’ You ask smiling questionly.

‘‘No, only Berezira still lives in the city, she’s a dental nurse. Damsa got married last year and moved to her partner’s home town and Kaamisha... Well, she’s a traveling photographer so she doesn’t really live anywhere. My mother met another lizardfolk a couple of years ago and they decided to retire, moving to a small town down south.’’

Glancing at his watch, he suddenly exclaimed, ‘‘I need to go! I’ve got to get to class, but… will you meet me tonight? We can go see a movie or something?’’

‘‘Yeah, that sounds good,’’ you reply.

After making the arrangements for later, he dashes off with a wave and you watch as he leaves, wagging his tail as he goes. Giggling, you start gathering your things to leave yourself, when you catch Latham’s eye. Clicking his beak in curiosity, he beckons you over.

You spend some time chatting to Latham, explaining the circumstances which ultimately lead to your first date with Gulrez. He congratulates you, chirping in amusement at your excitement. Saying goodbye, he tells you to have fun, and you head home.

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

You spend the rest of your day feeling restless and unable to sit still. You’ve tidied your flat, just in case Gulrez ends up back at yours, showered and prepared dinner. Time seems to drag until it’s suddenly time to leave to get to the cinema and your rushing out the door.

As your approaching the cinema you see Gulrez standing outside waiting. He looks good you think, swallowing with difficulty. He turns to see you and smiling widely, his tail arches and starts wagging. That has to be a sign of happiness, you think elatedly.

‘‘Hey,’’ he says as you reach him.

‘‘Hi,’’ you smile stupidly.

‘’Shall we go in?’’ He asks.

You end up watching some action flick, but if in any one asked you after to explain the plot, you wouldn’t have been able to. You spend most of the night glancing towards Gulrez and studying his features. You would feel embarrassed, but you often catch him doing the same. Sitting with your arm resting against his, you can feel the bumpy ridges of his skin, and it takes every bit of your willpower not to turn around in your seat and explore that skin with your hands.

Once the movies done, he walks you home, tentatively taking your hands in his. You smile at him and the two of you make light conversation. Outside your door, he raises your hand and rubs his snout across the back of it, in what you assume must be a lizard folks version of a kiss.

‘‘I’d like to take you out again soon. I’m in class all day tomorrow and working in the evening but I’m free the day after… if you want to go out with me again?’’ He asks shyly, still holding your hand.

‘‘I’d like that.’’ You say nodding. ‘‘I’m working all week in the evenings, but my days are free.’’

‘‘Oh yeah, I forgot, I’ll get to see you at work,’’ he says, laughing.

A dreadful thought occurs to then and you have to ask. ‘‘Is it okay for us to date? Like... there’s not a work rule that says employees can’t, is there?’’ You say, frowning in alarm. You really liked Gulrez but you also really liked your job. You hoped you didn’t have to choose one over the other.

‘‘No,’’ he says, chuckling. ‘‘Bernard would never make such a rule... It would be grossly unfair to some of the non-humans who work there.’’

‘‘What do you mean?’’

‘‘Well… take werewolves for example, they often know their mates when they find them, sometimes recognising them on sight. And if they happen to find their mate in the workplace, no silly rule is going to stop them from claiming them,’’ He replies, shaking his head.

‘’Right. I never thought of that…’’

‘‘As long as we don’t let this…’’ he points between the two of you, ‘‘effect our work then the boss doesn’t care what we do in our free time.’’

‘‘Right… well, that's good,’’ you say smiling.

Nodding, and with a grin he squeezes your hand, ‘‘I’ll see you tomorrow then…’’

‘‘Goodnight,’’ you say softly, and before you lose your nerve, stretch up and kiss his snout. Turning quickly, you unlock your door, and hearing him mumble goodnight you glance his way seeing that he looks dazed. Giving a shy wave, you enter your home and close the door. Leaning back against the door, you touch your hand to your heart and feel it beating fast, you grin happily and head to bed.

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

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this then don’t for get to reblog it. Likes/Comments are also much appreciated. Follow me to be updated when I post more.

Masterlist

#exophilia #monster story #lizardfolk/reader #monster/human #monster/reader #monster series #monster boyfriend

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domesticangel · 5 years

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13 & 17

13. What’s your ideal summer aesthetic?

indoors with the ac cranked to high hell 🙃 ok jk jk (kinda) but the only time i don't genuinely hate summer is when I'm at the beach so...sun hats, cotton candy colored sunsets overlooking the ocean, high tide nipping at wooden stairs, riding shotgun down the strip in your best friends car, crowded back porches with the light on, hair thats been whipped into a lions mane by wind and sweat and salt water...stuff like that 😌

17. What is something you own that is important to you? What makes it so important?

hmmm...i have a moonstone ring ive worn every single day since my cousin got it for me a couple years ago that i really really love for a couple reasons. first off, I'm very close with my cousin and she was like a big sister to me growing up and she's one of the people i admire the most and would love to be like. nowadays adult life being the way it is makes it hard for us to see each other more than once or twice a year, so always having it on makes me feel closer to her even if only just a little bit 😌

ive also always kind of seen it as a placeholder for another ring that was very important to me that i lost...when my nana on my moms side died she gave me and my mom two of her rings, and i wore mine every single day after that for like, 8 years. really beautiful gold band with an emerald and diamonds on each side. however the house we were living in at the time of her death got robbed, and one of the things that got stolen was my mom’s ring that she got from her mother which really sucked. i was wearing mine and at school when it happened so mine was safe, but then years and years later i started working a food service job that required us to take off any rings or bracelets, so i always took mine off and zipped it up in my clutch and kept it in the break room since thats where they told us to keep our stuff while we were on the clock. sometimes id forget to put it back on and it’d sit in my clutch for a couple days, and i remember at one point i remembered to put it back on and i opened my clutch and it was just gone...so i can really only assume someone at work stole it, but there were no cameras in or around the break room, so i never really figured out what happened to it. it made me really sad and it still kinda eats at me if i think of it so i mostly try not to, but anyway, what I'm getting at is that the moonstone ring kind of fills that hole for me, especially since my cousin and my nana were SUPER close; my nana was almost like a mother to her growing up so it feels kind of right and comforting in a way for my nana’s gift to be replaced by a gift from the cousin she loved so dearly. idk. it makes me feel better.

and then on a less serious note i also just really like the moon and anything to do with it lol ive always felt very fascinated and connected with it and i know not everyone believes in like the “meanings” behind different gems, rocks, crystals etc and idek if i do but having a moonstone specifically just felt right

#txt #long post #oof i don't know why i just talk and talk and talk when i do these I'm SORRY #idk how to condense so from now on ill just tag stuff like this w long post sjhdksfg

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kamari333 · 5 years

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What are the EMV skeletons' kinks?

Are you really asking me, in the year 2019 of our lord, to write out a list of sexual preferences for 14 fictitious skeleton monsters??

...because buddy chum friend pal I will DELIVER

...the first 9. I don’t know enough about the others to give a proper run down but I hope you likes this. Remind me to break down the others later.

Warning, this is both explicit and a bit disorganized.

^_^

Comic is into stuff that doesn’t require him to move all that much, but he slowly realizes he has a bit of a clothes fetish. Socks... lingerie... uniforms... he likes looking at his partner and appreciating how good they look. He also has a thing for his partner wearing his clothes, and wearing his partners in turn. He is honestly pretty vanilla otherwise (if you dont count the hand thing). He also likes public displays of affection.

Blue largely just likes being touched, and appreciated, the slower and more sensual the better. He might have a hand kink now too (thanks comic you pervert). But he also has a Roleplay kink. He especially likes taking on roles of high esteme or reverence, like Doctor or Pharaoh or Father (the religious kind not the parent). Its not about power for him, its about respect and recognition. He wants to be told he did a good job in the end. Sometimes he likes some really wacky roles though, like a giant squid or a tall building or a shiny bauble that is being admired or revered. If he can make his partner laugh in the process that just turns him on more because laughter is a big kink now too.

As you could probably guess, a game of D&D would probably be one big ass stint of foreplay for these two, especially if Blue went all out with a costume. As such, they aren’t allowed to sit next to each other on game nights because there is a risk of them starting a makeout session mid-game.

Stretch is into smoke play. And choking. And shower sex. He also really likes getting high or drunk or drugged and being "taken advantage of" by his partner (he puts a lot of faith in his mate ok he trusts pretty hard). He likes doing the choking too. And he likes pinning them down and degrading them. He also has a big scars kink and likes to lick and bite them (maybe leave a few of his own if they dont mind). Likes to take possession and play master for a bit, but thats left behind in the bedroom (despite almost never actually using a bedroom). He has an oral fixation.

Slim likes to tease, and taunt, and rile his partner up. He likes watching his partner go from zero to eighty as quickly as possible. He likes smoke play too, and choking, and public play. He’s into service and doesn’t mind being used like a toy. If he’s put into the position of the top he’s gonna get off making his partner come over and over and over, until he wears himself out and curls up around them. He’s a masochist, but thanks to his shitty fell type universe he’s super hesitant to trust anyone enough to indulge in that until they prove their loyalty. But once he’s comfortable he likes knife play and cigarette burns and anything except pain with his jaw or teeth. Although tongues and kisses and things that need licked are welcome. he is always up for some food play too.

These two are honestly a hot mess but there is some deep trust between them at the end of the day. Nobody can say they don’t wanna do their best for the other.

Lust is down with nearly anything, as long as he and his partner love each other. Its easier to list his No’s than his kinks. He definitely leans more towards being a sub but he occasionally gets a craving to dom, and when he does he wants to drive his partner crazy and watch them fall apart at the seams until they pass out under (or on top of) him. As a sub, Lust is especially partial to impact play, praise, degradation, multiple penetration, overstim, choking, rough sex in general, knife play, and sounding. He likes being filled and he likes being used. He likes being told he was good or bad so long as he knows its coming out of love. He wants to feel his partners hands, tongue, teeth (especially teeth, he loves being bitten~), anything on him hours later and he wants to show off to anyone he comes across. He’s big into exhibition. PDA. And commitment: a major turn on is his partner acting or looking domestic in any capacity. He has a voice kink. He likes being held. And being told or shown he’s loved or wanted. Its honestly not hard to turn him on.

Red’s biggest kink is praise. He lives to hear he did good. Hell, just being asked to do something by his partner is enough to fluster him. In pavlovic fashion, he developed a specific noise kink (jingle jingle bitch) because the very idea of his partner being aroused or happy or loved or taken care of is intoxicating to him. He loves to obey provide for his partner like a proper master. He loves to serve take care of his partner. He loves to be a comfort. He is the subbiest fucking sub to ever sub but he associates all these things with domination and being the dom in the relationship. He enjoys kissing and licking and biting his partner, but only if they like it when he does so. He loves it when his hands can bring his partner to orgasm. He gets off making his partner come, making them scream and shake with how good it feels (how good he is doing). He would never admit it even to himself but he likes being blindfolded and tied up and pet. He is weak for kisses, and petting, and gentle affection. And if his partner gives him head, them swallowing is a big turn on too. But even if it isn’t his kink, Red is willing to do just about anything (even if it should be a hard no for him, like pain play) for his partner, and he’ll probably find pleasure in it because he’s doing it for them and that is the biggest rush of all.

Dance is into control. He wants that high of knowing exactly how all the pieces fit, orchestrating every last detail and coming to the exact end result he was aiming for. Every scene must be a well planned rube goldburg machine. His partner moves when he says they can move, they scream when he says they can scream, they come when he says they can come. Dance wants full responsibility for every little detail in that room and he wants the satisfaction of knowing he made it a good experience for his partner, that he made them happy, that he made them come. Dance wants the power, and it drives him crazy when his partner obeys, when they like what he makes happen. The more unruly or powerful he perceives his partner to be, the more satisfaction Dance gets when they submit to his will. Dance is also a sadist, especially liking bondage, impact play, temperature play, edging, overstim, and asphyxiation. He isn’t into degradation, preferring positive reinforcement. On a related note, while he enjoys punishments as much as rewards, Dance prefers not to use pain as a punishment. He’ll use it to get his submissive’s attention, or just to keep them occupied while he talks, but not as an actual punishment (unless his submissive chooses it for themselves). On the few rare occasions he gives up his control, he likes feeling safe and warm and protected, being held, especially by someone he perceives as powerful. He has a secret masochistic streak and likes being bitten or scratched by his partner, either while trusting them to care for him or while he’s making them submit to his will. Dance also has a scent kink. He likes wearing his partners clothes because it smells like them. And he has a taste kink. He loves sucking his partner dry and having their flavor in the back of this throat hours later. The taste of watermelon and grape without any other context are now turn ons for him. He shares that domestic kink with Lust. He also has a thing for somno, for being trusted to take full control like that. Being the jealous type, and in direct opposition to his shy nature, Dance gets a visceral satisfaction from showing off in public to others that his submissive is his, although whether or not this is a kink or just an extention of his performer’s nature is up in the air.

These fucking dumpster fire boys fit so goddamn well together jfc. I just. I love them. So much. Look at how thise pieces fit. I love them.

Suave is a performer at heart. He wants to be admired. So a big thing for him is getting the opportunity to perform. He likes dancing and strip teases and being able to get his partner’s attention. He likes being on top. He likes touching his partner’s erogenous zones. He likes making his partner scream and shake and come, likes when he has proof that he is the one that they are deriving pleasure from. He eventually develops a scars kink for no particular reason. He has a uniform kink and likes a powerful partner with demanding tastes who still prefers him to anyone else. He wants that rush of being wanted. He likes seeing his partner get flustered. He especially enjoys when either the sight or sound of him is what turns his partner on without any physical stimulation, likes seeing them squirm, unable or unwilling to touch themselves but clearly wanting to be touched because he is just that damn alluring. He has an edging kink.

Razz likes being served. He likes when his partner does things for him. He likes being given a show and he likes being worshiped. Razz especially likes hearing his partner’s voice, no matter how much he might tell them to shut the hell up. He likes gentle touches and he likes being held safe by his partner. He has a thing for big tall handsome people. He also likes making his partner scream and come, likes to command them to come while he watches them masturbate, or ride his dick, or rut against his fingers or a toy he is holding. He likes it even more if they beg for his help to finish. He is into bondage, especially shibari both giving and receiving. He likes oral both giving and receiving. He is weak for massages and praise, especially when he’s called a title of command. He is partial to “master”.

God these two are fucking amazing too jfc look at them.

#kamari333answers #ebott is a multiverse #is this nsfw?#abso-fucking-lutely

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the-constant-project · 5 years

Text

Interview with a Magical Girl

What was my childhood like?

I don’t remember much of my childhood. Not due to it being bad or something overtly traumatic, it was just average (Upon discussing stuff with my therapist, I have since learnt this is not true in the slightest.). I was neither particularly skilled academically or physically, though I soon learnt later in life that this was due to how my brain worked. A smart little awkward cookie who just couldn’t handle the pre-packaged Baked Goods that was expected of all younglings. I was bright, devoured what I read and caught my interest, but it didn’t suit what the Adults expected, and thus I was branded an outcast. The interest in cephalopods definitely didn’t help with my peers either, atleast not until my 20s. Eventually the growth hormones kicked in (Fuck being a teenager. Those who miss those days are either incredibly delusional, or they lucked out during their teenage years. Lucky sods.), and changes wracked my form. Some grew interested in the other sex, others were interested in the same but kept quiet about it. Whereas I......just wasn’t interested. There were times when desire would flood my body, but I was lucky that I had read about what hormones could do to me, so I understood what I was feeling would only be temporary. The few who truly did spark something, recoiled from me upon learning so, due to either them having only been faking friendship with my for whatever reason teenagers do so, or preferred us being friends. I was fine with the latter, it was nice knowing how I could interact with them. It was the former that started the process of breaking me, of learning the difference between being a person, and being an object. And it was the loss of all of them at the end of my final high school year that started the cracks in my psyche. I had spent my formative years making myself into someone they all liked, actively avoiding the things that, upon reflection, would define my adult life. The realization I had wasted my formative years on people who had been happy to drop me once they didn’t have to deal with me.............hurt. I had denied myself, and torn myself into the wrong shapes, and it had not been enough for them. I don’t remember the couple of years between High School ending, and starting my stagnant job. I just remember the hate, the rage, the pain and the anguish. Its still there, buried deep. I have long since accepted those parts of me. Those parts of me help when something tries to break me again.

You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned my family. My mother is a good woman, who has had the world repeatedly try and beat her down and break her. It succeeded, but she refused what it gave her and fought her way back to something resembling normalcy. Atleast, as close as she can manage. My siblings.....I resent them for how they were growing up, but I’ve since come to terms with them and we enjoy a nice peace between us. Not living in the same house helps a lot. We won’t speak of the man who put me in a hospital. He’s lucky my mother and I still, for some unknown and most likely fucking stupid reason, allow him to stay in our lives.

My stagnant job was just that.....stagnant. I was one of their better employees. But I was neither Good Enough(tm), nor did I perform the needlessly complicated social rituals needed to bypass the Good Enough(tm) necessity required for getting promoted.

I was secluded, but it helped me start healing. But it stagnated at some point, and I became stuck in a rut, unable to leave.

It wasn’t until my Ikō-ki came that my life truly started.

************ Whats an Ikō-ki, you ask? I’m not sure myself, to be honest. I was alone in my tiny apartment, my own little stagnant marble of reality, when it just appeared with a flickering of the light, a strange dark metallic rod, eldritch tendrils of energy keeping it afloat. The ‘head’ of rod is vaguely bulbous, with 8 undulating bands forming the patterns along its length. Heh, it just occurs to me, but it kind of looks like someone had attached a small octopus to a rod (This is how I knew it was mine.) It called itself an Ikō-ki. The strange mind voice it uses to talk to me is a strange blend of my masculine voice and a Japanese accent I’ve never had, and if it weren’t for the fact I hated how the words sound when they come out of my mouth, I would call it a soothing voice.

They seem to help transition small pools of stagnation, based on the stories it has shown me. My Ikō-ki (I can’t help but claim it as Mine) has shown me multiple stories: a princess become a prince and bring ruin to their prosperous yet corrupt state; a young boy became the Belle of the town and helped reunite the warring clans within falling in love with each of their heirs and tying their futures to one another; an adult who claimed bloody retribution on those who had claimed their body against their will. But those are the Phantasmal stories, the ones meant to bring hope to those who have fallen to despair, to give them the motivation to rise above the masses or to sink deep into their minds and bring forth a new dawn for those who follow their darker paths.

But that was not meant to be my Story, atleast, that is my hope. I want my story to be a stopover, like the smaller stories of local heroes and vigilantes, of those who guard the dreams and become the nightmare that nightmares fear within the dreamscape, those who sleep the wakeless dream and help heal the minds of their peers, of those whose only job is to look after their Ikō-ki until it comes time for it to move on. I’m getting off track. My mind can’t help but wander when I think about my Ikō-ki.

My Ikō-ki is a strange magical artefact that most likely either originates from Japan, or spent enough time there that it has permanently affected its.....mind? I’m still not sure how its ‘mind’ works. My Ikō-ki definitely has its own mind, since while we share tastes and opinions; it has since developed its own opinions and tastes, which I find fascinating. The small few others we’ve encountered have ranged from nothing more than inanimate magical objects, to semi-autonomous drone-like constructs, to full-fledged sentient beings. They seem to specifically be attracted to women, since I have yet to see any we’ve encountered with a masculine form. But considering they make us physically transform when we use them, I can’t trust what I see, I can only take the words of the strangers who are in similar situations to me. ........did I not mention I can transform? From the sounds of it, My Ikō-ki was surprised at how accepting I was of the concept. I had grown up watching cartoons of girls being able to transform into magical warriors, so this was just my childhood dream coming true.

My new form.......is too much for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I love the design of my outfit. The cephalopodan dress is the stuff of eldritch nightmares, all dark blues, greens and browns, endless flowing in non-existent currents, the great red Mantle headpiece towering above me, 4 larges tendrils wrapped together like hair, ready to flare up and be used if needed.. The ammonoid shield stands tall and impassable, its eternal spiral unyielding to any. The strange spraying creature on my right wrist, at time filled with a viscous ink that flows through air as if underwater, yet capable of delivering a highly venomous bite to anyone who isn’t me if they venture to close (This strange symbiote seems to share a link with me, since I’ve recently learnt that, if threatened outside of my magical girl form, my bite can be just as venomous). But as with the strange curves of all cephalopods, my own body becomes much fuller, curves appearing where I typically lacked them. While gorgeous, it’s not my thing. I prefer being on the ‘less filled out’ side of the body spectrum. Though if the only downside to my form is that its curvier than I like, and I get a awesome cephalopod aesthetic as the positive, I’ll take that deal. I’ve seen some of the lingerie others have been saddled with. What do I do with this form?

.......just watch it move and react. Its more cephalopodan than human, and its fascinating watching the eldritch form just.....move. There are times I go exploring the city, and stopping some of the worse crimes if I stumble upon them. But exploring the dreamscape is what I mainly do. Redirecting the mental eddies and currents around me, helping keep their lives just that little bit less miserable. .......I once tried to probe into That Man’s thoughts, to see why he put me into the hospital. I couldn’t handle what I found, and now I fear to dive into anyone else’s mind. If I’m a Magical Girl, who do I fight? Thats a hard question. In theory, The Decline. The literal concept of humanity falling into entropy. But as My Ikō-ki has shown me, The Decline just haven’t been active lately. My Ikō-ki is of the belief that we’ll see a resurgence in the next few years, given the state of the world’s political climate. But at the moment, I’ve mainly been ‘fighting’ other Magical Girls I’ve encountered. Not to the death or anything. Only some of the newer girls try that, due to a rise in darker media. But those of us with experience quickly weeded out those thoughts. At most, We spar and train. As I said, supposedly The Decline is coming, and someone needs to be ready. I’m hoping my shift will be over by then, but it can’t hurt to keep the others who have an active interest in protecting the world on their toes. Also helps keep me fit and in top form, when some of the more ‘morally straight laced’ Girls come and ‘hunt me’.

Why do I get hunted?

Because I have the Power, yet I don’t do anything obvious with it. Plus, as you can tell from looking at me, they ‘normal’ girls consider me an aberration. I once asked My Ikō-ki if Magical Girls were inherently good. He told me that each magical Girl is different, and we all walk different paths. Most walk the lighter paths, and some are consumed by that light. I walk one of the newer paths. Because it is new-ish, and isn’t inclined towards ‘The Light’, they get it into their heads that theres something wrong with me, and I should be purged to allow my Ikō-ki to pass on. Its not their fault. Society has taught them to fear the alien and the unknown, and one of our baser instincts is to fear what hide in the Dark. But thats why I walk the Darker path. I shall shield those outside of the Dark from their own fears. Luckily, I haven’t had to kill any of them. I almost did once, when I learnt my symbiotic sprayer could bite. The problem with young creatures with venomous bites, is that they don’t know how to regulate their venom. That girl was lucky the Medical Girl was nearby. Five more minutes and her lungs would’ve been paralyzed. *************

#magical girl #Its been a while since I wrote anything #This also hasn't been well edited since I wanted to just release it before heading to bed #I miss being able to write like this

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trayvonfleary-blog · 5 years

Text

General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive

Hello All, instead of posting my normal content relating to cars and/or trucks, I will be taking a deeper dive into my daily life, particularly regarding the software engineering immersive program that I am currently undergoing, which is a technology bootcamp. For a couple of months, I am going to sway away from discussing different sectors within the automotive industry while I focus strictly on technology, but automotive is not going anywhere so stay tuned for big announcements following;)

What Is It?

Currently I’m completing General Assembly’s Software Development Immersive, which is a “12 week award-winning program that has expert instructors and career coaches, and connect graduates with 19k+ hiring partners to get them jobs at A-list companies.” It is slated as your best course for career transformation. The company boats 9,000+ hires, as it states that they are the leader in placing their grads into high-growth, and high-pay tech jobs. Yes, this is all accomplished within 12 weeks. I’m sure you’re asking, “Are these jobs guaranteed?” Of course not, but the company is quite confident. Continue reading as to “why?” after this quick infographic below illustrating what you can expect from this program.

Im currently entering into my 5th week of this program. On our first day, a General Assembly employee bursts in our classroom, after getting another graduate hired, and asked, “Did you guys here about our last cohort?”, which had ended a couple of months prior. We had no clue what she was referring to but then she claims that their last cohort had a 93%+ hire rate. Impressive right. Thats a way to bring some motivation if you had any doubts before. Who knows if this was the truth, but they were all very excited and I have personally heard from some earlier attendees about the jobs that they received after the course and some even during the last week or 2 of the course ending. Before this starts sounding like a fantasy world where you can spend the 3 months and someone else can spend 4-5 years getting a computer science degree and you both end up with the same job (very possible), I’m going to break things down a bit.

Tuition Options?

First, starting with cost, I feel that the tuition share agreement is the best payment option and allows many people who can’t afford it to have a chance at something that can be life changing. It is not yet available in all states, but it’s a great option if you are not trying to pay $14k(approximate tuition cost) out of pocket and upfront(or in a few payments). Focusing on the $0 upfront income share agreement, it is structured very fair in my opinion. You are only required to pay an upfront $250 deposit until you land a software engineering job (ex: web development, full stack, etc) and depending on your location, entry level is probably hovering around $60k and above.

So if you don’t land a job, you are not at the hands of a huge loan that you cannot afford and most importantly, you’re not out of $14k+ that many pay to take the program. If you have additional experience in UX/UI design, and/or other skills for that matter, your pay can be a lot higher.

Income Share Agreement?

As far as General Assembly not offering the income share agreement not being offered in all states, specifically New York at the moment, I believe that it has to do with the amount of jobs being offered and the amount that are vacant. Here in the Greater Atlanta Area, the tech scene is taking on massive growth along with an abundant amount tech jobs that have yet to be filled. Whether it’s startups, fintech companies, or larger corporations, there is a massive demand for tech jobs in many industries here. I’m not sure of the availability in other cities and states in respective to the amount of tech workers seeking employment.

Adding to the tuition share agreement option, applicants are also subject to a more strict batch of pre course work, along with an evaluation to see if you are prepared and can be successful at this program. My pre course work (estimated to take 40 hours if you have prior knowledge) took me at least 60+ hours, and thats literally. Going through the pre course work, I decided to take notes and continue to reference them even when the program started so that I could truly retain the information, just as I would with another language until I could demonstrate it effortlessly.

Negatives?

The only negative to this income share agreement is that the total amount paid for the course increases to approximately $20,000, instead of the $14,000 that you could sign up for up front after getting accepted. Although this $20,000 will be paid for over a multiple of years (small monthly payments ranging from $300-$800 per month), depending on how much income you are making per year with the lower end being around the $50k end and the upper being $100k+ end.

That is where the trade off comes in, as you decide whether you would want to pay $14k up front or $20k over a multiple of 3-5 years. Simply put, both options come with what some will see as a hefty price but when compared to the average college tuition for 3-5 years, it is significantly less. So is it worth it? My simple answer: Yes, but its not for everyone and also depends on how much time you willing to dedicate!

What does it take?

Personally, as I’m approaching week 5 in the 12 week program, I would say that it is well worth it. This may not be the same for everyone else. There are so many factors that go into this decision and realizing if it is worth it for you or not. First off, the program is 12 weeks long and runs on a very strict schedule, from Monday – Friday (9am-5pm). All of my cohort(class) had to quit their jobs, and/or whatever else they were doing including school, etc. This IS NOT just a 9-5 job for three months. Ample time is required outside of class for this program to be worth it. You get what you give. Currently, it is very normal for me and my “codemates” to spend another 20-40+hours outside of class per week, on top of our current 9-5 days.

Being Prepared?

Handling this amount of work in such a short period of time is life changing mentally, physically, socially, and financially of course. Savings is required as it’s almost impossible to take on a full time job during this time. Knowing how to handle stress and pressure is also very important, as there will be a lot of ups and downs during the course. Another importance is your family and support. Your time will be very limited during this time, so just be prepared to be a bit disconnected during this time.

For me, personally, I had no real coding experience before starting the pre work for this program, but doing a lot of studying in the year prior to signing up for the program certainly helped with knowing different technologies and frameworks, and what they were used for. Regardless, free time gets pretty scarce during this time of development. It is extremely tough to stay consistent with a certain level of focus each and every day in this program, as it’s basically like learning a new language. So, being prepared is very critical.

The Daily Grind?

Each and every day has a structured schedule that we are given at the beginning of the cohort. The days normally start with lecture, or a quick meeting if it’s project week. Throughout the day, we go through enormous amounts of material, but it’s never just a lecture. Practice, practice, and more practice! Daily learning on how to structure, develop, and implement responsive webpages and applications from the ground up. This is where General Assembly separates itself from just trying to read and learn to code online, or even while pursuing a 4 year computer science degree while spending meaningless time on classes and material that you don’t need or ever use again.

As the saying goes, if you want to learn Chinese, the fastest way is to get dropped directly into the middle of China! This is the exact same. You’re being thrown right into the programming fire everyday, but in a good way. All of the new information learned is always directly followed by practice, as you jump right into the CLI(command line interface) and your IDE(integrated development environment). HTML, and CSS fly by within the first couple of days and then you will be jumping directly into Javascript. After that, you are off and running, and thats when the real challenge starts and the bulk of the course begins.

Is It Really Worth It?

All in all, I think it is definitely worth it if you have a passion to work in tech, whether to create your dream company or to work for another. This is the case, but this immersive program is not something that you spend a little time on and make it into a small side gig. If that’s what you’re looking for, then programming may not be ideal for you. It takes intense focus and dedication to be successful in the field. One mistake can crash an entire program, or maybe even delete an entire database and cause the company to crash. What if someone deleted the entire database of Uber drivers because they told the computer an incorrect command? Of course this would not happen, as their infrastructure has too much sophistication for that to happen, but the company would literally be out of operations for who knows how long and this would cause the end of one of the biggest companies that the world has ever seen.

If you’re not passionate about it, and that goes for anything in life, then you shouldn’t waste your time and/or money. It is also only worth it if you have time. This point needs to be emphasized. For example: If you have a family and can’t afford to quit your full time job, this is not a good idea. I’ve found that many who go through these programs don’t have many responsibilities at the moment, or they have wonderful supporters around them who help them throughout the duration. The immersive is very time consuming, and some may find it easier than others, but the amount of time that has to be put in is undeniable.

In a quick rundown, within 5 weeks, I have learned HTML, CSS, Javascript/jQuery, started creating our own servers, learning node, express, mongoDB, certain data structures and science, and so much more underlying information. This is not everything, and has taken massive work outside of class along with in class work and lecture. Just 5 weeks ago, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Why Would You Put Yourself Through Such a Daunting Task?

For me, taking this leap was about being creative and bringing my ideas to life, as I push to provide immense value to this world for decades to come. My friends have always told me that I have all of the ideas, but to me they meant nothing if I could never bring them to life. I avoided obtaining these skills for the simple reason of believing that they were too time consuming, or that it was too old to start now, or simply because of me believing that I didn’t belong in that time of environment (the common imposture syndrome). Whether you’re a cook, waitress, sales associate, truck driver, garbage truck operator or whatever it may be, you can be successful not only in this program, but in this career field as a whole.

All of these technologies are fairly new, relative to our society, and if you spend 10+ hours a day on something while someone else maybe spends a hour every few days, you will be amazed at how far you can go. If you are thinking of a career change, or simply love the tech field and need this sort of structure to learn, I will highly advise taking General Assembly’s Software Engineering Immersive if time and your situation persists. You will also hear the phrases “Web Developer”, “Full Stack Developer”, etc associated with software engineering as a lot of the knowledge intertwines.

Youtube Series Update?

Last but NOT LEAST, stay tuned as this will be just an intro to these blog and content posts regarding my Software Development journey. I aim to produce this content for the remaining 7-8 weeks in the course, while also producing content beyond the program as I work on different projects and aim to connect with like minded people in the industry. In the upcoming posts, I will link a youtube video that goes into depth about my particular General Assembly Immersive location, in the Greater Atlanta Area. Stay tuned, and be blessed!

#code #tech #developer #software #engineering #fullstack #webdev #api #node #react #javascript #vscode #reactnative #mongo #xcode #apple #android #html #css #firebase #ruby #python #frontend #backend

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horrible-monstrosity · 3 years

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blunder leg low-priority episode 6 -now a vending machine is also a door because lol m'wacky dream lolgic lol so random and swerky but not random and qwerky enough to actually come up with something more interesting than doors being weird -the most obvious le hospital girl archetype with eyepatch ever known to mankind appears. I mean I guess it's good to get the archetype across quickly since she'll be fucking gone within a few minutes (remember in episode 1 when the egg girl and all her angst was actually developed while main was running around trying to save her? even ep 2 where the girl's archetype was spelled out like trying to get a dumb child to remember the alphabet was more than... well, basically nothing) but it just looks so odd, immediately. It doesn't even look like there're any other bandages on her. I dunno, it just seems kinda... lazy? oh are they going to do some thing with her eyepatch and main's eye colors? give me abreak The No-see-ums finally actually do something for the first time in... how am I only just starting on the 6th episode here? It feels like it's dragged on for so long... and yet nothing much has happened except a bunch of action scenes in shitty flashbacks and a bunch of the girls wandering around airing their backstories and talking about food. fuck this show

- these aren't no-see-ums! they're some other shit! oh on so the not-sees still haven't done jack shit then. we learn this after one of the noseeums trips, drops its knife and randomly decides to take off its mask so its face turns into a tennis ball with teeth. what. 'you've done too much to stand out in this worl' why the fuck does that matter? is acco refering to this one dream instance or the dream world at large? Is there ontological inertia between worlds that causes their battles there to have lasting effects? Nothing of the sort was established before this very nanosecond. 'what uh haturr' bitch I don't fucking know, the fuck's any of this shit? what's a seenoevil, what's the main monsters? actually what're the main monsters even called? are they just seenoevils but big? I don't remember if they've been named or anything at this point. but thanks to main just randomly fucking deciding to care about what the fuck a h8r is out of all this other shit, acco can tell us that they're spite created by the not-sees due to the grils' interference... FOR WHAT REASON? Main's barely touched a not-see in the last like two episodes and they're barely done jack shit in the flashbacks either, all the focus has been on the big monsters. oh yeah sure this show's just so super intelligent, you just have to duuuuurr make up shit consantly to fill in the shows own gaping plotholes, that takes some intellegence! also, the fuck you mean "you girls"? Are these four girls who all live in the same real-life area the only eggers in existence? No one else has a sudoku friend they'd like to save? "they don't have the guts to show their faces" ONE OF THEM LITERALLY TOOK OF ITS MASK WHICH PROMPTED YOU TO START SAYING THIS, ACCA-KUN. it's only a minute in and it's already so bad...... oh right the main monsters are called bosses like in muh video games. ok fine.

so anyway, the not-sees and the big bosses jot being after the main girls and just going after the egg-grils who they need to protect while the main girls were impervious "gods" was actually a really interesting dynamic and really made it feel like they were fighting someone else's personally hell. It's not like they lost tension, the girls could still get fucked up while fighting the things, but there was also the sliver of an idea that they could be cowards and just leave with no consequences to themselves, just the egg-girl getting brutalized. Like, you can do Your Part to stop bullying, you just have to muster up the courage/energy to caaaaare. So why not just... throw that out completely and make the not-sees attack the main girls directly. Because the writers ran out of ideas one femtosecond after they started writing this show and are now desperately casting around for ways to rachet up the tension

it's been so long since an actual battle has happened, and so little has been done with the battle setups, that acca has to remind main of the very basic fact that you can't clear the mission just by waiting for the bell. Remember the bell? I bet you'd forgotten about the bell, which hasn't been relevant in... many battles. -she'll regenerate in the egg-- ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME STOP GIVING EVERYONE GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARDS YOU FUCKS. putting the girl back in the egg should be a lose condition for the night and require you to start over the next night, at the very least, not just "oh yeah just go back into the womb it'll heal all consequences" you dumb fucks. Sure, this explains the girl at the beginning acting like she's been through this before, but at what cost? we live in a society and these dumb girls doing dumb stuff have some kind of significant objective. but it's only the four of them in this small area. also we said the name of the show out loud for some reason. it;s only two minutes into the episode and already its fucked up so much fucking show

because things suddenly got hard, the girls just get handed a powerup. nobody has earned this. apparently pomanders are the same as eggs now for some reason aidoru gets really fucking pissy about brownie not wanting to trade with her, even though nobody knows whats in the not-eggs yet regardless of whether they trade or not. I don't care and neither should she

........what the fuck are these weird-ass looking lizard fucks. OH I GET IT, SPECIES HATCH OUT OF EGGS, SO THAT MEANS ITS CLEVER SOMEHOW. EVEN THOUGH YOU'D USUALLY THINK OF BIRDS BEFORE YOU'D THINK OF LIZARDS BEING ASSOCIATED WITH EGGS. EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE ALL TERRIBLY DESIGNED AND THERE'S NO POINT TO THEM EXISTING AT ALL. and then in the dream worl they're giant and... they eat haterz. and the problem is solved just like that. ok, good thing to know i don't have to care about that, either, goodbye mainy flatout asks egg girl why she fucking killed herself and egg girl explains... SHE CAN SEE DEAD PEOPLE. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH EGG PEOPLE? "uguu no un wull beluve me" girl look at what the fuck's going on around you no one's going to believe any of this shit. I lost my suspension of disbelief in the war years ago. then the girls starts freaking out and crying about people having emotions at the hospital and shit, cool story bro can't relate. like i literally can't relate, you're tryng to write this poor girl who nobody could relate to so we feel sorry for her and relate to her, but there's really nothing to lash onto here besides "UHM CUTE GURL UM HAV FEULINGS BOOHOO" .... then it cuts in the middle of the battle to main talking to her teacher. I guess this is what she was upsetti about earlier, which means this random cut-away actually has a determinable place inthe timeline, but it's still really awkward and just shit. main drops some food back into her bowl when she hears the bombshell, but in the next shot her arms are completely at her sides, not over the bowl or even the table. cool putting aside how stupid of mom it was for her to drop this on her fucked-up kid- gendergirl is very specifically excited about becoming family with main, a girl she barely even knows bla bla this whole conversation's forced and stupid

I was going to praise the execution of having an invisible boss only the girl can see because it's made up of the girl seeing ghosts, but then main gets the pen knocked out of her hand and you know she's going to get handed the plushie or some shit and it's going to turn into a weapon that's better against the gost for NO REASON WHATSOEVER oh ok it's not the plushie it's the bracelet she conveniently throws directly in main's direction!!! thats even worse, good job show!!! and then for absolutely no reason main starts flashing over the bits of things her teacher had said and done, to force the appearance that what's happening now is in anyway shape or form connected to or bolstering that plotline... it really isn't. also why the fuck's this thing an elephant

what the hell, the prayer beads carried over from the dream?... and only after the mom notices them, main loses her shit and runs to school in the rain in soaking-wet clothes like she absolutely needed to go there and wasn't just wasting time in the tub seconds earlier. there was absolutely no reason for main to get over her shit and come back to school absolutely no reason. but because she fixed her hair at the same ime intellectutards will eat it up and say it's deep. fuck off show

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